by Leela Ash
Megan screamed but everyone else in the car crowed with triumphant delight — even Tom.
“We should help her,” Megan began, then lapsed into shocked silence as Nabradia got to her feet again unhurt, with murder in her eyes as she started to lift her hand towards their car again. “What the hell?”
The car had started the second she fell. Jack punched the accelerator, getting them the hell out of dodge in a matter of minutes. As he sped away from the premises, he noted that Derek’s car was already nowhere in sight.
“Drive carefully Jack,” Joshua growled from the backseat in his gravelly voice.
Jack didn’t bother answering; he just stepped harder on the accelerator. As the Lamborghini whipped down the highway, Jack’s eyes bounced to the rearview mirror and his gaze hardened. Two werebears were bounding down the highway after them, their supernatural speed easily closing the distance between them.
Joshua saw them at the same time, and he cursed under his breath. “Damn Archstone shifters are on our trail, son.” He sighed, and reached over the headrest and tapped Megan on her head. It was a light tap, but with his superpowers behind it, it knocked her out at once.
Jack threw Joshua a thankful glance over his shoulders. If Megan had stayed awake through it all, he would have had a lot of explaining to do. She was human and, in her world,, humans couldn’t change into animals. Besides, if she discovered the secret of Weirna she would surely be in danger. Good thing she was knocked out.
Kelly’s powers would not be much defense against the brute strength of the werebears. His hands tightened on the steering wheel as anger coursed through him. Evidently, Nabradia had called in the Archstone werebears. Everyone knew the Archstones were sworn enemies of the Weirna shifters and knew they had been responsible for the death of the sixth shifter in their Damaged Pack. They had lost Joseph, Bo’s twin brother.
Only Nabradia could be sufficiently wicked enough to involve them. Her thinking was apparent, the enemy of my enemy…
There was no help for it, he couldn’t fight off two werebears by himself whilst keeping a protective eye on Joshua, Kelly, Tom and Megan. He would have to go somewhere they couldn’t follow him.
His mind made up, Jack swerved the car and turned onto a narrow dirt road. It was the only place on earth designed to keep out all supernatural beings, except those he let in. After he had become a shifter, his grandparents had gotten one of the Council of Seven to cast an unbreakable spell on the place, designed to keep even witches out unless he permitted them.
“Where are you going? You can’t move very fast on a dirt road,” Kelly cried.
With cold deliberation, Jack accelerated more. The car bounced along the ungainly road until a huge sprawling mansion, like something out of the Gothic era, came into view.
Kelly gasped as she stared up at the edifice. “Is that your home?” she whispered, with suitable reverence, as the car came to a stop in front of the building.
“It belongs to my grandparents,” he said shortly, his jaw hard as granite. It had taken all of his willpower to come here, to this place, with all its memories. Memories that threatened to choke the life out of him.
He hadn’t wanted to have anything to do with this house, any more than a man could want a cancer. He had been home for three months and in all that time he hadn’t deigned to visit the old home. He knew it was empty, as empty as it had felt in his childhood, even with all the people who had been living in it at the time.
Joshua looked up at the house as he climbed out and his lips canted in a slight smile as he observed, “The place is none the worse for wear.”
Something about the way he said it made Jack take a second look at the house. It was indeed “none the worse for wear.” In fact, it looked almost as though someone had been coming in and cleaning it up regularly!
He threw Joshua a suspicious look, “You’ve been checking up on the house, haven’t you?”
Joshua shrugged, “Someone had to and it sure as hell wasn’t gonna be you, since you were off cavorting in California, doing whatever the heck it is young people do! Besides, Lara and James were friends of mine!”
A glimmer of tears reflected in his eyes but he turned his head away sharply before Jack could be sure. Then he strode away, his back ramrod straight as he headed for the front door, Tom in tow.
Lara and James were Jack’s grandparents and they had looked more kindly on Joshua than Mark and Susan had, his parents. Jack’s parents had blamed Joshua when Jack had moved away to live with the rest of the Damaged Pack in Joshua’s house. And so, they had resented Joshua. Their anger had worsened when Jack had up and left town with the rest of the Pack. Derek had gotten into trouble because he tried to defend himself from the enraged brother of his ex-girlfriend who had pulled a gun on him. Derek had slapped the boy, Jeremy, and Jeremy had wound up dead. Jack had explained to his parents until he was blue in the face and then he had left Weirna with the Pack.
Not long after, his parents had left too and never returned, not even when his grandparents died.
Jack stared after Joshua now, seeing for the first time, something Joshua had carefully hidden from all of them.
“Dammit,” he breathed.
He didn’t realize he had spoken aloud until Kelly demanded, “What is it?”
Jack forced his gaze from the retreating back of his mentor to focus on the pretty woman who had changed Derek’s life. A vision of the tears he had glimpsed in Joshua’s eyes when he talked about Lara and James and the boys leaving returned to his thoughts.
“I just realized something I don’t think the others have noticed: when we all left Weirna, we hurt Joshua badly. But he hid his hurt and let us all go because that was the only way he knew to truly love us.”
5.
