Force of Nature Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 4) (78 page)

She shifted. As soon as she did, he pulled her into his arms. “You are safe now.” He nodded and she wiped away the tear. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She was starting to fade out. When she opened her eyes again, he was right there. Smiling softly, she touched his face, or she tried to. “I have given you everything. My sire did not own the land that was his pack.” She moved his hand when he put it over her mouth. Blood stained his fingers. “You will be happy now. Run a pack like it should be.”

“Don’t talk. Help is coming. The doc, Clint, is coming, and he said to keep you quiet.”

Stacy wasn’t stupid. She was dying. Coughing slightly, she felt warmth spill from her mouth. She looked down at the sword still sticking in her chest.

There was a moment of complete clarity and she looked up to tell Dallas what she thought. He was blurred and she wanted to bring his mouth to hers, but she couldn’t manage her hands. Shifting slightly, she moaned. So much pain, yet she wasn’t sure she was feeling it all. Closing her eyes against a sudden light, she heard Dallas sob, but she couldn’t help him. Soon, he’d be with his family and forget her after a time.

“No you don’t.”

She moved away from the light and then she cried out. Pain was everywhere then nothing.

Chapter 18

Dallas moved into the yard to watch the workers. He still wasn’t steady on his injured leg. Hell, everyone knew it wasn’t going to get any better. The rows of neat little houses were coming along nicely and he was glad to see the first houses were being moved into as he watched.

“There will be more built in the coming months. Soon, we’ll have to move onto the property that Stacy gave you.” Dallas looked at Austin and Connor as they sat next to him. Connor continued as he pulled a bottle of beer from the cooler. “I wanted to talk to you about the property on the southeast corner. I’d like to buy it from you.”

He glanced at his brother and declined the beer. “Take it. It’s yours. I’ve no use for something so far from home.”

He noticed the glance between the two of them, but ignored it. He’d been seeing the same look for days now and didn’t really care for it. He was depressed, damn it, and he wished they’d leave him the fuck alone. He nearly groaned when he saw CJ coming toward them.

“I have a project for you, Dallas. I was wondering if you could go to the other end of my old place and see what’s going on with the woman who’s living there. She and a couple of the other workers said they heard a lot of noises last night and want someone to check it out.”

“It wasn’t me. And if you want someone to check it out, send Connor. You know that I can’t walk well yet.” He didn’t even bother looking this time; he knew what they were thinking. “Don’t you guys have someone else to bother?”

“Not at the moment.” Austin pulled CJ into his lap and held her. “You should see what Lee has been up to. He can climb that bookshelf like it’s a step ladder.”

He didn’t want to move from where he was. And Dallas just wanted them to leave him to himself. He looked at his watch then up at the sunlight streaming through the trees. Soon. Soon now and he’d be with her.

He did groan when Phil and Myles came to sit with him. Didn’t these people have anything better to do? Dallas looked at his watch again. Still plenty of time to get home yet.

“She called.”

He looked sharply at CJ.

“About ten minutes ago. She said that she was going to be home early and she would come over here and see me when she got off. I would imagine that she’s about here.”

Dallas stood up and reached for his crutches. They were in Phil’s hand and he didn’t look as if he was going to hand them over. Dallas didn’t have time for this shit and put out his hand for them.

“Come and get them.” Phil stood up and took several steps back. “You know you want them, so come and get them from me.”

“I can’t. You know that too.” He reached again for them only to have Phil take another step back. “Give them to me, Phil. I want to go home.”

“Then get them.” He looked over at Stacy, the love of his life and wondered how long she’d been standing there. “Go and get them and I will take you home with me. Otherwise, I will leave you here.”

“I can’t.” He heard the others leave and was glad for it. If he was going to grovel then he’d rather do so without an audience. “You heard what the doctor said. I’m deformed.”

“No, he did not. He said you would have a limp. That is not the same. You have been nursing this wound for several weeks now. It is time that you get over yourself and walk. No one cares that you will limp.”

He did. But instead of moving toward her as she wanted, he sat back down. “Then I’ll just stay here.”

“And our child? What of him?”

He looked at her quickly then away.

