Wolf Tales 12 (36 page)

Bay nodded. He had to agree with everything she said, though even if he didn’t, he would defer to her wishes and do it gladly. She asked for so little and gave so much.

The sound of laughter caught him, had him gazing toward the clinic. Jake walked out under his own power with Shannon beside him, the triplets crowding all around. Logan stood off to one side with a pleased smile on his face.

Bay didn’t even realize he’d risen, but he was crossing the small distance between them, reaching Jake, stopping and standing in front of him.

And he couldn’t stop grinning. Not for anything could he wipe the stupid smile off his face. He’d come so close to losing this man he’d grown to love so very much. “You okay?”

Jake nodded. “I am. I understand I’m in debt to a lot of people, though.” He glanced at Logan standing beside him, then at Adam. He gazed around the chamber at the suddenly quiet gathering and blinked rapidly. Shannon moved close and slipped her arm around his waist. Bay stood at his other side and gave him another shoulder to lean on.

“I’m going to say this now,” Jake said. Then he cleared his throat. “Because if I wait, I probably won’t be able to do it. You all know how good I am at screwing up the simplest things.”

Soft laughter, a few murmured words, but everyone waited. Each one had a stake in what he wanted to say. Jake looked at every person in the big chamber, and his eyes shimmered with tears.

Bay knew Shannon had told Jake how almost every adult here had helped the night before, taking shifts to carry away his pain. They’d suffered so he wouldn’t have to. It hadn’t been easy. Bay had taken a shift, and it had been agonizing, but he’d done it. They all had, because Jake was hurting and he was one of their own.

Jake took a deep breath and got himself under control. “I can never thank all of you, any of you, enough. I know what it felt like when my back was burning. I will never forget the agony, the fact that I wanted to die because I couldn’t bear the pain. Nor will I ever forgot the fact that you willingly shared that pain so I wouldn’t suffer.”

He swallowed, and the sound was overloud in the quiet chamber, his voice hoarse from screaming when his back and shoulder had been on fire. “I owe each of you more than I can possibly repay,” he said. “You’ve given me a gift without measure, one no man can put a price on. And you’ve reminded me once again what an amazing family this is.”

The tears were running freely down his cheeks. He gave Bay a sheepish grin and then turned to Shannon. She was weeping openly, but her smile lit up the room. “C’mon,” she said, helping him to move forward. “You’re still wobbly. Let’s go sit down.”

She helped him to the pallet where Bay had been sitting moments ago. Jake glanced at his mate and something passed between them. Then he turned to Bay and said, “It appears the decision has been made. We’re selling the place in Maine. Moving here. That okay with you?”

Grinning, Bay nodded. “Works for me,” he said. Then he lifted Donovan out of Manda’s arms and settled the sleeping baby against his shoulder. So many changes were coming.

He liked the idea of meeting them with a united front. Surrounded by his packmates.

Chapter 25

Anton glanced at his watch. He’d called a meeting of the ones he considered his top alphas, but it was still half an hour away. He stood in the shadows, away from the others. He really needed a few minutes to regroup before sitting down with the men.

He thought he had it all together, was almost sure he knew what to say, but did he really? And where was this self-doubt coming from? Why was he so unsure of himself? Why couldn’t he get it together?

He held out his hands, amazed to see them trembling. Shit. He never doubted himself. He was legendary for always knowing he was right—even when he was wrong.

And that, he decided, was the problem. He’d made too many mistakes in the past. A lot of mistakes, but in every case his packmates had bailed him out, had made things work in spite of his screwups. They all thought he was such a master at getting things done. Didn’t they realize they were the ones?

It was the pack that kept it all together, yet now they were looking to him for answers, and he had none. Not a damned thing. What the hell was he going to say when they sat down to make decisions that would affect the future of the pack forever?

“My love? What is it?”

Blinking in surprise, he realized Keisha stood mere inches from him, gazing at him with nothing but love and understanding. She wasn’t looking at him to solve everyone’s problems. No, she was looking at him like a woman who loved him in spite of his many faults.

