Roaring for Him (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance) (Wicked in Wilder Book 1) (20 page)

When she squirmed against him, wet pussy stroking his dick, he was drawn back from the sensual haze. She was in need and he wanted to fulfill her every desire. He grasped her hips and rolled them, putting her on the bottom and resting against the mattress.

He met her questioning stare. “Give me one sec, Tilly.” He carefully lifted his weight from her and knelt between her thighs just as she had moments ago. “Gonna make you purr for me.”

And then… he did. More than once.
Ten
times, not that anyone was counting or anything.

Tilly was thankful for a lot in her life. At the moment, the top of her list was occupied by the realization that Mitchell was a heavy sleeper and Emma knew better than to call the pack house looking for her if there was a problem. Instead, her BFFFFFFFF—so many
f
’s because Emma got in touch with her—called her cell phone to drop the bad news. News that would super piss off Mitchell.

Due to those two little facts, she was able to slip out of bed, answer her friend’s call and then just as quietly slip out of the pack house. She waved at a couple of wolves pacing near the compound’s fence and they hadn’t given her a hard time when she’d rolled past them. Then again, it wasn’t like they would. After food and then sexytimes came a pow-wow with some of Mitchell’s inner-circle. Kade had been present along with a few of his top sentinels, and together they came up with a list of wolves who were very anti-pussy in the pack.

Seth—and now Darcy—sorta topped that list. She’d winced when Kade had been forced to jot her name down, but it was unavoidable. The moment he finished with the swirling
y
in her name, he’d raised his gaze and his eyes collided with Tilly’s.

Her heart ached—even now hours later—for the male. Because of Tilly and her family, he might lose his place in the pack if Darcy couldn’t get over her prejudices.

Tilly swung her small car onto the only road that led her from pack lands to the center of Wilder. She bounced over the street, her vehicle not taking the uneven surface well, but it’d do the job and get her there. And get her there, it did. Exactly fifteen minutes later, she found herself slowly rolling down Main Street.

She eased toward her bakery and rolled down the window a smidge, wondering if Emma had been right or if the woman was overreacting. Her best friend, while lovely, wasn’t really dependable without her coffee. And since Tilly had yet to hand over a steaming cup of goodness, Emma could be mistaken.

She replayed their call in her mind, her panicked yet groggy answer of the phone was met by Emma’s equally groggy yet annoyed voice.

“Where the hell are you? I’m a zombie. Are you bringing me coffee? Can you get rid of the dog pee?” Of course, it was really a string of words that Tilly hardly understood.

“With Mitchell.”

“Did you bang him?”

Tilly sighed. “You didn’t call me for that. What did you say? What are you calling me for?”

“Coffee and dog pee,” Emma grumbled and she heard the tinkle of metal on metal.

“Why are you going in so early?”

“Why aren’t you here with coffee?”

“Because shit happens,” she deadpanned.

“Ditto. If I wanted this week’s delivery, I had to be here at dawn’s ass crack to accept the fucking boxes. Where is my
cooofffeeeeee?
”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.”

“On the
phone?
Ew, I’m not into phone sex.”

Obviously Emma couldn’t have been
that
caffeine deprived. “Whatever.” Tilly let her lioness come forward and help her peer through the darkness. It sure as hell had made it easier to find her clothing and she got dressed as she continued her whispered conversation. “What about dog pee?”

“Someone fucking peed all over everything up and down the block. I figure you probably pissed off the puppies so… Yeah.”

Tilly frowned and silently left Mitchell’s bedroom. “How do you know it isn’t cat pee or bear pee or—”

“I know what cat pee smells like. Remember that time you got so drunk you shifted and decided my flowers—”

“
Anyway
. I’m on my way. I’ll…” Do what? Buy industrial strength cleaner at four in the morning? “I’ll figure something out.”

Once she knew what she was dealing with. Emma was human so while Tilly didn’t doubt she probably smelled something, Tilly would be able to tell if it was from a shifter or natural animal.

Which was why her car slowly crawled down Main with the window down and her nose raised so she could—

The scent stung her nostrils and her cat immediately forced her to sneeze and banish the aroma.

