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The next morning Avaleigh sat on the floor, surrounded by dozens of notebooks and folders, papers that Lurin had filled with his insane ramblings over the course of his lifetime. Daniel stood over her, watching her sort through it from behind. “Love, please. It is enough. Stop torturing yourself. Allow me to burn this trash,” he implored her. She didn’t stop thumbing through the notebook in her hand; she merely pointed to the stack that was haphazardly growing across the room from her. It was the one she tossed papers into after she’d read through them. “That one. You can take that one out and burn it. I’m not done with these yet.”
“What are you looking for? You’ve already found the mention of you.”
“Yes, but I’ve found nothing on Delilah. And now she’s locked over at Bam’s and won’t let anyone in. Not even Janie. And she loved her lessons, so I know she’s really upset. I’m going to find something for her to be able to let it go, too.”
Daniel just shook his head; he knew there was no reasoning with her when she got something in her head. He scooped up the pile that she indicated, headed outside with it, and dropped it in the burn barrel. One quick blast of Dragon’s Fire and it was gone, only embers remaining in the bottom of the barrel.
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Janie sat on the front porch, Bane on his knees in front of her, “I’m going to stay here, Heart. You’re so close now.”
“Don’t be silly, Bane. Go to work. I’m fine. Go do what you have to, and I’ll be waiting when you get home.”
“What if you need me? You know how long it would take me to get back here?”
“Baby, it’s okay. Amos is here, and we’ll be just fine,” she told him smiling as she smoothed her hand across her now huge tummy.
He wanted to yell, to tell her how fucking much he hated leaving her here without him, but he knew that he couldn't yell at his Janie; he would never yell at her. Instead he reached for her cell phone, he tapped it make the screen wake up, and checked the battery life. Fully charged. “Okay. I’m going to go. But you do not leave this anywhere. Keep it on you at all times.”
“Yes, Sir, Mr. Worry Wart!” she grinned at him.
He leaned over to kiss her, “That’s sexy Mr. Worry Wart.”
Kissing him back, “Yes, it certainly is.”
A few seconds later and they heard Daniel yelling from the back yard, “Avaleigh!” he shouted from the burn barrel. If she didn’t answer, he was going to go back in, gather it all up and burn it all, even the parts she was still going through that she hadn’t read yet. If she did answer, then he figured that she was not so lost in it that she couldn't hear him, and he’d allow her to search a little longer.
He could hear her footsteps stomping through the kitchen. “What?! What do you want?”
“Kisses, Love. I’m off to bring home the bacon. Come give us kisses.”
As Avaleigh and Daniel finished saying their goodbyes, they heard Janie on the front porch, “Oooooo, bacon. Did you hear Daniel say bacon?”
Goldy came out of the house, leading Sadie by the hand. “Come on Bane. Let’s get a move on. Where’s ever body at?”
“Bam and Maverik went to try to get Kaid to come with us,” Bane told Goldy.
Goldy lifted Sadie’s hand to his lips and kissed each of her fingertips as he continued on down the porch steps, pulling her gently after him. Bane watched them go, smiling to himself as he watched Goldy come to a stop beside the work truck. Leaning there, he pulled Sadie against him, and spent a minute kissing her truly, deeply. When he was done kissing her, he pulled her in even closer and held her tight, burying his head in her hair, murmuring sweet words to her. He felt Bane watching and looked up to meet his eyes. Goldy smiled at Bane. And Bane smiled back. Both men knowing finally, the peace that came from finding the One woman you were meant to belong to.
Having enough of waiting and ready to start the day, Goldy turned Sadie around, faced her toward the house and popped her on the ass to send her toward it. As Sadie walked past them back into the house, she told Janie, “Come along, Dear. I’ll make you some bacon.”
Janie stood on tiptoe, kissed the tip of Bane’s nose really quickly, and spun to waddle after her mother into the kitchen, “I’m going to get bacon, Baby. Have a good day.”
