14. Milly
”Idon”t know what you”re talking about,” I stammer, shifting in the lounger and getting up to leave. ”The widow and I were very close towards the end, and my adoption into the family was her way of solidifying that bond.”
”Bullshit,” says Colt, and I startle backward and stare at him.
”And how would you know if that”s true or not?” I ask, swallowing back the bile brought up with the lie.
”Because I think she hated you ever since the day you came to live with her.”
”Ouch, Colt,” says Branch, lightly touching my shoulder. ”You don”t have to be that direct.”
Archer frowns at Colt. ”Like she said, how would you even know about that? What aren”t you telling us?”
”Mills, what do you remember?” Colt asks, kneeling beside Branch so he can look me eye to eye. Archer takes a knee as well so he can hear what Colt has to say.
I refuse to look at any of them and keep my eyes on the distant water line where the ocean meets the late afternoon sun. There is a clarity that comes upon me with the three of them this close, and I don”t know if it”s my hormones swimming in their pool of satiated lust or if it”s because the sea is beautiful and calming to look at. But bit by bit, memories begin to float back, clicking into place like plastic building blocks.
Soon, the shape they build comes into focus, revealing a treehouse nestled in a massive oak tree. It”s impressive and massive, far larger than what a normal child would have for themselves, and I see myself seated on a log chair inside. Down below, I hear voices arguing, and as I glance out the windows of the treehouse, all I see is... nothing, as the memory fades away.
I shake my head in confusion, willing the memory back, but it”s stubborn and won”t yield to my frustration. Then I turn to Colt again and find him staring at me, blue eyes full of concern and remembrance.
I don”t remember a lot about my childhood, and what is left doesn”t make sense. The memories feel like the deleted scenes of a movie I never saw; the parts themselves make sense, but it”s unclear where they fit into the greater narrative. I always thought it was because my youth was boring and unremarkable, but what if it was because my mind didn”t want to remember?
I see the day my parents died in the accident, the rain that poured relentlessly all day and night, Millicent picking me up from a house that wasn”t my home, an empty dinner table and deserted kitchen, the blue-violet eyes of a friend, and the ominous sound of wood cracking and splintering apart into a million shards.
”I don”t remember much of anything. There”s the rainy day of my parents death, the smell of menthol coming from Millicent”s breath when she told me she”d be taking me home with her, then hungry and lonely days, people yelling, and a... treehouse on fire?”
Colt”s eyes grow wide at the mention of fire, and he rocks back on his heels, losing balance and falling down on his ass. Sitting there, he folds his knees into his chest and sighs.
”I don”t remember much either, but that day was the last time I saw you. I think we were trying to light a fire and pretending to be chefs. You were always so hungry and I thought that maybe I could cook for you.” Colt”s eyes are distant as he stares forward into the island”s trees. ”Pre-teens should know better than to light things on fire inside a treehouse. It took me over ten years to piece the memories back together and I”m still missing large chunks.”
I peer at him closely, a few more of the plastic pieces clicking together to form arms, legs, a body, and then a face.
”You were the lawyer”s son,” I whisper, reaching out and touching his chin so he”ll turn towards me. ”We used to play in the treehouse.”
”Well, I used to try and impress you in that treehouse,” he laughs darkly. ”But I think you may have been oblivious to my inexperienced ways of flirting.”
”It can take years to master something like that,” says Branch, and Archer smacks his shoulder.
”What happened in there? What can you remember?” I ask Colt, and he continues his story without taking his eyes off mine.
”You fainted from the smoke and I carried you out. It helped that I”m a horse shifter and strong enough to do something like that, you could have very well died in there. But the treehouse wasn”t so lucky and with all the public chaos surrounding the incident, a whole team of paramedics caught my father in bed with Millicent. Wouldn”t have been so bad if he hadn”t still been married to my mother at the time. She took me away with her when they divorced and Millicent never let me see you again.”
”Why was Milly so hungry all the time?” Archer asks, his brows furrowed as if he has a theory but won”t dare say it out loud.
More fragments of my childhood fall into place, and I remember painful nights of missed dinners and going to bed on an empty stomach.
”Millicent wasn”t very good at the whole parenting gig,” says Colt. ”I”m still unclear why she even fostered Mills in the first place. Eventually some of the house staff caught on to her lack of attention, though, and from what I was able to recount on my end, they were able to ensure the home was better prepared to take care of a young girl.”
”That doesn”t explain why I don”t remember anything about you before the fire,” I say to Colt. While he scrunches his nose in thought, Archer speaks next.
”Your bond fractured when they separated you.”
”Bond?”
Branch jumps to his feet.
”Such a simple explanation, I don”t know why I didn”t think of it first! Milly, when a shifter is young and finds one, or, um, more sometimes, of their fated bond mates, and that tie is severed in some dramatic fashion, it can cause havoc on your mind. Your memories are buried and blocked, but now that you”re together again, they”ll start to come back.”
Colt stands up and brushes sand off his knees.
”They... might,” he says slowly, and I look up to catch his stare. I know he felt that electric shock between us earlier when he was applying the sunscreen on me, so I don”t know why he looks so unsure about it now. I”m about to ask, but something else about Colt”s words catches my attention.
”How did you know the papers were forged?” I ask.
Colt rubs a hand over the back of his neck and his face turns just a hair pink.
”You always signed your name by placing little hearts on the ”I” in Milly and I found it, uh, very interesting that your illustriously stringent widow and caretaker, Millicent Taylor, would do the same with her own name.”
Shit.
”But not all of this is adding up,” says Archer. ”We know that Milly signed some papers that got her some money and let her come live here, but now I”m curious as to why Millicent wanted to foster a child she had absolutely no connection with and why, no offense Milly, a human like herself has more than one fated mate. Either we”ve shattered all previously known beliefs, or the alternative, Milly is actually some kind of shifter herself.”
