by B. L. Dawn
“Yeah?”
“I don’t care if you think you’re submissive to me. I know how strong you are, and I know you dominate everyone else in this pack. I hope you don’t care that I have dominant characteristics as a female. It’s a part of me. Not the only part, but a huge part. If it’s any consolation, you make me feel weak when I’m around you. I love you, Luke. So much.”
Tatum lifted her head off of his. Gripping his chin, she began to kiss his lips, which were warm, salty, and wet. She didn’t know what else to do. His musky scent filled her nose, and as her lips ran over his smooth trembling mouth, she heard him moan for her. She was desperate to make him feel better. He kissed her back softly. Like a whirlwind, the kiss turned smoking hot, like tissue paper over an open flame, passion consumed them. Teeth scraped against teeth while hands went everywhere, up shirts and down pants, as they pulled each other close.
They moved against each other. Luke’s hands were inside her jeans, on her ass, pulling her into his erection. She could effortlessly feel his hard bulge from the outside of his sweatpants. Her insides tingled, and it was building. He rubbed her in all the right ways, moving his hips. His hands slid between her bottom and rubbed her wet slit.
Between heavy breathing and hearts racing, she felt light-headed. At that moment, Tatum knew she loved him something fierce. When their lips pulled apart, their foreheads remained together. Tatum began to shudder in his arms, a whimper leaving her lips. Luke pulled her head into his harder, increasing his movement. She climaxed, coming hard.
Luke kissed her on the lips a few times after he stopped moving. “I loved that.” He sighed. “Just be with me, Tatum. Please. Just be with me. Fuck the true mate thing and saving yourself. I love you. Me. Right now. Be with me.”
Tatum started to shake her head against his as tears left her eyes. “I know this isn’t fair. It just isn’t. I can leave if you want.” Her voice was scratchy and full of sorrow.
Luke’s tears fell as well. “No, if this is the only way I can have you, then just let me hold you.”
Closing her eyes, she continued to cry with him. Eventually, they both cried themselves to sleep, holding on to one another as if their lives depended on it.
Chapter 26
Tatum woke up, and Luke was gone. There was a pain in her chest, and she tried not to think about the reasons he wasn’t in her arms still. The words I feel weak played over and over in her head. She scooted off the bed and looked in the mirror.
The swelling of her nose was gone. It had a pinkish hue, and the bruising on her arm and thigh had disappeared. Making her way downstairs, she peeked at the clock in the kitchen. It was five in the morning, and everyone was still sleeping. They had all had a long night.
Where had Luke gone? And what business was it of hers? She needed to stop thinking about him all the time. There were more important things around here going on without him clogging up her mind. Deciding it was high time she did some chores around this place, Tatum walked to the front porch, grabbed a basket, and headed for the chicken coop.
Once inside, she unlatched the door, and she walked inside. Oliver had his hands down Lilly’s sweatpants and was lip-locked with her. Tatum dropped the basket and wished she hadn’t made any noise.
“Oh, crap, sorry. I didn’t see anything. I won’t tell anyone.” She backed out the door, hands over her eyes, and fell backward to the ground.
Recovering, she decided to hightail it to the horse barn to feed the horses. She walked in the back entrance just in case anyone was getting it on in the office area. It was unlikely because there were four males in there, but who knew.
Tatum could smell a foul scent in the air. Moving to a quiet stall, she saw that one of the horses was dead. Its huge body lay on the ground unmoving. Tatum knew that Cade or one of his gang had been behind this. Tatum sniffed the air again. Collecting all of the water buckets, she noticed a sweet smell in the water. Fucking, Cade.
Tatum cleaned the buckets out with soap and water, then returned the buckets full of freshwater back to the horses. She pulled out her phone and called the closest veterinarian to get information on saving the other horses.
