Avery glanced around the room. “Thank you, and please, keep my baby safe if we lose upstairs.”
Rachel nodded. “We’d die before letting them get the children.”
* * * *
Alred checked around a corner and then moved into the room. “Only shoot the coyotes attacking Sam and Gage. It will be too hard for you to tell friend from foe.”
“What about Vampires?” If the differences between coyotes and werewolves was too similar, how was she supposed to know which Vampires to shoot?
“Devon’s nest is here. Leave the others to me. You just watch your mates’ back so they can fight.”
“Okay.” She could do that. That last thing she wanted to do was to help the enemy.
“I’ll cover you. If they start to overrun us, fall back to the basement. As a last resort, we’ll hold the door until help arrives.”
“Where is everyone else?”
“Fighting. Mortef is making this his all-or-nothing move.”
Avery took aim at a coyote’s head that had just jumped on Sam’s back, and she fired. With her help, the coyote fell off and melted back into a man.
She took aim again as a Vampire leapt at Gage and fired. His chest exploded, and he fell as another Lycan pounced on him.
She changed clips when the trigger just clicked and took aim and fired again. They appeared to be winning. Sam changed back and forth from a Lycan to a man, as well as Gage and several others that she had seen around earlier today.
“Drop it.” That evil voice that filled her ears had her stomach dropping. She dropped the gun and put her hands up.
Collin grabbed her shirt and jerked her several times, chattering her teeth. “You stupid bitch. I should have known you’d run to a bunch of fucking dogs. You left me for these fucking animals?”
She stared at him, and her vision went a little red as rage overtook her. This was the man that hurt her baby so bad. Her head swam with visions of him holding her baby up as a human shield while he made his escape from whoever had come to kill him. “Me? You brought coyotes home and had a fucking war in the living room in front of Rylee!”
“I brought them to get you out. I came back and you’d run. I have a new boss. He’s amazing, Avery. He says him and his council are making a new life. You’re going to help us be the mother to the next generation of Supernaturals.
“Where’s Rylee?” He looked around. “Rylee, come to daddy.”
“You’re not her daddy!” Avery ran forward, jamming her shoulder into his stomach. He was crazy if he thought she was going to go with him or have anything to do with his new friends.
He umphed in surprise, and they both went down. She heard the snarls and gunfire as she screamed like an insane woman and took out all of her pent-up anger on Collin’s face.
“Hey, hey, hey, baby. Stop.”
Avery spun, still screaming, and nearly slapped Gage. She stopped mid swing and instead threw her arms around him. “Gage! I was so scared. I thought I was going to lose you.”
“No.” Gage leaned in and kissed her lips. “But you were badass, baby. I’ve never been so proud in my life then to see my mate killing coyotes and Vampires.”
“I can’t be badass. I was so scared. I’m surprised I hit them, I was shaking so bad.”
“Oh, but you’re wrong. That’s the definition of badass, you know. Being terrified, yet still pushing on.”
Avery glanced around. “Is it over?”
“Almost. Sam and Dad are chasing some bloodsuckers now, and the other Alphas are chasing down and killing the coyotes and Vampires that attacked us. Even though we were expecting the attack, Mortef had more reinforcements than we expected.”
He picked up Collin with one hand. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you attacked Lycans on our pack lands. You put yourself under Lycan law and punishment.” His grin was menacing as he dragged Collin toward a room and tossed him in. “He won’t get out of there.”
* * * *
Sam and Devon chased Mortef as he leapt from tree to tree. Mortef’s master plan to wait until all the Alphas and enforcers were at The Underground and attack Marcus’s pack. He’d fallen right into their plan of giving a tempting target of so many Alpha’s mates and younglings in Marcus’s pack and then make it look like they all left. Mortef wouldn’t be able to resist, especially when his spies confirmed that the Alphas and enforcers were all there at the club.
Kieran and Raeff appeared almost from nowhere and kicked Mortef out of the tree. Devon jumped in front of him and smashed his fist into his face. The sickening crunch of bone and cartilage breaking cracked in the night, and Mortef howled in agony. Mortef fell hard to the ground and struggled to gain control over the pain that wracked his body.
