Tooth and Claw (Kootenai Pack Book 1)

by Lynn Katzenmeyer

  “Did you forget about your new arm already?” Evan asked with a wry grin as he slid the plate across the counter to me.

  “Holy shit,” I felt my eyes widen. I had forgotten about the new arm. About the entire festival.

  Evan chuckled, “You have a few hours until you need to be in Mainsbury for your appointment. Do you want me to come with?”

  A new arm. I was getting a new arm today. Well, I would start the process for a new arm today. I was lost in thought when Evan tapped my nose with his finger. I blinked up at him and he looked down at me. Despite the grin on his face, his eyes betrayed his worry.

  “I’m sorry about last night,” I finally told him, “It wasn’t anything you did. My wolf’s neurotic.”

  “Lee,” he said seriously, “Do you know why your wolf freaked? Is it me? Is it my grizzly?”

  I shrugged, even though I knew the answer.

  “I just need to know if this is something we could work through or....”

  “You would still.... want me? After last night?” I asked, genuinely surprised.

  He shrugged, “You’re my best friend, Lee. If anyone could convince me to try to be-” he swirled his wrist with the spatula in it, “I don’t know. Human?”

  “Oh...” I immediately felt guilty.

  He looked back at me and pointed the spatula at me, “But if you know why your wolf freaked out, I’d-”

  Tears started streaming down my face, “You’re not him....”

  Evan stiffened, “Him being...”

  “Kendrick,” I whispered, “My wolf freaked out because she doesn’t believe any man should touch me but.... him.”

  “That’s disappointing,” Evan replied.

  “I know,” I told him, wiping my face with the back of my hand, “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” he replied, “If anyone in the world understands the demands of the beast, it’s me. To be honest, my bear wasn’t too keen on our little attempt last night either.”

  I snorted, “Good thing you have more control over your animal than I do mine, I don’t think my room would fit a full-grown Grizzly.”

  “That it wouldn’t,” Evan confirmed. He turned back to the stove and poured the batter for another pancake, “So now we know, friends is all we can be.”

  “Yup, friends,” I agreed. A level of loneliness I hadn’t realized existed bloomed in my gut. The previous night had been my first taste of what life was like for normal people. The sudden rush of heat, the anticipation, the feeling of another person's skin on my own. And it all ended too quickly. Before I even got to experience what so many humans and other shifters took for granted. I was cursed to be alone. I was cursed to just be friends all because the one man who existed for me, would rather see me dead than in his bed.

  I ate my short stack in silence and Evan joined me after several minutes, his own stack heaping with his pancakes.

  “What would you do if that rat bastard came for you?” Evan asked, “Just showed up one day and begged you to take him back?”

  I shrugged, “I’d like to think I’d turn him down. Send him packing.”

  “I sense a but, there,” Evan replied.

  I shrugged again, “But it’s never going to happen, so why bother even thinking about it? I have Easterville, I don’t need a mate.”

  “You’re goddamn right,” Evan agreed.

  67 Present Day

  April 25th was a busy day. We left Charlie and Sarah in charge of the Tooth and Claw while the rest of us moved into the house. It was furniture delivery day and we needed all hands-on deck.

  Ginger and Cain picked out all the furnishings for the house and they were all being delivered at once. Ginger took charge, her petite frame no longer indicative of her personality or attitude. She instructed all the volunteers, half of Easterville, to move furniture to this room or that and precisely how to put them in the room.

  “Where’d you find that one? She’s bossy” Eddie Carlson, Professor Carlson’s eldest son asked as he brushed past me carrying half a dresser, his younger brother Matt had the other half.

  “I think it’s hot, is she single?” Matt asked as he passed.

  I saw the hint of a blush on Ginger’s face but ignored the boys.

  Evan and Cain moved another bed upstairs. The house we picked out was a two story four-bedroom five bathroom house. All the bedrooms were on the second floor, the first floor was dedicated to the kitchen, living room, dining room, and a home office. We’d also had a basement poured where the game room would fight for space with a large laundry room.

