by T. S. Joyce
“Will I catch it?”
Buttoning his pants, he lifted a somber gaze to me. “You have to be born with it.”
“Is Luke the same as you?”
Jeremiah tugged my hand until I was nestled against his chest.
“And my brother Gable, and my da. Every man in our family is a werewolf.”
“Is that why Kristina said your lineage can be traced back so far?”
“That’s exactly right. We have so much to talk about with this. I want to share everything with you, woman. I want to show you every part of me, and then I’m going to ask you to accept all of it.”
“Is this why you mail-ordered me? Because no one around here would trust their daughters with you?”
“Yes.”
I dropped my gaze to the straw at our feet. How scary must it have been to live in this rough land and be other? To be tracked down by Hell Hunters for what he was. I was suddenly grateful for Luke and Kristina, so that he hadn’t been alone with this before I came along. The werewolf blood running through his veins made him stronger and faster. It was the reason he was still here with me, holding me in his arms. “I’m glad you’re like this. You’re mine, Jeremiah Cade Dawson. Wolf or man, you belong to me.”
The ghost of a smile curved his lips, only to fall as if he were uncertain I was telling the truth. “You mean it?”
My eyes were burning with tears again, and my throat was closing with emotion, so I nodded.
He lifted me up so fast I gasped. I laughed thickly and laced my fingers behind his neck as I gazed down at him. “You’re bleeding on my best dress.”
“We’ll go into town right now and buy you a new one. I’ll buy you ten. We’ll drop Daisy off at her home, and then we’ll go to the general store and put in an order for a stove as well. Whatever you want, Lorelei. You’ll have it.”
“And with what money are you planning on doing all of this with?” I asked lightly.
“Didn’t you know? We’re rich now, Mrs. Dawson. Did you look at the rewards posted at the bottom of all them wanted posters in town? Sheriff is vouching for the outlaws we offed and caught. The only one that was specified they wanted alive was Dirty Bill Burton. That’s why Luke escorted him all the way to Denver. The others all said Dead or Alive and we brought ’em all in.”
“Huh,” I said, feet dangled far above the ground with my husband’s inhumanly strong arms wrapped around me like he’d never let me go. “Well, I just don’t think I’m going to be shocked by anything else that comes our way, Jeremiah.”
His face dropped just a little. “Now you know my secret. I couldn’t tell you until I was sure you wouldn’t run away screaming from me.”
I kissed the tip of his nose and rested my arms across his broad shoulders. “Do you see me running and screaming? I meant it when I said you’re mine.” I rested my forehead upon his. “All of you.”
“Mmm, well there’s still things we need to talk about but they’ll hold for now.”
“I just watched all of your bones break while you turned from a wolf into a man. You can’t scare me away. Kristina said I’m your mate, am I not?”
He closed his eyes and his nostrils flared slightly. With a contented growl, he said, “You’re my mate.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lorelei
Daisy was a mess by the time I’d gone back to the house. Kristina gave me a wide-eyed, frightened look as the woman sobbed into her shoulder and mouthed, what do I do?
I cleared my throat. “We’re headed to town to celebrate and take you back home, Daisy. The danger’s over and your husband will be home in a couple of days.”
She gave a delicate sniffle. “It will be nice to sleep in my own bed for a change. In any bed, actually.”
Kristina clapped her on the back. “Yep, country livin’ ain’t for everyone.”
“Jeremiah said he’ll treat us all to lunch at Cotton’s.” I’d already chosen my entire meal on the way from the barn and now my mouth watered just thinking about Trudy’s pot roast. After days of no appetite and a queasy stomach, I was so hungry I could eat a horse—if it tasted like Trudy’s pot roast.
Kristina didn’t mind sitting in the bed of the buggy, and Daisy sitting up front with a white handkerchief over her nose meant I was happily squished into Jeremiah’s side. He handed me the reins and directed me as he relaxed and draped his arm across the back of my seat.
“What happened up there in the mountains?” I asked.
