by Lisa Kessler
But I’d never seen a cabin like this before.
I parked and headed inside. Adam met me at the door, clasping my forearm, his gaze locked on mine. “Ready for this?”
I nodded in spite of being far from ready. “I guess so.”
He chuckled. “They’re going to love you.” He lowered his voice. “It’s your mate I’m going to have a tough time explaining.”
I followed him into the expansive living room. The vaulted ceiling and glass wall looking out on the crystal-clear lake left me breathless. For just a second, I almost forgot he was about to inform the Pack they had a new member.
The others were on the couches, and a few stood along the back wall. Of course I recognized Luke and Raven, and I’d met Logan and Jason before, too, but the rest of the Pack were strangers. Adam cleared his throat and led me into the room.
“Thanks for coming by early tonight. I’ve already told most of you, but I wanted to make it official and introduce our newest Pack member, Raven’s sister, Isabelle Wood. I don’t know if I’d be standing here in front of you without her help.”
Cheers and applause filled the space while I awkwardly tried to figure out what to do with my hands.
A squeal came from behind me. I turned just as little Madeleine launched herself into the air. I caught her and squeezed her tight.
She pulled back, craning her neck toward her mom. “Mama, this is ‘Belle. She brought me to Daddy.”
After reading so much about Lana in the past few weeks, I felt like I already knew her, even though this was technically our first official meeting. I set Madeleine on the ground, and Lana opened her arms toward me. “I’m a hugger.”
I chuckled, giving her a warm hug. She stepped back, her eyes shining. “Thanks for bringing my family back to me.”
In my line of work, I wasn’t used to praise or thank-yous. I shrugged. “I’m glad I could help.”
Madeleine dragged an adorable boy up to me. I knelt down and smiled. “You must be Malcolm.”
He had dark, curly hair like his dad, and very light eyes, almost silver. His gaze wasn’t so much shy as contemplating. I had the distinct feeling I was meeting a very old soul in that small body.
“Thanks for saving my sister. Grandpa was a bad man.”
A lump formed in my throat. Someday these kids would have questions about Antonio Severino. I hoped they’d be satisfied with “bad man” and not dig any deeper.
“Your sister is very brave. I bet she learned it from you.”
“We’re both brave.” He grabbed Madeleine’s hand, a wrinkle forming on his brow. “But she forgets to follow rules sometimes.”
I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing at his serious expression. “I’m glad you’re back together again.”
There was a line of succession with werewolf Packs. The Alpha’s oldest son became the next to lead. Someday, little Malcolm was going to be a great leader.
I faced the Pack again, unsure what to say. I glanced at Adam and back to the group. “Thanks for the warm welcome. I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone better.”
I stopped myself before I started to sound like a creepy politician. Adam smiled at me, settling my nerves a little.
We’d agreed not to mention Sebastian’s entry into the Pack until he was here physically. Of course Luke, Raven, and Jason already knew Sebastian was my mate, and Logan probably suspected. Sebastian had told Sasha as well, but according to Adam she only confided in her mate, Aren. So roughly half the Pack knew, but they were keeping silent for now.
Adam introduced me around, and I did my best to remember names. Not my strong suit. But everyone seemed welcoming, and they loved my sister, so I figured they must be good judges of character.
That could all change when Sebastian walked through the door.
I tried to push the thought from my mind. For now, I needed to figure out how this Pack managed full-moon nights. Back in Sedona with Caldwell, we hiked a couple miles into the middle of nowhere and shifted. Each wolf had to submit to his authority, and then we ran.
Adam took me into the kitchen. “These days we always have plenty of food out for the full and new moons. Lana’s idea.” He smiled at his wife and back to me. “She wants her jaguar to have a very full belly before she runs.”
I chuckled and nodded. “Kinda gross to wake up and realize you ate something…raw.” I grabbed a plate and started filling it. “So who watches the little guys?”
