What worried them was the fear she was hiding behind a gray door off to the left of the brightness that was their bond with her. She was isolating herself from them. She was worried. And she was afraid.
“Abbey, when we get to pack land we’ll bring you to the family lodge,” Clay told her as he drove with confidence toward their home. “We’ll introduce you to Alpha Jace Beckett and Beta Jackson Scott.” He looked to his right and saw that she had turned to face him briefly before returning her attention to the road ahead of them. He could smell the fear rolling off of her. “They’re good, fair leaders. They’ve accepted many members from other packs over the years and have offered their protection and guidance. You won’t find a better alpha or beta. Beckett’s pack is a loving family. We’re very lucky to be a part of it.”
“We’ll make a request for you to be accepted and protected by the pack,” Hunter added. “Jace has already told us you’ll be welcomed so this is just a formality.”
“Okay,” Abbey whispered, never looking at either man. She covered their hands as they rested on her thighs and squeezed them gently.
“Once you’ve been officially accepted, you’ll be part of the pack family,” Clay told her.
Abbey nodded, never saying another word. They could feel the way she was trembling slightly and worried for her.
“Please tell us why you’re afraid, sweetheart,” Hunter requested gently. “We can’t help ease your fears if we don’t know what they are.”
“I’m fine,” Abbey insisted, shrugging lightly.
The men exchanged glances, knowing Abbey was anything but fine. They would get down to the bottom of it when they had her safely settled within the home that they would share.
Clay did his best to send thoughts of love and support through their mating link to their woman, smiling when he felt Hunter doing the same. He saw the soft white ribbon of the bonding surrounding their mate and happiness filled him when he saw the way Abbey drew the ribbons around both him and Hunter. Even without realizing it, she was soothing them and accepting them. She was truly the perfect mate for them.
“You know, some people may think I took the coward’s way out by running away from my husband,” she said softly after a few minutes of comfortable silence, reaching out to touch both men’s thighs, needing the connection.
“We would never think you’re a coward, honey,” Hunter told her gently.
She smiled softly as both men reached down and covered her hands with theirs, offering her their support. She wondered if they realized how important both their touch and their kindness were to her.
“I sometimes think I’m a coward,” she said softly, looking out at the road ahead of them but not really seeing anything. “Every time he was abusive to me, no one was around to see or hear it. I never knew when he would be cruel, and it was making me a nervous wreck. I couldn’t focus, I could barely sleep, and I was starting to make mistakes at work. If it weren’t for my two friends, I would have made major errors that would have cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
She paused, taking a deep breath and settling as the scents of Clay and Hunter filled her lungs. She leaned back against the bench seat and sighed as they pressed against her, keeping her tightly between them. She appreciated their silence. It helped her to focus and tell them exactly what she needed to tell them.
“When I look back on it, I realize I should have taken control of the situation much sooner than I did. I should have kicked him out of my home and should have taken precautions to make sure that he didn’t come near me, but I didn’t. I continued going to work every day, pretending that everything was fine.” She stopped talking, taking a shaky breath as she tried to calm herself. “When I finally realized that only I could fix the problem, I asked my friends to help me shield everything I was doing from Peter. I was able to have a new will drawn up that would ensure that he received nothing except what was stipulated in the prenup. I set up a date when Peter would be escorted from my home and the locks would be changed. Over the last couple of weeks, I took long walks and thought through every aspect of my plan to protect myself and my father’s company. I knew I had to keep myself away from him until the company lawyers filed the necessary papers to protect Tyler Industries.”
She turned to face Clay then faced Hunter. They remained silent but she could feel their compassion and support through their link. It gave her the needed courage to finish her explanation.
“I just needed to get away. I couldn’t continue to work and do a good job if he was constantly in my presence. Even if I had gone to my friends’ apartment, he would have found me. If I had gotten a hotel room, he would be constantly bombarding me with phone calls or showing up at work. Even though I had my phone number changed and had security stop him every time he entered the office building, it was still another moment in my day that sent me into a panic attack. I was about to collapse from the stress.”
She pulled her hands from theirs and rubbed at her eyes tiredly then settled her hands on her lap. “So I planned to get far enough away with just enough to keep me from having to worry that Peter would stop me or show up wherever I was. The night I decided to leave, Peter was in the study. I packed my car with enough clothes and personal items to see me through the next few weeks until I was able to finalize all the legal details to be free of him.”
She opened her hands, palm up on each man’s thigh and settled when they covered her hands with theirs and entwined their fingers, squeezing lightly. She gave in to the warmth of their hands. She could feel their support through their link and realized that it calmed her tremendously.
“My car wouldn’t start. I lifted the hood and found that the spark plug wires had been removed. I knew Peter had somehow figured out I was going to leave, and he did what he always did. He figured out a way to control me. Except that time, I wasn’t going to allow him to do it. I didn’t have another car, so I knew I was going to have to hike out of there. I grabbed my father’s old duffle bag and filled it with some clothes and blankets to keep me warm while I hiked the back woods near my home to get away. I knew I could run across the back of my property to a cave that was hidden there and keep myself safe until I was sure he wasn’t following me. I knew the area pretty well, so I wasn’t afraid of the journey. I grabbed a couple of bottles of water and some food. I knew I didn’t have much time to get away.”
