Aedan: Harrison Ambush – Erotic Tiger Shapeshifter Romance (6 page)

No, but I don’t think you’re going to like who is on their way
. Ennis closed his eyes. It was either Storm or his dad, neither of which was going to help. Storm would shoot first and talk later. His dad would just want to ask too many questions, and that would get them both killed.
Dad and Storm are about there. I didn’t send them, but Dad wanted to see your new digs and Stormy was with him. Sorry buddy. You might want to kill them both before they get there; it might be less painful.

They’re armed. At least one of them is.
He asked him if he thought Stormy wasn’t.
True. But if it’s all the same to them, can you just tell them for now it’s only a friendly conversation? Not a die or be killed sort of one.

He could see them then. His dad was talking like he always did, his arms going a mile a second, telling a story that he’d more than likely told a million times. Stormy was nodding, but he knew the exact moment she got the information from Riordan. She paused and his dad stopped to look in their direction. As soon as his dad peeled away and headed to the store across the street, Ennis felt a little better, but not much. Stormy was still coming.

“Boys?” They both turned to look at Stormy. The older man just nodded, but the younger one seemed to take her question as an invitation to get closer. Ennis might have warned him not to bother, she was happily married to his brother, but thought this would be fun. “Something we can help you with?”

“You a doctor too?” She told the younger man she was Ennis’s sister. “Sister? Damn, but they sure do grow women well around Ohio, don’t they? Please tell me that you like to have a good time, and this might be a match made in heaven.”

When he put out his hand to touch her, just her shoulder, Ennis had to cover his mouth as even before the man could take his next breath, Storm had his arm up behind his back and he was down on his knees in front of her. The man was cursing like a sailor and Stormy was just smiling as she continued questioning the other man. He just shook his head as if he’d seen this fool in this position before.

“I wanted to know if we can help you. You see, we’re sort of the welcoming committee around these parts, and well, we don’t take well to being mauled by strangers.” The other man laughed too and said he was sorry. “Thank you. I never dreamed that all those self-defense lessons would pay off so quickly. Did you?”

When she asked him and winked, he laughed again. “No, I surely didn’t. And if you break his arm, I’m to understand you get extra points toward your black belt, is that right?”

“I think you might be right.” Storm pulled just hard enough for his arm to move out of the socket. He heard the sound and knew that the man had to be in a great deal of pain, both now and when it was set again. She looked at the other man. “You might need to take him someplace else. I’m thinking another city than here. What do you think?”

“I think we were just leaving.” The younger man was released, and just as he lunged at Storm, she pulled her gun out and simply put it by her side. Neither man moved, but the older one said, “We don’t want any trouble.”

“You should have thought of that before he touched me.” The man nodded. “It’s past time you left.”

As they were pulling out of the parking lot, Ennis stood near Storm. He waved at the car when the younger man flipped them both off. He turned to her when they were out of sight.

“We’re in deep shit.” She nodded, but didn’t move. “They might not have known before that he was here, but I’m pretty sure they know now. Not because of you, but I think that older man is smarter than the younger.”

“The cat that hangs out in the barn at the house is smarter than he is. Did you see the way he puffed out his chest? As if that is supposed to be sexy. Christ, men only think with one thing, their twig and berries.” He laughed when she did. “We’ll have to bring her here now. Gather the wagons so to speak. If they got this far with nothing more than what little brains they have, it won’t be long before they find Mason too. After that, it’s only a simple search to see where his lairs are.”

“You think they’re that smart?” She told him to never underestimate the stupidity of criminals. “I guess you’re right. But is she healthy enough to move?”

“I don’t know that it matters. And if she finds out that they know he’s here, from what I’ve heard about her, she’ll come running with or without our help. Her grandda is her world.” Ennis knew that as well. “I’ll contact Mason. The sooner we get our shit together, the better. To be honest, I’m surprised it took them this long to figure this out.”

He was too. Walking to the Bakery where his dad was, he told them what he knew. Stormy was in the back room, and he had a feeling that Mason would be moving to get the woman sooner than they could get a plane to get her. It might be safer for her if he did it his way anyway. Planes, even a jet as they had, would require paperwork. And that would be just what they needed to find them both.

Aedan would have to be warned as well. Soon too. Either Mr. Neal would have to be moved again, or the girl was going to want to stay there with him. Ennis did not envy his brother. Aedan was about to have his entire world shook up. He laughed; more than likely the whole family was going to hear about it too. He decided to stir the pot while he waited on his family to come to the Bakery to decide what to do.

