This girl was the coolest chick in the whole world. One in a million. He’d never met anyone like her. He was just standing here like a love-struck idiot watching the way her pretty lips formed words.
It was starting to hit him just how important she was. Inside, his crow was quiet, and in the woods, Lucian had disappeared. Maybe it was her. Maybe she was just too light and bright for bad things to dwell near. He was at the lowest point of his entire life, and still…she made him feel relieved. She made him feel…happy. “You’re going to make it impossible to leave you again, aren’t you?”
“Yep. I brought a pocket knife for whenever you want me to slice up your hand.”
“What?”
“Bailey said crows like to cut each other and give each other gifts when they pick each other. Sooo…” She handed him the can of squeeze cheese. “Gift, and I’ve been practicing flicking my blade open like a badass so I can give you a boner when you see how cool I really am.”
As he held the cold cheese container and watched Leah flick open a tiny pink pocket knife a few times, he realized something huge.
He loved her.
This little human wasn’t a runner. She was a barnacle. She was decisive with love. She was loyal as hell, and now he understood the true meaning of ride-or-die. She wasn’t scared of his life or Lucian…or him. He wasn’t some monster to her. He was just Ethan.
She put the closed knife in her pocket and looked up at him. She had tears in her eyes. Something had changed suddenly with her.
She catapulted into him like a little cannon ball and hugged him tight. “I’m tough, Ethan. Not much gets to me, and I know I stay annoyingly positive, but this week was really awful. I waited for you to text me, call me, or come to the restaurant and I really really missed you. I couldn’t sleep, and I didn’t even want to eat, and I love to eat. I stared at your picture on the handyman site at least three hundred times, and I cried twice, and I never cry. Don’t leave like that again. It doesn’t do anyone any good. It just gives us sad days, and I’m still yours either way.”
Aw, fuck. He’d hurt her bad. Wounded her.
He hugged her up and closed his eyes because it felt so damn good to have her soft little body against him again. He hadn’t kept her safe at all. He’d made her cry, and her tears gutted him.
He needed to do better. To be better. He didn’t deserve her, but she’d picked him anyway, and from here on, he was going to protect her, no matter what, and that included her tender heart. “I’m gonna keep you safe, okay?”
“Well, yeah, I know. You bought me a first-aid kit.”
“No,” he said, laughing. “Not just from yourself. I mean I won’t let anything bad happen to you.” This was him holding himself accountable as he looked over at where Lucian had disappeared. He didn’t break promises, so if he made one to Leah now, he was in it. “I promise I won’t leave again.”
“Gasp!” she said, looking up at him with her chin resting on his chest and the biggest, prettiest smile he’d ever seen on anyone. God, she was stunning.
“Ethan! Supper’s getting cold,” Ma called from inside.
He frowned. “Wait, what are you doing at my mom’s house?”
“Oh, she didn’t tell you?” Leah’s grin got even brighter. “This is an intervention.”
Chapter Ten
Ethan was back. He was back, he was back, he was back!
Leah couldn’t even catch her breath, she was so excited.
“Let’s get this intervention over with,” he muttered.
“How mad are you?” she asked.
“Fourteen percent, but mostly I want to get out of here and go fuck you in that boat.”
She grinned and slipped her hand into his offered one. “You’re good at touching me.”
Ethan’s gaze was trained on where their fingers intertwined. He huffed a surprised breath. “It’s a first for me.”
“Well then, I feel special.”
Ethan opened the front door. Against her ear, he murmured, “You are special.”
Swoon! “I have a crush on you,” she rushed out as they faced the waiting crowd.
A small woman with long silver-streaked hair pulled her into a hug. “I’m Lina, Ethan’s mom.”
“It’s really nice to meet you. I brought you a box of wine,” Leah said, plucking the thing from Ethan’s grasp and offering it to his mom. “I really want you to like me so I got red. It cost thirty-two cents more.”
Lina laughed and took the wine, hugged it to her chest. “Thank you, I love red. And I already like you just fine. My boy came in here smiling. I haven’t seen that in years.”
