Especially now, knowing she wasn’t afraid after seeing what she’d seen, that she didn’t fear him.
“You didn’t mind?” he asked, noting the tightness in his voice. “What, that I beat him?”
From the corner of his eye, he caught her nod. “Yeah. I mean, it was scary to watch. He deserved it—he should’ve just left us alone. He couldn’t handle you getting the best of him. He could have made it out of this night with just a swollen jaw and a split lip. That was all on him.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
“Still, it was scary. It made me a little sick to my stomach.” She shifted, facing him. “But I sort of liked it. What does that say about me?”
“It doesn’t have to say anything. Don’t overthink it.” Meanwhile, he could hardly contain himself. She had watched it, and she’d liked what she saw. His wolf howled with pride. She’d seen part of what he could do, a small part, and it hadn’t driven her way. She would never understand what that meant, not ever.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help it.”
“Well, maybe you’re entitled to how you feel. After what he tried to do to you back at the club, hanging all over you and ignoring when you told him to leave you alone? It’s human nature. Seeing him get what was coming to him—especially because he was stupid enough to follow us. There’s a sense of justice there.”
She made a thoughtful sort of noise. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“But you don’t believe me, do you?” He couldn’t help but grin. She had a sharp mind, and it wasn’t enough for her to simply accept things at face value. Maybe a fifty-million-dollar trust fund and intelligence weren’t mutually exclusive.
“I want to,” she admitted. “Because it sounds good. It means I’m not, like, some perverse weirdo who gets off on watching people having the crap kicked out of him.”
He snickered, glancing her way. “Hey, some of my best friends are perverse weirdos.”
“You have friends?”
He burst out laughing, and she soon followed suit. “That’s more like what I would expect to hear from you,” he chuckled. “You can’t be feeling that bad if you came up with that.”
“Thank you for being there. Really, I appreciate it.”
“Maybe I was wrong,” he murmured, smirking. “Maybe you’re so upset, you just can’t think straight. It sounded like you just thanked me.”
“Does everything have to be a problem with you?”
“Funny, I could ask you the same question.”
“Listen, I’m not an idiot. You helped me. I would be totally screwed trying to fight that guy off. Granted, the bouncer could’ve come and helped me out, but there might’ve been all kinds of complications after that. Somebody could’ve found out my actual name.”
“And that wouldn’t do your father any favors,” he concluded.
“You got it.” She sighed heavily. “Sometimes I don’t think, I guess.”
It would’ve been so easy to keep teasing her. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. “It’s good that you see that,” he replied, careful with the words he used. “Now the trick is to see it before you do something you might end up regretting. I know you don’t want to hurt other people, especially not your parents.”
“They’ve already been through so much.”
“I think they really only want what’s best for you. I know, I know,” he snickered when she shot him a look. “Of course, I would say that. But it’s true. I haven’t gotten the chance to spend a lot of time with your mom, but your dad is crazy about you.”
Her snicker was so soft, he might not have heard it if it wasn’t for his wolf hearing. “What? What did I say?” he challenged, careful to keep his voice light.
“Your use of the word crazy,” she explained. “Sometimes I think he really is. It’s like he’s obsessed with me.”
“Kara, he’s your dad.”
“I don’t mean obsessed like a guy being obsessed with a girl. Obviously. I mean, he’s obsessed with my health. My safety. My future. It’s like I haven’t ever been able to just be me. I’m Krista. I’m my brothers, my sisters. All the babies who didn’t live. All on me. And I know, it sounds selfish,” she sighed.
Yes, his first impulse was to agree with her, to tell her she was being selfish. Maybe that wouldn’t be quite fair, though. Maybe she made a good point.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” he allowed. “Combined with the pressure of being a senator’s daughter, living a high-profile sort of life. I can imagine how hard it would be.”
“Did you know I wanted to be a dancer?”
It was such an abrupt change of subject that Jace winced. She was enough to make his head hurt. “No, I didn’t,” he admitted. “What happened? What changed your mind?”
“Not what. Who. My dad, of course.”
“I don’t understand. He didn’t want you to be a dancer? Did he not think it was, you know, worthwhile?”
“He never told me why,” she admitted with a soft sigh. “One day, I wasn’t allowed to go to lessons anymore. I was one of the top dancers in the group. We’d all been studying together for, like, over ten years. Maybe I could have been accepted to a program in the city. I was thinking about it, you know.”
That didn’t sound like a doting father, taking away his daughter’s future. “He stopped you. Why?”
“He never even said. I swear to God,” she added when he made a disbelieving noise. “I just wasn’t allowed to. He refused to keep paying for the lessons, wouldn’t drive me into the city or let anybody else drive me. It was bad enough I needed the detail to get to and from school.”
She might have sniffled, but if she did, she tried her best to conceal it. “It’s the only thing I ever loved to do.”
He found himself resenting Collins on her behalf. What was it all about? Maybe she’d been threatened even back then? Maybe there was somebody else in her group who William wanted to keep her away from?