After she made a few more phone calls, she was able to locate the correct vet to help her. After an hour, a group of veterinarians showed up. Tatum stepped out of the way and watched as a gastric tube was shoved into the horse’s mouths, trying to suction out any poisonous contents. Then medicine of some kind was given to them through the tubes, along with a laxative.
Tatum knew all too well what that was, and the mess they would be cleaning up later was not something she looked forward to.
The doctors left after that, giving strict orders to keep an eye on them. Tatum knocked on the office door and asked Leo and Eli to watch over the horses.
Sam and Dean walked around the whole farm with her. They checked on all the areas—animals, garden, cornfield, and the rest of the land. Once everything was clear, Tatum decided to go back to the house to do more laundry and let Sam and Dean go back to their rooms. Walking around the back of the farmhouse, she entered from the rear, descended the basement steps, and looked at the new piles of laundry. She made quick work of it and sat on the floor to give her mind time to work.
When life had given her a choice to be herself or to be who she thought others would want her to be, she had made the wrong decision over and over. Finally, she accepted who she was. She was beta of the Primal Ridge Pack. She was going to step up, take control, and be responsible for the outcomes of her pack.
One of her new goals was to fix the doubt Cade had planted in the pack members’ minds. They were safe, and they were capable of anything they put their minds to. Destiny ordaining her to save the race was still in the air, but after killing Cade, after sinking her teeth in another shifter’s throat, she knew she had what it took to do her job as beta.
She needed to do what she was good at, which was managing people…shifters…whatever. They needed a patrol schedule, a chore schedule, and a training schedule. They needed to tear down the silo, go around and clear the land of corn, bury the dead horse along with the bodies in the mine, talk to the police, pick themselves up, and dust themselves off.
There was a lot to be done. This whole thing was a debacle, and it may never be truly over, but she would make sure this farm got back on track.
As for the outskirt packs, she was going to start getting the alphas together. They needed to learn from one another, and they needed to integrate into the human world. When their properties looked better, and they had thriving farms, they could plan meetings together. They would also be able to have events where shifters would get the chance to find their true mates. She would help them on this journey.
To save herself and the Primal Ridge Pack from more drama, Tatum traveled to the old territory, with Enoch’s permission, and renovated it as a meeting ground for the alphas. No need to have them on the farm. She wouldn’t endanger her pack again.
Standing up, Tatum walked upstairs to the study. Books of all shapes and sizes lined wooden framed walls. There was a light oak desk with a leather chair pushed into it. A green reading lamp was on the desk, along with a black cup to hold pens. Grandpa sat with a book in his hand. He smelled a little bit like onion grass. Was he nervous? Tatum sat down at the desk and pulled out some paper and a pencil but kept her eyes on him. She straightened her shoulders.
“Grandpa?”
“Hmm?”
“For a long time now, I’ve felt like you were keeping something from me. You know I don’t remember my past, but you refuse to tell me anything. You and everyone else, including me, know that I’m different than other females. Something tells me that you hold the answer to that. Am I right?”
Grandpa lowered his book and leveled his gaze on Tatum. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Tatum narrowed her eyes. “As your beta, I demand that you tell me.”
Grandpa started to sweat, he wiped his fore
head, opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
She shook her head. “Why won’t you tell me?”
His voice was weak, “Because some things are stronger than orders from an alpha or a beta. And if you ever figure out what that is, I’ll tell you everything I know. But for now, I can’t. No matter how many times you demand me.” Grandpa sighed. “I’m truly sorry, Tate. I do love you.”
Tatum slid her hand down her face. “Fine, something is going on with you. I don’t understand it, but I suppose if a shifter could turn down a direct order, something must be going on. I’ll figure it out, Grandpa.” She pointed her pen at him. “I’ll figure it out.”
“I believe you will, and I’ll be here when you do.” Grandpa grinned and put the book in front of his face again.
Tatum cocked her eyebrow at the old shifter. He was a man of mystery. She loved him, but he still pissed her off.
