by R. E. Butler
Tomorrow night, Byron would be playing poker like he did every Friday night with his friends. Normally, he would wander home at three or four in the morning, dead drunk and spoiling for a fight. But this time, he would find the house empty and her long gone.
She had never done anything so daring in all her life, but the promise that she’d made to Katharine spurred her on. She would leave Byron or she would die trying; there was no middle ground.
Chapter 2
Orion Stone rubbed at the headache forming behind his eyes as he stared at a spreadsheet on the computer screen. He was sitting in his office in Stone’s Gym, where he did the books. It wasn’t that it was particularly difficult to handle the gym’s finances; his headache was borne of two sleepless nights.
His brother Crux walked into the office and sat down in one of the two chairs across from the metal desk. He looked as bad as Orion felt, but more than an apparent lack of sleep, Crux also looked concerned. Immediately, Orion’s thoughts flickered to their parents. Was something wrong?
Crux cleared his throat. “The relo group just called. They want us to get the girl on Friday night.”
Blowing out a breath of relief that his mind had jumped to false conclusions, he said, “Alright. What are the details?”
Sterling, the youngest and quietest brother of the three, leaned against the doorframe and folded his massive arms across his chest. Crux looked at Sterling and then said, “Her name is Sydney Nichols. She’ll be waiting at a bus station at midnight and then we’ll bring her back here.” Crux looked like he wanted to say something further, but after a moment he closed his mouth and leaned back in his chair.
Orion mused on the situation. He’d never been around a woman that had been abused before. According to what they’d learned already of Sydney, she was in an abusive mating with a wolf, and up to this point hadn’t been able to leave of her own free will. When he thought of a woman — any woman — being abused, it made his blood boil. Women were to be treated with respect, and mates were to be cherished above all else.
Crux said, “It’ll take about six hours to drive there. Weather forecast is for rain, so we’ll want to leave about five to make sure we get there without any delays.”
“Alright. Make sure that Nyte is ready to cover our shift tomorrow,” Orion said. He turned his attention back to the computer, assuming the conversation was over. When neither brother moved, he looked at them questioningly.
“Are we going to let her stay with us? I mean, if she wants to?” Crux asked. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and laced his fingers together.
He opened his mouth to say that he hadn’t really given it any thought, except that wasn’t true. Ever since the Were-animal Relocation Group contacted their cousin Dante for help in extracting Sydney from her dangerous situation, Orion had thought of little else. He was worried six ways from Sunday about her. Worried that she would get hurt or killed trying to escape. Worried that they wouldn’t be able to find her. Worried about having her in their home, for however long it would be. Sydney had a cousin in a pack in Alaska, and the pack were supposed to be the ones to go and rescue her. But an unexpected storm had stranded them, and the relo group had called on the hyena baro to take their place.
Realizing he’d been quiet for too long, Orion said, “We said we’d keep her safe until she can go to her cousin’s pack. As far as I’m concerned, that means that she needs to stay with us.”
Sterling, who generally was a quiet person, said, “She can have my room. I’ll bunk in the den.”
Orion wasn’t surprised. His youngest brother was selfless to a fault. “Thanks, man.”
Sterling looked at Crux and said, “You handle it.”
Crux chuckled as Sterling turned and walked away. “I guess I’ll do some shopping, then, and get her room set up. At least we’ll have the weekend with her, to help her acclimate to being away from her pack and mate before we have to come back to work.” Crux stood and walked for the door.
“She’s not staying with us for a long time, you know. Probably two months at the most.” Even as he spoke those words, something inside him howled in dismay.
“I know. I just want to help her.”
Nodding, Orion turned back to the computer as Crux walked into the gym. Orion wanted to help her, too. He just didn’t know how to do that, and he didn’t know why he hadn’t been able to stop thinking of her when he knew so little about her.
* * * * *
When Sterling and his brothers had agreed to move from their home baro in Gorge, Tennessee to Dalton, Kentucky to work at their cousins’ gym, he hadn’t been keen on becoming a trainer. It wasn’t that he didn’t love lifting weights, because he did. His carefully honed body was a testament to how much he enjoyed keeping in shape. But he wasn’t a people person by any stretch, and Orion’s suggestion that they work at the gym as trainers for the night shift from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. had sounded like nails on a chalkboard in Sterling’s mind. The last thing that Sterling wanted to do was teach people how to lift weights. Crux had been willing, had just received his certificate, and was now taking clients during their late shift.
Dante was disappointed that Sterling wasn’t interested in getting certified, but then one of the machines broke and Sterling fixed it, and that had sealed his job at the gym. They teased him by giving him the title of Maintenance Engineer, but he was really just a handyman. One day he’d be replacing a broken window, and the next day he was testing the water pH in the lap pool. He liked working with his brothers and his cousins, and he got to work out whenever he felt like it, which was a bonus in his book.
