Page 13 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)

CHAPTER 13

MAX

I didn’t know Summer well, but I knew enough to be wary of the spring in her step. Her ponytail swished as we strolled up the long winding drive to the pack house, every color of tulip guiding the way up the path.

The full skirt of her yellow sundress flared around her legs. Paired with white sneakers and a denim jacket, she had a decidedly cute style, but I wasn’t fooled for a minute. She was a firecracker in a pretty package, and a Roman Candle at that. It would be easy to be distracted by how beautiful she was while she burned your damn house to the ground.

Add in that I now knew how she tasted, how fucking sweet she was, and I was struggling to keep my shit together. Was I an asshole for disappearing without a word for a week after I’d bitten her? Maybe. But I’d barely held myself back from pushing her to the floor and fucking her then and there, right on her roof. The image of her naked and panting was still seared into my retinas, her pupils blown and nipples hard.

Fuck, I couldn’t be thinking about this right now, not on the way to meet her family.

There was no universe in which Summer and I should actually get involved. She didn’t strike me as the casual fling type, and that was all I was capable of. I had to keep that in mind.

Running away for a few days had been the right decision, even if my solo hunt for more dens had been fruitless. I only worried a week hadn’t been long enough.

Pushing aside those thoughts, I forced myself to remember the other conundrum I’d encountered — not being able to get in touch with Malachi. I’d reached out to share the details of our visit to Boston, but so far, I hadn’t heard back from my dad.

Beside me, Summer began to whistle — a bad omen if ever I heard one — and it had me thinking back over everything I’d said up until this point.

She spun around, walking backwards up the hill. “You ready?”

“For lunch?”

The sun backlit the mountains and forests framing the large rough-cut log home, but I couldn’t look away from the smile she beamed my way, hiding a level of sinister enjoyment I knew meant I was in for it.

But damn, she was pretty.

Any thoughts of how kissable she looked fled as the front door opened, West’s frame imposing against the warm glow of the house behind him. Even from several dozen feet away, a wash of protective aggression radiated from him, and Summer giggled, high and airy. For a second, West hesitated at the sight of me, but his brows quickly furrowed into a glare.

She spun back around, then jogged up the hill as Cooper and Terran took up the spots behind West, blocking the entire front entry.

“Hi boys,” she said sweetly, waving her fingers. “Lunch ready?”

“Get inside,” West growled, his eyes blazing gold. Under normal circumstances, West had the same brown hair and hazel eyes as Summer and the rest of his siblings, but the gold glare told me his wolf was in charge. As an Alpha wolf, that meant something had truly pissed him off. He was usually as in control as any wolf I’d ever met, except around his mate, but Jade didn’t seem to be the issue right now. His biceps bulged under the grey tee he wore, everything about him radiating tension.

I glanced sideways at Summer for any clues as to why we were having a pissing contest as I reached her side, but she still smiled that almost creepy smile.

Terran was slightly shorter than West, but had the same coloring, his shaggy hair hidden beneath a Buffalo Willies snapback. Cooper was taller and looked as feral as the mountain man he truly was, large and imposing just like his mountain lion form. Even though West was Alpha of the Timber Creek pack, it was Cooper I was the most intimidated by.

“Alpha’s orders.” Summer stood up on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek — eliciting low growls from her brothers — then squeezed sideways between Cooper and Terran into the house beyond.

Hiding my shock at the brief kiss, I moved to follow, but West stopped me on the front step. I looked down at his hand on my black leather jacket, palm splayed as he pushed back. He knew he couldn’t take me in a fight, and yet his body language screamed he was ready to try.

Today was not that day, though.

I took a step back, shoving my hands in my pockets, waiting for whatever he wanted to say.

He crossed his arms and stared me down. “ You’re the boyfriend.”

I raised a brow, a mixture of sass and pure confusion. Boyfriend? “That a question?”

“Should we kill him?” Terran asked, his voice low.

“Are we waiting on some other male, then?” West asked, dismissing his brother.

