Abbey's Protectors [Beckett's Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 4] (Siren Publishing Menage & More) (44 page)

His gentle support helped a little. His explanation of how Hunter and Clay were very determined to protect her from any harm or ugliness gave her a bit more understanding of why her mates felt as they did. In the end, Abbey was no better off than before she had seen him. She was still alone, and her men were still keeping her from understanding their pain.

She wished Synthia and Shelly were with her. They knew her and understood her. There was a kind of sister bonding between the three of them that allowed her to be able to tell them anything and they understood. Sometimes just being with them and not talking at all helped.

Synthia had sent her driver’s license and one of her credit cards, and Abbey was prepared to go and get her friends on Saturday as they had arranged, but Abbey wasn’t so sure now that it was the best plan after all. She thought seriously about just going back to Denver and staying at Synthia and Shelly’s apartment until the mess with her husband was sorted through. Thinking of every possible scenario that might result from either staying with or leaving Hunter and Clay just made her ache. She couldn’t stay without their honest openness, and she couldn’t leave without exhausting every possibility of making their relationship work.

She had spent some time with Mia, Suzie, Meeka, and Eric, but she was too sad to visit for very long, preferring instead to swim in the pool that Hunter and Clay had designed and built with her in mind. The water refreshed her, and the cascading waterfall soothed her. She loved leaning against the pool wall behind the curtain of water, hiding away from the world. The sounds of the falling water and the chirping birds that nested in the backyard bushes and trees served to relax her but no matter how she went over and over her situation in her mind, she couldn’t find a solution. The solution had to come from Hunter and Clay.

The sliding glass door on the back deck slid open, revealing the two men who constantly filled her thoughts. She watched silently as they stepped out onto the deck. She had to stifle the moan of desire she felt as she saw that they were dressed only in board shorts and were heading toward the swimming pool.

“Just great,” she muttered, closing her eyes and willing herself under control. “And how am I supposed to keep my distance when their male gorgeousness is in my face?”

She watched them from her hiding place, hoping they wouldn’t see her—but no such luck. They both made perfect dives into the pool and swam underwater in a perfect trajectory toward her, surfacing directly in front of her and taking their place on either side of her. She said nothing as they settled themselves comfortably beside her, resting their arms on the cement walkway that surrounded the pool. She noticed with some frustration that they were careful not to touch her in any way.

“How was your day, honey?” Clay asked her softly.

“Fine,” she answered, her voice clipped.

“Are you feeling okay?” Hunter asked.

Look at the circles beneath her eyes, Clay. We’re the cause of them. It’s because of us that she can’t sleep,
Hunter sent the thought to Clay, careful not to allow Abbey to hear him.

I feel like shit about that, Hunter,
Clay whispered in his partner’s mind.
We have to do something to fix this.

“I’m fine,” she insisted once again.

“No, sweetheart, you’re not fine,” Hunter said sadly. “And it’s our fault.”

Abbey remained silent. She was not going to argue with him. It
was
their fault. She just wasn’t going to be a stinker about it and push the truth in their faces. They had to come to the realization that they had to share their lives with her or there was no triad relationship.

“Three days ago, Clay and I were called to assist in a domestic disturbance call,” Hunter told her softly. “When we arrived, the woman was unconscious on the living room floor.”

Hunter’s eyes closed momentarily and Abbey could feel the pain that filled him. She was surprised that their link was open and he was letting her in. She remained silent as he looked at her once again.

“She had been beaten and raped by her husband,” he continued. “She was seven months pregnant.”

Abbey gasped and reached out to touch Hunter’s shoulder and pet him tenderly. She could feel the agony that was rolling through him. Turning to face Clay she saw the same pain in his eyes. She reached out and touched his face lightly, taking in the emotions that he was feeling as well.

“The neighbors told us that the husband had a history of attacking his wife every time he had a hard day at work,” Hunter continued. “We called for an ambulance but the husband wouldn’t allow us to take his wife. We had to physically take him down so the EMTs could take her away. He sustained minor injuries that were completely justified on our part, but there is an ongoing investigation looking into the incident. Until then, we’ve been put on suspension until the investigation is completed. It’s just a formality, and our captain assured us that we don’t have anything to worry about. There were enough witnesses to corroborate our need to exert necessary force to ensure the safety of the woman.”

“What happened to her?” Abbey whispered. “Did she survive?”

“Yes, honey. She survived. But her baby did not,” Clay told her, his voice gruff.

Abbey looked from Clay to Hunter and saw their deep sadness. “And you both think that you’ll take out your bad days on me, is that it?”

“We don’t want to, honey, but you never know,” Clay admitted.

“You’re wrong, Clay,” Abbey stopped him. “I know.”

Both men looked at her with such incredible agony in their eyes, her heart broke for them. These men had been exposed to unimaginable cruelty. No wonder they feared they would hurt her as they remembered all the ugliness of the world.

“When I saw that woman lying on the floor, all I could think about was you, sweetheart,” Hunter told her softly. “I thought about Clay and I causing you pain because of our job. I thought about you losing our baby because of our cruelty.”

“What cruelty?” Abbey snapped. “Are you kidding me?”

Both men cringed at her anger, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t about to let them get away with this crap.

“You are
not
that man. You would
never
hurt me.”

“Who knows what the future would bring that might make us snap someday,” Hunter hedged.

“Really? You really think that?”

Hunter shrugged. She turned to face Clay and saw the same worry on his face.

“We would hope that we wouldn’t snap, but it’s been known to happen, Abbey,” he told her gently.

