Familiar Desires: 5 (Protective Affairs) (15 page)

The clench-pull of her pussy sent him over the edge. He pumped
deep twice more. Fiery sensation slammed through him. The pleasure radiated out
leaving him shaking and weak. If he wasn’t already on his knees, he might have
ended up on them.

He drew in a shuddering breath and once again met Alana’s
eyes in the mirror. “You’re our Familiar.”

Alana sighed and shot a glare over at Michael. It was too
early for this. They weren’t going down the mountain today. They had a few
meetings with a few family members later today, but none early this morning.
They had visited two of the other kidnap sites in the day since Gina’s visit
and it was more of the same. She was convinced if they were going to learn
something, it would be from the families or another kidnapping. So, unless
something went wrong, they’d be staying close to town for the next few days.

Michael’s explanation hadn’t been very satisfying when he’d
woken her up shortly after Kane left to go to work. She’d planned to sleep late
and enjoy a lazy morning. Now Michael had a whole list of things for them to do,
which included a stop to get the letter, but first, he needed to talk to
someone. She had no idea who that was, because he hadn’t told her even why they
had to go into town today. The letter could wait.

They drove through the town. There weren’t many people on
the street yet. When they passed a bakery the rich, mouthwatering scents of
cinnamon and chocolate drifted into the Jeep. She drew in the aroma again. They
were definitely going to have to come back by for a snack and maybe something
to take home for dessert.

“Cinnamon rolls later?” Michael asked, glancing at her
quickly.

“Definitely. Do they still make those delicious pies?”

“There might be a riot if they stopped. Still mad?” He
turned onto another street.

She realized they were heading into a shopping district. “Still
annoyed. The sun’s not even fully up. Do you realize how long it’s been since I’ve
had a free day to relax or simply sleep? I was looking forward to it.”

“You can relax later after we get through with the errands
and get the letter.”

“I still don’t know what you hope to learn or even do with it.
It won’t change anything. I know you didn’t send it to me. I began figuring
that out even before I was sent here.” She hadn’t put any faith in those ideas
until she’d met them again and saw how confused they were by her question. She’d
thought maybe she wanted to believe it too much.

“Well, mainly, we want to see it. We’ll talk about it all
later.” Michael turned into the parking lot of a furniture store. “We’re here.”

Here was apparently Home Comforts. The store had been in
business for generations. If she remembered right, it was owned by one of the Witch
Council members. Alana looked at Michael and wondered what he had to do here.

“You can walk around the store while I’m talking to
Thompson.” Michael came around the car and met her as she shut her own door.

That was why he could have left her at home. If it had been
about the kidnappings, the Council would have talked to them all together. Since
it wasn’t, it was probably something to do with Michael’s work with them.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t take too long.

Michael opened the glass door for her. She could remember it
being broken at least twice as she was growing up, but it had been replaced
with the same elegant, old-fashioned style of door both times. They walked into
the showroom with furniture arranged in small groupings. A woman started their
way and then stopped. The tall, willowy blonde hesitated before turning
deliberately and moving to a arrangement of couches and chairs.

Alana raised an eyebrow when the woman kept her back to them
and plumped pillows and cushions. That was definitely strange behavior. Unless
things had changed, the employees on the floor of the shop were supposed to at
least come up and ask if they needed help. Alana had a sneaking suspicion she
was looking at one of Gina’s friends. The woman seemed to have that kind of
attitude. Or maybe she was being too judgmental from one action.

Michael gave the woman a sharp glance. At that look, Alana
knew this wasn’t the way things normally went. She narrowed her eyes on him when
she suddenly sensed this meeting might be something entirely different than she
assumed. She didn’t have time to do more than that. A man with black hair,
which was graying at the temples, stepped from an office near the back, drawing
their attention. He began walking through the array of furniture to meet them.

“Michael, Alana, it’s good to see you. How have you been?”
Don Thompson strode up to meet them. He took Alana’s hand between his and
smiled at her.

“Oh, we’re good and getting along better than I thought we
would.” Alana glanced at Michael and grinned.

