“What time is it?” Dwayne asked frantically. “I have a show tonight and I’m doing all three Charlie’s Angels.”
The girls looked confused. “Don’t ask,” I said. “Let it be a surprise.”
“Do we just leave them?” Sandy asked.
“For the moment, yes,” Hank said as the Tinas hissed and swore. “Enough,” he bellowed. The Tinas whimpered and everyone else flinched. I might be the alpha’s mate, but Hank was definitely the alpha. “You have disgraced yourselves and this pack,” he went on coldly. “Your behavior merits death, but that is far too good for you. You will be shunned. I will leave you in your final hours of belonging to a pack and let you think about what you have done. After tomorrow I never want to lay eyes on you again.”
We filed out and left the Tinas hanging upside down in the holding cell. We heard their sobs as we formed a circle outside.
“We’ll shift and run back. It’s the fastest way and everyone needs to heal,” Hank instructed. “I want everyone at the sheriff’s office. We’ll notify your families and tonight we celebrate.”
No one cheered. We were too tired and still in shock, but heartfelt smiles were shared.
“Essie, can I ride you back to town?” Dwayne asked.
“No, you can’t.”
“Fine. It can’t hurt to ask.” He grinned and levitated into the air.
Everyone shifted except Hank and me. We watched as our pack made their way home. The beauty of the wolves always left me breathless. The fact that I was one of the magical creatures awed me.
“Can you shift yet?” Hank asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. My wolf felt lethargic inside me, but she was pleased. “You do realize you have some explaining to do, Mr. Dragon Slayer.”
“I didn’t slay the Dragon, pretty girl. You did.”
“You know what I mean.”
He stared at me for a long minute with a sexy half grin on his face. “It might piss you off.”
“It would take a whole hell of a lot to piss me off at the moment, so unless you’re married with ten kids, in which case I’d kill you…now might be a good time to confess,” I told him as my body tensed. What in the world could he tell me? He was half Dragon? Impossible. His new hobby was offing Dragons? Unlikely. I waited impatiently.
“I’m WTF.”
Not what I expected. At all.
“Right.” I laughed and waited for the punch line. It didn’t come. “What do you mean you’re WTF?”
“When I discovered where you were and what you were doing I watched you.”
“You mean stalked me?”
“Some might define it as that.” He grinned. “You were beautiful, amazing, confident and strong. I didn’t think you were ever coming back, so I joined.”
I was speechless. He was going to give up everything he loved for me? “Why?” I whispered. “You are the alpha. You have a pack and a career and a life…”
“Because it means nothing without you.”
My knees buckled and I crumpled to the ground. How could I ever have been so stupid to have left this man? No one in my long life would ever love me like he did. No one.
“The pack. What about the pack?”
“The pack was never supposed to be mine in the first place. It just so happens my amazing mother gave birth to two alphas and I was more prepared than the rightful alpha to take over at the time of my father’s retirement.”
“Junior?”
“Yep.” He grinned and shook his head. “It’s time for my big brother to step up and lead our pack. He’s been ready for a while, but he would have never challenged me for the position. We’re far more than just two alphas—we’re brothers.”
“So, we’re not staying?” I asked, unsure what I really wanted.
“Right now I will leave that up to you, but I think Junior will have an easier transition if I go away for a little while.”
I mulled over everything I had just learned and I felt lighter than I had in years. I could love the man of my dreams and still do what I’d become passionate about? Stuff like this never happened for me…
“Hank, my parents…” I couldn’t get it out. It hurt. Why after so long did their death cause physical pain? Maybe because they didn’t have to die.
“I already know,” he said as he wrapped me in his arms. “Granny told me.”
She’d certainly been busy, but I was grateful I didn’t have to speak the horrible story out loud. My Granny loved me fierce even if she couldn’t keep her damned mouth shut.
“We’ll go,” I said firmly. “We’ll go back to Chicago and let Junior find his place. I have to find out what happened to my parents and…”
“We. We have to find out what happened to your parents and then we will figure out what’s next.”
I laid my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat—so strong, sure and mine. No matter what else life handed me, I knew my first priority would be to take care of the alpha who loved me.
“I feel very attached to you right now,” I whispered as I breathed in his scent.
“I can work with that.” He chuckled and held me tighter.
“I’m also feeling the need to jump your bones.”
“As much as it pains me to take a rain check, and let me be very clear,” he said, referring to the impressive bulge in his jeans. “It pains me. I think we should get back to town and make sure our people are okay.”
Reluctantly I slid from his arms and stood up. “I agree, but I will take a rain check.”
“That’s good because it’s definitely going to rain tonight. All night.”
“You sure about that, Big Boy?” I giggled.
“Never been more sure about anything in my life.”
Epilogue
The shunning of the traitors was anticlimactic compared to everything else that had happened. The vote amongst the pack was unanimous. The findings were reported to the Council and approved without contest. The Tinas were gone and would not be missed. No pack anywhere in the world would accept them. I tried to find it within myself to feel pity, but I couldn’t. Perhaps with time I might, but it was still too raw.
