Rowena's Triple Threat

by Maia Dylan

  “Wait, before we get to me, you have to send someone to Xanthe’s. She’s hurt real bad, and Kyle and Grant are somewhere out back of the house. Baxter said he took a piece out of them both.” There was a moment’s pause before Cassadee came back.

  “It’s OK, Angel told them that Baxter had held Xanthe hostage and as soon as Cody and Brendan arrived at your place, Cody ran over to her place. He’s working on Xanthe now.” Cassadee sounded worried. “Let’s concentrate on getting you out of there for a moment. What do you remember about your surroundings?”

  Rowena thought back to their mad dash through the forest. She had been upside down so it was difficult to remember seeing much. “We crossed two rivers, but both of them were shallow enough to walk through, the second one much wider though.” She looked around at the cave and squinted to see anything out through the opening. “Baxter has me in a cave, and I can see the tops of trees from the opening, so it has to be up a hill or mountain or something.”

  “Good! That’s really helpful—you are doing so well.” Cassadee’s voice came back, crisp and clear, and Rowena hung onto it as much as she could. “My mates, the alphas, and a few others are heading into the forest, and from what you’ve described, they are all heading in the right direction. Are you hurt? Do you think you can run if you have to?”

  Rowena thought for a moment and then moved her right arm, but searing pain radiated from her shoulder cuff. Breathing through the need to scream, she thought back, “I think my shoulder is dislocated, and it hurts like a motherfucker, but I’ll dance a bloody jig if it means I can get the hell outta here.”

  “I think we’ll save the jig dancing for margarita night, huh?” Rowena could hear the smile in Cassadee’s voice, and smiled softly.

  “What the fuck have you got to smile about, bitch?” Rowena’s gaze flew to the opening. Baxter had walked back in, but she’d missed him turning. “You think this is going to end well for you? Because of you, I was sent to prison for twelve fucking years of my life. Because of you, the fucking Shifter Council became aware of my existence, and then they watched my every fucking move! I couldn’t take a piss without it being reported to that damn council, and for what? Killing the whore who cheated on me?” He had used this as part of his defense, lessening the charges from murder to voluntary manslaughter.

  Rowena had watched the trial in disbelief as his lawyer planted the seed of a man wronged and the jury just ate it up! “Martin, why would you think Maryanne would cheat on you? She worshipped you! Hell, you put her in the hospital more times than I could count, but she refused to press charges, so why the hell do you think that is!” Rowena defended the woman who had never said or done a bad thing against the crazed man in front of her. Adrenaline pumped through her body as she filled with rage and she was able to maneuver herself into a sitting position despite the pain.

  “Because she was weak!” Baxter roared as he started to pace back and forward in front of her. “She was a weak whore who was never worthy of being mated to someone like me! The Fates would never have allowed that to happen.”

  “Maryanne was your wife, and whether or not you want to believe it, she was probably your mate as well! She talked of a connection to you stronger than any marital vows, but I didn’t know what that meant until now.” Rowena had no doubt that Maryanne and Martin was mated.

  “Rowena, your mates are close, they can hear you arguing, and the rest of them are only minutes away.” Cassadee’s excited voice came to her and she had to fight to keep her own joy at the news off her face. “Keep him talking. They’re right there, Rowena. We’ll get you home.”

  “Bullshit!” Baxter screamed, his eyes shining with an insanity that scared her. “She fooled me into believing she was my mate! She was too damn weak to be my mate. She broke too easily. She was pregnant with another man’s child! That fucking whore had spread her goddamn legs for someone else!”

  Something inside Rowena just snapped. She was tired of hearing about how everything he had done wrong in his life was someone else’s fault. This man thought it was OK to lay his hands on a woman and that it was his right to torture and kill his goddamn wife! That he was doing the world a favor in getting rid of her. The asshole had kidnapped her—twice!—and had beaten and terrorized her so much she had wished to die. And that right there was the root of her guilt and shame.

