by Tara Rose
Micah surprised her one afternoon while she was with Stephen, hunting for fabric for some new clothes she and Emme wanted to make, by presenting her with a new pair of earrings he’d bought from Shelli Branson’s shop. After Stephen paid for the fabric, they took Valerie out into the daylight. It was a rare, sunny late November day, and she admired the red and black beading of the earrings. They sported feathers, of course, and she thought they were the prettiest things she’d ever seen.
“Let’s see what they look like on you.” Micah gingerly took the ones she currently had in out of her ears and replaced them with the new ones, then they moved in front of the feed and grain store so she could admire her reflection in the plate glass window. As she smiled into their eyes, a shiver ran through her. Why couldn’t everything stay this way for the rest of her life?
She was perfectly happy here. The Jargonian family treated her like one of their own, and she had so much fun with Stephen and Micah. She loved being their sub. Serving them gave her immense pleasure. She was cherished, protected, and safe.
“Shelli had a matching necklace, too,” said Micah, with a quick glance toward Stephen.
Valerie’s pulse raced. “Did you buy me that as well?”
Micah laughed and spun her around. “I knew you’d ask that. But I’m not going to tell you.”
She giggled at his teasing tone. The thought of wearing their collar made her giddy with happiness, but they hadn’t said anything to her about a collar since that day in Passion Peak. She wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up again. She felt that was their place to do so, not hers.
But then she remembered that they still didn’t know where her father was, or when and if he’d return. Why would they want to talk about anything so permanent without knowing that? Valerie took their hands and walked around the shops with them, but thoughts of her uncertain future had once again cast a pall over the day.
When would Gary and his jaguars find out something? And what if they never did? How long would Stephen and Micah wait? What if they got tired of it and decided to move on?
She watched them both from under her lashes, laughing and talking with everyone. On the outside, they appeared as easy and carefree as she’d always thought of them. But what if inside they were both wondering how they’d gotten themselves into this? She knew they wanted a mate and a sub. But since neither of them had mentioned formally making her their mate, or collaring her, she assumed they hadn’t yet decided she was the woman they’d been waiting for. And who could blame them?
She had a murderer for a father. He might be part of the League of Exitium. Why would they want a woman like that to be the mother of their cubs, or to be their mate? She pleased them in bed, and they had a lot of fun together, but Stephen and Micah hadn’t been virgins when she’d met them. They’d each had subs and lovers before, though they’d never shared one. What if she ended up as just one more failed attempt at finding what they each craved?
She couldn’t handle that. She was in love with them. Should she tell them so? No. If she did and they didn’t feel the same way, she’d be nothing but a damn fool. She had no choice but to bide her time and wait until there was news of her father. Because the other alternative was to not be in their lives at all, and she couldn’t even imagine that. Not now. Not after everything they’d shared. They were her entire world, and she wanted to be with both of them, forever.
Chapter Nineteen
Stephen woke early Saturday morning from a dream, and as he usually did, he first tried to remember whose room he was in. This time it was Valerie’s. They didn’t spend the night in hers as often as they did in his or Micah’s, because so much of what was in this room had once belonged to Leonard, that both he and Micah felt odd having sex in there. But Valerie made them both so deliriously happy that even when they did end up in this room, it usually didn’t matter by the time they were all naked.
Micah and Valerie were both sound asleep, so he crawled out of bed and used the bathroom, then crept back into the room. It wasn’t quite two in the morning. His mother would be up in three hours, and Valerie would wake as well when the alarm went off, just as she did each morning.
She’d kneel before them, pledge her submission, and then head downstairs to help with breakfast. The only times she didn’t were when he and Micah made love to her instead, but they were both usually pretty hungry when they woke so that didn’t happen too many mornings.
Their routine felt so natural now that at times he couldn’t remember their day-to-day lives before Valerie came to live with them. He was so in love with her that the words almost rolled off his tongue about twenty times a day. But he couldn’t say them. Neither could Micah. Not yet. Not until they knew what would happen with her father.
It’s not that either he or Micah gave a shit about that. She was of age and didn’t belong to her father anymore. But as their father had pointed out one night, after Valerie had fallen asleep and they’d both gone to talk to him about having a formal mating and collaring ceremony with Valerie, if they did that before her father was found, they could end up with a dead mate.
One thing that Stephen had learned about his father. He never pulled any punches. He was right, of course, and even when Stephen and Micah had both pointed out that Valerie or any of them could die at any time, and there were no guarantees in life, he hadn’t given in. He would not give his consent until the questions surrounding her father had been settled, and neither Stephen nor Micah would ever dishonor him and their mother by having the ceremony anyway.
“There are still too many loose ends to tie up,” said his father. “And far too many unanswered questions about her life before she came here, and about her family. We also need to clear Abby’s name. We promised Valerie that we would do that.”
“But we may never find out the truth about Abby or Valerie’s father.”
He’d given Stephen a look of sympathy. “That is true. But you’re forgetting one important detail. If her father is indeed part of the League, what will that do for her standing among the people of this village?”
