The Trail Back (10 page)

Just as she was trying to formulate words, to speak to these two unapproachable men, they both ran from the kitchen. Her mouth popped open in surprise at the suddenness of their departure.

“Well good evening to both of you as well,” she said to the empty room. She buttoned the shirt back up with shaking hands. She’d taken one step toward the coffeepot when the sound of their howls froze her in her tracks.

Her heart clenched painfully in her chest, and her stomach heaved. She made it to the sink and dry-retched over and over again as her pain consumed her. The hopelessness of her life filled her and drove her to her knees.

The retching turned to deep, painful sobs as she realized they’d never want her. Whether it was her scars or theirs, it didn’t matter. They didn’t want her as their mate. They’d never want her. She sobbed and sobbed, rocking herself as she curled her head onto her knees.

“Why didn’t the vampires just kill me,” she chanted the words over and over again. She wanted it so badly. She wished it with every ounce of her being. If they’d just killed her when she’d been their captive then she’d never have felt this unbearable agony. Her strength from minutes before crumbled under the pain of her mate’s rejection. It was worse than death—much worse.

* * * *

Josh ran at his brother’s side as they spent the next three hours circling their property. Neither of them spoke. They were both consumed with their own thoughts. Josh imagined Shane felt the same as he did, scared and confused.

Josh had seen a naked woman before. But not one that made him feel the way Abbie did. Not one that made him feel, period. She was bruised and scared and the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes on. She smelled like the forest on a winter day, and he wanted to roll in her scent, breathe her in forever, and never smell anything else again.

“Fuck, here comes, Brayden,”
Josh said.
“He’s going to be pissed that we’ve left Abbie alone for so long.”

Brayden slowed his pace and came to a stop in front of them.

“Did something happen? Why didn’t you call me back?”

Brayden’s eyes were wide with his suppressed panic.

“Nothing happened,”
Josh said.
“We’re patrolling is all.”

“Something happened,”
Shane said.
“I’m a coward, and I ran away from our mate.”

“You left her alone?”
Brayden’s lip curled as he snarled at them.

“We’ve been running the very edge of the property, no one’s approached,”
Josh said.

Brayden began to run. He ran so fast that even he and Shane had trouble keeping up with him. When they approached the house it was dark and silent.

“She’s probably gone back to bed. We made her a stew to eat.”

Brayden shifted, swiftly climbed the back stairs, and walked into the kitchen.

“Fuck.”

Brayden’s exclamation had Josh shifting and running into the house at preternatural speed. He looked around for what had made Brayden so upset. He saw nothing amiss. The only thing he could scent was his brother’s rage.

“What exactly did you do to her?” Brayden said.

Shane came up beside him, and they both took an involuntary step back as Brayden turned to face them. His eyes were glowing red. They illuminated his long canines as they protruded from his mouth. He was beyond furious, and it was directed at them.

“I told you. We ran away from her,” Shane said, his voice adopting his familiar snarl as he grew angry at Brayden.

“I’m going to her. I don’t want to see you anywhere near her until you have your shit sorted out.” Brayden shoved a piece of paper at Josh and stormed out of the kitchen.

“What the fuck’s happened? I can’t scent that Abbie is still here,” Shane said. “How in the hell did she get past us?”

Josh walked to the switch on the wall and turned on the kitchen light. The room looked the same as when they’d left it. Exactly the same. The stew sat on the counter untouched, the coffee pot remained full. He smoothed out the crumpled note paper Brayden had given him and read it out loud.

Dear Mr. Walsh and Mr. Walsh (not Brayden),

I came by to check on Abbie (your mate), and found her crying and begging for the vampires to come kill her. I will learn what you did to her when I have calmed her down. Then I will send one, or both, of my mates over to hurt you.

Brody

“That’s how she got past us,” Shane said.

“Always thinking of yourself, Shane,” Brayden said. “Grow the fuck up. She is hurting because of you. Hasn’t she been hurt enough?” Brayden snatched the keys to his truck off the hook by the door and turned to leave.

“We saw her naked,” Josh said. “I wanted to touch her, but I didn’t know what to do.”

