Hannah

30

Hannah was still trembling in the middle back seat. One hand clutching Max. The other clutching Aspen's hand. She held their hands, felt the car move. Inhaled air that full of the smell of her mates. Tried to tell herself she was safe now. Hannah's body began to calm, well before her mind did. "You rescued me." Her voice still trembling even though her body had stilled. "Again." She added, remembering how they had come for her at the airport. The weight and truth of the bonds as she fully accepted them as real. She wasn't alone anymore. If she was in trouble, she had backup.

"Why didn't the people at the club help me?" Hannah asked. It had been surreal and terrifying. It was like the other people hadn't seen her. Hannah looked towards the man she now knew was named Aspen. "It was like no one could see me except you once Carson grabbed my arm." She accused. Hating the look of shock and fear on the petite man's face as she mentioned Carson.

Aspen looked heart broken. "Carson has been paying witches for frivolous enchantments. He went overboard tonight, he had much different plans for how tonight would end." Aspen had spent weeks listening to Carson rant his plans for Hannah. How he was finally going to put Hannah in her proper place again. Aspen had been horrified when 'Hannah' was a woman he had never met. The moment Aspen had met Hannah, felt his heart bloom with hope and desire for the first time. Everything he knew became an unbearable weight.

Moving through the motions of the night. Knowing he alone was powerless to save the woman he was already devoted to had nearly been enough to crush the last remaining vestige of life in the eternally abused Green Fae. He looked at Hannah's mates. "What happened to Carson? Did you-" Aspen couldn't even bring himself to say kill out loud. Never say ill things of any kind about a master. That was an important rule.

Holland grumbled, deep and low in his chest. "We didn't kill him. He is going to need some time to recover." It was clear that Holland regretted leaving the other man alive.

"We may not have killed him, I checked his finances, without Hannah's money, he is going to default on quite a few loans to more than a few people he shouldn't have made deals with." Caspian's voice was liquid silk full of vengeance. He was more than certain some of the people Carson owed were already after him. Having tipped them off himself.

Hannah smiled, a dark smile. She knew what Holland had done. "You are good guys, he wasn't. You did the right thing." Leaving Carson with a broken back on the floor was a perfect place for him to be the last time she ever saw him. "Magic can control people like that?" Hannah shivered. Everything had suddenly felt so wrong the moment Carson grabbed her. As though the air in the club was noxious and heavy in a way she couldn't explain. It had been so unnatural.

Caspian turned to make full eye contact with Hannah, "Magic can be white or dark, Aspen beside you, he is all white. He would poison himself if he tried dark magic. Others are less restrained from seeking the dark side of magic." Caspian looked to Max, and nodded, handing the conversation to the Beta.

"Caspian and Aspen are going to set new wards on our territory, all of it. We are going to ensure you are safe, that my pack is a safe place for families to grow." Max was shining with pride, he and Holland and Caspian had spent some time already discussing Max's pack. Bryan having decided that opening an exclusive retreat with Damon Black was a good investment for the pack.

Max kept talking, quickly "The kind of resort they are offering will need regular talent, shows almost every night of the week. We are going to need choreographers, coaches, dance instructors, fitness trainers or you can teach gymnastics in the gym, or find any job you want or stay home and do puzzles." Max realised he had gotten carried away. "We just want you to be happy. Once we are on the pack, you just need to sign some things and we can move your father to be with us too. I can't wait to thank him for raising you." Max had been so worried about her, he was riled on adrenaline still from the rescue.

"Baby girl" Holland purred from the front driver's seat. "What Max is trying to say is we are sorry for what happened tonight. We will protect you better from now on. Now cuddle up with the new boy, and both of you take a nap. It's going to be a long drive." Hannah looked at Holland via the rear view mirror. Nodding back towards her with his approval. Max let Hannah lean onto him, as Aspen cuddled into Hannah's side, under her arm. Looking so nervous and unsure, as though Aspen didn't trust that he would be allowed to touch Hannah. Max had his arm along the back of the seat. Content to still have Hannah cuddled against him too. It right to have Aspen with them. Max dared a look towards Holland. That feeling was different.

Hannah usually found it easy to sleep in cars. Safely held between Max and Aspen. Lulled by the sound of the rubber wheels against the pavement of the highway. Hannah was quickly asleep. Aspen was less easily lulled to sleep. He did very much enjoy having his body against Hannah. He had never been this close to someone and enjoyed the sensation before.

Aspen also didn't feel on edge around the men the vehicle was filled with. A feeling that was almost foreign to him. He almost believed that he was safe here. That they were honest when they said they already knew he was tied to Hannah, that he was welcome. When Max began to gently trace a finger along his shoulder and arm. Humming along with the radio. Holland and Caspian softly speaking in the front seat. Aspen closed his eyes. Doing his best to sense the emotions around him.

He finally drifted off to sleep, his mind trying to place what the overwhelming feeling in the SUV was. It was something he could almost remember but had long since forgotten. Whatever the feeling was, it was making him feel better than he had in years.