Authors: Jana Leigh
When I tried to examine her further, she started screaming and refused to allow me to touch her. Her mom tried to help, but the girl panicked.” Quin growled, and looked at Devon who growled also. Beating a girl would be bad enough, but Quin did not think he could contain his friend, or himself, if she were sexually assaulted. There was one thing his Packs had always been taught, and that was to protect the women and children. He had failed.
Quin felt Cami's hand on his arm and turned to look at her worried gaze. “Let me talk to her, please. I just want to see if I can help.” She whispered, and Quin thought for only a moment before nodding.
Cami stepped forward, smiled at the doctor, and said. “Through here?”
“Yes.” He acknowledged and opened the door for her.
Cami stepped through the door into a small examination room. Margie was sitting against the wall trying to hold herself together, and patting her daughter"s hair as she laid on a table sobbing. Margie looked up surprised and then tried to smile.
“Margie, I am Cami. I wondered if could talk to Ruby for a few minutes?” She asked and waited while the woman got up and leaned over to whisper into her daughter"s ear.
The girl was no more than eighteen, and Cami held her breath while Margie soothed her for a few minutes.
When the woman stood up, nodded, and then held out her hand to Cami, she released the breath she was holding and approached the opposite side of the bed. She did not know what she was going to say, until she looked at the girl and saw the saw the look on the girls face. She remembered the same look on her face, when she stared in the mirror the day after her mom"s boyfriend had tried to rape her.
“Ruby? My name is Cami. I just wanted to see how you were.” She said softly.
The girl turned and stared at her, she seemed to be unable to focus on her, but Cami was sure she was listening. Through the swollen black eyes and puffy cheeks, the girl looked at her. Cami noticed the doctor had made a makeshift cast on one arm, and had cleaned her as well as he could. She was black and blue from head to toe. Before this had happened, she was sure the girl had been a beauty. Unfortunately, you could not tell it now, from the way she had been beaten.
“I am fine.” The girl struggled to get out of her swollen lips.
“Good.” Cami said and then took the small stool next to the bed and sat down. She took the girls uninjured hand gently and spoke softly, “I don"t know you very well, but I wanted to tell you something. When I was young and living with my mother, she drank a lot. There were days that she would not even know I was there. When I was twelve, she met this man. I thought that maybe for once, she would find someone who would take care of her so I would not have to. Of course, that did not happen. He began to notice that I was changing when I was fourteen; when I was fifteen, he did not even bother to hide his interest. On my sixteenth birthday, he came into my room, told me it was time that I became a woman, and earned my keep around the house. I will never forget his smelly breath when he tried to kiss me, or the weight of his body, when he pinned me to the bed. I remember thinking this could not be really happening. It took me a few minutes to also realize, that no one was going to save me. I had to save myself.
You know you have to do whatever can, to stay alive. I really thought he was going to kill me when I said no. He was so mad, and he started slapping me. I did what I had to in order to get away. When I ran down the hall to my mom, she told me it was my fault and kicked me out. I know this is nothing compared to what you are going through. I want you to know, it was not your fault, whatever you did to stay alive, was okay. Your mom loves you, and your father is not mad at you. He is mad at the situation. Ruby, you have to tell the doctor what happened so he can help. If you don"t want to tell him, then tell your mom and me, and we will tell him. Don"t let them win now. You made it, and now we are here to help you and take care of you.” Cami said. While she was talking, her mother had come around to her side of the bed, and had laid her hands on Cami's shoulders. As she had told her story, Ruby"s mom had wrapped her arms around her shoulders and held her, while she struggled to tell her daughter her story. The unexpected comfort from a stranger had almost been too much. She wanted to help the girl, and instead she was finding comfort for her own past.
Ruby watched her with tears rolling down her cheeks; she tried to talk a few times.
Cami waited patiently as she held on to her hand. Finally, the girl composed herself enough to talk. The first words came out as a whisper, then it was like the flood gates opened, and she began to get stronger and stronger.
