Ace wraps his arms around my waist, tucking me against him. He buries his face in my neck, inhaling my scent.
“I didn’t mean to snap at you,” He murmurs into my hair. I nod, wrapping my arms around his neck. Lucille purrs, making my chest rumble, and Ace chuckles at her reaction to him, despite the time not being appropriate.
“Sorry,” I tell him, but he shakes his head and kisses my cheek.
“Our wolves make noises; I expect her to purr. I would be worried if she didn’t,” He says while grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the hospital entrance.
We walked back up to the ward, and Aamon was nowhere to be seen. Tyson was on his phone pacing the corridor, talking to someone angrily. Ace tugs me over to the chairs in the waiting room and pulls me on his lap while we wait for Tyson to finish on the phone. Ace’s hand sneaked inside my shirt as he brushed his thumb over my stomach.
“I have sent people to check the airport’s security footage to see if Josie flew out of here,” Tyson says while hanging up and walking over to us.
“Any change?” Ace asks him, but Tyson shakes his head.
“No, but we should go home, shower, eat and try to get some sleep. We can’t sit around here all the time twiddling our thumbs,” Tyson says, and Ace sighs.
Tyson grips his shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “He will survive brother, he has too much to live for,” Tyson tells him. Ace nods against my back but doesn’t add anything.
“Come on, we should get home and away from this place, at least for a little while,” Tyson says before gripping my chin and forcing me to look up at him.
“You okay? You seem almost calm,” He says, and I swallow.
“Yep, fine, just needed some fresh air,” I lied. Tyson turns my face eyeing me suspiciously, or so I thought.
“You smell different, and you feel warmer.”
“Yeah, I haven’t showered in days. You don’t smell so hot either, and it is hot outside,” I tell him. He chuckles, letting my face go.
“Come on, let’s get home and shower,” I nod, and Ace unwraps his arms from around my waist and lets me up. Tyson tugs me toward him before kissing my hair.
“They will all be fine, and we will get them back. We just need to wait a bit longer. Avery or Ryker will wake soon, and then we will know what to do,” He says, and I nod. I already knew what to do, fucking search and not sit on our hands.
We all reluctantly left, but I needed to despite being worried about mum; I needed to head home to meet Melana tonight, anyway. I needed to bring my brothers home, make sure they were safe. Right now, that is all I care about.
The drive home was silent while I tried to figure out what to do next. Leaning between the two front seats, I turn the air-conditioning up. Tyson was right. My scent was so much stronger, the heat really getting to me.
Even Lucille was panting in my head and whining about the heat. Ace glances at me, his brows furrowed before touching my head, the warmth of his hand making me hotter, and I slap it away. A growl tears out of me. I felt so uncomfortable in this stuffy car.
“Yesh, settle down,” Ace growls at me.
“Sorry, it’s just boiling,”
“It is quite warm today,” he murmurs, and I see Tyson’s eyes dart to me in the rear vision mirror.
“I know everyone is irritable, but we just need to be patient. Once Avery wakes up, we will know our next move,”
“Anything is better than nothing,” I murmur, and his eyes dart to mine and narrow slightly.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, just tired,” I mumble, resting my head back on the headrest, enjoying the cold AC in the car. We pull up at home, and I instantly start sweating the moment I leave the coolness of the vehicle. A shiver runs through me at being back here, and it felt so long ago, even though it had only been a couple of days. And yet a lifetime of drama happened in that time.
The house was quiet as we entered, and Tyson checked the phone’s answering machine while I wandered down the hall to the bathroom. Pulling my phone out, I see a message from an unknown number, and I open it.
Unknown number: I will be in the garage at midnight and will wait for you until you escape them. I still think we should tell someone.
I figure the number is Melana. How she got my number was beyond me, but I just thought she either already had it or asked for it from someone.
Me: See you then. I will get Ace’s keys.
I replied just as the bathroom door opened. Ace walks in, and I put my phone down, locking the screen.
“Who was that?”
“Just checking my emails,” I lie, and he nods while walking over and turning the shower on, and stripping his clothes off. I shake my head. I intended to shower alone, but oh well. I tug my clothes off.
“Tyson?”
