“Mostly,” he said, dropping to his knees and leaning over to see her throat. “It’ll take several weeks for the change to be complete, but the initial stages took care of your wounds.”
“So is she impervious to injury now?” Gavin asked, sounding just a little bit less freaked out than he had when Kade mentioned having three mates.
“Actually, no,” Hensen said as he stood up and turned to the big human. “Until she can change easily between forms she’s vulnerable. She’s stronger than a human now, but still unable to heal like that again until she has the ability to morph into a wolf and back again.”
“Do you have enemies?” The question was certainly blunt enough to be taken as an insult. Fortunately Hensen didn’t seem to take it as such.
“No,” he replied easily, “unless you want to count humans. Rumor suggests our experience with military wouldn’t be very pleasant.”
“You shouldn’t listen to rumors,” Gavin said offhandedly, but it was clear he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the knowledge he was gaining. “So, now what?”
“Now we get to take Maggie home. Well sort of. We need to drop by Dry Creek and pick up the rest of my supplies, but since the assignment is pretty much complete, the alpha ordered me and my mates to come home.”
“What about Suzanne?” Gavin asked in a worried-sounding voice. “Did you get to speak to her? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. Excited to see you. Surprised that you’d come looking for her.”
“Who’s Suzanne?” Maggie asked in a jealous, snippy voice. Good grief, considering the day she’d had, getting territorial over a man she didn’t know was kind of…well, actually no, it wasn’t “kind of” anything—it was insane.
“Suzanne is Gavin’s sister,” Hensen said with a wide grin on his face. “You feel it, too.” It wasn’t said as a question. More like a statement of fact.
“Feel what?” she asked suspiciously.
“That Gavin belongs with us.”
* * * *
“What the fuck?”
The stupid thing was that even as the words left his mouth, a part of Gavin knew that what Hensen said was true. Gavin couldn’t for the life of him explain it, but he was deeply attracted to all three people in the room. For a man struggling with a newly awakened sexuality it was a little more information than he wanted to take in right at the moment.
“It’s okay,” Kade said anxiously. “There’s no rush. We can take just one day at a time.”
“How about we don’t,” Gavin said callously. “I came looking for my sister. As soon as I can check on her welfare, I’m heading home.”
“But…” Kade said, shaking his head in denial. “I know that you feel it. Just like Maggie did. You know there’s a connection between us.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Maggie narrowed her eyes at him, clearly disbelieving his statement, but he forged on anyway. “Just tell me where I can find my sister and I’ll be on my way.”
Hensen nodded once, apparently angry at him for some strange reason. Did they really think he’d fall for all that “love connection” bullshit? It was probably just a way for them to try and keep their secret about werewolves.
“You’ll need to come with us,” Hensen said in a dismissive tone. “Even if you somehow manage to find Shy River pack on your own there’s a good chance you won’t be welcome.”
“That’s n—” Kade cut off his words when Hensen pulled him into his embrace.
“We’ll be okay, baby,” he said reaching for Maggie’s hand, very clearly excluding Gavin from their little group. “The alpha of Shy River is anxious to meet you both.”
Maggie wobbled as she tried to stand up and Gavin’s first instinct was to move and help her. He watched instead as Hensen lifted her into his embrace and then held her close while Kade gathered the belongings from her ruined backpack and led them out of the cave.
“Do you have a vehicle?” Hensen asked Gavin as they stepped into the bright sunshine.
“It’s parked at my sister’s old place. About a mile south of here.”
“Dry Creek is about seventeen miles north and mostly uphill. We’ll double back to collect your vehicle first. It will be more comfortable for Maggie.”
“Of course,” Gavin said, bristling just a little at what seemed to be an order rather than a request. He turned back the way they’d come, his mind and emotions completely out of control. He wanted to demand explanations. He wanted to rage at the confusion flowing through his mind. He wanted to understand why here, why now, why these three people.