“I was going to the restaurant to just take a delivery. We live right above the restaurant, so it was not like I had to go very far. I never go by myself, but mom and dad were getting ready and the bell buzzed. I figured the bread man came early. I opened the back door, and someone hit me in the face. I don"t even know what they looked like; they started hitting me right away. They just hit me, and wouldn"t stop no matter how loud I cried. I yelled for help, but they laughed at me, saying if anyone else came out, they would take care of them too. Then one of them kicked me in the stomach, laughed, and said since I was on my knees already he had something I could do. They pulled at my jeans and I thought they were going to rape me. I screamed and kicked. One of them pulled my underwear. He was kissing me and sticking his tongue in my mouth.
He kept saying he knew I would love it. Before he could do anything more though, something scared them. The one who was kissing me whispered in my ear he would be back to collect.” The girl sobbed.
Cami closed her eyes briefly; thanking God, she had not been raped. The assault would be bad enough to get over, but a rape would have been devastating. Cami then began to get angry for the girl. Whoever these men were, they were going to pay, she vowed in her head. She knew the girl did not need to hear that declaration right now, so she talked quietly to her about what she was feeling. The helplessness and the anger were going to be there for a long while. Margie helped by telling her daughter she had done everything right, fighting, and yelling. She told her it was not her fault, and she and her father were not angry with her.
They talked for a long while, before Cami felt it was a good time to get the doctor. He needed to look at the scratches on her legs before they let her go home with her mom.
Margie kissed Cami on the cheek, and whispered her thanks in her ear. Ruby clung to her hand and asked if she would stay. Cami said she needed to get the doctor, and talk to Quin, but she would be back.
Cami stepped out of the room, made sure the door was closed, before she cried and sank into a chair that was next to the door. She felt Quin come and hold her while she cried for herself, and the young girl in the room.
“Baby?” Quin said into her ear quietly.
Cami shook herself, and stood up. She looked at the doctor and told him what Ruby had told her. The doctor nodded, then looked at Cami curiously, while she ordered him back into the room and told him what he needed to look at.
Quin nodded behind her, and the doctor nodded, and told her he would wait for her to come back into the room before he proceeded.
Cami turned in Quin's arms and looked at him. “I need to be with her.” She said simply and Quin nodded. He looked over her head and instructed Tey to remain in the waiting area until Cami came out. He and Devon were going to the office to arrange for the Pack meeting.
Cami nodded, kissed him lightly on the lips, and then turned to go back into the room.
Quin smiled as he watched the woman brace herself, and then pulled open the door. He had been given such a great gift in the woman who had been chosen as his mate. She was strong, and did not even realize she had already stepped into the role as Alpha.
Both Devon and Tey looked at him with approval. Tonight he would introduce her to the Pack, and then after he would claim her, and she would be his forever.
Chapter 3
Quin returned to the offices, and went to his office. When he entered, he was very surprised to see he had someone waiting for him. Quin walked, and stood in front of the man who was sleeping on his couch and grinned. It was Jaden, his best friend when he was a child. Jaden had been asked to come to the States with him, but he had instead gone into training with the Council of Europe, to be an Alpha.
His parents were the Beta of the Gevaudan Pack. Jaden had proven that he could be an Alpha when he was a young wolf. His parents never wanted to challenge Quin's claim as Alpha, and had tried to teach their son to be a Beta, but the power that he had could not be contained. The Council recognized it, and asked him to come to them for training, and then when ready he would receive his own Pack. Quin had missed his friend. They had been closer than brothers. Whenever he needed to talk or work things through, he often called his friend and talked to him.
This was a very pleasant surprise. His best friend would be here to meet his mate, and be a witness for the Council in France of the claiming. It was perfect.
“Dude,” Quin said, and nudged his friend"s leg to wake him.
Jaden slowly opened his eyes and stretched before saying to his friend. “Hey, bro.
What"s up?”
“What"s up is you are in my office in the United States. When the hell did you get in, and why are you here?” Quin said laughing at his friend when he shook his head to clear out the cobwebs.
