Holding Honor (Ashland Pride Book 9) Read online

  Because there’s something wrong with the females, and we’re going to fix them.

  As swiftly as his heart had lifted at the thought of seeing his daughter again after so many years, it shattered. This would be the ultimate betrayal. He didn’t know what Victoria meant by her text, but he could guess it wouldn’t be good for Honor and Hope.

  Ryan, you want to see Carolee, don’t you? This is the only way. Help me to bring the two females back into the fold and fix their issues.

  He swallowed hard and blinked at the sting of tears. For Carolee, he’d do anything.

  Okay, I’ll do it. Just promise you won’t hurt them.

  You’re a good male, Ryan, and you’ll see your daughter soon.

  Chapter 11

  Jax woke up Saturday morning when Holden got up to get ready for work. The two had agreed that they’d alternate Saturdays, so one of them would have the day alone with Honor every week. He was fortunate to have this first Saturday alone with his mate, to have a chance to connect with her as a couple. They were a threesome, but they weren’t just that.

  Honor was snuggled up next to him, the diamond engagement ring on her left hand flashing in the light from the bathroom. They’d proposed Wednesday night after dinner at the nicest restaurant in town: The Vault, which had at one time been a bank. She was now their fiancée, something that he hadn’t thought would happen unless his mate was human or another type of shifter. But Honor was a mountain lion who was no longer cursed, and she belonged to him and his brother, heart and soul.

  “See you at five,” Holden said to Jax as he leaned over and kissed Honor’s forehead.

  “Have fun,” Jax murmured.

  Holden rolled his eyes. “I’ll say the same thing to you next Saturday.”

  Jax chuckled as Holden left for work. He had a blissful handful of hours all alone with his sweetheart, and he wanted to make the most of their time together. Sliding off the bed, he tugged his jeans on, leaving her slumbering while he went into the kitchen to make breakfast.

  She joined him a few minutes later. “Good morning,” Honor said, sliding her arms around his waist and looking at the eggs he was moving around the skillet.

  “Morning, sweetheart. I hope you like scrambled eggs. I was attempting to make them over-easy, but the yolks were not cooperating.”

  “I love scrambled eggs. Can I help?”

  “No way. This is the first part of my plan to romance the hell out of you today.”

  She kissed his shoulder with a chuckle. “You’re adorable.”

  “Have a seat, beautiful.”

  She sat at the table while he finished the eggs and filled two plates with them, along with toast and sausage links. After setting down two cups of coffee and glasses of orange juice, he sat across from her.

  “Thank you for breakfast.”

  “It’s my pleasure.”

  While they ate, they talked about her first week at the school, how crazy the pride meeting had been, and her Friday morning coffee run with Hope before school.

  “I didn’t know there were so many different kinds of coffee,” she said as she took a bite of toast. “I had a mocha latte, and Hope had an iced vanilla coffee. She was kind of nervous while we were there. I think the meeting spooked her a bit.”

  “Oh?”

  “Well, it’s one thing to suspect that the pride males aren’t crazy about you because of what you are, but it’s another thing entirely to have them say it out loud, in public. She’s nothing like I was at her age; she’s compassionate, sweet, and silly.”

  Jax speared a chunk of egg. “Aside from Hope’s behavior, you’re also nothing like the females. I don’t know how any of the males who heard you talk on Thursday night could still believe you’re cursed.”

  “I think the ones who are afraid of me are those who’ve lost daughters to the curse or have little ones at home still. They may believe I’m going to be unable to stop myself from poisoning them.”

  “It’s impossible. According to the curse, aside from needing two females, the girls have to be exposed to the venom three times over the course of their childhood. And I’m not even sure that once a female is released from the curse she could even curse another one.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, the females don’t seem to know why they’re poisoning the girls in the first place. You remember doing it to others?”

