by J. L. Madore
Hawk looks at her and then me.
I shake my head. “I didn’t know, but I’ll find out.”
Keyla pulls her arm out of the grasp of the pilot. He seems genuinely insulted that someone snuck onto the plane uninvited. She seems equally insulted to be detained and handled like the interloper she is.
With her freedom reclaimed, Keyla descends the stairs and rushes forward, chin high and back straight. When did she become such a royal? Or royal pain in the ass is closer to the truth. “Before anyone reacts, know that Kotah didn’t know I hid aboard and tagged along.”
“Why did you?” I ask. “Mother will lose her mind.”
Keyla waves her hand in the air. “She’ll get over it. I’ll say I came to ensure you comply with her command. Blah, blah… she’ll eat it up.”
She likely will.
“And why are you here?” Calli asks.
I see a flash of the little girl I used to shield from the world, the one who depended on me to show her the way and protect her from our parents and the disingenuous world of being born a royal. When Father shipped me to university, I saw it as a miraculous taste of freedom. I suppose, me being gone meant something different for her.
She had to adapt and fend for herself.
“You know what?” I say, offering her my hand. “All that matters is that you’re here now. I’ll call Mother when we arrive at the village and we’ll smooth it over together.” I wrap my arm around her shoulders, turn her toward the awaiting truck, and kiss the side of her head. “It’ll be fine.”
Calli and Hawk don’t look so sure.
If Keyla is reaching out, there is no chance I’ll leave her to fend for herself again. Like I said, It’ll be fine. They’ll see.
“Welcome to the Northwood corridor,” I say as we get out of the truck in the graveled parking lot at the edge of the village. Beyond the line of vehicles parked in the secluded lot, a solid wall of greenery rises from the rich earth. “Twenty-two-hundred acres of protected and private land. My ancestors declared this entire wildlife corridor was to remain preserved. No cars. No pollution. Only the beauty of nature and space to enjoy it.”
Calli hugs my arm and rests her cheek on my shoulder. “It’s wonderful. No wonder you never felt at home in that fancy fae palace. This place is much more you.”
True. Potential energy buzzes in my blood as I breathe in the clean, fresh air of my home. It calls to my wolf and brings me a sense of belonging and peace I only ever feel when I’m here. “Into the woods I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.”
“My sweet poet,” Calli says, smiling up at me.
I cast a glance at the others to see if they feel the infusion of energy too. Despite the raw feelings of disappointment and mistrust between the guys over the past two days, they seem genuinely appeased for the moment.
Brant lifts his face and sniffs the air. “I can see how this place could get under your skin. It’s magical.”
“Naturally and elementally,” Hawk says.
“What do you mean?” Calli asks.
He rounds the front of the truck and presses his palm flat against the ground. “The power of ley lines running beneath the ground is palpable. This land is rich with fae energy.”
“Maybe that’s why your ancestors first settled here,” Jaxx says, studying the sinking sun and the swirling coral skyline. “And why they preserved it from cars and modernizations.”
“Or maybe they were stuffy and stubborn and got their kicks by making life more difficult,” Keyla says. When we all turn to look at her, she shrugs. “Just offering an opposing opinion after growing up here.”
Footsteps approach from the main path and Hawk and Brant circle back to stand in front of Calli.
“Be at ease,” I say, recognizing the scent on the breeze.
Logan Silver Fox steps out of the growing shadows of the trees. He’s a mid-sixties male with faded blue eyes and skin as black as the night quickly falling upon us. He’s the male in charge of the village in the absence of a Northwood family member on-premises, and the male who oversaw Keyla and me throughout the years of our upbringing.
He studies our group, places his arm across his middle, and bows low. “Prince Nakotah, Princess Nakeyla, welcome home, children. Everything is in order, young majesties. Please, everyone, follow me.”
Calli
Northwood Village is as quaint and rustic as it is awe-inspiring. Similar to the setup of the Bastion, Kotah’s home compound is comprised of chinked wooden cabins peppered throughout the wilds of treed lands, with well-trodden paths leading to and from a main courtyard and lodge.
