Startling Revelations

by Becca Van

  “Byron! Stop fucking daydreaming and hold the drywall higher,” Bas demanded.

  Byron gave his brother a sheepish look, and after setting the piece of plaster back into place, he waited for his brother to hammer the nail into it.

  “I think we should talk Krista into delaying the school term,” he stated and then went on to explain his thoughts.

  “I agree,” Cam said. “We don’t want Micah, Ben, Abey, and Bly getting caught in any conflict.”

  “We could let her teach at our place,” Byron suggested.

  “The kids would still be all in one place,” Clint, one of Cam’s brothers, said. “They’d still be in danger if those assholes come gunning for her. Delaying is the best option. I’d rather they be a little behind than injured, or worse, dead.”

  “We agree also,” all the other men said and nodded.

  Byron sighed with relief. He was glad that they’d all backed him up. Nevertheless, he didn’t look forward to telling Krista what had been decided for her and her students benefit even if it could save their lives.

  He just hoped that their mate would be reasonable and see the logic behind their conclusion.

  * * * *

  Beck felt and smelled Krista before he saw her. His cock twitched and went from half-mast to fully hard in a couple of seconds flat. Ever since he’d met her his dick had been giving him grievances. He’d been semi-hard or hard for days, and he had a feeling it wouldn’t matter if he’d been mated for years. He had no doubt his body would keep reacting the way it was and had been around his woman because he was so in love with her.

  He turned to stare at her as she entered the school building, her eyes taking everything in as she gazed about.

  “This is amazing,” she murmured. When she spotted him gawking at her, she blushed.

  Beck moved toward her, aware of the other men smirking in his direction, but he ignored them. He stopped a few feet from her and stroked a finger down her soft cheek. “How was your morning, darlin’?”

  “It was great. I got to spend a bit of time with Abey and Bly. They’re both very smart girls and are advanced academically for their ages. I thought I’d go and see Catori after looking about here.”

  “We don’t want you wandering about alone, Krista. Not until it’s safe.”

  Krista frowned up at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. “And when will that be?” she asked a little forcefully. “For all we know it could take years before they find me.”

  Beck shook his head. “It won’t.”

  She threw her hands up in the air. “You can’t know that, Beck. You’re not psychic, are you?”

  “No.” He frowned.

  “Well, there you have it.”

  Beck grasped her wrist as she went to walk past him. “Darlin’, those fuckers probably already know where you are. You didn’t do anything to hide your trail. All it would take was for the bastard to grease someone’s palm with a wad of cash and he’d have your location half an hour later.” He cursed himself when she paled and swayed on her feet. He should have kept his fucking mouth shut instead of telling her what he, his brothers, and all the other Guardian Security members had concluded. She was already scared enough, and he didn’t want her so terrified she’d be scared of her own shadow. “I’m sorry, Krista. I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “Yes, you should since it’s the truth.” Tears gathered in her eyes, but as she gazed up the ceiling, inhaled deep and exhaled, she got herself back under control.

  Being so close to her, Beck could feel what she felt. Even though they were now fully mated and she was theirs, it was going to take time for their bond to strengthen. Although he felt more settled feeling what she did, being emotionally connected to her, he still hated himself for scaring her. That was the last thing he’d wanted to do, but he decided he may as well go for broke since he’d already fucked up. “We want you to delay the start of school.”

  She surprised him when she nodded in agreement. “I think that’s for the best. It’d kill me if any of the kids got hurt because of me. It would be my fault if they did.”

  Beck cupped her cheeks in his hands. “None of this is your fault, darlin’. What you did was the right thing to do. You saved so many innocent lives. You should be proud of that.”

  She shook her head. “I’ll never be proud of accidentally taking a life.”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”

  “Yeah, sorry.” She gazed at the other men out of the corner of her eye.

  “Come and see the kitchen.” Beck laced his fingers with hers and guided her to the other room, thankful that it was finished and that no one was in there. While the others would probably hear what they said, he wanted to give his mate a semblance of privacy.

  When they were alone, he grasped her waist and lifted her up onto the granite counter. Beck braced his hands on either side of her hips. “You don’t need to justify yourself to us all the time, darlin’.” He placed a finger over her lips when she parted them to reply. “We know that you do so because of how your parents treated you, but you don’t need to do that with us. Okay?”

  “I’ll try.” She swallowed audibly. “Please be patient with me, Beck. The guilt was ingrained in me from a young age, and it’s really difficult to get rid of and to stop explaining myself.”

  “I know, darlin’, but they aren’t here and can’t hurt you anymore. You have us now. We’re you’re family, Krista.”

  She gazed up at him with wide, shocked eyes as if she couldn’t or didn’t quite believe him. Beck hoped over time that she realized that he and his brothers weren’t going anywhere and would try their damnedest to never hurt her emotionally. There was no way in hell they’d ever hurt her physically. He just hoped that she eventually fell in love with him, too. His heart was so full, and he’d copped a ribbing from his friends when they’d caught him smiling sappily and staring off into space, but he didn’t care. He’d given his friends shit when they’d all met and courted their women. It was their turn for payback, but he wasn’t bothered in the least. In fact, he was happy that he was getting his just desserts. If he hadn’t been, he probably still be a cold, distant, sad sack.

