by Ines Johnson
Chapter Fifteen
The sun was low on the horizon when they emerged from Rory’s apartment. Descending the stairs that led into the butchery, Rhetta spotted Rory’s assistant. The woman’s owl-like eyes beaded at the sight of Rhetta who was wearing a Rory shawl around her shoulders.
Rhetta rolled her eyes. In addition to Rory’s diet, and the paint on the walls of his apartment, along with some new furniture, there would be some other changes being made.
Rory pinched her ass as they came down the last step and entered the fresh air. She jumped and giggled. “Stop that, people will see.”
“Good,” he growled. “It’ll save me from having to shout from the rooftops that you’re mine.”
Standing in the closed doorway of his shop, Rhetta opened to him. She opened up and let every ounce of fear she had out. She faced the fact that this man who had once chose another was now claiming her as his one and only true mate. It made her dizzy.
Before she could stumble, Rory pulled her into his arms. He held her close, favoring his good leg to offer her support. He did that a lot she noted. Put himself in harm’s way for a moment with her, a taste of her. Rhetta wanted him to know that he didn’t have to be the strong one all the time. She had strength, too, and she would happily share.
She was grinning so hard that it started to hurt her face. Could this all be real? Could it last?
Rory leaned in. She expected him to take her lips with wild abandon. Instead, Rory planted the softest of kisses on her mouth. So delicate, so consuming, so devastating that she clung to him.
She laid her cheek on his chest and listened to his heart beating. She felt her own heart falling in line to match the beat of his. Her gaze fell on the scene outside of the glass storefront door.
Looking around, she saw the stares of people passing by on the street. She recognized many faces and knew that they were passing judgment on her, likely for having seen her with Jordan for the last year. And now she was wrapped up in his brother’s arms.
“Rory?”
“Hmm?” His nose was buried in her hair. He inhaled repeatedly, seeming to revel in her scent. His deep purr sent a shiver down her spine.
“We should probably date for a while.”
“Date?” he asked. “You say that like it’s a verb.”
“It is a verb. It’s what a man who is courting a woman does to gain her favor.”
“Gain her favor?” His laugh was a bellow. He pulled back and looked down at her, eyes glistening with moonglow. “I gained enough of your favor last night. And yesterday. And the night before that.”
“I’m serious.” Rhetta stepped out of his embrace and crossed her arms over her chest. Her ass bumped against the door, and the closed sign shifted. “What will people think?”
“That you’re mine, as in a noun. Pretty soon, it will be a proper noun.”
Rory wrapped a huge paw around her waist. He didn’t pull her to him. He ran his thumb across her abdomen in a hypnotic fashion. She felt her core throbbing in time to the motion.
Rhetta swallowed at the intensity in his gaze. No one had ever looked at her that way, as though they possessed her. And she realized Rory did possess her—body and soul.
She wished she wasn’t scared, but she was. She’d never thought anything like this would happen to her. To her. Rhetta Veracruz. The girl people always overlooked. The woman nobody even noticed.
“How about this,” Rory purred. “I’ll make dinner tonight, as long as you bring dessert.”
“I’ll come over, but I’ll cook for you.”
That was the way she was going to keep him. She’d show him just how good of a cook she was. She’d get him addicted to her food. Then she’d give him her body again. That would make him stay.
Rory nipped at her neck, right over the place where he’d marked her again and again. “No, you’re going to sit your pretty ass down while I cook for you. I’m not entirely useless, pet.”
Rhetta pulled away from him. “I don’t think you’re useless at all.”
They stared at each other for a moment, as though seeing one another anew. They both were wounded animals, reaching out tentatively for affection, hoping that this time they wouldn’t get caught in someone else’s trap.
“I could kill my brother. He’s never taken proper care of you.”
In all honesty, Rhetta had never given Jordan the opportunity to. She did everything for him so that he would find her services, her company, her very being invaluable.
