Abbey's Protectors [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 4] (Siren Publishing Menage & More) (31 page)

“Abbey, it’s so nice to have you here with us,” Laurie welcomed her, going over to her and hugging her lightly before gently turning her toward the rest of the people in the living room. “You’ve already met Martha, Suzie, and Mia. The adorable boy kneeling in front of the coffee table coloring is Eric. His mom Meeka is next to him. She’s Suzie’s friend.”

“Hi,” Meeka said softly, waving. “Eric, say hi to Abbey, honey.”

Eric looked up from where he was coloring in a giant coloring book. “Hi, Abbey,” he said sweetly. “I’m coloring trucks and motorcycles.”

“You are? That’s awesome. May I color with you?”

“Sure. I have lots of crayons. Tammy will color with us, too. Right, Mommy?”

“Yes, honey,” Meeka told him softly. “Tammy will color with you but not until tonight. She went to the grocery store with her mother.”

Abbey knelt down beside Eric, picked up a red crayon and began to color the motorcycle on the page beside the one Eric was coloring.

“Who’s Tammy?” she asked as she carefully colored within the lines.

“She’s my granddaughter,” Martha spoke up. “My son Adrian is mated to Julia. His triad partner is Colin. The three of them have given me our little Tammy, and Julia is due with their son very soon.”

Abbey nodded and wondered if she was ever going to be able to keep all the names and triad matings straight. She looked at Laurie and saw the gentle smile on her face.

“Don’t worry, Abbey. It’s not like we’re going to give you a quiz to see if you can remember everyone’s name,” she told her, laughing.

“Now how did you know I was thinking that?” Abbey asked, astonished.

“It’s an alpha triad thing,” Laurie explained, shrugging. “Jace, Jackson, and I can sense when the members of our pack are upset or worried. We can also sense when they’re happy and feel safe. I can feel that coming from you. Are you happy, Abbey?”

Abbey smiled and nodded, looking at all the people who were looking at her with true caring. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

“That’s good,” Laurie told her. “Hunter and Clay are good men. We’re all very happy they found you.”

“Eric, Abbey is coloring the motorcycle with a pretty blue crayon,” Meeka told her son softly.

Abbey looked at the red crayon in her hand and looked at Meeka in confusion. Meeka winked at her and put her finger to her lips to shush her.

Eric looked at the crayon in Abbey’s hands and then looked at his mother. “Mommy, that’s not a blue crayon!” he told her with the exasperation that only a three-year-old could perfect.

“Are you sure?” Meeka asked, looking at her son then turning her attention back to Abbey’s hand. “Oh, you’re right. Abbey has a yellow crayon.”

“No, Mommy,” Eric told her, touching his mother’s hand gently. “Abbey has a red crayon.”

“Oh. Silly me,” Meeka told her son, leaning forward to kiss his cheek lightly. “Thank you for telling me. I always get them mixed up.”

Eric patted his mother’s cheek lightly, kissing her and turning to go back to his coloring. “That’s okay, Mommy. I will always help you.”

Abbey raised her gaze from the adorable boy and met Meeka’s shining brown eyes. Meeka winked at her once again, making Abbey realize what a good mother Meeka really was. And how sweet was it that Eric loved her so much that he promised to always help her?

Abbey smiled up at Meeka, happy to see the woman smile back at her. The dark circles under Meeka’s eyes and the sad expression that she seemed to be trying to hide made Abbey want to reach out and hug her.

Meeka looked as if she was about to speak when her happy expression left her, and she looked up at something over the top of Abbey’s head. Abbey turned to see just what Meeka had seen and nearly jumped a foot when she saw two massive men enter the room. She turned back and saw the way Meeka tensed up and was immediately ready to help her if she could. Reaching around the back of Eric, she touched Meeka’s arm and waited until Meeka turned her attention back to her.

“Are you okay?” Abbey asked her quietly.

Meeka nodded, turning and concentrating on coloring the little house on the page with the big truck that Eric was trying very hard to neatly color with the black crayon that he was using. Abbey watched her silently, wondering why Meeka was so intent on ignoring the two men. They seemed decent enough—in a brooding, silent, manly kind of way.

