Page 8

8

VANESSA

T hat energy returned. It was nothing like the overwhelming, powerful deluge that had caused such chaos at the gala, but I could feel it simmering inside me, like a battery slowly charging. As the days passed, I became more and more aware of it. There were signs all over. My garden flourished like it never had before, even with all that free compost we’d stolen from the Chadwicke’s estate.

I also noticed that my healing balms and teas were far more potent. The burn salve I made for a couple shifters and mindwalkers had them healing within a day rather than three. My headache tea had the recipients marveling at how fast the storm in their head died down. Even my own period had been noticeably affected. Normally, I suffered from bad cramps, exhaustion, and a blinding migraine or two for days, but when I drank my soothing tea, took my supplements, and used my heating pad, I was right as rain a couple of hours later. Definitely different from the norm.

I didn’t say anything to anyone except Leo. I took immense comfort in all of his assurances, and it was helping me come to terms with whatever was building inside of me. As scary as it was, and as much as it confused me, it was nice to feel more like an active part of something. I was no longer the single human who clung to the periphery of all the shifters around me. No, whatever I was, I was one of them in a way. Which was nice. I just couldn’t think too hard about the mystery of what the hell was going on with me.

Luckily, I didn’t have a lot of time to sit and marinate in it. I was always doing something. Between my cats, my garden, and work, I was pretty occupied. Occasionally, I was tempted to help chip in with the search for the two remaining brothers, but since I already had so much on my plate I figured it was time to let the more experienced folks take over. Still, it felt like there were never enough hours in the day to get everything done—and it wasn’t even like I was working forty hours a week anymore.

After some not-quite-so-careful consideration, I’d reduced my work hours to part-time, much to the chagrin of my manager. I’d told him it was nonnegotiable, and he could either fire me or deal with it. He’d chosen to deal with it, so I was now only working two six-hour shifts a week.

At first, I’d never thought such a thing was an option for me because I needed money to pay my bills. Even with all the food being handed to us, I still needed to pay my phone, the heat, the electricity, and perhaps most importantly, the internet. But the grateful families of those who returned had donated a lot more than food.

I now had a sizeable nest egg that would allow me to take a year off work if I wanted to. That idea was far too mind-boggling for me. I’d had a job pretty much since I was fourteen, and I couldn’t imagine being completely reliant on others, so the part-time transition was my compromise. And thank goodness for it, because there was an uncanny surrealness to being a grocery store clerk by day and an unknown magical entity hunting down a group of evil warlocks by night. To make it even better, Tiffany was leaving me alone, too.

I didn’t know if it was because management had told her to ease off, or because I radiated a new don’t-fuck-with-me energy, but I was grateful for the reprieve. Considering everything that had changed since meeting Leo, I couldn’t see myself rolling over and being the doormat I’d once been for her. Now, I knew my worth. I knew I was loved, and I was worth standing up for.

A screech sounded from the sky high above me, and I looked up to see a large eagle descending. While I was fairly sure it was a shifter and not a wild animal, I was still awed at the beauty of the creature’s wings as it cut through the golden light of the afternoon. I wasn’t surprised when it landed and shifted into a woman, but I was surprised when I didn’t recognize her. Not Alicia, and most definitely not Esperanza, who was apparently still chained to her studies. Honestly, good for America and her family for enforcing that. While college hadn’t been for me, Esperanza had mentioned a couple of times that she wanted to get her degree in journalism. Passion like that needed to be encouraged, and maybe if I’d had the support of a family like America’s, I’d have finished college.

“Are you the one they call Vanessa?” she asked, and the slight accent to her deep voice told me she was probably from the reservation. That was a pretty big deal. Leo had told me there were several different shifter packs hidden in the reservations across America, and they were even more insular than anybody else. They rarely came out or engaged with other magical communities. I couldn’t really blame them. From what Leo had said, they were long-lived, and some of them had parents who were around during colonization. I didn’t imagine that those wounds were much healed considering that they were only a generation ago.

“I am,” I said, standing and wiping my hands on my ratty sweatpants. It had gotten to the point where it was seriously time to prune my tomatoes considering I followed the one-stem method, so my fingertips were sticky with brown tomato tar. “Can I help you?”

I probably shouldn’t have been admitting my identity to any stranger who stopped by, but since the eagle shifter had landed right in front of me, she likely already knew who I was and was only asking as a formality.

“From what I hear, you already have. I have a gift for you from our family. One of our young men disappeared on his journey to meet his ancestors from a different tribe. Yesterday, he returned to us, and he told us how you and the people you gathered saved him and many others.”

“Oh, uh, we more came together as a matter of circumstance. It wasn’t like I went and recruited them.”

But the woman was already reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a beautiful necklace with polished-wood beads and what looked like several hand-shaped geodes. It was truly stunning in a very antiquated manner.

