ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (61 page)

Daniel drummed his fingers on the pane of glass after Bretton had left to tend to his fresh wounds.  Yes, the snack had served its purpose.  He felt his usual strength and calm coursing through his lean body. 

Leverage.  He mused.  Leverage was what he needed for Autumn Coates, just like her Aunt needed before her.  

Autumn woke with an arm draped heavily over her.  She turned her head to see the side of Dalton’s face, and smiled.  He must have come in sometime in the night and sent Trina out for her turn at watch.  She rolled carefully and stared at his sleeping face.  His jaw was slack, leaving his mouth partially open, and a small amount of drool had crept onto his chin.  She smiled tenderly and wiped it away. 

Dalton’s eyes opened to slits and he smiled sleepily at her.  “Aren’t you glad I’m not rogue enough to take advantage of you in your sleep?” 

“Yes, you’re quite a gentleman.”  She responded and tried to rise from the bed. 

Dalton tightened his arm around her.  “Don’t leave yet.” 

“But I smell bacon.”  She whispered. 

Dalton smiled and nuzzled her neck.  “Yes, and bacon can wait.  Winnie wants you to help at her house later.” 

Autumn’s smile faded.  “I thought we agreed we shouldn’t separate right now.” 

“Yes, but, Brian and I have to work and Chuck needs to go to the mill and turn in his notice before joining us on the job.” 

“Why?”

Dalton shrugged.  “He feels he is needed here more.  I have enough work, I think.  He can just work for me full time.”  He pushed a stray curl away from her face.  “Trina will go with you both and Mika is coming too.  Chris will stay here.” 

Autumn nodded.  “Maybe Mika needs to look into a leave of absence.  Mike saw her with us.  He could…I don’t know…try something.” 

“We thought about that.  You’re perceptive.”  He smiled at her proudly.  “That’s exactly what she’s going to do.”  He pulled her closer and kissed her nose.  “Now, enough about everyone else.  Let’s talk about us.”

“What about us?”

Dalton kissed her nose again.  “Wedding or not?”

“Of course we’re going to have a wedding.  I’m done living in sin.”

He chuckled and laid his head back on the pillow.  “Sin, huh?”

“Yep.” 

“So, I can’t make love to you until we are husband and wife?”  He slid a hand under the covers and found one of her small breasts.  He massaged it gently before lightly pinching the nipple through the fabric of her t-shirt.  Autumn’s breath hitched and her body automatically arched her back, pressing her breast further towards him.

Dalton pushed the covers away and lifted her shirt.  He lowered his head to one breast, his tongue creating hot circles on her goose bumped skin.  Autumn let out a small moan as his free hand ran up the inner part of one thigh.  Her body was coming alive to his touch. 

Loud knocking sounded at the door, just before Mika’s voice carried in to them.  “Love birds!  Get up!  Breakfast is getting cold!” 

Dalton shook his head.  “She might go away if we’re quiet.” 

The pounding continued.  “Love birds?  You in there?”

Dalton sat up, scratching his head furiously.  “Yes, Nazi Mika!  We’re up!” 

Mika giggled, but the pounding on the door stopped.  Dalton was sure he could hear other snickers and quiet laughter as well.  He looked at Autumn sadly.  “Guess this will have to wait again.”

Autumn rubbed a hand lightly over his back.  “Maybe the buildup is good.”

Dalton watched her enter the bathroom before looking down at the erection pushing against his sweatpants.  He sighed audibly. 

“Wow, this is some set up you have here.”  Trina was nodding her approval, turning a tight circle in the yard. 

Winnie smiled her thanks.  “It’s been a labor of love, I guess you could say.” 

“She makes some of the best jams and jellies in Virginia!”  Mika said, and wandered away to look at the chickens. 

“I’d love to try some.”  

