“There’s my girl.” Dawnie smiled at her. It would be all right. She’d fix things, she always did.
“If he gonna die anyway, why can’t I hunt him?” Percy whined.
That earned him another mighty smack from Dawnie, and he roared with rage. “Because we ain’t gonna hurt no cub!” she snapped at him. “I said I don’t want him to feel nothin’! I give him some nice chocolate cake with my special herbs, he falls asleep, that’s the end of it.”
She walked over to the door and rapped on it with her knuckles.
“Gummi?” she yelled. “Come on out now. It’s all right, I ain’t mad with you, I just need to see that Ethan’s all right.”
Gummi never could say no to her. She’d lie to him, tell him she was taking the boy home, and he’d hand Ethan over.
But nobody answered when she knocked. She knocked again, yelled at the top of her lungs. Finally, she kicked at the door and it flew open.
A quick search of the cabin showed that it was empty.
She looked at her kids with dismay and then shook herself. “It’s all right. Gummi would never turn us in. All we gotta do is find them before anybody else does.”
Gummi was a creature of habit. He would go somewhere that he knew. Unfortunately, there were a few dozen spots that the family laid claim to—caves, old cabins, empty mines. And he could be at any one of them.
“Let’s go,” Dawnie growled. “We ain’t going to sleep until we find him.”
Chapter Fourteen
“It’s nicer than I expected,” Blake said as they walked in the front door of Dawnie Reed’s summer cabin with an armful of groceries.
It wasn’t fancy—Dawnie didn’t believe in putting on airs—but it was swept clean, and the furniture was new. There were reclaimed barnwood cabinets and carved pine tables and chairs with nail-head accents. The chairs had woven cushions with pictures of bears. There were animal head trophies on the walls and bear-skin rugs, which Krista personally found a little creepy.
“It’s all right, I guess. I just hate not knowin’ if I’m walkin’ on someone I knew,” Krista said, carefully stepping around the rugs. Then she threw her hands up in the air. “Agh! I can’t believe it, my holler accent is coming back.”
“I think it’s sexy,” Blake said. “My little country fox.”
She swung around to face him, hands on her hips. “Am I your little country fox?” she asked heatedly. “Or am I an assignment?”
They’d spent the day with the tension twisting between them. They’d stopped off and say hey to what felt like half the town. They’d subtly prodded, but nobody had anything useful to give her. Oh, everyone was buzzing about the missing boy and the lions who were stomping around searching for him, but they genuinely didn’t seem to have a clue what could have happened to him.
And then Blake and Krista had driven up to the cabin in tight silence, with Krista slapping aside any of Blake’s attempts to talk to her.
Blake put the groceries down on the counter. “Come on,” he growled. “You really have to ask? I nearly bit some geriatric fox’s head off because he got too close to you.”
Krista tried not to smile, but she couldn’t help herself. “You did. What the hell were you thinking? Were you afraid old man Harold was going to sweep me off my feet and run away with me?”
“He better not try—” Blake went part-wolf before he could stop himself, and he looked so ridiculous with a wolf-head on his human body that Krista burst into laughter. Blake shifted back, shaking his head in frustration.
“Damn it, Krista! My wolf goes crazy at the thought of another man touching you. Besides, look who’s talking. Who went full fox in zero seconds flat when some skank tried to lay her paws—hey!” He was looking down at a snarling fox at his feet. Krista’s clothing was puddled all around her. Glaring, she wriggled out of her shirt and then shook herself hard, and her red fur sank back into her skin and her snout shrank back into her face.
When she was herself again, she quickly started pulling her clothing back on.“No need to hurry,” Blake said. “I’m admiring the view.”
“There’s a lot to admire,” she said self-consciously, glancing down at her wide hips and jiggly tummy.
“And I love every inch of it.” He leaned over and kissed her stomach.
“Thank you. But I have some baking to do,” she mumbled, embarrassed. “If I show up without a pie tomorrow, I’ll be run out of the holler for sure.”