What do you mean, someone is looking for him? I was told that no one would find him.
Ennis pointed out that they were two different things all together.
I know that, moron. What I meant was, why him and not her? I thought she was the one they were after. You know, I have no idea what is going on. There is at this moment, while very nice, a stranger living with me, who has a granddaughter that was shot up by someone, and she’s somewhere no one knows but a vampire that can’t come....

When his brother stopped ranting, Ennis stood up. Something had happened, he knew it. He was about out the door when he heard from his brother again. This time his voice was tight and cold.

Come to my house, please. It seems I have another houseguest. And apparently she didn’t take the transfer here as well as one would hope. Also, you will not believe what she is.
Before he could ask, Aedan spoke again.
My fucking mate has just arrived in my bedroom, the only other bed in the house, mind you, and she’s cursing worse than Storm does when she’s in a snit.

Ennis told him he was on his way, but he supposed he should have stopped laughing before he did that. Aedan was still calling him names and threatening him with bodily harm when he walked back to his offices and got his bag. This might be the best fun he’d had in a very long time. Ennis was just glad that it was happening to his brother and not him.

Stopping by the Bakery to get a lift because he’d walked to work, he let Stormy and Riordan know what was going on. They, of course, said they were coming with him. Aedan was not going to be any happier with that information than he was with his new guest.

They were all still laughing when they pulled up in front of the gatehouse. The large barrel of a man there asked for their identifications, and then called up to the house to gain entrance. He was a bear shifter, Ennis realized when he handed him his license. While he was glad that Aedan was taking care that he was safe, he couldn’t help be a little annoyed about having to wait…until Stormy spoke from the seat across from him.

“How did it feel to have those men come up on you without you knowing what they were about?” He told her that he’d been a little nervous and somewhat scared. “Yeah, I bet. Think about how Aedan feels now. He not only has a mate up there, but her grandfather as well. Add to that salad a man that might be out to kill her, and the number of crazies that you know are going to be happy to pounce on him every time he leaves the house because of the shit the other night.”

“You think that’ll happen?” She said she was sure of it. “Would any of them by chance be Ellison? I don’t think he’s too happy about the debate the other night either.”

“He won’t dirty his hands. But I don’t think he’s above getting someone else’s dirty to get a job done.” Ennis asked her if she thought he’d kill his brother. “No. Not kill, but I don’t think I’d turn my back on him if I were Aedan. Or any of us for that matter. He’s going to play dirty because he has nothing truthful to go on right now.”

Ennis decided that he needed to take better care of his place as well. When these men came here, and there was little doubt that they would now, he wanted to not be caught unawares again. He also decided that lessons in carrying a gun and how to use it might be needed. Even if he never encountered these men himself, Aedan might very well be president someday, and there would be a lot more crazies to deal with.

Chapter 5

“You most certainly will not be helping to keep us safe. I can do that well enough on my own.” Aedan scrubbed his hand over his face. The woman, Nikki, was making things much more difficult than they needed to be. And he was sick to death of her talking to him like he was an idiot. “Now, here is what is going to happen. You’re going to pack my grandda up and we’re going to find us someplace to lay low. You will also not be calling in any more people to protect us so that they can be hurt. And that idea where you want us in separate rooms even if we stayed isn’t going to fly either. And you most assuredly will not be trying to tell me what to do again.”

“But it’s all right for you to tell me what to do. In my own house, I might add.” She crossed her arms over her chest and he wanted to shake her. But he didn’t move any closer to her. The last time he’d done that, she’d nearly put his balls up around his ears. “Look, all I suggested, and that is all I did, was that you lie down until my brother gets here to have a look at you. I can see how much pain you’re in. Why don’t you just sit down and—?”

“I am not yours to order around.” He’d had enough. Stomping toward her, he pushed her back until she fell in the bed behind her. And before she could get up, as there was no doubt that she might, he put his hands on her shoulders and his knee on her legs so she couldn’t kick him again.

“This is me ordering you around, not what I was doing before. Now, if you so much as look like you’re going to get up from this bed, I will find something to tie you here with. And so help me, as fun as that sounds about now, I don’t think you’d enjoy it as much as I’d like for you to with you bleeding like you are.”

Moving his hands down her arms, he felt her shudder. Christ, she was beautiful. Even spitting mad like she was, all he wanted to do was lean into her body and taste any part of her that she’d let him. Which he was betting wouldn’t be as much as he wanted. When he leaned down into her neck, just to see if she really did smell as good as he’d thought, she jerked him up by his hair and tumbled him off her. Only instead of him hitting the floor as she might have thought, he was still on the bed and she was now over him.

Every part of him knew what she was to him. Not just a woman, and Christ that was obvious enough, but his mate too. Even his cat, who lately had seemed to not want anything to do with him, perked up. Running his hands up her thighs to her hips, Aedan rocked up into her. He wanted her, and he was pretty sure that she knew it.

