“Worth a try. It can’t hurt, and maybe one of them will snap.”
Vince laughed out loud, “I do believe you’ve been hanging out with Maverik too much. This is his kind of meddlin’.”
“Well, that is what gave me the idea. He did almost the same thing to get me to take Janie to Bane.”
Vince was chuckling, shaking his head unbelievingly, “Yeah, alright, we’ll try it. But if he tries to murder me, you have to help hold his ass off!”
Bam grinned, “Deal!”
Vince turned toward the bar and whistled sharply. A few minutes later one of his barmaids walked over, “You need something, Vince?”
“Yes, you want to take a ride? Go to a little bonfire with me. We got somebody to make jealous.”
“Sure, I’ll go.”
“You want me get Valerie to watch the bar while we go? We going to be long?”
“Couple of hours, yes, see if Callie wants to come, too.”
“I was going to ask Shirley.”
“No, ask Callie. We’re going to Kaid’s.”
“You got it.”
Chapter 19
The bonfire was reaching high into the sky. Flames jumping 10 - 12 feet easily by the time Bam made it back to them. They’d broken out their old boom box and had the tunes playing and the drinks flowing. Everybody was telling stories, dancing, laughing. All except Kaid, who watched them from under the second story deck at Bam’s in the distance. And, of course, Delilah, who stood inside, hiding in the shadows, watching her family enjoy the music and company. She really wanted to be out there with them, but her Monster wouldn't let her go. Truth was that she wouldn't let herself go. She was afraid of her Beast. She had never had her come out and wasn't sure what to expect when she did. She wasn't sure she could control her. So she stood and watched the others having fun.
Suddenly she could detect movement through the trees. Then Bam was striding through, smiling, heading to his people. And then there were people behind him. A male and two... females? She strode directly to the glass door, overlooking the deck. What were two females doing here? Her senses immediately on alert, her male was, as of yet, unclaimed. She comforted herself with the thought that at least he was underneath the deck, safe. But then Bam strode straight for him, and she realized that he had clothing rolled up in his hand. She watched as long as she could until he disappeared from sight below. She did not like this; no, she did not like this at all!!!!!
Kaid laid there, listening to Bam, trying hard to see the logic in his thinking. “I know you’re tore up, Kaid. It’s hard to see things clear when you are not sure what you’re feeling. But, just trust me. This is going to work. Please, just shift and come with me. Give it a chance.”
Kaid didn't make any move to indicate that he heard; he just looked at Bam. So Bam tried again, “Remember what Maverik did to try to make me take Janie to Bane? It’s kind of the same thing. You want her; make her claim you.”
In some back corner of his mind, his Bear sat up and started paying attention. Kaid sat up on his haunches, making eye contact with Bam.
Bam grinned, encouraged by the movement, “Yeah, that’s it. Make her think she’s got competition. She’ll claim you; then, you don’t have to worry about what ifs and when she finds out and complicated stuff like that. She’ll take what she wants, and it’s out of your hands.”
Kaid shifted back.
“And she knows all about you and Avaleigh being at Lurin’s, and she ain’t mad. She knows all about herself, too. Well as much as Lurin knew. And she’s better now.”
“Then why is she still here? Why hasn't she come home?”
“I think she’s afraid of her Beast. She’s near the surface now, and I think she’s afraid of her. She’s afraid of the damage she can do if Delilah can’t control her. That’s why Vince only brought shifter females. In case she can’t control it and shifts.”
Kaid started to ask Bam about her Beast, but Bam just shook his head, “Her story, Kaid. I can’t.”
Bam knelt there for another moment, “You game?”
“Yeah. I’ll try. I can’t even fucking think anymore. I’ll try anything.”
Bam handed him the clothes and walked back to the others, already mixing in at the party.
He looked at Delilah out of the corner of his eye, watching every move they made. Especially the girls he’d brought with him.
“Vince! Oh, My God! What are ya’ll doing here?” Avaleigh exclaimed.
