At her accusation his somber expression brightened. “First of all, I was invited over for cobbler by your grandmother, who’s beside herself with worry over the direction your life is going. She was more than pleased by my suggestion to stay here and talk some sense into you. And second, as an officer of the law I’m more than in my rights to detain you for questioning. You should be thankful I’m doing it in this nice surrounding instead of downtown in the station.”
If he thought she was going to thank him, he had another think coming. Instead she narrowed her eyes and didn’t say a word, keeping her negative thoughts to herself. Jasper, on the other hand, didn’t appear to be bothered by her less-than-pleased demeanor. The obviously unbalanced man walked over to the basket and flicked her shawl to the ground. As if he had all the time in the world, he flipped open the lid of the wicker container and glanced inside. When he looked up again he smiled. “Peach cobbler. My favorite.”
Of course it was. Tired of the foolishness, Yvonne walked back around the chair, took the dessert out and offered it to him. “Glad to hear it. Why don’t you take it and go? I insist.” She could make her grandmother a treat another day. Right now she just wanted to get rid of him.
“How about we eat it here. I sure am hungry.” Jasper rubbed his stomach. “Mind serving me?”
Was he fucking for real? “Yes.” She’d rather serve Satan himself in hell.
Jasper grabbed hold of her arm, causing her to drop the dessert to the floor. “I bet you didn’t mind waiting on those two bastards all night long,” he said in a nasty, bitter tone.
“Let me go.” Yvonne tugged, trying to free herself to no avail. Jasper was as strong as he was deranged.
“I saw you. Saw you go inside his house, and I waited for you to come out so we could talk. But you never came back out, did you?” His eyes were cold and filled with a savage anger that took her breath away. Suddenly the fact her car didn’t start was beginning to make sense. Yvonne seriously doubted she was the one who left her car door open. “You stayed there all night long, doing God knows what with that filthy animal and his friend.”
Yvonne grabbed his wrist and dug her nails into his flesh. “Let. Me. Go.”
“You’ll let them touch you.” Jasper tightened his hold on her. His grip was so tight for a moment Yvonne worried he might snap her wrist. “But not me.”
Fear for her safety didn’t keep her temper in check. If he was going to hurt her, at the very least she was going to wound him with her words. “I let them do more than touch me.”
“You bitch.” Jasper raised his hand to strike her, but a deep growl stopped him dead in his tracks.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Relieved, Yvonne glanced over to the doorway where her lovers stood. One on two legs. The other on four. Never had she been so happy to see them in her life. “Battery charged?”
“Yes.” Daniel shut the door behind them as Ezekiel edged closer, ears back, teeth bared. Even though one was in wolf form and the other was pure human, to Yvonne they both looked like mad dogs, and their sights were set on the man who foolishly still held her. Before Ezekiel and Daniel had entered the house she’d been scared of what Jasper was going to do to her. Now she was scared of what they might do to him. It was amazing what a difference a few seconds could make.
For the first time in his life, Daniel had an inkling what it must be like to be Ezekiel. Standing in the hallway, inches away from the woman he loved in the hands of a madman, gave Daniel a glimpse into his animalistic nature. He felt raw. He felt rage. He felt the need to see Jasper’s throat in his hands. The bastard dared to touch Yvonne. For that, he had to die.
“If I were you, I’d let her go,” Daniel warned.
“No, if you were me, you wouldn’t have let that thing touch her.”
Daniel could feel Ezekiel bristle. But instead of immediately leaping across the room and ripping the sheriff’s throat out, the wolf hung back and waited. “I’d be careful of what I say if I were you, because the only thing standing between you and this thing is me.”
“I’m not afraid of either of you.” Jasper’s eyes revealed another truth. They were wild and wide and not focused at all. The good sheriff was high on something, and it wasn’t life.
“You should be.” Daniel took two steps into the room with Ezekiel right beside him. “Because fear will allow your fight-or-flight mentality to kick in. And if I were you, I’d go with flight.” It was the only warning Daniel was giving to the sheriff.
