by Megan Morgan
“Deacon.” She gripped his shoulders.
He pumped into her, at the same time holding her hips so he worked her on his cock. She didn’t have to do a thing. His face was a mask of pleasure, his mouth slack, eyelids drooping but eyes otherworldly and gleaming beneath them, and locked on her.
Their bodies made soft wet noises in the silence as they came together over and over. She could barely breathe, let alone make a sound.
He hit the right spot, and to her breathtaking surprise, she came again. The orgasm blossomed fast and rippled warm and sweet through her before she barely knew it was happening. She squeezed her eyes shut, her mouth open. “Oh God…oh my God, Deacon.”
Her body was at his command, helpless to his will. She couldn’t take much more. She thought she might faint.
He finished then, slamming up into her. He still held her with one arm and slapped his other hand against the cupboard above them, a loud smack that made her flinch.
“Goddamn,” he growled against her ear. “Lorena.”
His cock pulsed inside her. She used the last of her strength to squeeze her legs around him and pull him in even deeper.
If they woke anyone up, she didn’t care. It was worth it.
He slid out of her with a delirious moan and eased off her.
“Oh my God.” She slumped and dropped her forehead against his chest. Her entire body trembled. “Damn.”
His heart hammered. “Things smell a lot better in here now.”
She didn’t have the energy to move. Deacon tucked his cock back in his jeans and walked to the sink. He brought her back a glass of water.
“Thanks.” She took a deep drink, then licked her lips and gazed at him. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” He stroked her cheek. His eyes still weren’t completely human, but she liked it. “You’re the best damn thing that ever happened to me. I’d do anything for you, anything you asked.”
She took a deep breath. “Can I ask you something, then?”
* * * *
“You sure you’ll be all right?” Deacon stood next to the open driver’s side door of his truck. “I don’t know if I ought to leave you here alone.”
“You said it yourself.” Lorena stood in front of him. “We have the advantage. If they attack us, we could kill their people. And I’m not alone, Dr. Winston and I both have guns and we’re pretty damn good with them, if I do say so myself.”
True enough, Lorena could hold her own with the iron; otherwise, he wouldn’t even be thinking of running this errand.
“I’ll be back quick as I can.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Keep the doors locked.”
She touched his face. “If anything happens, I’ll call you right away. Thank you for this.”
Damn if he wasn’t a sucker for her, and easy to ask favors of when he’d had a bit of her.
He got in the truck, but didn’t start it until he watched her go back in the house and close the door. He had both his rifle and pistol, just in case.
He drove to Zeke’s house, his head buzzing like hornets had built a nest in there. He hadn’t gotten any frantic calls from his family in the night, but that didn’t put him at ease. He wasn’t too worried what the Wolvites might be up to, he was more worried because it wasn’t above certain members of his family to do something plumb crazy, like run off in the woods without telling anyone and get themselves killed.
At Zeke’s house, Deacon walked in with his rifle on his shoulder.
“Where’s Lorena?” Stacy stood in the kitchen, looking pale and skittish. “She didn’t come with you?”
“She’s at the house.” Deacon set his gun down next to the door. “They’re locked in. She knows how to use a gun.”
“She’s crazy.” Stacy marched around the table. “I can’t believe she’s doing this, helping them.”
“She thinks if they can cure it, maybe we can start talking peace. I gotta admit, I wouldn’t mind not having to watch over my shoulder all the time.”
Zeke walked in the kitchen and it was obvious straight away he was full of fire. “There’s really a Wolvite in your house right now? On your goddamn dining room table?”
Deacon nodded. “Place stinks something awful.”
“And Mel is there too?” Zeke stood in front of him, puffed up.
“She’s tied up, they both are. We’re gonna haul her out and have her tell them to stand down while we try to cure him.”
“This is insane.” Stacy joined her husband in his bristling. “Deacon, don’t you understand how dangerous this is? You can’t negotiate with Wolvites.”
“We ain’t got much of a choice. Mel put a binding spell on Lorena, I had to get it off. Wasn’t no way to do it except kidnapping Mel and forcing her to remove it. That meant kidnapping her mate, too.”
“You should kill them both,” Zeke said. “And then we’ll burn the rest of them out. You want peace? We’ll make peace. Won’t be nary of them left to fight with.”
Lorena would never forgive him if they went down that road.
“I gotta try it this way first.” Deacon sighed. “If it don’t work, if things go wrong—then that’s what we’ll do.”
Zeke shook his head and turned away. “I can’t believe this. Can’t believe we’re giving them the benefit of the doubt. Can’t believe you’re keeping one in your house!”
“I ain’t none too happy about it.” Deacon looked at Stacy. “Can I get the books? I don’t wanna linger too long. Lorena’s good with a gun, but I don’t want to be away if something happens.”
Stacy stalked out of the room. Zeke turned back to Deacon, still shaking his head.
Deacon lifted a hand. “Don’t say nothing. Lorena’s trying to do some good. She gaumed things up, damn right she did, but I’m doing the best I can to clean it up.”
“Scientists.” Zeke huffed. “She ain’t been here long enough to understand that’s not how we do things around here. You ought to give her a lesson.”
