Reviving Bloom (Bloom Daniels Series)

by michelle turner

  “Show me,” I growl standing up and stomping back in the direction of the entrance to our suite.

  The living room and hallway leading into our suite is filled with shifters in differing levels of their change. The lesser wolves completely shifted into their wolf forms when I had let loose my anger. They can’t stop themselves from heeding the call of their alpha. The stronger wolves abstained mostly, some have their claws and teeth extended, but the top wolves like Tucker were able to refrain from the shift all together.

  I pass them by without a word. My shoulders are back and my determined gait takes me swiftly towards the door. I know I’m pushing my dominance over everyone in the room I can hear the weaker wolves whimpering as I pass, but I don’t have enough control of my emotions or my wolf to rein it in.

  The scent of Bloom’s fear hits me a few feet from the door. It’s so strong that it washes out the other scent that I can tell is mixed in with it. Kyran’s scent lingers just inside the door. I bypass it because I don’t need to identify him, I know he helped and he’s on my list for retribution. His sister won’t be saving his ass after this foolish move. I lean in close to the door handle, where the unidentified scent is strongest and inhale deeply.

  Yanking the handle out of the door frame I throw it through the wall across from the entrance and growl, “TRACE!”

  “The human from Ohio?” Tucker asks from behind me.

  I spin on him and grab the front of his shirt, “Yes! Find him. Kill him.” Once my orders are out I can’t control my shift any longer. I fall on all fours in my wolf form and let out a howl calling my pack to action.

  Chapter 34 – Bloom

  ~ You gave me life again and the darkness went away~

  My head is fuzzy and I’m not sure where I am. I can feel a scratchy blanket against my bare legs and I know my hands are handcuffed above my head. Opening my eyes and looking around I find myself in what has to be a rundown motel. There are two full size beds, each with ugly gold and burgundy blankets on them. That explains the scratchy material under my legs. Facing the bed is an off white dresser with an older television on top. The paint is chipped and some of the drawers are hanging in their slots crooked. To my left is a bathroom. I can tell by the light that has been left on that it’s in desperate need of a scrubbing. To my right is a wall of curtains that hide me from the world outside and the door. It will be my only way out if I can find a way to get out of these handcuffs. I look up where my hands are bound and find the handcuffs are hooked through a metal circle in the light fixture right above the headboard.

  There are voices right outside the door. Whatever is being said is heated, but I can’t hear exactly what it is. Though I can tell it is Trace and Kyran. I have to get out of here, I don’t know what Kyran is planning to do with me, but I know Trace is going to follow through with what he started at the lake. And this time I don’t have Pike here to save me. Shit Pike, I can try to contact him through our bond. I’ve never done it with him being so far away and he’s never told me if there are limitations, but right now it’s my only shot.

  “Pike, please say you can hear me.” I repeat the same sentence over and over through our bond. My eyes are closed and I’m doing everything I can to concentrate on our connection.

  Finally after what seems like hours, but is really just minutes, I hear his voice, “Oh darlin’. Thank the lord.”

  “Tennessee, Kyran and Trace have me,” I start but I’m cut off by him.

  “We know darlin’. I’m tracking your scent. Do you have any idea where you are? Are they there with you?”

  “I’m in some run down motel, but I’m not sure where. They knocked me out before they took me. They’re outside the door. I think they’re fighting, but I can’t hear what about. Tennessee, please hurry.”

  “I will baby. I think I may know the motel, we’ll be there soon.”

  The sound of the door opening pulls me out of our connection and I turn to see my two captors standing there watching me.

  Kyran looks me over then says, “Shit she’s awake. I thought I told you to dose her again.”

  Trace looks me over too, but his look shows he clearly isn’t upset about me being awake, “She’s more fun this way.”

  “You moron, now she can contact him. She probably already has!” He screams and pushes the other man.

  “Jesus calm down, it’s not like she has access to a phone. Her fucking hands are cuffed.” Trace pushes him back.

  “I told you she doesn’t need a phone. They are mates. They have a connection and can speak through it.” Kyran steps back and begins to furiously fist his hands through his blonde hair.

  “Fuck not that shit again, man. You keep that shifter crap up and someone will lock you away. I’ve known my little flower all her life. If she’s a wolf then I’m a fucking fairy.” Trace laughs at Kyran.

  Kyran looks at Trace and me multiple times then says, “Fuck this! He’s probably already on his way. I’m out of here.” His eyes land back on Trace and he tells him, “If you’re smart you’ll pack her ass up and high tail it out of here too. Take her far away from here and keep her drugged and maybe he won’t find you … maybe.”

  He looks back at me and I try to hold out hope that he’ll finally see me as his sister and not his enemy, but his eyes are cold and uncaring and I know he’ll never see me as anything other than the person who’s tearing apart his family. He grabs a black duffle bag by the door and takes off, leaving me alone with Trace.

