New Beginnings (18 page)

“Of who?” She seemed curious.

“You. Do you know an Englishman?”

Her whole face lit up. “I do. I’ve been
dating him for a while. He’s not one of us. A cat, but oh yum, yum,
yum.”

Jess laughed out loud. She almost wanted to
share her vision, or maybe what was between her and Slater. She
couldn’t, not yet. They had a point. Sharing that just now was a
bad thing. Liam was giving her major heebie-jeebies.

“Over here.” Alina pulled her along, and
stopped next to a boulder where she started to strip down. Jess
followed suit. Being a werewolf, you lost your modesty pretty early
on. You either went naked before changing or ruined your clothes.
It was much cheaper to just lose the clothes and then you had
something to change into when you shifted back.

Slater didn’t bother to find her and that
was fine. Alina leaned over and whispered, “Don’t worry. You’ll be
safe tonight. Liam isn’t that stupid.”

Jess knew the man was paranoid, and probably
stupider than that. Still, he seemed to have a plan, and she was
willing to bet he would keep to it.

Right now he wanted to intimidate her, but
that wasn’t going to work. She didn’t scare easily but she had to
wonder about Slater’s reaction to what was coming.

As she shifted, her vision tunneled into
darkness and she held perfectly still.

She felt pain through her shoulder like
liquid fire, but she couldn
’t see. Her life was fading while
something pulled at her blood.

“
Don’t die, Jess. Don’t fucking die,”
Slater pleaded, but she could barely hear him he was so far
away.

The world came back in shades of gray, the
smell of forest and beasts, and the sounds of restless wolves. She
looked across the clearing and spotted Slater. He was a pale wolf
with golden eyes. Funny, even in this form, she could see the rich
color of his eyes when everything else was in black and white.

Her primal-self urged her to run to him, to
chase him, but she held back and watched.

He howled into the night and all hundred or
so wolves looked in his direction. He barked once and took off into
the woods. The pack followed after him. Alina was still beside her,
she could still smell the scent of Lemon mingled with her beasts’
scent, and then Brody was beside her.

Well, she expected Brody to watch her at the
very least. It didn’t surprise her, but she couldn’t figure out
exactly where Liam was. That worried her, but only slightly. She
just hated not knowing where trouble lurked.

She smelled deer and let her senses takeover
as she turned in the direction of the creature. She always loved to
hunt as a human. It was almost too easy as a powerful beast because
instinct took over completely.

She moved silently through the woods, nearly
flying over the underbrush before she sprang at the creature,
locking her jaws around its neck.

The deer was dead before it hit the ground.
Both Alina and Brody approached slowly, waiting to see what she
would do. She had been taught to share and nodded toward the body
before tearing into the flesh to have her fill.

Silky hair swept across his chest, and the
warm arms that embraced him left. Slater rolled over and pulled
Jess back against him. “Where do you think you’re going, love.”

She froze.

He climbed over her and looked into her
eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Love?” she asked doubtfully.

“Too fast?” He squelched his smile before it
could appear. She was clearly terrified by that prospect. It was
natural to love your mate. Sure, it wasn’t always deep but a mate
was meant for you, and those feelings would grow stronger in
time.

“How can you possibly know?”

He placed his hand over her heart. “Can you
honestly say you feel nothing for me here?”

“I do.” Her voice squeaked. “But love? We
barely know each other, Slater.” She scrambled off the bed and
started for the shower.

Slater followed but she slammed the door in
his face. Well, he could wait to talk to her. She needed space, and
he could give her that. They had all the time in the world. Even if
it was the second morning in a row that she’d shut the door on him.
He didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh in frustration.

He pulled on the first clothes he found, and
hurried downstairs to start some breakfast burritos. He had a
feeling that she was going to head to the bar and work all day. For
now, he’d let her get away with that, but eventually she would have
to stay and talk to him. Clint and Mark had already agreed to watch
the bar, and help her in any way she would allow.