“Avaleigh! How you doin’, Sweetheart?” Vince asked her, embracing and kissing her. These are my friends, Maria and Callie. Bam came by for a drink and invited us to come for a bonfire.”
Avaleigh hugged him tight, in spite of the rumble of disapproval from her Dragon behind her, “I’m so glad you came! We don’t get to see you guys that much anymore.”
Maverik, of course, sidled up to the women, “Well, hello there, Ladies. Have a beer,” he indicated the ice chest behind them.
“Thanks, Maverik, don’t mind if we do.”
“They’re off limits tonight, Maverik. We’re here for a reason,” Vince told him.
Maverik regarded Vince for a second, then decided fuck it. Why not be honest? “Aren’t they always off limits? For me at least?”
Vince was shocked at his candor, “I wonder sometimes.”
Maverik snorted, took a swig of his beer, “Always off fucking limits. For me anyway, so stop fucking wondering.”
“Then why do you try to make it look like they’re not?” Vince asked him.
Maverik didn’t get time to answer, not that he planned to, because Kaid walked up. Fully dressed, and reaching out to shake Vince’s hand, embrace Avaleigh and Janie, hug and bump fists with all of his clan. Then he turned to the girls that had come with Vince and were now dancing and drinking with Maverik. He took a deep breath. Heard Vince behind him say, “You ready, Brother?” and Bam patted him, “You got this, Kaid. Show her what she’s got to fight for.”
Kaid, facing the women, let out a sharp whistle. Both of them turned toward him. He motioned them to him with his chin. They both immediately obeyed his command to come to him. Sashaying their hips provocatively, one even licking the top of her beer bottle as she approached him. As they got closer, Avaleigh realized what they were doing, “Oooooo, you sneaky bas…”
Daniel grabbed her from behind, wrapping his hand around her mouth, whispering in her ear. She wasn't able to talk because Daniel wouldn't let her go, but her eyes shot daggers at Bam, who just grinned at her guiltily. Kaid met the first woman halfway and immediately swept her into his arms and started two stepping her around the bonfire. When he was in perfect sight of the window just off Bam’s deck, he slowed their progression and led her into a little dirty dancing. Maverik was soon right beside him with the other female. Pretty much mimicking every move Kaid made. Wasn't long before all the other couples were up and dancing, even a pissed off Avaleigh and a slightly amused Daniel. Kaid went through all the motions, but stopped before actually touching his lips to the girl’s. He placed his hand at the top of her ass and pulled her against him while he thrust his hips against her. It almost made him sick to do it, to touch another woman at all. But according to Bam, this would work. Maverik was on the other side of Goldy and Sadie, where they danced, and he did the same; then, he bent his girl back and nibbled her neck and collar bone as she balanced trustingly in his arms. Kaid leaned his girl back, but couldn't bring himself to nibble or kiss her skin. Instead he pulled her back up and turned her to face away from him, her back to his front. Before he pulled her in, however, he did manage to fake a pretty convincing appreciative sweeping look at her ass before pushing his crotch against her and fake groaning in appreciation. He risked a look up at the deck and saw only two ice blue orbs glaring down at him. Well, at least he had her attention. He returned his attention to the female in front of him. He lowered his head to her ear, “Thank you for doing this.”
“No problem. I hope this helps you win her over, Kaid.”
“I don’t know what to do next.”
“Leave it to me. I got this.”
Maverik whispered to his woman, then took her by the hand and started leading her off toward the trees.
Kaid’s woman placed her hands on his chest and slowly started trailing her fingers down toward his jeans. She looked at him and smiled invitingly; then, she whispered, “Don’t let her strangle me,” just before she dropped to her knees in front of him. Leaning forward to concentrate on unbuttoning his jeans, “Now lift me up and lead me to the trees, too,” she whispered to him.
He did just that, walking backwards, hand outstretched, leading her toward him, his jeans unbuttoned, the darkness closing around them, as a power unlike any he’d ever felt swept over the clearing. The shriek of an enraged female filled the air. The wind stilled, the fucking bonfire went out! What the hell was that about?! Then suddenly, she was there. Ice blue eyes shining, hair almost totally silver with -- was that blue in it? And a look of complete destruction on her face as she swept toward them. “Miiiiiiiiiinnne!” she roared. “My Male! You will die, female!” she shouted. Before Kaid could react, Delilah had wrenched the female from him and thrown her across the clearing, where Vince and Bam did their best to catch and cushion her landing.
