Chapter 5

“I have some good news and some better news. Which is it that you want first?” Mac cocked a brow at Lica. “All right, the good news first. Your grannie is in jail. She was arrested this afternoon and is currently screaming her head off for you or her ungrateful daughter to come there and bail her out. I don’t know how that’s going to work out for her since she’s not had a hearing as yet. Anyway, that’s where she is. Also, you should know that she is broke. I mean, she not only doesn’t have a pot to piss in but the pot has been taken from her as well.”

“How did you find this out?” He told her. “So she tells the police that her granddaughter is attached to some money and has demanded that I pay that off. That’s not going to happen, I’m afraid. The better news now. And just so you know, it’s going to be hard to top that one.”

“Your parents aren’t going to go back to Cleveland, as you might have guessed, to help out your grannie. Sorry, that’s not what I meant to say but I just remembered that as well. Also, your brothers have been arrested. Grand larceny. They not only took everything out of the hotel room that your grannie arranged for them, but they hocked it all and destroyed the room when it didn’t net them as much as they thought it should have.” She asked him which town her parents going to be staying in. “Oh, good question. Right around the corner from yours and Edmond’s home. They found them a modest little house, it only has about fifty bedrooms in it, and they’re moving there. Your dad is set to be mayor of our town, and I think that he’ll do a great job at it. Moving on. In addition to them being arrested for the hotel mess, they also resisted arrest and had guns on them while being out on parole. Then there is the added charge…did you know that your brother Cole has some health issues? Anyway, your parents were getting a monthly check that they put into the bank to help with his medical needs when he was older. I guess the doctor told him that he would eventually need constant care. I don’t know what it is that’s mentally wrong, but maybe you can find out. That money is all gone, by the way.”

“Do my parents know that?” He said that he didn’t think so. “I guess it was Grannie who took it out. I remember Mom saying once that she’d been putting money in there as well to help her favorite boy out or something like that. There was nearly half a million dollars in that account.”

He said that was what the banker told Brandy when she was doing a deep dive into her life. “Her home has been taken for lack of taxes being paid for the last ten years. There are credit cards, too, that she’d gotten in the boys—your brothers’ names that she’s maxed out as well. At some point, she told the police that your brothers robbed her, and they took her maxed-out credit card to buy them dinner. The police didn’t believe that because they knew that she’d been indulging them since they were children.”

“Thanks for letting me know. And I’ll talk to my parents today. We’re going household shopping with your brothers. I guess you’re going to be there as well?” He said that they were going to make a day of it. “I thought so. Before I forget again, Edmond told me that I should do this.”

Getting down on her knees, she put her face to the ground. It smelled good, the grass, and she was glad that she wasn’t in the house to do this. Lica told her that she didn’t need to do that as she wasn’t a wolf, but she told him to shut up so that she could remember what she was supposed to say.

“Lica William Frazier, Alpha to the pack Frazier, I hereby commit my…What’s the next line?” He told her. “Right. I commit myself to you as my alpha, to your…shit, Brandy was supposed to be here too. Can I start over?”

“I’m here. What the hell are you doing on the ground? Get up, damn it.” She told her to shut up and not to interrupt her again. “You’re supposed to be nice to me, or I’ll rip your throat out if you’re not.”

“Fuck you. All right, here I go again. Lica William Frazier and Brandy Conner Fraizer, I commit myself to you as my alphas.” She had to think and was glad when Lica told her the next part. “I was getting there. I will serve you to the best of my ability. I will give my life for you as a part of your pack?” She looked up at them both. “I’m supposed to say that I will worship you for all time but I’m not saying that. I know that I’m supposed to but since I don’t like that part, then you’re going to have to punish me or something.”

“That’s fine. Like I said, you didn’t have to do it because you’re—what’s wrong?” Mac put up her hand, and they both closed their mouth. She told Lica in a soft voice that she knew he shouldn’t have been able to hear when he asked her again what was going on.

“There are two people that are looking for the two of you. They don’t know what you look like but they’re asking everyone in town where it is you live. Mostly they want…they want the rich bitch. I’m only assuming that would be you, Brandy.” She said that it more than likely was. “They have guns that have silver in them. Someone will need to explain that part to me. I thought it was only used on vamps.”

