by Tyler, Jules
Stella sat down on the couch, curled into Brady, and listened to him ramble on about his day at work. Well, half listened. Mostly she was freaking out about what was going on between the two of them.
How am I supposed to tell him about the demons inside of me? He's going to think I'm crazy when I try to explain these scars and then he's going to send me away. What about this thing between us? He was being very clear about pursuing a relationship with me, but am I really ready to trust someone like that again? Is it too soon? Fuck, fuck, fuck. It shouldn't be this hard. I should just tell him. No… I should wait. Maybe I should just see where things go?
"Earth to Stella," Brady said as he gently tapped on her forehead. "Are you still with me, or did you disappear on me again?"
Stella felt the blush crawling up her collar bone to her cheeks, "I was doing it again."
"Want to talk about it?" Brady asked, face filling with concern as he pulled Stella into his lap.
"Brady, I'm really too heavy to be sitting in your lap like this," Stella balked as she tried to scoot back to her spot on the couch.
Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her closer to him, a small rumble sounding from his chest, "I promise you, you aren't too heavy. You'd have to weigh like two thousand pounds to be too heavy for me to hold you like this."
"Someone's confident in their strength," Stella smarted before accepting that Brady was much stronger than she was, and if he wanted to keep her in his lap, then resistance was futile.
"I'm confident in a lot of things," Brady winked at her before playfully kissing her cheek.
All of this was so weird to Stella, Brady's behavior. Stella was no stranger to relationships, but all of them had been with guys that were less than affectionate. It seemed she had always had taste for one sided relationships. She loved kissing and playing and teasing, yet had a knack for finding losers that just wanted to use her for a place to sink their dicks. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't quite sure why she had put up with it for so long. Brady had already been so much more loving and he wasn't even her boyfriend. Damn. She should've come back sooner. Maybe things would've been different.
Worrying her lip, Stella's eyes met Brady's, "I think I'm ready to talk about what happened to me now."
Brady squeezed her in a hug and leaned back to look at her with pride in his eyes, "Would it help if we went for a walk? There's a trail a little way down the road that I keep groomed for the people that want to snowshoe or just enjoy the snow without having to snowmobile through it."
Stella smiled at Brady's thoughtful gesture, "That would be great. I'll go get my coat and put on some extra layers."
Getting off the couch, Stella headed for her room to quickly don a pair of fleece leggings and her snow boots. Smoothing down the grey tunic she was wearing, she looked in the mirror and said a silent affirmation.
You are stronger than this. You've already beat Alaric at his game by getting away. You deserve happiness. Brady deserves honesty. Don't cower anymore. Don't be the sheep, be the dragon.
Stella grinned ear to ear at that final line. It was something that Grandpa Buck had told her all the time growing up when she was afraid of something. It was his own creative way of telling her to be brave. Oh, how she missed him. He had been the only true father figure in her life, and she had loved him so much.
"Right," Stella nodded at herself firmly before pulling on her coat and zipping it up. "Be the dragon, Stella. Be the dragon."
Walking out of her bedroom, she saw Brady perched on a barstool watching her every move. It wasn't like the way Alaric used to watch her. It wasn't predatory or possessive. It was kind and protective. The way that he watched her made her feel like he would always have her back. Like he would take a bullet for her. It was almost empowering. It was exactly what Stella needed to feel strong enough to tell him everything.
"Alright, that's enough staring for one day. Let's go check out this trail," Stella teased, pecking Brady on the cheek before sashaying to the door.
Brady chuckled and rolled his eyes as he followed her out the door, "You're ridiculous sometimes. You know that, right?"
"Yeah, but that's okay. I get away with it because I'm cute," Stella winked over her shoulder as she marched through the snow to Brady's Razr.
"That you are, beautiful, that you are," Brady murmured, sliding into his seat in the Razr as he did so.
Stella watched her surroundings out the window of the Razr, her heart growing warmer and warmer with happy thoughts the further they drove. Brady rested his hand on her leg, gazing at her with a knowing gleam in his eyes. This is where she belonged. She just had to be willing to fight for it. After a few more minutes, Brady guided the machine to a parking spot in front of little bridge that crossed over the frozen creek and into the woods. As she unbuckled, Stella giggled. This was just like that song that talked about going over the river and through the woods to get to Grandmother's house.
"What's so funny?" Brady asked, coming around the front of the vehicle with a blanket under his arm to take Stella's hand in his own, warming her already cold fingers as he did so.
"Just thinking about an old kids song I remember from elementary school," Stella shrugged, making sure to keep her pace with Brady's so he didn't end up dragging her.
"The one that talks about going over the river and through the woods?" Brady asked, giving Stella a boyish grin.
"Yeah, that one," Stella laughed, wrapping her free arm around the Brady's arm. It amazed her how natural it was for her to just be there in this moment with him.
They walked in silence for about ten minutes or so, until they came around a bend in the trail. The trail opened up to a small area with a few large logs that you could sit on. Stella could see there was a cleared-out area down the hillside that the creek must flow through. Brady guided her to one of the logs and he dusted it off before placing the blanket over it to sit on.