Megan came awake slowly, feeling as though a huge netting of cobwebs had been thrown across her face as she made her way to wakefulness.
She blinked, looking around at the antique furniture in the large room where she was lying. The room boasted a sprawling display of wealth, with thick Aubusson rugs lining the floors and heavy Egyptian-styled drapes over what she assumed had to be the windows. There was a lavish chandelier hung in the center of the room, its many crystals bouncing lights off the walls. Those walls were adorned by three intricate and eye-catching artworks: which looked suspiciously like a Rembrandt, a Caravaggio and a Van Gogh!
Her mouth opened with a soft ‘oh’ of appreciation as she slowly sat up to take in the sheer beauty of the bedroom. It was done in masterful shades of white and deep coffee brown. The contrast of the colors gave it a hedonistic appeal and made her sensual side applaud.
A huge smile played about her lips as she let her feet —her bare feet— drop to the floor. Someone had taken the pains to remove her shoes, but thankfully, they had not been so solicitous as to remove her gown.
“Thank the Lord for little favors,” she muttered with rueful amusement.
She headed towards the paintings unable to resist the pull of their spell. They drew her like a moth to flame. The Rembrandt painting was particularly alluring, and she decided that whoever the imitator artist was, he must have been very good indeed.
Up close, something about the painting made her wonder if it was indeed an imitation. The materials and the masterful stroke of the lines were very similar to what she had seen in the few art classes she had attended in college! Megan started to reach out a hand to touch the painting when the door behind her was pushed open without warning. She jerked around, startled.
Jack was striding into her room, looking deliciously handsome and confident, as though he owned the place — and maybe he did. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was being in the car with Jack, some old guy whom he’d introduced as his mentor and the jealous redhead and her kid! She’d never been in this room before, it wasn’t like any room she had ever seen or imagined. It sure as hell wasn’t a hospital either.
“Where have you brought me? What happened to me? Why did I pass
out?” she shot the questions at him in rapid succession.
He slowed; his watchful gaze trained on her face with the intensity of a laser. “Calm down,” he said gently, as though he were a doctor addressing a mentally deranged patient.
Megan’s eyes rounded, “Where am I? Did you— Did you kidnap me?”
Jack shook his head, “Dramatic much? Come on, Megan. Who’d you think would arrange your kidnapping? Jeanine?”
Her lips twisted a little as she smiled in acknowledgment of how crazy that sounded, but she still responded, “Maybe? She doesn’t like me much, does she?”
Jack chuckled, relaxing as he set down the tray he had been carrying on the beside table. “Get real,” he scoffed, flashing his sexy dimples and making her poor heart skip a beat. “I hear there was no love lost between the two of you at AniVet but I also heard that’s all water under bridge now. Besides, how crazy would she have to be to kidnap you at her own wedding?”
Megan relaxed fully now, letting herself settle onto the edge of the bed beside him. Her eyes roved hungrily over the delicious meal he had set out before her and her stomach growled most embarrassingly.
Jack did a double-take and he threw back his head in a guffaw.
She should wish the floor would open up and swallow her, but the truth was that she was too hungry to care if he laughed himself silly.
She greedily grabbed a slice of toast off the tray and bit into it, her eyes drifting shut as gastronomic delight swelled within her.
“Good?” Jack asked from somewhere very close to her.
She opened her eyes and was startled to find him so shockingly close. He’d sat down beside her on the bed, his movement so light it was almost stealthy. She hadn’t even heard him move!
Megan forced herself to chew vigorously on the bit of toast in her mouth, wondering why all that the hunger suddenly seemed to be receding. Something about Jack awakened an entirely different type of hunger in her every time he was near. That familiar heat was arching between them again, bouncing off both of them and making her skin tingle with arousal.
Shakily she lifted the toast to her mouth again and took another bite, careful to avoid his gaze until she had eaten the entire piece.
“How long was I out?”
He shrugged. “Maybe an hour.”
He was playing havoc with her senses, sitting so close to her.
“How did I do?” Jack demanded.
Megan frowned at him, “What?”
How did he do? What did he mean? Oh God! He couldn’t tell that she was wet and ready just from seating close to him, could he?
He jerked his head indicating the tray of food with other slices of toast, a slice of bacon and the cup of coffee still on it.
“The meal.”
“Oh. That. It’s alright,” she gasped. She reached for another slice of toast as though to convince him and bit into it heartily.
Jack was watching her with such intense scrutiny that Megan felt her cheeks heat. “What did you think I meant?” he asked, after a beat.
It was a good thing he had waited until she’d swallowed, otherwise she might have choked, Megan thought, placing the toast back onto the tray.
“Nothing,” she answered, with cheeks as red as roses. Sometimes, she thought, she really hated that she was so fair!
He was still staring and with such intensity she felt a little as though he were about to pounce on her. There was something about him that reminded her of a predator prowling through the underbrush scoping its prey.
She swallowed through her dry throat and then, to divert him, she asked, “Why did I pass out? Something tapped my head and everything went black.”
He shrugged, his eyes sliding away from hers, “I was driving. I’m not sure what happened.”
