Checkmate (8 page)

“You’ll be safer at the ranch where I can keep a better eye on you,” he muttered, still looking at his brother. He turned to her. Her face was a mixture of glaring daggers, fear and hunger. Hunger for him. Her nipples were hard and the succulent scent of her arousal permeated the car. Good thing Caelan was immune to anything but his own mate, or they’d both be panting right now. Every minute that went by made Eli more and more possessive of Nikki.

They stared at each other for long, heated seconds. Over the whistling of wind from the hole in the back window, he heard Nikki’s heart pounding. He saw the blood coursing through the vein along the smooth skin of her long, slender throat. She licked her lips, her gaze dropping to his mouth. Damn but she made it really hard to stay in the front seat and keep his hands off her.

The SUV slowed to make a sharp turn, bumping over the irregular gravel road that led to their home. The land called to him, as it always did, urging him to shift and run. Now more than ever since he’d been gone for so long.

Eli broke the connection between him and Nikki and faced the front, looking around to see any changes he might have missed. Everything looked pretty much the same, with the exception of some new fencing along the pasture to his right. A few horses dotted the land, lazily chewing and mulling about.

God, but he had missed this place. He wasn’t ever taking on another assignment like the one he’d just left. Of course, he wouldn’t have to now that he had a mate. Nikki would come first and foremost from now on. And if he’d acknowledged her eight months ago, maybe none of this would have happened. He’d have been here to protect her. Or at the very least, help her get through the tragedy.

“How far away is it?” Nikki’s soft but urgent voice broke through his musings.

“Not far.”

“Okay, ‘cause I gotta go.”

Eli barked out in laughter. There was the little spitfire he knew and loved.

“Stupid men,” she muttered, drawing out another round of laughter from both he and Caelan.

“I fail to see what’s funny.”

“Nothing, sweetheart.”

She scowled at him. “I’m not your sweetheart.”

Her words sobered him. “You will always be my sweetheart.” He couldn’t prevent the glow he knew took over his eyes and heard the gasp she made when it happened. Her eyes widened and she shrank back in her seat. Then her lids narrowed as if inspecting him, trying to decide if what she saw was real or not.

The SUV rocked through another series of potholes and Nikki grimaced as her shoulder bounced against the door.

“Jesus, Caelan, fix the road, why don’t you?” It killed him to see Nikki hurting, especially because of something as simple as the road.

“Oh, right, it’s my fault there’s bumps in the same road you’ve bumped over since the day you were born,” Caelan snarled.

“Then let’s get the damn thing paved,” Eli growled back. “It’s not like we can’t afford it!”

“Did you forget
why
it’s not paved?” Caelan hissed.

“Yoohoo, boys. Hello, five-year-olds again. Get over it, Eli, I’m fine.”

Eli’s breath practically heaved from his chest. He needed to run. Confined for hours of plane rides and then being on the go since landing hadn’t done him a bit of good. There was a reason they didn’t pave their roads, a selfish one, but hey. They didn’t like the way the pavement felt beneath their paws. Everyone in his pack preferred natural to manmade so, aside from the fences to keep their horses from scattering, most of the land was kept as wild as possible.

“Oh my God, is that your house? It’s huge.”

“I told you it wouldn’t be a problem,” Eli agreed.

“It’s beautiful.”

Despite the ugliness of what had brought her to his home, he heard the sincerity in her voice and his pride lifted. Caelan brought the SUV to a stop on the gravel drive and the three of them sat, seemingly suspended in time. Eli was the first to break the strange moment.

“All right then. Let’s get out of the car, shall we?” He went around the hood, jumping out of the way to avoid the driver’s door his brother threw open.

Nikki still sat, looking out the front window at the house, when he opened the door to help her out. He bent in to see what she saw.

“It’s a house, Nikki-Raine,” he whispered, tickling her ear with his lips. She smelled so good. It was all he could do to keep from burying his head in the crook of her shoulder and laying her across the seat to have his way with her.

She squirmed to dislodge his mouth from her earlobe. “It’s big.”

Eli shrugged. “Yeah, well, we planned on having lots of runts running around one day.”

Her gaze flew to his. “Runts? We? You’re both going to…stay here? Together? With families?”

