She’d used these two days away to formulate her escape plan. She’d had a hard time not spilling all her problems to her best and only friend, but she refused to spoil Kaitlyn’s happy day by burdening her with her own problems. Kaitlyn would have wanted to help, then her mates would have gotten involved and even more people would now be in danger.
She knew she had to do this alone. When she found her mates, she’d formulated a new escape plan. She’d already decided to run away from Nick, but now she had a destination. She needed to get Lexie from where she’d hidden her and then get back to Pine Falls. The fact that Nick hadn’t appeared there this weekend had led Meg to believe that it was going to be a safe place for her to take Lexie.
Once she’d freed herself from Nick’s clutches, she would be able to beg her mate’s forgiveness and hope they could grant it. She hadn’t wanted to hurt them, but she knew she probably had. Their expressions had gone from confused to angry to furious as she’d continued to avoid them.
They didn’t know she was doing it for them, but they would. She’d tell them everything, if she escaped alive. If she didn’t, well at least she hadn’t killed them, too. If they’d come with her to get Lexie, Nick would have killed them as soon as he saw them. If she’d mated them and then Nick had killed her, then they would have followed her into death. She couldn’t do that to them. This had been the only way. This had been their only hope of staying alive.
Prescott felt rage and betrayal course through his veins in equal measures. She was gone. She’d lied. She hadn’t stayed to talk to them. She hadn’t stayed to get to know them. She’d fled.
“What the hell did we do to make her leave us?” Lachlan said. It was a rhetorical question. He knew from his brother’s scents that they were equally furious and hurt by their mate’s actions.
“Landon!” Caleb roared out the bear’s name. Caleb’s eyes were bright with his cat’s rage. Prescott snarled at the bear as he appeared in the restroom seconds after his Alpha’s command.
Prescott leaped for the bear’s throat. Landon batted him away like he was a fly, not a two-hundred-pound cougar. Prescott hit the wall of the restroom and smashed straight through to the men’s room next door.
“Enough, Prescott,” Caleb commanded. Prescott snarled at Landon as he padded back through the hole in the wall. Caleb directed his amber gaze at Prescott and commanded him to stop. Prescott could no longer attack Landon. He was unable to disobey a command from his Alpha.
“Shift,” Caleb said.
Prescott swiftly shifted back and stood panting in rage. His cat’s anger and pain continued to burn through him. He wanted to run after her, but the hurt was so great that he also wanted to simply let her go. His heart was a burning lump of pain in his chest. “Why? Why did she do this?”
He hadn’t even realized he’d croaked the words out until Landon turned his gaze on him. The bear had unshed tears in his eyes. “She said she needed one day. She needed time to talk to Lexie. She didn’t want to ruin Kaitlyn’s wedding.”
Caleb held up his hand to stop Landon talking. “Tell us exactly what she said, and who the fuck is Lexie?”
“Lexie is her little sister,” Landon said. He looked at each of them. “She became her guardian only a month ago when her brother’s mate became pregnant. She’s only five years old.”
“She thought we’d reject her because she’s caring for her sister?” Lachlan said. Prescott was glad to see that Lachlan was as furious as he was at that particular accusation. It was an insult that she’d even think them so shallow.
“Not that,” Landon said. “I’m not explaining this right.”
“Then fucking try harder,” Prescott said. “Because right now she’s not sounding like someone I even want as a mate.”
Landon looked horrified. “No, she’s wonderful. She’s sweet and caring.”
“We wouldn’t know if that’s true or not because you kept us away from her,” Caleb said. He ground the words out between his gritted teeth.
“It all made perfect sense when she explained it,” Landon said sadly. “Perhaps I should have made her explain it to you herself. She said she would as soon as the wedding was over. I don’t understand why she left.”
“Please Landon,” Lachlan said, “just tell us exactly what she said. Then maybe we’ll want to go after her, because right now, I’m inclined to let her go.”
