“So, it was a non-date date.” Cassie nibbled delicately on a banana nut muffin.
“That’s how Tristan and I fell in love.” Nel stabbed a strawberry using her fork. “We did a lot of things together, but neither of us considered them dates.”
Ronni’s gaze fell to Nel’s baby bump becoming noticeable. What Nel and Tristan had done on their non-dates was fairly obvious, and an accidental claiming had resulted in her pregnancy.
Since Ronni had undergone tubal ligation due to recurrent miscarriages and a problematic, high-risk pregnancy with Alex, an unplanned pregnancy would not be possible. “I’m not looking to fall in love.”
“None of us were,” Cassie said. “It happened anyway.”
The three women were lucky to have met and matched with their true mates, allowing a mate-bond to form. It was something that didn’t happen for all wolfans.
Independent of a mate-claim, which was established during sexual intercourse with a bite and bound a couple for life under wolfan law, a mate-bond synced the lovers, body and mind, heart and soul.
Mostly, the bond began forming from the first moment true mates met, but not always. When Zeke had claimed Ronni, to keep her out of Jeb’s clutches, she didn’t sense a mate-bond. Theirs had developed over time.
So, she’d already had her true mate and lost him.
The argument could be made that she could find another, as Rafe had done. Though his heart had been no less broken, he’d been younger when his first mate died and they didn’t have children.
Ronni’s situation was different. She was a mother and Alex’s needs always came first.
“Bless you,” Grace said to the beverage server who refilled her coffee. The young man topped off Ronni’s cup, too.
“If you’re more comfortable with non-date dates, I’ll get Tristan to ask Bodie to join us at Taylor’s,” Nel said. “We could do a group family night.”
“That’s a great idea,” Grace said.
“No, it isn’t,” Ronni replied.
“Don’t you like him?” Cassie asked.
“I like him just fine, but this isn’t the right time for me to start dating.”
“That’s why this will be a non-date.” Nel grinned. “Trust me, Tristan is an expert at setting these up.”
“At the very least, it will give Bodie a chance to meet people,” Cassie said.
Ronni understood it would also give the upcoming leaders of the pack a chance to assess Bodie for themselves.
“Do whatever you need to do.” Ronni waved her hand, as if her heart wasn’t picking up speed and her nerves weren’t tingling.
Nel leaned toward her. “You will be there, right?”
“I need to check my calendar.” Ronni picked up her cup and took a slow sip, watching the three women watching her and hoping they couldn’t see the giddiness her brain was doling out.
“If you have any interest in him at all, be there,” Grace said. “Now that Bodie has made a public appearance with a woman, all the single ladies will have him on their radar.”
Ronni swallowed the silent growl tickling her throat. She might not be sure what to make of Bodie’s interest, or her own, but she definitely didn’t like the thought of him turning that interest toward someone else.
Chapter 8
“I’ll be out in a minute!” Ronni paused the mental replay of her Friday night encounter with Bodie. If not for her busybodied friends probing her for details yesterday, she might’ve been able to put the non-date date behind her.
Liar!
Smiling, she finished tacking the hem and smoothed the dress over the mannequin. Everything looked even, but she would inspect the garment more thoroughly later.
Feeling good, she went to greet her customer.
The long-forgotten scent raised her hackles even before the man turned from the storefront window to face her.
“Hello, Veronika.” His low, raspy voice caused her stomach to roll over like an armadillo playing dead.
“Jeb.” She stood behind the service counter, her palms flat on the glass top. “You shouldn’t be here. Gavin is supposed to arrange contact.”
“With Alexander.” Removing his mirrored sunglasses, he walked confidently toward her. Dressed in snug jeans, a dark blue long-sleeve knit shirt, a black leather jacket and polished shoes, he looked downright civil. “Nothing prevents me from seeing you. And you look...” A smile slithered across his mouth and arrogant possessiveness gleamed in his gray eyes. “Well, I’ll give Wyatt my thanks for taking such good care of you.”