Bane laughed out loud that his Mate was more interested in bacon than him, “Woman, do not set that cell phone down!” he called after her.
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“Come on, Kaid, you got to come to work. Your woman wants you to go away,” Maverik pleaded.
Bear didn’t move. He lay in the same spot that he had all night, moving only slightly as she moved inside to remain directly under her. The only time he’d considered moving during the night was when he suddenly felt like he was no longer alone. He’d sat up and looked around. Used his nose to sift through the scents. All he’d found was the strong smell of the mud and clay from their creek, but it smelled musty. He’d sniffed around once more and finally convinced himself that Bam must have gotten some clothing or tools saturated in the creek mud and forgotten to clean them. There was no more movement, and nothing else distracted him or made any sense; it was easy to convince himself. He’d laid back down to watch over his female while she tried to rest. So here he still laid, waiting for them to get bored trying to make him leave and go away.
Bam tried next, “She ain’t leaving, Kaid. She just needs some time. Why don’t cha come with us?”
Kaid didn’t respond, so Bam reached out to his Bear. After a few moments he told Maverik, “He needs to stay with her. He ain't ready to give up yet.”
“Fine!” Maverik threw his hands in the air exasperated. “Do you see how women mess ever thing up? Do you see?”
Bear snarled at Maverik’s knee, which caused him to jump out of the way. “Come on, Bam, leave him here. We got to go.”
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Hiding in the same thick copse of trees and undergrowth that Kaid had hidden in the night before, a small, musty, mud and clay covered creature burrowed further under the dead and decaying leaves. He’d hoped the Bear would leave this morning so that he could put his plan into action. But the damned stubborn thing refused to go. Now he’d have to come up with another plan. This one; this one would be much worse. He was tired of waiting. He would wait no longer. For a while he’d bounced back and forth between thinking he was just going to claim his female and go, and maybe ruin a vehicle or two, and sabotage their work places to ruin them in business, too. But now he’d decided that he’d make them all pay for the insults he was having to endure. Still having to cover himself with mud! What lowly creature did such a thing?! It was unacceptable that he’d been reduced to this! At least his female had come to her senses and left the stupid Bear. She obviously was waiting for him to come get her. And that was exactly what he was going to do. He was going to take her and show her who her true Mate was. Then after he’d had her and made the stupid Bear watch him have her, he’d take her ass back to where they both belonged, to Lurin's. Only it wasn’t Lurin’s anymore; now it was his. He was a shifter, a male of substance now. And the stupid bitch better figure it out before he decided she wasn't worth the effort any longer. He sighed deeply, peeping out of his hiding place in the undergrowth, trying to decide how best to destroy all this clan had. Then suddenly he knew: flames. Fire would destroy everything. They’d have nothing left. He didn’t need to kill them; he needed to let them live so that they would know that he had been patient enough, smart enough, to take all they had. All they’d worked for. And their women, too. ‘Cause yeah, now that he thought about it, he would take Avaleigh back, and maybe that little pregnant human, too. After all, he had to have more than one woman; what man of substance didn’t?
Chapter 17
Riley stepped out of his truck and turned to reach inside for Cristie. He’d made arrangements for the daycare to take her a little earlier than usual since he’d be working with Kaid’s clan for now. As he took his time and played w
ith his daughter, needing to make her smile and giggle before he took her inside for the day, a beat-to-shit, 30-year-old car flew into the parking lot and slammed to a stop on the other side of the lot from him. One door opened and a woman got out. Smoking, cursing, wearing dirty jeans, stained and torn tee shirt, and flip flops with feet so dirty he grimaced at the sight of them. As she got out of the car, empty beer cans and cigarette butts were kicked from the floor board onto the asphalt of the parking lot. He reached for Cristie’s diaper bag and supplies and threw another look surreptitiously over his shoulder at the car full of smoke, loud music,and people. If that woman worked here, there was no way in hell he was leaving his Cristie here. Kaid would just have to understand. As he watched the woman, he decided that she was late 20’s maybe. A lot younger than he had originally thought. Damn, she looked like she’d been rode hard and put up wet. Obviously the woman had had a rough life. One of the men in the car yelled at her, “Bitch! Hurry up! We got things to do!” She didn’t miss a beat, “Fuck you! You’ll wait as long as I need you to. Got to get the little bastard in there, so we can take care of business.”
