Their Runaway Mate (8 page)

Chapter
Six

Anna couldn’t believe her ears. Her sister was there and she was beaten up? What happened?

She rushed behind Aryk, a teenage Pack member that followed Drew and Carter around like they were his greatest heroes, into the foyer of the mansion and stopped abruptly, a horrified scream caught in her throat. There sitting against the wall, next to the front door was her little sister curled into the fetal position, with her head hiding in her knees, her clothes all torn to bits, and bruises dotted her arms and legs through the holes in her clothes. She looked emaciated and tiny from where Anna stood. Her bony elbows were more prominent than should be as she bent her arms to hold her head.

Anna raced over to her and hesitantly touched her shoulder, afraid she might lash out at her hand.

“Cheryl, is that you?” Anna’s voice croaked and it came out as an uncertain whisper.

Her head came up slowly and Anna had to hold off yet another scream at the look of her sister’s face. Her bottom lip was swollen to the size of a golf ball and purple, her left eye swollen shut with bruising, and her right eye she could open just minimally to look up at Anna. Her nose looked as if it had been broken and there was dried blood underneath of it and along her cheek, where a large gash seemed to have opened up her skin revealing the tissue. Now, up close and looking at her sister, Anna could see parts of her once beautiful blonde hair were missing as well.

Horror and anger both filled Anna’s body at once, horror for what her sister must have gone through to survive this beating, and anger toward the soon to be dead bastard who did this to her.

“Anna?” her sister whispered, looking at her as if she were dreaming.

“Yes, honey, it’s me,” Anna tried to smile a bit, but tears were flowing steadily now and her lips would not allow her to do anything but frown.

“Oh, Anna!” Cheryl exclaimed, and then threw herself at Anna, flinging her bony arms around Anna’s neck and causing Anna to fall backward from where she knelt. Anna wanted to respond, but her sister had a tight grip and Anna’s tears were choking her throat.

“Oh, Anna, I finally found you. I’m so sorry I left,” Cheryl babbled against Anna’s shoulder.

Anna could feel the wetness of Cheryl’s tears seeping into the sleeve of her shoulder, which only made Anna cry harder as she put her arms around Cheryl and rubbed her back soothingly.

“It’s okay now, sweet baby sister, I’ve got you.” She cooed to her sister, trying to comfort her in some way.

“Aryk, go get the Pack physician, now,” Carter’s voice boomed behind Anna and she jumped a little having forgotten that Carter was even there.

She felt more than saw Carter crouch down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder.

“You don’t know me, little wolf, but I am your Alpha now and I will take care of you.” Carter whispered to Cheryl, which made Anna snap back in an instant and look at him, confused.

“Little wolf?” She asked, “Carter she is my sister, she’s human like me.”

Carter just continued to look at the beaten and crying woman in Anna’s arms, “Not anymore she isn’t. Someone has changed her.”

Anna looked at her sister, “Cheryl?”

Her sister just cried harder, “I didn’t know what was happening, Anna. I didn’t know.“

Immediately, Carter swept the little woman out of Anna’s arms and began taking her upstairs.

“Carter, what are you doing with my sister?” Anna yelled, as she got up and started to chase after them.

“I’m taking her to a guest room to lie down and rest until the doctor gets here.” He stated, matter-of-factly.

Anna just followed behind, looking at her frail, little sister in her mate’s arms and wondering how she’d become a wolf. Carter walked toward one of the guestrooms close to Anna’s room and carried Cheryl into it. He placed her gently on top of the comforter, and Anna thought she looked like a small child on the big bed.

Carter stepped back to let Anna sit down on the bed next to her sister and she reached for Cheryl’s hand to hold it in her lap while she whispered, “What happened, Cheryl? Please tell me.”

“I don’t know, Anna. I’m so confused. I thought he loved me,” Cheryl started to cry again.

Anna felt Carter put his hand on her shoulder. “Anna, darling, maybe we should give your sister time to rest until the doctor gets here to examine her.”

Reluctantly, Anna agreed. “Cheryl, I am here and if you need anything, just call for me and I will come right away. Okay?”

