Xan's Feisty Mate (22 page)

“Are you ready to get down?”

Cammie jumped. “Oh my God. Please don’t eat me. I’ll taste really, really bad. I promise.”

A deep laugh had her looking at the speaker. He had to be the most beautiful person in the entire world. Long black hair and two dimples in his cheeks, if he was gonna eat her, he wouldn’t smile at her, Cammie thought.

“I’m not that hungry.” The gorgeous man snapped his teeth together. “Yet.”

She shivered, and the tears she tried hard to hold back, dripped down her cheeks.

“I was only joking, don’t cry. I’m going to climb up and see what’s going on, okay?”

He didn’t give her a chance to answer before he scaled the big tree like a monkey. She was a good twenty feet in the air. What had taken her at least fifteen minutes to climb, he did in less than five.

“Wow, you’re a really good climber.”

“Why thank you, my tiny damsel in distress. I’m Keanu Raine. What’s your name?”

Cammie’s brow furrowed. “Um...I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”

He held out his hand. “Well, since you’re kinda stuck in this tree and it’s getting dark, let’s become friends.”

Cammie gazed at the man she decided she would marry someday. He told her about himself, patiently telling her he was a local firefighter, and about his grandfather, the shaman of their tribe. Her mother was so gonna love him. Cammie adored the name Keanu, figuring it would go down in her diary as her new favorite.

“I’m going to be grounded for life if my mama finds out I was here,” Cammie groaned.

“Let’s worry about getting you down and then I’ll take you home. I’m sure she’s already worried about you.”

She nearly fell out of the tree when Keanu pulled out a little knife. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“What? This?” Keanu held it up. “I’m going to trim some of the bark off between these branches, so we can get your shoe loose.”

Watching closely, Cammie held completely still until the pressure eased on her foot. She jerked her leg, nearly kneeing her knight in the jaw.

“Thank you, thank you, Keanu.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“All right, now we need to get down. I want you to climb on my back and hold on. Can you do that?”

“I can get down by myself. I got up here, didn’t I?”

“Yes, little lady, you did, but you also got yourself stuck. Besides, it’s my job to rescue people, so you’d be letting me do my job.”

He made it sound like she was helping him. With a huff, Cammie wrapped her arms around Keanu’s neck and held on for dear life.

He descended the tree like he’d been doing it all his life. She didn’t want to let go when they reached the bottom and he obviously thought she couldn’t walk. All the way back to town, he told her about his new job. When he told her he was leaving to become a part of a group called Smokejumpers, she wanted to weep.

Cammie decided she was going to be just like him when she grew up.

“Hey, Red, how ’bout you and me going out tonight?” Ted Grossman asked.

The question jarred her out of her memories. She used to consider Ted to be one of her best friends. Any time Cammie was in a jam, Ted was there to help pull her out. When her high school boyfriend had been cheating on her, it had been Ted whose shoulder she’d cried on. Luckily for her, Ted was also the one who had broken the news to Cammie. Otherwise she may have made the biggest mistake of her life, since it was prom night and all.

Now, the thought of Ted and his new friends made her skin crawl. There was something about the three men he’d been hanging out with that didn’t sit well with her.

“Um, not tonight, Ted.” She smiled to lessen the blow.

Cammie tried to walk around the pack of idiots standing outside the bar. One of them grabbed her arm, making her flinch at the rough treatment. The hand wrapped around her bicep held her in place. She looked at the man, at his hand where it rested on her arm, and back to him. She raised her eyebrows. Ted gave her a beseeching look.

“Listen, you little bitch. You think you’re better than us? Well, I have news for you.”

She recognized Bob Thompson and his sneering voice immediately. “Guys, I’m tired. I really just wanna go home and get some rest. Why don’t you go back into Sully’s and have another beer?” Cammie looked at Ted, a guy she used to consider a friend.

“Aw, come on, Cam. You can have just one drink. You know you’re the hottest piece of meat in town,” Ted said with a drunken leer.

Cammie shuddered. “Did you just call me a cow? No, don’t answer that.” She held up her free hand. “Seriously, I really appreciate your flattery, but I’m going home.” Cammie looked pointedly at the hand still holding her arm.

“Let’s go, Bob. I’ll buy you a drink,” Ted offered.

“You are a fucking pussy, Ted,” Bob snarled.

