“I didn’t want to make you any more pissy than you already seem to be today.” She stood up, and so did he. “Your anger is making your scent stronger. Either sit down and be calm, or I’m not going to be responsible for what happens next. I swear to you, I’m trying my best to be a gentleman about this.”
“A gentleman? You’ve threated this man for no reason other than that he wanted to talk to me. You’ve threatened me with...what did you mean, you won’t be responsible for what happens to him? Were you going to kill him?” Instead of answering her, he yelled for his grandda. He was never so happy to see him in his life. “What do you think you’re doing screaming like a child for this elderly man? And he’s what I would consider a gentleman. Not you.”
“Grandda, would you please do me a favor and explain to Shadow why I’m angry that Bryant sat down next to her?” Grandda looked at Shadow then at him before asking the obvious question. Was Shadow his mate? “Yes. I’m trying my best to be calm and relaxed, but she’s being unreasonable and making my cat crazy. I’m going for a run.”
“You are most certainly not going anywhere. You’re going to talk to me, without grinding your teeth at me like an animal.”
When he started past her, she slapped him. Blake could no longer hold onto his cat.
“Well, I’m guessing you done went and let the cat out of the bag now, darling. If you want to ask him something or yell at him some more, then you go on ahead, he can understand you. But I’ll stick around here for a minute to translate what he might say to you.” Grandda sat on the couch behind Shadow. “Go on now. You seemed to have had a burr up your butt about something, so you go on and finish up.”
Grandda, behave. He looked over at Blake but didn’t say a word. She’s dealing with a lot right now. Cut her some slack. I’m going to go outside if you’ll open the door.
“Blake here wants me to behave myself. I’m thinking that someone should have said that to you. But he didn’t, did he?” Shadow shook her head, never taking her eyes off him. “Yeah, he’s a mite nicer than I might have been with you bickering at him like a harpy. Now, I don’t usually talk to women this way. My wife, bless her soul, would have boxed my ears. But I can bet you a buck and a kiss that she would have had something to say to you too. You’re not a nice person right now.”
“He’s my mate.” Grandda said that was true enough. “I’ve been married before. I’m not cut out to be a wife to someone. I don’t have it in me to be whatever he wants.”
“Well, now, that’s where you made your first mistake. I’m guessing that he never asked you for a durn thing, did he? Blake would ask politely, and if’n you said no, he’d just let you have your way. You must have made him powerful mad for him to have shifted like he did. His brother Evan, a good doctor, told him not to shift on account of him losing so much blood. It might hurt the two of them. But you went and slapped him. Did you have a good reason for that?”
“When Bryant sat next to me, he growled like an animal.” Grandda just looked at her. “I know that I was baiting him. I mean, I know that now. I don’t have any idea why I’d do that to a stranger.”
“I’m sure you do. Now, how about you telling him what’s really wrong with you?” Shadow looked at Grandda. “I know you’re fearful of your uncle. I heard about him. But here’s the thing—with you being his mate or not, we will protect you like you’re our own. We don’t ever condone a man treating anyone the way he’s been treating you. That uncle of yours, he’s in for a world of hurt if he even tries to hurt you now.”
“He kidnapped my mom and tied her up so that he’d not be embarrassed by her. He wants me to put Grannie in a nursing home so that she’ll not say something about him that will be true, but will hurt his chances of becoming president. I don’t think he has a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening, but he seems to think he’s a shoo in.” Grandda asked her what else had her twisted up. “He killed my husband. I didn’t love him anymore—I don’t know that I ever did—but he was, at the start, kind and funny. That soon wore off, and he became himself. Someone that I began to hate a great deal. But that didn’t mean he had to die.”
“No, it surely didn’t.” Blake moved toward her when she sat down. “You just let him comfort you for a minute. He won’t ever hurt you, Shadow. Never. But he needs to touch you so that he’ll feel better.”
