by M. L. Briers
“It’s no trouble.” His hands reached for the covers and he tried to keep his eyes from flicking down to the bare skin of her legs as he covered her back over, skirt still wrapped around her ankles and all.
Now he seemed more of a gentleman than a big old troll, and she eased herself back against the pillows and watched him. His wild black hair had settled down around his face now that he wasn’t out in the wind. It framed his face with the black stubble around his chin that swept up to meet it, and with those brown eyes and thick black lashes he looked decidedly handsome. The smile within his eyes helped as well, she thought, her pulse doing a little jig when he smoothed the covers with one large hand against her legs and she remembered the touch of his skin over hers.
Wow, be still my heart…
“I’ll let you rest. Be sure to call out if you need anything.” He offered taking a long step backwards away from the bed, hesitating for a long moment before he turned on his heels and strolled from the room. When the bedroom door was pulled too, Kerry finally let out the breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding.
Isaac’s eyes scanned the area as his feet moved him towards where Joel was packing away his tools. With a long scent of the air, he knew why his brother was moving his wood working indoors. There was a storm coming, and it was likely to be a big one.
Joel had a permanent grin wedge onto his face since the moment he had figured out that his brother had found his mate, and what a mate she was. Human, that was going to be fun to watch him try to explain what they were and how they lived to her. They hadn’t had a human within the pack for longer than he could remember. But then mates were scarce on the ground too.
“Don’t even utter a word, brother.” Isaac’s warning was delivered before he even reached out for the newly sanded door to the cabinet that his brother had been working on for the last few days. Orders were coming in thick and fast for their handiwork. It was a good business that they’d built up over the years, and they sold to the mainland at exaggerated prices compared to what they asked of the Isle residents.
“I’m happy for you, Isaac. You’ve found your mate.” Joel grinned harder as he reached for the two work benches the door had rested upon and hefted them up, one in each hand. Following his brother into the barn that doubled as a workshop and storage area for the pieces of furniture that hadn’t been sent out to the buyers yet, he noted the way that Isaac’s body was tensed in anticipation of the punchline. The Alpha was definitely on edge and that made him grin even more.
“She’s human.” Isaac stated the obvious. It had been playing on his mind since the moment he recognised her scent as his. The pack spent their lives hiding what they were from the local human’s and now he was going to have to open up and share their secrets with an outsider. That filled him with trepidation.
“I noticed.” Joel wasn’t about to let his brother off the hook by offering him words of solace. This was his problem to overcome, it was his mate. But he couldn’t help seeing the funny side of it, although he doubted that Isaac had managed to get that far in his summation of the situation yet.
Isaac placed the cabinet door down and turned to look at his brother with suspicion. “You think that will be a problem?” He eyed his brother’s attempt to keep from looking up at him. He wasn’t an idiot, he could see the mirth that this situation instilled within his sibling, his Beta, his best damn friend, and if the shoe was on the other foot, well he’d probably be having a good laugh at Joel’s expense.
“Do you think it will be a problem?” Joel placed the benches down and half turned towards him. Shooting him a look from under his brows as he forced his hands into the pockets of his jeans, but he couldn’t keep the amusement from his face.
“I think it might just be a little bit…awkward.” Isaac bit back. Seeing his brother’s smug grin and getting more annoyed by the second, annoyed and animated as he waved a dismissive hand wildly in the air about him as if he was swatting flies.
“Awkward you say?” Joel chuckled to himself as he shook his head in disbelief at his brother’s understated appraisal of the situation. “Now why would you say that?” He chuckled again as he set off back outside for his tools.
“Do not think to wind me up today of all days, Joel.” Isaac wasn’t in the mood for Joel’s antics. His brother knew just which buttons to push in order for his Alpha to see not just red, but nothing but the colour red. If he wasn’t careful the red that he’d be seeing would be blood spilt on the damn floor, and he’d damn well enjoy spilling it.
“Now why would you think I’d do that, brother?” Joel wasn’t about to let it drop. It was the perfect opportunity to get a whole years worth of digs and prodding in all in one go. Joel reached for his tool bag and hefted it over his right shoulder as he turned and saw his brother in thoughtful contemplation. His hand stroked over the stubble on his chin and for a long moment, he reminded him of their father.
“Because I’d do it to you.” Isaac admitted.
“Well now, there you go, Alpha. You can’t expect me to pass up an opportunity that you yourself would grab by the balls and squeeze the life out of, can you?” Joel chuckled again as he used his free hand to make a hard fist. His eyes were alive with not only amusement but mischief, the same mischief that had plagued the man since he was a lad. It probably had something to do with him favouring their mother’s side of the family, and her being Fae and all.
“I need your help, Joel. Not your mischief.” It was a hard thing for Isaac to admit. Especially to his brother. “I’m not very good with… you know.” Isaac shrugged one large shoulder and looked away.
“Women?” Joel offered. The grin had spread to an out and out beam of dazzling white teeth, and Isaac’s head shot around on his neck so fast that Joel was sure he heard the crunch of bone on bone. That didn’t worry him so much as the look of disbelief and disgust on his brother’s face as his face reddened in hot denial.
