by Roxy Mews
Well, the witch had some backbone. Something about a good verbal cussout always puts me more at ease. Now Annabelle was speaking a language I could work with. “Then thanks for your fucking gift, ya witch.”
I tend to bring out the worst in people, so I wasn’t surprised at getting to her. When her embarrassment flamed high and blood flowed to her cheeks, she diverted her eyes. She clicked her tongue at a water feature behind us that they must have installed in the garden.
“I think we need to tend to that waterfall in the back tomorrow. The stones are much too rough. The water will splash out less and no one will hurt their feet on the sharp edges. The natural smoothing properties of the water aren’t moving fast enough.” Annabelle nodded and began to head down the curvy path back to the house.
“I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Who really walks inside a water feature?”
Then the witch really blushed as she turned to me. “From what I saw in that scrying mirror…” Annabelle fanned her face and then turned. “I really wish it was me.”
She kept mumbling as she walked up the few steps and through the screen door. “Lucky bitch.” Was all I got, but I had the distinct impression she was referring to me.
Lucky was definitely not how I felt as I sat on my old bed again. I was alone. I was hungry, and to say I was sexually frustrated was an epic understatement.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Trevor
She was close. I could feel it. Shelly had been popping up on my radar for a while. Now she was in town. The pull of the mating bond threatened to drive me nuts. I had snapped at one of the pups this morning. I was never rude to children, but every little being that was running around us reminded me that I didn’t have any of my own.
The thought of Shelly’s stomach puffed out with a cute little kid inside her had me aching. It wasn’t something that would be immediate. A vampire’s cycle was controlled by the female. And to have Shelly agree to pregnancy was one thing, to deal with her PMS—wow—we would need to warn the entire supernatural world.
No one could control my mate. Not even the mating pheromones. She needed to get the hell back here. I closed my laptop. The bills were paid. We were stretching a little thinner than I liked, and I was no financial genius like Craig, but he was getting us set up pretty well while they were still in town.
We’d convinced Amber to stay until her baby was born. With her here, the Hart Clan stayed too. Craig and Jake were helping us set up a new location. All the wolves from the Alakin Pack and all the hybrids that were learning to exist with their own brains had busted out of the apartment building we used to call home.
We didn’t have a work out building anymore, so Alpha hung out with the others doing construction. The sledge hammer he swung like a cork-filled baseball bat was attached to his hands. I was grateful that Amber’s pregnancy had distracted him.
It was hilarious watching her walk to the woods for a shift now. Her belly hung low, and her stride wasn’t as sure as it used to be. Her wolf valued the life inside her just as much as Amber did.
It was as if my thoughts had called to her. I made it outside just as the door on her new SUV closed.
She waddled over. “We need to talk, Doc. Daddy is driving me insane. A pregnant lady should not want to beat up the grandfather of her child, but if he repaints the nursery one more time, I am going to shove that paintbrush down his throat. The paint fumes are permeating all the chocolate in the house. He’s fucking with my chocolate. Fix it.”
“Hello, Doc. Good to see you.” Jake calmly walked up and we shook hands and pulled in with a manly back pat.
I knew Rick was driving her nuts, but the construction crew had told him they would quit if he didn’t back off. That was when he had traveled down the road to the house Amber and Jake had rented for the leaders of their Clan. They weren’t getting their deposit back.
“Sorry, but he’s in the same boat I am, and neither of us wants to bend.”
“Y’all need to bend or you are going to snap in half.”
Amber had no idea how right she was. I had a permanent erection these days. Masturbating in the shower didn’t help at this point. Shelly was so close that my dick refused the pity pat my hand could give, and I couldn’t even get myself off any more.
“We agreed to let her come to us this time.” I repeated the words for not only their information, but to remind myself why I hadn’t run over to my mate to sink inside her body until she remembered that that is how we were supposed to be. I needed her. Rick needed her, but this wasn’t about sex or power or control. She had come back on her own, and if she got this far, she needed to be the one to take those last few steps too.
Our mate had to be hurting just as much as we were. We had marked her. True, she was a vampire, but she wore our claim. I was still at a loss for how the hell that happened, but Amber’s new status and her vibrant multi-colored eyes reminded me that anything was possible.
“Where’s Mary?” I realized the usual crew wasn’t following Amber around waiting for the baby to pop.
“She said she needed a run. She and Craig are off supposedly being wolfy, but I have a feeling it’s more about being naked together and alone. I wouldn’t join that little party unless you really want a show. Do you have chocolate here? I am owed some untainted chocolate.” Then Amber bent at what she had left of a waist and curled around her belly.
Jake and I jumped into action around her. Pain stole away her sarcastic smile, and her anger was replaced with a hint of fear. She never was afraid for herself, but it made a big difference now that her body carried such a precious load.
“Back off.” She growled as the cramp eased. “Just Braxton Hicks, boys. Or maybe this kid just wants to eat without tasting paint too. Either way, show me to the kitchen unless Daddy knocked it down again already.”
Luckily, the paint had been dry for a week in here. You think a pregnant woman’s sense of smell is bad? You should meet a pregnant werewolf.
