The Trail Back (5 page)

Yes, donating blood is the easy part.

* * * *

Abbie struggled to stay asleep. She didn’t like being awake. It brought her nothing but pain and degradation. If she woke, she may have to fight until they beat her into oblivion again. She shook with an involuntary shudder. The pain of the beatings was still preferable to staying awake when they fed from her. She shuddered again.

“My name is Doctor Paige,” a woman said. “You’ve been brought to a town in Wyoming called Pine Falls. You’re safe.”

Abbie was bombarded with a deluge of new sensations, all of which made her aware that at least some of what the female had just said was true. Keeping her eyes closed she let her wolf revel in the unfamiliar sensations of both warmth and joy. For some reason her wolf was extremely happy.

“Can you open your eyes, little wolf?”

The deep husky timbre of that voice reverberated through to her bones, leaving her nerve endings alive with pleasure. She inhaled the deep musky scent of male wolf, her male wolf. She growled low in her throat. Her wolf didn’t like another female being around her mate. She wriggled closer to a warm, hard chest, absorbing comfort and warmth from the contact. She’d been so cold, so alone, for such a long time.

She didn’t know how long she’d been in that cage. The days had run into each other as she was beaten unconscious, only to wake and have it happen again, all with no knowledge of how long she’d been unconscious.

“She’s waking up,” someone with a deep voice said.

This voice held a confusing mix of aggression and pain. She wanted to protect her mate, to keep him safe, but as she moved to stand and protect him, she screamed in pain.

“Don’t move, little wolf. You’ve only just begun to heal from your injuries.”

“Should I go and get the vampire? He’ll be able to read her thoughts for us.”

This was another voice, another angry man. Then she realized what he’d said. He was going to get a vampire. Ignoring pain had become easier through her time as a captive, so she pushed down the instinct to remain still and leaped from her imaginary mate’s embrace. She didn’t know why she’d dreamed him up, but he was obviously a figment of her fevered imagination.

“Stop her,” the woman said.

They were too late. Abbie opened her eyes and saw a wooden floor.
I’m not in the cage. The stupid bastards shouldn’t have let my wolf out.

Not stopping to look behind her, Abbie ran toward a door she saw opening right in front of her.
Freedom. I’m going to be free or dead.
Her speed was more of a slow walk, even though she was channeling all of her strength into it. She was hurting. Every inch of her was on fire with pain.
They can just fucking kill me. I won’t go back to that stinking cage.

A tall, dark-haired man swept her into his arms and turned her flailing paws away from him. She swept her claws uselessly through the air. She looked at the room around her. There were no cages, and the room was unfamiliar. Three huge, blond men were coming toward her with their hands outstretched. A tall, slim woman stood behind them, her arms folded across her chest. Blood rushed through Abbie’s ears. The pounding of her own heart was nearly deafening her.

“Calm down. You’re safe,”
the man holding her said. He sounded calm and serene. “We are all here to help you. Your mates are here to help you.”

She froze.
Her mates?
She had woken thinking her mate was here. As the three blond men approached her, the scents of musk and male wolf engulfed her. She struggled to believe it. She was really safe. She had mates.
Oh God. I have three mates?

“These three men are your mates. I am a vampire, and I have a panther, who is like you, as my mate.”

Several things about that statement were immediately disturbing to Abbie. He was a vampire, he had a panther for a mate, and he must surely be blind. She was shifted and clearly was not a panther.

“I am unable to hear her thoughts as I can Kaitlyn’s. Can you hear her thoughts, Isabelle?”

“No, I can’t. I could hear none of the hybrid’s thoughts. I’m surprised you can hear Kaitlyn. I have never been able to hear her.”

Abbie recognized the tall woman as the one who had freed her from the cage. One of the blond giants moved to stand in front of her.

“Can you please give me my mate, Aiden? My wolf is going crazy with you holding her.”

His voice, she recognized it from her dream. The dream that wasn’t a dream. She was really safe.

“I imagine that the way you’re holding her is causing her broken ribs to puncture her lungs again, Aiden.”

“Fuck, give her to me,” said one of her mates, one of the angry ones.

