by Delta James
“DeMoncada...” started Shannon.
“Lied,” said Darby quietly. “The bastard lied. He used your love and belief in your sister and turned it against you. He used it as a tool to destroy you just the way he used everything else.”
“Shannon,” said Roz, stepping forward, “more than any of these women, I know how you feel.”
“You can’t possibly...”
“No, not exactly. No one held me captive for a year. But I was turned against my will. My sister and I were kidnapped and held down and bitten so that some pack in the middle of nowhere would have breeding material. I got lucky; the pack whose territory they had invaded to do their hunting found out and rescued us. My sister, like Catherine, chose to embrace her new life and found love with her fated mate. I chose to run. I lived on my own for a while and then found a group of all she-wolves.”
“And you can stand here with them? Didn’t the Ruling Council force all of you into pairings not of your choice?”
Skylar shook her head. “That’s kind of a long story, but the short version is that while the Council tried to destroy us, they didn’t. Our mates, that group of men you want to hold in such low regard? They stepped up to the plate and made sure each woman that was at Bae Diogel found her fated mate.”
Shannon scoffed. “Fated mate. What a bunch of bullshit.”
Catherine smiled. “Oh, how I wish. It would be so much easier if I just loved Marco, but it’s so much deeper than that. But none of that matters. What matters is you survived. We want to get you to safety where you can take the time to figure out what it is you want. Marco and I will protect you and support whatever decisions you make about your future.”
“Good. I want two things and two things only in this world. I want to kill deMoncada and I want to be left the hell alone and never see any of you again.”
Catherine stepped back as though her sister had slapped her. She shook off the comforting hands of those that surrounded her. “If that’s what you want, I can make sure the latter happens. But you’ll have to beat me to deMoncada. I swore that I would see him die for what he did to you.”
“Fine, you can watch. But the bastard is mine to kill. All of you can leave; stay the hell out of my way and I won’t turn my rage on any of you.”
“We’re not going to leave, Shannon,” said Darby quietly. “We won’t stand in your way, but I have watched your sister live under the shadow of uncertainty about what happened to you and then live with the burden of knowing but not being able to find you. You don’t honestly believe that we came up here on a lark, do you? Catherine is one of us, as are you whether you like it or not. We came to support her and you. Look, if nothing else you have to know we aren’t here to harm you. One of the girls that was driving the van you were in is an ace hacker. She’s been able to trace the tracking device in your flank back to deMoncada. We have the coordinates for where he is.”
“What tracking device?” asked Shannon. “I don’t have anything from that hellhole of a castle house or from the warehouse still with me.”
“He had it surgically implanted. I think Roz knows someone who can have it removed.”
“I do,” affirmed Roz. “She’s a she-wolf like us but if I call her to meet us at her clinic she won’t tell anyone in her pack.”
“Shannon, you need to listen to that small spark inside you that says we are on your side. These women that came after you? You’ll never find a group more loyal, brave, or trustworthy...”
“Jesus, Darby, you make us sound like a bunch of fucking girl scouts,” quipped Roz.
“No, that’s always be prepared,” said Shannon without thinking.
She looked up and saw the women on the other side of the drive smiling and trying very hard not to laugh.
“You always did have to correct everyone,” said Catherine softly.
“I guess that’s one of the things deMoncada couldn’t beat out of me.”
Shannon saw Catherine cringe and a spark of hope ignited. Perhaps deMoncada had lied about Catherine as well as a lot of the other things he’d told her. She looked at the women standing before her. There really was no reason for them to be there other than to support Catherine... and her. And if Catherine could still inspire that kind of loyalty, perhaps she wasn’t the monster Shannon had been led to believe she was.
“Lighten up, Catherine. You know how I always tried to make a joke out of shit that scared me. And this being a wolf thing? Scariest thing I’ve ever experienced. DeMoncada may have held me against my will and played his crazy games, but to no longer be human? That’s a deep cut of the first order.”
