Ruby's Strength

by Elisa Leigh

  When we arrive at Remy’s everyone is already there, even Gabe who seems to be spending a lot of time alone. The distance he’s been putting between him and Ruby is hurting her, even though she won’t talk about it.

  We find them in the back shooting pool.

  “Hey, guys,” Ruby says hugging Aubree and then Maura.

  Cole greets me by shaking my hand, then I shake Slates, and finally, Gabe’s. When one of the waitresses walks by I order Ruby and me something to drink. We start a new game of pool, with Cole and I on one team and Maura and Slate on the other. Ruby, Gabe, and Aubree sit at a table next to us talking while we play.

  We’re having a great time until a group of three guys enter the building. The whole atmosphere in Remy’s changes immediately. Everyone in the bar stops to stare at the men who have danger wafting off of them in waves. The more I look at them and the closer they get I realize I know one of the guys. He’s someone I worked with years ago while I was in the Air Force. I can’t remember his name, but I remember the guy was an asshole.

  The guys zero in on us as if they are here to find our group. When they start heading in our direction, we close in around the girls, stand close and in front of them.

  They aren’t twenty feet away when Cole snarls and his fists clench at his sides. “It’s them.”

  The guy leading them toward us smiles evilly at Cole.

  “What the fuck do you want?” Cole asks in a deadly voice.

  “Just letting you and yours know there’s a new pack in town. We just bought land in town. We’re officially neighbors.”

  “What were you expecting? Should we roll out the fucking red carpet for a bunch of murderers? Fuck that.” Cole says low as to not attract attention.

  “If your alpha would have agreed to leave town that wouldn’t have happened. We challenged him for land rights, and he lost.”

  “It doesn’t count if you sick five wolves against one bear you fucking asshole.”

  “He refused to go down, we needed to make our point.”

  Cole lunges at the man speaking and grabs him by the shirt and smashes his head into the green of the billiards table. “What is your fucking name you cocksucking son of a bitch?”

  The other two guys he’s with growl and step to get closer, but Slate and Gabe shove them back not letting them pass and get to their guy. The one pressed to the table laughs. Cole punches him in the face causing blood to spill on the table and all over his face. “Your fucking name.”

  “Collin.” He growls.

  “Who is your fucking alpha?”

  Cole lifts his fist to hit him again when he says nothing, but one of the bouncers that work at Remy’s interrupts him. “Fuck Cole, finish this shit outside. We don’t need the cops coming in here and shutting the place down.”

  Slate and Gabe grab the two guys in front of them and push them out of the emergency exit nearest to us. I follow Cole out as he drags Collin with him outside, dropping him on the ground of the parking lot.

  “Tell your alpha if he wants to have a conversation about us leaving town he can stop playing games and come talk to me himself.”

  “He’s going to slaughter your entire clan, starting with your mate,” Collin says laughing.

  Enraged, Cole starts beating the shit out of Collin, kicking him over and over again. Gabe and Slate turn their backs to pull Cole off the guy when his friends change into their wolves. They attack Slate and Gabe from behind, jumping on their backs and sinking their teeth into their limbs, while another goes after Cole.

  Fuck this. I’ve had enough. I wasn’t able to do anything to save my men before, but I sure as hell can now. Over the last few weeks, my bear has started to awaken inside me, but I haven’t felt the need to shift, so I haven’t pressed it. Now he’s pacing inside me, waiting to get out and show these pieces of shit that they won’t put us down.

  My bear bursts out of me, the change happening in seconds. I let out a loud roar and charge the beasts that stupidly thought they could get the jump on us. I manage to pull the wolf off of Slate before another one jumps on my back. By this time the Cole, Gabe, and Slate have all changed into their bears and are all fighting alongside me. There’s only three of them to our four and I know we have nothing to fear, this will be over soon.

