WeresDigest (3 page)

He gave her a devilish grin. “The light isn’t the
best.”

She looked at him and realized he was the same man
she’d seen in the tavern several times in recent days. Uneasiness settled
inside her then as she wondered about him. Carrie remembered him as he sat with
a man who resembled him—likely a very close relative—night after night,
watching people come and go—watching her as they drank their ale. But once
again, he pulled her into his arms and she willingly went.

He smacked his hand against her bottom and she
shrieked in surprise, then groaned when he held her against his groin and
ground himself against her again. She knew she should pull away, but she
couldn’t for he’d started kissing her again. The man wasn’t giving her a chance
to do anything but submit to his desires, to his passion, which was fine since
she desired him just as much, possibly more.

* * * *

Max had found her—his love—his mate. At twenty-seven,
he’d been fearful of ever finding her, yet here she was, in his arms, willing
and wanting him. He was stunned for she was far from being a lupine, but a
beautiful human woman. Never had he imagined his mate to be anything but
lupine, yet he wasn’t disappointed.

As he kissed her sweet lips, cupped her small, firm
buttocks, and pressed her against his erection, all he could think was to take
her up against the wall, like the beast that he was.

Beast.
Damn
it to all bloody hell, he was that, and she’d seen him. Several months ago,
he’d scented and had been drawn to her. Skulking along the shadows on the
streets of London each night in his wolf form, he followed her scent. He’d
found her and she was his; he’d never allow her from his life. He couldn’t, for
without her he believed he would surely die. They were mated for life and he
would love and protect her.

She wasn’t beautiful, not by society’s standards with
her wildly curled brown hair tinged with golden highlights hanging over her
shoulders, wide brown eyes, and slightly plump body, yet she was beautiful to
him, and that’s all that mattered.

Carrie had questioned him, but he’d managed to divert
her queries with his questing hands and passionate kisses; yet then he
remembered why else he’d been drawn into the dark alley; not just because of
her, but because of another woman, who lay dead nearby, poor soul. He prayed
Carrie wouldn’t see her for it was a grisly sight. The woman’s throat had been
slit ear to ear.

“Come home with me,” he whispered against her lips.
God in heaven but he felt ready to ignite into flames at the touch of her lips.
He wanted to take her, his heat bearing down on him now that he’d found her.
His heat and pain, since reaching adolescence, had been building, and he’d
learned to manage it, but now, he was on the verge of releasing his heat on
her, full force, seeking relief, believing she would provide it. “Now that I’ve
found you I can’t let you out of my sight.”

She gasped and he damned his persistence, not wanting
to frighten her away.

Her arms came down from around his neck. Max lowered
his arms from around her and she stepped back. With a scowl, he asked, “Why are
you surprised? From the kisses we’ve shared, you must know that I want you—need
you.
More then breath itself.

Her hand went to her throat and he followed her
nervous movements, damning himself for pushing himself onto her too fast, too
insistently.

“Why, I don’t even know your name.”

“Would a name really matter? Seems to me my kisses
told you more about me, and how I feel, than my name. What difference would it
make?”

“I just need to know.”

The defiant lift of her chin, and her hands on her
hips as she stood before him, made him nearly laugh aloud. She was a sweet,
tantalizing woman and he meant to have her. Carrie was his mate, for life. She
wouldn’t be able to deny him for he’d convince her with his loving embraces and
fervent kisses.

He decided to give her what she wanted, seeing how
important it was to her, yet a sense of foreboding filtered through him at the
thought. Still, he said, “I am Max, Miss Sweeney.” He took her hand, lifted it
to his lips, and kissed it, his eyes lingering on hers.

Carrie gasped, “How did you know my name?”

Max laughed. “Don’t you remember? You told me a few
minutes ago.” He grinned at her suspicious smile, lessening now at his
explanation. “And just so you know, sweetheart, I mean to make you my ma—my
wife.”

She shook her head and stepped back another step.
“Your wife, you say?”

“I know my mind, sweet Carrie.”

“We’ve just met, so how can you know we suit each
other? Why, we would need to court
some first and…”

“I-just-know. But,” he relented, “if you want to be
courted, I shall, with great delight.”

Max didn’t want to frighten the poor woman away by calling
her his mate. A young woman such as she would be afraid, yet he knew she’d
accept the term soon. She had no choice. When a Lupine found his mate, it was
for life, no matter what. Relief flooded him when he saw her tentative smile
and her body relax.

“Max is a good, strong name,” she said, slipping into
a curtsy. “I am most happy to meet you.”

