Mount Roxby Box Set

by Aimie Jennison

  I throw my arms around his shoulders and squeeze him in a hug.

  He laughs. “You might not need to breathe, Rubes, but I do.”

  I quickly let him go. “Sorry,” I apologise bashfully.

  “Don’t be, kiddo, I’m just glad you’re still here.”

  He opens the door and gestures for me to enter. The wall of sadness that hits me wipes the smile off my face, but it can’t touch the small place in my heart filled with happiness from my brother loving me and being happy that I’m mated to a wolf in his pack.

  My wolf.

  My soul mate.

  He was right there—under my nose, all along.

  THE END

  RECLAIMING THE ONE

  MOUNT ROXBY SERIES: BOOK THREE

  Copyright © 2017 by Aimie Jennison

  Cover design by: Cover Me Darling LLC - Facebook

  Formatted by: Aimie Jennison - Facebook - Email - Twitter

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Aimie Jennison is in no way affiliated with any brands, songs, musicians or artists mentioned in this book.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return it to the seller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  DEDICATION

  This story is for anyone who feels like they’ve let The One get away.

  One

  INVITATION HOME

  Cain - Present Day

  Leaving Ruby outside with Theo, Alyssa, and Jared, I enter the house.

  Shock hits me to feel such an intense wave of emotion coming from the pack members. I don’t know why I’m surprised. Wes was Theo’s beta. He was well loved. Of course, the pack are going to be cut up about his death and are going to feel the loss for a long time.

  Theo’s been on edge ever since I turned up. He doesn’t need to be stressing about the past while he’s got this hole in his pack to worry about. I came home to see what happened to my little sister, Ruby. She’s safe, happy, and mated to a wolf, who I have a hell of a lot of respect for.

  Nothing is keeping me here anymore.

  Selena’s name runs through my mind, but I push it back into the crevice it had been hiding in. I ruined her life a long time ago. When I saw her the day I arrived, she seemed like she was in a good place, looking to the future with her soon-to-be-born baby. I’m not going to spoil that. The best thing for everyone is for me to pack my bag and leave, again.

  I make my way upstairs and throw my stuff together. It doesn’t take me long because I didn’t bring much with me. I’m a metre away from the front door when it pops open. Theo waves Ruby in before him and closes the door.

  I can pinpoint the exact moment the wall of sadness hits them: Ruby loses her smile, and Theo takes a deep breath and looks around. Probably looking for someone to comfort. That’s when he spots me and my bag. Anger radiates from him.

  “My office, now!” he orders, before marching off in the direction of his office.

  I’m suddenly transported back in time to when Theo and I had been ordered into Dad’s office as kids. We were always getting in trouble. Being as thick as thieves then, we’d both claim to be the one at fault. Dad would then punish us both, saying, “You both deserve it. One of you is lying and one of you did it.” Sometimes he’d punish us for nothing, apparently to “make us stronger.” He was a prick like that. It backfired on him in the end because it did make us stronger. Strong enough to kill him and take over the pack.

  Theo is standing with his back to me as I walk in the room. He’s staring out the window overlooking the backyard. I close the door and stand in silence watching him, wondering what he’s thinking. What he’s going to say.

  “Were you going to say goodbye? Or were you going to leave another gaping hole? Do you not think the pack has lost enough tonight?” He sounds calm and collected, but I can tell by the fisted hands at his sides that he’s pissed.

  I join him at the window and sigh as I take in the view of the forest, remembering what it was like to run in those trees. The freedom I could find in there. “I didn’t think you needed to be reminded of the past when you have enough of the present to worry about,” I say honestly.

  He sharply turns his head to look at me. His silence pushes me to say more.

  “I know you hate me for what I did, and to be honest, I don’t blame you. I don’t expect you to forgive me,” I admit.

  “What is it with my siblings thinking I hate them? I must be one nasty bastard. I don’t hate you, Cain. I never did.” He rubs at his brows with his fingertips. “You hurt me. You slept with my wife and then you went AWOL. You pissed me off, but you’re my brother. I’d never be able to hate you.” He sighs. “I fucking love you, you moron,” he declares. Catching me off guard, he manages to pull me into a headlock and knuckle my hair.

  “Jesus, Theo, what are you? Fucking ten?” We both laugh, and for a second, I forget about the hand the pack was dealt tonight; forget the loss we all feel. We both fall silent, looking to the backyard once again, remembering tonight’s events.

  “Please stay, Cain. I need a beta who isn’t so emotionally affected by the loss of Wes. Someone who can help glue the pack together while they come to terms with it. I need you, Cain.”

  I glance across at him not believing those words came from his mouth. “What about Ed or Billy? They’re both dominant enough to be your beta. Ed seems stronger now he’s mated. I haven’t been around the pack for over a year. They’ll never accept me as their beta.”

