Authors: Elena Aitken
His to Seduce (14 page)
E
lena Aitken is
a USA Today Bestselling Author of more than twenty romance and women’s fiction novels. Living in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains with her twins and two cats, Elena escapes into the mountains whenever she gets a chance and can often be found with her toes in the lake working on her next book and dreaming about happily ever after.
I
t was
one of those January mornings in the mountains where it looked like everything had been dusted with glitter overnight. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun blasted over the newly fallen snow making it sparkle with a brilliance that hurt your eyes. Some people would call it magical. Kade Jackson was not one of those people.
He shrugged into his parka and pulled a knit cap over his head before grabbing the thick leather gloves off the table by the door before heading out to clear the snow that had accumulated over night.
Normally it would be his older brother Luke’s job to drive the plow and make sure the drive way and parking area were clear of snow and ice, but Luke’s mate, Chloe was back from a business trip and Kade wasn’t totally insensitive to the fact that they hadn’t seen each other in a week. He also wasn’t completely clueless about the fact that he likely wouldn’t see either of them for the majority of the day. They’d be locked up in their cabin doing—he didn’t want to think about it.
But he couldn’t help but think of it. It had be too long since he’d scratched his own itch down in town. A very long time. A fact his bear was reminding him of more an more these days. It didn’t seem to matter how much he tried to squelch the animal inside him, it was just getting worse. A lot worse.
His bear wanted out. Needed out. His brothers would say it was making him crazy by keeping his animal at bay the way he had for so long, but there wasn’t any other option. The shifter in him would cause nothing but trouble. Just the way it had for his twin sister, Kira. Because of her bear, she’d allowed herself to fall for a fated mate—not that he necessarily believed in that—and she’d run off to a different clan tearing their family apart.
It was because of Kira and her shifter blood that Kade and his brothers had been banished from their clan and were now trying to make a life on Grizzly Ridge.
It’s a good life.
But it wasn’t the life they were supposed to have. Alone. Away from family. And all because of one choice. But even as he trudged through the knee deep snow and felt the bite of the cold air on his nose, he couldn’t complain about the way things had turned out. At least, he couldn’t complain too much. He did miss his family. His grandfather, cousins and everyone else back in Jacksonville. Mostly he missed Kira. A lot. Sure, he had his brothers, and he was grateful for that everyday, even when they made him crazy. But there was a bond between twins that couldn’t be ignored. Especially in bears. From the moment she left, he’d been missing a piece of himself.
“No point thinking of that now,” he muttered under his breath and tucked his face down into his parka a little further. “Won’t change anything.”
And it wouldn’t. But it didn’t stop him from thinking of it. Every. Day.
With it being so cold, and the blizzard from the night before, so fresh, Kade didn’t plan on seeing his oldest brother, Axel or his mate, Harper, either. At least not for awhile. Harper was struggling with a difficult pregnancy, little cubs could do that, and since they didn’t have any guests until the weekend, there as no real reason for anyone to brave the frosty morning.
Which is exactly why Kade was up. Shifting into his bear and enjoying a good run on the ridge would definitely be the best way to satisfy the discontent inside him, but since he’d taken that off the table as an option, it was best if he was alone as much as possible. He wasn’t totally ignorant to the way his bothers and their mates looked at him lately. Concern all over their face, pity even. He knew they all thought all his problems could be cured by a shift.
They were wrong.
He made his way to the back door of the garage where they stored the truck and plow. There were footsteps in the snow, and a small path cleared. No way Luke had left Chloe’s bed on a morning like this one. He pushed his way into the garage and was immediately greeted with a blast of warm air. And Axel.
“Morning, brother.”
Kade pulled off his knit cap and ran his hand through his hair. “What are you doing here?”
The truck had recently been parked, the engine still warm, snow dripping from the sideboards. Axel lounged against the workbench and poured himself a cup of coffee from a thermos. “I was just going to have a cup of coffee. Want one?”
Kade nodded and walked closer, but tilted his head in the unanswered question in the air.
“I just finished the drive,” Axel said as way of explanation.
“The drive?” Kade accepted the coffee with a nod. “You plowed the drive?”
“I did.” Axel raised his own mug in a toast but shrugged and took a sip of the brew when he didn’t get one. “I knew Luke would want to stay in this morning.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“I wasn’t sure you’d be so eager to do it this morning either.”
Something in his brothers’s tone, had Kade’s instincts on alert. What was left of his instincts anyway, a year [check timeline] of not shifting into his bear had dulled his senses and his instincts considerably. It was starting to be a bit concerning. Not that he’d tell his bothers that.. “Why wouldn’t I want to plow the drive? I don’t mind.”
“I know. But today is a little different since…”
“What the hell are you not saying, Axel? We’re a little too old for the games, don’t you think?” Kade slammed the mug down on the counter sending the hot liquid sloshing over his hand, but he didn’t flinch. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“The new cook arrives today,” Axel said simply.
“Fuck.”
He’d totally forgotten. And part of him had hoped that he’d finally made his point about hiring a chef when that was clearly his job. It had been a subject that Axel and Luke wouldn’t let go in the busy fall season, but Kade had made himself more than clear at Christmas time that he not only didn’t need help, he didn’t want it and it wouldn’t be welcomed.
“Well, I don’t know if that’s the best attitude, little brother. A little help in the kitchen might be just what you need.”
“Need for what?”
“To relax.” Axel put his coffee down and made a move to walk towards him. A move Kade quickly blocked with one hand up.
“I don’t need to relax. I don’t need to shift and I sure as hell, don’t need a mate, Axel. So back off. Now.”
Almost anyone else would have been intimidated by Kade. He was big man at six foot three and two hundred and sixty pounds of solid muscle. His time in the mountains and mostly self imposed time alone, had only added to his tough guy look with a scruff of beard on his chin that he mostly didn’t bother to shave off, and a slightly wild lock in his eyes. He knew exactly why his family was concerned about him, and his appearance was definitely on the top of the list. But as his big brother, and the alpha of their small little castoff clan, Axel wasn’t intimidated. He only shrugged. “I’ll back off when you admit you need a little help.”
“I do not need help.” He gritted the words out through clenched teeth. “What I need is for all of you to back off.”
“What you need little brother, is to own your bear. Someone in the kitchen to take the load off will give you the time to figure out what the hell is going on with you so you can sort your shit out once and for all.”
“My shit is just fine.” He turned and stalked to the far end of the garage. A little distance was what he needed if he was going to keep his fist away from his brother’s face. Not that a little fight wouldn’t feel really good right about now. Really damn good. But no. Kade stared the garage wall for a moment, taking the time to collect his thoughts. “I thought we decided not to hire a cook.”
“No,” Axel said slowly. “You decided not to hire anyone. I made an executive decision. Well, along with Harper, Luke and Chloe. We all think it’s for the best. Not only for you, but also for the Ridge and our guests.”
“The guests eat just fine.” He still wouldn’t turn around.
“Yeah, they do. It’s the attitude of the cook that’s not so great. We can’t have you flying off the handle all the time, Kade. You’re like a bomb that’s just waiting to detonate. It has to stop. You can show the new chef the ropes and start slowly if you want, but like it or not, you’re getting help. Today.”
“The last thing I want is some other guy in my kitchen screwing with anything.” He turned and glared at his brother.
“Good,” Axel said with a smirk. “Because I didn’t say anything about the new chef being a guy.”
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