by Jane Jamison
* * * *
Rae cried out in outrage and fear, helpless to do anything to save the men she loved. Her hand gripped the locket tightly.
Amid the sounds of the fight raging on in front of her, she opened her hand and looked down at the locket. A calmness overcame her with the sound of her grandmother’s voice echoing in her head.
“Honey, you hold on to the locket and think of me. It’s my parting gift to you. But you listen up. If there ever comes a time when you’re truly desperate for money, then you take the key inside it and get the money. Spend it with my blessing. Money is never as important as the people you love.”
She knew what she had to do.
She strode over to where the fighting raged on. Blood was splattered on the bridge and covered the wolves. She could barely see Stone any longer. He was pinned to the ground by two of the other wolves. Wyatt, bleeding from his neck and back leg, hunkered down, snarling as the rest of the wolves padded toward him, ready to attack again.
“Stop! I have the money!”
One of the wolves lifted its head, tilting it to the side in question. His body started to blur again, and in only a minute, Jac stood before her.
“Is that right, bitch? You were holding out on me all this time, huh?”
She kept her eyes locked to his, unwilling to see anything below his waist. The other wolves had stopped fighting, allowing Stone to hobble closer to Wyatt, but they all stayed in their wolf forms.
“Here.” She lifted the chain holding the locket over her head and held it out for him in her open palm. “Take the locket in repayment of his debt to you.”
Jac snorted and snatched it out of her hand. “Why should I take this piece of crap? It doesn’t look like it’s worth anything.”
She had to clear her throat to force the words out. “Look inside.”
Jac narrowed his eyes at her. “If this is a game you’re playing, they’ll be the ones who lose.”
“Just open it.” She bit back the urge to call him a bastard.
He pried the locket open and let the small key fall into his hand. “What’s this?”
“That’s the key to a safe deposit box. Inside that box is a lot of money along with the account information to the rest of my inheritance. Together it’s more money than Wyatt would’ve won by doing the contest.”
Wyatt and Stone growled and snarled, but the other wolves kept them from coming toward her.
“And how do I know this is for real?”
“Because I’ll take you to the bank myself. After you let Wyatt and Stone go. Once I give you the money, the debt is paid in full.”
Jac’s thin lips pulled into a wicked smile that made her stomach do a sickening flip-flop. “Hmm. Fine. Along with a stipulation.”
She didn’t ask. Instead, she waited for whatever awful thing he wanted.
“We go to the bank together all right. Then once I have the money, you come home with me.”
She would’ve said yes. Would’ve done anything if it would save the men she loved. And yet, as she opened her mouth to agree with his conditions, a howl jolted her and had them all turning to see five wolves running toward them.
Jac dropped the key back inside the locket, then grabbed her and pulled her against him. The five new wolves attacked Jac’s pack, swarming over them. Although they struggled to get free and run off, they were no match for the others. Wyatt and Stone separated from them and padded toward Jac and Rae.
“Stay back or else.”
The wolves that were her men blurred, their forms taking on human shapes. Soon Wyatt and Stone stood naked before her, their faces masked of fury.
“Let her go, Jac.” Even returned to his human form, Wyatt’s voice still held a wild and dangerous tone.
“Back off and I will.”
Jac’s fingers dug into her arm, drawing blood. As he pulled her in front of him like a shield, he held her by one hand and clutched the locket in the other.
“I’ve had about as much of this as I can stand.” Shoving her elbow back, she hit Jac in the stomach as hard as she could and ran.
He hollered and spun away, turning her loose. As though in slow motion, she saw his hand open. The gold chain and locket flew into the air and over the side of the bridge.
“No!” Lurching over the railing, she watched as the locket quickly disappeared into the night and the murky river below.
She stayed that way, the top of her body hanging over the railing for several minutes. The howls and snarls no longer took her attention. Her locket, the one memento she had from her grandmother, was gone.
Chapter Eleven
It didn’t take long for the members of Wyatt and Stone’s pack to overrun Jac and his men. By the time Wyatt put his hand on her shoulder and made her face him, the men were dressed and herding them off the bridge.
Stone tore his shirt in strips, then used one strip to stem the blood coming from his arm and handed another strip to Wyatt to tie around his leg. Rae helped, but she had to look twice before she realized that some of their wounds were already healing, the tears in their skin closing until only the smear of blood was left.
Perhaps it was the adrenaline pumping through her that had kept the shock at bay until now, but her legs suddenly gave way. Wyatt lowered her to the ground as he and Stone knelt beside her.
“Werewolves.” She sought their faces, needing not only to hear the truth, but to see it. “You’re werewolves.” She watched the last of the men disappear over the slight rise in the bridge. “And them, too.”
“Yeah. We all are. Jac and his men are part of a mob here in Nashville. The others are part of our pack that’s in Shady Creek.”
“This is unbelievable.”
Stone touched her arm, tenderly like he was afraid she might break into pieces. She wasn’t sure he wasn’t right.
