Part 2
“Come with me,” Adam said. He got up and offered his hand. I took it, allowing him to guide me through the cold creek.
“Where are we going?” I asked, dodging a branch.
“My house,” he answered. “You need food, warmth and clothes. After that we can talk.”
“About what?” I asked. I looked behind me and smiled. Had someone told me earlier my run would end with a romp in the woods with Adam, I would have thought they were nuts. “I think it’s safe to say we both got what we wanted.”
He stopped suddenly and yanked my naked body to his. His amber eyes twinkled much brighter than they had before as his fingers raked down my back. Our lips locked. My hands slid around his waist and up his back, settling in his hair until he broke away.
“I want more,” he growled. Keeping my hand in his, he continued through the brush. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d stake a claim of my own.”
I stopped in my tracks, stunned. Fear gripped me. Yes he’d said that, but I thought it had only been playful banter. When my hand slid from his, I thought about running. But to where? Home? No, I wasn’t ready to face my uncle again. I didn’t want to face him again. And now there was this.
Adam turned on his heel, rolled his eyes and grabbed my arm again. Whether I wanted to move or not, I followed him. All the while my mind was reeling. How could I have been so damn stupid? He’d said neither pack had a good leader. How could I have let passion get the best on me like that? How could I have let my guard down like that? Especially with a man who has openly challenged two longtime pack leaders.
Before long the trees gave way to grass. I looked up from the ground to see a cobblestone path lit by solar lights. Rose bushes lined each side leading us to a huge two-story log home. Adam pushed open the heavy oak door and ushered me inside. He pointed me toward the living room. While he threw logs into a huge stone fireplace I stood there, my feet rooted to the dark hardwood floor, watching and waiting.
“My room’s upstairs and to your right,” he said, his back to me. He tossed another log into the fire and dusted off his hands. “There’s a spare robe in the closet.” He stood up and looked at me. A sly smile spread across his face. “Not that I think you need it. You could walk around here like that all night and I’d be fine with it.”
I nodded my head and started to go upstairs. He rushed to me. My eyes quickly found the floor. Whatever had happened between us out there, in here I’m out of my element; an outsider.
He raised my chin, forcing me to look at him. “You’re uncomfortable?”
I crossed my arms over my chest nervously. “Honestly?” He nodded. “I’m scared.”
“Scared? Why on earth would you be scared? I don’t remember threatening you. I don’t remember hurting you.” He raised an eyebrow. “Well, anymore than called for.”
“I’m not part of your pack, Adam,” I whispered. “What are they going to say when they find out? How do expect to convince them to accept a rival?”
“I won’t have to. Once they find out you’re here, they’ll do whatever it takes to keep you here.”
“Why? More territory?”
“Isn’t it natural?” he asked. “To take what your uncle offered to the idiot he gave you to? Why should he have it and not me? I’m ten times the man he is. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“From what I know of you, yes.” From what I’d just experienced…hell yes.
“Then what’s the problem?” He sat down on a cushy brown leather couch, looking up at me. “Well?”
“First, as soon as my uncle finds out I’ve left without an escort he’s going to confine me to the house indefinitely. Second, when he finds out I’ve been with you.” I stopped there because I didn’t even want to begin to go there just yet. “Third, you know what going after two packs is going to start. It won’t be pleasant.”
“You’re no longer your uncle’s problem,” he said firmly. “If he even tries to come in here and take you away he’ll see what me and my pack are made of. As for the other,” he waved his hand as if he was swatting a fly. “If I didn’t think I could handle it, I wouldn’t have bothered.”
He reached out to me. There was something oddly comforting in the way he looked at me. I took his hand and sat beside him. I was torn between the Adam I’ve seen and the Adam I’ve heard about. One was warm and friendly. The other was a force to be reckoned with.
“You make it really hard to believe all those rumors about you,” I told him.
“Make no mistake, I can be vicious. Hurt me, betray me, play me and you’ll see first hand. That I promise you.” I stiffened a little, knowing what the harsh tone in his voice meant. I’d heard my uncle use it plenty of times before. “Look, I’ve been patient. I’ve sat on my hands waiting for your engagement to fall apart. Now that it has, I can have everything I deserve.”
I wanted to ask him what the hell he meant by all of that, but my mouth refused to work. Four years? He’d been plotting this for four years?
“He never told you, did he?”
“Told me what?” He was undoubtedly my dear, old uncle.
“My dad went to him years ago. Ben assumed your dad had told him what they had planned before your parents were killed. Hell everybody else knew. It didn’t matter though. He dismissed everything and handed you to that useless son of bitch while you were still in that damn hospital.”