She’d had enough of being a spectator. If she wanted to participate in this conversation, she needed to shift. Before her capture she’d lived in a pack, and nudity after a shift was an accepted norm. These people, however, were not pack, and it made the decision difficult.

With her panic subsiding, the pain in her ribs and body was becoming unbearable. Just as the blond mate reached for her, she called for her human form and shifted. She found herself snuggled against a warm, hard torso. His scent was more subtle to her human nose, but still clearly recognizable. Mate.

* * * *

Shane could deny he wanted a mate all he liked, but it seemed his wolf was quite certain of what it wanted. “Well, hello there, sweetheart. Decided to join us, did you?” The woman in his arms, his mate, buried her face into his chest. She was wracked with convulsive shudders. “She’s freezing.”

“It’s probably shock,” Charlie said. She walked to him with a thick winter coat and laid it over the shaking woman. “Open your shirt and hold her against your skin. It’s the quickest way to warm her.”

Shane found he was sitting on the sofa and obeying the doctor without giving it another thought. He didn’t know when he’d become a pussy, but it seemed to come naturally. He opened his shirt with one hand, his other arm supporting the slight form of the woman.
My woman. Fuck, she feels good.

She felt like she was made of ice as her naked body made contact with his skin, but his skin burned at the contact. His cock filled and throbbed as he breathed her scent deep into his lungs. His body soaked her scent in like it was starving for her. He breathed even deeper, her scent satisfying the hunger in his soul, the hunger for love.

“Hello, my name is Charlie.”

His eyes snapped open, he’d been unaware of how lost he’d been in the feel and smell of the woman he held.

“I’m the doctor here in Pine Falls. Can you tell me how you’re feeling?”

“Perfect,” Shane said. He growled and went to stand but was pushed down by Brayden. He had just said that aloud. He needed to get out of here before this got any worse.

“Jesus, Shane,” Josh said. He growled again and shot a glare over his shoulder at his twin. The woman in his arms pressed her hands against his stomach, her cool touch igniting flames inside him. He could almost feel the ice around his heart melting with her touch.

“Why don’t we focus on the health of your mate,” Aiden said. “You and Josh can sort your problems out later.”

He looked up at the vampire as Aiden moved to stand in front of him. He expected the vampire to mock him about how easily the mating bond was burning through his resolve to never mate. He was wrong. Aiden’s eyes held only sympathy. He really did understand how hard this was for him and Josh.

Brayden sat next to him and reached out a hand to brush the long dark hair away from the woman’s face. “Hello, I’m Brayden Walsh. My brother Shane is holding you and the surly one peering at you over the sofa is our brother Josh. We’re your mates.”

“I know,” she said, burying her cold face deeper into his chest. “I thought before that I was dreaming of you. I’m not. I’m really free—free from the monsters?”

Shane couldn’t stop the loud growl from rumbling out of him. Mate or not, the vampires had tortured and abused this woman, His woman. His wolf was breaking through. His claws erupted, and his canines descended. He’d never tried to control his wolf before and felt unsure of how to do it.

“Tell it to wait,” Aiden said. “Tell it the time for vengeance is coming but that it needs to care for its mate first.”

Shane saw the shower of lights behind him, felt the crackle in the air that told him Josh had failed, or hadn’t even attempted, to fight the shift. Shane told his wolf to wait. They’d rip the vampires apart soon, just not now.

Josh howled and walked around the sofa to sniff at their mate. His wolf softly licked at a bruise on her exposed cheek. She turned at the contact, and Shane saw his mate’s face for the first time. She was gorgeous. Even covered in bruises and bite marks she was a gorgeous woman, with fine-boned features and big copper-colored eyes.

“You’re an arctic wolf,” she said softly. “You’re so pretty. Can I touch you?”

Josh halted in his move to back away and lowered his head to stare directly into her eyes, a snarl rolled from his muzzle. “Men can be pretty. I’ve never seen an animal so white before. I guess the ones in the wild don’t shower regularly or use shampoo.”

Charlie stifled a laugh, but Aiden and Brayden didn’t bother. They laughed loudly.

“Gods, she’s adorable. She and Kaitlyn are going to be fast friends. My mate babbles, too,” Aiden said.