Leah scrunched up her face and looked up at Ethan to gauge if his mom was joking. “You smile all the time, though.”
He draped his arm over her shoulder and kissed her temple. “I do with you. It’s a new thing.”
“Ethan smiles?” a huge, ink-covered muscle-man said from a couch where he sat next to Bailey. “A smile on him means he’s been body-snatched. You probably need to check him for aliens.”
“Hi, Rike!” Leah waved with both hands but then reminded herself to act normal. She clasped them in front of her lap. “I like your tattoos. You have a million. Is that a wolf tattoo?” she asked, pointing to his wrist. “That’s cool. I brought crackers. Is it hot in here? I’m nervous.”
The giant sat there frozen, but that was a normal reaction. Most people didn’t know how to answer her. Eee, just be cool. “Are you Lina’s mate?” she asked a tall man with gray in his dark hair.
“Yes, I am,” he said, standing. He held out his hand, and she shook it hard. “I’m Conner,” he introduced himself. “Nice to meet you, Leah.” The man had the deepest, growliest voice she’d ever heard. His eyes were a bright silver so he couldn’t be human.
“Who are you?” Ethan asked. He was looking toward the back of the room with the focus of a hungry predator on prey.
Against the wall, elbows resting on his bent knees, sat a man perhaps her age with brunette hair that hung in his face and bright silver eyes that looked like Conner’s. His skin was almost as pale as Bailey’s, and the ink down one of his arms contrasted with the fair color. His eyes were slightly slanted, and he wasn’t smiling, only staring right back at Ethan. He wore a black T-shirt with a leather biker’s cut over it.
When Rike stood and canted his head at the man, Leah could feel the tension grow in the air. A soft snarl left Bailey’s throat as she stood, too, and faced the newcomer. He must’ve snuck in from another room or something.
“Boys,” Lina said softly, “I wanted to have a family dinner so I invited Kade.”
Ethan jerked his attention to his mom. “What do you mean he’s family?”
Connor was the one who answered. “Kade is my son.”
“Wolf,” Bailey growled.
“Naturally,” Conner said. “He’s a born wolf of my bloodline.”
“What Clan are you pledged to?” Ethan asked in a careful tone.
Kade’s face twisted up in a feral snarl for just a moment before he relaxed it again and stood. And stood and stood and stood. He was every bit as tall and wide as the Blackwood Crows.
“I’m a lone wolf,” he said, pointing to a name patch on his chest that read the same words. Lone Wolf. “No Clan. No urge to pledge fealty to anyone.”
Ethan and Rike shared a look, but Leah hadn’t a guess what they’d said with their eyes. Both expressions matched and were unreadable.
“You fuck with Bailey, you fuck with both of us,” Ethan said.
“I’m not attracted to wolves, and I’m sure as shit not the type of man who goes after another man’s bitch.”
“Watch it,” Rike snarled.
Kade threw his hands up in surrender, but the look in his eyes said Rike could go fuck himself. “Easy there. Female dogs are bitches. No insult meant.”
Conner let off a long sigh and ran his hand down his dark beard. “You gonna tell them or do you want me to?”
Kade shrugged up
one shoulder and seemed bored. “It’ll be more fun if I make them guess. My animal is ready to hunt, so let’s make dinner quick.” He gestured to the wall beside him and gave an empty smile. “My wolf isn’t so patient when he’s hungry.”
There were deep claw marks down the wall where he pointed, and Leah gasped. He’d Changed into a wolf in here? In this house? The more she looked, the more damage she saw. Repaired table legs, glued lamps, and holes in the lower part of the walls that had been quickly spackled, not even painted yet. Claw marks everywhere. Even the front door had been chewed.
“Holy shit,” Ethan murmured, his focus on Kade as the man sauntered into the kitchen.
“What is he?” Rike asked Conner.
“He’s your step-brother.”
“You know what he means,” Ethan rumbled.
Conner said, “He’s a monster like you two. And I’ll ask you at least give him a chance to have some kind of relationship with you.”
“Why?”
But something about the man felt familiar. Leah had heard his voice before. “Because he’s been helping you.”
“What?” Ethan asked.
