A Mate Beyond Their Reach by Scarlet Hyacinth Read Free Book Online Page A

protest regarding Valerius’s order. He kept Paulie close, however, remorse coursing through him at the thought that he’d dragged his son into such a dangerous situation.
    The trip passed in tense silence, none of them speaking. Before he knew it, the aircraft landed on a helipad on the roof of a skyscraper in New York. Drew had been to the Big Apple before, but he saw it with different eyes now. Who knew the great metropolis hid werewolves—
    or rather, spirit wolves?
    “This is my home,” Valerius said as they left the helicopter. “I hope you’ll enjoy your stay.”
    They used a large, luxurious elevator and went down into the penthouse. Paulie’s eyes boggled as he took in the unnecessary lavishness of the space. To Drew, the whole penthouse looked cold, like something he’d have seen in a designer’s catalogue. There were no pictures, no personal touches, nothing. In spite of Valerius’s words, he felt like this was a five-star hotel, and not an actual home.
    A black-clad butler appeared and bowed. Valerius introduced them and then said, “Thom, would you please lead Paul and Daniel to their guest rooms to rest?”
    “But…”
    Drew pulled his son away and said, “You do need to get some sleep, Paulie. Relax. I’ll solve this.” He paused, not wanting to lie to his son, but reluctant to scare him, too. Dan’s careless words had done enough. “In brief, the wolf we found the other day bore a virus. We’re discussing the implication of its discovery now. I brought you along because I felt you weren’t safe there without us.”
    “Oh,” Paulie said. “But Dan said—”
    “Never mind that,” Drew interrupted his son. “I’ll tell you the long version later.”
    “Your dad is right,” Dan piped in. “Come on. Let’s leave him to his complicated scientific talk.”
    Paulie looked doubtful, but in the end, nodded. Drew knew his son would have liked to hear this, given his love for science and animals. But Drew himself didn’t know if giving this information to Paulie would be recommended, at least not at this point.
    As his son and best friend followed after the butler, Drew turned toward Valerius and Trent. “All right. Now we can really have an honest to God discussion. All the cards on the table. I want to know what you intend to do to us.”
    “Very well,” Valerius said. “I think that would be best, too. We should take this conversation to my office.”
    Valerius led them from the main foyer into an adjoining chamber dominated by a huge desk. Armchairs and a marvelous bookcase completed the design. Valerius gestured them to sit, and Drew complied.
    Valerius sat at the desk, and the physical barrier the desk represented struck Drew with surprising intensity. “First of all,”
    Valerius began to speak, “I need to know if you all feel it.”
    Even if Valerius didn’t expand further on his statement, Drew knew what the other man referred to. He could not understand it, but these overwhelming emotions that called him forward toward the two spirit wolves seemed out of this world. In a weird sense, he almost thought he could experience their feelings as well. Beyond Valerius’s mask of coldness, he saw something that beckoned him forward, a hidden, deep pain. Trent was all longing and desire, and it expanded over Drew, threatening to swallow him whole.
    Trent nodded silently, and the gazes of the two men fell on Drew.
    Drew fidgeted uncomfortably, and then said, “Yes. I don’t know what to say. This isn’t normal.”
    “It isn’t normal for humans,” Valerius corrected, “but it is quite common for spirit wolves. It is the bond all mates have.”
    “Mates?” Drew repeated. Sure enough, he knew all about wolf behavior in the wild, but nothing he’d learned could possibly explain this. While the concept of mating held a strong meaning for the animals, some wolves did copulate with females other than their chosen mates across the years. However, Drew and the other men seemed to