Blind Acceptance (4 page)

David urged her forward. “Come on, Laynee. My Jeep’s just a short distance, and we’ll get back to our campsite. We can have you warm by the fire and fill you with hot dogs inside of an hour.

Then, at first light, we’ll head home.”

Eric watched David close the flap to their tent, leaving Laynee inside. “Is she sleeping?”

David nodded and sat down across the fire from Eric. He looked at his hands for several moments and then raised his gaze to Eric. “Brother, my bear says Laynee is our mate.”

Eric’s mouth dropped open as he took a moment to process his brother’s words. “How can that be?”

David scowled. “You know damn well what it means. Fate gives us our mates.”

Eric shook his head. “Sorry, I’m not making any sense.”

“Then say what you mean, brother.”

“My wolf says she’s our mate as well.”

David stared at him for a moment, and then a huge smile stretched across his angular face. “So we’re gonna have a life like Kitania, Ethan, and Latan?”

Eric smiled. “Could we ask for a better relationship than they have?”

“It won’t be the same. Laynee’s human, and she’s got to accept our animal side or Alpha Remus won’t sanction the mating.”

Groaning, Eric tossed a stick onto the fire. “Do we have to head back to the pack in the morning? Can’t we just take her home, to our place? We could just ignore Latan’s invitation this once.”

David snorted. “Are you crazy? First, we’re gonna have to figure out why her old man did this, and how we’re gonna keep her safe from him.”

“And second?” Eric asked.

“Huh?”

“If there’s a first, there has to be a second.”

“Well, if you really need a second.

How about the fact that Latan only passed on the invitation.”

“Yeah, but Uncle Remus would forgive us this once.”

David laughed.

“Uncle Remus probably would, but he didn’t send the invitation.”

Eric raised his brow. “What does that mean?”

“It means that Latan said Alpha Remus ordered everyone home for this meeting.

Do you wanna risk that Alpha Remus would understand us blowing him off?”

Eric swallowed hard and shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. He’s always been pretty supportive of all his adopted nephews, but he’s still the leader of our pack. We’ll head straight for the pack house in the morning.” He grinned and rolled out his sleeping bag. “Besides, we might just need his help to keep our mate safe. The soda can is in the jeep.

Maybe they can help me find out what they drugged her with.”

“I’ll call Latan before we hit the road and fill him in on the situation. Maybe he’ll have some advice on how to proceed when we get there.”

Eric laughed. “I can’t wait to see what he says about a bear and a wolf mating the same woman.”

Remus walked into the kitchen and stopped when he saw Maddie at the kitchen stove. The twenty plus years they’d been together had been good to her. Technically, she was forty-seven years old, but her Wolfen DNA kept her young. Her shoulder-length brown curls had only a few strands of gray, and she still had her girlish, curvy figure after bearing him four healthy pups. The only way their life could get any better would be if one of their brood would find their mate and present them with some grandpups.

His eyebrows rose as he watched the salt shaker slide across the cabinet right into Maddie’s hand. He walked quietly up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. “I thought you were going to make an effort to stop using your hocus pocus around the house.” His mate had been involved in a serious boating accident when she was a child that left her in a coma. When she’d awakened, she’d found herself telekinetic. It was a great many years before she learned to understand and control her gift.

Maddie snickered. “Practice makes perfect, my alpha. Besides, all this talk about our people disappearing is making me nervous. I wanna keep in top form just in case I need to use my special skills on any unsuspecting bad guys.”

Remus pressed a kiss against her neck and opened the cupboard above her head and removed a cup. He picked up the coffee pot and groaned when he found it empty. “Where’s my coffee?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You know what Dr.

Tehran said.”

The Alpha growled. “That old fool doesn’t know his ass from his elbow.

My father drank coffee every day of his life.”

Maddie turned and glared at him.

“And look how young he was when he passed on.”

Remus slammed the empty cup down on the counter. “Yeah, but coffee didn’t kill him.”

Maddie reached for the kettle on the stove. “I’ll make you a nice cup of tea.”

He watched as she poured the pale liquid into his cup. Grumbling under his breath, he took the cup to the table and sat down. He watched his mate crack eggs into her skillet and thought back over their life together. He’d first seen her as a young child of only eight years.

She’d been visiting her grandfather right here on this very mountain. Victor Barrow had been a friend to his father, and a member of their pack after marrying his wife, Eloise, even though he was human. Remus had been in his wolf form when he’d met the little girl, but he’d known instantly she was his mate. Only a few months later she’d lain in a hospital bed, possibly dying.

Her slow recovery, and an evil doctor intent on experimenting on the shifter race, had kept his mate from him for ten long years. But fate has a way of evening things out. His Maddie finally came home to the mountain, and they’d been inseparable ever since. Their life together had created four pups.

The twins, Victor and Eloise, were twenty-six years old now. Someday, he hoped his son would carry on in his place and lead the pack. He glanced at Maddie and grinned. His wife was adamant that their daughter was firstborn so she should be the next Alpha of the Wind River pack.
I’m not sure how that
would work since I’ve never seen a
female alpha lead a pack before. But if
anyone could do it, Eloise could.

Presently, their daughter taught the pack’s grammar school and dreamed of having an adventure in her life. Her twin, Victor, was the sane one in the family. Very calm in nature, always thinking things through carefully. His degree in business administration qualified him to run the family construction company.

Their younger daughter, Elyne, was living in Casper and working as a secretary for a bank. She was twenty-three and had promised to spend the summer at home this year, taking a leave of absence. Remus had plans to talk her into staying home and working for the family’s business. She leaned toward pretending to be human and had hopes for finding a human mate.

