Forbidden Seduction (Lee County Wolves Series) Book #2 (4 page)

“Dell been hanging around much?” Hunter asked, ignoring his comments.

“Ah, yeah,” Marcus replied, shooting Hunter an innocent look. “He’s part of the pack. He lives here.”

“You know what the fuck I mean, dumbass.” Hunter growled, his eyes still watching them.

Marcus laughed again. “Now that you mention it, yeah, I guess he has been hanging around the feed store more the past couple of weeks that Emily’s been home.”

At that moment, Emily glanced at him, looking away before walking toward the door with Mable. Dell made his move toward her and Hunter didn’t like it. Actually, it pissed him the fuck off.

Chapter 5

Emily walked Mable to the door with Blaine, giving her a hug good-bye and a promise to come visit soon. She turned to see Dell standing behind her.

“Hey, Dell.” She smiled up at him. “Those parts you ordered still haven’t come in yet.”

“That’s okay,” he replied with a grin. “It’s for Misty Newton’s car, and honestly, her dad wants to prolong her not driving as long as possible.”

“That bad, huh.” Emily grimaced. Misty was a sweet girl, but a little flighty. This was her third accident, nothing serious, but she had only had her license for a month.

“I think we’re all afraid for her or anyone on the road near her.” Dell chuckled, shaking his head. His dark hair fell in his eyes. “She’s already backed into Willis’s mailbox twice now.”

“Oh, I bet he’s been having a fit.” Emily grinned and wished it could be Dell she was attracted to. He was so nice and damn handsome. He was a gentle giant, who always stopped to talk to her, no matter what he was doing. She never knew what she would get from Hunter Foster; he was either nice, standoffish, or just a plain jackass.

“I think he put the third mailbox in with concrete,” Dell said, then gave her a look as Willis walked past them.

Emily put her hand to her mouth and snickered. “Guess you better go ahead and put a standing order in for parts.”

Dell gave a wink and a nod. “Exactly.”

Feeling as if she were being stared at, Emily glanced behind her. Scanning the area, her gaze landed on Hunter. Sure enough, he was staring straight at her with a scowl. Looking away from him, she decided it was time to go. “Well, I guess I better let Max out.” She sighed. “I’ll call you as soon as those parts come in.”

Emily watched as Dell also looked toward Hunter, a grin tipping his mouth before he looked back down at her.

“So how is the puppy training going?” Dell opened the door for her continuing their conversation.

“Honestly, I really haven’t decided which of us is actually being trained.” Emily laughed, shaking her head as they stood outside the church. She had always been comfortable with Dell. He was friendly and seemed to be there when she needed help.

“Keep at it, she’ll learn,” Dell said before bidding her a goodnight.

Emily headed to the feed store. The street was empty, everyone already in for the night. Glancing around, she saw Dell watching her. Hurrying to the front door, she unlocked it then turned and waved to Dell, who she knew was ensuring she got in safe, which was very sweet. Closing the door behind her, she turned to the darkness. In order to switch on the lights, she had to go to the back of the store, and she hated it. Emily ran to the back of the building, her heart practically beating out of her chest. She really needed to find a damn apartment. Flipping on the lights, she hurried to the crate she kept in the back storeroom since she couldn’t even imagine getting it upstairs. The only time Max was in her crate was when Emily wasn’t home. Otherwise, she carried the pup upstairs with her. She didn’t know what she was going to do when Max got bigger because there was no way she could carry her, and Max couldn’t climb the old ladder. Oh, well, she’d worry about that when the time came.

“Come, girl.” Emily opened the crate and snapped her fingers. “Let’s go pee.”

Max stared up at her, her tail and butt wagging a mile a minute. Laughing, Emily snapped her fingers again and started walking with Max, who nipped her ankles all the way to the back door.

“Max, will you please stop biting my ankles?” Bending down, Emily gently removed the puppy’s teeth from her jeans, turned Max and then gave her a little push on the butt out the back door. There were more places for her to pee out back of the feed store than the front. “Go pee.”

Having a moment to breathe, Emily looked up and sighed. The stars were thick covering the inky black night sky, the moon almost full, and the smell of the air was clean. The nights were turning cooler, but it was refreshing from the late August heat and humidity of the day. She loved Kentucky, loved everything about it and missed it terribly while she was away at college in Texas. She belonged here. Taking another deep breath, she dropped her head but didn’t see Max.

