“Can’t breathe,” her muffled voice called out.
He eased his hold and slid his hand into her hair to hold her still until both males were covered.
Dante stepped up and pulled Lena from his arms. Devin offered no resistance.
With his short black hair, hard black eyes and harsh expression, Dante looked every ounce the predator he was, yet the gentle way he enfolded Lena in his arms showed the side of his personality he reserved for family. Anyone else who found themselves in the same position usually died. Assassins were like that though. They used any means to take out their prey.
“Welcome to the family, sister.”
Dante released her after giving her cheeks a kiss. Hands on her waist, he lifted her and held a dangling Lena in front of him. The sight of Lena’s wide eyes and open mouth tore a chuckle from Devin’s throat.
Dante leveled his icy stare on him. “Problem?”
Devin shook his head and took his female, setting her on her feet next to him. “No, just forgot how much I’ve missed my little brother.”
Lena glanced between them, the questions in her eyes, but what came out of her mouth killed the joy seeing his sibling brought. “You were too late. Weren’t you?”
Vader skidded down the hall before Dante could answer. The male’s wild gaze touched on each one of them. “Where’s Gwen?”
Dante, in his usual bluntness, said, “She’s dead.”
Lena groaned. The tears he’d seen simmering in her eyes all morning fell. Devin cradled her against his chest and petted her in an effort to calm her. He turned his attention to his brother and Xander. “What happened?”
“We found where they’d most likely…” Xander closed his eyes, a shudder shaking his body. “Where they raped her.”
Vader groaned. He dropped to his knees.
Devin took in the tortured expression the wolf wore. Although his rival, sympathy rose. “Are you sure?”
Xander laughed, the sound bitter and a little crazed, not a sound he’d ever heard his friend make. “I scented sex, blood and fear entwined with Gwen’s signature.”
“The wolf’s right. It’s a good assumption without actually witnessing the act.” Dante shrugged. “Although there were other human females in the warehouse. It could’ve been one of them, I suppose, but Gwen’s blood coated the mattress we found.”
Lena scrubbed at her tears. “Did you find her body?” Dante shook his head. “Then she could still be alive, right?”
Dante sighed, the sound laced with annoyance. “The amount of blood—”
Lena buried her face against his shirt and cried harder, drowning out Dante’s voice. Devin really wanted to beat his brother for upsetting Lena but it wouldn’t do any good. Dante wouldn’t make a statement like that if he didn’t believe it were true. Still, he’d latch on to the hope for Lena’s sake and Gwen’s. “No body means she might still be alive.”
Maggie, who’d been standing along the wall, said, “The place was deserted, I assume.”
“Yeah, we scouted the area, picked up their trail, but it ended abruptly.” Dante shrugged. “They must’ve gotten into a helicopter or plane.”
“Then there’s hope.” Lena turned pleading eyes on him. “Right?”
He ran a finger down her cheek. “Yeah, there’s hope.”
“Did you check out the site where they’re building the safe house?” Maggie asked. At his nod, she tapped a single finger against her chin. “Hmmm, what about the old mining village?”
Dante cursed. “I didn’t think of it. Nobody’s lived there for years.”
“Exactly.” Maggie nodded. “Makes it a perfect hideout for criminals. Wouldn’t you say?”
“Yeah, it would.” Dante walked toward the phone on the hall table. “I’ll make a quick call to the Council for a pickup on the cub then head out there.”
At those words, Lena’s back stiffened. She turned slowly in his arms and focused on his brother. He couldn’t see her face, but if Dante’s raised brow was any indication, she’d leveled that piercing stare she had on him.
“And why would you do that, brother?”
Devin had wondered how she’d react to the label Dante had used. He had his answer. She’d use it to her advantage.
“There are protocols to follow, sister.”
Dante narrowed his eyes, leveling a look on her most humans would cower under. Although Devin was prepared to beat some respect into his younger sibling, Lena didn’t need him to stand up for her. She shoved out of his arms and stepped closer.
“No. Not only no, but hell no! Those damn elders of yours already signed her death warrant once. If it wasn’t for us humans, she’d be gone.” She poked one single finger at Dante’s chest. “I don’t care if we have to lie and pretend that Molly is just a regular lion.” She reached behind her, palm held out to him. Devin took it. “We’re keeping her.”