Leah pulled her cell phone from her back pocket and called the mystery number. In the other room, the ringing of a phone sounded.
“Clever little human,” Kade’s voice rang out.
She disconnected the call and looked up at Ethan. “He sent me to the hotel to help you. And he told me when Bailey was coming into the restaurant so I could trust her. He’s been watching over you.”
The slamming of a door in the kitchen startled her, and as they filed in there to see what had happened, a howl rose outside.
Lina walked to the window and stared out into the night. Then she grabbed a plate from a pile and began scooping a heaping spoonful of chicken and dumplin’s onto it from a huge pot on the stove. “You all sit on down and we’ll start supper. Kade won’t be back tonight. His Changes take days sometimes.”
Conner made his way to Lina and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed the side of her head and murmured something in her ear that was too quiet for Leah to make out.
Ethan frowned at his mom and held out a chair at the table for Leah. “What’s wrong?” he asked Lina as Leah took her seat.
Lina turned and handed Rike the plate. She gave a tight smile but couldn’t hold their gazes. She was tearing up. “I’ve dreamed of having all my boys at the same table for a dinner since Lucian took you two away and since I met Conner and took in this wiry, ferocious little wolf cub as my own. My three monsters,” she said with a mushy smile. “Kade always helped me keep up with you two. I missed you terribly bad, and he never resented you for having to share me with two boys his age that weren’t around. He just helped me find out all I could about you. What you were doing, if you were safe, and if you were happy. I know what he is. I know what his wolf is. But it’s the same as with you two. I love you despite what you are. And tonight I was really close to having you eat at the same table like a family.” She sucked in air and stood up straighter, lifted her chin and smiled. “I had you all in the same room for a couple minutes, and that’s good enough for now.”
“Oh,” Leah said as quiet as a breath as Ethan pulled beers from the fridge. “Well, why don’t we try again next week?”
Ethan settled the drinks on the table, sat next to Leah and draped his arm on the back of her chair. And then he scooted her closer to him, the legs of her seat scraping loudly against the tile floor. “Ma, if it’s important to you, I wouldn’t be opposed.”
“Really?” Lina asked with heartbreaking hope in her voice.
Leah stabbed a dumplin’ off Rike’s plate and shoveled it in her mouth, then moaned in ecstasy. “Oh my God, yes. Family dinners.” Around the bite she said, “Cujo should be all finished up with his hunting and peeing in the woods and shedding by next week.”
Bailey snorted and then cleared her throat to cover the sound up from where she was filling plates with food.
Leah stabbed some chicken and smooshed it around in the gravy on Rike’s plate while he stared at her like she’d lost her mind. She got those looks a lot.
“Look, I can bring more boxed wine, help cook, and me and Bailey can be best friends and call each other beforehand and match our outfits and nails, and we’ll just keep trying until all the boys can stay human long enough to eat a meal. My favorite food is chicken fried steak. I can totally steal us some from the restaurant I work in. I made the cook a macaroni picture and I’m pretty sure he would do anything for me now. Plus I don’t know many people, and you all seem nice.”
“We’re a bunch of psychopaths and blood-thirsty shifters,” Rike pointed out.
Leah shrugged her shoulders and smeared butter onto a roll. “Sounds like a good time to me.”
“Oh good, she’s a psychopath, too,” Rike said. “She’ll fit right in.”
“Purple,” Bailey said, tossing Leah a wink over her shoulder. “Next week the nail color should be purple.”
Leah got overexcited and shrieked a high-pitched sound, and beside her, Ethan laughed. He pulled her closer to his side and kissed her. “I fucking love you,” he murmured, an inch away from her face.
Eek, eek, eek! Her whole body was butterflies.
“I’ve never seen you look so happy,” Lina said in a mushy voice.
“Neither have I,” Rike murmured from across the table.
Ethan let off a sigh and lifted his demon-black gaze to his brother, then to Bailey. “I never told you, but I’m glad your wolf found you again.”
“I was pissed at you,” Rike said. “I mean…fucking enraged at what you did. You betrayed Ramsey, yeah, but it was more than that. I didn’t remember anything, E. Do you know what that feels like? When half your life is just a hole? You should’ve told me about Bailey.”
