Suzie knew Carter was correct in his urgency to get them out of there, but she also knew they had a small window of time before her guards would return. She had planned her escape to coincide with the schedule that the guards always followed. It irked her that the men who were assigned to watch over her found her to be of no threat to them or the pack. Their sloppiness in leaving her for longer periods of time with no one to watch her until the replacement guards arrived had grown more predictable over the past week.
“The next guards won’t be here for another fifteen minutes,” she told them. “I guess they don’t think I’m much of a threat, or of much value either.”
Drew reached out and pulled her against his chest, his growls of anger and frustration filling the area. “Don’t ever say that again,” he demanded.
Carter squeezed her against his chest, successfully pinning her between him and Drew and ignoring the whimper that escaped her. “Suzie, you will not deny your importance, and you will especially not deny what we are to each other.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Suzie interrupted them, trying to pull away.
Both men held her tighter. The fear and frustration they felt pushed their wolves to the forefront. For the first time in either man’s lives, they had no control over the needs of their wolves.
“Our wolves are determined to claim you again, honey,” Drew told her, speaking softly as he fought to get himself under control. He knew it was a losing battle, and he wanted to warn her.
“I don’t want you to claim me again,” Suzie snapped back, trying to step away from them.
Drew pulled her back into his arms, fighting to remain gentle despite the way his wolf demanded that she submit to them. He placed his large hand behind her head, holding her in place as he leaned down and covered her lips with his, taking the kiss he had experienced every night in his dreams and agonized over every waking moment of his days.
Time stood still. Suzie stiffened. The touch of Drew’s lips on hers brought forth memories of long ago tastes and touches. In that one instance, her heart softened and the wall she had put in place around her feelings began to crumble. His lips moved gently over hers, his tongue lightly licking at the seam of her lips. When the familiar taste of him exploded across her taste buds, something in her melted, making her need more. She needed his touch. She needed his comfort.
When he pulled away, his breathing was labored, but he fought valiantly to remain in control of his wolf. He looked down at her and was hopeful when he saw that she might be softening toward him.
She followed his retreat and leaned against his cheek, rubbing lightly across his whiskers. The purring sounds that rumbled from her chest were involuntary. When Carter stood behind her, pressing his chest against her back, she leaned into him, allowing him to take her by the shoulders and turn her around to face him.
He kissed her gently, increasing the pressure on her lips as she moaned into his mouth. She could feel his canines brush across her bottom lip, and she remembered the night so very long ago when they had claimed her. The way he scraped his teeth across her shoulder just before biting down and claiming her was a sensual memory she would never forget.
“Suzie,” Carter whispered against her mouth, kissing her lightly once more before leaning his forehead against hers. “We’ve missed you so much, baby.”
“Suzie, I can barely keep my wolf under control,” Drew rasped against her neck. “Please, Mate. We need to claim you again.”
She hesitated. Being between them, feeling the strength of their bodies as they surrounded her, and experiencing the true sense of peace and protection she only felt when they held her made her resolve to hate them lose some of its power.
“You can still be mad at us, Mate,” Carter whispered, kissing her cheek lightly. “Don’t make us be without you ever again. Please.”
She whimpered as the need she had to be with her mates warred with her determination not to allow them to worm their way back into her heart. She couldn’t help the way she wanted them or the feeling of relief she had that they were alive. Without thought, she leaned back against Drew, exposing her neck to him.
Drew’s growl of possession made her shiver. When he leaned forward and bit into the soft flesh between neck and shoulder, her knees buckled, and she would have fallen if his hands hadn’t wrapped around her waist. Carter pressed against the front of her body, and she felt his breath on her shoulder just before he bit down, holding her tightly within his jaws and drawing in her blood in deep gulps, his growl of satisfaction vibrating against her chest.
