Chapter Two

 

Vaughn frowned as he stared at the wall of panties in front of him. He’d never bought clothes for a woman before and the different styles, materials, and sizes left him baffled. Autumn had said to get the smallest size, but she hadn’t said anything about style. Bikini. Hipster. Brief. How the hell was he supposed to know what Tulip liked to wear? Was he supposed to get the prettier ones sold in singles, or a package of plain ones?

The pajamas had been easy enough to pick out. He’d grabbed a silky nightgown in a pretty mint color, and a floral short set that felt really soft. He hoped she’d be pleased with both selections. The panties however…

He looked from one row to another and moved over to the nicer ones. She’d been trapped in a dungeon. The woman deserved a little comfort. He picked some colors he thought she might like, in the softest material he could find. Once he had a stack of them, he moved on to the women’s clothes. Autumn had told him to get dresses, but what if Tulip didn’t want to wear only dresses?

Vaughn growled a little in frustration as he looked over the selection the store offered. It was so late, he’d had to go to one of those big twenty-four hour stores. The dress she’d been wearing looked like silk, and he doubted he would find anything like that here. He flipped through the dresses available and chose three that he thought would look nice on her, then he moved on to the pants.  He found something called jegging capris and selected two pair, then found two shirts to go with them.

“Shit. Flip flops.”

Pushing his cart, he moved to the back of the store and went to the shoe department. He froze when he saw an entire wall of women’s flip flops, all different colors and types. How the hell was he supposed to pick something from all this? He walked up and down the aisle four times before he picked up a pair of black ones with sequins on the straps and then a pair of brown leather ones. He held up the different sizes, trying to remember how small her foot had been.

Vaughn started to move toward the checkout when he stopped. There were other things she would need, things the alpha and Autumn hadn’t mentioned. In the bathroom, he’d noticed shampoo and soap, but hadn’t seen a hairbrush and didn’t know if the alpha had a spare toothbrush and toothpaste. When he’d gathered those few things, he paid for his purchases then loaded them into his truck. At the alpha’s house, he noticed Finn and Levi were absent.

“Do you want me to take those things upstairs?” Autumn asked as he stood uncertainly in the front entry.

“No, in your condition you shouldn’t be carrying these bags around. I’ll take them up.”

Vaughn climbed the stairs and knocked on the bedroom door, but there was no answer. He opened the door and peered inside, not seeing any sign of Tulip. The bathroom door was still shut and he heard the water running. Vaughn placed the sacks on the bed and knocked on the bathroom door.

“Tulip?” he called out.

He waited, but didn’t hear anything except running water. He leaned a little closer to the door, turning his head to try to pick up any sounds from inside the bathroom. There was a faint heartbeat so he knew she was at least still alive. Vaughn knocked again, but still no answer. Slowly, he opened the door and stepped inside, waiting for her to shriek and throw him out.

“Tulip?”

Indecision gripped him, but he grasped the shower door and opened it, finding her prone on the floor. His gaze took in her too slender body, her protruding ribs, and he cursed at the bruises that littered her skin. He felt like an asshole when he noticed the finger marks around her upper arms, knowing he’d caused them. Never in his life had he harmed a woman, and now, he’d caused her pain.

Vaughn shut off the water, grabbed a towel, and picked Tulip up, wrapping her in hopes of keeping her warm. The water had chilled since he’d left. Her hair was now a pretty red and quite beautiful, as was she. Something shifted inside of him as he stared at the woman in his arms. He eased her onto the bed, not caring that she soaked the bedding, and he gently dried her with the towel. It should have felt awkward trying to dry and dress a naked stranger, but for some reason, he felt protective. It didn’t make sense to Vaughn, but looking at her now, knowing what she’d been through, it made him feel things for her.

He pulled the tags off her new things and dressed her quickly. Not sure what to do about her hair, he searched under the bathroom sink and found a hairdryer. Turning it on low, so as not to wake her, he dried her hair until it was only slightly damp. There were shadows under her eyes, and she was still far too pale, but her heartbeat, and even breathing, assured him she only slept, and wasn’t in danger of falling ill.

“Vaughn?” Autumn called as she rounded the doorway. “Is she asleep?”

“Yeah. She was passed out in the tub.”

“I was going to ask what she wanted to eat, but I guess I’ll wait until morning. Do you think it’s safe to leave her alone?”

He growled softly. “You still think she may be a danger to you?”

“No! Nothing like that, I’m just worried about her getting sick overnight, or not waking up at all. You’ve seen all of her now. How bad is it?”

“She has dark bruising on her hips, back, and upper arms.” Shame washed over him. “The arms are my fault. I was too rough with her when I first found out she was fae. I never meant to hurt her.”

Autumn came closer and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure she knows that. And if she doesn’t, she’ll learn soon enough. Gabriel and I were talking while you were gone. He said he can sense that she’s a mate for someone in the pack.”

Vaughn’s wolf snarled in his head. “She’s too weak to be someone’s mate right now. They’d kill her if they tried to claim her.”

“We were hoping that you might consider watching over her while she recovers,” Autumn said. “We know you have a job to do, but if you could take some time off that would be a big help. Gabriel worries about me taking on too much right now. The baby is actually past due by a day so she could arrive at any time.”

