“Corbin, we can do nothing for you. You don’t need us,” she said as she slowly moved closer to Maddox. Her mate had his eyes closed, and though he sat up on the table, he was leaning on her heavily. She could feel his heart beating and held back a sigh of relief.
“You’re everything!” Corbin yelled then smiled that cruel smile that would haunt her nightmares until the day she died. “No, I’m wrong. You used to be everything. That’s why you’ll die by my hands now. I’ve found another…toy.”
Ellie froze then finally saw the little girl standing behind Corbin. She wore a collar around her neck that was attached to a large chain that Corbin held.
Like a pet.
Oh, goddess.
Ellie’s wolf perked up then growled, letting the scent of this little girl wash over her.
There was something familiar about her…something…oh, goddess.
Corbin’s eyes narrowed, and he smirked again. “Ah, I see you know her. Or, at least you know who she is.”
“But how?”
“This is Hector’s bastard.” He tugged at the chain, and the little girl stumbled into the room. “Seems our dear father found a second mate but didn’t tell anyone. Apparently, he didn’t want me knowing. Hell, he thought I was crazy. Why the hell would he think that?”
She knew Corbin wasn’t alone—or at least he’d be an idiot if he was. There was no way she could protect an injured Maddox, a little girl who probably didn’t trust her, and herself all at once. Corbin threw his head back and laughed, and Ellie stopped herself from killing the bastard.
Maddox gripped her hand, holding her back, as though reading her mind.
“In case you were wondering, this little bitch is Charlotte, and, apparently, five years ago Hector got busy with her momma and hid her away, outside the Pack.”
There was no sickly sweet smell on the girl, meaning she was clear of the evil. So that’s how the little girl survived the taint, but Ellie knew the little girl wouldn’t last long, not staying with Corbin and most likely Caym.
Goddess, she had a sister.
A helpless sister that she couldn’t save…not yet.
“I’d been saving Charlotte to use to sharpen my knives, but now that you’ve pissed me off one last time, I won’t hold myself back.”
Ellie growled, and Maddox joined her.
“Take me instead,” Ellie said, knowing it was the only thing she could do. She’d do anything for Maddox, and now also this little girl who was her blood.
Maddox growled again. “No, take me. Let the girls go.”
Her heart broke, shattering into a thousand pieces, so many pieces that no one would be able to put her back together again, at the thought of losing him when she’d just found him.
Corbin merely smiled. “Aw, you guys make my teeth ache, but no. I don’t want one as damaged as either of you. I like my pristine white canvas.”
He cupped Charlotte’s chin, and Ellie lost it, running and jumping on Corbin with her teeth bared, her claws out.
Corbin pushed the little girl to the side and raised the gun she hadn’t seen or smelled, and fired. A searing burn flared across her shoulder, and she hit the ground, rolling to her feet. She didn’t stop, though. She barreled into him. She must have surprised him because he dropped the gun, and she caught it. She turned it on him and fired, only to be knocked to the ground by another wolf she didn’t know had been nearby.
She heard, rather than saw, Maddox limp toward her, his growl sending shivers down her spine. He pulled the wolf off her and broke its neck.
Corbin lay on the ground, alive but bleeding. He growled at her and tried to get up, only to have Charlotte kick him in the neck.
“Come on, Charlotte, come with me,” Ellie said through gritted teeth. Goddess, she hurt.
“Caym has the key,” the little girl whispered. “I’m chained to Corbin, but Caym has the key.”
“Then I’ll cut the bastard’s arm off,” Maddox growled.
The scents of at least forty wolves and Caym came at her, and she cursed. “They’re coming, Maddox.”
Footsteps echoed in the hall, and tears stained Ellie’s cheeks. “How do we get her? Come on, let’s cut off his arm.” She reached to do so and the bomb blew.
She hadn’t even known there was one to begin with.
