Middleweight (Hallow Brothers Book 2)

by Trish Andersen

  “Baby, it’s okay. I’ll text. All right?”

  “I don’t want to be away from you,” Eve protested defiantly. “I can take care of myself up there.”

  “Eve, I will keep you company. The week will be over before we know it,” Meg offered.

  Littlefoot stepped forward and gently patted her on the shoulder. “Ladies, you need to go. The brothers have to get back to the camp to get prepared.”

  Eve looked up at Micah, silently waiting for him to back her up. He kissed her once more. “I love you, baby. Go to my aunts. I’ll see you soon.”

  “I love you.” With a sigh, Eve slid into the backseat. Micah slammed the door closed and blew her a kiss through the window. Before she could return it, Sharky took off down the road going due west.

  The trip was slow as Sharky rumbled along the newly snow-dusted roads. Eve stared out the window. Her heart broke the farther away they drove. She felt something brush her fingers. She turned just as Meg wrapped her hand around Eve’s. Eve forced a smile for her.

  She sat up straight in her seat as Sharky pulled to a stop outside the small house and turned off the motor. She blinked hard. It was still there, cold and plain.

  “This is it?” Eve questioned.

  Meg let out a weak laugh and then lowered her voice so Momma couldn’t hear her. “Oh, it gets better.”

  The three women carefully made their way up the icy sidewalk while Sharky retrieved their bags. Eve kept an extra firm grip on Meg. The last thing she needed was her pregnant new friend to fall. Momma slowly ascended the steps and opened the door.

  Eve couldn’t bite back the words. “Holy shit.” She took in the room, the embroidered upholstery of the straight back chairs, the lumpy outdated sofa, the porcelain knickknacks, the sounds of church hymns played on an organ. The place looked as antique as the women who lived there. And as morbid.

  Meg laughed. “Welcome to Aunt Edith’s and Aunt Edna’s.”

  “What was that, Meg?” The taller of the two sisters demanded as they both shuffled from the kitchen.

  “Nothing, Aunt Edith. It’s good to see you.”

  Edith snorted. “And when are you to birth my nephew’s demon spawn?”

  “Edith,” Momma chided. “My grandchild is not demon spawn. You’re just jealous you will never have a grandchild.”

  Edith huffed again. “I would rather be without children and grandchildren than have shared a bed with a beast of Satan.”

  Momma snarled at her sister. Eve turned to Meg and whispered. “Oh, this will be fun.”

  “Edith and Edna don’t like me,” Meg admitted.

  “Really? If they don’t like you, they’re going to hate me.”

  “Excuse me.” Edith’s voice pitched high as she clenched her hands on her hips. “You. I don’t know your name. I saw you in Micah’s hospital room. I don’t know who you are, but it’s extremely impolite to whisper in our presence.”

  Eve smirked as she hooked her thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans. “My name is Eve Romero. I was in Micah’s hospital room because I’m his mate. He met me when I danced naked for him at the strip club I used to work for. The night we mated? Yeah, he paid to have sex with me.”

  She was certain Edna almost fainted. Edith definitely staggered back a few steps. “You wear the cursed mark?”

  Eve glared at them. Then she stripped her shirt off and turned her back to them. Momma let out a squeak of surprise. The sisters flapped wildly as they began to chant in unison. Meg just laughed.

  Eve shook her head. “I warned you. I took my clothes off for a living.”

  “Evelyn, this is unacceptable.” Edna fanned her red, flustered face. “First you bring Caleb’s little slut here and this whore? You and your sons are evil. Evil. You are all damned then come into our house to drag us down with you.”

  Edith pointed a finger at Eve. “You. Go. You’re not welcome here.”

  Meg frowned. “If Eve goes, I go.”

  “Good riddance,” Edna replied.

  “If my girls go, I go,” Evelyn countered as she stomped a pudgy foot.

  Edna and Edith gaped at her. Finally, Edna spoke. “If you choose them over your own sisters, fine. Go.”

  The door opened, and Sharky staggered in with their bags. Momma pointed to the door as she faced her sisters. “They are my daughters. Sharky, put our bags in the car. We’re leaving.”

  “Mizzus Evelyn?”

  “Now.”