“Should we come back?” Aedan felt his body freeze, his hand tightening at her waist. He’d been so close to seeing if her breasts were as full as they looked when Riordan spoke from the doorway. “Aedan, did you know that she’s bleeding?”

He rolled her to her back and stood up. But not before rocking into her again. When she moaned, it was all he could do not to tell his family to go away. Backing from the bed, he stood near her while Ennis and Storm came into the room with Riordan. He found Paddy in the hall, leaning heavily on the table there with a gun in his hand.

“You should be resting. I told you that you did too much yesterday.”

He helped the man to the bedroom where he’d been staying until Ennis was done patching Nikki up and could check on him too. When Aedan helped him into the chair, the man reached for his hand, and it was all he could do not to snatch it back from him. Paddy must have heard the low growl and looked up at him.

The stare might have made him uncomfortable if he wasn’t already embarrassed and out of sorts. He let the man look as deeply as he wanted. Aedan had come to like the man and respected him, and didn’t want him to be afraid of him.

“She’s my mate. I don’t need a mate right now messing with my plans.” Paddy nodded and smiled. “I have my life all planned out. Things like a mate will only make it difficult to see them to the end.”

“I see. And this life you planned out to the letter, what happens if something like this puts a monkey wrench in it? You gonna have a hissy fit and crawl in a corner?” Aedan told him he had no idea. “I’m pretty sure, and this is just me as a human, but once you find your mate, I think it’s pretty much all cocked up, don’t you?”

“Yes. That’s about as apt a word for it as you can find.” Aedan sat down on the bed. “I’m running for governor, as you know. I don’t have time to court a woman, make her understand what I want from her, and try and keep my head above water in this extra work I’m putting myself in. A mate is not in the plans for another year or more.”

“I see. So this would be about how it doodles up your plans and what you have to do to make Nikki comply with them. I want you to know right now, that isn’t gonna fly with her. I’m sure you’ll come to understand right quick that she doesn’t take orders well, and if you think you can get her to obey....Well, you might want to get you a dog; you’d have better luck getting it to mind you. She won’t settle with that no matter how you try and pretty it up.” Yeah, Aedan was afraid of that too. “Tell you what. The first time you try and get her to bend to your way of thinking, you let me know.”

“So you can be there to make fun of me when I’m made to look like a fool?” Paddy shook his head. “Then you think she’ll listen and be reasonable?”

“No. I want to know so that when she draws out her piece and shoots you in the last part of you jumping the fence, I have time to run and hide. A man my age and shot up, I need a little extra time to hide when the shit hits the fan.” He was still laughing when Aedan made his way to the door. But he stopped him before he left his ass there with his humor. “Aedan, there can be worse things in life to mess around with your plan than a wife. While my Nikki is a little rough and carries a gun for a living, she’s loyal, loving, and about the best person I know.”

“I’m sure that’s all true. But this job and running for the office? I’m not sure that I would be able to devote any time to her and her needs.”

“Her needs? Boy, what do you think she’s going to need that you can’t simply give her by loving her? You’ll see. It’ll turn out just fine as rain water in a barrel.”

Aedan went out in the hall, and he could still hear the man laughing. He started down the hall but decided to go to the kitchen first. He was having some updates made, and Winnie had asked to speak to him before all of this shit happened. He nearly left when he saw his mom and dad in there.

“You come here and give me a hug, young man.” He hugged his mom and shook his dad’s hand. “Your brother told us that this Nikki person is your mate. Is she sweet? Oh, I hope so. And a cop too. How lucky are you?”

He wanted to tell her that he wasn’t lucky. Nor was he happy. But he was pretty sure that they could see that. Instead of letting them ask him what was going on, he grabbed his keys and left the house. Whatever was going on, and there was plenty, someone else could take care of it for a little while.

Walking by his car, he went to the woods behind the garage instead. He was pretty sure that if he ran fast enough, and for long enough, that his problems might not be there when he returned. Yes, and as Paddy was so fond of saying, hanging out the wash in the rain don’t make them any dryer. He wasn’t sure what that meant really, but he wasn’t sure of too much of anything at the moment.

Stripping down to his bare skin, he took off to the trees. Running as his animal was something that he didn’t get to do as much as he wanted, and he thought he might at least have better control of his temper when he got back if he did.

Aedan had been gone for about an hour when he came upon the fast moving creek that ran about midway through his land. He’d been told that it flooded in the spring but didn’t reach the house, which he was happy to hear. He had already decided to have it dug a little deeper. He had plans to put a barn back here, and that would be hurt if the creek came up too high. He closed his eyes and laid down for a moment.