Glancing over my shoulder back to town, I shrugged. “Not that I’m aware of, no.”

“Were you planning on telling me you were dating my sister? And how long has this been going on behind my back?”

Dating? Who told him we were dating? Still, I didn’t appreciate being accosted like this. I held up a finger. “For one, your sister is 29. She doesn’t need your permission, or anyone else’s, to date who she pleases. And two” — I added a second finger — “I wasn’t aware I needed to report to you, Larkin.”

Terran’s nostrils flared, his jaw clenched. “Want to try that again? Permission is one thing, but common fucking courtesy is another.”

“We should kill him,” Cooper added. While Terran might have been semi-joking, I knew the big cat meant it. Not only was his animal as vicious as they came, he was former military Special Ops — he’d rip me to shreds and hide my body so well, not even another shifter could find me.

West held out a hand to stay Cooper when he stepped forward. “Tell me what the hell is going on then.”

Movement inside the house to my left caught my attention and I glanced that way. Summer’s face was practically pressed up to the glass as she smiled and waved, then blew me a kiss.

My wandering attention didn’t help the brothers’ attitudes when I turned back. And then it all clicked.

This was a test. I’d made her mad by expecting her to read my mind in the den, following instructions I never gave her, and now she was doing the same, throwing me to the literal wolves to follow her lead.

I had two options: tell them their sister was making it up and risk looking like Summer and I were fucking around and I didn’t want to claim her, or fake it so hard even she believed it.

Two could play her game. Maybe there was no way we could actually date, but toying with me like this? She needed to learn I was not to be played with.

“Fine. Yes. I hadn’t found the right time to tell you about us, but apparently Summer was done waiting to share the happy news. What has she told you?”

“Nothing,” Terran said, a dark smirk on his face. “She hasn’t mentioned you even once until tonight. Not a good sign, blackbird. She’s chatty. Not many secrets, that one.”

“I believe I asked you a question, Max.” West’s stare was unwavering, and something in me flared at his reaction to all of this, even if it was a lie.

West and I were friends, or at the very least friend-ish, and I didn’t have many of those. I could understand he’d be protective of his sister, but still, this reaction from him jarred me. Did he really think so little of me as to hate the idea of Summer and I dating? Was I so far gone, so far beneath her that the idea was as appalling as his reaction made it seem?

Unable to help myself, I gave a hedging shrug. I didn’t owe him any explanations, even if I had been Summer’s actual boyfriend. “Our relationship is our business. Now, I think we were invited to a barbecue — though, to be honest, I already ate.” I smirked at Cooper, flashing the barest hint of my fangs. The cat looking ready to slash my throat, which felt familiar enough to put me at ease. I gestured at the doorway. “May I? Oh, that’s right — I don’t actually need to be invited in, do I?”

I took a pointed step over the threshold, reminding West the whole vampire-invitation thing didn’t apply to me. Besides, I’d been in his house before, and was about to have to test whether they’d part and let me through when someone beat me to it.

“Hey Max!” A much smaller figure pushed between the males, vibrant green hair the dead giveaway even before Jade’s face became visible. “Two visits in a week, huh? And why didn’t you mention you were interested in Summer? I would have put in a good word for you, but I guess you didn’t even need it since she says it’s pretty serious between you two.” She slapped my chest playfully, then pulled me into the house, right past the grumbling males at the door.

I nodded at Jade, following her through the large entryway, open to the floor above, wondering what the fuck Summer had gotten us into. The three brothers walked behind me, their presence like a dark cloud. Fortunately, I thrived in the darkness.

In the kitchen, Summer’s dad Heath stood at the island with Terran’s daughter River, the young girl stirring a salad that spilled out of the bowl a little more with each stir. At my entrance, Heath’s eyes flicked up to mine, but unlike his sons, he only had a moment’s hesitation before offering a smile.