“Lana and Sasha are jaguar shifters, and Taryn is still human, so she doesn’t shift at all. The three of them protect Malcolm and Madeleine, and you haven’t even met Jason and Kilani’s twins yet. They’re just starting to walk, so we’ve got our hands full.”
A boy in a soccer uniform came in the kitchen, and Adam snagged him, pulling him over. “And this is Charlie. He’s our resident club soccer champ and Taryn and Jared’s son. He helps with the younger kids, too.”
Little Malcolm peeked around the corner. “He’s a wolf like me, but we don’t tell people.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Charlie’s mom got real mad.”
I looked at Adam. “You said Taryn was human, right?”
“She is.”
I frowned. “Then how…”
“She’s a strong psychic.” He shook his head. “Story for another day.” Adam knelt and opened his arms. Malcolm ran over, and Adam picked him up, settling him onto his shoulders. “Once the sun sets, we’ll head out into the woods and shift. I’ll call everyone together, and you should run with your sister and Luke or with me and my brother, Aren. No one runs alone in this Pack.”
I hiked out with Raven and Luke. My baby sister didn’t need me to look out for her anymore, but I couldn’t help it. When we were far enough from the others to keep them from hearing us, Raven glanced over at me. “When is Sebastian going to be here?”
“I don’t know. I’m flying out to New York tomorrow. I should know more then.”
She stopped walking. “When were you going to tell me?”
“Sorry.” I shrugged. “It just came up.” I shook my head slowly. “Things have been weird with Sebastian, so…”
She frowned. “Weird how?”
“He’s been distant. Our calls are shorter, just surface chat.” I knew why now, but saying it out loud was a relief.
I didn’t mention my drive to California and back to hide the Nero file in my safe-deposit box. I trusted my sister with my life, but I didn’t want to put hers in jeopardy by sharing information that might make her a target.
Luke was ahead of us, but he stopped and walked back. “I’ve been trying not to listen, but I think you need to know this.”
I crossed my arms. “All right.”
He glanced at Raven and back to me. “Once Jason cleared him for travel, I drove Vance back to Sedona.”
My shoulders tensed up. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “But he told me something. He said I’d know when it was the right time to share it.”
“Okay, you’re making me nervous.”
He chuckled. “Sorry. It’s not bad. Just…” He shook his head. “Usually when I’m talking about Sebastian, it’s not anything good.”
“The digs are starting to piss me off.”
Luke sobered. “He killed Gareth’s brother, Gabe. We’re not going to forget that. One of our packmates is dead.”
Raven touched his arm. “She knows.”
I frowned. “But you’d be all right with Gabe killing Sebastian. Hell, Gabe probably would’ve been a damned hero.” The wolf was clawing her way to the surface. My skin crawled, my body aching to shift. I ground my teeth, fighting it.
Luke’s pupils dilated, his hands balling into fists. “He was on our territory.”
Raven moved in between us. “Enough. You both need to shift. You’re not thinking clearly.”
She was probably right. I stalked off toward a tree, grumbling, “Sebastian almost died saving Adam and Madeleine.”
Luke called from behi
nd another tree. “That might not be enough for Gareth.”
Raven groaned. “Trying to focus over here.”
Luke growled. “Vance said Sebastian is crazy in love with you, Isabelle.”
His words sucked the fight out of me. I pulled off my top and yelled back, “Thanks, Luke.” I paused, then added, “Sorry I was a jerk.”
“Me, too,” he grunted, already shifting.
I hooked my clothes over a branch to keep the critters out of them and pulled in a deep breath. The sharp pain dropped me to my knees like I’d been sucker punched. I panted for air as my joints snapped and my face stretched.
Before Raven bit me, she tried to warn me, to stop me from taking this step, but shit, I couldn’t leave her in Caldwell’s Pack alone. I’d pressured her to make me like she was.
If I’d had any concept of the agony of shifting, I might’ve made a different choice.
