Her Warriors' Three Wishes (Dante's Circle) (30 page)

They’d offered to help her with the bills from time to time, but she’d said no. The town of Holiday was small enough that anything like that would spark rumors that would be hard to pat down. Plus, even though she’d said she’d lost her pride, she still had that fragile hold on the last bit of it.

Her job as a waitress at the town diner could support her family if they lived leanly, and it had worked.

So far.

She had her family, and the Uncles Cooper were amazing with her children. Justin had even saved their lives last Christmas during the accident on the ice pond.

Yet, Brayden had stepped up even further. He’d been there for everything she could ever need, and she knew she relied on him too much.

From the way her kids looked at him and the way their excitement filled the car at just the mention of his name, she knew she’d gone too far.

She’d have to back off and slowly break some of the ties that held Brayden to them. He couldn’t be the steady rock they needed.

That was her job, and she didn’t trust anyone else to be part of that.

What would happen when Brayden found a wife and had children of his own? She couldn’t let her children go through that disappointment.

A sharp pain hit her at the thought of Brayden married to someone else, watching his wife grow round with his child.

No, she didn’t need to feel that or be jealous.

Brayden Cooper wasn’t hers.

He would never
be
hers.

Someone rapped on the glass beside her, and she jumped.

Her kids laughed and waved as she turned to see Brayden’s handsomely chiseled face at her window, a worried and cautious look on his features.

Yet even as relief swept through her that he was there, that annoying little sense of pride that she’d thought she’d lost flared.

Damn it, she didn’t want to lean on him.

Maybe she’d just learn car repair. She was already the cook, maid, seamstress, police, and kid wrangler of the house. What was one more talent?

She put on a smile and got out of the car, doing a quick glance over her shoulder to let her kiddos know to stay in the car.

“Hi, Brayden, thanks for coming,” she said, her voice sounding huskier than usual.

Oh, that’s just great. Get turned on by a man you can’t have
.

Great going, Allison
.

Brayden did one of his side smiles, where only a corner of his mouth lifted, but even so, it always seemed to make her melt.

“I’ll always come for you, Allison,” he drawled, his voice, low, deep.

Images of every single innuendo that statement could conjure assaulted her.

Dear. God
.

“Uh, yeah, thank you.”

That sounded smooth
.

Brayden smiled and waved over her shoulder. She turned as her kids climbed over the seats to see him. She noticed that they carefully stayed in the car like they were supposed to.

Barely
.

“Hey, kiddos. Looks like you guys ran into trouble,” Brayden said, kneeling so he was at eye level with Lacy.

Lacy wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

That little annoying tick in her heart thumped even louder at the cuter-than-cute sight. Damn, Brayden loved her kids as much as they loved him.

Allison was pretty sure she loved him too.

Not that she’d ever admit that fully.

She couldn’t put herself in that situation again. Love wasn’t for her. She’d accepted it. Well, she’d accepted that she had to accept it.

“Mommy said bastard,” Lacy tattled, and Allison watched as Brayden held back a laugh.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to curse or tell on your mom, Lace. But, I’m sure your mom had a reason to say it.”

Lacy nodded, completely absorbed.

Well, if Allison were honest, so was she.

Cameron smiled and patted Lacy’s shoulder. “But, you’re here to help us, right?”

Brayden nodded. “Yep. Let me take a look at the car and see if there’s anything I can do right here, though since your mom called, I’m pretty sure that’s probably not an option. If that’s the case, I’ll get you all in the truck and tow your car behind me.”

For some reason, the fact that he trusted her opinion of her situation warmed her.

Damn the man.

Brayden strolled over to the front of the car, his lean hips and strong legs making him look damn sexy.

Okay, Allison could admit she loved the way Brayden looked, not just the way he treated her and her kids.

He was taller than her by a good five inches or so, even though he was the shortest of his brothers at six feet. His blue eyes always seemed to follow her every movement, even though she’d tried to ignore it. His black hair was longer than any of his brothers and just brushed the collar of his shirt.

