“Yes, I’ll be here all day.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye, Janie.”
“Bye, uhh?”
“Bane, I’m Bane.”
“Bye, Bane.”
Bane drove home smiling to himself. Janie liked him. He never thought that she would like him. He had believed that she would be afraid of him. That his dominance would frighten her off. But she hadn't even flinched. Except for when he gave her the impression that he had a wife. But then he’d told her she was the reason he came to the store so often, and she had practically glowed. Now he was glowing. His Bear was happily rolling around on his back with his feet in the air singing Mate, Mate, Mate over and over again. And he wondered if maybe Bear was onto something. Could Janie possibly be his One?
Janie finished the day at work wearing a silly grin. Bane, the beautiful man all the ladies at the grocery drooled over, had told her he came into the store so often just for her. To see her. And she had had butterflies in her stomach ever since. She didn't know what he saw in her, or if maybe he was just playing a little game with her, but she had never felt like this before, and she was going to enjoy it for a day or two. Oh, she knew he’d never really want her, but he was being nice to her. And she was going to enjoy it while it lasted. She headed home that night, with a smile instead of the usual apprehension she felt. Going home was not a nice thing. She hated it. It was not a sanctuary. It was a mine field. And she was too often a target. But the memory of Bane telling her that he came to see her would get her through a few days, at least.
Chapter 10
Avaleigh woke slowly, rolling over and stretching her legs out. Well, trying to stretch her legs out. She encountered a big lump of snoring grizzly Bear-man stretched out across the foot of her bed. It had been the same almost every night since she’d moved into her cabin. She’d get her little place in order, take a bath, relax, read a little and drift off to sleep. Each morning she’d wake up with Kaid stretched out across the foot of her bed, Goldy in the living room on her couch and Mav either trying to fit in her bed with her and Kaid, or on the porch curled up on her welcome mat as his Wolf. If it was Mav’s Wolf she tripped over as she left her home, then she knew he’d had a bad night. He did that sometimes. Just couldn't escape the memories that his brain constantly played on repeat, so he ran from them, literally. He ran their property, walked sentry, checked windows and doors in all their homes, then did it all again. Until he literally passed out from exhaustion. It broke her heart to see him so, well, broken. But each time she tried to get him to open up and share some of his burden, he just turned it all into a big joke. That was how he dealt with it, humor. There wasn't anything she or anyone else could do for him until he was ready to let them in, so they just loved Mav as he was and made sure he knew that they did.
She kicked the pile of man laying on her feet. It growled at her and curled in the other direction. “Kaid, get up.” Another snarl. “Kaid, wake up! The sun is shining. You’re late!” That did it. He sat upright and pried one eye open to peek at the sun shining though the window. “It’s your fault I’m late. I couldn’t sleep again last night.”
“It is not my fault. I was minding my own business, in my own home. Whatever you did is totally on you, dude.”
“It is too your fault. You know Bear can’t sleep at night if you’re not near, and you know I had work today, and you slept alone anyway. So I had to sneak in here and take the foot of the bed like I don’t belong here or something, just to get some sleep.”
“You don’t belong here, Kaid.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No, you don’t. My house, my bed. No Kaid.” Secretly she loved that the guys still wanted to be near enough to her that they could hear her heartbeat, even when they were sleeping. But she didn't want to get too used to depending on Kaid. One day they would both belong to other people, and she didn't want the pain that would be involved if she allowed herself to become attached to him in that way. She loved Kaid. Had told him she loved him. He was family. But he still entertained some bullcrap attitude about being responsible for her because he’d claimed her. Just because he and Bear had claimed her to save her didn't mean that they were supposed to be together. And she knew that one day Bear was going to look at some other woman and roar, “Mine,” and she didn't want to be the odd man out. So she had decided that distance was good. Treat Kaid like a brother. Just like she did all the others, and all would be fine. Only Kaid was a stubborn brat and refused to listen. She honestly believed that he knew his attachment was from his claim, not from a mating instinct. There was a difference. And he knew it. He just wanted his way. Period. Typical man. Kaid rolled to his feet, buck assed naked, and stumbled to the bathroom scratching his balls. “Ave, can I have some of those meatballs in a sandwich for lunch today?”
“Do I look like the lunch lady to you?”
