Freakn' Shifters Bundle (3-in-1) (37 page)

Tired, wind beaten, and with a cold rain starting to fall, he decided rather than risk road rash, he would pull into a motel off the highway. And then he finally got a stroke of luck, seeing a big, honking red truck in the parking lot.

Thank you, Lady Luck, for that one.

Sniffing around the vehicle, he made sure of his quarry first, scenting the lingering traces of bear, a hunter’s perfume, and the familiar tang of the daughter, whose feminine scent was the last he’d inhaled before meeting his Francine.

Kicking in the motel room door, he startled the balding fellow lounging on the bed watching television. With a curse, the tubby hunter rolled off the bed, scrambling for his jacket and withdrawing a gun. Like that would stop him.

Enraged, not at the temerity of the human, but what he’d done to his precious mate, Alejandro leapt across the room and knocked it from his grasp. Ramming his forearm against the human’s throat, he used this as leverage and shoved him into the wall. But that wasn’t enough. He lifted him until the hunter gurgled, his fingers clawing desperately at his arm.

Alejandro’s lips curled back over his teeth in a vicious snarl. “Fucking prick. Not so brave without your gun, are you? I can forgive you for shooting the wolf. I’ve had the urge myself. But shooting at a woman through her window in the back? For that, you die.”

The hunter’s head tried to shake in a puny attempt at denial. Curious as to what lame excuse the bastard thought to spout, Alejandro eased the pressure to let him speak his final words before he killed him.

“Not me,” croaked the sweating human.

A cold smile danced over his lips at the poor attempt at rebuttal. “Are you denying you shot the wolf and the redhead?”

“Shot the wolf, but I left right after. I didn’t shoot any redhead.”

Truth rang in the human’s words, and Alejandro frowned. Removing his arm, Alejandro let his prey drop. The man slumped to the floor, gasping and clutching his throat.

“Start from the beginning and tell me what you’ve done, starting with following me. You know what I am.”

He nodded his head. “I saw you in the woods behind my place. You’re not human.”

“No shit. So that gives you the right to follow me and threaten the lives of people I know and love?”

“You seduced my daughter,” the redneck replied in a blustery tone as he sat up.

“She’s twenty freakn’ five. She bloody well seduced me.”

The hunter turned beet red. “She’s still my little girl and it fucking burned me to know she’d slept with some animal.”

“So you tried to track me down.”

“I didn’t try, I did. I found out where you lived and I saw you leaving. I followed.”

“Pretty long fucking trip.”

“Yeah, well, I was kind of pissed.”

“And then?”

The human shrugged. “I saw you visiting that house with the pregnant gal. I watched for a few hours, but I needed some supplies and left for just a little bit. When I came back, you were gone. I almost went home that night, but I called my daughter and she was so pissed at me.”

“So you came back the next day?”

“Not right away. I almost went home. I drove around for a bit, but then my damned daughter called again PMSing so off I went back to watch for you. But you didn’t show up. I came better prepared that time, though, and found myself a spot in a tree, and then that fucking wolf showed up.”

“Okay, this story is getting long and tedious. You shot the wolf, ran away, and then found me the next morning, right?”

“No. When I was running away, I heard all the fucking animals coming, and I got in my fucking truck and left.”

“Not too far you didn’t because lo and behold, I caught up to you. Made a pit stop perhaps on your way home, maybe to shoot someone.”

“No. I went and got royally fucking drunk. After I slept it off, I called my daughter cell’s phone only to find out she’d gone to your fucking ranch to warn them I was hunting you and then couldn’t leave.”

“My family kept her prisoner?” The news surprised him.

The human crossed his arms and scowled. “Not according to her. Apparently, she didn’t want go. So I demanded to speak to someone there and your brother Ignacio came on the line and said they’d mated and that I’d better get my ass home if I wanted to see her again.”

“I see.” Alejandro mentally winced, wondering how Ignacio felt about Alejandro dipping his wick into his mate’s honey pot. Probably not too happy. It would make Christmas interesting for sure.

“After I hung up, I left for home. How could I not? Felicia means everything to me. And I can’t go around killing you and your buddies if she’s being held hostage.”

Alejandro dragged the man to his feet and hugged him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Panic threaded his tone.

“Welcoming you to the family, of course,” Alejandro said, releasing him with a chuckle.

“What are you talking about?”

“Congratulations, your daughter is now married to an animal. My brother. And trust me, I’m a pussycat compared to him.”

“So you’re not going to kill me?”

“And have my brother hunt me down to please his mate? No. Besides, all you did was shoot a mangy dog. Can’t fault a man for that.” On the heels of his words, though, realization dawned just as his phone rang.

Answering Javier’s call, he blurted, “It wasn’t the hunter that shot Francine.” And he needed to get back ASAP to protect her from whoever still roamed at large.

“We know.”

“You do. Who is it? I’m going to kill the bastard.”

“It’s a she.”

“What?” Alejandro sat down hard as the hunter, and newest honorary family member, dashed to the bathroom and locked himself in.

“Chris went over to her place before lunch— ”

“And you’re just calling me now?” he yelled.

“We were busy. Now do you want to hear what happened or not?”

“Fine. But you have got to do something about your communication skills, brother, because this is twice now you’ve screwed me.”

“Yeah, I know. Trust me. I had to listen to an earful from my wife. Anyway, as I was saying, Chris went to get some stuff for her to wear and found Francine’s place trashed with the word ‘whore’ plastered all over the place.”

“Oh fuck. Which of my psycho ex-girlfriends did it?” he moaned, cradling his head in his hands.

“Not yours, Mitchell’s. Seems his ex, Jenny, wasn’t too happy he ditched her for Francine. She’s the one who shot her and trashed her apartment.”