"So that's what the blanket is for," Stella observed out loud before sitting down on the log next to Brady.
"Figured this would be a good spot to sit and chat for a while," Brady explained.
Stella let Brady fold her hand in his while she looked around at the little area. The snow-covered trees were sparkling in the light as the sun made its slow descent behind the mountain tops. If she focused, she could hear a trickle of water running down the hillside in the mostly frozen creek-bed. It was beautiful, and she never wanted to leave.
"It's so peaceful here, Brady. Thank you for bringing me here," Stella remarked, leaning against his chest as he wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him.
"Figured a peaceful place would help you clear your mind and calm your soul so telling me whatever you want to tell me won't seem so terrible," Brady said gingerly before placing a soft kiss against her forehead.
Stella's heart felt as though it was going to burst. He was so thoughtful to think of something to ease the pain she was feeling.
"You have no idea how much that means to me, Brady. You really don't," Stella murmured.
"I think I do," Brady whispered, placing a finger under her chin so she had to look him in the eyes.
Looking in Brady's eyes, Stella felt her pain begin to melt away. As cliché as she knew that sounded, it was true. Finding her childhood best friend again made her feel like she was coming home again. It felt so good to feel safe here in his arms, and now that she had a taste of it, she didn't plan on giving it up. It was time to come clean.
"Before I start, I need you to promise that no matter how crazy I might sound at some parts, you will at least hear me out, okay? I still can't seem to wrap my head around it all most days, but it happened, and every word I'm about to tell you is true," Stella pleaded.
"I've seen a lot in my lifetime, beautiful. I'm sure whatever you have to say, I will believe," Brady promised, rubbing slow circles on her back.
"Okay then. Well… Umm… I came up here to hide from my ex-boyfriend, Alaric. You see, he was more than ju
st an asshole. He was, erm, different, so to speak. He owns a shipping company in Seattle that imports goods from Asia and at first, he seemed like your average businessman. Struggling as a single waitress in a big city, I didn't give it too much thought that he wanted to buy me nice clothes and trinkets or take me to fancy dinners. I couldn't do those things for myself, so why not let some guy do it that was interested in me, right?" Stella paused, trying to ignore the low growl that was coming from Brady's throat before continuing.
"He was the perfect gentleman at first, other than his habit of staring. I thought he might not notice he’s doing it, so I just brushed it off. After a few weeks, things started getting weird though. He would come in after work every night and sit at the bar and growl at the male patrons that would try to order drinks from me. He would invite himself over every night after work, take what he wanted from me, then usually let me drift to sleep. I'd wake up in the middle of the night and see him staring at me. Now, I'm not talking about the cute, 'you look so peaceful when you're asleep' kind of staring at me. I'm saying he would stare at me like he was the beast and I was the prey and he was just waiting to eat me.
"I tolerated everything for another week or two before I finally tried to get my bearings and put my foot down. Night after night, the fight was the same. I'd tell him to knock it off, he'd tell me to put up or shut up, we'd fight some more. He'd take me in the bedroom, force me to do as he pleased, then tell me things would be different and he could change. I should've seen the red flags when his eyes would go from green to gold. It was creepy when it would happen. Like there was this monster just beneath the surface and it was going to get out," Stella stopped, staring out at the empty forest in front of her before looking up at Brady with sadness in her eyes.
"Stella, I need you to tell me the rest," Brady gritted out between clenched teeth. He was getting angry. Stella couldn't blame him. She was angry at herself too.
"This went on for much longer than it should've. I should've sent him packing the first night when he was being a creeper in the bar. Maybe then none of it would've happened," Stella spat, looking down at the ground where she was kicking around the snow beneath her feet. "I finally tried to send him packing one night. He'd driven off half of the bar’s regulars, and I needed to be done or I was going to lose my job. That fight was the worst. I don't remember what I said that had pissed him off so bad, but I remember asking him to leave. He kept stalking me like a big cat stalks a bunny. I finally tried to warn him off by throwing an empty bottle at his head. But when it broke on his head, he didn't falter. His eyes glowed gold, and I watched as his face contorted and started growing hair. His teeth grew long, and I could hear bones popping and cracking. It was like some sick nightmare that I couldn't wake up from.
"Alaric went from being a crazy asshole to a full-grown grizzly in my living room. As he shifted, he told me that he wasn't going to kill me, but he was going to make sure everyone knew I was his," Stella's voice choked on the lump in her throat as tears filled her eyes.
She pushed herself off the log and turned to face Brady as she unzipped her coat and rolled her tunic up to reveal her mangled abdomen. Stella watched as Brady's face filled with anger, then faded to sadness as he reached for her. She stumbled forward and forced herself to not watch as he trailed his fingers along the scars that looked like vines up her rib cage. Slowly she felt his body shift as he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to each of the scars that dipped below the top of her leggings. Her body started to shake with his shoulders, and she felt the tears dripping from Brady's eyes as well.
