Luke dropped her hand instantly and cleared his throat, glancing back to the road. “You keep that up, and I swear my ears will bleed,” he murmured, trying to ignore the sudden, overwhelming urge to pull the car over and take her right there on the side of the road. And suddenly his jeans became extremely uncomfortable, and he grimaced.
“You only wish you had my talent,” Kat threw back, folding her hands in her lap and fidgeting in her seat slightly.
“That’s about as far from talent as I have ever heard, sweetheart.”
“What the hell do you know, anyway?” Kat scoffed at him with a flick of her hand. “You howl at the moon for God’s sake.”
“Well, that may be – but at least I howl in tune!” He choked out, that grin twitching at the corners of his mouth and Kat felt her stomach flutter.
“Oh, bite me, Benji.” Kat grumbled under her breath, and Luke snorted with laughter.
“Wouldn’t I just absolutely love to?” He chuckled - his eyes gleaming wickedly and Kat felt her body heat, and her heart rate accelerate to warp speed. Good Lord!
They pulled up to Kern’s Korner bookstore twenty minutes later, and Luke leapt from the SUV and ran around to Kats side to open the door and help her out. When she raised her eyebrow at his extended hand, his mouth settled into a frown as he bowed slightly and took a step back.
“You are certainly taking this no touching rule to heart, red.” He said; no humor in his voice what so ever.
If truth be told - he needed to touch her. Christ, it was a deep, gnawing need that seemed to grow with each moment that he spent with her. Being that close to her in the car; and not being able to reach over had practically driven him insane.
Kat jumped down from her seat and smiled up at him. “Rules,” she replied flippantly, and strolled past him into the shop.
“Rules were made to be broken,” he mumbled to himself as he followed her inside, his eyes locked on the curve of her perfect ass.
When Kat walked through the doors of the bookshop, she found Thomas sitting on the edge of his desk, a bag of ice resting between his legs. He jumped up when he saw her, the ice hitting the floor with a thud and his eyes blazing.
“You!” he practically screeched - glaring at her. “What the Hell Kat?”
“Hey, Tommy,” she replied, smiling at him warmly.
“Don’t you dare ‘Hey Tommy” me – you little bitch! Would you mind telling me right now just what in the…?” He stopped cold when he saw Luke step up directly behind Kat - his glare alone enough to knock the wind out of him. The man looked thoroughly pissed, and he knew in an instant that he was a Were. And worse yet – he was an Alpha; which meant that the man was dangerous when he or someone he cared about felt threatened – and from the vibes that he was getting – he cared about Kat. A lot. Oh, Holy shit – could his day get any worse? That last thing he needed at the moment was to have to deal with a protective Were – not with his nuts throbbing like they were.
Kat looked back at Luke when she noticed Thomas’s uncomfortable gaze, and her smile faded when she saw how angry he was. He was practically shaking with it, and she knew for certain that this was not going to be good. “Easy there, Tonto,” she whispered to him, and Luke’s eyes swept down to hers, and she could see the fury in their amber depths – turning them almost black.
“He has no right to speak to you…” he began, but Kat cut him off.
“It’s okay. He’s a friend, and for some reason, he seems to be just a little ticked off at me right now,” she turned back to Thomas – who was watching the pair warily. “It’s been a long time, Tommy.” She said, as lightly as possible. “What’s got you in such a snit?”
“Your sister was here,” She heard Luke say, and her eyes widened.
“When?” Kat asked, directing her question to Thomas.
“She left about a half hour ago,” Thomas huffed. “Right after she about squeezed my balls completely off - and then the little shit has the audacity to kick me in the shin! Obstinate little brat! Just why in the hell people procreate is totally beyond me.”
Kat tried to hold it back; she really did, but she just couldn’t. She burst out laughing – actually doubling over from it. The floodgates had been opened, and all of the tension and worry of the past few days was deliciously rolling out of her. God, she needed this, she thought – wiping the tears from her eyes with the backs of her hands. She had not laughed so hard in, she couldn’t remember how long – but the thought of a seventeen year old girl holding her friend prisoner – literally, by the balls, was freaking hysterical!
“It is not funny!” Thomas practically shrieked. “That little twit just about maimed me for life!”
“I’m… I’m sorry…” Kat choked out, trying desperately to regain her composure – but she just couldn’t pull it off. She didn’t know what was wrong with her, but she just couldn’t stop laughing.
She turned and glanced at Luke, who was standing there watching her as if she had lost her mind - and she only laughed all the harder. Oh, this was rich; she thought with a very unladylike snort.
“Katrina,” Luke whispered, and reached out to touch her arm – only to stop a moment later and pull it back - and Kat found herself wishing that he hadn’t. God! All she wanted was to feel his hands on her again.
The thought sobered her up in an instant, and she turned back to her friend – trying to shake off the immense sense of loss that she felt as she did.
“Do you know where she was headed?” Kat asked finally, and Thomas huffed again as he stomped over to her. When he was not a foot from her – she heard Luke’s low growl of warning and he stopped – rolling his eyes dramatically.
