N. Walters - Legacy Found

“Years.” Micah leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“Decades,” Joshua corrected. “Isaiah never really gave up. Even now, he still searches for information. He always planned on killing your captors if he discovered who they were.”

A single tear escaped and rolled down her face. Shelley swiped it away. Her chest ached and her heart pounded against her ribs. She hadn’t been thrown away. Abandoned, as Tom had claimed. She had a family who’d searched for her. Who’d never forgotten her.

“Thank you.”

All four of her brothers looked pained. “Don’t thank us,” Joshua told her. “We failed you.” He reached out and took her hand, gently rubbing his fingers over hers. “You obviously rescued yourself.”

Shelley tensed. She knew what was coming.

“How did you get away? After all those years.”

She stared at her brother and knew she owed him the truth. Owed it to all of them. Especially to James after he’d insisted she come home with him. Without James, she might never have discovered the truth.

It felt strange to know she had family. She felt no true connection to them. Not yet. Maybe not ever. Only time would tell. Maybe she wasn’t capable of such a connection. The years of captivity had damaged her in many ways.

“Tell us what you remember, Shelley.” James shifted closer, offering his support.

She ignored the pain in her head and slowly withdrew her hand from her brother’s. She took a sip of her tea, letting the warmth slide down her throat and calm her stomach. She offered Alex and the rest of them a strained smile.

“I honestly don’t remember much about that day or those first few months of captivity. I think I was kept drugged.”

Joshua frowned. “But human drugs don’t affect us.”

“I don’t think they were human drugs. More like animal tranquilizers. Heavy doses.” Shelley strained to remember things she’d spent decades trying to forget. “I overheard a lot over the years. And I know he kept a supply on hand in case I escaped.”

She frowned. “I was kept caged for the most part during the early years. At least during the night.”

Joshua growled, a low, deadly sound. Levi and Micah reached toward him, putting their hands on his shoulders. She envied the easy camaraderie between them.

“His name, Shelley. What’s his name?” Simon, the youngest of her brothers, sat forward, his gaze intent.

She swallowed, not wanting to say the name aloud. “Tom,” she whispered.

Shelley looked down at her hands, fully expecting to see Tom’s blood there. She set her mug down and rubbed her palms over her jeans. “I kept his house, cooked his food and did his laundry.” No way did she want to talk about what else had happened.

James touched her shoulder and she leaned into his hand. Of all of them, he was the one who was most familiar to her. The one she trusted. She swallowed hard and forced herself to continue. “The years went on and eventually he’d lock me in a closet at night.” Her ankles bore the scars of all those years of being wrapped in silver-coated manacles every night.

“But you’ve changed into your wolf form, haven’t you?” Joshua frowned.

Shelley nodded.

“How?” This from Micah.

She shook her head. She wasn’t talking about that. She’d told James. She didn’t want to relive it again.

“Shelley?” Joshua prompted.

“No.” She straightened her shoulders. “There are some things you don’t need to know.” Before he could protest, she hurried on. “Anyway, I got away and ran. I found a job about a month later and that’s where James found me.” That was all she was telling them, all they needed to know.

Steve Macmillan pulled his SUV off the road and onto a rutted path. From here, it couldn’t be seen from the road. And even if it was, who cared? It was just a bunch of good ol’ boys out hunting. Why, they were practically performing a public service, keeping the world safe for the human sheep who were unaware that monsters really existed. The fact it happened to be fun was a bonus.

He killed the ignition and climbed out. Jessup was waiting right where he said he’d be. Quinn angled his truck off the road and quickly joined him.

“What have you got?” Steve was impatient to get moving. He hated these fucking wolves with his entire being. They were nothing but animals. Hadn’t that she-bitch killed his father?

Jessup held up his cell phone. “Got a couple of pictures. They’re not the greatest because I couldn’t get close, but they’re better than nothing.”

Steve took the phone and started scanning the photos. He recognized the big male from the gas station. But it was the photo of the woman that stopped him cold. It was grainy and a little blurry, but that didn’t matter. He might not have seen her in a few years, but he’d recognize that bitch anywhere. Shelley.

The fates had smiled on him. What were the odds of her falling right into his lap? After the debacle of the past few months it looked like the gods were smiling on him.

“Well, well, well.” Quinn and Jessup both tensed. “Look what we have here.” He tossed the phone to Quinn, who looked at the picture.

“A woman?”

“Not just any woman.” Steve rubbed his hands together. He couldn’t wait to recapture that bitch and make her pay for his father’s death. “That’s Shelley.”

Quinn took a second look at the photo while Jessup whistled almost soundlessly between his teeth. “You’ve been looking for her for months, boss.”

“That I have, Jessup.” Only a handful of men knew about Shelley’s existence and he planned to keep it that way. For the time being anyway. He clapped the man on the shoulder. “Red and the boys will be here soon. Then we’ll do some recon.”

Steve walked a few feet away from the other two and pulled out his cell phone.

Red answered on the first ring. “We’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

“That’s good.” He glanced over at Jessup and Quinn but they were quietly talking. “Who else knows where we’re going?”

“No one. You said you wanted to keep things quiet. Why?”

“It’s her, Red.”

“You sure?”

“Jessup has a picture.” Steve still couldn’t quite believe his luck. “I’m gonna tranq the bitch and take her to your cabin for a spell.”

“You sure that’s wise?”

“I’m not my father, Red. I won’t make the mistake of treating her like a pet, forgetting what she really is. But she has to pay for what she’s done.”

“It’s your call.”

“Yes, it is. See you when you get here.” Steve closed his phone and tucked it away.

The house was quiet now. The wind pushed at the windows and the wood creaked as the structure cooled. Shelley lay in bed and stared up at the ceiling.

Her brothers had asked more questions, but she hadn’t given any answers. Her pounding headache had gotten too bad to ignore. She couldn’t tell if it was from all the tension or from her suppressed memories. Either way, her head hurt and her stomach churned. James had sensed her discomfort and called a halt to the questions.

It surprised her that her brothers had obeyed him. But then she remembered that James was alpha of this pack. And from the little she did know about wolves, she knew that meant what he said was law.

Then had come the debate over her accommodations. Joshua had assumed she’d be going home with him and Alex. James had told her it was her choice. She’d chosen to stay with him.

She’d hurt Joshua and the others even though she hadn’t meant to. But he was a stranger to her. They all were. As much as she wanted to, she felt no attachment to them. Had no real memories.

She actually experienced pangs of guilt for not feeling something more for them. Obviously, they’d loved their sister. But she wasn’t that young girl.