by D. M. Turner
Sophia shook her head. “N-no.”
Okay, now I’m confused. “Then why worry about the gate code?”
Jeremy’s wife met his gaze briefly with a soft smile. “Even when there’s no desire to escape, there’s assurance in knowing you have the power to leave should you choose. Right, Sophia?”
“Y-yes.”
“I don’t understand.” Ian frowned and glanced Brett and Jeremy, both of whose faces mirrored his confusion.
Annie cocked her head. “You know those two secure rooms you have downstairs?”
“Yeah, what about them?”
“They can be locked from both the inside and outside, right?”
“Not at the same time, but yes.”
“What if you went into one, I locked it from the outside, and you had to wait until I opened the door in order to get out?”
“I’d get mighty annoyed with you.”
“Of course you would.” She grinned. “That said, you know me. You know I would eventually let you out and that I wouldn’t allow any harm to befall you in the meantime.”
“Okay, sure, I can buy that, but I’d still be ticked.”
“People who’ve been….” She bit her lip and glanced at Sophia.
After a few moments, Sophia nodded.
“People who’ve been victimized in the past would be terrified in that situation. They need the power to open the door from the inside, even if they trust the person on the other side. They need the security of knowing they can get out.” She smiled softly. “You, being you, would get annoyed at having no choice in the matter. For victims… having no choice triggers fear. That can set off all manner of PTSD.”
“How do you know all of this?”
Annie shrugged with a self-conscious smile. “My dad was a psychiatrist. I grew up talking to him about the impact trauma had on patients. I worked in his office while I was in nursing school, too. Daddy worked mostly with victims of violent crimes, and he had a business partner who worked with adult survivors of childhood abuse.”
“Do you still have contact with your parents?” Maybe her father could help with Sophia’s loss of memory or awareness or whatever it was.
Her gaze fell to the floor. “No. My mom died trying to give birth to my little brother when I was three, so Daddy raised me alone. He died about three years ago from a stroke induced by a medication he’d been taking for his heart.”
Jeremy slid across the couch to put an arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him.
Ian wasn’t sure what to say. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She smiled then her eyes narrowed. “You know, I was mulling what you said about Sophia not remembering what happened last May.”
“Yeah?”
Her gaze shifted to the woman on his lap. “It seems to me, whatever happened then is related to the blackouts you’ve had ever since.”
“How?” Sophia whispered.
“I may have an answer.” Brett held up a finger. “Give me another minute or so, and I’ll share what I’ve found.” He motioned with one hand in a circular fashion without taking his eyes off the screen. “Go on, Annie.”
Annie’s gaze swept all of them. “Are you familiar with situation-specific psychogenic amnesia?”
Jeremy and Ian shook their heads.
“What is that? Some form of psychotic behavior?” Sophia straightened somewhat and looked into Ian’s eyes. “Would explain the blood.”
It wasn’t until that moment, hearing her speak clearly, that Ian realized she’d stopped shivering. The skin on the hand under one of his was still cool to the touch, but it had lost the icy chill.
“No.” Annie smiled and shook her head. “It’s a form of amnesia sometimes induced by a severe traumatic event.”
“Like the kind of event that would result in me being covered in blood?”
“Exactly.” The nurse held out a hand. “I’m not saying that’s what’s happening, especially since it’s recurring, but it could be a variation on it due to the fact you’re a werewolf. With situation-specific psychogenic amnesia, the patient doesn’t remember the event that caused the trauma, at first. The memories generally return after a few days or weeks. Sometimes it takes months or years.”
Brett glanced up. “Could being… re-exposed to the trauma cause a relapse of the amnesia?”
“Re-exposed how?”
“A person’s face. A scent or sound associated with the trauma. Things of that nature.”
“I don’t know. I don’t recall ever reading about that in Daddy’s psychiatric journals and books, but we are dealing with a werewolf here, so even if I knew how such things work in humans, we can’t be sure it works the same way with wolves.”
Brett’s eyes narrowed, and he nodded, his gaze returning to the screen. He didn’t tap keys again.
“What did you find?” Ian tightened his hold on Sophia, almost afraid to know. What if it set her off again?
Tension went through the woman in his arms. Had she thought of the same thing he had?
“I found news reports I think may be relevant. The first was in March of last year about a manhunt for a serial rapist and murderer. They tracked him to the Cascades but lost him after that.”
“What does that have to do with me? I wasn’t in those mountains until early May.”
May? Had she mentioned that before? Yes, she had, come to think of it. She’d also said she used that cabin during her heat. She went into heat in May? A good month or more before the rest of the females in the pack. How odd.
Brett’s sharp gaze settled on his face. “Something wrong, Ian?”
He forced a neutral expression and shook his head. “No. Go ahead. What were you saying?”
Chapter 11
Tension in the body pressed close to hers suddenly made Sophia far too aware that she was sitting on Ian’s lap. The bland expression planted on his face couldn’t fool her. The rest of his body gave lie to it. His gray gaze settled on her, intense and searching, when she squirmed.