The blast threw her from Charlotte and into Maddox who screamed in pain as they hit the wall. Part of the ceiling crashed down in front of them, blocking her path.
Goddess, no. She couldn’t make it over the debris and save Maddox at the same time.
Corbin woke then and growled, pulling Charlotte into his arms, his hand precariously around her neck over her collar. “Come at me, and I’ll kill her.”
Maddox reached out and took her hand.
Oh, goddess. They’d have to leave her, or they’d all die.
She looked into Charlotte’s eyes, and the little girl nodded. She couldn’t tell Charlotte her plans to come back, not with Corbin right there, but goddess, the look of pain and…nothing…in that little girl’s gaze.
Maddox’s legs gave out, and she pulled her bleeding mate into her arms and ran, leaving her sister behind.
Goddess, that hurt. How could she choose between her mate and the sister she’d never known existed?
She pulled her mate down the path they’d taken all those years before when she’d saved him, her shoulder burning, and tears running down her cheeks.
She’d be back.
She had to be.
Chapter 17
“Hold still,” North growled as he pressed the gauze pad to Maddox’s side.
Maddox winced but moved again, needing to keep his eyes on Ellie. He’d never let her leave his sight if he had a choice.
His mate sat on the couch in front of him, a frown on her face as Hannah Healed her. There was no way he’d let Ellie get far from him in his current state—or any state in the near future for that matter.
Gods, when Corbin had lifted up his arm and shot Ellie…
Maddox bit his tongue so he wouldn’t scream. He wanted to jump up and grab his mate so he could hold her and never let go. She’d shot the bastard in the side and would have killed him if that other wolf hadn’t jumped on her and knocked her off her aim.
If only Maddox had been able to move faster, then it all might have been over.
North poked and prodded a deep cut on his side, and Maddox cursed. Well, hell, that’s why he hadn’t been able to move. It was a miracle he’d been able to do what he’d done in the first place, considering the amount of deep cuts and gashes he had over his body. Corbin had also used the cursed knife, adding pain and scars to his body. Due to the blast, they each had a couple broken bones and who knew what else.
As long as Ellie was safe, though, he’d take any scar the bastard gave him.
“This cut is deep, Mad,” North mumbled. “You should have Hannah look at it. You should have had Hannah take care of it to begin with. That’s why we have a Healer.”
Maddox tore his gaze from his bleeding mate and glared at his twin, who looked no worse for wear from his chest wound—thank the goddess.
“As soon as Ellie is Healed, I’ll happily let Hannah help me if she has the strength,” Maddox said then turned toward Ellie again, unable to part from her for even that long.
Hannah cocked a brow while keeping her hands on Ellie, the feel of magic filling the room as she Healed his mate.
“I’m going to be okay, Mad,” Ellie whispered, and he nodded, though they both knew she wouldn’t be okay with the choice she’d made.
The choice she’d had to make because of him.
They’d walked back, bleeding and in pain, to a checkpoint where the Redwoods had taken them into the den. The Centrals hadn’t followed them, either because of the blast or because they hadn’t cared enough. Rather than sending them to North’s clinic, they’d gone directly to his father’s house, where Hannah and North had come to them.
Apparently, his father had alread
y been in Alpha-mode talking to Lexi and Logan, who were also in the room with them. Oddly enough, so was Cailin, who stood scowling in the corner, her wolf right at the surface.
What was even odder was that, though he could feel what they were feeling—rage, sadness, confusion, and so much more—it wasn’t as bad as it usually was.
Goddess, what if he’d been wrong all this time?
What if mating with Ellie fully would actually help him control his powers?
Hell, he’d have to talk with her because, if she was feeling what he felt, she’d be okay, and they would be able to live like that…maybe, but if she was actually taking all the emotions he should have been feeling then they’d have to find a way to fix that.
Soon.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lexi move closer to North, an oddly pained look on her face as she handed him the last of the bandages that North would use on Maddox’s side. Maddox had a feeling that look had to do with North himself, but it wasn’t his place to get in the middle of whatever the hell was going on.
