WeresDigest (8 page)

“You could be right,” Max said slowly. “But I don’t
think it wise or safe for all three of us to embark on this journey together
and leave Grandfather alone.”

Simon groaned, “Damn, I can’t go now. I’ve several
houses to build for our new tenants before winter sets in. Whoever would have thought
my call for tenants would be so popular? I need every able-bodied man I can
get, and I have to stay to give direction and supervise.”

“Well, what poor man in his right mind would turn down
a free offer to farm a plot of land for himself and his family?” Max said
wryly.

Jake offered, “No need for either of you to leave.
I’ll go.”

“And I can’t travel now, either. And you won’t,” he
said, looking at Jake, “until after my marriage to Carrie.”

“You mean to tell me you really are going to marry
her? You’ve mated with her. That’s all you really needed to claim her.”

“It’s what she wants.”

“So?”

“I made her that promise,” Max said, “and I’ll be
keeping it. You won’t leave until after the wedding, which I’m hoping we can
hold within the month.”

“Let’s join hands, brothers,” Max said.

Simon rose from behind the desk and met Max and Jake
in the center of the library. They joined hands and Max said, “Let’s make a
pact to do our utmost to finding this man, Canton Mason, so he can’t harm
grandfather, or any of us in future. Agree?”

“Agreed!” Simon and Jake bellowed.

Epilogue

December, 1888

Max and Carrie were married in her family’s parish,
St. Patrick’s. Wedding balls rang as Max and Carrie moved swiftly down the
church aisle and outside, into a snowstorm that had arrived that cold winter
morning. It snowed in Great Britain, but not like it did this day. It was
unprecedented for it covered the sidewalks and roads with a blanket of snow,
several inches thick. Still, the frosty weather didn’t dim the enthusiasm of
the wedding guests who cheered and whistled as they poured out of the church
behind the wedded couple.

Max reached into the coach and enveloped his wife’s
body with a white velvet cape, lined in thick ermine, jammed her hands into the
matching muff as he looked into her teary eyes.

“Bloody hell, woman! If I knew marrying you would
bring on the water faucet, I wouldn’t have done it,” he snapped.

Giving him a smile, she reached up and slid her hand
around his neck. On tiptoes, she kissed his lips, rubbing her back against his.
“Thank you,” she whispered.

Max swept her into his arms and took her lips
passionately.

All the while, behind them, their guests howled,
applauded, and whistled. Neither Max nor Carrie heard a sound, so intent and
full of passion did they have for each other.

He released her, assisted her into the carriage, and
waved to the crowd.

“Simon! Jake! Take care of the place while we’re gone.
We’ll be back in a fortnight.”

“Enjoy yourself, Max,” Simon called out in return.
“And don’t worry about Grandfather.”

“In your capable hands, I won’t.”

Max settled in beside his new wife—wife! He still
couldn’t believe it. She was beautiful in her pearl-seeded gown of palest pink,
her ears, and neck clad in the finest freshwater pearls he could purchase.

He pulled her into his embrace and murmured, “I’m
sorry about having to wait for a party, but with Grandfather’s condition and
all, well—”

“I understand, darling. The only party I require is
with you, in that nice Inn where we’ll be staying for a week. Oh, with luscious
food and wine, and a nice comfortable bed, and with you beside me, I don’t
require anything else.”

“I feel the same way.”

“And Dover, no less!” she exclaimed. “Why, I’ve never
seen that part of Britain. It’s all sailboats and the sea, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” he said and released her. “Fortunately,
it will be warmer there then it is in London now, but just a bit. We’ll return
there in the summer, though, next year. I can just see you with the sun
glinting off your hair, and the wind blowing your hair all about.”

Wryly, she said, “Why, a lady can’t wear her hair down
in public, Max.”

“You can. You will. It’s what I want.”

She reached up, tucked a stray lock of his hair behind
his ear. “And who am I to deny my husband, lord, and master?” she purred.

“And beast, as well,” he said dryly as he hauled her
into his arms. His eyes sparkled as he smiled down into her humorous expression.
“I still find it hard to believe you aren’t frightened of what I am.”