Both Drew and Carter carefully removed their canines from her delicate flesh, licking at the bite marks on Suzie’s shoulders to seal the wounds. The salty taste of her skin, combined with the sweetness of her blood, strengthened their mating bond once again and enforced their determination to keep her with them always. They had never forgotten, and would never forget, how precious she was to them. The intense reminder of their mate from the night they had claimed her slammed through them. Only the slight taste of her sickness made them pull back and look at each other with concern.
Do you taste the silver, Carter?
Yes. What do you think our chances are of completely ridding her of the poison, Drew?
I’ll have to run some tests on her blood, but I think if we continue to claim her, the DNA in our saliva will contain the healing agent needed to heal her.
I hope so.
Carter reached up and gently brushed aside Suzie’s long, blonde hair that was now generously streaked with white. He knew the gray in her hair was the result of the silver poisoning. He had the same coloring change in his own hair. He couldn’t care less about the change for himself, but the fact that the poison had affected their Suzie made anger boil from the depths of his soul.
We have to get this damn collar off of her.
Drew nodded slightly. He agreed with him one hundred percent. He raised his hand to gently touch Suzie’s face, needing the connection and content when he felt the softness of her warm skin beneath his hand. He would be a happy man if he was able to touch her every minute of every day for the rest of their lives.
Suzie pushed out of their arms and took a step away from both men. “Happy now?” she asked, her voice shaky with the anger she was feeling at both herself for wanting them and them for leaving her behind so many years ago.
“Suzie?” Carter took a step toward her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she told them curtly. “Not a damn thing.”
She tried to step away, but both men prevented her from moving away from them. She struggled briefly against their hold, giving up finally and standing between them defiantly, her body stiff with the anger and the betrayal she was feeling.
“Okay, you’ve claimed me again,” she told them, furious. “Now you can walk away and come back in fifteen years.”
They released her immediately. She refused to acknowledge the loss she felt when their warm hands left her arms. She turned and started walking away, angry at herself for caving in to her need to feel their touch. She should have known better. If they had loved her, they would have come for her sooner.
Drew’s cell phone rang. He reached for it and touched the screen to connect the call as he and Carter made quick strides to match their mate’s as she walked purposefully away from them to make her way down the dirt path toward the third cabin.
“Yes, Alpha?” he spoke quickly, matching Suzie’s steps.
“Doc, I’m at the last cabin,” Jace told him, his deep voice resonating through the connection. “I’ve found a woman and a small child.”
Drew reached out and gently took hold of Suzie’s arm. “Jace has found your friend and the boy,” he told her quickly, glad when she finally stopped walking and turned to face him.
“I want to talk to her,” she told him, holding out her hand and waiting.
“Jace, would you put Meeka on the phone to talk to Suzie, please?” Drew asked respectfully of his alpha.
&n
bsp; “Is that her name?” Jace asked. “She’s refused to speak to us. She’s holding the boy and keeping her distance from us. Maybe Suzie can convince her that we mean her no harm.”
“I think she will, Jace,” Drew told him, knowing Suzie’s friend had just cause for being leery of Jace and Jackson. She had no way of knowing that the large alpha and his equally massive beta meant only to protect her and the child. He turned to Suzie and reached out to take her hand in his and placed the phone in her open palm. “Your friend won’t speak to Jace and Jackson. She’s holding the cub and keeping her distance. Jace wants to know if you can convince her that he and Jackson won’t hurt her and will only help her.”
Suzie brought the phone up to her ear as she took a few steps away from Drew. She couldn’t stand the closeness. It hurt too much to feel his and Carter’s warmth and strength.
“Meeka?” She spoke softly, keeping her voice calm. At the silence that greeted her, she worried for her friend. “Meeka, are you there? It’s me.”
“Suzie?” Meeka’s soft voice called to her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Suzie assured her. “The men who are with you are Alpha Jace Beckett and Beta Jackson Scott. They’re the ones I sent Mitchell to for asylum. You can trust them, Meeka. Go with them. They’ll make sure you and Eric are safe.”
“What about you, Suzie? Are you going to be safe?” Meeka asked her quietly.