“The feeling is mutual,” he murmured, reaching out and
sweeping her back into his embrace once more. “Now come home with me.”

“Why, I can’t!” She pressed her palms against his
shoulders. “My mum would worry about me.”

Mother? Damn, but then, she shouldn’t be too difficult
to maneuver around. Now a father might be more troublesome. “And your father?”

“I’ve none, alas.”

Breathing easier, he said, “Then take me home to meet
your mother so that I may gain her blessing on our future marriage.”

She scowled and pulled his arms from around her. “What
ever happened to courting me?”

Max’s hands came to his hips and he nodded. “I will,
with the outcome of us marrying sooner than later.”

The big clock bell at Westminster nearby chimed the
hour of two and she sighed. “’Tis much too late to meet my mum. She’s abed. But
come by tomorrow and you may meet her, and tell us about yourself.”

Reluctant to release her, he still said, “Gladly!”
before reaching for her again. But then he paused when he heard the clopping of
several horses’ hooves on the cobblestones as they entered the alley.
Recognizing the scent of the law, he knew he had to leave. He didn’t want to leave
Carrie, but knew he must, not wanting to be implicated in the murder of the
woman. So he started swiftly moving away and down the alley, saluted her with a
smile and said, “Until tomorrow!”

“But…wait! Max!” She paused when mounted constables
came to a stop in front of her and she backed up against the brick tavern wall,
her eyes widening in terror at their bold action. Then she heard an officer
swear and the two before her wheeled their horses around and moved just a few
scant feet away.

“My God!” one constable said to another as he knelt
down alongside several empty crates, or so Carrie thought until she drew
nearer, following them. Then she screamed at the sight of a woman wearing a
gown fit for a queen. Her throat had been slit, ear to ear, and blood poured
from the wound.

Carrie’s stomach heaved and her vision dimmed as she
fainted.

Chapter
Two

Jake Dalton raked his fingers through his hair and
groaned, “Why in the hell didn’t you just lure her here to the castle?”

“Don’t you know I’m cursing myself for showing up at
the King’s Tavern?” Max growled, meeting the accusatory look on his brother’s
face. “But damn, I can’t get the woman out of my mind, ever since the first
moment I discovered her scent, ever since I first set eyes on her. She’s the one,
Jake.”

Max paced from one end of the spacious library to the
other, his steps long and sharp. Pausing in front of leaping flames in the
hearth, he looked at Jake who sprawled in a deep cushioned chair, legs splayed
out in front of him.

Jake raised his brow. “She’s the girl we’ve been
seeing every night for the past few weeks then, isn’t she?” At Max’s nod, Jake
added, “At that time of night, you meant for her to see you then in wolf form?”

“No. I knew she worked until nearly midnight. I wasn’t
expecting to see her outside any earlier than that.”

“Ah, so you would have changed back to your human form
by then, if she’d come out later. By the way, you could have brought her
home—we don’t share
every
woman.” He sank lower in his chair and looked
at Max accusingly. Max sighed, seeing his angry, hurt expression. “If you’d
told us you believed she was your mate, we would have left her to you, you know
that,” Jake said.

Max frowned. “I know, and I planned on bringing her
home, but time was not on my side this evening.”

He knew he was lucky to have his brothers in his life.
At the young age of three, they’d been found wandering in the forest north of
London, and were adopted by a farmer and his wife who already had several
children. Peter and Nora Cullum had loved them as their own, even when the
brothers had reached puberty and had changed from human to wolf form in front
of their eyes.

When the change had first come upon them, Peter and
the family hadn’t been frightened, but curious, and needed to know more about their
unusual sons. So, while at the marketplace where the sold their crops, they
asked questions until they found someone who knew of a shape-shifter family who
might help them.

David Chamberlain, a physician and Lupine wolf pack
leader in London, examined the boys and had proclaimed them as decidedly
were-shifters, and cursed with traits he’d never seen before—the ability to
shift into werewolf form each and every evening, and not just with a full moon.
Ironically, the boys changed with the rising of the moon some time before
midnight, not always simultaneously, and not always did they stay in their
wolves’ form for the same amount of time. With each evening’s change,
Chamberlain also knew the boys, as they grew into adulthood, would experience
the beastly painful desire to mate. Particularly painful would be the evening
once a month, of a full moon. Chamberlain had explained to the Cullum’s how, as
the boys aged, the pain would increase—and the only thing that would ease the
pain would be finding a mate.

