Every Dawn Forever (5 page)

“We can make it one night without food,” Orion pointed out.  “We’ll leave as soon as the storm lets up and get something to eat at the first place we find.”

A small sound of pain came from Sydney and they turned as a group.  Orion moved to her slowly, afraid to spook her.  “Are you ill, sweetheart?”

She turned to look at him and a tear slid down her cheek.  “I don’t think anyone’s ever called me sweetheart.”

“Then it’s my pleasure to be the first.”

Her arms were wrapped around herself and she was clutching her sides.  She couldn’t hide that something was wrong.  Pain was evident in her eyes, and beads of sweat had popped up on her forehead.  It wasn’t exactly cool in the cabin, but it wasn’t sweltering either.

He lifted his hand to touch her forehead, worried she might be sick.  She flinched and took a step back.  Grimacing, she took a deep, trembling breath and said, “Sorry.  I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, sweetheart.  You’re safe now.”

She glanced out the window again.  “How can you be sure?”

“Do you think you were followed when you left your pack?”

She shook her head.

“And the bus station was empty, except for one employee that was in a back room watching TV.  He wasn’t even aware anyone had come in.  The parking lot was deserted, and we’ve been traveling for two hours by vehicle.”  He wanted to hold her in his arms and kiss away the worry, but he didn’t dare.  Even though his body rebelled at not comforting her, she wasn’t ready for anyone to touch her.  He could see that clearly.

Crux joined them.  “When the storm passes, we’ll be on our way.  We will keep you safe, Sydney.”

The rain began to pound harder against the roof, the wind howling outside as the storm raged.  Sydney hugged herself tighter and he wondered if it was a coping mechanism.  Maybe she’d never been hugged.

“Can I,” she cleared her throat, “can I use the bathroom?”

Did she feel like she needed to ask permission?  What kind of life had she been forced to endure?

“You don’t have to ask, sweetheart, of course.  Whatever you want to do is fine with us,” Orion promised.

She turned away from the window and hurried to the bathroom, shutting the door quickly.

With a sigh, Orion leaned against the rough wood wall and ran his hand through his hair.  He had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

* * * * *

Sterling scoured the small cabin, looking for something for Sydney to eat.  She looked as if she hadn’t eaten well in months, maybe years.  She was short, but she was thin, with dark circles under her eyes and a pale complexion that made him wonder if she spent much time in the sun at all.  Rage boiled inside him.  She’d clearly been abused.  The dress she wore revealed old and new bruises on her arms and legs.  He’d been raised to never lay a hand on a woman in anger.  He didn’t understand males that abused their women.  Having a mate was a sacred honor, and she was to be cherished and protected at all costs, not brutalized and ground under heel.

Crux asked, “Is there no food at all?”

Sterling shook his head.  There wasn’t a crumb to be found.  There had been vending machines at the bus station.  If he hadn’t been so overwhelmed at finding their mate, he would have been thinking more clearly and purchased some snacks.

Orion and Crux joined him in the kitchen. Orion lowered his voice.  “So we’re all in agreement that she’s our mate?”

Crux answered yes and Sterling nodded.  Orion let out a short breath.  “She’s just coming out of something bad.  The bruises alone tell a lot of her story, but she’s skittish as hell and half-starved.”

Crux said, “She needs to feel safe around us.  That could take a while.”

“She’s a wolf, so I’m sure that she’s feeling connected to us.  She needs time, so we’ll give it to her.  We want her to come to us because she wants us and cares for us.  Let’s give her the space she needs to find peace, and the rest will come in time.”

Sterling nodded silently, agreeing with everything his brothers had said.  It would be hard, but they would keep their hands to themselves because her happiness was the single most important thing in their lives now.

A small, muffled sound of pain came from behind the bathroom door and all three of them tensed.  He stepped forward, planning to find out what was wrong, when Orion caught his arm.  “Hold up, man.  We can’t go barging in there.”

Sterling bared his teeth.  “She’s hurting.”

The sound came again, and then a wave of her delicious scent washed over them.  Sterling closed his eyes and inhaled.  She smelled like she was aroused.

“Holy shit,” Crux said, shaking his head.

Orion swallowed hard and clenched his hands at his sides.  He took in a few deep breaths.  “I’m going to ask her if she’s okay.  If she says yes, then we’ll leave it at that.  If something is going on, then we’ll help her in any way that she’ll allow.”

Orion walked to the bathroom, his steps heavier than necessary so that he didn’t scare her when he knocked.

“Sweetheart, are you okay?  It sounded as if you were in pain.”

There was a long pause and then her voice came out, breathy and high.  “I-I’m fine, Orion.  I’ll just be a few minutes.”

“Take your time, sweetheart.  You can rest on the bed and we’ll leave when the storm passes.”

“O-okay,” she replied.

Crux moved to the bed and ripped the covers off, opening the front door and shaking them swiftly.  Dust flew off them.  Sterling didn’t think anyone had been inside the cabin for months.  Crux fixed the covers on the bed again, smoothing the top with nervous hands.  Sterling knew that Crux was feeling the strong desire to mate with Sydney, because he was feeling it himself.  But this wasn’t a normal situation.  They hadn’t met her for a date, they had rescued her from whatever hell she’d been trapped in for who knew how long.  Their mate needed time, and they would give it to her.

Another wave of heady arousal rolled over him and he groaned, nearly dropping to his knees.  It was definitely going to be a long night.

Chapter 5

Sydney clutched the edge of the sink as another stab of desire hit her like the lightning that flashed intermittently outside.  Her body was trembling, her heart racing, and desire wet her thighs.

