Mia took the two pieces of the silver collar and wrapped them in the towels Drew handed to her. She turned and walked over to the hazardous waste disposal, prepared to open the secured cover and deposit the pieces of metal that were deadly to most of the people in the room. Luc and Cole reached out to take the pieces from her, but Mia pulled away and held the collar against her chest protectively.
“Don’t!” she snapped at them. When she saw the way they raised their eyebrows in surprise then narrowed them in anger, she lost any bit of patience she had. “What do you think you’re doing trying to touch this? You would be injured!”
Luc’s smile broadened as he looked down at their destined mate. “Careful, Mia,” he warned her. “You might make us think you actually care about us.”
Mia blushed and stepped to the side of both of them. She lifted the lid of the container and dropped the collar and towels inside it, closing it securely before turning to go back to help remove the shackle from Suzie’s ankle.
“Arrogant men,” she muttered as she passed them.
Cole reached out and held her hand, squeezing it briefly before releasing it. “Maybe so. But you’ll never get rid of us, baby,” he whispered, kissing her cheek lightly and stepping back as she snapped her head toward him and glared at him.
She pressed her lips together, determined to remain silent. There was no point in arguing his statement. She had a choice, and she chose not to acknowledge any mating intention. She was not going to belong to any man—or men. Ever.
Carter reached down and helped Suzie to sit up while Drew adjusted the examination table so that she could comfortably sit upright while they worked on removing the shackle.
“Are you doing okay, Suzie Q?” Carter asked her, leaning in to kiss her forehead tenderly.
Suzie reached up and touched her neck in wonder, the bareness of it foreign after so long a time of being surrounded by the collar. She felt amazingly light, able to breathe a little easier. She could only nod, unable to speak, the emotions of finally being released from the method of torture too much to put into words.
Drew rubbed his face against her cheek, smiling at the immediate soft growl that escaped her as his whiskers abraded her skin. He licked at her neck repeatedly, determined to ease the pain her body had experienced. “We’re going to take care of you, Suzie Q,” he whispered before biting down on her shoulder lightly. He licked at his mating mark and smiled, knowing he would be marking her again in a very short time.
“We need another sterile cloth to cover her ankle before we start cutting,” Jack’s voice interrupted his son’s thoughts.
“Okay, Dad,” Drew responded, kissing Suzie’s shoulder gently before stepping away and taking another sterile towel from the supply cabinet.
He handed the towel to Dean, who tucked the edge of it very carefully beneath the shackle, sliding it through the narrow space between the shackle and Suzie’s ankle to give her skin as much protection as he could.
“You steady that side of the cuff, Mia,” he told his sister as he steadied the opposite side of the shackle. “Okay, Jack. Go ahead.”
Jack nodded and placed the hacksaw blade on the black metal of the shackle. With firm, even strokes, he methodically cut through the metal until it was completely breached. Carefully removing the blade, he turned the shackle and began to cut through the exact opposite side of the original cut. In no time, it was completely severed in two and the pieces were held in Mia’s and Dean’s hands.
Dean handed his piece to Mia and smiled. “Good teamwork,” he praised his sister and Drew’s father.
Mia laughed softly and turned to throw the shackle away, stopping short as she saw Lucian and Cole smiling down at her. She scowled and pointed first at them and then to the space at the far side of the office. They looked at each other and nodded before stepping aside to allow her to pass. “Be quiet,” she mumbled to them as she deposited the metal in the trash.
“We didn’t say a word,” Cole answered innocently.
Suzie breathed a sigh of relief. For the first time in fifteen years, she actually felt free. “Thank you, everyone,” she whispered, overwhelmed with gratitude.
“You’re part of our pack now,” Jace told her firmly. “Welcome to the family, Suzie.” He turned to face Meeka and her son. “You, too, Meeka. You, too, cub. You’re all part of our family now. As your alpha, the three of you are now under my protection.”
Meeka turned and hugged Eric against her chest, unaware that she had included both Reece and Wade in her embrace. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“You and your son are welcome to stay at our family lodge, Meeka,” Laurie offered.