“Hello, Reece,” Laurie greeted one of the men warmly.

“My Alpha,” Reece answered, his voice raspy.

Laurie watched him silently, concern filling her as she felt his anxiety. He was usually such a quiet man. She knew he was self conscious of the sound of his voice. It had been damaged when he had sustained an injury to his throat fifteen years earlier when their old alpha had attacked his brother Carter. He and his triad partner Wade had come to his aid, both sustaining serious injuries in the process. Laurie wished the men would accept the woman she knew was meant to be their mate. She knew that only their mate’s love and caring would help them know that they were much more than their injuries.

Abbey looked up at the man Laurie had called Reece and was struck by his handsome face, black hair, and light blue eyes. She saw the way he bowed slightly to Laurie before returning his gaze to Meeka.

“Hello, Wade,” Laurie called to him softly. “Wade, Reece, this is Abbey Tyler. She’s mated to Hunter and Clay and has just become a member of our pack family.” She turned to face Abbey and smiled encouragingly. “Abbey, this is Wade Garner and Reece Hutchison. They run the local garage.”

Abbey stood slowly and turned to face both men. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said cautiously, stepping back slightly as they turned to face her, and nodded abruptly.

“How’s everything at the shop?” Laurie asked them both.

The man with the light brown hair and gray eyes that Laurie had greeted as Wade was just as handsome as Reece and nearly as tall. Both had to be at least six feet three or four inches tall. They were heavily muscled and their hair hung down to their shoulders in thick waves. What struck Abbey most of all, though, was the way they looked at Meeka with such sadness and longing.

“The shop is doing well, Laurie,” Wade answered without hesitation. “Very busy.”

“That’s good,” Laurie told him, smiling. “You’ll be needing help in your office, I’m sure. I’ve talked to Jace and Jackson about it and we think Meeka would be a great help to you running the business side of the shop so you two can concentrate on fixing and restoring the trucks and motorcycles that your customers bring you.”

“Laurie, they don’t need me to do that,” Meeka protested softly. “They’ve been running their shop successfully on their own for a long time. They’ve been handling everything just fine. I’d just be in their way.”

The two men exchanged glances. Abbey saw the hesitation they displayed, but she also saw the way their shoulders sagged as if they were giving in. She watched as Wade raised his left hand and wiped at his face tiredly. The scars that ran across his forearm shocked her. They looked like deep gouges made by claws. Her stomach clenched in empathy at the pain he must have experience when he had received them.

She turned her gaze toward Reece and saw his eyes flash golden for the briefest of moments, and she couldn’t help but smile secretly that she was privy to his struggle to keep his wolf under control. She would have to ask Hunter and Clay about it, but she thought that the two men were deeply attracted to Meeka even if they were desperately trying to hide it.

She was about to turn to look at Wade to see if his eyes flashed the same golden color when she noticed the scars that were nearly hidden by the collar of Reece’s flannel shirt. The same claw marks that were on Wade’s forearm were also evident across Reece’s neck. They looked healed over, but they also looked as if they had been very deep. She knew they had to have caused him a great deal of pain. When Reece spoke, she heard the raspy quality of his voice. She now understood why. The injury had to have done serious damage to his vocal chords. Abbey was completely overwhelmed with the pain that filled her at the cruelty that had been shown to these men.

You are a caring woman, my daughter,
the gentle voice of the beautiful woman filled Abbey’s mind.
Your caring will do much to help in the healing of your men. Know that your caring nature is also needed by the men who are meant to be Meeka’s mates.

Abbey froze in her spot. She looked around slowly but saw that no one was reacting to the voice that she had heard.
I don’t understand,
she whispered softly inside of her mind.

All will be revealed in due time, Abbey. You will help guide Reece and Wade to their destiny. Without your help, they will lose their chance to have a blessed triad with Meeka. They are meant to be fathers to Eric and the children they will bring into this world.

But what can I do? Do you want me to speak to Meeka about accepting them?
Abbey was confused. She didn’t feel as if she could do anything for any of them. She barely knew them.