She started to head over to the kitchen counter, but Blake grabbed her and backed her up against the wall, his hands on her shoulders.
“Krista. Why are you fighting this so hard? Why don’t you believe in us?” he demanded.
“I do! I mean…” She squirmed in his grip, but his hands tightened.
“I’m not letting you go until we talk this out. I will stand here all night.” His voice was stern.
“All night? What if I have to pee?” She tried to make a joke of it. Anything was better than facing her feelings.
But he wasn’t budging, and he wasn’t smiling.
She stared at him, letting the seconds tick by. His gaze didn’t drop. It was so hot that she felt its burn.
“You’re right,” she admitted. “I feel the fated mate connection as strongly as you do, and I shouldn’t keep questioning that at every turn. Here’s the thing, Blake. Here’s what I’ve seen of mates. My mother said that my daddy was her fated mate, but he turned into a mean drunk who beat her and cheated on her and then left us, and that should have been a blessing. But then my mother completely fell apart. I spent my high school years taking care of not only of myself, but a hysterical, weeping drunk who frequently fell asleep face down in her own barf, and who brought home man after man who tried to paw at me.”
He grimaced, and his hands dropped to his sides. “I hate that it happened to you, Krista, but look at you now. Look at what you’ve made of yourself. You are not your mother.”
“I know.” She managed a smile. “And after I ran away from my mom’s house, I ended up at Dawnie’s house. Did you know Dawnie killed her mate?” His eyes widened in surprise. “Open secret around here. Happened before I moved in with her. He tried to beat on her. He had a vicious temper, and he drank way too much of his own product, and one time he went too far. It was legit self-defense, actually. But he was supposed to be her fated mate, too.”
She shrugged. “And if I’m being fair, I have also heard that your fated mate is kind of your match. If you’re a terrible, criminal person, that’s the kind of mate that fate will hand to you. So maybe that explains Dawnie and her mate. But still… what about my mother and father? Believing in the fated mate thing and then having it ripped away is what destroyed my mama. It’s easier for me to just leave the whole thing behind, to say it’s an old-school superstition and fate doesn’t tie us to anyone, and we’re free to make our own choices.”
Then she looked up at him, at his handsome, loving face, looking down at her so patiently.
“It was easier,” she said quietly. “But I feel that you’re the one for me, I feel it right down to my bones, stronger than I’ve ever felt anything in my life. When I even think about you with another woman? I completely lose control of my fox. I’ve never had that happen before.”
“My turn,” he said, and his voice was hoarse. “I never believed in fated mates either, because I didn’t grow up in a pack and I never got to see healthy matings. I was in a foster home since I can remember. Parents were low-level criminals; I think that’s why I’ve always been attracted to the military, a law and order kind of life. I never had a pack. I never had a home. But you… since I’ve been with you… you feel like home. Wherever you are, that would be my home. My refuge.”
Tears filled her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks.
“Happy tears,” she assured him quickly. He pulled her into a hug, and she cried on his chest without really knowing why she was crying. His warmth flowed through her, and she rested her head on his shoulder and felt a kind o
f peace she’d never known before.
Finally, she stepped back and looked up at him. “I betrayed Dawnie,” she said. “Ten years ago. That’s why I ran.”
He cocked his head to the side. “She doesn’t know, I assume.”
“Oh, my God no. I’d be chum for the fish in her fishing pond.” She shuddered at the very idea. “And I didn’t want to do it. She did take me in and feed and clothe me. But… there had been a bad week with the ‘shine. Bunch of men got in a fight, three of them died. And she couldn’t have cared less. And one night, she took me aside and told me that she wanted me to take over for her some day, not Eva-Jo. I learned her special mixes way faster, I was sharper, people liked me better where they balked at dealing with any of Dawnie’s kids.”
“What about Percy? He’s not simple like Gummi, right?”