“Stay away from Rafe.”
Jeb tipped his head.
“The Woelfesenat said I had to let you see Alex, but understand this. You will only visit him with Gavin’s permission and my supervision, and only so long as he isn’t upset by your presence.”
“I don’t like restrictions, especially those concerning my family.”
“We are not your family.” Fire flamed in her chest despite the ice crystals in her veins. “We will never be your family.”
“Blood is a bond that can’t be broken.” Jeb’s cool demeanor caused chill bumps to pebble her skin. “Everything that belonged to Zeke, I intend to claim as my own. Including you and Alexander.”
“Never gonna happen.”
His calloused hand firmly captured her wrist. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. All the while, his calculating gaze froze her breath.
“You should’ve been mine, Veronika. You were meant to be mine.” Turning her wrist, he exposed the tender underside and touched his nose to the delicate skin, dramatically inhaling her scent. “Had any other male been stupid enough to take you from me, I would’ve ripped out his throat. But Zeke...”
Jeb had loved his brother like no other. Ten years older, Jeb had been the one to raise Zeke after their parents’ untimely deaths.
“I left the pack so I wouldn’t hurt Zeke. But he’s gone now, and I intend to take back what should’ve been mine.”
“I was never yours. I was never going to be yours. There’s nothing for you to take back.” She yanked free of his clutches.
“I expected resistance.” Jeb’s jaw pulled tight. “Can’t say that I like it.”
“Get used to it.” Ronni crossed her arms over her chest.
“I should’ve come for you sooner.”
“You shouldn’t have come at all.”
“Are you going to contradict everything I say?”
“Are you going to listen to reason?”
“This doesn’t have to be difficult.” Annoyance narrowed his eyes.
“You’re right. All you have to do is turn around, walk out that door, leave Walker’s Run and never come back.”
“I will, as soon as you and Alexander are packed to come with me.”
“Alex is happy here. He’s safe.” She held his gaze. “I’m safe.”
“I would have returned to Pine Ridge sooner, had I known the state of the pack.” Jeb’s fingers curled into his hand. “If Zeke would have told me, he might still be alive.”
“We thought you were dead.”
“Obviously, you were misinformed.” Jeb opened his arms. “I’m very much alive and Zeke damn well knew it.”
A vacuum formed in Ronni’s chest. The air whooshed out of her lungs and her heart squeezed until she thought it would explode.
Breathe! Just breathe!
“Easy, darlin’.” Jeb reached over the counter.
“Don’t touch me.” Needing to regroup her sensibilities and her composure, Ronni took a step back.
“It seems Zeke was keeping secrets.”
“He would never!” But the truth of her mate’s deception stood before her, full-size, in living color and a very clear and present danger if she didn’t get a handle on her emotions.
Forcing a ca
lm she definitely didn’t feel, Ronni straightened her spine and lifted her chin. “Zeke knew I was afraid you would return and challenge him.”
In her heart, Ronni believed the only reason her mate would have perpetrated a lie was to protect her. Still, pain sliced through her heart and tainted the trust she had afforded him.
“I would never hurt Zeke.” Jeb’s glacial stare drove an involuntary chill down her spine.
“That’s the lie you tell yourself.” Ronni blew out a breath. “You nearly crushed his windpipe when you found out he had claimed me.”
“You manipulated him, knowing he was the only one I wouldn’t challenge.”
“I loved Zeke.” And he’d been the one to offer her protection. She didn’t need to manipulate him.
“Who’s the liar now?” Jeb flattened his palms against the top of the counter. “You never needed to be afraid of me, Veronika.”
“You killed your parents!”
“They were bad people. My father beat Zeke unconscious when he was three. I had to make sure that never happened again. And when I joined the service at seventeen, I sent home nearly every penny I earned to help support Zeke. Then I found out our dear mother was drinking and gambling away the money and my baby brother was eating garbage scraps.”