  All the furniture was moved in to Ginger’s satisfaction by dinner time and we invited all the people generous enough to donate their day for free burgers and beer at the pub. Evan, Olly, and Ginger headed back to the pub to start preparing the food before all the volunteers came over.

  “Finally, alone,” Cain said as we stood in our sterile smelling living room. The space had a massive sectional, a 50-inch flat screen tv, an ottoman, and two recliners. It looked like it was pulled from a magazine spread, not my home.

  I wrapped my arms around him, “Our home,” his arms pulled me tight to him and I groaned, every muscle ached, “I’m going to crash so hard tonight.”

  “Want to get cleaned up before we go to the pub?” he asked lifting my chin so I could stare into his entrancing eyes. I nodded and smiled up at him, his face softened, “You are the most incredible creature I’ve ever met. Lee Fields, you’ve entrapped me, wolf and man. And I don’t ever want to be free from you.”

  His words struck me silent. I knew that Cain Harris liked me, more than liked me, he told me so every day. Yet, I still couldn’t believe it. In the two months I’d known him, I’d fallen so hard and so fast for him. This is what I’d pictured love was like. This is how I imagined mates as a child. Cain Harris was the mate I’d dreamed of. But he wasn’t my mate.

  His hands framed my face, “Where’d you go, Lee? Come back to me.”

  “You’re a dream come true, Cain,” I whispered to him, not trusting my voice, “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a mate,” tears were falling from my face, “I’m afraid...”

  “Don’t be afraid, Lee,” he told me, “You have nothing to fear from me. You’re a dream come true for me. I’m so lucky you want me in your life.”

  I didn’t want to be afraid of my nightmare anymore. I pulled him down to me, “I wish you were my mate, Cain.”

  “I can’t be your mate by law, or by the moon, but let me be your mate in life,” he pleaded, “Let me warm your bed at night and make you breakfast in the morning. Pick me to be the wolf you trust to protect you when you’re weak. Choose me, Lee.”

  There was no choice. There was no other option. I pulled Cain down to me and kissed him like he was the air I needed to breathe. Because to me, he was. Cain lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around him, unwilling to break the kiss. He carried us up the stairs to the room we’d chosen for ourselves. He laid me on our bed and gazed down at me.

  “Choose me, Cain,” I told him, watching him undress himself, “Let me be the one who brings you lunch while you work on cars. Let me be the one who keeps you safe while you shift. Let me be the wolf who chases your tail. Choose me to be your mate.”

  Cain pressed gentle kisses to my face and down my neck, whispering sweet nothings as he did. My skin electrified under his touch. Every nerve ending was open, eagerly waiting for his touch. I wanted him to touch me everywhere. I was greedy for him like I’d never been before.

  To my great shock, my wolf was greedy for him too. She wasn’t fighting me. She wanted him as much as I did. He was on me kissing me again. He gently pulled off my t-shirt and bra. He slid off my pants and panties. I was naked on the bed before him, and I was ready. My wolf was ready.

  We wanted him. We needed him. My wolf wasn’t revolting, against Cain, as I’d feared. She wanted to claim him as much as I did. For the first time in my life, I felt wholly at peace with my wolf. We were one. And we wanted Cain.
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  Cain laid beside me, warm skin to warm skin. I looked into his eyes and was lost in them, “I’ve fallen for you, Cain,” I whispered, “Your laugh, your smile, the way no challenge is too much for us.”

  He kissed me. His soft lips moved from my face lower. My body responded to his exploration. His calloused hands moved down to my breasts, gently squeezing and exploring.

  “I’ve wanted to do this with you since Evan first opened your door,” he breathed as he kissed down my neck and sucked my other nipple into his mouth. My back arched in response. Heat built between my legs and I needed more from him.

  “Cain,” I groaned, “I.. I need...”

  “Tell me what you need,” he whispered to me, “Tell me how you like it. I want to please you.”

  “I... I don’t know,” I groaned out. I didn’t know. I’d never gotten this far, “Cain, I need you. Oh, more please.”

