by Liza Street
“Why couldn’t you keep your big mouth shut? You’re ruining this.” She yanked her bra back into place and pulled up her panties. “You should go.”
“I—what?”
“I said, leave.” She sniffed and rubbed her nose with her wrist. Her eyes were bright, like she was going to cry.
Jameson felt like the biggest asshole. He’d hurt her after everything she’d just given him. Still holding up his pants with one hand, he said, “Just wait a second. We should—”
“No, we should not do anything. I don’t want to be around you.” She rubbed her eyes again, and there was a faint trace of tears on her skin. But her gaze was furious, her jaw set. “You apologized for something that should have been great. Well, it was great, but now it’s not. You ruined it, so please just go.”
“I wasn’t trying—”
The look in her eyes, the stubborn set of her jaw, was enough. She meant it. She really wanted him to leave.
“I wasn’t telling you I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. Or I did, but…”
She pointed one rigid hand to the door. In her hot pink bra and panties, angry, she looked like some kind of vengeful superhero, ready to shoot electricity from her eyes and zap him on the spot.
“We can talk later,” Jameson said.
She shook her head. “No. We can’t.”
“Please don’t leave. Just think it through. I won’t bother you if you don’t want me to. I won’t even talk to you. But please stay.”
She closed her eyes, her finger still pointing to the door.
With his head bowed, Jameson buttoned up his pants, grabbed the ruins of his shirt, and left the tiny cabin.
The outside air was the slap to his face Nina should have given him. What had he been thinking? He’d been thinking of Willow, and he’d been grieving her for too long. Rex had told him over and over that it was time to let go and move on, but Jameson hadn’t found any woman who was worth it. Willow had been his mate, his true mate, and when she’d died, he felt like he’d died with her. Except in reality, he’d survived, and he’d survived as half a man.
Now Nina was here, and his feelings for her were so strong he could barely even process them.
Could a man have two mates in his life? He didn’t deserve that kind of luck. He didn’t deserve much of anything, at this point, which was fine because it looked like that’s what he’d gotten himself.
Apologies after sex. Stupid.
He tossed his shirt on the ground, unfastened his pants again and shoved them off along with his shoes. His teaching clothes weren’t meant to be left on the ground in the woods, and likely they’d be ruined, but he couldn’t give a damn. It wasn’t right that Nina was hurting, and he wished he could make it better.
He’d tried, and it hadn’t worked.
He shifted into his bear too fast, so fast it hurt. When he stood on powerful hind legs and roared out his anger and self-reproach, the trees seemed to rattle with the sound.
There.
It felt better, but it wasn’t the release he wanted.
He circled back through the woods, toward Nina’s cabin. His thoughts were clear, but simple. A bear’s thoughts. Be with Nina. Nina needs me. Nina loves me and I love Nina. Make Nina happy.
He silently huddled at the side of her cabin, leaning against the worn siding, wishing he could be closer.
Inside the walls, Nina sniffled once, twice. Crying? He wanted to dig into the earth and bury himself, he felt so bad. Lower than low.
After a while, her crying stopped, and he pressed harder against the siding of her cabin and tried to sleep. He wished he could tell her that he was there for her, but she hadn’t wanted him. And rightly so. Every piece of misery he felt now was a piece of misery he deserved.
Fifteen
If this had been playing out like an erotic romance, Jameson would never have apologized for their hot sexytimes. Instead, he would have stayed in her cabin and they would have enjoyed sexy hijinks for hours and hours, until dawn. Then they would have had some silly argument, or maybe a big secret revealed, and one of them would have left.
Nina probably would have gotten in her truck and driven away. Or maybe Jameson would have. Hard to tell.
The big misunderstanding trope. She hated it.
She couldn’t trust him and, apparently, he didn’t really care for her. He’d been taken in by the moment. It wasn’t unlike what had happened with Fraze and her a few weeks ago, although that had been more premeditated. She’d wanted sex, and so had he. The difference was, the sex had been great with Fraze but it had been a-fucking-mazing with Jameson.
