by Dannika Dark
“I can help,” Mom volunteered. “Ivy can come along and we girls will see what needs to be done. I’ve laid my own flooring, installed crown molding, and even wallpapered three rooms.”
“True story,” I said, chewing a piece of bread. “Don’t even get her started on landscaping. You have no idea who you’re messing with; my mom can wallpaper Alcatraz and you’d think it was a bed and breakfast.”
She slapped my hand jokingly and I smirked, sipping on my glass of sweet tea.
“I’d appreciate that, Lynn,” Austin said.
Awkward.
Austin had always called her Mom. Always. It was never Mrs. Knight or even by her first name. That’s just how he saw her. Maybe he felt like he had disappointed her and his privileges were revoked.
Mom tapped her fork on her plate, pushing around the cucumbers. I don’t think she knew how to go about addressing the topic, but I could tell it was on her mind.
“Damn, this is fucking good,” Wheeler exclaimed from the counter he sat on. “If you don’t go back to work, then I’ll hire you as our personal chef,” he offered, wiping the back of his wrist across his mouth. Good thing he kept his circle beard short; the idea of men getting food in their facial hair repulsed me.
“Maybe I’ll take you up on that,” she replied.
“Dead serious,” he said, lifting his light brown eyes to hers.
“You need a job to be able to pay her,” Austin suggested, chewing off a bite of bread.
Wheeler’s posture stiffened and his lips thinned. “How about we take this conversation offline? ’Preciate ya,” he said in low words.
I lightly stepped on Austin’s foot beneath the table and got the weirdest vibe from him when he looked at me. The alpha didn’t know how to react with a woman silently telling him to shut up.
“What kind of experience do you have in finance, Wheeler?” I asked.
His brows popped up and he leaned forward on his elbows, pushing something around on his plate. Wheeler’s mouth curved up at the corners and my, didn’t he look like a slick fella? “I have a CPA license. I’ve also done taxes, accounting, and worked as a financial advisor. Lots of rich assholes out there who don’t know how to manage their money. But I’ve dabbled in other things.”
I looked at Austin and we had a mental conversation.
“I may need your advice on something if you have the time. We can talk about it later.”
He licked the prongs of his fork, watching me carefully. “Maybe.”
“No maybes,” Austin said in a thick voice. “If Lexi needs your help, then you’re going to give it to her.”
“I’ll give it to her,” Ben said suggestively, and he wasn’t talking about accounting.
“Keep it up,” Wheeler warned Ben. “See what happens.”
Austin’s chair scraped against the floor as he rose from the table and delivered a palpable glare at Ben. There was no attempt to charge after him, and somehow it made him more menacing. Ben submissively walked across the kitchen and ate in the corner alone. Austin sat back down and my mom was the only one who didn’t notice what had just transpired between the men.
Everyone else did. Ivy stared at her plate, shoulders hunched, spreading her mashed potatoes around with a fork.
Mom sprinkled a dash of pepper on her steak. “I’ll go with you in the morning and see what you boys are dealing with. As a homeowner, I know a thing or two you wouldn’t think to check. I just hope you had an inspector come out and look at the foundation. Lexi, do you mind watching Maizy for the day? I won’t be able to keep an eye on her and I don’t think that’s the kind of place she should be running around in. There might be nails or loose wires.”
“Sure. No problem.” Mom didn’t bother asking me to go because she knew my stance on manual labor. Especially after the paint-thinner fiasco.
“Good. We’ll stop by the hardware store and pick up several gallons of white paint. Something always needs a fresh coat of paint and we might as well get started right away.”
“Mom, do you really want to be painting in this heat?” I argued.
Yeah, she did. That woman was born to redecorate. She just never had much room to do it in her small house. But the idea of a large home that was big enough to have once been a hotel? I knew she was about to die a little bit and go to heaven. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had them laying down wood flooring by sunset.
I leaned into Austin and spoke privately. “Did you clean up everything?”
