Jaryn could smell the slight shift in attitude in the men holding him. It was thick in the air. Jaryn could also see his death in Angus’s eyes. He knew the alpha would have to take him out before the loyalty of the pack turned against the man. It was one thing to order a hunt for someone that betrayed the pack. It was another to do it for nefarious reasons.
Jaryn felt the grip of one of the men holding him loosen just as Angus’s clawed hand swiped out at him. He had just enough time to move back a fraction of an inch. It was enough to avoid having his throat ripped out but not enough to avoid the lethal blow all together, or the next one, or the next.
He felt cold as he fell back against the ground. A hand suddenly pressed a piece of cloth painfully over his throat, another over his abdomen. Jaryn tried to push it away, but no matter how much he struggled, the hand wouldn’t move. It just continued to hold pieces of cloth over him.
Jaryn distantly heard shouting, yelling, and the sounds of a struggle. It all seemed to come through a funnel, loud but far away. Then he felt another set of hands on him. Jaryn looked up, surprised to see Brom leaning over the top of him.
“Br—Brom.”
“Shh, don’t talk, baby,” Brom whispered.
“S—so—rry,” Jaryn croaked. “Tr—ied t—to s—s—stop them.”
“I know, Jaryn,” Brom whispered.
Jaryn frowned. He could see tears streaming down Brom’s face, but that didn’t make sense. Brom was the strongest man he’d ever met. Brom never cried. Jaryn reached up and wiped a stray tear away in disbelief.
“D—d—don’t c—c—ry.”
“Baby, you need to stop talking, please,” Brom pleaded.
“C—c—cold.”
Brom glanced over Jaryn’s head. “Your shirt, Daniel?”
A moment later, Brom laid Daniel’s shirt over Jaryn. The warmth was momentary but welcoming. Jaryn smiled when Daniel knelt down on the other side of him from Brom. He didn’t have tears in his eyes like Brom, but his face was filled with sorrow.
“Th—tha—nk you, D—dan—” He felt Daniel press a finger across his lips.
“Hey, no talking, remember?” Daniel said.
Jaryn tried to nod, but the strike of pain that motion sent through his body made stars flash in Jaryn’s eyes. He closed them for a moment, trying to catch the breath that seemed to be rapidly leaving him.
“Jaryn?” Brom cried out. “Jaryn?”
Jaryn opened his eyes again. It seemed harder to do this time. His eyelids were heavy, and he felt so tired. He just wanted to sleep for a little while. Jaryn focused his gaze on Brom. He tried to smile.
“Love you,” Jaryn whispered, surprised that he didn’t fumble over the words this time.
Brom sniffled. “I love you, too, Jaryn.”
Jaryn glanced over at Daniel. The hand he reached out to the man was quickly taken, held, and squeezed. While Brom was all tears and words of comfort, Jaryn could see the truth in Daniel’s green eyes.
“T—take g—g—good c—ca—re of Brom.”
Daniel nodded. His eyes started to sparkle with unshed tears. “I will, Jaryn. I promise.”
“He—he loves you.”
A quiet sob sounded on the other side of Jaryn.
“He n—needs you.”
“He needs you, too, Jaryn,” Daniel said softly. “I need you.”
“D—don’t kn—ow me.”
“I’d like to get to know you, Jaryn. Brom’s told you stories about me, but I know nothing about you. I’d like to. After you get some rest, maybe you can tell me what it was like knowing Brom, huh? I’m sure you have some good stories.”
Jaryn tried to laugh but ended up choking instead. The pain that throbbed through his body made him wince and cry out. His hands clenched into fists as his body stiffened, every muscle in his body seizing.
By the time his body relaxed, Jaryn felt like he’d run a marathon. His body just seemed to give out, every muscle he had collapsing in total exhaustion. Jaryn didn’t even have the energy to lift his arm.
“Tired,” he murmured as he let his heavy eyelids slide down.
“No, Jaryn,” Brom shouted from far away. “No, baby, you have to stay awake. Open your eyes, Jaryn. Come on, baby, open your eyes and look at me. Jaryn?”
