by Skye Jones
Opening the fridge, Kayley grabbed a carton of orange juice and poured herself a large glass. Sunshine streamed through the windows, inviting her outside. The morning sun hit her skin, warming her as she walked through the double doors and out onto the steps leading to the pool. It looked like they were due another unseasonably hot day.
Ah, the blessed warmth! She tipped her head back and smiled. She still loved the light and heat of Florida, even after all these years. Light danced across her skin as she walked toward the pool, followed by the welcome ghost of a soft breeze. The sun lounges looked inviting, and she guessed it wouldn’t hurt to sit while she finished her juice.
A splash caught her eye, and she turned to see Luke slicing powerfully through the water, his long, lean form sleek and purposeful. Just her luck to run into the one person she didn’t want to see. She turned and headed quickly back toward the house.
“Hey.” His deep voice called out to her.
Crap. She pivoted around slowly; one foot perched on the first step, her torso twisted.
Luke started to pull himself out of the pool. She could hardly run back to the house now. With trepidation, she headed over to a chair.
Luke popped out of the water as if he weighed nothing. He shook himself, the way a dog might, drops sparkling as they fell from his body. As he moved toward her, Kayley tensed, on full alert.
On the one hand, she’d walk into a war zone with Luke by her side. She barely knew him, but she was aware, deep in her very soul, he’d protect her. Physically, she’d never felt safer with anyone, but a man like Luke could be very dangerous indeed to her fragile emotions. He’s too sexy by far and you’re out of your depth girl, a little voice in her brain chided.
She frantically tried to think of something to say about the previous night and Sean’s visit, but the sight of Luke walking toward her, wearing not very much, short-circuited her brain. Christ, look at him. The man would put a Greek god in the shade!
What really got her staring was his ink. The work caught her eye as he sat down next to her. She’d seen the wolf mark on Taylor, but Luke carried much more art on his body. A large shark wrapped around his meaty right bicep. It looked Inuit in style, like the wolf. Above his left pectoral muscle a bird of prey perched, profile on. Utterly uncompromising in their beauty, they reminded her of Luke himself. She could also see some sort of design on his right calf muscle but couldn’t make it out clearly from the angle.
“Did you sleep okay?” He didn’t seem angry as he spoke to her, his low voice dragging her gaze away from his artwork to his face.
“Yeah. Look…I’m sorry I woke you. And erm…Sean…he…” She trailed off. She honestly didn’t know what to say.
He considered her for a moment, gray eyes calm. “You were making awful noises. Must’ve been a bad dream.” His words were measured, his tone gentle. She could taste the powerful force of his personality though, even as she sensed he held it back. Charisma rolled from him in waves, so different to the warmth and open friendliness of Sean.
“I’ve had the nightmare before, or versions of it. It seemed more intense last night. So real.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?” Those gray eyes found hers again, holding her captive.
Not sure why, Kayley suddenly did want to talk, to spill her soul to this man with the compelling eyes and the beautiful smile. Words she’d not uttered for a long time tripped off her tongue, as if he pulled them forth by magic itself.
“I was attacked four years ago by my boyfriend, Dane. It came completely out of the blue. He’d never been violent before; with me, I mean. He was kind of a bad boy, part of the appeal, I suppose. He used to get into fights with the boys but never anything serious, so far as I knew. I found out later he was head of a local gang. One night he and I tossed back some beer with his friends, and he lost big at a card game, so I teased him some.”
Hands shaking, she lifted her glass to her lips and took a slow sip of the sharply sweet juice. Luke had probably learned the basics from Will, but she told him anyway. “I made a stupid, joking comment after his friends left, and he lost it. Came at me, kicked and punched me. I fell over, and he just carried on kicking me while I curled up in a ball trying to protect myself.”
Luke made a low sound. It reverberated in his chest as a muscle ticked repeatedly along his jaw. It fascinated her, so she watched it for a brief moment.
