Nessa's Two Shifters (3 page)

“Check her back, brother. She’s been bleeding somewhere.” Joseph sounded worse than before.

Jessup spared a glance toward his brother and winced. Joe’s eyes were already nearly full black, and he could tell from how he talked that his teeth had lengthened. He gently pulled their mate over toward a chair and eased her into it. She winced but didn’t say anything. When he started to lift her shirt she tried to pull away.

“No. Don’t do this. Please, Jessup. Just go.”

“Not until I see what’s wrong with you.”

“There’s nothing you can do.” Her voice was almost a whisper.

He ignored her and slowly pulled up her shirt. She wasn’t wearing a bra because he doubted she could stand anything to touch her that close. He growled, but it was nothing compared to the howl that erupted from his twin. Nessa nearly crawled up his body with fear.

“Joseph! Stop it. You’re terrifying her!” He struggled to hold her without touching her back.

The bruising ranged from fresh, dark black patches the size of his fist to older, faded oranges. He settled her on his lap as he sat down, nuzzling his face into her neck and breathing in her scent to try and calm his wolf before she saw his eyes. He could tell they had changed by the grayed world around him.

“Who did this to you, Nessa?”

“He’ll kill you. Please. You have to leave.”

“Answer him. Who hurt you?” Joseph had walked around until he was standing in front of her.

Jessup started to tell him to back off, but his brother surprised him by kneeling and gently brushing the hair from her face. There was pain in his twin’s eyes.

“Was it your stepbrother?” he asked.

“He’s all I have. If he kicks me out, I don’t have anything.”

“Where are your things?” Joseph stood up.

“Why?” She looked up at him.

“Because you will not stay here another night. You’re coming home with us.”

“I can’t stay with you. He’ll find me, and he’ll hurt you. He’s dangerous.” She turned entreating eyes toward Jessup.

“My brother’s right. You’re not staying here. You belong to us now. We’ll take care of you.”

Joseph turned and walked away. He disappeared down the hall. Jessup knew he was locating her room by her scent. He had no doubt his brother would gather up her things for her.

“What is he doing?”

“He’s gone to pack your clothes. You’re moving in with us. There is no way you are staying here with that bastard.” Jessup had to grit his teeth to keep from promising to kill him.

“Let me up. I have to pack my own things. He won’t know what to bring.”

Jessup smiled and helped her ease off his lap. Then he followed her down the dark hallway to a tiny room in the back of the trailer. He found his brother standing in the doorway, just staring.

“Joseph?” He moved him over so that Nessa could squeeze by him.

When he looked into the room he knew why he had just stood there. There wasn’t room for more than one or maybe two people in the room. There was a twin mattress on the floor that took up almost all of the tiny room. Her clothes were folded up in a plastic box sitting next to two other smaller plastic boxes.

He watched as she added a few things to the boxes then closed them and started to pick one of them up. Joseph stopped her from lifting it.

“We’ll get these. You grab a pillow for your back.” He picked up the larger of the two boxes.

Jessup waited for her to grab a pillow then ease out of the room and back down the hall. Joseph followed behind her while Jessup stacked the two smaller boxes to carry out. Nothing had prepared him for this today. He’d had no idea she was being abused. He felt like a failure for not picking up on it before. If he had, he would have been able to save her the latest beating she had taken. Shame was a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Jessup. Stop it. I can feel you. It’s not your fault.” His brother’s voice was meant to soothe, but it only angered him.

“I should have known.”

They loaded her boxes in the back seat of the truck. When she tried to climb up beside them, his brother’s hand stopped her.

“You’re riding up front with us.”

“There isn’t room.”

Joseph visibly swallowed before answering her.

“There’s room. Jessup, help her up. I’ll drive.”

Jessup took the pillow from her and placed it in the middle of the bench seat before lifting Nessa at the waist in hopes he wouldn’t hurt her. She didn’t say a word. He made sure she was settled with her back against the thin pillow and her seat belt on before he sat next to her. His twin started the truck and they backed out of the drive. Nothing was said during the nearly thirty-minute drive back to their ranch. He kept a loose grip of Nessa’s hand to settle his wolf and to reassure her that everything would be okay.

