The Wolves Next Door (6 page)

Shit.
It was happening. Ryan couldn’t stop it if he tried. Bones snapping, teeth
baring and elongating, skin giving way to bristling coat. His wolf was huge,
its golden brown color making him seem like a flash of light speeding through
the night as he flew right for the men trying to steal his mate away. He’d tear
them to pieces before he’d let that happen.

The
two figures trying to herd Julie into the black SUV turned sharply at the sound
of that fierce snarl. Words like “what the fuck” spilled out of the one closer
to Caine, while he could see the other one reach for his gun. Julie looked over
her shoulder and saw the massive shape of the wolf bounding straight off the
ground aiming for the throat of the man holding her elbow. Her eyes widened in
shock at the sight of the impossibly large wolf, its teeth glinting dangerously
in the dim light of the deserted back street. She’d have screamed if she wasn’t
so out of it.

The
wolf got backhanded by the man who had to let her go. But the beast came right
back at them, this time for the man trying to aim and shoot, but couldn’t get a
clear target at the wolf that moved like lightning.

Julie
stumbled backwards, watching the two men fight off the wolf. Seconds later she
heard the sound of cloth and flesh ripping and one of her captors yelled in
pain, holding on to his mutilated arm. The gun fell from his fingers as he
clutched at the savaged arm.

“Julie!”

The
sound of Ryan’s voice pulled her out of her stupor. He was running up and she
just stood there in shock while the wolf seemed to be ready to eat those two
alive. She heard the injured one scream, “Let’s get the hell out of here!” Both
men managed to jump into the car, barely evading the snapping jaws of the wolf.
Cursing, they slammed the doors behind them as the driver sped off on a squeal
of tires.

Ryan
rushed forward and caught Julie before she could crumble to the asphalt. He
watched the golden-haired wolf race after the speeding car till it sharply
turned the corner of the road. Only then did the beast slow down and then turn
back in the direction of the restaurant. Ryan’s eyes shifted quickly to the
woman clutched in his arms. His rage gave way to tender concern as he felt her
fingers grab hold of his shirt.

Her
lips were forming words but no sound came out, and he held her tighter to him
while lowering his ear to her mouth. “Save me,” she whispered, and went limp in
his arms, her eyelids shutting.

Cursing
underneath his breath, he moved her closer to the safety of the shadows just
outside the restaurant’s back door. Looking up, he saw that Caine had reached
them and was already shifting into human form. Luckily the back of the restaurant
was isolated, so as Caine straightened in his nude human form, he didn’t have
to worry about being seen. He was more worried about their mate and he was
quick to join Ryan’s side.

“How
is she?” Caine asked, voice still harsh with fury. There were bloodstains on
his bare chest and jaw, none of the blood his.

“She
fainted,” Ryan said in clipped, worried tones as he brought his arm beneath her
knees and back and swept her easily into his arms. “But otherwise, unhurt.”

The
back door opened and the owner of the restaurant burst out, followed by two of
his workers, all three lycan shifters.

“We
heard a commotion,” Jake, the owner and chef, growled. “Do you guys need any
help? What happened?” They looked ready for a fight, noticing the woman Ryan
carried.

Ryan
quickly explained what had happened. “Some men tried to kidnap our mate. We
were able to scare them off and Caine definitely injured one of them. You’ll
find his gun somewhere on the road.”

Nodding,
one of the workers quickly went searching and came back with the firearm in
mere seconds.

“I’ve
got friends at the sheriff’s – they’ll know how to check that for prints,”
Jake said. “But you all need to come back inside and make sure she’s safe in
case those fucks come back. And we’ll find some clothes for you, Caine.”

“Thanks,”
Caine said, his mind filled with thoughts of anger and retribution. Part of him
hoped those guys would return so he could get a better chance at ripping out
their throats. But like Ryan, he tried to stay calm, knowing they’d make better
headway if they kept focused on the most important thing right now –
taking their mate to safety.

Julie
woke up with a start and immediately shot up from the pillows. She didn’t
recognize her surroundings and that drove her instantly into panic. It was a
homely looking bedroom, with an oak bed and massive pillows. Across was a window,
which took up the whole wall, giving a view of mountains and woods. Julie felt
her head begin to spin. How did she get to a house in the woods?

She
wasn’t going to find answers lying around in bed. Quickly she got out of bed.
Looking down she saw she was dressed in a loose white tee shirt, several sizes
too large. She plucked at the v-shaped neckline, looking beneath to confirm
that indeed, she was naked except for her panties. Okay. Now she could really
start to freak out.

Padding
to the door of the bedroom on her bare feet, she opened it slowly and
carefully. Once it was ajar she looked down to find an empty corridor. Inching
out of the bedroom she moved down the hall, her footsteps faltering when she
heard voices.