  She nodded. “When I got my memories and emotions back, I recalled the ones I cut with my claws. When I was cursed and did it, I didn’t think anything of it, it was just something that was done without thought. You might be right, though. I’m aware of my emotions and actions now, and I would never purposely claw a female for that reason. Maybe the curse gave the females’ claws venom, but once the curse is broken the venom goes away.” She turned her hands over and looked at her fingertips.

  “I’m thankful you have your emotions again.”

  She smiled. “Me too. I wish the curse had never happened. I feel like I lost out on so much because of it.”

  “We’ve all wondered how many males had female truemates but never knew about the curse. It’s sad to think of the loneliness and loss it brought to our people.”

  “Maybe someday, someone will figure out how to break it for everyone, so there isn’t a threat of it happening ever again.”

  “That would be a wonderful thing. Our people would be as they were meant to be.”

  She pushed back her chair and stood slowly. “Jax.”

  “Yeah, sweetheart?”

  She walked to him and he scooted back his chair. Straddling him, she murmured, “I love you.”

  His chest tightened. “I love you, too.”

  Her fingers curled into his hair, and she brushed her lips over his. “I don’t want to think about the curse anymore, or the hardships that our people have faced because of it. I just want to be with you.”

  Jax pulled on the tie that held her robe closed and spread the silky material open. She was naked underneath, her nipples tight and her legs splayed across his. She brushed her fingers along the waistband of his jeans as she nibbled on his bottom lip. Jax took the unspoken hint, arching up under her and shoving the denim down past his knees. Then he slid one hand up her back and into her hair, fisting it gently and bringing her to his lips once more as he stroked the soft skin of her thighs, drawing closer to her heat.

  Her hand closed around his shaft. He growled, sliding two fingers into her heat and feeling the slick wetness. She moaned, stroking his cock in time with his fingers in her pussy. Brushing his fingers over her clit, he smiled when she gasped and shivered. He played with the bundle of nerves, driving up her passion as she lightly twisted her hand back and forth on his cock, pushing him closer to release.

  With a soft snarl he grasped her waist and lifted her over his throbbing cock, lowering her swiftly until they were skin to skin. Her heat enveloped him as they both groaned at the contact.

  Sliding his hand into her hair, he tilted her head and kissed her. Slipping his tongue into her mouth, she grasped the back of the chair and began to move on him. He played with her nipples, tugging on the tight buds and alternating kissing her lips and sucking on her breasts. Her head dropped back with a groan as he sucked one of her nipples into his mouth and slid a hand between her legs, rubbing his thumb on her clit. Her pussy gripped him as he thrust inside her, her hips flexing as he rubbed her swiftly and drove her to the peak of pleasure.

  Then he stopped, letting go of her nipple and bringing his thumb to his mouth. She groaned and dropped her head down to look at him.

  With a grin, he said, “Ready to come?”

  “Yes!”

  He placed his thumb on her clit and her eyes closed. “Nah, sweetheart, look at me.”

  She opened her eyes and bit her bottom lip. Her hands slipped from the back of the chair and linked behind his neck. With his free hand on her back, he helped her move on him, sliding back and forth as quickly as he was rubbing her bud. Her lips parte
d and she panted for breath. Heat flooded him as her eyes flickered from bright blue to the amber of her cat, and her pussy tightened on his cock. Narrowing her eyes, she let out a cry of pleasure. He watched as the amber of her eyes totally eclipsed the blue, fangs peeking from her parted lips. He let himself follow her into bliss, pulling her tight to his body and kissing her. He ran his tongue along her fangs, and she shuddered.

  With a groan, she pulled away from his lips and gave him a sweet smile.

  “This is a first for me.”

  “Which part?” He rubbed his thumb along her pulse, feeling the thrum of her heartbeat.

  “All of it. Making love in the kitchen. My cat being so close to the surface. My fangs coming out. I’m so blissed out right now I don’t want to move”

  “I’ll move us both, then.” Jax beamed.

  He stood with her in his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist, he carefully carried her to the bedroom, his jeans slipping down his legs. Laying her down on the bed, Jax stripped and joined her, walking his fingers down the center of her body.

