Chapter Seventeen
Brodie
K ye came to the bed, his eyes glinting with mischief. The sexy kind.
“What?” I asked, putting my book on the bedside table.
Instead of going to his side of the bed, he climbed on top and settled against me with his body flush against mine. His hands were on my chest, and he rested his chin on top of them, then gazed at me.
“I think the only way to make you any sexier is if you had glasses. Like those heavy black frames.” He lifted his head and one hand enough to make the “chef’s kiss” gesture before settling back.
I laughed. Hard enough that he moved with it.
Kye looked delighted, then wiped my tears of laughter with his thumb.
I heard steps outside the bedroom door, but it was evident that Kye didn’t.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard this laugh from you, Alpha. Keep it up,” Rian’s pleased voice came through barely loud enough and for my ears only.
Chuckling still, I pecked Kye’s forehead. “How rough of a life it is, having a mate who can’t get bad eyesight.”
“I know. It’s tragic,” he deadpanned. Then the mischief intensified. “Oh, but for our anniversary, you could buy fake glasses, you know.”
I squinted at him, attempting a more serious expression while still being amused as fuck. “Let me get this straight: your version of roleplaying is getting me a fake pair of glasses?”
He thought for a moment, then shrugged as much as he could. “It’s either that or one of those teeny tiny latex nurse’s uniforms.” His whole expression brightened. “Oh, but your ass would look spectacular in a miniskirt!”
I rolled us over and hovered over his madly giggling form. I could taste the three huge as fuck words on my tongue, but some part of me was holding back still. Instead of blurting them out, I glared at him playfully, then dove in for a kiss that seemed to take a life of its own.
It took us no time at all to slither out of our clothes and rut against each other mindlessly. I’d never felt this wanted by someone before, and I certainly hadn’t felt this kind of need for another, either.
“Wait,” Kye gasped when I took hold of our cocks between us.
I stilled and raised a brow. “Yes?”
“I want you inside me.” He came across determined enough that I knew he meant it, had thought it through, and I didn’t need to question it even if that was my first instinct anyway.
“Bare?”
He nodded. “We can shower afterward. Change the sheets if need be. I just….” He glanced away for the first time, then with determination in his gaze, he looked at me again. “I don’t want anything in between us.”
I could tell there was more to his statement than the matter at hand, but it wasn’t the time to figure it out now.
“Okay.”
I reached over to get the lube from the bedside table, then pushed the drawer shut again. It made an annoying noise, and I winced.
“You need to fix that. Your poor ears,” Kye said, having seen the same thing happen before.
“Nah, I want to throw it out and replace it with mine. I’m sure Rian put it in the moving truck.” I smiled. “I made one I like a lot. The headboard is great as well. You’ll see.”
I worked my fingers inside him, unable to hurt him in a way that wasn’t consensual pain play. My wolf, as uninterested in sex as it was, would never let me be cruel or hurt my mate.
When I finally deemed Kye ready, he was clawing my back and tried his best to kick me in the shin.
“Come on already, I need you,” he whined, with steel in his gaze.
The fact that he knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to ask for it was sexy as hell.
Slicking my cock, I nudged his thighs up and apart, then winked at him and pushed inside without any preamble.
The way his back arched and his eyes closed might’ve been the most erotic thing I’d ever experienced. His long hair fell around his head on the pillow, messy already, and I couldn’t wait to see how disheveled he’d look by the time I was done with him.
It took him a moment to adjust to me and refocus his attention. When he did, he smiled almost dazedly, then nodded. “Go on. Show me what you got, Alpha.”
The twinkle in his eyes belied his attempt at taunting me, not that I minded in the least.
“As you wish, mate.” I pulled out almost completely, then snapped my hips forward, cognizant of the fact that he was human.
“That all you got?”
Yeah, okay, maybe he was a stubborn, tough as fuck human? I tilted my head as if thinking about it and shrugged, then gave in to the urge to fuck him into the mattress.
I knew he would tell me if I was being too rough, but seeing the way his skin turned white around where my fingers gripped him while he only moaned harder told me he didn’t mind any of this. In fact, the rougher I got, the louder he became.