“This is for you,” she said. “If you are ever need help, hold this tightly and whisper your need into it. As long as our people live, we will come to help.”

She said it so matter-of-factly, but my eyes went wide, my eyebrows shooting up to my hairline. I couldn’t tell if she was being literal or not, but still, what a gesture.

“Wow, I don’t know what to say.”

“You need not say anything. Your actions have spoken. You returned one we thought lost, and we will never forget that. We are the old Dinè, and we do not forget kindness.”

I took the necklace with trembling hands. The woman gave me one more brief nod before she was enveloped in a thick cloud of steam. A moment later, she took to the sky in her magnificent eagle form.

Huh. Word really was getting around.

I didn’t know what to think about the whole situation, and to be honest, I was quite touched. Tomatoes momentarily abandoned, I hurried inside to find Leo and tell him what happened. I was pretty sure he would be just as amazed as I was, if not more so considering how ingrained he was in the shifter community.

But as soon as I got in the door, a deep, rumbling voice I could feel through the floorboards distracted me. It was the kind of voice that went viral on streaming channels for being so masculine and foreboding. But hearing it wasn’t what made me stop, rather it was the words themselves that had me frozen in my tracks.

“Yeah, you’re just a cute guy, aren’t you? Just a little, cute guy. Look at these fuzzy, widdle ears. Look at your fuzzy, widdle face. I could just eat you up, but then the world would be so much less cute, wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t it? Yeah, you know it would! You know that you are the cutiest of patootiest, yes, you arrreeee. ”

That might have actually been the most adorable thing I’d ever heard. I hurried around the corner of the kitchen to see a truly giant of a man sitting in the living room with Ricky, America, and Leo.

He was sitting on the floor, his legs splayed out, taking up half of the space, and between the trunks of his thighs was none other than Goober himself, who was clearly having the time of his life as the giant enthusiastically stroked the Maine Coon’s back.

“Hello there,” I said, trying not to laugh at the sheer camp of it all. Considering it was the first time I was meeting the man, I didn’t want him to think that I was making fun of him. I was delighted at someone so blatantly loving on one of my cats, as well as the completely goofy look my big, old cat had on his very contented face.

Granted, Goober didn’t look all that big between the legs of the man who was fawning over him. God, the stranger had to be nearly seven feet tall.

Still, as pleasant as I tried to keep my tone, the man blushed crimson when he saw me. “Ah, are you the mother?”

Some people hated when pet parents refer to themselves as parents, or their charges as fur babies, but that single sentence from the man told me he was one of my kind. A dyed-in-the-wool, true animal lover. Not someone who was preachy about it or who used animals for moral grandstanding, but genuinely enjoying the company and personalities of all sorts of critters.

“I am,” I answered with a smile. “That’s my precious Goober you’ve got there. He loves back scratches and booty pats. And you are?”

The man stood, and yip, he really was seven feet tall. Holy halibut, what did his family feed him?

“I am Gichigami, but most of my friends call me Chiga. I heard from one of my old connections that you and your band of friends here have a huge lead on the assholes who have been kidnapping shifters and other folks. I know it’s a long shot, but my niece vanished without a trace two years ago. She went on a walk and never came back. Figured I could lend a hand, and worse comes to worse, I end up helping a lot of strangers.”

His voice was even deeper and more rumbling now that I was in the same room, and it carried a gravitas that was echoed in his dark, brown eyes. If I had to guess, he was at least part Native, which made me wonder how many of the shifters were Indigenous and how many came over from Europe on boats. I imagined almost every wolf shifter family that had been around for more than a hundred years had to have been some form of Native, otherwise a full moon on the boat in the middle of the ocean would have been awkward for everyone around. Although Leo had explained to me that wolf shifters weren’t forced to transform during the full moon, he had said it made everything far more heightened, and their caloric needs increased even further, which probably would have led to quite negative reactions to the strict rations of maritime vessels back in the day.

“We appreciate that,” I said, and goodness, it was really beginning to feel like my house was the headquarters in the middle of a secret war. Never in a million years had I imagined helping a wounded wolf in the middle of the forest would lead to a growing organization of almost fifty magical folks all conspiring to hunt down two serial killers and end their tyranny. It really was the stuff of fantasy novels. “What kind of connection? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“He means Alicia,” Leo answered absentmindedly as he looked over the map pinned to the wall. I did wish that I had a nice table they could all sit at, but that was in the kitchen, and we needed it for meals. Besides, I liked that the kitchen was a communal space and didn’t really want to turn it into a war room. “He’s a mercenary. He’s worked with her several times.”

“A mercenary?” I echoed, feeling a little embarrassed. “So, you’re like a professional? Hope you don’t mind that we’re a bunch of amateurs. We’ve kind of been flying by the seat of our pants for most of this.”

