by Maia Dylan
After he steadied his legs, he picked up a washcloth and started scrubbing himself down. He flinched when he encountered the scars on the side of his neck, his upper chest, and, of course, across his hands. He had never been a vain person. Hell, he had always been someone who thought more along the lines of take me or leave me, I come as I am. But for the first time in his life he thought about what a woman might make of the scarring. What might Cassadee make of them?
Not wanting to think too much on that, he finished, then got dressed and met his brother in the hallway as his brother left his room at the same time. Even though they had a large parcel of land on the east side of town, they had yet to start building. They had decided to wait until their fated one was with them so they could make the decisions together. Until then, the two of them shared the large apartment above the bar. No expense had been spared, and they had a master suite all ready for their mate when they found her, but it was not the place where they wanted to raise their pups.
“How did you sleep,” AJ asked with a grin.
“Fan-fucking-tastic! Without your snoring ass in the room it was blissfully quiet.” Sam grinned back as they walked through the apartment. “Let’s go raid the restaurant kitchen. I’m feeling like a plate of breakfast burritos with hot sauce and a whole jug of coffee!”
It was only just past eight. The cleaning crew and day shift wouldn’t start until ten to get the place set up to open at eleven for the lunch crowd. As soon as they left the state-of-the-art soundproofing of their living quarters, they heard piano music.
Sam looked at AJ, who shrugged. Neither of them was expecting anyone to be there, but perhaps the cleaning crew had come in early. They got to the bottom landing that opened into the staff area, and Sam was just about to push the swing door open and step into the bar when someone started to sing. And oh my God can this woman sing!
Her voice was sin personified, heavy on the sultry smoke, and it went straight to his dick, which, of course, thickened and then rose to the occasion quickly. The woman sang of heartache and loss and was filled with so much pain he felt an ache in center of his chest. He pressed his palm to the ache in an attempt to stave it off. Closing his eyes he listened to the words:
Why couldn’t I have been enough,
Enough for you to want to hold
Enough for you to want to love
What did I do that was so wrong?
I could have loved you if you’d let me
I could have been everything you ever needed
But you turned away from me,
Turned your hearts from me,
And all you left behind was pain
Why couldn’t I have been enough,
Enough for you to want to hold
Enough for you to want to love
What did I do that was so wrong?
He had never heard the song before, but the lyrics were so heartfelt, so descriptive of a woman just looking to be loved but having the hearts of the people she longed for the most turn from her, leaving her alone and in pain. Somehow he knew even before he opened the door that the voice belonged to Cassadee.
Once through the door, Sam headed straight for the stage, AJ on his heels. Cassadee sat with her back to them and was the one skillfully playing the piano like it had been made for her. She had her eyes closed obviously feeling the lyrics and the music. Then the music morphed to a song he recognized—“I Don’t Know Why” by Norah Jones. Slow and beautiful with a very strong blues influence, she sang and played like she should have been at Madison Square Garden, not playing on a cheap piano here in Grey River.
He glanced at his brother, who looked just as starstruck as he felt. Jesus. Her voice simply wrapped around his heart. It was so beautiful it almost brought tears to his eyes. The brothers couldn’t move, locked in place as she sang. When she got to the last haunting notes and the last piano note faded into silence her head suddenly lifted, and she spun on the piano stool.
“Jesus! You scared the hell out of me.” Cassadee pressed her palm to her chest.
She scanned the room as if she was looking for other people who might have enjoyed the show, or perhaps she was searching for an escape route. When she suddenly leaped up from the stool and hurried off the stage in the direction of the staff quarters, it became clear that she had been looking for a way out.
“Wait! Cassadee, that was amazing!”
AJ moved to block her escape into the staff quarters. Sam shifted to stand closer to her. His wolf growling as he neared and inhaled her scent. This time his reaction was even stronger than yesterday. He looked at his brother and the surprised pleasure he read there told him that he was feeling the same thing. Sam knew it wasn’t as strong as the Quickening, but it was so bloody close to it that it had to mean something right?
