Rescue in the Smokies (Durham Wolves) (16 page)

As soon as he walked outside, he breathed deeper. The fresh air dampened the scent of Juliana now permeating his entire house and driving him to distraction.

“Gonna help out today?” Jaxon came around the corner of the house, chuckling. He tipped his hat low over his eyes as he went by, but Sergius still saw the smirk.

“You just wait, asshole. One of these days this is gonna be you, and I’m gonna laugh my ass off.”

“No fucking way, bro. I’m staying as far away from women as I possibly can.”

“Yeah, so was I, dipshit. Are you gonna stop helping James out when he needs us? Are you gonna stay out here and not go into town for groceries and supplies? You think I went looking for a woman?”

“Maybe…” Jaxon’s answer was noncommittal. A single muttered word as he went by.

Whatever
.

The dim light of the barn made Serg pause to allow his eyes to adjust from the blinding sun as he entered.

“Morning, Serg. Oh, wait…” Micah made a big production of flipping his wrist in front of his eyes, “…afternoon. My bad.”

“You too? Are you both about done getting your jollies off at my expense?”

“Nah, give us a few more days.” He stopped sweeping hay from the entrance and looked up. “But seriously, Serg, if she makes you happy then I’m happy for you.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty damn awesome. I’ll give you that. I’m one lucky bastard.” He turned to walk toward the stalls, adjusting his cock for the umpteenth time.

“So, what do you think about McKinney?”

“I don’t know, but it makes me nervous. Sure, we chased him out of this area, but he’ll be back. He wants something.”

“Or someone.”

“Yeah, that too. He can’t have her.” Serg grabbed a brush and rubbed down the sleek thoroughbred mare in the first stall. She turned her head, nudging his arm, and then neighed softly. He reached in his pocket for a sugar cube and gave it to her.

“We’re going to have to be pretty damn diligent.”

“I know.” He swallowed the frog in his throat. Even with all the teasing, his brothers would protect Juliana with their life. They were a family. No one messed with them.

“You know we’d never let anything happen to Juliana, right?”

Serg nodded but didn’t look back at his brother.

“She’s family now. No matter what, we’ll protect her from the likes of Keeton McKinney. We just have to be smarter than him. Never leave her alone.”

“What if he doesn’t give up?” Sergius pulled his gaze from the horse to Micah. How long would his brothers fight for his woman?

“Then we don’t either, bro.” A short silence filled the lull before Micah continued, “We may have to figure a way to rid the world of a certain bothersome vampire.”

Serg shuddered. He didn’t need to voice his thoughts. None of them had any idea how to go about that task. This was real life. They had no idea which legendary measures might work, if any of them would.

Keeton stomped through the door of his Knoxville apartment and flung the grocery sack he was carrying across the room. Why did he have to choose eggs this time? Goddamn yolks ran down the wall and dripped onto the carpet.
Fuck
.

He always stopped at the store to get a few items. Made him look like a normal bachelor to the neighbors even though he never ate the stuff. But eggs? This morning something nice and packaged would have been a better choice given his mood.

Keeton dropped onto the couch and cursed those damn wolves. Motherfuckers had been meddling in his life for ten years now, ever since they’d decided to make their home in his territory. Saving damsels in distress like fucking heroes.

Jesus.

Usually he couldn’t give a shit. They weren’t worth his time. As far as he was concerned, they weren’t a threat to him so he didn’t intermingle with their kind unless they pissed him off.

He laid his head back and closed his eyes.

Those bastards had gone too far now. The redhead was his. He’d found her first. And that damn Sergius could rot in hell for all he cared. He’d get her back.

He’d been developing a plan while he watched her sleep earlier, before he’d gotten too greedy, too close, and the wolves had come out of the house to chase his scent.

He planned a distraction, something that would ensure the wolves would be too busy to watch her. Then he could move in and snatch her right from under their noses.

First he needed to sleep. He wandered toward the bedroom and fell face first on the mattress to snooze the day away.

That evening the tight little family with their new addition all sat down to dinner.

Tension crawled across Juliana’s shoulders, radiating up her neck. She hadn’t spent much time with his brothers yet. She felt like an outcast with them. Not that they’d been rude, but this new arrival to the house hadn’t been in their plans.