Instant growls erupted from Reece and Wade as they tightened their hold on Meeka and her son. Laurie looked at both men in confusion before realization dawned. She returned her attention to Meeka and saw that she was shrinking into herself with embarrassment and worry. Laurie reached out and held Jackson’s and Jace’s hands before pulling them up to her mouth and kissing their knuckles lightly.
She’s afraid, Mates.
Don’t worry, darlin’. Reece and Wade will be good mates to her.
Jackson tried to reassure her, but Laurie knew better. She remembered how she had felt overwhelmed when Jace and Jackson had decided that she belonged to them. It was not an easy thing to accept when you were used to the abuse of another man. She knew that all too well.
But she’s not ready.
You’re right, Laurie. We’ll make sure she’s ready before the men claim her.
Laurie squeezed Jace’s hand lightly, appreciating his understanding. Thank you, Jace.
“I think it would be best if you and Eric stay in the family lodge for the time being, Meeka,” Jace told her, looking at both Reece and Wade as he spoke. “We’ll make sure you’re comfortable and have settled into your new home before you have to make any decisions.”
Reece and Wade both nodded their understanding, allowing Meeka to take her son from Wade’s arms before stepping away from her. They watched silently as Meeka walked over to Suzie and hugged her friend briefly before allowing Eric to kiss and hug his adopted aunt.
“Are you going to be okay, Suzie?” she whispered against Suzie’s cheek. “Do you want to stay with me and Eric?”
“Suzie, we want you to stay with us, honey,” Carter told her softly.
“It’s your choice, baby,” Drew added. “But we want to give our mating bond a chance to heal. We can’t do that unless you’re with us.”
Suzie remained silent for so long, both Drew and Carter felt a moment of fear that she was going to choose to leave them. They waited silently despite the way their wolves were clawing at their chests to be released and take their mate.
“I’m going to stay with Drew and Carter,” Suzie finally told Meeka. “You go on and get settled. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Meeka looked at the men whose absence had broken Suzie’s heart and worried that Suzie was setting herself up for more heartache. She would reserve judgment on the men. She just wanted Suzie to be safe and protected as she had always done for her and Eric. She truly hoped her friend would find happiness—whatever she decided to do with her future.
“Okay, honey,” Meeka whispered as she leaned in and kissed her friend’s cheek. “Let me know if you change your mind. If you do, we’ll come back and get you.”
Suzie smiled up at her friend, not really sure what to say—if anything. She accepted the hugs and kisses Eric gave her and watched as their retreating shadows pulled away from her. She wasn’t sure, but it seemed as if their shadows were a little crisper and a little deeper with color than just the murky gray she was used to seeing for the past month.
“We’ll leave you alone to see to your mate’s health,” Jace told them, his voice powerful and in control as always.
Everyone said brief words of good-bye, exiting the office quickly. Drew let out a sigh of relief that the three of them were left alone. Blessedly alone. Finally.
&nbs
p; “Suzie, I need to draw some blood and examine you to make sure you’re all right,” Drew told her calmly. “Will you allow me to do that?”
Suzie reached out for something to ground herself and found Carter’s hand ready for her. “Okay,” she told him hesitantly.
Drew walked away from them to gather the items needed to draw Suzie’s blood. When he returned, Carter was sitting beside her hip, facing her. His hands held hers, and he was watching her silently. Drew understood his silence. He was overwhelmed with the fact that their mate was finally with them again, too.
He sat at Suzie’s other hip and reached up to tie the piece of rubber tubing around her bicep, pulling it tight. “Make a fist, honey,” he told her softly.
Suzie did as she was told, remaining still as his fingers probed the crook of her arm to find the best vein to tap. Once he found it, he ripped open the antiseptic pad and wiped her skin thoroughly. He inserted a glass cartridge into the syringe, pulled the cap off the needle with his teeth, and lined the needle up with the waiting vein.
“Small pinch, baby,” he warned her, waiting for her nod before sliding the needle in smoothly and waiting as the glass tube filled with Suzie’s precious blood.