“I hurt him. Not once, but since I saw him here.” Blake was glad that she put her hands in his fur and held it. He laid his head on her legs, and she started to cry. “I’m so sorry. I truly am. I’m so stressed out that I’ve even taken to snapping at my mom. She can’t help it that she has no idea who I am. Nor can she help that I want her to be there for me again—laugh with me and talk to me about things.”
Grandda left them there then. Blake only just noticed that Bryant had left as well. Blake didn’t move when she laid her head on his and told him several times that she was sorry. Grandda came back to tell her if she wanted to talk to Blake and for him to answer, she would only have to let him bite her a little. Shadow laughed and raised her head to look at him.
“Bite me a little? Does he have any idea that you have enormous teeth and that your head is twice the size of mine?” Blake licked her hand and then looked at her again. “Will it hurt? I’m a big baby when it comes to pain.”
Blake shook his head. When she put out her trembling hand, he licked it again and nipped at the fatty part of her hand. Before she could jerk her hand back, if that was her plan, he licked the wound closed and waited for her to stop shaking.
“It didn’t hurt much. Now, what do we do?” A thousand and one images popped into his head in that second, and all of them centered on her being naked beneath him. “I saw that. You want me. I don’t even think that a lot of those are things that we can do.”
Oh, you’d be surprised at what can be done if one is motivated. I’m sorry you hurt so badly. I really was trying my best not to upset you. She told him that she knew that. I can go and change and dress now if you’ll be all right for a little while.
“I’m assuming that since your clothing is in shreds all over the floor, you’ll be naked when you shift back.” He told her that he would be. “I’m not sure how I feel about that either. I’m not saying I’m a prude, but to be honest with you, it’s been a long time since I had sex. Not that I’m asking you to have it with me, but I just wanted to warn you that I’m kind of rusty about it.”
It’s like riding a bike. Or me. However you want me, I’m willing to let you have your way with me. She laughed, and he felt his cat getting happy with the sound of it. You should smile more and laugh a lot. I need to go change up. My sons are on their way in here. Their names are Joey and Bennett. They’re nervous to meet you.
Bennett, always the braver of the two of them, came in and put his hand on Blake’s fur before sitting next to Shadow. Not to be outdone, Joey did the same thing and sat on the other side of Shadow. He left them there to get to know each other. Blake hoped they’d be all right together. He wanted this to work for them all.
All the homes had clothing for the cats to change into. It was nice, he thought, to know that he’d have something to use when he did what he’d done. Shifting to himself, he thought about dressing himself. It was one of the perks that he had never used before. The jeans and T-shirt were close to what he’d had on before, but he opted not to wear shoes. There was something comforting about just wearing socks in the house that he enjoyed a lot since he’d gotten his own home. Going down the stairs again, he saw Adrian waiting for him on the landing. He looked upset.
“I just found out that Thomas, Shadow’s uncle, is running for the presidency. What do you think his chances are?” He told him what he’d found out from Shadow. “I see. Do you think everyone knows about that? I mean, should he be exposed for what he’s done?”
“I think that is a question that you should be putting before Shadow. By the way, she’s m
y mate.” Adrian hugged him, then followed him down the stairs. “She’s stressed out, so take it easy with her about everything. Don’t overwhelm her too much. All right?”
“Yes, of course. Blake, does she know about the boys?”
Nodding, he smiled when he heard laughter coming from where he’d left his family. “They’re in the living room with her now. Grandda must have sent them in. Didn’t he tell everyone about her being my mate?” Adrian told him that he’d not said a word, but was laughing a lot. “That sounds like him. He told her off too when we were having an argument. I’ll have to talk to him about that.”
The living room was packed. His family made for a lot of noise and people. Plus, Nate had come by while he was gone, and Bryant had joined them again. Evan asked him if he was all right, and Bryant told him he was fine. Blake loved his family and was glad to see that Joey was holding hands with Shadow. Grannie was talking to Bennett, and he was telling her about the judge and what he’d done in the courtroom. Things were normal, he figured.
