Trinity

  Renee woke, this time to an empty bed. She sat up and grabbed her robe before padding out into the living room. Jack wasn’t around. She figured he’d gone to get the mail or perhaps had taken a run. She knew wherever he was, it wouldn’t be far. Galen had gone to work and she was sure he’d get caught up in something. The man loved his job and it was a busy one. She understood that sort of dedication and passion, respected it, so it rarely irked.

  Smiling, she moved toward the entry when she heard the door downstairs open up. Most likely Galen was home and he’d have breakfast and coffee. He’d have a hug that would make everything inside her stop and surge forward to soak him in.

  When she opened the door though, it wasn’t Galen at all. It wasn’t Jack. Yeah, make a mental note to actually use the link every once in a while.

  A man she didn’t recognize strode into the room, his arm shot out and with it, energy hit her body, knocking her back into the coffee table so hard she saw stars and lost her breath.

  Fear rushed into her body, tensing muscles, sweat beading on the back of her neck as she scrabbled backward, her eyes never leaving the man moving toward her. He spoke under his breath and the fire of her flesh tearing open wrenched a scream from her lips. Pain twisted inside her as it began to feel as if her entire body were being pulled from her eye sockets.

  She tried to get hold of herself enough to remember any of the stuff her aunt and sister had taught her. Renee even managed to send some energy back at him before agony brought a curve to her spine as she arched to try anything to make it stop. She couldn’t stop screaming, sobbing, writhing as the fire of pain engulfed her nerve endings.

  Stretching out as much as she could, she grabbed for the phone on the nearby chair. Bolt after bolt hit her as he never stopped speaking. The words hit her like fists, slicing into her soul and taking something important along with it.

  Her feet slid in the blood and she realized he’d broken something inside as well as having rent her flesh apart in several places. She bled so much the room filled with the stench of her fear and the copper of her blood.

  She was dying. She’d leave this world without ever seeing Galen or Jack again. She’d never have children, never get to meet the rest of her family. This man was stealing everything from her!

  Her fingertips met the cool metal of the phone, knocked it to the floor as she crawled to reach the keypad. All the while she screamed because there was nothing else she could do. She punched buttons at random, hoped they made a call.

  Her magic ebbed, passed from her, and she grabbed it back, pulling with all the strength she had left and whipped it back at him enough to stop the chanting for half a moment. His bellow of pain stoked her energy, giving her a bit more, enough to keep fighting and throwing out the only magic she knew and whatever else she could muster.

  “Hello? Hello? Jack? Is that you?” Cade’s voice. She’d dialed Cade Warden.

  She screamed again. “Help me, please. He’s killing me.” At least she thought that’s what she’d said. This time the man picked her up and slammed her against the bar. The arm she’d put out to protect herself cracked, splintered, and she had nothing left, no feeling other than the gaping maw of unconsciousness encroaching as he blocked the bottle of wine she’d grabbed to hit him with. Each of her fingers was snapped, broken as he continued to kill her.

  A roar, splintered wood. She slid to the floor, the warm pool of her blood cooling, thickening as she lay in it. The last thing she saw was a flash of fur, the scythe-like claws, pale blue eyes lit with fury.

  Jack had come for her and she wouldn’t die alone.

  Jack was torn between running after the man who’d attacked his woman and getting an ambulance. The ambulance won out.

  With shaking hands, he called 911 and looked up, ready to fight again, when Cade burst through the door, followed by Galen and several other wolves and cats.

  The sound Galen made echoed what he felt. Loss, rage, tenderness and a lot of fear. Her life force, normally so strong and beautiful, had receded to little more than a trickle.

  After Jack had showered that morning, he’d decided to run to the nearby newspaper stand, his attention snagged on a necklace he’d spotted in a shop window, the necklace he’d dropped as a wave of her fear had hit him so hard he’d gone to his knees, his vision swimming. Two blocks away. He’d been so close and yet it hadn’t been enough to help her.