“Sure.  I’ll serve some with lunch later.”  She assessed her group of women.  “Ok, there’s a lot to be done today.  I need to prepare as much as possible...just in case.”  She looked at Autumn thoughtfully.  “I nearly forgot.  Autumn and I need to ride into town for about an hour, but we’ll be right back.” 

Trina shook her head slowly.  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“It’s fine.”  Winnie assured her.  “You and Mika stay in the house.  Do you know how to blanch vegetables for freezing?”

“Sure do.”  Trina grinned.  She nudged Mika.  “I’ll show you.”

“What’s wrong with the frozen food at the grocery store?”  Mika pouted. 

“Oh boy.”  Winnie whispered. 

Autumn was nervous going closer to Fredericksburg, but she was confident Winnie could handle whatever came along.  The sun was peeking through the clouds, and she was grateful.  Two full days of clouds and rain were enough for her. 

“Where are we going?”

“Dalton had given me money a few days ago so I could take you out to buy some clothes.”

Autumn’s mouth curved into a small smile.  He had given Winnie the money before declaring she belonged there and with him.  The realization made her new reality something more concrete. 

Winnie looked at her sidelong and smirked.  “Love is a many splendid thing, huh?”

Autumn laughed at her use of the old quote.  “Yes, it is.” 

“So, the choice is yours.  We can either get you one fabulous outfit at a higher end store, or we can just hit the Walmart and get you maybe two.  He only gave me fifty.”

“Oh, fifty is just fine.”  She grinned sheepishly.  “I know of an even better place, if you don’t mind going there.  I can get a lot at Goodwill for fifty dollars.”

Winnie shrugged.  “No shame in the Goodwill.  I’ve shopped there.  How about we go there and Walmart?  I’m sure you need other things too.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.  I have some money in the bank, and can use my debit card if I go over the fifty.”

Winnie and Autumn left the Goodwill and grinned at each other. 

“I can’t believe you just bought two pairs of pants, three shirts, and a coat for thirty dollars!” 

Autumn threw the bags behind her seat in the cab.  “We were lucky today was half off all yellow sticker items.” 

“Well, I’m impressed.”  Winnie stopped and looked over Autumn’s head to the far end of the shopping center.  A man was leaned against the side of a dark car with his arms crossed. 

Autumn turned her head to see what she was looking at.  “What is it?”

“Get in the truck.”  Winnie kept her eyes on the man as she backed towards the driver’s door.  Her stomach clenched into a ball as he also went to the driver’s door of the dark car.  Winnie’s hands were tingling.  The adrenaline was pushing her to shift, but she was an old master at control. 

“Who is that?”  Autumn wanted to shriek, but kept her voice to a low waver.  She wished they had never left Winnie and Chuck’s yard.  To hell with new clothes! 

“One of Mike Rodgers.” 

“How do you know?” 

“I just know.” 

“Were we followed?”  Autumn asked frantically, her head snapping backwards, then forward, as Winnie slammed the truck into reverse and swung the truck backwards sharply.  She slammed the gear shift again and they squealed out of the parking lot. 

“Followed or spotted.  Not good either way.” 

“Should we call the guys?”

“Not yet.”  She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and handed it Autumn.  “Call my house.  It’s listed in the contacts as ‘home’. 

Autumn found the number, glancing once in the side rear-view mirror.  She didn’t see the dark car right away, but the driver soon passed another vehicle and slid smoothly in behind them.  She listened to the ringing, ending the call in frustration when no one picked up. 

“No answer.” 

Winnie uttered a curse.  “Call Dalton.” 

Autumn was more than happy to do it.  Her body wanted to lean as Winnie accelerated and forced the truck between two cars ahead of them.  A horn blared behind her.  She cursed again when the light ahead turned red.

Autumn drummed her fingers impatiently on her thigh as she waited for Dalton to pick up.  When the call went to voicemail she tried again. 

“No luck?”

“No.”

“Look, I’m going to take some back roads.  I don’t want to stay on this main road.” 

“Why?  Won’t we be safer with more people around?”

