Kaid's Queen
Page 1
Contents
Title Page
Cover Credit
Dedication
Copyright
About this Book
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
From the Author
About the Author
Kaid’s Queen
Avaleigh’s Boys, Book 3
Sandra R Neeley
Cover designed by: Cindy Falk
Southern Graphics and Print
southerngraphicsandprint@gmail.com
For my kids; For my son, who saved me, and for my daughter who continues to teach me to be a better person every single day.
I love you more than anyone could ever convey. You are everything. I’m so proud of both of you.
All rights reserved.
Kaid’s Queen
(Avaleigh’s Boys, Book 3)
Copyright © 2017 Sandra R Neeley
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the author.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement (including infringement without monetary gain) is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.00.
Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persona's, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Kaid’s Queen
Book 3
Avaleigh’s Boys
Kaid has watched as members of his clan have found and claimed their One, their Mate. Even the female that he had once hoped to claim as his own has found and claimed her One. He’s lonely, he’s tired of waiting, and his Bear is growing bitter and despondent watching from the side, never gifted with his own. He’s tired of hurting. Then a visit from an old friend delivers his heart’s desire. He’s speechless. She is beyond all he ever dreamed. But there’s a problem; she’s more Alpha than he is, housing a Monster that even she is afraid to release. And the little fact that he failed her before he ever knew she existed; how can she forgive him for his failure if he cannot even consider forgiving himself?
Delilah was born in captivity. Her parents murdered. All she has ever known is rules, permissions, cruelty, forced to barter in trade each day for her very survival. The concept of love, family and happiness mean nothing to her; they are merely words. Her captor leaves one day, never to return. She believes she’s been left to die a slow, painful death, starving in the cell that is her home. Then a chance encounter saves her; a human searching for answers stumbles across her hidden prison. She doesn’t trust him, but she’s got nothing to lose and he’s got food! So she goes with the man on an adventure that takes her to an Alpha who could be all she never knew she needed. Now if only the Monster that resides inside her wouldn’t eat her newfound friends, this might not be too bad!
While Kaid and Delilah struggle to form a bond other than the obvious physical one, a vengeful, unseen threat from the past scurries into the periphery of their lives, threatening not only their new-found chance at happiness, but the lives of every member of their clan and the very land they call home. Will this threat be detected in time to save the lives of all Avaleigh’s Boys and everyone they hold dear?
This book is the third in a new series, Avaleigh’s Boys, about a group of shifters who make their home in the backwoods and bayous of South Louisiana. Their clan consists of a mix-matched group of five shifters who depend on one another and are loyal to no end. These are their stories.
Warning: Intended for mature audiences. These stories contain hot bear, dragon, wolf and lion shifters. They like to cuss, fight and love their women. This book contains explicit love scenes, lots of use of the “F” word (among others), and some abusive scenes both inferred and described that may be disturbing for some readers. If you are offended by these subjects, please do not buy this book.
Kaid’s Queen
Avaleigh’s Boys, Book 3
Sandra R Neeley
Chapter 1
A drink. That’s all he wanted. Just a fucking drink, and maybe a sweet, willing female to spend a little time with. Was that too much to ask? Apparently it was, he thought to himself as he listened to the stupid fucks in the booth behind him. They’d been steadily disrespecting the little female with them since they’d arrived. She sat quietly and had taken it for some time, but when she’d finally had enough and started to stand up for herself, then they’d put their hands on her. He had just about fucking had it…
The woman he was waiting for, Maria, was a friend of his. He’d spent a little time with her on and off for the last several years, but they were never more than friends, each a scratch to the other’s itch if no one else was available. “You okay, Kaid?” she asked him, knowing him well enough to sense him tensing.
“No, I’m not okay,” he told her.
“I’m sorry you have to wait, I should be off shift in a just a bit,” she told him.
Kaid scrubbed a hand down his face sighing, “It ain’t that, Maria. Hadn't been right in a while. Take your time, I’m good.” He reached for the bottle of whiskey in front of him, his second of the night so far, turned it up and drank deeply from it again.
Maria watched him, raised an eyebrow at him in question. It wasn’t like Kaid to drink like this and he’d been doing it more and more lately.
“What?” he asked at her raised eyebrow, “I’m good. I promise.”
Maria just smiled at him and moved back down the bar to have Vince cash out one of her last table’s drinking tabs before she went to see if either of the last regulars needed anything else before she ended her shift.
Kaid sat there, waiting, trying to mind his own business, but he couldn't help but overhear the conversation from the booth again.
“You gonna do what you're told. You belong to this skulk. We provide you with safety and protection; in exchange we want a little somethin-somethin; you gonna provide it, happily. Now sit your ass still, and if you push my hand from between those sweet little thighs one more time, I’m gonna fuck you right here in front of this whole damn bar, you got me Ev?”
