by Helen Scott
“You know that would never happen,” I said quietly. I desperately wanted to step toward him but didn’t. He’d indicated that he needed space, and I wasn’t going to push that until he was ready.
“So you don’t feel a pull toward him?” Micah asked, his eyes begging me for an answer I couldn’t give him.
“I will never lie to you, Micah, not on purpose, so I can’t give you the answer you want to hear. What I can say is that I don’t want to feel that, that I don’t want to choose him over you and the others. My relationship with all of you means so much more to me than anything he could ever offer.”
Micah nodded silently.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
“I’d rather have them beat me than listen to him talk about you,” Micah said with a sigh.
It enraged me that he’d had to go through that because of me, because of a stupid game the fates were playing with us. We stood quietly for a few moments before I couldn’t resist going to him any longer. This time when I stepped forward, he opened his arms to me, welcoming me into them as I moved.
I wrapped my arms around his waist, our naked bodies pressing against one another for comfort and nothing sexual, at least for the moment. Jax was an asshole, that much I was sure of, but he was an asshole I was drawn to nonetheless. I hated that fact as much as I hated that I couldn’t shift into my wolf. Though, I had a feeling if I could shift, she’d take care of my Jax problem for me. He wasn’t a small guy, and I knew his wolf would reflect that, which meant it would be a hard fight between us. Part of me wondered if I could beat him in hand-to-hand combat, if all my training would prove useful or just a fitness exercise. I honestly had no idea which way it would go.
“Do you think he’s doing the same thing to Blake?” I asked, my lips moving against Micah’s chest.
“Undoubtedly. He was happy to watch me rage and be tormented by his words. He’ll do the same to Blake, probably worse if Blake can stand it.”
“You don’t think he’ll kill him?” I pulled back so I could look up at him.
His intense blue eyes stared down at me, regret pinching the edges as he said, “Not intentionally, but I don’t know how much Blake could handle with the shape he was in when we brought him in. It might be that everything he does to Blake is mental, and we should be prepared for that when we get him back.”
“You think we will? Get him back I mean?” I asked, hope blooming in my heart.
“Yes. Without a doubt. It’s the damage that we’ll take doing that which concerns me, that’s all.” Micah cupped my face and kissed my forehead gently. “We will get him back though. Come hell or high water.”
“He just might not be the same as when he was taken. That’s what you’re saying, right?”
Micah nodded slowly, gauging my reaction to see if I was going to freak out or something. Unlikely. Though I had flipped out a bit earlier, my tolerance level for craptastic shit was like a pressure relief valve, once it had gone off, it took a while for it to all build up again. When it did, I would probably have a small breakdown, but then I’d stand back up and dust myself off, stronger than before.
In all my time on this earth, even though it wasn’t that much, I’d learned that life was like the ocean, it came in waves. Sometimes, those waves were big, monstrous things that would destroy everything in their path, and other times, they were small things that buoyed me. Plus, people were just as influenced by the moon as the tides were, the brilliance of a full moon drawing us out, tilting our gazes skyward, while the darkness of a new moon had us protected by the shadows.
I wondered which phase we would find Blake in. Would he be as empty as the sky appeared on the night of the new moon? Or would he be undaunted by Jax’s threats and beatings, shining as brightly as a full moon?
I had no idea, and as I stood there, holding Micah and thinking about Blake, my mind drifted to the men in the other room. A quick internal check on the mate bond told me that they were both still there and still waiting for us to emerge from the bathroom for food.
We would, soon, but I still wasn’t quite ready for reality to fully hit me again, so we stood there, loosely embracing and both lost in our own thoughts.
I tried again and again to figure out what was going on, what the pattern was with my mates, but the only thing I kept coming back to was my dreams. I wasn’t sure whether I should tell my mates about them or not. I mean, we’d been through a lot together, but if someone told you they thought they were having visions not dreams, it tended to make you think they were a little off. Having my mates doubt me wasn’t something I was willing to deal with, not yet anyway. They were all so logical, but also so understanding, that it made me wonder what their reactions would be. Probably something I couldn’t even imagine them doing or saying. No, I’d hold my tongue for now. Maybe we could talk about it once we got Blake back, but for now, he had to be the focus. I didn’t want them distracted by trying to figure out whether I’d lost my marbles or not.
“Ready to head back in?” Micah asked after we’d stood there for a while.
I was completely dry now, and my hair was starting to dry as well, though it would take a while. After a moment’s consideration, I nodded. It was time to get this show on the road. As I walked out though, I could have sworn that when I glanced in the mirror, I saw my wolf looking back at me through my eyes. The sight made me stumble and grab hold of the counter to keep myself from face-planting on the floor.
Micah’s hand gripped my arm. He gave me a questioning look, but I just waved him off. We had more important things to deal with right now, like how the hell was I going to tell them that I was going with Jax’s wolf?
22
Nina
Micah had quickly pulled on his boxers and jeans, though he remained shirtless, which I wasn’t complaining about. As he opened the door, I saw Roman sitting in the chair next to Tate. My heart filled with a swirl of emotions as I saw them, my longing for Blake doubling. If we had all been there in that moment, it would’ve been almost perfect. Except for the fact that Tate was still healing from his wounds and we were in a hospital. Oh, and I had no clothes except for the tiny towel that hardly covered anything.
