“What are we going to do about living arrangements? We can stay here for a short while, but we need a permanent solution. We can find an apartment or a house here in Moon Valley, but what happens when you two need to take over your pack?”
Her last question was valid but not one that worried him. His father was strong and healthy and would govern their pack for some time to come. Yes, someday in the future they’d have to address the issue but he didn’t see the point of devoting much energy to it now. “That won’t happen for a long time yet, so I don’t think you should worry about it now. However, we both work for our dad and uncle and we’ll have to figure that out. I’m sure we can mostly work from here, maybe share office space with Uncle Jack and Nathan ...” His voice trailed off. It was possible that would never occur if Nathan and the others weren’t found. Desperate not to turn their conversation into one that was too wrought with emotion, he decided to ignore his reference to his missing cousin. “And I’d think that with regular visits back home when we need to physically deal with something at the drill site, we should be able to manage.”
“That sounds feasible,” Zack agreed. “I mean unless there’s some huge problem with machinery, mostly we deal with paperwork. We can do that here.”
“Exactly. As far as the rest, yeah, let’s look for a place. Our own place in town, our home.” When Hannah smiled, he kissed her nose affectionately causing her to laugh softly. By the Universe he loved the sound! He loved absolutely everything about her. While active worship of the Universe by shifters had ended long ago, he felt like hunting for a deer and offering it in sheer gratitude for the bestowment of such a wondrous mate. “You know,” he added, “I was thinking you should rent office space, for your Alpha duties and record-keeping. I know your dad worked from the house but I think it makes more sense to keep pack affairs separate from home life.”
It was how his father governed and he thought it prudent. “It does make sense,” she agreed. “I never could understand how Dad wanted to run everything from the house. I mean some days were hectic there with people in and out of the house. Even as a child I found it intrusive, and I wouldn’t want to subject our pups to that, you know, when we’re ready to have them. You two do want pups, right?”
Bending his elbow, he propped his head on his hand, not surprised when Zack mirrored his movements. Hannah however looked between them and raised a brow. “Do you two do everything in unison?”
“No,” Zack replied, “but we do share a few mannerisms.”
“Hmm. Well, back to pups. What are your thoughts on them? Do you want them right away? In a few years when things are more settled in our lives?” She’d looked between the twins as she asked her questions but settled her eyes on Dustin as she finished.
“I don’t know,” he responded truthfully. “Really, I’d never given pups much of a thought. I guess I just assumed we’d have some when we found our mate. Can’t we just see how things go and then decide? I mean, we don’t need a firm date as to when we want to expand our family, do we?”
“No. I’m just an obsessive planner. I like to have a path before me. I’m not a wait-and-see or wing-it type of shifter.”
When he smiled deeply and heard his twin’s chuckle, she blushed. “You guys think I’m a control freak, don’t you?”
“With any luck, you’ll turn out to a kinky freak,” Zack said seductively.
Her blush deepened as she smiled. Hot damn, she was sexy. “I wouldn’t say control freak, per se,” Dustin said. “Really, we don’t know you well although I can’t wait to learn everything about you. Tonight’s been a nightmare for you but here you are, discussing this calmly, and you certainly relinquished control earlier. So, do I think you’re a control freak? No. Have you had to be in control to achieve all you have? Absolutely. You’re a surgeon, that’s amazing, and you worked so hard to be that.” He blew a breath out. “You’re probably going to miss that, won’t you? I hadn’t thought about it before now, but you can’t be an Alpha and a surgeon.”
He saw the sadness in her eyes. More than that, he felt the change in her, as surely as if he himself had lost something. Inwardly, he gasped. He was truly connected to her, to not only her body but her emotions. He could feel her disappointment and it hurt him. As he reached out to her, Zack did too, and their hands rested on each of her thighs simultaneously.
“Maybe you could still see patients,” Zack suggested. “Doc Cobb has his hands full with both towns. Maybe you could go into practice with him. He’s getting on in his years and could probably use the help. I mean, it’s not what you’d planned but ...”
“No, it isn’t but it’s still helping people and now it would be helping shifters and members of my pack.” She sighed deeply. “I don’t know. I’m still not keen on being Alpha. I never wanted to be one, you know. Ever.”
Dustin sat up at the same time Zack did, and felt his brother’s shared shock. “Really?” he questioned. Even as he knew he had a long time before having to shoulder the responsibility, he’d always known he’d be co-Alpha of his pack with Zack and had never questioned it. Not that he looked forward to it and truthfully didn’t think about it much, but it was something he’d accepted long ago and hadn’t ever not wanted to become an Alpha.
“Yes, really. My dad was always pushing me to learn all I could about his duties but I was never interested. I listened to his instruction because he wanted me to, but never truly trained for it. He wanted me to, in fact it was one of the last things he said to me. He was happy I was accepting some responsibility by organizing patrols and he told me he was proud I was showing interest in my future and that he wanted me to stay here indefinitely and begin actually training for it.” Tears surfaced in her eyes. His heart ached in response, feeling her grief and regret. “And I told him the time wasn’t right, that I was only staying until Ashlynn and the others were found. He was disappointed, I could tell, and ...” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “I think I broke his heart. I think during the last conversation I had with my father, I failed him.”