“You ought to shut your mouth before you get punched. That’s my woman you’re talking about.”
They stood in silence until Stacy came back, carrying a stack of books.
“These are all my potion books.” She shoved them in Deacon’s arms. “There’s nothing in them about curing Wolvites, though. That isn’t something witches tend to get up to around here.”
“Much obliged.” Deacon nodded to her. “I’ll make sure they get back to you in one piece.”
“You tell her I’m gonna have a long talk with her when this is over. I’ve been trying to teach her, but apparently I didn’t teach her well enough.”
Deacon shifted the books under one arm and walked to the door, and grabbed up his gun.
“Be careful, you damn fool,” Zeke said. “Call us when you get home, let us know you got there safe.”
Deacon stepped out the door. “I will.”
He had another stop to make and that one would be even more unpleasant.
As he pulled up the driveway of his Grammy and Grandpa’s house, he braced himself. His ears already hurt from the twisting they were about to get.
“Why would you do such a fool thing?” His Grammy was tiny, but she was a ball of fire. “A Wolvite in your house! And that awful, no good excuse for a witch who tricked Jack, tricked all of us.” Her eyes blazed behind her glasses, her hands curled in wrinkled fists. She’d given him plenty of whoopings in his youth and he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to fight her if she tried to give him one right now.
“It’s all under control.” Deacon kept his voice down so he wouldn’t sound like he was arguing. “The Wolvite is sedated and they’re both tied up. We’re gonna use them to bargain.”
“Bargain for what? You kill them, that’s what you do. After the things they’ve done to your family, to this town. What’s to bargain for?”
Deacon sighed “Peace. That’s what Lorena and Dr. Winston are aiming for. If they can cure the virus, the Wolvites might be willing to leave us alone.”
/>
“Peace?” She stared incredulously at him. “There’s no peace with them. Of course you let her talk you into something so foolhardy, she’s got you wrapped around her finger. She ain’t got the sense God gave her. She doesn’t know anything about how we do things here, and she’s a terrible witch on top of it.”
“Don’t talk about her like that, Grammy.” He clenched his jaw.
“Don’t you talk back to me.” She shoved a finger in his face. “Your grandfather has been up all night on watch, worried sick. None of us can leave our houses. All because that witch of yours still has her head stuck in science and thinks she’s going to solve problems we’ve had for centuries with talk. Why would you let her do a thing like that? Why would you let her bring them in your house?”
He bristled, but fought to keep his temper. “I brought them in the house, Grammy. Mel had a spell on Lorena and it was the only way to break it. We took them hostage. The rest of ‘em won’t do a thing while we got them, they’re too afraid we’ll kill them.”
“A decent witch would know how to break a holding spell, but she doesn’t seem to care to learn. I could teach her right, instead of that contrary witch Zeke has.”
“She’ll come around, Grammy. She’ll let you teach her. She’s still settling in.”
“She doesn’t like me. She’s rude. You shouldn’t let her behave like that.” She lifted her chin. “That’s not how you treat family.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ll talk to her, but that ain’t what I came here for. I need something.”
“That’s all you need.” She pointed to his shotgun next to the door. “Go and use it.”
“They’re still out there in the woods.” He dropped his hand. “You saw what happened at the cookout. Don’t you want to stop walking on pins and needles, stop worrying every time you go outside?”
“It’s always been that way.” She glared at him. “The men in this family take care of it, they always have. It’s your job. You want her to take your job from you?”
He spread his arms. “You think I wanna do this my whole life, Grammy? You think any of us want to? It’s not a very good job, not to mention we don’t get paid for it and we barely get a thank you from this town.”
“Because of scientists.” She yanked at her shawl around her shoulders. “They come in here and get all the credit for protecting Blue Ditch. Once, the men in this family were respected for what they did, and so were the witches.”
She was good at this, ignoring all the parts of an argument except the ones she could refute. He didn’t have the time or patience to go at it right now, though.
“I need something from you. I need your books.”
“What?”
“Your witch books, I need them. Not all of ‘em, just the ones about potions.”
“For what?”
He tensed. “Lorena needs them.”
“Oh, does she now?” She snorted. “She needs my help?”
“Her and the doctor found something that works on the Wolvite virus, but not completely. She needs to see if she can find something that does.”
Grammy turned away. “There are no potions in my books to cure Wolvites.”
“Mel told her there was a cure, but they don’t know what it is. Lorena wants to try to find it.”
She turned back to him. “I will not give her my books. She doesn’t deserve them.”
“You gave her one when you barely knew her.” He was taking a risk, sassing her like that.
“And she gave it back.” She drew herself up. “Is this what she’s taught you, to be uppity and talk back to your elders?” Her voice was high and wounded.
“I’m not being disrespectful, Grammy. I’ll bring them back to you. She just needs to look in them, see if she can find something.” He attempted to add some charm. “You’re so good at witchery Grammy, if there’s something, it’s your books she’s gonna find it in.”
“There’s nothing in my books to help Wolvites, I told you that. And besides, I’m not helping her. She’s a scientist and she’s cruel to me.”
