Chapter Four #2
She turned her head, tugging restlessly on the safety harness. “It’s a legitimate concern. You don’t know them like I do.” Every past incident involving Holden and his friends kept running through her brain in an endless loop. None of it was pretty.
“I’ve met his kind before.” He smoothly turned onto a rural road.
He drove as competently as he did everything else, effortlessly weaving through city traffic, dealing with a highway slowdown with patience, and now navigating a narrow road with ease.
It made her keenly aware of all her shortcomings.
She turned from him and drank in the majestic oak, ash, and maple trees that rose in welcome. It reminded her of home. She ignored the pang in her chest and the lump in the pit of her stomach. Thanks to her uncle, Alabama was no longer home.
She lowered the window and inhaled the clean country air perfumed with wildflowers, mixed with the earthier tang of pine.
After the unpleasant scents of the city, it was welcome.
Having an enhanced sense of smell was great, but it presented unique challenges, especially in an urban area, which was another reason most wolves stuck to the countryside.
“Uncle Duke has to bring me back.” And that’s what worried her most. Duke Wright had a temper and wasn’t shy about letting those around him experience the sting of his fury.
“His word is law. If he can’t enforce it, his leadership will be challenged, possibly by Holden and others.
He can’t afford to lose any more men. Not with Daddy gone. ”
“They still do that challenge shit?”
It was shocking how little he seemed to understand about the inner workings of ordinary pack life. “In any pack there’s a hierarchy with the most powerful at the top. You’re no different. Cyrus is your alpha.”
Eli’s lips twitched, stopping short of an actual smile. It gave him the appearance of being relaxed while amping up his already high sex appeal. Not that she’d noticed or anything. Her wolf snorted at her patent lie.
“I only said that to piss him off. He might be the eldest, and we do tend to listen to him and follow his lead, but we all have a say in how things work. Do we disagree sometimes? Sure. We argue, we fight, and then we make up and figure it out because we’re family, and that’s what family does.”
That concept was completely foreign, but it sounded wonderful. The only one who’d ever valued her opinion was her daddy, and he’d cautioned her more than once to keep her views to herself for her own safety.
Up ahead, Cyrus turned his SUV onto an even narrower road that wound up the side of a mountain. They followed right behind him. Houses had been far and few between the past couple of miles. Now they were nonexistent. The woods deepened the higher they climbed.
“Welcome to Sin Mountain.” Pride echoed in his voice. Then what he’d said sank in.
“Your family owns an entire mountain?” Wolves invested in land, but this had been unexpected. They were a family, not a large pack, pooling resources.
“It’s a small one, but the land is all ours.
” She envied him his sense of belonging, of having a place to come home to.
The homestead in Alabama had never been that for her.
It had been more a prison—her only link to it the love of her daddy.
She swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked several times.
It was the dust flowing through the open window making her choke up and her eyes fill.
It certainly wasn’t tears. They changed nothing, and were a weakness she couldn’t afford to show.
Her position was precarious enough as it was.
Cyrus had made it clear from the beginning he didn’t want her here.
He viewed her as nothing more than an unwanted obligation.
Eli shut off the music. Immediately, birdsong drifted through her window.
A light breeze rustled through a stand of maples, making the leaves sway as they passed.
Two squirrels scampered up the trunk of an oak tree, chattering as they went.
Patches of wildflowers showed off their vibrant colors.
Her soul sighed with pleasure. Her wolf pawed impatiently, longing to run.
They turned off again, winding through a dirt path that was wide enough for a single vehicle.
Tall trees blocked the sun, pitching them into shadows.
Kinley shivered, praying it wasn’t a sign of things to come.
When they emerged, it was into a large clearing.
Two vehicles were parked off to one side.
Just beyond them lay a large two-story log cabin with a covered porch running along the entire front of the structure.
It was rustic and inviting and her idea of Heaven.
“We’re home.”
It might be that for him. For her it was a temporary haven before heading who knows where.
Ignoring the knot in her stomach, she summoned a smile.
“It’s wonderful.” She forced herself to get out of the truck.
Stretching her legs, she took her time, getting the lay of the land.
Water trickled in the distance, likely a creek.
She shaded her eyes against the brightness of the sun in the western sky.
The front door was shoved open and a tall man stepped out onto the porch.
Barefoot and dressed only in a pair of faded jeans, the resemblance to Cyrus was uncanny, except for the hair, which was short on the sides and back and longer on top, and his beard was trimmed close to his face.
Right behind him came another. This one was fully dressed and reminded her more of Eli.
They both had black eyes. There was no doubt they were more brothers.
“How many of you are there?” Something she probably should have asked before now.
Eli chuckled, took her by the hand, and led her forward. “There are seven of us. We’re the Seven Deadly Sins.”
Kinley stumbled to a halt. Suddenly the idea of being around seven male wolves, especially when they referred to themselves as the Seven Deadly Sins, didn’t seem all that smart. When Eli tried to pull her along, she dug in her heels, yanked her hand from his, and took a step back.
Frowning, he dropped their bags. “What’s wrong?”
“Ah, brother, if I may interject.” The barefoot and bare-chested one ambled down the steps and prowled toward her with a smile on his face. “I’m Levi. I’m the fifth brother.”
“Knock it off.” There was a warning in Eli’s tone she didn’t understand.
“I’m not doing anything other than welcoming this beautiful lady to our humble home.”
If he had a trowel, he couldn’t have laid it on thicker. Wearing Eli’s oversized shirt and dirty jeans with her hair in tangles and circles under her eyes, she was anything but beautiful.
“I wanted to reassure her she has nothing to fear here.” Levi winked at her. “She’s as safe as she wants to be, but I’m volunteering my services for anything she might need. Anything.”
Eli shoved his brother aside. “Ignore him.”
She rolled her eyes and nodded. “Believe me, I will.”
“Wounded.” Levi clamped his hand over his heart. “You’ve gravely wounded me.”
“I sincerely doubt it.” His antics had eased some of her anxiety, but she wasn’t about to let down her guard.
“You’re not afraid, are you?” Eli’s brows lowered and a muscle in his jaw tightened.
Offending him or his brothers wasn’t smart, but she was done tempering her words to appease any man.
“They’re strangers.” She didn’t want to point out that he was, too, not after all he’d done for her.
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other but refused to drop her gaze. Those days were over.
Levi’s smile vanished in the blink of an eye when he realized she was serious. He’d been kidding around, but she wasn’t. Her life was on the line. And by his actions, Eli had put his brothers’ lives in jeopardy. It would only be normal for them to be angry about this turn of events.
“We’ll wait inside.” Edict given, Cyrus disappeared into the house. “That means you two,” he yelled.
“I didn’t get to meet her,” the other one muttered but followed with Levi close behind, leaving her and Eli alone in the yard.
The heat from the sun prickled against her skin.
A bead of sweat trickled down her back. She’d basically called Eli’s honor into question.
She flinched when he reached out, unable to stop herself.
Her uncle had hit her more than once when she was growing up.
Never when her daddy was around, and she’d never told, fearing a fight between them.
He hesitated but then gently laid his hand against the side of her face. The heat from his palm sank into her skin. Her heart thundered against her chest. Breathing became difficult, and she struggled to suck air into her starving lungs.