by Celia Kyle
Even Gavin wanted to show Rachel how happy he was that she’d managed to diffuse the situation. Trotting up to her, he pressed his side against her hip, perhaps a little too hard. She stumbled sideways and had to catch herself against the wall so she wouldn’t fall. The jostling must have broken whatever spell she’d cast on Paul’s wolf because before either could even blink, Paul launched himself at her with a murderous rage in his emerald eyes, all fangs and claws.
And just like that, Gavin’s own rage returned tenfold. Acting on pure instinct, he met Paul mid-air, teeth sinking deep into the other wolf’s neck and toppling him head over heels. They landed with Gavin on top, and the force of his weight hurtling Paul to the ground snapped the wolf’s neck, killing him instantly.
Releasing the dead animal, Gavin looked down on his quarry and didn’t feel the slightest bit of remorse. Mercy wasn’t given to those who fucked with his family.
Chapter Twenty
Rachel sighed and rested her head on Gavin’s bare shoulder. His other arm was draped around a snoozing Eric in the backseat of Mason’s SUV. Or maybe it was Gavin’s. She didn’t know and didn’t care. All she cared about was that her boys were safe, and Paul Gibson would never be able to hurt them, or anyone else, ever again.
After Eric had disappeared into the night, Rachel had sat on his piece of cardboard in the corner of the basement, trying to connect with Gavin. The breeze blowing through the uncovered window had confirmed they were still on Blackwood pack lands, which meant he had to be close, searching for her as desperately as she wanted to be found.
The distance had proven to be too great, so she’d spent the next year—or maybe it had only been an hour, time had ceased to make sense the moment she’d shoved Eric out the window—worrying about her boy. Without the power to shift and protect himself, a freaking possum could have taken down her little man, and she knew much more dangerous creatures lurked in the woods.
The next thing she’d known, Gavin’s spicy scent had wafted through the window, and then his howl had pierced the night. It had been impossible to know what was happening outside, but within minutes, Paul’s wolf had cornered her and looked ready to rip her head off.
“You should have seen it, Mason,” Gavin said, smiling down at her with boundless love. “She had him totally under control.”
“And then you just had to go and screw it up,” Kade teased from the passenger seat.
Mason snorted as he navigated the truck over a bumpy forest road. “I dunno, little brother. I can’t think of a better way for it to end. Paul Gibson got what he deserved.”
“Paul was sick,” Rachel said quietly, tempering the jubilant mood in the car. “He had some delusion I could somehow fix him, just by being near. I’m certain that’s why he kidnapped me.”
“Clearly it didn’t work,” Kade said, giving her a sympathetic smile.
“I don’t think any omega on the planet could have helped him regain his sanity, to be honest. He was already half-nuts as Brian’s beta, but then being on his own all this time just tipped him over the edge. I hate that it had to end that way, but my meager skills wouldn’t have held him forever.”
They rode along in somber silence for a moment before Kade broke the tension. “I’m just grateful we had an extra pair of sweatpants in the back, so I wouldn’t have to look at my brother’s junk the whole way home.”
In truth, shifters didn’t give two shits about nudity, for the most part, but his effort at lightening the mood worked. They all laughed, except Eric, who appeared completely comatose as he lay snuggled in the crook of Gavin’s arm.
“So, Rachel,” Mason said, catching her eye in the rearview mirror, “where am I dropping you and Eric?”
Looking up at Gavin, she nearly cried from the intensity of her affection for him. Her mate, her love, her hero. She never wanted to be parted from him again.
“Home. Our home.”
Gavin pulled her into him and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. She’d never felt more complete in her life. She had her mate, her pup, and her pack. What more could a girl ask for?
Staring out the window as they bounced along, Rachel wracked her brain for a way to express her profound gratitude to Mason and Kade, as well as everyone who’d searched for her and Eric. She’d been so afraid of Mason, despite Gavin’s insistence that he was a good and fair alpha. No alpha would want “damaged goods” tainting his perfect pack dynamic.
