Desire Awakened (Aaron's Kiss #13) (17 page)

“In my courtroom, you overbearing,
mean-minded prick?” Lizzy forgot she was supposed to be sweet and
try to woo the council her way. She stretched her neck and took a
deep breath. Fuck it, she was too stressed and too much like her
dad to simply woo anyone. “There are nine buildings on that end of
town that are sitting for the most part empty. No rent, no taxes,
and no revenue. Why? I’ll tell you why; there is no money. You have
a fire department that can’t make calls. Again, because of no
money. You sit up there on your throne and turn down millions of
dollars to someone who can help because you feel you’ve been
slighted somehow. Well, grow the fuck up.” She heard the door open
behind her, but didn’t turn. “I propose that you pick up that
fucking pen, sign the form, and let us buy the buildings. And in
addition to that, we’ll—my family and I—will lend the city the
money to upgrade and revamp the fire station and the hospital.”

“You’ll no doubt want the MacManus name all
over this too. The big, bad vamp rushes in to save the day again.
Well, it won’t happen. Not so long as I’m breathing, it won’t.”

She glared at the bear, lost her temper
completely, and rushed to his dais. She picked him up by his
throat. “That can be arranged, you stupid son of a bitch.”

“Mrs. Burris…Lizzy, put my dad down.”

She turned slowly to see the man who stood
not five feet from her.

“Please, just put him down. Don’t hurt
him.”

She wanted to drop him, but set him down
gently. Elijah rubbed at the bruise already forming on his throat,
and she felt horrible at what she’d done. She looked around the
courtroom and was glad that only a few had seen her lose her temper
and that all of them were like her and Elijah, supes. She jumped
down to the floor and sat in one of the chairs that had been set
up.

“Dad, what are you doing?” Elijah junior sat
on the corner of the dais and looked at her before looking back at
his dad. “You said to me just the other day that this influx of
money would go a long way to help getting the town out of the red.
Selling the other buildings you said would be easier if those sold.
Now she comes in here wanting to buy them all and lend the city
money, and you do this? Why?”

“Of course you’d side with the great
MacManus. The man who would provoke me to hurt you and then had the
nerve to save you.” Elijah senior flushed. “That’s not what I
meant.”

“Yes, it is. It’s always what you mean. I
was eight years old and thought the world of you. But you hit me,
clawed me open, then just stood over me while he saved me. Not you,
him. Then you kept on clawing me open every time you looked at me
with that look. The one that says you hate me.”

“I never hated you. I wasn’t able to save
you like he had. And he had no right. None at all to give you
vampire blood.”

Junior stood and shook his head.

“I have every right to hate the man.”

“And I have every right not to.” Junior
started for the doors in the back of the room, but turned and
looked back at his dad. “I have a son now, not that you’d know
because I don’t come around because of you. He’s ten now and loves
to go fishing with me. He loves me despite the fact that I have
vampire blood in my veins. I think he’s grateful to have it there.
Without it, I would never have lived to have him.”

He walked out and Lizzy turned away. Her
heart broke for the man. Not the one who had just walked out, but
the man at the dais. He looked broken, and she hurt for him.

“I can’t…” He looked around the room and
then back at her. “What have I done? Please, you have to help
me.”

She wanted to tell him to grow some balls
and go after his son, but she needed this deal finished. She tossed
the file in front of him and pulled as much of her mom as she could
summon from herself. “You need this money; the city needs this
money. The loan could save countless lives and bring back some much
needed taxes, not just from this, but from more people moving back.
No one wants to live in a town where there isn’t a firehouse. And
at the rate things are going, you won’t have a police station
either in a few more months.” She picked up his pen and handed it
to him. “Sign it, Elijah.”

He nodded and took the pen. As soon as his
signature was across it, she handed him the second one and asked
Sam to bring in Maddy. This was the loan and the payment schedule
she and Maddy had come up with.

It took twenty more minutes for him to go
over it. He was pleased with it, and told her that he’d give it to
the mayor if he hadn’t left yet. She asked him where he was
going.

