Deceived By the Others (5 page)

It was perfect.

I started putting our things away in the drawers and closet while Chaz got a fire going in the hearth. Before long, light and warmth spilled into the tiny, open space, and the two of us met in front of it, wrapping our arms around each other. I breathed in the scent of musk and sweat that clung to him, closing my eyes and relaxing against his chest.

“So what do you think?”

“Hmm?”

“About this place? Like it?”

“Yes,” I said. “Very much.”

“Good.”

With that, he tilted my chin up and bent down to kiss me. I met his lips hungrily, tightening my grip around his waist.

It was perfectly romantic and, rather inevitably, the moment was lost as a series of jeering hoots and hollers came from outside the window.

“Score one for the pack leader!”

“Hey, hot stuff, save some for me!”

“Don’t stop on our account, chica! Let’s see it all!”

I flushed in embarrassment, Chaz pulling away angrily, whirling to face the window. There were four teenagers leering in at us, laughing and making rude, suggestive gestures. Chaz stalked over to the door, the kids rapidly backpedalling and rushing to get out of the way. I hurried over to the window and pulled the curtains down, though I held one aside long enough to watch them rush off into the dark.

“Seth, if I catch your skinny ass over here again, I am going to kick it right back to the city! You hear me?”

Nothing but taunting laughter came out of the trees to answer him.

Shaking his head, Chaz slammed and locked the door, running a hand over his face. He was reddening under his tan. “Shia, I’m sorry. Those little shits didn’t ruin everything, did they?”

I backed away from the window, frowning, but thoughtful. “No, I wouldn’t say that. They’re just being overly hormonal teenage boys. They remind me of my brothers at that age.”

He snorted laughter at that. “Damien, sure. But Mikey, the big-shot lawyer, acting like that? Sorry, I can’t picture it.”

I flashed a wry smile. “You’d be surprised. Come on, they’re just jerking your chain. Don’t get worked up over it. They’re probably just jealous.”

“Yeah, I suppose,” he said, moodily eyeing the door. “I guess we can head back up and grab some dinner or something.”

Arm in arm, we strolled back to the lodge, mindful of the muddy spots. There were still people hanging around in the front, but the dining hall was empty save for a couple of tired men at the bar drinking longnecks and watching the big screen. The blue-haired lady behind the counter—George’s mom, we presumed—clucked and fussed over how tired Chaz and I looked, taking pity and giving us to-go boxes for our food.

Once back at the cabin, we changed into comfy sweats and chowed down in front of the fire, talking about what we’d do while we were here. Chaz wanted to take me on a scenic hike up in the hills. I wanted to check out the garden I’d spied beside the lodge. We could even sneak away to a waterfall Dillon had told Chaz about and see about catching a few fish.

We didn’t talk about what would happen when Chaz had to leave me alone to go hunt with his pack after moonrise.

Before long, Chaz was speculatively eyeing the bed.

“Tired?”

“Yeah. Long drive,” he said, though the look in his eyes made it clear he would be very
un
tired if I did anything to reciprocate his “come hither” look.

With no small measure of regret, I dismissed any thought of dropping the contract tucked away in my bag on him tonight. It was too early to talk about it. Still, I was tempted to pull off my clothes and drag him under the covers with me, contract or no. We’d broken those laws already, though it was before I’d known what he was. I wasn’t worried about any danger other than what might happen to him if someone reported him for failure to adhere to the laws governing intimate physical contact between humans and Others.

It was dangerous to have sex with Weres mostly because they could lose control over their shape-shifting in the throes of passion. As an alpha, Chaz had better control over his ability to shift than most, meaning the usual risks weren’t an issue. Sleeping with him might even make him more amenable to signing the papers.

On the other hand, he might look at it as some form of blackmail by forcing the issue on him later.

