Her Forever

Thaddeus’ POV

The owner of the pound, who said his name was Elliot to Trinity, grabbed two chained leashes and stood outside the cage door. His face was priceless as he saw two of his worst tenants purring like kittens. I rubbed my face on Trinity’s thigh again for good measure while he coughed into his fist. “Here are their leashes,” he spoke gruffly as he held onto a clipboard.

“Are those bullet holes?” Theon mind-linked me.

Trinity glanced down at the leashes and back at us but didn’t argue. Both loops slipped on our heads with ease while we didn’t complain. Hell, if she wanted me collard, I’d let her. Theon snuffed out his nose as he shook his large head. Theon had no room to talk. He was as much of a horn ball as I was; he just uses logic more than his d**k.

Trinity followed behind the old man and into the office. Elliot waved for her to sit in the chair while he pulled more papers off the printer. Theon and I flanked both sides of the chair, sitting our hindquarters. Theon’s tail wagged as she petted the top of his head. Naturally, I nudged her leg to get the same attention. She started giggling while the white-haired Elliot kept his mouth agape.

“What?” Trinity asked innocently as she grabbed the pen from his hand. Several papers later, she was handed our adoption papers and stood up to walk us out the door. Our parents would have a field day with this one; hell, our friends would rag us for months.

Our damn mate just adopted a bunch of crazy-a*s wolves, and we were going to go off and live with her. The big question was, how were we going to break the news to her what we were. Theon looked up at our mate. He was already in love; hell, I was too. The goddess gave her to us, and we would treat her right, love her and protect her.

How would we break the news to her? Two large ‘dogs’ she was bringing home were actually werewolves. We couldn’t just shift right in her living room. We would be stark naked. This had to be tactful, and that was Theon’s department. I was do or die, rip it off like a damn band-aide. I huffed, causing Theon to look over me closely.

I wasn’t sure if Theon saw it, but I could see the haunted look in Trinity’s eyes before she looked at us. She was scared, on edge, but once she saw us, her whole demeanor changed. Her eyes lit up like the light sources of our home. I wanted to see that look every day for the rest of our immortal lives. Trinity clicked her tongue to her cheek for us to follow her, not before I gave one last glance at the old man and showed him a good set of teeth. He paled and sat back down in his chair.

Trinity led us outside and promptly took off the chained leashes. Theon looked at me in question. Dogs on Earth were always led on leashes. Theon and I were tall wolves, but she still kneeled down on the ground before us. “Listen, guys, I know you aren’t dogs. I don’t know why the hell this podunk town thought so too. You’re wolves and if you want to be free, go on. If not, you can come home to live with me. I’d actually really like it if you came with me,” she mumbled while shaking her head. “I know what it’s like to be trapped and can’t escape, so here is your chance.” Trinity stood up and looked out into the woods behind the shelter. Her look was distant, and a lone tear tickled her cheek. “I’m so pathetic; I’m talking to wolves,” she spat out a sad laugh.

“Go on, be free. If you decide to stay, just know you will always be on the run, and we will depend on each other,” her sniff didn’t go unnoticed as Theon trotted up to her and leaned his head on her stomach. I came around and licked her hand. There was no way we were leaving her, not whatever hell she had been through. We searched far too long, and we were up for any damn fight we needed to do to keep her safe. We were alphas, damn strong ones too. Sons of the strongest Alpha in centuries.

Plus, she was our damn mate. We’ve waited thirty years for her some stupid humans would not keep us away. We just had to stay away from any silver smoke hand grenades.

Trinity made a laugh-cry sound and motioned for us to follow. It was a black SUV. There were dents in the front and back and scratches alongside the doors. A few holes littered the driver’s side door.

“Are those bullet holes?” Theon mind-linked me.

“Sure as hell looks like it,” I grumbled back. “What kind of s**t is she running from?”

“We’ll protect her and take her home.” I took one last look into the woods. “One step at a time,” Theon scanned the area before hopping in the back of the SUV.

We had a long road ahead of us with Trinity. I could already feel it. Between telling her who we were, saving her from whatever was chasing her, we already had our hands full with a fiery redhead.

Trinity’s POV

I wasn’t planning on adopting a dog today, let alone two.

Three months ago, the small book store where I started to work had several employees who took me under their wing. They had lived in this smaller town all their lives and the generations before them.

The little town of Glasgow, Montana, really was in the middle of nowhere. No, seriously, it was printed on the sign when I drove in on my beat-up SUV.

I had traveled a long way to get here, and I was hoping this was my last stop. This had been the longest I had stayed at any one location the past year, and I no longer looked behind my back as much as I used to. The fear of someone always watching me was still there, but not as prominent as before since coming to America.

Stacy saw me pull up the moment I entered the town. They didn’t get many new people around here if any. Stacy took me in, took me to her own tiny home with her parents. I gave them the story I gave to everyone when I entered a new town.

That’s how I built my relationships, lies. I wasn’t hiding from an ex-boyfriend or lover. I was running from my own family.

Stacy quickly got me set up at the bookstore; she and her friend Elijah and the store owner were the only ones on the payroll. It was a library/book store, really. People came in and read books, put them on the shelf, and left. The owners didn’t care, and the state ended up giving the bookstore a small grant. The state didn’t want to build a library for the sake of 3000 people.

The pay was small, enough for me to buy food. The money my mother had stuffed into a bag on my run out of town was enough to get me by for a good twenty years, maybe longer if I played my cards right. My mother was my rock and the only sane one in my family. I was never sure how she met my father, or maybe he just took her and told her she was his.

My mother, Evangeline, was the epitome of beauty. She was tall, skinny, and had the perfect runway model figure. She has shining red hair like I did, but hers always fell in the right places. My father would brag to his friends and business partners at the mansion what a phenomenal woman she was, the perfect wife and housekeeper to an estate housed a dozen guards. That was all on the outside of their relationship; behind closed doors, she was miserable.

After stopping by the local grocer, I bought a few things to get the wolves by. Food, shampoo, brushes, eating bowls. They were antsy when I left them in the car. I feared they would poop in it. I heard some dogs do that when they are scared. They thankfully didn’t and immediately perked up when they saw me walking out of the tiny store.

I continued to drive down the dirt road up to my tiny home, just outside town. I had bought it in cash and put it under a fake name. That wasn’t easy to acquire, but you figure out who to go to when you are on the run. It had needed a lot of work. It was white with black shutters. A cellar in the back held most of my personal items. I never kept things that meant a lot to me in a house or apartment I stayed in. If my father ever searched the house, he would find nothing but useless nick-nacks and nothing personalized. I wouldn’t have to move if he couldn’t find any evidence of me living there.

Even with the money I had, I was reluctant to use it. I could live comfortably here now that I felt like my s***m donor wasn’t looking for me here. I grew up in the lap of luxury. Private tutors swim lessons, musical instrument lessons, you name it, I was thrown into the world of education.

“You have to study hard because your body will get you nowhere,” he spat at me. I was twelve years old when those words left my father’s mouth. They burned into me like a cigarette to paper, lighting a fire to all the self-confidence I ever had. “I can’t believe you came out of your mother,” he would grumble and walk away.

“Sure as hell looks like it,” I grumbled back. “What kind of s**t is she running from?”

It hurt, especially when you never saw your father. Matteo Amatto, the famous businessman in Italy, was gone for weeks and months at a time. Mother would join him a few days here or there but always beg to return home to me.