There's Something About Werewolves: Seven Brides for Seven Shifters, Book 1 (3 page)

Ian smiled to show dominance more than good nature. “Your delay won’t play here, Wolfman Jack. Nox asked to join us. He’s one of mine now.”

“The hell he is.” Garrett growled.

“What are you two talking about?” Lennox looked to Ian. “How could you have figured out you’re related so fast? And why do you think that gives you any rights to this man’s son.”

“This man?” Garrett’s brow furrowed at the offensive words. “Why are you talking about me like you don’t know me, Elle?”

Before Lennox could answer, Ian jutted his chin toward Garrett. “Some things you just know, sweetheart. Ask him.”

Garrett paused. Although he favored telling Lennox everything, he knew the timing wasn’t good. “I won’t deny our kinship or that Nox has reached an age when it’s his right to chose a clan.” Garrett leaned forward, allowing amber to burn behind his eyes. “I won’t let you keep my son either.”

Had Nox lost his mind? He’d just turned twelve and, by wolfen law, could choose his own pack. But how had he known and why did he do it? If his son had done this just to get close to the godmother he’d heard so much about, Garrett would take the blame. Wolf packs got people killed. Garrett had lost enough in his life. He sure as the moon wasn’t about to risk his son.

“I don’t get it. What the hell are you two talking about? Do you know each other from somewhere else? Or has everyone gone crazypants in here?” Lennox got more agitated with each word.

They both ignored her.

“You don’t have a choice, Wolfman Jack,” Ian said.

Garrett pushed off the table, baring his teeth. “Do you think you can stop me?” No threat. All promise.

Ian shrugged, inclining his head. “Maybe. Maybe not. But look around you.”

Garrett raked the room with his peripheral vision. He’d made a major mistake. It’d been so long since he had to deal with other wolves he hadn’t scouted his surroundings. More than half the patrons in the diner watched him with flickering amber eyes. He’d blundered into Ian’s territory. No escape, not likely he could take down a pack by himself. Not without hurting the two people he cared about.

Slowly, so they knew this wasn’t surrender, Garrett sat down and wrapped an arm around Nox.

A sharp nod put the pack at ease. Ian studied Garrett for a moment. Then gave Nox a faint smile, as if to tell him not to worry. “Here’s how it’ll go down. I don’t want to tear your family apart, Wolfman. You prove you can give Nox a home without denying any part of his heritage and we’ll let him go.”

Ian took a sip of his juice. He seemed stressed out by the situation. Garrett snarled. He had no idea what stress was. Let some werewolf bastard hold his son hostage.

Ian’s gaze slid from Nox to Lennox to Garrett. “Otherwise he stays. And we both know there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

Chapter Three

Lennox grabbed two glasses off the table and splashed juice in both men’s faces. Ruby-red liquid drenched them from eyebrows to shirtfronts. The heat of the moment dissipated in a series of sputters and curses. While they dragged napkins across their faces, she stood. “Nox, come here right now.”

The boy only hesitated a moment before he ducked under the table and crawled out to her. With her arms around Nox’s shoulders Lennox turned him so they both faced Ian and his father.

In through the nose and out of the mouth
, she whispered to herself, following suit until she stopped shaking. Ian and Garrett stood supernaturally fast and took two steps towards her. “Stop.” The order reverberated through the room. They froze but, dammit, they were a scary pair of bastards.

Ian’s heaving chest, lean body, Nordic coloring, and eyes in a shade she could only call blue gold, sounded the alarm for a Viking onslaught. Garrett’s stillness, huge body, Mediterranean looks, and cognac-flambé eyes promised running away would make destroying her sweeter. He’d done it before. He could easily leave her in ruins again.

Squaring her shoulders, Lennox stared them both down. She’d had no choice but to pull Nox out of there. They’d been growling and snarling at one another in a rage. “I don’t know what the hell is wrong with you two, but I’m not letting you put Nox through your nonsense.”

“I’m okay, Leni,” Nox said, looking up at her.