“Yup, sexiest damn lunch lady in the parish.”
“Let me see how much I have left; you know Bam gets his special everyday,” she answered over her shoulder as she headed toward the kitchen. She threw some biscuits in the oven and pulled some ham and cheese out of the fridge to put in the biscuits when they were done. Then she got lunch together for the guys. She made sure that Bam had his special lunch that was a meatball sandwich just like all the others, but his was on the left over garlic bread instead of just a piece of French bread. She always made sure to send him a little something extra that the others didn't get. By the time she was done, Bane and Bam had joined them in her kitchen. She assembled the biscuits and started passing them around. She must have been a little off today because the guys noticed and mentioned it a couple times. Goldy finally reached out and wrapped his hand around her wrist. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” he asked her in that raspy growl of his.
“I don’t know, I’m just tense.”
“Nope, gotta be more to it. What are you tense about?” he continued to hold her wrist.
“I don’t know.” Really she did know. She just felt selfish saying, so she kept it to herself.
“Ave, we can’t fix it if you don’t tell us what it is,” Mav added.
“It’s ridiculous, really. I’ll be fine.”
“Do you want to go somewhere else, Avaleigh? Did we do something?” Bam almost whispered too low for her to hear. She answered quickly after that, not even thinking about the others as she rushed to reassure Bam. “No, honey, it’s nothing like that. It’s just… I stay here all day, every day. I wake up each morning, make breakfast, you guys go off to work, I stay here waiting for you to come home. I cook dinner, ya’ll eat, then we go to bed. I’m bored. I want a little fun, some excitement. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I went out dancing or had a drink or two? Wait, bad example, I don’t know how long it’s been either, but I need to do something other than sit here and greet you at breakfast and greet you at dinner. Can we go out somewhere? Maybe even just go to dinner or go see a movie or something. Please??? I feel like I'm just smothering here. I never go anywhere, I never do anything. You guys at least get to go to work. Can’t we at least go somewhere once in a while?”
They all looked at her like she’d grown two extra heads. Then Kaid spoke first, “I’m so sorry, Ave. It never occurred to me that you were just sitting here, waiting. You have cabin fever, baby, and we’re all so content with you being here that we never even realized that you needed more. Yeah, hell yeah, we’ll go do something. We’ll go eat and…”
“Nope!! I got a better idea!!!” Mav broke in. “This bar not too far from here has a Karaoke Night each Thursday night. Guess what tonight is!” he singsonged at everyone.
Avaleigh broke into a wide grin, “It’s Thursday!”
“Yes, Ma’am, it is. And we are taking you drinking and dancing and karaoking. Tonight!” Mav said, rocking back in his chair and stuffing his mouth full of ham and cheese biscuit.
“No, no we are not!” Kaid bellowed, looking around at all of them. “Ain't no woman worth anything got any business i
n a bar. Ave, you are not going in a bar. We will take you out proper, but you are not hanging out in a bar drinking and dancing like you are trying to get a piece.”
“Yes, Kaid, I am,” she smiled as she answered him. “I’m going, and I’m excited about it, too. Guys, we are going to have so much fun!!!!” Her guys started to get excited, and everybody was talking about it. Kaid just glared at her across the table. “Kaid, you can come with us and have a good time, or you can sit here at home and hope I don’t get into anything you don’t approve of,” she told him.
He threw his biscuit down onto his plate and glared at her some more. “Damn it, Ave. You don’t have any business in a bar.”
“Well, then, you better come with to protect me.”
“Fine!” he huffed at her before stalking out of the door and barking at the others to hurry up they were making him late.
She gave Mav an extra hug before he left and thanked him for the idea.
He just winked at her and said, “Get ready, darlin’. It’s on tonight!” She did a little dance around the kitchen as she cleaned up after the guys left. She was going dancing! And karaoking! And she was going to drink a little too, okay, maybe a lot! She couldn't wait! Yay her!!!
