by Adrian, Lara
Fitting, considering Razor had also told him the place had once been the Order’s temporary headquarters.
“It doesn’t look like anyone’s been here for a while,” Leni said, peering at the darkened residence at the end of the snowy driveway.
She was right that it hadn’t been occupied for any length of time recently. It had been twenty-odd years since the warriors and their mates had made use of the place. According to Raze, the Order had been forced to relocate for a while from their Boston compound to this hidden corner of Maine’s north country during the great war that led to First Dawn and the outing of the Breed to mankind. Their enemy at the time had been none other than Dragos, the Breed madman behind the Hunter program and a host of other twisted genetic experiments he’d conducted in his labs.
Leni stared at him from the passenger seat now, a look of confusion on her face. “How long do you think we’ll have to be here?”
“A couple of days at most.” Only until Lucan Thorne was able to send a team of his warriors out to collect Leni and Riley and officially move them into the Order’s protection. Knox parked in front of the lodge estate. “Stay put while I go open the house and make sure it’s secure. I’ll be right back.”
She nodded, her expression anxious as he exited the idling Bronco to jog up to the timber-framed front door.
He disabled the locks with his mind as Razor told him to do, then pushed open the thick wood panel. The Darkhaven was cool and utterly quiet, obviously empty for some time. Only the fresh scent of pine from the polished floors and heavy timber ceiling beams and trim permeated the vast, vacant space.
Knox made a quick, but thorough check of the place, mentally cataloging the layout and the arrangement of the many rooms inside the expansive home. When he was satisfied the safe house was as secure as Razor had promised, he jogged outside to retrieve Leni and Riley.
“All clear,” he said, grabbing her duffel and the small bag she’d packed for the boy from behind her seat in the back of the Bronco. He slung both over his shoulder, then led Leni to the house after she’d gone around the other side of the truck to extricate the sleeping child from his car seat and carry him in her arms.
Knox didn’t miss her quiet gasp as they stepped inside the large foyer. Her wonder only multiplied when he flicked on a couple of lights and the soaring rafters and wide space of a beautiful great room illuminated before them.
“This is amazing,” she whispered, careful not to wake the boy draped over her shoulder.
Knox gestured for her to follow him. He brought her into a cozy bedroom, the first one on the main hallway that spoked off the living area. He turned on a small bureau lamp, revealing an alpine-themed child’s room with a double bed, a large cushioned chair in the corner and framed photos of woodland animals on the walls.
“I think he’ll like this room,” Knox murmured quietly.
Leni nodded, giving him a warm smile, the first she’d managed since their hurried departure from Parrish Falls tonight. “Thank you, Knox.”
He set Riley’s bag on the chair. “I’ll go put some logs in the fireplace and get things warmed up in here. There’s a bathroom two doors down on the right.”
“Okay.”
She came out a few minutes later. Knox had a fire roaring on the hearth, the flames’ soft glow bathing her in golden light as she walked into the great room to join him. She took off her coat and folded it over the back of the large sectional in the spacious living area.
Knox faced her, watching her take in their new surroundings with an open sense of awe—and mounting suspicion.
“What is this place?”
“I told you. It’s a safe house.”
Her gaze landed on his. Wariness shadowed the curiosity that had been there a moment ago in those clear, intelligent hazel eyes. “I know what you told me, Knox. I’m asking for the truth now. All of it. This ‘safe house’ is more like a mansion. One that’s apparently been unused for a long time, yet has recently been dusted, cleaned, and stocked like a luxury hotel. Who does it belong to?”
“The Order.”
She drew in a breath. There wasn’t a person alive in the last two decades, human or Breed, who was unaware of Lucan Thorne or the cadre of Breed warriors at his command. Their reputation for justice was practically legend, as was the dauntlessness with which they carried out their rule of law.
Leni stared at him. “You never mentioned you were associated with the Order.”
“I’m not. My brother, Razor, in Florida has some inroads with them.”
“They won’t mind if we’re using their property?”
He shook his head. “They agreed to let us come here.”
“Why?”
“Because I had Razor explain to them that you were a Breedmate, and that you and Riley were in danger as long as you remained in Parrish Falls.”
Her mouth tilted with wry understanding. “I guess being born with my mark does come with a few unwritten benefits. What did the Order have to say about Travis’s death? Will they be able to help once law enforcement gets involved?”
“I haven’t told anyone about the killing yet. Only you.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand. If no one knows, then when did you arrange for us to come to this safe house?”
Knox cleared his throat. “This morning.”
“You mean before I told you that Travis threatened me in the diner?” Her frown deepened. “Before you went out and killed him, you had already made a call to the Order to arrange to move me away from my home?”
“I wanted to know I had an option to get you somewhere safe, Leni.”
Her head slowly shook back and forth. “You went behind my back to do it. You knew you had done that before we made love earlier tonight. Before you comforted me and said all those kind things about how you cared and didn’t want to hurt me.”