He’d proven her wrong by using every resource at his command to find them and bring them home, just as if they’d been born Blackwoods. Words would never be enough to show her gratitude, but she had to try.
“Mason, Kade,” she started, choking up as she searched for the right way to put her emotions into words.
“We know,” Mason said, smiling at her in the rearview mirror.
Kade twisted in his seat and gave her a cheeky wink. “Omega.”
She blushed, making a mental note to see if Mathilda could teach her how to hide her emotions from others.
“It’s what family does,” Gavin said, tracing circles on her shoulder with the pad of his thumb.
Within minutes, Mason dropped them in front of Gavin’s house and drove into the night toward their own mates. After the last twenty-four hours, Rachel suspected they’d spend as much time as they could spare showing Lucy and Ally exactly how much they loved them. The knowledge filled her with inexplicable joy. At least something good would come out of the ordeal.
“Do you want me to search the house?” he asked, his arms loaded down with a sleeping six-year-old.
Rachel had always admired kids’ ability to sleep like the dead under the most stressful situations. She’d only managed to snatch a handful of minutes’ sleep over the last day, and only after she’d heard Paul snoring. Even then, she wouldn’t allow herself to drift too deeply for fear she wouldn’t hear him coming. Watching Eric’s peaceful slumber, all Rachel wanted to do was snuggle under a comforter and sleep for days.
Maybe it wasn’t all she wanted to do, but it was in the top three.
“No, we both know it’s all over. Paul’s dead, Brian’s awaiting trial, and we have a new life to begin together.”
Smiling so broadly his dimple popped out, Gavin kicked open the front door and led her through the newly redecorated home. It was a beautiful log cabin, much in the style of the pack house, with warm, welcoming furnishings and a lovely cinnamon smell, like apple pie.
“That’s from the candles Lucy said I should buy,” Gavin whispered, nodding toward an array of candles glowing in the center of the rough-hewn table in the middle of the room. “She and Ally must have come by and lit them for ambiance.”
Rachel didn’t know Lucy well, but it sounded exactly like something Ally would do. Affection for her friends warmed her heart, and she couldn’t wait to spend some quality time with them, where they could let down their guards and be themselves. It had been so long since she could do that.
Gavin led her down a hallway and pushed open a door with his shoulder as he flipped the light switch. The room was painted white and blue, with one fully white wall decorated with small red stripes on a curve that looked exactly like the stitches on a baseball. One twin bed sat on the floor at a ninety-degree angle to an upper bunk. A sweet little reading nook, complete with a shelf crammed with books, sat under the upper bunk. The walls and even the bedding continued the baseball theme of the room.
“Do you think he’ll like it?” Gavin asked, worry tinging his voice.
“He’ll love it,” she said, standing on her tiptoes to smooch his cheek. “Let’s put him in the lower bunk tonight, but I’ll bet you a dollar he’ll claim the upper bunk tomorrow.”
Tugging off his mud-caked tennis shoes, Rachel brushed as much dirt off the legs of his jeans as she could and then nodded at the bed.
“He can shower tomorrow,” she said, pulling back the comforter. “I don’t want to wake him up after everything he’s been through.”
Rachel stood back a
nd reveled in the sight of her mate tucking their son under the covers, careful not to disturb him too much. Eric mumbled in his sleep and rolled over on his side, completely oblivious. Exactly how it should be.
Gavin joined her and draped an arm over her shoulders. She grinned up at him.
“You, on the other hand, need a shower desperately.”
He chuckled softly and waggled his eyebrows. “Only if you join me.”
“Gladly. I can still smell that moldy basement in my hair.”
“Come with me.” He twined his fingers with hers and pulled her from the room.
The next door in the hallway led to the largest master bedroom she’d ever set foot in—not that she’d set foot in many. A massive king-sized bed sat in the middle, decked out with a thousand cutesy pillows and fluffy down comforter. It took all of her willpower to follow him past it instead of jumping in and snuggling deep under the covers.
