Blessed with an Angel [Grey River 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 4

  * * * *

  “Someone is threatening my mate and my pup. I need your help to protect what’s mine.” Noah fell to his knees as a wave of pain more intense than anything he had ever felt before washed over him. Considering the wounds and battles he had survived that was saying something.

  Chris and Angel were mated.

  He had laid claim to the baby, who Noah knew was named Mateo. Even though he knew that taking himself out of their triad and leaving Angel and Chris to be together without him was for the best, it didn’t stop it from hurting.

  He was broken and damaged and not worthy of anything as pure and good as Angel and Mateo, or a brother as loyal as Chris. Hell, after what he had been a part of even returning to a life in Grey River was beyond what he deserved. He had demons that needed to be dealt with and his world was dark and evil, and he refused to bring that into their lives.

  “I’ll be there in three hours.” Noah pushed up to stand upright and headed for his room to pack a bag. Within ten minutes he had his truck loaded with clothing and an arsenal of weapons and he was heading out the drive. He looked in the rearview mirror and caught Jack Casey standing on the porch yelling something, but Noah was too far away to catch what. Not that it would have mattered.

  Noah knew that leaving the property without permission from the council was tantamount to going AWOL in the marines. It would cost him his job, and quite potentially his freedom, but again he couldn’t find it in himself to give a shit. The woman the fates had deemed to be his mate was in danger and needed his help, and he was goddamn going to be there to give it to her.

  Chapter 3

  Angel shivered beneath the warm quilt Rowena had brought to place around her and Mateo, fairly certain that she would never feel warm again. It had been almost three hours since she had found that letter and she was still shaking. Ty, Trent, and their mate Faith had arrived shortly after she opened the envelope, and as soon as she could close down the shop, Rowena and her mates Wyatt, Luke, and Chase Greyson had come upstairs as well.

  She was surrounded by friends who would do anything to protect her, but she still felt nervous and scared. Mateo slept soundly in her arms, and she refused to hand him over to anyone else. Someone had been in their home, had taken photos of him sleeping, and had violated her privacy by taking photos of her in the goddamn shower! And for what? And to what end? To scare the living shit out of her? Well, mission completed, you sick bastard!

  The message written on the paper was pretty clear. Someone was seeking vengeance on her for something, and the only thing she had that she could imagine anyone wanting was the most precious thing in her life. Mateo.

  She knew that her story could cause issues for Senator Williams if it were to ever get out into the media, but she had no intention of ever leaking it to the media. Hell, if she had her way it would never see the light of day, but judging by the posse that was slowly filling the small lounge in her apartment, that was not going to be possible.

  Chris hadn’t left her side, and still sat with his arms around her. After their last conversation she knew she should probably not look to him for solace and support, but right now she felt like her whole world was hovering on a knife’s edge.

  Rowena had mentioned that her mates considered her and Mateo to be a part of the pack and therefore under their protection, so wasn’t surprised that they had turned up just minutes after Rowena walked up the stairs.

  “Grant’s on his way back to the station with the letter and he’s going to process it and send it away for analysis,” Trent spoke from where he stood behind his mate Faith, who sat on the armchair across from her, face filled with concern and compassion all aimed at her. “That was definitely animal blood on that paper from the scent of it, not human, but what type of animal I couldn’t tell you.”

  Angel shuddered at the thought of an animal suffering so that sick bastard could write that note. This whole thing just got worse and worse! She had fled Dallas over three months ago, and had thought she was going to be able to keep her baby safe, but here she was the victim of some Peeping Tom son of a bitch who sent her a sickening letter threatening to seek vengeance on her, and she didn’t even know for what!

  “Angel.” Ty leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his gaze intent. “I know you have a story to tell, and I think you know you need to tell it. So why don’t you just spit it out so we can get to working out how to stop this fucker, hmm?”

  All eyes in the room locked on her and she felt her body start to tremble. Chris tightened his arms and when she saw that he was about to protest she shook her head. No, if this had to do with Mateo’s father and his powerful family, then she needed to suck it up and tell her story. After countless hours talking with Rowena, Angel now knew she was not broken and she had no need to let the ghosts of her past dictate how she was going to live her life in the future.

  Angel stood up from the couch and moved to place Mateo back in his crib. Having calmed down after she no doubt scared the dickens out of the little tyke with her scream, he had settled down nicely and dropped off to sleep again. Walking back, she opted to sit on a chair and pretended not to see the disappointment on Chris’s face.

  “Yeah, Ty, I have a story, and you’re right, you all should know it so we can determine if it has any bearing on that letter. It’s good that you are all here because I only want to say this once.” Angel wiped her suddenly damp hands on her jeans and was about to start her story when she noticed a figure step silently into the room.

  Noah. Her eyes locked with his and despite the fact that her whole body filled with sadness that he had been able to leave without so much as a good-bye, her heart cried out for him. She soaked up the sight of him and noticed he looked thinner than he had the last time she saw him.

  He was still built with more than his fair share of muscles, but he had definitely lost some weight since he had been here last, and there were shadows beneath his eyes that made her want to go to him, take him in her arms, and tell him everything was going to be okay. Man, she was a sucker for punishment and so damn lame! It was no wonder he left. Her gaze dropped to the floor and she flicked her head so that her hair fell to cover her face.