Cheryl just nodded, then turned away to curl up in the fetal position on the bed. Anna stood up and let Carter pull her out of the room, where he pulled the door with them, leaving just a crack so they could hear her if she called out.

As soon as they walked out of the room, Anna lunged into Carter’s arms, and he embraced her, lovingly holding her up from crumbling onto the floor.

“Oh, Carter, what has happened to my sister?” She cried against his chest, as he stroked circles on her back.

“I don’t know, sweetheart, but we will find out and then we will take care of it.” He stated reassuringly then kissed the top of her head.

“She’s been gone for so long. The last time I heard from her, she was happily married and living in California.” Anna babbled. “I never even met her husband, but now I want to kill him, like he almost did to her. I can’t imagine what would happen if I lost my sister, she’s all the family I have left.”

“That’s not true.” Carter stated, causing Anna to pull away and look up at him. He placed his palm against her cheek and wiped away another stray tear with his thumb, “Anna, you have us as your family now too, Drew and me. We would never let anything happen to you and we will always be there for you.”

Anna gave him a small smile, deep down she knew he was telling the truth, but that small voice still warned her not to believe him.

“I want to believe you, I really do, but I’ve never had anyone who truly wanted to take care of me and love me before. When Cheryl and I were children our parents were drunks and our father would beat us almost on a regular basis. Cheryl more than me because she wasn’t really his, our mom had cheated on him and gotten pregnant with my baby sister. Then, when I was in high school, they got into an accident while they were drunk and died. We had no other family that wanted anything to do with us, so I had to quit school, get my GED, and get a job to support us while Cheryl completed school. As soon as she graduated, she disappeared and I didn’t hear from her for a few years, until she sent me a letter saying she’d gotten married and was very happy. That’s when I decided to go to college and get my bachelor’s in accounting.

So you see Carter, I’ve never had someone who cared for me and wanted to take care of me. I’ve always had to fend for myself and take care of other people.” Anna explained her story, realizing she’d never really just come out and told either man about her life.

Anger flashed across Carter’s face, and then sympathy. “Oh Anna, I never realized how rough you had it. I’m sorry for the way I treated you when we first met. I love you, and would never intentionally hurt you.”

Anna’s heart almost stopped for a moment at Carter’s declaration, “You-you love me?” She whispered.

Carter just smiled sheepishly and nodded, “Yes. I think I have loved you since the first time I laid eyes on you. I just wanted to fight it at first. Drew used to tell me how wonderful you were and I refused to believe it because you’re human, but the more I got to know you after we met, the more I had to agree with him that you are the most wonderful person we have ever met, perfect for us in every way.”

“Why do you hate humans so much, Carter?” Anna asked, wanting to finally get answers to some of her questions.

Carter blew out a long sigh, “I think it’s best we go to the office and sit down to talk about this.”

Anna just nodded then let Carter take her hand to guide her back down stairs and into the office, where she sat down on the long sofa on one end of the room, next to Carter. They were silent for a few minutes and Anna was worried that Carter was going to back out of telling his story. It upset her a bit because she’d told him her story without any reservations, but then he spoke.

“When I was still a young pup, barely in my teens, I lived in another Pack. It was smaller than this one and didn’t have the security as this one does, so we weren’t really ready when we were attacked. Our Pack did business with the local village and our Alpha was a prominent member of the village. They were aware of what we were, but they left us alone and we left them alone, so we weren’t ready when they turned on us.

“One day, a couple of our Pack members had been running through the woods, hunting, and they came upon a teenage boy whose body was beaten and bloody. The boy was still alive, they quickly changed back into human form, retrieved clothes we used to have hidden all over the forest and took the boy into town. The boy told the towns people that a Pack of werewolves had chased him and tried to kill him.

“The town’s people immediately started a hunt and came upon our Pack’s cottages. They set them on fire to flush us out and then proceeded to slaughter entire families. My older sister and I had been in the woods just goofing around when we came upon the attack. A couple of the villagers saw us and started to come after us, so we quickly changed into our wolf forms and ran away.