He told the story as if it were meant to be heard over a campfire. It was a riveting adventure that had my heart racing despite knowing the ending.
“And then Burton said, we killed your dog, and pulled the trigger. Except he’d already spent his last shot, and the second my shock wore off that I was still alive, I jumped him and knocked him out with the butt of his own empty pistol.”
Kristina’s tone was tainted with worry. “Luke’s hurt?”
“Shot through once. Bullet went straight in and out the side of his neck. He bled like a stuck pig, but I bet by the time he gets back it’ll just be another scar to decorate his noose mark.”
“Can the man leave his neck alone?” she grumbled.
“My dadburned horse ran off on me by the time I stumbled back down the mountain and rather than track him down I changed, thinking it would make the pain in my shoulder a little easier to bear and speed up my healing. It didn’t. That bullet made me sick as all get-out and by the time I made it back to our house I thought surely I was dyin’. I didn’t even have the strength to change back and low and behold, Lorelei is all right with hauling an injured wolf out to the barn and coming at him with a knife.” He ducked his head toward me. “We need to have a serious talk about what is and isn’t safe out here.”
“I thought you were dead and I wasn’t thinking straight. Besides I thought you were a dying dog until I saw you in the firelight. Then I thought you were someone’s pet. And I think a part of me knew you wouldn’t hurt me. I felt safe with you.”
Kristina snorted. “That’s disturbing.”
“Hey, he isn’t trying to kill you anymore, now is he?”
Daisy was frowning grumpily like she had become completely lost in the tide of our conversation.
“True,” Kristina said. “I always knew deep down you liked me, Jeremiah.”
Jeremiah shook his head and pulled his hat over his eyes, then leaned into the seat again.
“Who all knows about you and Luke?” I asked.
“You, Kristina, Trudy, Elias, Sheriff Hawkins, and Daisy.” He frowned at the confused looking woman sitting beside me. “Kind of. Needless to say, you can’t be talking to anyone else about us. The men who tried to hang us were Hell Hunters who’d got wind of what we are, and they ain’t the only ones out there. It’s best if this secret stays just that—a secret.”
“I’ll keep it safe,” I promised, and I would. I’d do anything to keep him and my new family from harm.
When we pulled into town, Jeremiah dropped us off at Trudy’s house to see if she was up to eating with us. Daisy scurried off to slip into a new dress and redo her hair before she was seen in public.
“I’m going to put in our order for the stove.” Jeremiah jerked his head toward the general store. “Holler if you need me. I’ll hear you,” he said with a devastating smile.
He kissed me softly, and a soft rumble left him as I nibbled his bottom lip. That sound was important to what made him my Jeremiah, and I rested a palm on his chest just to feel the vibration of his wolf. He eased back with a grin, and with a quick glance around, he leaned against my neck and grazed his teeth against the tender skin there. The man knew all of the right places with me, and I swayed toward him.
“Hurry back,” I whispered.
Tipping his hat, he turned and strode away with those long, lean legs. His spurs jangled with every step, and I watched as he gracefully loped across the street. That fine man had finally let me in. Now, he felt like he was mine in every way.
The time it took
for Trudy to answer the door plastered a worried look directly onto Kristina’s face. When Trudy saw who’d come callin’ she looked happy but still exhausted, and she was waddling when she walked back to her small bedroom.
“I know I have well over a month left but this baby is taking everything I have. I can’t seem to get enough sleep and I’m bigger than the broad side of a barn,” Trudy fussed. “I had to quit working at Cotton’s until I’m delivered because my feet swell up like watermelons if I’m on them too long.” She relaxed onto her bed and propped her legs up on a pillow.
“Ugh, maybe I’m glad Luke doesn’t want young ’uns after all,” Kristina said while she fluffed Trudy’s pillow. “I’m guessing a lunch date with three lovely ladies and a werewolf is off the table then?”
Trudy shot me a wry smile. “He finally told you?”
“Kind of. He didn’t really have much choice about it.”
“And what do you think?”
