Escaping Monsters: A Reverse Harem Wolf Shifter Romance (Grayhaven Book 1)

by Rita Stradling

  Oliver bellowed. “What the fuck? What the—”

  His words cut off, and a loud rustling sounded a few feet away.

  I squeezed my eyes tighter, even though Oliver’s fading order compelled them open. My defiance only made my lungs squeeze out all of my oxygen until my head pounded.

  Oliver cried out, but the sound was drowned out by the creature's laugh. The sound grew so loud my whole face throbbed with it. The creature had to be inches from my ear, and then the sound cut off abruptly, vanishing.

  As the last vestige of air in my lungs dissolved, I opened my eyes and was able to take a shallow breath as my gaze landed on Oliver.

  He crouched on the forest floor, in the same position he had been in before I’d closed my eyes. His face was turned away, and he glared into the darkening forest.

  My body attempted once more to force me to stand, and I cried out as pain exploded through my hind legs.

  Oliver’s light blue gaze snapped to me, and he looked me over.

  “What the…?” he whispered, and his gaze fell on the gun in his hand.

  My body tried to force me up again, and Oliver held out a hand.

  “Lay down, your back legs are broken,” he said, and the order pressed down on me. It was an order that I immediately obeyed, and as my wolf body collapsed on the forest floor, I was finally able to gasp in a full breath of air.

  My vision wavered, but I could still see Oliver raising his gun and pointing it straight down at my head.

  “This is a mercy,” he said, and his voice had changed. It was softer and a little sad like he pitied me.

  “Drop the gun, Oliver,” Jasper’s voice growled from somewhere deeper in the woods.

  Oliver spasmed, and his fingers opened wide. The gun tumbled to the pine needles on the forest floor, just before my muzzle.

  Quick as I could, I closed my mouth around the metal handle and flung the gun in the direction that Jasper’s voice had come from.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Oliver growled. He jumped to his feet, and his boot came down on my neck, he pressed down, but not enough to crush my throat. “What the fuck is this?”

  “Step away from the wolf, Oliver,” Jasper demanded as he stalked into my frame of sight.

  Oliver stepped away, but only a pace, and Jasper came to stand between me and Kane’s cruel enforcer.

  “How the fuck did you make me do that?” Oliver’s voice was one-part indignation and ten-parts disbelief like he had no idea how Jasper was controlling him. Meaning, that if this memory eater did eat Oliver’s memories, he took more than the recent ones. The man didn’t seem to remember that he was a werewolf.

  “We don’t want any trouble with you, Oliver,” Jasper growled. “We’re just here to take our wolf home. She’s hurt, and we want to take care of her.”

  There was a loud rustling, and then three more figures emerged from the woods. I could feel them before I could see them. Their magic flowed over me, a tingling warmth rejuvenating my exhausted form. They came to surround me, crouching down but facing Oliver.

  “We’re going to take you home, Teagan,” Declan whispered just above me. His voice was harsh, like the big guy was holding back emotion. Fingers combed through the fur around my neck, and I realized that the men were wrapping their hands around my iron necklace. I’d forgotten that it was even there, but I could feel them hold on tight to the chain.

  The implications of what they were doing were only just starting to click into place when a bright blue ball of glowing light ignited in the forest beside Oliver.

  “Wha—what is that?” Oliver spun to the globe of soft illumination, his eyelids going wide.

  “Come with me, Oliver Hunt, and I’ll give you power beyond your greatest fantasies,” a familiar female voice whispered. She’d spoken to me before in this very forest, promising to hide me where no one would ever find me again.

  “Do…” Oliver staggered back a step and then looked over at Jasper. “Do you hear that?”

  “Yeah, I hear it. That’s Mab, the Queen of the Fae. She’s speaking to you,” Jasper said, and he crouched down before me.

  “Oliver Hunt… come with me. I’ll give you everything you desire. Just follow my light.” The voice was soft and alluring, and I remembered with visceral clarity what it had felt like to be caught by the queen’s entrancing power.