The first thing my mom would see when she walked into the house was a mattress with tangled sheets, and I was sure I had left some of my things there. I didn’t want to give her the wrong idea of what kind of daughter she had raised.
Austin grinned, telling me visually that hell no, he hadn’t moved a damn thing.
Ivy finally piped in. “I can help furnish the rooms. I’m good with finding cheap or free furniture and fixing it up; just give me some money and I’ll work with a budget. People wait for trash day and put it on their curb, so if one of you can come along with me on those days, we can scope out some of the neighborhoods and load them onto a truck. Garage sales will get you bargains if you go late.”
“Why late?” I asked. “Early bird gets the worm.”
She pushed her braid off her shoulder and a strand of hair slipped in front of her nose. “Early bird also pays a fortune. The late bird gets the deal on leftovers, because the owners just want to get rid of it for any price at that point. People can’t see the potential in some pieces that look ugly or broken. I can. I see beneath all the glossy paint at the raw beauty below the surface.”
Hand to God, every man in the room was watching her like she was a prophet. Ivy had such a beautiful voice and the manner in which she spoke drew you to her words, as if everything had a deeper meaning. She could be talking about scrubbing a toilet and make it sound like she was teaching you a lesson about humility.
I smiled and took a bite of cucumber. Ivy was going to fit in well; she was exactly what this pack needed. They had somehow accepted her as a sister, even though she was insanely beautiful in an earthy way, with lush lips and delicate features. I had so much to learn about Shifters.
“You going to be okay by yourself?” Austin asked hesitantly.
“Sure. I’ll have to plan something fun with Maizy,” I said in an animated voice, grabbing her attention. I winked at her and she giggled while nibbling on a tomato wedge. “Maybe we’ll do Pretty Pigtail Day and make some homemade pizza. Would you like that, Maze?”
She gave it the weighty consideration only a six-year-old can. “Umm, okay. Can we play games like at the pizza place?”
I glanced at Austin, not wanting to let her play on Denver’s game system. “You got any kid games around here?”
He frowned a little and thought about it. “Cards?”
“Then I’m just going to have to kick it old school and show her how to play hopscotch.”
“Hide and seek!” she replied.
“I don’t think we have the stuff to make a pizza,” Austin murmured in a deep voice.
“Trust me, you do. I know how to make homemade dough. Heck, I can make a pizza using toast if I really need to.”
“She can,” Mom agreed. “And it’s appalling.”
“You have tomato sauce in the cabinet and there’s provolone cheese slices in the fridge, so it’s all good. Call me if you want lunch later on. Maybe you can lend me the keys to one of your cars and I can swing by.”
“What’s wrong with yours?”
I gave him the look. His brows relaxed as he remembered. I’d once hated that car because it was a symbol of Beckett’s infidelity, but now it was a reminder of the man who tried to take my life.
“The wolves will stay off the property,” he stated as fact. “I’ve marked a warning and the Packmasters in the area know about our situation. If you have any trouble, you can call Prince. His number is on my phone and I’ll leave it with you.”
“Prince?” my mom sud
denly piped in. “The guy in the sparkly pants who sang ‘Purple Rain’?”
I did a facepalm, trying not to laugh, because it was funny. I’d actually gotten used to his name and didn’t find it unusual until she brought it up.
“I like Prince,” Maizy declared, putting a giant forkful of mashed potatoes into her mouth. Ivy pointed to the napkin on her lap and silently coaxed her to wipe her face. “He’s my hero and got me from the road with all those cars. I was really scared that no one would find me.”
Denver stretched his arm behind Maizy’s chair and angrily tossed his fork on his plate with a clang.
Mom looked at Austin. “He was the one who found her?”
Austin nodded and sliced up more of his meat. “He’s sent a few of his men to look for your ex. I don’t think he liked finding a little girl abandoned on the side of the freeway because her father decided to drop her off like a bag of garbage.”
