Force of the Dark Wolf (Force of Nature Series) (11 page)

Exhaustion weighed on her when she opened her eyes.
She had no idea how long she’d been helping him
,
only that she didn’t have the strength to do much more than nod slightly at the glass of orange juice someone held out to her.
She tried to speak and before she could form words someone picked her up and then blackness engulfed her.

~~~

Austin looked down at the sleeping woman in his arms.
She’d saved Gordon. He didn’t know how yet
,
but he planned to find out.
He glanced at his mate as she pulled the blankets down off the bed in the room that one of the
a
unts had led them to.
He was startled when Phil laid Gordon
,
in human form now
,
down on the other side of Alexis on the big bed.

“She has to mate with him now.
If not
,
then she’ll run.”
Phil covered Gordon up as he continued.
“Please don’t ask me what she is.
First of all
,
I don’t have a definite answer
,
and secondly…secondly, I don’t think I believe it myself.”

“You knew she could heal him. How?” Austin asked him.
“What did you feel that none of
us
did?
There had to be something that tipped you off.”

“Something, yes.
Let’s take this downstairs.
She’ll be out for several days
,
her aunt said.
The more…damage
,
the longer it takes for her to come back from it.
They can’t believe she did this again.
They said she only does it for those she loves.”
Phil moved out of the room and they had no choice but to follow.

CJ stopped him just beyond the door.
“She saved his life because he’s her mate
,
didn’t she?
Even now she doesn’t realize that she had no choice but to love him.
Oh Austin
,
what happens to them all now?
Do you know what she is?”

Austin looked back at the couple on the bed.
“No.
No, I
don’t
know
,
but Phil does and if he is this nervous
,
it can’t be good.
No, I don’t know what she is
,
but I plan to find out.
She’s a member of this pack now and we’ll all protect her.”
He pulled his mate to him.
“She saved his life.
He was dying and she saved his life.”

“I know, love.
Whatever she is, she’s very powerful.
And yes, we’ll all protect her.”

The living room was nearly empty when they entered.
Austin felt at home here. Not as much as he did at his own home
,
but he could easily see his brother living here with Alexis.
Connor was sitting on the floor next to were Darcy was still hiding and when Austin started toward him a small shake of his brother
’
s head had him going toward the couch instead.
He had never seen anyone as terrified in his life as that little girl. He wondered what had happened to this family and how they were going to help them.

“Alexis is very private so what I’m going to tell you is something I don’t believe she’s ever shared with anyone but family.”
Glad sat on the couch as Jessie served sandwiches around.
She took one off the tray as she continued.
“Alexis and Judith weren’t true sisters.
Not by blood at any rate.
Judith was Daniel’s child and Alexis was Caroline’s.
The two of them, Daniel and Caroline
,
met when the girls were just about three. They married a few months later, Caroline and Daniel, not the girls.
Both girls, head over heels in love with having a family
,
settled right in.”

Jessie sat and picked up the tale.
“When Daniel was away on business he had his brother, Donald
,
keep an eye on the house for his family.
Donald had a son named Patrick Booth from an affair he’d had with a married woman.
Sor
did
affair
,
it was
,
and the boy, Paddy he goes by now
,
became surly and resentful when he realized how happy the girls were.
Don’t know why
,
but he hadn’t ever met Alexis as an adult or things might have been a bit different.
She was away at school when she turned fifteen.
She is as smart as they come
,
our Alexis
,
and she’d been offered all kinds of scholarships to go to all them fancy schools.
But Paddy had his sights set on marrying up Judith when she turned seventeen and there was no stopping him. We both thought he was off his rocker
,
but then no one would listen to us.”

“Wait, how are you related to her then?
Why wouldn’t you keep an eye on them if the boy was so bad?”
Austin flushed.
“I’m sorry.
I shouldn’t have—
”

“Oh it’s al
l
right. I was Caroline’s aunt and Gladys here was Daniel’s.
We sort of became family when the two of them married.”
Jessie laughed. “Our family tree doesn’t quite go in a circle
,
but it
’
s pretty close. I guess you can say we formed our own pack.”

Austin nodded. He was never sure what to do when someone outside mentioned his race. He wasn’t ashamed of what he was
,
but he was fearful of others.
He didn’t remember a time when they had to outright hide what they were from humans
,
but he knew what could happen.

“Jessie
,
dear, do get on with it. The poor man is being polite and not telling you to get to the flipping point.” Gladys grinned at him.
“She dithers at times.
It’s sometimes difficult to keep her on point.”

Austin felt his lips twitch.
He was having a hard time keeping a straight face.
But as soon as Phil snickered he laughed as well.
These two women may not be related
,
but they sure knew one another well enough.
He had no doubt that they would eventually get to the point
,
but it would take a trip through the wood on the way to the mall on the other side of the state to get there.

“Oh yes.
Well,” Jessie began with a snort to Gladys.
“Alexis is a foundling.
Do they use that term anymore?
Oh well, she was a motherless child…oh
,
I do like that better.
Motherless. Well, at the time she was found she was, but Judith certainly never made her—
”
With a short nudge from Gladys
,
she moved on.
“She was a beautiful child.
And so good.
We never told anyone
,
of course, just took her in and kept her. I was living with my Caroline at the time.
We knew from the start she was different
,
but never really cared.
Then later
,
Caroline met Daniel and it didn’t seem to matter anymore.”

“How
?
” Phil asked from his position at the fireplace.
“What made you think she was different?
Did she do anything…was she able to do anything that set her apart
?
”

“Well of course she did.
What do you think I just said?”
Jessie turned to Gladys and frowned.
“Is there something wrong with the way I’m telling this story
,
Glad dear?
Or is he, you know
?
” Jessie twirled her finger at her head to indicate that she thought Phil was crazy.
The vamp growled
,
but was ignored.

“No
,
he’s not
,
but you certainly must be. What did Alexis tell us about him? She said to behave around him because he’s a
…”
Gladys lowered her voice
,
but they could all hear.
“He’s a vampire, remember
?
”

“Good heavens,” Phil snapped.
Austin laughed because the expression on Phil’s face was priceless.
Before he could get control o
f
himself
Gladys
whipped out a string of what appeared to be garlic and held it in front of him.

“I may be old
,
but I can certainly whip your ass if you think of having your way with me while you suck my neck, young man.”
Gladys looked so fierce that Austin pulled a pillow from the side of the couch and shoved it in his mouth.
She looked like she could take on just about anything and come out on top.

Phil took the garlic from the older woman and tossed it across the room.
“Let me guess, you’ve read about me in some smut book and now you think you have all the answers on how to keep me at bay.
Well
,
ladies
,
I’m too old to be screwed with and I enjoy a very good garlic spaghetti sauce every now and then as much as the next person.
Now, would you please tell us what made Alexis different from any other baby?”

“She was outside when we found her.
Out in a basket with nothing more than a little bitty sleeper on her.”
Phil looked ready to explode before Gladys hurried on.
“It was in the middle of winter. It was minus fifteen degrees out and she was laying there all warm and snuggly in her little basket.
She’d been there long enough that the snow had no prints in it and there weren’t nary a thing around her.”