by Lynn Howard
“All set,” she said.
The rumble of an engine sounded in the distance.
“Daxon’s here. You ready?”
Penny turned and frowned at her. “I wish I could hear like you,” she said.
Ryanne bent forward and whispered, “Then you’d have to hear all the farts, too.”
Penny’s nose scrunched up then she giggled. “Gross.”
Running to the door, Penny stood on her tiptoes to see through the glass in anticipation. She’d been taught from an early age she wasn’t allowed outside without an adult. That adult being Ryanne.
“Here he comes,” Penny announced.
Ryanne stood and grabbed the bag she’d packed for Penny. Sunblock. Juice pouches. Snacks. Wet wipes. Even a change of clothes in case she had an accident or got dirty.
Taking Penny’s hand, she stepped outside, locked the door, then smiled at Daxon.
Her breath caught as he stepped from a big pickup truck, his grin wide. He was wearing a gray cotton t-shirt, worn out jeans, and a pair of boots. Not the cowboy kind. More the construction worker type.
He was the epitome of masculinity as he sauntered to the porch. “You excited?” he asked Penny before saying a word to Ryanne. And that warmed her heart.
“Yes!” she said, bounding down the stairs and lunging at Daxon. Penny had never been shy, but Ryanne had never seen her so comfortable with a man the first time she met him. Guess she was a pretty good judge of character, too.
“Whoa!” Daxon said, catching her midair and settling her on his hip.
He looked at ease with Penny in his arms, like he’d carried her a thousand times.
And her heart warmed even more.
“You two ready?” He looked nervous. But he was smiling. And his smile was as stunning and heart stopping as she’d imagined.
Ryanne hitched the bag over her shoulder and followed Daxon and Penny to his truck. When he opened the back door, she turned wide eyes to Daxon.
“You bought a booster seat?” she asked.
His look turned sheepish. “Is it the wrong kind?”
“No. I mean, it’s the right kind, but we could have taken mine out of my car. You didn’t need to spend money like that.”
He shrugged as he set Penny in her seat and pulled the belt in place. “I figured I’d need one if I’m going to hang out with you girls more often.”
Yep. Her heart warmed even more. Soon, it was going to burst into flames.
They both knew they shouldn’t think of each other in the future, but he was doing just that. He already planned to be around her and Penny more often and made sure his car was equipped for a small child.
The drive to Big River territory took less than ten minutes. Would’ve been faster if Daxon had actually done the speed limit.
“Have you ever driven with a kid in the car?” she asked, turning to look at his profile.
He rubbed the back of his neck as his lips quirked up in a crooked smile. “That obvious, huh?”
“You have been around kids, though.” He’d said his friends had two little girls.
“Yeah. I’ve been around them and played with them and all that. But I’m a twin. We didn’t have any younger siblings. So, we never had to take care of any kids. Rieka and Grace are the first little ones I’ve been around in years.”
“Those are the girls you were telling me about?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Rieka is the Alpha’s daughter. Grace is Reed and Lola’s daughter.” A tiny frown pinched his brows together but was gone as quickly.
“What?”
He glanced at her as he pulled onto a gravel road. “What?”
“You frowned when you mentioned the babies.”
“No. It’s nothing big. But not my story to tell.” He shrugged and put the truck in park.
Ryanne looked across the field and saw quite a few people, including those she’d met Friday night. For some reason, she had only expected a few.
“These are all your friends?”
Daxon followed her line of sight. “Yeah. Missing four people. One of the bears had triplets a couple months back. They tend to stay close to home these days. And Noah, another bear Shifter, and his mate own a bar so he doesn’t get out much.”
She nodded but her nerves were on edge. They had to be good people if Daxon trusted them. Right? No way would he hang around people who would try to steal innocent women for their own greedy reasons.
“Where’s the dog?” Penny asked from the backseat.
Ryanne turned to see her straining in her seat, craning her neck looking for the dog.
“He’s over there. I made sure my friend brought him for you,” Daxon said, looking at her between the seats.
He stepped from the truck and unfastened Penny’s belt while Ryanne climbed from the truck. Penny ran around the hood, wrapped her hand in her big sister’s, then began pulling her toward where everyone was waiting, smiles wide on everyone’s faces.
At least they looked happy to see her, even if they didn’t know Ryanne or Penny.
The women they’d both met Friday, Campbell and Charlie, met them halfway, a large black and brown Rottweiler following Campbell closely.
Penny pulled to a stop and fear rolled from her. Had she thought they were talking about some tiny dog like a chihuahua or something?
“He’s friendly. I promise. He loooves little girls,” Campbell said, lowering to her knees in front of Penny. “This is Polo. Polo, this is Penny.”
The dog in question slowly walked up to Penny and began to sniff her. And Ryanne had a moment of fear herself. Could she get to her baby sister in time if the dog became not so friendly and tried to hurt Penny?
The fear was quickly squashed when his mouth dropped open, he licked Penny’s face, then dropped down in a sort of bow.
Penny squealed and giggled as she swiped the back of her hand across her face.