As he turned his attention back to the new weight rack he was putting together, his thoughts immediately drifted to the she-wolf they were going to help tomorrow night. It bothered him to know that there were females that were abused, forced to stay in matings that they didn’t want. A human female in a similar situation had resources she could use, like police and shelters. But she-wolves in Sydney’s situation were often forced into the mating by their alpha or family, and were kept locked up like prisoners, rarely allowed out in public in the human cities where they might be able to ask for help. Although they generally lived in the same towns and worked at the same places, humans and shifters were very much separate groups. Humans didn’t interfere with shifter business, and vice versa. Most shifter groups — hyenas, for example — were very secretive and kept to their baros, not mixing with outsiders other than for business and casual relationships.
He tried to concentrate on the weight rack, but his thoughts drifted to Sydney. A need to protect her rose up inside him. She might be a stranger, but she needed help, and he and his brothers had promised that they would keep her safe. No matter what came, he would make sure she remained protected.
* * * * *
By the time Crux woke up Friday morning, Sterling had moved his things from his bedroom into the den in the basement. When Crux and his brothers had moved from Gorge to Dalton, Dante and his brothers offered to let them build a home on their one hundred-acre wooded lot. Dante and his clan had a large home. Crux and his brothers weren’t the showy sort, but they knew that eventually they would find their shared mate, so they wanted to build a home big enough for their future family.
They chose to build their home one thousand feet away from Dante’s home, erecting a five-bedroom modular home on top of a spacious basement in eight weeks. Hyenas engaged in a denning-in during the winter months, taking to an underground hideaway with their clan. While they would go to work and leave the den from time to time, it was a time of reflection and closeness that he enjoyed. They hadn’t really had a den in their home in Gorge, choosing to install light-proof shutters over the windows to create a den-like atmosphere. He preferred the basement-style den, which was like an apartment.
The den under their home contained a small kitchen, a living area, a sleeping area, a workout room, an office, and a large bathroom and closet. Upstairs, they each had a bedroom, Orion taking
the master, which would eventually become their shared bedroom when they found their mate.
Since he had no need to move clothes and personal items from Sterling’s bedroom, he tossed the sheets in the wash and walked to Dante’s house. They worked the morning shift at the gym from six a.m. to three p.m., but since Alyssa was now six months pregnant, she had cut her time at the gym down to three days a week, and one of her mates was always home with her. When he knocked on the sliding door at the back of the house, Mason called for him to come in.
“Morning, Sterling,” Mason said in between bites of breakfast.
“Morning, Mase. Alyssa.”
She smiled and greeted him warmly.
“I was hoping you could help me get some stuff ready for Sydney for when she comes back with us,” he said, sitting down at the kitchen table and looking at Alyssa.
“Of course! I have some clothes that might fit her, some loose dresses and tops and bottoms. Are you going shopping?”
“Yeah.”
She smiled, brown eyes crinkling. “Want some company?”
Blowing out a relieved breath, he said, “Yes. If you don’t mind.”
Mason shrugged. “Alyssa was just saying that she wanted to hit up the farmers’ market and get some eggplant for dinner, so we were going out anyway. We’ll go shopping and then stop in there on the way back.”
“Good, because I need all the help I can get. I have no idea what to have on hand for her.”
After Alyssa and Mason finished breakfast, Crux rode with them to a nearby mall, where Alyssa picked out some necessities and things he would never have thought of, including a robe, nightgown, and undergarments. At the pharmacy she helped him choose toiletries. They finished up their shopping at the farmers’ market, where he stocked up on fresh fruits and vegetables, rotisserie chicken, and steaks for the grill.
“We still have tons of brats and burgers from dinner Sunday,” Alyssa said when they dropped him off at his home. “If you want some of them, just text Mason and he’ll bring over a tray.”
“Thanks, I will. And thanks for helping me out. I want her to be comfortable and I just didn’t know how to do that.”
Alyssa looked sad. “My sister said that the hardest part for her when she escaped her mate was worrying that he was going to find her. She feels safe in her pack now, but I know she didn’t for a while. I think that if you just understand that she’s going to be afraid of things for a while and give her time to come to terms with her freedom, you’ll be just fine.” She pulled a thick pamphlet from her purse. “Marie asked me to get this for you. It’s a pamphlet on abuse victims and will help you to understand a bit about what she’s going through, and give you tips on how to help her.”
Nodding, he took the pamphlet and waved at them as they pulled out of the driveway. He took the bags into the house, and after putting away the groceries, he sat down and read through the pamphlet. He realized that he was very uninformed about abusive relationships. Even though it was written for human females, the advice would still apply. Sydney would need time to come to terms with her freedom and they should not expect her to be willing to share her past with them immediately, or to even trust them. She wasn’t simply being held physically captive by her mate and his pack, but most likely had been emotionally and psychologically abused as well.
Whatever she needed to heal, he and his brothers would provide, for as long as she was here in their home. If she needed privacy and space, they would give that to her. If she needed a shoulder to cry on or a sympathetic ear, they would be those things, too. She had a hard road of reconstructing her life without the fear and oppression that she most likely lived with, and they would be there every step of the way, if she wanted them to be.
By the time Orion and Sterling were ready to leave to get Sydney, the house was as ready for her as it could be. The bed was made with fresh sheets, flowers sat in a vase on the nightstand, and the clothes that Alyssa was giving to her, along with the new purchases, were in the closet and drawers.