Max and his brothers had been dealing with this pain
for years. Philosophically, Max thought, it was only pain, not death—thought it
felt like it at times. Soon they would all find their mates and find the relief
they needed.

The Cullen family returned to their farm, happy now to
at least know the reason for why their sons changed each evening into
werewolves, scampering off into the woods during the
evening hours,
hunting and rutting. The change occurred as the moon rose in the sky, but by
midnight they changed back to human form. Their change was short-lived, which
was a good thing to the Cullens’ mind.

Cynical laughter exploded from Max then. “Isn’t it
strange that none of us has found our mates yet, until now? From all the talk
at the Weres’ Den, it happened to the others much earlier.” He sank into a
chair beside Jake and joined him in gazing into the fire. “You know, of course,
the constable will be here soon for me, don’t you?”

Jake shrugged. “Likely just to ask you a multitude of
questions about the murdered woman. By the way, did you know her?”

“No.”

“Any scent from the murderer?”

Max thought a moment before replying. “Yes, as a
matter of fact.”

Jake narrowed his eyes on his brother. “Then who is
it, damn it. You must tell the police, or they’ll be after you.”

“I’ll get my name cleared.” Max stated then asked his
brother, “Who do you think?”

“Not human or were, I believe. And, from the
discomfiting look on your face, I’d say vampire or, possibly wizard.”

 “You know, of course, our loyal friends at the Were’s
Den all know what happened, and are referring to you as Jack the Ripper, don’t
you? The woman told the police she saw you in the alley the moment she came out
the door, in the near proximity of the woman. When the constables asked her if
she saw you commit the murder, she told them she hadn’t, but that since you
were the only one in the alley, you must be the killer. She added that you
likely were trying to conceal the evidence by pressing your unwanted attentions
on her, including kissing her.”

“Yes, I’d heard the reference upon my arrival at the
Den after leaving Carrie this evening. My God, the place turned quiet as a tomb
when I entered. It’s ridiculous and uncalled for. I am, after all, innocent
until proven guilty in a court of law. Besides, we don’t use knives as
weapons.” His grin deepened to show sparkling white teeth with long incisors.
“You know that with these we’ve no need.”

“True. Well, it seems you have nothing to worry about
then,” Jake said, “since your life’s mate saw you. She will give you her
complete loyalty and trust once she learns this.”

“Yes, well, now I need to convince her of that fact,”
he said dryly. “When I told her I meant to propose, she seemed doubtful,
unbelieving. It was unfortunate that she saw me in wolf form first.”

“Damn,” Jake muttered as he slumped even lower in his
seat.

Max sighed. “And then, right before her eyes, I
changed, as usual just before the stroke of midnight. I tried hiding in the
shadows but she saw me, yet I managed to convince her, rather well, that I am a
mere man, and not an animal.

Jake grinned. “Now how did you manage to do that? Or,
do I even want to know?

“I kissed her. More than once.” Looking directly at
his brother, he added, “She’s mine, Jake, and I am going to meet her mother on
the morrow. And,” he added, his voice low and harsh, “
This
woman I won’t
be sharing with you and Simon.”

“Not if she’s your life mate,” Jake snapped. “As for
meeting her family, well, that’s only if she doesn’t have second thoughts about
you. What she reported to the constables doesn’t bode well for you.”

At a knock on the door, the brothers exchanged looks.
Rising from his chair, Jake said, “I’ll
let them in.”

* * * *

The constables, dressed in identical dark blue
uniforms with gold epaulettes and rounded crown hats walked down the stairs,
shaking their heads. The man were older, close to leaving their jobs for
retirement.

McTavish was as Scottish as can be, with a brawny
built, blessed with firey red hair, bushy beard and eyebrows and bright blue
eyes. James Henry was tall and slim with thinning brown hair, but blessed with
a razor sharp mind.

The constables had ferreted out many a criminal, and
would, eventually, solve the murder of the poor woman found behind The King’s
Tavern.

 “Well, now,” said Constable Frank McTavish as he
strode from Darkwirth Castle and mounted his horse. “That was a waste of our
fine time.”

Constable James Henry shrugged. “How can we dispute
the fact the two brothers were together the entire night, at the Weres’ Den,
not the King’s Tavern?”

“Because Carrie Sweeney doesn’t lie,” Frank spat.
“I’ve known the girl for years, and she’s as honest as the day is twenty-four
blinking hours long.”

“And who would the law believe? A tavern girl or the
Duke of Freemont’s grandson?”

“Point taken,” Frank said, “But, by God, I hate it
when you’re rational.”

