TheCanuckWerewolf

  The Canuck Werewolf

  Marisa Chenery

  Rylee doesn’t have high hopes for the Victoria Day weekend camping trip, seeing as she’s been roped into taking her brother and his juvenile friends. But her mind is changed when she spots a gorgeous man on a hiking trail. She’d like to be zipped in a sleeping bag with him, no doubt about it.

  Atticus came to Elora Gorge to get away from his father and his demands that his son find a mate. Like yesterday. Atticus needs time away from being groomed to be the pack leader and the endless stream of “suitable” mates thrown his way in hopes of stirring his mating urge. No luck yet. But then he spots a shy mortal who draws him like no other.

  The tent heats up quickly, but before Atticus can tell Rylee what he is, he discovers a member of his pack has followed him with the intention of claiming him for her own. Not only does he have to convince Rylee she’s his mate, he must also prove she can trust him.

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing

  www.ellorascave.com

  The Canuck Werewolf

  ISBN 9781419933912

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  The Canuck Werewolf Copyright 2011 Marisa Chenery

  Edited by Grace Bradley

  Cover art by Syneca

  Electronic book publication April 2011

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  The Canuck Werewolf

  Marisa Chenery

  Dedication

  To my fellow Canadians.

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  BMW: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft Corporation

  Dodge Caravan: Chrysler Corporation

  Learjet: Gates Learjet Corporation

  Chapter One

  Gritting her teeth for the umpteenth time since she’d started this trip, Rylee looked into the review mirror of the Dodge Caravan van she drove with her nineteen-year-old brother, Luc, and his two friends. They were in the seats behind her, seeing who could top each other for grossness. The teenage male, she sometimes thought, became retarded once puberty set in.

  She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the entrance to the Elora Gorge Conservation Area up ahead—their destination. It was the Victoria Day long weekend, the celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday. And given that it was the May twenty-fourth long weekend—or May two-four as it was called by teenagers, meaning a twenty-four case of beer—it was the time people in Ontario planted their gardens, opened their cottages up north for the summer or went camping. The latter was what she’d been roped into doing. It was also the first of two holidays Canadians were allowed to set off fireworks. July first, Canada Day, was the second.

  Rylee drove to the gatehouse and told the woman who stepped out to greet them that she’d already reserved a serviced campsite. After giving directions on where to find their site, the woman waved them through.

  It didn’t take her long to find it. She parked the van not too far from the single picnic table for their use. Rylee got out and opened the sliding door on the driver’s side as her brother and his friends piled out the other side. She pulled the bags that held two tents from the very back.

  She’d just carried them over to the tent pad to be set up when she heard one of Luc’s friends say he wanted to check out the gorge. The others quickly jumped onboard with that idea. Like hell were they going to stick her with all the work.

  Rylee put two fingers in her mouth and let out a shrill whistle, bringing the three teenage boys up short. “You guys aren’t going anywhere just yet. We have to set up the campsite.”

  “Come on, Rylee,” Luc whined. “We were cooped up in the van for the drive. We’ll take a quick look at the gorge and come right back. I promise.”

  She put her hands on her hips, and with a stern glare, shook her head. The drive from Kitchener, where they lived, to Elora was hardly a long enough trip to have had the boys feeling cooped up. No, it was a ploy to get out of having to actually work. Luc usually managed to worm his way out of doing things with their mother, but it wasn’t going to work with her. Being twenty-four to his nineteen, she’d looked after him more than a few times while Luc had been younger and she knew all his tricks.

  “Nice try,” she said. “Considering it only took forty-six minutes to get here, it wasn’t all that long a drive. Since it wasn’t my idea to come with you on this camping trip, all of you are going to set up the tent you’re going to sleep in. I’m not Mom. I’m not going to put up with your lazy-ass ways.”

  Luc made the annoying whining sound he always made when he didn’t get things his way. “I don’t know why Mom insisted you had to tag along.”

  “I do. First, she didn’t feel comfortable letting you drive her van this distance, and second, she figured the three of you would get up to no good without adult supervision.”

  “I wish Mom would stop treating me like a baby. I’m nineteen, not nine,” Luc grumbled as he and his friends joined her at the tent pad and got to work setting up their four-man tent.

  “Maybe she would if you’d stop acting like one, Mr. Whiner. The quicker you get the job done the faster you can go do whatever you want. Since we couldn’t check in until two, it’s already creeping up to late afternoon. Setting up a tent in the dark is not fun.”

  Even though spring had arrived and the nights weren’t quite as long as they were in the winter, the temperature could still drop with the chance of frost once it got dark. Rylee had made sure she brought an old quilt with her just in case her sleeping bag wasn’t warm enough.

