Authors: Elisa Elliot
ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (64 page)
Bretton licked his lips nervously. “They run for Dionte.”
Daniel Blacksmith threw his head back and laughed. “Oh this is good!”
“I think I can set up something. Maybe they can help us find the girl.”
Daniel looked at Bretton patiently. “I know where she is. What I need now is some leverage to use in my favor.”
Bretton nodded his understanding, his body relaxing with the realization that his master was pleased. “What should I do?”
Daniel stood and smiled. Bretton hated that smile. It made everything around it cold as ice.
“Extend a generous offer to visit the Bull Mitch of course.” Daniel began walking towards his office door with graceful strides. “We’ll use them for whatever they are worth.” He looked back at Bretton, the icy smile still intact. “After that…well…” He shrugged casually. “I haven’t had a good old fashioned, invitation only, feeding frenzy in quite some time.”
Bretton shuddered.
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Teddy stared blankly at the envelope. Now what cocky ass would just walk up on the porch in the middle of the night, and leave an envelope? He licked his lips and bent to pick it up. It was just a plain white long envelope with his and Becky’s names on the front. Not typed either; it was a flowing script more like something an old person would know how to write. He took it inside and laid it on the kitchen table.
Becky shuffled into the kitchen, her worn flimsy nightie riding high on her thighs. She looked at Teddy, then at the envelope.
“What’s that?”
“Don’t know.”
She rolled her eyes, moving towards the coffee pot. “Then open it.”
Teddy grunted. Sometimes she was so stupid. “Don’t you find it odd that this was just left on the front steps? We’re in bed with some dangerous people, Becky.” His voice dripped with malice.
“Maybe it has something to do with Autumn.” She turned from the pot and tried to grab the envelope, but Teddy deftly snatched it away before her fingertips could reach it.
“My name’s first! I’ll open it!”
Becky crossed her thin arms and waited with steely hazel eyes.
Teddy thought about the Anthrax scare from the early 2000’s. He also thought about high tech explosives that could be slipped into anything; even an envelope.
“You’re scared.” She said flatly.
“Shut your face!” He ran a hand over the envelope, but didn’t feel anything but paper inside. With a scowl he tore the envelope open. A business card for some place called the Bull Mitch Hotel fluttered to the floor as he unfolded the thick stationary. He scanned the writing and grinned.
“What is it?” Becky asked eagerly and tried to take the paper from him.
Teddy angled his body away from her and read aloud. “You are cordially invited to an evening of fine dining at The Bull Mitch Hotel on October 31st. I look forward to meeting you both, and hope we will be able to sit down and discuss a possible business opportunity. Yours Truly, DB.” Teddy looked up, his greedy eyes gleaming. “Looks like our luck is changing, baby.”
Autumn stared at the dress with a deep frown. Winnie shook her head and leaned back against the couch, her fingers drumming lightly. Autumn’s reflection was mirrored three times as she stood before the fitting mirrors. The overly eager sales associate nodded her approval. Of course she had nodded her approval for the other six dresses Autumn had tried on.
“What is it?” Winnie demanded. “The dress is beautiful. They were all beautiful.”
Mika didn’t look up from inspecting her nails. “She doesn’t want to wear white.”
Autumn shot her a dangerous look over her shoulder.
“Why?” Winnie asked.
“She not a virgin.”
“So?”
Autumn stepped down from the little platform in front of the mirrors and marched back to the dressing rooms. The sales associate trailed after her like a lonely puppy.
Autumn couldn’t get the gown off of her body fast enough. The sales associate sadly took the dress away, feeling her sale slipping away.
Winnie knocked on the door before sticking her head in. She looked at Autumn’s pale face and gave her a half smile.
“No one cares but you. You know that, right?”
Autumn plucked at her sweatshirt and shrugged. “I know.”
“You’re killing that lady out there. I think this sale is dependent on the survival of her family. Or maybe her cat.” She touched Autumn’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s look at Bride’s maid dresses. Maybe you can find a nice compromise there.”