When she was finished staring him down, she opened her phone and looked up a tractor dealership. She left a message telling the company that she needed a farm equipment mechanic to fix her two tractors. Then she started working on the schedules.
It took her a while to finished the different schedules. Grandpa had fallen asleep on the couch. She looked over the pages. One was full of her plans for Green Lagoon. Another one was conversations she wanted to have with everyone, and one page had costs for materials and her bank account balance. There was a chore schedule, dated for two months, and a rotation schedule for perimeter checks, with two shifters on patrol every four hours. After ensuring everyone was on the schedule for attack and defense training every morning, Tatum thought about Jenny and hoped she would start taking these trainings.
Tatum moved to the kitchen, made two pots of coffee, set out bagels and cream cheese, and waited for the pack to arrive. She grabbed a cup and sat down at the table. Ten minutes later, Luke walked through the back door. As he turned the corner, he looked troubled.
Where did Luke go? And the fact that she was acting like a love-sick idiot had her figuring that Luke was over it. He was most likely sick of her coming on to him and turning him down. She didn’t have a right to ask where he went. Did Luke belong to her? Nope. Not to mention the fact she had killed his brother.
“Hey, you.” Tatum tried to test out the waters.
“Hey yourself.”
“About last night, I shouldn’t have asked you to hold me. I—”
“I want to hold you every night if that’s okay? I’ll just hold you and guard you. We don’t have to do anything else.”
“I’m sorry about your brother.” Tatum didn’t mean she was sorry for killing him. No, she was sorry because he was a complete asshole, and it affected Luke.
“Don’t.” He held out a hand to stop her. “I don’t blame you. I really don’t. If you didn’t do it, Enoch would have.”
Luke looked so sad. What a lousy shifter she was for pulling him along like this. He was hurt, and Tatum still wanted or needed something from him. She wanted to be with him, loved hearing his voice, loved smelling him close by, and loved it when he wrapped his arms around her.
“Okay, I’ll let you hold me.” Tatum looked down at her hands. “I have a schedule. I want to go over it with the pack.”
“Sounds good.” Luke drank his coffee and walked into the living room.
More pack members arrived, each grabbing food and drinks from the kitchen. They found places around the living space to wait for the meeting. Oliver came in, grinning over at Tatum as he poured some coffee in a cup.
“Hi, Oliver. How are you?” Tatum made sure she appeared casual.
“I’m doing good. How are you?”
“Pretty good. I wanted to go over the schedule with you guys this morning. Stay in the house. Okay?”
Oliver nodded as he walked into the living room with a grin. He must have found a happy release this morning.
Lilly didn’t come in right away. Four shifters later, she strolled through the front door. She didn’t come into the kitchen to get a drink or food. Deciding to break the ice, Tatum made Lilly a bagel with a coffee and walked it to her. “Here you go. Everyone needs their energy.” Tatum gave her a carefree smile and walked back to the kitchen.
When all the shifters were in the house, Tatum discussed the schedule, along with her goals for the farm. They sat in the meeting for a long time.
Luke didn’t say anything at all. He just kept his head down and shuffled his feet.
Tatum stood up and was ready to close the meeting. “I want everyone to go outside for self-defense training, and afterward, we’ll start new rotations and chores. Expect the police to come today. Try to finish your chores quickly, just in case. You’re dismissed.”
Everyone went to training, and Tatum left the farm. An hour later, she came back with buckets, shovels, and two large tarps. The shifters all came over, and she divided them up on chores.
Tatum sent a group of males to move the horse’s dead body on the tarp and bury it in the property’s furthest eastern corner. The young picked up the corn scattered over the land. They poured large buckets of the corn into a dump trailer. The females tended to the garden.
Later that evening, a couple of police cars pulled in. Tatum and Luke walked over to them.
She shook the hand of a short officer wearing sunglasses on his head. “Hello, officer. We’ve been expecting you.”
“You have, have you?”
