Ashley grinned. “I approve of this union.”
Del shook her head and leaned back on the head rest, closing her eyes against the insanity of everything he’d just said. “Zak, I can’t just marry you. What about our families’ feud?”
“Didn’t your mother already give us her blessing?” Zak asked.
“Well, yes, but—”
“That’s all we need, princess. I told you, you’re my Fated Mate. Like it or not, it’s true, and these things tend to be permanent so I think it only makes sense that we go ahead and make it official. Now stop stalling. Unless you’re scared…”
She leveled a glare, raising her chin slightly. “I’m not scared.”
He grinned. “That’s my girl. Let’s go get married.”
Chapter Fourteen
Zak’s plan had flaws. First, Janet’s house was more of a cabin. A rustic, turn-of-the-century thing that hadn’t seen repairs or updates since probably around the time indoor plumbing had been invented. Del took one look at it, then him, and he knew no weddings were happening here.
Second, Georgia had already texted him twice telling him how the entire town of Fort Jericho was due at the ceremony Del’s mother had put together for later in the week. He had a feeling trying to thwart his mother-in-law to-be wouldn’t get them off to a great start. Although a lifetime of bad blood between them hadn’t helped either.
He stood just inside the cabin and looked around. The rug was frayed and the hardwood faded and warped. He pretended not to notice when his boot crunched over a dead bug on his way to the kitchen.
“Sorry, I didn’t stock the place ahead of time,” Janet said, ducking away from them into another room. “I’ll make sure the beds are bed,” she mumbled.
“It’s fine,” Del assured her.
Zak bit back a laugh because if her tone was any indication, these accommodations were certainly not fine for his princess.
Ashley plopped down on the worn sofa without a care, stretching her legs out and crossing her ankles. “I hope there’s something to eat,” she said, reaching for the remote that went with the old box-shaped television set in the corner.
A door clicked shut and he turned in time to see Del closing herself into what looked like a bedroom. No way was he sleeping alone tonight, wedding or no.
He strode to the door and walked inside without knocking, surprised she hadn’t locked it behind her. She spun, eyes wide. “What are you doing?”
“What are you doing?” he shot back.
“Getting ready for bed,” she said.
“So am I.”
She glared at him. “You can’t sleep with me in here.”
He smirked and took a step closer, making sure to close and lock the door behind him first. “I wasn’t planning on doing much sleeping.”
“You’re impossible,” she hissed.
He grinned, closing the distance between them and sliding an arm around her waist. “Princess, with me anything is possible.”
“Janet’s in the next room,” she protested but she didn’t pull away.
He took that as a yes. Besides, he didn’t want to talk about Janet yet. That would kill the mood for sure.
Dipping his head, he brushed his lips over hers and felt her limbs loosen. He tightened his hold, remembering that weak-kneed response from last time. He loved being the one to cause it. “Looks like we’re doing everything backwards,” he whispered, enjoying how she trembled when he spoke near her ear.
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“We’re consummating before the ceremony. Again,” he said and she stiffened.
“Zak…” This time she tried pulling away but he didn’t let her get far. She took a step back and he followed until she was cornered between the dresser and the wall.
She sighed. “You are taking this way too far.”
“It’s not far enough until we’re married,” he said. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. He recognized her suspicion and knew she still wasn’t convinced he was serious. “If you don’t believe that I really want to marry you, use your shifter intuition. You know I mean it. Why do you keep fighting it?”
“I’m not fighting it. I’m … what if I told you there was a way to end the feud between our families once and for all?”
Zak blinked, careful to school his expression. “How?”
She bit her lip. “By naming the one true family line Fort Jericho’s founders left it for.”
“The Maker’s Mark legend?” Zak shook his head. “That information was lost. No one’s been able to uncover it for over a century now.”
“What if I told you I could? That I did. Would you want it to come out?” she asked, brows furrowing into an adorable little line.
“Of course. I mean, after the blood pact, I think it would have to come out. What the hell is going on, Del? Is this why the coyotes are after you? Is this what you were digging up out there?”
Del hesitated. “I need to know you wouldn’t try to stop it even if the legacy excludes your own family.” She looked up at him, blue eyes pleading.
And now it all made sense. This is what she was holding back. This was why she didn’t want to marry him. Her feelings for him might be real but her stubbornness was clearly bigger than her love. His temper rose and he backed away from her. “So, the Santonis have found a way to shut us out once and for all then,” he said in a hard voice.
“What?” Del’s lips puckered and he shoved a hand through his hair, hating that he found her so damned cute even when she was stabbing him in the back. “No, that’s not what I’m—”
“All this time I thought I was the one who had to prove myself against bad motives and manipulations.”
He spun on his heel, determined to get away before his temper brought the walls down around him. His wolf was furious, practically feral in its need for space. To run. To howl. To curse the age-old war between his families that had poisoned so many, including the woman he loved, apparently.
He stormed out, noting the bang and then crack the bedroom door made against the wall as it tore from one of the hinges. He didn’t stop or look back as he marched past a stricken Janet and a curious Ashley who sat up as he walked by. Her mouth opened but he shoved out the front door before she could question him.