“I know you probably think I’m being stupid.”
Winnie shook her head. “No. I don’t.” She put her arm around Autumn’s shoulder and began leading her to the door. “Now, sometimes I think Mika is stupid.”
Autumn snickered.
Autumn whisked the clothing bag into the house and disappeared with Mika into her room. Brian was sprawled across the bed reading a magazine, and looked up with a sly grin.
“Get out!” Mika snapped.
He sat up slowly. “Why?”
“We have Autumn’s dress and no one but we girls can see!”
Brian shook his head. “The groom can’t see. There’s no reason why one of the groomsmen can’t see.”
Mika shot him an angry look.
Brian held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. I’m going.”
“Where’s Dalton?” Autumn asked.
“He’s out with Chuck and Serena surveying the piece of property where she wants to put the house for her and the other two.”
“She must be loaded.” Mika said wistfully. “I wish we had that kind of money.”
“Maybe we will one day. Don’t be too jealous of her though. Once the modular house is built, she said she will only have a little over twenty grand left. That prick of a husband took her for over three hundred thousand this year alone.”
Autumn frowned. “Does she have skills? What will she do?”
Brian shrugged. “I heard her telling Dalton that she’s really handy with a sewing machine. She also seems to know a lot about antiques.”
“Maybe she and Winnie can work together. She sews really well too.”
“Maybe.” He said and left the room.
“Thanksgiving will be fun this year.”
“What do you mean?” Autumn asked, hanging her dress in the closet.
“All the new people. Last year was a bust, no one wanted to do anything.” Mika toyed with one of the many braids dangling from her head. “What was Thanksgiving like for you?”
Autumn’s face clouded. “When I was a real little girl, it was alright. My Grandmother came once or twice, but I was so small, it’s hard to remember. The memories are vague. I do recall the smell of fresh bread.” Autumn smiled lightly. “She had brought me a doll baby once. That was the last year she visited.”
“Why?”
Autumn shrugged. “She and my Mom had some kind of argument. The next time I saw my Grandmother she was lying in a casket.”
Mika frowned. “What about your father? Did you know him?”
“No. If what my mother said about him is true, I’m glad I didn’t.”
Mika sat down on the edge of the bed and folded her legs under herself. She looked like she was trying to figure out a difficult puzzle.
“So, it was just you and your mother? For your whole life?”
“Yes. Until Teddy came along.”
Mika snorted. “From what you say about him, it might have been better if he had of stayed away too.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
Dalton stuck his head in the door. It had only been four or five hours since he had last seen Autumn, but once his eyes landed on her he felt the gnawing aching in his gut. It was something he was getting used to. Their bond was growing stronger, and he could only imagine what it would feel like once they mated.
“So, we’re ready. Serena is going to talk to the contractor in the morning.”
Autumn nodded. “Good. I know she wants a place of her own.”
“I hope this can happen before we get any real weather. She’s due the first week of February.”
“They can put a house together that fast?”
“It’s a modular. It will come in two pieces, and they just kind of snap it together. We’ll clear as much of that piece of property as we can to make it faster still.”
“That’s cool.”
“Yeah.” Dalton came all the way in the small bedroom and scanned the walls. Dark pictures covered almost every available space. Some were oils, while others were created with charcoal and pen. “These are really good, Mika. Why aren’t you still creating them?”
She lifted one shoulder and let it fall. “Nowhere to work. I have my art supplies stored in a big tote in the back of the closet.”
“What do you need, like a shed or something? I mean, these are really good. You could sell them.”
Mika’s brown face beamed. “You think so? I did win a blue ribbon at a fair a few years ago.”
“Let’s see what we can work out.”
Dalton and Autumn left the room, passing Brian in the hallway.
“Hey, once we get Serena’s house squared away, let’s talk about a shed for Mika.”
Brian scrunched his face. “A shed? For what?”
“So she can have a place to do her art.”