When she was in the car with the three men, the desire that had struck her in the bus station had all but disappeared.  But the moment they left her standing alone in the cabin while they checked it over, the desire had come back full-force.  And then when they had surrounded her at the window again, it hadn’t gone away but had started to get worse.  Little pains stabbed at her insides while heat filled her body and desire coiled in her stomach.  Her nipples ached and her clit throbbed.  In all the times that Byron had drugged her, she’d never felt quite like this.  She wondered what exactly had been in the clear fluid he had injected her with.

He’d told her that she would be begging for his cock later.  In a moment of clarity she wondered if he’d managed to somehow drug her into a mating heat.  If the drugs had made her body ready to mate, then the pain would only continue to grow until she went crazy from it.  Unless she sated her body.

Another wave of desire poured over her and her knees went weak, but she managed to stay upright by clutching tightly to the sink.  She heard heavy footsteps and her first instinct was fear, immediately picturing Byron furious at her for escaping.

The knock wasn’t the violent pounding that Byron would have done, but a gentle rhythm followed by Orion’s voice, asking if she was okay.  Just the sound of his voice ramped up her feelings and made her long to throw open the door and fall into his arms.

She told Orion that she was fine, when she was anything but.  Desire hit her again; spots formed before her eyes, and she felt light-headed.  She didn’t know the three men in the cabin at all, but there was something about them that told her they wouldn’t hurt her.  The problem that lay before her now was that she didn’t think she could get through the night on her own.  Her blood felt like it was on fire, her stomach was tense, and her body ached for pleasure.

She couldn’t hide in the bathroom all night.  Just thinking about the three men made her heart go haywire.  They had such kind eyes.  And they were so big; especially Sterling, who was the biggest of the three.  She didn’t think she could get her hands around one of his biceps, they were so large.  They were gentlemen, that was clear.  They would never hit a woman in anger or for fun.  Tears burned in her eyes.  She’d never known real tenderness, real compassion.  On the other side of the door were three men that had come to help her.  And she’d never needed help more than she did at this moment.

Opening the bathroom door, she took in a breath and swooned as the scent of them crashed over her like a tidal wave.  Strong hands prevented her from hitting the ground, and in a blur of speed she was seated on the bed, the three men standing anxiously in front of her.  Crux raced to the kitchen and pumped water into the sink, pulling off his shirt and soaking it before wringing it out.  He approached her slowly, the folded wet shirt in his hand.  “Can I, Sydney?” he asked quietly.

Humiliation burned in her cheeks, but she nodded, hissing as the cool cloth touched her feverish neck.  “Are you ill?”  Sterling asked.  His tone was rough, but tender as well.

“My mate drugged me before he left me alone tonight.”

All three growled.  When she’d heard growling in the past, it always frightened her because it meant that Byron was just seconds away from beating her.  But she wasn’t afraid now.  She understood that their growls were directed at her past, not at her.

“What kind of drug?  Do you need a hospital?”  Orion demanded.

Crux patted her skin with the cloth, soothing her fevered flesh.  Licking her dry lips, she said, “When he did it before, it would make me feel crazy with need.  It wouldn’t go away until I satisfied the urges.  If I denied them, they just grew worse.  Whatever he did to me is like that, but worse.  My whole body aches with need.”

Crux tipped her chin up until she was looking at him.  The cloth lay pressed against her collarbone.  “Sydney, we’d never hurt you, I swear on my own life.  On all of our lives.  If you need help, if you need us in any way, then just say the word.”

Orion moved closer.  “Do you want us to go out and stay in the SUV so you can have privacy?”

She saw Sterling’s jaw clench, but he said nothing.  They were some kind of were-animal, so she knew they could smell her arousal.  Under their watchful gaze, she was starting to grow less self-conscious and more aware of how itchy her dress was and how good it would feel to touch them.  To have them touch her.  For the first time, the thought of a man’s hands on her body didn’t repulse her and fill her with shame.  But she didn’t think that it was just any man’s hands that would make her feel this way, it was Orion’s.  And Sterling’s.  And Crux’s.

A tingle wove down her spine as she thought about the three men touching her.  She’d never dreamed of anything like that in all her years.  Was such a thing possible?

Her breath came out in pants.  “Don’t leave, please.”

“What do you want us to do?”  Orion asked.

Need twisted through her and her eyes went out of focus for a moment.  Shaking her head until she could see clearly, she said, “Will you touch me?  Have sex with me?” She added hastily, “Just tonight, to help me through the drug?”

Crux frowned. “We don’t have any protection.”

She gripped his wrist.  “I’m on natural birth control, there’s no danger of me getting pregnant.  Please.  My body’s on fire.”  Shamelessly, she pleaded with her eyes, hoping they would take pity on her situation and help her.  She was aware she should feel humiliated, begging strangers for sex when she was still technically mated to Byron, but all she could think about was how good they smelled and how much she wanted them.  She’d never known compassion.  She’d never been touched tenderly.  And right now, she wanted that more than anything she’d ever wanted in her life. It seemed fitting to celebrate her freedom, and although she wished she wasn’t at the mercy of the drug, when she let her gaze roam down Crux’s muscular chest, she knew she wasn’t making a mistake.  She might only have tonight with them, but she was going to take what she could get and hold onto the memory for the rest of her life.

Crux brushed his lips across hers and she gasped in surprise.  Had it really been six years since she’d been kissed?  She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it until Crux’s soft lips were sweeping over hers.  The cloth was tossed aside and his hands touched her bare arms, his touch feather-light.  She shivered, her toes curling in her flip-flops.  She heard Orion and Sterling moving away and she leaned away from Crux’s lips and looked into his eyes.  Would he be mad if she asked his brothers to join them? Would he think her sudden thoughts of three sets of hands on her body perverted?

Somehow he seemed to sense her curiosity and desires, and he smiled.  “Do you want them to join us?  They will, but they won’t do anything you don’t want.”