Anna’s whole face twitched. This was the last straw. “I’m going to kill him.”
The boy’s eyes widened and he stepped back.
“Oh, not you,” she snapped. She rounded on Colton, the closest one to her, and thus the one to receive her ire. “It’s got to be him. I swear to God—”
“Anna. Breathe.” He pulled his wallet free of his back pocket and handed the man his card. “Use this one. And let me get the number off the back of her card so we can call and get this straightened out.”
The boy nodded vigorously, eyeing Anna warily. She couldn’t blame him. How often did a woman go ape shit in his store?
She started to cry. She couldn’t hold it in one more second. Every ounce of her life had been torn to shreds. Screw being strong.
Marc led her to a bench outside the store and held her while she sobbed into his chest. Things had gone too far. Every facet of her life, except her job, had been sabotaged, and she didn’t know why. Or who was fucking with her. Her only guess was Peter.
Why? Why would he wait all this time to destroy her? And what purpose did it serve when he was the one to have an affair and ruin what they had? It made no sense.
Colton appeared minutes later, her bags in tow, and sat heavily on her other side.
“You should call this number right now. I’d do it for you, but they won’t tell me anything since I’m not the card owner.”
Anna sniffed. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know anymore. Maybe she’d change her name and move to Fiji. Start over.
Colton lifted her face with a finger under her chin. “We’ll add it to the report. At some point, he’s going to slip. And when he does—”
“We’ll nail the fucker,” Marc finished.
“I don’t understand why he’d do this. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I don’t know, baby, but I find it too convenient he’s out of the country and all of his contact information has changed so no one can get ahold of him. I’m guessing maybe he’s pissed you left him.” Colton wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. “I need you to be strong for a little while longer.”
Jesus, she didn’t know if she could. “How can you want someone like me?”
Marc jerked her around. “This isn’t your fault. Not one bit of it. None of this defines who you are, who we know you to be.”
“But you’ve only known me since Monday.”
He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Our souls know yours, our hearts know you were made for us.” Colton linked his hand with hers and kissed her knuckles.
She suddenly felt very small. “How do I know?”
“You’ll know someday if you give us a chance. You’ll sense our implicit trust and faith in all that you do, and you’ll know inside what we feel isn’t a fleeting emotion. For us, you are the future. Without you, we’ll have nothing.”
She couldn’t respond. Didn’t know how to. Didn’t know if she could blindly fall into their arms and hope they were right. The sex was great, yes. Fantastic even. Better than she’d ever had. But she knew she couldn’t base a relationship on sex.
So look at what they’ve shown you already, Anna. The flowers, the notes, the sundaes, the flipping tree. They hadn’t done those things on a whim.
Colton’s mouth gently touched hers. “Call about the credit card. Us will come when you’re ready. We’re not going anywhere, and whatever this trouble is, we will do whatever it takes to get it rectified. “
Anna pursed her lips and gave in. She wanted what they offered, she did. Peter had done quite a number on her confidence, though, and trust was coming hard.
So she called her credit card company and did her best not to throw the phone at what she learned.
“Ma’am, you reported this card stolen on Wednesday. We cancelled it.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You gave the operator all your information and your password, ma’am.”
“Okay, but it wasn’t me. This week alone I’ve had my house sold from underneath me, my car reported stolen, my tire slashed, my apartment trashed, and now this. Someone is impersonating me.”
“I’m really sorry, ma’am. Have you called the police?”
“I’m sitting with the police right now.” She gripped her phone so tight her fingers hurt. “I’m sure he’ll be in touch with you soon. His name is Detective Colton Montross.”
“I’m writing this in the notes. Are you giving permission for us to speak with him about this situation?”
“Yes. In the meantime, I need a new card.”
“One was sent out when you cancelled the last one.” The woman’s voice was getting on her nerves.
“Well, cancel it too, since I didn’t have anything to do with reporting the first one, give me a whole new number, and I’m going to change my password right now.”
“Okay. What is your new password?”
Anna searched her brain for something no one would guess. “I hate Dante.” Appropriate, based on her hellish descent this week.
“Excuse me?”
“I-h-a-t-e-d-a-n-t-e.”
“Okay. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”
“No. Thank you.” Anna disconnected and stood, determined to shake her stupor.
“I hate Dante?” She could hear Marc’s smile.
She turned and put her hands on her hips. “Yes. Now if my credit card is reported stolen, I’ll know it was one of you. I need a Maid-Rite.” Not above a good pout right now—she totally had a reason for pouting today—she snatched up her bags and headed for the car.
“I like Maid-Rite.” Marc yanked the bags from her right hand and Colton those from her left.
She stopped in her tracks and so did they, facing her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t take out my anger on you.”
“Anna, one of those things you’ll learn about us is that we’re here for you, thick and thin. You’re going to have to do a lot more than be angry over the way your life has been yanked out of your control and talk pissy to us.” Colton kissed her nose, and she felt like shit over her up and down moods.
She’d met these perfect guys who’d done nothing but be nice to her and try to get her to fall in love with them, and she kept taking her problems out on them.
“Quit thinking so much and let’s go eat lunch.”
