Whiskey and Wolves: Book One: Shifters and Sins Read online

Jensen dipped his chin. He willed his wolf to calm. Leave Noelle behind? Never. “Sounds like you put some thought into this.”

  “You think he’s just going to go away?” Bryce asked, reeling where he stood. Bloodshot eyes blinked to focus on Jughead. “He ain’t gonna quit till you’re dead.”

  Behind him, Dillion nodded. Rocco bared his teeth. Lars, too, agreed.

  Hell, the bar was a sea of nodding heads and grunted agreements.

  Then there was a crash. The scraping sound crested and grew as metal rasped against metal. Jensen suppressed a wince. All those pretty bikes, and they’d be a twisted ruin if Wyatt had long enough.

  Jughead growled at the men frozen all around him. “Well?” he yelled. “Go check it out!”

  Almost half of his club tripped over themselves in their haste to pour out the door. Ellis shifted from his spot in preparation of barring the door.

  “Someone fucked with our rides!” someone shouted back inside.

  Jughead looked like he wanted to eat rocks. “Fucking find him, then!”

  Jensen crossed his arms over his chest and looked around, bored. The numbers were still tough, but better than before. Even better when he saw Wyatt creep out of the shadows near the back of the bar.

  “So,” he said loudly. “Terms. You want me out of town.”

  “Fuck you,” Bryce growled. “You’re a dead man.”

  Jughead cocked his head and bared his teeth in a threatening grin. “When a man’s right, he’s right.”

  Victorious howls rose in the air and covered the shitty, throbbing music blasting in the background.

  Jensen held up a hand. When quiet descended, he dismissed Bryce with a flick of his eyes and turned his attention to Jughead. Let the adults speak, the look said.

  As if there was any other adult in the fucking room.

  “You’re the one leaving,” he corrected.

  The first grunt and pounded fist on the other side of the door jerked most of the attention away from him. Jughead and Bryce, though, kept their glares steady.

  “You locked yourself in with us?” Jughead snarled.

  “Nah,” Jensen answered with a devilish smirk. Ellis and Wyatt stepped up next to him, feeling the electricity in the air. Or maybe he summoned them, reached through those beginning bonds and yanked them to his side. They were in this together. “You’re in here with me.”

  Jughead, Bryce, the rest of the Slayers? They had nothing. Not like him. He had two beautiful faces to make smile. There was no replacing the years he missed, but he could be there going forward. He would be there.

  No other future existed. He had to win. For Noelle and Sienna, he had to delve back into the darkness that pushed him toward the Vagabonds in the first place. That incessant need to come out on top, to put someone under, he pulled on that thread as he slammed his fist into Jughead’s stupid fucking face.

  His family needed him to win.

  His wolf needed to protect them.

  The Slayers had to go.

  The fight erupted around him. Wolves were smart. They picked off the weak, and that was how the Slayers fought. He tried to stick close to Ellis and Wyatt, but punch after punch, blow after blow, drove them slowly apart. One pack turned into three points of weakness and he lashed out until his hands hurt and his knuckles bled.

  Then there was a roar. And another.

  Glass shattered. Metal groaned and broke. The fucking floodgates opened and the rest of the Slayers broke through to pile on the hurt.

  But no. Not Slayers.

  Two bears streamed by. A tiger clipped Jughead’s legs, and the man went down in a heap.

  Jensen yelled wordlessly and kicked him straight in the teeth.

  Another Slayer jumped for him, landing on his chest with all four paws. Jensen shoved him off and rolled away before teeth found his arm.

  His wolf tore out of him, ready to raise hell.

  He jumped on the wolf that tried to rip into him, grabbed the bastard by the scruff and shook until the last pump of his heart stopped. Tail lowered and ears laid flat against his head, he whirled to find Jughead lifting a lip and growling his challenge.

  Fuck yes.

  They darted for one another, teeth tearing into wherever they could reach. Shoulders, legs, he didn’t care. He even snapped his jaws around the bastard’s tail and growled venomously at the resulting yelp.