  She left the boys to it as she moved a short distance away to set up her own two-man tent. It didn’t take long for teenage laughter to be heard as her brother and his friends set to work.

  After quickly putting her tent up, Rylee went back to the van to grab her air mattress and sleeping bag. She’d leave the quilt in the van until she knew she’d need it. With both rolled-up items in her hands, she turned around to find Luc’s friend, Josh, standing behind her. He gave her a big smile as his gaze looked her up and down. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Just what she needed—a nineteen-year-old hitting on her.

  “Was there something you wanted, Josh?”

  “We have our tent almost set up and I thought I would come and see if I could give you a hand.”

  “That’s nice of you, but I can manage on my own.”

  “Are you sure? I’d be happy to help you put your sleeping bag inside your tent.”

  She just bet he would. “No, really I’m fine. If you want to make yourself useful, wh
y don’t you grab the other sleeping bags and take them to your own tent? Where you will be sleeping while I sleep in mine—alone. Got it?”

  Josh gave her a smile Rylee was sure melted many a teenage girl’s heart. He was good looking, she’d give him that, but way too young for her. She liked her men, well, men.

  He reached around her, deliberately brushing up against her, as he picked up one of the sleeping bags. “Well, you know where I’ll be if you change your mind.”

  This time Rylee did roll her eyes before yelling over to her brother. “Luc? Come and help lover boy over here get the rest of the sleeping bags.”

  Once Luc and his other friend, Nick, joined them, her brother gave Josh a shove. “Stop hitting on my sister, perv. I told you she’d shoot you down.”

  Nice. Luc could have given her fair warning about Josh’s interest in her. But of course her brother never thought that far ahead. Once the boys returned to their tent, Rylee went to hers. She unzipped the flap and ducked inside. Unrolling the air mattress, she realized she’d forgotten to bring the pump for it. Great, now she’d have to blow it up herself the hard way.

  After what seemed an agonizingly long time, where Rylee had made herself a bit lightheaded, the air mattress was blown up with her sleeping bag unrolled on top of it. The joys of camping. At least having a serviced campsite—meaning there was running water and electricity available—meant she didn’t have to totally rough it. Plus there was a washroom with showers that had hot and cold running water.

  Hearing three male voices just outside her tent, Rylee poked her head out the flap. “You guys get finished?”

  The boys stopped and turned in her direction. Luc answered for them. “Yes. We’re going to check out the gorge.”

  “Just be careful. If you fall into it and kill yourself, Mom will kill me.”

  “We’re not that stupid. We’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

  Rylee watched them walk away. This was going to be a fun weekend. Not. It wasn’t as if she liked having to be the only responsible adult on the camping trip. The gorge with its twenty-two-meter-high cliffs that the Grand River rushed through was a very real hazard. More than a few people had fallen to their deaths. Having camped here plenty of times with her family while growing up, she knew the conservation area had signs posted with warnings and barriers set up.

  With nothing left to do at the moment with regard to setting up the campsite, Rylee decided she’d go for a walk and do her best to avoid meeting up with her brother and his friends. With three kilometers of hiking trails on the conservation area that offered views of the deep gorge, it wouldn’t be too hard to do.

  Taking a circuitous route to the hiking trail, she walked down the road that wound through the other campsites. She appeared to not be the only one who’d recently arrived at the conservation area. At one site Rylee caught the flash of blond hair in the sunlight. Slowing her steps, she turned her head to get a better look.

  She sucked in a sharp breath. The blond man she saw literally took her breath away. Rylee walked even slower as his head suddenly jerked up from the tent he’d been setting up and he looked directly at her. She knew it was rude to stare, but in his case, she couldn’t stop herself. He was everything she found attractive in a man. He had to be at least six foot five. She couldn’t help running her gaze over his well-muscled body. It made her pussy clench at the sight of his broad shoulders, defined chest and muscular thighs showcased inside snug-fitting blue jeans and a semi-tight black t-shirt. His hair was long, touching the top of his shoulders and so blond it appeared almost white.

  The way he stared at her had Rylee all of a sudden feeling shy, along with aroused. What chance did she have with a man who looked like him? Not much. And there was no way in hell she’d go over and talk to him just in case she made a fool of herself. Finally managing to pry her gaze off him, she ducked her head and continued on her way.

  Once she reached the trails, she actually enjoyed the peace and quiet of it, though it did nothing to cool her heated thoughts about the blond man. Rylee stopped at the first spot that gave her an unobstructed view of the gorge. She went to the rail and looked down, way down. It was a breathtaking sight. Looking at the river going through it, she observed that the water level seemed a little on the high side. Considering the big dumping of rain they’d had a couple of days ago, she wasn’t surprised. In the warmer months people could rent inner tubes and go tubing on the Grand. In May the water would still be too cold for that.