Logan Silver Fox speaks quietly with Kotah about the accommodations and preparations and leads us to Northwood Hall, the home of the founding family. Nightfall is taking hold by the time we arrive and the flickering flame of torches lights our way. It’s surreal.
I’m not sure what I expect of Northwood Hall, knowing it is the familial home of the Prima and Prime, but I’m pleasantly surprised. Unlike Kotah’s cold and distant parents, his ancestral home bursts with the warmth of honeyed-pine construction, slate floors, ruby and gold accents, and the welcoming energy that Kotah exudes.
“You like it?” Kotah asks twenty minutes later.
He comes up behind me where I’m leaning over the second-floor railing taking in the great room and glass window wall below. There is no electricity. The interior is lit by dozens of ivory candles making things seem even more magical.
He wraps me in a playful embrace from behind, cupping my breasts and kissing the back of my neck. His cock is solid against my ass and he grinds gently growling in my ear. “I want you naked, Calli. I need inside you. I want to claim you, here, where I feel the most myself.”
I turn in his arms and the sexual excitement between us raises the hair on my arms. I swallow and my body responds to his need. My nipples tighten, the brush of my t-shirt over their sensitive peaks delectable friction. “What about your sister and Jaxx’s mom?”
My shirt rucks up and warm hands push the fabric out of his way. “I asked Brant and Doc to take Keyla for a night run and Jaxx to start a bonfire in the pit out back. They’ve given us the house. I can’t help myself, Chigua. My wolf needs inside you, to mark my mate, here in my home.”
He dips me backward, kissing my sternum and reaching into the front of my pants. I groan as greedy fingers find the damp heat of my core. I’m lost to his passion.
“Whatever you need, sweet wolf. Strip me down and soothe your pangs of hunger.”
Hawk
As the scent of the bonfire builds in the yard and Calli’s sexy feminine sounds and scents build above, I marvel that being intertwined within this group dynamic isn’t making me more agitated. I’ve always cherished my singularity but now that I’m resolved to seeing where this mating takes us, the nearness of the other four doesn’t trigger my aggression—not even when the wolf is taking my place devouring Calli’s body.
We almost got there.
I don’t blame Jaxx for interrupting us. Now that I consider Calli mine to claim, the predator in me is enjoying the thrill of the chase. I’m savoring the burn of anticipation. If Calli wants the full Hawk Barron experience, I want the time to plan something unique.
With all kinds of erotic images bombarding my brain, I buckle down my need for her and get to work. Busy. Busy. Assassins to catch, traitors to uncover, a father to find, two worlds to safeguard. No pressure.
I tap on the keyboard of my laptop and get things fired up. If Alexander Fiske was contracted by the FCO to wipe three towns on the west coast there will be mission orders in his file. Scanning through his company logs, I’m more alarmed but what I find than I expect.
My signature?
It’s as plain as the ink on the scanned page. For anyone who cares to look, I ordered the djinn to wipe families of their children… and not just the three Brant is aware of… Fiske has performed his task on fourteen different occasions over the past ten months.
Motherf
ucker… okay, now I’m seriously pissed.
Brant
Doc, Keyla, and I get back from our romp in the forest and shift back to our human forms to join Jaxx and his mom at the fire pit. The two of them are understandably distraught over Jaxx’s missing father, but until Lukas or his Texas team checks back, there’s nothing much to do. Hawk has someone in the police department checking traffic cams to figure out where John Stanton went missing and maybe we’ll get lucky and get a clue as to who took him.
If anyone did take him.
Calli and Kotah open the double glass doors off the great room and step onto the back patio. Calli has a tray of plates, salad, and cutlery and the kid is weighed down with platters of meat stacked a mile high.
I head over to see if I can help with the grub and—my bear lets off a rumble. “Damn, you two smell sexy. Did you enjoy your private time?”
“Very much,” Calli says, still caught in the post-coitus afterglow. “I think we christened the place thoroughly.”
