by Maia Dylan
Faith moved to the windows and looked out over the backyard. “Wow!” she whispered. The pool was beautiful, large enough to swim laps, with a hot tub off to the side. An outdoor kitchen stood beneath a large shade sail and even housed a built-in fridge. She could almost imagine the fun family times they had in that backyard. Turning, she saw the brothers standing side by side about three feet behind her, watching her intently as if her reaction were important to them somehow.
“Your house is beautiful. I remember when you first decided to build on this land, and the conversations we had.” She smiled brightly trying to hide the sadness at the fact that this house would one day belong to a woman that would call these two men hers. “Where will I be sleeping?”
The two men stilled with slightly confused looks on their faces. Faith knew they were communicating telepathically. Shrugging, she turned to follow a corridor that led off from the living areas.
“Wait! Where are you going, baby?” Trent gently grabbed her shoulder and turned her back toward him. “Your room is this way.”
Faith turned in the opposite direction and saw another corridor leading off the main living area. She allowed Trent to grab her hand and followed as he led her in the opposite direction. A glance over her shoulder saw Tyler following closely behind, and he was checking out her ass!
“Ahem,” Faith reprimanded with a quirked eyebrow. Ty’s gaze flew to hers, and he gave her a purely male grin.
“Shit, sweet girl, ya can’t blame a guy for looking.” Ty’s grin widened when he heard his brother’s chuckle.
“Harrumph.” Faith felt her face redden slightly at that and whipped her head forward with a flourish, flicking her long hair over her shoulder. She heard Ty groan a little at that move. Then all thought of the brothers and their teasing flew out the proverbial window when she saw the room that they were standing in. The room was huge with bifold doors that opened out to the verandah. The view of the mountains was almost overwhelmingly beautiful.
The bed that stood against the back wall of the room was the largest bed she had ever seen! It was so tall Faith thought she would need to take a run-up to get on the thing. There were two huge dressers and a matching lingerie chest and full standing mirror. Two doors led from the room, which Faith thought no doubt housed a huge walk-in wardrobe and en suite bathroom.
The brothers moved around and stood before her, smiling. “What do you think, baby?” Trent asked, throwing his arm out to encompass the room.
“What do I think?” Faith asked as she continued to look around at the details she had missed the first time. “I think that one of you is giving up their bedroom for me, which is totally unnecessary. I will be fine in one of the other, smaller bedrooms.”
“No, sweetheart.” Ty moved to take both of Faith’s hands in his. “Neither Trent nor I use this room. We have bedrooms on the other side of the house, down that corridor you first started heading down. We thought that this room would be better for you as it has its own bathroom.” He pulled her over to the right-hand door and opened it with a flourish, and as Faith looked inside, she could see why.
No expense had been spared on this bathroom. There were granite tiles lining the floor, and against one wall was a huge walk-in shower that looked like four people could use it quite comfortably without actually getting in each other’s way. It had showerheads all over the place, and hell, there were no taps in it, just what looked like a touch screen computer panel. That was going to take some time to understand.
A huge towel rail and what looked like a dryer was built into the wall directly outside the shower, and alongside the other wall, in front of a huge window, was a spa bath. Again it looked like you could actually swim lengths in the thing it was so huge! Stunned at the beauty of the space, Faith stood speechless.
“What do you think, babe? Will you be comfortable here?” Trent sounded almost hopeful, and when she turned to look at him, she was stunned to see hope shining in both the brothers’ eyes. Not trusting her voice, she simply nodded. Her fear was that she would become too comfortable, and where would that leave her when she eventually had to leave?
* * * *
Trent thought back to that moment in the bathroom later that evening as he was preparing dinner. Faith had seemed sad throughout the tour of the house. He didn’t know what he needed to do to get past that sadness, and it didn’t help that his wolf was driving him crazy over the fact they had their mate in their house and had not yet claimed her, and his brother had seemed to shut down a little.
