“Oh…” Her eyes went wide. “You like sexy talk?”
“Talk dirty to me, any minute of any day,” he said with a laugh. “Honestly, I just like your voice. You could read me your shopping list, and I’m pretty sure I’d want to have sex with you.”
“Even if my shopping list is boring? Like oranges—”
“Boob-shaped…”
“And zucchini—”
“Dick-shaped…”
“And bananas—”
“Guuuuuuuurl,” he begged, latching his lips onto her neck. “You are driving me cray-zay. And now I’m imagining all the sexual things I can do to you with vegetables. There’s a list for ya.”
She giggled and settled against his chest, rolling him onto his back. “I’d much rather have you than any food.”
“Helena,” he scolded, but she just laughed harder, sliding her hands down his sides and resting them on his hips while she straddled him. Her weight on top of him was heaven.
“Seriously,” she said, pulling back to look into his eyes. “That was the most incredible experience of my life. And the fact that you did research for me is so damn hot.” There was so much emotion behind her gaze. So much devotion. Desire. And he could feel all of it. Incredible.
“Well, let me tell you, there were a lot of articles on the subject, so we’re going to have to try some of those, too…”
Helena’s amber eyes lit up and she leaned on one elbow. “Like what? What are you gonna do to me?”
A sudden knock on the door split their romantic moment in half. Who the hell is in the house?
Ash whipped Helena over onto her other side so he was between her and the door. His protective hackles went up. “Who is it?” he called out.
“It’s your damn sister,” came Lisa’s voice. “Are you having sex in that room? And I swear to you, if you’re not in there with the woman you spent all day moping about, I’m going to krav maga your ass into the ground.”
Ash pulled on his boxers, laughing, and made sure Helena was covered up before he opened the door.
“Oh, thank God!” Lisa’s smile was big and genuine, and she stayed out in the hall like an actual sane person. “I was seriously gonna beat on you if you’d let her go.”
He stared back at his mate, all curled up in her post-coital bliss. He smiled. “I’m never gonna let her go.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
He looked so happy, standing there laughing and carrying on with his sister. He belonged here. He belonged as a human.
“Why are you home right now?” Ash ventured, rolling his shoulders forward like he expected Lisa to smack him. His sister just laughed at him.
“It’s my day off, horny boy. I fell asleep watching Criminal Minds and I had to make sure there wasn’t a serial killer back here. You guys were making some noise.”
“Sorry about that,” Helena said, sitting up in the bed. She held the comforter up around her shoulders, loving that Ash’s scent completely surrounded her.
“Don’t be sorry. I only wish—”
“Nahnahnahnah,” Ash said, putting his hand over his sister’s mouth. “I do not want to hear the end of that sentence.”
Helena laughed, loving his playfulness.
Lisa laughed and shook her face free of Ash’s hand. “I’ll leave you two alone. Pretty sure I hear Wendy calling to say it’s time for our shopping trip. Just try and keep the nakedness isolated to the bedroom this time. I would rather not find y’all’s clothes all over the house again.”
“Not a problem,” Ash answered, grabbing his sister and squashing her into a bear hug.
“I’m glad you found her, Ash. I guess you’re staying then, right?” Lisa whispered into her brother’s ear, but Helena’s sharp ears caught every word. She also felt Ash’s inward cloud of guilt pull at his heart.
“I’m sorry I keep leaving, Lis. But I’m done leaving.”
Lisa’s face lit up with hope, and she gripped Ash hard in her hug. “You mean it?”
“I mean it. And not just because I found Helena. I want to be a real big brother to you, again. Not your parent. Not your caretaker. But a brother.”
“I want that, too,” Lisa whispered.
“As long as you don’t mind it if my girlfriend is over here.”
“Hell, she can move in,” Lisa said, her voice cracking, squeezing her brother one last time before stepping back into the hallway. She gave Helena a kind smile. “If you want to, that is.”
Helena took a long breath. She absolutely wanted to fall asleep next to Ash every night and wake up beside him every morning. “I do.”
Lisa touched Ash’s arm, and Helena could feel warmth and love coursing through him. Gods, she loved this man so much.
“I really wasn’t kidding when I said I’d beat you up if it wasn’t Helena back here.” She gave them a little wave before skipping down the hall and out of sight.
When Ash turned back to face Helena, his broad smile reached his bright blue eyes, but she could still feel the twinge of his guilt through their bond. He walked toward her, closing the door behind him.
“What was that about? Why so much guilt, babe?”
He sank onto the side of the bed and released a long sigh. “I’ve been taking care of Lisa since we were little. Our parents barely knew we were around. Our dad left when I was six, just after Lisa was born. I don’t even really remember his face. Mom was a drunk and she left when I turned eighteen. Lisa was twelve.”
“Oh, babe.”
