by Elena Lawson
Alex was already injured—not badly, but I could see the ragged claw-marks in his shoulder and the red stains around his abdomen though the guy looked like he could barely feel any of it. We couldn't afford another fight.
“Did he?” Everett growled, and I could see that he was starting to lose control—for an instant, I thought I saw his eyes change. The pupils not like they should be but narrowed into slits. But then he blinked, and they returned to normal as Jasper whispered something to him that I couldn’t hear.
“Beck!” Everett bellowed.
I shook my head. Not wanting to lie to him, but afraid that the truth would end the shifter’s life and effectively end Everett’s, too.
“Did. He. Touch. You?”
I looked away, clamping my mouth closed. Everett reached over and grabbed me by the arm. I winced as his calloused hand closed over the still-open wounds just above my elbow from where the shifter had dug his claws into me. Everett dropped my arm as though burned by the touch of the still-tacky blood there. He took me in.
The missing bustle and skirts. The fact that I was wearing nothing but a corset and my underthings. I looked down to see what he had narrowed his eyes on. A darkening bruise from where the shifter had tried to hold my legs open with the forceful press of his knee on my inner thigh. I tried to shift my stance—hide it.
But it was too late. He’d seen.
“Don’t kill him, Everett. You’ll hang,” I managed to eek out before he slammed the shifter into a tree, his head snapping back against the rough bark. His eyes blinking rapidly as though dazed.
A few low growls sounded around us—the remaining shifters’ hackles raised as they snarled in warning.
“Ev,” Alex began, moving in closer to his friend with his hands low—fingers splayed in a gesture of peace as though he was approaching a great beast instead of a man. “The Council—”
“Fuck the council.”
Jasper tried to move into his side. “Everett, get control—”
“Was he the only one who touched you?” Everett asked, suddenly terrifyingly calm—and somehow that was scarier than when he was wild-eyed and seething.
A finger of dread drew a line from the nape of my neck all the way down to my stomach. “Yes.” I squeaked—though it wasn’t entirely true, he was the only who who’d tried to…my thighs squeezed, and my stomach turned.
A flash of malice raced across his gaze before he released the shifter’s throat in favor of his hands. Everett snared both of his hands as they were reaching up to soothe his likely bruised and burning throat. There was a sickening crunch and the sound of a broken, airless scream as Everett crushed the shifter’s hands in his as though they were made of glass.
The popping, grinding, snapping sound made my stomach sour. I had barely any time to prepare before I could taste the bile in the back of my throat and bent low to wretch in the bushes at my feet.
Hands came to hold back my hair, and warm, soft fingers caressed my shoulders.
Still choking and sputtering as my stomach tried to expel every ounce of its contents onto the ground, I registered that this wasn’t Alex or Jasper, and it certainly wasn’t Everett. Breathless and still gagging, I angled my head to find Ellis. It was hard to see him in the dark—with his inky black skin and dark suit-jacket. But I knew those eyes. Those bright brown and gold orbs that told me everything was going to be alright without the need for words.
Come, he mouthed, and I nodded, too spent to wonder at when he got here and how none of us heard him coming.
“Everett, that’s enough.” The voice belonged to Jasper.
“Git!” I heard Alex shout and vaguely saw him kicking in the direction of the shifters still lingering. “Go on before I skin ye!”
Everett had released the lead shifter, and a couple of his wolfy pals moved in to help him along, changing back to very naked human forms. I averted my gaze, but not before I saw the shifter called William turn to give me one last look—malicious enough to steal the breath from my lungs and make my mouth go dry.
Damn.
Jasper left Everett to stand, still visibly trying to get control of himself, stoic as a marble statue, averting his gaze from all of us—and came to help me into his long jacket. Ellis took me by one arm, and Jasper pulled my other around his shoulders, stooping low so I wouldn’t be uncomfortable. His metal mask glinted in the light as he turned and pressed his forehead to mine and sighed.
“I’m—” I began, my chest expanding with an oncoming sob. I wanted—no, needed to apologize for everything that just happened, but Jasper stopped me with a look and raised his hand to push the wet and muddy hair from my face.