Stephen and Micah had exchanged a dark glance at that question. Neither of them had forgotten how their friends and neighbors had turned on Abby once they found out her parents had been in the League. She’d lived here among them for over thirty years, and had never given anyone a stitch of trouble. But none of that mattered to a great many residents once the truth had come out. They’d turned on her. Would they do the same to Valerie? She’d only been here four months.
Their father was the law and order in this town. What would it do to their stable village dynamics if his two youngest sons took a mate whose father was not only in the League, but had perverted stones to use dark magic and let himself slip out of their grasp? So far, his father and Gary had been able to keep all that quiet. But if it came out, and he and Micah were formally mated to Valerie by that time, they might well find themselves unwelcome in their own town.
He and Micah had stayed awake for several hours that night discussing it, but hadn’t reached any other conclusion than the one their father had presented. They had to wait. But it was killing Stephen to do. He was twenty-nine years old. He wanted a home of his own and children to fill it. He wanted to live with Micah and Valerie, and have the kind of relationship with her that his parents had with each other.
Sure, they were training her to be a sub, and she was doing an amazing job with that. And they certainly enjoyed sex with her. Now that she was taking the herbal mixture to prevent pregnancy, they only used condoms for anal sex, and the enhanced sensations when their bare dicks were inside her pussy were out-of-this-world-incredible. But Stephen wanted more from Valerie than a sub and a lover. He wanted her to be his partner. He wanted her to be his mate—his wife. And there were days when he was afraid it would never happen.
He crossed to the window and moved aside the heavy drapes just enough to look out over the lake. They left the lights on every night now, and at first all he could see was th
e frozen water. But as his eyes adjusted to the darkness around it, he blinked a few times, convinced there was a man standing at the far edge, facing the house. But the figure was shimmering, not solid. Was it a spirit?
Stephen’s pulse raced and every animal instinct came into play. He watched the spot, shifting his gaze slightly right and left, but suddenly the figure was gone as quickly as he’d first detected it. If you actually saw it. Was that what Valerie had seen standing outside the home she’d shared with Abby? Stephen doubted it. The buildings across the street from Abby’s former home on Pine Bluff Road were much closer to that house than the far edge of the lake was to this window. Whatever she saw would have been larger and sharper.
Stephen watched for several more minutes, but there was nothing out there. He was tired and the lights had played tricks on his eyes, that was all. It was a wonder they all weren’t jumping at shadows by now and imagining they saw people pop in and out around every turn.
He crawled back into bed and curled up as close to Valerie as possible without touching her. He didn’t want to wake her any earlier than she needed to be up. He and Stephen both felt that she didn’t get enough sleep as it was.
* * * *
Valerie couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling all day that she’d forgotten to do something. Or, maybe that wasn’t even it. Maybe Emme was right and it was simply that she’d had a dream and was trying to remember it. She’d mentioned her unsettled feeling to Emme while they were making breakfast, and Emme had told her that sometimes that happened to her, too, when she tried to remember the rest of a dream that niggled at her all day long.
But as the morning wore on, Valerie didn’t think it had anything to do with a dream. It was late in November and the entire village was busy preparing for the Winter Solstice Festival. This year it took place the third weekend in December, which meant they only had four weeks to get everything ready. Emme was sewing costumes like mad, and Valerie was trying her best to help, but was frustrated that she couldn’t do more. Coupled with her restlessness, she was completely out of sorts by lunchtime.
When the men came home to eat, Micah said something about him and Stephen going to the school after lunch so they could help build the sets for the play that a group of teens were putting on for the Festival. Valerie begged to go with them, even if all she could do was run around and fetch nails and hammers, or water for the men working.
“I don’t see why not,” said Drake. “I have business in town with Gary. Emme, do you mind if Valerie is gone for one afternoon?”
“Of course not. Go on. It’ll be fun and will give you a chance to visit with some people in town. I have several friends coming over this afternoon to help with the costumes, so we’re not short-handed in that area.”
Valerie felt better as soon as the plans had been made. That’s all it had been. She’d just needed to get out of the house for an afternoon. As much as she loved the Jargonian house, she felt certain that a change of scenery would help calm her nerves for a while.
When they arrived at the school, there really wasn’t much for her to do. She spent most of the time talking with Mercy, Leonard’s mate, Debbie, Nicolas’s mate, and LeeAnn, Emmett’s mate. All three were helping with other preparations in town, but had stopped by at various times to watch the progress on the sets.
Valerie tried not to be jealous of the three, but it was difficult not to. Debbie was pregnant with hers and Nicolas’s third child, and LeeAnn had given birth to hers and Emmett’s second daughter just weeks ago. Mercy and Leonard had four children already.
Would she ever have children with Stephen or Micah? Would there ever be news of her father? When would this waiting end? The same unsettled feeling she’d had all morning descended on her again, as she watched Stephen and Micah for a few moments. Even the sight of them covered with a fine sheen of sweat, and their rippling muscles as they sawed and hammered didn’t help dispel her uneasy mood.