“How could I be frightened of an oversized puppy dog?”

“Did you just call me a …puppy?” he growled.

She laughed. “Well, that’s what I thought you were at
first outside the King’s Tavern.”

He set her away from him and folded his arms, a grumpy
look on his face. “You haven’t seen me at my worst, bride of mine. You may
change your mind then, but I won’t allow it. You won’t ever deny me, for I am
all of those things you said, and more.”

His hand slid over her breast and she gasped. “And
what more would that be.”

Once more, he swept her into his arms, settled her on
his lap and murmured against her ear, “Your lover. Forever.”

Installment 2 of
the Dalton brother weres, coming

Soon to www.melange-books.com.

Were-Hearts
by Taylor Evans

Due to the
strains brought about by their were-society, four persons must undergo a
troublesome emotional journey in order to untangle their lives and hearts.
Their worlds and lives will never be the same again;
but can they handle the outcome?

You can email
Taylor Evans at [email protected]

Digests with stories in them by Taylor
Evans:

Vamptations 2... When the Sun Goes Down

Celestial Signs: Digest 1, To Judge Or Not
To Judge,

Sweet-ish Tales Digest, The Teddy Bear Man

* * * *

Dedicated to a special lady
– Natasha Perry, whose book Ruined Hearts is one of
the best historicals I’ve ever read. You’re a special friend and more.

Were-Hearts

By Taylor Evans

Chapter One

Sheriff Letha Laserren looked down at the makeshift
cot where a man lay huddled up in an old gray blanket, shivering with fever and
a chill. She peered at his face closer as she dabbed the sweat from his thick
brow.  She couldn’t believe after ten long years, perhaps more, that he lay
near her, that he’d found his way into her life again. She’d once wanted to
believe Zi-Den Astarus would love her no matter what society thought. No matter
that she could not shift as he could, as was the norm for most of their race.
How could he do this, come back into her life? What could make him come looking
for her?
If
,indeed, it was her he’d sought. She wouldn’t get her answers
until he recovered his strength. That wouldn’t be for days, perhaps a week, if
Doctor Troth was right and the fever had claimed Zi-Den’s system entirely.

Why would Zi-Den cross the Between-lands to come to
Auck, a small border town of misfits? Why travel through the Between-lands’
sporadic climates, hidden patches of danger, and wildlife to reach this place?
For what reasons?

She might still resent what he did to her, but she had
to know why he was here, why he’d made the trek only few had survived. Like
herself. Ten years ago, she’d left the larger city of Strank to get away from
him, his parents, and the bigotry of that damn city; of their society. They’d
all had their part in chasing her away from her old life and here to Auck. Here
to what she’d become.

Letha shrugged off the doubts and the past as she
continued to wipe his brows and face clean before she put the rag aside,
covered him up and then arose. She left the cell and went out into the front
office of the Sheriff’s building. Sheriff Vek Karezz waited for her there.
She’d known him a long time, nearly nine years, and knew most of the swarthy
man’s secrets, as he did hers. Only slightly taller than herself at just over
six foot, he was handsome in a broody way, with his long moon-streaked black
hair that fell over his shoulders. Dressed in a long belted tunic of dark
brown, with pant-leggings and boots to match, he looked formidable, and to
anyone that didn’t know him well, would be.

She gave him a wan smile as he scrutinized her with
his steel-gray eyes.

“That’s him, isn’t it?” He pushed his long hair out of
his face, then folded his large tanned hands in front of his thighs.

“Yeah, that’s Zi-Den.”

“This is too unbelievable.”

“What do you mean unbelievable?” she asked, then went
over to the desk he half sat upon. Pushing some papers off the old rickety seat
in front of the desk, she sat down and then glanced up at his inquisitive face.

“I never gave you the man’s name who married Shaja.”

She frowned, her brows knitted together as she
realized what he meant. “My ex was the one who married your former love Shaja
Reso?”

“Yeah, sounds as bad as your story huh?”

