Kiss and Kin: A Sexy Shifter story Page 6

  “You’re making that up,” he breathed in an awestruck tone.

  “Nope. I swear it’s true.” She nipped at his jaw again.

  “God help me,” he groaned.

  He rolled over on top of her, and for a minute she was squished into the crack of the couch. A second later, she was on her back, Taran braced on his elbows above her. She gave a throaty, contented sigh, dug her fingers into his biceps, and raised her hips to open herself to him, wrapping her long legs around his waist. He dove into her with a mighty groan, and when he began to move inside her, she threw her arms around his neck, crushing his mouth to hers, loving the feel of his tongue thrusting in her mouth as his cock thrust into her slick passage.

  She didn’t come that time, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t help the tears. If he noticed them, he didn’t say so.

  Chapter Five

  I have to tell her tonight, he thought on the way home from work Friday.

  She might go psycho on him at first, but once he explained it to her, made it clear she didn’t owe him anything and she could take all the time she needed, she’d understand. He tried to tell her last night. She’d want to know why he didn’t try harder. He’d never confess the humiliating truth—simple fear.

  After years of silent yearning, his self-control had hardened into a barrier of tempered glass. Almost losing her put a sizeable chip in that glass, and the cracks had steadily spread. Last night, the flick of her tongue across his palm shattered the whole goddamned thing. He’d needed her too much, and for too long, to say anything to make her pause.

  He wouldn’t apologize for what he couldn't regret.

  As soon as he turned onto his street, he saw Nick’s Range Rover sitting in his driveway.

  He hadn’t told his Alpha about last night; he didn’t know if Lark talked to TJ or anyone else.

  Nick, don’t say anything. Help a wolf out, Alpha.

  Surely, she’d understand. She acted as if she loved him. She could handle it. Together they’d figure out how to tell the family.

  When he walked into the silent living room, he knew how badly he’d fucked up.

  Nick stood looking out the sliding glass doors with his hands crammed in his pockets, apparently fascinated with something in the back yard. But Taran knew his best friend of twenty years better than that. The set of his jaw, his heavy-lidded gaze, his ramrod posture instead of his customary insouciant slouch all indicated the alpha’s anger.

  Lark huddled in the love seat with her head down and her arms wrapped around her knees. She didn’t look up when he walked in.

  After an agonizing minute of silence, Nick turned to him and said quietly, “I dropped by to talk to you about Kuba. Lark was here. As soon as I realized she was yours, I told her how happy it made me, for both of you. She didn’t know what I was talking about. Taran—what the fuck were you thinking, wolf?”

  He cleared his throat, started to answer, and found he had no words. A dull roaring sound filled his ears. He stared at Nick, silently begging for a life ring. Nick returned the stare with an expression part ire and part sorrow. It seemed to acknowledge yes, he could see Taran drowning but no, he couldn’t—wouldn’t?—pull him out.

  Taran turned to look at his mate. His mate, whose scent he still wore, whose skin he still tasted, who’d come so sweet and frantic in his arms only this morning and wouldn’t look at him now.

  “Lark? I meant to talk to you tonight about this—“

  “You claimed me?” She finally raised her head to look at him, her face streaked with tears. “You claimed me, and you didn’t tell me? You bonded to me without telling me. How long have you known I’m your mate, Taran?”

  He’d expected anger, but the anguish in her voice stunned him.

  “How long?” she shouted.

  “Three years,” he said quietly.

  “Three years,” she whispered. “Three years.” She nodded, looked up at the ceiling, back at him. “Three years. You’ve known for three years, and you never said anything. Three years you’ve treated me like you treated me all my life, either ignoring me or criticizing me, and you never bothered to mention that I’m your fucking mate.” Her voice got louder and harder with each word. She uncurled and put her feet on the floor, hugging herself tightly and leaning forward. In a voice so full of contempt he flinched she said, “What changed your mind, Taran? What made you decide it was time to fuck me?”

  He gaped at her. “What are you talking about? That’s not what happened—”

  “It’s not? You didn’t plan last night?”

