One for Three [Elite Dragons 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “I need your money.”

  “Uh, I don’t have any money, Katlynn.”

  Brooke watched with confusion as the other woman began to laugh. It wasn’t a joyful sound. It was full of cynicism and harshness. She watched Katlynn warily as the hair on her nape prickled and stood on end. She took a step back and then another, but halted in her tracks when Katlynn swung an arm up and pointed a gun at her.

  “You’re such a dumb bitch,” Katlynn said. “You are richer than Midas and don’t even know it.”

  Brooke held up her hands. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she protested in a quavering voice.

  “The lotto winnings, you idiot.”

  “I don’t play the lottery,” Brooke replied.

  Katlynn rolled her eyes. “Your grandmother won the lottery years ago. “You could have been living in the lap of luxury for years, but instead you live in a squalid apartment.”

  My grandmother? Brooke could only stare at her. Either this woman was crazy, or… The men with cameras and microphones… Ma ma was so happy that day…

  Katlynn went on in a bitter tone, “The sons of bitches told me I would be rewarded for getting them all those donors. Rewarded? Stabbed in the back, more like.”

  Brooke’s brain was working overtime. “Donors? You…?”

  “Yeah, me,” Katlynn sneered. “And then they thought they’d throw me in that basement with you and those other cows. That two-timing bastard, Smith, forgot that I know all about you and your little fortune. So now it’s time for me to get my reward.”

  “You sent that man after me,” Brooke said. She heard the words come out of her mouth, but she hardly believed them. “The man who tried to—”

  “The idiot who failed to do what I’m doing now.” Katlynn cut her off impatiently and then gestured with the gun for her to come closer. “We can chat later. Get over here before I shoot you.”

  Brooke eyed Katlynn intently as she moved a step closer. She wanted to yell for Martha but didn’t want to put the elderly woman in danger. She was scared if she called for Coulter, Trace, and Corbin that they would get hurt, too.

  “Move it,” Katlynn hissed at her.

  Brooke looked around for something to use as a weapon, but she was too far away from the coffee table. She took another step closer to Katlynn, moving slowly until she was within arm’s reach. Katlynn was quite a few inches taller than Brooke and more solidly built. She knew she would have to use every bit of strength if she had any hope of getting away from the woman. She caught movement behind Katlynn and saw Jason Pike walking up the hall from the bedrooms.

  Brooke felt a surge of relief. She’d seen Jason around the stud. He would help her. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but then he spoke.

  “Hurry the fuck up. We have to get out of here,” Jason said.

  “We’re coming,” Katlynn snapped.

  Brooke’s heart sank. So much for that idea.

  “Move your ass, Brooke. Follow Pike.” Katlynn pushed the barrel of the gun into her shoulder.

  Pike led them down the hall and into her bedroom. She waited with trepidation as Katlynn locked the door and then held the gun on her while Pike pushed the chest of drawers in front of the door. She went to take a step back, but Katlynn’s cold voice stopped her.

  “Don’t move or I’ll shoot you, now.”

  “No, I don’t think you will,” Brooke replied quietly.

  “What?” Katlynn snarled.

  “If you shoot me you’ll never get your hands on my money.” Brooke cursed the fact her voice trembled.

  “I can shoot you without killing you, bitch.”

  “Yes, you can, but that will only make it so much harder for you to get away. You need me, and you need for me to be able to keep up with you,” Brooke said confidently.

  “Shut the fuck up, you whore,” Katlynn raged, and then she hit Brooke on the side of the head with the butt of the pistol.

  Brooke whimpered as pain radiated through her skull and into her brain. Dark spots formed in front of her eyes, and she fell to the floor on her knees.

  “Get up,” Pike demanded nastily and pulled her up by her hair. Brooke sobbed with pain and fear, but did as he said. “You stupid, fucking bitch. Why did you have to hit her?”

  “She was pissing me off,” Katlynn snarled.

  “Shit, let’s get the hell out of here,” Pike grumbled.

