His friends would come over at night, and there would be no douchebaggery or nudity this time. They would have a civilized backyard beerfest like the good Texans they were. And then…
Who knows.
He listened for the even rhythm of her breath, stroking her hair and rocking her in the dark. She made him feel like no one had ever made him feel before. He was going to keep this girl. He was going to keep her hard.
Chapter Nine
When Helena’s eyes opened again, the same moonlight still shone through Ash’s bedroom window, bathing the room in a soft white glow. For a second, she considered just staying. Spending the whole night warm and happy in his arms. But it wouldn’t be fair to either of them. It would only make it harder in the end.
She lifted his arm and slithered out from under it, moving slowly to the edge of the bed. His breathing changed and he groaned. She froze, waiting for him to settle back into the mattress. Her body already felt the loss, too. She wanted to crawl back in next to him. Kiss him. Make love to him again.
Helena shook her head, as if the physical motion would help clear her mind and refocus on the task at hand. Finding her clothes. Leaving Ash. Her head still rung a little from the alcohol. Her mouth was sticky and dry. But she couldn’t let any of those things get in her way. She needed to get Kate to take her back to the ranch before she made a mistake.
Fumbling around the room, she found her panties and pants, her boots, but her shirt and bra were nowhere to be found. They must’ve gotten left in the front of the house. She opened the door to go look for them, but the sound of someone moving around in the kitchen made her close it again. Damn. Who was in his house? She racked her brain for at least a full minute before the still-drunk organ remembered him saying he shared the place with his sister. Her eyes widened and heat flushed her face. How much of what she and Ash had done would his sister have heard?
She grabbed one of Ash’s T-shirts from a chair in the corner of the room and pulled it on. It would have to do for now. No way was she going to go traipsing around his house naked while his sister was up. Might as well face the music and get it over with.
Helena glanced back at a sleeping Ash one more time. “I’m gonna miss you,” she whispered and then slipped into the hallway. She wouldn’t cry. Not for a man she barely knew, even though he’d made her feel special and cherished and uninhibited. Her night with Ash had been perfect—and that was the way she wanted to remember it. She wouldn’t cry. And she couldn’t stay.
She turned the corner into the kitchen and came face to face with a tall blonde woman who bore a strong resemblance to Ash. The soft glow of the kitchen overhead light hurt Helena’s eyes, but she stood there waiting to get the lecture that was sure to come.
“Want some coffee?”
Helena squinted at the woman and pressed her lips together, trying to decide what to say. “I hope we didn’t wake you.” She looked around the kitchen and saw a plate made up like the woman was about to eat breakfast. Eggs. Toast. Fruit. A cup of coffee.
“Nope. I have trouble sleeping, so I always have earphones and a mask on. I’d pretty much sleep through the apocalypse if no one thought to come and wake me.” Ash’s sister didn’t seem to be upset in the least.
“Why are you up so early?” she asked, pulling her phone from the front pocket of her jeans. 2 a.m. glared up at her from the face. She quickly texted her cousin Kate to see if they were still at Joe’s Bar.
“Opening shift. I work at Meg’s Bakery in town,” the woman answered. “I’m Lisa, by the way.”
“Helena. Nice to meet you. And that cup of coffee would be great.”
Kate’s text vibrated her phone, and Helena looked down. Can you make it back to the bar? She typed back a quick affirmative.
“Do you need a ride somewhere?”
“No, my cousins are still at the bar.”
Lisa nodded, handing her a cup of liquid heaven. Helena sipped on the dark roast and fought back a growl of satisfaction. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Lisa said, taking her plate and mug to the little banquette by the front window.
Helena downed the last bit of her mug of coffee and rinsed the cup in the sink. She walked to the front door and paused, looking over at Lisa. “Would you tell him I really enjoyed meeting him…and that I’m sorry I had to leave without saying goodbye?”
“You should know he never brings girls to the house. Ever.”
Helena’s heart squeezed at the thought. It’d been special. She’d felt the chemistry between them. “Ash is…special.”