  The reason she hadn’t been able to share it all with her mates. She had actually given in and begged this bastard for death. That was why she specialized in helping woman who were escaping abusive relationships and dealing with trauma, because she admired their strength to want to survive it and live. It was a strength that she hadn’t had in a similar situation. Right up until now. She had a reason to live and they were coming for her. “The baby was yours!” Rowena screamed back.

  “Rowena, Wyatt wants me to tell you not to upset Baxter too much. They are coming in to get you soon, but he’s afraid you’re pushing too hard.” Cassadee’s voice was anxious, but Rowena was beyond caring.

  “If you had been paying attention in that fucking courtroom instead of laying a steady stream of lies and bullshit in front of that jury, then you would have fucking heard that! That baby boy was yours!” Rowena stepped forward, not even realizing that at some point she had made it to her feet. Her right arm hung useless by her side, but her left hand was clenched in a tight fist. Baxter was shaking his head and making grunting noises again. “You killed your own child!”

  Baxter’s eyes became fully black, and he threw his head back and screamed, which quickly turned into an inhuman roar as he shimmered, dropped to all fours, and shifted. Into a fully grown, adult black bear. Rowena yelped and leapt back as he suddenly rose up onto his back legs roaring and shaking his head. Rowena moved back as far into the cave as she could.

  “Stay back as far as you can! Avoid his claws!” Cassadee yelled the warning in her head.

  “No fucking shit!” she screamed back as she scuttled as far to the left as she could. Then she heard it, snarling and growling coming from the front of the cave. Her mates had come for her. Baxter dropped to all fours and swung his massive head around to look back at the opening and Rowena could have sworn she saw him grin. When he moved she caught sight of the cave entrance and there they stood. Chase, Luke, and Wyatt were standing in wolf form, flank to flank, about to take on a fully grown bear to save her. Her breath caught at how stunning their rage was, but then, her heart stopped as all three leapt at the bear at once.

  “Oh God! Please be careful!” she screamed as Chase and Luke went for the bear’s throat, while Wyatt went for its belly. She tried to keep tabs on each of her mates as she avoided the fight. She screamed when she saw Luke batted away by a giant bear claw, his yelp of pain making her whimper in distress. She moved to head in his direction but stopped when he swung his head in her direction and growled. She assumed that he was politely telling her to stay the fuck where she was.

  Luke jumped back into the fight, leaping onto the bear’s back and biting into the back of his neck. Blood ran through the bear’s fur and on closer inspection, Rowena could see that there was blood on all of her mates as well. God, please let that be the bear’s.

  “Rowena! The rest of them are coming in. Stay out of the way,” Cassadee relayed. Rowena frantically looked around for a place to hide. There weren’t a whole hell of a lot of places to hide in, or anything to take cover behind. This was a cave for Christ’s sake! Suddenly the cave was filled with more growling and snarling, and when Rowena turned to look, seven more wolves entered the cave, all snarling and growling. It was getting very crowded and Rowena was feeling a little light-headed. There was blood all over the cave floor and the coppery smell of it turned her stomach.

  A clear spot in the carnage appeared when all the wolves leapt on the bear at once and drove it to the ground, and there was space on the left that led to the front of the cave. Holding her right shoulder with her left hand, in a vain attempt to keep it still and potentially minimize the pai
n running would cause, she stumbled through the gap. Just as she cleared the group, she heard Baxter roar with rage, and she spun and watched in horror as he pushed up, his massive strength dislodging the wolves that had been on top of him. Swiping at one in particular, he batted at it and sent him spinning through the air. Right at her, and she had nowhere to go.

  She let out a shriek and then lost her breath as the wolf slammed into her, driving her back into the wall, hard. Her vision blurred and seemed to turn black at the edges as she slid down the wall. The last thing she saw was Wyatt, still in wolf form, his face and one side of his body covered in blood, leap off the back of another wolf and land on the bear, his teeth sinking into Baxter’s throat. Then the darkness swept across her vision and she knew no more.

