PackRescue (9 page)

They stepped out of Ryan’s room and moved away quietly only
to pause awkwardly in front of Fina’s door.

She felt better after running, as she’d known she would. She
felt…centered. Maybe even confident. A little anyway. In the clearing, before
the run, the pack’s Alpha and Beta had marked her.

They’d
marked
her.

She hadn’t been a quaking subordinate sidling up to them,
whimpering for notice, reassurance or acceptance. They’d painted her flesh with
possession and intent. They’d marked her as their equal.

“Um, good night,” she whispered and stepped into her room.
She was pulled back by Cutler’s strong hand on her arm. He pulled her to him
and, with his aqua eyes shimmering, dipped his head and nuzzled her throat. He
straightened and Nath nuzzled her ear. Without another word, the two of them
turned away and disappeared into their bedrooms.

A short while later Fina lay in her bed, dressed in a simple
cotton undershirt and baggy pajama bottoms, staring up at the ceiling. Memories
of running with her own pack crowded her head and a deep, painful sob escaped
her before she jammed her blanket into her mouth. She curled onto her side and
wept.

Her door opened and she sensed Cutler standing there.
Nathaniel joined him a second later. They were both bare chested and bare
footed. Cutler was wearing loose drawstring flannel pants and Nath was wearing
plaid shorts. The mattress shifted as they climbed into bed on either side of
her. Cutler eased the blanket out of her mouth and cradled her head against his
chest. Nath pressed his body to her back, warm, comfortable and comforting.
Then he drew the covers back up and over all three of them.

Fina sobbed. Painful, tearing sobs that had no voice, no
sound and no movement except for the powerful tremors that shook her body. Her
tears dripped down her face and landed on Cutler’s chest. They spilled over his
skin and pooled on the bed between them.

Nath stroked her shoulder and the side of her body, his hand
riding the maelstrom of her grief without the ability to take it away or even
ease it.

Her door opened a second time and Ryan stood there, blinking
sleepily into the darkness with the faint glow of an open window farther down
the hallway illuminating him from behind. His thumb was firmly wedged in his
mouth. He walked up to the end of the bed then climbed onto it, making his way
to the clutch of adults on its expansive surface. Cutler leaned back, shifted
the blankets and made room for the pup. Fina laid her hand on the child’s
shoulder. Ryan wriggled back into the warmth of her body, spooning his small
hips within hers.

“It’s okay to cry, Fina,” Ryan breathed into the darkness. “We
won’t tell.” He stuck his thumb back in his mouth and laid his head on her
pillow.

Fina wiped the back of her hand across her eyes, kissed Ryan’s
hair and cuddled him, holding him close. Cutler propped himself up on his
elbow, looking at the improbable picture they made. Less than two weeks ago he
and his brother had been single, self-absorbed, lone wolves. Now they were a
bonded family. He caught his brother’s eye, saw him shrug then lay back down.
Cutler let his arm fall across both Fina and the boy.

“Good thing you put her in this room,” Nath whispered then
yawned lustily. He buried his face in Fina’s hair, settled his arm over her and
laid his hand on her cotton-covered belly. “This bed’s the biggest one we’ve
got.”

Cutler chuckled dryly then let sleep claim him.

Two days later Fina woke just before dawn and groaned. Her
belly cramped angrily—a tearing, brutal pain that radiated out and settled in
her lower back—aching, sharp and ceaseless. It drove her to curl up on her side
and tremble. She felt a sticky wetness pooling between her legs, felt it
spilling over the back of her thigh. She hoisted herself out of bed,
instinctively keeping her hips raised and clear of the sheets. Bent over, she
hurried into her ensuite bathroom and sat shakily on the toilet. Another cramp
racked her, this one more brutal than the last, and she wrapped her arms around
her belly, leaned forward and rocked back and forth until it eased.

She ran a wad of toilet paper between her legs and got
scared when it and her fingers came back soaked in blood.

