The Lost Wolf's Destiny (The Pack)
Page 20
Finally, her body slick with sweat, spent and weak, she sagged against him. And then, he finally let himself go, driving into her with all the power and passion she’d craved earlier.
Unbelievably, she came to life again, glorying in the sensation, her spirit joining his as they fell into a perfect rhythm, dancing to their own music. She sensed it as he neared the peak, thrilled as she joined him there.
They both cried out, clutching each other close, her body clenching around his as he spent himself, buried deep inside her.
There were no words she could say, nothing that would even come close to letting him know the magnificence of the experience they’d just shared. But then, as she gazed into his eyes, she saw no words would be necessary. He already knew.
Knowing that, she let herself drift off into sleep with a smile on her lips.
* * *
As he cradled Blythe in his arms, Lucas reflected on how many changes had occurred in his life since seeing her on the evening news. He’d never spent the night with a woman before. But she was sleeping, spent from the amazing intensity of their lovemaking. He’d never experienced anything like it with any other woman. Truth be told, he doubted any other woman could come close to making him feel this way.
This worried the hell out of him. Briefly, he contemplated trying to ease out of her arms and leave her slumbering in his bed. Oddly, he couldn’t tear himself away.
He didn’t want to leave her. Ever.
With that thought foremost in his mind, he closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep.
In the morning he woke with a raging hard-on. Gazing down at Blythe, who still slept in his arms, he tried to understand. Was this only his body’s natural response to the stimuli of a beautiful, naked woman in his bed, or was it something more?
As she murmured in her sleep and wiggled up against him, he grew even harder. Whatever the reason, he wanted to wake her with kisses and then bury himself deep inside her.
Wrong. More than wrong. By every rule of logic, the hours he’d spent exploring every inch of her body should have slaked his hunger, quenched his thirst. Instead, if anything, making love with her had only made him crave her more.
He needed to back away or he was in deep trouble. Anything more than a casual involvement would be a major mistake. Guys like him never ended up with women like her.
Somehow, he managed to force himself to get out of bed and head on into the shower. When he finally emerged, both his mind and his body clean, his bed was empty.
Down the hall, the other bathroom door was closed. A moment later, he heard the sound of the shower starting. Telling himself it was all good, he decided to get packed. They could grab something to eat on the road.
As he gathered some things to toss into a duffel bag, she appeared in his doorway, wrapped in a towel, her hair wet. Again, unbelievably, his body stirred.
“Morning.” He tried to sound casual.
“Good morning.” Her smile sent a jolt of heat straight to his groin. “I know you said we were leaving this morning. What’s the plan?”
Thankful they were on more solid ground, he attempted a smile. He wished his body would stop throbbing. “I’m just about packed,” he said. “If you are, we can stop for breakfast on the way.”
Though she nodded, she didn’t move. “I’m not, but it’ll just take me a few minutes. What I meant was, have you come up with some ideas about what we’re going to do once we get to Sanctuary? Should we get in touch with Kane?”
Slowly, deliberately, he concentrated on folding one last T-shirt and placing it in the bag. “I don’t know. What do you think?”
Her expression darkened. “We can’t try to figure out what the Pack wants and doesn’t want. We really shouldn’t let them figure into our plans at all.”
“I don’t know.” Abandoning the attempt to focus on packing, he forced himself to meet her gaze head-on. Again, he experienced that jolt of lightning that bound them. Pushing past it, he continued. “Still, I don’t want to do anything that might jeopardize getting the children out. Since he’s got an operation already in place, we need to let him know.”
Her frown let him know she wasn’t happy. “I agree,” she finally said. “Who knows, maybe Kane will be glad of our help.”
“That way, he can focus on rescuing the children while we distract Jacob.”
At his word, her gaze sharpened. “Keep talking.”
“We’ve got to draw him out, and occupy him while Kane and his people find out where he’s hiding the children, and stop him for good. We’ve got to publicly expose him. He needs to be arrested and put away.” Or killed, he added silently. “That’s the only way to stop him.”
“I agree.” Her towel slipped, allowing him a tantalizing glimpse of her breast.
Desire slammed him, heavy and hot. He cursed under his breath. They’d get nothing done if they spent all their time in bed. “Listen,” he said. “Would you mind continuing this discussion after you’ve put some clothes on?”
She cocked her head, appearing startled, before a slow, knowing smile spread across her face. “No problem.” Giving him one last considering look, she dropped her towel to the floor. Then, completely naked, she bent over, picked the towel up, and marched away, down the hall to the guest room.
He nearly tackled her. Instead, he kept his feet rooted to the floor and watched her go. Only when she was out of sight was he able to breathe a sigh of relief. Again he wondered what the hell was wrong with him?
A few minutes later, she returned. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt, she seemed relaxed, at ease, comfortable in her own body.
Unlike him. He felt as if his skin was stretched too tight.
Arms crossed, she eyed him. “Have you thought about how we’re going to deal with the Protectors?”
“You know more about them than I do. What do you suggest?”
“I like your idea. We work with them, but separately.”