  “Angel.” Noah’s soft voice came from the doorway, and Angel felt the tone and timbre of it all the way to her toes. “Lift your head, sweetheart, don’t hide that beautiful face. Whatever you have to tell us, won’t make anyone in this room think any less of you. It will simply give us more information to protect you better.” He moved forward a little then stopped quickly, his gaze shooting a quick glance at his brother. Even though Angel had the very strong feeling that he wanted to come to her he stood still and plunged his hands into his jeans pockets. “Just tell us your story, sweetheart.”

  “Don’t call her sweetheart!” Angel gasped in shock as Chris suddenly launched himself off the chair and flew to stand in front of his brother. The room filled with his rage as it rolled off Chris in huge waves and Angel jumped to her feet. Something was going on between these two and she was very much in the middle of it, but had no clue what she was in the middle of.

  “You don’t ever get to call her any type of fucking endearment, you hear me!” Chris reached up and gripped Noah’s shirt and Angel moved quickly around the coffee table to stand directly behind him.

  “Chris, stop it. You need to calm down, and you sure as hell need to keep your voice down. Mateo is sleeping.” Angel deliberately kept her voice steady and calm. Hoping to soothe him in some way, she pressed her hand to his back. He quietened enough to drop his hands, but the tension remained.

  “You’re here to help me keep her safe and nothing more, Noah. So stop with the damn endearments. You don’t fucking deserve to use words like that with her.” Chris’s voice rang with disgust, and Noah’s face lost all expression and became blank as he nodded. What in the hell had happened between them?

  “What in the fuck is wrong with you two?” Ty asked as he pushed away from the wall he had been leaning against. “I
have known you both all my life, and you have always had each other’s backs. Hell, Chris, Trent and I were the ones that had to put you back together when you thought Noah had gone wolf for good.”

  Noah flinched, and his eyes closed briefly but he didn’t raise his gaze from the floor. Angel knew that look. He was trying desperately to hide his emotions and he knew that what he was feeling would be in his eyes, just like Chris’s always were.

  “You are both part of our pack and any one of us would bleed for either of you. But if you two don’t get your heads out of your fucking asses and start working together to protect your mate, I will take you both outside, rip each of you a new asshole to shit from, and fucking laugh gleefully while I do it!” When Ty finished speaking, there was a brief silence before his mate snorted a quiet giggle.

  “You tell ’em, baby!” she said dryly. “You have such an eloquent way with words.” Everyone chuckled and Angel breathed easier as the tension eased off considerably.

  “That I do, sweet girl. It must have been that session with Cody and Brendan you made me sit through a couple of weeks ago.” Angel smiled as she remembered all the fuss and ado about the lesson on how to talk to women that was held a couple of weeks ago. From what she had heard the lesson itself had lasted all of thirty minutes and the rest of the night was spent drinking beer and watching sport.

  “I’m sorry, Angel,” Chris said but his voice hadn’t lost its hard edge. Whatever had happened between the two brothers had affected him in a major way, and Angel feared that it not only dealt with her sparking the Quickening in them both, but that it was so big the brothers’ relationship would never be the same.

  Chris gently palmed her cheek as he walked back to take his seat at the couch. Angel moved to sit back down next to him again, but needed a little separation from him to get her story out without distraction.

  Noah murmured his apologies as well, but never made eye contact with her. He simply walked over to lean against the wall as far away from her as possible then turned his laser-like gaze on her. Taking a deep breath, Angel looked around the room at the people who were coming to mean so much to her and began her story.

  * * * *

  Chris took deep breaths, slowly bringing his emotions under control. He was so pissed off right now he was shaking. Noah had spoken some pretty vile and hateful words about the one woman they were meant to love and cherish for the rest of their lives. That was a given and his anger would be justified, but right now his rage didn’t come from a place of pure anger it came from a well of hurt.

  It wasn’t until Noah had actually stepped into the room that Chris felt that hurt begin to boil inside him and become the rage he felt now. It was an emotion that up until now he had been unwilling to label, but now that he had he knew he would have to deal with it, and would, just not now. Right now, his Angel needed him.

  Shaking his head and clearing the red rage that had fallen over him, Chris turned toward Angel and tried to send her all the support, strength, and calm he could muster down their fledgling bond. He watched as she took a deep steadying breath, suddenly nervous for her.

  “My parents were the cook and the gardener for a rich and powerful shifter couple in Dallas. Their love story was something that could have come straight from a Jane Austen book.” Angel’s face softened into a small smile as she thought about her parents, and Chris felt his palm itch with the urge to reach out and stroke her soft cheek. “They loved me unconditionally and without reservation. I always knew that I was loved.

  “Mom and Dad worked hard to give me an education and despite not having any money for anything they wanted, I never lacked for anything. When I was sixteen, they were killed in a car accident, coming to collect me from school. I was lost and absolutely filled with guilt, and I didn’t fully understand what that would mean for me. I was still living with the Williamses and with no other family I had nowhere else to go.”