  Jughead couldn’t keep up the pace. He was outmatched. Out willed. With the rest of his pack occupied with all the other beasts that’d come to brawl, he was alone.

  The wolf limped and Jensen struck, going straight for the throat. The rush of hot blood his wolf craved flowed over his tongue and tasted like victory.

  Safe. Noelle and Sienna would be safe.

  Jensen dropped Jughead and howled.

  Then something slammed into his side. Another growl sounded loud in his ear as the wolf clamped down hard and tried to roll him over to get at his soft underside.

  Bryce.

  Motherfucker.

  Jensen threw off the attack and whirled to find the others nipping at his heels. Lars was already bloodied. Rocco favored a leg. Dillon breathed hard, but his eyes were haunted with a lack of fight. He was the only one to hold back.

  Bryce scrambled back to his feet and attacked. Teeth. Claws. They were a blur of battle.

  When Jensen thought he seized the upper hand, the other Vagabond remnants were there to yank him back down.

  They crashed into tables, chairs. The cloth of the pool table shredded under their claws and colored with their blood. Jensen turned into each side of the fight, whipping around as fast as they could snap and bite.

  Down he went, the four others piling on as he tried to protect himself.

  Noelle. Sienna. He had to live. He had to keep them safe.

  Wyatt and Ellis soared through the air and knocked Lars and Rocco away. Dillon turned and ran.

  A sharp yelp, a vicious jerk, and Bryce fell to the floor. Red spread through his fur.

  Jensen looked up. Noelle stood in the doorway, face drawn and ashen. She breathed hard. Her hands shook around the handle of a baseball bat. Wide eyes surveyed the scene.

  Next to her, the owner of the liquor store lowered his rifle and gave Jensen a small nod.

  He’d never felt such a surge of relief and fury at once.

  He charged forward and shoved his head against her stomach. Her scent filled his nose as his fur melted away. His frame shimmered as wolf turned back to man and rose to two feet.

  “Noelle,” Jensen ground out in a rough voice. “What are you doing?”

  She should have been at his family home. Should have stayed far, far away from danger.

  “Had to—had to figure out a way to help,” she said in a trembling voice.

  He disarmed her with one hand. Ellis appeared at his side and took the bat.

  An uneasy quiet descended over them. The middle of his back itched with too many eyes watching him. Looking to him for an order.

  He turned, still holding Noelle close—as if he’d ever let her go—and growled, “Chase them out of town. Don’t stop until their paws bleed and they whine in submission. Moonlight Slayers aren’t welcome here anymore.”

  Then they were alone in a swirl of activity, the press of animals and humans all around them.

  Jensen pulled her tight to his chest and ran a hand down her spine.

  His mate was safe.

  Chapter 16

  Jensen eased to a stop in front of Noelle’s home, loving the way her arms clung to his waist. He’d dreaded going back to the little house, but a quick scan didn’t show any damage. The Moonlight Slayers were destructive assholes, but they’d contained their riot to the main drag of town.

  Good. Noelle appearing at the bar curbed his need to make them all bleed. He doubted he’d have kept to his human skin if they had intruded on her territory and fucked even more with her world.

  No more, though. Ellis led the rest of the townsfolk in their efforts to chase the
bastards out of town. Wyatt had disappeared somewhere. The man had secrets and Jensen didn’t want to pry.

  Most importantly, Noelle and Sienna—his family—were safe.

  Noelle dismounted, and he followed. Her hair was wild from the helmet he’d made her wear. Her heart thundered in her chest, but he didn’t think the ride on the back of his Harley had anything to do with it.

  “Noelle—”

  She held up a hand and pressed it gently to his chest. “Let’s get inside. Then we’ll talk.”

  He wanted to reach for her just as he’d done at the bar, but he felt the gulf between them. In one instance, his instincts had been riding high and the woman he wanted to call his appeared in the thick of battle. The need to touch her and reassure himself that she was alive and well demanded he crush her in an embrace.

