She reeked of sex.
Little slut. How dare she? How dare she think she could flaunt her crimes against the pack that way and get away with it? The next full moon would show her. They would take her little baby wolf and cut him from the pack, run him to the ground and kill him. Then they would teach Heather and Lee what it meant to be part of a pack and to do their duty.
It would be a lesson no one would ever forget.
“Hi, Heather! Are you bringing Danny to the ice cream social? I know Lee has to work.”
Heather pushed her ponytail off her neck, the hot spring sun making sweat plaster some of the heavy strands down. She tried to summon a smile for Denise, who she’d grown up with, but the bitch just seemed to know more about Heather’s social life than she did. It was maddening. “Nah. I figured I would just take him somewhere and fuck.”
“Heather! It’s no wonder the pack is talking. I swear, we’d all accept this more readily if you weren’t so awful about it.”
“Awful?” She squinted, trying to decide what that meant. “You mean blatant, or mind your own business?”
“Both.” Her voice going low, Denise moved close. “It’s not like it doesn’t happen. Heck, it’s not like the pack won’t take him in. But you have to learn to play the game a little.”
Heather bared her teeth. “I am. Lee and I are waiting to have sex. We’re not having babies until the pack sanctions it. I would say that’s about all the game I got, Denise.”
“Well, it’s not just about you. That’s what you don’t get.”
“No, I get that just fine. I also get that the pack sent me to college so I could sow my wild oats and get ready to take my place in the pack, blah-blah. If that’s the case, you have to let me do it.”
She turned on the heel of her cowboy boot and marched away, grumpy that she was going to miss out on the ice cream. She really had planned on taking Danny to the ice cream social, but now she would just have to do something else with the guy while they waited for Lee.
“Hey, babe.” Danny met her at the student center, confining himself to a kiss on her cheek when she really wanted him to plant one on her mouth.
“Hey, honey.” Patting his ass relieved the need deep inside her to shock people. “Change of plans.”
“Yeah? Not in the mood for ice cream?” He followed her easily, his hand coming up to hold her elbow.
“Actually, I really want some. How about we go to the store and grab a carton of mint chip?” They could go to the house, or go out to the ranch, or something. Anything where prying eyes would leave them alone.
“Sure. We gonna call Lee?”
“Nope. Maybe we’ll let him find us by scent.” Lee had an amazing nose. He could do it. Oh, that might be fun. Lee would be so damned mad by the time he tracked them down that he’d be ready to tear them up. Both of them. Literally or figuratively. Hell, yes. “You know, we could go to the campus store and then wander, end up at the grove. Can you imagine what Lee will be like when he finds us?”
Danny shivered, glancing over at her, his pretty green eyes dark with sudden need. “Oh, God, babe. That sounds like an amazing plan. We’ll buy some condoms too, yeah?”
“Heck, yeah.”
“Come on.” Now Danny was dragging her, heading for the campus store. They went by way of the little auditorium where the ice cream social held forth, because that was where Lee was supposed to meet them and where he would pick up their scent.
They were probably both throwing off enough pheromones for Lee to track them in five seconds, but it only seemed fair to give him a good trail to follow. Heather stopped Danny in the back shadow of the campus store to give him a kiss, her lips meeting his hard enough to make him grunt.
She wanted to laugh right out loud for sheer joy. Being with Danny improved her mood about a hundred percent. Thinking of Lee and Danny and her together did even more, and getting away from prying eyes like Denise’s was the cherry on top. “Ooh. Cherries. We should get some of them too.”
Danny panted, staring at her, his lips swollen. “Huh?”
“We should get cherries at the store. Whipped cream. We can have sundaes.”
“Lee’s a little fuzzy for that,” Danny said, grinning like the big bad wolf he was becoming.
“Ha, ha. We could shave him.”
“Ew.” Danny shook his head, reaching for her again. “You’re already all smooth.”
Heather ducked. “True. Come on, Dan. Ice cream.”
“You’re such a tease.” There was no heat in the accusation, and he dutifully followed, coming along with her to the store and carrying all the shit she picked out. He earned his boy points these days, having learned from Lee that a man had to cowboy up and carry heavy shit. That was why she kept men around, after all. Carry stuff, kill spiders and have hot sex.
They headed to the grove, and Heather was relieved to find it empty, no one else taking advantage of the warm spring day. She planned to take advantage. A lot.
“We should have gotten a cooler.” The ice cream did look a little melty when Danny pulled it out.
Heather just grinned. “Lee can lick the carton like a good dog.”
“You’re so mean.” It wasn’t like Danny wasn’t grinning back, though, playing right along.
“Shut up and give me a bowl.” The little paper bowls wouldn’t hold up for long, but they would do what she and Danny needed them to. Ice cream, cherries, Reddi-Whip. Yum.
Danny was way more fastidious, layering his components carefully, one atop the other in thin layers. By the time he was done, he almost had an ice cream cake-like thing. It was fascinating.
“You’re such a girl,” Heather said, snorting a little.
“Fuck you, babe.”
“That’s the plan!” She dug in, the ice cream so cold it was a bit of a shock. The whipped cream was fluffy and light, the cherries tangy, and all in all, it was way better than sitting at the auditorium and eating those cheap mini-cartons of vanilla and chocolate.
“I thought you two were going to be at the ice cream social.” The growl came from the trees to her right, making Danny jump. Heather had heard Lee coming.
“It was a drag. We left you a trail.”
“You did.” Lee appeared, wearing Wranglers so tight she could read his pulse right through them. “I have to admit, it was a fascinating one too. Especially back by the store. Hey, you.” Bending to kiss her, Lee grabbed her ponytail, holding her there while he tasted her mouth. “Mmm. Mint chip.”
“We saved you some.” Though looking at the sun through the gap in the grove told her that nearly a half hour had passed. “It might be soup.”
“Damn, baby. You know how I feel about cold soup.” Lee grinned before crouching next to Danny and kissing him too.
God, that was pretty. It made her ache down between her legs, made her want to howl a little. Lee took Danny’s mouth deep and hard, low growls sounding. She squirmed, waiting her turn to touch, letting Lee say his hellos.
A very dazed-looking Danny sat back and blinked when the kiss was over, and Lee settled between them in a classic cowboy sprawl, taking his Stetson off and setting it brim-up a few feet away. Cowboys and their hats. Always brim-up, so you didn’t ruin the shape. Lee had installed a hat hanger right inside the front door, so he didn’t have to worry about it at home.
“As revved up as you were, by the smell, I figured you’d be all over each other.”
“Heather was in a rotten mood.” Danny dished up a bowl of cream and cherries for Lee. “She needed an ice cream fix first.”
Lee’s gray eyes went dark, his gaze searching. Knowing. “Who gave you trouble?”
“No one. Denise was just being a shit.”
“Denise? No shit?” One of Lee’s brows went up. “Do I need to talk to Logan?”
Logan was the pack alpha, and he and Lee had gotten close over the last year. Oh, not that kind of close, though the one time Logan had torn Lee up had been obvious from the bite marks and shit. That had just been a rite of passage, though. “No. I mean, not right now.” Heather bit her lip. “It’s been better with you, right, Dan?”