What A Wolf Dares (Lux Catena Series Book 2)

by Amy Pennza

  “Right. Such an honorable man who abuses his wife.”

  Dom grunted.

  “We’ll head back first thing in the morning.” Remy ended the call and tossed his phone on a nearby chair.

  She stared at him. “Are you crazy?”

  “No.”

  “Yes.” She marched forward, trailing the blanket. “Asher is one of the best Finders in the country. Remy, you’re no match for him.”

  He was unmoved. “It’s the best chance we’ve got.”

  “A chance that you’ll be killed, maybe.”

  “But if I win, you’ll be free of him. Your father can’t force you to mate a corpse.”

  She clutched the blanket tighter against her chest. “Please don’t do this.”

  “I already told Dom I would.”

  “Call him back.” She grabbed the phone and held it out.

  He shook his head. “No, sweetheart.”

  Her hand trembled. “Take it.”

  “No.” He clasped both of his hands over hers, enfolding the phone between them.

  Tears of frustration and worry gathered in her eyes. They’d just experienced something incredible on that balcony. Now he was going to risk everything by fighting Asher?

  She licked her lips. “We can still be together, even after the lux catena. I’ll come to you. We’ll find a way to meet.”

  “I’d never be able to let you return to him, and you know it.”

  Her heart sank. Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Remy…”

  “What have I always told you, chère?” He lifted her hand to his mouth and planted a kiss on the back of her knuckles. He kept his lips pressed against her skin, and his green eyes burned over the back of her hand. “You’ll be all right. No matter what, you’ll be all right.”

  19

  Remy looked at Sophie as he eased the Range Rover back onto the highway. They’d been on the road for about five hours, which meant the Lodge was a little less than a half hour away. He’d suggested making a pit stop to use the restroom and refuel. Really, he’d hoped she might finally talk to him.

  She hadn’t.

  He cleared his throat.

  She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, then pinned her gaze firmly on the scenery outside her window.

  Yep. Still angry.

  He couldn’t blame her. Fighting Asher was actually quite stupid. He had no idea if he could win—or even just avoid being humiliated in front of witnesses from three different packs. These were arguments she’d continued making all last night, after he hung up with Dom and cleared away the remnants of their dinner. When he refused to budge, she tossed the blanket to the ground and stomped to the shower, slamming the door when she got there.

  That slam had stopped him from following her. As it was, he briefly considered stroking himself to an orgasm right there in the kitchen. The sight of her in stockings and stilettos was going to stay with him for the rest of his days.

  After her shower, she fell asleep in the big master bed, one hand curled under her cheek and a frown on her beautiful face. He slipped in beside her and gathered her against him. If he beat Asher, he could sleep with her like that all the time. That was enough to cement his resolve.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked her. By some tacit agreement, they’d both skipped breakfast.

  “No, thank you.”

  He sighed. “Sophie, I know you’re upset. But could you try to have a little confidence in me, please?”

  She looked at him. “This isn’t about a lack of confidence. Asher isn’t just fast during a sprint. Being a Finder means being fast at everything. He can throw a punch before you even know it’s coming.”

  Remy squeezed the steering wheel. “I know how Gifts work.”

  “Really?” Anger sparked in her eyes. “Because you’re acting like you don’t.” She folded her arms and crossed one leg over the other.

  He took a second to admire the way her jeans hugged her legs. Gretchen was worth her weight in gold. Besides the dress, she’d brought a few pairs of jeans and a selection of tops and sweaters in Sophie’s size. For the first time, she was dressed in clothes that actually showed off her curves instead of hiding them.

  Sophie leaned over and snapped her fingers in his face. “Are you listening to me?”

  Had she been talking? He frowned.

  “Ugh!” She looked at the highway in front of them. “I can see this conversation is pointless. You’re determined to commit suicide.”

  “What if I win? Have you considered that? I’m not exactly a weakling, Sophie.”

  She met his gaze, and her eyes softened. “I never said you were. It’s just…”

  “Yeah?”

