He buried his nose in my hair and scented me, making me shiver from head to toe. “Why did you stay away from me?” he asked in my ear. I knew the rest of them could hear, but they were pretending not to notice. “Have I done something wrong?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t know what everyone thought of me after last night. After…”
He hummed low in his chest and the sound reverberated right through me. It wasn’t a growl, just a sound of acknowledgment. “I can’t speak for the rest of your mates, but for me, there’s nothing different. You are mated now, yes, and soon I hope you are mated to all of us but I also realize different relationships grow at different rates. We will have our time. You are my same incredible, smart, and beautiful mate and I love you. Nothing will ever change that. You are safe with your males. Period. You will always be safe in our care. Understand, female?”
I nodded as my tears soaked his shirt. I tipped my chin up to look at him, and his brown eyes assured me every word he said was true.
Still, I had to Wendi this moment up. I mean, we were too serious for our own good. “If anyone high-fives Brandon, I’m leaving,” I declared. They all chuckled and just like that, the tension was shattered.
Escher held me in his arms for a few more moments. “Are you three done yet? Our mate is hungry. I mean, she’s practically withering away here.” He bent down so his lips touched the rim of my ear making my core flare to life. “Plus, she’s wearing nothing underneath this dress and is cold.”
I giggled, and he kissed my temple as he growled low and slow deep in his chest.
He lifted me up and put me in a chair at the bar and moved the others out of the way to make me a plate full of meat and eggs and toasted English muffins. Then he made me a cup of coffee and doctored it up just the way I liked.
He nodded with satisfaction and then the rest of them made their own plates.
As I ate, I smiled down at my plate. I was one lucky female, for sure.
“What’s that smile for?” Moss asked, stabbing a forkful of eggs.
“Gratitude. Damn, I’m one lucky girl. You are each and collectively everything I’ve always dreamed of.”
They each squared their shoulders and puffed out their chests, taking in the compliment. It was warranted.
Unconditional love—what else could a human or shifter or any other species want in life besides deep-rooted love?
I couldn’t think of a better foundation.
Chapter Fifteen
“Shit, I left my mixer at my old house,” I said to no one in particular since everyone was busy. Cash and Brandon were out buying things for the house. They had to take both trucks and two trailers.
Because we were building a monstrosity of a home, apparently.
Escher was helping Evelyn clean out her attic, and she promised me a look at Cash and Escher’s pictures from when they were young. Escher didn’t seem to appreciate that, but still when his mom, or almost mom asked, he jumped. Told you a lot about a man who did that.
And Moss was at work.
The thing was, you couldn’t make meringue without a mixer, and my lemon pie I’d prepared for my men was begging for a proper topping.
For more than ten minutes, I stood there, debating. I even texted Christie to see if she was home, but she didn’t reply so I assumed she was at school.
But certainly the Rattlecreek pack had gotten the hint by now, right? I mean, the council had told them no and now Christie lived in my old house and I was well-protected.
My confidence won out and in minutes I was in Escher’s truck, headed to my old house. I got out and sniffed the air, not scenting any wolves nearby, only the faint perfume that was Christie lingered.
Key in hand, I unlocked the front door and went straight for my mixer. I picked up the mint-green heavy machine, balanced the bowl in my hands, and headed back to the truck. Even though I knew there was no one near, I was on my best behavior.
With the mixer safe in the front seat, I crossed in front of the truck, pleased as punch with myself I’d gotten away with it.
That’s when the first snapping of a twig caught my attention.
And then another.
I closed my eyes and tilted my chin up, inhaling deeply.
I hadn’t made it after all. I was in trouble.
Healing skills I was still practicing but fighting skills, well, clearly that was something the guys needed to teach me, like ASAP.
Too late now.
Shaking in place, I dialed Cash, the first number on my call history, and put the phone to my ear.
“Hey, I was looking for you…” He trailed off.
