by Leela Ash
“So my uncle is kind of a bigwig around Stonybrooke,” Ren said, making himself comfortable. “If your cute little maid over there gets me a drink, I’d be happy to tell you more.”
“Watch it, you little scuzzbag!” Val growled, starting toward him.
Gabe held his hand up at her.
“Watch it, you little scuzzbag,” he growled.
Ren’s face paled and he averted his eyes again.
“H – he’s a banker. Head of ShiftLegacy Merchants.”
“No wonder,” Gabe growled. “My accounts have been sucked dry, no matter how good business is. But every time I check my statements, they add up.”
“Yeah, he’s kind of brilliant like that,” Ren bragged. “He has people on it all the time. They’re always looking for the next big investment. Like the land your store sits on.”
“That’s not an investment they can make,” Gabe growled, his features darkening. His eyes glanced up at Val as if he sensed her fear and his voice lightened immediately. “I’m paying that property off.”
“Yeah… well, not if you run out of money, you’re not. That’s what they’re counting on. If they suck the accounts dry and keep fining your account here and there, you’re going to have to default on the loan and the bank can pick up the property. Then we get the portal.”
“You say ‘we’ again one more time and I’m going to feed your ass to your uncle directly. Do you understand?”
Ren swallowed hard. “Well, how do I know you can really protect me and mine? What can you do about it?”
“I can take care of your uncle once and for all before he takes his petty rage out on a couple of misguided kids, for one thing,” Gabe said. “And I can get you protection from the Council if that doesn’t work.”
“Are you sure you can take him?” Ren asked, suddenly afraid. “He has a lot of men.”
“Trust me,” Gabe said darkly. “Nobody fights harder than a man with nothing to lose.”
For some reason, the words sent a jolt of pain through Val, and she looked away from him quickly. So he didn’t care whether Val lost him, was that it? Or maybe he didn’t seem to care whether he lost her or not. Either way, she felt miserable and stood up. She had heard enough.
“I’m going back to bed,” she announced quietly.
“Oh shit,” Ren said with a boyish laugh. “You’re in trouble.”
Gabe shook his head in agitation and Val refused to meet his eyes.
“Take it easy, girl. It’s not his fault you have daddy issues!” Ren said, cackling.
Val’s blood boiled and she refused to look at him.
“Get the hell out of my house,” Gabe growled to Ren.
Ren tensed up and then took off out the door.
Gabe followed Val to the staircase, where he stood watching her helplessly as she ascended, fury and pain consuming every fiber of her being.
“Good night,” Gabe finally said.
And maybe in the words, there was an apology buried, but Val was too damn tired to look for one. She was going to sleep, whether she could forgive him or not. Maybe things would be clearer in the morning.
***
“It’s got to be around here somewhere,” Gabe muttered. Val hung back, watching him as he searched the sub-basement of Shifter Fit, the wolf clearly leading the way as he attempted to find the portal. “I’m telling you, I saw something in here before. It’s got to be here!”
“Maybe you have to do some kind of incantation before you can use it,” Val said, sighing.
She was still agitated at him about bringing Ren into their home and acting as if he didn’t care whether he lived or died. How could she have been stupid enough to trust a man like that, who would bring her mortal enemy to the place where she was sleeping and say, right in front of her, that he had nothing to lose?
But it was true. Maybe he felt that after losing his wife there was nowhere to go but down. Still, couldn’t he care even just a little bit that Val was there? That they were getting along and enjoying each other’s company in a way she had never enjoyed anyone else before?
Gabe had been born in a pack, though. He took that kind of closeness for granted. He had already been through all this before with his wife; the sharing and the laughter. It was stupid for her to think there could ever be anything more to it than that. Why did she always get her damn hopes up like this? It always ended the same. She always ended up alone.
“You may be right,” Gabe said. “I’ll have to tell Leon about the portal. There’s nothing I can do with it. I’d never go through it anyway. I can’t leave the house I built with my wife. But the Council would be able to use it somehow. Maybe harness its power.”
“Sure, great,” Val said, still agitated. “Whatever you say. Can I go home now?”
Gabe looked back at her, confusion and something else–maybe anger –flashing in his eyes.
“You stay with me!” Gabe shouted. “Until you’re safe!”
Being yelled at was the last straw. Not only did it scare her when he was acting on his anger, but it made her furious. Where did he get off treating her like she didn’t have a right to her independence?
“As long as I’m with you, I’ll never be safe,” Val growled. She stomped up the steps of the sub-basement, leaving Gabe on the ground beneath her, stunned into silence. Maybe he knew she was right. Whatever the reason, he didn’t follow, and she was glad he didn’t. It was too damn stressful to be part of this charade with him. Everything she had ever done had been for herself, and trying to change that to accommodate a jerk like Gabriel was a huge mistake. She was better off without him.
Val stepped out the front door, considering stomping across the street to talk to Randall, when suddenly, a pair of hands were wrapped around her wrists.
“You’re right about that,” a sinister voice hissed. “You’ll never be safe.”