Winnie frowned impatiently.  “Would you risk people seeing me shift if I need to?”

Autumn chewed on her lower lip, understanding dawning that they may not make it home without a confrontation.  “No, I suppose not.” 

“Try Dalton again.”

It took two more tries before Dalton answered, breathless and angry.  “What, Winnie?  We’re working here!” 

“It’s Autumn.”  She pushed her arm toward the dashboard as Winnie slammed on the breaks and ran the next red light to put distance between them and the dark car.  She angled the truck into a sharp left hand turn through the intersection.  More horns honked disapproval. 

Dalton recovered from his surprised silence.  “Well, hey, babe.  Are you missing me?”

“We’re being followed.”

“Why are you out?  Who are you with?”  He growled.

“It’s just me and Winnie.  She remembered the money, and took me to buy clothes.”

“Damn that woman!  Where are you?”

“What road is this?”  Autumn asked.  Winnie’s eyes were a constant cycle of road ahead, rear-view mirror, side mirror.

“Salem Church.” 

Autumn relayed the message.

“Ok, tell her to get on Gordon and follow it to where it intersects with 613.  We’ll be waiting at the church.  She’ll know.” 

Autumn relayed the next message. 

“Yeah, yeah…I know where he’s talking about.  I should have thought of it to begin with.” 

“Autumn?”  Dalton’s voice was low and serious.

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”   Her heart ached as she ended the call.  The dark car was behind them once again.

Gordon Road was a two lane winding road with one shopping center.  The rest of the road was affluent looking houses and entrances into even more affluent looking subdivisions.  Eventually those houses gave way to what Autumn considered to be more “normal” looking residences, and they were becoming sparser the further they went.

“How much longer?”  Autumn asked, her neck twisted to look at the car behind them. 

“Couple of miles.” 

Winnie took the final curve at a dangerous speed as a tall brick church came into view. An intersecting road was just ahead.  The truck fishtailed as the tires hit the gravel of the parking lot too fast.  Dalton, Chuck, and Brian advanced on the car as soon as it pulled in behind the truck.  Dalton didn’t give the driver time to speak or get out; he flung the car door open and jerked the man by his collar out of the car, and slammed him onto the hood. 

“What do you want?”  Spittle flew from Dalton’s mouth and landed on the bridge of the man’s nose. 

The man laughed, his blue eyes dancing.  “You send two of your wenches into Mike’s territory, and you ask me what I want?”  His voice held the lilting cadence of some European country, but Dalton couldn’t place it.  He slammed the man’s head backwards onto the hood.  The man blinked as air wheezed from his lungs. 

“They weren’t sent.”  Dalton snarled.  He lowered his head closer.  “So were you following them, or did you just capitalize on the coincidence?”

The man tried to smile, but Dalton slammed his head again.

Autumn jumped and took several steps towards Dalton.  “If you kill him, we’ll never know.” 

“Answer!” 

“I was following them.  I was told to wait a couple miles away from your houses.  If any of your men started towards Fredericksburg, I was to report back.”

“Men?  What about the females?”

The man showed fear for the first time.  “I was to intercept.”

Dalton stared at him waiting for more.  The import of his words finally sunk in.  “So, you were ordered to take our women?”

The man nodded once. 

“How were you, by yourself, going to kidnap a strong she wolf and a very capable human woman?”  

The man’s sardonic grin was back.  “Look in the car.”

Dalton didn’t want to loosen his hold.  He jerked his head to the side, giving Chuck and Brian permission to look. 

Brian pulled a box out and began unloading the contents, listing them as they went.  “There’s rope, duct tape, a syringe, and…”  He held up a small bottle and frowned.  “Rohypnol.”

Dalton looked at the man, a sneer pulling his lips back from his teeth.  A low growl emanated from him, and the man’s eyes grew large with fear. 

“Look, I just work for Mike!  I do what I’m told!”

Chuck backed out of the passenger seat and held up a taser.