by L. P. Maxa
“No.”
“Are you sure? It’s me and you here, everyone else is outside or incapacitated.” There was something about Riley that she found endearing. He reminded her of Baze in a lot of ways. He had a veiled calmness about him.
“It all happened so fast. Jace didn’t come with us tonight. I don’t even know where he came from. It’s like he flew out of the woods and started whaling on Jasper. If he was there the whole time—” Riley stopped talking and reached for a beer that someone left unfinished on the kitchen counter. He drained it in one gulp.
“That’s your one free pass on the beer. Now tell me what’s really on your mind.” Corey took the now-empty bottle from him and tossed it in the recycle bin.
“If Jace was in the woods, he uh, god, this is messed up.” Riley took a deep breath and let it out. “If he was in the woods, then he was watching. Ya know, watching Jasper with that girl. And then he saw a bunch of guys jump his brother. He was willing to let Jasper get beat up by six guys, but he wasn’t willing to let his brother get away with losing control.”
“What bothers you more? That he watched Jasper and that girl hook up or that he was willing to let his brother get his ass kicked by a bunch of strangers?”
“Neither. I mean both are messed up. But he beat the shit out of his brother, his twin, because he thought Jasper might lose control and shift. It happens, we are young and this is new to us, sometimes we can’t keep our emotions on lockdown. But Jasper would have made it into the trees before he fully turned. He was headed in that direction already. He was handling the shift the right way, the way we were all taught. But Jace never let him reach the tree line. It was like he wanted an audience. Don’t you get it? He was punishing him.”
Corey’s stomach dropped to her feet. This wasn’t about Jace not wanting Jasper to out them to a group of drunk teenagers. This was about control and dominance. “Riley, did Jace say anything to you? After you guys pulled him off Jasper?”
“Yeah. He said, ‘Clean this up’. He wiped his hands off on his jeans and walked away. He never even looked back.”
“Is this the first time you have ever seen Jace and Jasper fight like this?”
“They don’t even talk, at least in front of us, let alone fight. Jasper has never seemed afraid of Jace though. Whenever anyone questions their relationship or the way Jace is to everyone Jasper always says, ‘He’s my brother.’” Riley looked over her shoulder into the living room. “Is Jasper okay? Is he healing?”
“He’s going to be fine. He’s all cleaned up and Baze assures me that the deep sleep is his body working hard to repair itself. Dom and Keller went to find Jace and ask him what the hell he was thinking.” She reached into her pocket and grabbed her cell, holding it out. “Hey, do you want to call your mom?”
“No, her and my stepdad are on vacation somewhere. I’ll talk to her when she gets back. If she knows something crazy happened she’ll cut her trip short.”
“Why don’t you go lie down? You’ll have to fold in half to fit on the loveseat, but you look exhausted.” Riley stood then headed toward the living room, but stopped and turned around. He reached for Corey, enveloping her into his large body. He hugged her so tight.
“Thank you.”
“Aww, kiddo.” She squeezed him back as tight. “I’m glad you two are okay. Now go get some rest while you can. Y’all are staying here this weekend. No arguments.” He released her and she watched him contort his body onto the small piece of furniture. Dom was probably going to be pissed that she offered to house them for a couple days, but she didn’t care. Like the dean had said, these kids were away from their families, from their homes. They needed help, and they needed comfort.
She went and covered Riley up with a throw blanket, and then headed out front to join Linc and Baze on the front porch. They were sitting in rocking chairs, a small cooler of beer on ice between them. “Y’all drink too much.” She sat down on the steps beside them.
“You want?” Linc asked, handing one to her.
“Yeah.”
“Hey, Corey, you did great tonight. Those boys are lucky to have you here.” Linc smiled down to her.
“I don’t know what it is about you wolves. You wormed your way into my heart so damn fast. I couldn’t imagine my life without you guys.”
Baze paused with his bottle halfway to his mouth. “That’s because you were made for Dom. You were made to love him. And I guess, luckily, that spills over to the rest of us.”
