Territory - Prequel Read online

  “Hi mom.” Chloe wrapped her arms around her mother’s slight shoulders from behind. She felt her mother stiffen then her shoulders hunched and a long moan of agony tore loose as her mother’s body wracked with uncontrollable sobs. Chloe knew she’d fought hard to hang on to her misery through the service, but now alone in their own home; her mother had no strength left.

  Chloe didn’t speak, she didn’t have to. She knew there were no words that would offer her mother any solace, so she did the only thing she could. She simply held her mother as her heart broke into a thousand little pieces within her chest, as her own warm tears slid silently down her cheeks.

  ***

  Hidden by the thick foliage of the woodlands behind the two-story brick house, Dell watched solemnly as Chloe held her mother.

  He noted how the younger woman fought to keep from breaking. Her lip trembled and she seemed angered by the tears that slid free. But even outside, in the thundering rain yards from the house, he still caught the scent of the anguish within. The scent so mirrored his own mothers torment that it clenched his belly into one giant knot.

  He hated this, all of it! Every single second of suffering that had occurred in the past two months had been the direct result of his family’s lineage. He gritted his teeth and seethed at the weakness: Donnie’s weakness at not being able to control and keep his woman; Beverly’s weakness in not being able to deny Mace; and Mace’s weakness at not being able to walk away from Beverly.

  Mama and Cindy had warned Dell, Mace, and their younger brother, Briggs, that once they found their true mate that they’d be unable to deny her regardless of circumstance. Now, Dell growled at the injustice of it all. He didn’t want to be bound to someone in such a manner. It wasn’t fair, and the current circumstances proved that it wasn’t right.

  Never before had he questioned what he was…until now. Today he wondered if his family, his kind, weren’t simply beasts after all.

  ***

  Chloe loosened her grip on her mother, bending to brush her lips against her mother’s temple. “Come on mom. Let me make you some coffee.”

  The older woman shook her head, “I just want to lie down.”

  Chloe followed as her mother headed for the stairs.

  “Most have gone to the reception, but if any guests come,” Bea halted briefly, “feed them and thank them.”

  Chloe nodded wordlessly. Her mother could always rely on her to do as asked. At twenty-seven, it wasn’t a matter of obedience, rather a matter of respect.

  Once her mother disappeared at the top of the stairs, Chloe busied herself picking up her mother’s home.

  Bea’s typically immaculate home was now cluttered with dirty dishes, wads of dirty clothes, and piles of yet-to-be discarded newspapers from the past several days. It was a testament to her mother’s suffering. Even when their father had passed, her mother’s home had remained spotless. But now, eyeing her surroundings, Chloe could almost feel her mother’s release on the tight reins of control she had clutched so fiercely. It was terrifying. The prospect of her mother succumbing to her misery was a despair that Chloe knew she’d never overcome. Chloe bit her lip worriedly, How do I keep mom from going under?

  When the doorbell chimed, Chloe raised her eyes to the ceiling hoping her mother wasn’t disturbed by the noise. As she strode quickly to the front door, she smoothed her hands over her hair and stopped with her hand on the knob to suck in a reassuring breath. Should it hurt this bad just to breathe?

  Chloe opened the door without bothering to paste on a pleasant or non-committed welcoming smile. Instead, she opted for resigned tolerance, which was exactly what she felt. She didn’t want visitors and her mother didn’t either, but it was how her community offered condolences.

  Pulling the door open, she sucked in another agonized breath as her eyes locked on Dell Blackbird.

  He stood in her doorway, drenched, his head lowered as rain dripped from his lithe frame. He was wearing the same suit he’d worn to the funeral, only now instead of looking sophisticated and controlled, he seemed dangerous. The lines of his body were taught…rigid. It was startling, and Chloe realized she should have been frightened, but she was too damn mad to be frightened.

  Her brows knitted in anger as Dell lifted his head, his eyes locking with hers.