Chiga looked relieved, as if he’d been afraid I would judge him from his work. To be honest, I had no idea really what being a mercenary entailed, so I didn’t have an opinion on it. Besides, I figured the important thing was that both he and Alicia were pretty adamant about helping, and we could use all the loyal hands we could get.

“Considering you’ve taken down three of the brothers, I don’t think I have room to judge anything. I’m happy to help however I can. But in the meantime…” It was quite an interesting thing to watch such a strapping giant of a man blush a bright, cheery pink. “I have a couple of cat harnesses in the car, and I’d love to take your little guy here on a bit of a walk. I’m supposed to FaceTime my fiancé back home, and I know he’d get a huge kick out of getting to see this cutie patootie get to play around in nature a bit.”

Well, that was about the last thing I expected. No one had ever asked to take one of my cats on a walk before. I’d been tempted to try myself, but when I looked online at cat harnesses that were truly secure for a feline, I’d tamped that urge down. Those things cost an arm and a leg. I could have made one myself, but there were some things I didn’t want to DIY.

“Are you absolutely sure he wouldn’t be able to get out of it?”

“One hundred percent. I have seven cats at home, including a sphinx, and none of them have ever been able to get out of the harness.”

Seven? Oh yeah, this man was a cat lover if there ever was one. Secretly, I kind of hoped he’d stick around. I had a soft spot for gentle giants, as well as people I could fangirl over cats with. Even though there were about fifty in my bit of the property, there was never such a thing as too many friends.

Especially too many friends who loved cats.

“All right, I trust you. I’m sure Goober will love it.”

“Perfect! I’ll be right back.”

With that, Chiga hurried outside, his excitement evident by the way his large steps stomped across my hardwood floors.

Leo edged closer to me as soon as the man left, a smile on his face.

“That’s a moose shifter,” he said with a broad grin. “Built like a brick shithouse, isn’t he?”

“He’s pretty big. Is that common for moose shifters?”

“For sure. I’ve only met a few, and they were all gigantic. Even the women. With that, and him being a professional, we probably gained our ace in the hole.”

“You think so?” I questioned.

“I’d put money on it. You know, if I had a job.”

“You act like running a rebellion isn’t full-time work,” Ricky teased.

“True. It is pretty demanding of my attention, but it’s not like we’re in this alone, right, Ven?”

Leo gave me a look, then winked, which made my knees far weaker than they had any right to be. Goodness, was he flirting with me? Even though we were officially together, I still wanted to giggle whenever he got playful.

But thinking about him being playful made me think about what happened afterward. Usually when we were horizontal on my bed.

Or upright in the shower.

Or on my kitchen table.

… Had I ever sanitized that properly?

I mean, I knew I had cleaned and disinfected it almost immediately afterward, but that was to human standards. Had any of the shifters in the house been able to sniff out what had happened there?

God, that thought was mortifying.

Leo grabbed my waist and planted a firm kiss on my lips. “Don’t go to bed without me, okay?”

“Okay.” And I knew I flushed even brighter than Chiga had. Leo and I rarely got up to anything more than cuddling considering all the sensitive ears around, but it still made my stomach flip to think I was going to get to spend the night in his arms.

I hoped that never changed.

“Hey, Ven. Leo called a meeting and wants us all there.”

I looked up from the glass bottles I was filling with oil. I was finally restocking my deadnettle salve. I’d gone through it like water with patching up everyone, so I figured it would be prudent to have a fresh batch ready for after the next big scuffle. It wouldn’t do any heavy hitting, but I’d found that, with shifters, it was excellent at soothing the terrible itching that came along with rapidly healing wounds.

“Why do you seem so excited?” I asked Ricky, who was grinning from ear to ear from where he stood in the doorway of my greenhouse. It had grown warm enough that I had all the windows and doors open, which meant the cat tunnel was closed—much to Mudpie’s chagrin. With so many people in the house, she’d made it clear she preferred to hang out with me and only me, but that was something that could only happen at night time. And even then she had to deal with the Leo. Poor soul.

“Because Alicia and another scout she was working with are back, and I think they’ve got some big news.”

“Why didn’t you lead with that?”

I screwed the lid onto the jug of oil, then rushed along behind Ricky. Sure enough, my living room, the hallway, and my kitchen were full of bodies as I came in through the back door. I wasn’t surprised to see some faces peering in through the window, as most of the shifters would have no problem hearing with their enhanced senses.

“Ah, there you are,” Leo said once his eyes landed on the two of us. “Now that we’re all here, you can begin, Alicia.”

The rather nondescript woman gave a nod. “Of course. I know I basically went ghost for the past week, but I promise the results are worth it. Vincent and I figured out where the two surviving brothers have gone.”

My stomach practically pole-vaulted with elation, and I had to tell myself to chill out. There was still a chance there was bad news, that Alicia might be wrong. It was important to keep a level head and not get too carried away with anything. Still, talk about some good news.

