by T. S. Joyce
Well, hopefully he didn’t die while they were fooling around. That would be an uncomfortable conversation to have with his family.
“Easy,” she murmured, dropping to her knees in between his legs.
“You mean you want this gentle,” he said, his silver eyes zeroed in on her boobs still.
“It’s the only chance I have at gentle with you,” she said. And then she bit her bottom lip and smiled up at him as she ran her nails up his shins and thighs. Kade’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he whispered, “Fuck, Trina, put it in your mouth.”
She was already purring. God, she loved when he told her what he liked, told her what to do. She cupped his balls first and listened to the sigh of ecstasy as he spread his knees wider. And then she gripped the base of his shaft and slid her mouth over him. His groan filled her belly with warmth. She loved how noisy he was. If she did something he liked, he always let her know. So sexy. She sucked on him, sliding up and down his stone-hard dick, only pausing when he rocked with her pace. Easy.
“God, it’s torture,” he murmured breathily. “Feels so good.”
His breath hitched when she started up again, and he rested his hand behind her head and then gripped her hair. Trina reached between her legs and slid a finger inside herself. She was so ready for him. His breathing quickened as she sucked him faster, using her hand to help stroke him each time she eased back.
“Spread your legs wider, let me see,” he gritted out.
Trina spread her knees wider on the floor and moved against her hand as she slid her mouth up and down his shaft. He was so thick, so hard, she wanted him inside her. She could finish so fast on him right now.
“Come here,” he demanded, as if he could read her desperate thoughts.
“Easy,” she pleaded as she crawled on his lap. “Let me.”
She rubbed against the swollen head of his cock a few times and then reached between them, gripped his dick, and poised him right at her entrance. Slowly she eased down an inch, then up, grinning as she teased him. As she teased herself.
“Take it,” he whispered in a shaky breath.
Trina lowered down, down, until she took all of him. She wiggled gently against his pelvis as he whispered, “Fuuuuuuuck.”
One full stroke, and the pressure was already building between her legs. Slowly, she lifted up and then pushed back down hard. Up slow, down hard. Faster now as he gripped her hip with one hand and uttered her name. Up slow, down hard. Up, down, so easy to slide onto him when she was this wet. Kade was so big he filled her, stretched her. Reaching behind her, she cupped his balls, and his dick clenched as he moaned a sound of pure satisfaction.
“Faster,” he said.
She went a little faster.
“Faster, Trina, I’m there. Come with me. Fuck, come with me!”
Trina was there too, her body tingling with desire. She slid onto him harder and faster, panting out his name until he groaned loud against her ear. His dick pulsed deep, deep inside of her, spurring on her own release. She cried out and buried her face in his neck as her body shattered. On and on, he throbbed inside of her as he held her close. “Good girl,” he murmured against her ear. “That’s a good girl.”
She moved on him until every last aftershock was done for them both.
Today she’d thought she would never have this moment with him again, but she did because he was strong enough.
For the rest of her life, she would never take a single moment with him for granted.
****
“What happened to the wolf?” Kade asked. “Mick?”
The water sloshed as he moved his leg to a more comfortable position. Trina had drawn him a warm bath to clean off all the mud and filth from the day. He was keeping the bandages dry, but the rest of him was submerged and relaxing, muscle by fatigued muscle.
Trina was resting her chin on her arm on the edge of the bathtub, drawing little circles on the surface of the water with her free hand. “I was thinking. I don’t really want to be away from you anymore at night.”
Kade snorted. “You want me to hang out at the bar every night while you work? That’s tempting fate. You know I’ll be in a fight every night if I do that.”
“No, not while I work. I mean sleeping.”
“Trina.”
“Hmmm?” she asked dreamily.
“What happened to Mick?”
She chewed on the side of her lip and moved her damp hair out of her face. She’d showered while he’d soaked. “How do you have a perfect eight-pack when you are relaxing in a tub. It’s pretty unfair to all the other mere mortal men—”
Kade winced as he cupped her cheek. “Hey. It’s me. Talk to me.”
