Abbey's Protectors [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 4] (Siren Publishing Menage & More) (32 page)

“You’re going to have to teach me the colors, honey,” she told her son happily, winking up at Reece and Wade.

“Okay, Mommy,” Eric agreed without hesitation. “I will teach you colors and our wolves will teach me to fix trucks and motorcycles.”

“Are we your wolves, Eric?” Wade asked him softly, looking at him before turning his attention toward Meeka.

“Yes,” Eric answered immediately. “You are my wolves. And you are Mommy’s wolves.”

“Their wolves don’t belong to us, Eric,” she told him softly, smiling sadly. She knew that neither man wanted that to be true, but she would do the best she could to make her son happy for as long as they stayed on Beckett’s pack land.

The low growls that emanated from both men were instantaneous. Eric began to pet their chests and leaned toward them.

“It’s okay,” Eric tried to soothe them. “Don’t be sad. You can be my wolves until we go away.”

“You’re going away?” Wade asked Meeka, unable to hide the displeasure from his expression.

“What Eric and I do is none of your concern,” Meeka told them quietly, her voice shaking just a bit with the anger she was feeling toward the men who made her so confused.

Reece’s jaw clenched as he fought the need to correct Meeka. He looked at Wade in frustration. Wade shook his head just slightly, making him take that extra moment to calm himself and control his immediate need to grab Meeka and Eric and take them home with him and Wade. But he couldn’t. He knew it, and Wade knew it.

Meeka stepped back and turned to face Laurie. “Do you think I could work in the visitors’ lodge to earn some money, Laurie?”

“If you think you want to, I’ll clear it with Jace and Jackson,” Laurie told her hesitantly. She looked at Wade and Reece with disapproval in her eyes. “I was thinking that you might be the right person to work at the body shop. Jace has been saying that Reece and Wade needed someone in their office with some business experience. Do you have any experience, Meeka?”

Meeka nodded slowly. “I have a degree in business. I used to work for my uncle. It was just a small convenience store but I kept all the records and ordered all the inventory. Maybe I can find a store in town to work at.”

Laurie turned to face the men. If there ever was a look that could melt the hair off a man’s balls, she had perfected it. Reece and Wade looked at Laurie as if in a panic. Laurie wasn’t about to let them get away with their stubbornness.

“Lucian, Cole, what are your duties tomorrow?” Laurie asked the two men who flanked her daughter.

“We’re assigned to patrol the western perimeter of pack land, Alpha,” Lucian answered, looking at Cole in concern.

“After our shift, we were planning on taking Mia to a movie in town,” Cole spoke up, looking decidedly uncomfortable as Mia’s attention snapped toward him in surprise before quickly turning to controlled anger.

“And just when were you going to
ask
me if you could take me to a movie?” Mia asked softly, more embarrassed than angry. She pushed aside the warmth that filled her as the men faced her. She didn’t want to like their attention. She certainly didn’t want to admit that she wanted it.

“We were going to ask you after lunch today, darlin’,” Lucian told her gently. “We were hoping you would say yes.”

Mia blushed in embarrassment. The last thing she needed was to have her confusion put on display before everyone. She didn’t understand what she was feeling for Lucian and Cole, and she didn’t want to have to figure it out in front of the entire world.

“Sorry, baby,” Cole whispered, stepping closer to her. “We didn’t mean to put you on the spot.”

Mia was about to tell them both where to go in none too polite terms when both men reached down and gently took her hands in theirs. Their warmth and tenderness filled her as they wrapped their hands around hers and drew them toward their chests. She didn’t want to like that they touched her. She didn’t want to lean into their warmth and their delicious scents. She didn’t want to admit any attraction toward them, but she couldn’t help but give in to the deep need to have them surround her with their comfort.

With every ounce of willpower and determination, she slowly pulled her hands free from theirs and took a step away from them. “I’m sorry,” she told them softly, looking up at both men sadly. “I can’t.”

Both men looked down at her calmly. Lucian took a calming breath and smiled. Cole turned his gaze toward his triad partner and raised his right eyebrow in question.

