by Various
“Yeah. Maybe once or twice. I mean, everything seems great right now, but that doesn’t mean everything’s solved.”
What a female thing to say. But he did tell her ‘anything.’ “We’ll call first thing in the morning.” He didn’t think he could keep his eyes open much longer.
The next day, Gavin ate breakfast with his mates then headed home for a few hours. Among other things, he needed to tell his Alpha about his mates, and find out his reaction. Even though Gavin still held out hope his Alpha wouldn’t force him to leave, he knew better. Every male who found his mates was given a hearty slap on the back and shown the door. Why would he be any different?
While he did some things at home and packed a bigger bag, Liam and Bridget were going to consolidate into one room and call the therapist.
Gavin tracked down his Alpha at his office. Mason ran a security company. He and Gavin had collaborated on many cases, so Gavin knew the office well. After getting buzzed through and signing in, Gavin was allowed to make his own way to Mason’s office.
Mason sat behind his desk working on his computer. “Hey, Gavin. What’s up?”
Gavin closed the door behind him. The humans in the office didn’t need to overhear pack business. He didn’t bother with a long preamble. “Funny thing happened when I went down to Marysburg working on that case. I found my mates.”
Mason’s face went blank, his mouth dropping open. It took several seconds before he spoke. “Not you.”
Gavin shifted from one foot to the other. What did that mean?
Mason leaned forward, forearms on the desk, head tilted down. “I thought at least you would stay with me for good.” After several seconds, he looked up as though remembering himself. “Sit.”
This wasn’t quite the reaction he’d expected. As Gavin sat down in Mason’s guest chair, he said, “What do you mean?”
Mason took a deep breath. “That’s the problem with having an all-male pack. You lose people you shouldn’t have to lose.”
Any hope Gavin had had of staying in the pack died. “Why are we all-male? Why not allow females, at least females mated to wolves in the pack?” Even as he said it, he knew he’d enjoyed being in the all-male pack. There was something masculine, something unapologetically strong and fierce about a pack without a single moderating female influence.
Mason spread his hands out on the desk, palms down. “I can’t stand to be around them.”
Gavin sat up straighter. “Women?”
The look on Mason’s face held not a little of the wolf along with a deep anguish Gavin had never seen in him before. “I lost my mates, long ago. Ever since, I can’t stand to be around women. Not at all. Not even human women. It’s their hair, their eyes, their shape. Everything about them reminds me of what I lost.”
Mason nodded toward the window that looked out over the rest of the office. “Not a single woman. You never noticed?”
“It’s a male-dominated field. I never thought past that.” Gavin couldn’t believe he hadn’t known his Alpha had had mates. And part of him didn’t want to hear it, the part of him that shied away from the idea of anyone losing their mates. Of him, losing Liam and Bridget. How did Mason go on living?
“Good. I never wanted anyone to think past that.” Mason stood and walked around the desk to sit next to Gavin. “So I’m sorry, but I can’t accept your mates into the pack. Or her, at least. And I know you’ll want to be with them. Maybe the D.C. pack will take you all in.”
A lot of their mated wolves had gone to the D.C. pack. “I might need to go a little further south. Bridget’s in Stonewall pack, down in Marysburg.”
“Bridget.”
“And Liam.”
“The same Liam you introduced me to?” Mason said.
“The same.”
Mason clapped him on the shoulder. “He’s a good man. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.” Gavin noticed he’d gotten no congratulations for Bridget, but he couldn’t begrudge Mason, not after hearing his story. He did wonder why it was only women and not men who reminded Mason of his mates. But who knew what paths grief took?
“Marysburg, eh? That’ll be hard with the business. Or are you abandoning it?”
That was just what Gavin was wondering. “I haven’t figured it all out yet. I don’t want to abandon it, but Bridget doesn’t want to move up here. So we’ll have to find some compromise.”
“It’ll all work out. Is this…is this your official goodbye?”
