Evermore (7 page)

“And then?” Dougal prompted her on.

“And then one night Derek doesn’t have to wake from sleep. With just enough time no one could ever blame us.”

She stiffened her back. There, she’d said it. Camille had advocated to her Alpha he kill the biological father of her baby. So help her, she wasn’t even sorry.

“Well, gee.” Robbie laughed. “You fit right in here, Camille. Come in the house. Let’s have a drink and go over the details. I love making assholes not wake up from their naps.”

****

Homer didn’t know how much time had passed. He’d started losing track. Life was a series of moments. The moments when he tried to butcher the way he made the drugs so they lost a batch and couldn’t sell it. The moments when he wasn’t cognizant enough to do that, but to simply go through the routine of breathing in and out and maybe he made a good stash. Who could remember? The moments when they fed him more drugs so he could think again.

The moments when they didn’t and his hands shook, his heart raced, his stomach turned and every movement caused his joints to ache miserably.

He was losing himself. The bad moments were outnumbering the good. How much longer could he hang on? How much longer should he? At some point, the best gift he could give his sweet mate was to never see her again.

Not yet
…

A voice inside of him spoke. Was it his wolf? Some kind of inner strength encouraging him to hang on?

Not yet
…

Homer closed his eyes and leaned his head up against the wall of the cave. Camille had survived on her own for so long. The least he owed her was to hang on. Just to see her face again would be a gift.

****

Camille expected to feel something when she looked at Derek again. He’d been her lover for almost a year. And the baby in her womb was a present from him. Granted, one he’d not intended to give her but still, even not having met the baby yet, she knew she’d always be grateful for the child.

Yet, staring at him across a table, she felt nothing at all. Of course that could be because Robbie was sending her such a strong dose of Alpha energy to keep her cool; she didn’t know if she’d feel anything if the world exploded around her.

Derek drummed his fingers on the table. “I always knew you’d come crawling back.”

“She’s not crawling and I’ll warn you to speak to my pack mate with respect.” Robbie sat back in his chair. Deceptively cool. She wondered if he and Homer had gotten through the war exactly that way. Acting like what they were doing was no big deal…

“Let me see if I get this straight. You are offering me the chance to see my baby—who you have no right to keep from me in the first place—in exchange for some information about your pack mates.”

“Seeing as you speak the same language we do.” She couldn’t resist the jab. “I’d say you heard him and understood what he said the first time. And as for the insinuation we don’t have the right to keep the baby from you, I’d point out you never knew where I was. Try and come after this child without doing what I’ve asked and you’ll find you once again have misplaced a baby. Would hate for your competitors to find out you can’t even locate one little woman.”

Derek stared at Robbie. “You’ve given her guts.”

“She already had them. Or she’d never have survived you. Do we have a deal?”

“We do. Might be useful to have a son to bring out. Let you raise the brat and then send him to me.” Yeah, that wasn’t going to be happening. She clenched her teeth.

“Go on.” Robbie instructed him.

Derek stood up. “I have no love for the hill wolves. Cowards, every one of them. I served. I did my time. They’re good customers who have come upon new product recently. They made a so-called deal with me where I had no choice but to comply. I have to say, I think I’d prefer to have their product instead. Can you make that happen?”

Robbie nodded. “Yep.”

“Then you have a deal.”

Her baby jumped inside of her and she patted the movement. The male in front of her had whipped her until she bled when he found out she was pregnant. Dead in his sleep, she reminded herself.

****

Homer pulled himself to his feet. Something caught his attention and he wasn’t sure what. He should be sleeping. It always helped if he could remain unconscious through the shakes. Next to him Finn groaned and Joe cursed.

“Why are you up?” Joe coughed as he spoke.

“Not sure.”

The room spun and his stomach threatened to empty itself again. He didn’t know why he bothered to eat. Food wasn’t what he wanted anymore. He needed more of the drug. And he wanted it more than he wanted to breathe.

Still, he’d never begged and he wouldn’t start then.

“Seriously, Homer. Go back to sleep. I need to wait this out and I can’t do it with you standing there. It makes the jitters worse.” Joe sounded as desperate as Homer felt. His pack mates had held up as well as he had. Homer didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad one. Maybe it would be better if they all overdosed.