  Oliver stepped away from Jasper and toward the light, his eyes glazing over. “Everything I want…”

  “Everything,” the voice promised. “You’ll be honored above everyone in my court. You will be the strongest, smartest, and most handsome. Fae will serve you, day and night. Your every desire will be fulfilled. My menagerie will center entirely on you. You will be treated with the importance you deserve.”

  “Come here…,” Oliver reached for the glowing globe, stumbling after it. As soon as his fingers were inches away, the glowing ball bounced away from him and moved deeper into the forest. Oliver scurried after it, falling into a jog. Within the space of a minute, he faded from view as the deep shadows of the nighttime forest fell over him.

  “Better fate than he deserves after what he did to Teagan and Chad,” Ace muttered from somewhere above me. Moonlight reflected off a tear that clung to Ace’s cheek.

  Chad.

  The name sent a pulse of pain through my heart.

  Oliver had shot Chad point-blank in the head. A whimper escaped me before I could stop it, and someone ran a hand down my back trying to comfort me.

  “Chad is alive, badly injured, but alive.” It was Lucas from somewhere behind me. I wanted to look at him, but I didn’t even have the energy to lift my head.

  Jasper looked down over his shoulder. “Did Oliver give you any order that would make you need to stay here?”

  My brain felt fuzzy, but when I thought over the orders Oliver gave me, I couldn’t think of a single one that would need me to stay here. His last physical order was for me to lay down, and I’d already done that. The only other order I had on me was to shut up. The order to look at Oliver was gone now. Nothing required me to stay here. I shook my head, and it was the last thing I did before darkness pulled me under.

  Chapter Twenty

  Two weeks later

  Sweat dripped down my face and neck as I woke pressed between a massive man and an even more massive wolf.

  “Too hot,” I muttered as I wiggled out from under the wolf and sat up.

  Declan raised his large muzzle, yawned, and rolled over to the side of the bed, giving me another couple inches of space. I glanced between him and Chad, who lay to my other side.

  “I’m thinking rub a dub dub, three werewolves napping in one bed is too hot for this lady…” I peeled my sweaty t-shirt away from my stomach.

  Chad murmured something unintelligible and rolled over toward me, and his eyes slid open. The former rockstar’s head was wrapped in a bandage, and I knew beneath, the scars were still raw and red.

  “Teagan,” he said, and his eyelids widened as if he was surprised to see me. “Did I do something wrong again?”

  “Not at all,” I whispered, instantly feeling bad for disturbing his sleep. I tucked his thick blond hair behind his ear. “Sorry for waking you.”

  He and I had been sharing a recovery bed for two weeks now while the other werewolves cycled through. Both Chad and I had been going in and out of recovery sleeps and keeping each other company as the good doc operated on us. The gun that Oliver shot Chad with had thankfully been loaded with regular, run-of-the-mill lead and copper ammo. The bullet had also gone in one side and out the other, which helped with healing, or so Lucas told us.

  Even though Chad and I were almost always sleeping, his living, breathing presence reassured me every moment of the day. He was alive. He was going to live. We both were healing from our injuries. It didn’t even seem possible, but we both somehow survived Oliver Hunt.

  “You’re awake,” Jasper’s familiar voice growled from the doorway.

  “We fell asleep.” I yawned
and lifted my head to look over at the burly alpha. “What time is it?”

  “Almost six.” His bright blue eyes met mine, and a warm smile spread across his lips.

  “Six? Are you serious?” A bubbling excitement rose in my belly, and I couldn’t help but smile. “Lucas finally agreed to have our date tonight, and my lazy ass almost napped through it.”

  “I’m sure Lucas wouldn’t mind pushing the date to next week if you don’t feel up to it,” Jasper said.

  “No. Nope. I’m up to it.” I scooted to the end of the bed and set my feet down on the cold wood flooring. My newly healed soles ached as I put weight on them, but it was a low throbbing pain, nothing like the sharp slicing agony that I’d been feeling for weeks.

  Jasper stepped into the room. “You want me to carry you?”