Steadying herself by setting her hands on his shoulders, she swallowed hard and resolved to finish telling him her story, "I had passed out from the pain he had caused and probably from the blood lost. He had done a good job of covering his tracks though. He had told the emergency room staff that we had been out walking on the pier and we were attacked by a stray dog. He had taken extra measure to make sure my scars were close together enough that it looked like the 'dog' had turned my body into hamburger. They bought it, even though he had no scars except for an odd bite mark on his hand. They kept me in the hospital for eight weeks before sending me home. They had to do several surgeries to try and clean up the damage. They did a couple of rounds with plastic surgery to try and graft my skin back to normal, per Alaric's request. Somethings can't be cleaned up though. The scars on my ribs and pelvis are the worst of them though and the most obvious to me that Alaric lied to the doctors. They were too stupid to question how a dog could have paws wide enough to make claw marks like that.
"They told me that there is a lot of scar tissue, and I'll likely never be able to bear children. Alaric could see the hatred filling my body and finally looked guilty for what he had done to me. He wasn't there the day that they discharged me from the hospital, thankfully. He had some big business meeting to attend that day that he couldn't miss. When I got home, I packed a suitcase and drove to the bank to withdraw all of my savings. Then I ran," Stella recalled, bitterness still filling her voice.
She didn't resist when Brady pulled her down into his lap. He cradled her in his arms, and they cried together as he rocked both of them back and forth.
"I'll kill him for what he did to you, Stella," Brady said after a while.
"No, you won't. I don't want you going to look for him. The only good thing that came out of this was that I found my way back here to you. I don't want his blood on your hands. He can't find me here so we're not going to borrow worry, got it?" Stella insisted, pressing her lips against the lump in his throat.
"He deserves to pay for what he did to you. It's not fair. You didn't do anything wrong," Brady ground out, wrapping his hands in her shirt.
"Brady," Stella said, leaning away from him so she could look into his eyes. "I have all I need right here. I don't need revenge and I don't need you going on some quest for vengeance. Please just respect that for me, okay?"
There was a beat of silence while Brady mulled over what she had said before he spoke again, "Alright, but only because you asked me not to. I still say the fucker deserves to die."
"I never said he doesn't deserve to die, but I have complete faith that he will get his," Stella reassured him.
They sat and watched the sky in silence together. Stella closed her eyes, leaned into Brady's chest, and gave silent thanks to the powers that be that she had found the strength to tell him what had happened to her and that he hadn't thought she was crazy. Now they could go forward and things could get better between them. She made a silent promise to herself that she would continue to be the dragon.
Chapter Fourteen
Brady stepped into the shower and let the hot water pour over his sore muscles. After he had taken Stella back to her cabin and tucked her into her bed, he finally let his bear have his body. The first thing he did once Brady relinquished control was wander deep into the woods and picked a fight against a tree. On his hind legs, he had slammed into a rather large pine tree over and over and over again until it finally came crashing to the forest floor and he roared out in sadness. His bear wanted blood just as bad as Brady did. He wanted to avenge his mate, but Stella's needs came before their own. Thank the fates for that, or Brady would be halfway to Seattle right now. The bastard was just lucky that he hadn’t bitten her or he would be toast. Brady took comfort in that fact.
Once he was fully scrubbed down, Brady stepped out of the shower and wrapped up in a towel so he could go search out a pair of sleep pants. Brady's stomach rumbled, another reminder that his bear had burned some major calories taking out his frustration on that tree.
"Looks like I need to go scope out the fridge for Mama's leftovers," Brady sighed, toweling off his hair before tossing the towel on the bed and pulling on his favorite black and red plaid pants.
Wandering out to the kitchen, Brady pulled open the fridge and set out a plate filled with steaks, a bowl of mashed potatoes, and a container of barbequed chicken breasts. Grabbing a plate from the cupboard, he
made quick work of filling it and tossing it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. A sigh from the couch startled him, and he flipped around to face his mother.
"It's not nice to sneak up on people, Mama," Brady admonished as he walked over to plunk down on the couch next to her.
"It's not nice to intrude on your Mama's quiet reading sessions either, but you don't see me bitching about it, do you?" Mama Ally sassed as she pat him on the leg with her book. "Where've you been? I saw you come back with Stella hours ago. A poor mother worries."
"I let my bear out for a run. I needed to blow off some steam," Brady explained.
"Oh? Trouble in paradise already?" Mama pried.
"Not necessarily but sort of, I guess," Brady sighed, rubbing his temples in frustration. He could feel his bear scratching at the surface again already.
"Not necessarily but sort of, you guess? What in the Sam Hill happened?" Mama asked, leaning forward in curiosity.
"Stella got hurt…," Brady started to explain.
"What did you do to that girl, Brady Michael Eastern?" Mama demanded.
"If you'd let me finish, Mama, you'd have answers. I'm not the one that hurt her. Someone else did. Another shifter hurt her," Brady frowned at her.