Isabelle's Mate (Shifters of the Bulgarian Bloodline Book 6)

by Daria Wright

  “Yes, I’m starting to see that.” Kara replied dryly. It did warm her heart to hear the Captain speak so fondly of Duke. It was clear he had a soft spot for him and Kara was relieved he didn’t seem to think Duke was some kind of murderous nut job. She got to her feet and thanked the Captain for taking the time to meet with her.

  “Least I can do. I’m looking forward to having him back on his feet. I’m afraid I haven’t been very useful but I have faith in you,” he said.

  “You’ve actually been a great help and I think I have a better idea on how to approach him now.”

  Thanking him again, Kara left the Captain’s office determined to get to the bottom of Duke’s mystery. As she walked to her car, a plan was already formulating in her head. If she couldn’t get through to him as a therapist, she would penetrate his hard shell using the one thing about her he seemed unable to resist, her sex appeal. Besides, she justified to herself, he did leave me with an open door invitation.

  CHAPTER TEN:

  “Jenna!” Duke tried to make his voice friendly and warm, but it came out sounding overly forced and strained. “What a nice surprise.”

  “Cut the crap Duke,” she said coldly. “We both know I’m the last person you want to see.”

  “That’s not true,” he protested.

  “It is, we’ve known each other for way too long for silly games and lies. You’ve been avoiding me ever since Jake’s funeral and I want to know why.”

  A door opened down the hall, one of Duke’s neighbour’s stepped out of his condo, on his way out. He saw Duke and Jenna and waved hello. Duke waved back and ushered Jenna into his condo. The last thing he wanted was a public showdown witnessed by his floor. Jenna came in and walked a few feet inside, but refused to go any further, politely declining Duke’s offer of a drink.

  “I didn’t come here on a casual visit Duke. I want to know why you’ve been acting so strangely. Ignoring my calls, running away from us that day at the gas station.”

  Duke shifted away his eyes in embarrassment, ashamed of being caught out like this.

  “Oh yes,” she added seeing his shifting eyes, “I saw you that day. Luka saw you that day and he couldn’t understand why his favourite uncle wanted nothing to do with him. Real nice, Duke.”

  With every word she spat out, Duke felt smaller and smaller. He had always loved Jenna like a little sister and vice versa from the moment Jake had first introduced her into their lives, and now in her greatest moment of need he had turned his back on her. But knowing what he knew, how could face her?

  “I’m sorry., he said humbly, “There’s no excuse. Jake’s death has been hard and I guess I don’t really know how to deal with it.”

  “And you think it’s been what, a walk in the park for me? His wife?! His children? His parents? We’re all suffering, Duke, every one of us. And you should have been there. We all wanted to be there for you, too. Anyways, I’m not really here looking to hear bullshit excuses.” She gestured towards the box by the door she had carried inside with her.

  “I came by to give this to you. It’s some stuff I thought you might like to have from when you guys were growing up and from the army…I would have given it to you earlier, convinced I was going to be seeing you weekly if not more. But,” Jenna shrugged her slim shoulders, “whatever.”

  “How are the kids?” Duke asked slowly, scared that Jenna would bite his head off. But he needed to know. Seeing Jenna, he acknowledged to himself for the first time how much he missed them all.

  Jenna’s features softened a tad and her eyes got misty,

  “Luka cries for his dad every night, but thankfully Emma is too young to really understand anything. I’m sure with time Luka will start to heal as well.”

  “And you? Do you need anything? Are you okay financially?”

  The moment he showed concern towards her, her guard came back up and she tilted her head stiffly at him.

  “You don’t have to worry about any of that. Jake made sure we would be well taken care off. Goodbye, Duke.”

  And with that she was out, slamming the door shut behind her. Duke sank into the nearest chair feeling like the biggest dick in the world. No matter what had happened between them, he knew Jake would have wanted him to look out for his family, be there for his wife and kids and he had let him down.

