by B. L. Dawn
Tatum considered everything she had just witnessed, but most of all, she thought about Mr. Gray Eyes. So the sexy shifter with the brown hair and gray eyes was called Luke.
Tatum looked over at Enoch, taking in that he hadn’t heard the exchange.
Enoch paced around with a red face. He stopped and stood straight, making eye contact with every member left of his pack. “If you want to stay, eat. Jenny made food for all of you. If not, leave.”
Enoch waited for a minute, but no one responded by leaving. “Good. Meet my family. The last run will be at nightfall.”
Most of the shifters just stood in shock while Enoch made his way back to his house. Bleeding gashes were across his proud back. He stormed through the screen door, leaving everyone at odds on what to do next.
Tatum worried about Jenny. She was the only human in the territory and after hearing Cade’s hateful words, she moved over and sat down beside Jenny, tucking her tail around her legs. If anyone fucked with Jenny, Tatum would beat the ever-living shit out of them, before sending them packing. Jenny trembled before the pack. She was looking back and forth with her eyebrows pinched and her eyes watery.
Grandpa shuffled over to Jenny and clasped her hands. “Hello, dear. This food smells delicious. May I have a bowl?”
Jenny smiled, but she was pushing back tears. “Yes, of course. That would be great.” Her hands had tremors as she poured a bowl for Grandpa.
Eli stepped up and introduced himself to Jenny and Natalie. He took a bowl of stew and brought the spoon to his mouth. With the first bite, he threw his head back and closed his eyes. “For Destiny’s sake, this is good stew.”
It reminded Tatum of James and how he would always trick Eli into eating food by acting as if he loved it.
“Hey, Dean, Leo, come here. Try this.” Eli took another bite. “It’s amazing.” Dean and Leo stepped forward. “Jenny, this is Dean,” Eli said with his mouth full of food.
Dean instinctually held out his hand. He shook Jenny’s hand and gave a nod toward Natalie.
Smiling, Jenny made Dean a bowl of stew. He dug in without saying a word, devouring the contents.
Leo walked up and was already pushing his hand out, ready for a shake. “My name’s Leo. Thanks for making us food.”
“No problem, Leo.” Jenny handed him a full bowl.
Once the stew hit Leo’s mouth, his eyes widened, and he pointed to the stew with his spoon, nodding to no one in particular.
Dean finished his stew, holding it out to Jenny. “Jenny, would you mind if I had another bowl?”
“Not at all. Have as much as you’d like. There’s plenty.”
Natalie poured another bowl for Dean, and once Dean looked like he was about to lick the bowl clean a second time, more pack members came forward. Tatum was glad that the food was pulling them out of their hesitation. If the food weren’t here, what would they all be doing right now, other than looking at one another in confusion after the fight?
The pack members said little introductions, thanking Jenny for the food. They ate quickly before coming back for seconds and thirds. The females of the group liked Jenny and Natalie. They asked questions about where they were going and about the land’s safety for some of their young. They also asked about the amount of food there. Eating and talking, they stood in awe of Jenny and Natalie as they discussed the farm, animals, crops, and the vastness of the land.
Everyone rubbed their stomachs in wails of pleasure. There were huge grins on their faces. Enoch came out of the house, bent over, and kissed Jenny on the forehead before announcing the last run. There were red lines across his back, but it wasn’t bleeding any more.
Many shifters headed home. Tatum figured it was to place their clothes safely inside. Tatum went home as well and got dressed.
Ten minutes later, shifters were walking out of their houses naked. Tatum gave a weak smile over at Jenny and Natalie. “Jenny, I can stay with you and help clean up. And Natalie, would you want to go inside Enoch’s house and shift? I’ll let you out the front door.”
Natalie looked nothing like the sexy female from the club. She looked nervous and acted like she was on the verge of vomiting.
“Yes, thank you,” Natalie said.