A distraction. That’s what Fraze had been to her, and tonight, that’s what she’d been to Jameson.
Crapsticks. Crap on crapsticks.
Grabbing her phone, she texted Fraze. How are you doing, stranger?
Fraze: Good. Worried about you, though. These new vampires are dicks. Hard to have you far away.
Nina: I’m in a safe place. A bizarre clan took me in for a few days.
Fraze: Stay safe.
Nina set her phone down, then picked it up again. She needed to say this to him. After tapping out a message, she bit her lip and hit “send.” We never really talked about that night.
His response was immediate. Nothing to talk about, babe. Just a fun night shared between two friends.
Nina: I feel like I used you.
Fraze: No more than I used you. Be kind to yourself.
She sent him a heart emoji and looked around her tiny cabin. She didn’t want to leave this place; she liked it here. She didn’t like Jake or Erena, but she could handle bullies. Besides, there was a lot to be said for dependable internet, and she really liked hanging out with Gemma and Rex.
And Jameson—she liked him, too. They hadn’t talked much, just a couple of conversations, really. But she felt a connection with him. Maybe it was mostly physical, but it felt like it went beyond that. She wished she could dig him out of her heart, but that was impossible.
She wiped the tears from her face and got ready for bed. Once she was all dressed, she turned on her laptop. Checked her blog. Lots of new comments, which made her feel less alone, but at the same time more alone.
She fell asleep, smelling Jameson on her and in her. Because she was on the Pill, there wouldn’t be any lasting consequences. No lasting physical consequences, anyway. Already her heart felt like it had been through an extra fast spin cycle in the washing machine.
*
The next day, Nina woke up early. She still smelled Jameson. She felt him on her, his rough hands on her waist and hips, holding her in place while he’d thrust into her. His scruffy chin against her cheek as he’d kissed and made love to her. Oh, it had felt so good.
Unfortunately, the memory was tainted with what came after.
Maybe she could use a break from the Rock Creek Clan. Gemma had mentioned a nice coffee shop in Helene the other day, so Nina showered and dressed, then grabbed her book tote and headed outside. She stopped when she reached her Chevy, though. Poor Phil. Scrubbing had mostly removed the words Cat in heat, but the bright orange paint was a gigantic smear on the door.
“What are you doing, Nina?” a deep voice called from one of the other cabins. Nina squinted and searched the porches until she saw the big form of Nolan, leaning against his porch railing. He wore basketball shorts and a white tank, and he had a giant cup of orange juice in his hand.
She trotted over. “I just changed my mind about going somewhere.”
“Maybe you should,” he said.
“Should what?”
“Go somewhere. I don’t think this is the best place for you.” He took a big gulp of juice.
“I can’t figure you out,” she said. “Sometimes you’re friendly, and then sometimes you act like an ass.”
He looked away and muttered, “I can’t figure you out, either. That’s the trouble, kitty cat.”
While Nina stood there, blinking up at him, he glugged down the rest
of his juice, held up the glass in a mock salute, and went into his cabin.
Cryptic polar bear. Nina went back into her cabin. She settled back into bed and picked up Dyin’ to be Your Lion, a romance about creatures called “were-lions” who ran a dating service. Gemma had lent it to her as a joke, and Nina remained unconvinced that she’d like it.
It really wasn’t bad at all. And when she got to the first sex scene, wow. Nope, it didn’t compare to what she and Jameson had done last night, not by a longshot, but it was damn hot. She allowed her hand to creep into her pants, and she gave herself an experimental stroke. Yes, she wanted this. She was turned on by words, by romance, by happily ever afters, and dammit she wanted to be with Jameson again.
Well, since he wasn’t here, she could be with herself. She leaned her head back against the edge of the couch and made herself feel almost as good as Jameson had done. It wasn’t him and his monster cock, no, but it would be good enough for now.