“Fuck you.” Jasper tightened his grip on Yvonne’s wrist, causing her to cry out in pain, and reached for his gun with his free hand. His action sealed his fate.
Before Jasper could grasp the butt of his gun, Ezekiel launched himself across the room at the sheriff, who barely had time to release Yvonne. She fell backward onto the floor as Jasper raised his hands as if to ward off the beast. The man and wolf crashed into the coffee table, sending magazines and doilies flying as they turned the once-cozy room into a boxing ring.
“Fuck. Yvonne.” Moving quickly, Daniel dashed behind his friend, knocking over a lamp in the process as he rushed to swoop up Yvonne from the floor and away from the fray. Once she was standing, he focused his attention on her, running his hands over her body and checking for any signs of injury.
Instead of sinking into his embrace, Yvonne fought to be released. “Ezekiel, no. Stop.” She tried to tug free of Daniel, but he refused to let her go. “I have to stop him. He’s going to kill him.”
“And…” As far as Daniel was concerned death was only fitting.
Yvonne crooked her neck to the side and looked up at him. “What do you mean ‘and’? We have to do something.”
“We are.” In their fight for dominance, the duo on the floor rolled closer than Daniel would have preferred to where he and Yvonne were standing. Sidestepping the wrestling pair, Daniel lifted her and moved her away from the fight. “We’re watching.”
“I don’t want to watch. I want them to stop.”
“Oh, they will.” When Jasper was limp and comatose. Daniel would never forget the way Ezekiel had stiffened when the werewolf caught the sheriff’s scent on the wind. With barely a word of warning, he changed, going from man to wolf all in the space of a few seconds. Daniel had never been up close and personal when his friend switched forms, and God willing, he wouldn’t be again. There had been a horrific element about seeing skin morph into fur in the blink of an eye Daniel would never forget. But the sight that would stay with him forever was the one of Jasper raising his hand to strike Yvonne. The vision would haunt him for the rest of his days.
“Damn it.” Yvonne turned her attention back to the commotion and tried once again to reason with Ezekiel. “I’m fine. Zeke. Stop it.”
Daniel shook his head but held his tongue. Yvonne had a better chance of convincing the sun not to rise tomorrow than she did controlling Ezekiel. His friend was on a mission, one Daniel wholeheartedly supported.
Unfortunately the only thing keeping the fight even semi-fair was the fact Jasper still had access to his gun. But after a few moments even that was a moot point. Ezekiel rolled the sheriff onto his back, his powerful paws holding down the screaming man. Then the werewolf chomped his jaw onto Jasper’s arm, effectively immobilizing the sheriff’s attempt to draw his weapon.
A loud, piercing whistle overrode the screeching and the arguing, causing Ezekiel to tense and Daniel and Yvonne to shut up. In sync, they glanced over to the doorway to where Yvonne’s parents and her grandmother were standing. The elderly lady looked far from sick but very upset. “What the hell is going on here?”
“Consider the living room clean,” Daniel said softly to Yvonne as he walked over to the stove where she stood, finally warming up the soup she’d brought for her grandmother. For someone who had been at a crazy man’s will only a short while ago, she seemed to be perfectly fine now. “I picked up the glass and hauled the table out to the truck. I think between Ezekiel and me, we ca
n probably fix it good as new.”
Yvonne turned off the stove and faced him with a smile. “Trying to get on my grandmother’s good side?”
“Yes.” Daniel stole a quick glance over to the older woman, who was sitting at the kitchen table glaring daggers in their direction. “I don’t think it’s going to work though, do you?”
“Nope. First you steal her granddaughter, then you get into a fist fight in her living room.”
“I didn’t have the opportunity to hit him.” Much to his dismay. “So technically it wasn’t a fist fight. More like a claw-teeth fight.”
Yvonne’s eyes were filled with laughter. “I don’t think that’s going to matter much to her.”
