Page 20 of Ruby's Strength

Twelve

Ruby

I’ve had about enough of this. Aubree and Maura told me to stay inside with them while the guys handled whatever was going on with the wolves. I listened, for all of ten minutes, now I need to know what’s happening. I can feel the rage coming off of Rett and his need to protect his family. It’s like an emotional boxing match out there between Cole and Rett. “We need to go out there and help them.”

Maura stops me from getting up. “No, you need to sit down and wait for them to come back in.”

“What if they’re hurt?”

“Then we would know and go out there.” Aubree sighs.

They are right, I know they are right, but I hate it. I twirl my straw around in my drink and watch the television that’s closest to our table, but mine is with Rett outside. About fifteen minutes later Aubree gets a text notification.

“We need to go.” She drops a hundred dollar bill on the table to cover our tab for the night and then she stands and immediately starts walking to the front entrance. Once we’re outside, she stops us. “The guys shifted and tore their clothes to shreds. We need to pick them up before they are seen.”

Hopping up into Rett’s truck I thank the lord he gave me his spare last week in case of emergencies. I follow Aubree and Maura to the back parking lot. The guys move quickly and get in their respective vehicles. Rett gets in on the passenger side, and Gabe gets in the back.

“Are you okay?” I gasp, looking them over and seeing blood covering parts of their bodies and wounds in need of attention.

“We’ll be fine Ruby, you know we’ll heal in a few hours. What we all need right now is to get home and rest.” Gabe answers while Rett stays silent and stares ahead of us into the night.

The drive home is completely silent. I try turning on some music, but Rett turns it off. He’s furious at Cole, but I don’t know why. It’s tearing me apart, knowing my brother and mate are at odds. Then there’s Gabe who is continually running off, and when he is here, he’s checking his phone. He barely says goodbye before he’s out the door and walking up to his cabin. I wait for him to walk inside before I drive off and go back down the road to my house.

When I park, Everett is out of the truck before I even have the engine turned off. “Alrighty then,” I mumble to myself.

I walk inside expecting to find him, but he’s not there. I go back to my room, but he isn’t there either. I can feel his pain and frustration and all I want to do is take it away and make it better for him, but I can’t if he doesn’t talk to me. Knowing I’ll have to wait him out, I get in the shower to wash this night away.

I’m in the middle of washing my hair when the shower curtain is pulled to the side, and I feel Everett get in behind me.

“I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“Your pain hurt me, your silence hurt me, you didn’t do this.”

Everett helps me rinse out my hair and then squirts conditioner in his hands. “Turn around love and let me take care of you.”

Turning my back to him, he coats my hair in conditioner, then drops a kiss on my shoulder. “Want to switch spots?”

We move around each other so that he can rinse his dried blood off. I grab my loofa and lather it with soap then start washing his back. The man is covered in bites and claw marks all over his body, so it’s hard to stay away from them. There isn’t a part of him that wasn’t hurt in the fight with the wolves.

“I almost killed him, Ruby.”

“Who?”

“One of the wolves. I had him right there, under my paw. If I had pressed a little harder, he would have ended up dying.”

“But you didn’t kill him.”

“Only because Cole ordered me not to.”

“That’s the magic of being the alpha. You’re able to command your pack to do what you say. Cole doesn’t abuse it though, he’s only ever done it a few times, and only when the situation warranted it.”

“But what would have happened if he wasn’t there? Ruby, my bear was riding me hard, telling me that we needed to protect our family. I was set to do that.”

I lean my cheek against his back and wrap my arms around his middle. “That’s his job Everett, he did his part to make sure you could look yourself in the mirror in the morning. He wasn’t protecting the wolf, he was protecting you.”

Everett rinses off and gets out of the shower leaving me in there alone and wondering what I can do to make this better. Rinsing the conditioner from my hair and the soap from my body, I get of the shower and dry off only to find that Everett is already in bed.

I get dressed in panties and a long sleeve t-shirt of Everett’s before sliding into bed under the covers. I want so badly to hold him and tell him the magic words that he needs to hear, but I feel helpless to do so because I don’t know what those magic words are that he needs. Before I’ve figured it out, he’s turned out the light.

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