Dark fur pushed through my skin like a million needle pricks. I would’ve screamed if my voice box still existed. By the time the metamorphosis finished, I was lying on my side, panting. The wolf had control now. I stood up on wobbly legs, shaking off the last grip of pain. In the distance, my Alpha howled. I stepped into the clearing, waiting for Raven and Luke.
When they came out, Luke bumped me away from my sister. I snapped at his nose, and she set us both straight by bolting off toward Adam’s call. Racing through the trees, I stretched my legs, reveling in the total freedom.
Another howl cut through the night, joined by two more. I slowed as I came to the clearing and found myself surrounded by eleven wolves. I made twelve. My Pack. Adam stood in the center. He came toward me, his green eyes alert and focused. I froze as he sniffed my coat.
He nipped at my muzzle, and instinct took over. I crouched down until my belly was on the ground, recognizing his dominance as my Alpha. He chuffed and turned to the others and howled. I got to my feet, called by the song. I tipped my head back and poured all my emotion into the chorus of howls.
I finally found my true Pack.
Chapter Thirty-One
Sebastian
I waited in the Lincoln town car, hidden behind tinted windows. Hundreds of travelers passed by, none of them Isabelle. I’d given her a plane ticket without any confirmation she would actually use it.
After she read the horrors in my father’s secret files, there was a very real chance I might never see her again. Who would blame her?
I rubbed my hands on my black slacks, realizing for the first time I was nervous.
Schooled inside Nero’s walls, I’d never dated as a teen. When I ventured into the world as a man, my confidence in my abilities as an assassin carried over into my personal life. While my mother had insisted on me reading and memorizing lines of poetry by masters like Shakespeare, Poe, and Frost in the hopes she could keep me from losing myself in my world of death, I’d quickly learned the effect they had on women.
Rejection was something I’d never really had to face. Over the years, as the thrill of seducing women lost its luster, I risked longer relationships, but neither ended well. Sasha was my first, but somehow my father had discovered I cared for her. His ultimatum left me with no choice but to find her during the new moon and bite her.
Sasha’s cold glare of disgust when she’d realized what I’d done, what she had become, hurt me. Perhaps I’d been naive, but on some level, I’d thought she would be honored to have new abilities, to be better than humans. But when she finally knew the truth about who and what I was, whatever affection she once had for me was lost forever.
Then I’d met Grace. She taught literature at a community college. We could talk for hours about the beauty of the written word. Her passion for her work drew me in. She was the first woman who ever made me wish my life could be different.
She deserved so much better. My petulant father had been angry at me for defying his order to bring in Lana. Grace paid the price with her life.
I swore that day I would never care for another woman. My attention put them in danger.
And here I was in the back of a limo with a dozen long-stemmed roses and my heart pounding like a boy’s on his first date.
I checked my phone. The plane had landed twenty minutes ago. Still no sign of Isabelle.
The nerves were new. I’d cared for Sasha and Grace, but being with Isabelle made me realize I’d never been in love before.
Until Isabelle, I’d never been able to be myself.
I had no secrets from her. She knew the good and the bad, and somehow, in spite of me being far from upstanding, she saw something in me that I never had. She believed I could change, that redemption was possible.
Her love empowered me, and with Isabelle, I’d found an equal, a partner.
I hadn’t been lying when I sent her the files. She was the only person I could trust to read them and hide them.
And not once had I worried Nero’s secrets would be shared.
I sure as hell didn’t deserve her after all I’d done.
A few more people trickled out of the doors, tugging their coats closed against the wind.
Not Isabelle.
Maybe she wasn’t coming. I rubbed my chest. If she left me, this would be a pain I’d never endured before. I leaned over, resting my elbows on my knees as I stared at my patent-leather loafers. Tonight had been a stupid idea.
I tossed the flowers on the seat and pulled the tickets out of my pocket. Across from me the black dress she’d worn to the senator’s gala taunted me.
