Night Critters (Collection) (14 page)

"Huh. Okay.” Shawn got up and pulled his phone from his pocket. “Let me call Social and see if they have specific requirements for group homes.” He snatched up a pad and stylus. “I'll be on the deck out back. I need some sun.” The last had to be a joke. The guy was a perfect shade of dark chocolate.

Lucky rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his gaze trained on the kitchen drawing. “Yeah, you're right. You'll need heavy-duty appliances. I'll upgrade the order for a full size of everything, if your credit can stand it.” He smiled and begged shamelessly. “I hope so. But if it can't, I'll chip in. This is a cause worth getting behind that's even better than defying old JR just because he's an ass."

Charm blinked, and a cold place in her stomach warmed up. Could it be someone understood her needs? No. He was doing this to piss off his ex-lover. Wasn't he? “You like this idea? But... but... you said JR was your asshole.” The words were out of her mouth before she thought about it.

Lucky grinned and reached across the table to lightly clip her jaw with a gentle fist. “Eavesdropper. Well, he's my brother, actually. We don't like each other very much, but family is family. I can talk bad about him, but I don't like it when anyone else does. Even when they're right.” He stole her coffee and made a face when he sipped. “Like a little coffee with your cream and sugar, babe? Anyway, I know JR is a bully sometimes, but he often does have his reasons. Sometimes even good ones.” He curled his lip and shook his head in clear rejection of his brother's ways. “This time, I think your idea has got to be better than whatever he's planning, since his idea included wiping out forest land."

A whoop sounded out from the kitchen, and Shawn came tearing into the dining room. “Okay, I got the specs from Social. Four kids, two adults max for this square footage. The rep also made suggestions for fencing and play equipment. She's sending the necessary docs to me.” He waved his phone. “So, let's hash out the renovations so I can run for the permits.” He plopped down on the chair he'd vacated earlier.

Hours later, her house was a war zone in the late afternoon light. The main bath was no longer functional and missing all fixtures. A plumber whistled tunelessly while fishing red and blue water lines through the walls. A Dumpster labeled “Bin There, Dump That, Inc.” snuggled up to what was left of the deck, and she watched her appliances being loaded out to a big portable storage unit along with all of her food. An electrician the size of the legendary Paul Bunyan had disconnected the main electrical panel of her house and portable generators chugged in every room. Over the din, he roared that he'd be back in the morning with a newer panel and a pony. What the hell was a pony? She didn't need a miniature horse, so it had to be something arcanely construction.

Charm felt so ignorant about the controlled chaos around her. Worse, everyone kept staring at her as they shut down equipment and packed up tools. The attention was unnerving. She preferred the safety of anonymity. That was why “Rumor” never showed her face.

Charm held her suitcase with one hand and debated going to a hotel or crashing at her parents’ place across town. The noise was incredible, and the dust was worse. Had she been nuts to agree to all this? Obviously, yes.

Lucky appeared beside her, so dusty Charm almost didn't recognize him behind the white paper mask over his nose and mouth. Without a word, he hustled her out the door to his truck. As soon as the front door slammed behind him, he took off the mask. “Come on, Charm. There's no sense in your being there with no water and no electricity.” He nuzzled her neck. “Besides, you're distracting the workers. Pretty Nephs in leather bodices and black skinsuits belong out of sight of lusty construction crews. It's tradition."

"Oh.” Maybe not the most intelligent thing on the planet to say, but an answer nonetheless. The wind bit into her skin and ruffled her feathers, but the breeze promised spring in another month or two. The flight to her parents’ looked less and less appealing. “I'll see if there's room at one of the hotels."

"There won't be. Two conventions rolled into town for the weekend. Would you be willing to make love with me until Monday?” Lucky wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and stroked his knuckles along her cheek.

She'd had time to reconcile herself to Lucky being JR's brother, not his lover, while they'd planned the demolition and reconstruction of her house. Fear and relief had mellowed quite a bit. After all, Lucky and Shawn had enthusiastically dived into helping her with her dream without so much as a tear of sympathy, mushy platitudes, or contemptuous disbelief. “What girl in her right mind wouldn't want a weekend of wild sex with a male who wears jeans like a coat of paint and a tool belt slung low on his hips? Not this feather-wit.” Charm jumped into his arms and ignored the whistles and wolf howls from the crew as they got into their own vehicles.