  I left Mount Roxby and became a lone wolf after being caught in bed with Selena, Theo’s wife, knowing I wouldn’t be accepted as part of the pack any longer. I roamed the country, drifting from pack to pack until I happened to find a mother and child being held captive by a nasty alpha. I managed to help them escape and keep them out of his clutches by moving on when his goons got close. After nine months of being one step ahead of the bad guys, she finally had enough of life on the run and told me who she really was, and I was able to reunite her with her mate, the alpha of the Rossi Pack.

  “I’m not the only one who missed you when you left. I think you’ll be surprised how many of them will be happy to have you back,” he says, as he walks to his desk and pulls out a bottle of whisky and two short glasses. “I know things between the two of us are strained.” He pours two glasses and hands me one. “But I trust you with the pack. It’s your pack as much as it is mine.”

  Shock ripples through me at his words, and I down the liquid fire before I speak. “After everything I’ve done, you still feel like that?”

  “I don’t know why you did what you did, but I know it wasn’t out of malice. That isn’t you, never was.” He grabs the bottle and tops up our glasses again.

  “I need to tell you everything that lead to me sleeping with Selena, and if you still want me to be your beta after that, I’ll do it.”

  He takes a seat on the sofa at the side of the room, places the whisky bottle by his feet, and gestures for me to join him. “Now’s as good a time as any.”

  So I sit down and tell him everything, starting at the very beginning. The day she came into my life.

  Two

  DELECTABLE HONEYSUCKLE

  Cain - Eight years ago

  I’m forever running errands
for dad’s mate, Margie. I hate the woman, and she’s made it perfectly clear that the feeling is mutual. I walk out of the corner store with a carton of eggs in my hand when I smell the most alluring scent: honeysuckle. It invades my nostrils and makes my wolf try to jump out of my skin, wanting to roll himself in the delectable fragrance.

  I pause in the doorway as I rein in the wolf and look for the female the scent belongs to, knowing she has to be my true mate. No other scent would affect my wolf this way. Excitement rolls through me at the notion. Some wolves can go a lifetime and never find their true mate; and here I am finding mine at the age of nineteen.

  My eyes fall on the most beautiful female I’ve ever laid eyes on. Long dark-blonde hair with golden highlights flows over her shoulders and chest, covering the ample cleavage her low-cut top would be otherwise showing.

  The carton of eggs slip through my fingers and I don’t even glance down to see them smash on the pavement. I can’t take my eyes off the beauty.

  At the noise, she glances up from the ground where she’d been focusing as she walked. Her ice-blue eyes lock on mine and she gives me a shy smile.

  I smile back, trying not to show the predator I am. Knowing it’s my wolf’s eyes that are showing, I pull out my shades and slip them over my eyes, hoping she doesn’t catch them as he slinks back into his hiding place and they change back to my human eyes. Luckily, my cobalt eyes aren’t too different a shade to my wolf’s lighter blue ones. I know plenty of people whose eyes are completely different to their wolves’.

  “You’ve made a right mess there, butterfingers.” Her silky-smooth voice flows over me. I’m grateful for the shades as my wolf peers out, excited by her voice, yet a little insulted by the nickname.

  I take a breath and ground myself, pushing the wolf back once again. I crouch down and try to clear up the mess as best I can, picking up the egg shells and placing them in the soggy carton. “Something caught my eye,” I say, unable to think up a witty response with her scent surrounding me.

  “I’ll get a bucket of water to swill the pavement down. My dad won’t be happy if we leave a mess right in the doorway of his shop.” She disappears past me and into the building.

  I glance in after her and catch sight of an Under New Management sign hanging on the door. I momentarily wonder what happened to Mr Thorpe, but the sight of my blonde beauty heading back towards me with a bucket in one hand and a plastic bag in the other, shoos any thoughts of Mr Thorpe right out of my head. She thrusts the bag in my direction, and I take it, ensuring my fingers brush hers. The contact makes me shiver, and my wolf lets out a content sigh. Mate.

  “Are you going to step back or do you want the water over you, too?”

  Her irritated tone makes me snap out of my trance. What the hell? It’s like she’s had a personality transplant in the time it took her to get a bucket of water. I stand up while placing the soggy carton containing the broken eggshells into the bag and then see my beauty’s arm straining with the weight of the bucket. That’s why she snapped, unaware dick.

  I quickly reach out, taking the bucket’s handle. “Here, let me do it. It’s my mess after all,” I offer, trying to tug the bucket out of her grasp.

  She lets go with a shrug. “Give me the bag and I’ll stick in the bin.” She wiggles her empty hand at me.

  Realising I’ll be able to direct the water better with two hands, I pass the rubbish over to her. She disappears into the shop once again and I pour the water over the mess of my broken eggs.

  Noticing one bucket of water isn’t going to be enough to wash away the mess, I head into the shop to look for my beauty or the new manager, her father. “Hello,” I call out as I make my way to the counter.

  The small balding man, who served me not long ago, pops out a door behind the counter that must lead to a small staff room or office. “Hi, how can I help you?” I hold the bucket up and open my mouth to ask for more water, but recognition crosses his face and he doesn’t let me get a word out. “Oh, you’re the butterfingers Selena was complaining about. Did one bucket do the job or do you need more water?”

