His wolf shoved alert at a distant sound. Ellis jackknifed upright and canted his head. Any danger to the small house, to Maylee and Esme, and he’d let his wolf have the blood the beast craved.
Esme whimpered. Usually, Maylee was right there to soothe and quiet the cub. He hated that she darted worried eyes at him, like he’d get angry at the sudden disturbance. That hate bubbled fresh anger inside him every damn time. Those fucks she used to run with needed to put down their old school, seen-not-heard bullshit right along with whatever made her so damn jumpy.
Oh, he knew the possibilities. The potentials. He’d conjured up a thousand different scenarios that left her bruised and holding tightly to her hurt. Those boiled the anger in his veins and made him want to put down the whole clan of fuckfaces who wouldn’t take the hint and leave her the fuck alone.
Esme whimpered again, louder and longer, but there wasn’t any sound of the bed shifting under Maylee’s weight or light footsteps crossing the carpet.
Ellis rolled to his feet and tugged on a pair of jeans. Silently, he cracked open his door. No other sound disturbed the den except the cub’s small cries.
He crossed the narrow hallway between his room and the one Maylee and Esme occupied. The door cracked under the gentle knock of his knuckle. “You awake?”
No answer, except for another frustrated whimper from Esme.
Ellis pushed the door open a little more, but there was no demand for him to leave. Another nudge revealed the foot of the bed, then a blanket lump curled in the exact middle. Esme pulled herself to standing in her crib and reached her arms for him.
His heart stopped dead in his chest, then powered back up, feeling full.
Ellis took cautious steps toward the crib. He expected Maylee to wake, but she stayed still. Her chest rose and fell with the steadiness of deep sleep.
He gently scooped the cub into his arms, then eased out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him as silently as possible. He padded down the hall and into his kitchen that, like everything else in his den, had quickly been taken over by baby things. Esme didn’t complain when he propped her up in her high chair and fiddled with the ten thousand feet of straps used to harness wiggling children. When he finally had her belted in without arms pinned or legs tangled, he snapped on the plastic tray, which she promptly banged her fists against.
“All right, kid, what’s your poison? Bourbon? Vodka?” Esme stuffed her fingers in her mouth and grinned. “Yeah, you’re one of those hardcore snots who close out the milk bar, ain’t you?”
He snagged one of the cups the mates—and Maylee, he corrected himself—had added to his cabinets, filled it with milk, and placed it in the grabby hands of the pint-sized dictator who won him over with a smile.
Something crunched underfoot as he padded back to the counters to start a pot of coffee. Ellis wrinkled his nose at the crushed remains of a little cereal circle and flicked an exaggerated glare to the cub. “Was this you?” he grumbled without heat. “Are you practicing your pitching skills? Or is it air hockey you’re going for?”
Esme giggled.
Past Esme, the living room had been converted into a baby zone. Even straightened, toys still poked out of a small chest and a bag that seemed to contain an endless supply of baby items hung from the back of a chair. Like the bit of cereal he’d stepped on, he doubted his den would ever be the same as long as Maylee and Esme were around.
He didn’t hate the idea.
Which was all sorts of wrong.
A bedroom door banged open and footsteps rushed down the hall. Maylee rounded the corner, eyes wide and fingers at her throat. “Esme?”
“Easy,” Ellis rumbled. Fear twisted in her scent and drove his wolf wild. He held his hands up to calm her down. “She’s right here.”
Maylee darted wide blue eyes to the high chair. “You took her?”
“You were knocked out. Working nights is tough, so I thought I’d let you sleep while I got her fed.” Ellis stepped aside and tried to make himself smaller.
His eyes swept down her body. Loose, cotton pants covered her legs, but didn’t hide her curves. Neither did her tank top. All the darkly delicious thoughts that plagued him out of sleep roared back to life as his wolf lolled out his tongue in obvious pleasure.
Ellis cleared his throat and tore his eyes away from the gorgeous woman. “There’s coffee if you want it.”
She relaxed enough to give a stiff nod.