  The guy who I remember from years ago runs at me full throttle, biting me on the backs of my legs. Rolling on my back, I kick at his face to get him off of me, but he keeps coming back for more. The next time he lunges at me I roll to the side and then throw him to the ground, placing my much larger paw over his neck, seconds away from ending his life.

  One by one the guys all shift back into their human form, even the asshole that I’m pinning to the ground.

  “Rett, what are you doing there buddy?”

  I look over at Cole who is know edging his way closer to me.

  “They’re outnumbered Rett, it’s not a fair fight.”

  I growl at Cole when he gets closer, but he doesn’t flinch or stop walking in my direction. I’m pissed that he’s asking me to let this guy go. He and the others are a threat to our family, and I’ll fight to the end to ensure our family is safe. A shake my head no and press down harder on the guy's throat. He’s grasping at my paw, and his face is turning red.

  “Change back,” Cole commands using his alpha tone that I have to abide by. I’m helpless to stop myself from changing back into my human form. I walk away from the group needing a minute to myself before I lose my shit. When I turn back around, the guys are limping away.

  “We should have ended them.”

  “Are you a murder now Rett? Because from what you’ve said, that’s not who you are.” Cole asks from beside me.

  I glare at the ground, hating that he’s right. “Was it your bear pushing you to end his life or was it you? I know you’re new to this, but we are in control, not them. When you let your bear take over more often than not, that’s when you start losing yourself.” Slate says, imparting some wisdom on me.

  “Got it. Sorry, Cole. All I could think and see at that moment was that they posed a threat to us. I’m never going to let anyone hurt our family. Never.”

  Twelve

  Ruby

  I’ve had about enough of this. Aubree and Maura told me to stay inside with them while the guys handled whatever was going on with the wolves. I listened, for all of ten minutes, now I need to know what’s happening. I can feel the rage coming off of Rett and his need to protect his family. It’s like an emotional boxing match out there between Cole and Rett. “We need to go out there and help them.”

  Maura stops me from getting up. “No, you need to sit down and wait for them to come back in.”

  “What if they’re hurt?”

  “Then we would know and go out there.” Aubree sighs.

  They are right, I know they are right, but I hate it. I twirl my straw around in my drink and watch the television that’s closest to our table, but mine is with Rett outside. About fifteen minutes later Aubree gets a text notification.

  “We need to go.” She drops a hundred dollar bill on the table to cover our tab for the night and then she stands and immediately starts walking to the front entrance. Once we’re outside, she stops us. “The guys shifted and tore their clothes to shreds. We need to pick them up before they are seen.”

  Hopping up into Rett’s truck I thank the lord he gave me his spare last week in case of emergencies. I follow Aubree and Maura to the back parking lot. The guys move quickly and get in their respective vehicles. Rett gets in on the passenger side, and Gabe gets in the back.

  “Are you okay?” I gasp, looking them over and seeing blood covering parts of their bodies and wounds in need of attention.

  “We’ll be fine Ruby, you know we’ll heal in a few hours. What we all need right now is to get home and rest.” Gabe answers while Rett stays silent and stares ahead of us into the night.

  The drive home is completely silent. I try turning on some music, but Rett turns it off. He’s
furious at Cole, but I don’t know why. It’s tearing me apart, knowing my brother and mate are at odds. Then there’s Gabe who is continually running off, and when he is here, he’s checking his phone. He barely says goodbye before he’s out the door and walking up to his cabin. I wait for him to walk inside before I drive off and go back down the road to my house.

  When I park, Everett is out of the truck before I even have the engine turned off. “Alrighty then,” I mumble to myself.

  I walk inside expecting to find him, but he’s not there. I go back to my room, but he isn’t there either. I can feel his pain and frustration and all I want to do is take it away and make it better for him, but I can’t if he doesn’t talk to me. Knowing I’ll have to wait him out, I get in the shower to wash this night away.

  I’m in the middle of washing my hair when the shower curtain is pulled to the side, and I feel Everett get in behind me.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

  “Your pain hurt me, your silence hurt me, you didn’t do this.”

