Sunshine's Kiss (15 page)

“Says you,” Sam grumbled.

“You’re beautiful, baby.” Sam leaned back against Jesse’s chest as he was drawn into his arms. “You’d be beautiful if you gained a hundred pounds.”

“That just might be a possibility if I keep eating the way I have been.”

“Well, you have also been throwing everything you eat right back up. I don’t think a little extra weight will do you any harm.”

“We’ll see.” Sam didn’t think he agreed with Jesse. “Do you think it could be Mom’s cooking making me sick?”

“No. Your mom would never feed you anything that would make you ill.”

“No, I mean just the eating itself. I know Mom would never give me anything bad for me, but let’s face it, I didn’t exactly have a regular diet before I came back to the ranch. Maybe it’s eating all this food that’s making me sick.”

“That’s actually not a bad hypothesis, Sam. Maybe your stomach isn’t used to eating three square meals a day.”

“And cookies and cakes and everything else Mom tries to feed me all day long.”

“I’ll bet you that’s it then.”

Sam pushed his lower lip out into a pout. “I guess this means I have to give up the cookies, huh?”

“How about you just try and cut back?” Jesse grinned then leaned down for a quick kiss. “I’m not sure it’s possible to totally cut out your mother’s cookies altogether. That’s like torture.”

“Right?” Sam laughed.

Sam followed Jesse out of the bedroom and down the hallway to the bedroom. He could hear the boisterous voices coming from the dining room before he even reached the ground floor. It sounded like they had a full house.

He smiled and waved to everyone as he and Jesse walked into the dining room. Sam made a quick stop to plant a small kiss on his mom’s cheek. “Morning, Mom.”

“Good morning, Son,” Sarah replied. “How are you feeling this morning? Nate said you got sick again.”

“I did, but I’m feeling better now.” Sam started toward the chair that Jesse held out for him. He paused beside it, winking at Jesse before looking innocently over at his mother. “Jesse thinks it’s your cooking making me sick.”

Jesse froze as Sarah’s narrowed eyes landed on him. Sam chuckled and slid into the chair Jesse held out to him.

“That’s…uh…not exactly what I said,” Jesse said.

“Just what did you say then?” Sarah asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“I…um…I just said that Sam wasn’t used to eating three square meals a day and maybe his body needed to catch up.”

Sam pressed his lips together to keep from laughing at the desperate look in Jesse’s eyes and reached for a waffle. It was a close thing when his mother sniffed and headed into the kitchen. Jesse sat down in the chair next to Sam, leaning close to him.

“Not nice, sunshine.”

Sam chuckled. “I have no idea what you mean.”

Jesse’s growl didn’t frighten him in the least. It was filled with amusement. Sam leaned against Jesse for just a moment, feeling happier than he could remember feeling in quite a long time.

“Eat if you can.”

Sam nodded and started spreading butter on his waffle. He went to grab the syrup when he realized something was missing. “Do we have any peanut butter and jelly?” he asked. “Grape jelly would be great, but I’ll settle for strawberry jam.”

Jesse looked a little shocked, but he nodded and stood. “Yeah, sure. I’ll go get it.”

“And mustard if we have it,” Sam called out as Jesse walked into the kitchen.

“You want mustard for your waffles?” Gabe asked from across the table. He sounded just as shocked as Jesse had looked, and Sam couldn’t figure out why it was so surprising. Mustard on a waffle was the bomb.

“Oh yeah.” Sam moaned just thinking about it. Mustard would taste so good on a waffle. As soon as Jesse walked back into the room with the items Sam asked for and set them on the table, Sam went about preparing his waffle just the way he wanted it.

“You’re really going to eat that?”

Sam glanced across at Gabe. “Why wouldn’t I? It’s delicious.”

“I might understand the peanut butter and the jelly, but mustard?”

Sam chuckled. “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

Gabe shuddered as he looked down at Sam’s plate. “No, thanks.”

