“Pickpocketing, robbery,” Rhys explained.
“An expert at second story work, you are.” The coldness left Tej’s eyes as he looked at Rhys. The Welshman’s smile was small but warm, and Ezra gave a roguish grin.
“And what of you?” Jessica asked Rhys.
His smile fell away. “Lived with my aunt and uncle in Aberystwyth. As Tej said, the wolf part of us comes out when we begin to leave childhood behind. Aunt Rhian and Uncle Alastair cast me out when they learned what I was becoming. They didn’t want to risk their neighbors or the vicar learning that their nephew was a monster, or what that might mean for them. They refused to become pariahs. Better me than them. After that, I was on my own.”
She pressed a hand to the center of her chest, covering her bruised and aching heart. The pain these men had suffered, the loneliness. The fear. In Tej’s case, he fled from his family because he loved them, to protect them. For Rhys, those that were supposed to love and protect him failed in their duty. What a brutal place this world was to those who were different.
“But you found friends,” she pointed out, gazing toward Tej and Ezra.
“Rhys had his back against the wall in an alley brawl in Colchester,” Ezra said, “five against one. Bullies and uneven odds never sit well with me. So, I stepped in.”
“You were a sight, with your fists swinging and a grin on your face.” Rhys chuckled.
“And you would’ve kept on grinning as your arses were handed to you,” Tej pointed out, “if I hadn’t joined the fun. We chased those drunk lackwits halfway to Chelmsford, then bought ourselves a round at the Doe and Dove.”
“Several rounds, if memory serves.” Ezra snickered. “Which it doesn’t, because we all got so disguised, I have very little memory of the rest of that night.”
The three men shared a laugh, shaking their heads.
It was almost enviable, the kind of friendship they shared. She had almost no one in her life she could consider so bosom a companion. Her parents were buried in an overcrowded churchyard, Charlie was often away, and there was Marie, a dress lodger down the hall where Jessica rented her rooms, whom she might share a pint with when they were both between engagements, but that was seldom, and Marie had her own circle of friends.
Strange, to be sitting here with these men and be harrowed with isolation.
“The hell of it was,” Ezra went on, “none of us knew the others were also werewolves.”
“A remarkable coincidence,” she exclaimed.
But Ezra gave another shake of his head. “There was a part of me that felt it, in some fashion.”
“We all felt it,” Tej said. “I knew you were like me. I was drawn to you, as you were to us.”
“We found each other,” Rhys said simply, “when we didn’t belong anywhere else.”
“Wolves live in packs, after all,” she noted.
A shadow fell across Ezra’s face. He stood abruptly and kicked dirt into the fire, extinguishing it. “Our appointment approaches,” he said gruffly. “There’s but one mount between all of us. Traveling on foot will take us longer, so if we’re to meet Quentin, we ought to leave now.”
With that, he stalked away from their makeshift camp. He moved toward their horse, placidly cropping grass two yards away.
Jessica frowned in confusion. “I’ve offended him, but I don’t know why or how.”
“A changeable man, is Ezra,” Tej said.
“What is his tale?” She didn’t implore precisely, but her words were taut with urgency.
Tej and Rhys kept their expressions blank.
“That’s his to give or not,” Rhys said, “as he chooses. Best take care of your needs, madam, before we head out. Once we start, there won’t be much time for stopping.”
Rhys stood and stretched his long body, graceful as a dancer, before going to join Ezra.
Jessica remained where she was, staring at the smoldering remains of the fire. Only when Tej’s large hand appeared in her sight did she realize he’d approached and offered to help her up.
She slid her hand into his, a jolt of awareness traveling through her at the touch of his skin to hers. It was hot and alive, a connection that singed her to her marrow. He possessed an impressive size and a strong body. He carried wounds even as courage helped him endure exile from those he loved.
When she had taken lovers in London, she’d preferred to tryst in their beds or in rented rooms so she could leave and return to her solitude, no fear of taking on their burdens when her own were so weighty. Yet…she could linger with Tej. Stroke and soothe him long after the sex was over. They could give each other solace…and pleasure.
