Wild Dream (11 page)

Beneath the covers, they were once again in each other’s arms. In the silence, she could hear voices below them, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe,” Lincoln said.

“Because of you and your family. Thank you.”

He kissed her forehead and tightened his arms around her.
 

“I’m sorry for thinking you had something to do with my father’s disappearance. That wasn’t fair.”

“We were the last to see him. Of course it was fair of you to blame us.”

She licked her lips, unable to keep her eyes open another minute. “Do you think he’s alive?”

“We’ll find out all we can from Solomon. If need be, we’ll go to New Orleans.”

Now that surprised her. “You would leave your family?”

“For you, yes.”

Ava forced her eyes open to look at him. “You’re a good man, Lincoln.”

“Just don’t tell anyone,” he replied with a wink.

~ ~ ~

Lincoln let Ava sleep after their endless hours of making love. They had spent over twenty-four hours locked in his room, coming out only to grab food before closing themselves back in. He wanted to remain in bed with her, but it was past dawn after the last night of the full moon, and he needed to talk to Solomon. Lincoln dressed and quietly left the room.

He hurried downstairs and rounded the corner to walk into the kitchen where he found his brothers sitting at the table.
 

“’Bout time you showed your face,” Christian grumbled.

Beau mumbled something Lincoln couldn’t make out and got to his feet.

Vincent shot Lincoln a knowing smile. Lincoln tried to keep from grinning but he couldn’t. He punched Vin in the arm as he walked past. The morning sun chased the shadows away. Heavy dew had descended the night before, coating the ground with water.

“Ready?” Christian asked when all four stood on the porch with clothes in hand.

Lincoln was the first to reach the door. He opened it and headed to the stone building, his brothers right behind him.

It was quiet within, and that gave Lincoln pause. He unlocked the sliding door and opened it only wide enough for them to fit through. Vincent clicked on the lights. Kane slept like the dead, but Solomon sat against the metal bars of the cage still staring at his brother.

“It worked,” Solomon said. “I had my doubts, but you were right, Vin.”

Vincent unlocked his cage. “You can take him home, Solomon. I think Lincoln and Ava will be going with you.”

Christian tossed the clothes in to Solomon and checked on Kane’s lock. Beau leaned against the wall and used his pocketknife to dig a splinter out of his palm.

Solomon quickly dressed and cut a speculative look at Lincoln. “Bringing Ava to New Orleans isn’t a very good idea, cousin.”

“Because of this priestess, Delphine?” he asked.

“Exactly. Look what she’s done to my family?
 
She wants Ava dead, and she will make sure it’s done.”

Lincoln fisted his hands. “Over my dead body.”

“It might come to that.” Solomon shifted his gaze to Christian, then Beau, and finally Vincent. “Is that what the three of you want? To lose your brother to some psycho bitch?”
 

“No,” the replied in unison.

Solomon winced as he pulled the shirt over his head. “I don’t want any of your blood on my hands either. Especially not Ava’s. I owe her old man. It’s because of him that I set some things up before I came here.”

“Ah, guys,” Beau said as he straightened and looked out the door of the building.
 

“Right on time,” Solomon said with a smile.

Lincoln frowned when Solomon walked out of the cage and past his cousins. They were quick to follow him. Lincoln drew up short when he saw the black Dodge truck. The doors opened, and two men stepped out. One with the blue eyes that signaled him blood, and the second man older, his face more wrinkled and his auburn hair liberally laced with white.

“I’ll be damned,” Beau said with a wide grin. “Jack Ledet.”

Solomon waved the two men over. Lincoln couldn’t take his eyes off Jack. He walked with a slight limp and wore a patch over his left eye.

“That ugly ass walking with Jack is the youngest of us LaRues, Court,” Solomon said.

Court rushed Solomon, lowering his shoulder into his gut and tackling him to the ground. The two brothers were laughing when they got to their feet.

Jack didn’t stop until he stood in front of Lincoln. “I hear you’re the one who saved my Ava.”

“It was all of us,” Lincoln answered.

Jack held out his hand. When Lincoln had taken it, Jack smiled. “I remember you, Linc. The one who sat quietly sharpening his Bowie knives. Ava couldn’t have been in better hands than with you Chiasson boys. Thank you all.”

Lincoln started to answer when a flash of auburn caught his gaze. He looked past Jack’s shoulder and saw Ava coming toward him wearing jean shorts, a gray tee, and a brilliant smile.

“She thinks you left her,” Lincoln hurried to tell Jack. “Be careful with her.”

Jack turned to see what had taken Lincoln’s interest. Lincoln knew the instant Ava saw Jack. Her smile faded, and she came to a halt.

“Uh, oh,” Christian said and disappeared into the woods.

Jack swiped a hand down over his chin. “She’s grown into a stunning woman.”

“Daddy?” Ava asked.

Lincoln walked around Jack to her. “Solomon had his brother bring your father.”

“What do I say?” she whispered, looking past his shoulder to her father

Lincoln tucked her hair behind her ear. “Tell him what’s in your heart.”

He started to walk off when she grabbed his hand. Her amber eyes beseeched him. “Stay with me.”

Lincoln nodded and walked her to her father. Several awkward moments passed with Jack blinking tears away before she threw her arms around his neck. Tears slipped down Jack’s face as he held her tight.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“It all worked out,” Vincent said and took a long drink of his beer.

