by E A Price
*
Tess danced between Hunter and Jimmy. She flirted madly, telling all three men how handsome they were, and complimenting them on their bodies. Fortified with alcohol, they relaxed and enjoyed her company, joining in with her overt flirting and complimenting her back
“Having fun?” asked Deanna icily.
Casey jumped. He blushed furiously at finding his mate standing behind him. He cursed himself for not scenting she was there. She did not look happy…
He didn’t think he had really done anything wrong. Sure the woman was flirting with him, but he hadn’t really flirted back. Alright, so she’d bought him a few drinks, but he’d only allowed her to because he couldn’t buy his own.
“Dee, I wasn’t expecting…”
“Clearly.” Her tone could melt a thousand icebergs.
“We were just talking to…”
Her face was pinched. “I know who she is. Mom, what are you doing?”
Casey’s stomach flipped. Oh god, it was his mate’s mother! His mate already thought he was a horn dog, and now she thought he was trying to pick up her mother! His wolf snarled at him to fix it.
“Deanna, pumpkin!” Tess quit dancing to plant a sloppy kiss on a rigid Deanna.
“Dee I’m…” Casey tried to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off.
Tess’ eyes lit up. “Oh, pumpkin, is this your boyfriend?”
“No!” cried Deanna at the same time Casey growled. “Yes.”
Deanna, in spite of her bobcat’s protestations, gave Casey an irritated glower, whilst Hunter and Jimmy looked on awkwardly. Damn, she’d never been so furious.
“No, he is no longer my boyfriend. So you know what, Mom? You wanna sleep with him? Have at him! Wouldn’t be the first time you’d thrown yourself at a guy because you thought he liked me more. And god knows, he’s slept with every other loose woman in this freaking town.”
Tess snorted. “Including you, pumpkin? Barman, another round!”
Deanna shook with rage as Casey looked at his feet. Deanna waved at Andy, the bartender, to stop. “No, Mom, you’re done for the night.”
Tess’ expression turned ugly. “No, I’m your mother. You don’t tell me what to do.”
Deanna planted her hands on her hips. “You said you’d quit drinking…”
Tess mirrored her pose and jutted her chin. “I’m an adult; I can do what I want.”
Deanna scowled at her wayward mother and pointedly ignored her mate’s puppy dog eyes. Her bobcat was not happy with her behavior at all, but she would have to wait.
Tess started sniggering nastily. “Awww, look at that ugly, little, sullen face, she was born with that look on her face you know. Eighteen hours of labor and all I get is stretch marks, twenty-two stitches, and an ungrateful bitch for a daughter.”
Deanna felt a surge of fury. “Surprised you were sober enough to even remember my birth, Mom.”
“How dare you?!”
Deanna pursed her lips. How many times did she have to do this with her mother? “Oh, I’m sorry, are we done reminiscing? Don’t you wanna talk about how I was born with fetal alcohol poisoning? That’s a fun story, right, Mom?”
“You little cunt!”
The whole bar quieted and turned to look in horror at Tess and Deanna. Andy hesitated, considering whether he needed to interrupt the argument. It hadn’t turned violent, and he’d never had to throw a woman out of the bar. Yet.
Deanna breathed in and out, forcing herself to calm. “And that’s my cue to leave. Don’t bother coming to our house in the middle of the night begging for a bed. The kids – your kids – need to get their sleep, and I’m sick of having to deal with you when you’re in a drunken stupor.”
Deanna turned on her heels and stalked out the bar. She heard Casey calling after her, and fought the bobcat’s urges to turn and run to him.
She stomped down the sidewalk, ignorant to the calls of people saying hello. After a few minutes, Casey sidled up in his car, crawling alongside her. He shouted at her to get in the car.
She shook her head; her eyes were an angry yellow. “No! I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Casey pleaded with her. “Please kitten, get in the car.”
“No! And don’t call me kitten you overgrown hairball!”
