Pepper's Journey Home [Grey River 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Maia Dylan

  Pepper made a mental note to ask later what the Quickening was, but for now, it seemed less important than trying to fill in the last two months.

  “Melaina, Parris, and another woman with a wicked psychic ability, Cassadee Shaw, they all tried to reach you telepathically,” Diego added, still inching his way toward the bed. “But no one could reach you.”

  That rang true for Pepper. There was no way that Melaina or Parris would leave any stone unturned if they were trying to find a way to help her.

  She frowned. “Then how did you bring me back? With the bond broken, and no psychic link to me, how on earth did you manage to pull me back?”

  Diego groaned, his head falling back for a moment. “Damn it, we didn’t think this through properly.”

  “What does that mean?” Pepper asked in confusion.

  Tomas growled low and folded his arms over his chest. “What my brother is trying to say is we hadn’t thought about how to tell you that we had to strengthen the mating bond. We could still see the bond, but it disappeared behind a veil of darkness. For us, the bond was still very much intact. All we knew was that if we were able to somehow reinforce the bond, and then pray hard enough, it might lead you back to us. So we bit you and we claimed you.”

  Pepper felt her jaw drop open, and she looked back and forth between the two men. Diego looked as if he were hoping that because she wasn’t screaming or blacking out, then perhaps she wasn’t as affected by this information as she might have been. Tomas, on the other hand, looked defiant as if waiting for her to lash out at them. For Pepper, she wasn’t sure which reaction she was going to go for. She had a question to ask, and depending on the answer, she was either going to take a deep breath and go with it, or leap out of this bed and do her best to make each man bleed.

  * * * *

  Tomas stood still, everything within him waiting to see how his mate would react. He could tell from her expression that she was shocked by their admission, and he was anxious to see how she was going to react.

  “Obviously, I have a lot of questions, but for now, there is none more important than this one,” Pepper asked in a soft voice, and it had Tomas’s wolf pacing warily, and Tomas totally understood why. When a woman asked a question or spoke in a voice that low and in that tone, it said clearly that she was oscillating between two reactions, and depending on the answer, it could end well for the man, or in bloodshed.

  “Did you both have sex with me while I was unconscious in order to get this claiming bite to take hold?”

  Tomas felt the bolt of horror and anger that jolted through his body and was vaguely aware that his brother was experiencing the same emotions.

  “What the fuck!” Tomas roared, and he would have continued but stopped when Diego roared at him to shut up, threw his hand out in Tomas’s direction, and glared at him. Tomas wasn’t usually one to take direction from his younger twin brother, but for some reason, he did in this situation.

  “Tomas, I swear to God,” Diego growled through gritted teeth, “if you don’t let me handle this, I will rip your arm off and shove it down your throat.” Tomas narrowed his gaze at Diego but crossed his arms and remained silent. Diego then turned back to their pale mate, who was frowning from her place on the hospital bed they had hired.

  “Sorry, niña, Tomas is the hothead of the two of us. The more time you spend getting to know us, you will see that for yourself,” Diego spoke gently to their mate, and moved to sit on the end of the bed. It was either a testament to the tone he used or fatigue on her part, but she let him sit down. Tomas reckoned it was his tone because when he took a step toward the bed, Pepper shot him a look that he clearly interpreted as back the fuck off, so he stopped.

  “We would never do that to you or anyone,” Diego said in a sincere tone. “Regardless of the fact that something like that would get us both new assholes ripped for us by your sisters, the Jamieson Alphas, and our entire Enforcer team, the thought of what our own mother would do to us is enough to make my wolf whimper in fear.” Diego shuddered, and Tomas felt a shiver roll through his own frame at the thought. Their mother was a true hot-tempered beautiful Hispanic woman who stood five foot nothing, but could turn him and Diego into scared pups with a single look.

  Pepper gave a small smile that lit up Tomas’s whole world, and his heart clenched. It was the first time he had ever seen his beautiful mate do anything but frown, and he would remember this moment for as long as he lived.

