That, and the fact that I needed a break. Running for your life might not be ideal, but dammit, I was going to enjoy what I did have. And if that allowed me to poke at Craig, all the better.
Jake took Craig to get some errands done, so Mary and I were going to have some coffee. We placed our order for the patio. We were enjoying the outside without looking at it through the car window for a change.
“Mary, I’m sorry I got you into this.” I wasn’t so naïve to think this wasn’t hard on her. Witch or not, she was a human who had just taken the blue pill and fallen down the wormhole of weird.
“Are you kidding me? This is great! It’s an adventure. Not only that, it’s trailblazing, it’s revolutionary, it’s—”
“Okay, I get it.” I never thought I’d get to take Mary with me in this new life, yet here she was, bubbly and bouncing next to me. Suddenly, I couldn’t stop smiling. So we sat sipping high-calorie iced-coffee drinks and watching the delivery guy for Domino’s Pizza load up his car across the street.
“I liked the blond we used to watch outside the Cash for Gold place better. I liked watching him take his shirt off. I don’t think I want to see this guy with his shirt off. I need much better inspiration to sketch.” Mary said this as she turned her attention back to me.
I agreed. This guy had better keep his clothes on.
I put my drink down and grinned at her, flashing just a little fang. “We could teach Craig to toss a sign for you.”
Mary whacked me with her sketchpad. She hit me a lot harder these days. Ever since she found out that it was damn hard to kill me, she didn’t hold back. If her hitting me allowed her to relieve a bit of her stress, I could restrain my wolf from taking offense.
We had crossed the state line already. I can’t say I was going to miss Indiana, but there was a lot that we had all left behind in the Hoosier State.
Daddy had spread word that we were headed for the East Coast. With the heat headed that way, our first stop was in the exact opposite direction. Chicago seemed like a good place to start. It was a good place to get lost in for a bit.
I pressed my palm against the leather pouch I wore as a necklace now. I gave up a lot, but I knew I wasn’t the only one who had to make sacrifices. Mary dropped out of school, she had to leave her mural at the children’s hospital unfinished. Then there was Daddy.
“Craig isn’t even my species.” Mary brought me out of my head.
I shrugged. “Best thing about our species is you happen to have the choice to become one.”
“I think you just like the way I taste and want a chance to get some more of me.”
Two little old ladies made horribly offended guffaws as they overheard Mary’s last words on their way out of the coffee shop, and we spent the next five minutes laughing like idiots.
“You sure you don’t want me to be a part of your
Clan
?”
“Not if you keep using the air quotes.” I stole some of her whipped cream as punishment.
Mmmm
. Punishment was tasty.
“Sorry. I know it took you forever to come up with it.” Mary held her coffee close. She knew if she didn’t suck up at least a little I was likely to steal the rest. The coffee was insanely good.
“I am coming up with a term that will likely be used forever. This is not like naming a kid. A person can be given a nickname or file for a name change. I am naming an entire new…Clan. That’s a lot of pressure. And it needed to be something we could address in public without it sounding too weird.”
“Yeah, because your conversations about blood and eating rabbits are perfectly okay.”
I smacked her back for that one. I pulled the punch so I wouldn’t leave a bruise.
“You know, you could always start calling me ‘Queen’.” A girl had to try right?
“You are not a queen.”
Well she said that with a lot of emphasis.
“I
am
the leader of this Clan. You should be in awe.”
“You mean I should be in awe of the leader of the Clan you won’t let me join?” Mary went back to stirring her drink for a moment.
“That’s not the point.”
“Nope. That’s your head.”
“Hmmm. I thought it was more my teeth.” I gave her another grin. At least she smiled back at me.
Part of me wanted to turn Mary for purely selfish reasons. I was worried I would break her at times, but I couldn’t imagine giving her up. Mary was the closest thing to human I had, even if she was a witch. For her to throw that away without some time to think was not going to happen.
