Goldie [Pyrate's Treasure 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) (8 page)

“Silver, behave!” The other women chastised their cousin for his blunt speaking.

“What? It’s true, and you all are thinking the same thing I am.” He looked around the room.

“That may be, but you should not speak to Goldie like that. She is, after all, almost the Alpha,” Ruby, his sister, scolded. “She deserves the same respect you show Grandfather.

Goldie shook her head and chuffed a laugh. “He’s right, Ruby. And if you guys can’t headslap me when I need it, then who will keep me sane and grounded? And besides, Silver is right. I do need to find him, talk to him, and solidify our status as mates. Then I can tell him about my being the next Alpha.”

“Girl, you need to sit down and tell him everything all at once. Then sit back and give him the time and space he needs to process. He’s a deputy sheriff. He needs all the information at once, not in little dibs and dabs as you’ve been doling it out. Even I know that,” Diamond, the youngest of the cousins, said, joining the circle of strength that formed around Goldie.

“Okay, I’ll find him, tell him everything, and hope he doesn’t start swimming for the mainland once he knows it all.”

“He won’t. You’re mates,” her cousins said in unison.

After a group hug, Goldie left the house and headed into the village. Knowing her grandfather, Caleb was still at the Town Hall learning everything about the island and all its year-round inhabitants. And no doubt the Alpha would be sharing the news of Goldie’s Alpha-to-be status as well.

* * * *

Caleb allowed Mayor Edward to talk without commenting on all that the old man told him. After shocking him with the news that Goldie would soon be replacing him as the pack Alpha and all that meant to Caleb as her mate, they went on to discuss his duties as the island’s law enforcement.

They were discussing his uniform and that he was overdressed for the casual, laid-back lifestyle on the island when the building’s front door opened and Goldie walked in. Caleb shifted in his chair when his cock reacted by going rock hard in his next three heartbeats.

“Goldie, it’s about time you showed up,” Edward said as he stood up. “You and your mate have a lot to discuss. I also want you to take him shopping for some more appropriate island wear. Have Diamond make him some T-shirts like she did last year. Just because he’s on duty doesn’t mean he has to look like it.”

“Yes, Grandfather.” Goldie crossed to the old man’s side and kissed his cheek. “That’s why I’m here. We do have a lot to talk about.”

“We talked about your position in the pack and what that means to your mate, but I’m sure he’ll have questions once he puts all the pieces in place.”

“Hello, standing right here,” Caleb said, feeling as if he had gone invisible.

“Thank you, Grandfather,” Goldie said before turning and meeting his gaze. “We do have a lot to talk about. There might also be trouble with a couple of the guests, but the pack will handle it.”

Caleb’s senses went on alert as her grandfather frowned. “Trouble? What kind of trouble?” Caleb asked he stood and stepped around his desk to Goldie’s side.

For reasons he could not define to himself, he needed to touch the woman who had shaken up his entire life and yet he felt nothing but attraction to her. He wrapped one arm around her back and pulled her in to lean against his chest.

“It’s the kind we usually take care of within the pack and not worry the sheriff’s department’s representative with,” she said without looking at him.

“Well, since the sheriff’s department’s representative is now pack,” her grandfather said, “I think you should spill it.”

Goldie told her grandfather of the middle-of-the-night phone call. Then she shared her confrontation with the cousins and their insistence that they had not left the pack’s private lands the night before.

“So what does that mean?” Caleb asked.

“It means whoever called you last night had ignored the private property signs, crossed the fence, and seen something they should not have,” Edward said. “Hunters of treasure or shape-shifters?”

Goldie shrugged and laid her head back on Caleb’s shoulders. “Don’t know, don’t care, just want them off the island without doing any further damage.”

She sounded distracted and the lower-than-usual timbre of her tone sent a shot of heat from his ears straight to his cock. He shifted and pulled her to stand in front of him to hide the erection from the mayor.

Edward smiled and nodded. “They’ll be gone tomorrow afternoon, child. For now I think you two need to find someplace to be alone. Talk about your mating and try to get your hormones under some kind of control before you set the island on fire. I’ll have the girls take a second look at the guest list and see what they can come up with and the boys check out the pack lands to see if they can find any evidence of intruders. We can meet at the Treasure this afternoon and talk about what to do tonight to protect the pack.”

Before Caleb could grow embarrassed by Mayor Edward’s blatant comments, the old man had turned and stalked away.

Once the door closed behind him, Goldie turned in his arm and smiled up at him. “So, mate, your place or mine?”

While Caleb was more than tempted to bend her over his new desk and fuck her right here and now, he took a deep breath to try to regain some composure. Instead of calming him, he breathed in her scent, which only added to his arousal.

He swallowed hard before saying, “Which one is closer?”

“Yours,” she said, pulling out of his hold and taking his hand in hers. “Come on. We’ll take the back way.”

He did not fight her as she pulled him across the big room and out the back door. She then turned down a wide path that ran behind the shops and houses between the Town Hall and his cottage. Caleb saw the tall fence that separated pack lands from village that ran through the trees a dozen yards away.

Two buildings down, Goldie turned and pulled him through the back door. She glanced around the shop and, finding it empty, walked to the front counter where a woman who had similar features was pricing T-shirts.

“Diamond, can you make up a half dozen of the deputy T-shirts like you made for Joseph last summer?”

The woman looked at Caleb and then at Goldie. “What size?”

Goldie turned to him. “What size T-shirt do you wear?”

“Extra-large.”

Goldie looked at the other woman. “You heard the man. He’ll need one as soon as you can get it done, and then the rest can wait a few days if you’re swamped.”