They smiled at her, but it appeared slightly forced.

“So, you all read each other’s minds?” It couldn’t hurt to start a conversation.

“How did you know that?” Jaxon asked.

“When I first arrived yesterday all three of you stood in the driveway glaring daggers at each other. I realized later you two weren’t all that excited about my arrival.” She smiled and stabbed her fork into the steak on her plate. The tender red meat tasted as good as it smelled, and she wasn’t about to let it get cold. “You hadn’t planned to have a woman in the mix.”

“Ah, but you misread us, Juliana.” Micah reached for a roll, which he proceeded to toss back and forth between his hands as steam rose into the air. “We love having you here. It’ll keep our older brother off our back. In fact, in the twenty-four hours since you’ve arrived I can’t remember a single time he’s growled at me. How about you, Jaxon?” Micah chuckled.

“I don’t growl.”

“Sure you do. Or would you prefer to call it brooding?” Micah continued to tease.

Juliana glanced his way. “What were you so moody about…before my arrival?”

The three brothers grinned at each other.

Her cheeks burned, but she didn’t back down. “Ah. Well, thank God. Now I can spend my days making sure each of you meets a woman to keep you from brooding also.”

“Touché, my love
,
”
Serg spoke to her silently.

“Thought you’d like that one.”

“Hell no. I don’t need or want a woman in my life. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all chocolate and roses over Serg’s good fortune, but count me out. I prefer the bachelor life. Less complicated.” Jaxon stuffed another bite in his mouth, his brow furrowed.

“He’s gonna eat those words someday. Sunny side up.”

“You can bet on it.”
Juliana smiled at Serg as he laid a hand on her thigh to send a wave of heat racing toward her sex.

She cleared her throat and batted his fingers away before they inched any farther up her leg. “So, what’s the plan? You guys can’t hover around here watching me day in and day out while we wait on some vampire to stalk me.”

She glanced from one to the other and cringed at their collective pause, each with a fork hovering somewhere midair.
That’s exactly what they intend to do.

“What if I went home or—”

“No.” Serg didn’t even let her finish her thought. “Juliana, this is serious. You can’t so much as walk outside alone until we figure out how to stop McKinney from threatening you.” He laid a hand gently on her arm. “I’m so sorry. I know this is hard.”

“Hard?” She huffed and turned toward Serg. “Hard doesn’t even begin to describe this situation. Two days ago I was living a normal regular life, hiking with my friends, celebrating my college graduation and talking about plans for my future. Today, my world is upside down and filled with werewolves and vampires.” She sucked in a deep breath. “Piece of cake. No problem.”

The hunger she’d experienced before sitting down to dinner disappeared and she dropped her fork. Wiggling free of Serg’s gentle grasp on her forearm, she rubbed her temples with both palms, pressing into the ache beginning to form behind her eyes.

“Sorry,” she muttered as she let her hands fall to her lap. With her head still bowed, she continued, “I know this isn’t any of your faults, I’m just—”

“Don’t apologize. We understand.” Serg laid a hand on her back now. “This is more than the average person should ever have to deal with in a lifetime, let alone a few days. We’ll sort this out. In the meantime, we’ll also keep you safe. That’s a promise.”

Juliana pulled her mouth into the best semblance of a smile she could and looked at each of the brothers in turn. “Thanks.”

Micah and Jaxon nodded toward her, mumbling about the unnecessary need for gratitude.

“Let’s get some sleep. It’ll all seem better in the morning.” Serg set down his silverware and wiped his mouth.

“What if he shows up again?”

“The same thing will happen, for now. Until we can come up with a way to change the results.”

“By that you mean kill the bastard.”

“Yes. In the meantime, he can’t get very close without us smelling his stench, and we outnumber him, so we can play chase all he wants.”

Juliana opened her mouth and then let it hang, the words trapped in her throat. No need to state the obvious. This was going to get really old really fast.