“Grammy, right now there’s a Wolvite on my dining room table.” He stepped toward her. “If he dies, the Wolvites are gonna raise Cain and we’re gonna have to fight them. If I shoot him and Mel, it’s gonna be the same thing. You want another war on our hands like we had last fall?”
She stepped back, regarding him with a wary look. “We’ve fended them off for generations, it’s nothing new. I will not help her, Deacon. Not unless she apologizes for the way she’s behaved and agrees to let me teach her.”
Deacon would faster find the cure himself than convince Lorena of that.
“This is gonna happen whether or not you give me the books,” he said. “My house still has a Wolvite in it. If it all goes south, I’m gonna have to go out in them woods with my gun and put my life on the line again. I’ve lost control of the situation and I can’t get it back until we do something about it.”
“I’m not giving her my books. I trust you far more with a gun than I do her with my books.”
He nodded and bit back words of anger. “I’m gonna get home, then. You watch out for yourself until this blows over.” He walked to the door and picked up his gun. “I love you, Grammy. Tell Grandpa I said hello and to be safe.”
He left the house, his breath held she might change her mind and call him back, but that was a long shot and it sure didn’t happen.
Driving home, he fumed. “Dammit Lorena,” he swore to the air. “You’ve got us in one hell of a mess.”
He tried to simmer down before he arrived home. Getting out of the truck, he eyed the woods, listened, and sniffed the air. Nothing out there.
The nasty smell hit him as soon as he opened the door though, and he had to force himself to step inside.
Mel was curled up in the recliner still, but awake now. Dr. Winston sat at the table next to the Wolvite, a book open in his lap.
“Lorena is getting some sleep,” he said. “She told me to have you wake her when you came in.”
Deacon set his gun down. “You getting anywhere?”
“He’s stable, but not improving. I don’t know how much longer we have.”
Mel sat up.
“We’re going outside in a bit,” Deacon told her. “You better practice what to say.” He strode off down the hallway to the bedroom, the books under his arm.
Lorena was stretched out on the bed, but she jerked her head up when he came in.
“Did you get the books?” She sat up.
Deacon walked to the bed and tossed the books on it. “I got Stacy’s.”
Lorena plucked one up. “Your grandmother wouldn’t relent? I’m not surprised.”
“She said she’ll give them to you, if you apologize and agree to let her teach you.”
Lorena glanced up, sour-faced, and opened the book. “Right.”
“My whole family is mad at me right now. They’re mad at you. They wanna come over here and kill all of ‘em.”
“I’m sorry. We’re trying to fix it.”
“I damn well hope so, because I’m not looking to get disowned.”
He turned and left the room, before he said anything else on his mind.
Chapter 12
Lorena stood in the backyard, between Deacon and Dr. Winston, all three facing the woods. They had guns, Deacon his rifle and his pistol in his belt as well. Neala stood in front of them, her hands bound.
“I know they’re out there,” Lorena said. “I can feel them.”
For a few minutes, nothing happened, no one appeared. Lorena was antsy. Deacon shifted and grumbled.
“Maybe you should call out to them,” Lorena suggested to Neala. “Tell them it’s safe.”
“They’re afraid.” Neala shook her head. “Can you blame them?”
Finally, Lorena spotted movement in the trees. Someone emerged, one person—Kendrick.
He walked toward them, a gigantic figure, his bronzed skin aglow in the sunlight, dark
hair gleaming. Lorena’s skin prickled.
“Only one?” Deacon snorted. “The rest of them run away?”
“There’s more in the woods.” Neala looked over her shoulder at him. “My chosen family cares about me, unlike my biological one.”
“Not like you ever gave us a chance.”
They fell silent as Kendrick approached.
He stopped a safe distance from them and curled his hands into massive fists at his sides.
“Kendrick.” Neala stepped forward. “I’m all right, they haven’t harmed me.” She held up her bound hands. “Only restrained me. Dafydd hasn’t been harmed either, they’re trying to cure him.”
Kendrick tilted his head. Anger rolled off of him.
Lorena spoke up. “We’re keeping him stable. Keeping him alive, trying to kill the virus. We’re not going to hurt either one of them.”
“Don’t attack them,” Neala said. “Or…the Lycans. They’ve promised to continue trying to help him if you don’t hurt anyone.”
Lorena held her breath.
“And,” Neala went on, “if they do cure him, we must discuss peace. We need to bring this cycle to an end.”
Kendrick drew himself up. “You want us to make peace with these monsters that have hunted and killed us for ages?”
“We’re weakened.” Neala’s voice fell. “Too many of our mates are dead. We can’t keep hiding and striking from the shadows.”
“We’re not talking about friendship.” Lorena moved to Neala’s side. “Just peace, an end to killing each other. You need our help to stop the virus. If we can do that for you, your society will be healthier and can start to rebuild. We need peace for that. We need to work together.”
Kendrick sneered, showing his broad teeth. “How do I know you are not making her say all of this? You bring her out bound, with guns in your hands, talking of peace and cures. If you really do not mean to hurt either of them, why do you not let them go?”