“No worse a sob story than yours, Vek.”

He gave her a gruff glance then grinned-snarled. “Well
put. But I buried my past…”

“It still haunts you, Vek. Don’t lie to me, I use to
sleep in the same room with you at nights. The hunger is still there for both
of us, for the past and the present.”

Letting out a soft, deep laugh, he moved his hip off
the desk and went around to face her. He held his hand out to her and she took
it. Vek pulled her to her feet then jerked her into his arms. Vek growled his
growing hunger for her.

“Yeah, I know. Full moon heat is edging us both and
this just pushed it further along. You sure?”

She wound her arms around him. “Yeah, just cause I
can’t half wolf-shift like you doesn’t mean those tendencies aren’t there,
remember.”

His feral sounds woke up the unobtainable beast within
her. So she couldn’t shift, there were other things she could do, latent powers
that came her way due to her former handicap. She no longer thought her
inability to shift into wolf form a handicap. Vek had helped her realize that.
His genes kept him from doing the same. They were kindred of sorts, plus damn good
friends and lovers. Though their bouts were far between what either might have
liked, they’d enjoyed each other’s bodies and more without the commitment
either wanted to put forth. Her heart might be cold to most, but it and mostly
her body couldn’t deny she had the hots for the hulking were-man. That thought
made her growl with growing passion herself. He couldn’t completely shift to
wolf form, but his wolfman-beast-hybrid state was enough for both of them.

He nodded towards the back room. “Think things will be
quiet then?”

“They’d better be,” she answered him and brought his
head down to hers for a searing kiss.

* * * *

Zi-Den peered through the haziness between his
eyelashes. He blinked slowly at first, aching with excruciating pain as each
lash fluttered open and his groggy mind tried to focus on his whereabouts. One
of the persons’ voices filtered through to his brain. His mind and body were so
weak he thought he’d imagined the voices, the warmth of the rough blanket
wrapped around him. So weak he couldn’t feel the tendency of his inner nature
wanting to shift for protection, for survival. Not until, he’d heard her name,
Letha.

Letha, his ex-wife, the love of his life—the one he’d
betrayed so long ago, and screwed up both their lives. All because of their
society’s rules.

“What do we do with him, Letha?” The other voice, the
man’s hard and edgy—faint recognition, was on the border of his mind, but he
couldn’t recall right now.

“Keep him full of warmth for now. Otherwise he dies
and we don’t get our answers.”

“And after we nurse him to coherency?”

“We’ll decide that at the time.”

Somehow, his brain focused on her slight pause, the
hard edge of hatred in her tone. He knew she would still never forgive him,
even if she knew the truth. But he would probably need her help. If not for
him, then for the others who were relying on him to bring her back to the city.
And the other one too. The man he’d come seeking…

He heard shuffling, perhaps someone leaving. Then he
felt a hand on his sweaty forehead, mopping away the moisture, easing the
feverish brows. Her hand felt so good, so right. How could he have let them
take her, no, drive her away from him? The memories hurt…His brain was thinking
too much. He groaned loudly with the pain, and darkness welcomed him with its
warming comfort.

* * * *

Off to one side of the main office were some living
quarters, complete with a small kitchen, a front room for visiting and
entertaining, if one could call it that, two small bedrooms and a complete
bath, old but functional and clean. It was all the two of them had needed or
wanted. Half the time they shared a room, half the time they didn’t. They’d
waited two years after knowing each other, after learning more about the
other’s secrets and past sadness. They drifted together out of loneliness, out
of savage needs hereditary to their kind. The relationship had its ups and
downs, but worked mostly. Until now. Both struggled with the past as they made
love—then their heat escaladed and the past was put aside as Vek prepared to
thrust his hardness into Letha.

