by Eve Langlais
My little sweetie scared? No way. Not happening. He’d initially planned to tell Crystal to take Gigi somewhere else while he spoke to Malcolm. That changed at her shaking little frame. Someone needed to see that her knight wouldn’t let the mean dragon threaten her anymore.
Kyle dropped his gaze to meet the little girl’s and asked, “Nose, gut, or jaw?”
Startled, it took Gigi a moment to reply softly. “Nose.”
“Nice choice,” he replied.
He spun and jabbed so quickly the moron didn’t have time to react. Which really was surprising given his wolf genes, which Kyle smelled as soon as he got close.
Pretty packaging with nothing to back it up. As cartilage crunched under his blow, the idiot who should have listened reeled with a holler. Most men at this point would have probably come to the conclusion they were possibly in trouble and that perhaps the smart thing would involve walking away. Or, in this case, running.
Lucky for Kyle, Malcolm the idiot–who had obviously been dropped way more times on his head than anyone Kyle had ever met–still didn’t get it. “You fucking asshole! I’ll teach you to fucking hit me.”
Did the man not realize there were ladies around? “Watch your language,” Kyle admonished. “There’s women and children around here.” The irony of it almost made him chuckle, but he did smile as the idiot gave him the perfect excuse to act–as if Kyle really needed one. The fact the wolf even breathed the same air offended him.
“Fuck–”
Whatever else Malcolm meant to say got lost as Kyle stepped into Malcolm’s personal space and kneed him in the stomach. Air whooshed out of the man and bent him double.
Kyle wasn’t done, however. He grabbed the man by the hair and walked him away from the girls. While he wouldn’t cuss in front of the ladies, there were times when a man needed strong language, times like now. “Listen here, you bloody miserable excuse for a fucking shifter. I’m only going to say this once. Stay away from Crystal and Gigi. If you even so much as think of coming near her, or calling her, or, hell, if you even think of her, I’m going to hunt your mangy ass down and kill you.” And enjoy it. It seemed where his ladies were concerned he possessed a bit of a protective streak.
“You wouldn’t fucking dare. The law–”
“Can kiss my hairy caribou ass. I know how to make a man disappear and cover my tracks, so trust me when I say, if I want you dead, I’ll kill you, and there isn’t a fucking law agency in this world that will ever charge me for it. Do you understand me?” Kyle told the idiot this as clearly as he could. Really, he was being super nice, so nice his buddies would have mocked him. But…
Malcolm yelled, loud enough for a little girl to hear, “Fuck–”
Jab to the already broken nose. Another to split a lip. A few more just because it was fun, and then he tossed Malcolm to the ground.
Kyle sighed as he stared at the groaning heap on the ground. “What did I tell you about the profanity? Some people never learn. Remember what I said. Because, next time, I won’t be so nice.” Look at him, giving this douchebag the Christmas present of being able to crawl away instead of requiring a stretcher.
Kyle turned his back and strode away, not bothering to look around to see if anyone had witnessed the incident.
Would someone call the cops? Maybe, but more likely they’d chalk it up to what it was, a personal matter that needed resolving. Up here in the still–in–some–ways–untamed North, things weren’t always done by the letter of the law. Sometimes things were handled a little more directly, a little more violently. It was the shifter way.
At least for those with the balls–or rack–to do it.
Seeing him approach, Gigi squirmed in her mother’s embrace until Crystal put her down. The little girl flew at him, arms spread, and he scooped her into his grip. Already, her weight settled on his hip with an odd familiarity.
She tucked her head just under his chin and whispered, “You did it.”
“I did. I slayed the wolf.”
“Or pissed it off,” Crystal muttered as he reached her.
“He won’t be bothering you or Gigi again.” Because if he did… “Let’s go get some dinner. I don’t know about you girls, but lugging around that giant bear has given me an appetite.” With Gigi on his hip and Crystal lugging his purchase, they made their way to his vehicle.