He shrugged off her sentiment, but let her rest a hand on his leg. “We managed. I worked a lot of odd jobs and we did okay. But somewhere along the line I started feeling self-pity and resentment toward my parents. I hooked up with Tyson and the guys and we left town for a job in Montana. Lisa was eighteen by then. And I figured what the hell, I’d been a responsible adult for far too long. It was only for a couple of months. Why not cut loose and be wild?”
“Then you came back.”
“Yeah. But I only stayed for a month before leaving again. And again. And again. I’m pretty sure I’ve only spent about thirty days in this house the entire year and it’s November.” Ash shook his head and buried his face in his hands. “I can’t believe I did that to her. I left her, just like our parents did.”
Helena’s heart split under the pain in Ash’s soul. She crawled toward him and pulled him back against her, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “You’re going to make it right. You’re going to be here now. That’s what matters.”
Ash’s shoulders shook. He buried his face against her chest. His tears wet her breasts as she stroked her fingers through his hair. “I don’t want you to be a wolf, Ash,” she said after a moment. “Even if it can be done. My pack was screwed up and I was screwed up because of it. I don’t need you to be any different than you are. My heart has never felt so full of joy. I have a pack that will care for us both. You have a sister who adores you. This is the right path, Ash.”
He pulled her down to the pillows and switched them around so that he was cradling her against his chest now. “Are you sure?”
“I could make lists to prove my point,” Helena said. “So many lists.”
He chuckled through a few more sniffs, tightening his arms around her. “I’ll do it if you need me to.”
“Look inside me, Ash. Feel what I need.” Helena breathed deeply and reached through their bond. She felt him reach back and the muscles in his arms relaxed. His heartbeat slowed just a little. “You are what I want. Just you,” she reiterated, saying what they both felt. “I’m so happy.”
“There’s a little bit of sadness in there,” Ash said, poking her chest between her breasts. “Tell me what that’s for.”
“I’m a little sad I won’t be going back to the El Paso ranch. I ran that place. It was my pride and joy and those boy cousins of mine are going to ruin it. And I’ll miss the girls so much...” She curled her body into Ash’s and breathed deeply. “But I don’t have to be a rancher anymore. I can fi
nd other work. I’m good at lots of things. You’re what I want…what I need. I’m sure there are ranches around here that could use a manager, or maybe there’s something I can do for Aaron. I’ll find something. I’ll make a list later and start brainstorming.”
Ash laughed, squeezing her even tighter. “You and your lists. What am I going to do with you?”
“Keep me. Of course.”
“Always.”
Epilogue
One month later
Ash stood on the porch of the VonBrandt ranch with a full group of moon widows, watching Helena walk off into the dark, naked, with her new pack. Kara and Emma flanked him, like their mates flanked his, and he felt like a man sending his soldier off to war.
Helena looked over her shoulder, giving him a sweet smile and a shy little wave. Luke and Noah turned to see what she was staring at. Ash hadn’t gotten used to the idea of men hangin’ brain around his woman, but the VonBrandts seemed to treat nudity with the kind of deference that toddlers did. Like it was just another part of life. Ash watched as her wolf shimmered out of her and bounded into the woods.
With her new pack.
It was damn beautiful.
Because she was Helena, she’d left him with a list of things to get done before they all had to leave for the next alpha summit in Las Vegas the following week. Aaron, delighted to discover he now had a qualified, experienced ranch manager in his pack, had put her in charge of the logistics of the VonBrandt ranch.
The most beautiful thing in the world was watching his Helena sit in the big VonBrandt office, surrounded by all her planners and lists, on the phone with some horse breeder. Adam and Aaron conferred with her, deferred to her.
She was so hot when she was planning.
Ash watched the pack recede into the forest until he couldn’t see their wolves anymore. It was such a different experience, with just the VonBrandt pack around. All the moon widows were out on the porch together, sipping from their wine glasses and talking. Alyssa had already lamented her baby boy’s second shift, much like she’d done last month.
Ash had a feeling that was just her style. Soon, the boys would be in their last years of high school, and then…empty nest. That had to be a shock.
Part of him didn’t want to think about the pregnancy test box he’d seen back in the garbage can at his house, but his mind kept circling back to it. He and Helena hadn’t talked about kids yet, but they’d sure had a metric ton of unprotected sex. No question he wanted kids with her, and preferably sooner than later. But he’d hoped to be there with her when she took the test, not on-shift at Joe’s Bar.
“What was that look on your face?” Kara asked, tipping her beer bottle toward him. “What just happened?”
Ash glanced around at the rest of the moon widows, expecting them to latch on to a piece of possible gossip, but they were too busy consoling Alyssa. He pulled Emma and Kara off to one side of the porch, away from the other women.
“When did you guys have the little-wolf-babies talk with your mates?” he asked, keeping his voice very low.
