Darkest Before Dawn (A Guardian's Diary Book 1)(28)

“How did you know that?” Addy whispered as she pulled away and sniffed herself.

“I don’t know,” I said as I turned to Jaeden in confusion. I was about to collapse, and I kept getting bombarded and overwhelmed with things that I was suddenly noticing. I could smell everything, right down to Jimmie who refused to shower on a regular basis, which was disgusting. I could see the details of the brush on the hilltop which was as at least a mile away from us, and I was pretty sure I shouldn’t be able to.

I knew Lachlan and his men were agitated by my presence, but why? Jaeden was on edge, but more than that, I knew he wanted me. I could feel it. I turned in his direction and walked to him; his eyes watched me. As if he knew what I planned to do before I did. I lifted myself up on my toes and kissed him.

The moan ripped from my throat, right before his hands lowered to my ass and pressed me against his hardness. He smelled intoxicating. His rich, masculine scent was mixed with spices and sex. His sex was hard and ready to do damage. He brought his hands up to my face, framing it as he deepened the kiss. He groaned as I pulled away from him.

“I can smell you,” I whispered.

“I can smell your readiness too, my sweet girl.”

“Why can I smell you?”

“I’m not sure, Emma, but if anything else strange happens to you, I need to know right away.”

With that, he left me standing with Addy and Lachlan who was still bleeding, and not doing anything about it. “You need a Band-Aid,” I said offhandedly. “Let me get one.” I turned and moved tiredly to the door of the shelter.



He needed more than a Band-Aid, but hey, I wasn’t his nanny. He punched the code in and I glared at Addy. Why would she do this? I was pissed! I pushed past him and stopped dead in my tracks as I took in the changes.

Where my father’s office had been was more of Lachlan’s men, pointing at pins on the white board that held a map of our town. The children’s area had been changed as well, and was now a cafeteria. Food was piled on tables, as if it had an endless supply. Candles burned while the lights shined at full power.

“What the friggin’ bloody monkey fucks!”

“Emma, it’s okay. They brought fuel, food and other supplies with them,” Addy’s voice was soft behind me.

“It’s not okay, Addy! There’s not a friggin’ store to run down to when the supplies are gone. You let them into our home— my home! This is ours! This is the friggin’ sanctuary for people who need to be helped and they don’t need help! You let a bunch of hot ass men inside, and we already have one baby too many! Why?” I choked on the tears. “We were doing fine with what we had! We protected each other, and we got shit done, Addy. Why would you take this away from me?”

“Emma, tis nae like that, lass,” Lachlan said gently.

“Take your lass and shove it!” I yelled as an overload of emotions flooded over me. “You don’t get to come in here with your dinnae fret, and dinnae lass this, and cannae be so bad! This is mine. I helped my father build it! It’s all I have left of him.” A traitorous tear slid down my cheek and I angrily swiped at it.

“Ye cannae get mad at the lassie fer thinking ye were dead. She asked fer help and we came tae do that. She isnae as strong as ye, Emma; she was scared,” he offered reasonably.

“I’m going to bed—” I felt betrayed, and my head swam with too many emotions, too much turmoil with what had happened. Tears slid down my cheeks unchecked as I moved as swiftly as my legs would carry me through the shelter to my room. Luckily, it was still there and hadn’t been given over to one of Lachlan’s men or something. I fell on the bed without closing the door, and crashed hard.





Chapter 15





Addy shaking my shoulder was my wakeup call the next morning. She had been crying for a while, judging by the puffiness of her eyes. I sat up and tried to recall where I was. Home. I lay back down on my pillows and turned to face her. She sniffled, and started apologizing profusely.

“Addy, enough crying, I get it, but I don’t think you understand what you’ve done,” I mumbled, trying to snuggle back into the bedding.

“You were dead! I was afraid to be alone. What happened to Mom and Dad was awful, and your dad was gone, I didn’t know what to do. Lachlan was sweet; he and his men offered to protect us. It seemed like a good plan, Ems, we buried you,” I rolled over and stared at her blankly. They’d buried me? What the hell was she talking about and how creepy was that shit?

