by E. A. James
“That’s how it works when you’re one of us. You put the well-being of the group over your own.”
“So, you’re going to marry Elise?”
“I don’t want to,” he said reaching out to take her hand. “I don’t want to be with her, Rachel. I want to be with you.”
He pulled her in close to him and kissed her softly. She felt her heart begin to race. In a flash, the anger, confusion, and worry were all gone from her mind. The only thing she could think about was his lips pressed to hers, and the surge of longing that rushed through her.
“I’ve always only wanted you, Rachel,” he said pulling back away from her slightly.
“But how can we be together, Caleb? This is all so complicated and messy.”
“Do you want to be with me?” he asked her cupping his hand to her cheek and looking deep in her eyes.
“Of course, I do,” she whispered.
“Then it’s not complicated at all. We’ll figure it out, okay?” he pulled her to him again. He lay back onto the carpeted floor and waited until she was lying next to him. “I promise,” he whispered into her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.
“Promise?” she asked as he slowly kissed her neck.
“I won’t let anything keep us from being together ever again,” he responded, reaching down and slowly pulling her shirt off over her head.
This time, it was her that took the control. She pushed him back onto the carpeted floor and straddled him. He slipped his shirt off and looked up at her with an expression of anticipation.
She ran her fingers over his chest. She could feel his heart beating quickly. Leaning forward she kissed him—slowly at first, then with more passion. He ran his hands up her back, sending shivers through her body. When she felt him slip his hand around to the front of her shorts she rolled off him onto her side. As he fumbled with the button of her shorts she slipped her hand down his. She could feel his member already becoming hard with longing.
After removing what clothes they were still wearing, Caleb pushed her back onto the floor. The carpet tickled at her back, but she didn’t notice. All she could think about was the desire to be with him, both physically and emotionally.
When he placed himself between her legs, her body began to ache. Then, with one swift movement, he pushed himself inside her.
She bit her lip to keep from screaming out, and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down on top of her. He buried his face in her neck and let out a soft moan. Her body reacted to every one of his sure, strong movements, sending alternating feelings of satisfaction and longing washing over her.
The feeling of being with him this time was different than it had ever been before. There was always an urgency between them—a fear that they would one day be ripped apart. But, in that moment, she didn’t have those worries or fears weighing on her. She held onto him tightly, remembering his promise to her. They would find a way to be together; she was sure of it.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said giving her a quick kiss before she walked out his front door. “I just need to take care of a few things first. But then, I promise I’ll go see you, we will be together, Rachel.”
She walked down the long driveway to her car. She felt a lot better than she did when she arrived at his house a few hours before. At least she had answers. She was worried about Joel. But, Caleb had said that if he were going to inherit that part of him, there wouldn’t be any real signs until he was a little older. At this point, all they could do was wait.
She picked Joel up from her parents’ house and headed home. He sat quietly in the back seat, watching the trees fly by outside. Rachel let herself relax a little. Their future was uncertain—more uncertain than it had ever been. But at least she knew that Caleb would be a part of it. That much at least gave her a sense of security.
When they arrived at their small apartment she quickly busied herself with her afternoon routine. She had the night off, so she spent a few hours cleaning the house, playing with Joel, and preparing dinner.
After they ate she began getting Joel ready for bed. She had heard her phone buzz quietly a few times during their meal, but she ignored it. She wanted to focus all of her attention on her son. She only had a night or two off a week, and those were reserved especially for Joel.
When he was finally in bed she decided to see who had been messaging her. She was making her way across the family room to get her phone from the coffee table when a sharp knock stopped her. Grabbing her phone and slipping it into her pocket she went to answer the door.
“Hello, Rachel,” Elise said smiling at her menacingly.
“What are you doing here?” Rachel asked closing the door slightly so she wouldn’t be able to get past.
“I told you to stay away from him. You couldn’t do that, could you?” she countered.
Rachel tried to push the door closed all the way, but Elise threw her weight against it, causing it to fly open and throw Rachel to the floor simultaneously. She entered quickly, three large men followed behind her.
“Get out of my apartment!” Rachel demanded, pushing herself to her feet. The intruders simply laughed in response. One of the men stepped forward and grabbed Rachel firmly by the arm.
“Where is he?” Elise demanded.
“Caleb isn’t here,” Rachel replied, trying to twist free of the man’s grasp.
“I didn’t mean him.”
“Don’t you dare!” Rachel yelled. But it was too late. One of the other men was already heading in the direction of the bedrooms.
She felt her heart sink when she heard her son’s surprised gasp and his scream for her to come to his rescue. “Don’t hurt him!” she yelled out.