  “Sexy female, beautiful mate.”

  She spread her legs and pushed his hand to the apex of her thighs, giving him a smile laced with heat and promise. “Lucky. You forgot to say how lucky I am, too.”

  “Trust me, sweetheart, I’m the lucky one.”

  * * *

  Once Holden got off work and cleaned up, they all headed to a movie together. It was the first movie Honor had seen since her father had taken her to the theater as a kid. They stopped for ice cream on the way home, capping off the day by making love to her together. Although Jax had coveted every second alone with her, he knew that he and Holden were meant to share her. Her cat was happiest when she was with both her males.

  They opted to walk to her father’s for dinner on Sunday night. After a homecooked meal of country ribs and mac and cheese, topped off with Eli’s famous s’mores cookies, they’d walked home.

  She strolled between them, holding their hands. “I wanted to discuss Hope.”

  “Sure, sweetheart,” Jax said. “What in particular?”

  “When I was helping Dad in the kitchen, he said that Hope wants to stay with us. Not all the time, at least not in the beginning, but she wants to get to know us all better. We haven’t talked about her coming to stay with us, though, so I wanted to see what you think.”

  Jax and Holden stopped walking, and she turned to face them.

  “She’s your daughter and you’re our mate,” Holden said. “That means she’s our daughter, too, and we absolutely want her to live with us if that’s what she wants. Jax and I want to be in her life however much she’s comfortable with.”

  “The moment I saw her on the video app, I wanted her to be with us. I just didn’t want to push. She was so wary of me at first that I wasn’t sure how much she’d want me to be in her life, if at all. I think working at the school has helped convince her I’m sticking around and that I’m different than everything she’d heard about the females before now.”

  “And you have your Friday coffee runs now, too,” Jax said.

  She smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corner. “I love that. I can’t wait for Fridays now. She’s so chatty in the car and at the coffee shop. It’s like I’m getting peeks into her soul. I adore the time I can share with her.”

  “Us, too,” Holden said. “When do you want to talk to her about it?”

  “I was thinking tomorrow after school. Before we left tonight, I offered to bring her home from school since Dad has a meeting with the teachers. I’ll let her decide how long she wants to stay with us, but from what Dad said it would be a few nights with us and a few nights with him.”

  “Is he okay with it?” Holden asked.

  “Yeah. He wants her to be happy, and he wants our family to be whole.”

  “We can decorate her room together, whatever she likes,” Jax said. The home they were renting had three bedrooms and two full baths. The walls were painted beige, and they weren’t allowed to repaint them without the homeowners’ consent, but they could get a nice bed, and hang pictures and curtains.

  “That would be great,” Honor said. “I want her to feel at home with us, too. I’ll bring her to the house tomorrow, show her the two rooms, and see what she thinks.”

  They began walking again toward home, happy to have had such a wonderful night.

  Chapter 12

  Honor was thrilled to be able to bring Hope home after school and talk to her about living with them. Holden and Jax had taken off work early, and now they were standing in one of the two spare bedrooms with her and Hope, discussing the pros and cons of each one.

  “This one has a bigger closet,” Honor pointed out. One of the two bedrooms had a walk-in, and one had a standard.

  “But the view out the window is nicer in the other one,” Holden said. “If you care about that.”

  Hope hummed as she looked around. “I think I’d rather have a walk-in closet, in the long run.” She walked over to the window and peered out. “If I want to look at the woods I can always just go outside.”

  Honor chuckled. “Very true.”

  “I’ll take this one,” Hope said, turning to face them.

  Honor wanted to hug her daughter, but was still afraid of pushing too hard. Hope gave her a curious look and then closed the distance between them and embraced her. Honor exhaled in relief and hugged her back.

  “You can always hug me,” Hope said.

  “Thanks, honey.”

  Jax cleared his throat noisily and Hope giggled, slipping from Honor’s arms and accepting hugs from the males.