“Cash…” My chin quivered as I turned to face what wasn’t one but three wolves, baring their teeth and coming at me at a crawl.
“Wendi…where are you? I hear… Baby tell me where you are!” he yelled into the phone.
“At my old house. There are wolves. I’m sorry.”
The phone clicked off, and I knew without a doubt he was on his way.
Until then, I was fucked.
Shift. We are strong now. Shift.
My wolf demanded to be free, and I heeded her command. I shifted in placement shredding my clothes. My wolf took the front seat, posturing for her enemies. My lips trembled upward as she bared her teeth, our teeth at them, snarling and snapping her jaw, showing them how tough we were.
My wolf was bigger than theirs. We paced back and forth as they growled, but I didn’t give them one single inch. I stood my ground.
The gray one, the bigger wolf in the front of the others, came at me at a run but I moved at the last minute. As he passed, I took a bite out of his flank like Escher had done to the alpha while we were on their lands.
He shook himself from where he had crashed into the side of Escher’s truck and came at me again, this time trying to bite my muzzle.
Out of nowhere, Cash’s light brown wolf side-attacked him, pinning him to the ground with his mouth against the enemy’s throat.
The other wolf whimpered as Cash turned his attention to the others, giving a loud growl that made them retreat without any fight at all. Cash bit into the other wolf’s throat, but not enough to kill. The wolf scrambled up after Cash freed him, then the strange wolf ran in the same direction as the others.
We both shifted in place to two legs.
“Wendi, tell me you’re okay. I got here as fast as I could,” He scanned me head to toe, even turning me around to look at the back of me to make sure I didn’t have any injuries.
“I’m fine. I just came back for my mixer. Shit. I should’ve known better.”
He rubbed my arms up and down, taking another assessment before pulling me into his hold. “Baby, no. This is not your fault. Yes, you should’ve come to get me but this is on them. You should be free to go wherever you want without fear. They are the assholes.”
“I don’t understand why they’re still after me. I mean the council told them no. I told them no. Escher bit their alpha, wordlessly telling them no. Why can’t they get the hint?”
He shrugged. “You’re too irresistible for your own good, I suppose. You certainly are for me.”
He pulled back and I saw him smiling. “Is me getting attacked funny?” I asked, knowing better.
“Not at all, but damn, that wolf of yours is fierce as hell. Your hackles were raised. Your muscles were pulled tight, teeth were bared. Damn.”
I smacked his biceps. “Dude, you have the hots for my wolf.”
He chuckled. “No, but my wolf has the hots for your wolf.”
I squinted at him. “How is it different?”
He looked around. “I don’t know, but it is. My beast is lusty for your beast, and I’m all turned on by you.”
I glanced down and yep, that turned-on part was confirmed.
“Good thing tonight is date night.”
He chuckled. “Yes it is and I have something in mind.”
We both did.
“Mind driving us home?” I asked him.<
br />
“Of course I don’t mind. You sure you’re okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Can you promise to call me next time?”
I nodded. I’d certainly learned that lesson.
Chapter Sixteen
The morning after the attack, I didn’t have anyplace I needed to be, and I called it good. It seemed as though chaos reigned every time I left the house. I couldn’t even go pick up a silly countertop appliance without something awful happening. Depressing, really.
My guys all had places to be, Moss was at school working on a paper in the library. Brandon was off running an errand for the alpha. Escher, well, I didn’t know where he was, but he’d only popped in long enough to fill his travel mug and give me a quick kiss before disappearing to do whatever it was he went off to do.
And I was going out to dinner with Cash later, which was something to look forward to.
I settled in on the back porch with a textbook open on my eReader and a virtual highlighter in hand. With so much constant chaos, my grades were suffering, and I didn’t want to fail the upcoming quiz. History challenged me, memorizing the endless dates of wars and battles and other things interesting me not at all. Why didn’t we study more of the day-to-day life of people in various eras?