  When Dell growled fiercely and fell to the floor, Chloe wasn’t quite sure what was happening. A wave of nausea crashed over her, followed immediately by a peaceful serenity. It was the first time she’d felt at peace since her brother’s death. The emotion drew a whimper from her parted lips even as her knees threatened to buckle.

  She braced her arms in the doorframe, clutching the wood tightly until she regained her composure. When Dell hissed out a long agonized breath, Chloe instinctively bent to offer aid before she quickly righted herself.

  With one hand clamped on her fluttering belly, she mustered up as much hatred as she could. “No need to bow to me dog!” She fought to keep the confusion from her tone, but she knew she failed miserably.

  Dell’s head snapped up, his strong features contorted in fury and pain. One hand clutched his belly while he growled through gritted teeth, “I am no dog!”

  Chloe sneered down at him. She’d heard the stories. It was a small town after all, and everyone knew the story. Blackbirds were supposedly descendants of skin walkers, shape shifters, wolves. It was a joke at first, but over the years the rumor had garnered the Blackbird family first mockery, then respect, and then fear. Now the town’s folk regarded them with what Chloe could only compare to some semblance of reverence.

  “You’re all dogs. Filthy beasts.” She lowered her head to deepen her sneer. She hated him, and she wanted him to hurt like she was hurting. “Someone should put you down.”

  Dell struggled to his feet, drawing in a ragged breath. “Keep it up and I’ll show you how beastly I can be.”

  Chloe’s sneer faltered and she flushed angrily at the telling catch in her voice, “You already have.”

  “CHLOE!”

  Chloe’s head snapped round to discover her mother frowning disapprovingly at her daughter from the top of the stairs. She eyed her mother for several tense moments and when she turned back to Dell, he was gone.

  “That was uncalled for,” her mother admonished.

  Chloe ignored her mother’s comment as she gulped in several breaths of fresh air. Her belly felt queasy and her muscles shook as they fought to keep her upright.

  “What did you do to that young man?”

  Chloe’s frown eased into innocence, “Nothing.” She turned then to eye her mother, “I didn’t touch him he just…fell.”

  “You know who he was?” her mother accused.

  Closing the door, Chloe rubbed a hand gingerly over her belly, “Yeah ma.” She looked up to eye her mother as she raised her chin in a show of superiority.

  “We’ll not be at war with the Blackbirds Chloe. I forbid it!”

  Chloe stood frowning silently up at her mother. You may not be at war mother, but I sure as hell am!

  Without a word, her mother turned and returned to her room leaving Chloe to try to figure out what had just happened. She crossed to the sofa, dropping onto the cushion as she wrapped her arms around herself. What in the hell was that? She rocked herself back and forth, as she replayed the incident in her mind. Maybe he tripped. She shook her head. Dell had been standing motionless until his eyes had met hers.

  She closed her eyes when she replayed the memory. Dell’s dark eyes had erupted into a flame of blazing amber before his pupils had dilated to engulf his eyes moments before he’d dropped. She hadn’t imagined it. Something had affected him.

  Licking her lips, she stilled as she remembered the serenity that had washed over her. She’d felt so warm, so safe, so loved. It was like being whole. Like being home. God she wanted to feel it again, if only for a moment.
r />   Chloe forced her eyes open as she gnashed her teeth. She refused to believe the emotion had anything to do with Dell Blackbird. He can burn in hell!

  She forced herself to her feet. She knew her mother had gone back to bed, so she extinguished every light in the house before returning to the sofa to sit alone in the dark.

  Chapter 3

  Dell shifted once he hit the tree line. He had to get home, something was seriously wrong. The sudden attack that had disabled him at Chloe’s door still had tremors coursing through his body. It had been her eyes. Something had happened when they locked eyes; he just had no idea what it was.

  He half trotted, half limped through the dark forest, noting that the pain grew more intense the further from her he traveled.

  Witch? He couldn’t help but wonder if she and her family were some form of medicine people, magic makers. What else could explain what she’d done to him, because she had definitely done something.

  Dell fell against the nearest tree and summoned his younger brother through pack ties that allowed them to communicate telepathically.

