by RJ Blain
Yanking open the door and leaning through the door way, Elliot growled, “First you wake the puppies, now you’re frightening them.”
Someone cursed, and I recognized Richard’s rumbling voice. A thump, a yip, and another curse ushered in silence.
“I don’t know what has gotten into you four, but clean this mess up, and do so quietly. If I hear so much as a single whine from my puppies because you idiots decided to brawl at seven in the morning, so help me, I will contrive the absolute worst assignments possible for the next ten years and give them to you.”
Some things I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and Elliot deliberately working to make someone miserable ranked near the top of my list. Gathering Emily in my arms, I slid my way to the edge of the bed and carried her to the door, grateful Elliot had insisted I change back into Frank’s sweats to maintain appearances. I peeked around him.
My puppy rubbed her head against my arm, twisting to lick my hand.
A fortune of books and shelves littered the sitting room floor and spilled into the hallway. A twitching arm emerged from beneath the pile, and it took several deep breaths for me to determine it was Richard’s brother.
Richard stood with one foot on his glass-topped coffee table, his arms crossed over his chest, staring at his brother with narrowed eyes, his breaths coming hard and fast. Lisa bent over her mate, picking up books and setting them aside one at a time.
The source of the yip rubbed against Elliot’s legs, behaving far more like a cat than a self-respecting fox.
I sighed. “Why are my puppies better behaved than you?”
“He started it,” Lisa muttered, pointing at her brother-in-law.
Grunting, I turned and headed back into the bedroom, setting Emily beside her brother and kissing her between her eyes. “Go back to sleep, Kitten. I’ll be right in the other room if you need me for anything, okay?”
I gathered the blankets and formed a nest around the pair, and after a single yawn, Emily settled beside Alex, closed her eyes, and flipped the tip of her tail over her nose. The momentary fright had woken me enough I doubted I’d be able to fall back asleep, so I retreated to the doorway, herded Elliot out, and closed the door behind me.
As a child, I’d been taught to deliver my threats in the sweetest voice possible, calm and cheerful despite the severity of the situation I faced. It had served me well over the years, and I fell back on the habit, forcing myself to smile. “Who dies first?”
Lisa froze, the book she’d been picking up slipping out of her fingers. “Okay. I’m starting to think Amber may have been serious regarding Vicky’s lethality rating.”
“Told you,” the fire witch replied, strolling down the hallway. “I apologize, Vicky. I tried to tell them to take it to the third floor, but they were convinced you and the puppies would sleep like the dead.”
“I see.” I leaned against Elliot and stifled a yawn. “I need coffee.”
Giving me a gentle push, Elliot herded me towards the kitchen. “You idiots clean that mess up. If the puppies don’t fall back asleep, they’re going to want to help clean.”
“You look like hell, Vicky,” Amber said, hopping to the coffee maker and pulling down a pair of mugs from the cupboard. “Had trouble sleeping?”
The art of lying without someone catching onto it was telling the truth by omission—and letting people come to the wrong conclusion on their own. “Everything kept waking me up.”
I wasn’t lying; a single brush of Elliot’s hand had derailed any attempts to sleep. Between my wolf’s incessant need to claim him as ours and my inability to resist him, I hadn’t stood a chance. Only when I had kept nodding off had he showed mercy. While fully aware I should’ve turned around and gone right back to bed, I took the cup of coffee Amber offered me and climbed onto the stool. Elliot sat beside me, close enough our legs touched.
My wolf’s interest immediately stirred, and I was torn between mutual desire and wanting to lock her in a closet so she’d stay out of trouble for a few minutes.
One problem remained: her sort of trouble felt way too good, and I was game for more.
“He didn’t bother you, did he?”
“Not at all. It’s the jacuzzi’s fault. Once I got in, I didn’t want to get out.”
Amber didn’t need to know why.
“And Elliot is far too much of a gentleman to force a lady out of a bubble bath. Don’t feel bad. That damned thing catches us all every now and then, and Richard’s obsession with collecting books ensures there’s never a shortage of something to read. After the week you’ve had, you deserve a chance to relax.”