“It’s okay, darlin’,” Lucian told her gently as he returned his attention to her. “We’ll back off for now. But you need to understand something, Miss Mia. We’re going to wear you down.”

Mia bristled immediately. Her spine straightened and she forced herself to stay in control. “There’s nothing to wear down,” she told them firmly. “Go and find another woman to court.”

Cole leaned toward her and nuzzled against her right cheek, taking firm hold of her shoulders as his lips grazed her ear. “We’ve already found our perfect third, Mia. We’re not going to be looking for any other woman. Ever.”

Mia clenched her teeth and pressed her lips together to keep herself from saying another word. When Cole leaned back and winked at her, she struggled to remain in control. Turning her attention to Lucian, she nearly growled in frustration when he just continued to smile down at her. If that wasn’t bad enough, both men’s eyes were glowing a beautiful golden color, making her know that their wolves were in complete agreement with Cole’s statement. Well, damned if she was going to allow them to take her as theirs and dominate her.

She turned toward her mother, needing the calm and love that her mother always gave her and her brother Dean. “Mom,” she called to her, her voice barely above a whisper.

Laurie nodded and stepped toward her, placing her arm gently around her daughter’s shoulder and hugging her lightly. She, more than anybody, knew what it was like to fight for independence and struggle not be ruled by a man. Her ex-husband had been abusive and cruel with a boatload of crazy thrown in. He had tried to run Mia off the road not so long ago, causing her many injuries that she was just now getting over.

Mia and Dean had been robbed of their carefree childhoods when they had been forced to protect themselves as well as their mother from the craziness of their father. If it hadn’t been for Mitchell, Dean’s triad partner and Suzie’s brother, Laurie would have been injured by her ex-husband. Mitchell’s first shift into his wolf form had given Laurie the protection she needed when Patrick had come to the Circle Three Ranch with the intention of hurting all three of them. No wonder Mia had reservations about becoming anyone’s mate—even if it was being mated to Lucian and Cole.

“I’ll have Nathaniel and Brett bring you into town tomorrow so you can apply at the stores there, Meeka,” Laurie promised, averting any problems by quickly bringing the attention to the matter at hand. “You can use the computers in the lodge office to put together a resume that you can submit. I’m sure you’ll be able to find something so you can earn some money. We’ll do all that we can to help you.”

Both Wade and Reece bristled at the mention of the pack enforcers taking Meeka into town, but there was nothing they could do about it. Meeka needed to have security with her. They couldn’t take a chance that any members from Alpha Randall’s pack might find her and take her back to their pack land. Randall had caused enough pain for all of them. Their escape from his pack fifteen years earlier had caused them all pain and suffering. They had just gotten Suzie back from him and had found Meeka and Eric in the process. Wade trusted his younger brother Brett without question, and both men trusted Drew’s younger brother Nathaniel as well. It tore at their souls to have any other men near the woman they knew was meant to be theirs, but it would have to be allowed—even if their wolves were growling in anger at other wolves being entrusted with the care of Meeka and Eric.

Eric pushed out of the men’s arms. Once they set him on the floor, he walked over to his mother and hugged her legs tightly before she lifted him up into her arms and cuddled him against her chest.

“I’m tired, Mommy,” Eric told her softly, tugging on his mother’s long hair and wrapping the long sable tresses around his fingers.

“I know, baby,” Meeka answered softly. “We’ll have a nice afternoon at the park. We’ll have a good day. You’ll see.”

Abbey’s heart went out to the boy. She could feel his sadness. She could feel Meeka’s despair just as powerfully. Walking over to them both, she embraced them gently and leaned in to whisper to them both.

“I can help you with your resume, Meeka,” she offered. “Why don’t you both come to Hunter and Clay’s home, and we can work on it? Afterward, we can have a nice swim in the pool and have a snack.”

“Can we swim in the pool, Mommy?” Eric asked her tiredly.

“Sure, baby,” Meeka answered him, kissing his forehead lightly. “Thanks, Abbey. That would be very nice.”