  “I know Asher. I lived with him. He fights dirty.”

  Disgust and anger tangled in his gut. Men like Asher didn’t deserve to be called men at all. “He’s a coward, sweetheart. Cowards pick on people who are weaker than they are.”

  “I’m not weak,” she said quietly.

  “No, you’re not.” He reached across the seats and took her hand. “You’re the strongest female I know. But there are different kinds of strength.”

  The exit for Penitentiary Gorge was just ahead. He put on his turn signal and moved over.

  She swallowed. “Brute strength is the only thing that matters in a challenge.”

  “Mental toughness counts for something,” he murmured. “It’s how you survived him, right?”

  She gave a tentative nod. “But how will that help you in a physical fight?”

  “It worked for Ralph Macchio in The Karate Kid.”

  “That’s a movie.”

  “It’s a classic.”

  “Remy.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I’m just glad you’re talking to me again.”

  She faced forward. “I’m going to talk to my father when we get to the Lodge.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll make him see reason.”

  That plan was doomed to fail. He opened his mouth to tell her…then clamped it shut. She didn’t need another reminder of how much of a dick her father was. Just yesterday, he’d threatened her with a public bedding. But there was obviously some part of her that still hoped he would do the right thing. Deep down, she hadn’t given up on his love for his daughter.

  Remy knew all about that. He knew about disappointed parents, too. And however tempting it was to tell her she was wasting her time, he knew he couldn’t do that to her.

  The world was full of children desperate for a parent’s affection. That sort of pain never really went away. It hung on right into adulthood. Somewhere inside him, he was still a hurt kid cursing fate for making him a Telepath and breaking his mother’s heart. When he closed his eyes at night, there were still times he saw his father grimace and look away.

  So, yeah, he understood Sophie better than she thought. She was never going to get through to her father, but the fault was on his side—not hers. He was missing out on a funny, gorgeous, courageous daughter.

  As Remy took the exit for Penitentiary Gorge, he knew one thing for certain.

  Her father wouldn’t fight for her. But he would.

  20

  The Lodge was lit up like a Christmas tree.

  Sophie’s stomach did somersaults as they rounded the half-circle drive in front of the massive structure. How many people were here? Anger warred with the anxiety in her stomach. Did everyone think this was some kind of game? Like a boxing match on prime time TV? Remy’s life was on the line.

  He glanced at her. “Take deep breaths. They’ll scent your fear.”

  “I’m not afraid,” she lied. She was afraid for herself, yes, but the bulk of her fear was for him. It wouldn’t help to tell him that, though. She’d already begged him not to do this. He didn’t need constant reminders of what little chance he stood against Asher.

  Remy stopped under a stone portico that shielded the Lodge’s front steps from the elements. As he put the Range Rover in park, Dom emerged from the front doors like he’d had advance
knowledge of their arrival. And he probably had. Maybe he and Remy had talked mind-to-mind this entire time, exchanging strategies and planning how to defeat Asher.

  The thought buoyed her. Remy wouldn’t walk into this challenge unprepared. He wasn’t stupid—far from it. Maybe he had some kind of ace up his sleeve.

  The Lodge seemed like a living, breathing thing as Sophie left the vehicle and followed Remy up the steps. The presence of hundreds of wolves buzzed over her skin. A handful of her kind could recognize different mental signatures, teasing out individuals among a crowd. It didn’t work that way for her. She could sense numbers, but the energy was more like a thunderstorm than separate raindrops. It built like a cacophony in her mind, surging over her mental defenses in a rush of waves. She gasped and stumbled up the last step.

  Remy grabbed her arm. Steadied her. He knew at once what was wrong. “There’s too many. You’re overwhelmed.”

  “Yes.” She rubbed her forehead.

  “Deep breaths,” Dom said. “It helps to focus on something else. For example, I picture a tropical island.”

  Remy did a double take. “You. An island.”

  The Beta frowned. “Is there something wrong with that?”