Catherine started to tear up. “I remember... I remember everything.”
“You aren’t going to get all sappy on me, are you?” teased Shannon, for the first time feeling as though the darkness that had shrouded her might be starting to lift.
“Yep, I’m afraid I am. And you’re just going to have to deal with it. I am Catherine DeMedici,” she said, drawing herself up, “Madonna to the great DeMedici pack and if I want to cry and have my mascara run and get snot all over your shirt, I’m going to do it.”
Shannon hadn’t realized that Roz had gotten so close.
“How about you let me have the rifle and go hug your sister. Madonna to the DeMedici or not, she could use it.”
Everything inside Shannon broke apart in that moment of the sun cresting over the lake, the mist starting to rise and surrounded by women that when she reached out with her heightened senses, she could tell meant her no harm.
“Cat?” she whispered in a broken voice.
Catherine closed the distance between them and hugged her sister close. “I’m here, Shea. I’m here.”
“You don’t know what he did...”
Catherine put her sister at arm’s distance so she could look her directly in the eye. “He did nothing. Do you hear me? He did nothing that touched who you truly are. He may have made your body respond in ways you didn’t like. He may have made you believe lies to be truth and truth to be lies. But you did not break. You beat that bastard at his own game and he will die because he tried.”
Catherine hugged her sister close. It took a moment for Shannon to let go of all the anger, recrimination, and shame of what she had endured, but wrapped in her sister’s warm embrace she found the courage to do so. The two sisters stood holding each other, crying and trying to comfort one another.
Roz looked at the two sisters and started to choke up. She then looked at their companions who were each holding on to the others and tearing up.
“You know,” Roz stated. “If I weren’t such a nasty, evil bitch, I’d cry too.”
Darby tossed back her hair. “I’m not crying. I just got something in my eye.”
“Yes,” said Skylar, “me too. Just something in my eye.”
Catherine finally lifted her head from her sister and looked at the others. “At least I’m not going to be the only one who looks like shit with a red nose and runny mascara.”
Shannon looked at them, still holding her sister close. “Thank God. I swear if one of them had been able to do the pretty cry, I might have decked them.”
Riley smiled. “Look, I don’t want to break this up, but that tracker needs to come out. And if deMoncada has been using it, he’ll be headed here. Ava gave me a short-term electronic blocker. If we put it on Shannon it’ll block the signal but not for long. I say we make sure Roz’s friend is available to help, turn on the blocker, and go get this thing removed. Then we can go back to the place we rented and figure out our next step.”
Leaving Shannon’s Jeep, they took the SUV back to the bed and breakfast. Shannon collapsed against her sister, who had yet to let her go.
“Do I get to see pictures of my niece? There’s only one from a distance on the website.”
“Marco’s doing. He felt it was safer that way. She’s beautiful—she looks a lot like her Auntie Shea.”
Catherine had taken the SIM card out of her phone, but had kept
it with her to show Shannon her niece.
“God, Cat, she’s gorgeous. She’s going to be a beauty.”
“We named her Abriana Shea.”
“You gave her my name as her middle name?”
“Yes, we wanted her to always know she had an incredible aunt. Abriana was Marco’s mother’s name.”
“Why weren’t you with them when they came for us?”
“We were in route. They could get to you faster so they went ahead. I was planning on being reunited with you in Maine, but you managed to outmaneuver everybody and their brother. And show them that the Livingston girls are not to be underestimated,” Catherine said with pride in her voice.
“You’re not going to call the men in your lives, are you? I’m not sure I can handle all that... testosterone for lack of a better term.”
The other women in the car all laughed.
“You’ll get used to it. Mostly we just ignore it,” said Catherine with a smile. “They’re good men. Truly. Just a bit on the over-the-top side when it comes to protecting those they love. I have to tell you. I’ll try to hold Marco back, but he’s going to desperately want to hug you and make sure you’re not physically harmed.”
