by V. Vaughn
Even if Max isn't her son, he's close enough to the family to be driving Carly's car. And that makes him the perfect in. I couldn't have found a better mark. And that means the best thing I can do right now is fall for Max, because I'll be in prime position to accomplish my mission.
I set my water down and let out a groan as I return to pushup position. My body screams in refusal as I lower myself to the floor once again. I don't listen though, because vacation time is over. Here I come Le Roux clan. It’s time for Eradicator vengeance. And mine.
Five
Max
I’ve been in a lot of dangerous situations, but nothing more threatening than messing with the heart of an alpha's daughter, and I’ve never feared for my life the way I do right now. Audrey’s father flashes his alpha at me as he waits for me to answer which true mate I'll choose. And I'm so screwed, because I have to answer truthfully. Cat's words, and the ones the waitress in Connecticut repeated come back to me. Choose the right one. Something much bigger than Audrey's happiness is at stake here. "I'm sorry, sir, but I can't answer that. There's a prophecy—"
"Out!" roars Mr. Le Roux.
I hop to my feet with every intention of shifting and hightailing it out of here as fast as I can.
"Hold on," says Mrs. Le Roux. She gives her mate a fierce look that makes me imagine Audrey doing the same to me someday, I hope. I think they're having an argument with each other in their heads, and I notice Audrey watching with wide eyes. Both of them let out a warning growl, and I can't help but compare the way the two alphas fight to how I will do the same with Audrey someday. Mrs. Le Roux returns her attention to me. "Sit down, Max, and tell us about the prophecy."
"I'd like to tell you more than that if I may. Can I start from the beginning?"
Mr. Le Roux nods his head at me, but his bear glows in his eyes as a warning I'm on thin ice.
I sit and take a moment to decide where to start. "My mother was a renowned witch in my kingdom, the most powerful anyone had ever known, but as a human she was susceptible to things like cancer." I'm surprised when my throat thickens considering I lost my mother almost a decade ago. I reach up and hold the medallion she gave me between my thumb and index finger to rub it. The pendant that contains a portion of her soul. "I had witch powers before she died, but on her death bed she transferred as much of her magic to me as she could." Mr. Le Roux's eyes narrow, and I quickly add, "It's not supposed to work, but somehow she knew it could. And somehow it did. Days later, I began to have visions."
I pause as the memory of the horrible destruction I saw comes to me. “Images of werebear children in cages and men with machine guns. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead bear stacked up in a pit as a backhoe dumped dirt on them. The dreams were about the end of werebear. At first I thought I was seeing our future, but then the visions began to change. They showed me werebear could fight back. It became clear what I saw doesn't have to be. We can change that future.” I lean forward and move my gaze between Mr. and Mrs. Le Roux. “I can change it."
"You." Mr. Le Roux lets out a noise of disbelief. "You're going to save all of us?"
"No. I can't do it alone and I'm not even the most important part." I look over at the woman I'm in love with. The one I drove all the way here waiting to see, and now that she's close enough to touch, I can't have her. Yet. I say, "Audrey is the key. After we met and I realized we were true mates, I thought I was supposed come here, seal our bond, and help you fight. But then I met a witch in Colorado Springs and learned about the prophecy."
Mrs. Le Roux thumps her hand on the table. "Colorado Springs? Who was the witch?"
"Cat was her name, and she was disguised as a young girl, but when she spoke to me, she turned into an old woman."
"Catori!" Mrs. Le Roux gets a faraway look in her eyes before she asks, "What did she look like?"
"Tiny thing. And so old she shouldn't be alive."
"She probably isn't," says Mrs. Le Roux. "Catori was that ancient when I drove to Maine twenty-five years ago." Her brow knits. "This is very interesting. What did she say?"
"Don't let your—" I pause and gesture toward my lap.
Audrey fills the silence for me, "Dick?"
I nod. "Don't let it be your guide. Use your brain and your heart."
"That's a prophecy?" Mr. Le Roux asks, still skeptical.