  Again.

  He wondered if he could ever make amends or fix this.

  Less than three minutes later, a firm knock sounded on the door and he rushed to his feet, relieved that Jenna had come back. He opened the door, words of apology tumbling out of his mouth, but it wasn’t Jenna at the door. It was Kara. With her long hair flowing in curling waves around her shoulders, dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, she looked hot and utterly delicious. He groaned silently in frustration, his body already responding to her curves, but she was another person he owed an apology too. Might as well get it over with.

  “Kara. Look, I owe you an apology for the way I handled our last session.”

  “Oh that’s quite alright, I shouldn’t have asked you to leave the session, it wasn’t right of me.”

  They stood in the doorway staring at each other slightly awkwardly, the sexual tension between them a tangible, living thing. Duke knew the moment to act was now or never. He hadn’t been able to get Kara out of his head since the night at the bar, and he knew from the look in her eyes she hadn’t been able to either.

  They wordlessly moved together into the condo and fell into the bed as one, he pulled her on top of him and cupped her face into his hands and kissed her deeply. The kiss was rough and hot; the sexual frustrations they had been dealing with since the night at the bar spilled over into an uncontrollable whirl of rough kisses and ripped clothing. Duke pushed his tongue into her mouth and began to suck on her tongue, swirling his own around hers while his hands roamed down the length of her now near-naked body. Kara yanked on the clasps of her bra, impatient to set her breasts free from their lacy prison, and hungrily touched Duke’s penis. Longing to feel the hardened flesh in her hands once more. The minute she touched it she knew she had to taste him. She tore her lips way from his mouth and pushed him down on his back and settled her body over him, her mouth bent over his cock as she took it in her mouth in slow, agonizing inches.

  Duke groaned and clutched at her ass. He couldn’t believe how good it felt to be sucked off. He slapped her ass, enjoying the feel of the firm flesh. Her pussy was swollen and was glistening with her juice. He brought his head up and snaked his tongue across it. Kara’s body bucked at the unexpected sensation and she began to suck harder on his cock, her saliva mingling with his juices while Duke continued to toy with her pussy. At length he inserted one finger inside of and moved it around slowly, teasing her with the sensations, hinting at the delicious wonders still to come. Then he inserted another finger and finally Kara couldn’t take it anymore.

  “I need you now.” She whispered hoarsely, “I need you inside of me right now.”

  Duke happily obliged by turning his body over and pinning her under his heavy, muscular frame, his rock hard penis settled snuggly into the crook between her thighs. But he wasn’t quite ready to enter her yet - he wanted to make her scream for him. He pressed his lips on her hot body, licking every inch of her, his mouth settled on one nipple while he caressed and tweaked the other with his hand. Kara moaned and writhed underneath him, wanting to prolong these delicious sensations and desperate for release at the same time.

  Duke parted her thighs with his knees and plunged himself deep inside of her and began to thrust in hard, fast strokes. She clawed at his back, her long legs wrapped around his waist as she arched her back and urged him deeper inside. They rocked back and forth in a furious rhythm until they both found the sweet, explosive release they had been aching for.

  Bodies slick with sweat and cum, they tumbled back onto the bed in a tangle of naked limbs listening to the sound of their hearts beating and for the first time since the incident, Duke finally felt at pea
ce. He didn’t know if it was the sex or being with Kara, but he felt more peaceful than he had in months. And to his surprise he drifted off to sleep, a calm, dreamless sleep, only to wake up two hours later and go at it again - except this time, it was tender, slow and sweet.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN:

  Hours later, Kara lay curled up in the crook of Duke’s arm, her body sated and happy from their intense lovemaking sessions. She stirred in his arms and rose from the bed to get a glass of water. On her way to the kitchen she stumbled against the box Jenna had dropped off earlier, spilling its contents on the floor.