“They have, indeed, sussed out that someone, or multiple someones, are systematically wiping their bloodline out. From what we could tell, they’ve called in several huge favors and have holed up together in an ancient estate that was purposely built over sacred grounds. All sorts of nasty spells and security there. Basically, the gala auction was child’s play. Getting in with any sort of sizeable force without the two brothers destroying us will be a challenge.”

Leo nodded along, his face a mask of concentration I only ever saw when he was in full alpha mode. “The two remaining brothers… Do we have a profile on them? The ones I interacted with the most are dead, so I don’t remember much about these two. Other than... does one of them have a woman’s name?”

“That would be Millicent Carlisle, the second youngest. His father is Winston Carlisle, a rather traditional warlock who is rumored to have been killed and eaten by Katarina Morgana after she found him with a mistress.”

Wow, what? When did the crazy world I had been dumped into turn into an episode of Real Housewives ?

“Word has it is that he insists people call him William or Bill, however, most of his family refused this name as Bill isn’t exactly the intimidating name of a magic user, and Millicent was traditional. This is probably why he’s still alive, as it seems there was a pretty large rift between him and the rest of his siblings.”

Not large enough for him to stay out of cursing Leo’s pack and scattering them to the seven winds. Even with all of our victories against the brothers, we’d still only found Ricky. As far as I knew, there were at least twenty other people missing. I knew Leo felt the pain of their absence every single day. He was good at hiding it and occupying himself with the responsibilities of running a pseudo-rebel headquarters, but occasionally, I’d catch him staring out into the night sky, and I always knew exactly what he was thinking.

“He has an affinity for the weather, and while I couldn’t find any direct reports of the style he prefers to battle with, I did manage to uncover a few people who say his go-to move is summoning a particularly malevolent lightning cloud indoors. Oh, and blinding his opponents by causing thick, overcast skies, then suddenly clearing them to reveal full sunlight.”

That was a pretty neat trick. But finally, I saw a chance to ask Alicia a question that had been lingering in the back of my head for quite a while.

“These brothers have all had specialties,” I said cautiously, trying to project that I belonged and knew what I was doing. Of all the fantasies I’d had about my faraway future, none of them really involved working as a military coordinate for magical people. “Chadwicke had luck. Alric had an affinity for metal manipulation. This Bill has the weather. But they can do other stuff, too, I’ve seen. Like generate shields and throw people around.”

“Yes, because they are all warlocks. Each one of them has sworn fealty to a different spirit, god, or otherwise mystical force that has granted them special abilities as long as they remained faithful. Originally, they were all witches born to their extremely powerful mother, but one by one, they all made their different pacts to try to gain more power. Still couldn’t compare to her, however. Thankfully, there hasn’t been a single public sighting of her since her youngest came of age. Most think she’s retired back to the old world.”

I had to wonder what kind of mystical woman had birthed such a group of certifiable sociopaths. Surely, she had to be just as terrifying and monstrous as all of them. Or maybe she was just a powerful witch going about her business and living her life, only for all of her sons to end up jealous of her power and mutate themselves through magical contracts that still left them weaker than the matriarch they were trying to surpass.

I hoped I never found out.

“The remaining target is Frederick Plutus, son of the witch Dominic Plutus, who apparently broke it off amicably with Katerina and was living somewhere on the Polynesian Isles before he ran afoul of some Maero after trying to bewitch the heart of their forest. They crushed him under rocks and planted a tree over him.”

Well, that was one way to deal with a colonizer. Not that I knew what it meant to bewitch the heart of the forest, but it seemed pretty serious. Also, I couldn’t help but wonder at all the different types of magical entities that lived outside of America. Did every land mass have their own unique, indigenous magical folks? That would make sense, and it was awe-inspiring.

“Frederick is the third youngest and he has an affinity for plant life. From what I’ve heard, his go-to is poisons or suddenly spawning carnivorous plants that have somewhat cognitive abilities.”

Wait.

They had a plant guy?

Leo and I exchanged a look, and I wondered if he was thinking exactly what I was. Probably not. Part of me couldn’t help but wonder if he had anything to do with what happened at the gala. Was there any way that this Frederick could have caused all the plant nonsense, and I was just the scapegoat?

No. As easy as that would make things, I knew without a doubt that I had been connected to the plants I had summoned. That one of the brothers was also connected to them had to be a coincidence. But still, how uncanny. I had to admit, it did kind of appeal to the part of me that thought everything that happened so far was fate—an inevitable path I’d been chosen to walk upon. But the greater majority of my mind didn’t believe in frivolous things like fate, so I tucked those thoughts away and kept listening.

At least I tried to listen. Once the general information dump was over, multiple people started suggesting different strategies, and my frustration amped up. Alicia hadn’t even finished telling us about the location or anything else she’d found out. It was definitely rapidly growing to be too many cooks in the kitchen, even with Leo cutting in regularly to shut people up and get us back on track.