“That’s one way to put it.”
“Will you please tell him that I’m sorry? I don’t think I could leave if I had to say goodbye face to face.” She hadn’t meant to say that, but for some reason the words just kept pouring out of her. Maybe it was the leftover remnants of the alcohol.
“Yeah, I’ll tell him,” Lisa said, giving her a strange look.
Now that she’d made things thoroughly awkward, it was time to go. Helena left the house, walking down off the little bungalow’s porch. Out into the night where the moon was almost full. Her wolf paced and whined inside, not happy they were leaving. “I’m not either, but this is the best thing for both of us, so just get over it.”
But the words didn’t sound convincing at all.
She made her way down the block and turned toward downtown, the way she’d come with Ash only a few hours ago. The closer she got, the more she could hear of the music filtering out of the bar into the quiet night. The rest of the town seemed to have long since retired for the night, but the thrum from Joe’s bar was like a slow-beating heart that pulsed with life. Kate was standing outside the main door.
“Where’s Gretchen?”
“She’s shacking up with a cowboy. Which is what I thought you were doing.”
“You haven’t found the right guy yet?” Helena grinned. Her cousin wasn’t even close to drunk, but she was slick with sweat from dancing. That was Kate’s favorite thing to do. Dance. Drinking wasn’t really on the list. Well, maybe it was at the very, very bottom. Helena couldn’t think of even one time when she’d seen Kate indulge in more than one drink.
They made their way over to the car and Helena sank into the passenger front seat with a sigh. The weight in her chest had gotten heavier with each step she’d taken away from Ash.
“Well, that’s not a good sound. What happened?”
“He’s human,” Helena answered once Kate pulled the car out of the parking lot and onto the main street. “I liked him too much. If I had stayed until morning, it—”
“It would’ve been harder,” Kate finished for her.
“God, Kate. I really liked this guy. I’ve never had a connection with anyone like I did with him. The chemistry was off the charts.”
They turned off the downtown roads and headed down the wide highway that would lead back to the VonBrandt ranch.
“But we can’t be with humans.” Kate voiced the unspoken rule of the Quade pack. “I mean you could, but it would be cruel. To you and to him.”
“I know. That’s why I couldn’t stay. I don’t want to repeat my parents’ mistake. Look what their issues with the pack did to them! My parents hardly ever see each other, and when they do, they just sleep together for a single night and then split again. If my dad had been willing to leave the pack for good, I think they would’ve been fine.” That realization slammed against Helena’s chest like getting kicked by a horse.
“Nobody leaves the pack unless they marry into another one,” Kate said, speaking the truth Helena knew deep in her gut. Her cousin was right. It was her only hope for an escape from the Quade pack.
“I can’t go back, Kate. I can’t take being ground into the dirt over and over because people want to punish me for my dad’s choices. I need to get out. Especially now that Grandfather basically fired me.”
Kate pulled through the big gate for the VonBrandt ranch and they took the quick turn up toward the shifter cabins. Sh
e and her cousins were staying in one of the cabins tucked into the woods. “Well, you’ve picked the perfect time. There are single wolves here from all over. I’d say it’s time to go mate hunting.”
Mate hunting. Helena sighed. She lived a strange life. Instead of dating around, she’d be sidling up to every single male wolf at the VonBrandt summit to see if Fate sparked between them. Speed dating with magick.
“How do you know who’s here?” she asked, getting out of the car as Kate parked in front of their cabin.
“I pay attention to these things,” Kate said, a slight giggle in her voice. “You’re not the only one with a plan to get away from our backward-thinking, chauvinistic family.” Kate slammed the car door and strutted up the path. “Come on, you can start a list. It will make you feel better.”
“I left my planners up at the VonBrandts.”
Kate shook her head as she unlocked the cabin and pulled the door open. “They’re in the back seat. I grabbed your bag on the way out. Girl, you were so drunk already, you didn’t even see me.”
