Chapter Nine
Some time later, Jack and Renee headed to his condo. For the first time in his life, he was out and about with his woman. Not a woman he was enjoying or was dating, not with a woman who belonged to another man. Or at least not solely.
Pride warmed him as he led her into his place. It wasn’t big, but it was his. A place he’d bought with his own money. Partly because he had to get out of the same building as Grace and Cade, but also because he’d never had a place of his own.
“I hope you’ll bring the art.” She walked through the space, taking everything in. It made him a bit anxious, knowing she’d see him so intimately as she traced the lines of a wood carving or read the spine of the book on his nightstand.
He grabbed a duffel and began to stuff some clothes into it. “I like this. You and me alone, one on one.”
She nodded, picking up the picture frame on the nearby bedside table. “I like it too. I think we all need that. I want to know you. I admit, I’m hungry for details of your life.”
Nerveless fingers dropped the duffel. He moved to her, loving the way she tipped her chin to look at him.
“There’s this need inside me. It’s got your name all over it.” He cupped her throat, the feel of the thrum of her pulse beat against his fingers, settled within his head, a song just for her.
Her smile always made him want to give her one in return.
“You just satisfied your need with Galen less than an hour ago.” She sighed softly as he began to knead her shoulders.
She had no idea, how could she not know what she did to him and to Galen? “I did. It was sexy and he’s my mate. Touching is part of what shifters need. But you? What this is between you and me is something so deep it’s in my bones. You rush through my veins, you make my heart beat. I never understood it. People told me. I watched my friends find mates and they all told me. I even felt a sliver of it when I became Grace’s anchor. But to feel it? To have you inside me this way? It humbles me. It scares me. It calms and feeds me. You are something precious to me, in a way no one and nothing else can be.”
She looked up, into his eyes. “I waited a long time for someone to see me the way Galen does. I never expected him. I never thought I’d be loved the way he does. I can’t really do it justice, but meeting him, having a man like him love me is one of life’s biggest blessings. And then you came around a corner and the world went upside down.” She rested her head against his chest. “I don’t know how it’s possible that I’m here with you, when just five years ago I had no one. But whatever the reason, I’m glad. Now that you’re here, I can’t imagine life without you in it. I don’t need for you to love me more than Galen. It’s not a contest. I need for you to love me as much as you can.”
He tipped her back so she fell on the mattress. “You have no idea. How can you not understand? You see so much, but not yourself?” He shook his head, unbuttoning her sweater only slow enough to keep from ripping it. The tiny bra with the bow perched jauntily between her breasts made him smile.
Her hand, the one that had been eagerly working to free his cock from his pants, suddenly stopped and moved to his chest where she shoved. Hard. “Wait. You’re anchored to Grace?”
Oh, yeah.
“Yes. She’s married to and mated with Cade Warden, one of my closest friends. They have three kids together and if my suspicions are correct, another on the way. You’ll meet her day after tomorrow when we go to dinner.”
“Are you actually going to try to act casual right now? You should have told me.” Her annoyance hit him, acrid and sticky.
“What else should I act like? Why are you mad? I anchored her before I knew you existed. You have another husband!”
She closed her eyes for a moment. “Get off me.”
“Not until we settle this. Sweetheart, I’m here with you. I just told you how much you mean to me. This is silly. I’ve only known you a few days. This is the first we’ve ever been alone. When should I have told you?”
“Get off or I will knee your balls into your fucking throat.” Anger coiled her muscles. His wolf stirred, agitated that she was upset, but undeniably attracted to a fully enraged, powerful female.
He rolled off to the side. “I can’t believe this is happening. I tell you how much I love you, how much you mean to me and this is how you react?”
“You truly believe this reaction is to the very sweet things you said to me earlier? Really? I’m done now.” She stood and straightened her sweater, buttoning up. It wasn’t until she moved to leave the room that he realized done meant really done.
He jumped up, halting her progress to the front door. “You can’t just walk away every time we get into a fight. You do this a lot I notice.”
