by Maia Dylan
“Hey!” Chase grumped as he crossed his arms across his chest, taking a defensive position, and glared at a grinning Luke. At first Rowena thought he was hamming it up for her, but if she wasn’t mistaken there was a small flash of fear in his eyes. “Luke, you asshole, we had a deal, you never mentioned the C word or talked about them in any way and I didn’t beat the shit out of you with a crowbar.” He turned to Rowena. “Baby, you know it’s actually a real phobia that effects more people than you know of. Coulrophobia can be quite serious.” Rowena found herself smiling and the tension in the room dropped significantly. She walked over to Chase and wrapped her arm around his back, shivering when he dropped his arms around her waist and hugged her tight.
“I know, sweetie. Psychologist, remember?” She looked over at Luke and Wyatt and saw no jealousy in their eyes, just humor, understanding, and a hopeful longing that made her sigh.
“So, does that mean you’ll take me to your room, lie me on your bed, and show me your etchings?” Chase grinned wickedly at her when she turned to him with an exasperated look, trying not to laugh at the heckling and booing coming from his brothers.
“Not if your jokes are that bad. I think you are beyond help. I’m just simply not that good of a psychologist.” Rowena grinned and Chase gave her a squeeze as they all laughed. It felt good to laugh with these men. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so relaxed that laughing hadn’t felt strained or unnatural. Amazingly, the decision was suddenly a lot easier to make. Taking another deep breath, she nodded in the direction of the stairs.
“Come on. If I’m going to tell you all about that particularly nasty blip in my past and what that phone call was all about, then let’s head upstairs. We’ll have a coffee and at least sit comfortably while I tell the tale.” They followed her up the stairs and Rowena ran over different ways of starting in her head, yet nothing seemed to be right. Making coffee for everyone, Rowena decided to call Angel out to listen as well.
When Baxter made it to Grey River, she would need to know what and who to look for. They would need to have an action plan as well, that would include a word that would effectively be a veiled cry for help, a meeting point if they should become separated, and a list of contact numbers in their cell phones in case they needed help. Rowena had been helping women set their escape plans in place for getting away from abusive relationships for the majority of her career, so she found it ironic that she was now in a position that would require those actions!
Once they were all settled in the living room with steaming mugs of coffee in their hands, Rowena sat on the couch between Luke and Wyatt, Chase and Angel in the armchairs across the coffee table from them. With all of them leaning into toward her, she found the right place to start.
“To understand why that phone call upset me so much, I have to start at the beginning. When I was nine years old, I came home from school one day to find our yard filled with armed police officers and my father firing a weapon out the living room windows screaming about having to kill his cheating bitch of a wife. He’d shot her point blank in the face, killing her instantly.” Angel gasped, but the three men just sat still, waiting for her to continue. “He was right and she had been cheating on him for years. Hell, even at nine years old I knew that and what it meant, but that was my mother and my dad seemed to just accept it, so it was no harm, no foul. Except for the day he came home and found her in bed with his brother. Apparently it was OK for her to sleep with any number of strangers, but as soon as she fucked my uncle, well apparently that was just wrong!
“I went to live with the wife of the man my father killed for sleeping with my mother. She could have treated me terribly. You see it on the news all the time, right? Children being made to pay for the sins of their parents, but Susan was different. She raised me to want to help people. She was instrumental in my choice of career. The sacrifices that woman made to ensure I had an education and actually did something good with it were huge and I will never be able to repay her for them.”
“She sounds great, princess.” Luke rubbed his hand on her knee. “I look forward to meeting her.” Rowena felt a shaft of pain through her chest and gave a sad smile.
“I would like nothing more than to be able to introduce her to you, Luke, but I lost her to ovarian cancer ten years ago.” Luke squeezed her knee and Wyatt grabbed her hand.
“I’m sorry your mom died, baby.” Rowena’s gaze flew to Chase’s. They got it! They understood that despite everything and the fact that there were no blood connections between her and Susan, she was her mother in every way that counted.
Smiling, she nodded. “Thanks, it was pretty hard there for a while, but at least she lived to see me graduate and knew about my dream of the bookstore and supported it all the way. Anyway, so that’s why I went into the field of psychology and shortly after graduating I started with a practice in Dallas that specialized in dealing with people who had suffered a trauma.” Rowena glanced at Angel, and when it looked like she was about to dive into her cardigan again and hide behind her hair, she looked at her pointedly. Angel stopped immediately gave her a small smile and sat up straighter. Good girl!
“After a while, I found myself dealing more and more with women who had been victims of abuse. One of my earlier clients was a young woman called Maryanne. She was a delightful woman, who had lived through a lot of shit in her life, both from her parents and then from her asshole of a husband. We had been meeting regularly as a court-appointed session and she had a protection order out against her husband at my insistence. I had her in a shelter for abused women and she was starting to make plans to go back to school. But it all turned to shit when her fucking husband found her.” Rowena started to fidget, not wanting to continue the story.
Wyatt must have sensed something or made an educated guess because he asked incredibly gently with a soft look on his face, “He found her with you, didn’t he, honey?” She nodded.