Trent had no idea how to break through to Faith, but he knew what he needed to do with Ty—it was time for a little brotherly love and a gentle reminder of what was at stake.
“Hey, asshole, you gonna pull your head out of your ass long enough to help me get through to our mate? Or should I simply call her my mate and wait for you to run again.” Trent goaded his brother, barely holding back the grin when his brother’s head shot up and a oh-no-you-didn’t look was shot his way, complete with raised eyebrow and eyes shimmering a pale blue. What the fuck did Ty do, practice that look in the mirror?
“Fuck you, Trent.” Ty snarled. “I know what you are doing, and I have not shut down. I am trying to think of what to say in order for us to get past this.” Ty left the breakfast bar he had been sitting at nursing a beer and came to stand by his brother leaning against the kitchen counter. “I told you, bro, I am in this to the hopefully very-happily-ever-after end. We just need to make sure that however we proceed with Faith, we do it gently so we don’t risk losing her to her own mind again. And yeah”—Ty shot him a smart-ass grin—“I do practice that look in the mirror. Guaran-damn-teed to get a normal man pissing himself in seconds.”
Stupid link, was nothing sacred? Trent grinned back at his brother. “Well, I guess we start Operation Mate Claim when Faith gets up from her nap for dinner, huh?” Trent went back to finishing their dinner of steaks, baked potatoes, and a green salad. Ty chuckled as they both heard the door to the mistress suite open slowly and hesitant steps come out into the corridor.
“I guess our mate is hungry,” Ty stated as he went to meet Faith and bring her into the kitchen for dinner.
Trent felt his heart sped up. He was nervous, for fuck’s sake! This was like their first real date! This was the first time the three of them would be together when he and his brother were on the same page and trying to get Faith to accept them as life partners. The importance of this was not lost on him, or his wolf, who for the first time since Faith arrived on their doorstep that afternoon had stopped prowling in his mind.
The scent of his mate suddenly filled the kitchen, and Trent closed his eyes to draw her scent into his lungs. My God. She smelled delicious, and he couldn’t wait to take a great big ol’ bite out of her. Just the thought of getting his mouth on her body caused major blood loss to his brain as his dick suddenly filled. Shit, if this continued, he was going to have a zipper imprint on his dick for life!
“You and me both, brother.” Ty’s strained voice came to him down their link. Well, misery liked company, so at least he wasn’t alone.
Trent turned to smile at Faith as Ty got her settled at the kitchen counter. She was dressed for comfort in a large cotton button-down shirt and leggings. They had decided to keep this meal casual, as the conversation afterward would be anything but. Within minutes the three of them were settled at the counter with plates piled high with food before them.
“Wow, this looks fantastic, guys! Thanks.” Faith cut into her steak. It was cooked to her liking, well-done, which was sacrilege as far as he was concerned. Faith must have noticed the frown he and Ty wore, and she laughed, sending tingles over his skin at the sound. “Yeah, I know, it’s sacrilege to have a steak well-done, blah blah blah. But your steaks look like a good veterinarian would have them up and running in ten minutes!”
Ty and Trent threw their heads back and laughed. They loved their mate’s sense of humor. She had always been able to make them laugh. After that, the atmosp
here definitely relaxed, and it wasn’t until then that Trent realized just how tense it had been up until that point. The conversation throughout dinner was simple and light, shared memories from two years ago playing a major role in the evening.
“You remember that surfer-looking dude you used to go to class with? What was his name?” Trent frowned. “Dick, wasn’t it.”
Faith laughed, sitting at a chair at the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee while they took care of cleaning up, “His name was Richard and you damn well know it. You’ve got the memory of an elephant. He was a nice guy, and I never really understood why you two didn’t like him”
“Because he wanted you in his bed sweet girl.” Ty growled. “And that meant we wanted him gone. He was entirely too touchy-feely with you for our liking.”
“Oh, he did not! You guys were always a little over-the-top protective.”