  “No—no thanks.” I waved him off. My feet were a little sore and legs just a tad bit wiggly under me, but if I had Jasper carry me around, Lucas would more than likely postpone our date once again.

  Jasper tilted his head. “Which way are you heading?”

  “The bathtub,” I said as I placed one hand on the wall and headed for that side of the room.

  Jasper pushed off the wall and headed past me, and a moment later, the sound of running water crashed down, and steam billowed out of the bathroom door. When I finally made it into the room, I found Jasper leaning down with one hand trailing in the water, his face tense with concentration. “I think this is the temperature you like.”

  I leaned into the counter. “You’re always taking care of me, Jasper.”

  My throat clogged, and I couldn’t find the words to say all the things I needed to say. It had been two weeks, and he and I had yet to talk about everything Oliver revealed that horrible night. The knowledge just sat there between us, this massive woolly mammoth in the room. I was a mass-murderer. I killed every person who wronged me or my family, and yes, I hadn’t had a choice, but it still had been my hand that wielded that blade. Oliver had told Jasper the most hideous, unforgivable part of my past. I had been the one who watched the life fade from their eyes. They had begged me to stop, not Kane or anyone else. They begged me, and I killed them.

  I shivered, even though the room was warm.

  “I’ll leave you to it, then.” Jasper stood and headed for the door, and the rock forming in my throat grew exponentially.

  “Jasper, I…”

  He turned, and his beautiful blue eyes met mine.

  The knot in my throat grew so large, there was no possible way that I could speak, so I just shook my head.

  “Thank you,” I managed.

  “I understand why you were willing to risk your life to protect Oliver Hunt,” Jasper said as if he read my mind. “I hope you don’t think that played any part in what happened to Chad.”

  “Of course it did,” I whispered.

  Jasper’s jaw clenched, and he shook his head slowly. “That part is entirely my fault, Teagan. You don’t get to share the blame for that one.”

  “I stopped you from killing Oliver, and Oliver shot Chad in the head,” I said. “It seems pretty simple to me.”

  “It wasn’t that simple. Chad is used to having public orgies in our living room. He’s overtly sexual, and I was afraid that his nature would scare you away. So, I pushed him into situations he shouldn’t have been put in and punished him for being himself.” Jasper sighed. “Chad was not the right person to guard you. I should have assigned Declan to the job. It had needled me at the time, but I wanted to show you that Chad wasn’t a threat to you.”

  I nodded because even though Jasper wasn’t directly addressing what he had assumed, I immediately got his meaning. Jasper had assumed that Kane forced me to have sex with him. It was the obvious assumption, but Kane had wanted me to fulfill a different need in him.

  “Kane killed seven wives before he found me. He felt a need to control every moment of their day. Any disobedience from his previous wives sent him into a rage, and he murdered them. Afterward, he felt so much remorse that he’d pledge to never marry again. But…” I paused to turn off the faucet and dip my fingers in the warm water. The heat did nothing to warm the chill that was running through me from my memories of the alpha who claimed to be my husband. “Kane is lonely. That’s too sweet a word for what he is. I guess the true words for what Kane is would be desperately alone. He wanted someone to come home to and tell about his day. He wanted someone to fill in his need for companionship. He wanted someone to understand him.”

  “That’s why Kane used your omega powers to kill people?” Jasper said it like a statement of fact. “So you’d understand him better?”

  “I’m the one who killed those people, Jasper,” I whispered.

  “No, you’re not,” Jasper said, succinctly.

  “Those people were my enemies. They were people I named. I held the knife that ended their lives.”

  “And, if it was a choice between you living or your enemy surviving those nights, you would have chosen death. You showed all of us that. Oliver deserved to die. I’m guessing most of the people Kane killed from your past deserved to die. I think that they were likely human predators who preyed on the vulnerable, but even if they deserved to die, you weren’t the one who killed them. Kane killed them, and he forced you to be there for it.”

  A warm tear trickled onto my cheek, and I wiped it away. “It can’t be that simple.”