While I made close acquaintances with my cup of coffee, Elliot checked his phone, making annoyed huffs every now and then.
Amber watched me, and the witch’s smirk worried me.
“Why are you staring at me?”
“You two are cute together.”
My face heated. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means she’s trying to play matchmaker, Vicky. Witches are almost as bad as Alphas when it comes to wanting puppies around, and Richard’s let her babysit the puppies all week. She’s primed for wanting babies around, just like everyone else. Add in Evelyn, and the whole pack is in a breeding frenzy. Richard’s going to be busy for the next nine to twelve months. I’m going to have to bring in help for him at the rate pairs are eyeing each other’s throats around here.” Smirking, Elliot scooted closer, leaning towards me. “Amber won’t tell on us if we get frisky.”
“Not in—” Richard called out. A thump and a yelp later, he continued, “I’m wrong. In my kitchen is fine.”
Maybe one day I would understand Fenerec. I sighed, placed my palm to the middle of Elliot’s forehead, and shoved hard enough he slipped off his stool and crashed to the floor. “Bad dog.”
“Ouch.” Amber leaned over the island “Are you all right?”
Elliot groaned and sat up. “That wasn’t nice.”
The man was supposed to be my mate, yet I found myself relying on the tricks I’d picked up caring for Emily and Alex to deal with him. “Are you bleeding?”
“No.”
“Did you break something?”
“No.”
“Are you otherwise hurt?”
“No.”
“Then you don’t need me to kiss it better, so stop whining.”
“I’m bleeding everywhere and I probably broke multiple bones throughout my body.” Elliot lifted his arm so he could point at his elbow. “Like here. You could start here. It’ll make me feel better, I promise.”
Amber burst into laughter. “Oh my god, Vicky. Toss the poor man a bone. That’s just pathetic.”
“I don’t want a bone. I want—”
I lunged off my stool, plowed into Elliot, and smacked my hand over his mouth. “I will end you if you even think of finishing that sentence.”
“Richard, Elliot’s trying to get himself killed,” Amber hollered.
“If she hasn’t bitten him to put him in his place yet, he’s not trying hard enough.” The Alpha made an appearance a moment later, clucking his tongue. “I see he managed to get her on top, though. That’s progress, I suppose. Vicky, take his clothes off first. It works a lot better that way.”
A strategic retreat was in order. I released Elliot and beelined for the safety of Richard’s bedroom, locking the door behind me. Richard’s booming laughter ended in a squawk and a crash.
My puppies yipped, making my decision simple: killing the troublemakers in the kitchen could wait. I stripped out of Frank’s sweats and tossed them aside. It took me a long time and a great deal of pain, but I managed to shift to my wolf so I could join my puppies on the bed and groom them until they quieted and returned to sleep.
Alex had come close to death, and I feared it would take him months to fully recover. His sluggish movements and glazed eyes worried me, but his slow, painful shift stoked my fury. Despite my efforts to contain my wrath, my scent sharpened from my anger.
&nb
sp; Neither of my puppies seemed to notice.
Emily finished transforming first and wobbled into Richard’s bathroom. Moments later, I heard the tub filling. It took Alex at least twenty minutes longer than his sister to return to his human form, and he followed after her.
While young, in my haphazard care my puppies had grown from gangly children to ganglier pre-teens. They’d always been thin, but their pronounced boniness worried me. By rights, both of them should’ve already begun the transition to full adults.
In some ways, I was the one holding them back, insisting they remain children for as long as possible. Those days were gone; their grieved, sunken eyes belonged to those who’d seen too much of the world.
I sat in the doorway and kept a close watch on them while they bathed together in the jacuzzi, batting at the thick bubbles and sending them cascading to the floor. They’d leave a mess of suds in their wake along with a substantial amount of water on the tiles, but I had no intention of curtailing their tamed, quiet play.
