Reviving Bloom (Bloom Daniels Series)

by michelle turner

  “Bloom, you were made for me. We have one person out there who was put here just for us and you are mine and I’m yours. That’s the way of our kind. We may not know everything about each other yet, but we will. And the more we learn the stronger our bond will become.” I grab her hand and pull her closer placing it over my heart and I tell her, “The moment I caught your scent I knew I’d found you. This place in my chest, that’s felt incomplete for so long, finally feels whole again and it’s because I found my mate.”

  She closed her eyes at my words and I know she’s taking in each beat of my heart under her finger tips. I set there for what feels like hours with her hand pressed against my heart until she finally breaks the silence.

  “I was falling to pieces. I was trying so hard to get over losing my Dad, but I wasn’t succeeding. I had pushed Bonnie and Billy away. I wanted nothing but to cover my head and stay in the darkness that my life had become. Then I found you and the hole in my chest started to heal. After a year of crying over the loss of my father, I finally started feeling whole again. You saved me twice this week, from Trace and from myself.”

  Before the first tear can break through her eyelashes, I throw my arms around her and press her tight to my chest.

  “We saved each other, darlin’. I was running from my past, from my future and you saved me. You gave me direction when I was running aimlessly.” Not wanting to keep anything from her I send her the memory of taking out my own father. I don’t want to scare her but I need her to see how much pain I was in before I found her.

  Gripping me tighter she cries for me and the hard choice I was forced to make and I cry for the loss of her father. A man I’ll never meet, but love all the same because he gave me her.

  When I know she’s cried her last tear I ask, “Are you going to be okay, darlin’?”

  She looks up into my face and smiles, “Yeah, I think we both will be just fine, Tennessee.”

  I smile at her nickname for me then offer to fix her lunch. She slept through breakfast because of her injuries from last night, so I’m certain she’s hungry, but she declines my offer to cook and insists on doing it herself. When she gets up to go to the kitchen I ask to borrow her phone to contact the pack.

  I dial Emily first and pray that she answers even though she won’t recognize the number.

  “Hello?” she asks questioningly

  “Em, it’s me.”

  “Pike, oh my gosh! Where are you?”

  “Ohio.”

  “You ran all the way to Ohio? What the heck were you thinking big brother?” Emily scolds me.

  “It’s fine. Better than fine. I found her, Em.”

  “Found who?” She asks confused.

  “My mate.” I have to pull the phone back from my ear when she starts to whoop and holler.

  When she settles down she starts firing questions at me, “When are you coming home? Can I come there to meet her? What’s her name? What’s she like? Can I call her my sister?”

  Chuckling at her enthusiasm I answer all her questions in order, “We’re still discussing it, but I think we’ll be heading home sometime this week. You don’t need to come here to meet her because we’re coming there. Her name is Bloom. She’s amazing. And you’ll have to ask her the last question.”

  “I’m so happy for you, big brother. I can’t wait to meet her. Everyone is going to be so excited.”

  “Em, you have to keep this secret for now.”

  “Why? It’s great news.”

  “I know it is, but there’s something going on that’s hard to explain over the phone. I’ll have to handle it when I get there, just promise me you won’t tell anyone where I am or about my mate. Please sis, I need this from you.”

  “Of course, Pike. You can trust me, just hurry home. I want to meet my new sister.”

  “We will. Love you, Em. Be careful. I have to call Tucker now and check in.”

  “Love you too, brother. Be careful yourself,” she replies before hanging up.

  I quickly call Tucker and relay the same information to him and (other than the girlie squeals) got the same reaction from him that I got from Emily. He catches me up on the pack and I’m thankful to hear everything has been running smooth. Then I ask him to overnight me some items I need. I need my own clothes and money. The hardest thing about shifting is not being able to carry my must have items with me. He promises to ship the stuff out right away and then we both say goodbye.

  By the time I finish with my calls Bloom has finished lunch, so I go in the kitchen to join her.

  Finishing off my third hamburger I tell her, “Thanks, darlin’, that really hit the spot.”

  Trailing her finger around the rim of her glass of sweet tea she looks up at me and smiles, “You’re welcome, Tennessee.”

  “Speaking of Tennessee ….”

  “I know you need to get back.” Her finger pauses on the glass as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath then lets it out before saying, “I’ll go with you.”

  I release the breath I was holding in. “Thanks, for not fighting me on this. They need me there. I promise you’ll love it.” I’m so pleased that she isn’t saying no.

  “But I want Bonnie to come with me.” She announces her ultimatum. I know those two are as thick as thieves but Bonnie has a life here how can she possibly pack up her life and follow us.

  “I can hear your thoughts now, Tennessee,” she reminds me with a smug grin.

  “Sorry. Do you think Bonnie will be able to pack up and move away from her family?” I ask.

