The Rift (24 page)

He tried to look confused, but he couldn’t
hide the smug smile on his face. “What about Tessa?”

“Were you trying to make me jealous?”

“No,” he said, starting to laugh. “Tessa and
I have known each other since we were kids, but she’s always been
like a sister to me. I did notice the way you looked at her,
though, and it made me think for the first time in a really long
time maybe I still had a shot with you.”

“You think this is funny?” I asked.

He shook his head, but he couldn’t stop
smiling. “Do you have any idea how I felt seeing you with Henry
every day? Then there’s some half-naked guy at your apartment, then
you’re with Thad? For all I knew you were kissing Wraith, too. It
was driving me crazy.”

“Really?” I said, feeling perversely happy
that he’d been jealous.

“Really. Now can we stop talking before the
wolves show up and make you regret choosing me?”

“I’ll never regret my choice,” I said. “I
want to be with you.”

His lips crashed against mine, and I fell
into him, into a kiss that made me forget where I was. That made me
forget fear. He nipped my bottom lip and heat and joy exploded
through me. Weaving my fingers through his hair, I caressed his
neck with my thumbs. His fingers crept under the hem of my shirt
and gripped my hips like he’d never let go. I leaned back on to the
bed and pulled him with me, his weight heavy on me as he settled
between my legs. Sliding a hand across my belly, he cupped my
breast, his hand warm and rough. I arched against him, wanting to
be closer to him, to feel more.

I broke off kissing his mouth and nuzzled his
neck, tasting his saltiness. He moaned slightly and I pulled him
tighter against me, wrapping one leg around his hips. He pushed my
shirt up and reached around to unhook my bra.

He paused, a question in his eyes.

I nodded, not wanting to waste any time
over-thinking or questioning when his hands on me felt so good.

In one swift move my bra and shirt were gone
and his mouth was on my breast. He swirled his tongue around my
nipple and I lit up like I was on fire. Every place he touched with
hands, and tongue, and body was alive with nerves. I groaned and
arched against him, no longer doubting, just wanting. He moved on
and paid equal attention to the other breast, then started to move
down my stomach, kissing me all the way.

I stopped him and pulled him back up. “Not,
yet.” I pushed him over onto his back, grabbed the hem of his shirt
and pulled it over his head. I explored his muscular pecs and abs
with my hands, then with my tongue, spending as much time on his
nipples as he’d spent on mine. He moaned and pushed me over,
kissing me again. I reached for the waistband of his jeans and a
banging sound echoed through the room.

“Kelsey!” Henry yelled through the door. “The
West Coast Pack is here.”

“Okay, thanks” I shouted back. Jed and I
stayed frozen, his face in my neck, until we heard Henry walk away.
“Can we just lock the door and pretend they aren’t here?”

Jed sighed. “Sorry, but no. We’ve got to go
out there.” He studied my face for a long moment, running a finger
over my cheekbones, my lips my chin, before reaching for his shirt.
He looked so serious that I started to worry.

“They aren’t here just to check on Tessa are
they?”

He looked down, pain and longing flashing in
his eyes. “You are so beautiful,” he said. “I wish…” He ran his
hand over my stomach and each of my breasts, then leaned down and
kissed me on the cheek. “So many things,” he said, his voice husky
and warm against my ear. When he sat up again, he looked sad.
“They’re here to punish the local pack for what they did to
Tessa.”

I sat up and put my bra and shirt back on,
while I tried to stop the shaking. “Punish them?’

“They’re going to kill them, Kelsey. Each and
every one of them.”

Bile rose in my mouth, and I swallowed it
down. Jed wrapped me in his warm arms. I wished I could stay there
with him like that forever, but that wasn’t my life and that wasn’t
a choice for me.

“We won’t be involved. The vengeance belongs
to them, but so much death in one place might draw in…”

“Reapers,” I finished for him. The spirits of
the wolves who were killed would draw any reapers in the vicinity
like sharks to a feeding. Reapers loved the energy boost from a
freshly dead person, and they would be looking to recruit any
spirits who didn’t attempt to move on or get absorbed by more
powerful reapers. Supposedly werewolves didn’t become reapers, but
that wouldn’t stop other reapers from flocking there in hopes of a
crumb or two. I hated my life.

