Tempest (6 page)

“Well
, l
ook
y
here
,
the witch with the outsiders
.”
H
e spit a black stream from his mouth and Tempest’s stomach rolled. How Lor
na-
Sue let him kiss her
,
she would never understand.
“
You tappin
'
that there
? T
rust me
,
Tempest is a sweet piece.”

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “How would you know
?
H
ave I been dry heaving
and vomiting
all over this town? That’s the only clue anyone would have of me being with you. Because the thought of it would make me lose every meal I eat for the rest of my life.”

Alex
’s
breath hissed between his teeth. “Ouch
. T
hat’s har
sh
.”

“
No, what’s harsh is
the
wilted pickle he has in his pants.
I doubt
Lorna-
Sue has s
een
it under that gut since they were in high school
,
” Tempest added with a laugh.

Bubba
knocked on the back of
the truck and his friend
s
who were in the back jumped from the bed of the vehicle and stood next to him.

“How about you come on over here and get on your knees
?
L
et me show you what you can find
,
” he sneered.

“You can try to make me like you did in high school
,
but that didn’t work out
very
well
for you, did it?
A
nd this time around I’m not a little kid anymore and I can defend myself,
”
Tempest replied.

“Plus
,
if you take one step close
r
, I will give you a c
ome
to Jesus moment when I
break your face
.
” Dominic’s voice was calm but deadly.

“It would give us infinite pleasure, so how about you try?” Alex added. When he smiled
Tempest
swore she could see
the
wolf in his face
, r
eady to fight
,
actually hoping for Bubba and his friends to react.

“We don’t care for outsiders,
”
Bubba snarled.

“
And we don’t care what you like
or don’t like.
” Alex stepped forward until he was nose to nose with Bubba. “Walk away
,
little man
,
or
you’ll
see what we can do. Let’s make sure that your face is not ground beef
when your boys here take you home to your woman.”

The sound of a siren
blared loud and then turned off
as the deputy rolled up
beside them
in the car
, but this d
id not make Alex move a bit. The man in the uniform was Gary Porter
;
another man who
had
graduated high school two years before she did. He looked
uneasily
at Bubba and Alex
who were still
standing
nose to nose.
He opened the car door to get out, hesitated, then shut the door again.
Gary
was tall but rail thin and Tempest could
practically
see him
trembling
with
the
possibility
that he might have
to break up a fight
and apparently decided that staying in the car was the safer option for him.

“We got trouble here?” Gary asked.

“
Not from my end, Deputy,
but
it seems some of your residents don’t like that we’re outsiders or in the company of Tempest
,” Alex
said, but
never even glanced over. H
e kept his eyes fixed on Bubba who was now visibly shaken that
Alex was not backing down. “It seems he thinks trying to rape her when she was sixteen means that he has some kind of right to disparage her in public.”

“This guy better get outta my face before I shove my
h
and down his throat,” Bubba said.

“
Try it, and let
’
s s
e
e who does what,” Alex said quietly
and
smiled. “Go ahead
.
I’m sure the deputy won’t mind
.
I’ll even give you the first punch.”

“Walk away
,
both of you,” Gary stammered.

“Another time, huh
,
Bubba
?
” Dominic put his hand on Alex’s shoulder.
“We’ll be seeing you later, I’m sure. Come on
,
Tempest, let’s go home.”

“
Yeah
,
take your witch whore home,
”
Bubba called out.

Dominic moved faster than Alex this time and he grabbed Bubba by the collar. Tempest made a sound of surprise when Dominic lifted the two hundred
-plus
pound
s
until
the tips of Bubba’s
muddy
shoes
were
scraping the ground.

“You’ll apologize to the lady now,” Dominic growled. He shook
B
ubb
a
like he w
e
ighed nothing.
“
I said now!”

Even Gary was gaping in amazement and when Bubba stammered
,
“
I’m sorry
,
o
kay?
”
t
he entire crowd that had gathered gasped. Bubba was a bully and to have him
actually be manhandled and apologize was something no one had ever seen before.

