Taken: True Mates Book 2 (BBW Wolf Shifter Romance) (A Craggstone Paranormal Romance) (6 page)

“We look like twins!” I called back sarcastically, reaching the bottom of the stairs and sauntering toward him.

“Hell, sis, if I let my hair grow and got some breasts, then maybe…” he smirked, running a hand over his tightly clipped curls.

Reaching him, I shoved his feet over and slumped down next to him. Accepting his bare feet back onto my lap, I idly played with the cuff of his jean. “Where is everyone?” I asked, trying to sound uninterested.

“You mean, where is
he
? Come on! What gives? Last I knew, you were happily mated to Ian, living it up as the soon-to-be Alpha’s mate…what happened?” he probed, his voice gentle.

“It didn’t work out—”

“Matings don’t just
not
work out—”

“Well, this one didn’t.”

“Come on…talk to me,” he cajoled, teasing one of my curls out, and letting it spring back.

I had to talk to someone, and since he now knew - but, the humiliation still stung, cutting into me. I took a deep breath. “Ian was nice to me, kind — just like I thought he would be. At first, I thought it would be okay. I mean, the passion wasn’t there, but we would talk and he treated me with respect…”

“Go on…”

“But, then I found out that he’d already found his mate, his
true
mate, and that she lived in the pride.” My voice was empty as I remembered the day I had been introduced to Jasmine, a woman my age. My first thought had been that we could be friends. She had seemed like fun, bubbly and easy going — just like me. Then Ian had told me, trying his best to break it to me gently. We were mated in name only. He would share my bed only to produce an heir.
They
were together.

“Shit, Lisa…” Luis squeezed my shoulder in sympathy.

“You called me Lisa!” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’m starting to understand why you did it.”

“Oh, that didn’t bother me — not so much. Because, I didn’t love Ian. Shit, I didn’t even lust after him. I was happy enough, living my own life. I even became friends with her — Jasmine. We’d paint each other’s nails and gossip about men…”

His face was a picture of incredulous disbelief. “So, if you were
fine
with it — what went wrong?”

“She came to the main house—”

Heavy footsteps interrupted my train of thought, and I glanced at the open archway. His scent hit me first, rolling over me like a thundercloud, the tang of nutmeg and musk.

“Sean…” I whispered, as his large frame appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Dressed in dark distressed jeans and a black tee that clung lovingly to every ripple of muscle, complete with heavy black boots, he looked sinfully good. He tensed as he caught sight of me.

Luis let out a low whistle. “I’m with you there, sis. And, from what you’ve told me so far, you’ve got no reason not to…”

“First, I’ve got to convince him of that,” I muttered under my breath.

“I have every faith in you,” Luis whispered back, before calling in a normal voice, “Hey, Sean. Where’re you off to?”

Sean froze on the bottom step, a tortured expression flashing across his face. Then, wiping it clean and setting an easy going grin in place, he turned, making his way over in large, ground eating strides.

“Hey, man,” he said, avoiding look at me, directing his attention to Luis. “Alpha’s called a meeting to discuss progress, make plans…” he trailed off, looking a bit lost.

“Should we come?” Luis voiced my unspoken thought.

Sean glanced at me briefly, then ripped his eyes away. “Nah, thanks man. I think we’ve got this.” He started to turn away, obviously eager to put distance between us.

Not gonna happen, sweetie.

I cleared my throat, spurred on by Luis digging his foot painfully into my side. “Uh, Sean? I have some information that James might need.”

He didn’t turn around, just barked over his shoulder, “He said he would talk to you later.”

“I think he might need to know this
now,
before you guys make any plans that might involve the Smithrock Pack.”

He sighed, the sound heavy and frustrated. Then with a wave of his hand, he signaled us to follow. “This better be good,” he muttered under his breath.

Jumping up from the couch, I dragged Luis to standing. “You’re coming with me, for moral support,” I hissed, clutching his arm. Following Sean, I amused myself with checking out the view, his jean-clad ass flexing and firming with every step. Oh yes, I was going to make him see
me.