“Thanks. Look I’m sorry for using your piano without asking, but I come in before my shift starts.” Cassadee rubbed her palms against her worn jeans and started to edge her way around them. “I don’t think anyone has ever even heard me play before. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Cassadee,” Sam said quietly, “that’s not what we were going to say. Jesus, baby, you play that thing like it was meant to be! And your voice is spellbinding. You can play it any damn time you like I have only one stipulation.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and looked into his suspiciously. “What’s the stipulation?”
“You have to tell us when you’re playing so we can be front and center to applaud and catcall like crazy.” He grinned at her, hoping to put her at ease and maybe get her to relax around them a little. Her eyes got round and he frowned when she paled a little at his words. What the hell?
“No, that’s okay.” She started to walk backward. “I’ll just, ah, refrain from using it. No big deal.”
She spun to walk away, not having noticed that AJ had stepped up silently behind her. She turned and stepped right into his waiting arms. Lucky bastard.
“Cassadee”—AJ wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into him a little—“why are you running from us, baby? We want to get to know you a little better. We know you’re attracted to us as we sure are to you, so what has you afraid of getting to know us?”
Sam walked over to stand behind her. AJ turned her slightly so that she could see the two of them at the same time. She was shaking her head, but when Sam slid his arm around her back, let his thumb slide under the hem of her long-sleeved cotton shirt, and rubbed against her satiny skin, her eyes closed briefly and she shivered. The musky scent of her arousal perfumed the air and Sam and AJ inhaled deep, growling low in their chests.
“This isn’t really a good idea, guys. I think I should just go get started with my shift.”
She tried to step out from between them but they wouldn’t let her and just stepped with her, almost as if they were dancing.
“You guys have been in hospital for three days, you—”
“Ten,” AJ said.
Shock rippled across her face. “Wh–what?”
“We were in hospital for ten days. Didn’t you know? We were over in Amarillo for a while because they have a better medical facility with a burns unit,” Sam explained.
“Burns?” Cassadee whispered.
Sam frowned in concern when she seemed to lose all color and almost sag in their arms. “Yeah, I wasn’t born with these you know,” Sam said with a fake grin as he turned his head to show her his burns. He tensed waiting for her reaction. His thoughts suddenly turned to what had been bothering him in the shower this morning. Would she shy away from them because of the burns?
Cassadee’s expression changed to one of horror, and Sam went cold. He immediately dropped his arm and stepped away but her eyes never left the scars on his neck.
“You have burn scars? Where?”
Sam heard the horror in her voice, and God it hurt to hear it. “Down my neck, over my chest, and then a few on my hands. Why? Do they bother you?” Sam almost flinched at the defensive tone in his voice.
“What happened? Were you in a fire? The one up on Red Ridge?”
Cassadee’s eyes hadn’t looked away from his scars, and Sam felt his anger start to rise. “Well, yeah, Cassadee. You have to actually touch the fucking fire for it to burn your skin. But it’s all good. I mean you get left with these cool looking cheese grater effects on your skin that just scream sexy, right?” Sam’s heart hardened as he snapped at her. Judging by the anger coming down their shared link, AJ was getting just as pissed off.
“No, I’ve never thought that burns were sexy.”
Cassadee’s disgust pulsed through her voice. She couldn’t even meet his eyes for fuck’s sake. Her gaze seemed to be stuck on the floor, as if she were lost in her own damn thoughts. Sam gritted his teeth, and his wolf began to pace inside him, as if sensing that the human part of him was in pain. And he was. Fuck! It hurt to think that this woman would be so shallow as to find fault in a few burn scars.
“You fucking bitch,” AJ spat, leaping to his brother’s defense.
Cassadee suddenly shook her head as if to clear it, then looked at AJ as if not quite sure he was actually talking to her.