“On the phone,” Ace growls, and I wondered what had Ace so grumpy this time but couldn’t be bothered to ask.
The water was hot against my skin, and I turned the water down, the steam making me dizzy. “Freaking cold, Luce,” Ace shrieks when I turn it down.
“It is forty degrees outside,” I snapped at him when he tried to turn the temperature up.
“Doesn’t mean we need to freeze in the damn shower,” He retorts, turning it up. I roll my eyes at him and reach for the soap, snatching it from his hands.
“Fuck, what’s wrong with you?” He asks.
“Nothing,” I mumble while washing myself. Only a few more hours, I reminded myself, a few more hours and I would be out of here actually doing something other than waiting around and wasting time.
*************
The time ticked by slowly. We showered, had dinner, and then stared at the TV, not really watching it. Tyson spent the majority of the night on the phone pacing the verandah. Ace, however, was being annoying as hell and kept touching me. How his mind could even go there with everything going on was beyond me, and I was about to throat punch him if he didn’t stop soon.
All I kept thinking about was my brothers, my mind utterly consumed with their wellbeing, wondering if they were hungry, warm. If they had eaten, if Ryden had formula. If I was worried this much about my brothers, I would hate to be mum when she wakes up. This was pure torture, and I was never having kids if it meant spending all my time worrying about them like this.
The door opens, and Tyson walks in, he shivers, and a growl escapes him.
“It’s like an igloo in here,” Tyson mumbles, turning the ducted AC down. Ace moves again on the couch, tugging me against him.
“Will you stop?” I hiss at him and his grabby hands. Instead, he ignores me, rolling over and pressing me against the couch and moving between my legs.
“Ace!” I snap when his lips go to my neck as he nips at it. His erection pressed against my cotton shorts. Tingles rush across my skin as he nips at my neck. He thrusts his hips against me, and I fight the moan that tries to escape me. The last thing I need to do is provoke him more.
“Ace!” I growl while Lucille remained quiet, almost dormant in my head, and I could actually use her strength right now, but no, she runs off somewhere in my head.
“You smell so good,” Ace groans, nipping at my mark.
“It’s called deodorant. You should try it, now get off me,”
“She does smell different,” I hear Tyson murmur, and I feel Ace’s hands grip the side of my shorts as he tries to tug them down. I sink my teeth into his shoulder, and he groans. I huff, annoyed as he kept pawing at my clothes, trying to remove them.
“How can you even be thinking of sex right now, get off me, or I will toss you on your damn ass, last warning Ace,” Yet he chooses to ignore me and pins my hands in his above my head.
“Then let me change your mind,” I will change his in a damn minute, I thought to myself angrily. He grinds himself against me, and I lift my hips since he had my hands trapped and turn, making him topple off the couch. I land on top of him, my legs straddling his hips, and he grips my thighs, his eyes the black of his wolf when I throat punch him. He chokes, clutching his throat and I get to my feet.
“I fucking warned you,” I snap at him, stalking off down the hall. Tyson whistles and chuckles.
“Well, that’s what your stupid ass gets,” Tyson tells him while Ace gasped behind me. I shake my head, wondering how he could even be thinking of anything other than the situation at hand. I was about to walk into the spare bedroom when Tyson growled behind me.
“No, Ace’s room, We are all staying together,” Tyson commands, and I grit my teeth against the order as it rolled over me, pissed off he would even use it on me.
“Lucy, not tonight, sleep where you want after all this shit is over, but until Jamie is found, we remain together,” Tyson says, walking past me and pushing Ace’s bedroom door open. I glare at him before stalking past him and into the room. My blood felt like it was boiling in my veins as I climbed into the bed. Ace comes in a few seconds later and mumbles an apology which I ignore.
“He didn’t mean to upset you, Lucy, cut him some slack. Your scent is extra potent tonight,” Tyson mumbles, his eyes flickering, and I lay on my back, both of them sticking to the edge of the bed like they were too scared to get too close to me.
I didn’t blame them; I was in a terrible mood, and it suited me just fine, plus it was sweltering. I sat up, keeping an eye on the clock. Each minute passing felt like an hour, but eventually, they both fell asleep, yet both wouldn’t stop squirming in their sleep, and their arousal was ticking me off.
