by Amelia Jade
Words failed her as he finally pulled away, both of them breathing heavily, though in a different manner than after the dance. This was more of an excited breathlessness. As far as first kisses went, that had to rank at the top. Never before had she been so thoroughly entranced by the man she was kissing. Most of her resistance to taking him home caved after that, but enough remained that she fortified herself.
Not today. But…maybe tomorrow. That was damn good.
Erika honestly wasn’t sure how long she could resist—or if she even wanted to. There was some sort of power in that kiss, and she was only human.
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked, his voice taking on that lustful deepness that men sometimes get when they’re extremely aroused and take control of a situation.
It was like heaven to her ears, and she wished it would say something else. “Take off your clothes. Get on your knees. Lie back. Bend over.” Any or all of the above. She wanted it. Wanted him.
“Yes,” she whispered, unable to speak any louder. “Yes please.”
“Excellent.” He leaned in, kissed her much more chastely on the lips this time, pulling back before it became anything more, and then stepped back from her.
“Erika!” They both turned as a female voice called out for her.
“That’s my ride home,” she said.
“I’ll see you later then,” he whispered, slipping his hand from hers and disappearing with an astonishing ease into the crowd of people now heading out the door.
Erika just stood there for a moment, unable to react. She was still standing there, arms hanging at her sides, jaw slightly unhinged and eyes unfocused when Kelly finally arrived at her side.
“There you are!” her friend said. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I thought you had left already. I never thought you would stay this late!” she exclaimed. “Also, umm, who was that? Were you two just kissing? What’s his name? Who is he? Where did you meet? Tell me everything!”
Erika blinked and turned her head to her friend. “What?” she asked, feeling dazed and confused.
Kelly laughed. “Oh my goodness, did he scramble your brains or what! Come on my friend, let’s get you home, so that you can tell me all about your night. It seems like you had better luck than I did, that’s for sure.”
She didn’t resist as Kelly took her by the arm and they headed for the door along with many of the others. A smile tugged at her face as she thought back to the evening.
I’m really glad I came.
Chapter Nine
Harden
He was on cloud nine. Or maybe even ten. It didn’t matter, the numbers didn’t matter. Nothing mattered! Spinning around on his toes as he walked back toward the embassy, Harden didn’t bother to hide the grin from his face. He’d had so much fun. Dancing and flirting with Erika had been the perfect evening he hadn’t known he’d needed.
There were a few blemishes, like that asshole trying to warn her away from him, but so far it seemed that Erika was made of sterner stuff, and wasn’t going to let herself be intimidated by some two-bit nobody who thought that Cadians had more of a “claim” on these women than any outsiders.
Harden wasn’t sure why they considered him such a threat, but then again, it could be something as simple as a hatred for outsiders.
Shouldn’t humans of Cloud Lake fall under that label too? I wonder if he sees the hypocrisy in that double standard. It was unlikely, of course; most people with those antiquated mindsets were rather blind to anything that didn’t suit their particular view of the world. They liked things the way they liked things, and change was something to be abhorred.
Harden would gladly leave Cadia and go back to Kronum if he could. You know. If it still existed. It was that one minor detail that was preventing him from doing it, and would always prevent him. The place had been destroyed. Its occupants killed or forced into service where many of them had died defending a cause they didn’t believe in. The buildings had been burned, the fields salted. His home was a wasteland now. Where else did they expect him to go?
Shaking his head, he pushed those thoughts to the side. A grin spread across his face as he realized he could push them aside. There was something happier, something more exciting that he could think of instead. Erika’s smiling face appeared, the round face and long thin auburn hair draped about her. He found himself sighing longingly at just the mental image of her.
“She’s amazing,” he said to himself, a little skip in his step. Harden couldn’t wait to see her again.
“Who’s amazing?” a voice said from behind him.
His entire mood came crashing to a halt almost as fast as his steps did. Turning slowly, Harden regarded the bald-headed older brother that he’d been unable to find earlier.