Maybe because men had been largely responsible for the writing of history for most of those eras? Unless a woman donned armor like Joan of Arc, or ruled a country, she was lucky to be footnote. And look what happened to Joan? To Marie Antionette? Lesson: keep your head down, don’t try to change the world. And everything will be fine.
This kind of thinking always made me angry, the idea women were less, and should stand behind their men in all things. A woman’s name should appear in the paper when she was born, engaged, and died…or something similar. Not that I had the slightest desire to have my name in the local newspaper, but I did wonder how many women’s achievements had been stifled, ignored…or never even happened because they were held back from reaching the peak of their abilities.
And shifters. The only shifter history I’d ever heard of was hidden away in the private libraries of packs, and usually ignored by all but the few scholars and healers who needed to consult them for something. Surely our history deserved better My thoughts were taking me far from the battles of wars fought by male humans with one another for reasons I often either disagreed with or didn’t understand—and if I did understand, I wondered how the cause had been allowed to get far enough before someone kind or sensible stopped the perpetrator. I would have to study this stuff, remember the dates and figures of how many killed how many others and with what cruel methods, but not now. Now, I would go run a bubble bath and try to put thoughts of guns and bombs and Rattlecreek no-gooders out of my mind.
But before I had time to go into the house, I heard a crash and a shouted curse from the direction of the new house and, tossing my eReader on the seat I’d stood up from, I raced across the porch and down onto the pathway winding through the pack lands. I could see the construction from here, but nothing that told me what went wrong and caused the cursing that amped in magnitude and volume as I pounded the dirt with my bare feet until I reached the spot where the front door would be one day.
Inside, Cashel was huddled in a crouch, facing away from me, and his variety of swear words was both colorful and descriptive. I was fairly sure some of his suggestions for whoever or whatever had harmed him were not physically possible.
“Umm…Cash?” I didn’t want to get too close and startle him. My guys were adorable, loving, and tender with me. But they were also trained warriors who I didn’t want to sneak up on. Sure, they’d feel bad if anything happened to me. But so would I. “What happened?”
He gasped and jumped to his feet, spinning to face me at the same time. One hand was cupped over the other and droplets of blood were plopping onto the dirt floor. “Wendi. I-I well, it’s f — embarrassing.”
Interesting how even in this moment of distress he managed to shut down the curses because he didn’t want to swear in front of me. I wasn’t a delicate flower, but I can’t say I hate when they treat me like one. As long as it’s not too often. But that wasn’t important right now.
“Let me see.”
“Wait!” He held up his uninjured hand, and removing the pressure made the blood flow faster, streaming between his fingers and soaking into the round. The cause of the wound immediately became clear. “You’re barefoot.”
I continued toward him, slowing only enough to watch for hazards likely to slash my bare foot. “How the hell did you get a nail stuck in your hand?”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” He laughed, but his eyes showed me how badly it had to hurt. As if seeing that spike sticking out of his palm wasn’t enough. “I need to shift and heal.”
“Wait!” I shouldn’t have to tell him this—another sign he was in bad shape. “First we need to get it out, then you can shift to heal. You don’t want to heal around it by shifting. Then it would be much worse.”
“I think I nicked a pretty big vein or something,” he said, clamping his other hand back to put pressure around the openings on both sides. “It’s not good.”
I examined it closer. “Do you have…what are they called? Nips? Because I think we want to take off the head and push it through. I read somewhere it’s never a good idea to try to pull back the way something went in, unless you have no choice.”
He narrowed his gaze at me. “You mean like an arrow in an old Western movie? This is real life, Wendi.”
“Look, who’s the healer here?” I was looking around now for the tool to cut the head off the nail and hoping against hope I had the strength to do it. Because no way he could. “You’ll have to trust me. Do you know where the cut-off thingies are?”
His laugh made me wince. “Cut-off thingies?”
“You mean these?” I’d never been gladder to hear Escher’s voice. “What has my roomie done now?”
