The Hunter Becomes The Hunted - Chapter 176

The meeting with the pack went fine. They all seemed to be in perfect agreement with what I had planned, and no one was opposed to me. That was actually a first for me in this pack. I guess not having a psychopath in the pack working against me made a real difference.

Most of the pack members didn’t seem to be surprised to know about the dirty, underhanded, and demented tricks that Victor had used to get at me. They were a little shocked to learn of what he had done to me as a kid, but they understood why I had left. Who would want to stick around when your tormentor and rapist was there to try and make you his wife? That had been my reasoning and they understood it.

I was honestly thankful, as well as surprised, that things were going so well with them all right now. If this was how it was going to be when I ran the pack then I didn’t foresee any problems. I might actually be looking forward to it.

Deek was going to come back with us for a few days to get a few things in order and prepare for his move back down to the pack. Until he got back, Gregory was in charge.. Kyle had told me how he was vital in getting them inside the pack house so that I could be rescued. I owed a lot to Gregory, and I hadn’t even known it.

I wanted to hurry home though. I wanted to see my baby. And I needed to see EZ so that he could stop worrying about me. He was still frantic even though he talked to me on the phone and even had video chats with me.

“I don’t care about this video. I will not calm down until I can hold my Jacy baby in my arms and hug her so tight she won’t even think about scaring me like this ever again.” He was scolding me like I did this to him on purpose.

“I didn’t leave because I wanted to, EZ. I didn’t have a choice. They would have hurt Maya if I didn’t go with them. And they still knocked me unconscious. I have been so frantically worried about her that I woke up wanting to do nothing else but hold her in my arms.” I remembered the feelings that I had this morning when I woke up.

“Well, we’re both waiting here for you, Jacy baby. I will permit Maya to get the first hug, she is a baby after all, but I will be getting my fair share and there is nothing that Kyle can do about it.” There was a heated warning in those words for my husband.

“Don’t worry, EZ. I would never dream of stopping you.” Kyle told him from his seat next to me in the SUV.

“Good.”

That had ended my call with EZ. After that, we made it to the private airstrip that we were flying out of, on the private luxury jet that they had flown here in.

“This is one swanky plane.” I commented as I sat next to Kyle in a seat near the front of the plane.

“Yeah, that guy Dietrich lent it to Thea for us. He seems like a good guy.”

“I’m glad that he helped out. I don’t want to know how hard it would have been if you guys had been any later.” I shivered as I remembered what had been happening when Kyle burst into the room. Any later and I would have been at Victor’s mercy, and it was all because of that fucking paralytic drug.

The flight only lasted a few hours. By the time that the plane landed back in Boston it was right about dinner time. That meant that I had only been gone for one day, a total of twenty-four hours. That was all. And Goddess, I was thankful for that. I would have hated to have been gone any longer than that, leaving Maya wanting her mommy and daddy for that entire time.

As soon as we landed, we all piled into the cars that Kyle and the others had left at the airport. I was starting to get antsy. I was so close to my daughter. So close that I could almost physically feel where she was.

“You sent her to EZ’s right? That’s where we’re going?” I could feel her presence at our house though. I knew that was probably only because that was where we lived and where I wanted to be with her.

“That’s where she was last night, yes.” Kyle agreed and I was about to demand he take me there. “However, he is back at our place now. He was overseeing the cleanup all day. Apparently, it’s almost back to normal.”

“Normal? Did they destroy our house? I mean, there was blood splattered and spilled all over the place, but did they do something else?”

“Well, it was destroyed, but not by them.” He looked away from me sheepishly as he said that.

“Then what happened?” I asked but he seemed like he didn’t want to answer me. Finally, with a laugh in his voice, Laremy leaned forward and spoke up.

“Kyle dear, why won’t you just tell her that you were so angry that they took her that you destroyed your own living room? It’s proof of how much you love her.”

“Shut up.” Kyle snapped at him and blushed a little. I laughed then looked at him with a new light in my eyes.

“Don’t worry, Kyle. I would have done the same thing.” I leaned across the front seat and hugged him as best as I could while he was driving.

I was eagerly watching out the window until we pulled into the parking garage and, the moment that the car was stopped, I jumped out. I was hurrying toward the elevator before the car had even been shut off. All of the others needed to run to catch up to me when the doors slid open. I didn’t know if I would have waited for them if they hadn’t made it before the elevator had gotten here. I might have, maybe.

Oh, this damn elevator was so slow. Why did it move so slowly? I was basically bouncing in place as I waited to get to my floor so I could run out and into my house. And, literally, the moment the doors opened up I was out of the elevator and running toward my door.

EZ had been waiting for us, I think Kyle might have texted him that we were getting on the elevator. When I saw him there with my baby in his arms I nearly shouted. I did call out to her though.

“Maya!” I took my baby and held her close to my chest. “My baby.” She made her tiny little newborn noises that consisted mostly of grunts and little baby noises. I loved that sound and it nearly had me crying already. “Mom is home with you now, Maya.”

If it wasn’t for Kyle coming up behind me and sliding his arm around me. I would have collapsed to the floor. I think he knew that, which was why he held me and Maya up.

“Daddy is home too. Don’t forget that. Daddy loves his Maya too.”

With Kyle’s firm arm on my back he guided, and half carried me, to the couch in our living room. I didn’t even look around yet, I just sat and looked into the tiny little face of the baby. I needed to make sure that they didn’t hurt her. I needed to assess her.

“Oh, thank the Goddess that she is safe.” I sighed in relief as I readjusted her and smoothed her clothes back out.

“Jacy, I think there is someone else who needs your attention now.” Kyle’s voice was playful as he took Maya from me. I looked up then and was nearly knocked over when EZ slammed into me and clung to my chest.

“Jacy baby, I was so worried about you.” He was crying now. He hadn’t been able to get anything off of his chest since we were all gone. He was alone here with Maya and no one to talk to. That had to have been hard on him.

“I missed you too, EZ. I was so worried about everyone and everything. I’m sorry that I worried you though.”

“Fuck that, Jacy baby, I was told about what happened to you. Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you hide that from me? I mean, I knew you were a werewolf for crying out loud. I thought I knew everything about you. If I would have known that though, there are a lot of situations I would not have put you into.” He was being hard on himself now, even though it was me that had kept a secret.

“I didn’t want you to treat me differently EZ. Keeping me out of situations would have been treating me differently. I just wanted to live as normal of a life as possible.”

“Jacy?” He sobbed against my chest and held me close. “I am so sorry that you suffered so much. I wish I could have protected you. This time and back then. I’m so sorry. And I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” He was sitting on my lap and I was holding him against me as I rubbed his back.

This wasn’t how I saw my homecoming being, but it was still good in my opinion. I reconnected with my baby and my brother. Even though it was just one day that I was gone it felt like so much longer to me. I felt like I had been gone forever and I just needed to hold these two people to let them know that I was here and to convince myself that they were real.

I couldn’t have been happier that I had EZ in my life. He was the best little brother in the world. And my little Maya was the most precious baby that I could ever imagine.

It was going to be hard to leave here, to leave EZ. He would miss me and Maya, and Kyle too of course. He would have a hard time, but he would also have his two mates to keep him company and I would come back to visit him all the time. I don’t think I could live a life completely devoid of my EZ. He made life fun and he cared so much about us all. Wherever he was would be home to me. Him and Kyle, the two of them were my home. I needed them both to survive, the two of them and my baby.