Page 13 of Lica

“I could have been all right with him talking about me having to lower myself to marry you. I mean, so long as that piece of shit is lower than we are. But when he suggested that we move in with your mother?” Brandy shivered like it was too much to think about them living with their mom. “Well, it was just too ugly to think about. So I hit him. I think, however, I might have broken my finger. It hurts badly.”

She put her hand out so that her dad could see it. But Lica pulled it to his mouth and kissed the red place on her hand, which was just beginning to turn purple. Looking up at her when he heard her sharp intake of breath, the lust in her eyes made him have to adjust not just his cock but his entire body before she pulled away and sat down again.

Lica missed a great deal while his mind and body were trying to think. About anything. Since all the blood in his body had gone to more private areas, he had nothing left to think with.

His family was all still talking—about what he didn’t know. The police called an ambulance. He only knew that because when he’d been asked to move—Slaven had landed under the table when Brandy slugged him, his brother told him that the police had made the call. He finally thought that he should have taken better care to look nice when the police started talking to him about the bank. And telling him how this was going to hit every newspaper in the country in the morning. But again, he didn’t know what they were talking about. Not until he felt the sting of something hitting his cheek, then he looked at Brandy.

“What is wrong with you?” He told her that he didn’t know. “Well, figure it out before I have to knock you around more. The police and the Feds have been trying to talk to you for the last twenty minutes. All you’ve done is—”

He stood up, jerking her into his arms, and kissed Brandy. He wanted to allow her to enjoy his kiss, but he was also afraid that if he let her go, even an inch, she’d pull away and hit him again. When she wrapped her arms around his shoulder and then his neck, he had to admit that he was still slightly afraid of her. But when she opened for him, giving him the taste of her that he wanted all along, he pulled her tighter to his body and deepened the kiss.

“Lica.” He growled at the brother, who was pulling on his shoulder. “Come on, Lica. You’re embarrassing everyone. Lica, you have to stop before you go too far.” He lifted his head and looked into the lust-glazed eyes of Brandy before speaking.

“I’m in love with you, Brandy. I think I have for a long time.” His brother, Ayden, told him that everyone knew that, but the Feds were asking him questions. “I don’t care. All of you, go away.”

It was the gun that seemed to be trying to enter his forehead that finally had him letting go of Brandy. When she was jerked back from him, Lica growled, but it was Edmond who took care of the FBI agent who touched her. He shifted to his wolf so quickly that he didn’t see it coming. He knocked the man from Brandy and set himself on his chest with his paw digging deeply into his chest. He was sure that the wolf’s mouth around his throat was keeping him from speaking right then.

“Wolves, especially alphas, are very possessive of their mates. I’d remember that next time if I were you. He could have ripped your throat out, and no one would have harmed him for protecting his alpha bitch.” The officer with the feds said that he’d kill him if he tried that with him. This time, it was Guy who shifted. The officer was flat on his back with a paw in his chest before he could touch his gun. Then, when Guy moved his mouth around his throat, the man whimpered. “Are you so sure about that?”

“Okay, you have the bigger balls, Mr. Fraizer. If you promise not to hurt any more of my men, I’d like to get this cleared up. Mr. Slaven is saying that you made Mrs. Frazier take her money out of his bank.” He laughed a little. “I don’t even want to think about how that’s even possible. Your wife strikes me as a woman who does what she wants when she wants. She’s smart too.”

“Thank you. I’m beginning to see that for myself. And yes, I promise that I won’t harm your men so long as they remember that I belong to her, and I will do anything to protect her. Anything.” The man nodded, and then Lica looked at Brandy before answering the question. “Sir, as you’ve guessed, I have never been more proud of my wife and family for what transpired today than at any other time in their lives. Mr. Slaven has been a tyrant for the last twenty years, and you can ask any shifter in this town about that.”

Since they were all in a public place, crowded now with others who had come to see what was going on, the shifters started talking about how Slaven had kept them from getting a home loan. That he’d gotten them fired from their jobs when they were to go to the doctor, and Slaven wouldn’t allow them to withdraw money to see the doctor. So, no note, and that would cause them to lose their jobs.

There were other horror stories like that. Mr. Caraway had had to bury his wife when Slaven had denied him a loan that would have given her a nurse to be with her during the day. It was Alan who told about how Slaven had canceled the check and order for the cattle that Lica had ordered.

“It would have employed fifty more people in the town. Not to mention, it brought in revenue when we started building the slaughterhouse, which would employ more people.” Slaven said it was all lies, that all the Fraziers were a lazy lot. “Really? You have proof of this? Because I’ve been a businessman for all my life and these men are worthy. Men of worth, I have to tell you, isn’t something that you see all the time. Hell, had my daughter not been his wife, I think I might well adopt him as my son. All of them.” Alan smiled at him. “Can you imagine the kids these two will have? Hell, all of them having children will make this town and world a better place just because they’re in it.”

“Thank you.” Alan hugged him and told him that he was serious about adopting him. “But for now, I’m going to have a lot of making up to do to your daughter.”