Kotah chuckles and lights the barbeque. The thing is a stainless-steel masterpiece of grilling, searing, boiler options, and the airy poof it lets off as it ignites makes me salivate. “The two of us set a standard, yes. I’m hoping for a repeat performance with the rest of us, though. Call me greedy, but Calli, Jaxx, and I have mated, if we want to be a true quint, you and Hawk need to join the fun at some point too.”
Hmmph. I have serious doubts Hawk and I will get to a point where either of us will ever want to go there. “Let’s see how things play out, ’kay, Wolf?”
Calli opens her mouth to comment when Hawk strides outside with his phone extended. “Maggie. I have someone who’d like to speak with you.”
Jaxx’s mom rises from her seat at the fire and rushes to take the phone. “John? John, is that you?”
When she cradles the phone against her ear and tears start to fall, Jaxx wraps an arm around her and they step away.
“You did it,” Calli says.
Hawk shrugs. “Not really. We tracked his travel from the airport to the office and lost him in the building’s parking garage. Then, a half-hour ago, he stepped into the office confused and without any recollection of the past six hours.”
“Interrogated and wiped,” I say.
Hawk nods. “Thankfully, he didn’t know the details of your suspicions. He couldn’t tell them much and they would’ve raised more suspicion by making him disappear than simply wiping his memory and setting him loose.”
“He’s safe,” Calli says. “That’s the important part.”
Hawk meets her gaze. “Until we figure out who’s behind this, no one is safe, Spitfire. I called in a favor and John and Jaxx’s older sister, Laney, are being escorted to the airport now to board a private jet owned by a colleague of mine. They’ll be here tonight.” He shifts his gaze to Kotah. “Any chance we can arrange a family cabin for the Stantons close by?”
“I’ll take care of it,” Keyla says, joining the conversation. “Those are our guesthouses.” She points into the darkness toward the twin roof peaks silhouetting the moon behind a low rise. “I’ll get one prepped for Jaxx’s family.”
“I’ll help,” Calli says, setting the plates on the grill center countertop. “As long as you promise to call us before Brant eats everything.”
“No promises,” I say, winking at her.
Her smile isn’t as easy as it was a few days ago and that hurts. We talked out our difference of opinion on Hawk back at the Bastion cabin, but all is not yet forgotten.
Kotah and I watch the girls following the torch-lit path and I chuckle. “I thought Calli wanted to strangle your sister.”
The kid smiles, laying out steaks and ribs on the barbeque. “Calli possesses a tremendous capacity for forgiveness—and good thing, too. We’ve all benefited from it already and it’s only been two weeks.”
Hawk chuffs. “Hopefully, we can smooth out some bumps in the road going forward so we won’t need to keep seeking forgiveness. I’m willing to work on being more of a team player if you guys stop looking at me like I’m the scum polluting your favorite pond.”
Kotah passes Hawk a beer from the cooler and smiles. “I don’t see you that way and I’d very much like to have you more involved. I was just saying so when you joined us.”
I don’t trust the guy, but for the sake of the others, I have to give him a chance. “I still think you’re an arrogant jackass.”
Hawk’s smile is cocky and not at all offended. “But not with people inside my circle of trust. The question is, do you want to stay on the outside of that circle or not?”
After thinking about it, I scratch my balls good and offer him the hand to shake.
He rolls his eyes but accepts the gesture.
I’m not sure if Jaxx hears the tail end of that convo or if it’s coincidental timing, but the jaguar returns, steps right up to Hawk, and gives the guy a bro hug. “Thank you,” he says. After a couple of firm hand-slaps on Hawk’s back, he eases off. “Daddy and Laney are on their way here, and Mama and I couldn’t be more relieved. I owe you big.”
“You’re both welco—” Hawk’s words cut off as Mama pulls him in for a second Stanton hug, this one accompanied by a lipstick smudging kiss to his cheek.
“Oh, my sweet boy,” Mama says, rubbing his face with her thumb. “You did an old girl’s heart proud. Thank you.”
Hawk’s wide-eye, shell-shocked gaze makes my day.
Kotah pauses the tongs over the grill and tilts his head toward the cabin. “My sister and Calli are preparing one of the guest cabins for you and your family, Mama. If you’d like, I’ll walk you over as soon as I turn the meat.”