He growled and shoved her beneath him, pulled away
from her even though she nearly barked at him. He wanted more, wanted to forget
with her. He moved her thighs apart, his long tongue lapping up her wetness.
Her extended nails raked down his long spine then across his shoulder blades,
digging in slightly to the top of his neck as his mouth burrowed into her hot
depths. He enjoyed tasting her lush wetness and knew it drove her wild as any
she-beast could be, whether she could shift or not. It didn’t matter to him. He
couldn’t do full-wolf either, a partial beast-man at the most, as he was
now—mostly humanoid, part he-wolf. She had the tendencies though, the feral
moves, lightening quick, the ability to extend her sharp claws and smell scents
as only a wolf-being could. A faint thinness of hair covered her body, her
womanly form, and her brows slightly thickened when those tendencies wanted to
take over, but that’s as far as a wolf or she-wolf she could get.

But she had the rounded body any man could appreciate.
She fit so well against him and when he was with her, when he let go, he could
escape long enough to feel like a man again, to feel at best whole in ways. And
he knew he did the same for her. Vek growled, lapping her with gusto. They
needed to not recall right now, only that each needed the other.

He reached up with extended paw-hands and squeezed her
breasts. So thick and heavy in his hands, he liked their warmth as much as he
did her cunt. He removed one hand from her breast to snake down between their
bodies. He shoved two fingers in and out of her as he lapped her also. She went
wild beneath him but he didn’t stop even when he felt her cum hard. Her
slickness drove him to distraction and he lathed her until she was writhing like
her inner beast should.

He thrust his fingers into harder, as he soon would
his cock. He wanted his heaviness inside her soon, very soon. Vek let out a
loud growl. He continued pumping his fingers in and out of her as he slowly
made his way up her length, licking every inch of her with his tongue. He
sucked hard on one of her breasts then the other. She moved her hips for him,
but he thrust three fingers in her then, rapidly, preparing her for the
thickness of his manhood.

“Now, damn you!” she screamed out, but he waited.

She bucked on his fingers harder, creaming again and
again, just what he wanted. She hadn’t reached her epitome yet, he wanted her
best climax to be when he fucked her hard and long. He leaned down and captured
her lips, her feral growl of need. Letha thrust a hand between their bodies and
grabbed his long shaft. She knew how to work his thick member and used it to
her advantage. He shoved into her long fingers cupped around him.

“Damn you,” his guttural moan excited her, and him as
she responded.

He removed his fingers, as she did hers. He couldn’t
wait any longer and moved his hips against hers; her legs came around his back.
He then shoved his hips to her awaiting ones. In one swift movement, he was
inside her, thrusting his might into her. Her legs wrapped around his backside
and she grabbed his buttocks. He liked it when she half clawed them, held them
tightly, and shoved up against him. Their noises could have probably woken the
dead, but neither cared as they bucked against each other.

He pushed into her with fierce intenseness as he
kissed her deeply, twirling his tongue with hers, enjoying the hot moistness of
both her mouth and her pussy beneath him. She knew how to respond, to feel
against him and didn’t hold back. This would never be taken from them, no
matter what might change with the intruder being here. Vek shoved her harder
and harder, howling with heated intensity and driving those bad thoughts out of
them both. He wanted her to only think of him and his
senses
told him
she wanted the same.

Driving wilder against him, her nails dug deeper into
his butt cheeks, making him howl even fiercer. He pumped her with violent need,
claiming her, making her forget about their pasts, and only about now. The
heated intensity grew and grew, claiming them both, their feral inner beasts
surfacing though they couldn’t completely physically; still the physicialness
of it made her feel as if their beasts connected. Their movements were wild and
savage, their breathing hard and shaking.

She howled with him as the momentum built into a
bestial crescendo, the hectic fires claiming them both at the same time. His
nails dug into her plump breasts as the earth-shattering climax finally hit
them. She rode the wild animalistic waves with him, until nothing but their
aftermath of completeness blocked out all else, save their need to be with each
other. To feel the completing warmth their wild lovemaking had brought to them
both.

Then they both changed into all-human and he held her
within his arms, his warmth comforting her as much as her body heat comforted
him. And for a few hours longer they found the contentment they had needed from
each other. Faintly, at the back of both their minds, they felt the warning,
the aftermath of some chaos gnawing at their existence…