It was good to know that even when I let go of a lot of hope I had of living a human life again, I still had the ability to have relationships and friends. Maybe that was part of the reason I decided we would call our new group a Clan. It sounded less formal, but still close-knit.
Craig thought it sounded too backwoods and said we needed to rethink it, but, luckily, as top female in our group, I had ultimate say.
Jake had lost Alpha wolf powers over me when I turned. What I became held just as much—if not more—power than an Alpha. I was the Alpha of the Pack, the Matheo of the Family, but it was all rolled up into one. Jake was my partner, but I pulled the strings that banded us all together. Kind of pissed me off that I didn’t have better control of that yet.
Being in charge of other people was both exciting and scary. I wasn’t looking at it as leadership in a “let them eat cake” way, but more of a team leader. I would never be someone tied to tradition if it meant the destruction of those I love.
A dark maroon and very ancient Astrovan pulled up alongside the patio. The van had a green bungee cord holding the bumper in place, duct tape on one of the door handles and a smattering of rust decorating the bottom of the siding. Mary shared my lackluster appraisal. “Whoever is in that van has their sex appeal on life support.”
Both our mouths dropped open as the passenger window rolled down. Craig leaned out with a leer. “I have no problem in that department.”
“What is that?”
Jake came around the nose of the behemoth. “We needed something disposable.”
“Well dispose of it, then.” I wasn’t thrilled when, despite my decree, my mate and my clan member just smiled and opened the doors. I was going to have to work on my leadership skills.
“I don’t think Cinderella approves of her chariot, Jake,” Craig said as he hopped out and started tossing our bags in the trunk.
This was the problem having a financial genius with you. He was practical, with no thought of style. I looked in the door and saw carpeting on the walls and ceiling. Dirty carpeting.
Eww
.
“You knew we would be changing vehicles once we got out of the state, Amber. We could pay cash for this. It’s practical.” Craig kept defending his purchase, and even the sound of his voice was causing enough vibrations to allow more rust to fall to the ground beneath the van. From the smell of it, it was leaking oil as well.
“Craig, Amber’s right. This is a van that probably had a kidnap victim in the back at some point.” Mary’s hand pulled at the side door handle. Bucket seats and more carpeting.
The traitor hopped right in.
“I could tie you up if it would be more appropriate for the atmosphere.” Jake’s hand grabbed my waist and pulled me to him.
Heat radiated through me and settled low in my belly. I smiled as I reached up and touched his neck. His matemark was so different from mine. My mark was curvy and flowed from the bite. Jake’s was harsh lines and angles. The mark was red instead of my plum color. His was a series of crisscrossed arms holding the place I bit him in the middle—the hard and the soft.
Jake growled low in his chest when I scraped my nails along the path his matemark took on his skin. He definitely made me feel soft in certain places when he made that noise.
“We are getting separate rooms this time. I had to budget for more hotel costs. Hence the super low-budget ride. I am not sharing a room with you two again. And a man matemark is still weird.” Craig said this like I hadn’t warned him against rooming together. Jake and I had been modest. We did it in the shower.
“My matemark is what it should be.” Jake took every jab Craig had made about his mark in stride. He wore no scarf, and he never covered it up. Most humans thought he was tattooed. I knew it meant that he loved me enough to let me lead.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Jake, but my smile was for my entire Clan. “Let’s go. I’m ready.”
I never asked him to be less for me, and because of him I became so much more. Pretty cool, isn’t it?
Epilogue
Chicago wasn’t so bad. I kind of dug it. I was feeling the pull of my wolf less. She was still there, and when I caught chickies checking out my man, I sometimes did childish things like forget to tip my waitress, or spill said lady’s red wine down her hooker-short, white silk dress.
I was a badass hybrid. I could heal nearly instantly. I was super-fast and hulk-strong. But I couldn’t use mind tricks, and I still had no alcohol tolerance.