Given that I wasn’t very military-minded, and my anxiety was rising with every interruption, after an hour or so I dismissed myself with the excuse of a headache. Leo gave me a concerned look, but I squeezed his arm in assurance. I wasn’t going to have a breakdown or anything, but I needed a bit of a break. Yeah, I had planned out our whole Chadwicke escapade, as well as the first raid on the medical facility, but now we were way past my pay grade. We had people better suited for the job, and I was happy to focus on making sure our healing reserves were stocked.

I got myself a glass of ice water and made sure my cats were fed, then headed up to my room for a nap. I hadn’t been napping outside of my cycle, but a quick thirty-minute refresh would do me well.

I set my alarm and changed into some house clothes before crawling into bed. Not a moment later, Mudpie sprawled against my side, purring up a storm as I petted her until we both slipped into sleep.

I wished I could say it was restful, but I was shoved into a nightmare the minute sleep took me. It was nothing solid, like me showing up naked to work or having somehow enrolled in college again, but it was still awful. Slipshod and full of horrific, disjointed images and scenes, ranging from being stuck in an inescapable fire, to being at the gala and watching all the plants I’d summoned shred apart my friends instead of Alric.

After watching Leo be drawn and quartered for the umpteenth time, I finally managed to rip free from the nightmare. I jolted awake, soaked in sweat from head to toe, my throat aching as if I’d been screaming.

Holy fuck on a stick, that was terrifying. Hadn’t I experienced enough trauma in life without my mind needing to make up fantasy situations to make it worse? Sleep was supposed to be my escape, not another way to torment me.

“Hey there.” Leo stuck his head around the door. “Are you okay? I thought I heard you crying.”

“Crying? No, I—” I touched my face and found that there were indeed tear streaks on my cheeks mixing with the sweat from my nightmare. “Huh, would you look at that.”

Leo stepped in fully, gently closing the door behind him. I thought about insisting I was fine and sending him on his way, but then he leveled me with one of those concerned looks, and all my resolve crumbled.

“Can I help you, baby? I know things are a bit crazy right now, but you don’t have to go through this alone. I’ll always make time for you.”

Wasn’t that the truth? Despite everything on his plate, Leo had been quite attentive ever since the gala. Even before that. He seemed so in tune with my emotions in a way no one in my life ever had been. Strangely, it had taken a shifter to make me feel more human.

Although, whether I was actually human was up for debate at the moment.

Once more, the instinct to pretend I was strong and nothing was wrong flared up, but it withered and died almost instantly. If there was anyone I could be vulnerable with, it was my cats and my boyfriend.

“I’d really like to be held right now.”

The gentle smile that spread across his handsome face was exactly what I needed. “I can do that.”

He got into bed with me, pulling the covers over us. The man awed me. He basically had a war to plan, but he still acted like it was no problem to help me with my nightmares. Realistically, I should probably take the noble path and tell him I was fine so he could go back to working on saving his pack. But for once, I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to admit that I was scared, weak, and wanted a really nice hug from the man I was in love with.

“Do you want to spoon? Or do you want to sit between my legs and lean back against my chest? I could brush your hair?”

Something so simple shouldn’t have had a fresh wave of tears coming to my eyes, but it did. No one had ever taken care of me like this, and the thought of having my head petted while surrounded by his scent was highly appealing.

“I’d really like the second one. I think I’ve had my hair up in a ponytail for two days.”

“I think so, too. Your scalp has to be pretty tired, so let’s give it a break, shall we?”

I nodded, and Leo reached over to open one of the drawers of my nightstand and pulled out my wet/dry brush. It took him a moment to arrange himself, but once he was comfortable with the appropriate amount of pillows behind his back, I crawled between his legs and settled myself.

Leaning back against his chest was so simple, yet it was so incredibly comforting. The warmth of his body combined with the firmness of his muscles was an assurance that he would always be there for me. I didn’t know what I had done to deserve a man like him, but I would be forever grateful.

He wrapped his arms around my waist, brush forgotten, and held me while his chin rested on my shoulder. Once more, I was struck by how incredibly simple it was, and yet it meant so much to me. It was like the kiss of domesticity I’d always thought would be denied to me forever. But no. Despite losing my mother. Despite what my aunt had said. Despite the evil warlocks so eager to spread harm. Despite all of them, I was loved, and I had a future to look forward to.

Eventually, Leo shifted so he could brush my hair and, goodness, he was right about my scalp needing a break. It felt like heaven as he moved the brush through my hair, working out knots, starting from the bottom and then going up. Clearly, he had some experience with this, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because he’d done this for an ex-girlfriend, or if it was a pack thing. Either way, I was quite grateful for it.

Tears welled in my eyes, but I kept them from falling. While I had no problem expressing emotions, I didn’t want to deal with the runny nose and itchy eyes that usually came after tears. That meant I would have to get up to get a tissue, and I was pretty sure all the money in the world couldn’t convince me to move my ass.