  * * * *

  Wyatt released the hold he had on the bear’s throat, knowing that it no longer breathed. As he stepped away, the bear shimmered and the body of the man was left behind, all the injuries they had inflicted on him gone, except for the one that had ultimately killed him. Wyatt stood over Baxter’s body, threw his head back, and howled over the kill, vaguely aware that his brothers joined him.

  “Wyatt, you or one of your brothers needs to shift back.” Ty’s voice came down their shared alpha link and Wyatt tensed. His wolf tempted to disobey for a second as his body still hummed with the adrenaline of the fight and his mouth still filled with the coppery taste of the blood of the shifter who dared take their mate from them. “Now, Wyatt! Rowena’s fucking unconscious but if you want one of us carrying her back to Chris, Cody, and Brendan then so be it.”

  Wyatt snarled in their direction and moved away from their kill to walk over to their mate. When he saw her slumped form on the floor of the cave, the blood on her split lip and her swollen face, he wanted to turn back and kill the bastard all over again. Padding over to her, he heard whimpering sounds and realized it came from him and his brothers, and dropping next to her, he welcomed the change, feeling the white-hot pain of the magic of his shift taking care of most of his injuries, just leaving the more serious ones behind.

  “Rowena,” he moaned as he gently placed his hand against her neck, and felt a wave of relief roll through him and echo along his link to his brothers. Her pulse was strong and regular. He lifted her gently into his arms, and turned with his brothers on either side of him, still as wolves, protecting their mate until they had her safely home. Then they walked out of the blood-soaked cave, never looking back.

  Chapter 10

  “I’m telling you, Angel, that boy smiled at me.” Rowena grinned at the sound of Faith’s voice getting louder as she climbed the stairs to the apartment. “You say ‘gas,’ I say complete and unconditional adoration, and who could blame the kid!”

  The two women stepped into the room laughing, Mateo wrapped snuggly in the arms of his aunt Faith. Rowena marveled at how strong that little boy had become after only a week in the world. But when her gaze slipped to his mother who was walking beside them, laughing indulgently at Faith, Rowena realized that it shouldn’t be a surprise. Angel had given birth in the midst of all the craziness with Baxter and that beautiful little boy would be what they would all remember of that night.

  “Faith, he’s one week old! He’s burping, farting, eating, or sleeping and his facial expressions are very similar when he’s doing any of it,” Rowena chipped in as she stepped forward to take her godson from Faith’s arms and moved to sit down for a cuddle.

  She had played a very active role in this boy’s life so far, and she was going to miss having the opportunity to cuddle him as much as she had up till now. She was moving in with her mates that afternoon and if the truth be told, she couldn’t damn well wait!

  “You didn’t see it, Rowena,” Faith said as she threw herself down beside her on the couch. “He looked up at me, opened those beautiful dark-brown eyes, and smiled at me. It was a thing of beauty.”

  “It was gas.” Angel’s wry tone had them all laughing and it felt good to be able to do so. The tension of the past week, the uncertainty surrounding their friends, all of it made finding moments with things to laugh at few and far between.

  “So!” Faith said after a few minutes of baby talk with her main little man who was now fast asleep in her arms. “You all set to move in with your mates?”

  Rowena nodded but cast a worried glance at Angel. “But I’m worried about leaving you here by yourself. I can stay a little longer if you want me to.” Rowena felt her whole body revolt at the idea of not being with her mates. They hadn’t been intimate since before Baxter.

  Although at least of one them stayed with her every night, they hadn’t done anything but share sweet kisses and hold her tight all night long. At first it was because of her injuries and fear of hurting her, but now they were all waiting for her to move in with them. They had yet to claim her, but she knew they would as soon as she was under their roof. It was a new beginning after all.

  “Well, I think if you could maybe stay another week, perhaps two at the most, I’d feel a little safer,” Angel said quietly and Rowena’s heart sank. Two weeks? Two whole mother-no-fucking weeks! She looked up with the intention of forcing herself to agree to it when she saw a glint of barely suppressed amusement in Angel’s eye. “No more than two months, tops.”

