Devil Hills: #1 Scarlet, Lexi & Lily

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  “Not to start the gender war again…” Lucas met the dark eyes with a sigh. “It might have been a trap.”

  “Please,” Lily rolled her eyes. “You think this is the first time we’ve gone places…” She searched for a word, frowning.

  “Less than savory,” Lexi suggested. “Actually, it’s a really nice little town. Upscale and kind of…yuppie…good coffee, though,” she said with a perky grin.

  “It was totally public and Lily did her patrol before they showed up,” Scarlet assured him. “I’m not keen on traps. You’ve no idea the parties we went to in college. Trust me, some of them…serious girl traps,” she shook her head at the memories.

  “Thank you for sharing that,” Lucas sighed heavily.

  “You’ve been bailed out a few times, haven’t you?” Jess turned a careful eye on Lily, her expression suddenly evasive. “Yeah, I thought so.”

  Lexi tried sidling away from Eli only to have her fingers gripped.

  “You’ve been bailed out?”

  “You’ve never seen her when someone touched her inappropriately on the dance floor,” Scarlet murmured, struggling to keep her laughter inside. “As it stands, I’m the only one of us bail free. All charges were dropped, however.”

  “That’s good to know,” Eli grinned at her. “Feisty feline.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “I’ve got appointments this afternoon,” Jess took Lily’s palm and headed for the door. “Talk to you guys later. Thanks for lunch, Scarlet.”

  Jess stopped on the porch, leaning against the sturdy redwood railing and pulled Lily between his knees. He stared into her eyes for a long minute.

  “Do you want a ride back to the apartment?”

  “No, thanks. I’m working with Lexi and Scarlet on some research for the nursery. I’ve sent an offer to the real estate agent, so we’re waiting on that, too,” she stepped closer, her hands on his waist and head on his chest.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? Go through the Pack and it’ll happen in an hour,” he listened to the sigh. “Independence.”

  “Hard to give up, even for bargains,” she teased, but the tension inside her was coiled and uncertain.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” He had felt the undercurrent of tension in her the last few days and knew she was wrestling with something. But he was still working on convincing her it was safe to open up with him.

  “I wasn’t sure until this morning,” she admitted, stepping back and meeting his gaze, her teeth worrying her lower lip. “I’m afraid!” The words burst out in a low, trembling whisper that tore at his heart.

  “Lily…”

  “No. No. I’ve never been afraid of anything. No, that’s wrong. I’ve always been afraid of letting anyone close to me because I didn’t want the pain of losing them but it doesn’t make sense because Lexi and Scarlet are close! Closer than sisters and I know I fought that and was smacked more than once trying to figure things out in my head. Then…god, then I walk right into you and oh, hell, boundaries? I don’t think you even know the meaning of the word! And all I wanted to do was get on my bike and not look back but I know it would have hurt even before it got complicated.”

  “Complicated? Sex complicated it or the kissing or the caring?” Jess asked carefully.

  “You. You complicated it. All of you.”

  “What are you afraid of, Lily?” He hoped starting simple might help.

  “Me. Me messing up a good thing. Me running scared,” she closed her eyes when he bent his head, brushing his lips gently over her forehead.

  “I’ve tried not to push you. Not to rush you. But you’re doing it to yourself,” Jess met the frustrated sigh with a smile.

  “As long as I can remember, we talked about settling down in the same place,” Lily said quietly. “We spent a little over four years together in schools and…and working to help each other. We made a pact and took it seriously. After my parents were killed, they’re the only ones I allowed close. Lexi because…she was always there, since we were little. Then Scarlet and it felt right. Even when I…sometimes if I let myself think about them, I’d start to get scared and think it’s going to happen again.”

  “They wouldn’t let you.”

  “No,” her laugh was a little shaky, her eyes on the buttons on the collar of his shirt. “No, they wouldn’t let me. One time Lexi flattened the tires on my bike…I swear, sometimes she’s got more guts and less common sense…I don’t know what I would have done without her. Without them. I keep thinking in time, it’ll go away. That it won’t hurt anymore.”