  Brooke was having trouble seeing. Her vision was slightly blurry. She figured she’d had too many knocks to the head lately. Her head was pounding, but she had to push the pain to the back of her mind. She needed to keep her wits about her if she was going to get out of this situation unharmed. She knew they had to keep her alive until they got what they wanted, access to money she had no idea she even possessed.

  Pike lifted the window and slid out to the snow-covered ground, still holding on to her hair. She tried to pry his fingers away, but his grip was too hard. He pulled her through the opening headfirst and didn’t bother to help her when she fell. She wasn’t dressed for the weather conditions, and her slippers and feet got soaked and cold as soon as they hit the ground. Her jeans were already wet, and so was her long-sleeved T-shirt. She shivered as the icy wind penetrated her damp clothing.

  Brooke stumbled after Pike as he led her away from the house and into the forest. She fearfully realized they were following the same route that her other attacker had taken her. He must have a vehicle waiting nearby to escape in. And then what? Brooke shivered, this time from fear rather than cold. If they put her in their car or whatever they had out here, she knew she’d never be found.

  She sent up a prayer. If I never see them again, I hope they still know. Coulter, Trace, Corbin, I love you all so much.

  * * * *

  The frozen air dampened Coulter’s sense of smell, but to his enhanced vision, the footprints stood out against the snow like a flaming arrow pointing toward Brooke. He moved silently, his own feet making only the softest crunch as he followed the trail. Finding Brooke and her would-be kidnappers wasn’t going to be the hard part.

  They don’t want her harmed, either.

  He wouldn’t leave anything to chance when Brooke was involved. He lowered his empathetic barrier, feeling ahead. He immediately registered the presence of Trace and Corbin, flanking him through the trees. Even Coulter couldn’t see them when they didn’t want to be seen. He ignored their mental signatures.

  There. Ahead, exactly where he would expect the tracks to lead. He could feel two people, presumably Katlynn and Pike, who radiated tension and anger. And close to them was a third.

  Coulter’s gut twisted. Brooke was injured. He felt her pain and fear. And beneath that, pulsing like a beacon, he sensed something more familiar. If he concentrated, he could make out her thoughts.

  Coulter, Trace, Corbin. She was thinking about them even now.

  Coulter told himself to keep it together. He had to focus. More worrying even than Brooke’s pain and anguish was what he was picking up from Pike, now. The foreman was looking for the vehicles he’d left out here in the woods. Snowmobiles, Coulter would bet. He suspected their plan was to escape north, toward the border.

  For a moment, Coulter glimpsed Pike’s reasons for betraying the Elite Dragons, but there wasn’t time to dwell on it now. Brooke’s pain flashed in and out of Coulter’s mind. He had to put his mental barrier up again. However useful it might be to track them that way, he couldn’t risk preoccupation. Soon, he told himself, she would be safe in his arms again.

  Pike and Katlynn weren’t getting away. Not on his watch.

  * * * *

  She was having trouble keeping up, as the snow was deep and she had lost her slippers in the snow. Her bones throbbed with the piercing pain from the cold, and she knew if they didn’t do something, she wouldn’t be alive to sign over her money.

  “Wait, I’ve lost my slippers and my feet are going numb. If you don’t get me warm soon, I am going to die from exposure,” Brooke stated
calmly but breathlessly.

  “Fuck, Katlynn, can’t you do anything right?” Pike snarled.

  When Brooke didn’t hear a reply she turned her head to locate the other woman and stumbled. She knocked into Pike, but he caught her before she fell and wrapped his arms around her. He turned her around until her back was up against his front. Katlynn was nowhere to be seen.

  Pike moved one of his arms, and then the cold steel of a gun was pressed against her temple. She looked around frantically, searching for her men, because she knew they were there somewhere.

  Corbin stepped into the clearing, a gun pressed against Katlynn’s head. “Drop the weapon or your woman dies, Pike.”

  “She’s not my woman. Go ahead and shoot her,” Pike shouted next to Brooke’s ear.

  Corbin flicked a switch on the side of the gun and pushed the barrel harder into Katlynn’s head. Brooke knew the woman probably deserved everything she got, but still she squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to witness her death. But the report of the gun never came. She opened her eyes, and Katlynn and Corbin had disappeared. Where the hell are they? What do they think they are doing? Playing cat and mouse?

