“Everything will be all right. I promise. They’ve promised to be nice and supportive. If they aren’t, we will leave.”
“Swear it?” I had been the one to want to see my family. To take comfort in them, but once I was there, the reality of my life for the past couple of years flooded back, and I was scared that instead of love and support, hugs and kisses, I was going to get ridiculed and blamed for all that had happened.
“I swear to always protect you from them or anyone else. You’re mine, and no one will harm you and get away with it.” He kissed me again before he guided me from the room.
Ryan held me close to him as we made our way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Only my parents were there. By the way Mom was setting the large dining room table, though, she expected more people to come. My father was slaving over the stove. He had sausages, bacon, and ham frying on a large griddle, biscuits in the oven, and a huge batch of scrambled eggs going. All of my favorite breakfast foods. My family has always been huge carnivores. Only on rare occasions did we have oatmeal, cereal, or Pop-Tarts for breakfast. And they wondered why I was a chubby kid.
My growling stomach broke the silence. I would have buried my head in Ryan’s shoulder in embarrassment if my dad hadn’t said, “I hear you, kiddo. Give me a few more minutes and everything will be ready. Go help your mother. Ryan, you come here and tend to these eggs while I put more meat on the griddle.”
His words showed no evidence of the fight we had had when I left the hotel. Ryan kissed my temple and pushed me toward my mother. She had known we had come down—both my parents had—but she had waited in the dining room for me to make the first move.
“Hi, Mom,” I said, stepping into the dining room.
She froze at my words for a second, then turned to me. Her eyes slowly took me in, examining me. Relieved that I didn’t appear to be hurt too bad, she pulled me into her arms and hugged me. We held each other for so long that Dad had to clear his throat to get us to separate in order for him to bring in the last of the food. Mom and I let go of each other, laughing at the situation.
“Who else is coming?” I asked, eyeing the two extra plates.
“Dave and Danielle should be here any moment,” Mom said, looking down at her watch. As if on cue, Danielle burst through the door, screaming my name. I rushed to her. We fell into each other’s arms, crying.
Dave moved around us to give Ryan a hug and apologize for them being late. His mother had stopped by the house as they were leaving because she had discovered that they hadn’t painted one of the rooms in the house they are building to look like a nursery.
“Are you pregnant?” I asked my sister. I was a bit hurt. Pregnancy was a big deal. If she was knocked up and hadn’t told me, I was going to kill her the second the baby was born.
“No,” she said, wiping tears from her face. “His mother has been on us since the day after the wedding to have a baby. We’ve told her time and time again that we don’t want to have kids so soon, but she can’t believe it, doesn’t understand it. Don’t get me wrong, we want kids, but we wanted to enjoy being married for a bit. We have plenty of time to pop out a few squalling brats.”
“Good, because I was about to be pissed off if you were hiding something like that from me.”
“I would never hide that from you. The day we start planning, you’ll know.”
We all moved to the table, sat, and started passing plates around. For a good fifteen/twenty minutes we piled our plates and ate in silence. Eventually, Danielle turned to me and said, “I thought you were in an explosion. You look fine. The way dad talked, you were all beat up and covered in bandages.”
I looked from Ryan, then to my family before saying, “I was. That night I looked horrible. I had blood all over me, cuts and scratches everywhere, some light, but most were deep, and more than a few needed stitches, and I had a mild concussion, but when I woke up the next afternoon, I was all but healed. Now, if you look closely, you can see a few marks, but that’s it. I’ve always healed quickly, but not this quickly. I don’t know what’s going on.”
I took a bite of eggs and watched as everyone turned to Ryan. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “What? I had nothing to do with it.”
Confused, I asked, “How would you have? You don’t have any secret magic healing abilities, do you?” The idea was preposterous, but they were looking at him as if he had done something to me.
“Nope. I heal fast, but I can’t heal others,” he said in a way that suggested the idea was possible.
Danielle and Dave looked to each other, and my parents turned to me. I was uncomfortable with the silent conversation my sister was having with her husband but was more so by my parents staring at me.
“What?” I finally asked, sitting down my fork.
“When did you notice this rapid healing?” my father asked.
“I told you. I’ve always been able to heal quickly.”
“I know that, but I’m talking about healing at this rate,” he asked, nodding to my bare arm.
“Not until the day after the explosion. I haven’t been hurt, at least not that I can remember, in a long time.”
My father stared back and forth between Ryan and me for a long time, then nodded. “Whatever it is that has given you this ability, we should be thankful for it. How long do the two of you plan to stay here?” he asked, effectively changing the subject to my relief.
“We aren’t sure yet,” Ryan said. “Leigh wants to be close to you for now, but you know Pine Hollow is going to make her life miserable, and I won’t have that. I’m hoping to get in touch with some acquaintances to see if they have a job opening and room for us.” He looked to Dave as he said this, and Dave gave him a slight nod.
I didn’t know what was going on, but he was right. I love my family, but I wouldn’t be able to stay there forever. Ryan hadn’t asked me to marry him or anything, yet I felt connected…bonded…to him. I would follow him wherever he went.