He looked like the rough-and-tumble Cooper brother. He always had grease on his hands, though she’d personally seen him wash his hands more than every one of them.

His body was muscular from working with his whole body on cars and using his hands, not from going to the gym.

Oh, yes, she could imagine just how good he was with his hands.

“Ally?”

She swallowed hard and forced her gaze from his body to his face as she blushed.

“Yes?”

Brayden gave her a knowing smile, and she held back a curse.

Great, he’d caught her looking. Though she’d caught him looking at her daily when he came in for his cup of coffee, so fair was only fair.

“There isn’t anything I can do here. In fact, I’m not sure there’s anything I can do at my place either beyond getting you a new engine.”

He whispered the last part to shield it from her kids as he crushed her hopes.

Damn it. She didn’t have the money for a new car. She didn’t even have the money for repairs as it was.

“Okay,” she whispered, her voice surprisingly steady.

“We’ll work it out,” Brayden said as he lowered the hood.

She just smiled and went to get the kids out of the car along with anything that might be valuable, not that there was much.

They all piled into the extended cab, the kids in the back and her up front, as Brayden finished attaching her vehicle to his.

When he got in beside her, she could feel the heat of his body in the close quarters, and she blushed.

“Okay, Malones, let’s get you home,” he said as he pulled away from the side of the road.

Aiden and Cameron talked to him as they drove while Lacy just watched, her eyes filled with their usual brightness when Bray was near. Brayden was patient, answering every question and asking a few himself.

He was so good with them.

Good with her.

The man had never asked her out, yet he’d always been there.

He didn’t love her.

And she couldn’t love him.

She just wasn’t that lucky.

Enforcer’s Redemption - Excerpt

Redwood Pack Book 4

Want to read a dark, sexy paranormal series about a family of wolf shifters? Try out Carrie Ann Ryan’s bestselling, Redwood Pack series!

Chapter 1

Adam Jamenson watched as Jasper swept Willow around the dance floor, which the family had built outside their den, delight on both of their faces. A sharp and familiar pang pierced his heart, rattled around his ribs, and then settled in his stomach like a rotting, dead weight. He took a swig of his Jack on the rocks, the burn not quite dulling the ache that had haunted him for two decades.

God, he missed Anna.

He rubbed a hand through his shorn, dark brown hair, trying to release some of the tension he’d felt over the past eight months. Well, if he was honest, it’d been much longer than that, but the intensity had increased dramatically since… No, he couldn’t and wouldn’t think about that.

Not again. Not ever.

He drained the last of his glass and wondered if he should get up and pour himself another. What he needed right now was to get blinding drunk, but his family was watching him. They were always watching him, and with this being Willow’s birthday party, the Pack was celebrating and trying to be happy. 

Adam didn’t want to be happy. 

He wanted to be fucking drunk, that way the feel of the spindly fingers wrapped around his heart in a death grip would dissipate to a dull clench. His body felt on alert at all times, as if, at any moment, something would come in and attack, taking away anything else he thought he had.

It wasn’t much, just a jumble of memories that wouldn’t fade away. 

He was the Enforcer of the Redwood Pack. As such, he felt the threats to the Pack deep in his soul and held the duty to protect his family. Sometimes, though, he felt as if he were failing at every turn.

Willow’s laugh brought him out of his gloomy thoughts. She smiled, her face brightening as North took her from Jasper’s arms, and they two-stepped to the change in music. He loved Willow like a sister and would do anything for her. He’d almost taken her into his home when she’d had a falling out with Jasper. She wouldn’t have taken Anna’s place, but maybe her laughter would have warmed up his tomb slightly.

Did he even want warmth?

“You don’t want that other drink, man,” Maddox grumbled as he took the seat next to Adam without invitation.

“Damn it. Stay out of my head.”

“You know I don’t read minds.”