  The only reason his friends were teasing him was because he was so fucking blissful. What would make him even happier was to hear Krista telling him how much she loved him back.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Barty was fired up and rearing to go. It had taken him twenty-four hours to get everything prepared, and now all he and his men had to do was fly clear across the country to Nome, Alaska.

  Once in Nome, he and the ten guys he’d chosen to take with him were going to board and charter a fishing yacht. They wouldn’t tell the captain and his crew that they had no intention of casting a line into the sea until they were out on the water. If the assholes gave him any grief, he’d get his men to get rid of them and dump the bodies overboard. He’d wired half of the reward money to his contact and would wire the other half once he’d taken care of the slut. He’d been doing business with shady characters for a long time and knew never to pay in full upfront.

  In two days’ time, he would be in Gambell, and he didn’t care who he had to kill along the way. All he cared about was avenging his brother. He’d called in a few favors and had a stash of weapons and ammo in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Nome. Once his men had gone and collected them, they’d board the yacht and head out to sea.

  Barty smiled evilly and rubbed his hands together.

  He’d kill the whole fucking town if he had to.

  * * * *

  Krista had stayed at the school and familiarized herself with the layout all afternoon while her men and their friends worked. All the drywall was up and the gaps had been filled. Two of the classrooms had already been sanded down, the walls washed and then painted. Everything was coming together smoothly. She’d handed her list of supplies to Bas yesterday morning after he’d caught her trying to buy them herself on the computer. She hadn�
�t been able to argue with him when he’d told her that it was his job as her mate to supply whatever she needed.

  That was something else Krista decided she needed to change about herself. Occasionally she had no trouble standing up for herself, but other times she found that she didn’t have much of a backbone. Of course, it was a different story when it came to her pupils or someone she cared about.

  She’d never forget the time when she, her sister and brother had been in grade school. It didn’t matter that was she only in her second year of school or that Jack had been older than her. When she’d seen him being bullied, she’d stepped in and given the two boys picking on him what for. She’d kicked them in the shin and sent the running. Jack had been upset with her and hadn’t spoken to her for a week. She hadn’t understood until she was older that she’d probably made things worse for her brother, given the other boys another reason to bully him for having his younger sister standing up for him. Jack had become even more distant after that, and no matter what she’d done trying to bridge the gap between them, it hadn’t worked.

  Looking back, Krista wondered if Jack had closed himself off because he’d been too scared to care. Her sister, Simone had been worse. She’d barely acknowledged that Krista even existed. She’d tried time and again to befriend and show Simone how much Krista loved her, but she’d never responded.

  Krista had always felt as if there she was somehow responsible for the distance between her and her siblings as well as the reason her parents didn’t love her and treated her as if she was a horrible person, but now that she was an adult, she knew none of it had anything to do with her.

  Every now and then, her brother’s and sister’s face had been like a dream in her mind as she’d wondered if they were happy and safe after they’d run away. Any and all photos of her, her brother, and sister had been hidden away after Jack and Simone left. It had saddened Krista that her siblings’ faces had become fainter and fainter with each year that passed by. She had a feeling her older siblings hadn’t been able to deal with the fallout from the emotional and physical abuse dished out by their parents even if they hadn’t copped it as badly as Krista had.

  “Why are you looking and feeling so sad, baby?” Bas asked.

  She startled since she hadn’t heard him coming up behind her and she’d been so lost in thought she hadn’t seen him moving around to stand in front of her.

  Krista started talking about Simone and Jack, and once she started, she put it all out there.

  “I’m sorry for your loss, baby.” Bas pulled her into his arms. “It’s never easy to lose people you love, and while I get they left of their own accord and that causes you grief, try and think of it another way. Your brother and sister must have been in a lot of emotional pain and desperate to escape it. They probably thought the only way to get out of such an unhealthy abusive environment was to run. You’ve got to stop torturing yourself by thinking their leaving was your fault. You need to lay the blame at your parents’ feet. Their abuse was the reason Jack and Simone left. Try and think of them as happy, well-adjusted adults who are free from fear and pain.”

  “Do you think so?” she asked, blinking the tears from her eyes.

  “I’m sure of it.” Bas tightened his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

  “Do you think I’ll ever see them again?” she asked, trying to ignore the pain in her chest.

  Bas caressed a hand up and down her back and sighed. “I don’t know, baby. I hope you do, but maybe them taking off and making a life of their own is their way with dealing with the abuse by ignoring it. Maybe they’re full of guilt for leaving you behind to be further abused.”

  Krista shook her head. “Jack wasn’t ever belted.” She raised her eyes to his. “My mom thought the sun shone out of his ass because he had a cock. She seemed to gravitate and get along with males better than females. My father treated us all like shit. I don’t know if they abused Simone physically, but I’d have to think they did since she ran away, too. She was definitely abused emotionally.