“The last thing I remember is Dane grabbing a bottle from behind and bringing it down on me. I dream about it over and over again. About him.” She felt her voice break and tried to wrestle back some control. “He cut me, while I was passed out. On my stomach, over my side and my back. Made a mess of me.” She paused, needing a moment to compose herself.
“I blamed myself, you know. At first at least, because of teasing him. But I learned his actions were nothing to do with me, and everything to do with his anger at the situation he found himself in. The police told me afterward that he’d lost three members and a stash of drugs to a rival gang the day before. He took it all out on me.”
“He deserved to die. If he weren’t already dead, I’d find him and do it myself.” Luke’s face twisted, the savage, guttural words shocking her with their intensity.
Not sure what to say to such an impassioned vow, she stared down at her hands.
“I’m sorry. Forgive me. I scared you.” His words were odd, stilted. Sometimes, he reminded her of the characters in old black and white movies, formal and removed. As if his words, his very being even, were just a façade covering up a much more primitive creature altogether. “Please, go on.”
To her surprise, despite his violent words of moments before, she found herself doing as he asked. “I find it hard to trust people now. Find it hard to sleep through the night. I can’t travel. I’m so pathetic I’ve not left the city limits in four years? I ran. I can’t forgive myself for running instead of staying and fighting,” she sighed, nibbling on her cheek.
Luke reached forward and took hold of her hand; his warm skin tingled against hers with the same exchange of energy she experienced whenever they touched.
“You’re not pathetic. You left everything behind and came somewhere you didn’t know anyone, and you did so partly to protect your family, according to Will. And instead of giving in, you made a new life for yourself, far away from loved ones and while still healing from something terrible. That takes strength. It’s not the absence of fear that makes us strong, it’s coping with the fear. You did cope with it and you survived. You’re a survivor, Kayley.”
She’d never looked at it from such a perspective. Instead she always felt as if she were somehow weak, because of the flashbacks and night terrors and places she couldn’t bear to be.
“You know.” He paused, glanced down before looking right at her, his incredible eyes sparkling with amusement. “I’ve got a fear of spiders. And they’ve never done anything to me! Now who is pathetic?” He laughed.
“Spiders?” She joined in with his laughter. “You?”
“Yep. No spider has ever harmed me, but I can’t stand the creepy bastards. I always get Sean to kill them. No one else knows. Be bad for my image.”
“I’ll keep it between the three of us.” She crossed her heart, secretly thrilled at the idea he’d shared something personal, no matter how small.
“Why don’t you take some time out, laze around the pool, and relax.” He shot her a blinding smile, white teeth flashing and dimples winking on either side of his delectable mouth.
Relax? Easy enough for him to say. How could she relax when his pheromones were wreaking havoc on every system in her body? Right now, she didn’t want to relax. Right now all she wanted to do, ached to do, was touch. To let her fingers trail over all his tanned, smooth skin. To discern those powerful muscles as they flexed and shifted.
Boldly, hand shaking, she reached out and tentatively stroked down the lines of his bird tattoo, over his pectoral muscle and down toward his nipple. He followed her progress with hooded
eyes, and when he looked up, his expression blew her mind.
Predatory didn’t come close to describing it. He didn’t look like he wanted to catch her. No, he looked like he’d already caught her and wanted to eat her alive. Desire zipped through her, a lightning bolt shooting from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She squirmed for a second, startled by the power of the sensation. With a move so sudden she didn’t see it coming, Luke snaked out one hand and grabbed her wrist, stilling her exploring fingers. He covered her hand with his, and she felt his heart beat, strong and sure, beneath her palm.
His gaze cleared, focused, as if he’d snapped out of a daze. He gently laid her hand on her knee, thumb stroking the inside of her wrist for one long beat, before he let go completely and stood.
“Let me fix you breakfast.” He stretched and flexed his muscles.
“No. I’ll fix breakfast. After all, you’re all so friendly, letting me stay so I can see more of Will. Besides, I make a mean hash brown.”
His stomach rumbled noisily and he glanced down with a smile. “It’s Pavlovian. Mention hash browns and I’m all yours.”
