Page 95 of Shifters' Fated Summer
For a split second, the only movement was Holt’s eyes widening a fraction, and then he was off. His injured leg must have been a lie because he darted out of the kitchen toward the door before I could blink.
“I don’t think so,” Lana said, grabbing him by the neckline of his shirt and slamming him to the ground. Together, the twins made quick work of incapacitating him.
“Excuse me, I’ve got to take out the trash.” Luca grabbed rope and helped Lux tie Holt up. The twins hauled him up, but Luca strode back to the table, his eyes narrowed.
“I’ll be right back,” Luca said, pointing at Cade. “I swear if you stick your dick in her while I’m gone, I will make you regret it.”
I laughed dryly at Luca’s threat, as he stalked away. But my heart still raced, and I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to regulate my breathing. I was shaking from the stress. Cade wrapped his arms around me, and I fell into his chest, soaking up hissweet scent.
“Now I want to do it, just to see what he’ll come up with,” he murmured, chuckling.
“Thank you for believing me,” I said, choking on the tears threatening to fall. I’d done way too much crying recently, but it was unavoidable.
“I won’t doubt you again, ever,” Cade said, kissing the top of my head. “I mean it. I won’t make that mistake again. It almost cost me everything.”
His confession sent a fresh wave of tears dripping down my face. Cade wiped them away, swiping his thumb across my cheeks.
“Do they need your help with Holt?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Luca has it under control. We agreed one of us would stay with you at all times, at least for a while.”
It should feel smothering, and eventually it probably would, but relief coursed through me knowing they’d keep me safe. Evrin was dead, but that didn’t mean his mother and brothers wouldn’t want revenge.
“Sit, you still need to eat.”
His arm stayed tight around my shoulders even after we settled into chairs. I devoured two sandwiches and a small bushel of fruit, and Cade kept putting more onto my plate.
“That’s enough, I’m going to explode. You can’t stuff me this full of food and expect to stuff me full of dick later,” I grumbled.
Cade laughed that glorious rough sound, which wasfor sure my new favorite noise in the world. The ice around my heart melted a bit more.
“What I don’t understand,” I said, popping a grape in my mouth, “is what Harper’s problem was. It seemed really personal.”
“Honestly,” Cade said, his mouth thinning, “I think she wanted to be Alpha.”
“Why didn’t she start her own pack like you did?”
He leaned back in his seat. “She didn’t have the connections to get a territory or recruit members. So taking over this pack was the easiest way for her to get what she wanted. I should have realized. She started showing signs pretty quickly after we arrived.”
Taking another bite of fruit, I waited for him to continue. He scrubbed his hand down his face.
“I think originally, she was hoping to have a baby with me and try to become second-in-command, and then probably someaccidentwould take me out. I’d been rejecting her, but your arrival really ruined any chance she had. So I think she was hoping by taking you out, it might weaken me enough. She already had Rae and now we know Holt too, so maybe she would have staged a full-on coup. Honestly, it doesn’t make much sense, but I can see how she would get there.”
“That’s awful,” I said, leaning into his touch. Cade lowered his head, placing a lingering kiss on my shoulder.
“It doesn’t matter now.”
Sighing, I allowed him to feed me a raspberry, and Imade sure to flick my tongue over his fingers. His eyes darkened.
This sweet, kind Cade had me off-balance, but horny Cade I knew well. It felt like much safer territory.
“I think we should go see if we can make Luca mad,” he growled, his other hand sliding lower on my back.
“You’re terrible,” I said, trying to keep the smile out of my voice. His hand trailed lower, skimming my waistband and slipping under. “We’re eating, Cade.”
He arched an eyebrow.
Luca and the twins reemerged from the hall, talking quietly. I straightened, expecting Cade to remove his hand from my ass, but he stubbornly didn’t.
