Two Minutes (Seven Series Book 6) (33 page)
Sweat touched my brow as our motions began rubbing me in just the right places. “Denny, don’t make me come in here.”
“Christ, I can’t stop.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck since my back was rubbing against the wall.
“One minute left,” I whispered, trying not to laugh. “
Hurry
. Seven… six… five…” I clenched my legs against him and began to ride out a wave, feeling the urgency of time that was not on our side.
Any minute.
Any second.
The lights would come on. The elevator would move. The doors would open. They could catch us.
Denver’s thrusts were animalistic, and I finally understood what it meant to give in to the primal nature of being a Shifter. A moan rose in my throat and Denver buried himself deep.
I rocked my hips and he released an anguished sound, his body shuddering through a powerful climax. Out of breath, I collapsed in his arms, limp and completely spent.
All that existed was our heavy breathing and racing hearts. It was exquisitely sweet to be in his arms that way as we tumbled back into reality. Nothing could have taken me out of that moment.
Until the lights switched on.
“Shit!” He lowered me to the floor and made an agonized grunt when he pulled out, cursing under his breath while he yanked up his pants.
I was in full-blown panic mode. “My shorts!”
The elevator continued its ascension, rising higher just like my heart in search of my throat.
Denver grabbed my jean shorts and held them out for me to step into. With a quick tug, he pulled them up and situated his shirt.
I glanced down in horror at my black panties. Denver caught the direction of my gaze and bent over to snatch them up.
The door opened and my eyes went wide. Austin turned around and I swallowed hard, trying to maintain cool composure even though I was covered in sex sweat.
One of the guards lifted a cup of coffee in his hand and grinned. “Looks like someone used the Stop button.”
Denver sprang to his feet and stuffed my panties into his back pocket before anyone noticed.
I casually blew a strand of hair away from my flushed cheeks. “Well, I’m ready to go home,” I said, my voice breathy.
Denver stretched out his arm and cracked his neck. “Yeah, I could go for some barbecue. Prison food almost killed me.”
Austin darkened his gaze at Denver. “Is that what you were talking to the guard about? The button to stop the elevator? Get your ass in the car.”
He smacked the back of Denver’s head when we passed him and gave me a scolding glance. I smiled and hunched my shoulders—as if ashamed—but didn’t feel a shred of remorse. Austin was one to talk. I remembered many a night when he’d come home late with Lexi and I’d see him outside washing the hood of his car beneath the moonlight. Maybe I didn’t know what was going on back then, but I put the pieces together in later years.
Denver wrapped his arm around me and looked back at Austin. “Don’t act like you and Lexi don’t get it on every chance you get. Remember last month at the movies? We all know your trip to the concession stand was for more than just a snack.”
“Get outside,” Austin grumbled as we walked out the door.
“Whatever, Aus. All I’m saying is someone got their popcorn buttered that night.”
I covered my mouth and laughed, leaning against Denver. His humor was what I loved best about him.
He kissed the top of my head and peered down at me with a subdued smile.
“Did you really think I would have mated Prince to set you free?” I asked.
Denver slowed down until Austin passed us. A few frogs were croaking in the distance—a sound I hadn’t heard in a long time. “I didn’t give you enough credit. I thought you’d make a stupid choice to save me.”
“In those sexy shorts? If you tell me you’re packing a Colt .45, then I might have to marry you like they do on television.”
“Denver…” I stopped and pulled him to face me. “I love you. Maybe I shouldn’t be the one saying it first—or even at all—without knowing if you feel the same way about me. But that’s how I feel. I’m over the moon about you, and I can’t imagine going on another day in my life alone. I feel more than passion when I’m with you—I feel alive.”
He stepped forward and cupped my face. “Look here, Peanut. All that bullshit about you moving on was so I wouldn’t have to worry about you locking yourself in a room for the rest of your life, thinking I was the best you could do. It’s pretty obvious I don’t stack up to guys like Prince, but I
am
devoted to you, protective of you, fascinated by you, and deeply, deeply in love with you.”
“Why didn’t you say all that before?”
“Because I’m a man, and we fail miserably at romance.”
