The cubs had sniffled when they were leaving too, but as soon as they’d found out they were staying in a cave, they’d perked up. When Dakota had left them with Anthea, they’d all been playing Neanderthal and chasing each other around with clubs.
Dakota set her drink down and rubbed wearily at her face. “So, school is still shut down while we wait to see if the town erupts into war. Who knows if it will start up again.”
“Ugh. You’ll be stuck babysitting your bratty family all day long. You want another shot?” Macy poured it as she asked.
Dakota shook her head reluctantly. “No, I should set a halfway decent example for the cubs and not stagger back there half snockered.”
Macy slammed the shot herself. “To setting a halfway decent example! That’s more than I’ll ever hope to achieve.”
“And thank God for that.” David winked at her as he rushed by with a tray of drinks.
A burst of noise from the back of the bar made Dakota start. She looked over and saw Destiny, the blonde who’d tried to steal Miles, sitting on a table making out with a coyote shifter while the crowd cheered her on.
She heaved a sigh and stood up. “I came here to cheer myself up, but honestly, it’s just depressing me more.” She tossed a twenty dollar bill onto the bar. “Congrats again, and I’ll try to be less of a wet blanket next time I see you.” And she headed out of the bar, her heart even heavier then when she’d gone in.
* * * * *
The “cave” was actually a clean, bright home inside an enormous cavern. It looked sort of like a hobbit house, but supersized. It was connected by various tunnels to the other bears’ homes. Anthea had laid down flooring, and there was an long oak table and lots of chairs – where, two days after they’d left Fenris Pack lands, Dakota sat all the kids down and slapped down their school notebooks in front of them.
“You’re seriously going to make us do homework?” John asked Dakota, scandalized. “But…school’s closed! And we already gathered firewood and picked berries to make jam for the clan!”
“Yes. If you’re staying with someone, you pitch in and help out. That has nothing to do with schoolwork. You’ve had two days off now, and it’s time to get back to work.” She tapped the table, and they scowled and reached for their notebooks.
All this time, and she hadn’t heard a word from Miles. She just sat there getting angrier and angrier; he hadn’t come by to apologize, hadn’t sent anyone to check on her and the cubs…she wished they had cell phone service so she could at least call Naomi to see if he was all right. Yes, he’d made it very clear that she wasn’t his partner and had no part in his plans, and that was a bitter pill to swallow, but she still cared about him. She wished she didn’t.
She would have heard if anything had happened to him, wouldn’t she? She thought so, but just to be on the safe side, she’d have someone deliver a note to the pack the next day and ask Naomi to meet her in town for lunch.
“I miss it back at the Fenris Pack,” Sailor sighed. “Baldwin was teaching me how to shoot a bow and arrow, and Naomi would read to us. I mean, I don’t think Anthea even likes us. Ever since we came here, she spends all day out chopping wood and stuff. Doesn’t even come back until after we go to bed.”
“It’s nothing personal,” Dakota protested. “She’s just kind of antisocial.”
Sarah snorted. “Then why’s she the head schoolteacher?”
“I guess she was given the job because she could make all the kids behave. We’ll visit Naomi and Baldwin next week. They can meet us in town. Now, Sarah, let’s start working on your essay.”
Sarah couldn’t just do it without making one last play for sympathy. “This is how you repay us for our loyalty?” she said, letting out a martyred sigh.
Dakota shrugged. “You want rewards? I can bake you a cake.”
They all glanced at each other. “Again, this is how you reward us for our loyalty?” Sarah said.
“Yeah, not saying that Naomi was the real chef there, but…” John said, then trailed off.
“But we had to saw through the pancakes this morning with a hacksaw,” Sarah finished for him. “How do you ruin pancakes?”
“I will buy you a cake, after you finish your lesson plan! Argh, you guys. Get to work! This is not a democracy, and that was not a request!” Dakota pushed her chair back and stalked off.
“What’s a democracy?” Mary asked.
“Who knows? She sure is crabby without Miles,” she heard John grumble as she headed outside to grab a breath of fresh air.