Slater knew better than to try to tell her
she was going to accept the help. He would let her know they were
willing and let her decide. He would be there before she opened the
doors at five. Most days, the bar would be open by nine AM, but the
first day was starting at five just because she was convinced she
had to have special food ready for the grand opening. Silly woman
didn’t understand that she would be busy if she didn’t serve food
at all.

When he asked about the name In 2 Deep, she
told him a very amusing story about her best friend, and the last
thing she said before Jess drove up to Edenton. Maybe she needed
more friends up here.

Man, he wished she could trust him already,
but he always seemed to be putting his foot in his mouth.

* * * *

Jess stood under the cascade of water,
staring at the wall. Love, he said love. Her mind was in overdrive
as it spiraled through a million thoughts. Love, not I love you.
Okay, that was a little better, he wasn’t professing his undying
love.

Shit, it didn’t matter, she saw the emotion
burning through his smoldering gray eyes and she panicked. She was
still panicking. What the hell was she supposed to do with that?
That look in his eyes from that one vision haunted her. She didn’t
want to see him broken and pleading.

It wasn’t like she was going to die… unless
she was wrong. No, she wouldn’t think like that. She saw too many
things in the future.

What was she supposed to tell him? Sorry
babe, something’s going to happen, but I’ll be okay. That sort of
thing never went over well, ever. She needed to move, to keep busy,
and definitely not think. Dwelling on the future never did her any
good.

Then he said “love”. Was he right? Was what
she was feeling love? Everything about him called to her. She
wanted to run to him and burrow into his embrace. She needed to
feel him, his emotion, and his body against hers. Yet, she was
terrified even though she never saw a single thing to make her
think it wouldn’t work. So what was the deal?

She couldn’t hide forever. She needed to get
down there, and then head to the bar so she could think.

Haha,
very funny
. Chances were she
would dive into work and forget about thinking too much. It was
better than stressing.

She stepped out of the shower and dried off,
then went to the bedroom to get dressed. Breakfast smelled good and
she considered slipping out. It would never happen. She could feel
the bond to Slater and knew exactly where he was in the kitchen,
which meant he could sense where she was.

With a heavy sigh, she got dressed before
walking out to the kitchen. Slater looked up and gave her a smile.
“Good morning.”

“You too.” She slid into a chair as he
served a large burrito for each of them. He pulled a chair over to
sit closer. She was tempted to pull away but she liked being close
to him so she stayed put.

“Going to the bar?” His tone was easy, but
she could feel his distress, almost as if it were her own.

She sighed, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. You can’t
stay by my side at all times. I’m a big girl and you’re a big
boy.”

His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared.
“What is it, Jess? Why are you worried?”

Damn their senses. “Nervous. First day and
all. You already told me I’d have Clint and Mark to boss around,
and you know Brody will show up when he’s done working on whatever
motorcycles he has today.”

“You don’t mind?” He almost smiled.

Good, hopefully that would pacify him.
“Anytime you have a wolf that might have some trouble, don’t you
have them watched?”

“I do,” he leaned in. “Thank you. I don’t
want you uncomfortable with someone watching after you.”

She couldn’t resist any longer. She leaned
in and kissed him good and slow. “I need to go, Slater. I’ll see
you tonight.”

* * * *

The morning cruised by for Jess. She had
everything ready to go by three, which gave her two hours before
she opened the doors to the general public. The guys were all still
milling around the bar, drinking a beer before they took off to get
ready.

“Thank you,” she started. “I really do
appreciate all the help, especially from you Brody. You’ve been
tremendous.” He nodded his head, a slight smile on his face. “Mark,
Clint, I’m sorry if I drove you all too hard. Brody should have
warned you that I’m a slave driver.” She winked. Both men laughed
out loud.

Clint gave her his best smarmy grin. “Don’t
worry, Jess. Some of us like domineering women.” She heard about
his many kinks, but he was a nice guy once you made it clear you
weren’t interested.

