Devil Hills: #1 Scarlet, Lexi & Lily

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “Scarlet, I don’t want to tranq you but I need you to come with me,” Lucas stood up, groaning and stretching. His eyes remained on her, watching the tanned, dark haired woman come to form and look up at him.

  She held the blanket to her breasts and held up her palm.

  “Clothing, please? And if you’ll excuse me,” she stood up, reaching out for the panel while her head stopped spinning and knees locked into place. Her head was up, chin tipped stubbornly as he walked toward the truck. She knew she wouldn’t make it very far. She could see the butt of the gun he used in his belt and she already knew he was fast and accurate. She exhaled gratefully as she peed, carefully blocking view when she straightened up and bent to the side. She had a few scars. Now she had a new one, she sighed and touched the healed pink rut low on her side.

  “It adds to your character,” Lucas remarked softly, holding her pack out to her. “What happened?”

  “Farmer with rifle meets wolf,” she said with a shrug. “I thought I was hiding better. I’m not used to people in the wild.” She looked at him, one brow up. “Would you mind? A little privacy?”

  A low growl rumbled in his throat but he turned, his frustration evident.

  “Scarlet, you don’t understand why you’re important and why I need you in Devil Hills for a few weeks. The majority of our kind take the pack rules seriously and a show of strength in a mated pair will go a long way to restoring things,” Lucas watched his words reach out to her.

  “I don’t know how to help you. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she held the blanket tightly to her, letting it drop only when he turned his back to her. She dressed quickly and pulled her boots out of the bottom of the bag. “And frankly, after being tranq’d and shot, solving your little domestic problem just annoys me at the moment.”

  “I think you know more than you realize. Can we just call a truce and give me a few days? If it’s that miserable for you, I’ll find another way to keep people in line,” Lucas turned when he heard her drop to the ground, picking straw from her feet before pulling socks on and then the boots. “Truce?”

  Scarlet stood up. Her pack was slung over her shoulder as she walked up to him, her finger out and poking him in the chest.

  “You tranq’d me. Don’t even think I’ll forget that,” she informed him, striding past him toward the waiting truck.

  Lucas mouthed the next words. “And don’t think I’m forgetting the cage thing, either.”

  “And don’t think I’m forgetting you put me in a cage.”

  “I figure I’m paying on those for a long time,” he murmured, watching Hank and Allen step back and allow her to take the front at his side.

  “Thank you for breakfast,” she told them both before getting into the truck.

  “Now how’d you know it wasn’t my idea?” Lucas looked sourly from the two smiling faces to Scarlet.

  “In which case, thank all three of you for the food. I missed meals most of yesterday and the day before, I think,” Scarlet buckled herself in and settled into the corner, knees drawn up and head against the window. “I finished cleaning the Inn for its winter nap.”

  “You can’t afford to miss many meals,” Lucas knew he should have kept those words inside the instant they left his lips. He saw one brow rise and one eye look over at him.

  “I’m sure your normal type is much rounder and much more…buxom,” Scarlet responded, settling back and closing her eyes. She wasn’t all that sure where they were or how long it would take but she knew she was still tired.

  “She’s got a point there,” Allen murmured.

  “Do us both a favor, Hank and don’t talk right now,” Lucas cast a dark look into the mirror at the two chuckles from behind him as he started the truck and headed them toward Devil Hills.

  Chapter Four

  Music played softly and she curled a little more against the door, not noticing that a blanket was draped around her, arms up and cushioning her head. When she finally stirred, the truck had been immobile for over an hour.

  Lucas had the truck watched while he went around talking to people on the ranch, checking his schedule in the office and the patient load his assistants were handling. He’d had them all trained well to handle the majority of the low end problems people brought animals to the vet for. And he had his cell phone if an emergency popped up.

  He received the text that she was moving and went to where he’d left the truck parked in the shade of a huge tree. He grabbed her pack from the bed of the truck and opened the door for her, deciding he liked the just fresh from sleep look on her.

