Lane and Joey

“Give me another one, good sir.” Lane said slamming his shot glass down on the bar. The bartender happily refilled the glass for the tenth time.

“Celebrating?” he asked. Lane grinned and nodded.

“Hell yea!” he said downing the shot and setting it down to be refilled again. “My life is wonderful.” The bartender grunted and walked down the bar to take care of the other customers who wanted to drown their sorrows.

Lane turned in his chair and scanned the dark dirty barroom. He just wanted to have a good time before the damn sub demons he owed money to tracked him down.

He had tried really hard to change his ways. Okay not really hard but he had made a small attempt. He knew that Angela would be disappointed in him going back to drinking and gambling and it really did bother him that he’d let her down. At least it had bothered him until he had finished the first three shots and forgotten all about the promise he had made to her.

Lane snorted and downed yet another shot as he thought about what his brother would say when they found his dead body laying in an alley after the subs were through with him.. Jake wouldn’t be surprised and he would probably say that Lane had gotten what was coming to him.

Jake had everything of course. Everyone except Lane seemed to have found all the happiness they’d ever wanted. That was fine with Lane. He didn’t want a damn mate anyway. There were too many sexy women left that he hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting yet.

Lane winked and smiled his charming smile at a tall leggy brunette eyeing him from the corner. He stood up and walked toward her, weaving slightly in his drunkenness.

“Hello there, beautiful lady.” he said happy to hear that he was only slurring a tiny bit. She looked up at him and smiled back.

“Want to get out of here?” she practically purred. Lane ran a hand through his unruly dark hair and grinned hungrily at her.

“Hell yea I do.” he replied. She stood and walked out of the bar swinging her tight perfect ass all the way. Lane couldn’t stop staring at the way that small sequined red dress hugged her curves. And she had some great curves. He followed her down the street thinking of nothing else but getting lucky when suddenly she turned around and looked at him.

“Where we going, sexy?” Lane asked. He was weaving on his feet and slurring even more now than he had been before. His brain felt foggy and sluggish.. Maybe he shouldn’t have had that thirteenth shot.

““Wherever you want to” She replied running one perfectly painted red fingernail down his chest. Lane felt himself grow hard and he grinned.

“No, ma’am, I always let the lady choose.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him into a dark alley. She shoved him against the wall and pushed her long luscious body up against his.

“Right here works for me.” Lane looked around. Trash on the ground and the smell of rotten garbage in the air. Not the most romantic of surroundings but he wasn’t looking for romance he just wanted a good piece of her delicious looking ass.

He closed his eyes and moaned as she pressed her full red lips on his neck. What the hell was he doing? Did he really want to have more meaningless sex with a complete stranger? Was that going to cure the loneliness that seemed to constantly plague his heart? No it wouldn’t but as he reached his hands down and cupped her rear he decided that hell yes he wanted to have meaningless sex with this complete stranger.

“Sorry to interrupt.” A voice said from further down in the alley. Lane and the leggy brunette both jumped and looked toward the sound. Lanes knees nearly buckled though he was sure it was just as much from his recent alcohol binge as from dread.

“You’re not interrupting.” Lane said looking at the five sub demons. “I like an audience.” The tallest of the sub demons and the leader of the little group took a step forward.

“We want our damn money, Lane.” he said. Lane looked at the brunette beside of him and saw that she was shaking with fear as she stared at the dirty and rotting sub demons in front of them. Lane sighed and counted to three in his head. He had no sooner gotten to the number three when she let out an ear piercing scream and turned and ran away back out of the alley.

“Guess now it’s going to be a solo performance.” Lane said taking a step back. He wasn’t sure if the sub demons could understand his drunken words but they didn’t really care about what he had to say anyway.

“Where is our money, Lane?” the sub said again.

“Hey, I hope you aren’t too upset that I don’t remember your name but uh.. Well you all look alike so I can’t really tell you apart.” The sub swung out his arm and caught Lane’s jaw hard. Lane’s head whipped around and he laughed as he rubbed his jaw and spit out blood.

“Oh I remember you now.” he said.

“Where is our damn money? You either pay up now or we’ll take it in blood.”

“Well see but if you do that then you’ll never get your money.” Lane said matter of factly. He thought about dashing but the sub seemed to read his mind.

“There’s no point running from us anymore, Lane.”

“Well okay then. I wouldn’t want to try too hard to get away.. I’ve always been a bit of an underachiever.” Lane thought about calling Jake to help him but then he thought better of it. His brother would probably give him a bigger ass kicking than the subs.

“Money.” one of the other subs said.

“No money.” Lane replied with a shrug. “I need some more time.”

“You’re fresh out of time my friend.” the lead sub said. Before Lane could think of a witty response the subs fist connected again with his face. Lane stumbled backward and in his drunk state he was unable to right himself and fell to the ground with a thud.

The subs were on him in an instant. Lane grunted in pain as the steel toed boots they wore connected with his ribs, stomach and face. He tried to get up but he was no match for fifteen on one.. Of course only five of the subs were real but the whiskey had him seeing triple.

He felt himself losing consciousness. He hoped someone would find him soon after they killed him while he still looked good. He didn’t want to be a half rotted corpse when everyone said goodbye to him. He had an image to uphold.

Lane heard someone else run into the alley but he couldn’t see because his eyes were swollen shut from the beating the subs were giving him. The subs started to curse and jumped away from him. He could hear fighting going on and was happy that the grunts of pain he was hearing weren’t his own for a moment.

The alley became silent. Lane listened close and heard footsteps walking toward him. Thankfully his eyes were already starting to heal a little so he could at least open them. He tried to take a deep breath and winced at the pain in his ribs. Those bastards must have broken them. Seemed a bit much over a couple thousand dollars.

“Oh my God, you’re still alive!” A woman exclaimed, her voice full of surprise and shock. Lane looked at her but she was blurry. All he could see was flyaway red hair and giant glasses looking down at him.

“Yea.” he grunted. “Though at the moment it would feel better if I was dead.”

“I’ll call you an ambulance.” she said pulling out a cell phone.

“No that’s ok. I’ll be fine.” Lane said. The woman ran her hand up and down his body checking for injuries. Lane felt the wolf in him stir at her touch. It wasn’t often he listened to that side of himself but right now it was screaming loud enough he couldn’t ignore…. Mate!

Lane looked at the woman who was becoming clearer by the second as his eyes healed.

“You’re not ok. Those guys really roughed you up bad. You have broken ribs if I’m not mistaken and I don’t think your arm is supposed to bend like that.” Lane looked down at his arm and winced at the awkward angle.

“No I don’t suppose it is.” he said. This was his mate? No way! This woman was a nerd! A skinny, flat chested, near sighted nerd. Her glasses were huge, her shockingly bright red hair was a mess of frizzy fly away curls. Her face was covered in freckles. Her clothes didn’t show off any of her body though he didn’t think she had much to show off.

“I’m calling for help right now.” she said. He grabbed her cheap looking phone. He couldn’t let her call for help because by the time the ambulance got here he’d be fine.

“I’ll be fine.” he said again. Then he looked around. The subs were dead.. All of them. Had this tiny woman done that all by herself? He looked at her again and noticed the silver knife strapped to her side that was covered in blood.

Oh shit.

He was beginning to understand what she was.. This was just perfect. His mate was a fucking slayer. Fate had a funny sense of humor.

“You need help.” she said. She looked at him more closely. He truly did look like he was getting better right before her eyes. She looked him up and down again. He was wearing tight black trousers that hugged his lean legs. He wore a blue button down shirt that was ripped up and bloody revealing parts of his lean tan stomach and smooth chest.

His face, though bruised and bloody, had a boyish quality. His blue eyes were bright and she would swear he was fighting back a laugh. He shouldn’t feel like laughing.. His ribs were broken after all. She reached her hand back to his chest and then jerked it away and jumped away from him as if she’d been burnt.

“You’re one of those freaks!” she said her voice dripping with hatred. Lane sat up, rubbed his still sore ribs and realized they were no longer broken. Damn fast immortal healing. Now his damn slayer mate was going to kill him for sure.

“Actually that’s my middle name.” He said standing up and leaning on the wall for support. “My first name is Lane.”

“I don’t care what your name is, freak. All I care about is that I kill you before you hurt anymore innocent mortals.” Lane flashed her his most charming smile through his swollen lips and she took a step back. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t kill him.

Joey had been killing immortals for the last ten years. At the age of 25 she had now lost count of the number of them she had sent to hell. Never before had she been attracted to one and right now her body was on fire just looking at this one.

“What are you?” she asked. “Some kind of demon with the power to control people’s passion or something?”

“Are you saying I’m making you feel passionate?” Lane asked. He looked her up and down and laughed. The wolf in him was still telling him that this was his mate but maybe the wolf was just as drunk as he was. She was nothing like his type! He liked women that actually had boobs and that didn’t want to stick a silver knife through his heart.

Joey decided that whatever she was feeling he was making her feel. All she needed to do was piss him off and then he would show his true colors and she would be able to kill him.

She pulled her knife in the blink of an eye and swung it in a wide arc across Lane’s arm. Lane took a sharp intake of breath and hissed in pain as he looked down at the blood flowing from his arm and soaking his shirt.

“You cut me!” he said looking up at her. “What are you crazy? What the hell did I do to you?” Joey was confused and in shock herself. In her experience immortals did not make jokes. They did not flirt. They just killed ruthlessly like the freaks and evil creatures that they were. But Lane was different. He was looking at her with true shock in his eyes and she would swear that by the look in his eyes she had really hurt his feelings.

“Just get out of here.” Joey said as she backed away from him. “Don’t come back or I’ll have to kill you.”

Lane watched her walk away and had to fight the urge to run after her. The wolf inside him was telling him to run to her and not let her out of his sight but the sharp pain in his arm and the blood dripping on the ground told him the wolf inside him was a nut job.

Lane looked again at the subs and gave a little laugh as he walked up to the body of the tallest sub who had punched him first.

“I guess you’re not in as big a hurry for that money now.” he said. He thought for a moment about going back to the bar and getting some more whiskey.. Another draw back to being a werewolf was that it took a lot of alcohol to keep you drunk. But he looked down at his bloody clothes and decided against it.

He decided he would just go back to the seedy little motel he’d been staying at and get some rest.

888

A week later and Lane was cursing and calling himself a fool as he wandered the alleys and dark streets of the town hoping for a glimpse of the red headed slayer. He shouldn’t want to see her. He should be wrapped up in the arms of some big breasted hooker and doing some shots of Jack. Instead he was dead sober as he had been all week and begging the wolf in him to shut up.

All he’d heard for a week was find the mate! Go to the mate! Need the mate! It was like a broken damn record playing over and over in his head and he found the man in himself listening to it. He wanted to see her again. After all he had never thanked her for saving his life.

Then again the little bitch had stabbed him so he figured that probably made them even. He decided that he’d back to the bar after all. Maybe if he got a few drinks in him then he wouldn’t hear the damn wolf anymore. He had the small bar in his sights when he suddenly caught a scent on the breeze. It was her and she was afraid. His instincts took over.

He didn’t even think as he ran to the back alley. There she was. All five feet two inches of her. Her hair was a fiery mass of red curls as she glared at the two teenage vamps in front of her. Lane saw that her face was bruised and bloody. She was out of breath and backed into the corner with a wooden stake in her hand.

Her eyes widened when she saw Lane standing behind the vamps. The vampires followed her gaze and smiled at Lane.

“She’s a mean one we could use some help.” One of them said sensing that Lane was a fellow immortal.

“I don’t like vamps.” Lane replied. “It’s nothing personal. I just have something against things that drink blood. Leech’s, ticks, fleas, vamps you’re all disgusting.”

“Go away, freak!” Joey hissed at Lane. “I don’t need your help. I’m doing just fine!” Lane put his hands up and took a step back. Fine if she wanted to do it alone he would let her do it alone.

“I’ll just watch.” he said. The vamps shrugged and turned back to Joey who was lunging toward them. One of the vamps caught her arm before she could bring the stake down to his chest and whirled her around so her back was to his chest.

He laughed as she struggled in his grasp. The second vamp stepped toward her and she swung up one combat boot clad foot and caught him in the chin snapping his head back and making him stagger backward. She then reached down and pulled her knife from where it was strapped to her leg and stuck it deep into the leg of the vamp that was holding her.

He let go of her with a hiss of pain and she lunged then driving the stake deep into his heart. He gave a single look of shock before his body turned to nothing but dust. Joey dove to retrieve her stake but the remaining vamp grabbed her foot and slammed her to the ground.

She managed to jump back to her feet and turned to face him just in time for his hand to close around her throat. He squeezed tight and she found herself unable to breath. She felt panic and quickly pushed it aside. Panic would not help her now.

She brought her knee up with all the force she could muster and it caught him between the legs. He dropped her and she landed on all fours. Her mind was having trouble focusing from the lack of oxygen.

She reached for the stake again and the vamp grabbed her foot and drug her across the damp musty pavement. He came down on top of her straddling her and making it impossible for her to move. She tried to punch him but he caught both her arms in one hand and punched her hard with the other.

Joey saw stars. The vamp grabbed the knife that she had stabbed into the other vamps leg and raised it to her chest.

“You stupid bitch! I’m going to shove this through your heart the same way you shoved that stake through my brothers!” he hissed angrily.

A growl filled the alley and both the vamp and Joey looked at Lane with surprise.

“That’s enough.” he said his blue eyes had lost their good natured glow and looked hard and angry. Lane was thoroughly pissed off. It took a lot to get him there but the vamp had managed to do it.

“Step away from the lady.” he growled then he grew even more pissed when he realized he sounded like his brother. Joey glared at him from where she lay beneath the vampire but was smart enough to keep her mouth closed.

The vampire stuck the knife deep into Joey’s chest but missed her heart causing her to scream in pain. Lane didn’t have time to think. He leapt through the air and rammed into the vampire with such force that they were both thrown against the brick wall cracking it and sending dust flying through the air.

Joey watched in horror as the vamp and Lane wrestled around the alley. The fight didn’t last long. Lane managed to grab the stake and rammed it deep into the vamps chest.

“Fuck you.” The vamp spat before turning into dust. Lane stood up breathing hard and dusting himself off. His shirt was ripped and covered in alley slime… Great at the rate he was going he wasn’t going to have any clothes left.

“Please don’t kill me.” Joey said from where she had scooted herself against the wall. Lane tilted his head and grinned his charming grin.

“You have trust issues.” he said. Joey felt herself growing weaker. She looked down at her shoulder and saw the blood soaking her baggy white t-shirt.

“You don’t look so good.” Lane said as he crouched down to her level. She was bleeding bad from her the knife wound in her chest. Her face was cut up and bruised as well and her breathing was becoming shallow.

“I’ll be fine.” she gasped trying to move away from him. Lane shook his head.

“You’re stubborn too.” This was perfect. He could tell by the way the wolf in him was freaking out that she was his mate and now she was laying here bleeding to death on the dirty alley floor.

“Leave.” she said.

“I can’t leave. Have you figured out what I am yet?” he asked. She shook her head and his blue eyes flashed mischievously.

“I’m a wolf.” he said. “Actually I’m a gambling drunk who got lucky here tonight because I usually can’t fight my way out of a wet paper bag, but I’m also a werewolf.”

Joey couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her lips. Lane was surprised by how his heart skipped at the sound until the coughing fit hit her and he could hear the blood going into her lungs.

“I’m going to get you out of here.” Lane said. Joey looked up at him and he realized that beneath her glasses her eyes were emerald green.

“Where are you going to take me?” Lane wondered that himself. Judging by how much more pale she was growing by the second she wouldn’t last long enough for a doctor to be able to help her.

His thoughts turned to Angela who over the last few months had started to develop healing powers. The family had been shocked but Rebecca had assured them that she had seen it before. Sometimes when mortals became immortal mates they developed their own special talents or powers. It seemed fitting that Angela’s would be healing. She had that kind of caring spirit about her.

Lane scooped Joey up in his arms despite her weak protests.

“I’m going to take you to my brother’s house. I think my sister-in-law can help you.” Joey was too weak to respond. Brother? Sister-in law? Since when did immortals have families? Despite herself she found herself curling up into his arms and pressing her face into his chest. He was warm, strong and comforting.

Lane felt his chest constrict as she snuggled up against him. What the hell was wrong with him? He was a womanizer! He wasn’t supposed to have this kind of strong reaction to one certain woman. Especially not a woman who considered him a freak and would put a silver knife through his heart if given half a chance.

He realized that she had lost consciousness against him and felt the beginnings of panic gripping him. He dashed her quickly hoping that Angela could save her.

Chapter Two

The air in Jake and Angela’s bedroom began to shimmer and Jake was out of the bed in an instant. Lane nearly yelled out when he opened his eyes and found himself staring at six feet five inches of pissed off Jake growling defensively. Jake relaxed when he saw it was Lane and then stared at the woman in his arms.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“I need Angela.” Lane said. Angela scooted to the edge of the bed and with some effort managed to lift her heavily pregnant frame off the bed.

“What happened, Lane?” she asked looking at the red headed girl in his arms. She was bleeding heavily and she was pale and unconscious against Lane’s chest.

“Vamps. She’s mortal Angela and she’s my….. She’s my friend.” Lane said not wanting to tell his sister in law what she really was. Hell he didn’t want this mean little red headed slayer to be his mate anyway!

“Follow me. But fast she doesn’t look like she can last much longer.” Angela said. She waddled from the room and Lane and Jake both followed her. She led them into a spare room and motioned for Lane to lay the girl down.

“You guys leave. I’ll do what I can for her.” Angela said. Lane started to protest but Jake grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room.

“Do what she says.” he said. Lane took one more look at his mates pale face and then turned and left the room. Jake followed him down to the living room.

888

(Angela.) Jake said as he sat on the couch watching Lane pacing the room like a caged animal. He had never seen his little brother look this close to a panic attack. He hadn’t said a word in ten minutes and Jake was sure that was a first.

( What?) Angela asked. Jake could tell she was irritated by his interruption.

(How is she?)

(I healed her stab wound. The bruises and cuts will have to wait until later.. I’m just too tired.) he could hear the disappointment in her voice.

(It’s ok love.) Jake replied. He knew that healing powers took a lot out of even the most powerful immortals and his Angela was almost eight months pregnant.

(You can send Lane up now. She still unconscious but she’ll be ok.)

“Angela, says we can go back up now….” Jake didn’t even have time to finish before Lane was running up the stairs. He ran into the room and found Angela sitting on the edge of the bed looking down at the slayers sleeping form. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that some color had returned to her freckled cheeks.

“She’s going to be ok.” Angela said standing up and laying her hand on his arm. Lane hugged her tight and laid his hand on her belly.

“How are you, little sister? How is my bambino?”

“I’m tired. Your bambina is just fine.” she replied. “How is my favorite brother?” Lane looked down at her and could see the worry in her eyes. Leave it to Angela to make him feel like the biggest ass in the world. There was no way he was going to tell her about the drinking and women. She would kill him.

“You know me. Been hanging out and having fun.” he said flashing her his grin. She smiled up at him and he worried that any moment his head was going to turn into a giant donkeys ass.

“You need to get back to bed, Angela. You’re exhausted.” Jake said taking his wife’s arm gently. She happily let herself be pulled into the warm, hard, muscular circle of his arms.

“Thank you for helping her.” Lane said as he looked back at the woman lying in the bed. Angela nodded and Jake led her from the room shutting the door behind them.

Lane walked over and sat down in the chair next to the bed. He looked down at the woman laying there. He realized he didn’t even know her name. Angela had cleaned the blood from her and changed her into one of Jordan’s silk gowns.. Lane knew it had to have been Jordan’s because she was the only person in the house who was almost as tiny as this mystery woman.

Her glasses were off and laying on the bedside table and Lane realized she wasn’t as ugly as he’d first thought. Even with the bruises and cuts she was actually kind of pretty. He stood up quickly. This was insane! She was a scrawny little slayer and he had to get away from her. Damn this whole mate thing! Now that leggy brunette the subs had scared away a week ago, she was mate material. He quickly walked out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. He took off his bloody clothes, showered and changed into sweat pants before walking back to his room.

He lay in his bed staring at the ceiling and cursing fate for having such a horribly twisted sense of humor.

888

The next morning Angela went into the spare room where Lane’s mystery woman still lay sleeping. She had expected to find Lane here but he was gone. Angela pulled the blankets tighter around the stranger. Jake came into the room and laid a hand on his wife’s shoulder.

“How is she?” he asked. She shrugged.

“She’ll be fine.. She just lost a lot of blood and needs to sleep.” Angela reached out and laid a hand on the girls face. She closed her eyes and focused her energy willing the cuts and bruises to heal.

“There, now she looks better.” Angela said pulling her hand away. Jake kissed Angela’s dark hair.

“Why don’t’ you go on down and get a bite to eat and tell everyone about our guest. I’ll stay up here in case she wakes up.” Angela nodded and kissed him gently before leaving the room. Jake moved the small chair across the room and sat down. His eyes stayed locked on this stranger. He could tell by her scent and Lane’s scent together that this woman was his brothers mate. He felt sorry for his brother. Jake had been scared when he’d learned his own mate was mortal, learning that your mate was not only mortal but a slayer who hated immortals had to be one hundred times worse.