Vaughn smiled a little. “Still haven’t picked out a name?”

“Gabriel is being stubborn. I want to name her Evie Kiera Andrews. I think my cousin would have liked that, but he doesn’t want to use Kiera’s name. I don’t know if it’s still too painful, or if he thinks it’s going to hurt me to hear it the rest of my life.”

“Maybe a bit of both,” Vaughn said.

“We’ll probably still be arguing over it as she’s having her first feeding and diaper change.” Autumn patted his shoulder. “Let us know if you’re able to take some time off. If not, I’m sure we can find another wolf to help her over the next few days or so.”

The beast inside rumbled its displeasure and began to pace.

“It’s too late to call tonight. I’ll check with work first thing in the morning. I may have to work part of tomorrow though, since it’s such late notice.” Vaughn looked down at Tulip. “Maybe I should stay with her tonight, in case she wakes up or gets distressed.”

“You’re welcome to use any of the guestrooms you’d like, but if you’re going to work tomorrow, you might want to go home and get a change of clothes first. You smell like a bar.”

Vaughn smiled and stood. “I’ll be back in about an hour, maybe less. Do you think Gabriel or you could listen for her until then? As tired as she was, she might be confused when she wakes up.”

“I don’t think she’s opening her eyes again until morning, but we’ll keep an eye on her.”

Vaughn brushed Tulip’s hair back from her face, fingering the silky strands, before he turned and walked out of the room. There was a smile on Autumn’s face that made him hesitate a moment, but he pushed the weird feeling aside and kept going. The drive to his house was short, as he only lived a few blocks away in a smaller Victorian he’d purchased and restored over the last few years. The soft green paint and white trim were still fresh. He’d even hired a landscape company to plant some flowering trees and shrubs on the property.

Looking at his home, he thought it would be a place a mate would love. He’d painstakingly repaired walls, refinished the hardwood floors, laid new tile in the kitchen and bathrooms. He’d chosen every paint color, keeping in mind that he would, one day, bring a woman here to claim the place as her own. For some reason, he wondered if Tulip would like it.

Vaughn let himself into the house and silenced the alarm he’d recently installed. He closed and locked the door before trudging upstairs to take a shower and get his work clothes together for the next day. As he washed, he tried to sort out his emotions. The feelings that had welled inside of him, as he’d held Tulip against his chest, when he’d found her in the tub, and as he’d left her at the alpha’s house, made him feel conflicted. He’d thought she was the enemy, had been prepared to do whatever it took to protect his pack from her. But he believed her when she said she didn’t mean any harm to them.

His wolf brushed along his skin, wanting to break free and find…find what? The beast was acting insane, and he didn’t understand it. Vaughn finished washing, then dried off and pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He worked for Danvers Electric and could wear whatever pants he wanted, as long as he wore their T-shirt. He pulled out a pair of jeans he considered work jeans, then grabbed one of the Danvers Electric shirts out of his dresser. When he’d finished gathering fresh socks and his work boots, he stuffed everything into a duffle and drove back to the alpha’s house.

It was late, but the living room light was still on.

He knocked, instead of ringing the bell, so he wouldn’t wake Tulip, or Autumn, if the alpha female had gone to bed. Gabriel answered the door and let him in, then locked up behind him. He motioned for Vaughn to follow him into the kitchen, and pointed toward one of the chairs.

“Sit,” Gabriel said.

Vaughn slid out a chair and sat down. “Is something wrong?”

“Do you know something more about the woman upstairs than what she told us?”

“No, alpha. She told me the same story at the bar.” He hesitated. “They mutilated her. The dark fae. Cut her wings off.”

Gabriel winced.

“I think she’s truly frightened of them finding her. She claims they’ll kill her if they get their hands on her, and I think she may be right. I don’t know if bringing her here was a mistake, but I think she needs us.”

“I can’t have a fae running free with the pack. As far as I know, she has no loyalties to us, no ties, so to speak. Once she’s back on her feet, she’ll have to find a mate. When you carried her in here, I could sense she was meant to be part of the pack, that she belongs to someone. We’ll just have to figure out who it is and match them.”

The wolf inside grumbled again and Vaughn tried to silence the beast.

“If that’s all for tonight, alpha, I’d like to check on her and get settled. I’ll have to report to work tomorrow, and probably work a few jobs, before I’ll be able to request time off.”

“The other guest room is yours.”

Vaughn hesitated. “I thought I might stay in the room with her, in case she became distressed overnight.”

Gabriel studied him a moment, then nodded. Feeling dismissed, Vaughn stood and carried his bag upstairs. He set the duffle down on the bedroom floor and then closed the door. Tulip hadn’t moved since he’d left and he was worried about her. He tried to reason with himself that he would be concerned over any female who had been harmed or mistreated, but the beast inside was a little too gleeful they’d returned to her side. It wasn’t something he was going to analyze tonight though.

He removed his shoes and laid on the bed next to her. Vaughn trailed his fingers down her arm, feeling how silky she was, and then gathered her close, holding her against his chest. Her scent surrounded him and calmed the wolf inside. As his eyes slid shut, he felt a moment of peace unlike any he’d ever felt before. Tulip curled against him, and he breathed her in with every breath, until sleep claimed him.