She shuddered. “Oh, god, Percy’s a creepy sadist who liked to pull the legs off frogs. Living under the same roof as him for two years… I always slept with one eye open. Dawnie would never pick him. And he knows it, and that makes him even meaner because he resents it. But anyway, I panicked at the thought of being forced into taking over the Reed family business. It was bad enough that I helped her make the moonshine, and for all I know I helped make the batch that killed those men.” She shuddered at the memory. “I knew all the crooked cops in the area, but I also knew one who wasn’t. I told him when Dawnie was cooking up her next batch of ‘shine with the illegal ingredients, and then a few days later this whole pack of cops came and busted up her operation. She stayed behind, told me and the kids to run for it and she’d take the heat, so we all shifted and hightailed it out of there.”
“And yet, here she still is.”
“Yep.” She smiled sadly. “It’s impossible to do anything in this town without her knowing about it. They sent in an outside task force, but she still has eyes and ears everywhere, and she was warned that all these outsiders were headed her way. By the time the cops got to her place, she’d destroyed all the illegal ingredients and most of the equipment, and she just got slapped with a little fine. And Eva-Jo and Percy and a few other kids who were staying with her went back home the next morning. But when I ran, I kept running and never went back. I called and left her a message saying I was grateful for everything she’d done for me, but I wasn’t cut out for the life. Lived on my own in New York City and waited tables under a false name til I was 18 so nobody could find me and drag me back, went to college as soon as I was old enough.”
She looked up at him. “And that’s what I wasn’t telling you. That’s it. I swear I wasn’t holding back information that would help you find Ethan. Poor kid.”
Blake smiled at her, and it felt like the sun beaming down on her .“Thank you for trusting me. It means everything to me.” He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her up against him, and she groaned at the feeling of his thick erection pressing into her stomach.
“I should probably start baking.”
“You probably should.” He heaved a sigh but didn’t let go of her hips.
“Or… we could plight our troth.” A grin spread across her face as she said that.
“I have no idea what that means, but I like the sound of it.”
“I don’t know what it means either, but it’s something the receptionist at work always says, and it sounds dirty.” She stepped back and flashed him a challenging look as she grabbed the hem of her shirt.
“Race you. Whoever gets naked fastest—damn it!”
He’d shifted. That was cheating! Cheating bastard. And because he was a big ol’ wolf, his clothing exploded off him—it just shredded and fell to the floor. Then he shifted right back and folded his arms across his broad chest, grinning at her.
“Your move.”
Meeting his gaze defiantly, she deliberately took her time, stripping her shirt off very slowly, then taking off her jeans at a glacial pace.
He extended his claws and sliced open her bra.
“Hey! That was my favorite bra!” she yelped.
“I’ll buy you a new one.”
His voice was hoarse with desire, and he yanked her close to him.
SLASH! Her jeans now joined the tattered remnants of her bra and his clothes on the floor.
“I’ll buy you a whole new damn wardrobe!”
And then his mouth was on hers, his tongue urgently sweeping its way past her parted lips as his hand fisted her red curls. It felt so right, every part of her wanted to join with his. He gently pulled her head back, and she moaned as he moved his head down the delicate curve of her neck, lightly raking his teeth over the sensitive cord.
Her hands were spread over his back, her fingers greedily feeling the ripples of the muscles moving underneath. He was hard, all of him, including the heated column pressed up against her. He released her hair and trailed his fingers to her breasts, tantalizingly close to her pebbled nipples. She arched her back shamelessly, dropping her arms, and her silent prayer was answered as his mouth found one eager peak, and his fingers rolled the other.
He lapped at the nipple, doing magical things with his tongue and teeth and fingers before turning his attention to its twin. She was so ready for him, but he wasn’t yet done.
He moved his fingers down the curve of her breast and onto her tummy.
“Mine.” His breath was ragged.
“Yours.” She wasn’t going to deny it anymore, as gooseflesh raced across her skin.
He moved his hands to her hips, her wide hips that she hated, and she stiffened reflexively. He pressed his erection against her, and she softened inside. He found her body— all of her body— sexy, hot, desirable.
