by Abby Weeks
The brothers shifted into wolves. Hardy and Tucker led the way back toward the house. Packer came over to her and crouched, offering to take her up onto his back, but Aisha didn’t feel like riding him. She was embarrassed about what had happened. She was upset. She wanted to be alone.
“I’ll walk,” she said.
Packer looked up at her, his wolf eyes seeming confused and hurt at the rejection. She could sense from his emotion that he was sorry they’d offended her, but she couldn’t help it.
“You go ahead,” she said. “I’ll follow.”
“It’s too dangerous around here,” he said to her mentally.
“I’ll be fine. If I’m in any trouble, you’ll know about it.”
Packer looked at her one last time and then looked ahead. A moment later and he was gone, off into the forest, and Aisha was alone.
What had just happened? She wasn’t sure. She realized that her own emotions were stronger and more complicated than she’d given them credit for. She’d been through a lot. She’d had to try and keep all the brothers happy, setting aside her own feelings. She’d had to try so hard to make sure Packer and Logan weren’t upset, and she’d failed completely with Logan. She had to come to terms with the fact that she was the last female of her kind and owed the brothers something, just because of that fact alone. It was a lot, and she was tired. She was overwhelmed. She’d allowed herself to fall for Packer, she knew that, and the fact that he’d been so willing to share her with Tucker and Hardy had been like a slap in the face.
She made her way down the mountainside, and as she followed the path of the stream, she let her tears fall down her cheeks. She was crying. She wasn’t angry at Packer, she wasn’t angry at Tucker and Hardy—it was just that she had so many emotions running through her mind that she didn’t know how to deal with them.
She stopped for a breather once she reached the open grassland in the valley floor. The sun was shining here, and it was a lot warmer than the shade of the forest. In fact, the sun felt so good on her skin that she decided to lay out in it. She got down onto the grass and lay on her back and let the sun warm her skin. She thought about what had happened earlier, but tried not to obsess over it. It hadn’t been a big deal. She’d just needed a little more consideration from the males. They couldn’t just expect her to mate every time they got horny. The timing had to be right.
Before she knew it, she was fast asleep. She didn’t dream, at least, she couldn’t remember if she dreamt or not. All she remembered was lying in the sun, feeling relaxed, and the next thing she knew, there was a helicopter in the air above her. She woke in such confusion that it took her a moment to realize what was going on.
Chapter 24
SHE LOOKED UP. The helicopter was blocking the sun, darkening everything around her, its propeller flicking through the sun and creating a strobe effect. It was low above her, and the wind was rushing down, the sound deafening.
There was a man sitting at the side of the chopper and he was holding a high-powered rifle. Before she knew it, before she even had a chance to reach out and communicate with Packer, the man had jumped from the chopper to the ground and was approaching her. He had on a balaclava to protect his face from the cold, and when he pulled it down, she saw that the man in front of her was none other than Heath.
“Well, well, well,” he said, striding through the long grass as he approached. She had to look away from his awfully scarred face. He looked monstrous.
He waved at the chopper, and it landed close by. Aisha looked at it and saw that the pilot was the guy called Chopper. Seeing him was a shock to Aisha. Seeing Heath was an even bigger shock. She’d been beginning to let her memory of all the terrible things Heath had done to her fade, but now here he was, right in front of her. It was like her memories of a harder, sadder time in her life had suddenly invaded the new life she was trying to create with the brothers.
“Heath,” Aisha said, taking a step back from him.
Even after all she’d learned since coming to live with the shifters, all the new physical powers and strengths she’d realized she possessed, it was still intensely intimidating for her to come face to face with Heath. He’d dominated her body and mind for so many years that it was difficult to believe that part of her life was really over.
“Look at you,” Heath said. “Living like a fucking native. You’re a whore for the shifters now, aren’t you?”
Aisha didn’t know how to respond to that. Heath was obviously very angry. She felt as if he wanted to hurt her.
“I’m not their whore,” Aisha said. “I’m one of them.”
Heath spat on the ground. “I don’t believe that shit,” he said. “I fucked you a million times back in Washington. I know who you are, Aisha. If there was anything special or extraordinary about you, I’d have noticed a long time ago.”
Aisha shook her head. She didn’t know how he always managed to exert so much power over her. There had been a time in her life, a very long period of many years, when she’d have taken everything he said at face value and believed him. If he told her she wasn’t a shifter, she’d have accepted it.
“What do you want?” she said.
“I want you back. I want to take you to the village. Tilly and Hilda miss you. They want you to work at the inn again. They say you were a good worker.”
“I can’t go back,” Aisha said. “I don’t want to. The whole town knows I’m a female shifter. If I go back there, they’ll lock me up in the brothel and use me as a whore.”
“Come on,” Heath said. “I wouldn’t let them do that to you. You’re my girl. You’re my girl.”
Aisha took another step back from him. He was still coming closer, and the closer he got, the more difficult it was for her to breathe. He terrified her. Everything about him seemed designed to knock her down, break down her confidence, take away her strength. It was a stark contrast to the power and value she felt when she was with the shifter brothers. Everything about them seemed designed to wake up the powers and strengths within her and bring her to her full potential.