“Max. Here, Max. Come on, let’s get a treat.” When Max didn’t make an appearance at the word treat, she started to panic, looking around frantically. “Max!”

“Lose something?” Hunter appeared out of the darkness holding a content-looking Max, the traitor. Anytime she tried to hold the little stinker, sharp puppy teeth snapped at her.

Emily frowned, taking Max from him. “She was here a second ago.”

“Why in the hell did you name
her
Max?” Hunter glanced at the puppy, who wiggled like crazy in her arms. “She’s not really happy with the name.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t name her. My ex did and she’s used to it now. Trying to get her to pee outside and to stop biting my ankles is about all I can handle at this point. Changing her name, which she finally knows, is out of the question.” Emily put Max down before she could jump out of her arms.

“Your ex?” Hunter’s eyes narrowed.

Emily looked up from Max. “Yeah, my ex.” Then she gave a sarcastic laugh. “Not every man needs to have their manhood threatened to go out with me.” Feeling a weird sense of satisfaction when he looked away from her with an uncomfortable shuffle of his feet, Emily turned to head back to the feed store.

“Where you going? I wanted to talk to you.” Hunter’s voice still had the power to send chills dancing across her skin.

“I have nothing to say to you that I haven’t already said. Come on, Max,” Emily replied, trying to grab Max, who had finally peed, but wasn’t ready to come in yet. “I swear I’m going to send you to training school,” she said under her breath as Max once again used her ankle as a chew toy.

“Stop!” Hunter snapped his fingers. Max stopped immediately, sat and stared up at Hunter with a tilt of her head as if she worshiped the ground he walked on.

“Okay, that was impressive,” Emily admitted, even though she silently screamed traitor at the pup. “But then again you are part… dog.”

The barb wasn’t lost on Hunter. “Wolf not dog, and I know females.” A grin crooked the corner of his sexy mouth.

Emily rolled her eyes at his “I know females” remark. Confused as to why he was even standing here talking to her, pissed her off. Well, actually it was the way her heart sped up at the sound of his voice, the way her body responded to his gaze, yeah that was what truly pissed her off, and the fact that he seemed to need to be threatened to be around her.

“Why are you here, Hunter? Did Mable threaten you again?” Yeah, she felt better even though it made her sound like a bitter woman and honestly, she was a little bitter.

“We used to be friends, Em,” Hunter responded, his stare still intense, even more so when he tilted his head as if trying to really see inside her mind.

“It’s Emily, not Em.” Emily grunted as she reached down to pick up Max. “And I’ve changed.”

“You sure have.” Hunter’s flirty voice reached her, and she instantly saw red at his tone, the tone he probably used with every woman he came across.

Turning quickly, she pointed at him. “You need to grow up, Hunter Foster.” Emily tried, she really did, to keep the pain out of her voice. “All you see is the outside. That’s why you surround yourself with Sadies and Lindas and God only knows what else. Do you know the reason why I don’t have my glasses anymore?”

Hunter’s face went from a flirty grin to a full-out frown.

“No, of course you don’t.” Emily snorted at herself, wondering why in the hell she was telling him anything instead of just going inside where it was safe. “It’s because I finally got insurance and can afford contacts. Yeah, that’s it. Wow, right? I didn’t do it to improve my looks because honestly if someone doesn’t like me for who I am, not what I look like, I want nothing to do with that person. And I did it because my glasses caused me migraines. A real friend would know that.”

“I liked your glasses,” Hunter said with a growl, his eyes narrowing.

“Oh, and I hate liars,” Emily added, more pissed. “Now let’s move on to my weight, shall we? Surprise, but I didn’t lose weight so I could hopefully have a non-pity date with you or anyone else. No, ass, it was because of health reasons. I’m diabetic and have been since I was young. I can control it better with healthy eating and weight control.”

“I didn’t know—”

“And why would you? Hmmm?” Emily actually laughed, shaking her head. “Listen, you’re off the hook. I knew that one date years ago wasn’t a pledge of undying love. I’m a smart girl now and was a smart girl then. I know your type, which isn’t me, and that’s cool. I just thought you were being nice, so I got to go to my senior prom. Never in a million years did I think you or anyone else for that matter would have to be threatened to take me out. I’m actually a pretty nice person who’s fun to be around.”

Staring at her, Hunter remained silent. Though, he looked really uncomfortable and seemed to shake a little.