  His hand had left my breast and was lower now, “Lee, you’re so wet. You smell so good… I just want to-”

  “Yes, Cain,” my mind was lost, I was lost in him. My wolf was howling inside of me, she wanted this. She wanted more, she wanted Cain.

  His mouth was gone from my breast and he was kneeling at the end of the bed looking up at me from between my legs, “I’m going to taste you, Lee,” his tongue dipped between my folds sending me places I never knew existed. His fingers joined his tongue down there as he swirled, tasted, and moved inside of me.

  I groaned and writhed under his touch, “Cain!” I screamed his name over and over again, “More please, I need you.”

  He chuckled and climbed back onto the bed. I whined missing his fingers and tongue. He kissed me again, “Are you ready for me, beautiful?”

  I nodded eagerly, “Cain, please.”

  He smiled his crooked grin with the dimple that drove me wild, “If my mate requests,” he slid inside of me and I felt light as air.

  I was whole. Human, wolf, and mate, unified, I was finally whole. “Cain,” I breathed as he moved inside of me.

  “Oh, Lee, you feel so good,” he groaned moving in and out of me. His movements got faster, more desperate, “I’m not going to last much longer.”

  “Cain,” I moaned wrapping my limbs over him, relishing the feel of him. Every inch of him was mine.

  “Lee, my precious Lee,” he groaned with each thrust into me. Claiming me.

  “Mine.”

  “Mine”

  “Mine”

  We made it back to the Tooth and Claw in time to thank people as they were leaving. Sarah gave me a knowing wink before she left for the night. I was too happy to care. I had a home, I had a mate, and I had a pack, odd as it was.

  We helped clean the pub and sent the young ones home. Their new home. The home my mate and I had built for them.

  The pub was all clean and ready for the next day. Evan’s long legs were sprawled as he sat at the table rolling his head on his shoulders.

  “House all set up, I take it?” Evan asked.

  “Yup,” Cain told him, he was seated opposite Evan, drinking a small cup of coffee. I was seated between them so exhausted I could hardly sit up straight, “You’re going to sleep well tonight, Evan, no Lee howling, no strays snoring. Bet you’re really excited.”

  “Yea,” Evan said rubbing his neck with his hand again, “I think my bear will get a good night’s sleep for the first time in a decade.”

  “You’ll miss me,” I teased, nudging his leg with mine, “It might take a while, but you’ll miss me.”

  “You’ll take care of her, right Cain?” Evan asked.

  Cain was silent, I assume he nodded because Evan seemed satisfied with the answer, “You’ll always have a home at the Tooth and Claw, Lee,” I felt him pat my back, “Lock up when you two leave ok?”

  “Aye, aye, boss man,” Cain said, “I should get Lee home before I have to carry her home.”

  Home. I had a home. I had a home with a mate who loved me.

  “Love you Evan,” I called after my best friend.

  “Love you too, Lee,” he called back, “I’m glad you’ve finally found what you’ve been looking for.”

  “I have, thank you so much Ev,” I forced my head from the table to look at him, but he’d already gone up the stairs. I looked over at Cain, “You might have to carry me home. I don’t think my legs want to work.”

  He winked at me, “I’ll lock up the front and we’ll go.”

  “You’re the best.” I laid my head back on the table. When I woke up, it was morning and I was in my mate’s arms home safe in bed. Our bed.

  “Good morning beautiful,” Cain murmured into my neck. Daylight streamed into our bedroom through the trees. Our bedroom.

  I rolled over with a groan, every inch of me inside and out was sore. Cain’s hand gently traced over my skin from collarbone to hip, “You doing ok, gorgeous?”

  “Just sore,” I told him with a smile, “Other than that, everything is perfect. You’re perfect.”

  He gently kissed my nose, “I think Charlie’s making breakfast. Evan’s trained him to be quite the cook. Want me to steal some bacon and bring it to you in bed?”

  I giggled at the thought, “I’m sure if you just ask, he’d make you some.”

  Cain wriggled his eyebrows, “Where’s the fun in that?”

  68

  Nine Months Later

  It had been a good day. Until he walked into my pub. I hadn’t seen him in over a year. And I never wanted to see him again. I was working the back of house with Charlie and Olly they sensed my immediate change in demeanor when I smelled him.

