“I might have. Keep going.”
“When the sun set you picked up your brush and just stared for hours at the forest, the stream, the changing colors of the sky. However, it wasn’t until you saw the cougar that you started to paint. You hadn’t realized you’d been waiting for something. Waiting for him. Once he was there the scene was complete and you no longer felt alone.”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“He sat and waited for you to finish your painting. You told yourself he was curious to see the finished work, so you turned it around to show him. When you turned it back he was gone. You felt sad again once he was gone, and you quickly signed your name and left the clearing. You’ve never gone back there again.”
“Was it you, Asher?”
Asher finally looked at Jade, uncaring that his eyes were now glowing amber with his unmasked cat. She didn’t scream. She didn’t even flinch.
“Were you that cougar?”
“If I had been, there is not a force on this earth that could have stopped me from shifting and taking you in my arms to fill the loneliness in your soul.”
“What about you? Have you been lonely, Asher?”
“I never knew how much. But with you looking into my soul I can feel the loneliness of the last seven decades threatening to crush me.”
“So old. You don’t look much older than sixty.” Jade smiled and pulled her hand out from his light grasp to stroke down his line-free cheek. “I don’t want you to be lonely, Asher.”
“Then stay with me forever.” He laid open his soul for her to see. “Can you feel me, too, Jade? I’m yours.”
Asher felt his heart stop. Hell, it felt as though the Earth had stopped rotating on its axis as she stared into his eyes. Her magnificent pale green eyes searched his with a steady gaze. He found himself praying that she found him worthy because he knew he’d die if she walked away from him.
“Yes.” Her simple answer would have been enough had her eyes not clouded with fear. Her scent soured, and he guessed she was remembering the last time she’d trusted a man. A shifter.
“We’re not like him,” Asher said, drawing her back to the present. Back to this room. Back to him. “Not one of my pride has ever hurt a woman, especially their mate. When we find our mate we dispel a special scent that makes our mate notice us, want to know us. Even if she is human she will feel the pull.”
“Will I feel like I know you, when I know I don’t?”
“Our kind lives a long time because only one mate will ever be born for us and it can take centuries to find them. To find the one who is perfect, who can carry our young, who can see into our hearts.”
“Is that why you can see into my paintings?”
Asher nodded. He was losing focus as she stared at him with her beautiful eyes shining with guileless honesty.
“No one has ever seen so much of me from my work.”
“No one can see you the way your mates can,” Troy said.
Jade turned her head slowly and didn’t scream when she saw his three brothers standing by the doorway. They all had sparks of amber glittering in their eyes. Their cats ached to be recognized and accepted by their mate, as his had been.
“I’m sorry I scared you when I shifted. I was angry when I saw what the wolf had done to your back. I’m Wes Pollock, this is my brother Troy.”
“No one should have been subjected to the ordeal you’ve lived through,” Troy said.
“Especially not you,” Wes finished.
Jade turned back to Asher, a tear leaking from her eye. “I can feel you all.”
“That’s another shifter thing, little one,” Asher said. He gently kissed her bruised lower lip, rage burning hotly that someone had hit this wonderful woman. “Brothers often share a mate because they are so rare and special.”
“We have been blessed by fate to have the most beautiful woman ever created as our mate,” Barrett said, walking to Jade’s side and picking up her other hand.
“You told her?” Melanie said. “Shit. Are you all right…”
“Jade,” Wes said. “Our mate’s name is Jade.”
“Out. All of you get out now.”
Melanie made shooing movements with her arms, her face growing red as her anger rose. Asher found himself rising to follow her orders. She may have been five feet tall, but she was married to a seven-foot Alpha. No one messed with Finn Frederick.
“We’ll be outside while Melanie talks to you,” Asher said, searching Jade’s face for any sign of anxiety. Her eyes were sparkling with her amusement. “It’s not funny, Jade. Her husband is our Alpha.”
“A really big Alpha,” Barrett said. He quickly kissed Jade’s forehead and left the room.
Wes and Troy followed Barrett’s lead, kissing Jade softly and running from the room as Melanie impatiently tapped her little foot.
“We have exceptional hearing,” Asher said. “Whisper our names and we’ll be here in a heartbeat.”
“Do you think I’m a danger to your mate, Asher Pollock?”
Melanie stared daggers at him as he kissed Jade’s hand and ran from the room. Asher skidded to a halt a mere inch from Finn’s imposing form as he blocked the hallway.
“Do you recall the decree I made regarding human mates?”
Asher saw his brothers all shaking their heads behind Finn. Stupid pups. Finn would scent a lie. He would just have to spin the truth into something that didn’t make it sound like he’d just told a human all about shifters. He swallowed and began to talk.
Chapter 5
Jade watched the unusual exchange as the four huge men scurried from the room because a small woman had ordered them to. The woman was beautiful, and she was bristling with anger, but she was far from imposing.
“Those idiots,” Melanie said. “What with everything you must have been through already, the last thing you need right now is to be terrified by the reality of shape shifters.”
Jade shuddered as she recalled exactly how terrified she had been when that reality had been revealed to her. The four brothers’ revelation had not been nearly as terrifying as Beau’s exhibition of his dual nature.
