by Dena Christy
It didn’t take long for them to get ready to go, and they didn’t talk much on the way to the bar. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mercy sitting with her eyes squeezed shut and he felt sorry for her. Every rut in the back road must jostle her stomach and set her teeth on edge as she tried not to be sick.
“Logan is bringing his family into the meeting. His mate, Faith, is pregnant. Maybe you could talk to her about the morning sickness, and maybe she might know how to deal with it so you aren’t so miserable.”
“I’ll talk to her. Anything would be better than spending my mornings like this.”
They were quiet for the rest of the ride to the bar and were the first ones to arrive. Alex unlocked the door, they walked in. The sun shades were down on most of the windows, so the bar was dim inside. Alex turned on a few lights by the bar.
He reached for the basket of the coffeemaker before he remembered what Mercy had said about coffee. He looked at her apologetically.
“It’s okay. If you want to make coffee for everyone, go ahead. My stomach has settled down a little and it should be fine.”
Before he set about making coffee, he got a glass and filled it with ice. Water came next and he handed it to her. She smiled gratefully at him, sat down at the bar and sipped it while he went to work making coffee.
The door to the bar opened and Rafe and Honor walked in. Honor went straight over to Mercy and hugged her.
“I’m kind of surprised to see you here. Alex didn’t mention that you were coming.”
“I’m staying with him for a while, and I needed to be a part of this meeting.”
Rafe looked at him with his brow raised. “What’s going on?”
Alex was about to tell him a little about what was happening when the others arrived. Logan walked into the bar with his mate Faith on one side and his son, Connor, on the other. Mason and Grace were only a few steps behind them all.
Alex got the keys for the pinball machine and held them up. Logan nodded and Alex turned to the boy. “Hey Connor, do you want unlimited quarters?”
“Sure.” Connor had a fondness for the pinball machine and played it every chance he got. And it would be better if he was occupied while they talked about Nathan’s breaking into Mercy’s home.
Once Connor was settled with the pinball machine, Alex came back to the main part of the barroom to find the others had moved several tables together.
“Does anyone want coffee before we start?”
“Not right now,” Logan spoke and his face was serious. “I think it would be best if you told us what is going on.”
Alex came to sit in the empty chair beside Mercy. She took his hand and looked at him before turning her attention to Logan.
“Last night someone broke into my house.” Honor gasped and Mercy smiled at her. “As you can see, I’m fine. He made it as far as my laundry room before something scared him away and my neighbor called the police to say she’d seen an intruder leaving through my basement window. Luke came to the house, checked everything out and he told Alex when he came over who he thought it was based on his scent. He thinks it was Nathan.”
Silence followed Mercy’s pronouncement, but Alex knew that it was only a matter of time before the reactions started. Rafe was the first one, and he erupted.
“That son of a bitch is back in Eden Creek? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“We wish we were.” Alex turned to him. “Luke doesn’t think that he broke in to rob Mercy, and he must have had some other reason that he didn’t get to before he was scared off. Maybe he’s out for revenge. Who knows what is going on in that bastard’s head, and frankly it doesn’t really matter why he broke in. The most important thing is that he did. If he’s after Mercy, then there’s a good chance he might be after Honor too.”
Rafe said nothing, just pulled Honor close to him with a look on his face that said that Nathan was a dead man if he came anywhere near her.
“What I want to know is what he was doing in Eden Creek in the first place,” Mason spoke as he looked over at Logan. “The council was supposed to be dealing with him. So how in the hell did he get all the way to Eden Creek without us getting any warning that he was on the loose?”
A grim look crossed Logan’s face. “That’s a very good question. One I intend to find the answer to right now. I’ll be right back.”
Logan stood and went to his office. The door slammed behind him, and Faith gave Alex a strained smile. “I think we should have that coffee now.”
Alex got up and got cups for everyone along with cream and sugar. Honor helped him by bringing the coffeepot and poured coffee for everyone except for Mercy.
“Is your stomach okay with this?” He looked at her with concern since her face was still pale.
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
“Are you sick?” Faith asked and Mercy shook her head.
“Pregnant. The morning sickness is horrible.”
A look of sympathy crossed Faith’s face. “Tell me about it. Try nibbling on saltine crackers. They helped me and maybe they’ll help you. Other than that all you can do is ride it out and hope you aren’t one of those unfortunate women who are sick the whole time. Unfortunately, we all can’t be like Grace who hasn’t been sick a single day.”
Grace smirked at Faith and gave Mercy a look of sympathy.
Alex got out of his chair and went into the darkened kitchen. He grabbed several wrapped packages of saltines that they served with soup and brought them back out. He set them in front of Mercy and she smiled gratefully at him as she opened a package and took out a cracker.
The door to Logan’s office opened and he strode toward them, his expression not any happier than when he’d left the table a few minutes ago.
“Okay, I called Lucien and Nathan not being in the council’s custody is news to him. He was being held in a safe house that only Lucien and those guarding him were supposed to know about. Apparently, Nathan hasn’t been very amiable to talking about who on the council wanted Barrett installed as alpha of Eden Creek.”