“I thought it was you. That dead wolf. Leah couldn’t tell if it was you or not when she called me, and I rode here thinking I had already lost you. Red Dead Mayhem played cleaner for Mick’s body. I don’t know what they did with him, and I don’t care.”
“Okay.” He stroked the pad of his thumb across her cheek, right under her flaming green eyes. She looked upset, and it gutted him. “I’m all right.”
She nodded for a long time, but she was staring at the water, not him, so he hooked a finger under her chin. “Baby,” he whispered, “I swear I’m all right.”
“I’m really glad you’re a shifter,” she squeaked out.
He laughed. “I think you’re the first one to ever say that to me.”
She laughed thickly, too. “Well, it’s true. If your wolf wasn’t such a stubborn beast, you wouldn’t be here.” She sucked in air and admitted, “I declared war on the Wulfe Clan.”
“Hmm. That’s cool. I declare war on them at least twice a week.”
“No…I mean I officially declared war.”
“What?” Kade sat up in the bathtub, ignoring the pain. “You talked to Darius?”
“Yep, three days, and I’m squaring off with him and his Clan of emotionally devoid hairy bunions.”
“Good God, Woman.”
Trina lifted her little chin in the air and straightened her spine. “Now ask me if I regret it.”
“Oh, I know you don’t, you little hellion.” Kade huffed a laugh. “Dream girl. Look!” He pointed to his dick. “You’ve awoken the sleeping giant again.”
Trina cracked up and rested back onto her arm. “Of course, you would think starting a war is sexy.”
“Nah,” he said softly. “Anything you do is sexy. Tell me why you started it.”
“Because they went after you. You’re mine. I protect what’s mine.”
“You hate fighting.”
“I do not,” she murmured as she went back to drawing pictures on the water. Hearts this time. “Not if it’s for good reason.”
“Vengeance is good reason?”
“When it has to do with you, yes.” When she lifted those emerald green eyes to his, the smile had disappeared from her face. There was no humor in her face at all when she said, “I would do awful things to keep you safe.”
“So would I,” he said low.
“I know.”
“No…you don’t. And hopefully you never have to find out how far I would go to keep you safe. Hopefully, I don’t ever get pushed into defending you. No one would survive.”
He brushed his fingertips across the gooseflesh that had risen on her arm. His touch trailed water, and the drops raced down her arm and dripped back into the bath. “Does that scare you?”
“No.”
“Then why the chills?”
She intertwined her fingers in his and sighed, and there it was. There was that heart-stopping smile again. “Because all my life I thought I would never find someone like you.”
Kade drew her knuckles to his lips and lingered there for a few moments. “You’ll never be alone now.”
Never again. He would make sure of it.
Chapter Eighteen
Kade woke up in the dark to his shoulder throbbing. He’d had trouble sleeping all night, trying to find a comfortable position. Tr
ina didn’t want to leave his side, so it was both of them in a full-sized bed and him trying not to wake her with his movements. He’d taken a pain killer Rike had put on the night stand. He didn’t even want to know what pharmacy he probably robbed to get it. It was a brand-new bottle of the good stuff. Knowing Rike, he’d probably enjoyed stealing this. Or maybe he just had an extra bottle of it lying around from a backache. But probably not. The Blackwood crows were and always would be outlaws. Secretly, he fucking loved them.
Kade stared up at the ceiling in the early morning light that filtered through the window. When he looked over at Trina, he was stunned all over again. Not a stitch of make-up on, and she still stole his breath away. Blond hair fanned out across his pillow, lips slightly parted, tiny frown furrowing her perfectly arched eyebrows. Dark eyelashes that rested on her cheeks, and the cutest little pixie nose.
God, he loved her. Everything about her. She was so different from anyone he’d ever known. He still couldn’t believe she’d picked him. He was the luckiest sonofabitch on the whole planet.
His shoulder had a heartbeat. The pain meds had probably worn off. He gritted his teeth and sat up gingerly. No new blood on the bandages so that was good. One-handed, Kade scrubbed his hand down his face. Two more days. He needed to rush this healing so he could be there for the Wulfe Clan war. No way in hell was he going to let Trina and his brothers fight without him.