Jaryn tried to open his eyes. He could hear the panic in Brom’s voice. But he was just so tired. Maybe if he just slept for a little while? Yes, that’s what he’d do. He’d just sleep for a little while. Then he could see Brom and reassure him that everything was okay.
The sound of Brom’s loud voice faded away as darkness fell in on Jaryn until everything was dark, everything was silent.
* * * *
“Jaryn!” Brom shouted again, giving the man a little shake to get him to wake up. “Please, Jaryn, please open your eyes, baby.” Strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him back from Jaryn.
“Brom, honey, you need to stop.”
“No, Jaryn needs—”
“Jaryn needs us to get him back to the compound where Ryland can take a look at him. Ryland’s a tri-omega, and he has healing abilities. He might be able to save him.”
Brom looked at Daniel desperately. He wanted the man’s words to be true, but he’d seen the damage to Jaryn’s body. Large gashes in his flesh, both on his stomach and throat, gaped open.
“Come on, honey, let’s get him back to the house where Ryland can take a look at him.”
Brom nodded. He picked Jaryn’s limp body up in his arms and stood to his feet. The amount of blood covering Jaryn concerned Brom a great deal. He’d seen the damage to Jaryn, but the man didn’t seem to be healing. He was a werewolf. He should be healing.
“Why isn’t he healing, Daniel?”
“I don’t know, Brom,” Daniel replied. “Maybe Ryland can tell us.”
Brom nodded as he hurried through the woods. His eyes went from the forest in front of him down to the man he carried in his arms. Jaryn’s head bobbed against his chest. His arms hung loosely past his body. Brom didn’t know if they would reach Ryland fast enough to save Jaryn.
“Please, baby, please don’t give up,” Brom whispered as he increased the speed of his steps. Brom didn’t know if he could make it if Jaryn didn’t. He loved Daniel with every fiber of his being, but Brom had always known that Jaryn would be the center of their family.
“He’s going to make it, Brom,” Daniel said from where he ran beside Brom. “He has to.”
Brom glanced over at Daniel, only then noticing the silent tears on the man’s face. He felt a gut-wrenching pain tear through him as he realized that he never thought about how this might be affecting Daniel. He’d been too wrapped up in his own misery.
“I love you, Daniel. I always have.”
Brom chuckled when Daniel gaped at him and nearly ran into a tree. Guess he surprised the man. He surprised himself. He knew he loved Daniel just as he loved Jaryn. He’d just never said it out loud.
Brom had always been taught by his father that it was unmanly to show emotion, to even verbalize emotions. It made a person weak, less masculine, he’d said. It gave people an opportunity to use those emotions against Brom.
Brom realized that even though he hadn’t verbalized his emotions, his father had still been able to use them against him. What did that say about the way his father thought? Even doing as his father wished, he’d still lost.
He refused to lose anymore. He would keep Daniel and Jaryn, if he survived, and to hell with what his father thought. Brom promised himself that he’d tell his mates every day how much he loved them. He wasn’t going to be his father’s puppet anymore.
Brom was never more grateful than when the lights from the alpha compound came into view. Daniel ran ahead, shouting for help at the top of his lungs. More lights came on, doors opened, and people came pouring out of the mansion.
“Fuck, Daniel, what in the hell happened?” someone shouted.
“Is that Jaryn?” someone else asked.
“Who did this?” T
hat voice Brom recognized as Alpha Miroslav.
Brom could hear the deep concern in their voices, but he ignored it, his eyes seeking out Daniel’s. He sighed with relief when Daniel nodded and pulled another man forward.
“This is Ryland,” Daniel said. “Let’s get Jaryn inside, so Ryland can take a look at him.”
Brom nodded.
“Come this way,” another man called out as he beckoned for Brom to follow him into the house. “There’s a spare bedroom right at the top of the stairs.”
Brom recognized him as the one Jaryn had called Sasha. He was the mate to Alpha Miroslav. Jaryn trusted the man as Daniel seemed to. Brom decided to let their trust lead his own and followed the man into the house.
“The cubs?”
Sasha glanced over his shoulder and smiled. “They’re fine. They’re sleeping upstairs in the nursery with our cubs.”
“Oh, thank God!”
“Vadim?” Daniel called out. “You might want to lock the alpha compound down until we get this all figured out. Jaryn was attacked by members of his own pack.”