888

The first thing Joey noticed when she woke up was that her body was not sore. She raised her hand to her chest where the knife had gone in but there was nothing there. Then she noticed that she was wearing a silky gown and laying in a bed.

She couldn’t see a thing without her glasses and she reached her hand out to the bedside table beside her and grabbed them. She slipped them on and nearly screamed when she saw the man sitting across the room looking at her with intense golden eyes.

Even sitting, she could tell he was tall and he was covered in layers of lean muscle. He looked a little like Lane but instead of the boyish good looks that Lane had this man looked rugged, dangerous and deadly. He didn’t move a muscle as he sat there with his long legs stretched out and his arms crossed over his chest but Joey knew that when he did move it would be with a deadly grace.

“Who are you?” she demanded ready to leap from the bed and defend herself if necessary. He smiled and Joey noticed that even though it could never take away all the deadly intensity of his face it did lighten it and give him a more friendly appearance.

“I know I’m sexier than my little brother but unfortunately I’m taken.” he replied. Joey’s eyes widened in surprise. Who in the world would be with someone like that? He looked like the definition of a hard abusive man to her.

“By who?” she asked before she could stop herself. Just then a pretty, dark haired very pregnant woman waddled into the room carrying a plate of food.

“By me.” she said smiling at Joey. “But you wouldn’t want him anyway. He’s an asshole.” Joey turned her shocked eyes back to the man in the chair. She knew what happened when you insulted an immortal. They turned into killing machines. She looked at him expecting to see him bristling with fury at the insult but instead was shocked speechless when she saw how his golden eyes were now looking at the dark haired woman with more love than she had ever seen.

“I’m your asshole, love.” he replied. The dark haired woman smiled at him returning the look of love.

“And I am the luckiest woman in the world.” she said. Then she made a face of pain and laid her hand on her stomach. The man was out of the chair and at her side before Joey had time to blink.

“Are you ok?” he asked his voice full of fear.. Fear? Love? Immortals weren’t supposed to feel things like fear and love. And if this was Lane’s brother then that meant he was a werewolf too.

The woman laughed and laid a gentle hand to the big mans cheek.

“I’m fine, Jake.. But I think this little one is going to have her daddies temper. She nearly kicked a hole right through me!” Joey just stared at them.. She was so confused and her head was spinning. She had no idea where she was. Lane was nowhere to be seen. And the immortals were not acting the way she had expected them to. They seemed almost normal!

She was anticipating that at any moment they would turn on her. They would try to kill her since that was all immortals were good for. She looked around the room for anything that could be used as a weapon to defend herself but saw nothing.

The dark haired woman walked over to the bed and Joey sat up quickly. If the dark haired woman noticed her fear she gave no indication.

“Hi. My name’s Angela.” she said instead as she held the plate full of eggs, bacon and toast out to Joey. “I promise it tastes good. Rebecca is the best cook you’ll ever find.”

Joey’s stomach growled loudly and she realized that if she was going to have the strength to escape she was going to have to eat. She reached out and quickly took the plate from Angela’s hand. She started to eat quickly and Angela stayed where she was on the edge of the bed.

“So what is your name?” Angela asked.

“Joey.” Joey’s eyes widened when a tall, tan, long legged blond bombshell in a black halter top and mini skirt walked in the room carrying a glass of orange juice. Oh my god how many of them are there! Joey thought to herself.

“I brought you something to drink. Mom tried to send up some of her earthy tea but I saved you from that horrible experience.” Joey took the juice out of the blonds perfectly manicured hand.

“I’ll bet you have some questions about where you are and who we are don’t you? You were unconscious when Lane brought you here last night.” Angela said. Joey looked at the big man. Jake is what Angela had called him. He was standing in the corner of the room with his arms crossed. Joey knew enough about hunting and slaying to know that this freak was dangerous. He had the calm deadly energy of a hunter himself.

She looked back to Angela and nodded at her.

“Last night I was dying.” Joey said. “Why am I fine this morning? You guys didn’t turn me into freaks like you did you?” Angela blinked several times as she looked at her, thinking about how to respond. Jake gave a small growl and ran a hand through his unruly black hair that was a longer than Lane’s. The blond raised a brow.

“Excuse me? I am not a freak; I’m hot. I’m a model.” she said stretching out her long slender arms.

“Model?” Joey asked.

“Yes. Me and my mate Greg are both models. You should see him. He’s so pretty.”

“Pretty?” A new man entered the room. He was much taller than even Jake but he was skinny and not a bit deadly looking. “Bethany, you’re supposed to tell people I’m handsome not pretty.”

“Why? The casting agency says you have pretty looks. You should be proud of that.”

“Yea at least you’re not ugly like Kent.” Yet another woman said walking in the room. This one was short. About the same height as Joey herself and had short spiky black hair.

“Kiss my ass, Jordan. You didn’t call me ugly last night.” A man replied walking in and wrapping his arm around her waist. He was short and stocky.

“Oh my god how many of you are there?” Joey asked looking at the room full of them.

“Well there is me and Jake. Bethany and Greg. Jordan and Kent. Raquel and Evan and they have two kids Kaylee and Kayleb. And then there is Rebecca and you’ve already met Lane of course.” Angela replied. Jordan did the math in her head… Twelve! She didn’t think she could take on twelve of them. She would have to focus on escaping not killing.

“Are all of you werewolves?” she asked. Angela nodded.

“They all are but not me. I used to be a mortal like you but now I’m an immortal mate.”

“My mate.” Jake added his golden eyes flashing. He could see the way Joey was sizing up everyone in the room. He knew a hunter when he saw one. He didn’t want this woman thinking his mate was an easy target.

“I healed you by the way… Seems that’s my talent.” Angela added. Joey was still thinking about what Angela had said before. She was immortal but not a werewolf.. That meant she didn’t have any superhuman strength. If she was mated to the big guy, who was the one werewolf in the room Joey knew for sure she couldn’t take, then her death would bring his death.

Joey looked at the smiling pregnant woman sitting on the bed. She didn’t want to kill her. But then she reminded herself about what immortals had done to her family and what they always ended up doing if they were allowed to live.

Angela stood up and looked down at Joey. She felt sorry for the girl. She must be scared to death. She remembered how overwhelming this family could be. She was about to tell everyone to leave when suddenly without warning Joey grabbed the fork off of the plate and lunged at Angela.

Joey wasn’t even half way to her target when she felt a hand grab her and throw her across the room. She crashed into the wall and fell to the floor before managing to get back to her feet. She found herself looking at the solid rock hard chest of a very pissed off Jake.

Joey was scared. She had been a slayer for ten years but she knew that if she had ever come across an immortal like Jake in that time she would have died. She might just die right now…

Before Jake or Joey could speak Angela came in between them.

“How dare you!” she screamed at Joey. Jake took a step back to allow his mate and her belly room. “I healed you! I fed you! I tried to make you feel as comfortable as I could! Do you know how damn much it took out of me last night to keep you from bleeding to death!? Do you show a single ounce of appreciation for anything that I did? No you don’t….” Joey cut off her angry rant by swinging her hand out to hit Angela. Angela blocked her arm with her own and then swung her other hand around and smacked Joey hard across the face.

“You need to learn some damn respect and appreciation!” Angela said. “No one in this house has done a single mean thing to you and what do you do? You call my family freaks and then you try to stab me! You’re lucky that Jake didn’t kill you instead of just throw you at the wall.”

“Repeat that, little sister. What did she do exactly?” Lane asked. Jake and Angela both turned and saw Lane standing behind them looking angry as he glared at Joey.

“The mean little mortal tried to stab Angela with a fork. I don’t know what she thought she was doing. I mean Jake was standing right here.” Kent replied. Lane took several long strides and shoved Joey hard against the wall. His blue eyes were hard and angry as he glared down at her.

“I could have left you in that alley to die you ungrateful little witch but I didn’t. I brought you here to my little sister so she could heal you because for some damn reason fate decided to be a jackass to me and stick me with you as a mate. But you need to listen to me and listen to me close. There will always, no matter what happens between you and I, be a woman that comes before you and that is Angela and if you ever so much as think about attacking her again Jake won’t have to kill you because I’ll do it myself.”

The room became so silent you could of heard a pin drop. Everyone was shocked. Lane never shoved people. Lane never yelled. Lane never threatened and Lane had certainly never before called a woman his mate…..

Joey found herself unable to breath.. A combination of fear and passion was stealing her breath. Lane felt it too as he kept his body pressed against hers. Finally Joey managed to find the breath to speak.

“Did you just call me your mate?” she asked quietly. Lane stepped away from her quickly. The damn woman smelled too damn good for her own good. Like cinnamon and sugar mixed all together. He looked back at his family and saw their shocked expressions and then replayed what he had just said to Joey in his mind.

Oh shit….

Talk about spilling some major beans that he had been hoping to throw away.

“Mate uh.. Yea I called you mate.. I’m part Australian I call everybody mate.” he said and quickly left the room.

“Well I think I need to go out for a run. It’s a beautiful summer day no point being cooped up in the house.” Kent said and quickly left the room followed closely by everyone else except Angela, Jake and Joey.

“Go on, Jake. Go out for a run with the guys. Joey and I will be fine. Won’t we Joey?” Angela asked raising a brow and daring Joey to disagree with her dark eyes. Joey’s head was still reeling from Lane’s words and from the way his body had felt pressed up against hers.

“I don’t fucking think so.” Jake said his voice hard as stone. “She tried to kill you.”

“She won’t try that again. Her and I are going to sit down and have a nice conversation and then if she wants to leave I’ll drive her to the bus station in town.”

“Angela, I am not leaving you alone with her.” Angela turned and looked up at her mates stern face. She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. Joey looked at the scene and figured she really was going crazy when she had to fight the urge to laugh.

Here was this woman who looked so gentle and helpless standing toe to toe with this giant brute of a man, her big pregnant belly pushed against his waist and her hands on her hips. And Joey was shocked to see that he actually looked scared of her.

“You listen to me, Jake. You might be able to threaten and scare and intimidate everybody else but not me. Joey and I will be fine. She won’t try to hurt me again. She was just scared and overwhelmed earlier. You have no idea how intimidating your family can seem when they all crowd around like that with everybody talking and arguing at once. Go out for a run and trust that I know what I’m doing.” Jake looked down at his mate, his wife, and sighed. He kissed her forehead.

“I love you.” he said.

“Are you going to go out?” she asked. He smiled and nodded.

“Then I love you too.” Jake gave Joey one last hard work and she understood the threat in his eyes perfectly.

(I’ll be fine. If I think she’s going to try something I’ll yell for you. I know you’ll protect me.) Angela said. Jake nodded and left the room shutting the door behind him.

“Ok now you need some clothes.” Angela said looking back at Joey. She walked across the room and opened the wardrobe.

“Luckily Jordan has some clothes left in here and they should fit you perfectly.” Angela handed Joey a pair of jeans and a black tank top. Joey took them from her and then stared at her.

“Of course. You need some privacy.” Angela turned her back to Joey. Angela really wasn’t worried that Joey would try to hurt her again. Even if Joey tried Angela knew it wouldn’t work because if she knew Jake, and she did, he was standing right on the other side of that door and listening to every single move they both made inside.

Joey cleared her throat after she’d pulled on the clothes and she held the fork out to Angela who gladly took it from her.

“Hold on.” Angela said holding up her finger as she walked as silently as she could to the door. She pulled it open quickly and Jake nearly fell as he stumbled into the room. Angela smiled and handed him the fork as he grinned guiltily.

“Goodbye Jake.” she said as she pushed him back out the door and closed it again. She turned back to Joey who looked like she was so confused and overwhelmed she was near tears.

“Okay, Joey, now I think we need to talk.”

Chapter Three

Lane had gone straight to the kitchen after leaving the spare room. Rebecca smiled happily and threw her arms around her youngest son.

“I’m so happy you decided to come visit for a while!” she said. “And you brought a friend.” she added, her eyes shining. Lane rubbed the back of his neck and sat down at the table.

“You shouldn’t get too excited about that. I just rescued her from some vamps, that’s all. I knew she wouldn’t live long enough to get to the hospital and Angela popped into my mind.” Rebecca sat down a plate in front of Lane and looked disappointed.

“I was hoping it meant you were going to settle down finally.” Lane nearly choked on his eggs.

“Come on now mom! I can’t settle down. Think of all the thousands of women who would miss out on this smile.” he repliied, flashing her the most charming one he could manage.

“What am I going to do with you?” she asked sitting down across from him.

“I wouldn’t want you to feel unneeded so I’ll let you get me some milk.” he said. Rebecca laughed and did just that.

“Uncle Lane! Uncle Lane!” the twins Kaylee and Kayleb yelled running into the kitchen.

“Hello munchkins.” Lane said hugging them both. “Have you all been being good for your mommy?” They nodded happily. “But not too good right? You wouldn’t want her to get bored.”

“Lord knows I would hate to be bored.” Raquel said walking into the kitchen and smiling at her little brother.

“I’m just trying to help out your brain. You know boredom could cause your old age to really set it in.”

“Haha… So what is this I hear about your mate being upstairs and trying to stab Angela with a fork? I bet that went over real well with our big brother!” Rebecca slammed Lanes’ milk down on the table so hard it sloshed over the edges and covered his plate and pants.

“Mom!”

“Don’t you mom me! You told me she was nobody! You have a mate!” she said clapping her hands with happiness.

“Mom, calm down. I have no intention of settling down with that frizzy headed, flat chested, witch of a woman. She’s a damn slayer for pete’s sake! She’s made a life out of killing immortals.. How can I be mated to a woman who would sooner shove a silver stake through my heart than look at me?”

“It wasn’t very nice to call her frizzy haired or flat chested.. I’m sure she’s not that bad.” Raquel scolded. Lane sighed. Sometimes he felt like he had two mothers. He thought back to seeing Joey this morning. Okay so her hair wasn’t frizzy really it was just a thick mess of curls and that silk gown had revealed to him that she wasn’t completely flat chested. Those had definitely been breasts, very perky breasts pressed up against him.

“Maybe she’s not that bad looking but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s a slayer and she tried to kill Angela.”

“Old habits probably just die hard Lane. You know slayers. They do what Jake and your father used to do. They hunt down rogue immortals. Your mate has probably never been around normal immortals like us.” Rebecca said as she hit a coconut with her bare hand breaking it cleanly in half.

“Oh yea we’re real normal.” Lane said. But he understood what his mother way saying.

“I don’t want a mate mom. I’m having plenty of fun getting to know as many women as possible.”

“Children in the room.,” Raquel said as she covered Kaylee’s ears.

“Mom, we’re nine years old now. We’re not babies anymore.” Kayleb said.

“Age doesn’t mean anything, Kayleb.. You’re uncle Lane is one hundred and ten and he still whines like a two year old.” Raquel informed her son.

“As wonderful and supportive as this conversation has been, I have things I wanted to do.” Lane said and he stood up and walked outside. There was no way he wanted to be mated. He loved being a man whore as Kent liked to call him. Lane knew he was lying to himself but he wanted so badly to believe that what he was telling himself was true.

888

“I’m sorry that happened to your family, Joey. You must have been very frightened.” Angela said. The two of them were sitting on the bed and Joey had just finished telling Angela about the vampires that had killed her parents and brother.

“I was. But then I decided to not let anything like that happen to people again and I started killing every filthy immortal I could get my hands on.” Joey replied. Angela nodded.

“I agree that every filthy immortal needs to be killed but not every immortal is filthy.” she said. Joey looked out the window at the two kids playing out in the yard. Their mother was laughing happily as her mate wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hair.

Joey didn’t know what to make of it all. She was realizing that she had been wrong for the last ten years.

“I’m sorry I tried to stab you.” she said. Angela shrugged.

“I was never really in any danger. Jake would never have let you hurt me. You know he’s a lot like you.” Joey thought about the man and frowned.

“How do you figure that?” Angela smiled.. Joey might only be a few years younger than herself but it seemed like it was much more.

“He and his father spent over 200 years hunting down rogue immortals. Those are the same immortals that you hunted. Rogue immortals are immortals that break the rules and codes of conduct and attack mortals. Jake was pretty darn good at his job too.” Joey nodded. She had gotten the impression that Jake was probably very good at killing.

“I never knew that immortals have families.” Joey said.

“It’s wonderful! They are so much closer than normal families. I mean they argue and yell and there is the occasional fist fight but it is the most beautiful and dysfunctional thing I’ve ever experienced.”

“So you and Jake are mates.” Joey said. “And you are pregnant?”

“Well gee I sure hope so! If not then I may just have a serious problem.” Angela said laying her hand on her massive belly.

“Is it ok if I ask you something personal?” Joey asked. Angela nodded. “Jake seems dangerous.”

“He’s very dangerous.”

“You seem normal.”

“Very normal.”

“Has he ever hurt you.. I mean he just seems deadly.. Does he….” Angela laughed and Joey stopped talking. Angela tried to calm her laughter and looked at Joey as if she was crazy.

“You almost made me pee on myself.” Angela said matter of factly as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“How to explain Jake….. He has the worst temper of anyone that I’ve ever met. He is hot headed as hell and has absolutely no patience.” Angela heard a grunt come from the other side of the door and knew Jake was still out there listening.

“So why are you with him? I mean I know about mates. I know all about the pull and the bond that forms and I also know that just because you are mates doesn’t mean you have to fully mate and doesn’t mean you even have to be together. Why would you choose to be with a freak that is all those things you said.”

(Yea why are you with me? I sound like a monster.) Jake said his tone teasing.

(Stop eavesdropping.) Angela scolded. Then she looked at Joey and her eyes were suddenly serious.

“Jake and I have been through a lot.” Angela shivered as images from those terrible times flashed through her mind. “But that man, or freak, or whatever you want to call him, loves me with every single fiber of his being. Do you have any idea what it’s like to have a man that loves you like that? He is the most loyal, caring, honest man I have ever known and I knew from the second we met that I was going to love him with all of my heart.”

“Sounds amazing.” Joey replied looking down at the ground. She had never had a man love her. She had never even been kissed. An image of Lane’s smiling mouth came into her mind.. She shook it away and stood up.

“Well it’s all well and good for you. But I refuse to be mated to a freak. I have spent my life killing them and I will continue. Can you please show me the way to town? I’m ready to leave.”

“Don’t you want to at least talk to Lane first?” Angela asked pushing herself up off the bed.

“No I don’t. There is nothing he could say to me that would make me want to stay with him. Besides he seems to be head over heels in love with you anyway.” Angela started laughing again and then stopped suddenly and crossed her legs.

“You have to quit making me laugh! I’m pregnant and I will pee my pants!” she said. Joey couldn’t help but laugh.

“Lane love me yes.. And I love him” at this there was another grunt from outside the door.

“But… “ Angela continued “We are not head over heels in love with each other.. There is only one man that I am in love with and that is my mate. And if you all would give each other a chance maybe you could find what Jake and I have.”

“No.” Joey said shaking her head. “I want to leave.” Angela sighed and nodded. She opened the door and Jake wrapped his arm around her seeing the sadness on her face.

(You are the most caring woman I know, Angela. I know you wanted Lane to have a happily ever after but sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them too.) Angela nodded and then she and Jake led Joey down the stairs.

“I’m going to take her to town.” Angela said grabbing her purse off the coffee table in the living room.

“I’ll come with you.” Jake said.

(No. You go find your brother. See if you can talk some sense into him.. You know how miserable he’ll be if he can’t be with his mate..)

(You know I think it’s a waste of time.) Jake replied.

(Humor me please.)

(Alright… Please be careful with her… Call for me if you even get the smallest bit nervous.) Angela nodded and kissed Jake goodbye.

“Come on Joey. I’ll take you to town.”

Angela led Joey outside and Joey turned and looked at the house they had just left in awe. She had never seen such a big and beautiful house. She wished she had somewhere like this to go home too.. Instead she had her little tent beneath the old overpass.

She followed Angela to a beat up Chevy truck. The truck looked like a pile of junk. Angela noticed the way Joey was looking at the truck and smiled.

“It was my dads pride and joy.” she said. “He was killed by a were tiger about seven months ago.” Joey climbed in the truck and waited on Angela to hoist herself in as well.

“I’m sorry.” Joey said. How could Angela live with this family of werewolves when one of their kind had killed her father.

“It still hurts sometimes but I know the man who did it is dead.” she said. Joey nodded.

“Jake killed him for you.”

“No. I killed him.” Angela replied. Joey looked over at the woman next to her in disbelief.

“I’m not as helpless as I look!” Angela assured her. “Jake did kill the vamp that killed my mother though and he also killed the vamp that was working with the were tiger that killed my father. That vamp was almost one thousand years old”

“They live that long?” Joey asked in shock and Angela nodded. The air inside the truck shimmered and suddenly Lane appeared in the seat between them. Angela swerved and barely got control back of the truck before they hit a tree.

“You dumbass!” she yelled at Lane. “Not all of us in this car are immortal!” She said looking at Joey and laying a hand over her baby.

“What were you all talking about?” he asked. Angela pushed her hair behind her ear. Joey tried to scoot closer to the door finding that having Lane’s leg pressed against her was causing strange sensations other places in her body.

