by Thalia Eames
She forgot the sneaker. Twisting her body to the left she circled the trunk of the tree and ran toward the river. For a split second she considered climbing but discarded the thought, knowing the beast would catch her faster in the trees where it moved with such grace and she became that much more clumsy. Better to run, weaving her aching body in and out of the trees. Hiding in tense moments, hoping the many scents of rain, small animals and foliage would camouflage her scent, giving her seconds to rest. Then she fled again.
At the riverbank she realized she’d miscalculated. She bit down on a scream to keep it from finding her. She’d come out the high side. If she slid down the bank she’d be trapped between it and the river, unable to cross and unable to climb back up. Thinking fast she ran along the bank, then cut back into the trees. She could hear it. Its hungry breath signaled a warning: to stop was to be caught.
A branch fell on the left. She screamed and turned right on a pivot. And there it was. Bright predator’s eyes gleamed at her in the moonlight.
Too soon. She hadn’t gone far enough. The beast would have her. There’d be nothing she could do but submit. Deep in her belly excitement kindled. No way she’d make it easy to catch her. She charged the beast, at the last second slamming both palms down on its shoulders. Catapulting herself onto its back she ran down its spine, narrowly missing the whipping tail.
Yes, she’d get away this time. Even as her sock began to slip off and the cramp in her side tightened into a fist around her lungs. She’d get away. More branches crashed behind her and she realized too late that the beast had taken to the trees. It descended like a storm cloud less than a foot behind her. Claws caged her belly, pulling her beneath it. She hit the ground with an “oomph” and flipped over. Lying there in the sudden quiet she stared at it. It inclined its head, slowly revealing fangs in a kind of grin. The beast shook itself in a shimmer of light particles, then a naked Dashiell lowered his body over hers. The heat of his run infused her as her core clenched in anticipation of being filled with his hardness.
He nipped her bottom lip. “That was fun,” he said, drawing up on his elbows and grinding his hips into hers.
“And now?” she said, lifting a brow.
He kissed a path down her throat and buried his face between her breasts. She grabbed ahold of his ears and pulled him back up, sliding her tongue between his lips and tasting the rich chocolate of the French Silk pie they’d had for dessert, intermingled with his distinct flavor—the delicious sweetness only Daz possessed. Opening her legs Jules felt his body bump against her heat. Even through her shorts his thickness set her ablaze.
He lifted up and away, resting on his elbows again. “You want the dick?”
“Were there any doubts?” Jules asked, huffing out her impatience. “Are you going to give it to me?”
Daz stood up and held out a hand to her. “Not right now,” he said, as she took his hand. “I have other plans.” He pulled her to her feet and kissed her again, closing with a nice whack to her ass. She almost smacked him when he smirked at her frustration. Instead, she turned her back on him.
He snuggled up behind her, his magnificent cock resting on the upper curve of her butt. “I can give you other thrills,” he said.
Jules didn’t bother feigning indifference. Daz knew she cared. “Yeah?” She licked her lips. “What kind of thrills?”
“I could shift and you could ride my back while we go tree jumping,” he whispered directly into the curve of her ear.
Jules jumped up and down, but just a little. “Shit, big boy,” she mimicked Samuel L. Jackson. “That’s all you had to say.”
Daz was still in his wolverine form, with her clutching his neck, when they came out of the woods on the right side of Averdeen Manor. As soon as Jules realized who’d arrived she jumped off and ran to be enveloped by Lennox’s taller body hug.
“I missed you,” Jules said into the poof of her friend’s caramel curls. “There are many things that must be told.”
“Yes, I want to hear said things,” Lennox answered. “Start with your wolverine.”
Garrett waited his turn and Jules dove into his arms. “Missed you too,” they said in tandem.
