Chapter Nineteen
As much as Cyrus prodded and pushed, it was late afternoon by the time they put Kingman Creek in the rearview mirror.
The storage pod had been picked up and taken away, the vehicles packed with their clothing and personal items they’d need in the interim.
Best of all, there’d been no sign of Wilkes.
Now that she was gone, he’d forget all about her . .. she hoped.
She’d expected to be driving her own vehicle, but Noah had volunteered so she and Adam could ride with Cyrus.
She figured Cyrus had put his brother up to it, but she hadn’t argued.
If they were going to coexist for any length of time, she’d have to pick her battles, and he’d have to learn not to overstep.
She’d give him a pass on this one because the past couple of days had been difficult for all of them, and she was tired enough to be glad someone else was behind the wheel.
Zach led their small motorcade in his truck, with Noah behind them, leaving them sandwiched between the two. The Sin brothers took protection to a whole other level, but she had no objection, not with Adam in the vehicle.
The trip was surprisingly uneventful with a single stop along the way for gas and food. When they turned onto the rural road that wound up and around Sin Mountain, her heart began to pound, part excitement and part trepidation.
Everything she’d ever known was behind her. The unknown lay ahead. Cyrus took her hand and gave it a squeeze of reassurance. With his enhanced senses, she’d never be able to hide anything from this man.
Adam leaned forward, resting his arm on top of her seat. “There’s so much wild space here.” The yearning in his voice struck her hard.
It was little wonder he’d taken off into the woods on his own.
He’d been called there by the wolf inside him.
Dealing with everything back home, it had been easy to push aside the real reason events had unfolded as they had.
Her son was a werewolf. Not because he’d been bitten, as folklore and movies suggested, but because of his genetics.
If werewolves existed, she had to wonder what other myths might be real. Scary thought.
When they pulled in the driveway every cell in her body seemed to exhale. They’d made it. The tension she’d been carrying for so long melted away.
“Welcome home.” Cyrus’s voice was thick with emotion.
He was glad to be here. And why wouldn’t he?
This was his family home. She couldn’t blame him, but it was a sharp reminder that she and her son were basically homeless.
This was a necessary, but temporary, stop on their journey.
She had to start searching for a new job.
The money from the sale of the house would go toward buying a new one, assuming she found a source of income.
That was a concern for another day. She had a few weeks’ breathing room.
Adam bailed out of the SUV, eager to be outside after being cooped up for hours. Throwing back his head, he released a howl that stopped Vinnie in her tracks. It was eerily realistic, a wolf announcing his presence.
Pleasure lit Cyrus’s eyes as he opened the cargo area of the SUV. “Let’s get your stuff inside.”
“There’s so much.” The back of the SUV was full, as was the trunk of her car, and the back of Zach’s truck.
“What was I thinking bringing all of this? I’d’ve been better off putting it in storage with the rest until I figure out where we’re going to end up.
” She’d been forced to abandon her home.
The familiar things were her way of compensating, holding on to some sense of normalcy.
Cyrus’s jaw tightened. “There’s plenty of room.” Hefting a couple of boxes in his arms, he started toward the house. “Adam, grab a box. Let’s get this done.” Rather than complain, their son did just that, leaving her to load up and follow.
They went straight down the hallway to Cyrus’s room. The bookshelves were empty. The closet door was open exposing empty racks. Even the bed had been stripped. She carefully set down the box she’d been carrying. “What have you done?”
“You need space to settle in.” He piled the boxes off to one side. “If you want to shift the furniture around, we can do that.”
Zach and Noah arrived with more boxes. They took one look at her and Cyrus, and Noah put his arm around Adam. “How about we get something to eat?”
“Mom?” The concern in her son’s eyes snapped her back into parenting mode.
“You get something to eat and stretch your legs. Cyrus and I need to talk.” She patted his arm. “Just stay close to the house.”
He bent down and kissed her cheek. “I won’t be far.” He glanced over his shoulder one final time on his way out the door. Noah followed, closing the door behind them.
“Why?” she asked Cyrus when they were alone.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “You seem intent on believing your stay here is temporary.”
