As Prime, he was next in line to run the pack—the presumed Patron. Over the last years he’d slowly been taking over tasks from his grandfather, especially when it came to disciplinary problems.
“The law here’s one thing, Wolf Law is another,” he told Carl.
A slam of a car door alerted them to the fact the mayor had arrived.
Dwayne hurried over, grabbing his son by the scruff of his human neck in much the same way Jace had with the Dooley wolf earlier.
“What the sam hell is going on here?” Dwayne demanded.
“Dooleys reaching above themselves as usual,” Darrell replied.
“Darrell and Ethan got into it. Went physical. Pembrys then transformed and jumped in. Dooleys jumped in to stop that.” Carl did the talking then, but Dwayne looked to Jace for confirmation.
Jace nodded. “You got yourself a problem, Dwayne. I suggest you deal with it because this will be all over town by morning.”
Which meant trouble if anyone felt Pembry wolves hadn’t been properly disciplined.
“You know what this is about,” Dwayne told Jace. “Katie Faith being back in town has everyone all stirred up.”
Jace gave the other man a long, measuring look. He shouldn’t have kept his eye, but Jace didn’t care. “You’d be best to keep her name out of your mouth, Dwayne.”
Dwayne’s eyes lit with understanding. He glared at his son.
“This is about poor discipline, Dwayne. Plain and simple. Witches have lived in this town as long as wolves have. Shame on you for making this about that girl and not a lack of control on Darrell’s part.” Carl looked angry enough to punch someone. Jace remembered Katie Faith and Carl’s daughter were close as sisters and Dwayne should have done the same.
“She started this!” Darrell yelped as his father whipped a hand out to knock his son from his feet.
“You hush now. This is your problem, Darrell. You can’t step into my shoes if this is how you act.” Dwayne snarled, as angry as Jace had seen him in quite a while. He turned back to Jace. “What’s Katie Faith’s situation to you? She claimed she didn’t live on anyone’s land just a few hours ago.”
Carl interrupted their byplay. “No. You both listen to me right here and now. Katie Faith is not some prize to be fought over. I will not allow it. Not a witch in this town will. That girl is like my own. You made your bed, Darrell. You too, Dwayne. Back off or you’ll have her momma and Miz Rose on your ass and I won’t do a damned thing to stop it.”
Jace shuddered at the thought. “You’re right, Carl.” His next words were all for Dwayne and by extension, Pembry wolves. “She’s her own person. Where she lives has nothing to do with that part. The rest I think we both know.” Jace tipped his chin to underline that.
“She hasn’t made any public claim to the same,” Dwayne told him with a shrug as if Carl hadn’t spoken.
Jace just stared at him. Like that mattered. And she had made a public claim when she’d allowed him to take her to her parents’ house that night. And then when she’d taken him into her bedroom. Any wolf standing as close as Dwayne was would know he still smelled of her magic. She was his.
Not to be owned. Not to be possessed. She was, as he’d told Dwayne, her own person. But he’d claim her all the same. And if he was lucky, she’d claim him right back.
“We done here? I have a woman to get back to,” Jace said.
Darrell groaned and Dwayne narrowed his gaze at Jace. “You keep your wolves on a leash, Jace, and I’ll do the same.”
“Hope you do a better job than you’re doing right now,” Jace called over his shoulder as he walked away.
Naturally, as he pulled back into his spot at home, his grandfather came out to greet him.
“Stop right there.” JJ stepped in between Jace and the stairs he needed to use to get back to Katie Faith. Not that he’d actually planned to go back to her just at that moment. He needed to clean up this pack business first. Still, he did his best to wrestle his agitation back. His grandfather would brook no insolence. To disobey one’s Patron could—and did—get your ass kicked. JJ might be old, but he was strong enough to hold his position and that wasn’t just about respect. His wolves feared him too. For good reason.
“Come on up to the house. Your grandma’s got banana cream pie waiting, along with some coffee. You’ll need to tell me what the hell happened tonight.”
Jace nodded, following his grandfather’s already retreating form the short path to the house he and his brothers were raised in.
Damon already sat at the big, scarred kitchen table with what Jace bet was at least his third piece of pie. He frowned, quickening his pace to get a piece before his brother devoured the whole thing himself.
“Sit down. I made more than one pie. I know how Damon gets when I make banana cream.” Their grandma smiled, pleased that they loved her cooking so much.
Jace managed to get a few bites in before he told his grandfather what happened at the football field. Damon would head over to a few houses once they finished up there to deliver the Patron’s verdict and punishment.
“You smell like her,” Damon said with a shrug.
Jace snorted. He did, and yet, Darrell, supposedly Prime material, hadn’t even noticed.
Darrell had never been meant to have a woman as fine as Katie Faith. She’d always been made for Jace. He’d know her scent for the rest of his days. If he caught it on another male, he’d damned sure have noticed.
He knew he smirked and he didn’t care one bit. With a happy sigh, he leaned back. “He thinks he can come at me. Darrell, not his daddy,” Jace clarified.
