Abbey's Protectors [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 4] (Siren Publishing Menage & More) (53 page)

“Okay, baby. Time to get what you want and get the hell out of here,” Clay told her, starting the engine, turning the truck around, and driving toward Abbey’s home.

He pulled into the long driveway, parked, and turned off the engine. He saw the way Abbey was sitting so quietly, but he also saw the calm determination that was filling her. Their mate was a strong, capable woman. The Fates had truly blessed them when she had come into their lives.

“Ready, honey?” Clay asked her gently.

“Yes.”

They left the truck and walked to the front door of the huge house Abbey had inherited from her father. She had always liked the house, and it would always hold good memories of her life with her father, but it wasn’t home. The home she made with Hunter and Clay was the place she wanted to be. That warm and loving home that they offered her was the home she wanted to share with her men and the babies she hoped they would have.

Hunter covered her belly gently, kissing the side of her neck and biting down with just the right amount of pressure. “Clay and I will do our best to give you as many babies as you want, sweetheart,” he whispered against her ear.

Abbey blushed at the realization that she had allowed both men to share her thoughts. The happy growls that rumbled against her made her glad that such a link to them existed.

“Love you, Abbey,” Clay whispered, kissing his mating mark on her shoulder. His hand carefully covered her belly, sharing the intimate touch with Hunter. “Can’t wait to feel our cub moving inside of you, Mate.”

“Me, too,” Abbey whispered back. “I can’t wait to hold him.”

A flash of a vision of the three of them sitting on the comfortable couch in their home filled their minds. Abbey was sitting between Clay and Hunter. Their son was settled comfortably on her lap, facing up at them and sound asleep. Abbey had her hand on his belly, keeping him safe. Hunter and Clay each had their hands on him as well—Hunter holding his tiny hand and Clay gently stroking his cheek with the back of his index finger.

Abbey looked at both men and smiled. “You’re both going to be wonderful fathers,” she told them, placing her hands over theirs and pressing them lightly against her belly.

They each kissed her neck, humming their happiness against the warmth of her skin. Abbey knew these men were going to be her source of happiness for the rest of her life.

“Let’s get your pictures and get out of here,” Hunter told her gently. “I want you home with us where you belong.”

Abbey reached out and tried to open the front door. It was locked. Anger filled her that she had to get Peter to open the door for her. She knocked, taking her anger out on the dark wood that was shined to perfection. It was only a matter of moments before the door was opened and Peter looked at her in surprise before he turned his attention to the two police officers who stood beside her.

“Abigail. What are you doing? You should be in bed,” he chastised her, his voice soft with concern.

Abbey smirked as she stepped into the foyer of the house, glad when Clay and Hunter immediately flanked her. Peter’s concern may look sincere to others, but she knew better. He had never cared about anyone but himself. She just wished she had figured that out before she had married him.

“Save the act, Peter,” Abbey told him firmly.

“What are you talking about, Abigail?” His voice held just the right amount of confusion and hurt. “You need to rest. Our baby needs you to be healthy.”

Abbey faced him with fire in her eyes. “This baby is not yours and you know it,” she told him firmly. There was no way she was going to let him have that delusion.

“Yes. The baby is mine,” he insisted. “If you try to keep the child from me, you’ll find yourself deep in litigation. I’ll have DNA testing done to prove that I’m the father.”

Abbey’s heart clenched at the thought that she might be subjected to that testing—not because she feared the testing would prove that Peter was her baby’s father, but because the testing might jeopardize the promise she had made to always keep the shifter world a secret from the human world.

In that moment, she worried that she would have to cave in to whatever demands Peter made of her. She didn’t care about the loss of money he might cause her, but she would not allow him to have anything to do with the raising of her child. Turning to Hunter and Clay, she knew her face had to be betraying the panic she was feeling.

“Before you make any threats, you may need to know some facts, Mr. Jordan,” Hunter told him calmly. “Ms. Tyler was admitted to Denver Memorial Hospital six weeks ago. She had been found in the woods a few miles from here. It was determined that she had been shot. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you Mr. Jordan?”

“Of course not!” Peter sputtered.

“Didn’t think so,” Hunter said softly, his voice carefully controlled. “During her admittance, several tests were run to ascertain the health of Ms. Tyler. One of them was a pregnancy test which turned out to be negative.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Peter insisted. “She could have been newly pregnant and it was too new to show up as positive.”

“That’s true,” Hunter admitted. “It
is
possible but not in this case. Ms. Tyler began her period while she was in the hospital—a fact that has been noted in her chart. Subsequent blood work verified her health and her status as not being pregnant.”

“So, Mr. Jordan,” Clay continued for all of them. “You have no case. You can go ahead and file any motion you want, but you will not force Ms. Tyler to undergo any testing since hospital records already prove that she was not pregnant the last time she had been with you. Since you filed a missing person’s report shortly after her disappearance, and have continuously checked in with the police to see if they had found her, you’ve given more proof that Ms. Tyler has been away from you for six weeks. The blood work just completed on her today indicates that she is four weeks pregnant. You have no case, Mr. Jordan.”

“It’s also been brought to our attention that Ms. Tyler filed papers to have you removed from this address,” Hunter told him, smiling. “If I were you, I would remove myself from this residence before the police arrive and arrest you for disobeying a court order.”

Peter’s passive expression slowly turned to one of complete anger. His cheeks became mottled with blotches of red, and Abbey had to make a conscious effort not to smile.

“You can leave with just the clothes on your back,” she told him, folding her arms across her chest and staring him down. “At least I’m giving you the opportunity to take your car and leave without taking a gun and shooting you. That’s not the same consideration you gave me.”

