The Trail Back (24 page)

“But they’ve been gone for a whole day now,” Abbie whispered. “How long does a damn meeting take?”

“They only went into the meeting an hour ago,” Meg said. “Brody sent me a text when they were called before the council. He had to leave his cell outside. He wasn’t happy.”

Prescott picked Meg up and stopped her from pacing by placing her on his lap. “They’ll all be home as soon as the meeting’s over,” Prescott said. “Brody will have them back here in a heartbeat.”

It had taken the better part of a day for them to arrive at the council’s headquarters in Rachau, Austria, because Brody had only been able to transport the delegation as far as Salzburg. They’d then had to travel the remaining distance conventionally, not that Brayden considered a stretch limousine as a particularly conventional means of transportation.

Brody, Aiden, and Caleb appeared by the bar. The fact that they were all smiling told Brayden that things had gone well. He felt his body relax for the first time in twenty-four hours. Meg and Kaitlyn started to run across the room, but their mates met them before they’d made it but a few steps.

“I’ll go away more often if you greet me like this, baby,” Caleb said. He kissed Meg and held her to him as he walked over to clap Lachlan and Prescott on their shoulders. “Sorry, but it seems as though I’m her favorite.”

“What did they say?” Kaitlyn asked when Aiden released her lips from their kiss.

“Caleb wants to wait until everyone’s present before he informs you of the council’s decision,” Aiden said.

“I’m already regretting that blood bond, Aiden,” Caleb said. He smiled at Kaitlyn, “I don’t know how you two put up with him.”

Brayden didn’t notice that Brody had disappeared again until Isabelle and Charlie appeared next to Caleb. Jason Reed had wanted to accompany them and explain the vaccine’s properties, but Charlie had insisted that her unmated status meant it should be her head on the chopping block, not his.

Abbie jumped when Brody appeared right by her side with Josh and Shane. Brody winked and disappeared again to retrieve the final member of their party, his mate Landon.

Abbie threw her arms around Josh’s and Shane’s necks as she kissed their stubbly faces. “That’s it. If you need to leave again we all go,” Abbie said. “It was awful.”

Shane picked Abbie up and crashed his lips to hers. Their kiss grew frantic and heated in an instant. Brayden twisted his hips to try to make some room for his erection as the scent of Abbie’s arousal reached his nose.

“Brayden
is
pretty poor company,” Josh said. He took Abbie from Shane’s arms and kissed her until she was moaning.

Caleb cleared his throat as Brody, Elliot and Landon stepped from Landon’s office. The three of them were holding hands and Brody’s hair was now a mess. From the way Brody was panting, Brayden could tell that Elliot had just made it clear how much he’d missed his mate.

“The council has accepted our appeal and is going to work toward implementing our recommendations with regard to hybrids. Abbie and Kaitlyn, as well as Randall, Cindy, and Nicola, have all been granted immediate immunity from execution,” Caleb said. “We are also on record as the strangest delegation ever to appear before them.”

Brayden loved Abbie’s laugh and found himself vowing to make her do it more often. “We are a strange pride.”

“True,” Aiden agreed. “It seems we shook a few skeletons loose from the council’s closet, too. A ranking member has a granddaughter who is a hybrid. She has been in hiding for the last six hundred years, and he is looking forward to finally welcoming her into his coven.”

Brayden’s blood drained from his head. He didn’t know whether he was about to throw up or faint. Perhaps he’d do both. Abbie was a hybrid. She would still be alive long after his death, or she’d die prematurely because of them.

“Wait, Brayden,” Aiden said. “Don’t faint yet. There’s more to this story.”

“What will happen to Kaitlyn when I die,” Sean said. He looked as sick as Brayden felt. He was pale as he came to wrap a protective arm around Kaitlyn’s waist.

“I had a nice long chat with that council member while Charlie explained the medicinal miracle that Jason had created. His granddaughter is mated to a wolf and they have three children, two of which are hybrids like their mother. The other is a vampire. They have been together for over five centuries. Her mate has not aged a day since their mating.”

Sean swung Kaitlyn up into his arms. “So you won’t be getting rid of me any time soon, baby. Just as well I’m adorable.”

Kaitlyn buried her head against Sean’s chest and Brayden could see her shoulders shaking as she quietly sobbed. Sean looked confused and stared at Aiden for assistance.

“Happy tears, Sean. Let’s take our mate home.” Aiden and Sean ran from the tavern.

It seems their forever with Abbie was going to be a lot longer than any of them had envisioned. He saw his own joy at this revelation mirrored on Josh and Shane’s faces.

“I’m so happy,” Abbie whispered. “I hope you don’t get sick of me.”

They all growled at her and were rewarded with a radiant smile from their beautiful mate. Brayden and his brothers quickly said their good-byes and took their mate home. Brayden drove so Josh and Shane could cuddle up with Abbie on the back seat.

“I found my replacement for fire chief today,” Brayden said. “I’ll let him settle in for a week or so, and then I’m officially retired. I’ll be joining the family business.”

He glanced in the rear view mirror when he received no answer and saw that Josh and Shane were busy taking Abbie’s clothes off as they kissed her. His brothers had changed a lot in the last six weeks. Not only were they now happy and talkative, but they were also no longer shy when it came to sex.

“Can’t you wait until we get home,” Brayden said. He groaned as he tried to make room in his jeans, only to have the zipper dig deeper into his engorged cock.

“No,” Shane and Josh both said.

