Colt

by Jayne Blue

  I don’t even think I heard the words as Brax read out the second ballot. But I heard my name read seven times. Then it was done. With a chorus of cheers and an embrace from each of them, I became the new president of the Great Wolves M.C., Lincolnshire chapter.

  My first order of business had to happen right away. I needed a vice prez. I knew no decision I would ever make could come as easy. I reached out and pulled Kellan to me, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

  “You’re in this with me, man,” I said. “You’ve gotta be, or I’m not doing it.”

  Kellan smiled and nodded. “I’ll follow you all the way to hell if that’s what it takes, brother.”

  After that, Tate slapped the president patch in my palm and the beer started to flow.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Amy

  He came to me at dawn. I was in that drowsy space between sleep and waking. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but my body had other ideas. It was my body that answered him before my mind did. As he placed soft kisses in the hollow beneath my ear and jaw, I shivered. Every part of me responded to his touch. Heat flashed through me, making my breasts ache to be touched, kissed, suckled.

  Colt ran his hands under my t-shirt and lifted it off me. I moaned and turned to him as he dragged my panties down. They were already soaked with the wanting I felt. I spread my thighs, and he found his way home. He grunted as I moved to embrace him. I opened my eyes then. Orange streaks stabbed through the room from the rising sun through the window slats.

  Twenty-four hours. He’d left nearly twenty-four hours ago. He called me once or twice to tell me he was okay. He had business with the police detectives. He had business with the club. I knew it. I accepted it. Colt Reddick was who he was. He was a Great Wolf. There would always be something. But now, he was mine, and I was his.

  I played my fingers along his rib cage, counting them one by one. Even in the amber shadows of morning, I could see the darkening bruises across his side. I reached up as he hovered over me. His cheekbone was scraped and swollen. I cradled the back of his head as I drew him down to me and kissed his pain away.

  We had survived. Both of us. Broken, battered, but stronger for having done it. Pain was temporary. This bond was forever.

  “I love you.” He whispered it against my temple, and I smiled. I gave him a playful swat on the ass.

  “I thought I’d get to say it first.”

  “Say it now,” he answered, his voice growing husky with lust. I felt the steel rod of his cock pressing against my thigh and knew the time for conversation wouldn’t last. And that was also as it should be.

  “I love you, you beautiful man,” I said as I arched my back and nipped his earlobe, swiping the tip of my tongue along his jaw. He drew back and looked at me. Really looked at me.

  “You’re amazing,” he said. “I knew it the first moment I saw you. I didn’t know how we’d get here, but I knew you’d be mine. That I’d die if you weren’t.”

  “Shh.” I tucked a lock of his black hair behind his ear and smiled up at him. He made it hard to breathe. Hard to concentrate. My heart beat wildly, my body trembled as he held himself just slightly away from me. I couldn’t stand it another second. I wanted him deep inside.

  I spread my thighs wide and slid my hands down the curve of his back. I settled them on the sculpted curve of his ass and pressed him to me. Colt’s breath hitched as he plunged into my silky wetness. I drew my legs up and wrapped them around his hips, careful not to press too hard for fear of hurting his battered rib cage.

  He slid his fingers through mine and pinned my hands up over my head, then leaned down and kissed one nipple, then the other, smiling when I squirmed beneath him.

  “Fuck me,” I said. “Can you fuck me hard?”

  His wicked laugh sent a chill through me and a fresh wave of heated moisture straight to the juncture of my thighs.

  “Baby, only if you beg.”

  “Yess! Please!”

  Colt’s cock grew thicker inside me, twitching and reaching the deepest parts of me. I struggled to spread my legs even wider to receive it as he kept my hands pinned above my head. He owned me. Claimed me. Fucked me. And I did the same to him.

  Over and over again. Though I knew parts of it caused him pain, Colt rammed himself in me, bringing me to orgasm again and again. Oh. I wanted to ride him hard and long, but for now, it was better if he controlled the pace. I saw the twinkle in his eye. He might not be in full fighting form today, but give him time, and he’d give me the ride of my life. A fresh tingle of heat coursed through me, and I rose up to kiss him.