The desire was overwhelming to tuck herself close and bury her face in his neck again, to avoid the conversation rather than battle the cold within. You’re stronger than that. These people have seen enough of your weakness.
She smiled self-consciously and slipped away. “Thanks. I’m warm again.” She settled on the floor with one shoulder pressed against the front of the chair he sat in.
“Sophia?” Brett’s voice pulled her attention back to the discussion at hand. “The cabin you referred to, do you know exactly where it was?”
“Not really.” She shrugged. “Somewhere in the Okanogan National Forest, not too far from the Canadian border, I think. I never tried to pinpoint it on a map. It was left over from a mining operation, I believe. I went there to avoid people so I wouldn’t be shot by wolf-haters.”
“Hm.” He nodded. “That would fit. That serial killer I mentioned? The last time he was spotted was along the perimeter of that park, to the west.”
Sophia nodded. “A person could hide there if they knew the area and how to survive.” She cringed inwardly. Had she run into him? “What makes you think I saw him though? How would that connect to the blackouts in September and October?”
“Hunters found a human skull in early September. The news media jumped all over speculation that it was the man the police had been hunting. I found articles and television news clips talking about it. In October, they confirmed it was him. He’d been identified by both dental records and DNA pulled from the skull. There were reports all over the Seattle news.”
She frowned.
“You said you had the TV on in early September. You probably saw one of the news reports. I’ll bet the same thing happened when you were watching that movie in October.”
He had a point. On both counts.
“Does the name Michael Sedgwick mean anything to you?”
Sophia shook her head even as tension coiled in her stomach. “It doesn’t sound familiar.” A band tightened around her
chest.
A hand on her shoulder startled her.
She glanced up as Ian leaned forward in the chair.
“You’re sure you don’t recognize it?”
She nodded.
“Then, why do you feel like a spring ready to pop?”
“I don’t know.” The tremor in her voice annoyed her, but not enough to sidetrack the emotions rolling through her. Her stomach rolled.
“I found a picture.” Brett cocked his head and studied her too intently. “Want to see it?” His gaze, not quite meeting hers, held challenge.
Taking a deep breath, she nodded.
He turned the laptop on the coffee table so the screen faced her.
After a few moments, she lowered her gaze from his to the screen.
A good-looking, dark-haired guy stared back at her.
Sophia frowned, captured by dark eyes that gleamed with something malevolent.
He intended her harm….
* * *
Ian dropped from the chair to the floor when Sophia folded into a tight ball. Before he could cross even that tiny distance, she’d gone fully into the Shift. He lowered his head and growled, bracing for how the she-wolf might behave.
After several seconds, the wolf lunged to her feet and leapt toward the laptop, death gleaming in amber eyes.
Ian grabbed her to still forward movement then threw himself on top of her. The fact she still wore his robe hampered his attempts to get a good grip.
Her head whipped around to lash out blindly at the one stopping her. Large, sharp, white teeth closed on the wrist he hadn’t yanked out of reach fast enough, and she wiggled and writhed under him, trying to break free. Even with her teeth locked on his arm, her amber gaze remained on the laptop screen.
“Shut that thing!” Ian snapped.
Brett slapped the laptop closed, picked it up, and tucked it under the chair. Beyond what Ian had asked, but as long as the photo was gone, fine.
Ian switched his full focus to the enraged animal. Shifting his weight further on top of her, he brought his gaze level with hers and growled. “Enough!” As close as he was, the scent of her rage permeated all of his senses.
She snarled back and tightened her grip, digging into his flesh.
He gritted his teeth to keep from grimacing as a canine tooth sank to the bone on the underside of his forearm. Any deeper, and it would slide between the two bones in his arm. A growl rising all the way from the diaphragm, he bared his teeth, feeling them elongate as he did so. “Let go.”
“Can we help?” Annie’s soft voice asked.
“Let Ian handle it.” Brett’s husky tone suggested he wasn’t pleased to stay out of it either. The job of enforcer and pack protector usually fell to him, so that was only natural.
Ian shifted position to pin Sophia more securely and freed his other hand to cover her muzzle and put pressure either side of her jaw to keep her from biting down harder. He snarled, “Sophia, no!”
In the time it took for a single heartbeat, the she-wolf froze and fell quiet, and rage turned to fear. Horror flashed in amber eyes, and she released him, turning her head away. Tension fell away in one breath, and she seemed almost to melt into the floor, if that was possible.
Ignoring the blood running from his arm, Ian lifted his weight onto his hands and knees slowly and carefully, prepared to pin her again if necessary. He reached out and laid a hand (the one not bleeding) on her head.
Who were they left with? Sophia, or her wolf? “Sophia?”
She slowly lifted her head and met his gaze, despair rich in amber eyes. A soft whimper erupted from her throat.
Thank you, Lord. He smiled. “Sophia, did I hurt you?”
She eased onto her belly and reached around to lick his wounds.
Ian sighed, relief coursing through him. Then he scratched her ear and smiled. “It’s alright. I’ll be fine.”
Her nose nudged his chin, and she got to her feet, her tail and head low as she turned to face him.
“Do you recall what happened?”
Amber eyes looked up at him then down at the gashes in his arm.
