Willow turned stricken eyes toward Gammon, “No, I never thought about … I don’t know … she just smells so similar I thought, we all thought, she had to be the little sister.”
“I would not have asked for more time if I didn’t think a possibility existed Julie could be someone other than the baby sister. We hope whoever has that number in Australia knows something. Anything would be better than what we know.”
“How long do you think it will be before someone can tell us something?”
“We should know more by tomorrow. Marcus and William arranged for a few men to go down and visit an Alpha named Trevor. If all went well they should have reached Australia not long ago. Until we hear back from the team no one knows anything. I don’t want Trisah to know anything until we have something. That isn’t negotiable Willow, at all.”
“I understand Gammon. I don’t know if I agree, but I understand. You have to do something about Shilo though. He claims Julie is not his mate but his wolf will not quit guarding the little house we arranged for her and Allison. Delany’s wolf is going a bit mad over the situation. If you don’t do something those two will be at each other’s throats before long.”
Chapter Four
“Great, you made her start screaming again. You need to leave man.” Delany, face contorted with fury stared at Shilo.
“I can’t leave. Can’t you get your mate to do something?”
“What? What the hell is she suppose to do? She can’t wave a magic wand and make Julie all better. Why don’t you go pester Trisah or something? What the hell is your problem. Julie isn’t your mate. Your wolf told you so himself.”
“Yeah, well why don’t you try to convince him to let us leave then, cause I am telling you bro, I have tried. Every time we get more than a few steps away from the door he starts clawing at me to protect Julie. Clawing at me. He is ripping my insides to shreds. I keep checking my stomach and chest for blood.”
“I don’t care what you have to do but you will do it somewhere else. You are upsetting Allison and I won’t have it do you hear me?” Snarling Delany shoved Shilo away from the door.
Gammon rounded the corner just as Shilo and Delany started striping their clothing off.
“Oh for fucks sake, if the two of you do not PUT YOUR CLOTHES BACK ON RIGHT NOW I WILL RIP YOUR HEADS CLEAR OFF YOUR BODIES.” The Alpha power behind the words sent a ripple through the air as both men froze in mid-change.
Such was the power the two raced to replace clothing while simultaneously trying to cower and turn their throats up in submission. Argument forgotten, females forgotten, the men couldn’t utter a word in their defense at that moment. Fortunately for the two the power had wafted out so hard from Gammon as to be felt by the two females inside the house. The terrified screams from the throats of the two females inside the house shocked the men.
Gammon slowly closed his eyes as he reached up to scrub his face with his hand.
“Now look what the two of you have done. My office, now.” Willow, the females need you now. Get over here.
As Gammon waited for Willow to arrive he muttered dire threats against his two pack members. Pack members who knew better than to upset new females. Pack members who knew better than to upset any females. Willow was right, he was going to have to figure out what was going on with Shilo but from what he heard as he walked up even Shilo had no idea what was going on with his wolf.
What does one do with a male in love with one female who was not his mate and unable to get more than a few feet away from the door of another female who was also not his fucking mate? The shifter world was going stark raving nuts.
Over four hundred years old and Gammon and never seen anything like what Shilo was going through. He could understand looking for blood when your wolf clawed at your insides. Even though you knew the claws weren’t real, the pain existed. He well remembered how close he came to losing Mia after so many centuries of being alone. He remembered another time, in another place, and the soul tearing agony he had gone though all those centuries ago. Had nightmares about the situation sometimes. His loss was the reason he would never interfere between true-mates. Never cause a true-mate to lose the other half of themselves.
But this wasn’t the same. Shilo did not have a true-mating with either female. As Willow raced up to the house he tried to figure out what he should do about the situation.
“What happened? Are they both, they are both screaming. What did you do?” Willow all but wailed.
Gammon drew in a deep breath as he stared at Willow. Expressionless he told her, “They can’t handle the power of my anger. And your were right, we had a problem, namely Shilo and Delany. Don’t expect either of them back anytime soon. I’ll send someone over to guard the door so Trisah doesn’t get inside. See what you can do. Allison is going to want Delany. Try to reassure her.”
“What are you going to do Gammon?”
“Do? Why to tell you the truth, I don’t know. Put the two in stocks I suppose.”
“Um, Gammon, we don’t have stocks.”
“Yeah? And we never have wolves in love with one female and refusing to leave another and neither of them his mates either do we? Because that shit just don’t happen does it?”
“You seem a bit testy today, perhaps you should visit Mia for a bit before you deal with those two. I would hate for my favorite Alpha to do something he might regret later.”
Gammon closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them to glare at Willow. “Fine, I will call Mia to calm me down before I kill those two. And Willow, thank you for looking out for me.”
“I would say that is what you pay me for, but last I checked you didn’t pay me a dime to keep you in check. Now would be a bad time to ask for a raise huh?”