“I’m not going back with you, Heath,” she said.
He came up to her and grabbed her arm. He pulled her in his direction, and for a moment, Aisha went right back to the way she’d always felt when she’d been his girlfriend. She felt powerless. She felt as if she had to do whatever he wanted. She took a step with him, and he pulled her harder toward him.
“You’re coming back with me,” he said. “You’re going to be where you belong. You can’t just be a whore for some animals out in the forest. That’s not realistic.”
He was hurting her arm. She was walking with him, and she could see how close they were to the helicopter. Once they reached it, her adventure with the brothers would be over. Heath would take her back to Dead Wolf. He would hand her over to the men, who would lock her in the brothel and use her as a whore for the entire town. Or worse, Heath would try and hide her, take her away, dominate her and do whatever he wanted with her for as long as he wanted.
She couldn’t let that happen.
“Why are you doing this?” she said, pulling her arm from Heath’s grip.
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you bringing me back to the village? You know what the men want to do to me there. They want to make me their whore.”
“Well,” Heath said. “Maybe that’s all you’re good for.”
He tried to grab her again, but she pulled her arm away. His eyes locked with hers, anger flashing through them. He drew back his arm and slapped her across the face. Then he grabbed her arm again and yanked her in his direction, pulling her toward the helicopter.
“Don’t make this ugly,” he said.
“You and your friend in the helicopter, you could fuck me before we got back to the village,” she said.
Heath nodded. “That’s exactly what I had in mind,” he said.
“That’s all I’m good for, right? That’s how I should be treated.”
�
�Yes,” he said. “Now you’re making sense.”
“In the brothel, the whole village will be able to fuck me whenever they want. Every man in the town can have me.”
“Yes,” Heath said.
Aisha could see it. She could see the way the men in the village saw her, and she realized why she’d been so upset with Packer and Tucker and Hardy earlier. She didn’t want them to see her the way the men in the village saw her. She didn’t want to be treated as if the only thing she had to offer them was sex.
The men in the village wanted to make her a whore because she was a handmaiden. They believed handmaidens deserved nothing better than that, and she had an effect on them that always put them into a sexual frenzy. They couldn’t resist her.
With the brothers it was very different. They were highly attracted to her. They were incredibly infatuated by her sexually, but they didn’t treat her like a whore. They were trying to figure out how all four brothers would be able to live with a single female. They were trying to figure out how it would work, but at least they were willing to work with her. They had complex emotions about the situation, as she did. Packer and Logan felt so strongly about it that they’d run off. Logan hadn’t even returned yet. They didn’t see her as something that was to be shared around with no say and no feelings. They respected her. And that was what was so different from the way Aisha’s life had always been with Heath.
The brothers were the first people to ever treat Aisha like a real person, like an equal who deserved their respect and their consideration as well as their sexual attraction. Heath and the men back in the village had never treated her like that.
Suddenly, Aisha felt something take over her body. It wasn’t a rage, though it felt similarly intense. It wasn’t anger, though she did feel angry. It was her shifter sensibilities. It seemed, when she was really in danger, her shifter instincts kicked in at their strongest level.
She was going to speak, but words didn’t come from her mouth. Instead she heard an aggressive snarl, like that of a wolf.
Heath instantly let go of her and took a step back. He was afraid.
“Your eyes,” he said, startled, “they’re yellow.”
She snarled at him again, and he took another step back, raising his hands up to shield himself.
“You don’t get it, do you,” she said. “I’m not yours anymore, Heath. I’m not the woman you thought I was. I’m a shifter, a handmaiden. I’m beyond you now, beyond your ability to control and manipulate.”
She took a step toward him and saw the fear in his face. He stepped back and stumbled. Aisha felt a sudden anger come over her, a fierce rage for all the things he’d ever done to her, for all the ways he’d kept her down. She knew he’d do the same to some other unlucky woman at some point in the future, and she wanted to punish him for it.
She lunged toward him. He turned and started running for the helicopter. He had a rifle strapped over his shoulder, but he didn’t even think of trying to use it. He ran for the helicopter, which was beginning to increase power again, rising slowly from the ground. Aisha leapt without thinking, landing on Heath’s back and forcing him violently to the ground. She was snarling and growling like a wolf, and Heath was panicked. She opened her mouth and bit down on the back of his neck. Heath screamed. Aisha realized that she was more powerful than she’d ever realized. She could have killed Heath if she’d wanted. It would have been so easy. A big part of her was tempted to do just that, to end his life and rid the world of his awful presence forever. But she couldn’t do it. She wasn’t a coldblooded killer. Not yet.
She got up and turned her back on him. He didn’t even deserve a final look. She walked away from him through the long grass of the valley, her head held high, and she refused to let herself look back and watch Heath get back into the chopper.
She hadn’t killed him, but he was dead to her now. That part of her life was over. The period of her life when men beat her down and abused her had finally come to an end. Now she was part of a family, she had the four brothers to look after, who would in turn lay down their lives for her. They loved her and respected her, and even if they still had a few creases to iron out in their life together, they’d do so with respect, and with open, honest communication. That was something that Heath had never been able to offer her, and never would.