  “Yezzum.” The old man stumbled out the door. Evelyn motioned toward Eve and Meg. “Girls, let’s go.”

  “Evelyn, if you walk out that door, do not come back,” Edith warned.

  “Goodbye.” Momma stormed out the door, slamming it behind her. The three women held tight to each other as they made their way to the car. Each crawled into their seat and closed the door. In the quiet, Eve could hear Momma sob.

  Sharky slid into the front seat. “Where ye be goin’ now?”

  Meg pulled her cell phone out of her coat pocket and texted. “Sharky, let’s find a good cup of coffee. I’m arranging a place to go.”

  “Yezzum.” Sharky shifted the car into drive and coasted down the street. It didn’t take long for them to discover that the only place to find coffee was the run down convenience store on the edge of the small town of Bemidji. It was enough time, though. As Eve took a sip from her cup, Meg read the text on her phone.

  “Got it. We have a place to stay,” Meg announced.

  “Where?” Eve questioned.

  Meg winked at her. “Sharky, head to Littlefoot’s. We’re bunking there.”

  Eve didn’t miss Momma’s giggle. Sharky nodded with a laugh. “Yezzum.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Momma acted like a flustered schoolgirl as Littlefoot offered his hand to help her from Sharky’s car. He was, of course, a complete gentleman toward her. Both Meg and Eve didn’t miss the flirtation.

  Eve silently pointed from one to the other. Meg shook her head. “Eternal mating bond.”

  “Oh,” Eve whispered.

  The two women followed them into the house. Inside, members of Littlefoot’s family warmly welcomed them. A huge dinner was already prepared. Two teenage boys scurried down the hall with their bags. Littlefoot led Momma to a leather recliner for her to sit. Two rotund women who looked exactly alike shooed Meg and Eve back until their butts hit the sofa behind them. Plates full of food were set in their hands.

  “And we’ve been going to the house of the damned for this long when this was here? Why?” Meg objected. Eve chuckled as she bit into a forkful of herbed chicken. Momma was already munching happily on her supper.

  Littlefoot and his family’s hospitality made the days without Micah a little less lonely. Seeing the children play took a chunk of Eve’s heart. It was a reminder of what she would never have. She spent hours talking to Meg. By day three, she’d told the blonde her life story. Meg told hers to Eve. Eve never had any real female friends. Not even Tabitha. None had been closer to her than Meg now was.

  Eve noticed Meg disappear to talk to Noah alone. She didn’t want to pry in their intimate moment. But she said mating was eternal. And anyone who touched her other than Micah made her violently ill. There couldn’t be an affair. But what kind of conspiracy were they plotting?

  On the final night of the full moon, Eve couldn’t sleep. Was it the residual effects of the withdrawal? Was it replaying Micah’s sexting text over and over in her mind? She wasn’t sure. She finally crawled out of bed to get a drink of water.

  She heard voices in the mud room heading to the backyard. She knew Caleb could be an asshole. But he didn’t deserve this. She charged through the kitchen into the mudroom.

  Both Noah and Meg were bundled in their coats and boots. He handed her a wooden box and a rifle.

  “What the fuck?” Eve demanded.

  “Eve, go to bed,” Meg ordered.

  “Like that’s fucking happening. Where the fuck are you going?”

  Meg sighed. “I’m g
oing hunting. I’m going to find out which Hallow is lying.”

  “Pregnant?”

  “Yep. So go to bed.”

  “Hell, no. I’m coming too.”

  “Neither of you are going anywhere.” All three of them turned to find Littlefoot in the doorway glaring at them. He pointed into the house. “Go back to bed.”

  “One.” Meg held up her finger. “We’re adults. Two.” She raised another. “Don’t you want to know who’s lying to you? If whoever it is keeps attacking, it’ll expose the other six.”

  “What if it’s your mate, Meg?” Littlefoot inquired.

  “Then I’ll kick his ass. So let’s go figure it out.”

  Littlefoot stared at her. He reached out and snatched the rifle from her. “I take the shot. You stay safe in the truck. Understand?”

  Meg smiled. “Of course.”

  He turned to Eve. “Go quick and dress. Noah, are you coming?”

  “Sure, I’m up,” Noah answered.