Being inside my mate was as magical as I thought it would be. I’d always thought the phrase “he felt like he was made for me” was just talk. How much difference could there be between one person and another anyway? But somehow, my whole body seemed to curl around him, mentally and physically. I felt protective and as if I was giving my mate exactly what he wanted and needed, and he was giving me those same things.
It was a feedback loop I couldn’t get enough of; his punched out little moans spurred me on, made me feel like the provider and the Alpha I hadn’t known I could be. Elation coursed through me, the higher Kye climbed, dragging me right with him.
“So, so close,” he gasped out, then reached for his cock that was leaking between us.
“No, mine,” I growled, and grabbed his erection in a hand that was suddenly not completely human. “Shit.”
Kye looked at me, then grinned and squeezed my dick like a vise. “You’re a wolf, baby. Own it.”
Then he lifted his chin and tilted his head. Another little taunt. Another way to make me realize that he truly understood me. The growl that burst out of me wasn’t completely human, and again, his ass contracted around me as his cock jumped in my hand. I leaned in and nosed his neck, behind his ear, getting his scent, his sweat, his essence, then nipped at the skin with teeth carefully controlled so as not to hurt him.
“Are you going to come for me?” I asked, pumping his cock in rhythm with my thrusts.
His answer came in the form of him erupting in my fist, cum shooting out of his pretty dick that I immediately wanted to put my mouth on. Except then my own orgasm freight-trained over me and I was done.
His ass milked me for long enough that I knew he was doing it on purpose to prolong my ecstasy. When I collapsed on top of him, he let out a faint “oomph” and then chuckled, the sound happy and sated in a way that made me smile against his neck.
I pulled out carefully, but both of us winced anyway. Then I rolled us over again, this time leaving him on top so we could snuggle, sweaty and sticky as we were.
The scent of sex was overwhelming in the best of ways, and I must’ve let out a contented sound, because Kye smiled at me.
“I like it when you sound happy,” he said, the smile gentling. “You’re a great Alpha and if I was to be someone’s mate, I’m glad I’m yours.”
I blinked a few times to keep tears at bay. Somehow I hadn’t thought it would mean so much to hear those words.
Three words bubbled up from somewhere deep within me. “You’re staying, right?”
Kye frowned. “What do you mean?” He pushed himself up to straddle my waist and kept frowning. “Why are you asking that?”
I squeezed my lips together, trying to come up with words to explain why I was asking something so stupid. So… necessary. I ended up shaking my head and looking at him, hoping my expression showed him something I couldn’t put into words.
Sighing, he leaned down to kiss my lips. “Baby, I’m not going anywhere. This is home now. You are home now. My sister loves it here, too. There’s nowhere either of us is going to go, no power on earth to make us leave.”
I tried to say something, to ask if he was sure, if things might change in the future, but he put his hand over my mouth.
“No, Brodie. You don’t get to question this. I’m your mate. That is not only sacred to you.”
Yeah okay. This time I squeezed my eyes shut, but the tears escaped anyway.
T he next day, we all had breakfast together. Rian nursed a tablespoon of coffee for the taste, and tried to find a donor for his nutritional needs for later.
“Lina is joining us around midday,” I told everyone. “We’re continuing the work we’ve been doing on the house. Is there anything anyone wants done after the most pressing stuff?”
Since nobody had anything to add, I raised a brow at Ben and Max. “So, have you two decided what you want to do job-wise?”
Ben straightened in his seat and cleared his throat. “My boss wants me back at the garage as soon as you don’t need me here.” He’d had a semi-steady job and had managed to work through his addiction.
“Uh, I lost my job right before we went to rehab,” Max whispered, looking ashamed.
Kye squeezed my wrist to signal he’d take it from here. Gods I loved my mate. I really needed to tell him.
“So how about this? Ben, you can go to work whenever you want, because we have enough hands here. If we need you, we’ll ask, but right now I think one of you guys is enough, right, Brodie?”