  Now, following her through her front door, he saw just how poorly he fit in her quiet home and quiet life. He’d upturned everything trying to do right by her and their little pup. He came with a past and sins beyond count. He’d been a fool to think he could insulate them from the ghosts dragging him down.

  Jensen ran a hand down his face. “Sienna?”

  Noelle swept past him and sank into the couch, tucking her feet under her. “Still with your parents. I left while she was curled up in your old room.”

  He paused before taking a seat at the other end, giving her space. Talk. He scowled at his knuckles. They were healed from the fight, but still tender when he closed his hands into fists. He was a fighter. Always had been. Rough and ready for the next brawl, the next ride, the next drink.

  Noelle and Sienna made him want to consider alternatives to that life. “I made you a promise,” he started in a rough voice.

  “You delivered.”

  And still had no right to what came after.

  If an after even existed for him. He’d won a battle, but there was still a war to be waged in Noelle’s living room. He didn’t know how to fight for a place in someone else’s life.

  His wolf whined in the back of his head and Jensen cleared his throat. “Why were you there tonight? You put yourself in danger.”

  “It was your father’s idea, actually.”

  He shoved to his feet, jaw tight. “I’ll kill him—”

  “Jensen,” she laughed and pulled him back down to the couch.

  He sat on the very edge, forearms balanced on his thighs. The picture of agitation even without the growl spilling from his throat. He tried to quiet the noise and gave up curbing the wolf pacing through his head.

  “He could have gotten you hurt,” he ground out.

  Noelle canted her head in acknowledgment. “He reminded me that even if I don’t have claws and fangs, I can still fight. I just need to be smarter about how I help my—”

  She cut herself off and looked away, uncertainty swirling in her scent.

  “Say what you mean.” Jensen pressed fingers to her chin and turned her face back to him, not daring to breathe.

  Noelle’s tongue flicked out and wet her lips. “My mate.”

  Smug satisfaction and pride curved up his lips. The Slayers were gone. Sienna was safe.

  And Noelle had said the words. She admitted what sparked to life between them.

  Maybe there was hope for him after all. He wasn’t stuck on a one-way road to hell.

  His heart jumped in his chest and his cock twitched in his jeans. In his head, his wolf howled victoriously. Fangs already pressed against his gums and made him ache to put his mark against her skin.

  Soon.

  Jensen pulled Noelle across his lap so she straddled him. Two fingers walked up a thigh. “Tell me. How did you help your mate?”

  “I made calls and pleas for assistance. I told them the Slayers were harmful to this town and you were the only one willing to stand up to them. We owed it to you to help.”

  “And they came.”

  She ducked her face, small smile playing over her lips. “With a little badgering and a whole lot of swears.”

  “Atta girl,” he praised with a chuckle.

  Her hand cupped his cheek and turned his eyes to hers. “Jensen…” she began, “Sienna needs a father who isn’t going to run. You have to be in this for the long haul.”

  He tugged down the neck of her shirt and traced her skin with slow circles of his thumb. “Mates are precious. Not everyone takes one. Not everyone finds one that lights up their entire world the way you do mine. You open the door to let me in, I’m never letting it shut me out again.”

  “And you want to tie yourself to a human and a wild little pup?”

  He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and drew her closer. Their breath mingled as his lips brushed over hers. “For the rest of my life.”

  Her hands planted against his chest and she melted into him. Jensen slid his mouth over hers, licking and tasting the sweetness of her lips.

  She gave him hope for the future with the tangling of their tongues. Her soft moans were proof that his sins were redeemable, if not entirely forgivable. He could have a full life. He didn’t need to be afraid of fucking up everything he touched.

  He would be a good father and mate to the little family that’d been waiting for him.

  Not breaking their kiss, Jensen stood and wrapped her legs around his waist. The journey to her bedroom was the longest he’d ever walked—and the sweetest.

  Once he reached the bed, he settled her down against the mattress and laid another gentle kiss against her lips before standing. Gorgeous woman. He trailed a hungry gaze down her soft curves that’d tempted him years ago. His, then, and his, now.

