“Yes, I am going to try something. I would appreciate if you would sit beside Julie on the other side and I will sit here.” Willow settled down and pulled her phone out. “Julie, honey, I have a picture for you to look at on my phone. Look sweetie. Do you know this man?”
Julie stared at the phone. Her hand trembled as she reached out and touched the screen. The voice in her head was whispering for silence again. Touching the phone with her finger she tried to get the words out but her throat was locked up against all sound. The voice continued to beg for her silence. She turned her head toward Willow then back toward the phone. She knew that man. She didn’t remember meeting him, she didn’t know how she knew him, but she knew him. Memories started to flash through her head. A man, not this man, holding a picture. The picture had this man and the other man and a little boy. The little boy was laughing at the camera. She turned back to look at Willow but Willow didn’t say anything. She seemed to be waiting. Julie felt a tear trickle down her cheek.
Moving the phone slightly Willow brought up another picture. This picture had a sleeping little boy. The boy could have been the same as the one from the picture in her memory but it was hard to tell. Willow again changed the picture and this time Julie knew, she knew that man. A memory flashed, gone almost as fast as it arrived. The little boy being held in the man’s arms, laughing, reaching for her, kissing her cheek. The man, reaching out a finger and running it along her cheek. Both of them waving goodbye as they walked away. Julie struggle to remember more but the memory was gone again. She felt her shoulders slump. Willow again changed the picture back to the first man. Julie, seeing him again, felt if she could reach through the phone and touch him everything would be alright. No one could ever hurt her again. A name flashed through her mind then, “Edward.”
She heard Willow gasp. “Yes sweetie, that is Edward. Do you know him? Damn, don’t listen to me, that was probably the most incredibly stupid question I have ever asked anyone in my entire life. Of course you know him. You would not have said his name otherwise.”
Julie wanted to tell her she was wrong. She did not know Edward. But the words wouldn’t come. Allison was rubbing her arm. She could feel the excitement radiating from both women. Allison was bouncing a little on the couch.
“Julie? Look at me honey. Do you want Edward? Do you want us to get Edward for you?”
Julie looked back at the phone. She reached out to touch the picture again. Hope flooded her for the first time in what seemed like a life time. She nodded her head. She felt Allison jump up from the couch. When she glanced away from the picture she saw her reaching for the phone. Willow noticed what she was doing also.
“Oh my god girl I know you are not calling Kate. Honey, you are in Alaska. Do you know the time difference between where Kate is and here? Don’t wake her up. You can call her first thing in the morning. The news will not change.”
Julie watched as Allison reluctantly put the receiver back on the base. She didn’t blame Allison one bit. She wished she could call Kate also. She looked back at Willow and then down at the picture again and back up. She wished the voice would stop telling her to be quiet. She hunched her shoulder when she saw the bat coming at her head again. She knew it was a memory but sometimes it seemed so real.
“Oh honey, they found Edward for you. All three of those fellows are on the way here. They live pretty far away though so they won’t be here until tomorrow sometime. Are you going to be okay here tonight? You looked tired when I walked in but you look vibrant now. Not so much like a wilting flower. Can I have my phone back?” Julie had taken the phone and was cradling it like a baby. Willow wished she did not have to ask for the phone back but one of the other females might need her and since they were not pack they could not call through the bond for her.
Willow watched as Julie shook her head and held the phone tighter. Biting her lip she tried to think of a solution. She smiled as she realized, Shiloh was on duty tonight and he would do anything for this girl. Even give up his phone. Touching Julie’s arm to get her attention again Willow told her, “I will be right back, I am going to get you another phone and put the pictures on it for you. We will have to see about doing something else tomorrow. But for tonight you can use Shiloh’s phone.”
Jumping up Willow went to explain the situation to Shiloh. She knew Gammon had explained to Shiloh about why he probably felt the way he did around Julie, but why he felt the way he did about Trisah was still a mystery. The logical conclusion was love, if love could be called logical and if the reason Shiloh felt as he did was correct, anything with Trisah was out the window. Willow stopped in her tracks on the way back inside. Turning back to Shiloh she told him, “Gammon has new information about Julie, you need to get someone to cover for you and go see Gammon. Tell him I sent you. He will know what to do.”
Willow would bet Gammon had not for a second given one thought to how Shiloh would react if Julie followed these guys back to Australia. Shiloh was sure to demand to go with them. Of course, it was possible he would just demand to go once Julie gave birth to a female child of her own. That could be decades away, even a century or so since female shifters were fertile for the entirety of their long lives. Oh well, the males were not her problem, just the females. Except, Willow couldn’t lie to herself even if she wanted. The mental health of the pack was her business, both males and females. Well, she would just have to wait and see what happened.
Later, as she closed the door behind herself and walked to Gammon’s to update him she realized, Trisah was still a question. How did Trisah and Julie fit together? Hopefully this guy Dennis would have some answers. The biggest question she had now, the question all of them had, how did Edward fit into the situation. If Julie had never met him, was some part of her matching up with him or was she considering him her safety because he was Dennis’ Alpha?
