by Creator
Hearing a car in the driveway, she quickly put her book down. Running to the kitchen, she checked on dinner. The roast still had another fifteen minutes before it was finished. What was she
going to do? If dinner wasn’t on the table when Hugh walked in, she knew there would be hell to pay. Never mind that he was home half an hour early; it would still be her fault somehow.
Opening the fridge, she spotted his favorite brand of beer in the back. Grabbing the bottle, she popped the top and placed it on the table beside his comfy chair in the living room. Maybe she could placate him while the roast finished cooking. Rushing, she quickly set the table. Aislinn was just placing the silverware on the table when Hugh walked in the door.
“Something smells good,” he said, putting down his briefcase and taking off his suit coat.
Aislinn popped her head out of the kitchen. “I’m making a roast with potatoes and carrots. I made your favorite salad on the side,” she said with a smile.
He grunted. “It isn’t ready yet?”
“Almost. I put your favorite beer by your chair. I thought you might like to change clothes and relax for a minute while I put the finishing touches on dinner.”
Hugh stormed into the kitchen, “You’re full of shit!” Fury rolled off him in waves. “You’re just trying to butter me up. You screwed up and you know it!”
Aislinn backed toward the other kitchen door, ready to flee if she needed to. “No, Hugh, I honestly thought you might like to change and relax! Really! Besides, you’re home a little earlier than usual.”
Hugh roared in anger and lunged for her. “So this is my fault? I’m early you say! It’s never your fault, is it Aislinn?”
Aislinn took off for the bedroom, but she didn’t make it in quite enough time. She felt Hugh grab a handful of her long hair and pull as hard as he could; pulling her off her feet, dangling her like a rag doll. When he released her, he backhanded her across the face, knocking her to her hands and knees.
“I’m tired of your lies, you stupid bitch!”
Hugh kicked her in the ribs, sufficiently knocking the air right out of her lungs. Aislinn curled into a fetal position, gasping for air and trying to see through the haze of her tears. She felt the blows fall one after the other to her arms and legs. She had her face covered as best she could, but knew she would have one bruise for sure.
Just when she thought he was finished, she felt Hugh’s hand grab her by the throat. He hauled her to feet and slapped her. Grabbing her throat once more, he lifted her into the air and threw her across the room. Aislinn flew the four or five feet to the bedroom wall. As she was flying through
the air, she made a wish; she wished that her fairy tale ending could come true and that she could find her knight in shining armor.
Aislinn hit the wall with a sickening thud and her thoughts were no more. As her body fell to the ground, it suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving her abusive husband staring in disbelief.
Chapter One
Early March
Ashton Grove, Georgia
Connor was happy to be inside his home. He’d spent a long day outside and was ready to unwind. His cousins had offered to let him work at their garage, but he preferred being outside. He figured it was his wolf side that pushed him into working in the great outdoors. When a local construction company started going belly up, he had bought them out. Not wanting anyone to accuse him of being lazy, he often worked right alongside his men, and woman. He had one female construction worker who worked as hard as the rest, but she also worked hard at trying to get the boss into bed. He’d managed to avoid the issue so far, but Cameron was relentless. He knew he’d have to do something soon.
Connor never asked anyone to do a task that he himself was not prepared to tackle, so he often found himself working shoulder to shoulder with his employees. It didn’t bother him to get a little dirty and sweaty thanks to the southern heat and humidity. It could be back breaking work at times, but it was always rewarding.
He looked around his spacious living room and wondered why he’d let his family talk him into buying the monstrous place. He’d been living one town over, but apparently that wasn’t close enough for his cousins; they had insisted that he move to Ashton Grove to be closer to the pack. Now he had a spacious four bedroom home all to himself. His brother, Colin, had also bought a home nearby.
Grabbing a beer out of the fridge, he sat down and turned on the TV. Just as he was bringing the beer up to his mouth for a drink, a bright light flashed and a woman materialized in his lap. Startled, Connor almost dropped both the beer and the woman. He quickly grabbed the woman and set his beer down on the table. He briefly wondered what in the hell was going on. Being a werewolf, he wasn’t immune to the unknown, but having a woman literally drop into his lap was a first.
Seeing that she was unconscious, he lifted her into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. Laying her down on his large bed, he turned on the light to get a better look at her. Her long brown hair was tangled, but her face … someone had damaged her beautiful face. He swore under his breath at the large blue bruise blossoming on her cheek. Her face was swollen and he would almost
guarantee that she would have a black eye in the morning. He wanted to check her for further damage, but was afraid he might hurt her further. Picking up the phone, he called Gabriel.
On the third ring, the joint-alpha picked up the phone. “Hello.”
“Gabriel, I need your help,” Connor said, a death grip on the phone as he looked worriedly at the woman on the bed.
“What is it, Connor? Are you okay?” Gabriel asked sensing the tension in his cousin’s voice.
“No, I’m fine. But I do need some help. Do you think Kiera feels up to coming over? Or should I call Marin?” he asked.
“Connor, why do you need one of the women to come over tonight?” Gabriel asked, knowing that something was missing from the conversation.