“Oh, we won’t,” Elise said looking down at her with her piercing green eyes. “Not yet at least.” She turned her attention to the man who was carrying Joel, kicking and screaming, into the family room. “Ready?”
All of the men gave nods of agreement and they began pushing her out the door. “Where are you taking us?” Rachel tried to fight them off, but it didn’t matter. They were bigger, stronger, and outnumbered her.
When they threw her and Joel into the back of a large SUV, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close to her. He was crying hysterically. She wanted so badly to comfort him but she was terrified herself.
Remembering that she had slipped her phone into her pocket she reached for it. Looking at the screen she saw she had three missed calls and four messages from Caleb. They were all warnings.
Why didn’t she look at her phone sooner? She felt the tears begin to sting her eyes. She held them back, though. Running her hands through Joel’s hair she tried to comfort him. She had to be strong for him. If he saw her cry, he would become even more nervous and upset.
She quickly typed a message to Caleb. All it said was, “I’m sorry.”
CHAPTER NINE
The SUV pulled into the parking lot of one of Caleb’s father’s many business locations. It was a warehouse, and inside she was afraid she would find more than appliances and forklifts.
They ushered her and Joel out of the vehicle and pushed them forward forcefully. “Mommy,” Joel said softly. He had stopped crying, but his eyes were still filled with terror. “Mommy, I’m scared.”
“It’s okay, sweetie,” she lied. She didn’t know what else to say.
Once they reached the large metals doors, Elise banged on them twice. They slid open slowly, just enough for the small group to squeeze in.
Inside it was dark, with only a few overhead lights on. It took her eyes awhile to adjust, and when they did, she wished that they hadn’t. In front of her, she saw Caleb’s dad—the large, imposing man who had filled her with fear since she was fifteen. He was standing in the center of the open space. Next to him was another equally large man. She assumed he was Elise’s father.
Around them were another six men and women, all tall, strong, and with serious expressions on their faces.
“Bring her here,” Caleb’s father ordered.
She was pushed forward forcefully, Joel still tripping along beside her. “I tried to warn you, child,” Caleb’s father said to her when she was standing in front of him. “I told you to stay away from my son.”
“Please don’t hurt Joel,” Rachel pleaded nervously.
Caleb’s father leaned forward to get a better look at Joel, who had his arms wrapped tightly around Rachel’s leg. “That’s the problem,” he said kneeling down and examining him. “We don’t know if he’ll be one of us or one of you.”
“Does that matter?” Rachel asked, putting her hand on her son’s shoulder. “He’s just a child.”
“For now,” he countered.
“But what happens if he does start to change?” Elise added. “None of us has ever had a child with a human. We don’t know what he will be!”
“What happens if he doesn’t change?” Elise’s father added.
“What does that matter?” Rachel asked, spinning around to look at all of them.
“We don’t know what he’ll become,” Elise replied taking a few steps in her direction. “We don’t know if he’ll accept us, or reject us. But we do know that as long as both of you are alive, we can no longer keep our existence a secret.”
“As long as we are alive?” Rachel asked, pulling Joel close to her. “What are you going to do to us?”
“What we need to,” Caleb’s father replied dryly.
He lifted his hand and motioned one of the men standing around them to come forward. Rachel felt her heart racing in her chest. Fear gripped her causing her breathing to become forced and labored. The man charged forward quickly, his heavy steps on the concrete floor the only sound in the room.
When he reached where they were standing, he grabbed hold of Joel by the arm, forcefully pulling him away from her grasp. “No!” she yelled, but it didn’t stop him. He lifted him up and carried him away from her, Joel screaming and kicking wildly.
“Stop!” a voice called from the entrance of the warehouse. “Let him go!”
Everyone turned to watch as Caleb stormed into the room, at least ten other people flanking him.
“Caleb!” his father yelled at him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Me?” he asked with a mocking laugh. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? He’s your grandson,” Caleb said closing the space between them. He stopped right behind Rachel, the men and women with him scattered around behind him.
“No, he’s not,” his father countered aggressively.
“How can you say that?” Caleb asked. “He’s my son! He’s your grandson!”
“He came from a human. He has no relation to me.”
“Use your head, Caleb,” Elise said from behind them. “Who’s to say that she won’t turn on you one day? That her son won’t end up hunting all of us down once he’s old enough to realize what we are?”
“We just want to be left alone,” Rachel said softly, the tears now flowing freely down her cheeks. “We won’t say anything to anyone; you’ll never see us again, I swear.”
“Father,” Caleb said turning back to face his dad, “I don’t want it to come to this, but if you so much as lay a hand on either one of them, you’ll have to answer to me.”
