THOMAS: Le Beau Brothers - New Orleans Billionaire Wolf Shifters with plus sized BBW for mates (Le Beau Series Book 4) (20 page)

“Please. Allow me to help.”

“Can you save her?” Thomas asked, desperate for Lilli to say yes.

“I can. I just need a moment of silence.”

The crowd became deathly still, with only the sound of breathing heard as everyone watched and prayed.

Thomas struggled with his frantic need to hold his mate, fear for her pushing him to his limit. Just when he couldn’t take another second, Julia’s eyes fluttered open, and she drew a deep breath.

Isaac released Thomas and step back allowing him to rush to his mate and assure himself she was, indeed, healed.

Thomas snatched her into his arms. “Thank Goddess. Don’t ever put me through that again! Are you okay, baby, does it hurt anywhere?”

Thomas was holding her so tightly she couldn’t breathe. Struggling, she pushed against his chest so she could draw a breath.

“You’re crushing me, Thomas.”

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry. I thought I’d lost you, I didn’t mean to squeeze so hard.”

Julia blinked at him as confusion set in. “What happened anyway? Anna said Tim was here and disappeared from sight. But that’s the last thing I remember.”

“Yeah. The bastard is over there. He shot you and hit you over the head with something. You almost died. We have my Mom, Grandmother, and Queen Lilli to thank for your life.”

He helped her to her feet and reassured himself that she was in fact healed before he turned toward Etienne and his father.

“Charles, would you please take care of Julia for me for a minute.”

Thomas waited for Charles to step forward and wrap an arm around his daughter before he turned toward Etienne.

Frowning in confusion, she watched as Thomas stalked menacingly up to the bloody man held by the vampire king.

“Bitch was supposed to die!” Tim hissed, bloody bubbles leaking from the corner of his mouth.

“If you wouldn’t mind, I would appreciate it if you held him upright by his arms for me,” Thomas said to Etienne in a calm voice that belied the red haze of fury churning within.

Etienne gave him a single nod. The one thing he couldn’t abide was seeing a woman disrespected or bullied, and if the offender abused the woman physically or emotionally, he died, no questions – no second chances. Tim would die this day, either by Thomas’s hand or his own. Anyone cowardly enough to victimize a weaker individual, especially a woman or child, deserved the most painful death conceivable. And if punishment was delivered by him – all the better. But this was Thomas’s kill, and he would respect that.

Then Thomas looked John directly in the eye and said. “This ends here. You okay with that?”

John nodded, swallowing an obvious lump in his throat. There was no redemption for their father, not after everything he’d done to them, especially to Thomas. He just hated the idea his brother would live with the guilt of their father’s death for the rest of his life. But he also knew Thomas needed to be the one to put him down. He needed the finality and closure that watching someone else executing Tim wouldn’t bring.

Ignoring the crowd around him, Thomas turned his attention back to his father.

“Ready to die, old man?”

Tim made a snide face and laughed. “You’re not going to kill me.”

Without another word, not a blink, not a goodbye, Thomas shifted his right hand to a wolf paw with lethal, sharp claws and slashed Tim. Slicing him from stem to stern. Blood gurgled from his mouth as his organs and intestines bulge through gaping, bloody gashes.

When his father’s chest rose in yet another breath, Thomas pulled his right paw back and sliced across Tim’s jugular. This piece of shit would never come after his family, ever again.

Thomas turned toward Julia; the mixture of relief and concern marring his handsome face stole her breath.

Two weeks later

Lucas closed and locked the large doors on the back of the moving van. Much of their furniture and household items were being professionally moved, but some things Lucas didn’t trust to the movers, those he wanted to handle himself. 

The entire family had gathered to say goodbye to Lucas and Krystal, and now stood around the van and assorted cars caravanning to the new ranch in the hill country of Texas. Well, all except Krystal’s mother, Lucinda, who refused to come. She was dead set against Krystal moving and had tried to force her to stay. In the end, Isaac had stepped in and overruled Lucinda, earning him an enemy in the family. Thankfully, Charles didn’t see things the way his wife did and had joined the group to kiss his baby girl goodbye and wish her well.

One by one, parents and siblings hugged them, acting like they were moving to the other side of the world instead of eight hours away. Finally, Emma stepped forward
–
she had waited at the back of the crowd until all the farewells had been said.

“Lucas, you’ve always taken care of Krystal like she was your sister. No doubt you’ll watch over her now. I packed you lunch and snacks for the road as well as drinks in the cooler. Please drive safely and call me when you get there.”

“I will, Mama, don’t worry. And I’ll keep Thomas and Julia out of trouble, too,” he indicated the couple behind him with his thumb over his shoulder, and then stage whispered. “You know how trouble tends to find them.”

Thomas chuckled as he whacked Lucas’s Stetson off his head. “I think I’ll be the one keeping you out of trouble with the local ranchers when you break their daughters’ hearts.”

After the attack at The Backwater, Thomas and Julia decided to take a vacation and help Lucas and Krystal move to the ranch and settle into their new home. A little change of scenery would do them both good and give them a chance to enjoy being newly mated without the day–to–day pressures of parents and Thomas’s security responsibilities.

One by one, the van and cars drove down the long driveway and out of sight. Isaac tightened his arm around Emma as he glanced down and noticed a single tear rolling down her cheek. She always cried when her boys left on an adventure, but she never complained.

“Who’s ready for a barbecue?” He’d figured out a long time ago that if he planned a family gathering the night one of the boys left, Emma recovered from the loss more quickly.

Happy shouts of people prepared for a party echoed around the yard.

