Jade smiled at Melanie and she would have laughed had the pain in her ribs not been warning her not to. The hugest man Jade had ever seen appeared out of nowhere behind Melanie. Jade opened her mouth about to warn her, but Melanie just winked at her.
“Sweetness, you are pushing me,” he said, picking Melanie up and kissing the top of her head.
“Finn, this is my new friend, Jade.”
“Please,” Jason said.
Jade turned and saw that Jason was pinching the bridge of his nose as he shook his head. A blur moved through the door before it slammed shut. Melanie’s voice grew softer as she called out a good-bye.
“Jade. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke. I’m worried you have some internal bleeding. May I examine you?”
Jade was suddenly painfully aware of each and every ache in her body. Her time with Asher, and then Melanie, had distracted her mind and dulled the pain. She needed him back here. She couldn’t do this alone. She needed them all back.
* * * *
Troy had never felt such rage and helplessness. He and Wes had lived their whole lives in sheltered comfort until they’d come here to Samson’s training camp six months ago. They’d lived at home in the loving bosom of their family and then in their spacious penthouse apartment in New York as their computer design company grew to be a global success.
He didn’t consider himself spoiled or entitled. He and Wes cared little for the luxuries of wealth. It simply enabled them to do things more efficiently. The chauffeur-driven cars and the private jets simply enabled them to keep working while they traveled to the necessary meetings and business events.
“I don’t like Doc being alone in there with our mate,” Troy said, watching Finn take Melanie down the corridor. No matter how stupid he knew the feeling to be, it was still how he felt. Doc was happily mated and no threat to their mate, but he still felt like he wanted to kill him for touching Jade.
“I’m not surprised,” Hunter said. “After just hearing exactly what she’s been through your cats must be frantic to be with her.
“That’s exactly how I feel,” Wes said.
“He went through this when Melanie was abducted by that rogue,” Troy said. “He understands.”
“Can I please have them here,” Jade said softly.
Troy was closest to the door and flung it open before being propelled inside by the weight of Barrett’s massive frame at his back.
“Please, come right in,” Jason said. No humor lacing his tone. “Where are you feeling the most pain, Jade?”
Troy moved to stand by Jade’s side, as did his brothers. He managed to get to her right hand first, and he held it loosely in his, rubbing reassuringly as she smiled at him briefly before telling Jason where she was feeling pain. As his fingers caressed her, the pleasurable sensations spread up his arm until his whole body felt electric.
“Nothing I’ve ever experienced before compares to touching our mate,” Troy told Wes through their link.
“It’s not what I expected,” Wes said. “It’s far better. Infinitely better.”
Jason became exceedingly frustrated with having to keep moving one or more of them out of his way as he examined Jade. But none of them paid him the slightest notice. They were all completely focused on Jade’s needs and trying to make Jason’s thorough examination as painless as possible for her.
“I can’t tell if that fucker raped her,” Wes said. “Her stomach, back, and thighs are so bruised he could have.”
“She didn’t tell Melanie that he did,” Troy said, supporting Jade in his arms as Jason sutured the deepest of the lacerations to her back. “I’m going to kill him.”
“You’re doing great, Jade,” Troy reassured her. “Just lean into me. I won’t let you fall.”
“And I’m going to help you kill him,” Asher said. Shocking both of them.
Jade shuddered as Jason applied antibiotic ointment down all of the claw marks.
“I’m sorry you have to do this. I’m not normally so pathetic.” She buried her head in his chest, her hot tears scalding him through his shirt.
Jade froze as they all growled at her self-deprecation, even Jason. Troy’s cat was tearing at his insides with its impotent fury. Troy and his cat were in total agreement. They wanted to kill the wolf who was such a coward he beat up women, even when they were tied up and defenseless.
“You are certainly not pathetic,” Barrett said, the rumble in his voice showing his cat slipping Barrett’s control. “I think you have more injuries right now than I sustained in my entire thirty-year career as a stuntman. The time I broke a few ribs I cried like a baby for hours.”
