Dakota's Claim Read Free Page B

away.”
    “Dallas...”
Hope said without fear or weakness in her voice. Tawny’s father could be a
frightening man to anyone that meant to hurt his club or family, but even
though he was pissed right now, it wasn’t a fraction of what he showed his
enemies.
      “No, Hope,” Dallas said and leaned forward,
bracing his hands on the table. He stared at Tawny. “We have never actually sat
down and discussed the fact that Tawny seems to either be going out with the
guys she does to piss me off, or she likes putting herself in danger.”
    Tawny
felt her eyes grow wider. “Putting myself in danger?” she asked with a raised
voice. “Yeah, because that’s just what I like to do, and my main goal in life
is making sure I piss you off as many times as I can.” She curled her hands
around the edge of the table.
    Her
dad exhaled, ran a hand over his short, greying hair, and stared at her with
hard eyes. “Baby girl, you know that I am just worried about you, and that the
punks out there only want one thing.”
    The
anger left her, and she looked at the table. She knew her father was protective
of her and Tarren , and even though it was one hundred
times more intense because of his bear genetics, it was also because he had
lost an eighteen-year-old son decades ago. They had talked about it as a
family, and Dallas had expressed the pain he had felt, and why he was so
worried about them. She knew he thought they would get hurt just like his son
had, and as much as she wanted to be upset that he smothered her at times, she
couldn’t help but care him more because of his love for her.
    “I’m
not stupid, dad, know how to take care of myself, and I just want you to trust
me to handle things.” She stared at him, saw the
parental worry on his face, and the fact he wanted to argue the point. He
growled out, and when he opened his mouth, because Tawny knew he wouldn’t give
her slack so easily, her mom reached out and took his hand.
    “Dallas,
honey, let’s just talk about this later so we can finish dinner.”
    Her
dad didn’t respond right away, but then he finally leaned back in his seat,
nodded once, and they resumed eating. Although they finished dinner in near
silence, Tawny knew that even though at twenty-one she could take care of
herself, she knew her father wouldn’t cave that easily. Hell, he still gave the
“watch your ass” looks to Lucas, Tarren’s husband,
and they had known each other their whole lives. Yeah, she had a long and tough
road ahead of her concerning her dad and him not being so protective.
    ****
    One week later
    Tawny
held Lola, her gorgeous and absolutely adorable niece, while Tarren sat in front of her folding little toddler clothing.
    Tarren picked up her phone and started
texting, and then smiled.
    “God,
you and Lucas make me sick,” Tawny said, but smiled at the love her sister had
for Lucas.
    “I
know, sometimes I make myself sick with how lovey-dovey I am with Lucas.” Tarren grinned, but focused on her phone still.
    Tawny
looked down at Lola when Tarren went back to texting.
“Have I told you that auntie thinks you are the most beautiful little girl in
the whole world?” Tawny said softly, stroked a finger across Lola’s brow, and
then looked at Tarren again. Her sister had since put
the cell down, and was folding laundry again. The little dresses and pants that
were Lola’s had Tawny smiling.
    “How’s
work?” Small talk wasn’t really what she did with her sister, because normally
when she came over Lucas was here, but she did want to know how Tarren’s job was going since she had just recently gone
back to work since Lola was born.   “It’s
okay, I guess. Lucas would prefer I stay home and take care of Lola, but I need
to get out of the house and have some time for myself. It’s only part-time, and
Mom and Dad are excited about being able to watch her.” Tarren reached for her cell as it dinged with an incoming text.
    “Dang,
tell your overly alpha husband to