Avaleigh spent a couple of hours getting ready. She’d picked out a pair of her favorite jeans that hugged her curves just right. She was wearing her favorite white V-necked tee with the little pocket over her left breast. It fit her perfectly, hugging her curves, but not so tight that she looked like a sausage stuffed into it. Avaleigh had a little more curve than most girls, and most of the time she was okay with it, but on the rare occasion she went out to enjoy the night life, so to speak, she always managed to feel a little awkward. The other girls were all so statuesque and graceful that she ended up feeling like a lumberjack stomping around them. Which was in actuality utterly ridiculous. She was truly beautiful in her own right, but she just couldn't help but compare herself. And she was way too critical of her own assets. She applied her makeup perfectly, a little base to smooth out her complexion, mascara to enhance her lashes, a little lipstick and she was ready. She was never one to pile on the makeup, but her guys had never seen her with it on at all, and she hoped that they liked it. Every girl wants to feel pretty sometimes. She brushed her dark hair into shining waves and left them loose to cascade over her shoulders. She had huge grey-blue eyes that she had been told were her best asset. Her eyebrows were left natural rather than plucked and shaped artificially, but they had a nice graceful curve to them. She had what she thought of as average lips, and her nose was just a little pointed, not rounded and no bumps in it, nice and straight. Her face was pretty and showed every expression and emotion she had clearly — there was no poker playing for her. She was a little rounded in the belly and had ample boobs and ass. Her thighs were a little thick — okay, more than a little, but she was proportionate and shapely. She was for the most part satisfied with her results tonight. She smiled to herself as she bent over to slip her feet into her cowboy boots. She was going to have fun tonight, come hell or high water.
The door to her cabin slammed open as Mav came striding in followed by Bane and Bam. “Damn, darlin’, nice ass!” he declared and he held his hands out in front of him as though he was holding her ass and his eyes ran up and down her frame. “Why thank you, Mav. Where’s Goldy and Kaid?”
“Goldy’s firing up the Suburban, and Kaid’s not home yet. Let’s get this show on the road, darlin’, I hear some beers calling my name! They waiting on me!” He grinned at her as he took her hand and sauntered out the door. Bam had been smiling at her with a goofy grin since he came into the room, “You look pretty, Avaleigh. The boys are gonna want to talk to you tonight.”
“Thank you, Bam,” she told him as she was dragged past him. It made her feel good to hear that he thought she looked nice. “Shouldn't we wait for Kaid, guys?”
“Naw, Kaid thinks if he’s late, we won’t go, and he’ll get his way,” this from Bane, the normally reasonable one.
“Truly? That’s why he’s not here?”
“Yup, truth. He doesn't want you to go to a bar, so he decided if he’s late, we can’t go.”
“Seems to me he’s left me no choice, now I have to go,” she grinned at Bane as she said this last part.
“You know, Avaleigh? You’re my kind of people,” Bane said as he stepped ahead of Mav to get the door to the Suburban for her. Goldy was already sitting in the driver’s seat as she slid in next to him. Mav got in beside her, and Bane got in the second seat beside Bam.
“Guys, you all look so handsome tonight. So sexy. If you want me to introduce you to somebody tonight, just let me know, and I’ll strike up a conversation with her.”
They all chuckled at her and she got a few, “Woman, I can meet my own women!”
But Mav got an evil gleam in his eye, “Oh, hell yeah, an intro from my own sister? I am gonna be a God tonight! All those girls that tell me no,‘cause they say I’m a manwhore, they are going down tonight!!”
“Manwhore? You’re a manwhore, Mav?” she asked him knowing full well his reputation thanks to Kaid filling her in before she’d ever met them.
“No, darlin’, not a manwhore per say, I am just in high demand. And who am I to deny the masses the man beauty that is me?” he announced with a wave of his hand as though he were some kind of regal personage. They all burst out laughing as Goldy drove them down the driveway and toward what she hoped was a great night. “I fail to see the humor in my spreading my sexiness as needed,” Mav grumbled as they all started another round of snorting laughter at his expense. Yes, she was gonna have to make sure that she didn't snort tonight. That was another enchanting mannerism that she had been gifted with — she snorted when she laughed too hard. It was not pretty. She reached for the radio and started singing loud and proud, totally off key. They all joined her as they drove toward Vince's Place.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Kaid pulled into his space near the front porch of the main house and listened to the quiet around him. Son of a bitch, they went anyway, he thought to himself. Bear snarled at him that it was his own fault for trying to make them stay home by being late. And honestly he knew that, but he just didn't know what else to do. Avaleigh had been hell bent on going, and he really didn’t want her to go, but he truly wasn't just being an asshole, he had a really bad feeling about this. So he figured if he dragged his feet and was late getting home, they would have to put it off for another night, and he could just take her to dinner tomorrow to make up for it. But, of course not, they had all decided to take her anyway, in spite of the fact that they knew he didn't want them to go and that really chapped his ass. “Fuck,” he muttered to himself as he climbed out of his truck and made his way into the house to get cleaned up. He had no choice — he had to get cleaned up and go meet them there. He couldn't leave them in a bar, with his Avaleigh, with the feeling he’d been fighting all day. Some bad shit was going to go down tonight, of that he had no doubt, and he needed to be there when it did.