“Absolutely. Lina and I are going to take the more technical stuff that needs to be done asap, but there’s plenty of indoor jobs for you, Kye, and Rian if working doesn’t ruin his manicure.”
Rian lifted a hand, gave me the finger, and let his fingernail turn into a vampire claw; something sharp and lethal like his fangs that showed when he smiled widely.
Carys snickered. “I’ll keep doing the cleaning and cooking, although if someone else wants to take over the laundry….” It was her least favorite thing.
“I can do that,” Max said quickly, eager to please. “And I’ll help with any cleaning you need.”
“Okay, sounds good,” she replied in the easy manner I had started to recognize the Rossi siblings had in common.
“Can I start by fixing the porch steps on both sides of the house?” Rian raised a brow. “They creak.”
“Sure, you do you,” I replied and reached for more bacon before it was all gone.
“How much stuff is coming with the movers?” Kye asked then, and we started to make a list of what would go where while Ben called his boss.
“We can pile a lot of stuff in the back of the family room,” Rian said thoughtfully when we realized we didn’t have storage for everything yet.
“That’s true, and if you guys start on the first bedroom on the front side, we can use it as a storage room once it’s in good enough condition. The roof is solid there and the window can be taped where it’s cracked.” I finished my coffee right as Ben came back into the kitchen.
“He said I can go in today if I want to. Is that okay?” He seemed hopeful0, but there was some wariness in his expression, too.
“Of course. It’s your job, Ben. That’s a priority.”
“Look, Ben,” Kye started. “I have a good idea about how your dad ran this pack, but we’re building a new one. We want to do right by everyone. If someone wants to work, that’s fine. If they don’t, we’ll find a way to support them even if they don’t have skills that are useful around the house. We’re on more equal grounds here.”
I smooched his temple. “What my smart AF mate said.” I grinned at Ben.
He chuckled. “Good.” Then he glanced at his brother, clearly worried behind Max’s back. Ben looked at me and I gave him an understanding smile.
Kye, intuitive and in tune as he was to us all now, swallowed his sip of coffee. “And as for Max, you’re free to find a job of course, but I’m sure there’s always something around the house for you to do for as long as you want it.”
“Or if you want to study something online like I’m gonna do, that’s fine too,” Carys quickly assured him.
Clearly sensing his brother being overwhelmed, Ben walked to Max and leaned to wrap his arms around him from behind. As if agreed on, the rest of us ignored them as we finished our breakfasts.
My phone rang before we were done, so I grabbed it from the fruit bowl at the end of the table where I tended to drop it whenever I needed to put it down.
The number was local. “Hello?”
“Good morning, Alpha McRae,” Holden said in a tone I’d never heard before.
“Morning, Sheriff,” I replied, making eye contact with Kye who seemed as surprised as I felt. “What can I do for you?”
“Something has come up that I wanted to talk to you about. Could you stop by the station this afternoon?” Ah, his cop voice, then.
“Sure. I have Lina Keller coming over in about an hour, and I assume it’ll take me another hour after that to get her set for today in a way that I can leave for a while, but around… two?”
“That sounds good. I’ll talk to you then.”
“Great. See you then.”
I ended the call and frowned.
“What was that about?” Kye asked.
“I have no idea, but it sounded like official business.”
We had cleared the table, and I was putting the plates into the sink when my phone pinged with a message. Since the phone was in my pocket and my hands were wet, Kye grinned and fished it out for me.
“It’s Holden,” he said, lifting it so I could peer into the camera to unlock it.
“Nothing serious, but my boss wants a chat. Have your game face on, the guy is a bit of a jerk and there’s some weird rumors going around.”
“Well okay then,” I murmured. “Read it for everyone?”
Kye repeated the message, which left the pack looking puzzled and frowny.
“What do we know about the Sheriff?” Rian asked from his perch on the island.
“Sheriff Gerrell? Just that he’s an asshole who likes to take all the credit while doing none of the work,” Max blurted out. “Says he wants to get rid of all the meth labs and was a pain in Rusty’s ass for years, but luckily—for Rusty’s sake—this place is far enough that he would never come here personally until a handful of years ago.”
