“My need was too great to take my time, but now—now, we’l use the incline bench.”
* * *
The kitchen was fragrant with the yeasty scent of hot rols as Bree finished making gravy. Needing to celebrate—in a way other than sex—she’d prepared fried chicken. That should divert the men.
She smiled. Her favorite entertainment was watching them fight over helpings, but she wouldn’t indulge tonight. Either Zeb or Shay had cleaned her kitchen, even removing mineral stains from the sink, and that guy would get the biggest serving of everything.
When the two walked in, the pleased grins on their tanned faces made her heart turn over. Heavens, she loved them.
faces made her heart turn over. Heavens, she loved them.
Both of them.
Shay kissed the top of her head and Zeb her cheek as they walked past to wash up, jostling each other like little boys.
“I didn’t think you were here,” Shay said, drying his hands.
“Your car’s gone.”
“The engine wouldn’t start after I got to town. Contrary thing.”
“Want me to take a look?” Zeb asked.
“No. Kevin Murphy was in the diner. He said it’s the alternator, and it’l be a couple of days before he gets the part in.” She sighed. That was the downside of living in a tiny town. A city garage would carry more stock.
She handed Zeb the milk to pour and Shay the silverware.
When she set the basket of rols on the table, she laughed at the greedy expressions. Was anything better than cooking for hungry men?
Wel. Maybe having sex with hungry men. She was already looking forward to tonight in Shay’s big bed where they al fit so wel.
As the men set the table, they never missed a chance to touch her. Shay slid a hand down her back as he moved paperwork onto a chair. Zeb curled an arm around her waist as he sampled the salad dressing she’d made. A kiss here, a nibble there. Would she ever feel as free to touch them in turn?
turn?
Or was she being stupidly shy? Fair was fair.
Taking a step forward, she looped an arm around Zeb’s hard waist, snuggled close, and ran her hand over his butt. To her surprise, he growled, yanked her into his arms, and took her mouth in a hot, wet kiss. The room roled under her feet when he set her down. “Ah—”
He trailed a finger across her chin and tilted her face up. “I like your hands on me.” His gaze intensified. “Bree, I…” His mouth closed and he stepped back.
Somehow, she felt as if he had her in his arms.
When they were seated, Shay reached for the chicken platter.
“Oh no.” Bree held up her hand to stop him. “Whoever cleaned the kitchen gets the first helping.” The two exchanged confused looks.
“You didn’t?” Bree stared at them. “Then who did? I left it a mess this morning.”
“Did you?” Zeb straightened. His gaze roved, stopped, and he pointed to where a softbal-sized hole showed in the corner baseboard. “Looks like we’ve got brownies.”
“Wel now.” Shay smiled slowly. “We’l need to put cream and a pastry out for them each night.”
A brownie? OtherFolk? Bree stared at the hole.
A smal wrinkled face peeked out. A pointed chin and sharp nose. One long pointed ear was bent at the tip. A sharp nose. One long pointed ear was bent at the tip. A brownie—and they only came if the people there had made a home. Like a family. We’re a family. Hugging herself, Bree savored a moment of sheer happiness.
Chapter Thirty-five
Shay glanced up when Breanne came into the office. Her lips were swolen, her neck and cheeks scratched. She looked beautiful…and tired. He and Zeb had kept her awake the last two nights, ensuring she had no doubts that they loved sharing her.
Actualy, he had trouble letting her out of bed at al. He’d wanted her before, but with the new alpha bond, he hardened whenever he caught her scent. Like now.
“You’re hitting the paperwork early.” She smiled at him.
“Couldn’t it wait until this evening?”
“Nope.” Since she’d arrived, they’d developed a routine.
He’d do his paperwork in the library area where Zeb would be reading and Breanne working on a jigsaw puzzle. As Shay worked, they’d discuss business, make plans, and order from the catalogues. Breanne and Zeb would argue over upgrading the cabins and lodge.
How the design of a doorknob or kitchen latch could be How the design of a doorknob or kitchen latch could be important, Shay didn’t know, but he never tired of listening to them. “It’s new moon, so Zeb and I have to patrol. Wil you stay with Angie?”