Amber pointed to the closed fridge. “You know that pot roast in the back is going bad, right?”
I leaned against the door to press the seal tighter, and keep her from throwing out perfectly good meat. “Yes, Amber, we were going to have sandwiches for lunch later.” It wasn’t even green yet.
“It would be a shame to let that go to waste. Now.” Amber chomped down on an open bag of chocolate chips. “I’ve had chocolate, and we need to chat.”
“I can see that look in your eyes Amber, and every time it gets there I really regret that you are no longer under your father’s control.”
Amber had grown up a lot, but she had also taken more leeway with her father and me lately. The Beta in me was bristling at her tone.
“I was at the mansion last night. I ate dinner with the witches. They have housemates. Shelly and her Family are staying there. She’s just as bitchy as you are.” She waved a hand at my growl. “Don’t get all pissy. Here’s the way I see it.” This was going to be good. “You and Daddy are waiting for her to come to you. She is sitting over there waiting for you to come to her. All of you are miserable, but here’s the thing, all you have to do is meet on a neutral ground. So I am inviting you over for dinner at our place.”
“Sunday dinner sounds great and all Amber, but I don’t think sitting through a meal together where one of the guests won’t be eating just makes for a really awkward reunion.” I wanted Shelly to admit that she made the mistake and we could work it out, not sit at a table and watch us eat because she had been invited to a dinner party.
“That’s why I won’t be there. Neither will anyone in my Clan. The upstairs rooms are sound proof. So if you close the doors, you don’t have to worry about any of the neighbors calling the cops.” She pushed her belly forward and levered herself off the counter.
I grimaced. “Amber, you giving us your house to have make-up sex is…strange.”
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br /> “Y’all are denying what you want, and it’s making you crazy. Which in turn is making everyone around you crazy. I don’t need any more crazy. I have enough of my own, thank you very much.” She rested the bag of chocolate chips in the bend of her arm and pointed at me after tossing another bite in her mouth. “I like to keep my Clan on their toes, but this has some of the hybrids we picked up regretting the decision to join us.”
Amber’s belly dipped and turned and bucked under her skin. The little critter inside was getting more and more active. Part of me worried the kid would bust through. I had delivered hybrid babies before. They were really strong. Luckily, they weren’t any bigger than regular babies. Amber’s stomach moved again. Well, hybrids weren’t usually bigger than regular babies. This kid could prove me wrong.
“You know you can call me any time if you think this baby might bust out early, right?” I looked to Jake and made sure he knew the invitation was for him as well.
Amber had finished the chocolate chips and grabbed a bag of pretzels. Jake motioned me away while she looked for some milk to go with it.
“We know that she is close. The whole Clan is watching out for her. Many do so out of fear at this point. And I am afraid your Alpha is adding to the stress. He can be overbearing. Were it not for his relationship with Amber, quite a few of the men and some of the women would have put him in his place.” Jake put his hands up to make sure I knew he was not being confrontational. “You know as well as I that an Alpha from another Pack has no rank inside another. He is pushing for a fight. We are refusing his advances.”
“You make it sound like he is propositioning you over there for something dirty.” I snorted.
“Perhaps…” Jake cleared his throat. The man’s eyes darted to his mate, and he pulled me back outside and lowered his voice before he continued. “Perhaps a proposition is not what is needed. Perhaps an Alpha’s action to claim his mate is.”
“What about the third wheel Beta?” If anyone was feeling impotent in this situation it was me. My dick was good. My dick had a clear idea of what needed to happen. The whole relationship part was the fragile china cup sitting on a rickety old shelf. If I let my dick do what it wanted, I was worried the tremors would knock off the relationship cup and smash everything to smithereens.
“You know a Beta’s purpose, do you not?” he asked.
“To put up with the Alpha’s shit and back him up when he loses it?”
Jake laughed. “At times, perhaps. But in this case, I think the true purpose of the Beta is needed here.”
If this vampire who had just claimed his wolf was about to educate me on Pack politics, I was going to need to hit something.
In what seemed to be an everyday occurrence as of late, Jake showed me I didn’t know shit.
“Doc, you are the creator of your Pack. Leadership is a strength that is given by those being led. You chose your leader. You created the wolf who leads your Pack. You saw the potential in a man bleeding out from the bite of another of your kind.”
“I saved Lily’s family. That’s all that was, Jake.” I was more at peace with my memories now than I’d been initially. But the smell of the blood still stung my nose at the thought of how I’d found them. “I saved as much of her family as I could, anyways.”
“Why did you step down from the relationship you wanted all those years ago?”
I looked at the hybrid who had started us all down this path not too terribly long ago. He was seriously asking me this question. The man had some balls.
“Because threesomes were looked down upon in polite society back then.”
“And the same is not true today?” He raised his brow at me. “I beg to differ. Society has not changed. Society is cyclical. It moves but it rarely changes. Society judges others. You have chosen mates that are taboo, not only in the human society, but in that of the supernatural as well. You made your choice, you fought for your choice, and now you expect it to come easily?”