Really? Lennox had run out of gas about six miles outside of okay and gotten stranded. “Glad to hear it,” she said. “Let’s maintain the status quo.”

The men took another step forward in unison.

“Don’t play with me,” Lennox warned, holding out a hand. “Hey, Jules?”

“Yeah?” Juliana Perlas, her right-hand woman, walked through the swinging kitchen doors. Jules took in the drop-dead quiet in the diner and quirked a brow. “Am I going to need my shotgun for this? I sure do enjoy shooting folks, Ian Somers and Dillon Reardon especially.”

“No guns.” Garrett took another step forward. Something cold glinted in his eyes.

“Jules, you don’t get all growly and snarly with weird-flickering eyes, do you?” Lennox kept Garrett and Ian in her sights.

“Not since I cussed you out for taking my nacho bacon waffles off the menu.”

Fair enough. Lennox nodded. “Then do me a favor. Take Nox to my place and stay there with him and Gran.” On second thought, in deference to the dangerous look on Garrett’s face, she added, “Leave the shotgun where it is.”

Jules muttered a couple of choice expletives in response. If her friend and head cook hadn’t already dyed a blue streak into her hair, Lennox would swear she’d cursed it up. Satisfied Nox would be safe with Jules, Lennox spun him around. “Listen, go with my friend for now so I can straighten things out with Ian and your dad.”

The boy hesitated, looking to his father. “Please,” Lennox said, gripping his shoulders tighter. “I promise you I’ll work things out for the better.”

Nox smiled pure sunshine, kissed the tip of her nose, and trotted off to join Jules. Lennox waited until Jules’s truck pulled out onto the street and rolled by before she addressed the savages standing in the middle of her diner.

She cleared her throat. “Listen up,” she said so everyone could hear. “You can all go back to minding your business.” A few folks grumbled, apparently enjoying the show. Ian’s crew stood at the ready. They’d fallen into place behind their leader. She’d always wondered about their allegiance to him, but LuPines was a small town and she figured their family histories bound them together. Now she had her doubts.

“Ian’s crew too. Mind your business.”

Faye spoke up. “Ian and Nox are our business.”

Oh great. Our lady of contentiousness had joined in. This day had no intentions on relenting, did it? Lennox rubbed a hand over her face. She had a bad habit of doing that. She’d gotten it from Garrett. Good thing she’d also picked up the complementary habit of wearing smudge-proof mascara. Reformed tomboys didn’t keep their makeup on without a few tricks. Lennox had reinvented herself but she’d remained a tomboy deep down. Reflecting on her hard-won ladylike status calmed her a bit. When she spoke her voice held more menace than anger.

“Don’t test me, Faye. I’ll snatch you bald and send you out to buy shampoo afterward.” Lennox aimed a Sith Lord glare the woman’s way. “Say you believe me.”

The taller woman might as well have shouted hallelujah—she sure looked converted into a true believer. Faye looked at Ian. Their gazes held for a moment than Faye sidestepped behind him. Lennox sniffed. Faye better not have forgotten Lennox Averdeen kicked butt in high school. She’d been a track and field all-star, and she’d played the running back position on the boy’s football team. Hell, the varsity boy’s basketball coach had recruited her to play point guard but her dad made her choose one or the other. She’d picked football. Lennox didn’t mind getting physical. Folks didn’t flex on her without thinking on it real hard.

“You.” Lennox pointed to Ian. “And you.” Her index finger landed on Garrett. “In my office.
Now
.”

The moment she closed her office door Ian started in. “I know you don’t understand what’s going on but I had to step in.”

“I accept,” Garrett cut him off.

Ian nearly broke his neck in a double take. “Wha—?”

Letting out a protracted sigh, Lennox flopped down in her chair and went for her mail. The “boys” needed a moment to calm down. Honestly, so did she. She grabbed the envelope on top of the pile, recognizing the logo immediately.