They stayed that way, in companionable silence for a few minutes, her mind going a mile a minute. Then she suddenly shouted, “Wolves mate for life.”
“Dammit, Corey.” Linc’s beer foamed into his lap after he fumbled it.
Corey couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m sorry. But I thought of something Dom said about wolves mating for life, and that his mom leaving had pretty much killed his dad. But Riley’s dad left and his mom’s remarried. How does that work?”
It was Baze who answered her in his slow, soothing voice. “Not all wolves mate for life. Some aren’t lucky enough to find their forever, some don’t care to, and some are forced together by their families even though it’s not meant to be. From what Riley’s told me, he was an accident. His dad knocked his mom up and bolted when he found out. They weren’t soul mates, so it didn’t end up hurting him. The woman and kid he left behind were a different story. Luckily for Riley, his mom happened to fall in love with a shifter. He was there for Riley, he recognized what Riley was and took him under his wing. Taught him what he needed to know. Not many boys are that fortunate. Some of the more influential families force matings almost like arranged marriages, to keep the good bloodlines going strong. But those couples are never truly bonded. Not like you and Dom. His family, like mine, believe that you wait for your soul mate, because eventually the universe will send her to you.”
“Oh come on, Baze,” Linc said, amused. “Don’t make it sound like we wait around twiddling our thumbs until our soul mate graces us with her presence.”
“That’s not at all what I said, ass hat. I said that some families still believe in waiting for your forever to, uh, start a family of your own.” Baze thumped him on the ear.
“What Baze is saying so nicely is, it’s frowned upon if you knock up someone who isn’t your mate. Your parents get pissy and the rest of your family judges you. It’s the same thing with humans, right? Your dad wouldn’t be thrilled if you got pregnant and you weren’t married. Well, mating is marrying. Same diff. But we certainly don’t wait ’til mating to have sex. Don’t romanticize it, dude.”
“I wasn’t romanticizing it,” Baze ground out. “I have a better way with words than you do, that’s all.”
Corey couldn’t help but giggle at the two of them. She knew Dom, along with his friends, weren’t saints. Total opposite, actually. They were male whores. Well, maybe not Baze. She hadn’t seen him as much as flirt with a girl.
But, male sluts aside, they were all good guys with their hearts in the right place.
Chapter Thirty-One
Dominic
Dom’s hands were gripping the steering wheel tighter than necessary. It was either the steering wheel or Jace’s neck. And he figured he’d go to jail for strangling a student. He pushed his conversation with Jace out of his mind. He had to or he’d turn the truck around and face incarceration anyway. His mind automatically spun to Corey. She’d been so wonderful with Riley and Jasper; it was obvious she cared about them. Dom couldn’t believe what a prick he was back at the house. A kid lay broken and bleeding and all Dom felt was jealousy and possession. Corey was right to send him away. He wouldn’t have lasted much longer seeing her hands all over Jasper. He prayed like hell that the stress and gravity of the situation was a contributing factor to his crazy behavior.
Now that he was away from the chaos that had been going down in the living room when they brought Jasper in, Dom felt nothing but concern for the kid, and fear that Jace had caused irreparable damage. And, of
course, Dom had nothing but admiration for his girl. She was so loving, and so kind, he didn’t deserve her. He pulled the truck into their driveway. She was sitting on the porch with Baze and Linc, head resting on her arms.
She looked exhausted and beautiful.
He cut the ignition and looked over at Keller, who’d remained quiet through the whole ride home. “Hey, man, you okay over there? We need to tell them what Jace said, but not where Jasper can hear. Then I need you guys to go. Corey looks beat. I’ve got to get her cleaned up and in bed.”
“Yeah. I’m good. Let’s go get this over with. I’m so ready for this night to end, dude.”
Dom hopped out of the truck and went to sit next to Corey on the porch step. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her head when she rested it against him. “Hey, baby, how are the boys?”
She snuggled deeper against his side. “They’re as good as can be expected. Jasper is still passed out cold and Riley is asleep on that tiny loveseat. Riley talked to me a little bit about what happened. He was really freaked out by the whole thing.”