“Do I dare ask why you have a giant panda?” Crystal asked as she buckled herself into the passenger seat of his truck.
“It’s for a special kid I know. Sweetie here helped me pick it.”
And that was all he would say on the matter. His enigmatic smile and wink made Crystal purse her lips, but his curious cat held her tongue. A shame. He had so many uses for it.
It took only a few minutes to find some golden arches. Nothing was said of the incident with Malcolm during a dinner of one cheeseburger meal for a kid, a chicken sandwich for a cougar, and several salads for him.
“No meat?” Crystal asked while devouring her burger, a teasing glint in her eye.
“I’m a vegetarian.”
She just about choked. “For real?”
“I fail to see the humor.”
“So you eat lettuce like a rabbit?” Gigi asked with a guile only children could achieve.
He scowled at them, but they just laughed as he crunched on his salad. Unlike his army brothers, he couldn’t take them to the ground, pin their face in the dirt, and rub it until they renounced their carnivore ways.
So he bore it.
Even with their teasing, he’d never felt more content. As they drove back to Kodiak Point, giant panda secured in the back under a tarp, Gigi fell asleep in her booster, her tiny head nestled against Crystal’s shoulder.
Given the darkness and the fact they still had a short ways to go before hitting her house, he asked Crystal, “So, this Malcolm fellow, he’s an ex–boyfriend?”
“Ex control freak. Current pain. But one I can handle. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes I did. And just so you know, I didn’t do it for you.”
“Let me guess, it was a guy, my–dick–is–bigger–than–yours, thing.”
“First off, never doubt mine is always the biggest. Second, it had nothing to do with you, smartass. I did it for her.” He inclined his head Gigi’s way. “She needed to see that a guy like Malcolm could be taken down. To see bullies don’t always win.” That knights existed. But that part he kept to himself.
“In that case, thank you. It’s nice to have someone in our corner. Gigi could use it.”
He went straight to the heart of his curiosity. “What happened to her dad?”
Crystal shrugged. “Who knows? He found out I was pregnant at nineteen and flew the coop.”
“Coward.” Kyle spoke without thinking.
“Yeah. He was. He’s never seen her. Never contacted me. Nothing.”
“I’d never do that.” Why he felt a need to state this, he couldn’t have said. “A man has a responsibility to his family. His mate. His child.” If Kyle ever allowed himself to get domesticated, while he might balk as the halter was placed over his head, once reined in, he would never walk away.
“You might think that, but Cory didn’t. We were young. Stupid.”
“Were you married?”
She shook her head. “We were never mates, lovers at best. But we had nothing truly in common. We rarely spoke much. Unless it was to ask your place or mine.”
A woman who wasn’t afraid to admit she had a lusty appetite. While jealousy growled–and scuffed a hoof–he could corral it with the knowledge she was currently single. Not for long, though, if he had a say. “Sounds like he wasn’t the right guy.”
“Nope. When it comes to men, I’ve made some bad choices. But at least one perfect thing came out of it.” No doubting what she meant, as Crystal leaned her head to touch Gigi’s slumbering one.
“Talking about bad choices, I’m going to guess we’re grouping this Malcolm dude in that category of mistakes
.”
“He’s in a category all his own,” she muttered darkly.
It didn’t take a genius to deduce, “You came to Kodiak Point to escape that jerk.”
“Escape. Hide. Find protection. As you might have noticed, Malcolm’s a tad forceful when he doesn’t get his way. Just breaking up with him wasn’t adequate. I came here to start over. To show Gigi a different life, a better one, where she doesn’t have to worry about the bark of an insecure prick. Where she can still dream and believe in the impossible.”
The way she said the last part struck him. “Is this why you’re so hell bent on this parade?”
“You could say so. With everything that’s happened, I just wanted her to have the perfect Christmas.” Crystal grimaced. “I don’t know how well I’m doing, though. I can’t even get her what she really wants.”
