Jensen didn’t blink as Bryce rounded the table and squared up to him. The others rose to their feet. Aggression and fur crackled in the air, ready to ignite.
“You chose some bitch and her brat. You turned your back on us for them.” Bryce’s lip lifted in a silent snarl. “Weak. Traitor.”
“Don’t worry about us,” Dillon added. “We found a place in this town.”
“No more running away from good pickings. No more living on the road,” Lars chimed in.
Rocco rolled his shoulders. “They know how to put weak people in their place.”
Hard choices, Ellis said. Yeah, he had to make them.
The men in that room were lost. Jensen couldn’t save them. Hell, he didn’t even want to be there with them. They wanted their old life, and he wanted to move on. They couldn’t put away the fight. Outlaws, through and through.
He looked down his nose at Bryce. “You pledged to the Slayers.”
“Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner,” Lars snarked.
“We’re here to stay, fucker. If you don’t like it, you can be the one to leave.” Bryce smirked. “Leave the bitch. You dangled a toy and our new pack wants to pass her around.”
“Fuck you,” Jensen gritted out, more growl than anything else. His wolf rode him hard to tear into the threats to their mate. Rage whipped through his body, obliterating every single good thought he had.
The four lunged for him at once. Fists beat against his head and middle. Feet lashed out at his legs. Someone’s boot caught him in the back of the knee and knocked him to the floor.
They didn’t stop when he was on the ground. Boots kicked him, stomped him, tried to smear him into nothing.
Jensen curled in on himself. To protect himself, and to give a sign of surrender. A rib cracked; his nose broke. Inside, his wolf raged. Blood. The beast wanted blood.
The man aimed to give it to him.
He grabbed one leg and yanked. Dillon tumbled to the floor next to him. Jensen hauled himself over the man and slammed his head into the floor with a roar. His skull cracked, but not before more kicks and punches thrashed over Jensen’s back.
He fought for life—not just his own, but Sienna and Noelle, too. Slayers, Vagabonds, he didn’t give a fuck who the men he ripped and snarled at followed. He’d see them dead before they harmed his girls.
Rocco’s wolf ripped out of him with a savage snarl and latched onto Jensen’s arm. He swung his other into the big wolf’s head, then jabbed down with a hard elbow. The beast backed off for a second, shaking his head, then lunged for him again.
A blast caught Rocco in the shoulder and he fell back with a whine, blood coloring his fur.
Jensen’s ears rang with the gunshot so close to his head. He whirled around and found the liquor store owner training a shaking rifle on them.
The man’s pale forehead dotted with sweat. “Out,” he ordered. “Take that kind of trouble back to the bar.”
Chapter 11
Noelle stepped into the backyard, successfully dodging the rush of child-on-a-mission. “Ready, little pup?”
“That’s what Mr. Jensen calls me.” Sienna jumped around her legs and wiggled her entire body in excitement.
“He sure does. Do you like that nickname?”
She couldn’t remember a time they were so free and easy with one another. Oh, Sienna had all the exuberance a five-year-old could muster. But there was always something holding her back. Noelle’s fault, likely. She’d raised the girl to be careful of her other side.
Jensen was helping her control and love it.
“Okay, let’s get you out of those,” Noelle said.
Sienna hesitated and looked at the back gate. “Is Mr. Jensen coming?”
“Hopefully he’s just running a little late.” She hoped it was that, too, and not cold feet. Or any trouble with the ones he wanted to protect them from. Or someone slamming into him while he rode on his motorcycle around, probably without a helmet, doing tricks just for the heck of it.
Okay, the last seemed the least likely, but Noelle couldn’t get her imagination under control.
“We’ll just play together. How does that sound?”
“Can I still let my wolf out?”
“If you promise to listen to me as well as you listen to Mr. Jensen. And no biting.”
It was important for Sienna to let her wolf have time, Jensen said. Burning off energy in her furry form helped keep both little girl and wolf pup happy and under control. Noelle spent so much time trying to contain those shifts when she should have been letting them happen.
