Jack

by KJ Dahlen

  He didn’t know or care about the why... only the end result. He began stripping her dress off, then got impatient and simply tore the material off her back. Kalinda gasped then smiled slightly at his behavior. His eyes darkened when he saw hers twinkle in the dusky light. He slammed her against the wall next to the door.

  His mouth crushed hers and he used everything he had, his mouth, his teeth, his hands and his body to pin her in place. His mouth ravished hers ramping up her libido. His lips and teeth nipped at her jaw and slid down her neck. He sucked and nipped his way down to cover her life-giving artery and he groaned when he felt the deep pounding of her heartbeat.

  His hips pressed into hers as his cock was like hard steel against her belly. His hands cupped and pulled on her breasts. She moaned as he pulled and twisted on her nipples while his teeth and tongue made their way to her peaks. Biting down gently, he let her fell the pain without it being too much.

  Kalinda groaned as he fumbled with his belt and zipper. Pushing his jeans down to midthigh, he plunged deep into her wet core. “I can’t wait for you. I need to be inside you too badly at this point,” he whispered in her ear as he took her.

  Kalinda gasped and agreed with his need. “You are right where I need you to be.” He began to move but she needed more. “I need more, sweet man.”

  Jack groaned and pulled out, quickly flipping her around. Her front was plastered against the wall as he kicked her feet apart and plunged into her again. This time, he buried his cock deep inside her hard and fast.

  Kalinda groaned as she took him in balls deep. “Yesss,” she moaned as he began to move thrusting deep and hard with every stroke. Her hard nipples rubbed against the wall sending even more tingles to her core. Jack grabbed her hips and pounded into her. He was quickly losing control and he was enjoying every moment of it.

  Kalinda felt her body responding to his. Each stroke brought her closer to the abyss and she needed to fly over the edge. Her body tightened and with her heart pounding, she arched her back, slipping her hand down to her clit she began to rub slightly.

  “Oh...my...god,” she cried out as she shattered in his arms.

  Jack felt her come and he pounded into her once, twice and the third stroke, he gripped her hips and shot his load deep into her body. His fingers bit deep into her hips and he caught his breath as he filled his woman...his wife. His release was so strong he almost passed out but he held on long enough to gently let her feet touch the floor.

  They both stumbled over to the bed and flopped down. Jack wrapped his arms around her and just held her safe within his embrace.

  Kalinda snuggled in his arms and just let herself drift off. There was nothing more she wanted than what she had right at this moment.

  Micah Wolf sat alone in the dark, waiting for fate to play out its last hand. He was ninety-two years on this earth and now his time was up. He knew it and he almost welcomed what was to come.

  He had seen his own death and he knew this had to play out the way fate had described but he also knew his loved ones were waiting for him on the other side. He didn’t say anything when he heard the click of the door being opened and the sound of many footsteps coming his way.

  Finally, when the footsteps stopped in front of him he reached over and snapped the lamp on. Soft light illuminated the room startling the five men standing in front of him. “So to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit gentlemen?” Micah finally asked Michael Moon and all his sons.

  “I think you know why we’re here old man.” Michael snarled.

  Micah nodded.

  “Then you know this can only end one way,” Joshua spoke in a low voice filled with hate.

  “This day has been coming for the last nineteen years.” Micah nodded. Then he peered closer at Michael and took note of the shadows surrounding him. “I see the Coyote sitting on your shoulders. He is hungry for power and death. He is licking his lips in anticipation of what’s to come and then when it is done, he will still not be happy. He is a trickster that one. He always wants more.”

  Michael glared at the old man. “Buh, I don’t believe in that shit old man.”

  Micha nodded. “I know you don’t, you and your sons have closed your eyes to the ways of the Apache but the Coyote is real and right now he is laughing at you. You haven’t seen him because he is a trickster but he is there waiting for you to do what you must. I know I will not live to see the morning sun rise about the horizon but you...” He swung his eyes to Michael Moon, “You will betray everyone here. Even now, the Coyote is whispering his evil in your ear. Greed has taken your soul and he is not easy to appease.”

  Michael reached for the leather sheath on his hip. Slowly drawing out the blade he stepped forward.

  Micah didn’t back away from the threat, instead he watched Michael closely. “I am ready for death to come for me but are you and your sons? I have seen this in a dream quest. My soul is clear but your soul is black and the hounds of hell are waiting for you. They will be nearby waiting to drag your souls to hell.” He looked at the four men standing behind Michael. “For all of you. My death will free my soul but your deaths will burn in the flames of hell forever. You will never be free from the flames.”

  Michael sneered, “I will never burn in hell, instead I will stay on this earth and live like a king. I have everything I need to be happy. Money, power and my sons to serve me.”

  Joshua stepped forward. “Have you seen my bitch of a daughter in any of your vision quests? Is she still alive out there somewhere?”

  Micah nodded. “Yes, she still lives and she remembers everything about the night you took her mother and her sister away from her. She remembers the look in your eyes before you trampled them under your fists. She saw firsthand what hate has turned you into but she isn’t alone. She has seen the worst in you and she has seen more than you know. She has her own protection in place and always will have. The truth of what she knows will set her free.” He turned to Michael. “I know your secret. I have seen what you did to the Crockett brothers. Their souls have called out to me from beyond the tomb you left them in. Your immortal soul will be judged for what you did to them.”

