by RJ Blain
Her fur was far coarser than I liked. Time and care would restore her coat, although she’d never be soft. Few Fenerec were.
Amber reached over and patted my hand. “They’re fine, Vicky. Their auras are strong, they’re eating well, and there’s no trace of silver poisoning left. Both were able to shift today without any help. They had a few rough patches, especially little Alex, but they’ll be as good as new.”
Unable to trust my voice, I nodded and gave Emily one last stroke before turning my attention to Alex. His hind leg had been shaved, and unlike his sister, he still wore bandages, and I smelled the faint hints of his blood.
Richard frowned. “Amber? Why do you think Vicky would beat Lisa in a fight?”
“Vicky’s old school.”
“Pardon?”
I scowled, but instead of glaring at Amber, I stroked my puppies, scooting closer to them. While tempted to haul both of them onto my lap, I left them curled together.
“Anderson has seen her kill before. He’s more qualified to tell you.”
Elliot hadn’t just seen me kill; he’d taken the brunt of my fury while offering me a way out of a bad situation, although I’d fallen into Amelia’s trap later despite his efforts. When I glanced at the witch, Amber smirked at me. “How did you know about that?”
“I’ve read your file. Richard won’t pry into the Inquisition’s files as a general rule, but I have no scruples about doing so. It’s my job to understand the skills and talents of everyone in the pack, and that includes you.”
Elliot joined me on the bed, stretching out on the other side of my puppies. He ran his finger up the length of Emily’s nose before smiling at me. “You bite hard.”
Rolling off the bed, Amber lifted her arms over her head and stretched. “You’re lucky you didn’t lose your arm, Your Eminence.”
“Nonsense. I didn’t even need stitches.”
Amber snorted. “That would be because you’re a freak of nature. I’ve read parts of your file, too.”
“That doesn’t explain anything to me,” Richard growled.
“I told you I was in the Inquisition, Richard.”
“A lot of witches and Fenerec are, but most of them never go out on an assignment.”
Amber turned her full attention to Elliot. “Who do you send out when you need a problem dealt with?”
“Charles Desmond.”
“Who would you send out if Mr. Desmond ever became a problem?”
“You, Richard, Sanders, Alex, and Lisa. If I thought it’d be really bad, I’d send Nicole and Dante, too.” Elliot sighed. “I know where you’re going with this.”
“I know you do. That’s why you don’t like it.”
Richard frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Amber sighed. “In Vicky’s day, she’d be the one who would be assigned to take out Mr. Desmond—alone. I didn’t understand her problems with integrating with the pack until I read her file. She wasn’t just excluded from pack life, she was used to keep them in line. She’s like your father-in-law but a witch, too—and a lot less tame and a lot meaner in a fight. According to her file, she was eight or nine when she started her training and around ten when she killed her first Alpha. While she was trained in firearms, she rarely used weapons on her hunts. Her most potent weapons are her teeth, and she knows how to use them.”
“I can shoot a gun,” I muttered. There was no point in denying the truth. “I just don’t like them.”
Lisa huffed, crossed her arms over her chest, and turned her head so she wouldn’t look anyone in the eyes. “That doesn’t mean she’d win.”
“She bit your cat.”
“I bet she bit the fox, too.”
“I didn’t bite Snowflake.”
Richard looked around the room. “Where is he, anyway?”
Amber pointed at one of the many pillows scattered across the head of the bed. “Under there. The puppies really like him, Richard. They’re going to be heartbroken when you return him to the wild.”
“Who said I was returning him to the wild?” Richard sat on the bed and lifted pillows until he located the white and red fox. Taking hold of Snowflake’s scruff, Richard lifted the animal up. A startled squeak heralded a storm of angry chitters and bared teeth. “I’ve been thinking I’ll keep him. Vicky did a great job teaching him how to use a litter box, and he’s friendly enough he’s probably someone’s pet. He’s also great with the puppies.”
“Hypocrite,” Elliot muttered. “I’ll remember this next time I find a stray.”