“I’m not letting her go,” Caleb said. “She will reject me to my face if that is her wish, but she will not simply run from me.”
“She wouldn’t,” Landon said. “I’m sure she has a reason. I scented great pain and fear from her. She was drowning in it. She couldn’t hide that fact from me. I thought she was scared of her brother taking Lexie away from her. But that wouldn’t make her leave like this. I wonder if it was for something else.”
Prescott’s cat was desperate to shake the big bear. “Landon. Tell us what she said before I kill you.”
“If you don’t tell us soon, I’ll let him,” Caleb said.
“Her mother died in a car accident three years ago with her father dying later that day as he followed his mate into death. Her older brother was already mated and took in their little sister, Lexie.”
Prescott felt sadness for his mate losing both her parents like that, but his rage and pain was nearly consuming him. “What has this got to do with her leaving?” Caleb ignored him and gestured for Landon to continue.
“Her brother’s mate is having a difficult pregnancy and they finally let her have Lexie. She’s wanted her all this time, but her brother refused to allow it until now. He kept them apart saying Lexie got upset when Meg came around. They live in Alaska, and Meg has just gotten Lexie settled into a school in San Diego.
“Meg told me she needed to explain to her sister why she needed to move again. She was scared her brother, Scott, would take Lexie away again if she got too upset. She refused to share the burden with Kaitlyn in fear of ruining her wedding. She said she had to talk to Lexie before she lost herself completely to her desire for you.”
Prescott’s cat was momentarily jerked out of its rage at those words. “She desires us?”
“She was fighting it with everything she had. When she talked about you the musk was pouring from her. It was very uncomfortable.” The big bear was actually blushing. “She was in obvious distress. She cried.”
“You let her manipulate you by crying,” Lachlan said. His tone was arctic.
Caleb held his hand up to silence Lachlan. “It’s a little thin as an excuse, Landon. But I respect you for aiding our mate and keeping her confidence.”
“I understood her not wanting to complicate Kaitlyn’s wedding day with our mating,” Lachlan said. “But nothing you’ve told us explains why she’d run from us.” He turned and left the ladies’ room, his anger and hurt leaving a clear scent trail behind him.
“I’m sorry, Caleb, but I think she’s in trouble. I know she’s scared. She didn’t lie about that, and she reeked of fear.” Prescott watched the big man sag. He was nearly seven feet tall, but always seemed even bigger. His normal confidence and humor were gone. He looked troubled. “I’m going after her. Somethings not right. She wouldn’t just walk away from her mates. She wanted you, I know she did.”
“I only know she’s gone,” Prescott said. “She avoided us and then left.” He wanted to believe Landon, but both he and his cat were smarting from her rejection. “Lachlan is right. She ran.”
“I don’t care why she left,” Caleb said. “I’m going to find her and learn the reason from her. My cat will not be happy until he finds her and neither will I.”
“And if she
still
rejects you?” Prescott said.
“Then I won’t die wondering.”
* * * *
Meg drove straight to her friend Paula’s house. She’d driven the seventeen hours with barely any stops and was totally exhausted. Paula was a good friend from work, but was someone she’d rarely socialized with, so she’d felt certain Nick wouldn’t have thought to look at Paula’s for either her or Lexie. She’d only been gone for two nights and hoped he hadn’t yet realized she’d been gone.
It was only five in the evening but a storm had set in, making the skies dark with rainclouds. She’d phoned an hour ago and asked Paula to have Lexie ready to leave straight away. Lexie had been excited that Meg was nearly home and was looking forward to hearing all about Meg’s mates.
Lexie was only five. Mates were something akin to Prince Charming to her. Although, they sort of felt like that to Meg as well. Her mates were all handsome and strong. She felt the stab of guilt twist her stomach and cried out with the pain. She’d left them.
It had hurt so much to leave them, but she’d done it to keep them safe. She’d drive for another seventeen hours straight if she had to, because she needed to get back to them as soon as she could. The pain had grown worse with each mile she drew away from them. She knew it was all in her head, but she ached just the same. She’d never even let herself touch them. Her cat had roared in frustration at being denied their touch.