  He shuts the door and locks it then advances to the bed I’m trapped on. His eyes slither up my body, making me wish I had dressed in layers instead of the sundress I put on for the breakfast with the Elders. He stops at the end of the bed and pulls off his dark green polo shirt. He kicks off his sneakers then drops his hands to the button of his khaki cargo shorts. He makes quick work of the button and zipper and they drop to the floor around his ankles.

  I scoot myself further up on the bed, getting as close to the head board as possible. My legs are bent at the knees and I cross my ankles and gather my legs close to my body. He watches me struggle to get away from him and the more I do the larger his grin gets. He hooks his thumbs into the waist band of his boxers and I slam my eyes shut. I don’t want to see his naked body. He laughs at my action and says, “I’ll save that for later. Right now I want to play with my little flower.”

  I feel the bed give way under his weight as he crawls up the bed to get to me. He grabs one of my ankles and pulls me out of the protected position I’ve put myself in. I kick and buck trying to get loose of his grasp, but he’s larger and stronger. He pins my legs down by straddling them.

  “Pike, please hurry,” I beg through our connection.

  “What’s going …” he starts to ask but stops when he catches my thoughts and growls, “That bastard is going to die!”

  Trace’s hands climbing up my thighs tear me out of the connection. His fingers are skimming the hem of my dress and his voice is vibrating with pleasure when he whispers, “So beautiful.”

  I can’t take any more. I can’t allow him to do this to me. I jerk on my cuffs over and over screaming, “No, get the hell off of me.” On the fifth or sixth yank, I feel the light fixture come out of the wall. It’s still attached to my cuffs so I swing it at Trace’s head. It connects with a loud crunch. I take advantage of his surprise and push him off of me. I scramble off the bed and back away from him.

  He’s holding the side of his head that’s now oozing blood and cusses, “Fuck Bloom. What the hell?”

  Is he serious? I glare at him, “You fucking kidnapped me and was planning on raping me you sick bastard!” I advance on him and swing the light fixture at his head again. I know I should be bolting out the door, but my anger has gotten the better of me and now I can’t see pass wanting to cause him bodily harm.

  The fixture connects on the opposite side of his head as the previous blow and he cusses me again, “Damn it, Bloom, stop!”

  “Bloom, Bloom, BLOOM?” I
scream my voice getting prominently louder with each repetition. “What happened to my little flower, huh?” He has both of his arms up trying to protect his head from any more damage as I continue swinging my make shift weapon and ranting.

  “Your fucking flower isn’t as weak as you hoped is she?” I sneer as I take a shot at his stomach. I’m so wrapped up in my revenge that I don’t hear the door being busted in or the wolves that are piling in behind me. I just kept taking swing after swing at my kidnapper.

  Traces arms fall away from protecting his head and his mouth falls open as he gasps, “What the hell?” His surprise gives me the shot I want so I slam the light fixture into his head again knocking him flat on his back.

  “That’s what you get you fucking asshole!” I scream at his prone body. Blood is seeping from the wounds on his head, but I ignore it and decide he needs kicked for good measure. I land one kick to his side before I feel strong arms circle around my middle. I begin to struggle and try to swing, but Pike presses his lips to my ear and whispers, “Darlin’ that’s enough. I’m here.”

  I sag with relief in his arms. He turns me so I’m facing his chest and holds me close as I bawl. He kisses the top of my head then twists his neck and orders, “Tuck, check to see if he’s still alive. Price, see if you can find the key to the handcuffs.”

  I’m not sure if they nod or just get to their tasks because my face is buried in Pike’s chest, but I know they are doing as ordered. Tucker moves to pass by us, but stops at my side to place a kiss on my temple. Then he leans into my ear and whispers, “I’m glad you’re safe, sis.”

  I turn my face from Pike’s chest so I can look into my brother’s eyes and whisper back, “Thanks for coming to save me, little brother.”

  He looks over at the still unmoving form of Trace and says, “Looks like you saved yourself. Next time maybe you can save some of the fun for us.”

  “Tucker,” Pike growls making me giggle.

  “Okay, no next time geez.” Tucker laughs then goes to check out Trace.

  From behind us Price hollers, “I found them.”

  “Good lord, no need to scream just bring me the damn keys,” Pike grumbles sticking out his hand for the keys.

  “Sorry Alpha,” Price says dropping the key into Pike’s hand.

  “It’s okay, Price,” he tells him then gently takes hold of my wrists and removes the cuffs. “How do they feel, darlin’?”

  I massage my right wrist with my left hand as I answer, “Much better.” With the handcuffs off and the adrenaline leaving my body I finally take notice of my mate. My eyes get large as I scan him from head to toe, “Tennessee, you’re … you’re naked!”

  Price and Tucker laugh and Pike grins at me. “That’s very observant of you, darlin’.”

  “Were you holding me naked?” I know my face is turning ten shades of red, which is making his grin grow impossibly wider.

  “Yes.”

  “Why they hell are you naked?” I demand.

  “Calm down darlin’,” he tries to step closer but I step back and grab the blanket off the bed closest to us and threw it at him.