Her face paled until her freckles stood out in tiny smudges.
“I forgot. I wanted to forget. You’l be careful, right?” Her eyes showed her fear for them and warmed his heart.
How long had it been since someone worried over him?
“We wil.” He walked around the desk. Drawing her in, he molded her soft body against his, until their breathing rose and fel in unison, and their hearts beat together. “A chuisle mo chridhe,” he murmured.
She rubbed her forehead on his chest. “You and your Gaelic. Translation?”
“Mmmmh.” You’re the pulse of my heart. “Something like sweetheart.” He kissed her, wanting to say the words.
But he must wait. Zeb would visit the blademage today, and then they’d do it right.
Breanne deserved everything done right.
“So what’re you guys planning for this afternoon?” He smiled, enjoying how she kept track of them. If they were working near the lodge, she’d bring them treats warm from the oven. “Zeb walked to town to help Jody put bars on their office building. He’l be back this afternoon. I have an appointment downtown with a supplier in”—he glanced at the clock—“fifteen minutes.”
the clock—“fifteen minutes.”
“Okay. I’l cook something early for you tonight.” She started to leave, then stopped. “Oops. Here’s the mail.” She dropped a pile onto his desk.
He glanced through the letters and held up an envelope.
“This one’s for you.”
“Realy?” With a pleased expression, she glanced over the letter. “It’s from Eric—that little boy I told you about. I wonder if I get a new picture.”
Their refrigerator was crowded with artwork, and not only Eric’s. In the past couple of days, the pack pups had added more. They adored Breanne.
Shay had to smile. She never turned down a chance to cuddle a cub…and each time, the awed expression on Zeb’s face was heart-rending. From the tidbits Zeb had mentioned, he’d never been snuggled.
Wouldn’t Breanne look lovely with his and Zeb’s babies in her arms?
As she perused her letter, he leaned a hip against the desk and opened his own. Junk mail for the Lodge, bils, a request for reservations. Something in Breanne’s silence had him looking up.
Her face had gone white, matching her knuckles that clenched the paper.
“Little wolf? What’s wrong?”
“J-Just”—she cleared her throat—“bad news. A friend
“J-Just”—she cleared her throat—“bad news. A friend died.”
“I’m sorry, mo leannan.” He hugged her, wishing he could do more. To keep any sorrow or disappointment from ever touching her.
She clung for a minute before her spine straightened. “I’m okay. You need to get going, or you’l be late.”
“I can cancel.”
“Go. I’l see you later.”
* * *
Bree dropped onto her bed and unfolded the letter again.
At the top of the page, Eric had written, “I love you, Bree.” The “B” had been erased and reprinted so many times that the underlying paper was almost gone. “I love you too, Eric,” she whispered.
Her gaze slid to the bottom, and a note from his mother.
“I miss you, Bree, and Eric asks every day if you’ve returned yet. But I’m glad you’re not here. Truly, you s
houldn’t come back to the complex. Something horrible is happening. Devon, in the apartment next to yours, disappeared the first week of March. His car was still parked in the stall. None of his stuff was missing and there was blood all over his place.” Bree saw where the words, “like yours” had been scribbled out. The note continued.
“Then the first week in April, Marylou in the apartment across from yours, also disappeared. Same thing—blood, nothing missing, no body. The cops don’t know what to do. Jim wants to move, but we can’t afford it yet.
I hope you’re doing well. Please write and let us know how you are.
Love you,
Diane”
Bree felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach.
Devon’d just started his first job after colege and had never been away from Nebraska before. He’d come over, wanting to know how to make meat loaf. After that, she and Ash had often invited him for a home-cooked meal.
Marylou was—had been—divorced. She’d cried when her new man-friend had sent roses for her birthday.
How could they be gone?
It’s because of me. The knowledge weled up, ugly and sharp. The helhound had said it would return. Since Bree wasn’t there, it was murdering others. Guilt tightened her throat, even knowing she couldn’t have prevented the deaths.
