Page 6 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)

CHAPTER 6

MAX

It was impossible. It should have been impossible.

Summer could scent me? No other wolf, or any supe, had ever been able to scent that I was half-vampire in all my years. Sure, my father had mentioned looking for a wolf with keen senses, but I’d never imagined this .

There was a chance that West had told her what I was after he’d found out during our hunt for Jade, but he seemed like the kind of male who could keep a secret.

As instructed, I’d taken the stairwell up to Summer’s roof, where I now paced aimlessly through neatly arranged rows of raised garden beds. Flowers of every color bloomed in between vining plants beginning to grow over trellises, framed by the scenic Rocky Mountains circling the little town. Everything was alive and fresh, just like the woman who lived here. It was easy to imagine how gorgeous this would all be later in the summer. If I hadn’t been so distracted by Summer doing the impossible, it would have been… nice.

Bit overboard, in my opinion, but to each their own.

Then there was the other distraction — I glanced down at the “reverse harem” book I was still, inexplicably, holding. What the fuck was that woman reading?

I flipped it open, scanning through some pages until the word cock caught my eye. Glancing around the roof to check I was alone, I held the book a little closer.

I gasp as Knox pulls me astride him, lining us up and slamming his cock in me in one thrust. As he sets our rhythm from below, Ajax’s hand reaches around my jaw from behind, tilting my head to his and capturing my lips in a devouring kiss. His other hand grips my hips, then my ass, his fingers slippery with lube as he breaches my —

“All right, I brought the tea anyway, since I want some and what better way to use the last of my peach syrup. The bourbon is optional depending on the turn of this conversation — oh, you must be at a good part for that blush.”

I slammed the book shut, but quickly switched my slack jaw for a smirk as I wiggled the book at her. “Is your family aware of your salacious reading material? This is downright scandalous.”

“Next thing you know, I’ll be flashing my ankles. The horror!” Summer gasped as she hiked her jeans leg up, showing off her crew socks. With a chuckle, she set the basket containing a pitcher of iced tea, a bottle of bourbon, and two cups down on a turquoise metal garden table, then sat on the chair beside it.

“I’ll have you know I’ve given out many a book recommendation over the years, and some people have even told me I saved their relationships. But if you want to be the one to tell my brothers about that book, be my guest. Just make sure you tell me in advance so I can be there with popcorn as their minds explode.” She waggled her eyebrows, pouring us each a glass of tea.

With a shake of my head, I took the seat across from her. “Let’s get back on topic.”

“Yes, this mysterious favor.”

“You can scent me.” I met her eyes, hesitating, as she took a long drink of tea.

“Is that the favor? What is this, a smell kink? You want me to huff you and puff you and blow —”

“ No , what does that even —” I broke off as Summer started laughing at me again. “Okay, you have your mental links shut down?”

Summer tapped her temple. “Fort Knox up here.”

I glared at her, remembering the name from the book, but tried to move past it. “You know something about my work for the PRICs, for Malachi?” She nodded in a sort of way, so I continued. “He wants me to track down some vampire dens, but they’re notoriously hard to find. Almost impossible. Except, my father found mention of a legend that some wolves have senses acute enough to find them. Since you appear to be unnaturally good at scenting us —”

“ ‘US’?” Summer’s air-quotes and dramatic questioning tone should have been on Broadway.

“Yes, you were right, I’m half-vampire,” I said, and she gasped, hand to chest and all. I rolled my eyes. “I want you to help me test my father’s theory about the best way to find dens.”

“Sure.” She shrugged, taking another long sip, and I fought not to let my jaw drop.

“Well, I wasn’t finished explaining what exactly I’m asking of you.”

“You want to see if I can smell a whole pack of vampires, right?”

“A den, but yes. It’s not that simple though.”

“Sounds pretty simple to me. You point me in the right direction, and I find the nearest charred blood bank, right?”

I frowned. “Charred blood bank?”

“Not charred, per se. More smoky copper. You really can’t smell yourself? Do you have allergies? Can you get allergies? Maybe you should go see an otorhinolaryngologist.”

Brushing a hand across my face, I leaned back in my chair, staring at her. Why was she agreeing so easily? There was no way this sunshine-emitting, tie-dye wearing woman was fully comprehending the severity and complexity of the situation. “This is dangerous. Vampires do not play nice. Your brother will kill me if we do this and you get hurt.”

