At One's Pleasure (18 page)

“Fuck this
shit.”  Cleo said, and reached for the change, hoping it wouldn’t fail her when
she needed it most.  One second she was a small slender girl and the next a 600
pound lion.  The rogue on top of her cursed and tumbled off her.  She turned
and faced the three rogues who were frantically backing up.  One was cursing
while he reached for a gun.  She ripped off his arms first, then bit his head
off while he screamed.  Then she went after the others.

Rebecca
heard the screaming and changed directions trying to angle away from it, then
she heard a lion roar and changed direction again, right towards it, and
narrowly avoiding the swipe of the wolf at her back.  She swept around a tree
and heard the crack of the large body striking it as he lunged for her darting
figure.  Then she was through the trees and stopped cold when she nearly ran
into a lion mauling a wolf.  The lion turned and roared.  Rebecca dropped to
the ground covering her head and curled into a ball while the lion sailed over
her head and hit the silver wolf in mid jump.  Then it was all over but the
whimpering.

Logan,
Griffin, Linc, Jacob, and surprisingly Nathan were the first wave of wolves
that came upon the women.  They heard the laughter first, and something inside
Griffin released.  He could breathe again.  From the perking up of Linc and
Jacob, they felt the same.

“I have to
say Bec, before the guys get here, you totally rock.”

“I rock? 
You were amazing.  It made me realize how completely wimpy I really am.”

“How do you
figure?  That line, ‘Catch me first, you ugly bastard,’ after you shoved a
stick in his eye, awesome.”

“Yeah but
then I ran away, and
you
turned into a Lion and ripped his head off.” 

“Okay,
that’s true.  But, let me restate the facts.  I’m a lion.  You are not even
able to shift to wolf, and you totally fucked him up beyond all recognition. 
As I said: You. Rock.”

The men
shifted before they could hear anything more disturbing.  They stepped out of
the trees naked with most of them looking scraped and much the worse for wear. 

“How did it
go with you guys?”  Cleo asked, obviously not surprised by their sudden
appearance.  She was wearing some man’s jacket that made her look like a little
girl wearing her dad’s coat and not much else by the look of her naked feet in
the snow.  Rebecca, Griffin was thrilled to see, was completely dressed and
looking unhurt in her layers, but for the bruise on her cheek.

Rebecca heard
Cleo’s question and turned to see Griffin and Logan step out of the trees
naked, she didn’t have to see more.  She was up and running, taking a flying
leap into Griffin’s arms from a good two feet away.  She landed high in
familiar arms that closed around her like a security gate clanging shut.

He buried
his face in her neck, breathing her in, then shuddered; she wrapped her limbs
around him as tight as she could.

“You’re all
right.”  He gritted it out, and then said it again, like he couldn’t quite believe
it.

“Yeah.”  Her
voice broke; she clenched her eyes tight and just savored his arms around her. 
“I’m all right.”

She felt
hands on her head and back and looked up to find Jacob and Linc with the same
desperate relief in their eyes and it was all just too much, she burst into
tears. 

Logan looked
Cleo over and then around at the dead wolves on the other side of the
clearing.  “You good?”

“I’m good.” 
She said, studiously looking him in the eye and nowhere else.  “I suppose it’s
too much to hope that you didn’t call my father.”

Logan
grinned, handing over his cell phone.

“Shit.” 
Cleo said, dialing, just as she heard Rebecca burst into tears.  She looked
over at the other woman clutching all three men around her.  It was probably
bad to think there was a whole lot of hot naked guy in the clearing, when one
was like an uncle to her and the others were extremely mated.  Then Nathan
stepped out of the trees and she had to roll her eyes when he winked at her. 
Then again, looks weren’t everything. 

Her father
answered the phone on the first ring.

“Report.” 
The clipped voice had her clearing her throat of sudden constriction before she
could answer without sounding wimpy. 

“Hey, dad.”

***

They called
in transportation soon after.  Everyone more than ready to head back to hot
showers and warm clothes.

Rebecca
spent every second of the way home snuggled between her mates and touching as
much as possible.  When she gradually felt the return of her wolf and the mate connection,
she wanted to cry all over again.  She hadn’t realized how much it meant until
it was gone.

The four of
them were alone in the back seat, wedged together with Logan driving and Cleo
riding shot gun.  Everyone else got their own transport.  No one wanted to take
any more chances.  They were headed back to the Alpha’s house to shower off
blood and other things, to avoid unwanted attention.  They would dress and then
head straight to the airport.  As far as the guys were concerned, old home week
was officially over.

