Whitney left the bar, and Darcey stared at the water ring on the table in front of her.
These were her truths…
She missed Oliver like he was a missing limb.
She wanted to have him back in her life, but she was afraid that stepping into his world would be too difficult for her to handle.
Pulling out her phone, she sent him a text, asking if he could meet her.
It was time to figure out whether she could be in Oliver’s life and world or not.
* * *
Darcey finished off her glass of water and sat back in her chair. Oliver should be here any minute now, and the nerves had taken flight in her stomach. Pressing a hand to her navel, she waited for the feeling to pass.
“Darcey.”
Her head jerked up like it was attached to a string. Oliver stood beside the table, his big body rigid as he waited. They stared at each other for a beat, and she saw everything she needed to know in his eyes. They flashed emerald, and she felt his wolf brush against her consciousness.
Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, she exhaled. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course.” He slid into the chair opposite her, his broad shoulders rolling beneath the fabric of his shirt. Jesus, she’d forgotten how well he filled out a shirt, how good he smelled. “Anything for you.”
“Would you like a drink?” she offered, motioning to the bar.
“No, thank you.”
She bit her lip and nodded. Right. She could do this. She asked him here. “Can I just start by apologizing to you?”
He jerked back in his seat like she’d physically struck him. “Apologize?”
“Yeah.” Looking down at the table, she traced that watermark again. “This past week has been horrible for me, so I can only imagine how it’s been for you.”
Reaching across the table, he placed his large, warm palm on her hand, stopping the circular pattern she was drawing. “It’s been hell. I’ve been in hell.”
She stared at his hand on hers.
Safety. Love. Protection. That’s what she felt when he was with her.
And as she looked at the man who had appeared in her life at a time when she didn’t know she needed it, she knew. She knew he was her test.
“I passed,” she murmured, letting the growing love she had for Oliver fill her heart.
“You passed?”
“Whitney was here before. She told me something, and I only just realized how profound it was until now. She said, ‘Love isn’t meant to be easy, but it’s the love that tests us that will be the strongest.’ You are my test, Oliver, and I think I just passed that test. I’ll admit that what you told me was frightening and shocking, but to think of my life without you in it is terrifying.”
“Darcey—”
“You’ll need to be patient with me. I have no idea how any of this works, but I want it to work, Oliver. I never want to feel this miserable again. It felt like my heart was cleaved in two, and I couldn’t figure out how to stick it back together again.”
“Baby,” Oliver stood and dropped to his knees beside her.
She looked into those dark eyes of his, smiling when they lightened off to a hazel before flashing green. Touching his cheek, she got lost in his gaze. “What happens now?”
“What do you want to happen?”
She bit her lip, causing him to groan. “Take me home. Take me to bed.”
Epilogue
One Month Later…
Everything was right in the world, Oliver thought as he slid from his bed at the pack house. Darcey moaned and rolled over onto her side, flinging her hand out to where he’d just been lying.
He brushed some of her blonde hair off her forehead, sweeping it behind her ear. “Sleep a little longer, baby. I have to do something.”
An incoherent mumble later, she was already drifting back to sleep, curling into his warm spot. Oliver showered and dressed, then made his way downstairs. Darcey had moved in with him a couple of weeks ago after trying to live apart. It hadn’t worked. They’d both needed each other too much, and his wolf was driving him to insanity being away from his mate.
At the base of the stairs, he hung a Louie and headed into the kitchen to get some coffee. It was early morning on New Year’s Eve, and as much as he wanted to go back to his mate and worship her body some more, he had business to attend to.
“Hey,” Casey said when he walked into the kitchen. She was standing by the Krups, waiting for the machine to spit out her coffee. Stifling a yawn, she asked, “Why did you ask me to meet you so early?”
Moving over to the cupboard, he grabbed out a mug, then shuffled it into place beside Casey’s. “I needed to talk.”
“Is this about what I asked Hunter for?”
With a nod, he stared at his sister, wondering whether she was ready for what was about to happen. She’d asked Hunter if she could rent an apartment instead of living at home in order to experience her final two years as a real student would. Hunter had said he’d think about it.
Oliver hadn’t been so willing to accept her request.
Eventually, Hunter had talked him into a compromise.
Casey could get her own apartment on the proviso that a new full-time bodyguard was assigned to her.
Casey didn’t know about that part yet.
And he’d be the one to tell her.
He owed her that.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Popping open the fridge, she pulled out the creamer and handed it to him.
He got busy stirring some into his coffee. “Hunter has agreed to your request to find an apartment close to campus.”
Casey dropped her spoon, letting it clatter to the counter. “What did you just say?”
