by Celia Kyle
A hiss reached her ears, the sound purely feline, and she knew one of the others had shifted—Cole or Ethan was delaying Declan. That was the only wolf who’d be fighting to get to her and Pike so hard.
“Don’t release Declan!” Birch roared the words, and Pike flinched beneath her.
“Dammit, kid. I told you to stay put until I had a chance to talk to them,” Birch snarled. He growled as he approached them, fury in every stomping step, as if he were about to dive after Pike, too.
Well, she wasn’t done yet.
“Hold it, Birch.” She held out her hand, warding him off. Off-white cougar’s nails tipped her fingers—sharp and deadly. “Only one person gets to kick Pike’s ass at a time, and it’s still my turn. You can yell at him in a minute.”
Brass ovaries…she had ’em apparently.
“It’s fine. He’s right,” Pike whispered, and she could see the pain lingering in his eyes. “Birch told me to wait, but I wanted to explain.”
“Explain what?” Declan snarled at Pike and then at her. “Abby, get your ass over here.”
Instead of moving, she took a deep, calming breath so she didn’t try to kick all their asses at once. “No, I’m not. I’m not done fighting Pike. It’s still my turn.” She glanced at her mate, and Declan looked like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to strangle her or fuck her. Abby knew how she’d vote, but only when they got rid of their audience.
“Pike, I’m the team alpha for a reason. I make plans; the team executes.” Birch pointed to himself. “I say jump…” He gestured at the team. “They don’t have to ask how high because they listened the first fucking time I gave them an order.”
Abby shifted slightly, wiggling closer to Pike and farther away from Birch. Apparently Birch was slightly miffed at Pike, too.
“He’s not on the fucking team,” Declan snarled. “He’s a traitor. You fucking—” Her mate’s eyes blazed with his wolf’s presence. “You gave her to them.”
“You’re not team alpha.” Birch’s glare moved from Pike to Declan. “You don’t get a vote.”
“I’ve wondered about that. I think we should be able to vote on shit. Like, when it comes to choosing our base when we’re on assignment.” Grant was still noshing. “The takeout on the last one was gross. I didn’t even want to eat at some of the places.” The wolf shuddered and then gagged.
And the tension popped like that. Grant was intelligent, deadly, constantly hungry apparently, but at his core he seemed like a peacekeeper. Of sorts.
“This isn’t a conversation I wanted to have yet.” Birch glared at Pike, and Pike winced again.
“I couldn’t let Declan think that—”
“That you betrayed me and my mate? That I should—”
“Enough.” The word whipped through the air, a wave of dominance and pure strength in those syllables. Her cougar flinched, recognizing a stronger shifter nearby. One who demanded obedience.
She generally wasn’t an obedient kind of girl.
Birch propped his hands on his hips and dropped his head forward. His shoulders rounded, and the man looked like he carried the weight of the world—beaten and dragged down by responsibility.
The team alpha straightened and stared at Declan. “Pike was freelancing. For me.”
More growling from her mate—his amber-eyed gaze moving between Pike and Birch before finally settling on the wolf at Abby’s side. “You told them about the house. You’re the reason Abby got shot. And then you told them about the island.” Declan surged, and Ethan and Cole tightened their holds, pulling her mate back again. “You little shit…”
“He’s also the one who made sure she suffered minimal damage while Unified Humanity had her,” Birch countered.
Abby wouldn’t call it “minimal” herself, but she supposed it could have been worse.
“He told them where to find her in the first place.” Declan snarled once more, and both Ethan and Cole struggled to hold him back. “He—”
Birch held up his hand. “On my orders. Everything he did—everything he revealed to Unified Humanity—was at my direction.” He rolled his shoulders. “Twitchy, remember?”
“All your ‘twitchy’ bullshit got us was Abby hurt.”
The bear shrugged. “Maybe.” Birch tipped his head toward Pike. “And maybe not. That’s not a discussion for right now. As team alpha I’m telling you he’s our sixth man. The rest will figure itself out.”
