“A life debt. Banner probably mentioned a life debt, and I know Logan feels the same because of something Blain did years ago for Hannah—though I don’t know what it is. Is this the only reason the guys are helping though? I don’t think Blain would like that. He doesn’t want other people to—okay, well, he’s so mercenary he probably relishes having people under his thumb,” I say ruefully.
Cass lies down beside me and snorts, and I see her shove a hand through her thick, brown hair. I can see a lot better in the dark than she can but with the curtains drawn I can’t see everything, and I wonder at her expression.
“I don’t think I can argue with that, no matter how much I love the guy. He is an opportunist. In a good way! I like it. He’s funny but…the thing is that I think all this stuff with the pack has opened Banner’s eyes. He was so mad last night, Jules. You should have seen him when he heard about what happened at your house. The only reason he didn’t go over there himself was because Lync was already in the woods out there, and he says the guy is very territorial out there.”
“Lync was watching the house?” I ask, mystified as to why he would bother.
Honestly, I always just assumed the guy was, well, a little crazy. Sure, he seems conscious. Sometimes. Most of the time though, he just looks like he’s this side of nuts and about to rip a tree free of the ground and bash something with it. Like a hairy, un-green Hulk. Only angrier.
“Of course, Jules. The guy worships Blain.”
“He does?”
“Sure! I heard Noble telling Banner when he stopped by yesterday that Lync and Blain were friends at one time. Well, not friends, but they ran in the same circles or something and played pack ball together.”
I did not know that, and neither did I know that Noble had started visiting Lync. I hope to hell Lync finally gives his little brother a chance because I have seen the pain in Noble’s eyes when anyone refers to his crazy feral brother, and it hurts. I want a happy ending there, and I hope it’s possible. For them both.
“Noble sees him? Is anything happening there? I mean Lync is doing better and…”
Cass snorts, and I smell tears before she sniffles loudly and swipes a hand over her eyes. God, please do not let me be crazy when I am pregnant. This is just not right.
“He tried. It was so sad, Jules. Noble came over and Lync took off immediately. I was so mad at him I didn’t bake him any cookies, and I gave him a stern lecture about other people’s feelings.”
I want to laugh because we all know that Cass’s stern lecture involves soft words and platitudes that kind of make you feel like she’s praising you, despite your bad behavior. I don’t laugh though because the truth is that this is sad. Noble is a great guy, a good brother and all Lync has left. Lync is all Noble has left.
“We need to do something.”
“What? I’m positive about everything, Jules, you know that, but I can’t force anything on Lync. He’s come such a long way from where Banner and Noble told me he was, but the truth is, I don’t think Lync wants to come all the way back,” she says softly.
I kinda get that. Mom once explained to me that to go feral the pain you felt had to be beyond anything any person could bear. For shifters, losing a Fated is like losing a part of their mind, and I can just imagine it for Lync because he lost his Fated, a girl he’d bonded with if only through friendship and then also a brother.
“I thought there were only two brothers,” Cass says, cutting into my thought.
“Oh yeah, no, there were three. Well, there was Lync and Noble, and then after their father was killed, she went a little crazy, I think. Slept around and did wild stuff according to Mom. She had Nolan, but his father took him when he discovered how shit she had become at caring for her boys,” I tell her.
“And he just left the other two?”
I get her outrage, hell I myself was outraged by her, but Mom said that sometimes, no matter how outraged you get about things, it isn’t your place to interfere.
And now I know, now it is clear that her reasoning in that is not right. If I’d been Mom, I would have taken those two boys, said screw pack law and what people thought, and beaten that female to within an inch of her life.
But, well, it’s too late now to change anything, and to be honest, I think the results would have been the same. By the time Lync Fated Luna and knew who she was to him, they were already bonded as friends, so the Fating bond just happened as a result. Add in the pain from losing his little brother, a boy he adored, well, you see how that would have been for Lync.
Two people he loved, killed and gone to him forever. I’d have lost my shit.
“This sucks.”
“You’re telling me. My mate lost his job, your mate could lose his life, and you could be banished. Your poor dad is almost inconsolable from what Prissy tells me, everyone in this pack has lost their minds, and to make it all worse…I kinda agree with Blain about changing things, and I think Banner does to. He’s been talking about leaving if things don’t go well.” She sighs.
“What! But Cass, this is our pack. I mean, pack is safety,” I whisper, choking up just saying it because the truth is that it hasn’t been for me.
Blain is all of that now, and she’s right, I could still lose him. Because of Dad, a male I love so much I still hurt inside when I let myself feel it. I don’t want to hurt those I love, and I know that if I hadn’t Fated Blain and claimed him the way I did, things could have been easy for him.
I’ve made him a target, along with myself, and now my friends are in the line of fire too, enough that a loyalist like Banner is turning his back on the pack and will leave if he has to. Shit.
“We can’t let this happen.”
“No, that’s why me and Hannah have come up with a plan of sorts. Don’t argue yet, just listen. So, I have this feeling thing.”
I laugh at her when she says it so breezily because I have literally seen Banner walk into a room ahead of her, scowl, and warn everyone there, no matter who it is, that if they don’t feel happy when she walks in he’ll kill them all.