The families of the missing girls were ecstatic to have them home. Hank, Junior and I were the local heroes, but Dwayne…Dwayne was the Second Coming. All the Weres in our community bowed their heads in reverence when he passed and even the more conservative Weres caught all of his shows at the drag club. The owner had to make a special dispensation for children because the Weres had insisted the young ones witness the talent of their savior.
Dwayne was in heaven.
The Council had quietly sent down a crew to clean up Hung and the deserted resort on the outskirts of town. No one even knew they were here. Apparently they had come in the middle of the night and were gone by morning. My guess was that they sent Hyenas. They would eat anything—including Dragon guts. I tried not to dwell on that…made me a little nauseous.
To make reparations for their misguided judgment, their words, definitely not mine, the Council purchased the old resort from the city and planned to restore it to a haven that would make people forget about its tragic history. All the proceeds would go to the pack. It was yet again the Council putting a tiny Band-Aid on a gaping wound, but my fight with the Council would come in good time…
The Dragons, much to their intense displeasure, were being investigated. Hank and I had been assigned to the case, but that too would have to wait.
***
“Oh my god almighty and Cher pre-surgery, I could live here the rest of my days and be happy,” Dwayne gushed as we watched the ocean waves crash against the rocks. “If I had hair I’d get it braided and skip along the beach while it whipped me in the eyes.”
Thankfully he was bald.
“Jamaica is nice,” Granny mused. “But I miss the rednecks.”
She adjusted her thong bikini and I closed my eyes in agony. There was only so much I wanted to see of my granny and her naked butt wasn’t one of them.
&nb
sp; “Where’s Hank?” I asked with my eyes still squeezed shut.
No one answered.
“I said, where’s Ha…”
I opened my eyes slowly, prepared to glue them shut if Granny had decided to go topless. My tummy dropped and my heart raced. Granny and Dwayne stood quietly by the shore with their backs to me and Hank was in front of me on one knee. In lieu of screaming or passing out, I dropped to my knees and held on to him for dear life.
“I’m pretty sure only one of us is supposed to be on their knees.” His lopsided grin made me weak and I giggled like an idiot.
“My legs quit working,” I stammered. “And I thought I might make you more comfortable…then a heavy metal band started a concert in my stomach and then my legs turned to jelly and then I, um…”
“You done?”
“It would probably be a good thing if I was.”
“Probably.” He laughed and I felt heat crawl up my neck and land on my face.
He put his hand under my chin and raised my eyes to his. “Ester Elizabeth McGee, I have loved you since the moment I saw you many years ago. You are the other half to my whole. I promise to love you always and never let you go. You make me better and stronger and my life means nothing when you’re not in it.” He took a deep breath and his eyes glistened silver in the Jamaican sun. “Essie, I love you. Will you marry me?”
The screaming took me by surprise. Who in the hell was making that racket? I glanced down to the water’s edge at Granny and Dwayne. They were not screaming. Hank was not screaming. There was no one else on the beach.
It was me. I was screaming and crying and blubbering. Hank’s laugh made me want to slug him, but I wanted to kiss him more.
“Does that mean yes?” he asked as he trapped me in a hug so tight I could barely breathe, but I didn’t care. It felt so very right—so very perfect.
I nodded my head because I was terrified I would start screaming again.
“She said yes,” he yelled as Granny and Dwayne tore over to us.
“Where’s the ring?” Dwayne demanded, possibly more excited than me.
Hank pulled a beautiful diamond ring with a cushion cut stone from a pocket in his shorts, slid it on my finger and I gasped. It was redonkulously large and real and I loved it, but I loved him even more. I slapped my hand over my mouth to stem the babbling dialogue that threatened to fly out. Tears clouded my vision and my breath came in short gasps.
In my many imaginings of this moment, I had handled it with sexy grace. Real life had turned out vastly differently, but it was no less wonderful. My joy matched my mate’s and my need to throw him to the ground and tackle him was overwhelming…so I did.
Granny and Dwayne slipped away and disappeared as I rolled down the beach tangled up in the most beautiful man in the world. The only thing that stopped me from doing something illegal was the sheer amount of sand that had gathered in my bikini bottoms.
“I will marry you, Henry James Wilson. I will love you always and next time I have a stupid idea, I will run it past you first.”
Hank held me close and pressed sweet kisses all over my face. “That works for me, Essie. You’re mine.”
“And you’re mine.”
He laughed and picked me up in his strong arms. “Yes, I’m yours. Now I’d really like to shower the sand out of my pants. You with me?”
“I am with you till the end of time and I do have some sand in some unmentionable places,” I mumbled. “Maybe you could help me out with that?”
“I think that could be arranged. I definitely think that could be arranged.”
And it was. And it was amazing. Really, really amazing…really, really.
THE END (for now)
###
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Other Books by Robyn Peterman
Hand Cuffs and Happily Ever Afters
How Hard Can It Be?
Size Matters
Cop A Feel
and unfortunately…
Pirate Dave and His Randy Adventure
(Career ending spoofy novella based on HHCIB)
Hot Damned Series
Fashionably Dead
Fashionably Dead Down Under
Hell on Heels
(Coming Fall 2014)
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About Robyn Peterman
Robyn Peterman writes because the people inside her head won’t leave her alone until she gives them life on paper.
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Three Southern Beaches: A Summer Beach Read Box Set Page 31