Her eyes narrowed, her hurt pricked him. Why didn’t he learn from watching Grace and Cade fight? All his smart ways when it came to his job fell to the side when it came to handling this tiny woman.
“You notice? Really? Seriously, Jack, get the hell out of my way. I need to be not here with you right now. In your little shrine to Grace Warden. Christ, how did I not really notice?” She waved an arm around, indicating the pictures in the room. Two fell from shelves as the heat of her magic, the weight of her power throbbed in the room.
“Take it easy, Renee. You’re going to blow the place up over something totally stupid. For fuck’s sake! I’m with you. She’s married with three kids. She’s someone to me, yes. Special? Yes. But there’s nothing more to it than that. You’ve got some nerve to judge me when you have another man in your bed.”
She physically recoiled, her eyes widening. “Right. Yeah, I noticed you using that twice now. You came into my life, Jack. I told you the first moment you showed interest in me. I told you I was with someone. I told you I loved someone else. I never lied about my situation. I would never use this anchor bond thing to hurt you or her. But what? I can’t ask a question? I can’t feel anything about it when you hid it from me? I’ve got news for you, Jack. I don’t regret loving Galen. You can never make it into a dirty thing. I won’t allow it. You came to me. Over and over I might add. You came to me and Galen knowing what we were. You don’t get to use that to hurt me or accuse me because I did nothing wrong.
“Had you bothered to share with me, I could have told you I have no problem with you loving other people before me. For goodness sake, why would I? That doesn’t excuse the way you handled yourself just now. All defensive. It’s unnecessary. I’m leaving now. I’ll see you at dinner.”
He didn’t budge from his place blocking the door.
“You’re right, I overreacted to your question. But it’s not an excuse to go haring off on your own when someone may be out there trying to hurt you.” He swallowed back panic at her leaving, annoyance with himself that he reacted the way he did to what he could see was a pretty mellow reaction on her part until he turned it into a fight. Still, the leaving thing didn’t sit well. “I don’t like it that you leave instead of stay to fight. Is what we have so fragile you can’t test it with a disagreement?”
The blast of her anguish was enough to have him reaching for her. But she stepped away, her face flushed, eyes fever-bright. “I need to not be here with you right now. Period. If you don’t like that I can’t help it.”
“This is ridiculous. Let’s talk this through.”
Her phone started ringing and she ignored it. She stood there so very still, her eyes focused on the floor. Her hands shook. Something wasn’t right and he couldn’t figure it out. He didn’t know her well enough to understand if this was her way of dealing with upset or not. But it didn’t fit.
He softened his tone, shifted his stance to seem less physically threatening. “Renee, please. Tell me. I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. We can’t work it out if you’re not here and you’re not safe out there without me.”
When she looked up, her mouth had hardened into a flat line. No emotion at all showed on her face and that hit him like a slap. “Fine. I’ll sit here while you pack. Then you can drop me at home before you go to dinner.”
This was worse than her anger, worse than her hurt. This was not his mate. She’d shut off, her emotions walled away even from the bond. He wasn’t sure how she was doing it, but it was totally unacceptable.
“That’s not going to happen. You’re going to tell me what the hell is wrong and we’re going to fix it.”
Her phone rang again.
“For fuck’s sake,” she mumbled, pulling the phone out. “What?”
Galen demanded to know what was happening on the other end. Jack didn’t even need shifter hearing for that.
“I’ve lost my appetite. I want to go to bed early. No, not like that. That’s not going to be happening. No. I. Said. No. I’m not interested in a romantic dinner tonight. What? Why?”
Galen demanded to speak to Jack and he put his hand out, expecting her to put the phone into it. Instead she snorted and turned her back on him. “I’m going home. I’m not having this conversation with you. I don’t need to explain myself.” She punched the screen to disconnect and then turned the ringer off.
He began to growl at her, but his own phone interrupted and he picked it up, grateful for Galen’s backup in this, whatever it was going on between them.
“What the hell did you do?” Galen demanded without preamble.
“It’s a long story. I’d be trying to fix it, but she won’t talk to me about it. She’s shut down now. Walled me out.”
