by Lily Harlem
We’d outwitted him. He wasn’t happy in the least and I had no doubt that he’d show neither Aimery or Ryle any mercy should he get hold of us again. Or me, come to that. Aatu was no fool. He’d know I’d removed the silver collars and chains. I would likely get the same treatment as Elfrida for being a traitor to the Carlton Pack.
“Let’s go,” I said, shuddering at the thought of my head parting from my neck.
Ryle turned, plucked me from Aimery’s arms and nestled me into his chest. He swept his lips over mine and then stared down at me. Passion, relief and love poured from his eyes as the shadows of the forest sliced over his beautiful face. “Perfect plan, baby,” he said with a grin. “Let’s get out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Aimery and Ryle picked up a speed that wasn’t quite as intense as our initial escape from the cave but was still much quicker than I could ever have run.
I was getting colder, despite my coat, and knew it was because I had a low blood volume and my body was struggling. I needed fluid and special rejuvenating tea. I also needed to get out of the cold forest.
“Where are we going?” I whispered against Ryle’s neck. My lips moved against his cool, hard skin.
“Somewhere safe and warm. Away from all the things in the world that want to hurt you.”
“The wolves didn’t want to hurt me, at least not until I released their prisoners.”
He made a scoffing sound. “Never trust a wolf. They’re sly, cunning and would sell their sister for a slab of raw meat.”
“But they’ve been protecting me for months. They saved me from Elfrida, twice, and gave me a home and a place to grieve for you.”
“They saved you?” Aimery asked, coming closer to Ryle and me as we sped along a snowy forest track. “What do you mean?”
“On the night of the crash. Elfrida snatched me from the train. She was going to kill me, drink me dry, but Caleb and Isaac came along, in their wolf-form, and chased her away.”
“She took you from the train?”
“Yes, as it was crashing.”
“Fucking bitch,” Ryle said. “No goddamn respect for human life or that of her fellow vampires. The Order is going to be furious when they hear about this. There will be no mourning her, despite her high position. She will be stripped of all her titles in death.”
“She was crazy,” I agreed.
“Was being the right word,” Ryle said. “I hate to see one of my own come to an end but I can’t feel sorry for her after this.”
We moved on in silence for a few minutes.
“So,” Aimery said, “It was the two male wolves, Caleb and Isaac, who took you in, is that right? You’ve been staying in their cabin.”
“Yes, for months. I didn’t dare leave because I knew Elfrida was still in the area.”
“That explains a lot.” Ryle tutted and shook his head, he glanced behind. “We’ve lost them; they’ve gone. I can’t even hear them anymore.”
“Good,” Aimery said.
“What do you mean that explains a lot?” I asked, looking up at Ryle.
“After the crash we searched and searched for your scent. Scouring the mountains day and night,” Aimery answered. “Never finding any hint of where you were. We went into local towns but there was no sign of you. We figured you must be here somewhere but couldn’t figure out where.”
“All we could smell was damn wolf,” Ryle added. “They stink and it covers up all other scents, especially one as sweet and delicate as yours.”
“They said it was safer for me to stay indoors while they tracked her down. That the threshold would save me.”
“They were right.” Ryle huffed as though it pained him to give the wolves any credit. “And my lack of visions was a real stumbling block too.”
“You didn’t have any visions of where I was?” Of course, Ryle could usually see into the future, get an idea of what was going on.
“No, since the crash I haven’t had any.”
“He banged his head pretty hard,” Aimery said. “Seems it shook his ability right out of him.”
“Can that happen?”
Ryle shrugged. “I suppose I’ve proved that it can.” He began to slow, held me tighter and then came to a stop. I slid to the ground, my feet sinking into the snow.
“What is it?” Aimery asked, glancing at Ryle and then to the right, in the direction Ryle was now staring.
“I can smell mangy dog again,” Ryle said, wrinkling his nose.
My heart sped up. There was something in the bushes. The leaves were quivering, a few puffs of mist, breath, curling upward from the branches.
