“Caleb. No,” Elijah said. Lucy gave Caleb an angry glare and rolled her eyes.
She sat down with a harrumph and stirred cream and sugar into her coffee. “I can’t forgive this,” she said definitively. “You trapped me. You didn’t respect my autonomy.” She took a sip of her coffee, and her headache slowly subsided.
“It will never happen again,” Elijah tried to assure her.
“Somehow I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true. We want you to be our mate. Help us run our pack. We need our alpha female to give us pups. This was all unfortunate. But how were we to know our mate would be a human?”
“What are you talking about? Run your pack, give you pups? That sounds like crazy talk. Are you saying I’d become a werewolf?”
“The mate’s bite can transform a human to a shifter,” said Elijah. “Being a shifter is fantastic and freeing. You will love it, Lucy. You will be strong and powerful. You will never have to worry about bad jobs or abusive bosses ever again.”
“So I’m supposed to trade an abusive boss for two deceptive asshole animals? No thanks. I think I’ll pass.” She stood from the table and crossed her arms. “I’d like you to drive me back to my car now, please. Or are you going to keep me here against my will?”
“Of course not,” Elijah said, standing. He sighed and looked at his brother with strain in his eyes. Caleb growled and stormed out the patio door. A moment later, the sound of a truck rumbled in the front drive.
Chapter 14
The truck bumped down the dirt road until they came to the highway. Lucy watched Caleb pull the truck onto the road headed south. She’d told them the name of the trail she’d started at, and they’d assured her it wasn’t very far from their property.
As they drove down the highway, she watched her cell phone for a signal. Slowly, bars appeared on her phone. At least they hadn’t been lying about that. When her phone finally had a connection, it began to beep with text messages and emails. She flicked the screen to open her email account and found several messages from Mr. Bars demanding she meet him back at the office for a special assignment that weekend.
Her skin pricked with anxiety as disgust sank in her stomach. She still didn’t know what to do about work. There was no way she would allow Mr. Bars to harass her any more. After the last few days, she realized that she’d been too passive in her life until that point. She’d let people take advantage of her. Anger at the twins still filled her heart. Their lies had been unacceptable and unforgivable.
Even though they’d given her the best orgasms of her life and made her feel things she didn’t even know were possible, they had still lied. They’d taken advantage of her vulnerable position and had used it against her, just like Mr. Bars.
The truck pulled up the gravel park road and into the parking lot of the trailhead. Her car sat where she’d left it. Caleb parked, and they all climbed out. Lucy pulled her keys from her backpack and put them in the door lock.
As she sat in the driver’s seat, she slid the key into the ignition and heard her engine chug. What the hell? She looked at the gas tank and found it empty. It had been half full when she’d parked two days ago. Annoyed as hell, she got out of the car and went to check her gas tank on the other side of the car.
She found Caleb and Elijah looking at the open gas door. She narrowed her eyes at them. “Did you do this?” she barked. Caleb sniffed the air, and Elijah gave her a pleading look.
“Coyotes,” said Caleb. “Damn thieves siphoned your gas.”
Lucy kicked the gravel underfoot and growled, her anger heating to a boiling point. She went around the car and pulled the key from the ignition and slammed the door before pressing the lock button on her key ring.
Caleb lifted a gas can from the back of the truck and shook it. “Empty,” he said, frowning. She didn’t believe a word they said. They were still tricking her. “We’ll take you in to Mystic Harbor and get some gas.”
“Fine,” she shouted, storming back to the truck. Lucy had never been so angry before in her life. She couldn’t shake the feeling that everyone was taking advantage of her at every second.
The brothers climbed into the truck after her, and Caleb started the engine. A few moments later, they were back on the highway again, headed south to Mystic Harbor.
Lucy had never actually been to the coastal tourist town before, but as soon as she saw Main Street she was mystified. It seemed straight out of a storybook or a movie about a sweet small town. Little shops lined the street that headed to the harbor, and quaint houses clung to the hillsides overlooking the sea.