How could they both be so horny while sleeping while I was in a murderous mood and Lucille was anxious and quiet? And I could feel how uncomfortable she was, but her anxiousness helped keep me awake.
When it was nearly midnight, I heard movement outside and knew it was Melana. I try to untangle myself from them and climb over Tyson when he grips my hips.
He groans lewdly in his sleep, rubbing me against his erection, and I fight back my own sudden arousal. His hands-on my bare legs sent sparks straight up between my thighs. I fight the sudden urge off, struggling to get a grip of myself.
Melana is outside, I remind myself. My brothers, my brothers, I need to find my brothers, I repeatedly chant in my head, wondering why I was suddenly struggling with control. Tyson murmurs in his sleep, and I see Ace squirm on the other side of the bed. I force myself to step off the bed, and Tyson’s hands fall back to his sides.
I quickly rush out of the room, tiptoeing down the hall. I had no time to change and scoop my sneakers up from the door. Everything in me was trying to pull me back to my mates, some urge I couldn’t explain, and the further I moved through the house, the stronger it got.
I carefully pick up Ace’s car keys, making sure not to jiggle them before carefully unlocking the door and slipping out into the night. The crunch of the gravel made my feet ache, the breeze caressing my skin like shards stabbing into my skin as I raced up the side of the house to the garage. Melana waited in the shadows and stepped out, and I held the keys out to her.
She takes them and presses the key fob unlocking the doors, and the beep has us both freezing and glancing at the house nervously. When they don’t come rushing out, we open the doors and climb in, and Melana tosses a bag onto the backseat. Melana places the keys in the ignition and turns the dash on before putting the car in neutral. I glanced at her because she still hadn’t closed her door completely.
“We start the car; they will hear us before we get out of the driveway,” She whispers before stepping out. I open the door catching on, and we carefully push it out of the garage, letting it roll past the house before jumping back in.
Melana steers the car away from the house and down the long gravel road a bit before shutting her door and starting the car. I close my door, and I glance back at the packhouse in the distance but see no lights turn on and figure we are safe.
I let out a breath and turn back to face the front when she puts the car in gear and takes off. I wind the window down, needing air. Sweat dripped off me, and nausea rolled over me before we were completely off the gravel road.
“You okay?” Melana asks, and I nod, feeling the blood drain from my face. I felt terrible. The further we drove, the worse I got, something trying to pull me back home. We had been driving for over an hour, and our City was miles away from the secluded road we had pulled onto when Melana suddenly pulled over. She checks her phone.
“Shit, I have no reception,” Melana murmurs before hopping out of her car. She rummages in the backseat pulling a map from the bag and a flashlight. I hop out when she walks around to the hood of the vehicle, unrolling the map, the flashlight between her teeth. I clutch the side of the car. My stomach aching, making me double over.
“Lucy?” She asks, I wave her off, and she walks over and grips my arm before jerking away from me.
“What?”
“Your skin, it’s so hot, Lucy,” She tells me, rushing to the back of the car. She grabs a water bottle from her bag and hands it to me. I watch as she sniffs the air. My hands shook terribly as I twisted the cap off. I chug the water down thirstily, and Melana observes me before taking it from me and drinking some.
“How long have you been feeling like that,”
“Since we left,” I mutter, leaning against the hood of the car.
“You should have said something. You don’t look too good,” She says nervously, reaching out and touching my face. My skin felt clammy and sticky.
“Have you gone into heat yet?” She asks, and I raise an eyebrow at her.
“More Vampire, I don’t have a-” My words cut off as it dawns on me. Lucille, I have a wolf now.
“Shit, we need to go back and now,”
“What no, we have already come this far,” I tell her, staggering toward her. My surroundings spin and I lurch forward, my stomach contents spilling onto the ground as I heaved violently.
“Nope, we are going back,” I gasp.
“I am fine,” I gasp out.
“No, Lucy, you’re not fine. You are in heat, and you need your mates, you know it can kill you, you’re a mutation, our wolves weaker than an average werewolf in that state and we can’t transition through heat by ourselves, not without our mates,”