Chapter Eighteen
The men were testy after yet another day of travel. Trevor had stayed behind at the hotel to wait for Jaden and Trina to come get him. He had told William his thoughts on intruding upon the family reunion and William had agreed. From the look on William’s face he was not looking forward to being part of so intimate an occasion either.
According to William someone would be meeting them at the airfield when they landed. From there to the edge of the territory was still some distance and even after they reached the territory they would have another forty-five minutes to the compound.
Edward and Dennis had talked through their pack bond for most of the trip. Edward still felt guilty about leaving his brother to die. He had no idea if his brother would be able to forgive him. According to William, Gammon, the name his brother was going by now, felt the same way. And if his guilt was not enough William said Dimitri and Nikita had also survived. Well, they had not been mated so their survival should not have been a surprise. But it had been. Edward had been so hurt for so long and so lost he never realized anyone could have survived. It stood to reason none of the unmated males would have died. But reason was long in coming for Edward back then. He could not help the guilt that racked him for not even looking for others from the pack. His loss had been so great, his hurt so strong, his mind had insisted everyone had died.
The only explanation Edward and Dennis had been able to reach was the attack had shattered the pack bond. No other explanation could explain why Edward did not feel his brother or anyone in the pack after the attack. Dennis had no idea how to help his Alpha. He had known the story of Edward’s past but he wasn’t around back then.
When the plane touched down at the tiny airfield and the men disembarked from the plane Edward had wondered who would be meeting them. William had told him he wasn’t sure. Dennis noticed William and the pilot did not get off the plane. Dennis, holding Kurt, stopped when he saw the men getting out of the SUV. He didn’t need anyone to tell him who was meeting them. He held back and watched as the four men met again for the first time in centuries. Looking at the expressions on the faces of the four men
he didn’t think anyone would blame him when he turned around and re-boarded the plane. Some reunions didn’t need spectators even if the spectator was the Beta and right hand man for Edward. As he settled back down near William he noticed the man looking at him questioningly.
“All three of them met the plane. I thought that was one meeting I did not need to be in.”
“They will come for us when they are ready.” William settled back in his seat prepared to wait.
***
“So you are telling me you have never met the child, only Dennis and his boy met her? So no idea at all why the only name she has spoken would be yours?”
“None. To tell the truth I wasn’t sure about us getting involved at this point. Dennis isn’t her true-mate, he admits that but he does want her as a mate if she will take him when she reaches maturity. He realizes, we both realize how much she could have changed in the last eight months. She may not even want him anymore. She was favorable to the match before she was taken. I had spoken with her parents and given them permission to visit. But Dennis and I have spoken in length about the situation since we got the phone call. Don’t get me wrong mate, he still wants her, but he loves her in her own right. After all she has been through the only way she may ever heal is with a true-mate. You and I both know what a true-mating does for a couple. If she is as mentally and emotionally damaged as you say, Dennis will not be the best male for her no matter how much he loves her. We are not children to claim a toy just because it is pretty. She is to be treasured and protected, and the best way for us, or rather Dennis to help her may be to let her go. He is prepared to do so if it seems in her best interest. He is prepared to stay and help try to bring her out of her shell if your counselors think that is the best way to help her. Whatever it takes Gammon, we will help her. We did not come up here to try and take her away. Our place would be just as strange to her as here. If she was from our pack, or had ties to our pack other than the love of my Beta, we would request she be given into our care. But from what William has told us of your setup here I think at this point trying to take her away would not be in her best interest.”
Gammon nodded as his brother finished talking. “I am glad to hear you say that because we were concerned about how he would react. I am glad to find your honor is as strong today as it was when we were younger. The question is where do we go from here and we won’t know until Julie makes some sort of decision. Unfortunately unless she starts to talk she can’t make a decision. And the only things she has said so far is your name and one other phrase.”
“So we wait. We have waited eight months for word of her, we will wait as long as an honorable male would be expected to wait for her decision.”
Gammon laughed, “Which means until the end of time. We will cross my territory boundary just after that tallest tree up ahead.”
Two minutes later the laughter had turned to snarls.
“Both of you?” Gammon looked at Dennis and Edward in disbelief mixed with a bit of frustration a dash of aggravation and just a touch of anger. He also felt the bonds of guilt loosen just a little.
How is that possible? We have never had anything like this happen before. Both of them? At the same time? Who do you think mate-called their wolves? Dimitri asked.
We have eighteen unmated females, so it could be any of them. The only one we can mark off is Julie for Dennis. He already met her and knows she is not his mate. So now what oh fearless leader?
Nikita?
Yeah yeah I know boss man, shut up.
Gammon looked back at Edward to see him steady rubbing his chest and muttering impossible over and over.
“Apparently not as you can no doubt feel. As unexpected as this was, I can not say I am not happy.”
“Mate, if that is your happy face I don’t want to see your unhappy face.” Edward told him.
About then Dennis, who had uttered few words on the trip to the pack lands other than I feel my mate as the vehicle passed the boundary line looked over at his Alpha. “Well chief if you don’t want to see his unhappy face you should try to be a little happier more often. That is the face you show the pack most of the time. If you don’t like it you probably should stay away from mirrors also.”