Jeb raised his fists to slam the counter, but hesitated. A moment later, he dropped his hands to his sides.
“I’ll admit when I came home, I acted rashly. But I was a much better provider for Zeke than she ever was.”
“You’re not a good man, Jeb.”
“I could’ve been if you’d given me a chance.”
“Don’t lay that responsibility on me. I am not your keeper.”
“You have a fire that I crave and a softness I want to bury myself in,” Jeb said as if he hadn’t heard her. “I turned my back on you once. I won’t do it again.”
“For the sake of Zeke’s memory, Jeb, you have to leave us alone.”
“As the new Alpha of the Pine Ridge pack, I need an Alphena and you’re the one I want. Alexander will be my heir. We’ll be a family.”
“If you want to get acquainted with your nephew, you’ll abide by my rules. But purge any thoughts of a relationship with me. You will not become a daily part of our lives. The past is the past, and it’s over.”
“No, sugar. It’s just the beginning.”
* * *
Feeling too restless for the hour drive down to the DNR office to file paperwork, Bodie turned down Sorghum Avenue toward Maico’s town square. Now was as good a time as any to check in with Ronni. He hoped that whatever had preyed on her mind Friday night had resolved over the weekend because he wanted to ask her out again.
She seemed sympathetic to his plight as a single parent and it gave them common ground to explore. Rafe’s friendly warning had prompted Bodie to consider a subtler approach rather than the more direct one he’d planned. He didn’t want to come on too strong, only to have Ronni shut him down.
His stomach tingled and tightened as he neared Ronni’s store. Having had a series of casual relationships and flings, Bodie wasn’t the nervous type around women so he wasn’t sure what was causing his anxiety. He parked near The Stitchery and strolled to the store, his steps quickening with a bit of pep.
Through the large front window, he saw Ronni with a male customer, her expression hard, angry, determined. Bodie walked inside the store to the jingle of chimes above the door. The tension in the room was as thick as the billowing smoke from a raging forest fire.
The male customer turned, his angry gaze assessing Bodie head to toe and back again.
Although the man didn’t appear to be armed with a weapon, he exuded an air of dominance and expectation and appeared to be using his size and formidable appearance to get Ronni to comply with whatever he wanted. Feet apart, hands on her hips and her mouth set in a hard, determined line, Ronni didn’t appear intimidated.
That’s my girl!
Ronni’s gaze targeted him and Bodie could almost see the wheels turning in her mind. Her expression softened. Then, the rigid tension stiffening her muscles dissolved, somehow making her curves seem curvier and irresistibly enticing.
“Hey, hon.” Soft and seductive, her voice was a whisper above a purr and she radiated an incredibly feminine aura that froze him where he stood.
Oh, boy.
She walked toward him. The sexy sway of her hips nearly had him panting.
Bodie’s gaze left Ronni’s beautiful face for only a split second. Satisfied that the man’s position had not changed and that he posed no immediate threat, Bodie returned at least ninety percent of his attention back to her. The other ten remained on the man.
“I missed you.” She was really close to him now.
Bodie’s nerves began prickling. Anticipation coiled in his stomach and he wondered exactly what she was planning to do.
Whatever it was, he was all in.
Her hands slipped around his neck and behind his head. Lips parting with a soft breath, she leaned intimately against him and slanted her mouth over his in a gentle kiss.
Any rational thoughts he might have had disintegrated in the sweeping heat that stormed his body. His nerves snapped with electricity, super-sensitizing him to her every breath, sigh and moan.
His hands glided over her hips and slid down to squeeze her sweet ass like he’d been aching to do since the full moon.
Bodie saw her eyes fly open and watched the sheer delight, surprise and moment of panic flash across her expressive face. Before she could pull back from the kiss, he drew his hand up her spine and cupped the back of her neck. He cradled her firmly but not so tightly that she would feel trapped or forced. Relaxing in his arms, she opened her mouth for his deepening kiss.
Oh, yeah. This was the kiss he’d wanted to give her Friday night.
