Chapter Thirty-Four

Abbey’s anger clouded mind couldn’t think of anything other than how badly she wanted to kill Samantha. If that woman had harmed a single hair on her children’s head then Abbey would rip out her throat without a single moment of hesitation and that council, or her new Alpha, could punish her as they saw fit. They could put her to death if they chose but at least her children would be safe from that woman.

Thanks to her enhanced senses, Abbey could smell Samantha’s scent and Audrey and Tanner’s scents at the gas station just at the edge of town. Screams of shock filled the air when Abbey came loping into the station parking lot and let out a growl that reverberated off the vehicles and pumps.

Abbey’s eyes narrowed when she saw the truck. She saw her children in the backseat with their cousin Kyle in between them. She saw Samantha’s bed buddy Steve pumping gas but she didn’t see Samantha.

Marcus and Julian’s voices rang out behind her but Abbey ignored them. She could smell the prey. She came to a stop as the prey stepped out of the gas station. The drinks and snacks Samantha had had stacked precariously in her arms crashed against the pavement as Abbey stepped into her line of view.

Abbey’s wounds were burning terribly. Shifting had seemed to worsen them. She could feel fresh blood coating her fur and running down her left leg but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. She took one slow, stalking step toward her prey.

“A..abbey?” Samantha squeaked.

Abbey heard Julian, Marcus and Dawn’s footsteps come to a stop behind her, “Abbey, sweetheart, you gotta calm down and shift back now. The pups are fine. I can see them in the car and they’re fine.” Julian urged gently.

Abbey shook her head. Hunt and kill.

She felt Marcus‘s breath against her ear and she trembled with pleasure, “Come on now, little minx. This piece of trash isn’t worth losing you over. Those pups in that car need you. Julian and I need you. Just shift back now and we’ll go home.”

Abbey slowly felt her breathing begin to calm. She could hear Tanner and Audrey calling out for her from inside the car. They were scared because they were locked in and because she was bleeding. She had to be good for her children’s sake. She did not want them to see her like this and she certainly didn’t want them to see her kill someone.

She was aware of the eyes on her and was embarrassed to shift back with so many people around. She felt a hand in her fur and the euphoric sensation of it washed over her. She knew it was Julian without even looking.

“Come inside with me, Abbey.” She looked up at him and then looked toward her children still in the car and Steve standing beside it. Samantha was still standing frozen in the middle of the parking lot. “Dawn and Marcus will watch the pups.” Julian assured her and Marcus growled in agreement. “They won’t leave with them.”

Abbey nodded and then let Julian lead her inside. Her claws clicked noisily on the cheap tiles and the gazes of the shocked patrons buying chips and lottery tickets followed their movements.

Abbey took up much of the tiny bathroom they entered in her wolf form but she shifted back quickly, crying out in pain as she did so. Her shoulder felt as if it were ripping open all over again. When she felt the blood running over her breast and down her stomach Abbey knew that it had.

Julian drew in a quick breath as his gaze went to the source of her pain. He growled and rubbed at his face, “I should have killed him slower.”

“You sound like Marcus.”

“Well we are twins,” Julian replied, tracing his knuckle gently down her cheek. Abbey shivered as the cold air in this cement room seeped into her bare skin. Julian quickly pulled off his t-shirt which was still mostly clean and helped her into it. It hung down just past her butt and wouldn’t do much to keep her warm but it would have to be enough until she could find something more decent.

Julian stood there awkwardly for a moment and then he pulled her into his arms and held her as tightly as he could without hurting her, “Abbey, please don’t push Marcus and me away. We won’t be able to stand that. You and those pups are everything. Believe me, Abbey, that if we had known that Samantha would show up searching for those bodies, and that the sheriff would find evidence and call the council and that all of this would have happened….” Julian sighed, “… we would have been a lot more careful and taken you and the pups far away from here and from danger before it came to that.”

Abbey loved the way his heart beat sounded beneath her ear. She loved the way that rhythmic beat helped to fill her with peace. Slowly, she pulled away just enough so she could look into his eyes, “Julian, I love you and I love Marcus and I never should have said those things I said. I’m sorry.”

Julian smiled and kissed her tenderly, “You don’t have apologize, Abbey. Marcus and I did wrong and we’ll never do it again. From now on we‘ll be completely honest with you about everything, even the bad stuff.”

Abbey found herself smiling back up at him, “And I’m going to start being more open with you both and work on taking down the wall I tend to keep up.”

Julian rested his brow against hers, “That’d be nice.”

“But now I want to go get my children, find clothes, go home and sleep. I’m so tired.” Abbey bit her lip, “And I never, ever, want to have to see that woman again after today.”

Julian laughed lightly before putting his arm around her shoulders and leading her out of the bathroom. The stares they had gotten as they’d made their way in to the bathroom were nothing compared to the comical expressions of wide eyed shock that were sent their way as they made their exit.

Of course they were a shirtless, incredibly sexy man and a woman with blood on her arms wearing nothing but said sexy man’s t-shirt… hell Abby couldn’t blame them for ogling.

Julian and Abbey stepped outside and realized that more of the pack had come. Grange was there as was Nickolai. Abbey recognized Brie and Emily from the hotel but the pale woman with red hair and the man in the cowboy hat with her were unfamiliar.

Abbey caught a sickly sweet scent on the breeze and realized it came from that woman, “She’s a vampire and that man is Brendon. He‘s her mate and a Hunter,” Julian whispered in her ear and Abbey nodded. Vampires were not as plentiful as they’d once been. When humans had learned of their existence it had stricken fear in the hearts of the masses and they’d been hunted nearly to extinction.

