RILEY
She woke up curled next to a warm body. The bed was comfortable and she nuzzled in, ignoring the soreness of her body.
She hurt everywhere but she just wanted to cuddle with whoever was in bed with her. She stopped. Who was in bed with her?
She sat up stiffly and looked at the man she was sharing space with. Brenton, looking peaceful and serene. She never seen him like this. She’d never spent the night with any of them before. They fooled around, then they tucked her in and left her once she was asleep in her own room.
She also realized this was not her bed. She was in his room. She had been in here only once before, when Brenton wanted to show her. They had a really great make out session that time.
She felt a hand wrap around her and looked back to Brenton, who was smiling sleepily at her.
“You fell asleep on the way home. I needed to observe you while you slept. This seemed like the easiest way.” He sat up and leaned over her, kissing her neck. “And I wasn’t in the mood to find you pajamas.”
She hadn’t realized she was nude until then. She felt a blush creep up her cheeks and turned away from him. She was naked in bed with Brenton. She bit her bottom lip and turned back to him, smiling.
He pulled her gently into him and kissed her softly.
“Go back to sleep,” he murmured into her neck, rubbing himself on her. She gasped at the feeling of his cock pressed into her leg. “You’re in no shape for anything but sleeping right now and tomorrow we have a lot to talk about.”
“It.. it might help if you weren’t…” she pressed into him and he growled softly.
“Yeah, my body and mind are having a bit of a disagreement right now,” he chuckled, licking the top of her right breasts. “Let me put you back to sleep. Don’t worry about me.” He continued to kiss, lick and nibbled his way down her. He didn’t waste time pushing his tongue into her, making her back arch in pleasure. For a moment, she forget the bruises and cuts as she grabbed his hair with both hands. She forgot the kidnapping and the collar. Her world was Brenton’s head between her legs.
It was slow and easy. He brought her up to a gentle climax and she sighed in happiness from it and drifted back into sleep.
The next morning, Brenton woke her up with two fingers moving in her slowly, and she moaned into his chest as she climaxed quickly.
“Best alarm clock ever,” she mumbled in him.
“I figured that you went to sleep satisfied, you should wake up satisfied,” he told her seductively, licking his fingers clean. “Now, let’s get you a shower and some food. Then we have a long day ahead of us.”
They showered together, Brenton gently cleaning her. He didn’t make it sexual, instead he put a lot of care into it. He made sure every inch of her bore not a single fleck or dirt or dust from the woods or the cabin.
He brushed and blow dried her hair, running his long fingers through it and she leaned back against him. When they went back into his bedroom, a knock on the door grabbed their attention
Brenton opened the door to show Troy holding a stack of folded clothes.
“I brought her something comfortable to wear. No bra because the bruising on her ribs.” Troy handed them to Brenton, who smiled at Troy.
“Thank you, brother,” Brenton whispered, pulling Troy in for a hug. Riley felt like she was seeing something special.
“Of course, brother,” Troy mumbled in Brenton. He turned to her and smiled. “How do you feel, pretty girl?”
“Sore.” She smiled back to him. “But happy to be home.” She limped a little and took the clothes from Troy, giving him a quick kiss. He held her hip with a hand, deepening the kiss until she moaned softly and Brenton cleared his throat.
“Breakfast is ready when you two get down there. We’re waiting,” Troy stepped back out of the room and Brenton closed the door quietly.
They dressed slowly, Brenton helping her the entire time. She wore loose sweats that Brenton tied off so they wouldn’t fall, a simple black tank top and cotton bikini cut underwear. Brenton only threw on a tee, a pair of sweats and that was it. He walked with her into the kitchen and set her down at the bar.
Immediately, Zachary was pressing into her, hugging her firmly and landed a steamy kiss on her lips.
“Baby, we’re so happy to have you home,” he whispered.
“Good morning to you too, Zachary,” she smiled widely at him.
When Zachary moved back, Gabe was there and it was the same. Even Andrew came across the bar and welcomed her home, kissing her deeply. She was aroused and panting by the time they were all done. She knew they had probably been worried but this felt like they thought she was going to die and they were reminding themselves that she was alive and there.
It took nearly ten minutes for them all to calm down enough to eat. She was starving. Those french fries were the only thing she had the entire time she was being held. Which reminded her of what Brenton told her.
