by Dena Christy
One thing was for sure, he wouldn’t get a chance to come near her again, not if Alex could help it. There was one thing that troubled him though. Nathan shouldn’t be anywhere near Eden Creek since he had been severely beaten by Rafe and was supposed to be in the council’s custody for the murder of Barrett and his involvement in the murder of Quinn Mercer.
“I thought he was in custody? If he escaped, why wasn’t anyone told about this?”
“Last I heard, he was in the hospital. The beating Rafe gave him was pretty savage. The plan was that once he was recovered enough to be released, he would be the wolf council’s problem to deal with. Looks like they may have dropped the ball on that one.”
“I’ll talk to Logan tomorrow and see if he knows anything about it. If not, he needs to know that Nathan is back in his territory. Thanks for telling me this.”
“Are you going to tell her?”
Alex looked toward the stairs to where Mercy had gone and debated if he should tell that her Nathan had been the one to break in. It would scare her but it didn’t sit right to hide something like that from her. If Nathan was hunting her she needed to know so she could take precautions that would keep her safe.
“I’ll tell her but not until we get back to my place.” There was a noise coming from upstairs and Alex glanced up to see Mercy coming down the stairs. She’d dressed in jeans and a sweater, and she had a suitcase in one hand and laptop bag slung over her opposite shoulder.
Alex rushed forward and went part way up the stairs to take the suitcase from her.
“Thank you.” She smiled gratefully at him, and he turned and went back down the stairs. She looked at Luke. “Do you think it would be okay if we left now or do you need me to stay while the investigators are here?”
“You can go. Just give me a spare key if you have one and I’ll lock up when we go. I’ll drop it off at Alex’s place tomorrow.”
Mercy handed Alex her laptop bag, and she went to the small table that stood in the hallway. She opened the drawer and pulled out a key chain that held a single key. She came over to hand it to Luke and then went to stand at Alex’s side.
“Thanks for everything, Luke. You'll keep me updated on what you find out?”
“Of course.” Luke smiled at her and nodded at Alex.
Mercy turned to Alex and he was relieved to see that most of the fear that had been in her eyes when he’d arrived was gone. Telling her about Nathan would more than likely put some of it back, but she needed to know that danger lurking around her.
“Let’s get you out of here.”
The ride back to Alex’s house passed in relative silence. Mercy relaxed back in the passenger seat and let the warmth of the truck’s interior chase away the coldness that had invaded her bones when she’d seen the open window in her basement and had known that someone had been in her house. And her interrupted sleep was catching up with her and she yawned.
She moved her laptop bag over a little so she could stretch her legs out.
“You didn’t need to bring your laptop, I have one at my house that you could use if you need to.”
“I know, but I was thinking that I could stay at your place until my doctor’s appointment. I thought it would be more convenient since we’ll be going to Ridgeport together.” Not to mention the break-in was too fresh for her to think about when she wanted to go back home. And the doctor’s appointment was the perfect excuse to avoid thinking about it for a couple of days. “I thought I would work while at your place, and I need my laptop for that.”
He gave a little laugh. “It’s funny, we’re having a baby together and I have no idea what you do for a living.”
They hadn’t exactly taken the time to get to know each other before they went to bed together, and her avoiding him in the weeks that followed hadn’t exactly given them time to fill in the gaps of their knowledge of each other.
“I’m a freelance writer. I was my mom’s caregiver when she had terminal cancer and I needed to do something that would bring money in that I could do from home. When she passed away, I kept at it because I enjoy it and have built my business up enough that it pays better than any nine-to-five job that I could get with only a high school education.”
“I’m sorry about your mom.” Alex reached out and put his hand on hers, gave it a squeeze before returning it to the steering wheel.
“Thank you.” She glanced over at him. “What about you? Are your parents still around?”
“Yep. They only live in Cold Bay part-time now. They can’t take the cold, damp winters anymore, so they migrate south for the winter.”
“Have you told them about the baby yet?” Mercy bit her lip. For most of her life, she’d been labeled as the girl from the wrong side of the tracks, and although his parents weren’t from Eden Creek and couldn’t know that, the old insecurity that lived inside her reared its ugly head. She hoped his parents didn’t think that she was using this baby to trap their son.
“The only person I told was Logan when I asked for Tuesday off. I'll let them know the next time they call me. My mom, for one, will be happy. She’s been making noises about me giving her grandchildren and has been after me to settle down.”
Well, at least he would give her the grandchild. As for the settling down, unfortunately, she was sure she’d fucked that part up. Well, better to screw it up now rather than down the road when she was in love with him.
They pulled up in front of his house, and she grabbed her laptop bag and got out. Alex got out on his side and got her suitcase out of the bed of the truck. He came to her side and tucked her close as they walked to the house. She was glad that she’d called him tonight.
Not that she didn’t think that Honor would have taken her in, and Rafe would have done his best to make sure she was safe. But Honor and Rafe wouldn’t be able to give her what Alex did. Being with him made her feel comforted by his presence. Standing close to his side as they walked to his house made her think that nothing bad was going to happen to her while she was near him.