”There”s no way; she smells too human,” says Branch, but Archer shrugs at him, and Colt looks unsure.
”Well, I can put your minds at ease, I have never shifted into anything other than a mildly offensive monster without coffee. But can one of you please explain this whole ”fated mate” thing, is that the pulling sensation?” I look to Branch for a response, and he nods.
”But I”m feeling it between...all... of... you.”
”The three of us are very close,” Branch says with a grin.
”No, I mean, all four of you...” I clarify, looking to the sky as if I could see Flint still soaring above us.
Archer lets out a long whistle.
”So how does the bond normally work?” I ask
”Well, normally, you go about your life until your fate wanders into it and you feel this pulling sensation between the two of you,” says Archer.
”It can be pretty painful sometimes, but it”s always worth it in the end,” adds Branch.
”If you”re young, you end up just being really good friends but once you come of age in the shifter world, which is twenty, the bond between fated mates intensifies. You can, uh, also speed up the process if you...” Colt explains, trailing off at the end and blushing.
Branch acts something out with his hands, which involves one finger going into the fist of the other, and Archer smacks his shoulder again.
”Fuck you, Arch, you know you were thinking it,” he laughs. ”Well, fellas, it”s a good thing we”re all such good friends and good at sharing!” Branch holds his hand up to Colt for a high five, but Colt turns to me with a deepening frown.
”Are you sure you”re not a shifter?” he asks, and I shake my head.
”You might know better than me, but I”m certain I”m human.”
”What about your parents?” asks Archer.
”I don”t remember much about them, I was pretty young when they passed,” I tell him, but he doesn”t look convinced.
”brANCH THICKET!” the voice of Mrs. Thronewill rings out once more around us, and all four of us look towards the trees as if she might burst from them at any moment.
”You said you barricaded her?” Branch asks Colt.
”She won”t be able to get past the office,” Colt mutters and then lets out a long, drawn-out sigh. ”I should go take care of her. What the hell is Pamela Thronewill doing here anyway, do either of you know?”
”Well,” begins Branch, and we turn to stare at him. ”She may have sent me an email telling me to be on the lookout for Milly. Um, she doesn”t believe Millicent Taylor would have made Milly her heir.”
”Well, she didn”t really,” says Colt.
”Not helping,” Archer mutters.
”Oh no, no, no, this can”t be happening,” I whimper, putting my head in my hands. The first hot tears are stinging my eyes, and I squeeze them shut; there isn”t any time to cry. I have to think my way out of this. There has to be a way.
”Milly, do you trust me?” asks Branch, removing my hands and taking them in his own.
”I... I don”t know,” I stammer.
”You can, I”ll prove it to you. Just lay low, we”ll fix this for you. Everything will be okay. I won”t, no, I can”t let anyone take you off this island even if they send an entire army to come drag you away to Alcatraz. I. Won”t. Let. Them.”
I hiccup a response and give him a watery smile as he kisses my knuckles. The string pulls taught between us, and if I didn”t know any better, I”d say it was visible and glowing like a ray of sunshine. My insides tell me to trust him, so I take a deep breath and give him a firm nod. He trails his fingers over my cheek and smiles.
”Branch, come with me and we”ll go talk to Mark before we let that harpy out of her cage. Archer, take Mills to Flint, he”ll know what to do with her,” says Colt. He gives me a long look before walking towards the foliage and disappearing between the leaves. His departure stabs into me like a thousand needles, and I try not to flinch.
Branch leans forward and kisses my cheek before bounding after him. Archer grabs my hand, his amber eyes flashing, and I suddenly remember what we were doing before life interrupted. He never got to finish.
”I think I owe you,” I tell him, and his eyes flash as he cups my face in his big hands before kissing me deeply. I lose myself in his embrace, pressing my chest against him and moaning into his mouth when I feel him grind his hips into mine.
”That you do,” he whispers. ”But there will be plenty of time for that later. Let”s get you to the airport.”
I give a quick nod and hurry to keep up as we head back to the island, but instead of going down the sandy path to my bungalow, Archer guides me to the beach. We walk along the sandy shoreline that encircles the island until we reach an orange-colored airport built over the water. The plane that brought me here, to a fate I never anticipated on this island, floats next to it. We push through the doors and Flint glances up from his computer with a stunned look on his face.
”Why are you yanking it in front of the computer when you could have been with us helping out with this Mrs. Thronewill thing?” Archer growls at him, and Flint throws his arms up in the air.
”For your information, I was doing some snooping online to see if I could find out why she”s here,” he says, rolling his eyes and not seeming to take any offense to Archer”s irritation. He then gives me a big smile.
”Hi Millycakes, you here for that sunset ride we talked about?”
My cheeks flash in hot crimson, but Archer is the one who answers before I can even think of a response.
”Flint, we need you to get her out of here. Just for a little bit, okay? Just fly around or go to one of the other islands or something!”
”Sure, but only if you tell me what”s going on,” he teases, and I have to crack a smile at how his laid-back attitude seems to get under Archer”s skin.
”Milly here faked some paperwork and made herself an heir to a fortune that isn”t hers, showed up here as the fated mate to not only me, but Branch, Colt and you of all people, and now someone from her past is coming to get her because they might be on to her little ruse. That enough for you?”
”Fated?” Flint looks at me hopefully before Archer slams his hands on the counter between them and pushes both of us towards the back door. ”Just get her off the island for now and I”ll call you when you can come back.”
”Ten-Four good buddy, I”ll take good care of her. Come on, Millycakes, let”s get you off this rock.”