Things That Go Hump In The Night (69 page)

Cricket elbowed her. “And you know to stay away from Sequoia. That’s all the information you need, really.”

“I think we’ve covered the most important things,” Lark said. “How about we get out and sunbathe for a bit?”

Lia followed them out of the pool and onto a boulder covered in a plush carpet of moss. Letting out a happy sigh, Lark lay down, stretching her arms. She patted a spot next to her, motioning for Lia to join. Lia couldn’t help the groan that escaped as she sank into the moss. It was like lying on a cloud.

Dove and Cricket ranged themselves around her, spreading their limbs. They were all quiet, caught in the warm afternoon glow. Though she’d only taken a walk and a bath, it seemed like she’d done something far more strenuous, like hunt down a deer. The sun beat down, and she found herself feeling drowsy. She felt something else, something she couldn’t quite name. Cracking an eyelid, Lia looked around at Lark and Dove and Cricket. Their chests rose and fell slowly, and they were almost certainly asleep.

That’s when she knew. Content, Lia let herself drift away.

It felt like having friends.

Chapter Four

Ronan loped into the woods, his underbelly still warm from where Lia had lain beside him. He shook his head, his ears flapping. He couldn’t think of her right now. It would send him to a place of happy, comfortable thoughts, and he couldn’t allow himself to get distracted. He needed to deal with Kane.

Silently, he slipped into the grove. Kane was there, just as he expected. His brother was in human form, which he did not expect. Kane slumped against the base of a massive sycamore, wedged between two of its mighty roots. The sycamore’s mottled bark was covered in gashes and gouges, some old and some recent. A new set of scratches were carved deep into the trunk, and Ronan could smell the newly exposed heartwood.

He shifted. The earth was cool under his feet. Walking to Kane, he crouched beside him.

“I don’t understand why you keep coming here,” Ronan said.

Kane didn’t look up. “I don’t keep coming here. But sometimes I start to wander and eventually I find myself here.”

Ronan looked up at the towering sycamore. He held no ill will toward it. The tree couldn’t help what had happened beneath its branches. But it was still the Leaving Place, and it always would be.

Beside the tree, Kane looked so small. Like a child, scared and vulnerable. Ronan set his jaw. He couldn’t feel too much pity for Kane. If his brother wanted to pout out here, that was his choice. He could do it alone. Ronan shouldn’t have to leave Lia’s warm bed to check on a pouting Alpha.

He rose. He should go.

“Don’t,” Kane said. “Don’t you go too.”

Ronan let out an exasperated sigh. “I wouldn’t do that, and you know it. You’re my other half, Kane. I wouldn’t leave you.”

“I’m not so sure anymore.” Kane lifted his head. “You stink of her.”

Ronan bit back a growl. “If that bothers you, then maybe I should go.”

Kane grabbed his hand. “The female won’t get between us, will she?”

“Of course not.” Ronan shifted his hand to a paw for an instant, making Kane lose his grasp. “We have a plan. It’ll work. We can share her.”

“Good.” Kane put his hands behind his head. “I’d never put a female before you. Especially not one like that. She’s hopeless. No claws, no teeth…”

“Not yet.”

“Fine, but until then, how does she think she’ll survive out here?”

Ronan thought of Lia, how soft she was, how he had left her lying alone. “I’ll look after her.”

“Yes.” Kane nodded. “It’s better if she’s your responsibility. She looks nice enough, but I’ll only require her for mating.”

Ronan’s lip curled. Kane, who had just closed his eyes for a nap, hadn’t noticed. Ronan stifled the urge to pick him up by the throat. No, that wouldn’t do. The pack needed Kane. He needed Kane. Still, he shifted, bounding off to keep from leaving Kane with a scar to help him remember his manners.

He trotted into the deeper woods, avoiding the fallen leaves still brittle from last winter. Kane just needed some time alone with Lia to get to know her. Then he’d see she wasn’t just any female to rut with and then forget. She was special.

He thought of Kane with Lia. Wooing her. Kissing her. Mating with her. Ronan snarled involuntarily. He couldn’t share Lia. He wouldn’t. She should be his. She would be his!

No. He launched into the woods at a dead sprint. There was a plan. He must honor it. He would share, for the good of the pack.