“My mate just materialized in a flash of light. She’s been hurt though and I don’t know how bad it is,” Connor explained, knowing he sounded ridiculous.
“Appeared? Is she a fairy?” Gabriel asked. Connor knew that his cousin was thinking of his half-fairy wife.
“No, she seems human. I think someone did a number on her though. Her face is blue on one side and swollen. I’m worried that she might have sustained other injuries.”
Gabriel growled; the one thing he hated most was violence against women. “We’re all coming over. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
When Gabriel hung up the phone, Connor got a cool cloth to wipe the woman’s face. He tried to make her as comfortable as possible while he waited on reinforcements. He was afraid to move her too much in case she had serious injuries he couldn’t see.
The woman on the bed whimpered, a frown creasing her brow. Connor hunkered down beside the bed so his height wouldn’t frighten her if she should awake.
“Shh, it’s okay. You’re safe now,” he murmured to her.
Aislinn heard the soothing voice and felt a calm settle over her. She fought to open her eyes, but they weren’t cooperating. Had someone come to help her? The last thing she remembered was hitting the wall after Hugh had thrown her. Was she dead? Had she made it to heaven? The voice speaking to her was deep and soothing; it could easily belong to an angel.
Slowly opening her eyes, she tried to focus on her surroundings. Nothing looked familiar. Her gaze came to rest upon the man kneeling beside the bed. He was broad shouldered with a strong handsome face, set with green eyes and full, strong lips. His chin had a slight cleft in it,
which would have made her sigh if she weren’t in so much pain. His brown hair brushed the tops of his shoulders, giving him a bad boy look.
“Where am I?” she asked in a whisper, her throat still sore from Hugh’s iron grip.
“You’re in my home in Ashton Grove,” Connor answered.
Her eyes widened and she tried to move, only to wince in pain. Ashton Grove? Had he just said A
shton Grove? But it didn’t exist! It was merely part of the book she had been reading… lying back against the pillow, she realized that she must either be dead or dreaming. Maybe this was her version of heaven. Her brow furrowed. If this were heaven, wouldn’t the pain have stopped?
“Are you okay?” Connor asked.
“Did you say Ashton Grove?” she asked quietly.
“Yes. If you aren’t from here, where are you from?” he asked.
“Mobile, Alabama,” she whispered.
Connor cocked his head and looked at her carefully. “Do you know how you came to be here? Do you remember what happened before you woke up just now?”
She swallowed painfully. She remembered all too well what had happened, if only she could forget! But if she was truly in Ashton Grove, then her husband couldn’t hurt her ever again. She took comfort in that thought.
“My husband came home from work and flew into a rage. He chased me through the house.”
“You’re married?” Connor asked in surprise.
“Yes, for a year now. He did this to me,” she said, a tear slipping down her battered cheek.
Connor swallowed down his rage. He slowly reached out a hand and gently stroked her hair. “He won’t hurt you anymore. You’re safe now.”
Aislinn gave him a wan smile and her eyes started drifting closed again. This was definitely the nicest dream she’d ever had. If it meant the nice man beside her would stick around, she wouldn’t mind staying in her dream world forever.
Afraid that she wouldn’t wake up again, Connor tried to keep her talking. “You never told me your name.”
“Aislinn. Aislinn Walsh,” she whispered.
“And your husband’s name?” he choked out.
“Hugh Winston.”
He was surprised, but tried to keep his face neutral. “You didn’t take your husband’s name?”
“No. I’m the last in the Walsh line and it was important to me to keep my name.” She paused. “Or maybe deep down I knew what he was really like and it was a way of protecting myself, of keeping myself separate from him.”
The front doorbell rang, startling them both.
“I’ll be right back, Aislinn. That’s going to be my family. They’re here to help you,” he told her.
She nodded and closed her eyes, waiting for him to return.
Connor pulled open the front door, not really surprised to find all three of his cousins, their wives, and his brother standing outside. He motioned for them to come in, waiting for them all to gather in the living room before closing the door.
Looking at the women, he motioned toward his bedroom, “She’s in there and she’s in pretty rough shape. She said her husband beat the crap out of her.”
Gabriel’s gaze sharpened on his cousin. “Husband?”
Connor shrugged. “It appears that my mate is already married. Guess I’m a bit late finding her.”
Gabriel studied his cousin for a moment. He knew that it had to weigh heavy on Connor that not only was his mate married, but she’d been abused by her husband. He could almost hear the “what if” statements going through Connor’s head.
The women excused themselves and scurried through the bedroom door to check on their patient.
Connor’s gaze followed them. He wished he could go with them and be by Aislinn’s side. Now that he’d found her, he didn’t want to be away from her for very long, especially not right now, not until he knew she was going to be okay.
“Did she say how she got here?” Gabriel asked.
Connor shook his head. “She said she’s from Mobile, Alabama.”
“I’ll contact the pack there and see if her husband is looking for her. If her picture is on the news, we’ll have to report that we’ve found her, whether you like it or not.”
Connor growled under his breath. No matter what it took, he wasn’t returning her to her husband. As far he was concerned, Aislinn was his and his alone. If they found her husband, he’d deal with the man who had abused his mate.