  “You still have nightmares,” he said softly, his palm rising to stroke lightly down the blond curls wisping around her face and ear. “You fight something in your sleep.”

  “I think it’s kind of burned into my brain,” she answered with a negligent shrug. They’d become part of her being, the sight of her parents death popping up when she was most susceptible, she thought.

  “Are you going to bite me?” She blurted out, pale lashes wide and staring at him.

  “Excuse me?” Jess really didn’t believe she could say anything to shock him more. But she was a continual surprise.

  “Bite me.” She repeated clearly, frowning, brows knit together. She watched him close one eye.

  “I passed all my medical studies with above average scores, yet there are times when we talk that I feel completely lost. Why would I bite you?”

  “You guys keep calling us your mates but I know what that means,” she told him with a sweep of her palm. She watched understanding dawn in his eyes.

  “Mark you. Got it.”

  “I know the score, Jess. I know the pack doesn’t consider us mates just because you say so.”

  “Is that what you want, Lily?”

  “Wouldn’t a ring be easier?” She asked, hating the slight whine in her voice.

  “It scares you? Thought you found the canines sexy?” He teased.

  “Well, it’s not like I can return the favor,” she said testily, red tinting her cheeks when he laughed.

  “Really?” Jess reached up and pulled his collar to the side. “And who did this the other night? You’ve already staked your claim, Lily.”

  As fast as color came to her face, it drained. She leaned closer, wide eyes going from the red obviously teeth marked wound to his shoulder. Suddenly she couldn’t breathe.

  “I…” her head shook. “I did that?”

  “Hmm…moment of passion,” he recalled it perfectly, the sensation of her actions sent his body into over drive and completely removed all control from him. “I don’t have personal knowledge, other than my own with you, but I’m told the pain is minimal and it actually turns into a sensually charged mark.”

  “Oh, god, I bit you,” she whispered hoarsely, her palm on her lips. She remembered now, a swift flush of color swept into her cheeks and her breath caught in her throat. She felt her lower body react to the memory, juices flowing and making her groan when his mouth touched hers.

  “It’s alright, Lily, it merely means I’m yours now.”

  “But I didn’t even ask! I never thought…” She gave in and let his kiss soothe her, ease her emotions back to ground level again. “Oh, god, I love you. I don’t understand you and lord knows I rarely understand me, but I do love you, Jess.”

  He knew he was grinning down at her. “Does this mean you want to stay with me? I don’t want misunderstandings, Lily. I want you. In my life. All of it.”

  “It means I love you. I’m living with you. I’m opening a nursery in town,” she blew a long puff of air between her lips. “It means I’m yours…panic attacks and all.”

  “Just talk to me, Lily. We can work through the panic attacks, I promise,” Jess kissed her, softly and with promise before taking her shoulders and setting her back. “I have to go. I’ll see you tonight. Whatever you guys do, be careful, alright?”

  She nodded and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans, watching him drive off before heading back ins
ide. She knew she was breathing too fast as she reached for the bottle of water on the counter and drained half of it.

  “Lily?” Lucas looked from Scarlet to the blonde. “Are you alright?”

  “Oh, yeah…peachy…yeah, good…oh, god, I bit him!” She whispered hoarsely, burying her face in her hands.

  “I guess that’s better than shooting him,” Eli looked puzzled, even when the little snappy palm hit his arm. “Ow.”

  “Come over here and sit down. They’re leaving,” Lexi told her, guiding her to the sofa. “Just breathe…she has panic attacks now and then…not a lot…”

  “I guess we’re going back to work,” Luca snagged Scarlet for a quick kiss and headed for the door, dragging Eli beside him. “See you tonight.”

  Scarlet went to one side and Lexi on the other.

  “You okay in there?” Scarlet frowned over at Lexi. Lily just sat there, staring.