If a kid found humor in a grown man having a breakdown while deciding his fate, then Blake was fine with that too. However, he’d have to talk to him about who he related the story to from now on. Some people might not find it as funny as he had.
Chapter 3
Thomas wasn’t worried that Jaclyn had gotten away. No one would believe her anyway, not with her being so stupid. But he was pissed that she was no longer hidden away. Next time he took her, and he would, he was going to chain her up and throw away the key. To have her out and about was going to ruin him.
Sitting in his car in front of his mother’s house, he watched as the dogs there walked around the house and property line several times. He’d been hoping for a pattern that he could break, but they didn’t seem to have one. They covered every inch of the place several times a minute, so he was stuck waiting for one of them to take a nap or something. Dogs did that, he was sure.
Thomas knew they weren’t dogs. He also knew that it pissed Shadow off when he called them that. Nate didn’t care—or he pretended he didn’t. Messing with the wolf made him feel good, but he was getting bored with it. Thomas would have to think of something else to use against him.
He’d been calling the house for the last couple of hours now. Either his mom hadn’t paid the bill, which wasn’t likely, or they were ignoring him. Damn it, he hated when they did that. It was one of the many reasons that he wanted his mom out of the picture. She was too stubborn for her own good. Then there was the house.
Thomas had always figured that his dad would have left the house to him, and would expect him to take care of his mom. He had no idea why he would have thought such a thing. Even before his dad died, Thomas had not wanted much, if anything, to do with her. But he’d left the house to his stupid mom. Then his sister messed up her head. If his dad were here now, he’d ask him why he’d do something as dumb as that.
It was drugs or something—he was sure of that about his sister. Or she was faking it. The couple of times that Jaclyn had spoken to him when he’d tied her up, she didn’t sound like she was right in the head. She, like the rest of them, was messing up his plans. Thomas wanted to live in the White House. No, that wasn’t right, he realized—he deserved to live there. After all the shit that he’d put up with all these years, he knew it was his destiny to live there.
When he’d mentioned it to a few people that he knew, they laughed at him. One of them had asked him what his platform was going to be, and he had no idea what they meant. Thomas told them that he was working on it. After looking it up, he figured out that it was what he was going to do once he got to the White House.
He figured out pretty quickly that he couldn’t tell people that he wasn’t planning on doing a thing. Then he started saying that he wasn’t going to change a thing. That didn’t go over well either. They told him that they might as well leave the president that was in there to do that. Hell, it felt like he had to do more work than just laze about.
Thomas was still working on his platform. All he’d been able to figure out was that he was going to have steak every night. Of course, he didn’t mention that part either. No one thought he was smart enough to do the job, so he just kept things like his plans to himself.
The knock at the passenger window nearly had him wet himself. He’d had to pee for the last hour. Not being able to go into his mother’s home, he’d not been able to go, nor get him anything to eat.
Rolling down the window, he asked the cop standing there what he wanted. “I was just going to ask you the same thing, Thomas. Shouldn’t you be home?” He said he was trying to get into his mom’s home. “Well, what’s stopping you? You’ve been sitting here for nearly three hours, and you’ve made the neighbors nervous. I think you should perhaps move on.”
“I need to talk to my mom, and those damned wolves are keeping me from going inside.” Thomas looked when the cop looked around. They were gone, except for the one sitting on the steps that he knew was Nate. “Well, there were a bunch of them there.”
When he got out to go across the street to go inside, the fucking dog stood up and showed his teeth. He saw them then, a bunch of them just waiting around the corner of the house for him. When he mentioned it to the cop, all he did was laugh at him.
“Seems to me that he don’t want you to come up any more than your momma does when she is home.” Thomas asked him what he meant by that. His mom loved him. “I’m sure she does, Thomas. Or is it still Thomas Wayne? Whatever it is, they’re not home. And you’re not to go near the house or them until I find out why your sister came up missing. Then I’d like to know why, when they did find her, she was carrying rope burns around her ankles and wrists. You’d not know anything about that, would you, Thomas Wayne?”
