Convincing Emily [Wolff Pack 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (3 page)

Thomas ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stand on end. His sister was behaving irrationally, and he didn’t have a clue what to do in this situation. He was only a couple of years older than her, but if he ever found his mate, he wouldn’t care if she was a damn bunny shifter, she would be marked and his within minutes. He wouldn’t allow her to run or hop away from him. The corner of his mouth lifted in humor. He cleared the thought before he laughed outright.

“What?” Emily demanded, and Thomas shook his head. He needed to focus on the problem at hand instead of fantasizing about the future.

“Em…you’ve been waiting for your mates. They’re here.” He implored, trying to get through to her, but he could tell she’d already shut him out.

It was obvious her stubborn, stupid thoughts were jumbling up that pretty head of hers. She was his sister and he loved her, but the woman could be stubborn to the point of stupidity.

When the wolves had announced she was their mate, his first instinct was to shift, congratulate her, and welcome them. Watching her reject them and run was a bit surprising, not only to him, but the rest of the clan. He couldn’t even imagine what her mates were thinking.
Poor bastards. They’ve got a long road ahead of them.

“I don’t want them.” Her words were whispered, and his stomach clenched at the implication of it.

He could barely speak. She was actually going to reject them and send them on their way? She was that selfish?

“You…They…I mean.” He ran a hand down his face. “You don’t mean that. You’ve been talking about being ‘saved’”—he put that last word in air quotes—“by two mates ever since you knew boys existed.”

“I’ve changed my mind.” Emily brushed past him and went into her room. The door shut in his face with finality.

Thomas stood there, staring at her closed bedroom door in utter shock. Rejecting one’s mate or mates wasn’t something shifters took lightly. In fact, he couldn’t think of an instance where it had ever happened before. It was unheard of. Shifters waited years, hoping and praying one day they would find the perfect match, and here Emily had two men right in front of her. Not only was she dooming herself to a life of loneliness, she was damning her mates as well.

Thomas raised his hand to knock, and then let it drop. He turned on his heel and strode to the kitchen, muttering something about silly women and bunnies. First order of business was grabbing a beer from the fridge. It had been a hell of a day. It had started out like any other and took a turn for the worse with the arrival of the last two wolves. After going to work, he’d gone to see his sister at Mack’s Bar and Grill. When the call came in that the Youngblood brothers needed the clan, he was the first to volunteer. It had been a while since he’d been in a good fight and he’d been itching for some excitement.

Damn…if only Emily would’ve stayed behind.
She never did listen to him. The woman was single-minded, and once she got an idea, there was no stopping her. She would argue with him even when she knew he was right. Thomas fell into his favorite chair and took a long pull from his beer. The icy-cold beverage felt good sliding down his throat, and he let his head fall back with a sigh. He could hear his sister pacing above him in her room and he felt a twinge of sympathy for her. She was only prolonging the inevitable and the longer she rebelled, the more her mates would suffer.
Poor bastards
. He couldn’t help but feel bad for them, they didn’t ask for this any more than his sister did.

Thomas hated to get involved, but something needed to be done. The last thing he wanted was for two macho wolves to be camping outside their home or worse, invading it. There are no boundaries when it comes to a mate. Nope, that wouldn’t do. Kicking back in his chair, Thomas dug into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. There was only one person that could help in this situation, and he gave the orders around here.

“Yeah,” a gruff voice said through the phone, and Thomas relaxed slightly. He’d made the right decision.

“Alpha, its Thomas, do you have a minute?”

“Let me guess, this has something to do with Emily.” Thomas could hear the laugh in the other man’s voice. Whenever he needed Emily to follow orders, he had to enlist their Alpha to enforce them.

“Doesn’t it always?” He smiled.

“I know you’re probably concerned about the two wolves claiming her. They’re here in my home right now getting settled. I’m hoping you and Emily can come over tonight for dinner. I’m sure when she spends some time with them it will alleviate some of her fears.” There was a pause. “Not all wolves are bad, and these two seem pretty honorable.”

Thomas blew out a breath and took another drink of his beer. “She’s aware they are her mates and mean her no harm, yet she’s adamant about not accepting them. That’s the problem.”

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. “She’s just a little afraid. It won’t be a problem after dinner. Come on over and bring Emily.” It was not a request.

“Yes, Alpha.” Thomas ended the call not feeling any better than he did ten minutes ago.

He wasn’t convinced the Alpha understood Emily’s position here. Hell, truth be told, neither did he. There was more going on here than he realized. One didn’t just turn their back on a mate, no matter their origin.

Thomas emptied his beer and stared at the pictures on the wall across the room. Most of them were of him with Emily and several clan members. His gaze landed on a single framed picture of his parents. His eyes softened, and an old familiar ache settled in his chest. He set his empty bottle on the end table and pushed his big body up from the chair to get a better look. He crossed the room in a few long strides and plucked it up from the shelf it rested on. A sad smile lifted the corner of his mouth and he ran a finger across his mother’s face.

“Sure wish you were here.” Thomas stared at his parents a minute longer before replacing the image back to its designated spot.

The pacing upstairs suddenly stopped and Thomas listened for any sign of Emily leaving her room. He needed to break the news to her about dinner at the Alpha’s and hoped she didn’t throw a fit. When they were younger, he would throw her over his shoulder when she was being difficult, but somehow Thomas didn’t think that would go over too well as an adult. He inwardly cringed at the thought.

The bedroom door opened with a creak, and Thomas hid his smile. Emily never could stay locked up in her room for long. She hated being alone. He turned to face her when she entered the room wearing jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and black knee-high boots. Thomas raised his eyebrows in question, but was only met with a frown.