If they wanted to flood Richard’s bedroom and carpet the entire place in bubbles, I’d let them without complaint, even if it meant spending a fortune cleaning up the disaster.
Their silence bothered me almost as much as their listlessness. When Emily finally pulled the stopper from the jacuzzi, I trotted into the bathroom, pulled down a towel from the rack, and offered it to her, careful to keep my ears pricked forward.
I wanted to pin them back, hunt the ones who had hurt them so much, and rip them to shreds, and not even their submissive natures soothed me and my wolf. One look at them reinforced what I already understood deep inside.
No matter what the cost, no matter how long and hard I had to hunt, I would destroy Basin and their plans, and I’d do so with or without approval. I wouldn’t hide any longer.
No matter what, I had to find Nicole and Dante, for Elliot, for Richard, and for myself. My cowardice had cost us too much already. Marcus’s likely betrayal cut my puppies as deep as it did me.
A knock at the door startled a growl out of me. “Vicky?” Elliot paused and knocked again. “Let me in, please? I’m sorry, and I promise to behave.”
I flicked an ear back and huffed.
With a puzzled expression, Emily went to the door and opened it. “What did you do now?”
“How is my little girl this morning?” Elliot smiled and bent to kiss Emily’s brow. “Where’s your mom?”
Emily pointed at me. “Better watch out. She’s growly.”
“Of course she is. It’s all right. Go have breakfast. I need to have a chat with your mom for a few minutes.”
“She’s gonna get pissy if you keep calling her that.”
“She’ll get over it. If you say it enough times, she’ll be forced to accept it. View it as your new strategy. Just wait until you slip and call me Dad. That’ll send her right up a wall. Try to give me enough warning to get a camera. I want to immortalize the moment.”
Emily sighed. “I don’t know how she puts up with you. You’re impossible.”
“I keep hearing that for some reason. Go get breakfast. Try to ignore the mess Richard and Alex made. Their mess is not an open invitation to clean the house.”
I froze at their easy exchange, my eyes wide. Alex staggered in the direction of the doorway, made it to Elliot, and grunted. Elliot chuckled and ruffled my puppy’s hair. “You need coffee. March. It’s after noon, you slouches. Richard’s getting anxious because you slept in for so long.”
Grunting again, Alex shook his head and squeezed by Elliot. “Try not to get yourself killed pulling her tail. For some fucking reason I still don’t understand, I like you.”
Laughing, Elliot gave Alex a gentle push in the direction of the kitchen. “It’s the bribes. I’ll see if I can get your mom in a less growly state.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to need an exorcist to accomplish that.”
“Damn, you don’t pull your punches before you’ve had coffee, do you?”
“No.” Alex stalked off, waving as he disappeared down the hallway.
“Someone’s starting to feel better. Damn Fenerec puppies are worse than weeds. Stop growing! That’s an order.”
Emily laughed, shook her head, and followed after her brother.
“Give it two weeks at the rate they’re adding inches. They’re going to be adults. We’re going to have to get sticks to beat off the line of suitors, especially when it’s discovered they’re both submissive.” Elliot sighed, stepped into the bedroom, and closed the door behind him. “Did you manage to get some more sleep?”
I nodded.
“Good. Shift back to human. Evelyn’s done some research and she’s ready to send us out to do her bidding. She’s pretty much running the joint because no one in this house is brave enough to tell the cranky pregnant bitch no, myself included.” After a long moment of silence, he smirked. “If you’re quick about it, we might be able to sneak in a shower without them being the wiser, since I wouldn’t dream of leaving you unattended when everyone’s still worried you’ll have trouble transforming.”
Flattening my ears, I glanced at the door, well aware anyone could walk in on us.
With a soft chuckle, Elliot locked us in. “Of course, I informed them unless you had trouble, I would protect your dignity and keep the interlopers away. I simply won’t confirm the duration of your shift.” Striding to me, he knelt, cupping my muzzle in his hands. “Remember, you don’t have to say yes. No is totally fine. I’ll whine, but view it as a compliment of your beauty. Of course I want you. Only a fool wouldn’t. Obviously, I’d prefer if you’d say yes. At the very least, I’d like to wash your back.”