Sixteen
Three days had passed since Jameson had been with Nina. Three days that he’d been avoiding her and yet chasing her at the same time. She hadn’t talked to him, hadn’t looked at him, and she’d mainly stayed in her cabin.
“Has she even come out?” he asked Rex.
Dusk was setting in. He and Rex were patrolling the edges of the immediate property, where it abutted the forest, and took note of repairs that they’d need to make to the fence. They didn’t want any hunters or tourists hiking through and finding their little camp, and a good boundary would help. It seemed like everything was in place, but really what Jameson had wanted was to talk to his friend.
“She comes out all the time when you’re at work,” Rex said. “What the hell did you do to her?”
“Made a mistake,” Jameson said.
He kicked at a fence post to see if it was sturdy, and it toppled to the side. Rex held it in place while Jameson shoved it back into the soft earth.
“We’re gonna need a more permanent solution than that,” Rex said.
“Yep.”
“So, tell me about this mistake you made,” Rex said.
“I started thinking about Willow. After I’d been…intimate with Nina.”
Rex laughed. “Sorry, sorry. It’s not funny. I’m being a dick.”
“Exactly.”
“You need to be talking to Nina about this, not me.”
“She won’t talk to me.”
“Well,” Rex said, “keep trying. Are you the fuckin’ alpha, or what?”
Jameson sighed. “I’m the fuckin’ alpha.”
His phone beeped in his pocket, and he pulled it out. It was a voicemail from an unknown number.
He listened and his mouth fell open in shock as the person introduced herself via voicemail. “Jameson Cooper, you do not know me, but this is Marlana Corona of the Corona Pride in Montana. We need to talk, because I think you have someone who belongs to me, and she might be in danger. We’re currently in treaty negotiations with a vampire court. Having any of our own outside our territory makes us nervous at a time like this.”
“Holy shit,” Rex said, because he’d obviously heard every word.
“Yeah.” Jameson had heard of Marlana Corona—she was not an alpha to be ignored. With shaking fingers, Jameson dialed her back. “This is Jameson Cooper.”
“Hello.” Marlana Corona’s voice was smooth. “I’m sorry to call with such difficult news, but—”
“Let me stop you there,” Jameson said. “How did you know Nina is here?”
“So she is there.” Marlana’s relief was clear in her voice. “She was in contact with another of my pride, said something about a ‘bizarre clan.’ I could only think of the Rock Creek Clan as bizarre.”
From the other side of the fence, Rex snickered.
Jameson frowned at him and spoke into the phone. “She came into my clan begging sanctuary.”
Marlana’s voice turned sharp. “Sanctuary? From what?”
“She didn’t say. Tell me about this vampire danger. What’s going on?”
“We posted the information to the forum—haven’t you seen it?”
“Not lately, no.”
“Well, all the groups need to be aware. This problem is limited to our area of Montana as far as I know, but the vampires seemed to think they needed fresh blood in North America. Honestly, alpha to alpha, I don’t know how to handle this. And worrying about Nina off on her own—that makes it even harder.”
Jameson nodded decisively, even though Marlana couldn’t see it. An alpha’s concern for their group members—that was something he and Marlana had in common. “You don’t need to worry about Nina, you have my word. I’ll protect her—my clan will protect her. Just worry about getting the treaty made, and see if you can work in some provisions to get them the hell back to Europe or wherever they came from.”
Marlana sighed. “Yes, I’m trying. Thank you.”
They ended the call, and Rex looked at Jameson with wide eyes. “What the fuck.”
“I don’t know,” Jameson said. “But I’m going to need you to appoint someone to monitor the shifter forums for news about the vampires. We didn’t need this kind of shit to worry about, but I guess we don’t have a choice.”
“For now,” Rex said. “Do you think the vampires will follow Nina?”
“Depends,” Jameson said. “In the meantime, I should let her know that her alpha’s worried.”
“If she’ll talk to you,” Rex said, unhelpfully.
“If she’ll talk to me.”