"Cat told me she was dumbing it down for me." Max shakes his head. "She was a strange woman."
Audrey says, "Where does the other girl come in?"
"I met her just a few hours ago at an all-night breakfast place in town." I want to say Josie approached me to soften the blow, but since I'm the one who waited for her outside the bathroom and the reason we got close enough to recognize our attraction, I'm not about to hide the truth and get caught in a lie later.
Audrey's nostrils flare. "So now you know you have two potential true mates, and you're not sure which one to choose."
"Exactly." I slide my hand on the table toward her. "I want it to be you, Audrey."
For a moment Audrey's expression softens, but her face quickly becomes stone cold. I wouldn't expect anything less from a woman who will one day be the alpha of her clan. "So what now?" she asks. "I'm supposed to compete for you?" She huffs and leans back to cross her arms. "Because that's not going to happen."
"I don't expect it to. And I swear, until I know which one of you I'm supposed to choose, nothing is going to happen with Josie."
"Josie? A little late for that, don't you think?"
My bear preens itself because Audrey's jealousy appeals to his pride, but I know she needs me to beg a little. "It was only a kiss," I plead. "And I didn't even like it."
Audrey snorts. "You are such a liar."
"Okay. It wasn't bad, but it was nothing like what we—" Audrey's eyes widen and she points her thumb at her parents. I say, "She's not you."
"You're just saying that so I won't blast you across the yard again." She smiles briefly, likely proud of her powers, and she should be.
Now that I think the danger of her father killing me has passed I feel free to joke back. "True. So very true. I'm a little afraid of you."
Audrey lets a smile sneak out again before she tries to play it tough. "You should be."
Mrs. Le Roux lets out a small sigh. "Do you have a place to stay, Max?"
"I saw a little bed and breakfast on the way. I thought I'd try them."
"No. You will stay here," Mr. Le Roux says, to my surprise and Audrey's too.
Audrey says, "Dad!"
"Keep your enemies close, Audrey. This way we'll know for sure he's honoring his promise to stay away from the other girl."
My bear is ecstatic we're going to be under the same roof as our true mate, but I know better than to be so happy. Alphas don't do things to be nice, and there is way more to this than my bear's desires are able to see. The reality is staying here isn't going to be easy. I've known Audrey in intimate ways, and I'm addicted. It's going to be hell to stay away from her until I know which woman is the true mate I'm supposed to choose. My only consolation is it's going to be difficult for Audrey too, and our closeness will leave her longing for me so badly that she'll be able to forgive what I did sooner rather than later. I say, "Thank you, sir. I'd like that."
Mrs. Le Roux asks, "Sure you don't want any breakfast? Ours was cut short, and I'm hungry. Please join us."
Mr. Le Roux stands up and grabs a pastry from a bowl on the table. "I'm going to make a few calls." He looks at me. "Welcome, Max. Please enjoy our home." He growls low and deep before revealing his bear teeth in a warning snarl. "Don't make me regret inviting you into it."
I dip my head in submission as a show of my dedication to his clan. Once he leaves, Mrs. Le Roux lets out a big breath of air. "Well. I'm glad that's over. He can be such a bear." She smiles at Audrey and me like it's our first date and she's trying to break the ice with a bad mom joke. "Now, Max. I'm feeding you, so how about I refill your coffee?"
Since I'm more than happy to
pretend everything is fine too, I lift my mug up to her. "Thank you." I reach for the bear claw on the table and take a bite while I wait. Audrey nods toward the pastry and then tilts her head toward her mother in what I think is a message Mrs. Le Roux made them. I let out a moan. "Wow. This bear claw is amazing."
Audrey grins at me as Mrs. Le Roux says, "Why, thank you. They're a recipe I've been perfecting over the years. I'm glad you like them."
I wink at Audrey as if this is the beginning of our life together and I just won her mother over. I want it to be, but as I lick my lips I taste the lingering flavor of Josie's kiss. Passionate. Sexy. Hot as hell. I choke on my bite of food. Mrs. Le Roux thumps my refilled cup of coffee down in front of me. "Are you okay?"