“So she doesn’t get the exact thing she asked for. If you ask me, you’re doing great.” And then he did something insane. It was probably a mental lapse, a result of his messed–up past. Whatever the reason, Kyle committed himself with his word, which–sob–was not something he ever broke. “I’ll do it.”
“Do what?” she asked, her brow creased in puzzlement.
He could still back out. She hadn’t guessed. Or he could do the right thing–choke–and throw himself on the grenade of mockery. “I’ll be a bloody reindeer.” Argh. The horror.
Her lips quirked. “You’ll let me harness you with leather straps?”
And tie me to a bed. He nodded.
“You’ll wear tinsel in your antlers?”
If he could kill anyone who dared to make fun of him. Again, with a head tilt.
“And the red flashing nose?”
“Do I have to wear the nose?” he complained.
The impish grin on her lips and the sparkle in her eyes? Yeah. He’d have worn flashing lights on any body part she wanted for it.
“The nose is mandatory.”
“You’re devious,” he grumbled.
To that she just laughed, a husky sound that shouldn’t have done anything, yet made the hairs on his arms rise as if electrically charged and his cock swell. What a sweet, fucking sound.
A while later, the conversation having made the miles fly by, they arrived at her place. She slid from her side of the truck and went to retrieve her bag from his utility trunk in the back. The tarp with its lump caught her eye. Someone was going to smile when they got that giant panda on Christmas morning.
He met her by the passenger side door, Gigi cradled in his arms.
“I’ll take her,” Crystal said after she opened the outside door to her apartment that displayed an impressive set of stairs leading upwards to her place.
“I got her. You go ahead and open the door.” Yeah, go ahead, so he could admire the flex of her ass as she climbed the stairs. Mission #738: Check out her ass – accomplished.
A small landing at the top meant he crowded her space as Crystal fitted her key in the lock. Opening the door, she stepped in and dropped her stuff on a battered table just inside.
Turning around right after, she reached out her arms for her daughter, and he shook his head. Using the toe of a boot to hold the heel of the other, he slid off his footwear and padded in. Even the toughest male shifters knew not to wear snowy footwear in the house.
“Stubborn man.”
He just smiled.
With a shake of her head, Crystal led him into her home, not a big place by any means, but comfortable with the afghan–covered plaid sofa, the fuzzy velvet chair, and the much–too–tiny television.
Really, who could live with anything smaller than sixty inches? And what was this? No game system! Not even a Wii? Unacceptable. He’d have to rectify that.
Funny how he already thought in terms of the future. The domestic collar drew tighter. But he wasn’t choking–yet.
There was a narrow hall off the living room with a few doors. One with a wooden carved G led to a small room, and he meant small, with a single bed covered in a bright flowered comforter. Kyle placed the sleeping little girl atop it and then stepped back as Crystal did her mommy thing, stripping off boots, coat. She handed them to Kyle, who then took them out to the main room and hung them. Then he waited.
A few minutes later, Crystal emerged, but she didn’t shut the bedroom door. Instead, she crooked a finger at him. “Gigi wants you.”
Me? Puzzled, he went back in, brushing by Crystal as he did, the sweet scent of her wrapping around him all too pleasantly.
Inside the claustrophobic room, a heavy–lidded Gigi smiled at him. She held her arms out as she said, “Night.”
He knelt, controlling a need to crush the little body tight to him. The most protective feeling came over him.
Mission #744: Make bedtime tuck–ins a priority for hugs.
By the time Gigi released him, her eyes were already shut, her breathing evening out. He stood and caught Crystal staring at them, sadness hinting her gaze. She turned and padded away. He followed, closing the door softly behind him.
Entering the compact living room, Crystal stood by the most pathetic, yet obviously loved, excuse for a Christmas tree. She fingered a lumpy foil ball on it.
“Thanks again for everything.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I, um, guess, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
They would. And the day after.
But he wasn’t leaving without accomplishing one mission. A new mission.
Mission #745: Kiss the girl.