Megan frowned, unsatisfied with that response. But why would he lie? He had been driving and concentrating rather hard on getting them as far away from that strange woman as possible.
“Who was that woman?” she began, asking the question that had been uppermost on her mind when she had seen the incredibly pretty but weird-looking woman dressed all in black whom had materialized in front of their car at the wedding hall.
Jack chose that moment to do something that shook her to the very foundation of her soul. He bent forward and placed his lips against hers in a kiss that flipped her right over, and just like that caution flew out of the window. His lips tasted faintly of sweet wine. His tongue sank boldly into her mouth, exploring, enquiring, while his hands held her in place. Megan forgot to breathe as the kiss deepened. Her eyes had drifted shut of their own accord and her traitorous body pressed against him in enjoyment of his touch as he made love to her mouth with his.
His hand trailed down to her chest and he cupped one breast boldly. “You have such beautiful breasts,” he told her. His lips trailed from her lips to the soft skin of her cheeks and down her jaw before drifting in a slow torturous descent to her chest. Her gown was strapless and presented no challenge to his questing hands and lips as he pushed the material down and followed the silken skin to her soft, luscious breasts.
She couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d met the man less than 24 hours ago and already she was entwined in a passionate embrace with him? What was wrong with her?
Megan started to shove against his shoulder to push him off when his mouth closed over the taut bud of her right nipple. She moaned, letting him suckle and play with her breasts. His lips were setting her on fire and she couldn’t control the burning sensation spearing through her.
She wanted more. She wanted nakedness and passion and more of this wildly delicious feeling he was engendering in her.
Moisture pooled in a gathering rush between her legs and Megan thrashed restlessly in his arms silently wishing he would touch her there— where no man had ever touched her.
Megan sighed inwardly now as she wondered what Jeanine for instance, would say if she learned she was a virgin. She had perfected the art of flirting outrageously and every one for a thousand mile radius had a different image of her. No one really knew that she was in truth, almost a prude.
She’d cultivated her sophisticated exterior right along with her tough-as-nails mien to protect herself from one-too-many hurts. She had learned to keep her heart far away from men years ago when the man she loved had nearly found out her parents’ secrets because it would have destroyed her family. He had cheated on her later and she had known that she had not made a mistake keeping that secret from him because if he couldn’t be trusted with her heart he certainly couldn’t be trusted with the truth about her family.
She had very simply, learned to pretend and hide behind a wall of cold ice.
But sometimes she wished desperately that a strong man’s hands would wrap around her thighs and caress her soft skin and make her feel like a woman.
As though he could hear her thoughts, one of Jack’s hands drifted lower and lifted the hem of her dress, bunching it at her waist even as he gently lowered her back onto the bed. Megan looked up at him with rounded eyes. His eyes burned back into hers, turbulent and almost golden in their intensity. Jack shifted the crotch of her panties to one side with his left hand and slowly tested her wetness with the middle finger of his other hand.
The breath hissed out of her at the unfamiliar feelings his intimate touch evoked as his finger brushed softly against her clitoris. Megan had always prided herself as a modern woman with all the necessary exposure and all, but she had never let any man go beyond a kiss. Heck, she had had only one boyfriend in college who had dared steal a kiss; something about her made men back away. One friend had said she had a cool, untouchable aura.
But Jack didn’t look as though he wanted to back off. He looked as though he wanted to touch her even more.
“I want to make love to you, Megan,” he began.
She didn’t let him finish, she pulled him back down to her and melded his lips to hers once more. He kissed her deeply, his fingers stroking more insistently be
tween her legs. Megan spread her legs wide for him, urging him on without words.
Jack groaned, his thoughts swirling as Megan responded with a fierceness that shocked him. He wanted her so much he was almost shaking with lust. But something about the way she kissed him back, an underlying innocence, made him hesitate.
Could she be a virgin? He wondered.
His subconscious scoffed at that thought. She was so beautiful and incredibly sexy. Her hands were entwined around his neck, her hips thrusting and twining with the right motions as he stroked her with his finger.
Jack experimentally dipped one finger between her legs and pushed it in slowly. She was so tight and wet the top of his head almost came off in reaction.
Megan went a little crazy in his arms, moaning aloud and writhing as he began to thrust his finger in and out of her.
“Oh Jack, make love to me,” she whimpered in feminine surrender.
His mountain lion roared within him, exulting in masculine triumph. He bent his head into the crook of her neck, fighting for some measure of control. He felt like a randy teenager. If he so much as sheathed himself in her now, he would start cumming at the first thrust and that would be embarrassing.
Control was beyond reach.
Jack lifted away from Megan, unzipped his pants and shoved them down his legs as he turned to face her, so eager he was almost quivering. Her smiling eyes descended on his manhood and desire fled, replaced by bone-chilling alarm. He had to be at least 13 inches long!
Jack started to reach for Megan and froze when he saw the expression on her pretty face— she had gone white as chalk.
6.
“She acted like I was a damn serial killer coming to murder her with nothing but my penis!” Jack grumbled the next day as he slapped on his gloves and hauled the first consignment of building materials off the flatbed of the truck. Raucous male laughter greeted that announcement and he grit his teeth in renewed anger.