by Jules Tyler
“I’ve accepted what happened to me, Elijah. It’s okay. I’m still figuring out myself and it’s been ten years, but it doesn’t change what happened to me. To be honest, I’ve felt more myself in the last twenty four hours since I got up here than I have in years.”
Elijah’s eyes locked with hers, “You have?”
Candace smiled, “Yeah. These mountains… They soothe something inside of me. It’s like they’re calling to me. This feels like home.”
“You really think so?” Elijah’s anger faded from his face.
“Yeah. I mean, what happened to me has had me attached to the woods in Minnesota for so long, I kind of assumed that it was my territory. Coming out here has changed that though. I don’t think I could leave these mountains if I wanted to.”
Elijah reached over to grab her hand and placed it on his chest, “Do you feel that?” Candace focused on her hand and closed her eyes, she could hear his heart racing with her heightened senses, but she had a feeling her was trying to show her something else.
Concentrating harder, she felt it. His heart wasn’t just racing, it felt like it was on fire.
Pulling her hand away, she looked at him, “What’s that mean?”
“That Wolf likes what you’re saying. He agrees, these mountains are home.”
Chapter Fourteen
The drive back to the camp was slow, and Elijah didn’t want this night to end. He was reveling in the fact that Candi, as he was now forever going to call her, had trusted him enough to share her story. He was also feeling shame for hiding his past from her, when his was nowhere near as traumatizing as her own.
We lost Mother Wolf. It isn’t going to get any easier. Stop blaming yourself for something we had no control over.
Elijah brushed Wolf off, trying to focus the best he could on the road in front of him. Elijah could feel their bond growing little by little. He had promised himself tonight that he would not rush her. He would handle her with care and make sure not to force her to bond to him. She had already been through too much to make her do anything she didn’t want to do. If all she ever wanted from him was friendship, then that would have to be where they left things and he would be okay with that. His need to protect her would make it difficult to accept it, but he would do it to protect her heart.
Pulling into his parking spot behind his cabin, he cut the engine. Candace’s hands stayed locked around his chest and he smiled. This woman was going to be the death of him.
“We’re back now, beautiful. You can let go now.” Elijah smiled to himself.
“I know. I’m just not ready for the night to be over yet. If it ends, that means we have to go back to reality, and I’m not sure if I want to just yet,” she said as she removed her helmet and leaned her forehead against his back.
“I’ll make you a deal. We end the night at the front door of Duke’s, and I’ll come over in the morning and I’ll make you breakfast,” Elijah suggested, bringing one of her hands up to his lips and giving it a playful nip before kissing it.
“Will there be bacon?” Candace mused.
“Woman, what kind of question is that? Of course there will be bacon!” Elijah exclaimed as he got off of the bike.
“Deal,” Candace said as Elijah took her helmet from her.
He watched her dismount the bike like a champ before setting the helmet on his bike. Reaching for her hand, their fingers tangled together and his heart felt full for the first time since Mama had died. They walked in a silent daze as they crossed over to Duke’s porch. Stopping in front of the door, Elijah tugged Candace’s hand to signal for her to turn around and face him.
“Well, ma’am, here we are.” He smiled.
“Thank you for tonight. It was perfect. Maybe if you play your cards right at breakfast in the morning, I’ll let you convince me to do this again.” Candace winked.
Hooking a finger underneath her chin, he lifted her face up towards hers. Leaning down he took her mouth with his, sliding his hands into her hair. He felt his member getting hard as her tongue ran along his bottom lip.
“You keep doing that, and I might have to take you to bed with me,” Elijah whispered, pressing his body against hers.
“You have to earn that, big guy,” she teased, reaching up on her toes to tug at his lip with her teeth.
Elijah snarled sexily, “Don’t tempt me, gorgeous.”
The door opened quickly, and Elijah and Candace fell into the house. Looking up, they both noticed the humor displayed on Duke’s face.
“Caught you, love birds. Is this puppy love or the real deal then?” He grinned.
Elijah rolled his eyes as he stood and pulled Candace to her feet, “What did you go and do that for?”
“Because Alicia found something, and we’re all supposed to meet over at McKinzy and Adrian’s,” Duke explained, heading for the door.
“Well then, by all means, lead the way,” Elijah said sarcastically, trying to hide his frustration that the moment was now over and they would have to return to reality sooner than he had planned.
“What do you think Alicia found?” Candace whispered as she took his hand in hers. “I don’t know, but I have a feeling we are about to find out.”
Chapter Fifteen
Candace filed into McKinzy’s house behind Elijah and sat in a chair at the table as Elijah sat down between her legs on the floor. Looking around, she noticed everyone was here, including the panther that she had wrestled with earlier that day. When she caught him staring at her, she lifted her lip in a snarl. She tried not to laugh as he snapped his attention to McKinzy. Apparently she was feeling more dominant than usual because of her ability to kick this guy’s ass.
McKinzy called the meeting to order, “Alright, so Alicia and I have been pouring over records of who all is up here. We were trying to identify if anyone up here would have ties to anyone that could cause problems for us and we’ve managed to find one person.”