She made a concerted effort to be more pleasant for the rest of the afternoon, but Sarah had apparently decided to give her the silent treatment. Dakota went to bed early that night, sinking into an uneasy slumber and determined to make the next day a better one.
She woke up with John urgently shaking her. They were all crowded around her, yelling, and it took her a minute to figure out what they were saying.
“She’s gone! She left us!”
“You have to get her back!” John yelled. “Sarah ran away!”
Chapter Seventeen
Still wearing pajamas, she stumbled out of their room and down the hallway to Anthea’s room…only to find a note on the door saying “Need some privacy. Be back tomorrow.”
When she ran to the cave of the clan leader, Bryant, he threw open the door yawning and grumbling. Bryant was Anthea’s older brother, and he was every bit as grouchy as Anthea. “I’m sure she’ll be back in the morning,” he growled.
“You don’t know that! There are men who are after her!” Dakota cried, panicked. “You have to help me search for her!”
At that, he drew himself up and let out a snarl. “I don’t have to help you do anything. You don’t give me orders. You wolves think you own the place. Get out, now.”
“What?” Dakota felt panic squeezing her throat. “I’m not giving you orders, I’m begging for your help!”
“Oh, and now I’m a liar?” He reached to the side of the door, grabbed a set of keys off a key rack, and threw them at her. “You and the cubs. Get out. I’m being a nice guy and letting you drive my truck, and you’d better bring it out tomorrow. That offer lasts for the next sixty seconds.” And he slammed the door in her face.
Had the whole world gone mad? How could he think that Sarah was all right?
Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Sarah needs you. She grabbed the keys, rounded up all the cubs, and drove over to the Fenris Pack grounds, trying not to let them see how worried she was.
“Miles will help us find her,” she assured the cubs. They were surprisingly calm, considering the circumstances. She knew they thought of their big sister as invincible. She wasn’t as confident. She knew Sarah was tough and scrappy, and sneaky, but Sarah also weighed about eighty pounds soaking wet. Scrappy would only get her so far, especially if she was up against more men sent by her grandfather’s pack.
As they headed down the drive that led to the pack property, Dakota reached out with her mind and tried to feel for Miles, but she couldn’t sense him anywhere. Did that mean he wasn’t home, or was their connection broken? She couldn’t bear to think that was the case.
Quickly, she parked in front of Miles’s cabin. Baldwin and Naomi ran over as she climbed out.
“You came,” Naomi cried, looking relieved. “I’m so glad you’re here. Maybe you can talk him down.”
“Talk who down? I came because Sarah ran away, and the bears won’t help me, and…”
The cubs had all scrambled out of the truck by then, and they crowded around Naomi, hugging her.
“I missed you!” Naomi said.
“We missed you too! Her cooking is terrible,” John announced.
“It’s very bad,” Mary agreed. Then she looked up at Dakota and shrugged. “Sorry.”
“We have more important things to worry about than my lack of skill in the kitchen,” Dakota said, exasperated.
“No we don’t,” John said indignantly. “We might starve.”
&n
bsp; “Or break a tooth,” Sailor added, yawning.
By then, Anders and Jefferson and half a dozen other pack members were hurrying towards them. Baldwin scowled at her, and Dakota stared at him in shock. Baldwin was the most mild-mannered shifter she’d ever met; she’d never seen him mad before. And now he was mad at her? Could this night get any worse?
“Miles turned wolf after you left, and he can’t turn back,” Baldwin said grimly. “He’s trapped inside himself. When anyone tries to talk to him, even me, he lunges and snarls and drives us back.”
“Oh no.” She felt a tidal wave of fear overwhelming her. “I had no idea. Nobody told me. Why didn’t someone come get me?”
Baldwin made an impatient gesture at her; she’d never seen him so stressed. “Sarah ran away from the bear’s territory,” he told Anders.
“Fucking A,” Anders swore. “We need this like a hole in the head right now. And you…” He glared at Dakota. At that, Naomi stamped her foot.
