The Dom's Patience is Rewarded [Unchained Love 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

“That’s awesome, JB. It’s going to be a lovely home for us.”

“If you wanted to, you could put a deck between the two legs of the building, squaring it off. Give you a nice place to sit on an evening and watch the sun go down,” said JB.

“I like that idea. We could grill hot dogs out on the deck, maybe have some friends over,” said William.

JB looked at Oliver, who nodded. “Yes, order the lumber for that, too, please, JB. A deck to entertain on in the summer will be nice.”

“Okay, I’ll get moving on that. Likely be a couple weeks is all. I’m picking up the security system for your windows tomorrow morning and should be able to install that tomorrow afternoon.”

“Thank you. What about the cameras you were putting in trees to watch out for the rogue panthers?” asked Leticia, wondering if it’d even be safe to sit out on a deck by next summer.

“We’ve gotten better coverage than we expected. Most of the property will be secure when we’re done. It’s been a bit tricky getting the power from the electric fence, had to boost that some, but all in all, it’s looking good.”

“So we’ll be quite safe,” breathed Leticia. At last, no more worrying. It seemed like forever that the rogue panthers had caused her to run and hide, to be locked in her room, or even to just have security systems installed on the door and windows. To be totally free once again would be the most wonderful feeling.

“The fence alone is likely a big enough deterrent for almost anyone. But with the CCTVs around the property we’ll be able to rest secure,” said JB.

“That’s good news indeed. Thank you, JB.” Oliver smiled.

JB picked up his things. “I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon to install the security system. Oliver, I’ll phone you when it’s ready.”

“That might be a good time for Autumn, Jubilee, and I to go clean your apartment, William, so we’re out of the way,” said Leticia.

“Good plan,” said William as Oliver walked JB to the door.

* * * *

William’s apartment wasn’t particularly dirty. Jubilee washed down the shelves of his closet as Leticia gave the kitchen area a good scrub, and Autumn cleaned the windows. Then they dusted, vacuumed, cleaned the tiny bathroom, and were all done.

“That didn’t take nearly as long as I expected,” said Jubilee.

“Me, either. He is a nurse after all. Likely that’s why it was quite clean,” said Autumn.

“I’ll buy you lunch. Where should we go?” asked Leticia.

“I’m not dressed for the Wooden Spoon, so how about takeout?” suggested Jubilee.

“Sure. What would you like? Tex-Mex? Chinese? Pizza?”

“So many choices. So much yummy food.” Autumn sighed.

Half an hour later they were squashed together in the backseat of the car, sharing three different kinds of noodles.

“Heavenly,” said Leticia, laughing as a noodle slid off her plastic fork.

“Absolutely,” replied Jubilee, the only one of them using chopsticks.

“You do that so well. Wherever did you learn to use chopsticks so professionally?” asked Autumn.

“Well, I don’t know that’s it’s exactly the professional way, but Carey grew up overseas. His parents were military, so he lived in places where they ate with chopsticks all the time, and he taught me.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” said Leticia.

“How’s your shoulder? Does it hurt much from using it all morning?” asked Jubilee.

Leticia rotated it carefully. “It’s a bit stiff, but it’s okay really. I just don’t understand why Dad was talking to the Alpha of the rogue panthers.”

“There’s only one answer really, isn’t there? He’s selling out to them. The real question is why? Carnal Connections and his pack have supported him totally, so why sell out?” asked Jubilee.

“Do you think the operative word is ‘sell’? That the rogue panthers are going to pay him big money for the remaining unmated females?” asked Autumn.

“Boy howdy, now that’s an idea I never thought of,” said Leticia.

“Larry will have thought of it. He never misses anything,” said Jubilee comfortably.

“Yeah, Omar’s much the same,” added Autumn.

“Just before your mom died your parents were always fighting. Do you think that has anything to do with why your father is acting like this now? Do you know why they were unhappy back then?” asked Autumn.