“Your loss, my man.” Sam could feel every eye in the room looking at him as he cut into his waffle and took a bite. A multitude of flavors exploded across his tongue. Sam groaned and took another bite.

The silence in the room was suddenly broken when Jesse began to laugh. “Baby, you shouldn’t be making sounds like that outside of the bedroom, and certainly not for a waffle.”

Sam grinned as he cut another bite. “Let me slather you in peanut butter, jelly, and mustard and I’ll bet I make the same sounds.”

“Yeah.” Jesse shook his head rapidly. “So not going to happen.”

Instead of taking the next bite for himself, Sam held it out to Jesse. He arched an eyebrow at his lover when the man just stared at the waffle hanging on the end of Sam’s fork like it might jump out and bite him.

“Afraid, alpha man?”

Jesse’s eyes held a twinkle of amusement in their smoky gray depths as they rose to meet Sam’s. He suddenly leaned forward and bit the piece of waffle off of the fork, making Sam jump in surprise at his quick movement. Laughter burst out of Sam as joy filled him. Jesse’s face was scrunched up in disgust but damned if the man didn’t chew every last bite of waffle.

“It’s an acquired taste.”

Jesse leaned in to peck Sam on the lips. He brought his finger down the arch of Sam’s nose before tapping the very tip. “So are you, sunshine.”

Sam beamed, his face burning as everyone at the table started laughing. He glanced around, blinking widely at all of the smiling faces. Maybe being part of Jesse’s pack wasn’t such a bad idea. He was safe, protected, and accepted. What more could a man ask for?

“So”—Sam ducked his head as he cut another bite of his waffle—“about this transforming bite thing. Does it hurt?” When the room went silent, Sam glanced over at Jesse through the fall of his bangs. The man was just staring at him. No emotion whatsoever showed on his face. “Jesse?”

Sam swallowed hard, suddenly filled with fear when Jesse didn’t move. In fact, no one in the room was moving. They all seemed to be frozen in place. “Jesse, wha—”

“Hello, Samuel.”

Sam yelped, jumping out of his chair and spinning around when he heard someone behind him. His eyes widened when he got his first good look at the man speaking. He was as tall as Jesse only thinner, less bulky.

But there was an air of authority about the strange man that matched Jesse’s dominant demeanor. He was obviously someone used to giving orders. Of course, it might have been the four really huge armed men standing behind him, too.

Geez, they were actually holding swords.

Really big, sharp-looking swords.

Sam jumped when he heard a quick inhale of breath off to one side of him and then a crash as dishes shattered on the floor. He spun around to find his mother staring at the man like she had seen a ghost.

“What are you doing here?” Sarah whispered.

“I’ve come to take you and Samuel home.”

“Who are you?” Sam whispered as he backed up toward Jesse. He didn’t plan on going anywhere.

“I’m your father.”

Jesse roared as he watched Sam and Sarah blink out of the room. But his roar was silent. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t make a sound of protest as his mate was taken from him. He could only sit there and watch it happen.

Jesse felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest as Sam and Sarah were grabbed by the armed men and disappeared right before his eyes. The last man, the one Jesse knew was in charge, saluted Jesse and blinked out as well.

The second the man was gone, Jesse suddenly had control of his body back. He roared and dove for the man even though he knew it was too late. Sam was already gone, and Jesse didn’t have a clue as to who had taken him or how he had done it.

He only knew the man professed to be Sam’s father.

Jesse grabbed the nearest chair and smashed it against the wall, his heartache overwhelming him to the point that all he could see was a red haze of rage. When that chair shattered into a hundred different little pieces, Jesse reached for another one. He needed to vent his anger on something…or someone.

Preferably
someone
.

And he had just the
someone
in mind. He just had to find him first.

Fury choked Jesse as he slammed another chair against the wall, mostly because it did nothing to alleviate the aching hole in his chest. It just destroyed the furniture. Jesse glanced sharply around, his eyes blazing.

