Whiskey and Wolves: Book One: Shifters and Sins

by Lane, Cecilia

  He thrust into her again, the drag of his retreat rasping against nerves that sent her keening with every breath.

  This was what she wanted for the rest of her life. Hot passion and endless pleasure. She was more than a mother or a teacher. More than a daughter, before that. Jensen made her feel bigger than any role she played. He made her feel as strong and powerful as him. Worthy of devotion and love. He made her feel beautiful and complete.

  With a growl, he rocked back on his heels, dragging her halfway into his lap. His hands landed on her hips and his thrusts turned shallow, teasing after being filled. Her entire body sparked and hummed with the electric feeling building inside her.

  She needed more.

  Noelle cupped her breasts and rolled her nipples between her fingers.

  “Come for me,” he ordered. “Need to feel you fall apart.”

  His words shoved her toward the edge, but he didn’t seem anywhere close to following her over. Gold eyes trailed over her frame, igniting a fire where he looked. His hand followed the same devastating path before landing right between her thighs, thumb stroking her clit as he watched her with hungry eyes.

  Noelle arched into him, body bending at his touch and words and gaze, sharp cry on her lips. He branded himself on her, worshipped her with his own primal force. His appreciative groan set her on fire.

  She still throbbed around him when he hauled her up, holding her tightly as he bounced her up and down his shaft. Pleasure pricked in her veins. Pressure built in her middle and she flew toward the edge all over again.

  “Fucking sexy, Noelle,” Jensen gritted out in her ear.

  He thrust harder, more frantic than before. He groaned low in his throat, his growl vibrating in his chest and making her nerves sing.

  Jensen nipped at her neck, intent clear as day. Noelle let her head fall to the side as her heart split wide open. Every thrust, every slide of his hands, every breath, he made her feel as if they were all for her.

  There had never been anyone else for her.

  “Jensen,” she whimpered, threading her fingers in his hair. She struggled to breathe; her heart thundered in her chest. “Please.”

  His mouth grazed the base of her neck. A flash of pain whipped through her, then was utterly obliterated by the surge of pleasure crashing down on its heels. A scream ripped out of her as her entire body tensed and pulsed and she spiraled out of her dang mind.

  She turned her head and pressed her teeth against his skin, too.

  He thrust into her again and again, movements turning jagged and harsh. Then he snarled and stuttered to a stop, throbbing his release with a deafening howl.

  A hand on the back of her neck and an arm around her back locked her in place. Gently, like she floated on a cloud, he lowered her to the bed again.

  “Mine,” he breathed.

  “Mine,” she echoed.

  One night was all it took to change her life. Messy, complicated, and for the better, in her humble opinion.

  She looked forward to the next ones with Jensen at her side.

  Epilogue

  Noelle pressed a hand to her stomach to calm the fluttering feeling inside as she walked out of the back room. This was Jensen’s big night, and she fed off his excitement. And his nerves, even if he wouldn’t admit he had any of those.

  No, the tough man who’d gone to war for her couldn’t be bothered by something as average as a little anxiety over the grand opening of Dark Horse.

  The bar had needed a new name after the Moonlight Slayers turned tail and ran out of town with a mob of angry townsfolk nipping at their heels. Jensen didn’t want to go back to the original name, the one where he and Noelle first met. He’d tossed ideas at her in the weeks since he’d bought the place. It came at a deeply discounted rate as the previous owner wanted to wash his hands of shifter fights and the costly repairs that came with them.

  One week before he was ready to announce the opening date, Jensen finally settled on Dark Horse. He and his little pack were the underdogs in the battle, the ones who should have failed. Instead, they’d beaten back their enemies and claimed a piece of Redwater for their own.

  Noelle leaned against the door and watched Jensen work. Broad shoulders hunched as he leaned on his elbows. He’d made a life with her, but he still dressed the part of bad wolf biker. Dark jeans and black shirt were topped with a leather jacket and big boots.

  All the better to ride his Harley, he claimed. Noelle had zero complaints.

  He looked right at home behind the bar. Even squinting at numbers on a clipboard suited him, despite his protests of not having any idea of how to run a business. That’d been firmly disabused by how well he adapted to talking with vendors and figuring out permits and licenses. He knew when to get tough over a missed shipment and when to smooth talk his way around some pesky ordinance.

  He was made for command. Of his own business and his own pack.

  “Are you just going to stand there all night? I mean, I don’t mind the decor.” Jensen glanced up, eyes churning with a hint of gold and a wolfish smile gracing his face.

  Noelle pushed off the wall. That grin did it for her, every time. She’d been hooked the first night she saw it, and every night since he’d ridden back into her life.

  He had eyes only for her and he made that fact very clear every chance he got.