“Tell me why they took me,” she asked him firmly. Her throat still hurt but now she had a drink to clear ease the soreness.
Brenton sighed heavily and looked around at the guys. She kept her eyes locked on him until he spoke.
“When we found out you were here, do you remember me saying that we freaked out a bit?” Brenton put his silverware down and leaned forward, putting his elbows on the bar top.
“Yes.” She got over that weeks ago, realizing that they were just trying to keep themselves safe.
“We…” Brenton looked like he was trying to find the right words to break bad news. “We dug up everything about you. Birth certificate, school records, social security number. Everything just we could verify you weren’t a threat.”
“So…” she took a deep breath. “You know everything about me?”
“Kind of,” Brenton looked down at her. “We know all the official stuff. There’s a lot only you could have ever told us, like the problems with you ex. And yes, we know Trevor Laursen was your ex. We’re still kicking ourselves for not looking into him more and realizing he was a shifter.”
“He and a friend of his are the ones who broke into my apartment,” she mumbled.
“Yeah, we figured that out too while they had you,” Troy whispered to her. “Let’s take this to the den if we’re all done eating.”
“I’ll bring the file,” Gabe mumbled.
They moved silently. They also brought a few yogurts for Riley to keep eating since she couldn’t chew very well with the swelling of her face.
She dug into the yogurt as they all got comfortable in the den. Gabe was holding a thick folder and placed it on the coffee table in front of her.
“That’s your entire life in terms of what can be found out by anyone who knows how to look,” he pointed. “There’s obviously a lot that isn’t there, like Brenton said. This is major stuff and a few odd things I felt like I needed to record like a few strange emails.”
“You did all this?” She looked up to Gabe, a little hurt and confused.
“It’s my job in the pride, this type of research. And we know about foster care and your dad. All of it. But there’s one big thing that I dug too deep into.”
“Oh?” She looked at him and the rest of the group. They all seemed a little guilty for the file existing. She understood why they did it even though it hurt a bit. They had enemies and now she had found how dangerous that was as a shifter. Yesterday, at this time, she was in a hospital hoping her ribs and jaw weren’t broken.
“Gabe, I can-”
“No Brenton. I did this to her. I dug too deep and I should tell her,” Gabe was searching her face desperately. She felt Brenton wrap an arm around her. He must have nodded, because Gabe continued. “Riley, your mother, Lily Stern. You said she died when you were six, right? That’s what I had found as well.” She nodded slowly. “Well, I knew your dad was human so your mother must have been a shifter. So I kept digging into who she might have been. For a lot of reasons, I really wanted to know everything about her. But… Riley, Lily Stern didn’t exist before she married your dad.”
She felt the world rock a little. Didn’t exist? What? She knew what he meant and she didn’t believe it.
“What?” She fell into Brenton, dropping her spoon.
“Before her marriage with Keith Stern, Lily was actually a woman named Isabella Amelia Gordon,” Gabe knelt in front of her. “She was a renown thief with a lot of enemies. She’s more then a thief to some rumors. We’re talking most of the feline shifters didn’t trust her or were her victims, She even went after some wolf packs and a couple bear shifter families.” She said nothing so Gabe continued,
“She disappeared and became Lily when things finally got too hot for her to keep going. She had you and was with your dad until she died in a car accident when you were young. But her enemies still want revenge and things have gotten weird.” He took a deep breath. “My friend Hayden was on it for me, figuring out who Lily Stern really was. When he found out, he told me but he accidentally exposed it to a lot of people. Suddenly, everyone knew who your mother really was. When your apartment was broken into, Brenton went before the other main feline Alphas and put out a warning. If they came after you, they were going to deal with the entire pride. We had hoped it worked.”
“How long has this been going on?” She bit out at them, tears in her eyes.
“We found out after that movie night with Zachary and…” Gabe looked away from her and she felt a flood of anger.
“You all have known this for a month? And you didn’t tell me?” The entire thing came out in a screech, making all of them wince. It made her throat hurt and feel raw. “And what? Now people want me dead for who my dead mother was before I was even born?”
“Yes and no,” Brenton whispered. “Six days ago, there was a major break in at Cameron Slater’s home. A lot of precious stuff was stolen and he was a known enemy of your mother’s. He put the contract out on you so he could probably use you as bait to draw your mother out. He’s a big player in the feline shifter world. He had the resources to take you and hide you anywhere on the planet to get Isabella to come to him.”