Thankfully, being a monster had its benefits. Like he healed faster than any other shifter he knew. And shifters already healed fast. He shrugged his arm up and down, testing it. No broken bones that he could tell. He was a little black and blue, but he’d be all right. No pain meds necessary anymore. He didn’t like the way they made him feel. They dulled his senses.
And he needed all pistons firing to keep his ears on the wolves that were watching the house from the woods. He heard two of them all night, sniffing around. Wulfe Clan spies probably, but why did they need eyes on the house? The date and time had been set for the fight. Something was happening, and the thing about wolves was this—they didn’t hunt like other predators. They came at prey unexpectedly and from all sides. Trying to guess what a wolf would do was pointless. He didn’t like the wolves in the woods, but he was in no shape to go hunt those dick-wads down.
His phone was across the room on a charger, but Trina’s was right there on the little table beside his bed. She probably had an alarm set for work today. He would be going with her just to make sure she was safe. He picked it up and checked the time. Five fifteen in the morning. Damn, it was early. An image flashed across the screen, but he wasn’t about looking at his girl’s messages so he set the phone down and stood. And then he frowned at the wall because that flash of image was burned into his mind now. It was a man in a blindfold. A familiar man.
A sick feeling drifted through him like poisonous fog. He sat on the edge of the bed and lifted the phone, opened the image, and muttered a curse.
It was Cooper, Trina’s dad, hog tied, blindfolded, and gagged.
There was a long-ass text message from Darius.
I told you, bitch. You don’t know who the fuck you’re talking to. You’ll bring Kade to me in exchange for your father. There will be no war, just an even trade. He’s a wolf in my territory, with no permission from my Clan to even exist here. And now he’s bested my Second. I own him. Noon at the Wulfe Clubhouse. One minute late, and Cooper dies. If you show anyone this message, Cooper dies. If you bring anyone with you other than that fuckin’ wolf, Cooper dies. Involve the police, Cooper dies. You a daddy’s girl, Trina? I had a step-daughter once. Treacherous little beasts, you are. But I think you have a heart for this one. I won’t make it pretty. His death will be with a blade, and it’ll be slow. And either way, I’ll get my wolf. Do the right thing. See you soon.
Clenching his teeth, Kade set the phone back down as gently as he could because, right now, he felt like chucking it against the wall just to hear the satisfying shatter.
Barely in control of his breathing, Kade glanced at Trina. She stretched her legs in her sleep, restless, probably because he was filling the room up with his rage. You a daddy’s girl, Trina? Fuck Darius for threatening the only family she had left. Trina was Kade’s to protect, and her people fell under his umbrella of protection, too. He’d seen Cooper’s black eye. Seen the rage twisting his face behind the blindfold.
Fuck!
Kade stood, made his way to the chair in the corner, and grabbed his darkest jeans and a black T-shirt that would hide any blood from his shoulder. He scribbled a quick note to Trina on a piece of computer paper, folded it, and left it on the bedside table. And then made his way out the door. He checked Trina just before he closed it. Sleeping soundly again. Angel.
He needed to do this quickly before she woke up. Yeah, they were a team, but things were different when family was at risk. Kade had an awful flashback of his dad hurt on the couch after that bad fight, and how every fiber of his being had wanted to help him no matter what. Trina wouldn’t think straight in a fight like this.
He had to fix it, and fast.
The house was dark except the kitchen where Ethan was making a bowl of oatmeal. “Where are you going?” he asked without turning around.
“None of your business.”
His back to Kade, Ethan poured honey into his breakfast and stirred it around. He was already dressed for the day.
“Everyone still asleep?” Kade asked nonchalantly as he pulled his boots on by the door.
“The girls are.”
He glared at his back suspiciously. He was wearing black jeans and a black Harley shirt. Outside, it was still dark. “Why are you dressed?”
Ethan turned and brought two bowls straight for Kade and handed him one.