Daz’s wolverine made an animal sound of warning. Garrett gazed over at him. “What you’re feeling right now, hold on to that, because that’s the way I’m going to feel if you shift and show your naked ass to my wife.” He tossed a quilt, which Gran had laid over the porch banister to air dry, at Daz’s feet, then Garrett made a little spinning motion with his hand for his wife to turn her back. Lennox claimed he wasn’t the boss of her but did what he’d asked anyway.
“Shifters don’t have issues with nudity, Garrett,” she said.
“You’re not a shifter,” he replied, crossing his arms over his wide chest. “And I’m getting pretty damned annoyed that you have no problems with his animal but won’t even look at my wolf, Elle.”
Daz wrapped the quilt around his waist and joined them on the porch to meet Lennox and Garrett properly. “How is that possible? That’s like a chicken rejecting eggs,” he said.
Jules turned a glare on him that evaporated the blood out of his veins. “Lennox is afraid of canines. Leave it alone, Dashiell.”
Daz found himself examining the roof and whistling, genuinely afraid Jules would kill him and bury him by the river. Lennox being scared of canines when her husband was a wolf still didn’t make sense, but he wasn’t about to lose breathing privileges over it.
“Is this the demon demolitionist, Daz Warren, who broke our house?” Lennox asked.
Jules threw two thumbs up. “But he’s fixing it and doing a great job.”
“He’d better,” Garrett said dryly. Daz waited for the man to tell him off but Garrett explained, “My son burned the whole thing down. What am I going to say to you? Plus, we have another house twenty minutes away. We’ll live.” Extending a hand, he introduced himself. “Anderson G. Westlake. Call me Garrett. This is my wife Lennox Averdeen.”
Lennox nodded at Daz but didn’t get to speak before her oversized stepson swept through the screen door. “Mommy.” Nox wrapped his arms around her waist and stooped to lay his head on her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re back,” the boy said. Daz didn’t detect any sarcasm; Nox wasn’t making a show. His mom’s homecoming truly made him happy. Daz guessed they’d taken separate vacations and were reuniting for the first time. He remembered Nox mentioning hanging out with a friend in the UK when the boy had walked in on him and Jules.
Lennox kissed her son’s head and spoke softly to him, stroking his hair. “How was your visit to London?” she asked. “We missed you. And you would have loved São Paulo.” Something about the scene agitated Daz and he found himself getting annoyed with Lennox for reasons he couldn’t name.
Jules and Garrett both caught his change in demeanor and gave him funny looks. Daz excused himself to go in and put on some clothes.
Jules settled herself on Lennox’s bed, and when Garrett came in they glared him out of the room. He held up his hands and backed out. Lennox began unpacking, starting the conversation with, “Daz Warren. Wow.”
“I know,” Jules said. “He’s so freaking smokin’ it doesn’t make sense.”
“What are you going to do with him?”
“Everything I can for as long as he lets me.” Jules sighed. “I don’t think he’s planning on sticking around, Leni, and he shines too brightly for me to keep. I’d be holding him back.”
Lennox hung up one of her to-slay-for vintage 1950s gingham dresses. “I don’t know, Jay-ana, I think he likes the hold you have on him. What makes you think he has too much sparkle for you?”
Jules gave her a look that should’ve said have you been listening to me? “Um, the now 1.7 million YouTube followers, according to Dillon, the fact that he and Chaplin have an audience in the library while they work on the clock tower. The other fans who a
sk for weird nuts and bolts down at the hardware store so he’ll have to go get them. Let’s go with option D. All of the above.”
Jules flopped onto one of the pillows. Lennox’s eyes widened as she shrugged. “I see your point.” Lennox got a text and Jules picked up the phone to relay the message the way she always did. Jules paused, taken aback by the text and read it again. She shook her head and read it a third time before she got pissed.
“What?” Lennox asked. “Who’s it from? What does it say?”
Jules stood up, went to the door and locked it. Then she walked over to Garrett’s ridiculously expensive Backes & Müller sound system and turned it on, then raised the volume.
“What?” Lennox asked again, getting antsy.
