I held up the teddy. “It’s smaller in person.” It was sheer black lace with no bottom. The bodice ended in four straps that connected to stockings. Those were still in the envelope. The girls could fill in the blanks.
“Dallas is going to lose his mind when he sees you in that.” Kiera took the lace out of my hand. I gasped as she snapped a piece away from it, and dropped it in my hand. The strap of fabric was actually the tiniest thong I’d ever seen. “Wear this over your garter straps. Because it’s gonna have to go, and you want to keep the rest of it on. So hot.”
My cheeks burned as Trina sorted through the rest of the mail, muttering under her breath when she saw the bills. Her face brightened any time a handwritten envelope came in from a place we didn’t know. That usually meant a donation. Things had been weird with the shelter in town after the dog fights. Our donations had dried up and some people in town had been downright awful to us since we dissolved Ryker’s ring. It broke my heart for so many reasons.
“Just the one?” Kiera asked, pursing her lips and shaking her head. “One of these days, I wish we’d have a stack of them.”
“Right? I was hoping maybe the Christmas donations would come late this year. We’re ridiculously down since the dog fights. Even if Granger Falls dropped their grudge in the name of holiday spirit, we need a fucking miracle. I’m worried, I have to be honest with you girls. We can’t keep operating at a loss.” Trina sighed, and glanced down at the check. She jumped like it bit her. “And we may have just got what we needed.”
Kiera peeked over at the check and her mouth fell open. “Holy shit. Am I seeing things? There are some zeroes on that thing.”
“How much is it for?” I asked. Most of our donations didn’t break three figures. Zeroes? Holy shit was right.
“Five thousand dollars.” Trina’s voice shook.
“It’s beautiful.” Kiera snatched it away from Trina, bringing it close to her face. “You don’t think it’s a scam, do you? Like we have to cash it and send money to someone else. In the meantime it winds up bouncing halfway to Bald Mountain, and we’re screwed.”
“Way to think positive.” I took the check, it was one of those things I had to see with my own eyes. This money would do so much good, especially now that we had the barn to worry about, too. “Oh, shit.”
“What? It looks legit. Did they sign it Minnie Mouse or something?” Trina’s eyes darkened, like all along she knew it was too good to be true.
“Worse. Ember Randall.” That poisonous pine cleaner taste burned my tongue again.
“Who?” Kiera wrinkled her nose. “Oh. That bitch. Why would she send us money? Maybe it’s a peace offering. You know, sorry for fucking up your Christmas, ripping your friend to shreds, and marking your boyfriend...here, feed some dogs or something.”
“No.” Trina took the check back, frowning at it. “It’s a power play. Shadow said that she’s been in contact with a lot of businesses in town, making promises she can’t possibly keep. The human-run ones of course—no self-respecting wolf would have anything to do with her. He expects some of the packs will work with her, because they’ve got the two things that we don’t: money and women. This is another way of getting a stronghold in town.”
“So she thought we were too stupid to notice, and then she’d own us?” Kiera shook her head. “It makes me sick, because we could do so much good with that money.”
It occurred to me that Ember’s intentions might be more personal. By giving us this money, she had say over what we did with it. She might think she had say over us, more specifically, me. No. I’d already let a disrespectful bitch hold my life hostage: my mother. I was finally breaking free, and I wasn’t about to hand over the reins to some she-wolf from Montana like I didn’t deserve better.
“We need to figure out a way to cash the check and tell her what she can do with herself. I have a few very detailed suggestions. It would keep her busy for a long time.” I smirked, drumming my fingers on the check, hoping the tattoo would erase her name from it. “If this is her way of trying to keep me away from Dallas, it’s not going to work. I plan on laughing all the way to the bank.”
“That’s what I love about you, Lyssie.” Kiera said. “You’re all quiet and sweet, but when you get pissed off, man, you are not to be messed with. You’re like our secret weapon.”