And then she heard the crack of a gunshot.
Chapter 25
SHE HIT THE GROUND SO powerfully that it knocked all the air from her lungs. The sound of the shot from Heath’s rifle still filled her ears. He’d shot her in the back. He’d calmly climbed to his feet, swung his rifle from his shoulder, taken aim, and fired at her, dead in the back. It was a coward’s shot, but Aisha knew those high-powered rifles were fatal. They were designed to kill wolves, and they’d have no trouble killing her with a single shot.
This was it. It must be. This was her end, shot in the back by her cowardly ex.
And then she heard a voice. It was in her mind. The calm, friendly, protective voice of Packer reached her mind and almost made her cry in happiness.
“Packer?” she said.
She knew it was him.
“Where did you come from?”
Packer didn’t answer. He was in his wolf form, and he immediately started running toward Heath. Aisha looked up and saw Heath get into the chopper and fly off before Packer could reach them. He came back to Aisha and shifted into human form.
“I thought I’d been shot,” she said.
“You almost were. It was lucky I got to you when I did.”
“How did you know I needed you?”
“I heard the chopper. I never should have been so far from you. Not in these parts.”
“I fell asleep.”
“I know. I was in the forest waiting. When I heard the chopper coming, I was fifteen minutes away.”
“I thought I’d been shot.”
Packer looked at her. “I did too,” he said.
Aisha noticed that there were tears in his eyes. The shock of almost losing her had obviously affected him. He was breathing deeply, as if he couldn’t catch his breath. He looked at her.
“That was too close,” he said. “What if something had happened to you?”
His voice broke as he spoke. Aisha saw just how much he loved her. He’d have died if he lost her.
“What if he’d hit you, Aisha? How could I ever live?”
Aisha put her arms around him and held him close. She finally knew what it was like to be truly loved. As she listened to the sound of Heath’s helicopter fade into the distance, she knew that there would never be any going back for her. The part of her life where men like Heath and Hunter could use her for sex were over. She was a different person now. And the shifters treated her differently.
“Packer,” Aisha said somewhat timidly, “I’m sorry about earlier.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said. “You were absolutely right to stand your ground. The three of us were excited from killing the wolves, but we shouldn’t have expected you to be ready and willing to meet our needs just because we were in the mood. You’re our handmaiden. We respect you as a person. We want you to be happy.”
“I know,” she said. “I know that. Speaking to Heath, it made me realize just how different my life is now. Everything is different. The men in my life before used to use me for sex. You and your brothers are different. You want to have sex with me, but you don’t use me.”
Packer nodded. Aisha looked up into his deep, golden eyes. The weight of his body on hers felt good. It felt comforting. She let out a long sigh of relief. She’d hated that she’d fought with him. Now that they’d made up, she felt so much better.
Aisha looked at Packer. She felt the hardness of his cock pressed against her and realized he was aroused.
“Is that what I think it is?” she said.
Packer was looking at her hungrily. He smiled.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know we just talked about not expecting you to respond every time
one of us got aroused.”
Aisha laughed. The truth was, she was aroused too.
“It’s okay,” she said.
Packer inhaled deeply, his face just above hers. “I knew you’d say that,” he said. “I could smell the fragrance of your arousal.”
Aisha blushed. “There’s really no hiding anything from you, is there?”
“No there isn’t. Not when it comes to your vagina.”
Aisha blushed even harder.
“Well,” she said. “After everything that’s happened today, I can tell you that I’d like to be a little bit naughty.”
Packer’s eyes widened.
“What?” he said.
She nodded, her cheeks red with embarrassment.
“I can’t believe you just said that.”
“Well,” she said, “it’s been a big day. I had wolf blood spattered all over me, I had a fight with you, and then I almost got shot by my ex-boyfriend. That’s a lot of activity for a girl.”
Packer laughed. “I suppose it is.”
“So what do you say?” Aisha said. “Can you show me who’s boss?”
Packer rose up onto his knees and opened the leather ties that held her furs closed.
“Show you who’s boss?” he said. “It’s what I was born to do.”
“Don’t be shy with me,” she said. “I mean it.”
“You really want it.”
“I want it good and hard,” she said. “And I know you’re the one to give it to me.”
Packer growled. He was getting excited. He started pulling her clothes off, leaving her lying naked on the ground beneath him.
His growling excited her. It reminded her how powerful he was. He could kill wild animals, he could tear people to shreds, and now he was going to put all that strength toward pleasuring her. Her pussy started getting wet just thinking about it.
She looked up at him and tried to wrap her legs around his waist, but he dodged her. Then he picked her up with a single arm and flipped her around so that she was on her knees. She was always amazed at how light he made her feel. She remembered back to the way Heath used to constantly call her fat and give her a hard time about what she ate. Now she didn’t even think about those things. The brothers loved her, they loved her for who she was. Packer thought she was perfect. He wouldn’t have told her to change a single thing about her body.