“What are you going to do with this house?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Keep it,” Austin said with a mouthful. “It belongs to my parents and I don’t plan on selling. Maybe I can pass it on someday.”
Then he got real quiet and cut his meat into sizeable pieces.
“The house will fall apart,” I pointed out.
“Land doesn’t fall apart. The house can go for all I care,” he said, waving his fork around. “It’s the property that holds value. We can use it for a getaway whenever someone in the pack wants some time alone with their woman, or their wolf wants a private run.”
Ivy’s eyes brightened and she glanced around, as if she were thinking the same thing I was. What woman? These men didn’t seem like they were ever going to settle down.
Austin held the fork to his mouth and slowly pulled the meat from the prongs. He had a look on his face that only an inside joke could deliver. “You did mention something about a heat house.”
Oh God. I blushed so hard I had to pretend to drop my napkin on the floor and then bent over to pick it up. Someone in the room snorted with laughter and I was tempted to crawl all the way underneath the table.
“I want the key to that house,” Ben said from across the room.
“A place like that would be useful,” Ivy remarked. “I’d be interested in something like that.”
“What are you all talking about?” my mom finally chimed in.
I swear, I couldn’t get up. I kept staring at the floor, three seconds from bolting out of the room. Then I felt Austin hook his fingers around the waistband of my shorts as if he could read my mind.
“Females go into heat,” Austin said matter-of-factly.
Oh God, just shoot me now.
“Heat?” Mom asked, setting her fork down.
“It means they go into freak-mode,” Ben replied in a humorous tone from the other side of the room. “Ever seen a cat in heat?”
I tried to get up but Austin’s grip on my shorts tightened. I remained under the table, holding the napkin between my fingers and staring at my mom’s black shoes. She was probably wondering what the hell was wrong with me.
“It’s when they’re ovulating and their body wants someone to give them babies,” Maizy suddenly blurted out.
I sat straight up like a lightning rod and glared at her. “Who told you that?”
She tucked a large cucumber in her mouth and smiled. “I saw it on TV. That’s how kittens are born. Can we have a kitten?”
“No,” Wheeler cut in, tearing off a piece of his bread and stuffing it into his mouth. “We don’t like cats around here.”
“That’s all you,” Ben said. “I don’t give a shit about cats.”
“Watch your language around Maizy,” Mom scolded.
“Well,” Wheeler replied, “I don’t like cats. I don’t want them anywhere near me.”
Ben smirked. “What’s the matter, Wheeler? Afraid of a little pus—”
Austin slapped his hand down on the table and everyone shut up. “We’ll head out before sunrise so we can get as much done as possible before it gets hot. I don’t want to hang around here any longer than we need to, so the sooner we move, the better. I’m going to close out the bills on this place by month’s end.”
After the table was cleared, everyone fell out of their chair when Mom surprised them with peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.
Yeah, she was definitely worth her weight in gold around this place.
***
A few hours after dinner, Austin was sleeping in Jericho’s room with Lexi beside him. Only this time, there was no touching. It was weird since he had spent the previous night pleasuring her for hours. But Austin didn’t want to throw mixed signals by showing her affection that would make her question their nonexistent relationship. Lexi didn’t know the rules of pack life, especially not the dynamic of a single woman in the mix.
As an unmated Packmaster, it was his duty to make sure his women were taken care of. That meant abating Lexi’s discomfort while she was in heat. Single women in packs didn’t sleep around with the men because of the friction it created, so it wasn’t uncommon for them to seek out the alpha for relief. An alpha had more self-control, which would allow him to satisfy her without it resulting in an unwanted pregnancy. Most Shifters had no restraint around a female in heat and couldn’t resist the urge to have sex. He could have left Lexi alone to take care of business.