“If either one of you say another word, there will be blood,” I promised, following Elliot’s lead and stretching out beside my puppies. It took a little work to curl around them without waking them, and I sighed from a mixture of weary relief and contentment. “Go away, Richard. You’re noisy.”
“This is my bedroom. You can’t kick me out of my own bedroom.”
Elliot reached over and poked my nose. “You’re still dressed, Vicky. You can’t go to sleep still dressed. You’ll smother before morning.”
“Too tired.”
“I’d be happy to help you out of your clothes.”
“Not in my bedroom!”
I reached up and grabbed a pillow so I could shove it over my head. “I’ll smother if I want to. If you can’t be quiet, go away.”
“But this is my bedroom.”
Alex laughed. “It used to be. Give it up, Richard. You’ve lost. You’re far too nice to evict the sleeping puppies, so stop whining. Go sulk in your office. Vicky, I’ll make sure Richard doesn’t bother you until morning. Richard’s bathroom is through that door. There’s a jacuzzi. Elliot, try to behave. Don’t make me have to come in here and remove you.”
“I’ll behave,” Elliot promised.
I peeked out from under the pillow, watching until everyone left and Amber closed the door behind them. The puppies wouldn’t wake. Since so many talking hadn’t woken them, little would. “I’m sure you’ll behave badly. Did Alex say there’s a jacuzzi?”
Grinning at me, Elliot prowled closer, careful to avoid waking the puppies. He ran his hand up the length of my leg before drumming his fingers on my hip. “If you liked the shower, you’ll love the jacuzzi. Shall we?”
My wolf’s anticipation burned through me. I eased away from the puppies, crawled over Elliot on my way to the bathroom, and paused in the doorway long enough to say, “Hurry up, Anderson. You’re slow.”
He laughed.
When I thought of my wolf, the pervasive fear of losing control set in. We’d always been two separate entities. When one rose to supremacy, the other faltered, wilting away under the other’s influence.
In the end, the human part of me always lost to my wolf’s wildness.
With every stroke of his hand, Elliot erased the boundaries separating us. Mutual need and desire united wolf and woman, focused all of our attention on him, and left no room for anything else. He contented my wolf and tamed her with his affection, leaving the woman easy and willing prey for him.
When my wolf finally slept, my human anxieties stirred.
I had crossed the line I had so feared. Not only had I fed my wolf’s desperate, winter-drive desires and hunger, I had given myself what I had wanted most—something I never wanted to live without ever again. The uncertain future frightened me, but if I wanted to have a future with him, I needed to protect what was mine.
Elliot snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him, relaxing against the sloped back of the jacuzzi. With his free hand, he batted at the thick bubbles spilling over the tub’s ledge. “You’re thinking about something, and I’m pretty sure it’s not me.”
“I’m worried,” I confessed.
“I could tell. Your expression goes completely neutral when you’re worrying about something. What’s bothering you?”
“Markus knows you’re the Shadow Pope. He knows too much, and he’s done too much harm. I don’t want to ask the puppies about him, Elliot. It’ll break their hearts
.”
“I’m aware. There’s nothing we can do about it now. We can’t turn back time. All we can do is keep moving forward. We can wait to find out the truth about the North Fork pack. Nothing we do will bring them back from the dead, and even knowing, it’s too little too late. But I will tell you one thing, Vicky. Basin falls. I can’t promise anything more than that, but even if I have to spend the rest of my life doing it, I’ll wipe them out.”
“You can’t promise that,” I snapped.
Instead of the anger I expected, Elliot’s scent sweetened with amusement. “I’ll enjoy proving you wrong. For tonight, I’m more concerned with us. I’m also a little concerned about how best to lead on those assholes in the other room.”
“Assholes?” I blurted.
“They kept you from me.”
While I didn’t like what Richard had done, I had to admit it had ultimately worked out in my—in our—favor. “Don’t kill them.”
“I won’t. I just want to watch them try to figure out how to deal with you. It’ll be so amusing.”