“I’ll be safe,” Suzie told her, knowing Carter and Drew would make sure of it even if she didn’t want to be with them as their mate. “You need to allow Jace and Jackson to take you and Eric with them right now. We can’t take a chance that Randall or Boyd will come back to the cabins and stop us before we have a chance to leave.”
“Mommy, is Suzie coming with us?”
Eric’s small voice filtered through the connection. Suzie smiled at his sweetness and turned her body away from Drew and Carter so she could talk privately. She was glad she was far enough away from them so they couldn’t overhear her conversation even with their heightened wolf hearing.
“Let me talk to Eric, Meeka,” Suzie told her quickly.
“Here, honey, Aunt Suzie wants to talk to you,” Meeka’s distant voice whispered to her son.
“Aunt Suzie?” Eric called to her.
“Hi, baby,” Suzie called to him cheerfully. “I need you to do me a favor, honey. I need you to make sure the two of you go with Jace and Jackson. They’re really good guys. They’re going to take you to their home. Alpha Jace and Beta Jackson will make sure that no one will ever hurt you again, sweetheart. Can you be strong for me and make sure you both aren’t afraid?”
“Okay,” Eric’s sweet voice answered her immediately. “Are you coming with us?”
“I’m going to meet you there. Don’t worry. Now, you make sure both of you do exactly as Jace and Jackson ask you to, okay, honey?”
“I will make sure,” he promised.
Eric’s proud voice made Suzie smile. “Good job, honey. Now you guys have to get moving.”
“Okay.”
There was a shuffle of the phone, and Suzie could tell Eric was sufficiently reassured when she heard him talking. “We will go with you, Alpha Jace. Aunt Suzie says you’re a good guy.”
“Thank you, cub.” Jace’s deep voice made Suzie smile. “Meeka, do you want to talk to Suzie again?”
Suzie listened intently, waiting nervously for her friend to come back on the line. “Meeka?” she called into the phone softly.
“I’m here, Suzie,” Meeka told her quickly.
“Trust Jace and Jackson,” Suzie told her sternly. “Go with them.”
“If you say so, Suzie,” Meeka said immediately. “Will you be there when we get there?”
“Yes, I’ll be there,” Suzie promised. “Now get going, Meeka. We can’t take a chance that you’ll be stopped.”
There was the sound of the phone being handed off then Jace’s deep voice came across the connection. “Suzie?” he called to her.
“Yes, Alpha, I’m here,” Suzie answered him right away. “Thank you for taking Meeka and Eric with you back to your home.”
“It’s my honor to have all of you as part of my pack,” Jace told her sincerely. “Please let me talk to Drew.”
Suzie removed the phone from her ear and extended her hand to the warmth of the man who now stood beside her. She hadn’t been aware that he had slowly taken his place beside her and chastised herself for liking the fact that he had.
“Jace wants to talk to you, Drew.”
Drew took the phone, holding her hand briefly before releasing it. He brought the phone to his ear. “Everything all right now, Jace?”
“Yes. We’re heading out now. What about you?”
“We’re leaving, too.”
“Good. See you back on pack land. Don’t stop for anything.”
“We won’t. Thanks, Jace.”
“Get out of there, Doc.”
Drew smiled as the connection was severed. He turned to face Carter and nodded. “We need to leave. Now.”
“Come on, Suzie Q,” Carter told her, taking her hand and pulling her along with him in the direction of his truck. “We’re going home.”
Suzie tried to pull her hand free, but Carter wouldn’t allow it. Instead of being able to walk on her own volition, she found her other hand being taken by Drew, and she was pulled along by their combined strengths. She hated that their show of power made her stomach flutter.
Drew opened the front passenger door of Carter’s truck and helped Suzie climb up into the cab. He buckled her seat belt carefully, ignoring the way she tried to push his hands away.
“Stop being stubborn, Susannah,” he warned her.
“I’m not being stubborn,” she protested. “I’m not a child, Drew.”