“Whoever
they are, they came into our territory and tried to steal our mate right from
underneath our noses,” growled Caine’s distinctive voice. “We’re not going to
let that go.”

“Definitely
not. But until Julie opens up and tells us who those men were and why she was
leaving with them, there isn’t much we can do. What kills me right now is that
she couldn’t trust us to keep her safe. Why else would she have agreed to go
with those men?” Ryan said bitterly.

Julie
felt shamed by the hurt in Ryan’s voice. She didn’t know they cared so much but
what did they mean by ‘territory’ and ‘mate’? If they hadn’t mentioned her name
directly she’d have thought they were talking about something else.

Confused
by the tone of their voices and the strange turn of phrase, she stumbled
backwards and managed to somehow trip over her own feet. The conversation
between the two men stopped abruptly and she heard Ryan call out her name
clearly.

Sighing,
she gathered more nerve and moved out into the living room area and found both Caine
and Ryan standing there looking her way. They made no move to close the gap
between them as she stood some distance away.

“You
heard us talking?” Ryan asked more gently while Caine gazed at her with a look
that made every inch of her start to tingle. It was a few moments before she
could think of what to say.

“I
heard a bit,” she said, not knowing where to look. “Could you please tell me
what’s going on? Why did you guys bring me here?”

Caine
stepped forward, his eyes deepened with worry. “Don’t you remember? We were at
the restaurant and you went to the rest room. I was just in time to see you
about to leave with the two men in a car. You fainted and we brought you here
to keep you safe. Whoever those people were, we wanted you someplace they’d
never track you. No one knows about this place but us.”

He
moved just close enough to reach out and touch her, but she backed into the
wall. A pained look came over Caine’s face but he cloaked it quickly.

“Julie,
why can’t you be completely honest with us? What kind of trouble are you in?”

“Why
don’t we start with you two,” Julie said, her voice filled with suspicion. “You
say you saw me try to leave with two men, but you were nowhere close to where
we were. It was Ryan who came out to rescue me when that monster wolf came out
of nowhere and…”

She
shivered, wrapping her arms around her as she relived each moment, seeing that
huge dark golden beast almost rip the men to shreds. She still didn’t understand
it but she had a strange feeling the wolf had come out to protect her.
But
why?

Caine
paused at her accusatory tone. “I was close, but you didn’t see me,” he said
enigmatically. I was busy getting help while Ryan rushed out to get you out of
harm’s way.”

Ryan
stalked forward and his dark eyes looked stormy as he searched Julie’s face.

“Why
would you do that, Julie? Endanger yourself the way you did? You knew we were
waiting back at the restaurant, yet you chose to leave with strange men without
saying a word. Do you have any idea how much we care about you?”

“I
did it to protect you both!” she cried out, stung by Ryan’s fury. “If I didn’t
go with them, they’d have…”

She
shook her head and spun around. She couldn’t face the righteous anger she could
feel coming off them in waves. Taking a deep breath, she faced them again with
reluctance. “Look, I’m sorry for getting you mixed up in my troubles. Just give
me my clothes and I’ll leave. Thanks for all you’ve done for me so far but I
can’t let you get any more involved. For your own safety, you need to let me
go.”

Ryan
seemed to swallow his anger, his voice gentling with surprising speed as he
gripped her by the shoulders. “Don’t you think we’re more than capable of
protecting you, Julie? That’s all we ever wanted to do.”

“And
I told you once before, I can take care of myself,” Julie said, hating to do it
but shrugging out of his hold. “Please. Just let me go. Forget you ever met
me.”

“That’s
not an option,” Caine said suddenly, in the harshest tone she’d ever heard him
use. “And if you think we’re going to let you walk out of our lives, you’ve got
another thing coming. And anyone who ever tries to hurt you or take you away
will have to go through us first.”

Despite
her inherent independence and sense of self-preservation, Julie felt a certain
thrill from Caine’s words and the blaze of possession in his blue eyes. Ryan
looked just as fiercely protective, and she felt that familiar sensation of
sinking helplessly into his gaze, now heated pools of green. She looked from
one to the other and suddenly Julie realized just how serious they were about
her. Things had gotten real and they were no more just the two caring,
attentive ‘friends’ she enjoyed hanging out with. Even the sexual tension she
normally felt around them had magnified to almost impossible proportions.

Somehow,
they’d got her alone, in this place. It was some kind of cabin in the woods and
she had an inkling they were miles from anywhere. They claimed it was to keep
her safe but was that the true reason? In bringing her out here didn’t they
suddenly become the one thing she needed protection from right now?

To
her amazement, Ryan groaned out loud. “I’m sorry if we frightened you. We can
smell your fear, Julie and that hurts more than anything could – knowing
you’re scared of us.”

