by Sarah Blake
“You okay, Red?” he asked as he made her another cup of coffee. She sat at the small kitchen table wrapped in her big, thick, fluffy dressing gown and matching slippers.
“Yeah, just tired. I still can’t believe what happened.”
“I know. We’re having a meeting tomorrow, to plan something to prevent anything like this happening again. Anyway, let’s forget about that for now. You need to relax.” He carried her into the living room and sat her on the couch. He’d brought a few pillows in from the bedroom and also some throws. When she was as comfortable as possible, he picked the remote up and started her favorite film, The Shawshank Redemption, while he ordered Chinese takeout. Trish fell asleep soon after their meal. She couldn’t remember Luke carrying her to bed.
Luke watched Trish sleep for a few more minutes the next morning before he had to leave. She was so beautiful he still couldn’t believe she was his. He wrote her a note, saying he would be back in a few hours and that she was not to do anything but rest.
When he made it to the Alpha house, he was shocked to find Liam at the breakfast bar tucking into a plate overflowing with breakfast food. Sarah was at the oven cooking more while Conner was sitting at the small table with Star in his arms.
“Hey man, how you feeling?” he asked, walking over to the edge of the breakfast bar.
“Great, surprisingly. Chloe worked her magic and got rid of all the shit stopping the wounds from healing and Richard stitched the claw marks up. They still hurt like a bitch when I move too quick or stretch, but should be fine in a few days. I’m more pissed about missing out on the action than getting knocked on my ass.”
“Glad to hear it. And don’t worry, it wasn’t much of fight in the end. The real fun will come when we go say hi to Kenny and the rogues.” The evil smile that came to Liam’s face brought a laugh out of Luke.
“Breakfast?” Sarah asked him.
“Sure, if there’s spare,” Luke replied, earning a chuckle from Sarah. There was always plenty of food in the Alpha house.
When he was tucking into his own plate of food, Brax came into the kitchen. After kissing his mates and daughter, Luke asked if Adam had talked to him.
“No, why? Something wrong?”
“Well that depends. I don’t think he’s gonna talk to you, but he needs to. You need to know what’s going on.”
“Luke, after all the shit yesterday, I can’t be bothered with dragging whatever it is out of him. You just tell me.”
Luke didn’t feel right discussing Adam’s personal business in front of so many, but they would find out sooner or later and Brax was right. If Adam didn’t say anything, Brax would have to drag it out of him.
“Ok, I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to go off and wait until I’ve finished before interrupting, okay?”
He waited until Brax agreed then went on. “When I got the call about Liam, me and Adam were talking. I found him on the edge of pack lands with a bag. He was leaving.”
He had to hold his hand up to both Liam and Brax who were about to ask why, no doubt.
“As you know, he fully matured into an adult wolf a few days ago. He was leaving because he found his mate. It’s Sky. He said that you would never let him mate her when she matures and you would more than likely kill him if you found out. He said he would rather leave now before she found out. Yeah she’d be upset he left her, but she would be able to have a happy life without him rather than knowing her mate lived just down the road but they couldn’t do anything about it. I also think he believes she would make him run away if she found out. And he being her mate, he wouldn’t be able to deny her. He wouldn’t want to split her family up.”
Everyone was silent for a few minutes. Luke couldn’t read Brax’s mood and couldn’t guess at what he thought of the news.
“Shit,” Brax said after another minute.
“Look, I know she’s your little sister. And she’s like mine as well,” Sarah said, moving over to Brax. “But you have to understand, she’s growing up. They both are. You need to let them go. And personally, I think it’s great she’ll have her mate so early. Don’t you think so?”
Brax just huffed his breath without replying.
When all the Sentinels arrived, they headed to the office. They spent over an hour talking about changing up patrol routes and such. When they were all happy with the changes, Brax bought another topic up. “Luke, you worked with Emma in Water Sun, how did you find her as a soldier?”
“She was the best, even better than half the Sentinels, to be honest. Mark was a sexist pig and only had her as a soldier because there weren’t enough men to do the job.”
“Pretty much what I guessed. She hasn’t come to me for a job, but I had a feeling she was capable of being a soldier from what I saw of her yesterday. Okay then, unless anyone has anything else to say, I’m sure you all have somewhere else to be.”
Luke did have somewhere to be. It wasn’t where he wanted to be though. He wanted to go home and play with his mate. Unfortunately, he had a patrol to do. But before that, he had someone he had to talk to. Starting his car, he headed to the center of town, praying someone hadn’t beaten him to where he was going.
* * * *
Trish was bored an hour after she woke up. The apartment was spotless. There was nothing on TV. She wasn’t in the mood to read. She was bored. She wandered the small space and ended back in the bedroom. The closet and drawers were overflowing since Luke had moved in. Deciding to try to make some space, she opened the closet first and emptied all her clothes onto the bed.
She spent thirty minutes sorting her clothes out. Placing them into a “keep” pile and “charity” pile. She couldn’t believe she still had some of the things she did. Items from the seventies and eighties she cringed at.