“Breathe.” He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, soothing her with his thumb along her rapid pulse point.

“I’m just shocked I guess.”

“Why? You live with your brother, why does it shock you that I choose to live with mine?”

“I wouldn’t live with my brother if I didn’t have to, and you are talking about raising your families together, not sharing an apartment.”

Eli sighed and dropped his chin to his chest, thinking about the best way to broach the subject. How easy it would be to just come out and say,
That’s the way a pack works. We like to be close to our families, to keep our young within reach and share in the responsibilities of raising the offspring that would one day be an active part of a shifter community.

Damn it sounded so good in his head. Reality wouldn’t quite work out the same way. At least he’d give her something tangible to be truly shocked about.

Lifting his face to hers again, he changed the subject. “Over there,” he said pointing to the right side, “is our wing, and that side is Caelan and Tieran’s. There’s a kitchen, living room, dining room and den along the back, but each wing has its own private area for eating or whatever, if you don’t feel like socializing. We made it that way so we still have our privacy when we need it.”

Chapter Seven

Our
wing? Nikki swallowed. With every word she was getting closer and closer to believing he wanted a relationship with her despite everything that had happened. Not just every word. Every kiss, every look. Simply put, she believed the man wanted her. And she more than wanted him.

The front door flew open and an obviously way pregnant woman waddled out. Nikki’s stomach churned. This was not a good idea. No matter what Caelan said, she was putting his family in danger. She stared at the pretty woman who rubbed idly at the small of her back. Caelan’s wife. Had to be.

To her right, a horse whinnied softly, the sound carrying on the breeze. The mixed scents of horse, hay, leather and pine wafted across her nose. Nikki closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. She was home.

Her eyes flew open. Where in the hell had that come from? A bird called from far away, a testimony to the peaceful silence surrounding her. Eli’s hard chest pressed against her back and she sagged into him.

“I know you can feel it, Nikki-Raine. Let it all go and relax. Nothing can hurt you here,” Eli whispered against her ear. The words sent a shiver down her spine.

He was right. Nothing could hurt her here on this land. It would help rid her of her determination to hide from the world because it had gone to shit on her.

His arm wrapped around her midsection, adding strength and keeping her from sloughing to the floor. How she’d slept most of the way here and now felt tired enough to sleep for days, she didn’t know. She wanted a pillow and a warm blanket and she’d be good to go.

“You’re wilting, sweetheart. Let’s get you inside.”

Unable to speak, she nodded. Eli bent behind her and scooped her into his arms. She squeaked in protest but a second later sank into his unyielding hold and laid her hand above his heart. Incredibly she felt his heartbeat stutter.

“You’re mine,” he growled not for the first time and she wondered about it.

For years Nikki had loved him from afar. She’d been getting close to telling him how she really felt when he’d had to leave on his trip, and she hadn’t gotten the chance. Then she’d been attacked, and it had seemed at the time she had no option but to let him go. Not so anymore. He didn’t care about her face being scarred so why should she?

If being with him now meant losing her heart to him later when he moved on to someone else, she’d take whatever she could get.

Nikki knew Eli. Knew how many beautiful women flitted in and out of his life. Her hand fisted in his shirt. She didn’t want to know the details of those hags. Eli was hers now and she’d keep him for as long as he let her.

And then she would slowly die on the inside when he decided he’d had enough.

“I won’t leave you, Nikki-Raine.”

She startled in his arms, making him stagger a step. “How did you—”

He snorted. “Honey, I can read you like an open book. You leave it all out there in the open for everyone to see. Always have. That’s why I’m wondering how you made it eight months without telling anybody all the details about what happened. Me, especially, which, by the way, I’m supremely pissed about.”

Nikki swallowed as Eli took the steps up to the porch. She didn’t want to have this conversation. She wanted to snuggle deeper into his arms and forget about everything else.

Tears welled up, threatening to spill. Not in a million years would she be able to forget.

“I know you told them the basics, but you’ve never talked about what you felt, have you? Told them the raw terror you’ve had all this time. They’ve seen it in you, but you’ve kept the words bottled up inside, haven’t you? No more secrets, Nikki.”

She started to speak but was interrupted by the woman who’d come out to meet them.