It wasn’t dog pee exactly. It definitely came from the canis family but it was more like wolf pee. Someone—she breathed deeply and fought her cat’s instinctual response—had marked Main Street. Hell, the closer she got to the bakery, she realized the wolf had
heavily
marked her shop. She turned and directed her car into the parking lot and tossed it into park the moment she rolled to a stop. The flavors permeated the air, crawled into her car, and stroked her with the disgusting aroma.

A knock on her window yanked a squeak from her throat. Her cat shoved forward, pushed her fur through her pores, and her fangs sprung free of her gums. She swung her head toward the source of the sound, fangs bared, and a hiss escaped her lips at the same moment. She focused on the intruder, on… Emma?

Her best friend rolled her eyes. “Quit being bitchy and make me coffee.”

The cat huffed and retreated while Tilly rolled her eyes and climbed from her small car. She made sure she snared her purse and keys before she locked up. She met Emma at the bumper and they walked toward the bakery’s front door side-by-side. She’d been surprised by her mom at the back entrance once. She didn’t want it to happen again.

“You could have used your key.”

Emma shrugged. “It smells here and I don’t know how to use the coffee maker. So, was I right? About the dog thing?”

Tilly shook her head and released another low sneeze. “Yeah, in a way.” She rubbed her nose and looked around the parking lot as they approached the front. She didn’t sense any werewolves nearby, but there was
so much urine
. “It’s actually wolves.” She braced herself and focused on the pee scent. “Really one wolf.”

God, she didn’t need this bullshit.

“Are wolves normally incontinent or is this a special welcoming thing? Don’t puppies know that you’d prefer a gift basket? And dude, that’s a lotta piss. How many Big Gulps did the guy down before going to town? Heh. That rhymed.”

Tilly rolled her eyes. At least she had Emma for comic relief.

“It’s something all right,” she mumbled and mentally ticked through her cleaning supplies. She’d have to go to the local hardware store and see if they had industrial strength stuff. Tilly slid her key into the lock and granted them entrance. “Lock it for me?” she called over her should as she padded toward the back of the bakery to turn off the alarm. On her way past, she flicked the switch on her coffee maker. Or as Emma called it, her official place of worship. It gurgled to life and she knew she’d have coffee for her friend in seconds.

“Yup,” Emma called after her and then Tilly heard her friend approaching. “So, what kind of ‘something’ is it?”

Tilly flipped on the lights in the kitchen as she moved around her space. “Sort of a ‘hey, bitch, get the fuck out’ something.”

“And they couldn’t have texted you? Peeing seemed like the answer?” There was no missing the sarcasm-laced disbelief in her words. “Shifters are weird.”

“Yeah, well,” she shrugged. “It is what it is.” Not that her response was good enough. It just… was. “Black or do you want something fancy this morning?”

“Black. Lots and lots of black coffee. That stupid delivery truck will be here in twenty minutes and I gotta make room for the new stock.”

Tilly glanced at Emma, single eyebrow raised. “Anything I’d like?”

Her friend gave her an evil smile. “Nah, but Mitchell would love it. He told me to tuck anything he’d like aside and he’d pop by and pick up what I—”

She froze in place and turned to face Emma. “He said what? And you agreed to—” Her cell phone rang, the familiar strings of
The Cat Came Back
filling the air.
Liv
. Her sister had a twisted sense of humor and apparently decided a song about a cat who’d been abandoned over and over again yet constantly returned, would be a good ring tone. The feline may have been blown up a few times too. Maybe even drowned. And Tilly… just never took the time to change it. “Heya, Livvy. How goes it?”

“I heard,” her middle sister’s words were clipped and short and Tilly winced.

Emma went to the coffee maker, poured herself a big cup and moved toward the front door. Tilly was right behind her and she locked up after her friend left.

“What did you hear, exactly?”

“Why don’t you tell me what you think I heard?” Liv wheedled.

Tilly snorted. “How about you spill because neither of us are kids anymore and won’t fall for that?”

Liv sighed. “Fine. I heard someone has a hottie tottie on the line and is reeling him in like a massive, wolf-shaped fish.”

She huffed and returned to the kitchen, propping the phone between her shoulder and chin as she went. Sister or not, Tilly had orders to fulfill. “I may, or may not, have one such male on the line.”

“Uh-huh. Phee says he’s drop dead gorgeous and worships you like a golden goddess.”

