Fate, Love & Loyalty: (A Havenwood Falls Novella)

by E. J. Fechenda

  Reeve approached him with her arms held out, and he handcuffed her. Then he pulled out a gun from the back of his black cargo pants, and she gasped.

  “Relax, it’s a tranq gun. If you behave, I won’t use it. Now, let’s go.” He nudged her forward with the muzzle of the gun, and they stepped out into a long hallway. There were three other doors on the right side, in addition to her room, and two doors on the left. At the end of the hallway, Reeve noticed a flight of stairs leading down. They walked until they reached the door on the left closest to the stairs.

  “Here you go,” Scott pushed open the door to reveal a bathroom.

  Reeve went inside, relieved when he didn’t follow. She closed the door and went to lock it, but there wasn’t a lock available. Quickly scanning the room, Reeve was hit with disappointment again when she realized there weren’t any windows. She did her business and checked the medicine cabinet for anything useful, but only found cotton swabs, a box of tampons, and a tube of toothpaste. Closing the cabinet, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was a tangled mess, and smudges of dirt made her right cheek look bruised. Using hand soap, she washed her face and scrubbed the makeup off from the night before. The handcuffs made it challenging, but she worked around them. Unable to stall anymore, she took a deep breath and opened the door. Scott was waiting across the hall, leaning against the wall, which was painted a light dove gray and accented with white wainscoting. Wherever they were keeping her, it had been recently decorated.

  Scott herded her back to “her” room, removed the handcuffs, and left without a word. Reeve sat down on the bed and eyed the tray of food. A pile of scrambled eggs and bacon were on a paper plate, and there was a paper bowl of mixed berries on the side along with a cup of orange juice and a cup of coffee. Propped up against the glass of juice was an envelope with her name on it. Curiosity got the best of her, so she grabbed it and set the tray aside on the bed. There was a single sheet of paper inside with a handwritten note from Damian.

  Reeve,

  You probably think of me as some monster, but I’m not doing this for me. This is for our race. I do this to ensure our future. Our alpha blood will make our offspring stronger and faster. We’ve become too diluted, especially since inter-shifter marriages became legal.

  Someday you will grow to appreciate what I’m building here, and perhaps even develop feelings for me. I can give you a good life as your provider, and we can create a generation of pure-blooded cats to help sustain our kind. You’re strong and fierce, qualities I seek in a mate. It pains me to have to keep you locked up, but until I can trust you, this is how things have to be. I hope you choose to behave and accept your fate.

  Your Mate and Alpha,

  Damian

  Reeve’s appetite vanished after reading his note. She’d heard of species purists, but never met one. Supes weren’t any different than humans. There were some who were progressive, others who were conservative, and then there were those who were resistant to change no matter what. Reeve was glad the national leadership for shifters legalized inter-species marriage, recognizing the need to align with human legislation.

  Fortunately, Denver was progressive. Well, except for Damian. What struck Reeve as weird was that there weren’t any warnings about Damian, so either he didn’t have a lot of support in Denver, or his supporters knew how to fly under the radar. Reeve knew she was not going to be his mate, and certainly not a breeding whore. He was out of his ever-loving mind if he thought he’d control her. His note did confirm that she was dealing with a different kind of crazy, and from that point forward she needed to do everything within her power to be at one hundred percent.

  Despite her loss of appetite, and while the food and coffee were lukewarm, Reeve consumed everything. She didn’t smell anything off, so it hadn’t been tainted, and she needed to eat to keep her strength up. Reading his note again turned the rock in her stomach into a ball of rage. Who did this asshole think he was? And Reeve already had an alpha—her dad. Even though she had left Havenwood Falls, she never swore a loyalty oath to another den.

  When you’re alone without anything to occupy your time except for your thoughts, it’s a good time for reflection. Aside from a few friends from school and work, Reeve didn’t have a huge social network in Denver—even though she’d lived there for more than six years. She’d always planned to eventually come home and be with her family and the den. She didn’t realize how homesick she really was, and soon came to the realization that it could be days until someone noticed she was missing.

