Vince's Place Read online

  Contents

  Cover Credit

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  About This Book

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  From The Author

  About The Author

  Cover Credit

  Christopher Coyle

  darkandstormyknight.com

  Thank you for adorning my words so beautifully.

  Your talent knows no bounds!

  #

  Sandra R Neeley 94,558 words

  P. O. Box1464

  Hammond, LA 70404

  [email protected]

  Vince’s Place

  Avaleigh’s Boys

  Book 6

  by Sandra R Neeley

  Copyright © 2019 SANDRA R NEELEY

  All rights reserved.

  Thank you for purchasing and/or downloading this book. It is the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and/or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes without express written permission from the author.

  Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales, is purely coincidental. The characters are creations of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademarked ownership of all trademarks and word marks mentioned in this book.

  For all of you, who like me, have become a part of the family that Kaid has built. We’ve laughed, cried, raged and loved our way through each of the stories they’ve given us, and come out the other end looking fondly back on each one of Avaleigh’s Boys and the memories they’ve left us with. Everyone yearns for a place to call home, a place where they are accepted and cherished for being who they are. A place free from criticism, free from judgment — a sanctuary. And in these pages, with Avaleigh’s Boys, for at least a little while, we’ve found it. Thank you for taking this journey with me. I am proud to call each of you family.

  About This Book

  Vince is a Lion shifter, happily living life as a bachelor on the outer edges of the mix-matched clan of shifters his sister has married into. He’s fine like he is, or so he tells himself. Then one afternoon a woman wanders into his bar on the run from everything she calls home. His Lion sits up and takes notice. This must be it he thinks — this is the Mate call I keep hearing everyone talk about. He calls her Mate and sets about trying to make her believe it — no matter how much she resists him and keeps her distance.

  Visiting the hospital to welcome a friend’s new baby, Vince’s Lion suddenly surges to the forefront, roaring ‘Mate’ in his mind. He’s stunned, speechless, and anchored to the spot he was standing in when he first caught sight of the pretty, brunette nurse. Then, the woman he’d mistakenly called Mate speaks behind him. Slowly he turns, realizing this can’t be right — he’s already got a Mate, already made promises, given his word — and he’s a man of his word. His Lion is outraged, his heart pounding, his soul shaken. How could he have been so wrong?

  Natalie is a nurse spending her life working in two hospitals. Every waking moment she is helping someone somewhere, in an effort to keep herself focused on anything other than her private life. She’s been lied to, cheated on, and hurt so many times, she refuses to allow it to happen again. Then, while working with a very unique couple of new parents, she runs into a man she can’t ignore. This man steals her attentions, captivates her with his presence, and it seems she unwittingly has the same effect on him. She dares to think that maybe, just maybe, this time will be different. When his girlfriend shows up to visit the new parents, Natalie’s hopes are dashed. Angry for allowing herself to be attracted to a man who is already committed, she runs — leaving him and any explanation he may have to offer behind.

  But, Vince isn’t even close to ready to give up. Natalie is his. He knows it, and his Lion knows it. Now all he has to do is find her — if he can.

  Warning: Intended for mature audiences. This book contains some violence, and sexual situations and intimacy that may be disturbing for some readers. If you are offended by these subjects, please do not buy this book.

  Prologue

  Bam watched Vince escorting his Ever to him so that he could make her his legally. Everyone, everywhere would know that they belonged to each other. She was gorgeous, her hair glowed under the lights, her dress fit her perfectly, and everywhere he looked everything was gold. When they finally got to him where he waited in front of the preacher, Vince kissed her cheek, placed her hand in Bam’s hand, and hugged Bam.

  Bam said, “I hope you don’t mind, I wanted Bane and Avaleigh to be my best men. Well, technically Avaleigh isn’t a man, but she always knew I was enough. From the very first minute she met me, she knew. So I wanted her to stand with me and Bane. So since Valerie’s your best friend, I thought maybe Delilah could stand with you and Valerie, since she’s, well, you know, Delilah.”

  Everyone chuckled, and Everly said, “It’s exactly as I’d have planned it. You were right, I’d have asked Valerie and Delilah.”

  “So I did good?” he asked, nuzzling her cheek with his nose.

  “You did so good!” she said, kissing his chin.

  They exchanged vows, Bam slipped a slender gold band onto her finger with her engagement ring, and she slipped an identical gold band onto his finger. He lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her rings. She did the same, lifting his huge hand to her lips, kissing his wedding band where it sat on his finger.

  Then he took her chin in his fingertips, turned her face up to his, and kissed her lips oh so softly, gently.

  Preacher Manley shook his hand, turned them both to their clan and introduced them, “I have the honor of introducing to you, Mr. and Mrs. Bramley Marchande’.”

  The clan danced, ate, and celebrated into the night. Bam and Everly spent most of the night locked in each other’s arms, slowly swaying, dancing to their own rhythm as they looked intently into one another’s eyes, regardless of the music playing.

  Finally, after several hours, it became apparent that the party had just about been partied out.