“How to deal with me?”
“I’m pretty sure they have no idea I managed to seduce you.”
“They’re stupid then,” I muttered, well aware sex and arousal had distinctive scents. Hints of Elliot’s scent melded with mine, a sign of the strengthening mating bond between us. I had no idea what the future would hold or how the bond between us would grow.
I wanted us to have the time to find out, which fed my fear.
“No, you’re just that shy, Vicky. Actually, until I have a ring on your finger, I’m convinced none of them will believe you’d even consider sleeping with me. You, my darling, are very restrained in your sensuality. I’m going to enjoy helping you with that one night at a time. I look forward to the day you pounce me because you have an itch you want me to scratch.”
I blushed. “Elliot!”
“See?” Chuckling, he ducked his head and kissed the side of my throat. “So shy. At least I’ll never have to worry you’ll stray. Don’t worry, though. I’ll never give you a reason to look at another man.”
“I wasn’t worried about that,” I mumbled.
“No, you’re worried about my mortality.”
Every muscle in my body tensed. Had I told him? I had no memory of telling him my worries and growing fears about him dying. My throat tightened, and I couldn’t force out a single word or breathe.
“I see my guess was correct.”
My lungs burned, and a soft whimper escaped before I could contain it, followed by a hiccupped gasp when I resumed breathing.
“Vicky, I might be stupid from time to time, especially in some of the choices I’ve made lately, but I’m not blind. I saw you after Samantha had died. I saw you when James and Elizabeth had died. I saw how you flinched when the phone rang. You relaxed when you found out it wasn’t another call with news someone else had died.”
Had I been so transparent? I swallowed and shook my head. “They wiped out my puppies’ entire pack, Elliot. All of them.”
“I saw. I made arrangements for them. They’ll have the funeral they deserve once Basin’s dealt with. Until then, I’m not going to make easy targets for them. Richard’s waiting for your permission to bring the puppies into his pack. It’s part of why he’s so anxious. He wants to give them the support they need, but he refused to go behind your back about it.”
I shivered. “Markus still has custody.”
“Not anymore. I put our lawyers on it with Danielle overseeing the case. She was eager to take charge of it. Dupree lost custody the instant no one could contact him and the kids were found alone. We won’t even need to get them to testify; we have him on neglect charges alone. Toss in their injuries and the murder of the pack, and custody will revert back to you the instant we can get the court filings done, no contest. Add in the warrant for his arrest on multiple murder charges, and he’ll be designated an unfit guardian without issue. Add in the fact we have evidence of manipulation on his part, and no sane judge and jury is going to go against you.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. However, to sweeten the deal in your favor in the eyes of the law, I’ll sacrifice myself to the cause and marry you.”
“Marry me?” My wolf stirred, her interest renewed at the thought of binding Elliot to us in all ways possible.
“We’re going to have to work on this, Vicky. I have every intention of begging you to marry me. Are you telling me I’m going to have a harder time marrying you than I did seducing you?” Laughing, he hugged me close. “It’s not every day a man gets to propose to a real princess, so I figure I’ll have to make it really good.”
At the rate I was blushing, my face as going to turn permanently red. “That’s not necessary.”
“I’ll beg. If I go the route Dante’s taking with Evelyn, my parents will kill me. You’ll be a widow before the end of the month.”
“You’re in your thirties. You are not obligated to cater to your parents,” I reminded him.
Elliot spluttered. “You have that concept down, but you were expecting to need the permission of some stuffy Alpha male to mate?”
Covering my face with my hands, I whimpered. “It’s not my fault!”
“I know it isn’t. And I know it’s going to be difficult for you to come out of your shell, and I understand you may never be comfortable with your sexuality. I see it all the time with witches from so-called traditional families. They come to us as outcasts because their families are religious or conservative. These young women end up a lot like you, hunted by the big bad wolf and ashamed to discover they have sexual urges and needs, too. Considering Fenerec culture, putting one of these women with rutting males is a recipe for disaster.”