But the kid deserved an explanation. No wonder she had such a problem with people telling her what to do. She’d been told what to do her whole life, and she didn’t get an explanation as to why.
“He was probably trying to protect you.” But even that sounded halfhearted. Not that he didn’t believe it but he didn’t agree with the man’s methods.
“That’s what he always says.” She was too young to sound so sad and tired.
At least this gave him something else to think about through the rest of the ride. She had her reasons for being the person she was, and he needed to keep those reasons in mind if he was going to get through this with his sanity intact.
Guards waved them through the gate at the sight of Kara’s car. He took the driveway considerably slower than she had the night before. “It doesn’t look like your parents are home yet,” he observed when noting the number of cars parked before the house. “You should go right up to your room.”
“What are you going to do?”
Talk about your loaded questions. Oh, the answers he wanted to provide. The descriptions he wanted to give her—what he would do to her, how long it would take.
And now there was another image just as vivid as the rest.
The image of him holding her close, of protecting her and comforting her. Of listening to her thoughts, her dreams, her fears as the hours rolled past and night turned into morning.
It occurred to him that this train of thought might be the most dangerous of all.
“My answer should be that I’ll spend the night in one of the guest rooms, but there’s some work I need to take care of at headquarters.”
“Don’t you ever sleep?”
“Not much,” he admitted. “But I’ll see you in the morning. Maybe I’ll leave you alone in your room this time—so long as you promise not to try any more escape attempts.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” she muttered.
She then turned to him, her mouth open in surprise. “I completely forgot to ask you. How did you find me at the club? I could’ve be
en anywhere in the entire world.”
“I’ll tell you the truth so long as you don’t take it out on me.”
“That doesn’t sound so good,” she murmured, eyeing him up and down with one brow arched.
“Obviously, there’s a tracking device for the car. It wasn’t my idea, so don’t get mad at me. But it’s for your own good. We need to be able to find you whenever, wherever.”
She took it better than he’d expected. “Yeah. For my own good. Where have I heard that before?” She was out of the car and inside the house before he had a chance to say another word.
Zane jogged out a moment later, apologies written all over his face. Jace cut him off, holding up a hand. “Don’t worry about it. Somebody’s going to have to go to the club to pick up my truck.”
“I can arrange for that,” Zane assured him. He probably would’ve done just about anything to avoid getting chewed out for letting their client escape.
“Meanwhile, let me use yours. I have to get back to the office to do a little more work. I don’t like all the unanswered questions I have.” It wasn’t a request. He held out his hands, expectant, and Zane tossed him the keys without protest.
He needed sleep, but he needed answers more.
Chapter Fifteen
“Good morning, dollface.”
The sight and sound of Sal Rossi were what Kara needed most, although she hadn’t realized until just then. She practically launched herself into his arms upon finding him in the kitchen the morning after her trip to the club.
He was the same old Sal, taller than her by a good half-foot, surprisingly muscular for a man his age. He hadn’t ever let go of that military discipline. She knew he still ran miles every day and swam a few times a week.
Only the color of his hair had ever changed—that and the thickness of it. He was balding up top, and there was more salt than pepper now. He wasn’t the middle-aged man she remembered first meeting when she was a little girl.
“Of all the times for you to decide to go on a fishing trip,” she scolded on letting him go, but it was all a joke. If anybody deserved a vacation, it was him.
“Please, honey. I’ve been cursing myself for almost two days. I took the first flight back.” Leaning back, he took her face in his hands. “But you’re in one piece, just like I knew you would be.”
“Yeah, well. It was sort of touch and go there for a while.” She went to the coffee maker to brew a cup.
“How so?” He settled down with his own coffee, watching her with that grandfatherly way of his. She loved him with all her heart—there were entire spans of her life that she spent more with him than with her own family—and she knew he loved her, too.
She also always had the feeling that he felt sorry for her. He never said it out loud, but she had noticed more than once the way he frowned or rolled his eyes or looked like he had something to say but didn’t dare say it, always related to Dad’s orders, his commands.
“I’m just exaggerating,” she assured him. “And I admit, it took a minute for me to warm up to this team you called in.”
“Well, sweetheart, it doesn’t much matter if you like them or not.”
“You’re not the first person to tell me that,” she assured him. She turned with her coffee cup in hand, leaning against the counter. “You’re looking good. You got a little bit of color in your skin for once. You barely look like a vampire anymore.”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“I wasn’t trying to. I wanna talk about you. Did you have a good time? I’m sorry you had to come back early.”
“It was nice being in the middle of nowhere for a little while.” He lowered his brow, his mouth fixed in a scowl. “You should know better than to apologize for something like this. It’s not your fault. As if I would stay away when I knew you might be in danger.”
That was the thing about him. Both he and her father knew she was in danger, but he was so much kinder about it. Gentler. He didn’t try to force her into anything.
And she would’ve bet anything that he knew she sneaked out, but he knew better than to throw it in her face right away. If he brought it up, it would be in his kind way. And she would even apologize because she knew she had to.