  “Say it.” He nearly growled it like the wolf he wore on his chest and in his heart.

  “I love you,” I gasped. “Oh my God. I love you so much. Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop. Swear it.”

  “Never,” he promised. “You’re mine. I’m never gonna stop.”

  When Colt arched his back, I pressed my knees flat against the bed, letting him fill me to the brim with his hot seed. Spurt after spurt I took him in. I moaned his name again then finally when he was finished, I wrapped my legs around him once more, drawing him closer still.

  We lay like that in a tangle of limbs and blankets. Colt stayed deep inside me, his slickness matching mine, and I had the first flickering thought that maybe, someday, his seed would take root. It startled me a little that my mind went there. It came unbidden. But the moment it did, I knew I wanted it with all of my heart. I didn’t say anything then. I didn’t want to put him off.

  But when Colt drew me close and kissed my forehead, I had a sense it wouldn’t freak him out at all. It was a discussion for another day, though. For now, I was content to let him hold me like this and know it was for keeps.

  We slept a while and woke near noon.

  “We’re going to have to start keeping hours like normal humans again,” I said as Colt sat at the edge of the bed and threw on a t-shirt and jeans. He leaned back and kissed me.

  “There’s something I need to tell you,” he said. When he turned, his eyes shone so the fear I might have had after that statement faded away. He rose and snapped the blinds open, letting in the full light of the day. I squealed and shielded my eyes. Colt laughed.

  He made the bed bounce as he sat down hard again.

  “Open your eyes, Vampyra,” he said.

  I was naked still, and Colt wrapped his leather cut around my shoulders. Smiling, I pushed my arms through it and drew it around me. He was so broad; I could have wrapped it around me twice. It hung down past my thighs as I stood up. Colt looked up at me and grabbed me. He pulled me to him, so I stood between his legs as he sat on the bed. He opened the jacket and fondled my breasts.

  “Don’t think I’m gonna be able to wear that thing again without thinking about where it’s been. I’ll have fucking wood all day.”

  “Well, that could get interesting,” I laughed.

  “Look at it, Amy,” he said; his tone had grown serious.

  I smoothed my hands over the leather. Looking down, I saw the new patch sewn on where his Green Bluff charter one used to be.

  Great Wolves, M.C., President - Lincolnshire

  My heart thundered in my chest. “Is this for real?”

  He smiled. “I don’t know if I deserve it, but those assholes seem to think I might be able to help them make some changes to Lincolnshire.”

  “Oh, Colt!” Tears stung my eyes. He’d done it. He’d actually done it! All of the dreams he had for this club and this town might actually have a chance of coming true now. I cradled his jaw in my hands and drew him up for a kiss.

  “It’s perfect,” I said. “You’re perfect. Welcome home.”

  He swatted me on the ass and heat flared within me again. I wondered if I’d ever get enough of him. The answer was no and that’s all there was to it.

  “You think you might wanna do me the honor of being my old lady?” he said, eyes shining.

  “Are you proposing?” I said. I’d meant it as a joke. A throwaw
ay comment but the minute the words were out, my heart started to race. Colt’s eyes flashed. It was too late to take it back. It was too late not to want it.

  “It’s been a hell of a last twenty-four hours,” he said. “But yeah. What if I am? I’ve always been a man who knows what he wants. And, Amy, I want you to do this with me. Will you marry me, baby?”

  It was rash. It was crazy. But it was also right.

  “Yes,” I gasped. He pulled me down, so I was straddling his lap. We kissed again and again. Slow and deep, then fast and frenzied. We fell back on the bed hard enough to make him grunt with pain.

  I giggled. “I’m sorry. Oh, I’m sorry.”

  Colt growled in my ear and flipped me over, pressing my knees flat against the bed again. Thank God my wolf healed quickly.