“So you guys
went to the ambush and what happened?”  Rebecca asked from Jacob’s lap, her
legs across Linc and Griffin supporting her back.

“Let’s just
say with Lionsgate security around, we didn’t actually have much to do in the
way of defense.”  Linc said drily.

“I totally
get that.”  Rebecca snuggled a little more then called to the front seat.  “Hey
Cleo, you can totally pick the ass kicking drinks at my next gala.”

Cleo
laughed.

***

The shower
was quick, even with all four of them sharing, mostly because it was barely big
enough to hold all of them but also because none of them would feel safe until
they were in a plane with an ocean between them and Montana.  They washed and
then they all washed her as much as they could in the close confines.  They
catalogued every bruise until their wolves were shining from three sets of
eyes.

“I’m fine.” 
Rebecca said, tracing a healing bite on Linc’s shoulder.  “You guys got it
worse than I did.”

They were
out of the shower in one of the guest rooms dressing in borrowed clothes.  At
least Rebecca was trying to dress while Jacob was mapping a wide range of
discolorations on her back that were definitely going to be worse tomorrow.  “I
should have ripped his throat out.”

“He doesn’t
have a throat.  Lion mauling, remember?”

“Right.” 
But his voice was grim and full of bite.

They were
all doing that, taking every chance to touch her, not letting her get even a
foot away from them. 

“I don’t
know about you guys but I’m ready for some tropical heat and sandy beaches.”

“Then let’s
get you home.”  Griffin growled, even as Jacob was grunting his agreement and
kissing her full on the mouth.  Linc finished dressing and ran his hand down
her face before he took her hand to lead her downstairs, following Jacob. 
Griffin was right behind, with a proprietary hand on the small of her back.

They made it
downstairs, finally.  Logan was having the luggage from the hotel collected,
and the damages had been handled quietly and with a large quantity of money. 
Luckily, no one had been killed when they took the women from the resort.  A
few of the staff had been tranquilized and dragged into the employee break
room, but since no one was harmed and nothing was taken they were able to keep
the police out of it.  Now all they had to do was say their good-byes and go. 
Everyone from the Alpha’s family was gathered in the living room.

“Griffin,”
his mother started.  Then stopped and she looked at Rebecca.  “Are you sure
you’re okay to travel?”

“I’m fine
Margaret, thank you.”  She took the other woman’s cold hand.  “How are you
holding up?”

Tears filled
her eyes.  “It’s just such a shock; I don’t think any of us ever expected
Malcolm was capable of this.”

Rebecca
pressed her lips together.  “Mm-hmm.”

Linc’s hand
tightened around hers for a minute, and she felt the tension coming off all
three of her mates escalate.

“Rebecca.” 
Alpha Monteal’s voice was grim.  “Did Malcolm say something to make you think
someone else from the pack was involved?”

Well, I’m
never going to play poker with shapeshifters.

 “Rebecca?” 
There was that warning in Griffin’s voice again.

She blew out
a breath.  “Malcolm said that Ruth encouraged him to kill my mates and, well,
breed me.”  She said shuddering over the last part.  “and when he was talking
about the rogues, he said ‘the rogues
we
hired.’  I hate to say this but
Ruth was also the one who passed you the note at the funeral.”

“My
sister?”  Margaret’s face went sheet white.  “My sister tried to kill my sons
and husband?”

“What about
it Ruth?”  Linc said, looking past them at the kitchen.  “Were you trying to
kill us all?”

Everyone
turned to look at the stone-faced woman.  “I didn’t want you dead.”

“What did
you want?”  Griffin pulled Becca into his side and held her close.  “Why place
my mate in danger?”

“It wasn’t
about her.”  She spoke neutrally as if discussing the weather.  “Or you.”  She
pointed to Cleo who was edging out in between the woman and the others, while
Logan went around behind.  “You were just a means to an end.”

“Then why
encourage him to kill my mates and impregnate me?”  Rebecca studied the other
woman, watching the cold seep out of her dead eyes.

“Because I
wanted him dead!”  She yelled it and her eyes filled with hate.  “He took
everything from me and this pack,
my pack
, just stood back and let him
do it.”

“So you
plotted revenge, playing all sides against each other and finally encouraging
Malcolm to bring in the rogues, knowing that it would destroy the pack.” 
Linc’s voice was quiet, then turned arctic.  “Did you also encourage him to
kill my father?”

