Adrie and Caress looked in the direction where the epithet had originated. Luck held his rapidly swelling hand.
“What happened?” Adrie called out to him.
“Prairie rattler. I didn’t see the snake when I went to climb on the walk. The girls are so fucking loud, I didn’t hear the rattle until it struck.”
They met him halfway as he herded the students away from the area the rattler was in.
“Let’s get you back to the school,” Caress ordered.
“Fuck it hurts.” His pallor blanched.
“Adrie, do you have any charcoal? We have to expel the venom from his body.”
“No. Don’t we need to take him to the hospital in the next town over?” She glanced at Caress.
“No. One, it’s too far away, and two, Ravage always said it’s risky to get seen by humans. Charcoal is absorbent, I can make him a poultice, and, later on, we can dunk his arm in water with ground up charcoal if needed.”
“Ms. Scarlett, is he gonna be okay?” a younger boy asked.
“Luck will be fine. He got bit by a pesky snake. Remember our rules about steering clear from them, back away instead of pursue. Let’s head to the school.”
“On second thought, I’ll take him to my place. We’re not far. I can get him hooked up, and he can rest until Ford gets off work and can care for him.”
“I’ll call Ford and let him know what’s happening. I’ll see you later on tonight.”
“Okay.” Caress put her arm around his shoulder and walked the other direction.
Chapter Six
“How’s our patient?” Ravage swept in the door of his home at sunset with Ford trailing right behind him. He kissed his sister on the head and looked at the guy sleeping on the couch.
“Hey. He’s snoozing. I gave him a cup of valerian root tea for pain relief.”
“Thanks.” Ford leaned against the doorway. “My nephew is all I have. I’d die if anything happened to him.”
“It’s nothing. You can go sit by him. I’m going to finish making this fresh poultice and swap out the old one. I can’t find our plastic wrap so I’ve had to improvise with a cut up a trash bag.”
“How do you know how to do this?”
“Ravage. He was a bit obsessive-compulsive with making sure Raze and I learned how to survive.” She gestured to the fresh linens folded in a laundry basket. “Can you hand me the small towel over there, brother?”
“Sure.” He noticed how Ford watched his little sister with a different expression than when he’d first met her. Interesting.
He and Ford sat nearby while she dampened the cloth then spread the newly made paste. She grabbed the piece of cut up trash bag, a roll of duct tape, and headed into the living room. Luck slept on as she knelt next to him and gently removed the first poultice.
“She’s good at this.”
“I taught her well.” Pride surged through Ravage at his sister handling the situation with expertise.
“Shh, you two.” Caress checked the puncture marks and replaced the dried-out poultice with the fresh one. She wound the plastic over the inflamed skin to hold it in place and secured it with two long strips of tape. “Luck should be good for the next four hours.”
“Are you going to put his arm in water and pulverized charcoal?” Ravage asked.
“In a few hours, maybe. If he needs it. The bite site is looking much better. The first hour was the roughest. At least he’s finally resting. He’s lucky the snake didn’t get a good bite. Must’ve snatched his hand back almost in time.” She cleaned up her mess. “I’ll check him out later. I don’t want to aggravate him. I’m sure he feels like shit. The bites are extremely painful. I know. I’ve been bitten.”
Ford nodded, his focus shifting to his brother. “What will you do if it’s not better by tomorrow?”
She stopped tidying to look at him. “I will make him a different poultice. His self-healing should help and kick-in by then, but if it doesn’t, I’ll mix a batch of Echinacea powder with bentonite clay and water, and apply it to his bite directly. The clay is in abundance at the water hole and absorbs toxins the same way charcoal does. I noticed the clay when we went swimming.” Caress moved to the kitchen to dispose of the discarded poultice.
“I’m impressed.”
“Not such a little girl now, am I?” She wiped her hands and reached up to give her brother a kiss on the cheek. “Adrie is coming by later on. Thought you might like to know.”
“Thanks, brat.” Ravage noticed Ford struggling to form a response and chuckled. “Don’t sweat her, she’s just being Caress—who still needs to complete her assignment tonight.”