“That’s fine, but it doesn’t solve the problem we have right now,” Rafe spoke as he set his coffee cup down after taking a sip. “Nathan is in Eden Creek and if he goes back to Mercy’s place and finds she’s not there, he could turn up in Cold Bay. What are we supposed to do about it?”
Logan looked grim. “Lucien says that if he’s found in any of my territories, he’s to be captured and returned to him for interrogation.”
“So they can lose him again?” Mason didn’t look any happier than the others as he looked at Logan. “We tried that once already.”
“I know. So we compromise. If he is found hiding somewhere, then we capture him and take him to Lucien. If he comes after Mercy or Honor and means to harm them, we kill him. And if Lucien has anything to say about it, he only has himself to blame. If he wanted Nathan to still be alive, he should have kept a better leash on his prisoner.”
Alex glanced at Rafe, and he could tell that the other man was thinking the same thing that he was. If Nathan was still hiding somewhere in the area, it didn’t matter if he was actively going after either Mercy or Honor. He was a threat to them and that made him a dead man.
Shortly after the meeting, only Alex, Mercy, Rafe and Honor remained at the bar, and Honor pulled Mercy out of earshot of the two men who were talking quietly together.
“So it seems things are going well since you told Alex about the baby.”
Mercy gave a little laugh at the excitement in her friend’s face. “I don’t know if I’d go that far. The only reason I’m staying with him is because of this whole Nathan thing.”
“But it is a step in the right direction.” Honor grinned at her and Mercy was sure she knew what her friend was getting at. Honor had always been a hopeless romantic, and her mating with Rafe and finding her true love only made that aspect of her personality much stronger. It was why she’d avoided telling her about her night with Alex.
“And w
hat direction would that be?”
“The direction that ends with you and Alex being together. You can’t tell me that being with the father of your baby, building a life with him, isn't something that you want.” Honor drew her over to a booth and they sat across from each other. “I know that you guys are doing things backward, what with having a baby together first before the commitment, but this is something you can build on.”
And deep down Mercy wanted to build on it, but she wasn’t the only one involved in this. There was a whole other person and what he wanted had to count for something too. She couldn’t quite get over the feeling that by sleeping with him that night that she’d trapped him into something that he maybe didn’t want.
“But what about what Alex wants? I know he wants this baby. As soon as I told him, he made it clear that he wants to be involved in the baby’s life for the long haul. But what makes you so sure he wants me along with it?” Mercy folded her hands together as the same old insecurity came rushing back.
“Well, considering you didn’t make that baby by yourself, I think it’s obvious that Alex wants you.”
“Maybe physically, but that is not the same things as wanting a relationship.” Relationships weren’t her strong suit. Not because it wasn’t something she wanted, but because the men she’d attracted in the past had not been the best ones to build a loving relationship with. It was funny, but Alex was actually an anomaly and not like the guys she usually went for.
“The man came running to you in the middle of the night when you called. You are staying at his house, where he can keep you safe. That doesn’t sound like the actions of someone who’s only interested in your body.” Honor reached out and put her hand on Mercy’s arm.
“No, but it is the actions of someone who wants to keep their baby safe.”
Honor frowned at her and withdrew her hand. “I honestly don’t know why you do this. You seem to think that you aren’t worthy of being cared about. You are a wonderful woman, and any man worthy of you can see that. And Alex is worthy of you. All I’m saying is allow yourself to be open to the possibility of a relationship with him. You don’t have to go home with him this minute and declare that you want to be together forever. But don’t stay with him and put walls up either.”
But her walls made her safe. How was she supposed to relax them?
“How am I going to do that?”
“Just relax. Live in the moment without worrying about what will happen next. Let him get to know the real you, the one I know. Not Mercy the tough girl, the one who doesn’t need anybody. We both know that while that is one side of you, it isn’t all of you. Let him know all of you.”
Mercy nodded so that Honor would stop talking about this, but deep in her gut, the notion of letting Alex know the real her, the one behind the tough exterior that she’d cultivated from the time she was a kid, scared her. He wasn’t like any man she’d been with before. He was protective and kind. He was the kind of man who would bring her crackers hoping it might make her feel better. How was she supposed to deal with a man like that? What if she showed him the soft, vulnerable part of herself and found out that it wasn’t enough?
That being with a man who was kind to her was out of her realm of experience seemed rather pathetic. It was a sad indictment on her previous relationships that a considerate man threw her for a loop. With the men, she’d been with before she’d had to be tough because they were the kind of men who would take advantage of any vulnerability.
Rafe and Alex came over to them and Rafe took Honor’s hand and gently pulled her out of her seat. “You ready to go?”
“Yes.” Honor picked her purse up off the table and she looked at Alex. “Make sure you take care of my girl.”
“I will.” And he tucked Mercy close to his side when she stood up. He ran his hand up and down her arm and she leaned her head on his shoulder for a second before she pulled away from him.
Honor hugged Mercy and spoke in a low voice in her ear. “Remember what I said. Be open to possibilities.”