“It will kill a vampire, but it will eventually kill us if it’s not taken out soon. Do you know these people?” She put out her hand, and her vine went to his hand. “Christ, I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to that shit.” He closed his eyes, and she somehow knew that he was seeing their faces. “I don’t know either of them.”

It was then that she realized that neither she nor Edmond had given this shit to Brandy. But it was a moot point now because as soon as she touched her, for whatever reason, she got a bit of it as well. She asked Brandy if she’d ever seen the two men before.

“Yes. The blond used to work for me when I was starting out. And don’t even ask me how I remembered that. I’ve had thousands of employees that worked for me, and I couldn’t—” Mac said her name. “Right. I’m getting off track. The woman I don’t know.”

“She is his girlfriend. For whatever reason, he told her about you, and she’s convinced him that they needed to kidnap you and hold you for ransom. I couldn’t see that until you remembered him. Someone needs to figure out what this crap is before I just have it removed.” Brandy asked if she could do that, and Mac just glared at her. “They’re right now at the realtor’s office. I guess that’s what I’d do, too, if I was stupid about letting people know that I was hunting for someone. Morons.”

Mac reached out to Edmond and asked him where he was. After telling her that he was sitting outside of the same realtor’s office waiting on the morons, she decided that she’d had enough of this waiting around shit. She was in love with Edmond.

“They’re pretending like they’re old friends. I don’t know anyone in their right mind that would believe that. They’re dressed like…over the top, is all I can think about. They’re dressed up like they think people with money dress like. Necklaces and shiny stuff hanging on their fingers. Rings, but I can tell that they’re not real. The man is carrying, but I can’t tell if it’s loaded or not. For some reason, I can’t get past the fact that they’re idiots.”

“It’s loaded, so be careful. I’ve decided that I want to jump you in the worst sort of way. As soon as possible, if we can manage it.” He laughed. “If you tease me about giving in so soon, you’ll never see me coming at you when I strangle you. Is that how you want to spend the rest of your life? In traction?”

“No, love, it is not. And I was going to jump on you tonight if you didn’t come through for me. I’ve been jerking off for—hang on. They’re coming out.” Mac gave a running story about what was going on with Edmond.

“The captain of the police force, Jamie Grover, just sat down next to Edmond. He’s in uniform and has confronted the couple.” Lica asked if Edmond was safe. “Yes.”

She turned to look at the two of them and told them what had happened when the man drew his gun. Dizzy, with the idea that she could do something like that as well, she sat down hard on the ground.

The last thing that she could remember when the ground just flew right up her nose and knocked her back was that she was suddenly terrified of what she and Edmond could do with their vines. It wasn’t a vine like they thought but a fucking web.

When she opened her eyes, she was sitting in the back of an ambulance. There were men all around her that she didn’t know but really didn’t care about, and there was an IV in the back of her hand. Pulling it out, she wasn’t the least bit surprised when the wound sealed right up. She was getting out of the back of the sucker when the medic, whose badge said his name was Billy, backed away from her.

“Don’t touch me, please?” She said that she wouldn’t but asked him what had happened. “You…you know. You know that happened. I heard you say that it was helping you. You, you just have to stay away from me for a minute or two. Mr. Lica told me that it’d not hurt me, and I want to believe him, but this crap just got real, and I’m not ready to handle that.”

Mac decided to find someone else who wasn’t as easily freaked out. About three steps from the ambulance, she stopped moving. It just occurred to her what had happened when she’d passed out.

Stopping quickly had young Billy running into her, and she reached out her hands to touch him. When she got…a reading? A reading from him, she helped him back to his station and asked him if he was all right.

“I want you to go home right now, Billy. It’s important.” He said that he’d lose his job. “No, I won’t let them…Go now. Can you drive?”

“I’ll take him.” Nodding once, she was glad that Lica had done that for the kid. While she didn’t know why he had to rush home she only knew that he had to be there for his family. “You’ll explain when I get back, right?”