“As long as it gets figured out before my balls explode, I don’t give a fuck,” Abby heard Declan mumble, which meant everyone heard Declan mumble, and she groaned.
“Declan…”
“It wasn’t me.” He snapped his gaze to her, eyes wide, the picture of innocence.
More than one of the men snorted.
The snort turned into a cough, which turned into several coughs, and they all looked anywhere but at her.
“All right. So much for a fucking barbecue.” Birch clapped his hands. “Let’s break for the day. Get settled in your rooms and then do whatever you want. We’re having a run in the north quarter tomorrow night. No excuses. Everyone’s wearing their fur. You can make fun of me if you want, but it’s a damned team-building exercise. We can’t have a happy—”
They four men finished it together. “Cohesive team in order to effectively protect and care for our kind. We’re given a great responsibility as SHOC agents and we can’t betray the trust of our people by fighting among ourselves.”
Birch sighed, the men laughed, and Abby just smiled. They were dangerous—deadly—but they were still just men. Ones who liked to laugh, joke, and…
She met Declan’s gaze and felt his heated expression all the way down to her toes. She knew he wanted her—she craved him just as much—but beneath that was something she wanted to call…love.
Chapter Forty-two
Declan sighed and leaned against the nearest tree, crossing his legs at his ankles. Bark dug into his bare shoulder. On the outside, he appeared relaxed and content. On the inside, he wanted to run across the clearing and snatch Abby away from Ethan, Cole, and Grant’s reach. If he didn’t mate her soon, he’d kill someone.
But that wasn’t exactly “team building.” Team destroying, though…That could be fun.
He sighed. Again. Where the hell was Birch? They couldn’t get their shit-show into the forest without him.
The snap of a twig, the crunch of leaves, and a gentle wind from the south announced the newest member of their group. One who had him torn in two—alternating between kicking the asshole’s ass and whacking him for being so stupid…before kicking the asshole’s ass.
“Lazy,” Declan murmured as the newcomer stepped into his peripheral.
“Cautious,” Pike countered.
He grunted. “I didn’t cut your throat last night.”
“Because Abby wouldn’t let you.”
Declan shrugged. It was the truth, after all. The only reason he hadn’t done anything to Pike was because Abby had wrapped herself around Declan and fallen asleep the moment her head hit his shoulder. Even now he was certain she’d been faking, but he wouldn’t tell her that. He wanted to mate eventually, and pissing her off would only delay them again.
Quiet blanketed them, two brothers standing side by side, but Declan felt as if thousands of miles separated them. They’d always been close, but now he wondered if it’d all been fake.
Abby’s laugh reached out, her pure happiness acting like a soothing caress to his wolf. She was alive and whole. She wanted to be his. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve her, but he wasn’t letting go. He hadn’t done a good job of keeping her safe so far, but he’d do better. He had to. He couldn’t live without her now.
“I’m sorry.” Pike’s voice was low, raspy.
“I know.” He did know. The wolf knew, too. That didn’t diminish its desire for vengeance though.
Pike slumped, shoulders curved forward, spine rounded. If he’d shifted, his tail would have been tucked between his legs, to
o.
Declan’s wolf growled and shoved. It wanted him to snarl at the pup at their side. Show him the error of his ways. It wouldn’t mind killing him either. But Declan kept it back. Not because he wasn’t furious, but because Pike was his brother.
“Why?” That was Declan’s only question.
“Birch—”
“I’m not asking Birch. I don’t give a damn about the grizzly’s twitchy bullshit. I’m asking you—my brother—why you betrayed me.” He shook his head, the pain of his brother’s treachery throbbing in his chest.
“You’re not the only one driven by the past, Dec.” Pike sighed. “You don’t have a monopoly on pain.”
“You?” Declan snorted, and pointed at Pike. “You left the pack voluntarily after the alpha died. I didn’t force you to follow me.”
“You mean after you killed the alpha?” Pike hissed. “You’re my brother, Dec. I wasn’t about to let you leave without me.”
