Paws for Change (13 page)

“Come on, asshole,” Wayne snapped. “I missed a bachelor party last night because of you. Let’s get a move on.”

“God,” Derek snapped, coming down the steps to stand beside Dillan. “I knew your sister was a selfish piece of work, so I should have known you were a chip off the old block.” Derek curled his lip at Wayne for a second, then turned and sneered at Forest and the other older male. “Forget it, Father. I don’t know how you found us or what you think to accomplish with this stunt, but I’m not marrying her.” Derek glared at Jennifer, curling his lip. “What? Did you buy your own ring for this façade? Or did you get it from one our
daddies?
”

Jennifer’s eyes widened and her face turned an interesting shade of red.

Raymond beat her to a response. “You said you had control of him,” he thundered, glaring at Forest. “Now he’s making my daughter look the part of a fool.”

“Damn you, Boy!” Forest roared. “I did not track your car across three states for you to have a childish meltdown.” His eyes narrowing, his nostrils flaring, the heavy-set human continued, “You will do right by your family and—”

Derek barked a laugh. “Right by my family?
Right?
Right like you disowned Deke?” He scoffed and shook his head. “Okay, Father. I disown
you.
I don’t care what business deal you have going on with Raymond. You all can leave me out of it.” He pointed his finger at his father and snarled, “I
quit,
remember? I’m
done
being your whipping boy and lap dog. I’m living my own life now.”

“You disgusting abomination!” Forest roared. “After all I’ve done for you, I will not have you speaking to me that way. Get in the fucking car,” he continued, pointing at the SUV.

“You’re such an ungrateful jackass,” Wayne hissed, drawing attention. “Denying my sister so you can act out in this deviant way.” He stalked toward the porch, lifting his right hand and shaking his fist at Derek. “If marrying you didn’t mean millions,” Wayne added in a harsh snarl, “I would
never
let an abomination like you near my sister!”

Wayne swung his arm, aiming a fist at Derek’s jaw.

Dillan roared and lunged toward Wayne, but it was too late. Except, Derek easily stepped to the right, blocked the blow with his left arm, and landed a right hook of his own. Wayne was already tumbling ass over tea kettle when Dillan’s body hit him and took him the rest of the way to the ground...hard. Dillan’s sensitive hearing picked up the distinctive sound of a
pop.
Judging from that and Wayne’s howl, Dillan bet the human had at least one cracked rib.

Rolling off the man and springing back to his feet, Dillan curled his lip at the remaining trio.

“I don’t give a fuck what—” Forest began.

The sound of a rifle crack echoed through the morning air. “I don’t have to miss,” a clearly amused tenor called. “You’re in the mountains of Colorado and you’re harassing my friends. Even the cops wouldn’t touch us. You swung first!” The voice chuckled. “Now might be a grand time to leave and never return...Forest Sommers. You and your bigoted kind aren’t welcome here.”

The sounds of half a dozen wolf howls filled the morning air...and they weren’t very far away.

Dillan’s cat’s hackles raised in his mind. He tried to remind himself that he wasn’t their prey. He was a friend to the local pack. He had permission to be here.

“Ah, better hurry,” the stranger called, clearing enjoying this. “I don’t like people using tracking devices to harm my buddies, and my wolves would love an excuse to...play.”

After the older men exchanged a look, they rushed forward. Dillan grabbed Derek’s elbow and urged him back a few steps. Wayne’s father bent down and wrapped an arm around his son. Forest curled his lip and snarled, “I will ruin you, Derek. You’ll never work in law again.”

Derek scoffed. “Good.” Then, he narrowed his eyes and snarled, “Do you think I’ll need evidence that you were the one to pay the cop off? Or will insinuation be enough to ruin you, too?”

While Forest sneered and turned to help Wayne, too, the man’s father curled his lip at Derek. “Faggot.”

Wolves howled again and several appeared, bounding across the lawn toward them. While their teeth were bared and their ears were pinned, giving them a ferocious look, Dillan couldn’t help spotting the amusement in the shifter’s eyes. They were having fun.

