Thrown to the Wolves (Black River Pack Book 3) (7 page)

“I like the sound of that,” I admitted softly.

“Then let’s get you in there,” he replied before hopping out of the car.

I watched as he scanned the parking lot before coming around to my side of the car to open my door. Knowing he was on guard for my safety, even here in his hometown, chipped away at some of the wall I’d tried wrapping around my heart.

We walked hand in hand through the lot and into The Den. We were swarmed by well-wishers as soon as we made it inside. Since I was only eighteen, I’d never been in a bar before, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but it wasn’t dark wood paneling with matching floors, big-screen televisions, and tables packed with shifters like I’d thought it would be.

“A bear, huh?” one of the guys said as he clapped Parker on his back and pulled him in for the guy version of a hug. My body tensed, expecting a wisecrack about how I wouldn’t fit into the pack. “Damn happy you found her, bro. Can’t wait to see if my nieces or nephews are wolf or bear. It’ll be even more fun that guessing their sex.”

“Shut up,” Parker grumbled before the man, who I had figured out was his other brother, Hunter, turned to me.

“Welcome to my pack, Annora,” he said, his voice ringing loud and clear through the bar.

His announcement was met by cheering before he lifted me in the air for a hug and twirled me around.

“Put my mate down,” Parker complained as laughter bubbled up and out of my throat while relief coursed through my veins. “Go maul your own mate.”

“I’ll save the mauling for later ‘cause she’s been looking forward to spending some time with her new sister,” he replied. Then he nodded to a table in the corner, where a very pregnant woman was sitting with Eliza. “You better head over there or I’ll never hear the end of it for ruining her big night.”

“Alrighty, then,” I muttered before flashing Parker a reassuring smile and walking over to the women.

“Annora,” Eliza greeted me with a hug. “This is Grace.”

“Hi,” she said as she waved at me before rubbing her stomach lightly. “I’d get up to hug you too, but I don’t think I’d ever make it up and out of my seat without some help.”

I found myself doing something out of character for me. Leaning down, I wrapped my arms around Grace and gave her a hug since she couldn’t get up.

“How about I just hug you instead?”

“Awww,” she sighed, and I noticed tears in her eyes when I pulled away. “Damn hormones.”

As soon as I sat down, the waitress came by to take my order.

“I have no idea what to get,” I admitted. “Can I even order alcohol since I’m underage?”

The waitress probably thought I was crazy to admit that out loud in a bar. “You’re in a shifter bar owned by your mate’s family in a shifter town where his brother is the alpha. You can order anything you want.”

“You can never go wrong with a margarita,” Eliza said as she lifted her glass. “Here. Try mine to see if you like it.”

I took a sip and enjoyed the salty, tangy flavor, so I ordered the same.

“You guys suck,” Grace complained after taking a sip from her cup of tea. “No liquor for me. Hell, Hunter won’t even let me have the caffeinated stuff. Not even one tiny, little cup.”

“You don’t have much longer to wait,” Eliza reminded her.

“I’m pretty sure the same rules will be in place while I’m nursing too,” Grace pouted.

“Probably,” I agreed.

The waitress came back with my drink, and we sat there in silence for a couple of minutes as I enjoyed my margarita. The moment was an odd one for me since I’d always felt so different from the she-wolves in my old pack. Once we’d hit our teen years, I had rarely been invited along with them, so I wasn’t certain how to act during a girls’ night out.

“Thank you,” Eliza finally said, breaking the silence.

I assumed she was talking to Grace since I hadn’t done anything to deserve her gratitude, but when I looked up, I found her staring right at me.

“For what?” I asked.

“Helping my dad with his guilt for not finding me sooner,” she answered. “He spent so much time searching for me that it got to him. When we talked, he admitted he was scared of how I would react once he got here. Finding you injured and in need of rescuing? It gave him the chance to do something to make him feel worthy of being my dad again.”

“Never giving up on finding you should have been enough,” I pointed out, a little irritated that she might not have been appreciative of all of his efforts on her behalf.