“What do you mean?” She looked to Brenton.
“No one really thinks your mother is dead. The car accident was too easy. Her body couldn’t technically be identified. They only said it was Lily Stern because the car was registered to Lily,” Gabe looked sick. “I saw the police reports for the accident. They had no real way of knowing who was in that car and it wouldn’t have been the first time Isabella let someone died to cover her own ass.”
“Riley, your mother is likely very alive and active again or someone is playing copycat to keep the heat off themselves,” Zachary growled softly to her from another couch. “And going after someone like Slater is like poking a fucking bear in an insane asylum.”
“Why is he so bad?” She eyed Zachary who only looked at Brenton.
“He blames Isabella for his younger sister’s death.” Brenton sounded like he was in pain.
“Who was his sister?” She was getting all the answers now. There was no turning back. “And why does he blame my mother?”
“My mother,” Brenton whispered, a forlorn look on his face. “Cameron Slater is my uncle on my mother’s side. And you mother was my father’s mistress at the time of my mother’s death. After my mother died, Isabella stole nearly everything precious she could get her hands on and disappeared. Cameron was… is convinced that Isabella had her killed so she could get to all of it.”
“But it never made any sense,” Troy whispered. “Isabella was a thief, the greatest thief of all time. She didn’t need to kill her for anything. Isabella didn’t love Brenton’s father. And when someone died with Isabella in the picture before it was for trying to double cross her when she was the ultimate double crosser.”
“It was said that she was so smart she could plan a heist with nearly a hundred ways of getting it done, taking into account any betrayals or changes in the mix. She was a master,” Gabe whispered, his head on her thigh.
“She will always be infamous and you will always be in danger until they can capture and kill her or just confirm she’s actually dead.” Andrew looked mournfully at her. “And by the time we found out, we didn’t care. We wanted you here with us.”
“Why did you never tell me any of this?” She felt tears on her cheek.
“We didn’t want you to live in your mother’s shadow,” Brenton whispered. “No child deserves to live in the pain of their parents’ mistakes. If anyone here understands that, its us. Me. And I don’t blame Isabella for my mother’s death, Riley. I was a tiny child and it happened. My parents weren’t madly in love and my father was an abusive prick for the life I had with him. I sometimes wonder if he killed her or drove her to her death.”
She sobbed at that and Brenton pulled her into his lap.
“If she’s alive… that means she left me just l-l-l-like my dad,” Riley curled into a ball. “She never c-c-came back for me…”
“Yes,” Brenton whispered into hair. “Yes.”
It wasn’t fair. She wanted to scream and cry and rage. Instead, she rolled into a ball and cried until her eyes were dry while one of them rubbed her back.
When she was done, she took a deep breath. She had to make a decision and she knew what she would choose.
“Fuck her,” Riley said rigidly. “She didn’t want me, fine. She doesn’t deserve another tear from me after this. She goes in the space of ‘fuck them’ just like my father.”
“Riley-”
“No,” she barked at Andrew, who looked like he was falling apart. “She didn’t want me. I have my family and I’m staying here. She lost the right to have my tears or my hurt when she decided to never come back if she’s alive.” She took another gasp of air before continuing. “But if you guys keep something like from me again, I’m out. This is not okay. I would have stayed here anyways. But you should have told me before something happened!”
They all looked a little sick that. Brenton turned them for they were facing each other.
“You’re right. We should have been up front about what we knew. We should have brought in the loop and told you everything. If we learn anything else, you will know. And I mean anything. You’re apart of this pride and this family and we should have trusted you to stay.” He gulped and she watched his Adam’s apple bob. “We belong to you, and you belong with us. We’ll respect that in the future, starting now. We should have earlier.”
The entire pride offered assurances and confirmation of it. She would need to give them time to prove it.
“Man,” Zachary whispered. “We’re the pride of ‘I have fucked up parents’ now, aren’t we?”
Riley couldn’t stop the snort of laughter and Brenton broke into a small smile.
“Zachary, my brother,” Andrew chuckled. “We’ve always been that pride.”
“Shit, you’re right,” he grumbled back. “This is fucked.”
They all laughed loudly at that until Brenton got their attention again.
“There’s one more thing we need to deal with,” he reminded them. To Riley, it sounded ominous.