The Pack (3 page)

     “
Mercy,
” Lucan snarled
angry she
kept
an eye on
his brothers comings and goings
.

      “What
? Y
ou think I don’t
kno
w what
the
women around here say
about him
?” She winked at Cade ignoring Lucan’s
snarl
of discontent.

     “Y
oung lady it is none of your business wh
at other woman think of Cade.
I do not want you listening to their i
dol gossip,
” Lucan scolded
imagining what she must
have heard
.

   
  “Well I am
the best
looking man around these parts.” Cade boasted. “
It would be hard
for her
not hear something about me from time to time
,” he added
not the least bit ashamed of his reputation
.

     “And
the most conceited,
” Lucan replied
turning to the refrigerator to pull out the steaks he had defrosted fo
r dinner.

    
He turned around
to find M
ercy next to him her
expression full
of love her
arms open
wide
for a hug. Tossing the steaks on the counter he
pulled her close
wondering for
the millionth time if it would be the last time he
got the chance too
. “Please be more careful,” h
e requested brushing a lock of hair from
her cheek
.

     “You worry too mu
ch,” s
he teased.

     “Still it would be better if you stayed close from now on.
Go and clean up for dinner.
”

     “Yes father.” She walked o
ut giving him a saucy grin over her shoulder
at the door before departing
.

    “Man you need to lighten up,
” Cade told him rocking back in his chair
just to aggravate his brother a little more
.

     “You really have
no idea do you?” Lucan said
wonde
ring how one so notorious with
wo
men could miss the fact their sister had indeed matured
into a
young woman.

     “Noticed what?”

    
Lucan shook his head at his brother’s comment.
“The changes in her body,
or the way the boys around here stare at her
when we go out
?
”

    
Cade’s chair
dropped to the floor
,
a loud echo
flowed
across the kitchen
as he pondered his brother’s words
.
“It’s Mercy we are talking about she’s not interested in dating or anything else that concerns the male species.” 

     “Not according to Gale.” H
e sat in the chai
r next to Cade and shook his head
.
“Mercy asked her
a lot of questions when she took her shopping last week.”

    
Gale, a neighbor who had become friendly with Mercy when she had moved in
with them
, was
a
family friend. The girls had a regular
girl’s
trip to the mall each month since neither man was very good at helping Mercy sh
op for clothes and
other
things young girls needed
.
She had become a confidant and he thanked his stars they had her to help them along.
Although, at times like the one he they were now facing he thought a little ignorance might be bliss
.

     “Please tell me you’re talking about
bras here
,
I’m not ready for her to think about dating.” His face paled
as the implications of his brothers words registered
.

     “We knew this day would co
me,
” Lucan reminded him
clearly
uncomfortable
with the him
self. From the day they had moved her there they had dreaded the time when local boys would discover her.
I
t would put her already comlicated life into more danger.

     “S
he’s too
young
!
I
thought there would be more time!
”
Cade
said recalling
the young man who had asked about her just that morning when he filled up his bi
ke with gas
.
He had thought the boy
was just being friendly.
Now as he recalled their conversation, he realized
there
had been
a glint in his eye when he spoke o
f being
in the same class
with Mercy
at school.

     “W
e
need to
keep her close,
” Lucan told him.
“No more of this
running off wh
en I tell her to remain near the house
.
”

     “She isn’t going to like this, her freedom is so limited already,” Cade said
running
his hand over his face wiping
away the perspiration he felt ga
theri
ng. “We should
tell Alec
,
he knows most of the gu
ys around here and
can warn them off.
”

     “Tell me what?” They turned
in unison
to the doorway where a tall
,
well muscled blonde
haired
teen
leaned against the frame h
is
jean-clad
legs crossed at the ankles, h
is black
t-shirt stretched across
his chest, as he grinned them.

      “There is news that migh
t create a problem…”
was all
Lucan
managed to get out before
Mercy flew through the d
oor
of the kitchen
and into the arms of the young
man cutting him off
.

     The
teen’s
large
arms enveloped her small frame
i
mmediately pulling her against
him
.
“Hey angel it’s good to see
you,” h
e said
taking a deep whiff of her
intoxicating
scent. S
omething
he
missed
sorely in
the year he had been away.

    
He
first
met Mercy
when she cam
e to live with her brothers after her parent
’
s
tragic
deaths
. She had been
on the front
porch when he
had co
me to visit
Lucan
,
her eyes swollen
with tears
,
her fragile little body shaking with
great
big sobs
. H
e offered her a sympathetic e
ar and the comfort of a friend, but f
rom the
moment,
he
held her
tiny
hand in his
he knew
they were
destined for one another
. H
e did not sh
are the information
though
,
for
fear,
her brothers
might not let him near her
as she grew up.

     “I’m so glad you home, I missed you so
much,
” she murmured against his chest
.

     “
I  missed you too,” h
e replied
hugging tighter.

    
“Yeah I bet. How ma
ny girls were chasing you while you were away?
”
s
he
chided
.

    
“
None prettier than you,
” h
e answered
kissing her forehead
.

     “Letch,
” s
he teased
moving from hi
s arms
,
looking to the uncooked meat on the counter then to Lucan
with censure
. “Meat does not cook itself
,” s
he scolded
then began
pulling
spices from the closet prepa
red to fix dinner herself. “Y
ou guys
go
relax I w
ill get everything ready in no
time
.”

     Instead of arguing,
he gave Alec a pointed look.
“You heard the lady let
’s go outside
there is a
l
ot to catch up on.
”

     Alec held
the door open
for them
,
his hungry gaze devouring Mercy
.
Nothing could
have prepared him for the curvaceous
teen that
stood in front of him
in her jean cutoffs as she washed the salad greens for their dinner
.
When his father sent him away to experience life in another pack, he hadn’t given much thought to how much she would change, but now he couldn’t take his eyes of her.
Her long Tahitian hair fell over
her
sho
ul
ders in glistening waves begging for
h
is touch and her once flat boyish body, was now curvy and perectly
porportioned. She was beautiful
, and he was
standing there
drooling like a lovesick fool
over her
, which was
very
unsettling.

     “Are you coming?”
Cade said
impatiently.

     “Uh, yeah.”
Mercy
continued working on dinner
unaware of his
attentions or the heated look he gave her
before he closed the door and turned to face her brothers.
“This is a problem.
She's
grown so much,
I am sure other males
must have
noticed
too
.”

    
He clenched his fist
tightly wondering if any of them had approached her during his absence
. “Does anyone suspect what she is?”

     “None we know,” Lucan told him
.

     “There
are no signs maybe we are wrong about all of this,
” C
ade argued
.

     Alec shook his head.
“A
female
born of the two oldest packs
is dest
ined to shift, you know the history
. N
ow that she has…” h
e hesitated. “Matured.
I
don't think she can stay here without some
one catching on
,
but w
e
planned for this
contingency
.
Are you both prepared to move
to keep her safe?”
Cade and Lucan were like
brothers to him and the idea of Mercy
le
aving now
was unbearable. Unfortunately, the
trouble her presence w
ould bring if anyone
discovered what she was, made it too dangerous to keep her there for his own selfish gain
.

     “We can leave by the
end of the week,
” Lucan
replied confident Mercy was not going to take the news well.

     “We need to get her out of here before anyth
ing happens to endanger her
,
” Alec said
hating the unfairness o
f it all.