  “Renee, honey, wake up.” He cradled her body, rocking back and forth. Sirens sounded as the ambulance arrived. Galen skidded to them, barking out questions as enraged shifter males tried to rein it in to deal with the paramedics and the police.

  “What happened? Jack! I need you to tell me what happened.” Galen kept touching her and wincing, pulling a hand back because he worried he’d harm her. He shook nearly as much as Jack had been before the cold numbness had settled in.

  “I don’t know. He, there was a man here. He looked fucked up. Our girl hurt him. He got away. I let him get away. I let this happen, Galen. She was asleep, I just ran to get a paper and then stopped to buy a necklace I thought she’d...it doesn’t matter. It’s my fault. He got away and it’s my fault he hurt her.”

  The paramedics rushed in, sparing a glance at the pacing, angry males, but not stopping until they’d reached Renee. It felt as if time had slowed to a trickle, as if each second took a year. Each labored breath she took both cheered him and brought him dread because he heard the pain there, felt the strength inside her wane a bit more.

  The police also arrived, but Jack didn’t care, he only wanted her to be all right.

  “Sir, move back please.”

  Galen bared his teeth, but held his growl back. Jack felt the desolation, the helplessness within his mate as they hesitated to let her go.

  Grace crouched just to Jack’s left. With one hand, she brushed the hair from Renee’s forehead and murmured something Jack thought sounded like, don’t let go. She turned to the men. “Jack, Galen, please let them help her. They’re going to take care of her. She’s bleeding a lot, they have to stop it.”

  “She’s right.”

  Jack looked toward the male who’d spoken. It must have been Max, Galen’s older brother. The resemblance was clear, though Max had more Caribbean in his features than Galen did. The other man took Galen by the shoulders and physically pulled him back, despite the snarl he received in response. Cade took advantage of that and, with Dave, pulled Jack away and the paramedics got to work. The police questioned people and looked around the house. Kindly, they interviewed Jack within sight of the paramedics, Galen getting the same treatment several feet away.

  He answered, giving a timeline and a description of the man who’d broken in, all the while snared in a nightmare as medics worked feverishly to save her life.

  There was a bit of drama because both men were shifters, but the Boston PD was pretty open-minded and Jack had worked with them on other shifter issues in the past. They’d verify his and Galen’s story, which was simply good police work, but they wouldn’t let that stop them from trying to find her attacker.

  If her attacker was lucky, the cops would find him before the beasts did.

  At some point Renee’s aunt and sister showed up, rushing to the curb as Renee was loaded into the ambulance.

  “We will begin to hunt now.” A man pushed his way forward, touching Galen.

  Galen nodded, his eyes never leaving Renee’s very still body. “He has to be dealt with.”

  “Let’s get to the hospital. I can start working on getting a hunt together once I know she’s okay.” Jack moved to get in the ambulance but they stopped him.

  “Family only.”

  “She’s my family.” Jack dared them to try to stop him.

  “I’m her husband,” Galen said, taking Jack’s hand as he got into the back of the ambulance. “He’s our husband to
o.”

  The paramedic looked dubious but no one stopped him this time when he got in the back and settled in.

  “We’ll meet you at the hospital,” Cade called out.

  “She’s going to be all right.” Jack locked gazes with Galen as they rushed to the hospital. “There’s no other way.”

  At the hospital, once she’d settled in and they’d rushed her into an operating room, Galen turned to Jack and put his arms around him. Jack let out the breath he felt like he’d been holding for hours and let himself fall into their link because he wasn’t sure if he could survive without it just then. The fear of losing her, the pain of not protecting her battered him.

  “It’s not your fault, Jack.” Galen kissed his cheeks, kissed away the tears.

  “Whose is it then? She was mine to protect and I got distracted by a fucking shiny thing in a window. She could be dead because I didn’t do my fucking job.”