But most of all he wanted them.
All three of them.
And that just pissed him off even more.
* * * *
Hensen held Maggie close as she slept. She was little by werewolf standards, but she was in good shape, her muscles toned from exercise, her weight suiting her frame without being too skinny. Over the decades he’d watched the trends on what humans considered popular. Thank heavens Maggie didn’t seem to be the type to strive for the stick thin, underfed, skin-and-bones shape that seemed fashionable for human women at the moment. It probably made him old fashioned, but he lamented the loss of the hourglass figure humans had adored in the fifties.
Kade stayed beside him as they followed Gavin back to where they’d first found Maggie. The ex-Navy SEAL radiated anger in every step, but it was his reason behind it that Hensen could most relate to. He hadn’t expected to find one female and two male mates either.
And if he hadn’t witnessed the acceptance and love that Gideon and his mates had received upon returning home, he might have tried to deny the connection himself.
“Why did you avoid me for the past seven months?” he asked Kade. He made sure that his tone was friendly, because the answer didn’t really matter. He just wanted to know for curiosity’s sake.
Kade shrugged. “I thought it was what you wanted.” Hensen glanced at the younger wolf who shrugged. “I saw you the first time you picked up my scent. It was obvious that you weren’t happy to have found me, so I…um…stayed out of your way.”
Hell, the answer did matter. It mattered a lot, and Hensen had some serious groveling to do.
“I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“It’s okay. I sort of understood your reasons. I saw the way the old beta of Shy River reacted to his own son when he admitted Brigden was his mate. With a pack attitude like that, it might have been dangerous for both of us.”
Hensen winced, too embarrassed to admit the actual truth but knowing that he would have to explain eventually. He hadn’t even noticed that his mate was male, so the whole “pack attitude” excuse wasn’t going to wash. Considering that he already had one mate seriously pissed off at them, he chose to change the subject rather than confess right now.
“Tell me about the night Maggie fell.”
Kade’s expression softened and it was clear that he adored the memories he held of this woman. “I heard a young woman screaming. Dry Creek didn’t have phones back then, so my plan was really just to identify where she was and then head back to the pack and send someone who could pass as human down the mountain to report it.” He smiled and reached to touch Maggie where she slept in Hensen’s arms. “But the sun was going down and I realized I couldn’t leave her alone. When I caught her scent, it was all I could do not to howl with joy.”
“So you knew straight away who she was?”
“Of course,” Kade said his smile directed at the woman sleeping in Hensen’s arms. “But she was young and not badly injured. I knew I couldn’t tell her anything.” He stared at the back of their other human mate as he stomped along the walking track. “She needed time to know herself before she learned about me…well, us…and werewolves and shifters and everything else that humans don’t know about.”
Hensen glanced at the rigid set of Gavin’s shoulders. His anger and confusion were telegraphed very clearly in every step. Obviously Kade wasn’t just referri
ng to Maggie’s adjustment to life as a werewolf.
“Don’t be angry with him,” Kade said quietly, apparently already reading Hensen’s emotions quite clearly. “He just needs some time.”
“It took Maggie eleven years to come back to you,” he said with a catch in his voice. He sure as hell hoped it wouldn’t take Gavin that long. Being rejected by a true-mate was proving to be a horrible experience. Guilt at the way he’d treated Kade over the past seven months swelled through him once more.
Of course Kade seemed to sense that emotion, too.
“The past isn’t important,” Kade said, his hand running along the muscle in Hensen’s upper arm. “We’ll find a way for all of us to be happy.”
Hensen nodded and sincerely hoped his mate was right.
* * * *
Kade could feel the hope that slid through Hensen’s emotions. He considered confessing his own guilt over the past seven months—he hadn’t actually tried to garner the man’s attentions after all—but it didn’t seem like the appropriate time. Their relationship was so new and unexpected. Even Maggie, who’d come back to the place where she’d met him eleven years ago had seemed confused by the link between all four of them.