“Come out,” Aimery called, no mist pluming from his cool mouth. “Show yourself.”
The greenery parted and snow tumbled to the ground glittering in the darkness. First a black nose appeared, a long gray snout, two dark eyes and then a huge head, shoulders and body.
“Wolf,” Aimery said with a snarl of his own.
“It’s Caleb.” I took a step forward but both Ryle and Aimery grabbed one of my arms each and tugged me back.
How had he reached us?
“No, Bea,” Ryle said. “Stay here.”
“He won’t hurt me,” I said, fighting a swimming feeling in my head and a shiver twisting up my spine.
Caleb stepped closer and growled, baring his teeth and curling his lips but then softened his mouth as his gaze connected with mine.
I shook off Aimery and Ryle and walked slowly up to him, hands outstretched and then sank my fingers into his fur. They disappeared and his heat instantly warmed me. As I rubbed the under-layers of coat he tilted his head.
“Thank you,” I said, “for everything.”
He couldn’t answer but he rubbed his body against mine.
“I’m going to miss you so much.” I stooped and wrapped my arms around his neck, but as I did so he lifted up, onto his back legs and the soft fur I’d been touching switched to warm skin.
“I’ll miss you too,” he said, curling an arm around my shoulders and glancing warily at my two vampire husbands. “I couldn’t just let you go without saying goodbye properly.”
“I don’t know how you got here so fast, but I’m glad you did.”
“There are some routes known better to Isaac and I because of times spent sneaking off over the years. To be together.”
“I’m glad.”
I hugged him close. I didn’t think he’d stay in human-form for long. He’d made himself vulnerable in front of his enemies. As a man he was no match for the vampires; as a wolf he at least had a fighting chance.
“You’ve been so kind to me,” I said, my cheek moving against his hot chest as I spoke.
“Fuck, you’re freezing,” he said, holding me tighter within his arms.
“She needs warmth and sustenance,” Aimery said, clenching his fists. “Now.”
“Yeah, let her go,” Ryle said, taking a step toward us. His eyes were narrowed and his shoulders bunched up to his neck. Tension and disproval were flowing off him in waves.
“Wait,” I said to Ryle and then lifted my head and looked at Aimery, “don’t you think you owe Caleb and Isaac something? Not only have they cared and protected me for months, they also just helped you escape, likely at great cost to themselves.” I squeezed a bit closer to Caleb, his familiar warmth bringing me back to life and settling the shiver in my spine.
Aimery looked at Ryle.
Ryle looked at Aimery.
“Well?” I said sternly.
Aimery shrugged. “Well of course we’re grateful that you were looked after.”
“And saved from Elfrida,” I added.
“And saved,” Ryle frowned at Caleb. “Thanks for that.”
“Happy to do it,” Caleb said. “Though of course I didn’t do it for your benefit. Didn’t even know that Bea was hooked up with you guys back then. We did it because it was the right thing to do and our duty.”
“Well she is, still is, with us,” Ryle said, stepping
closer again.
Caleb tensed.
“So we’ll have her back,” Aimery said, folding his arms. “If you don’t mind.”
Another disturbance of branches and snow caught my attention.
“What’s that?” I asked, glancing to my right.
A low, rumbling growl filtered through the cold air toward me. Again the branches parted and snow tumbled to the ground. Moving like a shadow, into the clearing, came another wolf with red tinged fur and amber eyes. I knew instantly that it was Isaac.
He glanced at Caleb and then at Aimery and Ryle. He pulled back his lips and snapped his teeth twice, shaking his head, almost as if trying to control himself from dashing over and attacking.
“He’s angry that I’ve shifted,” Caleb said, stepping back from me. “And he’s right, it was foolish with vampires around. I have to go.”
“They won’t hurt you, I promise,” I said, hating the fact that Caleb was leaving, that I really was going to have to say goodbye to my wolves.
“We have to get out of here, Beatrice,” Aimery said. “Come on.”