“Baby,” Clay whispered, the fear that was consuming their mate at her memory of her escape filling him. “You’re safe now. You’re with us.”
Abbey nodded, squeezing both men’s hands slightly. Their touch helped her to isolate the memory so it wouldn’t send her into a panic attack. Both men’s nearness in both physical and mental capacities soothed her enough to allow her to finish her story.
“When I was about to call my friends to tell them my change in plans, I saw Peter leaving the study and heading into the kitchen. He was carrying a gun.”
Clay squeezed her hand gently, silently encouraging her to go on. Hunter rubbed her thigh soothingly. She smiled at the way both men reached out to help her without even realizing it.
“I ran out of there as fast as I could. I could hear him chasing me. I’ve never run so fast in my entire life. I remembered a cave on the edge of my property and headed toward it. I knew if I could get to it, Peter wouldn’t be able to find me.”
“That was a smart thing to do, honey,” Clay told her. “When anyone threatens physical violence, you should always do everything you can to get away. Confronting an attacker is a dangerous thing to do.”
Abbey smiled at Clay’s police training. Thinking about him and Hunter as competent officers gave her such a sense of comfort.
“The last thing I thought about was confronting Peter. I got the hell out of there. Once I was able to get inside the cave, I couldn’t get any phone service. I couldn’t take a chance that he could find me with the tracking device on the phone so I left it behind. I waited to make sure he wasn’t around before I star
ted the hike through the woods toward the town about ten miles from my home. That’s where you found me. I know I should have figured out a way to call my friends to come get me. Hell, I could have even called a cab, but I was embarrassed that everyone would see that I had been fooled. I can handle loss in business, but I couldn’t deal with the pity that has been a good part of my life that I’m a failure as a woman.”
“You are not a failure as a woman,” Hunter snapped, growling at her admission.
“Absolutely not!” Clay added. “He was a failure as a man.”
Abbey smiled sadly. Despite their protests, she knew deep in her heart that if it weren’t for some really screwed up sense of fate that made her their mate, they probably wouldn’t have been attracted to her as a woman either.
Clay growled as he pulled his truck over and parked it in the rest station on the side of the highway. He killed the engine and turned to face her, unbuckling her seat belt and pushing her back against Hunter as he plastered himself against her body, pinning her tightly between the two of them.
“Now you listen to me, Abigail Tyler,” he told her angrily. “You are not a mistake made by fate. You are a gift given to us by the Fates.” His eyes were completely golden as he fought with his wolf to calm down. “We’ve seen into your soul and into your heart. You are everything we need in a mate. And you are everything we desire in a woman. Never, ever, believe anything different.”
Abbey closed her eyes, wishing with all her heart that his words were true. She wanted them to be true more than anything in the world.
“Abbey,” Hunter called to her softly, kissing the back of her neck and breathing in deeply. “What you are is perfect. You’re a kind woman who is a loyal and caring friend. Your employees are safe and are treated with respect because of you. Clay and I are yours. We never expected to find our mate, and we’re more than blessed with what we’ve been gifted. You’re gentle, loving, strong, sexy, and you don’t take any of my shit.”
Abbey laughed despite her insecurity. She saw Clay smile slowly at her and melted at the relief that filled him and spilled into her.
“You’re a beautiful woman that we will spend the rest of our lives showing exactly how special you are to us,” Hunter continued. “Our cubs will be lucky to have you as their mom, and we’re going to love them just as much as we love their mother—and that’s a ton of loving, sweetheart.”
“I thought you said Clay is the one who has the gift of words,” Abbey told him, laughing softly. “You did a pretty good job with what you just said.”
“Yeah?” Hunter asked, a little embarrassed but a whole lot happy.
“Yeah,” Abbey answered gently.
“Good job, Hunter,” Clay spoke up. “Not bad, buddy.”
Hunter smiled at his triad partner, hugging Abbey tightly against his chest as he settled his chin on her shoulder. He could feel their mate relaxing somewhat as she settled between them.
“Except for my father, I’ve never met any man in a position of power who was anything but selfish and cruel,” she told them softly. “Just so you know, I will not allow your alpha or your beta to treat me with disrespect or stand by silently if they do the same to either of you.”
Clay rubbed his hand up and down Abbey’s thigh, smiling at the brave warrior who was between him and Hunter. “You’ll find that our alpha and beta are very powerful men, but they’re fair and loving men. Our pack is family. We care about each other and are fiercely protective and loyal to each other. There is never any disrespect or cruelty shown to anyone. You don’t have to be worried about that, honey.”
He sat back and helped Abbey settle between them, buckling her in safely before starting the truck and pulling out of the rest area to head for home. He reached down and rested his hand on her thigh, glad when she took his hand in hers. When he saw that she did the same to Hunter’s, he was able to relax a little more.