“You know, I was really excited to see you, Hunter.” Emily held Max, who had thankfully calmed down, close to her chest. It was really embarrassing to be standing in front of the man she had crushed on hard for years knowing he had only taken her out because of a threat. It was a blow to her confidence, but she’d never let him know how much it actually hurt her. Shaking her head, she turned to leave, but not before adding, “It’s really sad because I could have been one of the best friends you’d ever had.” She knew that just a friendship with him would never have been enough, but she kept that to herself. With that, she walked the short distance to the back door, stepped inside and closed it softly, all without looking back at Hunter. She’s said her piece. It was done, and she was absolutely heartbroken.
Damn him.

******

Hunter watched Emily disappear. His wolf urged and fought him to follow her, but Hunter was too shocked to move. Okay, maybe he wasn’t shocked. He was more disgusted with himself because everything she’d said was pretty much true. He would never have taken her to the dance if crazy-eyed Mable hadn’t threatened his dick, but it wasn’t for the reasons she was thinking.

A deep growl rumbled in his chest, working its way to his throat, but he stopped it from escaping. Instead, he turned and punched the nearest tree before turning and walking away. He headed to the front of the feed mill, his wolf urging him to turn and pound his way through the door to seek her out. Instead, he let his eyes roam the street. There was activity still near the church. Movement made his head turn and coming toward him was Sadie.

With a grunt, he spun in the opposite direction and took off at a jog toward the woods that surrounded their town. Sadie Johnson was the last person he wanted to see. What the fuck was wrong with him? Sadie was fucking hot as hell and wanted him, had always wanted him. He had taken advantage of that fact quite a few times, but something was always missing. It seemed like since coming to this town many years ago and seeing Emily Snodgrass, there was always something missing. Feeling trapped, he broke out into a run.

Once he knew he was no longer visible to anyone, he let his wolf take control. The tremble in his body soon developed into electric waves making his body shake. In the blink of the eye, he shifted into his wolf form without breaking stride.

As with most shifters, he could think clearer while in form. Letting his wolf take the lead, he could think, and think he did. The more he thought, the more pissed he became so it was a good thing he trusted his wolf to know where to go. Emily made him sound like a total asshole. And she was right. To her, he had been a total asshole.

His wolf stopped, panting hard. Seeing through his wolf’s eyes made everything sharper and clearer; even his mind was clearer, and he knew exactly why he had said mean shit about Emily Snodgrass that day in town. His wolf growled at the memory. Hunter and his wolf were never at odds, except for her. His wolf wanted her, had always wanted her, but the man did not. Though he wasn’t quite sure of how honest he was with himself anymore. It had nothing to do with the way she looked. So when he had seen her in town that day years ago, and his wolf had stirred to the point of driving him in-fucking–sane, the man had snapped, and unfortunately, Emily was his target. He wasn’t proud of the moment. He had never been disrespectful toward a woman until that day, and old crazy-eyed Mable called him on it.

Frustration radiated through his wolf form, which wanted to turn back to the feed mill. Hunter, even in wolf form, was strong-willed enough to force the wolf where he wanted it to go, and that was far away from town and his own buried desires.

Chapter 6

Emily was still shaken from her little run-in with Hunter from the night before. Had she really talked to him about her glasses, insurance, and weight, as well as her diabetes? Holy shit. He made her insane. Totally distracted, her irritability was high, that was until little Sam ran into the store. Little Sam could brighten her darkest days.

“Emily, c-c-can I p-p-p-play with Max?” Sam asked, looking around excitedly. “P-p-please.”

Smiling down at Sam, who wasn’t even looking at her but looking for Max, she laughed. “I think Max would love that, but promise me you’ll stay behind the store. Okay?”

“Heck yeah!” Sam nodded, following Emily to the back of the store. Max lay by the back door as if waiting for a chance to escape the hot hundred-year-old building that only had fans, not a modern air conditioner.

With an excited bark from Max and an excited yelp from Sam, Emily let them out the back door. Leaning against the doorframe, she watched Sam and Max run around chasing each other. She had met Sam her first day back home, and he had been an everyday visitor to the store. Her sister told her about how Sam and his sister Leda had walked into town with Janna. The bitterness in her sister’s voice was not lost on Emily. Deb had always thought she would end up with the eldest Foster brother, but Garrett had never shown an interest in Deb. Everyone in town seemed to love Janna, except for Deb, and Deb had tried to make damn sure Emily didn’t like her either.

