Authors: Gigi Moore
He knew his brother wasn’t a coward and wondered at Carson’s logic.
Slowly they washed and rinsed their bodies before stepping out of the tub and wrapping themselves in towels.
When they got back to Sam’s bedroom, they found Carson lounging back against a pillow, hands folded behind his head. He remained naked and half-erect while he intently watched them as if searching for something.
He arched a brow, and they dropped their towels before making their way to the bed.
Desiree hopped into the bed, immediately ensconcing herself in Carson’s embrace. She looked back at Sam, proffering her hand and inviting him in.
Moment of truth, Sam thought.
He stepped forward and took her hand as he got into bed beside Desiree, sandwiching her between himself and his brother. It proved an achingly familiar position that he never wanted to give up.
Sam took just a moment to snuggle beside Desiree before she said, “Tell me about Remy and what happened between you all.”
Sam fidgeted, unsure how to begin or even if he should, when Carson said, “I killed Remy’s son, and we’ve been on the run ever since.”
* * * *
Carson didn’t know about Sam, but he felt a thousand pounds lighter once the words left his mouth.
He waited a beat to gauge Desiree’s reaction, watching her face.
She didn’t move at first, and he’d have given anything to know what went through her head in those first few moments after he confessed.
Despite the fact that Sam lay in the bed with him right beside Desiree, Carson felt all alone, alone and drifting in a sea of misery and uncertainty. If she didn’t say something soon, negative or positive, Carson didn’t know what he would do.
“Tell me,” Desiree whispered, but instead of pulling away from him as he expected her to, she burrowed closer, sliding her arms around his middle and holding him snug.
“He didn’t have a choice, Desi,” Sam spoke up, and Carson smiled at his brother’s attempt to protect him again. He’d almost died protecting Carson before.
“I know he wouldn’t have done so if he didn’t have to.”
“How do you know?” Carson asked, amazed.
“Because I know you. You have a good heart. You wouldn’t hurt anyone intentionally.”
She said almost the same exact thing as her sister had about him and Sam—that they had good hearts and souls.
Carson cleared his throat, not quite trusting himself to speak. “It was a packmate, our alpha, Remy’s, son. We’d butted heads a lot in the past, never really liked each other. He thought his father gave us preferential treatment because he liked our mother.”
“Did Remy give your mother preferential treatment?”
“Only because he wanted to mate with her,” Sam said.
“And once our father died, he thought he had his chance.”
“You may as well know that Remy killed our father.”
“Whoa, whoa, this sounds like a serious blood feud.”
“It is, but not in the way you think. I never had anything against Duane personally,” Carson said. “Except for the fact that he was a bully and liked to hurt people weaker and smaller than him. I usually just kept my distance. But that night I couldn’t stay out of things. He was…he was hurting this girl, a full human, forcing himself on her.”
“Oh no.”
Carson heard the catch in her voice and knew he’d hit her recently exposed nerve without meaning to, knew now the exact sort of pain she hid behind the quiet cautiousness and cool reserve. Jeremy had hurt her the same way Duane had tried to hurt that girl outside the zydeco club.
He nodded, squeezing her close as if to protect her from her past. “I couldn’t stay out of it. We fought, and things got out of hand.”
“You killed him in self-defense,” Sam said.
“It certainly sounds like it,” Desiree agreed.
“It was, but it wasn’t within the bounds of a sanctioned challenge match. We were supposed to take our complaint to the pack elders, the council, and the alpha, and let them decide whether we had a beef legitimate enough to fight over.”
“But what was supposed to happen to the girl in the meantime?”
Carson shrugged. That was pack law, and it probably seemed cold to an outsider, a human like Desiree, but those were the facts. Pack law superseded human law, which was why Carson hadn’t been turned in to the human authorities after killing Duane. Once Duane was dead, the pack removed his remains for internment and took Carson into custody for Remy’s verdict.
Had Carson waited until after Duane had finished doing what he wanted to the girl, Carson had every right to bring his accusations to the pack and let them decide whether he and Duane should fight it out. Since Duane was the alpha’s son, despite the pack’s universal dislike of Duane, Carson’s claims wouldn’t have held as much weight, especially not when he would have been speaking up for a human.
“What about your father? What happened with him?”
“He died in a freak accident at the restaurant my family owned. But I know that Remy caused the fire that killed him. I know it in my bones. I saw him there right before the explosion.”
“And your pack didn’t believe you.”
“Mama wouldn’t let me talk about it, at least wouldn’t let me make an official accusation or challenge Remy. I was sixteen, and she believed that Remy would have killed me in a physical contest.”