“I guess it makes a lot of things make sense, so I’m okay with it. It makes him able to survive all he’s been through so I don’t mind the wolf if he gives him those capabilities.”
“Good girl. He’s a good one and I should know. Werewolves ran wild where I’m from and some of them ain’t such good men. The Dawson’s are a different breed though. It helps that they were brought up in a strong family.”
Kristina stopped biting her thumbnail and put her hand over the undulating swell of Trudy’s belly. “He’s moving today.”
“Mmm hmmm. All day and all night. I’m starting to think he doesn’t sleep.” Trudy cast her gaze to me. “You want to feel?”
“You wouldn’t mind?” I asked.
“Not at all.”
I lay my palm gently on her stomach, but Kristina pulled it over to the side.
“Right here,” she said. “He’s got a knee or foot or something right here.”
This was magic. It had to be. Trudy was creating a tiny human in her belly and he was moving and rolling contentedly inside of her. She cushioned and nurtured a piece of the man she loved the most. “Does it hurt?”
“No, it just feels like someone’s poking me from my insides. I think I’ll miss that feeling after I deliver.”
A knock sounded at the door. “That’ll be Daisy,” I said. “We’d better get over to Cotton’s to meet Jeremiah.”
“I’m glad your men got back safe. I was mighty worried about them out there hunting those outlaws, and you girls out in the wilderness all alone.”
I pulled my hand away from her stomach, and clasped them in my lap so she wouldn’t see how badly I wanted to keep it there. “Between you and Elias, we’re all plum spoiled on home-cooking we didn’t have to make ourselves.”
“It was the least we could do,” Trudy said with a tired smile. “The world is short on good people, and we have to take care of the ones we can.”
We said our goodbyes and walked with Daisy to the eatery. It was early for lunch still so we were able to find a nice big table to ourselves. By the time our food was ordered, Jeremiah strode in with his hat in his hand and a contented look upon his face.
He’d gone unshaven for the better part of two weeks now, and I couldn’t help my want to touch the dark scruff on his face. “You look like a mountaineer.”
“I feel like one right about now,” he said with a glint in his eye. “We’ll have to go down to the creek when we get back and fix that.”
My easy blushes used to be a source of constant embarrassment at parties, but here in this country eatery, surrounded by dear friends and under the loving gaze of a husband who so obviously enjoyed bringing heat to my cheeks, I couldn’t say I hated the fire that crept up my neck anymore. The things that used to humiliate me didn’t seem important anymore. I’d changed during my short time in Colorado Springs. I’d found myself.
Before we left town, Kristina and I mailed off our letters to our mothers. I’d read and reread mine on the way here, but though so much had changed since I’d written it, it was all information I couldn’t share with Mother and Father.
My husband’s supernatural family tree was my secret to keep now.
If Mother and Father ever decided to visit, they’d see a drastic change in my mannerisms, my speech, and even the way I carried myself, looked and dressed. I honestly didn’t know what they would think of these changes, but I liked them and it was high time I was comfortable in the skin I was given.
The coming days were a trial of Kristina’s thinning patience. Jeremiah worked tirelessly on her house and had it very nearly finished by the time he froze in that uncanny way of his. He balanced on the frame of the roof and watched the road like a predator. And then slowly, a sly smile came over his lips and he called out to Kristina.
She flew out of the barn like her shoes had been lit on fire and was half way up the road when Luke finally appeared. There was no hesitation. He jumped from his horse and scooped her up. “Need the barn for a bit,” he said with a green-eyed wink at Jeremiah as they disappeared inside.
I laughed and shook my head, then turned to my husband, my mate. We were finally whole again.
Jeremiah jumped from the roof and landed lightly in front of me. No longer did he try to hide his nature. I never wanted him to again.
“It’ll be best if we give them some room. Trust me.”
“I do trust you.”
“Mmm, didn’t your mother ever tell you not to trust a werewolf?”
“She skipped over the scary legends, I’m afraid.”
He growled and pulled me against him. “So, now I’m scary, huh?”