As she helped herself to the coffee, he couldn’t help but think similar scenes played out in Jensen and Wyatt’s homes. Both men doted on their mates and helped where they could, be it with chores like carrying groceries into their dens or taking charge of the pups while Noelle or Alanna needed to put their focus elsewhere. That was how families were supposed to behave.
Not with betrayal and backstabbing or stepping on others to make themselves feel big.
Maylee sat on the edge of her seat, clearly ready to spring into action at the first sign of him fucking up. He didn’t want to give her any reason to abandon her morning fuel.
He wanted her to relax.
And not in the obnoxious, chill, babe, I don’t want to deal with your shit sort of way. He wanted to get waist-deep in the worries and slop them out the door.
First up, proving he could help with breakfast.
Ellis opened the package of muffins from Miller’s Bake Shoppe and dropped one on a plastic plate. He sliced it like he’d watched Maylee do the morning before, then set the plate in front of the little cub. Esme dropped her cup with a thunk and dove straight for the meal.
“Ravenous little beast,” he muttered without heat.
“She’ll go for your fingers if you’re not careful,” Maylee said over the rim of her coffee mug.
Ellis padded back to put another muffin on a plate for Maylee. “Bet she gets that from her mother. I saw you inhale that lasagna the other night,” he said over his shoulder.
Sky blue eyes ducked his when he turned back around. The unease in her scent made his nose itch.
Right. Women didn’t like attention called to what they did or did not eat. Or maybe it was the thousand other problems she faced.
Quiet stretched between them. His wolf began pacing through his head. A stiff snarl worked out of the beast, directed entirely at him and his damn big mouth. He just needed to stick to the shadows and not try to be funny.
He ran a hand over the back of his head and looked away. “I should get cleaned up. I’m helping at Wyatt’s shop today.” And giving her run of his den again.
“Sit,” she insisted. “Stay.”
“I’m not some trained dog you can order around,” he said without thinking, then frowned. He didn’t want her thinking some dumb joke was an insult.
“Down, boy.” Her lips hitched up on the side with a small smile. “You haven’t had any of the coffee yet.”
“Now, treats I’ll respond to. I’m very food motivated.” Ellis felt a weight lift off his shoulders as he prepared his mug and took a seat across from her.
Another weighty silence gripped them.
Maylee picked at her muffin.
Esme happily flattened some of her muffin in a misguided game of patty cake with her breakfast.
Ellis scratched at his beard.
His wolf paced through him and he wanted to join in on the action. Maybe find where her old clan had moved to, so he could bat out the twitching in his limbs in a constructive manner.
The fuck was wrong with him? He’d done the morning-after song-and-dance before. None of those women snagged his tongue or kicked his heart in his chest the way Maylee had him wanting to polish up his boots and iron his damn undershirts.
They weren’t his mate.
Ellis swallowed back his growl. She wasn’t either. Couldn’t be. Didn’t deserve all his bullshit.
He washed down his wolf’s howl with a swig of burning coffee. The sting against his tongue tore at whatever magic stole his voice and reduced him down to a nervous teena
ger. “Are you settling in okay?”
“I wanted to say thank you,” she said at the same time. They shared pained smiles before he motioned for her to continue. “For letting us stay here. For fixing my car. I’m paying you back for that, by the way.”
“No need. That’s my way of apologizing.”
“That’s too big of an apology. You were just trying to keep your pack safe.”
“I fu—” he glanced at Esme and imagined Noelle’s frown of disapproval. “I messed up. You were right. I didn’t know what I was talking about and I shouldn’t have gotten on your case.”
There was more going on that her running from some shitheads. Jensen picked up on it, Alanna alluded to it. He should have seen it. He had to make up for acting like a jackass when he should have been in her corner.
Ellis snagged her hand between his fingers. She was too soft for his calloused fingers, but he couldn’t stop himself from stroking her skin. “When you’re ready, I’ll listen.”
Maylee sagged with her exhale.
With surprising force, Esme whipped her plate and half-eaten muffin off the tray and swept aside her cup of milk. Thankfully the top stayed tight and only a few drops dribbled out of the spout, but mangled muffin crumbs scattered over the floor.
