The Trail Back (3 page)

“Yes,” Kaitlyn said, “we can save her. Caleb is arranging for a doctor to come as soon as possible.”

Brayden nodded his thanks. “Do you have any knowledge of what was done to her and the other shifters?”

Brody appeared next to him before Isabelle could answer. “I’m going to go and collect Charlie now. She’ll meet me at a coffee shop in Salt Lake City that Jayce took me to once. I’ll bring her back as soon as she arrives.”

“Do you need me to come with you?” Landon asked, but Brody had already vanished. The bear roared loudly and Isabelle took a few steps away from him.

“You have a demon in this town?” she asked. “Is he dangerous?” Her eyes were wide and bright in her pale face.

“He’s gone off alone again, hasn’t he?” Elliot asked. He was standing in the doorway looking as furious as his twin. “It’s because I upset him.”

Caleb moved the large man from the doorway and walked into the office. He picked Meg up and came to sit on the sofa next to Brayden. Meg snuggled back into his chest.

“Are you warm enough, baby?”

“I am now, Caleb. Thank you.” She looked at Isabelle appraisingly. “Brody is my friend, and beyond that, he is a loyal member of our pride.”

Isabelle lowered her head to the Alpha’s mate.

“Brody will be back shortly. Charlie was only ten minutes away from their arranged meeting point. He’ll be fine,” Caleb said.

The Alpha was looking sympathetically at the two bears. Brayden couldn’t begin to imagine how they felt, but he soon would. He had a mate now. Isabelle gazed suspiciously at the two big bears.

“What were they doing to the shifters, Isabelle?” Caleb asked. “I think we all need to know.”

Landon stepped back to stand by the office door with his brother. Sean moved to stand behind Kaitlyn and wrapped his arms protectively around her. Brayden knew that his was going to difficult for Sean and Aiden to hear. It might very well have been Kaitlyn’s fate had the pride failed to keep her safe when the vampires had last come for her.

“I was able to learn a great deal as I watched their camp. My initial plan was to gather information, then seek assistance from Kaitlyn’s mates in destroying their operation, but this one was so badly hurt that I didn’t think she’d be alive when I returned.”

“Wait, how did you know I was mated? Or where I was living?” Kaitlyn asked.

“My coven is based in Venezuela, and I cannot get away often, but whenever I was able to slip away I checked on you and your father. The last time I saw him he was thinking about your wedding and the troubles you’d encountered. That was when I began searching for the vampire Selwyn Graves.”

“So you’ve always checked on Kaitlyn?” Sean asked. “Her whole life?”

The vampire nodded and lowered her eyes. Brayden finally scented her. She had previously carried no scent, like Aiden, but now she scented of sadness. She hadn’t easily abandoned Kaitlyn.

“The day I met my mate, I returned to my coven with the intention of preparing them for the wonder of my true mate being a panther, not a vampire. I encountered my grandmother first and she informed me of what a child of such a union would become.” She looked up briefly to stare at the daughter she’d only just met. “She told me that I’d be killed by the council before they’d let your blood loose on the vampire world.”

“An abomination,” Kaitlyn said. Her voice was whisper soft but still audible to the shifters and vampires in the room.

Isabelle nodded, her expression desolate. “To protect him, I stayed away from my mate. When I found out I was pregnant my grandmother helped me find sanctuary in Europe until you were born.”

“Then to protect me, you gave me to your mate and disappeared again.” Kaitlyn said, tears filling her eyes.

“Vampires love their mates and children just as deeply as shifters,” Aiden said. He had appeared beside Kaitlyn and placed a hand protectively over her flat stomach. “You must have suffered greatly these last twenty-five years, Isabelle, to be denied both your mate and your child.”

“It was worth that pain and much, much more to see her as she is now, happy and mated, living a life that would have otherwise been denied her, creating a new life of her own.”

Brayden realized the significance of what Isabelle had just told them. Not only were Kaitlyn and his mate in danger from Selwyn Graves, but they were also in danger from some council the vampires had to answer to.

“Will this council be a threat to the hybrids once we save them from Graves?” Caleb asked.

Their Alpha was worthy of his title. He thought of every angle. Each member of his pride was important to him.

