You are reading on AllFreeNovel.com
Font Size:

Page 12 of Summoned by the CEO (Curvy for Keeps)

“Oh, it’s okay, honey.”

Mom reached down and patted Austin on the head and I almost rolled right out of the bed when she walked past him and set the plate on my lap.

“Mom?” I asked in disbelief, having expected her to get mauled due to her careless behavior.

She smiled and kissed my forehead. “I don’t believe it, I don’t really understand it, but you’re still my daughter. It took them a while to pull me off you and then I had a long talk with Austin. Ivy made the most sense and I really like that young lady; she has a good head on her shoulders. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, so I can’t deny who you are.”

“You got near my wolf?”

My mother was truly a fearless woman.

She sighed and patted my leg, as if I had just asked the dumbest question on the planet. “Eat up and if you don’t feel like getting out of bed, then you stay here all day.” Her face tightened and she looked down. “I actually liked Beckett; I thought he was a nice young man. Obviously I have no sense when it comes to men.”

“It’s not your fault, Mom.”

Jericho slipped into the room and looked down at the wolf. “Austin, you need to come see this. Someone brought you a present.”

The way he said it rattled me, but Austin didn’t shift. I followed Jericho down the hall, the black wolf never leaving my side. He walked with the same stride, keeping his body pressed against mine.

Jericho and Denver were in the hall by the front door with their arms folded. I walked around them and to my left, two dead wolves lay side by side on the front porch.

“It’s a message,” Denver said. “A warning.”

Parked out front was Lorenzo, leaning against the grill of his truck with one hand tucked in his pocket and the other holding a cigarette. He took a long drag, watching me as I stood there in an ankle-length gown that belonged to my mom.

Austin growled when I got too close, but I knelt down and got a good look at one of the wolves. “It’s not a warning,” I said. “It’s an offering.” I didn’t know if Austin could understand me or not, but I turned and looked at him as if he could. “This was the dog that treed me in the cemetery. I don’t know who the other one is though. The warning is for Lorenzo’s pack, not yours. But this is a gift… for me.”

The message being that anyone who thought about hurting me would answer to him. I wondered who the second wolf was—maybe the one who was supposed to have been watching me that night. Lorenzo said he had a man following me at all times.

Somehow, a dead body was not a romantic gesture.

“Come away from there, Lexi,” Jericho said, stepping forward with his arm outstretched.

Austin snapped at him. Jericho turned his head and sighed through his nose in frustration. “Is he ever going to shift back?” he asked Denver. “’Cause that biting shit is starting to piss me off.”

“How long was I out? What time is it?”

“Two days,” Denver said. “Ivy and your mom took care of you; they were the only ones who could get near Austin.”

“He hasn’t shifted back?”

Denver strolled out of the room, hiking up his sweats. The motor fired up on Lorenzo’s truck and he slowly backed out.

“He’s been that way since he brought you in,” Jericho said, putting an unlit cigarette into his mouth. “All hell broke loose when your mom jumped on top of you. We tried to get her off and Austin suddenly shifted and guarded you two like his life depended on it. Between you and me, Austin’s wolf is onebadassalpha.”

“Where’s Ivy?”

Jericho stuffed his hands in the pockets of his black jeans, shredded from thigh to knee, biting down on the cigarette as if he hadn’t decided whether to light it or not. “Helping your friend at the store.”

“Do what?”

“The power is on and the shipments are due to arrive today. The twins are unloading while the girls set up.”

I tucked my hands under my arms. “Lorenzo paid for all that?”

His brows knitted and he tucked the smoke behind his ear. “No. Austin did.”

I took a moment to process that, because I had never asked him for any help in that regard. It wasn’t even his problem, and yet he took money out of his own pocket to keep the store running. A store that only paid me a mediocre salary.


Articles you may like