Chapter Sixteen

“So what’s in the bags?” Juliana padded out of the bathroom, wiping her face with a towel. She looked like a model, even wearing an old, worn T-shirt of Serg’s. But that wasn’t how he wanted her to dress forever. He wanted her to have nice things. Sure, she was outdoorsy and fit, but Serg knew women loved to dress elegantly now and then.

They would need to go to her place and get her stuff soon. He hadn’t mentioned it yet. It was like an elephant in the room. As long as no one said anything, she could just stay here like she was on a vacation or something.

As soon as he suggested they move her belongings in, he’d have to face her response. She might balk at altering her reality. He wasn’t ready for that confrontation. What if she didn’t want to live out here with him in the woods with no one around? No female companions? What would he do then?

Follow her to the ends of the earth, of course, but this was his home. He loved the cabin, the sights and sounds of nature all around, the ability to shift and run free in the wild virtually whenever he wanted.

Time was on his side right now. As long as they waited for McKinney to make his next move, she needed to be here protected and safe. He’d made that abundantly clear. For now, he had to hope the claiming had bound her to him in such a way she couldn’t possibly consider leaving. Every day they were together the bond would strengthen. Their connection would grow. Their need for sex would be more intense by the hour.

That damn vampire was actually helping his cause.

“Sergius?”

He stared at her, his face flushing. What was the question?

She raised a brow and nodded toward his hands. “The bags?”

“Oh.” He glanced down at the packages he’d gripped with his fingers. “Clothes. Thought you might like a few things since you have a limited selection.” The woman had been on a weekend hiking trip. She had three shirts, two pairs of pants and some shorts with her.

“How did you get them?” She angled her head to the side and looked at him quizzically.

“I picked them up when I went into town earlier.” He grinned.

“Oh? And what did you buy?”

“Open them. I did my best to guess your tastes.” He gripped the side of the bed, praying he’d judged right.

She hesitated.
And if I don’t like what he has in mind for me?

“I can read your thoughts, baby.”

“I know.”

“Let me select something for now. You can look at the rest tomorrow when I’m not around. If you don’t like something, we’ll take it back. How’s that? No hard feelings. Aside from hiking gear, I have no idea what you usually wear.”

“Fair.”

Sergius peered into the bag with the lingerie label on it and pulled out the item he had in mind for this moment. He held it up for her to see. “Thought you’d like something more feminine than my old T-shirt to sleep in.”

“Oh, my. That’s…gorgeous. But you didn’t really buy that with me in mind at all, did you?” Her eyes sparked with mischief.

“Perhaps it wasn’t altogether altruistic, no. But do you like it anyway?”

“To be honest, I’ve never owned a stitch of anything so sexy.” She reached out to take the swath of material in her hand. “It’s so soft.”

“Silk.” He whispered the word in her ear. “It will make you feel as though you’re wearing nothing at all. Hmm, maybe that’s a better idea. Perhaps you shouldn’t wear anything.”

Sergius watched the flush rush across her cheeks as she reached to snatch at the bag he still held. “What else is in there?”

Serg jerked the bag out of her reach, stuck his hand in and came up with a matching cover. It couldn’t really be called a robe, because it would be wrong to imply it actually
covered
much. If anything, the matching sheer peignoir would only make the piece underneath even more enticing. He held it out.

“Try it on.” He watched as she turned for the bathroom as though he’d never seen her naked before. He could tell already the black silk was going to show off her alabaster skin to perfection. He grew hard waiting on her and closed his eyes to concentrate on her emotions. It felt like he was cheating, but he wanted her to love the garment.

Minutes went by, several. Her thoughts jumped around as she changed. Serg sat on the bed, jiggling his knee. He was dying to see her sexy curves encased in the black silk. Shit. She took too long. And then he smelled her arousal. Rather than wait another second for her to emerge, he leaped off the bed and bounded toward the bathroom.

With his hands clasped on both sides of the doorframe, he stopped and sucked in a breath. In the middle of the room stood his flawless mate, her back to him, facing the large, full-length mirror. He gazed at the image in the glass.

The negligee fit her perfectly. Tiny black straps barely held the silk against her body. The top was a pattern of lace that accentuated her breasts and made them appear larger than they were in contrast to the delicate dip that hugged her waist and then flared slightly to barely cover the sexy round globes of her ass.