  Galen’s smile was rueful. “You might have noticed, but our woman is not one to be watched over every moment. Baby, she’s ours, but she’s an independent person, she would wither away if we had to sit on her every moment. We can’t be there every minute. We can’t. She has to be able to come and go, and if we can’t have her safe in that house, we’ll buy one where she can be. If I have to hire fourteen bodyguards and pay for a million-dollar security system, I will. The blame here is not yours, it belongs to the fuck who hurt her. We will end him.”

  “I love you.” He looked to Galen as they leaned foreheads together.

  “I love you too. She’s going to make it. I’d know it if she was too far gone. It was close—” Galen’s voice choked with emotion, “—earlier when I first got to the house. There wasn’t much left of her. But now she’s getting stronger.”

  Jack felt it too. He nodded and they went back to the end of the hall.

  Hospital personnel looked askance at the amount of people who’d gathered to wait, but no one said anything.

  The man who’d spoken to Galen outside the ambulance turned out to be Galen’s father. “Jack, this is my father, Cesar de La Vega. Papi, this is Jack Meyer.”

  The other man was an alpha, even if his eyes held sympathy and understanding as well as the rage of a male who’s had one of his own hurt.

  “Welcome to our family, Jack. You have our resources at your disposal. My girl is in there, broken, and I don’t like it one bit.” He motioned to another man who came forward. Jack recognized one of his own instantly. The male was an enforcer of some type.

  “This is my brother Gibson. He’s our version of an enforcer.” Galen motioned at the wary-eyed man covered in tats and wearing dreadlocks. His brother nodded once at Jack and looked back to Galen.

  Gibson nodded in greeting before rubbing his face along Galen’s jaw. “You know I’m here to help. I’ve got some of my people out on it already. Your woman may be little but she worked this dude over pretty well along with what Jack did. The blood spilled at your place is plenty to get a scent.”

  Jack pushed himself out of mate mode and into Enforcer mode. This was his job and she was his responsibility on so many levels it was written into his DNA. He grabbed Dave and Akio and began to organize a search along with Galen’s jamboree. He was quite content to let Gibson take point on this one. Jaguars of all shifters were merciless hunters, far more connected to their beast than most. They would find this mage and erase him from existence.

  “Thank you,” Galen told his brother.

  “Renee means a lot to me, too.” Gibson looked to Jack. “You should be sure to keep track of your arm. You don’t want the bone to heal wrong and need to be re-set.”

  He’d been trying to keep it hidden until after they’d gotten Renee taken care of. Should have known it would be impossible to ignore in a room full of shifters.

  Grace—who had noticed but had given him a pass until he’d gotten to the hospital—said, “Go on. There’s an empty exam room over here. We can deal with it there.” She gently but firmly hustled him inside. “If there’s news we’re only right here. I work here three days a week, Jack, they know me.”

  Galen walled it all off. Pushed his fear back as far as he could, letting the rage fuel him as he dealt with the insurance papers and the other stuff he needed to. He was out enough that he was able to produce the papers showing that he and Renee were married according to jamboree law. It reminded him just how much they needed to deal with the very human reality of insurance and contracts and legal status.

  His mother showed up and stood at his side as he did it. Rosemary and Kendra did coffee runs and tried to contact Renee’s father.

  Max ordered people around, set up a watch in the hospital and then flowers started showing up by the dozen.

  “Your eyes are bloodshot. Lean your head on me and take a nap. You’re no good to her if you’re strung out.” His mother squeezed his hand. “I know you’re worried, but she’s going to come through this. She’s strong.”

  “I can’t sleep. Every time I close my eyes I see her, so small and pale, blood pooling around her. I feel that helplessness over and over.”

  Galen scrubbed hands over his face.

  “I think she’s also drawing from you and Jack, through the bond that unites the three of you.” Rosemary handed him a cup. “Hot chocolate. Drink it.” She handed a bag to his mother. “Sandwich and some soup. You look tired too.”