“I believe if Graves has already found four hybrids in under two months, then there are a great many more vampire-shifter mating’s than we imagined,” Aiden said. “The large numbers should give us leverage to seek a way to neutralize the effect of their blood rather than eradicate them as a species.”

“Do you think that’s even possible?” Brayden asked.

Kaitlyn’s eyes widened. “We’d be safe forever. Our baby would be safe.”

“I’ve been discussing it with Jason Reed, and he feels it may be possible to manufacture some sort of vaccine.” Aiden caught Kaitlyn as she threw herself into his arms and peppered kisses over his face.

“You really are brilliant, Aiden St. John. If I weren’t already married I’d run away with you.”

Brayden was surprised to see his brothers Josh and Shane walk silently into the room. Their expressions were impassive, but they came to stand directly behind him instead of remaining on the perimeter, as was their normal behavior at any sort of gathering.
Maybe there’s hope for them yet? Perhaps they aren’t too broken to care for our mate.

Brayden decided to not get too optimistic, but they had at least picked up the gauntlet and come to their mate’s aid. They had a long way still to go, but it was the first step away from their horrific past that they’d ever taken.

He looked up to see Aiden staring at him.
“She’ll bring them out of their darkness. Give them time.”

Aiden could only read the thoughts that were in a person’s mind at the time, but with Josh and Shane so mired in their past he wondered if Aiden had heard the whole terrible tale of their shattered childhood. Aiden nodded slightly, and Brayden shuddered involuntarily. No one should ever have witnessed what his brothers had—no one, especially them.

* * * *

Shane looked down at the small bundle of dirty fur in Brayden’s lap and wanted to shift and hunt down whoever had hurt the poor little wolf. His fingers ached as his claws punched through his skin. He heard the splash of his blood landing on the polished wood floor as it dripped freely from his fingertips.

“What the fuck did they do to her?” Shane hardly recognized the voice as his own. It was harsh and deep as he pushed it past a constriction that had formed in his throat. He felt a foreign pain deep in his chest.
So I have a fucking heart after all. Who knew?

“Of course. My apologies,” the female vampire said. “We can catch up later, if Kaitlyn is agreeable to this.” She smiled at her daughter and turned to look down at the injured wolf, Brayden’s mate.

Aiden spoke directly into Shane’s mind.
“Your mate, too, young wolf. Your heart led you back here.”

Shane didn’t want anyone in his mind.
“I may kill you. Just to shut you the fuck up, vampire.”

“But you know that would hurt Kaitlyn, and you like her.”

“Not that much.”
Shane could see, from the small smirk on the vampire’s face, that he knew the threat to be an empty one. The rest of the pride believed him and Josh to be completely feral and without emotion. Aiden saw the truth—they were just very angry with the world.

“Two or three vampires entered the cages to take blood from them each day, sometimes more often. They were beaten into submission each time they fought them.” The vampire looked down at Brayden’s mate, her expression haunted.

“Beaten and drained. What else, Isabelle?” Brayden said softly. Shane wanted to reach out and cover her mouth to stop more words coming out. He’d heard enough. He had enough horrors of his own stuck in his head without adding more. He didn’t think he could live with any more.

“Are you aware of the effects the hybrid blood has on vampires?” Isabelle asked. She looked at Brayden, then up at Josh, and finally to Shane.

Don’t say it. Don’t say anything more.
Shane didn’t know if he was saying the words to himself or to the vampire. He just knew he couldn’t hear anymore. He was also incapable of leaving. He’d be tortured more if he didn’t know everything they’d done to this woman.
My woman.

“Not really,” Brayden said. “Only that it’s addictive and gives them a high.”

“Yes, I imagine it is like a drug-induced high,” Isabelle said. “But from the conversations amongst the vampires I gleaned that along with the euphoria it also acts like the vampire equivalent of Viagra. When Selwyn Graves was not at the camp, the other vampires would feed directly from the hybrids and sate their resultant sexual urges on them. No matter how unwilling the hybrids were.”

Shane never battled his wolf when he was enraged. He and Josh were always very close to their wolves and could meld with them effortlessly into a half-shift born of that intense rage. Their wolves were able to share in the rage of the man when they merged like this.