  Everett helps me rinse out my hair and then squirts conditioner in his hands. “Turn around love and let me take care of you.”

  Turning my back to him, he coats my hair in conditioner, then drops a kiss on my shoulder. “Want to switch spots?”

  We move around each other so that he can rinse his dried blood off. I grab my loofa and lather it with soap then start washing his back. The man is covered in bites and claw marks all over his body, so it’s hard to stay away from them. There isn’t a part of him that wasn’t hurt in the fight with the wolves.

  “I almost killed him, Ruby.”

  “Who?”

  “One of the wolves. I had him right there, under my paw. If I had pressed a little harder, he would have ended up dying.”

  “But you didn’t kill him.”

  “Only because Cole ordered me not to.”

  “That’s the magic of being the alpha. You’re able to command your pack to do what you say. Cole doesn’t abuse it though, he’s only ever done it a few times, and only when the situation warranted it.”

  “But what would have happened if he wasn’t there? Ruby, my bear was riding me hard, telling me that we needed to protect our family. I was set to do that.”

  I lean my cheek against his back and wrap my arms around his middle. “That’s his job Everett, he did his part to make sure you could look yourself in the mirror in the morning. He wasn’t protecting the wolf, he was protecting you.”

  Everett rinses off and gets out of the shower leaving me in there alone and wondering what I can do to make this better. Rinsing the conditioner from my hair and the soap from my body, I get of the shower and dry off only to find that Everett is already in bed.

  I get dressed in panties and a long sleeve t-shirt of Everett’s before sliding into bed under the covers. I want so badly to hold him and tell him the magic words that he needs to hear, but I feel helpless to do so because I don’t know what those magic words are that he needs. Before I’ve figured it out, he’s turned out the light.

  “Are you going to get your ass over here, or do I need to drag you to your spot?”

  “I just thought, you know… I just.”

  “Get over here baby.”

  I roll over, so I’m resting my head in the crook of his arm, my hand over his chest, and my leg slung over his thigh. This is my spot that I sleep in every night, this is where I find solace from the world.

  “I love you Ruby, more than anything in this world. I’ve had my world taken from me when I was really young. I’m not going through that again. Cole knew it wasn’t right and in the back of my mind so did I. I know he made the right call tonight, but I’m still pissed he just let them walk away. Something needs to be done about the wolves and soon. They’re gearing up for something, and we need to be ready.”

  “We’ll go talk to Cole in the morning together. You’re right. We need to protect our family.”

  “Thanks, baby.”

  We fall asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. Hours later I’m woken up by a terrible dream. Gabe’s house was on fire, and we couldn’t save him. The more I sit here and think about it the more I need to make sure that it was just a dream and nothing more.

  I nudge him a couple times trying to wake him up.“Everett, wake up.” I shout. He finally opens his eyes and sits up in bed.

  “What is it?”

  “I think Gabe’s house might be on fire. I need to go make sure.”

  “Why would his house be on fire?”

  “Trust me, we need to go and check. Come on.”

  I pull on some leggings that are next to my bed and my fur-lined boots that go midway up my calves. Everett dresses quickly, and then we jump in his truck.

  “Did you try calling him?”

  “Yeah, he didn’t answer.”

  “It is the middle of the night, he could just be sleeping.”

  “I know you’re right, but I’d rather be safe than sor-”

  “Do you smell that?”

  “Oh my God, look,” I say pointing into the lit up sky, smoke billowing from below.

  Everett presses on the gas pedal and in less than a minute we are pulling up Gabe’s drive staring at his cabin that’s engulfed in flames.

  “Oh fuck. Of fuck. Oh, fuck.” I whisper to myself.

  It wasn’t a fucking dream, it was a vision, and I was too late.

  “Call nine-one-one.”

  Tears start streaming down my face. “It’s too late.”