  “How could I plan that? You think I wanted that to happen?”

  “What, you didn’t?”

  “Yes! But, but—no, I mean—goddamn it, Lark!” He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at it in frustration as he began to pace. “I’ve thought about it for years, but I never did anything because—because it was you, and it seemed wrong, and I thought—I thought there was no way, I’m like your big brother, and half the time you hated me—”

  “I never hated you—”

  “And I’d never be able to explain it to Myall, or Mom or David, but then last night happened, and, and—”

  “And and what?” she mocked.

  He spun around to advance on her, pointing a finger. “I didn’t rape you, Lark. I asked you if you wanted to stop and you said no. You wanted it as much as I did, every time last night and this morning. You still remember this morning, don’t you?”

  She blushed furiously. Belatedly he remembered Nick behind him, witnessing all of this. Lark sprang to her feet, arms still crossed tightly against her chest, hunching her shoulders the way she did whenever she got angry or sad or scared, just as she’d done ever since she was a little girl.

  “No, I haven’t forgotten anything,” she snarled. “Have you forgotten all the times last night and this morning you could have stopped to say ‘oh by the way, Lark, you’re my mate, and now I’m bonded to you for life, and every wolf who sees you will know you belong to a wolf and if you don’t spend the rest of your life with me I’ll be alone and, and’—fuck you, Taran! I thought you wanted me!”

  “Are you crazy?” he exploded. “Of course I want you! I’ve always wanted you!”

  “Yeah, because I’m your mate! How long have you been waiting for a chance to claim me?”

  Could she act any crazier? This made no sense at all.

  “Shut the fuck up and listen to me! That’s what I’m trying to tell you—I never planned to claim you, I never planned to fuck you, last night just happened, and once it started I couldn’t stop it—I didn’t want to stop it—neither did you! I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t think of a way to say it, and I decided to tell you when I got home tonight.”

  “Really?” she sneered. “Last night and this morning, even when we were making love, you never looked me in the eye—you’re telling me that was a coincidence? You didn’t want me to realize I could look you in the eye because then I’d know, and you didn’t want me to know!”

  “I wanted you to find out the right way—”

  “The right way was before you seduced me!”

  “Seduced you?” he roared. “You think I seduced you?

  I can’t stop, Lark. I don’t want you to.

  I can’t believe you’re inside me.

  As he remembered last night—Lark’s sighs, her moans and her kisses, her fierce satisfaction in knowing what she did to him—he almost wanted to throw himself at her feet and beg her forgiveness. He almost thought he’d do anything to make it right, to make it like it was this morning when they kissed goodbye after making love one more time in his bed.

  Almost, but not quite.

  An alpha didn’t grovel, not even to his mate, especially when he’d done nothing wrong and she was behaving like a spoiled child.

  “You think you’re some kind of victim here? Grow up, Lark.” He hadn’t meant to shout, but he didn’t care if it scared her. She acted as if he’d forced her, or tricked her, into making l
ove with him. Bullshit. They’d thrown themselves into the fire with equal abandon, and he wouldn’t let her forget it.

  “You lied to me!” she raged. “You—you tried to trap me, you act like I don’t have a choice, like…like…you can just decide my future! I’m not ready for this, I didn’t…”

  “What did you expect, Lark? Casual dating? A fuck buddy? Is that what you wanted?”

  “No, you asshole! That’s not what I wanted! I don’t know what I wanted! I didn’t expect any of it to happen! I didn’t expect you to want me, and when you did, I couldn’t stop it, I just couldn’t…”

  “Don’t you mean you didn’t want to stop it?” he shouted.

  “Yes! That’s what I mean! I didn’t want to stop, I always wanted—but I never thought you’d—and then—”

  “Lark, listen to me.” He took her by the arms and drew her to him, trying to calm her.

  But she flailed at him, knocking his hands away. Her elbow caught his chin in a glancing blow and he staggered back with a shocked snarl. She stumbled and fell on the couch, one hand on her mouth and her shoulders shaking as she stared up at him with huge tears pooling in her eyes.