He took a deep breath and rested his hands on her shoulders. Glanced around to reassure himself they were entirely alone, out of the hearing of the others. Gazed into amber eyes so filled with love that it shook him to his core.

How could this woman possibly love so completely? So selflessly? Even knowing him as well as she did?

Which was the only reason he could speak his heart. “Keisha . . .” He sighed. “Sweetheart, I don’t know how to say this, but I’m scared to death. For once in my life, I honestly don’t know what to do.”

She smiled, rose up on her toes, and kissed him. Her soft lips moved over his with a confidence he wished was his.

“Come with me.”

She took his hand in hers and tugged. He followed, willingly. He couldn’t imagine any situation where Keisha wanted to lead that he wouldn’t follow.

“Watch your head,” she said, ducking through a low opening that led to a narrow tunnel.

“Where are we going?” He couldn’t recall coming this way before, though there was so much of this underground system of caves and tunnels he’d never explored.

“Mei showed this to me last week when we were restocking supplies. There’s something I want you to see.”

“Not more hieroglyphs, I hope.”

She merely laughed.

“Don’t we need a flashlight?”

“Nope. It’s dark but you won’t get lost. This tunnel only goes one way.”

“I have a meeting in half an hour.”

Her laughter sent tingles down his spine. He loved to hear her laugh. “I’ll get you back in time for your meeting. Now just shut up and follow me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She always managed to make him laugh, no matter what kind of mood he was in. They only walked for a couple of minutes before he noticed light shining up ahead. It got brighter and the air smelled fresh, though there was a hint of smoke—a remnant of last night’s fire.

They rounded a slight curve, and Anton could only stand there with his mouth hanging open. “How did you find this?”

Keisha gazed up at him with twinkling eyes. “Mei found it. She actually found it one night when she was hunting in leopard form. It’s difficult to access from outside—we’re under that big rocky outcropping southeast of the house. I know it doesn’t seem as if we’ve come that far, but the entrance is at the top. See?”

She pointed to a slash of blue sky that was at least a hundred feet above them. “That rocky dome we see from the house is partially hollow. We’re inside it. It’s all volcanic, so Mei and I were thinking it must have been a huge gas bubble at one time.”

They stood before a massive, natural bowl that looked as if it had been carved into the rock by eons of water wearing at the surface. Or even, as Keisha had said, a bubble of gas from some long-ago volcanic eruption. However it had formed, the walls curved and narrowed at the top. The sides appeared to be fairly smooth, with ferns growing from every tiny crevice, nook, and cranny. A thin stream of water fell from a tiny cleft high overhead.

Beneath it was absolute magic—a beautiful pool almost hidden in shadow, with only a narrow shaft of sunlight cutting across one end. It was hard to judge how deep the water was—bands of colored rock were visible through the crystal-clear water almost to the center, where it appeared much deeper.

A few birds had made their nests in the clumps of ferns growing on the walls, and their chattering and chirping echoed against the curved bowl with acoustics like an amphitheater.

A narrow ledge ran along one side of the pool and a small opening drained water into the caverns below, but there was truly a sense of magic about the place. Of timeless beauty, almost as if peace and eternity were kept here on hold.

“It’s almost impossible to get to from above, thank goodness, because that would be quite a drop for anyone who fell in.” Keisha took both his hands in hers. “I wanted to share this with you. It’s so peaceful here. I thought maybe you could take a few minutes, relax, maybe prepare yourself for the day ahead.”

She leaned against him and Anton held her close, slowly stroking her back, absorbing the quiet of this magical place, the warmth and life of the one he loved. She was wrong on one count, though. The soft pressure of her body clinging to his didn’t do a thing to lower his heart rate. Instead, his heart pounded and he felt his body’s insistent clamor for more.

More of her taste, her soft lips, her even softer breasts. The scent of her, the sound of her heart thundering against his. He leaned close and kissed her, but this wasn’t a soft and gentle sharing. No, this time he took what she so willingly offered. Her hands slipped inside his shirt and her fingers left trails of fire across his back. Her hips thrust hard against him and he felt his cock rise and swell, felt the rush of blood to his groin and the need coiling deep and hard for Keisha.