“You saw them with your own eyes, sweetheart. It’s not the way we wanted to break it to you, but…” He shrugged.
“I know. I did. That still doesn’t make it any easier to believe.” Could she ever believe it? Did she want to?
“We’re werewolves, Rae, but we’re still the same men we’ve always been.”
She heard the plea in Wyatt’s voice. And the pride, too. “I never knew such things existed.”
“We’re not things. We’re men who can change into wolves.”
She laughed. “Seriously? You’re going to get offended?”
Stone took her hand. “Rae, can you…? I mean, will you be all right? You can’t tell anyone about us. You know that, don’t you?”
Her laugh was a bit more hysterical. “Are you kidding me? Who’d believe me anyway?”
She touched them, feeling their human flesh where once there had been fur. “So you can change anytime you want to?” She glanced at the sky. “Even when the moon’s not full.”
“Yeah. We can do it at any time. The full moon thing’s just a myth.” Wyatt sat down next to her.
“He called me your mate.”
Stone sat on the other side of her. When she glanced down at his wound on his arm, it was fully healed.
“That’s what you are.” Stone leaned against her, and she closed her eyes, loving the way he felt next to her. “We know you’ve felt the connection between us. The bond that pulled us together so fast. We never would’ve gotten so close if you hadn’t.”
She could picture Carolina as they’d talked. “Or I could just be a slut.”
“Don’t ever call yourself that. Don’t ever call yourself anything but what you are. Amazing and beautiful.”
She opened her eyes and studied Wyatt’s earnest face. “So that feeling I get whenever you two are around? Even when you’re not around, but when I’m just thinking about you? That’s normal?”
“It is between werewolves and their intended mate.”
She laid her head against the steel railing. “So it’s fate?”
Wyatt leaned against her the way Stone was. “Fate, destiny. Does it matter? We know you’re the on
e for us. You’re the mate we want for the rest of our lives.”
She couldn’t help but thrill at his words. The questions she’d had earlier were gone, unable to get dredged up from the recesses of her mind. She no longer had the strength or energy to try. “My locket. It’s gone for good.”
Stone pressed a sweet kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Her grandmother would’ve understood. And yet the ache in her chest told her it would take a while before she could think of its loss and not hurt.
“Rae, babe, are you going to be okay?”
She wanted to answer Wyatt, but couldn’t. Her mind refused to work.
Wyatt and Stone helped her to her feet, but her legs wobbled, unable to hold her. Wyatt bent and swept her into his arms. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”
She put her head against his chest and closed her eyes again. Tonight had taken too much from her, and she didn’t have it in her to give any more.
* * * *
Rae held the mug between her hands, but had yet to take a sip. Stone and Wyatt had brought her home the night before and lovingly put her to bed. Their soft words of love and concern still whispered in her head along with their comforting touches still lingering on her body. Leaving her in Carolina’s care, they’d promised to return the next day.
Had she dreamed everything? When she closed her eyes, she could still see the men changing into wolves. She’d awakened several times during the night with her heart pounding and the memory of fangs dripping with blood racing in her mind. And yet, even when the viciousness of what she’d seen threatened to turn her own blood to ice, the faces of the two men she loved would appear and wipe all the terror away.
She did love them. That much she knew was real. But had she fallen in love with men? Or with beasts?
Bringing her knees up to her chest, she curled her body into the armchair, and for the hundredth time, tried to make sense of it all.
I didn’t imagine it. I saw what I saw, and it was real.
But how could that be? Werewolves? How could anyone live in a world with supernatural beings and not know that such things existed?
And I’m their mate.
She wasn’t sure what that meant. How could a human and two werewolves mate? Did that mean they’d change her? Would she want them to? What would they do if she said no? Did she have any say in whether or not she became a werewolf?
They were right about the connection. She’d never felt anything like it and sensed that she never would again. Yet she’d never believed in fate. At least not before Wyatt and Stone had come into her life.
But now? There wasn’t any other way to explain the incredible attraction that transcended physical, sexual need into something more, something important and lasting.
But was that love? Did she love them?
No matter how many times she ran the question through her mind, weighing it against what they were, she always came up with the same answer.
Yes. I love them. That hasn’t changed.
She wrapped both hands around the mug, needing the warmth of the coffee more than the drink. Closing her eyes, she brought one hand to the place where her locket had always been.
Pain whirled inside her. The locket was gone.
Although she could still access the money in the bank without the key, that wasn’t what mattered the most. Her last tangible connection to her grandmother was gone.
“Treasure the locket, honey, but remember to treasure love more.”
She wiped away a stray tear that had broken free and tracked down her cheek. Her grandmother’s words would always be with her. Nothing could take those away.
Carolina peeked around the edge of the bedroom door. “Rae, Wyatt and Stone are here. Do you want to see them?”
She had to. Seeing them would help clear up her confusion. If they were truly meant to be together, she’d know it when she saw them again. “Yes.”