**
“So Ember’s getting cozy with everyone in town?” I asked once we settled in to eat. The Channings showed up with pizza and beer. I loved it when they did that, one of the little ways they let us know they’d been thinking about us all day. “Is she trying to bribe everyone, or is she doing anything besides writing checks?”
“She’s making the rounds,” Baron said, diving in for another slice of pizza. “I’m not sure what else she’s up to, but Major said she’s sniffing around the land his motorcycle shop is on. He owns the building, but she’s trying to exploit a technicality in the law. He’s bullshit, and because X is still healing, he can’t fight her the way he needs to.”
“We’ll help him. It goes without saying. He’ll probably have to pull Shea from the barn. Delaney can do the smaller stuff, but we’ll need to step it up for the heavy lifting,” Shadow said, and his brothers nodded. The Channings and the Lowes had been trying and failing to work together since they’d come into our lives. None of us expected the wildest one in the bunch to settle into work with our newest girl and make the cutest couple ever. Somehow, the two of them had the power to bring us all together when we couldn’t do it for ourselves.
That, and the looming threat from Ember and her wolves. She was like one of those yellow-gray clouds hanging over the town, promising chaos.
“I have an idea.” I gathered the discarded pizza crusts; the dogs would appreciate them. “We can’t cash that check. As much as it sucks, we can’t take her money. But what if we make a big deal that she made the donation, and encourage people to match it? She wants to impress the town, and chances are, it’s mutual. They may think she’s a legit Friend of Forever Home, and fall all over themselves to look good to her.”
“Great idea.” Dallas rewarded me with a kiss when I sat down. “We’ll still use her money, but in a way she can’t control.”
“This could work. Ember’s playing everyone in town like a piano. She’s cozying up to Southworth, too.” Shadow rolled his eyes. The mayor had spent most of his terms sweeping potential scandals under the rug. “He can’t get re-elected. He’s not pack friendly. And we know he’s more than happy to take a bribe.”
“I thought you were going to run against him?” Trina settled next to him, handing him a fresh beer. “You’d have the pack vote, and people in town like you. More than they like Southworth, anyway.”
Shadow shook his head, but he didn’t look convinced of whatever he was about to say. “We’re already spread so thin.”
“Who else is running? Some rich asshole?” Dallas asked. He sat close enough to me to that I could feel his heart pounding inside his ribcage. It was a whole different kind of passion that had him fired up, and I loved it just as much. Dallas was a protector, no matter what form he was in. “No one will have our best interests in mind. I don’t mean just the people in this room. I’m talking about all the working class wolves in the forest. The ones who are watching their businesses struggle and their families die out. The wrong person gets in there, they’ll try to take our land and ignore our concerns, because we’ve got one foot in the fucking grave, so who gives a shit what happens to us.”
I put down my plate and wrapped my arms around him. My head settled on my favorite spot, his chest. Usually the sound of his heart thumping comforted me, but tonight, it left me empty.
I hated this helpless feeling. I’d fought too hard to move past this. Ember was attacking us from every angle. She had resources we didn’t, and she was hell bent on destruction. I didn’t understand her end goal, since the only one who’d be happy if she succeeded was her.
But what could I do? Standing by an
d holding Dallas’ hand wasn’t enough. I needed to find a way to best Ember in her human form. She favored her animal, so her weakness had to lie somewhere in her humanity. It would slip. She was way too cocky for her own good.
I wished I could give Dallas a baby. It had nothing to do with my biological clock, which rang like a bell anytime someone walked by with a stroller. These wolves needed hope, and the forest needed the kind of laughter only kids could bring. No matter how hard the wolves fought, they were going to lose. Someday they’d be old, weak, and with no one to fight for them anymore. I couldn’t imagine knowing I would to lose everything. It was bad enough when it happened without warning.
“Wait a minute.” Kiera broke the uneasy silence that had blanketed the room. Even the animals were quiet. “How does this bitch have so much money? I thought they were losing forest, too. But she’s coming here, gobbling up our town. Why didn’t she do that in Montana? Stop them from taking what was hers? It doesn’t add up.”