Instead of giving in to my urges, when we settled under the covers and his hand wandered to the hem of my shirt, I took hold of his wrist and pulled it to my stomach, twining my fingers with his. Chaz sighed but didn’t say anything, pulling me against him until our bodies melded into a warm, comforting cocoon of limbs and blankets.

It was a very long, very frustrating night.

Chapter 4

The next morning, I woke up before Chaz. I lay there for a bit, curled up against his side and listening to the soft sounds of his breathing and heartbeat. His body was radiating warmth like a furnace. As the fire he’d started last night had burned down to only a few hotly glowing embers, it was welcome.

Rain fell in a soft, muted pattering on the roof. The little sunlight trickling through the gap in the curtains was dim and subdued. It was difficult to even consider moving, but hunger eventually goaded me into getting up.

Chaz mumbled something and rolled over, pulling a pillow over his head when I turned on the light. I chuckled and put the covers aside to tug on some heavy wool socks. It didn’t do much against the chill in the air. Next I tossed a couple of pieces of wood onto the embers in the fireplace. It took a bit, and I had to throw on another match, but soon they caught and started blazing cheerily away.

Coffee, being an essential staple of my diet, was obviously next. Once it started brewing, I turned to Chaz. “You want me to make you a cup?”

He mumbled something unintelligible from under the pillow.

I grinned and walked over, rubbing his shoulder. “Come on, sleepyhead. Don’t tell me you’re thinking about missing breakfast?”

A little “eep” of surprise was startled out of me when he twisted around lightning fast to grab me around the waist and pull me onto the bed. My heart was doing a tap dance in my throat, his low laughter rumbling in my ear as I squirmed to escape.

“You do make it hard to get any sleep. Why don’t you just stay right here with me? It’s not like we’ve got somewhere to be today.”

I gave him a gentle poke in the side, mock frowning at him. “Says you, mister. I’d like to start meeting the rest of your pack today.”

“What’s the rush?” He started doing things to my neck and collarbone that had me squirming and laughing before long. “We’ve got the whole weekend ahead of us. They can wait a little longer.”

“Mm, I just wanted to get an early start. I’m curious; I don’t really know anything about them.”

“If you insist.” He sighed dramatically, urging me to get up before swinging his legs around and standing with a yawn and a stretch. “I’ll take some coffee, but I’m going to grab a quick shower before we head up there.”

I headed to the kitchen, and poured myself a cup. Normally I’d want cream in it, but since all they provided was the powdered crap in the little basket of goodies on the tiny counter, I’d take it black. “Okay, hurry up then. I’ll hop in after you.”

He nodded and headed into the bathroom, leaving the door open a crack. Cradling the hot mug, I walked over to the front door and tugged it open, intending to get a breath of the fresh mountain air and see what the rest of the place looked like.

Heavy mist swirled through the trees, clinging low to the ground. A bird was warbling off in the distance, muted by the rain. The creek was rushing along somewhere out of sight, and I couldn’t see much more than hints of the cabins on either side through the trees and fog. I stood in the doorway, safe from the rain under the eaves, seeing what I could of the mountains out in the distance. Their shapes were indistinct, for the most part hidden by clouds and mist, but I could see them outlined against the meager sunlight filtering through in patches here and there.

A flutter caught my eye, and I glanced at the door. There was a piece of graph paper with torn, ragged edges folded in half and pinned to the door with a small pocket knife. Frowning, I tugged the knife out of the door and took the damp piece of paper inside, shutting the door as I opened it. The writing at the top done in thick, black marker had started to bleed down the page from the humidity.

ATTN: THE KNUCKLE-DRAGGING MOUTH-BREATHER IN CABIN 12 GO BACK TO THE CITY YOU ASSHOLE!

Below that was another line written in jagged pencil, the writing more hurried and smaller than the carefully plain block letters of the first.

GTFO!

“The hell?” I muttered. “‘GTFO’?”

With a shrug, I folded the paper back up and put it and the knife down on the table, putting it down to more of Seth’s shenanigans. Chaz would probably be pissed, but I doubted he’d do much more than growl and huff over it.