“Don’t worry, He-Man,” Thomas bit out, glaring at Luke. “I’m not going to hurt her.” He looked back to Kat and gave her small smile. “Really, Katrina. Your own personal guard dog?” he asked. “My, my, love – you sure have moved up in the world.” He gave Luke the once over, then leaned in to whisper conspiratorially in her ear. “Although, I must say, he is yummy.”
“The Hell I am!” Luke barked, and Kat bit back the smile threatening to make its presence known, once again. She cleared her throat and looked at Thomas, her expression growing serious.
“What did my sister want?”
“Well, besides my gonads on a platter,” Thomas said gruffly, but his tone too – had grown serious. “She’s looking for your mother.” He informed her with a shake of his head. “But I haven’t seen Elaine in months.”
“Well, that sure as hell beats three years,” Kat replied darkly. “What did you tell her?”
“I didn’t know what to tell her,” he replied, “but she was holding what looked like a letter in the hand that wasn’t squeezing the life out of my boys – so I’m guessing someone gave her some information – or she wouldn’t have come looking for me.” He looked at her apologetically. “And she found out about you - from me. I’m sorry, Kat. It just kind of slipped out. I figured that if she was looking for your mom, that she had to have known about you. Jesus, Kat - just what is going on here?”
Kat stiffened slightly when she felt Luke’s heat against her back. He had moved up to stand just behind her – not touching - but Good Lord, he didn’t need to. Just his presence this close to her was enough to send her body into overdrive. She bit back the urge to turn around, jump into his arms – and then jump him! Geez –she thought with a scowl, she sure hoped she could muster up some willpower – and fast.
She cleared her throat and tried to ignore the man standing behind her. “There is just too much to explain right now, Tommy,” she answered. “We need to find Harper.”
Thomas glanced at Luke a moment before looking back to Kat – his eyes narrowing. “Are you safe with Mount Olympus here?” he asked, and Kat flinched slightly.
Sure, she was safe – but was Luke? She felt like a complete coward for not just ditching him and doing this alone – and she was seriously beginning to hate herself quite a bit for it. She had never
in her entire life been a coward – but this man had broken down her defenses so thoroughly that she didn’t even know which end was up anymore.
“Don’t worry,” Luke growled over her shoulder, and Kat felt a shiver run across her at his deep, husky tone. “I won’t let anyone touch her.”
“Well, la di fricking da, Hercules,” Thomas snapped, and Kat bit back another laugh. “But I was talking to Kat – not you.”
“I swear to God - I’ll break your freaking …” Luke began, but Kat stopped him.
“Would you two just stop with the pissing contest!” She barked, and both men instantly snapped their mouths shut and gaped at her. “We need to find Harper before she disappears again, and I really don’t want to have to stand here with my thumb up my ass while the both of you throw insults and threats at each other like two bullies on a school playground. Just drop the damn testosterone down a notch or two, boys!” With that, she turned – walked around Luke, and stormed for the door.
Luke glared at Thomas for a moment in silent warning, before turning and following Kat out of the shop. He spotted her as she stormed down the sidewalk; mumbling softly to herself about how all men were immature assholes - and Luke couldn’t stop the smile that came to his lips. The witch was absolutely adorable as she stomped along talking to herself.
He trotted up to her and grasped her upper arm – pulling her to a stop. “Just where in the hell do you think you’re going now?” He asked as she yanked her arm out of his grasp, and Luke silently cursed himself for touching her. “Sorry,” he murmured softly, his eyes gleaming as he raised his hands in a gesture of apology. “I seem to have momentarily forgotten the no touching rule.” Shit, this was just too damn hard! Luke silently raged.
He wanted to do a Hell of a lot more than just touch her - and it was like a physical pull that was gnawing at his insides with a deep, growing ache. Luke clenched his hands into fists and dropped them to his sides, trying desperately to regain some control over his libido – but this woman was making that nearly impossible.
“I’m going to find Harper,” Kat informed him as if he were daft.
“Well, you are going in the wrong direction, sunshine.” He replied with a grin, and turned and started walking in the opposite direction in which she had been heading – whistling softly to himself as he did.
Kat watched as Luke walked off – her eyes locking on his firm, perfect backside as he strolled down the street, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “Jackass,” she grumbled under her breath - and took off after him.
“I heard that,” he stated, not breaking stride –nor even bothering to throw a glance her way, and she felt the overpowering urge to chuck something at his arrogant, gorgeous head! And she swore that if she had had something – she would have.
Luke suddenly came to an abrupt halt, and Kat – not quite paying attention, slammed into his solid back with a loud oomph!
“What the hell, Benji?”
Luke didn’t say a word; he just grabbed Kat around the waist and pulled her into a nearby alley, his mouth turned down in a frown.
“What?” She breathed, suddenly extremely nervous.
“I smell the witches that were at the Bradford’s,” he whispered. “I want you to stay here, while I go and check it out,” he said, and felt her instantly stiffen.
Knowing that she was about to argue with him, he did the only thing he could think of doing – he kissed her senseless. He crushed his mouth down onto hers and pulled her flush against his steely frame – his tongue taking possession and staking claim with a hot, urgent need. When he felt her relax against him, and moan softly, he turned them and eased her back, so that she was braced against the brick wall of the building as his mouth continued to devour hers.