  “I don’t know, but I hope so because I’d like to have a familiar face there to help me through this. It’s going to be a big change, Pike. I’ve never lived anywhere but here. My Dad built this house,” she says looking around the room clearly taking in all the memories that cling there.

  “We’ll come back and visit. You can keep your house and we’ll use it as a vacation home. I bet Billy will keep a good eye on it for ya.”

  “That might work, but I’d still like to ask Bonnie to come along, if you don’t mind.”

  “Darlin’, if it makes you happy it makes me happy,” I say grabbing her hand that’s been fiddling with her glass of tea.

  “Thank you,” she whispers as she watches our joined hands.

  I help her clear the table then follow her into the living room where we snuggle up on the couch. We plan on watching a movie but in the decision process we get caught up in learning each other’s favorite things.

  “What’s your favorite movie?” I ask tracing my fingers up her neck to her hairline then back down her shoulder.

  “Anything with John Wayne,” she answers as a shiver races down her body from my touch.

  “Oh a western fan. I like that.” I smile at the back of her head.

  “What about you, Tennessee?”

  “Promise you won’t laugh?”

  “Spit it out,” she pushes.

  “The Notebook,” I mumble.

  Turning around and looking me in the face she asks trying to hold in a laugh, “Did you just say The Notebook?”

  “Yes,” I grumble.

  “As in the best chick flick ever, two hour long epic love story, kissing in the rain, Nicholas Sparks The Notebook?”

  “Yes, that very movie, and I’m secure enough in my man hood to say I cry every time I watch it,” I say puffing out my chest.

  “Good choice.” She giggles.

  “Darlin’?” I ask pulling her giggling self back into my arms.

  “Hmm?” She manages after she finally calms down.

  “Promise me you’ll never tell the guys in the pack I just admitted that. As far as they know their Alpha loves movies with fast cars and explosions.”

  “It’s our dirty little secret, Tennessee.”

  Chapter 22 – Bloom

  ~ Lusty Threats ~

  It feels so right to be wrapped up in his arms, I guess if I believe everything he’s telling me then I’m made to be here. And if I’m being truthfu
l with myself I believe he’s right about us being mates. Even though I’ve just met him, I feel as if I can trust him with my life. If you can’t trust the shifter put on this earth for you, who can you trust?

  Curled up together we learn we have some things in common, like our love of country music and classic muscle cars. As well as some things we’ll probably never see eye to eye on, he loves pineapple on his pizza while I stick with the classic pepperoni. When he asks me my favorite color his eyes pop into my mind and I automatically blurt out ocean blue, which causes my cheeks to turn ten shades of red. He rewards my honesty with a kiss on the top of my head and I can see in his mind that his favorite color now comes from my hazel eyes, which puts a smile on my face the rest of the afternoon. I’m surprised by how easily I can now pick up on his thoughts. Our conversation has an easy give and take, but on the rare occasion one of us is embarrassed or nervous about our answer the other easily picks the answer out of the others thoughts. Pike explains to me that after the mating is complete and with enough practice we’ll be able to access all of each other’s memories. I’m nervous about him seeing the dark place I was in this past year, but when that thought crosses my mind he pulls me closer and reassures me that he’s here for me now. As nervous as I am I also realize I’m excited to be able to see his life growing up in a pack.

  When the sun sets we figure it’s time to get up and make dinner. He takes my hand and pulls me to my feet and keeps a hold of it while we walk the short distance into the kitchen only releasing it so I can search the cabinets for something to make us.

  “How does spaghetti sound?” I ask looking at him around the edge of the cabinet door.

  “It sounds perfect like you, darlin’,” he replies from the perch he’s taken on the counter.

  “Pike, I’m far from perfect,” I sigh hiding my face back behind the door under the pretense of gathering the cooking supplies. I hear him hop down seconds before I feel his arms wrap around my waist.

  His lips pressed to my ear and he whispers, “In my opinion you’re perfect and anyone that disagrees will have to answer to me.” Moving his mouth farther down to the crook in my neck he breathes, “Though you should know this little freckle right here might be the reason you are so perfect.” Then he takes my breath away by planting those deliciously kissable lips right on that freckle. I grab the counter in front of me and slam my eyes closed, praying for him to only move those lips if he’s going to take them from my neck to put them on my mouth, and for the first time since this madness began I thank the lord he can read my thoughts because he spins me around and gives me exactly what I was been praying for.

  He starts gently but when I throw my arms around his neck digging my fingers into his raven hair his lips become demanding and I part my lips so he can join his tongue with mine. We can’t get close enough, can’t get enough, and in that moment I feel fairly certain I’ll never be able to get enough of this man in my arms. His kisses taste sweeter than hot chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, and hot fudge sundaes combined.

  I knew he’d taste delicious. My wolf sure is a know it all. Geez!