  Chris saw Ty tense and move subtly forward at the name of the family she used to live with. Old habits die hard and he shot a quick glance to Noah to see if he noticed and sure enough he was staring a Ty with a narrowed gaze. They both knew something about that family.

  “I was lucky. They didn’t put me out or insist that I pay rent or anything like that. They let me stay in the servant’s quarters that I had called home all my life. But the way they treated me changed quite dramatically. I was suddenly a freeloading individual that now needed to earn my own way. If I wanted to stay and live in comfort in their home then I had to quit school and take up my mother’s job, with no salary or benefits, just the roof over my head.”

  Chris heard the hurt and anger in Angel’s tone and wanted more than anything to put his arm around her, but he knew that she wouldn’t welcome it.

  “So with very little choice or options, that’s what I did. I dropped out of school, without ever finishing, and began cooking for the household. I had helped my mother most of my life so it wasn’t too difficult to transition into the role. For the first four years everything was fine. Well, as fine as it could be. They talked down to me, and all their stuffy friends would treat me like dirt when they came around for meetings and dinners, but they let me stay.

  “Jeremy is their son, and as far as I know he is latent and can’t shift. He was a spoiled little rich boy, but he was kind to me in his own way in the beginning. His mother doted on him, but for some reason Mr. Williams couldn’t stand to even be in the same room as him. Jeremy acted out a lot, and from talking with Rowena I could guess that he was”—Angel looked at her friend, winked, and lowered her voice to imitate her—“exhibiting unrestrained and often improper actions that are usually caused by suppressed or denied feelings or emotions.”

  “Wow, Angel.” Chase grinned. “You talk doc pretty good! Not as good as my baby, but not bad!”

  “It also means that you were listening in your sessions and are starting to realize that the actions of other individuals are not in any way controlled by your actions or inactions.” Rowena winked back. The tension dropped in the room a little, which was no doubt Angel’s purpose behind the imitation.

  Chris surmised that Angel would certainly be getting the echo of his and possibly Noah’s tension down their bond and made a concerted effort to relax. The last thing he wanted to do was add to her stress.

  “Anyway, Jeremy’s acting out began to get a little out of control. He was drinking a lot and doing a range of things in an attempt to get his father to acknowledge him I guess. He started to, um—well I guess try to get me to notice him a little more than I had been.” Angel looked down and her hair fell over her face.

  Chris heard the strain in her voice and knew there was more to that than what she was sharing. Had the bastard hurt her? He shot another glance at his brother and saw his eyes flickering blue. Yeah, Noah had the same thoughts swirling through his head as he did.

  “When he would try to, um, get my attention”—Angel wrapped her arms around her waist and began to rock back and forward and Chris moved closer to place his arm around her shoulder—“he would often try to force me to accept his advances.” Chris heard a low rumbling growl coming from his brother, who was now standing to attention rather than slumped against the wall and his hands were clenched into fists.

  “How did he do that, Angel?” Rowena’s voice was calm and gentle. “Did he use his fists, his words, or perhaps a little of both?” Angel reacted almost physically to her tone and seemed to relax a little.

  “He used both. Mostly verbal threats and running me down, but every now and then he would get physical with me. The thing I hate most about the three years before we came here is the fact that I lost a huge part of myself. He actually succeeded in taking away my self-confidence and my self-respect and I allowed him to do that and that really pisses me off.

  “He would tell me I was useless, that I would never be able to survive outside the mansion and a whole raft of bullshit that I started to believe. He would pick and prod at me until I was a nervous wreck w
aiting for the verbal slap or the physical one, and most of the time when they came I saw it as something that I deserved because of who I was.” Angel sighed and her shoulders slumped. Chris felt his skin tighten as his wolf lurched against him trying to get free. He wanted to shift then head for Dallas and make the fucker bleed.

  “The last six months were the worst. Mrs. Williams didn’t care what Jeremy did to me, he was her pride and joy and he was everything that mattered to her in her world. His father would get this almost proud look whenever he saw Jeremy hitting me, or the bruises I had as a result. And in the end, I got so sick of fighting him off that I gave in.

  “I actually let that bastard touch me, and gave him my virginity. I can’t claim that he raped me because I consented, but I cried the whole damn time. I think you might have suspected who Mateo’s father is Rowena, and you’re right. His father is Jeremy Williams and—”

  “No, he isn’t.” Noah’s voice was almost a growl and Chris knew he was barely restraining his wolf. Noah was an alpha, and he could lead a pack if he wanted to, but he had no desire to be more than what he was. A protector of the weak and a shifter who fought for justice. Chris had always known that.

  Angel’s eyes were filled with torment and she locked her gaze to Noah as if seeking an answer to a question that plagued her.

  “That fucker is not Mateo’s father. He’s a sperm donor at best. You know what a father is. Hell you had the perfect example of one in your life, so you should know the difference. Don’t give that man the pleasure or honor of referring to him as a father to that precious little boy. And, sweetheart, there may have been consent, but no real man would take a woman so emotionally upset that it was obvious she didn’t want to be touched by him.” Noah had never been a man that spoke a lot, but his words always held weight, and this was no different.