“Jace and Jackson had good reason to order the death of one of the pack members who had tried to poison their mate and kill the baby she is carrying,” Hunter told her after a moment, remembering the panic and sorrow that their alpha and beta had gone through when they thought their mate Laurie had been injured. “The heartache that they experienced when they thought she would lose their baby was felt throughout the entire pack. I don’t know how they managed to control their desire for justice, but they did. Instead of killing the woman who was responsible, they banished her from the pack.”
“A woman tried to hurt their mate and kill their baby?” Abbey asked, astonished that any woman could be so heartless.
“Yes,” Clay answered. “She wanted her oldest daughter to be Jace and Jackson’s mate. When Laurie showed up and Jace and Jackson found that she was their fated mate, all of us were happy for them. But not Vera. She had always been a cruel person. She wasn’t very loving to her children, and Jace had many issues with her over the years. He always stepped forward to protect her cubs. It wasn’t until the children were older and had left pack land that he relaxed his vigilance on watching Vera. Her children never came back to the pack. None of us could blame them.”
“Do you know where they are?” Abbey asked, her heart going out to the children who had been the victims of an uncaring mother.
“We’ve always believed that Jace and Jackson knew, but they’ve never mentioned the girls since they’ve left or told the rest of us any information about them,” Hunter answered. “The rest of us think Jace was shielding them from their mother. There’s no telling what Vera would have done if she knew where her children were.”
Abbey remained silent, taking in the information her men had given her and thinking it through. It seemed that the pack alpha and beta showed compassion to the woman who had threatened their mate and baby. It also seemed that they were willing to protect the missing members of their pack.
Despite the fact that Hunter’s depiction of their alpha and beta gave her a little more confidence that they would be honorable men, she knew it didn’t completely erase her fears. Maybe Alpha Jace and Beta Jackson were men she could trust. She would reserve judgment on them. Only time would tell.
Chapter 13
Clay turned his truck down the long driveway that led to the main lodge of the pack home. Abbey saw the sign welcoming them to the Circle Three Ranch.
“The Circle Three Ranch?” she asked, not expecting a ranch to be the home of the wolf shifters.
“Jace and Jackson opened a family vacation lodge with activities in May,” Hunter told her, smiling at the way she was looking around the area that would be her new home. “It’s been very successful so far. That’s how he and Jackson met Laurie. She came here for vacation.”
“A lot of our pack members work the lodge,” Clay added. “We also have our own doctor and a lab. We have to be careful not to let the human world know of our world.”
“Does that mean I’m a part of the human world?” Abbey asked softly.
“Not anymore, honey,” Clay told her, winking. “Now that Hunter and I have claimed you, your physiology is no longer what it was.”
“Am I wolf?”
“No, baby,” Hunter told her, leaning toward her and kissing her cheek. “You’re human, but your body has changed to accept Clay and me.”
Abbey nodded, remembering the words of the beautiful lady telling her that she would physically adapt to her men’s unique shifter physiology so that she could carry their children—each man contributing DNA to combine with her half so that their baby would belong to all three of them.
Abbey sat at a large desk in a very comfortable study. She raised her hands and settled them on the desk and pushed herself backwards, the wheels of the overstuffed office chair gliding noiselessly on the plastic mat that covered a portion of the rich maroon rug.
She stood slowly, placing one hand at her lower back and the other on her very large belly, rubbing it in soothing circles as she felt the baby kicking. She couldn’t prevent the soft laughter that bubbled from her at the feeling o
f the life growing inside of her.
The office door opened and Hunter strode inside, reaching out and swooping her into his arms and turning to carry her out of the office, through the large home, and up the stairway. He didn’t stop until they were inside the master bedroom and gently lowered her onto the bed.
“What are you doing, Hunter?” Abbey asked him, smiling up at him as he slowly began removing his clothing. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Feel free to get naked with me anytime.”
Hunter chuckled softly as he pulled the black T-shirt from his body and threw it to the floor. “Well, thank you, sweetheart,” he told her, winking. “Time to get you naked, too.”
Abbey laughed and leaned up on her elbows. “I want to watch you first,” she told him, her voice husky.
Hunter unbuckled his belt and unfastened his jeans, pushing them and his boxer briefs down his legs and stepping out of them once he toed off his boots and pulled off his socks. When he straightened, he wasted no time climbing up onto the bed and hovering above her.
“Okay, baby, I’m naked,” he told her huskily. “Now it’s your turn.”
“I could smell the pheromones as soon as I stepped inside our home,” Clay called to them as he walked into their bedroom, pulling his T-shirt over his head as he stalked toward the bed to stand beside it. The welcoming smile Abbey gave him sent his heart soaring. She had no idea how much her love made his life so much better. “Hey, honey,” he told her gently. “How are you feeling?”
Abbey reached out her hand to him, pulling him closer to her as soon as his hand engulfed hers. She could only send him feelings of love as he joined them on the bed, nuzzling into her neck and biting down lightly.
Abbey's Protectors [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 17