As Sam ran toward the fight, to hold off Vampires loyal to Mortef, Raeff held a sword over his head, clearly intent on beheading Mortef, but as his hands raised, Mortef struck out. His claws extended like lethal daggers and swiped at Raeff’s chest. Blood spurt out as he sliced through muscle, tendons, and arteries. Raeff fell back, and Mortef leapt forward. His face was alight with an evil, killing light as he raised his hand. Sam ran forward to pull the Vampire away from Raeff, landing a blow.
Sam shifted and leapt the last dozen feet to land on Mortef. He snarled as his teeth sank into the evil Vampire. Pain slashed through his arm, and then Mortef flung him several feet away. He shifted and pressed his hand on the bleeding bite marks Mortef caused.
Devon leapt from a tree and gripped Mortef from behind. His own razor-sharp claws extended, and he drove them into Mortef’s back.
“Devon!” Mortef hissed. “How can you betray your own blood?”
“How can I? How could you? You killed our father.”
Life was quickly dimming from Mortef’s eyes.
“Our?” Mortef glanced as he swayed and fell to his knees.
Devon motioned to Sam and Gage. “Meet my brothers, asshole. You killed their father, as well.”
He didn’t seem moved as his arm twisted, and Mortef convulsed in his arms. Devon’s hand drilled deeper through Mortef’s back. When he ripped it out, Mortef’s heart was in his hand. He tossed it and then gripped Mortef’s head. He twisted, and the snapping of vertebrae was unmistakable.
Thunder boomed, and the ground shook as the dark magic in Mortef absorbed back into the ground. Several of the bikers that had been fighting stopped and shook their heads as if they were coming out of a trance.
Sam pointed to an enforcer. “Don’t let them just leave. Many of them are wanted by human law enforcement. We can kill two birds with one stone.”
“Yes, Alpha,” one called.
“Sam, Gage,” the Wolf Creek Pack Alpha, Marcus, called. “I need you here, now.”
Despite the pain from his injuries, Sam shifted with Gage, and they both ran toward Marcus’s voice. He wouldn’t be calling for a visit at this time.
They made it over to where he stood outside the lodge they had been defending. Sam’s chest ached as grief flooded his heart. The world spun as his eyes confirmed what his senses told him. He ran the last couple steps to his father, Alred.
“Dad.” Gage ran over and fell to his knees. “No.”
Sam ran right behind him and fell to his knees. His shoulders shook as he looked at the Lycan that had raised him as his own without ever once looking at him as anything other than his son. “Dad,” he whispered.
“Let me through,” Yerel snarled and shoved Sam out of his way. He put his hands on Alred’s chest and closed his eyes. “He’s just barely alive. Get him in a bed. I don’t dare move him any farther, or we’ll lose him.”
On shaky knees, Sam and Gage both lifted their father and walked into the lodge. “Open a room.” Sam heard gasps, and then his mother screamed out a cry that was so full of heartbreak, he thought his knees wouldn’t hold him.
“Stay back, Evelyn,” Yerel warned. “You’re not going to help him by making your sons drop him.”
“Yerel, please! I’ll do anyt
hing. Anything, please just save my mate!”
“I will do everything I can. I promise, Evelyn.”
Yerel walked into the room and pointed to the door. “Get out. Don’t let anyone but healers or my mate in here, or your father will die tonight. I need absolute silence if I have any chance to save him.”
Sam closed the door and turned to see Avery holding Evelyn where she’d collapsed on the floor and wept. He and Gage joined his mother and mate, and they huddled together. Sam closed his eyes and opened his heart to whichever god would be listening and started to pray.
Chapter Eighteen
Two weeks later, Rylee sat on the carpet play mat with the healer, Johan. Her first appointment with Encar had gone well, and he’d cleared her for therapy. He’d just started with her two weeks ago, and already Rylee was so much better. She laughed a lot more and hummed. She hadn’t made any noise but to scream in terror for so long, humming was music to their ears. His doll talked about things that scared him, and how he liked to talk to his mommy and daddies about things that scared him. “Do you talk to your daddies?”