Declan ignored him. “I’ve done everything for you—given you anything you’ve ever needed. What do you know—”
“I know.” Pike rasped those two words, his brother’s agony more than evident. “I know that before you joined SHOC you’d spend months on a job. You’d come back for a few days and then leave on another. You think I just sat around and twiddled my thumbs while you did that shit?” Pike shook his head. “I had my own life. I had my own experiences with Unified Humanity. When Birch contacted me, I didn’t hesitate.” His brother looked him in the eyes, meeting Declan’s hardened stare without a hint of a flinch.
“I’m sorry things played out the way they did, but the result was worth it.”
Declan’s wolf snarled and pulled at him, fighting to tear free of his human skin and sink his claws into Pike. “She shielded you.”
“I know. I thought she was going to rip out my throat when she pounced.” Pike rubbed his neck.
“No, in that room—at Unified Humanity. I was going to…” He ran a hand down his face. He was so fucking tired, and he knew they’d just go ’round and ’round with the argument. Declan knew he was right and Pike…fuck. Pike might have been right, too. “You were unconscious, and I was going in for the kill. She jumped on top of you so that I ended up with her neck between my jaws. You hurt her and she still saved your ass.”
“I didn’t realize.”
“Yeah, well…” Declan shrugged.
“She saved me twice.” A hint of awe filled Pike’s tone, and he wasn’t sure he liked the way his brother stared at Abby.
“She did.” He shook his head. “She’s the strongest shifter I know. She’s been through so much—growing up and with us—but she’s still over there laughing with the team.”
“Stronger than you?”
He glanced at Pike, wondering if the kid was joking, but he looked honestly curious. “Killing’s easy. Surviving, though, that’s hard.”
“Declan?” That soft voice, the delicate scent of her skin, and the soft padding of her bare feet on the grassy earth announced Abby’s approach—and the end of his conversation with Pike.
They still had shit to figure out, but Declan had calmed enough to put off killing his brother…for a little while, at least.
He turned his head and watched her come toward him. She was his, in mind if not in body quite yet. Every curvy inch of her five-foot-eight frame. Every part of her would be his—soon. Fuck, he hoped very soon because he thought he’d go crazy without her. Neanderthal him wanted to own her down to her soul. He wanted to be her first thought of the day and last just before she fell asleep.
Because he sure as hell didn’t want to be the only one going crazy in their mating. She already had him wrapped up in knots to the point that his wolf couldn’t think of anything but her. Her smiles, her laughs, her kisses, her touches…
“Is everything okay?” She nibbled her lower lip, uneasiness in her expression while she flicked her attention between him and Pike.
“It’s fine, sweetheart,” he murmured, and held out his arm.
He tugged her close the moment her fingers wrapped around his. Once those curves were snug to his side, he gave her a kiss on her temple. He couldn’t trust himself to kiss her anywhere else. Once he got started he wouldn’t finish until he was finished. He was almost to the point that he didn’t care who happened to be standing around watching.
Abby placed her hand on the center of his chest and tipped her head back to meet his gaze. “You sure?”
Maybe he could kiss the tip of her nose and be okay. He did just that and drew in a deep breath at the same time. Yeah, he wasn’t okay. His cock went hard with that single hint of her scent, and he closed his eyes, trying real hard not to come in his jeans.
And his mate knew it. She wiggled her hips, body caressing his firm length while she gave him a knowing smirk. Even Pike could tell, his shithead little brother laughing like a damn donkey.
Declan reached out and whacked him in the back of his head. “Shut up, asshole.”
“Declan,” Abby admonished him. Of course.
“You can’t expect me not to hit him. I didn’t kill him, did I?” Yet. “Besides, he’s my brother. I’ve been hitting him for more than twenty years. I can’t stop now. It’d hurt his feelings.”