“I heard something.”

Finn groaned. “Well we didn’t. So sit down.”

The shakes really hit Homer then. He could have sworn there was a noise he couldn’t place. Then again what was he really going to do about it anyway if he had? He was useless. A surge of anger hit him and he tried to shove it down. He wasn’t really feeling mad. The drugs did things to him. He wondered sometimes if he would kill one of his pack mates to have them. How far was he going to go before there was no turning back? What would the sign be?

A loud pop caught his attention and this time the others must have heard it, too. They all sat up. Homer sniffed the air, only the action did nothing. His sense of scent abandoned him with the first needle pushed into his skin.

“What was that?” Joe spoke through clenched teeth.

“Whatever it was, it better not get in the way of them getting in here with my fix,” Finn replied.

Waking up from his stupor, Tatum groaned. “Would you assholes just shut up?”

Homer found himself nodding before he could stop himself. Sometimes it was simply easier to give in, admit he had no control over anything.

The figure who appeared in the doorway of the cave didn’t seem real. For a second, Homer sat stunned with his mouth hanging open. The others must have felt the same because no one spoke. With their noses broken, it was hard to believe only the evidence of their eyes. Was it possible? Had Robbie come?

“I’m sorry it took so long. You can’t imagine how hard we’ve been looking.”

His voice cemented it for Homer. Robbie was there.

“My Alpha.” He croaked as the others gave similar responses. Hating the emotion in his voice, he closed his mouth. Males didn’t lose it. Not with their Alphas when they pathetically had to be rescued and not with their former commanders who had dragged them through war and kept them alive.

Devon, Dougal, and three other pack mates scattered into the room. Soon, their chains were being cut off and their restraints removed. Homer tried to get up and fell backwards on the cave floor. His legs didn’t want to work. It was past time to dose him.

Robbie knelt in front of him. “You’re not okay.” Obviously, it wasn’t a question.

“No.”

“Devon,” Robbie called over his shoulder. “It’s safe for Tatyana. I want her here with them before we try to move them.”

He had brought his mate? Why would he risk it? “Robbie,” first names seemed okay right then, “you shouldn’t have risked so much.”

“Not just me doing the risking. Your mate is amazing. Totally worthy of you.”

Hearing his words didn’t make Homer feel better. He was in no shape to see Camille. Maybe ever again. The room spun and he thought he might start to retch. “I’m going to be sick.”

His Alpha nodded. “That’s okay. I’ve seen puke before. We used to throw up a lot during the fighting. When it was over, anyway. Do you remember?”

“You’re distracting me.” He closed his eyes.

Robbie snorted. “Is it working?”

“No. All I can think about is when I’m going to get my next fix.” He needed it. Their rescue was great but it meant the drugs would stop. He clenched his teeth. The sweet relief, the cool easy…

“Here.” Robbie spoke to someone else and Homer opened his eyes to see Tatyana in front of him.

“He’s bad. They all are. We knew it wasn’t going to be good. I hoped I was wrong. But the old videos showed this was what the hill wolves did. Drugging up their victims. We’re going to have to get them home and detox them. They’ll have to be survivors. We already know they are.”

He reached out and grabbed Robbie’s arm. “My Alpha. You have to promise me something.”

His Alpha’s eyes bore into his own. “Anything, Homer.”

“If I try to hurt Camille in anyway. Even emotionally. You’ll kill me. Right then. Don’t hesitate. Break my worthless neck.”

Robbie rubbed at his head before he answered. “Okay.”

“Thank you.” That oath was at least a little bit of a relief.

Chapter Five

They must have knocked him out. Homer’s first conscious thought didn’t fill him with a great deal of hope. He had no idea how long he’d been asleep and didn’t remember Robbie either hitting him over the head or Tatyana dosing him up. Either way, he didn’t like how he couldn’t remember.

He groaned when he tried to move. His hands were still shaking and a headache formed between his temples. Maybe he should get used to the sensation. He was never going to get better because he was never getting any more drugs.

