Or she could get on with her life. She’d put it on hold long enough. Hell, there was Google Earth. She knew what the outside of the hotel looked like. She could search from the comfort of her own home via laptop.
And, frankly, she was starting to get a little horny. Not that she’d ever let that pull her away from finding this Aliah woman, but it helped tip the scales all the way over into “return to Florida” territory.
With that, and making sure the house was locked up, Elain gathered Jasper and headed out. Her attention once again focused on the car parked at the end of the street.
She made a U-turn she knew was legal in Florida, but since there wasn’t any traffic around, she figured it didn’t matter if it was legal in Maine or not.
Of course, around the car she smelled Aliah’s scent.
Okay.
She took pictures of the car, making sure to get the VIN plate on the dash, the front bumper, and the license plate on the rear. Those she texted to Blackie, along with a short question.
Can you figure who this belongs to?
Her phone rang. When she answered, he wasted no time. “Why are you still in Maine?”
“I told you I had things to do.”
“You never said you’d not be doing them at Lacey’s.”
“I never said I would, either.”
Silence.
It had to be frustrating the hell out of him that he couldn’t edict her like he could Callie.
“If anything happens to you, not only will Ain, Brodey, and Cail have my hide, but so will Lina and Mai. And while I’m not afraid of your guys or Mai, I’ll be honest that Lina scares the crap out of me.”
“I’m fine. I have Jasper with me.” She got in her car and started the engine. “And I’m on my way to Lacey’s right now. I need a shower and finish packing, and then I’ll leave.”
“You’d better.” He hung up on her.
She smiled. “Those silly male Alpha wolves,” she told Jasper. “They think they know everything.”
* * * *
Aliah returned to the house late that afternoon and kept driving past, to the cul-de-sac, when she saw a garbage bin parked outside. Heart racing, she returned to the end of the street and parked next to Gerry’s car. There were fresh tire tracks in the dirt, footprints, and the scent of the female wolf.
Dammit.
There weren’t any cars in the driveway at the house, and she didn’t see any others parked at neighboring houses that she didn’t recognize from her other trips.
Leaving the car there, she ducked around behind houses and along the woods bordering them until she reached the house.
Still no signs of anyone.
There were new tracks in the tall grass in the backyard, besides the ones she’d left there. When she sniffed, she smelled the female wolf, fresh, and what she thought was a dog.
The back door was locked, but she reached through, unlocked the deadbolt, and let herself in.
Yes, inside, the female wolf’s and dog’s scents, both fresh.
In the kitchen, she found the note.
Well, scratch that idea. The house couldn’t be used as a hideout now.
She grabbed the note and fled through the back door, barely remembering to pull it closed behind her.
She ran all the way to the car, started it, and raced out of the neighborhood. She drove a long, twisting route back to the hotel, making sure she wasn’t followed before finally going there. She quickly packed her stuff once she returned. Leaving the car behind sucked, especially since she’d filled the tank, but she couldn’t risk it being found right away and tied to her.
Behind the hotel was a patch of woods. No one parked behind the building, so she moved the car there. After emptying the room, loading her things in the truck, and making another check of the room to ensure she hadn’t forgotten anything, she pulled the truck around to the back and siphoned as much gas out of the car as she could. It wouldn’t be all, but at least it’d be less money lost.
She also took the license plates off the front and rear of the car. She might be able to use them. With her truck registered in Georgia, that stuck out like a sore thumb, but at least the plates were good for another eight months.
After finishing that, she washed up in the room, checked out, and got on the road.
Shelter. That was her priority. She could buy a tent and live in a campground, but that would suck, especially with colder autumn weather less than a few weeks away. And she didn’t want to leave the area. No telling how long the female wolf would be around, considering her car had a Florida plate.
Back to the McDonald’s. She texted the Florida license plate number to Carl and waited.
Five minutes later, he called.
“What the fuck have you gotten yourself involved in?” he said by way of greeting.
“We just need a name and address.” She was still keeping up the pretense of Cameron being alive.
“Are you trying to start a massive war with the Maine wolves? Because if you are, I’d like to give you a friendly piece of advice and tell you to knock it the fuck off. We’ve got a hard enough time dealing with that Blackestone woman for you to be inciting a massive war. As if that half-assed stunt of Cameron’s in Yellowstone wasn’t bad enough pissing them off at us.”
“Just tell me who it is.”
“It’s registered to one Elain Pardie-Lyall, from Arcadia, Florida. Don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of her, either, have you?” His voice dripped sarcasm.
“No.”
She wasn’t sure if his noise was a laugh or a groan. “She happens to be the wife and mate of Aindreas, Brodey, and Cailean Lyall. Three Alpha wolves you absolutely do not want to fuck with, even on their worst day and your best one. Aindreas Lyall is on the Maine wolves’ Clan Council. And, oh yeah, Elain happens to be a Seer. And an Alpha wolf herself, who literally ripped the nuts off a male Abernathy wolf during a challenge. So I will ask again, what the fuck do you think you’re trying to do? And where the hell is Cameron?”