Back washing would lead to other things, and I had no intention of denying either one of us anymore. I pulled my muzzle free and paused long enough to lick his fingers before trotting to the bathroom door to discover if I could shift back to human on my own.
My wolf’s eagerness to spend more time with Elliot helped, but even then, it took us several long minutes to shift without a witch or another Fenerec giving us a helpful nudge in the right direction.
It amazed me how much easier and less painful transforming was when I could do it on my own.
Chapter Twenty-One
When Elliot and I finally emerged from Richard’s bedroom, my puppies were at the kitchen island devouring every scrap of food Amber and the Fenerec tossed their way. In the case of Alex, it was a literal tossing, and I halted at the end of the hallway, crossing my arms over my chest.
Richard’s brother launched a piece of bacon in the air, and my puppy braced his hands against the countertop, his eyes tracing the strip’s arc through the air. With a snap of his teeth, he caught the bacon, and it disappeared down his throat.
“You’re going to choke if you keep that up.” I stalked my way into the kitchen and lightly swatted the back of my puppy’s head before circling the island and relieving Alex of the fresh piece of bacon in his hand, jabbing Richard’s brother in his ribs with my elbow. “You’re an animal.”
Richard chuckled and flipped the bacon in his frying pan. “Sorry, Vicky. They got carried away.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Because you’re smart, beautiful, and wise.” Elliot grabbed a stool and pulled it up so he could sit beside Emily.
When he reached for a slice of her bacon, I snatched one of the clean spatulas from the magnetic rack over the stove, whirled around, and slapped the back of his hand. “Don’t steal her food.”
“Dictator,” Elliot muttered and jerked his hand away from our puppy’s plate.
I tilted my head to the side. “Am I still your boss? Did I finally get fired?”
With a long and heavy groan, Elliot slouched over the counter, stretching his arms in my direction, waggling his fingers in what I assumed was a bid for attention but interpreted as an invitation to smack his fingers with the spatula.
“Emily and Alex can use their age as an excuse to get away with murder, sir, but yo
u cannot.”
Laughing, Richard grabbed hold of my waist, lifted me off my feet, and set me in front of the stove. “Mercy is not a word in your dictionary, is it?”
I smacked him with the spatula, too.
Setting aside my punishment tool, I grabbed the spatula from the pan, I went to work on the bacon, one eye fixed on Elliot in case he decided to make another attempt at food theft. “No. Erased it the other day.”
“My condolences, Elliot.” Richard stepped out of my range, leaned against the counter, and grinned at me. “You’re looking a bit more lively compared to yesterday.”
“Why am I making bacon?”
“Because I’m tired of feeding your puppies. They’re going to decimate Yellowknife’s bacon supply before they decide they’ve eaten their fill. How the hell do you keep them fed?”
“I don’t just feed them bacon.”
“That’s just cruel. Why would you feed children something other than bacon for breakfast?”
I leveled a glare at the Alpha, shook my head, and divided the pan of bacon between my puppies, leaving three slices for Elliot, which I offered to him on a saucer. “Pity bacon,” I informed him.
“Pity bacon is the best bacon.”
“When I said you should toss him a bone, I didn’t mean bacon,” Amber said, joining me at the stove. “Your puppies are too clever for their own good. Richard asked what you gave them for breakfast, and they told him bacon. They have diligently stuck with their story, too. As a result, they’ve enjoyed a feast of bacon every morning they’ve been here. What do you actually feed them for breakfast?”
I narrowed my eyes at Elliot. “You know exactly what they get for breakfast.”
“Why would I ruin their fun with your rules?”
Sighing, I shook my head. “Mind if I raid the fridge?”
“Consider Richard’s house your house, Vicky,” Amber replied, getting out of my way. “We all do. He loves it.”