***

Lisa

Pushing open a heavy door, we piled into a large office. I recognized most of the Alpha’s lieutenants lounging around the room, and shoving Luis toward an empty chair, made my way over to Macey who was perched up on the windowsill. Jumping up next to her, I swung my legs back and forth, waiting for James to arrive.

“Gum?” Macey asked, holding out a packet.

Accepting, I popped a piece in my mouth, chewing thoughtfully. How to get him to talk to me? When he wouldn’t even look at me?

“Soooo…what’s going on with you and Sean, then?” Macey whispered so quietly I didn’t think even a shifter would overhear her.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Sure, if you know Sean. I’ve not seen him this riled up in a looong time. What’cha do?”

I shuffled on the hard wood. How much to tell? “He found out some stuff that made him mad…”

“Honey, Sean doesn’t
do
mad. He does controlled. Which means, what he found out pissed him off…which means you got under his skin…shit! Are you two
true
mates?” she hissed the last bit, swinging around to face me, her mouth a perfect oval, very nearly falling out of her seat.

“Shhhhh!” I glanced at Sean. Nope, he was still ignoring me, standing on the other side of the room and chatting to Tarq.

“I knew it! First James, now Sean—”

“He doesn’t want me.” I cut her off. “Doesn’t think he’s good enough for me, or some bullshit. And then, I lied to him. Well, not really lied, more like an omission…”

“Honey, if Sean’s reacting like this, then you got to him, which means he wants you — a lot. Sean doesn’t
do
emotion, not really. He fakes it, pulls off the easy going charm, but underneath he’s all control. Locked down tight.” She snapped her gum as if underlining her point.

“Why?” I didn’t get it. That wasn’t the Sean I knew.

“I don’t know the full story, I think James is the only one who does, but it has something to do with his wolf — he calls it his beast — and his temper. He thinks he can’t control it—”

She broke off as James walked into the room, Kara at his side. Rounding the desk, he sat down in a battered leather chair, pulling his giggling mate down onto his lap in one smooth movement. Dark and handsome, power surrounded him, but it was happiness that poured off him — that and a contentment that I envied. Stroking Kara’s arm with a large hand, he turned his attention to the group, flicking his eyes around the room until they came to rest on me.

“Lisa, good to have you back,” he said, his voice deep and husky with emotion. Regret filled his dark eyes as he stared at me.

Kara, picking up on her mate’s distress, turned to lay a hand on his broad chest. “You aren’t responsible for everything, my love,” she said in a low voice. “She’s back, and she’s fine?” Her eyes flicked to me, questioning.

“I’m fine. They didn’t get chance to do anything. They wanted to wait for Eric.” I wrinkled my nose in disgust. “Just a bit of threatening, some bad food, poor housekeeping — just like your friendly local motel,” I quipped, grinning, and trying to disperse some of the tension.

James nodded, grinning in appreciation at my attempt to lighten the mood. “And, this must be your brother?” he said, nodding to Luis. “Good to have you here. I don’t think we’d have got Lisa back without your help.”

“Hey, no worries. That’s my twin there. And, I didn’t do much. Sean was the one who let loose a can of whoop-ass on those stinkin’ wolves — uh, no offense. Nobody here stinks.” He shrugged sheepishly from his chair.

I glanced at Sean, catching his wince at Luis’s words, then I turned back to James, who was briefing the group on everything we had missed. Hearing Amanda’s part in the story, how she had stepped up and brought the Alpha of Smithrock to the Council meeting — her
uncle
— I glanced at the woman in surprise.

“Yeah, surprised a lot of us,” Macey whispered, nodding toward Amanda. “And
that,
as well,” she added, indicating Tarq. “Can’t wait to see how he gets on there!”

Wow! Tarq was making a play for Amanda? I sure had missed a lot. I chewed my gum thoughtfully.

“…So according to Sean’s report, there is one more of Eric’s lieutenants still to find, then Amanda and Tarq can start working out how to rebuild Smithrock Pack,” James finished, nodding at Sean.