  “Stop coming closer and put that on, geez, you could take an eye out with that thing.”

  Pike wraps the cover around his waist and laughs, “We’re shifters darlin’, you’re gonna have to get use to nudity. We don’t shift back fully dressed.”

  “We’re designating a shifting zone in the pack house! I don’t want to see a bunch of naked shifters running around all the time,” I demand which gets me more chuckles from the three shifters in the room with me.

  “We’ll talk about it at the next pack meeting, darlin’.” Pike tries to placate me.

  “I’m serious, Tennessee!” I stomp my foot to get my point across.

  He pulls me into his arms again and says, “I know, darlin’. We’ll talk about it later. Now, let’s get you out of here and back to the house.”

  “Okay, but shouldn’t we call the law?” I ask turning my attention back to Trace’s body. He hasn’t moved or made a sound since the last time I connected with his skull.

  “Price, go get Louie. Tell him to take over the scene and he can come to the house when he’s done here to get Bloom’s statement,” Pike orders.

  I look up at him and then at the door as Price exits and ask, “Who’s Louie?”

  “He’s the sheriff and he’s part of the pack.” I let it sink in that the town sheriff is a shifter also and I can’t come up with a suitable response. Pike gives me a squeeze, “Don’t worry darlin’, Louie isn’t gonna to cover this up. You killed him in self defense and that will be put in his report.”

  “I killed someone,” I say softly trying to bury my face in his chest.

  He takes hold of my shoulders and holds me back so he can look at my face, “You protected yourself.”

  “But …” I begin.

  “No darlin’, I won’t let you blame yourself for something he brought on himself. Twice he kidnapped you and attempted to ….” He takes a moment to rein in his emotions then he continues, “He attempted to rape you. I won’t let you feel bad for defending yourself.”

  I place my hands on either side of his face, “Pike.”

  He covers my hands with his own and cuts me off, “No, Bloom. I won’t let you.”

  “I wasn’t going to fight you, Tennessee.”

  “You weren’t?” He asks clearly surprised.

  “No, I was just going to tell you I love you.”

  “I love you too.” I pull his face closer to mine and kiss him letting our lips prove how much we mean to each other.

  A cough coming from behind us pulls us apart, “Umm I hate to break this up, but I thought you might want reminded that your brother is in full view of your little show. And he really doesn’t want to see his sister and his best friend trying to swallow each other’s tongues.”

  I bury my face in Pike’s chest to hide my laugh. Pike stares at his friend and says, “Get over it, brother. She’s my mate and I’ll probably be kissing her in front of you a lot.”

  “Okay, just saying you wouldn’t like it if I was sucking on your sister’s tongue in front of you,” Tucker says holding up his hands in surrender.

  Price walks back in and laughs, “You better not suck on Emily’s tongue at all. Kit would skin you alive.”

  “I was just trying to explain the situation you two put me in when you latched onto each other at the mouth. I wasn’t really going to make a move on Emily,” Tucker grumbles as he stomps out of the room, apparently deciding he can’t be around Pike and my show of affection any longer.

  I can feel Pike silently laughing against me as he forces out, “Come on darlin’, let’s head home. We wouldn’t want to sicken anyone else when we decide to become attached at the mouth.”

  “Stop being an ass!” Tucker yells from outside the room.

  “Tennessee, stop messing with Tucker and take me home,” I demand curling deeper into his arms.

  “Anything you want darlin’,” Pike promises placing a kiss to my forehead.

  Louie came and interviewed me at our suite and Pike held my hand as I told him everything that happened from the time I opened the door till Pike pulled me into his arms at the motel. He told me that charges won’t be pressed against me since I was defending myself. He also promised that they’d be searching for Kyran, and then he left Pike and me alone.

  I took a shower to wash away the grime of the day and gave my sundress to Pike with the order to have it burned. After I got dressed, I join Pike in the living room on the couch. He pulls me into his side. I wrap my arms around his middle and lay my head on his shoulder.

  “I’ve been in your life a little over a week and you’ve been in harm’s way twice,” Pike speaks to the room instead of looking at me. I can feel through the bond how he’s blaming himself for my second abduction.

  I let go of his waist and climb up to straddle his lap so we’re face to face. I wait for his ocean blue eyes to meet mine and th
en I say, “Pike Lukas Masterson, just like you told me two hours ago, you will not blame yourself.”

  “Bloom, I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

  “You will not go there. We all thought I’d be safe in this room and even after what happened I still feel safe here.”

  He searches my face and then asks, “How? After everything that happened here today, how can you still feel safe here? How can you still trust me to protect you?”

  I position my hands on each side of his face and rest my forehead against his, “I know we’ve discussed this before but let me explain again. Pike, when you found me I was dying. There was nothing but blackness around me and an empty hole where my heart should’ve been. Then you showed up and you revived me. You gave me life again and the darkness went away. If I can trust you to bring me back to life after a year of being dead to the world around me, I have no doubts that I can trust you to keep the life you gave me safe.”