White Wolf 2: The Call of a Soul by Jianne Carlo Read Free Book Online

seems every time I turn around, my body’s changed again. Christ on a bike, last night when I came—my fingernails lengthened and then retracted. I had no motherfucking control. Scared the piss out of me.”
    Mike didn’t chide Drake for cussing; he remembered too well the days of coming into his wolf. Discovering a talent at the most intrusive, inopportune moments. Like the middle of the World Championship Baccarat Game. That was the day he’d made his name on the circuit, the day he’d won his first million-dollar hand. Or discovering after his first couple of shooting lessons he could beat any other man in the gun club. Even the three navy-trained sniper sharpshooters.
    “I’m twenty-seven—”
    “Three years before you’re officially over the hill.”
    Rolling his eyes, he continued, “I’m still learning new things about myself. Especially with this mating crap. You have to learn not to react. To pretend everything’s normal. Then hole up and figure out what the fuck happened and cope. At least you have me, pup.”
    “Yeah. I do. I don’t know how in hell you went through the change alone.” Drake had that about-to-man-hug glint in his blue eyes.
    The pup had a streak of sentimentality and softness that worried Mike to no end. “’Nuff said. I’m not going down that road again. The past is the past. We focus on the future. No regrets.”
    “Too right. No regrets.” Drake picked up his cell phone. “It’s five forty-five. Breakfast? Melanie?”
    “Stop that eyebrow thing. Melanie won’t be at the diner. She’s on the late shift. I guess we can head out. The diner opens at six.”
    “Before I forget, Justin Laroque stopped by yesterday with an insurance proposal for the building.” Drake grinned. “Us owning the building that had been in their family for so long isn’t sitting too well with him. Have to admit I kinda enjoyed that to no end.”
    Mike grabbed his coat and shrugged it on. “Damn. Wish I hadn’t asked him for that insurance quote now. No way he’s getting our business now that he and Valérie are engaged. The less I see of her, the better.”
    “Ditto on that. What’re we going to do about the insurance then?”
    Mike shrugged. “I’d prefer we do business locally. Goodwill and all that. Didn’t the Makgamii tribe have an insurance company?”
    “Wozaawishi Insurance. They hold the policies for most of the tribes in the state.”
    “It might get us in there. Get a quote. If anything, it gives us an excuse to visit the tribe’s headquarters. Melanie’s mom works at the casino, which is right next door.”
    “Currying favor, bro? Good tactical move. Who knows how often you might bump into the daughter?” Drake stood, jammed his hands into his lower back, and arched. “How’re you going to play it with Melanie? Mom will go ballistic if she hears you’re seeing her.”
    “Mom’s not going to hear a whisper. Not until it’s a done deal.”
    Drake slung his black biker jacket over one shoulder. “Let’s get a move on. I’m starved.”
    All the myriad and contorted hurdles Mike faced to claim Melanie and establish a pack crowded his mind as they rode the elevator to the ground floor. Dating Melanie openly wasn’t an option, and he hadn’t a fucking clue how to get from that one kiss to earning her trust.
    A blast of icy air hit them when they exited the building and turned left, heading down the quarter block to the crossroads that dissected the town. Chabegawn’s main thoroughfare oozed small-town charisma. A two-lane road, Sagwash Street, ran through the center of the city and culminated in the charming Fiesta Square. A cornucopia of greenery lined and twined the street and the square; evergreen hedges, oak and maple trees, and massive blue spruce pines interspersed between the remnants of once-effusive summer annuals. Wooden flower boxes trailing variegated ivies decorated each old-style gas streetlight.
    Mike had chosen the location of their new offices for a