PrimalFlavor (21 page)

“My mom left me with my grandmother when I was young, maybe
six or seven,” he said in a rough voice. He cleared his throat. “I don’t know
where she is.”

She felt like scum to bring up such an ugly memory, but he
continued before she could recant her questions.

“I— Mamaw tried to teach me about the rest of her family. I
didn’t realize it at the time.” His whole body moved with his shrug. “I had
this chip on my shoulder, thinking she was just rubbing it in, that I wasn’t
like the rest of the Trahans. I imagine they were all great cooks. They would
have to be to keep the bakery as long as it’s been around.” He was quiet a
moment. “But when I have kids, I plan to share with them as much of the Trahan
legacy as I can remember and the rest we can find out together. I don’t want my
cubs to ever feel as though they don’t belong.”

Her heart flat-out hurt. She wanted to hug him and promise
to love and cherish the little boy he’d been. Then she wanted to find his mom
and kick her ass. But that wouldn’t help him now. Instead, she traced circles
on his chest, trying to find the right words.

“I think your grandmother would have been so proud of you,”
she said quietly into the deep silence that’d fallen between them. “You’re the
best baker in the history of Pointe-Aux-Chat Parish.”

He snorted out a laugh. “You don’t have to try to make me
feel better, I’m not torturing you anymore.”

She levered herself over him with a frown. “I’m serious.
I’ve been hearing about Trahan’s Bakery all my life. Trahan’s is a landmark for
everyone in the tri-parish area, but it wasn’t until you took over that anyone
really knew how good dessert could be. And then you opened the catering
business and everyone discovered you were the best. You think we haven’t heard
all those important people out in Hollywood want you to work for them?” She
poked him in the ribs. “Your employees brag on you all the time and even if
they didn’t, we know how good you are because we can taste it.”

He caught her finger and brought it to his lips for a kiss.
“So passionate about food,” he murmured, making her blush.

“No, I’m passionate about people fulfilling their potential.
Like you’ve done.” She looked down into his shadowed face, throat tight with
fear and excitement. “Don’t you have any idea how amazing you are?”

She thought
he
was amazing? He wanted to shake his
head in shock, but couldn’t do more than stare at the woman whose voice
throbbed with emotion. This wasn’t a typical conversation he had in his bed,
but then again, she wasn’t a typical kind of woman. Colette was his mate. She
didn’t know it, would probably hand him his ass on a platter if he went all
Tarzan on her, yet she still defended him, was fiercely protective of him. A
shifter who outweighed her in his animal form. He had no doubt she’d fight for
him if anyone offered him insult or made him feel less than “amazing”.

He hadn’t wanted to talk to her about his family, hadn’t
wanted to appear weak or lacking in her eyes, but instead of concentrating on
his mother abandoning him, she thought instead of his grandmother’s pride in
him. Something he hadn’t thought about. She was his perfect opposite, seeing
the good his mother’s leaving had wrought rather than the bad. And it would
have been bad if he’d stayed with his mom. Looking back, he saw she’d been
headed down a wrong-way street and would have taken him with her.

Zach wouldn’t go so far as to thank the woman for giving him
up, but he had to agree his life was a lot better for it. And Colette was the
one who’d helped him see it. With that in mind, he caught his mate against his
chest and rolled them until she was pinned beneath him, her hair fanned out
around her face. Her breath caught and her heart rate increased, but it wasn’t
fear that peppered the air. The sweet musk of her arousal was all he scented
and it told him better than anything else that she would never be scared of
him.

“Thank you,” he rasped into her drowsy face, lowering his
head until he could brush her lips with his. “You’re not bad yourself, baby.”

Some of the intensity in her face faded, replaced by a smile
that teased and turned him on until his cock ached as though he hadn’t used it
in days rather than minutes. “Not bad? I call you amazing and you say I’m not
bad?”

Her bottom lip turned out in an exaggerated pout he had to
kiss away and he didn’t lift his head until they were both breathing heavily.
“Above average?” he asked with a playful smile. She growled softly and his dick
started leaking. Damn, but he loved when she got all dangerous, even if she was
only playing. “Slightly awesome?”