Oh, if only it were so easy. She hid her smirk and followed him up the steps and into the chill blast of the air conditioning, letting it cool her overheated skin and calm her overwrought mind.
Chapter 4
It took longer than planned to buy food and drink for the next few days and Sean wanted to get back. He didn’t like leaving Kayley behind with Luke. In the odd moments the man let down his guard, Sean could see Luke barely held it together. He truly realized, for the first time, what it must have cost for Luke to hold back and take his time when he wanted Sean as his mate. Sean now witnessed the ferocity of Luke’s need to claim Kayley as his, alongside the ruthless way he stamped it down, which only increased his love and respect for his mate, but also deepened his concern.
Then there was Kayley. He’d developed an attraction to her through his bond with Luke, but after last night, holding her in his arms, it had morphed into something deeper. He knew her fragility; he’d walked in her shoes and felt a sense of kinship because of it. Sean understood how badly that sort of violence left you scarred, deep down where it lingered for the longest time. He shook his head to release the storm clouds of gathering memories. Today was far too sunny and beautiful to go there.
Will whistled a low tune as he drove. Their new member seemed positively relaxed, hands loose on the wheel, lips pursed as he blew out some song Sean didn’t recognize. Sean wondered if Kayley joining them had wrought the change in Will? Hopefully, once Will knew the truth about her status as their intended mate, he’d quickly become used to the idea.
Although Will might be a shifter in physiology, in his mind he still clung onto human ideas, and the sort of powerful and sudden bonding shifters felt would be strange to him. Will appeared to trust the pack, though, and he wanted Kayley to return home with him—and as their mate she’d do just that. But there were ways of dropping that sort of news on a person. Luke possessed all the subtlety of a nuclear warhead going off. Sean winced at his gathering headache and considered all the ways the situation could get out of control.
“Crap, we forgot potato chips and beer,” Taylor muttered from the backseat.
“There’s a store near the rental place. We could stop there?” Will offered.
“No!” Sean’s senses were really tingling now. Christ, at this rate he’d soon be as psychic as Luke.
Will shot him a puzzled look, so Sean toned it down. “Let’s get back okay? We’ve beer enough in the fridge, and we’ve left Kayley alone with Luke and Julie. Between them they might put her off coming home with us for good,” he joked.
“You mean Luke might?” Taylor said. “He intimidates people with that intense, brooding thing he’s got going on.”
“Kayley’s female. You’ve seen the way women look at Luke, right, Taylor? No offense, Sean.” Will’s gaze flicked over to him before turning back to the road. “But women do tend to drool over the boss man. She probably thinks the sun shines out his backside.”
“Hey, what about me? The ladies like my style.” Taylor flexed his huge arms, the biceps popping out and stretching the fabric of his T-shirt to near ripping point. “Some ladies like their men pumped.”
“There’s pumped and then there’s massive. You spend hours in the gym and your idea of good food is beef jerky and protein shakes. You’re not quite what I had in mind for my cousin.” Will flashed a grin over his shoulder, and Sean bit his cheek to keep from laughing.
“Well, now, I could be offended by all of that but as it’s true…I’ll let it slide. And for your information, beef jerky is a high protein, healthy snack. Anyhow, your cousin isn’t some sort of brood mare that you can marry off to whomever you choose. She’s got a mind of her own. She might prefer a big strong man.”
Will snorted. “My cousin is a lady of good taste, and she prefers brains over brawn.”
“I’d protect her.” Taylor waggled his eyebrows.
“Actually…that’s true.” Will’s face turned serious as he drove. “I’d be more than happy for her to take any of you guys as a partner because for the first time since the attack, I’d feel she’d be truly safe. There’s just the tiny problem of her having to be turned into a goddamned werewolf in order for any of you to do so.”
Sean made a conscious effort to keep his heart rate and breathing calm as the conversation hit a little too close to home. Will wouldn’t likely pick up on the signals of his distress. The younger shifter was still too newly turned to understand them, but why take the chance?