  “I’m going to make you mine, Noelle,” he promised in a gravelly voice. He reached a hand behind him and dragged his shirt over his head. Greedy eyes roamed over his chest and swelled his heart with male pride as he kicked off his boots and popped the button on his jeans.

  Fuck, it’d be so easy to rip down the zipper and wrap his hand around his cock. Noelle’s sweet scent swirled in the air.

  He kept himself locked away for the moment. He wouldn’t be able to keep himself from between her thighs if he released himself, and he had so much more he wanted to do than to just take her hard and fast.

  “I’m going to make you come on my fingers and my tongue.” He wrapped his hands around her ankles and jerked her to the edge of the bed.

  Her throat worked with a hard swallow. “And then?”

  “Then I’m going to make you scream on my cock.” He knelt between her thighs and urged her upright. Jensen trailed his palms up her legs and over her hips. His fingers caught the hem of her shirt and bunched it up as he skimmed his palms up her body. “When you’re right at the peak, I’m going to claim you as my mate.”

  He leaned in quick to taste her gasp. His fingers made quick work of her bra and Jensen groaned into her mouth when he cupped her heavy breasts. A shiver worked through her the moment he brushed his thumbs over her nipples. He drank in every reaction, inhaled the deepening of her delicious scent. He wanted his mate desperate and shaking with pleasure before he sank fangs into her skin.

  He flayed open her jeans, then worked the stiff material off her hips and down her thighs. Then she was bare, the thick scent of her arousal in his nose. His wolf howled, and he almost echoed the noise.

  Mate.

  His.

  He bent his head and trailed his tongue up her slick folds. A low groan built in his chest as her flavor exploded on his tongue. “Fuck,” he growled, “I don’t think there’s anything that tastes better than you.”

  She balled her hands into the sheets. “I like it when you talk dirty,” she whispered.

  Jensen licked her slowly a second time. “Should I tell you about all the dishes I’m going to wash? The trash bags walked down to the curb?”

  Her laugh turned to a low moan when he took her clit between his lips. “Not like that,” she breathed.

  “Traditionalist, then?” Jensen eased a finger inside her. Her hips bucked into him, her bod
y craving more. “I love watching your body move, gorgeous. You make me so fucking hard, it hurts.”

  “Can’t have that.”

  He added a second finger and pumped into her slowly, curving his fingers deep inside to catch the place that would send her mad. She hissed and her thighs tightened around his hand.

  Jensen smirked. “No. We can’t.”

  He lunged, pushing her thighs wide. He worked her with his hand, ending the teasing preparation and switching into an endless drive of his fingers into her heat. He made promises he intended to keep.

  He licked her, sliding around her folds and suckling her clit. Faster. Wetter. He grazed with his teeth and lashed the little bud. Her moans pushed him on, her cries making his cock throb.

  Her hips bucked against him, chasing him for more. With a harsh cry, she threw her head back and broke against him, thighs clamping around his ears and holding him in place. Liquid heat drenched his tongue. Jensen groaned, licking, sucking, lapping at Noelle until her pleasure ebbed.

  Half-lidded eyes watched him as he stood and dropped his jeans. Jensen pushed a knee between her thighs and urged her up the bed, sliding between her legs. He dragged Noelle’s arms above her head and rocked his hips. They both groaned as she coated his cock.

  “I want you to be my mate,” he growled against her lips.

  Silent emotion playing over her features. Noelle nodded.

  Jensen thrust into her, groaning as she clamped down on him.

  * * *

  Noelle cried out as he filled her. Her body stretched around him, inner muscles fluttering against him as she adjusted. Her thighs trembled; her lungs stung with her gulp of air.

  He stilled above her, bright gold eyes watching every rise of her chest and flutter of her eyelashes. With some unseen signal, he dragged himself out and slammed back home with a growled, “Mine.”

  The muscles of his chest and stomach bunched and rippled; his arms strained where he braced himself above her. Strong man. Powerful. He’d proven himself to her and made her world a safer place. He was exactly what a wild little wolf pup needed in a father and what she needed in a man.

  Wrapping her legs around him, Noelle nodded. “Yours.”