Chapter Four

Warm morning sunlight bathed the wood plank floors of the cabin. Josiah stretched his legs as he broke free from the sleep stupor that still held him in a firm grip. Things penetrated his senses one by one. This was his bed. It was thick and warm. His scent permeated the sheets and pillows. It wasn’t just the smell of body wash or aftershave. There was an underlying musk there, too, that was unique to the Hallow men, and it drove women wild.

Speaking of women, a firm, soft ass was nestled against his hard cock. But this was his bed. He never brought women to his cabin. They couldn’t get attached if they didn’t know where he lived. He wanted to keep it that way. That was until now, he guessed.

His memories went to the night before, of the long drive home that got longer when they pulled over in the woods to have sex. For being a good church girl, Sarah rode him in the driver’s seat like a wanton harlot. He wanted to feel her full red lips on his erection, but she resisted. Baby steps. It would take encouragement, but it wouldn’t be long before she was bobbing up and down on him.

He kept his eyes pressed shut as he caressed her ass cheeks around his erection. For only meeting her the morning before, he could navigate her body like he’d been exploring it for years. In a few short hours, he knew her flesh as well as he knew his own. He hissed as he pumped up and down. He could feel a knot burn in his belly.

Sarah laid perfectly still against him, but he heard her moan. “Stop rubbing against me. Put it in. Please.”

Josiah slid an arm under her leg and lifted it. He braced it on his shoulder as he arched his hips and thrust. He sunk his lips into her shoulder as he pushed deeper. Despite the hours that they fucked the night before, she still was clenched tight around his cock. He groaned as his hips picked up the pace. He needed to think about something else. Anything else. If he didn’t, he was going to come in a matter of seconds. But nothing came to mind. His mind demanded one thing. Sex. And the only woman in his universe right now was the one in his bed.

He ran his hand down her arm until his fingers interlaced with hers. He guided her to her clit. He rubbed circles around the nub with the pad of his thumb. She shuddered in his arms as she clenched harder around him. That was a good sign. His balls ached to release.

“Play with yourself,” he demanded.

“Josiah,” she protested, her words just a breath.

“Touch yourself. Please yourself. I want you to make yourself come.”

He didn’t have to open his eyes to feel her resistance to his command. Her body tensed and not in a good way. It told him she didn’t want to do such a thing. She freed herself from his grip. Then he felt her fingertip join his. Her circles mimicked his. She whimpered at her own touch. She pinched her nub harder as she slammed her ass against him.

He fluttered his eyes open as he wrapped his arms around her tight and held her to him. She thrashed in his embrace. He could tell she was getting herself off as she bounced against him. She was almost there. And when she did he was going to thrust deep, hard, and violent until he joined her.

He noticed something on her back. It didn’t stop his momentum. Molten fire filled his veins. His eyes fell out of focus as he strained to see it. The edge of a tribal tattoo was inked along the width of her shoulder. The design trailed off to between their bodies pressed tight against each other to seek every inch of pleasure they could take. She didn’t have it yesterday. He’d taken in all of her beautiful back and ass as he drilled into her from behind in that haunted house.

“Shit,” he murmured.

“What?” she questioned.

Josiah’s gaze drifted from the mark to the hand nestled between her thighs. Her fingers rubbed herself, him, the spot where their bodies were joined in a frenzy. She quaked as she gripped the pillow beneath her head. He watched her for a moment as he drove deeper into her. She was teetering on the precipice. She was inexperienced. Yet something possessed her to wait for his command.

He wrapped his hand around her throat to pull her tight against him. He pressed his lips to her ear. “Come for me.”

She screamed as her whole body convulsed. Seeing her engulfed in her orgasm was the single hottest sight Josiah had ever experienced. He stroked hard into her. He grunted as his body stiffened. He buried himself to the hilt deep inside her. His cock thickened then throbbed. His balls clenched. He groaned in her ear as he released.

They lay still for several long moments. His body vibrated with the rush for far longer than any other woman he had been with, and he had been with some freaks. Sarah turned her head and shifted herself until she could press a kiss against his chin. He pulled free and then cradled her to him. She curled up against his chest with a sigh.

Josiah inhaled deeply and held the breath as he studied her back. There it was, embedded in her flesh. The tattoo ran from rib to spine and from shoulder to waist. Done in black ink, it was an angular tribal pattern. There were claw marks slashed in the middle. He slowly let his breath go in a sigh. Sarah was such a good girl. How was he going to explain that she was eternally bonded to a beast of Satan?

“Josiah,” she said softly.

“Yes?” he answered.

She sat up out of his arms and stared down at him. “I want you to know that I’m not normally like this. I don’t sleep around. Actually, I don’t think much of women who do.”

“Maybe you should broaden your horizons.”