Dustin cupped her face as he shook his head. “No, you didn’t. Don’t think that, please. He loved you. The last time we were here, a few years back, we ran into your Dad and had a coffee with him. All he did was talk about the high grades you graduated with, how you’d easily found a residency and although only in the first year of it, had already been offered a surgical fellowship. He was so damn proud of you and all you’d accomplished.”
“Then why do I feel like I betrayed him?”
As her chin quivered, the achiness in his chest intensified. He could feel Zack’s upset too, and knew his brother was just as attuned to their mate as he was. Pulling Hannah into an embrace, he caught Zack’s eye and imparted a look he knew his twin would decipher. He wasn’t hogging Hannah, merely eager to soothe her. Zack dipped his head in understanding as he began stroking her back gently.
“You didn’t,” Dustin assured her, “and he would never think that. You heard what Jason and the SASS agents said. That Bossman guy threatened to take you if your dad didn’t comply. What shifter wouldn’t do all he could to protect his pup?”
“But he shouldn’t have done it. He put me before the whole pack. He never should have done that.”
“He was your father first, and then an Alpha.”
He believed his words, even as he still struggled to accept what Julian had done. Hannah hadn’t betrayed her father but Julian most definitely had betrayed his pack. While he understood the want to protect Hannah, he couldn’t grasp why Julian hadn’t enlisted the help of Jason and SASS when first contacted by Bossman. That’s the part that didn’t sit well with him.
As his poor mate cried harshly, he held her firmly. He’d hold her all night like this if he needed to, desperate to soothe her, hopeful he could, and determined to, with Zack’s help, make her see she’d done nothing wrong.
Chapter 5
“What is with you?” Emily snapped nastily.
Naomi knew her
friend couldn’t understand. It had only been a few days and, despite seeing what Bossman had done to Nathan, and the haunted look in Ashlynn’s eyes since her meeting with Bossman, Emily still had fight in her. Naomi knew it was only a matter of time until Emily was as empty inside as she was. Clearly, Nathan already was and Ashlynn didn’t look too far off from that point. Emily just didn’t understand what was in store for her, for them all. Naomi knew. She’d been Bossman’s prisoner before and she knew. Unsure how she survived the first time, Jason had brought her back from the horrible dark and empty place she’d resided in. This time, robbed of him and his undying love and limitless support, she couldn’t bear Bossman’s tortures.
Jason would do anything he could to find her and the others, but she feared it wouldn’t be enough. He’d told her how elusive the pack was, how, if not for a SASS agent happening to overhear a conversation in a shifter bar, they might never have found her the first time. How would they find this place? After her rescue, she had no doubt Bossman would be more guarded, too careful to allow for further slip-ups.
Sitting cross-legged on the concrete floor, she turned her head to stare at the wall, ignoring Emily. She didn’t have the energy to try to explain how she felt and didn’t want to dash Emily’s hopes of a rescue, as futile as they were. Mainly, she didn’t want to see her friend as defeated as she was. Bossman would kill her over what he would undoubtedly view as her betrayal. After all, he’d told her repeatedly she was his mate, chosen by him to bear his pups. She’d not only been taken from him, she’d found her true mate, something that would infuriate him further. Her fingers traced over her bite scars, the act of love Jason bestowed, his attempt at erasing all the damage inflicted by Bossman. All she’d found with Jason—love, devotion, family—was cruelly ripped away in an instant by Bossman’s shifters. She’d known when they took her that she’d never see Jason or his daughters again. Her perfect existence, what she’d believed to be her reward for enduring Bossman’s torments, was no more. There was no going back.
It was so unfair it should have sparked fury within her but all she felt was hopelessness. She had little time left. Hours, perhaps days, but eventually Bossman would deal with her perceived betrayal. Upon hearing Emily’s annoyed scoff, she bowed her head, hurt by her friend’s anger but unwilling to devote any of her waning energy to her. In the little time she had left, she’d do what she’d done since the abduction. She would replay every moment she spent with Jason and the triplets in her mind. She’d dwell on every loving act she’d experienced, remember each affectionate smile she’d received, and recapture every second in which she felt safe and treasured.
***
Ashlynn looked up when Emily huffed loudly as she knelt beside her. She tried to smile when Emily gently wiped her heated brow but couldn’t quite manage it. Feeling extremely ill now, she was terrified for her pups, but, trapped in this cage, she could do nothing more than silently beg the Universe to protect them, and guide her mates to her in time to save them. Emily’s face was a mask of annoyance and concern. She was angry with Naomi and seemingly unable to understand why her friend was so complacent. Ashlynn knew it wasn’t complacency. Naomi had given up.
As Emily’s fingers gently roved over the bruises on Ashlynn’s cheek, her harsh look softened. “I’m so sorry he did that to you,” she told her. “Are you feeling any better at all?”
“No.” She wasn’t. In fact, she felt worse by the moment, feverish yet freezing, her stomach clenching, her head throbbing mercilessly. Worse was the cramping she felt lower in her abdomen. She was certain her uterus was contracting.