“
Ohmygawd,
” she breathed and flushed it away. Fina
counted back in her head. Her period was overdue, by at least two weeks. She
hadn’t thought about it earlier because she’d been too overwhelmed by
everything else going on in her life to pay much attention to her body. She
supposed the stress had caused it to be late, although she was seriously pissed
it had decided to hit with a vengeance when it did start. The pain gripped her
again and she started rocking.

She cleaned herself as best she could, stripped off her
pajamas, dropped the bloodstained bottoms into the sink, inserted a tampon then
climbed into the shower. When she got out she was horrified to discover she had
to wash the toilet seat. She wiped it down quickly. Fina wished she had some of
that Midol Helen swore by. Being werewolf meant Fina didn’t feel pain as
strongly as humans and Fina didn’t think there was so much as an aspirin in the
entire house. Another cramp rolled through her and she sat down gingerly on the
edge of the tub, waiting for it to pass.

When it did she got up, cursed her uterus and headed back
into the bedroom.

“Damn,” she breathed when she looked at the bed. Rolling her
eyes and feeling acutely embarrassed, as well as grateful that her period had
held off for a couple of days instead of hitting the night the four of them had
curled up together like a tangle of puppies, she stripped the bloodstained
sheets off her bed. Thankfully the thick mattress pad had done its job. She
wouldn’t have to rent a steam cleaner for the bed. She threw on clean pajamas,
grabbed her soiled bottoms from the bathroom and carried the bundle to the
laundry room.

Cutler woke with a start. The smell of blood was fresh in
the air and growing. He leaped out of bed, not even bothering to put a t-shirt
on. His first stop was Ryan’s room but the boy was sleeping peacefully,
sprawled with his head and pillow half off the bed.

He spun around and raced for Fina’s room. “Oh jeez no,” he
groaned when he stuck his head inside. Fina wasn’t there but the smell of blood
was thick and ripe. He inhaled deliberately, delving beneath the overpowering
smell until he located Fina’s scent. He rushed down the hall, tracking her.

Cutler ran into the laundry room near the back door so fast
his shoulder slammed into the doorjamb, spinning him into a sideways skid. His
bare feet slid across the cool tiles and he didn’t stop until his back slammed
into the far wall.

Fina stood in front of the washing machine, staring at him
in wide-eyed disbelief then she turned bright red. He looked at the bundle of
sheets in her arms, smelled the blood before he saw it then stepped toward her.

He cleared his throat. “Are you all right?” he asked
quietly. Fina got even redder, if that was possible, nodded, then her face
tightened. She grunted, a low tearing sound, leaned forward and braced her hand
against the washing machine. He held on to her shoulders, desperately wanting
to take away her pain, almost unable to bear seeing her like this. He held her
until the spasm passed then helped her to straighten.

Suddenly Cutler understood what the conflicting, disturbing
scent surrounding his mate had meant. Understood his wolf’s instinctive need to
wait before claiming her. Understood what had had to come to pass before he
took her and filled her with his seed.

“You’re miscarrying,” he said with quiet, brutal honesty.
Cutler saw the disbelief then the horror and anger flash in Fina’s eyes. “Will
you be okay if I leave you for a few minutes? I have to make a phone call.”

Fina nodded, turned away from him and began viciously
jamming sheets into the washing machine.

Cutler closed the office door behind him and dialed the
number from memory. “Trudy?” he said when the line stopped ringing. “Cutler,”
he said sharply. “Shut up about how early it is.”

His opinionated, brash, childhood friend fell silent at the
commanding tone in her Alpha’s voice.

“I need you to get over here now. I need you to take Ryan
for the day. No questions,” he barked when she started to interrupt. “Now. He’ll
be ready and waiting for you when you get here. Keep him until after supper. I’ll
call you later and let you know if he needs to stay the night.” He hung up
without saying good-bye.

The next number he dialed was the station house. He got the
night sergeant, told him he wasn’t coming into work that day and wasn’t to be
disturbed unless the whole damn town was going up in flames and the wind was
blowing his way. Then he went back to Ryan’s room, packed up a change of
clothes, a toothbrush, a few toys and threw everything in Ryan’s backpack.
Cutler woke him up and got him dressed in record time. They were sitting side
by side on the front porch, a small juice pack and an even smaller but now
empty container of yogurt between them when Trudy pulled up in her minivan.