“Hush now, Rebecca,” he said. “Let’s get you home.”
Chapter 24
BECK
I felt numb, empty, as I was escorted back to the house. Jasper kept one comforting arm around my shoulders as if he was afraid I would fall over. Ellis walked at my back, my silent sentinel. From this angle, I couldn’t see Alex and Everett, but I knew they were a few paces behind us.
The events of the day caused an icy finger to trail down my spine, stealing all the warmth from my body. Pain radiated everywhere, both mental and physical.
How could this happen?
I was normal…or, at least I believed I was. Now, I lived in a world where time travel and monsters existed. Where I couldn’t leave the safety of the house at night because women were viewed as lesser beings.
That pain continued to reverberate through me. Suffocating me. Killing me. I felt like I was drowning, the weight of the world pressing on my chest.
Only when we were safely inside the darkened house did I allow myself to break down. I stumbled, Jasper’s hands just barely keeping me upright, and felt tears cascade down my cheeks. I kept visualizing William’s face as he sneered down at me. Mocked me. The phantom touch of his hand on my thighs and neck. The boner pressing against my leg.
Tears burned me, branded my skin, and I glanced helplessly up at Jasper.
“Please, help me. Make it go away. Make it stop.”
“Make what stop?” he asked helplessly, his hands smoothing down my hair. “Are you in pain?”
“How is she? Is she hurt? Is she in pain?” Everett demanded, storming into the room. His face was sewn from granite, a muscle in his jaw twitching. A firm scowl was etched in place. When his eyes met mine, when his gaze devoured my tear-stained face, his demeanor changed. His shoulders drooped, and his hands slowly unfisted. “Rebecca…how…are you…?” He sighed, forking his fingers through his hair, before adding, “Are you okay?”
“Do I look like I’m fucking okay?” I asked, voice rising. “What the fuck do you think, Everett? I’m not okay! How can I be? What that asshole tried to do to me…” My voice broke, and my body finally collapsed. All of the stress from the last few days, all of the pain and hurt, all of the worry—it all became too much. I fell to the floor like old, yellowing paper curling on the stacks of a musty bookshelf.
I felt a hand press to my back, stroking gently, and I didn’t even have to look up to know that the comforting hand belonged to Ellis.
“I’ll…um…draw her a bath,” Alex murmured, and I heard the shuffle of his footsteps as he raced away.
I sobbed into the wooden floorboards, the pain in my chest cresting. Expanding in a slowly closing vise.
“Just breathe, Beck. Just breathe,” Jasper said. His words surprisingly worked. I focused on his voice, focused on his own breaths, and worked to match my erratic breathing to his. All I wanted was to sleep for years and forget this entire night ever happened.
At the same time, I didn’t want to forget. Not everything. Not the way Alex had come to my rescue like a knight in shining armor. Not the way Jasper and Everett had arrived, putting their lives on the line to save mine. Not the way Ellis calmed me, soothed me, applied balm to my tattered soul.
I couldn’t understand my own conflicting feelings, nor did I want to. Not yet. I would dissect them at a late
r date, when my emotions weren’t running haywire, rampant, in my head.
“Come on,” Jasper said soothingly. “Let’s get you upstairs and in a bath.”
When I didn’t move—physically unable to lift my weary body—Jasper hefted me up in his strong arms.
“Where are you taking her?” Everett snapped. Jasper jerked to a stop suddenly, and I glanced up just in time to see Everett remove his hand from Jasper’s shoulder. Everett was still running on fumes from the fight, his emotions and actions not entirely his own. There was something dark lurking just beneath the surface, something predatory and dangerous.
And yet, I never felt any fear when I was with him. If anything, his growling presence brought me much needed comfort.
“She’s freezing, Ev,” Jasper said calmly. Unlike Everett, he was able to control his emotions. The anger I knew he no doubt felt at having been man-handled was buried under lock and key. “She has blood and dirt on her.”
