“He tried.” She looked down at Lexie, she couldn’t say too much more until she was alone with her mates. “After dinner he walked me to my car and being alone with him for the first time, I noticed he lacked any scent. He wasn’t human or shifter.”
“We noticed that at the warehouse where we found you,” Lachlan said. “The whole place only carried yours and Lexie’s scent. What did he do once you were alone?”
“I declined his offer of coffee at his apartment and he changed instantly from pleasant to furious. He had me pinned against my car when an old couple approached us for directions. I took the opportunity to escape only to find him waiting for me when I arrived home. I hadn’t told him where I lived, but he was there with flowers and chocolates. The sitter interrupted his apologies and he left.”
“My cat is going crazy because you were alone with him,” Caleb said. “He could have killed you.”
“I avoided him at work the next day, but when I got home, there was an envelope nailed to the door with pictures of Lexie and me inside. He’d been watching us for a while, but I’d never seen him.”
“Did you think of going to the police?” Lachlan asked softly.
“I went the next day before work, but Nick was standing on the steps right outside the station. He was standing there smiling at me. He told me he’d take Lexie from me and I’d never find her if I tried to go to the police again.” Lexie snuggled up against her side, and Meg bent to kiss her head.
“At work he would find me whenever I was alone and hold me against him to smell me. He always knew who I been with. He said if he ever smelled another man on me, he would die. He said he’d track their scent and kill them for tainting me.”
Prescott squeezed her tighter to him and she drank the warmth and strength of him into her skin. He felt good to be snuggled up to. He was a huge man. His dark hair and dark eyes were a contrast to his brother’s blond hair and blue eyes, but he was just as handsome. She inhaled and let the smell of his woodsy scent calm both herself and her cat.
“I was going crazy. When Katie called about the wedding I thought I’d see if I could escape him. I hid Lexie with Paula. She is a good friend from work that I knew Lexie liked and trusted, and drove up to Pine Falls without telling anyone else where I was going.”
“Did he find you in Pine Falls?” Prescott said. “Is that why you ran away?”
“No, I left to get Lexie. I would have brought her with me if I’d known I was going to meet my mates. I was coming back. I was going to get her and come straight back to you.”
“So you avoided us because of his threats,” Lachlan said slowly. “You were afraid he’d be there when you went back for Lexie.” His eyes bored into her and she understood for the first time the depth of the pain she’d inflicted by avoiding them as she had.
“I couldn’t let you touch me. I was scared of what he’d do to all of you, or to Lexie, if he found me covered in your scents.” Growls filled the car. Lexie joined the men in their display of anger.
“Thanks, pumpkin.” Meg hugged Lexie to her. Her mates were already making Lexie fiercer. She stretched up and kissed Prescott lightly on the cheek. He tasted good, her cat begged for a taste of him.
“What did I do to deserve that,” Prescott said. His dark eyes sparkled and his voice was sexy and rough. “I’ll make sure I do it again. Often.”
“It was for all of you really. You’re just the only one I can reach right now. It was a thank you for the way you saved Lexie and me, and for making us stronger.”
“I’m taking a raincheck on my kiss then,” Lachlan said.
“Me, too,” Caleb said. “When we stop I want it delivered in full.” Meg smiled at her mates, Caleb glanced at her in the rearview mirror and the look in his deep blue eyes made her pussy clench.
“So he would find you at work whenever you were alone. He found Lexie at Paula’s and told you he’d find anyone who touched you,” Prescott said.
“Whatever he is, he can follow scent trails easily,” Caleb said.
“And moves between places with a single step according to Lexie,” Prescott added.
“He is also patient and determined,” Lachlan said. “He’s waited for a year for Meg, and now he’s fixated on her. Can you think of anything else, ladies?”
Meg wanted to hug Lachlan for the smile he was giving Lexie. He had no issue with her younger sister being part of their family. None of them had. They were wonderful men. She felt like the luckiest woman alive.