“Wait.” I reached up and touched Caleb’s cheek. “What will happen to you, now, when you go back to the den?”
He shrugged. “If Darz doesn’t get the blame for the escape they’ll likely guess that it was me who ignored you releasing them, but what’s important is they won’t blame Isaac. He wasn’t even in the cave and he has witnesses to testify to that.”
“But you,” I said. “I couldn’t stand it if I brought you more trouble.”
“Trouble is something I can cope with, and they won’t physically hurt me, not with Isaac at my side.”
“But what happened before…?”
“Name calling, ridicule, a good shouting down doesn’t bother me. Aatu can’t prove I did anything to help. Don’t worry about me, Bea, I’m a big boy, I can look after myself.” He smiled and tilted his head into my touch. “Besides, when you have the person you love at your side, you can cope with anything. You know that.”
Isaac growled again and moved a little closer. He wanted Caleb back, back in his wolf-form, back at his side.
“Thank you for everything, Caleb. I’ll never forget you,” I touched my lips to his.
“And I’ll never forget you,” he whispered, pushing back a strand of my hair from my cheek. “Watching you break your heart was terrible, but seeing your strength and bravery was awe inspiring.”
“It’s been quite a winter, but…” I pointed at my two husbands. “I’m meant to be with them. It’s how it is for me.”
“The same way I’m meant to be with Isaac, no matter what the pack thinks of our mating choice.”
“Yes, the same way.” I kissed him again, on his cheek and sighed as I did so. He’d been exactly what I’d needed these last months.
I stepped away, toward Isaac.
“Bea, no,” Ryle said, darting up to me and gripping my shoulders. “Not him. He has madness in his eyes.”
“Ryle.” I pressed my hands over his. “Isaac has risked his life to protect me, he won’t hurt me, and I have to say goodbye.”
“She’s right,” Caleb said gruffly, “he won’t hurt Beatrice. You however, I’m not so sure about.”
“He can fucking try,” Ryle said clenching his fists.
Isaac took a step forward. His hackles were raised creating a long, spiky line from his shoulders down his back to his tail.
“No.” I stepped between them and held my palms out to each one. “Wait, please.”
“Say it quick, Beatrice,” Aimery said. “We have to go.”
I glanced at Ryle and then at Isaac. Both looked primed to leap forward and strike. Both appeared ready to kill.
“Just give me a second,” I said. “Ryle, just a second, please.”
I moved to stand beside Isaac. His snapping, snarling mouth no longer something of terror for me but part of a man I cared deeply about.
“Isaac,” I said, standing before him. “I know you won’t shift, but please know that I’m so very grateful for your help, for your understanding and for protecting me. I’ll never forget your kindness.”
He tore his gaze from Ryle and glanced up at me. The burnt amber flecks in his eyes flashed in the eerie silvery light of the forest.
“He knows how you feel,” Caleb said. “And he’ll miss you too. We had some really good times together.”
“What exactly,” Ryle said, stepping closer, “do you mean by really good times?” He wrinkled his nose and gritted his teeth.
Caleb’s mouth twitched, almost into a grin. “Good times,” he said, shrugging. “That’s what they were.”
“Have you touched our woman with your filthy fucking paws?”
“Stop, Ryle.” I held out my hand and frowned.
“In the name of Benedict,” Ryle said. “Now I really want to rip their furry fucking legs and arms from their bodies.”
“But I won’t let you,” I said. “So calm the hell down.”
He frowned at me, folded his arms and tapped his fingers against his biceps.
I turned back to Isaac.
He ceased growling and pushed the top of his wide, furry head against my stomach. I petted his ears, his neck and his shoulders and held back a tear. I loved my wolf-men. Perhaps I hadn’t realized it at the time but they’d been my world.
But now Aimery and Ryle were back. I was so happy but also scared that it was all a dream and I’d wake and they’d be gone.
“We have to go,” Aimery said.
“So do we,” Caleb added. “Bye, Bea, and good luck with the path you’ve chosen.”