Brayden stopped walking, his hand poised on the doorknob.

“We’ve never touched a woman before.”

“We’ve never wanted to,” Shane added. “She’s so tiny, so soft. I didn’t know what to do with her.”

Brayden turned and stared at them. He still looked very angry. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as he closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “So you’re virgins. That doesn’t mean you get a free pass to hurt people, to hurt Abbie. You should have told her what you just told me. She would have understood your actions then. It’s simple and painless. It’s called communication. Work on it some before you dare come near her again.”

Brayden left, and Josh felt uneasy. He knew he needed to do something, but he didn’t know what. Nothing in their lives had prepared them for this.

“We’ve spent too long out in the forest as wolves. We missed out on a lot,” Josh said.

“We were too busy being angry with the world for killing our parents. Look at Abbie. She’s suffered for weeks and weeks, and she didn’t take it out on us,” Shane said.

“Neither did Brayden. He had to cope with losing our parents and raising two feral brothers all by himself. He never gave up on us. He even had time to become a fireman, and then the fire chief. What have we done?”

“Pissed off everyone we came in contact with.”

“It meant we could be assholes, and we never had to bother considering anyone else’s feelings,” Josh said. “We need to do more than get our shit together. We need to grow some balls and tell our mate that we were scared shitless by her naked beauty, not rejecting her.”

“We need to buy her some flowers or chocolates, something she’ll like,” Shane said as he ran up the stairs.

Josh thought about the flowers and chocolates idea. They’d fucked up on a much bigger scale than just being late for dinner or missing an anniversary. They needed a grand gesture, and he’d just thought of the perfect one.

He ran upstairs to dress and get Shane onboard. They were going on a road trip, and they would need to grovel for a certain demon’s forgiveness before he’d agree to help them.

* * * *

“Why don’t we have another cup of tea?” Brody said. He slid down off Landon’s lap and went into the kitchen. He was surprised when Abbie followed him this time. She’d been there for a few hours and had not said more than a few sentences since they’d arrived.

She’d said enough for him to get a handle on what had happened. The poor little thing had been crying like her heart was broken and he’d guessed before she’d confirmed it that Shane and Josh were to blame. Idiot wolves.

“Can I tempt you with a piece of cake now?” Brody waved a plate of coconut ice cake in front of her, hoping to excite her taste buds and tempt her to eat. “It’s Landon’s favorite.”

“They’re all my favorites, little mate,” Landon bellowed from the living room.

Abbie smiled and Brody saw the hint of a dimple in each sunken cheek. “You’re too thin, Abbie. Please eat something.”

“Do you think I overreacted? I feel like I should just go home. Just leave them to their lives. They never promised me anything. They never really even spoke to me.”

“I’m not a shifter, Abbie, but I spent sixty years with a wolf pack. They didn’t need to say anything. You meet your mate, and your wolf takes over. It won’t think of anything except mating and marking until you’re all bound together.”

“But they’re not like normal wolves…sorry, other wolves. Brayden told me…”

“They’re the most wolflike shifters I’ve ever met,” Brody said, interrupting Abbie. He didn’t care, though. She was the victim here. She didn’t need to be making excuses for two giant idiots who were all muscle and no heart.

“They would know exactly what was expected of them. Their wolves would have been going nuts trying to be with you. I don’t care what happened when they were children. Boohoo, I had a shitty childhood, too. I’m a man now. I don’t treat other people badly and blame it on my childhood.”

Abbie walked over and hugged him around the middle. He’d lent her a pair of his sweat pants and they swam on her. She was a small woman, not even coming up to his chin and he could feel every bone as he returned her hug.
Those vampires need to die.

“Thanks for everything, Brody. I’ll rent a car tomorrow and head on home. I miss my little cabin and my babies.”

A knock at the door made both of them jump. It was nearly midnight, and distant thunder was heralding an imminent storm.

“Who would be out at this time of night?” Brody said. He suspected it was one of the big, bad wolves come to grovel.

They heard Landon open the door and heard him talking.