He couldn’t deny any of it, no matter how wrong or cowardly his actions seemed to him now. And as rightfully upset as she was to learn he’d arranged to take her out of Parrish Falls, he knew he had yet to explain what bringing the Order in truly meant for her and Riley.
For him too, when the time would come for him to let her go.
He cursed. “I needed to make plans for yours and Riley’s protection. I only did what I thought was best.”
“Right. And you didn’t say anything because you knew how I felt about leaving my home. About not being there for Shannon if and when she comes home.”
“Leni . . . about that.” There was so much she needed to know. He had nothing but unpleasant news for her tonight, but out of all of it, the truth about her sister was a pain he loathed to deliver. “I know what happened to Shannon. I saw what Travis did.”
Leni stared at him, her breath halting for a moment. Some of her anger gave way to her dread over her sister. “You read his sins. You saw how he brutalized her?”
He nodded. “She wasn’t the first. He’d made a habit of hurting women, even young girls. He wouldn’t have stopped. But he took it further with Shannon.”
Leni swallowed. “What do you mean? Tell me.”
“He arranged to get rid of her. You were right. She didn’t skip town and leave you to look after her son. Travis had her taken.”
“What?” Her hand came up to her lips, fingers trembling. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know. Travis didn’t know, either. He didn’t care to know. All I was able to read was that he arranged for her abduction across the border in Quebec. He got rid of her in retaliation for her pressing charges against him.”
“Oh, my God.” Leni’s face drained of color. “I knew he was behind her disappearance, but I didn’t want to believe it. All these years, everything she’s missed with Riley . . . all because of him.”
“He won’t be able to hurt anyone else now. And we’ll find Shannon.”
“How?” Leni lifted a bleak, imploring gaze at him. “She could be anywhere. By now, she’s almost certainly dead, Knox. Or worse, in some awfu
l situation somewhere, wishing she were dead.”
“We’ll find out what happened and where she ended up. I won’t rest until we have those answers. And then, one way or another, I’ll bring her home to you, Leni.” He cleared his throat. “No matter where you are, I will bring the answers back to you.”
“What are you talking about? Where do you think I’ll be?”
He stepped toward her, each movement of his feet dragging like lead. “That’s going to be up to the Order. You’re a Breedmate. An unmated one who’s in grave danger now. They’ll want to move you to somewhere they can be sure you and Riley will be safe.”
“Safe from what? Travis is dead.”
“Yes. But you and I both know his family won’t let his killing go unmet. They’ll want blood now. If they were to realize you can’t be injured, they’ll want to harm you in any other way they can. You can’t go back to Parrish Falls again, Lenora. I’m sorry.”
She scoffed, her gaze turning brittle. “You’re sorry? This is the outcome you’ve been after ever since you saw that damn mark on my stomach.”
“All I’ve wanted is your safety. When I arranged for this safe house, I was only thinking of you and Riley. I only did what I felt was best.”
“For who—yourself?”
“Is that really what you think?”
“I don’t know what to think. When my sister became too unpleasant for Travis to deal with, he had her sent away. Now, you’re doing the same thing to me.”
“Like hell I am. I’m trying to protect you. I’m trying to protect you and Riley both.”
“By foisting us off on the Order?”
He uttered a curse, knowing there was an element of truth to her accusation. As much as her wellbeing mattered to him, he had also been motivated by fear—his own. Foreign as it was for him to feel that weakness of emotion, he felt it to his bones when he thought about losing Leni. And he was losing her now, he realized.
“That’s not what I want, Lenora. It’s not what I wanted when I made that call this morning.”
Her breast rose and fell with her rapid breaths as she stared at him. “Then what do you want, Knox?”
He considered every moment they’d spent together, from the minute he stepped into her diner and was greeted with her warm smile and kind heart. All of their conversations, both the combative and the tender ones. All of her breathless sighs and the pleasured screams he swallowed with his kiss.
What did he want?
All of it.
Forever, if she would give him that much.
But in killing Travis tonight, he had ignited the war he’d known was coming with the Parrishes. And in so doing, he had put Leni and Riley in the crosshairs along with him.
What he wanted now didn’t matter.
She couldn’t go back to her home, and for that she might never forgive him.
And he couldn’t ignore what she’d said about Shannon. There were fates far worse than death or any depth of injury. Just because Leni’s Breedmate gift shielded her from one kind of harm, there were other things that could be done to her that would make her wish she were dead.
The fear that thought brought with it chilled him to his marrow.
Leni stared at him in his tormented silence. She shook her head. “You can’t even say the words, Knox.”
He wanted to. Damn it, he wanted to tell her everything she made him want. Her forgiveness. Her trust. Her love.
Her eternal blood bond.
He wanted it all.
All the things he couldn’t say right now swamped him like a tide.
A small cry sounded from the bedroom where Riley was sleeping. “Aunt Leni, where are we? I’m scared.”
With one last look at Knox, she pivoted away and went to the child.
CHAPTER 21
She stayed with Riley for a couple of hours, until his restlessness finally faded under the heavy pull of sleep and she was able to slip off the bed without making him startle or stir.
