Shifter’s Surrender (14 page)

It took a few minutes for the trembling of delicious aftershocks of pleasure to subside. When it did, she knocked the side of her head into Dean’s, who was still wrapped around her and fully lodged inside her. “Did someone come?”

He snorted and bounced his hips off hers. “I’d say two people did.”

Amused at him she snickered. “You know what I mean.”

A groan of reluctance as he pulled free from her body. “No.”

Kaylie yanked her pants back up and toed around blindly for her fanny pack. “So you were teasing me?” She should feel outrage, but frankly, she didn’t. What could she say? Dean turned her inside out and upside down. The second he touched her she seemed to lose all inhibitions. He could probably take her in the middle of a busy intersection and she would be lost.

“Yeah. Mmm.”

“What?”

“I, uh, should have thought about this better.”

Kaylie found her pack and buckled it on before rummaging around in it, seeking an item by touch alone. “I thought it went quite well.”

“Too well.” He paused as if watching her. When she pulled out a tissue she heard him murmur, “I’ll be damned.” Then, “Can I have one of those?”

Kaylie laughed. “I also have a small trash bag here. If I could see to find it.” She hissed that out as if she considered it Dean’s fault she couldn’t. Just then a helmet dropped onto her head. The light was switched on, the tissue removed from her hand. She watched in silent fascination as Dean used the tissue to remove his condom and then clean himself off, completely at ease in her presence. And as much as she was starting to feel the same, there were some things a man just shouldn’t see in Kaylie’s opinion. Like watching a woman pee. She’d wait until she got home to clean up.

Dean put the tissue on the plastic bag she provided, shaking his head as if tickled and approved her preparedness. “You crack me up.”

“Yeah? Well you’ve tired me out. I need a nap. Don’t you?”

He knelt and gathered her utility belt. “I’m good.”

Kaylie grinned, pleased she could see his gorgeous face again. “I knew that. I’m just saying that when I get home I’m taking a nap before heading to the fair to relieve mom at her booth. What are you doing later?” She truly was interested and not just angling for another sexual encounter. Of course that would be nice too.

Dean settled the belt around her hips. “I’ve got to prep the bar and work tonight.”

Kaylie blinked. “But I thought you switched with Scott last night?”

“Shifters don’t heal
that
fast.” He shook his head. “No, the moron won’t be any good until tomorrow. Sure, he could hobble around if I insisted, but for a busy Saturday night, it’s not good enough.”

Tilting her head in concentration, she thought about everything he did. “When do you have a chance to relax?”

“What?” He’d been staring up at one of the stalactites and turned his gaze to her.

“I mean,” she inched up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “You own Thirio’s Keep and the Woodcliff Lumber Yard and work long hours at both. You’re also the mayor of Woodcliff and the Alpha of the shifter pack. When do you ever have to time to just enjoy life?”

He jerked his eyes away and shrugged. “They don’t take up that much time.”

“Which job? How much time to you spend at the Lumber Yard?”

Dean grinned. “As your sister is a dynamo, maybe thirty to forty hours a week.”

“Hmm. And the bar?”

Now he frowned. “Maybe twenty hours. Maybe more.”

“And as the mayor?”

“That’s definitely not a full-time job. Maybe ten to fifteen hours a week. What’s with the questions?” Dean stepped back and her hand fell to her side.

“Just curious. And as Alpha?”

His eyes slowly narrowed into slits of glowing green. “The leaders and I have weekly meetings. Because of the way we set up the pack leadership, it doesn’t take as much of my time as it could. But as I’m definitely a hands on leader, I’d guess fifteen hours a week.”

Kaylie just stared at him until he evidently had enough. “What?”

“That’s eighty to one hundred hours a week, doing nothing but working. Why are you driving yourself that hard? Penance for something you feel you did wrong in a past life?” Though Kaylie was half joking, his response was quite the opposite.

“You have no idea what my life was like.” Talk about a sudden deep freeze.

Undeterred, Kaylie glared right back into angry eyes, letting her lack of fear of anything he could dish out at her very clear. “That’s because you won’t tell me, Dean.”

His lips tightened into an uncompromising line. “And I’m not going to. It’s none of your business.”

Kaylie jerked back as if he’d slapped her. Well. She’d been put in her place. It’s not like he hadn’t warned her from the onset. She’d just hoped she was changing his mind about her, about them. Apparently not.