Rylee turned her head and looked over at Sam and Gage, and then pointed at Sam and Gage. “Daddy and Daddy.” Her voice was so soft, and they’d barely heard it, but she’d spoken.
Both men gripped her hands, and Avery could feel their excitement in the way they held her hands. Rylee spoke!
“Yes, there is your daddy and your daddy. Who’s that between them?”
“Mommy.” She glanced up. “She doesn’t cry all the time anymore.”
Avery swallowed hard to try and push the lump down. She did cry all the time before finally accepting Sam and Gage as her fated mates. She wished she could go back and tell herself to relax, everything would be okay. They sat and watched as Rylee laughed and played with the dolls until her therapy session ended. Now was the time for the true test. She had to take her back to Encar.
* * * *
Rylee skipped and did her signature humming while she held Raggedy Ann in one hand, and the Andy doll Gage got her in the other. She stopped to pick up rocks and leaves and then resumed skipping. She never slowed down when they walked into the hospital there.
“Rylee!” Enon called out, and she went to her willingly. She’d been right when she said Rylee wouldn’t remember any of the treatment. She’d seen Yerel, Encar, and Enon several times and never even flinched. She’d been a shy like she always has been, but she didn’t run in terror.
“How are you, sweet girl?” Enon picked her up and held her close. Her smile was serene, and tears pooled in her eyes. “It is so good to see you happy and almost singing!”
Rylee nodded and said, “Mm-hm.”
Enon looked over at Avery. “She’s so close. She’ll be talking your ears off before you know it. Encar and Yerel are waiting in the treatment room.”
They went to the same room they’d first gone to. Yerel and Encar were going over paperwork when they walked in.
“Rylee.” Encar crouched down. “Come here, little one, and let me have a look at you.”
She went right to him, and he lifted her on the bed. “Let me just see how strong you are. Grab my hands.”
She did, and he pushed against her and then nodded. “Very, very good. Now lay back and let me see how your noggin is doing.” She glanced at Avery and Sam, but she let him lay her down. He placed his hands over her head and closed his eyes.
She tensed and he smiled. “It’s all right, Rylee. It’s just me looking around. I won’t hurt you, I promise.”
“Kay,” Rylee said and relaxed. He opened his eyes and stared at her. “That was the best sound I’ve ever heard.” He picked her up and walked over to Avery. She held her arms out to her, and Avery kissed her along her forehead. “She’s as good as new. There is still some anxiety there, which will lead to some shyness in new situations, but I think that will resolve. You are free to go home.”
“Did you hear that, Rylee? We’re going home!”
Gage took her and tossed her up in the air while she screamed in joy.
Chapter Nineteen
Avery waited under the flowered canopy as her knees knocked together. She was getting married. She screamed again inside her head.
Brandy fussed over her dress one last time and then said, “This is it.” A beautiful melody played through the air as Brandy started walking down the aisle.
Avery watched her friend walk toward the priest that waited for them. He looked ancient, but his body moved with the grace of a mountain lion. She glanced from side to side as all the people she’d gotten to know waited for her to walk down the aisle to be officially joined to her husbands.
Alred, with the help of his own enforcers, took Avery’s arm. His recovery had been very slow, but he’d beaten the odds and survived. She found it interesting that as she started a new life with her husbands, Alred and Evelyn were also starting their lives over. They put aside all their old assumptions and grief, and Alred decided to court her.
She glanced up into his face, and he smiled. “Daughter, it’s time.”