“Vampires.” Angela replied. “Joey was surprised to hear that Vladimir was a thousand years old. She didn’t know they could live that long.”

“Sure. As long as they remember to wear sunscreen, avoid getting their heads ripped off and stay away from large wooden splinters, they can live forever.” Lane said flashing Joey that charming grin of his. She felt her heart speed up at the sight of that grin. Something inside of her was urging her to go into Lanes arms. Some part of her wanted to touch him and have him touch her. She told that part of herself to shut up. Lane was an immortal and therefore could not be trusted.

Joey reached her hand down in the back of the seat and closed it around a large metal ratchet. She smiled to herself. If he tried anything she’d be ready.

“How long do werewolves live?” she asked finding that she really was curious and it wouldn’t hurt to ask him a few questions while they were stuck in the truck together.

“Just as long as vampires as long as we manage to stay away from crazy ass slayers with silver knives and stakes.” Lane said teasingly. He had done a lot of soul searching after talking to his mother and sister, okay so it was only like fifteen minutes, but it was the most he’d ever done.

Lane had failed at most everything he’d ever done in his life. Other than keeping his promise to Jake and keeping Angela safe he was a living breathing failure. But he would be damned if he was going to fail at something as fail proof as winning his mate. Nature was on his side on this one and he was going to win her. She was actually pretty cute in a killer nerd kind of way. He found himself wanting to hold her and kiss her just to see what those big pouty lips would taste like. Maybe her kisses would match her scent and it would be all cinnamon and sugar.

Yep if fate thought that it was playing some kind of cruel joke on Lane by giving him an impossible match for a mate than the joke was going to be on fate because by god he was going to make it work.

“How old are you?” Joey asked.

“110.” Lane answered.

“You don’t look 110.” she said. Lane shook his head.

“For someone who has made it their life mission to hunt down immortals you sure don’t know much about us.”

“I know plenty… Can I ask why a gang of subs was trying to kill you the night we met?” she asked. Lane closed his eyes and groaned.

“Yea, Lane, enlighten both of us! Why was a gang of sub demons trying to kill you?” Lane grinned sheepishly over at Angela.

“I’m much more attractive than they are.. I believe they have issues.”

“You reeked of whiskey that night.” Joey added. Lane reached his arm out and pressed Joey back into her seat just as Angela slammed on the brakes and pulled the truck off the road. Lane had only meant to keep Joey from going through the windshield but she had taken his sudden movement as a threat. Her arm came up and she brought the ratchet down hard on his head.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” he yelled as blood poured down his face. “You’re fucking crazy lady! First you stab me and now you try to bash my head in? What the hell is your problem?”

Joey turned red and raised the ratchet again.

“You tried to attack me!” she declared. Lane looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“I was trying to keep you from going through the windshield because I knew Angela was going to slam this thing to a stop the minute your big mouth told her I’d been drunk.” He said. He looked over at Angela who was just watching the two of them with wide eyes.

Lane looked down at his white button down shirt and saw that it was quickly turning into a red button down shirt.

“I’m… Well I’m sorry…I thought you were going to hurt me.” Joey said suddenly feeling very stupid for hitting him. She didn’t like feeling stupid about hurting an immortal. It pissed her off.

“Save your apologies. Next time you go through the windshield…” Lane grumbled. Angela decided to speak up before Joey could reply.

“Joey, give me the ratchet.” she said reaching her hand out. Joey reluctantly handed it to her. She didn’t like giving up her only weapon. Angela took the ratchet and tossed it through the open back window and into the bed of the truck.

“Lane, she apologized. It was an honest misunderstanding.”

“Tell that to my head.” he pouted. Angela reached over and touched his head focusing her energy and making him heal faster than normal.

“See all better. No harm done.” Angela said. Lane looked over at Joey. She looked scared to death but defiant at the same time. It was like she thought he was going to kill her any second. Right now that sounded like a good damn idea. Lane took a deep breath and smiled at her.

“Sorry I scared you, Joey.” he said. Joey didn’t know how to respond. That was the first time he had actually used her name and she liked the way it sounded. Angela pulled the truck back onto the road.

(Well I was going to come into town with you but I think I might need to change my clothes now.) Lane said looking down at the blood covering him.

(She is kind of violent.) Angela admitted. Lane snorted with laughter and Joey eyed him curiously since she couldn’t hear their conversation.

(Doesn’t it figure that I ended up having a mate that’s even more of a violent crazy ass than Jake?)

“Goodbye ladies.” Lane said and then the air shimmered and he was gone.

“I really am sorry I hit him.” Joey said. “I thought he was attacking me.” Angela laughed.

“It does Lane good to have a hit to the head every now and then. Don’t worry about it.”

Angela kept hoping that Lane would come back and try to talk Joey out of leaving but as she bought Joey her bus ticket she realized he wasn’t coming. Joey smiled at Angela as the bus pulled up.

“Thank you for helping me.” she said. “ I learned a lot from your family.“

“You can come back anytime.” Angela replied. Joey nodded but knew that she wasn’t going to come back. She had been living alone for ten years with her own beliefs and ways of handling immortals. Learning that she had been wrong about them all this time made her think and that pissed her off. She didn’t want to be worried about whose father, mother, brother, of sister she was killing when she was out slaying.

She stepped up into the bus and didn’t spare Angela another glance as the bus pulled away. Angela sighed and walked back to the truck.

(Jake…)

(What ,my love?)

(Thank you so much.)

(For?)

(Loving and worshipping me from the moment we met.) Angela replied. She heard his light chuckle.

(I could say the same thing to you.) he said. Angela rubbed her temple and the dull ache that was forming there.

(I’m tired. My head hurts.) she said.

(Bring it on home to me, love. I’ll take care of you.)

Chapter Four

Joey pulled her blanket tighter around her and wished the night would hurry up and come. It had been over a month since she had met Lane and his family and it has been the longest month she had ever spent.

She had seen something among that family that she couldn’t ’seem to get out of her mind. Love. Even the deadly looking Jake had clearly loved his mate. And the other members of the family had clearly loved each other as well. She spent the days trying to sleep but not succeeding very often because Lane’s face, his voice, his laughter and his charming smile kept running through her mind.

When the nights did come she would hunt and slay with more determination than ever before. She hoped if she saw enough of these crazy, evil immortals she would forget about the other kind…

She had been living alone for ten years but now she really knew how it felt to be lonely. It felt as if her heart were torn right in half and a very piece of herself was missing. She wanted to see Lane and that pissed her off and scared her.

She decided that it was late enough and darkness would be coming soon. She pulled on a pair of black stretch pants and a baggy white shirt. She put on her combat boots and tied her silver knife to her leg. She put a wooden stake in the waistband of her pants and then walked out of her tent. She had a couple of dollars and decided that she would go and eat a late dinner before getting to work.

888

Lane paced the hallway outside of Angela’s bedroom. Kent, Evan and Greg were sitting on the floor playing cards while Kaylee and Kayleb were busy doing homework since school had just started. All of the women and Jake were crowded inside Angela’s room.

Angela let out another scream and Lane cringed at the sound. His bambino better come out looking really damn cute for all the pain he was putting Angela through. Suddenly Jake came running out of the room. He stood in the hallway panting. Lane looked at his brother with complete shock. He had never seen Jake look so pale, so scared, and so green around the gills…..so to speak.

“Is the baby here?” Evan asked standing up. Jake shook his head.

“Not yet. How am I supposed to deal with the pain she’s in? I want to kill something.” He growled, his golden eyes flashing. Evan and Lane both took a step away from him..

“I know it’s rough.” Evan said. “But it’s definitely worth it.” he looked over at his son and daughter. Jake ran his hand over his face.

“Jake! I need you! Please!” Angela screamed. Jake was gone just as quickly as he’d come into the hallway. Lane looked in the room before the door closed and saw Jake up in the bed cradling a sweaty, pale Angela against his chest.

Lane felt loneliness creep into him. He cursed and tried to push it aside. Loneliness had been a constant since Joey had left. He wanted what Jake and Angela had. What Evan and Raquel had. Hell he’d settle for the screwed up relationships that Jordan and Bethany had with their mates.

Lane felt about as useless as ever standing in the hallway. No matter how strong the bond was between he and Angela he knew that as long as she had Jake she didn’t need him. His sisters didn’t need him anymore now that they all had mates. His mother certainly didn’t need him and was praying for the day when he’d get mated. Not one single person in the world needed Lane. Not even the woman that wasn’t supposed to be able to live without him.

Sure she was a crazy little psycho bitch but he found himself picturing his hand running through those red curls. His fingers touching those big pouty lips.. Her green eyes looking up at his with love, not fear or hate.

Lane slammed his hand down on the banister so suddenly that everyone jumped and looked at him. None of the men said anything though. They were smart enough to know that Lane was missing his mate. No matter what they thought about her, the wolf in Lane would mourn and yearn for her forever if they weren’t together.

“I need a drink.” Lane said matter-of-factly. He was just about to go down and get one when the door to Angela’s room opened again and Jordan came bursting out.

“It’s a girl!” she shouted happily. Lane was the first one to run into the room. He ran to the bed where Jake was still holding his wife in his lap while she held their newborn baby wrapped in a soft pink blanket

“You were right, Angela. She’s a bambina.” Lane said his voice breaking with emotion. Angela smiled up at him.

“We’re naming her Laney.” she said. Jake’s eyes widened.

“We are?” he asked. Angela smacked him lightly and nodded. He sighed and looked up at Lane.

“We’re naming her Laney.” he said. Lane looked down at his peaceful niece. Her eyes opened and stared at him. They were golden and intense just like her fathers. He reached down and laid a gentle hand on her thick black curls.

“Hello beautiful, Laney.” he said softly. “I’m your uncle Lane. You were named after me because your mommy is so in love with me.” Jake growled at that but when Lane looked up Jake was smiling. It was the biggest goofiest grin Lane had ever seen on his big brother’s face.

“Just do me one favor, little one.” Lane said looking back down at the baby who was still watching him. “Don’t grow up to be like me. Grow up to be like your mommy. She’s soft and gentle and caring but she’s no softie so don’t think you can walk all over her. Or you could even grow up to be like your daddy. He’s a temperamental hot headed a… Butt hole. But he is loyal and always there when you need him and he loves your mommy more than I’ve ever seen anybody love anyone else. Just please don’t grow up to be like me.” The baby looked at him for several more seconds before closing her eyes again.

Lane looked around the room and saw everyone’s eyes on him. For the first time in his life he hated being immortal. He wished he could just get old and die and not have to deal with the loneliness, the uselessness or the feeling of being a complete failure. 110 years spent doing nothing but making wisecracks, drinking, sleeping around, gambling. He had nothing to show for anything he had done other then some screwed up relationships with his family.

It was all suddenly too much for him. Angela saw the sudden sadness on Lane’s face and was taken aback. She had never seen Lane look so sad.

“Lane…” she said laying a gentle hand on his face. He pulled away from her quickly the air shimmered and he was gone.

888

“Give me another one good sir.” Lane said slamming his shot glass down on the bar. The bartender happily refilled it for the thirteenth time.

“I haven’t seen you around in a while.” he said. “You out celebrating again?” Lane downed the shot and set the glass down on the bar for another refill.

“Hell yea! My life is so fucking wonderful I can’t stand to be sober!” he said. The bartender refilled the glass and walked on down the bar. Lane turned and scanned the familiar barroom.

He hadn’t been here in this town since the night he had saved Joey from the vamps. He kept trying to convince himself that he wasn’t here because he hoped to see Joey. He was here because he really liked the cheap whiskey and the sexy hookers.

He smiled at a voluptuous blond who was watching him from a booth in the corner. She was sitting with a group of biker guys. They were all big, muscular, bald and wearing leather everything. Not the kind of guys Lane would normally have wanted to mess with but Lane was wasted. Not drunk., he’d been drunk after six shots, no, he was good old fashioned shit faced.

He stood up and weaved and swayed as he made way across the floor. He flashed the blond a sloppy drunk grin and grabbed her arm pulling her up from the booth.

“Hey there gorgeous.” he slurred. She looked surprised and nervously looked at the biggest of the biker men who stood up grabbed Lane by the shirt collar.

“What the hell do you think your doing partner?” he demanded. Lane tried to focus his eyes on the stranger but he wasn’t sure which of the three of them was the real one.

“I was talking to the lady.” he answered.

“That’s my lady.” the biker man replied. Lane raised a brow.

“I didn’t see your name on her anywhere.” he said. The biker man reached over and lifted the girls shirt revealing a tattoo across her stomach that said ‘Killer’.

“Oh there it is.” Lane slurred as he took a step back. “Killer it’s nice to meet you.” He held out a hand to Killer but he smacked it away. Lane was thrown off balance and fell against the table behind him knocking over the drinks of the rednecks sitting there.

“What the hell!” they yelled standing up.

“Sorry about that.” Lane said holding up his hands. “I’m so clumsy.” The bartender could tell a fight was coming if he didn’t do something to stop it. He didn’t want his barroom destroyed so he quickly walked over and took Lane by the arm.

“Get out of here.” he said leading him to the door. “You need to go sober up before you get yourself killed.”

“Aww I was just having a little fun…” Lane said as the bartender shoved him out the door. Lane’s arms wind milled as he lost his balance and fell face first onto the sidewalk. The door to the bar closed behind him and Lane found himself alone on the tiny deserted street.

He stood up and wiped himself off and then started down the street. He wasn’t sure where he was going and didn’t really care. He had been walking a long time when a scent reached his nose and caused him to stop in his tracks.

It was all cinnamon and sugar mixed together. The wolf in him took over and he followed the scent. It led him to an overpass which was empty now at 4 am. He jumped off the overpass and landed on his feet below. The scent was strong here but he could tell she wasn’t here right now. He looked around and wondered why her scent would be so strong here. It was outside of town. The ground was dirty and littered with trash that people had thrown from their cars while driving overhead.

He saw a small blue tent set up under the overpass and walked over. He unzipped it and stepped inside telling himself that it wasn’t breaking and entering since the zipper hadn’t been locked. He looked around and knew instantly that this was where she lived.

His heart broke to think of his Joey sleeping on those thin threadbare blankets on the hard ground. There was an empty milk crate upside down next to the bed with a single candle on it and a picture of a younger Joey. He knew it was her. Her emerald green eyes, freckles and fiery red hair was easy to recognize. There was a man and woman in the picture with her and he assumed they were her parents. A young boy sat in the mans lap. Lane wondered where her family was now and if they knew their daughter was living under a bridge in a tent.

He saw a notebook lying on the floor of the tent and picked it up. He opened it and smiled as he flipped through page after page of drawings. Drawings of wolves.

888

Joey was on her way back home. She had not seen a single immortal all night and so had not been able to burn off any steam or energy. She stopped suddenly when she saw a shadow move inside the tent. The sun was starting to rise but the streetlight cast enough of a glow that she could tell there was a man inside.

It was probably a damn vamp looking for cover from the sun. She knew it wasn’t a normal person because absolutely no one ever came out this far. Certainly not this early in the morning and especially not on foot and she didn’t see a car anywhere. Joey pulled her stake from the waistband of her pants and stalked quietly toward the tent. The flap was open and the vamp had his back to her. He was looking at something and distracted enough not to hear her. She got as close as she dared to sneak and then lunged the stake aimed at his back to go straight into his heart.

He must have sensed something because he ducked at the last moment and the stake sunk deep in his shoulder, missing his heart.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” Lane yelled as the stake sunk deep and lodged in his shoulder blade. Joey froze. She would know that voice anywhere.

“Lane?” He turned and forced himself to give her a small smile but the pain in his face was obvious.

“Hello, Joey. Why is it that every time we see each other I end up bleeding?” he asked. He reached his right arm back but couldn’t reach the stake and his left arm hung limp and useless because the stake had broken his shoulder.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry! I had no idea it was you! What are you doing here?” Joey asked. Lane was very thankful that he had enjoyed so much whiskey earlier that night because although most of it had worn off by now he was sure it was numbing at least some of the pain.

“I don’t want to seem rude, honey, but could we chit chat after you pull this thing out of my shoulder?” Joey quickly went around him and grabbed the stake with one hand and pressed her other hand against his back for leverage. She yanked hard and Lane growled loud with pain.

“You are a violent, crazy ass, little mortal!” he yelled. Joey flinched away from him.

“I said I was sorry.” she said. “What are you doing here in my home anyway?”

“Home? This is a tent.” Lane corrected her. A blush rose on her cheeks and she flopped down on the pile of old tattered blankets that made up her bed.

“Well it’s home to me. I have everything I need.”

“Yea except food, water, electricity and indoor plumbing.” Lane replied. Joey felt her eyes fill with tears.

“We can’t all be lucky enough to live in giant three story mansions.” she said. Lane was confused as hell by this girl. One minute she was a tough ass crazy slayer trying to kill everybody and the next she was fragile, hurt and near tears.

“Uh.. Well come on now don’t cry, honey. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings…” Joey seemed to realize how weak she appeared and her emerald green eyes suddenly became hard again behind those glasses.

“Don’t call me, honey.” she said. “Now tell me what you are doing here?”

“I was just in the neighborhood and happened to pass by. Decided to come in and have a look around.”

“You smell like you’ve been drinking.” Joey said reaching next to the bed and getting a small bottle of water. She took a sip and then without thinking offered some to Lane.

“You would share your water with an immortal freak like me?” he asked. Her eyes met his. Blue locked with green. The air suddenly seemed charged and electric. Nature was screaming at them and daring them to deny it. Lane’s hand itched to touch her hair and lips. He told nature to go to hell and instead held up the notebook he’d been looking at.

Joey’s eyes widened as she put the lid back on her water and sat it down.

“You know it’s not polite to snoop.” she said.

“You know it’s not polite to stab, bludgeon and stake people either.” he shot back with a grin. This one was just as charming as the ones she’d been remembering for over a month.

“Give me that.” she said jumping up and reaching out for it. He held it high above his head and she sat back down knowing she couldn’t get it from him.

“You’re no fun. My sister Jordan would have jumped for it at least twice before she realized it was pointless.”

“I’m not your sister.” She replied laying down on her bed. Her baggy t-shirt molded to her small perky breasts and the stretch pants she wore hugged her tiny hips.

“No you’re definitely not my sister.” he agreed. She had her eyes closed and didn’t see the way he was looking her up and down.

“Did you see anything interesting in that notebook?” she asked. Joey knew damn well what was in the notebook and it pissed her off that he had seen it. She didn’t want him to know that she’d been thinking of him the whole time they’d been apart.

“You’re a pretty good artist.” he answered truthfully. “But you drew me all wrong.” She opened her eyes and sat up with a snort.

“What makes you think that any of those are you?” she asked. Lane smiled and pointed to one of the drawings of a black wolf.

“Well is that or is that not my name written underneath it?” he asked. Joey didn’t need to look at the picture.

“I like to draw pictures of people I know.” she lied. He flipped through several pages.

“That’s funny because all these wolves look the same, they all have blue eyes and my name is the only one written underneath them.” he said. Joey didn’t reply. She knew there was nothing she could say that would make the situation any better.

“This one is my favorite…” Lane said showing her a page. “You forgot to put a name but I think I recognize him.” Joey looked at the page and saw Lane’s face staring back at her.

His boyish good looks. His messy black hair carelessly brushed away from his face. His charming grin and that mischievous shine in his blue eyes. She grabbed the notebook from his hand and turned back to one of the wolf drawings.

“So what did I draw wrong?” she asked.

“Well for starters my tail is longer than that.” he said with a wink. “My fur is gray and silver not black and I’m not quite so bushy.” Joey nodded and stiffened as he sat down next to her on the blankets.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Lane assured her. “My damn shoulder hurts and I just wanted to sit down for a minute.” Joey looked at his shoulder but the wound was already beginning to heal. His shirt however was covered in blood.

“Why are you here?” Joey asked.

“Why do you hate me so much?” Lane replied. Joey opened her mouth to respond but shut it quickly. She didn’t really have a response. She didn’t hate Lane.. In fact she had thought of little else but him for weeks but she couldn’t let herself love an immortal. It would be like a slap in the face to her family.

“I just don’t understand it.” Lane continued. “Sure I am a gambling alcoholic who has had plenty of meaningless relationships with woman but no serious ones. I have failed at pretty much everything I have ever tried to do. I am so much so a failure that my own father wanted nothing to do with me up until the day he died, but I have never done anything wrong to you…..

“I’m better at making jokes and wisecracks then I am opening up about my feelings but just bare with me. When I first met you and the wolf in me was screaming that you were my mate I was pissed. I thought to myself there is no way that this crazy, scrawny psycho slayer with wild red hair and big glasses could be mate.

“Then you stabbed me and I was really pissed. How dare fate be so cruel and give me a crazy ass psycho mate who wanted to kill me. I was determined to ignore the wolf in me and forget that I ever met you.. Then I called myself an idiot as I wandered the streets at night hoping to see you again. Then I did see you and despite the fact that I am not a hero I wanted to be one that night.

“I took you to Angela so she could help you and you thoroughly screwed that up.. I’m sure you remember.” Lane paused here and Joey stared down at her feet.