  Jensen wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled the crook of her neck. His five-o’clock shadow rubbed against the top of her fresh mate mark and sent a shiver down her spine. “Where’s Sienna?” he murmured.

  “Seeing if you can fit in a quickie before the doors open?” Noelle breathed.

  “Mmm. Now that you mention it…” He tugged the sleeve of her shirt and laid a kiss on the skin he exposed.

  “You’re the one that didn’t want to get a sitter on opening night.”

  Even though she teased, she sank into the feeling of her mate at her back. In more ways than one, she mused. He’d fought an entire motorcycle club to keep her and Sienna safe. Now he was here, making a life with them when he could have just as easily ridden off in the night.

  “You’re right,” he rumbled and laid another kiss on her mark. He stepped away, but gold eyes devoured her where she stood. “No one is going to come.”

  “That’s a load of garbage. Everyone knows you’ve been working to fix this place up.” She flung her arms out to take in everything. Fresh liquor bottles were lined up behind the sturdy bar top that gleamed from the amount of polish and elbow grease Jensen put into it. New tables and chairs dotted the floor. Even the pool table and dart boards were shiny and new and ready for action.

  “Bullshit, you mean,” Jensen grumped.

  Noelle looked over her shoulder. The door to the back room was open, though she couldn’t see the office. “It’s bullshit,” she whispered.

  “Bullshit!” Sienna shouted from the back.

  Noelle swatted Jensen. “See what you did?”

  “Not me. That was her foul-mouthed mother.” He pecked her lips. “Should we get a curse jar or just wash your mouth out with soap?”

  Sienna ran out at that moment. Jensen turned just in time to catch her as she flung herself at him. “I can help!”

  “I couldn’t do it without you. You want to help unlock the doors?”

  She clapped her hands and threw her arms around his neck as Noelle’s heart melted.

  The adoration her little girl felt for her father grew every day they were together. She’d enjoyed her time spent with her grandparents, but she’d screamed with excitement when Noelle and Jensen arrived to pick her up.

  And Jensen, too, was just as enamored. Noelle was losing track of how many times she had to collect him from the couch, asleep with a parenting book on his chest. He wanted to catch up, he said, and be ready for the next one.

  Noelle fluttered a hand over her stomach. That was a surprise she hadn’t yet shared. She’d been searching for the right moment for an entire week, but tantruming wolf pups or broo
dy pack members always called right when she worked up the courage to open her mouth.

  Now seemed like the perfect time. One big change marked another, but they’d manage them both together.

  Noelle poured Jensen a measure of whiskey and then waters for herself and Sienna.

  Jensen quirked an eyebrow at her. “What’s this?”

  “A toast.” She bit her lip and put her thoughts in order. She’d thought over her words since leaving the doctor’s office with confirmation in hand. “To taking the road less traveled and finding ourselves right where we need to be.”

  She raised her plastic cup high and met Jensen’s glass. Sienna copied them both and completed the toast.

  Jensen’s mouth hitched up at the side. “I can drink to that.”

  “You own a bar now. I think you’ll drink to anything.” Noelle nudged him in the side. “And to our future. Great things ahead for the four of us.”

  Jensen, in the middle of swallowing a gulp of whiskey, spluttered. “Fo—four of us?”

  Noelle grinned wide enough that her cheeks ached. Tears welled up in her eyes. She’d been so worried and afraid when she found out she was pregnant with Sienna. This time, though, she had her little family all together.

  She placed her hand over her stomach. “Four of us.”

  Jensen cupped the back of her neck and drew her close before she could finish the words. His lips crashed hard over hers and she laughed through it when Sienna fidgeted with a loud, “Ew!”

  Jensen echoed her with a chuckle of his own before he eased away. “You hear that, little pup? You’re going to be a big sister soon.”

  “You get to teach your little brother or sister all about being a fierce, growling beastie,” Noelle added.

  “I thought that was my job.” Jensen winked. “But I think we know who really is in charge here.”

  Sienna grinned broadly and poked her own nose. “Me!”

  Jensen let her slide from his arms and ruffled her hair. “Darn right. Weren’t you working on something for Grandma and Grandpop?”

  Sienna’s eyes grew as wide as saucers and she sucked in a sharp breath. “Almost done,” she said in a loud whisper. She covered her mouth with a finger and darted back into the office.

  Jensen looped an arm over Noelle’s shoulders and drew her close. “She has her mother’s confidence.”

  She rocked into him and teased, “Or her father’s arrogance.”

  “Two sides of the same coin, I’d say.” He cupped her cheeks and kissed her again, longer and softer. His fingers trailed down her shoulders, setting her on fire, until he pressed a palm against her stomach. “I’m glad I get to be part of this.”