Drew framed her face with his large hands. “I’m very aware that you’re not a child, Mate,” he told her firmly, a growl erupting from him as he leaned in and kissed her lips lightly. “Would you like to feel how hard my cock is right now? That should prove to you that I know you’re a woman. Our woman. Now sit back and be still so we can get the hell out of here and make sure you’re safe.”
Suzie’s mouth hung open in shock. She remained still while Drew climbed up into the cab and settled himself beside her, buckling his own seat belt.
That shut her up, Drew.
Carter’s laughter filled his head, and he couldn’t prevent the smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth. He looked at Suzie and saw the way her lips were pursed together tightly in anger and thought about her mouth surrounding his cock. He groaned as his shaft pulsed against the zipper of his jeans.
Carter settled behind the steering wheel and turned to take Suzie’s hand in his, allowing her to pull away from him in defiance. He appreciated her fire and was secretly relieved that the years hadn’t changed that in her. Leaning over, he kissed her cheek lightly before she could know what he was going to do and pull away from him again.
“I hate you both,” Suzie told them through clenched teeth. “Don’t think you’ll be kissing your way out of this one. There are some things that just don’t get forgiven.”
Carter buckled his seat belt and started the truck, not wanting to waste another minute on Randall’s pack land. He maneuvered the truck carefully along the isolated dirt path toward the main road to freedom.
“You can hate both of us as much as you want to as long as you’re right here between us,” Drew told her, his voice finally calmer. “Maybe by the time our cub is ready to be born, you will have learned to like us a little bit.”
“Our cub?” Suzie whispered, suddenly afraid. “I can’t have a cub. I have too much silver inside of me. I’ll hurt any baby that I carry.”
“What about Eric?” Carter asked her.
“What about him?”
“Did you have a problem carrying him?” Drew asked her softly, fighting the urge to kill the wolf who had dared to sire a pup with their mate.
Suzie laughed. Not
just a little laugh, but a full-blown hysterical laugh that lasted for a full minute and made her weak. She rubbed at the tears of laughter that escaped her eyes, realizing suddenly that she was seeing a little bit of color. She hadn’t seen color in more than a month.
“What’s funny, Mate?” Carter asked her, confused.
“Eric isn’t my cub,” she told them between chuckles. “He belongs to Meeka.”
“But you said he was yours,” Drew reminded her.
“He is mine,” she told him immediately, all laughter gone. “He’s under my protection. So is Meeka.”
“Who dares to threaten the cub and his mother?” Drew demanded, a growl coming from deep within his chest.
“One of the pack members,” Suzie told him with a definite sneer in her voice. “Except for Randall, he’s possibly the worst excuse for a wolf I have ever met.”
Carter could only think of one wolf shifter who fit that description. He looked at Drew and saw when the same realization hit his partner.
“Boyd?” Drew asked Suzie calmly.
Suzie nodded. “Boyd.”
“What made your friend mate with him?” Carter asked gently.
“She didn’t,” Suzie told them immediately.
“She didn’t?” Drew was confused.
“Meeka is human,” Suzie explained. “Boyd found her wandering on Randall’s land. She was almost two months pregnant at the time. He knew she was human and pregnant, so decided he would punish her for daring to trespass on Randall’s land. He beat her. He told her he was going to kill her and her baby.”
Drew and Carter both growled at the thought of Boyd hurting Suzie’s friend and trying to kill her unborn child. Without thinking, Suzie’s hands reached out and petted each man’s thigh, soothing them as well as herself by offering her gentleness to them.
“Four years ago, I had a dream that Boyd would try to kill a woman who was pregnant. I was living with my mother and Mitchell at the time. My mother and I went out to the spot I had seen in my dream and looked for her. We found her nearly dead by the side of his house. He hadn’t even bothered to wait until she was dead before he threw her into the pile of trash. We carried her to my mother’s cabin and took care of her. We’ve been hiding her since then.” Suzie rested her head against Carter’s shoulder and closed her eyes tiredly.
Susannah's Saviors [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 12