“Maybe I should go. I don’t know why I’m here in the first place. My conscience has been screaming for me to run. But something is keeping me here. Something I can’t explain. I can’t escape it.”

“Have you ever thought the temptation was too great? That possibly you aren’t as perfect as you believe yourself to be?”

“No. Because this is not the way I want to be courted.”

“Courted?”

“Yes. Courted.”

“Welcome to the twenty-first century. Nobody fucking courts anymore.”

He noticed her wince at his words. He huffed. “What is it?”

Sarah frowned. “The f-word. I don’t like it.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but my brothers and I use it in about every sentence we speak.”

She glanced around her. “Where am I, anyway? It was dark when we got here. Am I still in the United States?”

“You’re at our camp where we live. You’re about an hour south of the border.”

“And that trail will take me back to the highway to Bemidji?”

“Yes.”

She scuttled off the bed and stood. “I need to get back to town.”

“Going so soon?” Josiah fought the mocking tone from his voice. “You don’t want to stay and cuddle?”

“It was amazing, but I shouldn’t be here.”

“Beautiful, you’ll just come running back.”

“Sex with you wasn’t so good that I would abandon every belief I’ve held since I was a child.”

“As a matter of fact, fucking me is that good. But you’re in for a bigger surprise, sweetheart.”

He could have sworn he heard a growl escape her throat as she stormed into the bathroom. He gripped the comforter in his fists as he waited in silence. It wouldn’t take long. It wasn’t like he had a luxury bathroom. He lived in an old summer camp cabin deep in the Minnesota north woods, for fuck’s sakes. They weren’t known for their five-star accommodations.

He heard the toilet flush. Then the faucet turned on. The rush of water didn’t drown out the scream. The door frame shuddered as she threw the door open. Her sapphire blue eyes, the ones he lost himself in as he drove into her over and over all night, stared at him in terror.

“What did you do to me?” she demanded. Her voice pitched high as it shook.

“Just calm down,” he told her softly.

“Calm down? You cursed me. I should have known better than to sleep with you. Now you put some mark of Satan on me.”

Josiah rolled his eyes. “The seven beasts of Satan is a euphemism.”

“Then how did you tattoo me in my sleep?” Sarah strained to look over her shoulder. “You used evil magic on me. I am screwed. One night, one stupid night of lunacy with a total stranger and I’m going to go to hell. No amount of penance is going to save this.”

“Oh, calm the fuck down.” Josiah climbed out of bed. Sarah gasped at the sight of his cock. He was still hard as a rock. At least now it made sense to him. “Your chances of going to hell are the same as they were before we fucked each other’s brains out. I am not sent from the devil to drag you to eternal damnation.”

She frowned at him. “You seem to be an expert on eternal damnation.”

Josiah shook his head as he sighed. He clenched his hands to his hips. “You’ve spent time with my aunts. My mother is the exact same way. I’ve had Bible lessons shoved down my throat since I was born. My maternal grandfather was a preacher.”

“Then how did it get here?”

Josiah took a deep breath. Here it was. Confession time. “My maternal grandfather was a preacher. My paternal grandfather is a werewolf. The haunted house makes sense now, doesn't it?”

She glared at him as she huffed. “Obviously you’re a minion of Satan. He’s the Father of Lies, and I’ve never heard a bigger whopper than that one.”

“Believe what you want to believe, sweetheart. What I know is fact is that you’ll be lying in this bed tonight and I’ll be buried inside you.”

“Don’t count on it.” Sarah scooped her dress and pulled it on over her head. She didn’t bother with her shoes. She grabbed the pair and her purse and headed out the bedroom door.

Josiah shook his head as he pulled his slacks over each leg and fastened them. Was this what each of his little brothers went through? He followed the same path he guessed she took from the cabin. He wound around his leather sofa and armchair, each draped with a pumpkin orange and black checked throw. He avoided colliding into the steel scrap coffee table with his shins. Then he popped open the screen door with his hand and stepped outside.

Sarah was already to her little coupe. He could hear her grumble from where he stood on the deck of his abode. All six of his brothers and his mother were witness to Sarah’s escape. Momma held the same wide-eyed gaze she did when Meg, Eve, Delilah, and Henry made their explosive arrivals into their lives. Caleb, Micah, and Samuel had smug grins plastered on each of their faces. The youngest three looked baffled like always.

The tires of her car tore up the earth below them and shot it across the camp as she sped away down the trail. Samuel chuckled. “Where’s she going?”

“How the fuck do I know?” Josiah answered.

“Who gets to give him the lecture?” Caleb asked. He puffed his chest out and dropped his voice to mimic his brother. “You need to move her up here. You can’t risk exposure. Blah blah blah blah fucking blah.”

The rest of the brothers broke out in laughter. Even Momma giggled. Josiah snarled. “Go to hell, Cay.”