His mouth reverently touched my lips.
When the car horn blared behind him, he gave Austin the finger.
“If we can’t stay in the pack,” he continued, “then I make a decent living as a bartender. It’ll take time to find a new pack, but I’ll take care of us while you look for work.”
“I don’t think we have to worry about Austin kicking us out.”
His brow arched. “I killed a Packmaster. He forked over millions of dollars to the higher authority—who now have his name on a naughty record somewhere—and while he was releasing me from prison, you and I had sex in the elevator. That might be grounds for dismissal.”
I gripped his hand and led him toward the car. “Come on, Denny. Face the firing squad like a man.”
“That’s what my warden said.”
I slapped his butt playfully and he growled with approval, pulling me tight against him. He opened the back so I could get in and then scooted next to me.
“Don’t you want to sit up front?” I asked in a quiet voice.
Austin tilted the rearview mirror, making it obvious he didn’t want any hanky-panky going on in the backseat of his Challenger.
Considering my panties were in Denver’s back pocket and it was a long drive home, I wasn’t sure if that was possible.
But content and in the arms of the man I hoped to spend the rest of my life with—if he’d only ask—I curled up in Denver’s embrace and listened to him tell us his amusing spin on his adventures in prison.
After returning home from Breed jail, we stayed up with the family for hours, eating and drinking in celebration.
After midnight, I fell asleep and Denver carried me up to bed.
His bed.
But we didn’t sleep together—at least, not in human form. I woke up to a long tongue cleaning my face. Denver’s wolf had sat next to the bed through the entire night, guarding me.
Needless to say, I was on edge when I went downstairs and saw the Cole brothers lined up near the front door, quiet and watching my descent.
“We’re going to introduce you to the pack,” Austin announced.
“Now?” I briefly wondered how fast I could run back upstairs and lock myself in the bathroom.
He cracked a few knuckles and looked at Denver’s wolf, who had trotted down the stairs and was sitting beside me. “Starting with him. I have no doubt you’ll get along with the rest of these meatheads, but Denver’s the one I’m concerned about. I’ve asked everyone to supervise in case something goes wrong. Males aren’t normally aggressive toward female wolves, but Denver’s never been normal.”
Jericho snorted. “You can say that again.” His attention snapped away for a moment. “Isabelle, stay upstairs. We’ll call you down when it’s your turn.”
Austin looked up at her. “I don’t want to spook her wolf with too many people watching.”
Izzy leaned over the railing. “Can’t I just watch from here?”
When Austin put his hands on his hips, that was her answer, and she hurried out of sight.
Denver nudged my hand and I scratched his ear.
“What if we tear up your house?” I asked.
Reno chuckled in his raspy way. “I’d be more worried about you two getting it on.”
Wheeler grimaced. “That’s not something I want to see. There’s not enough therapy to erase a visual like that from my mind.”
Trevor elbowed him in the ribs. “Denver’s wolf didn’t kill me.”
Wheeler put his arm around Trevor’s shoulder. “Remind me to tell you the story about how your wolf almost mounted him.”
Trevor’s eyes went wide in horror. “Shut up, you lying bastard.”
Wheeler chuckled darkly and shook his head, strolling next to Austin. The men in the house loved riling each other up, and half the time you didn’t know if they were joking or serious.
“Hell no,” Austin said, snapping his fingers and pointing at the same time. “Someone get the damn cat out of here.”
Spartacus looked like a statue mounted on the living room floor, his tail straight and slightly bent at the tip. His eyes were wide, as they always were, like golden orbs. When Wheeler stalked in his direction, the only thing that moved was his pink tongue poking out, as if he were doing it deliberately.
“Come on, Sparty. Time for you to hang out in the study.”
Jericho murmured, “Sparty?”
I shrugged. “Sorry. I think I accidentally gave him that nickname. Naya doesn’t care for it, and maybe that’s why it stuck with Wheeler.”
The door shut to one of the rooms and Wheeler resumed his position. They were forming a semicircle, as if cornering us in the sitting room. The only place we’d have to retreat was upstairs.
I glanced up worriedly.
