by Dannika Dark
“Wait,” I started to say.
Two men held my father while Lorenzo confiscated the gun and set it on a small table. I’d never seen him look so fierce. He had his hair tied back and wore the same black tank top with writing on it as he had when we first met.
Lorenzo’s malevolent eyes darkened. “You may have some sentimental bond to this man, Alexia, but if he plays in our world, then he plays by our rules. This human committed a crime against my family by taking a life and stealing a child. He’s going to face my family and serve his sentence. There’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise, so don’t waste your breath.”
He walked over and angrily removed the belt from my neck. “Shift, and heal yourself.” His eyes flicked to Austin. “You have things under control here,” he stated, more than asked. “I’ll take my prize and go my own way.”
“Just one minute,” Austin demanded. He eased me into a chair and his heavy boots stomped across the porch until he stood in front of my father. Without warning, he threw a hard fist into his face, delivering two more brutal punches until blood poured from my father’s broken nose.
Austin bent forward with a menacing scowl, speaking almost inaudibly. “Nobody fucks with my pack.”
Lorenzo slid the loop of the belt over Nelson’s head and tightened the strap around his neck. And just like that, Lorenzo took the man who raised me away. The man I no longer called my father and one I never wanted Maizy to understand was hers. A man who’d threatened her life, betrayed my family, and who held no value to the beautiful life that once belonged to my older brother.
I never saw Nelson Knight again.
Austin peered over his shoulder; Prince had the Mage under control. The next thing I knew, he leaned in and slid his arms behind me, helping me up. I held onto his neck as we traded places and he pulled me into his lap.
“Whatcha doin’ here?” I said weakly, trying my best to smile.
Austin whispered something in my ear, a single word that made all my pain disappear.
“Shift.”
Chapter 29
I didn’t think I’d ever get used to coming back into consciousness after shifting. It was disorienting, like a night after partying where I could only remember snippets of what happened.
But the sting in my arm had vanished and the only evidence remaining that I had been shot were smears of crimson across my flesh. I awoke on the front porch, naked, and Austin slid a knee-length T-shirt over my head. I robotically put my arms through the sleeves and turned around.
“You okay?” he asked.
But my mind was elsewhere. A sheet covered the body of the Mage, blood soaking through the white fibers, especially around the head. Prince stood before him, yanking up a pair of jeans I recognized as one of Austin’s because of the hole in the knee.
His arms swung at his sides and he approached Denver’s wolf, who was shielding Maizy. Prince wiped the blood from his face and chest with a wadded-up shirt as his pack looked on. In a commanding voice, he said, “Back away, and let me have the child.”
I shivered at the authority in his voice. A feral growl rose from Denver and Prince shouted his order once again. This time, everyone in his pack lowered their heads submissively.
Prince bent down and lifted Maizy into his arms. He softly hummed a melody, taking a seat in the chair on the porch. She relaxed, coping as most little children do. She stopped sucking her thumb and patted her hand against her leg to the rhythm of his song.
Silent tears wet my cheeks.
Austin crouched on his knee and held one of my braids between his fingers. “How did you know to come here?” he asked Prince, but his crystal-blue eyes never looked away from me.
“I have a scout,” Prince replied, pointing up at a red-tailed hawk perched in a tall tree. “That’s not in violation of your territory; you don’t have control of the sky.”
“Why did you feel the need to have someone on my place?” Austin asked apprehensively, looking over his shoulder.
Prince considered this and stretched out his legs, crossing them at the ankles. “I made an agreement to help find the man who took her. We knew he was back in the city, but once again, lost his trail.” Prince tipped Maizy forward and closed the rip in the back of her shirt. “You should take care to keep this mark covered,” he said in a low voice. “They sell makeup which will camouflage it for a young child who doesn’t understand the dangers.”
He shared a private look with Austin and I crawled over and brushed my hands through her hair. “You okay, Maze? Bad guys are gone now and won’t be coming back ever again.”
“Why did he do that?” she asked in a sad voice. “He hurt you.”
“No, honey. He missed. See?” I showed her my arm. “Don’t you worry about me, little Maze. I’ve got that big-sister magic going on.”
“Magic?” she asked.
“There are very bad men in this world, child,” Prince began. He grasped her attention as she looked up into his pensive eyes—one sapphire and one brown. “But there are also men who will protect you. Always remember that, and surround yourself with only those you trust. You are but a fragile human, and there are things in this world you can’t comprehend.”
Maizy suddenly hopped off his lap and went inside the house. Austin finally sat down beside me, stroking my back.
“That advice goes for you too,” Prince said, lowering his sharp eyes to mine. The hair he once had in a tight ponytail now fell free across his shoulders. “I hope whichever pack you choose, you keep the little one with you. She is a special child.”
“I’m aware of that,” Austin said. “She’s staying with me. As long as her mother wants to remain with my pack, then she’s welcome to, even if Lexi goes her own way.”
Denver appeared, pulling a white T-shirt over his head as he walked barefoot across the hot gravel in a pair of jeans. He stopped, bent over, and brushed the soles of his dirty feet.
