Unleashed by Shadows (By Moonlight Book 10) (13 page)

Hands stroking her thighs lightly, he watched her animated chatting. The simple joy she took in talking with her best friend filled Cale’s heart to overflowing. Nothing had ever twisted him inside out the way she did, the pleasure and pain of it going so deep he wondered if he could survive much more of it. Finally, he’d had all he could stand.

“Baby, let me talk to her a second.” When Kendra reluctantly surrendered the phone, he cut right to it. “Bree, are you and the new mister coming back to Savoie’s place? You think he’d mind if Kendra came out to stay with you? I don’t want her to get lonely here in the city while I’m at work. Yeah, my lowly manual labor job. You can blame your brother. Thanks. Yeah, I know. I’m a real prince.” He returned the cell to Kendra, and she talked for a little longer while studying him a bit too closely.

Finally, she set her phone aside. He braced for her questions. But instead of pummeling him for those details he couldn’t provide, she dropped down on his mouth for a hungry conversation, her palms pushing under his shirt to rub quickly heated skin.

“I adore you, Cale Terriot,” she assured him almost forcefully as her hands moved to belt and zipper.

He shut off the turmoil of his thoughts, closed his eyes, and let her have her way with him.

*

“Can we talk?”

Tina looked up as her husband joined her on the patio steps. She almost answered, “I wish we could.” Instead, she simply scooched over to make room for him beside her.

She’d felt it building all through dinner, in the looks he quickly cast aside, in the way he fiddled with his lasagna, a favorite he usually put away like a man starving, in the clipped responses to Oscar’s attempts at conversation. She’d wanted to believe things had gotten better, but instinct suggested she batten down for the worst.

“What do you think of Cale?”

Surprised by the topic, she thought a moment then smiled. “He’s a Tootsie Pop.”

Alain glanced at her, sandy brows raised. “A what?”

“Something my father . . . my step-father used to call someone who was hard on the outside but with a soft center. You just have to chew your way to it.” At her husband’s brief chuckle, she continued. “I like him very much.”

Alain focused upon the back fence, providing her with his chiseled profile. He was so handsome she sometimes had to catch her heart before it ran away with her.

“Do you think he’s a good influence on Oscar?”

Though puzzled by where he was going with his questions, she answered honestly. “I think so. He’s a bit,” she smiled picturing her half-brother at their table, “outrageous sometimes, but he’s a good man. And Kendra’s crazy about him.”

Alain said nothing for a long beat then simply nodded, forcing her to take the initiative.

“Why do you ask?”

“Just thought it was important for Oz to get to know his own kind.”

His own kind. His mild words took her like a slap. Their own kind. That’s how he saw mother and son, as different, as oddities, as unnatural within his world. How it still hurt every time he hammered that wedge between them.

“He’s got a good relationship with Max,” she mentioned quietly. Max Savoie was her son’s half-brother through the father they shared.

“Yeah, but Max is gonna have a lot on his plate when he comes back from his honeymoon. I doubt that he’ll have much time for someone else’s kid now that they’re going to have one of their own.”

“I’m sure he’ll make time. He loves Ozzy.”

“Yeah,” Alain agreed heavily. “That he does.”

Why don’t you?
That pain-filled thought almost escaped her but she held tight to the outburst that would only push them farther apart. “And he has Silas,” she offered, bringing up her son’s other uncle.

“Same situation. He’s got his own agenda, his own family.”

“So does Cale. I don’t think he’s staying for very long, but I’ll certainly encourage him to spend time with Oscar while he’s here.”

“What if Oscar went back to Nevada with him?”

The suggestion slammed into her like a gut-shot. “What?”

“He’s curious about his people,” Alain hurried on. “He told me Silas had spoken about them before and that Cale had asked him to go there.”

“Oh.” She began to relax a little. “You mean for holiday break? This was Cale’s idea, for him to visit?”

“Yeah. For as long as he wants to stay.”

Panic gripped her. She struggled to build an argument to what her husband had already decided. “He has school, Alain. And friends here.”

“Isn’t learning about what he is part of his education, too? That’s what you told me, anyway.”

“What he is, is our son. His place is with us.”

