Joshua moved forward like a man in a trance, shaking his head as he came toward her. She braced her legs to keep from whirling around and running. She had a feeling if she tried to leave, he’d be on her before she made it to the gate. There was something primal, almost animalistic, about him.
“Rachel,” he said the name again, and this time a whisper came from the back of her mind. A memory long suppressed. Like a ghost from a life she didn’t remember, she could suddenly hear a voice calling her by that name. The male was younger, but he was important to her somehow.
Shelley frowned. A dull throbbing began behind her eyes. The pain hit her so swift and hard it made her dizzy. Her stomach roiled as the three other men stepped toward her.
“Who are you?” she asked. She knew his name, but suddenly needed to know much more. Her eyes scanned all four men. She didn’t know all their names, but she knew them.
Run!
The thought came out of nowhere. She didn’t question her instincts and whirled to obey. The sudden movement made her dizzy and she felt herself falling.
Strong arms caught her just as her legs seemed to crumble out from beneath her. James. She’d know his touch, his scent anywhere. He caught her before she hit the ground and lifted her into his arms.
She was suddenly ashamed of herself for being a coward. If she ran, she’d never know the truth. “Put me down.”
James shook his head. “No. Not until you’re steadier.”
Ignoring James for the moment, she turned back to Joshua and his brothers. There was no doubt in her mind the men were all related. She studied them. They were all staring at her as though they’d seen a ghost. “I know you.” Her voice was barely even a whisper, more of just a sigh, but they heard her.
“How, Shelley? How do you know them?” James kept his voice low and non-threatening as the brothers all came closer.
“I’m not sure.” She was trembling so hard now, her teeth were chattering. She was suddenly so cold. So afraid. Her head pounded and she rubbed her temples, trying to get some relief from the pain.
She was afraid to admit the truth to herself. She knew she was related to them. Somehow. Someway. Had they seen some weakness inside her when she was a child and given her away as Tom had always told her?
“It’s okay, Shelley. They won’t hurt you.” She clung to James’s reassurance, needing the comfort. She didn’t know if she was strong enough to face this. She hadn’t expected to come face to face with her past so soon.
Joshua reached out his hand and touched her face. “Is it really you, Rachel?” She flinched away and he dropped his hand back down by his side, unable to hide the pain from his face.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. She didn’t know what to do. She was at a real disadvantage here. “Please put me down, James.”
She held her breath as James let her legs drop slowly until her feet were touching the ground. He waited until she was steady before removing one hand. He kept one arm locked around her waist. To keep her close to him or to keep her from running? She wasn’t sure, but she appreciated the support.
James addressed the group. “You know I found Shelley working at a diner on my way home. She’d been working there about six months.” James tucked her closer to him as he continued his bare-bones explanation.
“James.” She wasn’t sure she wanted them to know about her past. It was so ugly. She felt ugly and ashamed. Tainted by it.
She knew James understood, but he shook his head. “Better it come out quick so we can deal with it.”
Shelley knew he was right, but that didn’t make it any less of an ordeal. “Okay.”
Before she could muster up the courage to speak, James was already talking. “Shelley has been a prisoner for more than thirty-five years and doesn’t have any memory of her life before that.”
“Oh my God.” This came from another of the males.
Shelley reached out her hand and tentatively touched Joshua’s face. Her hand shook as she traced the outline of his forehead and cheeks. She couldn’t believe her audacity, nor the fact that he stood there and let her touch him. Having James stand with her made her braver.
“You look familiar.” Her voice trembled. He was a ghost from a dream.
Joshua reached out his hand again and this time Shelley didn’t flinch away. He stroked his hand over her hair. “You’re my sister. You’re Rachel.” He briefly closed his eyes and swallowed hard. Alexandra hovered close to her husband, offering her silent support. “You’re all grown up, but you look exactly the same.” His gaze hardened and went from her to James and back to her again. “Who took you from us?”
His question shook her to her core. “You mean you didn’t toss me away?”
Joshua threw back his head and howled. It was filled with a mixture of anguish and fury. His brothers all tipped back their heads and joined in the fierce cry.
Shelley slapped her hands over her ears. It was all too much. Her entire body was trembling. “I need to sit down,” she whispered to James.
“Enough.” His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried. The brothers broke off their pained call. “Let’s take this inside.”
The other three men stepped up to her side.
“I’m Micah, and this is Levi.” He jerked his thumb at the identical male standing next to him. They were both tall, good-looking men with brown hair and chocolate brown eyes.
“This is Simon,” Micah continued. Simon looked more like Joshua with his black hair and dark eyes.
She nodded at them all, unable to find her voice.
“Rachel?”
When Joshua called her Rachel again, she shook her head. “Rachel is dead. I don’t know who she was. Please call me Shelley.”
She could see the men struggling with it, but they all eventually nodded. Joshua’s face was somber as he said her name for the first time. “It’s only a name. I’ll gladly call you Shelley or any other name that you want. I just want my sister back.”
Shelley smiled as the first tear rolled down her cheek. Both Micah and Levi turned aside and swiped at their faces and cleared their throats. After all these years, she would finally know the truth.