Cutler belted Ryan into one of the booster seats in back,
ruffled his hair and told him what a fun time he’d have playing at Trudy’s that
day.

Ryan just looked up at him and his brown eyes got big and
wet. He started to cry. Cutler leaned back into the car and held him, surprised
by the strength in the thin arms that wrapped around his neck, almost
strangling him.

“She’ll be okay, buddy,” he said quietly, leaning his
forehead against Ryan’s. He kissed the boy’s brow then leaned back. “She loves
you but she needs to be alone today. She’ll be better soon and I’ll come pick
you up myself.”

Tears were still spilling down Ryan’s pale cheeks but he
nodded, clutched his juice pack in one hand and stuck the thumb of the other in
his mouth.

Cutler shut the door and backed away, waving. He caught
Trudy’s eye. She opened her mouth to say something then shut it just as quickly
when she saw the look on his face. She eased the minivan into gear and drove
away slowly.

The morning passed on a slow rollercoaster of pain. Spasms
continued to grip Fina’s body. She had to get up every half hour or she’d bleed
right through yet another tampon. The pain would relent for a while and she’d
doze fitfully. She was so exhausted she felt drugged and would fall asleep as
soon as the pain eased, only to wake up again when it returned maybe eight or
ten minutes later. Cutler kept checking on her, offering her water or juice.
Midmorning he brought her a bowl of her favorite snack—chocolate pudding. Fina
looked at him with pained, tired but amused eyes and ate it slowly and
gratefully.

Cutler didn’t ask questions. He stroked her hair, kissed her
forehead then slipped out of the room to give her the space he sensed she
needed.

He fed her more chocolate pudding and a couple of slices of
toast for lunch. She was halfway through the cup of tea he’d made for her,
leaning against her headboard, when she sat bolt upright, dropped the cup onto
her night table and raced for the bathroom. Cutler sat on the edge of her bed,
looking down at the fresh blood on the fresh linens. He cradled his forehead in
his hands, fighting hard against the urge to jump on a plane for Tennessee and
rip the throats out of every one of those motherless bastards who’d done this
to his Fina. His wolf snarled, growled and threw its weight against the
perimeters of his consciousness. It almost won the battle but Cutler managed to
subdue the primal rage inside him. Fina needed him. He stripped the bed, put on
clean sheets and carried the stained ones to the laundry room.

About one o’clock or so Fina’s pain eased up. She slept
longer between bouts and in fact had slept a whole hour straight when Cutler
heard the front door open.

He set his book aside, got up from the chair in her room and
met his brother in the entryway. Nathaniel was dressed in heavy canvas hiking
shorts, sturdy boots that covered his ankles and a smudged golf shirt with the
Green Mountain Eco Tours logo over the left breast. He smelled like fresh air
and wood smoke and his eyes were wide and scared as he scented the air in the
house.

“
Fina,
” he blurted out when he saw Cutler walking
toward him, running his fingers through his short, dark hair. His big brother
looked haggard and was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt in the middle of a
workday. “Oh god…she lost it, didn’t she?”

Cutler’s brow furrowed as he looked at his brother. He
nodded slowly. “How long have you known?”

“Maybe from the very first,” Nath admitted shakily. He
brushed back his longer, sun-streaked brown hair. “My wolf knew. He knew we
couldn’t claim her. No wolf will claim a woman carrying another’s pup.” He sat
down heavily on the bench inside the door, cradled his face in his hands then
started unlacing his boots. “I couldn’t bear to face it, couldn’t bear to think
about what…what those bastards must have done to her.” He dropped his head back
onto the wall and stared up at the ceiling.