“First things first,” he said, obviously sensing her need for sleep.
The bathroom was just as luxurious as the bedroom, with a deep, jetted tub separate from an absolutely enormous shower.
“Damn, that thing’s big enough to fit the entire pack,” she said, giving a low whistle of appreciation. “I could get used to this.”
“I certainly hope you do.”
Stepping up behind her, he wrapped strong arms around her and held her for a long moment before unzipping her uniform and sliding it off her shoulders. His fingertips burned trails down her arms as he skimmed her flesh, sending bolts of yearning to all of her happy bits.
“Now, now,” he said in a mock-scolding tone, “none of that. We’ll have plenty of time for that after you’ve recuperated.”
She spun around and linked her hands behind his neck, pressing her body against his. “Then stop touching me like that.”
He arched a challenging eyebrow at her and then backed away, holding his hands up in surrender. “Ask and ye shall receive.”
“No, no! I was kidding.”
She reached for him and—surprise, surprise—he didn’t put up much of a fight. Pulling her back into his arms, this time face to face, he gazed down at her with such profound love, her knees nearly buckled out from under her.
Leaning into the shower without letting go of her, Gavin turned it on full blast before returning his attention to slowly removing the rest of her clothes. First the bra, which he flung over his shoulder with a twisted smile. Point taken, don’t wear bras unless absolutely necessary. Then he moved to her panties and her mouth went dry with anticipation.
Her entire body screamed for sleep, but her wolf and her libido screamed for him. Hooking his thumbs under the thin fabric, he slid them down an inch at a time while she wiggled her hips to help the progress. His hands splayed against her hips, then her thighs, tormenting her as he slid her panties all the way to the floor. Butterfly kisses followed the same path up and she moaned from the crazy sensations flooding her body.
Before she could regain her senses, he’d removed every stitch of his clothing. “Come on,” he murmured in her ear as he led her into the shower, closing the door with a snap behind them.
“Oh, Gavin,” she sighed when the hot water hit her.
The pounding water massaged the knots of stress from her back and shoulders while Gavin lathered up his hands with a bar of soap. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back under the spray and allowed herself to relax. Finally.
The strongly scented soap overpowered any lingering odors from her ordeal, including Paul’s noxious stench. Gavin’s hands rubbing it all over her body chased away any remaining thoughts on the subject until all that remained was him. Them.
His touch was gentle and loving but held no expectation, despite his erection. The man she loved simply wanted to love her in return, to cherish her and show her how much he cared. And she was happy to let him.
Wiping the water from her eyes, she smiled up at him. For the first time, she noticed bloody marks on his bicep and became worried. Could Paul pass on his insanity through a bite?
“What’s this?” she asked, trying to hide her anxiety. It was no good though. Gavin saw right through her.
“Stop worrying,” he said, rinsing the dried blood from the wound so she could get a better look. “Eric might not be able to shift yet, but the kid sure as hell knows how to protect himself when he needs to.”
She gasped. “Eric did that? It looks like a…wolf bite.”
“I’m telling you, he has it in him somewhere. Maybe he’s buried that part of him after all the trauma he’s suffered. Or maybe he’s a late bloomer. Or maybe he’ll never shift in his life. It doesn’t matter. He’s a Blackwood now, and he’ll be accepted exactly how he is. Which is perfect, by the way.”
Snaking her arms around his neck, she pulled him into a deep kiss, letting all the love she felt flow from her to him. He trembled at the power of her emotions and had to reach out to steady himself from the onslaught. Pulling free from the kiss, he buried his face in her neck and held her tightly.
“My God, I love you so damn much,” he murmured into her wet skin.
She knew she didn’t need to say the words. Her feelings had hit him like a nuclear bomb, but she wanted to say them. To hear herself say them, as if that would somehow make them more real.
“I love you too, Gavin.”