“He wants to play. Do you want to go play with him? There are two other little girls over there waiting to meet you, too,” Charlie said, bending at the waist and resting her hands on her knees.
These people were being so sweet and welcoming to Ryanne’s sister. She’d never cared how anyone treated her or what they thought of her as long as they were good to Penny. Even if these people came to hate Ryanne, she’d always love them for being so good to the excited little girl who was now running beside Polo and Campbell.
“Good to see you again,” Charlie said, reaching forward and wrapping her arms around Ryanne’s shoulder. “In case you forgot, I’m Charlie.”
“There’s literally no way I could ever forget any of you. You guys saved our lives.”
Charlie pulled back and smiled. “Remind me to tell you how I met these guys.” She winked and linked her arm through the crook of Ryanne’s elbow. “Ready to meet my big, crazy family?”
Ryanne’s brows shot high. “All these people are your relatives?”
Daxon chuckled beside her.
Charlie waved a hand. “Not by blood. They just let me be part of their family.”
“Charlie’s been with us for, what, about six months now?” Daxon asked Charlie.
Ryanne noticed when he had addressed her, he’d averted his eyes as soon as Charlie had looked his way. He didn’t strike her as shy, but she didn’t really know him.
There was no way Ryanne would remember all these names. Every single female hugged her; the guys nodded as they were introduced. And then everyone settled into lawn chairs circled around a cool firepit.
Conversation ebbed and flowed. These people were a hoot. There was a woman named Nova, Rieka’s mom Ryanne was told, who constantly made dirty comments. She’d even asked about Daxon’s and Ryanne’s private life.
There was nothing to tell.
Turned out, Nova was a romance writer. And according to a few friends, she tended to use everyone’s love life as inspiration.
Penny had a great time. She played with the two little girls and was so gentle with them, even though th
ey were only about two years younger than her. Polo, the big, intimidating dog, stayed near them, his attention flipping between the girls to watching the surrounding area like he was protecting them.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so relaxed. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun, even if she didn’t do much of the talking.
****
Daxon couldn’t stop smiling. He’d dropped Ryanne and Penny off at their house ten minutes ago after spending the entire day with them.
Penny had fallen asleep on the ride home and Ryanne actually let Daxon carry the tiny girl into the house. It was one thing to have her propped on his hip. But when that limp little body was cradled in his arms, he felt a sense of rightness. Like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.
As much as he’d wanted to kiss Ryanne goodnight, old habits die hard. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Ry, but he’d need her to make the first move.
Or at least give him the most obvious green light ever.
They hadn’t kissed, but he’d held her hand on the way back to her house. Hers was so small and thin in his big ass paw. And so soft and warm.
The lights were all on at the trailer when he got home, and all the vehicles were there. Meaning Brax, Campbell, Aron, and Charlie were curious about his pseudo date.
Putting the truck into park, he sat there for a minute, leaning his head against the rest and closing his eyes.
Ryanne had laughed and smiled so much tonight. She’d interacted with his friends but mainly listened. She was an observer. She liked to watch people, get to know them without saying a word to them. She was gauging everyone’s characters and they’d had no idea.
But Daxon had.
He didn’t know Ryanne, not really, but she was far more transparent than she realized. He had known from that first night she wasn’t shy, so that wasn’t why she wasn’t jumping into the conversations. She happily answered when someone spoke to her or asked her a question. Even teased Nova when she tried to get details of Ryanne’s and Daxon’s brand new…whatever this was.
Relationship? Not really. They had only admitted they were attracted to each other this afternoon. He’d love to say they were mates, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to relinquish control that easily.
What a crock of shit. Without much, she already owned him. Owned his thoughts. Owned his dreams.
Owned his heart.
The door to the trailer opened. Daxon lifted his head and shook it when he found Charlie and Campbell grinning like fools and waving him in. They wanted gossip. But there was nothing to tell, really.
“Come on,” Campbell yelled, waving again.
These girls refused to go by the panthers’ rules. Not that they were part of those rules. But panther males were taught from a young age it was disrespectful to touch a woman unless she asked. And it was beyond disrespectful to interact with a mated female more than necessary. Daxon and Brax’s father described it as disrespecting the bond between their animals.
But Campbell and Charlie did everything they could to make sure the men not only talked to them and made eye contact, but they were constantly trying to hug every single male in the Pride.
Good thing none of the panthers were the jealous or possessive kind.
With a sigh, Daxon pushed his door open and stepped onto the drought dried grass. Shaking his head, he ambled slowly to the front porch where the women waited impatiently.
“Well?” Charlie asked.
“Well what?” he asked, waiting at the bottom of the steps for one of them to move so he could go inside.
They were intentionally blocking his way because they knew he wouldn’t shove past them. That would be way too much touching.
“How did it go?” Charlie asked.
“You were there,” he said, keeping his eyes lowered, only glancing up to answer them.
“For Pete’s sake,” Charlie said.
Campbell snorted. “Just say shit. For shit’s sake.”
Charlie raised a brow at Campbell then looked at Daxon. “Fine. For shit’s sake. For one thing, our eyes are up here.”