  When Briggs confirmed that he was on his way, Dell pushed off the tree and forced himself onward. As much as it hurt and as much as he wanted to curl into a tight ball and wait for rescue, Dell was the Alpha now. With his brother’s demise, he’d inherited the title as the eldest male sibling, and as Alpha he was expected to act as such. No cowering in the forest from a chance meeting with the sister of his brother’s enemy.

  Dell groaned as he forced himself forward. If I could just stop thinking about her. It seemed the pain lessened when he could force himself from thinking of her eyes. Those deep chocolate, almond shaped eyes that sparked with agony and anger. The memory had him doubling over. Christ! Stop thinking about her!

  Curled into a ball of agony was how Briggs and Cindy found him minutes later.

  “Dell, what’s wrong?” Briggs shifted mid-stride and dropped to his brother’s side.

  Behind him Cindy shifted, but didn’t approach.

  “Not sure.” Dell panted, trying to force more control than he actually possessed.

  “You went to see her didn’t you,” Cindy accused from behind the brothers.

  Briggs glanced over his shoulder, “Who?” He shifted his gaze from his sister back to his brother, “Someone did this to you?” Briggs rose to his full height, scanning the forest around them as he balled large hands into white knuckled fists. “Tell me who brother and I’ll tear them apart!”

  The rumble in his voice lasted only a fraction of a second before his words were cut off as Dell launched himself at his brother. “Don’t ever fucking threaten her!”

  Briggs didn’t fight his brother, simply wrestled with him until another spasm of pain wracked Dell’s body, forcing the Alpha to loosen his grip on his younger, yet larger brother.

  Shocked, Briggs looked from Dell to Cindy. “What’s wrong with him?”

  Cindy stood motionless watching the display, her face ashen. Oh God…the consequences!

  “Cindy!” Briggs prompted when she didn’t answer.

  I can’t lose another brother. I won’t! Cindy blinked and swallowed hard, “He’s sick. It happens to all new Alphas.”

  Briggs didn’t scent the lie, but Dell did. Since becoming Alpha, his senses were heightened, especially where it concerned his pack. He looked up from the forest floor, his eyes holding Cindy’s for a moment.

  He didn’t have to say anything or communicate through the pack ties, she knew he’d want answers, and he’d want them soon. “Get him up Briggs; let’s get him to the road.”

  Briggs tried to ease an arm around his brother, but Dell growled his dissent.

  Alphas didn’t need help. He’d requested their presence as standbys on the off chance that an enemy or predator were near. In his current state he was defenseless, and it was Cindy and Briggs’ job as his siblings and his pack mates to watch his back when he was unwilling or unable to do the job himself.

  Dell sucked in a sharp breath and forced himself forward. It might take a while, but he’d get back to the road and Briggs’ truck by his own steam.

  When Briggs pulled his truck up at the Blackbird compound he threw the shift in park and exited the vehicle crossing to assist Dell.

  Again the Alpha growled at his Beta, shoving his brother’s hands away.

  “What’s happened?”

  Three heads looked up, startled to find their mother drying her hands on the hem of her apron at the back door.

  “Nothing Mama,” Cindy began, “Dell’s just not feeling well.”

  Mama snorted once before frowning at her daughter. “Don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining young lady.” Mama waited until Dell limped close enough for her to raise his chin with a finger forcing his eyes to meet hers. “You may be Alpha, but I’m the mother. Tell me what happened.”

  Dell jerked his chin from his mother’s grasp, lifting his head as he strode past, “I don’t know. I went to see Chloe and…”

  Mama cut him off, “Chloe? The Lott girl?” Mama’s eyes quickly scanned Dell’s massive frame, “Did she hurt you son?”

  Dell shook his head, “No she didn’t. It was…something else.”

  Mama looked from Dell to Cindy knowingly, her old eyes lighting with a spark. She followed close on his heels. “What something? What was it?”

  Cindy forced herself between Dell and Mama, “It was nothing. He’s just sick, let it go.”