“Your hair is getting longer,” Leo remarked as he ran the brush through one more time, then set it to the side. He’d probably gotten the last knot out half an hour earlier, but had continued to gently run the brush through my hair. It was pure bliss.

“Is it?” I murmured. I really didn’t pay much attention to my hair. I cut it short in the summer, then let it grow the rest of the year, but with everything going on, I hadn’t given it the usual trim.

“Yeah. If you want, I can cut it for you. But if you’re growing it out, I like it.”

“You know how to cut hair?”

“I’m a shifter. Of course, I do.”

I furrowed my brow at that, trying to recall if there was a tidbit of data I’d been told and was currently forgetting. “I don’t understand the correlation.”

“Our hair grows incredibly fast. Probably two or three times faster than a human’s, so frequent haircuts are a necessity, especially if we’re interacting with the human world. I’m not amazing or anywhere near hairdresser level, but I kept mine, Ricky’s, and even Andromeda’s hair presentable for quite a while after the usurper took out most of our parents.”

That was a lot to digest. I knew Leo had become alpha quite early, and that there was a lot of strife in his pack when he was younger, but it made it so much more real to hear how he’d had to resort to cutting his and his friends’ hair so any humans they’d had to interact with didn’t get suspicious about so many young people running around with obviously no one to take care of them. I couldn’t imagine being in their shoes. Yeah, my home life hadn’t been great, with my aunt making it clear what she thought of me, but at least I’d had a home. I was never worried about some rival alpha coming and killing everyone I loved.

Though that was probably because everyone I loved was already dead.

“If that’s the case, I wouldn’t mind it at all. A trim would be nice. But I do wanna grow it out. Now that I don’t have work stressing me out so much, I have a bit more time to take care of my hair.”

“I’m really glad you were able to take a step back from that place. I know I’m one to talk, considering I’ve never had a job in the human world, but it did seem especially awful.”

“Oh, it was. Is. But, yeah, I’m glad, too.”

We sat there for quite a while, returning to our previous position of his arms around my waist and chin on my shoulder. It was so warm, so secure, that all traces of that awful nightmare left my mind. I was safe. I was cared for.

There was silence between us, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. No, it was the epitome of peace. Enough so that I nearly jumped out of my own skin when someone gently knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” Leo asked in a tone that told whoever was on the other side this interruption better be damn important.

It was Ricky, who sounded quite enthused.

“I’ll make it quick, boss. I’ve organized a run for most of our visitors here, so the house will be pretty empty, and those who are sticking around have some tasks they’re going to do outside. Just thought you might want to know that you’ll have this place to yourself for a little while.”

The subtext of what he was saying was so blatantly clear I had to hang my head and breathe through my nose to keep myself from breaking into hysterics. What a good wingman. No wonder Leo trusted the guy so much as his beta. Not only did they know each other incredibly well, but they looked after each other. Maybe one day, I’d have a friend like that, too. One who wouldn’t move to Europe, end up in a whirlwind romance, and forget to reply to my text messages.

“That’s good to know, Ricky. Thank you.” Although Leo’s tone was still quite serious, I didn’t miss how the corner of his lip quirked up.

“No problem. See you guys later. Hope you feel better, Ven.”

“Thanks. I’m sure I will.”

That time, Leo did actually choke on the laugh, and I was grinning like a Cheshire cat as Ricky’s footsteps faded.

“You know,” Leo said after swallowing a few times, trying to shake off the laughter. While it wasn’t the most hilarious thing that had ever happened, it was pretty amusing that his best friend basically kicked everyone out of my house so we could hook up. I supposed some things were consistent across species. “We don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. I’m fine staying like this.”

I thought about it for a moment. I didn’t want to rush into anything just because we had the time and privacy. But I desperately missed the intimacy Leo and I had shared before, and it would be silly to waste an opportunity now. Besides, being close to Leo always made me so acutely aware of his body and how physically attracted I was to him. It was pretty rare for me to swoon over someone’s personality, their mind, their heart, and their looks, but Leo had aces in every category.

I tilted my head back, looking up at him with the best doe eyes I could muster.

“But what if I want to?”

That was apparently the right thing to say.

Abruptly, Leo spun me around, which was a physical feat that happened so fast I had a visceral reaction to it. I’d never realized that I enjoyed being manhandled so much, but, God, when Leo did it, it turned me on. I didn’t know if it was the display of strength or because it made me feel petite like other women, but whatever the reason, it definitely got me going in the best way possible.

“Then, I think we’re on the same page,” Leo growled.

God, I loved when his voice got like that. It gave me legitimate goosebumps and made me feel so incredibly desired. Crazy how a simple change in octave could do that.

And then he kissed me.

