Free Checkmate by Annmarie McKenna

a sharp turn, bumping over the irregular gravel road that led to their home. The land called to him, as it always did, urging him to shift and run. Now more than ever since he’d been gone for so long.
    Eli broke the connection between him and Nikki and faced the front, looking around to see any changes he might have missed. Everything looked pretty much the same, with the exception of some new fencing along the pasture to his right. A few horses dotted the land, lazily chewing and mulling about.
    God, but he had missed this place. He wasn’t ever taking on another assignment like the one he’d just left. Of course, he wouldn’t have to now that he had a mate. Nikki would come first and foremost from now on. And if he’d acknowledged her eight months ago, maybe none of this would have happened. He’d have been here to protect her. Or at the very least, help her get through the tragedy.
    “How far away is it?” Nikki’s soft but urgent voice broke through his musings.
    “Not far.”
    “Okay, ‘cause I gotta go.”
    Eli barked out in laughter. There was the little spitfire he knew and loved.
    “Stupid men,” she muttered, drawing out another round of laughter from both he and Caelan.
    “I fail to see what’s funny.”
    “Nothing, sweetheart.”
    She scowled at him. “I’m not your sweetheart.”
    Her words sobered him. “You will always be my sweetheart.” He couldn’t prevent the glow he knew took over his eyes and heard the gasp she made when it happened. Her eyes widened and she shrank back in her seat. Then her lids narrowed as if inspecting him, trying to decide if what she saw was real or not.
    The SUV rocked through another series of potholes and Nikki grimaced as her shoulder bounced against the door.
    “Jesus, Caelan, fix the road, why don’t you?” It killed him to see Nikki hurting, especially because of something as simple as the road.
    “Oh, right, it’s my fault there’s bumps in the same road you’ve bumped over since the day you were born,” Caelan snarled.
    “Then let’s get the damn thing paved,” Eli growled back. “It’s not like we can’t afford it!”
    “Did you forget why it’s not paved?” Caelan hissed.
    “Yoohoo, boys. Hello, five-year-olds again. Get over it, Eli, I’m fine.”
    Eli’s breath practically heaved from his chest. He needed to run. Confined for hours of plane rides and then being on the go since landing hadn’t done him a bit of good. There was a reason they didn’t pave their roads, a selfish one, but hey. They didn’t like the way the pavement felt beneath their paws. Everyone in his pack preferred natural to manmade so, aside from the fences to keep their horses from scattering, most of the land was kept as wild as possible.
    “Oh my God, is that your house? It’s huge.”
    “I told you it wouldn’t be a problem,” Eli agreed.
    “It’s beautiful.”
    Despite the ugliness of what had brought her to his home, he heard the sincerity in her voice and his pride lifted. Caelan brought the SUV to a stop on the gravel drive and the three of them sat, seemingly suspended in time. Eli was the first to break the strange moment.
    “All right then. Let’s get out of the car, shall we?” He went around the hood, jumping out of the way to avoid the driver’s door his brother threw open.
    Nikki still sat, looking out the front window at the house, when he opened the door to help her out. He bent in to see what she saw.
    “It’s a house, Nikki-Raine,” he whispered, tickling her ear with his lips. She smelled so good. It was all he could do to keep from burying his head in the crook of her shoulder and laying her across the seat to have his way with her.
    She squirmed to dislodge his mouth from her earlobe. “It’s big.”
    Eli shrugged. “Yeah, well, we planned on having lots of runts running around one day.”
    Her gaze flew to his. “Runts? We? You’re both going to…stay here? Together? With families?”
    “Breathe.” He wrapped his