Dean woke early in a cold sweat Sunday morning from yet another dream were he took Kaylie on the stage at Eros. As horrified and disgusted with himself in reality as he’d been in the dream, he flung himself off the sweat-soaked linens and stood, naked, glaring at the bed as if the inanimate object was once again the cause of his nightmares. He irrationally placed some of the blame on Kaylie, because her scent had lingered on the sheets, tormenting his sleep and making him damn near insane with want of her.

He ripped off the sheets, contemplating another run in the forest to ease the restlessness that seemed to seep from every pore. But oddly enough, he didn’t want to be alone. True, Kaylie was the first person to come to mind—which caused him to groan in self-deprecation, remembering his outburst yesterday—but right now, anybody would do. Any distraction for that matter.

He quickly donned sweats, sneakers and a black T-shirt and remade the bed with clean sheets. Then he grabbed his keys and headed out the door, pounding silently down the steps that led from the small apartment over his bar to his truck, which was parked beside the rear entrance.

He could have easily bought a house. God knew he had the money. He’d even toyed with the idea of building a home on the two acres he owned a mile or so from the wolf compound. But a house meant permanence, and since striking out on his own, he’d never stayed in one place longer than two years. Well, except in Woodcliff.

It wasn’t until he’d started the truck and glanced at the dash clock that he realized what time it was. Six-thirty. Who the hell else was up on a Sunday this early? He groaned again, remembering Kaylie’s words from yesterday. Yes, he kept himself busy, but it wasn’t out of some weird sense of self-punishment for past deeds. Though God knew he probably should be atoning for something. No, he liked being busy. Liked interacting with others and, truth be told, liked not being alone. Alone time meant thinking, and thinking, about his past, his present, his future, pissed him off. Busy kept the thinking at a minimum.

Desperate for some physical activity to distract his wayward thoughts, he drove to Moon Haven and let himself into the compound’s exercise room. He’d blow off some steam, and time, lifting weights until he could find someone else awake. But when he entered the room he realized immediately he wasn’t alone. Dean didn’t remember seeing Caleb’s truck out front, but there the police officer was, innocently doing bicep curls. Which was odd because the other shifter had a warm and willing woman in his bed. Why was he here? Trouble in Paradise?

“You know,” Caleb said in greeting. “I don’t know if I should punch you out or congratulate you.”

Dean dropped his keys in one of the cubbyholes next to the door and picked up a towel from the stack next to the shelving unit. “Because?” As Alpha, Dean did demand, and received, his due respect from his pack. But from Caleb and Brandon, his two best leaders, confidants, the closest things to best friends he’d ever had, Dean let many of their comments pass.

Still not looking at Dean, Caleb continued to flex and retract his arm. “You’re sleeping with my sister.”

“Ah, no. I’m not sleeping with your sister.” Dean stacked weights on the leg press machine, wandering what Caleb was blabbering about. The loud crash of a weighted dumbbell had Dean spinning around to see Caleb glaring at him.

“You dare to stand there and tell me you didn’t have sex with Kaylie?”

Dean glared right back, feeling his own sense of ire rise. “Kaylie is not your sister, and who I sleep with is none of your business.”

“She might as well be as I’m marrying Tess. And yeah, as Alpha, you have a lot of leeway, but not when it comes to screwing around with someone I care about.”

“Yeah?” Dean snarled. “You didn’t seem to have a problem with me banging her a couple of weeks ago.”

Caleb snarled back, his eyes shimmering with amber as his beast rose up. Suddenly the two men were toe to toe, both exuding massive amounts of shifter power, blood in their eyes, claws extended in fury.

“Saying it and smelling the truth are two different things,” Caleb spat.

Recalling the restless night tossing and turning in Kaylie scented sheets, and what they’d done in those sheets the night before, Dean flashed his fangs in a smirk. “The physical reality is even better than the fantasy.”

“If you hurt her …”

Dean’s eyes flashed hot, mean. “I didn’t do anything to Kaylie she didn’t beg for.”

“You cold bastard. She’s my sister!”

“And she’s my mate!” Dean’s vehement declaration reverberated in the room, shocking him to his core. Though it had an opposite affect on Caleb.