“Meet us on the back deck at three p.m. for sweet tea and cocktails,” Isaac shouted. Reaching for Emma, he walked hand and hand with the love of his life back to the house so she could collect herself in private.

*****

Krystal sat the last box of kitchen glassware on the granite countertop and stretched her back. That was the last of the breakables she had moved herself.

Now for food and household supplies; it had been a long drive to the ranch, but groceries weren’t going to buy themselves.

“Julia, are you up to going to the store with me? Mother Hubbard’s cupboards are bare, and I think it may take two carts to stock the kitchen.”

“Sure. I noticed Emma hid steaks and potato salad in the bottom of the cooler for dinner, but I won’t survive without coffee in the morning. Plus, I don’t even want to think about things like using the bathroom and finding there’s no toilet paper.”

“Let’s tell the guys where we’re going and head out before it gets dark. Lucas would never let me hear the end of it if I got lost on these country back roads and he had to call him to come find us.”

“I can hear him now,” Julia said, rolling her eyes.

Lucas and Thomas waved as the women left, then continued unloading the truck. They wanted to come along, but someone needed to stay at the ranch. The movers were scheduled to arrive this afternoon, and they would need instructions on where to place the furniture.

Lucas had lucked out, not only did he manage to find a large, usable cattle ranch for sale, but the existing dude ranch on the next spread was also for sale. So, he bought both and had a website designed. Everyone had been shocked when reservations began to pour in. Now, they only had four short weeks to prepare the main house and guest cabins before people started arriving at the dude ranch. Not to mention hiring cowboys, buying horses, and stocking the ranch with a herd.

Julia’s eyes grew wide as she read over the grocery list Krystal had written; it was large enough to fill a legal pad. “It’s amazing how much stuff people normally have in their pantry and refrigerator that they take for granted. When you have to start from scratch, it’s a bit mind-boggling.”

“And that list is only what I need for the main house. Tomorrow we will start a list of items we need for the guest cabins. We don’t even have beds or dressers in them.”

Julia gaped open-mouthed at her sister. “It’s a dang good thing we came along to help.”

“You have no idea,” Krystal laughed.

They each grabbed a shopping cart from the cart room as they entered the local grocery. If they worked the store row by row and kept moving, they would make it home in time to have cocktails with the guys and barbecue the steaks.

Krystal was studying the yogurt options when two women parked a cart close to her and started discussing cottage cheese choices.

She glanced at them, ready to introduce herself when she noticed the aura of the taller of the two. How interesting, the colors and pattern were identical to Lucas’s aura. As she examined the fluctuating colors more closely, the woman’s spirit guide stepped forward. 

“Kensie is your cousin, Lucas’s, soul mate. Please help her.”

Krystal gave the spirit guide a slight nod; careful no one saw her talking to an invisible entity. Few people knew her secret, not only could she see and read auras, but she could see everyone’s spirit guides and speak to them.

Her breath caught in her throat. She could hardly believe it! Lucas’s mate was standing not three feet from her.

Shaking off the shock, she cleared her throat. “Hello, my name is Krystal. I just moved to town. Do you live around here?”

The younger woman, the one with dark brown hair and large blue eyes, smiled brightly. “Hi! Yes, I do, and it’s nice to meet you. I’m Jolene, but my friends call me Jojo, and this is my big sister, Kensie. I’m fairly new, too. I only moved here myself about six months ago. You’re going to love it here. Everyone I’ve met is very friendly.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you both. So, you said you moved here, Jojo. Do you live somewhere else, Kensie?”

“Yes, I’m only visiting for a week, then I need to head back to Minnesota.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I was going to invite you both to dinner once we get unpacked.”

“Thank you, but I only came to make sure Jojo was doing okay. I have patients waiting for me back home so I can’t stay.”

“Yeah, Kensie is a famous doctor at the Mayo Clinic and has a waiting list about a mile long. I practically had to kidnap her to get her to take a few days off and come see me.”

“If you would like to come to dinner, Jojo, I would love to have you over.”

Jojo practically squealed. “I’d love to. Here’s my number. Just call me when you’re finished unpacking.”

Krystal took her information and said goodbye before she moved to the next aisle. Her excitement at meeting Lucas’s mate practically crackled in the air. She would have to come up with a plan to get Kensie to visit again so she could introduce her to Lucas.

Kensie was gorgeous, with her long red hair and large hazel eyes. Lucas had a thing for redheads, and she was going to knock him on his ass when he met her. Now, she just needed to figure out a way to get them together. How the heck was she going to accomplish that if the woman never took time off from her busy schedule?

Krystal tapped her pen on her chin as she puzzled it out. A call to Aunt Emma might be in order. She was the sneakiest person she knew, and might have an idea how she could get Kensie to come to visit again. Texas was going to be much more interesting than she expected.

The End

V.A. Dold
is the author of the
Le Beau Brothers
series, New Orleans wolf shifter novels. A graduate of Saint Cloud University, she majored in marketing with a minor in reading romance paperbacks.

Prior to becoming a full time writer, she was Publicist to the authors, owning ARC Author & Reader Conventions. Still is.

Her idea of absolute heaven is a day in the French Quarter with her computer, coffee mug and the brothers, of course.

A Minnesota native with her heart lost to Louisiana, she has a penchant for titillating tales featuring sexy men and strong women. When she's not writing, she's probably taking in a movie, reading, or traveling.

Her earliest reading memories are from grade school. She had a major fixation with horses, and the Black Stallion was a favorite. Then junior high came along and teenage hormones kicked in. It became all about the Harlequin Romances. She has been hooked on romances ever since.