“If I didn’t know better I would say you were stalling. If you need a vacation from this,” Gammon waved his hands to indicate the house the two screaming females located somewhere in the house behind him.
Willow allowed her shoulders to slump, “It isn’t that I need a vacation exactly, I just, why can’t we ever get strong females. Just once I would like to have a female recovered from captivity who walked in bold, spirit unbroken with a don’t give me shit attitude.”
Gammon laughed, “I am going to have to arrange a visit for you to meet my niece Trina and perhaps the other female rescued with these two, the hybrid Kate. Granted Trina was never a captive, but she is pretty bold. Bold enough her brother-by-mating has requested she have supervised visitation into his territory. One day when we have some time get Mia to tell you about her.”
“I just wish it would end, you know? Maybe see some light at the end of the tunnel. Find out why the females are born one to every ten males or even less. There has to be something we can do.” Willow cocked her head to the side, “Good, Allison quit screaming.” Giving a half wave, half salute she turned and entered the house to try to get to know the damaged female, and hopefully get her on the road to recovery.
Chapter Five
“What were you two thinking? No, shut up, you don’t have an answer I want to hear. Shilo, you need to go somewhere quiet and talk to your wolf, go for a run, I don’t give a fuck what you do but figure out what his deal is. And you” Gammon turned on Delany, “you know the rules. You know why they exist. As of right now you are off guard duty of that house.”
As Delany opened his mouth to defend his actions Gammon gave him an evil grin. “Nope don’t want to hear it. You aren’t the first and you won’t be the last. Go find one of them to commiserate with you. Be glad I am not sending you to the edge of the territory to stand guard. You know the rules. Mark your boundary around her house and stay outside of it. And don’t try to get fancy, you know the deal. Casual meetings, supervised dates, and Willow has to sign off on her recovery. I don’t care if you did rescue her, we don’t change the rules for anyone.”
“But Gammon, no man, she already knows she is my mate. You can’t hold me to those rules. What is she going to think if I tr
eat her like, like…”
Gammon growled, “She is going to think she is protected here. She is going to think she really does have a choice. She is going to come to you as a mate because she is your mate but by that time she will understand why she is choosing you. The rules don’t change for you, they don’t change for anyone. Not now, not in the future. Now both of you get out of my sight before I put you in the stockade.”
As the two men scrambled from his office he heard Shilo mutter.
“We don’t even have stockades.”
Delany snorted, “He is about as pissed at me as I have ever seen, do you trust him not to build some?”
As the voices faded Gammon looked around his office. Not much had changed in the last few months in his compound. Females came, females went, sometimes one of his pack members met the true-mate test, but most of the time the female went elsewhere to a true-mate from another pack. Over the last few decades he had noticed a few things about the females who left. But all his knowledge was useless concerning Shilo. It was time to call in some older heads than his. Maybe somewhere in the history of their race someone had encountered this or a similar situation.
No one in his pack was true-mated to Julie, they would have known the minute she crossed into the territory and been at the office waiting before the car with her had made it halfway though the compound. Such was the way of true-mates. The male’s wolf could always feel when the female crossed the territory line. Gammon wished all the males in all the packs knew that information. He wasn’t planning on sharing that information anytime soon either.
Jutoh, I need you. We need to speak of times past and history, both good and bad. I am sorry my old friend, but I need you.
At the edge of the territory, as far from any other as he could get Jutoh heard the words of his Alpha. Almost nine-hundred years old Jutoh was tired. Tired of watching the shifter world slowly fade. Tired of losing friends. Tired of life in general. His mate had been gone for centuries, his daughter also. When he had followed Gammon from Russia to the new country he had left the past behind. He wanted to continue leaving it behind. But Gammon, though he visited him often, never called for him to share knowledge unless the situation was bad.
He did what he would always do until his time came and he could follow his Alpha no more. My son, come. As always you are welcome at my hearth. My run is no so fast anymore. My stride she is a slow. My bones, they ache more now. You should come soon for I fear I haven’t long left before I can join my mate and my daughter in the beyond.
Father, I will be there to sup with you this night.
When Gammon left his office in search of Mia no one could have faulted him if his walk was a bit slower than normal, or his carriage not so straight. If they had known of his past they would have understood. But few knew, and none would ever speak of what they knew.
Mia took one look at him when he walked into the bedroom and gave a sad smile. “You go to him tonight don’t you?”
“Yes love, I need to speak of the past, of history, of Shilo. Maybe he has a clue an idea, anything at this point would be better than what we have now.”
As she wrapped her arms around him she could feel the tension. She could almost taste the pain. She wondered yet again how she could have true-mated to a man who had true-mated another so many centuries ago. She wished for the thousandths time, or maybe more, that Jutoh would have been able to accept her. But she knew if he had not accepted her in over two decades, he never would. It pained her as Gammon’s mate to know it caused him pain.