“That’s because you were overcomplicating things.” Michael
curled an arm around her and tugged her back into his embrace, away from Don’s
hold.

“I’m going to steal Michael from you for a while. Why don’t
you look around the store? Our talk shouldn’t take long.” Don gestured at the
nearby tables and chairs.

“Maybe spend some time over in the bedroom area. I was
thinking we might get a new style of furniture in our bedroom. See if you can
find anything you like.” Michael looked down at her with a raised brow.

She heard the words he said and knew what he meant. Now that
she was with them, he wanted her to have a say in the decoration of the house.
A surge of panic rushed through her. She hadn’t made any commitments or
mentioned anything about staying here permanently.

She bit back the immediate denial, because she was afraid
she might be reading too much into their behavior. Her hesitation also stemmed
from worry that some of the fear could be habit and reaction to the change. For
so long, she’d refused to think of any kind of relationship between them,
because she didn’t believe they wanted her. Now it was taking her time to
adjust to all of the changes even if, emotionally, she was ready to grab onto
them and never let go.

“Just look around, baby. Maybe you’ll find something you
like.” He pulled her close in a tight hug.

He seemed to be able to read her too accurately, at times.
She nodded and moved away from them. They went to the office in the back and
she wandered over toward the bedroom section. Alana wondered if the woman would
continue to ignore her or if she would take the opportunity to approach her
since they were alone.

She strolled past some simple headboards to two groupings of
four posters. One was a canopy bed in dark, nearly black wood with a rounded
headboard and a rather simple design. The gleam of the wood and the mirrored
dresser, which complemented it, appealed to her. Scrolling designs covered the
deep-brown headboard of the other bed and were echoed in the posts. She walked
over and glided her finger over the curve of the post. The tap of the blonde’s
heels drew Alana’s attention and she straightened as the sound became louder.

“You’ll get out of town if you know what’s good for you.”
The blonde’s voice was soft and silky, but sounded almost conversational.

Well, that was a little blunter than Alana expected. She’d
expected a snide comment and maybe some veiled threats. This woman cut through
all of that with the direct statement.

“I’m beginning to see what’s good for me. I certainly don’t want
the help of an overindulged witch.” She swept her eyes over the blonde. Alana
might have been stupid enough to fall for their machinations once, but it wasn’t
happening again. Definitely not with these threats.

“You think anyone’s going to miss one more Familiar? Half
the population here is some sort of Familiar shifter. You’re one of many and
you can be replaced.” The witch looked down her nose at Alana.

“Ah, but I’m theirs and that just pisses you off, doesn’t
it?” she said, paused for a moment and smiled. “But maybe not as much as the
fact that they want to be my mates.”

“You’re nothing but sex and duty to them. They’ll realize
you’ll never be what they truly crave. No magic of your own and always leeching
off them.” The woman sneered.

Alana waved that away, not willing to get caught up in the
woman’s diatribe. She could smell the animosity rolling off the other female.
Although jealousy might be part of it, the emotion definitely wasn’t all of it.

“You can’t make me jealous or afraid they’ll walk away from
me. They want me to change them and complete the mating.” She rolled her eyes.
Didn’t these witches know any other routine other than trying to trick her into
running or scaring her away? She’d matured over the years and the same tactics
weren’t going to work again.

“You don’t belong with them and you won’t change them. They’ll
get the witch they deserve, not some animal who needs to be reminded she’s
nothing more than an occasionally useful tool.” The witch eyed her up and down.

“I’ve heard worse. Do you have anything else to say? Maybe
how you enjoyed fucking them while I was gone? All you’re doing at the moment
is boring me. You and Gina should head back to wherever you learned this shit
and take a few more lessons. You’re a long way from scaring me off.” Alana
tilted her head and took a slow step forward. She took a firm hold on her inner
cat. Her claws remained sheathed, but it was a close thing. She wanted to take
a swipe at the woman. “What you are is a fool.”

“I’ll—” The woman began.

