Chapter 6 Casey
Casey
I walk out of the bathroom in a towel, thinking about the storm and mentally going over all my prep.
Have I stocked up enough wood, food? Are the candles ready?
Torches, blankets? Is everything tied down?
I’m so distracted I forget about the shifters until I bump into a hard chest and get hit with the scent of cinnamon.
I look up into the feral gaze of Wrath. That silver is so mercurial, I can feel the weight of his fury and disdain in just a glance. For a single moment, he stares down at me, and I’m frozen, then I let out a squeak and race past him, slamming my bedroom door shut.
I lean against the wood, my heart thumping. I press my hand to the area and try to breathe. His steps are soft, but I hear him retreat, and I’m grateful he gave me the courtesy of letting me know he was leaving; he didn’t have to.
The wind starts to howl, and I jump for my clothes. Within minutes, the silent world and my humiliation erode away until all that’s left is a familiar routine and rigid focus. The storm front is well on its way.
I’m still tugging on my boots when I go racing past the kitchen and outside. The skies are black; the pines shifting in the winds. I run around checking and securing as best I can. I put the axe away and lock the shed, bolting it from the outside so the doors don’t come open.
“Need help?”
“Can you grab some wood?” I shout over my shoulder and finish tying down the shed doors.
I turn around and find Hazard lifting an enormous amount of wood into his arms. It doesn’t even seem to phase him. For a moment, all I can do is stare as the red-haired wolf flexes but lifts it like it's nothing.
He’s as beautiful as his twin, maybe more so because he is so joyful.
“Where do you want it?”
I jolt out of my staring. The wind whips my hair around me, tearing it loose from the bun I put it in.
“Uh, inside the back door, there’s a small room.”
He trots off, while I grab another load.
It takes us three trips, but we get all the wood inside, stacking almost the entire wall with cut wood.
I hold the door for him while he comes in.
He passes me, sliding past, and I look up.
I swear, the world tilts when his gold eyes twinkle as he slows until we’re just staring up at each other.
What is this madness? Why can’t I look away? Why does he smell of sandalwood? And worse, why does that smell excite me?
“Thanks, darlin’.”
Hell. That’s what this madness is. It’s hell. Because all I want to do is lean into him, put my hands on his skin, and feel how warm it is. Find out if his muscles are as hard as they look. Is his hair really that soft, and what do his lips…no! Do not go there. That way lies danger.
Hazard slides past me, leaving a cloud of regret and bad choices to disintegrate on their own. I close the door behind him and trudge to the kitchen. Khaos is flipping bacon, while Angel butters toast, and Riot cooks eggs. I take a step back and into another hot wall of man flesh.
“Good morning, O beautiful one.”
I sneer. “Wrath, if you want to earn yourself a mate, try speaking with less I-want-to-fuck-you-with-a-sharpened-bone.”
“Ah, but the heart wants what the heart wants. And I would so love to stab a sharpened bone through any person who deigned to think they could be my mate.”
His aggression is so politely stated that I am absolutely speechless. Just this one thought that I would love to see him in the same room with Cindel.
He drifts past me, brushing his fingers across mine. I snatch my hand away, glowering at him.
Khaos hands me a plate of food. “Go away. I need to talk to my pack.”
The verbal bitch slap packs a punch. But I’m not going to argue with him.
Breakfast on my own is something I’ve been doing for the last ten years.
I take the plate and walk into the lounge and sit down, marvelling at the way they have already started to leave their mark on my house.
The food tastes really good, which only serves to irritate me more.
Hazard comes in and flops on the couch beside me. He picks up a piece of bacon off my plate and eats slowly, watching me with this thoughtful, enigmatic expression that makes me want to squirm.
“What?” I burst out.
“You fascinate me.”
“If you all could try not to deliver everything you say in the form of a threat, I’d appreciate it.” I barely finish the last word before he shoves a piece of bacon in my mouth.
“As prickly as a cactus. I like it when your mouth is full.”
My eyes widen and then narrow as I chew. I reach for the remote, and he tenses. I turn on the TV, and he fixates on it.
“Behave, or I’ll put it on cooking shows all day.”
He moans in despair and then rolls on top of me. It happens so fast I have no idea what to do. I just lay there panicking. I stare up at him and give him my most withering glare, hoping he can’t feel the way I’m trembling.
“Get off me.”
“Give me that.”
He tries to get the remote; I manage to just keep it out of his reach.
“Mine!” he growls.
