He felt the air rush back out, and he did it all over again. On the third cycle, Aiden arrived. The vampire took off his shirt and started to rub Meg’s coat vigorously while Brody was breathing into her little nose.
Caleb and Lachlan arrived moments later and shifted. Brody felt them shift but didn’t spare them a glance. If they were as useless as Prescott then he couldn’t waste the time.
“Should I call forth her shift so you can do that to her while she’s human?” Caleb said.
“You can do that?” Aiden said.
“He’s done it before,” Lachlan said. Caleb knelt beside Aiden and used his hand to massage Meg’s heart.
“Brody, what do you think is best?” Prescott said. He didn’t know when he became the expert, he was just winging it. Landon and Elliot arrived but stayed shifted. The big bears turned and watched the woods for threats as they all focused on saving Meg. I have awesome mates.
“I’ll call Jason,” Aiden said. Prescott took over rubbing Meg dry while Aiden stepped back. He was talking to this person Jason for only a minute before he closed his phone. Brody and Caleb hadn’t stopped even for a second.
“He says to see if she’s breathing on her own now. If she’s not, he said to make her shift and warm her up as quickly as you can, but to keep doing CPR.”
Brody looked at Caleb and gently rested Meg’s head back on the ground. Caleb removed his hand from her chest and left it hovering there as they all watched and waited. Her chest rose and fell. Brody brought his ear close to her face.
“She’s breathing,” he said, his voice cracking as a sob filled his throat.
“I can hear her heartbeat. It’s slow, but it’s there,” Caleb said. “Brody could you take us back home, I’ll start a fire and we’ll warm her up. I think she’ll be better staying shifted so she can warm up quicker.”
Brody didn’t waste time talking. He took Caleb home first, depositing him in the living room, right in front of the fire. He went straight back for Meg, then took Lachlan. When he went back for Prescott, the big man grabbed him as soon as he appeared.
“Thank you for saving my mate. I’d be honored if you’d be godfather to our first cub.” He put Brody down when Landon and Elliot growled loudly. Prescott was still naked. His mates were understandably annoyed.
He took Prescott home and went back for Landon and Elliot. Aiden had left in the seconds it had taken him to get everyone home. Brody hoped he’d gone to burn the barn. It would be a grizzly sight for someone to unknowingly stumble upon.
He took Elliot first then returned for Landon. “I’ll take us back to Lachlan’s room so you can put some clothes on. That’s where I took Elliot.”
“Why don’t you take us back to my room so I can take your clothes off?” Landon said.
Brody crossed his arms over his chest and tapped his foot. Landon ran a hand through his thick black hair, and shrugged.
“What can I say? You were amazing today, Brody. You were fearless when you took on those demons, and you made minced meat out of them.” Brody winced at the gory pun. “Then you saved Meg’s life. It was incredibly sexy, little mate.”
“I’ll take you to Lachlan’s room because you’ve forgotten one thing, my big handsome Landon.” Landon raised his eyebrows as he walked forward and pulled Brody against his warm naked body. “I have another mate who should be there the first time we’re naked in your bedroom.”
Landon’s roar shook snow from the trees and Brody shook it from his hair before taking them to see Meg.
Chapter 17
Caleb sat with Meg on his lap. Lachlan and Prescott sat on either side of him and they all watched each breath Meg took. Caleb knew he’d never take her respirations for granted again and he doubted his brothers would either.
“I know you’re blaming yourself, Caleb,” Prescott said, “but you shouldn’t. It would have been a completely different scenario in that barn if they already had Meg.”
“They could have taken her anywhere,” Lachlan said. “We might never have found her in time.”
Caleb nodded, he had told himself all of this, but he still felt the weight of his own guilt crushing him. She had still nearly died.
“She trusted you, Caleb, and did exactly what you told her to do,” Prescott said. “It saved her.”
“If you hadn’t found her in time…” Lachlan started. Prescott cut him off with a growl.
