by Maia Dylan
“What are you doing now, Rowena?” Luke asked as he started patting the pockets of his jeans, looking for his truck keys. “We could head over and have a plan in place by lunchtime.”
“Oh, Luke, could you?” Again she could tell exactly who she was talking to. They weren’t identical triplets, but they were more similar than most brothers in Grey River. Well, except for Ty and Trent—they were identical in every way right up until they opened their mouths. Ty was the most impatient son of a bitch on the planet and Trent was the exact opposite. Chase couldn’t count the number of times Ty’s mouth had got them all into trouble and it had been Trent’s reasoning and charm that had gotten them out of it. “I’m really keen to get the shop open and start getting some furniture in.” Shop? Luke and Wyatt looked at him, but he just shrugged.
“Of course! We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Luke said as he reached for his jacket. They signed off and ran for Luke’s truck. The irony of the fact that if Chase had witnessed any of his friends sprinting for their truck and jumping to do the bidding of a woman, he would have fallen over laughing, was not completely lost on him. Now, it was all he could do not to wrestle the keys from his brother to ensure they drove the fastest way possible to get to their mate.
In no time at all, and taking way too long as far as Chase was concerned, Luke brought his truck to a stop just outside Rowena’s property. The place she had purchased was in a block of houses that had shop frontages with either an apartment or storage area above them. Rowena had brought the one that sat right beside Xanthe’s Lotions and Potions and from memory, it used to house a fabric store, not something he or his brothers had ever had need of, so they had never stepped foot inside.
The outside looked sound though, with three steps leading up to a deep verandah that the previous owners had kept maintained nicely. The awning over the porch would need to be replaced as there were spots where Chase could actually see daylight through the old corrugated iron. He may have only known Rowena a short time, but he knew that she was class personified, so she would want the store frontage to be really appealing to shoppers.
The house had been painted in a green color. It wasn’t bad, but it was very dated. Chase would like to see it painted a caramel brown with the white trim, and then replace the roof with a dark shingle. They stepped up onto the porch and could see that the previous owners had installed large plate windows on both sides of the original door which let them see right into the space. It was empty, but huge, and the flooring had been stripped back to the original wood floors in places, but had a butt-ugly gray carpet tile over a lot of the floor. It frustrated the hell out of him that someone would cover up a wood floor that beautiful.
And speaking of beautiful, there she was. Dressed in a black jersey and worn blue denim jeans that hugged her legs from hip to slipper-covered feet. Her hair was up in one of those twist knot things that women did just to get their hair out of their face, but Chase loved it because it bared her neck to his view. The gentle curve of her neck from her jaw to the top of her jersey made his mouth water. He would bet anything that the skin there would be so damn soft. She walked gracefully across the shop to open the door for them and he heard Luke groan softly.
“Hi, guys! Come on in. We’ve just been looking at the space and playing imagine if.” She smiled at them and Chase felt his whole world tilt. Everything in it now pointed to and revolved around this woman, a thought that would have scared the ever-loving hell out of him a week ago. Now? Not so much. They filed in and closed the door on the cool day, looking around the room. That’s when they spotted the other two women in the room.
“Hey, Xanthe!” Chase called as he crossed to give her a hug, his brothers right behind him. Xanthe was an attractive woman to be sure, but they hadn’t even noticed her when their mate was in the room. He stepped back to let Luke and then Wyatt give her a hug. He glanced over at Rowena and had to fight to keep the smug grin off his face at the scowl she wore watching them hug Xanthe. He would bet a lung that she was jealous, and the thought that she was made him want to jump in the air and do an undignified fist pump and whoop “Hell yeah” at the top of his voice.
“I double-dog dare you to,” Wyatt’s voice came down the link, the bastard. They had always played this game. If they weren’t able to shield their thoughts from the other two and thought something that could result in ultimate humiliation, then the others could double-dog dare them to do it. Not doing it meant abject humiliation at some point in the near future at a place and time determined by the dare caller, who in this case was Wyatt. Chase knew from experience that his older brother was a devious bastard who would spend hours thinking about the perfect retaliation and was so damn patient that it might be months before he called in the dare.
Luke turned and grinned at him, and even bloody Xanthe had a grin and an expectant look on her face. Fuck it. Sighing in resignation, he leapt into the air, pumped his fist, and screamed, “Hell yeah!” as loud as he could. Rowena and Angel both jumped and gasped in shock. Angel looked at him as if he had just announced he was a fairy princess and wanted to cast a spell on a pumpkin, and his brothers and Xanthe laughed while Rowena just glared at him. “What in the hell was that for?” She really was hot when she was pissed at him.
He grinned at her. “I’m just really happy to be here and be able to help you out, baby, that’s all.” He thought as many innocent thoughts as he could with the hopes it would show on his face. Her narrowed gaze and harrumph made it clear that it hadn’t quite worked. “So tell us about this shop of yours, baby.” Her excitement in the store obviously outweighed her objections to his endearment for her. Her eyes sparkled and lit with joy as she talked about her vision for the space and as she talked Chase was pulled into the vision with her. Xanthe said good-bye and no doubt went back to her shop, and Luke fetched a chair from the kitchen for the heavily pregnant Angel to sit on. Then they fired ideas around for what would work in the space.