  Eve slipped past them all. “Give me just a minute.”

  Littlefoot nodded. “Meet us in the garage.”

  Eve hurried through the house to her room. She’d never dressed so fast in her life. Once she zipped up her coat, she made her way to the garage. Littlefoot was in the driver’s seat. Meg was in the backseat of the quad cab. Noah stood outside, waiting for her with two rifles in his hands. He secured the guns in the rack hanging off the back window. He helped her in before climbing inside himself.

  They patrolled the countryside near the sites of the previous two attacks for hours. Eve dozed off. She dreamed of Micah, of his brothers, of a terrifying beast with claws and fangs and coarse hair. She was jostled awake when Littlefoot slammed on the breaks. She rubbed her eyes as she fought to regain her senses.

  “Is that?”

  “It might be a moose. Or a bear.”

  “That is no fucking moose or bear. What the holy fuck is that?”

  “Noah, that’s a werewolf.”

  “No, fucking way. Holy shit.”

  “You operated on one. Why are you panicking?”

  “It was bound. It wasn’t looking to kill me.”

  Eve bolted up straight. Dead ahead in the middle of the wooded gravel lane stood a werewolf, its claws buried in the snow and its fangs bared. It stood as tall as Eve remembered Micah’s beast to be, well over six feet tall. Something didn’t seem right.

  “Why is it growling at us?” Noah asked, terrified.

  “The brothers can control the blood lust, but it’s like a wild possession. They go feral. Things blur. Maybe whoever it is doesn’t recognize us,” Meg answered.

  “Abraham can’t control the blood lust,” Eve interjected. “But he’s smaller than that.”

  Littlefoot looked across the cab at his nephew. “Can you do this or do I need Meg to cover me?”

  Noah huffed. “I can do it.”

  “Meg, Eve. Could you please get us the rifles?”

  The two women unsecured the guns and passed them up to the two men. Noah opened the wooden box and handed a couple of the hypodermic bullets to his uncle. They quickly loaded the ammunition as the beast outside growled and prowled closer.

  Littlefoot looked at Noah. “Use the door as a shield. Take the shot. I’ll cover you.”

  “But…”

  “How many bear have you shot?”

  “Three.”

  “Same thing. Go.”

  Noah sucked in his breath loudly and then kicked the door open. The moment his feet hit the ground, he aimed. The werewolf lunged into the air at the truck. The sound that came from its throat was horrifying. Noah’s hand shook as he pulled the trigger. The bullet embedded into the underbelly of the werewolf. Littlefoot fired a second shot landing inches from the first. The werewolf collapsed into the snow.

  “Now to see which brother we’re dealing with,” Littlefoot announced.

  The beast shook violently as it shrunk. Coarse, black fur turned into smooth skin. Long black hair scattered along the snow. The naked body shivered in the cold.

  “Eve, grab a blanket,” Littlefoot ordered.

  She scooped up the blanket between her and Meg as she shot an anxious look at the other woman. She met Meg’s wide-eyed gaze. Eve hopped out of the truck to hand the blanket to him.

  “Who is that?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Littlefoot admitted as he laid the thick woven blanket over the naked man.

  “He was with Roman Lycan. Stood to the right of him during the faceoff.” Noah glanced up at Littlefoot. “You bring us to watch the other team so you can concentrate on the brothers, Uncle.”

  Eve whipped out her cell from the pocket of her jacket. Opening a photo app, she held it up and aimed it at the man.

  Littlefoot raised an arm to block her. “What are you doing?”

  “The brothers need to see this. If he’s a werewolf, what if Roman Lycan is too?”

  Littlefoot glared at her and then dropped his arm. “Hurry. We need to go in case his pack is nearby.”

  Eve pressed against the screen of her phone twice to take the photos. The second showed his unconscious face clearly. She scrambled back into the truck with Littlefoot on her heels. She hadn’t even gotten settled before he slammed the door and threw the truck in reverse. The tires spun in the mud and snow before the vehicle lurched backward.

  The four of them disappeared into their rooms when they returned to Littlefoot’s house. Noah didn’t live there but took up residency on the couch. He trembled under the thick blanket that covered him. Eve crawled under the covers, but sleep eluded her. She didn’t wonder why. She knew. And it wasn’t only the nightmare that they just took down that did it. Roman Lycan is a werewolf. My werewolf doesn’t know he’s about to face one of his kind in the cage.