  When he pulls back to catch his breath I want to drag him back to soothe the ache I feel from the loss of his body against mine. He chuckles at my thoughts as he runs his hand through his hair then leans in to place one more chaste kiss on my lips before saying, “You’ve already had a rough 24 hours and you need more time to process everything that’s happened before we go further.”

  “We’re just kissing.” I cross my arms over my chest and look down, my chin on my chest, my lips pouted.

  Putting his hand under my chin he tilts my head back so he can look into my eyes, “Darlin’, if we keep kissing like that I won’t be able to stop myself from draggin’ you into your bedroom and …”

  “Alright, point taken,” I cut him off by pulling my chin out of his grasp so he can’t see the blush that I know has inevitably covered my checks.

  “Bloom, are you a …” he starts to ask.

  “We are not having this conversation, Pike,” I cut him off again.

  His scans my face for a few seconds and I’m convinced he’ll push the topic, but finally he backs up and says, “I’ll drop it for now, darlin’, but only because I’m starving.”

  Letting out a sigh I turn back to the cabinet to finish gathering the ingredients for dinner. I hear him pull out a chair at the table and know he’s sat down, so I begin going through my mental list of everything needed for the spaghetti. When I reach up high to grab the box of pasta he makes me jump by stating, “Oh Bloom, just so you know I will be getting the answer to my question one way or another.”

  His declaration causes my pulse to race and I take a moment to compose myself before I turn to face him. He has his legs stretched out in front of him crossed at the ankles and his arms stuck behind his head and a wolfish grin plastered to his face. Cocking one eyebrow and sticking my hand on my hip I ask, “Do you really want to tick off the person cooking your dinner? I could easily slip some chocolate into yours and where would your furry behind be?”

  “I’m not a dog!” He throws his hands in the air in exasperation.

  I ignore his outburst at my threat and set out to make our dinner. He watches my every move without saying a word and it’s sending shivers of pleasure down my body. By the time the food’s finished cooking, I’m squirming under his gaze and I can see the hint of smile on his face and I want to smack it off there. Just because we’re mates doesn’t mean he needs to ravish my thoughts. Crossing over to the table I throw the plate down in front of him more than ready to give him a mouthful for tormenting me after he stopped us earlier, but the sight of the spaghetti flying into his lap causes me to disintegrate into a fit of giggles. He pulls me into his lap and takes my plate and dumps it on my head. The next thing I know we’re running around the kitchen throwing pasta back in forth like snowballs. I try to run past him to get out of the room and into the bathroom but he catches me around the waist and pulls me tight against his chest. Leaning in he licks some sauce off my neck and says, “Delicious, if none survived the fight I’ll be more than happy to lick my dinner off your body.”

  I suck in a breath at the heat in his eyes and the thoughts that are running through his mind. He’s leaning in to follow through on his lusty threat when he stops to sniff the air. His head turns toward the front door just as a knock rings through the house and he lets go of my waist.

  In six long strides he crosses the living room and jerks the door open and engulfs the person on the other side in a back breaking hug. When he releases the person I hear him ask, “What are you doing here? I told you we’d be home in a few days.”

  I’m surprised by the silvery voice that answers, “I couldn’t wait any longer, Pike. I missed you.”

  Oh heck no! You better get in there and stake our claim. My jealousy (and my bossy wolf) pushes me forward to find out who’s talking to my mate in such a loving way and I use all my weight to push Pike out of the way to get a look. There on my porch stands the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen and that includes on TV. She has to be pushing 6 feet tall with lean, muscular arms and legs that seem to go for miles. Her hair is black as night and pin straight falling just below her chin in choppy layers. Then there are those eyes, the color of the clearest blue ocean, the same as Pikes. The realization hits me and pulls back mine and my wolf’s need to stake our claim just as Pike introduces us.

  “Bloom, this is my baby sister Emily.” Then he puts his arm around my waist and pulls me to his side, “Em, this is my mate Bloom Daniels.” I wait as she sizes me up just like I’d done her, but unlike the beauty in front of me I’m embarrassed. It’s not that I don’t see myself as beautiful but being covered from head to toe in spaghetti will make anyone feel like a troll next to this goddess. A smile crosses her face and softens her angular features then she pulls me into bone crushing hug that can easily rival the one her brother had given her moments before.

  “Gracious, I’m so e
xcited to meet you,” she whispers into my ear then pulling back asks, “Can I come in? I wasn’t interrupting anything was I?”

  Moving out of the way to let her in the door, “Of course not, please, come in.”

  Stepping in she looks at her brother and says, “Pike, will you go grab my bags out of the rental car. I brought the things you asked Tuck to send too.”

  He kisses her cheek, gives me a wink and then walks out to the car leaving us alone. I offer her a seat and ask if she wants something to drink, which she declines and then when Pike walks back in I excuse myself so I can take a shower and change out of my Spaghetti covered clothes.