Anchor of Secrets by Tessa Hale

36

Ice slid through my veins.I couldn’t control the tremble that took root in my muscles.

Ronan shot forward on the couch. “What the hell are you talking about?”

A muscle in Colt’s cheek ticked. “I’ve had a tail on her since we left Louisiana. Wanted to make sure that she didn’t do anything stupid.”

“But she did,” Ronan growled.

My shaking intensified as memories slammed into the walls I’d erected in my mind. The crack of a slap across my cheek. The shock of a punch to my ribs. The burning fire.

I squeezed my eyes closed as if that would somehow help.

Declan’s hold on me tightened. “I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

But I wasn’t—not if Maryanne was in Emerald Bay.

There was movement, and Colt crouched in front of me. “Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

“You don’t know that,” I whispered.

“I do because we’re going to make it so,” he growled.

My chest ached, a heaviness settling in that was almost too much to bear. “What does she want?”

Colt shook his head. “I don’t know. But I’ve got someone keeping a close eye on her. We’ll find out.”

Panic lit in my veins, and I jerked upright. “She can’t take me, can she?”

I was still seventeen, and my eighteenth birthday had never felt so far away. My rights to live the life I wanted were just out of reach.

Colt and Ronan shared a look.

“What?” I pressed.

Ronan shifted so he was facing me. “She signed a document that gave legal custody to Baldwin.”

“But?” I asked, knowing there had to be more.

Dash moved in closer, worry etched in his expression. “Custody isn’t that cut and dry. Courts will always want to reunite a family when at all possible.”

Family? She and I had never been that. Not even when my father was still alive. She tolerated me because I was a means to an end. To a lifestyle she wanted. And after my father died? It had gotten so much worse.

Nausea swelled, and I shot off the couch, running for the hall bathroom. I made it to the toilet just in time and emptied the meager contents of my stomach into the bowl.

Hands reached out, pulling my hair back. Another rubbed up and down my back.

I heard muted voices but couldn’t make out what they said, too lost in the heaving that rocked my body.

Colt kept rubbing my back. “You’re okay. Just breathe.”

I kept heaving, over and over.

“There’s nothing left in her damn stomach,” Ronan snarled.

“It’s a trauma response,” Dash told him.

“Well, how do you fucking stop it?” he shot back.

“Trace?” Dash asked.

There was silence for a moment.

“Fucking fix it,” Ronan snapped.

A second later, another set of hands landed on my back. They slipped beneath my T-shirt, and a buzz lit in my muscles. It was like an instant antianxiety pill. Everything in me eased.

The heaving slowed, then it stopped altogether. I could breathe.

“That’s it, Little Bird,” Trace said softly. “Hold on.”

He lifted me in his arms, and it was all I could do to hold my head up.

“Water,” I croaked. My mouth tasted like death warmed over.

“Here,” Dash said. “This is mouthwash.”

He tipped some to my lips, and I swirled it around.

Ronan lifted a cup so I could spit.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

My head lolled to the side, into Trace’s chest. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Before Trace had reached the stairs, sleep pulled me under.

* * *

I woketo the most delicious warmth. Surrounded by it. As if I were swimming in pure heat.

I blinked against the light. Colt came into focus first, his eyes locked on mine.

He brushed the hair from my face. “LeeLee.”

“Hi,” I said, my voice barely audible.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

Declan sat up from his spot behind Colt, waiting for my answer.

“Okay.” I wasn’t sure that was completely true. My muscles were weak, and my throat was raw from all the vomiting.

“Better than I am, dealing with Dash’s hard-on poking into my back all night,” Ronan groused.

Dash sat up, hair mussed, and reached for his glasses. “Sleeping surrounded by Leighton’s smell is going to do that to me. She’s my mate. It’s a biological reaction.”

“Well, I’m not down with your dick, so let’s figure out a way for you to curb that biological reaction, science nerd,” Ronan clipped.

I shifted, shoving up against the pillows. I was surrounded by four of my guys. They’d all stayed. Then my eyes locked on the fifth.

Trace sat in an overstuffed chair in my sitting area, Briar on his lap, happily purring as his tattooed hands petted her. I took in the designs on those long fingers. For the first time, I realized the designs spelled something. One hand held love, the other hate. The two parts of Trace that were at war with each other.

I lifted my gaze to his face. “Thank you.”

Trace’s jaw went tight, but he nodded.

I swallowed against the dryness in my throat, dropping my focus to my laced fingers. “Sorry I freaked out.”

Colt wrapped an arm around me, pressing a kiss to my temple. “You never have to apologize about that. I’m just sorry you had to go through it.”

Ronan’s fingers wove through mine. “Your mom isn’t going to be able to hurt you again. We’d run before we let that happen.”

My stomach hollowed out. I knew Ronan meant every word. “I can’t make you leave your home, your clans.”

Ronan reached up to cup my cheek. “Haven’t you realized yet? You are our home. Our family. You’re our everything.”