Casey sighed and pulled ahead. He jumped out and ran to her, scooping her up in his arms. She screeched and struggled against him. Her legs flailed, and she accidentally made contact with his manhood. Casey stilled, paled and emitted a high pitched wail.
With one hand still wrapped around Deanna’s arm, he slumped to the ground. Her bobcat whined disapprovingly. She hadn’t actually meant to kick him there. Honestly, it was the only part of his body she actually liked at that moment. But in her defense, it was quite a big target area.
Deanna pried his fingers off her arm and quailed a little at seeing the enraged amber tinge of his eyes. Fuck, she was in trouble. Emitting a squeak, she took off running into the woods at full pelt.
She pumped her legs as fast as she could, vaguely aware of the crashing noises following her. Her bobcat yapped in nervous excitement. The silly beast was actually enjoying this! She dared a glance behind her, and was surprised to see that Casey wasn’t actually there. Turning back, she screamed as she crashed into his hard body. The force knocked them to the ground. Casey wrapped his arms round her, and they tumbled on the ground until he had her pinned beneath him.
Casey dragged her arms over her head and rested his legs over hers. He was a little heavy for her, and was a bit concerned that he might be hurting her, but was more worried about the damage she might cause to his tender area.
His wolf roared at the successful chase. There was nothing more arousing to a male wolf shifter than chasing down their mate, and forcing them to submit. His wolf goaded him to sink his manhood and his teeth into the willful bobcat, and make her theirs forever.
Deanna felt a tingle of fear at being at this large wolf’s mercy, but she sneered at him defiantly. “Now what, puppy?”
Casey leaned his head down and inhaled her violet scent. He shuddered as his need for her escalated. His cock turned rock hard with want, and pushed against her mound.
Deanna’s eyes widened as she felt his obvious arousal digging into her. Apparently she didn’t kick him that hard. The look in his lust-darkened face, his obvious desire for her and the fact that he was dominating her, awakened a primal part of her that shamed and excited her in equal measure. She wanted both to slap him and beg him to take her. Her cat voted for the latter.
“Admit I’m your boyfriend,” Casey demanded menacingly, as his wolf prowled expectantly. His eyes were saturated amber, and his claws and fangs were already drawn.
“What?” Of all the things she expected him to say, that wasn’t it.
“Admit that I’m your boyfriend. Tell me that we’re together, and that you’ll never be with anyone else. Tell me that you will be mine, and mine alone,” he ground out trying to keep his animal at bay.
Deanna laughed bitterly. “It’s not my faithfulness that’s in question wolf.”
Casey bristled and snarled at her. “You're overreacting. I haven’t been unfaithful to you. I haven’t even looked at another woman since I met you.”
Her lips trembled. “How can I trust you? How would you have felt if it had been me in the bar, flirting with a man old enough to be my father?”
Casey shifted uncomfortably and looked away from her eyes. “I’d have been okay with that; I’d have trusted you.”
Deanna barked out a laugh. “Really? You really expect me to believe that? Okay, how about if he was buying me drinks, and telling me how pretty I was? How about if I started dancing with him?”
Casey roared possessively in unison with his wolf. “No, you will never ever do those things with anyone but me!”
“See?” Deanna cried triumphantly. “If you can’t even stand imagining those things, can’t you see how hard it was for me to watch the
m?”
Sadness and regret flicked over his face, but she continued unrepentant. “You told me you loved me, and that you wanted to be with me, and that you were going to change, and yet the first chance you get, you’re cozying up to another woman! Fate doesn’t always get it right you know, not everyone ends up with their true mate.”
The amber seeped out of his eyes fading to hazel. “You really believe that we shouldn’t be together? You don’t want me?”
“No… I don’t… I don’t know… I want you, physically… but I just don’t feel like I can trust you. I’ve spent my whole life being let down by the person I loved most in the world, and I’m sick of it. I can’t do that again.”
He looked at her sorrowfully. “I love you, Deanna.”
A sob caught in her throat, and Casey relaxed his body. He let go of her hands and rested his elbows either side of her. He took the weight of his legs off her and straddled her body. If she kicked him again, so be it, maybe he deserved it.
