They all chuckled under their breaths. “You are the healer. Mates don’t heal each other of life-threatening injuries. That’s a myth. There’s only one person that heals, Wendi. It’s you and you’re the one we’ve been waiting for.”
Chapter Five
Date night!
After a day of school and work, I’d considered myself far too wilted to be anyone’s arm candy. That accompanied by a sudden urge to make a rare foray into the “girly-girl” realm sent me into a three hour preparation period. I sent all the guys away, showered and wrapped my hair in a towel then sank into a tub filled with bubbles, soaking away the difficult to understand political science lecture, the customer at the library who knew just the book she wanted…except she didn’t. At. All. After three hours of showing her every book with a red cover in the romance collection, my coworkers and I threw up our hands and sent her away without what she came for.
She did have six others, but instead of gratitude for the great service, she gave us the side eye that said she believed our incompetence had hindered her reading experience.
Bubble baths, especially gardenia scented ones, were highly underrated.
So relaxed I drifted off into a dream where I was rolling around in wolf form in a field of gorgeous white blossoms, I snapped awake at the sound of voices from downstairs. “Hellfire!” I reached for my phone, left on the sink in case I’d wanted to read while I soaked, and saw the time. My three hours were now down to thirty minutes and I had wet hair, no makeup, I’d had a vague idea of doing my nails that I’d have to forget about…and I hadn’t even picked out my outfit.
Scrambling out of the tub, I landed on the floor and hit my knee hard enough on the sink pedestal I’d surely have a bruise. But that didn’t matter. Beauty through suffering! When I shook my hair free of the towel, I realized the terrycloth had soaked up most of the water, so I was able to blow it out in just a few minutes then caught it back in a silver clasp Moss had given me a few days before and opened my makeup drawer. Compared to most girls, I knew my collection was limited. I’d promised Christie we’d do a full day of things like mani-pedis and makeup shopping but somehow it never happened.
So, with the limited tools in my array, I applied foundation and concealer, eye shadow and mascara—purple!—and a light coating of gloss over my lips.
“Wendi, we’re all here,” Brandon called up the stairs. “Whenever you’re ready.”
“I need another few minutes.”
“No rush.”
No…not a rush. But I was keeping four men waiting.
Thus the reason for my date-night panic. I’d been out with each of my mates individually on dates, and we’d hung out together informally lots. But this was the first time I’d dated all four at the same time. At least if you didn’t count our group run.
How did you do that anyway?
If Rattlecreek wasn’t such a snake pit, I’d ask some of the women there. But it would be a cold day in Hades before I set foot on their lands again. They’d have to take me there bound and gagged. I shuddered at the thought as I wrapped a towel around me, leaving a major disaster of discarded towels, scattered makeup, only pausing to let the water out of the tub. I dashed into my bedroom and opened the closet.
I had nothing to wear.
Maybe I should have picked out my ensemble before the bath. But I hadn’t planned on falling asleep. I yanked hangers aside, pawing through dresses and skirts and blouses but nothing seemed right. I couldn’t wear jeans, not tonight. And shorts were for sure out. Although it was warm enough for them.
Maybe a sun dress? I had a few, and I took them out and hung their hangers along the top of the doorframe to consider them. One was blue and green and very perky and very daytime. Another was muted oranges and reds, and I liked it a lot, but somehow, not the right thing. But the golden brown with the tiny, barely visible yellow stripe? It had thin straps, a fitted bodice and A-line skirt. And I actually knew where the heeled sandals were that went with it. Sold!
I rushed into the dress, fastening the long row of tiny buttons from the hem up and remembering why I didn’t wear it often. I prayed with everything I had that I wouldn’t accidentally yank off a button—that had happened twice before—but the gods were with me and I slipped my feet into the sandals, fluffed my hair, and spun in front of the mirror on the back of the bedroom door.
Here I come boys! Ready or not!
I descended the stairs, one hand gliding along the railing in case I slipped in the heels. Heels! I’d not been able to walk more than a few feet when I arrived here and now I was walking down a flight of stairs in high-heeled sandals. The wonder of it never escaped me for long. And neither did the need for caution. If I reinjured myself, I might not recover as easily or as well. Or die! Right when my life had taken such amazing turns for the better.
Glancing up from my hand gripping the rail, I looked down into four upturned faces. Staring at me. “Is there something on my face?” I asked, brushing at my cheek. “Don’t I look okay?”
“Wendi, you take my breath away.” Brandon met me at the bottom and gave me a sweet kiss on the lips. “You’re even more beautiful than usual, if that’s possible.”
As if that broke a dam, the three who had stood still as statues until now broke from their stasis and circled around me, all issuing compliments and a kiss apiece. Then they escorted me in the center of their group to the door and outside.
“So where are we going?” I’d been so nervous about the group thing, I hadn’t even thought to ask.
“Oh, didn’t we tell you?” Cash smiled a little too wide. “To my folks for dinner. They invited us.”
This was their idea of a date?
I knew they weren’t cheap, so what…?
