Authors: Lynnette Bernard
Without hesitation, Dean, Mia, and Mitchell followed Laurie as she ran toward the lodge. Laurie was grateful that they didn’t question her words. They had always been that way. Even as young children, they trusted her implicitly. They knew she wouldn’t tell them to do something without just cause.
As the back deck of the lodge came into view, Laurie breathed a sigh of relief, and she slowed to a stop, bending over and holding her stomach as she took great gasps of breath. She was exhausted from the run but was more scared than anything else, and the fear was making it difficult for her to breathe. She had to calm down. She couldn’t take care of the kids if she panicked.
She turned to face them when she felt an arm wrap around her waist and saw a masculine hand bring a knife to her neck. She froze. She knew immediately that it was Patrick. She could smell the overpowering aftershave he wore and felt the familiar body that had abused her for so many years as it was pressed against her.
“I warned you. Now all of you are going to pay,” he spoke quietly in her ear.
Mia, Dean, and Mitchell looked at her with wide eyes. She could feel the emotions roaring through them and knew they were afraid to do anything that might trigger Patrick’s violence toward her.
“Let her go,” Mia demanded, stepping forward slowly.
Patrick pressed the knife to Laurie’s throat, drawing blood as he slowly sliced into her skin. “Don’t say a word, Mia,” he warned her. “Now. Very slowly. Come here.” He looked at Dean and Mia, dismissing the unknown kid beside them. “We’re all going for a little ride.”
Dean reached out and took hold of Mia’s forearm and pulled her behind him. “We’re not going anywhere with you.” His voice was firm as he stepped toward his mother.
“Oh, but you are, son,” Patrick told him, his voice deceptively calm. “You see, if you don’t, I’ll just kill your mother right here, right now. And then I’ll kill you both.”
The blade cut a little deeper to make his point. Laurie kept silent despite the pain. She bit down into her bottom lip to keep the whimper from escaping her. She would not be the cause of her children doing something to help her and then getting hurt themselves.
“You should never have divorced me, Laurie,” he told her calmly, pulling her body tightly against his.
“I valued my sanity,” Laurie told him firmly, fighting the nausea that was welling up inside of her. “If I had stayed married to you, I would have lost my mind.”
“Bitch!” he growled, grabbing her hair and preparing to cut deeply into her neck.
The flurry of movement happened so quickly, it took a moment before Laurie realized what was happening. Both children lunged for her as Mitchell growled, and blue light encompassed him as he shifted into a light brown wolf with golden streaks and pounced on Patrick. His teeth sank into the arm that held the knife, and his body weight slammed the man down to the ground. The knife flew from Patrick’s hand as he howled in pain.
Two more wolves leaped from the back deck to land on either side of the man as Laurie was pulled away by her children. Laurie looked up at the sky as she was thrown down and covered by her children in time to see Jace and Jackson in wolf form sail over them to land on Patrick’s chest.
The vicious growls of all of the wolves filled the air. Dean pulled both Laurie and Mia to their feet and pushed them protectively behind him as he gaped at the wolves in shock. Mia hung onto his arm as she stepped aside and viewed the surreal scene before her. Laurie stepped out from behind them and walked toward the wolves.
By that time, Nikki and Martha had run out onto the deck. Taking in the situation, Martha turned to go back into the lodge to quickly return with several large bath towels from the laundry room. There was going to be an abundance of naked men on the back lawn very soon, and although the shifters would not be concerned with their nudity, she knew that Laurie, Nikki, Dean, and Mia would be.
“Patrick, did you really think you would get away with this?” Laurie asked incredulously.
Mitchell still had his teeth embedded in Patrick’s forearm and shook it angrily. Jace and Jackson leaned over him, their teeth bared and snapping at him. Alexander and Butler stood on either side of him, their fangs bared, growling, ready to do serious injury.
“Mitchell, let him go,” Laurie spoke to the young wolf calmly.
Mitchell shook his head angrily, pulling another sharp cry of pain from Patrick. The other four wolves growled deeply, and Patrick’s eyes grew larger as he looked at each one until his eyes rolled back in his head and he lost consciousness.
Laurie walked to Mitchell carefully and knelt down beside him, slowly petting him as she tried to calm him. “I’m so proud of you, Mitchell,” she told him honestly. “You shifted. And you did it to protect me and my children. You’re a brave wolf.”
Mitchell looked up at Laurie with something close to adoration in his eyes. There was a blue shimmer of magic, and the young wolf transformed back to his human form. Laurie caught the towel Martha tossed her and handed it to Mitchell, smiling at the blush that covered his cheeks. She was glad to see that his injuries from his beating by his previous alpha were now completely healed. His shift had given him the miraculous ability to heal as was the norm for shifters. She was so happy for him.
“Dude, that was awesome!” Dean’s amazed voice broke the silence.
Mitchell looked up at Dean and smiled. “It was, wasn’t it?” Mitchell agreed. “It’s the first time I’ve ever shifted into my wolf form. I never could before.”
“That’s because you found your triad partner.” Jace’s deep voice startled them.
Laurie looked up to see that all four wolves had shifted back to their human forms and were wrapping towels around their waists, grateful that Martha had thought to get them.
“I have?” Mitchell asked, confused. “I’ve only met Dean,” he protested, his voice dying out as he looked up at his new friend. His triad partner.
“I don’t know what that means, but if meeting me made you shift, that’s freakin’ amazing!” Dean told him, totally in awe of him.