Lucky conveniently wrapped his arms around her, and his “Mmmph!” of surprise amused her greatly. Charm loved keeping him off balance, but she didn't mean literally. His butt hit the open door of his truck, and he half-sat on the edge of the doorway. His adorable butt on the cold metal probably wasn't comfortable.

Charm shivered uncontrollably, and she wrapped her wings around them both. The things might be a bulky mess to take care of, but they were bitchin’ warm once the insulating air between their bodies and her feathers heated up. Heating up as well was her aching pussy. Charm wanted more. “Take me home and fuck me until I scream, willya?"

Lucky practically threw her in the truck and drove as fast as the road governors allowed to get them to his place, a nice gated condo complex. He keyed in his code while she snuggled close and looked around.

Out of a habit to look for escape routes, she got a fix on the complex's position in the city thanks to a distinctive tall building three blocks east. If she and Lucky kept the relationship, she'd be able to fly back and forth once she'd finished her very first philanthropic project. There'd be more projects, and she hoped Lucky would help her with all of them.

Lucky yanked her inside and slammed the door with one kick. He stripped her clothes off and tossed them around the living room where they lay like flags announcing “Lucky's getting laid!"

Charm was just as eagerly popping his buttons and cursing at his tool belt's buckle, so fair was fair. At least there were no neighbors below to hear the
thunk
when the heavy leather belt full of tools hit the tiles beneath their feet. She was proud to say one of her tosses left his shirt hanging like a drunken sailor over the lampshade. “Hope you don't have roommates, pal. We're announcing our intentions all over this living room.” Their boots hit the floor like a marching band's stomp.

Her skinsuit's obscene pose over the sofa was laughable, with one arm pointing in the direction of the bedroom and the huge bed beyond it. Lucky carried her into the bedroom like some sort of medieval knight carrying a captive.

There was no need for niceties, and Charm didn't want them. After a day of watching him stalk like a hunter after prey, going from worker to worker to give a hand when needed, Charm was pretty worked up already. Who needed fancy words and flowers? She got them, anyway. The room was strewn with rose petals, and candles flickered in the dim light. Lucky smiled like a mischievous boy and flicked a rose petal at her. “I asked for the concierge to deliver them. She's got a romantic heart, I see. I kind of hoped I could talk you into a weekend with me."

Charm frowned a moment at the high-handedness, but she had as much of a mushy heart as the next Neph. The scents of real flowers and vanilla candles did her in. “I'll let you get away with it this time.” She knelt on the bed's edge and faced the headboard so her butt was presented to Lucky. “Come and get me."

Lucky stepped forward so his cock rubbed between her ass cheeks at full mast. His work-roughened hands stroked the place where her butt met her thighs. “I'll just have to make it up to you all weekend, won't I?"

Charm was so hot, she moaned his name and ground her hips into him, letting her wetness slick him up before he even entered. Still, she gasped when she felt his thick cock head slide in, but not move further. “Bastard!"

He chuckled and shoved in all the way. “Patience is a virtue."

Charm wriggled and fluttered her wings like a caught bird. The heat of him filled her up completely. She put her face into his mattress and whimpered. “Not right now it isn't."

Lucky laughed, but the sound was also a bit of a growl as he started to pump in and out of her in a rapid rhythm. Short, hot thrusts beat into her in primal waves, and his strong hands gripped her hips tightly to keep her from falling forward.

Growl? Charm flattened her wings as much as she could on the bed and looked over her shoulder to behold a wonder. Brown fur dusted Lucky's entire body. His blue eyes had changed to lupine gold, but his expression was one of intense concentration. He was so into what he was doing, he was shifting!

Fascinated as she was, the erotic sensations overwhelmed her. There was something exciting about being fucked by a predator who could tear her apart, and the implication of danger increased when his claws dug into her flesh enough to hurt a little. Charm yelped and came, exploding like a boiling teakettle, even while her heart screamed denial of what had happened. Werefolk shifted during sex only when they claimed a mate. Her heart broke for Lucky, because she obviously wasn't good mate material. Talk about ruining a perfectly good screaming orgasm.