  The male in him wanted to see the fresh from sex look on her next. And feel the satisfaction he knew would be his because he put it there.

  Sleepy eyes blinked and watched him approach the truck. He was rugged, lean and dangerous. But only to her. She liked the straw colored hair and found herself wondering what it felt like. In that instant, she knew her block had slipped. His eyes had sharpened and those inviting lips had curled just a little.

  She stayed sitting on the edge of the seat, about to push her feet to the ground when he gripped the door of the truck with one palm and the roof over her head with the other. He bent closer. She wasn’t sure if it was pride or fear that had her body refusing to move even when his mouth was barely an inch from hers.

  “You’re allowed to touch, Scarlet,” he teased hotly. “We’re pair bonded.”

  “Something I’m not likely to forget as you seem to derive a great deal of perverse pleasure out of mentioning it,” she shot back sweetly, teeth bared just enough to make him laugh. That wasn’t her intent, she thought with a petulant frown.

  “I’m attempting to acclimate you. Ready for a tour?”

  “I’d actually like to see my room,” she admitted tiredly.

  “Scarlet, are you going to run on me?” Lucas didn’t want to hover even when she was looking a little pale and shaky when she stepped out of the truck. But he kept himself in check, letting her set the ground rules. For now.

  “You want me to swear on a book? Cross my heart?” Scarlet sighed thickly. “I really don’t know what you want from me, Lucas. I might be a wolf but I don’t fit here. I don’t know how to…”

  “Just give me a couple days, Scarlet. Like I said, it’s a little on the natural side once you relax.” He walked with her toward the large redwood sided house he’d built almost eight years ago. Large windows, sloped rooflines to let the snow slide off and surrounded by a safe tree line against storms.

  “You think it’s natural to fight,” she said softly, her head shaking. “I’m getting the hints filtering through my block. People are staring.”

  “Yep, they sure as hell are,” he agreed with a satisfied nod, the corner of his mouth lifted. That meant all the right people will know real soon that it wasn’t a rumor. Scarlet had returned to Devil Hills and she was here with him. “There will always be those who won’t follow rules, Scarlet. We don’t fight just for the hell of it. We make our own pack law or rules and for it to work, people have to adhere.”

  “And this fact makes you happy. That they’re staring at me,” she scowled at him, taking in the building, the furnishings and pleasant feeling she got from stepping into the house. “It’s really nice here.”

  “Did you think I lived in a cave? I manage the family funds and while I’m good at it, I like being a vet,” Lucas took her palm and led her toward the right. “The kitchen. Should be stocked, if you want something let me know. One of the guys can run to town for you…” he paused and drew in a long breath. “Or I’ll get you the keys to one of the smaller cars and you can explore.”

  “I used to live here, remember, Lucas? I doubt much has changed,” she was already kicking herself for wanting to explore the kitchen. She didn’t want to like it here. She didn’t care if he was having pack problems. Especially female pack problems. A small sigh broke free. It had been her home once and damn it, she did care.

  “I don’t know where Connie is…
” He looked through the archway a few steps to the dining area. “She’s my cook and housekeeper. Dinner’s smelling good so she’s not far. Let’s go upstairs, Scarlet.”

  She was looking pale. Too pale, he decided and wanted to get her lying down before she fell over. Then he’d pack a tray full of food and make her eat. She had blood to build back and she wasn’t accustomed to the after effects of healing.

  “How many females are after you?” She asked, trying to sound casual, chewing her lip in thought. “Are your brothers still in town?”

  “Three to the females and Jess has an office in town, he’s a doctor now. Owns the building and lives above it. Eli has a place on the other side of the property. He’s responsible for the sales and acquisitions of stock and for running the ranch. He’s good at that, too,” he said easily, thinking of his younger brothers.

  “I haven’t kept track of things here,” she admitted tiredly, unaware of his hand at her waist and practically holding her up. “I shouldn’t be so tired.”

