Untamed Wolf by Heather Long Page A

lecher. Not to mention, his goal wasn’t seduction but education. Too many facts failed to add into a satisfying answer. “Or you could ask your mom…if she’s in one of the other packs, and you’re not sure how to reach out, I could help.” He didn’t think she’d come from Willow Bend. It shouldn’t matter though. After the summit, the Alphas had arranged for increased communication. He could leverage the open channels to help her, too.
    “I don’t really talk to my mother.” She cleaned up the last of the potatoes, then pushed the empty plate away. “Do you mind if I have some of your bacon?”
    Zeroing in on the mother comment, he filed the information away. “Not at all,” he said, leaning past her to tug his plate over. “Eat all you want.”
    “That sounds so weird.” Despite the protest, she seized another piece of bacon. “I’m not used to anyone telling me to eat all I want.”
    “Get used to it.” Someone should have taken better care of her. “We eat high-calorie, protein dense diets because we’re human and animal. Our wolves need a lot of energy, and we need it because we have their senses. When you throw shifting in…let’s put it this way, it’s not uncommon to take down a large stag or a moose when we’re really in the mood.”
    “A moose?” She twisted to blink at him. “You’ve hunted a moose?”
    “Once.” He grinned. “Zane took me with him on a trip up north. We had to deliver a message to the Alpha of the Yukon Pack. It’s a long trip, and if you don’t mind your manners, he walks away for days . I didn’t get to meet him then. I wasn’t a full Hunter, but I did get to go on a moose hunt and one for a bear. Damn good times.”
    Curiosity flickered in her brown eyes. “I’ve never done that…is it really pretty that far north?”
    So, not from the Yukon pack. Two down, three to go.
    “I guess. It’s colder. Some of the greens are really intense.” What would really interest her? He ran his fingers over her scalp then combed through the length of her hair. He seemed to have found all the snarls. “We did camp one night next to this lake. It was pure crystal clear water when you were up close, but on our way out, we had to climb. The higher we went, we could glance back and all we saw was this stunning blue as though someone cupped the sky and held it in the bowl of the valley.”
    Her lips parted and her sudden smile caught him off guard. “Did you take a picture?”
    Damn, he almost wished he had. “Sorry, darlin’, I didn’t think about it at the time.” If Mason ever sent him to see Diesel, he’d be sure to get one for her.
    “It’s okay. It sounds like you’ve gone to all these pretty places.”
    “Well, I’m sure you have, too.” He’d finished combing her hair so he made himself move away. When he would have retrieved her empty plate, she touched his wrist with her hand.
    “Please, let me.” She turned those liquid eyes on him, holding his gaze for the barest of seconds. “You did the cooking. I don’t mind participating in the cleaning. You know, maybe that could be part of rule number one.”
    What rule? Understanding, he released the plate. Dylan caught her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Done. So,” he said, after releasing her and reclaiming his seat. “What pretty places have you visited?”
    Given her earlier protests, he’d expected her to offer to return his plate. A warm sense of satisfaction unfurled within him as she continued to eat. She’d cleared the last of the bacon and turned her attention to the toast and potatoes. “Not really. I grew up in Utah mostly, though I moved around some. I might have been in California when I was really little.”
    Utah. If the southern part, she would have been closest to Sutter Butte. No way would he believe this little one, with her delicate nature, grew up in that brutal pack. His cousin, Claire, told him a number of stories of their ways which belonged firmly in the category of