Jed kept his arms around me as we stood, but
he let go of me as soon as he opened the door. As far as everyone
in that house was concerned, we were just friends.

Our living room was packed full of male
models. And I’m not talking about quirky, excessively skinny type
models. These guys looked like they just walked off the runway, in
stylish, well-fitted clothes that didn’t hide their strength. There
were six guys and two girls and every one of them bulged with
muscle and health. Their faces were all beautiful, not from
aesthetic perfection, but from health and confidence and good
grooming. Then Jed walked past me and threw a smile over his
shoulder, a teasing spark dancing in his purple eyes and I realized
he was the best looking guy in that room. I couldn’t take my eyes
off him, didn’t want to.

Since all of the seats in the living room
were taken, I sat on the arm of the couch next to Henry. He put a
hand on my knee and smiled up at me. I put my hand over his and
squeezed as the wolves started to talk. “Hey, Jed,” a tall, blonde
man, with a snaggletooth that seemed to be his only flaw, said. “We
don’t want to bring any more trouble down on you, so we checked
into a hotel in town. We just wanted to stop by, say hello, and
check on Tessa.”

Thad walked into the living room. “She’s
still resting. She hasn’t woken up since we found her, but you can
see her if you want.”

The blonde man who’d spoken to Jed and one
female wolf followed Thad back upstairs to look in on Tessa. There
was an uncomfortable silence as everyone waited to hear how she
was. A few moments later, the two wolves walked back downstairs and
nodded at the others. “She looks good. She’s lost an ear, but
she’ll live.”

The blonde man turned to Jed. “Thank you for
taking care of my sister,” he said. He didn’t look anything like
Tessa, and I wondered if he was her biological brother or if wolves
just called their pack mates brother and sister. I noticed that
Thad had stayed in Tessa’s room.

“Why don’t you and the pack stay for dinner,
Lionel,” Jed said.

Lionel smiled. “Depends on what you’ll be
feeding us.”

“I’ve got six raw steaks I was going to throw
in the backyard for you, but if you’re going to be an asshole about
it, you can go try to scare up a meal in town,” Jed said. I
couldn’t see his face, but there was a smile in his voice and his
posture was relaxed.

Lionel shrugged. “I checked out the options
on the way through town,” he said. “They look like a scrawny bunch
of humans, barely edible. I suppose we’ll take our chances here, if
you promise to tell us everything you know about the local wolf
pack.”

“We don’t know much.” Jed looked at me.
“Kelsey why don’t you invite Wraith over for dinner.”

I nodded and walked onto the front porch with
my cell phone. The phone rang eight times before Wraith picked up.
He sounded groggy and raw. “Kelsey.”

“Are you okay?”

“No,” he said. “But I will be. What do you
need?”

I wasn’t sure how Wraith would react to the
news that a bunch of wolves were in town and planning to kill his
pack, so I left that out when I invited him to dinner.

“Do you want me to pick you up?” I asked.

“No, no. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you soon.” I
hung up and immediately dialed Angelica.

She answered on the first ring. “What?”

“Hi, Angelica. I’m good thanks, how are
you?”

“What do you want, Kelsey?”

“Look, this probably isn’t my business, but I
just talked to Wraith and he didn’t sound so good. Is Jeremiah
doing okay?”

“He’s fine,” she said, and hung up on me. She
didn’t ask me what was wrong with Wraith or why I was worried about
Jeremiah, which confirmed my fears. I dialed her number again and
left a voice mail message when she didn’t pick up. “If Jed’s right
about reapers and wolves, Bruce is only going to get worse. Please
call me if he does. Please let me help you.” I hung up, wishing I
could do more and knowing I couldn’t. Angelica didn’t want my
help.

Back inside, the wolves were still piled in
the living room, laughing loudly about something. It was my night
to cook, and I decided to make spaghetti. That was easy enough, and
I could make a meat sauce for the carnivores and a veggie sauce for
myself. I still hadn’t had lunch, though, and it was almost two. I
went into the kitchen to fix a sandwich. Lionel followed me in
there and Jed appeared just seconds behind him.

I looked at the two men, who made themselves
comfortable at the kitchen table, and started to fix my lunch. If
they wanted to talk, they’d talk.

“So what’s the story with her?” Lionel asked.
I turned around to see who he was talking about, but both men were
staring each other down across the table.