“He gave his notice yesterday.” He looked at
her and smiled. “And I know just the man for the job. You think
that husband of yours will take the spot until we can find someone
to put on the ballot? Might go a long way for doing some of these
improvements you have jumping around in that pretty little head of
yours.”

“I’ll ask him. In the meantime, go and find
your son. He’s at the pack house with his wife and son. They’ve
been there since Monday. It’s an annual visit that we all look
forward to. My dad will be there as well. Wouldn’t hurt you to say
you’re sorry and tell him how grateful you are for him helping
out.”

“Your dad is helping me out? How the hell…”
He seemed to forget he was supposed to be trying to make things
work out not yell at her. “How is your dad helping me out?”

“He just bought the buildings and lent you
money along with his partner, my husband.” She waited for the
explosion. When it came, she was shocked. He wasn’t pissed like she
thought he’d be, but his laughter was hearty and loud. She stared
at him, thinking this was the first time in all the time she’d
known him that she’d seen anything but a scowl on his face. This
suited him much better.

“Lizzy?”

She turned back just as she and Maddy were
leaving.

“Did your father put you up to this? And you
should know that you’re a great deal like him. Spitting image, if
you want to know the truth.”

She smiled. “Thanks, and sort of. He knew I
was coming here, but he wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull it off. He
seems to think you’re a hard-assed bastard too.”

He laughed again. “Tell your husband that he
has my vote, or yours for that matter. You ever think of going into
politics, Lizzy?”

“No thanks. I have too much power as it is.
Can’t think what I’d do if you gave me any more. But I’ll tell
Logan. As soon as I get him back.”

She was out the door before he could ask her
to explain. Maddy stopped her halfway to the door. She was smiling.
“You know he’s right about you; you are your father’s daughter. I
thought I’d shit myself when you leapt up on his throne and picked
him up. Sam is the only thing that kept me from doing it.”

Lizzy nodded embarrassed.

“Lizzy, what you did in there is more than
save this town. You know that, don’t you.”

“I don’t really care right now. I want my
mate back.” She moved out of the building and into the street.
Maddy had paperwork to file. She moved to her car and reached for
Logan like she did almost every waking moment. Still nothing.
Fighting tears until she was alone, she thought of what she was
going to do to Megan when she found her.

Logan heard the commotion before he saw
anything. He’d been dozing and trying to think of anything but how
much he wanted to get out of here. Moving his legs slightly, he
looked at the door and held up his hand. He’d been playing with his
magic all night and had a surprise for whoever came through the
door.

A wolf tore the door off its hinges and
Logan was ready to blast him when Bradley was suddenly there. Logan
barely had enough time to move the spray of magic away before the
man jumped back out of the way. When he started cussing on the
other side of the door, Logan smiled.

“You have a very colorful way of stringing
words together there, alpha. Does your mate know what you do with
that mouth of yours when she’s not around?”

He came into the room with a large gray wolf
and smiled. “She’s very pleased with what I do with my mouth,
thanks. But you scared the shit out of me. Lizzy said you had very
little skills in the magic department.”

“I was playing around and figured it out.
Not really very good at it yet, but it might have taken out a guard
or two.”

Bradley nodded.

“I don’t suppose she’s with you, is
she?”

“Yes. But I asked her to find Megan. I doubt
she will, but we’ll find her soon enough. She’s been gone long
enough that I can smell her, but nothing is fresh. I told her that
she’d be better off finding the bitch, not my kind but general
female kind, in the event that she circled around behind us and
took us out.”

He leaned over and tore the chains from the
wall. Logan’s arms dropped. They’d been tied up for so long that
they burned now. His legs were unchained next.

“That power you have, why didn’t you use it
on your chains to free yourself?”

Logan lifted his pant leg and showed him the
burn on his sock and shoe.

“Ah. Lots of power, but no control. It’ll
come to you sooner or later.”