With a flick of her letter opener, she sliced the short edge of the envelope and unfolded the contents. Milos Foods hadn’t given up on mass-producing her peach butter. They wanted to take it to market pretty badly. She scanned their latest offer. Yadda, yadda, amazing flavor, blah, blah, talk show circuit. Whoa. The number at the bottom of the page nearly made her eyes pop out. Scratch the “pretty bad”. The Milos folks had a serious hard-on for her recipe.

No way would she sell. Not ever. But it felt good to have something she’d created in such high demand. She bopped in her chair and hummed, “
I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly.
”

She almost forgot about the over abundance of machismo filling her office with testosterone and frustration. Not that either man would allow her to enjoy herself for too long.

Garrett sidestepped Ian. Walking over to her desk, he laid both palms on the wooden surface and leaned in. He watched the glint of the letter opener as it slashed another envelope. “You’d agree Ian is a fair man?”

Lennox flicked her gaze up at him and back to the mail. “Very,” she said dryly. “And a good one too.”

She hoped her demeanor gave off a bored vibe. In actuality her insides were aflutter. Everything about Garrett screamed sex. The blaze in his eyes, the cool woodsy scent of his cologne, his take-charge energy, it all drove her into panting heat. Lennox crossed her legs and stared at his big hands. He had such elegant fingers. The kind that could delve deep into a woman’s core and pleasure her bud all at once. Her nipples hardened. To hide the proof she dropped the letter opener and belligerently crossed her arms over her chest.

Had she gone nuts? This man betrayed her love. He’d chosen someone else and left her behind. Plus, she had to think of Nox’s wellbeing. If she’d truly been named his godmother, she took the job seriously. Her mother had abandoned her and Nox’s mother had died. Lennox wanted to be there for him and give them both something they’d never had; the bond between mother and child. She didn’t have time to imagine being burned to erotic ashes by Garrett. But it would be nice, real nice, if she did.

Completely unaware of her leg-humping daydreams, Garrett continued. “Then I accept Ian’s directive.” He growled deep in his throat. “The one directive to do with my son, that is.”

“Why?” Lennox collected herself enough to ask.

Ian leaned against the desk, facing away from her. “I’d like to know why you’re giving in so easily as well.”

Ian looked absolutely delicious too, with his ass plumped up on her desk and his folded arms showing off the muscles through his shoulders. If Garrett didn’t want the job, she didn’t mind if Ian ripped her skirt off and—

Seriously? As soon as she got them out of her office she’d go online and order something battery operated to take the edge off. Maybe she should get some of that KY Intense stuff too.

Garrett gave her a long look, like he could read her mind. He shook his head before going on. “We’re all members of a certain fraternity. Our fraternity has rules I can’t avoid. I’ll prove to Ian my son is being raised well and in a manner that denies no part of his heritage. After that I’ll put this town in my rearview.”

“Settled,” Ian said. Both men stood and clasped forearms.

Not hardly. Lennox huffed loud enough to share her pique. She needed more assurance than a handshake and polite words. “Settled my ass.”

Ian inclined his head and moistened his lower lip. “I could do that. Just holler. Or maybe holler during.”

Garrett dropped his grip on Ian’s forearm. “You’re determined to fuck with me, aren’t you?”

With a wicked chuckle, Ian asked, “What’s it got to do with you, Wolfman?”

Lennox wouldn’t mind an answer to that question. Garrett tended to be protective of her, even though she took good care of herself. In college he’d been allowed to make fun of her tomboy ways but if others teased her, they did so at the risk of becoming victims of Garrett’s notorious practical jokes. And his pranks were preferable to his fists.

“I don’t have time for this,” Lennox said. “No more beast wars when Nox is around. Agreed?” They nodded and she remembered to breathe. “Good. Get out.”

Ian laughed on the way to the door but Garrett watched her for a minute too long. Something feral danced in his eyes. She shuddered. Seemingly shaken by her reaction, Garrett pushed off her desk and followed Ian to the door.

“Wait. How did you guys do that thing with your eyes? What was that?”

“We’ll tell you one day,” Ian said, without turning around. Garrett gruffed in agreement. The door closed with a soft swish.