“Max, glad you could join us,” he said, his voice warm and friendly as he reached out and shook my hand. Just that small gesture had a little of the tension in my shoulders dissipating. Unlike my own father, Heath was the epitome of Dad, down to his cargo shorts, white tube socks, and squeaky clean New Balance sneakers. His hair was the same deep brown as most of his children, but shot through with grey. Also, my father would never be caught dead in a red apron with Daddio of the Patio written in bold letters. “And just in time. Where’s my baby girl?”

“Right here.” Summer skipped around the counter, throwing her arms around her dad’s neck as she kissed his cheek then looked in the bowl in front of him. “What are we making?”

“The peaches are extra juicy this time of year. I was out tending my Willie last night when an idea struck me. Everyone loves my spicy sausage, but what if I could make it even better?”

“I swear, you do this on purpose,” Terran mumbled as he walked into the kitchen, leaning on the far wall with his arms and ankles crossed, laughter lines evident on his face even though he didn’t smile.

“I was thinking,” Heath continued, completely ignoring his son, the same way West had. “What if I grilled the peaches, and then sliced it, laying it on its side like this” — he arranged a peach half face down, rounded side up on a plate — “then placed the spicy sausage down the center to really soak up the juices better?”

The display was obscenely sexual, and I did my best not to gawk at what should have been innocent food and was decidedly not.

“Dad.” West scowled, and Terran turned his face away from the room, rubbing at his short beard. Summer’s cheeks tinged the darkest pink as she closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath, then opened them, meeting mine, mouthing I’m so sorry.

“Where are your feathers?” River asked, head tilted in confusion at my wingless state and thankfully breaking up the awkward conversation Heath had started. “Daddy says you’re the Dark Angel with black feathers my friends talk about.”

Summer grinned as she grabbed a grape from a bowl on the island and popped it in her mouth, gesturing for me to join her at the counter.

“Would you like to see them?” I asked. River’s blue eyes went wide as she nodded vigorously. I let my wings appear, shrugging my shoulders to settle them close to my body. They were the same deep black as my outfit, but the light caught them, highlighting the dimension in each feather. Although my feelings about my heritage were mixed, at best, I did love how unique my wings were.

River giggled and pointed at them. “Sparkly! You’re like My Little Pony . I like the alicorns the best, and they have wings just like yours. Twilight Sparkle is prettier than you, though. She’s purple. ”

This time Summer didn’t hold her laugh. I frowned, glancing at my own feathers. Sparkly ? I might have flexed my wings a bit. “Well, not everyone can be Twilight Sparkle. Besides, I think you mean my wings are devastating and intimidating, fit for the Dark Angel such as myself.”

River wrinkled her nose and sent a cherry tomato flying across the room from the forgotten spoon-turned-catapult in her hand. “What does that mean?”

“Scary,” Summer said, trailing a finger down the edge of my wings that had me shuddering down to my toes. She might not have known what she was doing, but holy shit, were wings sensitive. As quickly as she started, she stopped, patting my shoulder. “ So intimidating, honey. The most devastating.”

A chorus of snickers came from behind us from West, Terran, and Cooper.

I vanished my wings away.

Needing a distraction from my body’s visceral response to Summer’s tantalizing touch, I turned to Heath as Summer shrugged off her denim jacket and pulled on an apron hanging on the wall. “How can I help with lunch?”

Heath opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by Terran.

“What the fuck ?” He grabbed Summer’s elbow, and held her steady, gaping at something on her shoulder. Tiny yellow strings held the sundress up, tied in neat little bows on her shoulders, but her brother wasn’t staring at the thin shred of fabric.

“Daddy said a bad word.” River giggled with glee, pointing to a large glass jar full of coins on the counter and then to Terran, who fished a coin from his pocket and dropped it in.

“What the he—ck is this, Summer?”

Summer turned slightly, just enough for my jaw to drop at the sight of ink on her shoulder. Black stretched across her skin, slightly blurred as if to appear smudged, but the faint outline of dark wings framed by wildflowers blossomed across the back of her right shoulder blade, stretching down from her nape. Right where I’d bitten her a week ago.

My spine straightened, panic shooting through me.