“Well, yeah, we’re officers of the law, so our job is to protect and serve, remember.” Ty winked at her from in front of the sink, up to his elbows in soapsuds.
“I remember one night when he and I had an assignment due and had been at the lab until late, he was going to give me a ride home and you turned up out of the blue.” Faith tilted her head. “You took me home, and come to think of it, I never saw Richard again after that.”
“Yeah.” Trent grinned. “He left for parts unknown that night.” Faith’s eyes narrowed.
“Firstly, love, he was going to put you on the back of his motorcycle that we knew for a fact he drove too damn fast and without a lick of sense.” Ty ticked off his offenses on his fingers. “Secondly, that would mean he would be nestled between your thighs, which was never going to happen, or to the very least not end well for him if it ever did. Thirdly, he needed to be reminded that you were ours, and once I made that very clear to him, he realized that Grey River wasn’t the place for him.”
Faith had straightened when Ty had used the word “ours,” but Trent figured it was probably time for her to start getting used to that fact. Finishing up, Ty and Trent moved to join Faith around the counter, the conversation stopping altogether.
There were a lot of things that needed to be said. Trent thought about that old saying that there was an elephant in the room, and smiled when he changed the analogy to a herd of elephants in this room. So many things that needed to be talked about, apologies that needed to be made and accepted, and then trying to explain about being shifters without Faith running screaming from the house. OK, so he had effectively outlined an agenda, and now it was time to lay all their cards on the table. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he glanced quickly at his brother and saw they were on the same page. Then he turned to face their mate. The time was now.
* * * *
Faith was nervous. Not just slight-butterflies-in-the-tummy nervous, but more like sick-to-my-stomach-gonna-hurl-any-minute kinda nervous. She had known that the brothers wanted to talk about the past two years, and Faith agreed that if they were going to have any kind of friendship they needed to talk about it, but mother of all that was holy, she was nervous about sharing it all, delving into the pain and bringing it back to the surface.
Rowena had helped over the past week to expose some of the fears she still held, and one of them was very much centered on Ty. Rowena hit the nail on the head in one of their conversations.
“Ty absolutely blames himself for the past two years. You know that, right?” Rowena has said it softly over the phone, but Faith had felt each word like a slap.
“I do know that, and I’m not sure how to snap him out of it. I mean, if I can see that this can all be laid at that asshole the Reverend’s feet, then why the hell can’t he? Ty has been really careful about how he moves and what he says around me.” Faith let out a deep sigh. “I’m not broken anymore, and I don’t want them to think I am or treat me like I am. I want to just be Faith.”
“Have you told them that’s how you feel?” Rowena pressed gently. “You are coping so remarkably well with what had happened and dealing with it better than any patient I have ever had. Perhaps, you need to be a little more vocal about who Faith is now.”
“Faith is an intelligent and feisty woman who knows what she wants, damn it.” Faith stood up and started pacing and she talked. “Yeah, she’s been some pretty craptastic things, but she has come out the other side stronger. Faith wants to know what it feels like to be loved on, hard. And to have someone take care of her and place importance on her pleasure over their own and she fucking deserves to have it!” Faith heard the strength in her voice.
“I couldn’t agree with you more.” Satisfaction rang in Rowena’s tone. “So, now all you have to do is tell them.”
How on earth am I going to do that? She glanced at the two men sitting around the counter with her, and wondered where to start. Suddenly the vision of a roomful of elephants came to mind, and she smiled. Now there was a poetic image to get at a time like this.
“Why the smile, sweets?” Ty asked in a soft voice.
She shook her head to clear the image. Looking at the brothers, it was clear that Trent and Ty were just as nervous as she was. “Nothing, Ty, just a whimsical little visual analogy that popped into my head. But I guess”—no time like the present to grab the wolf by the tail. Ha, even plagued in doubt she still had her sense of humor, warped as it was—“we should maybe talk a little about the past two years, huh?” She watched as surprise then relief quickly filtered across their faces.