  Michael tightened his grip on the handle of his blade. Without warning, he plunged the hard steel into the old man’s chest. Micah’s bones broke at the intrusion and the blade sliced through the muscle of his chest and heart. Blood poured from his wound and from the corner of the old man’s mouth. Micha took one last gasp of air into his lungs and then they all watched as his soul left his body and his eyes glazed over in death.

  Michael pulled the blade out and wiped the bloody steel on the dead man’s shirt. It was done and he felt nothing, not even remorse for taking the old man’s life. He turned to his sons. “Burn the place to the ground. I want it hot and fast. No one can know how the old man died, only that he didn’t survive the fire.”

  “Do you really think he was telling the truth about the Crockett boys?” James wanted to know. He’d been shaken when the old man brought that up out of the blue. No one was supposed to know about that but them.

  “He was only guessing,” Michael told his sons. “No one else knows jack shit about what happened that day.”

  “Kalinda knows,” Joshua reminded his father.

  “She doesn’t know shit!” Michael raged. “She was only three when we did what we did.”

  “That was part of the reason Luna was going to take the girls and leave me. She said she couldn’t live with a thief.”

  “She thought you were a thief but she didn’t know about the Crockett brothers,” Michael insisted. “Your daughter hadn’t said anything yet about the Crockett’s. We have to believe she didn’t see anything.”

  Craig looked at the body behind his dad. “What do you think he was talking about that damn Coyote for? He’s just a myth isn’t he? I mean the Coyote doesn’t really exist does he?”

  Michael snorted. “No, the Coyote doesn’t exist except in the folklore of the Elders. It’s like the stor
ies they tell about the boogey man. He ain’t real but every parent tells their kids to be good or the boogey man will get ya.”

  “But Dad... he said he saw him on your shoulders, laughing at you,” Craig reminded him.

  “Nah, he’s was just a silly old man, son.” Michael scorned. “Ain’t nobody laughing at your old man now.”

  “What are we gonna do about Kalinda?” Joshua asked his dad. “If we want to walk away from this clean, we have to stop her from spreading around what really happened that night.”

  “She was a kid, who’s going to believe her?” Michael shrugged. “Even if we do find her, she won’t know anything. I ain’t gonna worry about her. If we do find her, we’ll deal with her then.”

  He looked around the old man’s house and dismissed the folklore surrounding him. He was glad they were leaving this place. Michael always hated living in poverty. He always wanted so much more than he had and when he found the gold mine, he began to dream of finding the motherlode. When he did, he began to dream of wealth and having the best of the best.

  Then his sons began manufacturing the drug Vison Quest. They began selling locally and somehow, word got out. People came to them in droves to get what deemed the biggest new designer drug and they made even more money.

  Now it was time to move on. The feds were getting too interested in the drug and they didn’t need their interest. One of their dealers bought and paid for the recipe and Michael gladly gave it to him, minus the pivotal ingredient, the peyote.

  He wasn’t going to give the dealer that. It was illegal to anyone but the Indians. The dealer wouldn’t know where to find it anyway.

  He looked over at his sons and saw them dumping gas all over the house. It wouldn’t be long now until he could see the beginning of the end for this place. He glanced over at the old man and almost expected to see him looking back. Michael had to shake his head at his fanciful thoughts. The old man was dead, he couldn’t look back. He’d sent his soul to hell.

  Just then, his son Craig struck a match and the flames began small but grew quickly. The shadows he cast against the wall appeared weird for a moment. Michael frowned as he saw his own shadow. He thought for a moment there was some beast on his back with his head hanging over Michael’s shoulder. For a moment, he could see two glowing eyes and a set of animal teeth showing, the animal was laughing or snarling at him. Michael closed his eyes and when he opened them again, there was nothing more than his own shadow.

  He looked again at the old man and curled his lips. Backing away, slowly he watched as the flames caught and the they gobbled up the old wood and material of the furniture, leaving nothing behind but ashes.

  He hurried out the door and went to his truck. He jumped behind the wheel and drove away before anyone noticed the flames.

  They were bound to be noticed if they didn’t get going.

  It was around midnight when a cool breeze woke Renegade up. At first, he didn’t know why he woke up, then he felt it again. A cold breeze washed over him, leaving his skin cold to the touch. Goosebumps broke out on his forearms and he gazed around the room with widened eyes.

  There was a white glow at the base of the bed and Renegade’s eyes rounded more when the shadows took on the shape of an old man. An old man he hadn’t seen in years but one he cared about.

  “Grandfather...” he whispered softly.

  “I only have a moment but I have a message I have to share with you before I find my place in the spirit world.”

  Renegade felt a blow to his heart when he realized the old man’s life was over. “What do you need me to know?”