Honor and Rafe left the bar and it was just her and Alex standing there. She looked up at him as she moved away to grab her purse.
“What were you and Rafe so intent about?” She put the strap of her purse over her shoulder and together she and Alex walked to the door of the bar.
“Just discussing strategy for dealing with Nathan if he has the nerve to show his face.” Once they were out the door, Alex turned and locked up the bar.
As they walked to the truck, Mercy had a thought. “You aren’t going to hunt him, are you?”
The thought sent a shaft of worry through her. There was a toughness to Alex, so it wasn’t that she thought he was incapable of taking on Nathan. But Nathan had proved that he didn’t play by the rules and he might turn the tables on Alex and hurt him. She didn’t know how she could live with something happening to him.
He must have seen something on her face because he came to stand in front of her. She looked up at him, looked into his deep blue eyes trying to see if there was some clue into what he was thinking.
“Rafe and I discussed the possibility. But we have decided that there are too many places where Nathan can hide to make hunting him feasible. And we can’t discount the fact that it might be what he wants.”
Alex opened the passenger side door and helped her in the truck. Mercy climbed in and put on her seatbelt while he closed the door and went around to the other side of the truck. Alex got in, put on his seatbelt and started the engine.
“What do you mean? That he wants you and Rafe to hunt him?” That didn’t make a whole lot of sense to her. Why would Nathan want to be hunted? Surely he knew that if Rafe came after him, there was little chance he would survive the encounter. He’d barely survived the beating Rafe had given him the last time.
“It’s just speculation. The only way to know for sure what is going on in Nathan’s head is to ask him and we can hardly do that. All we know for sure is that he broke into your house. Maybe it was to draw us out or maybe not. But if Rafe and I go out and actively look for him it will leave you and Honor vulnerable. Maybe that’s what he wants.”
Mercy shivered inside her coat despite the heat inside the truck. Why did Nathan have to come back at all? As if her life wasn’t complicated enough, now she had to worry about him lurking around every corner.
Alex looked over at her. “I’m not saying this to scare you. And I don’t want you to worry. He won’t get to either you or Honor. And besides, he could be long gone by now.”
Mercy forced a smile on her face. It was sweet of Alex to reassure her by saying that Nathan may be gone already. She doubted it and knew by the look on his face that he knew it too.
“And these precautions, I am guessing that you and Rafe have decided that Honor and I are not to go anywhere alone?”
Alex slowed the truck and pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. He shut off the engine and turned to her.
“We both think it’s for the best.”
A frown pulled Mercy’s brow together. She knew that Alex only wanted her to be safe, and while she could appreciate it in theory, in practice it meant that she was going to be trapped in Alex’s house a lot of the time.
“So in other words, Honor and I are going to be prisoners?”
“Of course not. Why would you say that?”
“Because either you or Rafe have to be with one of us when we want to go anywhere. You work and Rafe works. And let’s say I want to go to the store and get milk. Does that mean I have to schedule a time with you or Rafe to go and do that? No way.” She’d agreed to the necessity of not staying in her house and had agreed to stay with Alex until Nathan was caught. She was not going to agree to stay put inside his house without having the freedom to go where she wanted when she wanted.
“You need to be safe, and until Nathan is caught, you aren’t. Did you enjoy running through the woods away from him? Did you enjoy being hunted?” His voice had risen a little and she could s
ee he was trying to get a handle on his temper. “I only want you to be safe. Is that too much to ask? That you be careful and not be out anywhere alone?”
“I understand what you’re saying, but look at it from my point of view. I have spent all my adult life looking after myself. I have been able to come and go as I please, and I don’t want that freedom to be taken away. I promise I will be careful. I won’t go out in the middle of the night, and I’ll stay in places that are public but I won’t be a prisoner in your house.”
He turned his head and scowled out his windshield. The muscle worked in his jaw and she knew that he wanted to disagree. But there was a steely determination inside her that wouldn’t roll over for the sake of making him happy.
She reached out and put her hand on his arm. He looked at her and she knew that the source of what he was feeling was a concern for her. “I’m not a stupid woman. I won’t take foolish risks. Chances are I’m going to be at your house most of the time anyway since I have work I can do. But I need to be free to live my life too. He wins if I turn myself into a prisoner.”
Some tension eased out of his face. “Okay. We’ll do it your way.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you need anything from in there?” He inclined his head toward the grocery store and she shook her head. “I’ll be right back.”
He got out of the truck and went into the store. Her phone buzzed. She took it out of her purse and she looked at it. It was a text from Honor.
Have you been told that we are to be under guard and our wardens won’t let us out without an escort?
A smile tugged at the corner of Mercy’s mouth. It looked like Honor felt the same way about all this as she had.
Yeah. Told my warden it wasn’t happening. How about you?
She waited for a few seconds and she laughed when she got Honor’s reply.
Same. Warden’s not happy but he’ll come around.
Mercy looked up and saw Alex coming back out of the store with a single grocery bag in his hand. He got in and handed the bag to her. She looked inside and saw two boxes of saltine crackers. She looked at him and he smiled at her.