He had the next condom in his hand, rolling it down his cock
before she pushed him to his back so when they began wrestling, he could slide
in the honeyed depths of her body with no fear of trapping her. Holding her
hands high as she straddled his hips, his shaft buried balls-deep in her pussy,
Zach watched his mate come to life, banishing the darkness in his soul.

* * * * *

Dawn was barely creeping across the sky when Zach felt
Colette leave the bed. She didn’t try to keep quiet about it, moving around
with minimal stealth as she dressed. He wanted to tell her to get her happy ass
back in bed, but knew she wouldn’t. She was leaving to return home before she
hit the water for a new day of alligator hunting. His tiger scratched at him,
chuffing angrily. It didn’t want to let her leave, didn’t want her to put her
life at risk for money, but Zach forced the animal back.

Colette wouldn’t be the woman she was if it wasn’t for the
life she led. Dangerous, wild and close to the swamps she loved so much,
Colette was as much a force of nature as the animals she hunted and he wouldn’t
change her for anything. Even if it did piss him off that she was slipping away
like a thief in the night.

Listening to her dress without moving was torture. He hated
the idea of her covering up that beautiful body before he had time for some
morning loving, but knew if she suspected he was awake, she’d feel
self-conscious. His mate wasn’t quite as comfortable in her skin as he was.
Yet. He’d change that with more fun of the naked kind.

Then she walked to the bed. His body twitched with the need
to grab her and roll her beneath him again, but he held back. Barely. She
smoothed a hand over his hair, a gentle move that soothed the beast beneath the
skin. When she leaned over to press a kiss to his forehead, his tiger settled
down completely, purring with contentment.

But then she murmured, “
T’es mon Coeur
,” before she
straightened and left.

Zach’s brain, not the sharpest thing in the morning and
definitely not when it came to Cajun French, had to work to process her words
and when he did, his eyes snapped open. The distant rumble of her truck came to
his ears as he launched himself out of the bed just in time to see her drive
away.

His heart pounded and his hands shook with excitement.
You
are my heart
, she’d whispered over him before she left. It wasn’t quite the
pledge of love he’d been hoping for, but it was a good start. And she’d said it
thinking he was asleep. That meant she hadn’t wanted him to hear her words. So
they had to be true.

Zach wanted to dance around his apartment, but that lacked a
certain dignity he was doing his best to maintain. Instead, he leaned his
forehead against the cool glass and sent a prayer to the man upstairs that his
mate would be able to say she loved him before he went completely insane.

* * * * *

Roscoe chewed on a string of licorice as he watched Colette
slip down the back stairs of the bakery. For nearly a whole week, he’d trailed
her and the cat around the parish. With alligator season underway, they didn’t
go far when they got together, something he was glad of. It was getting more
difficult to keep the idiotic duo from going after her on their own, but for
the moment, he was holding strong.

That would change though. Soon, she wouldn’t be skipping and
laughing with the tiger who still hadn’t marked her. He tilted his head to look
at the sky, the moon was nearly full and when that happened Colette would go
through an entirely different kind of chase. One without the happy endings she
currently had with the tiger. He’d take her, the way he’d taken the others and
the only one who could stop it was the male feline Colette was infatuated with.

And you. You could stop it.

His jaw popped as he chewed the strawberry licorice, disgust
making his fangs threaten to pop out. When he’d started down this road, nothing
and no one had mattered as much as the final outcome. Now though, he was
beginning to doubt himself, doubt the way things were going. He wondered if it
was worth it, if fulfilling the goal he’d set for himself would be worth the
pain and suffering this woman would go through.

He shook his head. He had to see it through. And if he was
lucky, the tiger would mate her fully and it would be a moot point. That little
female didn’t deserve the fate waiting for her with the full moon. But he
couldn’t exactly stop the chase from happening. Only Zach Trahan could.

“Poor girl,” Roscoe muttered under his breath as he climbed
to his feet and ambled after her truck. She was so fucked.

Alcide honked his horn as Colette brought her truck to a
squealing stop in her carport. She waved, but didn’t stop to chat. His frown
was mighty, but all she had to do was point to her watch for him to grin in
understanding. Yup, she had a hot date tonight and wasn’t going to waste more
time getting to it than she already had.