She held her hands up in a sign of surrender. “I don’t think he had anything to make up to me, but he did,” she explained. “He felt guilty for not being able to stop my shunning. For never knowing about my gift. For my mom dying while she was helping him with pack business. And for me thinking he was dead too. Rescuing you from danger made him feel like he had done something to balance the scales a little bit again.”

I understood almost everything she’d said except one thing. “Your dad didn’t know you could walk in dreams?”

“I hid it from everyone for years,” she began. “Even my dad because my mom had drilled into my head that it was dangerous for anyone to know. It’s something I’ll probably regret for the rest of my life because it caused distance between my dad and me. Plus, it cost me two years of happiness with Spencer. It wasn’t until I dreamed about the trouble stalking Grace and was caught by Hunter and Spencer trying to figure out what it all meant that I talked to anyone about my dreams.”

“Thank God you did, because I don’t even want to think what would have happened to me if you hadn’t dreamed about me,” Grace said. “As a matter of fact, now that I think about it, we have that in common. Not only are we all mated to a Tate brother, but Eliza dreamed about each of us.”

“You dreamed of me?” I gasped.

“That’s how I knew my dad was alive,” Eliza replied. “And how Parker knew for sure you were out there. We hoped like hell it meant you both were on your way here to us. He even called the bears for help finding you since I pictured you as a bear in my dream.”

“Is that why Parker was so accepting of me? Even though I’m not a wolf?” I asked. “Why he was ready to take me as his mate within minutes of our meeting?”

“It could be,” Eliza agreed. “But I guess you’d need to ask him to be certain.”

“Nah,” Grace disagreed. “I don’t think he gives a shit that you shift into a bear. Hunter certainly couldn’t care less that I’m human.”

“You do realize I committed to being with Parker for the rest of my life and I have no idea who he really is,” I bemoaned.

“Yeah, and in our world, that sounds a hell of a lot more normal than the ridiculous amount of time it took before Spencer and I became mates,” Eliza replied. “I bet if we asked the next hundred wolves we see which of our stories sounded believable and which was made-up, they would almost all think my story is a bunch of bullshit.”

We all burst into laughter because Eliza was right, and our giggles drew the attention of our mates. As they walked towards us in a row, our laughter finally died down.

“When did Spencer get here?” Eliza asked.

“Who knows? But it shouldn’t be a surprise that he showed since you’re here,” Grace replied.

“Holy hell, they’re hot,” I whispered.

“We’re lucky bitches,” Eliza said.

“My ovaries would explode right now except I’m already pregnant,” Grace tossed in right before they reached us.

Her joke had us giggling until tears were running down our faces and we were gasping for air. Then shivers crept up my spine when Parker bent down to whisper in my ear.

“Being a good girl?”

“Yes!” I yelped when his tongue flicked out to lick my ear before he moved away.

“I’m thinking you’re going to be a cheap date if one drink is enough to have you cracking up over here,” he said.

“Drunk sex is fun sex,” Grace quipped, and we all busted up laughing again.

“Claiming sex is the best sex,” Eliza said, a dreamy look in her eyes.

“And I have to wait until the next full moon to find that out myself,” Parker complained. “If I’d met Annora one fucking day sooner, I would have been able to say if you’re right about that.”

“It’s probably for the best,” Elias said as he walked up behind the guys. “Annora’s been through hell, and the wait will give her enough time to get used to you before the claiming. And by then, we’ll know if I managed to get her here without leaving any traces behind so she’s safe.”

“Hell?” Hunter repeated.

“It was bad enough that you needed to make sure you didn’t leave any tracks behind?” Spencer asked.

Parker stood there, his body frozen and his eyes locked with mine. Pain flared in the dark depths as he realized my situation was worse than I’d shared with him so far.

“Don’t leave her side,” he barked out. “I need thirty minutes to check payroll and then I’m taking my mate home so she can explain to me exactly what’s going on.”

I watched him as he stormed into the office in the back and kept my eyes on the door after it slammed shut.