Those dreamy blue eyes fixed on her. They held no warmth now. Everything about him was distant and emotionless. “You should go with him.”

She could barely get the words out. “You want us to leave?”

The fact that he continued to hold her huge, tear-filled gaze without so much as a blink devastated almost as completely as his next measured words. Almost.

“I think it would be for the best.”

“Knock, knock!”

At the loud shout from the front door, Alain stood to call gratefully, “Out here.”

Wiping a trembling hand across her eyes, Tina composed herself enough to smile up at their unexpected guests, Cale looking tough and trendy in his gorgeously detailed leather bomber, molded olive green tee shirt that made the color of his eyes pop, cargo pants, and rugged boots and Kendra in a fierce leather jacket, sunny yellow sweater, skinny jeans, and moto boots. Their faces were flushed from the cool night air and from the way hands tucked into each other’s back pockets.

“Hope you don’t mind us barging in like this,” Cale said with an irresistible grin. “We were out and about and thought we’d drop by to say hey.”

“No problem.”

Could they hear the relief in his voice? Tina wondered as the two men clasped hands and elbow bumped.

“Where’s Oz-man?”

“Basketball practice. Should be home in a few. Was just about to pop a top. Join me?”

“Sure, if the ladies don’t mind.”

Kendra touched his wind-burned cheek, the gesture small and achingly intimate. “Don’t go far.”

He turned to brush his lips to her palm. “Not likely.”  He nodded to Tina, his intense glance taking in more than she wanted him to see, then followed Alain to the kitchen.

Kendra dropped to the step beside her, leaning close to whisper, “What’s wrong?”

“Everything.”

A supporting arm went instantly about her shoulders and Tina leaned, having never had anyone to lean into before this unknown family entered her life. Kendra was the type of friend she’d always longed for, sweet, sincere, and yet practical in outlook. Her pain came pouring out before she could restrain it.

“He wants me and Oscar to go with you to Nevada. To stay.”

She felt Kendra’s start of surprise and hesitation before her calming reply. “Why would he suggest that?”

“Cale gave him the idea.”

“Cale did?” Her cool tone intimated a rocky evening ahead.

“Apparently Alain jumped at the chance to get rid of us.”

“But you’re his family,” she soothed with gentle logic. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean forever.”

“Yes, he does,” she sniffed in misery. “I thought things were better. After your people came to Max’s house to threaten us, Alain took us away to protect us. I thought we’d gotten closer, but maybe it was just the clothes Brigit made me buy to seduce him.”

A soft chuckle. “Bree knows her way around the lingerie department. No doubt about it. Alain is your husband, Tina. He’s made a home here for you and Oscar to share with him. I can’t believe he’d just toss it away. He seems like a good, solid man. Why would he do that?”

“Because of who we are. What we are. He—he can’t make himself love what we are.”

A different species. She didn’t have to spell it out.

“He has a devoted wife and wonderful son. Why wouldn’t any man want that?” Kendra argued, temper rising.

“I don’t know. He won’t tell me. He won’t talk to me. And now, he wants to get rid of us like we never meant anything to him at all.”

“That’s not going to happen, Tina. Bree will be back day after tomorrow and between us, we’ll help you fix things.”

Tina levered back to study her expression. “Why would you do that? Why would you take my side against your own mate’s plans? We hardly know one another.”

“We’re family. Ten minutes, ten years. It doesn’t matter. Besides,” she said warmly, “I’ve always wanted a sister.”

Tina remembered saying the same thing to Brigit.

“And,” the dainty blonde continued with a glint in her eyes, “we sisters have to stick together even if it means kicking the very fine asses of the men we love.”

*

“What did you do to make my sister cry?” Though he still smiled as he accepted the beer, there was nothing friendly about the narrowing of Cale’s eyes.

“You want to take them to Nevada. I made the suggestion. It didn’t go over well.”

“The fact that you’re eager to get rid of her and her son? That surprises you, does it?”

“You know as well as I do that it’s dangerous for them to be here with all that’s going down. They’ll be safer with your family than with me.”

“You sound pretty damned okay with that.”

“It’s not like I have a choice.”

Alain turned away sharply but not before Cale caught the conflict of emotions in his face. Good. Conflict was good. It meant the man might just be worthy of his sister and her son.