“Wait a second.” I couldn’t wrap my head around it. My parents had been killed in a car accident. I’d been badly injured and put in a medically induced coma for months after. Thanks to that, remembering them was hard enough. Trying to remember a conversation I may or may not have had was impossible. “We were? My dad promised me to-”
“With your blessing.” He looked up at the vaulted ceiling and back down at me. “I’ve still got all the paperwork upstairs. Never could bring myself to throw it away.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Not that I had seen him often. A few pack events here and there. “Were we already -”
“A couple? Yes. Early stages, but even before you agreed to the engagement I knew I wanted you.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Then the accident. The doctors weren’t even sure you’d live. I tried to go see you, but your uncle had everyone except him and his wife banned from the hospital. I can’t say I was surprised when you didn’t remember me. Your injuries were extensive. Anyway, I had to let it fall apart on it’s own. Had I interfered at all, I would have been accused of sabotage and probably killed. Besides, I had a pack to build up on my own. A business. A home. Now that you’re here, I’d like nothing more than to share it with you.”
“And if I don’t want it? If I don’t want you?”
“Your eyes say different.”
“Could be lust.” I couldn’t say I wasn’t attracted to him. He had the body of a god, eyes that could melt your heart and long brown hair I couldn’t keep my hands out of. Oh and those lips. “You are a very handsome man.”
“A relationship based on mutual attraction. Would that be such a bad thing? It’s a start.” He slid his hand up my thigh and squeezed. “You can’t deny it wasn’t good.”
“I’ve only had you once. What’s to say that’s the norm?”
He cocked his brow. “The same can be said for you.”
“Is that a challenge?” I asked him.
“An observation.”
Something clicked inside me. The same something that had clicked when I’d finally been brave enough to walk away from my fiancé. At that moment all I wanted was to set myself free. At this moment all I wanted was Adam. Again. To hell with pack politics. To hell with my so-called family. To hell with love. It was time to let fate lead me.
I straddled his body and kissed him. His hand dug into the back of my head. He wanted me as much as I wanted him. Not willing to waste another second, I lifted my hips and let him fill me again. His fingers bit into my hips as I rolled them around him.
His hands locked onto my shoulders, forcing my hips into his. Our bodies grinded together. Sweat rolled down my cheeks. He licked it away sending chills down my spine. I tightened the muscles inside me. He moaned and bit my lip. I bit back, drawing blood. Nothing on this earth had ever tasted so good.
His thrusts came deeper, harder. I felt my body convulse, spent. His hold tightened. I braced against his strength, his speed. He kissed me again, the bitter taste of blood still on his lips. I broke and hugged him to me. His hips jarred against me. Sweet pain cut through me. I bit down hard on the soft skin of his neck. My nails tore down his back leaving bloody marks in their wake. I squeezed my legs into his. His hand ripped through my hair as he came. I collapsed against him, breathless and exhausted.
“Challenge met.”
“I should say so,” I whispered. I sat up to look at him and saw the blood on his bottom lip. “Sorry about that. I’m not sure what got into me.”
He wiped it away and smiled. “Don’t be. Lets me know I’m doing something right. Besides, a little pain in my experience can be a good thing.”
“Glad you think so. Your back may not agree with you later though.”
“I’m sure I’ll live.” He patted my leg, gesturing me off. I scooted to the side to allowing him to stand. “You’ll stay?” I nodded. “You’ll let me handle this situation my way?” I nodded. “That will mean breaking ties with your uncle.”
“I realize that,” I told him. Going home wasn’t an option. By staying I had some control of my life. The question being, how much of it did Adam plan to control.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t seem terribly upset by it.”
“I’m tired of everybody else telling me what I should be doing with my life. Just once I’d like to make my own mistakes. I won’t say this isn’t wrong, it may very well be. But for once it’s my choice to make.” I started to say something, but bit my lip instead. With my uncle, questions could get you hurt. I decided to test it anyway. “I’m free to leave anytime I want?”
“Does this look like a prison?” he asked. He looked around the room and then back at me. “Of course you can leave. In fact, I expect it. You do have a life.”
“Not much of one,” I admitted sadly. “I’ve never worked. I never did get to go to college. After I recovered, Ben never left me alone.”
“He had a lot to lose.” Adam didn’t even try to hide the disgust in his voice. “He couldn’t run the risk of a friend or place sparking some dormant memory, could he?” I sighed. Over the years I’d had the very same thought cross my mind. “Don’t worry. The members of my pack are closer to each other than most families. I’m sure you’ll have more friends than you can count in no time.”
As good as that sounded, I had to put myself first. “If at any point I feel unsafe or scared here, do you agree to let me leave? No questions asked. No hunting party.”
“Fair enough,” he said rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Tell me, when it comes to you who makes the decisions? I know your uncle has the final say, but how many others are involved?
