by Terry Spear
Meghan glanced in Lena’s direction. Then she grimaced and repeated what Lena had said: “I wish you had died on one of your trips and never come back.”
“I’m sorry, Lena. You deserved to be happy. So did I.”
Meghan was listening to Lena and looked mortified. Frowning, she said to Peter, “Sheridan sent the man to kill me.”
“What?” Peter couldn’t have been more shocked to learn the news.
“Sheridan told Lena, through the killer he’d sent, that he couldn’t have a woman cheating on her husband in Silver Town. It wasn’t right, and he sent the man to take care of the problem. Lena thought maybe you learned later that the sheriff was behind it. You must have killed Sheridan, then became sheriff,” Meghan said. Then she added, “Why wouldn’t Sheridan have killed Oliver too?”
“Hell, I didn’t know any of this. Sheridan was a bastard. He played by his own set of rules. Maybe he thought it was all the woman’s fault for doing what she did. And the man wasn’t to blame. Oliver was a bachelor,” Peter said. “Damn, maybe that’s why Sheridan made me his deputy sheriff, out of a sense of guilt. Though I never really knew him to feel guilty about anything. When Sheridan murdered Darien’s first mate, who had been cheating on him, Sheridan felt completely justified.” Hell, the sheriff had cheated on his own mate.
“Lena wondered if you got the job because you arranged through Sheridan to have her killed.”
“Oh God, no. I hated that she loved Oliver, but I still was totally hung up on her. I was devastated when she died.”
“She thought that was because you were ultimately responsible and felt bad for what you’d done. And that’s why you stayed away for so long—all through the day, that night, and the next day—to give yourself an alibi.”
So all along, Lena had thought Peter orchestrated her death? He hated that she’d felt that way. Maybe that’s why she couldn’t leave. “I was gone for longer that time so I could bring home more money, knowing full well the longer I stayed away, the more likely Oliver would be visiting my mate. I had the damnable notion if I brought in more money this time, and Lena could have what she wanted, she would finally realize I was the one for her. Not Oliver, but me. I can’t believe, and yet I can, that Sheridan was the one behind all this. Hell, if I hadn’t killed the murderer, he could have told on Sheridan, if anyone had tried to take him to trial. No wonder Sheridan was glad I killed Lena’s murderer.”
“I’m sorry… I thought you might have killed me.”
“I wouldn’t have harmed you, honey. I was beside myself with grief when I lost you. What can I do to help you now?”
“Let me go.”
He thought he had. He thought he’d given her up a long time ago. He thought falling in love with Meghan and mating her had been proof of that.
“Find someone to love…I’m ready to go.”
“I love you, Lena. Despite Oliver coming between us”—and the issue of money—“I always loved you.”
“I’m sorry for what I did to you. It wasn’t right. I should have known you would never have hurt me. Goodbye, Peter.”
Meghan rose, looking a little shaky, glassy-eyed, her soft lips parted as if she had something to say but couldn’t.
Peter, forgetting to keep his distance, immediately went to her. As soon as he held Meghan in his arms, he didn’t want to let her go. She didn’t pull away, melting against him, but her eyes were filled with tears. Then she began to kiss him.
“She’s…she’s gone?” Peter was hoping, but also hesitant to take this too far.
“Yes. She’s gone. She didn’t want to see her house in ruins. I thought maybe she’d want to go to the mine tomorrow to meet with Oliver, but I think she realized she had wronged you. Even in death, she must not have wanted to renew her friendship with him. I’m so sorry about all of this. I…I guess it wasn’t anything you’d wanted to share with anyone.”
“I shouldn’t have any secrets from you, Meghan. I love you.”
They heard the stairs creaking and turned to see Laurel watching them. “Is everything all right?”
Laurel had to know Lena was gone for good, or Peter wouldn’t have been hugging Meghan.
“She’s gone,” Meghan said. “Permanently.”
“Oh, thank God!”
“We’re heading home to my place,” Meghan said. “Thanks for putting me up here. We’ll go to the old homestead to watch the men tear it down, and then we’ll visit the mine tomorrow. I guess I won’t be working at the inn until the next day.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Laurel said. “We’ve got it covered. You and Peter need some time alone together, after all that’s happened.”
“Thanks, Laurel. We’ll see you soon.” Meghan and Peter said good night, and then they headed out to his vehicle.
“You know, your car is still at my place with my bag of stuff.”
Meghan chuckled. “Do you want to get it?”
“Sure, let’s make a detour that way, and then we can return to your place for the night.” He’d been so shaken up about Lena attaching herself to Meghan that he hadn’t had time to make any arrangements to take Meghan’s car back to her place.
It was already really late, though.
“Are you going to tell anyone that Sheridan was behind your wife’s death?” Meghan asked.
“Only if it comes up. I won’t lie about it, but since he was CJ, Brett, Sarandon, and Eric’s father, I’d rather not bring it up if I don’t have to. They’ve been through enough with what they’ve learned he’d pulled.” Peter opened the car door for Meghan. “As to my mate’s affair with Oliver, the same thing. His parents don’t need to know what was going on between their son and my mate, and no one else needs to know either. Unless something comes up that makes it imperative that I tell all. Otherwise, there’s no good reason to.”