“Aw, I didn’t get a good look at all that naked flesh before you guys covered up,” Nikki complained from the deck.
Alexander and Butler both growled at her at the same time. “Woman, you will not look at anyone but your mates,” Butler told her angrily.
“Yeah right, buddy,” Nikki called down to him. “In your dreams.”
Laurie laughed quietly then found her legs giving out on her as her nerves took over, and she felt herself falling to the ground. Jackson reached for her and pulled her onto his lap as he sat quickly to cushion her fall and cuddled her in his lap. Jace was beside her immediately, touching her face as the anger left him and concern took its place.
“Get Doc Barrett,” he commanded Alexander quickly, facing his men with fire in his eyes. “Find out what happened to Lucian,” he told Butler, snapping the order angrily before returning his gaze to Laurie. He reached out and held his hand to her throat to try to stop the blood that was escaping her in a steady stream from the wound in her neck. “I should have killed him,” he whispered angrily.
Laurie reached up and touched his face gently. “No,” she said firmly. “That would make you as bad as he is, and you are
nothing
like him.” She leaned forward and kissed his lips tenderly, running her hand down his shoulder to hold his hand in hers. Reaching down, she found Jackson’s hand as it cradled her hip and took his within her grasp, entwining her fingers with them both. “I love you,” she whispered as their heads leaned in to rest against hers.
“We love you, baby,” Jackson whispered against the side of her face. “So damned much!”
“Okay, Mom,” Mia’s voice chimed in. “Let’s call the police and get this piece of trash taken away.”
Laurie looked up and saw her beautiful daughter looking down at her with determination. She couldn’t help but smile at her fierce little warrior.
“And then we’re going to have a long talk about all this wolf business.” Mia crossed her arms across her chest. “Way to keep a secret, Mom!” she told her proudly, her voice conveying her amazement. She looked up at Dean and saw that he stood there with a wide grin on his face. “And don’t you even start about how cool it is to be a triad partner to a wolf!” she told her brother, poking him in the chest as he stood beside her.
Dean just smiled. He looked at Mitchell and saw his new friend looking at him in wonder. But Dean had just one question for him.
“Do I get to shift into a wolf, too?”
Chapter 24
Laurie looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror in their bathroom. She brushed her hair slowly, wanting to look perfect for the two men who waited for her in their bedroom. Lowering the hairbrush to the counter, she lightly passed her hand over the lavender negligee. She tried to look at herself objectively. She wasn’t a small woman, never had been, but her curves were proportionate. Her hips were full, her breasts on the large side. Men liked that, right? She looked at her face, turning her head first to one side and then the other. She could be considered attractive. Jace and Jackson certainly made her feel that way.
Even after all that they had been through, and all the ways they had reassured her that they loved and desired her just as she was, she couldn’t help but become overwhelmed with anxiety. Patrick’s intrusion in her life once again had that effect on her. He had methodically destroyed her confidence over the years. It didn’t matter how long they were divorced. His cruel words and actions still sent her into a tailspin of insecurity and despair.
Gently touching the bandage that covered her throat, she couldn’t help but wince at the pain. As she had sat on the steps of the back deck, both Jace and Jackson had licked the wound repeatedly, determined to help the healing process along, but she had been so caught up in the sensuality of feeling their tongues against her neck that she found herself clutching their arms and pulling them toward her. Doc Barrett had cleared his throat softly to remind them that they were surrounded by people, and she had blushed at the memory of everyone looking at her with knowing smiles. Finally, her men had given the doctor the space he needed to dress the wound.
Only when everyone was satisfied that she had been taken care of and her wound was not life threatening, did everyone stop hovering over her. Laurie was relieved when Officers Clayton Forest and Hunter Stewart arrived and took up their time and attention. She was relieved that they were already familiar with her ex from the fiasco at the mall, and she felt safe knowing that they were part of Jace’s pack.
Laurie was proud of her children as they spoke clearly and without fear to the officers. Patrick did not fare as well. He was shaking with fear as Alexander whispered something to him before he was lead away. Laurie had a feeling that Patrick wouldn’t be telling anyone about his wolf experience. She doubted he would confess to such insanity. No one would believe him anyway.
Jace had reminded her that Hunter and Clay would be sure to keep the details of the wolf shifters out of the incident report since the crime being committed was committed by a human. If the crime had been committed by a shifter, Jace, as ruling alpha, would have made a swift and fair judgment to protect the pack.
Once the officers had left with Patrick in custody, the kids had decided to forgo the movie, wanting to spend the night relaxing quietly in the living room instead. It seemed as if the entire pack had just needed to be together. It wasn’t long before there had been a constant stream of visitors as each pack member stopped by to show their concern and support. Laurie had been awed by their kindness and had nearly cried at the way every member had welcomed her children when they had arrived at the ranch, but now she was speechless as the pack showed her just how much they truly cared about her as well.
She had been especially glad to see Lucian and Cole come by. She had worried when she had found out that Patrick had caught Lucian by surprise and had knocked him out with one of the fireplace logs that had been stacked outside the visitors’ lodge. Thankfully, Luc had recovered quickly. She would always be amazed by the healing capabilities that the wolf shifters had. Luc had apologized profusely for allowing Patrick to get past him. He had stood before Jace utterly dejected, feeling totally responsible for putting Laurie and her children at risk.