Prince stood up and slowly stepped off the porch. “My work is done here; the fiend has been brought to justice. I hear you’re moving,” he added, looking over his shoulder. “You still have my alliance. Let me know if you run into trouble with any of the packs out that way. I have pull.”
He strode away with the confidence of a man who had been leading a pack for decades, if not longer. As he passed Denver, Prince showed respect for his bravery by touching his shoulder as he looked down at the corpse.
“My hero!” Maizy cried out, bounding toward the two men.
Denver grinned from ear to ear, but the light in his eyes dimmed when Maizy ran up to Prince and smothered him with a hug. Prince patted her head as she waved for him to squat down to her level. Denver stepped aside and turned his back, wiping the dirt off his jeans.
I went to say goodbye to the man who saved my sister’s life.
“You all right?” I asked Denver.
He shrugged off my question and messed with his blond hair. I was about to hug him when he bent over and brushed a few pebbles from the bottom of his foot.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Maizy open her tiny hand and say, “Shhh.” She placed a small, glittery stone in Prince’s hand. A diamond.
“What’s this?” he asked, watching it sparkle in the light.
“That’s for my ring, silly.”
“What ring?”
“The one you’re going to give me when I grow up.”
Prince furrowed his brow and I stooped down to her level. “Maizy, where are the rest of these?”
“I hid the treasure,” she declared.
“Tell me where they are, honey.”
“I don’t want the bad guys to get them.”
This was going nowhere. Maizy once hid a bag of licorice I brought home from the store. She refused to tell where, even when mom took away all her dolls and movies as punishment. We found the candy seven months later inside a pair of old loafers in the hallway closet. A trail of ants led us to the scene of the crime.
Prince rose to his feet and st
ared at the diamond in the palm of his cupped hand. “Here,” he finally said, extending his arm toward me.
“No!” Maizy cried.
Tears sprang from her eyes and he immediately palmed it and bent over. “It was only in jest,” he said with a warm smile. She pouted, as if he had made fun of her. “I promise to keep your treasure safe and return it to you someday, little one. You have my word.”
That was all she needed, and Maizy shyly turned away. Denver had walked off several paces, staring at the cars that belonged to my father and the Mage. They would have to dispose of them. Maizy tugged on the hem of his shirt and he peered over his shoulder at her. She watched him patiently until he mashed his lips together to suppress a grin.
“C’mon, Peanut,” he said. “Let’s go home.” She held up her arms and without a word, Denver bent over and lifted her up as he walked barefoot down the road.
“Lock up tight,” Austin yelled out to him. “We’ll stay behind and clean up.”
***
Maizy must have told a doozy of a story after Denver took her to the new house, because when my mom called to check on me, she was in a state of panic. It took a while to calm her nerves and assure her it was all over. I changed into a fresh pair of clothes and sat in the maroon recliner, staring at the black television screen. Two Breed lawmen had arrived to collect the body and interrogate us. Because the crime took place on Austin’s territory, he was within his rights to protect his pack and his home. Austin covered for Prince for reasons I didn’t understand.
“Why don’t you shift again,” he suggested, walking into the living room and looking down his nose at me. A slightly crooked nose, because it looked like someone had broken it a long time ago and he chose not to heal. Or couldn’t.
“I’m fine. We went over this already,” I said, feeling despondent about the turn of events.
“You were shot, Lexi. You’re not fine.”
He had a point.
“I’m just shaken up a little, I guess. I’m not sure how to feel about what’s going to happen to my father.”
“Don’t hold on to a shred of guilt for a man who never loved you. He wouldn’t have blinked if your sister got hurt, and he sure as hell didn’t blink when he put a bullet in your arm,” Austin growled.
I tried not to notice Austin was still shirtless. Not to mention he had picked up a golden tan that afternoon. I looked away and closed my eyes. Austin knelt in front of me and pulled off my shoes so he could rub my bare feet. God, his warm hands felt exquisite against my sensitive skin.
“Stay with me, Lexi. I’m asking you to choose my pack and make it official. You can have all the freedom you want, no strings attached. We’ll look after you, and my brothers will help you get started with the business. I’ll even let you have first dibs on any room in the new house.”
“That’s a mighty fine offer,” I said in a soft, melodic voice.
“Is that a yes?” he asked gruffly.
How’s a girl supposed to say no to a man giving her a foot massage? I decided to draw out the suspense until he finished circling his thumb around the middle of my arch. Austin caught on, and I shrieked when he tickled me.
“Is that a yes?” he said, holding my ankle firmly and continuing his relentless tickling.
Someone was going to get hurt with all my kicking. Finally, I gave in. “Yes!”
Austin slid between my legs and placed his head in my lap. His soft brown hair weaved between my fingers as I stroked it eagerly. The energy between us changed and the tingling returned, but it had nothing to do with being in heat. It had to do with my attraction to Austin as a man I admired.
“You make things so difficult,” he murmured.
“I’m not the one with my head in your lap.”
He looked at me and propped himself up on his elbows. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I have no idea what’s going on here. Are these repressed feelings you’ve had for me or am I misreading you?” My fingers drummed on the armrest of the chair.
Austin sighed through his nose. “I’ve never thought of you in a sexual way.”