  “I try not to let my parents influence my decisions or what I do, but sometimes I find myself falling back into habits of a lifetime.”

  “We’ll help you, sweetness,” Byron said.

  Krista blushed when she gazed toward the doorway and saw Beck and Byron sauntering toward her. She’d never, ever get sick of seeing the way they walked so smoothly. They moved with an animalistic grace that got her juices flowing. Bas, Byron, and Beck were all so damn handsome and sexy, they took her breath away.

  “Come here, mate,” Byron ordered, spreading his arms out wide.

  Krista gave Bas another hug and stepped out of his hold before walking into Byron’s arms. He held her tight for a few minutes, then nudged her chin up and kissed her softly on the lips before relinquishing her to Beck.

  This is what life is all about, Krista thought. This is all I’ve ever wanted and needed. To be held and loved for who I am. To be accepted the way I am, even though I’m not perfect and never will be.

  Her mates weren’t perfect, either, since everyone had flaws and fucked up now and then, but she didn’t care. She loved them just the way they were with their authoritative, dominant personalities.

  Krista wanted to tell them how much she cared for them, but she held back. She was scared that if she told them what was in her heart she’d be jinxing them all.

  A shiver of apprehension sent a shudder through her body.

  It was almost as if she could hear the second hand on the clock ticking. The hair on her nape stood on end, and Krista wondered how much time she had left before her wonderful fantasy life was snatched away from her.

  What terrified her most was she wouldn’t ever know what would happen to her men if she died. Would they go crazy and have to be killed? Or would they pine for what could have been and waste away?

  Both those thoughts caused an agony she’d never felt before in her heart.

  If she had the means and the know-how, Krista would have hunted the members of the Immoral gang down one by one until they were all gone, but she wasn’t a killer and never would be.

  If the confrontation came, she wouldn’t hesitate to hand herself over to the bastard out to get her if it meant she kept her men and everyone else in Gambell safe.

  Krista just hoped it didn’t come to that.

  * * * *

  After a delicious dinner of roast chicken and vegetables, they all adjourned to the living room to watch a movie, but Beck couldn’t concentrate on the screen, and from the way Krista was fidgeting she couldn’t, either. She been sighing every five minutes and shifting around in her seat. He knew she was worried about bringing danger to their town, but no matter how many times he and his brothers told her they’d protect her, their words didn’t seem to penetrate.

  He really hoped he got to meet her parents one day so he could give them a piece of his mind, but when he realized he’d have a hard time controlling his temper and his animal half if he ever met her physically abusive father, he thought it might be a good thing if they never met. He would likely kill the fucker with one swipe of his paw.

  When Krista squirmed in his seat again, he sniffed the air and almost groaned with hunger. She was aroused, but for some reason she was trying to fight and hide her desire. He glanced at his brothers and saw Bas and Byron were watching her from their periphery. They were her mates for fuck’s sake. Why wasn’t she speaking up and telling them she wanted them? Or even asking them to take her to bed?

  Beck sighed with frustration, rubbing a hand over his face. Her parents had both done a real number on her. It was going to take time for them to build her self-worth until she believed she was just as entitled as anyone else. Krista was the type of person to put herself last with anything and anyone, but in his mind she should and always would be first.

  Without taking his eyes off of her, he reached out, grasped her hard nipple between his finger and thumb, and squeezed.

  She gasped, whipped her h
ead around toward him, and stared into his eyes.

  There was so much fucking heat in her gaze he had to swallow back a growl of hunger.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Making you hotter,” Beck rasped out. “We all know you’re horny, darlin’. We can smell how wet you are. Why are you trying to hide your need from us?”

  She blushed and glanced away.

  Beck released her nipple, which caused her to cry out as the blood rushed back into the hard peak. He clasped her waist, turned her, and lifted her into his lap astride his thighs. “We’re your mates, darlin’. We want to take care of all your needs. It’s just the way we’re wired, Krista. You wouldn’t deny us, would you?”

  “But I can take care of myself.” She frowned up at him.

  “None of us have ever said you can’t, baby,” Bas scooted closer to her along the sofa.

  Byron stood, walked up behind her, and knelt down. “We know you can take care of yourself, sweetness.” He rubbed a hand up and down her back, pausing at her ass to give it a squeeze.

  Krista moaned and shook her head. She met Beck’s eyes as she said, “I’m not used to asking for anything. Especially when it comes to sex. It’s not that I don’t want you all, because believe me I do. I just…” She shrugged. “I’m just used to trying to fade into the background.”

  “You don’t need to hide from us, darlin’. We want to know about all your wants and needs. We want to be able to get you everything you could possibly want, but we also want to know everything about you. We’re not like your parents, mate. Did you think we would be?” Beck asked.

  She shook her head. “No. I know you all are nothing like them.” She lowered her chin, hiding her eyes from his. “I’m sorry.”

  Beck nudged her face up until their gazes were locked once more. “Stop saying you’re sorry, darlin’. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

  She licked her lips. “I think apologizing has become a habit. I’ll try to not say it anymore.”