“You’ve never had anyone spoil you?” asked Rory.
Rhetta shook her head. As far back as she could remember, she had always been the one to lend a hand.
“That ends this moment,” he said. “Go to your mother’s house and get your things. Then you’ll come back home and let your man take care of you the way you should be treated.”
It should’ve rankled. Rhetta was a capable woman. She didn’t need a man to do anything for her. But she pressed her lips to Rory’s and then dove out of the door of the shop on quick feet.
Rory let her go. His deep laughter put wind under her feet. His call of “That’s my pet,” made her want to kick up her heels.
Rhetta found her car and put it in gear. Ignoring the speed limit, she hurried home. She could still hear Rory’s chuckling laughter and endearment as she pulled into her mother’s driveway. She couldn’t wait to get back to him, back beneath him, back to everything with him.
Love was happening to her. It was scary and terrifying. But it was also heady and invigorating. She’d take it, the joy and the fear, as long as she got to keep Rory in the process.
Gloria came from the fields as Rhetta got out of the car. It was one of the rare times that her mother was actually clothed walking in the fields.
“You just missed Jordan,” said Gloria.
It took Rhetta a moment to place the name. Oh, crap. Right. Her fiancé. She’d have to deal with him sooner rather than later.
“Did he go home?” Rhetta asked.
“No, he went to see his brother.”
That was even worse. Rory wouldn’t hesitate to rub their relationship in Jordan’s face. Rhetta felt confident that Rory’s feelings for her were real, but she also knew that his ire for his brother was still very much alive. She’d need to get back over there quickly.
“Jordan had a woman with him,” her mother was saying. “Rosey, I think her name was.”
Rhetta froze. The mild nausea that had been plaguing her the last couple of days roiled in her stomach. Bile filled her throat. She had to swallow it down before she could speak.
“Rosalind?”
“Yeah,” said Gloria. “That’s it. Said he was taking her to Rory’s to end the feud between him and his brother.”
Rhetta’s first instinct was to slink into the house and give up. She couldn’t compete with a wolf’s first love. She was going to lose him the moment Rosalind wrapped her fingers around him.
It was just her luck. Damn it.
But then a curious thing happened. With a will of its own, her hand reached out and grabbed the handle of the car door. She yanked it open and her feet inched closer and closer heading back inside.
She wasn’t about to give up. Not for Rory. Not without a fight.
She had one foot inside the car before something pulled her back. It was Gloria’s hand on Rhetta’s arm. Rhetta turned to see her mother glaring at her.
“You ungrateful child,” said Gloria.
“Mama?”
“I was just getting used to the idea of being a grandma. Now, I’ll have two cubs scratching up my carpets? And possibly three if you turn out to have twins because you know it’s in the Veracruz genes.”
“What are you talking about?”
But Gloria crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “That Rory didn’t waste any time, did he?”
Rhetta’s head was swimming. Her mother’s words were slowly forming an unbelievable idea in Rhetta’s mind. Something she’d known deep
down but had been avoiding giving credence to. Something even scarier than being in love.
“Well, at least I’ll be the hottest grandmother in Senora,” Gloria sniffed, the indignation rolled off her as quickly as it came. But that was the way of her mother. “And both of my girls bagged alpha wolves. No one else can claim that. All right, fine, I approve your pregnancy.”
Another wave of nausea rolled over Rhetta. Now that the idea was given a voice, she couldn’t deny it any longer. She placed her hand on her belly.
“Oh, Goddess.”
Chapter Sixteen
Rory held the knife in his hand. He flipped it around by the handle a couple of times before bringing it down with a mighty and precise blow that sliced through the chunk of flesh with ease. The day had gone by uneventfully but it was the happiest day he’d spent at work since … forever.
He decided to call it an early day. He gave Shelly the rest of the afternoon off as well. She’d been leaking from her owlish eyes all day over something or other. He didn’t ask.