  I glance from the bucket to the man before my mouth decides to engage. “It’s going to need more water I’m afraid.” Selena. He called my beauty Selena.

  He takes the bucket and goes back through the door shouting over his shoulder, “Grab yourself another carton of eggs while I get us some more water.” I stare after him, wondering where Selena’s disappeared to and why she hasn’t come back, until his words register. My errand for Margie is the reason I came here. If I return without her eggs, I’d be in a world of pain. She’s the alpha’s mate. My father’s mate. If I don’t return with her eggs, she’ll say I was disobeying an order and demand I be punished for my disobedience. She’s an evil bitch. I don’t know what my father see’s in her.

  I walk to the aisle where the eggs are kept and open a carton, making sure to check for cracks and running my hand across them to check they’re mobile. If they’re stuck to the carton, they’re likely to have a crack on the base of them. My mum taught me that before my father tore me away from her and my home.

  “That’s a neat trick to check for cracks,” Selena’s soft voice says from behind me.

  I jump, clutching the eggs to my chest. The last thing we need is another mess of smashed eggs. How the hell had she crept up on me? My instincts wouldn’t normally let that happen. Meeting her has thrown my wolf and me. “Jesus, where did you come from?”

  She grins at me, and my heart skips a beat at the sight. I need to see her do that again. Hell, every day. “I didn’t realise I looked like a man.” She pouts, causing me to open and close my mouth, no doubt doing an awesome impression of a damn goldfish. She laughs, the sound sending shivers down my spine. Good shivers. “Don’t hyperventilate. I was only joking. I’m Selena,” she says, offering her hand.

  I loosen the death grip I have on the eggs and take her hand in my free one. “Cain. Nice to meet you, Selena.”

  She gives my hand a firm shake and a small voice speaks from behind her. “I’m Maximus. Good to meet you.”

  I release Selena’s hand as she steps aside, giving me a clear view of a boy who can’t be much older than seven or eight. His blond mop of hair falling in his ice-blue eyes and his hand held out in my direction, just as Selena’s had done a moment ago.

  I clear my throat and straighten my shoulders as I take his hand. “It’s nice to meet you too, Maximus.” His face brightens with an enormous smile and an excited blush travels his cheeks. I release his hand and he looks at his sister as though he has no idea what to do next.

  Selena opens her mouth to speak, but before anything escapes, the sound of splashing water takes our attention away from our moment. We all turn and head for the sound of water.

  “I would have done that, sir,” I say at the same time as Selena speaks.

  “Dad. You shouldn’t be doing that.” She turns her eyes on me, giving me an icy glare. “Why didn’t you ask me to refill it? Dad shouldn’t be lifting anything.”

  “I’m sorry, I—” I start before her father cuts me off.

  “Let the boy off. He wasn’t to know. It’s not like I have a sign hanging around my neck—” He swings his arms across his neck. “—saying ‘don’t let me lift a thing,’” he finishes as he walks through the door and back into the shop, causing us all to stop suddenly, so we don’t crash into him.

  Selena sighs and gives me an apologetic smile. “He’s right. I’m sorry, Cain.” Hearing my name roll off her tongue renders me speechless. The only response I can give her is a nod.

  “Daddy…!” Maximus shouts as he runs into his father, wrapping his arms around his waist, effectively breaking the tension that had risen in the room.

  “Hi, Maxie, did you have fun at Jimmy’s this afternoon?” their father asks as he leads Max back towards the counter, leaving Selena and me standing in the doorway.

  I glance at the eggs in my hand and back towards the counter. “I guess I should g
o and pay for these.”

  Selena shakes her head, making her long waves move across her chest drawing my eyes to her cleavage. “No, Dad won’t charge you for them. They were broken on our property.”

  I glance out the door where I had dropped the eggs. “It was my fault and I was out the door. I should pay,” I insist wide-eyed, knowing the eggs were all intact when I left the store.

  “It will be a waste of your time and breath arguing with my dad, but go ahead and give it a try,” she offers with a wave of her hand in her father’s direction.

  I bite my lip wondering what to do. She obviously knows her father best, and if she says he won’t take any money from me, she’s probably right.

  “Okay.” I pull my wallet out and hand her a five-dollar note. “Here. Will you slip that into the till for me later?”

  A broad smile crosses her face, making her eyes light up, and I feel like giving her all the notes in my wallet. “I can do that. Thank you.”

  “No worries, beautiful.” The compliment slips out before I can stop it. I feel my cheeks heat up.

  She drops her eyes to her feet as her face flushes. I want nothing more than to pull her into my arms and kiss her to make her blush more.

  Walking home from the store, I can’t wipe the smile off my face. I’ve found my true mate.

  Three

  EXPLAINING THE PAST

  Cain - Present Day

  My eyes come back into focus, the memories of the past fading back to where they belong—in the deep recesses of my mind.