“But even after that I still tried. I wanted to come with you into town and maybe talk you into coming back to visit but you screwed that up to.” He paused again. “You make me absolutely crazy! As stupid as it is for me to want to be friends with someone that has tried to kill me three times I want to be friends with you. So why do you hate me?”

Joey’s head was reeling. For a while she had thought he was going to declare his love for her but instead he had asked her to be his friend. She wondered if she could manage friendship.

“I don’t hate you.” she said quietly. “You probably wouldn’t believe if I said that I hadn’t thought about you the last month or so since you’ve seen my notebook.” she paused and Lane smiled.

“I just don’t understand any of this. Immortals are supposed to be heartless killing machines like the one that killed my family. You’re not supposed to have feelings and families. You’re not supposed to love, hurt, laugh or cry…“Lane cut her off.

“What happened to your family?” Lane asked looking at the picture. Joey picked the picture up and sat it in her lap.

“Angela didn’t’ tell you?” she asked. Lane silently cursed Angela but then silently begged her forgiveness because knowing Angela she had had enough faith in him to know he’d eventually figure it out for himself.

“No she didn’t.” he replied. Joey sighed and braced herself for the pain that the memory of that day always brought on.

“I was upstairs in my room one night.. I was ten. My mom was tucking my little brother Jeremy into bed and I knew she’d be in my room next to make sure I’d finished my homework. There was a knock on the door downstairs and I heard my father open it and then I heard him scream. I was shocked because I had never heard him scream before. There was a lot of crashing around and then it was silent for a minute. Then I guess my mom ran down to check on my dad because she was screaming next. I heard a man laugh and then it was silent again.

“I heard footsteps come up the stairs and walk past my room. I cracked my door and saw him.. He was tall and pale and covered in blood. He had his back to me and didn’t seem to notice me so I ran from my room and down the stairs to get my mom and dad…. I was only ten so I guess I didn’t realize they would already be dead.” Lane laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and they were both surprised when she didn’t pull away.

“I found them downstairs in the living room.. They were already cold and pale and they had holes in their necks. I didn’t know what that meant back then. I heard a thump upstairs and my brother screamed. I was scared but I was also mad. My father had fallen on the coffee table and their were big splintered pieces of it laying on the ground. I picked one up and ran up the stairs determined to save my brother. I ran in his room but it was too late.. The man turned and looked at me and he smiled. He smiled the coldest smile I have ever seen. He came at me and I didn’t know what to do. I swung the piece of wood with all my might and it sunk into his chest. He turned into a pile of dust and I just stood there for a long time…

“I had no other family so I was put into foster care. I became fascinated with learning all I could about vampires were creatures and demons. My foster families didn’t understand and soon I found myself homeless. And now here I am. I’ve been slaying and killing every immortal I came across for the last ten years… Until you.” Lane didn’t know what to say so he just said.

“I’m sorry.” She shrugged and put the picture back on the table.

“It was a long time ago.” Lane understood her a little better now. She was a crazy psycho slayer who had a reason to be a crazy psycho slayer. He was sure that it was all just a front and that those moments when he had seen her vulnerable and seen her smile had been the real her showing through. She yawned loudly covering her mouth with her hand.

“I guess I’ll get going.” Lane said standing up. Joey stood and walked him out of the tent.

“I liked talking to you.” she said. He smiled at her and fought the urge to bring his hand to her cheek. If he was going to win her over and make her his friend he was going to have to take baby steps. He kept telling himself that was all he wanted was friendship. Maybe one of these times he’d actually believe it.

“ Would you like to talk to me again tonight?“ he asked flashing her a grin. She smiled then.. Not a guarded smile or an amused smile but an innocent smile of nothing but happiness. It lit her face up and made her green eyes shine like polished emeralds. Lane suddenly wished he had a photographic memory so that he would always remember the way she looked right now.

“Sure.” she said. “I think that would be nice.” Lane held his hand out and Joey slowly reached her own hand out and placed it in his. Lane caught her by surprise when instead of simply shaking it he brought it up to his lips and kissed it gently.

“See you tonight then.” he said. He dropped her hand and quickly turned and walked away. Joey stood there for several long moments. Her hand felt like it was on fire where his lips had touched it.. She walked back into the tent, changed into some clean clothes and pulled out her notebook.. Lane had told her she’d made a mistake with her drawings and she wanted to fix them.

Chapter Five

Lane had dashed back to his room at the house hoping to avoid seeing anyone.. If his mother or Angela saw him covered in dirt and blood they would both freak out. He grabbed some clean clothes out of his closet and carried them to the bathroom where he quickly took a shower and dressed. He was trying to sneak back to his room so he could get some rest when he heard someone clear their throat behind him.

“Where have you been?” Jake asked his little brother. Lane turned.

“Having fun and getting in trouble.” Lane replied.

“Angela’s worried about you. She’s sleeping right now but she worried about you all night.” Jake said. Lane sighed and walked into his room knowing Jake would follow him.

“I just haven’t been feeling like myself lately.” Lane said as he lay down on his bed. Jake nodded.

“You seem better now.. Did you see Joey?”

“Who said anything about Joey? Maybe I’ve been with twin brazillian bikini models drinking mai tais and getting laid.” Jake raised an eyebrow and shook his head.

“You wish, Lane. More than likely you were getting drunk off your ass in a bar by yourself and hoping to pick up some bimbo blond with huge fake tits and tattoos.” Lane grinned and closed his eyes.

“That’s the life.” he said. Jake growled and walked toward the door.

“You can cut the shit, Lane. I’m a lot older and smarter than you. I can smell her on you so I know where you’ve been. Let me offer you some advice.. Don’t treat this like it’s some damn game or conquest… You only get one mate in your life and like me you got a mortal one.. She won’t live forever while you run around continuing to sow your wild oats and act like a fool and once she’s gone she’ll be gone forever.”

“Look who’s turning into a regular Dr. Phil.” Lane said without opening his eyes. If he opened his eyes then Jake would see the emotion in them and know that he had struck a nerve. Jake didn’t reply just walked out and shut the door behind him.

888

Joey had never worried about what she looked like. She had never had a reason to. But right about now she was wishing that she owned some nice clothes, make up, or even a mirror. She had been sitting nervously in her usual white t-shirt, black stretch pants and combat boots for the last hour waiting on Lane.

The sun was almost set now and she felt her heart breaking when she realized that he wasn’t coming. She should have known better. He had been playing with her. He might not be a killer but that did not mean that she should have assumed he had a heart.. He was an immortal after all. She dried the tears that she had allowed to fall and tied her knife to her leg. It was time to go to work.

She was still on the outskirts of town when she saw the group of sub demons walking through the shadows. She counted them quickly and cursed. There were ten of them… She had never taken on that many at once. She thought about letting them go but then remembered about the peewee football game that was just ending further in town. She couldn’t take a chance on these subs coming across any of the families on their way home. She took off after the subs and didn’t realize her mistake until it was too late…

She had followed the first ten into a dead end alley and instead of being surprised they had turned and smiled at her.

“Now we’ve got you, you pain in the ass little slayer.” one of the subs said with a laugh. Joey sensed movement behind her and glanced back to see five more subs entering the alley blocking her only exit. She was shaking all over from both fear and adrenaline. She knew she was no match for fifteen sub demons but she would be damned if she would go down without a fight.

Without warning she did a quick back flip and landed on one of the subs backs. She pulled her knife and slashed his throat so deeply she nearly took his head off. She rolled to the side as he fell and kicked her leg out tripping another sub and she pounced on him and shoved her knife deep into his skull.

He kicked several times beneath her and then lay still. She looked at the remaining subs closing in on her. She pulled her knife from the dead subs skull and swung out and sliced through an approaching subs Achilles tendons. He came down on his knees and she drove the knife into his chest.

His blood sprayed her face as she pulled the knife out and blinded her momentarily. It was all the time the subs needed to be on her. She felt her knife torn from her hands and heard it clatter onto the pavement several feet away.

Rough hands grabbed her and threw her down. As her vision cleared she kicked out and caught one sub on the chin snapping his neck back so roughly it broke. The remaining subs just laughed at her and she felt desperation and panic setting in.

Her thoughts turned to Lane. Maybe he was close enough that he would hear her if she screamed. She screamed his name as loud as she could over and over as fists and feet rained down on her.

888

Lane had arrived at Joey’s tent as darkness settled in. He was disappointed to find that she wasn’t there. She must have gotten tired of waiting on him and gone slaying. He walked into the tent, deciding that he would just sit and wait for her to return. He breathed deeply when he walked in savoring her scent of cinnamon and sugar.

He set the bouquet of daisies down on the makeshift bed. He had thought about bringing her roses but he didn’t want her to think he was in love with her. Which he wasn’t. At least he didn’t think he was. Aw hell he didn’t know anymore! He pulled a lighter from his pocket and lit the small candle on the milk crate. Then he pulled the small velvet box from his pocket and opened it. The diamond necklace sparkled in the candle light. His hands were shaking with his nerves and he cursed and shut the box with a snap. He put it in his pocket and then noticed her notebook lying open on the floor. He picked it up and smiled when he saw her newest drawings. She really did have a lot of talent and she had clearly been listening when he had told her what mistakes she had made in his pictures. It was almost like he was looking at a photograph of himself.

A sound came to his ears and he stood still as a stone waiting to hear it again.

“Lane!” It was Joey’s voice and it was full of fear and pain. Lane ran from the tent.

“Come on, honey, yell for me again.” he said. Then the pain filled scream hit his ears again. He knew she was too far away for him to reach her as a man on foot. Without a second thought he changed quickly and took off in the direction that her pained screams were coming from.

He looked like a silver streak under the full moonlight as he raced toward Joey. Fear gripped his heart when he realized he could no longer hear her screaming.. But he could smell her now and he knew he must be getting close. He let the wolf in him come to the surface in order to push his human feelings aside. Fear and anger would not help Joey now.

He turned into the alley and his blood froze. He let out a snarl that echoed off the brick walls. The subs turned in shock and stared at Lane. He took advantage of their hesitation and lunged. He didn’t have time to think about what he was doing. He didn’t have time to feel his own pain. He fought with everything he had.

His mouth closed on one of the subs throats and he ripped it out spraying blood all over his silver coat. Lane didn’t stop until all of the subs were laying lifeless and bloody on the alley floor. He looked over and saw Joey laying on the ground. He changed back to a man as he ran to her and he felt his heart break. He would not have recognized her if not for her scent and her hair. She was a mess of blood and bruises.

He crouched next to her and smoothed her hair from her face.

“Joey… Joey wake up and look at me.” he said. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him.

“You came for me.” she managed to moan her voice full of pain. Lane felt tears in his eyes and for once didn’t care.

“I was in the neighborhood.” he replied. Joey tried to smile but her lips were too swollen. She started coughing and it felt like knives were tearing into her chest and lungs. She cried out in pain and Lane kissed her forehead trying to comfort her. Her eyes locked with his.

“I’m sorry I hurt you and spent so much time hating you..” she said once her coughing eased.

“Hurt me? Oh you mean stabbing me, whacking me with a ratchet and staking me? Don’t worry about it ,honey, I’m tougher then I look.” he replied forcing a smile. He was screaming on the inside. His mate was lying here beaten and battered and he knew she was dying.

“Goodbye, Lane.” she whispered. Lane felt panic grip him.

“I’m not going anywhere…” he replied. She reached a weak hand to his cheek and Lane leaned his cheek against it enjoying the feel of her hand on him. Then her eyes closed and her hand fell limp to the ground.

“Joey!” he yelled. He shook her gently. “Dammit you’re a crazy ass psycho slayer! You’re supposed to be tougher than this!” He could hear her breathing growing ragged and her pulse was growing weaker by the second. He scooped her up into his arms and dashed her quickly to Angela and Jake’s bedroom.

Angela was awake and sitting in a rocking chair by the window with Laney when Lane appeared in the room. Jake was out of the bed and in between his wife and child and Lane before anyone had time to realize he had moved.

“Oh my God.” Jake said looking at his naked, dirty blood covered brother and the seemingly lifeless Joey lying in his arms.

“Angela, help.” Lane said his voice was desperate and his eyes were red as tears flowed freely down his face. Angela quickly stood and laid the sleeping baby in her cradle.

“Spare room.” she said. She ran from the room and Lane and Jake both followed on her heels. Lane laid Joey gently on the bed kissing her forehead before moving away and letting Angela look at Joey’s injuries.

“You have to save her, Angela! I love her please don’t let her die!” Lane said his voice was full of pain, panic and desperation. Angela ran her hand down Joey’s body. She turned to Lane her own eyes filling with tears as she looked at him.

“I don’t think I can. Everything in her is broken and her heart is barely beating.” she said helplessly. Lane didn’t have time to think about what he was doing. He had never been so afraid in his entire life. He grabbed Angela by the shoulders and started shaking her.

“You have to save her!” he screamed. Jake grabbed Lane and threw him backwards causing him to bounce off the wall.

“Keep your hands off her.” he growled low and threatening. Angela looked at Lane and felt her heart break.. She couldn’t let Joey die.

“Everybody get out the room. Leave me alone with her and I’ll do what I can.” Angela said. Jake grabbed Lane by the arm and pulled him out of the room shutting the door behind him.

Jake watched his brother pacing the hall and felt his own heart breaking for him. Jake leaned against the wall with his arms crossed but Lane looked like a caged animal as he paced and kept glancing at the door to the spare room. Jake had managed to calm him long enough for him to put on a pair of sweat pants.

“What’s going on?” Rebecca asked walking up to her two sons.

“Joey was badly injured. Angela’s trying to save her.” Jake replied. Lane ran a hand through his hair.

“She’s going to be fine.” he stated. Rebecca looked at Jake questioningly.

(I’m not so sure. She was in really bad shape .) he said. Just then the bedroom door opened and Angela stumbled out. She was pale, sweaty and breathing hard. She managed a small smile at Lane.

“She’ll be fine.” she said and then she collapsed. She would have hit the floor but Jake’s strong arms caught her and lifted her up into his chest. Before Lane could run into the room Jake stepped in front of him.

“My mate has nearly killed herself saving that girl. You better get your shit together brother because I won’t let her put herself through that again.” Lane nodded and then pushed past Jake and shut the door behind him so he could be alone with Joey.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked down at her. She looked perfect and peaceful. Angela had healed every bump bruise and scrap. Her skin and clothes were still dirty and bloody and her hair was covered in grime and flying in every direction. She was the single most beautiful thing Lane had ever seen in his life. He couldn’t believe he had ever thought she was anything less than perfect.

He smoothed the hair from her face and laid his hand on her cheek. He groaned as she turned her head into his hand. Her lips brushed his fingers and her hot breath washed over them. Lane felt desire stir within him. Not the drunken desire he was used to feeling with his meaningless women but a deep overwhelming desire that made his heart and stomach tie in knots.

He knew that she was going to be out for a while. He wondered how she would react when she woke up to find herself back in this house surrounded by his werewolf family. He wanted to make sure she was comfortable and knew that she’d feel better if she had her own things. He stood and dashed quickly back to her small tent. He picked up the daisies, her notebook, and some white t-shirts and black pants that were in the corner. He also grabbed the picture of her family and the small velvet box from the pocket of his tattered pants.

He dashed back to her room and found her still sound asleep. He sat everything down on the bedside table and then got up in the bed and stretched out next to Joey. Lane didn’t have much self control and it took every last ounce he possessed to keep from tearing her clothes off right there and making love to her as she turned and curled herself up against him.

He wrapped his arm around her and buried his face in her hair. He didn’t know how long he lay there simply breathing her in before he drifted off to sleep.

888

The first thing Joey felt when she woke up was panic. She was trapped against something hard and it was all around her. She blinked several times and realized that it wasn’t something but someone that she was pinned against. She reached a hand out to the table beside the bed and found her glasses. The person holding her grunted and wrapped his arm tighter around her. His big hand closing over her small breast.

She almost screamed out but instead put her glasses on and the room came into focus. This was the room she had been in the last time she had been at Lane’s house. The night before came back to her. Her fear and her desperation as the subs had closed in on her. The pain that had overwhelmed her even as she had screamed for Lane hoping against hope that he would be somewhere close.

She had just been losing hope that he would come to her rescue when the snarl had echoed through the alley. The subs had jumped from her then and she had only caught glimpses of a giant silver gray wolf as it had torn the subs to pieces. She had closed her eyes then succumbing the pain and darkness.Then she had heard Lane’s voice.

She didn’t remember much else until waking up just now. She turned her head and saw that it was Lane’s hard body she was pressed against. The sun was shining through the window and bouncing off the hard tan lines of his body.

She felt tremors pass through her as she became aware of the part of his anatomy that was pressed against her rear. His long body was completely wrapped around her much smaller frame. His hand on her breast was causing sparks of pleasure to shoot through her.

She tried to ignore them as she looked at Lane again. His face looked peaceful and happy as he slept. She wondered what kind of dreams made him smile even in sleep. He was dirty and covered in dried blood. His chest was bare. She saw that it was hard and smooth, not overly muscular but lean. She couldn’t see any further down because he was pressed too tightly against her.

Her eyes moved up to his face again and this time she couldn’t stop the gasp of surprise when she saw his blue eyes open and alert looking at her. His mouth curved into a sleepy grin as he looked at her. Before she could speak he quickly grabbed her and turned her body around so that the front of her was pressed firmly against the front of him.

“Good morning.” Lane said. He closed his arms tighter around her and rubbed gentle circles on her back. He was fully aware of her body against his. He was surprised not by his own arousal to her closeness, that was an honest male reaction, but by the tenderness that seemed to fill him.

“I shouldn’t be alive this morning.” Joey said matter-of-factly from where her head was pressed against his chest. “You must have gotten me to Angela just in time.” Lane shuddered when he remembered just how close of a call it had been.

“I want to tell Angela thank you and then I’ll head back home.” Joey said. She was enjoying lying in Lane’s arms too much. He was a werewolf. She was a slayer. There was no way she should be having these kinds of feelings for him.

“There’s no rush.” Lane said. “You can stay right here as long as you want.” Lane moved one of his hands up into her soft curls. Joey understood the hidden meaning behind his words and she jumped out of his arms and off the bed as if she was on fire.

“No. No I can’t stay. I don’t belong here.” Lane didn’t know what to say. He felt pain at her words and he also felt anger. Why couldn’t she just accept the fact that he was her mate? Why couldn’t she just come to him the way Angela had come to Jake? He wanted her to love him the way he was falling in love with her

Holy shit… Where had that come from? He looked at her standing there in her bloody clothes, her hair was a mess and her face was dirty. Her green eyes looked scared and confused. Did he really love her? He wasn’t sure. She had him so tied up in knots he didn’t know what was up.

He got up out of bed hoping she wouldn’t notice the arousal that was still apparent in his sweatpants.

“Fine. You remember where the bathroom is. I’m sure Jake or Angela or some other freak in this house would be glad to get you back home. I got things to do.” Lane stormed from the room slamming the door behind him.

Joey felt the tears falling down her cheeks. She suddenly felt very cold and longed to have his arms back around her. It had felt so right laying in his arms and that had scared the shit out of her. She had been alone for ten years…. Was she suddenly supposed to just accept Lane in her life and the eleven immortals that came with him?

Maybe if he loved her she could stay. Maybe if he loved her she could get past the last ten years and the hate that had ruled her life for so long. But he had never once hinted that he loved her. In fact he had told her he wanted to be her friend.. She didn’t know if that was enough for her. She shook her head. The best thing for her to do would be to get cleaned up and go home. Forget all about this place and Lane. Even though she knew that because they were mates she would always miss him she was sure she could learn to live without him.

She looked around the room wondering where she was going to find clean clothes when the picture of her family caught her attention. She walked over to the small table and picked up the picture holding it to her chest. Then she saw the bouquet of daisies. She smiled. Daisies were her favorite. Also sitting here was her notebook and some clean clothes.

Lane had to have been the one to bring all this here. No one else would have known where to find them. Why would he do that for her? It was like he had wanted to make her feel at home here. Did he want her to stay? It certainly hadn’t sounded that way as he’d stormed out the room.

She shook her head suddenly pissed off at how complicated her simple life had gotten. She picked up some clothes and walked out of the room. She didn’t see the small velvet box that was lying under the remaining clothes on the table.

Chapter Six

After Joey had showered and pulled on her clean clothes she walked back down the hall and downstairs. Her hunting senses were on high alert. The house seemed almost silent. She had been taught by harsh experience that silence often meant that bad things were coming.

She was about to turn off of the stairway and into the kitchen when she heard someone coming around the corner. She kicked to defend herself but her leg was caught and swatted away by a long, tan graceful arm. Joey found herself face to face with the bombshell blond she had met the last time she’d been here.

“You really need to work on those violence issues.” Bethany said with a smile. Joey looked at her and saw that her smile and her eyes were almost identical to Lane’s.

“Sorry…Bethany, right?” Bethany nodded shaking out her mane of golden hair.

“Yep that’s me.” she said.

“I’m sorry about that. The house just seemed so quiet.”

“And you were afraid that us freaks were hidden and lying in wait to ambush you?” Bethany asked raising a brow. Joey turned red with embarrassment.

“Yes.” She replied. Bethany laughed and laid a hand on her shoulder.