  “I made a commitment,” she said, swallowing and blinking finally.

  “And you’re still alive…fancy that,” Lexi teased, ducking at the palm that came out at her.

  “I asked him if he was going to bite me.”

  “You’re a loon, you know that?” Scarlet laughed out loud, her head shaking.

  “I…am human. I don’t have magical skin that heals right away,” Lily growled at her, throwing her head back and closing her eyes. “God, what have I done?”

  “Love makes you nuts,” Lexi said with a negligent shrug. “Accept it and move on,” she had her phone out, tapping buttons and reading. “They accepted your offer. The building will be yours in a week or less. Having an affiliation with the Pack helps, too. So we can find a renovation crew and get to work on our designs,” Lexi went to her pack and pulled out her computer. “I never thought I’d say it, but I so miss working.”

  “I’m a loon…” Lily looked at Scarlet and then at Lexi. “I bit him! God, I didn’t even remember it until he just showed me! And it never dawned on me what he would take it as…he says I marked him and that means he belongs to me now.”

  “I’m sure all that unbridle masculinity just got to you in a moment of weakness,” Lexi flipped her palm at her. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Jess didn’t seem to mind,” Scarlet pointed out to her. “I think Lucas wants to, but he’s afraid I don’t. I guess that’s a chat we have to have since the entire flipping town thinks we’re all mated. I thought the pair bond thing was enough…but evidently it isn’t.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Lily wandered into Jess’s office shortly before five. She glanced around and was relieved to see no one waiting. She slowed at the desk, a receptionist that she knew doubled as an assistant glanced up at her and seemed to straighten a little more. She was younger, barely in her early twenties, Lily thought, offering a smile. She knew from Scarlet that Jess’s staff was terrified of her.

  “Hi…is Jess busy?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  Ma’am? Lily stopped moving toward the gate. “Is it alright if I go talk to him?”

  “Yes, ma’am, you know where his office is,” she said, nodding quickly and gesturing to the back with a set of pretty French manicured nails.

  “Thanks,” she turned but changed her mind and leaned on the counter, frowning a little more when the young woman’s eyes widened and she backed up a little. “My name’s Lily,” she began, offering her hand politely. She thought for a minute she’d pulled a snake from her pocket the way the girl looked at her.

  “Jenny, ma’am.”

  “Did I do something to frighten you? I’m sorry if…”

  “Oh, no, ma’am,” she said hurriedly, her head shaking. “It’s…I…the office manager just said…and I can tell…well, you’re his mate and I’m not supposed to stop you.”

  Lily sighed, her head lowered to the counter. “You can tell?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Then you also know I’m human, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “Ma’am?”

  “The mated part. How does it…how do you know?” She asked, keeping her voice low.

  “The bite,” Jenny began cautiously. “It retains your…you…in the scar tissue. Your scent. It’s also extremely sensitive.”

  Lily blinked at her. “Sensitive?”

  Jenny leaned a little closer to her, feeling a tiny bit more comfortable. Elise had made the doctor’s mate sound unstable and formidable. Despite being human. She’d always been good at sensing people and this human wasn’t unstable at all.

  “I’ve never been mated, but…you know…girls talk…and one thing my mother told me was the bite became a kind of erogenous zone, especially for the males,” Jenny nodded and grinned.

  “Really…huh…the things your mom tells you. I’ll have to share that tidbit with my friends because we didn’t have moms to share that kind of thing with us, thanks, Jenny,” Lily grinned at her and pushed the gate open, striding down the hall to Jess’s office.

  He wasn’t there so she wandered down the corridor. It was very quiet but she found him standing in an exam room, reading a chart and making notes. His head came up and he was about to speak, obviously expecting one of the nurses or assistants.

  But then it registered and she watched his eyes turn molten and warm, his gaze sweeping from her feet to her head.

  Welcoming, she thought. Wanted. Desired.