“I didn’t know what to do when she wasn’t breathing. I’ve never felt so damned helpless. Brody was the one who saved her life.”
Caleb chuckled. “Are you sure you don’t want to whine about something, too, Lachlan?”
“No, I’m just happy our mate is alive and safe. You two are ruining my joyful mood, so shut the fuck up.”
Prescott laughed, too, and Caleb started to forgive himself. They had all done what was necessary to save Meg.
“Brody is one scary demon,” Caleb said. “I’m just glad he’s on our side.”
“Oh, by the way. I asked him to be godfather to our first cub.” Prescott laughed and ran his hand over Meg’s silky soft coat. “I’m sure Meg won’t mind. She loves the little guy.”
Caleb watched Meg’s slow, steady breathing and wondered if she was already pregnant. He wanted nothing more than to see her grow round with their cubs, but the hypothermia may have harmed the growing fetus. “I’m going to up our offer to Charlie Paige. We need a doctor here and she’s a good one.”
“We can’t kidnap Jason for the whole of Meg’s pregnancy, when she does get pregnant,” Prescott said. “So it’s a good plan.”
“Did you smell Kaitlyn?” Lachlan said. He stroked over Meg’s head and rubbed her ears softly.
“No. Why,” Prescott said.
“She’s pregnant,” Caleb said. “She hasn’t told Meg yet, so I think we should keep quiet and let her share the news herself when she’s ready.”
The fire had warmed the room so much that Caleb was sweating, but he wouldn’t move until Meg woke up and shifted. He closed his eyes but kept his hand resting on her side. The steady rise and fall of her chest made him blissfully happy.
* * * *
Shivers ran through Meg’s body, shaking her from her dream. She’d been warm in her dream, but now she felt cold. Opening her eyes, she saw a blazing fire. Water. I was in the water. She shivered again, and warm hands smoothed over her coat.
She looked at her fur covered paws and remembered everything. The man taking her, hiding in the tree then Prescott’s roar and the water.
“We need more wood on the fire,” Lachlan said. “She’s still cold.”
She turned to see the frowning faces of her mates. She was lying across Caleb’s lap with Prescott and Lachlan on either side. They were all here. Is it over?
As more shivers wracked her body she shifted. “Is it over? Is Lexie safe?”
Caleb wrapped his arms around her. His broad naked chest felt hot against her freezing skin. She pulled her legs up to her chest and put her hands against the warmth of Caleb’s chest.
“Jesus, you’re as cold as ice, baby,” Caleb said. Goose bumps rose on his chest and arms.
“I’ll put more wood on the fire,” Lachlan said, “Prescott, go grab a blanket.”
“Lexie?” Meg said, her teeth chattering loudly.
“No one was hurt,” Caleb said. “The bad guys are all dead.”
Prescott wrapped a soft blanket over her and Caleb then sat down next to her, rubbing over her skin with the blanket. The friction was helping. She felt the warmth of it seep into her frozen skin.
“So cold.” She managed to get the words out as she shook, her teeth loudly knocking together.
“We know, baby,” Prescott said. “You were so brave.” He regarded her with a serious expression, shadows in his eyes making him look haunted. She didn’t like that look. She wanted her Prescott back.
“Tell me,” she said. She couldn’t get the rest of the words to form as her jaw shuddered so badly.
As they told h
er everything, the shivering finally abated. She snuggled against Caleb’s warm chest and stretched out her hands under the blanket to hold Prescott and Lachlan’s hands.
“Brody not only beat those demons, he saved your life, Meg,” Prescott said. “I didn’t know what to do when you weren’t breathing.”
His pain hit her hard through their bond, and she scented it in the warm air. He felt he’d let her down. “You risked your life drawing those two men away from me. They were right underneath the tree I was hiding in. From what you said, if Aiden hadn’t arrived when he did, you would have been burned, maybe killed.”
“We’ve told him all of this,” Caleb said.