At the moment she was fast asleep, her wounds fully healed but her body still recovering from blood loss. He might have been freaking out about now if he hadn’t personally experienced something very similar forty years ago. Maggie had the advantage of being in a very healthy physical condition before the attack. He felt confident that she would recover fully.
He watched the man in front of them and hoped the same could be said for Gavin. He was far harder to read. He’d shoved his emotions so deep that the only one Kade could truly discern was anger. What he didn’t know was who Gavin’s ire was directed at—them or himself.
Deciding to try to at least talk to the man, Kade patted Hensen on the shoulder and then jogged a few steps to catch up to Gavin. As desperately as he wanted to throw himself into this man’s arms, it probably wasn’t the best approach at this moment.
“How long were you in the Navy?” he asked as he drew level with the man.
Gavin gave him a hard look that Kade suspected had made many young recruits shake in their boots over the years. Fortunately, the one thing Kade knew for certain was that Gavin would never hurt him, so the effect was kind of moot.
“From the moment I was old enough to sign up to the day they gave me a medical discharge a couple months ago.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly informative as to length of time, but it did suggest that the Navy had dominated the majority of Gavin’s adult life. Perhaps part of his confusion was related to his unplanned change in career. In some ways that was a good thing. At least he’d met his mates at a time in his life when he wouldn’t have to give up something that was so important to him.
But his nearly growled answer hadn’t really encouraged further questions. Kade walked beside him for a while, his thoughts turning to the new life he’d suddenly found. Only a few hours ago he’d been dodging Hensen and yearning for Maggie. Now he had a newly made female mate, a guilt-laden werewolf mate, and a very confused ex-Navy SEAL to deal with.
He smiled, suddenly feeling the optimism he’d tried to instill in Hensen earlier.
Whatever happened now, they had each other. They’d found their true-mates.
The rest was just details.
* * * *
Gavin resisted the urge to pull the naked, purple-hued man into his arms.
Fuck, he was really glad he didn’t need to have any more psych evaluations. He wasn’t certain how he would explain away this delusion. He couldn’t really be walking down a little used track, heading to the home where his mother had grown up, with two naked men who could turn into wolves and a sleeping woman who should have died from her injuries but was instead now displaying the same purple hue as one of the men.
Nope. None of this was real. He had to be deep in crazy town.
The man walking beside him suddenly radiated happiness, kind of lending credence to his theory. Considering the circumstances, that was just seriously ridiculous. Gavin glanced at Kade only to find that he wore a wide grin on his lips and moved with a spring in his step. Considering everything the four of them had been through in the past hour or so, it seemed rather inappropriate.
“Why are you so happy?” he asked in a deep growly voice.
“After waiting eleven years Maggie is finally here. Hensen’s no longer avoiding me.” He seemed to be about to say more, but he closed his mouth and gave Gavin another happy smile. “Even with the wolf attack it’s a good day.”
It was ludicrous that Gavin wanted to be part of the reason that Kade was so happy, but the disappointment drilling through him couldn’t be denied.
“And that all outweighs me trying to gut you.” Fuck, what was wrong with him? The last thing he wanted was to remind his man that he’d nearly killed him.
“Hey,” Kade said, reaching for his hand and stopping him from moving forward. “Don’t worry about that. You were protecting yourself and Maggie. I shouldn’t have attacked you.” He glanced at Hensen, who moved closer and stopped as well. “In fact, it’s probably best not to mention that to anyone. My alpha wouldn’t be very happy to learn that I attacked a human. We’re supposed to stay out of the way. Not attack on sight.”
“Agreed,” Hensen said as they started walking again. “The alpha is very concerned that wild wolves would act so out of character. The last thing we need to do is highlight Kade’s ill-planned reaction.”
Gavin nodded. Kade still had a hold of his hand, but for the life of him he couldn’t find the strength or the will to pull away. It felt natural and very comforting just to know that someone wanted to be close to him.