  “Here’s the bedroom. You’re tired because healing sucks a great deal from you,” he tossed the heavy pack to the cushioned chair and swept her from the floor. He knew she was drifting off because there were no threats. No protests when he laid her out on the bed, pulled her boots off and managed to get her beneath the warm quilts.

  He ran a heavy palm over the back of his neck, not sure if he should call Jess or not. If she hadn’t recovered to his satisfaction by evening, he’d ask his brother to come to the house, or drag her down to his office. Somehow he knew it would end up one of many battles.

  Lucas wandered to his office to work on books, see a few patients and wonder how long it would be before she realized she was in his bedroom and would she shred the furniture when she did.

  Too many questions he decided, draping the stethoscope around his neck and sending the woman and small lamb out with one of his assistants for medication.

  Connie was almost fifty but lean and spry. And standing in his office an hour later.

  Bright blue eyes met his, part amused, part admonishing.

  “Connie,” Lucas spoke carefully, glancing casually over her shoulder. “Problem?”

  “Now why would there be a problem.”

  “You don’t usually come to my office unless there’s something wrong,” then his mind clicked, an urgency in his voice the older woman was surprised by. “Scarlet?”

  “Happily cooking.”

  “Is she alright?”

  “And why wouldn’t she be?” She liked the anxious sound in his voice, but she’d never tell him that.

  Lucas shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “She was a little pale is all.”

  Connie knew the symptoms. “She was hurt?”

  “Farmer, rifle,” he shrugged pretty much the same way Scarlet had. “She’s not used to healing…or being shot.”

  “And you’re the cause of that?” Connie watched the emotions play over her nephews face. “Indirectly,” she guessed.

  “She wasn’t keen on coming down here,” he admitted slowly.

  “Ahh…she ran. Does she know why you brought her back?”

  “Connie, I’m not sure where this is going. She knows I need her help getting the females in line. You and I both know the only thing other than banning their asses is for them to accept that I’m not on the mating menu.” He shrugged out of the smock and tossed it to a chair, pacing his office. “We both know they’ll cause nothing but trouble if they’re not brought into line. It’s not like we have a shortage of males they can chase down and most of them a damn sight more willing.”

  “We’re not talking common alley types, Lucas. These girls want the top and you’re the top,” Connie pointed out to him firmly. “Are you sure Scarlet can handle it?”

  “If not then I made a mistake and I’ll find another way to handle them,” Lucas was starting to wonder about his move. It had evidently attracted a lot of attention. He’d be the first to admit that Scarlet was an unknown in most respects. But his instincts were telling him she was the answer. To a lot of things.

  “Then I suggest you start making plans, Lucas, because Veronica just went into the house. She heard you’d come back and wanted to see you,” Connie managed to get out of the way before he took off at a run, swinging off the post on the porch and increasing his speed across the hard packed dirt ground.

  It couldn’t be good. Several of the hands were standing around the side of the house, heads close together and a few male chuckles heard.

  The side with the kitchen. There were a wide set of double doors that opened to the small garden he’d put in a couple years ago. The doors were obviously wide open because there were sounds coming from inside.

  Not happy cheerful girl noises.

  Then the sound of shattering glass ripped through the mid-afternoon and he watched a tall blonde in a red sun dress come flying out ass first, stumbling back to land on the grass a foot from the porch.

  Lucas skidded to a stop, his gaze momentarily on the woman on the ground before swinging to the brunette rubbing her fist and scowling.

  Pale lashes widened a little more.

  “I offered you a warning. I do not like fighting. I do not like being called names. I do not like people sticking their nose in business that is not their own and I do not like people mucking about in my kitchen when I’m trying to cook. And lastly, I do not like some want-to-be alpha bitch telling me I’m not good enough to be a mate for Lucas Daniels,” Scarlet crossed the ground and grabbed the blondes’ hair. “So…do me a favor and pass that little list on to your friends, would you?”

  “You stupid bitch,” came the hissed answer, a long arm sweeping up and aimed at Scarlet’s head.