Once it was filled, he twisted it out of the syringe and replaced it with another glass tube. It filled quickly. He removed it and set the tube aside with the other one that was already filled, covered the end of the needle with a small square of gauze, and removed the needle in one smooth glide. He pressed the gauze tightly against her wound, waiting a few seconds for her blood to clot. He wasn’t sure what damage the silver had caused, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He remained still, giving her more time to recuperate. Pulling the gauze away slowly, he was relieved to see that she had stopped bleeding. Pulling her arm up slightly, he leaned forward and swiped at the puncture wound with his tongue, determined that the healing properties in his saliva would heal her quickly and completely.
Suzie gasped the moment his tongue made contact with her skin. The act was thoughtful and medicinal, yet it pulled feelings of desire from her immediately. She could feel the rush of liquid that began to fill her channel and squeezed her legs tightly together to prevent it from escaping and tipping off the men that she was becoming aroused.
Carter breathed in deeply, scenting Suzie’s need. He looked at Drew, his eyes glowing golden as his wolf surfaced and demanded that they claim their mate again. He saw Drew trying to control his own breathing and knew that his triad partner was experiencing the same need that he was.
Drew shook his head no, warning Carter that they had no right to insist on any physical relationship at this point in their reunion. Even though Carter knew he was right, his cock wasn’t happy with the decision. Instead of focusing on his physical need, he watched as Drew placed his stethoscope to his ears and leaned forward to settle the end of it on Suzie’s chest over her thin shirt. Suzie jumped, startled at the sudden contact then giggled adorably.
“Give me warning next time, Drew,” she told him gently. “Remember, I can’t see what you’re about to do.”
That reminder was enough to sufficiently dampen any feelings of desire either man had. Her blindness had resulted from years of having to wear that damn collar—years that she had been kept apart from them. The guilt that they felt because of that was deep.
“Sorry, honey,” Drew apologized. “I’m going to listen to your heart and then your lungs. Then I’m going to check your eyes, your ears, and your throat.” He hesitated briefly but was determined that she understand that he was not going to stop until she had been thoroughly examined. “I’m going to examine your body for any injuries, and I’ll need to conduct a gynecological exam.”
“That’s not necessary,” she insisted immediately, stiffening under his hands as he touched her cheek.
“Yes, baby. It is. I have to make sure that you don’t need any treatments to help you heal until your wolf can do it for you.”
“Do you think I’ll be able to get my wolf back?” she asked him worriedly.
“I think over time you’ll get stronger as the silver filters through your system until it’s completely gone,” he told her honestly. “Carter and I will continue to claim you. Our saliva will help the healing process along. Once I examine your blood samples I’ll be able to tell you more definitely what will be needed to help to purify your blood. We may be able to heal you with our claiming bites. We may have to do blood transfusions, but I really believe that you’ll be back to your normal self shortly, and your wolf will be running free.” He sat back and waited patiently for her decision.
“What about my sight?”
“I don’t know, baby,” he told her truthfully. “How long have you been blind?”
“My sight has been fading over the past year, but I’ve been this bad for about one month. It started right after I had the dream that Mitchell should come here. It seemed as if my health started to deteriorate once my dreams stopped. That’s when Randall isolated me in that cabin. He said since I couldn’t guide him with my dreams I wasn’t any use to him anymore. That’s also when he decided I was going to fulfill my destiny.”
“What destiny, honey?” Carter asked her, trying very hard not to allow his anger to consume him.
“Randall said I was destined to be used for breeding. He said his cubs would carry my abilities and he would be able to continue knowing what land to purchase and what stocks to buy once his cubs were old enough to have the dreams that I had.” Both men’s instant growl of anger made her jump.
“Did he rape you, Susannah?” Drew asked her softly, stroking the back of her hand with the pad of his thumb.
“No,” Suzie answered tiredly. “The last time he came to the cabin was this morning. He said he would be back to breed me when I was in the fertile part of my cycle. He showed me what he would do to me if I refused him the next time he visited.”