  She watched each minute on the digital clock beside the bed tick away for two solid hours before the door to her room opened. Meg scuttled across the floor around the bed and climbed in with her. She wrapped an arm around Eve. Her rounded belly kept a bit of space between them.

  “Can’t sleep,” Meg admitted. “I don’t why I’m so scared. I’ve seen Caleb. Why does this bother me so much?”

  “Because he wasn’t a Hallow. The Hallows wouldn’t kill us. I’m pretty sure that guy wouldn’t have hesitated to tear us apart. And if you’re like me, you are terrified what his group wants with ours.” Eve shrugged and then turned toward Meg and wrapped an arm around her. “I have a feeling some pretty terrifying things are on the horizon for us.”

  “You’ve got me, Eve.”

  “And you’ve got me, Meg. We’ll stick together through the thick of it. But you need to teach me to shoot.”

  Meg laughed. “Deal.”

  The two women chattered softly to each other to not disturb anyone else in the house. Eve’s eyes grew heavy. Having Meg close brought her comfort. It made the nightmare go away. She heard the blonde snore. It was the last thing that hit her senses before she dozed off.

  »»•««

  Littlefoot insisted on taking them back to Sharky’s the next morning. He told Momma it was so he didn’t inconvenience the old man. Eve knew it was so that he could share what they saw the night before with the brothers. Meg and Eve climbed into the back of his truck and waited as he helped Momma inside. Eve wrung her hands and fidgeted as they drove down the road to the gas station. She glanced over to see Meg twirl a lock of hair around her finger absentmindedly.

  Eve sighed. All she wanted was Micah, his strong embrace, his loving smile, and of course, what he hid in his jeans. The constant craving for sex was almost draining. She also wanted to show him the pictures that she took the night before. He needed to know what he was dealing with.

  Seven large figures bundled for the winter chill stood in the middle of a circle of cars in the lot of Sharky’s Garage. Littlefoot pulled up beside them and parked the truck. Meg and Eve had to look like two excited puppies bouncing in the backseat as he opened the door and stepped outside. He was barely
around the nose of the vehicle to help Momma out when the two women tumbled out and hurried to their mates. Eve pulled down Micah’s scarf and planted a kiss on his lips.

  Micah chuckled. “Miss me?”

  Eve grinned. “You have no idea.”

  “Do anything interesting?”

  Eve didn’t answer. She shot a look at Meg who was staring at her. Josiah turned to Littlefoot. “Was there another attack last night?”

  Littlefoot shook his head. “No. But I think we stopped it.”

  “We?”

  “Noah, Meg, Eve, and I went werewolf hunting last night. We wanted to know which of you was attacking humans. Eve, show your mate what we found.”

  Eve pulled her cell from her pocket and scrolled through the screens. She was suddenly aware of several large bodies pressed up against her trying to see. She held up one of the photos she had taken so they could all view it.

  “Who the fuck is that?” Ezekiel demanded.

  “Mike, that dude was standing next to Roman Lycan on the stage,” Samuel commented. “I can’t forget that mousy little smug shit.”

  “I know,” Micah replied quietly. “I remember him.”

  “Where did Leroy say they were from?” Josiah questioned.

  “Maine,” Eve answered.

  “You don’t suppose…” Josiah’s voice trailed off.

  “They’re from Dad’s pack. Yeah. I do.”

  “Weigh-ins are tomorrow night, bud. You can still back out.”

  Micah let out a half-hearted laugh. “I’m not afraid to fight another werewolf. If anything, it gives me the incentive to beat the shit out of him for what he’s put us through.” He looked down at Eve, meeting her gaze. “Next time, leave the werewolf hunting to us, okay? We’re better equipped. And I can’t lose you. It would kill me.”

  Caleb nudged Meg and pointed at Micah. “What he said.”

  “You have such a way with words.” Meg elbowed him in the side.

  Josiah shook Littlefoot’s hand. “Thank you for taking them in. And thank you for protecting them when you went out. This is information we can use in our favor.”

  Littlefoot smiled. “Anytime, boys.”