Apart from the deranged stalker creature. Damn.
Her joy fled instantly.
They were wonderful men and she’d placed them in great danger now. She had to be the worst mate ever.
* * * *
Lachlan had scented the instant Meg’s joy turned to despair, and was sure his brothers had, too. She’d been worn down by the constant fear from her stalker and looked defeated before they’d even begun to fight. The minute they stopped, he intended to change her view of the situation, as well as find out what it was that she’d been reluctant to say about this Nicholas Thomson in front of Lexie.
He’d seen her glance nervously at her sister several times as she’d recounted her experiences with him. Lachlan understood her reasons for not sharing everything in front of her sister, as he was sure his brothers had, so none of them had pushed for more information, but once he had her alone, he’d have the entire story. He had to. Imagining what else had transpired would drive him crazy.
Lexie’s stomach gave a loud growl just as they were approaching a rest stop. “I’m starving. Can we stop for something to eat?” Lachlan said. He smiled at Lexie as she rubbed her stomach.
“Me, too,” Lexie said. She bounced in her seat and her stomach gave another loud rumble.
Caleb pulled into the rest area and parked by the restaurant. “I’ll meet you inside after I’ve filled up the tank.”
Lachlan opened the door for Lexie and held her hand while Prescott helped Meg from the truck. She moved stiffly and Lachlan knew she needed more pain medication before they got back in the truck.
“Why don’t you take Lexie inside out of the cold, Prescott?” Lachlan said. He picked Lexie up and handed her to Prescott. “I’ll wait with Meg while she uses the restroom.” He silenced Meg’s objection with a quick flash of his amber stare. Prescott had seen their exchange and took Lexie inside without complaint.
He took Meg’s hand and led her behind the block of restrooms. Now they were stopped he was desperate for his answers. He pulled her into his arms and backed her up until she was pressed snuggly between the bricks and his chest. Her arms wrapped around his waist and she relaxed into his hold.
“I want to ask you some questions, but now that I have you in my arms, I need to kiss you so badly I think I’ll go crazy if I can’t,” he said.
She looked up at him with wide startled eyes, her lips parting on a gasp of surprise. He took that as a yes and lowered his mouth to hers. Their kiss started out soft but roared to heated and frenzied in seconds as their combined need drove them. He licked her lips and delved deeply into her mouth, drinking in the taste of her as it spread through him in a chain reaction of pure pleasure.
She pulled herself tighter against him, rubbing her soft body against the steel of his erection and making him moan with the frustrating friction. He moved her slightly to the side and placed his thigh between her legs, lifting it to the heat and dampness of her core.
She moaned with him as their combined pleasure increased. She pushed down on his thigh and rubbed herself against his erection. He was going to come if she kept up the sweet torture, and he had no intention of doing that until he was buried balls-deep inside her.
He pulled reluctantly from her lips and moved his hands from her ass to cup her face. Her breath panted out of her and misted in the cold air. “I want you, honey. But I am not going to take you for the first time behind a toilet block.”
She looked around and seemed momentarily surprised at their location. Her cheeks heated beneath his hands as her blush crept through her. “I forgot where we were.”
“Caleb and Prescott will come looking for us in about sixty seconds.” He smiled and hoped she understood how desperate he was for her. “What else did Nicholas do that you couldn’t tell us in front of Lexie?” She started to shake her head, but he held her face firmly and bent down to look into her beautiful blue eyes.
“I know there’s more, Meg, and it’s driving me insane worrying what it is. Please.”
She took a breath in and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Sorry. It’s just embarrassing. The photos...there were some that I burned.” He steeled himself for confirmation of what he’d already guessed they contained.
“He sent pictures of me in the shower, of me sleeping, and of me—” She swallowed loudly before she continued. “I never saw him, not once, but they were so close-up that he must’ve been in the room with me.”