Lincoln sat beside him on the porch and watched Ava and Jack down by the shore. They had been talking for hours. “Has it? Ava has her father. There’s no need for her to stick around.”

“You were going to take her to New Orleans.”

“I was hoping that a little more time with me would help her realize...” Shit. He couldn’t even say it.

“What?” Vin pressed.

Lincoln shrugged and propped his foot on a post. “That she might care for me.”

“Because you love her.”

“A person can’t fall in love after a few days,” Lincoln said derisively.

Vin gave him a droll look. “This coming from a man who did just that, but I think you fell for her the moment you saw her.”

“It’s impossible.”

“Is it?”

Lincoln set down his beer beside the chair. “Ava has a life in Dallas. She’s a successful attorney. What could I possibly offer her?”

“Love.”

“A life of fear and worry. Christian has it right. Why put ourselves through it?”

Vincent sat up and rested his forearms on his knees. “She hasn’t said she’s going back to Texas.”

“She hasn’t said she’s staying either.”

“Then give her a chance to make that decision.” Vin got to his feet. “Besides, when have you ever given up on something you really wanted. If she’s worth it, fight for her, Linc.”

Worth it? Of course she was worth it. The problem was, Lincoln wasn’t sure he was. She had been put through the wringer. What kind of life was that?
 

She was used to the city, to comfort and fine things. He could protect her from werewolves, but he wouldn’t know the first thing about living in the city, wouldn’t know how to be the kind of man she was used to being around.

Fight for her?

He would die for her a thousand times over.

~ ~ ~

Ava looked all over the house for Lincoln. It was Beau who finally told her he was in the building with Kane. Not even that stopped her from going to him.

She walked inside and found him near the far wall next to Kane’s cage, leaning back in a chair and balancing on the two back legs.

“I’ve been looking for you,” she said and glanced at Kane who was still laying on his side, asleep, his back to her in human form.

“How did the talk with your father go?” Lincoln asked.

“Difficult at first, but then better,” she said as she stuffed her hands into her front pockets. “He killed Delphine’s niece outside our house. She was trying to get in my window. He took the body away to dispose of it, and that’s when Delphine’s people caught him. They took him to New Orleans where she held him for years.”

Lincoln lowered the chair to the floor. “Is that how he lost his eye?”

“Yes. She wanted to kill us, but he wouldn’t tell her anything about Mom or me. By the time her people came looking for us, we were gone.”

“She found you anyway.”

“That was because of me. I sent a private investigator looking for my dad. Apparently, the PI went to New Orleans, and his questions caught Delphine’s attention.”

Lincoln stood and walked to her. “How did Jack get free of Delphine?”

“Your cousins. They healed him, and he chose to remain with them so he wouldn’t lead Delphine to us.”

“What happens now?”

So that was why he was acting so weird. He thought she was leaving, and perhaps for a while even she had thought that. Until she realized what type of man she would be letting get away.

“That depends,” she answered.

He kicked at the leg of the chair. “On what?”

“You.”

His gaze lifted to her face. “What about me?”

“If you want me.”

The last word hadn’t left her mouth before she was against his hard body, his face inches from hers. “Want you? You fool, woman. I’m pretty sure I love you.”

She couldn’t form a coherent word. She had held out hope that he wanted her to stay. It never occurred to her that he might love her.

“Say something,” he said and gave her a little shake.

The only thing she could think of was to throw his words back at him. “Took you long enough.”

He smiled and lowered his head. Just before his lips touched hers he said, “Stay, Ava. Stay for me, for us. I’ll love you from now until eternity.”

The kiss was toe-curling, reminding her of just one of the many reasons she couldn’t walk away from him. When he ended the kiss, she drew in a shaky breath and smoothed his long hair away from his face. “I’ll stay for you, for us, because I love you too, Lincoln Chiasson.”

EPILOGUE

One month later...

Ava looked around her new office with approval.
 
She had always wanted to start her own practice, and by deciding to remain in Louisiana, it had given her that opportunity.

“Mighty fine digs,” Beau said as he and Lincoln finished hanging the last of the pictures.

Ava beamed. “I can’t believe I officially open tomorrow.”

Christian adjusted the filing cabinet next to the reception area. “Can you really say that after already taking on three clients?”

She shrugged. “It’s not as if I could turn them away before I had the office up and running.”

“That’s my girl,” Lincoln said with pride in his voice.

Olivia walked through the front door with a box of files from the law firm. “These came from Texas. I’ll get to work on them tomorrow.”

“You have more experience than required to be my receptionist,” Ava said.

Olivia gratefully handed the box to Beau who sat it on the front desk. “You need help, and I need a job. Seems a perfect solution.”

Lincoln walked over to her and wrapped an arm around Ava’s shoulders. “You two spend so much time together already while planning the wedding.”

Olivia cut her eyes to him. “I needed help. Since y’all are so adamant about keeping Riley in Texas, of course I turned to Ava.”

Ava winked at Olivia. “We might need to take a trip to Austin and pay Riley a visit. I’d love to meet her.”

“She’ll love you,” Lincoln said, though his forehead was furrowed. “But if you go, she’ll want to come back with you.”