Next, she moved onto her drawers. When she made it to her nightwear drawer, a knock at the door pulled her from her memories. She wasn’t expecting anybody and wondered who it could be as she went to answer. Opening the door, she was greeted by a blonde with enough makeup on her face, Trish was surprised the woman’s neck could keep her head up. “Can I help you?” she asked. She had seen the woman once or twice but couldn’t remember her name. That’s when her scent hit her. It was the woman, called Carla, who had tried it on with Luke the other day.
The next thing Trish saw was Carla’s arm rising and pointing a gun right at her head.
“Move. Back in the apartment bitch!” she spat in Trish’s face.
Shit, Trish thought as she backed into her living room. Carla marched her to the kitchen and tied her to a chair. Trish could feel her wolf trying to break free to protect the human half, but she couldn’t shift. Carla would shoot her before she managed to get close enough. She decided to try the soft approach at finding what the woman wanted.
“You’re Carla, aren’t you?” Trish asked.
“So?” the woman snapped. “I’m not here to talk about me, bitch. I’m here to talk about your mate.”
“Let me guess,” Trish said. “You wanted him to mate you. But he wanted nothing to do with you?”
She laughed an evil little laugh before answering, “You seem a little full of yourself for someone tied up with a gun pointed to her head.” She wandered around the kitchen as if she owned the place. “You see, I’m here to settle a score. He took my mate away from me, so I’m gonna take his mate away from him.”
“Your mate?”
“Clint. He was going to mate me when Kenny took over the pack. We were gonna be top of the pack. Rule it how it should be ruled.”
She’s a psycho, Trish thought. She didn’t know what to do and her fear was growing. Soon Carla would be able to smell it. As Carla went on and on about her plan for revenge by killing the mates of everyone who took Clint away from her, Trish tried to think of a way to get free. Even though she was petrified, Trish couldn’t help but laugh in her mind as she listened to Carla talk about when all the sentinels and Alpha were dead, how she would take over the pack.
Trish’s speech was cut off when Carla punched her in the face. As the room righted itself, Trish saw amongst the stars floating in her eyes that Carla had left the gun on the kitchen counter and was now pacing around the small kitchen. She seemed to forget about it, and Trish sent a thank-you to whoever was watching.
“Not so mouthy now, are ya? You were right as well. About Clint being a dumbass. And a chickenshit. Wouldn’t stand up and challenge Brax. Didn’t have the nerve. It was easy though, persuading him to track down Kenny. He did have some good uses though. He was good for listening in on you and that slut Sarah at the café. It’s a pity I didn’t have enough time to break you and Luke up. Hearing all your worries about him leaving you was entertaining. I bet getting my scent all over him that day made you feel really good about yourself.”
Bitch. Trish’s fear turned into anger as Carla went on and on about Luke. She couldn’t believe the things the woman thought. She fancied herself as a blonde bombshell and was positive Luke would have gone to her if she had had a few more days. “But, Kenny was ready and Clint had all the tunnels sorted and spent days watching the patrols, finding a gap big enough to get Kenny’s pack in.”
“So it was you all along? It was you who planned the whole take-over-the-pack thing? It was actually smart. In fact, I bet it was the smartest thing you’ve ever thought of.” Trish couldn’t help it, her anger at the woman was greater than her fear and she couldn’t help but taunt her. Her little rant about Carla earned her another punch to the side of the face. She tasted blood in her mouth when the third punch landed. On the fourth, the chair Trish was strapped to fell to the side. She managed to get her legs free and tripped Carla up. It wasn’t such a good idea, Trish thought as Carla managed to get on top of her and slam her head into the floor using handfuls of her hair.
Trish tried to move the woman with her legs but didn’t have the strength. Just when she thought she was going to die, that Carla would win and kill her on her own kitchen floor, the weight of the woman on top of her vanished. Trish didn’t understand what was going on. She couldn’t focus on the moving figures above her. She could hear shouts, screams and grunts, but didn’t know if it was Carla making them or not. As she was losing consciousness, she thought about her and Luke living in the cottage near town and cried inside that it was never going to happen.
Chapter Twelve
Luke didn’t know why, but one minute he was in a great mood, thinking about what he had managed to do this morning, the next he was pissed off and irritated. He didn’t know why the mood change had happened and prayed no one annoyed him until he was feeling better. Even the branches that brushed past his arm as he was walking annoyed the hell out of him.
Checking his watch, he cursed when he saw he still had three hours left of his patrol. He was in such a bad mood he almost missed the emergency call coming from his cell. What the fuck’s happened now, he thought as he answered.
“Yeah?”
“Luke, where are you?” came Brax’s reply. It sounded like the Alpha was running.
“I’m about a mile north of Steve and Grace Strong’s cabin in Morten’s wood. Why?”
“Get your ass to the clinic. Now. It’s Trish. Carla Maynard attacked her. Emma stopped by your apartment to check on something and heard it. She got Carla sorted and took Trish to the clinic. Go.”
Luke was running before Brax had finished talking. Not caring about his clothes or phone, he quickly dug in his pocket for his surprise for Trish. Placing it in his mouth, he shifted into his wolf, leaving everything else behind as he ran faster than he ever had before to get to his mate.
