ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (54 page)

“Who is she?”  Autumn asked as Dalton placed her wrap around her shoulders. 

Daniel turned slightly.  “She was my wife.” 

“Was?”

“Yes, she died in nearly a decade ago.” 

Autumn lowered her eyes.  “I’m sorry.”

Dalton began moving Autumn towards the double doors.  He felt that if they stayed much longer something bad would happen. 

“Would you like to know her name?”

Autumn looked over her shoulder.  “Yes.” 

“She was Leanne Coates Blacksmith.” 

Dalton couldn’t get Autumn away from the Bull Mitch Bull Shit hotel fast enough.  They were now involved in something far more dangerous than he had originally feared. 

“Have a good night.”  The man at the desk called after them softly.  Neither acknowledged him.  Dalton heard a dry chuckle chase them out the front doors.  Autumn didn’t speak until they were outside. 

“You’re hurting me.” 

Dalton released her elbow, and unlocked the car.  He had it started and thrown in reverse before Autumn could get buckled.  The tires of his Focus made small screeching noises, the transmission winding up, as he backed out fast.  Autumn’s body flung forward when he slammed on the breaks and shoved the car into drive, tearing away from the hotel.  He took the winding drive at a breakneck speed, barely slowing as he the car entered the road beyond sideways. 

Autumn sucked in breath and braced for a collision that never came.  Dalton looked in the rearview mirrors several times, before he breathed a sigh of relief, and slowed the car down.  He looked at Autumn sharply. 

“Tell me what you know about your family!”

“There’s not much to tell.  I never knew my father, and my mother has been white trash my whole life!”  She flinched and drew in a shuddering breath.  “It’s only coincidence that woman looked so much like me and her maiden name was the same as mine, right?” 

Dalton only glanced her way, before looking at the road again. 

Autumn’s eyes bulged.  “Right?”  She yelled. 

“I don’t know!”  He looked in the rearview mirror again.  “Your mother…is there anything peculiar about her?”

“She’s an alcoholic.”

“I mean something strange!  Strange abilities of any kind?”

“She used to read tarot cards for the neighbors and some of her drinking buddies when I was a little girl.”

“Does she still read them?”

“No, I…I don’t think so.  Why?  What would Tarot cards have to do with werewolves, and vampires, and that naked freak we saw?”

“You think she was a freak?”  He asked quietly. 

Autumn’s eyebrows shot up and she began nodding.  “Well, yeah!  She stripped all her clothes off as a vampire and left the room as a wolf!  She can have babies!”  She threw her hands in the air and let them crash to her lap.  “All the books are wrong!”

“For starters, those books are fiction. This is real life!”  He said hotly.  “And no, I don’t think the Tarot cards have anything to do with anything, but it is part of the occult.  Maybe…”  He hit the steering wheel and cursed.  “Maybe I just don’t know anything!”

Autumn shrank back in her seat.  “I didn’t mean she was a freak because she could turn into a wolf.” 

Dalton glanced at her again, realization dawning.  “You were jealous of her?”

She shrugged and turned her face to the passenger window.

Dalton laughed shortly.  “You’re a trip.”

“Why?”

“Because you seemed a little jealous over your friend at the lodge because I meant to kidnap her instead of you.  Now you seem a little jealous because that woman stood nude before me.”  He tilted his head and gripped the steering wheel tightly with one hand.  “It’s almost like you don’t…”

“I don’t what?”

“Nothing.  Never mind.” 

Autumn twisted in her seat and glared at him.  “Like I don’t what?”  Her voice cut through the car. 

Dalton sneered and whipped the car of the road.  Autumn raised a hand to brace it against the ceiling as the car came to a bumpy stop.  Dalton twisted too and put his face close to her hers. 

“It’s like you don’t see that you’re beautiful!  Why do you think you’re so undesirable?”

Large tears welled in her eyes and spilled out, making her embarrassed and angrier.  Her hazel eyes disappeared into slits.  “Because I’ve never been good enough for anyone!”

Dalton shot his head forward and grabbed her on both sides of her face.  He kissed her hard, demanding with his mouth that she taste him.  They became a tangle of arms, and teeth clanked together in their hot intensity.  Autumn pulled her head away and pushed at his chest, her eyes wide. 

“What are we doing?”

Dalton moved away and leaned back against his seat, letting his head fall onto the headrest.  “I don’t know.” 

“I want to go back to the motel.”  She turned her body back around and stared numbly out of the windshield. 

Dalton looked at her and sighed.  This is a mess. 

Autumn wouldn’t talk to him when they got back.  She changed into the leggings and t-shirt and curled up on the farthest edge of her bed with her back to him.

Dalton wanted to talk to her.  He wanted to hear her thoughts on meeting a real life vampire, two to be exact, three if you wanted to count the Tonya creation.  He watched her and had no idea if she was asleep or not, but didn’t dare to try and check. 

How am I going to get out of this?  He knew she had to go back to where he took her from, but that thought made him almost queasy.  It’s lust, that’s all.  Dalton licked his lips unconsciously as he remembered the salty taste of her tears and the lingering flavor of champagne.  The sexual tension between the two of them had sparked and flamed into a raging fire almost instantaneously.  More of Thomas’s teaching drifted into his mind. 

“You’ll know when you’ve found the perfect mate, Dalton.”

“How?  A lot of women turn me on.”  He had foolishly laughed. 

Thomas’s hard stare silenced him.  “You’ll know it in three ways.  The female will demand your attention; not because she’s a nag, but because you will desire it so fiercely.  When you kiss her, it will be a hot flood that will never quench you.  You’ll just want more and more.  And finally, and most importantly: when you make love to her, you’ll never consider another woman again.”  