Someone really needed to get around to writing a parenting book for shifters.
As soon as Sienna wiggled out of her clothes, her wolf surged forward. Noelle winced at the smatterings of pops and cracks, but Sienna didn’t make a peep. She bounced around on four feet and lolled her tongue out of her mouth as soon as the shift completed.
Noelle took a step forward and Sienna shot off across the yard. Back and forth, she raced with little legs stretching out and eating up the ground, only to turn at the very last second before she collided with the fence.
Noelle glanced up at the sound of the gate opening, expecting to see Jensen striding through the backyard. Her proud and pleased smile died on her face.
She didn’t recognize the man standing just inside her fence.
The third watcher, and no less frightening. He wore a black vest with some patch on his breast she couldn’t quite make out from across the yard. The general shape was enough to know from her years of living in Redwater and the recent trip to the Moonlight Saloon. Jensen wanted to stop them from tracking her down, but a Slayer stood in her backyard.
“Get out of my yard,” Noelle ordered, voice shaking.
Sienna turned and bounded back for her, then skidded to a stop. The little pup went from playful to furious in a single heartbeat.
Black tail pointed straight to the ground. Her back curved up and her ears laid back against her head. The fur along her spine raised in as much warning as the growl she directed at the intruder.
The man simply looked at her and smirked.
“Nah, I’m good,” the man shrugged. He glanced all around, taking in the trees that always seemed a privacy bonus to Noelle until that moment. He scanned over the fence—too high for her to jump—and the door hung ajar. “I’m here as a message to that wolf of yours.”
That wolf?
Jensen.
Trouble. He brought trouble with an extra helping of creepy stalkers and vague threats.
Noelle swallowed hard and focused. “I’ll call the police,” she insisted, backing away a step.
Sienna kept her side pressed against her leg. Her growls didn’t stop for an instant, but Noelle thanked the universe the little pup didn’t charge right for the man and go for his ankles.
The Slayer shrugged again. “Go ahead, but they ain’t coming. Your place is a no-go zone.”
“Wha—what does that mean?” she asked, dread icing her veins.
“Means, lady, ain’t no one coming to save you.” Silver eyes flashed unnaturally bright, and he lunged forward with a howl of laughter.
Noelle grabbed Sienna and ran into the house, slamming the door shut behind her.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she ran from door to door, window to window, checking all the locks. Useless if someone wanted to get inside her home, but she still needed that first line of defense. No need to invite someone in when she could make them work a little harder and bust out the glass.
Her next step was to ring up the local police, despite the man’s threats. She wasn’t about to take him at his word that no help would come. She sighed with relief when the dispatcher guaranteed a patrol car would stop by to check the property and take her statement.
With a wolf pup still staying close to her feet, she checked the windows while she waited.
And waited.
And felt frustrated tears welling when no flashing lights lit up her street.
<
br /> Noelle peeked out another window and tried to spot the man. No one in the backyard. No one in the front. Could she make it to her car with Sienna before he lunged out of nowhere? Would a pack of wolves drag her to the ground and gnaw on her limbs?
She chewed her lower lip and called Jensen.
He’d helped with Sienna—until he didn’t. Now his life was coming back on her and Sienna. Her sweet pup paced by her feet, alternating between ferocious, brave growls and whines demanding comfort. Noelle felt like a failure when she couldn’t give more than hugs or false reassurances.
And worst of all, she hated the disappointment raging inside her.
Jensen said he wanted a different life. He even made her hope he wanted to put down roots, start fresh, and be a good father to Sienna. Having someone intrude in her home and state he was there to send a message was the opposite of leaving old ties behind. She wanted no part of a life that would use a woman and a child to stir up some shit.
Except, that wasn’t the life he wanted. He had his own code where innocents weren’t supposed to be touched.
Noelle shook herself and cursed her own weakness. Didn’t matter what he intended. His old life still caused upheaval in hers.
