Page 31 of Love Bites (Timber Creek #2)
CHAPTER 31
SUMMER
“This is probably old news, but damn, girl, you should have felt the violent urges zinging around this room when Max kissed you on the dance floor earlier.” Indi shook out her shoulders with a laugh, one of her tells her demon magic was lighting up. “I think Cooper nearly cracked a molar.”
“I bet he did. Come with me.” I grabbed her arm, dragging out of earshot of nosy shifters and into the tack room. Thankfully, the music was loud enough to drown us out as I shut the door. I didn’t bother pulling the cord for the single lightbulb overhead, seeing as both wolves and demons could see fine in the dark. Saddles hung along one wall, the scent of leather overwhelming my nose, but not enough to erase the memory of Max’s smoky aroma.
“Whoa, there, save the manhandling for your actual man, lady.”
I whirled on her, hands on her shoulders. Her skin was supernaturally warm under my hands as a surge of panic rolled through me, but I dismissed it. I had no time for fear. “Indi. I’m telling you this because you’re my best friend and you’re not one of my siblings.”
Her expression turned worried immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, yet. But” — I took a deep breath — “Max and I are leaving tomorrow. For a head vampires meeting. His father, Malachi, is missing and we think they’re holding him and we’re going to try to get him back.”
Indi stared, unblinking, then — “ What?!”
“I know, it’s a lot. But I just wanted someone to know, in case…” I grimaced, unable to voice my worries.
“You’re meeting with the head vampires to steal someone they have prisoner who happens to be the head of our society ?” she whisper-shrieked.
Hearing the intensity of the thing we were headed to do sent a ripple of anxiety through me, but I couldn’t let Max do this on his own. Even if I was a little bit terrified, I shook it off, shoving it down with the other useless emotions I didn’t dare touch. “I doubt we’ll actually meet with the head vampires.”
“ Summer! ” She shook her head vehemently. “No. Absolutely not. This sounds like a terrible idea, and why do you have to go? Vampires are dangerous , Summer! I know you’re a wolf and can protect yourself, and you’ll be with Max, but this isn’t just finding dens anymore. This isn’t a mostly-harmless-if-not-incredibly-stupid con like a marriage of convenience. I’m not saying you haven’t thought this through, but have you ?”
“We won’t be alone,” I said calmly, ignoring the last part of her question. After spending the last several weeks with Max, the thought of him walking into this alone was something I couldn’t stomach, no matter the danger. I was going, end of discussion. “The vampires we met in Paris are on our side; they’ll be coming to help, too.”
“But—”
I held up a hand, glancing at the door to make sure we were still alone. “Max is going. He’s going to get his father back, and where he goes —”
“—You go,” Indi finished for me, but concern laced her furrowed brows. “Please please please tell your brothers? Or let me tell them once you’ve gone at the very least? This is going to eat me alive.”
“You know they’ll try to stop me if we tell them now.” She let out a panicked whine. I launched at her, wrapping her in my arms and squeezing tight. I refused to acknowledge that this could be the last time, if things didn’t go well. That wasn’t an option. “Twenty-four hours. We leave tomorrow afternoon. If you haven’t heard from me twenty-four hours from then, you can tell whoever you want. Okay?”
Indi grumbled, her fingers digging into my sides as she squeezed me back. “If you don’t come home in one piece, I will hunt you down myself, young lady.”
“I’d expect nothing less.”
“Summer?” Terran called as howls broke out in the distance. The door cracked open and he peeked in. Indi straightened, turning towards him with a blush when we separated. “Oh, hey girls. West is calling for a pack run. You gonna join us?”
I nodded, pulling myself back together. “That sounds great, yeah.”
He eyed me curiously, but Indi stepped by him, dragging her fingers across his chest as she squeezed through the doorway. His brow furrowed, turning to watch Indi leave. I breathed out a deep sigh, gathering myself. Plastering on my best grin, I said, “After you, brother.”
Wolves circled just beyond the aisle my dad had set up for the wedding, some already darting into the woods beyond. Cooper and Atlas stood side by side in their human forms at the edge of the forest, arms crossed as they watched the younger wolves play.
West’s storm-grey wolf appeared at my side, his golden eyes glancing up at me for a split second before he brushed by. I let my fingers trail over his fur, emotion clogging my throat as I looked out over my pack.
I couldn’t leave Max to this challenge alone, but the thought of losing my family, my pack, my home… “Shit,” I muttered as I quickly wiped away tears forming in the corners of my eyes.
“You okay?” Max came up to my side while my dad’s grey-and-white wolf and Jade’s smaller grey wolf trotted by. Everyone I loved was out in those woods, waiting for me.
“Yep.” I turned towards him, doing my best to hide my emotions, capping my connection to the rest of the pack so they couldn’t feel my fear and worry. I didn’t need West and the rest of the pack figuring out something was wrong. While I couldn’t find it in me to regret marrying Max and joining him on this mission, the thought of leaving my family again was killing me.
“Oh, I forgot to ask you,” Terran said as he strolled by, now shirtless with his belt undone, getting ready to shift himself. Max cleared his throat, looking away from my brother’s nearly naked form and I chuckled at his discomfort. While I certainly had no desire to see my brother’s naked ass, nudity was very much a part of being a shifter. “River wanted to ask if she can come over to make cinnamon rolls in the morning.”
Feeling Max’s attention, I looked up to find his blue eyes focused on me. “We’ll be here,” Max said, then looked back at my brother. “What River wants, River gets, right?”
Terran and I laughed at the same time, and I squeezed Max’s arm, thankful he realized how important my family was to me.
“Good man,” Terran said, clapping Max on the back before slipping outside the barn and to the side. Moments later, a russet wolf ran past, his head tipped back as he answered the howls around us.
“Go,” Max said, kissing my temple even though no one was around to see us. “I’ll meet you back at your apartment.”
I nodded, turning my back to him so he could unzip my dress. His warm hands lingered on my skin as the zipper fell, and I sucked in a breath.
Clutching the fabric to my chest, I turned slowly towards him, my wolf’s eyes already taking over. Max’s gaze turned heady as it raked over me, his hand still on my hip. Every time he looked at me like this, a surge of confidence shot through me, loving the pure need I saw there.
I dropped the dress, letting it puddle around my ankles as his eyes widened. With a smirk, I let my wolf take over. Trees rushed by in a blur as I ran through the woods, chasing Aspen’s dark brown wolf, Cruz flickering in and out between the pines as his laugh rang out over the night.
This was my home, my family, my everything.
Malachi wasn’t just Max’s only family, he was the leader of supernatural society. If we didn’t save him and the Conclave did everything Project Oleander was worried about, everyone here would be at risk too. The human world hadn’t handled shifters coming out peacefully — if the Conclave outed themselves as the bloodthirsty villains hidden in the shadows, it would affect all of us. It would undo all of the work West had done in the past few years to make supernaturals seem a part of peaceful society. We’d be hunted, even more than we already were.
There was nothing I wouldn’t do for the people here tonight. That included walking straight into a den of the most fearsome vampires in the world.
Awareness tickled at my brain and I looked up in time to see Max’s black wings block out the moon.
Mine. The word rang through my mind, and I could hardly tell whether it was my own thought or my wolf’s. On this, we agreed.
Max was mine. I wouldn’t leave him, not now.
Not ever.