As soon as they pulled up outside the house, Joseph cut the engine and jumped out of the truck. He opened the back and grabbed the largest container once again. Jessup helped Nessa out of the seat belt and then down from the truck. By now, Aaron had made it outside and was watching them with a curious expression on his face.

“Is there more?” he finally asked.

“Two more in the back,” Joseph said as he walked inside.

Aaron just nodded and walked over to the truck. He stopped and smiled at Nessa.

“Nessa, this is one of my brothers, Aaron. Aaron. This is Nessa.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Thank you.” Nessa lowered her eyes and then turned to look up at Jessup.

Jessup smiled down at her then shook his head at Aaron to let him know she still didn’t know anything. To his credit, his brother didn’t push it. They all ended up in the kitchen a few seconds later.

“We need to check Nessa over, Jessup.” Joseph’s hard stare reminded him that his brother was fighting his anger over Nessa’s injuries.

“Check her over? Why?” Aaron looked from one to the other of them.

“Her stepbrother beat her.” Joseph walked toward the back of the house.

“Jessup!” Nessa looked appalled that he had told Aaron.

“Nessa, we have no secrets among us. Let’s go see what needs tending to.”

“Do you need anything, brother?” Aaron asked.

Jessup knew that Aaron was offering to help them hunt down her stepbrother and punish him.

“Not yet.” He urged Nessa through the door and into the large den.

When they made it to his room, Joseph had a large towel spread out on the bed and the first aid kit open on a chair by it. He brought in a small pan of water with steam rising from it and several cloths.

“Come on, Nessa. Let’s get your clothes off so we can see how bad this is.” Jessup started pulling up the hem of her shirt.

Nessa grabbed at his hands and stilled them. “What about him? He can’t stay.”

Jessup didn’t bother looking over to where his brother stood near the bathroom door. There was no way he would ask his brother to step out. She was his mate and he had been the one to notice that she was injured. Besides, he doubted Joseph’s wolf would allow them to be separated right now.

“Honey, we have a lot to talk about, but now isn’t the time. We need to take care of your injuries first. He isn’t going to hurt you. He’ll stay right there.”

“Why does he have to even be in here? He’s not my boyfriend. I–I don’t even know if you are or not.” Her voice had gone quiet toward the last.

“Nessa. You are my mate. The one I care for more than anything. We’re beyond boyfriend and girlfriend. I’ll explain it all later.” He kissed her lightly on the lips before pulling her shirt from her grip.

The minute her shirt was off, she covered her breasts with her hands. Jessup didn’t say anything about it, choosing instead to let her have her bit of modesty while he concentrated on her warm-ups. She stood still while he lowered them, glad that she was facing Joseph so that he couldn’t see her hips and upper legs. He found the source of the smell of blood. A bandage with dried blood lay taped over where her kidney was on the left side. When he gently pulled it off, he winced. She had a two-inch cut there that looked like she’d been hit with something sharp.

“Nessa? What made this cut on your lower back?”

“Derrick has steel-toed boots.”

Joseph pushed off from the wall and walked over to them. Nessa backed away from him, still trying to cover her breasts and now her pussy.

“He kicked you?” Joseph’s low growl turned to a strangled groan when he saw the extent of the damage to her.

“He stopped hitting me where people could see because I couldn’t work if I was all bruised up.” Nessa’s soft voice sounded defeated now.

Jessup helped her lie down on the bed. Then he gently bathed her with the warm water. He could smell the healing salts his brother had added to it. They’d used them on his twin when he had come back from overseas all those years ago. He never would have believed he would be using them on his mate.

The salts had been passed down from generation to generation and helped to speed up the healing, taking away much of the pain in the process. He wasn’t sure how well they would work on a human, but prayed they would ease her suffering.

Once he had finished cleaning her, Jessup smoothed salve on the cuts and the newest of the bruises before applying a bandage to the place near her kidney. Then he carefully lifted her while his twin pulled back the covers so he could settle her in bed.

