She chuckled nervously. “I’m so freaking confused and you’re talking about pies. Why are you doing this?”
“Your father hates shifters, Chelsey.”
She shook her head. “No, he doesn’t. That’s not my dad.”
“Then why is he hell-bent on stripping us of our ancestral lands?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just about bringing in money into the town. That’s what governors do. But he’s not against shifters. I know that.”
“Aren’t you aware that he plans to take our lands?” Brock asked.
“Take? Doesn’t there have to be an agreement between both parties?”
“Not entirely. And when you’re a shifter fighting for equal rights for your people, that answer is likely not. This is why I do what I do, Chelsey. So in answer to your question, yes, I’m part of that group that runs around, but it’s not trouble we’re trying to cause. We fight for the rights of shifters when they’re not strong enough to fight for themselves?”
“I’m sure my dad doesn’t want to fight you,” she said.
“We don’t want to lose our land and we need him to understand that. We’ve tried talking and sending letters, but everything has been returned unopened.”
“I don’t know what’s going on. I hate politics, but maybe I can get him to understand,” she said. “Your friends look like they’re ready to go, by the way.”
“My brothers will continue to do what’s necessary as part of our mission. We work as a team. Regardless of how far off the path I travel, they’ll stay the course. I meant what I said, Chelsey. I won’t let anything happen to you now that I know how irresistible you are.”
“You’re a charmer.”
“It’s all truth, but trust me, my wolf wants you more than you know.”
Her core heated as a vision of him pumping between her legs flashed through her mind. “He does?” she muttered.
“I can smell your heat, Princess,” he added.
“There’s nothing we can do about it here in front of your friends,” she said.
One brow quirked and he tossed her a challenging stare. “Says who? I’ll fuck you in front of anyone, anywhere if you ask me to.”
Chelsey fanned herself as heat rose up her neck. “Jesus you’re blunt.”
“How much time do we have?” she asked.
“To fuck? All the time in the world.”
She swatted him. “That’s not what I meant.”
He laughed. “I know what you meant. The proceedings begin next week.”
Chelsey placed her hands on her hips. “Here’s my ultimatum. You tell your arrogant ass brothers to bring back what they took from my dad’s home and I’ll call him promptly tomorrow morning.”
“How will you convince him to stop the orders?”
She smiled. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”
“I’m gonna need collateral until tomorrow morning,” Brock said, grinning. “Who knows…you might just up and leave the State without a word, kind of like you did the other night.”
“What about my body for use as collateral? I’m feeling a bit neglected and could use another one night stand.”
Brock closed up the distance between them and took her mouth in a full kiss despite his crew still waiting in the van behind them.
Chelsey pulled back, her lips tingling from the warmth of his kiss. “Is that your answer?”
“That’s more than an answer.” He picked up her arm again, turning it over to view the red mark that hadn’t gone away. “And there’s a reason you’re wearing my birthmark. You probably don’t quite understand yet what’s happening to your body and what’s happening between us.”
“What’s happening? Did you slip some shifter magic into my drink or something because I can’t seem to stop thinking about you? Is that what your kind does to women? The rumors must be true.”
Brock gently stroked the underside of her chin with his fingers. “Let’s finish what we started the other night, Princess. I have a lot to explain to you and we’ll have our entire lives to understand it together. There’s a pretty good reason why both of us have been thinking about the other day and night.”
“You too?”
He nodded. “I drove to LIVE the following night hoping you would show.”
She smiled. “I didn’t think you would be there. We did agree on just the one night, so…I didn’t bother. I thought it would pass.”
“It won’t pass, nor will I let you out of my sight again. Go back inside and pack a bag, Princess. You’re coming with me.”
28
All of Brock’s brothers filed into an empty LIVE Nightclub. The one they called Raoulf headed straight for the unmanned bar and made himself a drink. The club had closed over an hour ago and only a few drunken patrons and what looked like the cleaning crew remained.
“Whatever you do, don’t kill my dad,” Chelsey said.
“That was never the plan,” Alpha Dane said. “Besides, we’re used to getting our way without ending lives. We have other methods.” He slid onto a bar stool next to Raoulf. “Isn’t that right, Raoulf?”
“Damn straight,” Raoulf added, taking a shot of whiskey. He still hadn’t removed his hood, which told Chelsey that either he still didn’t trust her or didn’t want to see all of his face.
“Like what?” she asked.
“Do you really want the answer to that?” Brock countered, leaning back on the counter on his elbows.
She tossed her purse on the bar and slid on a stool. “Are all the crimes and threats and stuff necessary?”
“We’ve asked your dad nicely and we’ve even warned those crooked town cops to stay off our lands. They’ve been using physical force of their own trying to keep us from bringing a stop to the eminent domain proceedings. Some of the human hunters in the area have even gone as far as hunting with rifles on the land. None of us have been shot yet, but other small animals and prey haven’t been so lucky. The carcasses are left out in the open for us to see. They weren’t killing for food. These were just senseless killings…almost like planting warnings for us to find. We traced the bullets to one single manufacturer in Texas. This is the last step,” Dane said.