Micah leaned against the rail of his own cabin and crossed his broad arms over his chest. “Calm down, Joe. Cay’s just giving you a taste of your own medicine. It’s kind of hard to wrap the concept that you’re bound to someone for eternity when your oldest brother is barking in your ear. On top of that, barking things we already know by instinct. The pull tells us she’ll be back. It feels like your soul is being ripped out when she’s gone. Your body is on fire with lust. It sucks just to breathe. And the same thing is happening to her. So being lectured while we’re sorting shit out in our heads.” His grin grew wide. “Well, I don’t need to tell you, do I?”

Josiah growled. “No, you do not.”

“My best advice? Go take a nap. You’ll be up late tonight. And the night after that. You might get a good night’s sleep in about three months.” He shoved off the deck and then descended the steps. “Come on, Abe. Let’s go work the bugs out of that app.”

The youngest Hallow bitched loud enough for them all to hear as he followed Micah into the family building. Momma and the rest of the brothers disappeared as they returned to whatever they were doing when Sarah stormed out of there. Josiah sighed. Maybe he was one of the devil’s minions. He was in hell. There was one thing he knew. That nap sounded good. He strode back into his cabin, slamming the door behind him.

He stripped off his slacks and crawled across the mattress. The pillow still smelled like her. The scent would haunt his dreams. He pulled the covers over himself and snuggled against it. His eyes grew heavy. His mind filled with images of the night before. He dreamt of her, her taste, her touch, and the way it felt to be inside her. He didn’t dream about women he slept with. He couldn’t get enough of her.

He bolted up in bed out of his deep sleep and searched his bedroom. The hair on his arms stood on end. There were very few werewolf traits they held tight to while they were human. It was probably a good thing. They would kill someone in the cage if they kept the beast’s strength. But they were ever hyper-aware of their surroundings. It didn’t matter what form they took. And at the moment, he sensed that someone was watching him.

He sighed as he found his youngest brother, Abraham, standing in the doorway of his bedroom. By the deep breaths Abe was gulping down, it was evident he just got there. Josiah rubbed his eyes. “Why the fuck are you standing in my bedroom?”

Abraham’s words were a breathless, scrambled mess. “Leroy’s dead.”

“What the hell do you mean he’s dead?”

“Micah just found it on Duluth’s news. Come see it for yourself.”

Josiah gripped the sheet to toss it off him. He stopped himself in the nick of time. “Want to give me a minute?”

“What do you need a minute for?”

“I’m buck ass naked, Abe. Unless you want a good look at my cock, you might want to step outside.”

“Fuck, gross.” Abraham stomped into the living area, shutting the bedroom door behind him. Josiah scooted across the mattress and stood. He stepped over the discarded slacks on the floor. He wanted comfort. He dug out a pair of sweatpants from the top drawer of his unfinished oak dresser and tugged them on without briefs. The constant erection wouldn’t tolerate the friction of even the softest cotton at the moment.

Josiah threw open the door and motioned for Abraham to follow. The two Hallows strode across the camp to the family building. They took the steps two at a time before storming inside. Micah sat at the computer, his eyes focused on the website of one of Duluth’s television stations plastered across the screen.

Josiah rounded the desk and studied the story from over Micah’s shoulder. The photo didn’t show much. It was easy to tell that it took place in the club where Leroy liked to hang out. Bar stools lay on their sides. The place was filthy. There was a limp, pale hand lying on the floor. Josiah recognized the pretentious gold ring Leroy always wore.

“Did someone finally get pissed that Leroy cheated him?” Josiah questioned.

There was hesitation in Micah’s voice. “Not unless their idea was to drain every last drop of blood from him. He was found this morning on the club floor. He was still alive and kicking at two o’clock this morning when the bartender left him, Rock, and Cort alone.”

“Did the police question them?”

“Of course. But I’m sure they didn’t ask to see their fangs. Poor clueless bastards have no idea they’re dealing with vampires. And it gets better. It says in the story that they released Leroy’s name after they reached his next of kin. And who was listed as his next of kin? His business partners, Rock and Cort. Then it says Rock and Cort now have sole ownership of all of Leroy’s business ventures including the promotion.”

“We now fight for them?” Abraham asked, his dark brown eyes wide.

Josiah looked at him from over his shoulder. “We? You had one fight. And at this point consider that it until we figure this all out.”

Abraham huffed loudly before he tore out of the office. Micah glanced up at Josiah. “You need to cut him some slack, Joe. The kid’s got talent.”

“The kid is twenty-one. I want one of us to be as normal as possible. I want him to have a chance. Dad didn’t fight. He married. He raised kids. He didn’t find his sanctuary in a chain-link cage. We were all dealing with Dad’s death. Abe was too young.”