“What’s this?”
“Breakfast. Momma Crow brought some medicine that’s supposed to speed your healing. It’s for shifters only. Black market stuff. You’re welcome.”
Kade sniffed the bowl of oatmeal. “Smells like shrimp shit.”
“Bon appétit.” Ethan clinked spoons with Kade’s. Annoying.
“I’m not eating this. It’ll put me to sleep.”
Ethan rolled his eyes before he took a big spoonful of Kade’s breakfast and then shoved it in his maw. He pulled a face as he chewed it. “It’s not a sleeping potion, ya dunce. It’s to help you fight today.”
Kade narrowed his eyes. “The war isn’t for another two days,” he said carefully.
Ethan snorted. “You’re a Blackwood—”
“Not technically—”
“You’re Blackwood enough,” Ethan said, his eyes flashing black. “You’re family. Me and Rike talked last night, and if it was us, we would want immediate retaliation. We wouldn’t draw this out. We would go in early.”
Kade huffed. “Well, you aren’t me.” He choked down the breakfast in three bites, then finished tying his shoes.
When he made his way to the back door, Ethan stopped him in his tracks. “If you’re worried about going out the front because of the wolves watching the house? You don’t have to be.”
Kade looked back over his shoulder. Ethan’s eyes were black as pitch.
“Why not?” Kade asked.
“Because Rike locked them up in the woodshop. The woods are clear.”
Huh. Clever crows.
“Well…thanks,” Kade muttered, making his way quietly to the front door. “Tell Trina not to worry when she wakes up.”
“No, thanks,” Ethan said, following him right out the front.
Kade threw him a dirty look. “What are you doing?”
“Uh, going with you.” He jerked his chin in a greeting and threw up a two fingered wave to Rike who was jogging toward them.
“You’re not going with me, Ethan. Neither of you are. This is Lone Wolf shit. It’s my fight with the Wulfe Clan, no one else’s.”
Ethan kept following him, so Kade snarled and shoved him in the shoulder. Should’ve hurt Kade more than anything, but whatever medicin
e Momma Crow had sent over was dulling the pain in his shoulder by the minute.
“Go away,” Kade muttered.
Ethan stood there with his hands on his hips, grinning through his giant-ass beard. Kade wanted to punch him.
“My fight, my retaliation, piss off.”
“I know you’re used to this Lone Wolf shit, but I’m not staying in that house,” Ethan said. “That hellcat you call a mate will skin me alive if she finds out I just let you walk out of here to fight the Wulfe Clan alone. Mountain lion in heat, and I’m about to get her favorite dick snuffed out of existence? No, thanks. It’s brotherly bonding time.”
“Murdering a Clan isn’t brotherly bonding time.”
“It is to Blackwoods. You heard the story about our dad? It’s kind of our destiny to kill off the wolves. No offense to your wolf.”
What the hell was happening right now? This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. “I was going to sneak out, go on a small to medium killing-spree, save Trina’s dad, and be back by lunch for roast beef sandwiches and an epic blow job for saving her dad!”
“I’ll drive,” Rike offered, tossing an apple in the air and catching it as he approached. He looked like a damn goliath in his black tank top, tattoos on display on his tree-trunk arms.
“I’m not riding bitch on your motorcycle, man. That means putting my nuts on your back. I would rather stick my dick in a mouse trap,” Kade whisper-screamed, following his stepbrother toward where the bikes were parked.
“We’re taking the truck, numbnuts,” Rike said. “Bikes are too loud, and we won’t get to murder anyone if you get us busted before we even get there.”
“You drive like shit. I’m driving. Give me the keys,” Ethan demanded.
Rike snorted. “You aren’t the Alpha of me.”
“It’s my mate’s truck,” Ethan retorted, shoving Rike hard into the back end of Leah’s old Ford. He blasted into it so hard the thing lifted on two wheels and settled hard.
“Shhhh!” Kade hissed. “For fuck’s sake, tweedled dee and tweedled dip-shit. This is why I wanted to do this on my own.”