Cammie had enough. Using Ted’s distraction, she shoved her palm into Bob’s chest, pushing him away, and twisted out of his grasp. He lunged, but luckily for her his friends dragged him back into the bar. His curses still rang in her ears. Tossing her ponytail over her shoulder, she shook her head and quickened her pace.

Walking to the firehouse yesterday had seemed like such a good freaking idea. Why hadn’t she considered the danger of leaving at midnight the following night? She decided to claim temporary insanity. With the string of fires, and one of her teammates injured, it worked for her.

She picked up her pace, pushed her bag over her hip, and tapped her pocket to make sure her phone was still there. She’d be totally lost without her iPhone. The hair on the nape of her neck prickled. Cammie glanced over her shoulder and saw a Jeep sitting idle at the stoplight. The late hour and the dark tinted windows didn’t allow her to see the driver, and a shiver wracked her frame.

With some kind of pyromaniac running around, the last thing she needed was a stalker for crying out loud. The engine roared and she watched from the corner of her eye as the Jeep turned at the light. “Thank you, Lord Jesus,” Cammie murmured.

* * * *

T
ed wanted to hit Bob for the way he treated his Cammie; he also wanted to call back his own words. When he saw the woman of his dreams walking alone, he thought he’d invite her in for a drink, but it seemed he had no control over his mouth. He had no clue Bob and the other guys would follow him. Her rejection nearly gutted him, but he still didn’t want her hurt, and she’d be a lot more than hurt if Bob got ahold of her. Ted had seen firsthand what the man could and would do to those who didn’t do as he wanted.

The images sent ice through his veins. “You owe me more than a drink, Teddy.” Bob’s voice slurred.

The overwhelming urge to smash the empty bottle over Bob’s head heated his once chilled body. The knowing glint in the other man’s eyes made Ted knock his knuckles on the table instead. He signaled for the waitress to bring them another round. At the rate they were going, Ted was going to owe more than he made in a week. The alternative was something he didn’t want to consider.

Since Bob and his friends had come to town, Ted didn’t know what was what. One night he’d had too much to drink and the next he owed his soul to the devil, or in this case, Bob.

Memories of that night were sketchy, but Bob and the other guys were only too happy to fill him in, with video proof. Ted shook his head. He thought of the saying
there’s no use crying over spilled milk,
and wanted to yell at the absurdity. If only it was milk he’d spilled. His stomach churned.

The waitress brought over the tray of tequila shots and beer bottles. Ted didn’t wait for her to place them on the table, and grabbed a shot glass off the tray. He needed more liquid courage, and the sooner he finished the drinks, the quicker she would bring more.

Ted tossed his head back, letting the liquid burn his throat before a pleasant numbness stole over him. If he could always feel this way, maybe he’d stay drunk for the rest of his life, which might not be much longer if Bob had any say in the matter. He raised his hand again, happy to see the bartender already refilling their order.

––––––––

Jett’s Wild Wolf

Mystic Wolves 3

Prologue

T
aryn Cole felt the first skitter of fear slither down her spine as Keith pinned her with his black eyes. The man who claimed her as his daughter, or as one of his possessions, gave her one of his death stares. Others in the great room either dropped to their knees, or showed him their throats, but she did neither, barely resisting the urge.

“Where have you been, little girl?” Keith’s voice grated like nails against concrete.

She’d learned at a very young age not to allow him to see how he affected her. A deep inhale helped steady her nerves. “My truck broke down.” As long as she stayed close to the truth, Keith wouldn’t scent a lie. Another thing she’d learned at his knee, fists, and claws.

Keith cleared the ten or so feet separating them in one leap, startling a gasp out of her. “Don’t lie to me you little bitch. I know there was more to it than that. You were in the woods up in Mystic again. Which one of those bastards were you sniffing after?”

His face had contorted into his half-beast. A cross between wolf and whatever he could be. Even Taryn had no clue what all he was, but he was mean.

Her head tilted toward the two wolves standing off to the side. “I followed those two, yes.” Again, half truths.

His chest expanded with his deep inhale. She was sure he’d give her some mundane chore, or take away her privileges like a child. At twenty-five years old, being treated like a five year old on a weekly basis was nothing new.

