Page 32 of Wild Wolf
“You should know I’m not good at following orders. I used to work these vines,remember?”
How could he forget? Jordan had been integral in aiding them in the harvest, and her innocent, child-like adoration of the Fae had helped to ease the worries of the pack, who feared the Fae would cast spells on them if they didn’t harvest these grapes correctly. Jordan’s confident attitude had put the adults toshame.
“Tell me what you need,” she urged himnow.
I need you to be with me, stand with me together. Help me keep my people together because all these fires and the sabotage has sappedme.
He said none of this, only pulled her into his arms. “I need you,” Nolan said roughly, kissingher.
They kept kissing, his blood fired at the sweetness of her mouth, the way she returned hisdesire.
When they broke apart, he touched her cheek. So soft, like satin. And yet beneath that fine, translucent skin was the heart of a woman who was anything but soft. Jordan had always beentough.
“Everything’s fine,” he told her, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Let’s get tobed.”
Jordan’s smile held promise. She turned, studying the grapes. Her mouth turned down as she touched one. “They looksad.”
“They need magick. I’ll ask Selene to attend to them tomorrownight.”
Nolan took her hand. “Upstairs,pixie.”
As they started away, he glanced over hisshoulder.
Odd. White fungus had vanished from thegrapes.
He wondered aboutthat.
7
Two days after their wedding,Jordan woke at sunrise and insisted on taking a tour of the vineyards and winery. She had no intention of lazing around, letting other pack members wait on her. Nolan insisted each Lupine had a job and they worked as a team, and she was determined to do thesame.
No one could accuse her of exploiting the situation. Truth was, Jordan felt the need to prove to her new mate that she wasn’t a shiftless, indolentLupine.
Shiftless, maybe. Her red wolf blood made shifting a challenge. But she could help with thewinery.
After a tour of the vineyards, Nolan drove them in his pick-up truck to the winery. Off a busy street in town, it had a large neon sign boasting Firefly HillWinery.
She jumped out, and was headed for the entrance before he could even open the truck door for her. Nolan was a polite, SouthernLupine.
But the more she allowed him to do things for her, the less respect he’d accord her.I can open my own doors, and I don’t need anyone protectingme.
Cool air wafted over her as she entered the winery store. Behind the cash register, Erica glanced up, saw her and her eyeswidened.
Jordan gave a merry wave. She went to the counter, studied the collections of corks for sale. Customers milled about, examining T-shirts, wineglasses and other accessories. Most smelled like Skins, but there were a few shifters amongstthem.
“I thought you’d be lounging in bed, exhausted, since you’re a new bride,” Erica snipped. She peered at Nolan striding through the parking lot. “You must not have satisfied him much if you’re this chipper andenergetic.”
The insult had the effect of a slap. Jordan winced. Then she smiled to make up for it. “We’re both young and have lots of stamina. Who says you can’t have amazing sex at night and work the nextday?”
She wandered off to examine a wine purse when Nolan found her. “You could have waited,” he gentlyscolded.
He brought her back to a room filled with giant stainless steel tanks. Two men ran the bottling machine, taking the filled bottles and boxing them. Another ran a forklift, lifting pallets of boxes onto a truck in the loading dock. Hoses snaked over the tile floor. Nolan took her elbow, steadied her as she treaded through water on the floor. His touch made her shiver withawareness.
As he talked, the numbers astounded her. Six years ago, the winery was small, earning revenue from the tastings at the bar and from supplying local retailers. Now they shipped across the country, thanks to having an agricultural exemption. The huge steel tanks held a total of 75,000 gallons of fermenting wine in variousstages.
“Most of what we produce are the sweet wines, the muscato and the muscadine. They’re in highdemand.”
He pointed to the machine in the corner. “We use that for sparkling wine. Machine puts 3,000 pounds of pressure on the oversized corks to stuff them inside. It seals the fermentation. Know why we don’t call our sparkling winechampagne?”