  “Why, you little faker.” Rowena glared at her, and knowing that her little act was over, Angel fell about laughing. Faith joined in, too, and Rowena chuckled along with them. “That was cold, Angel. But joking aside, if you don’t want to be alone, I can stick around, keep you—”

  “Hello! Anyone up there?” Chris’s voice called from downstairs and Rowena watched as joy and excitement swept across Angel’s face.

  “I don’t think our Angel’s going to be spending much time alone, do you, Rowena?” Faith asked with a grin.

  “No, I don’t think so either.” Rowena winked as a red blush washed up over Angel’s cheeks.

  * * * *

  Wyatt leaned against the railing of the verandah that ran around their entire house. He and his brothers had built the house with their future in mind, not even knowing what their future would bring, or he guessed he should say who it would bring. He smiled gently as his thoughts turned to their mate. She had been so fearless as she faced off against Baxter, and even though at the time Wyatt wanted to spank her ass for winding the fucker up so much, he had admired the hell out of her at the same time. She could have just lain there and played the victim, but instead she had stood tall and gone toe to toe with him despite her injuries. He shuddered when he thought of her injuries.

  They had dealt with Baxter and rescued Rowena from that cave, but it had come at a cost. The injuries he and his brothers had sustained aside, they had come too damn close to losing their mate, not to mention a couple of good friends in the process. Kyle and Grant would be fine physically, but Grant had taken off shortly afterward and he was not communicating with his brother or their alphas. Wyatt knew something had gone down in the woods behind Rowena’s shop that day, but neither Kyle nor Grant had been prepared to tell them about it in any detail.

  Then there were Hunter Reed and Dane Smith. For some reason, after they had helped to get Kyle and Grant back to Chris for medical help, they had walked into Xanthe’s, and they found Cody working on her. Her heart had stopped due to blood loss, and he was administering CPR. It had definitely been touch and go there for a while.

  Wyatt sighed sadly. Xanthe was still in hospital and had not yet regained consciousness. She had slammed into the floor so hard that she had sustained a head injury as well, so Chris was keeping her in a drug-induced coma, but he was hopeful that she would come around eventually. Hunter and Dane were still in town and Wyatt and his brothers were getting to know the two Enforcers well. From what Wyatt could tell, the two were planning on staying in Grey River for a while and he had his suspicions that it had something to do with Xanthe.

  The sound of a truck coming up their long drive broke him from his thoughts and he turned to loo
k over his shoulder. He grinned with pleasure and anticipation as Luke drove up to the house with their mate in his truck..

  He walked over to the top of the stairs just as Chase came striding out from the house, leaping down the four porch steps, and running to her side of the car. “There’s my baby!” Chase threw the passenger door open, lifted their mate out, and swept her up and into his arms. She squealed and then laughed as he carried her up the stairs and stopped just in front of Wyatt.

  He grinned at the pleasure in her eyes, then leaned forward and kissed her soundly. “Hey, Red, how are you feeling today? All well at the house?”

  Rowena nodded and grinned. “Everything is going fine! Angel is a great mom and Mateo is such a beautifully placid little boy, well, until its dinner time and then yeah, you can pretty much hear him from space!” They laughed as Wyatt opened the door, held it for Chase, and then he and Luke followed them to the living room. Chase eased her to her feet, and he and Luke stepped in to surround her.

  “What do you want to do first, baby?” Chase asked and he was almost vibrating with excitement. Wyatt had to admit that having their mate here in the house safe and sound, and no interruptions likely, Wyatt was pretty much humming himself!

  “Hmmm.” Rowena tipped her head to the side, mischief glinting in her gaze. “What are my options?”

  “Well.” Luke grinned back. “We are pretty much at your disposal, princess. We have the rest of the afternoon and all night together. What do you want to do?” There was no missing the hopeful note in Luke’s voice.