  Havenwood Falls

  Reeve paused to catch her breath. Now that she was able to talk about her experience and personal revelations, the words poured out. The fact that Patrick listened without interruption was nice, too. He had stopped pacing the room and joined her in bed again. Occasional kisses on her neck and shoulders or a reassuring squeeze gave her encouragement to continue. It was hard to believe that just three days before they were total strangers yet she never felt so connected to anyone. The connection came from deep within and was more than physical, although they had spent most of the weekend in bed with the exception of eating and showering.

  Reeve traced a finger along Patrick’s chest and up his neck, the smooth skin transitioning to rough stubble when she approached his jawline. Her fingertip came to a rest on the dimple in his chin and she watched as the corners of his mouth lifted into a grin.

  “Finish your story, love. We can play later,” he whispered, lifting her finger to his lips and kissing the tip before placing her hand on his hip.

  “Deal,” she said with a sigh and snuggled against him. “First, I have to explain that I left Havenwood Falls for Aster. You’re new to town, so you don’t know how miserable Aster was being my younger sister.” Reeve sighed. “I hated that she was miserable, and it wasn’t as if I tried to be popular. I’m fairly outgoing, and in middle school and high school, people just gravitated towards me.” She shrugged. “Classes were easy for me, too, so I succeeded as a student. But Aster was shy, and school was harder for her. When I tried to help, she thought I was taking pity on her. It didn’t help that, with us being two years apart, she was constantly being compared to me.” Reeved paused for a breath and rearranged herself before continuing. “It wasn’t fair to hold myself back, and our parents were concerned that I would—and they were right. I love Aster and would do anything for her. So I thought it best to leave Havenwood Falls and began applying to colleges. My parents heard me out and were concerned about Aster, too. Braden, our big brother, was always running interference and trying to maintain peace between us. He even agreed with my plan. So, my parents made arrangements for me to leave. I’m not sure what my dad had to do in order to get approval from the Court to have a spell put on me to counteract the memory spell. He has never told me. Less than a year later, I left for Denver.”

  “You did that for Aster?” Patrick asked, and she heard the awe in his voice.

  “Well, yeah, she’s my sister. It worked too. She was able to grow up as Aster McCabe, not Reeve McCabe’s little sister.”

  “I had no idea. Aster alluded to a rivalry of sorts, but she never went into detail.”

  “She wouldn’t as it wasn’t a good period for us. We definitely had our moments and defined cat fights,” Reeve joked, earning a chuckle from Patrick that rumbled deep in his chest like a purr. It lightened the tension Reeve felt building like a storm inside her, but that was short lived. She still had to finish telling Patrick about Damian.

  “So, anyway, I was reflecting on my life and what led me to being held prisoner by a whack job I swore that if I was lucky enough to escape Damian, that I’d return home and start working on my relationship with Aster. I mean, we’re both adults now, and hopefully enough time has passed to heal any old wounds. I latched onto this goal like a drowning person holding onto a lifesaver, and it made me more determined than ever to find a way out.”

  “And then you come home and meet me. Fuck! Aster has
to be hurting so bad right now. We were supposed to be going away this weekend for our six-month anniversary.” Patrick was out of bed again and pacing his room. He ran his hands through his hair, which already stood up in spikes because right after his last shower, they had found their way back in bed. At this point, his hair looked like it had been through a hurricane.

  “I know.” Reeve struggled to swallow, her throat suddenly thick with emotion. “We can’t control who our mate is, though. This is something Damian Stone doesn’t understand.” Thinking of the man replaced the sadness with anger. She’d been through hell for months because of that asshole.

  “How did you get away from him?” Patrick asked.

  Reeve returned to her story.