“Her name’s Kelsey,” Jed said. “Back
off.”

Lionel tsked. “I was just asking. You’re one
of my oldest friends, and I want to know about the girls you’re
sleeping with.”

The knife in my hand fell on the counter with
a loud clatter. I turned around to face the men, but still neither
one of them would look at me.

“We’re friends,” Jed said through gritted
teeth. “Back off.”

Lionel grinned and leaned back in his chair,
clearly pleased with himself. “I would think you’d have learned a
long time ago not to bother trying to lie to me, Jed. She’s got a
great body, I’ll give you that, and her face…” he studied me for a
moment. “Sorry, I hadn’t really gotten to your face, yet.”

Jed looked like he was about to launch
himself over the table at Lionel, so I set my plate down and sat
between them. “And what’s your verdict.”

Jed looked at me, his eyes wide, his mouth
twisted in a scowl.

Lionel gave me a lazy smile that I’m sure he
thought made him look sexy. I thought it made him look a little
silly. He was a good-looking guy, but he couldn’t manage to keep
his expression serious enough to pull off sultry. “Very cute.”

I shrugged. “Thanks. How do you know Jed and
why are you trying to piss him off?”

Lionel laughed a deep rumbly laugh that shook
his whole body. “Because it’s so much fun,” he said. “Isn’t it,
Jed?”

“Do you see me laughing?” Jed tried to keep a
frown on his face, but one corner of his mouth started to turn up.
I couldn’t help feeling little happy bubbles burst inside that he
had gotten so angry on my behalf.

Lionel laughed again. “Come on, Jed. You know
I think you’re adorable when you’re pissed, and I wanted to see how
serious you were about this bitch.”

“Hey,” I said at the same time Jed said,
“Enough, Lionel.”

Lionel’s eyes twinkled and he put his hand
over mine. “I’ve known Jed since he was a kid. His mom wanted to
foster good relations between Varius and the pack, so she sent a
team out every summer to schmooze us and she sent Jed with them.”
He paused and looked at Jed, suddenly serious. “Tessa’s been
talking to me, Jed. I know what’s going on, and I think you’re
making a mistake.”

Jed actually seemed to relax. “I thought you
wanted a fight.”

“That goes without saying,” Lionel said. “But
we can do that later, when there aren’t ladies around. I want to
try talking first.”

“And you think that’s going to work for you?”
Jed asked. “Just stay out of it, okay. I know what I’m doing.”

Lionel laughed. “You don’t know anything,
Jed. You’re thinking with your dick.”

I could feel Jed’s eyes on the top of my
head, but I suddenly found my sandwich fascinating and wondered if
I should leave the room.

“You’re one to talk,” Jed said.

“Well, it worked out for me. But I don’t have
a cold-hearted sociopath for a mother or an obsessive need to
always do the right thing.”

Jed rolled his eyes and shook his head. “What
did you want to talk to Kelsey about?”

Lionel’s smile faded. “What do you know about
Thad, Kelsey?”

I stopped chewing and tried to figure out why
he was interested. He either wanted to know more about Len’s team
or he…. I remembered the way Thad had looked at Tessa, that he had
insisted on staying with her while she slept, and I figured maybe
Lionel was trying to protect Tessa. I didn’t really have anything
good to say about Thad and women, so I decided to say nothing. I
was pretty sure Tessa was capable of defending herself from a
player like Thad. “I don’t know him very well. Why do you ask?”

Lionel rolled his eyes skyward and mumbled
under his breath, like he was looking for heavenly assistance.
“See, Kelsey, that’s not the answer I was hoping for. Thad told me
he works for your father and he’s here for you, so even if I
couldn’t hear your increased heart rate and smell your sweat, I’d
know you were lying. Which would lead me to believe that what you
know of Thad isn’t good.”

That guy was a real piece of work. “Or maybe
I don’t want to give out information about my friends to assholes I
just met.”

Lionel laughed long and hard. I looked at
Jed, and he smiled reassuringly. I was pretty sure Lionel was
straight-up insane, and I tried to avoid making any sudden
movements. “I like her,” Lionel said to Jed when he’d finally
stopped laughing, wiping tears from his eyes. “Not sure she’s too
smart, though, since she doesn’t have the good sense to be afraid
of me.”