Dakota's Claim (14 page)

You want her.
We
want her. For the first time in your long fucking life, you want this
woman like you have never wanted another female before. Take her, and show her
that there isn’t another male for her.

The
thoughts going on in his head were crazy, insane, ludicrous … all of those meaning
the same thing, yet combined it was like this giant fucking monster inside of
him.

“Who
is that, Tawny?” he asked, not taking his eyes off of Allie. Of course he now
knew her name, but that wasn’t what he was asking Tawny for. Allie removed her
hat, and a tumble of deep red waves fell along her shoulders. She was staring
down at the application in front of her as she took off her coat. She had big
breasts that pressed against her light colored sweater, and her nipples poked
through the material. She was thinner than he liked in a woman, and he could
see the raised edge of her collarbones through her shirt, but she was gorgeous
nonetheless. He curled his hand into the counter with so much force he felt the
wood start to crack under his hold.

“She’s
the new waitress. She’ll be working on the weekends and once during the week.”

He
turned to see Tawny watching him with this apprehensive look on her face. She
lowered her gaze to where he held onto the counter, and when he removed his
hands he saw a crack in the wood from when he had applied pressure to it while
he watched Allie.

“You
okay?” she asked and glanced at Allie.

“I’m
good,” he said and looked at Allie, too.
“More than good
actually.”
The idea that Allie was his wouldn’t leave
Drevin
, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to just walk
away from her, not when she was the first woman to make his human and bear come
alive.
 

****

The
dining room was too quiet. Tawny looked at her sister, who stared at her with
equal amounts of nervousness and discomfort. Lucas was sitting beside his wife,
and her mother was holding little Lola.

“This
silence is a bit awkward.”
Tarren
was the one to
speak first.

Dakota
sat beside Tawny, his hand on her thigh, and the tension and heat in the room
stifling. She had just told her immediate family that she and Dakota were
seeing each other. Although they hadn’t specifically set any label for
themselves, they didn’t need to. She knew he loved her, and he knew she loved
him. They could be called boyfriend and girlfriend, lovers, or that they were
dating. The end result was still the same. They were together, and nothing
would change that.

“I’m
not sure what to say,” her father said in a deep voice. He leaned back in his
seat, grabbed his glass of water, and took a long drink. “My daughter just told
me she’s with a Brother of Menace.”

“Kind
of brings back memories, huh, Dad?”
Tarren
said,
smiling, obviously trying to ease the situation. The look their dad gave her
had
Tarren’s
smile fading and had her adjusting her
napkin in her lap.

“I
love her, sir,” Dakota said, and tightened his hold on her thigh. “I’ve loved
her for a very long time.”

Her
father grunted once, set back down the glass he had been holding, and for what
seemed like forever the silence stretched out in the room. The sound of the
clock in the hallway ticking filled the room. Lola making little noises as she
slept helped to break up the discomfort slightly, but still Tawny hadn’t
expected silence to be her father’s reaction. Anger, yelling, his bear flashing
across the surface, yes, all of those had seemed like Dallas Stoker reactions
for his youngest daughter telling him she loved a Brothers of Menace member.

“You
love my daughter,” Dallas said without posing it as a question.

Tawny
looked at Lucas, knew the other male had gone through the same hard-ass father
interrogation as well, although for some reason her dad wasn’t as angry this
time around, or he didn’t seem like it.

“I
do,” Dakota said without hesitation, and she looked over at him and smiled.

Dallas
didn’t speak for several seconds again, and she looked over at him. “Dad,
you’re pretty quiet—”

“You’re
happy, Tawny?” her father asked.

She
nodded. “I am.”

He
looked at her, his blue eyes and blond hair the same shade as hers and
Tarren’s
. And when he looked at Hope, their gazes staying locked
for what she felt like
was
forever, and a ghost of a
smile filtering across her father’s face, Tawny felt something in the air
shift. There wasn’t this awkward tension anymore, but this easiness that had
her relaxing against her seat.

“How
much do you love her, son?” Dallas asked Dakota with this unwavering hard
stare.

“I
love her enough to lay my life down for her, to kill to protect her, and to
make sure that she is always happy,” Dakota said.

Her
heart skipped a beat at the sound of Dakota’s declaration. Maybe it would have
seemed a bit odd for a guy to profess his love to her father by saying he’d
cause bodily harm to anyone that hurt her, but this was the MC lifestyle, the
world they had grown up in and loved, and it was all very normal for them. But
hearing Dakota speak to Dallas like that, tell him about killing anyone that
hurt her, and that dying for her was as easy as breathing, showed her that this
male meant more to her than anyone else ever had. They had known each other
their whole lives, and she had loved him harder and stronger than she had ever
loved another human being in this world. She was in love with him, madly,
desperately, undeniably.

Dakota
looked over at her, smiled softly, and grabbed her hand to hold it in his much
bigger one. “I love her enough that I won’t let her go, no matter what happens,
or what anyone thinks,” Dakota looked at her father again.
“Even
you, Dallas, with all due respect.”

Her
heart stopped, waiting for the explosion from her father. Lucas whistled low
under his breath, and when she looked over at him it was to see this smirk,
almost as if he was proud of Dakota.
Tarren
elbowed
her husband in the side, and his smile grew wider. He wrapped his arm around
her, pulled her in close, and kissed her temple. Whatever he said in her ear
then, too low for even Tawny’s bear senses to pick up, had this blush spreading
over
Tarren’s
face.