“Yeah, he came barreling into the practice, threatening everyone, and even threw one of the male practice nurses across the room. My God, his strength was like nothing I have ever seen. He was screaming that Maryanne was a whore, who had cheated on him and that she was not the right one for him. He cursed and hit her, and yelled that it was my fault that she had become pregnant to another man, and that if I had simply left her alone and not given her any ideas of being free of him, he would have taken care of her without anyone else getting involved.”
She grunted in anger. “Fucker conveniently forgot the thirteen times he had beaten her so bad she had to be hospitalized, prior to me even meeting Maryanne. She never would press charges. He pulled her up by her hair and she didn’t even make a noise. When I looked at her, she was completely vacant. I had studied disassociated behavior due to post-traumatic stress, but I had never actually seen it happen right in front of my eyes before. She didn’t make a noise for hours.” She felt both Wyatt and Luke tense beside her. “And yes, I know that because he took me, too.” Rowena heard the arm of the couch crack under the stain of Wyatt’s hand, and something instinctive told her to pet him, so she ran her hand up and down his leg until he relaxed his grip.
She looked around the room and saw that all three men were completely still. Either frozen in horror or in rage, but knowing that there was more to her story, they simply held themselves immobile. “He held us hostage for two days. Forty-nine hours and sixteen minutes to be exact. Maybe one day I can share what happened with you in detail during those forty-nine hours and sixteen minutes, but that day is not today and you are just going to have to accept that.” Rowena trembled when first Wyatt then Luke lifted her hand to their lips and placed a kiss against her knuckles.
“The fact that you have at least enough trust in us to share this much with us simply blows us away, Red,” Wyatt whispered. When he turned to look at her, his usually dark-green eyes were flashing blue, which was odd, but Rowena was beyond caring or trying to work it out, so she put it down to a trick of the light.
“He killed Maryanne toward the end, but not before torturing her mercilessly. What he did to me pales in comparison to what he did to that poor woman. He kept telling her it was all her fault through the whole damn thing, can you believe that? When they finally came through the door and took him down, they didn’t put him down for good, which as far as I’m concerned was a huge mistake. The man is pure evil. There is nothing in this world that can convince me that he should be breathing the same damn air on the same damn planet as me.”
Just thinking about the fact that they had shot him to wound and not kill drove her anger skyward. “They didn’t put him down hard enough, because even with two gunshot wounds the bastard managed to get up, moving with a speed I have never seen before, and then leapt from a second-story building to run off. It took the two lead investigators in the case, Hunter and Dane, two weeks to find him and bring him in, but at a huge personal cost. Both of them are scarred for life, huge claw marks from an animal attack in the forest where they eventually found him.
“His trial was a joke. Apparently his father was someone significant and he hired the best damn lawyers money could buy, so he was charged with involuntary manslaughter on account of provocation. He was given twenty years, but only served twelve of them. That phone call was from Hunter. Apparently the parole board decided that he has been rehabilitated.” Rowena heard the scorn in her own voice. She was still having difficulty comprehending that a group of educated and sane people were about to let that demon go free.
“Sounds like you don’t believe that at all, baby,” Chase said.
“Hell, no! Ever since he was eligible for parole, I have sat in that damn boardroom with that man. I have looked him in the eye every year for the past four years, and if anything, the madness is stronger than ever! I told the board that he was still crazy, still a risk to the community, touting my degrees and credentials, praying that they would listen. Hell, Hunter came every year to do the same! Dane was afraid he would rip the bastard’s throat out if he were to attend, but he always waited outside. But this year they decided he was fucking cured and granted his goddamn parole! That crazy bastard, who tormented me, killed his wife and unborn child, and still fucking haunts my dreams, walks away from that prison tomorrow.”
This time there was no mistaking the flash of blue in the eyes of the men around her, and the growling was very real. Rowena breathed deep, trying to quell the panic and fear that had crept up on her when she was midrant. Then she finished quietly, “And you can damn well bet that once he is out, the first chance he gets he’s going to come after me. And I know that because…” She dropped her gaze, remembering the moment so vividly she could almost smell Maryanne’s blood in the air. “He told me he would.”
* * * *
Wyatt grappled with his wolf and knew that his brothers were having the same difficulty. Some bastard had taken their woman hostage, terrorized her, hurt her in God knows how many different ways, murdered his own fucking wife pregnant with his child in front of her, and then promised to come after her? His wolf raged for blood. Wyatt held the shift back by the barest of threads. When he had enough control to know that his wolf wouldn’t be able to force the change, he looked down the link to his brothers, both of whom were hovering on the edge of the shift.
He looked at Rowena and saw that she was still lost in her own thoughts, no doubt thinking about what telling them would mean. Angel had her face buried in her hands. Taking another deep breath and bringing the scent of his mate into his lungs, he felt a calming effect that gave him even more control.
“Luke, Chase,” Wyatt snapped down the link. “You both need to get control. The last fucking thing we need is to scare our mate by shifting in front of her. Breathe deep, scent our mate, let her calm you the way she should, and if you aren’t man enough to do what she needs us to do then get the fuck out!” Both of them snarled back at him down the link, obviously not pleased at all that he suggested they leave her, but he knew that basically calling them both pussies would help them get control.