  “Me too,” she breathed.

  The bar door eased open enough to let a mountain of a man enter. Right behind Ellis, Wyatt scowled hesitation into the first customer who tried to enter before it was time. He shut the door in the man’s face and twisted the lock for good measure.

  “Are we ready?” Ellis asked.

  “There’s a line all the way to the street,” Wyatt added.

  “You better get behind the bar, then,” Jensen grumbled.

  Wyatt shot him his middle finger, but took his spot as one of Dark Horse’s bartenders. Ellis cocked a foot against the wall near the door. He’d watch the crowd and make sure anyone too rowdy found themselves taking in fresh air once more.

  Noelle hid a laugh behind her fist. The entire thing felt like a director calling for actors to take their places.

  Bartender and bouncer ready for action, Jensen unlocked the door.

  * * *

  Music pulsed and the drink orders just kept coming. Wyatt slid a look to the happy couple down the bar. He was glad for Jensen, even if the asshole was too busy making eyes at his mate to pour a drink or change a keg.

  His wolf prowled through his head. His skin itched and felt too tight.

  He knew what the real problem was. Watching Jensen settle with his mate was only one aspect. Being back in Redwater was another hell.

  His wolf growled, long and full of antsy rage. The beast wanted to move. Redwater was a dangerous place full of terrible memories.

  Wyatt courted both by sticking around, but what other option did he have? Step out on his own?

  He knew what awaited him if he left the little pack. Surviving on his own wasn’t in the cards. He wasn’t steady enough. Couldn’t keep his shit together. He’d go insane within the week, just like dear old Viho and the rest of the damned Vagabonds.

  No, he was better off sticking it out with Jensen and his little family. Even Ellis was better than going lone wolf and getting sicker every day.

  Better the devil he knew.

  But… fucking hell. He missed Alanna.

  Too bad she thought he was dead.

  Wyatt intended to keep it that way.

  Next in Series

  Tequila and Tigers: Shifters and Sins Book Two

  A surprise baby. A second chance at love. Fated mates betrayed by their own.

  Wyatt

  Wolf shifter Wyatt tried to do the right thing—protect and mate the girl he loved. Instead he was framed for murder and run out of town by Alanna’s powerful tiger shifter father.

  Thirteen years later Wyatt returns, struggling to control his wolf while simmering in a dark emotional hell. A hell for which he’ll make his enemy pay.

  But blind vengeance will have to wait. The mate he was forced to leave had his baby—a defiant boy now in danger from his own grandfather. And Wyatt will be damned if his son suffers the same fate as his old man.

  Alanna

  He was dead. That was the lie told to Alanna years ago. A lie now storming into town, the torment in his eyes wild enough almost nothing was left of the boy she’d loved.

  She’ll have to dig through the ashes and find a spark of the real man. A struggling single mom, she’s determined to prevent their son from following his father’s self-destructive path. And when word spreads Wyatt is back, she needs his protection from the dark fate decreed by her father.

  Wyatt must fight to stay sane long enough to save his mate, his son, and himself from a death sentence he now has a reason to escape.

  Keep your woman close and your enemy closer? Yeah, **ck that. This time he’s keeping the woman plus child, and running the enemy out of town—and out of life.

  Tequila and Tigers, a gritty paranormal steamy romance, is a Bad Alpha Dads title, second in the Shifters and Sins series. For readers who enjoy second chance romance with an edge, a broody alpha hero who would rather be a villain, and the redemptive power of love and family.

  Tequila and Tigers is available on Amazon!

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  About the Author

  Cecilia Lane grew up in a what most call paradise, but she insists is humid hell. She escaped the heat with weekly journeys to the library, where she learned the basics of slaying dragons, magical abilities, and grand adventures.

  When it became apparent she wouldn’t be able to travel the high seas with princes or party with rock star vampires, Cecilia hunkered down to create her own worlds filled with sexy people in complicated situations. She now writes with the support of her own sexy man and many interruptions from her goofy dog.

  Connect with Cecilia online!

  www.cecilialane.com

  Also by Cecilia Lane

  Shifters and Sins (BAD Alpha Dads)

  Whiskey and Wolves

  Tequila and Tigers
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  Bourbon and Bears

  Black Claw Ranch

  Wrangled Fate

  Spurred Fate

  Breaking Fate

  Wild Fate

  Bucking Fate

  Shifters of Bear’s Den

  Forbidden Mate

  Dangerous Mate

  Hunted Mate

  Runaway Mate

  Stolen Mate

  Untamed Mate

  Shifting Destinies Standalone Stories

  Her Christmas Wolf

  Claiming the Wolf Princess

  Wanted by the Bear