“Drive, Pop,” he told him angrily. “Drive fast and get us the hell off this land.”
Russell nodded, reaching out to touch Jack’s shoulder lightly. He had no words. His son’s desolation reached out and grabbed his heart, squeezing it tightly. He knew that Jack and Samantha felt the same pain. He could hear their words of concern in his head and was thankful for the mating link that joined them.
He indicated for their son Nathaniel and his triad partner Brett to climb into his truck then climbed behind the wheel and started the engine. He watched as Jack and their mate Samantha got into the truck behind him that carried the injured members of their family and said a silent prayer to the Fates that everything would turn out all right for all of them.
Drew worked quickly, pouring sterile water over Carter’s wounds to try to wash away as much of the silver alloy as he could. Carter reached up and pushed his hands away.
“How could you leave without Suzie?” he demanded.
“I had no choice, Carter,” Drew told him without emotion as he worked quickly to clean and close the gaping wounds on Carter’s stomach. “Randall would have tortured Suzie in front of us. He wouldn’t have stopped until she was screaming in agony over and over again. She would have died slowly and painfully.”
“We can’t live without her, Drew,” Carter insisted, weakly pushing at Drew’s hands once again.
“We have no choice, Carter.”
“Yes, we do.”
“No, Carter. We don’t.”
Carter was silent as he looked up at his triad partner. “Well, I have a choice in this, Drew.”
Drew looked at him sadly. He waited, seeing the pain in Carter’s eyes that he knew was not the result of the open wound on his face or his stomach or from the silver collar that he wore.
“I don’t want to live without our mate,” Carter told him with every ounce of strength he had left in him. “Let me die.”
Chapter 3
Carter stood before the large bay window in Drew’s office. He sipped at his coffee slowly, rubbing at the stubble on his chin as he watched the mist of the early morning hour burn off the mountains. Despite the beauty of nature before him, he couldn’t feel anything but complete despair.
“You’re up early,” Drew’s voice called softly from the other side of the office.
“Can’t sleep more than an hour at a time,” Carter told him quietly, never turning away from the window. A sad laugh escaped him as he rubbed his whiskers. “Why is it that you and I still keep our faces filled with stubble, Drew?”
Drew sat at the large desk in his office, rubbing his own black stubble. “I keep it this way to remind me of our mate,” he told him after a long pause. “I don’t know why I need anything to remind me of her. I can’t stop thinking about her or remembering her touch every minute of every day.”
Carter turned around and slowly walked toward Drew’s desk, sitting in the chair beside it, leaning back and resting his coffee cup on his thigh. “I sometimes feel a ghost of her in my mind,” Carter told him, looking at his triad partner with indescribable pain in his blue eyes. “I keep playing over the last time we were together. As much as it hurts, I’m glad we claimed her. I remember every touch, every scent, and every taste of her. I can’t stop remembering the way she loved us.”
Drew nodded slowly. “Me, too.” He leaned forward and rubbed his eyes tiredly before resting his head on his fist as his arm perched on the desk. “Last night I had a dream that Suzie was pregnant. I often worry that when we left her she was pregnant.”
Drew’s voice caught in his throat, and Carter reached out and touched his forearm in support. When he looked up at Carter, he saw the pain mirrored in his eyes that he knew had to be evident in his own.
“We can’t think that,” Carter told him firmly. “The Fates wouldn’t be that cruel. Suzie was filled with silver when we left. She would have had to fight her way back to health. The Fates wouldn’t allow our cub to suffer from the poisoning. I’m sick just thinking about it.”
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe she wasn’t pregnant when we left her,” Drew spoke up after thinking about it for a while. “But I do think she will be.”
“No wolf had better ever touch our mate,” Carter told him, growling. “She bears our claiming mark.”
“I don’t think any other wolf will touch her,” Drew told him, shaking his head with surety. “I think we’ll be the ones who will get her pregnant.”
Carter looked at his triad partner with barely contained frustration. “You’ve finally lost your mind, Drew,” he said with disgust. “Our mate was lost to us fifteen years ago. There’s no way we’re ever going to see her again. You know what Randall said he would do to her mother and brother. You know what happened every time we tried to go back to get her and her family. We can’t take the chance with her life if we go back again.”
“Normally, I would agree with you, Carter,” Drew admitted. “But things have changed. I believe we can go back and get her without worrying Randall will hurt her or her family. It’s time we ask for help. We belong to a strong pack with an honorable alpha. We can ask Jace to help us. I believe he and Jackson will take as many enforcers that we need him to in order to get our Suzie and bring her home.”
Carter closed his eyes, trying to steel himself to be strong. He couldn’t allow himself to hope that they would ever have their mate in their lives again. When he opened them, the blue of his eyes flashed with anger as he faced Drew.
“And then what would you do if we saw that our going back there caused Randall to kill Suzie’s mother or her brother? And what if our going back there causes him to kill our Suzie? They’ve already suffered because we’ve tried before.”
Drew’s soft, hazel eyes were filled with pain as he faced Carter. “I know. Don’t you think I worry about that very thing all the time? I’ve gone through every possible scenario to get our mate back. I know that we can’t do it alone. I really believe that Jace can help us, Carter. I’m going to talk to him about Suzie.”
