“It is,” Miracle insisted. “She thought we were together, and it upset her.”
“Emery knows you are my sister, Miracle.”
“But, does she believe it?” Miracle persisted. “I mean, you and I know that I am, but you have to admit, Knox, it would be awful hard for another shifter to believe I’m a Channing. Technically, I’m not.”
“You are in all ways that count.”
“I don’t look like any of you, act like you, talk like you. I don’t even smell like you, Knox.”
“I don’t give a shit,” he snarled. “None of that matters. You are our sister, Miracle Channing, and that is all anyone else needs to know.”
“But…”
“Stop, right now.” Leaning back, Knox took her hand and walked over to a bale of hay. Lowering himself on top of it, he tugged her down next to him. “Miracle, Emery’s leaving last night had absolutely nothing to do with you.”
“Are you sure?”
Was he sure? Hell yeah, he was. It was all him. The moment he touched her, she’d gone up in flames, and it scared the shit out of her. “There’s something more going on with Emery than any of us saw last night. From what Nathan said, it sounds like she’s in trouble.”
“Then, we need to help her.”
That was his little sister, so full of kindness and love for everyone. She would do anything and everything she could for someone in trouble, it didn’t matter who they were. Unfortunately, her giving spirit had gotten her in hot water more than once in the past. “We will,” he promised. “I just have to figure out what’s going on.”
Miracle nodded, leaning into him. Resting her head on his shoulder, she whispered, “I hope she’s okay, Knox.”
Knox was getting ready to respond, when the scent of his mate wafted around them. Frowning, he glanced around the area, looking for the object of his obsession. She was nowhere to be found. Sighing, thinking that he must be losing it, he closed his eyes and muttered, “She will be, sis. I’ll make sure of it.”
Emery’s nose twitched as she watched the two in front of her. Knox sat close to Miracle, his arm around her shoulders, her head on his chest. Her long, light blonde hair flowed over his chest, her hand resting lightly on his thigh. She should have been pissed that he was that close to a woman who was clearly not related to him by blood, but she wasn’t. The woman’s eyes were full of tears, and she was surrounded in sadness. There was no attraction between the two, at all. There was love, but it was obviously the love of a sibling, and nothing more.
“What can we do for her, Knox?”
“I promise you, Miracle, Emery will be fine. You have nothing to worry about. I take care of my family. You, of all people, should know that.”
They were talking about her? This sweet woman was crying for her?
Emery moved a little closer, worry filling her at the fear that radiated from Miracle.
“I know, Knox. I wouldn’t be here today, if it wasn’t for you.” She paused, and then whispered, “What if someone is hurting her? Like they were me?”
Emery moved closer still, wanting to somehow stop the tears that were now flowing from Miracle’s eyes. She froze when she saw Knox move out the corner of her eye, knowing she’d messed up and given away her presence. Slowly, turning her head, she looked up at him.
“If anyone hurts what is mine, they will answer to me.” The voice was hard, unyielding, possessive. His eyes were now on her, and she felt her heart flutter in her chest. Not in fear, though. In anticipation.
“Like the Howard brothers,” Miracle whispered. It wasn’t a question, and the pain and loss in her voice was almost enough to make Emery shift and go to the woman.
“Exactly like the Howard brothers.”
Suddenly, Miracle seemed aware that they weren’t alone. Raising her head, she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked in Emery’s direction. “Oh! How beautiful!”
“Yes,” Knox agreed, not moving from where he was, “she’s very beautiful.”
Emery hopped closer, waiting for Miracle to recognize her. It didn’t take long. “Emery! You’re a bunny!”
Why did everyone sound so damn surprised that she was a freaking rabbit? Did they not have rabbits in this town?
Knox chuckled, slowly leaning down and slipping his large hands underneath her. Lifting her onto his lap, he ran a hand gently over the soft, thick fur on her back. “Don’t be upset, sweetheart. You’re the first rabbit shifter we’ve seen. I didn’t even know they existed until last night.”
Emery huffed, as much as she could in bunny form, and then hopped from his lap to Miracle’s. The girl was still upset, and she couldn’t stand to see the tears in her eyes. Butting her head up against Miracle’s hand, she let out a small squeak. Miracle giggled, scratching the top of her head lightly. “Your fur is so soft,” she whispered. “And, you are so small.”
“I think she might be trying to tell you something, Miracle.”
Miracle whispered, “You know Knox is my brother, right?” When Emery cocked her head to the side, as if questioning the accuracy of that statement, Miracle’s lips turned up into a small smile. “The Channing’s adopted me into their family after my own was killed. I don’t know what I would have done without them. There’s no way I would have survived.”
Emery let out another small squeak, burrowing closer to the woman who was so full of pain and suffering. She had such a sweet, gentle soul, but seemed almost as if she were lost, somehow.
“Miracle, why don’t you run inside and get Emery something to wear? Maybe she would like to have lunch with us?”
“Oh, yes! I’ll be right back!”
All of a sudden, Emery found herself back on Knox’s lap, and Miracle was off the hay bale and out the barn door in an instant. Which meant she was alone, with her mate.