I nod and clear my throat before swallowing down the hot liquid. But I have a feeling it's going to be a long time before I'm okay again. If at all.
Six
Audrey
"Mom. What is this?" I ask in reference to her requesting I prepare Max's room for him. "Don't you think Shannon or Kelly should do it instead?"
My mother hands me a stack of sheets and towels. "I'd have thought you'd appreciate this. It's a chance to be alone with your true mate."
The lavender aroma of fabric softener fills my nose with its pleasant odor, and I imagine it would only be better with Max's scent mixed in. "Yeah. One who cheated on me and isn't sure if I'm the right one for him."
"Perhaps times have changed, and I don't understand how one-night stands work these days. But in my day, it meant you had no commitment to each other."
I roll my eyes at her. "This is different, and you know it."
"Is it? You thought he was human, and you didn't even know his name."
Damn it. She's got a point. "This is torture, you know."
"Of the very best kind. Now go spend some time with your true mate, Audrey."
I glare at her and turn to go make up the bed in the guest room for Max. I stomp down the hall for a few steps before I realize I'm being a petulant child. I know what my mother's doing here. She thinks that the more time Max spends with me the more likely I'll be the one he chooses. She's practical that way, but what she doesn't understand is I have my pride. Max kissed another woman. I kick the door to the guest room shut before I realize I'm still being childish. But I can't help it. I feel like I'm the only who thinks what Max did with Jo-sie is a big deal.
My parents probably have political aspirations for pairing me up with the alpha heir to another clan, and that could be clouding their judgment. But my mother's comment about one-night stands meaning Max and I had no commitment to each other does have merit, as much as I hate to admit it.
I take the towels into the bathroom and arrange them in a pleasing manner on the counter. I also know how the true mate connection works, and even though it pains me to imagine Max feeling it for someone else, it does explain his behavior.
I grab the fitted sheet to begin making Max's bed. I've just managed to tug the last corner down when the door opens. I look up to see Max standing in the doorway looking like he stepped out of one of my dreams. He went for a run after breakfast, and sweat glistens on his bare chest and dampens his hair. He's wearing a pair of my father's shorts that are too big for him, and they're hanging dangerously low on his hips, letting me see the strong cords of muscle that lead to a thickening of hair peeking out above the waistband. His scent fills the air around me, forcing me to breathe it in and let it wind its tendrils throughout my body, making my insides tremble with need.
"Oh," he says. "I didn't realize you were in here." His bag drops to the floor with a thud, and he moves toward me. "Thanks for making my bed."
"Uh-huh," I say, like a starstruck girl meeting a famous musician she has a crush on. I shake my head when I realize how stupid I sound. "There are towels in the bathroom already if you want to shower."
Max takes a tentative step closer, and his chest heaves as if he hasn't recovered from his run yet. But I know he has. "That would be nice," he says in a voice that's low and deep. I'm sure the aroma of my arousal is accosting his senses and he's as turned on as I am. I don't even notice I've walked over to meet him halfway until he reaches out to twirl a lock of my hair around his finger. "Still as soft as I remember it."
I touch his chest gingerly, but a magnet seems to suck my palm in, and I press it against his firm chest. I let out a sigh as the warmth of connection rushes through my arm and straight to my heart. Completely free of the barriers he put up before to cloak his identity, it’s like a shot of heroin that causes my knees to get weak, and I let out a whimper.
I realize Max feels our connection too, and a low noise comes from the back of his throat as he snakes an arm around me to pull me in. He clutches my head and breathes into my hair, inhaling as if I'm his life force. "Audrey."
I grasp his back and dig my fingers into the sheer strength of him. "Max." I close my eyes, ready to open up and give him everything, but the vision of him kissing Josie pops into my mind. Like a bucket of cold water was thrown on me, I push away. "No."
I step back and begin to inhale, only to realize I'm just filling myself with more of the drug I need to resist, and I stumble away to get out into the hall and suck in a mouthful of air.