He took a step toward her. She didn’t move, but she eyed him. He took another, stalking her like a predator with a skittish prey, ironic given their opposite roles in the animal kingdom.
When he stood within her space, Crystal having held her ground, she peered at him and licked her lips. She might have even trembled. “I know what you’re planning to do.”
“I should hope so since it’s pretty freaking obvious.”
“I can’t afford to make another mistake.”
A part of him yearned to tell her he wouldn’t let her down. He wouldn’t screw her over. He would never hurt her like the men in her past. You can trust me.
But Kyle was a man who’d just agreed to play the part of Rudolph. He’d already lost enough manly pride for one day. So, instead, he showed his lady what he felt.
Hopefully, she knew how to read tongue.
Chapter Six
He’s going to kiss me.
Crystal knew it. Could see it in Kyle’s eyes and how he moved toward her, his every motion graceful, powerful, and alert. She wouldn’t escape his kiss. Didn’t want to.
Call her foolish, but ever since the moment Kyle had stepped up for them, acted the hero Gigi claimed him to be, Crystal had wanted to play the part of damsel. How unlike her to want a fairytale. She’d long ago given up hope on achieving a happily ever after. However, Kyle made her want to believe again. Like when he played the part of knight. A man with valor who still believed in protecting the innocent. A true prince.
Speaking of whom, in all the stories, didn’t the guy who saved the princess get a kiss for his efforts?
She should and almost had. Despite her anger that he’d butted in, she couldn’t help the elation as he vanquished her daughter’s fear by playing the hero and getting rid of Malcolm. In her relief, and yes, pleasure at his actions, she’d almost given Kyle a kiss back in the parking lot at Walmart. As if she needed a reason to smooch those delectable lips of his.
But she did need courage.
Her yellow belly reappeared and kept her from flinging herself in his arms, with valid reason. First off, Gigi was with them, and Crystal preferred to not indulge in that type of activity in front of her daughter. Secondly, she was scared.
Scared she would, once again, make the wrong choice.
What to do? Take a chance, or keep him at arm’s length?
For once, it wasn’t just her hormones encouraging her to give this guy a chance. After spending time with him, talking with him, and s
eeing how he was with Gigi, her gut heartily approved. Hell, even her cat purred when he was around. That had never happened before. Was it a sign?
What if I’m mistaken? Could she handle more disappointment? The better question was, would she let fear dictate her choices forever?
Already, she’d spent a year living in limbo, ignoring her needs because of uncertainty and also to ensure Gigi didn’t suffer any more disruption. But was exploring the possibilities with Kyle truly that selfish? In finding the right man, a good man, wouldn’t that benefit them both?
Surely, at one point, we’re due for a run of security and happiness.
Was Kyle the man to help them both? The one who would help them form a family? To help them find a happily ever after?
Gigi certainly seemed to think so. Crystal wasn’t blind. She saw the adoration in her daughter’s eyes when she looked upon Kyle and noted the trust she placed in him. The difference between the bond Kyle had already formed with Gigi versus the one that had never existed between her daughter and Malcolm seemed so obvious. If Crystal did take the next step, she already knew things would be different.
If Kyle could commit.
He’d already proven the tough guy exterior had a chink. He might have started out thinking he was Joe Cool, but since their introduction, he seemed to have since adjusted his mindset.
Forget the Borg and their assimilation, I am mommy, and I am offering him domestication.
And he didn’t seem to mind. It seemed the more time he spent with them, the more he leaned towards a family life that included them. The more she discovered about him, the deeper she sank.
Oh god, I’m falling for him. The revelation stunned her but also vanquished her remaining fear, which was why, when he moved in close, she held her ground, angled her head, and closed her eyes as he swept in for a kiss.
Oh my.
It took only one electrifying press of his lips.
Instant awareness shot through her, a thrill like she hadn’t felt since her first kiss. Except there was nothing to stop this embrace. No reason to cease the sensual slide of lips against lips.