They
could smell her fear? There it was again, the strange terms they used. Why did
nothing make sense about them anymore?

“Julie….”

She
heard them both call out for her but she was too busy running back the way
she’d come. Suddenly the room seemed the safest place to be. It was familiar
and kept her out of their reach. She dashed down the corridor and back into the
room, slamming the door behind her. She thanked the stars there was a key and a
bolt, both which she quickly used. She had her back against the door-frame as
she breathed in shallowly, her mind spinning round in circles.

The
sound of Caine’s voice on the other side of the door made her jump. “Please, Julie.
Search your heart and you’ll know we’d rather die than hurt you,” he said
softly and it was like he spoke just inches from her face. “You don’t have to
tell us anything if you aren’t ready. But we can’t let you leave unless we’re
sure we can protect you. And I understand that you don’t like to feel that you
need to depend on others for your safety, but for once, believe me when I tell
you that we’re for you, Julie. You can count on it.”

She
hadn’t drawn a single breath all through his speech, and she didn’t say one
word in reply though she could tell he was waiting. She heard his deep sigh as
several seconds later, he retreated from the door. Only then did she sag
against the frame, back sliding down its length to the ground as she hugged her
arms around her knees and rested her spinning head on her arms.

Last
night had been crazy and they hadn’t thought twice about bringing her here, the
one place they knew she could be perfectly safe. She’d woken that morning with
questions and they’d both been too caught up in their fear of almost losing her,
unsure as to how she would handle the truth of what they were.

But
then they looked searchingly into her eyes and her smile shone brighter than
the morning sun breaking over the mountains.

“I
smell breakfast,” she said, moving forward to the island where Ryan was seated
on a bar stool. He grinned, the flash of white filled with relief and warmth.

“Caine
has kitchen duty this morning, that’s why everything smells so good and not
burned, like my cooking would undoubtedly have. Why don’t you sit down, I’ll
pour you some coffee.”

She
nodded, and looked at Caine who stood by the stove. It was definitely the
heavenly smells that had led her straight here from her bedroom. She’d had a
lot of time to think things through in the past couple of hours and she’d told
herself she’d listen to Caine. Julie decided she’d better start trusting her
instincts again, and this time she felt sure she was right about the fact that
Ryan and Caine were the men she needed in her life, two people she could rely
on even with so much hanging in the balance.

“Hmm,
this is so good,” she sighed expressively after just one sip of the fragrant
brew. Her hum of pleasure sounded somewhat erotic and when she looked up,
blushing, she caught the men watching her, their eyes glued to her full, wet
lips. She suddenly felt self conscious of the fact that she only wore panties
and a thin t-shirt and she wondered who had undressed her though she was too
embarrassed to ask.

Caine
soon set out their plates, heaping with delicious food. When she glanced Caine’s
way he merely smirked. “If you’re going to be eating with us, you’ll need to
keep up and grow a decent appetite. Now eat, woman.”

Julie
hid a smile. She liked the thought of eating with them more often. She also
liked the thought that they took her wellbeing so seriously as to whisk her off
to their secret hideaway just to keep her safe. Most of all, she liked how it
felt to be amongst two people who truly cared about her. Whatever their
‘agenda’, she knew she had no reason to doubt their integrity. And she’d make
sure they had no cause to doubt hers.

“For
the last several months, I’ve been on the run from my ex-boyfriend,” she began,
staring down at her plate. She could feel their joint gaze on her but she
continued without looking up.

“Tre
Gaines is a man I’ve known all my life – who I thought I knew. He fronted
as a legitimate businessman but soon after we started dating five years ago, I
realized he was nothing more than a thug who runs some kind of crime ring. He
was always this cool, handsome guy with standing in my community. I never
dreamed he was into all sorts of shady deals from drugs to arms dealing and
even human trafficking.” She shuddered visibly. Now she looked up to meet both
pairs of eyes that never shifted from hers.

“Tre
is a very powerful man and somehow, he found me. I picked up the phone just
days ago to hear his voice.
Did you really think you could escape me? Did
you think I’d ever give up what’s mine?”

Julie
shook her head at the memory and how desperately afraid she’d been to know he
was on the other end of the line. He knew where she was and would come after
her.

“I
wanted to leave the very next day but I guess I was sick of running. I already
had a home, new friends. I had you guys,” she said, voice softening as she
gazed at them both. “That one time he called, I told him to leave me alone or
I’d call the cops. He didn’t call again and I felt relieved. But last night he
called my cell. I went into the rest room to answer it and he told me he knew
exactly where I was at that moment and who I was with. Said he had men
stationed outside the restaurant who’d been ordered to shoot my two companions
if I didn’t do as he instructed. I told him not to hurt my friends and I’d do
anything he wanted. That was when he told me to leave through the back and get
into the car. I was about to do just that when the biggest wolf I’d ever seen
flew at my abductor and fairly ripped his arm out. From the way it didn’t try
to hurt me, I realized that somehow, it was protecting me. Defending me.”