“It’s so cute here,” she said as they stopped at the gas station at the edge of town.
“Want to look around? I hear Vivian McNealy’s apothecary shop is nice. It has all kinds of sweet-smelling soaps and lotions you might like,” offered Elijah.
Lucy bit her lip. Her anger seemed to melt away at the sight of the cute little town and the power of the bay and sea beyond. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to look around for a little while.”
Caleb turned the car around after they’d filled their gas can and headed back into town. He parked in front of the quaintest shop Lucy had ever seen. It almost made her eyes water from its cuteness. They got out and opened the front door of the apothecary’s. The scent of flowers and oils filled Lucy’s lungs and made her instantly feel a hundred times more at ease than she had before.
A pretty, curvy woman with red hair came from the back room. She gave Lucy a big smile, making her freckled cheeks glow pink. “Can I help you?” she asked, looking from the brothers to Lucy.
“I’m just looking around. I’ve never been to Mystic Harbor before.”
“New here?” the woman asked, her bright eyes looking the brothers up and down. “Do you plan to stay?”
“No. I’m going back to Portland,” she said definitively.
“Oh. What a shame. Let me know if I can help you with anything,” the woman chirped as she went back behind the counter to adjust a small distillery.
Lucy walked up and down the rows of perfumes and lotions, potions and oils, until she found a lavender-and-lemon goat’s milk soap that tickled her fancy. She took it to the counter and paid. The brothers followed her back outside onto the curb, and she looked around. The smell of fried fish filled the air, and her mouth watered.
“How about some lunch?” Elijah asked. “You didn’t eat breakfast.”
“That does smell good,” she said. “But after lunch, I have to go. Seriously. I’ve already missed a day of work at this point.”
They walked over to the seafood restaurant and went inside the little building. It was decorated with nets and wooden boat wheels over wood paneling. They sat and ordered three servings of fish and chips. After the waitress brought their food, Lucy covered her fish with vinegar and her fries with ketchup. She took a bite of her battered salmon and almost fainted from the yumminess.
“God, this is so good.”
“Best in the state,” Caleb said, pointing to a framed award on the far wall.
“I believe it.”
They finished their lunch and sauntered out into the bright afternoon sunlight shining down on Main Street. Lucy and Elijah crossed the street to the truck, but Caleb stayed back.
“Damn,” he growled loudly. Lucy flung her head around to see Caleb staring down a group of scraggly-looking young people, laughing and hooting as they walked down the street. One of them had a bloody bandage on his neck and held a lit cigarette in his hand.
“What is it?” Lucy asked Elijah under her breath.
“The people who stole your gas.”
“Go,” Caleb bellowed as he pointed to Elijah but looked straight at the group of kids. The kids just laughed at him. Caleb growled, his sharp teeth becoming visible even in the middle of town.
“Get in the truck, Lucy,” Elijah said, opening the door for her. She climbed inside and waited for Elijah to go around to the driver’s side. He opened the door and slid in bef
ore turning the key in the ignition. The truck’s motor rumbled to life.
“Who are those people?” she asked, worried. She wasn’t sure whether she was more worried for herself or for Caleb as the group approached him. The one with the bloody bandage pushed his finger into Caleb’s chest. Elijah shook his head as he pulled out of the parking place along the curb.
“Those,” he said, pulling up to the intersection and stopping at a red light, “are coyote shifters. Nothing but a pack of trouble in human skin. They’d lie, cheat, and steal from their mothers.”
“What is Caleb going to do?”
Elijah drove as soon as the light turned green. Lucy could see the kids converge on Caleb. Fear gripped her senses. Would he be all right? Those kids looked tough.
“Probably kick some coyote ass.”
Chapter 15
The coyotes converged on Caleb, and he could barely keep his wolf inside. He growled at them, his eyes burning with the brightness of his animal within.