“They’ll find us,” Emily said firmly, but Ashlynn could hear the lack of resolve in her voice. The fierce determination with which she’d uttered those words before was gone.
Ashlynn nodded but didn’t reply. The cramping was bleeding her strength from her and she wanted to conserve as much energy as she could. When her mates came, she might have to move fast, run even, and she was determined to be ready when they found her.
With another gentle wipe of her brow and a small smile, Emily left her to stand by the bars that ran between their cell and Nathan’s. As she heard Emily gently speaking to Nathan, her heart ached at the love her sister-in-law had for her brother. Nathan’s condition tore at her. She’d never seen her brother so crushed and it scared her. He was as broken as Naomi was, and she feared there would be little left of him mentally when help did arrive.
Desperate to think of anything but Nathan’s dire state, she tried to focus on thoughts of Ryder and Wayne but her mind kept drifting to the epiphany she’d had about Bossman. She’d considered telling Emily and Naomi what she’d figured out but didn’t see how it would help them. In fact, if Bossman knew that she knew, it could cause him to lash out at them. The thought of him placing Nathan back in the box was enough for her to keep the information to herself. Perhaps if Wayne and Ryder put the pieces together and came to the same conclusion she had, it might give them something to go on, a way to find her location.
Her eyes shot to the door as it opened and Fucktard strutted in, a Taser in hand. The memory of his filthy paws on her had her stomach coiling nastily. Don’t take me again, please, please, don’t take me again. He stopped before the cell and she held her breath as his eyes roved over her. After his lascivious gaze passed over Emily, it settled on Naomi.
“He wants to see you, bitch. It’s time to face the music.”
She released her held breath. Tears pricked her eyes at the guilt that crept up her spine at her relief. Bossman had told her none of the shifters would beat her because of the pups she carried. Naomi wasn’t pregnant and neither was Emily but, the Universe help her, she was glad Fucktard hadn’t selected her, certain she couldn’t endure any more time with him and Bossman.
Naomi slowly rose to her feet and approached the cell’s door. Fucktard held the Taser in one hand as he unlocked the door with the other, but Ashlynn could see how unnecessary the weapon was. Naomi wouldn’t fight him. Her defeated posture spoke volumes, even if Fucktard couldn’t decipher it. With a blank look upon her face, as though resigned to her fate, Naomi appeared ready to face it.
***
Naomi fought her panic as Fucktard led her into the room with chains suspended from the ceiling, shackles hanging from them. It was a torture chamber. Bossman stood by the window in the room, facing it, his back to her. Morning light flooded the room, the first light she’d seen in days. Its appearance should have soothed her, but the ominous shadows it cast as it hit the shackles unnerved her.
“Leave her.”
Fucktard left and Naomi stood where she was, her heart racing. She could smell her own sweat, sour with her fear. This was it. Bossman would kill her. As resentful tears burned her eyes, her chest tightened with the knowledge she’d never see Jason again. She tried to find solace in the time she’d had with him but couldn’t. As amazing as it had been, it wasn’t long enough, not nearly long enough. Bossman had robbed her of so much and now had taken her from Jason, her mate, the man she was destined to be with for the rest of her life, which he was about to take, too.
He turned slowly and his expression caused her breath to catch in her throat. The haughty, authoritative look he’d always possessed was gone. Anger lined his face, his eyes were hard, his posture rigid. He swiftly closed the distance between them until he stood a foot from her, glaring menacingly at her.
“I bet you thought you were safe, didn’t you? That you could so easily be done with me? I told you before, Naomi, you’re mine. I chose you as my mate.” He snorted irritably as his eyes rested on her claim bite. “How dare you offer yourself to him? A fucking cop!” He pushed his face forward until it was so close to her that she could feel his hot, furious breath on her skin. “You threw away my gift to you. I claimed you as mine. Mine. You had no right to take another mate. You’re mine.”
The predatory look in his eyes unnerved her. She cringed when his hand covered her throat, over her bite mark. “How could
you do that to me?” When she didn’t answer him, his look grew dangerous. “I guess we’ll have to start all over again, won’t we? You ungrateful whore. You’re lucky I’m willing to put the work into making you worthy of me again. I could just kill you and then pick another woman, one who’ll appreciate the honour of being my mate.” He tightened his grip, for emphasis she guessed, and supposed he was trying to scare her into an apology, an acceptance perhaps. All it did was confirm what she’d known. She would die in this room and by his hand.
“Do it,” she said, her voice sounding small and strained under the force of his grip. Maybe she shouldn’t chance talking back but he’d kill her anyway, so what did it matter? Suddenly, she wanted her last words to be a condemnation. “Kill me.” He held his furious look but his head tilted slightly, as if confused by her reaction. “Do it,” she repeated. “Then find someone who’ll ‘appreciate the honour’ of being your mate. Good luck to you. You’ll never find a woman who’ll appreciate something that doesn’t exist. You can’t force that on someone, especially someone like me who knows for a fact that you’re wrong. So wrong. I had a mate I honoured, and who honoured me. You took that away because you can’t have it. You can’t force someone to love you, to respect you. You can make women fear you, but that’s all you’ll ever have.”
Saved by Her Wolves Page 14