  Jasper closed the distance, and his hands wrapped around either side of my head. As soon as my second tear fell, he wiped it away with his thumb. “It is that simple. Kane tortured and abused you for his sick gratification, and he will never, ever get near you again. I didn’t understand before, but I do now, and what happened that night with Oliver will never happen again.”

  “You did everything you could to protect me,” I said.

  “No I didn’t, but that changes now. You are my mate, and I promise you that I will protect you from any threats that come, Teagan.” His lips came down on mine, and the chill lingering in my chest finally melted away. Jasper broke off his kiss, and whispered, “We’re going to protect you, Teagan.” His forehead pressed to mine. “Do you need help getting into the bath?”

  I bit my lip and chuckled. “If you undress me right now, Jasper, I’d end up jumping your bones, and that wouldn’t be fair to Lucas.”

  “So… you and I shouldn’t have sex if you’re about to go on a date with someone else?” Jasper asked with his brow furrowed.

  I bit my lip and shook my head. “Better if we don’t.”

  “I’ll remember that.” Jasper leaned in and inhaled deeply, and I got the feeling he was scenting me in all my sweaty glory. “The Queen of the Fae sent you that dress. Do you want to wear it tonight? Declan says the witches and demons fully examined the material and didn’t find any sort of enchantment on it.”

  “I guess… it’s gorgeous. It feels a little weird accepting her gifts because we stood by and didn’t stop her from abducting Oliver Hunt.”

  The demons had been the ones to inform the fae queen that there was a werewolf stray on the loose, and no one in Grayhaven would be whatsoever aggrieved if Oliver Hunt disappeared and was never seen from again.

  Jasper and the other members of the Grayhaven pack simply didn’t stop the plot from unfolding. Their original plan was to kill Oliver Hunt, but Ace had argued that this was the solution I would have felt more at peace with. Ace told the demons that I planned to call the memory eater, and they gave the creature the command to take all of Oliver’s memories, not simply the traumatic ones. Oliver Hunt likely didn’t even know who or what he was now, and he didn’t remember who I was. Meaning, even if Oliver Hunt managed to escape the fae queen, he wasn’t the same level of threat he was two weeks ago.

  “Go ahead and take your bath.” Jasper nodded. “I’ll leave your dress in our room.”

  Twenty minutes later, when I reemerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, I found the bedroom was empty. Someone had changed the sheets and made Jaspe
r’s bed, and the gauzy fae dress lay over the comforter.

  The gown smelled of flowers, and the deep blue silken material was petal-soft. I carefully pulled it up my body, expecting the dress to fall apart at any moment, but the material held strong as it molded around my curves. Ribbons tied up the back, held by a single bow at my neck. I slipped on my boots, as they were much nicer than my sneakers, and scrunched up my fading pink hair. I turned to the door, and for a moment, I lamented that I didn’t have so much as a tube of lipstick.

  The thought almost made me laugh. A little over a month ago, I was on the run for my life and I’d have only bought makeup if it was part of a disguise. How much my life had changed in the course of such a short time.

  Taking a steadying breath, I pushed the door open, only to find rose petals littering the floor of the living room in a path that headed down into the hallway. Declan stood to the side, hastily dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

  “You changed fast…” I said before biting my lip. When Declan only grinned at me, I asked, “Have you seen Lucas?”

  Declan nodded his head at the line of rose petals. “You’re supposed to follow the crushed flower path. I’m just here in case you need any help walking.”

  “Oh.” I grinned up at the massive werewolf. “So, you’re on board with this date business, then?”

  He tapped the side of his forehead and then pointed at me. “Taking mental notes of how I’ll do it better.”

  I laughed and turned to the rose path. “I’d tell you not to worry about my walking, but honestly, having you watching out that I don’t eat shit would be amazing.”

  My feet had healed, but the two weeks I’d spent in bed made me feel like I was constantly missing a step and about to topple over.

  Declan held out a hand, and I wrapped my fingers around his huge, warm palm. The petals led out toward the garage and then took a sharp turn toward the stairway up to the roof.

  I grinned over at Declan. “Are we heading to Chad’s famous herb garden? I’ve never gone up.”