James rushed over and interjected. “Hey, Natalie. I don’t know this area well. Would it be okay if we explored it together? I can protect you. I can make sure you get back safe.”
Jenny spoke up instead of Natalie. “That’s a lovely idea. Just don’t go too far.”
Natalie happily nodded and walked into the house, followed by Tatum. Natalie stepped back into a room before undressing, leaving the door cracked. She emerged a wolf and walked over to the front door. Tatum opened it, and Natalie trotted away.
Jenny had already picked up some trash. Tatum jogged over to the SUV and grabbed the trash bags. Flinging one up and down until it opened from the forced air, she held it out for Jenny.
“Didn’t you want to go running?” Jenny asked as she tossed the trash in the bag.
“No. I don’t know this place well. The last run is probably symbolic for the regular pack members. Most likely, it’s their way of saying goodbye. And anyway, I wouldn’t want to leave you here alone.” Tatum gave Jenny a reassuring smile, even though she was really worried about Jenny’s safety.
“Thanks for suggesting that Natalie go inside and shift.”
“Well, I don’t like undressing in front of others. However, I do love shifting and running. It’s freeing.”
“Natalie says the same thing.” Jenny picked up more trash. “Can I ask you a question, just between us?”
“Sure, anything.”
Jenny walked a little closer, leaning over to Tatum’s ear. “Where should I go to use the bathroom?”
Tatum chuckled. “That’s what I wanted to know when I first got here. Come on. I’ll show you.” Tatum ran to her car and grabbed some tissues. Destiny knew there were none in the nasty outhouse.
She waited a few feet away from the outhouse for Jenny to finish. The day was coming to an end and darkness was falling over the land. Tatum could see in the dark, but she knew Jenny would struggle to see when the sun went behind the trees. Jenny came out, and the two of them made their way back to Enoch’s house.
Late into the night, they sat on the porch and talked for a little bit about the farm until late into the night. There would now be enough beds for almost everyone after the fight because some pack members had left. They would still need an air mattress for Lincoln in the living room.
The moon’s soft glow shone down on the territory. They became silent after a while, listening to the cricket’s chirp and the owl’s whistle. Jenny yawned, cueing Tatum to make an exit. Tatum stood up and stretched. “I’m calling it a night. Do you need help finding the bedroom? It’s dark inside, but I can see in the dark.”
“Nah, get going. I’ve got a flashlight on my phone.”
Tatum chuckled. “Okay. Good night.”
Tatum bounced down the porch steps and walked over to her two-day-old little house. She walked in, curling up in her blanket on the couch. Green Lagoon was an okay place, but the farm would be better. Being thrown into the beta position wasn’t what she had wanted, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it now.
In her chest, a sore ache told her that she would never find true happiness because she would always be too different to be considered a female of interest. Still, the feeling of importance that she also felt in helping her race would continue throughout her life. And maybe that was enough. With a last-ditch effort to not remain miserable about her circumstances, she let her mood lighten.
Chapter 15
The minute Natalie went inside her house to shift, James made his way to his little house and stripped down. This was going to happen. Natalie was going to be alone with him, and the relationship was going to either commence or fall so flat that the remains would be paper thin. Would she agree to wait for him and h
ave a long-distance relationship? Shit, he wasn’t sure how curious she would be about this new pack life. Did she want to experience it fully or dip her toes in the water? Dear Destiny, he hoped she wanted to just get a taste of pack life and not the full on free-for-all in the mating arena. He couldn’t handle that. But if he calmed his mind and thought things through logically, he didn’t think she would hurt him like that.
After shifting into his caramel-brown wolf, he dashed outside. The evening was cooling down from the summer heat, and the smell of minty hope was in the air. He figured that smell was just him. The sun was lowering itself below the trees, but the sky remained a light blue. Shifters were leaving with Enoch in wolf form for the last run, but he didn’t plan on staying with that group.
No, he had planned to get alone time with Natalie, and it was working. Walking over to Enoch’s porch, he paced in front of the steps. Jenny was leaning against the house.