Colton didn’t have any clue how hard it was for her to quit thinking.
Chapter Twelve
Anna dragged in a deep breath and smiled. Finally she was back in her element. Sunday they’d spent lazing around the house, making love once or twice. Or three times. Most importantly, nothing new had happened. For the first time in a week, the day had been peaceful. They’d kept her occupied to keep her mind off of the disaster her life had become, and they’d done a damn good job of it.
This morning, Colton had kissed her good-bye, and Marc had driven her to school, for which she was grateful. The idea that someone had slashed her tires with intent to harm her made her worry they may have done something else. At least with Marc in the car, she hadn’t been alone. Principal Adams had shown her to her room, with Marc in tow, and introduced her to the class.
Having Marc at her side had also soothed her nerves. He’d been able to convey to the shifter children who she was to him and them. She wondered if any of them really understood him, but they all greeted her amiably with their little heads cocked to the side, so perhaps they had. The human kids had practically shouted, “Hello, Mrs. Belky,” as only six- and seven-year-olds could do.
She loved it.
First up on her Monday agenda had been this, though.
Her students, the little angels she’d first thought them to be, had taken on new personas the second they walked through the gym doors for the Monday morning ritual of PowWow. It seemed the entire school of five to eleven year olds had gone berserk.
“Don’t worry. They get five minutes to come in here and run around like the heathens they are before they have to sit and listen
to Principal Adams remind them how to be good, responsible boys and girls for the rest of the week. You know, gentle reminders of the rules and what’s expected of them.”
Anna turned to face the woman who’d spoken to her, all while trying to keep one eye on her brand new class. Impossible task. The sixteen munchkins had gone in sixteen different directions. The blonde woman’s smile made Anna relax. She recognized her as her next door neighbor in the hall, the second grade teacher.
“I’m Karen. Second grade,” she confirmed.
Anna held her hand out and shook the other woman’s. “Anna Belky. New first grade.”
Karen nodded. “I saw you last week touring the school. Wondered if you were going to take over for Cassie. You’ll see. This looks insane, but it actually works. At least until lunch. Then all bets are off.”
“Reassuring.” Anna tried in vain to find her class, but since she’d only gotten to see their faces for all of ten minutes, she really had no clue which ones were actually hers. Except for Luke. He stuck out like a sore thumb. Not just for his bright red hair and amazing freckles polka-dotting his cherubic little face, but also for the fact he’d asked to go potty the second he’d walked in the door, and as they were walking to the gym. He either had a bladder the size of a rice grain, or he was really good at testing the new teacher’s limits.
Just then the redhead in question yelled across the gym, “Muster Newburry.” He went screeching across the floor directly at Marc while a chorus of, “Mr. Newberry,” went up around them.
Anna’s heart melted again. These kids loved him.
“Why don’t they call him Alpha?” She whipped her head toward Karen. “Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t even know if you’re a shifter. Maybe the kids don’t call them that? Is it not talked about at school? Oh my God, there’s so much I don’t know. What am I supposed to call him?”
Karen threw her head back and barked out a laugh. When she got herself under control, she patted Anna on the back. “First off, I’m guessing you call him Marc. Or lover. Or please, Alpha, my Alpha…”
Anna’s cheeks blazed with heat.
“I’m just kidding. I am a shifter, in fact. And yes, we call them Alpha Newberry or Alpha Montross. It’s a sign of respect. The kids, though, in school, call him Mr. Newberry so the human children aren’t totally confused since they’re so young. At some point they’ll start calling him Alpha.” She bit her lip and looked a bit sheepish herself. “I really hope I didn’t offend you with the please Alpha, my Alpha comment. It wasn’t intended.” She tilted her head to the side and went silent.
Anna had no clue what to say. “Is your neck okay?”
Karen’s eyes widened. “Yes. I’m…well, deferring to you as the alph—you have no idea what you are, do you?”
She knew. Sort of. Not really. “Notsomuch.”
“You’re the alphas’ mate.”
“This, I know.” She put her hand on one of the marks on her neck, thankful at least most of her shirts would cover the dual sets of teeth prints. Nothing like walking around with a neon sign screaming I belong to two shifter men.
“But you don’t understand what being their mate means?”
“Got it in one. I mean, yeah, they’ve talked to me about it, but I gotta admit, some of it went way over my head. I’m a human. No way can I take out one of your females should they try and attack me for what I represent. Nor do I get why they’d want to. What’d I ever do to them? Or to you? Or to anyone? I can’t help Colton and Marc bought my house and just happened to be fated to me or whatever, and what if I don’t make a good alpha mate when I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do as an alpha mate, and why are you laughing?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, covering her mouth with her hand. “They told us you talk a lot when you get nervous.”
Anna straightened, one eye on Marc being mauled by a group of kids. He was walking at them with his hands in the air, making strange gargling noises. She smiled at the image. The man loved kids. She suddenly wondered what kind of dad he’d make to their babies.
Oh. Shit.
She cleared her throat. “When, exactly, did they tell you this? I’ve only known them for a week.”