“Looks like a storm is kicking up,” Orion said as he got behind the wheel of his black Escalade. In the distance, dark clouds were visible.
“Let’s hope it passes us by,” Crux said, sitting in the passenger seat and pulling up the bus station on the GPS system.
Sterling nodded from the backseat, his features tense. Crux realized that all of them were tense, and it was all because so much rode on their shoulders tonight. This might be Sydney’s only chance to be free, and nothing had ever been more important than making sure that she broke free of her bonds and could live her life the way she wanted.
We’re coming for you, Sydney, he thought as they started on their journey.
Chapter 3
Sydney spent the afternoon while Byron was at work preparing to leave. She had strict instructions from the relocation group that she was to leave at the earliest possible time and go to a bus station, where a group of three males were going to meet her. Previously, her second cousin, who lived in Alaska, was going to come and get her, but the relo group said that something had come up and they’d had to call in the males instead. She was nervous about meeting strangers, but she was more afraid to stay. Byron had been looking at her strangely the last few days, and she didn’t want to know what he was thinking.
She stood in the kitchen and watched him tie his boots and then straighten, tucking his wallet into his back pocket. She was five-foot-five, and Byron was a solid six feet of lean muscle. He wasn’t handsome and she had never thought he was. Dark hair, dark eyes, and a dark soul. That’s what she thought of him. He was all dark and all evil and no good to the core.
He moved to the drawer by the microwave and opened it, rummaging inside. He turned around to face her and her eyes zeroed in on the needle in his hand.
Oh, no! She backed up and hit the counter, terror ratcheting through her. He couldn’t do this, not tonight! Not when freedom was so close.
She didn’t dare run from him and the needle. If he had to chase her, he would beat her within an inch of her life when he caught her. And he always caught her. He closed the distance between them in two strides and said, “Pull your pants down and face the counter.”
She was confused, but didn’t refuse him. When he had given her the shots before, he always just stuck the needle in her arm. She pushed her shorts down her hips and turned to face the counter, bracing her hands against the cracked Formica.
Without a word, he jammed the needle into one of her cheeks and she winced as he depressed the liquid inside into her. It burned and made her skin tingle. He tossed the needle into the trash and slapped her hard right on the spot where he had injected her. She bit her lip to stifle her cry of pain, not daring to move or re-dress until he said.
His whiskey-infused breath cascaded across her cheek as he licked her ear. “When I get home tonight, bitch, you’ll be begging for my cock.”
She shuddered internally but said nothing. He snorted in derision and turned away, snatching his truck keys from the counter and heading outside. The door slammed and she dropped to the floor with a sob. Fear washed over her. If he’d injected her with the same drugs he’d used before, then in a few hours she would become a hot, twitching mess, desperate for sex to ease her pain. And it would last for hours. Byron got perverse pleasure from making her beg for his cock, laughing when she cried because she couldn’t help herself.
Steeling herself, she stood slowly and turned on the faucet, rinsing her face with cold water. After drying off, she pulled up her shorts, wincing when the rough fabric touched her sore cheek.
Now was not the time to fall apart. If she could get away, she could figure things out. The most important thing was to get free from Byron and the pack. With the idea of a new life dangling so close, she just had to get free. She had no choice.
Byron locked the house up when he left, using deadbolts that he’d turned around so the key lock was inside, preventing her from opening the front or back doors. The windows were all nail
ed shut. But two days ago she had liberated a small hammer from the tool bench in the shed, and she used it now to remove the nails that kept the bathroom window shut. It was the only room in the house that looked out onto the woods. The other windows looked out on open space or other homes, where she ran the risk of being seen. If Byron or someone else saw her as she escaped, she’d be caught and punished, and that was something she couldn’t risk.
Storm clouds gathered in the sky as she worked furiously to release the nails. She welcomed the coming storm. The rain would wash away her scent and that would only help.
When the seventh and final nail was free, she dropped the hammer and shoved the window up with all her might. It creaked and groaned and she wasn’t sure it would open all the way, until it finally slid up with a shudder. Rain had begun to fall and clouds obscured the new moon, making it almost completely black outside.
Almost an hour and a half had passed as she’d furiously worked the nails free. She darted into the bedroom and opened the bottom drawer of the dresser, pulling out a small satchel. She stripped out of her clothes and put a sundress, panties, and flip-flops into the satchel, tossing in the book and cell phone. Zipping it quickly, she ran to the bathroom and leaned out of the window, dropping the duffel to the grass. Easing herself through, she dropped silently to the wet grass and crouched down. She draped the duffel over her head and across her body, cinching it tightly so it would stay on her as she ran. Shifting into her wolf form, she shook herself out as her body reshaped into her pale gray and cream-colored wolf, and moved quickly into the woods.
Byron only let her shift into her form on the full moon, and she’d never been allowed to run free through the woods. He took great delight in letting her shift into her form and then putting a choke collar on her and chaining her to the porch while he went off hunting with the pack. Freedom was so close now it was like a carrot dangling in front of a hungry horse.