Abby snorted. So did Pike. Declan had the urge to glare at them both but settled for Pike. He still wanted to get in her pants and his fangs in her shoulder. Hopefully tonight. He knew the perfect spot just at the bend of the creek, and he’d already warned the team off. That area was a no-paw or -human-feet zone until sunrise tomorrow.
That’d give him the rest of the afternoon and all night to sate himself. Or at least take the edge off.
Declan licked his lips, imagining losing himself in her. In his fantasy, she’d shift back to human when they reached the creekside. He’d lay her down on the soft grass and take his time with her. Trace her curves with his tongue before he buried his face between her legs. Cats weren’t the only species that liked cream, and he wanted all of Abby’s. Then he’d settle between her legs and—
Poke.
Hell, no he wasn’t poking. He was smoother than that.
Poke. Poke.
What the—
Poke. Poke. Poke.
Declan shook his head and rapidly blinked his eyes before turning his attention to the small finger poking his chest. “Huh?”
“Birch is here. He wants to get started.”
He stared at her a moment more, trying real hard to figure out what the hell she was saying. “Huh?”
A large—familiar—hand whacked him in the back of the head. “Get your mind off your dick. Birch is ready to run.”
Declan swung his arm out, fingers curled to form a fist, and aimed for his brother. Who ducked out of reach with a smile and a laugh before he jogged off to join the rest of the team. There was still a small hitch in Pike’s step, but a shift would take care of the remaining injuries, putting him back together. At least physically.
“You sure I can’t kill him? If I do it in his sleep, he won’t feel a thing.”
Abby just chuckled and gave him a soft kiss on the chin. He figured that meant no. Dammit.
Chapter Forty-three
Abby held Declan’s hand, his touch a comfort, while they slowly padded toward the rest of his team. She squeezed his fingers a hint tighter, a tremor of unease sliding into her blood, and she pushed the feeling aside.
“Sweetheart?”
She glanced at him, giving him a soft smile. “It’s been a while since I’ve participated in a group run. In Alaska, gatherings were more like group swims, and before that, it was with my parents, so…”
“Eh, we’re not all that organized. We’ll shift, run as a group for a little bit, and then break off. Birch likes to find a cool cave to nap in. Ethan has a favorite rock where he can pretend he’s got a pride of pussies waiting to lift their tails. Cole will fish a little in the creek. He just likes us to share the forest when shifted so our animals are familiar with each other.”
“And the wolves stick together? You’re like a mini-pack.”
Declan snorted. “Pike and Grant can go run together.”
“And us?”
“We will go exploring. I’ll show you some of my favorite spots.” He tugged her close, his hardness—including that hardness—pressed to her.
“Your favorite private spots?” Heat flushed her face, and a war roused inside her. She wanted to mate him—there was no disputing that—but in the middle of the forest during a run? Did she…?
Declan’s eyes darkened, a deep amber replacing the bright blue. His wolf was out, peering at her through his eyes, and she recognized that look. Simply because it matched her own. Yes, the wolf wanted to mate. Now. In the forest. During the run.
Where anyone could come upon them while they solidified their connection.
Abby’s center grew heavy and ached, that part of her already eager for his touch. Arousal blossomed and spread, reaching out from her core to consume her body. Her nipples hardened beneath her thin cotton shirt. She hadn’t bothered with a bra or panties since she’d have to strip for her shift. They would have been just another layer to discard.
“Yes.” He growled the word, deep rumble sending yet another jolt of need down her spine.
“Are you two coming?” Grant called out and then grunted, whispering “asshole” to someone before he yelled again. “I don’t mean coming. That’s later. I meant are y’all gonna strip and shift already. You’re taking forever, and my balls are getting cold.”
They were naked already? Abby turned her head, wanting to both confirm her suspicion and get a peek at the team, only to have Declan place his hand over her eyes.
“It’s not cold, asshole. Summer hasn’t been gone that long. Turn around.”
“Does she want a look at my ass? She just had to ask.” Grant’s grunt that time was quite a bit louder.
“Turn. Around.” Declan growled at the team, and the texture of his skin changed, the wolf easing forward and taking over.