Hurrying up her steps, Colette cursed the boat for picking
today of all days to break down. Thank God her dad had insisted on every boat carrying
SAT phones, otherwise she and her dad would still be sitting out in Dead Man’s
Bayou waiting for someone to track them down. As it was, they’d had to wait for
her Uncle Frog to show and tow them back to the landing. Then she’d had to work
on the motor with her dad. Only he’d grown fed up when she kept stopping to
check the time.

“Get out of here,” he grumbled as he cleaned the filters. “I
don’t need no babysitter while I fix an old engine. And if that cat gives you
any lip, you show him you’re a Robicheaux,
hanh
?”

He didn’t like Zach, had made no bones about his disapproval
when her lover was mentioned, but he hadn’t once suggested she was stupid.
Colette suspected her mama was holding the reins on her dad and made a mental
note to give her mom a very nice Mother’s Day present next year. She smiled to
herself as she finished climbing the steps to her house.

These last two weeks with Zach had been perfect. She
swallowed a sappy sigh and shook her head. When she wasn’t at his place
enjoying a spectacular meal he prepared just for her, he was at her place
cooking for her. They hadn’t talked about a future, dancing around the subject
like two cats on the edge of an puddle of acid, but something in the way he’d
requested her to dress up tonight made her think that was about to change. Her
entire body shivered at the thought of finally receiving his mark.

He’d renewed his scent mark several times. Her body heated at
the reminder of the way he stroked his cum into her skin, playing with her
until she demanded more and more. Her pussy throbbed because Zach definitely
delivered as a lover, but it was her heart that wanted more and thought he
might want more as well. Oh, she hadn’t missed all those times when his fangs
grazed her neck while they were making love. Every time it happened, she held
her breath, waiting to feel that exquisite bite and each time she was left
trying to hide her disappointment.

Especially when she let it slip that she loved him. She
stopped on the top stair, staring at her feet. He’d been awake. She knew it as
well as she knew he hadn’t answered her because he didn’t love her back. And
the thought was enough to make her stomach twist into a perfect knot.

She tried to tell herself it wasn’t his fault he was wary of
feelings. With his past, he had every right to fear being hurt again. But oh,
she dreamed of hearing those words on his lips, of him placing his mark on her.
In fact, she was so ready for it, her soul ached for him even as her cynical
side told her not to put too much store in his request that she dress up
tonight.

God, what if he just wanted to take her somewhere to go
dancing or something? What if tonight’s dinner was no different from the others
they’d had? Or what if he decided to dump her in a nice, public place in the
hopes she wouldn’t cause a scene? It couldn’t be a coincidence he’d asked her
to dress up the night after she told him she loved him. He was totally breaking
up with her. She shook her head again and finished the trek upstairs. No,
tonight was special. She could feel it in the air.

Laughing at herself, she unlocked her door and stepped
inside, kicking it closed behind her. She was halfway across the room, her
shirt tossed to the side as she hurried in the direction of the shower when she
sensed she wasn’t alone. Without turning around, she dropped to her stomach and
kicked back at the large body behind her. Her intruder cursed loudly, falling
to the ground somewhere out of sight. Heart pounding as adrenaline replaced her
lovelorn happiness, she tried to crawl in the direction of her gun room when a
set of brown cowboy boots appeared in front of her.

A quick glance up and her gaze was captured by a very
familiar pair of eyes. The game warden who’d been haunting her swamp tipped his
baseball cap back with a smile. “It’s nice to run into you again, Miz
Robicheaux.”

She sucked in a shocked breath that turned into a shriek
when a hand grabbed her ponytail. Reaching up to claw at the arm holding her,
Colette wasn’t quick enough to catch herself when the man behind her slammed
her into the floor. Once. Pain exploded in her face, blood gushed from her
mouth and nose, threatening to drown her. She let out a gurgled scream,
scrambling to get away, to do something, but before she could, her face met the
floor a second time and she knew no more.