I tugged his hand gently in the direction of our house, determined to show him how very un-scary I found him.
Our home now had glass paned windows, and the old rocker on the front porch. Jeremiah had offered to paint the chair, but I liked it the way it was. The scorch marks up the legs were a testament to what they’d been through; to what we were still working through. He planned on whitewashing the house with some of the money that was tucked into Luke’s saddlebags and if I was a betting woman, I’d wager Kristina’s house would get the same treatment with little argument from her husband. Our house lacked furniture but it didn’t bother me like it would’ve the old me—the Boston me. I knew we’d build it up the way we liked someday. For now, I was content to have a roof over my head and warm furs to lay in with my husband at nights.
It was those very furs I was leading Jeremiah to now. It was hard to deny our wanting skin after the separation we’d been through. Whenever we could, we found time to enjoy the intimacy that a strong marriage could create. And there, tangled up in furs and skin was where Jeremiah relieved himself of all of his secrets.
He told me of the daughters who would die at my breast within of few hours of life. He told me of the sons who would survive and turn into wolves near their sixteenth birthdays. He told me of his mother’s struggles and the loss she’d endured to raise three healthy boys, and he told me it would be my burden to bear if I chose to give him children.
I was sad and scared at the chasm of loss I faced, but looking into the depths of roiling emotion that swam in Jeremiah’s eyes, I couldn’t help but want to give him the family he desired. He’d never ask it of me, but it was the greatest gift I could give him. I kissed him gently until we both felt whole and strong again.
My life wouldn’t ever be mistaken for an easy one.
There would be ups and downs, and great hardships along the way. We would have to fight to be safe, and keep our family together, but it would all be worth it.
We’d be happy, my wolf and I.
Epilogue
Jeremiah
“Hup!” I called to the mule we’d borrowed from Elias to plant the crops. He was a stubborn beast, but strong as an ox and he liked to move. Even from the front acreage I could hear Lorelei and Kristina talking and laughing as they prepared the vegetable garden for planting, and from the smirk on Luke’s face, he likely could too. Kristina was giving Lorelei more pointers to k
eep me happy under the furs, and I couldn’t say I hated the ideas that were being thrown around. It seemed Delaney had been wrong when he’d claimed I’d never get my cock sucked by Lorelei.
The weather had warmed considerably in the first month of spring. The ground was soft enough to plow and between two werewolves with strong backs and work ethics, we’d get the wheat fields done by tomorrow. We’d put the seeds down in a few more days when Luke and his sense for weather decided the clouds weren’t going to open up on us and plop down a late season blizzard.
The big house now boasted actual furniture thanks to the money we’d made from the bounties. To my surprise, my proper lady had expressed her like for my hand carved furniture over most of the items she could order in a catalogue, so I’d keep obliging and surprising her with new pieces until our home was fully decorated. Our homestead now contained exactly two whitewashed homes with their own front porches for us to enjoy the cool evenings wrapped in a blanket. Luke and Kristina ate with us most evenings but we tended to switch back and forth between houses based on who had the foods they were craving at the time.
Lorelei had had some strange cravings as of late.
Luke heard it first and jerked his head toward the road that bordered the field we were working. Elias drove his buggy like he was racing some invisible team and a thin trail of dust followed him.
“Whoa,” I said with a frown. I waved as he slowed his horses. “You come to collect your mule back already?”
Barely checked excitement drenched his voice. “Trudy’s having the baby. She says she’s certain this time.”
Luke was already unhitching his horse from the plow. “Let us get the animals back to the barn. Go tell the girls it’s time. They’re up in the garden near the little house.”
Elias drove away without another word and as soon as I had the harness free, I hopped up on the balking mule’s back and kicked him in the direction of the barn.
Thanks to the still extreme prejudice that seemed to befall freedmen and women, not a single midwife around these parts was willing to deliver her baby. In light of that disturbing fact, Kristina and Lorelei had been pouring over a laboring book for the better part of a month. I swore they had it memorized between the two of them.