“Spooked wolves will never run upstairs. Instinct tells them to stay at the lowest level,” Austin said reassuringly. “Anytime you’re ready. It’s just going to be a quick shift, so if you start to feel yourself slipping, I want you to shift back. Don’t worry if you can’t, but I’d rather not make you.”
I knelt down beside Denver and he lapped at my jaw, happily wagging his tail. I was too scared to create distance between us. My wolf hadn’t met another Shifter wolf, and I wasn’t sure what her reaction would be. But she might be spooked with all these men staring at her and decide to attack.
Austin widened his stance. “Call to her. She’ll listen.”
“Wait a second.” I sat back with my legs beneath me and looked up at them. “I’m not going to shift back naked in front of you guys.”
The men exchanged glances, eyes sparkling with laughter.
“They’ll turn around. Won’t you, boys?” Austin threw them a frosty glare.
William went over to the closet and pulled out one of his long black jackets. He had a peculiar style that seemed Old World.
“M’lady,” he offered, handing me the jacket.
I crumpled it beside me and took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.”
Denver released a whine, sensing something was going to happen. I’d never really called to my wolf, but I’d heard Lexi talk about it. I mentally called out to her and she rushed over me like water. That’s what it felt like to shift—like I was going down a waterslide. Our souls connected, and it was indescribable.
I peered through my wolf eyes, feeling her rising panic. Her toenails clicked against the wood floor as she stepped off my pile of clothes. Denver’s wolf stood up and lifted his head, boring his eyes into mine. It was like being a passenger in a car I couldn’t control. The pack murmured around me, but their words were foreign unless I concentrated hard enough to make sense of them. Everything I experienced was through my wolf—smells, sounds, even the raw instinct coursing through her veins.
Right now, she was gearing up for a fight, and that’s when I knew she wasn’t a runner. She would be a good addition to the pack with her strong will and courageous heart.
More murmurs, and the pack moved into sight. Austin looked a little blurry from the left corner. I caught a few words he was saying, but I understood him better through his body language, scent, and tone. He wanted me to stay calm.
The light dimmed, and I was slowly fading to allow my wolf complete control. My heart thumped wildly and the metallic taste of adrenaline coated my tongue. Denver locked his jaws around my muzzle. Gently. Then my wolf did the same and wagged her tail. He licked her mouth and made high-pitched whines combined with barks, and in return, she nuzzled beneath his jaw as if they were old friends.
A wave of alpha power rippled through me when Austin drew near and got down on his hands and knees. Denver stepped between us, but Austin ignored his aggressive stance. He spoke a single word, and with that word, I shifted back to human form.
His eyes were immediately closed, even though my long hair more than concealed everything. The pack had already turned their backs, so I lifted the coat and put it on, all while trying to push Denver’s excited wolf away. He wouldn’t stop licking my face.
“Okay. Enough,” I said with a laugh. “You need a breath mint!”
“Abso-fucking-amazing,” Jericho said, hiking up his ripped black jeans, which were in dire need of a belt. “Told ya she wouldn’t pee on him.”
Trevor punched him in the arm and they all turned around.
“What are you guys talking about?” I asked.
“Do I have to keep shifting for everyone?” I asked. Shifting was an exhausting process if done repeatedly.
“Nah.” Austin stood up and stuffed his hands in his pockets, jingling some coins around. “Wheeler, take Denver outside. If you guys shift in front of him, he’s gonna rip your heads off. I want Trevor, Jericho, and William going at once. This’ll be nothing more than a quick meet-and-greet,” Austin said, turning to face me again. “I just have to make sure everyone knows their rank and we don’t have any conflict. After that, Wheeler and Reno shift together. Then we’ll call the girls down. Once you shift back, I’ll have Jericho run into town and pick up some barbecue.”
Jericho plucked a cigarette from behind his ear and bit the tip. “I’ll go on the condition you order ribs instead of chicken this time.”
Austin shot him a frosty glare. “Lexi likes the chicken.”
“And Lexi
got
the chicken last time. Can’t you order her a separate plate?”
“It’s cheaper to have it catered and order by the pound,” he bit out.