“Thank the goddess.” I threw myself at him and gave him a hug. “I need your help. Cash has a nail in his hand.”
Escher stroked my hair and leaned to his right to see past me. “Another nail gun incident, brother?”
Another? How careless were they being? I didn’t want a house if it killed them all. “Maybe we should forget the house. It’s too dangerous.”
Despite his pain and injury, Cash joined Escher in laughter. “Silly Wendi. Nothing is worth doing if there isn’t at least a small dose of danger in it. I’ve had a couple of other nail gun issues, but nothing like this one. It misfired, Escher. We need to get it looked at before it really does hurt someone.”
“You don’t call this hurt?” My voice was a squeak, and I wanted to throw myself on Cash, but Escher’s arms tightened around me, the hand that had been stroking my hair pressing my face into his shoulder.
“Sssh, mate. He’ll be fine. I will take care of the nail and you can start the healing before he shifts.”
My healing skills were not something I relied on yet, but in this case as long as we got him shifted before he bled out—god forbid!—I’d just be providing support.
“Okay, bro, you ready?” Escher stood in front of him holding the pincer things by the head of the nail. I didn’t like how pale Cash was, but there wasn’t enough blood flow, yet, to be causing that. It was just it hurt and probably creeped him the hell out. Or maybe that was just me.
“Do it,” he gritted out.
“Hold tight to the other end, mate, and pull straight through on my word, okay?”
“Yes.” I didn’t have more words. I was praying the slickness of blood wouldn’t stop me from doing what I needed to.
“And, when I say shift, you do it.” This was directed at cash, who had droplets of sweat beading on his forehead.
“All right. Go. This sucker hurts.”
“One, two, three.” Snip! “Pull!”
I murmured a half-second prayer and gripped even tighter, a glow pouring around my fi
ngers then gave one strong tug and to my shock and relief the nail came right out through his palm. Followed by a gush of blood. Goddess don’t let him die!
“Shift!”
I fell back, still holding the evil spear as Cash’s clothes shredded and his wolf came in faster than I’d ever seen anyone change. Even the alpha who was recognized for his speedy shifts. The wolf tore off, leaving bloody pawprints where the one hit the ground and we both gaped.
“Wait, he’s still bleeding,” I shouted. “We have to stop him.”
But Escher was already shifting, and without any more discussion I followed suit. One more outfit bit the dust, but I couldn’t care less. My mate needed me, and I ran hard out of the construction site and followed the crimson footprints into the woods. Escher caught up, and we ran side by side until the path grew too narrow, then he dropped back and let me lead. Fortunately, whatever made Cash run, he was still weak from his injury and shock and by the time we caught up to him, he was limping on a front paw, although the bleeding had slowed.
Escher ran in front of him and I shifted and approached. Cash dropped to his side, tongue lolling out of his mouth. I held his gaze and took his injured paw in my hand. Escher, in human form and naked crouched next to me. “How is it?”
“I don’t know.” I brushed away leaves and bits of debris. “The shifting was a great healer, but can it stop infection from getting so much dirt and other germy stuff in it? That I don’t know.” Standing, I considered the situation. “Would you be able to carry him either in this form or his human one?”
“I think he’s about the same either way, but this is more compact.”
“I don’t want that paw in the dirt anymore. Can you try to lift him?”
Escher shook his head. “Usually he’s much smarter than this. He must have” really been in pain.” He slid his arms under Cash and stood, shifting the wolf’s weight then starting out. “Let’s go home, mate. But if he bites me, I’ll knock his lights out.”
The wolf whimpered, and my heart squeezed. “Be nice! Look at him.”
“I am. And he’s very heavy and his goof with a tool has turned into a huge mess.” He strode on down the path, muttering to himself, and I hurried to follow. Lucky we were on pack lands because anywhere else two naked people, one of them carrying a wolf as big as he was, might attract attention.
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