“What does that mean?” his father asked, stepping forward angrily.
“You’ve been a wonderful alpha for our pack for a very long time but you’re getting older,” Caleb said softly. “The pack has already begun to look to me as a leader. Those you see with me here have agreed to stand by me,” he said motioning to the small crowd around him.
“You’d divide our pack?” his father spit at him.
“If that’s what it takes to protect my family.” He shot a look of warning to the man holding Joel. He released him, and Joel ran as quickly as his legs would allow him to rejoin his mother and father.
Caleb leaned forward and scooped him up. Holding him with one arm, he wrapped the other around Rachel. “We don’t know what will happen with Joel,” he said softly. “But, we can’t let ourselves become what we’re afraid of. Why do we fear the humans so much? Because they hunt and kill us! And we’re going to do the same to them? To a child?”
Caleb’s father looked around the room at the faces staring at him. Elise and her father had clear expressions of anger, but besides them, everyone’s countenance seemed to have softened. “You all agree with my son?”
One of the men stepped forward. “I’m sorry, sir,” he said, “but, we’ve lived in isolation for so long. We’re all ready for that to change. Maybe this is a sign that we don’t need to be afraid of the humans anymore. Or, at least that we don’t have to live in fear of them constantly.”
“What do you propose we do then, Caleb?” his father asked turning his attention back to their small family. He didn’t look pleased, but for the first time in Rachel’s memory, she wasn’t terrified of him.
CHAPTER TEN
It wasn’t easy convincing Caleb’s father to change his ways. But, over time he started to accept that his role as the leader of their pack was coming to an end. He was reluctant to accept Rachel and Joel at first. After some time, however, he did join them for dinner one night at Caleb’s house, where Rachel and Joel were living as well. He softened almost immediately to Joel’s boisterous personality and overwhelming amounts of energy.
Elise and her father were not happy about Caleb breaking off his arrangement with her, but they both knew there was nothing they could do to change his mind. Caleb’s conviction was apparent that day; it seemed to hang in the air.
The men and women who came with Caleb to show their support continued to stand by him. They believed in what he wanted; they were tired of living in fear. They wanted change. Eventually, Caleb inherited not only the title as Alpha but also his father’s business. He ran both the pack and the company with strength and grace. He was a wonderful leader, and everyone loved and respected him.
Their life together was far from perfect, but Rachel never complained. She had what she had always dreamed of—her family. Her son had his father, and she was finally able to be with the man of her dreams.
She knew that their future was still unstable; she knew that there were many hurdles they would need to overcome. That didn’t worry her, though. Because the one thing she knew without a doubt, was that Caleb would always be by her side, and that was all she ever really wanted.
***THE END***
THE BILLIONAIRE COWBOY’S BABY
CHAPTER ONE
This is animal cruelty, Frankie thought to herself as she watched a cowboy wrestle a calf to the ground.
The audience cheered.
The announcer excitedly proclaimed how impressed he was by the sight—his voice cracking over the dented speakers.
Frankie crossed her arms and pouted. She had been sitting by her boyfriend over an hour ago, but ever since he left to get the two of them water, she hasn’t seen him. Alone, she was inhaling the scent of mud and dung while trying to daydream about her life back in New York. People were so close together—moving so fast—dreaming so big…the scent of rain and metal poignant in the air…shiny buildings looking like godly towers when the sun hit them at just the right angle…
The crowd cheered louder, making Frankie jolt and tense. The cowboy, standing in front of the tied up calf, took a bow.
Frankie sighed, her shoulders lowering. She scowled at the cowboy, even though it wasn’t his fault that she was here. It was her boyfriend Jack’s fault.
Okay, technically, he didn’t force her to go west with him. He had told her that he was restless and lost—that he was moving for his soul’s sake and not because of anything she had done—and because she had believed him, she offered to go with him.
They had only been dating a year. What was she thinking? She hated dirt. And she hated watching people attack baby animals for amusement. And she had been an accountant back home—making good money, living in a nice a
partment.
But she loved Jack Moore. God help her, she really did. And if he could find peace from this setting, then maybe she could, too. Black people in the south weren’t victimized as much as they used to be, after all.
The thought made her stomach constrict. Placing a palm over her gut, Frankie stood and gently pushed herself past people.
She had to find Jack. She had to remind herself why this crazy move had been worth it.
As she walked in front of the bleachers—the announcer talking about the price of beverages or something—her eyes roamed about in search of Jack. What she found instead was a tall, attractive stranger, his cowboy hat askew on top of his short, messy hair.