“You do not believe me? What shall I tell him of his father when he asks where you might be. Should I tell him he mopes beneath a maple tree as if it is his business?”

“I would know if you were with child. I haven’t slept with you for…” He glanced at her then at the houses again. “You know how long it’s been.”

“Yes. Since I was stabbed saving your life. A life you have decided to waste by not doing what the doctor said.”

He sat back, not wanting to get into this argument again. “Are you going to let me take your picture so that I may show our child what his father looks like?”

“And what of you?” He turned to her viciously. “Why don’t you show me your scar? The one you hid away in the darkness of the night. Do you think your wounds are any less horrific than mine?”

She walked to him and when she was within two feet of him she began unbuttoning her blouse. When she dropped it on the ground beside him, he noticed that she was wearing another shirt under it. Before he could comment on that, she started talking.

“I was not hiding the wound, but my belly.” The second shirt slipped over her head and she put her hands on her middle. “I had hoped we would touch him, speak to him in our bed, but you have not been there for many weeks. And now look at me. Large and without a mate to share it with.”

She was too. He wanted to reach out and run his hands over her swollen belly, but was afraid that he’d somehow ruin it. He watched her as she rubbed it, rubbed their child. He wanted to look away, but Dallas simply couldn’t make himself. “You could have told me.” He did reach out then and she pressed his hand to her. Movement, very slight, brushed against this hand.

“I could have. But I had hoped you would come to me.” She took a step back from him. “Dallas, you must come to our home. I’m lonely there without you.”

He looked down at his leg. It had healed too much for them to do much more than break it and hope it would set on its own. It had, but not properly. Clint Burris, the pack doctor, told him he’d been lucky. Lucky? Not from where he was sitting.

“I can’t walk without falling on my ass. And even though no one has said anything, I can see that they’re laughing at me.” He watched as a little girl came across the way toward them. Stacy put her shirt back on and they both waited for Luna.

“Hello. I was wondering when you were going to come to my new house.” She crawled up into his lap and settled herself in his arms. “It’s a very lovely house. My mom keeps turning on the water. And she makes me take a bath every day.”

“You should. It will keep you healthy.” He wrapped his arm around her. “I will come to see your new house when they get the cart I need to walk.”

“You’re just being a poop head. My mom said that you could walk if you wanted to. She said you were being a poop head because there are a lot of people out there that have no legs and you act like you have it worse.” Luna sat up and looked at him. “Are you a poop head?”

“No, I am not.” He tried to take the heat out of his voice, but she stiffened in his arms anyway. “I’m just a man who was hurt, that’s all. It’ll take time for it to heal and it’s not been nearly long enough.”

She turned in his arms and then looked at Stacy. “You think he’s a poop head, Stacy? I think he is. Nobody can sit around all day and not want to play. You never play.”

Dallas looked at Stacy and thought about how much he missed playing with her. It had been weeks and he was missing her body next to his. He moved Luna off him and pulled the pillow over his lap. He wasn’t going to explain how hard he was to a six-year-old.

Stacy moaned softly, but he heard it. Luna was talking a little more, but he was beyond hearing her. His mate was aroused. As soon as Luna moved off to play with her new friends, Stacy stood up.

“Come here to me. I want you.”

She shook her head at him.

“Please, Stacy, I need you, want you.”

She moved back from where she’d come from. “Then come home. I will be naked in our bed awaiting you. If you do not come to me tonight, I will leave you, Dallas. I do not have the time to raise a second child as big as you are. Come to me tonight or we go our separate ways.”

“And our child?” He was sick to death of people trying to get him to do things by blackmailing him. And he’d expected more from her. “What will you tell our child?”

“That his father gave up on himself.”

Dallas watched her walk into the woods. She would come back anytime now and he knew it. After several minutes, he shouted for her and she didn’t come back. It wasn’t until it started to rain that he realized she wasn’t coming back for him. The movement of the chair next to him had him look over at his mom.

“She’s stubborn, isn’t she?”

Dallas nodded, too pissed to speak to his own mother.

“I would imagine she’ll need to be if she has to raise that child on her own.”

“She wouldn’t have to if she came back here.” He looked over at his mom just realizing what she’d said. “You knew about this? You knew she was going to leave me?”

