Page 18 of Fae Devoted (Fae Touched #3)
Brandon and Michael appeared to be in their late twenties, but Johnnie sensed they were at least sixty, which was still considered rather young in the shifter world. Yet every unmated Ferwyn, no matter the age, wanted to find a truemate. Some never did.
“Oh.” The acceptance of the lost opportunity to fulfill the dream evident in the droop of his broad shoulders.
“You the truck?” Michael asked, not giving up as easily as his clanmate.
Apart from Jacob’s massive vehicle, there was a single car in the lot, and a middle-aged woman stood beside it pumping gas.
“Yup, that’s me,” she said, pleased to have avoided the sticky situation with relative ease.
“Here, let me carry that to your car.” He snatched the groceries away.
“I’ve got it.” Her compassion and optimism fled when she tugged at the bag, and he didn’t let go. “I need to get going.”
“Sure.” Michael transferred the cheap plastic sack to one hand and cupped her elbow with the other, firm in his intent to escort Johnnie to her vehicle. He took a step toward the truck but came to an abrupt halt when she dug in her heels. “Joan?”
She couldn’t let them near Jacob. They’d smell him the second the door opened.
“Did you forget something inside the store?” Brandon asked.
Panic seized Johnnie’s mind, and unsurprisingly, spilled from her mouth. “Cat!”
“Cat?” Michael frowned and cocked his head.
“Where?” Brandon inspected the ground and browsed the area for signs of a stray.
“In my pickup,” she said, praying the vinegary scent of fear disguised the camphor of the whopping untruth.
“She’s a calico and hates male shifters, vampires too, but especially shifters.
Though I don’t suppose, um, Bunny’s coloring has anything to do with her hatred of y’all.
But, trust me, she’ll lose her ever-loving mind if she gets a whiff of you two, and when she’s scared, her fur falls out in clumps.
” As a rule, feline species all over the world avoided the more aggressive races of Fae Touched, but it was a cat’s notorious disdain for the male gender she was counting on to support the degree of alarm oozing from her pores.
“I’ll have to give Bunny a Valium, and it upsets her stomach.
And then she’ll puke in her carrying case, and well, yeah, that would be bad. ”
“You named your cat Bunny?” Michael’s brown eyes crinkled at the corners.
“She was a fluffy kitten. And soft like a…bunny.”
Oh, good Lord.
Michael’s gaze went sweet on her as though her silliness was adorable. Brandon blinked once and stared. Apparently, not all males thought ditzy was cute.
“So, if you don’t mind.” She reached for the food and drinks. “I think it’d be best for everyone’s sake, but mostly Bunny’s and my nose, if we said goodbye here.”
“You’re sure you can’t delay your trip for a few days?” Michael reluctantly relinquished her bag.
“I really can’t.” Truth. “But it was nice meeting you both. Take care!”
Concentrating on walking and not sprinting, Johnnie waited until arriving at the driver’s side to look back and wave goodbye.
Brandon turned and went inside. Michael watched her as she climbed into the truck.
“Shhhh, it’s okay, baby. Mama’s here now,” she said to caution Jacob to remain silent while Michael was listening.
Johnnie settled behind the wheel and placed the food in the other seat. With a last wave at Michael through the windshield, she shut the door and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Your heart’s pounding, Jo. I can hear it.” Jacob’s voice was low and controlled, but the alpha pheromones swirling inside the enclosed cab made her head swim, the hair rise on her nape—and heaven help her—her nipples pebble.
“I’m fine. I promise to explain everything in a minute.” Keeping her eyes forward, she drove straight to the interstate.
Johnnie hadn’t gone a mile when Jacob uncurled. “Pull over.”
“It’ll be safer if we get off at the next exit. What if a cop checks—”
“Jo, pull over,” he said with a tenderness that made tears spring to her eyes knowing how close his wolf must be to the surface. “You shouldn’t be driving.”
He was right. Her hands were shaking, and her heart wouldn’t quit racing.
“Okay.” She took a quick breath and pulled to the side of the road.
Jacob jumped out and had her door wrenched open before the truck came to a complete stop. “Scoot over, baby.”
Baby?
He didn’t give her a chance to savor the endearment before he shoved his big body inside, giving her no choice but to obey the command.
Johnnie moved the groceries from the front seat to the back and then scrambled across the middle.
Trying to calm down, she watched the ascending oranges and pinks of morning twilight meld with the purples and blues of a rapidly fading night sky.
“Seatbelt.” Jacob waited for the buckle to fasten before clasping Johnnie’s left hand with his right. “Tell me about the two shifters.”
“You saw them?”
“Yeah, I saw them.” The muscle in Jacob’s jaw hardened, his shoulders and spine stiffly set, but the thumb brushing her skin remained feather soft.
“I was afraid.” She squeezed his fingers.
“They threatened you?” he asked in a strained hush.
“No, Jacob, I was afraid for you .” She pivoted toward him, loosening her crushing hold but not letting go.
“What if I hadn’t been able to persuade them to let me walk to the truck by myself?
What if they’d insisted? They would have found you and then what?
Michael and Brandon might have tried to detain you or issued a challenge, or…
taken our license plate number and reported the territory breach to their Alpha. ”
“Michael and Brandon?”
“I’ve forgotten their last names, but they’re from the local Groverman Pack. They insisted on formal introductions, even though I was sending not-interested-so-don’t-bother vibes, but you know how unmated Ferwyn males can be.”
Jacob answered with a harsh grunt.
“Anyway, they wouldn’t give up, so I had to lie to them.”
“And you got away with that, how?”
“Well,” Johnnie began, taking the first easy breath in what seemed like forever. She had gotten away with it, hadn’t she? Jacob was safe, and they were together. Not together together, but that was a problem for another day. “I distracted them with Bunny.”
“Who’s Bunny?”
“You are.”