  “Call Cain,” I told Charlie. The young man stood stock straight. I’d never given him an instruction with that firm of words before. His wolf was the one who reacted with immediate obeisance. It had submitted to my apparent alpha power.

  “What do I tell him?” Charlie asked already moving to the phone.

  “Call from upstairs or outside,” I instructed, I didn’t want to risk Kendrick overhearing, “Tell him Kendrick’s here. He’ll know what that means.” Charlie gave me a stiff nod and left the kitchen out the back door.

  “Olly,” I turned to the other twin, who’d been fully engaged in what was happening with his brother, “I need you to cover the grill. I’m going to send Ed back here, he needs to get a hold of Noel Harris, Cain’s brother, the lawyer. Ed knows why.”

  Olly nodded and took the spatula from me. I marched out front. I heard Kendrick’s voice asking Sarah to have Lee cook whatever for him. My rage bubbled further and faster to the surface. I burst my way through the kitchen doors behind the bar.

  There he was. He was skinnier than he had been when I left. His eyes seemed sunken. His hair was shaggy. Mama Biel must hate it. No way would she have let the Alpha’s son out in public with shaggy hair. I scoffed at the thought. The sound drew his attention to me. I wanted to run. Bolt. Get as far from this place as my three paws could carry me. At the same time, my wolf was waking up. She could smell him and feel the pull toward her moon blessed mate.

  I didn’t want to feel any pull toward him, just a burning desire to kill him and end my suffering for good, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t sure she would still be drawn to him after nearly nine full months of playing happy house with Cain. But the aching pull was there. The invisible leash drawing me closer to the monster who tried to have me killed at every turn. It wasn’t a leash, it was a noose. I wasn’t about to let the hangman get me this time.

  I leaned over the bar at him, his eyes widened, but a smile crossed his face, he opened his mouth to speak but the fury in my eyes must have stopped any words from forming. I made sure I was close enough to him that my words wouldn’t be overheard. I knew we already had the attention of the townies in the pub and didn’t want any more prying ears or eyes.

  “You knew what I was to you for years before the accident,” I whispered afraid if I spoke with my full voice, I’d lose control, “you should have protected me. But you didn't. You let me....” I couldn’t fini
sh the sentence. He knew what he’d allowed to happen. He’d been there. It was my first shift and the first time I’d felt the pull of my mate. The same pull I was feeling for the man sitting across the bar. I stood up, getting away from him. I finally gathered the strength to repeat the words he’d said to me all those Years Earlier, “You need to leave. I don’t want you here.”

  Ed in his brilliant glory came around the bar behind me, “Is this guy giving you trouble?”

  Kendrick’s hands flew up from the bar in the universal ‘I’m innocent’ pose. His yellow eyes didn’t leave mine, “You know who I am,” he said, his voice low and even, like he was trying to calm a wild animal, “You know I’m not a threat. I’m here for dinner, I won’t be any trouble.”

  “Ed,” I said turning to the older shifter, “I know you’re not on the schedule tonight, can you cover grill for me?” Everyone in the pub who heard knew Ed didn’t work at the Tooth and Claw and were immediately on edge.

  “Whatever you need, Lee,” he told me, going back to the kitchen where Olly would fill him in on what needed to be done. I smiled at him, relieved he just went with the flow. Ed was a harbor in the storm, and I was so grateful he’d decided to join the not-a-pack.

  “You’re a lifesaver Ed,” I told him, meaning every word of it, I turned to my favorite human employee, “Sarah, can you cover the bar?” Sarah nodded once; she was already in charge of the bar. She knew something was up, “Great, can you bring me two Louie specials and two Guinness?”

  Louie didn’t have a special, Sarah’s eyebrows raised slightly but she nodded again. She was a smart girl. She’d figure it out.

  I pointed at Kendrick, “You, follow me.”

  I led him to Earl’s table, the high-backed booth would give me enough privacy to get this conversation out of the way while the prominent location would ensure everyone in the pub got a good look at Kendrick should he try to abscond with me again.