“If I can.” She turned to Brandy when she said her name. Lica was peeling out of the driveway, not at all concerned about the police that was in the yard.

“Did, I’m almost afraid to ask you this, but did Edmond take care that the officer wasn’t killed?” She nodded. “Then that’s all I need to know for now. I will say that I think that you have labeled that shit wrong. It’s like a fucking green spider web rather than a vine.”

“I figured that out as well. That’s what had me—” Brandy put up her hand as if to warn her off from saying any more. “If it helps you a little, I’m freaked out as well. I’ve never…I really need to figure this out so that I know what we’re dealing with. And I know that you don’t want anymore, but I’m wondering if it would do the same to you that it did to that officer if you needed help and I or Edmond weren’t around.”

When her eyes widened, she knew that she had just opened up a can of buckshot, as her grandda Jacob used to say that she didn’t want to have to deal with. When she walked away then stood still, Brandy turned back to her. She didn’t know if she wanted her to tell her or not but she only nodded as she began speaking.

“Billy’s dad had fallen asleep in the living room with a pot on the stove. If not for Billy coming home when he had, the house would have been a total loss, and Mr. Birmingham would have been killed. You saved a man’s life today.” Brandy just walked away. And with her back still toward her, she told her what to do if she had figured out something about her. “If you know something about me. I’d appreciate it if you would slap me into gear if I hesitate. One minute, Lica said, and the house would have fallen in on the elderly man.”

“I promise you with all my heart that I will.” Sitting down again, the medics’ on board the ambulance avoiding her. She told them what had happened at Billy’s home and suggested that they head in that direction. It was then that their walkie started squawking about a house fire in Trinway. They asked her if she’d be all right, and when she told them to just go, she was happy to have some quiet for a few minutes.

“How are you doing, love? Are you still with my brother and Brandy?” She told Edmond what had happened and how he’d taken the young man to his home. “Good for you. That must make you less freaked out, right?”

“I don’t know that I’ll ever feel less freaked out than I am right now.” Mac thanked him for that. “I don’t know if Brandy will ever speak to me again. I think she has had it with me and this freaky shit that I have going on. Do you suppose she’ll ever forgive me for being whatever this is?”

“Yes. She loves you, too. Lica was just telling me that you’re handy to have around. I told him that it was more than that, and he said he knew that but was worried about the Birmingham family.” She asked if the dad was all right. “He is. But he’s going to be arrested. Burning down your house while you’re drunk is a bad thing, apparently. Also, I have been in contact with your brothers. Not directly, but I do know that they’re still in jail and will be there until the judge comes into town the day after tomorrow. They more than likely won’t be getting free for all the damage that they’ve done. The hotel is pressing charges. What is the likelihood of your parents paying it off?”

“I honestly don’t know. It’s been a while since they’ve been around me and longer since they’ve had anything to do with them. My brothers are a pain in the ass, but they’ve pretty much made their bed, and they’re going to have to live in it.” Edmond said that he’d get them out of what she wanted. “I don’t. I’m sick of being the one that is responsible for the lot of them. I heard from the diner. Thelma has been put into a nursing home. She’d wandered off again. She was hurt when they tried to bring her back to the nursing home. She broke her hip when she was trying to break out of the building she was in. They don’t even know how she got into the little room. The man that I spoke to, he said that she’d been fighting with the effects of dementia for a long time. Probably since her husband died. That breaks my heart.”

“It does mine, too. Poor Thelma.” They talked about a couple of other things that were going on neither of them mentioning the web or what had happened to either of them since this crazy vine/web thing had touched them.

When he pulled into the drive, she was waiting for him. It was that or go into the house and be alone. She didn’t think that she should have been alone right now. There was just too much going on in her head that she couldn’t deal with one more thing. Mac thought that if she were to pull out her teacup, the last thing that they’d brought to the house, and somehow drop it, she was going to shatter just like it would have done.

He held her in his arms. The pressing of their bodies was nothing sexual, but it made her feel like she was a part of something special. As she rambled on, knowing that she was babbling, she held onto Edmond as he was giving her the strength and love that she so desperately needed.