  Home, she realized with a sharp thud that seemed to pull all the panic away. He’d never hold her prisoner, but he would protect her. He would love her, lunacy and all.

  “Hi…thought I’d walk you home,” she said with a wink, moving to the exam table and hopping onto the end.

  “You’re just in time,” he laid the file on the desk and shrugged out of the lab coat, dropping it to the chair. “How’d the supply search go?”

  “I have all my original contacts. We’re talking to a couple contractors tomorrow. We spent the afternoon drawing up plans on the program Lex has on her computer,” she grinned at him, her head tipped to the side. “It’s fun. It’s…exciting. Building another business. I won’t be getting supplies until about March. But the greenhouse behind the nursery will go up first, so I’ll be working there while the renovations are being done.”

  Lily leaned back on the exam table, just watching him.

  “No more panic?” He looked up from the sink where he’d been washing his hands and felt his body tighten.

  “Not this very minute.”

  “So what is on your mind?” Despite the predatory gleam in her eyes, he moved to stand between her knees, his palms stroking along her thighs until his thumbs caressed the crease just where she was most sensitive. Hunger flared when her body arched slightly toward him.

  “You. You a lot.” She vaguely heard Jenny call out she was leaving and would lock up. “Maybe I should see a doctor…just to be on the safe side.”

  “Hmm…it just might take several visits to determine your problem,” Jess gripped her knees and tugged her to the end of the table. He felt his cock harden another notch when she wrapped those long legs around his waist.

  “I’m pretty sure it’ll be a lifetime commitment on your part. I might be incurable,” Lily leaned forward, her fingers opening the buttons down his shirt.

  “Lily…” Her name came out in a low, plaintive groan. “We need to go upstairs.”

  “Not here? Now,” she whispered, dropping hot kisses over his chest before following it with her tongue.

  “No protection here,” Jess heard the growl low in his voice, making it all the more rough and hungry. Without waiting for her response, he gripped both her wrists in one hand and pulled, lowering his shoulder and standing up with her, taking long purposeful steps toward the inside stairs that led up to his apartment.

  “Jess!” Blond curls hung down over her face and she was pretty sure she was getting dizzy. She’d never been carted somewhere before. Whole new view from this angle, she thought.

&nbs
p; It had become a pleasant, comfortable pattern over the next few weeks leading into October. Eli and Jess met at his brother’s house a few times a week, went hunting with Scarlet and some of the pack, then went home with Lexi, sometimes still busy working on her laptop until he closed the lid and gave her mouth to mouth to end the shocked expression on her face.

  Lily waited patiently, watching TV or going through spreadsheets on things to stock in the new nursery.

  Friday, the end of the first week in October and Lily had taken the SUV out to pick up Scarlet for a trip to Morning Star.

  “I need my clothes,” she had said for the tenth time, glaring at Lucas with a little snarl that had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with the single large towel he somehow made obey him and stay at his waist after his morning shower.

  “We have stores in town, Scarlet,” he looked at the spot between her shoulder and throat and not for the first time felt a swell of pride that she was his. Willingly.

  “That’s impractical. I have clothes. Lily’s coming to pick me up and we’re taking a ride north. We’ll be back before night, well before dinner,” she assured him, her hands wrapping around him from behind. “I don’t think I know how to sleep alone anymore,” she deliberately ran her tongue over the spot on his back she had claimed as her own a few nights before, making the leap to show him she was serious about their mating. She felt him work to contain the shiver at her touch and continued on into the bathroom.

  “Good. Just call me now and then to let me know you’re okay,” he pulled a thick shirt over his head.

  “We haven’t heard a peep for almost two weeks, Lucas.”

  “That doesn’t mean it’s over,” he pulled the jeans up his legs and watched her struggle with a bulky sweater, his hands up and loosening the curls that got snagged on the beads on the front. Wide, amber circles came out first and he could tell she was grinning at him. “You know how much I love you? How much I need you? Just please…baby, be careful.”