She just couldn’t bring herself to apologize when she was being screamed at. All it did was get her blood up.
“I have to tell you these guys seem to know what they’re doing. Thank you for calling them, really. They’ve already been a big help.”
She shouldn’t have been surprised when he smirked, should she? “What are you saying?” he asked.
“What I said. I don’t mean anything else but that.”
“Kara.” He gave her that look, the one she could never back down under. Knowing, patient, wise, and fully aware of what a bullshitter she could be when she put her mind to it.
“Let’s just say we’re getting along better now. Okay? I thought you would be glad to know that.”
“Oh, I’m glad,” he assured her. “I just hope you’re behaving yourself, is all.”
“Come on, Sally,” she teased. “You know I always behave myself.”
“If that’s your idea behaving yourself, I would hate to see your idea of acting up.” They exchanged a knowing smile, both of them drinking from their cups but holding the other’s gaze.
“Speaking of which,” she continued, looking around. “Where’s my watchdog? He said he’d be here this morning.”
“I know at least one of them is here. I met him when I came in. Zane, I think?”
She frowned. “Oh.”
“Is that a problem?” Again with that look of his and that knowing sound in his voice.
“What are you trying to say? Come on, out with it. Dad told you I was throwing a fit, didn’t he?”
“He gave the general impression, yes. And now, you’re telling me things are working out. Which means something changed. Coupled with the fact that you’re looking for this guy…”
“Maybe you should have gone into detective work,” she snickered.
“No, doll face. Not if it meant never meeting you.”
Zane interrupted them then, stumbling into the kitchen looking like a zombie. When he saw the two of them talking, he took a step back. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“It’s okay,” she assured him with a faint smile. “I hope you didn’t stay up all night.”
“Well, I sort of felt like I had to make up for…” They shared a long look, and her cheeks flushed with guilt. What was with her lately? She didn’t usually get into those sorts of feelings, especially when strangers were involved.
Especially when those strangers stood in direct opposition to what she wanted to do.
“Hey, sorry about that. I promise I won’t do it again.” She held up her right hand. “Really, I won’t.”
“Thanks,” he grinned. He seemed like a good-natured guy. Really, none of them were that bad—even though they all looked like a bunch of brainless thugs. There had to be more than that to them.
She was careful not to look at Sal. “So, is there going to be a changing of the guards at some point? How do you guys plan on working this?”
“To tell you the truth, I’m not sure. I had expected Jace to get in touch with me before now. It’s already almost eight-thirty, and I haven’t heard anything.”
What was that clenching of her heart? What was that tightening her chest and her stomach? So what if Jace hadn’t gotten in touch with him yet. He was a big boy. He could handle himself.
She knew that from first-hand experience, didn’t she?
Still, she felt jittery all of a sudden, and normally a half-cup of coffee didn’t do that to her. “How did he leave last night? His car wasn’t here.”
“He took mine, actually,” Zane replied as he fixed himself a cup, then barely stifled a yawn. “I guess I’m sort of trapped here for the time being. No offense,” he was quick to add, glancing her way.
“None taken,” she chuckled. “I guess
you want to go wherever he went so you can get your car back, huh?” She felt Sal staring at the side of her head and willed herself not to look over at him.
“I guess.” This time, he wasn’t able to stifle a yawn. It just about split his head open, it was so extreme. She yawned in response.
She then offered, “I could drive you if you want. Wherever you need to go.”
“Kara…” Sal began, but she shot him a pleading look.
“I’ll be with a member of the team, right? I’ll be completely safe. It’s my fault Zane had to stay up all night. This is the least I can do.”
He still didn’t look convinced, but he knew her well enough to know when to let this sort of thing go. “I can’t argue with that point,” he admitted with a shrug, returned to his coffee and newspaper. He wasn’t reading, she knew. He was thinking, asking himself why this mattered so much. Wondering what he’d missed while he was gone.
“Just let me find my purse and shoes.” She was out of the kitchen and halfway to her room in a snap. Why it was so important that she find out where these guys worked, she had no idea. If Sal had pressed her for a reason, she might have made something up the way she had in the kitchen.
Though really, she knew it was the right thing to do. Zane was a decent guy for not being snotty or sarcastic over her escape last night.
They were in the car within minutes. She had to adjust the seat, of course, since Jace was the last person who’d been behind the wheel.
“How much does a car like this cost a person?” Zane asked, looking around with an impressed expression.
“Do you really wanna know?” she laughed. “A lot. It costs a lot. I hope that doesn’t make me sound spoiled or anything.”
He shrugged. “Whatever. You’ve got the money, and it’s nobody’s business what you do with it.”
“Do you really believe that?” she asked, curious.
“Sure. It’s none of my business. I was just curious. It’d be nice to be able to pick up something like this for myself one day, but I’m not under any illusions.”
“Not to be rude or anything, but I would’ve thought you guys were paid pretty well to do the sort of work you do.”
Wolf Shield Investigations: Boxset Page 11