“Of you having sex?” Lachlan spoke the words she’d omitted and they felt like ash on his tongue. He was glad he hadn’t seen pictures of her being intimate with another man. His cat would have needed to kill the man, and Lachlan didn’t know if he had the strength to stop it.
“Gosh no. Not that. I’ve never. I mean, shit, that would have been way worse.” Lachlan processed her words and found a growl rumbling through him. He’d guessed there must have been intimate photos of her. But if she’d never.
Never?
“You’ve never? Then what else did he photograph?” Lachlan realized he was being a pig. Nude photos were a complete violation of her privacy. But she’d never had sex, he hadn’t expected that. She was a stunning woman, he’d assumed she’d had lovers before, and didn’t mind, he just hadn’t wanted to see the pictures.
“Really, Lachlan? You can’t work it out?” She looked at him, her eyes beginning to change color with her rising anger.
“I’m sorry he did that to you, Meg. You must have been scared and horrified at the way he breached any sense of privacy you had.” She nodded and the anger drained from her eyes.
He smiled at her, his cat purring inside him and making them both vibrate as he held her firmly to him. “I’ve already called myself a pig, and now I’m going to be a total ass and beg you to let me see that one day. I’ll even have Caleb and Prescott beg if that will help.”
Her smile lit up his world. She slapped him lightly on the chest with one of her small hands. “Pervert.” She covered one of his hands with hers. “Thank you, Lachlan. I felt unclean, and so alone. I’m glad I told you. You’ve helped me feel a little less grossed out about it all.”
She had no idea how much her trust meant to him. He loved her. He didn’t know when it had happened, but it had. He wanted to tell her, but was afraid of scaring her. She’d had a reason to run from them before, and he understood that now, but he didn’t want to overwhelm her and make her run again.
“I love you, Lachlan.” She stretched up on her toes and kissed him lightly on the lips.
“I didn’t want to frighten you by saying those words to you, Meg. I love you, too, my mate. You’re mine.” He took her lips again for a searing kiss. Caleb’s voice broke them apart a few seconds later.
“Ours, Meg. You’re ours forever,” Caleb said. Lachlan stepped aside and Caleb wrapped their mate in his arms, when their lips met they both moaned with pleasure.
“I’ll tell Prescott you’ll be right in.” He let them have some privacy and went to order their breakfast. There was going to be times when they’d want to share Meg and times when they’d need to be alone with her. He smiled as he thought of the great pleasure all those times would bring them.
“She loves me.”
Caleb sensed the swell of emotion as they grew closer to their home. He’d expected his parents to be at their house awaiting their arrival home, but he was surprised to feel so many of his pride there as well. One member in particular was not entirely happy. Landon’s anger was pushing Caleb to shift.
Their drive home had taken the entire day. Lexie had been surprisingly easy to travel with, not complaining once at the hours of confinement in the truck. She seemed content to be close to Meg and they talked and laughed for hours. Their love was a beautiful thing. Caleb was glad that Lexie was finally back with Meg and didn’t want to ever meet the brother who had kept them apart so cruelly.
Caleb tapped Prescott’s arm in warning as they pulled into the road to their ranch. “We have company.”
“Mom and Dad?” Lachlan asked. He was sitting in the back with Meg sleeping against him. Caleb hated to wake her, but she was home now and could shower before sleeping comfortably in a bed as she continued to heal from her injuries.
“No, half the pride is here and Landon is mad.”
“Shit. What’s got him angry?” Prescott said. He maneuvered the car as close as he could to the house. There were quite a few cars and trucks in the way.
“Landon’s here?” Meg said sleepily. She sat up and stared at all cars and trucks. “Where are we?”
“We’re home,” Lachlan said. “Why we don’t I put Lexie to bed while you say hello to everyone.”
“She’s so tired, I doubt she’ll wake up,” Meg said. She caressed her sister’s fine blonde hair and waited while Lachlan got out the rear door and came around to open the door on Lexie’s side.
Lexie stayed fast asleep as Lachlan walked into the house with her cradled in his arms.