by Sarah Blake
Brax looked at her for moment with an expression she couldn’t read. It wasn’t anger, which she was glad about. “It is true Chloe asks if she can use her magic if it’s to do with the pack, but, I don’t stop her using it for her personal use. You didn’t have to ask me, the decision is up to Chloe, and to be honest I think she’ll be happy to help you.”
Trish breathed a sigh of relief at Brax’s words. She and Chloe had become good friends since the tiny blonde had joined Blackwood pack and she hoped her chances were high.
* * * *
Chloe and Lux arrived a short time later and they all settled in the kitchen. Trish was starting to get nervous as they all chatted about this and that. She even thought of changing her mind. Luke must have noticed her nervousness and rose from his chair, walked over to her, picked Trish up and sat her on his lap, circling his arms around her and kissing her neck. She instantly felt better and borrowed Luke’s strength. She took a deep breath and looked to Chloe.
She was about to talk when the words caught in her throat. Luke, who always seemed to be in tune with her emotions, spoke on her behalf. “Chloe, we’ve asked you here for a favor. A big one at that. We know your parents took advantage of your magic, and we would never do that. I want you to really understand that before this goes any further.”
Chloe, who was sitting opposite Luke and Trish, seemed shocked by Luke’s words. “I know that Luke. I know no one in this room would do anything like that. What’s going on?”
“As you know, Trish was left to be found on the edge of this pack’s land. Nobody knows anything about her parents and despite large searches, they have never been found. What we want to ask is if you would be willing to help by using your magic?”
Trish saw the shock on Chloe’s face and found her voice again to quickly reassure the woman. “You don’t have to, sweetie. If you don’t want to, nothing changes between us. I will still love you as a sister and that would never change, no matter what,” she said, letting the truth of her words show in her eyes and in her voice. It took a few moments of Chloe looking at her mate, but she finally spoke.
“Trish, I love you like a sister too, but I’m a little disappointed.” Trish’s heart clenched in pain. She knew she was asking for a massive favor and tried her hardest to not show her heartache to her friend.
“I’m so sorry, Chloe. I didn’t want to ask, but you’re the only person with magic powers I know that I would trust enough to ask. Please forgive me for asking. It was wrong and I understand why you won’t do it. I’ll also understand if you want to end our friendship. But please know that if you ever need anything from me, I’ll do it.”
Trish couldn’t look at anyone as she finished speaking. She rose from Luke’s lap, wanting to run from the room and hide for the next ten years or so. Luke rose as well and started walking from the room with her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her to his side. The tears started falling from her eyes when he kissed the top of her head. She couldn’t believe how upset she was and right then it hit her how much she wanted to be able to contact her parents.
They had only walked a few steps when Chloe jumped from the table and engulfed Trish in a hug, squeezing the air from her lungs. She couldn’t believe the five-foot-nothing woman had such strength.
“Trish, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” Chloe said into Trish’s ear. She could hear the tears in the other woman’s voice. She was about to pull away and tell her it was okay when Chloe pulled back herself. “When I said I was disappointed, I didn’t mean that I was upset at you asking me to do it. I was upset that you didn’t come straight to me. I would love to help you. In fact I’d be honored to do it,” she said with a smile.
A sob broke from Trish’s mouth as she hugged Chloe.
* * * *
Luke sat next to Trish at the large dining room table at the Alpha house. It killed him to see his mate so upset when she thought Chloe wouldn’t help. His wolf wanted out to tear anything it found apart. He wasn’t upset or angry at Chloe, but couldn’t help his anger at not being able to do anything.
Now though, the happiness coming from Trish was almost infectious. Chloe sat opposite Trish after returning. She had gone home to collect something she would need and was now setting things up. With her not being raised by witches to train her, she was still learning but assured them she would be able to do the search.
Luke was expecting her to return with candles and other witchy stuff, but all she had and needed was a map, a pin, a piece of paper and the item she had gone home for. It was a necklace of some sort, which she had told them she had had from birth. The map was spread out on the table and Chloe was studding it at the moment. After a few minutes, she looked up and smiled.
“Right, it’s really a simple spell to do, nothing like you see on TV or in the movies. All you need to do, Trish, is wear this necklace.” She stood and walked around the table to Trish and placed the necklace on her. “And now let me prick your finger with the pin then sit back and watch.”
Trish gave her hand to Chloe who, quick as a flash, pricked Trish’s finger. She rolled the pin in the small amount of blood that appeared then returned to her seat. She closed her eyes and held the pin over the map before she sighed and seemed to relax herself. Nothing happened for a few moments. No wind blowing, funny smells or noises.
Another minute or so later, Chloe opened her eyes. Luke was shocked to see her pupils had turned silver and she didn’t appear to look at anything for a moment before looking at the pin.
Before long, Chloe let go of the pin. Luke and Trish both sucked in a startled breath when the pin floated over the map on its own.