“I found you some scrubs,” Roman said quietly. “I’m sure that there are some clothes in the packs that we still have that would work, but I didn’t think it was wise to go wandering off in the parking lot, at least not on my own. Since Micah was otherwise occupied, I thought this was the best choice.” He gave a small shrug, as though it wasn’t a big deal, but I knew it was.
Without hesitating, I walked over to him and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, love,” I said.
As I turned around, I felt a tug on my towel and the whole thing came down. I glared over my shoulder at Roman, who held the towel looking completely unapologetic as his hungry gaze traveled over my body, lingering on my ass for a while. Unperturbed, I went over and grabbed the scrubs, pulling the pants on, then the shirt. The pants were long enough that I had to roll them up at the ankles, and the shirt was baggy enough, and big enough in general, that I could probably wear it as a dress if I needed to. Maybe I’d start a new fashion trend? Who knew? I mean, considering I was one of the least fashionable people on the planet, it was doubtful, but a girl could dream.
Before I could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. A nurse came in without pause and did a double take when she saw Micah sitting there shirtless with his hair down. I didn’t think she even noticed that I was in scrubs, since she was too focused on him. My wolf was not happy about it to say the least.
“I just came by to drop off discharge papers,” she said, glancing at Tate every now and again. She was clearly having trouble removing her gaze from Micah, so I decided to help out and went over to sit on Micah’s lap. I draped myself over him and kissed him on his cheek while watching the nurse the whole time. She flushed and suddenly found the monitors around Tate’s bed much more interesting.
“Once you fill
these out, we’ll get your IV removed and you’ll be ready to go.” She practically dropped the paperwork and a pen on Tate’s lap before scurrying from the room.
Part of me wanted to howl in victory, while another part wanted me to chase her down and make sure she understood that the men in this room were mine. All of them.
“I think you proved your point, angel,” Roman said as he pushed one of the pizza boxes toward me.
I grinned as I leaned forward on Micah’s lap, grabbing the whole box and opening it to find a gloriously vegetable covered pizza. As soon as the scent of it hit my nose, I was ravenous and may as well have dragged my food into the corner of the room, hunched over it, and whispered “My precious.” The guys watched me with barely contained humor as I inhaled the first few slices. The leafy green flavors of broccoli exploded over my tongue, along with the sweet peppers, earthy mushrooms, tangy onions, and rich sausage and pepperoni. The cardboard box was the traditional square and the pizza was the normal circle, but the pieces were cut into squares, except for the edge, obviously. I hadn’t had pizza cut like that before, and it was weird.
Once the initial roar of hunger had passed, I was able to focus more on what the guys were talking about. For the most part, they were just giving each other shit, mainly Micah, since we’d taken our time in the bathroom. Before I could jump in, Roman stood and declared that he was going to take a shower while the opportunity was there. I watched him carefully, wanting to make sure he didn’t feel left out or slighted in any way, but the burst of love that came through the mate bond when he caught me looking told me that he was fine. I’d never imagined having one mate, let alone multiples. Turned out, trying to balance my time between four different lovers was more difficult than I expected.
The jokes died down a bit once they were aware I was paying attention. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to join in on the humor, but I also knew things were still awkward between all of us. So I accepted it for what it was and promised myself that when this was all over, we’d work on it.
“How are you feeling, Tate?” I asked before taking a giant bite of pizza, relishing the taste and feel of the food in my mouth. It was hard to describe the taste of squirrel or groundhog. Even deer had its own unique flavor, and I didn’t miss any of them. Give me a slice of pizza or a box of lo mein any day.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said, rubbing his hand up over his shoulder.
It was a reminder that we needed to get out of the very human hospital before they noticed how quickly he was healing. I knew there were ways to sweep this kind of thing under the rug, but I didn’t know if that would work for five wolves without a pack, though they had certainly swept Blake’s kidnapping under the rug without any issue. Jax could be very intimidating when he wanted to be though. He was almost worse than a mob boss or something.
I pushed thoughts of him from my head, but Micah had noticed my shift in mood and reached out to squeeze my knee while happily chowing down on a slice of Hawaiian pizza. Who enjoyed pineapple on a pizza? Psychos, that’s whom. It was unfortunate that Micah was as sane as they came—well, for the most part—because it meant that he had no excuse for that behavior.
“Do you think you’ll be ready when we need to move?” Micah asked, his tone serious, even the twinkle of humor in his eye was gone.
Tate nodded solemnly.
Roman chose that moment to appear from the shower. He had to know what he was doing as he stepped out into the main room with water still clinging to his skin, droplets rolling down, tantalizing me as they did. I wanted to go and lick them off his skin, but then he’d probably have to shower again since he’d be all slobbery, though now that I was fueled up, I could join him. Choices, choices.
“I know what you’re thinking, and as much as I want to, no,” Roman said, looking directly at me. “We need to find out what happened and how we’re going to get Blake back.”