“You need to learn how to relax, red. Nobody in this house wants to kill you. Lane might want to do some other things but I can assure you that killing you isn’t one of them.” Joey could only imagine what those things were.. She had never even felt a mans kiss let alone the other things that Bethany was hinting at.

“I’m pretty sure he’d be open to killing me.” Joey replied thinking back to the anger in his eyes as he’d stormed from her room.

“Who Lane?” Angela walked out of the kitchen and up to the two of them still standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“Yea.” Bethany said walking into the living room and stretching her long legs out on the couch. Angela sat down on the loveseat folding her legs beneath her and Joey sat in the recliner in the other corner.

“He is in a bad mood this morning.” Angela admitted as she picked up a magazine off the coffee table. “He stormed past me in the kitchen mumbling something about stubborn ass mortal women and how he was seriously thinking about becoming a damn monk and living on top of a mountain or something like that. I reminded him that monasteries don’t allow alcohol and then he said some things that I won’t tell his brother about. You wouldn’t happen to know what put him in that mood would you, Joey?” Joey just sat there and stared at Angela.

“Don’t mind her, Joey. She tends to ramble when she’s upset. Jake usually shuts her up with a kiss but he’s gone on a diaper run.”

“Diapers?” Joey looked at Angela more closely and realized that she was not pregnant anymore. “You had the baby.”

“Yes.” Angela said smiling happily. “A little baby girl.. I don’t get to see much of her because her grandmother seems to have become attached.”

“When did you have her?” Joey asked.

“Day before yesterday.” Angela replied.

“You should see my big brother.. He has always been the strong silent type. I guess that comes from 250 years of being a hunter but now he’s walking around whistling and cooing and making all kinds of baby noises.. It’s quite disturbing.” Bethany stated as she curled her nose.

“I don’t think it’s disturbing.. I think it’s cute.” Angela said jumping to her mate’s defense. Joey thought back to her impression of Jake and before she could stop herself spoke up.

“Cute? Jake?” Bethany and Angela both laughed and the tall man that Joey remembered to be Bethany’s mate Greg walked in.

“Sure Jake is real cute. In a ‘you so much as look at my mate or baby in the wrong way and I’ll rip your head off and shit down your neck without so much as breaking a sweat’ kind of way.” Bethany lifted her long legs allowing Greg to sit down before laying them back down across his lap. The three family members sat there laughing and talking for a long time. Joey simply watched them. Now and then when they directed a question at her she would reply but mostly she just observed.

She found herself drawn into this. She had never been a part of a family like this. Her mother and father, though she had loved them with all of her heart, had been very serious people. Not the types to spend a day laughing and talking in the living room. She found herself wishing that she could be a part of a family like this one. She shook her head to clear the thought and then stood up clearing her throat.

“Angela, I wanted to say thank you for saving my life last night and for saving it the time before. I was hoping that I could get someone to take me into town so I could get back home.” The room was silent as everyone looked at her. Finally Angela nodded and stood up.

“Sure, Joey. I mean if that’s what you want I’ll take you into town and buy you another bus ticket. Or you could just ask Lane to dash you back home, that would be quicker.”

“No.” Joey said realizing the word came out to defensively. “I don’t want to ask Lane to do anything else for me. He’s done enough already. He nearly got himself killed last night rescuing me.”

“Well let’s go then.” Angela said picking her purse up off the floor. “Bethany do you think Rebecca would mind if I went to town and left the baby here with her?”

“Oh my god Angela. That was a really stupid question. Does it seem like my mother minds taking care of the baby? You should have seen her with Kaylee and Kayleb. Poor Raquel and Evan didn’t get to see them until they were almost a year old and learned how to walk to escape their grandmother.”

(Come with me, Raquel come on into town with me and Bethany and Joey. We need to show her a good time.. Keep her busy the rest of the day and maybe she’ll want to stay a little longer. Long enough for Lane to come to his senses and just tell the damn girl how much he needs her.)

(Sure, I need some new shoes anyway.) Raquel said. She walked into the room a few moments later and held her hand out to Joey.

“Hey sweetie. My name is Raquel I’m Lane’s sister.” Joey shook her hand and looked her over. She was about the same height as Bethany and had the same build but she didn’t give off the bombshell vibe. She was more motherly in appearance. She had smooth, pale skin and brown eyes. Her smile was friendly and her hair was red but not the shockingly bright red that Joey’s was.. Hers had more brown and auburn tints and was long and silky instead of frizzy and curly.

“Hi I’m Joey.” Raquel looked over at Angela.

“Are we ready?” she asked. Bethany stood up.

“Yea we’re ready.” she said. Joey looked at the three of them.

“You don’t mind if we come along do you? We have some things we wanted to pick up.” Raquel asked her. Joey shook her head.

“No of course not.” she said and was surprised to find that she meant it. She really enjoyed Angela and Bethany’s company and was sure that she would like Raquel’s as well.

888

Joey had more fun that day then she could ever remember. At first she had been shy and quiet but as the hours went on she came out of her shell a little more. She found out a lot about Lane’s family. She learned that Jake had indeed been a slayer like her for 250 years until meeting Angela and settling down.

Lane’s father had died 21 years ago while out hunting rogue immortals though the only family members his death had truly effected had been Jake and Rebecca since he had not ever had any use for anyone else.

She learned that Kaylee and Kayleb went to a regular school with other mortal children and that Evan, Kent and Jordan all worked ordinary jobs in town. She found herself constantly surprised by just how normal this family of immortals was.

They had gone shopping for clothes and shoes and although Joey had resisted at first saying that she didn’t have any use for new clothes or any money to buy them with she was soon caught up in the other woman’s excitement and found herself allowing Bethany to purchase her two bags full of jeans, slim fitting t-shirts, lacey bras, silky panties and even a few long sleeve blouses.

They had then gone to a bookstore where Bethany had sat in the window seat looking thoroughly bored while Angela had shoved several romance novels into Joeys hands and insisted that she read them.

After that they had gone to a little pasta place for dinner since it was now getting late. They had laughed and talked and Joey had forgotten all about the bus station and wanting to leave.

“Oh shoot.” Angela said as they walked out of the restaurant. “The bus station will be closed by now.” Bethany rolled her eyes.

(You are such a bad actor.) she said. Angela stuck her tongue out at Bethany and then turned back to Joey.

“I’ll have to bring you back into town tomorrow.” she said. Joey nodded. She was really very happy to not be getting on that bus. She was having a great time and found that she really wasn’t in a rush to get back to her lonely little tent.

“That’s fine. I forgot some stuff at the house anyway.” Joey replied. Angela smiled and put her arm around Joey’s shoulders as they walked back to Bethany’s hummer.

(Looks like my bad acting worked Angela said to Bethany.) Bethany chuckled.

888

Joey had hoped to see Lane when they got back to the house but Greg told her that he hadn’t been there all day. She sighed and went up to her room. She sat her bags of clothes down and opened her notebook. Lane had not brought her crayons but she had her pencil.

She started sketching his face and chest just the way it had looked this morning while he had been sound asleep in the sunlight. She was lost in her sketch and didn’t even hear the door to her room open. She nearly screamed when she looked up and saw a pair of big brown eyes looking at her.

“Sorry I scared you Miss Joey. My name is Kaylee.” Joey smiled at the little girl. She had big brown eyes, light freckles and hair the same color as her mothers only hers was curly.

“Hi Kaylee. You can call me Joey.”

“I like your hair…It’s really bright and curly.” Kaylee said touching a finger to one of Joeys flyaway curls.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I like your hair too.” Joey looked at this little girl and realized she was about the same age and size that she had been when her family had been murdered. She felt her heart fill with love for the dark eyed girl looking up at her.

“Do you like to draw?” Kaylee asked looking at the notebook in Joey’s lap.

“Yes I do. Do you?” Kaylee nodded.

“I’m not as good as you though. That’s my uncle Lane.” she said pointing at the picture Joey had been working on. Joey blushed but nodded.

“Yes it is.” she said.

“Would you like some crayons?” Kaylee asked. She didn’t even wait for Joey to answer. She ran from the room her red curls bouncing and returned several moments later with a box of crayons and some extra sheets of paper.

“Can I draw with you?” she asked. Joey nodded and patted the bed next to her. Kaylee climbed up and sat cross legged. The two of them didn’t say anything else they just sat and worked on their separate drawings.

Joey noticed that the sun had set and darkness had settled outside. She heard a mans voice coming down the hall.

“Kaylee, honey! Where are you? Your mommy says it’s time for bed.” He looked through the door to Joeys room and walked in when he saw his daughter sitting on the bed coloring.

“Hi.” Joey said when he walked in. “My name is Joey.”

“I’m Evan.” he said. He didn’t look happy that his daughter had been alone in the room with Joey. Joey didn’t blame him. He had probably heard all about her attacks on both Lane and Angela.

“We were drawing daddy!” the little girl said oblivious to her fathers uneasiness. He nodded and laid a loving hand on her curly head.

“Go on to your room. Mommy is waiting to tuck you in.” Kaylee jumped down off the bed grabbing her papers. She reached for her crayons but then stopped.

“I’ll let you keep them.” she said looking up at Joey. Joey smiled and felt her heart constrict at the little girls kindness.

“Thank you.” she said. The little girl smiled back and then ran from the room. Evan looked down at Joey and the picture of Lane in her lap.

“Nice drawing.” he said.

“Thank you.” Joey said closing her notebook and setting it aside. “Your daughter is lovely.” Evan nodded.

“She and her brother are my world.” he replied. She could read the warning in his hazel eyes. She nodded but said nothing.

“How long are you staying?” Evan asked. Joey shrugged and stood up so that she would feel a little less vulnerable.

“I’m going home in the morning.” she said. Evan nodded thinking that it was just as well. He didn’t want someone that dangerous around his children.

“Goodnight Joey.” he said and left the room. Joey closed the door, turned the light off and pulled off her stretch pants. She moved the crayons and notebook off the bed and laid down. She tried to tell herself that she didn’t care how Evan or anyone else felt about her. These were just immortals and not worth her worry… But she knew she was lying to herself. She wanted them all to like her. She wanted Evan to trust her around his daughter and she wanted Lane to love her.

888

Lane didn’t change to his wolf form often. He was perfectly happy being a man the majority of the time. But he had so much frustration built up he knew that he needed the wolf to help him get it out. So he had changed and he had run. He had run for hours before turning and heading back to the house. It had been midmorning when he’d left and the sun was set by the time he returned.

As he’d run he’d thought about Joey. God he wanted her. When he had woken up with her in his arms this morning it had just felt right.. Like everything in his life had been leading him to that moment.. He had been tempted to tell her how he’d felt. He wanted to tell her that he was falling in love with her but then she had shot out of the bed and told him exactly what he met to her. Nothing. She couldn’t wait to leave.

He knew she’d be gone by the time he returned and that was just fine with him.. Let the damn crazy woman go back to her little tent and end up getting herself killed trying to get revenge for what had happened to her family. He wasn’t going to chase after her anymore.. Lane was not a man who needed to chase women.. They liked him enough to come to him without much effort on his part… All of them except his mate of course who was supposed to want him just as much as he wanted her.

He changed back to a man while still in the forest a little ways from the house. He pulled his sweatpants back on that he had left hidden here that morning and walked up to the house. Angela was waiting in the kitchen, Jake was sitting next to her and she had Laney in her arms.

“What is your problem?” Angela asked him when he walked in.

“I’m not in the mood.” Lane replied. Angela stood up one hand holding her baby the other on her hip.

“Don’t be hateful to me just because you are mad at yourself.”

“Who says I’m mad at myself?” he asked flashing her a grin. “I love myself too much to ever get mad.” Jake snorted. He stood and kissed Angela’s forehead.

“I’ll be upstairs.” he said deciding to give them some privacy. Angela handed him the sleeping Laney and Lane was surprised to see his giant, brute of a brother take the tiny baby in his arms and start cooing and singing gently to her as he walked away.

“Never thought I’d see that.” Lane said as he sat down. Angela didn’t reply for a while. Instead she fixed Lane a sandwich and poured some chips on a plate. She sat it down in front of him and he started eating it quickly.

“That could be you one day.” she said as she sat down across from him.

“Me? Naw, In order to do that I’d have to actually make love to my mate and that’s not about to happen.” he said. Lane was only open and honest with one person. Well two if you counted how he had tried to be with Joey. Angela was Lane’s best friend and always would be.

“Why not?” Angela asked stealing a chip from his plate.

“She’s not my type.”

“You mean she’s not a cheap ass hooker in some bar? She is actually a real living breathing woman who has feelings and fears and has ghosts in her past that try to keep her from moving forward?”

“Yea something like that.” Lane replied. Angela slapped his hand but couldn’t help but smile at him. Lane was sill Lane after all.. And his charms were irresistible.

“I don’t like to see you hurting.” Angela said. Lane’s smile faded slightly as he looked over at her.

“Have faith little sister. I’ll be ok.”

“You need to make this work, Lane. She’s your mate and she cares about you.”

“Cares about me?” he demanded. “No she doesn’t. Almost every time I touch her she pulls away like I’m one of great plagues of Egypt.” Lane said taking another bite of his sandwich. He thought about those quiet hours during the night and this morning when she had allowed him to keep his arms wrapped tight around her. His body pressed to hers… He growled and stood up to get a pop from the fridge.

“You’re starting to sound like Jake.” Angela said matter-of-factly. He handed her a pop as he sat back down.

“Guess I’m getting old” he replied. Angela and Lane sat in a comfortable silence for the next few minutes while Lane finished his dinner.

“It’s too late now anyway. She made it clear to me this morning that she didn’t want to be with me and she was leaving.” Angela laid her hand on his cheek and he looked up at her.

“She’s right upstairs Lane. She spent the day with me, Raquel and Bethany. We took her shopping and out to eat. By the time we got done the bus station was closed and so she agreed to spend another night.”

“Let me guess you had that planned all along?” Lane asked raising his brow. Angela grinned sheepishly.

“I have faith in you, Lane, but sometimes even the great ones need a little help.” Angela stood as Lane laughed. She walked around the table and gave him a hug.

“Balls in your court big brother.” she said. She kissed his cheek and went to join Jake and Laney upstairs.

Chapter Seven

Joey made sure she was out of bed the next morning to see Kaylee before she left for school. She wanted to see the little girl just once more before she went back home and never saw any of them again.

She was about to pull on normal outfit when the bags of new clothes caught her eye. She had not had new clothes since she was ten and the female urge to look pretty was just too strong. She changed into a pair of black silk panties and black lace bra to match. Then she slipped on a pair of tight jeans and an emerald green t-shirt that hugged her body tight.

She looked in the mirror and was shocked by what she saw.. .She looked like a woman.. The new bra emphasized her chest instead of flattening it the way her sports bra did. She saw that her hair was still wild around her face and wished their was something she could do about it. But short of shaving it all off she had tried everything in the past and nothing worked.

She pushed her glasses up on her nose and wished for the thousandth time that she hadn’t inherited that particular trait from her father. Oh well.. This was as good as she got and if Lane still wasn’t interested then that was just fine with her. She wasn’t trying to look nice for Lane anyway. At least that’s what she told herself as she took one last look in the mirror and then walked downstairs.

She could hear voices in the kitchen. She walked in to find the table was already crowded. Everyone except Kent, Greg, Bethany and Lane were already awake and eating breakfast.

“Good morning, Joey! We haven’ t met yet but I’m Lane’s mom Rebecca.” Rebecca said coming up and hugging Joey before she had a chance to sidestep her. At first Joey tensed. She was not used to any form of intimacy and especially not from werewolves but then she relaxed and found herself actually enjoying the motherly embrace.

“Good morning.” Joey replied. Rebecca let her go and Joey really looked at her then. She had the same hair as her daughter Raquel and the same light freckles as Kaylee. Her eyes were the same bright blue as Lanes. She had a plump waist and the kindest eyes Joey had ever seen.

“You must be hungry, darling. Sorry no fancy breakfast here this morning but we have Captain Crunch or Frosted Flakes.” Rebecca said. Joey sat down at the table between Angela and Kaylee.

“Frosted Flakes are fine.” Joey said. In truth she was thrilled about having cereal for breakfast.. She couldn’t remember the last time she had tasted cereal. Rebecca sat the bowl in front of her and Joey quickly began to eat savoring every bite.

“I don’t like frosted flakes,” a little boy who looked just like Kaylee said. Joey knew this must be Kayleb. “They get too soggy.”

“Not if you eat them fast.” Joey replied. Kayleb smiled.

“Mommy tells me not to eat too fast though because I’ll get a tummy ache.” he said. “You know how mommies are.” he added. Joey smiled and nodded but in truth she didn’t’ have a clue how mommies were. She could hardly remember.

“Mommy, you should see Joey’s drawings.” Kaylee said excitedly. “We drew pictures together yesterday but hers are really really good! It looked just like uncle Lane only he was sleeping and you could see the sunshine on his face,”

Joey suddenly wish she could become invisible as she sank deeper down in her seat and blushed from her head to her toes. Jordan stood up.

“Come on munchkins it’s time for school.” she said. Kaylee and Kayleb both moaned and groaned but obeyed their aunt. They left the room but Kaylee came running back moments later to throw her arms around a shocked Joey. She hugged Joey tight and then let go just as quickly and ran back out of the room stopping at the door.

“Tonight I’m going to show you how good I can make a rainbow!” Kaylee said happily. Then she was gone. Joey just sat there feeling her eyes well with tears.

She realized that all eyes were on her and she was suddenly very thankful when a baby cried out from a basinett in the corner of the kitchen. Jake was at the bassinett before any one else had time to react to the sound.

“What’s the matter with daddies baby girl?’ he said gently as he picked up the tiny newborn and cradled her to his chest. “That’s right my darling. Don’t cry anymore. Your daddy is right here and I would never let anything happen to you.” Joey watched the scene and again felt her chest get tight… She had been so wrong all this time about immortals.

She has assumed they were all just thoughtless, mindless killing machines who didn’t feel any of the emotions that normal people felt… But standing before her was proof of the depth of their feelings. This werewolf who had probably killed thousands of his own kind because they killed mortals, who could probably kill everyone in this room without any trouble was cooing and cradling and even doing a gentle dance with this newborn baby wrapped all in pink.

Further proof was in that happy innocent hug goodbye that Kaylee had given her, the way Kayleb had told her he didn’t like frosted flakes, the way that Rebecca had hugged her with just as much warmth as she hugged her own daughters. Angela’s kind smile, Evans protectiveness over his children, Lane and Bethany’s senses of humor. All of these things proved her wrong. She sat lost in her own thoughts as the family went about their morning ritual.

Evan kissed his wife goodbye as he and Kent left for work. Rebecca took the baby from Jake and sat down at the table.. Feeding her granddaughter and singing a gentle lullaby.

Joey did not want to leave. She did not want to go back to that little tent and feel that loneliness again that had plagued her for the last month.

“So am I taking you to the bus station this morning?” Angela asked before taking a sip of her coffee and watching Joey’s face with her dark eyes. Joey shrugged.

“If it’s ok with Rebecca I thought I might stay until tomorrow.. Kaylee wants to show me how she draws a rainbow.. She would be disappointed if I left before she got back.”

“Honey, this isn’t my house.. You don’t have to ask my permission.. But you know I’d love to have you stay. My motto is the more the merrier” Rebecca said happily.

888

Lane woke up and looked at the clock. He moaned when he saw it was only seven a.m. He had not gotten any sleep the night before. He had tossed and turned and thought about his red haired slayer sleeping down the hall. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stood up. He was sure she was still sleeping. After all she was used to sleeping all day and hunting all night.

He could get to the kitchen and eat and be gone before she woke up. He didn’t want to have to say goodbye to her. God he didn’t’ want her to leave but his pride would not allow him to beg her to stay.. Not after the way she had shot him down the day before.

He walked out of his room and down the stairs. He stopped at the bottom when he heard feminine laughter in the kitchen. He recognized Angela and his mothers laughs and then he head another laugh. It was soft and sweet and so innocent sounding that it stole his breath. He couldn’t believe his ears. Joey was in the kitchen with his family and comfortable enough with them that she was laughing.

“Ten when you killed your first vamp? That’s pretty impressive.” he heard Jake say.

“Pretty impressive?” Joey demanded with amusement in her voice. “How old were you?”

“Seven.” he replied.

“No way.” she said with disbelief.

“It’s true.” Jake said.

“What is the most immortals you have taken on at once?” Joey asked.

“Well this one time this man had Angela locked up in a basement and was determined that he was going to use her to capture me and then torture us both before killing us. He had 30 sub demons working for him and I killed all of them and a vamp that he also had.”

“30 sub demons?” Joey asked with awe. Lane had heard enough. He was pissed that his mate was in the kitchen bonding with his jackass brother when she would hardly even look at him.

He walked into the kitchen keeping his back to everyone as he went straight to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup.

“Don’t be too impressed. He ended up helpless and flat on his back seconds later and Angela had to save his ass.” he said as he stood at the sink looking out the window. Joey stared at his back. He was only wearing a pair of sweat pants and his skin was tan and smooth. His back was lean like the rest of him. He turned then and looked at her. Her mouth went dry when she saw how low his pants were riding on his hips… Just one more inch and nothing would be hidden from her. His stomach wasn’t heavily muscled but it was solid and lean and Joey couldn’t seem to breath right as she looked at it.