“I was only thirteen, and I knew they argued a lot, but they never indicated why when I was around. They sort of needled each other all the time. The coffee was always too hot or too cold. The house too messy or the food wasn’t cooked the way my father liked it. My mother often said she did everything for my father and he treated her like dirt, so I wondered if that was why he was so protective of me. That he wanted to prove he was treating me nicely or something.”

Jubilee shrugged. “Who knows?”

Autumn sat back on the seat. “That was yummy. Thank you, Leticia.”

Leticia sighed. “All right, I guess we’d better go back home. I don’t think I’ll garden, though, today. I don’t want to test my shoulder too much.”

“It’s the middle of the day. I wonder if the hot tub has been booked. We could relax there and bubble the kinks out of your shoulder. Unless you have to work this afternoon, Autumn?”

“I have a quilt to finish, but it’s well on the way and Curtis and Nicholas aren’t coming by tonight, so I can work on it then. I like the idea of soaking in the hot tub. I haven’t done that for ages.”

“I didn’t even know there was a hot tub here until—” Suddenly Leticia remembered her only visit to the hot tub—on her handfasting night.

Jubilee laughed. “Oh yeah, it’s damn good for fucking in. You need to remember that, Autumn.”

They all laughed as Jubilee got out and went around to the driver’s door to take them home.

* * * *

“Oliver, can you and Frank go out to Pete and Josh? Josh’s just texted me to say Sam is acting strangely and he wants backup just in case.”

“Yes, sure, Omar. Should I take some more food and water out to them?”

“Good thinking. It’ll save me sending someone else out there in a day or two. I’ll tell Frank to meet you in the storage barn.”

Oliver grabbed his thick coat and changed into heavy boots, putting on a second pair of socks first, then headed out to the storage barn. He set aside another two days’ worth of food for the two men and another carton of bottles of water and was trying to think if he should collect anything else when Frank arrived.

Frank walked over to the shelves and added a Louisville Slugger to the pile. “You can go in as a panther, but I’m getting old and want some protection.”

“You aren’t that old, but I like the way you think. Go for their legs though, not their heads. We don’t want to kill anyone.”

“Sam’s head’s in such a mess a good bang on it might knock some sense into him. But yeah, there’re enough stupid panthers in jail already without me joining them.”

Oliver had no trouble finding his way out to where the rogue panthers were camped, driving his car off under the trees just before the dead tree Josh and Pete had laid across the track to block it off.

Oliver showed Frank where he hid the car key under a nearby piece of dead wood then stripped and transformed into his panther. Frank zipped up his coat and picked up the Louisville Slugger, then they walked silently through the trees and undergrowth.

Oliver appreciated his heightened senses. Everything was brighter, sharper, when he was in panther form. His hearing was more acute and his sense of smell much better. Everything was clear, crisp, vibrant. He paced ahead of Frank, watching for any signs that someone other than Josh and Pete had been here, but there were no fresh tracks, no fresh scents that shouldn’t have been there.

Cautiously, he led the way to the campsite, sliding under a low-hanging shrub that would offer him protection but also, hopefully, a good view of anything happening. He couldn’t sense the other panthers. They must have been well hidden indeed.

Frank commando crawled in beside him then used the baseball bat to part the leaves just enough to give them a good view of the campsite.

The leader of the rogue panthers had been boiling water on the fire, his boots resting on the stones of the fire pit and a mug in his hand. As he poured the boiling water into it, Oliver could smell coffee. There was no sign of cream or sugar, so either they were in the mug already or the rogue was drinking his coffee black.

Sam came out of the tent, his arm by his side, almost hidden behind his leg.
What are you hiding, Sam? This doesn’t look good.

The rogue looked up and asked, “Want some coffee, Sam?”

Sam ignored the question, saying, “I need to tell you something. I’ve been trying to decide what to say, how to say it, for days.”

Well, that fits with Josh saying he seems unsettled.

