AllFreeNovel
Share Us
BELLE
Sitting outside the packhouse not even twenty fours after we’ve arrived, I already feel at home here.
Ethan’s chasing some young pups around the wide lawn, making my ovaries twitch in ways I refuse to acknowledge. I relax in a chair, drink in hand, newly found friends chatting away close by. I can’t take my eyes off him. What if he’d never given me a second chance? Would I have been able to live with my decision?
ETHAN: Stop it. Or I’ll have to come over there and remind you how well it’s all worked out
His blue eyes find mine and I see the promise in them as he holds my gaze, momentarily ignoring the swarming children clamouring for his attention.
BELLE: Ha! Don’t threaten me with a good time
Ethan laughs, throwing me a sexy wink, then tosses a kid, that couldn’t be older than three, over his shoulder and charges toward the trees.
“What are they playing?” Leah asks, lowering herself into the chair beside me, watching Ethan with a confused look on her face.
“I don’t think he even knows.”
Leah laughs and kicks off her shoes, scrunching her toes up in the fresh grass underneath our feet. Smiling, she tips her head back and closes her eyes, enjoying the sun on her face. She’s perfectly relaxed, but at almost exactly the same time, both Ethan and I jump to attention.
A loud whumping sound, distant at first, gets closer and closer, and as the trees start to sway and shake, the ground vibrates and the air fills with static energy. Ethan herds the children quickly toward the packhouse and ushers them inside before returning to my side and standing protectively to my left, one hand touching my hip.
What on earth is going on?
Through the patio doors, Cooper, Hayley, and Rex emerge, shielding their eyes from the sun as we all watch in stunned silence as a helicopter emerges over the mountain, flying low in front of the sun. Blowing the trees sideways as it dips down, it hovers above the large flat area for a while, steadying itself then drops to the ground.
The tension in our small group is palpable. Cooper stands in front of Hayley, shielding her from whatever is going on. Rex tries to do the same, but Leah leans past him, curls blowing in all directions as she refuses to be hidden away, determined to see for her own eyes what’s going on.
The door slides open, and, with a farewell salute, a tall, dark-haired male jumps out, stooping low as he runs across the grass and out of the way of the rotor blades. With a well-worn leather jacket, collar up, the sun bouncing off the mirrored lenses of his aviators, it’s hard to see his face. The wind is blowing his scent toward us and it’s clear he’s human, but my hackles go up immediately.
There’s something else.
“Oh, god,” Leah groans, wincing and rubbing her temples with her fingers. Rex’s eyes glaze over as they mind-link, but then he curses and looks to the heavens. I’m missing something, but as he climbs the steps before us and nobody moves to intercept him, I guess I’m about to find out what that is.
“Hello, sis.” The man pulls off his glasses, folding and hooking them onto the front of his navy t-shirt. His dark hair is cropped short, and he has the kind of tan you get from long hours spent outdoors. Unsmiling, he doesn’t look all that happy to see Leah. Leaning to the side to see past Cooper, he nods in greeting, “Hales.”
With increasing unease, I realise he hasn’t acknowledged Cooper or Rex. When he stands up straight, he’s taller than both shifters; his posture is stiff and his jaw is clenched tight.
“Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
Feeling immensely uncomfortable in his presence, even though he smells like he’s just a human, I look at Ethan, but he shakes his head in the tiniest motion, telling me not to say a word. Hayley sighs, and steps around Cooper, holding his hand to keep him calm in the face of her brother’s frosty attitude.
“Cooper, this is Chase. Chase, this is Cooper and Rex.”
Chase makes no move to extend a hand in greeting to his brothers-in-law, so Cooper is the bigger man and steps forward. After a long, awkward pause, Chase takes Cooper’s hand, shaking it firmly then doing the same with Rex.
The silence is painful.
Leah rocks back and forth, a nervous smile playing on her lips.
“So, you’re back,” she blurts out, staring up at him wide-eyed when he pins her with a hard glare. Looking around, he takes in the details of his surroundings carefully. “I am. Seems I missed a lot.” Staring at Hayley in particular, he smiles, but it’s not even remotely genuine.
This guy is pissed.
“Well, yes. Lots of exciting news to catch up on – weddings, babies. How about I show you around and then we’ll fill you in on all the gossip?” Leah’s attempts to lighten the mood fall flat.
With curiosity, Chase continues to scan the house, the trees, the cars parked out front; but there’s something else as well. He’s military. He has that awareness, that observing eye.
“Lots of news alright. Instead of waiting, how about you tell me right now what kind of cult you’ve gotten yourselves mixed up in, why you were on the run, and why someone tried to torch your hen party,” he glares at Hayley, who grimaces, then he points a finger at Leah, “and you almost drowned. And why you hid these things from me!”