She looked at his badge. “Yes, Officer Bradley. I knew you fine gentleman would investigate as soon as you were able. Would anyone like a cup of coffee or a bagel?”
“No, ma’am. We need to know what happened last night.”
“Oh yeah. It was awful.” Tatum put her hand around her throat. “We were so scared when she wasn’t home. There were broken bowls everywhere. Enoch found her in a brook in the middle of the woods. Someone had cut her hair, she was bleeding, and she was unconscious.”
“I know this is hard on all of you, but is there any way you can show us the brook?”
“I don’t want to go there. What if someone is out there somewhere, waiting for us?” Her eyes widened.
“We’ll protect you. Nothing bad will happen to you while we’re here,” Bradley tried to reassure her.
Tatum nodded. “It’s this way.” She pointed toward the back of the house.
They walked until they came to the brook. The officers looked around for a while with confused looks on their faces. When they spoke to each other in hushed tones, Tatum could hear them mumbling about heavy rain and not being able to find anything out of the ordinary.
Officer Bradley walked over to Tatum. “Are you sure this is where he found her?”
Tatum shrugged. “This is the only brook I know of on the property.”
Officer Bradley narrowed his eyes. “We will have to keep investigating. I’ll send a team down here to collect evidence and try to find something that might help us. We will have to look inside the house as well. Have you all stayed clear of the kitchen area?”
Tatum shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. We’ve been using the kitchen. We have a lot of family here, and we all decided to stay and help out on the farm until Jenny is back to her normal health. I didn’t even think about that.”
The police officer crossed his arms. “We’ll have to take a look anyway.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I think the bowls are still in the trashcan. Whatever you need to do in the kitchen is fine with us.”
They all made their way back to the farm. The officers walked around the woods back and forth from their cars to the brook. Throughout the day, shifters got asked questions, and the cops searched around the kitchen. When they were gone, Tatum took a relieved breath.
She glanced at Luke. He had been quiet all day and had a sour expression. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m just still shocked at how you handled the police.”
“That’s what happens when you watch too much
television.”
Hours later, the pack members came in for dinner. Tatum took a seat at the kitchen table, brooding. Luke had been acting downhearted all day. Every time she had the chance, she asked him if he wanted to talk about it. He kept saying no. And he kept reassuring her that it wasn’t about her killing his brother. There had even been a swearing of life on it. The only good thing about the day was that the schedule was working, and the kitchen wasn’t crowded.
When she worked at the Beeline Superstore, a success in the scheduling would have made her day. But right now, it wasn’t touching the ache she was carrying around. No, what was bothering her was the way Luke had pulled away from her mentally and physically.
He was tense, sad, and snappy. Tatum felt like he didn’t want to be around her, but he wouldn’t leave her side. This guard stuff didn’t need to be taken so seriously. If he had a problem with her, he needed to find another hobby. Luke didn’t need to feel obligated to be around her. Maybe the shock had finally worn off, and he was pissed at her after all. Cade was his brother, and whether Cade deserved his punishment or not, his killing would be hard to swallow for anyone. And if Luke was holding her at night because he pitied her, he needed to let it go. Thanks for the pity, but no thanks.
The shifters finished cleaning, and Luke grabbed her hand and pulled her upstairs.
Tatum tugged him backward. “We don’t have to do this. I’m fine now. I’m okay.”
“No, it’s fine. Just stay with me. Please.” Once in his room, Luke pulled her down into his arms. But they didn’t speak for the rest of the night. They just held on to one another, but as she lay there, a strange feeling of uneasiness kept creeping its way into her heart. Was it because the police had freaked her out? Was it because Luke was acting like he was crazy, or was it because Jenny and Enoch weren’t under the same roof as she was? She wasn’t sure why this feeling was growing, but it made her restless.
The next morning, Tatum directed the shifters to training, chores and then they demolished the silo, tossing the pieces in the large dump trailer behind the barn. The farm was coming together, and giving the shifters work to do gave them a sense of control back in their lives.