  “Michael Moon and his sons took my life and they have nothing but death in their hearts for you because you will try to stop them and for Kalinda. She cannot live to tell the truth about what really happened that night nineteen years ago. She holds the key, although she has no clue what that key really is. There is another secret she holds and she will remember it but it may be too late when she does. She will need not only you but her man and his family to survive. Do not seek vengeance for my death, it was my time to go, instead protect her and her children’s lives for they are the future, not the past. It was never easy being an Apache but they will bring back the honor of our ancestors.” Micah smiled and turned toward the stray beam of moonlight behind him. “I have to go. Be wise grandson, seek justice not revenge.”

  Renegade smiled sadly as he watched his grandfather fade into nothing. The cold aura was gone when he was. He flung his right arm over his head and thought about what his great grandfather told him. He had to wonder what else Kalinda knew? What else was there to know?

  He took a deep breath then frowned at the bitter scent of cloves left in the air. Looking around the room, he didn’t see anything out of place, yet his heart was pounding in his chest. By the time he took another deep breath, the scent was gone but for a moment, he had smelled it.

  It took a long time before he could close his eyes again. Sadness crept in as he mourned for the loss of his grandfather. The man had helped to raise him. Taught him with stories and regaled him with many secrets of the apache. He was saddened such a keen mind and great soul was gone from his world. He knew Micha would be joining his people, his family that passed before him. His wife and a daughter as well. They would all be together... finally.

  He didn’t cry, even though he felt like doing so. No, he would follow Micha’s advice.

  Tomorrow would be another long day and now he had a purpose, one he knew he couldn’t turn his back on.

  Kalinda startled awake. She thought she heard someone call out her name. Moonlight filled the room with it soft glow. She could feel Jack behind her holding her in his arms. She could also sense there was no danger, yet she could feel another presence beside her own.

  She looked around the room seeking the secrets held in the shadows. She sat up slowly and gasped when she saw the glowing old man at the foot of her bed. She didn’t know him, but she didn’t fear his presence, instead she was comforted by his being there.

  She watched his eyes and realized she knew them. They were the same eyes she’d seen in the rear-view mirror that night so long ago. Taking a deep breath, she smelled the scent of cloves and she realized she didn’t have to fear that scent any longer.

  “Who are you?’ she whispered in the dark. “I know you, don’t I? You were the one who took me away that night?” She paused, “Why did you do that?”

  “You hold a secret that you may not even know or even remember you have yet. This secret will bring down your family but you have a choice to make. I took you away that night so this secret could be told one day. I had to protect you. If you had stayed, the secret would have died with you. This secret needs to come out, the truth needs to be told, but only you know what someone else wants to hide.”

  “What are you talking about?” Kalinda begged him. “What secret? I don’t know any secret.”

  The old man shook his head. “You shared this secret with your mother the day she was murdered. It was why he had to beat her to death. Your mother told him she was leaving him and taking you girls with her. He couldn’t have that happen. He stopped it the only way he knew how.” The old man shook his head. “Your father and his family can’t take the chance you will remember this. They will come for you. For only you know this terrible secret and they will lose everything if you tell anyone about it. .My grandson will protect you, along with your husband and his family. Lean on their strength for you will need it in the coming days. Let the truth come out. The secret has been hidden far too long. Let the truth set you free.”

  “But what is the secret? I don’t have a clue,” Kalinda whispered.

  “You will know it when the time is right child. You will know it when the fear leaves you. Be happy, you have a good man beside you and he will never leave you. It is your father’s fate along with his brothers and his own father to burn for what they have done. You must see this through to the very end, my dear child. Be safe and above all protect w
hat it yours to protect.” He began to fade back into the shadow but before he was completely gone, he whispered, “Yadalanh...” Goodbye in Apache.

  Kalinda frowned as his last words triggered something in her mind. A foggy memory of a time long past, but the memory wouldn’t come forward. It was as if something was blocking it from becoming clear.

  She laid down again but before she did, she smelled the scent of cloves again. Pulling the covers over her shoulders, she snuggled into Jack’s arms and breathed in his scent. He hadn’t heard nor seen any of this. Funny, how he hadn’t. Only her. So now, she knew who’d spirited her away that night when she was three and she had been right, he had intended to save her. He had no choice but to drop her at the church then run off before someone caught up to him. Cloves... The men when they heard this story earlier tonight had been angry. But for the rest of her life, Kalinda knew that the scent of cloves would make her feel safe. Closing her eyes again, she realized that being with this man beside her already made her feel that way.

  Chapter Six

  When she opened her eyes the next morning, she saw Jack beside her still. She took a moment to really look at her husband. His skin was a light golden from spending so much time in the sun. His eyes she knew were a bright blue color but at the moment they were closed. His mouth was sensuous and she loved the feel of it on her skin when they made love. His teeth were strong and white against his skin.

  She looked further down to his chest and shoulders. His shoulders were broad and tight with muscles as was his chest. He had a light coat of chest hair to match the dark hair on his head. Curls of his long hair brushed his shoulder. Reaching out, she fingered a curl. It felt silky and reminded her of black silk.

  Her hand slipped down his chest to his abdomen, rippling over his six pact and disappearing to the cradle of his pelvis. His member was soft and hot. She loved the feel of it in her hands. Her touch worked it up and soon it was swelling and growing hard.