It wasn’t anything like those sweet, romantic pecks we sometimes shared, or the stolen, lingering kisses we tried to make time for whenever we had a spare moment of privacy. This kiss was all heat and passion. A ravenous desire that made me want to squeeze my thighs together, but they were on either side of Leo’s hips, making me all too aware of the strength in his legs and the heat radiating from him.

He kissed me like a man starved, and I answered back with the same urgency. My hands started on those firm shoulders of his, but quickly slid down the front of his shirt, reveling in the landscape of all that he was. I didn’t know why the incredible heat he radiated always enticed me, but it did. It fueled the fire brewing within me.

Leo’s hands weren’t idle either. They’d started at my waist, gripping me tightly, but then they started roaming. At first, they slid up and down my back, somewhere between a massage and something else, but then they went down to my ass and squeezed possessively. I moaned into his mouth, and he greedily swallowed it down.

The world narrowed to our heated lips and fervent touches, as if we were indulging ourselves with all the simple, physical touch we hadn’t been able to share with the house as crowded as it was. It was greedy, but I loved it. I loved that both of us wanted to be greedy with each other.

As blissful as kissing Leo was, I was hungry for more. So, when I felt his erection hardening beneath me, I rocked against him. Not too hard, considering that both of us were still wearing clothes, but enough for it to be a promise of what was to come.

The hiss I got out of Leo was so damn satisfying. I loved that I could affect him like this, and from the heated look in his eyes, I was really affecting him. It really did wonders for my ego.

“I can feel how hot you are for me,” he rumbled, his canines sharpening. That little hint of the beast within him never failed to make me gasp. God, did he understand how insanely attractive he was? Probably. Sometimes, when Leo looked at me, it was like he wanted to eat me up. I guess I was a lamb to the slaughter, because I was ready to be devoured.

Leaning forward, I pressed my breasts against the firm planes of his chest as I brushed my lips against the shell of his ear.

“If you’re excited about that, you should feel how wet I am for you.”

I was on a roll, because again, that was very much the right thing to say.

Leo squeezed me once, hard, before he yanked my pajama shorts down. They couldn’t go far, since I was straddling him, and a second later I heard a distinctive tear.

“Leo!” I cried.

Holy fuck, that was hot, but I only had so many comfortable pajama bottoms for the summer, and it wasn’t easy to find more as a plus-sized woman.

“I’ll buy you a new set.”

I almost argued with him that it wasn’t that easy, especially if the website I had bought them from no longer carried the stock, but I quickly came to my senses when his hand went to his zipper. He roughly pulled his straining cock out, already hard and glistening at the tip. Yeah, the whole shorts discussion could wait.

“I want you so bad,” Leo rumbled before kissing me again, harder. As bruising as it was, I loved it. It spoke to the wild part of me that I, as a civilized woman, wasn’t supposed to have. But considering those plants I had somehow summoned, maybe it wasn’t so surprising I had a wild side to me.

“God, Leo,” I groaned when he finally broke the kiss. I was already drowning in sensation. He was still gripping my ass, his cock resting against my belly, leaving a little damp spot on my oversized pajama top.

That definitely needed to get out of the way.

I practically ripped my shirt off, and I was lucky I didn’t take any hair with it. Throwing it to the side, I looked at Leo, and I swore my pussy throbbed at the heat in his gaze when he drank me in.

I didn’t even have time to say anything snarky, or even tell him what I wanted him to do to me, because his mouth was already on my breast, one of his hands teasing the other nipple. I shifted, allowing his length to tilt more against his abdomen so I could grind against it. It felt so fucking good without clothing between us, and even though it was just the appetizer for the main course, I could have stayed like that for ages. I knew I was in for feeling so much more, but I didn’t want to rush. The slow buildup of inexplicable pleasure was so lovely, and I wanted to savor it. Besides, who knew the next time we’d be able to play? It wasn’t like Ricky could regularly round everyone up and make sure we got our time to boink.

“Fuck, Leo, fuck. Just like that!”

I loved the way he worked me over, building me up higher and higher to where I was nearly ravenous for his cock. I had to carefully regulate myself for so much of life, but not with Leo. Never with Leo.

I couldn’t say how long we moved against each other like that, but I loved every moment of it, and I loved it even more when Leo let out a desperate snarl and lifted me to my knees.

“I need to be inside you right now.”

I wasn’t going to argue with that. I was practically drunk on lust, all lucid thought draining out of my head as my body demanded more of whatever he wanted to give me. I wanted him deep inside me, hitting all the spots that made me see stars.

“I need it, too,” I answered honestly.

That got another snarl out of my love. Goosebumps spread across my body, and I shivered in anticipation. I loved the juxtaposition of my sweet, gentle, and understanding boyfriend, and my wild lover in bed. I loved that he could be both.

That I could be both.

Leo gripped his cock and angled it so I could slide down onto it. Never one to turn down such a lovely invitation from my partner, I slowly slid down his length. I was tempted to slam down, to hear whatever wonderfully animalistic sound it brought out of him, but it had been so long since we were last intimate, and I was already having a bit of trouble taking him. He was so big, and he stretched me just right, but I needed to take my time with it.