“You stupid motherfucker,” Roscoe said as casually as he
could manage, crouching over the unconscious female bleeding on her floor. “You’d
better hope you didn’t kill her.” He kept his voice calm even as his heart
threatened to burst out of his chest.

Vernon Schumacher stood, breathing harshly as though it took
a lot of strength to pound a petite woman into the floor. Roscoe had come very
close to dealing with the idiot jackals without waiting for orders, especially
when he noticed how they eyed her.

Dreading what he might find, he pressed his fingers to her
pulse and swallowed down a sigh of relief when he felt the strong, steady beat.
He hadn’t gone through hell for four months to lose everything now. He had
enough on his plate already. If the dumb fuck had killed her… He shook the
thought away. There were a lot of pieces in motion in this game and
unfortunately, Vernon wasn’t his responsibility.

“The boss don’t like damaged goods, dumb fuck.” He scooped
up the woman and looked for Antoine who stood off to the side, quivering with
excitement. “Get somethin’ to clean up this blood. We don’t need the tiger to
come for her.”
At least not until he gets my message. If the dumbass cat is
smart enough to figure it out.
Yeah, he wasn’t holding out much hope for
that though. Stupid tiger couldn’t even mark his mate properly.

Vernon snorted and spat on the floor. “He ain’t comin’ for
that
putain
,” he said confidently. “He just wanted hisself a piece of
ass and she gave it up nice and easy.” He reached down to adjust his erection. “Just
like she’ll do for us if she knows what’s good for her.”

Shaking his head because good ole Vern would learn the way
of Fang and Claw on his own, Roscoe carried his light burden to the window. It
would be sunset soon, the perfect time for the hunt to begin. If Colette woke
up in time. He glanced at her slack face, the trickle of blood from her nose
and mouth slowing. She smelled of the tiger, but not enough to protect her. The
members of Fang and Claw would think the same way the Schumacher brothers did,
that she was a passing fancy to a fickle cat. The hackles rising on the back of
his neck told Roscoe it was a stupid conclusion to draw just because she wasn’t
permanently marked.

But if things happened the way he’d planned, he’d damn well
ask the tiger if he was slow or something. Stupid-ass cat. Colette would have
been safe from this. He could have told his boss, the one he would meet in
person for the first time tonight, that she was under the protection of a
shifter.

* * * * *

The clock’s ticking drove him to leave his kitchen to prowl
around his apartment. Zach refused to look at it again. She was late. No, she
was later than late. She wasn’t coming. And she hadn’t called to tell him, or
sent him a goddamn text even. He growled, the tiger on edge. She must’ve
realized he planned to mark her tonight, good idea or not, and decided she didn’t
see anything in him worth being permanently attached to.

“No,” he muttered under his breath. He ran a hand through
his hair, nearly crawling out of his skin as old insecurities reared their ugly
heads.

He called her cell phone again. It rang and rang and rolled
over to her voicemail. “Hi, this is Colette Robicheaux. I’m unable to answer my
phone—” He cut the connection, swearing under his breath.

Colette wasn’t the kind of woman who’d say one thing and
mean something else. She’d told him she loved him. She hadn’t meant to. He’d
heard it in the way her heart skipped a beat and her breath caught. He’d played
possum, pretending to be asleep but his own heart had thundered with hope and
fear. Maybe she thought he didn’t care. He spun on his heel and slammed his
hands against the wall. She loved him. She had to because he was eaten up by
love for her.

And he’d planned to prove it to her tonight. He’d
pussyfooted around it for nearly two weeks, listening to her whisper her love
in so many different ways, planning tonight down to the minute.

Except she wasn’t here, hadn’t called, hadn’t sent him a
text, a homing pigeon or a big fuck-you. Nothing. And she wasn’t answering his
calls. Like a coward. He pinched the bridge of his nose, pushing the negative
thoughts from his mind. Colette was the least cowardly person he knew, shifter
or human. If she hadn’t wanted to see him again, or changed her mind about
loving him, she would tell him straight up. She wouldn’t just not show up for a
date.

