Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Justice
The sound of Annahi’s giggles is enough to have me ready to drive nails with my cock. It’s been a few days since we had the talk and shared our first kiss.
I hadn’t lied to her when I told her it was the best damn kiss I’ve ever shared with a woman.
Since then, I’ve kissed Annahi more than a few times.
Always deep and fulfilling. Though I still wanted inside her at the first chance I get.
I knew I had to wait for the right time.
I wasn’t gonna rush her and fuck things up.
I need to make sure she’s good and ready for when I finally do get her beneath me.
Now, though, I was content to sit here and listen to her laughter as she talks and gets to know Karsyn, Lake, and Raine.
The only downside of it was listening to the inner thoughts of them all.
I learned from Sibley to put up a shield, but it wasn’t that great of one, so I was still having to hear shit I wanted nothing to do with.
I didn’t need to know about the sex between my brothers and their women.
One thing I have found out, though, is that it’s a good thing when it comes to those we don’t need around the club and would want to cause trouble, like with Big Red and Saddle. What they’d been thinking was fucked in more ways than one.
As much as I wanted to force Annahi into training to get her to learn how to put up a shield around her mind, I knew Sibley was right. I had to go about this whole situation differently. Meaning I needed to finish the mating process with her.
Not just for her.
I needed to do it for my beast before he causes me to lose my damn mind. The only times he’s calm within me is when I’ve got my hand on her in some way or when I’m kissing her.
At night, I wait for her to be asleep before slipping out to go for a run. It’s helped a few times, but it’s not always easy to focus while away from her.
In the past couple of days, it’s been easier. I’m not having to fight the beast inside of me.
Maybe it had something to do with kissing Annahi and learning I was the first to do anything. It should scare the hell out of me what it meant, but it didn’t. Hell, it warmed a part of me at the thought of her being untouched by anyone but me.
Still, a part of me wants to know what she means when she said, ‘not in that way’. I didn’t ask her yet nor have I shared more about me.
It’s a good thing she’s not asked me again about her going back to the clinic. I didn’t want her away from me. Not until I found the rogues. I wasn’t taking any chances with her life.
With the rogues sticking around and fucking with me, I need to catch one of them. They’ve stayed just out of reach of us getting them, and it’s starting to piss me off more and more.
I want them out of the way. Hell, I wouldn’t mind them being dead and buried somewhere rotting in the ground. Some would say it’s fucked up to think about, but if you lived the life I did among them, they’d think differently.
“So, Justice, what do you think of us taking Anna in town, check out some of the boutiques?” Raine asks, getting my attention.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Annahi murmurs, shaking her head.
The girls had taken to calling her Anna just as Zaid and Clara called her.
“It would be fun. There’s the new shop that just opened up, I’ve been wanting to look at,” Lake remarks.
I glance at Karsyn to see she’s nodding alongside them. Turning my attention to Annahi, I cock a brow. She hadn’t left the clubhouse since I brought her here. If Karsyn agrees to it, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea.
“If Annahi wants to go,” I mutter. It’s not something I want to do, but it might be good for her.
“Without you,” Raine reiterates with a roll of her eyes. “You can’t be glued to her hip all the time, Justice.”
“If she goes, I go.” No way in hell I was letting her out there and something happening to her.
“I’m not big on shopping,” Annahi remarks and bites her bottom lip.
Damn, I’m gonna have to talk to her about that. It makes me crazy thinking about what she could be doing to me with that mouth of hers.
“Oh, come on, Anna. It’ll be fun,” Lake murmurs, a big smile on her face. “Just think about it like this, you’ll be with friends and friends always make shopping a fun experience to be had.”
I can see Annahi thinking over what Lake’s said and gives a slight nod.
“Yes,” Raine cheers and pumps her fist. “This’ll be good. I need a break from Dane before he ends up driving me to the coo-coo bin.”
Fuck.
Annahi pales, her body tensing.
Raine must notice it as well because she starts in again.
“Don’t take that to heart, Anna. It’s meant as a joke toward my mate who wants to make it a mission to drive me up the wall with his He-Man possessiveness.