“In the meantime, I’m going to be without
hair on my legs if I keep this up.” He smelled her before she came
around the corner. Lizzy, his Lizzy, was coming to him. Just as he
managed to stand, she came around the doorjamb and into his arms.
Nothing had ever felt so good.

“We found you.” She kissed him on the face
then pulled back. “Christ, you need a bath. What have you been
doing, rolling in manure?”

“Yes, love, I have.” He pulled her close to
him again. “Not yet. I’m not ready to let go just yet.”

The pack moved over the building he was in.
When Logan went out of it and into the sunshine, he took several
moments just to feel it on his skin. Aaron touched his mind as he
stood there.

“
I wish I could be there with you, but
it’s much too bright out and I need to rest. Are you well?”
He
told him he was.
“You come home and I’ll give you a proper
welcoming. There are some matters we must discuss, but I’ll let you
have a homecoming with your mate. My grandson has decided that he’d
love to stay the night so that the two of you may watch television
or whatever you want in my house, under my roof.”

Logan laughed at Aaron’s none-too-veiled
attempt to tell him no sex.
“He has, has he? Does it have
anything to do with the fact that you’re spoiling him rotten? Or
that you’ve given him everything he’s asked for?”
Logan smiled.
“Or is it because you love him already?”

“
All the above, but mostly the last. And
as for giving him everything, he asks for very little. The computer
he has was a gift from Phillip because the two of them are working
on a project together, and the game system was here already. Not
being used much any longer, but I think that will change once you
and Lizzy start having more children.”

Children. He’d thought of it while he’d been
chained up and wondered how that worked. He knew it was possible,
of course, but not how often or how many they could have. Aaron
laughed as he answered his unspoken question.

“
As many as you wish, but in moderation,
I would guess. Lizzy is human too, so I would guess that she could
be pregnant. If you were having sex, that is. You’re not having sex
with my baby girl, are you, Logan?”

Logan grinned and actually thought about
telling him no, but he was feeling much too good and told him the
truth.
“If I can manage it, I’m going to have sex with her in
the back of the limo that you sent for us to come home in.”

Logan looked around. There was a street
nearby and he could see a greenhouse, Pedals and Roots, just across
the street. It was small and out of place on the nearly empty
street, but he decided that if he couldn’t convince his new partner
to help them along, he’d simply do it himself. He heard the small
children behind him and turned.

“It’s an orphanage.”

He looked at Lizzy who was helping him into
the car. He was still a little on the weak side. “It looks really
run down.” The playground equipment looked like it had been through
a war zone with most of the swings missing or the chains broken.
The slide had a chain across the ladder, but it didn’t seem to stop
the children from climbing over it and down the slope that shook
with each ride. The building itself was falling in places with
windows boarded up and graffiti on them as well as the brick. A
couple, probably the ones who ran the place, were hanging sheets on
the line, most of those worn through in places so badly that he
could see their faces on the other side. He looked at her as she
sat next to him.

“I’ve already taken care of things to have
them moved to somewhere safer. We’ve purchased a building that can
be renovated in less time than we could build. The one that you
were held in, as a matter of fact. I was able to get Bradley and
his construction crew to come out and start on it as soon as
tomorrow.”

He kissed her and pulled her onto his lap so
that she was facing him. “You’ve been busy. What else have you
done? I don’t suppose we have a bed yet, do we?”

“Yes.” She curled her fingers into his hair
as he pulled her nipple through her shirt and bra into his mouth
and nipped. “I’ve been shopping with my mom when I got to the point
where I was ready to murder someone. Logan, you’re going to have to
stop this. We won’t make it home, and I have such plans for
you.”

He rolled her to her back and settled
between her legs. “I have some for you as well, but right now I
need to be inside of you. Deep and hard.”

Logan nuzzled her throat and licked along
the pounding pulse. She moved her head and offered herself to him,
but he wanted more, so much more. Lifting his body from hers
slightly, he told her to feed him her nipple. She moved to unbutton
her blouse, fumbling more than she was getting them undone.
Frustrated, she tore it open and then unclasped her bra for him. He
took as much of her breast into his mouth as he could and
suckled.