Stephen caught her eye and winked at her, which helped considerably. She watched him climb off the ladder, admiring the way his ass looked in his jeans. When he reached her, he grinned. “How’s it going?”
“Truthfully, I’m bored to death.”
He frowned for a second, and then his eyes lit up. “Okay. I have a job you can do for me and Micah. But it means wandering through the school a bit.”
“Is that all right?”
He nodded. “I think so. There are plenty of us here and you aren’t going far. I need you to go to the principal’s office and get the master plans for these sets.” He glanced toward two men who were bent over a table, arguing as they pointed toward a piece of paper spread out before them.
Stephen leaned close. “I know the committee who put all this together didn’t mean for us to build the set this way, but I can’t prove it without the master plans. Now let me explain where the office is.”
She smiled as he described how to get there, feeling like a co-conspirator on a secret mission. “I’ll do my best, Captain.”
He chuckled. “I know you will. And if you’re not back in ten minutes I’ll come looking for you.”
Valerie shivered, and for a second she thought that Stephen was going to change his mind and come with her, but then the feeling passed and the hesitation in his eyes faded. “Now get going.”
“Yes, Sir,” she whispered.
She’d never been inside this school before, but one looked the same as another. She’d gone to school in a building similar to this one. It even smelled the same. Her boots echoed on the tile floors as she walked up and down the halls, peering into empty classrooms every now and then.
When she heard footsteps she turned around, assuming that Stephen had decided to come with her after all, but no one was there. The hair on the back of her neck prickled. She glanced around, trying to get her bearings, but she suddenly couldn’t remember Stephen’s directions. She wanted to be back inside the gymnasium. That’s where everyone was. Why hadn’t she’d asked Stephen or Micah to come with her?
Her palms were damp now. She wiped them on her pants, and turned around to try and head back, walking slower this time. Surely she’d only heard someone walking to the bathroom. She must still be close to the gym. The school wasn’t that large, after all.
She listened for voices, as those would tell her whether she was close to the gym again, but the only sounds were her own boots. When the faint echo of a second set of shoes on the tile began to mirror hers again, Valerie’s heart raced. She was overreacting, surely.
When she turned around, once again she saw nothing. “Who’s there? I heard you. Show yourself.” Her voice sounded braver than she felt. The hallway was mostly in shadow now that the light outside was fading.
What if it was her father, using the magic of the stones? Valerie began to whimper softly. She tried to stop the noise, but icy cold fear coursed through her veins as she swore she saw a figure materialize at the end of the hallway. It didn’t take solid form, but she knew it wasn’t a ghost.
This couldn’t be happening. He wouldn’t have come to this place where there were so many people, and followed her down darkened hallways. Why not? He’d shown up in the midst of Gary’s jaguars and pulled a gun on her. He obviously didn’t fear any of them.
Valerie was in a full panic now. She didn’t know what to do. If she ran, he’d chase her down easily, especially if she couldn’t see him. And she didn’t know where she was. She could run blindly down these hallways and find herself at a dead end, trapped like a caged animal.
As she watched the spot, the figure materialized even further, and this time there was no use in pretending it wasn’t him. He still wasn’t completely solid, and Valerie wondered if perhaps the stones didn’t work as well indoors.
It hardly mattered. She stood rooted to the spot for what felt like long moments, trying not to pass out from fear. It was over. He’d kill her, and she’d never look into Stephen’s eyes again, or hold Micah in her arms as they slept. She’d never be collared as their
sub or formally mated to them. She’d never have their children or grow old with them.
She’d never clear Abby’s name. Sometimes, when she was out in the town with Stephen and Micah, she still heard people speak ill of Abby, and it angered her. It wasn’t Abby’s fault that she’d been born to such parents, any more than it was her fault that she’d been born to the man standing at the opposite end of the hall right now.
It couldn’t end this way. It simply couldn’t. As the shadowy figure began to walk slowly toward her, she did the only thing she could think to do. She screamed, as loudly as she could. Valerie heard one sentence before her world went dark. It was the same thing he’d said to her on the road to Jargonian village. “This isn’t over.”
Someone was calling her name, and at first she thought she must be dead and looking down on the scene in the school as a spirit, because she didn’t understand how she could be listening to Stephen and Micah call for her when it should be obvious to them that she had died.
“She’s all right.” That was Micah’s voice. “Go and get my father and Gary. They should both be at my father’s office.”
“I never should have sent her alone,” said Stephen. “But at least now I know that what I saw this morning was real. But why can’t he fully materialize? What’s going on that they didn’t tell us?”
“What?” She sat up, and immediately had to lie back down because she was dizzy. What had happened to her?
“Here, sweetheart. Drink this.” Stephen held something to her lips that smelled like licorice, and she drank a few sips, but it was bitter and she didn’t want to drink anymore. “Now try to sit up again.” She did, and this time the dizziness passed in a few seconds.