“I told you to go,” he barked, his chest muscles straining against his shirt.
“We decided to stay,” the leader said. “We like this town. Lots of waste and whatnot. You can’t make us leave. I believe there are laws in the human world that protect all citizens. Look around, wolf. We’re all human here.”
“This is a shifter town, pup. Don’t test me. I will bring a million teeth and claws down on your head. Shifters who cannot respect our rules are not tolerated. You have not agreed to abide by our rules, so you must leave.”
“Sure, we’ll follow your rules. Anything against intershifter mating? That girl you were with is hot. Are you tapping that?”
“Don’t you dare speak of her,” Caleb lunged forward, teeth bared. He could barely hold himself back from destroying the young coyote and his pack, but he resisted the urge. As the leader of the Cascade pack, he had to set an example. Taking the first shot at a kid in the middle of town was not a good example.
The coyote swept his foot against Caleb’s ankle. It barely fazed the bigger man, but it did make him angry. That was it. The kid took the first shot. Caleb looked up at him and grinned. His heavy fist knocked the kid in the stomach.
He staggered backward, falling into his crew. The girl with long dreadlocks looked at Caleb and sneered, baring her teeth. The others lunged forward, fighting in human form with so little grace and skill that Caleb was able to sidestep almost every punch and kick.
A fist connected with his jaw and pushed him sideways. A knee tripped him, and he lost balance. He went down hard on his ass, and the pack of coyotes was on him, yipping and growling as they punched and kicked.
Caleb twisted and shot up, dispersing the pack of wild dogs with a series of skillful movements. He and Elijah had studied martial arts with their father, who had learned from his father before him. The wolves were a well-oiled fighting force, even in human form.
Within minutes, the entire coyote pack was sitting, bloody, on the sidewalk or limping away.
“If I catch this pack around these parts again, I won’t go so easy on you.”
“You’re lucky we’re in town, wolf. Or this wouldn’t have been so easy for you.”
Caleb licked the blood seeping from his lip. His eye stung. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but the coyote’s words were true. One wolf against a pack of coyotes? He’d never survive that.
Lucy watched Elijah as he pulled her backpack from the back seat of the crew-cab truck. She couldn’t help but be worried about Caleb.
No matter how angry she felt at the two brothers, she’d come to care about them. Their night of passion had been more than just sex. It had opened up parts of her that she hadn’t known existed. She would always feel a connection for them, no matter what they did.
They had been such asses to lie to her, but she was beginning to understand the world of shifters better. Perhaps she’d been too hard on them. If she really was their perfect mate, how were they supposed to tell her about paranormals and convince her to stay?
Caleb and Elijah did have a point about that. She put herself in their shoes for a moment and tried to imagine what she would do in their situation. Would she deceive someone for true love?
She shook her head. She couldn’t imagine deceiving her true love to get him to stay with her. It just didn’t make sense in her world. It couldn’t. How could such a beginning ever lead to something good and lasting? Deception was deception, plain and simple. She might not hate their guts for what they had done, but she was a long way away from accepting their behavior or forgiving them.
“Well, that’s everything,” Elijah said, opening the driver’s-side door for her. She walked forward and stood in the door, looking up at him on the other side.
“I guess this is goodbye,” she said, a hint of sadness in her voice. Elijah looked down at her and smiled.
“I could come with you. We could talk this through. You can let me beg for your forgiveness. That kind of thing.”
“I don’t know. What about Caleb?” She surprised herself that her main concern was Caleb’s safety and whether he would be jealous.
“Caleb is a big boy. He can take care of himself. Besides, he’d be overjoyed if one of us went with you and tried to change your mind.”
She sighed. The idea of going back to Portland alone wasn’t all that attractive. There was so much for her to deal with at home. Having Elijah along sounded somehow comforting.
“Maybe. I’m not making any promises. I don’t forgive you. I’m just letting you tag along because I feel sorry for you.”