With her ushered out the door along with the last customer, Rory turned the open sign to closed and headed up to his apartment. He’d set aside the choicest of cuts for his woman. Pulling out a pan, he let the meat marinade in oils and spices for a bit while he cleaned up.
Peace had settled over Rory by the time he came out of the shower. He’d dressed in a crisp white shirt and a pair of slacks he hadn’t worn in years. Standing in his apartment, he looked around at his place as though seeing it for the first time.
Rhetta was right. The walls did need to be repainted. His furniture was shabby. He couldn’t have his mate and child living like this. When Rhetta came through the door in a bit, he’d hand over his wallet and tell her to make this place into a proper home.
Then again, an apartment was no place to raise a cub. They’d have to go and look for a house soon. His own house. His own cub. His own mate.
It had felt like he’d been moving through molasses these past years. His body had ached every morning when he got up and then again at night when he lay himself down to go to bed. But these last couple of days, Rory had felt alive. He’d felt energized, even when he’d been in actual pain from working his foot too hard.
It was all due to Rhetta. She’d awakened him. But she hadn’t just woke him up, she’d lit a spark in him. Rory had always thought he wanted a docile woman who would follow him obediently.
That had been Rosalind. She was the type that needed to be cared for and coddled. The moment he fell invalid; she’d revoked her love.
Rhetta had seen him at his best this morning. But she’d seen him at his worst when they first met. She’d fought him. She’d fought her feelings for him. She’d fought the very idea of them. It did nothing but make Rory want her more and, in the end, when he finally got her to submit, it would be all the more sweeter.
Life with Rhetta would never be ordinary. She would challenge him every step of the way. He knew she’d make him go longer and harder for every victory. Rory almost danced a jig at the prospect.
He was headed over to turn on the oven to prepare a feast for his mate, the first of many, when he heard a knock at the door.
He frowned. That would not do. The first thing he would do would be to get Rhetta a key. No sense in her having to knock in order to enter her own home, temporary as it may be. Rory flung the door open with a huge smile that promptly died.
Standing on the other side of the door was his brother. Rory’s lip curled at the sight of the man who had neglected such a prize as his Rhetta. But Rory’s ire at Jordan would have to wait a moment. Standing right behind his brother was Rosalind.
Rory gulped at the sight of her. He had spent years dreaming about this moment, hoping for it, wishing and praying to the Moon Goddess for Rosalind to show up on his doorstep. When she had broken things off with him, it had all been so final. He’d begged her to take him back. Rory never begged. But he had that night, and she’d looked down at him like he was a ragged dog.
Rosalind looked pretty much the same now. She was still stunning. Her head bowed as she looked up at him through thick lashes in that submissive way. It had always made his cock hard. It did nothing for him now.
Rory returned his gaze to his brother. “What are you doing here, Jordan?”
“Hello, Andrew,” Jordan said stiffly.
Rory knew his brother wasn’t trying to be high and mighty, it was just the way he spoke. The problem was, Rory hated being called Andrew.
“I’ve come to make peace between us,” Jordan continued.
Though Jordan stood stiffly, his feet shifted. His heels weren’t touching the ground, as though he might bolt. He’d always been a slight boy. He’d have been considered the runt of the litter if he had been born wolf. It had always brought out Rory’s protective streak toward his younger sibling.
Rory sighed looking down at the little pipsqueak. Did Jordan actually think that his big brother might hurt him? Well, Rory had threatened it. Numerous times. For many years. But he wouldn’t have actually done it.
“You’re right,” Rory said opening the door wider. “It’s time we make peace.”
Jordan needed to know where they stood and exactly who stood beside whom. And if Jordan didn’t like the fact that Rhetta was now Rory’s, too bad. He could go lick his wounds or let his mother do it for him like she did everything else.
Jordan blinked with surprise. Then he made his way into the apartment, followed by Rosalind. Rory had forgotten she was standing there.
“It is the wish of our dear mother—who is recovering nicely by the way—that we make peace.”