“It was no trouble at all.” Mark added. He
was so gorgeous he was pretty. The man had a flawless face, perfect
hair, sparkling eyes and a winning smile. If he wasn’t a wolf, she
would have assumed he was an angel.

“Are you gentlemen going to be back tonight?
Drinks will be on me.” Jess offered.

“Where else would I be? I helped you put the
place together. Now I want to make sure everything goes off without
a hitch.” Brody patted her on the shoulder. “But right now, I need
a shower before I can think of coming out.”

Clint nodded, “If you are headed home, we
should all be getting ready. I want to find myself a bossy woman to
tie me up and slap me around.” He winked.

Mark just rolled his eyes. “You’ll get used
to Clint. He’s always like this.”

They all started for the backdoor. They even
waited while she locked up, and climbed into her truck.

It was a relief to get a little alone time
before she had to open. She was sort of nervous because she was
going to come into contact with more people tonight, and was going
to be flooded with visions. At least she had plenty of staff on
hand for the first week or so. She had already warned them what
might happen if she was overwhelmed.

Plus, she was worried about Liam, and what
he might try to pull. The gun, she kept seeing the gun pointed at
her head. He couldn’t shoot her in the head, that didn’t gel with
the other visions. She was shot in her shoulder, or chest, or
something. So what the hell happens?

Damn it, she knew better than to
overanalyze. It wouldn’t do her any good because it wouldn’t change
what was going to happen because too many people were involved. She
would simply have to roll with it. That prospect was a little
daunting.

She took a deep breath, fired up the
ignition, and started for home. Not her home now. She was going to
have to box up her stuff before long, so she could move in with
Slater.

She wouldn’t bother dressing up too much. In
2 Deep was a rustic bar set out in the middle of nowhere, which
suited her perfectly.

Before she knew it, she was home, and she
knew Alina was out in the woods watching. Slater trusted Alina, and
so did she. The woman wasn’t psychic, but she was very observant
and was one of the wolves who caught on to bonds. She was very
discreet, however.

She locked up the cabin, and kicked off her
clothes as she went to the bathroom for a shower. After cranking
the water, she stepped inside and let the water wash away the sweat
and dust from a hard day’s work.

Her eyes were closed as she tipped her head
back to rinse the conditioner from her hair. Big hands slid around
her waist and Slater’s hard body pressed against hers.

“Afternoon, Jess,” he murmured in her ear.
She relaxed against him. His full lips brushed over hers, his beard
caressing her face. “Missed you, baby.”

“You too,” she answered automatically and
meant it.

All the stress and worry she felt all day
just slipped away.

“Just curious. Why here? Why not at
home?”

A smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “I
thought I needed some alone time. You just proved me wrong. I feel
better than I have since I left our bed this morning.”

“Good, because you really need to stop
slamming doors in my face,” he teased. “I’m a patient man, but I
don’t like you shutting me out when I’m not pushing.”

Tipping her head back she looked deep into
his eyes and nodded. “I know. I’m just not used to this. You’re so
much more than I expected.” All the good visions flashed through
her head again. “I’ll get there, I promise. I will try not to be
such a cold bitch when I wake up though.”

“I get it. I jumped further ahead than you
were ready for. I find that I can’t always help myself. Like right
now.” He rolled his hips into her, pushing his thick rod against
her. “If I was sure how you would react, I would be inside you
right now, making love to you.”

Oh, she was on board with that plan, Jess
linked her arms around his neck and hopped up to lock her legs
around his waist. His hands curled over her ass as he guided her
hips where he needed to slowly slide into her depths.

“Oh God, Slater, you feel so damned good,”
she whimpered, and he pressed her back up against the wall to start
his sensual torment. “I should have let you join me this
morning.”

His mouth descended on hers, his tongue
sliding against hers in the same languorous thrusts he made into
her body, gradually building the pleasure into ecstasy.