Max has followed me, and he says, "Audrey," as he grabs my arm. I turn to look at him as tears of frustration fill my eyes. Pain clouds his face too, and he releases his grip. "I'm sorry."
I believe him, and I swallow back the urge to cry. "I know."
Max and I stare at each other, and my mind races with the memories of us together, of what could be right now if things were different, and the what-if of our future. He lets out a sigh and turns to go back in his room, and I watch until the door shuts and breaks me from my trance.
I move quickly down the hall toward the stairs to my room, and I jog up so I can throw myself on my bed to cry.
My mother told me once that women are smart enough to know that sometimes a good cry is what we need to let out pent-up emotions. I tend to go for anger first, especially since I've spent a decade with my strength of character being compared to my alpha brother, and I don't let myself cry often. Today I don't care.
Tears stream down my face as I hug my pillow tight and wail. I feel like the last five days have taken me through so many emotions I don't know which way is up. Part of me wants to be a little girl again where everyone makes decisions for me and I get to complain about how I have no choices.
I fall back on the mattress as my wails subside to sobbing. Now I'm an adult, and the decisions I make are my own. I only have myself to blame when things go wrong, and while I realize it’s part of growing up, at the moment I don't like it.
I sit up and stop crying when I've exhausted myself, and I'm pretty much done with my pity party when a soft knock on my door makes me sniff and swipe the tears away. I ask, "Who is it?"
"Shannon."
"And Kelly," I say because I can hear two people breathing. "C'mon in and watch your sister fall apart."
The twins enter my room, and Kelly says, "We're here to do every bad rom-com thing you can imagine to help you with your broken heart."
"What?" I chuckle when I see the bag they brought. Shannon looks in the bag. "First we need—" she pulls out a bottle of wine “—alcohol.”
"Does Mom know you have that?"
"Oh, please. We're eighteen, Audrey. That's plenty old enough, and you know it."
She's right. You don't even need to be that old to get served in a bar werebear run around these parts. "Fine. But I hope you swiped the good stuff."
"Top shelf, behind the pink stuff Grammy likes?" asks Kelly.
I smile. "You two know your stuff. Open that sucker, Shan. What else have you got?"
Kelly pulls out a bag of chips and a reusable container. "I made clam dip."
"Oh. You two are good." It's the simplest recipe of cream cheese and canned clams but along with salty chips, the treat is like crack. I make a grabby hand motion. "Gimme."
/> I rip the bag open as Kelly pops off the top of the dip container. The moment I get a mouthful of the salty sweet flavor combination, I moan and speak before swallowing. "You two are the best sisters I've ever had."
Shannon hands me a glass of red wine. "We're the only ones, but we'll take the compliment." She sits next to me and places a hand on my leg. "Want to talk about it?"
I take a sip of my wine. "You've probably heard it all by now."
"What we know is that Max is another alpha in the house," says Kelly, "totally knocking me and Shannon down one more spot on the totem pole. And Dad seems to want him here to keep an eye on him."
"True." I say.
"And we know that Max has two true mates. Can that really happen?" asks Shannon.
I nod. "It's rare, but it happened to aunt Lucy."
"Whoa. Really?"
Lucy is a Robichaux and my mother's stepsister. "Yeah. Back when the De Roziers first came here from Antarctica, Uncle Sven's twin, Serge, was also Lucy's true mate."
"Two of them who can’t live without you." Shannon's eyes dance with mischief, and she lets out a dreamy sigh.
Kelly slaps her. "So not helpful right now, Shan." Items clatter as she dumps the rest of the bag out on my bed, and I notice chocolate bars, manicure supplies, and face masks, along with a laptop I suspect they brought so we can watch a cry movie of our choosing.
I chuckle trying to put myself in Max's shoes. "I don't think it's as great as it sounds."
Kelly asks, "What happened in Max's room? We heard you run away."
Shannon leans in with wide eyes. “Then he locked the door.”
The thing about a houseful of werebear with sensitive ears is that there isn't much privacy. I shake my head. "Nothing. He told me he was sorry, and I said I get it."