Cutler nodded slowly. No wonder his wolf had hidden Fina’s
pregnancy from him, not letting the man recognize the scent of the fetus
growing in her womb. He’d have struck out in a killing rage at those who’d
dared touch his mate. Normally his wolf would urge him along in anything like
that but it knew Fina needed him, needed him close, needed him when the weak,
bastard seedling in her womb died and her innocent body had to pay in blood and
pain for its passing. He remembered the way she’d smelled before today. She’d
been pregnant, yes, he knew that now—but there had been a kind of sickness in
that scent. Life and death combined, like the fetus wasn’t viable somehow.
Cutler had a lot of regrets but he’d never regret the fact Fina’s body had shed
the inferior and weak cells that had been forced on her.

“She told me she escaped the morning after her pack was
killed.” Cutler ran the back of his hand across his sore, dry eyes. “They
assumed they’d bonded her to them.”

“Rape isn’t the same as bonding.”

Cutler nodded jerkily at the cold, flat tone in his brother’s
voice. He laid his hand on Nath’s head and they stayed like that for a moment,
surrounded by the smell of blood and death, unable to do anything to help their
mate, finding comfort in each other.

“I need to see her.” Nath finally broke the dark silence
that had settled over them. He finished pulling off his boots then rose to his
feet. With his brother beside him, he headed for Fina’s bedroom.

Nath eased the door back. Fina was sleeping. Her auburn hair
was lank and clung to her forehead damply but she was breathing steadily and
the scent of her pain was less here than it had been by the front door. He
exhaled quietly. Her pain was going away. He turned and tiptoed out of the room.

When Fina woke up a short while later, the first thing she
saw was Nath leaning back in the big armchair in the corner of her room. His
hair was damp and he smelled like soap and shampoo. His feet were bare below
the frayed cuffs of his worn jeans and he smiled at her hesitantly.

“I’m so sorry, Fina,” he whispered. He stood, crossed the
room and sat on the edge of her bed. He kissed her forehead and breathed her
in. “I’m so sorry.”

Fina blinked back tears then slapped his arm lightly. “Don’t
start,” she groused deliberately. “You’ll make me start bawling.” He leaned
back, grinned and stood aside, holding up the covers when she crawled out of
bed. “Damned uterus,” she bitched, then rubbed her lower belly and closed the
bathroom door behind her.

Despite Cutler’s fussing and coddling, she insisted on
joining the brothers at the kitchen table for dinner. Nathaniel made a simple
dinner of some of her favorites…chicken pieces roasted in the oven, flavored
with sage and sprinkled with parsley and parmesan cheese, mashed potatoes,
sweet corn and the last of the instant chocolate pudding for dessert.

By five-thirty Cutler was in his SUV and driving over to
Trudy’s place. Ryan put on a brave face in front of the other kids but as soon
as they were outside he started climbing up into Cutler’s arms even before the
Alpha had time to pick him up. He squeezed Cutler’s neck tightly and ran his
downy cheeks over Cutler’s rough jaw. Then he looked pointedly at Cutler’s big
truck, telescoping his need to get home quick to Fina. Cutler understood. He
strapped the boy into his booster in the back seat then drove away without
delay.

A couple of hours later, Cutler and Nath were leaning
against a wall in Ryan’s bedroom, listening to Ryan read the next chapter out
of the latest book Fina had picked up at the library for him. She sat on the
edge of his bed and only grimaced a little when she bent over to kiss his
forehead before tucking him in for the night.

“Stay in your bed tonight, okay, Ryan?” she said quietly and
ran her fingertips over his hair. “I’ve got a sore tummy and I need some alone
time.”

Ryan nodded, returned her kiss then rolled onto his side.

“‘Night, Fina. ‘Night, Cutler. ‘Night, Nath,” he whispered
and played with a loose tooth in his mouth before sliding his fists under his
chin. “Leave the door open,” he added then shut his eyes.

“I will,” Fina replied, like she did every night, and
slipped out of the room behind Cutler and Nath. She walked into the big,
comfortable family room off the kitchen and curled up in the corner of the
sofa. She grabbed a blanket off the back of it and laid it over her legs. Fina
never said anything but she was infinitely grateful when neither Cutler nor
Nath asked how she’d gotten pregnant. Cutler simply sat beside her, lifted her
feet onto his lap and began running his thumbs with slow, firm sweeps across
the soles. He stopped long enough to hand her the satellite remote.