  Somewhere Near Denver

  Scott came back to check on her a few hours later, and after handcuffing her again, escorted her to the bathroom. She hadn’t showered, and was still just wearing Damian’s T-shirt. She wasn’t concerned about showing skin, but didn’t like feeling vulnerable. She asked Scott if she could get some real clothes, and he said he’d check with Damian. Then he locked her back up in the room again. Shadows grew longer as the day wore on, and Reeve paced the room until her legs ached. She curled up on the bed, facing the door, and stared at the doorknob as if willing it to turn. At some point she fell asleep, because she woke up with Damian curled up behind her, one of his hands on her bare thigh.

  Screaming, Reeve leapt off the bed and landed on all fours in a crouch. Her entire body shuddered, on the verge of shifting, but she fought back the urge. A muffled growl came from the room next door, and something hit against the other side of the wall.

  “Now is that any way to greet your mate?” Damian said. He remained lying on the bed, shirtless, but Reeve thanked God he still had jeans on. Under different circumstances, she’d probably find him attractive. He was a solid male specimen, of that there was no doubt, but his size just made her realize how much smaller she was in comparison.

  Reeve didn’t respond to his question and remained silent, glaring at him from her crouched position.

  He clucked his tongue at her like she was an errant child, and slithered off the bed. He probably thought he was being sexy and seductive, but his movements were predatory. Reeve warily watched him approach and didn’t back away. He came to stand in front of her and squatted down so they were eye to eye. “Such gorgeous green eyes. I hope at least one of our children inherits those.”

  Reeve flinched, and he seemed to enjoy this momentary lapse in her façade.

  “Scott tells me you requested clothes?”

  He caught her off guard with the change of subject. She nodded.

  “You can have clothes and a shower, but only with one condition.”

  This shouldn’t have surprised her. He had all of the negotiating power at this point. “What’s that?”

  “You have to eat dinner with me. We should get to know each other. We’ll eat downstairs since you’ve been cooped up in here all day. Do you accept?”

  The idea of seeing more of the house was the hook that made her say yes. Damian, pleased with her answer, stood to go, and she slowly rose out of the crouched position.

  “See you in one hour,” he said, before leaving the room. Seconds later, she heard the key turn in the lock.

  True to his word, Damian sent Scott a few minutes later with a pair of black lace panties and a bra. He handed Reeve a little black cocktail dress and set a pair of red heels on the floor. Apparently dinner was going to be a formal affair. He escorted Reeve to the bathroom again, where towels were laid out for her and a plush cotton robe hung on a hook by the shower. A toothbrush and toothpaste had also appeared. They were on the edge of the sink next to a wide-toothed comb.

  Reeve took her time in the shower, hoping the warm water would relax her muscles, but they might as well have been made of concrete, she was so tense about the dinner. Based on the sexy, lacy underthings, she suspected Damian had her in mind for dessert. That was not happening. A knock on the door told Reeve her time was up. With a sigh, she turned off the faucets.

  Damian appeared at the door to her room with a bouquet of red roses in hand. It was like he thought he was showing up at her apartment to take her on a date—not that she was his prisoner and had zero choice in the matter. Scott followed him into the room carrying a plastic vase of water, which he placed on the windowsill. “No glass until we establish some trust,” Damian explained as he set the roses in the vase.

  They left the room, Damian cupping Reeve’s elbow and keeping her close to his side, while Scott picked up the rear. As they walked down the hallway, they passed the door for the room next to Reeve’s, the room where she had heard someone growl earlier.

  “That’s Phoebe’s room. She’s a willful one, too. It must be a trait with alpha females. She misbehaved earlier; otherwise she’d be joining us for dinner.”

  Reeve’s stomach sank when he confirmed that another shifter was being held captive. If she had needed confirmation this guy wasn’t hooked up right, that would have been it, but she already knew he wasn’t playing with a full deck.

  “What did she do?” Reeve asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

  “She tried to kill herself by slicing her wrists with her claws.”