Riley immediately let the bag with Cristie’s stuff in it slide to the floor board of the truck. He wanted to see what the hell this was about. The woman reached into the backseat of the car and snatched out a little boy. The kid couldn’t be more than about 3 years old. And the woman was manhandling him, not gentle in any way. “Come on, I can’t waste my life with your sorry ass; I got things to do. Hurry up.” She placed him on his feet and started to drag him toward the daycare center. When he didn't walk with her fast enough for her taste, she yanked on his arm to hurry him up. Riley couldn't help but smile when the little fellow planted his feet and yanked his arm back. The woman trying to drag him almost fell over. The little boy grinned at her. A smile that, had it come from a man, would have made most other men pause. The woman turned around, bending over to scream right in his face, and again to his credit, the child did not move. Not one inch. He held his ground, not the least bit intimidated. Suddenly the woman jumped back away from him. And started stalking to the daycare again. This time the child followed her at his leisure.
Riley got Cristie out of the truck and planted on his hip, then grabbed up her diaper bag and started for the front door of the day care. When he was almost there, the door flew open, and the angry woman came stalking back out, less the child. She almost ran into Riley and Cristie, and he turned to the side to ensure that if she bumped them, it would be him that she ran into. She pulled herself up short and shot him a look filled with attitude. “Watch where you’re going, asshole!”
Riley didn’t say anything, just raised an eyebrow at her as she made a quick retreat for the car that was once again spilling smoke and loud, obnoxious music into the parking lot.
Once he made it into the daycare, he signed the drop-off sheet and handed Cristie’s things over. “That woman doesn’t work here, does she?” He asked the older lady behind the counter.
“No sir, she doesn’t.”
“What was she doing here? I’m not trying to be nosy, but I’m not leaving my daughter here if she has access to this building.”
“There’s no worry, Mr. Riley.” She looked out of the front window watching the beat-to-shit car leave the property. “Her name is Shelley. Her sister, Stacy, used to work here. The little boy is Stacy’s. She died having him, and unfortunately his care fell to Shelley. She’s all the family that Stacy had. I beg her to bring him here as often as possible. I asked if I could have him, but she refused. I think it’s the money that the state gives her to care for him; she doesn't want to give that up. It’s certainly not that she cares about him. She brings him here. I feed him, get him cleaned up, and give him as much love as I possibly can before she stumbles back in here to take him back. Sometimes it’s two or three days before she’ll remember that he’s here. Which is fine with me, because at least I know that he’s fed and cared for while he’s here. I just take him home with me until she comes back for him.” She stood to come around the counter and take Cristie from him. She was slow moving. “Don’t know how much longer I can make a difference, but I will as long as I can.”
Riley handed over his daughter, kissing her on the forehead. “If you need anything to help take care of him, let me know. I’ll do what I can.”
“Thank you, Mr. Riley. That’s very generous. But right now what he needs most is love. I got plenty of that,” she smiled as she took Cristie in the back to try to distract her as Riley made his escape. It didn’t work, though. He was no more than two steps out of the door, and he could hear her crying and calling after him. He knew that Ms. Cadence was telling her that Doddy would be back right after work, but his baby girl didn’t care. She didn’t want to be away from him. He took a deep breath, ran a hand down his face to steel himself, and walked quickly toward his truck, so he could go earn them both a living.
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Riley had been surprised when he got to the work site, and everybody but Kaid was there. Once they told him what happened, he understood. They’d each do anything for a Mate. Especially one who had trouble acclimating. And from what he understood, Delilah had one hell of a life before she’d found Kaid. She’d never even known freedom. Social graces and kindness be damned, the poor girl was never even loved. Never knew what family was from what they’d told him. So he could fully understand that she would be confused now.