“It’s okay,” Knox said softly, gently stroking her fur. “You don’t have to shift if you don’t want to, Emery. I was just trying to distract my little sister. She’s been through so much, and I don’t want her to relive it all right now.”
Emery’s heart warmed at the love in Knox’s voice for his sister. From what she’d seen so far, he was a good man. She wanted to know more. Closing her eyes, she leaned into him, and waited to see if he would speak. She didn’t have to wait long.
“Why don’t I tell you a little about myself while we wait for her to return? Afterwards, you can decide if you would like to come eat with us, or if you would like to go home?”
Emery snuggled closer into him, hoping it would let him know that she was open to his plan.
“Good,” Knox said softly, “that’s good.” He seemed to be collecting his thoughts, and then he went on, “Well, you know my name is Knox. Knox Channing. I am technically the oldest of six siblings. I say technically, because I’m a triplet. There’s me, Noah, and Nolan, but I was born first. Then Brayden and Briar are twins. And, the youngest is Miracle. She’s not ours by blood, but we claimed her as ours after the death of her own family.” Emery heard the sadness creep into his voice, and knew that he must have been close to Miracle’s family, when they were alive. She wondered if they grew up together.
“We are all that are left of the Channings now. Our parents were taken from us a few months ago, and we recently moved to Blue Creek to start a new life.” She sensed the pain in him, but he seemed to ignore it as he said, “In my past life, I was in law enforcement, but now, I raise horses. I enjoy it.” Somehow, Emery knew there was a lot more to the story than Knox was telling her. She had so many questions, but none she could ask unless she shifted. She didn’t know if she was ready for that just yet.
“Do you miss being a cop?” Miracle asked, from where she now stood tentatively just inside the barn.
The hand on her back stilled, and she looked up to see Knox watching his sister closely. “Miracle, I do not regret any of the decisions I’ve made in the past. Not one.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Miracle persisted. “Do you miss it?” She see
med so vulnerable, as if his response meant everything to her.
Emery felt Knox stiffen beneath her, and somehow knew that if he told Miracle the truth, it would hurt the girl more than help. Before she could think twice, Emery hopped from Knox’s arms, and began to shift.
Eleven
Knox stood quickly when his mate jumped from his lap and initiated her shift. She was a thing of beauty, all legs, and hips, and curves that didn’t stop. Her hair fell to just above her heart-shaped ass, and he was instantly hard at the thought of closing the distance between them and slipping into her from behind. That was definitely something he was going to do in the future.
“Thank you for bringing me something to wear.” Her voice broke through his thoughts, the husky tone sliding over him, making him even harder, if that was possible.
“Of course!”
Even the fact that his sister was near wasn’t enough to deflate his rock-hard cock. It seemed to have a mind of its own. Reaching down, he adjusted himself, wincing at the slight pain of being constricted in his Wranglers. Fuck, he needed to get control of himself before he came in his jeans like a damn teenager.
“We will be inside soon,” Emery said, slipping a tee-shirt over her head and pulling her hair out from underneath the back of it. It was huge on her, stopping just below her thighs, and satisfaction filled Knox when he realized it was one of his own.
He was distantly aware of his sister leaving, but he couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from the beauty in front of him. As he watched, she slid one foot into a pair of black yoga pants, and then the other, sliding them up over that delectable ass, covering it up and hiding it from him. That, he didn’t like.
Quickly closing the distance between them, Knox grasped her hips in his hands and pulled her back against him. When she moved as if to step away, he tightened his grip. “Please, just give me this.”
Emery paused, and then slowly leaned back against him. “Just for a moment,” she whispered. “Then, we need to go inside.”
Nodding, even though she couldn’t see him, he lowered his head toward her neck, closed his eyes, and breathed in deeply. His mate. “Why are you fighting this?” he asked, knowing his tone was gruff, but unable to help it. He hadn’t planned on his life changing the way it did the night before, but he wasn’t going to ignore it. He wanted this. He wanted her.
Emery didn’t respond right away. He thought that she wasn’t going to, but then she whispered, “Because, it isn’t safe.”
Stiffening at the comment, Knox growled, “Why?”
Emery leaned her head back against his shoulder and sighed. “Can we talk about it later, Knox? Please?”
Knowing he couldn’t make her tell him anything, Knox placed a gentle kiss on her cheek. “Later.” When she tilted her head back to look up at him, he said, “Thank you for what you did earlier. With Miracle.”
“I couldn’t stand to see her in pain.”
“None of us can,” Knox said, sliding his arms around her waist and holding her close.
“Those men, the Howard brothers, they hurt her?”
“In more ways than one.”
“And, you killed them?”
“Yes.” It was said in a cold, hard voice, and without remorse. “I meant what I said earlier, Emery. I take care of what’s mine. It is my duty to protect my family. One I don’t take lightly.” When her eyes widened, but she didn’t respond, he went on, “And, thank you for what you did for me.”
“For you?”
Knox smiled, leaning down to place a gentle kiss on her lips. “For shifting when you did.”
Emery didn’t try to deny it. A small smile crossed her lips, and she whispered, “You’re welcome.”
“Hungry?”
“Not really.”
