Chasing Cristabel (Ashland Pride Six)

by R. E. Butler

  Rhett had called him just as he’d left the boarding house and told him that there was an old house sitting empty on their property. It had felt like fate.

  “You look like you’re already decorating the inside,” Rhett said, shutting off the four-wheeler.

  Chase chuckled as he followed suit, turning off his vehicle and climbing off. “Have you ever felt like something was perfect at first sight?”

  “Aside from my mate?” he asked with a laugh.

  “Yeah.”

  “My house didn’t feel like home until Lisa moved in, and then it was like I saw it in a whole new light. It felt like home with her, so I understand how you feel. Let’s go inside.”

  One acre of land had been squared away by the fence, giving them ample room for their cubs to play. He knew that he was jumping the gun thinking about Cris having more than one cub, since she was only pregnant with their first one, but after they’d made love the night before and then gone for a long, late-evening walk in the woods, she’d told them that she wanted a big family. As an only child, she envisioned a house full of cubs so their kids would have plenty of brothers and sisters to play with. Chase was fortunate to have grown up in the same house as Dylan and Hunter. Even though they were cousins, they felt like brothers to him.

  As they stepped up onto the wraparound porch, Rhett slid his fingers across the top of the door frame and removed a key. “The house is a hundred years old. The original owners passed it to their son, and he lived here his whole life. We had a contractor go through the house before we bought it. The electricity and plumbing were redone ten years ago, and you can thank his dearly departed wife for insisting on central heat and air. Otherwise it would be hot as hell in the summer.”

  The door creaked as it opened, and they stepped into the foyer. Chase pushed the door shut and followed Rhett as he walked through the house, from the living room, to the tiny half bath, to the large dining room, to the homey kitchen, to the family room.

  “You’ll need appliances, since these are pretty old, but the floors can be refinished. One of the nice things about hardwood is you don’t usually have to rip it out like old carpet,” Rhett said.

  They walked up the creaking stairs to the second floor, where five bedrooms shared one bathroom.

  “Definitely we’d have to add another bathroom, maybe two,” Chase said as he stood in the center of the largest bedroom. He wasn’t sure if he’d call it a master bedroom, considering that it was only slightly larger than the others, but it had a wonderful view of the fields behind the house.

  “My contractor friend said that was the one thing he’d change. It’s unreasonable nowadays to only have one full bathroom. I guess things were simpler a hundred years ago.”

  “Aside from the bathrooms and needing to give the place a coat of paint, it’s wonderful. I’d like to bring Cris and my cousins here to take a look at it.”

  “Great. How about later this afternoon? Then you guys can stay for dinner. Lisa would love to get to know your mate better.”

  “Dylan and I are heading into the bar at eight, but we should be able to stay for dinner.”

  “Great.”

  They walked out of the house, and Chase waited while Rhett locked it and slid the key back over the doorframe. “About the house,” Chase said.

  “Hold up. First, make sure your girl and your cousins are on board. And then…Lisa and I want you to have the house. It’ll help us out, because we’d need to demolish it or rent it out, and there’s no way I’d have anyone living on our property except for pride members. Lisa refused to let me demolish it because she said it had history, even though it’s not technically our family’s history.”

  Chase knew that his face showed just how shocked he was because Rhett chuckled. “I take it you like the idea?”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “You could say thanks and promise to name one of your cubs Rhett.”

  Chase laughed and gave him a hug. “I’ll have to clear it with the boss first.”

  “Don’t we always?”

  After he parked the four-wheeler back inside the barn and gave Rhett his gloves, Chase returned home to talk to his family about the possibilities for their new home. It needed work, but having a place that would be theirs, still connected to the pride but private, was worth anything they had to do to make it their own.

  * * *

  Cris sneezed when she pushed back a long curtain to look out the window of the old farmhouse that Chase said was perfect for them.

  “You okay, love?” Hunter asked.

  “It was just a sneeze. I’m fine,” she said with a chuckle. “Remind me not to touch the drapes. I think there’s about fifty years of dust on them.”

  Dylan couldn’t believe how right the house seemed for them. Even though it had walls covered with outdated patterned wallpaper, scuffed hardwood floors in every room, and a serious lack of bathrooms, it was perfect.

  “Come here,” Dylan said to Cris. He tugged her from the largest of the five bedrooms to one of the smallest ones. “Picture a crib with maybe pink blankets in it, a rocking chair by the window.”

  She leaned into him with a chuckle, and he wrapped his arms around her. “Pink blankets?”

  “Or blue,” he said, kissing the top of her head.

  “I can see that.”

  “Do you like the house?” Chase asked as he and Hunter joined them.

  “It needs lots of work, but yeah, I really do,” she said. “I think it’s just right for us.”

  Chase pumped his fist into the air. “Yes! I knew you’d love it.”

  She laughed. “Did you?”

  “Actually, I didn’t even need to see inside to know it was the perfect house for us. The others in town were okay, some were terrible, but mostly they just didn’t feel like home. This one does. At least to me. What do you guys think?”