  Diego must have been equally affected because he shook his head as if to clear it before continuing with his explanation. “While you are correct that in order for the claiming to be completed, it is usual for that act to be done during—erm, well when we are—um, well you know.”

  Had the situation not been so tenuous, Tomas would have given his brother shit for his stumbling stutters, but as it was, he understood exactly and knew he couldn’t do any better. So despite the fact Diego sent him a pleading look, he stayed silent and waved his hand in Diego’s direction to tell him to continue.

  Diego narrowed his gaze and coughed, which sounded suspiciously like he was calling Tomas a pussy, and then turned back to Pepper, who was now looking at both of them, her beautiful face clear of its usual frown, and her smile a little bigger.

  “So, yes, you’re right,” Diego continued, “but all we wanted to do was get the bond back so we could help you. It was the only card we had left to play. Tomas and I both felt like you were slipping away, and we would have done anything to stop that from happening.”

  Pepper’s gaze moved between him and Diego as if she were taking the measure of his statement, and Tomas kept his expression clear and open, hoping that she might catch a glimpse of how true that statement was. After a moment, she nodded, and Tomas felt like she just might have seen it.

  “So you both bit me, and the bond snapped back into place,” Pepper correctly surmised. “But you did it without having sex with me. What does that mean exactly? Am I your mate, or am I not?”

  Tomas strode forward, not willing to stand back a moment longer. “Pepper, we only get the one mate. The Fates decide in their wisdom if a shifter is worthy of a woman to call theirs, and if you are lucky enough to find her, then you hold on to her with everything you have.”

  Pepper held Tomas’s gaze for a long time, and he never even blinked. When she finally nodded in understanding, Tomas let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding. He started to relax a little, and his heart rate had been easing back to normal when he caught Pepper’s eye. There was a sadness there that had his wolf pacing within him.

  “What’s wrong, cariño?” Tomas asked gently, daring to reach out and press his hand to her arm, and tried to ignore the spark of energy that seemed to roll up his arm. “What’s put that sadness in your eyes?”

  Pepper sighed and shifted back against her pillows. “You talk about finding a mate as if it were something magical. Do you think that the Fates blessed you when they decided that I was your fated mate?”

  “Yes, we do,” Diego said gently. “When we look at you, we feel blessed. The more we get to know about you, the more apparent that becomes.”

  Pepper was shaking her head before he had even finished talking. “I think I may be more of a curse to you than a blessing.”

  Tomas and Diego shared a look of concern. Pepper was hunched in on herself, looking down at the top of the bed sheets, the picture of defeat.

  Tomas reached out and gently tipped her face up so that she had no choice but to look him in the eye. “Pepper, you are an amazing woman. You sacrificed yourself for everyone who stood in that clearing that day. Every single one of us was there to end Aristos and give you, Parris, and Melaina some peace of mind knowing that he would be forever gone from your lives. But we couldn’t fight what we couldn’t see. Melaina has told us how close Aristos came to taking her, Parris, and Xanthe with him when he died. The only thing that stopped him was you.”

  “You fought for your sisters, niña,” Diego ad
ded. “Hell, you fought for every single person in that clearing that day. And it wasn’t us, or our wolves, or our strength that took that evil from this world. It was you.”

  Pepper frowned for a moment, and Tomas got the feeling she was processing everything that they had said. “I know that what you are saying is accurate. My mind is clearing, and I am beginning to remember that day quite clearly. Melaina was on the verge of succumbing, and I drew her into my mind to save her. It allowed enough time for Parris and Xanthe to get there and help. When I intervened a second time, I forced enough energy, everything that I had into Aristos’s mind, that I effectively blew it out. I killed him, and he was not the first man to die at my hands. I killed that man, and I should feel something about that. Right?”

  “How do you feel about it, Pepper?”