  “Oh. I’m so sorry!” Kara exclaimed and she fell to her knees to put the items back into the box. But the pictures caught her eye: happier, younger versions of a ruggedly handsome Duke next to a good-looking brown-haired man.

  “Who is this?” she asked feeling curious.

  Duke barely glanced at the picture and muttered,

  “Jake.”

  “Jake Rawlings?”

  “Yes,” he said briefly before shoving things back into the box.

  “But what is all this?”

  “Shit that I don’t need,” was his unhelpful response.

  Kara felt certain she was on the brink of discovering another nugget from Duke’s past. Sex had softened Duke and she could tell these pictures were tugging at his heartstrings. She placed a hand gently on his thigh and whispered, “Why don’t you want anything to do with these pictures? You guys seem so happy. He obviously meant a lot to you.”

  “He did.” Duke confirmed. “He was my best friend, the brother I never had. You know when my parents died, he was the one who took me in. We used to do everything together.”

  “Then what happened?” she urged.

  “Life got to be too much for him at one point and I never realized how stressed out he was. He was slowly starting to unhinge and I never saw it. Me, who was with him constantly. Then he completely lost it and things went to hell.”

  More pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place for Kara.

  “The sniper ambush…?” she whispered.

  “There was no ambush. We were heading back to camp and Jake got into an argument with Rivet, the other officer. He started shouting things that made no sense and without any warning he pulled out his gun. I think he intended to shoot himself, but Rivet reached for his gun too and that’s when Jake shot him. All hell broke loose after that. He started to shoot wildly, killing a few of the soldiers right away … but I think he missed deliberately with me. I tried to calm him down, to talk to him. But he wouldn’t listen. I grabbed one of the guns that had fallen on the ground and I fired shots of my own to protect the others, but he had turned into a monster or was having some kind of manic episode because he looked crazed. And then one of my bullets hit him squarely in the heart and he died instantly. I killed my best friend, Kara. I took away Jenna’s husband and the father of her children. I’m responsible for everyone’s pain.”

  Duke’s leaned back against the bed, sitting on his knees, his shoulders slumped forward. Kara saw tears falling in tiny droplets on his cotton boxers. Her heart went out to him. What a terrible thing to keep to oneself!

  “Why didn’t you tell everyone what happened?”

  “And have Jake’s memory forever disgraced and dishonored? He would be stripped of everything, Jenna would lose his pension, all his death benefits. His parents would feel so ashamed. But it’s nothing to be ashamed of … it's hard for people to fully grasp how hard it is out there for us…the kind of things that go through our heads, the things we witness every day.”

  Kara was starting to understand a little more about how Duke might feel like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. Seeing him cry, made her teary-eyed too and she reached out and gathered him into her arms trying to bring him some comfort. After a while the tears ceased and Duke said,

  “Promise me you won’t tell anyone what I’ve told you.”

  “I promise.”

  “I’m very tired, I think you had better leave.”

  For one brief moment, fear gripped Kara’s heart. His voice was so cold and removed, she feared the worst. But he saw the look on her face and was quick to reassure her, “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on doing anything stupid.”

  “Okay. I’ll go then. I’ll see you next week in therapy?”

  He didn’t reply and she didn’t push for an answer. Now was not the time. The next day she called him to check up on him, he picked up the phone told her he was fine and he should stop worrying about her. She understood he needed his space and was okay with backing off for the moment, fully expecting him to show up to his therapy session. But he never did. Week after week went by with no word from him at all. Her phone calls went unanswered, her messages unreturned. And both times when she paid him a visit, he had refused to answer the door. But she left somewhat reassured that at least he was still alive. Finally, she was forced to face the fact, there was nothing more she could do and she had no choice but to wait until he was ready to make a move.