Everett gritted his teeth. “Then I’ll take her.”
“Everett,” Jasper said warningly. Finally, finally, I saw a break in his apathetic exterior. A crack. His eyes flared dangerously as he stared Everett down.
“It’s not appropriate,” Everett tried one last time.
Whatever Jasper wanted to retort was interrupted by Ellis rapidly signing something. Both Jasper and Everett frowned, the latter stepping away with his head lowered.
“You’re right,” Everett said at last. “This isn’t fair to Beck.” Taking a deep breath, he met my probing gaze. “Are you okay with this?”
Was I? I couldn’t really comprehend what “this” was. Despite all that, I felt safe in Jasper’s arms. The rest of the world could fall to shambles around me, and I knew he’d protect me. Shelter me from the onslaught of debris.
I trusted Jasper irrevocably. Implicitly. It may have been too soon, it may have been idiotic, but after years of being wary of everyone and everything, I knew Jasper was one of the good ones. It could’ve been his timeless hospitality, the kindness emanating from his eyes, the security I felt in his embrace. It might’ve even been the fact he saved me more than once—jumping into the Thames to save a stranger and then into a melee to rescue me from shifters.
But through it all, he was there.
I met Everett’s dark, piercing gaze and nodded once, hoping to convey everything I felt without words. I didn’t know if it worked or not, but Everett conceded with a bob of his head. Ellis, behind him, smiled at me encouragingly.
With my consent, Jasper hurried up the steep staircase, depositing me for a brief moment on the bathroom counter. During my breakdown and the confrontation between Jasper and Everett, Alex must’ve heated the water—the tub was filled when we entered. I vaguely recalled him mentioning something about that.
Jasper procured an unlabeled bottle of orange liquid and handed it to me. I opened it, inhaling deeply.
“It’s soap, but it also works to soothe your body and put you to sleep,” Jasper admitted, scrubbing a hand through his black hair. His metal mask glinted in the flickering candlelight. “I’ll be in the room right next to you.”
“Jasper?” I asked, twisting. “Could you help me with my dress?” It was ripped in some places, my undergarments visible through the many tears. It was a strange combination of beautiful dress and hideous slip.
His cheeks burned brightly, but he obediently stepped forward, hand brushing the skin on my neck. With tantalizing slowness, he began to unlace my ripped dress, his fingers brushing against my skin with each new swath exposed. Goosebumps pebbled where he touched, white hot fire liquefying my veins.
It was times like this when I remembered Jasper wasn’t just kind, but unbelievably handsome. Even with his mask, he was sin personified. I truly believed that the mystery of the mask, of his face, only heightened his beauty.
The events of the day assaulted me once more, and I wanted to forget. I needed to forget. Spinning on my heel, one hand holding up my dress, I took a step closer to Jasper.
His breath hitched, but he didn’t move away from me. He didn’t run.
“You came for me,” I whispered, my free hand inching upwards to trace the edge of his silver mask. He didn’t reply to my comment, but his eyelashes fluttered closed. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, and I could feel each of his heartbeats like they were my own.
With bated breath, I released my dress and allowed it to pool on the ground around me. It was coated in blood and grit, dirt and grass stains.
He inhaled sharply as I stood before him, as naked as the day I was born. His eyes traveled to my breasts, nipples beaded from the cold, and then to my freshly shaved pussy. I wondered if he had ever seen one like mine before.
As if he’d only now realized he was gaping, he spun away, neck burning.
“I am so sorry. I’ll just be…I’ll be going.”
“Wait, Jasper!” I put my hand on his bicep. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I just…” I took a deep breath, attempting to articulate the thoughts battling for first place in my mind. “I just don’t want to be alone right now. Help me forget. Please. Help me forget.”
I pulled him back to me, and this time, his eyes stayed pointedly on my face. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“Of course, madam. Whatever you need.”
“Don’t do that,” I said, releasing him to step into the tub. “Don’t be formal. Not with me. Never with me.”