Carter could feel the anger building inside of him. He hated Randall for what he had done to them. He hated Drew for choosing to save him instead of fighting for Suzie. And he hated himself for being the cause of the decision Drew had been forced to make.
“I can’t stop you from talking to Jace if that’s what you think you should do,” Carter told him abruptly, barely controlling himself. “But I’m not going to let you pull me along with you. We don’t even know if she’s alive.”
“Yes. We do.” Drew’s voice was filled with anger at Carter’s words. “We would know if she wasn’t.”
“How? Tell me how we would know that, Drew,” Carter demanded. “We haven’t touched her in fifteen years. We haven’t talked to her in fifteen years. We haven’t felt her love in fifteen years. You tell me, Drew! Tell me how the hell we should know she’s still alive!”
Drew’s heart hurt at the pain that was emanating from his triad partner. They had suffered both physically and emotionally over the years. What they had found in their Suzie was the soothing influence and unconditional love that both he and Carter had needed to complete their triad and fill their lives. Her absence from their lives since that horrible night so long ago had ripped open their hearts and had damaged their souls.
Drew didn’t know if it would have been a good thing or devastating to them if they had been able to continue communicating with her through their mating link. Both Drew and Carter could sense her through their link, but there was something blocking the ability to talk to her.
“For the past week, I’ve been feeling Suzie in my dreams, Carter,” he told him firmly. “I can hear her talking to me. I can hear her laughing. I can feel her touching me.” He leaned forward and caught Carter’s gaze. “I think you’ve had the same dreams.”
Carter stood up and placed his coffee cup on the edge of Drew’s desk. Walking over to the front door of the office, he picked up his coat and cowboy hat from the clothes stand beside it and
pulled open the door.
“Drew, I think you’d better prescribe some drugs for yourself,” Carter told him angrily. “Your thoughts are beyond delusional. Suzie is not visiting us in our dreams. She’s not talking to us in our dreams. And she damned sure isn’t touching us in our dreams.”
He walked out of the office and slammed the door behind him. Drew stared at the closed door silently. He knew Carter was right. Suzie was lost to them. Even after all these years, he was still hopeful that they would someday get her back. It was about time he accepted that they would never see her again.
He laid his forehead down on his desk, suddenly very tired and filled with despair. He closed his eyes and took deep, even breaths to calm his racing heart.
Carter.
What?
I’m sorry.
The silence worried Drew. He knew he was pushing Carter more than he had ever pushed his friend, but he really believed that Suzie was going to be part of their future.
Drew.
What?
You need to let it go.
I can’t.
It serves no purpose to keep thinking about a future with our mate.
Carter, I saw her in our triad bed. I saw her holding our hands to her belly. I felt our cub moving under my hand.
There was silence once again. It was so quiet within his mind, Drew was certain Carter was not going to speak to him again—and he couldn’t blame him. It hurt to see Suzie smiling at them in his dream. It made his heart ache to know that the pregnancy Suzie displayed in his dream was never going to happen. How could it?
Drew?
Carter’s tired voice made him jump as he was pulled out of his thoughts.
What?
I saw it, too.
The phone on Drew’s desk startled him awake. He must have fallen asleep after Carter had left for work. He knew his triad partner wasn’t going to be back until his shift was over. His job as an EMT kept him busy and away from pack land most of the time. Drew was thankful for the time Carter was able to give him on his days off. He really had to look into getting some help in his medical office on a more permanent basis.
He picked up the phone and brought it to his ear. “This is Doc,” he answered quickly.
“Doc, we have a young cub from another pack who has wandered onto our pack land,” Jace told him, his voice clipped and angry.
“What’s wrong, Jace?” Drew asked him worriedly.
“The cub needs your medical attention. He has been beaten by his previous alpha,” Jace explained, barely able to control himself.
“His previous alpha?”
“Yes. He belongs to our pack now.”
Drew smiled. Jace Beckett was a good man and a strong alpha. Drew would always be thankful that he had taken in his family fifteen years earlier without hesitation. They had all been under his protection since that day. It was because of Suzie that they had found their way here. He felt a pain in his heart as he thought of their lost mate.
“Doc.” Jace’s voice brought him out of his memories.
“What, Jace?”
“This cub can’t shift.”
“Really? Why is that?”
“I’m depending on you to figure that out.”
“Where’s the cub?”
“He’s at the detention cabin right now. But once you fix him up, we’ll set him up in the single males’ dormitory.”
“Okay. I’m on my way.”
“Thanks, Doc. I’ll wait for you here.”
Drew hung up and stood to gather his medical bag. Pulling open the door to his office, he closed it behind him and made the twenty minute walk to the detention cabin. When he walked up the three steps to the front door, he hesitated as a familiar scent reached him.
He reached out and opened the door, walking into the cabin and stopping short just inside the doorway as he saw the dirty and disheveled young man who sat on the chair next to the desk where Jace stood with his arms crossed over his massive chest.