My planners. Helena closed her door and rushed to open the back. Sure enough, the bag packed full of planners was there. She grabbed it and joined Kate inside. Kate had already turned on one of the lamps, illuminating the cute living space. She was sitting on the couch, waiting, and she patted the cushion next to her.
“Come on. Let’s do this. We need a plan for tomorrow.”
Helena smiled and set her bag down on the coffee table before sinking into the cushion next to her cousin. Grabbing one of her journals from the bag, she pulled the pen out of its loop and opened to a blank page. She wrote Eligible Wolves at the top of the page. “Ready.”
“Well, there’s Ryan and Beau Travis. So hot. Tall and dark. You know Ryan is a rodeo champion. His younger brother Beau is a little more redneck. Which is fine if that’s what you’re into. Then there’s Adam VonBrandt. He’s single. And hot enough that I’d lick him from head to foot so no one else touched him.” Helena and Kate giggled as she wrote down the names.
“I think I saw him for a minute when we first arrived.”
“Killer smile. Shoulders that go on forever.”
Helena nodded. “Yep.”
“Then his cousin Julian is single, and a super hottie.” Kate smiled and leaned back against the couch cushion. “Then there’s Rainier Dubois…oh, no, wait. He’s not with his pack anymore—heard he’s with the Rangers now—but damn, girl. He is smoking.”
Helena chuckled. “How do you know everyone?”
“I have connections,” Kate drawled.
“Okay, who else,” Helena yawned. She needed at least a few hours of sleep before she started hunting wolves in the morning.
“Well, there’s Allan VonBrandt too, if you like big and mean. He’s the sheriff here in town.”
“Wow, that’s got to be tough. Working such a public human job.”
Kate nodded her agreement as her eyes fluttered shut.
“No sleeping yet. Tell me more,” Helena said, shoving on her cousin’s shoulder.
“Umm, right. Miles and Lee Trent are enforcers for the VonBrandt pack. They are sexy and single too.” Kate yawned again and snuggled against Helena. A moment later, her cousin was snoring lightly and Helena found herself staring into the lamp on the table across the room.
Ash. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. Surely there was a man on the list who could replace him. A man who would be her Fated mate. Someone who would love and treasure her and make her feel safe.
What scared her most was that she didn’t want any of the men on the list to be a good replacement for Ash. How could anyone ever measure up to what she’d experienced tonight? But they had to. She needed a proper wolf mate. One who would understand her life. The lives of her family. One who had a pack that would accept her and love her.
She needed stability. That’s what her planners were for. They kept life smooth and orderly, something she’d rebelled against tonight. Tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow she would get back on the wagon and find a man. Fate would help her. She had to trust the magick.
Helena’s head started to do the nodding thing and sleep claimed her troubled mind.
Chapter Ten
Ash peeled his eyes open to a dark room and reached for Helena. But there was no warm body next to his. He was still a little drunk, but he remembered her getting up to go to the bathroom or something. When he glanced over at the open bathroom door, however, there wasn’t a light.
There was some movement in the hallway and he sat up.
“Helena?” he whispered into the dark.
The bedroom door opened and light filtered in from the hallway. His heart lifted for just a second, but then he saw his sister’s blonde curtain of hair.
Not Helena.
Lisa jumped when she saw him. “Jeez. Ash. I thought you were asleep. Your girlfriend said you were.”
“My girlfriend?” He couldn’t help smiling around those words. “You met Helena?”
“Yeah. She said she was sorry she had to leave without saying goodbye. It sounded like there was somewhere she had to be.” Lisa dropped something on the hamper. “That’s her shirt, by the way…and her bra. I found it in the hallway by the freakin’ door. Please tell me you got her all the way in the house before you got her naked.”
Ash waved a hand at her, wanting nothing more than for his sister to go away and leave him alone. “Wait.” He sat up straight. “If she didn’t wear her shirt out…”
“She had one of yours on.” Lisa put a hand on her hip and stood in the door. She made a perfect judgmental mom face—at least, this was what Ash imagined a judgmental mom would look like. Ash was more of a parent to Lisa than their mom had ever been.