  “I’m not even going to go there with you right now. As far as we know, he’s alive. If that fire spreads, it could torch the whole fucking forest. They need to get here now.” He says snapping me out of my hysterics.

  We watch as the fire burns and destroys my brother’s house and everything he owned. Because we live so far out it takes the fire department over ten minutes to get out to us. I watch in horror for over an hour as they do their job and work to get the fire put out. The firemen work tirelessly, but don’t find Gabe when they are finally able to go in and do a look through. Rett is holding me in his arms in the cab of his truck when out of the corner of my eye I catch Gabe at the tree line.

  “There. He’s there, he’s okay.” I point at the forest and shout at Everett, as well as Cole and Slate who are in the back seat waiting with me for any news. The guys look over and see what I just did.

  Epilogue

  Rett

  “Hey, dad, what’s for dinner tonight?” Elijah, our oldest asks staring into the refrigerator.

  “Close the fridge, Eli.” I feel like all I ever do lately is tell him to get out of the kitchen. The boy is nine going on sixteen. He’s already working on doubling our grocery bill for the month.

  He closes it and comes to stand beside me. “I’m starving. When are we going to eat?”

  “You just had lunch an hour ago. Why don’t you go outside and play with Willow and Zachariah?”

  “They’re driving me crazy. Willow talked him into playing house, and she wants me to be the family pet. Can I go read in my room instead?”

  I laugh picturing all three of them in their clubhouse, Willow telling everyone what to do and making Eli be a dog. “Sure.”

  A few hours later all six of us are gathered around the dinner table. “Baby you outdid yourself once again, this dinner is incredible.”

  “It really is mom. I love your homemade lasagna even better than your chicken and dumplings.” Eli says taking another bite.

  “Me too mommy.” Zach and Willow tell her.

  “And what do you think my little stinker?” Ruby coos to our youngest Amelia who just turned five months old yesterday and is definitely a blessing after trying for a few years to have another.

  Amelia slaps her hands on the table of her highchair and takes the bite of food Ruby is trying desperately to feed her.

  Once dinner is over, I clear the table and clean the kitchen while Ruby gets the kids in the bath and ready to relax before bedtime. I’m just finishing up a
nd adding another log to the fire when Ruby comes out looking exhausted.

  “Did you get her to sleep?”

  “Yeah, but she didn’t want to go down in her crib. I should have never let her sleep in our bed.”

  “Babe it’s fine, she’ll sleep in her bed eventually.”

  “I should have known better. With the other three, it took them years to finally sleep in their beds.”

  “Who the hell cares? Get your sweet ass over here.”

  She laughs and lays back against the couch propping he feet in my lap. I grab one and start kneading the soles of her feet making her moan. “That’s better than sex.”

  I drop her foot. “Take it back.”

  She laughs a full belly laugh. “I can’t, you do that so well. Please don’t stop.” She pushes her other foot into my hands and sticks out her bottom lip.

  Caving I begin rubbing her foot. “You’re lucky I love you.”

  “I know I am, and I love you too.”

  The End

  Author’s Note

  Find out what’s been happening with Gabe, where he’s disappearing to and who has stolen his attention. Gabe’s book, Gabe’s Destiny, will be released by M. Merin very soon, like very very soon :)

  You can read Cole's book, Cole's Salvation on Amazon today.

  Acknowledgments

  M Merin, thank you for your patience and input on this project. It has been so much fun and I can't wait for what is yet to come!

  MK Moore, thank you for beta reading Ruby’s Strength. Can’t wait to write with you again! You're awesome!#unicornsquad

  KL Fast, you’re amazing! Thank you for all of your support and feedback. Thank you for beta reading Ruby's strenghth! As always love you girl #unicornsquad

  Jeb, thank you for supporting my dreams and constantly encouraging me to look on the bright side of things.

  ARC readers, thank you for taking the time to read Ruby’s Strength. Your reviews mean a great deal to me and I look forward to reading each and every one of them.