Cherished: True Mates Book 5 (BBW Wolf Shifter Romance) (A Craggstone Paranormal Romance) (13 page)

“I promise.”

“And you promise to make her happy?”

“I promise. Every single day.”

Josh frowned, his eyes flicking back to his dad. “But you’ve got to ask her first. Okay?”

Oliver’s lips quirked at the edges, but he managed to hold his solemn face. “I
am
going to ask her, kid. But first the Council needs to finish the trial, and then I was thinking maybe you’d like to go for a run in the forest?”

I had never seen Josh light up as fast as he did just then. He was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement. “As wolves? Really? Wow!”

Oliver ruffled his hair, chuckling at his exuberant answer. “Of course as wolves. Running as humans isn’t as much fun!”

I sent up a silent prayer in thanks. I knew Josh had a hard road to travel and a lot to come to terms with, but there were advantages to being six—one of them being a single-track mind.

“He can’t stay here through the trial,” Oliver murmured, rising to his full height, his body carefully shielding the center of the clearing from Josh’s direct view.

“I’ll take him back.” Startled, I turned in the direction of the unknown voice.

“Are you sure, Cole?” Oliver asked, surprise coloring his voice.

The man shrugged, his hands tucked into his pockets. “Yeah. I don’t have anything personally involved in this trial, other than I think they’re all bastards. I’ll take the kid back and shoot some hoops with him, or something. Take his mind off stuff. If that’s okay with you, Ma'am?”

Josh had been listening, his wide eyes following the back and forth. At the mention of shooting hoops grabbed my hand, squeezing tight. “Can I, Mom?”

I couldn’t help it, I snorted, my hand flying to my mouth to smother the sound. “I haven’t been called Ma’am
in a long time! Ana,” I said, sticking out my hand, “and if you really don’t mind taking him back, that would be great!”

“Sure thing, Ana,” Cole replied, his honest expression backing up his words. “Let’s go, kid. I bet I can bag more hoops than you.”

“Bet you can’t!”

“Oh, we’ll have to…”

Their voices faded as they walked away, disappearing back into the forest.

“That was nice of him.”

“Cole’s a nice guy, it’ll be a shame to see him go.”

I was about to ask Oliver to explain but a scuffle in the circle caught my attention.

Squeezing back into the crowd, I found myself next to Lisa, her eyes glued on the prisoners.

“What did I miss?” I whispered, trying to figure out what was happening. Jacob was standing, his hands out in what looked to be a beseeching motion.

“The Council have heard the charges of kidnapping, drugs, and general treachery. Now Jacob is pleading for leniency. He’s offering the Council full evidence in exchange for his life,” Lisa explained in a low voice.

“And they’re considering it?” Oliver spoke from behind me, his tone incredulous.

“Apparently. They’re taking into consideration the fact that he was conditioned at a young age, that he doesn’t know right from wrong because no one has shown him.”

Just like Josh.

I must have whimpered the words out loud because Lisa squeezed my arm, her eyes full of compassion. “Josh wouldn’t have turned out like him.”

“We don’t know that.” But it didn’t matter now; we were free. Still, it reminded me that I needed to live each and every day to the fullest, because you never knew what was around the corner. A mad man could take you, and poof, life as you knew it disappeared.

Gregg stalked forward, moving to stand in front of Jacob, ready to deliver the Council’s verdict.

My eyes immediately sought out Jason. He was standing to the side of the clearing, his arms wrapped around his chest, his face haggard with pain. And longing—I could recognize the emotion having seen it in the mirror every day.

“Jacob Sunclaw, you will be held accountable for your crimes. But, in light of your wish to repent and change your ways, I have decided to give you the chance to rehabilitate. You will be my charge and I will attempt to re-educate you. If you fail to adapt, you will forfeit your life. This is not an easy road you chose. Are you sure you want this?”

Jacob’s hands were trembling, but he stuck his chin out. “I will make it up to everyone I’ve harmed. I vow it.”

Nausea churned in my stomach. How was I going to explain this to the women and children? Some of them wanted Jacob dead, no—
needed
him dead.

“
This
is the kind of justice we can expect from the Council?” I shook off Oliver’s hand from my arm, whirling around to face him. “And what if Bert says he repents, that he’ll change his ways? What then?” My voice had risen to a shriek, carrying clear across the forest.

“Ana, that won’t—”

“Won’t it?”

“Ana.”

I spun around at the sound of my name. Gregg was staring at me, kindness and compassion in his eyes.

“Jacob is a special case. He didn’t make the choices he made as an adult; they were made for him as a child. I will show him the way, then he can choose his own path. If he chooses to break our laws again, he’ll pay the price. But if he chooses to face up to what he has done then he’ll also have to live with it. He has a long and difficult road ahead of him, because believe me, he
will
face the consequences of his actions, and it’ll either make or break him.”

“And Bert?”

“He made his choices as a fully informed adult. No one coerced or brainwashed him. He’ll stand trial for his crimes.”

My eyes traveled back to Jason, whose eyes were now filled with hope.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Oliver

Ana was struggling with the decision, her sweet face drawn into harsh lines I ached to smooth away.

“He’ll pay, one way or another.”

I don’t know if she’d heard what I said, or if she’d already come to the decision because the lines smoothed away and she nodded at Gregg.

Jacob staggered to the side, relief clear in the sag of his shoulders, the bend in his spine. He looked broken, his spirit shattered. Gone was the cocky son of a bitch I had spent a couple of hours working over in my workshop. In his place stood a man with a grim set to his lips and determination in his eyes.

I sure hoped Gregg knew what he was doing with that one.