“AJ, don’t. It’s okay.” Sam held up a hand. “Some women are just so shallow that what’s on the outside outweighs what’s on the inside. Cassadee here is beautiful on the outside, but I think we’ve just seen how ugly she must be on the inside.”
Cassadee gasped and hurt filled her face, tears filling her eyes.
“Yeah, you’re right, brother. I don’t think I can even stand to look at her anymore. She’s suddenly not quite as hot and fuckable as she was,” AJ snapped.
Sam watched as Cassadee leaned forward, taking deep breaths as if she had been punched hard in the stomach. Sam shared a look with AJ. They might have been harsh on her but she had just fucking eviscerated him, and he and AJ had just struck out at her. It pissed him off that he wanted to go to her and offer comfort.
Then she seemed to gather herself, took a deep breath, then lifted herself to her full height. Her face, blank of all expression, was so pale it was almost translucent, but her eyes blazed with hurt and anger.
“Just so that we are clear at the end of this conversation, I fucking quit.” She threw her hand palm out stopping AJ from whatever he was going to say in response to that. “Oh hell no. You don’t get to talk right now. It’s my turn! First, how fucking dare you sprout that filth at me. I understand that misunderstandings can lead to pain and suffering. I am very fucking aware how easy it is to jump to conclusions, but I have never done anything in my life to warrant being spoken to like that, especially by you two.”
Cassadee’s voice shook, and Sam started to get a knot of dread forming in the pit of his stomach.
“Second, I find it ridiculously insulting that you would think that I would turn away from anyone because of a few fucking scars.”
She whirled on him and his first thought was that she was stunning when she wore her rage like armor.
“If those few paltry burn scars bother you because you think they don’t make you pretty anymore and that no woman would want you, then take a fucking concrete pill and harden the hell up!”
“You bitch!” AJ roared as he grabbed her arm and spun around to face him. “You know nothing about who he is or what he’s been through!”
“I know everything about what he’s been through!” Cassadee wrenched her arm from him and whirled to move away from them.
She spun back to face them, face now red, her eyes flashing blue and amber. Sam flinched in shock. She was a shifter? What the hell?
“You think you have the market cornered on pain? Or suffering? Or even on scarring and burns? Well, fuck you both very much to hell and back for making me do this!”
Cassadee suddenly wrenched her shirt up and over her head, standing unashamedly in just a bra, her head high and her T-shirt clenched tight in her fist. Sam rocked in shock. His whole body revolting at what he was seeing. He heard AJ cry out beside him.
She was a tapestry of scar tissue. Sam recognized the ones on her right side as burns, even a string of circular ones that ran down the inside of her arms that looked like they had been made with cigarettes. There was also a variety of claw marks, wider than what a wolf could make, and damned if that didn’t looked like a knife wound low on her right abdomen.
She spun around and Sam moaned, gripping the back of a chair to remain upright. Her upper back was striped with scars that could mean only one thing. This woman, this beautiful, spitfire of a woman had been fucking flogged! Probably tied by her hands and lashed with leather until it split her beautiful skin. He couldn’t even begin to fathom how painful that must have been.
She turned back around and pulled on her shirt back. Her eyes still blazed with hurt, and Sam wanted to cut his heart out and drop it at her feet in apology. She tucked her shirt in, then stood before them tall and proud. Sam honestly didn’t know what to say, or if he could manage to be able to say anything without simply bursting into tears.
“Please, thank Lucy for me,” Cassadee said quietly, her voice hollow and void of all fight or emotion. “She took a chance on me. The only one who ever has. Tell her I said good-bye.” She refused to look at them, just walked to a table where her bag was sitting.
Panic ripped through Sam. She was going to leave, and after the way he and AJ had treated her, he couldn’t blame her. “Cassadee, please.” Sam’s voice was raw. Shit, he felt raw. The pain of the burns from the fire paled in comparison to what he was feeling now. He turned to look at AJ, hoping he might know what to say, but AJ just stood there with tears running down his face, hand reached out toward her.