  “I’m not staying here,” she blubbered. “I’m leaving. Now.”

  “For God’s sake, Lark, get a hold of yourself! Drop the hysterical bullshit and listen to me. I’m not trying to push you, I’m not telling you what to do, I just—”

  “Taran.”

  “We need to discuss this like adults and you need to take responsibility for what happened. And you can’t leave as long as we don’t—”

  “Taran!” his Alpha bellowed.

  His head whipped around like Nick had jerked it on a choke chain.

  “Go outside for a minute and let me talk to her.”

  “This is my house, Nick,” he growled.

  “I’m your Alpha, wolf. Get your tail outside. Now.”

  He balked, but then he thought—fuck. What good would it do? He’d only make her more hysterical if he tried to talk to her while this pissed off himself. He went outside to prowl the deck. Nick joined him ten minutes later.

  “All right,” his Alpha sighed. “She’s going to TJ’s house for the night. I couldn’t get her to promise me anything more.”

  “What do you mean you couldn’t get her to—”

  He didn’t finish the sentence. Nick calmly grabbed him by the throat and applied just enough pressure to make breathing iffy and vision blurry. Just for good measure, he picked him up off the deck a couple inches. Nick was three inches shorter and thirty pounds lighter than Taran, but he lifted him as if picking up a broom, which explained why he was a Pack Alpha and Taran wasn’t. Taran dropped his head in submission. Nick let go and set him back on his feet.

  “Bro, you know how much I love you,” Nick said grimly. “I feel for you, I really do, and I think I understand what happened. But that female is madder than hell, and there’s nothing you can do about it right now. I won’t force her to stay here, and neither will you. Think of another way to keep her safe.”

  He could breathe normally again. He put his hands on his hips and scuffed his cowboy boot against the patio table.

  “All right,” he muttered. “All right. Can you ask TJ to try to make her stay at her place?” “

  “Absolutely.”

  “I already put a GPS locator on her car, so I’ll know where she is when she’s not with TJ.”

  Nick snickered. “I shouldn’t be surprised. When did you do it?”

  He grinned bitterly. “Monday morning.”

  “I’m assuming she doesn’t know.”

  “Nope.”

  “If you think she’s pissed at you now…”

  He shrugged. “What’s she gonna do? Hate me more?”

  “Taran. She doesn’t hate you. You scared her, wolf. You just altered her life, and it’s gonna take some time for her to adjust.”

  “I was trying to tell her she could have all the time she needed. She doesn’t want me, Nick, I think that’s pretty obvious.”

  “Don’t be stupid. Sounds like she wanted you all night, and I think she’s wanted you a long time. She just needs—”

  “You said you came over here to talk about Kuba.”

  He probably shouldn’t interrupt his Alpha so abruptly. Nick fixed him with a narrow-eyed stare for a beat, clearly trying to decide if it warranted a more thorough throat-crushing, but he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “What?”

  “Kuba. The Czech wolf. You said you came over to talk about him.”

  “So we’re not going to talk about your mate anymore?”

  “No point. It’s over, I’ll deal with it.” Cracks had been repaired, the barrier restored.

  He’d let the pain seep through later, a bit at a time. “What about Kuba?”

  Nick shook his head and sighed with resignation. “Okay, fine. A wolf out in Channelview says one of his buddies saw the Czech wolf in a dive bar. He snapped a picture of Kuba on his phone.”

  “Nick, that’s huge!” He eagerly latched on to the one thing that could push Lark out of his mind for a bit. “Who was it? You have the photo? When did—”

  His Alpha held up a hand. “Whoa, hold up. I don’t have anything yet—I’m still waiting to hear from the wolf himself; he’s a roughneck, moves around a lot, he’s supposed to call me.”

  “When did he see Kuba?”

  “From what I was told, the day I sent out the photo you gave me, so what—Monday? Yeah, I think so. But there’s more. Another wolf who doesn’t want me to give his name plays in some big poker games around town—he’s an attorney, and there are a few high stakes games around right now.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know—I wouldn’t try to bust one up or anything.”