Too broad a question, and she was focused on the fact she’d hurt him. “Do you remember Brett showing you the picture?”
She dipped her nose in a quick, readily discernible nod.
Now for the big question. “Do you remember what happened last May?”
Shrinking before his eyes, she lowered her nose to the floor and hunkered down, looking away, her tail tucked tight to her belly.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Ian gently grasped her chin and raised her head until she met his gaze again. “When you’re ready to talk about it, I’m here. I’ll help if I can.” He scratched her chin then released her.
Sophia slinked past him to curl up on the blanket, his robe still draped over her. She tucked her nose under the edge of the robe, her gaze on the fireplace, not looking at anyone. Was she that upset about biting him? Regardless, the fact she chose to stay in wolf form suggested she wasn’t ready to talk to anyone yet.
“Ian? May I take a look at your arm?” Jeremy knelt beside him. “You’re bleeding all over the rug, you realize.”
He glanced at his arm then nodded, holding it out for the doctor to examine.
The man whistled low. “She got you good.”
“Yeah, she did.” Ian smiled. If he’d been a wolf, that serious of a wound to the muscles in that foreleg would’ve crippled him for a couple of hours or so.
Jeremy chuckled.
“What?” He frowned at the doctor, nodding briefly to Annie as she handed a first aid kit to her husband.
“I only know one reason a man would admire a woman for taking such a nice bite out of him.”
“Shut up, Jeremy,” Ian grumbled, putting enough growl behind the command for the man to know to take it seriously. If Jeremy said anything more about that and Sophia overheard….
“As I recall, Alison did that once. He was impressed then, too.” Brett kept a straight face, but humor glinted in his eyes.
Ian glared at him and growled softly.
His friend chuckled and looked away, avoiding further eye contact. Unrepentant, but at least he said nothing more.
Forcing himself to shake off anger toward the other two men, Ian turned his attention to Annie while her mate bandaged his wounds. “She remembers what happened. Does that mean the blackouts will stop?”
“I should think so, but only time will tell for sure. As I said, it’s all speculation based on human psychology and brain function.” She shrugged. Her gaze rested on Sophia, sad and full of compassion. “I don’t know how much the wolf physiology changes brain function and structure, so I can’t be sure that what works for humans will work for werewolves.”
Not the straight-up, black-and-white answer he’d hoped for, but it would have to do. For the moment. “I would like what’s happened today to stay between us. I don’t see a need to air her past and secrets to the whole pack, unless she poses a threat to them.”
“I agree.” Annie nodded. “Nobody likes their secret demons exposed for the world to judge. As long as she’s not a threat, there’s absolutely no excuse to out her.” The strength in her tone suggested she’d defend the other woman’s rights, too.
“Down, girl.” Jeremy chuckled.
The nurse’s gaze flew to Ian. She flushed and lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“I know what you meant.” Ian smiled. “I’m glad to know Sophia has you in her corner.”
“There. All done.” Jeremy put away the supplies he’d used and snapped the first aid kit closed. “Of course, by morning, you won’t even know you were hurt, but at least you won’t bleed all over in the meantime.” He eyed the bloodstains on the area rug. “You suppose O’Neil can get that out?”
“I have no doubts.” The man had gotten blood out of an alarming array of fabrics and surfaces. “I appreciate your help, and yours, Annie. Why don’t you two take that run you hoped for?”
Brett pulled the laptop out from under the chair and got to his feet, eyeing Sophia as though he expected her to come after him or the laptop again. “I’m headed home to my wife. I’ll talk to Hannah about her husband coming to deal with that rug.”
“Thanks.” Ian got to his feet. “I appreciate all three of you helping this evening.”
* * *
Cringing at footfalls, Sophia squeezed her eyes shut and hoped none of them came near her. After a few moments, the front door opened and closed, and then the back door slid almost soundlessly open and then shut.
“They’re gone. It’s just us now.” Ian’s scent wrapped around her, even as the air shifted, letting her know he’d knelt beside her. He gently caressed her ruff.
She stifled a whimper. What would he say when he found out what she’d done? It would’ve been better to never remember….
* * *
Sophia hadn’t budged. Ian studied her for a few minutes then shook his head. Whatever she’d remembered, it had to be nasty for her to retreat into such profound silence. And to have looked so beaten and guilty…. So, how could he get her to talk about it? Only talking would vanquish the ghost of Michael Sedgwick. That certainly wouldn’t happen as long as she remained in wolf form.
Patience. One thing a predator knows how to do well. Be patient.
“I’m going to fix a bite to eat. You want anything?”
An ear flicked briefly in his direction then away. She lifted her head and looked over her back at him. When she met his gaze, her head moved once from side to side then returned to the floor.
Well, she wasn’t so despondent as to ignore him. A somewhat positive sign. Even better, the wolf wasn’t in charge, so she could communicate at least on a basic level.
Ian went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Not much left in there. The freezer wasn’t doing much better. He pulled out the last of what was in the fridge and moved what was in the freezer over. Pull some things out of the big freezer in the garage before you go to bed. Restock the fridge.