“Eli, good to see you again.”

Eli bent at the waist, giving a small bow, and Nikki clung to his shoulders to keep from falling on her ass.

“Tieran. Damn that’s a big baby.”

Tieran gasped and slapped at his shoulder.

Moron. “Jesus, Eli, can you be a bigger idiot?” Nikki wiggled out of his hold, planting her feet on the ground and shrugging Eli off. He relented only slightly, keeping one arm wrapped around her middle in an almost protective hold. She cleared her throat and lifted her good arm.

“I’m Nikki.”

“Tieran.”

Eyeing each other up, they shook hands. Tieran didn’t look like the type of woman to cause trouble, but…

“Did you really think Eli had killed all those girls?”

Foot in mouth. Had to be the drugs talking. Eli’s arm squeezed her belly, jarring her arm and therefore her shoulder, making her groan. Tieran’s face turned all shades of red before she lifted her chin and pulled Nikki’s hand into the crook of her elbow.

Tieran gasped and something in her eyes sparkled when she looked at Eli. A second later she went into a trance. That’s the only word to describe what happened. Her eyes glazed over and she stiffened up. Tieran’s fingers crushed Nikki’s hand in a painful grip.

“Oh, Christ. Now look what you’ve done,” Eli murmured.

“What? What did I do?”

Tieran let out a gush of air and focused on Nikki. Her face was pale where it had been flushed a minute ago, and her whole body positively vibrated.

Tieran swallowed audibly. “It was dark and small. An enclosed area.” She looked to Eli, a question in her eyes.

Eli simply nodded once, his jaw jumping with the force he was putting on it.

“What’s she talking—”

“My own. What are you doing out here?” Caelan asked in a tender tone, cutting Nikki off.

“Stuff it,” Tieran groaned. All traces of her weirding out were, poof, gone. “While you were out playing chauffeur, I’ve been sitting in this house suffocating. Now you’re back and I’m outside.” Tieran smiled sweetly at her husband and Nikki had to laugh. It appeared Caelan was just as big an oaf as Eli. Should have known it, coming from identical twins.

“What happened to the back of the car, Caelan?” Tieran asked, trying to tug Nikki out of Eli’s grasp.

He wasn’t having any part of letting her go.

“Oh. Nikki was shot at at the hospital. We narrowly escaped with her life, and here we are.”

Tieran gasped. Her jaw dropped open and she pinned him with the evil eye. “So not funny.”

Eli sighed. “No, not funny, but true.” He stepped forward, forcing the three of them into the doorway since they were all still connected.

How Eli thought all of them were going to fit was beyond her. A dance ensued. In a bizarre
The Three Stooges
way, they shimmied through the doorway until, like a cork popping out of a champagne bottle, they came unstuck and spilled into the foyer.

Tieran kept hold of Nikki’s arm. Eli had to let go or fall on them. He latched onto the doorframe to keep from stumbling, only to get bumped from behind by his brother.

“Damn, Tieran, I don’t know what it is with you and doors, but don’t be bringing that shit into this house,” Caelan grumbled.

She did let go of Nikki this time, to swat at her husband.

“I didn’t do it, he did.”

Living here was going to be like living in a kindergarten classroom. Nikki hung her head, weariness doing its best to take over. And she still wanted to know what Tieran had meant about a dark closet. No, not a closet. She’d said enclosed space. Why had she suddenly blurted that out anyway?

Caelan grabbed the back of his wife’s neck and hauled her closer, attracting Nikki’s attention. He proceeded to kiss his wife senseless. Nikki’s entire being thrummed just watching the two of them. Feeling like a voyeur, she turned away. Eli’s formidable body got in the way.

Before she knew what was happening, Eli crushed his mouth to hers. She melted into him. His arms surrounded her, pinning her to him. One hand wandered lower and lower until he cupped her bottom and urged her closer still.

His lips cajoled, his tongue plundered, taking what it wanted and accepting nothing less. She opened to him and allowed it to happen. In fact, couldn’t stop it from happening. Nikki gave as good as she got. Her tongue slid over his, learning his mouth. He had the sharpest teeth…

The thick length of his cock pressed into her belly and made her wonder how it would feel against her skin. Or better yet, in her mouth.