“No need, hon. I’ll find my way just fine. You boys stay and sort yourselves out.” She starts off, and then turns to smile over her shoulder at us. “Remember, there are a lot of emotions in the early days of mating. Give yourselves the space to err and the time to build an understanding of one another. If you all give a little and get a little in return, it’ll work out in the end.”
When Maggie starts to move out, I meet Doc’s gaze and signal for him to escort her. Kotah’s village might be secluded and feel safe, but like Hawk says, until we know more, none of us are safe.
The sizzle of meat and the crack of the fire are the only sounds floating between the four of us while we let that sink in.
Give a little and get a little. I suppose I can try.
I turn to the avian and drop my attitude. “So, Hawk. Were you able to find out anything about those missing kids?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Calli
The next morning, my phone alarm vibrates against the bedside table and I swipe the screen to make it stop. Brant is curled up in his grizzly form at the end of the bed. Nakota is sexy as hell sprawled naked with me in a tangle of rumpled sheets cascading to the floor. Jaxx is sadly missed. He crashed at the Stanton cabin after he and Hawk picked up John and Laney from the airport in the middle of the night. And Hawk is in the next bedroom, unwilling to risk sleeping with me since his sleep sedatives blew up in the cabin explosion.
Rolling off the mattress, I snag one of the sheets from the floor and wrap it around me. When Kotah stirs, I blow him a kiss. “Going to ambush Hawk in the shower.”
Kotah nods. “Good luck, Chigua.”
I pee and brush my teeth in the master ensuite before shuffling next door. The door is closed but not locked, so I let myself in. The hiss of water in the bathroom draws me past the neatly made bed to the partially closed door. I push it open and absorb the visual.
Hawk has his back to me, his arm braced against the marble wall of the shower. His head is dropped as water rushes down his body and caresses over all the inked landscape, cut ridges, and honed muscles.
Gawd he’s such a sexy badass.
Warm tingles spread across my skin and bring me fully awake. Is it the growing heat of the bathroom or the male in front of me that has me flushed and wanting to drop my sheet?
It’s him… defin
itely.
It hurt to think he might cut ties with us. It was a pain I endured with the hope that he would see in time, he belongs with us. Is it wrong to want to solidify his wavering affection? Will he resent me for trying to seduce him?
Again.
“Are you planning to stand there and ogle me all morning, or are you joining me? You wash my back and I’ll wash yours.”
Done deal. I drop the sheet and rush to join him behind the foggy glass wall. I rush a little too much and slip when I hit the shower floor. Hawk’s arms come around me in a split-second, his wet hands making it tough to get a solid hold.
He grips and gropes me quite spectacularly before I stand before him steady and breathless. “Nothing like making an entrance, right?”
Hawk taps an electronic control panel and activates a program for the front and back nozzles. He has that ‘I’ll take care of everything’ look on his face that I’m growing to count on. I don’t care what he has in mind, he has free reign to claim my body and soul.
“Although, ogling you all morning wouldn’t have been a sacrifice either.”
Circling behind me, he presses tight and shifts me under the spray. The water is warm, maybe a touch hot, as it hits my chest and runs down my breasts. His hands slide around my ribs and across my navel. I drop my head back and he nips my neck. “I’m supposed to meet Jaxx and Brant. We have a long day of sleuthing ahead.”
“Brant’s still asleep. Take a bit of time and indulge.”
He pulls me tighter against his hips and his cock presses hard against my lower back. I groan, thankful he’s got such a firm grip on me. “I suppose it can’t hurt to start the day off on the right foot.”
“Right? You know… release some of that tension you always seem to carry.”
His palm makes its way to my mons and his fingers delve between my legs. Simultaneously his other arm grips me tight under my breasts. “What happened to the full Hawk Barron experience, Spitfire? A quick fuck in the shower seems awfully vanilla by comparison.”
I buck as he tweaks my clit and my right nipple at the same time. “I have a feeling nothing about sex with you is vanilla. Besides, you can always dress up vanilla with a little caramel and whipped cream.”