  Pepper frowned and her gaze slipped past Tomas’s shoulder. “Logically, I know that I should feel some kind of remorse. I ended a man’s life. A man who was not only known to me, but a man who had also been a huge part of my life. A person should feel some kind of emotion at the thought of taking a life”—Pepper’s gaze slid back to his—“but I don’t. I don’t feel remorseful. I don’t feel thankful that he is gone. I simply feel numb.”

  That was a word their mate had used before. The day Melaina had returned to Grey River with her mates, they had all met for lunch at Country Blue. It had been a special occasion for Melaina, Parris and Pepper. It was the first time the three of them had been together outside of Aristo’s compound. Tomas and Diego had sat at the table across from their mate, watching her intently.

  Pepper had been talking with Melaina about how happy she was that Melaina was able to smile, that she was able to feel happiness. The female mate to three of Grey River’s men was a psychiatrist, and she specialized in helping women who were victims of physical and sexual abuse. Rowena had asked Pepper how she felt, and that was the word Pepper had used. Numb. When she had said that she was emotionless, that she was numb and couldn’t imagine ever feeling anything again, Tomas had almost shifted where he sat at the table. Pepper’s voice had been so quiet and matter of fact that his heart had bled for her in that moment, and it bled for her now.

  “Never regret what you did that day, cariño,” Tomas whispered, lifting her hand into his and pressing a kiss to the back. “You say that all you feel is numb and that there are no emotions within you, yet you risked your life to save your sisters. What is that if not an emotion?”

  “And not just any emotion, niña.” Diego mirrored Tomas’s move and lifted Pepper’s free hand. “That is the most powerful emotion of all. You love your sisters. And although you think you should feel remorse for your actions that day, you shouldn’t. You did what had to be done, and that man is not worth your time or your emotions, not matter what they are.”

  Pepper was quiet for a moment, her gaze flicking between him and Diego. She had the most expressive green eyes, with a darker green outer rim, that had his heart clenching in his chest whenever she turned those eyes on him.

  “But what about the two of you?” Pepper asked in a small voice that had a slight tremor to it.

  Tomas frowned in confusion. “What do you mean, cariño? Are you asking if we have any regrets about you killing that man? Because I have to be honest with you, the only regret I have is that I was not able to rip his heart out and place it at your feet as an offering. In fact, I reckon there are more than a couple of shifters back in Grey River who would have loved the opportunity to bathe in that fucker’s blood.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” Her keen gaze remained level and clear when she looked up at him and Diego. “You say that Aristos was not worth my time or my emotions, which, as I have already explained, I do not have. But what about you? If you are both worthy of my time and emotions, what happens now that you know that I am not capable of feeling anything? I know that when you both look at me, I can see the flicker of desire and arousal in your eyes. I am not so naïve as to not recognize that emotion in others. But I do not have that emotion. I may never be healed enough to find that within me. What then?”

  Tomas swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, and he looked over at his brother, praying that Diego might have a way to answer. The pained look and visible moisture Tomas saw in Diego’s eyes were enough to tell him that he was on his own.

  “Pepper”—he cleared his throat when his voice cracked on her name—“Diego and I want the chance to get to know you, and for you to get to know us. For now, that is all that we want, and if you agreed to it, then we would be ecstatic. Do we hope to develop a relationship with you that may lead to an intimate and loving connection between us? Yes, we do. But we would never force it, or you. You have love in your heart, cariño. I have witnessed it in all its stunning glory. My hope is that you can find enough room in there to love more than just your sisters.”

  Tomas was determined that he and Diego would do whatever it took to prove to her that they were worthy of her trust and her love. He knew it would take a long time—hell, they might live a long life trying to prove their worth, but as long as she stood beside them, and allowed them to try, he’d be a happy man.

