Monroe, Marla - Their Border Lands Gift [Men of the Border Lands 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (22 page)

“Baby, you should be able to play and have fun. What’s life if all you ever do is work? The fact is, you could have been attacked anytime we went from the house to the chickens or the barn. I don’t know why they didn’t attack one of those times. Then it would have only been one of us with you instead of the two of us like the other day.” Bruce cupped her cheek on the opposite side of her hurt one.

“Is she awake?” Marcus sat up on the other side of the bed.

“She’s awake. Easy back there, her back is hurting her,” Bruce said.

Marcus eased off the opposite side of the bed and walked around to crouch by her head.

“Hey, baby. How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay. My back hurts.” She noticed that, like Bruce, Marcus had cuts around his hands, but nothing like hers.

She pulled hers out of the covers and winced at how they looked. They were swollen and discolored. The wolves had bitten her hands trying to pull them away from her head. She was scared to even imagine what her back looked like. She could still remember them digging at her back through her clothes.

“Marcus, sit with her. I’m going to go make her some whiskey tea. It will help the pain some.”

“I’m right here. I won’t go anywhere.” Marcus took Bruce’s chair and leaned forward to kiss Kate gently on the mouth. “Do you need anything else?”

“No. I’m sorry, Marcus.” She sniffed and couldn’t control the tears that continued to flow.

“What are you sorry for? You don’t have anything to be sorry for, baby.”

“I shouldn’t have made that snowman.”

“Nonsense. We enjoyed you making that snowman. It wasn’t your fault. It could have happened at any time, like Bruce said. We’re damn lucky it didn’t happen when we were going to and from the barn one morning. Neither one of us would have made it.”

“How many were there?” she asked.

“Four of them. Three jumped you, and one jumped Bruce. I managed to shoot one of them that you kicked off before it could jump back on. By then, Bruce had killed the one on him. Then we both pulled on the last two that were on you. I shot one point blank in the head when I had a clear shot away from you. Marcus shoved the gun almost through the other one before he shot it.”

“I never even felt them around us. I should have known they were there. I always knew before when there was one around.” She looked down at the floor. “How bad do I look?”

“Baby, you don’t look bad. You look like you hurt. ”

“Don’t, Marcus. Don’t lie to me. How bad is the cut on my face?”

“Baby, it’s just a scratch with two stitches. That’s all. You’ll see when we take the bandage off tomorrow. We wanted to keep it covered so we could put ice on it some to keep the swelling down.”

“What about my neck? I can feel the cut there.”

“It’s pretty long, baby, but it will be a small scar. Don’t worry about the scars now. Just concentrate on getting well. I miss holding you, baby.”

“I don’t want to look like a freak, Marcus. I feel like one already.”

“Shhh, here comes Bruce.” Marcus cupped her other cheek in his hand.

“Here’s the tea, baby. Do you think you can sip it with this straw?” Bruce held the cup for her while she sucked through the straw.

She managed to get a good bit down her before she couldn’t drink anymore. It burned going down. He’d evidently put a lot of whiskey in it. She could already feel herself drifting in and out of consciousness. The pain in her back dulled to an ache, and her face no longer worried her. She smiled despite the pull to her stitches. She’d made a lovely snowman until the wolves had destroyed it.

With that last thought, she fell asleep.

* * * *

The next time Kate woke up, it was dark, and she couldn’t see much of anything in the dim moonlight. She looked over, and sure enough, Marcus was in the chair. That meant that it was Bruce in front of her. She was cold. She rolled farther over onto her stomach and wrapped her arm around Bruce’s chest and her leg around his leg.

“What’s wrong?” Bruce immediately asked.

“Bruce? What’s wrong?” Marcus’s voice whispered through the dark.

“She’s awake. Hold on.” Bruce rolled over on his back. “What is it, baby?”

“I’m cold.”

“I’ll cover her up on the back better.”

“Please get in bed with me, Marcus. I want you with me.”

“I’ll get up, Marcus, and you can get in with her.”

“No!” she cried out. “I want you both with me. I’m so cold. I need you.”

She couldn’t help the tears in her voice. Her back ached, and her head hurt. She was scared and knew it wouldn’t be long before her men wouldn’t want to look at her in the light of day. Right now, it was dark and she could pretend they wanted her.

“I’m scared I’ll hurt you, baby.” Marcus knelt by the bed and ran a hand over her hair.

“Please, Marcus. You don’t have to touch me. Just be in the bed with me. I need you there.”

“Bruce?” Marcus asked.

“Get in the bed, man. She’s not going to calm down until you do.”

He rolled over so that he was on his back and she could climb on top of him. She wrapped her arms around his chest and laid her good cheek against his chest. She felt it when Marcus climbed into the bed behind her. The dip of the mattress gave him away. She waited for him to touch her, but he didn’t.

“Marcus?”

“Yeah, baby. I’m right behind you.”

“Touch me somewhere. I’m so cold.”

“Ah, honey.” He moved behind her again.