Gavin knew the rules. Once he’d officially left the pack, he had to be out by sunrise the next morning. “Not yet, if that’s okay. I’d like a few more days to pack everything up and kick off the sale of my place.”
“No rush.”
They talked a little longer, Mason catching Gavin up on pack business, even though Gavin wouldn’t need to know for much longer. Then Gavin left, feeling unsure and unhappy. When he reached his car, he turned his phone back on. He’d turned it off while he talked with his Alpha. Liam had left a message.
“The therapist had an opening this morning,” Liam said. “If you can get there by eleven, come on by.”
He had half an hour. Gavin hopped in the car and headed for Reston, where the therapist’s office was. If he drove fast, he could just make it.
***
Liam sat next to Bridget in the waiting room. As eleven o’clock got closer and closer, she became increasingly fidgety. He put his hand over hers. “Relax.”
“Easy for you to say. It isn’t your brain that’s about to be dissected.”
He chuckled. “I’ve talked to therapists before. They’re not so bad. Really. They’re just people.”
She turned her hand palm up and threaded her fingers through his. “Would you go in with me?”
“They usually don’t like that.”
“But would it hurt? I’d feel better if you were there.”
It seemed strange to him that this little woman who had fought them so hard felt so scared. But that had been why she’d fought them, too. And now she was facing that fear directly. She must be terrified.
And brave. Very brave.
“Of course I’ll go in with you,” he said.
The therapist’s door opened and two women—both wolves—walked out. One of them had her coat on and inched her way toward the outside door. Just as the therapist turned toward Bridget and Liam, the outside door swung open and Gavin rushed in.
“Am I too late?” Gavin said.
“Just in time.” Liam waved him over.
A few minutes later, the three of them sat on the therapist’s couch while Bridget explained why she’d come. The therapist, Maryann, listened to her story then leaned forward.
“If you only have one or maybe two sessions, I suggest hypnotherapy.”
Bridget stiffened.
“It’ll only be a light hynopsis, more of a relaxation than anything else. All I want to do is relax you enough so that you’ll be able to remember what’s causing all your anxiety.” The therapist’s voice was very soothing. She’d probably be good at the hypnosis stuff.
Liam squeezed Bridget’s hand. “We’ll be right here. Nothing bad will happen.”
She squeezed his hand back then grabbed Gavin’s hand with her free one. “Okay.”
Several minutes later, Bridget sat slumped on the couch, hypnotized. The therapist had made Liam and Gavin move to chairs nearby so they wouldn’t disturb her while she was under. Good thing, too, because Liam was having a hard time seeing her like that. She looked so vulnerable. He didn’t think he’d be able to resist touching her if he were still sitting next to her.
“I want you to go back,” Maryann said. “Back to the time when you decided males owned their female mates. Can you do that?”
After a moment, Bridget softly said, “Mmm-hmm.”
“How old are you?”
“Four.” Bridget’s voice sound faint and dry.
“Where are you?”
Her face crinkling up, Bridget said, “A hous
e.”
“Whose house?”
Liam shifted in his chair. It sure was like pulling teeth. But at least they seemed to be getting somewhere.
“Dunno.” Bridget’s voice sounded young, almost like the four-year-old she’d once been.
“Who’s with you?” Maryann said.
Bridget paused. “Ted.”
Shit. Maryann sat up straighter. Liam couldn’t see her face but from her body language, it looked like she felt the same way he did. Not happy. Not happy at all.
“What’s Ted doing?” Maryann’s voice sounded just as calm as ever.
Bridget’s words came slowly. “Watching football.”
“Are you at Ted’s house?”
“No.”
After more questions and single-word answers, the story spilled out in fits and starts.
“Ted was babysitting me. But he took me to his friends’ house and told the female, Jenny, to watch me instead. We were there all afternoon, the three men watching football and yelling for more beer. They pushed their mate around. They bossed Jenny and gave her orders. Then late in the afternoon, Jenny wasn’t cooking fast enough. I followed one of her mates into the kitchen and saw him hitting her, over and over. She screamed and cowered away from him, but he wouldn’t stop.”
