Jace’s voice filtered in through the open doorway.
Sounds like you two have plans for an outstanding home. The land you’ve claimed will be perfect for it. The cost of this home sounds like it will be pretty steep though.
We have nothing to worry about. It will be well worth the price. It’s going to be great, and Nikki will be the main contributor. We would have no possibility of ever having this home in our future if it weren’t for her.
Butler’s words knifed through her, sending pain deep into her heart. It took every bit of her strength to remain standing. Every moment of anguish in her life could not compare to the absolute devastation she was feeling at that moment.
They know. They know about my money. They’ve always known and they want it just like every other man. They don’t want me. They want my money.
The words screamed through her mind. She couldn’t stop them. They continued on in a constant loop until she thought she would go mad. She had to leave. She had to get away. She had to go now.
As Alex and Butler walked into the kitchen, they looked at her with concern. She nearly laughed at her thoughts. They had no concern for her. She was just seeing what her delusional mind wanted her to see. To them she was just a means to an end. All the intimate moments meant nothing to them. She was just a convenient sex partner. She would have continued to fool herself into thinking that they really did have feelings for her, but she knew better now. She should have known better all along. Her money had been the reason for their attention.
When she saw them both walking toward her, she took a defensive step back, making them halt in their tracks. She turned to face Jace and ignored the two men who had truly broken her heart.
“Jace, would you mind taking me back to my car at the mall? I need to get ready for work.”
Alex and Butler stepped toward her immediately. Before they could touch her, she sidestepped them and stood before Jace.
“I need to go now,” she told him, her voice strong.
“Are you sure, Nikki?” Jace asked her quietly, looking at his lieutenants with concern.
“Absolutely,” she insisted. “I have the late shift tonight and tomorrow. I have to get back to my place to get ready.”
Jace nodded, reaching out to gently stroke Tammy’s hair before he looked one last time at Alex and Butler. He had no choice but to honor Nikki’s request.
“I’ll be out front in just a minute. Get your things together, and I’ll take you.”
Nikki nodded and turned without looking at the two men who stood silently beside her. She could feel their confusion and their anger. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she felt pain as well, but that could be her own emotions because she was certainly experiencing a good amount of it at the moment.
She walked out of the kitchen quickly and made her way up the stairs to the suite she had shared with Alex and Butler. It had been an incredible few days, but it was time to get back to the real world.
Reality was not her friend. Actually, reality was a bitch, and she should have known better than to think her reality could be anything other than a life of loneliness. She had learned the hard way throughout her lifetime that men would only be interested in her because of the money she had and the future she could provide for them. A future that would not include a family life, and certainly not children.
* * * *
Butler stepped toward Nikki as she passed and was surprised to find his forearm taken hold of by Alex. He looked at his triad partner and knew that the intense pain he saw in Alex’s eyes had to be reflecting back to him in his own.
“We can’t make her want us,” Alex told him softly.
Butler nodded and remained silent. Jace made his way over to stand before his lieutenants. As the Alpha, he could feel their pain, pain that he had experienced himself such a short time ago when he had thought he and Jackson had lost Laurie. The pain was crippling, and he knew how difficult it was to even breathe when feeling it. He would do all that he could to ensure that everything would work out for them.
The Fates had given them the gift of a mate, and they were never wrong. Somehow, Nikki would be returned to them, and they would have a future filled with love and cubs. He looked at Jackson as he entered the kitchen and knew that his triad partner had felt his pain through their bond.
“I understand what you’re both feeling,” Jace told them softly. “But I have to honor Nikki’s request. Jackson and I will take her into town to get her car and escort her back to her apartment so she can get ready for her shift at the hospital.”
Jackson took his place at Jace’s side, looking at Alex and Butler with concern. “Laurie would want us to make sure Nikki is all right,” he told the men quietly. He looked at both men and crossed his arms across his chest. “I would suggest that you follow us at a discreet distance so you can learn where Nikki lives so you can keep an eye on her until she comes to her senses and decides to come back here with you to take her place as your mate where she belongs. What do you think, Jace?”
Jace smiled sadly. “I think that’s the best course of action,” he admitted. “Get ready men. We’ll be leaving as soon as Nikki gets outside.”
Alex watched as their alpha and beta left the kitchen. “I intend to be outside when Nikki comes out,” he told Butler with determination. “I want her to see that we’ll support her in whatever she decides. Are you with me?” He turned to look at his friend, trying to keep his wolf under control, but it was difficult. His wolf was growling in protest at the distancing of their mate.
Butler nodded and started walking toward the front of the ranch house. “I may support her decision, but I’m going to make it damn hard for her to decide to walk away.”
Martha watched her son and Butler walk out of the kitchen, her heart hurting for them. She knew that Nikki was the one for them. She knew that both men had been happier than they had ever been since she had come into their lives. She didn’t understand what had happened, but she put her faith in the Fates to help guide her new daughter-in-law in the right direction. The direction that led her back to the two men whose future was entwined with hers.