Chelsey frowned. “I’m sorry that all of this is happening, but I promise you that my dad has nothing to do with planting carcasses. But what do you mean? The last step before what?”
“Before we get what we want, of course.” Dane shrugged. “For him to stop the eminent domain proceedings. If we lose this tract of land, we’ll be losing a lot of hunting grounds. Just in case you haven’t noticed, we are shifters. We shift and run as a Pack there. Some of us even live out there. Stripping the land will also push out other animals that have taken up shelter there.”
“Is that another way to say that if the County wins, your food source will disappear?” she inquired.
Dane pressed his lips together in a grim line, and then said, “You learn quickly. It’s been a little over thirty years since shifter existence was revealed. Some of us haven’t blended into human society. Some of us never will. Therefore, that’s what uncharted, and supposedly, uninhabited tracts of land—like the one they’re looking to confiscate—is used for. Wolves live there, they hunt there, they eat there. I’m sure you know that it’s not wise to fuck with wolves and their right to eat and live in their natural habitats.”
She swallowed. Yeah, she fully understood now. “I understand where you’re coming from. What do you have on my dad?”
Dane narrowed his gaze. “Why should I tell you?”
“Because I agreed to help. Whatever it is you have or took from my house, I want you to give it back,” she said. “I’m sure my dad will settle this without this last ditch effort to bribe him by using me.”
“The plan was never to use you,” Dane said, his gaze sliding over to Brock. “But it just so happens that you’re now connected to Brock. And actually, we don’t need to use you at all.”
Chelsey sighed.
“My dad has held the seat less than a year. I assure you that he means no harm to the shifter community. I’ll try and help y’all, but I won’t stand against him.”
“Understood,” Dane said. “Your dad isn’t the only official in this town pushing this agenda, but he sure as hell does sign off on them.”
“So tell me…” She crossed her arms over her chest. “What’s your plan now that you have me?”
“That’s the thing…” Dane shrugged. “We’ll have to find another way to get your father’s attention in honor of respecting you now that you’ve bonded with my brother.”
“What other ways?” she asked, suspiciously.
“You’ve got a lot of questions.”
“You’re the one who ordered a raid on my house. Since this involves my family, I think I should know. And…like I said, I want to help your cause. I came with you willingly.”
“You came because there was no way you would’ve been able to run from Brock,” Raoulf countered. “You have his scent all over you, sweetness.”
Chelsey blushed. Brock’s scent was all over her, but so were his hands…among other things. Big things. A hard fleshy thing in particular. She bit her lips as heat rose up her spine and fanned across her neck.
“Now that it’s obvious to all of you that Brock and I had…were together and something happened between us, can I suggest that you not make any more adverse moves against my dad. There’s gotta be another way.”
“You’re right. And yes, we’ll find another way. Working with your dad is what we’ll deal with,” Dane said. “Focus on your mating with my brother and leave this to us. We never planned on harming you or your dad. What we do plan to do is defend and keep our properties.”
29
Chelsey moved across the small living area of Brock’s home, taking in his choice of furniture and setup. The space was devoid of clutter. The two bedroom, two bathroom log cabin sat on a small lot adjacent to one of the town’s biggest ponds. The Aspen Valley nature park that she had always wanted to visit was just five miles up the road. When her dad had first been elected as Governor, the privately-owned park was one of the first places she’d had on her list to explore. Unfortunately, even after her family was settled in at the mansion, much of her free time had been devoted to preparing for her last semester of college and she never got around to visiting.
“Is this where you live?” she asked.
“Yes. When I’m in town.” He shrugged out of his leather jacket and hung it on the coat rack beside the door. “My brother Garrett lives close by. He’s never home, though.
“It’s so secluded,” she said. “Don’t you get lonely.”
“Not really. I prefer the seclusion. Besides, if I want company, I can just race across town. Doesn’t take very long.”
“Right. With you being a wolf shifter and all that, I bet you travel back and forth through the woods so easily. Where do you spend most of your time when you’re not in Aspen Valley?”
“On the road mostly dealing with matters outside of the Pack that affects us.”
“Isn’t this eminent domain thing a Pack issue?”
He sat down in a chair and took off his boots before answering. “Yeah. I was in Jersey when Dane called me about it. This is a big deal since what they’re trying to take makes up the bulk of our acreage.”
“And you need places to…just be a wolf and not a man. Right?” She smiled, her gaze running across his body. “I get it.”
Brock grinned. “Do you now?” He stood up and crossed the small distance between them. He took a seat on the sofa’s armrest, grabbed her hand, and pulled her between his legs.
“I’m trying to, at least,” she said.
“Does it bother you that I’m both wolf and man,” he asked.
“It amazes me that you’re both,” she replied.
With him being so close to her, her temperature rose. Even now as he stood in close proximity to her, she realized how much she’d missed his touch. If she had listened to her instincts and returned to LIVE nightclub, she would’ve missed Brock showing up at her house. Would she have seen him again in that case?