Brom didn’t even pay attention as Alpha Vadim Miroslav began calling out orders for the compound to be locked down and extra guards to be placed at all the entrances. His sole concentration was on the unconscious man in his arms.
He was quickly led through the house and up the wooden stairs to a bedroom with a large bed. Brom crossed to the bed and carefully laid his precious bundle down, his hands quickly pressing the cloth back down over the man’s injuries.
He felt the bed give and glanced up to see the man Daniel had pointed out sitting on the other side. He looked so young, almost as young as Jaryn. Brom didn’t see how he could possibly heal Jaryn, but he hoped the man could. Brom didn’t think Jaryn would survive his wounds without it.
“Can you help him?” Brom asked.
“Honestly? I don’t know,” Ryland said. “He’s hurt pretty bad. I’ve never healed injuries this severe before. I’ll give it my best shot.”
“Please, just do whatever you can.”
Ryland nodded. “I need a bowl of warm water and a washcloth. We need to get some of this blood off of him so I can see what we’re working with. I also need someone to get his clothes off of him.”
Brom hurried to pull Jaryn’s clothes from his body, moving as carefully as he could so he wouldn’t jar the man’s injuries. He sliced his claws down what was left of his cotton shirt and pulled it off, dropping the blood-soaked garment on the floor.
He unbuttoned Jaryn’s jeans and went to pull them off only to find Daniel at the end of the bed. He’d already pulled his shoes off and held the bottom hem of Jaryn’s jeans. Brom braced Jaryn back against the mattress and nodded to Daniel, watching as he carefully pulled the pants down Jaryn’s legs.
Someone handed Brom a bowl of water and a couple of clean washcloths in it. Brom grabbed one, Ryland the other. Simultaneously, they both began to wipe the blood from Jaryn’s body.
With each swipe of the washcloth, more of Jaryn’s injuries were revealed. He had four deep slashes in his abdomen that looked to be about four inches long and just like claw marks. They were deep but not as deep as the claw marks across Jaryn’s throat.
Those gashes worried Brom the most. They were so deep that part of Jaryn’s throat was exposed. Every time Brom wiped the blood away, more seeped out. Brom just didn’t know if Jaryn could survive the wound.
“Okay, it’s time,” Ryland finally said. “Vik, Gregory, I’m going to need your help.”
Brom lifted his gaze to see two men standing behind him, one with sandy brown hair and the other with dark brown hair. Their hands were clasped together between them. The sandy-haired man reached out and laid his hand on the skin of Ryland’s back.
“Go ahead, baby,” the man said. “We’ve got you.”
“I’ll need you to step back,” Ryland said to Brom.
Brom hesitated, but Daniel reached for him and pulled him away. Brom grabbed him, holding him tightly to his side. Brom watched, holding his breath, as Ryland placed his hands over the tears in Jaryn’s abdomen.
Brom wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, but a small, blue light seemed to radiate outward from Ryland’s hands. The deep lacerations seemed to start sealing themselves together.
The process seemed to take forever, each second ticking slowly by, but inch by inch, the wound closed, turning a light pink, and the bleeding stopped. Brom heaved a sigh of relief when Ryland finally lifted his head.
The man looked extremely tired, dark purple smudges forming under his eyes. When he nodded and moved to Jaryn’s neck, Brom became concerned. He wanted Jaryn healed but not at the expense of another person’s life.
“Wait,” Brom said as he stepped forward. He started to reach for Ryland’s arm when a deep growl made him pause. Brom glanced up at the two men behind Ryland and held up both hands in a non-threatening gesture. “I just wanted to make sure he was okay. He’s not looking so good.”
Ryland chuckled. “Healing takes a lot out of me. I’ll be fine.” He waved his hand dismissively at the two men standing behind him. “They’re just a little over protective.”
“Can’t say that I blame them,” Brom replied. He nodded towards Jaryn. The wound on Jaryn’s abdomen had taken a lot out of Ryland. The wound on his throat looked worse. “Are you going to be okay doing this?”
“We’ll see.”
Brom watched as Ryland again placed his hands on Jaryn, wrapping them around the man’s injured throat. He took a long, deep breath and then closed his eyes. The blue light started to appear from his hands again.