  “Drop the gun, Pike. You have two choices. You can let Brooke go and live, or you can die,” Trace called in a deadly cold voice as he stepped into view.

  Brooke wanted him to look at her, but he didn’t. He completely ignored her.

  “You and I both know you aren’t going to kill me. You can’t take the risk. I might just accidentally pull the trigger as I die,” Pike spat. “You wouldn’t want me killing your precious woman, now would you?”

  The muscle in Trace’s jaw twitched, betraying the truth behind Pike’s words. She willed him to look at her, and when his eyes flicked to her briefly she held his attention.

  “Do it. Shoot him,” Brooked mouthed.

  Trace took a step forward, and the gun in Pike’s hand left her head and pointed in her man’s direction. Brooke shoved her elbow into Pike’s gut and at the same time knocked his arm up. The deafening gunshot rang in her ears, and she felt a sting in her arm and wondered if Pike’s bullet had hit her.

  When the smoke cleared from the gun, she looked up at Trace. He was running toward her, and his mouth moved, but Brooke only heard silence. She turned slowly and looked for Pike. He lay on the ground, a bullet hole right between his eyes and a look of shock painted his expression. She stood staring down at him, and even though she wanted to move, her body wouldn’t cooperate.

  Her vision swirled, and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground looking up at the sky. The winter sun illuminated the clouds, making them glisten and sparkle, and she stared, mesmerized. Three faces loomed over her and she tried so hard to focus and let them know she was all right, but couldn’t manage to get her mouth to form the words. She smiled at them and then closed her eyes.

  * * * *

  Trace’s brothers were at his side moments later, and they each knelt down in the cold snow calling Brooke’s name. She smiled up at them, and her eyes closed. Her skin was stark white, and she was shivering from the cold.

  Blood seeped out onto the snow beneath her, and he carefully maneuvered her onto her side. He cursed a blue streak when he realized he was the one who had shot their woman. He ripped off his Kevlar vest and coat and reached under his shirt for the hem of his T-shirt. He ripped a strip off and tied it around her arm as firmly as he could to stem the flow of blood. He picked her up and, with his brothers’ help, wrapped her up in his jacket. He cursed again when he realized her feet were bare. They had to get her back to the house fast. They didn’t want her getting frostbite or hypothermia again, and they had to see to her gunshot wound.

  “Wolf, Brooke’s been shot. I need you to be ready to attend her,” Trace rasped into his microphone.

  “On it. Get her back to the house as quickly as possible,” Wolf replied.

  Trace hurried back to the house and carried her into the room which had been set aside for just such medical emergencies. Wolf was already prepping to treat their woman. Trace placed her on the bed and began to remove her clothes. He didn’t want Wolf to see his woman naked, but knew he had to get her wet things off. Once done he wrapped her up in warmed cotton blankets and a thermal one. He grabbed some thick socks which Coulter handed him and covered her feet. He carefully lifted her injured arm and laid it on the bed.

  Trace paced back and forth in the room as Wolf worked. His gut churned as he relived the moment he had shot Brooke. He couldn’t believe he had hurt their woman. He felt sick to his stomach.

  “Stop beating yourself up, Trace. You did what you had to. You couldn’t have known she was going to move at the exact same moment you pulled the trigger,” Wolf said quietly.

  “Fuck. I can’t believe I shot her. I should have waited. He wasn’t holding the gun to her head anymore,” Trace replied with anguish.

  “No, he wasn’t, but if you had hesitated he could have swung back and shot her. She could be dead right now instead of just having a wound to her arm.”

  “How bad is it?” Trace asked.

  “Not bad at all. The bullet went right through, so I don’t have to go digging for it, nor did it hit any bones or tendons. She is going to be sore for a while, but she should have no lasting effects. I’ve given her a shot of antibiotics, a tetanus vaccine, and also a painkiller. She should be right as rain,” Wolf explained in a calm voice.