Lane was having a similar reaction to her. He had almost dropped his coffee cup when he’d turned around to see her standing next to Jake. Gone were her baggy white t-shirts and stretch pants. The blue jeans she had on hugged her tiny hips and waist.. And the green t-shirt molded to every curve of her upper body.. He had been very wrong when he had called her flat chested.

She self consciously tried to push her hair behind her ear to tame it and licked her lips. Lane cursed silently at the sight of that small pink tongue darting out of her mouth. The trance she had him under was broken when Jake replied to his earlier statement.

“Yea well it’s not like you were any help locked up in that damn cage.” Lane felt his face flush with embarrassment. He would have been just fine if his brother had not ever told Joey about that particular failure on his part.

“Yea but who got you home when it was all over?” Angela asked her mate. Jake looked at her and then back at Lane.

“I’ll give him that much. He got us all back home.” he said. Joey turned back to Jake.

“I would like to see that crossbow you were telling me about. The one that fires like a semi-automatic.”

“Well come on then.. It’s down in the basement.” Jake said. He kissed Angela’s cheek and walked from the room. Joey started to follow but then stopped and ran quickly to Lane. She threw her arms around his neck, pecked his cheek and said good morning and then she followed quickly after Jake.

“Well I’ll be damned.” Lane said as he watched the empty doorway she had walked out of. Angela and Rebecca both laughed lightly.

“Maybe she doesn’t think you’re an Egyptian plague after all.” Angela said as she stood up and carried her cup to the sink.

“No I guess not….” Lane said his voice trailing off. Angela smiled and walked out of the room. Lane stood still for several long minutes and then he too started out of the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” Rebecca asked while Laney sucked happily on her bottle.

“Take a shower.” Lane replied.

“Might want to make sure it’s a cold one.” Lane didn’t reply to his mother. Hell yea it was going to be a cold one. His body was still on fire from Joey’s body pressing up against it when she had hugged him. If he didn’t do something quick it was going to burn to the ground.

888

“This place is impressive.” Joey said looking around the room. There were maps on the walls, weapons of every shape, size and era covered the walls, shelves and desks. Joey ran her finger over the desk and it came back covered in dust. Everything in this room was covered in was covered in a thick layer.

“I used to think so.” Jake replied.

“What do you think now?” Joey asked. Jake shrugged as he put the crossbow back on the shelf.

“Now I just find it depressing.” Joey nodded. She understood. Though killing immortals had been rewarding at first since she had felt she was doing it to honor her family it had quickly became tiresome.. She knew for a fact that killing didn’t bring happiness.. No matter how justified the killing seemed.

“I want you to understand something.” Jake finally said after a few moments of silence. Joey looked at him standing in the dark room.. Everything in this room was designed to bring about fear and death but none of these man made weapons looked near as fearsome, dangerous or deadly as him as he stared at her with those intense golden eyes.

“What’s that?” She asked meeting his gaze.

“My mate has the most generous and trusting soul of anyone I have ever met. She believes that you are a good person and that you can be trusted here with our family. I on the other hand am generous to very few people and I trust even fewer.” he paused here and rubbed the back of his neck before crossing his arms across his chest.

“If Angela is right and if you want them to, then this family will welcome you with open arms and you will never have to doubt their loyalty. But if Angela is wrong and you are here to learn what you can about my family so that you can use it to try to hurt any of them, I can promise you that you will see a side of me that no one has ever lived to talk about.”

Joey just stared at him for several minutes. Did he scare her absolutely shitless? Yes, he did. But at the same time Joey had respect for him. He trusted his mates instinct enough to allow Joey to stay but he also wanted Joey to know that he loved his family and would not allow an outsider to come in and harm them

“I am not a threat to your family.” she promised him. Jake believed her. He hadn’t really thought that she was but he had wanted to make sure she understood his view on the situation.

“Good.” Jake said.

“Can I ask you a question?” Jake nodded.

“Do you ever miss hunting?” she asked. Jake didn’t hesitate before he spoke.

“No. I spent 250 years of my life hunting. I did it mainly to make my father proud. He started training me from the time I could walk to do what he did. Do you know what I had to show for those 250 years? Not a damn thing.I hunted until the day I met Angela. I never even gave hunting another thought once I saw her face.” Joey was seeing a whole other side of him. Sure he looked hard and deadly but he was clearly a good man…. Man? She had just thought of him as a man…

“Well let’s head back up before Lane bursts through those doors and kills me for stealing his girl.” Jake said motioning for her to climb the stairs.

“I’m not his girl.” she said as she walked up the stairs. Jake didn’t say anything but she was sure she heard him laughing softly behind her.

888

Joey spent most of the day up in her room drawing. She didn’t know where Lane had gone but he wasn’t around. She decided to draw sketches of her new family.

New family? Where had that thought come from? This wasn’t her family, yet it felt just like she was part of it and it surprised her to find that she wanted to part of it. She realized just how much she was changing in just a few short days. Gone was the scared young girl who was full of hate and vengeance. Now she was a young woman full of hope for the future…

A future that she wanted to spend with Lane and this family. If only she could get Lane to feel the same way. She was lost in her thoughts and her sketches when there was a knock on her door.

“Come in.” she said as she closed her notebook and sat it aside. She was stretching out her cramped fingers when Bethany came in.

“What are you doing locked up in here by yourself?” she asked moving with the smooth grace only she possessed over to the bed and setting down next to Joey.

“I was just doing some sketching.” Joey replied. Bethany picked up the notebook.

“May I?” she asked. Joey nodded. Bethany looked through the pictures slowly. Finally she looked up at Joey.

“These are really good. You have a lot of talent.” she said and Joey could see the honesty in her eyes. Joey shrugged and felt herself blush.

“It’s just something I’ve been doing since I was young. It helps relax me and it always gave me something to do to keep the loneliness and boredom away.” Bethany nodded.

“Greg and I are leaving in a few hours. We’ll be gone a couple of days on a shoot. If it’s ok with you when I get back I know some people in the art industry. I think your stuff is good and I think that they will be interested.” Joey couldn’t believe her ears…

“Um.. Sure I mean I was supposed to leave tomorrow…”

“Bull shit.” Bethany said waving her hand impatiently. “You can’t leave my brother again.”

“Your brother doesn’t care if I’m here or not.” Joey said pulling her knees into her chest.

“You two are ridiculous. Let me tell you something. Since my brother met you he has been different. Before he used to brag about all the woman he had.. He used to stay in bars and casinos gambling and drinking. Since he met you he has spent his days here moping around the house and taking lots of cold showers.”

“What does him moping around and taking showers have to do with me?” Bethany raised a brow and shook her head.

“Not showers.. Cold showers.” Joey still looked clueless.

“Have you ever had a man?” Bethany asked. Joey felt herself turn bright red with embarrassment as she started picking at invisible lint on her t-shirt.

“No. I never have.” she admitted. Bethany stared at her with shock.

“How old are you?” she asked.

“Twenty-five.”

“Have you ever even been kissed?” Joey didn’t say anything just shook her head and wished that she could curl up in a ball and disappear. It was horrible to have this sexy blond bombshell model know that she was a skinny, frizzy red haired, glass wearing virgin nerd who had never even kissed a man.

“So my dumbass little brother hasn’t even kissed you yet?” Bethany asked. Joey shook her head hard.

“No, why would he want to kiss me?” Bethany cursed under her breath and then laughed.

“Apparently he’s losing his charm and his edge…” She stood up then and laid Joey’s notebook back on the bed.

“I’ll be back in a couple of days and then we can take this drawings to an art dealer I know. I will have plenty of free time since this is going to be my last show. Apparently the other women in the modeling industry are starting to notice that I haven’t aged a day in the last twenty years. Jealousy is a killer.”

“Thank you for helping me.” Joey said still feeling awkward embarrassment knowing that Bethany knew about her innocence.

“No problem. And listen to me, I am very nosy and never know when to keep my mouth shut so I’m going to open it right now. Lane cares about you. I’m not sure exactly what his problem is and why he hasn’t told you himself but I guess it’s probably because it’s so new to him.

“You can either wait around on him to make his move or you can make a move of your own but the end result is going to be the same. The two of you are mates, soul mates, and unlike Jordan and I , you and Lane are going to be lucky like everyone else in this family and find love as well.” With that Bethany left the room.

Joey sat there her head reeling. Love? She already knew that she was falling in love with Lane. His smile, his laugh, his eyes.The feel of his arms around her as he held her the morning before. But was it really possible that he was feeling the same things about her?

Suddenly the room felt too small. She decided to go for a walk in the surrounding woods. She walked outside and enjoyed the feel of the warm sun on her face. She saw a trail leading into the woods and started down it.

Lane watched her walk into the woods from his bedroom window. This morning he had been sure that he needed to give up on the idea of him and her together but then she had hugged him and kissed his cheek. He could still feel the heat from where her lips had touched him. Not even the cold shower had helped to cool it.

He decided to give it one last try. He would take it slow even though his body was screaming at him to have her now. If Jake could make a mortal woman fall in love with him then so could Lane. He was the brother that had been born with all the charm after all.

He opened his window and jumped three stories to the ground landing on his feet and sprinting toward the woods. He was nearly to her when she whirled around and stopped her hand inches before delivering a choking blow to his throat. He held his hands up in surrender and offered her a grin.

“We’re getting better.” he said lowering his hands. “I’m not bleeding yet.” Joey relaxed her arm and fought to get her heart beat back to normal.

“You have to quit startling me! I could have really hurt you.” she said matter of factly.

“Naw, I’m tougher than I look.” He replied. “What are you doing out here?”

“I was taking a walk.” He held his arm out to her.

“Would you like some company?” he asked. She felt butterflies attack her stomach as she looped her arm through his and they started walking together down the path.

“So did you have fun with my brother this morning in the room of horrors?” Joey noticed a tone in his voice that she had never heard in it before.

“Yes actually. I respect your brother very much.” She heard his snort of derision. She looked up at him and suddenly realized what was wrong. He was jealous. Why would he be jealous that she had spent the morning with Jake?

“I talked to Bethany about you today.” she said. Bethany had seemed certain that Lane cared about her.. His jealousy seemed to confirm what Bethany had said. Joey didn’t know exactly how she was supposed to make a move though. She had never tried to make a move on a man before.

“Does that mean you think about me then?” Lane asked teasingly. She blushed and looked down at their feet as they walked perfectly in step with one another.

“Actually she is the one who mentioned you.” Lane looked down at her but she was looking at the ground.

“So what exactly did my nosy big mouthed older sister have to say about me? She wasn’t telling you about what a charming devil I am was she?” Joey didn’t look up at him but she knew if she had she would see that dazzling smile on his face that always made her knees weak.

“No. Actually she said that you had lost your charm.”

(Kiss my damn ass, Bethany. I haven’t lost anything.) Lane said to his oldest sister.

(You haven’t even kissed the girl yet.)

(Why couldn’t I have been born with supportive sisters? Angela doesn’t doubt my charms. She has faith in me.) Lane said feigning hurt. Bethany gave a teasing laugh.

(Yes but Angela loves you more than I do.. Kiss the damn girl, Lane, so that the rest of us can get on with our lives and quit worrying about your love life.) Lane laughed and realized that he’d done so out loud when Joey gave him a confused look.

“You think it’s funny that she says you lost your charm?” Lane smiled down at her and she tripped over her own feet. She would have fallen if his strong arms had not caught her and held her up.

“You ok there?” he asked. She flushed with embarrassment and looked quickly behind her.

“Must have been a rock or something.” she said. Lane thought about teasing her but held it back when he realized he might offend her. She was the type of woman who liked to have others think she could take care of herself. He didn’t want to hurt her pride and risk pushing her away from him.

“I hate rocks.” he said instead. Joey nodded but couldn’t seem to form words. Their eyes were locked as he stood in front of her. His strong hands still gripped her upper arms gently.

Though they were outside the air didn’t seem to have enough oxygen. Joey found her eyes drawn to his lips. She licked her lips wondering what it would feel like if he pressed them to hers. She didn’t have to wonder for long. He lowered his mouth to hers.

The kiss was slow and gentle. Joey felt sparks flame all the way down to her toes as he nibbled her bottom lip with his teeth. She pressed herself up against him and heard him moan. He used his tongue to gently urge her mouth open and Joey felt her knees buckle as he began a gentle exploration of her mouth. Joey moaned as he pulled his mouth from hers and pressed his lips to her forehead.

Lane had to calm his heart before it blew up in his chest. He had kissed women. Lots of women. But never before had his body or his heart reacted this way. He cleared his throat and pulled himself away from her. He looked down at her and felt his heart constrict in his chest.

Her eyes were still closed and her cheeks were red with passion. She looked so innocent and gentle. Not at all like the dangerous woman who had tried to kill him four times since they’d met. He loved her. The wolf in him craved her and so did the man, but it went deeper. He wanted to take care of her. He wanted to protect her. He never wanted her to be alone or lonely again. He never wanted her to go back to that tiny blue tent. To wander the streets at night risking her life.

He almost said the words then as her green eyes opened and looked up into his. He almost told her that he loved her but he stopped himself at the last moment.. He did not want to scare her away. He could tell by the way that she had kissed him that she was innocent. He didn’t want to push her too far too quickly.

“I love rocks.” Lane said instead. It took several moments for his words to register in Joey’s passion clouded mind. When they did she stared at him with confusion..

“What?”

“I love rocks.” he said again. “If you hadn’t tripped over one I would not have had an excuse to catch you in my arms.” She blushed and pushed her hair behind her ear. Lane started walking down the path again and Joey quickly fell in step beside him. She reached her hand out and tentatively touched his hand with her fingertips.

He didn’t say anything, just entwined his fingers with hers and used his thumb to gently massage her hand as they walked. They walked together and talked as if they had known each other their whole lives. This was a new experience for Joey and for Lane. Lane had never taken the time to walk hand in hand with any woman and he was surprised by how intimate it felt.

Eventually they found their way back to the house. They were walking up onto the porch when Kaylee ran out.

“Aunt Joey look what I made today!” she yelled excitedly. Joey wondered if she should correct the girl. She glanced up at Lane but he was just smiling down at his niece.

“What did you make Kaylee?” she asked letting go of Lane’s hand and bending down slightly so she was on Kaylee’s level. Kaylee held out the picture she had made at school. It was clearly a family picture. The large log mansion stood in the background and in front of it there were fourteen people. Joey felt herself grow emotional as she recognized herself standing next to Lane in the picture. She couldn’t seem to form words.

“That’s good, Kaylee. But does uncle Jake really look that mean?” Lane asked noticing that Joey’s emotions had her choked up. Kaylee giggled and then looked at Joey.

“Do you like it?” she asked. Joey smiled.

“I love it. You did a great job.” she said. Kaylee handed it to her.

“It’s for you.” she said.

“Thank you.” Joey said. She stood quickly and hid her face in Lane’s shoulder fighting back the tears that were threatening to fall. Lane rubbed her back supportively.

“Does your grandma have dinner ready yet?” Lane asked. Kaylee nodded.

“Yea but it’s nasty old spaghetti and garlic bread. I told uncle Jake that I hate garlic bread and he told me that at least I won’t have to worry about vampires sneaking in my room tonight if I eat it. Uncle Jake is so silly sometimes. No vampire is going to try to come in our house because uncle Jake is too mean and they are scared of him.”

“Your uncle Jake is all bark and no bite.” Lane teased. “Now your uncle Lane on the hand, I’m the dangerous one.” Kaylee laughed and shook her head.

“You’re even sillier than Uncle Jake.” she said before turning and running into the house. Lane followed after her and Joey walked inside in time to hear Kaylee shriek with joy as Lane pulled her up into his arms and tickled her mercilessly.

“Now do you think I’m dangerous?” he asked.

“Yes! You’re worse than Uncle Jake.” she answered breathlessly. Joey looked around the living room as Lane sat Kaylee down. Evan was sitting on the couch watching his daughter with a smile.

“Kaylee, go upstairs and tell your brother it’s time for dinner.” he said and she quickly ran up the stairs. Joey and Lane were about to leave the room and walk to the kitchen when Joey felt Evan grab her arm.

“I would like to talk to you.” he said. Joey felt Lane tense up beside her. Evan had a grip on Joeys arm and there was a warning look in his eyes. Lane was not violent or protective by nature but this was his mate Evan was man handling.

“Brother-in-law you may want to move that hand” Lane said taking a step forward. Joey saw that Evan and Lane were roughly the same height but Evan was more muscled than Lane. She hoped that Evan would listen to Lane because she did not want to see them fight. She wasn’t sure Lane would win. Evan let go of Joey’s arm but the warning look didn’t leave his eyes.

“I need to talk to her, Lane.” he said.

“Well I’m nosy so why don’t you talk to both of us?”

“My daughter likes you.” Evan said to Joey.

“I like your daughter.” Joey replied. Evan nodded.

“You know what I’ll do to you if you harm a single hair on her head.” It wasn’t a question it was a statement.

“I would never harm Kaylee. I don’t want to harm any of you.” Joey replied. Evan stared hard at her for a moment.

“Are you gonna thump your chest a few more times cave man or is the lady free to go eat dinner?” Lane asked. Evan rolled his eyes and looked over at Lane.

“I have to protect my children.” he said.

“I love those kids too, dumbass. I wouldn’t let anything happen to them.” Lane stated. Suddenly there was a thud and a whooshing sound coming down the stairs in front of them. Lane barely jerked Joey out of the way before the mattress slid to a stop right where she’d been standing.

“WooHoo! That was fun!” Kayleb said jumped up and grinning happily.

“What have I told you about riding the mattress down the stairs?” Evan scolded. Kayleb smiled innocently up at his dad.

“Aww come on daddy.. It’s really fun” he said. Evan smiled despite himself and tousled Kayleb’s hair.

“Go to the kitchen for dinner I’ll take your mattress back upstairs. Let’s not tell your mother about this.” Kayleb took off for the kitchen. Jordan and Kent walked in from outside in time to see Evan trudging up the stairs with the mattress.

“Mattress surfing?” Kent asked. Lane nodded while keeping his arms safely wrapped around Joey from behind. Jordan smiled.

“They got cursed with a little boy that’s almost as rotten and mischievous as you were as a boy.” Lane’s mouth was so close to Joey’s ear that she could hear him smile.

“As I recall I had three big sisters that helped me get into most of that mischief.” he said. Jordan laughed.

“Yea but you and Bethany were the only ones with cute enough smiles to get out of all the trouble you caused.”

“Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.” Lane replied. Kent rolled his eyes.

“Oh my god! If you get any more conceited your damn head will explode!” he said. He looked at Joey. “Good luck with that one. You’re going to have your hands full.” Then he and Jordan headed for the kitchen.

“Good luck with me, honey. I’m a handful.” Lane whispered in her ear. Joey felt herself shiver and a warm feeling spread from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.

“Lucky me.” she said turning around in his arms. He smiled down at her and she smiled back at him.. Lane couldn’t get over just how beautiful her smile was.

“Honey you know I would protect you against anything and anyone, but for my sake could you please start only having disagreements with Kent the midget or Tinkerbell Jordan. You keep going up against Evan and Jake and you’re going to get my ass kicked.”

“Don’t worry werewolf. I’ll keep you safe.” Lane smiled and wondered how on earth he had gotten so lucky.

Chapter Eight

The next two weeks were heaven for both Lane and Joey. They spent almost every waking moment together. They played cards, took long walks, went out to dinner. Lane never took her anywhere too fancy and she was glad.. She liked just being carefree and laughing with him. Every night he would walk her to her room but he never came in. He would give her an earth shattering kiss and then he would tell her good night and walk away.

Lane didn’t tell her but it was damn near killing him to walk away from her every night. He wanted so much more than just her kiss but he didn’t want to rush things. He wanted to take them as slow as he could so that she had time to be sure about her feelings.

Joey longed to hear him say that he loved her but he hadn’t yet. She hadn’t told him either much to the disappointment of Angela and Bethany who had taken it upon themselves to worry about her and Lane’s love life.

Bethany had introduced Joey to an art dealer and he had seemed very interested in her drawings. He had taken them all and told her that he would contact her in a few weeks and let her know if he could find buyers.

Joey had never been happier in her entire life than she was those two weeks. She had earned the trust of all of the family. Even Evan had finally stopped checking on Kaylee every five minutes when she was drawing with Joey.

One afternoon Joey walked down into the kitchen and Raquel looked up from where she was busy scrubbing the floor.

“Joey, can I ask you to do a favor for me?” she asked. Joey nodded. “Evan has to work late, Jordan and Kent are gone on vacation, Rebecca is busy cleaning upstairs, Angela Jake and Laney are gone on a walk and Bethany and Greg went to France or something for Greg’s newest job. Could you go pick the twins up from school?”

“Sure.” Joey said happy to have something to do since Lane had seemed distracted all day. “Will you tell Lane if he comes down looking for me?”

“You mean he’s actually let you out of his sight today?” Raquel asked teasingly. Joey nodded.

“He seems distracted today. I’m not sure what’s wrong with him.” she said. She grabbed a set of keys off the hook by the door. “I’m going to take Lane’s Camaro.”