  “Of course not.” Remy gave Sophie the side-eye. “Tropical island,” he said into her mind.

  An image of the formidable Dom relaxing under a striped umbrella on a sandy beach formed in her head. She choked back a laugh. As a bonus, she now had a mental image to help her avoid getting overwhelmed by the presence of too many wolves.

  Remy looked at the double doors, then down at her. “Ready?”

  He was walking in there to fight Asher, yet he’d just gone out of his way to make her smile. She took his hand. With him at her side, she could take on anything.

  “Ready,” she said.

  Dom led them inside, where Max and Lizette waited by the fireplace, a small contingent of Hunters by their side.

  Lizette rushed to Sophie and gave her a hug. “How are you?” she said in Sophie’s ear.

  “Okay.” Nervous. She couldn’t say it without everyone hearing, though.

  “Don’t be nervous,” Lizette said, proving she was good at reading people. She pulled back but kept her hands under Sophie’s forearms. “Max won’t let this get out of hand.”

  Max reached his wife’s side. “Sophie…” His expression was inscrutable. “Your mother is here.”

  She blinked. “My mother?” Constance Gregory never traveled with her husband. Sophie’s father was far too paranoid about his enemies kidnapping his wife. She liked to think it was due to his deep love for her. But her gut said it had a lot more to do with how the lux catena tied their lives together. It was hard to kill an Alpha. It was much easier to kill him by killing his wife first. Maybe he thought the risk was low, considering how many wolves were present. Stealing an Alpha’s wife in the middle of a gathering this large would be pretty ballsy.

  A Hunter approached Dom and spoke low in his ear. Dom nodded and looked at Max. “Everything is ready.”

  The Alpha turned his gaze on Remy. “You can still back down.”

  Blue rolled over Remy’s eyes. “That’s not going to happen, Alpha.”

  Approval shone in Max’s expression, and a deep growl rumbled from his chest. He clasped Remy’s hand in his and pulled him forward until their chests touched. “We have your back,” he said, the tips of his fangs showing. “There won’t be any tricks.”

  Remy nodded.

  Max clapped his back. “To the Pit, then.”

  Nerves shot down Sophie’s spine. They were doing this in the Pit? She’d grown up on stories about the New York Territory’s fabled prison. Legend said the underground fortress was centuries old, its origins mysterious. Werewolves didn’t write down their lore—it was too dangerous to risk letting records of their existence fall into human hands. Because they relied on an oral history, the past had a way of warping into myth. As a child, she worried about doing something bad enough to get tossed into Maxime Simard’s dungeon. Her father’s Hunters had amused themselves by speculating about what the Pit really looked like.

  Now she was about to find out.

  Dom led them past Max’s study to a small, unassuming door set in an alcove. If she didn’t know where they were going, she might have assumed it was a cleaning closet.

  When he opened it, that notion flew right out of her head. A set of narrow, twisting steps were carved into what looked like solid rock. Torches set in iron hooks along the stone walls provided the only source of light.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Remy said in her mind. He put a hand in the small of her back and nudged her forward. “Max stopped keeping dragons down here years ago.”

  She smiled but didn’t turn around—because it was impossible. The descent was so narrow, her shoulders nearly touched the walls. How did someone as big as Max manage it? Looking ahead, she knew. The Alpha angled his body sideways, his dark head hunched so it wouldn’t scrape the stone overhead.

  At last, they reached the bottom. The stairwell had been narrow. The Pit itself wasn’t.

  Ahead of her, a vast cavern stretched so far, she couldn’t make out the other side. Enormous pillars carved from solid rock soared from the stone floor to an arched ceiling that had to be at least twenty feet high. More torches ringed the walls, casting a hazy, yellow glow over the gloomy space. Thick, damp air filled her nose, the scent cloying and earthy.

  But that wasn’t what held her attention. Dozens of wolves gathered in front of a black cell. There was no other word for it. Black iron bars seemed to sprout from the floor like macabre flower stems. Wire mesh wrapped around the bars and over the top, creating a metal cage.