“She’s stupid. You know that. Hell, she probably told them that I took her from the house and did that to her.” The cop just smiled at him. “What?”
“I didn’t know you took her from the house, Thomas Wayne. Now right there is a good enough reason for no one to let you into their home while they’re gone.” He asked him where they’d gone. “I’m not at liberty to tell you shit. You’re the one running for president. How about you contact one of your constituents and ask them where your family is?” Thomas wanted to draw out the gun he had on him and blow the fucker away. But as it stood right now, he was in no position to do anything more than to get back into his car and do just what he’d been told. Drive home.
Leaving his mom’s home meant that he had no food. He supposed he could go and get him something to eat, but there was no finer cooking than what his mom could throw together. Even if she didn’t know he was coming to eat, Thomas knew there was going to be something on the stovetop, and more than enough for him to enjoy. Even if he had to take if from the dummy to have more than his share.
As soon as he got home, he took his pants off. Nothing said home to him more than to be half naked in his living room. When he heard a noise in the kitchen area, he went there with his gun out to see what the hell was going on. The man standing there eating an apple like he owned the place threw him for a moment.
“Hello, stupid.” Thomas started to lunge forward, forgetting about the gun when he saw something move over the bigger man’s face and hands. “If you would have followed through on trying to attack me, we’d be finished with you by now. Why don’t you have a seat, and you and I can have a conversation.”
“Who the hell are you? And what the fuck are you doing in my house?” The man simply walked by him into the living room and sat in his chair. “That’s my seat. You should know that because it’s the only one that is comfy.”
“I know that you more than likely jack off in this chair twice a night. I’m glad now that I had the foresight to at least cover it with the blanket there. Sit down, Thomas, before I have to make you.” Thomas wasn’t stupid, so he sat down. When he remembered the gun in his hand, he pointed i
t at the stranger. “You might want to put that away. If you shoot me, you’re only going to piss me off more, and that will not bode well for you. When Dylan helped me find you, she made me promise not to kill you, unless I really had to. I really don’t want to. Dylan will do so much better than I would anyway. I want to talk to you about your family.”
“What about them? If you’re going to ask me where they are, I haven’t any idea. The police know, I guess, but they’re not talking.” The man said he knew just where all three of them were. “Where? I have a right to know where they’re at. My mom, she owes me some money.”
“No, she doesn’t. No one owes you squat. You owe them, however—a great deal of money and time. Also, there is the fact that you kidnapped Jaclyn out of the house and took her to the basement of an abandoned building. I’m guessing that you had hoped no one would find her until she was dead. Is that it? Is that why you didn’t leave her any water or food? You fucking bastard, how could you do that to that nice woman?”
“If you know Jaclyn, you know that she’s off her rocker. And there isn’t anything nice about her at all. She just goes on about shit that no one cares about anymore. When she is home up there, she just cries about how she’s lost so much and can’t get it back. Boohoo.” Thomas thought he was funny and laughed about making fun of his sister. “Don’t you agree with me?”
“No, I don’t. It’s doubtful that anyone would think you’re funny, nor would they agree with anything that spills from your mouth. I came here to tell you that I’m going to marry your niece. And in doing such, take her and her mom and grannie under my care.” Thomas was shaking his head no even before he finished. “You don’t want me to marry Shadow? Or is it you don’t want me to care for her family? Which, before you ask, does not include you.”
“First of all, her name isn’t Shadow at all, but Anna Beth. And she’ll never agree to marry you because she was married once already, and she claimed at the funeral home that she’d never marry again. Her heart was broken, you see.” The man leaned back in his chair and told him to go on. “Thanks. Besides, she won’t marry again because she doesn’t trust men. Especially big men like you and I.”
Blake: The Whitfield Rancher – Tiger Shapeshifter Romance Page 3