Abbey’s attention was riveted to Marcus when his angry voiced boomed and echoed off the surrounding gas pumps, “You will let my pups out of that truck and you’ll do it now! Or should I rip the fuckin’ door off it’s damn hinges and get them out myself?!”

“I won’t give my niece and nephew to a murderer!” Samantha replied, standing toe to toe with Marcus. She was either very very brave or very very stupid, Abbey was going to go with the latter.

Even Steve seemed unsure as he grabbed her arm and tried to tug her away from the angry werewolf, “Samantha, you have no rights to keep those kids away from their mother. She hasn’t been convicted or even legally charged with anything as far as I know. The Sheriff even told you that he was certain the medical examiner had made a mistake….”

“I don’t care what that no account hick Sheriff says! That whore--” she pointed at Abbey and then glared up at Marcus. “--And those two monsters killed my husband!”

“You’ll watch what the fuck you say about Abbey,” Marcus warned, stepping closer and this time Samantha did shrink away from him.

Abbey was seconds away from storming forward and ripping the door from its hinges herself when Steve spoke again, “Come on, Samantha. We have to give them the kids. They’re a bunch of werewolves and vampires for God’s sake! What exactly are you going to do?”

Samantha appeared ready to argue and then suddenly her entire posture changed. She relaxed completely. The set of her shoulders became loose and her eyes unfocused, “You’re completely right, Steve. I don’t know what I was thinking. Of course none of these people hurt Joseph or Jason. Those two were always getting into trouble together and it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. A terrible, terrible accident on a mountain. At least now Abbey is finally free of that monster and can build a new life with her children and men that really care.”

“Are you feeling okay?” Steve asked with a frown and then his eyes went unfocused as well, “Let’s go home, Samantha. I love you and I love Kyle. I’ll give you a good life.” Abbey was unnerved by their monotone voices.

“Oh, Steven, I love you too.” Samantha moved away from a stunned Marcus and put her hand on the handle of the truck door. “Abbey, please forgive me for being such a hateful, evil, conniving bitch.” She opened the truck door and Tanner and Audrey came flying out. They leapt into Marcus’s arms.

“Daddy! We missed you!” Audrey exclaimed.

“Nobody’ll ever take you away from us again, Audrey. You have my word on that.” Marcus replied gruffly.

Abbey hands were itching to hold her children and Marcus seemed to sense that. He turned quickly and brought the kids to her. Abbey cursed her wounded shoulder which kept her from holding them in her arms the way she longed to but she did hug them both and when their lips pressed against her cheeks and they said how much they loved her she knew a peace like she’d never felt before.

“We’ll just be going now,” Samantha said, her voice still robotic. She and Steven got in the truck and drove away, leaving town without even a backward glance.

Abbey was confused and uneasy with their sudden transformation, “What was that about?” she asked her new pack members as she stood there with Tanner clinging to her leg while Julian kept his arm tight around her shoulders and Marcus stood beside her with Audrey in his arms.

“That was Ella‘s doing,” Brendon replied with a tip of his hat.

The vampire shrugged a shoulder, “You do not have to thank me. I find I rather enjoy doing that.” Abbey nodded slowly. She’d forgotten that vampires could do that to humans. Some were powerful enough to permanently alter memories, erase memories and even control motions and actions. It seemed Ella was one of those.

With her mates and children beside her and her new pack members all around her, Abbey felt the tension of the last two days fading. Laughter flowed out of her as she shook her head, “You made her call herself everything I’ve always wanted to call her.”

“Glad I could be of service,” Ella replied dryly.

Abbey shivered then, the cold finally making its presence known now that the tension was gone. Before she could voice her need to get somewhere warm, the Hunter, Brendon, was pulling off his duster coat and striding to her. Her placed it over her shoulders and she wrapped it tight around herself.

“Thank you,” she smiled.

“No problem, ma’am. It’s cold out here.”

“Yes it is,” Dawn agreed. “Why don’t we get out of the cold and find someplace warm to rest. You look dead on your feet, Abbey.”

“That good, huh?” Abbey asked weakly. She truly was tired…exhausted really. It felt as if this morning had been five days ago.

“You’re perfection,” Julian assured her with a whisper to her ear. Abbey felt her stomach fill with butterflies and her heart swell. She knew he was lying but she didn’t care. That was one lie she’d be glad to believe.

Audrey tugged on Marcus‘s beard, “Daddy, can we go home now?” she asked, sounding just as tired as Abbey felt. “I want to watch princesses.”

“Of course,” Marcus replied. “Just as long as I can watch them with you.”

“Yay!” Audrey exclaimed happily. “Papa, will you watch too?”

Julian smiled and kissed her cheek, “Wouldn’t miss it.”

The group made their way back down the street and Abbey’s eyes widened with surprised when they went to the field behind the courthouse and there were five helicopters sitting there.

“You need a ride to your house?” Grange offered. Abbey swallowed hard. Helicopters were dangerous weren’t they? “I’m a good pilot,” Grange assured her. “I won’t kill you.”

“Okay then,” Abbey replied weakly. Truth was she’d rather have a ride in the helicopter than have to shift and carry the kids back to the ranch. Abbey was pretty sure if she shifted again she’d collapse from a mixture of exhaustion and pain.

“Hope you all have a good amount of room out at that ranch,” Grange said as they loaded into a helicopter. They were leaving the rest sitting for the rest of the pack to use when they were done in town.

“Why?” Julian asked, settling himself down with Tanner in his lap.

“Because,” Grange offered a half smile. “Until we’re sure all this mess is cleaned up your house is pack house central.”