Karen thought about it for a minute. “Wednesday, maybe? Tuesday? Yeah, Tuesday. We had a pack meeting and they talked about you. God, you should have seen their faces. Lit up like Christmas morning. I’ve never seen them so excited about anything. Everyone was really happy for them.”
Somebody wasn’t. Anna shifted on her feet, twisted her hands together, and decided to put herself out there. “So…maybe you’d like to enlighten me on some of this shifter stuff?”
Karen literally jumped, her eyes lighting up. “Really? Oh, my gosh, I’d love to.”
Yay. Her first shifter friend.
Three whistle blows took their attention from each other to the stage where Principal Adams stood at the microphone. A scramble of small bodies went miraculously from mass chaos to control in a few short minutes. Anna found herself in shock, watching as her class fell into their square on the floor and sat, criss-cross applesauce, with their hands in their laps.
“I told you,” Karen whispered. “Crazy.” She started moving to her own class. “We’ll talk later, okay?”
“Yes. Thank you.” Anna wandered to her group and, because she couldn’t help the teacher in her, began counting her kiddos.
She only got to nine when a woman screamed.
“Get down!” The angry shout reverberated through the gym just as the kids were finally settling into silence.
Anna licked her suddenly dry lips and wiped her sweaty palms down her khaki-covered thighs. She sought Marc’s face among the sea of other people, all who had swiveled in the direction of the yell.
Marc caught her gaze and nodded to let her know he’d seen her, and then mouthed to get down, as the command had said to do.
Heart racing, she started to kneel.
“Now!”
Whimpering and confusion rippled through the crowd.
“Get down, guys.” Anna gestured to her class to bend over their laps and put a finger to her lips. Only wide eyes answered her. She bade them down with her hand. Some of them listened, some squirmed closer to her.
“And shut them kids up.” The crack of a rifle echoed in the gymnasium, leading only to screaming children and adults.
Anna couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
My God. This could not be happening. Not when she’d finally come to peace with the situation. Not when she hadn’t told Marc and Colton that, somehow, she loved them.
Now as she stared at the barrel end of some dark shotgun, rifle, whatever bullet-spewing device the mad man held the entire school hostage with, she wasn’t sure she’d ever get the chance.
A strange, suspended moment of silence preceded a generalized gasp of shock, and then mutterings as if what was happening wasn’t truly real. Teachers scrambled to push their classes, who’d jumped to their feet in fear despite the demand to get down, to the floor. They were too young to understand the circumstances. Another crack and then no one could be heard over the panic.
“Students.” Principal Adam’s strangled voice rang out over the loudspeaker. “Please, sit down, boys and girls.” He looked scared to death.
As well he should. They were sitting ducks out there.
Anna really knew nothing about the man other than what she’d learned while interviewing for the position. She didn’t even know all of the children’s names in her class, and yet here she was being called to protect their innocent little human and shifter lives.
What the hell would happen if the pack kids got spooked and shifted in the midst of this?
She spied Marc again. He kept looking at the bleachers and—was he fucking moving toward the gunman?
She’d kill him.
A third crack and a bloom of red spread across the white shirt of Principal Adams.
Anna jerked in shock, her body unmoving, as if paralyzed, as she watched the ho
rror billow out in front of her. More screaming ensued. Crying. Running as kids and adults alike tried to run for the doors. And yet, there she sat, huddled with a group of terrified children, her teeth gritted so tight they hurt.
Crack, crack, crack. The wooden doors splintered as bullets smacked into them. The runners halted in their spots and covered their heads. The decibel level in the room became deafening.
Trapped. By a trigger happy shooter. And she didn’t see Marc anywhere now.
If he decided to be a hero and she lost him before she’d ever gotten the chance to tell him she loved him…
Don’t be stupid, Anna. Think. Think! And please, God, Colton come get us out of here if you’re so good at feeling my emotions because right now I am piss my pants scared.
A sudden howl pierced the din, and a heartbeat later, much of the noise abated. She guessed Marc had just given the alpha command to shut up. At any rate, the shifters among them had quieted to snuffling and hand-covered sobs.
“Principal won’t be the only one to die if I catch sight of one of you wolves, either.”
Anna swallowed the fear choking her. Mad wasn’t a good enough word for this lunatic if he thought he could take down a pack, children or not. He only had so many bullets. Not to mention the wolves, in their human form, were stronger than him.
What scared her the most was the thought of Marc being the one to lead the charge. As alpha, he wouldn’t sit idly by while the people of his pack were in harm’s way. She knew that much about him, at least. She knew he’d be a ruthless opponent, despite his happy-go-lucky persona. You didn’t get to be alpha on good looks alone or being the son of the previous alpha. An alpha had to prove to their pack they could take charge and win in a fight.
At any rate, the gunman would be hard pressed to kill more than one or two more people if attacked by several wolves.
Trouble was, Anna didn’t know how many adults were pack also.
•●•
Marc’s bones popped in early shift, in the need to protect his mate. He’d lost her in the press of bodies rushing the doors. Only a few had made it through before the shooter trapped them inside. Those few would be able to get word out at least, if others hadn’t gotten somewhere on their cell phones.
Overcome Page 12