I got up off the floor and tucked the coat tightly against me. “Can we argue about dinner later and get this show on the road?”
Austin strolled to the door with Wheeler and called Denver’s wolf.
“Oh, and Austin?” I said.
He glanced over his shoulder while pushing Denver out. “Yeah?”
“Can you order coleslaw?”
“That all?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.
I dodged his glance and looked around. “And uh, maybe swing by the store for some cheese puffs.”
***
After Austin introduced my wolf to the pack, we spent the entire day celebrating Denver’s return. Everyone took off work, and Lexi had her part-time staff fill in at both store locations. Jericho canceled a jam session with his band, and Naya even turned off her phone so her clients couldn’t reach her.
Once introductions were out of the way, I took a shower and put on a pair of jeans and a strapless shirt with an elastic top. It was the color of a faded rose and one of my favorites. I wanted to look nice for Denver and ran some gel through my long hair, giving it a tousled look that didn’t make me look like a hippie. Lexi let me borrow some lip gloss, blush, and nude eye shadow that shimmered.
Now that I was fixed up, the only problem was that Denver hadn’t shifted back. He trotted behind me all the way to the kitchen where we gathered to eat lunch.
“Can’t you make him shift?” I asked Austin for the second time. “I thought he wasn’t allowed in the house.”
“I think it’s adorable,” Melody said, licking barbecue sauce from her finger.
Austin scraped his teeth on another rib and cleaned it to the bone. “His wolf seems okay as long as you’re around,” he said around a mouthful of meat. “I don’t have a problem with it. It’s his party, so I’ll let him do whatever the hell he wants.”
“Well, if he chews up another one of my books, I’ll put him out myself,” April said.
The kitchen table looked like something out of the Middle Ages with the abundance of meat on display. We had a bounty of homemade rolls and bread from Lexi having baked the day before.
Denver’s wolf groaned and licked his lips again.
William’s brown eyes warmed. “Maybe his wolf missed you. It’s been years. Denver chose to be away from you, but his wolf didn’t.”
Izzy laughed and dropped her fork. “Wave a bag of Cheetos in front of him. I bet that’ll snap him out of it.”
“Mom, who are you texting?” Lexi reached across the table and snatched the phone. “This is
family
time,” she said in a teasing voice. “How many times do you get on me about—”
“Give me that! Alexia Talulah—”
“Okay! All right! Just don’t call me that,” she said, handing the phone back. Lexi never had liked her middle name. She said kids used to tease her, but Austin seemed to adore it.
Reno licked the prongs of his fork. “I bet that’s Maddox. I think we need to have a sit-down with him and find out what’s what.”
Lynn leaned around and gave him her nasty “mom” glare. “I’m a grown woman. I don’t need anyone’s approval.”
“I don’t know, Lynn. Human or not, you’re still in our pack. Maddox Cane—”
“Is a nice man who likes to keep me company.”
“He’s also hundreds of years old,” Jericho pointed out.
“So?” Lynn protested. “That probably makes us close to the same age then.”
Everyone laughed, and the twins got up from their table.
Izzy had a smear of sauce on her arm she was trying to wipe off. “Hold up, kiddos. Did you finish your plates?”
“Yep!” they both chirped. Lennon inched nearer to the open doorway. “Can we go out to the fort now?”
“Fort?” I asked William.
Jericho grabbed Izzy’s arm and licked the sauce off. She jerked it away and almost knocked over a glass of tea.
“Go on,” she said.
The boys turned around like two cyclones and stampeded into the hallway.
“No running in the house!” Izzy shouted. “Hell’s bells. Those two are a handful. We built a fort out back for them last year just up the hill. They like to get up there and play pack war.”
I set down my roll, deciding I couldn’t eat another bite. “What’s that?”
Wheeler smeared his own roll across the plate, sopping up the leftover barbecue sauce. “It’s a game young pups play. They hear all the stories about a coming war from the adults and act it out. The Shifter’s version of cowboys and Indians.”
Denver nuzzled against my right side and I put my arm around his neck, stroking his ears. “Do you really think there’ll be a war?”