“Tomorrow. If they forgive me, then tomorrow we can touch them.” It helped a little. Their mating musk had done its intended job. She wanted them. She wanted them badly. She wanted to rub herself all over them. Somehow she’d achieved the impossible, she’d resisted that urge. Nothing short of wanting to protect them would have made it possible. She just hoped they understood when she got back to them.
She parked the car and dragged herself out, indulging in a slow stretch before walking to Paula’s front door. It was dark and quiet in the small condominium. The hairs on the back of Meg’s neck tickled as they rose.
“Paula, it’s Meg.” She knocked on the door and it swung open. Meg started to shake. The smell of blood wafted out the open door. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket as she walked slowly into the dark house.
She ran to Paula’s side when she saw her friend slumped on the sofa. She had a gash on her head, but Meg could see she was breathing and hear the steady beat of her heart. She also heard nothing else. There were no other heartbeats in the house. Lexie wasn’t here. She scented her, but she was no longer in the house.
She called 911 as she searched the empty home. On the kitchen table was Lexie’s coloring book and crayons. Written in red crayon on the open page of the book was a message for her.
“We’re waiting for you to come home to us.” Nick had taken Lexie and he’d left her an address.
Hating herself for leaving her friend, she took the coloring book with her and without waiting for the ambulance or the police, she ran from the house and got behind the wheel of her car. She couldn’t involve the police, she’d tried that before and Nick had somehow known. He’d said he’d kill Lexie if she tried to go to the police again.
She should have known he’d never let her go. He’d warned her enough times. Living free with Lexie and her mates was a pipe dream. She drove to the address he’d left for her to find, praying the entire time that Lexie was safe. She wouldn’t survive if her own stupidity had killed her sister.
Lachlan, as sheriff of Pine Falls, had used official channels to find out Meg O’Brien’s address in San Diego. He’d then relayed the address to Caleb and told his brother to go search for his mate. He’d told Caleb that he wanted nothing to do with someone like her.
He’d lasted a whole five minutes before running from the sheriff’s station to find Caleb and Prescott waiting out front for him in Caleb’s truck. Prescott had said he wasn’t going either, but it seemed as though both of their cats were not willing to let her go so easily.
The instinctual drive to mate was one that nature really did make impossible to deny. He’d told his cat in no uncertain terms that he was not going to run after a reluctant mate. But here he was, on the outskirts of San Diego.
He’d kept track of her progress on the journey down through her speeding fines. Her rental car had been easy to identify. There was only one rental company in Pine Falls. The speed at which she’d travelled had caused him the most concern. She really was running scared. He didn’t think they’d given her any cause to be this frightened of them.
Perhaps Landon was right? Maybe something else really was scaring her.
It had been a long and silent drive. All of them were worried and angry. Angry at their mate for driving away and worried there really was no other reason.
Perhaps she just didn’t want them?
Lachlan knew Caleb had been right. This was the only way. If they were to live the remainder of their long lives without a mate, at least they would know why. They wouldn’t have to go to their graves wondering the reason for it.
By the time they pulled up to her small cottage, night had come early due to a massive thunderstorm. The rain was falling in sheets and lightning lit the sky before thunder shook them to their bones.
“Quite the ominous setting for bad news,” Prescott muttered.
“It may not be bad news,” Caleb said. “I can’t imagine why she ran, but it was important to her. No one drives like that without a very good reason.”
“Even if she has a good reason, I may still put her across my knee for driving so fast.” Lachlan couldn’t believe he’d said that. In the whole eighteen-hour journey he’d never once admitted she may have had a reason for leaving without a word.
Damn mating hormones.
He didn’t want to be anything but angry at her and the image of her draped naked across his lap while he spanked her cute round ass was ruining that. His cock stirred and thickened, despite him willing it not to.