“Wait ’til we tell you what Jace told us, you’ll all be freaked out.” Keller was leaning against the porch railing, arms crossed.
“I’ll tell you mine, then you tell me yours.” Dom felt Corey nod. “Jace was sitting in his room, doing homework, as calm and collected as can be. If I hadn’t seen the evidence of what he did tonight, I would never have guessed that he beat the shit out of his brother. It was like nothing happened. He even looked surprised to see us, like he didn’t know why we would be at his dorm so late.”
“The kid is messed up.” Keller pushed off the railing. “When we asked him what the fuck happened between him and Jasper, he said, ‘Jasper can’t lose control.’ I thought Dom was going to rip his head off. I asked him why he pounded on him in front of everyone, and he said that Jasper was weak. That he let his emotions lead him and that it would cause problems for the whole family.” Keller shook his head. “He never once looked even slightly remorseful.”
“That kind of mirrors what Riley told me. He said that Jasper started to shake, like he couldn’t control the shift, and that Jasper was headed to the woods. Jace wouldn’t let him get there, and Riley said Jasper could’ve made it. Jace beat his brother in front of everyone. Riley told me that when they finally dragged Jace off, he said, ‘Clean him up.’ That’s it.” Corey sat up and rubbed her temples. “He also said that from where Jace came flying out of the woods, he had to have been watching Jasper hook up with that girl. He saw everything they did, and watched when the six guys tried to jump his brother. Jace stepped out of hiding only to hurt Jasper for showing weakness.”
“What now?” Linc asked.
“We call their parents,” Keller answered. “We don’t have a choice in the matter. It’s school policy. We all know emotions run high with shifters right after their first change, fights aren’t out of the ordinary. But parents have to be called no matter what.”
Baze stood up, stretching his back. “I’ll call Mr. Franklin tomorrow morning. I’ll let him know that the boys fought and that he needs to come up here. Shit. It’s going to be a long weekend. I’m headed home to get some sleep while I can.”
After they had said their good-byes, Dom and Corey headed inside hand in hand. He went through the house locking up while she checked on the boys. Dom stood leaning against the wall watching her with his ballplayers. She checked Jasper for signs of a fever, placed her hand on his cheek, then covered him with a warmer blanket than the throw that had been on him. Then she went over to Riley and smoothed his hair before pulling up his covers a little higher. So much compassion in such a tiny package. Corey would make an excellent mom to their children, and at that thought, Dom’s heart swelled with pride.
She met his eyes and caught him staring. “What? What’s that face for?”
“You are the most amazing woman I have ever met. You love so completely. There’s no judgment or limitations to it. It simply is. Me, my friends, my ballplayers? None of us deserve you. But having met you, I don’t think any of us could make it on our own now. You have every one of us wrapped around your little finger.” He crossed the room and took her face in his hands. “Thank you.”
“There’s no need to thank me. I love you. I love all of my wolves, but I love you the most, you are my forever. So please, don’t ever feel like you have a reason to be jealous.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his mouth gently. “I need a shower and a bed in the worst way.”
“Yeah, you reek.” He wrinkled his nose.
Corey sniffed her shirt. “I do not. I smell like b-b-q and vanilla.”
“You smell like wolves, plural, not me. It’s really irritating. Please go take that shower.”
“You can smell them on me?” She seemed intrigued.
“Well, you have Jasper’s blood on you, so that’s a strong scent.” He leaned down and smelled her hair. “Riley hugged you. Or you sat really close to him. And I can smell traces of Baze, most likely from when he was down on the floor helping you treat Jasper.” He put his hand on the small of her back and pushed her toward the bathroom. “So that’s at least three wolf scents that do not belong to your mate. Take care of it. I’m begging you here.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Corey
Corey was woken up the next morning by the sound of laughter. Lots of deep, rumbling laughter. She opened her eyes and saw bright yellow. What the hell? She pulled a Post-it off her forehead and turned it around.
Baby, put some actual clothes on before you come out of our room please.
