The Shadows in the Hills: Triple Threat

Chapter Twenty Four

It was days before we managed to leave the little farmhouse. The babies were all getting too big and it would be evident to anyone who saw them that they weren't newborns. Brodie had picked up the car seats for the babies, and Jackson had installed them and packed the truck. There was only room in the truck for Jackson and me. Brodie, Marcus, and Tyler were going to take the train back to Inverness. We would be back long before them and Jackson could collect them from the station.

The notion of getting back to the camp before Brodie was intimidating. He said he hadn't told anyone anything except Gerald, but somehow that felt worse. Gerald would be full of disappointment and everyone else would be full of questions. At least I wasn't traveling back with Marcus. Brodie informed me they had come to an understanding and that he was no danger to me or the babies, but I wasn't sure how much I believed him.

He had tried to get me to speak to him, to give him a chance, but there was no way. I had given him every opportunity to change, and he turned them down. It would take a long time before I trusted him enough to be in the same room as him. Since the babies had been born, my stance towards him was less forgiving. It was no longer just me I needed to protect.

"You ready?" Brodie appeared at the front door. I had been waiting inside with the babies while they organised everything, just to keep them concealed. Grateful to know that sheltering them in that manner wouldn't be needed for much longer.

"Absolutely. Can you grab Theo?" Theo was by far the biggest of the triplets, and it was challenging to carry him and another one of the babies. I scooped Penny and Aiden up, one in either arm. They were all pretty alert and could hold their own heads, and it made life much easier. Brodie lifted Theo from the rug in front of the fire and tossed him slightly in the air. He did it often, and I hated it. Theo let out what could only be described as a growl. He was the only one who had started doing it, but it had me worried.

Jackson held the car door open for me and grabbed Penny while I started fastening Aiden into his car seat. I had just attached the clip when the voice behind me filled me with trepidation. "I just came to say goodbye and to see if you had changed your mind. You, my little man, are getting huge." Part of me wished I had put Theo in first.

I turned around instantly and started rambling, determined to throw him off the scent. "No, he isn't. He just seems enormous compared to little Penny."

"She's grown loads, too." Brodie locked eyes with me, and I knew what he was thinking. I shook my head slightly, but he ignored me and practically abandoned Theo into my arms, leaving me with no alternative but to capture him.

I watched on as he laid an arm around Mikkel's shoulders and started shepherding him towards the house. "Let's head inside so we can talk." Just like that, I knew Brodie would take him out if he considered it was necessary. He wouldn't let anyone jeopardize me and the babies, let alone the pack. I passed Penny to Tyler, who looked like he was going to have a heart attack. He had tried to keep a distance between him and the babies and it was evident they made him nervous. I bolted into the house, hoping to intercept Brodie before he did something he couldn't take back.

The pair were standing in front of the fireplace when I walked in, Brodie leaning casually against it. The pair both glanced at me. "Mikkel was about to clarify why there is nothing for us to worry about."

"It's true. I know you are worried that I am going to expose you all, but I've known who you were from the beginning and haven't done anything to put you in danger yet, have I?"

"How?"

"I would rather Jackson not know the details. I come from a pack in Sweden. When my pack found out I was gay, I was forced out. I couldn't deal with that ever happening again, so I move around a lot and keep my distance from people. I managed to conceal my scent with a an elixir from a witch I found along the way, but I could still detect yours. The intention was to stay away, but I bumped into Jackson in the village. I found myself pulled to him, no matter how much I tried to resist. The night that the triplets were born, I knew Jackson was away, and I picked up the scent of the first pup. That's why I came over." I couldn't believe my ears, but suddenly everything made sense.

We had all assumed that we had got lucky when Mikkel didn't notice things or ask questions, but it was because he already knew everything. "Why do you want us to keep it from Jackson?" There was no way I could keep something like that from him.

"Keep what from Jackson?" I turned around and found him standing right behind me in the doorway.

I looked at Mikkel. If he was going to minimise the blow to Jackson, it had to be him who told him. "I'm an exiled werewolf. I should have told you, but I've been rejected so much in the past."

"We should leave you two to talk. Come on Brodie." I peered right at him as I spoke, but he didn't move a muscle.

Instead, he stepped towards Mikkel and grabbed his hand, shaking it. "Thank you for what you did. I didn't say it at the time because I thought you were human, but you saved her life that night and the babies, too. You should come back to the camp with us. You will be safe there with us, accepted for who you are, not who people think you should be. We really could use someone like you. Before you say no, please consider it, but quickly. We're leaving very soon."

A tear slipped from my eye at his words, because I knew they were intended just as much for Jackson as they were for Mikkel. He headed over to me and we continued outside hand in hand, leaving the love birds to talk about it. I just hoped they made the right decision.