* * * *

Inside Castle Darkwirth, Max watched them ride away
and sighed. “God, I hate making a liar out of Carrie, but what could I do? I’ll
make it up to her. Thanks for being my alibi, by the way.”

“Yes, you did say she’s your mate and that you will
marry her,” Jake said. “Hmm, it might have helped if you’d told McTavish and
Henry that you plan on marrying Carrie. Now I’m certain the poor girl will be
put under inquisition by them. I got the distinct feeling they didn’t believe
you hadn’t a part in the murder, since you happened to be there when Carrie
left the tavern.”

Max nodded. “Rest assured, the constables will leave
me on their list as a suspect, but the two have an excellent record in finding
true criminals. Soon they’ll find the murderer, and my name and Carrie’s will
be cleared. But count on this, brother, Carrie and I will marry sooner than
later.”

“I imagine, though, this changes you meeting her
family on the morrow.”

“It does.” He shrugged. “There’s nothing to do but
capture her, I suppose. And bring her back here.”

“What!” Jake exploded, splattering fine sherry all
over the front of his impeccable pale gray frock coat. “Damn,” he said, looking
down at his coat. “This is my favorite jacket.”

Max stifled his laughter. “I’ll buy you another.”

Jake hauled himself to his feet. “Damned right you
will. Besides, I believe I’m due a new coat, anyway.”

“You know, you put Beau Brummel to shame, brother.”

Jake’s smile wreathed his face. “Why, thank you, Max.
That’s a wonderfully generous compliment from you. Explain to me how you plan
on enticing Miss Sweeney to our home.”

“Hadn’t thought of a plan yet. But I think the
simplest thing is for me to wait until she leaves the tavern at the end of the
night and snatch her. Where’s Simon? You know how fleet of foot he is. I think
I’ll need his assistance.”

“And you’ll have it.”

Max looked up and saw Simon sauntering into the
library.

“It’s not every day a man finds his life mate,” Simon
said with a toothy smile. “Congratulations.” Simon took a seat on the divan
across from his brothers.

Max scowled. “Just so long as you remember she’s
my
life mate.”

Simon sighed. “I’m crushed. You know I’d never steal a
woman…from either of you.”

“Right,” Max and Jake said simultaneously.

While Max and Jacob were charming, handsome men,
rarely without feminine companionship, Simon had the fairer sex breathing down
his neck, nearly day and night. There was something about his brother that
seemed to attract them all, with little effort on his part. For one thing, he
was a charming bastard with a perpetual glint of lust in his eyes, and when he
gazed upon a woman, she melted before him. He was also the strongest, and the fastest—a
man with enviable control over his large frame, and unending charm.

* * * *

Max sat on his haunches at Simon’s feet, his enormous,
muscular, furry body squashed into their coach, his tongue hanging out, looking
up expectantly at Simon.

Simon sighed and patted his brother’s blonde, shaggy
head. “Thank God we don’t all change at the same time. I figure by the time
you’re changing back to man, I’ll be in my wolf form. By then, I’ll have
snatched Miss Sweeney before she reaches her home, then you can battle her into
submission on the ride to the castle while I hunt to my canine’s delight. He
arched one eyebrow. “Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?”

He nearly laughed outright when he saw Max duck his
big head down, then slump to the floor and close his eyes.

Wouldn’t you know it but the King’s Tavern on the east
end of London was late in closing this evening, and Miss Sweeney had yet to
leave the place, Simon thought, exasperated. Once she did, he’d have his driver
follow her awhile. Max had learned she lived in the next neighborhood and, this
late at night, rarely could a soul be found ambling the streets. Frankly, he
was amazed Carrie Sweeney had the bravery to do such a foolish thing but she
did; each and every evening she walked home alone, over a mile.

Frowning, he realized it was not only foolish, but
dangerous. It was late September, and two women had been found murdered in the
last few weeks, strangled, and then their throats cut. No, it was very unwise
for Miss Sweeney to walk home.

Simon saw the front door open. Finally! The
astonishingly pretty woman strode outside, pulled her wool cloak closed and
started walking briskly down the street. Being some distance away, Simon
couldn’t see her face clearly, but her figure was undeniably curvy and he understood
now why Max wanted her. But then, she could be the ugliest woman ever born and
if she was his mate—then there was no denying it. When a shifter found his
mate, he found her, no matter how she looked, or what sort of person she was.

Shivering in his seat, Simon decided he should have
worn his coat, but too late now. He’d forgotten how the temperatures plummeted
after nightfall in September.