On the plus side of that, I could still get drunk with my main girl Mary. Because really, would it be any fun to not get fall-over-drunk with your bestie on occasion? Jake was usually the designated driver on those nights. If he had some kind of major move planning to do, or some ostentatious property to buy, he had Craig take us.
Craig was careful not to touch Mary. He was keeping his distance. But both of them were playing with fire. Mary had a sketchbook devoted to pictures of Craig. She was working with a local coven to try and come into her powers and her sense of intuition as the magical being she was.
But she was still human. I think no matter how you spun it, that fact freaked Craig out, so he found the local library and got lost in research. I kept telling him that no amount of human science was going to explain what we were, but he insisted that there was truth in mythology if you just found the common thread among the ancient knowledge.
Books on name choice and Latin word origins kept working their way into our hotel rooms. I kept telling him to mind his own business—I needed to be able to pronounce the name of my own Clan.
We had a new last name, too. We actually went through the good old-fashioned human ID black market this time. Amber Paulson had become Amber Hart.
I liked it. Even when we had to change it, I decided we would still be the Hart Clan. My heart might not be beating anymore, but I liked the idea that the Hart Clan encompassed all I loved.
I hadn’t been able to call Daddy. And I missed Doc. Hell, there was a part of me that had grown fond of Shelly, too. Craig said he was working on an option for communication, but it wasn’t ready yet. I knew it would work out. I’d see them again. Mary told me so. She told me lots of other things she had seen in her dreams, too, but I chose to focus on the good.
I looked out as the sun set on the small forest. There were two piles of clothes next to me. One was Jake’s and one was Craig’s. Mary had been sent to our latest hotel room. She had begged to come with us tonight. Craig refused to shift in front of her, and I had my doubts she was ready yet. But maybe she would be someday. I stripped.
I held my hand low on my stomach. I would shift tonight. I would run with my Clan, but I wouldn’t run away this time. Because despite all the bad, according to Mary, there was so much good coming.
About the Author
Roxy Mews wrote her first story at age six on an electric typewriter. It was about a cat and a haunted house. Thankfully, her stories and technology have matured since then. Now Roxy spends her days fighting the evil day job in hopes of conquering the stories that run rampant in her head when she comes home at night. When she discovered Erotic Romance, Roxy fell in love. She can’t wait to share all her fun and sexy stories with everyone. To connect with Roxy Mews, find her babbling on Twitter at
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Pride goeth before his fall.
A Matter of Pride
© 2012 Marie Harte
A
Cougar Falls
Story
Dean Chastell has a reputation for being a troublemaker and something of a lady’s man. It’s not his fault he’s attractive, funny and hell on wheels between the sheets…or that his pranks often leave his victims smarting. But not even he deserves to get saddled with Stacey Bermin for his sins. There’s no denying the woman is gorgeous. She’s sexy as hell and aggravating in the extreme. She’s also prideful, pampered, calls him
hillbilly
and needs a swift kiss…err,
kick
, in the pants.
And she’s in grave danger.
He never thought they’d manage to spend a few hours, much less a few days, alone without going for each other’s throats, but when trouble comes calling, Dean finds he’ll do anything to keep her safe. She’s not nearly as cold as she seems. In fact, the princess brings out the prince in him he never knew existed. And he’ll move heaven and earth to keep her safe, out of danger…and in his arms, no matter the cost.
Warning: A trickster cat finally meets his match in a proud feline used to getting her way. Hunters, hijinks and danger abound as the pride comes together for one heck of a battle.
Enjoy the following excerpt for
A Matter of Pride:
A door slammed. Swearing, snarls and spitting hisses pierced the early morning quiet of what promised to be a beautiful summer day. Life in the pride was never dull, but today looked to be especially interesting.
Whistling, Dean Chastell grabbed a cup of coffee and reveled in the comfort of having such a close-knit, loving extended family.
“Son of a…! I’m going to kick your butt, Chastell!” Miles Bermin, fellow shapeshifter and current Catamount Ranch guest, had been using the shower upstairs because the water heater in his cabin wasn’t working.