No one spoke for the remainder of the examination until Jason wheeled Jade from the room to perform another scan of her chest and abdomen.
“Who fucking does that to someone? Especially a woman.” Troy closed the door to the exam room. He didn’t want Jade hearing him.
“A coward,” Asher said. “Prisons are full of people just like this Beau.”
“Do you think he’s going to come looking for her?” Wes asked.
Troy hadn’t yet considered that possibility, and from the shock on Barrett’s face, neither had he.
“Fuck me. Do you think he will?” Barrett asked Asher.
Troy and Wes both looked at Asher as well. He among them had the most experience with demented criminals, even if they were mostly of the human variety.
“I need to find out this asshole’s last name before I speak with Hunter and Dane. Then we can find out if he has any priors in Nevada, or anywhere really. It’s not something I’m willing to guess at with the limited information we have.”
“Then we assume the worst, and don’t let Jade out of our sight,” Barrett said.
“I have no intention of letting her out of my sight,” Troy said. “Not ever.”
* * * *
Beau straightened and shook the blood from his hands as he walked the length of the cave to emerge into the bright sunlight outside. Beau looked at his blood-spattered clothes and smiled as he let his claws extend. He sliced his jeans and shirt until they lay shredded at his feet.
“Did he tell you where she went?” Justin asked.
Justin was sitting on the tailgate of Beau’s truck, drinking his way through a bottle of Jack. Beau’s bottle of Jack.
“She wouldn’t have gotten away if you hadn’t suggested we buy more beer,” Harry said. “And I was looking forward to us having a nice party when we got back. Right, Beau?”
Beau regarded his two friends, his pack, and wondered why he hadn’t killed them already for being so annoying.
“Did Mac tell you anything or not?” Justin persisted, ignoring Harry completely.
“The bus took her east. So we go east. She was far too damaged not to have left a trail for you to follow, Harry.”
That was why Beau hadn’t killed them. They each had extraordinary talents, even for wolves, and had wasted those talents until Beau had found a use for them. Beau struck a match and tossed it onto his shredded clothes.
Mac had been an idiot to think perfume would mask his scent from a wolf like Harry. Harry’s sense of smell was the best Beau had encountered in his two centuries of life. That’s why he’d tolerated the shifter since they’d met in the county lock-up some forty years ago.
Beau walked to his truck and retrieved his duffel from the backseat. He pulled on clean clothes, ignoring the drying blood on his face and arms. He’d wash later when they had a location for the bitch who’d slipped away.
“When we find her,” Justin said, his lust scenting the air with his musk. “She’s going to be ours.”
“As your Alpha, I’ll assume that was meant as a question.” Beau watched Justin’s wolf reluctantly submit. “Don’t make me regret letting you live the last time you challenged me.”
Beau walked away as Justin bared his neck to him. Justin was much bigger and stronger than him as a wolf, but if Beau drugged him, he’d be able to defeat him. He was replace
able and Beau was now on the lookout for that replacement. Justin was going to regret challenging him.
Chapter 6
Jade felt as though she were floating on a soft cloud, her pain of the last few days a mere memory. She’d reluctantly agreed to have the sedation that Jason had suggested, and she was so happy she had. Any previous pain medication she’d ever taken made her vomit uncontrollably. Jason had promised her she’d be fine. He was right. She was most definitely feeling fine.
“I’ll tell Jade my findings when she wakes, but I will tell you that she doesn’t require surgery,” Jason said.
Jade felt both of her hands tingle, and knew that two of the men—her men, that’s what Melanie had called them—had just taken her hand in theirs. Now the pain was gone, she could appreciate the way they were making her feel. The way they made her want. Want their touch.
“We can’t take her back with us.” Jade heard Asher’s voice and tried to follow what he was saying.
“I’d rather die than do that,” Barrett said.
