by L. P. Maxa
“I’ll be able to be away from her?”
“Of course you will.” Pen leaned forward, getting more animated as she spoke. “Think of it like this, you’ll be the most involved and loving big brother a little girl could ever wish for. You’ll want to be at her dance recitals and you’ll get anxiety over her first date. You’re like a really overprotective uncle.” Pen sent Riley a sympathetic smile. “I swear when my teacher described the connection she had tears in her eyes. I don’t think I’m doing it justice.”
“You are.” Baze brought their joined hands up and kissed hers.
“I told Pen she needed to teach a course at St. Leasing.” Madden took a sip from her wineglass. “She has all kind of shifter information in that pretty blonde head of hers. She knew all about those crazy hot flashes I had before Linc and I mated.”
“Really?” Linc looked down the table. “You know that stuff?”
She nodded. “Those were required classes at the school I went to. The information was crammed into my brain every semester.”
Molly smiled, like she knew a secret. “Can you tell us something else?”
“Sure can.” Pen trained her beautiful honeycomb eyes on Baze. “Did you know that the longer you guys go between shifts, the more your heightened senses dull?”
Baze sighed. Did the girl plans this?
“It’s really unhealthy.”
“Sounds like it puts them at a disadvantage.” Madden wore a mocking frown. “You guys are going to lose any edge you could have over Franklin if you don’t start shifting again.”
“Okay, okay, we get it.” Baze tossed his napkin on the table and stood. “We need to shift. You’ve made your point.” He kissed the top of Pen’s head and then addressed the rest of his pack. “Apparently, we need to go for a run, boys.”
Dom shook his head. “No way. We can’t leave them here unprotected like that.”
“Didn’t you tell us this was the safest place for us?” Corey crossed her arms, resting them on her large round belly. “You don’t have to stay out all night—go for a run in the mountains. We promise we won’t leave the house. We won’t unlock a door or open a window.”
Madden held her hand up, palm out. “We swear.”
Keller got to his feet, stretching his arms over his head. “I could really use a run if I’m being honest. And we can leave the twins and Riley here to watch them.”
Pen leaned forward. “Jace has to—”
“Shift. Like Riley and Jasper do.” Baze put his hands on Pen’s shoulders, thankful that he caught her before she said anything about Jace and Baze’s connection in front of the others. “They’re young, and they’re all stressed.”
“Plus, it’s harder for them to control their shift at this age. The more they practice, the better they’ll be at it.” Pen tilted her head all the way back, looking up at Baze with a smile on her face.
“Nicely orchestrated, bumblebee.” He put his hands on her face, his gaze pointed.
Her smile grew. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.” Before she could say anything else, he placed his lips on hers. He’d meant it as a sweet kiss, but the moment she wrapped her arms around his waist, he wanted more. He picked her up, walking backward until they were out of the dining room and alone in the kitchen.
He sat her on the island, palming her ass with both hands and bringing her flush against him. “I want to rip these clothes off your body.” He thrusted against her core, his movements almost involuntary. “I need to be inside you, I need…”
“To control your urges and come out here so we can get this run over with.” Dom was standing in the doorway, his hands on his hips.
Baze hung his head while Pen giggled quietly. He looked at Dom, his gaze narrowing. “You fucking suck, man.”
Dom nodded. “Yeah, I know.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Penelope
The four females stood in the living room, watching as all the guys shifted into wolf form. Pen would always be able to recognize Baze, and now his unique coloring made complete sense. He was a white wolf because he was alpha, and he was supposed to stand out.
Seven wolves took off into the night, running and bumping into each other. They needed that. They needed to change, they needed to reconnect with their shifter sides. It was important for them, and it was important for the pack. The more their heightened senses dulled, the more of a chance there was that Franklin would come out on top at the end of all this. And if he won, then that would most likely mean that someone on their team would lose their life.
“Good job.” Molly put her arm around Pen and rested her chin on her shoulder. “Although they agreed rather quickly, didn’t they?”
Before dinner Madden and Molly had come to her with a plan, a way to get the guys to agree to shift. They told her that ever since their conversation yesterday, they hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. “They were itching to go, all they needed was a little push.”
“Thanks for sharing all that stuff about the baby and Riley. I know he’s been really worried about everything.” Corey sat down on the couch and put her feet on the long modern coffee table.
“I’m glad I can help.” Pen took the glass of wine Molly offered and then joined her on the white plush rug in front of the fireplace. “It’s a beautiful thing, their connection. And despite what Jasper thinks, it’s counted as a huge honor among packs.”
Madden plopped down next to Corey, holding her glass out of their pregnant friend’s reach. “I know we’re going to get stuck with Jasper’s player ass.” She sighed, shaking her head. “He is Linc’s mini me, he deserves the universe’s punishment.”
“You and Baze will get Jace, it’s clear that those two have a connection.” Molly took a small polite sip of her wine. “I wonder who Keller and I will get.”
“Maybe you guys will acquire another pack member soon.” Pen scooted closer to the flames. Baze was right about the dropping temperatures.
