by Kim Fox
He was staring down at her with heated brown eyes. “I love you,” he said.
She laughed as she got to her feet and wiped the corner of her mouth with her finger. The things men will say as they’re coming.
“Time to go get some hot coffee and good food,” she said, walking towards the cabin to get her flip flops.
“I love you,” he repeated in a serious tone.
She stopped with her back to him and sighed. “Are you just saying that because I gave you a blow job?”
“Yes,” he said with a chuckle. “And no.”
She turned slowly and looked everywhere but at him.
“I love you, Elena,” he said. “You have transformed me. You make me a better person. I’ve never felt anything like the way I feel when I’m around you. I love you. And I want to spend every single day of my life with you.”
Elena took a deep breath and looked into his eyes. They were pleading with her to say the same thing. But how could she put herself out there like that? Especially when they were going their separate ways in only two days.
“But we only have one full day left.”
He flinched at her words. It was as if they had an unspoken agreement over the past few days to never bring that up, and she had just broken it.
“Do you love me?” he asked, his posture stiff and tense while he waited for her answer.
“You’re leaving,” she said, feeling her eyes start to itch with tears.
“That’s not what I asked,” he said. “Do you love me?”
Elena’s eyes dropped to the dirt. How could she lie to him? But how could she tell him the truth when he was going to leave her?
“Yes,” she whispered quietly.
He didn’t answer and when she looked up his face was beaming with happiness. That just broke her heart even more.
“Come,” she said, walking across the camp, continuing past him without looking at him. “Let’s go get some lunch.”
Alexander and Elena were holding hands as they finally emerged out of the forest from their three-day sex marathon in his cabin. Alexander was loving every moment of this.
While it lasted.
The roaring of his grandfather’s motorcycle, which was now Julius’, ripped down the road with his blond brother riding on top. Alexander’s chest tightened as he watched him drive it into the garage. He had to make things right with his brother before he left to go to war.
The two of them had been butting heads for the past four or five years, since Alexander’s bear began pining for a mate. It was time to fix it for good.
“Do you mind going ahead, babe?” he asked the gorgeous girl on his arm.
“Sure,” she said, skipping ahead. “I desperately need a hot shower. I’m so sick of bathing in the river.”
He took a deep breath as he watched her cross the field to the house. How can I ever leave her?
If it had been hard before then it would be pure torture now, knowing that Elena was in the world and they had to be apart.
First things first.
He walked over to the garage while rubbing the back of his neck, thinking of what he could say but he kept coming up blank. Julius was the talker of the four brothers. He always had too much to say.
Julius glanced over his shoulder when Alexander walked in. The grizzly bear shifter turned back to his motorcycle, shaking his head. “You know Ava was really looking forward to seeing her sister this week and she only got to spend about fifteen minutes with her.”
Alexander lowered his eyes and sighed. He hadn’t even thought about that.
“I’m sorry,” Alexander said. “Just add it to the list of shitty things I’ve done over the past few years.”
“I would but the thick notebook full of shitty things that Alexander has done is already full.”
“Look, I know I’ve been an asshole,” Alexander said, feeling a flush creep across his cheeks. “But, what can I do? Come on, Julius. You haven’t exactly been Mr. Perfect either.”
Julius frowned as he rubbed a smudge off of the motorcycle’s fender. “Does it matter? You’re leaving in two days anyway.”
Alexander flinched. It always felt like a low blow to be reminded that he had to leave his mate. “It does to me. I want to make it right.”
An evil grin flashed over Julius’ face and as quickly as it appeared, it was gone. Uh oh.
“There is something you can do,” Julius said, standing up with a serious look on his face.
“What is it?” Alexander asked.
Julius stared at him with his hands on his hips. “Punch yourself in the face.”
“What?” Alexander said, jerking his head back.
“Punch yourself in the face,” Julius repeated. “Hard.”
“That’s stupid,” Alexander said, shaking his head.
Julius crossed his arms and thrust his chin in the air. “It’s what I want.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Maybe,” Julius replied. “But you’re not going to get this idiot’s forgiveness until you punch yourself in the face.”
Alexander rolled his eyes. “Fine.”
Julius smiled as Alexander took a deep breath and looked down at his hand as it curled into a fist. It was huge; cinder block huge. He had seen numerous times the devastating effect that his fists had on chins. It wasn’t pretty.
Just do it.
He closed his eyes and swung. Hard.
It felt like a flash of lighting shooting through his face as his thunderous fist connected. Water flooded his eyes as blood poured out of his nose and his legs went weak. He reached out for something as the room started spinning and his vision went black. He shook the stars out of his head and when the pounding in his ears finally subsided it was replaced with Julius’ howls of laughter.
He watched his brother bent over laughing as he recovered from the devastating punch.
“Wait,” Julius said, as he pulled out his cell phone. “Do it again so I can videotape it and put it on YouTube. That was hilarious.”
“You’re an idiot,” Alexander said, wiping the blood from his nose.
“Me?” Julius said, shaking with laughter. “You’re the one who just TKO’d himself. I would have settled for a hug.”
