Longing for Wolves (Shifter Country Wolves Book 5) Read Free Page A

system?” he asked, picking up a jam thumbprint.
    “Pick your two favorites and don’t make fun of me,” Greta said, biting into a maple crunch cookie.

    It didn’t take them long to agree on the thumbprints and shortbread surprises — the surprise was a gooey, cinnamon-spiced center, and it was delicious. The two guys at the end of the bar agreed, though one made a case for the jam cookies.
    “Okay,” said Greta, dusting the plates off into the sink behind the bar. The couple playing pool had helped, as well, and the last brownie had been eaten by a quiet blond guy with an earring who’d come in, gotten a beer, and sat in a booth.
    “Will you take these back to Annika and tell her what we decided?”
    “Sure,” said Calder, even as his heart clenched.  
    Every time he left the safety of a building, he could run into him , he knew. Calder felt desperately unready for that, despite the years between them. He’d thought time would make that particular pain better, but instead it hadn’t helped at all, just driving the spike deeper into his already-delicate heart.
    Each year was just another year that he hadn’t contacted Sam, another year that they hadn’t spoken. Another year that Calder hadn’t fixed a goddamn thing with himself or anyone else.
    On the other hand, he didn’t mind seeing Annika again. He didn’t mind at all.
    “Thanks,” Greta said, and handed him the five plates.
    Calder balanced them on one hand as he reached for the door, but it swung in before he could reach it.
    In the doorway, backlit by the orange street lamps, stood his former mate.

Chapter Two

    Sam
    Sam had nearly canceled his date a dozen times before he left work that day. If he didn’t think that Scarlet might murder him, he probably would have.
    Walking down the street, sweater over his t-shirt, he smiled. She was right, of course: seven years was a long time, and there were other fish in the sea. Other wolves in the woods, as she put it.
    The wolf he was heading to the Tooth & Claw to meet seemed nice enough. They’d chatted a bit through Triangle, the shifter-specific dating app. Scarlet’s sister-in-law worked for them, so she’d hooked him up with a Deluxe account for free.
    Greg was the guy’s name. Greg was good-looking enough, and he had a couple of tattoos, said he was into kayaking and woodworking. Sam didn’t feel any particular spark for him, but Scarlet had rather forcefully reminded him that a spark was hard to feel via screen.
    So here he was. Going on a date. Before he left the tattoo shop he’d even combed his hair and made sure there was nothing in his teeth. Part of him wanted to be nervous, because that would at least mean that he was interested, but he wasn’t. He was curious at best, if he was being honest.
    Outside the Tooth & Claw, Sam looked down at himself, making sure that his fly hadn’t come unzipped and that he hadn’t gotten mustard all over himself. No disasters.  
    Then he pushed the door open, and nearly ran into someone carrying a stack of plates.
    Above the plates were two indigo-blue eyes, a shock of wild dark hair, and a couple days’ worth of stubble.
    For a moment, Sam thought his heart had stopped in his chest.
    Then it roared to life, thundering through his veins. His mind went utterly blank, filled with white noise, everything but his former mate’s face blurry and muffled.
    Calder was crystal clear, though. Slowly, it sank through the layers of Sam’s surprise that he was real, that this was real, he was really walking into a bar as Calder Waltz, his former mate, was walking out.  
    Then he felt like he’d been punched, the wind knocked out of him. Sound and light rushed back in, and some tiny part of Sam became aware that he was just standing there, blocking the doorway.
    “Sorry,” Sam said. He pushed the door wider and moved to one side, letting the other man through. It was pure automatic impulse: this is what you do when you nearly hit someone with a