Not my fucking problem.
Thank the Mother.

A scurry of movement snagged my attention. Gary was making a break for it, sprinting as fast as he could for the edge of the forest, his face white with fear.

Sean broke out of the crowd, heading him off. In seconds he had him, an arm locked around Gary’s neck from behind, bending him like a sapling in the wind.

Gary’s bound hands flailed, glinting with claws. Twisting, he raked them down Sean’s face, digging into his arm.

Sean grunted, his mouth twisting in pain, but he held on. “What’s the verdict?” he growled, his eyes flashing to gold, muscles rippling under the strain of holding the other man.

One by one the three Councilmembers spoke, each an echo of the one before. “Guilty.”

“Good riddance,” Sean snarled, then flashing a claw, yanked Gary’s head back and flicked it across his throat. The other man fell to his knees, blood spurting and oozing down his chest, his eyes wild as he clutched at the gaping wound. With a thud that reverberated through the clearing, he slumped onto his front, his mouth open in a wordless scream, his fingers twitching as the life drained out of him.

Sean stalked back to the crowd, wiping his hand on his jeans, a satisfied gleam in his eye. “I told you I’d take care of him, didn’t I?” he murmured to Lisa, who promptly threw herself into his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her lips found his in a way that left no doubt as to her appreciation.

Just Bert left to deal with now.
My fingers twitched with the need to get my hands on him, to make him pay for what he had done to Ana.

My knees nearly buckled as the Councilmembers declared Bert guilty, sentencing him to death.
Now!

I took two steps forward, skirting the edge of the circle. “I call challenge and the right to carry out the sentence.”

The dragon shifter Councilmember rose from his seat with agile grace, his skin glinting in the moonlight. “On what grounds?”

“He abused my true mate. I would fight in her honor.”

“Who is your true mate?”

“Ana.” I didn’t dare look at her, not wanting to see how she was taking the news of me telling the whole world about us.

The dragon shifter frowned, lines furrowing deep around his mouth. “Is this true?” he asked, addressing Ana directly.

This time I did sneak a look. She was standing stock still, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else but here. “I...um...I don’t know.” She wouldn’t look at me, her gaze darting everywhere but toward me.

The Councilmember’s frown deepened as he considered her words.

He wasn’t going to let me fight!

I strode over to Ana, taking her hand in mine. She was trembling, the shaking traveling up her arm and I could see a fine tremor along her jaw. She was terrified, but why?

“Don’t you trust me to fight in your honor?”

She chewed her bottom lip, the flesh pink and bruised.

The urge to kiss it better, to take that lip between my teeth and soothe it with my tongue hummed inside me.

“I do, but I don’t want you getting hurt!”

If that was the only—

“And this true mate thing? I don’t know if I want that.” The words tumbled out of her mouth in a rush of honesty.

I took a stumbling step back, her words acting as if she had thrown a physical blow. I had known she might be resistant, understandable given her past, but this sounded like… “What are you saying?”

“I don’t know if I can, not after Bert,” she whispered, her eyes pleading with me to understand. “I want to, Oliver, I really do. But—”

Not giving her a chance to finish the sentence, I covered her lips with mine, stealing away any reasons or excuses she might come up with.
She wanted to
, she wasn’t saying no. For a man not used to emotions, this sure was a fucking roller coaster of a ride.

Breaking off, I leaned my head against hers. “I’ll wait for you, as long as it takes. I want you to know that. You’re
it
for me. My soul is patchy, blackened by the things I’ve done. You’re my other half, the good side to my bad, my only chance at redemption in this world and the next. If you choose to be with me, or not, I will always fight for you. Let me do this, for you
and
for me.”

She blinked at me, her lashes spiked with tears. “Okay,” she eventually said, the words huffing out. “I don’t know what to say.”

I wiped a stray tear with my thumb, chasing it down her cheek.
Dammit,
I had vowed not to see her cry again. “Say nothing.”

“I...I don’t know what normal is, I think that’s the problem. I don’t know what to expect from a normal life.”

“And I do? Anyway, you’re better than
normal.
You deserve fun and excitement, and to be showered with love and kindness.”

She snorted, her hand flying to cover her mouth.

The sound delighted me—it was pure
Ana
. I decided that I would do everything in my power to make her snort at least once every day.

“Excitement? I think I’ve had enough of that to last me a lifetime. I’d settle for comfortable happiness. Just knowing what the next day will bring, and knowing that it will be okay.”

She sounded lost and vulnerable as she wished for something so simple, yet so foreign to her that I had to grit my teeth, raging against the unfairness of her life so far. “Comfortable happiness sounds fine by me.”

“It is decided then,” the dragon shifter declared, obviously having been listening in, “you will fight Bert and carry out the sentence.”

***

Ana

Tugging off their shirts, they flung them to the side of the circle and started unbuttoning their pants.

I sucked in a breath at the sight of Oliver, my first time seeing him undressing. Not the ideal situation, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the view.

Muscles tensed and rippled, dancing under skin dark with ink and scars. Flat pectoral ridges gave way to rows of abs, the kind a woman could trace with her finger…or her tongue.

I was pretty sure my mouth was hanging open, and I could only hope and pray my tongue wasn’t lolling out.

Indents carved into the sides of his hips pulled my eyes lower, then lower still, blond hair snaking down the center until it met his groin.

He shoved his jeans down.

Holy fuck!
The tattoos snaking down his chest and curling around his stomach wrapped around his hips and—

I resisted the urge to sprint around the outside of the clearing just to see if they decorated his ass too. After all, I was pretty sure I would be treated to a full view soon.