Abbey nodded and leaned against the little boy’s head, breathing in deeply the scent of childhood. She turned to look at Laurie and Martha and saw the sad smiles that they gave them.

“Can we ask Aunt Suzie to come swimming, too?” Eric asked, tucking himself deeper into his mother’s arms and reaching up to hold onto her hair as it brushed against her shoulders.

Meeka looked at Abbey in question. “Is that okay, Abbey?”

“Absolutely,” Abbey told them. “What about all of you? Do you want to come, too?”

Laurie smiled and shook her head. “I’m going to take a nap,” she told her. “I’m pretty tired.”

“Are you okay, Mom?” Mia asked her gently.

“I am, honey. I was this way when I was pregnant with you and Dean, too. It’s normal to be tired when you’re in the beginning stages of your pregnancy.”

“Okay.” Mia accepted her mother’s words, but the need to be sure of her mother’s safety and well-being was deeply ingrained in her.

Martha turned to face her queen worriedly. “Please go and lie down, Alpha. You need to rest and take care of yourself and your babe.” She turned to face Abbey and smiled. “I’ll be staying here at the lodge to get dinner ready. Maybe next time.”

“I’ll come with you,” Mia spoke up, turning her attention back to Abbey. “I could use an afternoon of swimming.”

“I could, too,” Abbey agreed. “Come on, let’s go. I can’t wait to show you how awesome the pool and waterfall is.”

“There’s a waterfall?” Meeka asked, some of the sadness leaving her at the thought of being near the beauty of a waterfall.

“Yeah, and it’s amazing,” Abbey told them, grabbing for Eric and swinging him up in her arms. “Come on, buddy. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Eric giggled as Abbey kissed his cheek and headed through the kitchen to leave the family lodge by the back deck. Meeka and Mia followed closely behind them. Abbey was glad that neither of them looked back at Reece and Wade. She didn’t want to pass judgment on them, but she couldn’t help but feel that their reluctance to be with Meeka and Eric was the worst decision they could have ever made.

The beautiful woman wanted her to help Meeka connect with her mates, but she couldn’t imagine how she was going to do that. She was going to need a seriously huge bat to whack them upside their heads. Stubborn men.

Abbey loved the sweet laughter coming from Eric as Suzie and Meeka swirled him under the cascading waterfall to the sheltered area of water on the other side. All of them certainly looked like a ragtag band of misfits, dressed in cutoff sweats and T-shirts, but the amount of fun they were having was outstanding, and it made Abbey feel like she truly belonged to a wonderful group of friends.

She thought suddenly about Synthia and Shelly and wished they were here with her. She just knew they would love the area and the people. She made a mental note to make sure to video chat with them later that afternoon. She knew how they worried when she waited too long between visits with them. She could just imagine how happy they would be when she told them about the amount of security at the Circle Three Ranch. Abbey knew it was necessary and had to admit that she didn’t even mind that the men kept a constant vigil of protection over the women.

When Laurie had told Lucian and Cole to stay with the women as they spent the afternoon together, she had balked at first. It felt like she was being suffocated with the protection set in place for her and the other women, but she saw the way the men truly cared about their comfort and safety. As her attention was drawn to the men as they stood silently beside the pool, their vigilance in keeping the women safe was obvious.

She saw and felt the silent longing the men had for Mia as their attention was often drawn to her between their constant scanning of the area surrounding them. She didn’t fully understand Mia’s determination to remain distant from the men, but she would support the young woman in her decision. Abbey really felt that the three of them would make an adorable triad, but she was keeping that opinion to herself. She had no right to intrude. If the Fates truly did have a hand in the triads matched then whatever was meant to be would happen. She said a silent plea to the beautiful lady to watch over Mia and the two men who loved her.

Abbey had always been in tune with other people’s feelings but lately, it seemed as if she had some kind of connection with the people of this pack family. She remembered the beautiful lady’s words to her about being key in helping others accept their matings. Maybe she was given this added perk to be able to do just that. She would have to think about that.