“Your mother,” he said dryly. “What the fuck do you want?”
“You to leave her alone. They aren’t for you. None of them are.”
“Who the fuck are you to judge?” he snarled back.
He wasn’t afraid to take this one on. If there was one thing Harden had an excess of, it was combat experience. Human, shifter, armed, unarmed. He’d been fighting a cover war for near two years to save his home. This little snot-nosed puppy didn’t know a damn thing about who he was messing with. Out here, alone, with nobody around.
Big mistake, motherfucker. Big mistake.
Harden took a step forward, but as he did, he heard something scrape on the sidewalk behind him. Turning, he noted two others, neither of whom were the kid brother he’d roughed up at the ball.
Well shit. Testing the air, he noted with a relief that at least both of the newcomers were wolf shifters. Three wolves on one wasn’t exactly fair odds, but he also didn’t expect them to shift, either. That might give him an edge. He knew some tricks. Some dirty tricks. There were no rules in a street fight, but most parties, especially the ones expecting to be victorious, often abided by some false code of honor or some bullshit.
Not Harden. If they came after him, they were going to regret it, and quickly. None of them were going to be spending the night with a human woman, that was for sure. Not after he was done with their punk asses.
“Brought some backup this time, did you?” he sneered. “Couldn’t handle me yourself, so had to get the gang to come beat me up?”
Taunting them probably wasn’t the smartest move, but he’d already judged that things were going to get ugly. There wasn’t going to be a peaceful resolution. Not tonight at least. So, may as well get them mad he figured. Stoke their fury, they wouldn’t fight very well. He’d be able to take advantage of that.
“Pansy,” he muttered. “I should have known you were too much of a coward to face me on your own. Where did you dig these two pathetic excuses for followers up from?”
“They saw you dancing with that woman, and like me, they couldn’t stand by and let that happen.”
“Oh, I know. Heaven forbid another shifter dance with one of the three hundred women that were there tonight. Oh my goodness! What a terrible occurrence. Whatever shall we do!” he said, mocking them one and all. “Was she the only one you could approach? Was that it? You were too scared to be a big boy and talk to another women?”
He rolled his eyes as their eyes widened with fury and hands tightened into fists, knuckles turning white and popping from the exertion. It was too easy. Way too easy. They had numbers, but they were a bunch of amateurs. He put the odds at six to one that they would just get in each other’s way when they tried to attack him.
“Seriously boys, you’ve got your little lacy panties all in a bunch simply because I was born a thousand miles to the east of here?”
“You aren’t Cadian. You don’t belong.”
“Wow, what a bunch of gatekeepers you are. I bet you have so many friends, don’t you?” he taunted some more. “The life of the party, that’s you guys. Let me guess, you all made a pact coming in to tonight that you wouldn’t leave virgins, is that it? Come in puppies, leave a real dog?”
He heard one of the two new faces snarl and tensed as the three of them came at him at once. Ducking below their blows, he stepped into his original antagonist and then stood up, launching the man from his feet with his shoulder.
Spinning, he intercepted a hand reaching for his collar and held the man still. His body weight shifted to his back foot and Harden snapped his left leg straight up, scything it directly into the man’s crotch. The shifter howled in agony like only a wolf can and fell to the floor holding his manhood.
A fist hit him in the head but Harden was already moving with the blow, so it dealt a glancing hit instead of being the devastating strike it could have. Grabbing the hand before it could retract, he pulled the third shifter with him, and they went down in a heap. Harden twisted as they went, so he landed on top of his attacker. The leg he’d had straight out bent and came up to his chest, landing right in the stomach of the man below him.
Harden clamped both hands briefly over the hapless shifter’s mouth as he tried to vomit, forcing it all back into him. The man began to choke and Harden quickly wiped his hands on the man’s suit and then rose, kicking him once in the balls and then using his nose like a golf tee with his foot, crushing it horribly off to the side.