The front door swung open, and Natalie in wolf form trotted out and leaped off the porch. She had white fur with a red stripe that traveled down her back, moving from her head to her tail. Her ears were tipped with red fur.
Natalie roughhoused with James, pushing him with her body as she jumped around him. Electric waves of pleasure ran through his body every time she rubbed up against him. James loved seeing her excitement.
Taking off toward the woods, Natalie looked over her shoulder, teasing him into chasing her.
Happy to oblige, he took off, running fast to get her heart pumping.
Natalie faced forward and dash down a clear path. James was surprised and pleased that she didn’t run very fast. Running with some speed wasn’t a problem for him, but with one leg shaped at an odd angle, it sometimes slowed him down, even though he had been working on his muscles to get better use out of his leg.
Natalie turned left into more wooded areas. They ran over dry leaves, broken sticks, and small stones while he gained on her. Trees rushed past them as the cool air traveled in his nose. He watched her running in front of him, admiring every movement she made.
Natalie’s paws touched the ground as if she were weightlessly galloping in front of him. Her white fur rose and fell with two beats when front then back paws met the ground. The rebounds in her steps were light and sprang her forward in a jovial movement. It was the run of a freed wolf.
His paws found traction with the ground, and he pushed himself to go faster. As he got closer, James’s heart burned in his chest. Was it from her presence or the running? He couldn’t tell, but one thing was for sure—their chemistry was igniting a passion inside him that wanted to consume every fiber of his being.
The urge to tackle her and mount her was building in his wolf. Claiming her as his own would have been the highlight of his life. But luckily for him, he knew better. Being raised in the human world as she had been, gave him the advantage to know that he needed to invest time and energy in her, instead of just darting in and taking over her body.
Damn, he needed to control himself. He was at her tail when James leaped through the air, tackling her in the most playful way he could. As they rolled on the ground, she shifted while laughing. He shifted too, landing beside her, adoring her elation.
She gasped and threw her arms up to cover her most private places. She shot James a surprised look. Scooting closer to her face, he met Natalie nose to nose, keeping his body back. “I’m not going to look at you until you want me to.” His eyes were piercing into hers, and it was more intimate than kissing. Her eyes pulled him in and needed him, for what he could only guess—affection, loyalty, stability, protection, attention, pleasure. Either way, it didn’t matter. He was offering her all of these things.
Natalie grinned with her green eyes sparkling. “I’m sorry. I know I’m acting weird.”
James smiled and nuzzled her nose. “You can feel how you want to feel and act how you want to act. I’m never going to think you’re weird.”
“James, can I say something to you?”
James nodded. “Anything.”
Natalie took in a deep breath. “Um...I don’t know for sure how you feel about me, but I like you. I mean…I…really like you. You’re different? I don’t want to scare you away or anything, but I also don’t want to be used.” Natalie paused. “Not by you.”
Did that mean she had been used by other males? Who and how many? He wanted to kill them all.
Natalie bit the side of her lip. “When I met you in the club, it was like a warm feeling entered my chest. When you left, emptiness replaced that warmth. I thought about you all night and couldn’t sleep a wink. I couldn’t believe it when you called. It was like taking a needed breath.”
Natalie shook her head. “If you’re just messing with me and plan on hanging me out to dry, I can’t handle that. I’m not saying I haven’t been with other males, but you’re different.”
A menacing growl rumbled through James at the idea of another male being with Natalie. Although he had been with other females, the idea of her being open wide for someone else had him seeing red. He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down. “Natalie Greer.” Another breath. Calm down, he thought. “I plan to keep you forever. From the moment I first met you, I have ached for you in every way imaginable. Hearing that you feel the same way about me is the only thing that I wanted to hear tonight. I’ve been thinking about you non-stop.”
A tear, one small heartfelt tear, rolled over the bridge of Natalie’s nose. “What kinds of things have you been thinking?”