He and Rex hurried back to camp. Night was now falling, and the fire flickered in the center of the camp. Several clan members were already circled around it, sharing food and conversation, and Jameson’s heart swelled with pride. Maybe this was a ragtag group for the time being, but he was going to foster this kind of behavior, the group kind that made it feel more like a community here and less like a set of factions vying for power.
Jake was holding court in one of the chairs, Margot and Erena on each side of him, curled up against him. Jameson shook his head. When Jake had joined the clan two years ago, Jameson had held a few reservations. Even now, deep down, he had his doubts, but he wanted to give Jake the chance to come around.
Margot and Erena were sisters, for fuck’s sake, and Jake needed to choose one so the other could move on. Or choose neither. He doubted Jake was mature enough to be a good mate to anyone yet. But what did Jameson know—he obviously had a lot to learn, as well.
He knocked on Nina’s door. She opened it, saw him, and tried to bang it closed again.
Jameson blocked it with his foot, which was thankfully encased in a sturdy boot. “We need to talk.”
“Go away, alphahole.”
“Come on, that isn’t fair. I’m not alpha-ing you.”
Her eyes were two slits of anger. “Like it would work.”
He hadn’t made any headway by giving her space, so he’d have to be more proactive. He repeated what Rex had said earlier. Are you the fuckin’ alpha, or what? “We’re talking, whether you like it or not. Your alpha called me just now.”
She tried to push the door against his foot, but it wouldn’t budge. “Good for her.”
“She’s worried. I told her I’d pass the message on—she’s thinking the vampires might come after you because you’re separated from your pride, and, they might think, easier pickings.”
“I can take care of myself,” Nina said.
“I don’t doubt it. But you’ve also got the clan. While you’re with us claiming sanctuary, we’ll protect you.”
“You sure all of them would honor that?” she said, skepticism raising her eyebrows.
He followed her gaze to the fire, where it landed on Jake and Erena. “They will,” Jameson growled. “I’ll make sure of it.”
She shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “Well, if that’s all…”
“It’s not, Nina, and you know it.”
“I don’t want to talk about that. If I’m going to be ev
erybody’s one-time fuck, then forget it. It’s fine, just don’t talk to me about it anymore.”
“A one-time fuck?” Jameson said. How could she think that? That time with her—it had meant more to him than anything in the past five years.
Worst of all, the idea seemed to hurt her just as much as it hurt him.
“I said I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, her voice a whisper.
He looked around. There was some danger they’d be overheard, even as far away from the fire as they were. “Fine. We don’t have to talk about it. Can we talk about something else, then?”
“Nope.” She looked past his shoulder. “Oh, hey Jake,” she said brightly.
Jameson turned—he hadn’t even heard Jake approach.
Jake wasn’t there. In the two seconds it took him to realize it, Nina had taken advantage of his foot moving and had already shoved the door closed.
Ooh, he’d been tricked. “This isn’t the last you’ll hear from me, Nina.”
“Whatever,” she called from the cabin.
“We can have a nice long chat through the door.”
“Do you want me to leave entirely? Because I like this place, but if you harass me, I will leave.”
“Harass you?” No, no no, that wasn’t what he wanted. He was still going about this all wrong.
He turned to go around her cabin. From the fire, Gemma blew him a kiss, and he shook his head. This was too public. He wanted to have a big old argument with her, with lots of shouting and raging and stomping and slamming doors. But everyone would hear it.
He tapped on the rear of her cabin. “Don’t shut me out like this, Nina. We do need to talk.”
No answer.
Sighing, he pulled off his clothes, shifted into his grizzly, and rested in the little nest of earth he’d been sleeping in for the past three nights.
*
“What on earth are you doing out here?” Nina’s voice was quiet, and she peered around the edge of her cabin.
He forced a quick shift back to human and raised his head. “Trying to sleep.”
She came the rest of the way around the corner. In a soft-looking t-shirt and skimpy little sleep shorts, she took his breath away. She put a hand on her hip, smiled and then bit her lip to hide it. “How’s that working out for you?”
