Byron
Nothing to see here. Just three buck-naked and bleeding people walking nonchalantly back to their car in the parking lot of a seedy hotel. A couple of people looked our way and stared for a moment, and then shrugged and continued about their business. Wyatt and I did our best to use our own bodies to shield Bella from their curious stares. They probably assumed we were high on drugs or drunk. Wyatt and I usually kept a couple of changes of clothes in the back of the vehicle. We pulled on the sweats and gave the shirts to Bella. She pulled one over her head, and wrapped the other around her waist like skirt. At least somewhat decent, we piled back into the SUV and started the drive for home. Wyatt was behind the wheel, so I took the back seat with Bella. I’m not going to lie, I just wanted to be near her, to touch her, to bask in the scent of her. I needed to reassure myself that she was there, that she was alive and well, that we hadn’t lost her. She seemed equally needy, as she lay herself down across the seat and put her head in my lap. I held her and stroked her hair away from her face. I took care not to touch the cuts and scratches from the broken glass. They were mostly minor, except for the two deeper cuts on her shoulder. After a few minutes I felt her breathing grow shallow and uneven, and I knew she was asleep.
I met Wyatt’s eyes in the rear view mirror, and his thoughts mirrored my own. He was unhappy that we had let the bear get away. Not only was there the ever-present risk that the woman would come for our mate again, there was the fact that we had not had the opportunity to question her. We did not know the what and why that motivated her to kidnap our mate in the first place. I had deduced, from the conversation that passed at the edge of the woods, that the woman was a hired gun. But hired by whom?
How were we supposed to protect our mate, if we didn’t know who we were protecting her from?
The pack was in an uproar by the time we returned to Valiant Mountain. Word had spread that our mate, and their future Luna had been taken. We were met at the gates by fifty of our best warriors, who were armed and ready to go to war at that very moment. They only waited to be pointed in the right direction. They didn’t need a Luna ceremony to bind them to our mate, they had already accepted her wholly and completely. They were almost disappointed to learn that she had been kidnapped by a lone attacker, and the foe was already neutralized. Still they celebrated the return of their Luna with noisy cheering until we disappeared into the halls of the pack house.
Daphne was waiting for us, her eyes swollen and red rimmed. She threw herself at Bella and sobbed into her neck. “Oh my god, B-bella!” she wailed, “I th-thought I’d l-lost you. Its all my fault, I should never have l-let you g-go alone!”
“Hush now,” Bella rubbed her back like a mother soothing a child. “It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known. And see, I’m back, I’m safe. Nothings wrong. Stop crying now.”
Daphne’s noisy sobs quieted into hiccups, and she wiped her runny nose on the back of her sleeve. I set her gently aside. “We need to go now, Daffy. Our mate needs a bath and some first aid. We’ll see you later, okay?”
She snuffled loudly and nodded her head, letting us go. We took Bella between us and led her back to her bedroom. “I wasn’t kidding about the bath, my love. I can smell that bear all over you, and its making me insane.”
“What about you? Your side? I think you might need stitches, Byron.” She said, gesturing to my torn up side. I waved it away. I wasn’t going to leave her side to go to the infirmary, even if my innards were falling out.
We crowded into the bathroom. Wyatt cranked on the water, and I stripped her out of our shirts. She shivered, but made no attempt to hide or cover herself. I loved that. I loved that she was no longer shy or timid with us. Under the stinging spray of water, we took turns scrubbing her before we washed ourselves. Somehow we all knew it wasn’t the time for anything more than getting clean. Wyatt toweled her off, and then carried her, naked and still damp back to the bed. He sank down beside her and sniffed her deeply. “Now at least... “ He murmured. He then started inspecting her cuts. She was healing fast. Most of the lacerations on her face and shoulder had scabbed over. The silver-burns on her wrists, however, would take far longer to heal. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the raw flesh as gently as he could. “I’m so sorry Bella. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m sorry that we failed to protect you.”
She smiled softly and sadly, stroking his long hair back. “You didn’t fail me. I’m here now, and I’m safe.”
“We swore... we swore that no one would ever hurt you again.”
Something flickered in her eyes, some thought that she didn’t voice. Instead she sat up, and rearranged herself so that she was touching both of us. “I have a question.”
“Ask anything, my love.” I whispered to her.
“What does the name Levesque mean to you?”
“What? Levesque? The mad King?”
She tipped her head inquisitively, “The king of what?”
“The Canadian werewolves of the north east are united under an old family of royals. Louis Levesque is the king, but he went crazy when his mate and child died.” I shrugged, “His brother pretty much runs everything now.”
She took a shaky breath. “Tell me... tell me about the child who died.”
Wyatt looked up at the ceiling. “I don’t know, we were just kids when it happened. A car crash or something. I remember mother saying it would be the end of the royals.” Suddenly he gasped and sat up, practically dumping Bella off of him in the process. “Isabella. The child was called Isabella Levesque.”
It took my brain a moment to catch up... like tumblers turning slowly in a lock until it all clicked in place. Bella... Isabella... “You are Isabella Levesque.”
She looked at me helplessly, her eyes dark and confused and conflicted. “I don’t know.”