“I want everyone here now!” Jesse’s voice was cold and lashing. “Now, damn it!”

Gabe ran for the door, tripping over the broken pieces of wood scattered across the floor before righting himself and disappearing from sight. Jesse turned to look at his brothers. His chest heaved with his efforts to hold on to his beast.

“Does anyone know what just happened?”

Cort, Nate, and Jake all shook their heads.

“I’ve never had something like that happen before, Jesse,” Cort said. “And I most certainly have never seen anyone disappear right before my eyes.”

“Obviously,” Jake said, “they weren’t human.”

“Obviously,” Jesse griped.

“Jesse, I didn’t mean any—”

Jesse held up his hand as he drew in a deep cleansing breath. “I know you didn’t, Jake. And I’m sorry that I snapped at you. I just”—Jesse swallowed hard, the lump in his throat growing with every second that Sam was missing—“I can’t fight what I can’t catch.”

“We’ll find Sam and Sarah, Jesse,” Cort said. “You have to believe that.”

Jesse wasn’t as sure as Cort seemed to be. Sam and Sarah had been taken by a being that Jesse had never encountered before. He had never seen anything like that outside of one of Hollywood’s fantasy movies.

People did not just blink out of a room.

How could he fight something like that? And the disappearing thing didn’t even take into account being paralyzed. It had been agonizing. Jesse could hear everything that was going on, but he couldn’t move a muscle. He couldn’t even whimper. He had never felt so helpless in his life.

“Cort, I want you and Nate to search the first floor of the house and the basement. I’ll take the top floor.”

“What would you like me to do, Jesse?” Jake asked.

“I want you to go search Sarah’s house,” Jesse said. “If anyone sees anything out of place, send up a howl and we’ll come running. If you run into these people, do not engage them unless you have to. Until we know more about them, we won’t know what we’re up against.”

Jesse hurried upstairs once his brothers all nodded and took off to do as he ordered. He doubted that he would actually find anything. Sam and Sarah had disappeared right before his eyes. But he had to look. He had to do something while he tried to figure out how to get his mate back.

And scent wasn’t working. Jesse thought once he claimed Sam that he would be able to track him anywhere in the world. All he could feel was a thin connection to Sam that let him know the man was at least alive. The only scent of Sam he smelled was faded and old as if Sam had recently passed through the area, which he had when Jesse walked him downstairs.

Other than that, there was nothing.

He knew how to deal with a lot of situations like Desmond trying to take Sam away from him and leading a wolf pack. He didn’t have a clue as how to deal with people that disappeared in the blink of an eye. He didn’t even know where to start looking.

Being isolated from the rest of the world for so long was coming around to bite Jesse in the ass. He knew nothing of other paranormals living in the world. Until now, he hadn’t even known they existed. He might never be able to get Sam back if he couldn’t find him.

Jesse leaned against the hallway wall for a moment as deep sorrow overtook him, making him shake. The mere thought of never finding Sam was agonizing. Jesse honestly didn’t know if he could survive without his mate. Sam was too ingrained in his heart, his very soul. The man was more important to him than air.

Jesse froze when he heard a small scraping sound come from one of the rooms further down the hallway. He probably wouldn’t have noticed it if he hadn’t been standing so still. The sound had been very faint, but he had heard it.

Jesse pushed away from the wall and started slowly walking down the hallway. He tilted his head slightly, turning it so his ear was facing the hallway and listened for more noise. His hands curled in as he waited. It seemed like forever passed as he waited, but he knew it was only a few seconds before he heard the sound of a footstep.

Jesse paused for a moment to push his boots off his feet and peel off his socks. He didn’t want to make any noise, but he also didn’t want to go sliding across the floor either. Barefoot was just easier.

He carefully made his way down the hallway toward the room he had heard the noise come from. It was one of the vacant bedrooms. Jesse vaguely remembered it being his mother’s room when she had been alive.