“Rowena.” Wyatt winced when he heard his wolf still clear in his voice. “Thank you for telling us, and that was no blip, love. That was a mountain of a life changer and that could have taken you to a dark place that would have been fucking impossible to come back from. The fact that you are the strong, compassionate, and beautiful woman you are is simply a testament to the fact that Baxter didn’t break you.” Wyatt didn’t know if he could have survived the same situation, being held hostage, tortured and tormented, having his freedom taken away from him, and then having to face the bastard who had done all of that to him every year for four years.
“It was pretty bad there for a while, Wyatt.” Rowena’s voice was dull, no sign of its usual vibrancy. “But yeah I managed to crawl out from beneath a bottle of Crown and five boxes of Godiva every year. But I think the part that never really made sense to me was the fact that Martin Baxter didn’t kill me. He could have at any time. Just reached out and ended me, but he didn’t. So there must be a reason why. What difference am I supposed to make in this world? Do I make a difference—”
“Of course you damn well do!” Angel suddenly leapt up from the armchair she had been sobbing quietly in. “Every day when you talk someone down from the ledge either literally or figuratively you are making a difference. You talked me through the worst damn time of my life, and helped me to see myself as someone worthy of good things, and not just the crap I’d been settling for!”
Angel was breathing hard, her emotions fierce on her face. Placing both hands on her swollen belly, she looked down and then back to Rowena who sat with tears falling silently. Wyatt saw the raw gratitude and love Angel had for his mate, and in that moment, she became theirs to protect as well. “Rowena, you and this baby are the most important people to me in the world. You saved me and you saved my boy, so how can you doubt that you make a difference?”
Rowena stood and walked to Angel and then pulled her into her arms, both of them were so emotionally fatigued they sagged against each other. Wyatt looked down at his watch and saw it was well after lunch and they still hadn’t eaten. “Listen, it’s been a pretty full on day so far, and I don’t know about y’all but I am starving! Why don’t the three of us go get us something to eat while you two relax for a bit. Then after lunch we can make a couple of plans. One that will see your dream come true for the space downstairs, and one that will help keep you both safe to enjoy it.”
Rowena looked over at him with a warm gratitude that had his wolf preening because they had pleased their mate. We have a whole shitload more work to do so save the smug attitude until we can drop the dead carcass of Martin Baxter at her feet. At his words, his wolf leapt up, snarling, definitely on board with his plan. “Thanks, Wyatt, that sounds perfect.” She led Angel over to the couch, and Wyatt looked at his brothers and jerked his head at the door.
When the three of them were back in the shop front, Wyatt stopped and took a deep breath, his wolf was still a little antsy about what he had heard. “This afternoon we need to make sure that Ty and Trent are here. They’ll need to be across this whole thing with Baxter.” As their alphas, they would need to be told of anything that could be coming into their territory intent on harming one of the pack, and since Rowena was their fated mate, that very much made her pack.
“Yeah, and the fact that he’s a shifter of some sort is going to make it difficult.” Luke sighed and Wyatt nodded. He had gotten that part as well. “Only a shifter could take two gunshots and live, as long as they weren’t to the head or the heart. Then to move so fast he was a blur, jump from the second level of a building, and escape all pointed to him being a shifter, and a fucking strong one at that.”
“I’d be willing to bet that these two guys, Hunter and Dane, are shifters, too, especially if they managed to bring the fucker in on their own.” Chase made a good point. The healing powers of shifters should have stopped them from scarring, but if they were wounded enough to be scarred, then they both
would have had to be in pretty bad shape when they were made.
“So, we will need to talk to the alphas and they will probably need to speak with the Shifter Council to see if they can find out more about this Martin Baxter. The fucker stayed in prison! He could have gotten out at any stage, so that means he had to be fearful of someone or something and that screams the Council.” Wyatt had never actually spoken to any of the Council members, but from what Ty had said over the years, they were a formidable group of men, all from different species, dealing with issues within shifter groups, and ensuring shifter law and justice was served whenever needed.
“We have to tell her that we’re wolves, Wyatt.” Chase’s voice was filled with dread. Wyatt looked over at him but he was looking longingly back up the stairs. “We’re going to need to do our best to protect our mate, and that means we will have to do a lot of it shifted. The best chance we will have to see this bastard coming is to scent him first.”
“Agreed.” Wyatt knew it was a conversation that they would have to have with their mate at some stage, but he was a little worried about having it only a day after they had met. “In that case, we will need Faith to be here, too. She’s human and will hopefully be able to help her to deal with the fact that we’re wolf shifters, but also that she is the fated mate to all three of us.”
“I think she’ll surprise us.” Luke smiled a kind of goofy smile. Or at least it was one Wyatt had never seen from his brother before. “She fought through some pretty bad shit from what we heard today, and her biggest fear? The one thing she was worried about after being set free and not dying? Making a difference, and ensuring she was able to help as many others as she could. Our mate has a heart of gold and I believe her role in this world is to do just that. Our role is to make sure she can to that without distraction or fear.”