  “I love it,” Dylan said. “Big yard, big house, lots of room.”

  “Me too,” Hunter said. “What I especially like is that it’s still near the pride. Rhett’s and Eryx’s homes are just across the field. We’re close but far enough away for privacy.”

  “Can we get it fixed up before our little one comes along?” Cris asked as they left the room and headed downstairs.

  “Of course,” Hunter said as he looked around the empty living room.

  When the previous owner had sold to Rhett and Lisa, they’d called in a charity organization that had cleared out all the furniture that had been left behind. They’d left only the curtains on the walls, which were one of the first things that Dylan would want to get rid of.

  “We can get rid of the wallpaper and paint first and then strip the floors. If we have a contractor do the plumbing upstairs, then we’ll be set in two or three months,” Chase said. “Maybe four.”

  “That’s not too long to live in the boarding house. I’ll miss being there in a way, but it will be really nice to have our own place,” Cris said.

  Dylan hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to his family about his idea for the future, but before he could say something, Hunter was already leading Cris outside so they could go to Rhett’s for dinner. They loaded into their separate vehicles, since he and Chase had to go to the bar for their evening shift.

  “Hold up a second,” Dylan said after getting out of the car and joining them before they moved up onto the porch. “This probably isn’t the place, but after dinner I have to go to work and I’m afraid another day will go by and I really need to say this.”

  “Are you okay? What is it?” Cris asked.

  Dylan looked at her for a long moment and knew without a doubt he’d made the right decision. “I want to quit the bar.”

  Hunter frowned. “Why? I thought you liked it.”

  “I do, well kind of, but I’d actually like to not get a job.” He could tell by the looks on their faces that he had to give them more information. “I want to be our family’s caretaker, or maybe you’d call it a stay-at-home dad? I don’
t know if you want to go back to work after you have our cub, sweetheart, but even if you didn’t, I’d still like to be home.”

  “I really hadn’t thought much about whether I’d go back to work or not,” Cris said, “but if you want to quit so you can help take care of our family, I think that’s an amazing idea.”

  Dylan blew out a sigh of relief. “You do?”

  “Of course! Whatever makes you happy makes me happy,” she said, going onto her toes and kissing him.

  Hunter nodded. “I’m with Cris. Then we don’t have to worry as much about juggling our schedules.”

  “Are you sure you’re not doing this just to get to spend more time with our mate?” Chase said, a teasing glint in his eyes.

  “That would be a bonus, but no. I thought about it before we passed out on Monday, but I didn’t have the chance to say something.”

  “You’ll give your two weeks’ to Perry?” Hunter asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then you can spend your days painting and stripping the floors, right?” Chase asked.

  He grinned, so happy for his family’s acceptance. “Absolutely.”

  “Then I’m fucking all for it,” Chase said.

  Cris made a face. “Once our baby has ears, you’ll have to stop the swearing.”

  Chase kissed her with a laugh. “Sorry. When does that happen?”

  “They start to hear at five months,” Hunter said.

  All of them stared at him.

  “What? I read,” he said.

  “Baby stuff?” Cris asked.

  “First thing I did was sign up for an email newsletter for a baby website.” He shrugged. “I want to be knowledgeable. I don’t know anything about babies. It seems smart to be prepared.”

  “That’s so sweet,” Cris said. “You guys are the best mates, and you’re going to make the best dads, too.”

  “When we get home, you can call your parents and tell them,” Hunter said.

  “We need to call our dads, too,” Dylan said.

  “It’s a great day for good news,” Cris said.

  They knocked on Rhett and Lisa’s front door, and it swung open to reveal a smiling Lisa wearing an apron smudged with chocolate. “Congratulations on the baby. I’m so happy for you!”

  She hugged Cris, who said a muffled thank you as she was enveloped in the hug.

  “I wasn’t eavesdropping, but if you’re ever interested in earning extra income, Dylan, I could always use another hand around the farm. I’m sure Lisa wouldn’t turn away help at the farmers’ market, too,” Rhett said.

  Lisa elbowed him. “You can’t say you weren’t eavesdropping when you most definitely were.”

  “I can’t help it that I can hear well,” he said.

  “You hear like a bat when people are outside talking, but when I ask you to fold the laundry, you go deaf,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  They all laughed at the banter between the couple. Cris slid her hand into Dylan’s and said, “Promise not to go deaf when I ask you to do laundry?”

  “I swear.”

  * * *

  The following night they took Cris to the diner for Lily’s farewell dinner. Cris was sad to see Lily go because she’d been looking forward to living in the same town with her, but fate was funny like that. Hunter was still surprised at how things had worked out for everyone. Cris’s dad could have hurt a lot of people, but in the end his actions had allowed Hunter and his cousins to show Cris’s family that they were serious about her, and it had the added bonus of another couple discovering they were truemates.

  Salem seemed entirely smitten with Lily, following her closely as she made her way around the diner to say farewell to her friends and long-time customers. It didn’t surprise Hunter that the diner was packed with well-wishers, since Lily was a sweetheart and had called Ashland home for a long time.