“I reckon Dwayne knows damn well you’d take Darrell down.”
“If Darrell—or any other Pembry for that matter—gets between me and Katie Faith I will kick their sorry asses.” He ducked his grandmother’s narrowed gaze at the curse.
JJ Dooley chuckled, pleased and smug. Jace knew he should be annoyed, but his grandpa was at his best when he was tickled at getting one over on someone so he let it be.
“You best get to work. You’re not the only wolf in town sweet on that girl,” his grandmother said.
“Maybe not, but I’m the only one who has a chance.”
She snorted at him, chuckling as she swatted his arm with a tea towel. “Never did have trouble with your self-esteem.”
“It’s time. You’re going to be taking over as Patron soon enough. Once you’ve claimed her, then we’ll need to get moving on that too,” JJ said.
“We’re done on this topic for now.” Though Jace said this, he knew it was futile. His grandfather saw Katie Faith as a way to strengthen the Pack. He appreciated her as a person, sure, but he was the Patron and he put Pack ahead of people when he thought it was necessary.
His grandmother would see it as Jace finally settling down and getting ready to take over. She’d see Katie Faith as a ticket to grandbabies and would be just as big a steamroller as JJ, but in her own way.
Damon just smirked, Jace knew, happy that the focus was on Jace instead of the other Dooley brothers.
“The pie was great, Grandma. I’m going to head back upstairs now.” Jace stood, rinsing off his plate and fork.
“Take a slice up to Katie Faith. I know she likes banana cream.” His grandmother shoved far more than a slice into his hands.
“You’re pretty sneaky. She does love sweets.” He grinned at his grandma.
“It’s not just men who love pie, sweetie,” she told him, accepting his peck on the cheek.
Jace rushed out before they started to give him sex tips or something equally disturbing.
“Hi,” she said, opening her door wearing nothing more than a tank top and tiny panties.
He gulped, sucking in her scent as he kicked the door closed, locking it. “Well now.”
“Everything okay in town?” Her mouth resisted a grin, but only barely. She knew what her state of undress was doing to him.
He thrust the pie in her direction. “I have pie.”
Surprised pleasure skittered over her features. “Penis and pie? How lucky am I?”
She was so ridiculous he had to give in and laugh. No way was Katie Faith not exactly where she wanted to be. She’d made the choice to accept him and underlined it by coming to the door with all that pretty skin exposed.
“I had a sandwich though. So I can wait for one until after I get some of the other.”
His laugh died on a gasp when she whipped her tank up and off with one hand, while depositing the pie on the table with the other.
Naked but for a tiny scrap of fabric over her butt—barely—she sauntered into her bedroom, knowing he was going to follow.
He double checked the lock, tossed his phone down and moved in her wake. Taking his time, drawing her into his lungs as her magic seemed to tickle his skin.
Katie Faith turned as he came into her room. He stole her breath with the way he looked at her. Dark eyes so serious as they took a long slow perusal from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.
He did meander a lot around the boob area, which was flattering, if she did say so herself.
“Everything okay?”
“Huh?”
She smiled. “The call you went on? You know? Your job?”
He toed his boots off and she watched carefully as he nudged his shirt up and then over his head.
“Good lord above,” she wheezed out at the sight of all that tawny skin stretched taut over muscle. Katie Faith pressed a hand to her chest to keep her heart from bursting free. “You’re!” She just pointed. Slightly accusatory. Mainly appreciatively.
He grinned. At first it was flirty but then. Well he did something, his gaze went all hooded and suddenly he was telling her with his mind or something just what he was going to do to her.
Her cells all swooned and dropped their panties.
“I’m?” he asked, but he couldn’t have pretended to be innocent with that damned expression. He knew he was blowing her gaskets with his hotness.
Which made him even more alluring.
“You know what you are.” She folded her arms across her chest, but under her boobs just right to keep the girls looking their best. “So? The thing that called you away from me earlier? Everything okay?”
“Oh. That.” He bristled a little. Like the aura of magic and power around him grew brighter and then sharper for long moments.
Mesmerizing.
“It was stupid werewolf bullshit. Pembry wolves jumped a Dooley. Rules were broken. I don’t want to talk about that right now because, damn, you’re pretty without clothes,” he told her as he unzipped his pants and shucked them and his shorts.
Katie Faith sighed happily. Truth in advertising, apparently. Jace’s cock was every bit as impressive as she thought it might be.
She gave two thumbs up. “Excellent. You look pretty spectacular naked too.”
“Now that we’ve gotten the compliments out of the way, let’s get started with the good stuff.”
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to do anything but fall over faint when you talk like that while you’re naked. Or clothed. I mean, the intent is big here.”
Katie Faith screamed at herself to stop talking. She was off on a babble, which was erasing her cool points for opening the door in barely any clothes.
“You can use your mouth in better ways than talking.” He crooked a finger at her, beckoning her close.
She got close enough for him to haul her all the way to his body, skin to skin as he managed to pick her up, turn and land them both on the bed.