Which went down in my books as one of the most insensitive things a man had ever said to me. I wanted to bolt before I burst into tears from the embarrassment, especially after the intimate night we had spent together. But Austin held my hips firmly and wouldn’t allow me to move.
“Let me finish,” he insisted.
“Let me go!” I pushed his shoulders and the recliner began rocking; Austin was too strong for me to fight off. “I’m serious, Austin. Let go of me.”
“You were a child for Christ’s sake!”
“Not when I was twenty,” I argued.
We were almost face-to-face, except he was a little lower because his arms were pinning me down. “To me you were, and the last thing I wanted was to have sex with you.”
“Oh God, just let me up!”
I threw myself over his shoulder to toss him off balance, which worked. But not to my advantage as he flipped me over on the rug and covered me like a blanket. “Lexi, listen to me.” I writhed beneath him, trying to break free. “Stop it!” he shouted, pinning me by my wrists.
Stupid wolf in me listened.
“Didn’t you ever notice how I looked at you, Austin? I had a crush on you forever, and you hardly gave me a second glance.”
“Whatever you felt for me was just instinct. We’re alike, and you were drawn to me for that reason.”
I shook my head. “No. You’re wrong.” I was about to remove the filter and say what I’d kept bottled up inside me for a lifetime—something I’d always wanted to admit but never had the courage. “I’ve loved you since I was five years old. Longer than I can even remember. You were always in my life, and I looked up to you. It had nothing to do with this whole alpha wolf thing. It was you, Austin. It was the way you laughed at my jokes and stood up for me. You winked at me whenever I was feeling down, and I loved that you pulled over on a busy road and took that injured dog to the vet when anyone else would have driven by. I’ve always seen the goodness in you. I’ve always loved you, and it made me crazy you didn’t feel the same.”
He inched his face in closer and settled his body over mine to keep me still.
“You’re right, Lexi. I haven’t loved you since I was five. I’m not going to sit here and lie to you about it.”
My stomach knotted and I felt a stabbing pain in my chest.
“You were a stubborn and odd little girl who liked to catch butterflies and release them in your house. You seem to have forgotten you used to call me Elastic Man when I hit a growth spurt at age nine.” His breath was on my face and I froze as he continued. “You also had a knack for dating every guy who didn’t pass my test, and if it were my decision, you wouldn’t have gone out with any of them. No, Lexi, I’m not going to tell you I’ve loved you since I was five, because it’s not true. I can’t lie to you.”
My heart sank, and he let go of my wrists and stroked his fingers through my hair.
“In fact, I remember the exact moment I fell in love with you. It was June seventeenth, the summer before your senior year in high school. We went camping with a bunch of friends and I sat next to you by the lake while you hummed a Fleetwood Mac song, watching the moonlight shine on the water and wearing a silly pair of pajamas. We didn’t talk, but that’s the first time I really saw you as the woman you would someday become. You probably don’t even remember it, but I do. I always will.”
Somehow, all the air in the room managed to disappear and I could scarcely breathe.
Austin bit his lip and turned his head away, his pale blue eyes glittering beneath inky lashes. It was the look of regret—one that inevitably came with something you wished you hadn’t revealed.
An avalanche of emotion took over, and tears welled in my eyes, rolling quietly across my ears and into my hair.
He slanted his eyes toward me and saw me crying. “Shit,” he breathed. “I’m sorry, Lexi.” His finger
s wiped my tears and I shook my head. He just didn’t understand.
“I’ve waited my entire life for you to say that to me, Austin.”
His lips twitched and his voice softened to the growly, bedroom one I liked. “Then why are you crying?”
“Because I don’t know if you still do. Did I blow it?”
All humor in his face evaporated. Austin tilted his head down and brushed his lips against mine. I’d never been kissed in the slow and reverent way that Austin delivered. Each kiss barely pressed against my lips. Sometimes they stuck together a little, and small wet sounds filled the quiet room. But beneath such a simple gesture, sparks ignited between us, and all my doubts melted away. I could taste him, smell him, and feel his warmth on my mouth and body.
I used to watch shows about unsolved mysteries and spontaneous human combustion. I had an idea what the cause could have been because I felt like a box of explosives.
His rough hands cupped my cheeks, and his lips moved their way around my face, kissing the curve of my jaw, my eyelids, and the tip of my nose, before returning to my mouth.
The tension multiplied between us when I caught his bottom lip between my teeth and gave it a tug. He slid his body up just a fraction and I felt the weight of him everywhere. I bent my knee and he fit against me like a piece of a puzzle locking into place.
Being in heat had nothing on a kiss delivered by Austin Cole. It was intricate and reckless all at once.
“Don’t be so gentle,” I encouraged.
A spark flickered in his eyes and his mouth came down on mine, tongue pushing in as his hips did a swivel. I moaned and ran my hand along his jaw, scraping my fingers just a little bit so I could hear the scratchy hiss of his stubble. He lifted his head and awareness burned in those crystalline depths. I loved his eyes—the way the black rims made it seem like they framed an ocean in his gaze.
Austin stared into the depth of me as he pulled the ends of my shirt over my head. When he dragged his gaze down to my chest, he froze.