Hating himself, he broke away from her lips and took a deep, steadying breath. “Stay here,” he commanded huskily, and Kat just stared – unable to form any semblance of a coherent sentence – or thought for that matter. She was operating on pure sensation – and boy was it messing with her brain!
Luke dipped his head and kissed her again before turning and jogging back down the alley, and Kat was again taken by just how breathtaking the man truly was. He was primal, raw sex and she realized with a groan that her knees were shaking uncontrollably and braced her hand on the brick wall behind her to steady herself.
She tried with everything that she had to gather her senses enough to go after him. She’d be damned if she’d let him kiss her into submission just so that she would do what he wanted her to do. Screw that noise! Damn, stubborn - arrogant ass!
With that thought urging her on, she shook her head and started after him – albeit on extremely shaky legs – she realized with a disgusted groan. Damn that man!
She hadn’t even made it five steps when Luke was back. He took her by the arm and guided her along with him.
“What’s going on?” Kat questioned - her eyes large and wary.
“We need to get to Harper before they do,” he replied, leading her down the street. Kat was about to mention the no touching rule – but thought better of it. Now was definitely not the time to poke the beast.
Chapter 6
Luke pulled Katrina along with him as he followed Harper’s scent, loving the feel of her silky skin beneath his hand. He headed down the main street of town and finally took a turn and started toward the town’s local park.
Harper’s scent was getting stronger as they neared, and he knew that the witches had taken the opposite direction. He paused at the entrance, and turned to Kat.
“I believe she’s still here,” he murmured, giving Kat a gentle smile when he saw the nerves hit her full on.
He knew she was terrified of meeting her sister- but he also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had nothing to worry about. The woman was amazing – and there was no way that Harper wouldn’t see that. “No worries, red.” He whispered with an encouraging grin. He cupped her chin with his hand and lifted her face so that she would look at him. “Come on, baby - just breathe.”
Kat nodded – taking a deep, steadying breath. “No worries.” She repeated, hearing the tremor in her voice and wincing slightly. Damn it – she could do this! She looked at him and tried to return his smile. “Just breathe.”
Luke wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, wanting so much to take all of her fear and doubt from her - but he knew that he couldn’t. She needed to find out for herself that she was worthy. He leaned back and kissed her gently on the forehead, then caught her gaze, his eyes locking with - and holding hers.
“It’s going to be fine,” he reassured her – his mouth quirking up into a lopsided grin that literally took Kat’s breath away. “You can do this.”
“All right.” She gave him a quick, jerky nod. “Let’s do it.” She whispered with much more conviction than she actually felt.
Luke dropped a quick kiss on her lips before whispering in her ear. “She’ll love you, red. How could she not.”
With that, he took hold of her hand and headed toward a large tree house at the edge of the park. Not caring in the least that their no touching rule had been completely blown out of the water.
Harper noticed the couple walking hand in hand toward where she was sitting and instantly went on alert. There was something so familiar about the beautiful woman walking to where she was hidden, that she felt her throat constrict with tears. As they approached, Harper realized with a gasp, that she looked quite a bit like herself – but it couldn’t be! Could it?
She stood and braced herself against the wall of the tree house, peeking around through the window to watch them as they walked toward her.
The man was beyond drop dead gorgeous, Harper thought with a nervous smile, but her eyes kept going back to the redhead – it was as if she was being drawn to her - and suddenly Harper realized that her feet were moving, and she was heading toward the trapdoor of the structure. As if in a trance, Harper lifted the door and started climbing cautiously down the ladde
r.
When she reached the bottom, the couple stood not five feet away from her, and Harper heard the woman gasp as their eyes met.
“Harper.” The woman whispered, her eyes filling with tears, and Harper swallowed hard, trying with everything that she had to be brave.
“Yes.” She croaked out – her knees shaking wildly.
“I…I’m Katrina. I’m your sister.”
Harper took a breath and straightened her back – jutting out her chin slightly. “Yeah, I kind of figured,” she replied, fighting the desire to throw herself into the woman’s arms with every ounce of self-control that had.
No matter what she was feeling, this woman was a complete stranger to her. She might be her sister, but she had never even attempted to contact her before now, and with that thought, Harper’s anger started to bubble to the surface and she tried with all her might to push it back. Think happy thoughts, she told herself.
Kat watched the play of emotion on Harper’s face nervously – not quite sure what she should say. Thankfully Luke helped her out.
“I’m Luke,” He said, letting go of Kats hand and taking a few steps towards the girl who was standing there so defiantly.
He held out his hand as Harper eyed him warily, not sure if she could trust the pair. When Luke graced her with that smile of his, Harper felt her cheeks warm. There was just something about him that made her want to believe that he would help her – that she could trust him.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and took a step closer, putting her tiny hand in his – needing them to think that she wasn’t as scared as she was. “What are you doing here?” She asked, her voice cracking slightly, and she grimaced.
Luke chuckled, his eyes sparkling. “We’ve been looking for you. And I’ve got to tell you, kid – you haven’t been easy to track,” he told her, turning and motioning to Kat to come over.
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