“You guys!” Naomi said indignantly. “It’s not her fault. She didn’t even know. And she didn’t make him go feral. You both said it was a long time coming. I heard you.”
“She ran off when he needed her!” Baldwin growled.
“He drove her off!” the normally meek Naomi growled right back.
“Hey, hey, hey. You guys should never fight,” Dakota said. “If someone can just go find Sarah, I’ll talk to Miles.”
“I’m on it,” Anders said wearily.
He and Jefferson and three other shifters piled into Miles’s pickup truck and drove off.
Baldwin took a deep breath and let it out, long and slow. “I’m sorry,” he said to Dakota. “We kept it a secret about Miles because if anyone knew, it would invite attacks on our pack. And after we took out the Clearwaters, things were just starting to calm down around here. There hasn’t been a death challenge since then.”
He pointed at the woods behind his pack. “He’s that way,” he said.
Dakota nodded, but as she started to go, Naomi grabbed her arm. “It might not be safe,” she protested.
Dakota shook her head. “If he were all the way gone, he wouldn’t just lunge and snap at anyone who tried to talk to him; he’d kill them. He’s still got some control left.”
And she turned and ran into the dark before anyone could try to stop her.
She jogged through the woods in human form. Would she be better off in wolf form? She wanted to be able to talk to him.
The woods were dark and dense. She glanced up as she passed through a small clearing, and saw smashed-glass scars scattered in a pale ribbon across the sky. Out here in the middle of nowhere, the night sky was spectacular. But the pale, thin starlight was quickly swallowed up as she pushed her way further into the trees.
She smelled the rich mulch of the forest floor, wet leaves and the spoor of small animals. The foliage rustled as a rabbit darted away, and she caught the brief white flash of its tail. She stopped and turned on the spot, sniffing the air, tasting it for any trace of Miles.
She scented him quickly; he was pacing around in a grove of pine trees, eyes wide and crazy. He turned and let out a low, threatening growl as she approached. Miles was growling. At her.
“Miles, it’s me,” she said, her heart breaking. “Come back to me.”
He crouched low, and the hackles on the back of his neck stood straight up. Slowly, he stalked over to her. God, he was massive in wolf form. He was the size of a small horse. It was unreal.
A sane woman would have run.
“Miles. I am not going anywhere. I need you.” Saliva dripped from his mighty jaws. “Miles. I love you. If you’re going to kill me, I want you to…to forgive yourself.”
She put everything she had into opening up her heart and her mind and letting him in. Letting him feel the love she felt for him, letting herself admit that she loved him. She imagined her love flowing in waves from her body, wrapping around him.
He stared at her for a long, long moment, and then shuddered hard, his whole body shaking. And he changed back. He was crouched there, naked and shivering. Shifters barely felt the cold, especially Alpha Primes, but his whole body was shaking and his hair was matted with sweat.
He stood up slowly and stared at her, a look of confusion on his face.
“Did I hurt you?” His eyes were fever-bright.
Relief rushed through her, and she strangled on a sob. “Of course not. You would never.” She held out her arms, and he crushed her to him in a fierce hug. She felt her bones creak. “Ooph. Okay, you’re actually hurting me a little bit right now.”
He let go and held her at arm’s length, and she was laughing and crying at the same time.
“I don’t remember anything. How long was I out?”
“Two days.”
“Two days!” He groaned, running his fingers through his tangled hair. “Did I hurt anyone else?”
She stroked his arm gently. “No, and not only that, but there haven’t been any death challenges in the last couple of days.”
He managed a shaky smile. “Because of you.”
“Hey, I didn’t take on a whole pack.”
“No, you talked some sense into the assholes in the eastern territory, which I probably couldn’t have done even if I’d tried. I’m no good at the diplomatic approach.”
Then he groaned again and buried his face in his hands.
