“The assailants jumped into their car and sped away, tires squealing on the gravel. My neighbor came to the door then and pounded on it to see if anyone was home. The only reason he didn’t leave me there frozen in my spot was because he glimpsed me through the window.
“Eventually, I opened the door to him, and he called the police. I was catatonic. He waited and waited with me, as did the police, but of course, my parents never returned. No one ever knew why. Late that night I entered the foster care system. I could hear the adults around me talking, mumbling about where my parents had gone, why they hadn’t returned, but it was as though their voices came to me from under water. I was so far removed mentally by then I thought I might actually drown under that water.” Tears filled her eyes, and she blinked them back to finish the story.
“And I wished I had. For years I lived with that pain. That secret. I didn’t speak at all for a long time. As though I’d gone mute. After all, what was I going to say? Those dead wolves were my parents?
“Eventually, I got lucky. The second foster family I lived with dragged me from my shell enough to get me through high school and into college. It made me nervous, staying in the area. I’d always thought I’d run halfway across the country first chance I got. But I had a scholarship, and then I met you two…
“And that’s where I got lucky again, meeting you girls and developing the best friendships a person could ever have.” Now Jessica did wipe her cheeks with the backs of her hands. She was full-out crying. Her chest heaved with the sobs while she caught her breath.
Both women scrambled around the coffee table and flanked their friend. A giant group hug ensued, filled with kind words and tears.
“Oh, honey. We are so sorry.” Kara finally pulled back, leaving Jess hiccupping.
Lindsey soothed her hand over Jessica’s hair. “I wish you would have told us. We would have been there for you. Always.”
“I know, but it was tough. I’d hoped for no one to ever find out. And then you two both met and mated with wolves. Four of them!” She gave a half chuckle. “What were the chances of all the roommates in the world I’d get assigned to women who would get claimed by my own kind? It must have been a sign.”
“You spent the night with Charles and Reese, didn’t you?” Kara questioned. “I mean, obviously you did. I was in the house. It seemed a little too coincidental they both stayed to help ‘cut some extra firewood for the pregnant lady.’ But I didn’t want to interfere.”
“Oh, God. Really?” Lindsey hadn’t realized what had occurred here last night. “Did they claim you?” Her face lit up, and she pressed her palms together, her face a mixture of tears and sadness and excitement. She grinned, her eyes wide and her cheeks covered with red splotches.
“Well, not exactly. I wasn’t ready.”
“When did you…?” Kara didn’t finish.
“Friday. They came to pick up Miranda from school because Tessa was already at home with a sick Jeremy. As soon as they walked into the nurse’s office, I knew even before I turned around.”
“Oh … then … ohh…” Realization dawned on Kara’s face. She too had a weird look. Her eyes still watered with unshed tears, but her mouth curved into a smile.
“So, yesterday when you got here for the party and they were here…” Lindsey started.
“Yeah, that wasn’t pleasant. I thought I could do it. I really did. But no. And apparently I’m ovulating, so that increases my need to be claimed, and all hell broke loose inside my body.”
“So does everyone know? Well, except for us uninformed humans?” Kara giggled.
“Probably, but only because Nancy is so astute. That woman can smell a rat from a mile away I bet.”
“What are you waiting for?” Kara asked. “If you know the way of wolves, then what sort of convincing do you need to mate with Charles and Reese?”
“I’m scared.” Jess looked down and wadded her hands into balls in her lap. “I spent twelve years promising myself I would never shift into wolf form. If I never shifted, then no one would know I was a wolf and… It’s silly really, but I was a child. I don’t want to get shot. Wolves get shot by hunters.”
The women hugged her tighter. Lindsey spoke next. “Not all wolves get shot. Are you sure those men were just hunters? Do you think they may have had some sort of conflict with your parents?”
“It’s possible, but I’ll never know.”
“Have you never shifted?” Kara gazed at her in shock.
“No, women don’t shift, can’t, until they mate.” Jessica thought about her recent education on that subject. “Well, apparently that’s not entirely true. They just have to have sex with a wolf, but still.”