His heart still howled with rage at the very thought. He ran faster, faster, until it was all but silenced. Maybe a twenty-mile run would cool his temper.

Ronan splashed into the stream. He paused a moment, panting, letting his lungs drink their fill of air. Bending, he lapped cool water, and reveled as it slid down his throat.

His head jerked upright as his nose caught the scent of laurel. Lia was here. She was close. His heart thumped against his ribs. He needed to see her, needed to know she was still safe.

Moving urgently, he padded toward the edge of the waterfall. He should never have trusted Lark with her. He should have stayed by Lia’s side, looked after her himself. If Lark had let Lia come to harm, he’d never forgive her.

Ronan looked over the waterfall, which had covered the sound of his approach. There she was, on a slab of rock. The shifters were splayed around her, a circle of protectors. Ronan relaxed. He shouldn’t have been so worried. Lia could take care of herself. And somehow, subconsciously, she seemed to win allies. He couldn’t help but smile. If only she had been there when he brokered the treaty with the Shadow pack. They could have come to terms in days instead of months.

Putting his head on his paws, he drank her in. She had shed her clothes and was basking in the sun. With her pale skin, she looked like a goddess of the light. She had endless curves, and he longed to run his hands along every one. He wanted to draw her close, explore her every beautiful inch, find out how to make her moan for him. He wanted to trace the curves of her breasts, run his fingers around the tips of them until her nipples pebbled with desire. He wanted to feel the heat of her skin against his, know the scent of her need for him.

Tearing his eyes away, he rolled over. He was getting hard. If he continued this train of thought, he’d have to dunk himself in the mountain stream. This wasn’t the time. He’d have to be patient.

Voices rose from below. The women were putting their clothes back on. Ronan scrambled into the woods. If he looped around the falls, he could meet them in the meadow. His paws pounded against the earth. Reaching behind a rock, he snatched up a set of clothes. He did want to be presentable.

Shifting at the edge of the meadow, he changed as fast as he could. He almost fell trying to walk while pulling them on. Who had invented these cursed things, anyway? Running a hand through his hair, he stepped from the woods.

There she was again, this time laughing with the three shifters. Ronan felt a sudden pang of worry. What if she didn’t want to leave her new friends?

“Ronan?”

The sound of his name on her tongue made his heart soar. “Lia.” He couldn’t help but smile like a fool. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did. Then Lark, Cricket, and Dove showed me the bathing pools. They thought it quite important that I experience them as well.”

Lark winked at him. “We got her cleaned up, no problem. And kept her safe from any danger, as ordered. I’m proud to report that there were no stubbed toes, no splinters, no snake bites, and no sunburns.”

Ronan inclined his head. “Thank you, all three of you. I’m glad I can trust Lia to your protection.”

“I wasn’t finished with my report,” Lark complained. “There were no broken bones, no drownings, no pack wars, no lightning strikes, no rock slides, and no food fights.”

He gave her a warning look. Dove poked her in the ribs.

“All right, all right,” Lark said. “I know a dismissal when I see one.” She exchanged a glance with Dove and Cricket. “Lia, we’ll have to leave you now, but let us know if you need anything.”

Lia laughed. “All right. See you guys later.”

They turned back to the den at a run.

“Why’d you make them leave?” It sounded like she was teasing him. Lia ran a hand through her damp hair. She glowed even now, and seemed to illuminate the entire meadow.

“What?” Ronan shook his head. “Oh. I wanted to take you on a tour of our territory.”

“And no one else is allowed to come?” she asked.

He gazed at her hungrily. “Definitely not.”

“All right, then. Lead the way.”

He found leading difficult. He’d rather follow her, so he could watch the sway of her hips, the way her shirt clung to her back. He could watch her forever. Just being in her presence was enough, though he still had errant thoughts of pulling off her clothes so he could see her bare again. He couldn’t wait until she came around to a life without clothes. Then he’d be able to feast his eyes on her whenever he wanted.

“Where exactly are we going?” Lia asked.

Ronan pointed to a high peak. “To the Vantage.”

“Oh.” Her voice fell. “That climb looks… difficult.”

“You could ride me if you want.”

She blushed. “Aren’t I heavy, though?”

Swiftly, he turned, scooping her off her feet and holding her against his chest.

“Ronan!” She broke into surprised laughter.