“It’s Brayden,” Abbie said, “I know his scent.”

Brody was about to ask Abbie if she wanted to see him when a blur moved past him and kept going out the kitchen door. Abbie was no longer standing next to him.

“I think Brayden wanted to speak to his mate,” Landon said.

“I think so. Cake?” Brody offered the plate to Landon, who growled as he shook his head. His big bear had glowing amber eyes. His delicious musky smell began to fill the kitchen. “Abbie may need me.”

“I need you, Brody. You’re a wonderful man. Do you know how sexy you are?”

“Not now, Landon. We need to talk to the wonderful Brody.”

Shane stepped around Landon and Brody snapped.

“You, you,” Brody stuttered. He was so mad that he couldn’t think of anything nasty enough to call him. He pulled all the water he could find from the surrounding air and rained it down on the wolf’s head.

It turned out that it had actually started raining outside, so there was a lot of water available. It looked as though a waterfall was falling on Shane. As he ran outside to try to escape it, Brody just moved his aim. When Josh appeared and tried to pull his brother free, Brody expanded the width of the deluge to include him as well.

“Will they actually drown, little mate?” Landon said. He lifted Brody up out of the water that had flooded their home.

“Probably. I’m sorry about the house.” Landon walked them onto the back porch and sat Brody on the veranda railing as they watched Josh and Shane run around trying to get out from under the water.

“It’ll dry out. It’s worth it to see those two finally get a bit of grief. We haven’t done them any favors all these years by letting them continue to be such assholes. I can see that now after what they’ve done to Abbie. No social skills whatsoever.”

Brody hugged his bear and tilted his head up for a kiss. His mate didn’t leave him waiting and he was breathless when Landon released him from their kiss. He turned to the soggy wolves and released the water molecules back into the atmosphere.

“Jesus. You can make out with Landon and still keep up the torture,” Shane said. “You’re a machine, Brody.”

Brody wanted to smile at the twins as they pulled off their boots and tipped out the water, but he was still too mad at them.

“Please, Brody. We came to ask for your help in getting a present for Abbie,” Josh said.

“A big present to say were sorry,” Shane said. “Big sorry.”

“Maybe you could listen to their idea before you dump a river on them again,” Elliot said. “I assume it’s their fault that our house is flooded?”

Brody decided it actually was their fault and nodded. Elliot came over to kiss him hello. “They upset Abbie.”

“I saw Abbie and Brayden down by the barn when I came in off patrol. She was crying. That’s their fault, too?”

“Yes, we were idiots,” Shane said. “Can we please ask Brody for his help?”

Elliot and Landon stood with their arms around him as Josh explained what he thought would constitute an apology for his mate. Brody had to admit it was big, and it was certainly unique. He also knew it would make Abbie happy, so he agreed to help them. Maybe they had hearts after all.

Selwyn paced the cabin in front of his four cages. Three still held his precious hybrids and one was infuriatingly empty. “Where the hell is Jeremy?” Selwyn smiled as two of his hybrids whimpered at his outburst. The other one growled quietly.

“You’re still a little feisty, dog.” Selwyn walked over to the cage containing his newest arrival. Six-and-a-half feet of muscled wolf hybrid, he was a magnificent specimen that he’d acquired only a week ago. “Once you’ve been here a little while longer you’ll be as compliant as your room mates.”

“Defenseless and compliant aren’t the same thing, vampire,” the wolf said, his lips pulled back in a snarl. “Turn off the juice and come in here so I can explain the difference to you.”

“Old, not stupid, wolf. I feel no less powerful by using everything at my disposal to gain the advantage and take what I need.” Selwyn had discovered decades ago that the shifter breeds were weakened by a current of electricity.

It made their shift impossible, leaving them with only their human side to fight with. Since most shifters relied on their beasts as a form of defense it made them ridiculously easy to kill, or capture, in this case. He’d taken to continuously running a small current through his coven headquarters and home since his discovery. The stupid creatures never recognized it, and that moment of confusion when their shift failed to occur gave him time to mow them down, no matter how greatly they may have outnumbered him.