If she walks into a happy room, she’s right as rain, but one bad emotion coupled with her pregnancy hormones and Cass starts bawling like a baby and bending over backwards to make that person happy. It’s sort of funny to watch because having a sobbing female try to tell you a joke about a priest, three whores, and a bartender sorta ruins the punch line. Especially if she starts crying about how she feels awful for those poor whores and speculated for an hour about who they were in life and why they ended up in their situations.
Jesus, talk about depressing. I know more about sex trafficking in the human world than I ever wanted to.
“Jules?”
“You have the feeling thing. Okay?”
“I’m going to ask Lync to take me around town—”
“Cass—”
“Oh, just hush! It’s a good plan. He can take me around town, and I’m gonna feel people out and bazinga them for Hannah. She can go digging through their brain soup and see if she can tell what’s going on,” she says cheerily, clapping excitedly.
I hate to do this but…
“Can’t she just mind meld the Lewis or Hendricks clan? I mean they were involved,” I say slowly.
“Aw shoot! Dammit, now I won’t get to be Nancy Drew,” she mumbles.
Nancy Drew was a dork with knee high socks and bad hair. We’re like Charlie’s Angels! Dibs Lucy Liu. That bitch was hot in that movie.
I’m Drew Barrymore! At least I get one Drew in my name.
I grumble, grimacing because that would mean I’m the Diaz, and as sexy as that bitch is, for a human, I don’t want to be the clumsy one. Dammit.
Oh calm down, Juju, she was alright. She could…
Hannah trails off then, and I pout because yeah, she kicked ass in the movie but Barrymore could dance, Liu could cook a soufflé to perfection, and Diaz only really had her ditz going for her.
You guys suck. I wanna be Demi Moore.
&nb
sp; She was the bad guy in that movie.
So what? At least she was pretty.
Cass giggles, and I get a mental flash of the scene where Diaz was kicking her ass and Demi was snotting up the screen with her fake crying. Gross.
Fine, I’ll be her, but I can dance better than she can!
Suuuure, whatever robot Rob.
Ugh! Whatever. This is stupid anyway. And did you already hear what I said, Brain Stalker? You should check out the Hendricks and Lewis clans before Cass goes out there.
I heard, and thanks for the rocking nickname. I can so be the shifter version of Wesley Snipes from Blade.
Huh?
Yeah, huh?
Oh, come on! Day Walker? Brain Stalker? Oh whatever, you guys have absolutely no movie knowledge. I should have popped over to talk to Beeber. Her sarcasm and couch potato ways make her better company.
Oh please, I bet you popped in there first and saw them screwing again.
Julia! For the love of…how am I supposed to pretend I don’t accidentally see my own brother’s nuts when you keep bringing it up? It’s so gross. I saw things, Julia, things that no living being should ever see.
Even I shudder for her and swallow horror. I’ve heard Beebeer talk about sex. It’s…graphic.
Sooo? Hendricks and Lewis?
Fine. I’ll get into their heads in the morning, but if I’m doing all this, someone is coming over to check on the trips.
Cass!
Jules!
We both yell at the same time, but I win by a fraction of a second and hear Cass whine with fear.
I can’t change those diapers. I’m pregnant. I’d die. What about my poor innocent baby?
Oh my God, are you stooping to using your young as a defense?
Hannah starts cackling, and I see Cass wipe her brow with relief, my stomach shuddering a protest at the memory of changing that one diaper. Oh God, I really don’t think I want young anymore.
Oh, grow up! It’s a part of life.
That you’re currently escaping by using other people as sacrificial lambs to the slaughter.
I feel no shame.
Have you ever?
No, but right now, knowing that I have at least three hours free of the nuclear meltdown, I’m even more shameless.
Three hours! No fucking way. Just no.
I need complete peace if I’m gonna scratch around in that many heads at one time. Stop being a ninny and chin up the situation. Anyways, you’re their godmother.
You said I was!
Hush Cass! You’re ruining the moment.
Manipulative bitch.
Not nice, Juju. We’re supposed to be best friends.
You change us out like fucking underwear these days.
I don’t wear underwear-underwear, and besides, I have to spread the awesome around or you all would be too dazzled.
I basically surrender, what can I say? The female isn’t one to give up or stay on topic long enough for me to actually win an argument. Sick bitch.
Fine! But you’d better find those idiots so we can take care of them before Blain and Banner get themselves into more trouble.
And then what?
I think of anything but what I want to when she asks that question, trying a trick Logan taught me to keep Hannah from reading my thoughts. When I hear her shocked gasp and horrified screaming I’m so busy laughing that I can’t form a thought, and for that I am thankful because I don’t want anyone knowing just what I have in mind.
“That was mean as hell. And sneaky. What are you hiding?” Cass asks when the silence goes on for a while, my mind floating to every alternative I have.
I can’t talk to her about this. Hell, I can hardly make myself accept that I’m even thinking this, but the more I get to know Blain, the deeper I fall for him, the more willing I am to make the sacrifices necessary to make sure he’s okay.
