Seeing Eye Mate (19 page)

Tieran’s butt cheeks clinched. Whether in anticipation or wariness, she didn’t know, but the sudden image of his mouth descending on her upturned ass had her shivering. Her pussy creamed, making her squirm with delicious feelings in her seat.

Because they hadn’t had enough sex in the last twenty-four hours.

“Look,” she said, shaking her head to get it back on track. “Why can’t you just go to your…elderly people, and tell them you’re looking for a wolf with a scar on its shoulder?”

His silence nettled, making the air in the truck seem thick.

“I can’t do that.” A flash of pain swept across the normally happy-go-lucky features of his face.

Her stomach bottomed out. Why couldn’t he? She tread carefully, searching for the right words. “So, you do think there’s a possibility Eli is—”

“No, God damn it! Jesus,” he spat.

His jaw clenched so tight, she wondered if he might break a tooth.

“I can’t because if I made all the shifters take their shirts off and the real killer isn’t there, then yes, Eli would be fingered. I won’t do that to my brother.”

Tieran dropped her chin to her chest. His absolute, one-hundred-percent faith in his twin was amazing. She could only hope things turned out the way he wanted them to.

*

Caelan groaned at the number of cars littering his driveway. After the conversation they’d just had, he wasn’t prepared to face the elders. He certainly wasn’t prepared to share her information about the scar. Somehow he’d have to do some discreet searching on his own.

Despite his overwhelming sense of relief at being back on his home turf, he found himself wanting to go back to Tieran’s if for nothing else than to hide her away. Another round of fucking wouldn’t hurt his feelings either. Today would be a tough test for any Prime’s mate. Being a human and pregnant wouldn’t help matters.

“This is where you live?” Tieran asked.

The awe lacing her voice filled his heart with pride. He and Eli had planned every bit of this house to their exact tastes. Starting with remodeling the original ranch-style structure given to them by their parents when they’d decided to move deeper into the woods.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s beautiful. What’s not to like?”

He shrugged. “Eli and I do.”

“Eli?” she croaked.

Caelan dropped his chin to his chest. It would be damn hard for them to live here with her in constant suspicion of Eli. And live here they would. As soon as he could get her here. After last-night’s midnight raid of the grocery store, now wouldn’t be soon enough.

“Eli lives on that side.” He gestured to the right wing of the house. “Has his own set of rooms, bathroom, kitchen, everything. My side is over there. Kind of like a duplex although we do share some centrally located rooms. The living room, a formal dining room, a game room and our office, so we do see clients here as well.” Caelan jumped out of the car, noticing that Tieran hadn’t moved to unbuckle.

Looked like the whole damn pack had shown up today, he thought, rounding the car to retrieve Tieran. His dad must have made some kind of announcement. He’d have to thank Eli for that later since Caelan hadn’t spoken to his father yet.

He opened the passenger door. “Come on, my own, let’s get this over with.”

“Get what over with, exactly?”

He had to laugh. She looked like she was about to face a firing squad. “The elders. They have to formally accept you as the Prime’s,
my
, mate. Has something to do with tradition.”

She jerked her gaze to him, indignant as all get-out. If she were standing, he would expect her hands to go straight to her hips.

“And if they don’t? It’s a little late don’t you think? You’ve already made me eat meat!” she yelled, as if her eating meat were the vilest thing he could do to her.

Damn but she was cute when she was mad.

“Don’t worry,” he soothed and leaned in to kiss her tightly pressed lips. “They’ll love you.” He licked along the sealed seam of her mouth until she melted into him and opened to accept his tongue. He slid home, rubbing against her velvet softness and tasting her until he’d had his fill.

Her hands came up to rest at his shoulders, his went to her waist, one of them working to release the buckle. Tieran moaned and shifted closer, angling her head to allow him better access to the recesses of her mouth. His cock demanded to receive some similar action.

Caelan lifted the hem of her shirt and dove beneath it to touch her warm skin. She flinched and squeaked against his lips when he tickled a sensitive spot. He migrated to the soft mound of her breast, irritated by the material covering it. Releasing the front catch, he freed the objects of his quest and palmed one. With his thumb and forefinger, he pinched the hardening nipple and rolled it.

Tieran moaned and tried to get closer, her eagerness overtaking any unease she might have had about meeting his people. Which is exactly what he was shooting for.

“Caelan, quit pawing your woman and get in here.”

The deep voice boomed behind them and Tieran screeched, practically diving under the dash like she’d been caught naked. Caelan barked out in laughter.

“Dad,” he said over his shoulder, shielding his red-faced mate while she tried to reconnect her bra. “Didn’t know you’d ask the whole pack out today.”

“With what’s been goin’ on, thought everyone ought to be here, get a good look at her so’s they know who to protect.”

He smiled at Tieran’s upturned, still flaming red face. “You don’t think I can handle her on my own?”

His father snorted. “Son, ain’t no man alive can handle a woman on his own. She dressed yet?”

“Jesus, Caelan. What does he think I am, a prize piece of horseflesh? Is he going to check my teeth too?” she demanded. Finally done fumbling beneath her shirt, she sat up and swallowed. She finger combed her hair.

Caelan noticed the quick pulse at the base of her throat, which told him he had her totally rattled.

“I want you to remember my kiss whenever you feel nervous in there.” He grabbed her hand and helped her down.

“Nervous? I’m not nervous. Why would I be nervous? It’s just your family. I can be civil when the moment calls for it. As long as your family can keep their hands off me and their noses to themselves, I’ll be fine. It’s okay. I don’t like big groups of people, but it’s all good. I can—”

“Tieran!” He lifted her chin with the crook of his forefinger. “Take a breath, honey. Breathe,” he warned again when she didn’t do so quickly enough.