Joshua couldn’t stop staring at Shelley. His head was still whirling, his heart pounding. He was grateful for Alexandra’s support. His wife kept her hand on his arm as if knowing he needed her touch.
His sister was alive. Except she wasn’t the bright-eyed, mischievous teenage girl he remembered. She was a woman grown and from the little he’d learned, she’d lived through untold horrors that none of them could truly imagine. What his mind did conjure up was enough to drive him mad.
She’d been a prisoner all these years.
He wanted vengeance, wanted the ground to run red with the blood of her captors. It made his heart hurt that she really didn’t remember them or her life before. His arms ached to hold her close, but he knew she’d flinch away from him. It was enough that she was home.
Hopefully, more would come in time. And if it didn’t, they’d forge a new relationship. Now that he’d found her, he wasn’t going to lose her again. He and his family owed James LeVeau Riley a huge debt that could never be repaid.
She had been alive and they’d stopped looking. Had she watched for them? Waited for her family to come and rescue her? What had happened to her as the days had turned into weeks? The weeks into months? The months into years? No wonder she didn’t remember them. He wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t want to remember them.
They followed James as he led her to his house. It was time to talk. Time to try to get past his anger and reforge his bond with his sister.
Jessup faded back into the forest, tucking his binoculars into his pack. He hadn’t gotten too close, hanging as far back as he dared. Those bastards had superior senses and could see and smell what humans couldn’t. He’d been careful to stay upwind and keep behind cover. Thankfully, the big guy was distracted with the female he’d brought with him.
But he knew where they were
now. Could see the houses in the distance. There was no longer any doubt. They were werewolves. Those howls had made his skin crawl and goose bumps still trailed up and down his arms.
He slowly worked his way out of the woods, not wanting to be in there alone. There were too many of them for him to handle on his own.
When he reached the safety of the road and his truck, he yanked out his cell phone. You couldn’t use one close to those bastards. They had incredible hearing.
It was answered on the first ring. “Talk to me.”
“Hey, boss. I found them. And you were right. They’re werewolves. I counted five males and two females, including the two from the truck I followed.”
“Good work.”
Jessup smiled. It wasn’t often Macmillan gave out such high praise.
“Give me your location, and I’ll round up Red and a few boys and we’ll meet you there.”
Jessup gave him the information he needed and ended the call. Then he settled back to wait. Already the familiar anticipation was rising inside him. He couldn’t wait to go hunting.
Chapter Eleven
Shelley sat huddled in one corner of a large sofa. James’s house was rather large for one man. It was built from logs, but there was a rough elegance to the place. A huge fireplace made from natural stone dominated one wall of the living room. A fire crackled and popped in the grate, adding warmth to the space. Several large sofas and chairs were clustered around it, making a cozy seating area she might have appreciated if she weren’t the center of attention.
Alex strode from the kitchen area carrying a tray filled with mugs. Shelley could smell strong, hot coffee and fragrant tea. She shivered and pulled her coat tighter around her.
The men, her brothers—and how weird was it to say that—ranged around the room. The twins sat on the sofa opposite her, Simon sat on the edge of one of the chairs and Joshua was pacing back and forth in front of the hearth. James sat a few feet away from her.
“Here,” Alex set the tray on the wooden coffee table and handed her one of the mugs. “I thought you might like tea better. You’ve had a shock.”
“Thank you.” Shelley accepted the mug and held it between her two hands, thankful for the heat. She sipped the tea. It was sweet, but the warm beverage helped settle her stomach and her nerves.
Joshua stopped pacing and took the mug his wife handed him. He leaned down and kissed her cheek. Shelley noticed he was always watching her, touching her. Her hair, her back, her shoulder. Shelley doubted either of them even noticed. But she did.
Her life had been void of such contact and she was fascinated by the easy way they showed one another affection.
“Shelley?” Joshua sat on the edge of the coffee table, leaving only about a foot of distance between them. Her reprieve was over. “What happened?”
She was tired of answering all the questions. She wanted some answers of her own. “Why don’t you tell me what happened? I don’t remember and I only have one man’s account of what did, and I can’t trust what he told me.”
“Who is he?” Joshua growled.
Shelley held her ground. She raised her mug to her lips and sipped her tea. When Joshua still didn’t answer her, she raised her eyebrow at him in question.
A reluctant smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. It disappeared as he started to tell his story. “You were only a kid. Fifteen years old.” He took a deep breath and slowly released it. Alex sat next to him on the table and placed her hand on his thigh.
“Isaiah, our older brother, was going for a run in the woods. You couldn’t shift to your wolf yet because you hadn’t reached maturity. But you wanted to go with him. He wanted to go alone. So he told you no and took off. He never knew you followed him.”
Shelley’s head began to throb. What Joshua was telling her sounded like something she’d dreamed years ago. But it obviously hadn’t been a dream, but a memory. “Go on,” she prompted.
