“This place has protections against transporting inside it. It should help keep you safer,” dad Jonah explains.
Everyone starts to head to the door but I stop to hug my dad.
“Thank you for everything. We couldn’t have gotten her back without you.”
He smiles before stepping back and disappearing again.
I join them at the door as Kiran unlocks the cottage for us. It’s a little dusty from disuse but otherwise it’s perfect. There are three bedrooms, although I doubt anyone will want to be alone right now, a kitchen, two bathrooms and a small family room.
Aly is dead on her feet as she leans against Jeremy behind her. Everyone else doesn’t look much better as we survey the room.
“Okay, quick meal, then showers, then bed. No funny business, I know we all missed each other but Aly needs her rest,” I say with a pointed look at where she’s swaying on her feet.
“Make her a sandwich, I’m going to help her rinse off,” Jay says, swiping her off her feet and carrying her towards the bathroom.
Nothing. I mean it Jay.I send through the mental bond.
I know. Trust me, I just want to take care of her. She needs help.
And I do trust him, so I don’t say anymore. I go to the duffel bags and even though I packed clothes for Aly, I grab one of my shirts for her to wear. I set it on the counter in the bathroom before leaving them to it.
We gather around the kitchen table and pull out sandwich supplies from the bag Jay gathered. We all keep checking the bathroom door Aly disappeared behind every few minutes as we make sandwiches. Jax makes one for Aly before he starts his own.
Jay comes out of the bathroom carrying a sleeping Aly. She must have passed out in the shower while Jay washed her.
“Wake her up, I can feel her hunger through the bond. She’s starving,” Jeremy says.
Jay sits at the table but keeps Aly in his lap as he slowly wakes her up. She blinks her sleepy eyes around the room before cuddling back into Jay.
“Eat Aly,” Jax says, pushing the plate towards Jay.
He picks the sandwich up and feeds Aly little bites until she’s eaten the whole thing. She falls right back to sleep in his arms, and he stares down at her as he pushes hair off her face.
“We got her back,” he muses. He sounds choked up and I understand the feeling. While I always believed we could get her back, being without her was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
Jay eats his sandwich before heading off to bed with Aly. Jeremy, Kiran and Jax take quick showers before joining them. Bailey settles in on the couch for the night.
I look over the whole house, making sure we are locked down tight.
I use the guest shower for a quick rinse, soaping up my body and removing the remnants of battle from my skin. I’m covered in blood and dirt but I don’t regret a second of it, it was for my mate.
Thirteen
Aly
The next morning I wake up completely surrounded by my mates. No one wanted to be apart while I slept off the exhaustion from escaping. Each of them are touching some part of me. Kiran and Nic are bracketing me on either side, Jeremy is laying across the top of the bed, Jay is in wolf form between my legs and Jax is at the end of the bed holding an ankle.
I’ve never been so completely surrounded by love. It feels incredible and just what I need as I wake up from the hell I was in. I’ve been drugged for weeks and even though there were the few times I started to come out of it, it still feels like a dream to be here. I’m conscious and completely aware of myself and my actions.
My mates came for me, just like I knew they would. I had no doubt they would save me from the hell I was in.
I shift a little, so I can snuggle into Kiran more. I take a big sniff of his oaky scent and commit it to memory. I nuzzle under his chin and accidentally wake him up.
He drops a kiss on my head, followed by at least twenty more. He drops lower, so he’s covering my face in them, then my neck, until he eventually ends at my lips.
He gives a deep soulful kiss filled with the longing he felt while we were apart. There is so much love in his kiss, I lose myself. I roll over, so I am completely against him, dislodging the others.
“I love you,” I whisper. I wasn’t going to wait a second longer to tell him. Being apart and knowing I hadn’t told them filled me with regret.