“I never asked you for anything!” she told him, voice quivering.
That was it, Kaid snapped. He shoved himself from the barstool he sat on so fast that most missed it. He leapt across the pool tables between himself and the booths the group was sitting in and had the male that was mistreating the female, in his hands, both hands wrapped tightly around his throat, feet dangling above the floor as he snarled in his face, fangs on full display. “You touch this female like that again, I’ll fucking kill you!” Kaid snarled at him, his face showing the strain of not shifting, hair sprouting sporadically, his nose beginning to elongate to that of his Bear’s snout.
The m
ale in his hands was not intimidated. The males sitting with him all jumped up snarling and growling at Kaid. The female shot Kaid a grateful look and wasted no time jumping up and running from the bar. The male in his hands, currently turning blue from lack of oxygen, spat in his face, and choked out, “Put me down, Bear!”
“Yeah, put him down!” The others echoed. “He’s our Alpha!”
Foxes, a bunch of fucking foxes. He’d have known they were foxes if he hadn't been so drunk. Didn’t matter, though. He’d have still intervened on the female’s behalf. Nobody should mistreat a female, ever. The idiot in his hands pulled at his fingers again, trying to pry his hands loose so that he could breathe again. One of his males tried to reach up and assist him in loosening Kaid's fingers. He hated foxes. They couldn't do anything alone. He’d be surprised if they even took a piss without holding each other’s dicks. He only had a moment to ponder this as he turned his head to make sure the female had left the bar, before the sneaky fuckers tried to take him out at the knees. One knelt behind him, another trying to push him backwards to lose his balance when he backed over the kneeling bastard. Didn’t work completely, though it did piss him off that they couldn't even fight like respectable males, though. He roared again, threw the blue bastard in his hands against the wall and reached for the next one to remove a few teeth with a well placed punch.
The next thing he knew, the whole damn place was in an uproar, chairs flying, fists sinking into flesh, bottles smashing. Men cursing, grunting, threatening, but still Kaid remained in his own little world; fighting the foxes. He was pissed! But truth be told, he was also having a hell of a time. He needed an outlet. He was bitter. Bear was bitter. He punched the Alpha fox again and grinned at the sound of crunching bone as his fist made contact. He was just about to grab another fox when a strong arm wrapped around him from behind, dragging him backwards.
“The fuck, Kaid?! What is wrong with you???!!!!” a loud voice roared in his ear.
He was in the process of reaching back to remove whoever was holding him from behind when he recognized the voice. It was Vince. And he was not happy, at all.
“Do you see what you’ve done to my place? The fuck is your problem, Kaid?” he repeated.
Then he addressed the foxes, “Take your Alpha and get the fuck out! Now!”
“What?! Why do we have to get out? He started it!” their leader protested.
“Do you see this male?” he dropped his voice, “He’s half fucking shifted. I let him go and you will not leave here alive. Go, Now!”
Bear decided that he was tired of being held still so he started to push back against Vince. He didn't care that Vince was his friend; he wanted loose.
Vince felt him pushing to be freed, “Just a minute longer, Kaid.”
He watched as the foxes made their exit before he let Kaid go.
“This ain’t over!” Their Alpha, Edgar, yelled at Kaid, pointing his finger at him from the exit door, “I’m gonna git cha! You just wait and see!”
Edgar went on out of the door talking about arrogant fucks thinking they were better than everybody else just because they were predators.
Vince looked around his bar, now a shambles. “Fuck! Couldn't just fucking take it outside could you?” With that he pushed Kaid away from him and toward the wall.
Kaid caught himself before he hit the wall, turning around slowly to face Vince. He looked around the bar, realizing that it was only him and Vince now, most of the others having fled already.
“I’m sorry. I didn't mean to start a bar fight. I just wanted to protect the female.”
“Yeah, and where is she? Did she even say thank you? Maybe she didn’t want protecting! Maybe I should have fucking shot your ass instead of just my goddamn ceiling!” he shouted.
Kaid looked up at the ceiling and saw the hole with the sunshine now shining through it. He squinted at it, turned his head like a confused pup and then looked back at Vince, “When did you shoot your ceiling? Why would you do that?”
Vince just gaped at him, mouth hanging open, then yelled, “How the fuck else was I supposed to stop the fight you started?” Vince gestured at the mess behind him.
“You could have just asked,” Kaid told him.
“You didn’t hear the fucking shotgun, were you going to hear me ask you to quit?? Was the whole fucking bar? Even the humans were throwing shit and punching each other!” He threw his hands up again, “The fuck, Kaid?!”
“You said that already,” Kaid told him soberly.
“Dude, you gotta do something! This is the third time this week. Until you can control your fucking self and your damn Bear, do not fucking come back here.”
