Gifted with Hydrangea (5 page)

Mental breakdown. That’s
it. I’ve had a mental breakdown.

A very muscular, naked man walked around and stood
beside the horse. Ignoring the full body of naked perfection standing before
him, and not feeling any arousal for him—
weird
—Heath
looked at the man’s face, and recognized him as one of the men he’d seen with
Enzo. He inhaled sharply. “You!”

The man shifted to one leg and placed his hands on his
hip. “You know me?”

Heath was reluctant to admit any
more than he just did.
He could blame it later on
trauma, or shock, or something, for giving away so much already. He curled his
lips in, and darted his eyes around.

The man looked at the horse. “Looks like you get to be
ridden, Marley. Too bad it isn’t the good kind.”

The man grabbed his arm, pulling him forward. Heath
yanked his arm back, but the man was fast and had a hold on him again, with
both hands.

Heath felt hot breath puff against the side of his
face as the man leaned close and spoke quietly in his ea
r
. “I’m going to put you on Marley’s back. If you try
to run, it would make your day a whole lot worse. We both can easily chase you
down. Do you understand?”

Heath whimpered and jerked his head in a rough nod.
After he was placed on the back of the horse, he watched as the naked man
shifted into the large wolf he’d seen earlier. Heath’s eyes grew big, and he
held on tight to the back of the horse, fighting the desire to faint.
What have I gotten into?

Chapter Five

Ryker sat at a desk in
Alphy’s
office and focused on the information he had uncovered. He had already found
everything he needed on Grey’s sister and her mate, Craig, to get their
approval for pack membership. Now he was trying to look into her missing best friend,
Lizzy. However, it was proving difficult.

“
How’s it
comin
’?”

Ryker looked up and saw his mate looking as sexy as
ever, leaning against the doorjamb. He let his eyes rake down the toned body
and sighed. Even though
Rudo
was dressed, he was
still sexy. Ryker’s dick began to swell.

Ryker tried to clear his voice from the low octave it
wanted to drop to. “Mostly done, but I’m having difficulties with Lizzy’s
information. You finished packing?”

“
Yes, I didn’t have much, only a few pairs of sweats
and shirts, so I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty to pack for you.”

Ryker couldn’t keep his voice from lowering this time.
“No, I don’t mind at all.”

“
What the hell!”
Alphy’s
raised voice came from behind
Rudo
. He didn’t sound
seriously angry, but there was an edge of annoyance to his tone.

Rudo
straightened up from the
doorjamb and backed away into the hall.
Alphy
walked
through and went directly to a window, opening it. He turned and leaned against
the window, and crossed his arms.

“
Sorry, boss,” Ryker said, and looked down.

Alphy
laughed. “You two are fine. Just remember this is
my
workplace, so no office sex in it.”

Ryker snickered. “Right, only you and your honey-bear
are allowed to have sex in here.”

“
Damn right.”
Alphy
tipped
his head in a terse nod, then looked toward the empty doorway. “
Rudo
, you can come in, if you’d like.” As
Rudo
made his way in,
Alphy
turned his sights on Ryker. “So, did you find anything yet?”

“
No, it’s weird. It’s like someone has been starting to
erase her identity. I thought you were done for the day. Did you need your
office for something?”

“
The two twin wolf shifters we rescued, Lira
and
Lita
, were out playing
in the woods and unwittingly shifted in front of a human who was trespassing.
They’re bringing him in right now. I’ll need a background check on him, but it
will have to wait until you come back, and after you find everything you can on
Lizzy.”

“
Sure. So does that mean you’re keeping him here until
all of that?” Ryker stood up and moved over to a chair as he asked.

“
Yeah. He’ll have to stay in the barn. Good thing
Kace
was able to turn at least one stall into a jail cell.”

Alphy
looked out the window. “There’s
Kace
and Marley with
the trespasser.”

Ryker was curious, so he followed
Alphy
out into the main room. He felt
Rudo
following close
behind.

