Challenged by Lorie O'Clare Read Free Book Online

with Mickey Reginald sauntering by his side.
     
    Mickey worked with her father building houses and had flirted with Ali in the past.
    Ali let her gaze travel down him, wondering what she’d ever seen in Mickey. He didn’t
    hold a flame to Stone, and looked measly walking alongside Gabe.
     
    “Welcome to our den.” Ali’s sire walked over to the two werewolves, extending his
    hand to Gabe McAllister. “I’m Jonathan Bastien.”
     
    “Gabe McAllister.” He shook hands with her sire, and after releasing his hand,
    nodded to Ali and her mother.
     
    She gave silent thanks that Gabe gave no indication that he’d met her before.
     
    Ali’s mother moved to stand next to her father. The excitement in the yard over the
    new mobile home diminishing as her littermates congregated around their parents.
     
    “Sorry to bother your den so early in the morning.” Mickey smiled at Ali, looking
    anything but sorry to be strolling into their yard. “I knew we had several contracts lined
    up, and Gabe here has experience. If you approve, we’ll add him to the crew.”
     

 
    “You new to the pack?” Jonathan asked.
     
    “Yup. Moved here from Prince George. Pamela Bordeaux is my new mate. We have
    a den up the mountain,” Gabe informed him, his attention solely on Jonathan, showing
    his respect.
     
    Her sire nodded, rubbing the whiskers on his chin as he studied Gabe. “I heard
    about that mating. Bit of a scandal around it, from what I hear tell.”
     
    “Pack gossip is exaggerated,” Gabe said lightly.
     
    Ali had heard how Pamela had run away from the mating her den had wanted, and
    then came back to the pack with Gabe on her heels. It had been such a romantic tale.
    She wondered if the craving to mate with a bitch ran thick through his den. Blinking,
    she frowned, turning her attention to her littermates who ran in and out of the mobile
    home. Stone wouldn’t come sniffing after her after just one night of hot passion. She
    was too much of a realist to believe that.
     
    “Gabe worked for a lumber mill back in Prince George,” Mickey was saying.
     
    He caught her attention and winked slyly before turning his attention back to her
    sire. Ali hated how he flirted with her so openly in front of her den, as if he already had
    her sire’s approval or something.
     
    Ali licked her lips, looking away from Mickey and glancing at Gabe. He looked so
    much like Stone, everything inside her ached to see his twin again.
     
    “Paul down at the lumberyard told us you bought this trailer, asked us to stop by to
    help you measure for the new furniture you wanted inside it.” Gabe glanced her way as
    he spoke, letting his gaze stroll down her.
     
    Fire burned through Ali. She frowned and looked down at her feet. This wasn’t
    right. She shouldn’t feel anything from a mated werewolf.
     
    Her sire started talking to the two werewolves about what his plans were for his
    new mobile home. The energy generating from everyone so early in the morning was
    too much for Ali. She needed coffee.
     

 
    “Come help me get food ready,” her mother said, taking her arm.
     
    “Why did you buy the mobile home?” Ali asked her mother once they were alone
    in the kitchen.
     
    “Your father thought it would be fun to do some traveling. All of you are getting
    older now, and traveling in a car to different packs would be cumbersome.” Audry
    tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Besides, when he did the siding for the Millers,
    they couldn’t pay for all the supplies. He got the mobile home in trade for labor.”
     
    Audry’s once-blonde hair now streaked with gray, although her face still showed
    her youth in spite of all the cubs she’d birthed. Her blue eyes glowed as she spoke.
     
    “Sounds like Dad,” Ali said, pouring much-needed coffee into a mug then inhaling
    the rich scent of the hot brew as she turned to look out the back door.
     
    “He’s a good werewolf, always there for the pack.” Audry didn’t