He could see the small café in the back right hand corner of the space. Her idea of eclectic bookshelves made sense in the space and would give the room a quirky atmosphere that would have people smiling. He also loved the idea of large comfy furniture place around the room for people to sit in, read, and enjoy a coffee. For the next hour they came up with a plan for the shop and were just firing ideas around for the exterior of the house when Rowena’s phone rang.
She frowned at it as if she didn’t appreciate the interruption. When she looked at the display to see who was calling, she paled and inhaled sharply. She glanced around and Chase was not happy to see a thread of fear in her gaze. “I…um, I just need to take this call. I’ll just be a minute.” Then she hurried back into the kitchen area.
“What the hell was that?” Luke growled down their link.
“I don’t know but I could smell her fucking fear.” Wyatt’s voice was rough, and Chase could sense his wolf near the surface even down the link. “Chase, talk with Angel, try to see if you can find out what the hell is going on here.”
Chase looked over at the Hispanic woman huddling into the jersey she wore, almost as if she were trying to make herself invisible by blending in with the chair and the background. Chase had seen enough daytime television psychologists on programs to know that people who suffered through trauma of some kind would often prefer to stay in the background rather than make themselves a larger target. Chase didn’t know what this young women’s story was, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t like it if he heard it.
“Angel.” Chase approached slowly, keeping his voice soft and smiling to show he meant no harm. When he got close to her, he squatted down so that he was slightly below her head height. This way, because she had dropped her head low, he could still look her in the eye, and it also put him at a height disadvantage that he hoped she would see as even more nonthreatening. “Are you and Rowena in some kind of trouble?” Angel’s eyes widened and she shook her head. “Angel, that phone call had her scared. We care for her more than she realizes
or would care to admit and we only want to make sure she’s safe and kept that way. We can only do that if we know what she’s dealing with.” Angel tilted her head as if taking his measure and he held her gaze so she could see how sincere he was.
Nodding she leaned in to whisper to him, “Up until two months ago, Rowena was giving me options on how to get out of a bad situation that I had just started to realize had no happy ending.” Chase frowned. There was a story there for sure. “Then, one day just before our session, she received a phone call that spooked her, and it spooked her bad. She doesn’t know that I heard her, but the conversation had become heated and she was talking very loud. I wasn’t eavesdropping. I swear, I wouldn’t do that.” Angel had started to breathe a little heavier and Chase patted her arm trying to calm her down.
“It’s OK, Angel, no one here would accuse you of that,” Chase reassured her. “It is really obvious how much you care for Rowena.”
Angel took a couple of deep breaths and nodded. “She has done so much for me. Without her I would be… Well, let’s say not here and in a pretty bad place. Anyway, that conversation was about someone called Baxter. She yelled something like ‘How the hell could this happen? Why would the board agree to set that fucking monster free?’ and then I couldn’t hear anything else.” Angel cast a quick glance back at the kitchen. “She made the decision to leave with me that very day. Something had her spooked.” Angel suddenly jumped up from the chair and moved to the other side of the room, pretending to look at the carpeting, as Rowena walked back into the room.
She was still very pale and the skin around her mouth looked pinched. He watched as she carefully placed her cell phone back on the counter with a hand that shook slightly.
“She’s fucking shaking,” he snarled down the link and then felt his brothers’ rage rise to meet his own. Rowena took a calming breath and when she turned back to them, it was as if nothing was wrong. She wore a smile on her face and had the look of a woman without a care in the world, and when he glanced down their burgeoning mating bond, he got the very distinct impression of ice. Their mate had perfected an icy facade that she used as a shield, and she would project that shield whenever her emotions were running high or she wanted to hide something from whomever she was with. Chase knew that in this instance it was both.
“Rowena? Who was on the phone and what did they say that has you scared?” Wyatt always met things head-on and now stood looking at their mate, and Chase saw that his fists were clenched.
Rowena flicked her hand to the side. “Bah, no one important and they had nothing to say that I wanted to hear. Now, let’s talk about color.” She moved to walk around them, but stopped when Luke placed his hand on her arm. Chase noticed he didn’t grip it, just simply placed his hand there, wanting her to stop and look at him.
“Rowena.” Luke kept his voice calm even though Chase knew he was feeling anything but. “Although I am sure you didn’t want to hear whatever the caller had to say, I have a feeling that whatever was said was extremely important.”
Chase saw Rowena’s icy facade slide a little as Luke stepped into her and lifted her face to meet his gaze. “I know this is crazy. We only met you a couple of days ago, and to be honest we have been pestering Faith almost hourly for information about you, and now you have three men who would crawl over broken glass to get to spend some time with you. But you must know that we care for you, and we want to take care of you. Tell us about that call.” He swept his thumb across her cheek and Chase felt like he was seeing Luke in a completely different light. Luke had never been this open with a woman before.