  Chapter Thirty

  The First Day of School - The Following Year

  Colt

  Amy glowed. She stood beside me in a flowing white dress that showed off her tanned, toned arms. The dress reminded me a little of the one she wore six months ago when I married her on a white sand beach overlooking the Emerald Coast on the Gulf of Mexico. We had friends and family around us. Her mom. Jase. Teachers from her school. Three full charters of the Great Wolves M.C.—Lincolnshire, Green Bluff, and the local boys from the Emerald Coast. She had every one of those bad boys wrapped around her finger. She was at home surrounded by all of us. She belonged. Safe. Protected. One of us. I felt Duke there with us that day, and I knew she did too. I hope I’d done him proud.

  She was bouncy and giddy today, hugging Kellan and the other club members. It was a big day for all of us for so many reasons. Almost as big as that day on the beach. She threw her head back and laughed. The sound of it heated my blood and made me smile.

  Her white dress hugged her curves in ways no one understood but me. She’d bought it three weeks ago, so that she could wear it today. Already though, the fabric stretched a little in secret places where her breasts grew larger, and her belly rounded. She wanted to wait a few more weeks before we said anything but at this rate, they were going to figure it out anyway. I didn’t have the heart to tell her yet that’s just what my mother said happened when she was carrying Jase and me. I was going to have to remember to have the doctor check for two heartbeats the next time she had an appointment.

  “We gonna get this show on the road soon?” I said. “My wife’s got to get to school.” I still loved hearing that. My wife. Mrs. Reddick.

  It was a joke, though. Amy’s entire class was standing right in front of her. This day mattered to them just as much.

  “There he is,” Kellan shouted out. “I think His Highness has finally arrived.”

  Sure as shit, a stretch limousine pulled up. The mayor of Lincolnshire climbed out. Wally Linklater. He was a blowhard, but a kind-hearted one. And he’d come through in the end, fast-tracking the clearances we needed.

  Jase got out of a squad car behind him. He gave me an eye roll. He’d been locking horns with the mayor’s office and city council for the past few months to help clean up the last of the riff-raff on the waterfront where we stood. For his efforts, he’d just made lieutenant. He looked pretty damn good with his shiny gold badge against his crisp white shirt.

  Who am I kidding? He looked a little like a damn ice cream cone. A point I made sure to make as he stepped forward and shook my hand. “Be nice, asshole, you’re gonna make the evening news.”

  I let Linklater have the spotlight. He said a few blustery words and posed for a few pictures. When he left, the news crews and photographers faded away and then the part I cared about could start. That first bit was for show. The rest of this was just for us.

  “Go ahead,” Amy said. She’d gathered a few of her students around her. She had a hand on my little buddy, Trevor Meaney’s shoulders. Though the gym opening hadn’t been official until today, we’d already started a youth wrestling and weightlifting club. Trevor was turning out to be a bit of a star pupil. The trainers had high hopes.

  Amy stepped forward and handed me a pair of scissors. I laughed. They were purple-and-green-handled school safety scissors.

  “Sorry,” she whispered. “Best I could do in a pinch.”

  I gave her a thumbs up and turned back to the rest of our motley group. My wolves were here, Amy, Jase had stayed, and Amy’s students with a few of their parents.

  “I don’t like speeches,” I said. “And we all know what this day means for all of us and this town. It’s a new beginning. Today we start taking back our town and putting people back to work. I couldn’t have done any of this without the trust you guys have placed in me. And I couldn’t have done it without the love of that good woman right there.” Amy’s blush still gave me chills. I knew it would until the day I died.

  I took a step forward and opened the scissors over the thin strip of gold tape still barring the entry to the Great Wolves Gym of Lincolnshire, Ohio.

  “Come on, Trev,” I said to the kid. “These look like they’ll fit your hands better anyway.”

  A few of the guys laughed, and Trevor stepped forward. He raised his hand high, flourishing the scissors. Then he cut the ribbon. As it fell to the ground, the small crowd cheered.

  Amy came to my side, and I put my arm around her. “Trevor’s like a different kid. He’s confident. Happy. You know his mother told me last week he came up and hugged her unsolicited for the first time since he was a toddler.”

  I kissed the top of her head. “Best news yet.”