“I see you have your own Nikita to deal with.” Gammon laughed.
“If she is underage she stays here. I will let you know that upfront. If she was placed here with her family she will be returned to her family as long as I feel the Alpha of her pack will protect her while you, either of you, do the proper thing. I will not and do not release a female to a male on his say so alone. I never have and I will not start now.”
Silence reigned in the car for the remainder of the trip. When Nikita pulled up in front of the office and everyone got out Gammon and his Betas watched Edward and Dennis. Edward turned toward the house with Julie while Dennis faced toward other houses. The house with Julie inside was at such a vantage point Gammon was almost certain Edward had just mate-matched with Julie but Dennis was less clear. They did not have long to wait though, and they did not have to go in search of the female.
While the men watched Trisah bolted out of her house looking around wildly. Gammon heard her voice through the bond, Gammon? My wolf just went crazy. What happened?
Almost the same instant he heard Dennis give a soft whisper, “My mate.”
William, watching all five males while holding the little boy heard three of the men start to swear. He watched Trisah approach and wondered how Gammon planned on handling this latest event. Life in the shifter world had certainly gotten more interesting in the last year.
Chapter Nineteen
“You don’t have to keep looking out the window. I told you Gammon will let us know as soon as he rounds the last bend. Every sentry so far as told us when they passed. The whole pack is waiting to meet the brother they never knew about so come sit down.”
Allison snorted, “He may let you know but I can’t hear the pack bond yet. Delany said I will probably not be able to until we go through the mating ceremony. We are on pins and needles waiting for word. Where are they? Look at Julie, she can’t wait either.” Allison waved her hand behind her in the general direction of the couch where Julie was sitting.
“Oh yes, I can see. Julie is bouncing off the walls waiting. You don’t happen to know what time the poor child, the poor sleeping child I might add, went to bed last night do you?”
Allison jerked around and stared at Julie who was currently slumped over on the couch holding her bear. Shooting a guilty look at Willow she shifted from foot to foot. “Uh, well, about that, you see what happened was, it was not my fault.”
Willow raised her eyebrows, “What was it that was not your fault, exactly?”
“Fine, what happened was after you left Julie handed me the phone. Now you have to realize how shocked I was for her to hand me anything at all much less the phone. I thought she wanted me to call this Edward character and I even told her I had no idea how to get in touch with him and if he was traveling I probably couldn’t reach him anyway. But she just kept pointing to the phone and doing her hunch-duck movement. You have seen it, like she is expecting someone to hit her. Well I can’t stand when she does that ‘cause if she does it enough you start to hunch and look up trying to see what is about to fall on you. Whatever was bothering her mattered enough she kept doing it. So I started going through names, short list but I asked if she wanted me to call you, Gammon, Mia, I am telling you every time I named someone she would look up and do the hunch-duck movement. By the time I finally asked if she wanted me to call Kate she had me ducking an imaginary attacker.”
“So you called Kate.”
“Exactly. I called Kate. Her mate was not best pleased with me for waking them up.”
“What did calling Kate accomplish,” Willow’s eyes widened, “Did Julie talk to her?”
“No, I wish. Apparently the phone call was so I could fill Kate in on everything happening and tell her about Edward. Of course that is when
Craig got involved and then someone they call Fido, then Marcus got involved. Everyone wanted pictures of Edward. Then to top it all off Fido’s mate has a twin sister and Gammon is uncle by mating to them so Trina had to call her sister on three-way to us which got the sister’s mate involved. I lost track of the people at that point. Suffice it to say we didn’t get much sleep last night. But we did become the most popular females around for awhile since we had to scoop on Gammon having a brother. But don’t worry, I swore everyone to secrecy about Edward.”
Willow stared in fascination at Allison, “You woke up the Alphas from two different packs to tell them about Edward?”
“Don’t be silly. I only woke up Kate. Everyone else is Craig’s fault. Kate and I were having a nice little chat about all the stuff going on until Craig took the phone away from her. Freaky shifter hearing is not my fault. He had no business listening to a private conversation.”
“But, the Alphas from two different packs.” Willow stared in awe at Allison.
“I am telling you it was not my fault. I only called Kate.”
“So what did Julie do during this whole conversation which eventually involved the Alphas from two different packs.”
“She listened. She didn’t say or do anything. She just sat beside me and listened to everyone talking.”
“Me thinks Delany is going to have his hands full with you. Jumping out of helicopters, calling people in the middle of the night, waking up the Alphas from two different packs.” Willow started laughing as she considered the entertainment value the newest pack member had already brought to the pack. She could not wait to tell her mate about this one. She considered calling him through their bond, but she wanted to see his face when she told him this latest story. Before she could ask any more questions she heard Gammon announce his arrival. He had requested everyone give them some time before coming out to greet Edward. The plan was to come straight to this house so Julie could see the men. The hope was Julie would react favorably and if not they would have the rest of the day to formulate a new plan.
Julie Page 9