The long rips in Jaryn’s throat began to seal up much as the ones in his abdomen did. Brom gripped Daniel’s arm again. He held his breath. If this worked, Brom swore to himself he’d never ask for another thing again in his life.
Ryland’s head dropped forward. He seemed to sway just a bit. The two men behind him leapt forward and grabbed him before he could collapse down on top of Jaryn. Ryland’s head flopped back, his eyes rolling back into his head.
“Is he okay?” Brom asked.
One of the men nodded. “This always happens when he has to heal large wounds. He’ll be up and around by tomorrow.”
At the man’s words, Brom’s eyes strayed back to Jaryn’s wound. His heart sank when he saw blood still seeping from Jaryn’s wound. He ignored the men who picked Ryland up and sat down on the bed.
Brom grabbed the washcloth and wiped away the blood. He could see that much of the wound had healed but not enough to stop the bleeding. Brom could only hope it was enough to save his life.
Brom glanced up when one of the men swung Ryland up into his arms. He gestured towards the unconscious man. “Please, tell him thank you for me?”
The man grinned. “You can tell him yourself when he wakes up. I imagine you’ll be here for a few days.”
Brom nodded, not so sure. “If Alpha Miroslav will have us.”
Chapter 8
Daniel watched as Brom slumped down in a chair by the fireplace and buried his face in his hands. The man looked so lost, dejected. Daniel knew he had to be out of his mind with worry.
They had patched Jaryn up the best that they could, wrapping his injuries with gauze. Ryland had healed much of his wounds but not all of them. The ones he had left worried Daniel as much as they did Brom.
He walked over and squatted down in front of Brom, grabbing his hands and pulling them away from the man’s face. Lines of misery were etched in the man’s features. Tears trickled from the corner of his eyes. Daniel used his thumb to wipe them away.
“He’s going to be okay, Brom.”
“We don’t know that, Daniel. You saw him. You saw his injuries. Even your friend, Ryland, wasn’t able to heal all of them. And he’s not healing like he should be.” A quiet sob broke free from the man. “What if—what if he doesn’t make it?”
“He’ll make it,” Daniel insisted. Jaryn had to make it. Daniel couldn’t
lose both of his mates, and he had no doubt that’s exactly what would happen if Jaryn died. He’d lose Brom, too.
“Daniel?”
Daniel turned to see Jake standing behind him. He was flanked by Vadim and Lucas. None of them looked particularly happy.
“Daniel,” Jake said, “we need to know what’s going on. You said someone in your pack attacked Jaryn? Why would they do that?”
“My father,” Brom answered.
“Alpha McGregor?” Vadim asked.
Brom nodded. “Jaryn came across a group of them in the woods. I think they were coming for me. He tried to stop them and—” Brom’s hand raked through his hair. “Well, you saw what happened.”
“Why would your father be after you?”
“Because I mated Daniel,” Brom whispered, looking down at Daniel.
Daniel cupped the side of his face, trying to reassure him. Brom’s hand covered his. He was more shaken by the contact than he cared to admit. It was such a small thing, just a touch, but it seemed to bind them together more than almost anything else did.
“Tell them everything, Brom,” Daniel said. “They need to know. It’s the only way they can protect us.”
Brom’s eyes widened, but he nodded. Daniel stood up and walked around to stand behind Brom. He rested his hands on the man’s shoulders. He needed to give his mate as much comfort and reassurance as possible. They had a lot of crap to get through and a small amount of time to do it.
Alpha McGregor might have been injured in the fight, but he certainly wasn’t down. Daniel had no doubt that the man would be after them the moment he was able. Until they were granted sanctuary and had a hearing before the Wolf Council, they remained vulnerable.
“Five years ago my father declared a hunt on Daniel and me,” Brom began. “He said he would nullify the hunt if I agreed to stop seeing Daniel and married the woman of his choosing, producing cubs for the pack as any good son should.”
Daniel smirked at the round of snorts that seemed to fill the room at Brom’s words. He felt Brom jump in response. Daniel knew the histories of most of the men in the room. He knew many of them had been kicked out of their birth packs for just the same reason.
Unspoken Desires Page 8