“Don’t we get points for defending you against a crazy guy?” A crazy guy who’d been invited in by a sad woman and who had to be hauled down to the station by the very people he worked with. Daniel hoped for the sheriff’s sake that despite his rather good standing in town he’d be tried as he deserved and the matter wouldn’t be pushed under the rug. Because if it was, Daniel didn’t think Jasper would live long enough to boast about his victory. The slashes and bite marks would seem like love taps if Ezekiel and his pack ever got a hold of the sheriff.
“Probably not. You guys did break her coffee table.”
“Technically that was Ezekiel’s fault.” Daniel had just shattered her lamp. A fact he hoped would go unnoticed by the scowling woman.
“Speaking of Ezekiel, where did he go?”
“He split after the police took Jasper off.” And after giving Daniel a warning growl and a pointed look in Yvonne’s direction. Not that Daniel needed his friend’s advice. There was no way he was letting her out of his sight for at least the next fifty years.
“Why?”
“I can’t speak wolf, but I assume it was to go get dressed.” Daniel leaned back against the counter. “It wasn’t as if he took time to undress out there.”
Yvonne’s lips turned up. “I guess not.”
“Plus, hasn’t your grandmother been through enough today? Does she need the extra stress of seeing her future grandson-in-law’s penis on display?”
“Definitely not.” Yvonne tilted her head to the side and regarded him quizzically. “How are we going to do this?”
“Do what, my love?”
“Make this legal.” Yvonne’s face clouded over for a moment. “Assuming you guys still want to, that is.”
“Oh, there is no need to assume.” He pushed off the counter and stepped toward her. “We do. The sooner the better, in fact.”
“Good.” She smiled. “But how are we going to do it?”
“We’ll find a preacher and make it legal. Or as legal as it can be with three people.”
“But am I going to become Mrs. Yvonne Crawford?” She frowned. “Or will I be Mrs. Yvonne Hunter?”
Daniel didn’t care how they did it, as long as they did it. Crawford. Hunter. Hell, if she wanted they could both adopt each other’s names plus hers and just have an extremely long, stupid surname. They would probably never find monogrammed towels, but they’d be together and that was all that mattered to Daniel.
“Oh hey, maybe I can legally change my last name to Hunter then when we marry I can hyphenate it. That way it can be both, Hunter-Crawford.” Yvonne beamed. “Perfect, right?”
If it made her happy, it worked for him. “Perfect.” Speaking of perfection, Daniel pulled Yvonne into his arms. If he wasn’t going to win brownie points with her grandmother, he might as well make himself happy. “But to be on the safe side, I think we should discuss this more. At home. Preferably naked.”
“You’re terrible.”
“And you love me.” And in the end that topped disapproving grandmothers and psychotic sheriffs every time.
Chapter Eight
Intent on returning to Yvonne as quickly as possible, Ezekiel busied himself in the shower. When he was through, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel off the rack, flinging it around his waist as he headed into his bedroom. To his surprise and delight, Yvonne and Daniel were already waiting for him.
Yvonne stood as soon as he entered, looking no worse for wear after her horrible ordeal. His heart clenched at the thought of what she’d gone through at the hands of that deranged bastard, Jasper. She had suffered because of her relationship and Ezekiel couldn’t help blame himself a little bit. Yet despite feeling partially responsible for what happened to her, Ezekiel couldn’t do the right thing and give her up. He was a werewolf, not a saint.
With warring emotions coursing through him, Ezekiel walked across the room and took Yvonne in his arms. Threading his fingers through her hair, he tilted her head back and kissed her soundly, putting all the love and desire he felt for her into his embrace. When the need to breathe again finally made itself known, he released his grip on her locks and pulled away from her tempting lips. His wolf let out a self-satisfied growl as Ezekiel locked his hands behind her back and held her to him. He rested his head on top of her hair and breathed in her homey essence. “I was on my way back over there.”
“You were?”
“Yes, but I had to shower first. I ran into some mud and tracked it everywhere.” One of the many hazards of his dual nature. “How are you, baby?”
“I’m better.” Yvonne squeezed him tight.
Ezekiel pulled back so he could stare into her dark, expressive eyes. “God, I was scared. I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared in my life.”