But damn, the idea of having his hands on her was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Her luscious scent was floral, like roses after a thunderstorm, awaking the male within who desired nothing more than to please her. It was an epic internal battle raging, because he wanted to take it a step further. But sex might have pushed her away and left all kinds of question marks about his intentions. It wasn’t like that among Shifters, but he knew how human women broke it all down. Lexi was a complicated woman and too good for a one-night stand.
So when they crawled into the bed after a second round of peach cobbler, Austin turned his back to her and didn’t say a word. He stole a glance over his shoulder and saw she had done the same thing.
Nothing had felt more awkward.
Sleep was an exercise in futility. All he could think about was wrapping his arm around her and smelling the leftover sunshine in her hair.
He remembered how beautiful she’d looked on the porch that night with a storm brewing in the sky and in her rich brown eyes. The way she looked up at him as the breeze lifted a few strands of her hair. He wondered if he fucked it up by staying with her and not sleeping in another room like originally planned.
Then he thought about Lorenzo, who was an attractive choice for a woman looking for money or status. Most women didn’t hesitate to choose him, and Austin had learned that the hard way years ago when Lorenzo Church wooed Austin’s first Shifter girlfriend away from him. Not exactly a way to build up an alpha’s confidence. Regardless of how he felt about the asshole, Lexi had a right to learn about her family. She possessed Native American features, now that he thought about it. High cheekbones, beautiful brown hair, and supple lips. Yeah, supple. The kind that he wanted his mouth all over the more he remembered their kiss on that porch and the sweet taste of sugar on her tongue.
She was no longer the girl he once remembered, but in a strange way, she was. The qualities he loved in her she had never lost, even though her body had blossomed into that of a stunning woman.
Sleeping beside Lexi without touching her was one of the hardest things Austin had ever done. The idea of her being with any other man, or in any other pack, made his wolf pace nervously.
When he had taken her out to The Pit on their date, Beckett had been waiting outside for them.
With a baseball bat.
Austin had picked up a strong scent of adrenaline and instead of walking straight to his car, he’d gone around the back of the building. That’s when he confronted Beckett and they got into a brawl. It was against the law to kill a human, so all he could do was beat the shit out of him. By the time he got back to the restaurant, Lexi
was nowhere to be found.
Twice he almost lost her, thanks to Beckett. He shouldn’t have been distracted by his phone when Beckett had crept into her apartment, nor should he have confronted Lorenzo’s guard while Beckett was attacking her. That split-second decision had almost cost Lexi her life. Austin didn’t have any remorse over the murder. Even if they did find the body, he stood a good chance of justifying his actions.
If he didn’t? Then fuck it. She was alive and that’s all that mattered.
Thinking about it made him want to pull Lexi against him and feel her heartbeat, but he stayed where he was, content with listening to her breathe as he stared at the misshapen patterns on the wall. She made sexy little growling noises in her sleep that his wolf loved. He always liked watching her sleep, even when she was a kid. She looked so peaceful, as if nothing in the world was wrong, even when it was.
The next morning, Austin woke up before dawn and carefully crawled out of bed. Lexi rolled over and threw her right arm across the sheets, nuzzling her face against the pillow. After getting dressed, he watched her for a few beats before waking up the rest of the crew. It gave him peace of mind to know Prince was tracking down her father—just one less thing he had to worry about.
One advantage of making allies among neighboring packs was that they looked out for one another, reported suspicious activity, and were more likely to lend a hand than a rogue was. Not many packs occupied the immediate territory, but Austin had spent time building a rapport with the Packmasters, making them aware of his situation with the human family. Something he would have to start all over again in the new house. There were three packs in his immediate area, and one of them belonged to Church.
Ain’t that a bitch.
Austin tucked his shirt in his jeans and peered into his bedroom, lightly tapping his knuckles on the door. He flipped on the light and stared at an empty bed.
“What the… Reno!” he yelled out, storming down the hall to the living room. “Lynn!”
Denver was lying on the sofa with a bowl of cereal on his bare chest while Maizy sat in front of the TV watching cartoons.
