Ford reached out for her, and she slapped his face. “Don’t fucking touch me. I would’ve told you eventually. Do you know how difficult being invisible in school for years is and then meeting these popular kids who wanted to get to know me? They brought me into their inner circle and filled a void in me. For the first time, I had girlfriends. We talked, and they didn’t want to fuck my brothers. Fuck, they didn’t want to fuck anyone, just wanted to earn some easy money and a name for themselves. And I knew fighting was wrong. But the matches made me feel good, invincible.” She sliced the air with her hand. “No harm came from fighting on the human level. Nothing…until people found out and our secret games came crashing down. They assumed because I was fighting in a bra and shorts I was doing more….” Caress barked a crazy laugh. “The fact that you snooped into my past while smiling in my face crushes me. Who does that?” Caress took off her gardening gloves and swiped away her tears. “Thank you for breaking my heart, Ford.” She stormed off in the opposite direction, with Myanna trailing after her.
“Caress.”
She lengthened her stride. I’m a fool.
“Caress,” Ford yelled. ”Come back.”
When she didn’t, a blur ran past her, heading in the same direction Luck had gone. She stumbled to a stop. Holy fuck, he’s going to murder his nephew. Luck meant well, she knew he didn’t have romantic feelings for her, just brotherly, or rather nephewly ones. Her stomach pitched and twisted.
Luck respects my privacy and only knows about the fight club because Myanna needed a confidant. She squeezed her eyes shut. When he came to me and advised me to talk to Ford, I should have. But with the deaths, the last thing I wanted to do was paint a worse picture of myself.
In the month she’d lived with Ford, he’d given her space to heal, joined her during her weekly meeting with Dr. Dunn, and followed each meeting with a date night. They hadn’t mated yet, but they had to be close. Sleeping in the same bed gave him ample opportunity to go further than third base.
Now she knew why he hadn’t. He couldn’t get over her illegal activities from the past.
“Caress. Moon Goddess to Caress.” Myanna reached over and pinched her.
Caress growled and looked up. “What?”
“Snap out of it. You’ve been in this tearstained haze for like two minutes. We have to get to your house to protect Luck.”
“You don’t think Ford will hurt him, do you?”
“I don’t know. Luck’s never lost his shit at authority, not even to his uncle. This is bad. Their wolves are both dominants. Luck is pretty much a mini Ford. Right now, his Wolf believes you need protection from your mate, and he is willing to put himself between the two of you. If Ford can’t control his Wolf, it could get bloody…the kind of bloody I’m not sure everyone would recover from.”
Caress swallowed a lump of fear. She didn’t want her friend hurt or her mate breaking a bond over her past mistakes.
“I’m sorry I told him the truth.” Tears pooled in Myanna’s eyes. “He’d found out a lot of it. But I did fill in the blanks. I just…. He wanted to know everything from your past so he could protect you. It made sense at the time. Still…I wouldn’t blame you if you never spoke to me again.”
Caress threw her arms around her best friend. “It’s all right. The incident on the highway fucked everything up. He probably wanted to ask me but worried about my emotional state. And Luck told me to share.” She stepped back. “I should’ve told him.”
Myanna’s brow furrowed. “So, we’re okay?”
“We’re good.”
Acknowledging her hand in this debacle, she stormed the rest of the way home, tying her hair in a knot and tucking it inside her shirt in case she had to intervene. Jemmalou, one of her students, bumped into her at the door.
Grunts and bangs met their ears. The girls padded their way into the living room with caution. Plaster and sheetrock lay in shambles on the floor. Both men faced off, white dust particles sprinkled in their dark hair. Low growls and snarls flew out of the two circling each other in the main foyer, trading punches. At least Ford appeared to be holding back his full strength. Until Luck swiped, tearing Ford’s chest open. A dark guttural growl left her mate’s lips as he pinned his nephew by the neck with his clawed hand and shoved him through the front door. The ornate piece crashed to the ground in glass shards and chunks of splintered wood.