Joshua shrugged his massive shoulders. “Not much more to tell. I noticed you weren’t around, but we all assumed you were with Isaiah. The longer you were both gone, the more unlikely that seemed and we started searching for you. When Isaiah returned home and we discovered you weren’t with him, we were all worried sick.”
She swallowed hard as nausea threatened. Her head was pounding. She rubbed her forehead to try to relieve some of the tension tightening around her skull like a vise. “Then what?”
“Then we searched and searched and searched. I thought Isaiah would go mad. He blamed himself for not taking you with him.” Joshua’s hands tightened into fists. “Then we smelled the men. Hunters,” he growled the word like it was foul. “We knew they’d taken you.”
Shelley nodded. The early days of her captivity were a blur, for which she was eternally grateful. She’d been drugged and terrified. And so very young, especially for her species.
At least she knew that her family had cared for her. Had searched for her. That was something.
“Do we have parents?”
Joshua closed his eyes in pain and shook his head. “Our father died years ago, attacked by hunters and rogue werewolves.”
“Dogs,” Levi muttered.
“Our mother died not long after of a broken heart. Losing you and then him was too much for her.”
“I’m sorry.” Shelley really didn’t know what to say. They weren’t real to her. She had no memory of them at all. “That had to have been hard on you.”
Joshua’s head snapped up and he studied her with his bottomless dark eyes. “You don’t remember them, do you?”
She shook her head, unwilling to lie. “No.”
One corner of Joshua’s mouth kicked up in a grin. “You were such a little tomboy, running after all of us. You were closer to Isaiah than you were to our father. He was a busy man. Aloof. That was his way.”
A memory popped into her head of a tall, muscular male with shaggy brown hair and dark brown eyes. He had rugged features that might have been scary except he was smiling at her, teasing her. Was that Isaiah or a figment of her imagination?
At this point, she couldn’t sort out fact from fiction. She was going to assume it was a memory and not imagination.
“Isaiah searched for years. Long after the rest of us had given up. We assumed you were dead.” Joshua hung his head and sighed. When he raised it, she could see the pain shimmering in his eyes. “We should have looked longer and harder.”
Shelley’s throat tightened as Alex leaned against Joshua and rubbed her face against his shoulder. There was such love there. “How long? How long did you look?” She needed to know. It was important if she was ever going to reconcile with her past.
“Years.” Micah leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
“Decades,” Joshua corrected. “Isaiah never really gave up. Even now, he still searches for information. He always planned on killing your captors if he discovered who they were.”
A single tear escaped and rolled down her face. Shelley swiped it away. Her chest ached and her heart pounded against her ribs. She hadn’t been thrown away. Abandoned, as Tom had claimed. She had a family who’d searched for her. Who’d never forgotten her.
“Thank you.”
All four of her brothers looked pained. “Don’t thank us,” Joshua told her. “We failed you.” He reached out and took her hand, gently rubbing his fingers over hers. “You obviously rescued yourself.”
Shelley tensed. She knew what was coming.
“How did you get away? After all those years.”
She stared at her brother and knew she owed him the truth. Owed it to all of them. Especially to James after he’d insisted she come home with him. Without James, she might never have discovered the truth.
It felt strange to know she had family. She felt no true connection to them. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Only time would tell. Maybe she wasn’t capable of such a connection. The years of captivity had damaged her in many ways.
“Tell us what you remember, Shelley.�
�� James shifted closer, offering his support.
She ignored the pain in her head and slowly withdrew her hand from her brother’s. She took a sip of her tea, letting the warmth slide down her throat and calm her stomach. She offered Alex and the rest of them a strained smile.
“I honestly don’t remember much about that day or those first few months of captivity. I think I was kept drugged.”
Joshua frowned. “But human drugs don’t affect us.”
“I don’t think they were human drugs. More like animal tranquilizers. Heavy doses.” Shelley strained to remember things she’d spent decades trying to forget. “I overheard a lot over the years. And I know he kept a supply on hand in case I escaped.”
She frowned. “I was kept caged for the most part during the early years. At least during the night.”
Joshua growled, a low, deadly sound. Levi and Micah reached toward him, putting their hands on his shoulders. She envied the easy camaraderie between them.
“His name, Shelley. What’s his name?” Simon, the youngest of her brothers, sat forward, his gaze intent.
She swallowed, not wanting to say the name aloud. “Tom,” she whispered.
Shelley looked down at her hands, fully expecting to see Tom’s blood there. She set her mug down and rubbed her palms over her jeans. “I kept his house, cooked his food and did his laundry.” No way did she want to talk about what else had happened.
James touched her shoulder and she leaned into his hand. Of all of them, he was the one who was most familiar to her. The one she trusted. She swallowed hard and forced herself to continue. “The years went on and eventually he’d lock me in a closet at night.” Her ankles bore the scars of all those years of being wrapped in silver-coated manacles every night.
“But you’ve changed into your wolf form, haven’t you?” Joshua frowned.
Shelley nodded.
“How?” This from Micah.
She shook her head. She wasn’t talking about that. She’d told James. She didn’t want to relive it again.
“Shelley?” Joshua prompted.
Legacy Found: Legacy, Book 3 Page 13
