Wolf on a Leash by Virginia Nelson Page A

outside, perhaps he would have been able to hide the wild, gamey scent of bear. But closed inside a building? It reeked of bear when he visited. She’d smelled him the moment he walked in. “Hiya, Gee. What can I do for you?”
    She hoped her smile didn’t look as forced as it felt. Although her words were the practiced, friendly banter of a salesperson, she couldn’t quite force herself to meet his eyes. What is the purpose of being a Wolf if I don’t have a scrap of claw?
    “Don’t leave town tonight.” Gee often played the part of the somewhat vague and mysterious oracle, but he usually saved that kind of shit for in his bar. Coming all the way down the street to the consignment shop to rattle off doom and gloom was beyond strange.
    “I hadn’t planned on going anywhere new.” It wasn’t a lie, not exactly. She hadn’t said she planned to disobey him. However, she hadn’t agreed to his dictate either.
    Hadn’t Ryker all but given her the go-ahead about visiting her club? Sure, he’d mentioned she should let him know if she sensed she was in true danger, but he hadn’t told her not to visit the dungeon, which was almost akin to him telling her she could go, right? Years of practice at small misdirections, that seemed obedient and should have gotten her punished but didn’t when the Alpha couldn’t be bothered to control the pack as they should, had primed her for expecting years of the same. She wasn’t important. Therefore, she might be submissive, but she sure as hell didn’t have to obey, either.
    “I’m not Drew. I’m asking you, not telling you, not to leave town tonight. There’s something in the air…. I don’t trust it. None of your typical shenanigans, girl. Be smart.” Gee didn’t wait for her response.
    Typical . No one bothered to ask her what she wanted, what she needed. Pack business, town business, shifter business—none of it important enough to discuss with a little submissive Wolf with no tooth or claw.
    Gritting her teeth harder, she admitted to a full-blown headache growing from her irritation. She was tired of being ignored, tired of not being important enough to bother with, tired of being a submissive without a Dom. Frustration mounting and head throbbing, she decided to flip the sign to closed, lock the door, and snag a shower.
    If it wasn’t smart to leave town tonight…well, unless someone bothered to stop her, fuck them . She was going out and getting her freak on, to hell with the consequences.
     
    ***
     
    Kennedy Laurie dropped the rucksack on the floor of Ogre’s cabin. The familiar scents of home—stale beer, sweaty gym socks, and cigarette smoke, all overlaid by the pines outside—wasn’t quite the same as he remembered. Tish had made her mark, everywhere, it seemed, including in his buddy’s man cave, leaving behind something floral, no doubt in a feminine attempt to make the cabin stink less. The difference had him offering unexpected words in greeting. “I’m not staying long.”
    “Yeah, yeah, yeah, wandering and a rollin’ stone. Too busy to visit family, friends, a lone soul, forever you may roam…. I think I’ve heard the song. Or ten versions of it. Quit your bitching and grab us both a beer out of the cooler, okay?” Ogre kicked his recliner back, obviously at home in his surroundings.
    Grabbing the beers, he plopped his ass on the cooler and considered his longtime friend, more akin to brotherhood than Kennedy’s actual blood relations. “Fuck you, too, jackwad. Seriously, I’m heading north. Maybe Alaska. I’ve heard good things about Alaska.” Like there were still unclaimed miles of space there. Like a man could get lost there. He longed to get lost, to bury what he knew in miles of wilderness and pretend he wasn’t human anymore. Anything to stop the nightmares that had plagued him the last few years.
    “You know men outnumber women up there? I read somewhere….”
    “On the Internet? ’Cause not everything on the Internet