“You’re not a wolf.”
“No, but I’m big, I’m bad, and I’m really good at pretending to be a wolf,” he growled, giving me a nip on my shoulder. A shiver worked through me, and I held my breath in anticipation. “I’ll never, ever expect you to be as open or jovial about your sexuality as other Fenerec, nor will I ever expect you to make any displays of affection in public. I’ll appreciate every little bone you toss my way, though. Richard likes teasing me, but he’s right—I am a lot like an average Fenerec male. Your puppies are my puppies because I say so.”
“Hardly,” I muttered. My wolf approved of Elliot’s claim of responsibility for the puppies I’d tried to take under my wing. I’d failed them in more ways than I could count, but I’d try again to do right by them.
Knowing Elliot would help made a huge difference even though I couldn’t bring myself to admit it out loud.
“It’s true. I’m deathly loyal to my woman and will rip heads off for her without hesitation. I’m a particular fan of winter, especially now that I have my very own Fenerec lady to keep me warm at night. I like having little ones under foot and will happily offer my services to my beautiful Fenerec lady whenever she wishes for us to have puppies.”
He had my wolf’s complete and undivided attention. “Puppies? Our puppies?”
“As many or as few as you want. I have a big house, and it has all this empty space perfect for puppies to run around, play, get into trouble, get lost in the woods, and scare the liver out of their adoring parents. But first, I intend to find out what happened to you, my brother, and Nicolina. Then I’ll make Basin regret it right until every last one of them dies.”
I clenched my teeth together. “We.”
Sighing, Elliot rested his cheek against mine. “We’ll deal with Basin. I’ll worry myself sick you’re involved, but we’ll take care of them together.”
“That’s supposed to be my line, Elliot.”
“I’m a lot tougher than I look. Let’s make a deal. I’ll be careful. You’ll be careful. We’ll both survive, and once I’m over the hill, we’ll run away together. I’ll coerce some obnoxious Alpha Fenerec male to perform the ritual on me, and we’ll live happily ever after, even if it means I have to keep serving as the Shadow Pop
e for hundreds of years. Deal?”
The idea Elliot would go so far stunned me speechless. I turned around to face him, my mouth gaping open.
“We’ll talk tomorrow, okay? Think about it after we’ve gotten some sleep.” A wicked smile curved Elliot’s lips, and his hands slipped beneath the water and took hold of my hips. “That said, I can think of something else we could be doing other than sleep.”
Neither I nor my wolf needed any further encouragement. I growled and went to nip his neck, but he beat me to the chase. The scrape of his teeth on my throat drove away all other thought.
Chapter Twenty
When I found out who was banging around in the hallway, I was going to subject them to a slow and painful death. I growled, flexing my hands as I considered shifting to my wolf so I could tear their limbs from their bodies. I made it to the edge of the bed before Elliot hooked his arm around my waist and dragged me back to where he was stretched out beside my puppies.
Our puppies.
“Go back to sleep,” Elliot murmured, nuzzling where my shoulder and neck met.
“No. I need to go kill the noisy people in the hallway. They’ll wake the puppies.”
“I’m not sure a nuclear—”
The crash outside the door shut Elliot up. Moments later, my puppies whined, and the scent of their anxiety and fear spurred me into motion. I scrambled over Elliot, who grunted.
“Shh,” I cooed, stroking my hands along their shivering backs. “It’s okay, pups.”
While Alex dropped right back to sleep, Emily kept whining, crawling to me so she could thrust her head against my stomach. With a little help from Elliot, I sat up, hauling her onto my lap. “Elliot, if they aren’t silent out there within the next twenty seconds, I will get up and kill them.”
Elliot moved almost as fast as a Fenerec, rolling out of bed, and grabbing a bathrobe on his way to the door. Another bang and a crash warped Emily’s fear into trembling terror. I ducked my head, dealing with a mouthful of fur to give her a reassuring nip while stroking her back. “No one is going to hurt you,” I promised.