Jules got up in her friend’s face. “It’s from an OB/GYN who isn’t yours, reminding you to come in and get your Depo-Provera birth control shot. What the hell, Leni?”
Lennox collapsed on the bed. “Don’t be pissed at me.”
“Forget me.” Jules sat beside her. “Worry about Garrett.”
“I do,” Lennox said. “You know I do.”
“Then why are you actively preventing yourself from getting pregnant behind your husband’s back? It will break him if he finds out.”
“I know.”
“You’ve got to stop getting those shots.”
“I can’t. I’m not ready.”
Jules couldn’t help the incredulous expression that took over her face. “Then tell your fuckin’ husband the truth.”
Lennox covered her face with both hands. “I’m still scared, Jules. I love Garrett. And I love Nox like he’s mine.” A pause. “I guess he is mine, he’s always been my godson and he’s named after me.” Whatever emotion those words brought on transformed Lennox’s face into bliss for a few seconds. “I love my son, Jules. And I also want babies with Garrett. Our children, what they’d be like, and who they’d take after, are all I think about. Then I remember I’ll have a wolf growing inside me and I have nightmares about the thing I fear the most crawling its way out of my body.”
Jules wrapped an arm around her friend’s shoulders. “I understand. You can’t erase twenty years of fear just because you fall in love. You have to ease into it. But this isn’t easing, Lennox, it’s lying. Let Garrett show you his wolf. Get to know it same as you got to know Nox’s.”
A cry caught in Lennox’s throat and Jules saw her raw terror for what it was for the first time. Lennox presented an image of strength in everything she did. Even with her fears, she discussed them in a lighthearted no-big-deal manner. But this was paralyzing dread.
Hot tears burned at the back of her eyes. Jules crushed Lennox to her. “I didn’t know, Leni. I had no idea you were suffering all this time. You need to see a therapist about this, okay?”
Lennox shook her head within the circle of Jules’s arms. “I don’t want Garrett to know. I don’t want him to doubt my love.”
“Lies, Leni. Lies don’t work out for the best. They don’t make things better.” Jules fisted her shaking hands. “You either fix this or you risk destroying your marriage. And this time, you’ll lose Garrett forever. Game over.”
Chapter Sixteen
The tension between Jules and Lennox made them all uncomfortable. Daz finally packed a bag and packed Jules into his Hellion along with it. They rode in their perfect silence for a mile or two, then he took control. “Talk to me, Blue.”
Jules sucked her lips into a tight line. “It’s Lennox. She’s hiding something from Garrett.”
Daz kept his eyes on the road. “A game changer?”
“Yup.” Her shoulders slumped. Daz didn’t like the sense of defeat she had. He wanted to help her. “It’ll kill him if he finds out,” she said. “And she can’t be without him. Not anymore.”
Daz glanced at her. She looked back and their gazes held before he had to look at the road. “Talk to me,” he repeated.
“She’s taking birth control to keep from getting pregnant,” she said flatly. She glanced at him and read the surprise in his expression. “I’m not sure why I told you that either. All my boundaries break down when I’m with you. I don’t even question whether I can trust you. I just do it.”
“Trust me?” he asked.
She nodded.
Daz echoed the gesture, understanding her. “Me too.” He watched the road for a bit then said, “Is Lennox afraid to give birth to something she’s afraid of?”
Jules turned a delighted expression on him. “Wow, I can’t believe you get it. You seem to get me without all the words. So, what do I do, Daz?”
He stroked her hair with one hand. “You advise her, you stand by her. That’s it. You’re amazing at rescuing people. It’s innate to who you are and it’s beautiful.” She leaned into his caress. “But this is one of those things you can’t fix for your friends, baby Blue. You have to let it play out.”
A tear escaped her liquid brown eyes. The idea of her friends’ marriage falling apart truly got to her. Daz pulled the Hellion over and Jules climbed into his lap. He held her there murmuring comforting words until she stopped shaking and wiped her eyes. He cupped her face. “Are you that worried they’re going to break up?”