The world went black as a burlap sack was placed over her head, and her body was shoved forward. She landed painfully on the back seat of a car and the door slammed behind her. Someone stepped hard on the gas and soon, they were driving far, far away from the record store, from Shifter Fit, and from Gabe. Fear began to mount in Val’s chest, and she squeezed her eyes closed in a silent prayer. She was in big, big trouble.
21.
As soon as the door of the shop slammed shut, Gabe knew something was wrong. He bounded up the steps of the basement, but he hadn’t been fast enough. Val was already gone.
“Shit!” he growled, shifting into his wolf form before he even had the chance to lock the door. But that didn’t matter; not now. Not with Valerie missing.
He followed her scent, thoughts of Molly racing through his head as he ran with all his might. He hadn’t been able to save his wife, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to let anything happen to Val. She meant more to him than he could even dare to express, and if he lost her, he truly would be nothing.
Gabe was hot on the trail, and it led him into a hoity-toity neighborhood that he and Molly had always promised to take their kids trick-or-treating in, if they ever had any. He had never been there before himself, and froze outside an imposing mansion sitting on the edge of a vast golf course.
She was inside. He could smell it. He knew it was probably an ambush, but he didn’t care. He had to do whatever it took to save Valerie. He would do for her what he hadn’t been able to do for his wife. He had to. He loved her.
He howled, a war cry to be heard by all, and leapt, with all his power, straight through the glass of the window. He was overwhelmed by the bitter scent of greed, and the sound of Val’s frightened whimper, muffled by the cloth stuffed into her mouth. It was enough to infuriate him, and Gabe searched the room quickly, identifying five enemies. He would take care of them one by one, starting with the maggot who had his hands on Gabe’s woman.
“How uncivilized.”
By the tone and scent, he could tell, beyond a doubt, he was listening to Ren’s uncle. The man spoke with such pomp that the wolf growled i
nstinctively. He didn’t wait for any other reason to attack. Gabe lunged at the man, just a henchman, keeping Val captive and tore his throat out quickly, knowing the attack would leave the others enough time to shift.
Sure enough, as soon as Val dropped to the floor beside the man he had slaughtered, three wolves were descending upon him. Pain seared through his body as teeth and claws gnashed into his flesh, but he was heartened to see that Val was staggering to her feet. She grabbed the curtain rod that Gabe had knocked down in his entrance and began slapping the hell out of the wolves. Ren’s uncle, Liam, looked on, a small smile on his gaunt, ugly face.
Gabe finally got a good grip on the biggest of the three and wrestled him to the ground. He ignored the pain of the other wolves attacking. He would do this methodically, taking them out one by one as Val continued her ceaseless attacks. It was enough to loosen their grips on his flesh as he shook the wolf beneath him violently, gripping his neck hard until every last drop of life was drained from him.
He focused on the second strongest next, yelping in pain as his neck was seized by the smallest of the three. Val was shouting in fear as Gabe struggled to free himself, finally managing to buck the wolf off him and finish off the one he had pinned.
Val set to work, striking the wolf again and again until finally it turned its back to Gabe and growled at her, ready to attack.
That, clearly, was a mistake, and soon, they were engaged in a brutal altercation, the black wolf against Gabe’s silver wolf, each of them fighting with all their might. He was hurting, but he would do anything to protect Valerie. Blood spilled out onto the floor as he landed the finishing blow, and turned his wet muzzle onto Ren’s uncle, who had remained in his human form all that time.
“Impressive show,” Liam said, though his pompous voice sounded bored. “But you’re not going to get away with this.”
He bowed his head and began muttering to himself, and a wave of fear overpowered Gabe. He hadn’t shifted because he was reciting an incantation. He was going to fight with magic, like a sneaky, underhanded coward.
“Ow!”
Gabe was just as surprised as Ren’s uncle when Val, her eyes narrowed in determination, smacked him with the curtain rod. It was all the break Gabe needed to lunge at the man. Gabe was injured badly; he wouldn’t survive another fight with a wolf. But if he could reach the man before he shifted or recited his curse, he would have done his job. He would save her.
A sharp cry filled the air, and Gabe’s mouth was filled with the taste of human blood. He prayed Val was looking away, refusing to bear witness to the slaughter, but he had a job to do. He couldn’t shelter her from this. Not when he had to protect her.
But the world suddenly began to spin and Gabe’s vision darkened. He didn’t know whether he had finished the job or not as the wolf began to succumb to its injuries. He could only hope as he attempted to cling onto the last strands of life he had in him, that Val would do whatever she could to get out of that house and run like hell.
22.
“Thank God,” Val whispered when Gabe’s eyes finally fluttered open. They were dark and brooding as they settled upon her, and he reached his hand up to touch her face gently.
“Are you all right?” he asked hoarsely.
“Me?!” Val exclaimed, laughing in disbelief. “You nearly died! If Ren hadn’t shown up and driven us back here, you would have!”
Gabe’s brow furrowed. “I don’t remember that.”
“Well, good, because I was hysterical the whole time. It was kind of embarrassing.”