Isabelle took a step back, even though she was already a good ten feet away from Shane and his brother. He knew how frightening they looked like this. He liked it. It made people run away. Then he didn’t have to talk to them.

“She’ll need all of us to help her recover from this ordeal,” Brayden said.

He stood and carefully handed the unconscious wolf to Shane. Meg actually gasped as Shane took the tiny wolf in his fur-covered arms. His claws had fully emerged from the ends of his furred fingers.

“Oh shit, who pissed of the Brothers Grimm?” Brody said.

Shane and Josh both growled at the demon as he appeared directly in front of them. He was holding the hand of a very pale woman. Shane bared his extended canines in his elongated face. He would have told the little guy not to worry, that their anger was not directed at anyone here, but he was incapable of speech in this form. Plus, he didn’t really care to relieve the demon’s anxiety. He didn’t give a flying fuck who he scared.

The wolf in his arms stirred and whimpered. The sound was filled with fear and pain. In an instant he shifted back to fully human and stroked his hand over her coat. The pain in his chest returned with a burning urgency. “The doctor is here now, tiny wolf.”

“Jesus,” the new doctor said. “That is one strange way to travel. I think I’m going to puke.”

Brody vanished, only to reappear an instant later with a bucket. “You get used to it,” he said, holding the doctor’s long brown hair out of the way while she threw up noisily into the bucket.

“Brody, do you need help collecting her luggage, her equipment, her car?” Elliot said. He came to stand beside the demon and kissed the top of his head hesitantly. “I’m sorry for embarrassing you earlier. I was a dick.”

“Yes, but you’re my dick.” Brody smiled up at his mate, and Elliot blushed scarlet.

“This is a mate thing, isn’t it?” Josh said. He had a very sour expression as he slowly shook his head and cursed under his breath.

Shane shared his brother’s disgust. Mates were nauseating with each other. Then he remembered the tender words he’d spoken to the wolf in his arms only a few seconds ago.

“Take her.” Shane handed the wolf carefully to Josh and wiped his hands down his jeans. He knew it was childish, but he didn’t want to have these feelings for her, and her scent was driving him crazy.

Landon cleared his throat and took the bucket from the doctor. “Elliot, you go and collect the doctor’s things with Brody, and I’ll show her where to freshen up. Welcome to Pine Falls, Doctor Paige. We’re glad you’re finally here with us.”

“Nice to see you again, Charlie,” Caleb said. “Sorry for the urgency, but we have a very sick wolf here who needs your help immediately.”

“I’ll just freshen up while my equipment is brought here.” She looked around the room and waved one hand while wiping her mouth with the back of the other. “You’ll all have to get out. I don’t need anyone here but the blood donor. Please make sure everyone is gone before I get back, Caleb.”

She followed Landon from the room, and Shane had to stifle the growl that was forming in his throat. He didn’t want to be here, and he didn’t like the doctor.

“You were right, Caleb,” Aiden said softly. “She’s charming.”

“I didn’t hire her for her social skills. I hired her because, next to Jason, she’s the best the shifter world has to offer in the way of doctors.”

Shane’s anger dissolved. If she was that good, then he wanted her here for Brayden’s mate. He took in a deep breath. There was a smell in the air that he didn’t recognize. He looked at Josh and gasped in surprise.

Josh was bent over the bundle in his arms with his lips puckered. It looked as though he was about to kiss the unconscious wolf on the head. Josh startled at his gasp and straightened his spine. Shane leaned over and sniffed his brother’s shoulder. There was the smell. It was Josh.

“You both seem to be excreting the mating musk,” Aiden said. “It seems your wolves are happy to have found their mate.”

Shane brought his arm up to his nose and winced at the sweet aroma wafting from his skin. He refrained from trying to wipe it off. He didn’t want to appear any more foolish in front of the other members of his pride.

“She’s not for us,” Shane said. He looked at Aiden and got the same uneasy feeling he always got when the vampire entered his mind. “She’s Brayden’s mate. We’re here because Brayden said she’d die if we didn’t help her.”

Aiden nodded and his eyes narrowed as he read the unspoken sentence straight from Shane’s mind.
“We’re not stupid. We know he can’t mate her without us. As soon as she’s healed we’ll do what’s necessary. It’s a fucking miracle we even made it to fifty.”