God, what a thing for a four-year-old to see. And why the hell was Ted babysitting her?
“How did that make you feel?” Maryann said.
Bridget shifted in her seat. “Sad. I never wanted to be like her.”
“So you decided to never have mates?”
She shifted again. “Yeah.”
Maryann glanced back at Gavin and gave a little nod. “Your parents were mated, right? Did your fathers treat your mother that way?”
“No.” Her answer was swift and definite.
“What about your sisters who are mated? Do they get treated like that?”
“No.”
“So not every female mate gets treated that way,” Maryann said. “Right?”
Bridget nodded slowly.
“Say it, Bridget.”
“Not every female is treated that way.”
“Some males treat their female very well,” Maryann said. “Say it.”
Bridget repeated her words.
“Based on what you’ve seen so far of Liam and Gavin and not counting what happened when you were a child, do you believe they will treat you well or badly?”
Chapter 9
Bridget’s answer came a little slower. “Well.”
“You don’t sound sure.”
“How would I know? They could change.”
“Did your brothers-in-law change?”
“No.”
“What about your fathers?”
They continued in that vein for a while longer, Maryann convincing Bridget step by step that the incident that had imprinted on her brain when she was just a child was only one of many examples she’d seen. The end of the session neared.
“What I want you to do now is unhook from that memory,” Maryann said. “Imagine your emotions are ropes with big hooks on the end and those hooks are lodged tight in that memory. Now pull the hooks out one by one until none are left. Then left the memory drift away.”
After waiting a minute, Maryann went on. “I’m going to wake you up now. You will remember everything we’ve talked about, but the memory we discussed will seem very, very far away and will no longer have any hold over you. It will remain unhooked.” She continued to bring Bridget out of the hypnosis and a few minutes later Bridget opened her eyes.
They immediately filled with tears.
***
Bridget couldn’t believe a stupid thing like a little memory from when she was four could be at the root of all her feelings about mates and all the crap she’d put her own mates through in the last few days.
But it was.
And now that she’d come out of the hypnosis, she felt so different. She couldn’t imagine being without Gavin and Liam. Couldn’t for a second imagine rejecting them. Her heart ached at the thought.
As a tear rolled down one cheek, she stood and walked around the therapist’s chair to her mates, putting a hand on each of their arms. “I’m so sorry.”
Liam put a hand over hers while Gavin’s brow lowered.
“What does that mean?” Gavin said.
“I can’t believe what I’ve put you through. And for something so little as a memory. I’m so sorry.”
“Does that mean you don’t need the pre-nup anymore?” Gavin’s mouth twitched as though he held back a smile.
“Pre-nup?” Maryann said.
Bridget squeezed Gavin’s arm. “No pre-nup. But could we go to the hotel?”
Within minutes, Gavin had paid Maryann and Liam had hurried Bridget to Gavin’s car. Bridget and Liam had taken the Metro out to Vienna and then a cab the rest of the way. They had at least a thirty minute drive ahead of them. Could she wait that long?
They hadn’t driven more than five minutes when Gavin’s cell rang. He yanked it out of his pocket, glanced at the screen then picked up. “Hey, Deirdre.”
Bridget could hear her sister’s voice on the other side with her werewolf hearing. “Hi, Gavin. Just returning your call. Is Bridget okay?”
“Bridget’s fine,” Bridget said.
Gavin shot her a glance. “You could at least pretend this is a private phone call.”
“You’re calling my sister privately?” Bridget said.
He rolled his eyes. “Of course not.” Gavin put the phone on speaker and handed it to Bridget to hold. “Deirdre, we’re looking into your parents’ deaths and we were wondering if you remember anything out of the ordinary happening in the days leading up to it.”