The thought flashed into his mind of taking her back to the storage room and laying her out on the mattress. Peeling back her shirt and planting kisses all up and down her sides. The clean scent of her didn’t help—for some reason, it only made him want to dirty her up and make her sweat. Her lips were close to his, far too close. He didn’t want to scare her away. This was too soon, wasn’t it?

He set her down. “You’re no heavier than an armful of rushes. But if we’re going to the Vantage, I’ll want all four paws to climb. You might need to ride my wolf. Does that scare you?”

She looked up at him. “Not with you.”

Ronan cast off his clothes and shifted while gazing into her eyes. It was surprisingly intimate. While it would normally be a breach of etiquette to stare at someone who was shifting, he was glad to let her look.

Her lips parted slightly in awe. “Can I—” She raised a hand, then lowered it. “Can I touch you?”

Ronan lowered his head. She put her hand on his cheek, running her fingers through his fur.

“It’s so soft,” Lia murmured.

Her hand moved toward his throat, and the downy fur that covered it. Ronan wondered if she realized how vulnerable he was there, just a bit of fur and skin separating the air from the hot blood that pulsed in his veins. He couldn’t imagine letting anyone else touch him there, but her fingers were light and wonderful. She wouldn’t hurt him.

He crouched low so she could mount. This time, she swung her leg over his back without hesitation. That was his girl. He was so proud of her.

Ronan thought back to their ride through the night, how she had held tight to him, pressing her thighs into him. He wanted to feel that again.

Leaping up, he bounded away with her. He heard her breath catch—was she scared? No, her breathing was quickening, her hands clutching tighter. She was excited, and… Ronan sniffed. Aroused? He was going to have to try to ignore that. But it did spur him to run faster, vault higher. Boulders and fallen logs seemed like nothing to him with Lia on his back. The mountain seemed more like a hillock to him today. She was his reason to strive.

He made it to the peak in record time. Before Lia could climb down, he shifted. Catching her, he held her on his back.

She laughed. “You aren’t even sweating. How is that possible?”

“I told you you weren’t heavy.” He let her down, though he was sorry to lose the warmth of her skin against his. “You see that curtain of vines?” he asked.

Lia nodded.

“Follow me through, and I’ll show you the world’s prettiest—okay, the second-prettiest view. I’m sorry, Lia, but you’ll need a mirror to see the first.” He shouldn’t have enjoyed the way her face reddened so much, but he couldn’t help it. Had the witches been blind? How could she not know that she was gorgeous?

“You think I’m pretty?” she asked quietly. It wasn’t the way Blossom would ask, who reveled in her beauty and wanted to make sure everyone noticed. Lia sounded like she thought he was terribly mistaken.

Ronan took a moment to take in her glowing skin, the way her dark hair tumbled over her shoulders. How her hips seemed to call out for him to put his hands on them.

“I’m not sure ‘pretty’ is strong enough. You’re radiant, really.”

He hadn’t thought it possible, but her blush actually deepened.

“Come on.” Ronan took her hand. It was so small in his, so warm and soft. “Let me show you the valley.”

Pulling back the curtain of vines, he led her to the overlook.

She gasped. His chest swelled with pride as she took everything in. The den in the meadow, far below. Rolling forests of trees, some of which were developing their first buds of the season. Sunlight glinting off the rivers. The whole valley, spectacular and serene. He was its steward, and he made sure everything remained in balance. Everything within its bounds prospered because of his blood, his sweat, his long patrols and nights of little rest. Sometimes he had questioned if all that work was worth it, but her astonishment was his answer. Without knowing it, he had done everything for her.

“See the rivers?” he asked. “They used to be one, farther upstream. Our territory ranges from where the rivers split to where they meet again. That’s why we’re the Twin River pack.” Ronan took Lia’s shoulders, reorienting her. “If you look to the south, you can see the lower boundary. Don’t go past that point. You’ll run into the Shadow pack, and their Alpha, Shade. We have a treaty with them, but Shade has never really been our ally. He’d love to take a bite out of our territory, and who knows what else. For now though, the treaty keeps him at bay.

“To the north is the Ember pack. Our cousin Ash is the Alpha, though his brother Blaze might challenge him someday. We’re on good terms, but I still wouldn’t recommend going into their territory without an escort. Even the friendliest packs get antsy when proper protocol isn’t followed.”