Caress covered her mouth with her hands, afraid of what would happen next as the two men stood and swiped away blood. Claw marks marred each of their chests. Their tattered shirts lay on the floor, tie-dyed with crimson, grass and grime, and white dust.
“You were wrong, Uncle,” Luck spat. “Own it. I don’t care if you beat my ass. She deserves better than that. You know it.”
They scrambled out onto the porch.
“Remember your place, boy. You’re not grown yet. You don’t have a responsible bone in your body,” Ford raged. “My mate, my concern. I do not answer to a whelp.” He slapped the back of Luck’s head. “Best you remember not to rile the beast lest you find yourself shoved through another goddamn door.”
“I’m not sorry.” Luck gave Caress a weak smile.
“Do not come between me and my mate again, or there will be dire consequences. If you have a fucking issue, you be a man and come talk to me in private. What happens in this family is no one’s business but our own. What you did was paint a picture of her past in front of present pack members. She did not deserve to be humiliated by your immature outburst.”
Staying in the background, Caress wanted to interrupt. Myanna held tight to her, preventing her from approaching. The atmospheric change brought about a calming effect to her Wolf. The testosterone dropped to a tolerable level. Luck struggled to stand up straight. He had to be in a world of pain.
“Ask me why I chose to garner information from her friend.” Ford took a seat on the steps and wiped the blood trickling down his jaw.
Luck followed suit. “Why?”
“To make sure her attack wasn’t connected to her hometown and was really just some random attack. That might sound bad, but I don’t want to have to worry about loose ends from her previous school. To keep her safe, I will do whatever it takes, even if doing so pisses her off and breaks her trust in me.”
Luck stretched his body and rubbed his neck. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Son. When your mate is threatened, sense goes out the fucking window and instinct kicks in. One day, you’ll feel what that’s like. Now, get out and take Myanna and everyone else with you. Caress and I are overdue for a conversation.”
“Yes, sir.” Luck stood and moved past Ford, motioning for her best friend to follow him out.
“And, Luck?” Ford paused. “Stop by the gym and schedule grappling time. I never should’ve been able to get a swipe in.”
Slack jawed, she stood in amazement as the two Neanderthals dissected their fight. How on earth did they cause each other damage and then just brush it off like nothing out of the ordinary occurred? Myanna waved bye and headed out the door with Luck.
“I don’t even know what to think right now. Did that just happen? You two beat each other bloody and then sat down and had a normal talk?”
“How else is he going to learn how to be a man, a promising dominant? We get mad, we scrap. We bleed and move forward once we’ve cooled down. He’s not a little boy anymore. I can’t just yell at him. If his Wolf wants to go a round or two, I’m happy to oblige, especially when he needs to be taken down a peg and put in his place.”
“That’s not nice.”
“He’s impulsive and hurt you. Luck could’ve avoided causing the scene if he didn’t let his anger get the best of him. The boy needs to learn humility and to use his intelligence to drum up a better solution than sparking a public fight with me. His maturity will come in time. Until then, he’s at an age where it’s normal to voice an opinion and foolish to instigate his Wolf into an altercation to prove his
point.”
“I just don’t want you two fighting over me. He isn’t in love with me, he’s just a good friend. My brothers? They fight, but they don’t draw blood…much.”
“Every young man butts heads with the father figure in his life, multiple times as a shifter. I would never hurt him any worse than he would me. Our beasts know when to reel it in. Even if I thought he threatened our bond, I’d contain him until he came to his senses, or call Ryker and have him tossed in a holding cell for a few days to reflect.” Ford stood and strode inside to the living room and sat on the couch. “Come here.” Exhaustion laced his voice.
Not sure she wanted to go just yet, Caress crossed her arms over her chest, holding her spot a few feet away from him, waiting him out.