The water wasn’t blistering hot, but it soothed me, soothed my muscles, until I was limp and pliable. I released a heavy sigh and rested my head against the slightly rusted edge of the tub. The bottle Jasper had provided sat on the ground beside me, and I poured a reasonable amount into the water and then onto my hands. I lathered my body with the strange liquid until my skin was red and the blood had pinkened the water.
Jasper made a strange sound, and it was only then I was reminded he was still in the bathroom with me. His hand was clenched so tightly I could see each individual vein beneath the translucent skin. His back was to me, but I could see his one visible eye flickering towards me every few seconds, almost as if he was a man possessed.
When he caught me staring, the good side of his face burned hotly, and he fixed his attention on the peeling paint on the wall.
“How are you feeling?” he asked after clearing his throat a dozen more times.
“I don’t want to talk about me,” I said, reverting to my usual MO. Deflect. Deceive. Deny. If I could make others believe that nothing was wrong with me, maybe I could make myself believe that as well.
“Then we won’t talk about you,” Jasper cajoled. He shifted uncomfortably, body twisting slightly to allow me to see the prominent bulge in his pants, before sitting cross-legged beside the tub, his back still towards me. His biceps undulated, rippled, as he moved. He wasn’t as muscular as Everett or even Alex, but Jasper was well defined.
“Can we talk about you instead?” I asked tentatively, bracing myself for his rejection. I felt like such a hypocrite—keeping so much bottled up, so much hidden, but demanding them to spill all their secrets.
As expected, Jasper tensed, back muscles flexing, before whispering, “What do you want to know?”
There was something in particular I wanted to know, but I wasn’t about to blurt it out. Instead, I smiled softly, sinking further into the comforting embrace of the water.
“What’s your favorite color?” I settled on at last.
He jerked, whipping his head around to face me.
“What?” he asked incredulously.
I smiled, leaning forward so my arms were draped over the tub rim. His eyes lowered slightly, to my breast hidden by the tub, before quickly snapping back to my face.
“Your favorite color,” I pressed.
“Blue,” he settled on at last. His eyes remained locked on mine, but the decadent way they had previously roamed my bare body warmed me from the inside out. He was attracted to me as much, if not more so, than I w
as to him.
“Why blue?” I languidly used my hand to cup the water, watching it filter between my fingers.
“Because it’s the color of your eyes,” he blurted, and his cheeks turned crimson once more. I froze, my hand still raised but now devoid of water, and peeked at him through my fringe of lashes. His head was lowered, hands tapping a staccato against his legs.
Unwilling to make him even more uncomfortable than he already was, I said, “Now you can ask me a question.”
“Who are you running from?” There was no hesitation. No pause. Jasper knew exactly what he wanted—no, needed—to ask. I wondered if that question had been rattling around in his brain from the very first day, when he pulled my shivering body out of the Thames. I didn’t fault him for jumping to that conclusion. If I were to see a girl dressed in strange clothes drowning in the river, I would believe something untoward had happened as well. And if she had given me a bullshit story like I had given them? Well…I wouldn’t be a happy camper.
He had been honest with me, at least so far. The least I could do was return the favor.
“I wasn’t running from anyone,” I admitted, focusing on my hand in the water. My fingers were beginning to prune, and the water had lost its warmth. “I am…lost.”
Honest.
“Who are you looking for?” he questioned quietly.
Before, I would say my aunt or even Amy. Now, that answer remained ambiguous. I didn’t know who I was looking for. Not at all. Since meeting these four intriguing men, nothing has made sense, least of all my own tumultuous emotions. I knew I had to find a way back to my time—I knew it—but the thought of leaving them hurt more than I cared to admit.
I knew I was attracted to all of them physically, but emotionally, I felt an attachment as well.
Everett’s strength.
Jasper’s calm and unwavering loyalty.
Ellis’s kindness.
Alex’s boisterous personality.
I craved them all, needed them all. I knew it wasn’t love or anything like that, but I also knew it could grow to be more. The seed had been planted, and I needed to decide if I was going to nourish it with sunlight and water and watch it flourish, or if I was going to leave it to die.