“However, they had almost caught up to me, so my sister turned on them and defended me while I got away. I can still hear her yelps and howls of pain from when they got the better of her and beat her to death.

“I ran as fast as I could and hid for a few days before I decided that it would be safe. As I got closer to the little area where our cabins used to stand, I saw they had taken a few of my Pack’s heads off and stuck them on sticks. They also had strung up our Alpha and left him to die amongst the bloodied remains of his Pack. I didn’t think he was still alive until I saw him move. Then I raced to his side and cut the ropes that were holding him to the tree they had tied him to and helped him lie down on the ground while he groaned in pain.

“His wounds were severe, but they had already begun healing, so all he would have to do is change into his wolf form and he would be fine, but he was too weak to change. Therefore, I did the only thing I could do and I carried him to where I had made camp to hide out, and I took care of him until he was strong enough to shift. I gathered water from a nearby stream and I hunted and cooked meat for him over the campfire, which I had to feed him because he could barely even lift his arms to feed himself.

“After another day, he was finally strong enough to shift, so he did, which healed him completely and gave him back some of his strength. That’s when he told me what had happened. The boy that had been found beaten was a son of one of the men who held a chair on the council for the village. The man hated our kind and especially our Alpha because he was more respected and held a higher seat than he did. The man had talked his sons into beating up their younger brother and told the boy to say the wolves did it so the village would turn on them, and he would take our Alpha’s seat on the council.

“I wanted to kill the man and his family, but my Alpha refused to let me do it, saying they would probably kill me first. Instead, we traveled as wolves away from the village and away from our home.

“As we traveled we came upon stray wolves that had been torn from their families too by the humans who lived close to them. We welcomed their companionship and slowly, our pack began to grow in numbers again.

“Then we came upon this piece of land and it had no Pack or human village around it for miles. We claimed it as ours and built cottages and homes for our people. We also started training the male Pack members how to fight and took security measures, so if and when the humans tried to attack us again, we would be ready.

“Over the years we have welcomed in many wolves and their families who have been cast aside by their own Pack or had their Pack attacked by humans and destroyed, which is why we are so large.

“After many years, my Alpha, who was now also the Alpha over the Pack again, decided he wanted to step down and he told me something he had never told anyone. Apparently, when we lived in our other Pack, among the villagers, he had found his mate and it was the eldest daughter of the man who started the whole thing. He had mated to her but she was afraid to leave her family or tell them because she knew what her father would do. He found out anyway and it was another reason the man had cooked up the scheme to have the villagers attack us. My Alpha’s mate was pregnant with their pups and when the father found out, he killed his own daughter and the babies she carried.

“My Alpha had tried to move on from her death and the death of his unborn children, but he couldn’t. He wanted to go home and be close to her, even though she wasn’t there anymore. So he gave me the title of Alpha and informed our Pack that I would be their leader, then he went back home to die near his mate.

“So you see, Anna, that’s the reason I don’t like humans, but I know that has nothing to do with you now. I should have never judged you so unfairly in the beginning, but I couldn’t get past everything that had happened to me and my family. Now that I truly know you, I realize what a mistake I made and I….” Carter trailed off as he took a few breaths to calm himself. He and Anna both were in tears by now and Anna could see the pain it had caused him to tell her that story.

“I’m in love with you, Anna,” he finally said after a few moments, looking straight into her eyes so she could see the sincerity in his words.

Anna couldn’t help herself; she flung her arms around his neck and pulled him into her tight embrace. They didn’t kiss or do anything to seduce each other. They just held each other, resting their heads on each other’s shoulders.

Finally Anna pulled back and looked into Carter’s eyes. She put her palm against his cheek, which he leaned on for comfort. “I’m in love with you too, Carter. You and Drew both, I love you both so much.”

Carter’s lips crashed down on hers as he pulled her onto his lap to deepen the kiss. All over again, her arousal started to peak and Carter growled low in his throat and pulled away from her lips. She saw his nostrils flare as he inhaled her scent and she knew he could smell her arousal.