Because it had always been Annie.
“You’ll be stuck with me. And—and Bradley,” her voice caught in her throat. She was committed to taking care of the kid for the rest of her life. And while the thought of being a parental figure twenty-four hours earlier would have terrified him, Huck was fine with that. He kind of liked the kid.
He couldn’t imagine anything more perfect. “I want to be stuck with you both.”
It was the god-honest truth. He’d been with so many girls. But they hadn’t meant anything. He hadn’t realized then that he was trying to fill the void in his heart that had been Annie. He didn’t know how badly he had missed Annie until she’d called him. Deep down, she was still his childhood friend. Just like, deep down, he was still that awkward kid who had shared his first kiss with the girl he’d been in love with all his life.
“I’m with you for life, Annie. Regardless of whether or not we do this.” He hoped she understood the weight of his words.
“What about your band?”
“Mark manages to still do it. Even with the wife and kids.” He gave a chuckle. “Even with this whole werewolf thing. I’ll have to ask how he does it.”
She bit her lip, looking at him, her green eyes boring into his soul. What was she thinking?
“Do you have protection?” she asked.
He paused, debating on whether or not to tell her that he always had condoms on him. It was one of the things a rocker always had to have. She frowned impatiently, giving him a glare. The scared girl had faded, leaving only this sexy goddess who knew exactly what she wanted.
Damn, horny Annie was sexy as fuck.
He pulled the lone condom out of his pocket and put it on the sink. “I’ve got one.”
She kissed him again, leaning into him. He started trying to take off her shirt, but it tore in two between his shaking hands. Even with his hurt shoulder, he was still stronger than he’d ever believed possible.
“You’ll have to get used to your new strength,” she breathed teasingly against his lips.
“I’m willing to try it out now,” he said with a mischievous grin.
She gently peeled off his shirt, discarding it on the floor. “That’s how you do it.” She took her bra off then, spilling forth her creamy skin. She wasn’t big-breasted like most of the groupies that seemed to hound his band, and each one fit his hands perfectly as he massaged them, teasing the nipples to be erect.
She moaned against his lips.
Well, if that was going to make her moan, he was going to see what this did. He captured her right breast with his mouth, flicking the sensitive nub with his tongue. Her hands made fists in his hair as she arched her back.
“Oh my god,” she breathed. “Huck.”
Saying his name nearly brought him over the edge then and there.
He helped her to her feet. His hands were shaking so badly, he thought he was going to rip her jeans as well. She helped guide him to unbuttoning the top, and sliding them over her hips, revealing her entire naked body. She shivered in front of him, exposed to him.
He cupped her sex, kneading her clitoris softly. Her breath kept hitching in her throat. She started saying something, but he forced her legs apart and inserted a finger. She gasped, leaning into the sink. Her hands were white from her grip on the sink.
“Huck,” she cried.
He closed his eyes, relishing the way she said his name. He wasn’t going to last very long at this rate.
“I want you now,” he whispered.
“Yes,” she whispered. He kissed her quickly and undid the top of his pants, trying to get out of them without destroying them as well. They shredded in his hands.
Fuck it.
He grabbed the condom, with renewed determined, but she plucked it out of his hands.
“I’ll do that,” she muttered as she tore open the wrapper and put the rubber on his hard cock. She took over completely then, guiding him into her. He caught his breath as he entered her slowly, enjoying every agonizing, delicious inch of her.
He’d been wanting to do this for so long.
“Is that good?” he whispered to her, kissing her shoulder, trailing up to her lips. He grabbed one of her breasts, teasing the nipple and making her gasp against his mouth.
He was going to make sure she enjoyed it as much as he did.
“Uh huh,” she said back, her voice somewhat strangled.
He picked her up—finding it even easier with his newfound strength—and pushed her back flush against the wall. She moaned at the contact and he kissed her again.
He started moving, increasing his rhythm against her sweaty body. She grasped at his back, holding on for dear life, and he was loving it. A melody built up in his mind, her body the instrument, and his hands composing a ballad about them, about how he felt about her.
“Huck,” she cried, “Huck! I can’t hold on much longer—”
He didn’t slow down. Instead, he covered her mouth with his own, wanting to be completely together, willing the lyrics into her soul. She came, crying out his name against his lips. He came a moment later, spending himself into her with a cry.
He looked up at her through the damp clumps of his hair. Their tryst had really worked up a sweat. This is what sex always should have been for him. Just him and the woman he loved.
Annie.
“How was that?” he asked with a crooked grin.
She smiled at him, tracing the line of his jaw with a finger. Instead of answering, she kissed him again. “I just made love to a rockstar,” she said. “And a Beta wolf. It can’t get much better than that.”
He touched his forehead to hers, laughing.
***
Sex with Huck was amazing.
Annie couldn’t keep the grin off of her face as they got dressed with what remained of their clothes. She wore Huck’s shirt and found him a bathrobe to wear out to the room. As great as their lovemaking was, she didn’t want to leave Bradley alone too long. She opened the door to reveal Bradley watching an episode of Ben 10. He curiously glanced back at them.
