When the Dead Come Home

by B. L. Brunnemer

  Ethan carefully took Jessica’s forearm and raised it. The light glinted off her pale skin, highlighting the blue and purple smudges in the shape of fingerprints around her wrist.

  It stunned me for several heartbeats. “What happened?”

  Tara sighed. “Jason is an abusive dick.”

  I moved into the living room. Ethan gave up his spot on the coffee table and moved to sit beside Jessica. I sat down across from her on the coffee table. Jessica’s face was hidden by her hair as she looked at the floor. “Jessica?”

  She sniffed one more time before lifting her head. I expected a black eye, bruises, something. But there was nothing, thankfully. Her eyes were bright red and bloodshot. Her nose was raw from crying.

  “What’s going on?” I asked softly. Hoping she’d talk. “What you tell me will stay between us, unless you want someone else to know.”

  Her lower lip trembled. She hesitated only a heartbeat before she pulled up the sleeve of her cotton pajama top. More bruises in the shape of large hands were wrapped around her upper arm. Some old, some new. I bit back my own surprise. She didn’t need it. I remembered how I felt when I showed the guys my back. Naked. She didn’t need it from me.

  “That motherfucker,” I muttered simply because I had to get something out. I met her gaze. “Talk to me. Please?”

  She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “It started a couple of years ago. He messed up a play in a game. They lost because of it. He was ranting and I was sick of hearing it. So, I started walking off. He grabbed me really hard to stop me.” She wiped her nose with the crumpled tissue in her hand. “He didn’t mean to, it was only an accident. And he apologized the next morning when the bruises showed up.”

  “The next morning?” I asked to be clear. “Not immediately? Only when there was proof he hurt you?”

  She barely nodded. “He said it was an accident. A onetime thing.”

  I bit back a curse and focused on keeping my voice calm. “Was it?”

  She shook her head. “He did it again. And again, and again. Yesterday was the first time I was sure he did it on purpose.”

  I took her icy hands in mine and squeezed gently. “Jess. I remember wanting to believe it was an accident. My mom would smack me once in a while. She would always apologize after and say it was an accident.” I still couldn’t believe that I bought it for so long. “But now, after time and therapy… I know if someone squeezes you hard enough to leave bruises, they’re doing it on purpose. Well, unless the person is in a huge amount of pain or terrified on a roller coaster. Then I don’t think it’s on purpose.”

  She huffed, but the tears stopped falling. Good. She shook her head. “I just get him so mad.”

  I met her eyes again. “How? What makes him that mad?”

  She shrugged as her eyes unfocused. “Um. When I embarrass him. When I say no, when I don’t want to do what he wants to…”

  “So, basically anytime you don’t act like he wants you to?” I hated to say it, but she needed to see it.

  She thought about it while looking down at our hands. Eventually she nodded slowly.

  “That’s abuse, Jess,” I said gently. “That’s him using the threat of violence to get what he wants.”

  She met my eyes. The lost look on her face told me there was more. It made my stomach churn.

  “Ethan, can you make some tea, please?” I asked without taking my gaze from hers.

  Ethan got to his feet and left the room without a word.

  I waited until there was the swish of the kitchen door swinging closed. “Did he ever make you do things you didn’t want to in other parts of your relationship? You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I can’t not ask.”

  She pressed her lips together as her eyes filled. Oh fuck. She nodded.

  “Okay.” My heart broke as rage coursed through me. My eyes stung as I rubbed her hands while I fought for control. Be here for her, be here for her. “Do we need to go to the hospital?”

  She shook her head.

  “Okay.” I couldn’t keep it in. “Does anyone else know?”

  Jess shook her head.

  “Do you want to press charges? For the bruises? For…?” I had to ask.

  She looked down at her legs and clutched my hand harder.

  “She’s too scared of him,” Tara answered for Jess. “He’s been threatening her since I decked him.”

  My eyebrows shot up to my hair. “You’re the one who hit him?” No way…

  Tara’s cheeks tinted pink. “Well, yeah, he came after me when I caught him trying to get her to leave school yesterday.”