Alexander held out his open palm, trying to bridge the gap that had separated the two brothers for so long. “Brothers?”
Julius reached out and shook it. “Brothers,” he said, nodding. “Just don’t get all PMS-y on us again or I’ll make you kick yourself in the face next time.”
Alexander laughed. They still had a long way to go but they had finally taken the first step.
“Hey, there they are,” Khan said from the table as Alexander and Julius walked into the kitchen. “Snooty and the beast.”
Julius snatched a French fry off of Khan’s plate as he walked by. “You pronounced beauty wrong.”
Khan’s lip curled up in a snarl as Julius hurried away, grinning as he stuffed the fry into his mouth.
Bailey placed her hand on Khan’s. “Let’s not commit murder over a French fry, honey,” she said, taking a handful of her fries and dropping them onto Khan’s plate. “Here. Have some of mine.”
Khan grunted as he turned back to his food.
Alexander caught Elena’s eye and smiled. She was sitting at the table with his three brothers, her sister Ava, Bailey, and Liam. There was a pile of hamburgers on a large plate in the middle of the table.
“I saved you a seat,” Elena said, pulling out the chair beside her.
A feeling of weightlessness overcame him as he sat down next to his mate. She smelled better than the hamburgers with her lavender soap and grapefruit scented shampoo. Her blond hair was still wet, combed back and looking gorgeous as usual. She reached forward, grabbed three burgers off the platter and dropped them on his plate.
Alexander smiled. She was amazing but she still had a lot to learn. Alexander ate at least five burgers in one sitting.
“So Alexander, eh?” Julius said
to Elena with a wry grin on his face. “What’s the attraction there? Does he put the erotic in neurotic or something?”
Elena chuckled and for once Alexander wasn’t annoyed by Julius’ jokes. He actually laughed along with him.
“It’s his abs,” Elena teased. “He puts the ab in abnormal.”
Everyone at the table laughed, except for Liam who was building a tower out of his French fries. Hannibal and Khan looked so relieved to have their brother Alexander back. He had been gone for so long.
Julius took a bite of his burger and Alexander grinned. “God, I love that sound.”
“What sound?” Julius asked with his mouth full of chewed hamburger.
“The sound of you shutting up.”
“Enjoy it while you can,” Ava said, teasingly. “It doesn’t happen very often.”
Julius glared playfully at his mate.
“What happened to your eye?” Elena asked, gently touching Alexander’s face. “It’s all black.”
He really knocked himself good. It still wasn’t healed even with his enhanced shifter healing.
Liam looked up from his tower of fries. “You have a scar like Daddy,” he said in his squeaky voice.
“Liam,” Bailey warned. “It’s not nice to say that. Daddy got that scar in the war from fighting bad guys.”
Khan lowered his narrowed eyes as his three brothers burst out laughing around him.
“What?” Bailey asked, looking confused.
“He never told you?” Hannibal asked.
Bailey’s puzzled eyes darted around the table. “Tell me what?”
Khan shook his massive head. “I might have fabricated the story I told you.”
“Fabricated?” Bailey asked with raised eyebrows. “You mean you lied?”
“A little white lie,” Khan said looking at his mate with a nervous expression on his face.
Bailey frowned. “So the story of you running into the orphanage, taking out thirty terrorists singlehandedly and saving all of the poor children wasn’t true.”
Alexander bit his lip while Julius and Hannibal shook with laughter.
“No,” Khan admitted. “I saw that on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.”
“Alright, Chuck Norris,” Bailey said with a frown. “Let’s hear the real story.”
Khan sighed and told the real story of how he was at a college party doing keg stands and got fall-down drunk. Julius, Hannibal, and Alexander helped fill in the embarrassing parts that he kept leaving out. The women, including Bailey, were laughing their asses off.
“And then,” Julius said, taking over the story. “They flipped Khan upside on the keg for his twelfth keg stand and the college boys, who were as drunk as him, dropped him and he fell down, splitting the side of his face on the keg.”
Bailey shook her head while she laughed. “And here I thought it was a noble and valiant scar.”
“It is,” Khan protested. “Someone had to drink that beer so the underage kids wouldn’t be able to.”
Bailey wrapped her arm around his thick bicep. “My hero,” she said, batting her eyelashes at him.
“What do you guys want to do this afternoon?” Ava asked when the laughing died down. “We should all do something as a group.”
“We could play Trivial Pursuit,” Hannibal said.
“No,” Alexander said. “You always smoke us.”
Hannibal shrugged. “I can’t help it that I’m smarter than all of you combined.”
“Let’s go fix up your father’s vegetable garden,” Ava said. “All we eat around here is meat. Some fresh veggies would be nice for a change.”
“That sounds great!” Julius said enthusiastically.
Ava jerked her head towards her husband in shock. “You like to garden?”
Julius smirked. “I love any activity where you have to bend over.”
Her cheeks flushed as she smiled and swatted his arm.