Alicia looked at Candace with sad eyes as she stood to speak, “When McKinzy and I were going through records tonight and running criminal history files and everything, I came across a name from my past. Someone who I had thought was dead all this time…”
Realization struck Candace’s heart as Alicia continued, “Zeke Evans is assigned to Cabin B. I don’t know how it was missed during his intake paperwork when Michaelson was here, but he has ties to the Firebirds. We think he is the one that they sent up here to be a fly on the wall and to tip them off once McKinzy arrived. Also after pouring over more paperwork, we are fairly certain that the Firebirds are the reason why Michaelson disappeared. They baited McKinzy up here. If we’re correct, they were trying to draw McKinzy out of hiding so they could force her to be a breeder. We need to tread carefully with what is discussed outside of these walls. We also need to make sure we aren’t confronting him.”
“No…” Candace sobbed before pushing out of her chair and running from the cabin. “Candace come back!” Alicia shouted after her, but Candace ignored her as she ran around the backside of the cabins and felt her wolf explode from her skin.
Harder and harder she ran, a combination of fury and grief spurring her on until she came to a meadow. Slowing to a walk, she hesitated at the edge of it, listening for any unwelcome intrusions, before walking out to the middle and lying on the ground. Curling up in a ball, she felt her body rack with sobs as she whimpered. All this time, she thought she was safe. She thought that Zeke was dead. Now she was here, in these mountains, only feet away from the man that had done this to her. How could she be so stupid as to come after Alicia?
Candace pushed herself into a sitting position, raised her head to the moon, and sang her sorrows to the stars.
Chapter Sixteen
Elijah ran in wolf form, sniffing out the direction Candace had ran in. He could only imagine what she was feeling right now, knowing that Zeke was alive after all when she had spent ten years thinking the prick was dead. When Elijah found him, he would end him. No one deserved to be tu
rned against their will, especially not his mate. As far as he was concerned, Candace belonged to him. A wolf’s song came drifting to him on the wind and his ears perked up. He stopped and listened to the song of pain and sorrow, his heart breaking as he did. Beginning to run harder in the direction of the song, he realized where she was.
Arriving at the edge of the meadow, he slowed and watched her head lift to the skies as she sang. She had the most beautiful singing voice Elijah had ever heard, a siren calling to his aching heart. He padded to where she was and laid down next to her. As she finished crying, she looked down at him with eyes filled with pain, only making his heart hurt more for her. He knew what he would need to do when they were finished. He would not be taking Zeke’s life alone, they would be doing it together.
Elijah nuzzled Candace underneath her neck, rubbing his body up and down her own as he tried to comfort her. He whimpered before pulling away and sitting to shift back to his human form. Sitting on the ground, he looked at her before running his hands over her dark fur.
“I know what you’re feeling. I do, and I am so sorry, Candi,” he said, emotion catching in his own voice as he spoke. “I’m going to tell you about my mama, you don’t have to shift back. Sometimes being Wolf is easier than for me to be a man. Just listen to my story, okay?”
He watched as her head dipped with a single nod of acknowledgement before taking a shaky breath, “A few years ago, while Mama was out roaming the bayou we called our home, she was gunned down. Don’t ask me why, because I still don’t know. All I know is that she had gone out like she always did, because like me, she was more wolf than human. It was common out there, more than it is out here. The police brought her body to us to let us know a jogger had found her out there naked and alone. I loved Mama with every fiber of my being; she was the light in the world when everything seemed so dark. She taught me how to cook and take care of my mate when the time would come for me to find my intended. I was twenty-two with something to prove, so I came out here to try to figure out a way to figure out who had shot her. The local police department covered it up as a hunting accident but given the amount of ammunition that we found in her body before we buried her, I never believed it was an accident. Someone was hunting her. The question I’ve always had is why. What did they have to prove by shooting her?”
Candace whimpered as she scoot closer and pressed her body into his leg.
“I left my Pa and sisters standing on the porch of our home as I pulled away on my motorcycle and never looked back. Little Sister looked heartbroken that I was leaving them and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Pa look so disappointed in my life. I thought if I came out here I would be able to get help tracking down who had put those bullets in Mama, but I never did. I didn’t know what else to do. Then Alicia shows up and is good at tracking down answers to the mystery that has popped up up here, and I started getting hope again. I can’t bring myself to ask her though, because we have lives at stake here that are more important than someone who has already lost theirs. You and Duke are the only ones who know this about me. It’s been easier for me to be a playboy and have everyone believe I don’t take anything seriously, but they don’t realize that I feel things stronger than they realize. I just try to make a joke about it so they don’t see me hurting on the inside,” Elijah explained before growing quiet.
Together they sat in silence, staring up at the moon. After a while, Elijah stood and Candace followed, walking back to the cabins. When they arrived, Elijah saw Okami come bounding from the porch and dive excitedly on top of Candace’s back before licking her face. Candace shifted back into human form and pushed the dog off.
“Okay Okami, enough. Enough! I get it. You missed me, you naughty dog. I love you too.” She giggled.
Elijah smiled at her as he helped her back to her feet, “I still can’t believe you’re a shifter. I can’t understand how I didn’t smell the fur on you when we first met.”