“Yes,” she said. “They mean a lot to me. But, Daz, you didn’t see the fear on Leni’s face. She’s terrified of the wolfen side of Garrett. How can they get past that without hurting each other and Nox?”
“Let them work it out. If they love each other as deeply as they seem to, they’ll make it. You have to let them figure it out for themselves.”
It took a while but she finally nodded. He kissed her forehead, angry that he had to take his own advice and not try to fix her friends’ marriage in order to make her happy.
“I’ve got good news for you,” he said low, adding the sexy tone to his voice he knew she liked.
Jules sniffed, the beginnings of a smile peeking through the storm in her eyes. “You going to lay the pipe tonight?”
“Shit, woman, you’re thirsty.” He laughed.
“I know. Quench me.” She giggled with him.
He tilted his head; amazed how she surprised him in little ways each day. “Yeah, goddamn it.” He teased. “I’m gonna lay the pipe tonight.”
“Yay!” She bounced in his lap, clapping her hands. Daz groaned, more than ready to deliver on his promise for the night.
When they entered their room at the LuPines Hotel they found a gift basket on the bedside table, filled with peach brandy, a variety of chocolate spreads, crispy flat bread, and other snacks. The note read:
I’ll get it together. I love you. -Lennox
Jules nodded at the card, seeming to feel better, although she couldn’t hide her worry. Daz decided to focus her solely on him. To get his point across he rested one knee on the bed beside her, placed his palm on her chest, and gently pushed her down to lie on her back. Jules didn’t protest but instead stretched while making a purring sound in her throat.
Daz pulled her loose, lightweight sweater over her head and tossed it, going for the voluminous white shorts next. Jules lifted her hips to help him with undressing her but otherwise lay there patiently. She wore a black and pink bra with lace panels, tiny pink polka dots and matching underwear. For some reason that combination of colors made him think of Parisian patisseries and he immediately wanted to devour her. But he’d take his time.
Rather than undo the bra, he looped his thumbs under the shoulder straps and began to work it down her body. When he got to her hips the bra looked like a garter, the straps hanging to each side over her panties. Daz had planned to take both undergarments off together but her full round hips made that impossible. Not that he minded. He wouldn’t trade those curves, they completely hypnotized him.
Popping the clasp between the cups of the bra he slid it down, looping her panties with it and caressing her hips with his calloused h
ands all the way down.
“Mmm,” she said, as she lifted her legs with pointed toes, allowing him to strip her more easily.
Daz stood so he could reposition himself with one knee between her legs. Jules opened for him and he leaned over her, still fully clothed. That’s when he noticed the angel wings piercing through her left nipple, a delicate piece of sterling silver that winked in the light.
He didn’t know if he found the piercing hot for its own sake or because of the surprise it gave him. His good Catholic girl and all her surprises turned him on.
Stretching so her breast lifted off the bed, Jules asked, “You like?”
He answered her by licking over and around her piercing before kissing the nipple, his hand massaging her other breast. Pushing himself higher up her body, he caught her hair at the nape and fanned it through his fingers until it lay in a wild silken mass across the duvet.
Then he started with her earlobes, scraping his teeth across one while he cupped her face on the other side. He switched, giving her lobes equal attention before he moved on to her jawline. He sucked and bit a trail to the corner of her mouth, where he paid special attention to her lower lip. Nipping it, then sucking it before claiming her mouth in a languid kiss.
She moaned, her arms going around his neck. From her mouth he kissed her throat, finding his way to the delicious place where her collarbone met her neck and worshipped the architecture of her bones under the soft rose-gold skin.
“You’re a goddess, Blue. There’s no end to the places on your body I want to explore,” he murmured into the softness of her chest before his tongue glided down and sucked in her already tight nipple. He loved one nipple while palming the other, then switched back and forth until Jules began to pant, her moans making his cock jump.