“Crazy, isn’t it?” Lux asked with a smile from where he was standing behind Chloe. Luke just nodded his head, never taking his eyes off the floating pin. It didn’t do much at first, and then it spun a few times before slamming into the map. Trish went to stand up, but when Lux shook his head, Luke put his arm around her shoulder to keep her from distracting the spell. They both watched in stunned silence when Chloe rose her hand over the piece of paper. Her hand just hovered there and words began to appear on the paper.
Within two minutes of starting, the spell was over, and Luke laughed a little to himself at the simplicity of it. He was expecting something much more complicated or something. Chloe had closed her eyes when the writing had finished and now opened them. They were once again blue and she looked at Luke and Trish with a big smile on her face. She looked down at the paper and frowned.
“Oh, I think something went wrong,” she said to herself more than anyone.
“What’s wrong?” Trish asked, leaning forward, worry on her face.
“It says they live in Denver.”
Chapter Sixteen
Trish stared up at the apartment building her parents lived in. She still couldn’t believe they lived so close. It made her angry that they were so close but never bothered to look for her. Luke pulled her close and she took a deep breath of his delicious scent. He had been her rock for her in the last week and a half since Chloe had done the spell. With both of them working, it had taken this long for them to get here.
During that time, Trish had gone through so many emotions she could hardly remember them. A number of times, Luke had had to use erotic pain and pleasure to bring her back to herself as the emotions took over. She still had welts and bruises on her ass and thighs from two nights ago when he had worked her over with a number of implements from his toy chest, ending with the cane. Trish had never come so hard when he finally allowed her to. When he had entered her from behind while she was tied spread eagle in the middle of their bedroom, attached to the ceiling hooks, the orgasm blasted through every part of her body so strongly, she still shivered at the memory.
“You sure you’re ready for this?” He asked her, looking at her as he pulled her even closer.
“Yeah. I’m ready.” And with her mate by her side, she truly was. She yelped when she took her first step as Luke swatted her sore ass pla
yfully. He thought it was rather funny. The raised eyebrow he gave her when she gave him an evil look had her gulping. But then she laughed with him as they walked into the building.
The elevator to the twelfth floor seemed to drag and fly by at the same time. Luke had to practically drag Trish to the front door. Well, this is it, she told herself. She tried to raise her arm to knock, but it suddenly felt like it weighed one hundred pounds. The fear and nervousness were back in full force as well. Now that she was here, she didn’t know if she actually wanted to go ahead. She was so scared about what the couple behind the door might say to her, about how they would react to her being there.
“I’m here Red, I’m not going anywhere. No matter what they say, I’ll be here for you, okay?” Luke told her. She nodded and raised her hand again. The knock sounded ten times louder than it should have and she noticed her hand was shaking when she lowered it. Luke pulled her back to his side again and she was grateful.
When the door opened, the air rushed from Trish’s lungs. The woman standing there was almost her twin. She was a little shorter and curvier than Trish, but the other differences in their appearance were very little. Before Trish could think another thought, the shorter woman’s hands flew to her mouth as a gasp escaped. “Trish,” she said in a whisper. The tears streamed down her face in the next moment.
Trish didn’t know what shocked her more. The fact that the woman, who was her mother, looked so much like her, or that she knew her name. She didn’t get a chance to think anything else as the woman on the other side of the door threw herself on Trish. She wrapped her arms around her as she sobbed. “My darling daughter. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” she cried.
The only thing Trish could think to do was ask a question. “How do you know my name?” The woman pulled back but brought her hands up to cup Trish’s face.
“I know everything about you darling. We were never far away from you.” Trish didn’t know what to make of that. This certainly wasn’t turning out like she had guessed. “Come in, come in,” she said, pulling Trish into the apartment by her hands. It was Trish’s turn to gasp as they walked into the living room. There was a number of photos around the room, mostly on the wall, and they were all of her at different ages. There was even a black-and-white photo of Trish when she was only eight year old. The photo was taken when her school class had made, then buried, time capsules. Trish slowly spun around the room a few times before she stopped and faced her mother. She didn’t know what to say.
“Please, sit down.” Suddenly the woman looked nervous. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions to ask me, but I think it would be best to wait until your father, I mean until Robert, gets here. I’ll just go call him now.” She ran out of the room into what Trish guessed was the kitchen.
“Well, this isn’t going as I thought,” Luke said as he led Trish to the large, brown, leather sofa. They sat down and she once again looked around the room. “You okay, Red?” he asked once they were settled.
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly.
Her mother was back less than a minute later. “He’s on his way back. He only went to the post office so he should only be a few minutes. I’ll get some coffee for us,” she said. Trish could definitely sense the nerves coming off the woman and they were practically the same as hers. Her mother headed back into the kitchen. When she returned a few moments later, Luke jumped up to take the tray from her and placed it on the wooden coffee table. As they were fixing their drinks, they heard the door open. Trish looked up to see her father standing there. He was shocked and stood staring at Trish with what she could only decipher as an awed expression. She ducked her head as she felt her cheeks flush. Her mother rose and went to stand next to her mate.
Five minutes later, they were all sitting around the coffee table. Nobody was talking and the silence was starting to get to Trish. Thankfully, Luke broke the deafening silence.
