Soft Shatter (Wolven Moon Book 1)

by Dany Rae Miller

  “Thank you. I have an obsession with Colorado themed t-shirts. I have an impressive collection courtesy of thrift stores within a sixty mile radius.”

  His smile fades and his brow furrows. “Have you really been that hard up for money, Shav?”

  “Oh.” I’m surprised by the questions as well as by the anger in his voice. I shake my head. “I’m sorry. I’m making my finances sound worse than they are. My trust is fairly healthy. I’m just striving to make it last through a doctorate degree. Hence my frugality and part-time jobs.”

  “Gotcha.”

  “So, no. I’m not going to be homeless anytime soon.” I smile.

  “Damn straight you’re not. I’ve got the perfect little place for you.” Ben grins.

  “That remains to be seen.”

  Garrett approaches with our drinks and a plate of donut bites.

  “On the house.” He sets the pastry down in the middle of the table. I narrow my eyes at him.

  “A sample for a new customer,” Garrett says to Ben. He turns to me. “Are you still having problems with your laptop?”

  “Yes! I recall that some whiz kid promised to fix it in April.” I raise my eyebrows at Garrett.

  He laughs. “I’ll come over tonight. Buy me pizza?”

  “Done.”

  Garrett winks at me as he moves the donut temptation closer to Ben. “Have some, Ben,” he says before going to wait on a another table.

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Ben says.

  I watch him pop an entire jelly filled donut bite into his mouth.

  “Mmmm,” he moans, lolling his head to the side in delight. He chews and swallows before speaking. “These are fabulous.”

  “I know.”

  Ben offers a cream filled bite to me.

  “No, thank you,” I say.

  “One is not going to hurt you.”

  “Ah, but stopping at just one is the problem.” I grin.

  “No willpower, huh?” He teases.

  “Plenty of willpower as long as I say no upfront. One taste and I’ll want more.”

  “Interesting. Once Shavone gets a taste of something she likes, she’s hooked like an addict.” Ben smirks.

  I raise an eyebrow. “You are an incorrigible flirt.”

  He nods, pops another donut bite into his mouth and, again, vocally demonstrates his approval.

  I prod Ben. “So, you moved from Houston, hmm?”

  Swallowing, Ben answers with a reluctant nod.

  “What made you decide to do that?”

  He shrugs, obvious that he doesn’t want to discuss it. “The Kitten Club was up for sale. My brother and I have experience running clubs. We’re good at it, make a lot of money.”

  Garrett brings our coffees and keeps going to the next table. I sip my cappuccino and lick the foam from my upper lip. “You didn’t happen to see Val there did you?” I study Ben’s eyes.

  “Yeah.” He tilts his head in compassion.

  “You did?” I sit up. “How is she? I mean, is she healthy?”

  “She’s good, Shavone. Really. You don’t have to worry about her.”

  “But I do. I don’t understand why she won’t talk to me. Is she still with that wolf?”

  A couple of men sit down at the table next to us.

  Ben cocks his head and purses his lips.

  “I don’t want to talk about her. Let’s change the subject.”

  I sigh, frustrated. At least he told me a little. With prodding, I’m sure I can get more out of him. And, hopefully, I can find out more at the Dollhouse. I sit up with a plan B. If the Dollhouse doesn’t produce the results I want, maybe working at the Kitten Club would. Surely, Ben and his brother brought trusted employees from Houston with them to Denver.

  I smile sweetly at Ben. “Need a young, energetic, soul-music-loving waitress at your nightclub?”

  Just like that, Ben’s expression changes from playful to a hard, almost mean, brute.

  “You are not working in my club.” He shakes his head adamantly.

  I sit back, shocked at his vehement response. “Why?”

  “It’s not a normal nightclub.”

  “It’s a strip club. So?” I shrug. “You need waitresses, don’t you?”

  “Drop it, Shavone. It’s never gonna to happen.” His tone is hard and cold, and final.

  Garrett brings our food. A strained silence falls between Ben and me. I spoon fruit and granola over the yogurt. Ben angrily stabs at his chorizo smothered eggs.