Her stomach felt a little queasy, and not just from morning sickness. Still, she knew her need for vengeance would refuse to go away until she’d had her satisfaction. If she needed to take out a couple of wolves to get it, so be it.
“I’ll get back to you,” she said before ending the call.
Carl called back immediately, but she sent it to voice mail.
Closing her eyes, she rested her head against the back of the seat. Logic and reason told her to make her way back to Georgia, where she could melt into the shadows, maybe go back to work as a waitress. The trailer was free other than the electric bill. She could grow a small garden to supplement her grocery bill, get herself on welfare and food stamps, and have her baby in peace.
But would she ever be at peace if she did that?
She knew the answer.
The note from the female wolf, which she’d laid on the seat, seemed to taunt her despite its simple message. No doubt if she called the wolf it would only be a matter of time before Kitty Blackestone came tracking her ass down.
It didn’t mean she wouldn’t hold on to it, in case she found she needed the number.
Scrounging around in her purse, she found enough change to get a newspaper from the paper box outside the restaurant. Quickly turning to the back pages, she found the classifieds and scanned them. With winter coming she needed a warm room and a job that paid enough for her to stay there.
If she couldn’t do that, then she would have to get back to Georgia fast, before the weather turned cold.
Chapter Ten
Brodey lay awake in bed and unable to sleep. Knowing Elain was on her way back to them had him wound up, nervous, worried.
Their parents had died—correction, been murdered—while driving.
He wasn’t convinced she was safe on the road, despite what his two brothers might think.
He also couldn’t shake the nagging feeling something else was going on, something he couldn’t put his finger on. Something t
hat went beyond her Seer or Triad gig. Something personal.
I can’t fix everything.
No, he couldn’t. It didn’t stop him from wanting to. Not where Elain was concerned. The loneliness and pain he’d felt after breaking up with Kimberlie a few years ago, someone he’d pinged on as his personal One, was nothing compared to the loneliness he felt without Elain there at home with them.
Okay, so they were right.
At the time, he’d almost hated his brothers for not liking Kimberlie.
Now, he got it. Oooh, boy, did he ever get it.
He tried rolling onto his side and closing his eyes. He couldn’t do anything about it until she returned home. But that tingling sensation at the base of his tail had returned, a little annoying right now, but he knew unless he figured it out it would steadily grow. Just like it had before Jim was kidnapped in Yellowstone.
He trusted that sensation. It had saved their lives more times than he could count.
It meant he had to stay on guard.
Cannot catch a fucking break.
* * * *
Unlike the determined, relentlessly direct trip Elain made to Maine nine days earlier, her return drive home was marked by many detours, stops, and lots of personal reflection. She’d spent last night at a small hotel in New York, her men happy to hear she was finally on her way home. That morning, she’d texted Blackie the address of the rental house, but not how she’d discovered it. She included a message.
Keep someone on watch there for a while.
Either Aliah had gone there and found her note already, or she hadn’t. If she hadn’t, Elain suspected she’d soon get a phone call from Blackie asking what the fuck?
Today, she’d taken the slower, scenic route of the Blue Ridge Parkway, instead of the interstate. Yesterday, she’d felt decisive, ready, even eager to get back to Florida.
The reality of the situation was starting to sink in. Becoming a mom, something she’d really wanted, then decided to hold off on, and then unexpectedly blessed with.
Do I even want to go home?
Well, that was a stupid-ass question, because of course she wanted to go home.
She just didn’t want to take a deep, hard, honest look at the shit-storm of stuff rolling toward them over the horizon.
Being home would make it real. Admitting her pregnancy out loud to her guys would make it real. Staring at Lina and Mai and knowing she couldn’t confide in them, perhaps ever, the things she now knew made it so damn real it was painful to contemplate.
She had the family she’d longed for all her life.
And she felt more isolated from them than ever.
Her men would, in all likelihood, be ecstatic to find out they would soon be fathers.
And her heart would ache because she had to protect their parents’ murderer.
Her own father, the man who’d sacrificed so much to protect her and keep her safe, she now had to keep from him the knowledge that she was essentially harboring his brothers’ mates’ murderer, the man that was the reason for her own mother dying, albeit indirectly.
The man who helped kill Kael’s family.
She pulled over at another scenic overlook along the Blue Ridge Parkway and got out, making sure to keep a tight grip on Jasper’s leash as he sniffed around the grass. Her other hand rested on her still-flat belly.
What about her daughter? Lacey had confirmed what she’d suspected, her baby’s gender. Elain knew the date of conception, the night she’d spent in Venice with her three men.
She also knew with certainty the date Mercedes died.
The math wasn’t exactly complicated. Considering everything they’d been through recently, it would surprise her more if her baby wasn’t the continuation of a soul from someone else, someone whom Elain suspected she might be.
It would also explain the visceral reaction she’d had to Marston, the sudden, unexplained urge to feel sorry for him and believe him.
Deep in her heart, Elain suspected who her baby was. Rather, who she had been in a previous life.
Did it matter? Really? Colleen. BettLynn and the Beasts. Lina and Zack and Rick and Jan…
All of them. Like Ryan had told her, souls were old and ever being reborn, some intact, some not.