“My aunt and cousin. Ben’s betas, I’m sure. Other than that, I’m not sure.”
“That’s what I thought. What about Trey? Any pull yet?”
“Not now,” I told him. “I’m sure his father will be an issue. For some reason he thinks I owe him something.”
“I’m sure he does. No doubt he’s still trying to patch things up between you two.”
“More like demanding.” I turned away from him to look at the fire. “I don’t know what’s worse. Living with a man that hates you or living with one that controls you.” I felt his hand on my shoulder and turned my head to look at him. The softness in his eyes was something I could get used to.
“I’d say both were pretty shitty.” He glanced at something behind me and then cleared his throat. “Go get a shower. I’ll whip up something to eat and we’ll figure things out from there. Sound good?”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” I said. Something felt off. I stood up and looked to see if I could see what had caught his eye before, but didn’t see anything other than the fridge. Food did sound good.
“Let’s get busy then,” he said. He saw our reflections in one of the picture windows and laughed. “Maybe I should grab some clothes myself. Hot grease and bare skin don’t exactly mix well.”
The hardwood floor transitioned to plush burgundy carpet as we ascended the stairs. He led me down a long hallway and to a room at the end of the hall. Warmth washed over us as we walked into the room. The glow from the fireplace lighted our path past a beautiful king-sized, four-poster bed. He flipped on the light in the bathroom and gestured me inside.
“Take as long as you like,” he said, handing me a dark blue robe from behind the door. “If you need anything just shout.”
As soon as he left the room I turned on the water in the shower and hovered by the door waiting until I heard his closet door open. When it did, I cracked the bathroom door a little. I hadn’t dismissed his reaction to whatever he’d seen downstairs and I, regardless of what I said, didn’t plan on staying here with blinders on. Living the way I had for the past few years, I’d discovered nothing comes without strings.
I heard his phone ring. He quickly answered it. “I told you to wait for my call,” he growled into the handset. “Next time I give you an order, you better damn well follow it.”
I heard footsteps coming down the hall and looked through the crack in the door just in time to see a skinny blond man walk into the room. He had a smile on his face and a spring in his step.
He shook Adam’s hand and hung up his phone. Adam tossed his on the dresser and finished getting dressed.
“So what’s the plan?” the blond man asked.
“Don’t have one yet,” Adam told him. “I’ve been a bit preoccupied.”
“I noticed,” Blondie snorted. “Trey must’ve been doing something wrong. What I saw down there was the last thing I’d expect to see from someone he calls an ice queen.” I felt my face flush.
“Trey’s an idiot.”
“A given, but we don’t all have your magic touch.” He handed Adam a piece of paper and sat down on the bed. “I got the numbers you asked for. If we’re doing this, we better do it now. They’re already out looking for her.”
“I knew they would be. Say what want, they aren’t stupid. They know with her gone, they lose their leverage. Especially with Steven.”
“You call Bear and Logan. Tell them I need them here now. I’ll call Dad. Don’t get complacent on me either. Once Ben finds out she’s here all hell is going to break loose.”
“You asking for the money too?”
Money? There’s money? I strained my ears harder not wanting to miss a word.
“Not for me. It’s hers,” Adam told him. “I doubt she knows it’s there though. Doc can look at the legalities later. Right now all I’m interested in is keeping her, territory and avoiding a pack war.”
“That’s inevitable,” Blondie said, shaking his head. “Like you said, you have Ben’s biggest asset.” He started to walk away, but turned back to Adam. “Did she remember?”
“No, but she knows now.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m glad she’s here. I always thought you guys were good for each other. Besides, she’ll be safe here. That’s all I ever wanted for her.”
“Thanks, man. I’ve waited way too long to get her back.” He sighed, put his phone in the back pocket of his jeans and walked out the bedroom.
If you have enjoyed this short of Claimed Part 2 please share some love for the author, and come back NEXT Friday for Claimed Part 3. If you Missed Claimed Part 1 Check it Out Here I have asked Dawn to be a regular with Flash Fiction Shorts. We Have Numerous Parts to Share With You In Claimed. Once Claimed is Over there Are More Surprises to Follow.
Dawn Kirby lives in West TX with Jamie, her husband of 17 years and their three wonderful children Tristan, Aishlynn and Shelby. She's the author of SECRETS, DECEIT and TRIBULATIONS. All three part of the paranormal romance Serenity Series published by Twisted Core Press. Her work is also featured in several 7DS Books anthologies such as SEVEN DEADLY SINS, A MAN’S PROMISE, LINGER, among several others. Another short, DATE NIGHT was published in 13 Tales of the Paranormal by Firefly and Wisp. To find out more about Dawn's work please visit www.dawnmkirby.com.
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