“What the fuck did you say, Jack? I’m going to kick your ass for this. I shouldn’t have trusted you with her. She’s not just any woman you’re fucking, you know. She’s got wounds and buttons like anyone else.”
“Why would you assume I would ever think of her like that?”
She took the phone from him. “Stop it! Oh my God, stop it! I’m not a bone to be argued over, nor am I to be talked about like I don’t exist. I won’t have you fighting like this.”
Jack saw the cracks in the wall she’d built around her emotions, felt the strain she put into holding herself together. “I can’t stand to see you like this.” He took the phone back. “She’s right, it’s stupid to fight over her this way.”
He didn’t hear the door close.
Renee hit the sidewalk running, grateful she’d worn flats instead of the pretty high-heeled boots she’d nearly chosen instead. She was stupid to think she could ever make it work. She was a freak. Wrong. Weird. Men like Galen and Jack didn’t need that. They had each other now. It assaulted her head, how wrong she was, how unnatural.
Her house was quiet when she burst inside. Even the way the banister gleamed from the lemon oil she’d used a few days before didn’t please her.
Despite his clear belief that she was some kind of mental deficient, Renee locked the doors behind her. She wasn’t unaware that there was someone out there focused on her in ways she couldn’t understand.
She grabbed a bottle of scotch and headed for her workspace, locking the door behind her. She poured a shot while choosing some music.
Jack’s voice changed every time he said Grace’s name. It wasn’t that he’d anchored her. It wasn’t that he had loved people before her. The way he pretended to be so casual about something that clearly was anything but casual galled her most.
He hadn’t told her before because Grace was something to him she couldn’t be. Maybe he found Renee wanting. Maybe he regretted being mated to her. He’d been so lovely one moment and then things had gone to shit.
The little girl within shivered and a ragged sob escaped Renee’s mouth, despite the fist clenched to hold it all in. Driven by the need to tuck away somewhere small, Renee gave in and took her blanket into the closet, settling in, letting the dark quiet calm her. Soothe the memories enough to keep them at bay.
The door downstairs opened. She heard two male voices, knew it was Galen and Jack.
“Renee!” Galen’s bellow was sure to alert the entire street he was pissed. Great.
“Damn it, Renee, where are you?”
Steps coming closer. The wall fell apart and what was within consumed her, pulled her into the maelstrom of what had been once.
“I’m coming in there, now. You’re worrying us, Renee.” Galen blinked back the tears as a wave of terror and then pain swept through him. The hand on the knob of the door to her office space tightened, the metal groaning.
“Get in there. Something is wrong. Damn it.” Jack kicked the door in, leaving the knob in Galen’s hand.
Nothing. He looked around, dropping the doorknob on a nearby desk.
“She’s not in the darkroom.” Jack stormed back in.
Galen saw the closet door, knew she was in there. He indicated it with a tip of his chin and both of them moved to it.
“I’m opening the door. It’s just me and Jack.”
She was there, huddled in the far back, a blanket around her body. Ribbons of pain sliced at him the closer he got.
“Baby, what is it?” He spoke softly, but the tears thickened the sound. “Would you like to come out? Let us help you and then we’ll leave you alone if that’s what you really want. You can’t be in this closet in the dark. That’s not who you are.”
“How do you know who I am?”
Her voice edged, honed and sharp with whatever drove her to this place.
“Is this why you run when we fight? Is this why you need to get away?” Galen coaxed the blanket back from her face. Her eyes weren’t focused as she looked at something long past. It was like a scene from one of those horror movies she loved so much. A shiver of fear slid through his gut.
“I know you enough to know you’re one of the strongest people alive. I know you enough to love you.” Jack held a hand to her, but her eyes still focused on that faraway thing.
Galen shoved the shoes out of his way and sat. “Okay then, we’ll join you. No one needs to be alone in the dark when they’re so beloved. By the way, there are seriously forty pairs of shoes in here. Is this your secret shoe stash?”
Jack shook his head when she didn’t laugh or even roll her eyes.
