Force of the Dark Wolf (Force of Nature Series) (15 page)

Blood was on her chin, his blood.
His cock surged again
,
making him groan.
When their eyes met she started to turn away and he stopped her with a word.
She looked back at him with tears.
He kissed her gently and laid his head on her breast, but not before glimpsing her teeth.
His mate had canines like his.

~~~

Phil looked down at the notes he’d taken on the Dark family.
There wasn’t a great deal about the
m
other than the few things he’d been able to track down at the county office in Montana.
Then he picked up the second stack of notes.
The Strong family
,
which he’d just happened upon, had a long and illustrious line.
And he’d found out from his mother they didn’t just have the last name as Strong, they were a breed of beings that were actual
Strongs
.

Alexis Strong Dark was a shifter, he just knew it.

He got up and walked around his desk.
He loved his home and it had been his for over three hundred years.
But he was lonely.
Lonely for a mate and even lonelier because he knew who she was.
Grabbing up his brief case he went to the door and thought he’d try and get some more information from Austin on where Holly was.
It was high time that little
m
iss Holly Force came to terms with who her mate was. And damn the girl for making him the heavy.
Before he knew it Phil was knocking on the front door of the Dark home.
Just as he thought, everyone was in the kitchen when he’d been let into the family home.

“You here for some home cooking
,
blood-boy?”
Gladys had taken to calling him that a few days ago. He
tried
to not let it bother him
,
but today he just couldn’t help himself.

“Yes.
What type are you anyway
?
I’ve a craving for
…
”
H
e sniffed the air.
“Humm, my favorite. Type B positive.”

She paled slightly and he felt bad
,
but before he could apologize she slapped him on the shoulder with a hearty laugh.
“You can’t tell what my type is from sniffing the air.
You’re a card all right
,
Mr. Campbell. I think I might grow to like you.”

He sighed.
He was afraid she might grow on him too and he just didn’t want to think about losing another friend.
He leaned in and kissed her cheek
,
giving a little of his magic to her.
She would never know and he would have her around for a bit longer.
He also made a mental note to do the same to Jessie as well.

He had the gift of longevity.
Not many vampires possessed his power
,
especially not half breeds as he was.
He had given the gift to CJ and Austin, also to the other boys in the house.
Nancy Force he had not. She knew that he’d been doing it slowly over the months and told him if he did that to her she’d hurt him.

“I want to go to my husband soon.
Well, not soon
,
but when my time is right.
You keep your voodoo and leave me to my own death.” He
’d
kissed her cheek
,
but kept this gift to himself.
“Now go and make me a grandma before I die, will you
?
”

That had been three months ago and he was no closer to keeping his promise to her than he’d been back then.
He walked into the dining room just as they were sitting down.
He glanced at Darcy and knew that the girl was watching him.
She was another puzzle he wanted to solve.

“Well, Alexis my dear
,
have you and your mate given any thought to my offer?”
He needed her blood now more than ever.
He was worried when she glanced at Gordon.
He could feel the tension between them.
“What is it?”

Gordon cleared his throat and handed a plate to Tim.
“Why don’t we bench this until after dinner? Then we can go out onto the deck and talk.
And Tim here has an announcement to make.”

The boy grinned. The first happy grin Phil had seen from any of the children since he’d met them.
But something had happened to the couple at the head of the table. They would barely look at one another and they didn’t speak to each other.
He knew that they had mated
,
bec
o
me a true mated pair
,
but their scent was different
. I
t was more.
Phil couldn’t help but wonder if they’d found out something about Patrick Booth. But he doubted it would be that easy.

“I got an
A
plus on my math test today.
Gordo
n
helped me with figuring out how to add them up without using my fingers so the teacher would catch me.”

“Really?” Alexis asked. “You taught him to cheat without being caught.
Great. What’s next, are you going to show him
how
to sho
o
t your gun?”

“Can you
?
” Tim asked excitedly.
He realized they were kidding about the same time Alexis shot him a look.
“Oh.
Well, that’s not fair to get a kid
’s
hopes all up then take
‘
em away.”

“If you bring home two more
A
s I’ll show you how to throw a knife,” Jessie said without missing a beat.
“In my day I was quite the shot.”
She put peas on Phil’s plate as she continued talking to Tim.
“I could knock the eyeball out of a rat a yard away.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake, you could not.
Why you can barely threa
d
a needle much less throw a knife.” Gladys turned to Tim as she took the peas off Phil’s plate. It was dizzying how fast the two women teamed up on his food.
“You stay away from her
,
son
,
when she has a knife. She’s more likely to cut your pecker off th
a
n to throw it with any kind of accuracy.”

Phil looked around the table at the stunned faces.
While the silence reigned he had a pork chop put on his plate and taken off as well as a pile of mashed potatoes that would have fed a small army.
He finally took his plate and moved far away from the two older women.
He wasn’t even hungry
,
but they were making him nuts with the switches.

Tim nodded and didn’t say another thing about learning to throw a knife or shoo
t
a gun. Phil did notice that he cupped himself whenever his aunt got close to him. The rest of the dinner was made in relative chaos, but the kind that he had seen in hundreds of families over the centuries.
After dinner and the kids were set up with a movie
,
he went out into the warm night with the adults.
Austin and CJ came just in time for dessert.

“How true is it that Caroline found Alexis and is not her real mother?
Or you for that matter?”
Phil would know if she was lying and could see the slight tension in Jessie’s shoulders before she smiled at him.
“If you lie to me, I will without a doubt know it.
And will do whatever necessary to get the real truth from you.”

The sharp intake of breath to his left told him that Gladys hadn’t known.
Or at least he assumed she didn’t.
He was beginning to realize that this family had secrets that even he wasn’t aware of.
His quick glance at Alexis made him think she didn’t either
,
but she’d suspected.
Jessie looked around the group of people and then sat down hard in the chair next to her.

“She was Caroline’s daughter.
And before you ask me, yes I know who your father is.
We never meant for you to find out. It was supposed to be—
”

“Wait.
No, no, no.
That can’t be right.
You told us that she was…you found her.
The whole story was too wonderful to be…tell them you’ve made a mistake, Mr. Campbell
. T
ell them that…”
Gladys looked around and then at Alexis.
“You knew
,
didn’t you?
They told you.”

“No. I never knew.
But there were times… I look like her.
I remember saying that to her once, to mom, that I looked a great deal like her and that wasn’t that wonderful
?
She smiled at me and told me that it could be my curse too.
That I would be recognized for that and that it could be her downfall.”
Alexis looked at him.
“Tell us what you know and I’m sure that Jessie can fill in the blanks of what you don’t have.”

“I can’t.
I know that you want the information
,
but I was sworn to secrecy.
I have to continue to protect you until such
a
time that you’re called upon.”
Jessie stood then sat again. “He’ll find you.
Or at the very least he’ll come here.
I’ve been watching over you for so long that…
Phil
,
you should have asked me first and not told her.
Why did you do that?”

The energy rolled off of Jessie and hit Phil hard.
It wasn’t the power that he was surprised by
,
but the amount of it.
Jessie was at least part shifter too and he knew that he was going to hurt very soon now.
He closed his eyes against the assault.
But as the power slid over
him
it moved away just as quickly.
He opened his eyes slowly. Alexis was standing before him.

“Stop it.
Stop it right now.”
Jessie stood
,
faced her niece
,
and then turned and walked away.
The closing of the door was a soft click in the otherwise silent night. Alexis turned to him, anger in her eyes.
“Tell me what you know. Tell me what I am and how you figured it out.”