Something had to have happened to keep her from coming over.
Maybe her dad was being a dick and was reading her the riot act for dating a
shifter. He shook his head. That didn’t sound right. Or maybe she got caught up
with her cousin in New Orleans. He’d heard a lot about the infamous Kanda
Banthao who danced burlesque in the French Quarter, but that didn’t ring true
either. Maybe her truck broke down. That was possible. The truck was a piece of
shit he planned to replace once he figured out a way to get the stubborn woman
to accept a new one as a gift. Except, she would’ve called him if she was
stranded. Unless she didn’t have her phone with her for some reason.

He tossed around so many ideas in his mind, he gave himself
a headache. In the end though, there was only way he’d find out and that was to
confront her at her house. He grabbed the keys to his Jeep, slamming out of his
apartment, the boom echoing around the empty building. An empty building at
seven thirty on a weeknight. But it was only one improvement Colette had made
in his life since she burst into it.

Zach stormed down the steps, his gaze sweeping the lot, but
there was no sign of her. He jumped into in his Jeep and turned the ignition,
throwing it into gear and hightailing it down the road before he’d even turned
on the headlights. That woman, the woman who’d sat on his floor in nothing but
a blanket and let him feed her bread pudding wasn’t the kind of person who’d
break off a date without letting him know. Colette was salt of the earth. She
was the kind of honest and true woman who’d always stand by her word and she’d
said she would meet him at his place tonight. And that could only mean one
thing. Zach’s heart clenched. Something… God, something was wrong.

But even as he thought it, he prayed she’d changed her mind
about coming to his place tonight. Prayed that she got her days mixed up. He
prayed harder than he ever had before as he raced to her house. If she was
home, he wouldn’t yell at her. If she was at her parents’ house or any of her
other relatives’ houses, he wouldn’t paddle her ass.

“Please let her be home,” he muttered to himself as he took
the road for Bayou Ange.

But when he got there, tearing down her family’s street,
Colette’s home was dark and quiet. Her truck was still parked in her carport
though, which meant what? That she was sleeping? Pretending to be home? Had
left with someone else? His tiger snarled at the last thought.

Ignoring the lights that came on at her parents’ and uncles’
houses, Zach pounded up her stairs. He’d damn well call her out in front of her
relatives if that was what it took, but he was going to talk to her. He banged
on her front door and waited, the scent of Colette, bleach and a slight musk
like deer urine wafted from inside the house, making him sneeze. She’d cleaned
house, put perfume on and then went deer hunting? He didn’t think so, but the
combination of bleach and animal scent was enough to confuse his tiger.

He waited a couple of minutes and pounded on the door again,
this time hard enough to rattle it on its hinges. “Colette, open the fucking
door!”

“What the hell you doin’?” a familiar voice asked from the
foot of the stairs.

Zach ignored Willis and continued to hammer on the door, but
still no one came. His tiger clawed at him, an unnamed panic filling him.
Something was wrong, something he couldn’t put his finger on, yet knew in his
gut was bad. Without looking back at her dad, he braced himself and planted his
foot right below the doorknob. Wood splintered and he was inside.

His head swung left, then right, but she was nowhere in
sight. He followed his nose to a t-shirt she must’ve worn today since it
carried her scent. But why was it on the floor? She wasn’t a messy person.
Pounding footsteps told him Colette’s relatives were coming up the stairs, but
he paid them no attention, following his sense of smell to the strongest
concentration of bleach. On the floor.

“Colette!” her father shouted, storming into the house. “What’d
you do to her,
chat
?”

Zach ignored the question, trying to sort out the scents his
nose captured. Bleach, a lot of bleach. A lot more than a normal person would
use to clean because of the damage it would do to the floor, but beneath that
he caught a faint trace of an unmistakable metallic scent that made his hair
stand straight on end and a subvocal growl rumble his chest.

It was the scent of blood, sharp and metallic mixed with
Colette’s unique signature of vanilla musk. But was it old or new? Was it from
a cut toe or something more sinister? He pressed his nose to the ground,
blocking out the sounds of Willis Robicheaux stomping toward him, threatening
him with bodily harm. There. He caught the scent of a shifter that wasn’t Zach.
It was someone he’d scented before, someone… He closed his eyes.