If she’d hadn’t left, she’d have died, and the monster would stil be kiling.
Understanding didn’t lessen her shame. She’d been here, faling in love, making a new home, while her friends were faling in love, making a new home, while her friends were dying. Her hand felt heavy as she laid the letter on the nightstand. What was she going to do?
Outside the Lodge, Shay’s truck started with its distinctive roar, then the noise faded as he drove down the lane toward the highway. The lodge was empty.
I have to go back. Bree swalowed against nausea. She was the only one who knew how to kil it.
Couldn’t she cal the police? Tel them about the helhound? Sure, Bree. Did that work out well for you the first time? Even if the cops believed her about a monster—
and they wouldn’t—then once spotted, they’d try to shoot it and get slaughtered.
Shay and Zeb could kil the helhound. They’d help save her friends. They’d insist. She stood and sank back down.
The Cosantir had said no. “Cahirs do not leave the territory to fight. Your Gifts from Herne will not be there for you, not in a city of metal, so far from His forests.
You are forbidden, cahirs.” The Cosantir had executed Klaus for breaking the “Law”. She could never, never risk Zeb and Shay that way.
Only—if she lived—when she got back, they’d be furious that she didn’t tel them. They’d…
I’m forbidden to go too. The Cosantir had looked at her, the black of the God in his eyes. “Do not force your lovers to kill you, Breanne.”
to kill you, Breanne.”
The men would never hurt her, but if they didn’t obey the Cosantir, they’d be exiled or executed as wel. Her insides chiled as her bones turned to ice. Once she left, she couldn’t return to Cold Creek. Ever.
She puled in a shuddering breath. Just a few days ago, she’d planned to leave the men and move. So why did it hurt so much more now, as if someone had opened her chest and poured acid inside?
Swalowing, she tried not cry. She’d never hear Zeb’s rough voice caling her ‘little female’. Never wake to Shay’s kisses. Never see the surprise in Zeb’s eyes when she baked something just for him. It hurt.
They’d hurt too. But they’d be alive.
And she had no choice. Tonight was new moon, and the helhound would be at the apartment complex. Someone would die.
She raised her chin and straightened her spine. No human would die. Just the creature. The monster won’t get you, Eric. Or Diane. It won’t get anyone else.
Rubbing the ache in her chest, she dragged her suitcase from the closet. She wouldn’t be coming back. If she lived, she might as wel have her own clothes.
As she haphazardly packed, she considered. It was a few hours drive to Seattle. Better leave now and have time to coax Diane and Jim to stay elsewhere. Maybe a hotel.
coax Diane and Jim to stay elsewhere. Maybe a hotel.
After securing her suitcase, she grabbed her purse and… My car. She didn’t have a working car. And Cold Creek had no car rental. Stunned, she stopped in the middle of the room.
Borrow a vehicle? Hah. Neither Zeb nor Shay would offer, not to let her go to Seattle. Her eyes narrowed. Zeb had walked to town as usual. His truck was parked outside the lodge. He’d have his key, but hotwiring old Fords was as easy as boiling water.
Hey, what was one more crime in the grand scheme of things?
She picked up her suitcase. Dropped it again. I need a pistol. Darn Zeb anyway, the overprotective butthead. A wave of grief thickened her throat. Blinking hard, she strode down the hal to his room. Where would he have hid her gun?
She found his pistol in his nightstand along with one of his knives. He was never without the other knife, she knew. She stared at his weapons, wanting everything she could get her hands on.
But this was new moon. What if he had to fight a helhound here?
She’d just have to search for her own pistol.
Twenty minutes later, she found her S&W inside the closet, duct-taped over the closet door. She’d never have spotted it if she hadn’t had to climb a chair to check the top spotted it if she hadn’t had to climb a chair to check the top shelf. The man could give paranoia a bad name. He’d unloaded it, but she had boxes of bulets in her dresser.
After setting his room back to rights, she paused to hug his pilow and breathe in his lingering scent. He hadn’t slept in his room for a couple of nights. No, they’d been in Shay’s giant bed. Al of them.
