Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77952 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77952 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
I flinch. The baby is sweet and innocent.
“She needs her mother.” I try one last time, even though it’s clear that Aura is traumatized past any kind of empathy for her child.
“She needs to be put out of her misery before she comes of age and is ruined like me.”
Reed shakes his head, turning to scan our surroundings while I think on what to say next. “Does Gregory know about the child?”
She laughs, her eyes wide and her head tipped back.
She seems unhinged.
Wolves are supposed to worship our mates and protect them. Gregory’s done nothing for poor Aura.
“Can we bring you anything? Food. Clothes. If you come with us, we can get you settled into the motel in town. Get you back on your feet.”
Aura shakes her head, her lank hair dropping around her face as she pulls the blanket higher. “Just leave me in peace,” she says.
Peace. She doesn’t have enough food to last more than a day or so. Her clothes are filthy. Is she intending to hide in this shack until she dies? I shiver as the breeze whips around us, already craving the protection of my wolf coat.
“We should go,” Reed says.
I sniff the air, wondering if he’s scented something. We’re close to the border with Gregory’s territory here. We can’t stay too long and risk him crossing over to investigate our presence.
“Peace isn’t something you find alone,” I tell Aura as I rise. “Peace is something you find in friendships and family and love. You’ve lost a lot, but while you have air in your lungs and beats in your heart, there’s always a way out of the darkness. Don’t waste it. If you want us to help, come to the cabin.”
She looks away from me, as though my words disgust her.
In a blink, Reed is back in his wolf form, already bounding toward home.
Scarlet is waiting for us. Our mate.
We don’t have a solution to this baby issue, but as I bound after my brother, eventually taking the lead, I know we’re going to need to explain the truth about our bound destinies, whether it’s the right time or not.
25
REED
By the time we arrive home, Scarlet is asleep on the sofa with her head resting in Finn’s lap. The baby is, like Moses, sleeping in a laundry basket. Finn is reading a book, his glasses perched on the end of his nose, and he looks up when we enter the house wearing our boxers and clutching our clothes. The pretense is over. Scarlet knows what we are.
She doesn’t know what she is yet, though.
“Did you find her?” he asks, placing the book on the arm of the couch.
“We did.” Nixon runs his hands over his sweat-damp hair, staring at Scarlet… our very own sleeping beauty. “But it isn’t good news.”
“She doesn’t want the baby?”
“Nope.” I lean over the little bundle, wondering how anyone could bear to leave her alone in the woods. But unless you’ve lived through hell, it’s hard to judge the ones it scorches.
“She’s in a state of distress. I tried my best to encourage her to let us help her, but she’s adamant we leave the baby to die.”
“We’re not doing that,” Finn blurts. “Are we?”
Nixon sighs. “Of course not.”
“So, we’re daddies now?”
“I guess we are.” Nixon drops his clothes and kneels next to the baby, staring at it. All of us are staring at it.
“You ever think you’d see a female shifter?” I ask.
They whisper no, the wonder of it still aching in our hearts. “She’s a blessing born from tragedy,” I murmur.
“She’s a miracle.”
“Scarlet loves her already,” Finn says. “She talked about taking her home with her, but I pointed out that wolves don’t belong in the city.”
We both stare at him, and then at her beautiful face, so peaceful.
He touches her hair gently, reverently. “She told me she can’t have children.”
Nixon’s head jerks back, his shock reverberating through me, too.
“Why?”
Finn shrugs. “Doctors told her.”
We all look at the baby again; her tiny fingers curled, lashes brushing her cheeks. The goddess has blessed us with this child, and she will continue to bless us with others. Our mate is made for us alone, and that thought sends a ripple of satisfaction through me.
“She isn’t ours,” I say, as my brothers stare at me. “But she will be in all the ways that count.”
Finn bites his lip. “What if Gregory finds out who she is? We’re not going to be able to keep her scent concealed forever.”
“We’ll find a way,” Nixon growls. “That asshole isn’t going to hurt another female, if I have anything to say about it.”
“So, we claim Scarlet now. Tell her what she is to us. Tell her what her role will be.”
“Steal her from her life and her family,” Finn says, still stroking her hair. “You didn’t see her when she talked about leaving. Her whole face lit up. She loves her life and her business. She’s so passionate.”