Gabe grinned, a sexy little gesture that made his entire face light up, and Val swallowed hard. She didn’t know what she would have done if she had lost him. The thought was unbearable.
“Is Ren still here? I’d like to thank him.”
“No, he left after stopping by the drug store and getting me a salve to put on your wounds. He said you’d make it, but I didn’t believe him until just now. When you opened your eyes. Don’t ever do that to me again, you jerk!”
Gabe sat up straight, the thin sheet falling from his broad chest as he did so. It was clear he was gaining all his strength back now, and quickly, just as Ren had promised he would.
“Or maybe, next time, you stay put when I ask you to so you don’t get yourself kidnapped and I have to fight to the death for you.”
Val pursed her lips, a combination of relief and guilt bringing hot tears to her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Hey,” Gabe said, his low voice a comforting rumble as he held her close to his chest. “Don’t do that, now. I only did it because I…”
Val froze, the emotion between them obvious, and she pulled away to look into Gabe’s eyes.
“I can’t live with you like this anymore,” she whispered. “I have to go on my own. Not unless…”
Gabe’s lips were on hers suddenly and passionately, and Val gasped in shock and pleasure. Her body was electrified,awakened by his touch. It meant only one thing. He felt for her exactly what she felt for him. And now, he was ready to accept that. And she was ready to receive.
Val moaned softly as Gabe’s soft lips found their way to the nape of her neck. She was filled with a hot wave of ecstasy as her body became weightless in Gabe’s arms. He sat her down in his lap, the thick muscle between his legs pressed firmly against her as a testament to his desire. She shuddered in pleasure when he stripped her swiftly, so the only thing between their middles was the thin sheet of her bed.
Suddenly, Gabe was on top of her, the sheet nowhere to be found, and she stared in wonder at the impossible muscles of his abdomen. They had gone through so much, and yet, he was still able to display such raw power. It filled her with something deeper than desire; a profound sense of awe and appreciation for his body.
He seemed to sense this and returned it in kind, his strong hands roaming the gentle slopes of her body, sending tendrils of fire in their wake. A creeping sensation traveled up her spine as the fire in her loins was stoked, and soon, Gabe was rocking his hips gently against her, massaging the most sensitive area of her body with his own. She writhed in pleasure beneath him, gasping in shock when, with one abrupt, decisive action, Gabe thrust himself inside her.
An explosion of bliss shook her to her core, and she gripped Gabe’s shoulders tightly, closing her eyes to relish the fullness of the sensation. His body was becoming one with hers as they found their unique rhythm, Gabe’s hips moving in slow, sensual rotations until the only thing Valerie could think about was her own pleasure.
She met Gabe’s eyes, and they bore into her. Without speaking, she knew what he felt, and she felt the same. They were better together, both of them knew it, and now, nothing would ever be the same again.
Val cried out in ecstasy as Gabe’s muscle pried inside her again and again, each time bringing her closer to the height of her desire. He dropped his lips over her breast, taking her nipple into his mouth and lapping his tongue sweetly over it, intensifying her pleasure until she could no longer hold herself back.
She shuddered beneath the comforting weight of his body as he thrust inside her, every inch of his member making itself known to her. She couldn’t stop the contractions as her orgasm began, and they hugged his muscle tightly. Gabe growled in pleasure, unleashing the true power of his beast inside of her and nearly making Val shout out in rapture.
The sudden explosion of Gabe’s orgasm rocked Val’s body, and she was filled with the sheer force of it as she surrendered fully to her own, their bodies entwined as they shared a moment of pleasure unlike anything either of them had ever known. Gabe gradually slowed his pace as Val shuddered beneath him, and they finally collapsed together on the bed.
Gabe lifted Val up and held him tightly on top of his broad body, stroking the hair out of her face and kissing the corners of her lips.
“You sure I’m not too old for you?” he asked, raising a brow at her.
Val laughed and shook her head. “You’re not too anything for me,” she replied. “
Is it wrong for me to love you the way I do?”
Gabe shrugged.
“I think it might be more wrong to hide what you really feel. At the end of the day, that’s what really matters.”
“Do you think your wife would like me?” Val whispered.
The question seemed to take Gabe by surprise. She expected him to be angry, to want to leave and never come back, but instead, he smiled and held her eye.
“She would absolutely love you,” he whispered, kissing her tenderly. “Because I love you. And I know she would want us to live happily ever after.”
Val smiled, and laid her head on his shoulder, suddenly very sleepy.
“So do I,” she said with a small yawn.
“And we will,” Gabe promised, stroking her back soothingly. “I claimed you for a reason.”
And with that, they fell into a deep, restorative sleep.
THE END
Nanny to the Shifter
Stonybrooke Shifters
Leela Ash
Copyright ©2017 by Leela Ash. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic of mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
1.
“Mommy! I don’t feel so good!”
Riley groaned as her small daughter looked up at her from bed, her round brown eyes staring as if expecting her mother to, somehow, miraculously make her feel better just with a word.