He caught a stray tear running down her cheek on the pad of his thumb. “I’m not going to lie, and pretend that I’ll be the perfect mate because I’m sure I’ll screw up now and again. But I love you, and I’ll be faithful to you, I want to try and make you happy. I thought we already were happy...”
Deanna looked away; she cursed her stubbornness, but she just couldn’t give in. “I should go,” she said, dully.
Casey waited for a few moments before, unwillingly, he rolled off her. His wolf howled in protest, but Casey lay motionless on the cold ground, staring into the dark sky.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, and she was gone.
He squeezed his eyes shut, and a lone tear trickled down his cheek. What was he supposed to do now?
*
Tess clambered up the bed. Ugh, stupid Deanna! Always ruining her fun.
After Deanna’s little show, she hadn’t felt very welcome. A buff wolf shifter with strawberry blonde hair insisted he walk her back to the Bed and Breakfast. She resisted at first, but her legs were kind of wobbly, so in the end she gave in. What was his name? Axe? Axle? Heh, axle grease. These wolf shifters sure do give their kids dumb names, take Hunter, for example, how lame was that?
Tess invited him to come up to her room, but he declined. She told him it was his fucking loss, and made her own way up.
A little sleepy from all the alcohol, she started dozing but blinked as a light switched on.
“It’s about time,” growled a rasping voice.
Tess panicked and sat up in bed. “Fuck!”
She found herself staring at the reason she had Gary had fled Las Vegas – Gary’s boss, Milton Jones.
Tess edged away, to the end of the bed. “How did you get in here?”
His face remained stony. “Shut your fucking mouth, where is the memory stick?”
“I don’t have it; Gary does, and he left this morning,” she blurted.
Milton smiled cruelly. “I know he left, we already caught up with him. He doesn’t have it, though. He seemed to think you did. I tell you what, why don’t we both go and see Gary together…”
Chapter Eighteen
24th January
Deanna sniffled and hugged her arms around her. She was sat on the floor of the shower; the water had long since turned cold, but she didn’t care. Oh god, what had she done?
How could she have been so stupid? She loved Casey, with all her heart, and now she had lost him. No, not lost him – she rejected him. Tossed him aside.
Her bobcat wasn’t speaking to her, and Deanna couldn’t blame the animal. She didn’t deserve to be comforted. She let her anger and obstinacy get the better of her, and once again she had hurt her mate. Only this time, she didn’t know if they could actually recover. Would Casey even want her back after this?
Maybe if she pleaded with him, maybe if she asked him to bond with her… Would that be enough?
Dejectedly, she shut the water off and climbed out of the shower. She automatically toweled off and donned sweats. It was still really early, not even Grams and Dinah were out of bed.
Softly, she walked downstairs but froze as she heard a sound coming from the living room. Carefully she sniffed, and was relieved to recognize her mother, but grew concerned as she scented two unknown male shifters.
Had her mother brought them back to their family home to have sex?! Ugh, no way was she allowing that to happen.
Deanna burst into the living room and was startled to see her mom’s stricken face, and two brutish men, both training guns on her. “Mom?”
“Shut the door,” ordered the ugliest of the two, tersely.
Deanna stood still, and he pursed his lips. “Shut the door, or momma gets a bullet in the head.”
She licked her lips and did as he said. The other man was obviously a bear shifter and had a wicked scar running down his right cheek. The ugly man was a shifter, but not one she could decipher. Although, judging by his fishy smell, no pun intended, she would hazard a guess that he might be a shark shifter. A rarity in Virginia.
Tess was visibly shaking. Her make-up had run, giving her the look of a haggard clown, but physically, she seemed unhurt.
Deanna’s bobcat growled and encouraged her to shift; she wanted to take a bite out of these assholes! Her muscles shimmered, and she was tempted, but the ugly one chuckled. “Don’t even think about it pussycat, you’ll be dead before your paws hit the ground.”
“What’s happening?” she asked, boldly.