“I could kick him in the shin,” offered Shannon.
“I’ve tried that—it’s not very effective. I’ve found breaking pottery over his head while not truly effective is at least somewhat satisfying.”
“I could go for his nuts...”
“You injure him there, my dear little sister, and you and I are going to have a major disagreement. I’m rather fond of that part of his anatomy.”
Shannon found herself giggling for the first time in over a year. “I take it he’s good in the sack?”
Catherine hugged her. “You have no idea.”
Roz had arranged with her friend to meet them at the latter’s clinic. Finding and removing the tracking device was quick and accomplished with very little discomfort. Shannon would remark later that the needle giving her the local anesthesia was the most painful part of the entire process. Once that was done, they headed back to the bed and breakfast, tossing the tracking device into a heavily wooded area along the edge of the water far from where they planned to stay. Upon walking up to the front door, Shannon seemed a bit uneasy.
“Would it help if we had someone keep watch?” asked Darby kindly.
“I hate to put any of you to any more trouble than I already have. I’m sure I’m just being foolish,” said Shannon.
“Shannon, you’ve been through hell and back. If posting a lookout will make you feel more comfortable, then I say it’s a small price to pay. I think I speak for us all,” said Skylar while the others nodded.
They agreed to a schedule for someone to keep watch and then went about preparing something to eat. When lunch was ready, Darby found Catherine sitting on the couch with Shannon curled up next to her sleeping peacefully.
“I think she needs sleep more than food,” Catherine whispered so as not to disturb her sister.
“You’re probably right. I’ll get a plate for both of you. You can nibble on yours and if Shannon wakes and is hungry it’ll be right there. By the way, you look like you could use some sleep.”
“I don’t want to close my eyes. I’m afraid if I do when I open them this will all have been a dream.”
“It’s no dream, Catherine,” said Darby, reaching down to squeeze her friend’s shoulder. “The nightmare is finally over. Now we just need to clean up the leftover debris.”
“Dar?” Darby turned to look at her. “Let Riley and the others know we have her.”
“I’ll do better than that. I’ll let them know we have her, that she’s going to be fine, and that the five of us are going hunting. I’ll see what Ava’s been able to find out about deMoncada’s whereabouts. Personally, I think we ought to draw straws for who gets to kill him.”
Chapter Sixteen
Once Ava knew the tracking device had been removed from Shannon’s body, she told Declan she had cracked the encryption and had sent the coordinates to it and to deMoncada’s location as well. DeMoncada had stayed true to form and had checked into a luxury hotel in Toronto. He had only stayed one night and had arranged a car service to drive him across the border into the United States. The Coalition alphas were fairly sure he’d be headed for the airport outside of Niagara Falls.
* * *
Shannon woke several hours later still curled up with her sister, who kissed her forehead as she opened her eyes. She reached up to wipe the tears from Catherine’s face. “Don’t cry, Cat. I’ll be all right.”
“So many times I was so afraid I’d never see you again. But Marco never doubted it. He told me repeatedly we would find you and we would bring you home with us. You’re going to love Tuscany. Pictures don’t do it justice.”
“You’ll forgive me if I never want to see Florence again.”
Catherine held her breath until she saw Shannon was teasing her.
Reassured, she replied, “That’s good because it’s tough to see anything when you’re surrounded by a pack of big, bad male wolves charged with making sure nothing happens to you. And lest you think my mate is being overly protective of the she-wolf who bore him a female shifter, you should know... he’s that way about all of the women of our pack and my friend Seraphina. Seraphina isn’t wolf, although I think she’s starting to suspect that there is something different about the DeMedicis. The best part is, she doesn’t even know she’s being followed.”
“He sounds like a good man.”
“He’s the best. He can be overbearing at times and there are times I literally smash things over his head...”
“Oh, good, I was afraid you might have lost your notorious temper,” teased Shannon.