“Is he here again?” Deb finally decided to come to work. It was almost eleven. Soon it would be lunch, and then Deb would be heading out the door by three, not that Emily was surprised. It had always been that way. She was convinced Deb was ecstatic that Emily dropped out of school and came back home. Even though Deb was older, Emily had been the one to pick up the pieces when their grandfather and then grandmother had passed away.

Pushing away from the door, Emily went back to finish what she had been doing. “Deb, he’s not doing anything, and it keeps Max busy.”

“And that’s another thing.” Deb scrunched her nose. “That mutt shouldn’t be down here during business hours.”

Emily chanted to herself to stay calm, but with her encounter last night, it was really hard. She was on edge. “She’s fine, Deb.” Emily gritted her teeth to keep the rest of what she really wanted to say from escaping her lips.

Deb made a noise under her breath but dropped it. “So, did you go to the meeting last night?” Deb followed Emily to the front of the store.

“Yes.” Emily sighed before she started restocking a shelf of rat traps. Yeah, she was living the dream.

“So, what was it about?” Deb hedged, making Emily roll her eyes.

“Why didn’t you just go, then you wouldn’t have to quiz me?” Emily sighed again, this time loudly so maybe Deb would get the hint and leave, but she should have known better. When Deb made a funny noise in her throat, Emily looked at her over her shoulder. “What?”

“I know why you went, and it wasn’t to find out about any meeting. You know, I thought you were smarter than this, Emily. After what Hunter did to you, and everyone knowing, I thought you’d stop this obsession you have with him. I really worry about you.” Deb shrugged, letting the sentence hang in the air as if she didn’t care one way or another.

“You know, Deb, how about you don’t worry about me.” Emily said, instead of shouting what she really wanted to say, which was “bullshit.” Seriously, Deb only worried about Deb. It had been that way since they were young.

“Well, excuse the shit out of me.” Deb huffed but didn’t leave. Emily knew there was something more and waited for it. “So, I figure Janna was there?”

And there it was. “Yes, she was.” Emily stocked the last of the rat traps, grabbing the empty box.

“And?” Deb’s voice rose a little in exacerbation.

“And what?” Emily was so tired of the games Deb liked to play.
Just ask the damn question straight out.

“What did you think of her?” Deb asked, her voice back to normal.

“Janna is a very nice person, as I’ve repeatedly told you before.” Emily replied, turning toward her sister.

“So you and Janna are becoming good friends now?” Deb blocked her way.

Emily nudged her sister out of the way heading toward the back of the store, wishing more than anything a customer would walk in. “Give up on Garrett Foster, Deb.” Emily tossed the box by the door to take out later. She then glanced out to see Sam and Max still hard at play before turning back to her sister, who looked like she was ready to spit nails. “Garrett is very much in love with Janna. Don’t make trouble.”

“Wow, really?” Deb should have been an actress. The hurt look on her face seemed legit, but Emily knew better. “What kind of person do you think I am? She’s pregnant for goodness’ sake.”

“Exactly, she’s pregnant. And honestly, Deb, you talk about me and Hunter, when you’re fascinated with his mated brother. The little saying ‘calling the kettle black’ comes to mind.” Emily eyed her as she walked past, the bell on the door dinging. It was the most pleasant sound that Emily ever heard. A freaking atomic bomb would be more pleasant to hear than Deb’s questioning, and she was sure Deb was close to letting Emily know how big of a loser she was. It was sad their relationship was a series of Deb insulting her, but Emily had come to terms with it a long time ago. “Leave well enough alone, Deb.”

Emily turned her focus to the customer who had walked through the door, but when she turned the corner, she stopped and knew things were about to go downhill real fast.

“Well, look who we have here, boys.” Darnell, the man who challenged Garrett stood in the middle of their store.

“Can I help you?” Emily’s eyes went from the leader to the other two men, wondering where the rest of them were.

His eyes roamed her body, a lewd smile appearing on his face. “Sweetheart, that’s a loaded question.”

Emily wasn’t easily intimidated, never had been, so sometimes her mouth worked before her brain. “No, it isn’t really. It’s pretty straightforward.” She cocked her eyebrow at him. “Do you need something from this store? If not, I suggest you leave.”

“Now, that isn’t any way to treat a potential customer,” one of the men said, but Emily continued to stare at Darnell, the supposed leader. She heard Deb, who had been behind her, take a step back.