“Thanks so much, Joey” Raquel said with a smile. Joey smiled back and then walked outside to the garage. She fired up the ’69 camaro and started to town. She was just getting to the outskirts when an unmarked police car pulled up behind her and flashed its sirens. She cursed when she realized she been going 70 down the 45 mile per hour road and pulled over.

She looked in the side mirror and saw the cop approaching. He was tall and he was muscular. He was wearing black pants and a black t-shirt. He wore no uniform, no badge and no gun belt. Her senses were on high alert and a chill went down her back as she rolled the window down.

“Hello Joey.” He said leaning down and looking in the window. She didn’t reply. She stared at him trying to remember if she had ever seen him before. He had dark brown hair that was cut short and spiked. He had a big nose, high cheek bones and a dimple in his chin. But the thing that startled her were his eyes. They were jet black. He had no white around them… They looked like black holes staring back at her.

She was sure she had never seen him before. She would have remembered those eyes. She also knew that he wasn’t human.

“What can I do for you?” she asked. He smiled revealing sharp white teeth. Joey wished that she had her silver knife still tied to her leg or the wooden stake in her pants but she hadn’t carried either with her since coming back to Lane’s house.

“You and I need to have a little chat.” he said. He walked around the car and got in the passenger side. He reached out and took the keys out of the ignition and then looked at her.

“You’ve been keeping some questionable company the last few weeks, slayer.” he said matter-of-factly.

“The company I’ve been keeping is fine.. The company I’m keeping right now on the other hand.. That might be questionable.” she replied. He chuckled.

“I need to tell you a little story, slayer. Do you have a few moments to listen?” Joey didn’t bother responding. She knew she didn’t have a choice but to listen.

“Good. Twenty one years ago my father was savagely murdered in cold blood by your pathetic mate and his brother.” He waited to see if Joey would reply but she didn’t so he continued. “My father was out minding his own business when they ambushed him, beat him mercilessly and killed him.”

“I doubt he was minding his own business. Jake was a hunter of rogues.” Joey said wishing that she hadn’t come alone. If only Lane had come with her….

“Yes but you see they thought my father was guilty of a crime. Guilty of killing their father.” Joey couldn’t stop the look of shock that appeared on her face and though she quickly masked it behind a look of indifference he had already noticed.

“Your mate didn’t tell you that he and his brother killed the man they thought killed their father?” Joey didn’t reply. If Jake and Lane had killed this man’s father then she was certain that no one else in the family knew. As far as any of them knew the werewolf who had killed Charles had simply went into hiding and not been seen in twenty one years.

“What does any of this have to do with me?” Joey asked managing to keep her voice calm.

“I want revenge of course and you are going to help me get it.”

“You’ll just have to kill me. I will never help you hurt any of them.” she spat. He chuckled.

“Seems you’ve formed quite an attachment with little, Kaylee. My brother is watching her right now you know. She and her red haired brother are sitting in their desks at school watching the clock and just waiting for the bell to ring. I would hate for anything bad to happen to them.”

Joey felt the familiar pull of helpless rage that she had felt the night her family had died all those years ago.

“If you bastards harm either of those babies I’ll drive a silver knife through both your hearts.”

“We have nothing against the children, Joey. We would not dream of harming them as long as you do what we want.” Joey sighed in defeat. She would do anything to protect Kaylee and Kayleb.

“What do you want from me?” she asked. He smiled.

“That’s a good slayer. My brother and I want to bring that family to its knees. We have no desire to kill any of them except the two who murdered our father. We want to cause them as much pain as possible before we end their miserable lives.” Joey felt panic.

“No you can’t kill Lane! I love him!” she said.

“Aww.. How sweet. Unfortunately he has to die. We can either kill him first and leave those pretty little red haired angels alone. Or we can kill them first and then kill him anyway.” Joey tried to focus her mind. Lane and Jake stood a better chance of defending themselves then Kaylee and Kayleb did. She had to protect the babies and push her own fears and feelings aside.

“You still haven’t said what you want me to do.”

“You will go home after you pick Kaylee and Kayleb up from school. You will tell Lane that you do not want to be with him and you will leave. Then you will come to the family motel here in town and go to room fourteen and wait for me. I’ll be there to get you sometime tonight.”

“Why?”

“It’s all about pain my dear. We’ve been watching you and your darling Lane for weeks. So we know that using you this way will cause him pain. But that’s not all we have planned for you so you will go to the motel after leaving him and wait for me or we will harm the children. And if you try to warn anyone and I mean anyone then we will kill the children….”

“The family would never let you near those kids….”

“Don’t doubt our abilities slayer. They don’t even know we exist.. How do you know my brother isn’t someone they consider a friend?” Joey didn’t… and she couldn’t take that chance.

“I’ll do what you want. But you have to promise not to hurt the kids.” she said staring straight ahead instead of looking at him.

“Of course, slayer. You have my word.” the stranger said. Then he put the keys back in the ignition, got out of the Camaro and walked back to his car. He drove away without looking at her again. Joey fought against the nausea in her stomach. She did not know how she was going to walk away from Lane. She didn’t know how she was going to walk away from everyone else. But she had to do it. She had to protect Kaylee and Kayleb and once she was alone with the brothers then she would kill them both and then she could return to her new family.

She drove to the school and picked up the twins. Feeling waves of relief wash over her as they ran safely from the school and into the car. Kaylee and Kayleb were so busy telling her all about their days that they didn’t seem to notice her silence or her sadness.

She got them back to the house and they ran up to their rooms to get started on their homework. Joey walked into the kitchen. Angela was sitting there with Laney and Jake.

“Have you seen Lane?” Joey asked. Angela and Jake both noticed the paleness in her face and the sadness and fear in her eyes. They looked at each other and then back at her.

“What’s wrong?” they asked in unison. Joey tried to force a smile onto her face.

“Nothing.” Joey replied. “I’m just tired.. I haven’t seen him much today and I was wanting to talk to him.”

“Your prince has arrived my darling.” Lane’s voice came from behind just as his arm slipped around her waist and he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple. Joey felt sadness tear at her heart.

She turned to face him trying to keep the tears from forming in her eyes.

“I need to talk to you.” she said. He didn’t seem to notice her battle of emotions. He seemed lost in his own nervousness over something.

“I need to talk to you too.” he said. “Let’s go up to my room.” He took her hand and led her up the stairs. Though Joey was wearing her new sandals that Lane had bought her, her feet felt like she was wearing her combat boots full of concrete as she climbed the steps behind Lane… She didn’t know how she was going to do what she knew she had to do.

When they stepped into Lane’s bedroom Joey was overcome with sadness and regret. Candles were lit all over the room.. He had the curtains drawn to make the room as dark as possible and there were bouquets of roses and rose petals covering the room.

“Lane I….”

“I’m sorry I seemed distracted today, honey. I had some things on my mind.” he said.

“I can see that.” she replied. She didn’t want to tell him she didn’t want to be with him. She didn’t want to leave him.

“I hope you don’t mind but being the snoop that I am I went through your things to find this….” He pulled the velvet necklace box from his pocket and Joey’s eyes widened.

“Where did you find that?” she asked. She had not had a clue that there was a jewelry box in her room.

“I bought it for you that night you almost died fighting the subs. That’s why I was late coming to you.” Joey didn’t speak as Lane opened the box. Her breath left her when she saw the beautiful necklace.

“Is it silver?” she asked fingering the chain. Lane smiled and then she noticed he turned crimson.

“Well uh.. I actually really put some thought into it, honey. The silver stands for how weak you make me feel.” he said. She felt tears fill her eyes. She looked back at the necklace and saw that from the center hung two small tear dropped shaped diamonds.

“I just thought those were pretty.” he explained. She nodded and looked at the silver wolf charm hanging below the diamonds. “The wolf well he, um, he is supposed to be me and when you wear the necklace I’ll be right next to your heart, since that’s where I always want to be.. Close to your heart.” Joey felt the tears slip from her eyes and roll down her cheeks. He wiped them away with his thumb.

“Do you like it?” he asked. She nodded.

“I love it.” she replied softly. “You knew all this about me making you weak and wanting to be next to my heart that long ago?”

“Honey, from the second that you saved me from those subs, even in my drunken stupidity, I could tell that you were the one for me. I just didn’t want to admit it at the time.” He picked the necklace up and walked behind her. She held her hair up as he slipped it around her neck and fastened the chain. She laid her hand over the silver wolf charm.

Oh Lane.. she thought to herself. I hope when this is over you can forgive me for what I am about to do.. But I don’t have a choice my werewolf. I have to save you all.

She braced herself to tell him goodbye but then she felt his hot moist breath on her neck. He reached his arm around from where he stood behind her and cupped her small breast as he moved his lips to her ear. She felt her knees buckle and his other arm tightened around her to hold her up.

She moaned his name as she leaned back against him. He turned her around and lowered his mouth to hers. This kiss wasn’t as gentle and soft as the one they had shared in the woods or the ones they had shared over the last couple of weeks. He poured all the passion he’d been holding back over the last weeks into that kiss. Joey matched his passion and wrapped her arms around his neck.

She knew she should stop him. She should not let this go any farther when she was going to walk away when it was over but she found herself too weak to do the right thing. She wanted him. She wanted this. She may not live to see tomorrow and she wanted Lane to make love to her before her time was up.

Lane had learned from their kisses the last few weeks that he had been right about her taste. She tasted like she smelled. All cinnamon and sugar mixed together. She raised her arms and he slipped her blouse over her head before dropping it to the floor. He laid kisses along her collarbone and smiled when he felt her shiver. He unsnapped her bra and then lowered his mouth to her tight perky breasts.

“You’re beautiful, my little slayer.” he said as he moved his mouth back to hers. She couldn’t seem to form thoughts or words. She just moaned beneath him. He stood and quickly unbuttoned his shirt, and shrugged it off. He quickly shed his pants as well and Joey looked him up and down in awe.

Every inch of him was long, lean and tan. Her eyes locked on his and he smiled as he lowered himself down over her. Their lips locked again and Joey could feel her passion building.

“Make love to me Lane.” she managed to moan. He moved his lips to her neck and then to her ear.

“Your wish is my command.” he said and then he made her wish come true

Chapter Nine

Almost an hour later they both lay spent in each others arms. She was curled up with her back pressed against his chest. He was holding her the same way he had that morning all those weeks ago.

“That was amazing.” she said. He smiled as much at her innocent honesty as the compliment.

“You are amazing.” he replied laying gentle kisses along her shoulder. “I love you, Joey.” He whispered in her ear. She could hear his nervousness at saying the words and suddenly the reality of their situation came crashing down on her….

He had finally said the words she’d been waiting so long to hear and she couldn’t say them back. She did love him. She loved him with every single fiber of her being. Angela had asked her that day that seemed so long ago if she knew what it was like to have a man love her with every single fiber of his being and now she could say that she did. She had no doubt that Lane loved her that much.

She tried to speak but all that came out was a choked sob. Lane rolled her to her back and looked down at her his eyes full of concern.

“Honey, you’re crying. What’s wrong?” he asked. Joey closed her eyes.. She didn’t want to see his hurt when she said what she knew she had to say. Kaylee and Kayleb would die if she didn’t do this.

“I don’t love you, Lane. This was a mistake.” she said forcing her voice to be as hard and cold as steel even though she felt like shattered glass inside. Lane felt his heart break apart in his chest. She couldn’t be serious. Not after the love they had just made and the looks he had seen in her eyes… The way she had moaned his name beneath him.

“What…..” She cut him off by shoving him off of her and standing up. She kept her back to him as she pulled on her clothes. She could tell that he had moved to the edge of the bed but he didn’t say a word.

“I tried, Lane, but I’m a slayer and you’re a freak and this is just not going to work.” She thanked God silently when he didn’t speak.. She didn’t want to hear his pain. Without turning around she walked from his room leaving him sitting dumbfounded on the bed.

Lane could not believe this was happening. He felt the tears on his face but didn’t care. He quickly pulled his pants on and ran after her. He caught her in the living room. He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. Her face was covered in tears and he could see the pain in her eyes though she was trying to mask it.

“What is going on?” he asked finding that his voice cracked. She looked away from him.

“I don’t love you. I don’t want to be with you. You mean nothing to me.” she said. Lane let go of her arm. His heart was beyond broken. It was lying in a shattered heap at Joey’s feet. Apparently she had gotten what she wanted out of him and he would be damned before he let her hear him beg.

She turned away from him and walked into the kitchen. She could hear his footsteps behind her but other than that he remained silent. Her hands stopped on the keys to the Camaro hanging on the hook. He could tell that she was waiting on his permission. He snorted.. His pain was quickly turning to anger.

“Take it.” he said. “You’ve taken everything else from me.” She cringed at the anger and pain in his words. She grabbed the key and walked out of the door without saying a word. She got in the car, started the engine and drove away without looking back.

Lane stood in the middle of the driveway watching her disappear around the bend in the road. He didn’t know how long he stood there before he noticed his brothers hand on his shoulder.

“You should go after her, Lane. There has to be a reason she left.” Jake said gently. Lane shrugged his hand away and dried his tear stained face with his hands.

“No she made her choice. I’ll not beg for her.” he said and walked back into the house. Angela walked up to Jake with Laney sleeping in her arms.

“I love you, Jake.” she said. He hugged her and kissed his sleeping daughters forehead.

“I love you too, Angela. Thank you for never breaking my heart my love. You are my world.” She stood there in his arms and prayed that Lane and Joey would be ok.. She knew her favorite brother would never be the same if Joey didn’t come back.

888

Joey opened the door and walked into the empty motel room. She shut and locked the door behind her and fell onto the bed releasing the sobs and tears that had been building since she’d left Lane standing there in the dirt with so much sadness on his face he didn’t look like he’d survive.

She was lost in her sorrow when the air shimmered and the man who had started all this appeared in the small room.

“I knew I could count on you little slayer.” he said. Joey leapt off the bed and pummeled his chest with her fists. She was so blinded by her tears she didn’t know if half her punches hit their mark.

“I hate you, you stupid son of a bitch! How dare you make me do that!” she screamed. His fist came down hard on her face knocking her back onto the bed.

“That was uncalled for, Joey. You had a choice to make and you made it.” he said. She spit out blood and fingered her split lip.

“Fuck you.” she said. He chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You stay put, slayer. I’ll be back in the morning with further instructions for you. Don’t make the mistake of trying to sneak away in the night.. We will know and your new family will pay dearly for it.” Joey curled up on the bed with her back to him.

“Good girl.” he said and then he was gone.

Joey did not sleep. She had searched the room for anything she could use as a weapon but her captive had stripped the room bare. She had eventually just curled back up on the bed clutching her necklace with her hand and letting her tears flow freely.

The clock said it was eleven a.m. when the air in the room shimmered and the stranger appeared again. Joey stood when he walked toward the bed.

“Good morning, little slayer.” he said. Joey didn’t reply. “Are you ready for your next assignment?”

“What do you want?” she asked quietly.

“Rebecca is enjoying a walk at the park with Jake’s little brat. I want you to go to the park and keep her distracted to that I can take her before she can warn anyone.”

“I won’t help you kill Rebecca or Laney.” Joey replied. He shook his head at her.

“I don’t plan on killing them. I simply want to kidnap them.” He reached his hand out and ran one cold strong finger down her cheek. “Of course if you don’t help little Kaylee will not be so lucky.” Joey barely managed to keep her head from jerking away. He chuckled and pulled his hand away from her.

“Get to the park, little slayer. Take her away from the street and I will do the rest.” Joey knew she had no choice but to do what he said. She left the motel and walked down to the park.. Thankfully the park was empty since it was a school day and Joey was quickly able to spot Rebecca pushing Laney in the stroller. They were the only people visible in the park.

Joey walked up over and Rebecca looked up and spotted her.

“Oh my God! What happened to your face?” she asked. Joey reached her hand up to her swollen, split lip.

“I need to talk to you.” she said looking around the park for any sign of the stranger.

“Of course! I tried to tell Lane that there has to be a reason for you leaving. But he doesn’t want to listen to anyone.. He has been locked up in his room since last night.” Joey didn’t say anything.. She didn’t know what to say.. She hated that she had to do this to Rebecca. She walked back toward the tree line at the edge of the park and Rebecca followed her.

Joey sat down on the bench and Rebecca did as well. She reached down to wrap the blanket tighter around Laney.

“Please forgive me, Rebecca.” Joey said. “I didn’t have a choice.” Before Rebecca could even look up at Joey the stranger came out of the woods and brought his hand down hard on the back of her head. She fell unconscious to the ground.

“You said you weren’t going to hurt her!” Joey declared angrily as she stood up.

“No I said I wasn’t going to kill her.” he reminded her. “Now get that little brat out of that stroller. We have to take a little trip.” Joey quickly lifted Laney from the stroller.

“It’s ok, little one, Aunt Joey is here.” she said hugging the fussy infant tight against her. The stranger lifted Rebecca over his shoulder and then grabbed onto Joey’s arm. Joey felt a pull in her gut and suddenly they were standing next to an old abandoned building.

Joey looked around trying to figure out where they were. She didn’t think they were far from where they’d started. The woods surrounded them on all sides but they were standing on a road.. She looked for a sign any kind of sign to tell her where they were.

She found it. On the side of the dilapidated steel frame of the building there was a sign that said Whythville Electronics. Cleary the building was no longer in use. There were trees and vines growing up through the broken roof but at least now she had an idea of where she was.

The stranger did not let go of her arm as he led her into the building. He walked to the center and let go of her long enough to move an old rusted piece of tin and reveal a trap door. He opened the door and motioned for her to walk down the concrete stairs.

“Ladies first.” he said. Joey hugged Laney to her and walked down the steps. The light was so bright when she entered the room at the bottom that it took several moments before her eyes adjusted enough for her to see.

The room was mostly bare. A large silver cage stood in the center. Joey knew that there was only one reason for anyone to have a silver cage and that was to keep a were creature prisoner. Joey looked inside the cage and nearly screamed when the body in the corner that she thought was dead moved.

Golden eyes stared at her out of the heavily bearded skeletal face. The man was wearing dirty and ripped rags. His body was so skinny she could see every bone. But what she couldn’t look away from were those eyes. They were the same as Jakes. The same as Laney’s.

“Look, Charles, Matthew brought us a present.” Another man said walking up to them. Joey gave him a quick once over. He was taller and even more muscular than her captor who she now knew was named Matthew. He had the same brown hair and black eyes that Matthew had. But this man had a tribal like tattoo that started at his left temple and ran down the side of his face and neck and disappeared under his shirt.

“Who the hell are you?” Joey demanded.

“Don’t be rude, slayer. That’s my brother Joseph.” Matthew and Joseph walked over to the cage and while Matthew opened the door Joseph kept a long silver tipped spear to the throat of the skeletal man in the corner.

Matthew tossed Rebecca to the floor of the cage and she came to almost immediately. She jumped to her feet and lunged at the open door her teeth bared. Matthew laughed and swatted her back into the cage as if she were nothing more than an annoying fly. He motioned for Joey and she walked over. He reached out to take Laney from her arms and Joey swung her leg up catching him sharply on the chin.

His head snapped back and he growled low in his throat as he grabbed Joey by her hair and jerked her toward him. He ripped the baby from her arms even as she screamed at him to leave Laney alone. He threw Laney into the cage and Rebecca caught her before she hit the ground. She held the crying baby tight against her singing gently to try to calm her.

Matthew shut and locked the door to the cage and then he and Joseph moved away from the silver bars.

“What have you done, Joey? How could you do this to our family?” Rebecca demanded.

“I didn’t have a choice!” Joey said feeling tears filling her eyes again. “They said they’d kill Kaylee and Kayleb if I didn’t help them.” The man in the corner of the cage grunted and Rebecca seemed to notice him for the first time.

“Charles…..” she said. Her legs nearly buckled beneath her at the sight of her mate that she had thought died twenty one years ago.

“Hello Rebecca.” he said. His voice sounded as weak as he looked. He looked at the baby in her arms.

“Have you been unfaithful to me?” he demanded. Rebecca couldn’t believe her ears or her eyes… He had been alive all this time. And instead of being happy to see her or even worried about her he was accusing her of taking another man.

“You haven’t changed a bit.” she said. “This is your granddaughter.”

“Which one of my worthless female pups made that one?” he asked. Rebecca kissed Laney’s soft forehead.

“None of them.”

“A woman actually chose to put up with my worthless youngest son?”

“You are still just as hateful and ignorant as you’ve always been, Charles. This is Jakes baby girl.” Rebecca said. Charles’ golden eyes widened in surprise.

“I find that hard to believe.”

“A lot has changed since you’ve been gone.” Rebecca said. “We thought you were dead.”

“Doesn’t seem like you were too upset.”

“I was at first but I got over it quickly.” she replied. Joey was caught up in their conversation when Matthew grabbed her arm and began dragging her back up the stairs.

“Let’s go, slayer. We can’t dash from in here. My brother is a whiz with gadgets and he invented one that keeps anyone from dashing within this building.. That way we don’t have to worry about surprise visitors.” Joey didn’t fight against him. She let herself be led back up the stairs and out to the road.

He dashed them back to the motel room and Joey sat down on the bed as he stood there staring at her.