No, my daughter. Just be yourself and get to know Meeka and Eric. Your kindness and understanding will be the key to their future, just as your love and acceptance of your men will be the key to their happiness. Be true to yourself, Abbey. Trust in the love that your men have for you.

Before Abbey could respond, she felt a gentle touch against her right cheek and a surge of warmth rush through her before the feeling left her. She didn’t understand what the beautiful lady had told her, but she was going to do her best to help Meeka, Reece, and Wade. She was also determined to open her heart to her men and accept all the love they had for her. She wanted their triad to be a solid, loving mating just as much as her men wanted it to be.

“I’m coloring a truck,” Eric spoke up, looking up at the two men and smiling, his dimples on both cheeks deepening.

“You’re doing a good job, Eric,” Wade told him gruffly, stepping forward and touching Eric’s head gently. “Do you like trucks?”

“Yes!” Eric nearly bubbled over with excitement. “I like motorcycles, too!”

“Reece and I fix trucks and motorcycles at our shop,” Wade told him, trying to contain the smile that was insistent on pushing through.

“You do?” Eric’s voice was filled with wonder. He stood up and took a step closer to Wade, opening his arms and reaching for Wade.

Abbey smiled at the sweet way Wade immediately lifted the little boy and held him securely in the crook of his left arm. Eric ran his hand down Wade’s chest, petting him almost absentmindedly as he reached out with his other hand to search for Reece who stepped toward Wade and wrapped his arm around Eric’s back so that the little boy could pet him as well.

“Do you like trucks and motorcycles, too?” Eric asked Reece happily.

“Yes,” Reece answered, his smile wide as he looked down at Meeka’s son. “Would you like to see some of the trucks and motorcycles we have at the shop?”

“Mommy, can I go see the trucks and motorcycles?” Eric asked Meeka excitedly, turning toward his mother, his face filled with hope.

“Well,” Meeka began, hesitant to agree. She looked at both men and then back at her son. “I’m not sure if today is a good time, honey.” She hesitated, looking at the way her son looked back at her with such hope. “Maybe we can go and see them for just a little while.”

“Yay!” Eric cheered, turning back to face the men and patting at their chests excitedly. “Can we go now to see the trucks and motorcycles?”

Both men’s smiles and nods made Eric reach up and grab at their hair, pulling them toward him so he could kiss their cheeks with so much enthusiasm it stunned them. The way he rubbed his face against their chests made the wolves in them sit up and chuff happily. Their scents belonged on this cub. Their wolves knew it—and they knew it despite their reluctance to accept their destined mating.

“I can help you fix the trucks and motorcycles,” Eric told them proudly.

“I’m sure you can,” Reece answered, reaching up to touch Eric’s head and run his fingers through the shock of black hair that fell across his forehead. He looked into the sparkling hazel eyes of the little boy and his heart opened just a little bit more.

“Mommy says I’m smart,” Eric told him.

“I bet she’s right,” Wade told him, touching his chin gently before tapping his nose lightly. “I’ll bet you’re just as smart as your mommy is.”

“Mommy’s not smart,” Eric told him, shaking his head.

The silence that filled the room at Eric’s shocking words was immediate. Meeka’s face drained of color before two red splotches of color covered her cheeks at her embarrassment.

“Eric, your mother is a very smart woman,” Reece told him firmly, his raspy voice edged with authority.

“No, Reece,” Eric insisted, shaking his head. “Mommy doesn’t know her colors.”

Meeka’s soft laughter filled the room, making everyone smile. Abbey breathed a sigh of relief at the completely innocent observation of Meeka’s son. Reece and Wade looked at everyone in confusion, making Abbey smile. The rest of them knew what Eric meant and knew Meeka wouldn’t take offense at her son’s words.

Meeka walked toward Eric and wrapped her arms around him, lightly brushing her arms against the two men as she embraced her son. Complete joy filled her as she leaned forward and kissed Eric’s cheek. She pointedly ignored the way both Reece and Wade smiled down at her. She didn’t want to admit to herself that their smiles made a rush of happiness fill her, but she couldn’t help it. She loved seeing the usually stoic men happy.