It was a lot to absorb, and she still wasn’t sure she understood all of it.
Hell, she knew she didn’t understand it. Any of it.
Didn’t want to, either. Not really.
Part of her longed for simplicity, a return to her blissfully unaware existence, where shifters and cockatrice didn’t exist.
But that would mean losing so much, and she’d never settle for that.
Ever.
After Jasper finished his business, Elain cleaned it up with a bag, tossed it, and wiped her hands with wipes she kept in her car. Then she walked with him over to the low rock wall and stared out over the landscape before her. While the peak leaf-turning season hadn’t started yet, here and there were patches of blazing color amidst the darker greens.
“You know, Jasper, I envy you.”
She looked down at the dog, who, hearing his name, had inquisitively looked up at her. “Life is simple for you,” she said, petting his head. “Poop, pee, eat, sleep, play.” She let out a sigh. “I wish it was that simple for me,” she muttered.
* * * *
Elain spent one more night on the road, trying to gather her thoughts.
Secretly, part of her hoped Blackie would call and tell her they’d captured a woman at the house, so that Elain could hurry back there and question her.
Meanwhile, she’d e-mailed him the night before with as much info as she could, describing the hotel she’d seen in her vision. Kitty and their people, familiar with the area, would handle the ground search.
As she crossed the state line on I-95 into Florida, her pulse began to thrum, nervous butterflies beating a ferocious hurricane of manic activity in her stomach. In a few hours, she’d be home.
Life would never be the same.
There was still a little light along the western horizon when she finally made the turn into the driveway at the Lyall ranch in Arcadia. On the way, she’d planned how to break the news to them. She wanted to cook them a nice dinner tomorrow night over at the Venice house, get some alone time with them. She’d planned how to say it, everything.
What she didn’t anticipate was the feeling of a weight rolling off her shoulders when she opened her car door and all three of her men stepped out onto the porch. With Ain leading the way, they quickly strode across the yard, Ain almost at a dead run when he grabbed her, picking her up and spinning her around before kissing her.
Aaand then her brains fell out.
She burst into tears as Brodey and Cail gathered close. “I’m pregnant,” she whispered, the flood of emotions overwhelming her.
They smelled so right, so good, so much like home after what felt like a lifetime of bad over the past several days.
Ain set her on her feet as Jasper climbed over the driver’s seat to jump out and nose at her leg, shoving his head between Brodey and Cail to do it. With Ain’s hands cupping her face, shock in his expression, he asked, “What did you say?”
She nodded. “Yeah. That’s what I said. I think the night we were in Venice.”
“Say it again,” Brodey begged, a grin on his face. “Please? Say it again.”
She sniffled back her tears. “I’m pregnant.”
All three men threw their heads back and howled their joy to the skies, drawing everyone out of the house and onto the front porch. And then she was swept up in a mass of family, everyone hugging and congratulating her, someone took control of Jasper, someone else grabbed her stuff from the car, and finally, after what felt like forever, she was alone in their bedroom with her men.
The three of them surrounded her, their arms around each other and her, while from them washed peace and contentment and love and joy so deep and true she thought it might break her heart from the sheer strength of it.
At that moment she wanted them, but she wanted a hot shower even more. They were fine with that, too, quickly stripping themselves and her. Moments later, the four of them were all standing under the hot water in their huge shower.
Three pairs of hands gently washed her, three sets of lips kissed her all over. They caressed her tummy, their hands lingering there especially, pressing their cheeks to her flesh as if to listen for a heartbeat even their sensitive ears couldn’t hear yet.
They didn’t ask what she’d been doing. They didn’t ask how long she’d known.
Sensing how emotionally fragile she was at that moment, they didn’t speak except to murmur how much they loved her.
Cradled against Cail at one point, she poked Brodey in the top of the head when he once more knelt before her, his lips pressed against her navel. “You edicted me not to come while I was gone, you jerk.”
He chuckled. “I take it back. And, may I remind you, you had the option to refuse.”
“If it’s any consolation,” Cail softly said in her ear, “I didn’t come. I can’t speak for these two, but I waited.”
“Me, too,” Ain said as he laced his fingers through hers. He brought her hand to his lips and feathered them across her knuckles. “I didn’t want to do it without you.”
“Okay, fine,” Brodey mumbled. “I didn’t, either. Frankly, I’d planned to toss you over my shoulder, carry you into the bedroom, and fuck your brains out as soon as you got here.” He laughed, kissing her tummy again. “You sort of derailed my train of thought.”
All three of them were hard, but none of the made any attempts to get sexy with her yet. She felt them holding back, wanting her to set the pace, tentative now that she wasn’t just their mate, but the mother-to-be of their child.
Knowing she needed to convince them now that she didn’t turn into Dresden china just because she was pregnant, she took charge. Lacing the fingers of her other hand through Brodey’s wet hair, she grabbed a handful of hair and pushed his head down a little lower, in line with her clit. “Then why don’t you make up for the edict, starting right now.”
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