“He was old enough.” A high-pitched ding turned Micah’s attention back to the screen. He grasped the mouse and clicked a few times until his email account was open. “Oh, fuck.”

“What?” Josiah demanded.

“I just got an email from the undead.” He tapped once to open it. He was quiet for a long moment. Josiah strained his gaze to read the message over his shoulder. The letters were just a jumble. “They’re calling the fighters together for a meeting tonight. Ten o’clock. Well after sundown.”

“Shit. Email them and tell them to screw themselves.”

Micah looked over his shoulder. “Sam won’t go for it. You know that. This whole thing between them and Sam has gotten personal ever since we all figured out Henry might be the Heka. He isn’t going to back down.” He shook his head. “Henry embodies the spirit of his ancient evil Egyptian ancestor. A magician for the Pharaoh no less. Could our lives get more fucked up?”

Josiah sighed. “I’d say no but look at our track record as of late. So yeah, probably. I’ll go inform Sam of the email and tell him to get ready to go. Just us, though. The mates need to stay behind this time. I don’t want anything to happen to them. I’ll call Littlefoot to send reinforcements up from the reservation to protect them.”

“All four of them took off this morning to fuck knows where.”

“What do you mean they took off? They can’t do that without us. And four?”

“Calm down, big bro. Don’t blow a gasket. Henry moved back from Duluth. I guess he arrived last night. And Littlefoot went with the four of them wherever they took off to. I’ve texted Eve to ask where she is. She tells me it’s just an errand.”

“Right.”

“That’s what I think too, but she’s not opening up. She’s keeping something from me. I hate it when she does that.”

Josiah rubbed Micah’s shoulder. “I’ll try to pry it out of her.”

“Thanks.”

Josiah gave him one last smile before he stepped out of the office and left the family building. He directed his steps toward Samuel’s cabin. He changed course almost immediately. He sped up his pace to match Eve’s as she hopped up the porch steps to her cabin and slipped through the door. His large body in the threshold kept her from closing it.

She jumped, startled at his presence. She patted her chest to compose herself. “Hey, Joe. You just scared the shit out of me.”

“Sorry about that. Where have you been, Eve?”

She shrugged and looked away. Josiah huffed. She was indeed hiding something. He examined the skin around her nostrils for the telltale signs of cocaine. He found none. “Just ran an errand with the other mates. That’s all.”

“Just an errand.”

“Yep.”

“You do know there are bloodthirsty vampires and werewolves out there. And they made it clear as crystal that killing our mates is number two on their agenda. It runs a close second to obtaining the amulet. It had better have been a fucking important errand. So fess up. You want to keep secrets from your mate, fine. It’s cruel as hell but fine. But you will not hide things from me. You will not put this family in danger.”

He watched as her blue eyes filled with tears. He had been harsh. He knew that. But Eve sometimes needed a bit of tough love to get it through that thick skull of hers that they needed her. She sniffled then spoke. “Where’s Mike?”

“In the office in the family building. Why?”

A fat tear cut a path down her cheek. “Meg, Dee, and I went to Noah for pregnancy tests. Henry tagged along.”

“And?”

She sighed heavily as her gaze dropped to the floor. “I’m pregnant. So are they.”

Eve let out a little squeal when he wrapped her in a crushing hug. He felt her wiggle in his arms until she hugged him back. “You’ve been trying for so long. Why are you keeping it from Mike?”

She looked up at him. “What if I miscarry?”

He tilted her head up a bit higher to stare her in the eye. “Eve Hallow, miscarriage is not an option. You will carry that baby to term, and you will give birth to a beautiful boy or girl that will be so loved by its mother and father and all of its family. But I understand your fear. And you don’t want to break my brother’s heart. If you want to keep quiet about it, then your secret is safe with me.”

“Really?”

“I promise. But don’t keep it from him long.”

“I won’t.”

“Are Delilah and Henry back too? I have to talk to Sam without distraction.”

“I think they just got back. So good luck. I’m sure Dee has told them, and they’re probably celebrating the way Hallows do. So you might want to cover your eyes. They’re more than likely naked.”

Josiah chuckled. “Thanks for the warning. And congratulations. Mom.”

Eve’s cheeks tinged red beneath the wet streaks left by her tears. “Thank you.”

Josiah nodded farewell as he stepped outside and closed the door behind him. His thoughts filled with images of Sarah, of her cradling a baby in her arms. His baby. Shit. Did he even want to be a father? He shook the thought from his head. At this point, it didn’t matter what he wanted. His only job was to keep his mother, his brothers, and their mates safe and to stop whatever war was on the horizon. He hurried his way toward Samuel’s cabin. It was time to disrupt the new lovebirds and give Sam the news about their late-night meeting with the vamps. Nothing like being the bearer of bad tidings. Sometimes being the oldest really sucked balls.