  I don’t know how to get back to the easy chatter, so I just keep my eyes adverted and eat.

  Ben finishes his meal quicker than me. He wipes his mouth with a napkin and sits back, studies me. I don’t look at him.

  “Look. I’m sorry,” he starts to say.

  “I’m the one who should apologize. For last night and for now. I didn’t mean to push you, Ben. That was rude of me. It’s your business and you have the right to hire who you want.”

  “It’s not a place for a girl like you, Shavone. Like I said last night” —

  I cut him off. “Say no more. It’s fine.” He doesn’t like being a strip club owner, because it’s not a nice place. Didn’t Cruz say as much?

  chapter fourteen

  THE TENSION BETWEEN Shavone and me is thick as we leave the restaurant. Fuck. I don’t want her near the Kitten Club. Yeah, it’s a strip club upstairs. It’s the BDSM club downstairs that I’m worried about. Nash said Shav’s vanilla, and from what I can see, he’s right. The dungeon would scare the shit out of her. She’d run and I’d never see her again. I won’t risk that.

  Besides. She’s not looking for a job. She’s looking for information about Val. My plant inside the Dollhouse says that Cruz hired her — idiot. Doesn’t matter, though. She won’t find anything there. The Alliance went around Francisco’s chain of command. Cruz knows who Val is with, but he doesn’t have a clue where they are or what they’re doing.

  I start up the Mustang. Maybe some upbeat music will turn the mood.

  “Hannah, play Rufus.”

  Seventies funk booms on the speakers and Shavone bounces slightly to the beat. That’s better.

  Cherry Hills is less than four miles from her campus, a straight shot down University Boulevard. Named one of the wealthiest towns in America, it is the most exclusive suburb of Denver. I make a left on to Cherry Hills Park Drive and into the wolven enclave.

  “Ah, the Santana neighborhood.”

  “You know Native wolves?”

  She nods and smiles. “Gabriela Santana is one of my best friends.”

  “Interesting.” I almost call them fucking scum, but stop myself.

  “Look, Ben, this is a waste of time,” Shavone murmurs. “I can’t afford to rent a garden shed here.”

  “We’re here now, so you may as well look.” I need to repair the damage I did at the restaurant. I reach across and take her hand. “Keep an open mind for me. Okay?”

  “I’ll try.”

  I pass the brick pillars of the entrance. The gatehouse attendant recognizes me and waves us through the iron gates.

  We take the left fork after the roundabout and follow the drive east. Eventually, I slow and turn right onto our private concrete drive. Shavone snorts. Fuck. We would’ve gotten a smaller place, but nothing was available. This was it. Nash and I ponied up half and the French nation the other half.

  Nash is right, though, this is the safest neighborhood for a witch on a most wanted list. One thing wolves from every nation have in common is a hatred for hunters. Any hunter who steps a toe inside the fence would be ripped apart by dozens of wolves.

  I stop a few yards in at the estate’s private gate. I punch a button on a remote clipped to my visor.

  “Wow. Two gates.”

  “Yeah. It’s definitely secure.” I glance over at her. She’s got a tight you’re-crazy-as-fuck smile on her face.

  The drive is long, really long, with a huge lawn on each side that I’m glad I don’t have to mow. A line o
f pines hide the house until we’re in front of it. I swing the car into the courtyard and stop to the left of the marble fountain.

  “This isn’t a house. This is a mansion.”

  “It’s pretty big.” I shrug carefully watching her reaction.

  “Uh, huh. If Blake Carrington were real, this would be his estate.”

  I chuckle. “Only if he were a wolf.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I wave at our surroundings. “Only wolves live in this part of Cherry Hills and only sovereign wolves on this circle.”

  “Oh.” She purses her lips. “But I’m not a wolf.”

  “True. But you’re a witch. Not only do you go wherever the fuck you want, we work for you.”

  “What?” She giggles.

  I need to talk to Nash. Shavone should know this shit about witches and wolves. I shake my head and kill the engine. “I’ll explain it some other time. C’mon, kitten, let me show you around.”

  I get out and go open the passenger door. Sexy Shav stays seated.