Unfreakn’ believable. “And where is the crazy bitch now?”

“No one seems to know, but we’ve got the shifter authorities looking for her along with Naomi’s brothers.”

“What happens when we find her?”

A loud sigh was Javier’s answer.

“We can’t let her go free for this,” Alejandro growled. “She needs to be punished. She shot Francine. My mate.”

“Almost mate.”

“Don’t argue semantics with me. I want justice.”

“Something will be done, but you know they won’t put her to death. Especially with Francine recovered.”

“I’ve got an idea, why don’t we shoot her in the back, too? See how she likes it.” His sarcastic reply pleased his feral side, which demanded vengeance still for the wrong done to his woman.

“Now you sound like Naomi.”

“I knew I liked your wife. How’s Francine taking it?” Was she crying, terrified, angry…

“She’s still laughing her ass off.”

“What?”

“You have to see it to believe it. She’s pissed, don’t get me wrong, but she’s cracking jokes about it and giggling like she’s on drugs.”

He frowned. “What kind of jokes?”

Javier lowered his tone. “Um, well, the first thing she said when she heard who’d trashed her place was, ‘Anorexic slut was probably looking for cookies.’ So then Mitchell says, ‘Red, you do realize she’s the one who shot you?’ and do you know what your mentally unbalance woman said?”

“I’m afraid to ask,” Alejandro replied as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“She said, get this, ‘Hey, Naomi, you might have gotten shot at because someone wanted your men, but I got shot because I stole someone’s man. In your face!’ I think she’s still in shock.”

A chuckle, more of relief than humor, escaped him. “No, that sounds about right. Keep her out of trouble, would you? I’m on my way back. Oh, and that hunter I was chasing...”

“Yeah? Did you find him and take care of him?”

“Not exactly. He’s now family. His daughter is mated to Ignacio.”

“No fucking way! Damn. I’ll bet Mama’s pissed.”

Alejandro winced. Knowing how his Spanish mother felt about hunters, pissed probably didn’t even come close to describing her reaction.

They said good-bye and hung up. Pocketing his phone, Alejandro glanced around and noted the human still hid in the bathroom.

“I’m off now. Say hi to the family for me, would you?” he said loudly before exiting the motel. What a surprise, the hunter didn’t reply. Christmas would definitely be interesting. But he had other things on his mind.

Time to go home, to Francine.

*

Despite her friend’s protestations, Francine insisted on seeing the damage at her place. Somehow, though, hearing it secondhand just didn’t compare to seeing it in person. The moment she walked in her door and saw the devastation, the jokes she’d cracked the whole way over—such as, “I hope she didn’t mess with my dildo collection”—dwindled as disbelief took over.

Jenny hadn’t just tossed the place, she’d ruined it. From the slashed cushions on her couch to the smashed china and lamps, the crazy bitch left nothing intact. She’d dumped all her clothes on her mattress and poured bleach on them, shredded her pictures, written on the walls… Everywhere she looked, Francine saw devastation and meaningless violence. Against her. And her only mistake? Wanting the man she knew belonged to her.

While Naomi ranted and raved about how she’d tear the bitch’s claws out one by one, Mitchell following suit, Francine exited via the back door of her townhouse and sank onto her tiny concrete patio, chest heaving and her eyes brimming with tears. A body settled beside her, and she turned to see Javier, his dark gaze so reminiscent of Alejandro, she almost started crying. She missed him so much.

“It’s only stuff, Francine,” he said softly.

“I know,” she sniffed. “It’s not that, well it is, but it’s—” How to explain the violation? The unfairness? “How could she?”

“Jealousy will do strange things to people,” he replied.

She chuckled wetly. “I’ll say. You know what really sucks, though? Is she punished me, and yet, I don’t even have Mitchell.”

“Like fuck you don’t,” was the growl from behind her. “Can you give us a minute?” Mitchell asked.

Giving her a quick one-armed hug first, Javier then stood and said to Mitchell in a menacing tone, “Don’t fuck up.”

“Why does everyone keep saying that?” Mitchell grumbled, taking Javier’s place beside her. Then he went one step further and dragged her onto his lap. She stiffened at first, but then relaxed as he wrapped his arms around her, cuddling her into him. She sighed, a sound repeated by her wolf, and relaxed in his embrace.

“I. Am. So. Sorry.” Each word came out alone and so coated in chagrin she couldn’t help a weak laugh.

“It’s not your fault. I guess maybe you are as good as they say in the sack if Jenny’s willing to murder me just to get back together with you.”

“This isn’t funny, Red. She could have killed you and all because I’m a fucking idiot who refused to see what was in front of me.”

“And what did you not see?” she asked softly.

“I want you. Hell, I think I need you.”

“You’re just saying that because you feel sorry for me and guilty about what happened.”

He sighed. “No, I’m saying it because it’s true. For years I let you scare me into staying away. Avoiding you became second nature.”

“Great. That makes me feel soooo much better,” she drawled sarcastically.

“Smart ass. Do you know why I did it?”

“Because I had cooties?”

“No.”

“Because of my freckles.”

“No, I actually really like those.”

“It’s because my ass is too wide.”

“No, you idiot. Your ass is freakn’ amazing. No, the reason why I avoided you was because deep down inside, when you told me we belonged together, a part of me knew it was true. And it scared the fuck out of me. I honestly saw you as a little sister, so when I started feeling things for you, things you expected and accepted, I freaked and ran.”

“Mitchell?”

“Yes.”

“You are an idiot,” she solemnly stated. Not an easy feat given her heart raced a mile a minute and her body tingled all over with anticipation. Her inner bitch had no such restraint and yipped at her, demanding she bite him before he changed his mind.

A rumble shook his chest. “I know I am, Red.”