  They’d hired the waitresses from Vince’s Place to help with the party and to help with the clean up, but when it became apparent that they were breaking it all down, the clan pitched in to help anyway. All except Delilah, not because she was lazy, but because she was busy devouring her third hunk of wedding cake.

  Avaleigh was folding up the table cloths to save for Everly when Kaid noticed a flash on her hand. He walked over and took her hand in his to get a better look. Which Remi immediately noticed, because a man that wasn’t his Papa was touching his Mommy. “What’s this?!” Kaid exclaimed.

  Remi ran circles around them chanting, “Mommy and Papa are getting married.”

  Daniel’s voice carried as he approached, “Means we’re having another wedding soon,” he said proudly.

  Kaid placed his hand on Avaleigh�
�s cheek, looking her in the eye. “Congratulations, Dragon’s Mate.”

  Kaid lifted Avaleigh’s hand and showed off the ring that she now wore, “Guys! Look what happened when we weren’t looking!”

  They were swarmed as everyone came to see Avaleigh’s ring and pat Daniel on the back in congratulations.

  Bam came over, pulling Everly by the hand to see Avaleigh’s ring.

  Daniel said, “Sorry, didn’t mean to steal your thunder, I just couldn’t wait any longer, and you saying that the Christmas Festival was the perfect place for you and Everly got me to thinking. It really is.”

  Bam grinned, “I’m so glad you did it tonight; it makes tonight double special,” he said, beaming. “I’m happy for you, Avaleigh. You’ll be such a pretty bride.”

  “I’m happy for you too, Bam. I’ve prayed for you to find your Mate for a long, long time.”

  He didn’t let go of Everly’s hand, but he pulled Avaleigh in for a hug, “I know you did. You always knew I was enough, even when I didn’t.”

  Avaleigh smiled, happy tears filling her eyes, “I always did, Bam.”

  “Can you believe that where we started brought us all to where we are now?” Kaid asked Avaleigh.

  She looked around at all their family, their clan, and back to Kaid, “No, thinking back I really can’t believe it.”

  Kaid hugged her, “Love you, Avaleigh.”

  “I love you, Kaid. Thank you for taking me home to your family. Thank you for my life,” she said.

  “Uhh, Kaid,” Delilah snapped, more than a little tone in her voice.

  He rolled his eyes, though good naturedly, and turned smiling at his Mate, “Really? After all this time you’re still jealous when I tell Avaleigh I love her? You know she’s like a sister.”

  She shot him a look that said, jump straight up my ass, and said, “That’s not the problem!” Then she looked directly at the wedding cake now lying on the ground, what was left of her punch splashed on top of it.

  “Oh, well, I’ll get you some more, Monster. It ain’t no big deal,” he said.

  Then she clenched her jaw, started panting and held onto her stomach again. Her writhing stomach. Kaid turned white, Delilah snarled, and everybody started panicking.

  Delilah having panted through the second contraction that she’d experienced that night, snarled at Kaid, “I don’t want more food! I want to make this pain stop!”

  He rushed to her side, taking her by the arm, “Fuck! Delilah, I had no idea you were hurting, Monster. Why didn’t you tell me?!”

  “I did!” she snapped. “Right after I dropped my cake, I tried to tell you!”

  “Okay, okay. Yes, you did. Let’s get you to the hospital. We’ll get you some pain medicine, and it’ll make it much easier. Remember when Janie had Daisy, it’ll be fine,” he told her trying to soothe her.

  “Wait!” Daniel said, “What if when the baby is born, it’s…” he tried to infer that maybe it would be Dragon. Bears were born human and didn’t shift right away, but Dragons could come out Dragon right away, not always, but they could…

  Bam walked over to Delilah, “Can I touch?” he asked.

  “Yes, you may,” she answered, still gritting her teeth.

  He placed his hands on her belly and closed his eyes. He couldn’t quite see the baby, but he could see her Dragon. After a few moments, he opened his eyes, smiling at Delilah, “Your Dragon says it’ll come out human. She won’t tell me if it’s Dragon or Bear, or a boy or a girl, but it’ll come out human.”

  “Well, then that’s it! Let’s go, let’s get her to the hospital,” Bane said, a little calmer than the rest having been through this with his own.

  They all turned and headed toward the exit for the Christmas Tree Garden, so they could then move toward the exit for the Christmas Festival, Bam and Kaid each helping to support Delilah as they hurried her to the exit. They were almost there when another contraction hit.

  They paused to allow her to catch her breath, and then saw Vince and Brandi walking toward them, “Hey guys, ya’ll leaving already? The Festival don’t close til 2AM! We just went to load some of the party supplies in my truck, and ya’ll all rushing off!” Vince called.

  “Well, you took too damn long, we leaving,” Maverik called back.

  “What? Already? I wanted to spend a little time showing Brandi the Christmas Festival before we left! Introduce her to some more people,” Vince said.

  Maverik smirked at Vince, “You still trying to convince her she needs to stay here?”

  Valerie stepped on his foot, hard.

  “What?!” he asked her, “He is!”

  “Hush, stop causing trouble,” she told him.