  CHAPTER TWELVE:

  In many ways, confessing the truth to Kara of what had happened that night in the desert had been a liberating experience, and although Duke didn’t realize it in the moment, he had unconsciously taken the first step towards healing and moving on. But in other ways it was the worst thing he could have done, everything he had been blocking came pouring out resulting in endless nightmares where a grotesquely-shaped Jake started hacking at everyone like a maniac. The nightmares brought on panic attacks and feelings of suffocating guilt, which could only be assuaged with heavy drinking.

  He got into the habit of binge drinking until he passed out and his mind mercifully remained blank with no unwanted intrusions. And then one night he had a different dream. He dreamt of the day of his parents’ funeral and how Jake had stood next to him throughout the entire ordeal, refusing to leave him alone for even a second. He dreamt of how Jake had packed up his overnight bag and brought him to house. He dreamt of how kind and loving Jake had been at every stage of their life and when he woke up the next morning, it was with a lightness in his heart he hadn’t felt before.

  And somehow he knew with absolute certainty Jake would not have wanted Duke to end his life because Jake was a loving man, filled with kindness, not cruelty and he would never have been able to live with himself after what he had done. Duke felt certain, Jake was glad it was his best friend who had stopped him from his monstrous rampage.

  As he tried to analyze his feelings, Duke realized the one person he wanted to talk to the most was Kara. He had missed her more than he would care to admit in the last month and now he wanted to talk to her.

  Urgently.

  It took him less than twenty minutes to be out the door and another fifteen minutes later he was asking Tamra if Kara could squeeze him in today.

  “She’s just in a meeting now but should be back soon,” Tamra said and asked him to wait in sitting area.

  Half an hour later he was being ushered into Kara’s office. He ignored the look of confusion on her face; he ignored her surprised, “Did we have an appointment today?”

  And did the one thing he’d been longing to do for weeks. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a long, hard kiss.

  “I’m sorry for pushing you away. I’m sorry for being such a dick.” He murmured against her lips. “I think I’m ready to talk properly now.”

  “Oh.” Kara replied a little weakly. “Oh.” She repeated. “Well okay then, let’s get started. What did you want to talk about?”

  “I want to talk about Jake and my friendship with him, I want to tell you about what an amazing guy he was and about how hard it was to see him fall apart like that, I want to talk about what a dick I’ve been to Jenna and the kids and how I desperately need to resolve things with her and beg her forgiveness. I want to make it clear that I want to be in her life, I want to be there for the kids and then finally, I want to ask you out, for a real date, one that has nothing to do wit
h sex.”

  A happy smiled played along the corners of Kara’s lips.

  “Well that sounds like a very tall order, I better make sure my calendar is cleared for the day. But first…I would like to finish what you started.” And with that, she kissed him slowly sinking to her knees as Duke pulled her down on the creamy, shag carpet.

  THE END

  In Love with the Duke’s Son

  By: Elaine Young

  Chapter One

  Lilly. The most important thing in Helen’s life was the one thing she could not have. She reminded herself, soon that would be over. She would be reunited.

  “Can you believe it?” she heard the sound of girls whispering. “And father just thinks we’ll accept her.” “As if.”

  Helen, along with the two maids who led her, rounded the corner and found the owners of the voices. The two girls were her soon-to-be daughters. Step-daughters, Helen reminded herself. She hated that she was doing this. The man was old. He was old enough to be her grandfather! But she was still here, because Lilly was the most important thing in her life.

  The two girls, about 12 years old, wrinkled their nose as they saw Helen. They turned on their heels, muttering something Helen didn’t dare repeat, and walked away. She felt her cheeks turn a deep shade of pink as they made their way up the grand staircase. “Don’t worry about them, ma’am,” one of the girls said. “They will come around, eventually.”

  Helen didn’t say anything. The truth is, she could understand where they were coming from. She knew it was wrong, she knew it was gross, she knew it was creepy- but she had no other choice and she knew that, too. She would do whatever she could to get Lilly back. That was the most important thing in her life and it was all that mattered. They came to a stop at the top of the stairs once again because someone was standing there.