Suddenly, an infernal heat flushed his body but he had no interest in cooling down. Something dark and primal began prowling in his mind. Bodie rolled his shoulders, tamping down on the urge to pick up Ronni and fly her somewhere safe and secluded, and spend the afternoon with her naked and sweaty.
Of course, he couldn’t. As a man, he would have no trouble lifting her into his arms and carrying her to a bed; however, his raven didn’t have the size or strength to fly off into paradise with a woman.
“What the hell is going on?” Ronni’s unwanted visitor shouted.
Bodie gentled the kiss, smiling against her mouth because she was so into it that she hadn’t even heard the man speak.
“Mmm.” Licking her lips, she leisurely opened her eyes.
“Veronika!”
She blinked, confusion erasing all the sparkling excitement and interest in her eyes. “Oh!” Slowly, she eased out of Bodie’s embrace. However, he maneuvered to place himself between the man and Ronni, in case their situation escalated.
“Who is this guy?” If the man’s sharp glare had been a spear, it would have impaled Bodie where he stood.
“I’m her lunch date,” he answered, unflustered. “And you are?”
“Jebediah Lyles.”
Bodie glanced at Ronni.
“Jeb is my former brother-in-law back from the grave.” Ronni’s tone suggested she wished he’d stayed dead.
At least now, Bodie had some context. And now that he’d involved himself in their domestic situation, he wasn’t going to allow Jeb to continue harassing her.
“Ronni and I are leaving for lunch. Why don’t you schedule a time to catch up when it’s more convenient for us?”
Jeb’s cold look bordered on lethal. Ronni might’ve missed the “us” part, but Jeb didn’t. “When might that be?”
“Tonight isn’t good,” Ronni said. “I’m not sure about tomorrow yet.”
“I’m only here for a few days, Veronika. Don’t make this a wasted trip.” Jeb’s menacing tone didn’t ru
ffle even one of Bodie’s feathers, but Ronni’s body went rigid. Instinctively, he cupped her shoulders and pulled her close.
“I want to see Alexander,” Jeb said, his scowl deepening. “Make the time, or I will.”
He gave Bodie a long, hard look before leaving.
When the door closed completely, Ronni released an audible breath, then thumped Bodie in the chest. “What were you doing?”
“Kissing the daylights out of you while I had the chance.” He winked. “And you were so into it.”
“No, I wasn’t.” Ronni crossed her arms. “I was pretending.”
“Admit it. It was good. It was real good.”
“I admit nothing.”
“You’re smiling,” he teased. “I love it when you smile. Gets me all excited.”
Immediately her mouth folded into a frown. “I appreciate that you went along with the act.”
“I wasn’t acting and you weren’t either.” An irrepressible smile spread across his face despite Ronni’s ferocious look. “Come on. I wasn’t kidding about lunch. I’m hungry and you should get out of here for a while to decompress.”
“I have a lot of work to do.”
“You have to eat.” Bodie glanced out the window. Jeb was leaning against a black SUV, talking with another man of equal size and build. “Lock up and we’ll have a nice lunch at Mabel’s. You don’t have to tell me what’s going on with that jerk, but I’m a good listener and no matter what, I’m on your side.”
He could only hope when all was said and done, she would be on his side, too.
Chapter 9
From the heat boring into the back of her skull, Ronni figured Jeb’s furious gaze tracked her every move down the sidewalk. It didn’t help that Bodie reached for her hand, entwining his fingers with hers.
She had no idea why he would go to such lengths to help her. Too proud to admit it, she was extremely glad he did.
They neared Wyatt’s Automotive Service and Rafe exited the service bay, cleaning his hands with a blue shop towel. “Ronni. Bodie,” he said in greeting. “Everything all right?”
“Jeb showed up. That’s him over there.” She pointed her head in Jeb’s general direction. “He’s anxious to meet Alex but I’d prefer for you to be there when he does. If I invite him to the house for supper tomorrow, will you come?”
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