“Hardly. In fact, I think it’s gotten worse. I swear our pack gets the biggest kick out of seeing Marco and me go at it when he pisses me off.”
“DeMoncada hates him, you know.”
Catherine nodded. “He should. And he should be afraid. DeMoncada will not live much longer. If you or I don’t get him, trust me, Marco will. And once we cut the head off of the snake that was this horrendous operation, we can begin to clean all of it up and get the rest of the women who were taken and send them home. A great many of them ended up with us. Riley...”
“That’s the redhead from Belfast? The one who was with you at the auction?”
“Yes, Riley Nichols. Her brother is mated to Marco’s little sister, Gia.”
Shannon shook her head. “You’re going to have to draw me up a family tree or org chart of all these people.”
“I can do that, but you’ll find integrating into wolfen society is easy. They are far more accepting than humans. They are especially kind to those who were given no choice about whether to join us or not.”
Shannon reached up to touch the mark on her sister’s neck.
“I saw that all of you have one of those. Is it some kind of brand?”
“No, it’s an alpha’s mark. If you choose to mate with an alpha, they will mark you as theirs.”
Catherine could feel her sister stiffen.
“That’s barbaric,” Shannon whispered angrily.
Catherine nodded. “In some ways. And when you first hear about it you think, oh, hell no. But I have to tell you, there isn’t one of us here who didn’t choose to allow them to do it. I remember pressing Marco’s mouth against the spot and asking him.”
Roz flopped down beside them. “It helps that when they want to do it, you’re usually in the midst of an orgasm. Have to tell you, there’s little I’d refuse my Oliver at a moment like that.”
Shannon looked at the stunning brunette whose eyes sparkled both with amusement and with remembered passion and love for her mate.
Darby joined them. “My first mate was a pig. I screamed bloody murder when he bit me. He had me held down by his beta and his omega. And the first time, it didn’t take, which he blamed me for. But with Jean-Michel? I knew it would hurt more as he’d h
ave to bite deeper, but I wanted that first bastard’s mark gone and not a day goes by that I don’t touch Jean-Michel’s mark and feel gratitude that it’s there. It not only serves as a warning to other wolves, but as a promise to the woman who wears it.”
“Would you mind if I asked what happened to your first mate? I thought wolves mated for life?”
Skylar smiled. “Fated mates do mate for life. Darby may have been mated before Jean-Michel but that sonofabitch wasn’t her fated mate. Jean-Michel holds that title. The men, if their mates go first, normally don’t outlive them by a year. They just sort of fade away. The women, we survive but tell ourselves there won’t be another. Dylan is my second fated mate. I’ve never been sure if I did something really good or he did something really bad for us to deserve each other.”
“You know as I think about it, I don’t know that I actually asked him to bite me,” said Darby, “but I sure didn’t put up much of a fight. I was far more interested in him making me come... again.”
“So, Darby and Skylar, you both had mates before?” asked Shannon.
“Yes. Sky’s was a fated mate. He was murdered by hunters—humans who know we exist and are terrified of us. They hunt us down if they can. There’s been less and less of that. Sky hunted down the hunters and killed them. She left her beloved Wales and came to North Carolina. She formed Bae Diogel, which is how all of us met. When Dylan came along, she fell for him.”
“What about you?” asked Shannon. “If that’s not too personal.”
“Not at all. My father was a gambler and a bad one. He sold me to my first mate to pay off a gambling debt. I endured a lot of shit at that man’s hands. I learned to truly hate the men of our kind. Wound up at Bae Diogel and then that damned pirate of mine called to me. I was so pissed. I wanted nothing to do with him and his damn fated mate bullshit.”
Skylar laughed. “I remember when you two first got together. I said to Dylan you didn’t stand a chance.” She turned back to Shannon. “Jean-Michel is the single most charming rogue you will ever meet. And as he said to me, no one can resist him when he’s trying to be charming and he intended to be very charming to Darby.”