“
Right
. How about he sniffs my ass and wants to wrap me in cotton?”

Silence greeted Tilly for a moment and then two before Liv spoke. “He did not really sniff your ass! I thought that was a myth. Oh, God, gross.”

“Really? Because Phee told me that
you
let—”

“Phee is a child who doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Liv snapped.

“Uh-huh.” Tilly nodded even if Liv couldn’t see her. “I just bet, Miss Buttsex in the backseat.”

“It wasn’t in the—” Liv bit off the words and fell quiet once again. “
Anyway
. I’m not calling about buttsex.”

Tilly dumped a few ingredients into a mixer and flicked it on so the machine could get going on the dough. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure? Not that I don’t love you,
but
it is the ass crack of dawn.”

Her middle sister was quiet a moment and then another as the silence stretched between them. Tilly let Liv gather her thoughts. It’d always been that way. Tilly was the strong one, the one they leaned on. Liv was the quiet thinker, the sister who saw everything as they’d grown up with their mother yet hadn’t been able to do anything. She’d learned the hard way to guard her words and make sure she was prepared for whatever consequences might head her way.

Depending on their mother’s boyfriend at the time, that could include anything from being sent to bed without food to a fist to the side of her head.

So when Liv needed to take a minute, they gave her a minute.

“Phee and I didn’t just talk about the hottie last night. There was other stuff.”

Tilly hissed. “Dammit.”

“You should have called me the second she—”

“It’s not your thing to deal with, Liv,” she immediately cut in.

“It
is
. Just because I don’t have a room down the hall anymore doesn’t mean I—”

“I’m handling it.”

“Like you’ve handled it every other time?” Liv sneered.

She really wanted to keep her mouth shut. Really wanted to swallow the words that leapt to her lips and threatened to spew. But she couldn’t. Between meeting Mitchell, Seth’s attack, her near mating, and the fucking scent of fucking wolf urine pervading the air she just couldn’t. “Oh, fuck you, Liv.”

“No,
fuck. You.
I can’t believe you’re gonna just give in. You’re gonna pay her off, aren’t you? You’re gonna hand over—”

“What should I do then? Let her take Phee? Huh? What do you think her little alpha boyfriend is gonna do to our sister?” Fur rippled over Tilly’s skin, the strands springing free of her pores. Her fingers ached, her lioness anxious to transform them into paws.

“She’s a fucking
bear,
Tilly.”

As if Tilly didn’t know. As if she hadn’t been helping feed a bear shifter for ten years. As if she hadn’t carted Phee over to Hart for a monthly run while Liv went off to Clover under the protection of the tiger alpha. As. If. She. Didn’t. Know. “She’s seventeen,
Liv
. You know what she’s like when she gets upset. How she reacts when something happens to one of us. One threat and she’s over the top.”

Hadn’t that happened often enough when they were growing up? Once Phee began shifting… If one of them got upset, Phee would go bear in a heartbeat so she could kill whatever hurt them. For all of Phee’s mature talk, she was a young seventeen and her inability to control her bear was an ever-present problem.

Tilly sighed. “I love her and if I’m not there to help her keep the bear under wraps… How will she feel when she loses control and hurts someone?”
Again
.

“You can’t keep giving in to Verity. She’ll just keep—”

“Two months, Liv. I gotta get her to eighteen.” Tears stung her eyes as more worry piled on her. She was so fucking tired. Tired of Verity. Tired of the stress of life. Just… tired.

“Phee said your mate could take Verity out. Let him. Be done with it already.” Liv wasn’t bitter or filled with rage or anything.

“I can’t just—”

“You can. Phoebe said he’s the alpha in Wilder. That pack there is huge and he’s allies with the bears and the tigers nearby. They’d all support you and every one of them would help cover it up.”

“No.” No, no, and no again. Even if she’d imagined that scenario more times than she could count. “I’ll figure it out.”

“Are you going to figure it out with a second mortgage on the house so you can pay off Verity?”

“Dammit, Liv. I don’t need this shit right now.” Tilly clutched her control and fought to keep her lioness under wraps.

“Yeah, well, shit waits for no woman. You have to deal. You need to tell Verity to take a fucking—”

Tilly breathed deeply and released it slowly, carefully counting the time it took to exhale.
One, two, three, four, five…