If I am hated afterward, I’ll deal. I won’t let him die, and if making a deal is all I can do to stop that, I’ll do it and live happily with the knowledge that I loved him more than my own happiness.
“Nothing. Just don’t want more of her shit right now. I want to know what’s going on with Banner and Blain,” I say, changing the subject.
Cass sighs, pushing up off the bed, and I follow her to pause by the door and look down at her. God, she really is tiny.
“I don’t know, but I do know that Banner isn’t just going to let the attacks on you go. My guess is those two are getting ready to cause trouble. It scares me that he’d go this far. I mean, it’s good but…”
“But you have a young to think of and Banner’s parents to consider.”
“I…I hate that things are like this, but Denny already warned Ban that he isn’t getting involved in anything that would brand him as a traitor as well.”
I agree, and that’s why I can’t stop planning. Even if it makes me the bad guy.
Chapter Nineteen
Jules
I feel him come back to bed and slide in slowly, my body pliant when he rolls me over and licks into my mouth, the kiss a sexual claiming that makes me wet in places that are already aching for him.
Blain keeps kissing me and pushes the sheet down to reveal my naked body, his hands roaming all over me, starting at my breasts where he pinches my nipples before stroking down my stomach and opening my thighs where his fingers delve deep.
He groans when he feels how wet I already am, and I smile into his kiss when I feel his cock press against my hip, the hot flesh branding me while he uses his fingers to open me up, so he can slide just the pad of his middle finger over my clit.
“You’re so beautiful, my bria, so wet and always wanting me,” he groans, pulling his mouth back so he can look down at me while I gasp and writhe, pushing my sex closer to his exploring fingers.
I need him to touch me, make me forget what I’m thinking and feeling, and take away the ache that is settling inside me as fear and thoughts coalesce inside my head, forcing me to see things that I don’t want to.
“Please.”
He grins at the plea, liking that he’s dominating me and that I have no choice but to take it because I love it. This is part of what I never thought I could want, or accept.
Blain doesn’t do soft sex and what even shifters would call love making. It’s always him in control, playing with me until I’m ready to shatter and drinking in my submission.
Right now, I am fully submitted and ready to scream for release when he uses one finger to tap gently at my clit and play down to my opening where he tickles at the clenching muscles.
“Please what, bria?” he teases, his smile widening when I grab his hand and try to force him to touch me deeper.
“I need you. Please. I…please just take me,” I whine, the need to get out of my head as strong as the lust I feel.
Blain’s smile drops, and before I know it, he has my legs spread and his hips pressed close, his shaft sliding straight into my depths, as if he senses my desperation and can’t do anything but sate it.
He doesn’t tease me now, not when I dig my nails into his tight ass and pull him in, wanting him so deep I won’t ever forget what he feels like. Snarling, he thrusts, pulling out slowly only to pound back in so hard that I get shoved up the bed with the force of it.
I feel his pre-ejaculate, that special fluid that all males have in their seed spurt out to intensify my need and make my sex clench around him. Watching him, my eyes glowing as I look into his I don’t say anything when he bites into his lip and fucks me, the sex so hard and intense I feel the onslaught hit me less than minutes into the foreplay.
I climax, the pleasurable continuous orgasm that all shifter females are capable of starting with a detonation of painful pleasure and shattering through my whole body. My clit throbs with every pulse and scrape of his pelvis against me.
I feel him, throbbing inside me, the smooth skin of his cock gliding over my sheath even as he pierces deep into my womb and sets off yet another wave of sensation the
re.
I hear my pants, his grinding teeth as he prolongs the sex, our breaths wheezing, bodies covered in sweat when the minutes pass by without cessation of his thrusts. By the time Blain loses it, his eyes taking on the glow of his wolf, I am insensate from the climaxes that pound through me and desperate for that one final end that will sky rocket me into oblivion.
His snarls right before he sinks his teeth into my neck in claiming, and I come so hard when he fills me with release that I pass out, the pleasure doing exactly what I needed it to do.
Releasing me. For now.
********************************************************************
I sneak into the back door with only a little trouble when it doesn’t immediately open and almost scream when she yanks me inside with a hiss and a hard look.
“You’re playing with fire, girl.”
I don’t expect that hard hug she wraps me up in, but I return it after a second of hesitation, feeling tears fill my eyes before I am pushed away and given a thorough look over.
“I had to come. I…things are so messed up, Mom. So, so messed up. Everywhere I turn is danger, my mate is a wreck of anger and defiance, and Dad just keeps making things worse!” I cry, swallowing when Mom sighs and pats my back, her own sigh of frustration matching my own.
“That male is so stubborn I can hardly look at him lately without wanting to slap him! I warned him that spreading his ‘truth’ about the Seers clan wouldn’t go well, but he was convinced that you’d ‘see the light’ and come home.”
Following her to the table, I giggle when she locks the front door, something she hasn’t ever done before and comes back to the kitchen to serve me cocoa.
It’s a tradition with us, even if it’s a winter drink, and I accept it with a smile and blow on the hot liquid while looking at her over the rim of my cup.
Greyriver Shifters Page 112