“So the big bad enforcer doesn’t know everything?” Meg said teasingly. “Honestly, who would have thought to do CPR on a leopard? Brody is totally insane. A genius, but insane.”
Prescott’s smile was genuine. “You shouldn’t say that about your child’s godfather.”
“Oh, that’s a wonderful idea. I want Kaitlyn to be the godmother, though. I love them both, it’s only right. We should tell that nice doctor you took me to what Brody did. I bet she wouldn’t have thought of that either.”
“I’m going to get that nice doctor to come to Pine Falls and be our town doctor,” Caleb said. “So I’m glad you liked her.”
“Nick is really dead. You saw him dead.” Meg didn’t doubt them, she just needed reassurance that her nightmare was really over. She wanted to be free from looking over her shoulder and worrying he’d appear to take either her or Lexie.
“Actually, we killed him twice,” Lachlan said. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her. She reached for him and ran her hands over his muscled shoulders. She shivered as Caleb kissed his mark on her neck.
“I think we need to share a little more body heat with our mate,” Prescott said. He drew the blanket off her and kissed down her back with his warm lips.
Meg knelt on Caleb’s lap and wrapped her arms tighter around Lachlan’s shoulders. She didn’t need any more heat. She was burning for her mates. She pushed all thoughts of evil creatures from her mind and just enjoyed being mated to her three sexy mountain lions.
Epilogue
Caleb tried to hold Meg still as she bounced excitedly on his knee at their wedding party. He swore his cock was going to snap off if she didn’t stop rubbing her sexy ass against it.
“I can’t believe Kaitlyn is pregnant,” Meg said. “I wonder if the baby will be a shifter or a vampire. Not that I care. I’m going to be a godmother.”
“Be still, baby, or everyone here will see the sexy surprise you have for us under this scrap of material you call a wedding dress.” He punctuated his statement by sliding his elongated canines into his mark on Meg’s neck.
“Fuck.” He’d just made matters worse for himself when the scent of her aroused pussy filled his lungs. “You’re trying to kill me.”
“You’re the one who just made me come,” Meg said between her clenched teeth. She was breathless now, and a fine sheen of perspiration glistened on her back.
The dress she’d chosen for their wedding had a slim scrap of silk that fastened around her neck, leaving her back fully exposed nearly all the way to her ass. He and his brothers had nearly had heart attacks the first time she’d turned around.
Since the ceremony had finished they’d made sure one of them was standing close behind her unless she was on one of their laps. No one was seeing that much of Meg’s skin except her mates.
Prescott stalked toward them, his expression thunderous. He squatted down and took Meg’s lips for a long passionate kiss. When he released her mouth, they were both panting. “Do you realize how embarrassing it is to get an erection in front of our mother?” Prescott glared at Caleb, but had a smirk on his lips.
“It’s his fault.” Meg pointed to Caleb over her shoulder. She pulled Prescott closer and whispered something in his ear that had him growling loudly.
“When can we leave?” Prescott’s eyes were bright amber and his canines were pushing into his bottom lip.
“It’s too early to leave,” Lachlan said. He bent to kiss Meg and had to adjust his erection in his dress pants when he pulled away.
“You can’t leave yet,” Kaitlyn said. She’d been standing behind them, but most of the guests were shifters, so Caleb imagined the whole room knew they wanted to take Meg home and have their wicked way with their new wife. “You haven’t cut the cake, or had the first dance.”
“It took me three days to make that tower of delicious magnificence,” Brody said.
Meg jumped and then playfully slapped Brody’s arm. “Stop doing that, you’ll scare me to death one day. Of course we aren’t leaving before cutting the cake. Thank you, Brody, it’s the most beautiful cake I’ve ever seen.”
Caleb marveled at the change in his mate over the last four weeks. She’d been beautiful and alluring when they’d first seen her in this very tavern a month ago, but now she was an irresistible vision of womanhood. Being free from a homicidal maniac stalker really suited her.
“There’s a vampire near,” Brody said. He looked around, his eyes wide, his normally pale skin having lost what little color it had.
