Say My Name--Sample (Book 3 of The Claimed Series)

6. You Tell, I Tell

Elle looked at the stranger in the mirror. Her head was quirked, barely recognizable, and dressed in something other than the baggiest and most unbecoming of clothing.

“Oh, that’s absolutely perfect for the next bonfire,” Colleen said, giving herself a mental pat on the back. She then watched as Elle looked at her with a confused stare.

“Oh, once a month the pack has a bonfire,” Colleen said. “Food, dancing, it’s loads of fun. You should come to it... that is...”

Colleen looked at Elle, regarding her as if the vision of her might float away soon.

“Are you going to stay here?” Colleen asked, hurrying the words out of her mouth like a steaming pile of word vomit. “Tell me you are! I don’t know where you came from or where you want to go, but I think that you would like it here.”

Puppy dog eyes from Colleen. Aimed directly at Elle’s fragile little heart.

Elle thought for a moment. It wasn’t as if she had any other place to be. At least here she wouldn’t be mingling among the people in the nearby towns and packs rarely ventured outside their own territory without good reason.

And it felt... safe. Safe here on this land, safe in Liam’s home. Even safe with the Alpha himself. And that surprised Elle. She thought after a taste of one evil Alpha male, she would have sworn off them altogether. But something was different about this man. Something that made them alike. Both broken, bitter souls looking for healing, restitution, maybe even something more.

Liam had so much as said that he had his own problems that led to his bouts of insomnia. Though Elle wondered what they were, she knew that he wouldn’t tell- not until she spilled her guts as well. And she was getting close to that as well.

Slowly, Elle made up her mind and she smiled at Colleen, nodding her head.

“That’s great!” Colleen said, jumping up from the side of the bed and scurrying toward Elle to grab her hand.

“We have to tell Liam you want to stay!”

With a tug, Colleen pulled Elle toward the stairs by her arm, clutching at her and chattering the whole time as they walked.

“...and we should get you some makeup- when you feel better anyway,” Collen said. “Something nice and soft. Light, because you totally don’t need to overdo it. You’re pretty enough without it and...”

Colleen’s words faded in and out, clogging Elle’s muddled mind. Something about makeup and soft. Whatever that meant.

A bonfire and dancing. Elle hadn’t danced in forever. She loved music, but she hadn’t been able to since before she went to live with Jeremiah. She had loved to sing but he always told her to stop cawing at him like some damned minah bird. He had told her he hated whatever she was singing and that it was giving him a headache. So she only hummed to herself in the middle of the day when she was cooking, cleaning or doing some other domestic chore. And never when Jeremiah was supposed to be around. She was almost mute around him. Even before the damage was done to her vocal cords.

“Lee! Guess what!”

Colleen took the last of the steps two by two, forcing Elle to run down after her. She skidded to a stop in front of both men, a frenzied and gasping Elle behind her.

Both men’s gazes snapped over to the women, Liam’s eyes bugging out a bit before schooling his features and averting his eyes.

He honestly didn’t know whether to curse and praise Colleen for that dress. Though Elle was still too slender to fill it out properly, he could only imagine what it would look like once she was a normal weight for her size. Hell even if she was a little over her normal that dress would have looked fabulous- as it did now.

The dress was a dark navy blue, setting off her crystalline eyes and lily white complexion. Dipping down between her bosom just a touch, it made Elle look more mature and sexier.

It also seemed to want to test the fabric of Liam’s boxers and sleep pants that he was wearing. Thank God he was sitting down and hie lap could not be seen that well.

Shifting in his seat, Liam fought hard not to completely ogle the young girl and settled for clearing his throat.

“What?” he was finally able to rasp out at Colleen.

“Elle says she wants to stay at Plumbrook,” Colleen announced with a dazzling smile.

“Really?” Blake asked, sounding surprised himself.

“Yes,” the girl affirmed, looking for approval from Liam, who simply nodded and forced himself to look over at Elle again. Without giving her the once over. It almost worked.

“You do know what that means, Elle?” he asked. “And remember- you tell, I tell.”

Liam watched as Elle gulped loudly and slowly nodded her head. He saw that she had visibly paled a bit, but looked resolute in her decision.

She cleans up good, eh? Colleen said to Liam through the mind link.

You did this on purpose, didn’t you? Liam asked, voice accusatory.

Maybe, Colleen admitted.

Why?

Liam could hear the sigh in Colleen’s voice even before she spoke to him.

She trusts you and having her around has been eye-opening, to say the least, she told him.

How so?

Colleen glanced over at Blake who was saying something out loud to Elle. She was too engrossed in her chat with Liam to give a second thought to what they were discussing.

You have a soft spot for her, Colleen told him. I haven’t seen you this tender in years. Not since...

She let the thought peter out, not wanting to finish the sentence. Not when she knew it would hurt Liam. And knowing that he would understand what she meant anyway.

She could have a mate somewhere out there, Liam told her.

Colleen wanted to snort, his voice sounded so stiff. Liam didn’t sound like he liked that idea- not at all.

I’m not saying you have to do anything about this. But that girl needs some confidence and if a few men flirting and telling her she looks pretty helps with that, my job’s been done.

Liam’s jaw flexed angrily and Colleen’s eyes widened in triumph.

I knew it! she practically hooted with delight through the mind link. You like her! You want her to-

Enough, Colleen, Liam snapped, shooting daggers at her with his eyes. No matter what, Elle is not ready to trust anyone, intimately or otherwise.

Liam could see the question in her eyes before she spoke it.