“You too, Caleb.” I smiled at him and then watched as he shifted to his wolf-form.
“Bloody freaks,” Ryle said, reaching for me and tugging me away from Isaac.
Isaac growled and moved back, toward Caleb. Then with a flick of his tale he was gone, darting into the bushes and out of sight.
Caleb followed, slinking into the shadows and leaving nothing but a few branches shaking in his wake and a disturbance in the snow.
“We have to talk,” Ryle said. “About them.”
“Later, Ryle,” Aimery said. “Right now our wife looks ready to collapse.”
As he’d spoken my knees buckled, and the effort of holding my body upright became too much. I was so cold I could hardly feel my extremities and my core felt chilled.
“Whoa, here you go, I’ve got you,” Ryle said, scooping me up. “I’ve got you, and I always will.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The journey to Creek Lodge went by in a haze. Once we’d arrived at the mountain road, Aimery had left me with Ryle and soon re-appeared with a big, luxury hire car.
I’d sat in the back, in Ryle’s arms, as Aimery had driven with the heater on full blast, northward, fast, away from the mountains, away from the Carlton Pack.
I soon felt warmer and eventually gave into the exhaustion that was crawling over me. Ryle made me sip water and then kept me talking, telling me to stay with him, but it was too hard. I was wrung out, my body had given up, and I slept with my head nestled against his cool, hard chest and breathing the reassuringly familiar fresh scent of the man I thought I’d lost.
I dreamt of Caleb and Isaac, of Aimery and Ryle, all four of them together, running, fighting, kissing me, touching me. A jumble of images that flashed in a succession of short violent or passionate scenes in my mind like a crazy filmstrip. I saw Caleb and Isaac together, fucking, Isaac shifting into his wolf-form. Aatu chasing me and the warrior wolf, Darz, leaping over the river with snarling teeth and his mismatched eyes flashing.
When I woke, safe in Ryle’s arms, we’d arrived at our destination, and I sighed, releasing the tension of my dreams.
Aimery pulled open the car door, gathered me up, then carried me over the snow-covered ground to the lodge.
“Aimery…” I said, touching his cheek to make sure, once again, that he was really alive and with me.
“Shh,” he said. “We’re here
now, it’s okay.”
Smiling, I looped my arms around his neck. Physically I felt better from my sleep but I knew I needed the special tea that rejuvenated my blood once I’d fed my vampires. It was that tea that would make me strong again.
Ryle opened the pale wooden door to the lodge, stamped the snow from his sneakers and then stepped aside as Aimery carried me in. He took me straight to a huge bedroom with beamed-ceilings and sat me on the edge of a lavishly curtained four-poster bed.
“Thank you,” I said sleepily.
“For what?”
“For driving me here.”
“Looking after you is my job.” He kneeled before me and removed first one and then the other of my boots. “And it pains me, so much.” He pressed his fist to his chest. “That I didn’t, that you were taken by her and went through so much terror because of my failings.”
“Aimery.” I cupped his handsome face in my hands. “She was an evil, crazy bitch who derailed a train full of people to get to me. How could you have possibly known that she might do something as radical as that?”
“It’s true that she’d always been able to hide from Ryle’s visions and I should have expected the unexpected because of that. She hid from us once using trickery, at the island, and I could kick myself for not guessing that she’d strike before we got to safety.”
“Which we have, finally.” I leaned forward and kissed him, my heart swelling with love. I’d truly believed him dead, gone, yet here he was, kneeling before me, looking as devastatingly gorgeous as ever and all mine. “I’ve missed you so much,” I said against his lips. “I thought I’d lost you, lost you both. It broke my heart and I didn’t know how I was ever going to continue living. I was a shadow of myself.”
“Not knowing where you were broke ours too. We were frantic and going ’round in circles wondering where you were, what Elfrida had done with you. Yet we couldn’t find her, just hints of her scent, and none of yours. We’ve been baffled for months as to your whereabouts and to be honest could only think the worst.”