  Dell ignored his sister. “It was some sort of attack.” He turned to eye his mother then, “It hit me so suddenly that I wasn’t prepared. I was…incapacitated.”

  “When?” Mama demanded, “When did this attack hit?”

  Dell shook his head, rubbing a large hand over the back of his neck. “I was at her door. She’d just answered. She must think I’m some kind of…” a low growl finished the sentence.

  Mama was reaching for Dell when Cindy’s words halted her. “It’s just as well. They are our enemies Dell. There’s no need for you to explain yourself to them.” Cindy addressed Dell, but her eyes slid to her mothers, “Or any reason to ever see her again, it could only end badly.”

  Cindy didn’t expect the angry growl that tore loose from her brother. “They are not our enemies!” Dell turned to frown at Briggs, “Call the pack.”

  “But brother…” Cindy began.

  “CALL THE PACK!”

  Briggs nodded once and disappeared to do his brother’s bidding.

  ***

  Lying on her mother’s sofa, Chloe tried to will herself into sleep. Instead, an endless reel of the moment her eyes locked with Dell’s played in a continuous loop over and over in her mind. She huffed out a harsh breath rolling to her side, annoyed with herself that she couldn’t stop thinking of Dell. They killed your brother idiot!

  It didn’t matter and that angered her more than anything because it should have. But, the peace and serenity she found in his gaze had her yearning for a second encounter.

  Sitting up, she shoved a hand through her hair. It has to be fatigue.

  It was the only logical explanation. Her brother was dead by their hands and she couldn’t stop thinking about how warm, relaxed, and safe she’d felt in Dell’s presence.

  Shoving up off the couch, she tiptoed upstairs to check on her still sleeping mother. She cracked the bedroom door a mere inch and peeked in, relieved to find her mother snoring heavily. Pushing the door open further she noted the open bottle of sleeping pills on her mother’s night stand. She debated taking the bottle for only a moment before she decided she couldn’t fault her mother for needing the sleeping aid. Hell, she should take a few and finally get some real sleep.

  Instead, Chloe closed the door and went back downstairs to start a pot of coffee. If she couldn’t sleep then she might as well try to be alert.

  After filling the pot
with water and a quadruple dose of coffee grounds, Chloe crossed her arms over her chest and rested one hip against the counter waiting for the maker to percolate.

  Her lip curled in disgust as she remembered Cindy’s words, ‘You can come willingly, or I can make you.’ Chloe shook her head in disgust, “I shoulda dropped that bitch on her ass.”

  She’d known the Blackbirds forever. Well known of them. They were a large family. There were only four siblings, Mace, Dell, Cindy, and Briggs, but they had countless aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews that also spent a great deal of time at the Blackbird compound. Not to mention that they themselves had recently started procreating. Cindy and her husband Michael had a two year old son, and it was rumored that Briggs, in a serious relationship of his own, was on the verge of proposing to his girlfriend Jessika.

  She’d decided years ago that the closeness of the family was one of the greatest contributing factors to the whole shape-shifter myth surrounding the Blackbirds. No one ever, ever encountered a Blackbird out alone. The family always traveled in packs. It was odd.

  Chloe’s lips curled into a smile, Maybe they have social anxiety. That’d explain Dell’s behavior today.

  She poured herself a steaming mug of coffee and dropped into a chair at the kitchen bar, not bothering with cream or sugar. Dell. God, how she’d fantasized about him. When her family had first moved to the area she’d had the biggest crush on him. It was her senior year of high school, but the year had come and gone so quickly she never had the chance to approach him. Not that she would have. It would have been humiliating. Dell, like Mace before him and Briggs behind him, was the most handsome boy in his class. Any Blackbird son had his pick of the school girls, and Chloe hadn’t been confident enough in neither her looks nor personality to even think of approaching Dell.

  Her lips quirked again, it didn’t mean she hadn’t caught him checking her out a time or two, but an exchange of glances across the cafeteria was as far as it had ever gone.