“So there’s a lot you don’t know about your own kind, isn’t there?” Lindsey’s gentle fingers rubbed her shoulder.
“A great deal, yes. But I’m learning.” She smiled. It probably came out lame.
Kara stiffened. “Wait, didn’t Charles and Reese bring a woman back from Texas with them? What the hell is that all about?”
“Yeah, I’m not totally sure. I’ve been … too busy to get all the details, but apparently she isn’t their mate.” Jessica shivered at the thought. “Might be a double standard, but I don’t think I could share them with another woman.”
Lindsey nodded and cringed. “Ain’t that the truth?”
“Anyway, hopefully whatever’s up with that story, they’re taking care of it now. I don’t think I can even show my face around your extended family again until that strange situation is cleared up.”
“And you don’t have to.” Kara jumped up and circled the couch when a knock sounded at the door. “You’ll stay right here until those mates of yours get their shit straightened out.” She tossed that last bit over her shoulder as she opened the front door.
Standing on the steps, as though conjured out of thin air by the mere mention of her, was Alyssa. Timid. A sorrowful look in her eyes. Kara widened the door and ushered her inside.
“Tessa let me take her car.” Alyssa fidgeted with her fingers, wringing them together. She seemed even younger today than she had yesterday, although Jessica had barely seen her. “I owe you an apology.” She stared right at Jess.
Kara shut the door behind her and motioned for Alyssa to come into the room. “Sit. We don’t bite. Usually…” She grinned, but it was forced.
Alyssa ignored her and sat in a chair next to the couch. She never took her gaze off Jess.
None of them knew enough about this woman to judge. Jessica had the sense to realize she needed to reign in her evil thoughts and open her mind.
In barely more than a whisper, Alyssa began. “I met Charles and Reese by coincidence just a few days ago. They were on their way back here when they stopped at a diner in Oklahoma.”
Jessica’s skin perked, goose bumps spreading over her entire body at the word Oklahoma. “You didn’t come with them from Texas?”
“Uh-uh.” She shook her head. “I was in the diner when they came in. I was waiting, watching for someone, anyone whom I thought I could trust. I had been walking all day, and I didn’t really want to stand on the road holding my thumb out hitchhiking. I was too scared.
“Anyway, when I spotted them, and realized they were wolves, I decided to approach them for a ride.”
“How did you know where they were headed?” Jessica leaned forward to better hear Alyssa, who practically mumbled her story. As Jess got closer, she realized Alyssa was barely more than a girl. She was trying to portray herself as a woman, but she was very young.
“I didn’t. I … didn’t care where they were going. Anywhere but there was good.”
“Is someone after you?” Lindsey asked.
“I … don’t know.” She lifted her head higher and glanced at all of them. “I’m so sorry to put you all in this predicament. I was only thinking of myself. It was rude of me, but I just wanted to … escape … any way possible. Reese and Charles seemed so nice, so I tried to act all mature and flirted merc
ilessly with them to entice them to take me.
“It was a diner. No more than a truck stop. People at those places are traveling through. I knew my chances were good they weren’t planning to stay.” She sucked in a lungful of air and continued. “They were polite, but they didn’t fall for my wiles. They treated me more like a younger sister, which infuriated me, by the way.” Her cheeks turned red.
“Instead of taking the bait I offered, they asked me to join them and questioned why a sweet girl like me was hanging around a truck stop in the middle of the night.
“I told them my boyfriend was abusive and he was looking for me and begged them to take me with them. I-I told them I would do anything they wanted if they would just let me ride away with them.” She turned her head lower, hung in shame at her announcement. “I was spouting anything I could think of. They were sexy enough. I promised them I would even mate with them if they would just pretend I belonged to them and get me the hell out of there. I guess they felt sorry for me, so they played along.”
Silence. Jessica cleared her throat. “What were you really running from?” She was afraid of the answer. Her body held stiff, rigid. She clutched the leather sofa with both fists. In the back of her mind something prodded her, but she wasn’t sure what.