“Nessa, are you bleeding when you pee?”

She blushed and turned away from him. “Yeah, some, but it will go away. It always does.”

They left her to rest and gathered in the kitchen. Aaron had evidently called everyone in. Levi looked at them when they both grabbed a beer from the fridge.

“Is she okay?”

“She’ll heal.” Jessup swallowed down the ice-cold liquid.

Unable to fully control his anger, the aluminum can in his hand began to dent. He gritted his teeth and concentrated on calming his wolf.

“Is she your mate, too, Joseph?” Levi asked.

Joseph stared out the window and nodded. “God help her, she is.”

The loud murmur of voices slowly penetrated her sleep until she opened her eyes, momentarily unsure of where she was. The soft bed and warm sheets were foreign to her. Panic began to seep into her mind. Then everything came back to her as the voices began to grow louder. Nessa rolled over and began to push the covers off of her. It registered that she was naked as the cooler air in the room met her bare skin. Hearing her name, she grabbed her clothes and pulled them on as carefully as she could.

She followed the sound of the voices and managed to find her way back into the kitchen where the room was overrun with huge men. Testosterone fairly hung in clouds floating in the air. She listened to see what they were talking about.

“He has no excuse for beating her. He must be disciplined for this. Females are to be cherished and treated with respect,” Jessup insisted.

“Forget discipline. He does not deserve to breathe the same air that she does. He must be put down.” Joseph’s deep voice was soft, but full of anger.

“You would draw attention to us by killing this poor excuse of a human?” A man with chocolate-colored eyes and dark, shoulder-length hair who was shorter than the others spoke next.

Everyone began talking at once. Nessa knew they were talking about her and Derrick. She stepped into the room, appalled that they would think to do anything without her present.

“Stop it!”

The room grew quiet. Eight pairs of eyes turned to her. Immediately both Jessup and Joseph converged on her, stepping between her and everyone else. She frowned, looking up at the two men. When her eyes met Joseph’s, she swallowed at the darkness that seemed to almost boil there. She wasn’t going to let him scare her. They weren’t going to make decisions about her or Derrick without her present.

They let her push between them but didn’t allow her to step ahead of them. She felt both of their hands on her shoulders.

“No one does anything that involves me without my say-so. I don’t even know any of you. What makes you think you have the right to decide things about my life like this?”

“Honey, you are a part of our family now. Anyone in this room would do everything in their power to assure that you are not harmed ever again.” Jessup smoothed a lock of her hair from her cheek.

“How can I be a part of your family? I’ve only known you a few weeks and this is the first time I’ve even met the rest of your family.”

“I’ll introduce you to everyone now, Nessa.” Jessup began going around the room to indicate each of his brother’s names.

By the time he was finished, she was even more confused than before. Though they each had something different about them, there were too many of them to keep straight right off the bat.

“I can’t imagine having so many siblings. I imagine you never get lonely.”

Kindle, one of the youngest of the brothers, chuckled. “The challenge is having any time to yourself around here.”

Nessa could imagine that would be true, but she would have loved to have more siblings, just no more like Derrick. All of the Shoewater men were tall, dark, and handsome with intriguing features and compelling stares. She felt as if they could all see inside to all of her secrets. It was unnerving to say the least.

“Honey, you are a part of this family now. We will talk more about that in private, later.” Jessup smiled down at her.

“Promise me you won’t go see my stepbrother.”

“Why would you defend this worthless excuse of a human when he beats you?” Joseph asked.

“I don’t want anyone to confront Derrick. He’s dangerous. I’m scared someone will get hurt because of me. I couldn’t handle knowing that.”

“He couldn’t hurt one of us if he tried.” Joseph’s upper lip curled.

Nessa didn’t want to take the chance. They didn’t know what her stepbrother was capable of. She was. He owned several guns and knives. She had no doubt that he would use them if he was cornered.

“Please don’t, Jessup, Joseph. I beg you not to.”

Jessup looked over to his brother and nothing was said for several long seconds before he looked back down at her.

“Okay, Nessa. We will not go looking for him.”