“What led you here to this closet? Who did this to you?” Jack linked hands with her and she didn’t pull away. She shook still, her skin clammy. His wolf wasn’t pleased by the stink of her fear on the air, of the claustrophobic oppression of the small, cramped space.
Galen took her other hand and she whimpered. The sound ripped through him, the pain of it, the fear made him nauseous.
And then Jack stood somewhere else. The woman he recognized from The Willow Broom stood over a younger version of Renee. Those sweet curls were ruthlessly pulled back into a braid, her face was buried in her hands.
“I thought I told you to stop this. How are we supposed to have a normal life when you go acting weird again?”
“I’m sorry, Susan. I didn’t mean to. It just happens sometimes.”
“You’ve driven away everything kind enough to love you despite your freaky behavior. Your mother left you. Where’s your father? He’s not here. Left you with me. I’m all you’ve got, don’t you forget it. The devil is in you; your mother poisoned you with what she was. You don’t have to be that way.”
Renee gasped for air. “No. Get out of my head.”
Galen blinked, not trying to stop the tears.
She tried to pull her hands free from theirs, both men held fast.
“No. Renee, she’s wrong.” Jack’s voice was choked with emotion. “You don’t have to run from us. We’re not going to leave you.”
She groaned again and a wave hit, sucking them back into her memories.
A closet, roughly this size. She sat in the very back, her hands over her mouth. Her leg hurt, throbbed from a bruise on her thigh. Fiery welts peppered her calves. Blood ran from her palm where her nails had dug through the skin.
Somewhere outside, the sound of furniture being overturned. Yelling.
“How dare you embarrass me in front of my friends! Get out here and take your punishment.”
The door slamming open, a hand in her hair, pulling her out into the light. She blinked up in time to see the fist headed toward her face and she opened up the rage, the rage she buried all the time. It boiled from her and Susan fell back, shock etched into her features.
“No. Don’t touch me.”
Susan snarled, her mouth twisted with dark emotion. “You broke a glass. They saw you. You weren’t near it.”
“You told them my mother abandoned me. She didn’t. She wouldn’t do that.”
“She had to die to escape you. Your father works all the time. Anything to get away from you.” She raised her hand and Renee stood on shaky legs.
“Never. You will never touch me again or I will break you too.” She poked a tooth, now loose from how hard she’d been hit earlier once they’d gotten into the car and had driven away.
Susan knew she meant it.
“You’ll kill everything you touch, Renee. Don’t forget that. This is my house. Your father is with me. Don’t push me or you’ll end up in a home. All alone.”
Something roared and Galen realized it was her. It was Renee shoving them both back, jumping over them to get out of the closet. Her eyes were no longer unfocused, though his were still blurry through tears.
Her chest heaved. She held her hands out to ward them off.
“Leave me alone, please. Please. I didn’t mean to...that was my head, those are my memories. Mine.” Bitterness, like ashes, bloomed through the link between the three.
“Your memories must have thought differently.” Jack closed his eyes a moment and Galen knew how he felt. He wanted to storm out, to hunt Susan down and beat her until she wept like Renee had.
“I understand. I understand now why you need to leave when we fight.” Galen didn’t get up, not wanting to spook her. “I would never, ever reject you for being who you are. I love you. I love your magic. I love the way you are a total bitch until you’ve had coffee in the morning. I love the way you think I don’t know you put protein powder in my smoothies.”
“I know that.” She exhaled hard. “I know that!”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want to see pity in your eyes. Like what I see now. I’m fine. She didn’t know how to deal with my being different. She did the best she could. I wasn’t easy to raise, you know.”
Jack growled. “She’s a bully, Renee. That’s not about you, that’s about her.”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I feel sick.”
Galen didn’t know what to do other than to keep pushing, so he did. She had to understand they were with her for the long run; he had to get past the shit her stepmother poisoned her with. “Because you haven’t eaten in hours. Because you’ve been upset for most of the day. Babe, come with us. Let us get you settled on the couch. Snuggle with Jack while I make some dinner.”
“Please, please leave me alone.”
She looked so lost, so terribly small standing there, her arms wrapped around herself, shaking. He felt as if something had been ripped from him. His cat paced, agitated, angry, needing to comfort and defend.
