by Kathryn Moon
“You’re all right, sweetheart,” Wes said, stroking my back. I was trembling, and I nodded against his chest. “Okay, you wait right here. Matt and the others will buzz any second.”
Wes peeled me off his chest, propping me up by the buzzer and bending to kiss my forehead briefly before heading down the hall. I watched his steps as he carefully avoided stirring the feathers, although they skirted away from his boots like they were alive. He stopped in the door of my bedroom, his broad back blocking the view as he flipped the light on.
“Fuck.”
Queasy churning returned to my stomach as I watched Wes’ shoulders rise toward his ears, hackles up and anger making the citrus in his scent sharper.
The buzzer screamed at my ear and I flinched, turning and smacking it hard in answer. My door was still hanging open, and I heard their voices immediately. Matthieu’s dulcet tones, and Leo’s gravel. Rake’s rapid whispering, and Caleb and Cyrus with smooth, low answers.
“Lola,” Leo called.
But I was watching Wes as he stepped aside, leaning against the door.
Fabric was everywhere in the room, like a bomb had gone off in my closet. I stared at the innocent carnage, my feet carrying me mindlessly down the hall. Wes stepped into the room and bent, picking up the closest piece, my bright purple dress from the night of the fashion week party, torn down the middle. I made it to the door, a chaos of voices at my back, and the puzzle of the scene fit together as I saw another old dress of mine, sweet and white with eyelet flowers over a pale blue slip, now shredded down the center.
And her dress cut down to there…
“That’s not what the song meant,” I breathed out, a little stupidly.
Wes looked up at me as a storm of men calling my name burst into the apartment. Arms grabbed me from behind, and even though I knew it was one of my guys, I jumped and tried to spin away. But Leo’s grip was firm and the second I faced him, my flight response vanished.
“God, Lola,” he gasped, pressing me to his chest.
Just as quickly, warmth and velvet enveloped us both, Matthieu pressing to my back, his hands on my shoulders and his lips on the crown of my head.
“All right, back up,” Wes said gently. “We’re gonna leave this area for the police to go through first.”
“Let me through,” Rake snapped, squeezing under Matthieu’s arm against my side, nuzzling my cheek and neck.
Tension unwound in me, and I drooped into their embrace.
“Give us a minute, Wes,” Matthieu said, words thick with a low combination of a purr and growl.
“I’m okay,” I offered in a mumble.
Physically I was fine, give or take the desire to pass out or be sick or just curl into a ball wherever was most conveniently available. Rake pulled me loose from between Leo and Matthieu, and then Caleb was there, all but knocking me out with his heady sweetness. His hands cupped my jaw, lifting my face, and I realized everything was blurry, eyes spilling over with steady tears. His thumbs wiped them away before I could and he leaned in, blocking the hallway out as he pressed a kiss to my forehead.
Cyrus wiggled into the limited space left in the hall, arm around my shoulders in a firm hug. “Wes, where can we wait in here?”
“Living room, I think,” Wes said.
“Not the couch,” I added, words thick.
Matthieu and Leo took my reins again, shepherding me to the warm radiator bench in front of the windows. Matthieu set his coat down on top of the old frame and they settled me between them, broad shoulders as close around me as they could be. Caleb was by the couch, nose wrinkled and a surprising, whispering growl in his throat.
Wes stood at the end of the hall, staring over the group of us as Cyrus and Rake drew my bar chairs in close to me. “It’s going to get even more crowded in here when the police get here. It might be better if some of you—” he started before Rake cut him off.
“We’re not leaving her.”
“You should go,” I said, and my head drooped to Matthieu’s shoulder as I fiddled with Leo’s hand in mine. “You’ve got work and—”
“I’m not leaving, Lola,” Leo said, fingers squeezing mine. “And you’re coming to the house and staying until this fucker is in jail.”
“I can go to David’s.”
All four alphas released small, brief growls that were quickly cut off, and it was Caleb who spoke, kneeling down in front of me. “You can stay wherever you’re most comfortable, of course. But please don’t turn the offer down for our sakes. We’ll feel better having you close.”
Matthieu was breathing deep and slow on my right, Leo’s hands tense but gentle around mine. Caleb had seen right through me. I knew where I wanted to be, right now, and who I wanted to have around me. I knew where I would feel safest.
I nodded and gazed back at Caleb, speaking softly. “All right, I’ll stay.”
I just hoped I didn’t bring trouble with me.
To be continued in Lola & the Millionaires - Part Two
Now Available!
Also by Kathryn Moon
COMPLETE READS
The Librarian’s Coven Series
Written - Book 1
Warriors - Book 2
Scrivens - Book 3
Ancients - Book 4
Summerland Series
Welcome to Summerland: A Reverse Harem Romance - Part 1
Secrets of Summerland: A Reverse Harem Romance - Part 2
Leaving Summerland: A Reverse Harem Romance - Part 3
Standalones
Good Deeds
Command The Moon
The Sweetverse
Baby + the Late Night Howlers
Lola & the Millionaires - Part One
Lola & the Millionaires - Part Two
Sol & Lune
Book 1
Book 2
SERIES IN PROGRESS
Sweet Pea Mysteries
The Baker’s Guide To Risky Rituals
The Rooksgrave Manor Series
Esther: A New Beginning - Book 1
Acknowledgments
Well 2020…this is no thanks to you.
This is absolutely thanks to my family, my friends, my Moongazers.
Thank you to the readers who let me run around in genre playgrounds, rearranging all the pieces into something completely different, and are still happy to come and play with me after I’ve made a strange and interesting mess of things. My books will never be for everyone, but if this book was for you, then I’m so happy!
Now specifically onto the people who keep me on track and in the best possible shape-
Gorgeous cover compliments to Kellie Arts for the art and Lana Kole for the font work!
Proof-reading amazingness thanks to Bookish Dreams Editing!
My alphas - wink wink - Chloe, Lana, and Desiree, who chased me down for more every day (cough, Chloe, cough)
My beta babes who absolutely devoured and protected this story; Jami, Ash, Kathryn, and Helen, thank you so much for all of your input and for making Lola so much stronger as a book!
I also just want to say to all of the above women that if I ever wanted to commit a crime, I would just present it as a book idea and you’d probably all let me get away with it, cheering me on from the sidelines the whole time. And I really appreciate that! Not that I plan on committing a crime…
About the Author
Kathryn Moon is a country mouse who started dictating stories to her mother at an early age. The fascination with building new worlds and discovering the lives of the characters who grew in her head never faltered, and she graduated college with a fiction writing degree. She loves writing women were are strong in their vulnerability, romances that are as affectionate as they are challenging, and worlds that a reader sinks into and never wants to leave. When her hands aren't busy typing they're probably knitting sweaters or crimping pie crust in Ohio. She definitely believes in magic.
You can reach her on Facebook and at [email protected] or you can sign up for h
er newsletter!