She reached out a thin, bruised arm that had too many bite marks on it to count, and stroked the side of Josh’s neck. He growled but didn’t back away. Shane knew he wouldn’t have either. The pull to touch her was like a magnet being close to another. He was holding her in his arms, and it still felt as though he wasn’t close enough to her.

She turned her face up to him, and he gasped at the bruises around her big eyes. There were definitely some broken bones under all the swelling. A growl escaped him, his whole body vibrating with his contained rage.
Soon,
he thought, soothing his wolf,
soon we’ll tear off their heads.

“What’s your name, little wolf?” Brayden said, the laughter still in his voice.

Shane glanced at Brayden and saw that his gaze was roaming over her face and exposed arm as his just had. His brows were furrowed, and his eyes were hooded, despite his happy tone of voice. Brayden was trying equally hard to calm his wolf’s rage.

“Abbie, Abbie Monroe.” She looked over at Brayden, her hand still absently stroking Josh’s neck. “That woman took me from the cage.” She turned to look up at Isabelle.

“Yes, Abbie,” Aiden said. “She brought you here to her daughter, my mate, because she is like you and was also attacked by Selwyn Graves.”

Abbie shuddered in his arms. She recognized that vampire’s name. He’d hurt her. He’d die for that, Shane would make sure he did.

“You said that before. I don’t understand. I’m a wolf, not a panther. You saw that.”

“I think your mates can have that discussion with you at a later stage,” Charlie said. She ignored Josh’s loud growl and pushed his head away from Abbie. “Will you let me examine you, Abbie? I’d like to see if there’s any more I can do for you?”

“Not here,” Abbie said.

Her eyes grew wide, and she drew her hand back under the coat that covered her. She curled her legs up under it as well. The bruises and bites to her legs didn’t escape Shane’s notice before they disappeared.

“I have no clothes on.”

“Leave,” Charlie said. “Your mate needs for you to leave so that I can examine her.”

Shane felt Abbie tense at the same time he did. Fear tainted her sweet woodsy scent. “We won’t leave,” he said. He’d blurted out the words in a rush. He wanted to take them back, but he wouldn’t because they expressed how he really felt, despite not wanting to feel that way.

“Come on, Shane,” Brayden said. He rose and held out his hand to help Shane stand. “We’ll be right outside the door, Abbie. That’s as far as I can go. I’ll arrange for some clothes to be brought for you. Then I’d like to come back in. Would that be all right?”

Shane felt her gasp in pain as he lifted her from his lap and placed her gently on the sofa.
They will all die.
He promised his wolf. His body felt the loss of her immediately. He felt like he’d lost half of himself.
Fuck it all. She really is half of my soul. Now that I’ve felt what it’s like to be whole, how the hell can I go back to the way I was?

“We’ll be just outside that door, Abbie. You need me just say my name and I’ll be back. Okay?” Shane shook his head in disbelief as he walked away. He couldn’t believe he’d just said that, and he dared not look back at her in case he couldn’t continue to walk away from her.

“Aiden, I’m screwed, aren’t I?”

“No, Shane,” Aiden said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “You’re finally starting to feel again.”

Shane wasn’t sure he wanted to feel anything but anger. Anger was safe. Anger he understood. He felt weak and fatigued, as though he’d been running for days. He hadn’t done this much thinking, or feeling, in his whole life. It was exhausting. It took much less effort to be pissed off all the time.

“Thank you, Charlie,” Abbie said. “You’re a doctor?” Abbie was sure that she’d been told that a couple of times now, but with her mates all around her she’d had trouble concentrating. Their scent was intoxicating.

“Yes, Abbie. Before I examine you, is there any area that’s more painful than the rest?”

“Everywhere hurts, but I guess my head hurts the most.”

Abbie let the doctor do her examination before she spoke again. “I don’t want to have those bastard’s baby.” Abbie jumped when thunderous growls erupted from the other side of the door. She pulled the big coat back over herself.
Whoever wears this must be a giant. It’s huge.
She noticed now that it smelled of bear. That made sense. They were big even as humans.

“Shifter hearing,” Charlie said blandly. By way of an explanation, she pointed at the door that was doing little to filter out the continued sounds of snarling and growling. “You’re a hybrid shifter, as we mentioned before.”