She waited and finally felt his warmth close to her back. He began stroking her hair with one hand. She cried in earnest now. She would lose them for sure if she looked as bad as she feared she did. She could remember the tearing of her back with the wolves’ claws and the bite on her cheek. She didn’t remember the one on her neck, but it was minor compared to the rest.

“Easy, baby. If you’re going to cry like that we’re going to move. I’m scared we’re hurting you.” Bruce’s voice rumbled in her ear pressed as it was to his chest.

“I love you, Bruce. You, too, Marcus. Please don’t hate me.”

“God, baby. We don’t hate you.”

“I can’t imagine looking like this for the rest of my life.”

“Kate! You listen to me,” Bruce began. “Tomorrow, we’ll show you what you look like. You don’t look bad. You’re still the same Kate from before the attack. Nothing has changed.”

She didn’t say anything more. She just soaked up their warmth and wished things could have been different. She remembered how it felt to be between them when they made love and how much she wanted that again. Her belly hurt. She felt sick at her stomach.

She lay still waiting on it to pass, but after a few seconds she knew she was going to be sick.

“Sick, bathroom,” she managed to get out as she tried to climb over Bruce.

He was instantly up and helping her get to the bathroom. She cried from the pain to her back but soon forgot it as she heaved over the toilet. She didn’t have anything really in her stomach to throw up. How long had she been unconscious?

“Easy, baby. God, baby, I know it has to hurt.” Bruce was right there with her. Marcus stood at the sink wetting a cloth for her.

He handed it to Bruce, who laid it across her forehead then gently wiped her face.

“What is today?” she asked.

“Um, it’s Thursday, Kate. Why?”

“I’ve been asleep for three days?” she asked.

“Off and on. You’ve been awake several times.”

She thought about it and realized she was probably pregnant. She hadn’t had her period in nearly six weeks now. She hadn’t worried about it since she wasn’t always regular, but after getting sick…

“What is it, Kate?” Bruce demanded.

“I–I need to get up.” She pushed to her feet to stand up. It pulled at the stitches in her back, but she didn’t care. She needed to stand up.

Bruce and Marcus both helped her stand. She leaned over the counter to take some of the pressure off the stitches. Marcus had lit a lamp for them in the bathroom. She pulled off the bandage from her face and felt the tears well up in her eyes again. She swallowed them down. She couldn’t afford to cry anymore. Then her eyes went to her neck and she nearly passed out. The wolves had almost gotten her throat. She was lucky to be alive.

Ten minutes ago, that wouldn’t have mattered to her. She had been so afraid that her men wouldn’t be attracted her that it was all she could think about. But now she had someone else to think about. She might not look very good anymore, but she would not give up with a child on the way. She needed to lay back down now. She was exhausted.

“Going to lie down again.” She turned to head toward the door.

Marcus grabbed her upper arm on one side, and Bruce took the other one. They slowly shuffled toward the bed again. She needed to tell them, but decided to wait until she could get up and move around. She didn’t want to be stuck in the bed when she told them in case they didn’t take it well.

She really had no idea how they felt about children. Surely they realized it was inevitable unless she was unable to have kids or both of them weren’t able. She swallowed, trying to keep from getting sick again. Once she made it back to bed, she crawled in and sank to the mattress in bliss. It felt so good to lie down again.

Bruce climbed in on one side of her and Marcus on the other. They each touched her hair and anywhere they could that wouldn’t hurt her. She lay there thinking about having a baby and what that meant to her. She would be busier than ever, and keeping the baby safe would be the most important thing. Maybe they could put a fence around the yard. She continued thinking long after the men fell asleep again.

When the sun rose, she was once again lying across Bruce’s chest with Marcus plastered to her back. It didn’t hurt. In fact it felt good to feel him tight against her. She knew the moment he woke up. He stilled and cursed.

“It’s okay, Marcus. You’re not hurting me. It feels good to have the pressure there.”

“I’m scared to move, baby. I’m scared I’ll pull on one of the stitches and hurt you.”

“I’ll be fine. Go ahead and move. I’m going to have to get up soon anyway and go to the bathroom.”

Her cheek was itching and her neck hurt some. She must have had it in a cramped position for a while. She waited for Marcus to get up his nerve to move. She knew it would hurt, so she prepared herself so she wouldn’t upset him by crying out. When he finally moved, it wasn’t as bad as she had feared. She managed to grunt and lean over Bruce a little more.

“You okay, baby?” Bruce’s voice reached her ear. He was whispering.

“I’m fine.

“Baby, did I hurt you?” Marcus was kneeling in front of her now.

“Guys, I’m fine. I need to get up and go to the bathroom though.”

“Let me move out from under you, and you can just throw your legs off the edge of the bed and we’ll help you sit up.” Bruce waited for her to move off of him.

She managed to roll to her side and waited as he scooted out from under her. Then she let them move her legs to the edge of the bed and she used the palms of her hands to pull up herself up. They weren’t cut up like the backs of her hands and lower arms were. Once up, she breathed awhile to wait out the dizziness then she stood up and let them help her to the bathroom.