Gavin knew that just as with Bridget—as with a lot of witnesses—he might have to ask the same question in different ways several times before their memories jogged lose an answer. Deirdre said no twice and Gavin gave it one last try.
“Well…” Deirdre said. “I seem to remember Ted being around a lot. Yeah. We got that postcard from Maeve, remember, Bridget? And then Ted started hanging around the house a lot. Mom was really annoyed about it, especially since he’d pop in at the last minute and expect her to feed him dinner and she’d have to scramble to make sure we had enough.”
“He always ate so much,” Bridget said.
“Mom used to complain after he left, and Dad just said he’d buy extra groceries.”
“Which only made Mom madder,” Bridget said. “She wanted him to agree with her, not fix it.”
This wasn’t really getting them anywhere. He doubted Ted had murdered them over the cooking. “Do you remember anything in particular about his visits? Did he ever say anything strange or bring anyone over with him?”
The phone was quiet for a second. “I remember him asking about that night a few days before. He was really interested in where Bridget and I were going, and he checked again that night to make sure we were still going out. And he brought someone over that night. The night they died. Mom was fit to be tied, because she and Dad and Papa had been planning a nice evening together, and then Ted showed up with a buddy just as Bridget and I were leaving.”
“Oh, yeah,” Bridget said. “I’d forgotten all about that.”
“You were preoccupied. Cerise said Billy and the other boys might be planning a panty raid on the slumber party.”
Bridget smiled, and Gavin tamped down the jealousy. It was years ago. No need to be jealous. “Do you remember who Ted’s buddy was?” Gavin said.
“I think it was Lars,” Deirdre said. “I was a little occupied, too. But I’m pretty sure it was Lars that night.”
“Do you know where Lars is now?” Gavin said.
“He was one of the wolves who left with Ted,” Deirdre said. “You think Lars and Ted killed our parents?”
“It looks that way to me,” Gavin said. “If Ted came over alone, it’d be harder to get away and sabotage the furnace but with two of them there, Ted could distract y
our parents while Lars went and did the dirty work.”
“That would fit Ted’s personality,” Bridget said.
“It would also fit what we discussed earlier about Ted’s possible motives. If he was trying to lure Maeve back for the funeral, he’d want her two sisters alive. That’s why he went to such trouble to make sure you were out of the house.”
“Did he go to more trouble than we know about?” Liam said from the back seat. “If you remember whose house the party was at, we could talk to them. Maybe Ted asked them to hold a party. Maybe everything was engineered.”
Liam was going to make a great PI. “Good thinking,” Gavin said.
Deirdre and Bridget remembered exactly where they were the night their parents died. In the next several minutes, Deirdre dug through her papers and found a phone number for the family and gave it to Gavin.
“Got it,” he said. “We’ll let you know what we find out. Thanks.”
As soon as they’d hung up, Bridget dialed the Taylors. Gavin took the phone from her and did the introductions when Mrs. Taylor came on the line. “So I was wondering if you remember the party that night. Specifically, did Ted talk to you about the party at all?”
There was a long pause. Finally, Mrs. Taylor said, “I haven’t thought about that night in a long time. I’ve tried hard not to. Because yes, there was something strange. Ted came to us and specifically asked us to have a party that night and make sure to invite Deirdre. We would have anyway, since we had an older daughter her age and they were friends, but it was very odd for him to ask us to have a party for our daughter. Why would he even care?”
She sucked in a breath. “Then Deirdre and Bridget’s parents died that night. I had this awful feeling Ted had done something and we’d been unwittingly caught in the middle of it. I could barely live with myself. So I tried very hard to forget.”
“It’s okay, Mrs. Taylor,” Bridget said. “None of it was your fault. And if Deirdre hadn’t come to your house, she might have died, too.”
Gavin hadn’t told Mrs. Taylor there were other wolves nearby, which was a breach of protocol on his part. But before he could apologize, Mrs. Taylor started crying.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’ve felt so guilty for so long.”