“Jamie, I’m…I’m actually scared. I’m scared that I’ll lose you. I’m scared that I’ll lose myself, and if I go dark again, I might kill the people closest to me.” He let out a harsh, shaky breath. “I want to claim you more than I want to breathe, but I can’t.” He grabbed her hand. “You brought me back this time. It was all you. But what about the next time? What if you can’t?”
He was telling her things he wouldn’t tell anyone else, and he was calling her by her fake name.
Dakota buried her face in his shoulder. She thought about all the lies she’d told, and how someday her father would probably find a way to track her down and take terrible revenge on anybody he suspected of helping her. If she told him the truth, he’d probably offer to protect her. And she couldn’t let him do that. Her father’s pack was huge. Things were just starting to settle down here. The Fenris Pack couldn’t afford any more enemies.
She couldn’t think about the future. She couldn’t reassure him, or beg him to claim her, because her whole life here was a lie.
She couldn’t do any more than live day by day.
She looked up and met his gaze wearily. “You’ll be all right, because you’re strong, and you care about your pack more than you care about your own life. And Sarah ran away, by the way. We were staying with the bears. Anders and Jefferson and some other guys went out to look for her.
Miles swore. “Damn it. All right, I’m going to walk you back to my cabin, then head out there to find her. I’m the best tracker we’ve got. Wait here for me?” There was a note of pleading in his rough, husky voice.
“Of course,” she said, and she let him take her by the hand and lead her out of the woods.
Chapter Eighteen
“We’ve found her!” Miles burst through the door of his cabin two hours later. Dakota sat bolt upright in his bed. She was still wearing her pajamas, as she had been when the cubs had first woken her several hours ago. She had been lying there trying to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, she’d been haunted by visions of Sarah being dragged away in a net, screaming.
“Oh, thank God. Are you all right? Is she all right?”
Miles walked up to the bed and began stripping off his clothes. “I’m fine. She’s fine. I’d like to tell you some great tale of heroism in which I fought off a dozen rabid, slavering Alpha Primes to save her life…”
“But?” Dakota sat up,
“She was actually at the Early Bird Café with Anthea. Anthea was out for a late-night stroll through town and caught Sarah rummaging through a dumpster. I guess old habits die hard. She grabbed Sarah and dragged h
er to the café, and after a while it occurred to her to call her brother, and he sent one of his men after us.”
Miles pulled the sheets back and slid into bed next to Dakota. “It was very anti-climactic. Anyway, I just dropped her off at Baldwin’s cabin, and Naomi is reading her the riot act.”
Now that she knew Sarah was safe, Dakota could focus on Miles. And how much she’d missed him. Craved him. And now he was right here in bed with her, with that look in his eye, the look that made her feel like the sexiest, most desirable girl in the world.
“Speaking of climaxes…” Dakota grinned at Miles.
He cocked a brow. “Yes, please. Let’s speak of them.”
He practically pounced on her, making her giggle – a giggle that quickly turned into moans and gasps as he kissed her thoroughly. He palmed her breast through the thin cotton of her pajamas and sucked on the blue-and-white striped fabric, tonguing her nipple and leaving a damp spot.
When he tugged at her top, she unbuttoned it and discarded it before he yanked too hard and popped off the buttons, then she shimmied out of her bottoms. She snuggled up against the hot length of his muscular body, running her hand across his broad chest and down over the defined ridges of his six-pack before her hand crept lower and she wrapped her fingers around the hard, pulsing length of his erection. She squeezed gently, ran her fingers along his length from root to tip and back down again, then rolled his balls gently in her palm.
He groaned, and his eyelashes fluttered over eyes suddenly unfocused with lust, but then he took her wrist and gently pulled her hand away from his cock.
“Don’t you like it?” she asked.
“Oh, I like it,” he said, his voice thick with desire. “I like it so much I’ll be coming in your hand if you don’t stop.”
And he parted her legs and pinned her beneath him, holding her fast as he kissed her throat, grazed his teeth over her collarbone and moved down over her to lavish loving attention on the tightly furled, painfully sensitive peaks of her nipples.
Shiftily Ever After: A BBW Paranormal Romance (Alpha Prime) Page 12