Leo, bless him, understood instantly. As he worked my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, teasing the little coral bud until it was stiff, he slid his other hand down my back and pressed me into him, like the warmest and firmest lovers’ embrace.

“That’s it, baby, I know you can do it,” he said, his voice like honey over my soul. “Look at how good you take me. God, you’re perfect. You’re so fucking perfect. Do you have any idea how good you make me feel, baby?”

His praise was like a drug, intensifying everything, and boy, did I chase it. It was impressive how Leo could talk like that while I worked my way down his shaft, because my orator abilities had gone out the window. All I could do was pant and whine as he stretched me, filling me up so deliciously.

I’d nearly taken all of him, but I couldn’t quite get down to his base. I pumped myself up and down on it, squeezing and releasing, relishing every single hiss of pleasure that fell from Leo’s lips. Once again, he seemed to have an almost preternatural understanding of my body, because his hand left my nipple and moved down to my clit, a single digit gently circling that sensitive spot in a counter rhythm to my own up and down movements.

“Don’t worry, baby. You know you can take it. Just breathe for me. Breathe and relax, baby. Let your body do what it wants to do.”

I moaned, and he increased the pressure on my clit. That shock of sensation and resulting surge of pleasure gave me the final oomph to fully take him in.

“ There you go, baby. Fuck. Look at what you did. You’re incredible.”

I felt incredible. My thighs burned, my chest heaved, and a light sheen of sweat covered me, but Leo looked at me like I was the most gorgeous woman on the face of the earth.

God, I was so fucking turned on and so fucking in love.

I was still breathless when Leo tilted his head forward to kiss me again. It was still as heated as before, but there was something different about it. It was slower, more romantic. It was beseeching, and I tried to answer in kind, hoping Leo could tell through my lips how besotted I was with him. It was rapidly becoming clear to me that this wasn’t simply fucking.

It was making love.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the idea of both, there was a certain weight to the latter. Leo and I had survived and worked through things that some people could only ever dream of. And by dream, I mostly meant have nightmares of. And yet, we were closer than ever. I was his pack, and he was my family.

It was all so much , and it brought up a near-overwhelming deluge of emotions. I was okay with it, though. So what if my feelings were intense? It was a gift to even have them. Just like it was a gift to have Leo.

When we parted for a second time, my chest was still heaving, though for a different reason. No one had ever affected me so thoroughly before, but it was like Leo had a telepathic connection to my body and always knew exactly what I was craving.

“Catch your breath, Ven, because I’m about to ruin you.”

Fuck.

He started to move. Although I was on top, he was setting the pace. He gripped my hips and pistoned me up and down on his leg. The friction was so damn good, and I cried out as he hit that perfect spot inside me.

Maybe it was crazy of me, but I didn’t want to come so soon. I fought it off, tried to drag it out, but the way Leo was looking into my eyes, his gaze almost reverent like I was something worthy of worship, sent me right to the edge. No one had ever looked at me like that. It was something that was Leo’s, and Leo’s alone.

Try as I might, the ecstasy quickly stacked up, building higher and higher. It wasn’t long before I was gripping Leo’s shoulders with all my strength, my nails biting into his skin. He tilted his hips forward slightly, and my mouth fell open. The new direction had his cock sliding directly against that sensitive spot within me, and the next thing I knew, the strongest orgasm I’d ever had crashed over me.

All my muscles tightened to an impossible point only to relax immediately as waves of unadulterated ecstasy rippled through my body. I swore it went all the way from my feet up to my scalp, radiating in a way that shouldn’t be possible.

“Oh, my God,” I breathed, slumping against Leo’s sweat-slicked chest. It felt like my heart was going to beat right out of my own chest and into his, but after a few beats, I managed to get it under control. “That was incredible.”

“ Is incredible,” Leo countered, wearing that damned smirk I loved. “Because we’re not done yet.”

A slight pulse from his hips told me that he was indeed still hard, and my stomach flipped. Shifter stamina really wasn’t anything to sneeze at.

“I told you I needed to be inside you, and I plan to stay inside you. I’m going to make you come until you can’t anymore.”

“Ambitious,” I gasped, stuck somewhere between intimidated and incredibly turned on. My body was slowly rousing from the post-orgasmic bliss. Sure, it would be nice to slump in the bed and cuddle, but why couldn’t we do that after another climax or two?

Or three?

Four?

Well, I suppose there was only one way to find out.

Wrapping his arms around my waist, Leo flipped us over, planting his arms on either side of my head. What a stunning view. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of looking at his handsome features. That strong jaw and those kind eyes I was so utterly in love with.

And, God, his voice was pure sin when he spoke again, looking at me with such a lustful expression I could barely breathe. “Let’s count, shall we?”