“We are wolf shifters not werewolves, how hard is the fucking concept? And why wouldn’t you want her turned? You like life as one of us, don’t you?” The levity left Taylor’s voice as he continued. “And dude, what’s not to like? You’re stronger, immune to disease, and you live a long, long time.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it, but…it puts us on the outside. Kayley’s suffered years of that, I want her to have a normal life.”
“Normal is highly overrated.”
Sean tuned out their bickering and thought back to Will’s words. So Will would be okay with Kayley having a relationship with one of the team, in theory, but he didn’t want her turned into a shifter. In some ways, it was more than Sean had hoped for. He wouldn’t tell Luke, yet, if he thought they’d any sort of advantage Luke would push it. It wasn’t in Sean’s nature to keep something from his mate, and it made him uncomfortable to do so, but the situation needed very delicate handling. Sean sighed again and closed his eyes.
They pulled up outside the large family home. Taylor stepped out and slammed the car door loudly, exclaiming, “God, Miami traffic is the worst!”
The screen door banged behind them, and they entered the wonderfully cool house in time to see Kayley fly up the stairs, tears on her face. Luke sat on the couch looking tense as hell next to a wide-eyed Julie.
“What the fuck happened?” Sean snapped. He’d dreaded coming back to a scene like this, and couldn’t quite believe his worst fear had come true.
“It’s fine.” Luke bit off the words like they tasted bad.
“It’s my fault.” Julie surprised Sean. He’d been convinced Luke would be the one behind the drama, fearing he’d pushed Kayley too fast.
Julie sniffed slightly and flicked red-rimmed eyes warily to Will. “I started to talk about Kayley maybe staying in Alaska, and she didn’t seem too receptive to the idea. I didn’t understand why not. I mean now her dickhead ex is dead, I’d have thought she’d be raring to come home. I like her. It’s really nice having female company. Maybe I pushed things a little too hard because she got upset, told me I didn’t understand.”
Julie flushed and dipped her head. “I got a bit defensive and said maybe I didn’t understand because her cousin missed her and she should give home another chance. I made her cry. I didn’t mean to. Then I got upset, too, and Luke walked in on us right before you guys got here, and Kayley
took off upstairs.”
Luke ground his teeth, and Sean could see the anger simmering below the surface of his mate’s granite face. Julie must have sensed it because she let out a soft whine and moved toward him on the sofa, head down.
“I’m sorry, Luke. I fucked up. I made her remember bad stuff. I hope it’s not going to stop her wanting to come back with us to visit for a while.”
“It’s okay.” Luke patted her hand, and she smiled and arched up to him, head still down, almost resting against his chest.
Sean understood Julie’s behavior. It was a wolf thing. The female shifter needed to know her place in the pack still stood, along with her place in their alpha’s estimations. Luke’s hand moved up to her neck and held it gently as he lifted the hair from her nape and set it back down around her shoulders. She smiled, lifting her head. Sean cursed. Julie’s eyes glowed preternaturally bright out of her flushed face.
“Stop it,” Sean whispered.
She turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. “Stop what?”
“Your eyes, damn it. You can’t let your wolf show, not with Kayley here!”
Julie’s hand flew to her mouth, and her eyes immediately turned back to their usual green, the yellow swirling around and around as it faded.
Keeping his voice low, Sean addressed them all. “Until we’ve let her grow to trust us, we can’t let Kayley see any hint of what we really are, and only then if Will decides to tell her.” Sean nodded at Will. “It’s your decision, Will.”
“It’s so frustrating.” Luke’s jaw ticked as he stared morosely at the coffee table as if insulted by its very existence.
“No disrespect, but she’s my cousin. I don’t see why it’s frustrating for you?” Will jerked his chin up and squared his shoulders as he pointed at Luke.
Luke’s head snapped up, and his mouth tightened into a thin line.
Oh, hell. Will might have a point, and Luke ought to watch what he said about Kayley, for fucks sake, but Luke’s control looked wafer thin, so he acted quickly.