Jack fell to his knees before her, hanging his head. “I started this mess with my stupidity and selfishness. I didn’t tell you and you got caught off guard and then when you asked for more info, I didn’t really answer what you asked. I’m sorry. If I could take it back I would. But I can’t. I can’t and the damage has been done. You don’t know how much I regret that.”
She rubbed her face before sliding her fingers through Jack’s hair. “You two are so much better off without me. You have each other now.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
Galen stood. “Enough. This is total bullshit. Better off without you? So the last four years mean nothing to you? You think I’ve just been hanging out with you until a nice piece of ass came along to replace you? Is that how little you think of me?”
“No.” She shook her head, taking her hand back from Jack’s head. Jack spun, baring his teeth at Galen. Galen bared his right back.
“There’s something wrong with me. Can’t you see that? Your family can see it, Galen, why can’t you?”
“So Beth doesn’t like you. She doesn’t like anyone. My parents love you. My brothers love you. I love you. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“I’m holding you back. I can’t give you purebred children. I can’t help you be the next leader of the jamboree. I’ll never make the kind of money you do.”
He grabbed her by the upper arms. This had to stop. She was spiraling out of control, this vomiting of her memories had taken her into a dark place and she couldn’t seem to get out. He worked very hard not to panic, but she was seriously scaring him. This wasn’t her. She was not the kind of person who gave in to self-pity or bad thoughts, not like this.
“I’ve never seen you this way, babe. Come on now. Come back to me.” He rubbed his face along her jawline, willing her to open back up to him.
“What’s that?” Jack stood. “Do you hear that? Someone is pounding on the door downstairs.”
Without waiting for permission, Galen gathered her into his arms and carried her out of her office and into the living room. “Sit here. Jack and I will be back. Don’t let anyone in unless it’s us.”
She’d slipped away again, her eyes focused on something he couldn’t see.
“I hope it’s that bitch Susan or the asshole scaring her. I could use a really bloody fight right about now,” Jack grumbled as they headed down to the outer door.
When they opened it, an older woman with striking features stood there, her mouth in a hard line. Beside her stood a younger woman, perhaps two years older than Renee. She looked a lot like... Holy shit.
“Where is she?” the older woman asked.
“Who?” Galen demanded.
“Where is Renee? I know she lives here. I know there’s something wrong with her. Someone is trying to harm her. Where is she?”
“Who the fuck are you and how do you know my wife?” Galen and Jack stood shoulder to shoulder.
“I’m her aunt, Rosemary. And this is Kendra, Renee’s older sister. We’re here to help. Please.”
Renee’s what? What the hell was up with the world all of a sudden?
“How do you know she lives here? Where have you been her whole life?” Jack wasn’t budging.
“Our absence from her life was not my choice. My sister brought Kendra to me when she was just a baby. We knew about Renee, but she disappeared shortly after her mother was killed. Our family has been looking for her ever since. Someone is trying to harm her right now. Are you just going to stand there and let him burn her mind out?”
“I will rip out your throat without hesitation if you make one move to hurt her.” Galen stood back to let them both enter. Jack stood aside, ready to move if or when he needed to.
Rosemary rushed up the stairs, Galen in the lead with the keys.
When he opened the door, it was to find Renee standing, her palms against the window panes in the dining room, staring out into the night.
“Get her away from that window.” Rosemary turned away and with Kendra, began to clear a space, pushing the couches back. Jack moved to help.
“Renee, honey? Visitors are here. For you. You’re going to be so surprised.” Galen edged closer, scenting the copper of her blood. Her palms bled, smearing the red against the glass.
“Get out of me,” she whispered. “You can’t have me. You can’t have them!” she screamed and fell but he was fast enough to catch her.
“Can’t have you?” Galen was very close to changing—his cat sliced him up to get out, wanting to defend her from any threat. But his cat couldn’t help whatever the fuck was wrong with her.
“She means the mage who’s wormed into her head. Put her here.”
Renee looked, her eyes glassy, to the woman who’d just spoken. “Momma? Is that you? Have you come for me?”