“I agree. Your secrets are safe with me. But I think Clementine and Jessup knew something.”
“Would any of this have changed how you felt about me before we mated?” he asked.
Meghan shook her head. “I completely understand why you wouldn’t want the pack to know about your mate having an affair with Oliver. I felt so bad for you and wanted to hug you when you were telling your story.”
“It was pretty weird talking to you as if you were Lena.”
“I know.”
“I worried that she might have taken over your body or something. Do you think she suspected about us?” Peter hadn’t wanted to upset Lena. He didn’t know if she could have taken it out on Meghan or not. He supposed in a way she had because he and Meghan couldn’t be together. He was damn glad the business with her was over.
“Maybe, maybe not. It was impossible to tell. I think we kept up the charade pretty well.” Meghan sighed. “I’m just so glad we’re fine now.”
“Hell, yeah.” He pulled into his driveway, and then she drove her car back to her place while he followed her. He called Tom, despite how late it was, and said, “Hey, Tom, you’re off the hook. Meghan’s mine again.”
Tom laughed. “Hallelujah. Elizabeth will be thrilled.”
“Thanks, bud, for helping out. And thanks to Elizabeth for being such a good sport.”
“No problem. You would have done the same for me. I’m glad it all worked out. Is Lena gone now? For good?”
“Yes. I’m following Meghan back to her house. See you at my old homestead tomorrow.”
“See you there.”
Peter finally pulled into the parking lot next to Meghan’s car, got a call, and answered it. “Yeah, Trevor?”
“One of the pack members in Green Valley called to say he found Jake’s truck at one of the twenty-four-hour quick stops.”
“What shape is it in?”
“Pristine, except that some of those fruit gum wrappers were on the front seat.”
“What about Jake’s
camera?”
“It was under a blanket on the floor of the back seat. It was perfectly fine.”
“I’m glad about the camera and the truck, and thanks. I’ll let Jake know. Did they impound the vehicle?”
“Pack leader’s got it at his house, taking care of it.”
“Okay, good.” Peter and Trevor ended the call, and Peter called Jake. “Hey, listen. Trevor just got a call that your truck was found in Green Valley.”
“In what shape?” Jake asked warily as Peter grabbed his bag out of Meghan’s car.
“Good shape.” Peter told him the rest, and they ended the call. “God, it’s good to be home again,” he told Meghan. He felt so lighthearted, the first time he’d felt this good since she’d told him she would mate him.
* * *
Once they were inside the house, Peter dropped his bag on the floor and did his usual routine of making sure the place was safe. “All clear.” Then he grabbed Meghan up in his arms and rushed her to the stairs. “This is long overdue.”
She laughed. “I so agree.”
Then they were in the bedroom and stripping off their clothes as fast as they could.
They paused only to kiss each other, her breasts pressed against his chest. She rubbed herself against him as if she couldn’t get close enough to hit the sweet spot. His lips fell hungrily on hers, passion stirring between them as he felt her nipples bud against his chest. She was demanding more, parting her lips for his deeper touch, and he quickly pushed his tongue between her lips. She sucked on his tongue, her fingers tracing down his back and lower to his buttocks before she edged them to the bed.
She was only in her bra and panties now, he in his boxer briefs. But he was unfastening her bra and then pulling her panties down before she could get him on the bed.
Then she pulled his boxer briefs down. She loved to see his iron-hard arousal spring free, standing at attention, the tip weeping just a little, begging for release. Just as much as she was already wet for him and needing release.
He cupped her face and kissed her deeply as if he had to draw her in, and she felt the tension in him begin to melt away. He pulled away from the kiss and rested his head against hers, his eyes closed, as if to reassure himself she was his again, and all was right with the world.
She guessed this had been really hard on him, not being able to do anything about his late wife. But none of that mattered now. “It’s in the past,” she whispered and drew him in for another searing and fiercely raw kiss.
That seemed to draw him back into the here and now, and he immediately took charge of the pleasure at hand, lifting her onto his hips and then crawling into bed with her.
She admired his strength and ran her hands over his biceps. He leaned over her, his darkened eyes filled with lust, and kissed her mouth with tenderness. Then he worked his body between her legs, and she felt the rampant need to have him filling her with his cock. But he began to stroke her inside, wanting her to come first. She reached up and caressed the hard line of his jaw, seeing the determination in his expression, the love for her there, the relief they were together again as mated wolves, and feeling the heat and desperation in his touch.
He was so intense that she wondered if he felt he was reclaiming her as his wolf, and she loved him for it, for wanting to make the connection all over again, to banish all other thoughts that could tear them apart.
His mouth took one of her nipples in and suckled. The shock of it leaped straight to her groin, and she combed her fingers through his hair, relishing the sensations that were rocketing her into space as his other fingers continued to stroke her sensitive nub. She must have clung to his hair for a minute as the tidal wave of a climax crashed over her, and she moaned in absolute ecstasy.