Tess slowly walked over to her daughter. “These men are just some friends of Gary’s; they’ve just come to collect something that belongs to them.”
“Bringing guns isn’t very friendly,” declared Deanna.
They both snickered. “Looks like the pussycat’s got claws, huh, Milton?” said the scar-faced bear.
“What do you want?”
“Pumpkin,” began Tess, trembling slightly, “where’s the bear I gave to Dinah?”
Deanna looked at her in confusion. “What? You mean the pink one? I don’t know.”
“It’s really important that we find it.”
Deanna’s claws flexed. “Why? What is going on?”
Tess licked her dry lips. “I put something in the bear that belongs to these men, and they want it back.”
She furrowed her brow. “Why would you do that? And where is Gary in all of this?”
The ugly one, now identified as Milton grinned horribly. “Yeah, Tess, where is Gary?”
Tess let out a sob. Maybe Gary wasn’t the greatest guy in the world, but he sure didn’t deserve to be shot in the back of the head and dumped in Milton’s trunk. The image of his body unnaturally packed into that trunk would haunt her forever.
“Gary’s dead, and if we don’t find that stupid bear we will be too!”
Deanna’s heart lurched as she heard a bump from upstairs. Oh no!
Milton nodded to the bear shifter. “Make sure the rest of the family don’t interrupt us.”
Deanna moved to stop him, but Milton grabbed Tess by her hair. “Not a word out of you, pussycat. I got no problem killing this dumb bitch.”
The bear left, carrying rope. This was not going to end well.
*
Casey had spent the better part of the night mired in grief. He spent the morning moping round, doing chores for his parents. He even managed to control himself when Carly visited, with her massive bear mate in tow, to make sure he was okay. But now, he was about ready to fall apart.
He was stood outside Bar Lunar, considering an early drink. He figured if someone other than Kim were serving he could talk them into giving him alcohol. But, just as he was about to go in, someone hurled a rock at him.
Casey whipped round to find Deanna's biggest fans, the twin bear shifters, ten feet away. “I’m not in the mood,” he growled.
“Dee’s in trouble…” started Aidan.
“Two men are in her house…” put in Arliss.
“They have guns…”
“We were wat
ching through the window…”
“We think they’re going to hurt her.”
Casey’s wolf roared feverishly. Moments ago he was despondent, but now, he was hopping mad. Casey nodded to the boys and sprinted to the Sheriff’s station.
He burst through the doors to find his Alpha, Adam, the Sheriff and Jake stood talking. “Deanna’s in danger; some men with guns broke into her house.”
The three large wolves leapt to action and followed Casey outside; they jumped into patrol cars and sped towards Deanna’s house.
His wolf whined, and Casey tried to soothe him. She would be okay; she had to be okay.
*
Deanna dug through the toy chest. Where the hell was that damn bear?
She looked up as the scarred bear came back in the room.
“Any of them struggle?” enquired Milton, as he idly flipped through a magazine.
“Just the bobcat, but not for long. I checked the kid’s room; the bear’s not with her; the old woman gave me a mouthful though.”
Deanna felt a twinge. Please, please, let her family be okay.
She threw up her hands. “I can’t find it, okay? I don’t know where it is.”
Milton’s jaw twitched. “Then pick one.”
“Pick one what?”
He licked his thick lips and leaned forward from his perch on the couch. “Pick the family member you want me to shoot in the head first.”
Tess let out a sob. Deanna tensed but kept herself together. “Whatever was in that bear, we can replace it, we can give you some money to buy a new one…”
Milton pursed his lips. “Money can’t replace it.”
Tess started panicking and pulling at her hair. “There’s no point, even if we find it, they’re still going to kill us. We know too much. They’ll shoot us all in the head and stuff us in their trunk, just like they did with Gary.” She pointed at Milton. “He’s a monster! Gary took a video of him killing someone, and Gary was trying to get some money out of him… but he went berserk so we had to get out of there…”
“Enough!” roared Milton. “I’m getting tired of waiting.”
The bear’s head jerked up. “Did you hear that?”