“Life’s full of choices, brother. It’s all about when and why you make them.”

Oscar chose that moment to burst in like a thundercloud, the sight of Cale having little effect on his full-blown fury.

“I got cut from the team,” he announced, his hurt not quite overwhelmed by the anger.

“What? What happened?” Alain’s concern didn’t extend to approaching the frustrated teen.

“Coach Betz is replacing me with a kid who just transferred in because I missed too much practice while we were away. But it’s because he’s an All Star and I’m . . . I’m your son.” He flung that carelessly, with wounding intent. “Who needs them and their stupid team anyway? I’m a prince in the House of Terriot. I don’t have to take that shit off anybody.”

Before Alain could catch him, Oscar stormed by. The slam of his bedroom door had window glass shivering. Seeing Babineau’s features settling into harsh lines, Cale put a hand on his arm.

“Let me talk to him.”

Dismissively, Alain waved him ahead, returning to his beer.

*

Cale tapped on the teen’s door, walking in before the call for him to enter. He looked about with interest. “This is nice. I always wanted a room like this.”

It was the perfect male teen bastion with boldly masculine wallpaper covered by rock and sports hero posters, a black light, computer and Xbox, tons of books, and shelves cluttered with movie action figures, car models, and ball caps. And most likely girlie magazines under the mattress. He’d lived in a stark dorm room under an impersonal blanket of fear that had never kept him warm.

Ozzy sat at his desk in front of his Facebook screen, probably changing his status to running away from home. A quick dash of a forearm erased tear stains.

“He send you to lecture me? Couldn’t even do that himself.”

“Naw. I don’t argue with a man’s right to be pissed off. Only that he takes it out on the right target. If I’d spoken to my father that way, I’d have been eating through a straw.”

“He’s not my father,” Oscar growled.

“Oh? Let’s see. He put this roof over your head, food in your belly, clothes on your back.”

“So would state aide, but that wouldn’t make them my daddy, either.”

Cale let his smile slip. Mouthy kid. He liked him more by the minute. “What’s your coach got against your daddy?”

This time Oscar didn’t correct him. “His kid was being scouted by pro teams. Night before the playoffs start, he gets pulled over for DUI by a rookie cop. Coach Betz tried to buy him off, but the cop wouldn’t drop it because it was a third strike. Betz made the other two go away.”

“But your daddy wouldn’t let it go.”

“Because the kid tried to hit him. And barfed in the back of the squad car.”

“Gotta admire a man who respects his job. And his car. So why don’t you?”

A stubborn bottom lip protruded. “I didn’t say I didn’t admire him for it.”

“Then why do you think he’s gonna cut you any more slack than that other dumb kid?”

Mulish angles fell. “I’ll apologize.”

“Damn right. You’re a Terriot prince. Act like one. First you make things right.” A slow, sly smile. “Then you make that other sonuvabitch sorry.”

*

“Let’s go, baby.”

Cale zipped up his jacket and waited by the slider for the two women to come inside. The unexpected thinning of his mate’s lips gave him pause. What had he done? Tina stepped up to embrace him, clutching tight, making him forgot his potential misdemeanors in the face of his sister’s misery.

“I’ll take care of you,” he whispered against her ear. “You and the boy. You have my word as your brother and your king.”

When she moved back, he placed her hand over his heart the way he had when they’d first met.

And at her faint, trusting smile, Cale forced his guilt away to press a kiss on her smooth brow.

CHAPTER TEN

The second the door closed behind them and she was sure they were alone, Kendra was on him like a fury.

“What are you doing?”

He blinked at her tone and threw up a façade of indignant calm. “I don’t know. What am I doing?”

“You know. Why are you tearing that family apart?”

After a long cool stare, he said, “I don’t believe I’m the cause of their marital problems.”

“But you’re damn quick to make yourself the solution.”

His brows rose at her use of profanity. “Where are you going with this, Kendra?”

“I’d ask the same of you, my king.”

Her unflattering drawl of his title brought an intimidating squint to his eyes. “Why are you so pissed at me for offering a helping hand to my family?”

“Is that what you’re doing? A helping hand? Or are you helping yourself to what’s in your best interest?”