“Oh, lordy, I think Noah is still dreading that conversation,” said Emma with a laugh. “We’re so young. We’ve been concentrating on traveling and enjoying ourselves. Well, and we’ve only been together for seven months.”
“Eight,” Kara said, clinking her beer. “Eight next week.”
“Yeah, eight next week.” Emma nodded. “I bet that’s what will come up next for us. Marriage. Babies.”
Ash took a long swig of his beer. He and Helena had been together for one month. And he already wanted her to have his babies.
“Oh, Luke and I had that talk early. But it’s no wonder—he claims he decided to marry me when he was ten years old.” Kara’s smile was wide and adorable. “About thirty seconds after I said I’d marry him, he told me that he wanted to have kids with me. Of course, it was much more crude and came with hip gestures, because…y’know…dude.”
With a mirroring smile, Ash took another drink. “When did you meet?”
“When we were ten.”
Kara tipped her beer to her lips, saying, “I know you’re asking for a reason, Ash. Don’t think you’re getting away with vagaries.”
“Uhhhhh.” He stopped, mid-sip. “Well…”
“Yeah, I saw your face when Helena was walking away.” In a sing-songy voice, she finished, “You want to luuuuuuuve her… you want to seeeeeeeeex her…”
Emma giggled and Alyssa yelled at them from across the porch, “What are you three talking about all secret-squirrel over there?”
Ash pressed his lips together, shaking his head at the girls. Emma and Kara kept their mouths shut, and eventually, Ash blurted out, “Bull semen.”
All the older moon widows screamed out variations on ewwwwww and scampered into the house with the wine bottles. The younger VonBrandts’ mates laughed raucously, pushing each other’s shoulders like they were frat brothers. Ash smiled to himself. He loved these girls.
It was a very different love from what he felt for Helena, or for his sister. But it was definitely love. Over the last month, he’d spent more time with Nemma—which was what he called Noah/Emma—and Kuke—the nickname for Kara/Luke—than he’d spent with anyone except Helena. Nemma and Kuke were fast becoming his favorite people.
He didn’t miss the magnificent seven at all. His life was magnificent.
“Bull semen was smart,” Kara said, clinking bottles with him. “Relevant to your mate’s job, but so disgusting they’ll never ask questions. You are a genius, my boy.”
“I try.” He smiled, watching as a pair of headlights turned off the main highway and pulled up to the gate entrance. Emma’s phone rang almost on cue. She answered it and mouthed, pizza’s here, before heading inside to enter the gate code into one of the landlines.
“You’re not the only one who wants kids right away.” Kara’s voice was quiet. “Luke did. Jared did. It’s pretty normal. Not that Noah’s abnormal, but—“ She laughed, looking after Emma. “Okay, never mind. He’s totally abnormal.”
Ash laughed, pushing his shoulder against hers. The moon widows understood him, which felt great, and it was good to know he wasn’t as weird as he thought. But he wanted Helena to come back so he could talk to her. Ask her about the pregnancy test.
He watched movies with Kara and Emma until well after midnight. By the time he got to bed, he was exhausted, and he begged a spare room off Tonya, who was sitting up in the kitchen. She stayed up every overnight moon, Kara had said. And when it was a daytime moon, she stayed in the kitchen. Sometimes, Aaron would come back in his wolf form and sit with her. Someday, Ash would like to see that. He was fascinated by the alpha and his wife. The most nurturing parents he could imagine.
With Aaron and Tonya as grandparents, his children would have the greatest mother in Helena, the greatest aunt in Lisa, and the greatest adopted grandparents in the VonBrandts. Lucky kid.
Ash woke to the rays of sunshine streaming in through the window, but that wasn’t what had roused him. There was a hand on his chest, and another hand on his dick. Helena had slipped into the bed behind him, naked, heart beating like a club bass-line.
Something in him had known. He was hard for her before she even touched him. Before he even woke.
Her lips were on his neck, and she stroked him with a slick fervency that said she’d either already touched herself—which was…dammit…so hot—or brought the lube from home. Also hot.
“Have a good run, babe?” he asked, moving to turn his head. She nudged his cheek and he obliged, looking away. The hotness of this moment was supposed to be the stranger-danger. But he always knew it was her. He would never be surprised by her. He loved that.
“I ran all…night…long…” she whispered into his ear. “And all I could think about, all night…was this…” She gripped down on his erection and he shuddered.
“Babe, I’m close…”
“I know. I can feel it.” Helena continued to stroke him.
/> All thoughts of pregnancy tests and kids and futures went out the window, and all Ash could do was just lay with his mate and enjoy her touch. Whatever else happened in their future, that’s all he ever wanted.
Helena.
His mate. His fated wolf.
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To Plan For A Mate: Somewhere, TX (VonBrandt Wolf Pack Book 6) Page 18