“I’m so sorry,” Melanie said softly. She knelt on the chair Asher had just vacated, and squeezed her hand gently. “I’m sorry. My yelling at your men is probably making this worse. Please, no one here would ever hurt you. You’re a priceless gift to the Pollock men, and to our whole pride. We’re destined to be your family now. I loved you the moment I saw you on the street, all battered and alone.”
Jade shuddered again as the memory of staggering down a small alley looking for somewhere to hide played through her mind. “I was so cold and so tired.”
“You were so cold I feared you’d die,” Melanie said. The small hitch in her voice pulled Jade from her memory to stare at the woman.
“You found me?” Melanie nodded as she sniffed back some tears. “You saved me. Thank you, Melanie.” Melanie squeezed her hand and Jade winced at the pain that shot up her arm.
“Crap,” Melanie said, releasing her hand and holding up her hands. “You’re bruised everywhere. I didn’t mean to. I forgot.”
“I’m sorry. It only hurt a little,” Jade said, guilt at hurting the kind and caring woman making tears fill and overflow from her eyes. She didn’t have the strength to wipe them away, so they ran down her face unchecked.
“Shh, Jade,” Melanie said. “Your men are right outside the door. They won’t be able to go any farther away from you for a while now. Can we talk a little bit before they all rush back in here?”
Jade opened her mouth to deny that she was sad and missing the four men she’d just met. But she realized that was exactly how she was feeling.
“How did you know what I was feeling?”
“Just a little over two years ago I was a nurse working in the emergency department when I was attacked by a cougar. My husband, Hunter, is a policeman and when he came to interview me he found I was his mate. I knew nothing of shifters, mates, vampires,
all of it, back then.”
Jade mouthed the word vampire and Melanie nodded.
“But once I had met Hunter and his three brothers I felt connected to them and didn’t want to be away from them. Finding out they were shape shifters was a relief really. It meant I wasn’t crazy for falling in love with four men in the space of twenty-four hours.”
“I’m not in love,” Jade said. “Does that mean I’m not a mate?”
“You’re not in love yet, Jade,” Melanie said, smiling until her green eyes sparkled. “How would you feel if they all left and were never coming back?”
Jade knew for certain now that shape shifters existed. She’d seen Wes change into a cougar, then back into a man. But she wasn’t at all sure she was this enigmatic mate that everyone seemed to think she was.
Jade closed her eyes and thought about the four Pollock brothers driving away in a big truck. They didn’t turn back and wave. They just drove away. Out of her life forever.
“Jade, Jade. Stop.”
Jade could barely hear Melanie over the sound of wracking sobs and banging.
“I was just saying that as an example. They’re right outside. They’ll never leave you. Never.”
“Let me in there,” Troy shouted.
“Stand back.”
A voice boomed so loudly that Jade’s bones vibrated and glass jars rattled on the shelves. Complete silence followed and Jade wondered if she’d been rendered deaf by the acoustic assault.
“That’s my husband, Finn,” Melanie said, drawing Jade’s gaze back to her. She gently dabbed at Jade’s face with a tissue. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you like that.”
Jade was stunned. The pain in her chest made it clear she’d been the one crying out. She’d aggravated her broken ribs and they stung and burned.
“I don’t want them to go,” she said. Tears filled her eyes at the mere thought of it and it confused the hell out of her. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing, Jade. You’re perfect. You’re their mate. They feel the same way about you. That’s what you’ve been feeling. Their mating musk wraps around you and lets you feel their attraction on a soul-deep level.”
“That’s exactly how I feel. The attraction part. I have no idea what the rest of your explanation meant,” Jade said. Melanie smiled at her and nodded. “You know because you felt the same?” Melanie nodded again. “Mating musk?”
“It’s something that happens to them when they meet their mates. It makes them smell good.” Melanie tilted her head and waited for her to respond.
“They smell amazing.” Jade admitted.
“They pack quite a punch.”
Melanie winced and paled as her words hung in the air between them. Jade knew she was going to have to talk about it to someone, and even though they’d only just met, she felt a kinship with this woman. Perhaps because they shared similar experiences, or maybe because she’d saved Jade’s life.
“His name is Beau. I met him at the diner I work at in Duckwater.” Melanie nodded and gently wrapped Jade's hand in both of hers.
“He asked me out for a couple of weeks before I finally said yes. I like to paint. I’ve been traveling around the country, working in odd jobs so I’d have enough to live on and buy art supplies. I paint landscapes mostly. Anyway, we had drinks a couple of times, then went to dinner once. He started to change and it scared me. So I told him I didn’t want to see him anymore.”
“Did you know that he was a wolf shifter?”
“He’s a wolf? How do you know that?”
“Barrett scented wolf on you. Shifters have the enhanced senses of their animal, even when they’re human.”
“No. I didn’t know what he was. He started to become obsessive about knowing where I was and who I was with every second of the day. He would check up on me at work by dropping in or calling Mac, the owner, to see if I was there.”
“Did he tell you why he was doing that?” Melanie’s brows were furrowed.