Knox grinned, “Me neither, but if we stay out here alone much longer, I can’t promise you that I will be able to continue to behave.” Rubbing his still hard cock against her to prove his point, he growled, “Let’s go see what’s for lunch.”
“As long as it isn’t rabbit,” she said under her breath.
“I’m sure we have some of that in the freezer if you’d like?”
When she looked up at him in horror, Knox threw his head back and laughed. The elbow to the gut came out of nowhere, and before he knew it, he was bending over trying to catch his breath. She’d hit him! His fucking mate had slammed her elbow into him…hard. “You remember that the next time you think about eating Thumper!”
“It was a joke, woman!” But she was already gone, flouncing out of the barn and up to the house, not waiting to see if he followed.
When he glanced over to see Brayden watching from where he’d entered the barn through a side door, he pointed at him and growled, “Not a word, brother. Not a fucking word!”
His eyes dancing with mischief, Brayden grinned, “This is going to be fun.”
“What is?” Knox snarled, even though he wasn’t really pissed.
“Watching you fall,” Brayden said, before walking past him, following Emery to the house.
Twelve
Emery sat at the large kitchen table surrounded by grizzly bears, soaking in the happiness that flowed from the family. She was quiet at first, just listening, wishing she’d grown up with the kind of love and laughter they shared. What would it have been like to have her brothers care about her, and look out for her, just because they loved her? She would never know, because the cold, hard truth was that they didn’t love her, and never really had. She’d been so naïve, until that fateful night that took her father from her. That night changed everything.
“You should have seen it, Emery! Nolan and Brayden came running around the barn like their clothes were on fire!” Briar was holding her stomach, tears streaming down her face as her laughter filled the room. “This little skunk was following close behind. Knox walked out of the barn yelling at them, wondering what the heck was going on, and then he just stopped. I was up in my room, safe in the house, and I saw the entire thing! That skunk sprayed the hell out of all three of them! It took us over a week to get the stench off them and out of the house.”
“Come to find out, the skunk was a shifter Nolan managed to piss off the night before, from a bar in the next town over.”
“Wait!” Emery interrupted, holding up a hand as she looked at all of them. “Are you telling me there are skunk shifters out there? Seriously?” When Miracle started giggling again, Emery shrugged, “What?”
“You learn something new every day,” Noah said dryly.
“You guys are serious?” she muttered, looking at each one closely. There was no such thing as a skunk shifter, was there?
Nolan shook his head, standing and smacking Noah in the back of the head as he walked by. “No, they aren’t. It was just a damn skunk. Trust me, I don’t piss women off. I make them purr in enjoyment.”
Briar spit her water across the table on a laugh, hitting the wooden surface with her hand. “Oh yeah, he makes them purr, all right! I don’t think the grunting and groaning I heard coming from your bedroom a week ago had anything to do with purring!”
Emery’s eyes widened, as she looked from Briar to Nolan, and back again. She heard Knox chuckle beside her, and then he reached over and began to idly play with a lock of her hair. “Was that what that was? I was wondering. I heard a crash, but was too tired to get up and check it out.”
“I wasn’t,” Noah chimed in, taking a drink of his iced tea. “I opened his door to check on him. To this day, I wish I had stayed in my own room. No matter how hard I try, I will never be able to unsee what I saw that night.”
Nolan grinned, grabbing one of the homemade dinner rolls next to him, and throwing it at his brother. “Don’t lie. You were taking notes, on the off chance that you get laid someday. You need to know what to do.”
The friendly banter went on, and Emery tried to keep up, but it was hard. Half of the time, she couldn’t tell if they were serious or not. Make that, most of the time.
�
�Would you like some more, Emery?”
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Emery smiled over at Brayden as he came around the table to pick up her bowl. “No, thank you.” When his face fell, she reached out and touched his arm, “It was very good. Did you make it?”
A low growl filled the room, and Brayden quickly stepped back, pulling away from her. Looking at Knox, he bared his neck in deference to his brother.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Emery raised an eyebrow, and snapped, “Really?” When Knox ignored her, she shook her head, and turned back to his sibling, asking again, “Did you make the soup?”
He nodded, a slow, boyish grin crossing his face. “Yep. I love to cook.”
“Brayden’s making ribs for dinner if you’d like to hang around,” Miracle piped in. “You would love them!”
“I wish I could,” Emery said, surprised to find that she really meant it, “but, I have to work tonight.”
“What time?” Knox asked.
Glancing at her watch, she said, “I actually need to get going soon. I don’t have to be at the Sassy Wolfe for a few hours, but I need to help Aurora with some things first.”
“Aurora? The woman who lives just down the road?”
“Yes. I’m staying with her until…well, until I leave.”
“What do you mean, until you leave?” Miracle asked softly. “Are you moving away from Blue Creek?”
Another growl began to rumble around the room when Emery slowly nodded. “Yes, eventually. I don’t have a choice.”
“There is always a choice,” Knox growled.
Laughing softly, even though there was nothing funny about her situation, Emery said, “You would get along great with Aurora. She seems to think the same thing.”
“Maybe you should listen to her.”
“I did,” Emery murmured, raising a hand to brush it along his cheek. “That’s why I’m here.”
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