Lica felt his eyes fill with tears when Brandy took his much larger hand into her tiny one. He, after locking his fingers through hers, kissed the back of her hand and paid attention to what was going on around him. He had a mate, a good one, and he really did have a lot of making up to do. The most important thing was he needed to tell her how profoundly sorry he was for every time he’d hurt her. And he knew that he had.

Howard Slaven was arrested. The list of crimes that he’d committed against the shifters—prejudicial treatment on not just loans but canceling checks, denying access, as well as a plethora of other things was going to see him in prison for a very long time. The very fact that he had canceled a half-million dollar check that was paying for goods that were shipped out already was going to be under the mail fraud law, he’d heard. Christ, he was never so happy to see someone get into trouble than he was that bastard.

By the time the bank was closed down, it would more than likely be that way for a few months. Arrangements were made for people to get money if they needed it. It was well after ten o’clock at night. He was exhausted but exhilarated as well. The family made their way to their homes, and he realized that his brothers were still living in the ranch house. It was crowded when he lived there with them, and he couldn’t believe that he’d not thought of them getting a house. More than likely, they would have been turned down, was his next thought.

“I almost forgot. I heard from the attorney group that was with Green. He’s been arrested, I didn’t ask why, but he’s currently in jail. The company that his daughter took over is doing very well. I did go ahead and lend her the money, I should have told you that, but she isn’t going to expand right away. I suggested that she needed to use the extra money to make her employees, all of them, feel like they’re a part of something that is going places. She wants to get things back on the correct track, meaning her employees are all right with coming to work knowing that their benefits are being taken care of. She asked for ideas on how to make them feel like they’re all a team by start treating her employees to a lunch once in a while. Also, to hand out gift cards when she sees one of them doing something well. I have that kind of thing going on around a few of my businesses. Also, when she can afford it, I told her that she needs to figure out a way to close up during the holidays for two weeks for Christmas and pay her people.”

“When I worked for Mr. Wilkins, he would work Christmas alone so that his men could have the day off. If he got into trouble, anyone of them would have come in to help. Also, while he worked the entire night before and the day of Christmas, his men would come in and spell him a bit so that he could go have his meals. When he passed away, everyone in town had a good story to tell about the Wilkins. They had a lot to do with us being the men that we are today.” She said that was a nice story. That she was also sure that people would say the same about him and his brothers. “I hope so. But it’s your view of me that is concerning me the most.”

“I love you.” His breath caught when she smiled at him after declaring her love for him. He stood there, trying to form words around the lump in his throat, when he decided that he needed to just say what he was thinking all along about her.

“I love you as well, Brandy Fraizer. I think I have since I met you, but I was just too…not stubborn but jaded to see that I could have a wonderful life with you if I just got my head out of my ass.” She agreed with him, which made him laugh. “Are you forever going to be telling me the truth, no matter what it’s about?”

“Yes. You can count on that.” They were both exhausted but he did ask her if she’d sleep in the big bed with him. She said that she was too tired to walk down the hall and went to the bathroom to change, she said. While she was getting ready for bed, Lica got under the covers. He thought that he’d wait for her to come to bed but was out before she got out of the bathroom.

Chapter 7

Brandy woke wrapped around Lica. She’d heard that shifters run hotter than humans, but he was lying next to a furnace. For being a wolf, it surprised her that he wasn’t covered in hair. Not even his arms were overly hairy like she imagined that one would be.

Lica was still sleeping soundly and quietly, so she took the opportunity to look at his face. It was a handsome face, she had always thought so, but it was hard, too. Like he was a working man. She wanted to make it so that he could be a man of leisure and not work so hard daily to make ends meet. But then she dismissed that thought when she realized that he’d be bored. Not to mention upset that she’d expect him to be inside lounging around the house every day. Brandy knew that she would be if she were to be just a housewife.

When he opened one eye and looked at her, his smile made her heart skip several beats in her chest. She would only tell him this if he asked, but she thought since she’d fallen in love with him, he was the only reason that her heart beat at all. That she was able to breathe. The reason that air moved in and out of her lungs. Lica asked her if she’d been awake long, and she shook her head as he moved to his back, pulling her to him so that her head was across his chest.

“No. Not long at all. I’m usually up by five-thirty most mornings anyway so that I can get most of any housework done that needs to be tidied up. Also, if I have a meeting first thing, I’ll be able to refresh my memory on things that I want to talk about. When are you up? I’m assuming that sleeping in to you is not a common thing.” He told her that he was usually up by dawn, he needed to get his chores done for the cattle. “I can see that. I’m thinking that, like you, they’re used to having you out there with them early, too. Is it true that you don’t eat breakfast until after you milk the cows?” She was serious but the look on Lica’s face had her laughing.

“Yes. But since I’ve been expanding the herd, I’ve hired a few people to come in and get the milkers set up for them. So I can have a bit of meat when I get up, and I won’t expire too soon.” He laughed. “Yes, I have breakfast before I go to the barn to start working. Sheesh woman. Also, I don’t have many breeding cattle right now. Did I tell you that the Feds took care that the herd that Slaven cancelled is still going to come to me? Thank goodness for that. They’re even picking up the tab for what we did to help them with Slaven.” She told him that was wonderful. “It is. Since meeting you, I’ve never had so many things coming my way. Thanks to you.”

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