“So, want to explain a few things?” he asked.
Trish had to hide her laugh at his straight-forward question. That was Luke, always to the point.
“Yes, I think we do.” Her father spoke for the first time. He looked at his mate before taking a deep breath and speaking again. “First off, I have to tell you how sorry we are for leaving you. Believe me when I say that it was the hardest thing your mother and I have ever had to do. But, it was the only thing we could do.” He lowered his head into his hands and rubbed his face. “We’ve thought about you every day. As you can see, we’ve been able to keep close to you and followed your life. We were there the day you graduated college. I can’t tell you how proud I am of you becoming a doctor. I’m one as well.” He finished by looking at the photos around the room.
She didn’t know how she felt about what he had said. One thing she was sure about though was he still hadn’t said why they had left her. When she asked, her parents looked at one another for a moment. It seemed they were having a silent conversation. Finally they nodded to each other before turning back to Trish where her father spoke again.
“Back before you were born, we lived in a pack in Washington. It was my birth pack. Not long before your mother fell pregnant with you, the Alpha was challenged by a rogue wolf. Our Alpha lost the challenge and the rogue, David, took over. Things were okay for a while. Then David started bringing new wolves in. When your mother was three months pregnant, David showed his true colors. The new members he had brought in were all part of a group, which David was the leader of. Now, when I say group, I really mean a cult. I’m not going to go into details about what they got up to, but let’s just say it wasn’t good. In fact, they killed over twenty pack members in one night when they didn’t agree with the new ways of David. That was a few weeks after we left. Anyway, when David found out your mother was pregnant, he got rather excited. We didn’t understand it at first why until a few days later. He came to the house and told us that our baby would be used to unite the whole pack, bind us all together and help to make us the strongest pack the world had ever known. I’m not going to go into any other details because it will upset everyone. Basically, he wanted to sacrifice you to “his god” on the day you were born. We packed a few things and left less than an hour later. We kept in touch with a few close friends and they told us that David was sending people looking for us. He really wanted you, Trish. We couldn’t keep you safe by ourselves and we couldn’t join a new pack because he would find us. We knew the Alpha of Blackwood pack at the time and knew you would be safe.”
Trish couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She could feel, see and smell the truth in her father’s words. She didn’t realize she was crying until her mother passed her a handful of tissues. “So you didn’t abandon me because you didn’t love me?” she blurted out. Her mother, who was also crying, came over and sat next to Trish. She gathered her into her arms and rocked back and forth.
“We loved you from the moment we found out we were expecting you. It broke my heart to have to leave you there. I’ve never gotten over it to be honest. We spent weeks watching the area we left you and knew the patrol times. We left you a few minutes before the soldier was due. Also we did a little research and found a pack member who worked here in the city. We approached her and told her everything. She was understanding and over the years we’ve become friends. She’s the one who’s been keeping us up to date with the things you’ve been doing. We know a lot about you and we couldn’t be more proud of you.”
“It’s Elaine, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Her mother smiled. “You’re too smart for your own good,” she said, laughing. Trish laughed a little as well. She didn’t want to hope too much, just in case, but the love she could feel coming from her parents was more than she could ever have hoped for.
Over the next hour, the four of them talked almost nonstop. She had so many questions about their life and wanted to know it all. She had made the list of questions in her head the day Chloe located them in the hope her parents wanted to see her. She still couldn’t b
elieve the turnout of events and felt tears of happiness build in her eyes.
She hardly had a chance to ask her questions at first however as her parents wanted to know everything about her that they didn’t already know. She couldn’t believe how well her parents seemed to get on with Luke either. Her father especially. The two men chattered about all sorts from sports to fishing. She and her mother groaned at the same time when the men realized they supported the same football and ice hockey team. The excitement coming from them was off the scale, which caused Trish to laugh.
The next time Trish looked at her watch, it was almost eight o’ clock. She couldn’t believe they had been here for over five hours. “I guess we should be heading back,” she told her parents. The look of disappointment on their faces matched her own. Before she had a chance to think about it, she spoke again. “We both have work in the morning, but how about you both come for dinner tomorrow night?” she asked, trying not to show how excited she was at the thought of her parents coming to her mated home for dinner.
“We’d love to,” her father said with a smile so big it matched hers and her mother’s. After arranging a time and finding out her parents’ food likes and dislikes, Trish and Luke made their way to the door. When they stepped out, a sudden thought entered her mind. Trish turned round to ask, but didn’t get the chance. Her parents pulled her into a massive hug. She reached her hand out to Luke and brought him to join in. When her parents let her go, she could see tears in her mother’s eyes.
“I almost forgot. What are your names? I know you’re Robert,” she told her father. “But what about yours?” she asked her mother.
“I’m Grace. Our last name is Henderson. Your name, Shipley, is actually my maiden name. We didn’t want to leave you without knowing the name we gave you, but couldn’t risk using Henderson. So we decided to use Shipley. That was what we put on the note we left you. We’re so glad who found you kept it.”