Brian smiled, and put his hand to his mouth. “For real?”
“For real.”
“Aww, man, that’s awesome!” Brian sauntered happily into his bedroom, and Autumn could hear the excited chatter from within.
She looked at Dalton’s profile as they entered the living room. His face was changing. Not in an aging way; it was more like the way he held it. It was more confident, and less frantic.
“You’re like a father or something now.”
Dalton blew air from his nose in a short burst. “Why do you say that?”
Autumn sat on the couch and pulled him down beside her. She intertwined her fingers with his.
“You take care of everyone here. Even Chuck and Winnie are turning to you more for leadership.”
“Chuck always did. Winnie not so much.” He looked at her amusedly.
“She just needed a real alpha.”
“An alpha is supposed to be like the father of the pack.” He sucked air through his teeth and gave his head a half shake. “I just wish I had of done a better job of it sooner.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.” She said and curled into the crook of his arm.
“Why? I nearly lost my entire pack because of it.”
“You would have never kidnapped me if you were a better alpha before now. I’d still be in the mountains living in hell.”
Teddy aggravatingly swung his head to the side. “You’re making it too tight!”
“You haven’t worn a tie in…ever probably. You’re just not used to it!”
“Why do I have wear a damn tie anyway?”
“This place sounds nice! We can’t go in there looking like white trash!”
Teddy growled a response and looked at himself in the mirror. His tan button down shirt had come from the Good Will, just like the khaki pants and the stupid brown and back stripped tie.
Guess we are white trash…but maybe that’s going to change.
“Dionte has another job for us to do.”
Becky’s shoulders slumped. “Did you tell him we’re going to Luray tonight?”
“Yeah. He said that works out perfect because the run is to Luray anyway.”
“Guns again? I’m starting to get nervous about that.”
“Does the six grand we have squirreled away in the dresser make you nervous too?” His eyes were flinty and hard. When she didn’t answer, he shifted his eyes off of her. “This is something different anyway.”
“Like what?”
“You don’t need to know. As a matter of fact, you don’t even need to come.”
Becky huffed and walked away. “I don’t know why you’re acting like this. And don’t think you’re going without me!” She slammed the bedroom door hard enough to knock the one picture hanging on the wall to the floor.
Teddy picked it up and sneered. Autumn’s two year old face grinned up at him from behind broken glass.
“Where are you, you lousy bitch?”
Dalton stood at the head of the wooden table and raised his glass. A folding table that Winnie kept in the barn had been brought in and slid to one end of her rectangular dining room table.
“To our first week as a family.” He said quietly, and surveyed each upturned face. It was a celebration feast of all ghoulish and supernatural. It was Halloween. His pack had gone through a radical transformation over the past few weeks; even more reason for celebration. He looked down at Autumn seated on his right. Her dark red hair was pinned up in a bun, and tendrils of curl framed her lightly freckled face. Of all the changes to happen, she by far was the best. His heart skipped a beat as she smiled up at him.
A throat cleared at the other end of the table. Chris Graves brought his tall lanky frame out of his chair and looked directly at Dalton.
“Trina and I have been talking, and we would like to make a formal request to join your pack.”
There were gasps and many smiles. Dalton had thought it odd that Chris and Trina hadn’t gone back to Syria after they had helped with the Mike Rodgers pack dispute. When he had asked Autumn why she thought they continued to sleep on the living room floor instead of going home; she had shrugged, but there was a knowing light in her eyes and a twitch to her lips. Dalton glanced at Autumn and saw her an Trina exchange a look and a light nod.
Dalton sat back down and gestured with his hand for Chris to sit as well. “I would like that very much. I guess we should take a vote just for protocol. All those in favor…” Every single hand shot upward. Dalton laughed out loud. “Well alright then! I guess we better talk about more housing.”
Trina shook her head. “There’s a piece of property four miles from here. It’s five acres and there’s a three bedroom house on it. We plan on seeing it tomorrow and hopefully make a bid.”