Dangerous (13 page)
Smoke rolled around him, forming a haze four feet about the earth. Xan coughed and covered his mouth. In the distance, several sirens screamed, drawing closer.
Bushes cracked behind him, and Xan spun around.
Drew stepped into the clearing with Gee. “We need to go before the firefighters arrive and catch us here. I’ve already sent most of the pack home. You were the last I had to find.” He smiled and tossed a small camera to Xan. “Found this on a tree.”
“So, he was filming.”
Drew nodded. “I trust there’s nothing on there I have to worry about.”
“No. I keep my word.” Xan handed it back. “But you might want to destroy it. There could be some footage of the fires being started. Didn’t promise not to light their asses up.”
“I’d have been disappointed if you did. Go to Kayla’s house. Liv’s there. We’ll touch base in a couple of days. Your mate is safe and half out of her mind with worry. I’ve sent Ryker after the demons, but I don’t know if he’ll catch up to them. They’re flying. For now, Los Lobos is secure. We’ll gather in the morning. We have a lot to talk about now you’re back, mentally as well as physically.” Drew turned and headed north, Gee behind him.
Xan followed. He walked a couple hundred yards, stripped, and shifted, running for the woman he loved. Tonight, they’d celebrate surviving the odds, even if tomorrow they might have to fight for their lives. No matter what the future held, he would not leave again.
He’d finally come home, and this time, he planned to stay, never again leaving his pack and family.
Xan and Marcus carried the sofa to a spot by the window. Liv cocked her head as they placed it centered along the wall. She pointed to the left. “I think over there.”
They picked it up again and hefted it over about ten feet, setting it down. She studied it for a second. “No, maybe to the right?”
With a grunt, they lifted it and walked fifteen feet to the right.
Xio sat in an overstuffed chair to the side, watching. She rubbed her belly. “I liked it better over by the window. Brings out the color.”
“Do you think?”
“Hey, we’re holding this damn thing. Where do you want it?” Marcus growled.
“Over where Xio said.” Liv bit her lip and tossed a cream-colored pillow on the couch as they passed.
“Are you sure, because we’ve moved this about twenty times?” The men shuffled the coach over to the large picture window overlooking the forest.
“Turn it a bit to face that way,” Liv directed.
“She always like this?” Marcus said to Xan.
“Yup.” He tugged on the arm. “Let’s go. Do what she said. Don’t want to irritate a pregnant coyote.”
“I don’t think there is any way this couch can be positioned to make it look good. I can’t believe you let her buy this color.” Marcus went stiff and turned around. “Wait. What? Did you just say pregnant?”
“I happen to love the pink, and Liv can do whatever she wants. And yes, I said pregnant. We’re having a baby.”
Marcus grinned. “That’s awesome. But you are right about the cranky part.”
“Say what?” Xio looked up from where she examined her nails.
“Nothing, dear,” Marcus mumbled, a sheepish look on his face.
“I thought so. You just follow orders and be a good Wolf.”
“Whatever you say, babe.”
“Pussy-whipped,” Xan coughed into his hand.
Marcus laughed and shook his head. “Yup, and I wouldn’t be pointing fingers, big boy. Liv says jump, and you say how high. Now, turn the damn sofa so we can finish unpacking the truck.”
Xan glanced over at Liv, who graced him with a sweet smile. Yes, wrapped right around his pretty coyote’s finger, and he’d have it no other way. He adjusted the giant overstuffed couch and turned to Xio and Liv, who both gave him a thumbs-up. She could ask him to move it a hundred times, and he wouldn’t care. Whatever his baby wanted, his baby got.
How he loved that woman. She’d turned his life upside down and then changed it in ways he could never imagine possible.
Just the day before, he’d learned he’d be a father. He’d thought Liv a bit emotional lately, but with everything they’d been through, he wrote it off as stress. Her scent had been off, too, but again, he chalked it up to settling in to the new place and adjusting to being his mate. Hell, he should have figured it out sooner, after they decided to have a child, but he’d been so focused on finishing the house for his mother’s arrival, he’d missed all the clues she’d already conceived.
That was, until Liv surprised him with the news.
Liv’s cottage had burned to the ground before the Hot Springs Fire Department arrived. But the crews managed to contain it to an eighteen-acre area outside Los Lobos. Without a place to stay, he and Liv moved in with Kayla while they worked on Xan’s grandfather’s house, which still stood on pack land.
Kayla didn’t remain in Los Lobos long. She’d been a wreck. When the man she believed to be her mate turned out to be nothing more than an imposter, she had dropped into a deep depression. Finally, she’d left for New Mexico and her coyote pack. She’d told Liv she wanted space to work through her loss, but Xan sensed there was more to it.
She’d finally called after six weeks, but sounded distant. Liv said Kayla had gone in search of the real Gaetan, swearing he wasn’t dead. She said she could feel it, and had found a trail.
Liv believed her. Xan wasn’t so sure, but far be it for him to say. At least searching gave her purpose, when she could have given up on life.
And moving on with his life became his primary goal, helping to
rebuild the ruins left behind from Magnum’s madness and starting over with a family of his own.
The Davis’ old home needed some work, actually a great deal of rehab, but once finished, it would make a great home to raise a family. They’d gotten started fixing it up, and after several months, they were moving in. Marcus and Xio would take Kayla’s old place, moving out of their tiny apartment, and not a moment too soon, with the babies due any day.
The day before, while in Hot Springs, Liv picked out several paint chips, all shades of pink. Xan didn’t bat a lash as she spread the cards out on the table back at the house and asked which he liked best. He really didn’t give a shit what color she painted the walls, as long as she smiled.