The rogue got up and grabbed another mug from a big tub of things beside the tent. He added some coffee then came back to the fire, poured boiling water into the mug, and said, “Here you go, Sam.”

Petulantly Sam threw the mug onto the ground, spilling the drink and leaving the mug to roll several feet away. “I need to tell you something.”

“There’s only the two of us here, Sam, and I’m listening.”

“I’m your father.”

“What!” David jumped out of his chair, his face white, his hands shaking so much his coffee was slopping out of the mug.

“You can’t have Leticia because I’m your father, which means she’s your sister. The fucking bitch was only a half-blood. She didn’t even tell me until after you were conceived.”

“Are you telling the truth? Is that why you’ve been staying here? To tell me you’re my father and I can’t have my half-sister? Fine, so I’ll take one of the cougars. Fuck, I might take them both. Why did you leave my mother in the first place? In fact, when did you leave my mother? I always thought her husband was my father.”

“I thought she was a panther. She never told me different. And then I found out she was a filthy half-breed. You’re a filthy half-breed. I should have stayed until you were born so I could kill you then. But I’ll get rid of you now for good.” Sam jumped up, pulled a huge knife out from the back of his jeans, and raised his arm to stab the rogue leader. The younger man rolled to the side, throwing his mug of coffee in Sam’s face as he did so. Oliver burst out from hiding and raced across the campsite to stand in front of Sam, snarling.

Sam wiped his face on his sweater while the leader, sounding much younger and more like a confused teenager, started shouting, “I’m not filthy, and I’m three-quarters, which is close enough.”

Sam screamed, “You’re not a full panther. Anything less than a pure-blood is an abomination. Your mother lied to me.” Sam dodged around Oliver and launched himself at the leader, his knife slashing this way and that.

Oliver ran around to the side, ready to leap for Sam’s knife hand when he got the opportunity.

Frank had appeared silently, standing slightly behind Sam, the Slugger raised high, but Sam kept trying to get closer to the rogue leader, knife slashing this way and that, as the leader rolled and danced, trying to move away.

He’s got some guts anyway. He hasn’t just run as far and fast as he can.

Sam threw the knife straight at the rogue leader. Oliver sprang at the rogue’s hips, trying to knock him out of the way. He saw the baseball bat descend out of the corner of his eye as he leaped but didn’t know what happened until Sam screamed.

Oliver had landed on the rogue’s legs, the knife well to the left of them both. The rogue appeared unhurt, just knocked to the ground by Oliver. He shook himself and stood, turning to look at Sam.

Frank looked a little sheepish. He held his hands in the air in supplication and said, “Oops.”

Sam was lying on the ground, the discarded coffee mug by his foot, a foot that seemed to be facing the wrong way.

Oliver transformed. “You broke his leg?”

“He fell over the mug.”

“Uh-huh. Suuure he did.”

The rogue scrambled to his feet. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Your brother-in-law, apparently.”

“What the hell is going on here?” asked Pete, racing into the clearing.

“I wish I knew,” muttered Oliver, running his hands through his hair. Okay, he was the Dom and the leader here. It was time for him to start acting like it. “Where’s Josh?” he asked Pete.

“He’s on break. Likely asleep.”

“Wake him up and tell him to come here. Frank, find some rope and tie Sam up. I don’t trust him even with a broken leg. Foot. Whatever.”

Oliver turned to the rogue panther’s leader. “Who are you? What’s your name? Where’s the rest of your pack?”

“My name’s David. Jim’s in jail along with a few idiot humans. No one’s got enough money to post bail for them. Drew and Charlie haven’t been here for a while. I reckon they’ve left, along with most of the humans. I’d been alone for a couple days before Sam turned up. Is he really my father, or is that just another lie?”

“I have no idea whether he’s lying or not, but it does make sense in a twisted kind of way. He wouldn’t want his son and his daughter mating each other. Why were you trying to steal our women? Why didn’t you just find a woman you loved and marry her like a normal person?”