  “Thanks for letting me have a room here.”

  “You’re welcome,” Holden said. “Ready to go shopping? Then we can grab a bite at the diner.”

  “Sounds great,” Hope said.

  They drove outside of King to a nearby mall and found a furniture store. Honor hadn’t gotten paid yet from her job, but Holden and Jax promised that they didn’t mind covering the expenses. At the end of the day, they’d told her, Hope was their daughter, too, and they would provide for her because that’s what good males did. Honor felt amazingly blessed to be with two such caring males. While they shopped, she thought about their future. They hadn’t talked about starting a family since they’d been in the hotel after her rescue. The night before, she’d looked at her online calendar and noted that she wasn’t due to get her period for another few days. Whether she was pregnant or not from the first time she’d made love with her mates without protection, she decided not to get an early detection pregnancy test. If she was late, then she’d pick up a test.

  Jax slid his hand into hers and linked their fingers. In a low voice he said, “You’re being awfully quiet. Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, just thinking.”

  “About what?”

  She watched as Holden and Hope bounced on a mattress, laughing like old friends. “About having a family.”

  “I love how things are moving forward for us,” Jax said. “Hope wanting to stay with us is the icing on the cake of a pretty amazing life.”

  “I love it, too. Did you ever think you’d be back in King?” she asked as they joined the two goofballs on the bed.

  “No,” Jax said. “We figured we’d stay in Ashland because of Melody and her family.”

  “Who’s Melody?” Hope asked, brushing the golden hair out of her face. Her eyes were bright blue with happiness, and her smile was infectious.

  “Our niece,” Holden said. “Her father Bradley – our brother – took her out of King when she was an infant and moved to Ohio. We never knew where he was exactly, but he kept in touch through letters and packages.”

  “Why did he take her away?” Hope tilted her head, her brow furrowed.

  “Because he was certain that the females did something to the little ones, and he didn’t want Melody to turn out like that. And she didn’t. She was perfectly normal, not at all jaded or uncaring. He died in a car accident a few years ag
o. She lives in Ashland with her two mates and their child.”

  “He didn’t know about the curse and he still took off with his daughter, that’s pretty cool.”

  “Very much so. I wish he was still alive. He would have loved you,” Jax said.

  “So which bed do you want?” Honor asked, patting the mattress.

  “The white one,” Hope said. “It’s so pretty. And there’s a purple quilt that’s really cool.”

  “Sounds like we’ve found everything we need,” Holden said, smiling as he stood and offered his hands to both females. “Let’s see how soon we can get delivery.”

  An hour later, they’d arranged for the furniture to be delivered on Thursday. As they left the store, Hope said, “Can I spend the night Thursday? Since my furniture will be there?”

  “Absolutely,” Honor said as she buckled up. “You can stay as often as you’d like. It’s your room.”

  “Pop said the same thing. I don’t want to leave him alone all the time, but I want to spend time with you, too.”

  “Whatever you want to do is fine with us,” Honor said.

  “Thank you for you everything.” Hope leaned forward from the second row and gave Honor’s shoulder a squeeze. “Thank you for coming to King to be with me. I know you didn’t have to do that. You could have stayed in Ashland.”

  Honor rested her hand on top of Hope’s and turned to look at her. “As a matter of fact, I did have to come here. Not only to make amends to Dad for everything, but because no matter how badly I behaved as a cursed female, I wanted a chance to make things right with you. I couldn’t live in Ashland while you were in King and wonder what was going on with you. I didn’t want to be a long-distance parent. You’re worth the change of scenery.”

  Hope smiled broadly, her cheeks dimpling with the motion, and settled back in the seat. “Oh! Can you turn the radio up? I love this song.”

  “You bet,” Jax said as he pressed the button to increase the volume. The song filled the cab, and Honor and her mates sang along with her daughter, their laughter punctuated by purposely off-key notes and wrong words. She’d never laughed so hard in her life.