“Go my love, find out if he can help you. Spend some time with him. He hasn’t much longer with us I think.”
Gammon looked at her, she was more precious to him than any treasure he could ever have, and he knew then, as he knew every time he went to the lonely cabin so far from the others, he would never tell her how much it hurt him.
“I will make some arrangements, then go. I will be back late, or not at all this night.”
Mia squeezed him tighter, “Do what you have to my love, but pick me up so I can kiss you before you leave.”
Gammon laughed as he lifter her high, “I keep telling you if you would just grow I would not have to pick you up every time.”
She swatted his arm before laughing herself, “Just grow huh? So are you telling me you don’t like me so small? Are you saying I am too short now?”
“No, love, you are perfect. You have always been perfect.”
“I think Gammon if you had ever stopped growing maybe everyone would not be so small around you. Nice though, to have my very own mountain. Maybe this weekend I can go mountain climbing?” her giggle entranced Gammon before he shook himself free of the spell she cast on his heart.
As he slowly slid her down his body he swatted her butt before stepping away and out the door. She made him feel young again and he would never apologize for how they acted together in their own home.
Chapter Six
“Willow?”
“Yes Allison?”
“I don’t understand. Why did it hurt?”
“I don’t know sweetie. I honestly don’t know. I thought the screams were because you were scared. Being scared is natural when first confronted with the power Gammon wields. I have never known it to hurt.” Willow’s inspection of Julie faltered for a moment before she continued, “Do you think Julie was hurt or scared by the power? You have known her so much longer you see, any information you have is helpful.”
Without waiting for an answer Willow went back to murmuring words of assurance to Julie, “You are safe here. We will protect you. No one will ever hurt you again. We have the biggest mountain of a man in the whole world to protect you. Gammon will never let anyone hurt you again. He is a mountain, and you can’t move a mountain easily. Him, you can’t move at all. He will kill anyone who tries to hurt you. Ah Julie honey, how can we help you? Allison dear, get the bear from where she dropped it would you? Let her hold it again. Often the stuffed animals help give comfort where we can’t.”
Once Julie had the stuffed bear she wrapped her arms around it and started rocking again. And as she had done so many times in the past two days she mumbled the same string of numbers. Willow gave a look of despair, the feeling of helplessness invading her body. In all the years they had taken in females Julie had to be the most damaged. If only they knew why, what had happened. The only thing they knew for certain, the child had not been sexually forced. Her scent would be full human if she had suffered that so young. The scars on her body told of a fire, but how long ago and what she had suffered since was unknown. Was she Trisah’s long dead baby sister? After so many years, and so much torment, would Trisah even know?
“How are your ankles? Feeling better?” Willow sat beside Julie while talking to Allison. She hoped having a normal conversation around her would help. Sometimes it did, sometimes the conversation would draw the female out. Willow was determined not to fail with her. “I can’t believe you jumped from a helicopter. At least, that was what Delany said, is it true? You jumped to save your friends Julie and Kate?”
At the mention of Kate, Willow noticed Julie gave a small start and for a moment stopped rocking. Maybe speaking of Kate would help Julie. By all accounts Kate went to great lengths to protect Julie, even killing another to keep her safe. Did she remember those events or had her mind blocked it out. Willow widened her eyes and made the smallest tilt of her head toward Julie, hoping Allison would pick up on what she wanted. A tiny smile lit upon her face as Allison proved she was awake to the situation.
“Oh yes. They carried us to the helicopter and forced us on it. But when we saw they were not paying attention to us, and we heard they were going to leave Julie and Kate behind we had to do something. I couldn’t leave them both alone. They needed me. Julie was scared and Kate, well she was sick. Dawn and I slowly undid the harnesses while the men weren’t looking. I had no idea we were so high up though. Dawn didn’t make it. They caught her before she could jump. I wish we could have b
oth made it.”
“So what happened next? Go on, tell me, I haven’t heard the entire story.”
Both females watched Julie as Allison told her the tale of her escape and consequent meeting with Delany. When she got to the part concerning Kate all rocking from Julie stopped. Julie appeared to be listening. At the end of the story Julie resumed rocking and murmuring the strange number into the bear’s ear.
“Julie honey, would you like to help me fix something to eat? You must be hungry by now.” Allison had gone through the stocked kitchen and found several things she was capable of cooking. When Julie did not look up or acknowledge the two in any way Allison just gave Willow a sad smile and cocked her head toward the kitchen.
Willow looked around the kitchen as Allison prepared something to eat. Most of the females they got had no idea how to cook. The school didn’t teach cooking skills. Oh some females learned to cook, but those were the ones who pestered an older female into teaching them. The school wasn’t like most packs imagined it to be either. The females attended classes, just like the males, depending on the circumstances they attended with the males. But if the female came to the school, sent by family, the age of the child determined where they went. And that placement determined what the child learned as far as life and social skills.
Julie Page 3