She waited while Peter thought through his prospects. When he reached out to remove his keys from the ceramic dish on the tall credenza in the foyer and walked away, she smiled. She would be glad to have him out of her father’s house.

“I’d like to wait for a locksmith to come and change the locks before we leave,” she told her men softly. “I don’t want him to be able to come back and trash my dad’s home.”

“Whatever you want, sweetheart,” Hunter told her, pulling out his cell phone and searching for a local locksmith. “It shouldn’t take long to get someone out here and have all of the locks changed. I think it would be a good idea to call your security company and have the passwords to your system changed, too.”

“Don’t worry, honey,” Clay told her calmly. “We’ll get this straightened out quickly.”

Abbey nodded. She would wait as long as she needed to. A little more time to clear things up was not a hardship now that her mates were with her. All that mattered was that they would be going home. Together.

Synthia took a calming breath, looking at her sister for support as they stood on the top step of the porch that led to the main door of the pack family’s lodge. Shelly nodded and smiled.

“Go ahead, Syn,” she encouraged her. “I have a good feeling about this.”

Synthia nodded, reaching out and taking her sister’s hand in hers and squeezing it lightly before releasing it and leading the way to the front door. Raising her hand, she knocked on the door firmly then stepped back and waited for the door to open and change their lives. It was time for that change.

After a moment of silence, they could hear footsteps coming closer to the door. Suddenly, it was opened wide and a woman with dark brown hair and welcoming brown eyes stood there smiling at them.

“Hi,” she greeted them warmly. “May I help you?”

Synthia smiled softly, shoring up her courage. “We’d like to speak with Alpha Beckett and Beta Scott if we could, please.”

“Sure, come on in,” she said, stepping back and welcoming them inside. “I’m Laurie. Jace and Jackson are my mates.”

Synthia and Shelly exchanged surprised looks. Synthia silently chastised herself. They really shouldn’t have been so surprised, though. They had been away from Beckett’s pack for many years. Of course there would be many changes—including the mating of their alpha and beta. She was happy for them. A pang of sadness did slice through her, though, as she realized she had very little hope of ever being a part of a mated triad. No one in this pack was meant for her.

They followed Laurie through the kitchen and down the hallway that led to Jace and Jackson’s office. Shelly started to tremble as she remembered the last time she had been in that office. She had gone to ask for protection from her mother, and both Jace and Jackson had seen to her safety and had helped her leave pack land so she could join Synthia in Denver and stay with her until they both finished college. She didn’t know what she would have done without their help and protection.

You’re forbidden to mate with anyone, Shelly. Only Synthia will be allowed to mate. You are not smart enough or beautiful enough to attract a strong triad partnership. Your sister will be the one who will give our family power. You are nothing compared to her.

She could still hear the cruel words of her mother as she berated her echoing through her mind. She would never blame Synthia for their mother’s words. Synthia had been just as abused and had been forced to act in ways her nature rebelled against. But they both had to do what they had to in order to survive their mother until they were old enough and strong enough to leave. Thanks to their alpha and beta, they had been able to escape without their mother’s knowledge. It was the only way to leave without having her release her anger and craziness on them.

Synthia reached out and touched Shelly’s shoulders. She could feel her sister trembling and knew she had to be reliving every moment of cruelty and abuse they had received before they’d finally approached Jace and Jackson for help. When they’d finally drummed up the courage to speak to them, the ruling alpha and beta had protected them. They were both good men, and she hoped they would allow them to come back to the pack.

Laurie knocked lightly on the office door, opening it as soon as she heard Jace’s deep voice call out for her to enter. She stepped inside, indicating that the women should follow her.

Synthia couldn’t help but smile as Jace and Jackson immediately enveloped Laurie within their arms. It was obvious that they loved their mate deeply.

“Synthia, Shelly, it’s about time you got here,” Jace chastised them lightly, releasing Laurie and stepping toward the two women. He opened his arms and waited until they stepped into his embrace. “You’re finally home where you belong.”

The instant growls from behind them made them all turn in surprise. Simon, Warren, Max, and Eli stood there with intense expressions on their faces. Each man’s eyes were completely golden, their canines had dropped, and matching growls were erupting from them.

“Keep yourselves under control, enforcers,” Jace told them as he stepped away from the women and walked over to the men. His voice was firm as he pierced them with his gaze. Extending the power he held as alpha of their pack, he helped them to control their wolves. At the same time, he smiled gently, knowing his newest members of his pack family had just found their mates.

Simon made a conscious effort to push down his wolf, stepped forward, and stood beside Synthia. He nodded his head as he reached out to touch her, pulling his scarred hand back as soon as he realized what he was about to do. He lowered his hazel eyes flecked with brown and stepped back, scrubbing at his military cut white hair as he fought to get himself under control. The sadness in his eyes was unable to hide, though.

“I am sorry,” he told her softly.

Warren stood on Synthia’s other side and breathed in deeply, growling possessively as their mate’s scent filled him. Reaching out, he touched her cheek lightly, cringing as he saw the scars on his hands and arms, realizing immediately that he was not worthy of this beautiful woman. Running his index finger down her cheek and touching her bottom lip lightly, his eyes reverted back to his natural blue color. Pushing down his wolf, he accepted the strength of their new alpha to help in controlling himself. Scrubbing his hands over his brown hair that was liberally sprinkled with white from his years touching and dealing with silver in their previous pack, he was sadly reminded that he should never touch a woman, let alone mate with one. He stepped back and bowed slightly. His chest ached with the realization that he could never subject this adorable woman with soft, brown eyes and long, blonde hair to a life with him.