The other shifter’s anger melted into self-satisfaction. He grinned. “Glad you finally accepted it.” Then as if they hadn’t been about to rip each other apart, Caleb went back to his original position in front of the mirror and picked up the dumbbell.

“What?” Dean stood there a moment, unsettled and not a little panicked. “What?”

“Thought you needed a little push.”

“And pissing me off was your idea of a push?” Still confused, Dean scrubbed his hands over his face. Luckily his claws had already retracted.

“Got you to admit Kaylie’s your mate.”

Dean choked at that. “I already knew that. Told you that.”

“But now you two have started the mating dance. You only have to claim her.”

“I can’t.” Dean’s words were muffled behind his hands.

“Oh, don’t give me that ‘not good enough’ crap again. Our past has shaped us, physically, mentally and spiritually, into who we are today. If our past played out differently then the people we care for, we may never have known. And those who care for us may not view us in the same light. Think about that one.”

Thinking about it gave Dean a headache. “You’re an ass.”

Caleb sent his Alpha a wink. “But I’m a smart ass.”

Shaking his head, feeling a thankful grin curl his lips, Dean settled into the leg press. “Truer words were never spoken. Speaking of which, why are you here instead of with Tess? Were you an ass and she kicked you out?”

“Nah,” Caleb switched to a higher weight. “She cooked again for Dolen last night and I had the night shift. She called me last night at midnight and warned me that if I touched her before seven-thirty she would rip my head off, and not the one on my shoulders. But come seven-thirty, I get to have my way with her.” He glanced up at a clock on the wall. “Well, looky there. Time to go.”

Dean only shook his head. Yeah, one might say Caleb was whipped, but seriously? Sex whenever he wanted? Who wouldn’t be whipped?

Hours later Dean found himself at Dolen’s Cafe to help with an oven that was giving the man fits. Dean had stayed at Wolf Haven for over an hour, contemplating Caleb’s words and mixing them with Kaylie’s observations. Then he stirred it all with his feelings for Kaylie.

He’d made a mess of things, but to be sure, he was already messed up. Fighting himself and his beast to protect Kaylie was taking its toll. He wanted to keep her, wanted to love her forever, but his past—despite Caleb’s words—still haunted him. Was it more selfish to go with his heart and soul and claim her, or to follow his head and let her go when the mating heat ended? He just didn’t know, and the internal battle was messing him up even more. The only thing he did know for certain was that loving Kaylie was so fucking easy it was almost as if they’d been together for years, not days.

Loving Kaylie? Where the hell did that come from? He meant fucking Kaylie. Yeah. That was it. Every stroke was so acutely erotic it bordered on pain.

Dean’s body shivered in remembrance, his cock swelling even now, in the bright, late morning sun, as he pictured Kaylie’s lips around his cock, her tongue teasing his shaft.

“Hey,” Dolen called out to him from the back door of his cafe. “You gonna sit in your truck all day or what?”

Dean glared at the older man through the open driver’s side window. He just might sit there all damn day if Dolen was going to give him shit. Or at least until the current cockstand he was sporting eased up. “Give me a minute.”

Dolen grunted, eying Dean with suspicion. “You okay?”

“Working on it.”

Another grunt, and then the man thankfully left Dean alone to get himself under control. Five minutes later his head was in an oven and he was able to put Kaylie out of his thoughts for several minutes at a stretch while he banged away and cursed along with Dolen at the temperamental appliance.

By the time Dean headed back across the highway for the judging of the pies, which he couldn’t avoid, he was back to his normal self, ready to handle any situation, namely Kaylie. But what he wasn’t ready for was her absence. He tasted and rated each contestant’s offering along with the other judges, and picked out a winner. Of course it was Ruth Gentry. Her pies were legendary. But Kaylie was nowhere to be seen. And that ticked him off. He was ready to face the woman, and she was AWOL.

He finally found her buying cotton candy from a vendor. Dean reached her side just as she started walking off in the opposite direction, heading for the rides that were located in the school parking lot across a large expanse of grass from the edge of the south loop.

“Didn’t see you at the pie judging,” Dean said casually, as if he hadn’t been frantically scouring the grounds for the last fifteen minutes, scenting her everywhere, and finding her nowhere.

Kaylie looked up at him, her eyes guarded. “Someone had to stay at the booth.”