Once they got started, they worked in sync together. Riley knew how to do a little of everything, so he was an asset to everybody on site. It wasn’t long before the work day was over. Riley had a great day; it’d been a long time since he’d put in an honest day’s work. He felt good. Everybody was headed back to Bane’s to try to finish his house up. Janie was about to pop, and they really needed their place now. He still had about two hours before he needed to pick up Cristie, so he tagged along to help.
When they arrived at the clan’s land, Kaid was still camped out under the raised deck to Bam’s house, just where the guys had told him he was that morning. He’d gone over long enough to tell Kaid hello, and show his respect. It was what a visiting Alpha did when on another’s territory, and just because he personally had no territory didn't mean that Kaid didn’t deserve the respect anyway. They exchanged glances; Kaid inclined his head to indicate that it was okay to be here and went back to staring at the structure above his head.
“You let me know if you need me, Kaid,” Riley told him. He got no reply, so he just started to make his way back over to Bane’s, but before he made it more than a couple feet into the trees in that direction, he damn near tripped over a freaking beaver. He wasn't sure who was more surprised, him or the beaver. He came so close to tripping over the damn thing that he actually kicked it. It screeched at him and went scurrying off into the underbrush. Fucking beavers! He hated the damn things!
In the couple of hours that they had before dark, they’d gotten the last of the windows caulked and in place and all the light fixtures hung. All it needed now was a good cleaning and the furniture that Bane and Janie had picked out. Just as Riley was leaving, the women were passing him with cleaning supplies and buckets and mops and brooms. Even Janie was coming to clean, refusing to not be involved in cleaning her own home. Bane was busy unrolling the throw rugs they’d bought to put down over the hard wood floors as he walked across the yard. Riley clapped Bane on the back, “I’m gonna head out, Bane. Gotta sweet little thing waiting for me.”
“I know you do,” Bane told him, “give that baby a kiss from me, too.”
“I will. What about tomorrow? Same place?”
“Yep, tomorrow we start on the next frame. Got more going up on that same slab. Apartments.”
“Good, see you there,” Riley told him.
The next morning, when he got to the work site, Kaid was there, moping, but working. “Morning, Kaid.”
Kaid met his eyes, “Riley.”
“You okay, Man?”
“No.”
“She made him leave. Delilah came marching down those stairs, dressed like a Dominatrix, her hair slicked back, thigh high boots, talking about I’m going to town! He shifted back so fast his Bear must still be dizzy,” Maverik explained, chuckling.
“Said if Kaid wouldn’t leave her alone and give her peace, that she would find it elsewhere,” Mav added.
“Ah, I understand. That’s why you're here today,” Riley said.
Kaid looked at him for a minute, “Said she’d go back inside if I left her alone. So I’m here. And she’s home.”
“Ain't no shame, Kaid. We’d each do what we have to to keep a Mate happy. Ain’t no shame, Brother,” Riley told him placing his hand on Kaid's shoulder and staring him in the eye the whole time so that Kaid could see and hear the truth there.
“Why’s she want to be alone? What happened?”
“I don’t know; she won’t talk to me. Says she only wants to talk to Avaleigh. But Avaleigh ain’t found the information she wants yet. So she’s not even talking to Avaleigh.” Kaid ran his hand through his hair, “It’s like she’s distancing herself from all of us. I just can’t figure out why. Everything was fine; why is she pushing us away? She won’t even allow Janie to give her her lessons anymore. She’s keeping us all away.”
Kaid turned his eyes toward Bam, accusingly.
“I don’t know, Kaid. Her Beast ain't talking.”
Kaid just glared at Bam.
“I swear, Kaid. The only thing I ain’t telling you is what’s hers to tell. But she don’t want to leave. She’s confused, too. I can feel that for sure,” Bam told him.
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