* * *
Peter knew he was screwing things up by having a time letting go of what Meghan had gone through—for him—over his late mate. He couldn’t begin to say how much he loved her for it and everything else she meant to him. But then the orgasm hit her, and he was glad he’d finally centered all his loving on her and had not been stuck in the past. Now, he was ready to renew their mated vows, and he entered her, gently at first, and then began to thrust. He’d been afraid they would have had to put this off a lot longer, worried that they might not ever resolve things, and now they were free to love each other like they deserved to be loved.
He didn’t hold back, wanting to love her all night, realizing just how much he had to lose. He wasn’t taking her for granted ever.
She was scraping her nails softly against his legs as he continued to plunge his cock into her, deepening his thrusts as she arched to accommodate him. Oh yeah, like that, and then he was coming, every muscle straining. She smiled at him with wicked knowing that he couldn’t last much longer. But that wasn’t all he had. He’d be back for more.
And the notion he could made his heart soar, right before he came. He finally finished pumping into her and pulled out. Then he rolled off her and onto his back, both of them looking at the ceiling of the canopy, hands linked.
“I think we are truly mated wolves.” Meghan patted his sweaty belly.
He turned to look at her and smiled, and then he frowned. “You said you and your sisters wanted to wait.”
She raised her brows in question.
“To have babies.”
Meghan sighed and placed her hands behind her back and looked up at the canopy again. “I think…it’s too late for that.”
He chuckled darkly, then settled her in his arms. “That’s fine with me.”
“Shows your prowess, right?” she asked, smiling at him.
“Hell, yeah. Teach the other guys to be so slow.”
She laughed. “Don’t you dare start a competition with my brothers-in-law.”
He kissed her again and sighed, wishing he didn’t have to witness his old homestead being demolished, and that Meghan didn’t have to either, but he needed closure, and he suspected she felt the same way.
Chapter 26
It was two days before Christmas when Meghan and Peter went together to see his house being demolished. Meghan felt sad for what had gone on there before he had lost his mate, and then everything that had happened afterward. No matter what, she’d wanted to be with him while he found closure. But then Peter wrapped his arm around her, and she knew he was ready to move forward with her, and everything would be fine between them.
Even though Meghan was certain Lena was gone, she couldn’t help watching the windows for any sign of her while workers hauled everything salvageable out of the house. She felt bad that the house had to be torn down—which was probably due to her need to repair old buildings and restore them to their former glory. She could see the beauty in old buildings when others couldn’t. But it was a relief that the dangerous structure would be removed from the property.
A track-hoe excavator tore at the walls and the roof of the house, and the onlookers all stood back while the roof and walls began to collapse in a plume of smoke and dust.
Darien came by to speak with them, and he seemed as somber as everyone else, considering the reason Peter had let the property run down. “Thanks for donating the land to the pack for all the wolves to use. We’ll enjoy running through the forested land once it’s safe.”
Meghan appreciated that Peter had asked her if it was all right to give the wooded acreage to the pack. He needn’t have, but she loved him for being so thoughtful to ask. The pack would pay the taxes on the property and maintain it.
“It’ll be put to good use finally after all these years,” Peter said, sounding upbeat despite the circumstances.
Darien patted Peter on the back. “It was time to put all of this to rest.” Then he smiled at Meghan. “Congratulations to both of you on your mated status.”
“I was afraid that was going to be awfully short-lived,” Peter said.
“No way
,” Meghan said. “We would have figured out something if what we did hadn’t worked.”
About twenty minutes later, the demolished house was stacked on the ground in a pile of debris. A man used a loader to carry the debris to waiting dump trucks that would take the materials to another place to sort through.
Meghan thought about seeing Oliver after lunch and how different she would view him this time. He’d hurt Peter by continuing to have an affair with Lena. Oliver was no longer just someone she knew very little about, but a real person who had foibles like anyone else. If it wasn’t for Jessup and Peter being with her when she talked to Oliver, she would have told him she knew all about it and hoped he was sorry for what he had done.
Then she wondered if that was what Oliver needed to do: come clean about it with Peter. That it had nothing to do with Clementine seeing him one last time. Ugh. If that was the case, she didn’t want Jessup hearing what had happened. Unless he already knew or suspected what his son had been up to. And she thought he might.
She would see if Peter wanted to go down to the mine with her first and then meet up with Jessup after that.
“I’m headed off to watch the kids so Lelandi can have some of her regular sessions with folks. If the two of you need anything else, just let me know.” Darien said goodbye to them and left.
Meghan wasn’t sure how long Peter wanted to hang around the old homestead, but she was willing to wait as long as he needed. Though she was ready to go.
She shoved her gloved hands in her pockets. “When we’re done here, let’s have breakfast at my place. I want to go a little early to the mine to speak with Oliver.”
“Before Jessup arrives at the mine?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, we can let him know to come afterward.”
“You want to talk to Oliver regarding Lena and me, don’t you?” Peter asked.
“Yeah.”
Peter frowned. “It’s the past—”
“Right, but he might be holding on to the past like Lena was. What if he can’t move on because of the business with Lena?”