“No, and I found it strange considering we’d only gone out a few times and I’d made it clear I didn’t want to see him anymore. I was there to paint, and he wasn’t someone I needed to waste my time on.”
“I assume he didn’t take the hint?”
“He continued to come in or he sent his friends, Harry and Justin, to check up on me. Justin is a big man, like Beau. They both scared me with the way they looked at me. One night, I think it must be nearly a week ago, I was out in the desert painting when they all showed up.”
Jade closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing heart. “They just appeared out of the darkness. It was terrifying. Beau was so angry. His eyes, his eyes seemed to be… They were…”
“Glowing red,” Melanie supplied.
Jade nodded and opened her eyes to look at Melanie. She didn’t want to see his face again. It was there when she closed her eyes. Every time she closed her eyes.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Melanie said, her eyes filling with sympathetic tears.
She was a compassionate woman, and Jade knew she needed to talk about it if she ever hoped to heal from the ordeal.
“I don’t think there’s another person in the whole world as kind as you, Melanie. If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to tell it all to you.”
Melanie nodded and took a deep breath, wiping at her own tears with the back of her hand.
“Beau accused me of seeing another man. He, his face. It seemed to change. It seemed as though his teeth grew bigger. I saw the thick black hair on his arms as he tried to choke me.”
The sound of wood breaking was accompanied by snarling and howling. Jade would have been frightened had Melanie not calmly patted her arm and smiled at her.
“All shifters have excellent hearing and your men are going to be very angry as you describe how you were abused.”
Jade actually felt sorry for the men. “Should I not say any more?” she whispered.
More growling from the hallway was instantly silenced by a deafening roar.
“Finn thinks it best that you continue. My husband, Hunter, is also out there with them and he’s the sheriff of Eminence. He’ll take all this down as your official statement. That way you don’t have to talk about it all over again. Unless you want to.”
“That’s so nice of you all.” Jade’s tears started to trickle down her face again. “I don’t think I’ve ever met such generous people.”
“We’re going to be best friends, Jade. I’ll be crying on your shoulder one day.”
“I woke up tied to the radiator in the loft I rent.” Jade looked straight into Melanie’s eyes, and felt as though she were drawing strength from her new friend. Melanie already felt like a friend.
“Beau would alternate between glaring at me for hours and then beating me as he accused me of sleeping with other men. Then he would threaten to share me with his friends.”
Jade paused for the sound of distress from the hallway, but there was only silence. Her heart sped up as she imagined the four men whose arms she wanted around her, protecting her, having left her alone.
“They’re still there,” Melanie said softly. Correctly reading the panic in her heart. “Finn is their Alpha and has ordered them to be silent because they were making this harder for you. They’re incapable of disobeying him. It’s a shifter thing.”
“How do you know?” Jade relaxed at the reassurance that the men were there, even though she wished she could hear them.
Melanie tapped her head. “They can communicate telepathically when they’re cats. I can talk to my mates that way if they’re shifted. My husband, Dane, is out there as his cat. He’s telling me what’s happening. And that he loves me.”
Jade laughed softly, then gasped at the pain in her ribs. If she wanted the Pollock men back in here she had to finish telling Melanie’s husband, Hunter, what had happened.
“How many husbands do you have?” Melanie had named three already.
“Four. Cooper was with me when I found you.
He picked you up and brought you here to Jason’s home. Jason is the town doctor.”
So Melanie had four husbands, too. Jade drew on more of the small woman’s strength, and accepted the feelings of kinship she already felt toward Melanie. She would finish telling this and then never think of Beau and his friends ever again. The pain growing steadily worse in her abdomen and chest made her realize she was going to be thinking of them no matter how hard she tried not to.
“My sister, Amber, called me every day. But I couldn’t reach the phone. After I had missed two shifts at work my boss came by. Luckily Beau and his friends were out buying more beer. I called for help and Mac, my boss, broke in. I was mortified that he was seeing me naked and bleeding, but was also relieved that someone would free me.”
“Wait,” Melanie said, her tone tight and her brows drawn together. “Why didn’t this Mac person call the police? Take you to a hospital? Why did you end up freezing to death on the street in another state?”
“It was so strange.” Jade was glad that Melanie found Mac’s behavior odd, too. “Mac asked if Beau was the one who had tied me up, and when I said yes he started to panic. He nearly left me there. I’m certain he wanted to.”
“No.” Melanie looked horrified.
“He pulled a knife from his boot, cut me loose, and sprayed perfume all over the place. He put some cash on my kitchen table and told me to run. Then he ran out of my apartment like I had the plague.”
The door to the room burst open and a huge blond man entered. “Why wasn’t I told my patient had woken up again?”
“Jade, this is Jason. He’s the doctor I was telling you about. He’s also a shifter,” Melanie said.
“Out,” Jason said simply.
Jade heard a rumbled growl coming from the doorway. But Melanie just smiled sweetly and patted her hand again.
“He’s right of course,” Melanie said. “Sorry, Jason. We should have sent for you immediately. Jade’s health is more important than finding the sadistic fuck of a wolf who imprisoned and beat the living shit out of her.”
Jade [Eminence Shifters 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 4