  Rosemary sat and gave him the stink eye until he finally relented and drank the chocolate. He had to admit he did feel a bit better afterward and agreed to eat the half of the sandwich his mother held out.

  Jack and Grace joined them and the calls continued from friends and family. Renee’s father was noticeably absent from that and Galen ached for her nearly as much as he wanted to punch the man in the nose.

  “Fine way to meet your new mate,” his mother grumbled and Jack laughed though the sound was threaded with fatigue and worry.

  Everyone stood and tried to hold their questions when the doctor came out to speak to Galen.

  “She’s got a few broken bones, some major lacerations, a concussion and a lot of bruising, but there’s no internal bleeding. We’re going to keep her overnight and see how she’s faring tomorrow. You can go in and see her if you like. She asked for you and Jack.”

  Galen flexed and fisted his hands. He had to relax or she’d see how agitated he was. She needed the peace right then and he’d kill everyone in that fucking place to give it to her.

  “She’s not very pretty right now. I just wanted to prepare you.” The doctor led the way back and paused at the door before opening it up.

  The scent hit him first. Pain. Blood. Fear. She’d been drugged up so her half-lidded eyes widened only a bit when they entered. The hand she’d tried to raise toward them had been splinted, tubes running up her arm only added to the overall picture.

  “Shh, don’t try to smile, babe. I know. I know.” He wanted to hug her, to press himself against her body to know she was there, living and breathing. An ache so beautiful it nearly felled him slammed into his soul. What on earth would he do if he lost her?

  She shook her head, blinking back tears.

  “I’m sorry,” he assured her, moving closer, close enough to press his lips against an un-bruised part of her forehead. “You look like shit and it makes me want to hurt someone. I love you, God, I love you so much.”

  She sniffled and he dabbed gently with a tissue. “I love you too,” she said, her voice slurred and rusty.

  Jack groaned from somewhere behind them and Galen turned to see the guilt all over his face.

  Renee must have seen it too, felt it through the bond. “No.” She swallowed hard and Galen was battered by the shards of pain she felt.

  “I failed you.” Jack’s normally golden skin had paled, the lines around his eyes and mouth had deepened.

 
“Did not.” Even covered in bruises, hooked up to tubes and facing some heavy recovery time, she wasn’t taking any guff. “Here, please.”

  Jack took the two steps to her and fell to his knees, burying his face in the blankets. “I left you alone and he hurt you. He nearly killed you.”

  “Jack—” she paused as she swallowed, “—it was a fluke. You saved me. I knew you would. Don’t you understand? I knew I would not die alone, I knew you would come. You said you would and I believed you and you did.”

  “I just found you. What would I do without you?”

  Her exhaled breath was shaky and she wasn’t good enough to hide her state of exhaustion and pain. “I love you both too much to go anywhere.”

  “Don’t talk anymore. It’s okay. It isn’t Jack’s fault, I told him that already and now you have too. Your job is to get better so stop talking and go to sleep. We’ll be here when you wake up.”

  “Did you get him?”

  Jack growled and her bottom lip trembled a bit. Galen hated to see her scared. Hated to know this sick fuck was still alive.

  “He got away. I’m sorry. I should have...”

  Galen interrupted. “He chose to save you instead. I endorse that plan. Not to mention his own broken arm and wounds.”

  She tried to sit, her eyes widening. Both men urged her back to the pillows as gently as they could.

  “I’m all right. We heal fast. The bone is knitting back together right now. Once I shift fully and then back, I’ll be good as new.” Jack kissed her shoulder. “He broke your fingers. He stole into your soul, hurt you. He’s on borrowed time.”

  “Don’t. Let the police handle it. I gave them a good description when they interviewed me before you came in. I don’t want this sort of thing on your hands. On your conscience. Don’t harm someone on my behalf. Love me, that’s all I ask.”

  She was so earnest, Galen might have listened to her more if she hadn’t been covered in bruises and had her fucking fingers broken one by one by a sadistic bastard who wanted to steal her power and leave her for dead.