~*~

Edmond decided that he was going to pamper Mac to the best of his abilities. She was such a strong yet very fragile woman right now. He thought that if one more thing happened with her, she’d go off the deep end, and he’d never be with her again. She was his, and he was going to do everything within his power to make sure that she knew that she was loved and that she was his forever. Just as they were walking into the house, her cell phone rang. She pulled it out to look at it.

“It’s my dad. I don’t want to talk to him. Please? Will you?” He told her that it would be his pleasure. “Thank you. I’m going to go up and take a shower or a bath. I’ve not decided, then you come up when you’re finished and join me. I’ll scrub your back if you scrub mine.”

He put the cell phone to his ear to answer just as he heard Alan was talking to who he thought was Debra. As soon as he said hello, he asked if Mac was all right.

“She’s gone up to take a bath. She needs it more than anything right now.” Alan agreed and told him that it wasn’t important, but he wanted her to know that he had no intentions of bailing any of them out of jail. “She’ll be glad to hear that. Thank you for letting me know.”

“You’re a good man, Edmond. To be honest, I was wondering if you were good enough for my daughter, but you’ve gone well beyond my expectations and have made her very happy.” He sniffled, and he could tell that he’d been crying a little. “I’ve never liked my mother-in-law. Not since the first time that I met her. But as I’m sure that Mac would say, she’d made her bed now she had to lay in it. She called here a little while ago and cursed Debra out. For her not wanting to…I’m sure you have better things to do than to hear an old man blubbering about someone making his wife cry. But it hurts. All the way to my soul, it hurts me to know that that witch is out there doing whatever she pleases to hurt people.”

“No, you go on blubbering, Alan. I’m so glad that you’ve cut ties with her. I’m assuming that’s what you did?” He said that he not only cut ties with her but his sons as well. “Good for you. I have a feeling that they’d drain you dry if they could. And if you want to talk to Mac, I can certainly get her for you.”

Edmond’s heart broke for the other man and his wife. If there had ever been a time when he thought of his parents being different, he would have hoped for them to be like the Pendleton family.

“Now, see here. I’m feeling better already. Thank you for that.” Edmond told him that he was pleased to be able to help him, but he felt as if he’d done nothing. “Oh, but you have. Just getting that little bit off my chest, well, it’s made me feel like a new man. Yes, sir, it has. If I had ever hoped for a son that wasn’t the ones that I have, I’d hope that he’d be someone like you. Welcome to the family, Edmond. I’m very proud to have you as my son.”

After a few minutes more, they hung up. Edmond decided that he was going to make sure that he spent more time with the Pendletons. Anytime they wanted. He was also going to suggest to his brothers, too, that they should go to him as well when they needed fatherly advice.

Locking up the house, he took the stairs two at a time to go to their bedroom. They still didn’t have a bed, nor furniture for that matter, but the mattress on the floor was good and sturdy for them and he was looking forward to making love to his wife and also sleeping with her.

“Is my dad all right?” He told Mac what he’d talked about and said that he thought that he felt better when he hung up. “Good. I think that he misses having someone that he can just blow off steam with. He used to do that with my grandda Jacob before he passed on. Maybe he’ll not feel so lonely if he has someone like you around. You’re all right with that, yes?”

“I am. More so than I think that I thought that I’d be.” He moved toward her, noticing right then that she was only dressed in a towel. It was wrapped around her, starting at the top of her breasts to just above her knees. “I think that I’m going to love having you in our bed.”

“I should hope so.” She laughed but then stopped herself. “I’m nervous. What if you don’t satisfy me?”

They both laughed at that. When she came to him, dropping the towel on her way, he had to stop her from getting too close so that he could have his first good look at her. Christ, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his life. Just exquisite.

Pulling her gently, more like he was bringing her to him if she wanted, he kissed her on her mouth and sighed. It was too much, being this close to perfection and not being able to tell her how much he loved her. Edmond decided that he might be better off by showing her rather than fumbling through words that he didn’t think would cover even a small part of his feelings at the moment.