She’d been an idiot to go to that bar in the first place. She knew the type of men who claimed the place. Knew their reputation. She remembered when they first rode into town and called it theirs. People changed, then. Ducked their eyes, moved quickly wherever they went. Became even more tight-lipped than before.
Desperation could have directed her anywhere else in the town. Heck, the postman probably had a furry side, and she didn’t know it.
Noelle jumped at a loud knock on her front door. She edged closer, hand pressed to her heart to stifle the racing beat. Sienna whined at the door. “Who’s there?” she asked.
“Noelle,” Jensen rasped. “It’s me.”
Relief doused a fraction of her worried anger. She twisted the lock and swung open the door.
Jensen stumbled into the foyer, cradling his arm to his stomach. Dried blood covered his face from what looked like multiple gashes. His arm, too, looked bent and mangled.
He wasn’t the only one stepping through the doorway. A big man, hulking huge with height and muscles, backed inside, dragging a body with him. One glance, and Noelle recognized the one who’d invaded her backyard.
Noelle blinked in shock at the blood and bodies, and ushered Sienna into her room. “Stay,” she ordered the wide-eyed wolf pup.
The walls and floors blurred in her haste to get to the kitchen. Jensen leaned over the sink and scrubbed at his face. The hulking man crowded himself into a corner, still holding the limp form of the watcher.
“What happened?” Noelle demanded. “Who is this? Why is he here?”
“The wolves I rode with, they pledged to the Moonlight Slayers.” He jerked a finger at the big man. “This is Ellis. He did me a solid by keeping an eye out on you today.”
“Did he?” she spluttered. She rounded on Ellis and planted her hands on her hips. “And that’s how this one waltzed right into my yard? Not very good at your job, are you?”
Ellis ducked his face in an almost hilarious display of admonishment.
Noelle rounded on Jensen again. “Do you regularly have people followed?”
Jensen hunched his shoulders closer to his ears. “Quiet, woman. Your shrieking isn’t doing anything but hurting our ears.”
“My shrieking?” she shrieked. “You have no right—no right!—to tell me what I’m allowed to do. My daughter and I are being threatened and now you’re bleeding all over my kitchen. What the hell is going on?”
“Our,” he corrected in a low voice. Gold eyes flashed. “Our daughter.”
“No.” Noelle stubbornly shook her head and gestured around the kitchen. “This is not earning the right. This is a ticket straight out of our lives before you get us killed.”
“It’s not that easy. They’re not going to leave you alone even if I disappear. You’re not safe here, Noelle.”
“Because of you. You’re the reason this is happening!”
He crowded her back against the fridge and cupped the back of her neck with his hand. The rough touch focused her attention on him. All man. All dominance. Her body responded to him even in the heat of her anger.
Noelle bit back the flash of desire and glared. “I want you gone.”
“The Slayers want to run me out of town at best, or worse, see me dead. They have their sights on you because I showed an interest. So yes, this is because of me. I told you I’m not a good man, Noelle.” Anguish shined in his eyes before he killed it with determination. “I won’t let them hurt you or our pup.”
A tiny groan cut off her objections and denials. Or agreements. She didn’t know what she wanted to say to him. She just wanted him to hurt as much as she did. He’d given her hope, then smashed it all to bits. He could run off on his motorcycle at the end of everything, but she’d be the one left with an upset little girl wondering why Mr. Jensen abandoned her.
“Guys?” Ellis muttered. “This one is waking up.”
Jensen arched an eyebrow and growled, “Take care of him.”
Ellis nodded and dragged the man out the back door.
Take care of him. Noelle pressed a hand to her stomach. She was going to be sick.
She ducked out of Jensen’s grasp and started for Sienna’s bedroom.
Jensen grabbed her wrist and spun her back around. “Where are you going?”
“To pack. I’m taking us to a motel out of town. Maybe I’ll head to Florida and see my parents. I’m not sticking around here while you turn my yard into a murder scene.”