“It is.” Her stomach churned and rolled, forcing her to take a steadying breath. “I have to find a job to support myself and Adam.”
“Why?”
“Why? What kind of question is that? I’m an adult. It’s what we do.” She’d always worked. First babysitting, and then when she was old enough, she worked the counter at the local burger joint before finally becoming a deputy.
“You’ve supported Adam his entire life. If nothing else, I owe you a ton of child support.”
“You didn’t know about him. I’m not taking your money.”
“Why not? We own the entire mountain and this house. I’ve got nothing else to spend it on.”
The butterflies in her stomach turned to knots. “That’s beside the point.” There was so much about Cyrus and his life that remained a mystery, including his finances. It boggled her mind that his family owned an entire mountain.
“No, it’s precisely the point. I want you here with me.”
“For how long?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, more formidable than ever. “Forever.”
She swallowed heavily, excitement warred with pure terror. “We barely know each other. We share a son, but not much else. Surely you don’t expect us to live happily ever after.” This wasn’t some romance novel, this was real life.
He prowled toward her, but she stood her ground.
“You forget.” He cupped her face in his big, callused hands.
“I’m not fully human. Instinct is a huge part of who I am.
And it’s screaming that you were meant for me, that we belong together.
I let you walk away the first time because I believed it was the best thing for you.
And to be honest, I wasn’t in a place where I could afford a relationship.
” He rubbed his thumb over her lower lip.
“I’m older now. Smarter. I understand what I lost when I let you go. ”
Emotion threatened to close her throat. “You have no idea what you’re asking.” He wanted her to throw caution to the wind, to believe in happily ever after. She wasn’t sure she could. It was safer not to expect it and be disappointed.
“Yeah, I do.” The intensity in his black eyes made her knees weak. “You’re an independent woman who’s learned not to rely on anyone. You’re loyal and hardworking.”
“You make me sound so attractive,” she muttered. “Like a German shepherd.”
He flashed a brief grin that set her heart thumping.
“You’re also smart and gorgeous and determined.
All you have to do is walk in a room and I’m aroused.
I want to help you spread your wings and fly, but I also want to keep you close and protect you.
You have so much damn love bottled up inside you.
I see it when you look at Adam. This.” He motioned to the empty room.
“This is nothing. I’ll build you a house if it will make you feel more at ease here. ”
“Build me a house? You’re out of your mind.” He’d do it too. This wasn’t a man who made idle promises.
“I’m willing to fight for what I want. And Lavinia Grant, I want you.”
No one called her that. It was a soft, feminine name, while Vinnie was tough. She hadn’t used her given name since her father died and she’d stepped up to help her mom navigate that terrible time. She hadn’t shared it, but he’d had to have seen it in the sheriff’s report Zach had hacked into.
“I want you to stay. Give us a fair chance.”
Her entire life had been a continuous battle to prove her worthiness.
All the blood, sweat, and tears she’d shed in the name of duty hadn’t been good enough.
Her world had unraveled faster than a worn sweater.
If she did this—stayed and gave their relationship a chance—and things didn’t work out between them, there was more at stake than her heart. “What about Adam?”
He made a sound of frustration. “I keep telling you Adam is my son. Whether we’re together or not won’t change that.”
She licked her lips. Was she really considering this? “Josiah doesn’t like me.” That was a strike against them. Cyrus and his brothers were extremely close.
“He’s worried because you’re human and I’m not.”
Oddly enough, the issues arising from that hadn’t occurred to her. “What does that mean?”
“I’ll live longer. I’ll age a lot slower, too.”
“Oh.” She walked over to the window. The untamed forest spread out before her, wild and free. She touched her fingers to the glass, wishing she could run away from her responsibilities, other’s expectations, and her wayward emotions.
Her hair would turn gray, lines would mirror the passage of time on her face, and he would remain the same. It wasn’t fair, but life wasn’t. Anyone who thought otherwise was deluding themselves. “I don’t want to look like your grandmother.”
“That’s not possible.” He slipped his hands around her, hugging her from behind. “You’ll be a hot cougar, and I’ll be your boy toy.”
That surprised a laugh from her. “One thing you’ll never be is a boy toy.” He was way too tough and masculine for that label.