She inhaled slowly, her gaze meeting his and holding as if she were searching for a lifeline.

He cursed himself for not realizing how hard being around a group of people would be for her. If a simple touch could wind up with her having a vision, she was in for a world of hurt with his touchy-feely parents. He’d have to lay down the law in there. If it meant acting like an overprotective oaf in order to keep her secret, then he’d do it.

Especially with a traitor in their midst. Revealing Tieran’s abilities would be like signing her death warrant.

She could slap him for putting her in this position. There must be twenty cars parked here. When Caelan had said he wanted her to meet some elderly people, she’d thought he was talking about his grandparents. Unless he had ten sets of them, an elder meant something totally different to him than it did to her.

The big man who’d spoken to them from the porch still stood there, grinning like a fool. The resemblance between father and sons was remarkable. Besides the few extra pounds on the older Graham, they were pretty much identical.

She took a deep breath. This was so not going to be a good time.

“Hello, there. ‘Bout time my son brought you home to meet us.”

Talk about getting straight to the heart of the matter.

“I’ve only known your son for a day. I hardly think he could have brought me any sooner.” Somehow she managed to keep her hiss from sounding like a hiss. Man she was crabby. The man was only trying to be nice to her.

A deep belly laugh erupted from his mouth, startling her.

“Damn fine woman you found yourself, Son. The name’s Liam.”

Before she could blink, Tieran found herself engulfed in Liam’s arms, squeezed in a tight bear hug she was neither prepared for nor used too.

“Put her down,” Caelan growled.

Tieran was immediately released and steadied by both men.

“You don’t have to be so rude, Caelan.”
Thank you for intervening.
Liam’s face was one of shocked curiosity. Caelan wrapped an arm around her waist, immediately putting her more at ease. She fought the temptation to rub her arms.

“This goes no further than us, Dad.” Caelan ushered the three of them to the corner of the porch.

He wouldn’t.

“Tieran is psychic. She can see things.”

Oh. My. God. He would. He did. Her jaw dropped practically to the floor. She hadn’t been thrown for this much of a loop since Florida. Not even Peter had said anything to anybody else. Of course, having a weird girlfriend would have been detrimental to his social status.

“She’s seen our killer.”

Shut up, shut up.
Mortified, she backed away from the two men whispering so closely together. The urge to cover her ears was overwhelming.

“Sometimes even the smallest touch can trigger a vision.”

She watched his dad’s gaze flick to her around Caelan’s shoulder.

“Son, I think—”

“I’m serious, Dad. I’m gonna need your help in there.”

Tieran kept backing up, shaking her head against what Caelan was doing. Her head spun and her knees wobbled.

“That’s all good—”

“It’s real, Dad. And I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect her. If that means leaving before we go in there, we will.”

“If you interrupt me one more time, boy, I’m gonna have to show you what made me a good Prime.”

Tieran stopped, one foot on the porch, one on the step below it, and swallowed. Caelan stood straight up. Even from the distance, she could see his ears were bright red.

“I don’t think your mate is all too pleased with what you’re telling me.”

“And I don’t care—” He spun around as if he’d just realized she wasn’t with them anymore. “What are you doing over there?” He marched toward her, an annoyed look on his face.

“Tieran, my dear,” Liam spoke up and headed over also, “let’s go meet Caelan’s mother. Judith will love you.”

He took her arm and led her to the front door from which she was eagerly trying to escape. No way could she go in there. Not now. Not when his father knew her secret and could easily bring the world crashing down around her again. She’d gotten her life back since Florida, it wasn’t fair to have it ripped away a second time. She pulled away only to have her hand gently but tightly held in the crook of his elbow and patted with tender sympathy.

Liam paused and turned to her. “It wouldn’t faze me a bit if you could balance an elephant on your head, dear. Look what we can do. No one here will ostracize you for being different. My big oaf of a son shouldn’t have told me the way he did, but it’s better this way.” The corners of his mouth turned up in a half-smile. “Relax, child. At least now I know what I’ll be up against in there. A mob of elders just waiting to touch the Prime’s mate.” He chuckled. “And I get to be the one to swat ‘em away.” He leaned closer and whispered in her ear. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

What could she say to that? She nodded. It would be safe with him. With both of them. How she came to that decision, she didn’t know, but Liam was right. She would need all the help she could get with all those people inside. Her eyes tingled with unshed tears. First Caelan and now his father. Two men who made her feel more comfortable in her own skin for the first time since her gramama left her.

“Oh, Tulla, baby, I never left you.”

“No, not my heart. It’s your shoulder I miss the most.”

“Caelan’s shoulders seem more than capable of handling whatever it is you need them for.”

“I know they are,”
she admitted. The man might not be able to see the hand in front of his face, or in this case, the killer, but he would be there to support her, no matter what. That much was apparent to her now.

“Perhaps you should apologize to your mate,” Liam growled over his shoulder, returning her attention to the two men standing sentry over her.

Tieran twisted to see Caelan on her left. He stood there, looking sheepish and repentant like a toddler who’d been caught misbehaving. His face was so forlorn she couldn’t help but laugh.

He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, my own.” He stood a little taller.

She found it endearing. Perhaps this was a small deflation to his ego to admit he had done something wrong.

“No. I’m not,” he said, changing his mind and his attitude in the blink of an eye. “You need the protection in there and there isn’t anyone I would trust more than Eli or my father. I can’t be with you every second, I want to know there’s someone here to look out for you.”

“And I’m a big girl.” Damn but the man pushed her buttons.