Watching the scene continue to unfold filled Jack with so much bile and fear, so much adrenaline, he shook with it. He was losing her, he felt it deep inside and helpless rage rode him, turned his vision red with the need to fix his mate.
Renee was covered in blood as Galen attempted to get her back to the rest of the group. Their living room was a mess, the contents upended and shoved against the walls to make space for a ritual of some sort.
Jack wasn’t even sure what to do, where to stand, much less know what the hell was going on. He was entirely out of his element and it drove him to the depths of despair. He could rip a throat out, investigate someone, protect her from a physical threat but this? How could anyone stop this evil?
“Your guilt will not help her. Or you. Let it go.” Rosemary, the oldest woman, the powerful witch who’d started drawing symbols with colored sand on their hardwoods, spoke to him without looking up. “Use your link to her. Bring her back. Don’t let him win. He’ll ruin her, ravage her and leave her a shell.”
“Who and what is trying to hurt her?” Galen put her down where Rosemary had indicated and Jack reached out to touch her, needing the physical contact to better use their link, but also because he needed to feel her, know she was alive.
“Get her sweater and jeans off, she’ll respond better skin to skin,” Kendra said.
Jack made quick work while Galen took his own shirt off.
Continuing to work, Rosemary spoke, “She’s got so much power pouring off her, she’s made herself a target. The target of a man who steals magic instead of earning it. He’s inside her now.”
One-handed, Jack tore his shirt off and pressed to her back as Galen did her front. They embraced around her, a solid unit. She was his and Galen’s; no one else was going to take her and harm her if he could help it. “Come on, Renee, come back to us. Fight this bastard who’s hurting you. You can’t just leave, not when I’ve finally found you. If you go, I’ll eat sweet rolls every day, no more fruit. I’ll get scurvy.”
Galen kissed the top of her head. “Babe, who will make my heart beat if not you?”
Galen and Jack shared a look. The man who did this to her had better get a good head start. They would hunt down and kill every fucking person involved in this if she didn’t survive it. He might just do that anyway. Yes, yes that sounded like a very good idea.
Her head rested on Galen’s shoulder, her skin was superheated, even to a shifter like him. This possession was like a fever.
Around them, the two women began to speak softly and slowly as they came to bracket Renee’s sides so she was surrounded.
“Renee, I’m your aunt Rosemary. I came a long way to find you. Your magic is very strong, so strong it called to me and finally led me here. I’d nearly given up hope. There’s darker magicks at work here. Someone has found a way inside you, he’s trying to hurt you and steal your life so he can have more. Fight him. I know you can hear me. Your sister is here too. She and I are here to help you.”
“Renee, I’m Kendra, your big sister. I need you to build a wall. Go inside where he’s leaking in and wall him out. You can do it. I know you can. Brick by brick, higher and higher. Just concentrate on that, we’ll push him back too. Hold on to yourself, find that place you’re connected to these men and open that. Close out the darkness and open yourself to their light. It’s the only way.”
Jack felt it, a trickle back through their bond. At first it started only to die off again, but then, she’d hold it for a little bit longer each time until she gasped, her head shooting back to his shoulder as it flooded through them again, that link between the three filled with the glory of their connection, of their bond. Brilliant and strong, it filled him like birdsong after a really long night.
She screamed, writhing, and then slumped against Galen, weeping.
“He’s gone. His spell has been broken,” Rosemary spoke. Jack had nearly forgotten she was there.
“I’m going to be sick.” Renee stood and tried to run to the bathroom but her legs wouldn’t hold her. Jack picked her up and carried her, but acquiesced once they got there, allowing her to push him out and shut the door in his face.
Her aunt stood with them, just outside the door to the bathroom. “She’ll be filled with dark magicks, negative energy. It’ll have made her sick. She’s safe for now. Kendra and I are going to go and cast some protection around the outside of the house. I don’t think he’s been here. Something like this would have taken a few hours to feel the full effects of. You can tell me about your day when we come back inside.” With that, she swooped from the room, Kendra in her wake, leaving Galen and Jack behind.