Adam held back a wince. Of all his brothers, Maddox was the one he did his best to avoid. As the Omega of the Pack, he could feel every emotion from its members, and Adam didn’t want Maddox to be privy to some of his emotions. Or, rather,
any
of his emotions. He didn’t even want to deal with them himself. But, Maddox knew everything. He’d seen the way Maddox looked after Anna’s…death. He knew too much, and Adam didn’t want to look his brother in his all-too-knowing gaze and see pity…or worse, understanding.

No one could understand.

He had been the first of his brothers to be mated. He’d met and fallen in love with Anna forty years before. He’d had twenty years with the love of his life and then had lost her and their unborn child. He gripped his glass tighter as the gaping wound bled just a bit more. Now, one by one, his brothers were finding their mates, in Reed’s case
two
mates.

Adam was left to sit back and watch. Alone.

He didn’t want to be around to watch the smiles on their faces, see the love radiating from their pores, watch the women grow full and ripe with their children.

Children.

He closed his eyes, the stinging increasing.

He didn’t want to see Finn, Mel and Kade’s son, and Brie, Jasper and Willow’s daughter, toddle and grow up. That was the worst part. The part he couldn’t ignore. They were the physical representations and proof of a mating bond so strong that the Redwoods had a chance of a future. 

Adam had almost had that once…then the Centrals had taken it away from him.

“Tone it down, man. You’re projecting enough emotion right now that everyone else can feel it as well.” Maddox put his hand on Adam’s shoulder, and Adam flinched.

“Don’t touch me,” he snapped. God, he sounded like an ass. “Please.”

Maddox pulled his hand back, but he didn’t move his gaze. Adam’s gaze traced the jagged scar on the right side of his brother’s face. He didn’t know where he’d received it, but he knew it held more meaning than Adam knew. 

“Adam, what’s going on?”

“Like you don’t know?” Adam growled. “Just leave me the fuck alone.”

“
Stop lashing out at him, he’s just trying to help,” his wolf pleaded
.

Adam ignored him. His wolf had failed him when he needed him most. He didn’t want to talk to the constant reminder of why he hadn’t been there for Anna.

“No, I won’t leave you the fuck alone. I don’t know what happened, but something’s changed. You were healing, Adam.”

Adam snarled and stormed away from the party, ignoring the cautious and concerned looks boring holes into his back. Yeah, let them look at the deranged Enforcer. He was used to that.

“Adam, don’t run from it. You’re going to fuck up if you don’t stop this.” Maddox walked behind him, his voice low.

Adam stopped and turned, glaring at his younger brother. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Maddox raised his chin, undaunted. “If you don’t reign in those chaotic emotions of yours, you’re going to fuck up, and the Pack will be the ones who pay the price”

Adam planted his feet on the ground and put his shoulders back, chest forward, shock radiating through him. “You don’t think I can handle my Enforcer duties?”

Maddox shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think you’d purposely put anyone in harm’s way, but you’re not yourself. What happened when you were away, Adam? You were finally healing, smiling more. Laughing and hanging out with Willow. What changed?”

“Nothing.”

Maddox frowned, disappointment on his face. “You need to trust someone, Adam.”

“I trust my family.”
Just not with everything. No, not this
.

“I just wish it were enough.” Maddox sighed. “I’m here if you need me.”

Adam nodded, unable to speak. He loved his family with everything he had…because they
were
everything he had.

“Adam? Maddox? Is everything okay?” Ellie Reyes, the Centrals’ princess and newest Redwood Pack member, came up to them, Maddox’s twin brother, North, on her heels.

Maddox stiffened at the duo’s approach, and Adam raised a brow. It looked as though he wasn’t the only one with secrets.

“We’re fine,” Maddox grumbled. “Just having a brotherly chat.”

North tilted his head. “Anything I should know about?”

Adam shook his head. “Nothing. Just dumb shit.”

Ellie looked at Maddox, her gaze unwavering. “If you’re sure,” she whispered, the scent of pain radiating off her like a thick blanket.

She still hadn’t healed from her lifetime of torture at the hands of her brother, Corbin. Frankly, Adam didn’t think she ever would. Though the female wolf was one of the strongest wolves he’d ever met. People just couldn’t get over some things. 

Case in point: him.