“It’s mine.” I bite his upper arm, and he howls.
A deep, savage snarl erupts in the room. We both freeze. I look past Hazard and find Angel glaring at us in a rage so deep that I think he’s one step from destroying me.
“Mine,” Hazard snaps, but I notice he’s carefully watching his twin.
I snarl. He snarls back. I yank on the remote. He licks the side of my neck. I let go with a shriek.
“Aha, mine!” he shouts.
Hazard is yanked off me, and I freeze as Angel crawls over me, leaning down to sniff the spot where his twin licked me. Unnerving. There’s a crazed shifter with his teeth inches from my neck.
I don’t feel arousal or attraction; this isn’t a romantic story where they kiss and make out. This is a deadly, dangerous shifter who wants to kill me, and I’m trying to control every thought and feeling so I make it to the other side unscathed.
Hazard shifts into a standing position, and I see him watching with a frown, but he’s not moving to interfere.
“Just playing, Angel. She didn’t hurt me, didn’t even break the skin.”
Angel moves his head to the other side of my neck and licks an identical line to his brothers.
I pant in the effort not to move. The soft, hot pressure of his tongue causes my mind to go white.
All I see are his beautiful pale blue eyes.
Where Hazard’s lick was playful and curious, Angel’s is pure seduction.
“Get off me,” I whisper. “Please.”
His head snaps to mine, our noses brushing, our lips millimetres apart. He smiles, but, in his eyes, all I see is rage. No part of him wants me. This is war. This is an attack, an assault.
He smells like snow, clean, pure snow. For one hideous moment, I want to bury my face in his neck and just breathe it in.
Any remaining humour dies a quick death, and I suddenly remember the danger I’m in.
Memories resurface, and I shove him with everything I have in me. He goes tumbling off me, but I’m up, jumping over him, flying past Hazard and on the other side of the room before anyone can speak.
“No,” I say to Angel. “I’m not going to take. I’m not going to ask. And I’m not going to demand. But you, you don’t get to try to use it as a weapon either.”
My hands shake as I inch towards my breakfast and go back to my bedroom. I avoid them successfully all day.
I find myself ambushed while cooking dinner that night.
Riot and Hazard corner me with typical wolf-like grace.
It’s unnerving to suddenly be the focus of their complete and undivided attention.
Hazard pulls himself up on the island and kicks his legs, while Riot glides around me, watching me over my shoulder, and generally leaving his incense scent cloying every bit of free air I have.
“Why are you living out here alone?”
What a weird question! I arch a brow and cut the ends off the carrots.
“Because I like being alone.”
“But don’t you want a family, kids, a mate?” Hazard asks and winks at me.
I pause, forgetting what I’m doing; something wild flutters in my chest. Probably indigestion.
I grunt. “Not particularly.”
Riot comes around the counter, brushing his black hair off his face. “Let me cut those for you.”
He gives me no choice, muscling in, his hand on mine. Warm, hard, so different from my hands. My skin tingles. I abruptly let go and step back. He flicks me one of those panty-melting grins.
Too bad I’ve seen what wolves like him can do.
“So, where is your family?”
What. Is. This? An interrogation now? Why do they want to know about my personal life?
“Other side of the valley.”
“Ah, they live with that pack, then?” Riot asks carefully.
Damn it. I glare at the first painful guest, who continues chopping, smiling at the carrots like he’s going to personally make sure they have a good time, and then the other, who has unbuttoned his shirt and is now looking like some celebrity kitchen social media star.
No one has the right to look that hot in a kitchen.
I bark a laugh. “Yeah, I was unfortunate enough to grow up in the pack territory. I lived with them until I moved here.”
“Oh. But you’re human.” Hazard winces. “That was rude, sorry. But you are human, how did you survive?”
“Not rude at all,” I say stiffly, trying to hide how uncomfortable I am. I’m searching to buy time so I can come up with an answer that doesn’t give away all my secrets.
“Was your mother human?”
I shake my head. “My mother was a kind woman.” There, nice and evasive.
“I don’t understand-”
“Hazard!” Riot snaps.
The redhead lowers his head, and when he looks up, I can see the apology on his face. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’ll be right back.” I go into the lounge and feel my feet glue to the floor. My lounge looks like someone shaved a freaking wolf in here. My furniture. I’m never going to get that out.
There are clumps hanging from the roof; it’s on the curtains. I’d like to pick the culprit, but it appears to be all of them!
Wrath walks past me, leaning in close. “Oops.”