“She’s your mother,” said Rory. “Not mine.”
Jordan continued as though he hadn’t heard him, or simply ignored Rory’s words. “She suggested that I extend the olive branch, even though I had apologized all those years ago. There is nothing I can do about your foot. But perhaps there is something I can do about your heart.”
And with that, he brought Rosalind forward like an offering.
Rosalind stumbled a bit. Rory didn’t reach out to catch her. It took a second before she regained her own footing.
“I’ll give you two time alone and then perhaps you and I can talk.” Jordan smiled, pleased with himself. Then he turned and headed for the door.
Before Rory could stop him, so that they could discuss the real matter which was the end of Jordan’s engagement and the beginning of Rory’s life with his true mate, Jordan shut the door leaving Rory and Rosalind alone.
“Hello, Rory,” Rosalind said in that breathy way of hers.
Rory almost leaned in to hear her. Had she always spoke this low? “Roz.”
“Jordan convinced me to come and talk with you. He said you’d been doing pretty bad without me.” She looked around his apartment in judgment.
Why were women doing that of late? Was his taste so abhorrent? It hadn’t bothered him when Rhetta had done the same thing. He was prepared to hand over the shop’s cash register to her and let her do whatever made her happy, whatever made it feel like home for her. Rosalind’s eyes looked as though she wanted to demolish everything in between the four walls.
“I’m doing fine,” Rory said.
Rosalind moved into the room and picked up a knickknack with the barest touch of her fingers and then put it back in its place. “I’d forgotten what a wild beast you were. I miss that. All the boys back home are more man than wolf.”
Rory thought about the wolves back in his stepmother’s town. He hadn’t made a point to get to know most of them. He did remember that many of them were betas. He couldn’t remember a single alpha in the bunch. “If you’re looking to mate an alpha, maybe you should move out to the farmlands of the Senora.”
Rosalind jerked as though he’d slapped her. When her head stopped bobbing, she looked at him with confusion. “I don’t want another male. I want you.”
She rushed to him in a flurry. Rory backed up against the window to avoid her assault. But his
foot was aggravating him, and he couldn’t evade her. She flew into his arms, nearly knocking him down.
“Oh, Rory, I’ve made a terrible mistake, and I don’t know how to fix it. My father’s sick. You know I don’t have any brothers and no head for business. There’s no one to take care of me. When Jordan found me and said he thought we all should mend fences, I jumped at the chance. Do you think you could ever forgive me?”
“Forgive you for what?” Rory pushed at her shoulders. He tried to be gentle about it even though he wanted to shove her, to knock her back on her heels as she’d done to him. “Abandoning me in my time of need?”
“I was a child,” she pouted. “I didn’t know how to deal with the accident.”
“The foot’s still mangled, Roz.”
“But you’ve made something of yourself.” Her eyes lit, angling down to the floor. He knew she was indicating his butchery shop beneath their feet. She’d wrapped her arms around his waist and was gripping each of her wrists to hold him to her.
“Are you serious with this? Were you always this …” Rory searched for a single word to describe her self-centered, gold digging, opportunist ways, but something down below on the street caught his attention.
Out the window, the moon was bright. Rory looked down and saw his brother holding a woman’s hand. He immediately recognized his Rhetta.
Rory growled, ready to tear his brother’s head off for touching his woman. He went to move, but couldn’t. Something obstructed his way.
It was Rosalind, still clinging to his torso. Rory looked down at Rosalind’s head and then out the window at Rhetta. They’re eyes locked.
The color drained from Rhetta’s face. Her eyes filled with emptiness. She turned away from the window and took off at a dead run.
Chapter Seventeen
The sound of the wheels skidding to a halt jolted Rhetta more than the thrust of her torso slamming back into the driver’s seat. What was she doing? Was she really going to storm into Rory’s home and beg him to choose her over his fated mate? Had she learned nothing from the past?