Trying to wrap the blanket around both of them, without letting go of Julie proved impossible. He smelled the one who opened the door approach and take the blanket from him and spread it over Julie with a portion draped across him. Soon the only thing anyone could see of Julie was a small sliver of her face. Edward felt her relax into his body even further. He had hopes helping to hide her would give her an even greater feeling of security than before. No one was more surprised than him though when they heard her soft breathing change. He slowly eased his hand from her limp hand and gently picked her up to settle her on his lap. His gruff voice ordered everyone from the room. No one would be allowed to disturb his mate while she slept.
Love for a mate flooded his heart for the first time in centuries. He would destroy the world before he let anyone hurt his mate again. He would start with the rogue faction who had taken her. The United States government would have one less Senator by the time he was done. He heard the door close but knew everyone had not left. When he looked up he glared at Dennis who pointed at Trisah standing by his side.
“Out. You saw her. Please, I know you hurt, but my hurt is greater. Look at your heart and imagine Dennis hurt. Can your hurt be greater for her than a mate for a mate? Please.” As Dennis wrapped his free arm around Trisah and tried to balance his son and turned his mate toward the door Edward saw Allison standing behind them.
He raised his eyebrows at her.
She smirked and raised her eyebrows back, “I live here and it is cold out there, gigantosaurus.” Holding up her hand she showed him the phone with the open line to Kate before continuing, “Besides, do you want to tell the witch you are kicking me out?”
The both heard the shriek over the phone as Kate screamed, “You tell gigantosaurus I will come up there and fry his ass if he kicks you out.”
Allison turned started eyes toward the phone, “Can you do that?”
“Well if I can’t I will learn. Tell him he doesn’t want to upset the witch-wolf. His future would look grim if he upset me.”
“Well gigantosaurus, you heard her. I get to stay. Besides, like I said, I live here. Now I am going to lay the phone right here so Kate can hear everything and I am going to go in the kitchen and see what I can find to cook. Julie did not eat breakfast and she did not eat lunch. She has to be starving by now.”
“Take the phone with you. I don’t care about your threats. I don’t care about your desire to know everything or your friend’s desire to know everything. The only thing I care about is my mate. What I say to her is no one’s business. I can’t keep you from hearing, but I have no desire to share with the entire race what I say.”
From the phone the two heard a males voice ring out, “Fair enough, Kate hang up the phone. Would you want everyone to hear the words I say to you when I give you comfort? If anything happens I am sure Allison will call you immediately and tell you everything. Hasn’t she been whispering every step the man has made so far? Come on sweetheart, let the man protect his mate.”
Edward stared in fascination as the next words came flowed through the phone line, “Oh shut it box man or I will put that shipping label on your box and send you back and you can give all the bad reviews you want for the vacation you didn’t get. You are a fine one to talk after letting everyone see you trying to crawl away from me to escape our mating. Remember the blood covered floor you left as you tried to crawl to safety from the big bad mate you had in your bed?”
Allison, after a startled glance at Edward, sat down in the chair recently vacated by Dennis as the squabble on the other end of the phone continued. Edward, for his part, wondered what in the hell he had gotten himself into by finding his mate.
“I was on drugs. You know that. Heavily medicated. Dying even. What did you expect when you stared at me with flames in your eyes?”
“Well if you had just let me sleep you wouldn’t have had to worry about it would you?”
“It isn’t like I knew you. How was I suppose to know you needed sleep? I hadn’t even met you yet.”
“We were mated. If you had just listened to your wolf I could have been sleeping and you would not have hurt yourself trying to escape me.”
“Well you should have been happy to wake up and see your mate instead of getting so upset at me.”
As the argument raged on Edward looked at Allison with disbelief in his eyes. Finally he exclaimed, “Damn you yanks are insane.”
The slight bastardized accent changed to a heavy Australian accent as the voice on the other end stopped arguing and said, “I will have you know I am as Australian as you, mate.”
Edward and Allison stared in fascination at the phone as the argument took a different direction. “I wish you would quit calling people mate. I am the only mate you have and I will always be the only mate you have and I don’t give a damn what it means in your home country. You just do that to aggravate me. I have watched tv, females don’t call other people mate. That is a male thing.”
Edward and Allison heard the indrawn breath but the phone call came to an abrupt end as the call was disconnected from the other end.
Edward raised his eyes back to Allison who shrugged, “Don’t look at me. She was always kind and caring and gentle at the prison. Well, except for the one guy she killed.” She nodded toward Julie, “But he deserved it.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Edward gently shook Julie and called her name to wake her. Allison said she never ate much and had not eaten at all today. He hoped he could change that. He was startled to realize Allison did not have a mental bond with anyone in the pack, though he should not have been. He knew she was a recent rescue and not yet old enough to mate-bond. Instead he was the one left relaying things to his Beta who then relayed what was happening to the others. For the moment everyone was gathered at Gammon’s waiting for any word on what was happening with Julie.