Julia turned and smiled at the woman who had become such a loving mother to her, cuddling her daughter to her tightly and kissing her cheek lightly. “I think Uncle Alex and Uncle Butler are going to have an interesting night.”
She looked up from her giggling daughter and saw the concern in her mother-in-law’s face. “Martha?” she asked, concerned that the usually positive woman looked so worried.
“Do you think Nikki will want to stay with Alex and Butler?” Martha asked quietly, apprehension filling her eyes as she looked at Julia.
Julia walked to her immediately and kissed her cheek lightly. “I think you’d better start crocheting another baby blanket, Gramma,” she told her sincerely, laughing lightly. “Now, how about something to eat?”
Chapter 11
Nikki stood in the supply closet replenishing the suture kits. It had been a busy night in the ER and she was exhausted. Her state of mind hadn’t helped one bit. Although she would never hope that anyone would get injured, she was glad that the hectic night had kept her mind off the two men who had already made her want to be with them every moment of the day. Her chest ached from missing them, and her heart was damaged beyond repair at their betrayal.
It had been all she could do to walk away from them at the ranch. She would never forget their faces as they had watched her get into Jace’s truck. Their silence had affected her more than if they had asked her not to go. She had seen the sadness in their eyes. She had felt the ache of loneliness that they were feeling in her heart, not understanding how that was possible, but knowing that it was true. She had felt their emotions, and their pain had nearly brought her to her knees. It had taken all of her strength to get into Jace’s truck and not look back at Alexander and Butler.
She looked at her watch and saw that she only had thirty minutes left of her shift. Walking out of the supply closet,
she began stocking all the trauma stations, knowing that she needed to keep busy so she wouldn’t think of the men she had left behind at the ranch. Despite her constant busy work, Alex’s silver gray eyes and Butler’s crystal blue eyes haunted her.
The emergency room doors whooshed open, and a trauma patient was wheeled in on a gurney, followed closely by Officers Clayton Forest and Hunter Stewart. They had been the pack members who had questioned her, Julia, and Laurie about Patrick’s attack. It surprised her to see that members of Jace’s pack were actually police officers in the real world as opposed to enforcers within the wolf pack. She chastised herself for being so closed minded. Of course the people of the pack had jobs outside Beckett’s land. Why wouldn’t they?
The woman on the gurney had her eyes closed and was covered in contusions and abrasions. Nikki went to her immediately, joining the trauma team who took her to a curtained section of the emergency room to assess her injuries. Clay and Hunter were prevented from following, and Nikki looked at them briefly when she realized that the growls she heard were emanating from them.
Interesting.
Thirty minutes later, Nikki and the on-call doctor emerged from the examination area. Clay and Hunter were standing in the doorway of the waiting room, their cowboy hats held tightly in their hands. As Nikki and the doctor stepped out of the trauma unit, Clay and Hunter walked toward them immediately, meeting them in the middle of the hallway. Both Clay’s and Hunter’s expressions were grim and filled with worry.
“How is she?” Hunter asked Nikki immediately.
“She’s been sedated,” the doctor told them. “Do we have a next of kin to talk to?”
Hunter shook his head. “We don’t have an ID on her,” he explained tightly. “We found her in the woods. She was barely conscious and refused to give us any information.”
Clay stepped forward and touched the doctor’s shoulder to draw his attention. “Doctor, is she going to be all right?”
“We’ll be able to be more certain in the morning,” he answered carefully. “There is an injury on her right temple that looks like a bullet grazed her. It’s a superficial wound, so I’m not really worried about it. She has injuries and scratches over her entire body. She was conscious throughout the examination and was able to tell us that she had fallen from a great height. I’ve ordered X-rays to make sure there isn’t any internal injury. Her left side is tender, and I know she’s in pain, but she won’t admit to it. She won’t tell us her name or where she fell.”
“She wouldn’t tell us either,” Clay admitted, stepping toward the gurney that was being pushed through the ER to stand beside the young woman. “She’s got her eyes closed. Did she lose consciousness?”
Hunter stepped forward and reached out to touch the young woman’s hand as it lay limp against her chest. Clay reached for her other hand as it lay against her stomach. The girl whimpered at the contact, and both men looked at each other with concern before leaning forward as one and hovering above her bruised face.
“We’re here, sweetheart,” Hunter whispered softly. “We won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“You just rest and get better, honey,” Clay told her with equal gentleness. “We’ll be here.”
Nikki watched in silence, knowing these two men were showing more than a professional concern as police officers. She saw the young woman squeeze both men’s hands, open her eyes to look up at them, and smile weakly before closing her eyes and succumbing to the sedative. The contented growls of both men reminded her of Alex and Butler. It seemed as if all the men of Jace Beckett’s pack cared instantly and totally when they met the female that seemed to be connected to them in a special way.
“We need to get her settled,” the doctor told them, indicating to the orderly to move the gurney toward the elevators, pulling her away from the men. He was unaware of the turmoil that both men were thrown into when they lost physical contact with her.
Nikki saw that the eyes of both men were glowing golden and growls were rumbling from them. She could see that their wolves were trying to break free, and she knew she didn’t have much time to defuse the situation before the secret of Jace’s pack would be revealed to the entire emergency room.