“I’ll do my work tomorrow. Hell, I’ll do the whole week you set up tomorrow. Slave driver. Ford, you’re more than welcome to stay the night. You can take the sleeper sofa. I’ll bring you fresh sheets.”
“Thanks. I wouldn’t feel right going home without my nephew.”
“He resembles you. Could pass for your son.”
Ravage helped Caress with the extra bedding and tossed off the cushions, pulling out the hideaway bed. His sister made up the bed quickly and stacked the discarded couch cushions in the corner of the room.
“Where will you sleep?”
“I won’t. He’ll need to be checked every few hours. I’ll probably read and set my watch alarm for a repeat wake up in case I doze off.” Caress smiled at Ford and went back to organizing supplies for the rest of the evening.
Ravage motioned for Ford to follow him into the kitchen, grabbed two plates off the counter for the both of them. “We’re having barbeque brisket for dinner. There is some potato salad and sweet-n-spicy slaw to go with.” Moving to the oven, he pulled out the pan, grabbed bread from the counter, and removed eight slices.
“Damn that smells good.” Ford pulled out the containers from the fridge.
Ravage piled meat on thick bread, making a double-decker sandwich, and moved over so Ford could prepare his own. “I put the slaw on the sandwich.”
Ford piled his plate then sat down. Ravage grabbed them both a bottle of water and took a seat across from him.
Ford downed half his sandwich. “Fighting is your passion?”
“It pays the bills.”
“How’d you get into it? I hear the obstacle courses to join are a bitch.”
“Intense. Have to know your shit, think smart on your feet. They have you meet up at a center then pull numbers to see which terrain you’ll be tested on first. You have to fight in every type of situation and lay of the land. It’s crazy. But effective, and how they know who to pair you off with.” Ravage polished off his meal and rose to make a second one. “My first fight was with a jaguar shifter. The fights weren’t in cages in the beginning. Before the whole SMMA idea, they were in different ecosystems. I’ve fought polar bears and grizzly bears. Hell, I’ve teamed up with a variety of shifters. We trained in the plains, mountains, desert, forest, ice, water. Each place was to show your talent. Stealth skills, strategy, hand-to-hand combat. Now we meet in a cage after doing screening tests to make sure no one is misusing magic.”
“You’d think honor would prevent shifters from cheating.”
“There’s a lot of money involved. Some men will do whatever it takes to win.”
“Any female fighters?”
Ravage shook his head. “Don’t get me started. There are unsanctioned female fight clubs everywhere. I hear they’re in the works of opening a vetted fight club for female shifters. I’m probably sexist, but fuck, we’re dominant males. Who wants to see their women folk participating in a bloody sport for money? I for sure don’t. I guarantee if there was a team, Caress would join to piss me off. It’d be my luck she’d make it far, and then I’d be proud.”
Ford’s Wolf growled.
Ravage chuckled. “You don’t like the thought of her in danger either. Huh, imagine that.” He took a swig of water. “Damn women. Mine won’t let me claim her yet. I’m not sure if she wants a human courtship or not. She
’s ready to go for it then balks when I mention forever commitment. I, for one, am not going against Mother Nature. Adrie may fight me, but, in the end, I will win. Grab another sandwich, man they’re good.”
Ford shoved back from the table.
Ravage’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen. Speaking of my sexy, schoolmarm Wolf. “Hey, you just now breaking free?”
“Yeah. Had a busy day. I wanted to come over and check on Luck,” Adrie’s sweet voice whispered in his ear through the device.
“He’s out cold, so is Caress. Ford’s here. Why don’t I come meet you? We can chat.”
“Sounds good. I’m still at the school, haven’t had time to go home yet.” Adrie yawned.
“See you soon, beautiful.” Ravage ended the call and turned his attention back to his neighbor. “I’m out to see Adrie. She is one fine woman. I trust you can take care of your nephew and look after my sister in my absence. I won’t be gone long.”
“Yeah, sure.” Ford dug into his plate of food.