They were even more handsome than ever. After thanking Carolina for showing them in, then asking if they could talk to Rae alone, Wyatt and Stone came to her side. Wyatt pulled up a chair, took off his cowboy hat, then leaned over, putting his elbows on his knees. Contrary to his usual way, he remained silent as Stone pulled up the ottoman.
Stone put his hand on her leg then withdrew it. Was he afraid to touch her? Yet shouldn’t she be the one who was afraid?
“How are you doing, honey?”
She gave Stone a rueful smile, then dropped her gaze to her mug. Funny that he would call her that now. “Honey. That’s what my grandmother used to call me. I was just thinking about her.”
“Damn,” Wyatt muttered. “Rae, I’m sorry I got you caught up in my mess. If I could go back and change things—”
She jerked her gaze to his. “You’d what? Stay away from me?”
The honesty was written on his face. “Yes. At least until the problem was resolved.”
She turned to Stone. “And what about you? Would you have stayed away from me, too?”
“I don’t think that would’ve been possible. As soon as I saw you, I felt it.”
“It? You mean the thing you called the connection?”
“Yeah. It.”
He seemed so sad that she wanted to reach out and stroke his cheek and tell him everything would be all right. But something held her back.
“So what I saw, what you are, is real.”
They exchanged a glance that tore at her heart.
“Yeah, babe, it’s real. We’re werewolves.”
Even hearing Wyatt confirm it in the light of a new day didn’t make it any easier to believe. She knew it was the truth, but years of denying that monsters existed were hard to push away.
“Rae, we want you to know that we tried to find the locket.”
She inhaled even though she knew the hope she felt wouldn’t last.
The sadness around Stone seemed to grow darker. “I’m sorry. We couldn’t find anything. We searched the shore thinking maybe we’d get lucky and find it washed up there, but we didn’t.”
“We tried searching the water using nets and we even tried to swim to the bottom, but the water’s too murky to see much.” Wyatt let his hat fall to the floor. “I know there’s no way to replace the locket since it was your grandmother’s, but I’ll spend my life trying to make it up to you.”
“It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault. That awful man was the one who lost it.”
“But if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have offered it to him.” Wyatt put his hand on her arm, and the warmth of him flowed into her. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you did that, babe. I’ll never forget it.”
The sing of the familiar sensation of lust mixed with longing and edged with all-encompassing love whipped into her skin and flowed throughout her like the comforting heat of a hot toddy. If she hadn’t known it already, she would’ve then.
I love them.
It didn’t matter to her what they were on the inside. She no longer cared if they were men who could change into wolves. All that mattered was what was in her heart and theirs.
“Love is where you find it, honey. Don’t go caring how it looks on the outside. Love the heart, not the flesh.”
Her grandmother was right. Even after her passing, she was still giving Rae the knowledge of her wise years.
She placed her mug on the table next to her. “What does it mean to be your mate?”
Wyatt sat up, and Stone narrowed his eyes at her, obviously considering her question. She’d thrown them, and yet, shouldn’t they have expected her to ask?
“Does that mean you can accept what we are?” Stone’s tone had lifted, but an edge of worry still tinged it.
She placed her arms on the chair, then turned her palms upright, signaling for them to take her hands. They did, and she almost laughed when they squeezed her hands at the same time.
“I think so.” She shot them a look that quieted them before they could say anything. “But I need to know thi
ngs first. Like is it even possible for us?”
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.” Wyatt was subdued, clearly letting her take the lead.
“I know it’s possible to make love.” She tried not to look at the bed and think of them in it. At least not yet. “What I don’t know is how it’ll change my life. Or if we can have children. I want kids. Lots of them.”
They scooted closer, and she could sense them wanting to hold her. Wyatt tilted his head at Stone, telling him to answer.
“Your life will be whatever you want it to be. We still want to work in the music industry, and if that’s what you want to do, then do it. As for kids? Yeah, it’s possible. It just depends on what you want the children to be.”
“What I want them to be?” She hadn’t thought about that. If she had a werewolf’s child, then wouldn’t it be a werewolf? Or would it still be human, too?
“If you stay human, then they’ll most likely be half-human and half-werewolf.”
“And if you change me?” She sought out each of them. “Can you change me?”
“Yes. If that’s what you choose, we can make you one of us. And if you do, then our children will be most likely be full werewolves.”
“Most likely?”
Stone shrugged. “Things are never black and white in our world.”
“Is it hard raising a werewolf child?”
Wyatt’s grin came, spilling a different kind of sunshine into the room. “From what I’ve seen from other pack members, it can be. But that’s probably going to be the case just because they’ll be like me.”
She hadn’t thought of it before. “Were you born werewolves?”
Once again, Stone’s face darkened. “I was. And my mother never said either way if I was hard to raise or not. Both she and my fathers were werewolves, so it wasn’t anything new to them.”
“And you, Wyatt?” She wanted to know as much about them as she could.
He glanced at Stone, obviously looking for permission to tell her. Once Stone nodded, he answered. “No. I wasn’t born a werewolf. In fact, Stone was the one who changed me.”