“Yours,” she yielded. She watched a slow smile spread across his face and squealed as he effortlessly lifted her up onto the surface of the kitchen island, scattering groceries and pie tins to the floor. Her sexy wolf.
She was on her back, her hair fanning out in rivers of scarlet. He lifted her feet, kissing the arches of each, before setting them onto the polished wood top on either side of him. She exhaled, the breath shaky with desire, as he bent his head between her legs.
She almost bolted upright as she felt his tongue sweep up her seam. She began writhing and moaning while he lapped at her with slow savory strokes and quick swirls as if she were the most delicious nectar he had ever tasted. If she thought having her pussy worshipped was incredible the night before, this went beyond anything she had ever imagined possible.
Could someone die from great sex? If yes, she was about to die happy right now.
He reached up and pinched her nipples, and she practically levitated off the counter. She was making gutteral sounds as he used his thumb to tease her clit. She wanted him in her, but the words were coming out as incoherent moans.
She felt herself pulled by the hips towards the edge of the countertop, and he lifted her while she wrapped her legs around his waist. He turned, carrying her as if she weighed nothing, and leaned her up against a wall, her thighs still straddling him.
She looked into his amber eyes, darkened with desire, and felt the thick head of his cock at her entrance. Finally.
“Ready for me, my sexy vixen?” Yes. Fuck, yes.
With one hand, he guided his massive cock into her. She hissed as its size filled her completely. So. Good.
His thumb returned to her clit as he began rolling his hips, pumping into her wet, slick heat. Her diamond hard nipples were probably etching her initials into his chest. She could never get enough of this. Of him. Of her fated mate.
She was so close as the strokes on her clit were intensifying, spiraling, joining the waves from each thrust of his cock to form a vortex of tightly-coiled, concentrated heat.
“Come for me,” he said. He slammed into her at the same time his thumb stroked her clit.
She came apart, screaming his name in an explosion of sensation and shards of light, convulsing around his cock. He groaned with the pulsations gripping him and couldn’t hold back any longer.
Crying out
her name, he shot his seed deep into her. Their eyes met, an eternity passing between them, a shared fate. They were mates forever.
Sometime later, when the aftershocks had subsided, he gently lowered her back onto the counter in a seated position, still holding her close. Good, because her legs still felt like rubber, dangling off the sides.
“That was —” Words. She was still struggling with words.
He smiled and had the perfect solution, kissing her mouth deeply, his tongue taking ownership of hers.
She had one more orgasm before she finally got around to making her famous apple pie, and two more while they were in the oven baking.
Chapter Fifteen
Stef called Blake on his satellite phone at 5 a.m. There was still no sign of Ethan Coffman, and things were reaching a boiling point. The lion shifters and the locals were taking potshots at each other, and there were rumors of silver bullets being used. Several lion prides were camped out on the outskirts of Flowering Dogwood, and more were traveling across the country in caravans.
The family reunion would be the last chance for Krista to gather intel.
After that, they were looking at all-out shifter war breaking out in the holler—and no doubt spilling out into the rest of the region, maybe the entire state. As soon as tonight.
Krista pawed through her suitcase, sick with nerves. She picked one of her older dresses, scoop-neck, blue with daisies scattered across it, and a pair of lace-up low-heeled shoes with visible scuff marks. Anything that smelled too new would make it look like she was putting on airs.
Then she threw her fiery hair up into a quick ponytail and dabbed on some rosy lip gloss.
She looked around for Blake, who was pacing the floor and talking to Stef still.
He hung up abruptly and focused his attention on Krista. His heat and scent hit her all at once, and it was like a thirst.
He seemed to sense it, because he crossed over and took her in his arms and just held her, his hands clasped at her lower back. He rubbed his nose against hers, grounding her with one touch. She hadn’t even realized just how anxious she was getting.
Blackmailed By The Wolf (Shifters, Inc. Book 6) Page 11