“Which one?”
“Hell if I remember.” Lisa shook her head. “I’m going to be late. Are you okay here by yourself?”
“I’m fine, Lis.”
“I left you some ribs from Pop’s Barbecue in the refrigerator.”
“I can take care of myself,” he snorted.
“Just stay in bed, Ash.”
“It’s a broken ankle. Not pneumonia.”
“Well, the doctor said you really shouldn’t be walking on it. And let’s be honest, you probably outdid yourself last night with all the sex aerobics. You could’ve taken it easy.”
He settled back down into the bed, hands under his head. “Worth it.”
Lisa snorted. “Yeah, she had puppy-love face, too. I figured it was kinda a big deal when you brought her back to the house. Hell, I found her shirt in the doorway to Mom’s room.”
Ash’s insides froze at the word. Dammit. All these years, and he still couldn’t get past it. This was part of why he never brought girls home. The fact that Helena had dropped her shirt in that doorway without him noticing probably said more about how much he trusted her than anything else he’d done or said. He wasn’t quite sure why he trusted her, but he had from moment one. Something had drawn him toward her like she was magnetized to his belt buckle.
And other parts of him.
“You talk to her much?”
“Nah, she said she had to go. You’re welcome for the coffee, Helena; yes, I’m sure you had very loud sex with my brother last night, Helena; yes, I’m so happy you’re wearing my brother’s shirt and no bra, Helena. That’s just the visual I needed before leaving on my way to work.” Her voice was teasing, though, and it was obvious she wasn’t genuinely mad. Lisa came into the room, just a step, but it was a big one. “Does this mean you’re staying now?”
Ash felt his insides wrench up at the question. As much as he hadn’t wanted to admit it, he’d been hoping he could still get the doctor’s clearance to at least go to Montana at some point in the next few weeks. Even if he couldn't teach classes, he could still hang out with the guys, enjoy the icy mountain air.
He and his friends had been doing their off-season stuff together for so many years, Ash had lost track. Lisa knew the routine. That’s what she expected
of him. The same old Ash.
But something had changed for him when Helena walked into that bar. He was ready to at least have the conversation.
“I don’t know,” he said, staring up at the ceiling. “Honestly, I wish I did, but all I know for sure is that I have to stay here for now so Doc Quinn can keep looking at my ankle.”
Lisa took a seat on the edge of his bed. There was something really different about this moment. Not their usual banter.
“You’re gonna be thirty in a year, Ash.”
“Year and a half,” he corrected fast.
“But still. You’re gonna be thirty. Your body seems to be telling you something.” She glanced down at the ankle, even though it was covered in an old blanket.
“You think so?”
“I think if you don’t stop treating your body like a Six Flags ride, you’re going to break something important.” His sister still didn’t meet his eyes, but he could hear it in her voice. She’d been holding this in awhile. “You’re lucky Tyson was there.”
Ash bit his lip. He didn’t like to think about that bad landing. It had scared the shit out of him to get dragged like that. He’d been parasailing most of his adult life, but the weather had sprung up out of nowhere. If Tyson hadn’t been on the beach trying to get in the pants of a couple of tourists, there was a good chance…
It wouldn’t have been pretty if Tyson hadn’t caught that rope.
As it stood, it wasn’t terribly pretty. His ankle wasn’t healing as quickly as he’d hoped. But the doctor kept telling him to stay off it. The man didn’t realize that was like telling a drug addict to only have a little cocaine.
Ash was movement.
“You can say your piece, Lisa.” He sat up against the headboard and scooted over so his sister could sit fully on the bed. “I won’t stop you.”
She took a deep breath, gripping her blue-jeaned legs with long fingers. “Somewhere is your home. I get that it hasn’t been easy, being my stand-in dad, but it seems…well, ever since I graduated, you’ve just been—” Lisa sniffed and wiped at her cheek, “—anywhere but here. It’s like you can’t stand being around me.
To Plan For A Mate: Somewhere, TX (VonBrandt Wolf Pack Book 6) Page 6