To her surprise, he twisted the doorknob on his front door and the door opened. She looked up at him as they went into the vestibule and he locked the door behind him.
“You didn’t lock your door when you left?”
“I didn’t want to waste the time. I had no idea what had happened to you and I wanted to get to your place as soon as I could.” He shrugged out of his coat and took off his boots. He turned to her and helped her out of her coat, hanging it on the peg beside his. She looked at her jacket hanging there beside his and got a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. It looked like it belonged there, and she turned away and went into the living room. It was just a silly coat, and just because she was here now didn’t mean that she belonged here.
She was in Alex's house because it was safer for her than her own home at the moment. And she was willing to wager that if she wasn’t carrying his baby, there was no way he’d open his home up to her.
He followed her into the living room and set her suitcase down. “I’ll take this to the guest room in a minute, but there is something we need to talk about first.”
He gently cupped her elbow and led her over to the sofa. She sat down and turned her body to face his when he sat down beside her. He took her hand and held it, and he looked like he was searching for the right words to say to her.
“Alex, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“While you were upstairs packing, Luke told me something that he hadn’t shared with you. He didn’t want you to be frightened any more than you already were.” He paused for a moment as if he was trying to cushion the blow he was about to deliver.
Dread curled in Mercy’s stomach and set up camp. What could Luke possibly have to say to Alex that he couldn’t say to her?
“What did Luke tell you?”
Alex gently squeezed her hand for a moment. “Luke caught a scent in the laundry room. It was Nathan’s.”
Was that all?
“Nathan was in my house
before. I gave him a tour of the house and he was in the laundry room.” That was what Luke had smelled. It had to be. There was no way, Nathan, the subject of her nightmares had been in her house tonight. But as she looked at Alex, and willed him to agree, he gave a slight shake of his head.
“I thought that too, at first. But Luke says the scent was too strong to be from when he was at your house before. It was like it was only a few minutes old.” Mercy shook her head as denial coursed through her. Luke had made some kind of mistake. That scent couldn’t be fresh. “Sweetheart, you’ve been in the laundry room since he was there. Can you honestly say that his scent was still in there after all that time had passed?”
Mercy let go of his hand and put her arms around her middle. She didn’t have to tell him that she had gotten no lingering scent from Nathan in all the times that she’d been in the laundry room since he’d been there. A part of her knew she'd been grasping at straws for thinking that it was an old scent.
“Oh God, Alex. He was in my house.” Her voice came out in a stricken whisper and he moved closer to her. He pulled her to his side and put his arm around her. “He was there in the basement while I was making tea in the kitchen. I was so close to where he was.”
Pure, stark fear came over her and she pressed herself tighter to Alex. Had it been her neighbor’s barking dog that had told him that there might be someone to call the police? She tried to think if she’d mentioned her nosey neighbor to him when she’d been seeing him and couldn't remember. What if the dog hadn’t raised a ruckus? What if she’d still been asleep in her bed?
“You were close, but you aren’t anymore. Wherever he is, he isn’t in Cold Bay. Even if he was, there is no way that he could get to you. You are here with me and you’re safe.”
She nodded as she hung on to him. His words went some way toward making her heart slow its rapid thumping, and some fear ebbed away. Once the shock of the knowledge that Nathan had been her midnight intruder melted away, questions were left in its wake.
“Why would he be in my house? I was only a means to an end for him. He didn’t give a shit about me while he was my so-called boyfriend. Why would he turn up now?”
She drew away from Alex, and he wore a worried frown on his face. “I don’t know why he was at your house. The only thing that matters to me was that he was there, and until he’s found you aren’t going anywhere near that house. You’ll stay here, not just until Tuesday, but until the threat that he represents to you is gone.”
She offered no argument. Her home was the last place she wanted to be now that she knew it wasn’t just a random break-in that had occurred tonight. Now that she knew that it was Nathan who’d been in her house, she dreaded the thought of going back there while he was still on the loose.
“What are we going to do now?”
“I’m going to call Logan, Mason, and Rafe tomorrow and have a meeting. They all need to know about this since every one of them was there that night. Logan needs to know because it’s his territory Nathan’s in, and he’s the only one who has a chance of getting a straight answer into why Nathan isn’t in the council’s custody right now like he should be. And Rafe needs to know because if you’re a target, Honor might be one too.”
And the thought of Honor being in danger sent fear and anger churning through her all over again. “Jesus, didn’t he do enough already? He hunted us that night, and I still have nightmares about it. He used me, which put my friend in danger. What more does he want? Does he want to finish what he started that night? Does he want to kill me? Does he want to kill Honor?”
“I don’t know, but he will not be able to get near you.” A fierce look came over Alex’s face. “I’ll kill him if he tries. He doesn’t know you’re here, he doesn’t know about us. As long as you stay here, you’ll be safe.”