“I can see having sex with you means I need to work out. Damn it. I was hoping to coast on my good looks a while.”
He rolled so she ended up astride him.
“I’ll do the heavy lifting,” he assured her.
“I’ll let you know when I get tired,” Katie Faith mumbled as she bent to kiss across his collarbone.
He smelled so good she paused here and there as she licked and nibbled to sniff him.
Every time she did he made a sound that sent a full body shiver of pleasure through her.
His muscles seemed to radiate power. She knew what it must have cost him to be still and let her roam all over his body, kissing, licking, sniffing, nuzzling and all that good stuff.
She learned what he liked, how he liked to be touched.
But then he whipped her to her back, looming over her as he settled between her thighs.
Before she could say a thing, his mouth was on hers, taking, taking and taking until she was breathless and trembly.
The kisses they’d shared had been pretty hot, but the ones he laid on her right then were so much more. He sipped at her, treasured, tasted, devastated and claimed her mouth with a skillful ninja-like dance of sex moves. Tongue, teeth and lips all working like a goddamn robot of pleasure.
Beep. Beep. Boop.
Okay, that made her nearly laugh, even as she was so turned on her muscles just sort of quaked and jumped.
He used that clever tongue on her right nipple. Some sort of sex trick that made her hips jut forward of their own accord.
“What was that?” she gasped.
“What do you mean?” He asked but he knew what he was doing to her. The clever, clever cad that he was. His stubble scratched against her belly as he kissed each rib.
She dug her nails into his shoulders where she’d been hanging on as he pillaged her, or whatever it was, something fantastic and totally devastating all at once and he hadn’t even made her come yet.
But it was close. Building up like a storm on the horizon.
He hummed his delight as he spread her thighs with the width of his shoulders and then took a lick along the seam where her leg met her body. Then on the other side. His hands—really big hands—petted from her breasts down her sides to her hips. Over and over again until she was hypnotized by it. Soothed as he incited her in a dozen other ways.
He slid her open with his thumbs at long last and sighed so happily, so much like a dog after you gave it some of your scrambled egg it nearly made her laugh.
But she looked at him there, head bent over her pussy, those wide, sunkissed shoulders, his hair, still streaked with summer gold here and there, one rebellious curl had fallen down over his forehead.
He looked at her as if she was the most beautiful and sexy creature he’d ever seen. And that stole her breath. Made her heart skip a beat.
He dipped his head and kissed her. Long and slow as he served himself her body. She dug her heels into the mattress with a groan of pleasure.
He was so good at that. She might have told him, but by the time it left her lips it sounded more like a bunch of pained breaths.
Jace did something to her clit with the tip of his tongue and the edge of his teeth that felt so good it nearly hurt. She writhed against him, wanting more. He gave it to her when he circled a fingertip around her as he slowly eased inside. Stretching her a little as he sucked her clit in between slightly puckered lips.
It was suddenly way too much and she overflowed with sensation as she came so hard her teeth tingled.
He held on, continuing to kiss and lick until she was boneless.
“Now I think you might be ready,” he murmured against her belly.
Still reeling from the taste of her, the magic dusting his skin, the memory of what it felt to make Katie Faith come like that, Jace managed to heave his body up the bed to settle beside her.
“Ready for what?” she asked, cracking her eyes open to take him in.
“We’ve been interrupted right as I was about to get inside you on more than o
ne occasion now. I’ve got lots of energy stored up. I wanted to be sure you were ready.”
She snorted and gave him the okay sign. “When I can make my legs move again, I’ll be all over that.”
Jace never thought he’d be a laughing while having sex kind of guy. But he loved her irreverence. She lightened his heart.
He wanted to take her in so many ways it was hard to settle on just how he wanted her right then. As he considered, he trailed a fingertip over the hollow of her throat and then down to one nipple, drawn tight against his touch, and then the other.
She was warm and soft, totally open to him as he touched her, sliding his fingers over all the skin he could reach.
“Eventually, you’re going to pet me to sleep,” she told him, a smile on her lips.
“I’m boggled by all the options. Too interested in each and every way I plan to fuck you over the next sixty years or so to pick just one.”
Her brows flew up. “Sixty years huh?”
“Well, that’s an understatement, but I didn’t want to scare you. I plan to have recovering from a very fine orgasm with you in my arms as my very last memory at a very ripe old age in the triple digits.”
“Everyone thinks you’re so serious. If they only knew.” Katie Faith stretched out to kiss his chin. “Because we have at least six decades of sexytimes ahead of us, I’m going to get started.”
With that, she clambered over him, straddled his waist and as he struggled to get breath, she’d grabbed his cock at the root and then he was right there, pressing up into her snug heat as she brought herself down on him.
“I think that was a really good choice,” she told him around a kiss she’d bent to deliver.
“I agree.” Though to be fair, he couldn’t really see any situation where his dick was in, on, around this woman that he wouldn’t like.
She hadn’t bothered to turn off the bedroom light, a fact he was glad of as he lay back and watched his siren of a witch ride him.