“He needs to know, Annora,” Elias said. “Maybe I shouldn’t have put it like that, but you need to trust Parker to stand by your side through the trouble that might be heading this way. He needs time so he can be ready for the worst just in case. Don’t make it harder for him to protect you. Don’t make him face failure like I did with my mate so many years ago.”

“Oh, Daddy!” Eliza cried as she jumped up to hug and comfort him.

“He won’t face your troubles alone,” Spencer promised. “We’ll stand by you just the same as we would our brother.”

“You’re not just a member of my pack now. You’re our sister,” Hunter added.

I forced myself to look each one of them in the eyes. When I found acceptance, love, and determination in their gazes, I nodded. It was time to put on my big-girl panties and tell my mate about the shameful way my father had sold me into a mating with Wyatt Lyall.

Chapter 7

Parker

I flew through the payroll process, damn lucky I’d done it so many times before that I had it down to a science now. When I was done, I shut the computer down and took a few calming breaths before stalking back into the bar to get my mate and take her home.

The ride there was completely silent as I tried to push down the hurt and frustration I was feeling. It was like I was walking a tightrope with her. On one side, I felt the need to give her time to get comfortable with me so she was happy. On the other, I felt like kicking my own ass for not having listened to that voice in my head that had warned that she was in danger and I had no time to waste to ensure her safety.

Once we made it back to the safety of my cabin, though, I couldn’t hold it back any longer.

“Dammit, Annora!” I yelled in frustration.

Watching her flinch away from me as if she were afraid cooled my ire like a bucket of ice water. That look in her eyes that said that she expected me to hit her or something broke my heart.

“Shit, honey. I’d never hurt you. You have to know that.”

“How can I, Parker?” she whispered, crossing her arms over her chest like she needed to be protected from me. “I’ve been hurt by every person I’ve ever loved. My own family tossed me headlong into danger without a care about what would happen to me. My father only cared about what he could gain from me, and my mother was too scared to lose him to ever go against anything he said. Even if it meant sending me to a psycho who wanted me as his mate.”

The growl that crept up my throat was unstoppable because the wolf inside me had leapt in defense the moment she’d said that there was some other man out there who thought she should be his and not mine.

“Now you have a man who will stand between you and anyone or anything that will ever try to hurt you again,” I promised.

“And a family who will stand with us against the world,” she whispered.

My knees almost gave out when I heard her words. She was starting to understand what being my mate meant.

“Yes,” I agreed. “Along with an entire pack that will help any way they can. That’s how things work around here.”

Her response broke my heart. “I wish that’s how mine had worked. My family and my pack.”

“Tell me,” I pleaded.

“Okay,” she conceded before walking to the couch and sitting down. When she patted the cushion next to her, I rushed to her side. “I’ve already told you about how my parents treated me growing up. How it felt to be an outsider. How my father’s indifference turned to hatred when I shifted into a bear instead of a wolf. But I didn’t tell you what he did to get me out of his house. Out of his pack.”

“The pyscho who wanted to mate you?”

She nodded slightly and dropped her eyes to her lap.

“Whatever happened, it’s their shame,” I said. “Not yours. You hold your head up high. No matter what you have to tell me.”

“An alpha my father has done business with for years wanted to take me as his mate. From what I was told, he loaned my father a lot of money and offered to take me as mate in exchange for forgiving the debt,” she said in a rush, like it was easier to get the words out fast.

My wolf leapt at her response, pissed at the thought of another man wanting to claim her. The human part of me was more troubled by what her father had done though.

“He sold you?”

“Yes,” she admitted, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“What’s his name? This alpha who thinks my mate belongs to him?” I demanded.

“Wyatt Lyall,” she answered.

My brain almost exploded when I recognized the name of the powerful alpha of a dangerous pack. Psycho was an apt description.

“Fuck!” I swore, wanting to punch something as the seriousness of her situation hit me.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I should have told you before you mated me.”

Her apology drained all the anger from my system. “No, baby,” I said as I gathered her close. “There’s nothing you could have told me that would have made me change my mind about mating you.”

“This is pretty bad.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you and say it isn’t. It is bad, but we’ll figure out a way to get past this so we can have the life together that we deserve,” I promised.