Smitten

Storm and her friend, Lucy, said good-bye to Kaden in front of Storm's house.

Kaden pulled Storm into a full embrace, to the shock of the two females-unable to hold himself, inhaling her scent. He liked that Storm hugged him back, not fighting this particular way of saying good night.

Her body felt good and warm, the strength and softness of her making him want to hold her for hours. Avery's hug was not nearly as intoxicating, and her embraces were always accompanied by a flood of perfume. Thinking of Avery, a girl friend of his, made him disentangle from the hug and look around the environment waringly.

Avery was very possessive of him even though they weren't mates. But that hadn't stopped him from sleeping with her even though she was Lent's cousin. She had been among the few females who had followed him despite the cloak of shame that had covered him after he had been banished from the pack for a crime he didn't commit.

Kaden waited until Storm had safely shut the front door behind herself and a still surprised Lucy before he jogged next door and up the steps to his new house. Even though it was a temporary habitat till he manages to win Storm to his side, he still managed to make it look very classy.

He went straight to his room to put away his own collar and from there heard Liam come in and up the stairs. In the hall, he found Kim, Liam's mate, in the doorway to the master bedroom, arms folded over her pregnant abdomen.

Kim was petite by werewolf terms, though humans might consider her about average, maybe a little smaller. She always insisted that she was fat, which baffled Liam and equally baffled Kaden.

Women should have generous br**sts and nice bums. If Kim was a little plumper now, it was because she was carrying Liam's pup. That made her beautiful.

Kaden suddenly imagined what Storm would look like, thickening with his child.

Kim caught sight of Kaden and transferred her glare to him.

"Kaden," She said in a voice that brooked no argument. "Tell Liam that he is to, at least, don a bullet-proof vest before going off chasing the bad guys."

Liam looked aggrieved, but Kaden agreed with Kim. Liam was hotheaded enough to do something daft like hunt down a carload of trigger-happy humans by himself.

Even though they had fast healing properties, he understood that the female didn't like her mate always covered in blood. With time, it might draw suspicions from over observant police men. And they didn't want that.

"Liam," Kaden said. "You are to don a bullet-proof vest before going off to chase the bad guys. You are not to go alone either."

"Please don't start, Kaden." Liam gritted through his teeth, flexing his arm which had a few bullet holes on them.

"You know Kim has a point. Your pup in there will need his dad." Kaden pointed out persistently, knowing that Kim's glare would multiply by a hundred fold if the particular issue wasn't resolved at this moment.

Liam slid his large hand lovingly over Kim's protruding abdomen. Ever since Kim's announcement that she was pregnant, Liam had been perpetually worried. He ought to be. Though Kim was robust, having the child would be tough on her because there were no doctors of their kind around these areas, except Jiraq. Liam was skeptical too about trusting a doctor from another pack.

"We have good people," Kaden went on. "Including me. Use them."

This shooting hadn't been the first one. A similar incident had occurred just prior to their arrival in Shappy Town, three months ago. Hunters driving up to the bar, unloading bullets, and screaming off again. No one had been hurt, thank the Goddess. Kaden had talked to the police, but they'd put it down to gang violence and didn't seem very interested, not when the potential victims were habitants of the bad area of Shappy Town.

"Fine." Liam frowned, and Kaden knew that the preliminary round of this argument had been won. By Kim. Again.

"Kim, go back to bed," Liam said.

Kim's blue eyes sparkled. "You come to bed."

"I will. I need to chat with Kaden a bit, then I'll be up." Liam promised.

Kim slid his hand from her belly but gave him a smoldering smile. "I'll still be awake."

"I'm counting on that, love." Liam breezed out, winking at a giggling Kim.

Kaden rolled his eyes in mock irritation. "Don't tell me the two of you will be keeping the rest of us awake again."

Kim blushed, but Liam only grinned, his good humor restored. The two guys went downstairs as Kim retreated into the bedroom.

"Storm all right?" Liam asked Kaden when they reached the kitchen. Liam opened the pantry, extracted two bottles of Guinness, and handed one to Kaden. Though they'd learned to drink lager cold after two years of living among Americans, they still agreed that stout was best at room temperature.

"She wasn't hurt?"

"No, she's fine," Kaden said absently, concluding that Casper might have told Liam about Storm. He knew he needed to tell them about Storm's healing gift-for they hid nothing from themselves; but he didn't want to yet.

Kaden's newfound protectiveness of Storm exerted itself even against his own people. Besides, at the moment, he was remembering Storm doing a little booty dance for fun behind the bar earlier that evening. Her body had moved in a sinuous rhythm, and he had gone alert and hard.

"Kaden." Liam snapped his fingers in front of Kaden's face. "Dreaming are you? Anyone would think you were smitten."

He was laughing, and Kaden started to answer, but they were interrupted by Micheal banging in the back door.

Micheal, Liam's brother, had recently turned twenty-one. He had followed Liam to move since their parents had died during an attack on their pack some years ago. He was already a formidable contender for dominance and ready to find a mate. He had enough of his father in him to make him tough, strong, and a force to be reckoned with.

He was a good kid on a normal day. But why was he late?