He had not paid much attention at first to how old Julie was, if anyone had even mentioned it. He knew Dennis had been waiting for her to reach maturity to make her final decision about tying her life to his. He knew also she was close if she had been going on eighteen when Dennis met her. But Trisah was the one who knew her exact birth date and Edward had been pleased to find she had just turned twenty in November. With it being almost February he figured he should be able to woo her in the ten months before she reached maturity. But first, he had to get her to come out of her shell.
He watched her open her eyes and stare at him in wonder before she lifted her hand to his cheek. He had her enclosed in his arms and she had not yet protested. She also had said nothing beyond his name.
“Hello sleeping beauty. Allison has created a wonderful dining experience just for the three of us if you would care to dine with me this evening.”
“Oh my god Edward, I fixed hamburger helper. You make it sound like I created some fancy dish.”
Edward tucked Julie’s head closer to his body as he raised his head and glared at Allison.
Allison rolled her eyes, “Fine, Julie sweetie, I have created for us an amazing dish of braised beef over a bed of pasta topped with a savory tomato sauce with just a sprinkling of cheese. Would you care to sit at the table with us?”
Edward’s heart skipped a beat when a soft giggle emerged from under his chin. He watched Allison’s eyes widen in disbelief and the smile on her face could have lit up a room. Smiling back at her he raised his eyebrows.
“Also for your dining pleasure tonight we have scoured the finest vineyards to bring to you the best selections of beverages guaranteed to tickle your palate. We have Coke, we have Dr. Pepper, we have the finest glacier water, lemonade and even, yes, we even have tea made fresh from the finest tea leaves Lipton ever harvested. Shall I place your order with the chef? Dinner for three perhaps? We have the best table in the house strategically placed to as to create, just for you, the most pleasurable dining experience you could ever experience.”
If Allison and Edward’s eyes had a bit more moisture than normal whe
n the peel of laughter rang out across the room, well, no one could have blamed them. The dust in the house was atrocious. Or so Edward would later claim.
The laughter stopped abruptly though when Edward attempted to stand and lower Julie to the floor. Sinking back to the couch he tightened his grip on his mate and shifted her slightly so he could look down into her face.
“Of course, I quite understand. The dining experience offered is not up to your standards. Rest assured I will be certain to let the chef know we will be finding other accommodations. Why, you should only dine in the finest of places. I am thinking a spring meadow with a blanket spread out on the grass beside a gurgling creek, surrounded by the most fragrant of flowers. A warm spring breeze ruffling your hair while I feed you tiny morsels of food to tempt your appetite.”
“They tried to kill me.”
“Oh my love, when I am finished with them there won’t be enough pieces left to bury.” Reaching out he placed her hand on his heart. “Do you feel that? You are the very heart that keeps me alive. You are the other half of my soul. No one will ever hurt you again. I will destroy them so every branch of their tree withers and dies. Look at me love, do you think anyone can go through me to get to you ever again? I will protect you until the stars fall from the sky, until the sun ceases to shine. Nothing and no one will ever hurt you again. I will take you far from this blighted land into a land where the roos play in the sunset. Where the wallabies waddle, where the echidnas trundle across the bitumen.” Before he could continue Julie reached up and placed one finger on his lips. He immediately kissed the finger.
Allison stared in fascination to hear such a large man utter such softly spoken words. She could not have looked away from what she was watching if a moose had wandered through the front door and walked in front of her.
“They killed my parents.”
“I know love. I am so sorry. They will pay for hurting you.”
“They tried to hide me. Daddy dumped some horrible smelling stuff on me. Mommy told me to be quiet. Not say a word, never say a word. I have to be quiet so they don’t kill me like they killed mommy and daddy.”
“Shhh oh love, they will never be able to hurt you again. You can be as loud as you want. You can scream to the heavens or sing at the top of your lungs and no one will ever hurt you again.” Edward rocked her as the words came spilling out of what she had gone through. The more she talked the greater his rage built. When she reached the part of almost being raped before even reaching the prison Edward was barely holding himself together. He was not able to conceal his emotions and it wasn’t long before Dennis came bursting through the door with Trisah hot on his heels. Gammon and his pack could feel the rage radiating from the small house. Soon the clearing around the house was full of agitated shifters all trying to get the full story. Gammon was standing guard at the door Dennis had busted open in his headlong rush to get to his Alpha. Julie was so caught up in reliving the past she didn’t even notice the commotion going on all around her. The first she knew anyone else was around was when soft hands reached in and a voice she had not heard in over a decade filtered through her story. Memories came rushing back of the past, playing in the yard with her sister, dancing around the house to the music on the radio, sliding down the banister.
At first she thought the voice was in her head but she soon realized the soft hands trying to cradle her belonged to another female. One she recognized yet didn’t at the same time. A face similar to the one she used to see in the mirror before the attack.
“Trisah?”
“Yes Julie-bug, I am here. No you are not going crazy. Uncle Remey kidnapped me. I didn’t die. I thought, he told me you and mom and dad died. He took me away and sold me. Oh Julie-bug, I can’t believe you are alive. I cried so much when I was locked up in that basement. I missed you so much. Please, can I hold you. Your big mountain won’t let go. Tell him to let go so I can hold you.” Trisah tried shoving at Edward’s arms again. She had tried already but he didn’t budge.