Ford gave an exasperated sigh and leaned back on the couch. “Stubborn woman. We have to talk, babe, and doing so would be easier if you moved closer to me. Come here.” His words came as more of a request this time. Odd, since he didn’t add any other words.
Her Wolf surged under her skin, wanting to obey. Was this the mojo he used on Myanna? “Why should I come to you?”
“So I can apologize. Fuck it.” He stood and moved to her. His sexy mesmerizing eyes locked on hers. “I just wanted to know what you were hiding and if there was a connection to those bastards who could’ve worked for an even bigger asshole. I located a list of those high-paying individuals, needed to ascertain they weren’t part of a bigger picture. You’ve done so well this past month. I didn’t want my knowledge of your past to derail your progress or make you wonder if I think less about you. I don’t care about the illegal mess you landed in, just about keeping your safe.”
“My brothers were so upset. How can you not be? How can you not think I deserve being behind bars, now that you know how real those fights were, how stacked the odds were for the humans fighting me? I made a ton of money for others from their pain and cocky arrogance in wanting to take me down.”
Ford chucked her chin and lifted so her gaze meet his. “Because, in the past month, you’ve let me in to know you. Wanting to know acceptance and build a reputation is normal. Using your skills the way you did was not the right path. You should’ve told Ravage you wanted to follow his path and made a decision to fight other female shifters. Not get caught up in the mess you did where he had to literally pay people off and call on old debts to get you out clean without harm or worse issues with human law enforcement.” He took a breath and ran his hand over her back. “I don’t, however, like the visual of those boys having their hands on you, causing you to bleed and hurt. I know you’ve experimented with other guys, but my Wolf and I are beyond pleased the treasure between your thighs remains intact. Teaching you the joys of sex between mates, the true connection, is an honor all mine.” Ford twined his fingers with hers, drawing her to the couch. When he sat, he tugged her onto his lap, forcing her to straddle his lap, facing him.
“You are still on my bad side,” she groused.
“Yeah? I can live with that, for now.” Ford rested his hands on her hips, the pads of his fingers brushing her skin. “Since I know about your past, it’s only fair you know about mine. In all the years I’ve had Luck, I’ve only brought home one woman, one I planned on marrying, a human. We didn’t live here when I met her, nor did she ever come here. After breaking up with her, I worked my ass off to keep my mind busy for too many years. When I heard about Los Lobos and Drew killing Magnum and taking over the pack, let’s just say, Luck and I moved in a few months before you did. My Wolf sensed a good fit.”
“Did you love her?”
“I thought maybe I did. Being with her felt comfortable. Nice but not a deep-driven need to spend eternity with her. Maybe she shared the same vibe, I don’t know. I worked a lot in those days, wasn’t home much when she wanted quality time, so she started finding it elsewhere.”
“She hurt you.” Caress touched his chest. “You let her get to know Luck and you, and she betrayed you. I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “Not your fault. Cherie was a grown woman but a few years younger than I was and always wanting to go somewhere, never content to just sit and do nothing. I never told her about us shifting.”
“Ahh, you didn’t trust her with your secret.”
“No. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice Luck’s safety in case she flipped out and spouted off at the mouth.” He grimaced. “And speaking of secrets, I owe you an apology. I am sorry invaded your privacy by looking into your past without coming to you first. You heard my reasoning behind wanting to protect you. But there’s no excuse.” He shook his head. “As my mate, I should’ve just come and asked you. That being said, as my mate, you should also know there are no bounds to what I’d do to protect you.”
“I know. We’re okay.” Caress slid off his lap and tucked her feet under his legs. She waited for him to continue.
Ford lifted her feet onto his lap and began to massage from heel to toe, concentrating the longest on the arches. “Yeah well, I wasn’t sure I’d ever find my mate. Some Wolves wait decades. Having her around was nice enough, until I began scenting other males on her. I put a halt to us then. Luck turned eighteen during the summer, and he found her naked in his bed. Figured if she couldn’t have one Giovanni, she’d have the other. He called me, and I kicked her out and changed the locks. I received news she was in a bad way and died not long after.” His brows dipped, his forehead scrunched with repressed anguish. “Not surprising with the company she kept. That was two years ago, I haven’t been in a relationship since. Couldn’t afford to bring anyone else around Luck.”