 “Emma?” Grayson peered at me from the doorway before he ran for the small bed and jumped on me. His exuberance was contagious and for a brief moment, I forgot my resentment. “I knew you weren’t dead. I told them you’d never leave me. I told them,” he whispered as he sobbed in my arms.

“I know brat, but they had good reason to think I wouldn’t make it,” I replied with tears thick in my throat. I hadn’t even thought about what Grayson would have gone through. I’d been selfish, but the idea of men such as Lachlan and his men taking over the shelter put me on edge.

“I love you, Emma, to the moon and stars,” he whispered as his sobs ebbed.

“I love you beyond the moon and all its glory. I love you brighter than the stars could ever burn in the sky, brat,” I answered back.

I looked over the top of Grayson’s head to find Addy watching us with an uncertain look in her soft brown eyes. I nodded to her, and before I could blink, she’d wrapped herself around us and started crying again.

“I’ll never leave you two, you know that. I understand why you did what you did, Addy, but I don’t know them and I sure don’t trust them.”

“I didn’t sleep with him. I slept with his brother,” she blurted.

“You were sitting on his lap…?”

“They share, but I wasn’t into that, well, I might be. I was really tempted,” she admitted as my eyes widened as I moved to plug Grayson’s ears. “His men do it as well, but only Kyra took them up on it.”

“Uh, okay…” I said unsure of what to say about it, and I wasn’t quite sure we should be talking about this in front of my baby brother and his virgin ears. I had read enough to know a lot of the kinks of sex, and I’d enjoyed the books, but that didn’t mean I’d be jumping on the ménage sandwich bandwagon anytime soon. “So basically they came in, took over, had an orgy, and decided to stay awhile?”

“It sounds really bad when you put it like that,” she said and her face fell again.

“It is okay, Addy. Maybe it’s time to allow others to help. We were barely pulling it together, and I’m tired of being on the losing end. I was reminded not too long ago that I expected people to be like they were before the world went to hell, but they’re not. There are a lot more evil ones out there than I ever realized and the more that come here, the more I wonder what the hell we’re fighting for. It will be nice having more men around to do the heavy hitting and lifting for a change.”

“You’re sure? ‘Cause I can kick them out; now that we have you, Emma, we can make it.” Addy’s soulful eyes snapped eagerly with her words.



“And maybe you can finish my training?” Grayson piped up hopefully. I narrowed my eyes for a moment at him.

“Uh, let me get situated and we’ll talk about that,” I glanced back at Addy, resigned to what needed to be done. “As long as they keep their kinky fuckery to themselves, I’m fine with them staying. No one goes into my father’s rooms. They are off limits to outsiders. Other than that, if they can help out, they can stay.”

A little while later, I was standing in the shower, the water running over my naked body—it felt blissfully good. I was still standing beneath the spray of water when Lachlan stepped in, and joined me. He was naked, and his hands pulled me close against his chest.

“I’ve been watching ye, lass,” he rumbled as I jumped from beneath the water with surprise by his silent entry. “Yer as stubborn as a newly born bairn, ye are.”

“You’re naked, and in my shower,” I pointed out as I tried to ignore what he was pointing at me. His cock was hard, and I could smell his anticipation burning in his veins. Jaeden’s had been a missile, but Lachlan certainly was a close second and I could have sworn the thing winked at me.

“Oh aye, yer in it during my scheduled time so I figured ye were making peace with me,” he smiled as his eyes slid over my naked body.

Since when did we have scheduled showers? The only schedule we had was five minutes per body, and he had come in and taken over. He had some nerve!

“Is that what you thought? Let me just ease your mind. I had no intention of showering with you. I figured no one would be here since water restrictions were set to keep the pumps from going out. You should learn the schedule, and show it to your men. This is my shelter, Lachlan; you and your men are guests. You will follow the rules so that it continues to run, and work smoothly. ” I pulled the towel off the rack and wrapped it around my curves.

My heart was racing, and as he moved closer, I felt the tingle in the pit of my stomach which normally only responded to Jaeden’s touch.