Leni was exhausted, not only from the upheaval of tonight’s run from Parrish Falls, but from her clash with Knox. Especially that.
She couldn’t deny her hurt over his apparent want to be rid of her, despite the fact that she could only blame herself for believing there was something real between them. Something that existed beyond his sense of duty toward a woman—any woman—born with a teardrop-and-crescent-moon mark on her skin.
She was the one who had made that mistake, allowing herself to care for him, to fall in love with him.
She had never been in love, had never felt the twisting ache of longing and affection that stirred within her whenever Knox was near. She had never felt the desire to make a place for someone beside her until she met him. Now that he was there, she didn’t want to consider returning to the way things were before he came into her world.
But she would have to do more than consider it now. Knox himself had put her back on that path when he made the call to his brother. Sooner or later, the Order would be coming to ensure his wishes were carried out.
If Knox had simply walked away without any explanation it wouldn’t have wounded her as intensely as his willingness to discard her.
Leni stubbornly swallowed back the raw lump that didn’t seem to want to leave her throat. It had been there since she learned the truth about Shannon’s fate at Travis’s hands, and had only worsened in the hours since her confrontation with Knox.
She wasn’t going to cry or feel sorry for herself. Not now, no matter how much she hurt for her sister and for what she thought she might have had with Knox.
She had Riley to think about. His safety, his future.
It had been enough for her before she met Knox. It would be enough for her again.
It would have to be.
Leni placed a light kiss to the little boy’s brow, then quietly moved away from his bed. Closing the door silently behind her, she didn’t realize Knox was outside the room until she lifted her head and her gaze collided with his solemn, stormy blue eyes.
She frowned. “How long have you been out here?”
“A while. Is everything all right?”
Nothing could have felt more wrong, but Leni knew he was asking about Riley, not the tumult of emotion swamping her as she stared at Knox’s impassive, unreadable face. “He was anxious and afraid of being in a strange place. He’s never slept anywhere but in his own bed at home.”
Knox nodded soberly. “He’s a tough kid. I’m sure he’ll be okay.”
“I guess he’ll have to be, right?” She started to walk by, but paused when Knox pointedly cleared his throat.
“Razor heard from the Order. He told me they’re sending a team up from Boston at sundown tomorrow. They should be here a few hours afterward.”
The warriors were coming for her so soon? Leni lifted her chin, forcing a lightness into her tone that she didn’t feel. “What a relief that must be for you. You barely have twenty-four hours left to suffer my company.”
“Leni—”
She cut him off with a quiet scoff. “On second thought, why wait? There’s no reason for you to be here now. Riley and I are in the Order’s hands just by being in this house, aren’t we? Feel free to leave anytime, Knox. In fact, I’ll thank you to.”
She started to walk past him again, but this time he stopped her with his strong hand on her arm. “Damn it, Lenora.”
Rather than release her, he drew her closer to him. Close enough that she could feel the heat radiating off his big body, and she could see the flecks of amber igniting in his impatient, narrowed gaze.
“Let me go, Knox.”
“I’ve been telling myself to do that from the minute I met you.” Although his face remained harsh with throttled fury, uncertainty softened his now-blazing eyes. Reaching up with his free hand, he tenderly stroked the side of her cheek. “I don’t know how to let you go, Leni.”
His touch threatened to unravel all her strength. She wanted to savor the gentle warmth of his fingertips against her sk
in and the maddening pleasure of his caress. Instead, she tilted her head away from it.
“Christ.” He blew out the rough curse through gritted teeth and fangs. His grasp on her arm tightened. “I don’t want to let you go.”
Leni steeled herself to the emotion in his voice. “Well, lucky for you, the Order’s going to help you do that tomorrow night.”
“I don’t give a damn about the Order. This is about you and me, Leni.”
“No, it isn’t. Not anymore. You made sure of that when you asked your brother to help remove me from your life.”
“That’s not what I did. That’s not what I wanted.” Heat crackled in his transformed gaze as he stared at her. “I’m trying to tell you that I care about you, Leni. I care about Riley too.”
“Don’t.” She shook her head, refusing to give in to the temptation of believing him. She couldn’t afford to believe him when everything he said would have no meaning tomorrow night when the Order came to collect her and Riley. “That’s easy for you to say now. Too bad you didn’t feel that way before you brought me here and—”
“Damn it, woman, I’m trying to tell you that I love you.”
Her inhaled breath sounded raw even to her own ears. Knox took both her arms in his hands now, holding in an unrelenting grasp.
“You belong to me, Lenora. When the Order gets here tomorrow, that’s what I’m going to tell them. I’m not letting you go. Wherever they deem is safest for you and Riley to be, that’s where I’m going too.” His smoldering eyes searched her gaze. “The only question is, will I be telling the Order as your blood-bonded mate, or as the male who’s going to do everything in his power to one day be worthy of that honor?”
God help her, she couldn’t speak. All the sorrow and uncertainty she’d been feeling since they arrived at the Order’s safe house melted away under the sincerity of Knox’s words. Not only his words, but the solemnity of the vow she saw glowing in his eyes.