Julie turned her face up toward Edward’s “I want to hold her. She won’t hurt me.”
It took ever ounce of discipline Edward had accumulated to loosen his grip around Julie and let her reach out to her sister. Since she didn’t get out of his lap he soon had two females curled up in each others arms in his lap and his Beta had started growling.
Knock it off. Look at them. I am not going to hurt your mate but if you don’t get a grip on yourself I can not say the same for you. What the hell do you want me to do, shove them on the floor?
I can’t help it Edward. My wolf does not want you holding our mate. Do something.
Again, what do you want me to do?
Fuck if I know, you are the Alpha, you figure something out.
No sooner had the words left his thoughts than Edward started speaking. At first no one realized what he was saying, so intent on the reunion between the two females they didn’t pay him any attention, until he got to the part of the mating ceremony where the wolf rose. As soon as Dennis and Trisah’s wolves rose all attention turned to Edward. Trisah almost stopped him but she had done some thinking while they waited for Julie to wake up.
If Edward was the Alpha of his pack in Australia then Julie would be moving to Australia. The female always chose, unless the male absolutely could not move to her pack. Edward could not move and Trisah would not be letting her sister out of her reach ever again. She had seen enough and learned enough over the last few years to know the happiness a true-mate brought to a couple. She had never wanted a male, not after what she had been through. Not after knowing her value was only in her being a female. But if Dennis was the Beta of the same pack, she would never have to worry about being separated from her sister again. She had decided to allow the mating ceremony as quickly as possible once she found out she and Dennis would then become the guardians of Julie. She would live with them until she reached her maturity. It helped that Dennis had sworn to date her and let her learn to love him for the person he was and not the mate the magic decreed.
By the time the wolves wrapped themselves around each other and merged together not a single other person could fit in the living room. No one had wanted to miss seeing their little Trisah become whole. Before the jubilant cheering had stopped Edward had leaned down and whispered some words in Trisah’s ear. Trisah had looked at him in surprise before turning to look at her Alpha. At his nod she turned back to Edward and gave her oath to the last Alpha she would ever have.
As soon as the last word of the oath fell from her lips she heard shouting in her mind. Turning in wonder to the man who had just became her mate her lips thinned. “Oh yeah? Well let me tell you one thing buddy if you think for one minute you are going to stand there and give me orders you have another thing coming. You better tell your wolf to shut the hell up before I throw something at you. How dare you growl at Edward for letting me hold my sister.”
The entire room had fallen silent with most of the spectators holding their breath and their glee at the sight in front of them. Without realizing it Trisah had gotten up from Edward’s lap and proceeded to stalk Dennis. Shaking a finger in his face she proceeded to rip into him about his loyalty to Edward, his trust in his mate, her sister’s well being and then she turned to the sacrifice she was making by moving to Australia to be with him. By the time she was done his wolf was whimpering, he had run out of room to back away from the little hellion in front of him and Edward was laughing his ass off.
Gammon, laughing as hard as Edward, made the remark, “Good thing you are such a lucky bastard right?”
Dennis, without taking his eyes off the little hellion he had just mated turned his head in Gammon’s direction, “What the hell mate? You could of warned a bloke.”
“I did, I believe my exact words were that remains to be seen, if you don’t call that a warning I don’t know what else you could call it.
Having put her mate in his place regarding his attempt to put her in her place Trisah turned her attent
ion back to Julie. She sent a worried look toward her sister but far from getting scared Julie seemed energized by the altercation. Well Trisah had found being able to boss the males around without serious repercussions had gone a long way toward helping her to heal. Looked like her sister wasn’t much different from her after all. When you knew you were protected so much by the ones around you, and loved so much by your pack they made allowances for you and accepted you as you were it was hard to stay in a shell of protection. Trisah had found over the years she could not protect herself nearly as much as the pack around her. All she had to do now was teach Julie how to be strong.
Epilogue
“No, don’t open your eyes yet. I saw you trying to peek.”
Julie giggle, “But Edward, you have been saying that for the last hour.”
“No, only a few minutes. I can’t surprise you if you peek love.”
“Well hurry up then and you won’t have to worry about me peeking.”
“We are almost there miss impatient. Another few minutes. Wait, hold on don’t look yet.”
Edward walked around the Ute and slid his arms under Julie. He watched her face as he lifted her out and started striding toward the blanket on the ground. They had stayed at Gammon’s for a few days while Trisah had gathered up her things and prepared to move.
They had been in Australia for four months now and Julie was just starting to heal enough for what Edward was doing. She still had problems around certain smells and the young ones in the pack had to find a new place to play baseball. He had tried to ban all bats in the pack completely but even Julie had not thought that was fair to the young ones. He still thought she should have let him. He offered to buy the kids horseshoes to play with, or balls, anything but baseball bats. He had finally given in to the demand of the pack to allow the kids to play baseball, but not around Julie.
Julie Page 11