“She’s heading up to Radiology for X-rays, then she’ll be moved to a semiprivate room,” Nikki interrupted them, reaching out to gently lay her hands on their forearms. “You can go to her as soon as one is assigned.”
Both men’s attention were drawn to Nikki and she could see the golden color of their eyes dissipating until Hunter’s soft brown eyes and Clay’s light blue eyes looked back at her. It was good to see that their wolves had settled somewhat.
“She’ll be asleep for a while because of the sedative, but I’ll bet she’ll want someone that she trusts to be with her when she wakes up,” she added.
“She might be afraid of us,” Clay spoke up, his heart heavy with worry.
Nikki shook her head. “No, Clay,” she interrupted him. “She asked for you and Hunter when we were examining her. It seemed like she was afraid to be in the examination area without you two next to her.”
“Thanks, Nikki,” Hunter said quietly, reaching up to squeeze Clay’s shoulder in relief.
Nikki nodded and stepped back to allow the men to catch up with the gurney that was already halfway down the hallway. She watched the two men follow the injured woman, hoping that things would work out well for them.
She immediately thought of Alexander and Butler and felt pain slice through her chest. Her sadness was nearly paralyzing. Her heart hurt. Her head hurt. She ached in a way that was deep and intense because she truly felt as if she had lost a part of her soul when she had left Alex and Butler behind at the ranch.
She pushed aside her thoughts angrily. It had all been a ploy. She had been fooled by both men. She would not allow herself to fall apart. She had to stay strong.
Turning away from the sight of Clay and Hunter following after the young woman, she walked toward the employee lounge. Her shift was over, and it was time to go home. That thought made her realize how very tired she was.
Grabbing her purse and sweater, she logged out and said good-bye to her coworkers, realizing they were watching her with concern. She knew she had not been her usual bubbly self tonight. She had spoken very little and had been lost in her own thoughts for most of the night. She knew that they had noticed, but she just didn’t have it in her to joke around with them and lift their spirits as she usually did each day. Her heart was broken. She couldn’t make everyone else feel better when she was barely holding it together herself.
As she walked to her car, her cell phone rang. She pulled it out immediately, hoping it was Laurie. Seeing her mother’s name and number come up on the display screen, she debated whether or not to answer. Unlocking the door, she pulled it open quickly and climbed inside, throwing her purse on the passenger seat. She sighed heavily as she sat behind the wheel of her car and pressed the button to connect the call.
“Hi, Mom,” she said tiredly. “How are you?”
“Nikki, you haven’t called me in a while,” her mother’s voice greeted her.
“I’ve been working a lot of hours, Mom,” she explained, trying very hard to keep the exasperation from her voice. It was amazing how she lost her confidence whenever she spoke to her mother.
“What’s new? Have you had any dates?” her mother’s voice cut her off.
“No. No dates,” she answered quietly, sadness weighing heavily in her heart as she thought about the two men she had dared to believe might actually be the ones who would give her a future.
“You know, Nikki, no man is going to want you unless you take more of an interest in your appearance,” her mother told her, repeating something she had often said over the years. “Your money will only take you so far.”
“Mom, I have to go,” Nikki cut her off. “My break is over, and I have to get back on duty. I’ll talk to you later.”
She wasn’t sure what response her mother made. S
he just knew that she had to end her torture. She disconnected the call and turned off her phone, shoving it into her purse angrily. Her day just couldn’t get any worse.
How she drove home and made her way to the front door of her apartment, she didn’t know. Unlocking the door and pushing her way inside, she locked the door behind her, dropped her bag on the floor, and kicked off her shoes, finding it difficult to breathe as despair claimed her. Walking straight into her bedroom, she opened her closet door and sat against the pile of blankets there, pulling the door shut behind her.
Leaning against the softness of the blankets, she wrapped her arms around her waist and gave in to the deluge of tears that she had been holding back the entire day. Heart-wrenching sobs escaped her as sorrow drowned her. Her own arms were a poor substitute for the arms she really wanted holding her, but that wasn’t meant to be. She would never have the wonderful feeling of being held by Alexander or Butler ever again.
Chapter 12
Butler turned to face Alexander as they sat in Alex’s truck outside Nikki’s apartment house. “She looks tired,” he said quietly.
Alex nodded. “She looks upset.”
“This is not where she belongs,” Butler said angrily. “She belongs with us back on the ranch. By our sides and in our bed.”
“We’ll just have to convince her of that,” Alex said determinedly. “We’re not leaving here without her. Let’s go.”
They opened the truck doors and stepped out, slamming them closed with determination. They walked together toward the apartment house, their bodies tight with purpose. This was one mission the lieutenants were not going to fail. Their future happiness depended on it, and Nikki’s stubbornness was not going to deter them.
In seconds they were outside her apartment door. Alex took a deep breath, closing his eyes as the scent of their mate filled him. Nikki had no idea how close to losing control he and Butler were. They needed her tenderness, her humor, and especially her love.
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