Night had fallen, pitch black and heavy without a single lamp to slice it. He welcomed being swallowed by the darkness, shimmying out of clothes as he walked—and then ran—toward the trees.
He could practically hear his father in his ear saying, “I told you so.”
Chapter Fifteen
Del paced the tiny bedroom for an hour before a knock sounded. She rushed to the door, relieved until she saw Ashley on the other side.
“Sorry to disappoint,” Ashley said. “Want some company?”
Del opened the door wider and Ashley slipped in, flouncing onto the bed and tucking her legs underneath her body. “I’m afraid I’m not the best company right now,” Del said.
“You’re better than the two channels of talk show reruns on the TV. And your friend Janet closed herself off in her room already. I was desperate,” Ashley said.
Del frowned and wandered over to stare out the window into the inky darkness.
“What did you fight about?” Ashley asked.
“We didn’t fight,” Del said but Ashley’s raised brow made it clear she wasn’t buying it. Del sighed. “He thinks I double-crossed him.”
“Why would he think that?”
Del hesitated but the truth was eating at her and getting it out, even with Ashley, felt good. “I uncovered a statue during my dig for Janet that dates back to Fort Jericho’s founding fathers. Once deciphered, it will reveal the name of the true heir of the city and this horrible feud between our families will finally come to an end. The only thing is… I deciphered it and it’s not his family.”
Ashley whistled and shook her head. “Damn, girl.”
Del frowned. “What?”
“He’s right. You
definitely double-crossed him.”
“Of course I didn’t. I’m doing this for peace. To end the generations of violence.”
“Uh, really? Because it seems like you’re just doing this for yourself. To make your side look more right or something. And you were going to marry him with this secret?” Ashley whistled.
Del shook her head. “No way. I never intended to marry him for real.”
She stopped short, realizing she hadn’t meant to give that away. Or that saying it out loud would feel so crappy. She sank onto the bed beside Ashley who, wisely, hadn’t said a word. “Oh my. I’ve double-crossed him.”
Ashley snorted. “No shit.”
“Now what?”
“Now you wait for him to come home and you apologize.”
“Apologize?”
“As in, say you’re sorry,” Ashley clarified. “I know it’s probably a foreign concept but it’s appropriate here.”
Del winced, shutting her eyes against the idea of it. Zak was going to have a field day with this. Del Santoni apologizing to Zak Armsford. She must have passed out and woken in an alternate universe or something. “Apologize,” she repeated, hating the thought. But Ashley was right.
She’d screwed up. Zak hadn’t understood her motivation, but in the end, delivering the statue was going to unseat one of them. She’d been so wrapped up in justifying her plan when it came to her own family that she hadn’t stopped to think what it might do to his.
Making sense of her own father’s actions was a driving force. She could only imagine how he must feel knowing his father was the one who’d instigated it all with his claims of the statue and insistence on the blood pact in the first place. At least, that’s what the stories said.
It was time to be honest with him. About everything. Starting with how badly she wanted to marry him—for real. She just hoped he came back and listened long enough for her to tell him.
Del woke to the sound of her name.
“Zak?” She sat up and squinted at the blurry shape hovering over her in the darkened room.
“We have to go,” he said and the urgency in his tone made the hairs on her neck stand up.
“What’s going on?”
He flicked on the light and she blinked at the sudden brightness, clutching the covers to her chest. He hadn’t come to bed—or back to the cabin for that matter—before she’d finally passed out.
When she remembered she was still dressed, she let the blanket fall.
“Coyotes. About half a mile out and closing. We have to move,” he said, this time more forcefully.
She threw back the quilt and stood, scooping up her boots and following him out to the living room. Ashley met them, groggy, but awake.
“What’s with all the racket and why are all the lights on?” Ashley slurred.
“The coyotes found us. We have to go,” Del said.
“How the hell did they do that? I thought you pulled that GPS thing off your car,” Ashley said.
Zak cursed in response, effectively ending speculation for now. Del waited while he stomped down the short hall and poked his head into the second bedroom. A second later, he reappeared. “Where’s Janet?”
Ashley yawned. “She left about an hour ago. Some work thing.” She waved a hand dismissively.
Del and Zak shared a confused look as a howl broke the silence outside.
“Shit, that’s closer than half a mile,” Zak said. “Let’s go.”
Del stalled at the kitchen counter. “Where’s my bag?” she asked but no one answered. “Ashley?”
“It wasn’t me,” Ashley said, looking wounded. “I only steal things with motors.”
Zak snorted. “And that makes us feel so much better.”
Del continued searching.
“Princess. I’ll buy you a hundred bags when we get home. Let’s just get out of here.”
“Fine,” Del muttered. With Ashley close behind her, she slipped out the front door and ran for the Jeep.
Chapter Sixteen
In the gray light of dawn, Zak turned onto the country road and drove into the town of Fort Jericho. It looked exactly like he’d left it. The paint on the storefronts on Main Street even peeled in the same places he remembered. Del dozed beside him but when the barge sounded from the river that ran parallel the road, she stirred.