Drew inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of the young shifter and wobbling slightly on his feet as he realized who sat before him. He walked over to the young man and knelt in front of him, waiting until the boy lifted his head and looked at him with clear gray eyes that returned his gaze with unwavering strength.
Drew opened his medical bag and pulled out antiseptic wipes and adhesive strips. He made quick work of cleaning and closing the wound over the boy’s right eye before disinfecting the cuts and lacerations on his face and upper body.
“It looks like you’ve been used as a punching bag,” he told the cub, his voice tight with anger at the abuse this young man had sustained.
The boy shrugged. “It’s not so bad,” he mumbled.
Drew said nothing as he examined him, touching each darkening bruise carefully. He realized his hands were shaking, and he had to make an effort to calm down. The boy didn’t recognize him. He wasn’t surprised. The last time the boy had seen Drew and Carter he had been only four years old.
Carter.
What?
A young shifter has come to Jace’s pack. He’s under Jace’s protection now.
Why are you telling me this, Drew?
Because the young shifter is Mitchell—Suzie’s brother.
Chapter 4
Alpha Jace Beckett and Beta Jackson Scott stood to the left of the examination table. Their triad mate Laurie Young rested on the table, her belly exposed, waiting for Drew to ready the ultrasound machine for her first view of the baby she was carrying.
“You’re sure this machine won’t hurt the cub, right, Doc?” Jace asked him for the third time.
“Jace,” Laurie called to him calmly, reaching out to offer him her hand. He took it immediately and smiled when she pulled him toward her and offered him her lips.
He kissed her lightly and leaned back to look down at her, relaxing immediately at the soft expression of love that she directed at him. When she reached out and took Jackson’s hand in hers to pull him closer, Jace moved over so he could share the space with his triad partner so they would both be close enough to touch and comfort her. If he were to be honest with himself, he was the one who needed the reassurance and the comforting.
“I’m fine, and the baby will be fine,” Laurie assured him. “You’ve seen the visions of our daughter playing with the both of you.”
The fierce expression on the alpha’s face softened immediately. “I have,” he whispered, reaching out to cover their mate’s belly with his large hand. “But I still worry. Make me not worry, Doc,” he told him, never taking his eyes from Laurie’s.
Drew laughed lightly. “I can assure you, Alpha,” Drew told him seriously. “This machine will cause no harm to either Laurie or the baby. It will just give us a better understanding of the stage of her pregnancy and the health of the baby.”
“Will we get to hear the heartbeat, Doc?” Jackson asked. “I’d really like to hear our daughter’s heartbeat.”
Drew smiled as he spread the gel over the base of the flared probe. “We can use the fetal Doppler to hear the heartbeat after we finish performing the ultrasound. The ultrasound will be able to track the size of the baby, the maturity of the baby’s organs, and give us a good indication of the due date.”
Jackson leaned down and kissed Laurie’s forehead lightly. He straightened and focused his attention on the monitor, trying with all his might to make out the image of their child.
Laurie couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she watched the two men she loved stare in fascination at the medical equipment. She would have never thought that two such powerful men could be in such awe of her pregnancy. It was amazing.
“Breathe, Mates,” she told them quietly.
Her soft laughter filled their hearts, and they couldn’t help but smile down at her. They each squeezed her hands gently, standing at the top of the examination table to give Doc room to roll the monitor closer to the bed.
Carter entered the small room, smiling at the sight of their al
pha and beta standing so quietly while Drew passed the probe across Laurie’s belly. They watched the monitor as Drew searched for just the right spot in order to get a clear image of the growing baby.
“Here’s the baby’s leg, and here are her arms,” Drew told them, pointing to the monitor and pressing buttons to capture the images before him. “She’s a cutie. Look how her arms are up over her eyes as she sleeps.”
In that moment, the image of Suzie lying between them in their triad bed flashed in Carter’s mind. Drew turned to face him immediately. There was no denying that they both had just experienced the vision of their mate laughing as she leaned up and kissed them both, rubbing her face across the stubble on their cheeks to gather their scents before taking their hands in hers and covering her belly. They could not only see how her belly was swollen with their child, they could feel their cub moving strongly within her womb.
“Holy hell,” Drew whispered.
“What, Doc?” Jace barked out, alarmed. “What’s wrong?”
“What?” Drew asked, confused.
He snapped out of the vision, looking at Carter quickly and shaking his head to keep him from talking. He needn’t have bothered. Carter rarely spoke as it was. There was no way he would offer that intimate information to anyone other than Drew—or maybe Suzie.
“Nothing is wrong,” Drew assured all three of them. “I just remembered that I have to tell Carter something.”
Carter stepped forward and placed his hand lightly on Drew’s right shoulder. The connection between the triad partners helped. It was the focus they needed to get through the moment.
“You can tell me later, Drew,” Carter told him softly.
Drew nodded and refocused his attention on Laurie. He passed the head of the probe across her abdomen, making adjustments on the machine and setting the controls to take pictures of the different images of the Alpha Triad’s child.
“She’s healthy and growing, Laurie,” Drew assured her honestly. “You don’t have anything to worry about.”
Susannah's Saviors [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 7