As Ravage inhaled the night air, his lupine instincts surged. Crisp, fresh, such a treat from the stale repressed air in the city. He breathed in Mother Nature, the aromas of pine, oak, moss, grass, dirt, his brethren. Increased heartbeats of small wildlife urged him to hunt, to bring an offering for his would-be mate. Ignoring the call to shift, he set out on foot to the pack schoolhouse, passing the town’s oldest massive walnut tree. He recognized the smell of red raspberries, sweet berries of the Downy Hawthorne, and wild plum trees Adrie used in her tea. Thinking about the previous day, he recalled the taste of kissing her for the first time, sucking the nectar from her plush lips.
A whiff of fresh kill carried from the breeze. Ravage turned his attention to the overwhelming scent and followed the trail. Tearing through the brush and foliage, he stopped short, lifted his nose in the air, and inhaled.
Twigs snapped, followed by a growl.
He wasted no time in calling the change, fur rippling along his skin as his bones contorted, the seamless shift completed. He sniffed death. His gaze landed on a coyote hovered over a wolverine kill. Ravage didn’t want to hurt the animal, but neither would he back down…until he saw the teats hanging from the animal’s underbelly.
With no desire to enter into a fight in which he’d end up having to injure or kill the mother, he eased away, putting adequate distance between them. Her hackles diminished, and she dragged her bounty away.
Chapter Seven
Ravage shifted, summoning his magic to clothe him. The school came into sight, a lone light shining in the near distance. As he drew closer, he could see Adrie sitting at her desk, oblivious to her surroundings, stuck in a good book. The woman needed to be more on guard. Standing in the dark, he watched her like a creeper, curious to see if she’d notice or feel threatened.
When she didn’t move, he ran a hand through his hair and snarled fuck—in his head. He waited there a minute longer and gave up thinking she’d sense anything, moved to the front of the schoolhouse, and let himself in the door. “Adrie.”
“Hey, did you knock? I didn’t hear you.”
“The book’s good, huh? How are your lupine senses?” A master of self-defense, he wanted to know if she lacked the skills to scent danger, another presence, or if his own calmed her and she didn’t worry.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I get so into reading I tune everything else out.”
“Not smart, beautiful. I could’ve been a rabid animal, a stalker, or a serial killer, and you wouldn’t have known you were being watched.”
“We’re on pack land. No one gets past the guards. This is my safe haven.” She closed the book and set it on her desk. “Why should I be on edge or worry about something that will never happen?”
“Precisely because the unknown can. You should always be prepared for the worst, so you don’t become a victim.”
“Psssht. I’m not living in fear here. Maybe in the city, walking on campus at dark, or in a darkened parking lot or garage. Look at where we are. We are in the Black Hills.”
She doesn’t get it. “Yeah, where snakes, bears, and coyotes roam. People aren’t the only danger. There are animals out there that prey on those they believe inferior.”
“Dear gods, I think you’ve taken one too many hits to the head.” She bristled. Her face flushed pink, and her Wolf flashed in her eyes.
He smirked at getting under her skin. “Beautiful, that’s a given, I’m a fighter, but that’s neither here nor there. Pay more attention. I stood at the window, watching you for ten minutes, in plain sight. You didn’t move a smidge, and you forgot to lock the school door.”
“I see now why your sister rebels. You are over-the-top obsessive-compulsive with your vigilance, bordering on suffocating, if I may add.”
“Be mindful of what you say. Them’s fighting words, beautiful. You don’t tell a man he can’t be too protective over those who matter to him.” Ravage advanced on her, trapped her, leaning into her personal space. “Don’t rile the beast.”
His hot schoolteacher surprised him. She pressed her face flush to his, their lips a hair’s width apart, and snorted at him. He growled. She growled back, whipped her glasses off her face, and pushed him in the chest.
“You do not own me. I let you scratch my itch when you arrived. Don’t think that gives you the right to treat me as if I can’t take care of myself. I’m surprisingly self-sufficient and don’t need a macho man beating his chest like an ape.”