“He wouldn’t have gone down without a fight though, that was for sure.”
“Helena was protecting you.”
“I know.” It hadn’t stopped him from planting a veiled allegation to the rank and file before he clammed up altogether in deference to his mama. “I can take care of myself though.”
“She’s your mother, Carson. She’s always going to protect you, whether you need it or not, whether you ask for help or not. And you were her child, still are.”
She sounded like his mother when she said that. It must be a nurturer and a woman thing.
“Is that what the other night was about? Was Remy trying to take you back to Louisiana?”
Carson nodded.
“And Sam got in the middle of things.”
“He refused to let me go with Remy.”
Desiree threw a smile over her shoulder at Sam before turning back to Carson. “I like the way you boys stick together.”
“We protect our own.”
“Am I yours?” she asked, her voice timid and unsure.
“You belong to us. You’re pack.”
“
Oui
,
bebe.
”
“I wish I’d known you guys before…before…”
“He hurt you.” Carson put a hand under her chin and lifted her face to look into her eyes.
Desiree nodded.
“We won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”
“That goes both ways, you know.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I won’t let anyone hurt either of you again.”
“Do you know how much I love you,
cher
?”
“As much as I love the both of you?”
“Even though our real name isn’t Quarry?” Sam put in.
When Desiree burst out laughing and hooked an arm around each of their necks to hug them, Carson felt freer than he had in years. He hadn’t known until that very moment how much of his hopes for the future he had invested in whether or not Desiree accepted full disclosure.
“Oh, honey, I think your alias is the least of our worries.”
She’d said “our worries,” allying herself with them, throwing her fortune in with theirs.
Her words both inspired and frightened Carson.
What if Remy put his sights on her now that he’d seen them all together, now that he knew she meant something to him and Sam? What if, after dragging her into this, he and Sam couldn’t do what they promised and protect her from Remy Bastien?
Chapter 20
Remy had not been so excited since his hunt began several years ago. Knowing that his prey remained within reach, that he would soon acquire what he had been after for so long, sent the adrenaline pumping through his veins the way anticipation did before a battle.
He listened to the phone ring a couple of times, already hearing her warm voice in his head, expecting her wariness and preparing to make his pitch.
“Hello, Remy.”
He gaped. His number was private. How did she know he called?
“I’ve been expecting your call.”
He continued to underestimate the woman, had been doing so for a while, his mistake.
Remy smiled before speaking, gathering his resources and surprised at his own nervousness. He had not heard her voice so up close and personal, however, in a long time. It was a shock to his system he hadn’t been expecting. “Hello, Helena. Long time, no hear.”
“Not long enough.”
He chuckled, liking her spunk. This was the woman with whom he was meant to spend the rest of his life. Duane’s mother had been a pale imitation of a mate, a pit stop on the road to mating bliss. He’d taken steps to correct that mistake as soon as feasible.
“Come,
cher.
You know you’d miss me if I were not around.”
“I haven’t so far.”
“I must find something more useful for you to do with that tongue of yours besides insult your alpha.”
“What is it you want, Remy?”
“You already know. Just as you knew it was me on the phone.”
“I need to know that Carson and Sam will be safe.”
“If you agree to come back to Louisiana with me, then yes. I will leave them out of our affairs. This will just be between you and me, as it was always meant to be.”
“Really? And Carson’s imprisonment—”
“Come now, Helena. You could not really expect me to let his transgression go unaddressed. What kind of alpha would I be?”
“And now? All is forgiven?”
“If I say it is. I believe your boys have adequately gotten the message.” Especially that spitfire younger one, Remy thought. He remained surprised by that one’s attack even now. “How is young Samson, by the way?”
“Well, no thanks to you.”
He had an idea who her son’s wellness was thanks to. “I defended myself. You can expect nothing less of me.”
“I expected nothing less of my sons.”
Neither did he, which was why he knew no matter how much he gave his word to her that they would be safe, there was nothing he could do if they decided to take matters into their own hands and challenge Remy. In fact, he fully expected them to.
Helena sighed on the other end. He thought he would like nothing better than to hear that sound in his ears while he pleasured her with his cock, finally burying himself in her sweet
cocotte
and feeling her sink her teeth into him when he made her his as he was sure her boys had made Desiree Jensen theirs.
Thinking how the young men had acquired their mate when he had yet to get what belonged to him made him a little peevish. He took a deep breath in order not to take it out on Helena, not when he was this close to having her where he wanted her.