I swallowed hard as I realized who they were talking about. “He’s called Gary, and he’s Eric’s Beta,” I explained, adding, “He’s not right in the head. He had, uh, a fascination with me…”

“He had a
what
?” Sean growled in a low voice. “Did he touch you?”

“No! Not really…just threats…and promises…” I trailed off, watching as Sean’s lips grew thinner and tighter.

“He’s a big bastard,” Sean muttered to James. “And if he’s Beta, then he’s a powerful one, too. I should track him.” At James’s nod, he immediately turned to leave.

The thought of Sean going up against Gary alone set off alarm bells clanging inside my head. “They weren’t the only ones—” I blurted out, anything to delay Sean leaving.

“What do you mean?” James asked.

Sean had stopped moving, turning back to face me. Thank the Mother! I took a deep breath, feeling everyone’s eyes on me. “There were coyotes there, too. They’re working together — the coyotes and Eric’s pack…” I strained to remember the details, “…something to do with merchandise and the Sunclaw Pack?”

A startled gasp sounded from the corner of the room. Claire, James’s mom, sat bolt upright, her face painted with shock.

“Mom, do you know anything?” James asked.

“The Sunclaw Pack…I haven’t heard that name in many, many years. That’s the coyote pack that killed my parents, and nearly killed me. They brought drugs to my old pack, back before I met your father. Drugs and decay — the pack rotted from the inside out. Your father killed their Alpha and sent a warning back — not to bring drugs onto our land, to change their ways. I—I thought they had, we never heard of them again…no more trouble…” The older woman’s face was creased with distress.

James slammed a fist on the table, the old wood visibly vibrating under his hand. “Well, they’ve obviously not changed their ways, and as acting Alpha of the Smithrock Pack, I won’t stand for it. This Gary will have gone to them, now that Eric and his crew are dead—”

Sean rocked impatiently on his feet. “I can still deal with—”

“No, Sean. This is not a job for one wolf. Not now. If there’s drugs involved, then we’ve no idea how deep into the pack this goes. It might not have just been Eric and his crew. There might be others involved.” James fingered a strand of Kara’s hair, appearing deep in thought.

Sean, on the other hand, glowered from the other side of the room. “James, the Beta needs to answer for his—” he started again, only to be shut down sharply by a glance from James.

“Their new Alpha must be found, brought to the Council,” James decided.

“There might be a way in…” Claire offered, her tone thoughtful. “There was a young coyote shifter, Jason, I think his name was. He couldn’t have been more than sixteen at the time. He was full on terrified of your father, but stood firm — which took some balls, I’ll tell ya. The Sunclaw Alpha back then, was an evil son-of-a-bitch, bullying and threatening until everyone did what he said. So, I convinced your father to give the young lad another chance — and that’s who we sent the message back with. Jason had a good soul, you could tell. He just hadn’t had much of a chance, what with Marcus. Find Jason, and maybe we’ll find out what’s going on,” she stated.

“You think he might help?” James asked, his brow furrowed. At Claire’s nod he looked around the room, a grim smile on his face. “So, who wants to go chase down a coyote shifter?” He eyed each of his lieutenants in turn. “Macey and Cole — you up for it? Tarq has to go with Amanda to Smithrock, and Sean, you have to watch Lisa—”

“
What?”
Sean spluttered.

“Sure thing,” Macey replied, hopping down off the window ledge. Patting my leg, she whispered, “Honey, keep on getting under his skin. He’s worth it.” She sauntered over to join Cole at Claire’s side.

As they conferred, Claire describing what she could remember of this Jason, I flicked my eyes over to Sean — immediately wincing as I caught his expression. If looks could kill…

“Why do I have to guard her?” he demanded.

Her?
Ouch! I winced again.

James kept his expression carefully neutral, his tone brooking no argument. “Because from the sounds of it, this Gary seems to have an unhealthy preoccupation with Lisa, and there’s no knowing whether he will try and…reacquire her.” He flashed me a look of sympathy, his words delicate — but I understood what he was saying, that asshole-beta might try and kidnap me again.