He didn’t believe in quarter when they came for him. Fuck that. Harden turned just in time for Baldy to take him in the cheek with a punch. Reeling, he felt blood stream from his nose.
Shit, there goes the suit.
Getting up onto the balls of his feet, he began to dance around, dodging blows, but not returning any. It was all boxing technique. His hands were up, protecting his face from anything he couldn’t dodge, while he moved around in a circle. Fighting was intense, and took a lot out of someone. The swings slowed rapidly, and Baldy began to breathe heavily, his punches come farther and farther apart.
Harden toyed with him until he saw the other attacker, the one he’d downed with a single shot to the groin, begin to rise. Then he went on the offensive. His fists flashed out and past the exhausted blocking attempts. One, two, five. He landed punch after punch, breaking bone after bone. Left orbital. Nose. Jaw. Right orbital. Harden finished up with a hard kick to the groin for good measure, and Baldy collapsed.
He contemplated killing them all as he sent a flying elbow into the side of the just-recovering shifter’s head, sending him face-first into the concrete of the roadway, smashing his jaw among other things as he limply fell. It would be easier that way. They would never bother him again. He would be free of their influence.
But Harden was tired. So tired of the killing. He’d seen so much of it, been a part of so much, that he just wanted peace. Peace and quiet.
And acceptance.
It didn’t seem like he was going to get that anytime soon, however. These punks, young kids who thought they were the shit, weren’t going to go away. Killing them might end his troubles, though if it got out it was he who’d done it, then there would likely be others to fill their places.
Maybe scaring them off would do it.
Harden padded forward to the leader, Baldy, and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. The shifter whimpered but didn’t submit, didn’t turn his head to the side to expose his neck. Defying him even when he could be killed.
“I could kill you,” he growled into the man’s ear. “Right now, easily. I could do it. I’m sorely tempted to. It would remove a stain on Cadia’s good name. But,” he said conversationally, “I’m not going to. Not today at least.” His voice filled with ice. “That’ll change if you try something like this again. Understand?”
The shifter didn’t say anything, though he tried to glare at him through the haze of pain that must have been filling his mind just then. Angry, Harden slammed the man’s face into the ground and pulled it back up until it bent back painfully.
“I said, do you understand me?” he snarled.
Baldy’s eyes closed, but he felt the head move up and down in a nod.
“Well, I’m glad we could come to an accord,” he said and rose, leaving the three moaning shifters behind as he continued back to the embassy/motel.
He couldn’t help but shake the feeling that leaving them alive was a bad idea, but no matter how he thought it through, killing them was worse. Harden looked down at himself.
“Aww man,” he complained. His suit was ruined. Blood spattered the front of it and a large portion of his shirt was now red instead of white. “Those motherfuckers.”
For a split second he almost went back and finished the job just because of that, but he didn’t. The suit was worth more than they were, in his opinion. Maybe it could be cleaned. He’d have to check into that. Maybe Erika could recommend him an option.
Erika.
The smile reappeared on his face as he waltzed up the steps to the former Mineshaft Motel, now the Cadian Embassy in Cloud Lake. The name “motel” was somewhat misleading. It had been built in the mid-nineteenth century, a two-story affair with two wings stretching out to either side, containing over fifty rooms per wing. The rooms weren’t large, or spectacular, or anything really. But they were more than enough for his needs. Most of the shifters were doubled, or even tripled to a room, but his was one of the tiniest rooms there were, little more than a bed, a dresser, a closet, and a bathroom. So he’d gotten one to himself, thankfully.
Ignoring the looks from the shifters milling about the lobby exchanging stories about their evenings, he went up the left-hand set of curved stairs and down the hallway toward his room. Once inside, he nearly tore his clothes off and then fell onto the bed.
He was asleep in seconds, dreaming of a certain purple dress and the woman beneath it.