The brothers looked at each other, all as gray as Dallas had been with The Full Moon Fever. I hadn’t realized how bad he’d been until he was better. “She sold it,” Shadow said, his voice flat with the revelation. “She destroyed her villages and land, and now she wants ours.”
“Why the hell would she do that?” Dallas asked.
Shadow stood up, peering out the window at the forest. “We need to figure it out. Fast. And stop her from doing it to us.”
Chapter Twelve
Dallas
“How’s X?” I asked when we got to the Lowes’ house. The chaos had settled from the last time we’d all been here, Christmas Night, when we brought X’s bloody, mangled body back home after the fight.
Things almost seemed normal. The little house that none of the Channings had visited since we were kids was overflowing now. Major’s mate, Cass, had moved in with her daughter, Emma, while they renovated her parent’s old house. Delaney had come to work at Forever Home, but she and Shea worked together better than any of us ever expected and she’d moved from Trina’s couch to his bed.
“He’s doing great,” Chandra said. I wasn’t expecting to see her here, glass of wine in hand, X’s head in her lap. She ruffled his coat. “Skin is totally healed, his fur is growing back, and he’s eating normally. I don’t think there’s going to be any problem with his shift next week.”
“Is that what you’re sticking around for? The shift?” Baron smirked. He knew damn well it wasn’t the reason. Now that we’d met our mates, the signs were crystal clear when one of us was about to hit the bullseye. It didn’t matter what form we were in, the connection was unbreakable. Before we shifted, I would’ve followed Lyssie to the end of the earth.
Chandra squinted in confusion. “Yeah. Everything’s up in the air. With X, with Dallas, even though you’re looking so much better. And especially this next shift. Why? Are you trying to get rid of me?”
X picked up his head and growled. Yup, total bullseye. He didn’t say anything else, but he got his point across. Everyone but Chandra laughed. X eyed us, but relaxed when Chandra’s hand easily fell into his fur.
“No,” Shadow said quickly. “We need an airtight plan for this shift, and if you have any advice, we’re all ears.”
Major groaned. His energy had changed completely with a little girl nestled in his lap. Not such a livewire anymore, he was much more grounded since he mated. “How the hell do you expect to be taken seriously as alpha? You’re fucking taking surveys. We do what we’ve always done. We stick together. We fight for what’s ours.”
“Ooooh.” Emma giggled at the word Major slipped in, but now wasn’t the time for apologies. Or softness.
Shadow pressed his lips together. Our family had always kept the peace in the forest, and Shadow was having a hard time reconciling that being alpha, something he’d always dreamed of, meant something completely different. And that his reputation as being non-confrontational made wolves question his status at every turn. But he was used to Major’s shit, since he’d been feeding my brother a steady diet of it his whole life.
“Since I’m pretty sure you need a high school diploma to be a doctor, yeah, I will ask her advice.” Shadow’s gaze locked with Major’s. “They practically made a rug out of your brother, and a slave of mine. Even if we were at our best, we’re outmanned. This is the time to think outside the box and make sure we’re firing on all cylinders. We can’t win this one with muscle. This one takes brains.”
“You mean common sense,” Major sneered, dismissing Shadow. “It doesn’t come from a manual. It comes from experience, and doing the wrong thing until you get it right.”
“I’m running for mayor,” Shadow said. Major’s head jerked around. Emma still held a piece of his long hair in her hand. Now Shadow had his attention. “The wealthy class is sitting back watching us kill ourselves. We may not be in a ring anymore, but nothing changed. We’re still their entertainment. Now we have Ember threatening your business and Forever Home. We’ve been relying on the packs of the forest. We need to align with the townspeople, let them know that we aren’t the only ones under siege.”
“What do you know about government?” Major asked. “All I know is how to bail Shea out of jail.”