  My temper sparked. Jason went after Tara? I fought back the urge to hunt the fucker down and finish what Tara started. This wasn’t the time. This was about what was best for Jessica and Tara now. Later. I’ll hit a bag later. I nodded. “Okay, if she doesn’t want to press charges, you could. If Jess is willing to give a statement as a witness.”

  Tara nodded. Jess hung her head.

  “Then again, you are the daughter of a cop,” I added, quickly trying to stop the tension suddenly radiating from Jessica. “You might not need Jess’ statement.”

  Tara pinched her lips closed as her posture grew rigid.

  I pointedly looked at Jessica then back to her.

  Tara closed her mouth. She got it. This was about Jess right now. About making her feel safe.

  I turned back to Jess. “Jess, we can help you get away from him.”

  Jessica’s eyes were wide and filling again. “I love him.”

  “I know. But that doesn’t mean he’s good for you,” I managed instead of cursing at her. “No one who loves you could do this to you. That’s not love. It’s possession.”

  Tears rolled down her face again. “He’s all I have.”

  The front door opened.

  “No, he’s not.” Asher’s voice reached us before the door even closed. He stepped into the living room with a calm expression as I moved out of the way. Jessica buried her face in her hands and began sobbing.

  Asher took my spot and pulled his sister into his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder as she broke apart.

  I took Ethan’s spot and reached out to Jess, setting my hand on her back. Tara reached out and carefully pulled her hair out from under Asher’s arm. A silver-ring-clad hand reached down and settled on Jessica’s shoulder. Another manicured hand joined Ethan’s. I looked up to find Miles standing on the other side of Asher. Movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. The other guys came into the room one by one as they arrived. Each took a heartbeat to see what was happening, then moved to Asher and Jess. Each of them reached down and held her with Asher. Adding their hands and arms around her. Jessica sobbed even harder.

  This… this was family. I watched in awe while the guys all gave their support to this girl who had pulled away from them years ago. Who had driven them crazy, who pissed them off time after time.

  I watched as they gave their love, their strength, to her without question. Without an explanation. She needed, so they gave. It was… breathtaking. This was what family was supposed to be.

  Chapter 11

  Wednesday Afternoon

  Tara eventually took Jessica upstairs to wash her face. The rest of us gathered in the kitchen. Asher was quiet. Too quiet.

  “Ash?” I kept my voice soft.

  He lifted his head. The silver band through the blue was thick. Thicker than in the woods. It was obvious he put his anger aside for Jessica and what she needed. Now that she was in the bathroom out of sight… “He dies.”

  “Deep breaths,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “You can’t kill him, Asher. But we can get Rory’s help.”

  “Screw that!” he snarled, his eyes almost all blue and silver now. “He hurt my sister.”

  I eyed him. How much had he really heard?

  Zeke moved between us. “Don’t be such a selfish prick.”

  Shocked silence slammed through the room. Did he just… />
  “This isn’t about you and your rage, Asher,” Zeke stated firmly. “This is about her. What she needs, what she wants. Right now, it’s about keeping her safe from him until she makes a decision. Take it from me, you need to focus on being here for her. It’ll get you through.”

  I couldn’t see how Asher reacted, not around Zeke’s massive shoulders. Rage boiled through me. Jason hurt Jessica, and Asher wanted blood. And he couldn’t do it.

  Ethan moved and blocked the door. “You can’t. You’ll kill him without meaning to.”

  Asher turned and swept his fancy blender off the counter growling in frustration. He gripped the tile on the island. Claws sprung from his fingertips to puncture the tile.

  My heart slammed in my chest. He was losing his shit. An idea sparked. It was ridiculous and stupid, but it was the only one I had.

  I backed out of the kitchen and started for the foyer.

  “Lexie.” Miles’ hard voice froze me on the spot with my hand on the door handle. “Where are you going?”

  “To beat the shit out of Jason,” I shot over my shoulder, my fingers tightening on the knob.