  He opened his mouth again and Valerie glared at him. He promptly closed his mouth and started trying to think of a way to rephrase things, so Valerie wouldn’t be irritated with him.

  “Well, we gotta go. But the Festival will still be here for the rest of the weekend so ya’ll got time to see everything, and you can come back plenty and convince her it’s a good place to stay.”

  Valerie stepped on his foot again, “What?!” he asked again, exaggeratedly. “I’m being nice!”

  Then he turned back to Vince, who was looking like he wanted to strangle Mav, “And besides, Delilah’s in labor, so, bye!” Maverik started to walk away.

  “Wait, Delilah’s in labor?!” Vince called out, immediately falling into step behind the rest of the clan, pulling Brandi along with him, as they headed to the hospital.

  “Yes, I am laboring, Lion. Come with or do not, but do not hinder us. I am not happy!” she snarled at him over her shoulder as Kaid and Bam hurried her toward the parking lot.

  Vince chuckled, he was happy for Kaid, for Delilah, and Bam and Everly. He was very happy that he’d been absorbed, more or less, into Kaid’s clan.

  Maverik himself was giddy, thrilled that Delilah was going to have her baby tonight. He grasped Valerie’s hand and turned to look for Maia, who was not there. She was standing a short distance away at a lemonade stand.

  Valerie noticed him looking for Maia, “Oh, I asked her to get me lemonade, my love. She’s right over there,” she said pointing her out.

  “Awright, but who’s she talking to?” he asked.

  “Probably somebody from school,” she said absently as she watched Delilah come to a stop, as she endured yet another contraction.

  Delilah’s voice could clearly be heard above all the noise of the midway of the Festival, as she declared to Kaid, “You better enjoy this youngling, because you will never touch me again!”

  The other males of the clan all started snickering, while the females, Valerie included, rushed to Delilah’s side.

  Valerie reached her right after the others did, and Delilah turned her full attention to Valerie, “Prepare, Valerie. It is much pain!” Then she turned to Kaid again, “I will bite you if you try to touch me again!”

  “But, Monster, it won’t hurt for long,” he stupidly said.

  “Well, then, we shall try to shove a watermelon through your penis! It won’t hurt for long!” she shouted at him.

  Janie stood right in front of Delilah, snapped her fingers to get her attention, and when Delilah’s shifting violet and ice blue eyes focused on her, she said, “We need to go to the hospital. They can make the pain better. They can make you more comfortable. Let’s focus, Delilah. Let’s get there as quickly as we can. That’s our plan. Okay?”

  Delilah, her contraction having passed, focused on Janie, “Yes, this is our plan.” She turned to Kaid, “Get me to the hospital now. It is our plan.”

  And to his credit, he didn’t argue or even say a word, he just smiled lovingly and took her arm, Bam assumed his place on the other side, and together they started toward the vehicles again.

  Just as they moved out of sight, Valerie heard Kaid say, “I love you, Delilah.”

  To which she responded, “I know. I must surely love you as well — you are still breathing.”

 
Bam laughed, he thought the whole thing was hilarious.

  “Do not laugh, Bam. Your Mate is expecting as well, and she can shoot, with both hands!” Delilah said.

  Bam shot his eyes to Everly who was keeping pace beside him; she shook her head, and scrunched up her nose, “I won’t shoot you, baby. I promise.”

  Bam nodded, but still looked a little worried as he returned his attention to Delilah.

  Maverik waited for Maia to join him and Valerie again, so they could follow their family. As she approached and handed Valerie the lemonade she’d requested, and was happily strolling along sipping her own as they followed the clan out of the Festival, he asked “Who was that?”

  “Who was who?” Maia asked.

  “That boy,” he pressed.

  “He’s just a friend. I met him a few weeks ago. He’s nice,” she explained.

  “Awright,” he answered, looking back at the boy who was staring after Maia with puppy dog eyes.

  Vince was waiting for them at the gate, “Ya’ll want to ride with us?”

  “Yeah, sure. We rode with Delilah and Kaid, and ain’t no way in hell I’m getting in that truck with them right now,” Maverik said laughing.

  “Well, come on, they already driving off. Let’s get gone,” Vince said.

  A parade of trucks, each carrying a family, each family a part of the clan, drove away from the Christmas Festival in the direction of the hospital to welcome a new life into their clan. A clan that had been born of a need to belong. A need to be accepted, loved, respected for who they each were. A clan who was made stronger as each found their place. Each heart was full; each heart loved, smiled and bled for the others in their clan. They were all exactly where they belonged: together. And that was as it should be. All was as it should be.

  Well, almost.

  Chapter 1

  Kaid pulled his truck up to the emergency entrance, then, ran around to the passenger side to help Delilah get out and into the hospital. Janie, who’d been riding shotgun with Delilah tucked between her and Kaid, slid out and waited while Kaid helped Delilah out. She hurried along with them, all the while trying to soothe a snarling Delilah. Bane jumped out of the back seat and got into the driver’s seat to pull the truck into a parking spot in the lot across from the emergency entrance. As they all climbed out, Bam’s truck pulled in and parked beside them, followed shortly after by Vince in his own truck.