I raked my fingers back through my hair, and suddenly the door opened. I grabbed the flowers just as Isabelle leaned down to get inside. Her eyes widened, and the sight of her smile obliterated all the doubts I’d had a second before.
I offered her the roses, whispering, “I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
“Romeo and Juliet.” She took in the scent and smiled. “Nice touch.”
The driver closed the door, and I pulled her into my arms. She set the bundle of flowers aside, moaning as her tongue tangled slowly with mine. I ran my hands down her back. No gun tonight. I gripped her ass, lifting her onto my lap. She straddled me, grinding her hips until I was so hard the zipper was in jeopardy.
She broke the kiss, breathless. “I missed you.”
“Likewise.”
She whispered against my lips, “Why are you in a tuxedo?”
I kissed my way down her delicious neck. “Look in the flowers.”
She plucked up the tickets and gasped. “Oh my God. Romeo and Juliet. On Broadway.” She glanced at her T-shirt. “I’m not dressed for this.”
“That why I brought you a dress.”
She twisted around and laughed. “The dress and shoes from the senator’s thing.”
I nodded slowly and snapped the tickets from her hand, hunger in my eyes. “You should get changed.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Isabelle
I raised a brow. “In the car?”
“It’s just us.” The desire in his voice did me in. Not that Sebastian in a tuxedo looking like some sort of Italian James Bond wasn’t enough, but knowing he wanted me and seeing it in his eyes had heat pooling low in my belly, and rational thought was kicked to the curb.
The divider was up between us and the driver, and the seats were longer. I couldn’t stand up, but I could stretch out. I moved to the seat across from him and pulled off my shirt.
He shifted in his seat. “I could help.”
“No.” I shook my head. “You can watch.” I wet my lips. “I’ll let you know when I need you.”
Since I’d turned eighteen, I’d worked in a male-dominated field. I wore Tshirts, jeans, and beat-up tennis shoes. But when he looked at me, I didn’t feel like a tomboy. His gaze said I was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen, and with him, I believed it.
I reached back to free the hooks on my bra, my eyes locked on his. As I slid the straps down, he widened his stance, making it impossible not to notice the effect my body was having on him.
I popped the button on my pants and slowly lowered the zipper. I lay back on the long seat and raised my hips so I could slide my jeans down. When they were to my knees, I ran my hands back up my body, enjoying the way his eyes followed, his jaw tight with restraint.
Reaching toward him, I whispered, “I need you.”
In less than a second, he was on my side of the limo. He slid my jeans and panties off, tossing them aside. His hand glided up the inside of my leg, his lips brushing my thigh. “We don’t have much time, but I have no self-control when it comes to you.”
“Fuck self-control.”
“Well said.” He lowered his head, feasting on me until my body writhed under him.
Growling, he used two fingers, opening me farther as his tongue worked faster. My fingernails dug into the upholstery as I struggled to keep from completely messing up his hair.
“Don’t stop,” I gasped, my muscles tensing.
I rocked my hips, my inner muscles clenching around him. I called his name, trembling as my orgasm came over me like a tidal wave. He kissed his way up my body and whispered against my earlobe, “You are so beautiful, Isabelle.”
I chuckled and turned my head. “You don’t think we’re done, do you?”
He glanced out the tinted windows. “We’re only a few blocks away.”
I grabbed the dress and slid it over my head, then opened his zipper. “We can be fast.”
His smile warmed me all over. I eased his erection out of his boxers and his slacks, stroking him slowly as I straddled him. He lifted my skirt, treating us both to the sight of his shaft disappearing into me. I tipped my head back, balancing myself on his shoulders as I worked into his hips, riding him fast and hard. His hands slid under the dress, gripping my ass tight as he thrust up into me.
“Come with me, Isabelle,” he growled.
I brought one hand between us, rubbing myself. It didn’t take much to have my body aching for release again. His grip on me tightened until he finally erupted inside me.
My body tensed as I followed him over the peak, milking him slowly. I collapsed against his chest, and his arms encircled me.
