Theirs by Hazel Gower

his eyes. “I knew there was a down side to all this.” And he punched his brother in the arm.
    ****
    They arrived back at Susie’s townhouse just as the phone rang. She ignored it. Turning to Blake, Brian raised his eyebrow. His brother shrugged. They had no idea why she didn’t answer the call. Curious now, he strolled to the phone and answered, “Hello, Susie’s phone.”
    “Hello, I’m Dr. James Domino from Newcastle metro hospital, and I’m looking for Susan Ellen Sanden.”
    Brian heard the bathroom taps go and he waited for Susie to come out, wanting more information he answered the doctor. “She is in the bathroom at the moment. May I ask what this is regarding?”
    “It’s in regards to a Samantha Gardener.”
    Brian remembered Susie’s friend. She’d been terrified of them and came nowhere near them, even when he dropped the girls home the other night. She hadn’t wanted to be alone with him and almost begged to be taken home first, even though it would put him out of the way for the others. Samantha wouldn’t even let him walk her to the door to make sure she got in her house okay. Something had been off. “We will be there in ten minutes. How bad is she?”
    There was a sigh on the other end as Dr. Domino continued, “She fell down the stairs again, only this time though the stairs kicked her a couple of times before he brought her in. She won’t press charges. She’s too scared. I don’t think she’ll live if he does this again. Legally, I can’t do anything.”
    Brian growled, “Ten minutes. We’ll be there.” Hanging up the phone, he noticed Susie next to him with a worried look on her face, and Blake stood behind her with his arms around her, his eyes flashing bear, and his jaw clenched. He knew Blake heard the conversation thanks to their shifter hearing. He focused on Susie. “Honey, could you hear that?”
    She shook her head. “No, but I got the gist of it. I thought she’d left him. I helped her last time.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “We need to go now. I will warn you, he is a big guy, and I’m sure he’s on something.”
    Brian nodded to her. “Why hasn’t she called the police, gotten a restraining order?”
    She grabbed her bag and they walked to the door as Blake got on the phone to his cousins. “We have, but he is a cop, and they seem to cover for their own.”
    He watched as Blake paused with the phone to his ear. Their cousin Slate answered. “What’s up, cuz?”
    “Meet me out front of Newcastle metro hospital in ten.” He hung up without waiting for an answer, and called their brother Brock, who was a police detective. “Hey, bro, where are you?”
    There was a pause before he heard his brother tell Blake where he was, and then Blake growled, “Good, meet me at the metro hospital as soon as you can.” He shoved the phone in his pocket and snarled, “Let’s go.” Brian wrapped his arms around Susie as they walked out of the house, and got into the car.
     
     

Chapter Ten
     
    Susie was numb as she got out of the car at the hospital. How did she not know Greg was back in Sammy’s life? Sammy was supposed to be one of her best friends. Brian wrapped his arm around her and whispered, “Honey, you couldn’t have known.”
    She leaned into him. “I should have known, but she came out on Friday so I thought everything fine. He never let her go out.”
    He rubbed her back as they walked to the entry were two massive men stood to the side talking. They had the same build as Blake and Brian. One was even just a little bit taller. The two guys turned when they spotted them and instantly Susie could see they were related to her men. The taller one looked like an older version of Blake, only he had Brian’s blue eyes. The other, she’d seen early today at lunch. He was about the same size as Brian, but he had lighter hair, almost a dirty blond, and his eyes where green.
    Blake whacked both guys on the back and explained the situation, and that the