He glanced at Hensen, his eyes dropping to Maggie before he looked away. It actually felt quite amazing to consider that with these three people he could have nearly everything he wanted. Unwilling to dissect that thought too closely, Gavin walked faster, pathetically trying to outrun the problems that the man holding his hand represented. Kade kept up with him, squeezing his fingers reassuringly as they finally stepped into the area considered the backyard of Suzanne’s house and headed toward his car.
“I’ll drive,” Hensen said in a tone that suggested he was taking charge. Gavin raised an eyebrow, but the man merely shrugged. “I know the area, and the potholes, so it will be a more comfortable trip for Maggie if you hold her and I drive.”
“Um…” For the life of him he couldn’t think of a reason that would make that sound like a bad idea. Not wanting to bond with the woman while she slept seemed kind of pathetic even in his own mind. He nodded and handed over the keys.
* * * *
Maggie woke suddenly, unsure of where she was or how she’d gotten here.
“It’s okay, sugar,” a man—Gavin if she remembered correctly—said as warm fingers filtered through her hair and a strong arm pulled her closer. “We’re almost there.”
“Almost where?” she asked as her eyes seemed to close without her wanting them to.
“This is the Dry Creek pack lands,” another voice answered. She was pretty sure that was Kade, the man who claimed to be the wolf that had kept her from freezing to death eleven years ago. “Do you remember what happened, Maggie?”
“I think so,” she said as she tried to piece together the disjointed memories. “I’m still not sure I believe it.” She opened her eyes momentarily, checking that her skin was still the same color she remembered. The purple glow certainly suggested she hadn’t imagined what she remembered. She forced her eyes open again and found herself staring into those deep-blue eyes once more.
“Hi,” she said a little sheepishly. She almost giggled when she realized that was probably not an appropriate behavior for a wolf. But, hey, if she was a werewolf why did she feel so damn tired?
“You’ll be tired for a while,” another man said as the car finally came to a stop. “You lost a lot of blood, but it’s nothi
ng a werewolf can’t handle.”
“Oh, well, that’s good. I think.”
The man holding her didn’t seem inclined to let go, and since she wasn’t in a hurry to move out of his arms, that suited her perfectly.
Now, if she could just stay awake long enough to enjoy it.
* * * *
Hensen sensed the exact moment Maggie fell back to sleep. Already he could feel her emotions and catch wisps of thought from her. He’d known from Gideon that changing one’s true-mate from human to werewolf created the mating link that usually happened when true-mates claimed each other, but the reality far surpassed anything he’d imagined.
He was fairly certain Kade would let him claim him as soon as they had time, but it was Gavin that he desperately wanted to understand. A part of him wanted to go all dominant wolf and sink his teeth into the man’s neck, thereby forcing his change to werewolf, but an even bigger part of him knew that would only lead to disaster. Gavin wasn’t a man who lost control or let it be taken from him. Chances were he’d reach for his knife long before Hensen could change him anyway.
Werewolves might heal instantly but they didn’t do so well when body parts were severed. And he had a feeling he knew exactly which one of his body parts would be in trouble if he forced Gavin to deal with his sexuality at this moment.
Hensen opened the car door and found himself gazing at the man who was gazing at the woman destined to be their mate as well. He could see the raw longing on Gavin’s face. He was attracted to Maggie. That much was obvious.
And it was a place to start.
Chapter Four
“Kade, Hensen, the alpha wants to speak with you,” one of the younger pack members said breathlessly as he ran to meet them at the car.
Kade turned to Hensen, willing to follow his lead on this one. Despite the fact that Kade had been a member of this pack for the past forty years, Hensen was the one the Dry Creek alpha knew best. Having worked closely with the man for the past seven months, Hensen had the advantage of being inside the inner circle, even though he was not actually a member of the Dry Creek pack.
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