“Where are we?” she asked, rubbing her eyes and straightening in her seat.
“Home,” he said, doing his best to ignore how cute she looked all rumpled from sleep. He was still pissed off about her lie. But he’d come to terms with it out in the woods. Or, his wolf had. Now, he had to get her alone long enough to talk some sense into her.
If she really did have definitive proof of the inheriting family, they needed to approach this carefully. In his mind, there was a right way to go about this—and a wrong one. The coyotes were proof of that.
But so far, all they’d done since tearing out of Janet’s cabin was drive. And sleep or sulk, depending on who you were. Ashley still snored from where she’d sprawled along the backseat.
“Oh.” Del sat up and stared intently out the window at the familiar streets. She looked over at him. “I thought we’d stop again before we got here.”
He tightened his grip on the wheel. He’d wanted the same thing but he hadn’t wanted to put their safety at risk. “We made good time. I thought it best to get off the road.”
She nodded and bit her lip, staring out the window again in silence.
Zak tensed as he made the final turn and began the climb up the hill to the Santoni estate. He’d only been here once before—a dinner that had been a forced attempt at good will and ended in insults being thrown over too much champagne consumed all around. They’d never been invited back. Technically, he hadn’t been invited now.
That unwelcome feeling was what had driven him from town in the first place. He shoved it aside and gave the Jeep more gas. Best to get this over with.
He felt Del’s eyes on him and found her watching him, her lip worrying between her teeth. “Zak, before we get there, I wanted to say… About last night…” She glanced back at Ashley and then to him again with worried eyes.
He shook his head. It was too late. “We’re here,” he said, pulling up short in front of marbled front steps held down by Greek columns that supported two stories of balconies high above them.
The grass was a rich green and the house a marbled, breathtaking ivory. Stark contrasts—just like Del and he had been their whole lives. And now, with Del’s proof in the mix, one of them would be removed from power forever, widening the gap even further.
“I just—”Del began but before she could finish, her door was opened from the outside and Vie Santoni herself stood waiting in a cool gray pants suit.
“Delilah, oh thank the heavens.” She reached for her daughter’s arm and pulled Del to her feet on the stone drive, hugging with all the affection of a sterile socialite. The smile she wore was fake but Zak couldn’t tell if that was because her lips had more plastic surgery than they did real collagen at this point. For her skin’s sake, he hoped the Santonis weren’t the ones outed in the end.
And he hoped he didn’t ruin that smile with what he was about to say next.
“Zak Armsford,” Mrs. Santoni greeted him, also welcoming him with a loose embrace. Several other family members exited the double front door and hovered on the stairs. Damn. Zak had been hoping for a smaller audience but no such luck.
“Mrs. Santoni,” he said.
“Call me Vie,” she offered and he smiled.
Del stood quietly beside him, and he could feel the nerves in her.
I’m an ass, he noted to himself, and then plunged ahead anyway. “Vie, I need to say, before we get into anything, I can’t marry your daughter this weekend. I’m sorry for the inconvenience that will cause you.”
“You… what?” Mrs. Santoni blinked hard, looking back and forth between him and Del before finally settling on him, her features hardening to a granite-lik
e surface that matched the home that rose up behind her. “What is the meaning of this?”
“I gave your daughter a ride home. I was hired to protect her and get her here safely against the death threats, attacks, attempted kidnappings and killings that were aimed at her. This is where the job ends.”
Mrs. Santoni’s face flushed a deep crimson. He knew he was in deep shit. One thing you didn’t mess around with when it came to this family: their social standings. “I have two hundred people coming this weekend to watch you two exchange vows. You didn’t think to tell me this before?” she asked.
Del gave him a murderous look and then turned to her mother. “Mom, we’re sorry, but Zak’s right. By the time you heard the rumor, it was too late to stop it. We needed a cover while traveling and we couldn’t afford to out ourselves until we were safely back here.”
Mrs. Santoni looked about ready to burst.
Zak cleared his throat, drawing the woman’s death stare back to him. Now, he saw why Del needed a job that required travel. “Ma’am, like I said, I can’t marry your daughter this weekend because I need to marry her now. Today. We already have an ordained minister in the car—” he gestured to the car at the same time Del shrieked and rounded on him.
“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded.
“Delilah, language,” Vie admonished.
Zak grinned, enjoying himself now if only to watch the glorious beauty of Del’s fury and confusion blooming. “Yes, darling. Language,” he echoed.
She looked angry enough to spit. “What about last night?”
“Yes, last night was difficult. I wish you’d told me about the statue sooner. But if you really do have definitive proof of the inheriting family, what better way to solidify everyone’s future here than to unite our families together before anything damaging comes out.”
“Inheriting family?” Vie frowned. “Delilah, what’s this about?”
Del shot daggers at Zak but he pretended not to notice. He’d made up his mind.
Guarded By The Alpha Page 8