At least for now that is.
North was his twin, after all, and he’d inserted himself directly into Maddox and Ellie’s mating from the beginning. Yes, he should, at some point, thank the bastard for helping Ellie through her first insertion into the pack when Maddox had been an idiot and unable to do it himself, but it would take time for his wolf to get over the fact that North had been so close to his mate for so long.
Even if, technically, it was Maddox’s fault to begin with.
Logan stood behind Lexi, scowling at everyone, as if he’d protect his sister no matter the cost. Parker, thankfully, wasn’t in the room. He was in another one with Josh and Reed helping with the twins. Apparently, Edward had gotten close to the boy and had trusted—or at least saw the beginnings of trust—the ex-Talons as soon as he’d met them.
It didn’t come as too much of a surprise to Maddox, considering how he, North, and Ellie had also found that connection easy to make with the trio.
Logan shot a look at Cailin and frowned then tore his gaze away again to look at Lexi.
Well. Interesting.
Jealousy, confusion, and a not-so-little amount of lust spread from Cailin to Logan and back again, forcing Maddox to blink.
Hell, his little sister might have just found her mate.
He held back a smile. There was no way this would go easy, and from the looks of things, North and Lexi wouldn’t have an easy time either. The two didn’t seem to be talking to one another and the tension radiating from them was so thick he could taste it.
Thank the goddess he had Ellie.
At that thought, he did smile. Things sure had changed since he’d left the den with North and Ellie in tow to figure out how they would make it through being in the same den in pain. Now, North and Maddox would find a way to fix the bonds that might have frayed, and Maddox had his Ellie.
Or at least he’d have her fully as soon as they dealt with the Pack politics that needed to be discussed before they left the house.
His father paced the room. His mother was out on patrol with the rest of his brothers. There were short on enforcers now, and there was no way anyone would go alone. Everything had changed since Caym had come to their plane, yet the Redwoods wouldn’t back down.
They wouldn’t back down.
“Tell us what happened, son,” his Alpha ordered. “We know what happened with North and these three, but tell us what happened after you were alone with Ellie.”
Maddox met Ellie’s gaze as she blushed, and he winked, smiling again.
“Hell, I don’t think I’ve seen you smile like that before, Mad,” Cailin said from her corner. “Way to go, Ellie.”
Maddox let out a small growl, and Ellie blushed harder. “Stop it, little sister.”
“Enough you two,” Edward said. “Tell us.”
So, Maddox told them about the attack, the traitor they’d killed, and his torture, leaving out the details of certain events. His family could tell he and Ellie were partially mated by their scents, and his father could tell by their bond. There was no need to mention it. He also wasn’t about to tell them exactly what had happened in the dungeon. North and Hannah were in the process of Healing the evidence of it that Ellie had sustained. So Maddox wasn’t about to make them live through it with him.
He might tell Ellie while they were alone because, for some reason, he needed her to know everything about him, just as he needed to know everything about her.
That’s what it meant to be mates.
To live through the bad, the ugly, and everything so much worse, so they could cherish the good.
He also left out Charlotte for the time being. He’d tell them all soon, but first, he needed to get a few things out of the way before his family got in an uproar over the child. His wolf growled at the thought of what could be happening at the moment.
He couldn’t think about it.
Damn it, he’d save the child as soon as he was on his feet and they were able to leave. There was no way they’d let Charlotte stay in Corbin’s clutches.
“The traitor is dead then,” Edward said under his breath before walking to Ellie’s side. “We never believed you did it, Ellie dear. You know this.”
She looked up at her Alpha, and Maddox held back the urge to move and tug her into his arms.
“I know,” she whispered as Hannah left her side to Heal Maddox.
Maddox shook his head as his brother’s mate Healed his wounds, the magic flowing through him, making him feel warm and sleepy.