Dominic dropped him like
the trash he was
and turned his attention to the deputy. “He forced my hand
. I
f you need to arrest me I will go willingly
,
but I’ll expect a call to my lawyer in New York immediately
,
and I will also be filing a civil suit against Cormina and its residents. It’s a poor town
, but
by the time I’m done
,
you won
’
t even own the bedroom slippers under your bed.”

Gary swallowed.
“
No
,
sir, I’m sure the
s
heriff will see that Bubba was in the wrong
here
. Y’all have good day now.”
He put his foot on the gas and sped away.

Tempest helped Alex load the food in
the car
while Dominic sat behind the wheel with the engine running. The gawkers started to filter away and when she slid into the passenger seat,
she noticed he was tapping his fingers against the wheel in agitation.

Tempest covered his hand with hers. “It
’
s ok
ay. L
et it go.”

“I want to break his neck
.
” The growl that came from his throat was definitely wolf
-
like.

Alex frowned and leaned forward. “Control him, now.”

He was speaking of the wolf, Tempest was certain of it. She
knew
they both ha
d
different ways of controlling their
second nature. But beneath
Dominic
’
s charming grin a
nd happy eyes, the primal wolf
was always there
,
lurking
,
waiting for his control to
waver just a little. She hated the thought that Bubba was the cause of his anger
and frustration
. A possessive streak filtered through her
. T
hese were her men. Hell
,
now
she wanted to punch the big fool in the face because of it.

“I’m good
.
” Dominic closed his eyes and took a
deep breath and then smiled at Tempest before pulling out of the parking space. “We’re going to have to tell you more about
our wolf form and
what we live with. The animalistic force inside us
is
a separate entity that wants to run and roam and defend their mates. We have to control
the wolf
each and every
day because if we didn’t
,
and we let the animal take over
,
we would never take human form
again
. Eventually
,
the wolf would take complete control of our bodies and mind and
we would forget that we are part human and just live free as the wolf.”

“
How strong i
s the pull to live as an animal?”
s
he asked
.

“It
’
s controllable,” Alex answered from the back seat. She noticed that he met Dominic’s gaze in the rearview mirror before finishing his sentence. Some unsaid communication passed between them before he spoke again. “
Before you came,
we
had
been talking more and more about just letting it happen. The thought of not finding a mate and being alone was becoming unbearable. We know what we want
and wouldn’t
settle for anything less.
We thought that maybe if
we’d give up our human skin and just r
u
n together may
be it wouldn’t be so tough.
Our lives seemed like a raw deal before you came along.
”

They rode in silence back to the
plantation. I
n the kitchen
,
t
he
y
put the bags
on the island. Tempest then
turned to both
of them
. She put her arm around Dominic’s waist and pulled him close and did the same to Alex. The
y
both nuzzled each side of her neck and she held them tight for a
while before stepping away to cup both their cheeks.

“That’s why I’m here, why my vision brought me to your door,” Tempest said. “Don’t you
understand? You’re not meant to be lone wolves
. Y
ou have me now.”

“You seem so sure
.
” Alex looked at her as if he w
ere
searching for answers in her face.
“I wish I could
feel as sure as you. I wish I could know
that this won’t fizzle away like a dream.”

She put his hand over her heart and then did the same to Dominic so his hand rested above Alex’s.
“
My heart knows
. T
rust in that. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Because of your vision?” Dominic asked. “It’s
only
been two days.”

“
That started it and my heart sealed it
.
I’m not going anywhere,” Tempest said firmly. “Now
,
wash your hands and roll up your sleeves because I’m going to teach you to actually c
ook a pot pie and not nuke one.”

“I was thinking about only eating
it
,” Alex teased.

Tempest stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss
to
his lips. “You want to eat
,
darlin’
,
you help cook. Put some music on
. T
hat’s how I like to create magic in the kitchen.
Laissez les bons temps rouler.”