Chapter Ten
Erika
“Thank you,” she said around a mouthful of eggs and cheese.
“Well, you certainly had a more eventful night than I did,” Kelly said regretfully. “So, it’s the least I could do in exchange for the story of it all.”
Erika smiled, stabbing a piece of bacon and shoveling it into her mouth. She was ravenous. They’d come home from the ball, but by the time they’d reached their section, Erika had been so tired she had fallen asleep before undressing. Kelly had actually taken the garment off her nearly unconscious friend and put her to bed.
That’s why they were best friends, though it was a relatively new friendship, forged from their own unique but similar circumstances. Erika had then woken the next morning to the smells of a home cooked breakfast. Eggs and cheese, bacon, toast, and best of all, steaming hot coffee. She took a sip now, feeling her nose open just slightly as she inhaled some of the delicious roasted-bean scent.
“You make the best breakfasts,” she said, drooling into her food. “Seriously. I know I can do a mean lunch sandwich, but oh man. My breakfast never tastes this good.”
Kelly smiled. “Stop delaying,” was all she said. “I want to hear about your mystery man!”
Erika thought about teasing her friend some more, but decided to offer her up some information. “His name is Harden,” she said in between bites.
“Harden,” Kelly repeated thoughtfully.
“Yeah. Harden Archer.”
“Well that’s an interesting name. I like it!”
“I’m glad you approve,” she said dryly. “But no, I think you would approve of him. He seems like a good guy.” She paused. “He’s got some pain in his past. Big time, but he seems just really…good. You know?”
“Yeah, I got that vibe from most of the guys last night.” She shrugged. “Must be a shifter thing I guess. Some of them were assholes; one of them tried to lay what I can only describe as a claim of ownership on me. But another guy intervened and told him to beat it.” Kelly sighed. “I guess they have bad apples too. But on the whole, good people here in Cadia.”
Erika nodded. “Exactly. Some bald asshole told me to stay away from Harden too.”
“Bald?” Kelly said. “Did he act like the place all belonged to him? That he was king shit?”
“Yeah,” Erika sai
d slowly. “Why?”
“Did he have big bushy brown eyebrows and eyes? And looked like he was more comfortable sneering than smiling?”
She caught on now. “Yep. Black suit, gray tie?”
“That’s the same fucking asshole that thought I was his property!” Kelly exclaimed.
“What a dick,” she agreed, and the women took turns cutting him up as they continued to eat.
Erika felt more reassured now about her choice to ignore him and continue talking to Harden. Clearly the guy was just a grade-A dick, and the others didn’t seem to really put up with him, which was good.
“So, this Harden guy, things went well?” Kelly asked as they both did the dishes together.
“Yeah,” she said, feeling that schoolgirl excitement come over her, trying to stifle a giggle. “Things went well.”
Kelly instantly picked up on the tone and turned to face her, dirty water running down her hands. “Oh my goodness, did you guys kiss?”
Erika frowned. “How did you not notice that? You called my name pretty much right as he pulled back from kissing me.”
“I missed that!” her friend exclaimed excitedly. “I thought he was just whispering something into your ear maybe. I never thought you would kiss someone! Erika!”
The two of them dissolved into laughter.
“Was it good?” Kelly pried.
“Well,” Erika began, then laughed some more. “Yes. It was actually so good. Like, top three, easy. Possibly best kiss ever.”
“Ever?”
“Ever.”
“Sounds serious. Is he the one?”
“I don’t know!” Erika said, swatting at her friend. “We met once! We only kissed. I’m not going to put the rest of my life on that.” She shrugged. “But it did go really well, Kel. Like, really well. We danced up a storm, oh my goodness. We were one of the last two pairs on the dance floor for the final dance. It was so fun!”
Kelly was staring at her now, just shaking her head.
“What?”
“My friend, you were so against going, I had to drag your ass there. Then you go and find yourself a man, while I struck out seven times!”