“You still talk about this pack like you aren’t part of it.” Molly nudged Pen’s shoulder. “But you are, you know?”
She and Baze were getting closer every day. She was falling back in love with him quicker than she could have thought possible. Sure, she’d never stopped loving him, but falling again? That was something different. Last night had fanned a fire inside her that she thought had long been put out. It proved, more than anything, that Baze really was the one for her.
Pen wanted to say yes, she wanted to be his mate. But there was still one thing holding her back, one fear. And it wasn’t fear for herself; it was fear for the man she loved.
“So how have things been—” Madden’s question was cut off when the lights went out. The only reason they could see each other was because the fireplace was still going, which gave the room an entirely eerie vibe.
“What the hell?” Madden got to her feet, walking to the wall and flipping the switches on and off. Nothing happened.
Pen’s gaze went to the back deck; not all the outside lights were off. There must have been some that worked on a backup generator. She wouldn’t put it past Jace to have planned for every possible scenario while building his house. “You don’t think the guys did this on purpose do you?”
“To see if we actually stay put? I wouldn’t put it past them.” Corey rolled her eyes and huffed out a breath. Pen wasn’t sure what Corey was like before she’d entered her third trimester, but the Corey she knew was cranky AF eighty percent of the time.
“There’s no way they did this. They were so worried about leaving us, they wouldn’t have wanted anything to compromise our safety.” Molly grabbed Pen’s hand and tugged her toward the couch, bringing them closer to Madden and Corey.
“But look, the security lights and cameras are still on.” Pen pointed to a corner of the ceiling where the green light was still visible on one of the cameras. “And the floodlights outside are on too.” Which meant security measures were o
n a backup generator and Jace really had thought of everything.
“Should we go find the breakers? Maybe it’s something simple?” Madden sat up straighter in her seat, peering through the dark toward the hallway that led to the rest of the house. “I’m sure it’s in the basement or something, so we won’t have to leave the house at all.”
“I’m not scared or anything. But getting up and walking allllll the way to the basement sounds real terrible.” Corey rubbed her belly, wincing at Madden. “I’m feeling so fucking pregnant these days, y’all.”
“The guys literally just left, they won’t be home for at least an hour. Do you really want to sit here in the dark, wondering why the lights went off for that long?” Madden stood and then hoisted Corey to her feet.
“But what if it’s not the breakers? What if someone did this on purpose?” Molly was whispering. “What if this is Franklin and he’s trying to lure us to the basement to capture us?”
Pen had the same thought the minute the lights had cut out. She was sure they all had; how could they not? There was a madman criminal stalking this pack. What if he’d succeeded in finding the house? What if he had been lying in wait for the guys to leave the house?
“If this was Franklin, then wouldn’t he have cut off the backup generator as well?”
Pen nodded. “Maddi has a good point.” She glanced back to the camera, finding it still recording. “Jace learned his meticulousness from Franklin, which makes me think that if this was Franklin’s doing, he’d have covered all his bases. He wouldn’t have left all the security measures still intact.”
“And if they’re still on, then the alarm would have sounded if he’d gotten into the house.” Madden had Corey’s hand already, so she reached for Molly’s and started to try to pull them down the hall.
Molly grabbed onto Pen’s hand and they looked like a train moving slowly through the dark, trying to avoid the expensive furniture. “Or the compound.” Pen sidestepped an end table at the last second. “Jace has perimeter alarms up all over the place too.”
“See?” Madden looked left, then right, before pulling them from the safety of the living room and the light of the fireplace. She lit up their path with her cell phone, and the rest followed suit. Expect for Pen; Jace had yet to give her a new phone. “We’re perfectly safe. It’s probably the breakers, and we don’t need a man to flip a fucking breaker.”
Pen had to agree, even though she kind of wished they were still sitting by the fire. The house was cold and it was making her start to shiver. It didn’t take as long for them to locate the basement as she thought it would. And of course the space was completely finished. There was a gym and a full-size bathroom and there was also the panel for the breakers.
Madden opened it and flipped one. Nothing happened. So she tried another and another, to no avail. “Maybe it’s a fuse problem?”
“Or maybe it’s a freaking murderer problem.” Molly was still whispering, still clinging tightly to Pen’s hand. “We shouldn’t have come down here.”
“Stop being such a baby,” Madden scolded, gesturing to the room. “It’s a million-dollar gym, not a creepy basement from a scary movie.” She turned, her hands on her hips. “There’s no loud glowing furnace, there’s no clown standing in the corner watching us.”
“Why would you say that?” Molly scooted closer, but in her defense so did Pen.
All she could picture now was a white-faced clown with a giant red nose watching their every move. If she’d have known Madden better, she would have slapped her.
“It’s not the breakers, and I don’t know where Jace keeps the fuses.” Madden shrugged, dropping her lighted cell down by her side. “I guess we should head back to the living room and wait for the guys to get back from their run.”