Alexander’s heartbeat thumped as Elena slid her hand into his under the table. This was nice. For once he was enjoying being around his brothers and sharing laughs with them rather than being the source of their laughs as he hid in his cabin.
This was a perfect meal. He had his mate, his brothers, and his new friends. He only had two days left and he had to enjoy every moment with everything that he had.
Liam jumped down from the table and ran to the large window, spreading his ketchup-covered fingers on the thick glass.
Alexander had to spend possibly years away overseas and the memories of the next forty-eight hours had to carry him through it all.
“Cool truck,” Liam said, staring out the window towards the driveway. “I love silver.”
Alexander’s stomach sank. He only knew one man who drove a silver truck and he wasn’t supposed to be here for another two days.
Khan joined his cub by the window. He turned around and looked at Alexander with a gulp. That look could only mean one thing. He was here early.
General Samson was there to bring him off to war.
nine
“General,” Alexander said, feeling his stomach rolling with nerves. “I wasn’t expecting you for another two days.”
General Samson stared at him with hard eyes as the rest of the Vega brothers and their mates came outside to join them. “I need you somewhere else first.”
Alexander’s chest tightened. “Where?”
“Wherever I want to send you!” the general snapped, looking at him with a fierce expression on his face. For a human, he was scary as hell. “Now get in the truck before I lose my patience.”
Alexander swallowed hard as he turned and glanced back at his mate. Tears were flowing down Elena’s cheeks. It broke his heart to see his mate cry.
“I’m sorry,” he mouthed to her.
“General Samson,” Julius said, stepping forward. “My brother Alexander has decided to opt out of service.”
The general whipped his head towards Julius. “That’s not an option.”
Julius crossed his arms across his muscular chest and raised his chin. “It is now.”
General Samson’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the shifter who was challenging his authority. “Private Vega,” he said, turning back to Alexander. “Get in the truck.”
Alexander felt trapped. He bit the inside of his cheek as he weighed his choices. He really didn’t want to go but he couldn’t put his mate and brothers in danger by refusing.
Khan stepped in front of him, placing his powerful body between him and the general. “We said no,” he said in a threatening tone. “We’re not going to be your slaves anymore.”
Hannibal stepped forward beside Khan. “Never again. Leave our ranch and don’t come back.”
The general straightened his jacket and raised his chin as he glared at the Vega brothers. “You boys know who you’re messing with,” he said coldly. “Alexander, I’m going to give you one last chance to get in the truck and drop this foolishness.”
Elena marched in front of the shifters, walking right up to the general. “Hi, General Samson,” she said, thrusting her hand into his. “I’m Elena King, a reporter for the New York Gazette.”
He furrowed his brow as he stared at her. “I know who you are,” he said in a low voice.
“Good,” she said. “What an interesting story this would make. Forcing shifters to fight and die against their will in the US military. I wonder how the American public would react to your special shifter program.”
The general took a deep breath as he stared at her. He was unusually quiet. Alexander had seen General Samson in the most deadly of situations but he never looked nervous like he appeared to be now.
“I can see it now,” Elena said, looking up at the sky. “I’d get the cover of the newspaper for sure. What could be the headline? Slavery in the US Military, or General Samson: Slave Master, or Shifter Slaughter: The Real Truth of the Military. That last one has a nice ring to it. That story would be everywhere. TV, magazines, radio, even documentaries. How would you
like to be a household name, General Samson? I can make you famous.”
He glared at her with his body still.
“No need for that, Miss King,” he said, taking a step back. “I fear I don’t have the pretty looks necessary for television.”
“That’s too bad,” Elena said, shaking her head with a pinched mouth. “If you change your mind please let me know. I’d love to dive into your shifter program and introduce it to the public. I’m sure they would be intrigued to know all about it.”
“I’m sure they would,” he said, glaring at her. “I think it’s best to keep it out of the public’s eye at this time, however.”
“Oh that’s too bad,” Elena said, tilting her head while she crossed her arms. “I guess you won’t be needing any of the Vega brothers after all.”
The two humans stared each other down, each waiting for the other one to back down first. To Alexander’s surprise, it was the general who cracked. He lowered his head and softened his expression. “I’m sure I can arrange something else,” he said, with a tight smile on his stern face.
He bowed his head to Elena as he glared at her. “It was nice meeting you Miss King,” he said. “I trust that I won’t be seeing my name in the newspaper anytime soon.”
“I hope not,” Elena said, bowing her head back. “If these four boys stay here then I’ll have nothing to write about.”
General Samson turned towards the four brothers and straightened his body as his eyes narrowed on them. He walked over and raised his chin in the air. “You’re making powerful enemies,” he whispered.
“No,” Alexander grunted. “You are, General.”
General Samson hissed out a breath. “We’ll see.”
He straightened his military jacket and walked back to his truck with a clenched jaw. The group didn’t say a word as the truck started and the general drove off of the Vega Ranch and back onto the main road, disappearing in a cloud of dust.
“What did we do?” Alexander whispered as the enormity of what just happened began to hit him. They had just sent one of the most powerful men on the planet packing with his tail between his legs.