“Take her,” Caleb said. He stood and placed Meg on the floor next to Brody.
“Wait,” Aiden said. He appeared next to Kaitlyn and grasped her hand firmly. “I can’t read the vampire’s thoughts, but whoever they are, they have a wolf with them. The wolf is injured and I can hear the vampire talking to it.”
The space around Caleb filled with bodies. Landon and Elliot came to stand behind Brody, Sean came to stand in front of Kaitlyn, and the Walsh brothers stood behind Caleb and his brothers. This new vampire would have to kill a lot of shifters to reach Meg or Kaitlyn, let alone getting past Aiden.
“Brody,” Caleb said. “Can you wait a moment? It might be better to take Kaitlyn first if she turns out to be the target of an attack.”
“I’d have taken her already if I thought that were the case, Caleb,” Aiden said. “This wolf is badly hurt and the vampire is telling her that we can save her.”
Snarls filled the air as all the shifters scented blood. Caleb’s roar shook the tavern and silenced his pride. “Let them through.”
In the next instant a tall dark-haired woman stood before them. Her hair was long and straight, the pupils of her almond-shaped eyes were a fiery red. She held a small wolf in her arms. The wolf’s eyes were a dull copper color, and her coat was matted with dirt and blood.
“I need your help,” the vampire said. “It’s started. Everything I feared would come to pass has happened.” She looked at Aiden and held out the wolf to him. Aiden took the wolf and it whimpered softly.
Howls sounded behind Caleb, and the howls were of pain. Enough pain that it drew Caleb’s attention away from the vampire. He turned in time to see Josh and Shane Walsh streak from the room in their shifted forms of giant arctic wolves. Brayden, their elder brother, shook his head and moved through the crowd of shifters to Aiden’s side.
“It’s all right now, little one,” he said softly. “We’ll keep you safe.” He reached for the wolf and Aiden smiled sadly as he relinquished the injured wolf to Brayden.
“They’ll come around,” Aiden said.
“I’m ashamed to say I was dreading ever finding her,” Brayden said. He lowered his head and placed a kiss on the wolf’s head. The wolf shuddered and closed her eyes. “My brothers are both so terribly broken.”
“Maybe she’s what’s needed to finally heal them,” Aiden said. Brayden shook his head and sat down in the nearest chair. He gently rocked the now sleeping wolf.
“What’s come to pass?” Prescott said. The look he was giving the vampire woman was coldly hostile. “What danger have you now brought to Pine Falls?”
“Look at her,” Aiden said. “Tell me you don’t know who this is Sean?”
“I have never seen her before,” Sean said. “But I know she’s a vampire.” Caleb felt as confused as Sean obviously w
as, but the hairs on his arms stood on end. This was going to be bad news for his pride.
“You must be Isabelle,” Aiden said. “Let me introduce you to my mate, Kaitlyn. Your daughter.”
Caleb roared out his rage. It wasn’t bad news, it was terrible news. The vampire Selwyn Graves needed to die. He knew in his heart that this trouble was caused by him. Caleb would not consider failure in keeping his pride safe. This new addition of Brayden and his brother’s mate only added to his motivation to end the threat the vampire held for Pine Falls. The thought that had him on the edge of turning feral, however, was that now both Kaitlyn’s cub and Meg’s was going to be in danger.
THE END
[email protected]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I live in a quiet bush suburb north of Sydney, Australia. I was born in England but have lived in Australia since I was a child. I have been an avid reader since I was twelve years old. My first series of books were Nancy Drew, and they have left me with an enduring love for mystery and suspense novels. I do love romance, though, so I write what I would love to read, which will always have strong heroes and a happily ever after. What girl doesn't want that? My love of fantasy has let me explore the paranormal genre, and I love the way it lets me escape reality for a little while.
My hope is that people will enjoy reading my books as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
For all titles by Ashley Malkin, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/ashley-malkin
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Fighting Heaven for Love [Pine Falls 2] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) Page 13