He didn’t stop until he was in the clinic. He could smell his mate’s blood and followed it to a cubical in the trauma unit. When he found her, he shifted back, not bothered that he was naked, and took hold of her hand.
Her hand was freezing cold and her skin so pale she looked dead. Her face was a mass of bruises and a large bandage covered her head. Luke’s wolf wanted revenge on whoever dared hurt his mate. The man felt the same. “Red, baby. Wake up. Come on,” he told her, getting nothing in response. She couldn’t leave him, he wouldn’t let her.
Luke was still trying to calm his emotions down when Brax walked in half an hour later. He was torn between mourning for his mate almost being killed and rage at someone daring to hurt her. His Alpha only said two words, but they meant a hell of a lot. “It’s time.”
It was the only thing to get Luke to leave Trish right now. On the way out, he handed Trish’s surprise to her friend and colleague Donna for safe keeping. Liam and Tyler were outside waiting for him and Brax and the four men made their way to the jail to put an end to the people who threatened not just his mate, but the whole pack. A bloodbath was about to happen.
* * * *
Trish woke to a brass band playing in her head. The pounding made her wish for sleep to take her again but it wouldn’t. From the feel of the bed and the smell, she knew where she was.
“Red? Red, baby, are you waking up?” Luke. “Baby, can you open your eyes? Come on, let me see them beauties.”
If she could have, she would’ve laughed at her mate. That was one thing she realized. He never failed to make her laugh. She opened her eyes to the bright lights of the trauma unit. She couldn’t remember being brought here. A little laugh escaped her lips when she thought of something.
“Trish, you’re lying in hospital with a major head injury. What the hell are you laughing at?” Luke asked.
Her voice was croaky but she managed to tell Luke her little joke. “This is the second time in two days I’ve woke up as a patient in my own hospital.” She laughed again but Luke didn’t find it that funny.
She dozed for a few hours. After some pain killers and something to eat, she started feeling herself again. Brax and Emma turned up to visit early that evening, and despite Luke’s protest Trish wanted to know what had happened.
“I came by to see how you were doing. I could hear Carla screaming from the floor below and a thumping noise. When I got into the kitchen, I thought I might be too late. I dragged her off you and knocked her out. I called Brax when I was tying her up. I knew he would be able to get through to Luke better than me. I got you here as quick as I could then went back to watch Carla until Lux and Danny came for her.”
“Where is she now?” Trish asked. All three looked at each other. None of them seemed to want to tell Trish what she was guessing. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”
“They all are, Red. All the rogues are. And Clint.”
“Good,” Trish told them as she sighed in relief. She didn’t know how she would feel if any of them were still alive and might break out of jail.
“You sure you’re okay, Trish?” Brax asked, looking concerned.
“I’m better than okay. I’m relieved. It was all her, you know. She was the one that persuaded Clint to go and talk to Kenny. And she planned the hospital takeover. When the plan didn’t work, she planned on killing the mates of all the Sentinels and Brax. She said when everyone was dead she would take over the pack. I couldn’t help it, I laughed a little and pointed out how much of a shitty Alpha she’d be. That’s when she started hitting me.”
“That’s what we figured from what she was screaming when she was locked up. She went on and on about how we’ll all pay when she gets out. That we would worship her when she’s in charge. That was in between her threats to kill us. I don’t know how she didn’t lose her voice.” Brax laughed.
They chatted for a few more
minutes before Trish asked how Sarah and Star were doing.
“They’re great.” Brax beamed. “Star’s got Sarah and Conner wrapped round her little finger.”
“And not you?” Luke asked with a laugh. Brax just smiled, not answering the question.
“She’s perfect. I still can’t believe she’s here. Me and Conner are the luckiest daddies in the world.”
As the four were talking, Richard came in to check Trish’s head wound.
“Ah, Alpha, I’m glad you’re here. I need your help with this one,” he said, gesturing to Trish.
“Me? Why do you need Brax’s help with me?”
“Because, my dear Trish. I want you to stay in the clinic for at least two days. You know you would make anyone else with your injuries to do the same. But I also know you and how stubborn you are. So, I want Brax to tell you that you have to stay in no matter what you think.”
“Sure, Richard,” Brax said before turning to Trish and raising an eyebrow at her. “Do I have to make it an order?” he asked.
She could see Luke and Emma trying to hide their smiles. She stuck her tongue out at her Alpha and flopped back in the bed.
Luke agreed with Richard and Brax. She couldn’t believe it. They were all ganging up on her. She would be fine in a few hours.
When she started feeling tired, Luke, Emma and Brax said their good-byes before leaving for the night. As Luke leaned down to kiss her good-bye, he told her he loved her. She couldn’t get used to hearing that. And every time she did, butterflies started dancing in her stomach.
* * * *
Luke made his way out of the clinic, thanking Richard for going along with his plan of keeping Trish in the hospital while he and the other pack members prepared the surprise Luke had arranged this morning. He was going to tell Trish about it when she woke up, but Emma had thought of this idea and he had to admit it was great. Climbing into his Escalade with Brax, he headed for their apartment, praying everything would work out.