  We hung back a bit as the rest of the group went up the walkway and entered the gym. I looked up, squinting against the sun. The Great Wolves logo rose against the top of the old Victory plant. We kept the tallest smokestack and had the club logo built onto it. It represented the city’s history and future all at once. The Lincolnshire city skyline was forever altered now with a howling wolf’s head jutting high among the skyscrapers.

  “Come on, Prez,” Amy whispered in my ear. “Let’s go see what you’ve built.” I kissed the top of her head and we walked in together, arm in arm.

  ###

  Exclusive Sneak Peak of Kellan by Jayne Blue

  It’s the little shit that ends up changing your life in big ways. Ways you never could have expected. If I hadn’t leaned six inches over to my left to grab a canteen off the floor of that Humvee, the IED blast would have blown a hole through my chest too, instead of just tearing off my right leg below the knee. Or if I had leaned over just two or three inches more, maybe I wouldn’t have been hit at all. Or if I’d have just stayed home like the rest of my M.C. brothers, I never would have been on that shit hole of a road in the Parwan Province. Instead, I might have just had a sweet piece of ass squeezing her thighs against me straddling the seat of my Harley as I blazed down I-75.

  It’s not that I spend a lot of time thinking about the what ifs. I have no regrets. Even after all of it, I know I came home lucky, if not easy. Sometimes though, don’t you get that feeling low in your gut when you know some little thing is about to blast your world apart again?

  “Just give them about five more minutes,” the bartender, a college kid, early twenties flashed me a toothy grin as he brushed the hair out of his eyes. What the fuck was I doing here? I was in a hole-in-the-wall lakefront bar in what had to be the hick capital of Michigan. The kid slid me a fresh cold draft beer.

  “Boss says that one’s on the house,” the kid said. At least that was something. My phone buzzed in the back pocket of my jeans and I pulled it out.

  “Hey Prez,” I said. Colt hated when I called him that. He was still getting used to the title though it suited him damn well.

  “You on your way back yet?”

  “No, the headlining act hasn’t even come out yet. You sure you heard the name of this place right? The Sand Bar?”

  “That’s the place,” Colt laughed. He was getting a kick out of my misery. We’d just opened a new bar in our hometown, Lincolnshire, Ohio. We called it The Wolf Den. It was club headquarters, but we wer
e turning it into the kind of place the whole town felt comfortable spending their money in. A big part of that was lining up a killer house band. I’d been scouting the tri-state area for months trying to find just the right talent. So far, I’d seen nothing but a string of Taylor Swift wanna-bes and shit that was half grunge and half . . . well . . . shit. I had no reason to think the Sand Bar was going to bring me anything better.

  “Just come on home when you finish up there,” Colt said. “We’ll take a break and regroup.”

  “Sounds good,” I said. I clicked off because the crowd of hicks and college kids started to stir. Most of the rowdier hicks crowded around the dance floor, beers in hand. A few of the busboys doubled as roadies on stage, setting up the microphones and amps for tonight’s act. The real party was happening past the patio out on the beach and anchored just beyond it. Boats had come in from all over the Irish Hills area to watch the band play. That is if they ever fucking made it on stage.

  The bartender vaulted over the bar one handed and ran up to the stage. He stepped to the mic, adjusting it higher as the crowd playfully booed him and the din died down.

  “Are you ready people?” he shouted too close to the mic and the reverb made me as well as everyone else in the room wince. This wasn’t a good sign.

  “Show us your tits, Brad!” came a shot from the back. All activity in the bar stopped, everyone was focused on the stage, including the busboys and bartenders.

  Brad the bartender stepped back, running a hand through his unruly blond hair. “You couldn’t handle this jelly,” he said. Oh for fuck’s sake. I was outta there.

  When the catcalls and whistles started to escalate, Brad put his hands up, then waved them downward to quiet the crowd. “Okay. Without further ado. I’m pretty sure she’s finally ready. You ready Miss Rhodes?” he called behind him.

  “Fuck you Brad!” came a playful feminine voice from somewhere in the direction of the kitchen.