Emily was getting annoyed now, her eyes narrowing. There was no reason for these men, who had caused problems last night, to be in her feed mill. “I think you need to leave,” Emily stated, wanting them gone. They were trouble and she couldn’t afford trouble. Everything she owned was in this store, and she was very protective of her stuff.

“And I think you need to be a little nicer.” Darnell took a step toward her. The way he did it was threatening, his eyes again roaming down her body adding to his intimidation. She was a proud size fourteen with generous breasts, which seemed to be where men’s eyes constantly ended up. This man was no exception. “I may want to buy something.”

“We don’t have flea collars in your size.” Oh, yeah, she went there and instantly regretted it when his eyes rose from her breasts burning with rage. With three steps, his hands were around her throat.

Deb screamed, trying to run to the back of the store, but one of the men stopped her. Emily saw Max and Sam peeking out behind one of the stocking shelves, and she did her best to warn him to run with her eyes.

“Listen, bitch,” Darnell spat against her ear, “I tried to be nice, but you had to go and ruin it.”

Emily tried to swallow, but his grip was brutally tight. Blackness edged her vision, her legs becoming noodles. It took everything she had not to pass out. When she was to the point of no return, she started to struggle. He just laughed but eased up his grip. Her breath came out in small gasps as if she had never breathed air before. Every single gasp was like gold.

“Now this is what’s going to happen.” He leaned further away so she could look into his cruel eyes. “
We
are going to take over this town, and
you
are going to sign over your deed to this place.”

He loosened his grip around her throat even more. Her eyes found Deb, who nodded at her as if she were ready to give their life to this piece of shit with a tightly wrapped bow. Over her dead body.

“No.” The word came out as a painful rasp.

Darnell actually laughed, but there was no humor to it. Letting go of her throat, he grabbed a chunk of her hair forcing her to the large window in the front of the store. He pressed her face up against the glass.

“I wasn’t asking you a question, bitch.” He pulled her head back enough from the window so she could actually see what was going on outside. The coffee shop was directly across the street. She could see men inside harassing Roxy Patel. “See how well the other business owners are cooperating?”

Emily didn’t respond. Instead, her eyes went toward Garrett Foster’s house and prayed that someone would alert him and the rest to what was going on.

“If you do not get that deed pronto, Jimmy here is going to start tearing shit up.” Darnell hissed his threat.

She heard the crash and the ping of seeds hitting the floor behind her and rage overtook her. She pulled her head away from his grip knowing from the stinging pain she had lost some hair in the process, but she didn’t care. Turning, she glanced at the seeds that scattered everywhere. Deb stared at her in terror.

“Just get the deed, Emily.” Deb’s voice shook, her eyes wide with fright.

“No,” Emily repeated. She fought the urge to touch the back of her head to check for blood. It definitely hurt, and the strands of blonde-brown hair entangled in the bastard’s hand indicated there was some damage. “I will not sign the deed over, and you’re an idiot to even think that is all I need to do. This isn’t the 1800s. Even if I signed the deed over and you took it, it would be of no use to you, dumbass. Why don’t you learn the—”

She didn’t see the slap coming. It was fast and hard. She tasted blood, but she’d be damned if anyone came into her business as if entitled to all her family’s hard work.

“You’re a mouthy bitch.” He snarled, but he looked unsure.

“What’s she talking about, boss?” one of the men asked looking nervous as he glanced at the door. “You said all we needed were the deeds signed over to us. What else needs to be done?” the man asked Emily.

“Google it,” Emily replied, spitting blood before wiping her mouth. When the man who asked the question looked toward the door again, Emily smiled. “Nervous? You should be.”

Darnell raised his hand to smack her again but stopped when the bell above the door dinged, making everyone jump. Emily’s relief turned into horror as Janna walked inside.

“Hey, is Sam…?” Janna’s words slowed to a stop as she scanned the room, her eyes landing on Emily.

Emily jumped into action. “No, he went home.” She quickly headed toward Janna to usher her back out the door, but she was caught once again by the hair.

“Not so quick.” Darnell chuckled, nodding toward the man nearest him to grab Janna. “Today is my lucky day.”

“I’d rethink that,” Emily said as she watched Sam running and tripping up the street to Garrett’s house while looking behind him at the feed mill. Emily looked at Darnell, whose gaze was on Sam. The pleasure of seeing the flash of fear in the man’s eyes made her knees feel weak. Yeah, he should be scared.