As his large arm raised with its muscles and veins covered by fur, she didn’t flinch as he ran the back of his knuckles down her cheek. “Your skin is so smooth, and soft. Unblemished from time and age. Do you know how lucky you are to have my genes coursing through your veins?”

She swallowed. “Yes, alpha.” Nobody could accuse her of being a stupid wolf. Her eyes stayed below his chin, yet she never gave him the respect due his status.

“When will you learn your place?” His voice didn’t raise. One claw scraped down, lifting her chin to meet his eyes.

The hate and loathing staring back at her made her gut clench. Whether it was directed at her or the Mystic Wolves didn’t matter. Alpha Keith was angry, or suspicious.

Her voice came out a croak. “I don’t have a place. I’m the lowest member of your pack, below even that.”

The blow that knocked her across the room shocked her, then the pain hit, blood filling her mouth. Before she could get to her feet, he was on her, his hand gripping her by the throat and lifting her up, dangling her feet off the ground.

The scary beast in front of her drew his arm back, the shifted paw of the wolf was larger than a full grown bear, and he flashed his black claws like they were knives. They reminded Taryn of the movie
Nightmare On Elm Street
, when the killer would taunt his victims before he’d slice the razor sharp talons, gutting them. Some days she wondered if he’d actually kill her. Had silently prayed for death on more than one occasion.

He laughed. “Oh, you are truly smart. Too smart maybe.”

A rake of those too sharp claws swiped across her cheek, burning her flesh like liquid acid pouring down on her. Silently she screamed, knowing he fed off the pain and anguish of others. Oh, he loved to see his handy work, too. She watched satisfaction flare in his unholy black orbs at the blood running down her face, ruining one of her favorite shirts.

Still, she dangled a good three feet off the ground. His grip on her shirt never loosening while he held her at his height of over six feet four, give or take, in human form, but in his beast mode he was closer to seven.

His next blow broke several ribs, a gasp escaping before she could control it.

“Ah, let’s see how much more you can stand. Hmm?” Keith asked, dropping her from his grasp.

Taryn tried to protect her head, knowing it was the most important part of her body. Everything else would heal itself within hours with no outward sign of damage. However, a head injury could take days.

The sound of the pack cheering Keith on became background noise as he continued to kick and hit her. She tried to curl into a ball, focusing all her energy on keeping her head from taking any of his abuse. Every now and again he’d give a grunt, but even that was for show. By the time he was finished, Taryn couldn’t count the number of broken bones in her body on both hands.

Excruciating pain radiated out of every pore of her being. Both eyes had swollen to slits from the kicks to her face. Whatever had angered him, Keith had decided she was going to be his punching bag tonight. Not an uncommon occurrence, but this was one of the worst beatings she’d suffered in years. This time she didn’t have a mother figure willing to crawl over and help her back to their rooms.

“Someone help the whelp up before I kill her this time. It’s not her day to die, yet.” He growled, sounding more beast than man.

She wanted to tell whoever came to drag her up to leave her alone, but the gentle touch and sweet scents of her friends washed over her. They hadn’t been in the space when Taryn had been summoned by Keith, otherwise her friends would’ve tried to intervene. They’d have been hurt even worse than her, only their injuries wouldn’t have healed as fast, nor as completely.

Joni and Sky eased their arms under her, their wolf strength gave them the ability to lift her with ease. When they reached the sparse room she called her own, they lay her on the full sized bed. A moan finally escaping her busted lips. “Could you get me a glass of water, please?” Was that her voice? She hoped they understood the garbled mess.

Her friend Sky rushed to the small room, not bothering to turn the light on. The cup shook in the other girl’s hand. “You look so bad, Ryn.”

It hurt to swallow, let alone to reassure her friends she’d be okay. They didn’t know how fast she would heal. Heck, she wasn’t sure how quickly it would take this time. “Need, time, ladies.”

“We are staying with you, so shut the hell up. I brought wine,” Joni whispered.

Too tired and hurting to argue, Taryn took another drink of water. Lying on her bed, knowing she was ruining the beautiful bedding, she wanted to cry. A weakness Keith would love to see. Already bones were realigning, bruised organs healing. The last parts of her to heal would be the outer package, which could take days. Days of agony where she would feel each bone and cartilage reform, refill with fresh blood and tissue. Her mind shut down as her last thought was of the alluring wolf Jett Tremaine. Goddess, but he was a fine specimen she’d love to do dirty things to.