Jade’s chest began to hurt as her heart seemed to swell. She held her breath and waited to hear Wes and Troy stand up for her.
“Where can we take her?” Troy said.
“I don’t want anyone to see her,” she heard Wes say. He even growled a little.
Jade couldn’t believe she’d been so monumentally naive. She was obviously too stupid to live. They’d all seemed so genuine. She’d believed everything they’d told her. Believed that they were different from Beau Rennie of Duckwater, Nevada. She was done with men. All men.
Jade stopped fighting the pull of Jason’s pain medication. She’d conserve her strength, because when the drugs were out of her system she was going to get the fuck out of this crazy town. She allowed the drugs to suck her under into a pain-free oblivion.
As soon as Jade came awake she forced her eyes to open. Darkness. Blinking several times she determined that the room was dark. Laying as still as possible she focused on the room around her with all her senses.
Silence. No rustling of clothes. No sound of breathing. The pain medication had worn off and her ribs were burning. Her wrists and ankles stung and her back felt like lava was running over it. Lifting her left hand she felt something tug, and reached over with her other hand to feel what was there. A plastic tube. An IV.
Locating the edge of the plastic dressing that protected the entry site, she picked it off, pulling the IV free of her skin in one tug.
“Nothing is going to keep me here,” she mumbled as she held her breath and put her hands behind her to push herself up.
“Going somewhere, darlin’,” a soft voice rasped.
“Shit.” Jade rested back on one elbow and clutched at her chest with her free hand, trying to calm her racing heart. “I think my heart just stopped.”
A light flicked on and she saw Barrett walking toward her from the doorway. He stood well over six feet tall, his solid frame bulky with hard muscles. His blue eyes blazed at her, his unkempt blond hair shining like a halo around his head. He looked like an archangel on a mission from God herself.
“Well, were you going someplace?”
“I was…” Jade tried and tried to say that she was going to the bathroom.
“I was…” She tried again, but the words wouldn’t form. Her tongue stopped working. What drugs did that stupid doctor inject me with?
She tried some different words. “I needed to go…”
“There’s two things you need to understand about shifters and their mates, Jade. I’ll tell you what they are before you attempt to answer my question again.”
Jade glared at the arrogant bastard who dared to look pissed off. It was her they’d all lied to. Her whose emotions they’d toyed with like she was some damned mouse their cats enjoyed playing with.
“The first is that shifters can scent a lie. Emotions all have distinct aromas that our sensitive noses can discern. Easily.” He was slowly creeping closer to the bed.
“The second thing is that true mates, that being you and I, as well as Asher, Wes, and Troy, are incapable of lying to each other. We have the potential to spend three centuries together. Nature knew that lies only led to discord in a mating, so she very wisely took that ability away from us.”
Jade believed him. Barrett looked very much like a predatory big cat stalking its prey. His blue eyes changed to a glowing amber color.
“Now, would you like me to repeat my question, or do you remember it?”
“Oh, I remember it, you big bully.” Jade let loose her anger before she succumbed to the fear the huge man instilled as he loomed over her. “So the humans can’t lie in a mating. How very nice for the lying bastards nature deemed to match her with.”
“You haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting my parents, so let me assure you that even Asher, as the eldest of the said ‘lying bastards’ you referred to, was conceived well and truly after our parents were legally wed. We’re not bastards, darlin’.”
“Well fine. Big, fat, lying, mountain lions. Better?”
“Not much, actually. Where were you going, Jade?”
“You’re so bossy.” She tried not to look away from his penetrating gaze. She needed to ignore the effect he was having on her. “I was getting away from here. I heard you all say you didn’t want me and that you didn’t want anyone to see me.”
Barrett’s nostrils flared and his eyes glowed brighter.
“I had no trouble saying that, so you know I’m not lying. Care to explain how you managed to lead me on with all your ‘mates are forever,’ ‘I’m yours, Jade,’ bullshit.”