Later, he told her. I’ll tell you later what I mean. It’s... disturbing, to say the least.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As soon as Elle went back up to her room to put away the rest of her clothing, Liam jerked his chin at his Beta and mate.

Study. He needed them in his study, which was soundproofed for security reasons.

Once the two had followed Liam into the study in the back of the home, Blake closed the door and walked up to the desk, joining Liam and Colleen.

“What is it?” Colleen asked, voice small and unsure for once.

“Liam, what’s going on?” Blake asked, as he hadn’t been privy to the conversation between Colleen and his Alpha.

“Blake, I need you to do something for me,” Liam told him, voice controlled and cold. “This is to be of the utmost importance and cannot be mentioned outside of this room.” Liam shot Colleen a glance. The girl was a bit of a gossip but could keep a secret when she had to. And this time she would have to.

“What is it, boss?” Blake asked, going into second-in-command mode immediately.

“I need you to get me a list of all registered male wolves with the initials J.B. from the surrounding areas,” Liam told him. “New York, New Jersey, Canada, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsy. All male J.B.’s above the age of say... 13.”

“What? Why?” Blake asked, confusion etched on his face.

“Elle was... branded,” Liam said before taking a deep, cleansing breath and closing his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair, sifting the black strands through his fingers.

“Branded... wait- what?”

“Someone... someone with the initials of J.B. branded Elle on her lower back,” Liam told them both, mouth a thin, straight line. “With silver.”

Colleen gasped at the same time that Blake swore a string of curses.

“Sh-she told you this?” Blake asked when he had finally calmed down enough to speak.

“She... showed me,” Liam told him, blinking. “After you told me about the ruckus here, I came back to the house and found her screaming and shrieking in her sleep. When I asked her what the dream was about, she answered it by showing me the mark on the back of her hips.”

“It’s silver. It’ll never go away,” Colleen said, awed and shocked. “Someone... branded her like cattle. Like she was a piece of property.”

“A mate?” Blake asked, wary.

“Possibly,” Liam said, shaking his head. If he had been anyone else but Liam Stark, he would have had a hard time believing a mate could do that but... he knew better. “Or possibly someone else. Someone that wanted her for himself only. Branded her and treated her like s**t to keep her in line and afraid. Afraid to run. Afraid to talk back. Just... afraid in general.”

“I have a hard time believing a true mate would do that to his woman,” Colleen said, voice watery and eyes red-rimmed and glassy.

Liam shook himself. He was starting to get angry, livid again. Looking over at Blake, he locked eyes with him.

“I want you to make me a list of all J.B.’s and bring it to me ASAP,” Liam told him. “If she won’t tell me who he is, I’ll confront her with the list and get her to tell me which one it is.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It took Elle another hour and a half to sort out all of her clothing. Colleen had started to mix and match sets of clothing and Elle picked up where she had left off, sorting the clothing and then hanging them up together in the closet.

After that, she placed the shoes away on the shoe rack and packed up all of Liam’s sister’s items so as not to get them mixed up with hers.

Finally done, she saw it was nearly 10 PM and wondered if Liam was asleep yet. She wanted to thank him again and let him know a few things about her.

Walking over to the notepad on the desk in the corner of the room, she took a few moments to think and then wrote down a message.

After completing the note, she opened the door to the hallway and walked to Liam’s bedroom door. There was a faint shuffling inside, so she knew he was still awake.

Knocking on the door, Liam told her to come in immediately.

Upon opening the door, she saw him sifting through his sock drawer before closing it and looking over at her.

Struggling with her reluctance, Elle walked in and gave the notepad to Liam who looked at her for a moment before reading the note.

I just wanted to thank you again. It’s much too much, but it is appreciated. I promise to earn my keep.

I know that you want to know who I am and where I come from, but I would like to tell you bits and pieces first. I don’t know how much I can share before I fall apart. It’s difficult for me to speak about it since I was forbidden to before this, but I would like to try.

Liam looked at her and took a deep, steadying breath. Though he did want to hear what had happened to her, he knew that his anger was close to the surface. He didn’t know how much of her tale he could handle before wanting to break something in his anger at whomever had broken the girl’s spirit and body.

Nodding, Liam walked over to the bed and sat down on it before patting the space next to him and gesturing to it with a hand.

Taking one step forward, Elle understood that not only was she going to be giving, but also receiving.

You tell, I tell.

Author's Notes: I will posting a giveaway for a free copy of my book Say My Name if you review it on goodreads. The book will be in paperback and can be mailed to anyone anywhere in the world. To give me a review, please go to: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47172728-say-my-name I will give the paperback away on Dec 1, 2019 by seeing who has reviewed it. The winner will be selected by video where there will be a wheel to spin for a random reviewer.

Say My Name ebook (pre-order, launch date is November 16, 2019)

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If you review for the goodreads giveaway, please send me an email with the link to your review. rkknightlybooks@g*******m. Goodreads is not letting me see the reviews and I know they are there! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47172728-say-my-name

Author's Note: 

A few announcements regarding a number of things!

1) I’m trying to build up my f*******: page to be more active! It’s obviously free and you just have to join at https://w**************m/RKKnightlyBooks I put sneak peeks up there and would to do more if I can get people interested. If you have any great ideas, please send them along to me and also join up!

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3) I have also already put up the beginnings of the wrap-up novella for The Conquest Series (Impulse, Redemption, and Provocation) and have started to upload the wrap-up novella for The Triad Series (There’s No Going Home, There’s No Going Back, etc.) called Odd Woman Out. It will be available for free for a limited time a few months from now, but I’ve started to upload it to my subscribers on p*****n at the $2 tier level.

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