“My pack.”
“Do you even have a boyfriend?” Lindsey asked.
Alyssa shook her head vigorously and chuckled, a devious laugh that was off. “Are you kidding? They’d have killed me if I so much as looked at a male wolf where I come from.”
Kara gasped. “Why?”
“Our pack is … different … apparently, from others.” She looked up, animated now. “Your family is so loving, kind, helpful … happy. In my pack, we don’t … smile. Women are not seen as equal.”
Fear niggled the back of Jessica’s neck. Her ears burned.
“Girls are mated against their will at eighteen to whomever the alpha declares.” She shook, looking even younger than when she’d come into the room. Her eyes were wide. Tears glistening in the corners. “I turned eighteen last week.”
Jessica couldn’t speak. Memories assaulted her from every direction in her brain, her synapses firing so fast she couldn’t keep up. The room spun, and she clutched the couch fiercely to keep from falling on her face.
Kara frowned. “And they were going to force you to mate with some guy against your will?”
Alyssa chuckled low and deep. “Noo… Not some guy. That would have been a blessing. They arranged for me to mate with a sixty-five-year-old wolf who already has three docile wives. He’s the brother of our alpha.”
“Alyssa?” Jessica murmured, barely audible even to her own ears. Her entire past dashed through her mind like snapshots in a photo album. “Alyssa Franklin?”
Every head turned her way, and Jessica slumped backward onto the couch to avoid fainting. Her head spun.
“How…” Alyssa’s voice squeaked out. “Oh. My. God. Jessica? Jessica Murphy?” The girl jumped from her chair and flung herself at Jessica. “It is you, isn’t it?” She hugged Jess so firmly her ribs hurt. And Jess could barely even lift her arms to embrace Alyssa in return.
Alyssa rambled on. “I can’t believe it. Jessica’s a common enough name. I never thought… But … they said you were dead. You … you aren’t dead.”
“Nope.” Jess shook her head in amazement. “But not for lack of effort.”
“Your parents?”
“They are dead. Two men shot them in wolf form when I was ten. The neighbor ran them off before they could get to me.”
“God. That must have been horrible.” Alyssa’s terror-filled gaze alighted on Jessica.
Kara and Lindsey moved in closer. Kara reached for Jess’ arm. “You know each other?”
Alyssa turned toward her but didn’t let go of Jess. “We’re cousins, actually. Jess’ mother was my mother’s sister.” She turned back to Jessica. “All these years… I overheard my parents discussing what your parents did. They took you away. Ran so you wouldn’t be mated to a man you didn’t love.”
Jessica startled. That was the reason they’d left?
“You didn’t know.” Alyssa tucked her upper lip into her mouth and then released it. “God. You were so young. Did you grow up here with the Masters then?”
“No.” Not even close. “I grew up with humans in foster care. Until yesterday, I’ve been fairly ignorant of even the most basic of wolf ways.”
“My parents weren’t as brave as yours. I knew they hated thinking about my fate, but they wanted me to continue the ways of the pack. Not rock the boat. I… I just couldn’t go through with it. So I ran. I ran all day until I came to that diner. And, well, you know the rest.”
Alyssa let go of Jessica and sat back, still gripping her hand but not squeezing the breath out of her. “I wanted to come over here and tell you at least some of that truth so you wouldn’t think I was after your men. They’ve been so nice to me, and even let their family believe we were a couple … or whatever you call it … to protect me. But when I realized you were their mate, I couldn’t get in the way of that, so I came clean.”
“Why did you need to lie? The Masters would never put you in harm’s way.” Jessica gazed into the sky-blue eyes belonging to her fair-skinned cousin.
“I was scared, in the beginning. I would have given my virginity to your mates to keep from letting that old crotchety guy fuck me.” Tears sprung anew. Alyssa choked on a sob. The word fuck came out on a squeak. Her cheeks reddened. The members of the Oklahoma pack didn’t customarily cuss, but Alyssa was certainly passionate about this situation. And rightfully so.