Barrett had lifted her into his arms and had her plastered against his rock-hard chest before she even saw him move. Jade gasped in surprise and Barrett gently lowered his mouth to hers and licked her dry, damaged lips so softly she barely felt it. But, boy, did she taste it. Her nipples hardened and her pussy clenched. Her clit swelled and throbbed as the look in his eyes drove her desire higher.
“Do you still doubt anything I’ve said to you…while you were fully awake?”
She had to concede she’d been under the influence of narcotics. The way he was staring at her showed the depth of his desire for her. More than desire. He looked like he was starving for her. An intoxicating smell of male and pine washed over her. As she breathed the scent deep into her lungs she felt her anger drain away.
Jade relaxed against Barrett and allowed herself to enjoy the warmth of his huge arms banded around her. She unconsciously ran her hands over his chest, and his muscles twitched as he breathed out a low moan.
It was a moan of raw pleasure, as though she’d just stroked his cock, not his chest. A carnal and undeniably sexual sound. He was just as affected by her touch, as she was by his. More evidence of how she affected him pressed into her mound as his cock lengthened and thickened. She licked her dry lips as she met his burning gaze.
“Oh, Jade. I want that tongue on me as soon as you’re healed.” He smiled mischievously. “And this misunderstanding is sorted out.”
She opened her mouth to deny that she’d been mistaken and he raised an eyebrow at her.
“All mates are incapable of lying. Being a shifter does not make us exempt.” Barrett’s brows furrowed slightly. “I think I know what you’re confused about.”
“So you admit you said you don’t want…” He silenced her again with a raised eyebrow. “That’s not going to work forever, Barrett.”
“At least you’re admitting we’ll have forever.”
Shit. He was dangerous. Sexy and dangerous.
“When you were finished with the scan, but still asleep, or so we thought. We were discussing where we could all live. The four of us are currently living in the bunkhouse outside of Jason’s home. We share said bunkhouse with three other shifter males. We didn’t think it was a feasible option that we all live there. We don’t want any man to ever see your gorgeous naked body but us.
“You live in a bunkhouse?”
“We al
l returned to Eminence —that’s the name of our town—a few months ago to train as soldiers for the pride. We each had separate lives, our own careers. Asher is a lawyer. Wes and Troy are computer geeks and…”
“You were a stuntman. I remember that bit.” Barrett kissed the end of her nose. “That was before I was given the mind-altering drugs.” Jade shuddered. “I hate drugs. Never again.”
“I think I’m inclined to agree with you on that.” Barrett sighed and she felt his body tense again. She’d hurt him.
“Is there anything else you’re worried about? I don’t ever want you running off. You can ask me anything. Ask any of us anything. Not only would we not lie to you, we’re incapable of it.”
“Are you a virgin?” Jade forced a smile, hoping her cheeky question would ease some of his hurt.
“No, Jade, I’m not.”
Her smile was no longer forced as he grinned wickedly at her.
“Are you a virgin, Jade?”
Shit. I clearly hadn’t thought that through.
“No, Barrett. I’m not.” Jade felt her cheeks heat and knew her pale skin was now stained a deep red with her embarrassed blush.
“See, no lies, darlin’.”
“I’m sorry you were hurt, Jade. Even though it was the fault of the drugs. I don’t want you to ever feel sad.”
His teasing smile was gone. His expression shone with warmth and sincerity. Maybe even love.
She didn’t trust her voice, so she wrapped her arms around him. They reached to his armpits. As she relaxed against him she took a deep, calming breath.
“You smell nice.”
A growl rumbled through his chest, vibrating against her nipples and making them stiffen into painful peaks.
“Thank you. But you have no idea how incredibly delicious you smell, my Jade. Like caramel creams, and sex. Delicious.”
Jade knew she was probably blushing even more, but ignored it. An overwhelming fatigue was sweeping through her.
Jade [Eminence Shifters 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 5