  “What will that solve?” he asked, walking toward me. His face was a mask of blankness. The shouting from the kitchen grew louder.

  “If Jason gets hurt it’ll calm Asher down.” I let go of the handle and turned to look up at him as he reached me. “If I do it, Jason will live.”

  Miles’ mask dropped. Disappointment filled his face. “If you sink to his level, you’ll be the one who loses.”

  “Right now, I don’t care,” I bit out between clenched teeth. Guilt ate at me. I didn’t want to disappoint him, but…

  Something crashed and shattered in the kitchen.

  “You can’t use violence to solve everything,” he stated in a strained voice. “You’re better than this.”

  I swallowed hard as his words hit me. Was I? I always went to violence. Maybe this was just who I was. Maybe I was just tired of fighting it? “Maybe I’m not. Did that ever occur to you?”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Did it ever occur to you that you are?”

  I held his gaze until there was a resounding crash came from the kitchen. Silence filled the house as we turned back toward the kitchen door.

  We both hurried to just inside the kitchen door where we came up short. The back door was busted and hanging off one stubborn hinge. Ethan was on the floor of the back porch, his shirt shredded. Asher moved back from the door, his silver-blue eyes fading back to ocean as Ethan stayed still.

  My heart in a vise, I shoved my way through the guys and past Asher just in time to reach him as Ethan cursed. He pushed himself to his feet.

  I skidded to a stop on the porch as he turned on Asher with the glow back in his eyes and bared teeth. Oh shit.

  A guttural growl slipped out between Ethan’s teeth a heartbeat before he launched himself at Asher. The two smashed back into the tiled island, shattering it. Everyone scrambled out of the way as the two began to beat the shit out of each other.

  It lasted only seconds, but it seemed like an eternity before Ethan managed to get Asher into a hold, pinning him to the floor.

  The only sound in the room was their heavy breathing.

  “He needs the basement,” Ethan declared as blood fell from his nose.

  Isaac and Miles moved to help control Asher.

  “No!” Ethan snapped. “Zeke!”

  Zeke moved across the debris littering the floor.

  “Get the doors.” Ethan shifted off Asher’s back and hauled him to his feet.

  Asher struggled against his hold as they disappeared into the foyer.

  Still doubting what I had seen, I turned to a pale Isaac. “Did that just happen?”

  Isaac nodded, his jaw still on the floor.

  “Ethan is stronger than Asher,” Miles thought out loud as he pulled out his phone.

  “Who are you calling? And where did they just take him?” I asked.

  “I’m calling Astrid.” He glanced at me before going back to his phone. “And they took him to the basement.”

  A bellow sounded from beneath us, rattling the windows. The house shook.

  “Of course there’s a basement.” I sighed as I moved across the room and pushed the door open to follow only to come to a stop.

  Jessica and Tara were near the foot of the stairs. Their faces were white as a sheet, their eyes wide and mouths hanging open.

  “Oh shit.” The boys were out of the supernatural closet.

  * * *

  It took almost an hour to explain everything to Jessica and Tara. They ran the gauntlet from disbelief to mostly understanding. It wasn’t easy to get through their questions with Asher roaring downstairs, but eventually they understood what was going on.

  “My brother is a werewolf,” Jessica said again, still a bit stunned.

  “Yes.” I sighed, grateful it had sunk in.

  “And you’re a necromancer,” Jessica stated.

  “Yep.”

  “Huh.” Jessica grew quiet after that as it all sank in.

  I turned to Isaac. “Where’s the basement?”

  “Door under the stairs,” Miles answered absently as he messed with his phone.

  I went into the foyer and opened what I always thought was a coat closet. I moved down the rickety wood stairs to find Zeke at the bottom with his back to the stairs.

  Asher was across the basement, chained to the wall, shirtless, clawing at the cement floor and leaving deep gouges behind. He hadn’t even changed except for his eyes and hands.

  I stopped on the last step.