“Seriously bro, I know where the hell I am. The Council sent me, to help your sorry ass with the Rogues. They thought I could lend a hand. Besides, I was getting bored waiting for them to find me a Pack. I was thinking about coming here, and making a Pack near here. This place is gorgeous, and the women are not bad either.” He said wiggling his eyes.
“You could not have come at a better time; we had an attack last night. I was going to have to call the Council anyway for help. I need to figure out who the hell the leader is, and why he has targeted my Pack. For a month, we have waited and watched, we thought they had left and then this. Whoever it is, they had patience; he waited and watched, until he found a weakness in our security.” Quin said and ran a hand over his face.
Jaden stood and instantly became serious, that is what he loved about the man. One second, he could be laughing and joking, the next, he could start issuing orders. He was the same height as Quin, but where he had dark hair Jared"s hair was pale blonde, almost white. He left it shoulder length, like when they were younger. He had bulked up a lot, since the last time Quin had seen him. He looked like a professional football player instead of a business man.
“Who was attacked?” Jaden said quietly.
“Ruby, Margie and Rodger"s oldest daughter. She thought she was accepting a delivery for the restaurant, and they jumped her in the alley.” Quin explained what happened.
Jaden"s hands were clenched, when he finished the story, and Quin let him calm down before he spoke. “I need help. I have found my mate.” Jaden looked at him in surprise and then grinned. “Dude, doing the wife and kid's thing, that"s awesome.”
“Well, definitely the wife, we have not even had a chance to talk about anything else. I just met her a few days ago. Right now, it feels like a lifetime from where we are. I want to introduce her to the Pack tonight. I am glad you will be there so you can meet her.
She should be back here soon.” Quin said and went to his desk. Even with all the bad things happening, he had a hard time not thinking about Cami and smiling.
Jaden and Quin caught up as they sat and talked about what the Pack was planning.
Jaden asked for permission to stay with the Pack until he decided what he was going to do, and where he was going to establish a Pack. Jaden had never thought beyond coming to the States and reuniting with his friend. For the last few months, he had been plagued with an almost desperate need to come to his friend. He felt that things were going to change and get rocky before they got better for his friend.
Two hours later, they had a plan, and Quin called for a Pack meeting. He brought his friend up to his apartment to get settled before the meeting. They entered the living area and Quin smiled. Cami had just gotten home, he felt her in the bedroom moving around. Their bond was already forming and he could not be happier.
Quin noticed his friend had stopped in the entry way and was sniffing. “Dude, don"t do that around her, she will be pissed.” He chuckled and then frowned when his friend did not respond, but only continued to sniff.
“Jaden?” He said.
His friend opened his eyes and Quin stepped forward. “What?” He asked, thinking there was something wrong. He could not smell anything but Cami.
“Shit.” Jaden said, as he expelled a breath.
“WHAT?” Quin said impatiently.
“NO FUCKIN WAY!” Jaden yelled.
Cami came out of the master bedroom to see what the heck all the noise was about. She hoped nothing else had happened, she was worn out from staying with Ruby. The girl had cried and wanted Cami to come home with her. She had made sure the girl was settled in her parent"s apartment, before returning to Quin"s apartment. She was going to go and see Quin, but she needed a few minutes to gather herself before she saw the man who was consuming her thoughts.
There were two men standing in the entrance when she came out into the room. She stopped when she saw Quin; he looked tired she thought, before she looked at the other man. He stood the same height as Quin, and was just as handsome. They were like two sides of the same coin. One dark haired, one light. Both strong and muscular, had similar facial features, long chiseled nose and cheeks. Quin had blue eyes and the stranger had deep green. They were both drop dead gorgeous, she felt the heat between her legs, what the hell was wrong with her? One man was more than enough.
“Quin, everything okay?” She asked and walked to his side.
“Hey baby, this is Jaden, my oldest friend in the world. He was sent to help us. How is Ruby?” He asked, and kissed her on top of her head.