She walked down and smiled at the beaming faces. Her breath nearly stopped when Sam and Gage turned to look at her for the first time since Evelyn, Brandy, and a few of her coworkers had gotten her into the cream-colored wedding dress. Sam’s eyes darkened, and Gage put his hand in front of his mouth. His eyes were wide, and she was stunned at the look of adoration that came over his face. She was struck once again with how much these two loved her. Despite all her flaws and mistakes, they loved her. Sam and Gage both said they would have fallen in love without fate’s help, and now she believed them. She knew looking back that she was head over heels in love with them from the first time she met them, and that had terrified her. Now, it was going to be the reason she had a fairy-tale ending, and she and Rylee would have a happily ever after.
She met them at the altar, and Evelyn helped Rylee take her place as she held the box that had their rings.
They repeated the vows to one another, and the priest looked down at Rylee. “And now the rings.”
Rylee pulled one out and said, “One for you, Daddy.”
Sam took it with a smile.
“One for you, Daddy.”
Gage took his with a murmured “Thank you.”
“And one for you, Mommy.”
Avery took her ring.
They all grinned because that wasn’t how it was supposed to go, but Rylee was talking and too cute to correct. They all handed the rings to the priest, and he blessed them.
“Now, as a symbol of your love, place your rings.”
Sam, as the elder Alpha brother, took Sam and Gage’s rings and interlocked them. The diamonds made a heart, and he added it to her engagement ring they’d bought her before leaving for North Carolina. He handed it to Sam, and he slipped it on Avery’s ring finger.
The priest took the cloth out and wove it between their hands. “What the Gods have joined, let no may tear asunder.”
He prayed a blessing over them, and then they were done. She laughed and cried at the same time as they took turns kissing her, and the people in the audience cheered. She was a married woman now to the two best men in the world.
The band started playing, and they’d barely left the podium before the large enforcers made a beeline for the food and ladies that were ready to dance.
Evelyn walked over to them and hugged her. “Daughter.”
“I love you,” Avery whispered and hugged her tighter. This was what it was like to be loved unconditionally. She didn’t have to hide any part of her from her family. They loved her, and that was all that mattered. For the first time in forever, life was good.
* * * *
Sam and Gage walked into the cell they’d had Collin moved to in their own pack territory. Collin glared defiantly at the two Lycans from the chair Sam had cuffed him to. He’d largely ignored the bastard, allowing Gage to have his revenge, as was his right as Avery’s mate. Collin’s face bore the evidence of Gage’s interr
ogation. Unlike the human law enforcement, Lycans were brutal with those who preyed upon women and children.
Collin raised his head and squinted his one good eye. “You. So you must be the other one that hooked up with my ex.” He spat blood. “I knew the stupid whore was trouble.”
Sam stepped forward and slapped Collin hard enough that his head swung back. He grinned as if the pain didn’t affect him. “That is my wife you’re talking about.”
“Are you happy now? You got your licks in on the bad ex?” He shook his head. “Within a year you’ll be sick of the whiny bitch and her sniveling kid.”
Gage grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him up to eye level, chair and all. “I thought we discussed proper manners already?”
“I believe you talked, and I got cozy with your fists, Lycan.” Collin glanced over at Sam. “Oh yes, I know all about you. I learned about Supernaturals not long before I pissed off a few coyotes by stealing from them. They are damn brutal you know. I’m guessing the brat lived?”
Sam stepped forward and forced Gage to let go. Collin dropped hard onto the floor, and the chair tilted to the side. “Listen here, asshole.” He laughed because Collin had just sealed his fate. He admitted he knew about Supernaturals. If the council let him live, which wasn’t likely, he would have his brain wiped, and he would spend the rest of his miserable life trying to remember who the hell he was. The council would not take a chance of a human knowing about them, especially a criminal.
Sam gripped his mind. “Tell me, where did you learn about us?”
Collin’s eyes unfocused as Sam compelled him to answer. “A group of freaky guys in New Orleans that call themselves the Vampire Council. They were hoping to turn The Brotherhood against other races.”
“How many other humans know?” Sam dug deeper into his mind despite Collin wincing in pain.
“Before everything went to shit, Mortef ordered a hit on some fed. He knew everything and was some sort of freak that was like into X-Files kinda shit. I guess he didn’t want the FBI knowing all about their dirty deeds.”
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