“Baby? Baby, I only want you,” Kaid started.
“You allowed her touch!” Delilah raged on.
He decided that he would have to meet her power with his own. Holding back had gotten him nothing, and frankly he was fucking sick of it. If she wanted him, she would have to have all of him.
He roared back, “You wouldn't have me! You left me! Wouldn't allow me anywhere near you. Wouldn't even fucking speak to me! What the hell am I to do?” He threw his head back and roared again, “I. Am. Alpha. And you would treat me as a weak Male?! Waiting for you to deign me worthy? No More! Have me, or be gone!!!!” He thundered at her.
She waited but for one moment, realizing that if she were to claim her male it was now, or never. And for once she and her Beast were in total agreement; Never was not an option. She leapt forward without warning, wrapped herself around her Mate, and sank her fangs into his throat. Kaid hesitated as the ecstasy of his Mate’s bite filled his senses, then held her just as tightly, and sank his own teeth into her shoulder.
All else ceased to exist. There was no other person, no other thing, nothing. Just he and his Mate. He slipped both hands under her thighs, lifting her even as he pulled her tighter against him. He spun, stalked the remaining few feet to the trees and slammed her back against the closest one. He didn’t worry about hurting her, about bruising her skin. She wasn’t human, and both he and his Bear knew she could take it, and him. So he let go of his control, of all the hesitance he’d been forced to endure since she came into his life. He allowed Bear and his very Alpha nature to take the lead. He felt, he experienced. He did not think.
He had her braced against the tree trunk, his hips holding her in place as he ripped the shirt from her body. She lifted her head from the kisses and licks she was placing any place she could reach on his body, and pressed her shoulders against the tree to give him access to her now bared breasts. He fell on her, suckling, biting, teasing. When she started to object to get him to move further down her body, he nipped her, actually drawing blood, to let her know just who was in charge. He could see her split second of defiance flash in her eyes, before she willingly replaced her shoulders on the tree, an indication of her submission. He reached a hand around her, wrapped it in the waist band of the tights she wore, and ripped them from her body as well. She was bare now, and extremely aroused. He could scent her, and she was so fucking sweet. Her scent drew a long loud rumble from his chest. And her Beast answered, with a similar rumble. He raised his eyes to hers quickly, a slight smile on his lips; she smiled back as her Beast rumbled at him again.
Naw, he thought, couldn’t be!
Is! His Bear thought at him. Is! Feel her!
“I want to see her,” he said calmly, firmly.
“It is not time,” Delilah told him.
He had a choice here. He could let the fact that he hadn't yet seen or even been told what her Beast was stop this moment, or he could forget the petty shit and claim his Mate. Ultimately, he didn’t really give a fuck what she was, other than his. So that pretty much made his decision for him.
He locked eyes with his female, leaned over and took one nipple in his mouth, sucking hard. Almost too hard. “Tell me what you want, Delilah.”
“You. I want you.”
He let her nipple slip from his lips with a pop, “You are mine. You will NOT walk away again. Do you understand?”
“You do not understand,” she told him.
He raised his voice, all patience gone, having slipped into full Alpha mode, “I don’t need to understand. Don’t want to understand. Don’t fucking care what there is to understand. Your place is right fucking here. Wherever I am. Just like where you are is my place. Together! Against everything! All the rest is details. And fuck the details.”
She raised her eyebrows at him.
Kaid continued, “There is nothing that we can’t overcome, if we are together. Do you understand?”
Delilah nodded at him.
“I need the words, Lilah. Tell me.”
“I am yours. I will not walk away again. My place is beside you.”
“And?” he prodded.
“And what?” she snapped at him. Very quickly getting irritated at all the talk. She wanted him. Now. Not all the conditions he was spelling out.