“Now that we’ve been outed, we have to protect our own at all costs. There are still some who seek to get rid of what they fear,” he said. “In the beginning, they tried to destroy us. They feared those who could shift between wolf and man at will, but it was our job to make them understand that we weren’t rabid or out to kill. We’ve been living alongside humans for a very long time. We’ve come a long way, but still, we’re not granted some of the same rights as humans.”
Chelsey stroked the left side of his face with her palm. His stormy, blue eyes met hers and suddenly she remembered what had drawn her to him that night at the bar.
“You’re just as human to me as any man I’ve ever met,” she said.
He grinned. “That’s because you haven’t seen my animal yet.”
“I felt him the other night. When we were…together.”
“Yeah,” he breathed. “I’m sure you did. And now you’re wearing my mark as a result of that.”
“Who gave you permission to mark me anyway?” she asked, running her finger down his chest and reminiscing on the hardness of his flesh against her hands.
He gripped her hips and brought her closer. She made no moves to shy away when he dragged his lips along the outer edge of her ears. She trembled within his embrace, heat rising up her spine with every stroke of his nose against the most sensitive area on her neck.
“I would ask your forgiveness, but I find satisfaction in knowing that you’ll be mine to please forever,” he told her.
“I…” She sighed.
She’d never been one to tell a man how much she needed him even if it was just for sex. For fuck sakes, she was supposed to be the independent, don’t need handouts or a man type of woman that her mother raised her to be. But she also went out and got what she wanted, even if it involved doing something out of the norm. Like going to a bar seeking out a one night stand. Her one night stand had turned into a serious revelation. One she didn’t quite understand yet. A revelation that would take her some getting used to. The one truth that she did understand was that she wanted Brock.
“What is it? What are you thinking about?” he asked, kissing her skin softly.
“About how my life literally changed overnight.”
“This changes things for both of us, Princess.”
“I’ve just never had anyone like you, and I’m not saying that just because you’re a shifter. Maybe it’s because you’re older, mature, and you know how to treat women. I don’t know. I feel like this is all too good to be true.”
He pulled back and found her gaze. “You’re correct in that I’ll always treat you the way a woman should be treated. With love. Respect. Like she’s the only person on this planet that matters. But you’re different, Chelsey. To me, you are my true mate. The only woman that will satisfy my wolf. The only woman that I’ll always run to no matter what or who tries to separate us. It doesn’t make sense now, but what does make sense is that you’re wearing my birthmark. That’s not by accident. That’s fate.”
“So what do we do?”
“You do want this, don’t you?” he asked, confusion flashing across his face for a brief second. “You do want me, right?
“If I told you how much, would you use that against me?”
“Not against you. However, I would use it to your advantage,” he said, pressing his lips to hers, letting his words brush against them. “I’ve been wanting to get you alone for hours now.” He nipped the column of her throat. “I couldn’t wait until the Alpha was done going over our plans. My mind should be focused on our objective, but instead, all I can think about is you.”
She gasped when his lips molded against the underside of her chin.
“It’s funny because I wanted to go back to that nightclub so many times. I kept telling myself you weren’t going to be there and that I was just being too greedy and th
at was all the sex I was going to get.”
“Things would’ve been different,” he replied. “I was concerned when you didn’t show up.”
“Show up where?” she asked. “You mean you went back to the nightclub?”
“I did,” he said, sheepishly. “I was banking on seeing you. I left thinking that I hadn’t lived up to your expectations.”
“You exceeded them.” She chuckled. “If you were worried about your ability to deliver, you shouldn’t be. I left right away because I was a little overwhelmed. I just didn’t think a man like you would want to be bothered with me. You’ve got your life figured out, yet I haven’t even decided where I’m going to live once I graduate in December and I have less than four months to choose. I even have intern offers I haven’t even entertained.”
He took her hands in his and gave them a reassuring squeeze. “You just take things one day at a time. No need to rush anything.”
“That’s what my dad has been trying to tell me,” she said before she could stop herself. “Oh…I guess you don’t want to hear about my dad right now.”
“No, it’s okay. People disagree all the time. We’re just trying to get your dad as the governor and the people behind this issue to listen to us and understand why their plans won’t be beneficial to the environment as a whole.”
“He’s a good person,” she said. “It can be a little difficult to change his mind once he’s made it up. He’s set in his ways most of the time. He spent twenty-five years as an attorney and prosecutor before he got into politics.”
“Hmmm, he’s a smart man then?”
She nodded.
“Chelsey, I’m not asking you to stand against your dad, but what I am asking is for you to stay with me. Don’t leave me because of this.”
“You have nothing to worry about, Brock, because I don’t want to leave you,” she said.
Chelsey closed the short distance between them and kissed him. He felt like hot, hardened granite stone against her. Her knees grew weak as Brock took her lips over and over again. If it wasn’t for his strong, thick arms holding her securely she would have collapsed right before him. Actually, she wouldn’t have minded being on her knees with his rock hard length against her tongue. She needed to feel him, more of him. She broke the kiss to lift up the tail-end of his shirt to reveal the hard planes of his chest. He took the hint and pulled the shirt over his head and tossed it out of their way.
Rogue Wolf Page 25