“As in, they don’t give us orders.” He smiled back, finally feeling as if he was back on solid ground. “We’ll coordinate with them. As long as we don’t get in each other’s way, we should be fine.”
He could tell from her expression that he hadn’t fooled her in the slightest. “You do know we’re in this together, don’t you?”
Restless, he began to pace, wishing he had more room to stretch his legs. She followed him out into the living room, waiting silently while he gathered his thoughts.
Watching him, her beautiful cat’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re not going to hand yourself over to that monster.”
“How do you do that?” he asked. “It’s like you read my mind.”
Instead of answering, she continued, “I couldn’t live with knowing you were killed because of me.”
He refused to let her words touch him. “I’m the perfect distraction. Me. I’m pretty sure he’d give just about anything to get his hands on me again.”
“Why? Because you’re his son? I know it’s not out of any sense of fatherly love.”
Snorting, he didn’t bother to conceal his derision.
“I’m the one who got away. I’m sure he’s spent years plotting what he’d do to me if he ever got his hands on me again.”
Again he remembered what Jacob had done to Lilly. How battered and bruised her poor slender body had looked the last time Lucas had seen her. And how badly he still craved revenge.
He looked up to find Blythe staring at him. For an uncomfortable second, he wondered if she actually was able to read his mind.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Sure.” He gave a flippant shrug. “I’m fine.”
She continued to eye him. “What are you hiding?” she asked, her perceptiveness reinforcing his earlier suspicion about her psychic ability.
Lilly. A sister he’d failed so badly that Jacob had been able to kill her. But Blythe must never know, or she’d lose her trust in him, too. Rather than lie to her outright, he again gave her as much of the tru
th as he could offer. “We all have our secrets, don’t we?”
To his relief, she didn’t press. “I’ll go pack. It should only take me a few minutes.”
“Great.” He turned back to his own bag, making a show of checking the contents. “I’m almost done, myself.”
He felt her absence the same way he would have felt the loss of one of his lungs, as though he couldn’t catch his breath.
Just what he did not need. Worse, this burgeoning connection between them had her sensing he was holding part of himself back from her. As if he’d ever share what had happened to his sister with anyone. His single greatest failure, with a cost too great to bear.
He should have been the one to die instead of Lilly. Instead, he had to go on living, trying to find a way to atone for what he’d done.
After so many years, he couldn’t bring himself to even say her name out loud. He could still see her face, perpetually fifteen in his memory, her upturned eyes alight with mischief and the joy they’d shared when they’d learned to change together.
He’d thought they were freaks.
She’d believed they were sinners.
But as wolves, they’d hunted and explored and gloried in simply being. Wolves. A miraculous, youthful kind of wonder.
Odd that such a joyous time always brought back such pain. And guilt. Always the ever-present guilt.
Lucas blamed himself for allowing Jacob to find out. He’d been on the trail of an elusive, tantalizing scent. Lilly had nuzzled him twice, warning him that they had to shift back and return home. Jacob would soon be returning from his church in town, and they had to appear presentable for the formal evening meal he insisted on every night.
He’d whined, intrigued and exasperated, wanting to finish off a spectacular day with a snack of some small creature. Finally, she’d raced off, teasing him as she noisily flushed out any hidden prey.
Now that any chance he might have had of tracking his quarry had vanished, he’d been furious. So, so furious. Uncharacteristically so. Rather than returning to the area where’d they’d left their clothing, he’d taken off at a full-out run to try and burn off his frustration.
Lilly hadn’t followed.
By the time he’d located her, their father’s car was making its way up the long drive.
Beginning the process to change back to human, they rushed through the transformation. Dressing hurriedly while each kept their eyes averted, they dashed back to the house, hoping to make it to their rooms without encountering anyone.
They were not so lucky.
“Hold it right there.” Jacob, appearing more enraged than Lucas had ever seen him. He held a pair of black binoculars.
Lucas had thought his heart would stop.
“I saw you,” Jacob had snarled, his face so swollen with rage it was almost unrecognizable. “Demon spawn. Something has taken over my two children.” He called for his guards. If the beefy men thought their boss had lost his mind, they didn’t show it.
It took two men to contain Lucas. Though he was only fifteen, he was strong and he fought them. Lilly did not. Perhaps she believed this to be a game—probably she felt she could easily charm Jacob out of his rage, as she so often had done in the past.
But that was before Jacob had considered them minions of hell.
Chapter 15
In retrospect, Lucas knew he should have recognized the madness. Jacob had been growing more and more fervent, spewing vitriol against anyone who thought differently than he. But fifteen-year-old Lucas had been a typical teenager—self-absorbed and involved with only what was going on in his life.
His and that of his twin sister, Lilly.
Even now, so many years later, his chest constricted at the memory of her. They’d been close, as only twins can be. He missed her with an ache that never entirely eased.
How Jacob had killed her Lucas never learned. He just knew the man he’d once called Father had locked them up away from each other. Left in the dark without food, without water, Lucas had grown progressively weaker. That was when the torture—referred to as tests—had begun.