“It wasn’t rainbows and butterflies for me either.” She smiled at him in a reassuring way. “Next time try not to fight with a man with a gun. My heart can’t take it.”
He stroked his hand over her smooth cheek. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Ezekiel looked over at Daniel, who was lounging on the bed as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Though his friend pretended to be easygoing, Ezekiel knew what it cost him to let Ezekiel handle Jasper. Ezekiel was grateful for his friend not only stepping back but also for being there in the aftermath to help Yvonne. Ezekiel wasn’t one to say thank you. Instead he caught his friend’s eye and gave Daniel a curt nod, to which his friend answered with a smile before sitting up and speaking. “I’d say after our little adventure today, we’re all deserving of a reward.”
Yvonne turned in Ezekiel’s arms to face Daniel and leaned back against Ezekiel’s chest. “Whatever did you have in mind?”
“While you were busying traipsing over the hills and through the woods—”
“Or down the way a few miles,” Yvonne cut in.
“That’s what I said.” Daniel moved to the edge of the bed and stood. “While you were busy doing your good deed, Ezekiel was filling me in on a little conversation the two of you had yesterday morning. One involving fantasies and household-snack items.”
“Ahh. That conversation.”
“Right. That one,” Daniel said as he walked over to them.
“So you think as a reward of sorts we should all get naked and take advantage of my flexibility and desire to please.”
“I wouldn’t say take advantage, more like encourage your kinky side to come out and play.”
“That’s right,” Ezekiel said, warming to the idea. Not that he needed much to get on board with Daniel’s plan. Daniel had him with reward. “Encourage.”
“You know the two of you teaming up on me isn’t exactly fair.” Yvonne licked her lips and smiled seductively. “But it is fun.”
“Baby,” Ezekiel growled in her ear. “You haven’t seen fun yet.”
Yvonne tilted her head back to look at him. “Hmm, I can’t wait.”
“Neither can I,” Daniel added. “In fact, I think someone needs to lose her clothing.” Ezekiel watched with heated pleasure as Daniel stroked his hand over Yvonne’s collarbone and down over the exposed curves of her breasts.
“Here, let me help you.” Ezekiel released his grip and trailed his hands over Yvonne’s shoulder blades. “Raise your hands, baby.”
Yvonne l
ifted her arms and Ezekiel’s cock stiffened at her immediate compliance to his command. After unzipping the side of the dress under her arm, he grasped the stretchy material in his hands and tugged it upward and over her head. With little thought to the vintage-styled garb, Ezekiel tossed it over his head and stepped back so he could move on to her bra.
“Now that’s a beautiful sight,” Daniel said.
Ezekiel couldn’t have agreed more. Even though he wasn’t privy to the frontal view, Ezekiel was far from disappointed. Yvonne’s breasts were covered by the sexy red bra, but her pussy and ass were still delightfully bare, giving him a mouthwatering view of her luscious ass.
Forgoing her bra for the moment, Ezekiel stroked his palms over the rounded curves of her bottom and squeezed the generous flesh. He chuckled when she groaned, and leaned down to nip at the tender skin between her shoulder and neck before slowly lowering the bra strap closest to his lips off her shoulder and onto her arm.
Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with her intoxicating scent as he brushed his lips across her nape again. He could smell her arousal in the air. The scent of her heady aroma caused his cock to harden and poke out from beneath his towel.
“It feels as if someone’s happy to see me.”
“Oh, he is. Very happy.”
Yvonne tilted her head to the side, allowing him more access to her sensitive skin. “Are you happy too, Daniel?”
“I’m getting there.” Daniel stepped closer to them and slipped his hands around her. The back of his fingers brushed against Ezekiel’s chest as Daniel unhooked her bra.
On a normal day Ezekiel would have growled a warning to Daniel to back off, but Ezekiel realized eventually he was going to have to come to grips with the reality of ménage physics. No two matters could possibly occupy the same woman without occasionally coming in contact with the other. With that in mind, he didn’t utter a sound and allowed the other man to work diligently to free Yvonne’s breasts.
The Better to Eat You With: Urban Fairytales, Book 2 Page 13