“You guys get over your argument?” he asked. There was no sarcasm or anything—Bradley was genuinely wondering if they had made up after their discussion.
Annie knew that Emily hadn’t had the sex talk with Bradley yet, and while he probably knew what it was, he probably didn’t think that she and Huck were doing it in the bathroom. She could barely keep her giggle from escaping at the thought of calling what they did “it”, as if she was a teenager again.
“Yeah,” she said. “All better.”
Bradley’s nostrils flared as he sniffed the air.
“You guys...smell different.” His eyes widened suddenly, the expression on his face that of being dumbfounded. “Huck, you’re a Beta now?”
She did let out a laugh then. He sounded so surprised, it was comical to her.
“Yep,” Huck said, self-consciously running a hand through his hair. “I’m a Beta.”
Bradley frowned. “Hum. I’m hungry, can I have some pizza?”
CHAPTER 9
Huck woke up the next morning lying in the bed on his side. They’d spent the entire day in the room and eaten pizza that night. As Annie had said, she and Bradley hadn’t had a night to relax in over a month. The smell of discarded crusts and toppings filled the room, a richer scent than he could have ever imagined pizza having.
He really was going to have to get used to this whole werewolf thing. He could smell things from across the room. He could see the fibers of the drapes over the window. And he was far stronger than he could ever have believed he could be. Annie’s torn shirt and his jeans were testament to that. He was going to have to be careful.
At least he felt like he could protect all three of them now. It wasn’t just Annie who had to put herself in harm’s way. Now Huck was going to protect the ones he loved.
Annie was across from him, sleeping soundlessly, and Bradley lay between the both of them, facing Huck. In her sleep, she had plac
ed a protective arm across the boy, and he was pressed close, as if being closer to her made him sleep better. Huck felt a tinge of stupid jealousy, wishing that he was in the boy’s spot on the bed, but he stamped on that feeling the second it started.
This was Huck’s surrogate family. The slacker who was trying to be a rockstar, yet never amounted to anything more, his childhood sweetheart he thought he’d never see again who was now his mate, and Bradley, the ten-year-old who had been to hell and back, who might as well have been Huck’s own son.
They were like a regular old American family. Blended like the best cocktail he’d ever had.
He stroked the arm Annie had around Bradley’s shoulders. The sunlight through the window fell across her face, making her look more beautiful than ever. She stirred and opened her eyes. The green in them caught the light as she watched him.
“Good morning,” she said softly.
“Good morning.”
“Did you sleep well?” she asked, a smile playing at the edges of her lips.
“Better than I’ve slept in a long time.” He kissed her.
She nodded against his lips.
“Aren’t you afraid of waking Bradley up?” he asked.
At the mention of the boy’s name, she looked down and the adoration flitted across her face. “I wouldn’t speak too loud, but...” she answered finally. “Once his motor runs out and he does sleep, he sleeps like the...” Her throat closed, like she couldn’t say the word “dead” in reference to the kid. “He sleeps well,” she amended.
“How long do you think this will go on?”
“How long do I think what will go on?”
He nodded towards the boy. “After we fix this for him, how long do you think it will be before he starts sleeping normally again?”
She laughed. “Why do you ask that?”
“Well, because eventually, I’d like to do what we did in the bathroom in a nice, warm, soft bed instead of the wall. Not exactly the way I’d imagined our first time together.”
“You imagined that?” She couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.
“For years,” he told her playfully.
She watched his eyes, as if searching for answers. “It all depends upon him,” she said at length. Absently, she stroked the boy’s cheek. “One day, he’ll fall asleep with the lights off and realize that there’s nothing that’s going to get him any more.”
“You talk as if you’re speaking from experience.”
“I am speaking from experience,” she said quietly. “Not the same kind of experience, but it’s devastating when you realize that there are things that go bump in the night. And that you’re one of them.”
Huck watched her, and wondered how long it had been since she’d had any sense of normalcy in her life. She wasn’t meeting his eyes and after a few seconds, he saw glistening on her cheeks. She was crying.
He sat up and pulled aside the blankets. “Do you think Bradley would mind if I switched sides of the bed?” he asked.
She shook her head. He got up and walked around to the other side of the bed and slid in behind her, spooning her.
She melted into him. “I’m so sorry, Huck,” she said.
“For what?”
“Because I still feel like a freak. Sometimes, like Bradley, it’s hard to sleep with the lights off. You wonder if you’re one of the monsters.”
He kissed the back of her neck. “You could never be a monster.”
She really cried then, letting it all out. He wondered how long she had been holding that in. After a few minutes, she quieted and he had thought she had fallen asleep again when she said, “Sing me something, rockstar.”
He gave a chuckle, despite himself. “What do you want me to sing?”
“Anything,” she said simply. “Sing me to sleep. We don’t need to get up yet and I’m still tired.”
He surprised himself when he started singing 3 Doors Down’s “Here Without You”. Eventually, Annie’s breathing slowed and he found himself drifting off to sleep.