Lucky thrust even faster and harder, his breathing harsh and ragged between soft growls as her pussy milked his cock. Charm didn't think he wanted the pleasure to end, either. He howled and shoved in deeply, singing his orgasm to the moon they could see rising out the bedroom window.

Charm remained in position, waiting for her body to subside, even as the tiny thrusts of Lucky spilling his seed deep inside her rocked her body with more orgasmic waves. Finally, she fell forward on the bed, exhausted. Unfortunately, the movement meant she lost the wonderful feeling of fulfillment, and Charm whimpered at the loss.

Still shuddering, Lucky crawled forward to join her on the pillows. His breathing slowly returned to normal, and he gathered her to him to snuggle in the protected hollow of his arms. “Girl, you could wear out a satyr."

Charm sniggered. Obviously, he was unaware of his halfway shift to furry, and she didn't want to tell him just yet. “I don't know any satyrs to find out, so you'll just have to do, fur-boy."

Lucky mumbled sleepily, “Ask Shawn. He's married to one.” His next breath snored just a little. His arms slowly relaxed and fell away from her.

Most girls might have been pissed off to have their lovers fall asleep on them. Not her, and not this time. As much as Charm wanted to remain with Lucky and be his mate, she was on a mission. She had to make good on the promise she'd made so long ago. She couldn't be his wife, not now. Best to go before he got around to asking for what she couldn't give.

One tear slid out of her eye, and Charm let it roll to the pillowcase. Maybe his sensitive were-critter nose would smell the sorrow in the tiny drop. She had to leave now, before her heart ruled her head and she welched on her debt to the others. Charm kissed his forehead, deliberately leaving all the lipstick she had left where he'd see it in the morning. It was her promise to return, someday.

Careful not to disturb him, Charm sneaked into the living room, dressed, and flew away before she changed her mind.

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Lucky slammed the phone down on its charger and suppressed the urge to bay like a hound dog. He crossed another lead off his list. One week since he'd awakened alone in his bed, with only a feather on the floor and lipstick on his forehead as a souvenir. When Lucky wasn't at Charm's house supervising repairs and meeting inspectors, he'd harass whomever it took to get her back.

She'd been thorough in her moving out process. All her equipment was gone by the time he'd awakened and driven back to the house. Wherever she'd gone, she intended to be there awhile. Worse, privacy laws meant Lucky couldn't trace her without a legal reason, like non-payment of bills. Somehow, she'd even managed to send the entire amount of her bail money to him via the pack accountant and set up a fund for him to draw on to pay the subcontractors for all the work done on her house.

Lucky'd received one word—literally—from his calls to her show's offices in New York. Some admin type had forwarded the word “Patience” to him, again through the pack accountant. The prim old werewolf bitch wasn't giving an inch of information. Screw patience. Lucky gnawed on the word like a puppy teethes on a rawhide bone.

Shawn looked up from his desk, where he had been ordering the tiles and shower enclosure for the new master bath. An ecstatic Social Services worker had provided the kid wranglers—as Shawn had dubbed the live-in foster parents—and all three had toured the renovations with increasing enthusiasm. Apparently, there was a long list of kids waiting for a decent home. Shawn's dark eyes were full of sympathy. “No luck finding our angel, huh?"

"None.” Lucky winced at his barking tone. “Sorry. Dammit, Shawn. Somehow she's got an in with my pack, and wherever she's flown to she's deeply hidden.” He ran frustrated hands through his hair. “She helped me shift. For the first time in my life, I achieved a partial shift."

Shawn tapped a stylus against his lips. “Excuse the human ignorance pal, but doesn't that mean she's your life mate?"

Lucky put his face in his hands. “Yes. I'm a Faux Paws. Without her, I can't shift. I found my life mate, and she ran like a scared rabbit, probably because she doesn't like her sex on the furry side."

Shawn was the kind of partner who knew just what to do when a were-creature was in pain. “Come on, Lucky. A little hard work will get out a few frustrations. She'll have to surface eventually for the closing when she donates the house to Social Services. Let's finish so we can flush your bird out of hiding.” He pulled the flash key out of the port and stowed it safely away. “Let's go make sawdust."