Maylee jumped up immediately, but Ellis unhinged the top of the tray before her. The ripe scent of a dirty diaper made his eyes water as Maylee worked open the safety belt.
“Dang, kid. Don’t you see your mom and I are having a moment?” He waved Maylee back toward the bedroom. “Go on, I’ll get her tray cleaned up.”
Maylee nodded and paused before she disappeared around the corner. “Ellis. Thank you.”
His heart kicked in his chest when he met her eyes. “My pleasure.”
Chapter 9
“Maylee is just about finished out there,” Ellis said.
Jensen poked his head out of the office where he’d been doing the closing paperwork. He held up his personal stock of whiskey. “Nightcap?”
Wyatt took his feet off the chair he’d been lounging across, then kicked the seat out. “Restocks are done. I’m down. Get in here, big guy.”
Ellis shot a look to the door leading back into the bar. “Not really fair to Maylee, is it?”
“But it is fair to the newest employee,” Wyatt grinned. “Besides, you said it yourself. She’s almost done. You can have one drink with us before you head back to diaper duty.”
Ellis approached the chair like it was about to bite him, then dropped it back into place next to the table. “One drink,” he bargained as he took a seat. “No talking about diapers.”
Jensen chuckled and disappeared into the front. He returned a minute later with glasses and bottles of tequila and bourbon. Four glasses, Ellis noted.
Wyatt laced his fingers behind his head. “Honestly, skipping the baby parts was the best way to do things. Sure, some murder threats kept me away, but we’re making up for the lost time.”
Jensen snorted. “You keep saying that like I’m not going to alpha order you into babysitting literally all the time when the new pup arrives.”
“You can try. I’ll just challenge you and bust this pack apart, same as the tigers.”
“I’ll just reform it without you, induct Alanna and Atticus, and banish you entirely.”
Wyatt raised his middle finger and turned his attention to Ellis. “How’s that sweet, sweet cohabitation working out for you?”
“Fine.” He shifted in his seat. He couldn’t wait to get Maylee and Esme back to his den. Their den. Those quiet moments when Esme was settled down and it was just him and Maylee had become precious parts of his night.
“Fine,” Wyatt repeated.
“Fine,” Jensen echoed with a chuckle.
“Fine.” Ellis planted his forearms on the table and glared down at the glass in front of him. Fuckers gossiped more than the mates.
Jensen dragged the bottle of whiskey and a glass from the middle of the table. “We know they aren’t mated,” he said in a sly aside to Wyatt. “Noelle would have been bouncing off the walls if she heard.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want her,” Wyatt said and poured himself a shot of tequila.
“Please. You’ve seen the way he flashes those big moon eyes at her. Looks worse than you.”
Ellis growled. He lifted his glare from the table and burned both men alive in his head. When they didn’t go up in flames, he reached for one of the glasses left in the middle of the table and filled it with bourbon.
“That look. That one right there.” Jensen smirked into his glass. “That’s a man lost to his mate’s charms.”
Ellis hunched his shoulders. “It’s complicated,” he said finally. “She has a cub.”
“Yeah. So did Noelle. So did Alanna.”
“She’s not mine. You two were able to slip into the father role because they were your cubs.”
“Because we got trapped by our mistakes,” Wyatt joked. He toyed with his empty shot glass, one corner of his mouth drawn up as he considered his words. “Alanna was always the one I needed in my life. I don’t care how many years or miles we were apart or how damn impossible the idea of being with her was. No one else made sense like her. And yeah, throwing a cub into the mix still fucks with my head sometimes because really? I hardly kept myself alive all those years, now I’m helping raise the next generation of monsters? But I’d be there if he was mine or not. That boy makes me proud every damn day.”
Jensen nodded. “Blood gets you born into this world. Bonds make you family.”
Ellis watched both men from the corners of his eyes. Truer words couldn’t have been spoken. Somewhere along the lines, they’d become more his brothers than his actual blood relation. He’d do anything for the men and knew down to his bones that they would offer him the same. If three men on the wrong side of the law more often than not could find a kinship, who was to say he couldn’t be a father to Esme?