Brandon nodded. “We had made reservations at a restaurant in town, but when Cash’s mom called, we couldn’t say no. Do you mind? I suppose we could cancel…”
“Oh no,” I said, oddly glad that I hadn’t had to figure out out how to be on a date tonight with all four of them. Cash’s mom and dad would be a filter, and we could just relax. “This is great.”
“We’ll make it up to you tomorrow,” Escher promised.
Great. Now I had to do the whole prep thing again. But without any classes tomorrow, I vowed I’d call Christie and go do that mani-pedi shopping thing. My toes polish was a little chipped, and tomorrow my toes would look much more chi-chi!
“Sounds fun.”
Chapter Six
Cash’s parents and, I guessed I should also call them Escher’s adoptive parents, were incredible. If at all possible, they were more welcoming than Brandon’s ,and the food was magnificent. Cash’s mom promised me she would email me all of her recipes, which she had formatted into a book of sorts for Cash and Escher’s future mate or mates.
One email instead of two was a time saver in her opinion.
We took a long walk after dinner since Evelyn’s meal of chicken pot pie and all the trimmings were enough to make me full as a tick.
Brandon let out a yawn as we neared the house. The truth was, there was more reason for the walk than the heavy food.
I didn’t know what to do next. Usually after a date with one of my men there would be significant making out, but with all four of them?
I needed a picture book or something to help me decipher what and how to do what next. That was one book I bet they didn’t have at the school library. I should probably check online—or not.
“Why are you nervous?” Escher asked me, touching the back of my neck.
“How did you…oh…you sniffed me again.” My statement caused an uproar of laughter from my mates.
“I did. Wanna explain what’s worrying you?”
We walked a few more feet before I stopped and my shoulders slumped in defeat. There was no point trying to hide anything from my mates. “I’m nervous about…well…I’m not really sure how to proceed.”
Cash’s face reddened while Moss again tried to sooth me by rubbing circles
on the outside of my hand with his thumb. “Let’s just take it one step at a time, Wendi. Remember fate has a plan for us. So we go home and allow things to flow naturally. There’s no pressure from any one of us and certainly no expectations. This is new for us all.”
They surrounded me and, in seconds, their closer presence calmed me down. They all loved me, and I loved them.
Everything would work out.
I shivered from the thoughts racing through my head. Escher cocked his head, observing me. “Let’s get you inside,” he said, leaning down to murmur in my ear. “See if we can make our mate shudder for another reason entirely. And yes, before you ask, I can scent your need for us.”
And just like that, I did.
Inside, the heat between us was palpable but again, I had no idea how to move forward. We decided on a movie as they all took positions around me. Brandon pulled me onto his lap while Cash and Moss sat on either side of him and Escher was at my feet, doing the most incredible job of rubbing them.
Brandon’s arms were wrapped around my middle. Cash’s hand held mine while one of Moss’ hands was on my thigh.
I hoped they had a fire extinguisher around because in that moment, with all of them touching me, I was about to combust.
I probably wouldn’t make it through the actual sex whenever that happened. I would just die right there, utterly in bliss.
Although, all of us had gotten close to the actual act and I hadn’t died yet. Thanks to the gods.
After the first movie ended, Brandon got up, and they grabbed snacks and then came back, this time all of them picking different positions like they’d had a meeting over the cheese puffs in the kitchen.
Sometime between the girl getting kidnapped in the movie and the end, I fell asleep against Escher’s side and when I roused, he was the only one awake.
“Let me take you to bed,” he offered, but with my men snuggled up next to me, I didn’t ever want to leave that couch.
“Not alone,” I said, which were the only two words I could form.
“We’ll go with you, mate. You want all of us with you?” Moss asked gently. His bass voice washed over me, warming me in a different way. I nodded as Escher picked me up. He took me upstairs and put me on the bed. I forced myself to sit up as each one of them took off their shirts and pants and snuggled in next to me, making sure they were each touching me, skin to skin.
That was the best sleep of my whole damned life.
Chapter Seven
I waved to Cash from the window of Moss’ house as he hunched over the plans for our house and happened to look up to see my gawking. I couldn’t help it. The man was beyond incredible. I mean, I never knew that back muscles could be so sexy, but as they pulled and worked against each other, I was convinced. Back muscles were my new favorite thing.
Escher came through the front door just as I was headed out with Moss to breakfast and then school. “The alpha asked me to give this to you. He said he had something else to attend to or else he would’ve given it to you himself. It is from the council.”
He slapped a manila folder onto the island but kept his hand on it like he wasn’t ready for me to open it.
“Is it something bad?” I asked, feeling my heart slip down into my stomach, making my knees shaky.
“I don’t know. But…whatever it is, it must be important.”
I smiled at Escher. It wasn’t like him to be so nervous, but my wolf felt the emotion coming off him in pulses. “Maybe it says that they found out I’m nothing special at all. Then we can just go on living our happy harem life.”
No one smiled back at my joke.
Okay, then.
“Or maybe I’m the most badass healer in the world and I need a crown?”
Moss cracked up, and Escher forced a smile. “I like that last one a lot better, female. No matter what’s in this folder, you are ours, and you are our world. Nothing changes that.”