“Yeah, baby, I think we need to. Ty and I want to say so many things to you, to tell you so many things, but we don’t want to overwhelm you in any way, so if you are not feeling up to this, then say the word, and we can leave it for a while.” Trent was always the more patient of the two, as if he were almost attuned to how she was feeling. “But not for too long, we would really like to get past this.” Apparently not all that patient, however!
“So, OK, before we start, I want to apologize for my little meltdown at the hospital when I blurted out my sordid little problems—”
A growl filled the air, bringing her to a sudden stop.
“Don’t do that. Don’t make light of what you told us or how you told us.” Ty’s gaze dropped to his hands clenched on the countertop. His knuckles were white. “And you sure as fuck don’t need to apologize for it. You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. We all know who drove you to that, who gave you no choice but to have to defend yourself against allegations I had no right to sling at you. That’s all on me, love.”
Faith couldn’t stand to see the pain in his eyes when he finally looked up at her. She reached out and placed her hand over his, driven by an intense inner need to calm him.
“Ty, don’t. I don’t blame you for any of this. Parks is the person to blame.” Faith squeezed Ty’s hand and reached across to Trent’s as well as they both seemed to growl at the mention of the Reverend. “We were such good friends back then, and I know we would still be friends now. We just need to get a few things out in the open and move on. I really want to move on from this.”
“We want that, too, baby.” Trent leaned in toward her. “Tell us about that time. You were so brave and so strong to have survived it all.”
Faith took a deep breath and a moment to gather her thoughts. “I had met Parks two weeks before he actually took me. Rowena thinks it was then that he fixated on me, and became obsessed with getting me to be a part of his ‘flock’ as he called us. Because of the premeditation of his acts, she thinks he must have had me followed, which makes sense. Yes, I had been offered a role up north, but I had never applied for it. The doctor who had made the invitation to join his team had been one of the visiting emergency doctors and apparently liked my work.
“When I left the hospital the night I was taken, I was so happy. I had been offered a role in the Grey River Emergency Department, the only role I had actually applied for, and I was looking forward to some time off the next day as we were going to all catch up for dinner, and I wanted to go shopping.”
“For a new bedroom suite. Trent and I were planning on talking you into letting us buy it for you.” Ty surprised her with that.
“Really? You were?”
They nodded in unison again.
“Well, we probably would have argued over that one, but yeah, that was what we were going to do the next day. I remember walking out to the staff parking lot, when a van drove up to me with its lights off. I knew that something was off about it so reached for that can of mace you bought me. I didn’t have any time to get it out, because a side door opened, and Parks jumped out.
“I need you to know that I fought him. I really tried to get away, and I reckon I could have taken him if his damn brother hadn’t joined in.” Faith growled that last bit. Jeez, she was doing the whole growly thing now. The brothers must have noticed the growl, as they both offered small grins even though there was rage in their eyes that shimmered blue. Stunning.
“Anyway, they got me in the van and took me. I didn’t know about the e-mail or anything. I just woke up in that room tied to a bed frame. I spent a lot of time in that room. It was a kind of isolation space that they would use for us when we disobeyed. There were three other women in that compound with me. Rachel died a few months ago due to pneumonia complications. I’m not sure what they did with her body, but I tried my best to care for her while I could. Then it was just Margo, Stephanie, and I. We were tasked with raising the children and managing the kitchen.
“Rachel, Margo, and Stephanie are the birth mothers of all the children. Although the conception was not mutual, the love for those kids is very real. We were all raped.” Faith fought not to drop her gaze to the table, but failed. Ty immediately placed his hand below her chin and lifted her face gently until she met his gaze.
“Don’t drop your head in fear or shame of that, sweet girl,” Ty spoke gently. “The shame is theirs to bear, not yours. You survived. Everything they threw at you, you survived, and we are just so damn thankful for that.”