He opened his mouth to say something and Emily held up her hand to stop him.

“I didn’t go grocery shopping yesterday. Can we go out and grab some dinner?”

“O–o–okay…are we going to talk about…” He let the sentence trail off, not really sure how to voice the question.

“I’m hungry, and I really don’t want to talk about anything else but food. Nothing happened. End of story.”

“Seriously? Come on, Emily…” he said, disbelieving.

Something was off, he could feel it. He took a step toward her and she made a big pretense of looking for her purse. She completely ignored his inquiry, silently telling him, “End of subject.”

“Fine. Dinner. Let’s go.” He pushed his unease back and waved her ahead of him to the door. He would take her to the Alpha’s and force her to face this problem head-on. If she wouldn’t open up and talk to him about what was bothering her, his hands were tied. The wolves wouldn’t tuck tail and run. She was their mate whether she liked it or not. They were actually showing great restraint. Hell, if he were in their shoes, he would have stormed her home and demanded answers.

Thomas shut the door behind them with more force than necessary. Emily glanced back at him with a slight frown on her pretty face. “Problem?” He just shook his head and started down the steps, urging her forward toward his truck.

He pressed the keyless entry and heard the satisfying sound of the locks springing up. They climbed in and pulled on their seatbelts in silence. After making sure Emily was safely buckled in, he started the engine and eased down the snow-covered driveway. At the main road, Thomas turned right without taking his eyes off the road. He saw Emily glancing around a second before her pissed-off gaze landed on him.
Here it comes.

“Tommy…Where the hell are we going?”
How many times have I asked her to call me Thomas?
“Tommy!” He didn’t answer. Nothing he said would make a difference at this point. “Fine. Forget it.”

With those three words, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the window. He stole a glance at her and almost changed his mind. She looked so lost and small it tugged at his heart. He pressed the gas harder before he turned the truck around. He was doing the right thing. He hoped.

* * * *

The silence in the truck was deafening. Emily hated not being honest with her brother, but she was too ashamed to tell him the truth. She continued to stare out the window while memories from her past flashed through her mind in a kaleidoscope of painful images. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes in an attempt to stop the thoughts before they took hold. The old wound was still there, and being in the same room with wolves would only risk it reopening. It was like picking at a scab until it was raw and bleeding again.

She was a bear…they were wolves. The two didn’t belong together. She would go to her Alpha’s for dinner and get this over with as quickly as possible. They could both go home to their pack and she would stay where she was, with her clan. There could be another mate out there for her. Emily shook her head even as the thought entered her mind. The chances of that were almost zero and she wasn’t going to kid herself.
Better to be alone.
Everything would work out, it had to.

The landscape flew by and as they approached their Alpha’s home, Emily’s muscles tensed. Her palms became sweaty, and she suddenly felt nauseous. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, but it did little good. She considered pleading with Thomas once more but decided it wouldn’t help. He would only tell her to grow up, and who could blame him? He had no way of knowing what she was feeling, or the reasons behind the off behavior.

Emily held her breath while Thomas turned in to the drive leading to Adam, Brandon, and Chloe’s home.
I can do this. I am strong. I am in charge of my own life.
She repeated the words several times in her mind as the truck came to a stop. Smoke billowed out of the chimney, the lights were warm and welcoming, and only a few vehicles sat outside covered in snow.

The passenger-side door suddenly opened, and Emily jerked back in surprise, holding tight to her seatbelt.

“Let’s go.” Thomas held out a hand.

Emily resigned herself to getting the night over with as quickly as possible. She released the clasp on her seatbelt and turned to face her brother. The scent slammed into her so strong, her heart flipped.
Wolf
. Emily scrambled to the driver’s side without further thought. She reached for the ignition and found it empty. Her brother had taken the keys.

Thomas was around the truck in an instant. He opened the door and wrapped his hands around her upper arms. “Calm down, Em. It’s fine. Come on.”

He gave a slight tug to make his point. Emily’s eyes scanned the darkness for any sign of the owner of the scent she’d picked up a second ago. Nothing. She leaned forward so Thomas could help her out and her shoe caught on the release bar under the driver’s seat. She yanked her foot as Thomas let go of her, twisting around.

Emily threw up her hands to brace her fall and protected her face as she fell from the truck cab and toward the unforgiving ground. This was going to hurt. Pain shot through her left wrist on impact, ripping a cry from her throat. She heard her brother’s sudden intake of breath and his arms were suddenly around her.

“Emily?” His hands made purchase with her injured wrist, forcing another cry from her. “Em, are you…” Umph. He was suddenly knocked off her. It was such a shock. It took a minute for Emily to realize what was happening.

“Don’t ever touch my mate!
Mine
!” the voice snarled.

Thomas was on his back with one of her mates on top of him.
Since when do I refer to them as mine?
The guy had her brother by the collar and his fist drawn back.

Emily finally found her voice. “No, don’t! Please, he’s my brother,” she pleaded.

His head snapped in her direction, his gaze seeming unfocused. Thomas took that moment to flip the big guy off him. They both sprang to their feet, adrenaline making their breaths come in fast pants.

“A little help here?” She moved on the ground, trying to stand up and cradle her wrist in her other arm at the same time. She felt like such a klutz, and of course it all happened in front of one of her mates. Again.

The stranger approached her. “Mate…” he growled deep in his chest.

That one word had a physical effect on her. Immediately her pussy gushed and her pulse jumped, slamming her heart into her throat. The animal was close to the surface. She could see the shadow of the wolf within. Tentatively, he reached out a hand and, using his fingertips, touched her face, making her shiver. Emily wanted to move, to create space, but she didn’t want to upset the beast. The man she could deal with, but the animal…she wasn’t sure she could handle.