“Do you?” Edward said, his voice softer than Maddox had thought possible for his father.
“Yes, through it all, I knew the Jamensons believed in me. It was the others. They never did trust me. I’m a Central.”
Edward growled, his Alpha power filling the room with a quick snap. “No, you are not. You are a Redwood.”
Maddox growled back at his father’s tone, despite the words, but cut off when Ellie gave him a look. Yes, he knew she needed to stand up for herself, but damn, it was hard to sit back and let her be on her own.
“I know,” Ellie said, her voice calm. “I misspoke. I know I’m a Redwood. I love this Pack.”
“Good. You’re a Jamenson now, Ellie dear. That thick-headed son of mine finally figured out what was in front of him this whole time and brought you into our fold. We’re never letting you go now, dear.”
She smiled, and Maddox felt a burst of love and acceptance through their bond.
“We’ve always stood by you, Ellie,” his father continued. “We’ve always told and shown the others you were part of us, but you had to go so we could ferret out the traitor and so Corbin would think we’d forced you out. Now, we need to all stand strong and show the Pack that you’re not only one of us but you’re also family. You’re the Omega female, Ellie. You’re Pack.”
She bowed her head, and the rest of the people in the room, even the ex-Talons, did the same.
When the Alpha spoke, his word was law.
There would be no second chances with those in the Pack who had doubted his Ellie.
None.
“So, the bastard that killed Neil and Larissa is dead?” Cailin asked, the anger in her tone beating down on him with each breath.
Maddox met her gaze and nodded. “Yes, he’d dead.” By my own hands. He’d have to talk that out with Ellie like so many things he’d done in his past, but that was for another time.
“I know it’s fair to call that man a killer, but it wasn’t all his responsibility,” Ellie cut it.
Maddox held out his hand, and she walked to him, her gaze for only him. He pulled her down on his lap, pressing his nose against the part where her shoulder met her neck, needing to scent her and make sure she was real…that she was okay. He ignored the pointed glances of the others in the room. They’d just have to get used to this new him. After all, he was just getting used to it himself.
“What do you mean by that?” North asked. He moved
to stand against the wall, Lexi near him but not touching.
“Corbin was the one who ordered it,” Ellie said. “Caym was the one whose evil incarnation tainted the bonds within their Pack and forced them to do things.”
Maddox pressed her to his chest, feeling her heart speed up as she spoke—either from the subject matter or the fact that her body was so close to his.
“I’m glad you got out when you did,” Hannah said, leaning into Edward’s side.
Maddox’s father was nothing if not fatherly and caring to all his kids—even those mated in.
“And, if anyone thinks that you’ve been tainted by their magic, they just have to look at you and see who you truly are,” North said, causing Maddox to growl softly.
North held up his hands and shook his head. “I meant nothing by it.”
“They’ll have to go through me if they want to hurt her,” Maddox said, his voice still a growl.
Ellie turned in his lap and kissed his lips softly. “We’ll be okay, Maddox. You don’t have to punch everyone who looks at me weird.”
Maddox frowned at that. “They shouldn’t be looking at you weird—or at all for that matter. You’re mine.”
“It’s about time,” his wolf said.
Damn wolf.
“If you’re so worried about people looking at your mate, maybe you should mark her to make it public,” his father said pointedly.
He could feel the heat of Ellie’s pretty blush rush to her skin, and he kissed that fleshy part of her shoulder where he’d mark her later.
“Soon,” he said, leaving it at that. There was no need to let everyone know he was planning on taking her out of the house soon and marking her as his.
Slowly at first, then maybe fast and hard later.
Or, maybe the reverse of that.
His wolf growled, and his cock filled. Ellie froze on his lap, and he held back a groan. Yep, no hiding that from her, but first they had to deal with the one thing they hadn’t talked about…the one thing that he knew that could break them if they let it.
Shattered Emotions (Redwood Pack) Page 16