“You can move into an apartment for the final two years of your schoo—” He let out an oomph as Casey launched herself into his arms. Her arms came around his neck, leaving her dangling from his upper body.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she squealed, kicking her legs and throwing them off balance. She lost her grip, dropping to the floor. “I’ve already found somewhere to live.”
“Oh yeah? I hope it has two rooms.”
She gave him a puzzled look like she was trying to figure out a math problem while trying to put pants on an octopus. “Why would it need two rooms?”
“Because in order for you to do this, there’s a catch.”
The smile slid from her face, and she backed up a step until her ass was against the countertop. “What’s the catch?”
“A bodyguard. Twenty-four-seven. Non-negotiable.”
Her head started to shake like she wasn’t in control of the appendage. “No. Oliver, no.”
“It’s not your call, Case. Hunter said this was how it needed to be.”
“But… but that’s more time than you spent with me.”
He took a sip of his coffee, then placed it down. “You were living at home then. I only attended classes with you. If you’re living in Greenville, I can’t be with you twenty-four-seven. It’s not fair on Darcey.”
Closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply, then released the breath. “So, I either give up my bid for independence or have another babysitter? Those are my options?”
“I’m sorry, Case, but yeah. You know why you can’t be out there by yourself. You can’t protect yourself, and you’re still a target given your sex.”
She turned around, her shoulders rising and falling with another deep breath. He had the distinct impression she was working through some yoga breathing techniques. “If that’s the way it has to be, then I’ll take it.”
Oliver blinked. “Really? You’re not going to fight us on this?”
“What’s the point? I’ve been fighting for nearly seven years. If it’s taken me that long to move away from home, it’ll be another seven before I can convince you that I don’t need a bodyguard.”
“Okay.”
“Okay. So, who’s it going to be?”
There was a knock
on the front door, and Casey cocked her head in question. Oliver walked into the entry hall and opened the door, giving the male standing on the doorstep a once over. The guy dropped his gaze and bared his throat a little in submission.
“Maddox?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” Maddox replied.
The male had come from a new pack that had just formed in Florida. Their alpha, a male called Hamish Harris, had sent him to gain some more experience from an established pack. When Casey had brought her proposition to Hunter, Hunter knew just how to get Maddox that experience.
“Come in.” Oliver stood back, turning his head when Casey appeared. She took one look at Maddox and crossed her arms over her chest, already looking pissed off. Maddox’s cool gray eyes traveled over her quickly before returning to Oliver.
“Maddox, this is Casey. Casey, Maddox. Get friendly, you two, because you’re going to be rooming together for the next two years.”
Casey
Book 5
Casey’s heart is still a shattered mess in her chest. Six and a half years ago, she was abducted, and the loss of the male she loved has left her raw. But she refuses to be a victim anymore. Tired of her brothers trying to protect her from living the life she thought she’d lost, she demands to have some freedom. It’s granted on one condition: she has to have a bodyguard twenty-four-seven.
What she gets is Maddox—a male who seems to hate her at first sight, and who solves all his problems with his fists. Dominating. Moody. Bossy. He seems to know just how to tick her off. But what lurks behind that bravado is something she never expected, and something he never expected to reveal.
“Casey” is a short story based on the characters in the Helheim Wolf Pack world. These novellas are best read in order.
Casey: A Helheim Wolf Pack Novella (#5)
Copyright © 2020 by Lauren Dawes
First Edition, 2021
www.authorlaurendawes.com
The right of Lauren Dawes to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000
E-book: 978-1-922353-25-2
Print: 978-1-922353-26-9
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical or mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the author.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover design by Sly Fox Cover Designs
Edited by Kaylene Osborn (Swish Design & Editing)
Proofread by Nicki Kuzn (Swish Design & Editing)
Casey is set five days after Oliver
It’s best that you read these novellas in order.
Chapter One
Casey’s first impression of Maddox was that he looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but there. Which she got. Really. Who would want to be playing babysitter to a grown-ass female vying for her independence? She thought she’d been so smart asking her brother, who also happened to be her alpha, Hunter, for this. It was coming up on the seven-year anniversary of…
… everything that had happened.
And seven was a lucky number, right?
It had to be.
Today, she and Maddox were moving into the apartment Hunter had rented in her name, and as per the deal, there were two bedrooms. As Maddox pulled his truck to a stop against the curb outside the apartment building, Casey looked up at the five-story walk-up and let out a happy little sigh.
This was it.
Independence.
“I’ll bring the bags up,” Maddox told her in a deep, rasping voice.