  “Thank God,” Trace whispered and sank into the chair off to the side of the room as his brothers left. He had seen the concern in their faces as they waited for Wolf’s diagnoses. He was to blame for the fact their woman lay unconscious in the medical room. He just hoped that Brooke could forgive him for what he had done, because he knew damn well he would never be able to forgive himself.

  Chapter Twelve

  Brooke woke with a raging thirst, a pounding headache, and a very sore arm. She opened her eyes a couple of times and blinked the sleep haze from her vision, then turned her head and looked around the unfamiliar room. Trace was sitting in a chair in the corner, fast asleep. He looked so uncomfortable. His big body was just too large for the small chair. His head was tilted to the side and down until it looked like his chin was touching his chest. His long legs were sprawled out in front of him, and he looked like he was in danger of falling off the seat onto the floor. Licking her dry lips and turning to look about the room, she discovered she was in a bed that looked like it belonged in a doctor’s office. Hearing a noise at the door and looking toward it as it opened, she smiled as Wolf entered.

  “How are you doing, sugar?” Wolf asked.

  “I’m okay,” Brooke replied quietly.

  “What?” Trace rasped and sat up with a jerk. He only barely managed to stop himself from falling to the floor. He looked at Wolf and then at her. His eyes slid away from her again, and he rose to his feet. “I’m glad you’re awake, darlin’. How are you?”

  “I’m fine. I want to thank you for saving me, Trace. If you hadn’t come along I would probably be dead,” Brooke whispered.

  “Shit. I, uh, have to do…something.” Trace stood almost before he had his feet under him. “You just rest, Brooke. One of us will be back to check on you later,” Trace stated abruptly and then left without a backward glance.

  Brooke felt tears prick her eyes and blinked a few times, refusing to let them fall. Once she had her hurt emotions under control, she watched Wolf as he checked her over.

  “Don’t let him get to you, sugar. He’s feeling guilty over you getting hurt.”

  “What? But that’s just ludicrous. How can he blame himself when he saved me?” Brooke asked, bewildered.

  “He’s the one that shot you, Brooke. He just can’t let it go. He blames himself for your injury. He didn’t want to see you hurt by that bastard, let alone injure you himself.”

  “He couldn’t have done anything different. If he hadn’t taken a shot at Pike, I’d probably be dead,” Brooke declared vehemently.

  “I know that, you k
now that, but I don’t think Trace sees it that way, sugar. You are going to have to tell him.” Wolf gave her another shot for the pain. “Okay, you can get up if you want to. Coulter is getting you some clothes. You aren’t to do anything but rest, all right? I don’t want you pulling my stitches or wearing yourself out.”

  “I have stitches?”

  “Yeah, ten. Five in front and another five in the back of your arm. Come and see me if you experience too much pain,” Wolf advised.

  “Okay, thanks, Wolf.”

  “No problem, and stay out of trouble.”

  “Oh, believe me, I intend to. I have had more than enough excitement from the last few weeks to last me more than a lifetime,” Brooke declared.

  Wolf left, and minutes later, Coulter stepped in and closed the door.

  “Hi, baby, how are you feeling?”

  “I’m okay. Oh good, clothes,” Brooke said when she saw the garments he had brought along.

  “Yeah, I’ve brought you some of Trace’s sweats. I thought they would be easier to get in and out of with your injury.”

  “That’s okay. I don’t care what you brought, just as long as I can dress and get up. Will you please help me?” Brooke asked.

  “Sure, baby,” he replied.

  She watched him as he set down the clothes. “Was anyone else injured?” she asked.

  “Pike was,” Coulter answered. He picked up an oversized sweatshirt and shook it out, then came over to her.

  She held up her good arm so he could slip the sweatshirt over her, but as he turned away to get the pants she touched his hand. Coulter stopped. “I know you want to protect me,” Brooke said, “but I have to know. What happened? Katlynn told me about the lottery money. Was she telling the truth?”

  Coulter didn’t answer as he helped her work her injured arm through the other sleeve. She barely felt it with Wolf’s painkiller in her system. “It’s true,” he said. “You’re pretty rich, baby.”

  Brooke wasn’t particularly interested in the money right now. She waited for Coulter to go on.