She wistfuly replaced the pilow. If she left now, she’d be in Seattle in good time.
* * *
Zeb returned to the Lodge in a piss-poor mood and slammed the door behind him. Fucking pup. My fucking bad temper.
At the reception desk, Shay looked up from the registration book. “Problem?”
Zeb tried to nail his anger down. “Chad mouthed off and pushed that new wolf, Lacey. I shoved him face first into a wal to show him what it felt like.”
“Sounds good. So?”
“I should have talked first, disciplined later.” Zeb rubbed his face. Him and his fucking temper.
“Normaly.” Shay tapped his fingers on the desk. “But not yet. Because of Klaus, the Cosantir’s watching the pack—
and he won’t tolerate any more females getting hurt. If we don’t come down on that behavior hard and fast, that pup wil get himself banished.”
“Wel.” He hadn’t messed up?
“You know, eventualy, the cubs wil absorb your attitude.”
Zeb snorted. “My attitude?”
“Yeah, a bhràthair, that over-protective one that Breanne bitches about. And the pack wil benefit from it.” The glint of pride that edged Shay’s grin made Zeb blink.
“Go get a sugar fix. Breanne left us some pie.”
“Cherry?” Zeb’s stomach growled. He’d missed lunch, and he loved cherry pie.
“And apple too,” Shay said smugly.
Zeb was halfway to the kitchen when he stopped. There’d been only one truck in front of the lodge. He reversed directions and opened the front door. “Where the fuck is my pickup?”
“What?” Shay joined him. “Who’d steal that POS?”
“That piece-of-shit is mine, and I’l gut whoever took it,” Zeb growled. He patted his pocket. “I have my keys.
Where…where’s Bree?”
“Don’t know. I can’t feel her through the bond, so she’s not close.” Shay turned slowly. “She said once that she’d learned to hotwire cars in the city.”
“Guess she had something to do. But I didn’t see my truck in town.”
in town.”
“You think…?” Shay’s jaw tightened, then he relaxed.<
br />
“No. She wouldn’t return to the city on a new moon night.” Uneasiness twined up Zeb’s spine like a strangling vine.
“Check her room.”
Shay beat him up the stairs. “Her suitcase is gone.” Fuck. What was she doing? Zeb found his pistol stil in the nightstand. His knife too. He opened the closet and slapped his hand above the door. His palm hit the wal, and a piece of duct tape dropped to the floor.
* * *
Ten minutes later, Shay puled his truck into the Wild Hunt parking lot. Every cel in his body ordered him to head straight for Seattle. But they couldn’t.
Calum wasn’t in the bar.
Rosie jerked her thumb upward. Calum, Alec, and Vicki lived on the second floor with their daughter. The men went around to the backyard and ran up the steps. Shay pounded on the door.
Jamie opened it, took one look at their faces, and yeled,
“Daddy, I think they need you bad.”
Calum walked out of the kitchen folowed by Alec. “Come in, cahirs,” Calum said. “Sit.”
Shay stepped inside far enough to let Zeb move up beside Shay stepped inside far enough to let Zeb move up beside him. He felt urgency burning in his brother as hot as his own.
“Breanne took her pistol and headed back to Seattle to kil the helhound.”
“That’s purely suicidal.” Alec’s brow creased. “Why?”
“The helhound that attacked her is stalking her apartment complex. Probably looking for her and settling for humans.” Shay handed Calum the letter he’d found in her room.
Calum skimmed it before handing it to Alec. “I understand her concern. But new shifters are forbidden human cities. If she’s hurt or scared—”
“Can you widen the patrols to cover our area?” Shay asked Alec.
Understanding softened the sheriff’s face. “We’l handle Cold Creek.”
Darkness moved in Calum’s eyes. His voice was soft.
“You also have been forbidden, cahirs.”
Zeb spoke finaly. “Kil us later, Cosantir. After we keep our female from being slaughtered.”
They didn’t wait for his answer.
As they rounded the corner, Shay heard Alec cal, “Best hurry, cahirs. It’s not that long before sunset.” By the God, he knew that al too wel.
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