Page 1 of Big Top Bear Raid (Wolves of Stone Ridge #64)

TROTTING ACROSS HIS backyard, Wraith Urdman felt a wealth of gratefulness at being home.

As much as he enjoyed spending time with his fellow wolf shifters, he tended to avoid poker nights.

If it had been a pool tournament, then Wraith would have been all over it.

Poker, not so much.

Fortunately, his buddies knew that, and they didn’t mind if he sat at a nearby table or perched at the kitchen bar and talked instead of actually joining in the game.

Plus, his circle of friends tended to alternate.

Pool night would be next week.

Wraith bounded up the stairs, paused on the deck, and placed the backpack he carried in his mouth onto the wood planking.

After a quick glance around and sniff of the wind to be certain he was alone, he lowered his front end to the ground and arched his back.

With his butt in the air, he wagged his tail just a little to give his spine a good, overall stretch.

Heaving a pleased huff, Wraith eased back and settled on his haunches.

He called to his human form and began to shift.

The change from his wolf form to man didn’t take long, only about ten seconds or so.

Wraith had worked hard with Frankie Drunger—an often underestimated or misunderstood wolf shifter who taught youngsters how to embrace their wolf and change swiftly.

The big wolf shifter might come across as a bit slow due to an injury sustained when he was young, but he was a damn fantastic trainer.

These days, Frankie traveled quite a bit with his vampire mate, and he wasn’t around much, limiting his time to teach others.

Wraith appreciated that he’d been able to benefit from his guidance before he’d met the vampire council enforcer, Vincent Marché.

When Frankie wasn’t in town, Wraith did his best to have a few hours available each weekend to train others and pay it forward.

It takes a village, after all.

Plus, an hour or two with youngsters is about all I ever want to handle.

Thank the gods I’m gay.

Rising to his feet, Wraith absently pulled a pair of sweatpants out of his backpack, hoping his mate felt the same way, should they ever meet.

Over the years, he’d thought about what his mate would be like.

Especially recently, what with so many pack members finding their special someone.

While it hadn’t happened for him, yet, Wraith still clung to hope.

Just a few weeks prior, Nedrick, a fellow shifter, had stumbled across his mate at a campground, of all places.

Nedrick had dropped in to help a friend whose vehicle had broken down, and his human mate, Brett, had walked right up to him and asked to borrow his jack.

Go figure.

“You don’t have to put on those sweats on my account.”

A low tenor voice came from the darkness to the left of Wraith’s deck, drawing his attention.

Stephan appeared from around the corner of his home, a leer twisting his normally handsome features into something a little more...distasteful.

“In fact,”

Stephan continued, sauntering closer while raking his gaze over Wraith’s muscular frame.

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t.”

Settling the waistband of his sweats around his hips, Wraith turned to face the other wolf shifter.

Stephan had been a part of the Stone Ridge wolf pack for a little over a year.

Wraith had found him handsome and pleasant company, at first.

He’d even given in to the blond’s advances, and they’d enjoyed a few trysts a couple of months ago.

Then Wraith’s buddy, Gage, had pulled him aside and explained the particulars of why Stephan had needed to relocate packs.

Wraith had assumed that it was for the standard reason.

Stephan had lived in that area too long and his long-lived shifter genetics, causing a lack of apparent aging, were soon to get noticed if he’d stayed.

That wasn’t the case.

Instead, Stephan had grown possessive of a fellow wolf shifter, who he’d had dalliances with.

Then the other shifter had found his fated mate.

Instead of being happy for his friend, Stephan had attempted the cardinal sin of causing problems between the pair.

Due to Stephan being a wolf in good standing, and the fact that the situation was resolved swiftly and his fuck-buddy had put in a good word for him, Stephan had been offered relocation instead of banishment and being labeled rogue.

Alpha Declan, the Stone Ridge pack alpha, had accepted Stephan on a trial basis a year prior.

Wraith hadn’t wanted a possible problem, so he’d been doing his best to play off Stephan’s advances and put a little distance between them, at least, sexually.

Unfortunately, the other shifter seemed to have already become too attached.

Wraith was beginning to worry that Stephan was stalking him.

“What are you doing here, Stephan?”

Wraith asked, deciding to go for blunt.

“I thought you were in the middle of your round of poker.”

In fact, Wraith had made certain of it before he’d left Kurson’s house.

Stephan’s turn at one of the tables had just begun ten minutes before Wraith had said his goodbyes.

Swaggering around the deck toward the steps, Stephan gave Wraith a heated look.

“Well, the way the jeans fit your sexy legs and showcased your firm ass made it impossible for me to look away from you for long.”

Stephan began climbing the stairs, his focus fixed blatantly on Wraith’s groin.