  Cris leaned against Hunter’s shoulder and sighed. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “I’m going to miss her,” she said.

  “We’ll take you to see her after our cub is born.”

  “I’d like that.” She tipped her face up to look at him, her eyes glistening with tears. “I don’t mean to be sad, but it’s hard not to be.”

  “It’s okay to be sad that she’s leaving.”

  “It feels selfish.”

  “You’re the least selfish person I know.”

  She smiled. “You always know just what to say to make me feel better.”

  He was glad. A few weeks ago he wouldn’t have thought it was possible to care so much about one woman’s happiness, but he thought of nothing but her all the time.

  Lily stopped at their booth once more, her cheeks wet with tears that she rubbed away with the backs of her hands.

  “How are you holding up?” Cris asked.

  “This is the happiest sad thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

  Salem chuckled as he put his arm around her and kissed her temple. “Happiest sad thing?”

  “I’m sad to leave, but I’m happy because I found you.” Then she turned her attention to Cris and said, “I’ve got something for you.”

  Salem’s mother appeared and handed Lily a large gift bag with baby animals on the front, which she set on the table in front of Cris.

  “Oh, you didn’t have to get me anything. I’m just, like, two days pregnant,” Cris said.

  “I had to be the first one to give you a gift. It’s in the bestie code. Go on. Open it.”

  “But it’s your party,” Cris protested.

  “And I get to decide what happens. Open it!”

  Cris glanced at her mates and then smiled broadly. “Our first baby gift. This is so cool!”

  She pulled out several pieces of pink and blue tissue paper and then lifted out a stuffed lion. Cris gasped. “It’s so cute!”

  She handed the lion to Hunter, who smiled, thinking about their cub who may or may not be able to shift into an African lion, depending on whether he or she took more after Cris. Digging farther into the bag, Cris pulled out two pairs of footy pajamas, with baby animals on them, both in neutral soft browns. A little hat with golden crocheted lion ears sewn into the top was the last gift.

  Cris slipped from the booth and hugged Lily tightly. “You’re the bestest bestie who ever lived. Thank you so much.”

  “I can’t have your little one thinking that his or her Aunt Lily isn’t super excited about meeting in the future. You’re going to be a mom, and I’m going to miss it.”

  “You’re going to be a mom, too, and our kids can be besties like we are,” Cris promised.

  The party dwindled until they were the last ones in the diner aside from Lily’s pride. Cris was reluctant to leave, and so was Lily, but eventually the women parted ways. Hunter and his cousins took their mate home after she said a final, tearful goodbye.

  Hunter opened the front door of the boarding house for her, and she walked in, covering her mouth as she yawned. In her other hand she held the stuffed lion, who she had named Leo.

  “Do you think we’ll have a boy or a girl?” she asked. Then she added, “And don’t just say you want a happy and healthy baby. That’s a cop out.”

  They all chuckled. It actually wasn’t that easy of a question. Although healthy and happy topped the list, for his entire life, Hunter had always hoped that if he ever had a cub someday, he’d have a boy. Because boy mountain lions weren’t poisoned by the adults like the females, he didn’t have to worry that sons would turn away from their families and break their dads’ hearts. In Ashland, there were only two female mountain lions – Jilly and Melody – and neither of them were under the goddess’s curse any longer. Melody had been raised away from the King pride, so she’d never been poisoned, and Jilly’s twin mates had shared blood with her and freed her from the curse. If Cris carried a girl, she’d never be exposed to the females and their poisonous claws, and that meant he could freely hope for a little girl to spoil.

  “I feel compelled to say that I would be thril
led with either a boy or a girl,” Hunter said. Cris rolled her eyes so hard that he was surprised they stayed in her skull. “But,” he added, “I think I’d like a little girl.”

  Cris smiled sweetly up at him, going onto her toes and kissing him. “Whatever this little one growing inside me is, I know that he or she will be very loved.”

  “I’d like a girl, too,” Chase said.

  “Me too,” Dylan said.

  “If we do have a girl, and she happens to take after me, then you guys are in for some trouble because I was quite the boy chaser when I was little,” Cris said.

  “Well, she’s not dating until she’s thirty,” Hunter said.

  “Thirty at the minimum,” Chase said. “I’m thinking more like forty.”

  She laughed. “You guys are going to be the best dads. Boys or girls, our kids are going to be so loved.”

  Hunter was sure that there hadn’t ever been a sentence spoken in existence that was truer than that. He already loved the little one Cris carried, and the baby was only days old. Since he loved Cris more every day, he wasn’t surprised. That’s what family was supposed to be like.

  Chapter 18

  *Two Years Later*

  Cris set the centerpiece on the large table, adjusting it slightly and then straightening. The adorable diaper cake looked like a three-layer confection, except it was made of diapers covered with baby blankets and onesies, all in pink. Baby hair bows decorated the layers, along with little goodies she’d tucked inside, like pink pacifiers and bottles.

  “That looks really good, baby,” Chase said, bringing in a large stack of pink paper plates and setting them on a buffet.