“Okay, let’s just say you snap and come home and raise a hand to me,” she offered with very little patience. “Hunter would stop you, or you would stop Hunter. Or are you going to tell me that by some ridiculous scenario that you would both snap at the same time?”

The small smiles that started to tug on both men’s lips gave her hope that she was finally getting through their stubborn, thick skulls. She reached up and grabbed their hair, squeezing the wet strands painfully in her grip and tugging so that their heads were tipped back slightly.

“If by some remote possibility you did snap, you may get one good hit in but I would go down fighting. You may be stronger than I am, but you’d better remember one thing,” she warned them. “You have to sleep sometime. And I’m not above taking a cheap shot at both of you while you do.”

Pushing away from them, she took a deep breath, submerged and pushed off the wall of the pool to swim under the waterfall and halfway across the pool before surfacing. Once she was able to stand in the shallow end of the pool, she pushed through the water and stepped up the marble stairs, holding onto the guardrail to steady herself as she left the pool.

Stalking over to the lounge chairs at the edge of the garden, she grabbed for the beach towel she had placed there and started to vigorously rub her head and arms. Tugging off her wet T-shirt and cutoff sweatpants, she slapped both onto the chair and headed toward the back deck, wrapping the towel around her and tucking it beneath her arm as she went.

She no sooner stepped one foot on the bottom step of the deck when she found herself lifted and hauled back into the pool with a splash. She sputtered and coughed, flailing out her arms to catch the culprits who had snagged her.

“You idiots!” she yelled, pushing at their bodies and trying to get away from them, but they weren’t allowing it.

Realizing that her strength couldn’t possibly trump theirs, she sagged within their arms, allowing them to hold her as she floated in the deeper end of the pool. When she finally wiped the water from her eyes, she looked at both men, freezing as she saw their smiles as they looked down at her.

“You’re smiling?” she asked, amazed. “What the hell are you smiling at?”

“We’re smiling at you, Mate,” Hunter whispered, leaning forward to kiss her.

Abbey pushed away from him, choosing to slip below the water’s surface and risk drowning before she allowed his lips to touch hers. When she felt their hands grabbing her arms and pulling her back to bob gently in the area before them, she covered her face and wiped at her eyes.

“Don’t you even dare think about kissing me, Hunter Stewart!” she demanded.

“Okay, sweetheart. I won’t try to kiss you,” he promised.

Abbey lowered her hands and stared at him, unprepared for the way Clay pulled her toward him and planted a wet, possessive kiss directly on her lips.

“I didn’t promise,” he told her as he pulled back slightly, smiling.

“You’re both idiots,” she mumbled.

“Yes, baby, we are,” Hunter admitted. “We were just so damned scared when we saw that woman hurt. And when we found out she lost her baby, it about broke us.”

“We worry about losing you and our cub, honey,” Clay admitted, pulling her closer to him and wrapping his arms around her, glad when Hunter did the same and anchored them all.

Abbey sighed and rested her head against their chests. She was just so very tired.

“When are you guys going to realize that you could never be like the men you have to arrest?” she asked them tiredly. “You’re my men. My loves. The fathers of our baby. You would give up your own lives rather than hurt any woman—especially me. Don’t you think I know that? I can’t believe that
you
don’t know that!”

She looked up at them and sighed. When they leaned down and each took a sweet kiss, she allowed them to. She craved their touch. She needed their love. Didn’t they realize how much she loved them?

“I want us to be a family,” she whispered when they finally eased back slightly and looked down at her. “I want you to be my mates and share everything with me. You don’t have to share the gore or the specifics, but if there’s something that happens, please allow me to help you see the beautiful side of the life that we have. Do you know how much I missed you both these last few days? I missed sitting on the couch and having you both lie on my lap so I could run my fingers through your hair and massage your scalps. Pretty soon, I won’t be able to do that, you know.”

“Why not? I like it when you do that,” Hunter protested.

Abbey smiled and took his and Clay’s hands in hers, drawing them down her body to cover her belly. “Because soon my stomach will be so big, you won’t even be able to see that I have a lap, never mind rest on it.”

The gentle laughter that escaped both men made her smile. The breath rushed from her lungs as they pulled her toward them and hugged her tightly.

“I can’t wait for your belly to be big with our cub, Mate,” Hunter told her, kissing her lips with such intensity there was no denying how much he meant those words.

Abbey laughed against his lips, barely able to catch her breath before Clay laid claim to her. She felt their bond opening up and flooding her with such incredible happiness and love, she barely knew how to contain herself. She saw the vision they had of her pregnant. She saw their child being held so tenderly first by Hunter and then by Clay. She saw them holding her between them as she nursed their son. She saw their complete love for her and their baby. It was absolutely wonderful. The sight of their love for her and the family life that they would share was the most beautiful thing she had ever experienced.

“You will never sleep anywhere but between us ever again, Abbey,” Clay told her, his voice hard as he pressed against her shoulder and bit down on the soft flesh there.

“I don’t want to sleep anywhere but between the both of you,” she told them, moaning into Hunter’s mouth as he took her lips gently with his own.

We will never be apart again, Abbey.

Hunter’s voice was firm and determined in her head. Abbey snuggled against his chest, reaching out to pull Clay against her.

He pressed against her and kissed her neck, taking ownership of her mouth once Hunter released her and began his sensuous attack of her neck.

Promise us, Abbey,
Clay demanded.

I promise,
she whispered, sending them the pledge with every bit of love she had for them.

She was going to keep that promise. Never again would she allow them to be apart from each other. She knew deep down in her soul that her heart couldn’t take the separation and loss. She knew her mates felt the same way.