“Wait, do you guys hear that?” Pen took a step back, her eyes searching the darkness. “That buzzing sound?” She whispered that time, trying hard to follow the noise. It was like an electrical sound, like a power line. But that couldn’t be; the power was cut off to the house. The only thing still working was a generator, and if that was part of the sound, it’d be much louder. Right? “Can you hear it?”
“Yes.” Molly nodded, still clutching Pen’s arm as they made their way to the ground-level window. The sound got louder the closer they got. “Maddi, bring your light over here.”
Madden and Corey made their way across the gym, avoiding hitting their shins on equipment as well as they could. “I hear it too. What is that?”
All four girls were standing under the window, heads cocked to the side, trying to discern what they were hearing. Suddenly, they all screamed when something slammed against the glass. They jumped back, and watched in terror as it was dragged away, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Baze
“Is the fucking power out? Tell me that the second we left the girls alone the power didn’t go out.” Dom grabbed his pants off the wooden deck, pulling them on as he entered the house.
They’d noticed the darkness when they were running back up to the house, but no one became alarmed until they realized that the girls hadn’t turned the lights off themselves. The whole place was pitch black.
“The backup generators would have kicked on, which means that all the safety features are still working. Alarms, cameras, all the locks.” Jace stepped into his pants and then headed straight for his office.
“Pen?” The girls weren’t in the living room where they’d left them. But the fire was still going and there were blankets on the floor and couch. He picked up a wineglass from the coffee table. “They were here.”
“But where are they now?” Linc came from the kitchen, shaking his head to let his packmates know it was empty. “Madden?”
“They couldn’t have gone far with Corey in tow, right?” Jasper snatched a wineglass from by the fireplace and downed it before anyone could stop him. “She complains when she has to walk to the bathroom these days.” That earned him a chuckle from Linc and a slap to the back of the head from Dom.
The second Baze stepped into the hallway to go look in their room, they all heard the screams. Everyone took off in a dead sprint, making their way through the house and into the basement gym. All four girls were staring at the window above their heads.
Dom burst into the room, making them all scream again. “What happened?”
“Pen?” Baze strode over to her, grabbing her by the shoulders and hauling her into his arms.
“Corey, are you okay?” Dom used his hands, feeling all over her body. “Babe, are you hurt? What the hell happened?” Corey shook her head, but then shared a look with Pen that made Baze uneasy.
Molly had her face buried in Keller’s chest and Madden was pulling Linc by the arm to the window, pointing. “Something died.”
“Something died? What, like a mouse or something?” Linc moved closer to the glass.
“Bigger.” Pen bit at her bottom lip, meeting Baze’s eyes. “Much bigger.”
Baze, Dom, and Keller joined Linc under the window, trying to see into the night. They were momentarily blinded when the outside lights suddenly turned on. Everyone winced and covered their eyes, then blinked slowly, trying to get them to adjust. “Fuck. That hurt.” Linc shook his head. “Why do you think something died?”
“Something slammed against the glass, and then there was like this red streak.” Madden gestured past Linc, showing them with her finger. “See? Right there.”
She was right, there was a red streak of something across the glass. Whether it was blood or not, they’d have to go outside to find out.
“What were you doing down here in the first place?” Keller moved away from the window, taking Molly’s hand and bringing her with him. Baze knew he was trying to change the subject, trying to get their minds off what they might have seen. Someone needed to go outside and figure out what had actually happened.
When no one else answered him, Pen cleared her throat. “We were down here,
seeing if there was a problem with the breakers.”
Baze whirled around, his jaw instantly tight. “What? Why? You aren’t an electrical engineer, Pen. How the hell did you figure you were going to fix it?” Baze wasn’t mad her, he wasn’t. He was simply terrified that something could have happened to her. Could have happened to all of them. “The power goes out in this huge fucking house and your first thought is, hey let’s go investigate? Really?”
Pen cocked her head to the side, her eyebrows shooting up. “Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you are, Baze Carter? Don’t you fucking talk to me like that.”
“Don’t take it out on her, it was my idea.” Madden stepped up next to her.
“Nope.” Molly left Keller’s side and joined the two other girls, linking their hands. “It was my idea.”
“We all know it wasn’t my idea, because the basement is real far from the living room, but.” Corey waddled over to them and took Pen’s hand. “I fucking dare one of you to try to yell again.”
“What’s happening right now? Why does it look like all the girls have joined forces to make your lives miserable?” Jasper was standing in the doorway, a wary look on his face.
“Because they have.” Baze met Pen’s gaze, shaking his head in near disbelief. “You could have been killed. Don’t you get that?”
“They stayed inside the house, like they swore they would.” Jace stepped into the room, an iPad in his hand. “They knew the security system was still up, I can see them discussing it on the playback.”
Jace must have turned the power back on somehow, because he flipped a switch and light flooded the basement, making everyone blink to try to adjust their vision once again.
“Why are you in this right now? You don’t have a mate. You don’t know what it’s like.” Linc sent him a what-the-hell-is-your-problem look. “At all.”
Baze watched as Jace glanced briefly to Pen, and then back to Linc. What was that look about? Why was his girl sharing all these secret looks with his pack?