Dom had stuck a yellow Post-it on her face. Lovely. Once she was wearing “actual clothes,” she followed the sound of voices. Dom, Jasper, and Riley were sitting at the bar eating massive plates of food, and the kitchen was a disaster.
“Good morning, baby. Did we wake you?” Dom reached his arm out for her to come to him. Both Riley and Jasper mumbled good mornings around mouths full of toast.
“The sound of y’all laughing is what actually woke me up. Although I’m not sure how I missed the sound of the explosion from the bomb that went off in the kitchen.” She leaned against Dom’s side and let him feed her a perfectly crisp piece of bacon.
“Don’t worry, we’ll clean it up.” He patted her ass affectionately.
Corey was amazed at how at ease and calm he seemed. Last night had been crazy, one crisis after another. “Oh, I know you will.” She left him to go make herself a plate. Everything smelled amazing. “How are you feeling this morning, Jasper? Sore? I have some ibuprofen if you want.”
“I feel okay. A little stiff. I’m really sorry about all the problems we caused. I don’t know what came over my brother. He’s never acted like that before. Riley told me how you and Baze took care of me.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Thank you. Thank you for letting me stay here too.”
Corey smiled at him. “No worries, kiddo. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Hey, Coach, do you mind if Riley and I hit the track? I’ll be back in time for my parents to get here, but I feel all cagey.” Jasper rinsed his dish and sat it in the sink.
“Yeah, go ahead, burn off whatever you need to. But be back here by ten.” Dom waited until both boys left the kitchen and for the front door close. Then he turned to Corey, who’d joined him at the bar to eat. “Mr. Franklin will be here in about forty-five minutes; he’s going over to talk to Jace at the dorms with Baze and then he’ll be here to talk to Jasper.”
“Is that it? I mean Jace gets a stern talking-to by his daddy and then he’s off the hook? Seems a little light as far as punishments go. And what is that guy’s first name? Why do y’all call him Mr. Franklin all the time?” Corey moaned when she took her first bite of eggs. “Oh my god, babe. Did you make these?”
“No. Riley did. And I don’t know his first name. He introduces himself as Mr. Franklin. It’s kind of funny actually.” He paused while Corey took another bite, closed her eyes, and moaned again. “And as fa
r as punishment goes, that’s how it’s done with the shifters when they fight amongst themselves. I don’t make the rules, but I’m required to follow them.”
“Holy crap. I love that kid. These are the best eggs I’ve ever had.” She made another sound indicating deliciousness.
“Corey, please stop making those noises. I’m about two seconds away from putting your ass on this bar and eating you instead.”
She didn’t know how he did it, but his words always seemed to bring her close to the edge. She shoved her plate to the side and placed her hand on his thigh, close to his already rigid cock. She started to rub him through his pants. “That actually sounds like an amazing idea. Hurry before this house fills up with shifters again.”
Dom grabbed her face and plunged his tongue into her mouth like he feared he’d never get his fill of her. He threaded his fingers through her hair and tugged lightly. Corey groaned against his mouth. She loved him like this, rough, doling out the tiniest hint of pain. He moved his hands down her body and guided her off her chair onto his lap. She was straddling him, rocking against him, trying to find some release. She needed more. His kisses were sinful, but she wanted his mouth on—
“WHOA. I am so sorry. Holy shit, we knocked but no one answered. I figured the boys were still here so it would be safe to walk in. Oh my god. So sorry, man.” Keller had his hands over his eyes and Linc was beside him, grinning like he saw Corey naked even though she was fully clothed.
Dom took a deep breath and touched his forehead to Corey’s. She was the one who spoke first. “Hey, guys, want some breakfast? And for future reference, always wait for us to answer the door. There is never a safe time to walk into this house.” She winked at them as she climbed off Dom’s lap. She looked down and saw that he was straining against his loose-fitting pants then said, “I’m going to go finish getting dressed. Sorry, babe, going to have to walk that one off. Maybe you could do it by cleaning the kitchen?” She bit his neck, enough to get his attention and let him know she was serious about him cleaning up the mess.