“Yeah.” Ben frowned. “It was very convenient how he also went away real quick, like maybe Rusty paid him off or something. Either way, the word around town is he doesn’t like Holden and the feeling is mutual.”
“And nobody local wants him around for another term, but he has a lot of friends in Warren where his office is and in other parts of the county.” Max grimaced. “I mean it’s not far, but it’s certainly far enough that Holden and the other deputies do all the work here and then Gerrell comes to take any credit he can. It’s unfair.”
“Sounds like a piece of work, especially if your hunch about him being corrupt is right,” Rian mused. “Should I come with you?” he asked me.
“No. Absolutely not. I know how you get. Besides, Holden has implied he’s not big on non-humans, so….”
Rian rolled his eyes hard enough that it felt like a miracle they didn’t pop out of his head. “Fine.”
B en left for the garage and Carys snatched Max for something she wanted to do in the pantry. Lina came in early, and we went to work on the roof for a while.
“At least the weather has been nice,” she said, then lifted her hand and tapped her skull. At my confused look, she grinned. “Oh, my grandma loves to ‘knock on wood’ on her head.”
I chuckled, and continued to pull out the rotten pieces of wood that needed replacing.
I could hear Rian and Kye in the other end of the hallway, prepping the spare room for storage. They laughed every now and then, and the good old playlist of randomness they were listening to carried over as well.
“Okay,” I said around one. “I think you can continue this until I come back. No going up on the roof without a harness and a spotter.” I squinted at her.
She grinned and lifted her hands up. “I promise.”
“You better.” I tried to sound stern but didn’t succeed. She was a good kid and would never take any unnecessary risks like that. “I’ll be back later. I’m going to go clean up and if there’s time, I’ll get some groceries in town before the appointment since I’m going to be a bit early.”
“Sounds good, boss!” She practically shooed me out the door.
I started down the hall, but something about Rian’s tone made me stop by the half-open door to the room they were in.
“You need to understand that everyone has left him, Kye. It took me literally years of convincing before he got that I wasn’t going to vanish.”
“I didn’t think about it like that. Jesus. Now that I do… you’re right.” Kye took in a deep breath and let it huff out. “Now I feel bad for getting a bit annoyed at him.”
“Hey, you guys are still new and don’t know each other inside and out. You’ll get there,” Rian said, his voice full of conviction.
I snuck past the doorway, my heart beating in my chest like a drum. Yeah, that was it, wasn’t it? I was afraid everyone was going to leave me, because that was all I’d known until I met Rian.
Dad, Mom, Bella, then the few partners I’d had over the years, some friends, too. Part of it was natural, just life—or death—but it still felt like a lot.
I needed to talk to someone, maybe a professional. Hell, maybe even one of my friends. That could wait, though. First, I needed to go see what these rumors were, exactly.
A fter getting some necessities from the bigger grocery store in town, I parked my truck at the tiny sheriff’s office. The parking lot for their vehicles was to the side of the building, and I spied the one Holden normally used. Next to it was a much fancier, newer one that must’ve been the Sheriff’s.
Snorting softly, I got out of the car and walked to the front door.
The office, not really a station, was sandwiched between an old closed shopfront and a mom and pop style grocery store that seemed to be owned by the same family that had owned it when I was little and went in to get ice cream with my pocket money.
The middle-aged woman manning the front desk brightened when the bell dinged as I opened the door to the station, then seemed grumpy again when it was just me. Why, I had no idea.
“Hey, I’m Alpha McRae, here to see—”
“Alpha McRae, come on through,” Holden called from the back.
He walked to the swinging gate and held it open for me.
I nodded to the woman and gave her a polite smile that thawed her a little.
I’d put on my best jeans and a henley under my leather jacket that was cleaner than the jacket I wore around the house.
“This way,” Holden instructed, showing me through the back of the room, past some desks, and then down a hall into an office.
The letters on the door spelled out Deputy Sheriff Holden Drumm, but the man sitting behind the desk immediately gave me the creeps.
“Ah, Alpha McRae,” he said, standing halfway up as he reached his hand for a shake.