Besides his own damn baggage.
“I thought I had a mate once.” Ellis stared into the amber liquid in his glass. “Shit went south and I ended up with the Vagabonds.”
Jensen leaned forward and snagged his gaze. “That was then. Are you still that young pup who doesn’t know shit, or are you a grown-ass adult who learned from his mistakes?”
Ellis grinned around the rim of his glass. “Well, I’m not Wyatt, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Fuck off,” Wyatt laughed.
The door swung open and for a second, Ellis forgot to breathe. When his lungs worked again, her sweet scent hit his nose and tongue. His wolf scrambled for a bigger draw, a longer taste. For her.
Mate.
“This is what you’re up to?” Maylee chided. Amusement swirled in her scent, warring with the stern look on her face. “Guess actual work is out the window.”
“What do you think we’re paying you for?” Wyatt snarked.
She rolled her eyes and shook her head as she carried a bag of trash toward the back door.
Jensen held up the empty glass. “You’re welcome to join us.”
“Let me dump this and you can tell me how this counts as some employee bonding exercise or some other BS.”
“She’s not wrong. Only time I can stand you fuckers is after I’ve had a few,” Wyatt shrugged, smelling entirely of a lie.
A shriek outside jerked them to their feet.
Ellis exchanged glances with the others and tore out of the back of the bar. Near the dumpster, Maylee faced off against three big males. As he watched, one grabbed hold of her shirt and dragged her closer.
“I’ll gut you. Make you hold your insides in hand while I do whatever the fuck I want to that runt. You feel me? This bullshit is done. You’re both coming home.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you!” Maylee bared her teeth. Her feet scuffed against the ground as she tried to pry his hands from her shirt. “Dustin, let me go!”
Ellis lunged for the bastard, vision awash in red. His wolf snarled at th
e threat, his fists clenched at the ready. Jensen and Wyatt jumped in with him. They each went for one of the lackeys, while he dug his fingers into the shoulder of the man fucking with Maylee.
He spun the asshole around. Shock registered on his face, then fury. Dustin landed a punch, but Ellis dodged his second blow. They twisted and turned, grappling for dominance. He ate a hard right to the jaw and felt warmth flowing over his skin.
Getting blooded just pissed him off more. Ellis swung hard at the bastard and slammed him into the dumpster. He once again dug fingers into the man’s shoulders to spin him around and wrapped a fist in the collar of his shirt.
A snarl peeled back his lips as he leaned in close and growled, “Who the fuck do you think you are, threatening a woman like that?”
“Get your fucking hands off me,” Dustin demanded. His eyes flashed to liquid gold as he tore himself out of Ellis’s grasp and shoved a finger at Maylee. “This is clan business. Move along.”
Clan business. Maylee breathed hard. Fuck, her heart pounded as fast as a hummingbird’s wings. Ellis wanted to reach for her hand and give her a squeeze of reassurance as much as he wanted to physically block the bastard from getting near her again.
“My bar. My business,” Jensen snapped. “No one gets to push my people around.”
“Your people?” Dustin cocked his head to the side and squared up against Jensen. “You regularly go around stealing cubs and females, wolf?”
Red flushed Maylee’s cheeks. “We’re not yours!” she spat.
Dustin rounded on her. His lip curled up in a snarl as he stalked forward. “She’s more mine than yours.”
Maylee stiffened. The sharp intake of breath dragged Ellis’s attention to her. Her eyes darted between the leering members of her old clan. “Don’t,” she stammered. “Just leave.”
Dustin whistled, long and low. Hands planted on his hips, he leaned his shoulders back and gazed up at the stars. “She didn’t tell you?” he huffed an incredulous laugh, then fixed Maylee with an arched brow look of amusement. “I don’t know what shit she’s been spewing, but that kid ain’t hers. I’m here for my cub and y’all can figure out your little soap opera later.”
Bourbon and Bears: Book Three: Shifters and Sins Page 6