  Claws had come out and she was in the middle of shifting when Scarlet dropped her hand. She was faster and larger, shifting and ducking to the side, her own claws up and cutting just beneath. Just low enough to sweep across the large side of her throat.

  Scarlet stood her ground, ears back and head braced. Amber eyes narrowed as the other wolf dripped blood onto the grass. She knew she couldn’t hold her own as a human against a wolf. She’d spent too many years traveling, learning and fighting because idiots have nothing better to do.

  They always wanted something you had.

  They always forced her to behave in a way that made her stomach hurt.

  No one had intruded. When she moved slowly forward, fangs barred, the other wolf lowered herself to the ground and rolled to her back in submission. Scarlet met her eyes and nodded, moving to the side and into the house, leaving the shredded clothing where it was. She reappeared a few minutes later, wrapped in a large towel and carrying another one to the wolf lying, unmoving on the ground.

  “I can’t tell how badly you’re hurt,” she said softly, draping the towel over her. “And I’m sorry. Really. I don’t know why he wants me instead of you, you’re beautiful,” she whispered, drawing her palm gently over the soft pale brown fur.

  Lucas exhaled slowly, collected clothing and followed Scarlet back into the house. She was holding Veronica close and talking to her, keeping her wrapped in the large towel. He watched, stunned, as she gave her a pair of jeans and a tee shirt.

  “Won’t be a good fit, I’m a little taller…”

  “I’m alright,” Veronica stepped from the bathroom, her gaze landing on the silent Lucas. “I’ll bring your things back another time.” She collected her purse and keys and was out the front door quickly, a combination of submission, disbelief and just a tiny bit of anger and embarrassment.

  Scarlet looked at the collection of shredded clothing in Lucas’s hands and shook her head, thrusting the torn clothing into his surprised arms.

  “I really hate anger shifting. I lose too many clothes that way,” she turned and went back up the stairs to the bedroom.

  She’d go shopping in the morning for a few things and make sure Lucas got the tab. She stood in front of the long mirror in panties and bra. Only one new sca
r, she thought with a sigh before pulling the jeans up her legs.

  Amber eyes peered over her shoulder at the familiar scent. She reached into her pack and pulled a shirt over her head, dark curls bouncing free as she turned to face him.

  “You – have a serious problem with personal space.”

  “Where did you learn to fight?” Lucas asked cautiously.

  “I don’t fight. I defend myself,” she corrected quietly. “I hate fighting. I hate using something I find peaceful and…and freeing…to hurt someone. But it doesn’t mean I don’t know how. You only found me at the end,” she told him as she walked out of the bedroom and back to the kitchen. “Did your research show you how I got there?”

  “Are you hurt?” Lucas caught her palm and stepped forward, green eyes doing a quiet inventory, landing on the wide amber circles staring at him. “Scarlet…I never…”

  “You didn’t think it would be violent? I’m not stupid, Lucas,” Scarlet sighed. “You and I both know it’s the only power too many people understand. I’m okay,” she held up her right hand, flexing it slightly and wincing at the bruised knuckles. “Can’t say I’ve done that in a very long time, though.”

  “You need some ice,” he took her palm and carried it to his lips, the surprise on her face something that would stay in his memory for a very long time. “Been in a lot of bar fights?”

  “A few,” Scarlet felt the air inside her slowly pulled free as he stepped closer, the touch of his lips to her fingers making her shiver.

  “Go in the bedroom and shift…ten minutes…it’ll be gone.”

  “I…was going to ask if the property is fenced. I wanted a long run later,” dark lashes widened a little more when he pressed his mouth against the inside of her palm and her heart began to hammer when his tongue trailed over the pulse at her wrist.

  “After dinner, depending on the storm. I’ll run with you and show you a good circuit. Alright?”

  “Thank you. I’m working on something in the kitchen,” she pulled her hand free and went lightly down the stairs, gulping in air and not stopping until she was surrounded by the familiar again.