The door swung open again, and the nurse from before was back.
“Just wanted to see if you were done with the paperwork,” she said brightly.
Sure you did, honey. You keep telling yourself that. Definitely didn’t have to do with the hottie sitting shirtless in a chair. Her feet stumbled, and I saw she was watching Roman this time, her gaze flicking between the two of them.
It took everything I had to stay in Micah’s lap, and I succeeded until she flashed a smile at Roman. He wasn’t really paying her much attention and I knew I should just ignore it, but I couldn’t. My wolf was green with jealousy and filled with a possessiveness I’d never known before. It was that part of me that took over and pushed me to my feet, carrying me over to Roman. I wrapped a hand around his neck and pulled him down into a kiss the likes of which I would never usually go for in front of a stranger. She needed to know he wasn’t available though.
The longer we kissed, the more my wolf wanted Roman, wanted to mark him and him to mark me, wanted to be bound forever to him, even more tightly than we already were.
A throat cleared, and I pulled away. It was Tate though, and he just laughed as he said, “She’s gone, babe, you can stand down.”
I released Roman and went to move away, but his hand captured me and pulled me back to him, spinning me as he did so, which made my back rest against his front. His hard cock ground against my ass and lower back as he leaned down and wrapped a hand lightly around my throat.
“The next time you do that, you better be prepared to deal with the consequences,” he whispered in my ear, his lips brushing the delicate skin that resided there, making goosebumps erupt all over. My whole body shuddered in response to his touch, and I could feel myself getting heated and wet for him.
“Is that a promise?” I asked, turning my head slightly to face him.
“It is. I will fuck you whenever, wherever, however I want to if you get that possessive again. Understood?”
I nodded, my chin touching the hand that still cupped my throat. With anyone else, I wouldn’t tolerate the behavior or the kinds of things he said to me sometimes, but with him? It just made me wetter than Niagara Falls. I pressed my thighs together, trying to ease the ache of need that had started up when he’d first taken hold of me.
“Now why don’t you tell us what happened with Blake?”
I tried to step away so I could see all of them, but his hand slid from my throat to my shoulders, while his other circled my waist.
“Tell us from here, or the next time the nurse comes, in I’ll bend you over and fuck you in front of her,” Roman growled out.
His wolf was front and center, and even though I couldn’t see it, I was willing to bet his eyes had shifted to his wolf’s. I wasn’t sure what had caused it, but I kind of loved it, not going to lie. I just wished my wolf could respond in kind.
“We probably should talk, shouldn’t we?” I said, though my voice came out breathier than I’d intended. Roman’s hand slid lower on my belly, and I knew this was him teasing me for making out with him in front of a stranger, and if I was honest, I kind of loved it. He was a private person by nature, and I’d known that what I was about to do would frustrate him before I kissed him, but I did it anyway because I needed to get my point across. Now, he was getting his point across to me. I only hoped that we could have this conversation without me turning into a pile of horny goo. That might’ve been asking too much of Roman though. The way his hands skimmed across my skin certainly made it seem like he had a goal in mind.
23
Nina
“So he approached you in the hallway by the vending machines, like he knew that was exactly where you’d be?” Roman asked, trying to get some clarification.
“I don’t think he could’ve known that’s where I’d be, but it was a good likelihood that one of us would be going to the vending machines. Makes me wonder if there were more of them about and he was just the first one to find me and relay the message.”
“And he gave you twenty-four hours to decide whether or not to go with him?” Tate
asked, a lone eyebrow raised as he questioned me.
I nodded.
“Jax wouldn’t let you wait like that. Whoever you spoke with was either new or doesn’t like the orders that Jax gave him. Gods help him if Jax finds out though,” Tate said, muttering the last part.
“Maybe I won’t kill him then,” I murmured in response.
“You planned on killing him?” Roman asked from behind me.
“I told him I would. They took Blake, and I’m not going to tolerate that kind of behavior. The more I let stuff like that go unpunished, the bolder Jax is going to become. I mean, if we get Blake back and we all get away, he’s going to come after us again, and how many of you will he take that time to get my attention? He’s a dog that needs to be trained.” By the end, I was seething mad. The rage that was flowing through me wasn’t completely unexpected, though I was surprised by the strength of it.
“We will train him, mate. He will never bother you again, or we’ll put him down like the rabid dog he is. I’ve already got a list of grievances I intend to exact blood payment for, so we can add this to the list. Once we get Blake back and get a chance to find out what the hell the oracle is going on about, then we can make a plan. For now, we need to think about what’s directly in front of us. We should’ve talked about this earlier, since there’s only a couple hours between now and then. It’s hardly enough time to pull together a plan for this, let alone any vengeance we want to exact.” Roman’s voice was a cold fury in my ears, bolstering me, raising me up in the wave of my anger and resentment.
We had been through enough, dammit. One way or another, we were going to get Jax to leave us alone. We just needed to get Blake back first.
My eldest mate’s words about the oracle rang through me, and I felt the sense of urgency rush through my veins like adrenaline. Time was running out in so many ways that I couldn’t keep track of it all. Hell, I didn’t even understand it all.