That wasn’t ink. It was a shadowmark, a brand of sorts worn by a vampire’s claimed. I wasn’t even sure the stories I’d heard about them were true, and I’d never seen a Source with one before, but the dark mark on her skin was hard to ignore.

I swallowed, forcing myself not to let my confusion show. One bite had been enough for a shadowmark?

Summer glanced at it, then smirked at Terran, not showing even a hint of her own surprise. Her pulse didn’t speed up, her nostrils didn’t flare, her eyes didn’t glance towards me, even though she had to be as shocked as I was by this turn of events. Surely, she would have mentioned it earlier if she’d seen it before now. I needed to eat my fucking words — Summer deserved an Oscar for this performance. “Like it?”

West circled around close enough to see it, and, unfortunately for me, he was not an idiot. His gaze drifted from the new mark on his sister, to me, and back.

“Who drew this for you?” Terran demanded. “I thought you were waiting for me to draw your art. That’s always been the plan.”

This time, a flash of hurt crossed Summer’s face, gone in an instant that had me glancing between the two siblings. “I know, and I’m still waiting for you to do my pack sleeve. This was just a spontaneous thing. Spur of the moment, like one does.”

“You are queen of the spontaneous decisions,” Aspen said as she entered the room from the basement down the hall. She was Summer’s only sister, and as closed off as Summer was an open book. Gold wire frames sat across her nose, framing hazel eyes that matched her siblings’, but held none of the warmth Summer’s did as she stared daggers at me. “Massimo.”

“Quit it,” Summer said to Aspen as she stepped up to my side, sliding her hand through mine. “Be nice.”

“I didn’t bring a katana, did I? I am nice.”

Terran snorted. “Honest? Yes. Nice? That’s debatable.”

“Good to see you, Aspen,” I said, trying to wade my way through this large family dynamic so unlike my own as Summer squeezed my fingers, always so touchy. I’d met all the Larkins at least in passing at one point or another, but facing them all at once — while they all thought I was dating the baby sister — was a whole other thing.

Aspen nodded briefly, her gaze calculating as she watched Summer and I in turns, but didn’t say anything else. In a flurry of motion, everyone grabbed plates and trays, carrying them over to the sprawling table. Summer took the seat next to her dad, then tugged me down to the chair next to her.

River sat on my other side, repeatedly moving her chair closer until she was practically in my lap, her eyes flicking back and forth between my shoulder blades and my face. I finally let my wings back out, and her eyes sparkled with delight.

“He’s pretty, isn’t he?” Summer whispered, leaning across me as she spoke quietly to her niece. River grinned wide, nodding enthusiastically.

“Really pretty.”

“The prettiest ,” Cruz agreed as he flickered into the room, dropping into an open chair next to Aspen, then dropped a kiss on her forehead. She recoiled, wiping at her face, and he laughed as he looked around the room. “ Hola, mi familia . What did I miss? How’s Michael?”

Aspen scoffed, waving a hand in my direction. “His name is Max and he’s right there. Ask him yourself.”

Cruz couldn’t contain his grin. “I was referring to your boyfriend, but good to know he’s not even on your mind.”

“My fiancé’s name is Matthew. Which you know.”

Cruz’s hands went up. “Got it. I’ll wait.” He turned away from Aspen’s eye roll to up-nod me. “Hey Max.”

I didn’t know Cruz well, but the demon was Terran’s best friend and basically an honorary Larkin. He wore a backwards baseball hat over his dark hair, tan skin contrasting his bright white smile. His distinctive black irises that marked him as a demon twinkled with amusement, and I got the impression he and Summer would be fiends if they ever teamed up against us.

“Okay, who set the table?” Summer frowned at her place setting, then glared around the table. Innocent eyes met hers all around, and she held up her butter knife.

Looking around the table, I saw the discrepancy — everyone else had a steak knife, except for her place setting and River’s.

Her grip changed on the knife, now holding it as a weapon, any hint of her usual smile gone. “Come clean now and I’ll consider sparing you.”

Heath cleared his throat in discomfort, but Terran broke first.