“I’m so sorry. I begged Reese and Charles not to tell anyone the truth that we weren’t sleeping together. They never laid a hand on me. Perfect gentlemen who just wanted to help and even risked your wrath to uphold their promise.”
“How much do they know?” Jessica questioned.
“Most of it now. I told the family all together this morning when Reese and Charles got home.”
“And no one tossed you out into the snow, did they?” Kara pulled Alyssa off Jessica and hugged her. “These are the nicest people, well, wolves, I’ve ever met. They will do anything to protect a life, even one that is not their own. Trust me, I know.”
“Thank you.” Alyssa glanced at Jess and then at both Lindsey and Kara. “You don’t know how much I appreciate your understanding. It means the world to me.”
Jess was still confused. “I don’t really get why Reese and Charles didn’t just bring you home with them and help you out. They aren’t the type who would say no to anyone.”
“I know. They aren’t. You’re right. I know that now. But at the time I wasn’t thinking rationally. At that diner I told them so little and apparently scared the shit out of them. When I told my story this morning, they said they had realized I was lying, but whatever had happened to me must have been horrific to have put that look on my face and cause me to be willing to prostitute myself to get away; their words, not mine.”
Jessica smiled. It all made more sense now.
“I begged them to lie, not to tell anyone a thing. I was scared for my life, and I needed distance from Oklahoma any way I could get it. I feared if they knew the truth they might send me back home, not wanting to get involved. Honestly”—Alyssa looked around at each woman—“I didn’t know until a few days ago every pack didn’t do the same thing.”
Kara gasped. “Marry off their young girls into polygamy against their will?”
Alyssa nodded. “I didn’t know any different. I just knew it was wrong deep inside me. Or at least wrong for me. It made my stomach hurt to think of sleeping with that sleazeball every time I considered it.”
She ducked her head and muttered, “The idea of sleeping with Reese or Charles, or even both of them, to avoid my previous fate was enough to propel me to beg.”
Jessica stood. “Will they follow you here? Someone from your pack?”
“I don’t know. Those bastards, Al
fred and Judas, are evil. They are the ones who killed your parents. They came back the next day and told the pack they’d killed all three of you. Those chickens didn’t have the balls to admit you’d gotten away. Instead they lied and said you’d accidentally been shot in the fray. They’d been supposed to return with you in tow. Apparently they decided the fallout from killing you was easier to swallow than having to admit you’d escaped their wrath.”
Jessica shook with fury. She’d recognize those two anywhere. She’d stared out that window at them for a long time, memorizing every curve, every nuance to their steps. If they ever dared show their faces anywhere near her again, she’d rip their throats out.
Kara took Jessica’s arm, shaking her out of a near trance. “You okay, hon?” She wrapped her in a hug. “You’re okay now. You have a huge, loving family, two mates who adore you, and even a cousin to get reacquainted with.”
“I can’t stay here.” Alyssa shook her head and backed away from Jess’ side. “I have to go.” She glanced around frantically. “If they find me, they’ll kill all of you.”
Lindsey grabbed her as she raced for the door. “Alyssa, sweetie, stop. You’re not going anywhere.”
The girl sobbed and gulped for breath. “I won’t endanger your family,” she wailed. “It was different before I knew you all. I didn’t think. I just acted to save myself. But now … now I know what a kind and loving family you guys are…” She sucked in a deep breath. “I can’t stand the thought of them coming after me and one of you—”
“You have some other option?” Lindsey held her fast. “You must stay. Nothing will happen to you under Nancy’s roof, and I’m curtain she will insist you move in with her and Richard. They are the best parents in the world. You will love it here. And no one is going to force you to do anything you don’t want, especially mate. Come on. Let’s take you home.”
Alyssa’s shoulders sagged. She was tired and defeated. Jessica knew that look. She’d experienced it enough times in her life.
Jessica's Wolves (Wolf Masters, Book 3) Page 11