Chapter Nine
“But you’re a man. Don’t you need to blow off steam?”
Ford chuckled. “I haven’t been a monk. Just no complications. Course, then you came along and turned my world upside down. One big complication—a sexy young one.”
“If you weren’t the best foot masseuse in the world, I’d have an issue with being called a complication.” She wiggled her toes for him to continue. “Knead away, feels so good. You got some foot fetish I should know about?” she asked, peeking an eye open.
Ford snorted. “No. I do not. So don’t ask me to suck your toes,” he teased and slapped the bottom of her foot then massaged her ankles and calves.”
“Gonna have a footgasm in a moment.” She yawned and stretched. “Thank you for telling me about your ex. I’m glad she’s not around, sad that she’s dead, but pleased you didn’t marry her. I mean could you imagine then meeting me and having to divorce her? And what if you’d had children, you’d have to have taken them with you, leaving her all alone with nothing.”
“Yeah, that would’ve been harsh. Can’t explain the whys to humans out of the loop. I’m sorry you had to learn about my relationship with Cherice from Luck and not me.”
“I’d planned on talking to you about Alder College at some point. Ravage never did tell me the entire breakdown of how he fixed my mess, but I’m not an idiot. I know my actions cost him a lot, monetary and not.”
“A man holds some things deep to himself. There are probably truths you don’t need to hear or need to know. In all regards, he’s been more of a father to you than an older brother and deserves the respect of a caregiver.”
“I know he does.” Caress let out a sigh. “You’re a good man, Ford. Even though it pisses me off you made my best friend squeal and made her feel uncomfortable around me, I know you’re not a selfish person who wanted to humiliate me. At first, I couldn’t wrap your actions around my hurt heart, but I know you, too. You love fierce and protect just as fierce. I know more about you now. So do my brothers, or I’m sure they would’ve intervened out there.”
“You’re the most important addition to my life aside from my nephew who is more of a son to me.” Ford chuckled. “Yeah, Ravage called me on my cell as I was chasing after Luck. Raze yelled for me to not kill him once I caught up. Ravage wanted to know if I needed someone to hold me back from Armageddon.”
S
he shook her head, the memories replaying in her mind. “You petrified me. I actually believed you’d both go so far to a point where either of you could turn back. I’ve never even seen my brothers that angry at one another.”
“Are you kidding me? I saw them sparring. You can’t tell me you’ve never seen them go hard core. I bet they do and you just don’t know. That’s how it is at times, minus the blood. Though sometimes, a little bloodletting is good for the beasts.”
Caress rolled her eyes. “I’m not making you a poultice now. At least your face is healing fast. Your lip’s no longer split, and I don’t think Luck broke your nose.”
“You can nurse me back to health after I shower.”
“I don’t think either one of you deserve nursing.” Caress furrowed her brows in all seriousness.
“Like he’s not playing it up for all it’s worth with Myanna.”
“Luck is cupcaking on Myanna.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Cupcaking?”
“Old man.” She giggled. “Crushing. Your boy has a big time crush on Myanna.”
“Ahh. Well, maybe he is with her tonight, then, and still getting the sympathy vote. Boys do that, you know.”
“So do grown men. How are your ribs? By the looks of the disaster area, FEMA should be called in to orchestrate a cleanup.”
“I’m fine, Caress. Let’s head upstairs. You can help this old man shower.”
“Ha. Not on your life.” She jerked her thumb toward the television. “I’m going to grab a bowl of ice cream and watch Sons of Anarchy season one on DVD. God, I love that series.”
Promiscuous Wolf Page 9