  Jesus! Reeve thought. She would have had to partially shift to make that happen. Suicide among shifters was rare to almost nonexistent. It was as if they were wired for survival no matter what.

  “Tamara is on the other side of you, but she’s moving tonight to my house, as she finally submitted. She earned my trust, and soon we’ll have a mating ceremony.”

  “This isn’t your house?” Reeve asked.

  “Well, I own it, but I don’t live here. This is more of a training facility, and only a select few know its true purpose.”

  They reached the top of the stairs, and Damian guided Reeve forward with his hand on the small of her back. The heat radiating off his skin burned through the thin fabric of her dress, and she imagined a handprint forever imprinted on her back like a brand. For the first time, she was being taken downstairs. At the bottom, to the right, was the front door, and her heart raced at the close proximity, until she noticed the three different locks, all requiring a key. Directly across the hall, there was a sparsely furnished living room. The furniture looked stiff and uncomfortable, more for decoration than function, like a setup in a model home. Damian steered Reeve to the left, away from the front door, and down a short hallway into a dining room. The chandelier over the table cast dim lighting, and the table was set for two, with another bouquet of roses and two white taper candles as the centerpiece.

  Damian held a chair out for her, and she sank down on the cushion, the straight back forcing her to sit just as straight. An older woman appeared through a side door and poured red wine into their glasses. She kept her eyes down in deference to Damian. Her gray hair was pulled back into a bun, making her entire weather-beaten face visible.

  “Dinner will be served in ten minutes, sir,” she said, looking at the floor.

  “Good. Right on schedule. Thank you, Marta,” Damian responded, dismissing her with a nod. The woman left as silently as she arrived, and Damian lifted his glass into the air for a toast. “To the future of our kind, and that our children grow up to be a generation of strong leaders.”

  He held his glass out toward her, but Reeve refused to pick up hers. Like hell was she going to toast to that.

  “Come on now, Reeve. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

  “Great. The easy way is to let me go.” She stood up and started walking to the front of the house. Damian thundered behind her, and suddenly his arms were around her waist. Before she could react, he picked her up and carried her back into the dining room, where he forcefully placed her in the chair.

  “You are not leaving. The sooner you get that through that stubborn brain of yours, the easier it will be for you. Unless you prefer being locked up in that tiny room?”

  R
eeve didn’t say anything, but glared at him and couldn’t control her lip from curling up as a growl rumbled deep in her chest. Her cat begged to be set free, the idea of captivity just as unappealing to her as it was to Reeve. They sometimes disagreed on things, but on this they were in full accord. Damian was dangerous and a threat to their independence, to their future. Reeve thought of Phoebe, the other alpha female who was a stranger to her, but her sister in this experience. She was desperate enough to attempt suicide, and Reeve refused to get to that point. Now wasn’t the time to fight, and as hard as it was to do, she called to her cat and coaxed her down. Soon, Reeve promised her cat.

  Havenwood Falls

  “Jesus fucking Christ. This guy has more captives? What the fuck? I’m going to find him and end his ass. He’s fucking done!” Patrick raged and punched the wall next to the door, leaving a fist-sized hole in the drywall.

  “No!” Reeve cried out and reached for his hand, pulling him back to bed. He reluctantly sat down on the edge, but his back was ramrod straight, the muscles in his shoulders tensed for a fight. “He’s lethal. It’s too dangerous! But,” she paused.

  “But what?” He turned to look at her.

  “What if he follows me here? I think he’s crazy enough to do it.”

  “Good.” Patrick stood and turned to face her, his entire naked body on display; every cord of muscle there for her to see. His eyes had turned the color of molten gold and blazed with fury. He was shorter than Damian, but only by a couple of inches and equally built. “Let him come here. He’s a fool if he does. I’ll die protecting you and so will your den.”

  “You don’t understand. The last conversation I had with Damian scared the shit out of me…and my cat.”

  “What did he say?”

  Somewhere Near Denver