One. Two. Three. Lennox bit down on her fist and let loose a silent scream. Two billionaire bad boys had just run amuck through her diner. Ian actually qualified as a multi-millionaire but semantics didn’t matter. She might die from the stress. She imagined her biography ending with “Horniness the silent killer”. How could two men piss her off so bad while turning her on so much?

A knock sent her into a skirt-straightening fury while she shoved her sexual frustration into a mental desk drawer. “C’mon,” she squeaked.

In walked Garrett. The heat in the room ratcheted up higher. Holy hell, this man. Somebody save her. Former feelings and current arousal were trying to knock her out.

“Look, Elle, I know you don’t want me here but I’m stuck for a while.” He raked the sexy scruff on his chin. “I’m pissed off and I’m frustrated. I’m going to help out in the kitchen since you’re short with Jules gone.” He grinned in that crooked way of his. She slammed her knees together and tried not to wince.

“Thank you for that, by the way. I couldn’t figure out how to get Nox out of here without fighting for it. I don’t want my son to see that side of me.”

She chewed the inside of her lip to give herself a second. “You’re welcome, but I don’t think you cooking in my kitchen is a good idea.”

“You don’t want me in your kitchen?”

“I don’t.”

“Elle—”

“Stop calling me that. Lennox or Leni. Those are your options.”

He rubbed a thumb over his lips and studied the ceiling. Garrett didn’t do the eye-rolling thing but she’d definitely annoyed him.

“Lennox,” he said slowly, as though it took everything in him to remain civil. “I can’t go back to the movie set because I don’t want to be too far from Nox. You know cooking breakfast calms me down. And you also know how out of control I can get. I’m on the verge of loosing it. I need this.”

So what if he did? Her life used to revolve around Garrett Anderson, or Anderson G. Westlake, or Captain Ass Jack, or whatever he called himself. It stopped here. She’d wanted certain things from him, his love being one of them. He hadn’t bothered to take care of her needs.

“Too bad, Garrett. Stay out of my kitchen.” She dismissed him, returning her attention to the mail.

She never saw it coming. He yanked her out of her chair and slammed her into his body. Heat flared up her entire front side.

“Garrett.” She whispered his name in a combination of pant and plea.

“Here’s the problem.” His arm locked around her waist. “I’m a Molotov cocktail of emotions right now, Elle. And you’re more beautiful than I remember, and you smell so ridiculously good.” The tip of his nose grazed her neck. She shuddered in response.

He hugged her tighter. The hard length of his arousal pressed into her belly and her body pulsed. She bit her lip to keep a rising moan from betraying her feelings. “Dammit, Elle, I care for you. And it’s been too long since I…”

He stroked her hip. It felt so good, so right. If he didn’t stop, she wouldn’t survive. Clearly they’d both taken celibacy beyond the limits of their self-control. It’d be so easy to take comfort in each other, to satisfy each other’s needs, and pretend the inevitable fallout didn’t matter.

Garrett buried his face in her neck. As his words whispered across her earlobe, the sensation raised goose bumps along her skin. “I don’t know whether to curl up in this chair and hold you.” He slapped the headrest, sending her chair spinning. “Or bend you over this desk and,” he paused, rocking his body into hers, “do other things…”

Lennox whimpered.
Yes, please do what you said. Please, Garrett.
Those words didn’t get past her lips.

“So,” Garrett said, “it’s best if I walk out of this office, get in your kitchen, and cook as many pancakes and omelets as your costumers want to eat. Don’t you think?”

The breath caught in her throat. “Go, Garrett. Cook wherever you want. Just leave, okay? Leave.”

The door closed seconds later. Lennox collapsed onto the floor. She pressed her forehead to the edge of her desk, trying to quiet the uproar in her mind. Every moment she spent with Garrett made things worse. She could handle her one-way lust for him. She’d gotten used to being the second lead in the romantic comedy of life. The one who got left with unrequited love. But knowing Garrett wanted her too brought her dreams back to life. If he lusted after her, then he might learn to love her. Attraction was where it started, right?