“Beautiful, you don’t read between the lines too well do you? So practical and studious. Sexy and damned irritating at the same time.” Ravage gripped her secretary chair, yanking her roughly to him on wobbly rollers. “Wanna try again?”
A red haze came over him. He tried to push back the anger surging between them, flush with ripe sexual tension, but he couldn’t decide which he wanted more—to finish the fight or to fuck her senseless and then finish the fight.
Her demeanor changed. Yet, he didn’t remove himself from her close proximity.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I need someone like you. A big strong man to make sure the boogey man doesn’t get me. Whatever would I do without you to protect me? Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my!” She dragged a sharp letter opener over his skin he hadn’t seen her take out. A drop of blood dripped over the small cut on his abs. She’d sliced through his shirt.
“You pull a weapon on a man, you better know how to use it, and be prepared to do serious bodily injury.” He grabbed her wrist with his dominant hand, pressing on the pressure point until she dropped the bloody weapon of choice, which clattered as it hit wood floor.
“This fighting with you has woken up a delicious craving.” Adrie ran her hands up his chest, pulling his shirt higher. She licked the drop of blood, making his dick lurch.
Fuck, this teacher is one hot piece. Snarky, witty, and able to trick a man into being stabbed with her sense of humor, he never saw a thing coming. She’ll be the death of me.
“I can see I’m going to have my hands full with you.” Ravage gripped her thighs, yanked them open, divesting her of her panties with a quick tug, ripping the lace in half. Her arousal coated his fingers, and he withdrew and licked the digits clean, while watching her flushed face draw tight with anticipation. He loved how her erect nipples poked through her lacy bra and thin blouse. Leaning forward, he sucked on the buds through the fabric barriers and bit playfully.
In the chair, she writhed, letting out a husky sigh of pleasure. “I need you in me now.”
Ravage blew on her distended nipples, and rolled one between his thumb and forefinger. “Really, to scratch an itch?”
“Yes.” She hissed and hastily grabbed for his pants and belt buckle.
Ravage slapped her hand away. “No touching.” He fisted a hand in her hair and lowered his face to her neck, inhaling her sweet feminine scent. “Fuck, you smell decadent. Like sin, and I’m in a sinning mood for my mate. Not to scratch an itch.”
He traced the s
hell of her ear with his tongue, nipping on the lobe. She sucked in a breath, making him want to feast on her.
“Ravage.” She let out a heady moan.
“Hmm? You should know…I get what I want.” He gave her a taste of what she craved, sliding his hand up her thigh, delivering a slap on her sweet core. His fingers ghosted over her lips, around her vulva, teasing without penetrating, grazing his calloused fingertip so close to her clit, yet depriving her of the touch she canted her hips up for.
“You are so dirty.” A roar of feminine indignation hit his ears. Sweet music if there ever was. Sweat beaded on her brow as her body quaked.
“I can make it all better. Say the word, and I will let you fall over the edge. Your orgasm is so close I can feel your body come apart with my fingertips. Imagine my tongue tasting you, my cock reaming into you.” He slid his thumb over her g-spot and pinched her nipple hard to forestall, using the pain to douse her arousal.
“Please.”
“Begging isn’t going to work, Teach. I’ve masturbated to the sound of your voice since the night we first talked on the phone. Nothing has ever turned me on as much as you. You take care of everyone else. Let me take care of you. It’d be my pleasure.” Ravage leaned over and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, her core dripped with her natural juices as he slid his finger in and out of her pussy with deliberate slowness.
“Pretty please.”
“Do you hear her? Your Wolf whining, submitting for me? Why make her suffer when you and I want the same thing.” Ravage suckled her neck, teasing her with a hint of fang, then trailed his free hand down her shirt, plucking the buttons off one at a time, parting the satin material, and freeing her bountiful breasts from the lacy confining cups. “So fucking beautiful. So…mine.”
“Ravage, I need.”
“I know you burn, Teach. You burn hot, your need calls to me. I feel her, feel you.” He sucked a nipple into his mouth and let the puckered flesh go. “My cock is so hard for you. Just say the word and everything you never knew you wanted is yours.”
Seducing the Schoolmarm Page 6