“Encourage
him?”  She laughed bitterly.  “I shot Jeffrey.”  She jabbed her finger into her
own chest with pride.  “Then led Malcolm to the body so that he would report
it.”

“So the
blame would fall on him,” Nathan said, shaking his head.  “And we would fight
amongst ourselves.”

“Brother
against brother.”  She cackled it.

“Why my
father?”  Linc took a step toward her, but Rebecca held on to the hand she
still grasped.

“Because he
was the enforcer.  He was supposed to protect the pack, and he let my mate be
murdered and then did nothing.”  She slashed her hand across the air in front
of her.  “His friend.”

“It was a
fair fight.”  Monteal finally found his voice over the shock of it.  “There was
nothing he could have done.”

“Nothing he
could have done?  Nothing any of you did.”  She was practically frothing at the
mouth now.  “When my husband was killed and then his murderer forced a mating. 
I was raped, year after year.  Forced into a mating I loathed and no one did
anything!”

She pulled a
gun from behind her but Logan was on her before she could aim it, and Cleo was
just a step behind.  They wrestled her to the floor while she screamed and
struggled.  Then with one punch, Logan knocked her out. 

The sudden
silence was deafening.  The really sad part, as far as Rebecca was concerned was
that she understood.  What Monteal and the pack had done to Ruth by standing
back and allowing archaic laws to justify such cruelty was just as bad as what
Malcolm did.  For her part, she wanted to leave Montana and never see it
again.  Part of that was her own experience with Malcolm and a forced mating. 
Her own circumstance came too close to what Ruth had endured for her not to be
sympathetic.  The other part was knowing from the history with Jacob, that it
was not the first or the last travesty of humanity that had been perpetrated in
the name of this pack.

She was
officially done.

Griffin,
Jacob, Linc.  They said their good-byes in quick monotones that did nothing to
disguise their disgust with the whole situation.

They piled
back into the rental and headed for the airport, this time Rebecca held on to
Linc while he buried his face in her neck and tried to come to terms with what
had happened to his father.  Griffin stared stonily out the window and
brooded.  Rebecca didn’t blame him.  The good-byes at the end had been stilted
and formal, lacking any real affection and full of damaged pride.  No one was
willing to face the blame for what had happened so long ago, or its
consequences today.  Honestly, she’d brood too if that was her family.

***

They all
slept on the plane, even Cleo who had been relegated to passenger when her
father had arranged a second pilot to fly them home.  The plan was to fly
together through to the Denver, refuel, and then Cleo and Logan would be saying
good-bye and another team seeing them through to the islands.  Apparently, Cleo
was not happy with having to return to her father for a full briefing, before
the job was done.  Rebecca was going to be sorry to see her go, but Griffin
assured her they would be using Lionsgate for all future security needs,
including a revamp of the whole island, so she would no doubt see her again.

She could
have argued that she had not made any promises about moving to the island, but
really, who would she be kidding besides herself?  At this point, she could not
imagine a life without these men in it, not one that she wanted anyway.

“Don’t
forget your promise to come visit,” Rebecca said, when it was time to say
good-bye to Cleo and Logan at the Denver Airport.  “I have a Badass drinking
gala planned and you teaching me how to pick locks.”

Cleo
chuckled, shaking her head.  “Gala,” she mumbled on a smile.  Then she hugged
her.  “You’re on.  Though I’m not sure when it will be, for some reason my dad
seems determined to keep me off your island.  Maybe it’s that whole adult
paradise thing.”  Cleo’s smile turned wicked.  “This makes me doubly determined
to go, and see what I’m missing.”

“Um Cleo,
I’ve seen a sampling of the men you hang with,” Rebecca said.  She snuck a peak
over at Logan, who was talking to his replacement.  Griffin growled behind
her.  “
Really seen
a fine,
fine
sampling.  You aren’t missing
anything.”

Cleo
winced.  “Trust me, it’s not the same when they have known you since puberty,
or they work for your father.”  She grimaced.  “I might as well be wall paper.”

“Well, come
to the island then, and we will attempt to broaden your horizons.”  They hugged
again and Rebecca whispered the rest directly into Cleo’s ear.  “And you can
tell me all about the man that works for your father that put that look in your
eyes.”

“You’ll need
more than margaritas for that,” Cleo whispered back, her arms tightening
briefly.

With Logan
and Cleo gone, the four of them were standing outside the plane while the new
pilot, who was a hunky older man with grey at his temples and sexy forearms,
prepped the plane.  Rebecca turned to head in when Griffin grabbed her arm and
stopped her.