“Sheriff Gerrell,” I replied, giving him the shake he tried to control by squeezing too hard. I didn’t react.
“Deputy Drumm here has brought me up to speed with the situation at the old Douglas pack house,” he started while gesturing for me to sit.
Holden remained standing by the door. I was in tune enough with him to sense his wolf’s agitation at the situation. On the surface he was calm, unflappable. He’d had practice with this man, that much was certain.
Since Gerrell hadn’t actually asked a question, I sat down and looked at him expectantly.
“Right, uh, there have been some rumors going around.” He barely hid his annoyance at my silence. “Rusty Douglas was supplying a lot of methamphetamine in these parts, and the rumors are running wild now.”
Again, no question was asked, but I threw him a line. “I have no knowledge of the ‘amounts’ he might’ve been supplying and to whom, but based on the fact that his idiot betas haven’t made another appearance, I’m done with Rusty’s legacy.”
Gerrell stared at me in a way that told me he was trying to read me.
“I see. Well, these rumors come from informants we have in the county. They’re saying that Douglas’ betas went to another uh, I wouldn’t go as far as to call them a gang, but a group of criminals.”
I shrugged. “Like I said, I haven’t heard from them. We had the barn torn down and there’s no trace of meth on my property, as your deputies know, since they have been dealing with everything with me. I don’t know how this relates to me or my pack.”
This time Holden cleared his throat. “The betas have been talking about wanting the house back. We’re thinking they’re trying to get these people to try something with them.”
Snorting, I said, “Let them try.”
Sheriff Gerrell hid his surprise a fraction of a second too late. “You’re that confident you’ll be able to defend your property?”
“My pack might be small, but if they want to underestimate us, they can come and try to see what happens. My pack and I have full rights to protect one another and our property, isn’t that right?” At the Sheriff’s nod, I continued, “I assume they’re mostly humans, this group?”
Again, Holden piped up. “It would seem so, yes. So we’re thinking likely armed. There’s no record of there being vampires or werewolves, other than some hangers on, maybe.”
“Well then I’m not worried.” I leveled the Sheriff with a look. “Anything else?”
He appeared slightly constipated suddenly. “No, I suppose there’s nothing else. Just keep an eye on things and let us know if you need help. Deputy Drumm says he has a good relationship with your pack, so I feel reassured that you and yours know to contact him with anything at all.”
“Oh, absolutely. Deputy Drumm is a good man and an excellent wolf.” The tiniest of flinches on Gerrell’s face told me volumes about how he viewed our kind. “He’s always welcome to my house.”
I got to my feet and held out my hand, this time squeezing him a bit more firmly than needed. Not enough to be threatening, but enough for the good Sheriff to realize I had clocked his posturing and wasn’t impressed.
Holden came to see me out and walked to my truck with me.
“So, he’s an asshole and a half, isn’t he?” I murmured, making him chuckle.
“Not going to deny that assessment.”
“How corrupt is he, exactly?” I asked even more quietly.
Holden’s eyes widened a bit before he schooled his expression. “Not sure. Definitely some.”
“Is this whole thing some sort of warning I should know about?”
“I’ve tried to figure it out, but I’m a wolf so he’s not telling me shit. If I learn something, I’ll let you know.” Then he seemed to remember something else. “Hey, so you know the pack I used to run with on occasion before you came to town?” I nodded, so he continued, “The Alpha, Jessie Ramirez, wanted to meet up with you whenever you can to get to know the other Alpha in the area. She’d come over to yours, but she just had a baby couple of weeks ago and her pack is a bit overly protective—her words, not mine.”
“I’ll let you know. Full moon is soon, so before that?”
“That should work. Let me know and I’ll set it up.”
“Excellent. I’ll see you later.” I had the strongest urge to leave my scent on Holden, which he must’ve seen in my expression.
He smiled and held out his hand which I took, then cupped his elbow with my other one.
“See you later, Alpha,” he replied, and this time there was a different weight on the honorific.
I beamed as I drove home. It felt like I was gaining a beta, officially, very soon.