  “That’s what I told him. Anyway, he’s pretty sure he saw Kuba at a game this week. Naturally he didn’t try to take a picture or anything, but he said it looked like the picture I sent out, and the guy had a thick accent and played huge—he walked away with something like fifteen grand that night.”

  “Okay, that’s good. That’s good,” Taran said half to himself, mind racing. He felt the itch coming on—the wholly irrational but highly accurate signal telling him a case was moving, clues were popping, maybe this thing had some legs after all. He started to prowl restlessly across the deck again. “Your guy’s gotta me get into one of those games, Nick.”

  Nick started to say something, and Taran cut him off.

  “Tell your guy I don’t give a shit about the poker game. My captain won’t, either—if I bring Kuba in, no one’s gonna care where I found him. Would you talk to your wolf and tell him I want in? I know they’re always looking for more players and I’ll spend money. No one will know I’m a cop.”

  Nick nodded. “He’ll do it if I tell him to. I want these assholes off the streets and out of my town.”

  “I wonder if I should take someone along. Maybe Denardo.”

  “Who?”

  “Rookie, officer from Oklahoma. Wants to get on SHIU. He hasn’t been here long, so he wouldn’t be recognized either.”

  “Oh yeah, I’ve talked to him on the phone but we haven’t met yet.”

  Any wolf moving into an area with an established pack had to meet with the Alpha at least once, to pay respects and acknowledge the Alpha’s authority, even if the wolf chose not to join the pack. In cities like Houston, with large wolf populations, the process was much more informal than in smaller cities.

  “He seems like an honorable wolf, real dedicated.” He stretched and sighed. “All right. Shit. I need a drink. Can I go back in my house now?”

  Nick laughed shortly and threw an arm around him. “Yes. I’ll go see if I can help Lark out of here, and then you and I can get drunk for a little bit, if that’s what you want.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I think it is.”

  When they went back inside, they found Lark gone.

  ***

  TJ had the margaritas ready when she got there. She dumped her things in the
apartment’s tiny second bedroom and threw herself down in the vintage eighties Papasan chair TJ wouldn’t throw out no matter how many people pointed and giggled.

  Mumbling her thanks when TJ put the glass in her hand, she waited while her best friend settled on the sofa. She closed her eyes, but she felt TJ’s stare and sensed her anticipation.

  “Well,” TJ eventually said softly, “I always figured if you and Taran got together, you’d call me, we’d giggle and squee, and then we’d analyze every single thing he said and try to figure out what would happen next.”

  She didn’t answer.

  “We still need to figure out what happens next, don’t we?” TJ continued.

  She nodded.

  “Lark, sweetie, you have to say something here.”

  “He told me I’d run,” she mumbled.

  “What did he mean by that?”

  “He said if I knew how much he wanted me, I’d run like hell.” Her voice quavered as her throat tightened. “He was right.”

  “Can you tell me how you feel? Are you sad, scared, pissed off, confused?”

  “Yes.”

  TJ smiled. “Okay. Are you even a little happy? The guy you’ve been in love with for ten years wants you, and—”

  “Yes. It makes me happy. It made me happy; I mean, for about twenty hours it made me delirious. I thought my whole life had changed.” She laughed bitterly. “And I was right.”

  “So. You’re happy he loves you, pissed off and scared because you didn’t have any warning—”

  “Who said he loves me? I’m his mate. He doesn’t have a choice; it’s not like he picked me for me.”

  On her way to the kitchen for refills, TJ stopped and turned around. With one hand holding the pitcher and the other one planted on her hip, she said, “Please tell me that’s not what flipped you out. Please tell me you understand the difference between a man and a werewolf.”

  “Werewolves fall in love with women who aren’t their mates, don’t they?”

  “Sure, all the time. Most wolves never even find a mate,” TJ called over the blender. “But wolves who do find mates say it’s love—it looks like love and feels like love and hurts like love. Only difference is, a mate bond lasts forever, and human love often doesn’t. Scientists say even for humans, love is partly a physiological reaction, so do you really want to get hung up on details?”