“Forget it, Sam, and forget me. I’m sure as hell going to do everything in my power to forget you.” Her voice was cold.
She strode out of the room quickly with her head held high and never looked back. Gone was the woman who had tried to edge out of the room. This one walked straight between them, never looking at them, never pausing, not when they both whispered her name in agonizing tones and not when they both suddenly snapped upright, a continuous growling forming low in their chests.
Sam was suddenly hit with her scent, and he felt his body start to hum, his wolf went crazy and a bond snapped into place for a few seconds before it disappeared. But he knew damn well what that meant.
“Mate,” he snarled down his link to his brother at the same damn time AJ sent the same thing to him. When they looked down the link to their mate, it disappeared into nothing. Not like it was behind a barrier, but like it had been severed.
“Cassadee!” Sam roared, throwing his head back. He heard people running into the room, obviously thinking that someone had been hurt. And they were right. He and his brother had destroyed her.
“How in the hell did this happen!” AJ roared down their link. “We have scented her before and the fucking Quickening has never hit before. Why now?”
“I don’t know, AJ. I’m not fucking sure what happened there but I can tell you this,” Sam said, his words ringing with conviction and promise. “We are going to find out what the hell happened. We are sure as hell going to figure out how to fix this complete clusterfuck we have just made with her. We are going to do everything she asks of us to earn her forgiveness. And we for sure are going to find the fucker who did that to her and make him bleed hard before we rip his throat out! And then we are going to claim our mate!” Sam could feel his wolf prowling right on the surface and knew that he was in complete agreement.
* * * *
Cassadee drove straight to her apartment, moving on pure adrenaline and anger. Fuck she wished she could hunt that bitch fate down and kick her ass! How fucking dare fate put her mates in danger by putting them in the middle of the little power games her brother and father liked to play with her? Just who the fuck did fate think she was! Bryan could have killed AJ and Sam for Christ’s sake.
And now that she was aboard the rant train bound for Bitchville, how could those asshats believe something like t
hat of her? Of her! It was absurd! Well, screw them and screw this town. She was getting the hell out of here and not looking back. She started collecting all her meager belongings and placing them hastily into a suitcase, determined to be in and out within half an hour. She had just gone into the bathroom for her toiletries when a knock came at the door.
Freezing, she reached out with her ability to determine who it was. If it was Sam and AJ, she just might scream and murder them both with her bare hands. When she encountered two female presences at the door, she sensed concern and worry from both, and if she was not mistaken, no small amount of anger as well. She contemplated keeping quiet and pretending not to be home—for about five seconds because then Faith banged on the door again and shouted, “Don’t you punk out and think I’ll leave! You’re trippin’ if you think I will. Now, stop being a pussy and open the damn door!”
Despite the fact that she had been pretty much gutted and left for dead in the past hour, she laughed. God, that woman had a way with words. She turned and opened the door and there stood the only two people who had ever been nice to her, who had opened their hearts and their arms to her in friendship. And now they offered again in commiseration and comfort, walking toward her, arms out, then they pulled her into their combined embrace and held her.
For a few seconds she froze, waiting for the bitch slap that experience had taught her usually followed kindness. When nothing came, she felt all her defenses just crumble and didn’t care if that made her vulnerable to attack. She could take no more. She simply let go. She wrapped her arms around them both and let the tears and the sobs come. She couldn’t hold her own weight anymore and collapsed against them. They lowered her gently to the floor, but never once dropped their arms from around her.
And she cried for everything. She cried for the hurt and the pain and the humiliation, for the fact that she was destined to be fated to two wolfs that thought so little of her, for the fact that despite everything that had happened in her life. She had never had anyone love her for her. Her father had told her he loved her every damn day he was manipulating her genetic code and turning her into a psychically enhanced freak. And she had eaten it up. And she cried for the home she thought she was building in this shitty little apartment in this town that had called to her from the moment she stepped foot in it.