James smiled and cocked an eyebrow. “Hmmm. Well, I’ve been thinking…that if you ever mate with another male, I will kill him.”
Natalie laughed and slapped James on the arm. He chuckled despite the fact that he knew it was true.
James pushed one of her stray hairs behind her ear. “I’ve also been thinking of spending the rest of my life with you, mating with you endlessly, and getting you blissfully pregnant with my young. You want to be a nurse, and I think it’s a great idea. You deserve to work and make your own money. I’ll stay faithful to you and wait for you. I want to ask you to do the same for me. I’m going to see where my degrees take me. When I make enough money, I want to buy a huge piece of land, where we can have young and run free. We can be away from prying eyes. But if the career thing doesn’t work out, I still want to make you mine.”
“I’d like that very much.” Natalie’s hand left her breasts as she drew James in for a soft kiss. Her hands held him there as her eyes darted back and forth over his features. “James, I think I love you.”
“I know I love you, Nat.” James kissed Natalie’s lips again. When she opened to take a quivering breath, he entered her mouth, exploring her, tasting her, enjoying being inside her at least in this way. He could smell her need to unite with him, but he wanted to wait until they owned a house. He didn’t want to mate with her on the damp ground. “I want to wait to make love with you. Even though I long to be inside you.” James pulled a leaf out of her red hair. “Let’s just lie here and talk about our future together.”
As they lay on the forest ground making plans, James let his fingertips travel the distance from her shoulder to her wrist as she talked. Her green eyes held him to the spot, taking full control over his brain. She spoke while his erection kept reminding him that he was fully male.
During this small private time together, James took in that Natalie’s makeup was different than it had been at the club. That night, her eyes had been dark with eyeliner, but now they were lined in soft brown and done in natural colors.
Natalie pressed her lips into his, giving James a rush all over his body. Her smile left him breathless as she pulled away from him.
“May I ask you what happened to your leg?” Natalie asked.
“Just an old injury. It’s a long story.”
Natalie smiled. “I’ve got time.”
James felt pain enter his chest as he remembered the day that changed his life forever. “It happened
the day the Blackwater Pack had been attacked. Shifters from my village were screaming, and males were yelling…” James paused and felt anger heat his face. “My father left to find my mother. It must have been too late, because when he came back, she wasn’t with him, and he was bleeding from…from…everywhere.” His chest tightened. “Tatum had the idea that we could get away if we used the river. We ran for our lives. Our only hope was to jump into Blackwater River to stop our scent trail and let it carry us away. It was a deadly river, full of rapids, rocks, boulders; you name it, that river had it. I broke my leg in that river and didn’t have time to reset it. We had to keep moving. It healed incorrectly before we ever found a safe place to rest.”
James stopped and wiped a tear that was running from Natalie’s eyes. “To make a long story shorter, the fate maker helped us along the way, and we survived. Now I’m here with you, which is exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
They talked for hours before they decided to shift and head back to the village. James wanted to peek at her body but was glad he didn’t. Destiny knew if he gazed at her standing nude in the moon’s light, he would go ahead and mate with her—to hell with good intentions.
Natalie shifted back into wolf form as James looked away. After he shifted, he followed her back to the village, where he dropped her off at the front porch. Jenny opened the door, and James gave her a nod before walking over to his house. Yes, he might have the worst case of blue balls in the history of shifters, but he would treat Natalie right. He would provide her with every luxury she wanted. What other male shifters could offer her that kind of life?
Chapter 16
The next morning, Enoch pulled Jenny into his warm, hard body. Spooning with her was a great feeling. He didn’t know what he loved most about it, their magnetic pull to one another, the sexual tension always on the surface, or the protection he held over her as her tiny frame curled into his. There was something about her scent that was off, but he couldn’t tag the smell. Enoch breathed her in, filling his nose and mouth with a sensory overload. Saliva filled his mouth as his cock grew in anticipation of mating. But it would have to wait. They had to start moving the pack members today.