“I’m coming up to your left and from behind you, Aedan.” He didn’t stand when Andi spoke to him. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her to go away, but she’d been so sweet to him that he felt horrible about saying anything bad to her. Besides, being pregnant like she was, she would cry at the strangest things. “Can I have a seat with you? I promise I won’t ask you any questions.”

Sure. Go ahead. But tell me which one sent you out here.
She told him no one, she’d been out and about and saw him and decided to have a nice sit down
. Did Mac tell you I found my mate? Or she found me, I guess.

“Yes. I heard about it.” She leaned against him and closed her eyes. “I saw the doctor today. He said that I’m doing just fine. He also gave me a book to read. I had no idea what to expect when I saw the cover. But I read it. I think it made me have more questions than it answered anything. It’s mostly about the changes in my body that will be going on over the next several months.”

Mom will be able to help you if you don’t want to ask the doctor
. She said she’d think on it.
You can’t be doing this for a while, walking around without protection. There are some people out there trying to kill Nikki. That’s her name…my mate is Nikki Neal.

“I know. I have a gun, but I kinda of knew that you’d be out here. I heard that you had left your house and figured you’d be here.” He wanted to snap at her that he didn’t like people talking about him behind his back, but he only lay there. He wasn’t even sure what he was angry about really. He couldn’t care less if he was the topic of conversation usually. “I was trying to think what to get Mac for Christmas. Your mom said that anything I got him would be great. But I want it to be special. This is our first Christmas together, and I want it to be memorable.”

I think I can help you with that. Did you know that Mac collects pottery?
She said that she had seen his collection.
My mom said that he was having it moved to your home after the holidays. I guess it’s grown quite a bit since he was living with us all. I know that he takes a great deal of pride in it.

“We’re having a room set up for it in the back of the house. I mean, we’re having one built off the back of the house. As if the house isn’t big enough for me to get lost in. Anyway, he said that he started collecting when he was about nine, when your mom picked him up a piece when they were on vacation somewhere.” He told her that they’d been in the Smokey Mountains. “That’s right. It was made by a local potter, I guess, and he loved it so she got it for him.”

The man let him play on the wheel. I don’t think Mac ever got the hang of it, but he did enjoy the form and the way it had to be done. I remember the older man being very patient with him too. I’m not sure, but I think Mac might have taken a few lessons when he was older. In college, I think.
Andi said that he had.
What I was getting at is that there is this potter that he loves. His name is Rickson, I think. He’s from someplace down south. Anyway, this potter has this beautiful raku stuff that Mac’s been coveting for years. I think he has one or two pieces by the artist. I don’t know why he’s never gotten any more of it, but you might try looking for that.
She said that she would look.

They sat there for a little while longer, neither of them saying anything else, listening to the creek as it made its way to something larger and deeper. Aedan felt at peace for the first time in a long while.

“Will it be so bad?” He knew what she was asking him, and since he was feeling pretty good, he told her it would. “I see. Because of your plans.”

Do you know how hard it is to juggle this work and that of the family business and keep them going? What I’m doing right now is all I can handle for the moment. Do you know how much everyone is going to be looking into every single part of my life from now on?
She said that she didn’t, but imagined that he would be just fine and get it all done.
Yes, I will, but it will take me longer now that I have someone to watch out for. It’s messing with my timeline, having someone like a mate come along.

“You think you will? Have to watch out for her, I mean. I heard from Stormy that this woman is a highly decorated officer, and has been asked several times to join the FBI to help them out.” Figures, more things for him to have to worry about. “I don’t suppose you ever thought of what this is going to do to her, did you?”

What do you mean, to her? I’m the one that is taking a mate. I’m the one that’s going to have to change everything I’ve worked for over the last year and a half. Hell, most of my life.
She laughed and he felt his peace evaporate just like that
. I don’t see how this is the least bit funny, Andi.

“Don’t you? I do. You were never like this, this selfish, when I first came here. I can understand why you didn’t fuss when Stormy came to your family. She’s scary even when she’s in a good mood. But you just went along with me being a part of this family too, didn’t you?” He asked her what she meant by that. And when she stood up, he did as well. “I messed with your plans, didn’t I? I mean, I came to this family for a job and security. Who knew that I was going to have to murder two people to get it? One of them was my aunt. And I had a very good friend killed too. Was that in your flow charts and pies?”

No. And I don’t think you’re thinking of this from my point of view. I have a mate now that is going to need things from me that I just don’t have time to deal with.
Andi smacked him on the end of his nose and he saw stars.
What the fuck was that for?