She
smiled slightly, rolling her fork around her food. “And then Ryan showed up to
the rescue. Everything went blank after that.”

“Will
you tell us exactly why you left Tre in the first place? Did he try to hurt
you?” Ryan asked calmly, though the fist he had clenched on the island looked
almost white knuckled as if he was reining in his emotions.

Julie
let out a deep sigh. “Once I knew the type of man he really was, I tried to
leave him but he always threatened to hurt my friends or the people I loved. I
didn’t really have anyone else to call my own since he never let anyone stay
close to me. I’d already lost my parents when I was in college and whatever
friends or relatives I had, drifted away because of my involvement with him. He
liked that I was defenseless and in his power – unable to fight for
myself. One day, I did fight,” she said with grim satisfaction.

“It
was more than six months ago I packed my bags for the last time. He came home
early and caught me trying to leave. He grabbed me by the arms and pinned me
against the wall. Promised me he’d show me who was my master and by the time he
was through, I’d be so disfigured and helpless that no one else would ever want
me. That was when he slapped me around, ripped at my clothes and threw me on
the floor…” She winced slightly but then after a slight pause to inhale a steadying
breath, she continued,

“Somehow,
when he got on top of me, I was able to reach for one of paper weights that had
fallen to the floor during our struggle. I hit him on the head and knocked him
out cold.”

Julie
shrugged and began eating again, saying calmly, “That’s how I got to escape
from him and I’ve been running ever since.”

“This
is where your running stops – for good,” Ryan told her firmly. “Tre can’t
get you here. We’ll keep you safe from him for as long as it takes to make sure
he pays for all that he’s done.”

Julie
slowly swallowed her food and looked from one man to the other. “You both know
I can’t hole up here with you forever, right? You’ve got your own lives to
lead. I can’t expect you to…”

“Julie,
you still don’t understand, do you?” Caine asked, reaching out and brushing his
fingertips gently across her bangs, tucking the longer strands behind one ear.

“Understand
what?” she croaked, suddenly turned on by his gentle touch and the way his eyes
seemed to melt her insides to liquid.

“That
you belong with us,” he said simply. “You were meant to share our lives and
whatever danger is keeping that from happening, Ryan and I will see to it that
it’s a thing of the past.”

The
words ‘share’ and ‘our’ had Julie feeling like she would start
hyperventilating. She dropped her fork and gulped down the still hot coffee to
clear her throat. Ryan, who sat next to her placed a hand gently on her bare
knee and the warm weight did impossible things to her already mounting state of
arousal. The kitchen suddenly seemed to grow smaller as she became wildly aware
of that silken web that enmeshed her with a combined need for these two that
almost overpowered her.

“You
know what we want, Julie?” Ryan asked huskily. “Or do we need to show you?”

Julie
gulped. Ryan’s hand stroking her knee ever so softly…Caine’s fingers forking
through her hair with just that bit of sensuality…

No,
she definitely didn’t need any more explaining. But that didn’t make it any
less excruciatingly beguiling to suddenly come to terms with what she’d only
guessed at and…dare she admit to herself, hoped for?

Instead
of responding directly, she simply smiled. “Breakfast was perfect. And talking
about everything that’s happened has lifted a weight off my chest. You don’t
know how much it means knowing that for the first time in a long while, I can
feel safe.”

She
rose and was about to clean up their dishes when Ryan stopped her. “Don’t worry
about those. Go freshen up. Caine will find something you can change into till
we can do something about your clothes and what not.”

“Thank
you,” she said, feeling strangely shy now that so much was out in the open.

Both
men watched her leave the kitchen and there was no mistaking the barely
suppressed hunger in their gaze, mixed in with the deepest tenderness. Both
emotions warred within them and it was all they could do not to scramble after
their mate like horny teenage boys.

It
didn’t make things easier to know how much her arousal seeped in droplets of
honey down her inner thighs, the scent almost driving them mad. But they had to
focus on what was most important and that was protecting Julie from this
bastard that had hurt her so much, had driven her away from everything she had
ever known. They had to make sure that he could never hurt her again and then
she’d be free to move on with her life, to be with them forever.

Their
desire made them long to be one with their mate, finally. She was the love of
their lives, a woman to be protected and cared for. Her ingrown independence
wasn’t going to be a problem because they’d show her the many ways she’d find
strength even in submitting to them.
One step at a time
, they thought,
nodding to each other as no more words needed to be said. They knew what they
had to do.