  “So, is there a pet deposit on this little place?” She jokes, emphasizing the word little.

  I throw my head back and laugh. “Not for you.” I offer my hand to help her out.

  She rolls her eyes. “What the hell. May as well take a tour, see how the rich and famous live mere miles from my modest abode.”

  “That’s the spirit.” I catch a nice peek of leg as she gets out. “You actually have a few options here.” I point to my right. “There’s an apartment over the garage. Or you can opt for the guest-slash-pool house in back. Or you can pick a wing and a bedroom in the main house, and we can be roommates.” I take her hand and lead her up broad marble steps to the front door. “I’ll show you and you can choose.”

  Please pick the bedroom next to mine.

  She hurries along with me. “Roommates? You live here?”

  I slow my stride so she doesn’t have to run to keep up. “Yeah, if you want to call it that. Just me rambling around in twenty thousand square feet. It’s a little over the top.”

  “Ya think?” She snickers.

  Shavone and I walk into the marbled entry with a big staircase that girls usually like. True to form, Shav’s jaw drops.

  Continuing through to the great room, I show her the two-story, double-sided limestone fireplace.

  “Wow, Ben, this is amazing.”

  On one side of the fireplace is a dining table that seats fourteen, at the minimum. We cut through the butler’s pantry.

  She giggles. “This space by itself is the size of my current bedroom.”

  When we enter the kitchen with the with two gigantic islands, Shavone literally gasps. “Oh my god.” She spins around and runs her fingers over the counter.

  Nash was dead on. She loves this kitchen.

  I smile, already picturing fucking her on the counter.

  Next, I take her upstairs to peek into several nicely furnished bedrooms. I linger in the one next to mine. I should’ve put in some girlie canopied bed or something to tempt her.

  I stare at her. “What do you think?”

  She smirks and shrugs. “It’s really nice, Ben.”

  Hmmm. So far, the only thing that wows her is the kitchen.

  “Let’s go to the basement.” I punch the button to call the elevator.

  “An elevator?”

  “Yep.” I chuckle. Once inside, I take her hand. She smiles at me. I grin back and lift her hand to my lips for a quick taste.

  The door opens and we pop out in a massive rec room with a pool table.

  “Nice.” She rolls a ball into a corner pocket.

  “Yeah. I wanna rematch, soon.”

  “You’re on,” she says.

  I show her the indoor pool, the workout room, a home theater and the two lane bowling alley.

  “This place is absurd. You know that, don’t you?”

  Yep.

  “Want to see the guest house?”

  “Sure.” She giggles.

  Up the back stairs, I return us to the main level, out through French doors to the backyard.

  The outdoor pool is big and beautifully blue. What I wouldn’t give to see her sunbathing — nude. We pass the cozy, secluded hot tub that I hope we’ll soon make use of and enter the front door of the guest house.

  The front side of the building is nothing but doors that open onto the pool deck. The other three sides are lined with pines for total privacy. There’s a nice kitchen, two bedrooms and a great room with a fireplace perfect to fuck in front of.

  Arms crossed, I look at her. “Say something."

  “It’s really nice,” she murmurs.

  I smile at her understatement. She’s giving me nothing. “There’s no direct access to the guest house, though. You’d have to park in the courtyard and cut through the house.”

  “Oh, how annoying,” she says in a Valley girl tone.

  Laughing, I hold the door for her to go back outside. “Garage apartment, then.”

  She rolls her eyes and follows me.

  Back through the French doors, we walk virtually the entire main level before turning left into a two story laundry-slash-mud room. The upper portion of the space features a door set back from a large loft landing.

  “The garage apartment can be accessed through the staircase here or through an outside entrance on the other side,” I say. Nash bet a hundred bucks that she’d choose this. Let’s see.

  The garage is an eight-car monster with four doors on either side. It makes a fantastic drive in drive out configuration, even after Shav and Nash move in.

  Inside the apartment, I lean on a wall as she looks around. The apartment over the garage is easily ten times the size of her little place. She takes in the state-of-the-art kitchen and bathrooms, the three bedrooms and the chic, professional decorating Nash had done just for her.