Within two minutes, the uninvited humans had piled into the SUV and sped away. The wolves—it looked like six of them, much to Dillan’s irritation—trotted around the clearing, sniffing at his cat’s scent markers. Derek was pressed against Dillan’s side, his eyes wide as he stared around at all the shifters in animal form.

“Well, that went well,” the stranger stated, human by his scent, as he sauntered toward them. The lean man had a scoped rifle slung over his shoulder. “Jared Templeton. Mate of Carson Angeni,” he said by way of introduction. “I do hate bigoted assholes in our territory.” Jared looked at Dillan and smirked. “I disabled the tracking device he had on Derek’s car, but I’d recommend selling it.” He winked. “Have your mate get something that will handle the snow.”

Dillan nodded slowly. He recognized Carson’s name. Looking over, he noted Declan McIntire speaking with another naked male, whom Dillan didn’t recognize. Seconds later, that man turned and started giving orders to a couple of wolves, who immediately turned and took off into the woods. Dillan guessed that they were told to follow the vehicle to make certain the humans really were leaving.

In the next instant, Declan turned and looked Dillan’s way. He nodded and held up a couple of fingers, indicating he needed a couple of minutes, then wanted to talk to him. Dillan waved in understanding. It seemed, there was plenty to explain.

“Oh, my God! There are so many of them!”

Derek’s declaration drew Dillan’s attention. He realized his mate peered around the clearing with wide eyes, his focus skipping from one shifter to another. Derek was obviously still coming to grips with shifters.

That didn’t really surprise Dillan.

Grabbing Derek’s upper arms in a gentle hold, Dillan rubbed up and down. He hated the confused look that slowly turned to...defeat as he took in his mate’s face. “Derek, my mate, are you okay?” Dillan asked, glancing up and down, scanning his lover for injury. Other than scraped knuckles from nailing Jennifer’s brother, Derek appeared fine.

Derek let out a slow breath and blinked. He met Dillan’s gaze. After a second, he smiled. “Yeah,” he said with a nod. “I’m okay. That went kind of how I expected.”

“I’m sorry about your parents,” Dillan told him, meaning every word. His own pride had disowned him centuries ago, but every once in a while, that pang of sadness hit him.

Shaking his head, Derek shrugged. “I wish it were different, but you can’t build a life on wishes.” He lifted his hand and cupped Dillan’s jaw. “Besides, I have you and Deke and all our new friends,” he said, glancing around at the group of wolf shifters whose unexpected arrival had helped send Forest packing.

“Anything you want or need,” Dillan vowed. “Name it and it’ll be done.”

Derek shook his head. He leaned forward and pressed a quick butterfly kiss to Dillan’s lips. “I don’t need anything.” Then he scoffed. “All I want is to sit and relax the day away in our hot tub. Is that okay?”

Dillan nodded. “That sounds like a fine idea,” he replied, grinning. “After we chat with the alpha, we’ll do just that.”

“Good,” Derek said. He pecked another fast, hard kiss to Dillan’s lips, he stepped away and waggled his brows. “Let’s hurry up then. I want to have a long, hard, deep discussion about the best ways to relax in our hot tub.”

As Derek turned away and headed toward Alpha Declan, Dillan growled softly as he trotted to catch up. His mate’s idea sounded just about perfect.

Charlie started writing fantasy when she was eight, and after stumbling onto her first erotic romance at age nineteen, she realized her true calling. She now focuses on writing gay erotic romance, normally of the paranormal variety, with heroes of all kinds. With the help and support of her husband, Charlie finally fulfilled one of her life-long goals...move to acreage with her horses. You can often find her curled up with her laptop and a cup of tea or glass of wine, creating her next adventure. Charlie enjoys exploring the mountains of her new Oregon home on horseback, 4-wheeler, or motorcycle.

She can be reached at [email protected]

Or visit her at www.charlie-richards.com