That might be the case, but considering his bipolar moods of late, her standoffish attitude now was a clear sign of avoidance. Not that he could really blame her. But now that he’d found her she wasn’t getting away until he was good and ready. Double standard? Definitely. So sue him. “Hmm. Where are you heading?”

She suckled on a large wad of the sweet confection, drawing his eyes to her pink lips. “Ferris wheel. I love being at the top. You can see for miles. It’s beautiful. Don’t you think?”

“I’ve never been on one.”

“What?” Kaylie exclaimed, nearly choking on the spun sugar. “You’ve never been on a Ferris wheel? Are you serious?”

His lips curved in an amused smile, pleased his Kaylie didn’t hold a grudge for long. Wait. His Kaylie? He eyed her speculatively. Temporarily or permanently? God, he was so not in control.

“Yo, Wolfboy. Are you going to answer me?”

Shaking off his thoughts Dean responded. “It’s not all that odd, Kaylie. I’m sure many people haven’t been on one.”

“You not afraid of heights, are you?”

“No,” he shook his head. “Nothing like that. Just never had the desire.”

“Well you’re going to go now.”

“Am I?” He asked a bit distractedly, catching an out of town shifter looking at Kaylie a little too long and hard for Dean’s taste.

“Definitely. It’s just over there.”

As they made their way through the jubilant crowd, Dean noticed more of those lingering stares from various shifters. Instinctively he put his shoulders back, eyes flitting from side to side as if sensing danger. In a way he was. Belatedly he realized that the male shifters were ogling Kaylie, not just because she was a fun, friendly and beautiful woman, but because of the mating heat. The shifters scented a female in full arousal, and that made her all the more enticing to each and every unmated shifter. Which meant, if he let Kaylie go when their time was over, she wouldn’t want for male companionship.

Dean growled low in his chest. He wanted to snatch Kaylie up, throw her over his shoulder and run from this place. He wanted to hide her away from the heated gazes that he damn well knew were coming from shifters imagining what she looked like under her clothes. He wanted to pound every man that looked at her with lust in their eyes into dirt. He wanted to shout at them that they would never have her, that Kaylie was his.

The possessiveness didn’t take him by surprise but the shear intensity of it, mixed with a strong surge of jealousy, was startling. Even though she was by his side, she wasn’t claimed and by shifter law that made her open season. Until the full moon, the males would remain in human form and try to lure Kaylie into their beds by human seduction. At the time of the full moon they would shift into wolf form and some, if not locked up at the Haven, would attempt to simply take. And Dean would have to kill them. Not only because he was Alpha, but because Kaylie belonged to him, whether he claimed her or not.

Oblivious to Dean’s contradictory and dangerous thoughts, Kaylie meandered through the crowd, smiling or waving to friends and acquaintances as they made their way to the Ferris wheel. She popped another wad of the pink cotton candy into her mouth. “Guess it’s a good thing you aren’t a vampire else you wouldn’t be able to enjoy this beautiful day.”

With his eyes on three particular shifters, not of his pack, who were openly staring at Kaylie, Dean answered without thought. “With enough blood, vamps can walk in the sun.”

Because Dean was busy picturing stalking up to the three idiots and slashing their leering eyes from their heads, he didn’t realize Kaylie had come to a halt, and was even now several feet behind him. He spun around and, at the shocked expression on her face, rushed back and gripped her shoulders, glowering with suspicion at everyone within touching distance. “What? Did something happen?”

Kaylie, eyes wide, mouth forming a perfect O, just stared at him for a moment. “You said vampires were real. How …”

“Oh, hell.” Dean squeezed his eyes shut as he ran the last few minutes through his mind. “I can’t believe I let that slip.”

Kaylie’s breath came out in a rush. “So it’s true? How do you know? Where did you meet them? Where do they live? For that matter, do they live? I mean do they have heartbeats? Do they live in packs like shifters or in nests or …”

Her words came to a mumbled stop as Dean did the only thing he could think of to shut down the questioning. He snatched up a handful of the cotton candy and shoved it in Kaylie’s mouth.

“This topic is not open for discussion and most definitely not appropriate right here and now.”

The spark of excitement in Kaylie’s eyes turned to irritation and then understanding as she surreptitiously eyed their surroundings. She swallowed. “Fine,” she hissed out. “But I want you to tell me more when we’re alone.”