Our conversations were random after that for a while. My mother, sister, and I talked about my relationship with Ryan, how intense the emotions I felt for him are. They told me they felt the same for their husbands and was sure it was a sign that he was my soul mate though they seemed a little weirded out by that fact.
I stumbled on a few conversations between the men—most were about what had been happening to me in Washington, what the cops knew or could figure out, and what the local law enforcement knew about the situation. There was some talk of Pine Hollow, but all I really got of that was that we weren’t allowed there, not that we wanted to go. There seemed to be some issue about my parents and Dave and Danielle being here but that the Council was tolerating it for the time being. I asked why the Council thought they had a say so in our personal business. My dad said that they didn’t care about us personally—which I knew to be a lie—but that they were worried that the person or persons harassing me would follow me there. They were blaming me for Jacob Henley’s death despite the fact that the police confirmed that he was the arsonist, though they’ve yet to figure out his motive or if he was working with anyone else.
Chapter 19 ~ Sam’s News
~~~Ryan~~~
One of the good things about having a small family that wasn’t talking to you was that you didn’t have to wait all day for them to leave so that you could get some alone time with your future wife, but since Leigh’s family was large and was back to talking to her, it took them forever to go away. I hadn’t asked Leigh to marry me yet, but I did ask her parents for permission to ask her. I would have proposed to her no matter what they said because I love Leigh and she is my mate, but I wanted them to know that I planned to ask, and I wanted them to know that I respected them even if I wasn’t happy with the way they’d been treating her.
Before her mother could get overly excited about my asking, I told her that I was going to wait until things settled down and we had all told Leigh the truth, then ask. Shifters weren’t like werewolves and other type weres who
needed to change regularly to let their animal out. On occasion, though, I felt the need to run…to be in that form. I didn’t want Leigh worrying that I was cheating on her or something on those days that I disappeared for no apparent reason and she couldn’t get in touch with me. Then there was the hope that we would one day have kids. I was with Danielle and Dave in that I wanted to be married a while, but at the same time, Leigh was human. Her life expectancy wasn’t as long as mine, so I couldn’t wait too long.
We were mates and that had to mean something, but I didn’t know what. Her rapid healing was new and too much like mine, but she didn’t show any other signs of changing. I prayed every day that she would share my long life, but I refused to get my hopes up.
Our abnormal mating was another reason I wanted so desperately to meet the Sullivan Pack. If Dimitri did mate a human, he would be able to give us some idea of what to look forward to in the weeks and months to come. Could we have children? Would she live as long as I did? Could she shapeshift?
Her family finally left around nine that night. I had managed to have a few private conversations with them, but not enough for any one of us to work out any specific conclusions on what was going on with her or with her stalkers. Leigh, despite wanting to be alone with me—the smell of her arousal every time she was near me was evident to everyone—didn’t want her family to go at the end of the night.
Dave and Danielle needed to get back to their house, their business, and back to talking to the Sullivan pack. Dave said that they had managed to talk to Daniel once, but that Daniel thought it was better for them to talk to Sam, Dimitri, and Abby in person, but Dimitri and Abby weren’t traveling right then with their baby daughter so young. Unfortunately, Kayla was nearly a year old, and with what all her parents had gone through (Daniel wouldn’t go into details), Daniel figured she’d be in her thirties before they left pack territory with her or left her alone with anyone for more than a few hours.
Sam on the other hand, Daniel said, could be at the house in a few days. She wanted to do a little unbiased investigation before she heard our side of things. After all, we were accusing one of her own of harassment and vandalism, not big charges yet, unless we could also link the witch to the explosion.
Leigh’s parents were busy in Pine Hollow trying to figure out who might have helped Jacob Henley. From everything they knew about him, he wasn’t the type to blow up buildings for no reason. Evidence showed that he might have been for the supernatural world coming out which would suggest that he didn’t have a problem with Leigh. Unless he was one of those rare few who wanted to come out in order to take over. With such inconsistencies, we were guessing that someone coerced him into setting the bookstore on fire. By who, we didn’t know but had a few suspicions.
What little they’d managed to piece together revealed that only my family, the Council, and Sofia Hendrix’s family seemed to hate Leigh enough to do something as vindictive as try to blow her up. My family didn’t have the money or the clout, which was one of the reasons they wanted me to marry Sofia, but I doubted they would try homicide knowing that their only son’s life would be in danger. Besides, I wondered if they truly hated Leigh or were simply mad I had chosen her over them. I knew my parents well enough to believe the latter.
The Council wouldn’t be that stupid unless they felt our union was a danger to the pack. The only danger I could think of was that our mating would bring the pack closer to accepting humans, which would then push us closer to the coming out side of the issue, something they were adamant to prevent. However, were they willing to commit murder to avoid the issue? Sofia’s family would be too proud. I figured they would pretend the short engagement didn’t happen and go on about their business despite how pissed off Sofia seemed. Her anger shocked me. She and I have had very little contact over the years. I didn’t even know she had feelings for me, but from the things Dave said, she’s been pining for me ever since she discovered Dave was in love with Danielle. If she couldn’t have Dave or his brothers since they were all married, she would have the next best thing, his best friend, or so he assumed.