And she did a lot of that lately. Every time he looked over at her, her face glowed, and like a sponge, he soaked it in, absorbing all the positive energy she gave as though he were addicted to her. He’d never been happier. Damn, he loved the woman.
“I think this one for the spare bedroom,” she said and held up a soft cotton-candy color, the palest blush of rose.
He’d scratched his head. “I thought you wanted to paint the living room first, before Marcus and Xio come over to help us move tomorrow.”
“This is for our daughter’s room, silly.”
“What?” He reached for her and pulled her back against his body, burying his nose in her nape and inhaling. How the hell did he miss that? They’d talked about making a baby, had been excited about starting a family. He didn’t think it would happen that quickly. A female had to have her heat and he hadn’t noticed that with Liv. Maybe because her coyote was so faint?
Xan wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the top of her head, staring at the paint cards. “So, a girl?”
“Yes.”
“You’re amazing. We’ll have us a whole bunch of coyote-wolves. Maybe we can paint it blue next time. He spun her around and lifted her up to plant a big kiss on her lips. “If that’s okay with you.”
“More than okay. I can’t wait to tell our families.”
Xan knew whatever life threw at him from that moment forward, he’d be okay. He, too, had a purpose, a reason to continue, a reason to smile at the sun as it rose in the sky over the Black Hills.
He had Liv Davis.
And yeah, that band looked damn good on her finger.
~
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
~
This is the second story of the Davis twins, Xio and Xan. Xan Davis suffers from PTSD, and I enjoyed writing a character that pulls himself out of an abyss, when all others expected him to fail. I hope you enjoy the surprises I’ve tucked inside this one.
On a side note, the movie, The Ghosts in the Darkness, mentions an African demon called an Ilimu. These creatures were thought to infiltrate villages by taking on the appearance of one of the people living there. They often favored an animal form, and the lions in the movie were thought to be Ilimu, because they killed for pleasure, not food. These demons were one of the inspirations for this tale.
The second inspiration was provided by The Beast of Gevaudan, which recently biologists have determined might have been a hyena trained to kill by its owner. Many mistook this creature for a werewolf. An interesting bit of history worth reading about.
You can visit D.L. at:
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Black Hills Desperado by D.L. Jackson
Chapter One
“A bank that’s never been robbed. There’s a first time for everything.”
State-of-the-art security. Armed rent-a-cops stationed on either side of the double doors. A busy street making a speedy getaway difficult. A lot of excellent reasons for Xio Davis get back in her Beemer and get out of Dodge.
None good enough to deter her from a challenge.
The two men who’d ridden with her climbed out. The bigger of the pair, Juan, rolled his shoulders before reaching into the cab for a ski mask and weapon, then passing it off to Miguel. “Catch.” He grabbed another and tossed it over the roof to her.
She caught it, slammed a full magazine home, and tucked it under her duster. With a wink, she retrieved her Day of the Dead mask from a recent celebration. “Okay, boys. Let’s break their lucky streak.”
Diego gave her the freedom to do whatever she wanted these days, as long as she kept his bed warm, and whenever she left his hacienda, she remembered to take her escorts with her. Maybe it was his way of keeping his eye on her—or on his money. Whatever the reason, she didn’t like it, so Xio kept the boys too busy to stick their noses in her personal business. Too busy to get close to the truth.
He didn’t smack her around or pass her among his friends and associates. And his men had long ago learned to respect her personal space. After one of his new hires had groped her, the man had lost a couple fingers and ended up in a body cast. Diego didn’t have to say a word or do anything to intervene. She’d policed her own problems.
Her boyfriend had grown busy with cartel business and that suited her fine. Never present, all the better. They didn’t love each other, but had an understanding. He provided for her, protected her when she needed it. She scratched his itch and spent his money.
But life had grown dull. Triggered by a botched bank robbery in El Paso, a restlessness had begun to swell inside her. Why, after all these years, she didn’t know, but it was there, a constant reminder she’d shackled her true nature in her quest to be free.
Her wolf constantly paced in her consciousness. Xio found herself unable to settle, shift, or run in the wilds as her inner beast demanded. Not because she physically couldn’t but because outside forces conspired against her. That was what happened when you lived with humans.
Wolf—dog—it didn’t matter. All made great sausage for hungry families in the villages surrounding the Sanchez ranch, and it was a risk she hadn’t taken in the ten years’ time since she’d almost ended up in a taco on some family’s dinner table.
She didn’t want to be in Mexico, and she didn’t want to be with Diego anymore, but she really didn’t have a choice or anywhere else to go. Hence, the reason she’d crossed the border for this small amusement. Perhaps she could get some of the pent-up energy out. Open a valve and vent.
Speaking of which….
Xio pulled the mask over her eyes and strode through the front doors of the bank. Her two team members flanked her.
No one seemed to notice them yet. Not very observant for a bank that claimed to have a robbery-free record. Deciding to wake them all up, she yanked an AKS-762 assault rifle—with a custom stock and barrel that catered to her size—from under her canvas duster and fired several rounds into the ceiling. Chunks of plaster rained down on the patrons in the lobby. Multiple people screamed and several of the customers hit the floor before she needed to provide them with instruction. Conversely, not everyone appeared to be a rocket scientist. Not a problem. She had great communication skills and hearing protection in her ears.
Xio fired a second time, bringing down more of the ceiling. She pointed at the floor. “On your bellies, ladies and gentlemen.” As though doing the “wave” at a sporting event, they dropped.
She strolled to the front of bank, kicked over one of the posts holding a velvet rope, and stepped over it. She’d never been patient enough to wait in line and wasn’t about to run their little maze now.