“Okay, calm down, it was me, but West said —”

West pointed a finger at him. “Hey, you agreed —”

“Unbelievable,” Summer muttered, getting up and walking straight to the knife block. Everyone flinched as she yanked out a steak knife for herself and came back over. “I cut myself one time —”

“You nearly cut your finger off,” Cooper’s low grumble cut in.

“I was seven! And we heal!”

“It was pretty bad, honey,” Heath said with a sympathetic grimace.

“Not to mention the screaming,” Aspen muttered.

Cooper grunted, gesturing to Terran. “Poor T nearly fainted.”

“I did not —”

“Sweetheart, here, I’ll take care of it for you —” Heath made to grab her plate, presumably to cut her steak for her, but she sent him a piercing glare, knife still firmly in her grip, and he yanked his hands back.

“Do I really need to remind you all that I run a bakery ?”

“Cut a lot of steaks there, do you?” Aspen deadpanned.

With a huff, Summer brought her knife to her plate, slicing through her steak with a vengeance, metal scraping across the porcelain. Heath held up his hands in surrender, and the brothers had the decency to avert their gazes. Aspen just shrugged and continued eating her own food.

I was beginning to see what Summer meant about her family treating her like the baby, not trusting her to know herself. It only served to reinforce how ill-suited we would be for each other, and how much I needed to keep my distance from her going forward. We were polar opposites, and this smalltown girl had no business getting mixed up with the likes of me.

“Summer, you got a tattoo? I thought we were going together?” a new voice entered the room, interrupting the awkward silence as Leif joined us. His black Buffalo Willies tee and shirt said he’d just come from working at the restaurant.

Terran whirled. “ Et tu, Brute ?” He mimed stabbing himself in the chest, his sad eyes settled on Summer. “You had plans with Leif and didn’t even tell me?”

Summer scrunched her nose and held her thumb and finger close together. “Only for a very little one.”

“Wow.”

“Her body, her choice,” Cooper grumbled from the other end of the table. Maybe I didn’t totally hate the cat.

“You’d think she’d want to get pack tats first, though,” Aspen added, stabbing at her salad, her gaze resting on me as if she was picturing my face in her bowl. Or maybe my nuts.

“Or at least my art —”

West and Jade shared a look, a clear sign of that wolfy mind-speak thing, and then he frowned. “I thought you had a thing about needles?”

Summer laughed, but it lacked some of her earlier breeziness. “Well, I can make my own decisions! And I got over it!”

“Just like that?” West doubled down as Jade rested a hand on his arm. “There wasn’t any, I don’t know, outside influence —”

Heath sighed. “Children —”

Summer gaped at West. “You think Max, what, manipulated me to get a tattoo?” West shrugged, and Summer scoffed. I stared at my plate, trying to temper my agitation that he immediately chose to blame me for decisions his sister made, as if I was a terrible influence. The only problem was, the shadowmark was my doing — just not how he thought.

“One, he would never , and two, he actually can’t ,” Summer went on, and my head snapped back up, afraid she was about to out me. Her hazel eyes expanded as if she’d just realized what she was about to say. “I’m apparently some super-wolf, immune to his powers. So you can take your prejudice and shove it up your asteroid farm.” Summer shoved a giant bite of steak in her mouth and chewed decisively as everyone else at the table stared at her.

Ah, shit.

West broke first. “Excuse me? Immune?”

Terran leaned his elbows onto the table. “Super-wolf?”

Cooper’s voice was barely above a hiss. “And how the fudge did you figure this out?”

Summer froze mid-chew, realizing her mistake, and her wide eyes met mine.

“Did you take my sister den hunting with you?” West growled, rising from his chair, rage rippling off him.

I set my silverware down, ready to push back from the table and leave.

“Den hunting? As in, vampire dens?” Aspen asked, her attention snapping to me, staring at my black wings I fought not to hide once more. “Vampires are dangerous, right? Exactly what kind of powers are you immune to, Summer?”