“I’m confused. Do you not want me to agree to help you?”

“I want to make sure you understand the situation. This isn’t one of your books, sunshine. This is actual danger.”

She grinned. “Good thing for you, I’ve been needing some adventure in my life lately. This wasn’t technically on my bucket list, but I can add it in, no problem. Besides”— she stood up and went to a control panel on the wall, triggering the sprinklers to water the plants around her— “I have three brothers. I’m not exactly helpless. And for all your tough guy act, I hardly think you’d ever let anything terrible happen to us.”

“Bucket list?”

She clapped her hands, turning back to me but ignoring my question. There was something slightly manic in her eyes that set off an alarm bell in my mind, and when she spoke again, her words started coming out faster and faster. “Now, I assume we’ll be traveling, because obviously I’d already know, with my super keen nose, if there were any dens nearby. So that means I need to pack, and let Olive know what’s up and get some shifts moved around, but I can probably be ready to go in a few hours.”

“Summer —”

“Okay! Two hours, tops. I’ll make it work, Tim Gunn style. We got this. Oh my gosh, how fun, I can’t remember the last time I took a vacation! Where to first, partner? Nope!” She held up her hands. “Surprise me. I’ll pack for everything. We’ll be able to sneak in some sightseeing, right? It sounds like we’ll have to wander around, so yes, sightseeing. Great idea. Oh, I can use my new suitcase! This will be great.”

I waited to see if that was the end of it, or if she had more she needed to get out. When her eyes only widened expectantly, I sighed. “Summer, no. I want to test Malachi’s theory with you on this one den that I suspect is somewhere in Boston. But if it works, then I’ll find someone else — you have the store, and your family, and probably no actual combat experience, sibling squabbles notwithstanding.”

She deflated a little more with every word, then crossed her arms. “Some other wolf with super senses, you mean.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“When you’ve never — and I mean ever , and Goddess knows how old you are, we already covered the socks — been sniffed out before and I’m right here in front of you, ready and willing to help?”

I faltered, then went for it. “We think you’ll have to taste my blood to surpass their cloaking spells vampires use to hide their dens.” Her brows shot up at the advice my father had given me. “There are more vampires near a den to increase the scent, but all the more reason for them to cloak that scent. Part of our magic enables that. But Malachi’s belief is that, if a wolf tastes vampire blood, it can negate some or all of that cloaking magic.”

Wrinkling her nose a little, Summer hummed. “Well, blood’s not exactly my kink, but that’s not the grossest thing in the world.”

My jaw did drop this time. “What? You’re actually willing to do that.”

“Couple drops of blood?” She shrugged. “You know I’m a wolf, right? I take my steak rare, buddy. Practically mooing. Does it have any fun side effects? Now that would make it more interesting for the bucket list.”

“That’s not —” I sputtered, my brain stalling for a minute, then tried again. “Do you know what blood sharing means for vamps?”

“That we’re really, really good friends? Or enemies, I guess, depending on if the blood was a willing thing or not. I could just bite you. Frenemies. Best of both worlds.”

I shifted in my seat to hide the effect the image of her biting me had on my body, then reached for the bottle of bourbon, unscrewed the lid and took a long pull straight from the bottle. “It means you’re a Source, a whore, or a spouse.”

“To other vamps, maybe.”

“Which is who we’ll be meeting with.”

“Whom we’ll never see again.”

“You don’t — you wouldn’t care?”

She lifted her arms. “What strangers think of me? Not particularly.”

Why was I more upset about this than she seemed to be? Why was she not getting this?

Summer tilted her head, honey-brown hair cascading over her shoulder. “Maybe you’re the one who cares, tough guy. But do you care if they think that about me, or think that you would have a Source/whore, or that yours would be me?” Her eyes widened comically again, only I was almost sure she was dead serious. “ Or are you worried that they’d know that I’d know that they’d know I’m only pretending to be —”

“What are you rambling about?” She was losing me. Possibly herself as well.

“The way I see it, we have an easy out here, partner of mine.” She leaned back in her chair, a mischievous glint in her eye I had a feeling I’d come to know well.

“Enlighten me.”

“Massimo Salvatore Russo, will you fake-date me?”