I sidled up to my dark-haired mate, and he looked at me with those whiskey eyes that seemed to swallow me whole while I opened the file folder. The first page was an overview of me, like I was a suspect in some kind of investigation. My whole name. My age and weight. My addresses. My aunt’s name.
“Well, that’s not new,” I said and flipped to the next page.
It was a letter from the doctor—the doctor who prescribed my meds. An image of those pills flashed through my mind as I read over the history of the prescription. It started just two days after my parents’ death.
Nothing new.
“Wait, look at this, Wendi.” Moss was now on my other side as I soaked in the contents of the file. He pointed to a handwritten note on the bottom of another letter from the doctor.
“That’s my aunt’s writing,” I said with a twinge of awe in my tone. The woman had homeschooled me and I’d copied my own script from hers as a child. I knew that writing by heart.
“She requested that you get on these meds. They were…Wendi…” Moss stepped back from the paper as though it had offended him personally. He scrubbed his hand over his face like he could rub away the truth.
The edges of my vision got fuzzy as I absorbed the wordsmith , and I grasped Escher’s forearms to keep myself upright while my knees threatened to buckle and my breathing faltered.
In the note, my aunt practically begged for him to prescribe the meds. The shift-arresting medication. Anything to stop me from shifting. She’d actually written those words.
Anything to stop her from shifting.
She’d asked him to give me medicine to stop me from shifting.
She’d known. All that time.
I pushed the file across the island, and the papers flew everywhere, flat little birds of betrayal and broken heartedness.
“She didn’t want me to shift,” I breathed out. Escher grabbed my waist and hefted me onto the island and came to stand between my knees, whispering reassuring words to me and telling me everything was going to be okay. I leaned into not only his embrace but his words while Moss picked up the papers. “Why would she do that?”
I took solace in Escher’s eyes while getting ahold of myself mentally. So many things made sense. Why those pills made me so sleepy. Why I could never shift since the accident.
It wasn’t all in my head.
“Why did they make my legs not work?” I asked but my voice echoed in my head like someone else was speaking.
“I’m assuming that the meds had all kinds of neurological affects on you, mate. I’m going to google this medication. Wendi, there’s some information about your parents. Did you…”
I shook my head. “Not yet. I can’t…”
“I’m going to leave this on top of the fridge for when you’re ready. That way we know where it is but it’s out of sight. Is that okay?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Escher cupped my face, searching me for signs of life. “You’ve been wronged, but we will make sure no one ever hurts you again.”
They would, and I knew it. But something inside me broke and evolved in that moment between seeing my aunt’s note and hearing Escher’s words. I wanted my mates. There was no doubt about that.
But I wanted to help myself. Protect myself. Be who they thought I was. Enough time had been wasted.
“I want to see that woman. The older woman who came to see me. I forgot her name.”
Moss nodded now standing beside Escher. “She didn’t tell you her name, actually. But it’s Mirella. I know where she lives.”
“We have school,” I said and took Escher’s help getting down from the island and finding that my legs worked despite my fear that the emotional hurt had somehow affected my ability to stand.
I was always afraid I’d wake up one morning and see my chair next to the bed and realize this had all been a dream.
“School can wait. This is important.” Moss had that don’t-argue-with-me tone
I somehow found incredibly sexy even though I wanted to argue, because me.
“Okay.”
Chapter Eight
“It’s about time you showed up,” the woman who I now knew was named Mirella answered before I knocked. Her long silver hair was in a braid that hung over one shoulder and was tied with a tiny scarf. She was dressed in a flowy shirt and an equally flowy plum skirt. No shoes.
I liked her already.
“I’m sorry,” I said with the intonation of a question. Truth be told, I was here on gut instinct, hoping she could give me some insight or some Yoda-like wisdom. Every ounce of knowledge would be appreciated at this point.
There was something that drew me to her, but I couldn’t explain what.
“Don’t be sorry. We’ve got all the time in the world.” Wow. Not a juxtaposition at all. “Come on in and take a seat, but you alone.” She cut her deep brown eyes at Moss who had taken one step over the threshold before whirling around and leaving like he was some kind of obedient robot.
I laughed at how he listened to her and shut the door behind him.
“Now that the testosterone is out of the way, let’s begin.”
I didn’t know what we were beginning, but I smiled anyway and nodded.
She sat across from me in a worn chair and clinked her pointer fingernail on the rim of a teacup. “You have questions.”
“Yes.”
She smiled a little, but it seemed forced. “Let’s start with what you learned this morning.”
How did she know?
“I was given medicine to stop me from shifting,” I replied, feeling the weight of that betrayal loom over me again.
“But now you are shifting again, so that’s solved. No need to let the past fester.”
I almost laughed. She sounded like a positive thinking Instagram account.
“They did that because of where you come from. Your family probably put those measures in place way before the accident.” She did quotation marks in the air with her fingers as she said the word accident.
“I don’t…” I stuttered, more confused than when I’d walked through the door.
Triumph Page 3