“Okay, this is awkward.” Summer chuckled, slipping her hand onto my knee under the table to hold me in place — a move that did not go unnoticed by anyone, least of all my dick. “But if you must know” — she looked past me to River, then with two sharp pinches, plucked out my feathers — “here, River, you go play with these for a minute, okay?”

River’s face lit up as she took them, immediately running from the table over to the living room, where she put the feathers on some blank paper and started coloring.

I turned a slow, deadly glare to Summer. Did she just pluck me? We were going to have a chat about that later.

Cruz and Terran exchanged a glance, clearly stifling laughs at my expense, but West, Cooper, and Aspen looked, if anything, more annoyed than before.

“If you must know,” Summer repeated, lowering her voice slightly even though half-wolf River could probably still hear, if she bothered to pay attention. “I was, um, curious about his powers and might have asked Max, consensually —”

“Oh, God —” Aspen choked.

“— to experiment a little with me in the, ah” — Summer put her acting skills to the true test as pink tinged her cheeks and spread down her chest — “bedroom .”

Four supposedly grown males made sounds of disgust, her brothers and nephew shaking their heads, but also not meeting my eye.

Heath looked like he might be sick.

Aspen seemed torn between anger and horror.

And there I sat, with Summer’s hand on my thigh giving me the boner of all boners, imagining just what Summer said we’d done. Her lying bare under me, totally submissive and willing, golden-brown hair a halo around her as I sent her time and time again over the edge. I squeezed my eyes closed, but that did nothing to dismiss the visual she painted.

Had my heart stopped beating? With a deep breath, I fought to keep the wince off my face, fearing where Summer was about to take Story Time.

“Anyway,” Summer soldiered on, confidence returning to her the more she talked. I wasn’t sure any of us had enough wits about us left to beg her to stop. “Once we figured out I was immune to his angel powers, we were both curious as to what else I might be immune to. I asked Quentin to try some of his vampire powers on me — um, not in the bedroom, that time. Nada. But, let me tell you, suddenly all of those Shadow Daddies I’ve read about makes a lot more sense —”

“ NOPE .”

I couldn’t tell who said that. Maybe all of them.

Except Cruz, who hung onto every word with delight and even asked, “Which Shadow Daddy? Personally, I’m partial to —”

Terran swatted him, knocking off his backwards baseball cap. “No more.”

“Since angels can use mind powers, I had to test it. Could I picture what I wanted him to do without even saying it? Could he control me? I just needed to know , you know?”

“I do not,” Aspen said with a shudder.

“And, guess what?” Summer shrugged, giving my knee a pat. “Didn’t take. Turns out I’m a brat, through and through.”

Cooper cleared his throat, his clenched fists on the table holding all of his attention.

West shook his head like a dog shaking off a flea, trying to regain his composure. Something I was struggling with myself, especially as Summer’s hand slid higher on my thigh.

“You couldn’t see into her mind? Or control her mind?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but Summer beat me to it. “It was more like, I could feel the magic like a sneeze building, and I powered through. Poof.”

West narrowed his eyes in thought.

Terran opened his mouth again like he wanted me to make him a target. “Did he bite you?”

Luckily, that earned him a slap upside the head this time, from Cooper two seats down.

“What? I’m just asking! Isn’t it a thing with angels too?”

“Some things are private, idiot.”

“Since when? She shared everything else.”

How great it would be to vanish into darkness where I sat. Never had I yearned to use my powers more.

“Can I come back now, or are you still talking about grown-up things?” River had crept back over to the table and now stood right behind us, one eyebrow raised as high as it would go. She’d attached my feathers to a band of paper she’d taped into a ring colored with jewel-like shapes, and now wore on her head like a crown. “Like it? I’m the raven queen!”

Still muttering under his breath about us, Terran hoisted her over the back of her chair and plopped her down until she sat.

“Can we change the subject?” Leif asked with a wince from the other side of the table, and I thanked him internally.

“Absolutely,” Heath agreed, clapping his hands together. “Who wants to try my new homemade ice cream flavor? I call it —”

“ No!”