He slapped her on the ass for snapping at him, “And your Beast will recognize me as Alpha. You will submit.”
She looked at him like he’d lost his mind, “My Beast is…”
He cut her off, “Mine. Your Beast is mine. You are mine. I am Alpha. Say it.”
She said nothing.
“I don’t want your freedom, Delilah. I want your loyalty. Your support,” he leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips, just barely touching his to hers. “I want your love, Lilah.”
She swallowed, “You have it.”
“Say it.”
“I am yours, my Beast is yours, you are Alpha,” she whispered, and at that point, she wrapped her own hand in his shirt and ripped it from his body, tightening her legs to bring him closer to her. He put each hand in the bend of her knees, pressing them up and back to open her up for him. And slammed his still-clothed lower body against hers. She moaned and rubbed herself against him.
Then she remembered that his jeans were already unbuttoned and used her toes where they now rested against his ass to push them down. She managed to get a toe hooked into the waist band and started working them even further down his body.
“Want something?” he asked her.
“Yes! Now! Stop teasing me. I have said your words. Give me what I need.”
He used one hand to push his jeans down the rest of the way and allowed them to pool around his ankles as he held her in place with both arms. Once the pants were no longer an issue, he pressed against his Mate. Feeling her wet and ready for him. He slightly rocked his hips as he coated himself in the wetness now dripping from her. He met her eyes again, watching as they flashed from violet to ice blue, and back again. That was all he needed to know. His Lilah and her Beast were both there with him. He smiled lovingly at her, thanked the powers that be that she was not human, and slammed home. She arched her back and screamed her ecstasy to the stars. Kaid roared his pleasure for all to hear. Finally! Everything was as it should be. The culmination of all his years of searching and hoping had come to a head. She was his. He pulled back, kissed her now slightly parted, panting lips, and slammed home again. The moan of pleasure that she gave was enough to make him cum already. But he didn’t; he’d waited all his life for this. He was going to make it last. He bared his fangs at her as he set up a rhythm that would have bruised a lesser woman. And Delilah? She met him with equal power, stroke for stroke. She could feel the bark of the tree scrapin
g her back, but it made no difference to her. Her Mate was inside her. Fucking her. Marking her. Loving her. And it was all she never knew she needed. They spent the better part of the night against the trees, on the pine needles in the grass, bending over a fallen tree trunk, beside the now cold bonfire under the stars. Kaid took her in every way he’d ever imagined and a few that just came to him. And then when he thought maybe he should let her rest, she demanded that he take her all over again. They finally made it home, back to Kaid’s room shortly after 1:00AM. They crawled in bed and almost immediately passed out. “I love you, Delilah,” he said quietly as he kissed her temple.
“I love you, Kincaid,” she whispered back.
“Where are all of our family?” she asked him as she snuggled closer.
“I think they’re all staying either at Bam’s, Avaleigh’s, or maybe even Bane’s. They pretty much moved all the furniture into Bane’s today, and there’s plenty of room there. I think they are trying to give us some privacy.”
“Did they see us? I do not remember. And who are those girls? Why did you bring girls to our home?” she pushed herself upright in bed; she was starting to get riled up.
“Bam did it,” he was chuckling. “Bam said that you and your Beast needed to see what it felt like to lose me. To have another woman want me. Then you’d forget whatever it was that had you upset and fight for me.”
She snorted. Not happy about it at all, “I will speak with Bam.”
“Seems that he was right,” Kaid said.
She didn’t deny it. Instead she said, “I was only trying to protect you all. I was not trying to leave you.”
He raised up on one arm to look at her, “Protect us from what, Baby?”
“I do not know. But my Beast is not settled, she is telling me there is still danger. She felt I should lure it away from our family. So we left.”
“There is no danger that I will not protect you from. You are safe here,” he told her, pulling her against him, so he could spoon her.
Delilah again snuggled into his arms. Loving the feel of her Mate. The smell of her Mate. The feeling of belonging that she never failed to experience whenever he was near. She yawned in spite of herself, tired from the night of mating and claiming.
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