“I know nothing about Shelly is easy. I expected her to fight too. And she did.” I folded my arms. “She fought to get away. I can handle a fight now. I just don’t think I should fight with my mate. Or mates, as the case may be.” I never let my gaze drop from Jake’s. He was not my superior, but he had an insight about holding on to the one you loved that I really envied at the moment.
“Passion lends to battle, like water lends to spring growth. The greater the love, the greater the passion, the more destined the struggle. Love is worth the war. Don’t tell me you’ve retired your armor already?” Jake let his words sit with me and helped Amber back to their vehicle.
I heard a slap. He must have gotten too close to Amber’s pretzels.
Guess I needed to go get ready for a family dinner. Shelly didn’t need to eat food, but I knew exactly who I wanted for my main course. Time to go get my Alpha so we could claim the meal that was rightfully ours.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Rick
This was a ridiculous, utterly stupid, and horrible idea. We were bending. We were showing weakness. Shelly was our mate. Ours. She should come to us.
She took off. She left. Trevor and I shared the pain in knowing that even the two of us weren’t enough to keep her here.
Trevor even chased after her. The worst part? He’d failed. I felt his frustration. I had a better bond with my Beta. Wonderful. He was nearby. Fabulous. Too bad he wasn’t the one I needed to sink inside of with every breath that left my body. I ached for Shelly.
She wouldn’t have been the type of woman I’d have gravitated toward when I was human. She was slight of frame, stunningly beautiful, and shut off from everyone. She was strong. She was hard, and for a few incredible moments, I had seen inside all of that. For those moments that she didn’t have a mission, she let go of it all, and I saw her inner tenacity.
Shelly could overcome any obstacle, and make the tough decisions no one was willing to make.
My wolf claimed her because of that strength. He demanded her hard edges. He liked the way she made me bleed when she cut me deep. I loved that she cared enough to make my blood run even as she made it boil. And I needed Trevor by my side. He was the one who let in the outside world. He brought us both full circle and I doubted I would be able to turn off the fight if it weren’t for him.
I sniffed the hallway. The scent of the entire Hart Clan lingered here. Amber was all around me. This wasn’t going to work. Getting an erection with my kid’s scent nearby would be damn near impossible.
“We are meeting in the attic, Rick.” Trevor pushed my shoulder. “Head upstairs.”
“I thought we were here for dinner?” Although what I was hungry for couldn’t be eaten with a spoon.
Trevor nodded to the bedroom we passed on the second floor. “Amber lives here. She doesn’t get into the attic.” He pointed to the door. “And they did a lot more than Febreze the place up here. Only human maids have been this far. No scents for your wolf to war with.”
Doc was right. That was my main problem. My wolf didn’t like being on another Alpha’s territory. The fact that the Alpha in residence was my daughter just added another level of discomfort. I wasn’t sure I bought it until I felt my animal side relax the second I stepped across the threshold into the attic.
I took a sniff to confirm, and suddenly, relaxed was no longer in my vocabulary. My mate was already here. She wasn’t breathing, but her body was close. Trevor scented her a fraction of a second after me. His body went on alert just as mine had. We were hard in an instant. And if Trevor was in half as much agony without her, we both needed some relief.
She walked forward without fanfare and sat on a small window seat. The glass behind her was double paned and incredibly thick. Our own sounds were muffled, and the steps we took were sucked into the walls instead of bouncing off them. It was as if the house was holding its breath and only our two thundering heartbe
ats blasted in the silence.
I could only hope that Shelly was willing to stop running. Even though she looked so stoic, I knew she wasn’t impervious to what was happening. The scent of her arousal was a drug I couldn’t ignore. She was readying herself. She wanted to be taken just as much as we wanted to take her.
Trevor made the move to touch her, and my hands burned with the same desire, but instead of reaching with him for that sleek body with the flawless strong as steel skin, I pulled at his bicep and held him back.
“You came here. Don’t you want to touch me?” She was so confident. She was so smug.
“No. Not until we talk.” I pushed my voice out hard at her. My penis was about to jump off my body and run into her sweet wet pussy, but I could control the rest of me.
Shelly’s shoulders slumped and I had to push the Alpha power over Trevor to keep him from shattering with impatience and frustration.
“I am tied to my Family. Brandon claimed the Matheo’s spot. I can’t leave. We should get used to this torture if you are never going to touch me again.”
“I said no to just sex. You are our mate.” I held onto Trevor, willing him to understand. “This will never be a simple physiological itch. You bear our marks. You feel the pull, but that is just skin. We run far deeper. You are too afraid to admit it. Until you do, sex is pointless.”
“I respectfully disagree.” Trevor flung my arm off. “We can talk about all this later, right now, not one of us has a clear head. We all need this, Rick.”
I let a low rumble go through my chest.
“I also agree that sex is not pointless.” Shelly stood and with strong sure hands began to take off her clothes. Her eyes went from mine to Trevor’s. Those silver sparks flashed as the two buttons of her polo shirt slipped through their holdings. Then, instead of pulling the shirt over her head, she gripped the lapels and pulled. Each thread that ripped was torture to my control. The individual snap of fibers raced over my skin. I felt the tear like a heated wave that seemed to endlessly torture my control.