  Her heart pounded. There was no one inside, but the sight of it was still unnerving.

  One of the assembled wolves detached from the group and walked forward. Sophie squinted, unable to make them out in the dim light.

  “Sophie?” a feminine voice called.

  Her heart leaped, and she hurried forward. “Mom?”

  Constance Gregory looked as beautiful as ever, her golden hair a soft mass around her face. The color was several shades lighter than Sophie’s, and her eyes were blue instead of brown. Her lithe body was as slim and fit as a teenager’s, and any human seeing her would assume she wasn’t much older than one—at least not at first glance.

  Up close, there were subtle signs of age. Like her husband, the years lent her a certain weight. But Sophie was still awed by her mother’s beauty, just as Samuel Gregory had been when he mated her more than six decades ago.

  Constance jogged the last few steps and threw her arms around Sophie. “Thank goodness,” she said. “I was so worried.”

  Sophie let herself sink into the hug, her mother’s familiar scent of wildflowers filling her lungs.

  After a moment, her mother pulled back. Her blue eyes shone with relief as she stared up at Sophie. “I was so afraid you were going to be stubborn about this.”

  Stubborn? “What do you mean?”

  Her mother waved a hand, indicating the wolves on either side of them. She lowered her voice. “About this silly challenge. You can’t let it go forward, honey.”

  Apprehension skittered down Sophie’s spine. “Dad isn’t giving me a choice, Mom.”

  “Of course you have a choice!” Her mother frowned. “You go back to your husband.”

  Sophie felt her jaw drop. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I’m as serious as a heart attack, Sophie Irene.” Her mother’s voice turned scolding—the same tone she used when Sophie left her wet towel on the floor or forgot to turn off the lights in her bedroom. Only now they weren’t talking about her father’s electric bill. This time, her mother was chewing her out for leaving an abusive husband.

  Her mother’s voice softened. “Listen, honey. Every woman has wedding jitters…and post-wedding jitters. Your father isn’t an easy man, either, but he’s an Alpha. They’re built that way on purpose.” She grabbed Sophie’s
hand. “You and Asher will find your way. The lux catena will see to that.”

  Near the cage, the wolves shifted. They were too far away to make out everything Constance said, but the Seekers among them probably caught a few words—and no doubt relayed it directly to her father.

  She looked at her mother. “This isn’t about wedding jitters, Mom. I can’t live with Asher Benton. I won’t.”

  A knowing expression came over her mother’s face. “Remy Arsenault is a handsome man, Sophie. But he won’t offer you stability.”

  Anger swamped Sophie. How dare her mother assume anything about Remy? “He’s offered me the most stability I’ve ever known in my life.”

  “Asher is an Alpha’s son.” Her mother said this in a tone most people reserved for royalty.

  Sophie snatched her hand out of Constance’s grip. “Asher put his fangs in my back every night for two months!”

  Her mother went pale. For a second, shock glazed her eyes. Then she gave her head a little shake, as if she hadn’t heard Sophie right. “For the lux catena—”

  “Yes,” Sophie hissed. “For the lux catena. He held me down and bit me over and over again because I wouldn’t bite him back.” She was speaking too loudly, but it didn’t matter. Let them all hear her. She raised her voice. “When I asked to go home, he threatened to cut my toes off.”

  Her words bounced off the cavern’s walls, lapping over each other like skipping stones.

  Her mother gasped. Relief washed over Sophie. As awful as it was to recount her suffering at Asher’s hands, at least her mother hadn’t known about it.

  “Constance!” Her father strode forward.

  Sophie squared her shoulders.

  He reached them and put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “This reunion has lasted long enough. We have a challenge to see to.”

  Constance turned under his hand. Her pretty face was troubled as she looked up at him. “You didn’t tell me…”

  For a moment, her father’s face softened. Then his mask snapped back into place. He dropped his hand. “I told you what you needed to know. Sophie refused to fulfill her duty to her pack.”