  Ethan was closer to Asher, his shirt clawed to scraps that hung from his shoulders. His whispers to Asher were too quiet for me to hear.

  Zeke glanced over his shoulder to me.

  I couldn’t pull my gaze from Asher.

  He was on all fours, snarling as a human. He pounded his fists into the floor and clawed at the cement. Trying to get the need to do damage out any way he could.

  I stepped down to the cement floor. “The girls saw.”

  “Great.” Zeke sighed. “How’d that talk go?”

  “Okay actually.” I forced my eyes from Asher to Ethan. “Did he get clawed?”

  “No.” Zeke’s shoulders grew straighter. “And I don’t know how he managed to avoid it.”

  “I don’t think he did,” I muttered, eyeing Ethan’s shirt scraps again.

  Ethan sighed, got to his feet and came back to us by the stairs. “I can’t get through to him.”

  I examined his hard chest and stomach. “How did you not get clawed?”

  His face grew slightly paler. “I did.”

  I blinked up at him. “What?”

  Ethan started tearing off the scraps of his shirt. “He got me, three times.”

  My attention snapped back to his flawless chest and abs. “Um…”

  “I know.” He tossed the scraps toward the stairs. “He couldn’t cut me.”

  I examined his face. Dried blood crusted on his upper lip, a bruise coming in on his jaw. “Well, you’re not impervious.”

  He wiped under his nose and got most of the blood. “Yeah, too bad, right?”

  “How are you feeling?” Zeke demanded.

  Ethan shrugged. “Fine. Just banged up.”

  “So, these scales you saw protect you from fire and werewolf claws.” Okay…

  “But not punctures,” Ethan said. “I stepped on a fucking tack yesterday and it punched right through.”

  I nodded as if this was all normal.

  Zeke turned his attention back to the still struggling Asher. “We need him to calm down, or those chains won’t hold.”

  “Beautiful, want to give it a shot?” Ethan asked. “I mean, you calm Zeke down and all…”

  Zeke smacked Ethan’s shoulder behind me.

  Ethan chuckled.

  “Why the hell not?” I took a deep steadying breath and moved toward Asher. Slowly. “Ash?”

  Those
silver-blue eyes snapped to me, his body going still, like a predator in the wild that just caught a scent of something tasty.

  I took another step closer.

  “That’s close enough,” Zeke said. “If those chains give, he’ll get you.”

  I nodded that I heard him and sat down on the cold cement floor. “Asher. Do you know who I am?”

  His head tilted to the side. That’s when I realized, this wasn’t Asher. It was his wolf. Shit.

  “I’m Lexie.” Not knowing what else to do, I held my hand out palm up. “Asher calls me Ally.”

  Asher’s head tilted to the side as he took a deep breath. Some of the tension left his body, but he began to pace. I racked my brain, going through everything I knew about werewolves.

  Wolves were protective of mates, yeah. But they were also protective of the pack as a whole. Jessica…

  A lightbulb went off in my head. “Get Jessica.”

  “What?” Ethan asked.

  “He’s pissed because of what happened.” I didn’t even take my gaze off him. “He lost his shit when she went upstairs. Get her.”

  Footsteps hurried upstairs while I stayed put on the floor.

  “You sure about this?” Zeke asked quietly.

  “Not one bit,” I admitted. “But we need to do something. Maybe if he sees her okay then he’ll calm down.”

  “Maybe.” Zeke didn’t sound convinced.

  A door opened. Feet padded down the stairs.

  Jessica took a sharp breath. “Asher?”

  Asher’s gaze shot to her and stayed there.

  “Jess, come sit by me,” I decided. “I think he needs to know you’re okay.”

  To her credit, Jessica didn’t hesitate. She was sitting beside me within seconds.

  “Okay, here’s what I understand about the wolf thing and how it works.” I didn’t take my eyes from Asher, who was watching his sister with all his attention. “His wolf is an instinctual part of him, but still separate right now. So, I think… if we convince his wolf that you’re alright and need Asher right now, not him, then Asher might be able take control again.”