Both Campbell and Daxon chuckled at that one. That was something women usually said when men stared at their tits instead of their eyes. But she was mad because Daxon’s eyes were almost permanently glued to her shoes.
“And two…how did it go when you dropped her off? Did you kiss her?”
Daxon looked at both women. Both wore the same hopeful and encouraging smiles.
“No. I didn’t kiss her. Can I go inside now? I’m tired. I want to shower and go to bed.”
Half lie. He didn’t want to shower. He could still smell Ryanne on his clothes from their hug. He wanted to wallow in her scent for the rest of the night.
“You didn’t kiss her?” Charlie asked. And if Daxon wasn’t mistaken, she sounded disappointed.
“Why not?” Campbell asked, a frown pulling her brows together.
He stood there with his brows high and waited for the pieces to fall into place for the women.
And when it did, they said, “Ooooh,” in unison.
“You know that’s a stupid rule, right?” Campbell said.
“Yeah. Sometimes we want you guys to make the first move. Not all women have the courage to move in for a kiss.”
“You did,” Campbell said, turning to look at Charlie.
“Didn’t you?”
Campbell shrugged. “I always get what I want.”
Daxon felt his cheeks grow warm. Hearing them talk about this was like listening to a sister talk about her sex life.
“Can I please go inside?” he asked, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Oh, whatever,” Campbell said.
When he opened his eyes, the women had parted and made enough room for him to pass.
“Thank you.”
Hurrying into the house, he had it in his mind he was going to grab a beer, watch a little TV, then go to bed.
As if that was going to happen with Charlie and Campbell in the house. And the thing was, they weren’t even the worst.
“Tell me you kissed her,” Mason said the second Daxon stepped inside.
“What the hell, dude?” Daxon said, frowning at Mason as he passed the couch.
Daxon pulled the fridge open and grabbed a Bud. But he could feel the eyes on him as he twisted the top and took a long pull.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath when he realized they weren’t going to let this shit go.
“No. We didn’t kiss. I carried Penny to bed, tucked her in, Ryanne hugged me and thanked me for a fun day, then I came here. Apparently, to be harassed.”
“Awww,” Charlie said.
“You tucked that little girl in bed?” Campbell said. It was the girliest Daxon had ever heard the woman behave.
“Damn,” Brax breathed out. “You’re so fucking cute,” he said to his mate.
Campbell winked at him. It was only a matter of time before Brax wore Campbell down and got her to agree to some cubs. It wasn’t that Campbell didn’t want to be a mom. She just didn’t want to stop hunting and helping women.
But they hadn’t hunted in months. They had truly believed Ravenwood had successfully busted up the operation with the help of the surrounding Prides, Packs, and Clans.
“Do you think those were the same rogues?” Daxon asked, turning to find every single person in the room staring at him.
“I doubt it,” Brax said.
“Did you catch the assholes that ran that night?” Daxon asked Aron.
The Alpha shook his head. “No. Charlie got hurt. I was called back, remember.”
Daxon took another pull from his beer. “So, there’s a chance they could’ve regrouped and are trying to snag more women.”
“They were originally going for humans. Ryanne’s not a human,” Campbell said.
“They went after anyone who was an easy target. Women walking alone. Runaways. That kind of thing. And Ryanne and Penny were easy targets.”
“What the hell were they doing in the woods, anyway?” Mason asked. He’d turned so his elbow was draped over the back of the couch to see Daxon.
“Camping.”
“They probably thought they were close enough to home but far enough from the beaten path to think they’d be found easily,” Charlie said, leaning into Aron’s side.
He hated the thought of what could have happened if the Pride hadn’t decided to go out for the night. They had intended to hit Moe’s for a few hours, drink a few beers and unwind.
And then a beautiful woman had appeared in front of his car.
“They would’ve taken Penny, too,” Campbell said.
He’d already thought of that. The thought sickened him and sent a red-hot rage rushing through his system. Shame he didn’t get the chance to kill those fucks.
“So?” Campbell said.
Everyone looked to her.
“Time to start hunting again?”
It was Aron’s turn for all the attention. He looked down at Charlie, who shrugged. “Fuck. I don’t know. We haven’t heard from Black Feather Crew in months. This is the first incident that we know of. We all finally got a little peace.”
Mason and Daxon exchanged looks. No. Two of them had found their mates and didn’t want to drag them back out and put them in danger again.
Daxon finished the rest of his beer, saluted the room, and headed down the hall to his room. Every step shook the single wide and echoed. Any time someone walked around it sounded like they were stomping.
They’d kept Ryanne and Penny from being taken, but were they truly safe? Would they ever be safe in a world dominated by psychotic male Shifters?
Shit. Even human women had to worry about human men.
Part of Daxon wanted to jump back in his truck and head back to Ryanne’s house. He wanted to park his ass right there on her porch and make sure no one came near her. He wanted to piss in her yard and mark it.
He wanted to sink his fangs into Ryanne’s shoulder and mark her.
His panther wanted her. Daxon wanted her.
They wanted to mark her so everyone who came near her would know she was his. His to protect. His to cherish.