“Well,
I guess there isn’t much more to say,” Dallas said, his voice devoid of
emotion, his body still relaxed against the chair, and his focus on Dakota. And
then he leaned forward, braced his forearms on the table, and said in a low
voice, “but I will say this,” he stared at Tawny and then at
Tarren
and Lucas before turning his attention back to
Dakota. “The only males I want with my daughters are ones that love them enough
to know that if it came down to it they would be able to lay their life down
for them, and kill anyone that threatened to hurt them.”

Dakota
let go of her hand and leaned forward as well. “And I am that male for Tawny,”
he said in a determined voice.

As
the seconds ticked by with Dakota and her father staring at each other, Tawny
thought she’d pass out from this situation.

Her
father broke out in a smile, reached across the table and clapped Dakota on the
back. “Well, calm the hell down, everyone. I’m not about to toss his ass out.”
He looked over at Lucas. “If I allow you to be with my daughter, I can’t deny
Dakota from loving Tawny,” Dakota said, clearly teasing, and then everyone else
started laughing.

Dakota
pulled her close with an arm around her shoulders and kissed the crown of her
head. Her dad watched them, a small smile on his face, and then looked over at
Hope. The love she saw in her dad’s face when he looked at her mother was
something that had always given her hope that there really was true love out
there. And as she looked at Dakota, saw him staring at her with the same
devotion and emotion, Tawny knew that she had finally found that love. They may
have not been “together” for very long, but none of the mattered because what
she felt was real, how Dakota
made
her feel was true, and she knew that no matter what, being with a Brothers of
Menace male was where she was supposed to be in her life.

“I
love you,” Dakota said against her ear, only loud enough for her to hear.

And
she loved him. God, did she love him, possessive attitude and all.

Chapter
Eleven

One month later

Pulse,
a brand new nightclub in Denver, was packed full. It was Friday night, and the
underground room they were currently in
beat
, pulsed,
and was alive with the bodies gyrating, dancing, and all but fucking each other
on the main floor. The music that played meshed seamlessly
together,
and not one moment of silence filled the place as the newest songs blasted
overhead. Tawny was one of those people moving in the center of the large room,
the darkness, flashing, neon lighting seeming to make the entire atmosphere
more sexually charged. She was getting drunk, already had a nice buzz going on,
and was having a good time with the man she loved.

Drea
and Darius, Dakota’s younger
twin brother and sister, had tagged along, but they had already found people to
grind up against. Lina, Stinger’s daughter, had also tagged along, and Tawny
could see her at the bar talking to a younger man in a Marine uniform. There
were
a few other Grizzly MC
and Brothers of Menace
kids somewhere in the large, almost cavern style club, but Tawny was focused on
only one person.

Dakota
was right in front of her, his knee between her thighs, the friction and
pressure of that limb causing her pussy to become wet. She was hot, and not
just temperature wise. Her nipples poked through her tank top, her thong wet
from her pussy cream, and sweat beaded her back and between her thighs. It was
cold outside, snowy and closing in on Christmas, but she wore a skirt, a short
as hell
one,
and this slinky little top that showed
off her cleavage, and left her entire back exposed.

Dakota
leaned in, slid his fingertips slowly over her lower back, and she felt like
his skin was scorching her. He applied more pressure with his knee right up
against her barely covered pussy, pulled her harder into his chest with his
hand to her back, and moved his mouth to her ear. “You look hot as hell, baby,
but seeing all these fuckers stare at you, picture you without anything on,
is
starting to really piss me off.”

She
moved her hands up his thickly corded and muscular arms until she curled her
fingers into his t-shirt covered shoulders. She had known wearing something so
revealing would probably toy with Dakota’s already razor-edged possessive and
territorial urges toward her. But this was a nightclub, everyone was dressed
like this, and as much as she loved him and his protectiveness toward her, she
also knew he needed to trust her. She felt his erection pressing against her
belly, wrapped her arms around his neck, and rose on her toes to press her lips
lightly against his.

“Who
am I here with?” She pressed her pussy down on his leg. “Who is the male that
has gotten me so wet right now I can feel my cream soaking my panties?” She
said against his lips. He groaned, lifted his leg a little higher, and she
gasped out at the pleasure that caused.

“You
keep talking like that, and I’ll be tempted to take you to one of the dark
corners, push your skirt up and over your big, sweet ass, and pull your panties
aside so I can slide my cock into you.”

God,
he had a filthy mouth, but she loved it.

“I
only want you. All other guys don’t even compare, so let’s forget about them.”
She pressed her lips to his fully, and he instantly deepened the kiss. He
tasted of the one shot of whiskey he had, but that had been an hour ago, and
since then he had been drinking water. He was being safe because he had to
drive them home. She let herself go, felt the buzz of the liquor she had been
drinking, and knew that she trusted Dakota with her life. There was no doubt
he’d protect her with his last breath.

“How
about getting me another drink?” She leaned back and smirked at him. Knowing
that so many people surrounded them didn’t deter her from slipping her hand
between their bodies, curling her fingers around his rock hard erection that
pressed against his jeans, and saying in a low voice, “Tonight
I
will be the one fucking
you
.”

Of
course she knew that wasn’t the case, because Dakota was all male, masculine
and dominant, and every time they had been together he always had control. She
liked it that way, but teasing him, making him groan and slightly close his
eyes with pleasure, was worth it all and turned her on.

“You’re
killing me here, baby. I’ll come right in my damn pants before I even leave the
club.” He moved his lips to her neck, ran his tongue along her throat, and she
heard him groan softly. “I love the way you taste when you’re sweaty. You’re
sweet and salty, and all mine, Tawny.”