Dalton placed his hands on top of his head.  He licked his lips again.  She can’t be the one.  She just can’t.  He knew he was lying to himself, because all he wanted was their mouths together again, and feel her heat scorching him from the inside out.

Dalton was dreaming of wolves that could turn into anything they wanted to.  For some reason he had chosen to become a rat, and a manically laughing Autumn was herding him into a giant trap.  “Come on Dalton rat, I have cheese!  Dalton rat…” 

“Dalton!”  Autumn shook him one last time and backed a step away when his eyes popped open. 

He sat up stiffly from where he had been slouched in the chair.  Pale light filtered in past the drapes.  He looked at her confusedly.  “What time is it?”

“Almost eight.”  She snapped.  “A cloud must have passed or something because your cell phone was ringing.” 

“Did you answer it?”

She furrowed her brow.  “Uh…no.”  She walked to the bathroom and slammed the door. 

Dalton checked the caller ID and saw that he had missed two calls from Brian.  Great.

The phone rang three times before Brian answered groggily. 

“Hey, Dalton.  What’s up?”

“What’s up?” 

“Yeah.” 

“You called me!” 

He heard Brian cough.  “Oh yeah…I did.”  He snickered.  “My bad.”

Dalton waited, but he didn’t say anything.  “Brian, what do you want?”

“Oh…so it’s raining.  Old man Taylor’s is going to have to wait until tomorrow.”

Dalton pinched the bridge of his nose.  “Ok, Brian, no problem.  For future reference; you’re in charge while I’m gone, it’s ok to make decisions like this.  Now go back to bed.”

“Alright.” 

Dalton wondered if Brian would remember the conversation later.  Right then he didn’t care.  He needed to decide what to do with Autumn.  He knew she needed to go back, but he also needed her happy when she did.  She might not turn him in if she was going back with a few happy memories of an adventure. 

Dalton knocked on the bathroom door.  “Autumn?”

She swung the door open and glared at him.  She had her dress from the night before on its hanger.  She pushed past him and began tossing her toiletries into the plastic bag from the five and dime. 

“What are you doing?” 

“I’m going to the Bull Mitch.”

Dalton almost laughed, until he realized she was serious. 

“You can’t go there!”

“I want to find out about this woman who may have been related to me.  I’m sure Daniel will let me have that room until I decide what to do.”

Dalton stared at her incredulously until he snapped out of it and pointed to his chest then back at her.  “We have an understanding.” 

Autumn stopped what she was doing and opened her mouth in offense.  “You can’t possibly think I’m still your captive?”

“Well…yeah!  You are!”

“Right.”  She said dryly.  “Tell you what, you can drive me up there and pick up your super she wolf mate before you leave!” 

“I don’t want her!” 

Autumn dropped the overstuffed bag on the floor and advanced on him.  “Then what do you want?  Because this whole situation is stupid!”

Dalton towered over her, his breath short and hot, as his chest heaved.  “You, dammit!  You!”

Daniel Blacksmith stretched lazily and prodded the sleeping woman beside him.  She was laying on her stomach, one leg bent and the straight leg tangled in the satin bed sheet.  Her muscular frame was spectacular with a nice hard butt to look at, but she had served her purpose, and now Daniel wanted her out of his bed.  The heavy drapes voided almost all of the daylight, but enough seeped in that he could see it was well past sunup.  Even without his eyes testimony, his body ached slightly and felt weak.  He nudged Tonya harder. 

She grumbled and turned her head to look at him.  She ghosted a smile, but removed all expression from her face when she saw his bored eyes look away.  She stood and gathered up her clothing. 

“I guess this was a one night affair?”

“Don’t go away mad.”

She shot him a fiery look.  “Just because the human looks like Leanne, it won’t make her an adequate replacement.”  She shoved her arms into the gown from the night before, and picked up her heels with two fingertips.  “No one can replace Leanne.”

“You would know that better than any, I suppose.” 

Tonya flung a shoe at him with lightning speed, but Daniel was faster and easily moved his head out of the way.  “Temper, my dear.”

“If you think you’re going to pawn me off on that scrawny little mutt, you’re crazy.  She’s with him, and won’t return here, you know.” 

Daniel reached beside the bed and tossed the shoe back to her.  “Remember: you are a tool, a machine only, and I will do whatever I wish with you.  As for the girl…why, she’s my concern, not yours. ”

“I hate you.”  She whispered. 

Daniel looked at her benignly with his pale eyes.  “I…don’t…care.”

Autumn sat on the edge of the bed wearily.  “One minute you insist you’re taking me back…eventually, the next minute you want me?”  She looked at him accusingly.  “So, which is it?”

“I do want you, but we both know it won’t work.  I need to get my pack back together.”   He sat beside her equally as weary. 

“Can’t you be a lone wolf like Daniel was talking about?”

Dalton leaned his arms on his elbows.  “Werewolves do better with packs, Autumn.  I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Right, because I’m just a human.” 

Dalton sighed heavily.  “No, it’s because you’re not a werewolf.” 

Autumn wanted to cry.  She had been gone for almost three days.  They had been the three strangest days of her life, but they had also opened a whole new world to her.  It was a world without the despair of Teddy and Becky.  It was a world where she was worth more than a paycheck.  She wasn’t going to give that up.  What did she have to go home to that she couldn’t live without?  Her beat up car?  A few clothes purchased from the Goodwill?  Four or five paperbacks she had read over and over again until she knew the stories by heart?  No, there was nothing for her in Syria.

“Go home, Dalton.” 

Her searched her face, his eyes trying to memorize every pore, every freckle.  “What are you going to do?”

“For now, I’m going to stay here.  Here in Luray.  I can get a job, and once I have enough money saved, I’m going farther away.”  She looked at him sadly, but there was a new determined gleam in her eyes.  “Go home.  Take care of your business.”  She stood and picked up the stuffed plastic bag.