“I love you so much.” She looked up at him, and he smiled. “You’re naked, love. And my cock is so hard right now that I’m surprised that I’ve not ripped out my zipper.” When she ran her hand down his shoulder to his hand, he took in a deep breath when her fingers danced their way to his cock. “Honey. Do you know what you’re doing to me?”

“Yes.” The word came out as a hiss. That she not only knew what he was doing but she was enjoying it too. “You’re so thick, Edmond. And so heavy feeling.”

When she went to her knees in front of him, it was all he could do not to beg her to finish him off. Not that he had any idea what that might mean to her, but he was willing to bet his life on the fact that he’d feel it for the rest of his life.

“I’m going to suck your cock until you come down my throat.” His body felt like she was draining him. And all she’d done was unsnap the snap on his pants. “Help me.”

He had to calm himself twice before he was able to do what she wanted. His pants were ruined when he let just enough of his wolf go to claw at the sides of his jeans and rip them off. Before he could do much more than drop them to the floor, she had pulled the tip of his cock free of his boxers and was working her tongue over the tip and the little eye that was there.

By the time she got his boxes off of him, Edmond was sweating. He didn’t know how much longer he was going to last, but he did know that he didn’t want to rush her either. His body was being turned inside out right now, and all he could think about was taking her hard on the bed and marking her as his mate. Dizzy, he held tightly to the wall that was nearby as he watched her make love to his cock.

Her lips were full and a dark pink. Her chin was covered in his precum as she licked him one moment, then suckled at his cock the next. Moving her lovely hair out of the way, he cried out when she nipped at his cock. Then, while he watched, Mac licked along the thick vein there until she was able to take him into her mouth again.

On its own, it seemed to him, his body began fucking her mouth. He did it slowly at first, not wanting to harm her. Then before he could make himself wait again to hold out, he was fucking her pretty mouth like he wanted to do to her pussy.

When she put her warm hands onto his balls, he nearly cried out but held himself stiff so that he’d not come too fast. For as much as it was driving him crazy not to come, he knew that coming now would be just too soon. Edmond wanted her to have as much enjoyment as—

“Christ.” He was coming. Hard and quick movements from his hips had him holding her head so that she’d take him all. As his balls emptied, he could feel the need to come again. At her moan, something that she did very well, Edmond steadied himself better before reaching down and pulling her up from the floor and tossing her, quite a feat, he thought, onto the bed so that her legs were dangling off the edge.

Edmond pulled her thighs open and let them rest on his shoulders. She was so wet he could almost drink from her right now. Licking the cream from her thigh to her pussy, he nearly came again when she slid her fingers down from her navel to her pussy and opened herself wider for him. Lunging forward, he nipped none too gently on her clit and felt the hot gush of cream as it slid down the back of his throat.

Her ass was firm, her body more so. Each place that he touched her, she’d cry out. He knew that she was enjoying herself. The amount of cream that he was getting was nearly too much for him to catch. Letting the extra flow to the floor where he was, he nipped again at her, and this time, when she came, Mac nearly bucked him off. She was fucking his tongue and mouth so hard. Pulling her up from the mattress, wishing so much that he had a real bed, he picked her up by her ass and slammed his cock into her just as the two of them hit the wall in their bedroom.

Losing control a little, Edmond was sure that he was hurting her. But for the life of him, he couldn’t stop. Licking her shoulder up to just below her ear, he bit down on her and felt her body stiffen. Her climax, this time, nearly had him unconscious. If not for her screaming, he was sure that they both would have ended up on the floor.

Drinking down her hot, spicy blood, he used a bit of his claw to slice open his throat for her. As soon as her mouth covered his wound, he came again. Then again. Sealing the wounds at her throat, he wasn’t the least bit surprised when she was able to seal his as well. Edmond didn’t think that he’d ever underestimate a woman again. Especially this one in his arms.

Before he was out, which he knew was inevitable now, he dragged his sorry body to the mattress and helped her to it. It was all he could do after that to not fall face-first on top of her. Christ, he thought for sure that a man had never had this kind of lovemaking before. If so, he wondered why there were any men left in the world right now. At least a great many of them were nothing but shells of their former selves.