Shea perked up. He and Delaney had been watching the exchange from a beanbag on the floor. “Does this mean I get a get out of jail free card?” Delaney turned around and made a chopping symbol with her hands. Probably sign language for knock it off. He pulled her against his chest and kissed the top of her head. “Kidding.”
“Let’s put Delaney in charge, since she tamed Shea. She can do anything.” I laughed. She shook her head, mouthing no.
“Nah, I’m still wild.” Shea grinned, looking anything but while cuddling with his human mate. “I just stay out of trouble now.”
“It’s Granger Falls. All that matters is that I want the best for the town. Southworth has been driving it into the ground. This is our only chance of saving our land.” Shadow stood up, slapping his hands together. My brother didn’t look like a politician, with his long, streaked hair and callused hands from contracting. But no one cared more about this town than Shadow.
“No one will see it coming.” Major actually smiled. “What does this mean for the rest of us?”
“That I’ll need more from you and Dallas. I know, you’ve got your hands full with X, and the shit with the business, and your new family. Damn, it feels good to say that you have a family. I’ll handle the town, the two of you take the forest. I’ll fight beside you if we need to, but it’s time that wealthy wolves respect us. And that’s not going to happen in the forest. We’ve got to play their game if we want to keep what’s ours.”
Major turned to me, sizing me up. “Let me see that bite mark.”
“Yeah,” Chandra chimed in. I’d expected Shadow and Major to come to blows and I forgot all about her. “I want to see how it’s healed. Have you, um, been mating?”
The room erupted in snickers. Across town, Lyssie’s cheeks were probably burning and she’d have no idea why. “Every night.”
“Good for you, man,” Shea called out. “Me too.” Delaney gasped, and repeated the chopping motion. She probably did that all the time. But she didn’t hold a grudge, falling back against him in a fit of giggles.
Chandra pulled down the collar of my shirt and frowned. Major squinted, leaning in closer.
“It’s a scar.” I shrugged away from her. “Lyssie makes the fever stay away. It’s not an issue.”
Major shook his head. “Ember marked you, man.”
“The scar is like a brand. Lyssie couldn’t do that to you. I think Ember has a legitimate claim to you.” Chandra sighed. “This shift will be ugly.”
**
“Let’s go out,” I suggested when I got back to Lyssie’s apartment. “Let Kiera and Baron have the place to themselves.”
Lyssie’s face fell. “I had something planned.”
“Oh really?” Maybe it could wait. Lyssie and I hardly left th
is apartment. Believe me, I was more than entertained, but I wanted to see a different side of her. Get to know every piece of her. I had to make her my mate in body, mind, and spirit. I thought I already had, but the pink crescent marking my neck disagreed. “I like the sound of this.”
“Get out of here,” Kiera insisted. “Let the anticipation build. It will make it better.”
“What is it?” I sat down on the couch and tugged Lyssie’s arm so she landed in my lap. Our lips wound up on top of each other, and I was so frigging turned on by the possibilities of what Lyssie had in mind I leaned back and got lost in the kiss.
Lyssie, getting her way, didn’t argue. Her fingers slipped into my hair, tangling in it and tugging as the kiss intensified. The rest of the world was becoming a fuzzy memory.
“That’s not letting anticipation build,” Baron laughed. Bastard. Lyssie pulled away from me shyly, smoothing her hair. Her cheeks were pink. I’d really like to see her other cheeks pink. Someday. We were still exploring, testing limits. I wanted Lyssie to drop her guard and surrender completely to pleasure.
“No, that’s like charge by the minute webcam stuff.” Kiera wiggled her eyebrows, grabbing Baron’s arm. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s hot as hell. You should show Ember that. Her ass would be back in Montana before you two put your clothes back on.”
Lyssie was too quiet until we got out of the house. “What’s the matter?” I asked when we got to the parking lot. I took both her hands in mine. “Where do you want to go?”
She looked up at her apartment. “The farmer’s market. They’ve got the indoor setup for winter, and they stay open late on Saturdays. Have you ever been?”
Shelter Me (Sawtooth Shifters, #6) Page 7