Chapter Ten

“I’m going to go to the park and find Rebecca and Laney. We’re going to go to lunch together.” Angela said kissing Jake. He smiled down at her.

“Have fun my love. I’m going to try to talk to Lane.” Angela nodded.

“I’m worried about him. I’ve never seen him this depressed.” Jake kissed her forehead.

“Try not worry. Just go and have fun.”

“I wish you could come but I don’t want to leave him here alone and everyone else is gone on vacation.”

“It’ll be a girls day.” Jake said. Angela kissed him goodbye and then walked out to her old Chevy truck and drove away. She was pulling into town when she saw Lane’s camaro parked in front of the family motel. She pulled in next to it deciding that she needed to talk to Joey.

She walked up to the door of room fourteen since that’s where the Camaro was parked and was about to knock when she heard Joey’s raised voice coming from behind the closed door.

“What else do you want from me!” she demanded. “I’ve done everything you asked.”

“Yes you have, little slayer.”

“You told me yesterday when you first blackmailed me that if I helped you then Kayleb and Kaylee would be safe…”

“And they are. They are gone with their mother and father. We have no idea where to even find them.” the man said and Angela could hear amusement in his voice.

“You tricked me you son of a bitch! I swear to you that I’ll drive a silver stake through your heart myself!”

“Calm down, little slayer. You don’t stand a chance against me. I will have my revenge against Jake and Lane for killing my father. I am going to kill you now and make it look like a suicide. That should finish Lane off. He’ll be so depressed that killing him will be easy.”

“You and your brother need some serious help if you think that you can defeat Lane. Especially when he has Jake guarding his back.” Joey said.

“Jake will be in no shape to fight with us. Not when I have his daughter and his mother trapped in a cage thanks to you.”

“You gave me my word you wouldn’t harm Laney.” Joey said desperation in her voice.

“I won’t hurt the baby or their mother. Once I have Lane and Jake’s lifeless bodies at my feet they will be free to go. I am not a mindless murderer like your mate and his brother.”

Angela had heard enough. Clearly this man was using Joey to get some kind of revenge. And he had her daughter trapped in a cage. Angela was suddenly thankful that Jake had become so paranoid after his and Angela’s run ins with crazy asses. He never allowed her to leave the house unarmed. She had a silver knife strapped to each ankle and a .44 caliber revolver in her purse full of silver bullets.

She pulled the revolver from her purse and took a deep breath before kicking the door hard. The door flew open and Angela quickly aimed the gun at the big man in the corner. She cocked the gun and pulled the trigger. A bullet slammed into his chest. He screamed in pain and lunged at her. She sidestepped out of the way and pulled the trigger three more times sending three more bullets into his back.

Still he came for her. Angela wished that she had had the melted silver capsules like Tyler had used on Jake but instead she just had plain silver bullets and they were not weakening him fast enough. She ducked just in time for his arms to miss her and she shoved him hard… He lost his balance and fell to the floor. She emptied the remaining bullets into his back and then threw the gun aside and pulled both her knives.

He stood, though he was weaving now and covered in blood.

“You stupid bitch. Jake will really lose his mind when I capture you and throw you in the same cage as his daughter.” Angela glanced over and saw Joey on the bed. Her hands and ankles were tied and she was watching the scene helplessly. Angela looked back at the big man.

“You won’t get a chance to put me in a cage. I have dealt with and killed crazier people than you.” He lunged at her and she felt searing pain as his hands grabbed her throat and his nails sharpened digging into her tender skin.

“Time to go.” he said.

“I agree.” she spat back. She sunk one knife deep into his chest giving it a twist as it sank into his heart. His eyes widened with shock and then fear as she sank the second knife into his throat and jerked with all her might. His head fell back and blood sprayed all over Angela’s face and chest. His grip on her neck loosened and then was gone completely as he fell to a lifeless heap on the floor. Angela pulled her knife from his nearly severed neck and wiped it on his shirt.

“You underestimated me you son of a bitch. I am Jake’s mate after all.” Angela walked over to Joey and quickly untied her hands and ankles.

“Where is my daughter?” she asked.

“She’s in Wytheville with Rebecca. That man has a brother. They want revenge on Jake and Lane for killing their father.” Angela nodded.

“You can tell me the rest in a minute. Let me get Jake and Lane here so we can hear this together.” Joey nodded.

(Jake! Lane! Family motel in town room fourteen get here now!) Angela said with urgency in her voice. There wasn’t even time for Angela to break the link when the air shimmered and Lane and Jake both appeared.

The first thing they saw was the broken and bloody body on the floor. Jake was at Angela in an instant checking her body for wounds. She was covered in blood but the cuts on her neck were only bleeding slightly.

“What happened?” he demanded. Before Angela could respond Joey leapt off the bed and ran to Lane’s arms. She clung to him sobbing and he held her and rubbed her back trying to soothe her.

“Lane, please forgive me! I love you. God I love you so much but he made me leave you. He said if I didn’t leave him he would kill Kaylee and Kayleb. He tricked me. He said they could see the babies and that if I didn’t do what they wanted they would kill them both…” Lane kissed her hair. She loved him.. He should have known she did.. He should have known something was wrong to make her leave the way she did the night before.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come after you. I should have come after you.” he said pulling her away from him and rubbing his thumb over her swollen lip.

“Who did that?” he asked. Joey laid her hand over his and nodded over at the dead werewolf on the floor.

“He did.” she said.

“And you paid him back, huh?” he asked. Joey shook her head.

“No that was all Angela. He had me tied up on the bed.. He was going to kill me and make it look like I’d committed suicide. Angela showed up just in time. He never knew what hit him.”

Jake looked at his mate proudly.

“You are one hell of a woman.” he said. She smiled.

“I know I am.” the smile left her face. “Jake they have Laney and Rebecca.” Jake’s whole face changed. Joey buried herself in Lane’s arms. She had never seen anyone look as deadly as Jake looked at that moment. His golden eyes fell on Joey.

“Tell me everything you know.” he said. Joey did. She started with her conversation with Matthew the day before and ended with Angela killing Matthew.

“Wytheville huh?” Jake asked giving Lane a look. Joey nodded.

“Jake did you and Lane murder their father?” Angela asked.

“Yes. But only after he murdered ours.” Jake replied. Joey stepped forward then.

“Jake, Lane, there is something else you should know.” she said. They looked at her. “Your father is alive. He’s locked up with Rebecca and Laney. I think he’s been locked up there all this time.”

“That jack ass is alive?” Lane asked the shock plain in his voice. If Jake felt the same shock it didn’t show. His face was a mask of anger.

“Angela, I’m so sorry about all of this. You all must hate me.” Joey said. Angela reached her hand out and touched Joey’s lip focusing her energy and willing the cut and swelling to leave.

“We don’t hate you, Joey.” she said pulling her hand away. “You are Lane’s mate and our sister and you were only doing what you thought you had to. You were in an impossible situation. Trust me when I say that Jake, Lane and I have dealt with enough crazy ass psychos hell bent on revenge to know that you’re not to blame for anything that happens.” Angela prayed that her daughter was ok.. She prayed that they would get to her in time.

“Let’s go, Lane.” Jake said. Lane nodded and walked over to his brother. “You said it was an old abandoned building, Wytheville Electronics?” Joey nodded.

“But you can’t dash into the building. The second brother his name is Joseph, he built some kind of machine that makes it impossible.” Jake nodded. He had heard about such devices.

“Angela, Joey, we’ll take you back to the house and then we’ll go take care of Joseph.” Jake said. Both Joey and Angela were on him at once.

“Jake Collins you will not try to leave me behind! That is my damn daughter they have there too and I think I’ve more then proven I can take care of myself!” Angela said pointing at the dead body on the floor.

“I’m a slayer, Jake. I can handle myself! Besides it’s my fault they have Laney and Rebecca in the first place.” Joey yelled.

“I think you’re outnumbered big brother.” Lane said. Jake sighed and shook his head.

“Fine. Let’s go.” he said. Angela quickly walked over to the dead Matthew and yanked her other silver knife from his chest and handed it to Joey.

“Thanks.” Joey said thankful to finally have a weapon. Angela and Joey held on to each other hands as Jake and Lane wrapped their arms around them and they dashed quickly.

Joey was shocked when she realized they were right outside the electronics building.

“How did you know where this was?” she asked Jake knowing that he had been the one that dashed them. He didn’t even act like he’d heard her.

“He never is a big one for conversation.” Lane whispered in her ear. “But when he’s hunting he’s like a deaf mute. You can’t talk to him at all. We knew about this building because this is where we killed their father. His name was Silas and we thought that he killed our father. Now thanks to you we know that our father is alive.”

“Do you think Joseph knows that Matthew is dead?” Joey asked.

“For my daughter and Rebecca’s sakes I hope not.” Angela replied. Jake did not hesitate. He didn’t sneak up to the building. He simply walked back straight and head high right through the rusted front door. Angela, Lane and Joey nearly had to run to keep up.

“Where is the trapdoor?” he asked Joey. She pointed to the piece of tin in the middle of the floor. Jake grabbed it and tossed it aside as if it were nothing more than a piece of paper. He jerked the door open and went straight down the stairs with Lane, Joey and Angela on his heels.

“Jake, you’ve come.” Joseph said when Jake walked into the room. His look of triumph quickly changed to confusion when he didn’t see his brother among those behind Jake.

“Matthew….?”

“Dead.” Angela replied. “I killed him.”

“I’ll kill you all!” Joseph yelled starting toward them. Jake was about to change but Lane grabbed his shoulder.

“Jake, you know that Laney won’t live much longer in that cage. Baby were creatures can’t be surrounded by that much silver and live. You get her out of there and I’ll take care of him.” Jake knew his brother was right. He ran over to the cage even as Lane changed quickly into a silver wolf. Joseph laughed and changed as well into a much bigger brown wolf.

(You’re no match for me.) he said.

(No probably not.) Lane replied. He knew this wolf could and would probably kill him.. But he had to keep him busy long enough for Jake to get Laney out of that cage and then he knew his big brother would be able to kill Joseph. Lane and Joseph lunged at the same time meeting in mid air and becoming a blur of brown and silver, snapping jaws and gnashing teeth.

Jake grabbed the silver bars and tried to pull them apart. He couldn’t. Rebecca looked at him helplessly.

“She’s fading fast, Jake. You have to get her out of here.” she said. Jake looked at Angela who was standing at his shoulder.

“These bars have been reinforced somehow. There not like the ones that Draco had. I can’t pull these apart.” he said. She could see the fear in his eyes.

“There has to be keys to the door somewhere.” Angela said. Rebecca nodded.

“Joseph had them in his pants.” she said. Before Jake could stop her Angela dove underneath the fighting werewolves… She felt pain as their claws ripped into her and their teeth scraped her skin in their mindless ferocious duel. She found Josephs tattered pants and clutched them to her chest diving back out of the tangle of fur and teeth. She was limping and bloody but she made it back to Jake and quickly pulled the key from the pocket of the pants.

Jake took the key and quickly unlocked and opened the door. Rebecca ran out handing Laney to Angela who took her in her arms and focused all her energies willing her daughter to gain strength and come back from near death. Slowly Laney’s cheeks started to regain their color and Angela stopped healing satisfied that her daughter was going to be ok.

Jake noticed too and then turned his attention to his brother and Joseph. He was ready to change but then saw there was no need. Joey was on Joseph’s back and she wrapped her arms tightly around his head jerking it upward. Lane took that opportunity to close his jaws around the bigger wolf’s neck and sink his teeth deep. He used all his remaining strength and pulled with all his might ripping out Joseph’s throat. Blood sprayed all over the bare room as Joseph fell in a lifeless heap.

Lane changed back and quickly took Joey into his arms. Joey was unharmed but Lane was covered in deep cuts and bruises. Blood was dripping freely from him and onto the floor. Angela crossed the room to him she reached her arm out to heal him but he stepped away.

“Have faith, little sister. I’ll be ok.” he said. “Besides you’re in not in such hot shape yourself.” The pain registered in Angela’s mind for the first time. She looked down at herself and saw that her clothes were ripped and tattered.. She was bleeding badly from a bite wound on her leg and the cuts covering her arms and legs burnt like fire. She suddenly felt too weak to stand. Rebecca quickly took Laney from her arms and Jake lifted Angela into his. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

Joey wrapped her arms around Lane allowing him to lean some of his weight against her.

“Let’s go home.” Jake said not even sparing the man in the cage a glance. The man forced himself to his feet and limped slowly from the cage.

“Hello son.” he said. He was the same height as Jake and their golden eyes were full of matching intensity.

“Father.” Jake acknowledged. “I trust you still know where home is?” With that Jake walked up the stairs followed by Rebecca carrying Laney and Joey and Lane. Charles brought up the rear, grabbing the wall for support. Once outside Jake dashed back home to the living room and laid Angela on the couch. She sat up.

“I’m ok, Jake.. Healing already see?” she said. He saw that she was indeed already starting to heal. Everyone else appeared in the living room with them.

“Doesn’t seem fair that you can’t heal yourself.” Lane said looking at his little sister. She smiled.

“I know.” she said. She took Laney from Rebecca and cradled her baby in her arms. Jake stood next to her with his hand on her shoulder.

“Rebecca, I could use something to eat.” Charles said. “I’ve been locked up for twenty one years.” Rebecca strode past him without a word and walked to the kitchen. He followed her.

“I’m going to go get some clothes on.” Lane said.

Chapter Eleven

Lane kept his arm tight around Joey and they walked up to his room. She sat down on the bed and watched him slip on some sweatpants and a t-shirt neither of them speaking. He sat down next to her on the bed and Joey felt a shiver of pleasure and heat pass through her when she remembered the love they’d made the last time she’d been in this room with him.

She looked over at his face and saw his pain. She instantly came down on her knees in front of him.

“Please, Lane, forgive me for hurting you. I didn’t want to. I love you.” she said. He smiled his charming smile and laid a hand on her cheek.

“I know you love me. You’re my crazy ass pyscho slayer and I love you too.” She raised up and kissed him deeply passionately. When she pulled away he saw that her green eyes were clouded with passion.

“My werewolf.. I couldn’t live without you.” she said. He looked at her and she could see nervousness in his eyes.

“I want you to be my mate, Joey. In every way. Do you know what that means?” he asked. She did. She had studied a lot about were creatures and immortals. She knew that if they were fully mated she too would become an immortal and that her life would be eternally tied to his. She found it surprising that she felt no hesitation before she answered him.

“I want to be your mate, Lane. In every way.” she replied. He closed his eyes and smiled. Then he looked at her again.

“That will mean no more late night trips into dark alleys to take on demons, vamps and other nasty things.” he said. She smiled and raised a brow.

“And that will also mean no getting drunk off your ass in bars and trying to pick up bimbo hookers.”

“Bethany has a big mouth.” he said looking away from her his cheeks turning red.

“And… No more gambling.” she added.

“Look who’s already turning into an old nag.” Lane said grinning.

“I love you, Lane.” she said.

“I love you too.” he replied he was lowering his mouth to hers when suddenly a pain filled yell came from downstairs. They were both on their feet in a heartbeat and running down the stairs. They found the kitchen crowded with people. Jake had called everyone home and so everyone was gathered in the kitchen except for Kent and Jordan.

“Where is tinkerbell and the midget and who was screaming?” Lane asked.

“They are bringing your camaro home.” Bethany replied. “And mom just whacked dad on the head with the frying pan she cooked his burgers on.”

“You stupid woman!” Charles shouted jumping from the chair and rubbing his head. Joey saw that he looked much different now then he had just a short time ago. His immortal healing had filled him out again quickly. She could tell that beneath the beard his face was rugged and chisled like Jake’s. He was the same height and build as Jake also. But that was where the similarities stopped. Jake was far more dangerous and deadly looking than this man. He looked dangerous enough but more mean than anything. Almost evil. His eyes were intense and cold and lacked the warmth and kindness that Joey had come to notice was almost always in Jake’s.

Raquel quickly walked over to Joey and hugged her tight.

“Angela and Jake explained everything to us. Thank you so much for risking what you did to save our children.” she said. Joey nodded and fought back tears.

“I love your children.” she said. Evan walked up as well holding a sleepy twin in each arm.

“Thank you, Joey. I am sorry I misjudged you before.” he said. Then he and Raquel left the room taking the twins up to bed. Joey turned her attention back to Charles and Rebecca who were arguing loudly.

“How dare you hit me woman! You have lost your mind if you think I will allow that.” he said.

“You don’t have a right to allow or not allow anything.” she said. “You were never a good man to me and now you practically come back from the dead and nothings changed. You are still the same.”

“I thought the two of you loved each other.” Angela said. “You never fully mated because he loved you too much to have your life tied to his dangerous one.” Rebecca laughed harshly.

“Yes that’s what I told the kids to make them feel better. The real reason we never mated is because he cares more about himself then anyone else! He didn’t want my life mated to his because he thought his life was too important to be attached to mine.”

Joey noticed that Jake was just sitting quietly at the table.

“I’m not going to argue with you woman. I do however have a few things to say to our oldest son.” Charles stood in front of Jake but Jake didn’t stand or even look up at his father.

“You are worthless.” Charles said. “For over 200 years I trained you. I molded you into the best soldier I possibly could. But then you were too stupid to even realize that I wasn’t dead! I spent twenty-one years in that cage because you are such a worthless failure! I should kill you myself especially now that I hear you don’t want to hunt anymore! You’re a weak coward. A waste of my energy. A waste of my time!” Charles raised his arm as if to strike Jake and everyone jumped in surprise when Angela let out an angry scream. She came flying across the room cursing and fully prepared to claw into Charles face.

Lane caught her kicking body in his arms and held her to him.

“No no, little sister. We don’t want you to get hurt.” he said. Angela glared at Charles, her brown eyes nearly black in her anger.

“How dare you talk to my mate that way!” she yelled. “He blamed himself for twenty-one years for your death! He killed Silas to avenge you! He has beaten himself up every day because he thought there must have been something he could have done to save you! You are the weak one you son of a bitch! You think your so damn tough but could you manage to save your own ass? No you couldn’t! For twenty-one years you wasted away in that cage too cowardly to figure a way out…..” Charles cut her off with a growl as he strode toward her glaring angrily.

“Jake, you need to shut your bitch up or I will.” he declared. That was the last straw for Jake. Before Charles had time to realize what was happening Jake had a one handed grip on his neck and had him shoved up against the wall.

“You dare threaten my mate?” Jake growled low and deep. Charles golden eyes were full of fear. He knew he was no match for Jake. He had trained Jake for over 200 years.. He had seen what Jake was capable of.. There was not a single creature on earth that could match his strength or his savagery when he was in battle.

“I can’t help you with that one dad.” Lane said still holding onto Angela. “He’s tougher than I am.” Rebecca was all that saved Charles from having his neck broken. She laid a gentle hand on her oldest sons shoulder.

“Let him go Jake. He’s not worth it.” she said. Jake felt the fury that had been clouding his mind start to fade. He saw his fathers scared face and quickly moved his hand from his neck. Lane released Angela and she ran into Jakes arms.

“Thank you Rebecca.” Charles gasped. She rolled her eyes and walked away from him.

“I didn’t do it for you. Jake is not the monster that you tried to make him become and I won’t let him turn into it now.”

“Get out of my house, father.” Jake said his voice barely more then a whisper. Charles shook his head.

“This is my house.” he said. Jake clenched his fist but managed to remain calm.

“No this is my house.” he said. “You never had anything but your hunting. I was the one who worked my ass off and bought this house. I want you out of it.”

“You ungrateful…..” Charles stopped when he saw that everyone in the kitchen seemed to be coming closer in on them. He realized he was outnumbered.

“This family has been just fine for twenty-one years without you, Charles. You are free to go and live your life the way you want to. We want to keep living ours the way we have been since you died all those years ago.” Rebecca said. Charles nodded.

Truth be told he didn’t want to be tied down to this family anyway. He walked away without a word. He walked out of the kitchen and out of their lives without a single backward glance.

Raquel and Evan came downstairs several minutes later about the same time Jordan and Kent returned with the camaro.

“Where is dad?” Raquel asked.

“Gone.” Jake replied with a grunt.

“Good.” Jordan said as she sat down.

“Is he coming back?” Raquel asked.

“Not if he knows what’s good for him.” Angela said rubbing her leg which was still sore from the bite she’d received earlier.

“Are all the bad guys dead?” Kent asked. Jake nodded.

“Guess what guys?” Lane said his voice seeming too happy for the occasion. “Joey has agreed to be my mate” Joey was shocked that he would talk about that. It seemed like the wrong time but the family seemed truly happy. All the women were on her in a heartbeat with hugs and happy exclamations.

“Great more estrogen.” Kent said nudging Jake with his elbow.

“She could kick your ass.” Jake said. Kent shrugged.

“Most people can.” he agreed. Jake laughed. And just like that the sad gray cloud that had been hanging over the table was gone.

Joey smiled feeling more happiness than she’d ever felt before.. She knew that she would be safe forever here with her family of werewolves. They were strong and they were resilient and most importantly they loved each other. And now she was a part of that..

She kissed Lane and smiled knowing that she couldn’t wait to spend eternity with this big, loud, loving dysfunctional family.