“Aw come on!” Kaid protested, “They were mistreating that girl. I had to do something.”
Vince regarded him for a moment, “I didn’t see it Kaid. I wasn't watching. But I do know that you are too close to the edge my friend. If you’d shifted in front of all those humans, what the fuck would we have done then?”
Kaid didn’t have a chance to answer before the door swung open and Daniel, Goldy and Bam walked in.
“Really? You called them?” With emphasis on the word them, Kaid directed the question to Vince.
“You damn right I called them. You been drinking all fucking day. And you just started a brawl in my place. Again!”
“We been looking for you Kaid. Should’ve told us you were coming for a drink,” Goldy told him.
“No, I shouldn’t have!” Kaid snapped back. “None of your fucking business where I am 24 fucking hours a day. What the fuck are you doing here anyway? Go back to your Mate, Old Man.”
Goldy stopped in his tracks, raised both eyebrows at Kaid’s retort.
“We’re here because we’re your friends, Kaid. Vince said you might need us, so we came,” Daniel told him. Kaid smirked at Daniel, “You got a Mate waiting for you, too. Go away. Leave me the fuck alone!”
Then he turned to Vince, “I don’t need a fucking baby sitter! Do not call my fucking clan on me!”
“No, you don’t need a sitter. But you need fucking something! I thought maybe your family could ease your pain a little. Maybe they aren’t what you need, but they care,” Vince told him. “I care too. That’s why I called them.”
“Every fucking one of you can mind your own business.” He looked around the bar at the mess again, “Send me a bill, I’ll pay for the damages.” Then he stalked toward the door pushing his way through his friends. When he got to the door he turned back to Vince, “Sorry for the trouble,” then he was gone.
“He’s right on the edge,” Vince said to Goldy and Daniel.
“Yeah, he is. His Bear just about can’t take the strain of being alone anymore. We try to include him in everything, but lately it just ain’t enough,” Goldy said.
Daniel was watching Bam; after Kaid had left, he’d slowly made his way over to the booth against the wall that was now on its side. He’d followed his nose, sniffing the whole way. He stood over the booth, righted it, then leaned over and sniffed deeply. He let off a tiny little whine, any human would not have heard it, then he slipped into the booth seat and positioned himself just so, back and forth until he was completely satisfied with where his ass sat. Then he relaxed into the seat, closed his eyes and dropped his head back on his shoulders, repeatedly inhaling deeply.
“Bam, you okay buddy?” Daniel asked.
“Yes,” Bam barely whispered.
Goldy walked over to Bam and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Bam?”
Bam opened his eyes, his tear-filled eyes, and looked at Goldy.
“Bam? Dude, You good?” Goldy asked, truly worried now.
“I just,” Bam was at a loss of how to explain, in truth he didn’t want to.
“It’s Kaid! He’s got us all off kilter,” Vince said over his shoulder as he walked around, righting chairs and tables.
Bam nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, that’s it. Just hurting for Kaid. I’m going to go after him.”
“We’ll stay a
nd help Vince clean up,” Daniel told him.
“Awright,” Bam said. He slid out of the seat, pausing to inhale deeply again, before steeling himself and walking out of the bar.
“Can ya’ll help me patch that? I got a few sheets of plywood in the shed out back,” Vince asked indicating the hole in his roof.
“Yeah, man, we got that. Let me run out to the truck and get some tools,” Daniel told him.
Chapter 2
Amos finally pulled off the highway and onto the long gravel drive that belonged to the clan and led to the main house. He should have been here almost a week ago, but he’d had to stop several times along the way; it was slow going. He was anxious to finally get there and looking forward to seeing Kaid. He had truly come to think of the boy as a son. He glanced in the rear view mirror at one of the surprises he was bringing for him. He couldn't wait to see his face when he got a good look at the bike. The other, that would be even more interesting. The bumps in the drive jostled the truck enough that his passenger awoke, stretching. As she peered sleepily around them, she looked questioningly at Amos. “Don’t know, Girlie. I ain’t never been here either.” She raised both eyebrows, pulling her blanket tighter about her. “None of that, now. They’re good people, the ones I told you about, remember? We’ll be fine here. Ain’t no reason for fear.” She didn’t answer him, just scooted down further in the seat, looking out of the window. “Have I hurt you or put you in danger?” She swung her attention back to Amos; no answer, just shook her head, no. “And have I lied to you?” Again, she didn’t answer, but she shrugged her shoulders with a small head shake after. Amos chuckled, “You are a hard one, ain’t cha Girlie? For the record, I ain’t lied to you. We’ll be fine here. Good people. Trust me.” She snorted and burrowed deeper into her blanket. The shit she’d lived through, it was going to take more than a few professed words of honesty to convince her she hadn’t been lied to. And a whole hell of a lot more to earn her trust. If she even found that she had any trust left to be earned.