“I noticed you leave, so I gave up my spot to follow you.”

Rubbing over his own jeans-clad groin, he showcased the bulge of his erection.

“Didn’t realize you’d come as a wolf, so it took me a few minutes to catch up. Now I’m having visions of bending you over the porch railing and making you howl.”

Wraith bit back a cringe as his ass clenched, and not in a good way.

He found Stephan’s comment odd, considering he’d always done the fucking.

Wraith had never allowed the other wolf shifter near his ass, and he certainly wasn’t going to start.

Wraith hadn’t had good experiences bottoming, and he sure didn’t think that would change anytime soon.

Don’t want anyone near my ass.

Wait, what if my mate wants to—I’ll cross that bridge should I come to it.

Feeling Stephan’s hand land on his pectoral, Wraith pushed those thoughts away and focused back on the here and now.

“Not gonna happen,”

he stated gruffly, lifting a hand and swiping the other man’s hand off of him.

Stephan twisted his lips in an expression of annoyance. Just that fast, he cleared the look and replaced it with a sultry grin. The blond once again raked Wraith with a hungry look while lifting his hand back toward his chest.

“Well, maybe you could bend me over the railing and make me howl at the moon,”

Stephan countered, turning toward said railing as he flicked open his button fly. As he started to bend over, Stephan peered at him over his shoulder while slowly pushing the top of his waistband down his ass.

“I love the feel of your big dick reaming my chute.”

For an instant, Wraith found himself distracted by the sight of Stephan’s firm, tight globes.

His fingers twitched with his desire to touch.

His prick began to thicken as he recalled the feel of sliding in and out of Stephan’s gripping channel.

Stephan must have taken Wraith’s silence as acceptance.

He pulled a single-use packet of lube from his pocket and held it up.

Then he pushed his jeans halfway down his thighs.

Resting his torso on the railing, Stephan gripped one ass cheek, arched his back to put his globes on even better display, and tugged to reveal his hole.

“Come on, baby,”

Stephan urged in a husky purr. He even wiggled the lube packet as he looked at him lustily.

“I wanna feel you nail me so damn bad.”

As Wraith’s dick twitched, he felt his resolve wavering. Surely, it couldn’t hurt to fuck Stephan one more time. After all, he was there, he was offering, and it felt damn good to—

“Sorry to be a cock-blocker.”

Gage’s deep voice echoed through the air as he appeared between the trees. He didn’t sound sorry at all.

“But Wraith left poker early because we gotta be somewhere.”

The big dirty-blond-haired shifter stalked forward, heading toward the back deck. Gage barely flicked his gaze toward Stephan as he ordered.

“Pull your pants back up,”

before focusing on Wraith and ordering.

“Run in and get ready. I’ll meet you out front.”

For an instant, Wraith froze in confusion. He met Gage’s narrowed eyes and caught the warning within the big shifter’s hazel depths. While Wraith had no clue what Gage was talking about, embarrassment rushed through him.

“Uh, right,”

Wraith muttered, shaking his head and trying to get his libido under control.

“Um, sorry, Stephan.”

The arousal still muddied his thoughts, and he struggled with what else to say. Taking Gage’s offered-out, Wraith went with.

“Meet you out front in five.”

Then Wraith grabbed his backpack from the decking and hustled into his house, locking the door behind him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Wraith saw Stephan straighten. He glared in Gage’s direction, but his buddy just sported a bored look. As Stephan yanked his jeans back into place, he snarled.

“What the fuck, Gage. You couldn’t have waited ten minutes?”

With a negligent shrug, Gage didn’t spare Stephan a response. Instead, he sauntered toward the side of the house, quickly disappearing from sight.

Rubbing a hand over his carefully buzzed five o’clock shadow, Wraith groaned under his breath.

He’d vowed that he would never fuck Stephan again, and he’d nearly been overruled by his dick.

Wraith huffed as he stalked through his house, heading up to his loft bedroom.

Over a hundred and fifty years old and still letting my dick do the thinking.

He suddenly felt so damn dirty.

Stupid prick.

Once Wraith reached his bedroom, he kicked off his sweatpants.

He grabbed a fresh pair of jeans from a drawer and yanked them on.

While he had no idea what Gage was talking about, he was going to act as if he did.

His friend had been too far away for either of them to scent if he’d been telling a lie—which I’m pretty sure he was—but Wraith certainly wasn’t going to let anyone else think that.

Wraith crossed to the closet and chose a polo shirt.

Then he grabbed socks and boots.

Once finished dressing, he grabbed his keys and rushed out the front door.

Finding Gage leaning against the side of his garage, Wraith headed toward him.

He watched his buddy open the keypad and punch in his code.