“We’ve never had a mate before,” Luke sent down their link never taking his eyes off Rowena. Chase understood that. Everything they had ever felt for or knew about women paled when they thought of this woman. Their woman. Right here and right now was the starting point, he just knew it. The four of them were going to talk through whatever had Rowena running scared and then they were going to start convincing her that her place was with them. Well, to be honest it was very much pressed between them, but hey, they had to start somewhere.
Chapter 4
Rowena stood stock-still, staring up into Luke’s eyes, wondering when she had lost control of the moment. She couldn’t exactly pinpoint the moment when the balance of control in the room shifted from her to the three men who suddenly stood surrounding her, almost caging her between them. She vaguely heard Angel mutter something about heading upstairs and then she was all alone with three men who were gazing at her with very intense looks.
Her heart had melted to hear that they had been talking to Faith about her. Faith hadn’t mentioned it to Rowena at all, during the multiple conversations they’d had over the weekend. But Rowena had managed to bring all three of them up in conversation. Continually.
That phone call had not only taken her by surprised, but also what it could potentially mean had her scared. She had thought she would have months to come to terms with the fact that Baxter was going to be released, but apparently the judicial system had other thoughts. Hunter had called her to tell her that Baxter would be released the next morning.
Hunter Reed was the lead investigator with a three-lettered government department that she could never remember, and he and his best friend Dane Smith had been responsible for catching Baxter in the first place. Hunter had also made sure to be at the prison to attend every single parole board hearing since Baxter was incarcerated, with her. So it seemed only right that he be the one to call her for the first time ever with the news. He had been pissed off, too!
“Rowena.” The barely suppressed rage in his voice very evident. “His release date has been set.” Five words and Rowena was back in that room and could hear the screams of a madman raving at the woman he was supposed to love, honor, and protect for life, and the pained sobs coming from his wife. Rowena closed her eyes to try to stop the images.
“When?” Her voice was barely above a whisper. The pause at the end of the line was not a good sign. Rowena felt her heart start to beat faster and her hands started to shake.
“Tomorrow.” Hunter’s frustration was very clear in his voice. “I had hoped that the board would change their minds but the assholes are more fucking worried about ensuring their numbers are going in the right fucking direction and that they can tout success of their in-house rehabilitation programs than actually seeing the asshole for the evil bastard he actually is.” Rowena blinked. Damn, that had been the most she had ever heard the man say in one conversation.
Rowena had talked with Hunter for the next few minutes to understand what would be the next steps for Baxter once he was released, but to also understand what his limitations would be. The fact that he wasn’t supposed to leave the city boundaries let alone the state should have at least given her a slight sense of safety. It didn’t. She had no doubt that once Baxter located her, he would come for her, and she knew he would find her at some point. So the question was whether or not she should run, and if the answer was to run, then how soon and to where?
Rowena heard a low grumbling noise in the room that had her coming back from thinking about her phone conversation with Hunter Reed. She looked around confused for a moment, and then realized that the sound came from all three of the men around her. She stepped back slightly, away from Luke and took a deep breath. “Sorry, was thinking about something… Let’s just say something unpleasant.” She gave them a small smile, but she didn’t get one in return.
“Rowena.” Wyatt ran his hand through his hair. “We know that something has you unsettled, and that damn phone call is a part of it! We know we haven’t known you for long, and we most definitely haven’t had the time to build the level of trust we hope to build with you, but you’ve gotta give us something here, Red. We have this need to protect you that is bone-deep and seeing you upset by something is driving all three of us crazy.” Rowena felt a small flame of warmth ignite in her chest. Wyatt talked about protecting her being something bone-deep.
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�What am I supposed to say to that, Wyatt? We have known each other for less than twenty-four hours, and now all of a sudden you want to protect me and slay all my dragons?” Rowena was starting to feel a little hemmed in, so she walked around them and moved out into the open space of the shop. Taking a deep breath to clear her head, but not knowing what to do to make her heart stop aching.
Jesus, she had never thought of herself as someone who needed protection. She had worked her way through a shitload of baggage that had come with what she had been a part of at the hands of Martin Baxter and come out the other side. True, she may have had to actually spend the day after the parole board hearings locked in her apartment with a bottle of Crown and a box or five of chocolates, but whatever got you through, right?
“We do want to slay your dragons for you, princess.” Luke’s sweet smile had her melting. “We want to… well… goddamn it to hell and back, I have no other word than court. Rowena, my brothers and I want to court you. All we are asking is for you to give us a chance to get to know you and for you to get to know us. We believe that there is already a stronger connection between us than we ever hoped to have. Would it be so hard for you to allow us to do that?” Rowena felt herself shaking her head hesitantly. No, it wouldn’t be a hardship, but if it turned out they were simply intrigued with the whole older woman thing, she might just have to kill them. “Then take that first step, princess. Tell us what has you so scared. If it will make it easier for you, we can tell you that Chase here is scared of clowns.”