“I know you don’t like it, but we can’t have the police thinking you kidnapped her,” Gabriel said. “Especially if she looks as bad as you say.”
Connor motioned for Gabriel to follow him to the bedroom. He opened the door a crack and peeked inside. Aislinn was surrounded by the women and she was sitting up in bed. She looked like a terrified rabbit. Connor pushed the door open further and stepped into the room.
“Is everything okay in here?” he asked, his eyes focused on Aislinn.
Marin, Chloe, and a very pregnant Kiera turned to him in surprise. Aislinn looked relieved to see him.
“Why wouldn’t everything be okay?” Marin asked.
“I can’t check on my guest?” Connor replied.
Marin shrugged a shoulder and looked away.
She’d been miffed at Connor for weeks now, but heck if he knew why. He was getting tired of the barbs she constantly slung his way. He needed to get to the bottom of it, but right now he had more pressing matters on his mind.
“I’m okay,” Aislinn said quietly, her voice slightly less husky than before. “Just a little overwhelmed.”
“Aislinn, I’d like you to meet my cousin, Gabriel. You’ve already met his wife, Kiera.”
Aislinn gave them a smile. “It’s nice to meet you. I was just telling your wife she shouldn’t have come out so close to her due date.”
“She wanted to make sure you were okay,” Gabriel replied.
Aislinn nodded. “I would say I’ve had worse, but I think this time might have been the worst one yet.”
Connor moved closer to the bed, needing to be by her side. “How many times has he done this, Aislinn?”
“Too many,” she said in a near whisper. “When I first heard you speaking to me, I couldn’t open my eyes and I thought that he had finally killed me.” She grinned ruefully. “I thought you were an angel.”
Connor sat on the edge of the bed and gathered Aislinn in his arms, ignoring the snickers from his family. It was no secret that he was far from angelic, but he wasn’t about to dissuade Aislinn from her misconceptions just yet. He wasn’t a womanizer, but he was no saint either.
He had expected her to resist, but she melted against him. It was as if she belonged in his arms. “I won’t let him hurt you anymore.”
“If I really am in Ashton Grove, then he can’t hurt me. For that matter, he won’t even be able to find me.”
Connor looked down at her with a puzzled look. Sure, Alabama was a good day’s drive away, but it wasn’t like it was on the other side of the world.
“Why is that?”
“Because it doesn’t exist.”
Everyone in the room looked at one another with a look of shock on their faces.
“Aislinn, what do you mean it doesn’t exist?” Connor asked.
Aislinn stifled a yawn, feeling run down. “It only exists in the book I was reading before Hugh came home from work.” She smiled. “A book about Cole and Marin now that I think about it.”
Connor looked at Gabriel. “What kind of book, Aislinn?”
“A romance novel,” she murmured sleepily. “When Hugh threw me against the wall, I remember thinking that I never got my happily ever after. I wanted my fairy tale ending.”
Connor stared down at her in shock. “A romance novel?”
“Mmm-hmm. It was about a werewolf finding his mate.”
Connor almost dropped her. She knew they were werewolves? He hoped his apprehension didn’t show. “We’re going to let you get some rest. I’ll come back and check on you in a minute.”
Carefully laying her back on the bed, he ushered everyone out of the bedroom and closed the door. Once they were all gathered in the living room, he asked, “Is that even possible?”
“Is what possible? That she hit her head and dreamed up another reality?” Marin asked.
Connor shook his head. “She appeared in a ray of light. What if she is from another reality?”
Gabriel grinned. “Then I
’d say you’re off the hook as far as the husband goes.”
“It’s going to be more complicated than that. She’s been abused,” Connor reminded him. It had felt so right to hold her in his arms, but he wasn’t going to kid himself. He was going to have to earn her trust. Just because she let him hold her didn’t mean he could be part of her life just yet.
“She went willingly into your arms a minute ago. I don’t think you’re going to have a problem,” Gabriel said. “She might have been abused by her husband, but I think she wants to be loved. You heard what she said. She wished for a happily ever after.”
Connor sighed. “We still need to see if we can locate a Hugh Winston in Mobile, Alabama. I want to make sure we exhaust every effort to try and find her husband.”
Gabriel nodded. “We can do that. And if we do find him, we can also make sure he disappears.”
Connor shook his head. “I may not like the fact that she’s married, but I can’t just make her husband disappear.”
“I meant more for the abuse than because she’s your mate.”
Connor gave him a grim smile. “No, for the abuse I get to rip him to pieces.”
“Until then, what do you want to do?” Gabriel asked.
“Whether she’s married or not, she’s my mate, which means my blood will heal her. I can’t leave her in that condition,” Connor said.
Cole held up a syringe. “I came prepared when Gabriel said your mate had been injured.”
Connor nodded. “Then let’s get this over with.”
Pausing outside of the bedroom door, he took a breath. If she knew about Cole and Marin, then she would know what it meant to accept his blood. Would she allow him to heal her? And could her story be believed? It was all just a little too unreal for him. The paranormal world never ceased to amaze him. There seemed to always be something he didn’t expect. It was enough to make him question everything he thought he knew about his life. What else was out there that he had only thought was a myth or science fiction?