Fishing through her messenger bag, she grabbed the keys. “Sure.” Getting out, she walked inside, then up to the fifth floor. If nothing else, she was going to get a good workout living here. When she reached the landing, she cast her eyes around the hallway. Her apartment––sorry, their apartment––was also number seven, and she walked to the far side of the hall and plugged the key into the lock.
Opening things up, she looked around at the furnished place, feeling her excitement blooming. This was actually happening. Years and years of feeling like she was stuck in a plush prison, and finally…
… a taste of freedom.
There was a grunt, then a set of heavy footsteps coming toward the apartment. Maddox filled the jamb, his shoulders brushing against the frame. He had two suitcases in each hand. Three of them were hers.
She wandered into the first of the two bedrooms, did a quick scout around, then walked into the other.
“I’ll take the one at the front. The window is bigger, and it has a bathroom.”
Maddox’s jaw worked like he was holding back some choice words, but he walked in and dumped her bags onto the single bed. The springs squeaked with the weight, and she figured that might be an issue. She couldn’t stand saggy mattresses.
“I’ll have to go and get another mattress for my bed.”
He said nothing, just shot her a nasty look. Taking his much smaller suitcase into the other room, he placed it just inside the door and strolled back out.
Casey watched him move, wondering how armed he was. He was wearing a wool pea coat, the two sides left open and flapping around. She guessed to reach for weapons if they were needed.
When he caught her staring, he frowned. “What are you looking at?”
“How many weapons do you have on you?”
“Enough.”
“You don’t have to be so heavily armed in here, though.”
He flashed her a sardonic smile, one filled with his wolf’s teeth. “Why don’t you let me decide how I do my job. I’m going to unpack.” Turning, he walked back into his room and closed the door.
Casey flipped him the bird.
What an asshole.
She’d definitely picked up on that vibe from him when they met five days ago, so it seemed to be his default mode. Stepping into her new bedroom, she hitched her hands onto her hips and looked down at her three overstuffed suitcases. She really should unpack and set things up how she liked them, but the excitement of exploring her new neighborhood was too much of a temptation. Shouldering her messenger bag, she went back into the living room and knocked on Maddox’s door.
“What?” came his growly reply.
“I’m going out.”
He yanked the door open, glaring at her. “What?”
He’d taken off the coat, giving her a better look at his large frame, at the muscles he had. He was in incredibly good shape, but then again, werewolves were all stacked. Over his shoulders, there were leather straps. He had a double draw shoulder holster, the butts of two Glocks sitting against his ribs.
She let her eyes drift back up to his face. “I’m going out.”
Wordlessly, he picked up his coat, threading his arms through the sleeves with liquid grace. Judging by the way the bottom of his coat didn’t flare out as he moved, he had more weapons in the pockets.
She started toward the door, but Maddox stopped her. “I need to check there aren’t any threats out there first.”
She arched a brow. “Threats?”
The muscle in his jaw flexed. “Threats can be anywhere.”
With the shake of her head, Casey let him do his job, and when he gave the all-clear, she stepped into the hallway. He led the way, and as she stepped out of the building, she hesitated.
Left or right?
She decided on right and began walking.
“Where are you going?” Maddox asked in a rumble.
She peered at him over her shoulder, wondering if he was permanently in a bad mood. “Not sure,” she replied airily. “Wherever my feet take me, I guess.” She turned back around and absorbed the atmosphere. Although Maddox was being a total buzzkil
l, she didn’t care. She was free.
As they passed by a furniture shop, she quickly detoured in through the doors, heading over to the mattresses.
“Can I help you?” a salesman asked after they’d been standing there for a few minutes.
“I need a new mattress. Preferably something that can be delivered this week.”
She let the man drone on about the merits of each mattress, then began trying each of them out. Maddox stood like the fucking Grim Reaper on the periphery, his hands folded in front of him, his head and eyes always swiveling.
“Is your boyfriend going to try the mattresses out, too?” the salesman asked when he came back.
Casey glanced over at her bodyguard. His expression was blank like he wasn’t tracking their conversation at all.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” she told the sales guy. “He’s a mute assassin.”
The man chuckled.
With a grin, she added, “He’s my new roommate. We only just met, so he’s still warming up to me.”
The human seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, although he did run his eyes over Maddox, scrutinizing the coat and his general air of don’t-fuck-with-me.
“I think I’ll take this one,” Casey said, gesturing to the mattress she was lounging on. “When can it be delivered?”
The man did some checking and told her it was in stock and could be delivered in two days. After that, everything was done quickly. Casey filled out the information needed on the paperwork, paid, and she and Maddox were leaving.
The Helheim Wolf Pack Novellas: The Complete Collection Page 29