“No,” Abbie added, making them all growl.

His perfect mate had brought his brothers back in from the wild and now they had centuries of life to be together. Brayden smiled to himself and drove a little faster, he needed to get home and join his brothers in ravishing their perfect mate.

* * * *

Josh was up early the next morning despite having spent most of the night making love to Abbie. He prepared a huge breakfast for his family. After they’d eaten they planned on taking Brayden through some of the routes they’d mapped out for their new tour business.

Abbie had garnered help from both Kaitlyn and Meg in getting the necessary permits for their new business, as well as advertising and booking the tours for the summer ahead. Josh was surprised at how excited he was about the new venture. Abbie’s enthusiasm was infectious.

Abbie’s six dogs were lying by the door, waiting patiently for her to come downstairs. He ruffled Rusty’s head and got a lick on the hand in return.

“She’ll be right down, big fella,” Shane said. He walked into the kitchen and stopped to pat each dog in turn.

“How come you never cook breakfast?” Josh said. “Didn’t you say once that you were going to learn to cook?”

Shane poured himself a coffee and leaned against the counter as he shook his head. “No. That’s what you said. But we’re going to have to make sure Abbie eats more. She’s still too skinny. It could be dangerous now.”

“What’s dangerous?” Abbie asked. Brayden entered the kitchen with Abbie in his arms and sat at the table with her on his lap.

“You being too skinny, apparently,” Josh said. He put the plates with the bacon and scrambled eggs on the table and went to kiss his mate good morning.

They all turned and looked at Shane as he approached the table. He just smiled and heaped some food onto a plate before putting it in front of Abbie. “Eat, sweetheart,” he said. “It’s important.”

“It’s not like you to be cryptic,” Brayden said. “Thanks for the breakfast, Josh. We have a big day of hiking ahead of us.”

“I wasn’t being cryptic,” Shane said. He went to the fridge and got some milk. He poured a large glass and set it in front of Abbie.

“What if I’d like coffee?” Abbie said. She raised an eyebrow at Shane but reached for the glass of milk anyway.

“No more coffee for you,” Shane said.

“Now you’re doing it deliberately,” Josh said. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I noticed it this morning. Abbie smells wrong.”

“I smell?” Abbie said. She choked on her milk and coughed as she placed the glass back on the table. “I can’t, I’ve had lots of baths and showers.” She sniffed at her arm and pulled her hair under her nose to sniff that, too.

Shane knelt beside her and took her hand in his. “Sweetheart, you smell wonderful. You just smelled different. I think it was because I was shifted that I noticed it at all.”

Brayden sniffed at Abbie’s neck and Josh took her other hand and did the same. “Nothing but mate,” Brayden said. “She still scents as human to me. Human and delicious mate.”

Abbie laughed as Brayden growled and nibbled her neck.

“Me, too,” Josh said seriously. “Is she sick? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“I didn’t understand what I was smelling until I remembered how surprised I was last night at the tavern to detect a scent from Kaitlyn. She smelled of cougar. I checked with Sean. He can scent her now, too.”

“I still don’t understand,” Abbie said. “What does Kaitlyn smelling of cougar have to do with me? Her mate is a cougar. She probably just smells of him.”

“I can smell wolf on you, Abbie,” Shane said slowly. Brayden and Josh both put their noses to Abbie’s skin. “Aiden and Sean are certain that Kaitlyn’s baby is a cougar, like Sean.”

“No,” Brayden said. He growled and lifted Abbie’s hair to press his nose to a different part of her neck. “You must have super-senses, or be wrong. I can’t smell a thing.”

Josh stood and stripped off his clothes. They fell to the ground as he shifted. Abbie stroked his head and kissed his snout as he licked and sniffed her face and hand.

“I still maintain your wolves are pretty. So white and soft,” Abbie said. She closed her eyes and rested her face against Josh. She gasped as he shifted back and snatched her from Brayden’s lap.

“Fuck. He’s right,” Josh said. He swung Abbie around in a small circle, then put her back on Brayden’s lap as he started to dress.

“We could ask Charlie to do a test,” Brayden said. He looked down at Abbie with wonder on his face.

“One of you needs to tell me what this is all about. Did the vampires give me some sort of disease? You’re scaring me.” Abbie reached out to clutch Shane’s face. “What do you smell? Just tell me.”

“I did, sweetheart,” Shane smiled at his little mate. He reached out and placed a hand over her stomach. “I smell wolf.”

Abbie’s mouth popped open, but no sound came out. Her mouth then curled up into a radiant smile. He liked this. They were a real family. He liked sharing good news with his family. He had even liked fighting evil vampires to keep his family alive. Now they had a new member for all of them to love together, and Shane knew his life was finally how it was always meant to be. This was the life his parents would have wanted for him, for all of their sons.

He’d nearly thrown it all away, thrown it away out of senseless, self-destructive, self-centered rage. His parents would have been ashamed of the man he was before Abbie had come along and saved him from himself. He’d make sure Abbie and their pup knew how much he loved and appreciated them every day of their lives.

THE END

Ashley was born in England but has lived in Australia since she was three years old. Her love of reading has grown into a love of writing stories. All her stories will have a happy-ever-after, because that
’
s what she feels everyone deserves. She likes to call it “Ashley-World.” It
’
s a world of infinite possibility where love conquers all adversity. She hopes you enjoy escaping into her world for a little while.

For all titles by Ashley Malkin, please visit

www.bookstrand.com/ashley-malkin

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com