And finally, their baby, Kanor, had just turned twenty-one. He worked for the family’s company, having refused Remus’s offer to send him to college.

His main goal in life was to find his mate and have a family.

Remus looked up when the back door opened, and his brother walked in. Of the three brothers, he was the most serious and levelheaded. He’d retired from managing the family’s business a couple of years back, and like Remus, now waited impatiently for one of his six children to make him a grandfather.

“Good morning, Latan. Would you like some breakfast?”

Maddie asked.

“There’s plenty.”

Latan walked over and glanced at the stove, his eyes lighting up. “Looks great, little wolf. I’d love anything you can spare.”

Maddie giggled. “Kitania not feeding you enough these days?”

He scowled. “She’s on another one of her health kicks. I swear the woman spends too much time watching daytime television. She had the nerve to tell me I eat too much red meat!”

Remus snorted, spraying tea down the front of his shirt. “What the hell does she think a wolf should eat?”

Latan sighed and inhaled deeply before he walked away from the stove.

“She thinks I need more vegetables and fiber in my diet. She isn’t even making desserts anymore.”

Maddie patted his shoulder. “Sit down, honey. I’ll bring you a plate.”

Remus pushed one of the chairs away from the table with his foot and nodded toward it. “Take a load off, brother.

What brings you by so early, besides your hunt for breakfast meat. Is everything okay?”

“Sorry for barging in so early, but I need to talk to you about a potential problem, and I thought it would be better not to wait since so many others would be around today.”

Remus took a sip of his tea and grimaced. “What’s the problem?”

Latan snickered. “The little woman’s got you drinking tea, huh?”

Remus growled. “State your business, or leave me to suffer my tea in silence.”

Maddie placed two loaded plates of food on the table and promptly smacked Remus on the back of his head. “Quit your complaining, old man. That tea will probably keep you around a few more years.”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Come on, brother. What can I do to help you?”

“I got a call from David and Eric early this morning.”

Remus stopped his fork halfway to his mouth. “Don’t tell me they’re not coming. I made it clear this was a mandatory meeting.”

Latan shook his head. “No, they’ll be here. In fact, they should be showing up within the next couple of hours.”

Maddie joined them at the table with her breakfast. “They must have left sometime yesterday.”

“Yeah, they drove until dark last night and camped in the woods.”

“So why’d they call this morning?”

Remus asked. “Are they in some kind of trouble?”

Latan stared down at his plate. “Yeah, they’ve got trouble all right. They’ve met their mate.”

There was silence for a few moments, and then Maddie cleared her throat.

“
Their
mate?”

Latan nodded. “Yeah, you heard me right. They both claim this woman is their mate.”

Remus shrugged. “So what’s the problem? I seem to recall it worked fine for you and Ethan.” Latan and Ethan had met Kitania when she came to teach the pack school. At least that was why they thought she’d come. In reality, she’d been working undercover for the National Council on a secret mission.

No one had been more surprised than her when it turned out the alpha’s brothers were her mates. It had caused quite a stir in the pack twenty-five years ago. Now, it wasn’t uncommon for wolves to share a mate since the males outnumbered the females two to one.

“Well, one problem is she’s human.”

Remus dropped his fork and sighed.

Bringing humans into the pack was always problematic.

He sensed something else was troubling his brother. “Is that the only problem?”

“No, she’s apparently in some kind of trouble.”

Remus sipped his tea as Latan filled them in on the boy’s story.

“Her own father tried to kill her?”

asked Maddie.

Latan picked up his cup. “That’s what the boy told me.”

Remus pushed his plate away. “And you say she’s blind, so she hasn’t seen them in their animal forms.”

“According to David, when Eric found her in the woods, she thought he was a dog and cuddled up to him with no fear.”

Maddie laughed. “I’ll bet David loved that. He’ll be regaling us with that story for years. God, we’ll have to listen to all kinds of puppy jokes. The boy will be relentless.”

Remus groaned. “And you say they’re bringing her here?”

Latan nodded, shoveling a forkful of eggs into his mouth. He swallowed quickly. “I told them to take her to the guest house and stay with her, and I had Kitania run some groceries over there.

They’ll call me when they arrive. Eric managed to bring back the soda can that he thinks had drugs in it. He’s asked if I can help him find out what her father used on her and what, if any, side effects it might have.”

“Smart.” Remus pulled out his cell phone. “I’ll give Tehran a call and have him come in early. He should have any equipment needed to test the can. We’ll need all the ammunition we can get to protect her. It’s good you told them to use the guest cottage. It’ll give her a safe place and keep her isolated from the rest of us until we can explain things.

They’re both sure she’s their mate?”

Latan shrugged. “That’s what they told me. Both said their beasts claimed her.

You know as well as I do that the animal never makes a mistake.”

“Maybe not, but this is sure one strange mating. A wolf, a bear, and a blind human.”

Maddie giggled, then covered her mouth with a napkin.

“What’s so funny?” asked Remus.

“A wolf, a bear, and a blind woman.”

Maddie snickered. “Sounds like the first line of a really bad bar joke.”

Latan snorted. “At least our mating wasn’t quite so mismatched.” Their mate, Kitania, was a half-breed. Part wolf and part feline, she could only shift into an ordinary, small black house cat.

Remus pushed his chair back and stood. “When they arrive, I wanna see the boys before you tell anybody about them. If her father really tried to kill her, he’s not gonna be happy when her body doesn’t turn up.”

David parked the Jeep and turned off the engine. He looked over at the small, ranch-style house constructed of weathered cedar, situated on the side of a wooded hill. Alpha Remus had built the guest house almost ten years ago, and everyone in the pack worked to keep it in good condition.