That damned wooden spoon hit him square in the forehead. And he reached up to snatch it from her when she hit him again. He frowned at her and counted to ten. Then twenty. He was nearly to fifty when she spoke to him.

“Are you just going to let her go? Are you going to sit here on your lazy, sorry ass and let her walk out of your life? With your child?” She put the stick on the table between them. “And here I thought of all my children, you would get it the most.”

“Get what?” He glanced at the spoon, wondering if he could get if before she did. “And in case you didn’t get it, she’s leaving me.”

His mom stood up and looked down at him. “I wouldn’t have ever thought it possible. A son of mine that is no better…no better than the monster she killed to save you.”

“I’m nothing like her sire. He murdered for money. He took and took until there was nothing left to take, then he took more.”

“And you are so different how? Did you take her love? Did you take her heart?” She picked up the spoon. “Yes, you did. At least he had reasons for leaving his daughter. You’ve simply given up.”

“I’ve not given up anything.” He rubbed his hand over his aching heart. “She and everyone else wants more from me than I have to give.”

“Do they, Dallas?” She looked at the forest then spoke softly. “Did you ever know that your father lost his thumb?”

“No. He had all his fingers, Mom. What are you talking about?” Then he remembered his dad not being able to do some things the way he’d done them. He’d figured out different ways to— “Yeah. Yeah, I remember. He lost it when he was still a pup.”

“Yes. But you think it stopped him from doing things he wanted? Do you ever remember seeing him act like he wasn’t a whole man?” She looked at him with a tear in her eye. “Did you ever once hear him say he couldn’t because he wasn’t all there?” She walked back to the house. She closed the door behind her. His crutches were still far away and the misty rain had turned to a downpour.

“Mother fuck,” he shouted to the sky. “What the fuck am I supposed to do now? Crawl to you?”

He glared at the spoon and thought about how many times over the years he’d wanted to burn the sucker. Chop it up into little pieces and toss them in the trash can. He reached out and picked it up.

She only hit them with it when she was trying to make a point. He realized that long before now. It didn’t make it any less irritating, but he didn’t have to like it. Dallas looked at the forest then at the house. Both the women in his life were set to piss him off.

His dad had been a great man. He’d been a wonderful father. But he’d been hurt. Dallas leaned back in his chair and thought about his dad. When he’d been wolf, he’d been unable to run like the others; his lack of thumb had hindered him. It didn’t stop him, but it did slow him a little. But there was never a time when his father said “I can’t.” Never in all Dallas’ young life had those words ever crossed his lips.

Dallas stood up and held the spoon in his hand as he held onto the chair. He’d not been putting weight on his leg like he’d been told because…well, he hadn’t. He looked at the crutches and realized that he would need them if only to get started. He needed them to get around for now.

Moving slowly, he made his way to them when suddenly, there was a shadow over them. He looked up to see his brother Connor. He waited for him to start on him and didn’t say a word.

“You want me to follow you for a bit? It might be a little rough at first.” Connor handed him the one crutch and laid the other on the chair. “Let’s start with this one and work our way down.”

Dallas nodded, moved beyond words. His brother wasn’t going to make fun of him or try to bully him into anything. Dallas moved slowly forward and nearly fell over. Austin was there to catch him.

“Come on, buddy. We can do this.” He was leaning heavily on Austin, waiting for the pain to subside. “Take one little step at first. If you lean on me, I’ll catch you. Come on.”

He took a smaller step and felt the sweat start to run down his back. Pain shot up his leg and into his hip. And if his steps got any smaller, he’d be going backwards. He looked at Austin, ready to give up.

“You want to play ball with your son? With both our sons?” Dallas nodded at Austin’s question. “Then I suggest that you get your ass in gear.”

He took three more steps when he felt a hand at his back. Turning so as not to fall, he looked at his brother Gordon. The smile on his face was radiant.

“You didn’t think we’d let you do this on your own, did you?” Gordon held onto his belt at the back of his pants. “Alexis said if you make it halfway there, she’ll bake you her famous cake. Frankly, I hope you don’t. I love that cake and don’t want to share.”