They were both in the main office area when a naked
Kace
and Marley escorted in a man about Ryker’s height. The
little man was pale, and Ryker could hear his heart beating at a dangerously
fast rate. He had some minor cuts and bruises, and his fear was so palpable
that Ryker could taste it on his tongue.
Yuck.

Ryker smiled at him, careful to hide his fangs. “Hi,
I’m Ryker. My brother’s a doctor, and you look like you can use one. How about
I call him over?”

The young man didn’t say anything, so Ryker just took
out his cell and dialed his brother. As he was waiting for Seamus to pick up,
he saw
Alphy
give
Kace
and
Marley stern looks.

“
What the hell happened to him?”

“
Sorry,
Alphy
,”
Kace
answered guiltily. “I guess he didn’t know how to ride
a horse. He fell off.”

Seamus’s voice came over the line. “Hey, Rye, what’s
going on?”

“
Hi, Sea-salts. Hey, I’m up here in the office.
Kace
and Marley just brought in a human. He’s not doing so
good
. His heart-rate is nearly through the roof, and he
apparently fell off a horse. He’s got some cuts and bruises.”

“
On my way.” And the line went dead.

Ryker placed his cell in his pocket and motioned for
the young man to take a seat, all the while offering him a kind smile. “Take a
load off, uh—what’s your name?”

The man looked at the seat that he had offered and
took a moment to contemplate, as if he wasn’t sure it was a good idea. But he
soon made his decision and sat down. He was shaking pretty badly, and only
whimpered in response.

“
Hey, calm down, buddy. No one’s
gonna
hurt you.” Ryker tried to calm him down, but the young man shied away when
Ryker tried to pat his arm. The man looked up fearfully at
Kace
,
who was dressed now. There were always extra clothes strategically placed
everywhere.

Alphy
glared at
Kace
. “
Kace
,
wanna
tell me why he thinks you’re going to hurt him?”

Kace
tilted his head slightly,
submitting to the alpha, and winced. “I
may
have threatened him a little bit, before I put him up on Marley’s back.”

Marley
added, “Don’t forget how vicious the two girls
were. You would have almost thought them rabid, and with how skinny they were,
I bet he thought they were going to eat him.”

Alphy
rubbed his forehead and sighed heavily. The sound of a quad rumble
d
down below, and shut off.

Ryker perked up. “That would be my brother, Seamus.
You remember, he’s the doctor.”

The man didn’t respond. A moment later, both Seamus
and his beloved,
Maysa
, walked through the door. He
went directly to the man and knelt down in front of him.

“
Hi. My name is Doctor Seamus Rossi, but you can call
me Seamus. I can tell you’re very upset. Your heart-rate is at a dangerous
level. If you’d lik
e
, I can give you a mild sedative to calm you just a
bit. It wouldn’t knock you out. It would just calm you.”

The man was shaking his head, furiously, and he backed
away from Seamus. Seamus put his hands up and spoke calmly.

“
It’s all right. I won’t give you anything you don’t
want. Do you have any allergies?”

Everyone gave them more room as Seamus continued to
question and examine the man.
Kace
and Marley took up
guarding positions by the door, and
Alphy
backed up a
bit, pulling Ryker and
Rudo
with him. Things felt
like they were starting to calm down until Enzo walked in the door. That was
when all hell broke loose.

****

Rudo
saw Enzo sniff both
Kace
and Marley. He was concerned something bad was going
to happen when he saw the murderous look Enzo had in his eyes, which were
clearly lupine, a sure sign he close to shifting.
Rudo
put himself protectively in front of Ryker just as Enzo swung his arm around,
punching
Kace
so hard that he fell back. He continued
around and brought his fist up, burying his fist in Marley’s lower gut, pushing
a loud grunt from him and dropping him to the floor on his knees.
Alphy
leapt across the room and wrapped his arms up under
Enzo’s and pulled him back.

“
Enzo, stand down!”

Seamus had placed himself between Enzo and
Maysa
, who was crouched over the human.
Rudo
felt Ryker peek around him to watch what was going on.