“No, man!” Isaac spat out. He wasn’t best pleased that his brother would rush to such a conclusion. “I have no problem with the opposite sex whatsoever.” Isaac made it plain and clear and he’d say it over and over if he needed to get it into his brother’s thick skull.
“Good to hear.” Joel had taken a slow walk back towards the barn with his tools as the rain started to come down. He gave his brother a congratulatory pat on the back on the way past and Isaac bit down on the low growl that rolled through him.
“It’s humans that I have a problem with.” Isaac admitted. It wasn’t that he didn’t like humans, more that they were just a little fragile for his tastes. He couldn’t punch one in the face for fear of knocking out his damn teeth or putting his hand through the man’s skull, and mating with a human female, well that was a delicate thing.
“Well, she’s a human, so good luck with that. Just don’t break her.” Joel shrugged his shoulders and started to unfold his tools out onto the work bench. It looked like the storm was going to stay around for a while and he’d be inside working for the rest of the day. Damn shame, especially as winter was fast approaching and there wouldn’t be many more days left to work outside before the snows came, although in this part of the country you could witness four seasons in one day.
“That’s the thing, brother. I almost did when I carried her over the Point to safety. How am I going to not break her?” Isaac couldn’t meet his brother’s eyes. There were some things that he liked to keep personal. Mating was one of those things.
“Fate gave her to you. Do you not think that Fate would have thought about that?” Joel offered and watched his brother think it over. Another shrug came off his large shoulders and a small shake of his head. He looked more perplexed now than he had before. “She’s made for you.”
“So are a well fitted pair of boots, but I can still manage to kick the damn toes out of them.” Isaac growled. He couldn’t see it. He knew that Lycans mated with humans, but she was so small and fragile, and he was so big and burly.
“Perhaps you’
re right, maybe you should send her away.” Joel grinned to himself. He knew his brother. The dope would follow his mate over hill and dale until she accepted him as hers. He’d be as gentle as he was with a pup, and as tender as a lamb with her. But patient… that might be another thing entirely. In order for Isaac to woo his mate, he’d have to push his Alpha-ness aside and try seeing things in a different way.
Isaac looked horrified at the very thought of losing his mate. Not because it might drive him to rogue, not because he would be facing death, but because now that he knew her, he couldn’t be without her. From the moment he’d plucked her out of the earth, she’d been his and he was hers. There was no other way that it could be.
“Don’t be bloody stupid. Why would I do that?”
“So as not to break her.” Joel offered back quickly with a shrug off his own shoulders.
“I’m not going to break her.” Isaac snapped out, defending his ability to protect his mate, even from himself if the need be. But when Joel grinned wildly back at him, all Isaac could do was give him a long, hard growl.
“So, I know you’re not going to break her, and you know you’re not going to break her, all that’s left is to convince her that you’re not going to break her when she finds out what you are.” Joel couldn’t help but drop that little bomb shell right in his brother’s lap and watch as Isaac deflated in front of him. The lines of worry dug deep ridges into his forehead as he rolled his eyes and slapped himself upside the head.
“How the hell am I going to do that?” Isaac wasn’t best pleased at the prospect ahead of him. To tell a damn human that the rumours were true, that a man could shift into a beastie and back again at will… That was a conversation he didn’t envision going well. There would be screaming to pain his ears and fear to pain his heart, but what if there was… “What if she runs, brother?”
Joel suddenly didn’t look so damn pleased with himself anymore. The thought of the little human running away from her brother sent an actual shiver right down his spine. You never ran from the man or the wolf. Running would lead to hunting, and hunting to chasing, and chasing to capturing, and capturing to… claiming, but not in a good way. Not in a way that a human female…
“I promise you brother that if she runs, I’ll be there to protect her with my life.” Joel assured his brother. It meant he was going to have to stick close to the mates. But then with the weather that was brewing it wouldn’t be a hard thing to achieve, there was no way the little lady was going to be walking back to wherever she came form in this.
“I take that as your word.” Isaac knew his brother better than he knew any man among them. He was his Beta for a reason. The man could hunt, track, and fight like a damn demon if he needed too, and he might just need too if his mate took it into her head to run from him.
“You have it.” Joel assured him. Suddenly this mating with a human thing didn’t seem so damn funny anymore. They would need to be careful with her, very careful, the last thing they needed was to send his beast into a frenzy.
Kerry wanted to fall back to sleep and yet she just couldn’t seem to do it. How could it be possible that the best sleep she’d had since arriving on this Isle was when she’d been knocked out? It was quite…it was too quiet. Even here where there were people, there was the odd noise that she found herself straining her ears in the hopes she would hear another, and then another, and yet… quiet, peaceful. Peaceful is so damn overrated!
She’d had enough of lying around like a vegetable. Right now she needed to do something, anything. She decided that getting up and getting that stupid skirt on was the place to start. She felt stronger now. Her head wasn’t even pulsing anymore, but one touch of the duck egg on her forehead and she regretted it. Curiosity killed the cat. It was akin to when you had a tooth out and the dentist said ‘don’t poke your tongue in the hole’, well duh- but you just couldn’t help it. As adults we never learned our lessons from childhood, ‘don’t pick the scab’, yeah- like who could resist that one?