I thought having a brother who was overly protective would do that to me, but it seems it’ll be Dane who winds up doing it. ”
“What is it I’ll wind up doing?” Dane asks, coming up behind her chair, one hand curling around her neck, causing her to jump.
“Oh crap,” Raine screeches loud enough to pierce ears and jumps. Tilting her head back, she glares up at Dane. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” Dane smirks. He knows exactly what he did and did it on purpose.
A purpose I don’t need to be hearing in his thoughts.
Fuck me. I’m getting tired of hearing their thoughts when it comes to the women in their lives.
It’s bad enough I’m not getting laid, I don’t want to hear what they’re doing with their cocks.
I struggle to ignore the two of them and focus on my own mate. Looking at her next to me.
Damn, she’s beautiful. I want nothing more than to sink inside her. She’s gotta be ready for it first.
Watching her now, I know there’s no way she’s gonna go out with the girls today, and I hate that I think it’s a good thing, but I’m not ready for her to be out of my sight.
Without a word, I stand and take her with me. I need to be alone with her before I end up going to the loony bin myself, or better yet, just end up killing all of those around me for their thoughts that want to drive me up the wall.
I’d prefer to know Annahi’s, and yet she’s the only one I can’t hear. I wonder if it’s the same for her when it comes to me. She said something once, but I can’t remember if she’s able to hear me or not.
Annahi doesn’t say anything as I start to guide her back to my room.
“Justice,” Corbin calls, his tone has me going alert as he steps into the clubhouse.
“What’s up, Prez?”
I’m not the only one to take note of his tone.
“We got a visitor at the gates demanding to speak to her daughter?” he announces, a sneer on his lip. “Woman claims she’s Annahi’s mother.”
Annahi tenses, her fingers not engulfed in my hand come up to curl around my bicep, her body closes in tighter, like she wants me to absorb her into my body.
“You didn’t let her in?” I ask, knowing the answer already.
“Fuck no,” he snarls. “No way am I letting a blood witch in here near my ol’ lady and mate or either of my kids.”
I wouldn’t either.
“She won’t leave until she sees me,” Annahi whispers.
“Why?” I couldn’t keep my voice calm even if I wanted to.
“Because she’ll want something from me,” she remarks, closing her eyes.
“What does she want from you, Annahi?” I need to know everything, and it seems the two of us are gonna have to talk about her relationship with her mother and not wait around to do it. “What’s your relationship with her?”
“I try not to have one with her.” I don’t miss the fear in her eyes as she continues.
“I moved away from her the first chance I could. I didn’t want anything to do with her lifestyle.
To her, I’m a disappointment. I don’t know why.
I just am. She demands my presence every so often because she wants,” Annahi lowers her voice and keeps going, “she wants my blood.”
“What the fuck?” Tobias growls from behind me.
Fuck me.
I knew they could all hear her, but I was focused on her. I didn’t hear him come up behind me or even his thoughts.
“She’s here probably for that.”
“What does she do with your blood?” I ask, hating the question leaving my lips.
“She incorporates it in her spells to keep her young.”
The explanation is short but still enough to cloud my vision with a haze of red.
I let her go and watch her stagger back slightly, her breathing heavy. “Go to the room, Peanut,” I order gently and turn toward my brothers. “I’ll deal with this psycho bitch.”
“I’m coming with you,” Corbin growls.
“I’ll come too,” Karsyn speaks up softly.
“No,” Corbin and I both say at once.
Only Corbin keeps talking. “You ain’t anywhere near this witch, Syn. I’m not risking it. I let you deal with the shit with Jett when that happened. Not this time, though. You need to stay here. Go check on Annahi if you need something to do, but you ain’t going out there.”
Karsyn lets out a huff but doesn’t argue, which is good for the Prez. She might be sweet and quiet a lot of the time, but we’ve all seen what she can do. Woman can be scary if you get on her bad side. Hell, I’ve seen her syphon the life out of a blood witch without even touching her.
Corbin watches her for a split second more before nodding to me.
I jerk my chin up to him and head for the door, passing him. I knew what his nod meant, he was letting me take the lead on this shit.
Outside, I stalk across the lot to the gate we keep a prospect on at all times. It didn’t matter whether we all had a remote to open the gate or not. The prospect is there to guard against those not wanted on the property.