“You’ll what? Use your magic and hurt and kill me right
here?” Alana glided forward another step when the woman backed away. “Not a
chance. You may want the witch population free of Familiars, but you don’t want
to leave here. You’d be banished and there are witches out there who would
consider you just as much an abomination as you consider me, if not more.”

“Witches shouldn’t marry outside of their kind. Keep the
lines pure and strong.” The woman tossed her head back and glared, but she held
her ground.

“You are seriously screwed up. Even normal witches try to
marry and be with their witch-mate regardless of if they’re human, shifter or
another witch.” Alana stopped in front of her, standing almost toe to toe.

Did none of these idiot witches realize what they were
doing? Every time they threatened or said Michael and Kane wouldn’t be her
mate, it pushed the feline inside her closer to claiming her mates whether
Alana was ready to do it or not. In spite of the fact that they wanted the
mating, she didn’t think either one of them would appreciate her walking up to
them on the street and simply biting.

“Wizards should only mate with witches. Having a Familiar is
different than breeding with one.” The woman’s eyes flashed with contempt.

“Well, not many wizards around here would agree with you,”
Alana said smoothly.

“No, they wouldn’t.” Michael’s voice sounded much harder
than normal as he walked toward them.

Alana glanced to her right and saw Don and Michael coming
toward them. They must have finished whatever they were doing and come out of
the office sometime during her discussion with the delusional witch. Michael looked
angry, but he was staring at the other woman.

“Sorry about that, Alana.” Don crossed the final distance. A
grimace twisted his lips tight. “Go home, Tanya. I’ll call you later to tell
you if you still have a job.”

“So the meeting was more to do with me encountering her than
anything you two planned to discuss.” Alana gave Michael a narrow-eyed glare.
He could have warned her.

“We did need to talk, but we also wanted to see how she
reacted to you. The Council is trying to find as many of the witches who might
have grudges against Familiars or shifters in general. Perhaps we can find the
person who’s helping with the kidnapping through them or among them. There was
always an attitude and Tanya is Gina’s best friend. They have an arrogance and
snottiness about them concerning shifters. We didn’t know if she bought into
the beliefs of the rest of her friends.” Michael shrugged, but hauled her into
a hug.

“The rest of her friends?” Alana had thought it was just a
problem Gina had with her changing Michael and Kane. Some people got some
strange ideas about the transformation in spite of how open Familiar shifters
tended to be among the witches and wizards here.

“A small group, maybe seven people.” Don led the way toward
the front of the store. “Basically, it’s the attitude you received here. We
only heard some of the last of it, but her feelings were visible even on
screen.”

“How long has this been going on? Have they done anything?”
She slanted a look at the Council member. The last answer was probably no. She
didn’t see the Familiar half of the Council allowing it to continue for long if
it had.

“The attitude has been there for a few years. We heard
rumors of intimidation and some remarks, but nothing that could be proven. Then
you arrived and the number of reports of insults from this group of friends
grew. We knew they’d approach you. We don’t know if they’ll do anything. We
could have said something to you, but we didn’t want you to be defensive or
have a mindset they could use as an excuse.” Don gave an apologetic grimace.

“I sort of understand that, but you could have given me some
clue without providing me names or influencing my behavior toward them
specifically. As far as you knew, they could have been ramping up for their
first attack. Which could still happen. Their sister pretty much hates me,
because I’ll turn my mates into shifters.” Alana’s hand swept out in a dramatic
gesture. One phrase Tanya said stuck in her head.
Having a Familiar is
different than breeding with one.
She’d heard the same kind of rhetoric
from human hate groups directed toward any shifter.

“At least, one of them probably will take it a step too far.
I don’t think it will happen with you three though in spite of Gina’s feelings.
She’ll want the cooperation of the others and I don’t think they’re ready to
take it there yet.” Don’s words slowed and he seemed to be giving the matter
serious thought.

That meant they’d probably attack someone else in the
future. In a way, she’d prefer to face them herself. She knew she wasn’t
helpless, but who knew who those women would go after.