  I point out a window. “There’s the back gate to the property. It’s a little shortcut.”

  “Of course there’s a back gate. Every Cherry Hills estate should have one.”

  “You can use it if you’d like.”

  “What? And miss navigating the ostentatious main drive and chichi courtyard?”

  “You’re awfully sarcastic,” I murmur.

  “You’re awfully rich, apparently,” she says. “I’m more than a little overwhelmed.”

  “Don’t be overwhelmed, please. Most of it is club money. And mi casa es su casa.” I smile.

  “So, is this the largest place in Cherry Hills?”

  “The most acreage in the neighborhood, yes, but the house itself isn’t the biggest.”

  “There are houses larger than this?” She snorts in an unladylike way.

  Fuck. This isn’t going to work.

  She moves toward the window to see the back gate. Finally, her eyes light up. Time to push.

  “I won’t take no for answer. I hate living here alone and you need a place to live. It’s a win-win. Given it’s free and fairly close to DU, it’s a triple win for you.”

  “Free?” She stares at me wide-eyed.

  Bingo, as Nash would say.

  I nod deeply. “Even if I wanted to, the HOA won’t allow me to charge you rent.” I smile. “Give your trust a breather. Live with me.”

  “For how long? I’d rather not move in the middle of a semester.”

  “For as long as it takes.”

  “That’s odd phrasing. You mean until the real owners return?” She laughs.

  “Funny.” I squint. “You can stay as long as you like.”

  I hope it’ll be a long, long time, kitten.

  “Oh.” She glances around the place, looks out the windows, again, the gears in her head obviously turning.

  With a giant sigh and a shrug of her shoulders, she says, “Okay.”

  I’m speechless, surprised that she gave in so fast. Again she glances out the back window, her eyes narrowing slightly at the house across the street.

  Ah. Now I get it. That’s Cruz’s place. Sneaky lit
tle witch thinks Francisco might show up there.

  “Fantastic. Guest house, garage or house?” I say, already knowing the answer.

  “Here in the garage apartment. Can some of the furniture stay? I don’t have any of my own.”

  My grin broadens. “Yeah.” I motion at the place. “Keep what you want. We’ll store the rest. We can move a desk from the main house in here, if you’d like.”

  She smiles. “That’d be nice.”

  I return her smile and walk over to her. “Are you sure? I’d rather you be next door to my bedroom or at most a midnight sneak down the hall.” I hook my thumb through the belt hoops on her skirt and move closer.

  “I think this is close enough,” she murmurs with a wicked grin.

  “I don’t,” I whisper and pull her body against mine at the same time that I lower my mouth to hers. I want it to be a soft kiss — it is at first, until the scent of her melts me.

  Fuck. She tastes so damn good. I cup her ass and bend at my knees, grinding my hard-on between her legs. She moans.

  “Oh, sweet Shavone,” I murmur to her lips. “That sound is so sexy. More?” Not giving her a chance to answer, I lick her lips, nipping lightly at the bottom one before delving my tongue into her hot, soft mouth, again. I grip her hair to tip her head back so I can get in deeper.

  Her hands snake to the back of my neck while her tongue strokes deep and slow with mine.

  Fuck me. I groan and slip a hand under her skirt to cup her ass. She’s wearing a thong. I run my middle finger under the fabric. The aroma of her pussy wafts up.

  “Mmmm,” I hum into her mouth.

  I flex my hips harder at the same time I pull her in by her ass.

  Feel, hard and clear, how much I want your sweet-smelling pussy.

  Pulling away, she breathes hard. “Ben.”

  “You taste amazing,” I whisper and nibble on her jaw up to her sensitive earlobe. I lightly bite on it and lick it.

  “Oh.” She mewls, arching her neck for me to nuzzle and kiss.

  “You are one hell of a temptation, kitten.” I lean back, put some air between our heated bodies. Her cheeks are flushed and get redder when she notices the bulge in my pants.

  “Don’t worry.” I grin. “I’ll get the locks changed on both doors.”

  “You didn’t get the keys back from the past tenant?” She stares at my mouth while her fingers twirl into the hair at my nape.