Ethan nodded slow and squeezed Leah’s leg under the table. She hugged onto his arm and kissed him gently right on the curve of his bicep. I’m here.
“I realize it now. I found something…”
“You found your mate,” Bailey said, scooting her chair out from under the table gently and taking her seat.
Ethan swallowed hard. His eyes were roiling like storm clouds and somber when they landed on Leah. “If anyone tried to keep my old lady from me, I would do awful things to punish them. Slow things. Things that would mark my soul for always, and I wouldn’t lose a minute of sleep at night. So…” He lifted his attention back to Rike. “I understand your anger over me keeping you from Bailey. You can take your pound of flesh.” He gave a wicked grin. “Or you can try.”
“Tempting,” Rike said with a matching feral smile. “But I think you did it to protect Bailey. And to protect me.”
Ethan popped the top on one of the beers and took a good swig of it, eyes narrowed over the bottle at his brother. When he set the drink back on the table with a soft thud, he asked, “Are you getting the flashbacks yet?”
“Oh, yeah,” Rike said, looking pale as he picked at the label of his own beer. “They’re awful. Lucian was one messed-up mother fucker.”
“He still is,” Leah chirped up.
Rike frowned. “What do you mean? His ghost is gone now.”
Ethan looked at the kitchen window again and chuckled. “Nah, he got bored with you. He’s spending time with me and Leah now.”
“I got to see Ethan’s first flight last week,” Leah said around a bite of buttered roll. “It was traumatizing.” She pointed to Rike’s arm. “I saw you get that scar.”
“The fuck?” Rike asked.
“The flashbacks you get?” Ethan asked. “I get to see them played out now, and apparently he can show them to Leah, too.”
“Oh my God,” Bailey whispered, looking horrified as she set a full plate in front of Leah.
Rike glanced back and forth between Ethan and Leah. “But…you look happy.”
“She gave me squeeze cheese as a gift, man,” Ethan said with an easy chuckle. “What man wouldn’t be happy? This girl doesn’
t have a dark bone in her body.” He slid his hand down Leah’s leg and squeezed her knee comfortingly. “She’s different. She makes it fuckin’ impossible to stay in a pissed-off mood. Not even Lucian himself can keep her down. We’re just gonna have to deal with the bad parts, and when we get breaks, enjoy the hell out of the good times.”
“Amen.” Leah sighed happily as she ogled his glorious profile. He’d just said the nicest things about her in front of his whole family. He’d claimed her as his girl in front of everyone. It was a first, and she was glad no one else had done it. It made this moment even more special. She squeezed his bicep gently. “I like to annoy people into being happy with me. You’re good at not fighting it. I think you get me.”
As the bustle of conversation picked up again around them, Ethan set a plate in front of Leah, and started scooping green beans from the big bowl in the middle of the table. “You’re easy to get, woman. You’re one of those people who is full of life and you want to enjoy every day, and that joy is infectious. Smart. Beautiful. Sooo fucking beautiful. Funny. Big heart, and you’re always up for an adventure. And I think you get me back. You don’t run and you don’t shame me. You’re a rare find.”
Bailey was now sitting across the table with her face resting in her hands, just smiling at them. “That’s the sweetest word combination I’ve ever heard come from him, and I’ve known him his whole life.” She smirked. “In fact, I don’t recall ever hearing him put three words together at once. He mostly just answered with grunts. You must be magical, Leah.”
Well, that was a fantastic compliment. Bailey hadn’t called her weird even once. And as Leah looked around at everyone settling in to eat, she had a moment of belonging that she’d longed for. It didn’t matter what animals any of them had inside. It didn’t matter about Ethan’s past or the things he’d done to survive to this point. All that mattered was that he’d survived. That he existed. That he was hers and she was his. And yeah, he kept looking at the kitchen window every few seconds, so that probably meant Lucian was here. And yeah, his life was a bit of a mess at the moment. But right now she felt like a part of something special with a family who had been broken but were making strides to mend old cracks and wounds that had separated them.