“Easy now.” Camille’s voice soothed him and he stopped trying to move. The heady sensation of having her near quickly fled and the utter terror of her being in his presence while he was still so volatile took its place.

He sucked in his breath. “What are you doing here?”

“Taking care of you.” Her face came closer into view and he drunk in her beauty. He hadn’t been imagining it when he pictured her during his captivity, she was as beautiful as he thought she was.

“I’m not safe. You need to get away from me.”

Camille waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. “You couldn’t hurt a fly right now, Homer. You’ve lost at least twenty pounds. You’re weak and I’m not in danger from you. So thank you for the protective instincts, you can put them away.”

“Camille…”

She interrupted. “I don’t remember a lot about my parents as mates but I do know that it is one mate’s right to take care of the other when they need it. Stop getting in the way of me doing what I need to do.”

Well, if she was settled on the idea then he supposed he had little he could say about it. Except he did have to warn her. “When I’ve put on some weight, when I’m slightly better, that’s when I’ll be the most dangerous to you.”

“I lived on the streets, Homer. Do you think I don’t know how to handle the detoxing? Deep breaths.” She placed the cold washcloth on his forehead. “Sleep, you sweet, sweet male.”

Like her words forced the issue he obeyed.

The next time he came around was to find Camille seated in one chair across the room from Robbie and Tatyana in other chairs all looking at him.

His hands were still shaking and sweat covered his body. He really must stink although he’d have no way of knowing since his senses were gone.

“It’s really disconcerting to wake up and find you guys all staring at me.” If he sounded grumpy there wasn’t anything he could do about it. They’d all have to deal or get out of the room.

Tatyana leaned forward. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m going to fucking die.” He winced at his words. Homer should never curse at the Alpha’s mate.

“I imagine you do. Listen, Homer, we’ve spoken to Tatum and Finn. They’ve both agreed to what I’m going to suggest. Joe is still not up so we’ll have to wait on him. But, I’ve been reading on drug abuse. We had a lot of it in humans about two hundred years ago. And wolf physiology is different. However, Caitlyn and I have put our heads together and we think the answer might be not to make you go full on detox, cold-turkey so to speak, rather to step you down in dependency.”

He tried to sit up and eventually struggled his way into the position. “What do you mean?”

Camille stood. “What they mean is you have two choices. The first is you go without the drug altogether. Your body has started to withdraw from it already. Your hands shaking are a visible response. You go through the process. Some people die from the pain, from not having the drug anymore. I know you’ve seen the results as well as I have. At the end of it, you are either still with us. Or you’re not.” Her voice croaked and Homer felt two feet tall. He would have done anything to have not put Camille through the pain he saw in her eyes.

“The other option,” she continued, “is Tatyana will give you some more of the drug. You’ll stay on it for a while. Each week getting less and less until they can withdraw you from it altogether. It might be a slightly easier transition. Maybe. They don’t know. You’re still going to withdraw. The nature of the drug is for you to want more. You won’t get it. You’ll get limited amounts, each week less. And maybe your body will step down slightly better.”

Tatyana nodded. “There is some precedence for it. Rumors abound of a farm not far from here where wolves are surviving coming off the drugs. This is how they say it’s done.”

“I don’t know that I’m comfortable with handling Homer’s medical care based on rumor.” Camille stared at Tatyana. “What if it doesn’t work?”

“Then he goes into withdrawal, we take away the drugs, and he’s back to the same situation we were in to begin with. 50-50 he lives.” Robbie answered. “What do you want, Homer? Your life, your choice.”

Had the room gotten smaller or was it always so tiny he couldn’t breathe? The lights blared down on him and the ticking of the clock sounded in his ears like someone pounded on his head. “How long would either option take?”

“The totally stop option will be weeks. You’ll be in and out of consciousness. I know you’ve got concerns for Camille’s safety and despite her dismissing me out of hand every time I bring it up,” Tatyana leveled a glance at Camille, and to his shock Camille held the Alpha’s mate’s steady gaze. Clearly Camille had found her footing in the pack if she didn’t find Tatyana intimidating. “It is something to worry about. I think the step-down will be slightly longer. I’m afraid you’ll be something of a guinea pig.”