  Chapter Six

  Diego felt like a stalker. He wasn’t about to move or anything stupid like that, but he did feel a little stalkerish. He stood in the shadows of the forest that surrounded their cabin watching his mate. Pepper moved through a basic yoga routine with a practiced ease that spoke of years of practice. She’d only really regained consciousness yesterday but had climbed from the bed in the afternoon, determined to get up and move around. Diego had to threaten to sit on her to keep her from doing too much.

  This morning, as soon as she was out of bed, she stepped out onto the porch with a towel and started stretching. Diego had slipped from the back door in his wolf form, telling himself that he wanted to make sure she was safe. And while that was indeed true, it was also because he wanted an unobstructed view of his mate.

  She didn’t push herself too far, just moved gently as if testing her limits. Pepper was a beautiful woman at any time. When she walked, she did so with an innate grace that held a man’s attention, but for Diego, watching her move as she was now, she was stunning perfection.

  As he watched, his thoughts turned to their conversation yesterday. She had once again used the term numb when it came to her emotions, and that had been upsetting to hear to say the least. Diego had sat there, his heart pounding and perilously close to tears when she had asked in a matter-of-fact tone what would happen now that she had admitted to them that she felt incapable of feeling desire. Never before had he wanted to go back in time or resurrect the dead more than he did in that moment. What he wouldn’t give to be able to shred the skin from Aristos so he might feel an ounce of the pain Diego knew his beautiful mate had suffered at his hands.

  “Do you believe that she is incapable of feeling anything?” Tomas asked down their link. Diego knew he was sitting at the window in the lounge, watching their mate discretely through the curtains while Diego lurked like a stalker at the edge of the woods in wolf form.

  “No, I don’t,” Diego answered. “Even before that battle, we saw sparks of emotion and feelings from Pepper. Hell, the first day we met her, and we walked into her hospital room, she threw Chris Carson and the two of us against the wall with nothing but the power of her mind. The look on her face was pure emotion.”

  “I remember.” Diego heard the reverence in his brother’s tone. “She stood before us, her hand out, her eyes sparkling with an intensity I have never seen before. She was basically daring us to come at her. I was stunned and aroused at the same damn time.”

  It had taken her sister Parris’s calming influence and promise that they weren’t there to hurt her for her to let them loose. That had been the first time they had witnessed her strength. Over the course of the few weeks they had with her prior to the battle near Red Ridge, they had hardly left her side. The two of them spent most of their time hovering in the halls of the
hospital, hoping for an opportunity to get her to talk to them. Everything they heard and learned about her told them that their mate was everything they had ever wanted but never thought to hope for.

  Pepper dropped into a crouch, her left leg bent beneath her, her right leg straight to the side, and both arms lifted to the sky, and he could see a light sheen of perspiration on her skin. Diego felt his cock swell at how beautiful she was when she moved like this. The wave of desire that swept through the bond told him that Tomas was just as affected.

  Pepper suddenly faltered, almost falling forward onto the deck. Diego froze, watching as she looked around her and then rose to a stand. She stared into the shadows of the trees where he stood, and although he was fairly confident he was deep enough in the shadows not to be seen, it felt like she was looking right at him.

  “Damn, did you see that?” Tomas asked excitedly.

  “Yeah. It looked like our mate caught the echo of our desire for her down the link,” Diego answered, unable to keep the excitement out of his own voice. “Hang on—let me try something else.”

  He took a deep breath, opened the link to his mate, and flooded it with emotion. He had been falling in love with that beautiful woman from the first moment she’d thrown him against the wall. Now, he flooded their link with everything he was feeling for her, to see what her reaction would be.

  Thanks to his enhanced hearing, he heard the gasp she gave just as she pressed the heel of her right hand against her chest. Almost as if there was an ache in her chest. Then the most amazing thing happened. He felt the echo of emotion returned down that link, and Diego smiled as his wolf chuffed happily within him. His mate could feel. He was fucking certain of it. All he and Tomas had to do was try to show her that what she was feeling weren’t just their emotions, but hers as well.

  “How are we going to do that?” Tomas sent down the link and Diego grinned at his impatient tone.