I enjoyed the rest of my coffee in bed while I waited for Chaz to finish up. When he walked out of the shower in nothing but a towel around his waist, I got up to give him a kiss and a few words of warning. “Don’t get mad, but it looks like Seth and his buddies left a little love letter on the door.”

“Christ, I wish they’d been taken in by another pack.”

f I shrugged, finishing off my coffee and setting the mug aside. “Like I said last night, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. They’re just being rowdy, disrespectful teenagers.”

He walked over to the table and picked up the note, puzzling over it like I had. At least he seemed more confused than angry over it. “What the hell is ‘GTFO’ supposed to mean?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. I’m going to take that shower, then let’s grab some food.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

I didn’t take too long to get ready, and soon we were walking arm in arm through the light drizzle up to the lodge. When we got inside, we followed our noses to the dining hall, more than happy to find that we weren’t too late for breakfast. There were only a handful of people in the dining hall: a trio of geeky looking guys who watched us groggily over cups of coffee from the corner furthest from the windows; one or two lone diners; and a bunch of Chaz’s pack gathered by the big picture windows, laughing and chatting. Thankfully, Seth and his buddies were nowhere in sight.

A stout older woman with blue-gray hair and an apron was laughing along with what someone at one of the tables was saying. She smiled and waved us over with her notepad, gesturing for us to take a seat at a round table with four other Sunstrikers. I sat down next to a slender woman with a ponytail and a tan, Chaz next to a guy with a number of gold piercings and a couple of tattoos visible where he’d rolled up the sleeves of his sweatshirt. The scent of Were was heavy in the room, not unpleasant, but bordering on overpowering mixed with all the food.

The older woman who had waved us over—Mr. Cassidy’s wife—beamed at us. “Good morning! Can I get you two started with some orange juice? Maybe some coffee or tea?”

“Coffee would be great,” I said, returning her warm smile as I settled back into the seat Chaz had pulled out for me.

“Shiarra, right?” asked one of the guys at the table as Mrs. Cassidy hurried off to get the drinks. “I’m Sean. This is Nick, Paula, and Kimberly.”

We all shook hands, me leaning over the table to reach across to Sean and Paula. Everyone seemed pleased enough to meet me, if a little bleary-eyed. Nick, the one with the tattoos and piercings, looked to be nursing a bit of a hangover. I was willing to bet he’d stayed up late to watch the game with some of the other guys at the bar. They all seemed younger than Chaz and me, perhaps in their early twenties, and were all wearing loose jeans or sweatpants and warm sweatshirts. The girls’ stuff was not nearly as ratty as the guys’ clothes, but they were still the kinds of things you wouldn’t necessarily mind shifting in.

“Thank you for coming,” Paula said, her cheeks dimpling with an impish smile. “Maybe having you here will keep these yahoos in line.”

“Hey! We’re not
that
much of a pain in the ass,” Nick protested.

“No more than Seth, anyway,” Kimberly said.

“Have you seen him and his cohorts?” Sean added. “They came in here this morning and were complaining so loudly about the food that Mr. Cassidy came in and told them they’d better go find someplace else to eat, or he’d personally whup their asses from here to Jersey. They slunk out of here with their tails between their legs and took off for town. It was great!”

“I’m not surprised,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “He and his buddies seem like nothing but trouble.”

“Don’t you get started, too. It’s bad enough I have to justify keeping them in the pack to the rest of the Sunstrikers.”

I leaned over to kiss Chaz’s cheek, ruffling his damp hair. “Don’t be grouchy. You’re the leader, right? I’m sure everyone else will listen if you put your foot down.”

Kimberly laughed, her warm brown eyes sparkling with humor. “It’s not quite like that, hon. If there’s too much dissension in the ranks, someone could challenge him to take his place. It doesn’t happen often, but if Seth gets enough people behind him, he might try to oust Chaz.”