“How did he show you?” Carter asked, horror filling him at the thought of what Randall might have done to her.
Very slowly, Suzie raised the hem of her blue shirt, pulling it up to reveal the black and blue that was already forming over the area just below her armpit. There were also four deep gouges below her right breast that could only have been caused by claws.
“Damn it!” Drew swore, anger erupting from him at the sight of the injuries. “Why didn’t you tell us about this sooner, Suzie?”
“Because I was too busy trying to escape from that cabin, get away from you, and get to Meeka!” she told him angrily. “Just when was I supposed to tell you about it?”
“How about during the hour it took us to drive home?” Drew snapped.
“I was too pissed at you to talk to you,” Suzie snapped right back at him, growling.
Drew looked at Carter and smiled despite his anger. He just couldn’t help the way she made him feel. He loved her spirit. Carter returned his smile. They were lucky men to have her.
Drew stood and reached forward to slowly unbutton the gauze blouse she wore, opening it carefully and pulling it from her. Carter eased her body forward and reached around to unhook her bra, pulling it carefully from her body. Between the two of them, they had all of her clothes completely removed in seconds.
Drew lowered the head of the examination table until Suzie was lying flat. Carter covered her body with the sterile sheet once again, folding it so that it rested against her hips to expose her upper torso to them. Both men had to draw on their years of medical training to remain calm as they assessed her injuries and worked to do what they could for her. No injuries Drew had ever seen in his years as a doctor, or Carter had ever taken care of as an EMT, had ever affected them the way Suzie’s did at that moment. Until her wolf was able to take over and a shift occurred, they knew that Suzie would suffer with the slow healing of her injuries.
Drew cleaned the skin below their mate’s breast where the claw marks had ripped open her skin. He leaned forward and swiped at the wounds with his tongue, determined to give their mate immedia
te relief from the pain with the healing properties of his saliva. He leaned back slightly, allowing Carter to do the same.
Suzie’s breath caught in her throat at the touch of their tongues on her body. She knew they were only doing what they could to help her heal, but the intimacy of it made her heart race.
Both men pulled away, looking down at the wounds with some satisfaction as they saw that the redness of them had lessened somewhat. Drew covered the wounds with an antibiotic salve while Carter waited with a large, sterile gauze square. Once the injury was completely covered with the salve, Carter held the sterile gauze in place over the wounds while Drew taped it down.
Drew could feel the anger radiating off of Carter and knew Suzie had to be sensing it, too. When Suzie moaned in pain as he pressed lightly against the bruise beneath her arm, Drew could barely contain his own anger.
“I know my body is ugly because of all the scars,” Suzie whispered through her pain, devastated that they were seeing the road map of scars that littered her body.
Carter leaned forward and trailed light kisses along the scar that ran from her collarbone, across the fullness of her right breast, and down her torso to end at her navel. Drew lifted the soft swell of her left breast to hold it gently in his warm hand then kissed the underside of it, licking at the scars there. When they traveled down her body and kissed the last scar that ran across her abdomen, Suzie whimpered and covered her face with her hands.
“No, baby,” Drew told her, pulling her hands from her face. “Your scars are not ugly. They just remind us how much you had to fight to survive.”
“I have scars, too, Suzie Q,” Carter told her softly. “When you get your sight back, I doubt you’ll want to look at me.”
Suzie gasped in shock. How could she have forgotten how Carter had been injured? She had played that night over and over again in her mind every night as she waited for sleep to claim her. She knew his face had been slashed by Randall’s claw and that Randall had poured silver alloy into the gash. She also knew he had sustained more injuries and remembered his screams of pain as Randall had tortured him with the silver just as he had tortured her. She suddenly felt very selfish and small. Her men had suffered just as she had. All those years she had been alone, she had thought her mates dead. Even though they had brought her home and had told her they had tried to come back for her, she was still hesitant to trust them completely. Despite that, she had to accept the fact that they had suffered every moment of separation from her, too.
Susannah's Saviors [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 15