“Good enough for me. Let’s return the truck to the farm and I’ll ride with you.”
She followed him to the farm. He went inside to get a bag of clothes and was back out to her car in a matter of minutes.
“Let’s go,” he said throwing his bag in the back seat.
“Is Caleb here?” she asked.
“No. But I left him a note. He can get a ride back with someone from the pack. It’s no big deal.”
Lucy worried her lip. Leaving Caleb with a pack of dangerous coyotes didn’t feel right to her. She looked over at Elijah as he slid into the passenger seat. The spitting image of his brother, he made her heart do a little flutter.
She couldn’t help it. The brothers meant something to her, more than she was allowing herself to feel. She pulled out of the parking lot. Once they were back on the road, she tuned in to some music on the radio, and she and Elijah began talking about their lives.
He wanted to expand the design business but needed someone to help organize their efforts and take over the Internet presence, since both he and Caleb were at a loss as to how to deal with it. Lucy’s inspiration struck when he told her about their hopes for expansion. They needed help with something she was completely competent at. It almost seemed like a match made in heaven.
As the long miles between the coast and Portland closed, she began feeling better about the time she’d spent with Elijah and Caleb. Perhaps it had been an honest mistake. They were just two young guys with too much responsibility and the need for someone to mediate and soften them.
She pulled into her parking space in front of her apartment building and turned off the car. Elijah looked around, his expression revealing how unimpressed he was with her place.
They got out, and he carried their bags upstairs. Inside, the apartment was cold and still. It felt as if there was no life there, and Lucy felt the dark, empty energy of her world suddenly collapse in on her.
Elijah dropped the bags in her bedroom as she went to turn on the heat and start a pot of tea. After the long drive and so much stress, the last thing she felt like was cooking.
“Do you like Chinese?” she asked Elijah as he sat down in front of the TV and turned it to a basketball game.
“That would be great,” he said, patting the seat next to him. Lucy took two cups of tea and set them on the coffee table before sitting down next to Elijah. He flipped through the channels and came to the beginning of a rom
antic comedy. She ordered them Chinese, and it was delivered halfway through the film.
They ate while watching the funny movie. Elijah laughed with his mouth full of chow mein noodles at the silliest things. It made Lucy feel even more comfortable in his presence.
After they’d finished eating, she snuggled up against his warm form and watched the end of the movie. A second movie started, and they sat there together, warm and cozy in her apartment. She tried to forget about what she had to do in the morning and just let herself feel safe in Elijah’s arms.
She felt her eyelids fluttering closed, and Elijah kissed the top of her head. “It’s bedtime, beautiful,” he said, slipping his arms under her knees and lifting her up as if she were a tiny child. He walked with her to her bedroom and deposited her on her bed.
He pulled off her shoes and kicked off his own before climbing onto the bed with her. Lucy looked up into his eyes. Elijah could be so kind and gentle when he wanted to be. His eyes glowed with warmth, and he smiled down at her. Lucy closed her eyes and tilted her head, inviting him to kiss her.
His lips fell on hers, soft and sweet as he kissed her with tempered passion. He kissed her cheeks and her eyelids, her forehead and her temples. He kissed down her chin and over her neck and collarbone.
She drew a sharp breath in as he ran his hand under her shirt and dipped it inside her bra. She opened her eyes and blinked at him. What would Caleb think?
“Will Caleb mind?” she asked, worried his brother would be jealous.
“He won’t mind. Caleb and I share everything, even if he isn’t here. As long as I don’t bite you alone, he would do nothing but cheer us on.”
Lucy groaned as Elijah tweaked her nipple and ran his tongue over her lips. His kiss grew more insistent, and he plunged his tongue deep into her mouth. She raised her arms up around his broad shoulders. His hands ran down her belly, caressing the soft flesh, before one dipped inside her jeans.
He pushed his fingers into her panties and dipped a finger into her wet slit. He growled into her ear.