Sitting in the back of the sedan parked in the shadows across from the parking lot of the bar, the male tapped his hand impatiently on his knee. “Are you sure that this is the right place? We’ve been sitting here for almost two hours already, and I haven’t seen him yet.” The scruffy little man sitting in the driver’s seat answered, “Yes, sir. I spoke to him here earlier today. I’ve been watching for about a week, and he comes in and gets lunch. Then, he comes back again in the evenings for a few beers and some dinner. I’m sure he’ll be coming. I’ll drug his beer, then, you can grab him when he leaves here, kill him, then you’ll be safe again.” The male snapped at him in reply, “You better fucking hope he comes tonight. If you’d done your fucking job properly the first time, we wouldn't have to be here now!!” His voice raised with each word he snapped at the little man. “Yes, sir, I know I screwed up, but I’m gonna fix it tonight.” “You’d better fucking fix it, or I’ll rip away more than your fucking leg next time. I’l
l rip your fucking throat out!” “Yes, sir, he’ll come, you’ll see. Then I’ll help you get him. It will all be okay.” Lurin just glared at the idiot. It disgusted him how much of an ass kisser Slatterly was, but finding good help was a difficult thing these days. Slatterly was truly on his last chance though. He’d managed to allow his female to escape, along with the fucking Bear. They were both out there somewhere, and it notched up the chance of his own demise dramatically. As long as he had them both under his control, he was much safer. But then Slatterly decided to partake of the tea they used to drug the female with the first damn time he left them under his watch, and they’d both gotten away. In the back of his mind he knew that it was partially his fault for bragging to the female that she was immune to the security beams keeping them imprisoned because of his blood in her system. His bragging gave her the knowledge she needed to try to escape, but he truly thought she had become attached to him, and he wanted to further impress her with his power. I mean what female wouldn't be grateful for his attentions? The little slut would pay when he found her. He’d decided to keep her for his own before she ran from him. He still couldn't figure out how the little bitch had kept him from being able to detect her after she’d run. He should have been able to track her through his blood in her system. He’d kill the bitch when he got her back, but he was going to fuck her first, without the benefit of being drugged with his blood. He wanted her to know the full magnificence and terror that was him. Then his serpent was going to crush her ungrateful ass. She’d caused him far too much stress worrying about them coming back for him. He wasn't safe if they were free. They would mate. Then, he would die. It had been foretold. The more Dragons that found their Mates, the closer he would be to annihilation. So he had devised a plan- annihilate them all instead. Find the Dragon Mates, male or female, destroy them, keep them from mating, and he would continue to exist. Simple. At least it had been until recently. His natural penchant to cause pain had been his downfall. He’d become bored with just drugging them and killing them. He’d begun to keep them for a while, torture them, pleasure himself by doing so and that was how he’d been made a fool of. The female had pleased him all too much with her whimpers of pain and clear disgust when he pleasured himself with her flesh. The Bear had been near the end with both starvation and depression. He’d only fed the Bear enough to be sure he lived a little longer to experience more pain. Then one evening the Bear had witnessed Avaleigh's distress and had lost all control, trying to break free to save her. After that Lurin had taken her in the gardens near the pond regularly, so the Bear could see the full depravity he bestowed upon her. He grinned to himself remembering the distress of both the Bear and his female, just as Slatterly’s voice cut into his thoughts, “There he is, sir. I told you he would come back tonight.” Lurin sat forward and evaluated the man as he walked toward the door of the bar. He paused and looked around himself like he felt something was off, but he hesitated only momentarily before turning his attention back to the door and walking through.
I'm Not A Dragon's Mate! Page 10