Mercy took a deep breath and released it slowly. She was vulnerable, but she wasn’t alone. She had this man, and she had her friends. She had to believe that Nathan wouldn’t win, that he wouldn’t be able to get to her for whatever twisted purpose he had. And she had to believe that he would be caught before he could hurt her or anyone else.
The sleep that had been creeping up on her in the truck prodded her again and she yawned. It had been a long night, and now what she wanted most was to sleep and escape the fear that had been inside her for most of the night, at least for a little while.
“I think we’ve done enough talking for one night. You and the little one need the sleep.” Alex stood up and took her hand, pulling her up off the sofa. “I’ll get you settled into the guest room so you can rest.”
Mercy knew that the guest room was the best place for her, but the fear that had dogged her since she realized that someone had been in her house was still there. Plus, there was the thought that her nightmare might come back. Her subconscious had even more fuel now that Nathan had been in her house.
“Do you think I could sleep with you?” She looked in his eyes and could see surprise there. As much as she would like to make love with him again, she couldn’t be sure she wasn’t doing it for the same reasons she’d done it the last time, to blot out the fear. “I’m not suggesting that anything happen between us. I’ve been having nightmares since that night, and it will be easier for me to go to sleep if I’m not alone.”
“It’s not like you haven’t been in there before. Come on. Let’s salvage at least some sleep tonight.”
5
Alex opened his eyes the next morning and thought for a moment that he must be still asleep and dreaming. He was lying on his side, and Mercy was snuggled up against him with her back to him as they lay like two spoons in a drawer. It was like the last six weeks had never happened, and this was the morning after their night when they’d ridden the storm of their passion for each other.
That she was wearing a sleep shirt, and he was wearing an old pair of flannel lounge pants told him that this was not a dream. That night there had been nothing between him and Mercy but skin. As wakefulness slowly replaced sleep, the events of the night before came back to him. Mercy was here in his bed because Nathan had broken into her house and she was afraid to sleep alone. It wasn’t because she had plans to jump his bones, but as a rueful smile pulled up the corner of his mouth, he thought a man could hope. She was in his bed and that was a step in the right direction.
He lay like that for a few more minutes, enjoying the feel of her next to him. His arm was draped over her waist and his hand rested on her belly where his baby slept. It was too soon to feel anything other than her flat stomach, but soon enough his baby would move and he wanted to be around to feel it. He knew without a doubt that he wanted Mercy to be a permanent part of his life.
She was his baby’s mother, and while she said that she wanted him to be a part of this baby’s life, that could change. A new man could come along, he could insinuate himself into her life, and the thought sent a shard of jealousy through Alex. He tried to tell himself that it was because he didn’t want any other man to be a father to this baby, but he wasn’t sure that was the whole truth.
Something had happened when he had comforted Mercy on the night Nathan had hunted her and Honor. Some small seed had been planted, a small hope that she might very well be the woman he was looking for. He wanted to nurture that feeling to see if it would blossom. He wanted the only man in Mercy’s future to be him, but he needed to move carefully.
That Mercy had turned to him last night, had called him to come to her in her fear had been a promising sign. But he wanted to be more to her than shelter from the things that scared her, and he would have to be cagey in his wooing of her.
He shifted slightly, and she groaned.
“Are you okay?”
“Please don’t move.” Those words came out through gritted teeth, and despite her request, he moved.
“What’s wrong?”
She ripped herself away from him and flew out the door of his bedroom and into the bathroom. The door slammed behind her and Alex was off the bed i
n a flash and came to stand by the bathroom door in time to hear her retching. The morning sickness, he’d forgotten about it.
Once he heard silence coming from the bathroom, he gently tapped on the door.
“Do you need anything?” He wished he could take the sickness from her, could instead be sick for her, but unfortunately, that was impossible. But what he could do whatever it took to make her comfortable.
The bathroom door opened, and she stood there looking pale. She clamped her lips together for a moment as if she was trying to see if the nausea she was feeling was going to stop or if she was going to have to dive back toward the toilet.
“I’ll be okay for a moment. If you intend to have coffee, I’ll have to go in another room because the smell of it sets me off.”
“I can skip the coffee. Let’s go into the living room and you can lie on the couch while I call everyone. Do you think you’ll feel up to a meeting?”
She nodded and he put a gentle arm around her while they went to his living room. Their late night had meant an equally late morning so everyone he intended to call would be up and about by now.
Once she was settled on the sofa, he got on his phone, with Logan being the first person on his list. He didn’t go into detail, only saying that something happened last night that he and the others needed to know. He would rather tell the story once, instead of three times, hence his brevity. It didn’t take long to call the others to the meeting that they would hold at Sawyer’s Place.
Alex came back to the living room and Mercy was sitting on the sofa with her eyes closed.
“Do you think you can handle a trip to the bar? Logan wants us all to meet there, and it would be helpful to have you there in case Logan has questions about what happened at your place. And while I’m sure that you’d be perfectly safe here, I don’t like you being out here alone.”
Mercy opened her eyes and she smiled at him. “I would rather not be here by myself, so I’ll muddle through. I guess we better get dressed and get going.”
