AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Draven tossedand turned for hours before getting up and heading down to the kitchen. He wasn’t hungry, but he needed to do something. The sky was beginning to lighten, and the sun would crest the mountains that surrounded pack lands within the hour. His stomach rumbled, a reminder he hadn’t eaten the night before. Thankfully the kitchen was fully stocked, and he loved to cook.
He pulled out enough bacon, eggs and fruit to feed an army. He might as well start breakfast. Mateo and Kade would be at his door first thing to update him on the pack, and they could easily put away double what he’d planned to make. Draven half expected them to show up the night before, and maybe they had. He’d been too preoccupied with Flora to care.
His wolf paced in his chest, and his cock lengthened against his zipper just thinking about his time with her. Both were under the impression that he was the world's worst host and should be downstairs savoring the woman who’d strolled into their lives.
Flora was absolutely intoxicating, and she seemed to have no fucking clue. The scent of her arousal mixed with the image of her writhing on the bed under her own hand would forever be seared in his mind. Which is where he wanted it, even though he shouldn’t. What he should do was jerk off a few times to the thought of her like any other guy would and then forget about her. He should call off their little deal and let her do whatever the hell she wanted with her life and her mortality before the little minx sank her perfectly manicured claws in any further.
But he wouldn’t. Not only because he’d seen first hand what could go wrong when a human was turned. But because in less than twenty-four hours he’d seen that Flora was the best parts of what humanity had to offer. She cared to a fault, and though she was still a baby deer trying to find her legs, there was no doubt she was going to do extraordinary things. Even with the darkness that haunted her, she still woke up everyday and chose to be the sunlight. He wouldn’t let bloodlust and politics taint that.
Hopefully she isn’t a vegetarian, Draven thought as he flipped the bacon in the skillet. He checked the time on his phone and saw there was a message from Donna, the assistant he’d asked to help him with clothes for Flora. He quickly typed back a message thanking her for making it happen over night.
No sooner had he set his phone on the counter than the door to his cabin nearly splintered open, followed by a wide-eyed Mateo and Kade.
Mateo tipped his nose upward and sniffed, his eyes going wide and darting around the kitchen. “Where is she? You didn’t hurt her, did you?”
Draven dropped the tongs in his hand and bared his teeth, barely managing to bite back the protective growl his wolf pushed from him. “She’s none of your concern.”
“The hell she isn’t.” Mateo stalked toward him until he was breathing down Draven’s neck. “You looked ready to go feral in The Howler last night. Then we tried to update you, but you wouldn’t answer the damn door and now we show up and I can smell her on you, only that innocent woman is nowhere to be found.”
Draven didn’t know whether he was more angry they could still smell her on him, or that they cared so much about her well being. The former was his own damn fault. He couldn’t bring himself to wash away her scent. He’d cleaned himself up, but her scent calmed his wolf and the growly motherfucker was grating his nerves with all the pacing. Still, he was their gods-damn heir, and he didn’t owe them a fucking explanation.
“I don’t know about innocent,” Kade grumbled, as he plopped into the leather recliner. “But Mateo is right, we can’t hurt her until we know her motives. The last thing we need is a war with the vampires.”
“She is fine,” Draven snapped. “Not that it’s any of your concern.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, boss. Even I can see she’s got your panties in a twist, and I’m concerned where you are concerned.” Kade sat on a stool at the large island and offered up his wrist. “Take the edge off and then we’ll talk.”
Draven shook his head and turned back to the stove. He took the bacon from the burner, transferred it to a plate and placed it in front of his friends.
Kade raised a questioning brow. He'd always been the more observant of the two. Always putting Draven’s needs before his own. The thing was, where usually blood would take the edge off, it wasn’t going to help him this time. Not when he could still imagine the taste of mint and a hint of rose at the back of his throat. The last thing he wanted was Kade’s smoky cedar overpowering the last bit of her delicate taste.
“I’m fine.” Draven insisted and leaned against the counter opposite the kitchen island. “What happened after I left last night?”
Kade and Mateo studied him silently, and he knew they didn’t believe his claim. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t on edge because he was out of control, he was on edge because his control when it came to a tiny blonde woman was slipping, and he didn’t want them to know where he stood with her. Not because he didn’t trust them, but because she was a losing game. Even if he convinced her not to be turned, there wasn’t a future for them.
“It was a shit show.”
“That’s an understatement,” Mateo snorted, and Kade whipped his head toward him glaring daggers.
The two of them had developed their own way of communicating, one Draven didn’t pretend to understand. But right then he didn’t like the underlying animosity he could taste in the air around them.
Kade let out an exasperated sigh. “Elijah is demanding a meeting of the pack tribes to discuss your lineage and legitimacy as heir to the Alpha, while old man Harrison is calling for us to kill the girl and take the stone. Your father barely kept the peace. He called for a meeting with the elders to establish next steps. He was meeting with them when we left. I assumed he would have come and checked in with you afterward.”
Draven raked his hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. Everything was a clusterfuck, and though he wasn’t sure how the hell he was going to fix any of it, he had to gain some semblance of a plan. If the tribes were called, his heritage would no longer be a Moon Ridge Pack matter. It would go to vote under the pack tribe, and Draven wasn’t sure they’d honor his father’s claim on him. His wolf would be forced to walk the world alone and the likelihood of him staying with the only pack he’d ever known was slim to none.
“The elders will back you,” Mateo said with confidence, ever the optimist.
“What do you think, Kade? How did it look before you left?”
Kade’s mouth formed a grim line. “I’m not so sure. If it was two days ago, I’d wager your father’s tactful delivery would set us up ok. I would have thought that with time even the elders who pull toward tradition would see that you are still our pack’s best option. But today?” He let out a slow falling whistle. “It’s the perfect storm of the moonstone resurfacing and your lineage coming into question. It could really go either way.”
Draven figured as much, but hoped his second would have a more positive assessment. “We need the elders to back me as my father’s heir to avoid this going to the pack tribes.”
If it went to the pack tribes, the likelihood of him remaining a part of Moon Ridge went down tremendously. The elders of the pack were one thing, he could even handle the Alpha’s from other packs on their own, but the pack tribes were the collective elders from every pack in the Americas and they could be ruthless when it came to upholding tradition. Not to mention they could sway the opinions of many of the Alphas.
“I think focusing on the moonstone is going to be the answer to that.”
“That’s precisely right.” Draven’s father entered the kitchen from the hallway that led down to the basement. He was the only one other than himself that had the key to the outside door he had brought Flora through the night before. He must have walked right past the bedroom where she slept.
