Redeemed (3 page)

“You’re worried about Ashley.”

She didn’t have to ask. She knew him well. And he loved her for it. He nodded.

“I’ll go over soon and spend some time with her. How about this weekend? I don’t have to work Saturday. I’ll go see what kind of progress she’s making. But, Josh, don’t worry so much. She’s coming along. Every time I see her, she’s better. It’s going to take time. I’m impressed with her clarity after only six months. She has a deep understanding of what happened to her and a fine head on her shoulders. She’s even taking some online classes to start working on her art degree.”

“Good. Thanks, baby. I appreciate everything you do for my sister. It’s above and beyond.”

She slapped at him playfully, her voice lower when she spoke. “She’s my sister too now, and I love her as much as I love all your family members. Helping her is not a hardship. She’s a wonderful woman and she will pull through this and succeed in life. Mark my words.”

Nathan rolled over at that moment and wrapped his arm around both of them. His fingers dangled across Josh’s chest, and their presence no longer made Josh freak out to be touched by a man. They were mates. They didn’t fuck each other, but they did touch while they loved Samantha and it no longer held the weird factor as it had in the beginning.

None of the three of them expected a claiming that involved an extra shifter, but over time they’d gradually accepted the odd relationship, moved into Josh’s house, and forged a bond stronger than any mated pair ever had.

“Are you guys solving world hunger in the middle of the night again?” Nathan’s voice was rough and full of teasing.

“Yep,” Samantha said, “and we’ve decided to send you on a tour of the world passing out MREs.”

“Oh, good. Can I leave soon? This case I’m working on is killing me.”

Josh sighed. That was the truth. Like Samantha, Nathan was an attorney. He’d been working with some high-powered secret client for weeks and hadn’t been home much. Neither Josh nor Samantha were upset about his absence. It wasn’t avoidable. But they missed his part in their family dynamic when he wasn’t around. “Sorry we woke you. Samantha claims she can’t sleep when I’m thinking too hard.” He chuckled.

“It’s true. Don’t deny it. I can sense your stress even when I’m dead asleep. Especially when you’re worrying about Ashley.” Samantha kissed his chest and laid her head against him once more. She grabbed the hand Nathan had draped over them and gripped his fingers tight.

Josh took a deep breath. “Is there anything else we can do—legally?”

Nathan lifted his face to stare at Josh over Samantha’s head. “No, but we could hire Evan to hunt down Damon. I know Ashley’s progress is stymied by the fact that her fucked-up ex is still out there roaming the streets. The police don’t have the manpower to look for a man all over the country who isn’t currently committing a crime. Why don’t you ask Evan if he’s available to help find Damon?”

“Not a bad idea. Though it’s hard to nail Evan down these days. I’ll see if I can get him tomorrow by cell.”

Samantha patted Josh’s chest. “Good plan. You call Evan tomorrow. Let’s try to get some sleep. It’s almost three a.m. and we all have to work early.”

Josh closed his eyes. The idea was promising. It was indisputable that Evan was good at his job. But could he track down Damon and would it help if he did? The last thing he wanted was for Evan to be in danger at the hands of this lunatic.

Deep even breaths. Think pleasant thoughts about running in wolf form in the woods, Nathan and Samantha at your side. That’s perfect…

Finally, he let his eyes droop until he drifted off, his last thought one of the three of them rushing through the trees. He wasn’t sure if they were chasing something or being chased, but he fell asleep anyway, praying for a miracle.

Evan stared out the window, leaning his forehead against the cold pane of glass and trying desperately to concentrate on work. He watched as hundreds of people scurried around seven stories below like ants in a maze. Everywhere he looked he found a frenzy of folks hurrying to somewhere.

Meanwhile, his life was stuck on hold. He felt like a freeze frame, like someone took a snapshot of his world six months ago and froze it in time. His eyes could move and the earth kept revolving and tugging him along with it, but his heart and soul were stuck in a holding pattern.

The cool glass of the window helped center him. He could watch humanity below as though through a lens without getting too close to anyone.

Damn Fate and Her strange sense of humor. Her choice in this instance was not remotely humorous.

Evan’s cell rang, making him flinch. He turned toward his desk and grabbed the phone to see who the caller was. If a person could smile and frown at the same time, Evan had it mastered.

Joshua Rice.

“Hey,” Evan said as he connected.

“Hey, yourself. How are you?”

“Good. Been busy at work.” Evan chuckled, though he doubted it sounded sincere, especially since it wasn’t. “Making this transition has increased my hours instead of decreasing them. Why did I think it would make my life easier?”

Months ago Evan made the decision to turn his one-man private investigator gig into a business with staff. The end goal had been to keep himself in town and hire others to do the traveling. Plus it freed him up to work on the one case that drove him completely crazy. It had worked and business was booming, but Evan put in long hours to ensure everything ran smoothly. He wasn’t the best delegator.

“Yeah, that’s generally how it works, unfortunately. Listen, I haven’t seen you in ages. I’m planning a little dinner party. I hope you’ll come.”

“Of course. When is it?” It wasn’t like he could use the excuse he was out of town. Josh knew he didn’t travel anymore. And he had to stop putting the man off. The reality was, he really liked Josh. Hell, he even liked Nathan, the man Josh shared his mate with.

“Saturday night. Seven.”