***
It was noon by the time Annie finally rolled out of bed. She found a spare set of clothes in the drawers that fit her decently enough. Bradley was still asleep, but Huck said he’d watch him.
“We’ll be right where you left us,” he said.
She was glad that they’d had a nice, relaxing night, but the inactivity was starting to drive her nuts. Carmichael and Gemma must have warned everyone to not disturb them, but she needed to know what was happening.
Somewhere in the building, David and Julia were just aching to get their hands on Bradley. Once they were pack leaders, it almost didn’t matter that they had broken Carmichael’s laws. They’d been hounding them for an entire month—being locked up in chains wasn’t going to keep them for long.
She also didn’t trust Gavin and his contradictory view of the situation. She’d met many others like him over the last month. They said that they would help, but power and glory always won out, every single time.
She wandered down the hallways trying to remember where it was she met with Carmichael and the others. It was a big place—and after her high points last night, she couldn’t exactly remember where it was. Several wolves she passed glared at her as she walked about.
She stopped, hearing voices speak in hushed tones in a room. While she recognized one of the voices as Gavin’s, the other two were unfamiliar. Annie sucked in a deep breath, hoping that they couldn’t smell her or hear her heartbeat.
“Carmichael and Gemma won’t have any say in the matter once the boy’s out of the picture,” Gavin said. “After all, it’s not their pack.”
“And you think that David and Julia are right for the job?” a woman asked.
“Much better than that runt Annie,” Gavin said. “Shit, she got on my nerves at that last meeting.” He spat that last part out, like even talking about her gave him a bad taste.
“You sound as if you don’t like her,” a third man said. He sounded highly amused.
“Her intentions are admirable, yes, but she’s backing the wrong horse,” Gavin said. “That selfish bitch is doing this to the detriment of her pack. It’s just natural selection. And the boy is too young to lead.”
“He’ll be old enough someday,” the woman chided.
“Someday’s too far from now.”
“So why don’t you try to take over their pack then?” the female asked. “You’re not a pack leader or anything. You still have to listen to orders from the big guys. Even though you’re Alpha.” She sounded smug.
“I want to be a leader,” Gavin sighed. “But I do know that David and Julia will pay well. I’ve already talked to them.”
“And you want us to help?” the man asked.
Annie closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe she was hearing this. Even after everything, her suspicions were still right. They were back at square one, or worse now that they had a traitor amongst them. She shouldn’t be surprised, but she was. She had actually allowed herself to believe that she was safe.
We were never safe, she thought sadly.
She gave herself a quick shake. She should’ve known. That was all there was to it. And the right thing to do was to save Bradley before it was too late. She took off running back to their room. Luckily, Gavin and the other wolves hadn’t sensed her. She briefly thought about how she was going to let Gemma and Carmichael know that she was leaving.
A feeling of dread filled her. Were they in on this? They seemed like they genuinely wanted to help, but hadn’t she fallen for that same thing time and time again?
She got to the door and burst through it to find Bradley still peacefully asleep on the bed while Huck sat at a desk, humming and tapping away, writing something on a piece of paper.
She was about to destroy this fragile moment. “We have to go,” she said, her voice harsh with fear.
Huck looked up, concern flashing in his eyes. “What?”
“I overheard Gavin talking. They’re going
to release David and Julia and they’re coming after Bradley. We’ve got to go.”
Even though Huck still looked shocked, he nodded. He immediately got up and started gathering their things. “Should I try calling Mark? Maybe he can help us?”
“I guess,” she said.
He nodded and thumbed a few buttons on his phone. He held it up to his ear.
Annie ran to Bradley’s bedside and gently shook him awake. He jumped with a cry and she hushed him. “Hey Bradley,” she whispered, “we have to get going.”
“Where?” he asked.
“We’ve got to get on the road again.” She didn’t want to elaborate and scare him, but she needed to get him moving. “You can sleep in the truck.”
He blinked furiously a few times and she could see the tears start to form. “I—I thought we were safe?” he asked, his voice both whining and accusatory at the same time.
She couldn’t blame him. “We are,” Annie told him. “If we keep moving.”
He hugged her as she pulled him to his feet. “I don’t want to go, Annie,” he whispered in her ear.
She closed her eyes, her heart breaking for this little boy. “I know Bradley,” she said. “We’ll be safe soon.”
“When?” he asked. “When?”
Annie didn’t have an answer for that. Luckily, Huck was able to interrupt their conversation with his phone call. “Hey Mark, it’s Huck.”
Annie held her breath, hoping that he was talking to the other wolf. No such luck. He’d gotten Mark’s voicemail.
“Annie’s overhead something from this Gavin guy—they’re going try and get Bradley? I don’t know what the hell is going on or where you’re at? Or even if you’re in on this...?” He stopped. “So we’re leaving. Uh...call me back.” He hung up and shook his head.
Her senses were overloaded with danger. She’d learned a long time ago that her gut instinct was never wrong and it was yelling at her to move. “We’re leaving. Now!”
Bradley screamed.
Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1) Page 83