  Her thoughts wandered. A pair of wide shoulders, a gorgeous face and blond hair kept swirling inside her head. Even though she was afraid to approach him, she hoped he’d still be outside at his campsite when she walked back to hers. She’d make a point of taking the same route. She could easily see herself spending a great deal of the weekend walking by that very spot hoping for a glimpse of him. Too bad she hadn’t brought her digital camera and her cell phone didn’t have one, either. Rylee wouldn’t mind sneaking a couple shots of him to take back to Kitchener with her. God, she was pathetic if she’d resort to that, but it was better than having nothing but the memory of him.

  She closed her eyes, lifted her face to the sun and took a deep breath. The heat felt good on her skin. After the long winter months where temperatures could drop to minus thirty degrees Celsius with the wind chill, Rylee looked forward to the hot summer days. She hated winter. She’d rather be sweating her ass off than freezing any day. And considering how sunny and warm it was today, it wasn’t too hard to see summer wasn’t all that far off.

  At a noise that sounded between a groan and a moan, Rylee opened her eyes and turned in the direction it had come from. They widened when she took in the blond man who stood a short distance away. Glacial-blue eyes stared back at her. Seeing the look of hunger in them, Rylee found herself frozen in place, unable to pull her gaze away. Holy shit, the star of her future sexual fantasies had found her. Her libido shot into high gear at the sight of him. If he so much as approached and touched her, in any way, she was liable to fall on him and kiss him like there was no tomorrow.

  * * * * *

  Atticus had been more than ready to get out of Toronto, away from his family and pack for the long weekend. And especially from his father who was pack leader. Being the oldest son put Atticus next in line for whenever his father decided to step down, which wouldn’t be for a very, very long time. But that didn’t stop the pack leader from grooming his son, getting him ready for the position that would one day be his.

  It was getting to be a bit too much, especially now that his father had decided Atticus needed to find his mate and set to work producing the next generation. He lost count of the number of times unmated females had been paraded in front of him in the hopes they would trigger his mating urge, something all male werewolves went through when they found their would-be mates. So far that hadn’t happened. They’d all been supermodel pretty, as all of his kind were, but none of them had done anything for him.

  Needing to get away, Atticus had picked Elora Gorge Conservation Area to spend the Victoria Day long weekend…by himself. It had enough wooded area so he could shift into his wolf form and go for a run. It was also a place his father would never come. Camping was beneath the pack leader. Atticus, on the other hand, loved to be outdoors away from the large city Toronto was. Here he could be what he was—a werewolf who wanted to smell the clean scents around him and enjoy the wind in his fur.

  Planning on hitting one of the hiking trails to take in the smog-free air, Atticus wanted nothing more than to go wolf and take a long run. Since it was the middle of the afternoon with more than a few mortals around, he’d have to wait until the cover of darkness.

  He hadn’t been at his campsite for very long, had just started to set up his tent, when a scent came out of nowhere and slammed into him like a punch to the gut. His mating urge instantly came to life and his cock went rock-hard. Looking up, he found a woman slowly walking past his site. Drawing in great gulps of air, Atticus filtered
out the many scents around him, concentrating on the one that had his body going haywire.

  Hers.

  The longer he stared, the harder his cock got. And when she stared back at him with marked interest, he wanted to throw back his head and howl. Before he could pull his thoughts together, she ducked her head and hurried on her way. But he wasn’t prepared to let her go so easily. He finished setting up his campsite and went after her.

  Following the scent trail, he walked at a brisk pace. He rounded a corner and saw her standing at a rail looking down at the gorge. Her long, light brown hair fell to the middle of her back. His gaze ran hungrily along her slim form as his cock jerked inside his jeans. This mortal was his would-be mate. Aroused, he wanted nothing more than to go to her, take her to the ground and bury his aching cock inside her. And his wolf wanted her as well.

  As he slowly closed the distance between them, a small part of his brain that still functioned thought of what his father’s reaction would be once he learned Atticus’ mate was mortal. The pack leader wouldn’t be at all pleased. He thought it was beneath a werewolf to mate with a lowly mortal. Atticus had no such feelings.

  Coming within a few feet of the woman, he came to a standstill and drew in a deep breath, filling his lungs with her scent. It would now be permanently etched on his brain, never forgotten. He’d be able to find her anywhere just by following it. Another breath, and a groan close to a moan punched out of his chest before he could hold it back.

  She turned, her gaze latching onto him. As she looked him up and down with the same stark interest as before showing in her dark brown eyes, he hungrily stared back, fighting the wolf’s growl that threatened to break free. She was pretty in a girl-next-door kind of way. Her looks did more for him than any female werewolf’s supermodel beauty ever would.