Free Maggie's Wolves, Part Two: A BBW Shifter Romance (Red Mountain Pack Book 2) by Cara Morgan Page B

alone?”
    Eli swept his thumb over her cheekbone in a light caress. “Not alone. Case won’t let anything happen to you, and I want you to talk to him.”
    He wanted her to do more than talk to Case. He wanted her to claim Case as her mate too. Eli was giving her to his friend. Her human half didn’t like that idea at all, but the wolf was completely fine with it.
    Eli seemed to sense that. “Trust your wolf, Maggie.”
    Before she could protest, Eli bent his head and took her mouth in a deep, possessive kiss. Then, when the heat surged in her blood and her head was spinning, he released her abruptly and walked away. She stared at his retreating back for a moment, feeling bereft. The smaller gray wolf—Jack—followed at his heels. When she turned back around, Case stood only a few feet away, his eyes glowing faintly with wolflight.
    “Let’s talk.” He walked toward the cabin and opened the door.
     

Chapter Two
    Maggie stalled for a few minutes by excusing herself to use the outhouse. She was angry that Eli had walked away. She was angry with herself for jumping to the conclusion that he’d lied to her. But…they’d only met last night. Wasn’t it normal for her to be a little bit uncertain of him? Judging by Eli and Case’s reaction, it wasn’t normal between wolves. They acted like she’d committed some kind of grave offense. Eli had been wounded by her mistrust, and she didn’t know how to mend that. Her first day with a new mate, and she was already screwing it up.
    It wasn’t even that she doubted Eli so much as she doubted herself and her ability to hold on to him once the mating urge passed. She doubted her own judgment. Eli had told her she needed to learn to trust the instincts of her wolf. Maybe for Eli that was easy, but she’d been raised to distrust the instincts of her wolf. It was hard to change that all around in just one night. Maybe she should go track him down and try to explain…
    She shook her head. She couldn’t very well go track Eli through the forest wearing nothing but a flannel robe and a pair of boots. Returning to the cabin, she closed the door behind her and leaned against it, frowning at the naked man standing in the middle of her house. Not that the alpha of the Red Mountain pack was a hardship to look at. Slender and lithe, Case had the body of an athlete in his prime. The dim light inside the cabin dulled the reddish tint to his hair and turned his eyes from amber to a deep hazel green.
    They sized each other up for a moment, and then he said, “Eli has a kind heart. You hurt him out there.”
    “I didn’t mean to.” She bit her lip in uncertainty, and then pushed away from the door. “He told me I’d be able to shift once I took a mate and when I still couldn’t shift this morning, I panicked.”
    His eyes narrowed. “You had to know—”
    “I don’t.” She shook her head. “I don’t know anything. I didn’t even know what was happening to me when Eli knocked on my door last night. He had to explain it all.”
    Case’s eyes widened slightly. “You didn’t know you were in heat?”
    She shook her head, feeling miserable and stupid.
    “I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation. What did he tell you?”
    She hesitated, unsure whether to share that information. What had happened between her and Eli last night was private, special. She didn’t want to share it with anyone just yet.
    And Case... He wasn’t what she’d expected. Eli had put her at ease right from the beginning. There was a warmth and an easiness to him that’d made her feel like they’d known each other forever. With Case, she felt like little red riding hood facing down the big bad wolf. Grandmother, what big teeth you have.
    When she didn’t answer, Case said, “I’ve known Eli for twenty years. He wouldn’t have lied to you.”
    “Maybe not on purpose.”
    “I imagine he told you what I told him when he started asking about looking for a mate.