“Ellis won’t kill anyone,” he snapped in the most unbelieving voice. He cleared his throat and continued. “Sienna will be better off with other shifters. I can send you to my family.”
Noelle snatched her hand away. “She’ll be better off away from a father who drags his biker gang through our door without a thought to the rest of the people living there.”
“I’m thinking about her right now,” he growled. “She’s been better, yes? Listening, keeping her wolf under control?” He waited for her nod and plunged on ahead. “Let me make some calls. I want you both under protection, and I want what’s best for her. Both sides of her.”
Noelle slumped back, defeated. He was right. She hated him for it, but he was right. Sienna had been better with an actual shifter to teach her.
She slashed her gaze away from him and again regretted ever stepping foot in the bar. No good had come from either of her visits.
“Fine,” she said reluctantly. “For Sienna, we’ll go.”
Chapter 12
One phone call. That was all it took to bring Jensen back to a home he never thought he’d visit again.
Out in the yard, Noelle watched Sienna carefully sniff her way around a cow. His mother, Jada, stood close by, near enough to jump in and help if it was necessary, but far enough away to give Noelle the space she clearly needed.
It was... strange to be back. The homes he remembered from childhood were all still there, some in better shape than others. New homes had sprung up, too, making way for the pups of the future.
The mountains towered in the background. Numerous trails existed between peaks. At any given time, he knew wolves prowled the land.
The place wouldn’t be so bad to raise a pup. If anything happened to him, he was sure his parents would welcome Noelle and Sienna. Jensen hoped Noelle would take the offer. Returning to Redwater, even for a small trip to collect her things, could mean disaster if he couldn’t force the Slayers to back off.
His wolf growled at the finality of the thought.
“You were always a stubborn little prick,” Samuel Rawlins said as he took a seat next to him.
Jensen rocked to his feet and strode to the porch railing. His wolf raised his hackles at the tone of the man’s voice. Judging. Berating. Jensen didn’t come home to receive a lecture from his father.
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“Don’t worry,” he growled. “I won’t stay long.”
“You didn’t let me finish. I was going to say you were always a stubborn little prick, just like your old man.”
Jensen turned, slowly, and eyed the man. They’d seen each other briefly when he drove in with Noelle and Sienna early that morning, but they’d yet to exchange words. Truthfully, he’d hoped he could avoid a conversation before getting back on the road.
Fate was a dick sometimes.
Like the home around him, his father had seen wear and tear over the years. Wings of grey colored his hair above his ears. A few wrinkles framed his eyes and mouth. He looked more distinguished than Jensen remembered.
But those eyes still weighed him and found him lacking.
“You told me I’d never amount to anything.”
His father took a sip of his lemonade, grimaced, and pulled a flask from his pocket. “I did,” he said in a measured tone as he added a shot of bourbon. “I also said you that was your future if you never applied yourself.”
“Same fucking difference.”
His father shot him a look. “Sometimes you need to push others into the places they truly belong. And sometimes you push too hard and they refuse to see the path forward.”
Jensen crossed his arms over his chest and tongued his teeth. “And what path did you see me on?”
“Besides this cross country tomfoolery and whatever business that entailed?” Samuel snorted. “Skies above, Jensen. Can you tell me you’d sanction that for your pup?”
Jensen stayed silent. No use denying it. Sienna was better than drinking and fighting her way through the world. She could be anything. Hell, she could grow up and be open about her furry nature. She didn’t have to hide away like the world he’d grown up in. She had options.
“You could have been alpha of your own pack. Second, if you found someone you respected enough. That was how you always were—willing to listen to someone you thought had better sense than yourself, or ready to blaze on your own path if you found them lacking.” Samuel took a swig of his doctored drink. “Me, you found lacking. Her? I think you’ll listen to anything she has to say.”
Whiskey and Wolves: Book One: Shifters and Sins Page 8