“Sounds good. Let me double check my schedule and I’ll get back to you.” Evan stared at the blank calendar on his desk, the one that had nothing scheduled for him besides work for the next fifty years.

“Great. There’ll be about a dozen of us. I’m hoping to get Ashley here too.” Josh’s words were casual. Bits of information to make small talk.

Evan’s reactions were not casual. The name Ashley alone made him stiffen. His cock jerked to attention and his pulse leaped to a new height. “Sounds good. I’ll call you back later today.”
After I find my brain cells and pull them together to ponder this proposition
.

“All right. Talk to you soon.”

“’Bye, man.” Evan set the phone on his desk soundlessly and stared into space, seeing nothing. His chest pounded. Should he go?

Ashley. The woman who had stolen his heart and kept him in this perpetual state of unrest ever since.

He’d only seen her one time and that had been six months ago. One hundred eighty-four days, but who was counting? The day he’d helped rescue her from Damon Parkfield’s clutches. Thank God he hadn’t been alone. Josh, Nathan, and their mate Samantha had been at the apartment where they’d finally nailed down Ashley’s location.

The moment the woman opened the door, Evan had known she was his. It had taken all the strength he could muster to avoid grabbing her and running. Instead, he’d stepped back and let her brother and his mates convince her to leave with them.

Fists in two tight balls, he’d managed to keep from punching a hole in the door to her apartment. Flimsy as it was, he probably would have found his arm stuck all the way through.

He knew she hadn’t realized she was his. She’d been broken and abused, drugged and confused. Evan held his tongue and kept this secret to himself.

Ashley needed time. She needed to heal and separate herself from the bastard who terrorized her for four long years. She couldn’t have faced the fact she belonged to Evan on top of everything else. So, Evan stepped aside. He’d turned down every invitation from Josh that might have included Ashley and kept this deep painful secret buried inside.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Josh and his family, Evan had been searching for Damon. Eventually the man would pay and pay dearly. He deserved to rot in the fifth circle of Hell for all eternity, but that would be too easy. Evan wanted him alive to spend his days in jail pondering what he’d done to the sweet young girl he’d kidnapped and held hostage for all those years.

Damon was sneaky though. He moved a lot. He’d slipped through Evan’s fingers several times. Evan wished like hell he’d known how bad it had been for Ashley the day they’d found her. If so, he never would have left the apartment. He’d have stayed and taken Damon down that very day.

The hesitation had ruined his chances. By the time Evan returned, Damon was long gone, having left no trail.

Evan pushed away from the desk and stood once more. He suffered from anxiety these days. He couldn’t sit long. Knowing his mate was out there, knowing who she was and where she lived, kept him in a state of unrest that wouldn’t abate.

Perhaps it was time to face her. Even if she wasn’t ready to deal with the knowledge yet, at least Evan wouldn’t be alone. He felt confident that if he walked into a room she occupied, she’d know about her fate within moments.

Was that playing fair? It had been half a year. Evan couldn’t begin to guess if that was enough time, but by all accounts from Josh, his sister was doing well. She was strong and determined. She was taking classes online and seeing old friends. She just didn’t leave the house often.

He could understand that. Who would want to wander around in the world knowing some jackass might attack them at any moment?

•●•

Ashley’s hands shook as she entered her brother’s home on Friday night. She agreed to attend Josh’s dinner party, but it didn’t change the fact that nerves ate her from the inside out. She didn’t want to become a recluse, but it took great courage to go out, especially at night, while Damon was still on the loose.

Granted, he might never be found, and there was always the chance he wasn’t interested in Ashley anymore. After all, she hadn’t been the perfect mate to him. She’d been less than docile and hadn’t managed to bear him any offspring. If she was lucky, he’d moved on and given up on her.

But, if she wasn’t lucky…

She wiped her palms on her skirt as she handed Samantha her coat. The house smelled of Italian food. Simmering meat sauce filled her senses and made her stomach growl.

She smiled at her newest friend, Samantha, as the woman hugged her. Bless the woman for all she’d done to befriend Ashley in the last six months.

“I’m so glad you came,” Samantha said. She set a hand on top of one of Ashley’s and squeezed. “Relax and enjoy. No one is going to get into this house without our knowledge.” She glanced behind Ashley toward the front door. “Did your parents drop you off?”

“Yes.” Fundamentally, Ashley knew she was safe here. But anxiety had a way of overruling one’s common sense. Dr. Parman had been more than willing to prescribe something for the anxiety, but after taking such strange mind-altering drugs for four years, Ashley couldn’t bear to put something foreign into her system, even if her sanity was at stake.

No one quite knew what Damon had given her. It seemed to have completely left her body given time and there didn’t appear to have been any long-term repercussions, but the substance remained a mystery. A vial of her blood was being studied at a lab run by shifters in Boston, but so far any inquiry about the drug had turned up nothing. No other pack around the United States had heard of anything like it.

Ashley smiled at Samantha. She appreciated the woman more than words could express, but she couldn’t speak over the lump in her throat.

“Come on. Let me introduce you to everyone. They’re all milling around in the kitchen, hoping to grab a bite before it’s even fully cooked.” Samantha took Ashley’s hand and tugged, luring her into the noisy gathering of shifters.

At the door, Samantha cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Everyone, this is Ashley, Josh’s sister.”

The bright kitchen was filled with laughter and light. The appliances shown with their steel surfaces and the granite counter reflected the lighting to make the room inviting and warm.