For his mate, for the only one who could truly ease this need. His breath hitched in his throat as she stepped back and slowly untied the knot holding the silky sarong at her shoulder. He watched as the fabric practically floated to the ground. One edge landed in the still pool, and the teal blue of the silk was almost the same color as the water beneath it.

Naked, she flashed him a quick, knowing smile and slipped the top metal button of his jeans free. He cupped her full breasts in his palms, loving their weight, their firm shape, so filled with milk for their daughter. He thumbed her nipples as she carefully released the second and the third buttons, slowly working her way along the thick bulge of his cock forcing the closures forward.

When she’d undone the final one, she slipped her hands inside the open fly. He felt her fingers sliding down his shaft and groaned when she cupped his balls and the fat length of his cock. Gently fondling, lightly rubbing, until he lost focus and tilted his hips forward, wanting more, needing what only Keisha could give him.

She went to her knees on the sandy floor and freed his entire package. His pants slipped low on his hips, almost falling off but for the wide stance of his legs holding them in place. The waistband teased him, cutting across the middle of his butt, just low enough for the coarse fabric to tickle the back side of his sac.

Keisha blew a soft breath of air over his cock and he jerked. His balls drew up close between his legs, and when she wrapped her lips around the fat head, he groaned and tangled his fingers in her hair.

Forcing himself not to force her, he stood perfectly still as she licked the velvety skin of his glans, tongued the sensitive slit, and then swallowed him down, working her throat muscles with long practice, sucking him deeper still until her lips brushed the thick patch of hair at his groin.

He felt the quiver of muscles straining against the need to thrust and fought his own nature. Fought the growing desire to tighten his hold on her tousled hair and use her mouth, use her to assuage this growing need, this almost mind-shattering need to find release.

Her throat muscles worked over his length, her lips teased him, and she pulled away, then took him deep again, moving so slowly he wanted to scream, making it so good he could easily weep. She took him out of himself, out of the day, away from the nightmares and the worries, away from the pressures and the fire and the fact they’d lost everything.

She reminded him they still had what mattered.

Reminded him once again of what counted and what didn’t.

Then she was releasing him, backing away, and standing up. Lifting one leg to rest on the bony ridge of his hip, looping her arms around his neck, pulling herself up his body, and wrapping her other leg around his waist. Climbing him so easily, and then lowering herself over his straining erection, clinging to him, connecting to him, becoming one with him. Her mind opened and he felt the amazing joy Keisha shared, the sense that no matter what happened, they would always have each other.

Not for a month or a year. Not for many years, but forever, on this plane or the next, there would be no end to their love. This was what Keisha had taken from the memories the Ancient Ones shared. Not the fact they’d come from another world or could take shapes other than wolves. Not the manipulation of time and space when they shifted, or the various types of shapeshifters around the world.

No, Keisha, being Keisha, had taken the deeper story, the important story of the Ancient Ones themselves. The fact they’d waited all these eons, all this time, to share their history with their people. And yet, while they’d waited, they’d yearned for the ones they loved, the ones who’d left them behind.

The ones they were finally free to return to as soon as Lily’s job was done.

The temple was no more, the records long gone to dust, and the Ancient Ones had joined their mates on the other side of the veil, following them into that next adventure beyond.

“Don’t you see, my love? No matter what happens, should we live or die on this plane, we’ll have each other forever. When we cross over, we’ll still be together. Still able to share what we have now. No matter what happens, everything that counts, your family, your pack, your wonderful, brilliant, convoluted mind—all of us, all of this, will eventually be together. Love is forever. It is eternal, so you don’t have to worry about what happens over the next few days. It will all work out. It has to, because you will make it work.”

Her hips rose and fell with her words, with the rhythm of the promises she made. And he believed. He would always believe whatever Keisha said. She had the wisdom of the ages in her soul, the heart of an angel, and she loved him.