The other woman nodded. “I’ll have it for you when we meet for dinner.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Without another word, Goldie turned and dragged him back through the store and out the back door. When his erection protested the fast pace she set, he squeezed Goldie’s hand and slowed his pace to one that did not hurt his cock. She glanced over her shoulder at him with the expression of a starving woman staring at a four-course dinner.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, pulling on his arm to encourage him to hurry.

“Easy, baby girl,” he murmured. He pulled her into his side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “From here on out we have nothing but time. We can slow things down.”

“But I’m horny,” she admitted in a softly whiney tone.

“I am, too, but if we run now, we might not be able to fly as high when we get to the cottage,” he said with a suggestive smile. “Besides, Mayor Ed wanted us to talk before we set the sheets on fire.”

“Yeah, he did, didn’t he? So what did Grandfather tell you?” Goldie asked as she lifted her arm and slid her hand around his back, slipping her thumb into his waistband.

“He answered my questions and more fully explained about shape-shifters and mates. He also informed me that you will be replacing him as leader of the Pyrate Pack. And while I can be as dominant with you as I want in private, in front of the pack I will have to defer to you.”

“Are you all right with what he told you? And with what I told you earlier? Me being a shape-shifter? With being my mate?” she asked, sounding hesitant and fearful.

Caleb’s steps slowed further as he thought about all he’d learned in the previous few hours. Yes, it was a wild tale, and if anyone else had told it to him, he would have laughed it off. If Goldie had not shifted in front of him, proving what she was, he would be calling for a team of headshrinkers to come out to the island to evaluate the inhabitants. But he had seen it with his own eyes, and instead of being repulsed or driven away by it, he was intrigued. Edward had cleared up most of the questions and concerns he had come up with after walking away from Goldie earlier.

As he looked deep into himself, he came to a startling realization.

“Surprisingly, I am quite okay with it,” he admitted softly. “But you have to understand that I am as much a sexually dominant Alpha male as you are an almost-pack-leading Alpha shape-shifting woman. So, if you don’t mind my being the boss behind closed doors, then I’m sure I’ll be okay with you being the boss for the rest of the island.”

Goldie remained silent as they finished the walk to Caleb’s backyard. He thought he could hear her brain clicking as she considered his words.

“How sexually dominant?” she finally asked when they reached the back steps.

He stopped at the bottom step while she stepped up on it and turned to face him. The added high made them eye to eye and lips to lips. With a smile, he lifted his hands to the back of her shoulders. He massaged them for a moment before running them down either side of her spine, causing her to arch into his touch.

When he reached the cheeks of her ass, he cupped them, pressing his fingers into the flesh one at a time. His cock throbbed with his heartbeat as she leaned forward and pressed her breasts into his chest, her face still turned up to his. His smile broadened as he canted his hips forward and pressed his cock more forcefully into her lower belly. He then nipped at her bottom lip.

“Go to the bedroom and get naked, and I’ll show you just how dominant I can be.”

Goldie stared into Caleb’s eyes just long enough to see he was deadly serious about dominating her in the bedroom. Her pussy gushed with excitement as she turned and hurried through the unlocked back door.

Once inside, she stripped, leaving a trail of clothes in her wake as she hurried to the bedroom. Stepping into the bedroom, she froze, unsure what to do now. She heard the screen door squeak then nothing else.

Moving toward the bed, she wondered if she should stay standing or lie down on the bed while she waited for her mate to join her. Taking a deep breath to try to settle the nerves that fluttered through her, she ended up sitting on the end of the bed. Her damp thighs pressed together as she folded her hands in her lap. She fought a growing urge to cup herself and rub her fingers down between her pussy lips.

Though her thoughts flew around like leaves in a high wind, she worked to focus on keeping her breathing slow and easy. Her heart felt like it was going to pound its way out of her chest with anticipation while her stomach knotted with anxiety.

“Relax. Stay calm. He’s your mate and would never hurt you,” she whispered to herself.

The words did little to ease the tension that thrummed through her body. Where was he, and what was she thinking to give up control to him?

Just when she was ready to go looking for him, Caleb stepped into view. She gasped silently as renewed arousal body slammed her fear out of its way.

Wearing clothes, he was gorgeous and eye-catching. Naked and aroused, he was breathtaking. He stopped in the doorway where a wide shaft of sunlight caressed his skin.

He was long of limb, broad of shoulder, and narrow of hip with powerfully rippling muscles everywhere in between. Except for the lighter area between hips and knees, his skin glowed with a healthy bronze coloring. A light dusting of hair a shade darker than that on his head covered his entire body though lay heavier over his chest and around his cock. Her fingers itched with a need to test whether the strands were soft and silky or coarse and wiry.

Her gaze then dropped lower, and she pulled in another quick breath. He had one hand wrapped around his cock, stroking the long, thick length slowly from base to just below the deep-crimson-flushed head.

In his other hand, he carried the bag she had brought from the pack house. It contained several sets of clothes and personal items so she would not have to run home every time she needed to change clothes.

Stepping into the room, he dropped the bag on the small table next to the door. “Stand up and turn around slowly. I want to see exactly what my baby girl looks like.

Goldie stood and did as instructed without hesitation. When she had circled once and faced him again, she held her breath as she waited for his reaction.

“Again, only slower,” he said, raising his free hand and twirling one finger around.

She moved in a circle. This time she swore she could feel his gaze brushing over the skin of her tits, pussy, ass, and back. It was as if his eyes were actually touching her skin, sending electric shivers through her.

Turning to face him again, she licked her lips as he slid his hand up his cock. When the fingers traveled back down to his base, she moaned softly, wishing those fingers belonged to her.