“Can I help you?” I demand, taking the woman in from the other side of the fence.
She was older but still had a youthful look about her. Eyes dark and calculating. Menacing would be another word for them. She looked to be about Annahi’s height with dark hair. Almost reminds me of the witch in the Rapunzel movie that Sage has had us all watch with her at one point or another.
One thing was for certain—the scent of this woman is nothing like my mate’s.
There are no ties between them. After two weeks of Annahi’s being with us at the clubhouse, she’s lost the scent of a blood witch on her.
I now wonder if it has something to do with the fact this woman standing across the other side of the fence now would take my mates blood for spells.
Could she have been using it to make it seem to others that she was a blood witch by her scent?
That when she came upon one of us, we’d identify the smell and believe she was the enemy?
? It’s a question I would need to ask someone who would understand all this shit.
Arely’s mother, the oracle, would possibly know.
So would Sibley. I make a mental note to ask either of them when I see them next.
It’s not something I want to ask over the phone.
“Where’s my daughter?” Her voice is husky and filled with hatred.
“We both know Annahi isn’t your daughter,” I tell her, getting right to it. “So cut the bullshit and tell me what the fuck you want with her.”
The blood witch sneers at me with a sinister glare. “I will see my daughter, Coyote.”
“So, you know I’m a coyote shifter.” I shrug. “Doesn’t scare me, witch.”
“I know more about you than you think.” She cackles. “Give me my daughter.”
“Not gonna happen.”
I didn’t like the fact that she thinks she knows me, but I’m not going to dwell on it.
“You’ll want to give her to me. It’ll become dangerous if she’s not blooded.”
“Why would you say that?” Corbin demands, coming to stand next to me then slightly behind, with his arms crossed.
“Because my daughter is a danger to herself. She needs to be blooded, and it’s best done by someone who knows what they’re doing.”
“You mean you want her blood for spells, and you’re all out.” I sneer. I wasn’t going to fuck around and hear the bullshit. She needed to be straight about it before I just went ahead and killed her, like I want to do more than anything else.
“What I do with it is none of your concern.” She waved me off like it was no big deal what she did to a woman she claimed was her daughter. “She’s my daughter, and I will see her. Take her with me as she needs to be with me.”
“That also isn’t going to happen.” I step directly in front of her, the fence between us. “You aren’t getting anywhere near Annahi. You even try, I’ll gladly put you in the ground.”
The blood witch barks out a laugh and shoots an evil look my way. “You think you can take me? I’m a High Priestess. You can’t touch me. None of you can.”
High Priestess?
Oh fuck no.
This is the same bitch that Aziz and Jett told us about. The one who said would be back for the child Jett was now carrying.
“Levana,” I sneer, remembering her name.
“I see you know my name.” She cackles, eyes on me. “How is the God’s daughter doing? I hope she’s well with carrying the child. She should really be eating more vegetables. We wouldn’t want any harm to come to the child.”
There was no missing the threat behind her words. She was keeping an eye on all things. We were going to have to make sure Aziz knew to watch Jett even closer than he already was.
Levana takes a step closer, fingers on the fence, “You won’t keep me from Annahi. I will have her back. She belongs to me and will forever do so. You might be her mate, but she is mine.”
Turning away from the fence, she raises her hands above her head and claps. A swirl of black and green surrounds her before she disappears altogether.
“Fuck. I hate blood witches.” Corbin snarls.
“You and me both,” I mutter in agreement.
“We need to call Aziz and Orpheus.”
Nodding, I turn to Corbin. “We need to do more than that. We need to know what the fuck she is really doing with Annahi’s blood besides keeping herself youngish. There’s more to it than we know.”
“Agreed.” Corbin grunts and shakes his head. “Let’s get back inside. I’ll make the call to Orpheus. You deal with your mate. My suggestion, though, take it however you need, but you need to complete the bond. Now, before it’s too late.”
I couldn’t agree more. I wanted to give her time.
Let her get used to me, to my touch, to the feel of me with her.
With the threat of her mother, no, not her mother .
. . that witch isn’t anything to my mate, we need to make sure she stays safe, and in doing so, means I need to have the bond intact between us as it should be.