Mr. Alexander had stumbled onto a number of conversations that suggested any number of possibilities, but everything was hearsay, and partial hearsay at that. Leigh’s younger siblings were still playing the part of hateful family members, but they hadn’t gotten much more information than their parents. They were actually running into a few people who claimed to support our relationship and were starting to contradict their parents’ beliefs about humans and Leigh. They saw my act of leaving the pack to be with her as a sign that we were mates, something the Council was denying vehemently since they’d always told us that wasn’t possible despite our histories saying differently. Our mating gave them hope that they too would find someone. They’d seen too many previous generations settle because they hadn’t moved outside the pack enough to meet their mate.
Leigh fell against the banister in relief when her sister and Dave finally left. “I love them so much, but I’m so glad they’re gone. I haven’t spent so much one-on-one time with them in years. They are planning our lives as if we are staying here forever. I kept telling them we weren’t staying, but they wouldn’t listen. Do you know that Mom even told me they were giving us this house?”
“Your dad said something about that, yeah.”
“They can’t give us a house. We still owe them for your move to Washington and for them letting us stay here for the time being rent-free.”
“You’re their eldest child. The eldest child usually gets the house.” I loved the fact that the “them leaving us the house part” didn’t faze her. She didn’t question our relationship or future together.
“I thought that was the eldest male child.”
“I don’t know. If you don’t want it, don’t take it. When we settle all of this, we can live wherever you want.”
“You promise?”
“I swear on my life,” I said, pulling her into my arms and kissing her. The kiss was soft and sweet at first, but slowly it grew heated. She opened her mouth and pulled me in, and I was lost to my desire for her.
I don’t recommend trying to climb stairs while kissing a human. Leigh wouldn’t let me pick her up and carry her. She didn’t know I had supernatural strength and senses, so she couldn’t know that I could easily carry her and kiss her without stumbling, tripping, or dropping her. Because of this, we fumbled our way up the stairs, occasionally leaving behind an article of clothing.
At the top of the landing, when she lost her balance and fell on her butt, laughing, I decided that I couldn’t wait anymore for a taste of her. I gently pushed her back onto the floor, grabbed her pants and panties, and pulled them from her body. When her legs were free, she opened them wide by sticking one between the rails and the other against the wall. The heat in her eyes as she showed me how badly she wanted me coupled with the smell of her pulled me straight to her sex, and I devoured her. She tasted so good that I didn’t know if I would be able to stop consuming her. Her little bud stayed swollen for me, begging me to suckle it, and she came so loudly and quickly it spurred me on.
After her third one, she whimpered my name and pulled on my shoulder. I had disrobed while my mouth was occupied, and she had as well. I leaned back on my knees and looked down at her lush body. I ran my hands over her thighs, her hips, her sides, up to her breasts feeling every inch of her. I leaned over, kissed her softly, then took my cock in hand and guided it to her sex. She bowed and called my name as I slid across her sensitive clit and deep into her.
“Fuck,” I growled and threw my head back to howl. I caught myself at the last second and swore again. Leigh pulled my head down to her and kissed me as she began moving under me. I did the best I could to be gentle. We were on hard wood floor and it had been a long time for both of us, after all. We came together sooner than either one of us wanted, but I was still hard, and she was still wet. I intended to stay inside her for the rest of the night, so I wrapped her sated body aro
und me and carried her to the bedroom.
She didn’t comment on my carrying her so sated was she, and I thought she had fallen asleep on me until I went to lay her on the bed with the intention of tucking her in, but her inner muscles clamped down on my cock when I started to pull out of her, and I growled.
“I love it when you make that noise,” she said, lifting her head off my shoulder to look at me.
“I love it when you do that,” I said, cutting my eyes down to where our bodies were joined. She did it again, and I moved inside her. Her head fell back in a gasp. The bed was high, so I laid her back onto it, pulled her legs from around me, opened them wide, and pushed her knees toward her so that I could grip the back of her thighs and slam into her. She screamed, and I moved harder and faster.
Our night went on that way with us shifting from one position to another until eventually, right before dawn, we had tucked ourselves under the covers with her back to me, and me still inside her. I wasn’t moving. I didn’t want to leave her. I was petting her body, not to arouse but to soothe and lull her to sleep.
I wanted to wake her around noon the next day by licking her clit, but I knew she would have to pee, so I got up, did my own business, and crawled back into bed. My movements woke her. She gave me a peck, then went to the bathroom. I watched every move she made as she walked bare ass across the room. My cock jerked to attention, and I promised him that as soon as she got back he could have her. I heard the toilet flush and the sink turn on, and then, a few minutes later, she walked out.
Instead of coming straight to bed, she walked around the room, I guess looking for our clothes, then a blush colored her body as she remembered they were on the stairs and in the hall. I smiled at her flushed cheeks. When she turned to the open suitcase on the floor, I moved to get out of bed. She appeared to be getting dressed. I was disappointed but hungry, so sex could wait. Or it could have if she hadn’t bent over at the waist with her ass in the air to get a pair of panties instead of squatting the way most people would have. She knew exactly what she was doing.
Outcast (Supernaturals Book 2) Page 15