Time ceased to exist in the shower, but at some point, Gavin turned off the water and pulled the towel from the rack to dry her off. The most energy she had to exert was to lift one foot, then the other, which was a good thing since she was dead on those feet.
She was vaguely aware of him lifting her in his arms and carrying her to the giant bed, but the moment he tucked the fluffy, warm comforter around her body, the sweet release of sleep took her.
Epilogue
Gavin had never been a morning person, until Rachel and Eric had come into his life. Growing up, his mother had thrown cold water on him on more than one occasion to get him out of bed in time for school, and even as an adult, rousing himself for work had been a battle. But those days were long gone, it seemed.
For the last five days, ever since Rachel and Eric had come to live in his—their—home, he’d woken at the crack of dawn with a lot more than the day’s tasks on his mind. As the sun slanted through the windows and set the room ablaze with an orange glow, he rolled onto his side and pulled his mate against him, as he did every morning. And just like every other morning, his cock raged against her backside, trying to lure her into a little morning lovin’.
In response, she wiggled her ass against him, driving him wild with desire for her. Skimming a hand down her bountiful curves, he pulled her leg over his, caressing her in the way he’d learned she enjoyed most. She moaned sleepily as his fingers traced the side of her breast. Then he dropped irresistible kisses along the length of her exposed neck. If they were lucky, Eric would sleep late and give them enough time to—
“Ouch!”
Something very sharp stabbed the foot hanging off the end of the bed. Living in the woods, he wasn’t completely surprised some wild animal had found its way into their warm and cozy house, but it was odd. Most animals kept a lot of distance between themselves and werewolves. In fact, the only critters to have dared to stray close to the Blackwood pack were…
With a groan of understanding, he sat up to find a tiny orange face with startling yellow eyes staring at him. Gavin glared at the kitten, but it didn’t seem the least bit frightened.
“What the hell are you doing here, Ronald Fleasely?”
Gavin had never known Anders to be fond of practical jokes, so his first foray into them was a doozy. It was bad enough having the kitten at the station without—
Another one. A second kitten, this one black, poked its head from the end of the bed as well.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he grumbled, nudging Rachel so she could deal with the situation.
But unlike him, she had no trouble sleeping. She groaned and rolled away from him,
her foot escaping the covers, just like his. The orange kitten took it as a challenge and pounced with all of her tiny might.
“Ow!” Rachel cried in surprise.
Eyes still glazed from sleep, she grabbed the kitten and fell back against the pillows, studying its mewling face.
“What’s Ronald Fleasely doing here?” Her voice was thick from slumber.
Not wanting to be ignored, the black kitten joined the orange one, and they both settled happily on Rachel’s tummy, kneading and purring loudly. She looked between them and then at Gavin. He shrugged in response.
“Eric!” she shouted, and before she’d finished, the boy’s brown eyes were peering around the doorframe.
He smiled sheepishly, but Gavin had the distinct impression Eric was all too aware of the magic his dimples could perform. “Morning,” he said, all sugar and sweetness.
Rachel gave him a stern look, even as she stroked the kittens. “What is Ronald Fleasley doing here? And who is this one?”
Eric’s smiled broadened as he climbed onto the bed in between them and petted the cats. “That’s not Ronald, that’s Purrmione.”
“Purrmione?” Gavin asked.
Eric nodded his head until Gavin worried it might fall off. “Purrmione Grainger. And the black one is Harry Pawter. Get it? Pawter?”
“Don’t try to distract us with your cuteness,” Rachel said, working hard to keep a straight face, but failing pretty epically. “What are they doing here?”
“It’s just that Gavin said he wanted a big family.”
“So?” He already had a feeling he wouldn’t like where this was headed.
“Well, all the commercials say pets are part of the family, so now our family is bigger.”
Gavin frowned at a snickering Rachel. “But—”
Eric interrupted him by picking up Harry Pawter and snuggling him under his chin. “Isn’t he cute? But I think he misses his brother.”
“What brother?” Gavin knew before the words were out of his mouth that he shouldn’t have asked.