Candace shrugged, “Since I’m submissive, I tend to shift less than most shifters who are more dominant. Since I shift less, the smell of fur doesn’t cling to my skin like it does yours.”
“I guess that kind of makes sense,” Elijah said, patting Okami on the head as the dog plopped down next to him, tongue lolling out of his mouth.
“I should probably get some rest… Elijah?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for sharing your secret with me tonight. My heart hurts for you. I can’t imagine carrying that around inside of me the way you have. I think you should call your Pa though. He might surprise you.” Candace smiled before turning to head into Alicia’s cabin.
“I’ll think about it.”
“I think you should. Good night, Elijah.”
“Good night, gorgeous.” He waved before heading back to his own cabin.
Once inside, he sat down on the edge of the bed and fished out his cell phone from the dresser. Staring down at the thing in his hands, he searched through his phone for the number he needed and grabbed the landline off the nightstand next to his bed. Punching in the numbers on the keypad, he listened to the phone ring until a familiar sleepy voice came over the other end.
“Who is this and why the hell are you calling at three in the morning?” The gruff old man’s voice demanded.
“Hi, Pa.”
“Elijah?” Pa asked, concern filling his voice, “Is everything okay?”
“Not really, but I’m okay.”
“Where are you?”
Elijah sighed, “I can’t tell you that right now. I just wanted to call and tell you I’m sorry.” “Oh Elijah, there’s nothing to forgive, Son. You made a decision that was best for you. I understand. Everyone handles grief in different ways.”
Elijah felt the relief wash over him like a sinner who had just had his sins forgiven by those he had wronged, “I’m still looking for her killer, Pa. I have a friend who can help me. Once we get some things cleared up where I am, I’m going to ask for her help. We’ll bring them to justice, Pa, I swear.”
“Just stay safe, please, okay?” The old man yawned.
“I will.”
“Elijah, please call more often okay? Your sisters have been worried sick about you, and so have I. Three years is too long to go without speaking to each other.”
Elijah smiled to himself, “I promise to call more, Pa. Tell the girls I love them. We’ll talk again soon.”
“Good night, Son.”
“Good night, Pa.”
Chapter Seventeen
Candace laid on the couch with Okami laying on her stomach snoring as she stared at the ceiling. She was struggling to remain calm, but quite honestly she was at that point where the scale would tip from calm to a panic attack if one more thing went wrong. Her heart feathers were wilting because of how the evening had taken such a bitter turn. Everything about her date with Elijah had made her excited, and she felt as though she could trust him with her secrets. He had been nothing short of supportive as she told him her story. There hadn’t been any form of judgment in his eyes, only support.
Stroking the spot between Okami’s ears, Candace thought absent mindedly about the kisses they had shared this evening. How long had it been since she had let someone kiss her like that? Probably never, considering that kiss was so full of passion that she was positive there was no way her teenage years had allowed for something that powerful. Somehow, even though she was still getting to know Elijah, she felt as though he would stop at nothing to protect her, and that thought alone warmed her to the core.
Mates always protect each other.
“I’m not sure if I’m ready to trust him. What happened with Zeke…” Candace whispered to herself before her wolf interrupted.
What happened with Zeke wasn’t even a mating. He turned you. He followed a command. That bastard will pay for what he did to us soon enough. I’m glad he’s still alive. Now we can take vengeance on our own.
“We have to wait until Alicia and McKinzy come up with a plan. I’m not sur
e if I want his blood on my hands.”
It is a way with the wolves. If you hurt someone, you pay. Let Mate handle it if you’re too weak.
Candace looked down at the tattoo on her forearm, drinking in the words that Alicia had made her get to remind herself that she is always going to be stronger than she thought she was.
It is as the fox has said, submissive does not mean weak. We. Are. Not. Weak.
Lying there a moment more, she gathered what was left of her reserves after the day she had had and pushed herself out of bed. Okami startled awake and eyed her suspiciously, trying to determine whether to follow or not. Candace held up her hand in a command to stay put and quietly turned the knob on the door to let herself out.
As she went to leave the porch she noticed another dead rabbit. Shaking her head, she stooped to pick it up and take it the woods behind the cabin. Giving it a sniff she recognized the smell that clung to its fur. It smelled like Elijah’s wolf.
Mate has been sleep shifting again. It’s been bringing us gifts. It’s a sign of affection.
“Poor bunny.” Candace frowned as she set it in the dirt for another animal to find.
With her mind made up, she headed towards Elijah’s cabin and knocked on the door. Elijah propped the door open with a look of confusion on his face, almost as though he was trying to determine whether or not he was dreaming.
“Candi? Is everything okay?” He asked sleepily. Candace gave a shy smile, “Yeah. I couldn’t sleep.”
“Do you want to come in?” Elijah asked, opening the door a little more so she could slip inside.
“I was thinking… I don’t know much about shifter culture and this mating stuff… Could you tell me about how mating works?”
Elijah’s face lit up with a small hint of excitement, “Yeah, I can tell you. Do you want to come sit on the couch with me?”