His garage door began to open, and when it was halfway up, Gage ducked under and headed inside.

Following, Wraith hit the key fob, unlocking his Jeep Grand Cherokee.

He slid into the driver’s seat.

As he pushed the key into the slot, Wraith muttered.

“Where are we headed?”

“Anywhere but here,”

Gage told him, his voice so low that it was barely heard over Wraith starting the engine.

Taking his buddy at his word, knowing Gage would never steer him wrong, Wraith backed out of his garage.

He turned around in front of his house and headed out of his driveway.

On the left, between the trees, Wraith thought he caught movement.

“Yes, Stephan is still out there,”

Gage murmured as he scrubbed a hand through his short hair. The mixed strands of dark-blond and medium-brown flopped this way and that, having a mind of their own at that hour of the night. Gage heaved a rough sigh, then grumbled.

“I noticed him slipping out of Kurson’s house a few minutes after you did. Didn’t take any prizes to guess where he was going.”

Turning to peer at him, his buddy frowned.

“Thought I should check up on you. Good thing I did.”

Grimacing, Wraith muttered.

“Thanks for that.”

“Sure, man. That’s what friends are for.”

Then Gage glared at him, shaking his head.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

Wraith let out a groan as embarrassment surged through him.

“I can’t believe I almost fucked Stephan again.”

“Me, either,”

Gage quipped back with a snort. Then he sobered, his brows furrowing.

“Actually, I think I can. He can be damn seductive from what my friend in his old pack told me yesterday.”

“You talked with Louis about him again?”

Wraith made a random turn on the road he traveled, taking him deeper into the mountains. “Why?”

“I know you didn’t say anything, but I see the way Stephan continues to pester you,”

Gage revealed, frowning. Flashing a glance his fellow wolf shifter’s way before refocusing on the road, Wraith saw the scowl twisting his friend’s features as he continued.

“His texts to you are a little...graphic.”

Wraith winced.

“Yeah. I was debating blocking him, but considering he’s a pack-mate, it’d be a little hard to explain without getting him into trouble.”

Rubbing over the bristles on his chin, he admitted.

“I wasn’t certain I wanted to go that route, yet, considering he just got off probation a couple of months ago.”

He’d heard through the grapevine that Stephan had met with Alpha Declan and a few others in the inner circle to make it official just after Wraith had told him no for the first time.

That had been a little over two months before.

Gage nodded.

“I get it, but sometimes, you gotta look out for numero uno, Wraith.”

Feeling a muscle tick in his jaw, Wraith jerked a nod. “I know.”

Few knew it, but hidden by Wraith’s loner tendencies, he had a soft heart. He hated causing problems for others. Wraith preferred to not make waves, if at all possible.

Plus, Wraith had something his mother had called the caretaker gene. He liked helping others. That was why he made time for the youngsters.

Few knew about his extracurriculars besides his closest friends and his shifter pack’s inner circle.

“Tell you what,”

Gage began, cutting into Wraith’s thoughts.

“The pack’s full moon barbeque is tomorrow,”

he reminded him.

“While we’re there, I’ll make a discreet comment to Beta Dixon.”

Wraith could feel the weight of Gage’s stare as he told him.

“I’ll ask him over if Stephan starts getting pushy, so he can see the guy’s behavior first-hand.”

After inhaling deeply, Wraith nodded slowly.

“Yeah, okay.”

At least, that way, he wouldn’t be the one pointing out Stephan’s increasingly obsessive behavior.

“That, uh, that should work.”

Gage patted his shoulder before relaxing back in his seat.

“Hey, I heard the bears are supposed to be there,”

his buddy stated, probably changing the subject to help ease tension.

“You meet them all yet?”

Wraith shook his head.

He knew Gage was referring to a small sleuth of brown bear shifters that Alpha Declan had offered sanctuary to.

From what Wraith had heard, they’d been kidnapped, tortured, and cursed by witches.

The alpha had just as soft a heart as Wraith, which he liked about the big, dominant wolf shifter.

He figured there was far more to their story than what he’d heard, considering the five brown bears and several mates were now living on pack land.

Plus, one of the mates was the brother of a wolf shifter who’d been rescued from scientists who’d done extensive experiments on him.

“No, only a few of them,”

he revealed.

“Was one of the rangers that escorted Madagascar and Ishmael to see Boaz deep in the forest once.”

Gage nodded. “Cool.”

Then he pointed to the right.

“Turn here. We’ll run up to the waterfall and sleep there in wolf form.”

Wraith knew what Gage was offering him—seclusion, a friend, and safety from his own soft heart.

Turning toward the indicated area, Wraith was more than ready to find a place to settle in for the night.