Enzo calmed enough that
Alphy
finally released his paralyzing hold.
Kace
and Marley
stayed on the ground with their eyes focused on the floor, and showing their
necks in submission.

Alphy
slowly stepped back. “What the hell, Enzo?”

Enzo looked over at the human. Fury burned in his eyes,
and he turned around and lunged for the two downed shifters, but
Alphy
grabbed him and placed him in the same hold again,
immobilizing him.

Enzo howled with ferocity. “What did you two do to my
mate?”

Kace
swore and looked almost
ready to bolt, as did Marley.

Alphy
didn’t release his hold. “Back down, Enzo. It was an accident. You can sense
that he’s already afraid enough. Don’t scare him further. As you see, he’s
being taken care of, but if he becomes any more afraid … just listen to his
heart-rate.”

The room went absolutely silent as Enzo stopped
struggling and tilted his head to do as he was told.
Rudo
saw the frightened man had tears running down his cheeks, and he was shaking so
bad that it almost looked like he was having a seizure.

Enzo closed his eyes, and his body slumped against
Alphy
.
Alphy
released him but
didn’t step away.
Kace
and Marley both visibly
relaxed and began rubbing their injured parts.

Enzo slowly stepped closer to the smaller man. Seamus
pulled
Maysa
away and behind him, and they both
stepped back a little bit.

Enzo squatted down in front of the human and tried to
place his hands on the man’s knees, but the man jerked away, nearly falling out
of the chair. Enzo froze for just a second, then pulled slightly away.

In a low, gentle voice, Enzo greeted him. “Hi, Heath.
I’m truly happy to finally get to meet you. I’m sorry it isn’t under better
circumstances, but I promise you, as long as there’s breath in me, no one will
hurt you.”

Heath didn’t respond verbally, but everyone in the room,
who was listening, could hear the man’s heart-rate lower just a bit.

The man briefly looked up at Enzo before lowering his
eyes again. “H-how d-did you know m-my n-name?”

Rudo
felt sorry for Heath. He
was still shaking so bad, it was affecting his speech.

Enzo smiled warmly. “Havana told me. You met her and
her mate this morning when she went to pick up the car. She said you were
really sweet.”

Heath’s heart-rate continued to lower, and
Rudo
could see his muscles were beginning to relax just a
tiny bit.

“
S-she t-told m-me…” Heath stopped and looked like he
was trying to calm himself down.

“
What did she tell you, sweetheart?” Enzo asked.

Heath wiped the tears from his face and sniffed. He
took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “She told me I could pick the
flowers.”

Rudo
could see fresh tears
start to well up in the man’s eyes. Enzo looked around for something. Ryker
seemed to know what he was looking for because he had dashed back behind, into
Alphy’s
office, and came out with a box of tissues and
handed it to him.

“
Thanks, Rye,” Enzo said, and handed the box to Heath.

Rudo
wrapped Ryker securely in
his arms as they continued to watch and listen.

Heath took out several tissues to wipe his eyes and
blew his nose. Enzo waited patiently until he was done before asking him
anything.

“
Can you tell me what happened?”

“
Havana told me I could go pick the flowers, so I
followed the directions she gave me, and I was picking the flowers when…”

Rudo
could hear the man’s
heart-rate start to speed up and his agitation began to grow.

“
Shh
.” Enzo tried soothing him.
“Calm down, sweetheart. Look at me.” He waited until Heath looked up at him
before continuing. “I’m right here. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. What
happened when you were picking the flowers?”

Heath looked back down. “I saw a woman. She was, uh,”
his eyes quickly darted up at Enzo, then down, “she was naked. I saw her and a
wolf running and playing in the forest. I thought it was odd, but I was going
to ignore it, but then she … she turned into a wolf.”

Heath looked up at Enzo, as if he was challenging him
to deny it.
Rudo
thought he probably believed
everyone would call him crazy.

Enzo didn’t dwell on it. He encouraged Heath to
continue. “What happened next?”