Now here she was venturing through a house that wasn’t hers. Nosy, very. She took in the sights along the way, just a little sneak peek as she passed the rooms on route to finding out where all the people had gone. There were at least three that she knew of. There could have been more. This was the middle of nowhere and what else was there to do at night than breed like rabbits?
It slowly dawned on her as she moved towards what appeared to be the front door that she’d been thinking about her rescuer. The thought of breeding like rabbits with him sent a warm glow through her, usually reserved for such pleasures as a large bar of chocolate or an extra sized portion of chocolate cake. She couldn’t help wondering if size equated to size, because if it was proportionate that man must be hung like a…
“Hi!” The female voice not only startled her heart, it made her jump about to face Verne with startled eyes and a look of guilt. I wasn’t really thinking about the size of your brother’s… no, too much information.
“I was wondering where everyone went.” Kerry forced out quickly. It was the truth, about five minutes ago before she got onto thinking about her brother’s…
“Joel and Isaac are outside. But you really don’t want to go out there, the storms whipping up.” Verne was grinning at her as if she knew something that Kerry didn’t, and Kerry just hated that when that happened. Truth was she probably knew a lot that Kerry didn’t, because right now Kerry couldn’t shake the thought of her brother’s… Ah, for the love of God.
“I should say goodbye before I leave.” Kerry motioned with her index finger over her shoulder towards the front door. Verne’s head pulled back on her neck and she shook her head slowly.
“There’s a storm…” She said it as if that should be something to be worried about. There was always a storm. It what the country was famous for. Bad weather and bad food, but the bad food was a myth put about by other countries, she was adamant on that opinion, even if she wouldn’t point any fingers towards their neighbours across the English Channel who liked to spread such rumours. But the bad weather? Well if she never went out in a storm again she’d be spending much of her life indoors.
“I’m just going to…” She took a step backwards towards the door. “It was nice meeting you. Thanks for the skirt. I’ll get it back to you.” Kerry turned on her heels and made for the doorway leaving Verne to wonder what she was supposed to do now. Was she supposed to let Isaac’s mate leave? Tackle hug her?
“Maybe I should get Isaac…” Verne walked behind her as Kerry pulled open the front door and a blast of arctic wind came at her.
Damn they had wind here! Had the whole Island swallowed a vat of baked beans? Kerry stepped out into the driving rain and turned to pull the door closed behind her, but Verne stepped out onto the front step. She wasn’t about to be dissuaded into staying by a little rain, and a lot of wind. For all she knew this could be in for the night, and she’d rather not wait around only to find out that it wasn’t going to ease up.
“Let me get Isaac…” Verne called out over the sound of the wind and Kerry shook her head. The man was busy doing other stuff, and he might only feel obliged to drive her back, or walk her or worse, talk her into staying a while longer, and she was already thinking about his…
Kerry heard the wind whip the branches of the old oak tree that hung over the low driveway and looked up. Right at that moment a bolt of lightning shot through the air, the brightest firework she had ever seen, and hit the tree with a sound that echoed through her body as one of the oak’s huge boughs was severed.
CHAPTER THREE
After that everything happened so fast. The tree branch started to fall. The wind whipped up and the rain got in her eyes as she looked up, startled in place like a deer in the headlights. Then the world was spinning, or she was. Something was spinning and the wind and rain was almost frenzied against her face until she felt the hard brick wall that she crashed into or that crashed into her.
The sound of the tree hitting the ground
not far from her with a loud thud, and the smaller branches giving way beneath the weight and impact with the ground set her mind racing. She wasn’t under the tree. The brick wall had arms…and it growled like a damn dog.
Kerry gasped in a breath and pushed against the wall, but it wouldn’t let her go. Him, she was surrounded by him again. For the second time today he had saved her from her own bad luck.
“Is she alright?” Joel demanded. Not getting too close to his brother. The wolf’s protective side had kicked right in and Isaac was as close to becoming his beast as he could get without actually shifting. The provocation of having another male so close to his mate when she had been that close to danger would be all the reason the wolf needed to shift, and that wouldn’t have been easy to explain.
“Fine.” Isaac’s growled word made Kerry look up at him. The wind and the rain buffeted her face and he was just a large haze of mammoth-ness in her clouded vision. The rumble of another growl went through his chest and her hands and she looked down to escape the torrents of water that could have been bucketed over them. Trying to clear the water from her eyes with her wet hands wasn’t going well for her, but still she tried.
“Let’s get her inside.”Joel’s voice carried to her ears. Those at least were working fine, she noted, as she felt the strong arms around her lifting her against his hard chest once again. Her ribs protested, but she didn’t. She’d be only too happy to be inside right now. Mother Nature seemed to have it in for her in a big way today, but why pick on her?
“Why was she outside?” Isaac growled down at his sister as he held his mate in the protective wall of his arms. Stalking across the driveway back towards the safety of the house, his eyes berated her and she stumbled to find the words to reply.