Fifteen years later, Jacob had no doubt refined his techniques, perfected his cruelty with a laser-sharp focus. Lucas had never understood what Jacob had been trying to learn from them, and with his bruised and battered body screaming for it to end, eventually he hadn’t cared.
Until the day he’d seen his sister’s lifeless corpse as they dragged her down the hallway past his cell. “Dead,” one of the guards had sneered after noticing Lucas watching. After that, nothing could contain him. Jacob had killed Lilly. Lucas had plotted and planned. First he’d make his escape, get away from the madman. He’d regain his strength, grow up and then he’d be back to get his revenge.
The next time they brought him out for more tests, he’d broken free. Though he’d had to attack the man who’d escorted him, even stealing his weapon, he hadn’t killed. No, that particular sin he planned to hold in reserve to commit against Jacob Gideon. Because one day, he would avenge his sister’s death.
“Hey.” Blythe’s voice reached him from the doorway. “Are you all right?”
Startled, he jumped. Glancing at Blythe, he swallowed hard, wondering at the fierce sense of rightness, of a circle coming complete. He’d always known Jacob would pay for what he’d done. It would seem that day had finally arrived.
He forced his thoughts away from the past, focusing on the future. This time, he could not fail. There was more than one child’s life at stake now.
He’d talk to Kane. Find out if the other man would welcome his and Blythe’s help in finding the children and getting them to safety. Once that had been accomplished, he would make sure Jacob paid dearly for what he’d done. No matter what the cost.
Right now, though, he needed to clear the air. “This...” He waved his hand, struggling to find the right words, something he’d never been good at doing. “Changes things between us.”
She froze, as if she instantly understood what he meant, and then slowly shook her head. “No, it doesn’t. Not unless you want it to.”
With two sentences, she’d succeeded in placing everything neatly back with him. His choice. His decision.
Hope seized him, a bright spark, which he quickly extinguished. He thought of Lilly, her vivacious spark gone, her body lifeless. And once again faced the truth. He wasn’t worthy.
More than anything he dreaded seeing Blythe reach that same conclusion. She must never know.
He managed a casual shrug, while his insides churned. “No, I don’t.”
She nodded. “Good. I don’t want anything to change, either.”
He couldn’t look at her as he zipped his duffel and hefted it onto one shoulder. “Are you ready to go?”
“Give me five minutes,” she said, sounding way too cheerful. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
He nodded, wondering why he felt such an awful, aching sense of loss.
* * *
Walking away, Blythe grimaced, stretching out her sore body. It had been far too long since she’d shared herself with a man, especially another Shifter. Their lovemaking had been...vigorous, to say the least.
She swallowed hard. Explosive, insane and absolutely glorious was more like it.
Honestly, she was perfectly okay with Lucas’s decision to keep things casual between them. She certainly didn’t need any distractions at this point in her life.
Still, the man fascinated her. She knew he had secrets—maybe that was why. Whatever he was hiding from her must be extremely personal. As she’d watched him a moment ago, lost in his memories of the past, she actually felt his pain, a visceral ache deep in her heart.
She knew he’d been unaware of the emotions flickering across his rugged features. Grief and regret and anger. Those were to be expected. But what she found the most intriguing was the guilt.
Why did he feel guilty? Surely he didn’t blame himself for what Jacob had done. Or for what had happened between them last night.
When she returned to his room, carefully avoiding even glancing at the still-rumpled bed, she found him motionless in the exact same spot as when she’d left him a few moments ago.
“Are you all right?” she asked again, softly.
Lifting his head, he met her gaze straight on. The darkness in his blue eyes stunned her. “I’m fine. How about you? Are you ready to go?”
She nodded, pushing away the desire that still coiled slow and heavy in her body. “Did you check the truck to see if you could find a tracking device?”
“No. I don’t care if Kane knows where we are. Now that he has Hailey, I doubt he’ll be monitoring it anyway.”
She nodded. “Good point. How about we take turns driving?” Holding out her hands for the keys, she tried to project confidence. “I’ll take first shift.”
The look of masculine outrage he gave her made her smile. “I’m driving. Come on.”
Following as he led the way to the truck, she wished she could place her finger on what exactly was wrong. This was more than awkwardness after a night of intense lovemaking. But, as good as she’d gotten at picking up on his moods in the short time she’d known him, she couldn’t figure this one out.
As he unlocked the truck, she decided to ask once more. “Really, if something is wrong, you can tell me.”
Irritation laced his expression when he swung around to face her. “For the love of... Stop. Just stop. I’m fine. You’re fine. We’re heading back to Texas to try and stop a monster from hurting children. How about you focus on that instead of me?”
He had a point. Still...
Studying him as he faced her, bristling with anger, so large and male and damaged, a sudden flash of insight showed her what might be the reason for his hesitation. Whatever his father had done to him had caused irreparable damage. She was forcing him to face his past, to revisit the horror of his warped and ruined childhood, asking him to leave his safe place, possibly the only location where he felt truly protected.