Devin pulled her into the shelter of his arms. “Of course we are, but it’s not a permanent solution. There’s only so long we can hide her early shift.” He tipped her chin and met her red-rimmed eyes. “If we can’t connect to her—”
She waved a hand, cutting off his words. “If you can’t connect with her in my lifetime, you never will. Besides, I’ll be dead by then anyway. I won’t know. Better that way.”
“Once we finish mating, you’ll share my cats and be tied to my soul, Lena. You’ll live and die with me.”
“If I accept them.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Look, Devin. Nothing is set in stone. I was serious when I said we needed more than just great sex.” She blushed and flicked her gaze to Maggie.
Maggie cleared her throat. “And that’s my cue to leave.” She patted Lena’s arm. “Don’t give up hope.”
Lena wrapped her arms around her chest. “I won’t. It’s all I have left.”
Vader stared at Lena for a long moment before he pushed up from the floor. “I’m going after Gwen.”
“So am I,” Xander growled.
The two wolves glared at each other, lips lifted in matching snarls. In unison, they turned and headed back into the rain, Vader stripping as he jogged across the grass.
“This’ll be fun.” Dante grunted but followed behind them.
Devin closed the door. The wolves’ display spiked his interest but Lena’s words bothered him more. “We need to talk.”
She didn’t respond. She walked down the hallway without so much as a glance in his direction.
He grabbed her hand. “Lena, wait.”
She shrugged out of his hold. “Let it go, Devin. This is the wrong time and the wrong place to discuss our issues.”
He knew that but he couldn’t let her walk away, not with the knowledge he’d gained last night. “I get that you’re worried about Gwen—”
Lena spun around. “Worried?” She pointed in the direction of the door. “I just found out my baby sister was raped and probably killed. That goes way beyond worried. On top of that, I have your brother threatening to kill my sister.”
“Dante won’t harm Molly. I promise you.”
“You promise me.” She huffed. “What about Gwen? Do you promise me she’ll come home?”
“I can’t promise that, but I will go with the others to look for her.”
Relief flashed across her face then annoyance. “Well go. Kade’s here to protect me.”
“In a minute. We need to talk.” He saw the warning in her eyes, but he couldn’t let this go. “As soon as I get back, we’re finishing our mating. No matter what I find.”
She blinked at him. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. We can’t wait any longer. I’d do it right now if it wasn’t for your worry over Gwen.”
“You can’t order me to mate you. Beloved human, chosen mate, your one—I don’t care what label you slap on me. It doesn’t give you the right to make my decisions.” She fisted her hair and tugged. “Dammit, Devin. I’ve walked this road already. Twice. I won’t do it a third time unless I know it’s real.”
“It is real.”
She shoved her hair off her shoulder and covered his mark. “Our attraction is real, sure. I’ll even admit I’m drawn to you. I do need your touch but without love, it’s only sex.” She dropped her hand and glared at him. “You said we can stop this bond. Distance. Remember that before you start making demands on me. In the end, I can walk away and I’ll make damn sure you never find me.”
“Walking away is no longer an option.” He snapped his teeth together. “We’ve reached the point of no return. I have to mate you.”
Her bitter laugh cut at his chest like a damn knife in the heart.
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I do.”
She huffed and stomped to the window in the library. He followed and used his body to cage her in, his chest to her back and hands next to hers on the wooden sill. “You’re between worlds. If you die without a tie to my cats, your soul dies too. There will be no heaven, no peace and no hope for another go at life.”
He waited for a reaction, got none. Didn’t she realize how serious this was? He gave her a little shake, desperate to get through to her. “That’s the best-case scenario, baby. Some say a soul with no tie to a god only has one place to go. Hell. I won’t allow that to happen. My mistake landed you in this position and I will save you from it.”
She tensed in his arms. Slowly, she turned and leaned back, her palm flat on his chest to steady herself. The look on her face chilled him.
“I do not want your pity nor do I want to be your one great selfless act.” She stood on her tiptoes, her fingers fisting the material of his shirt. She tugged and he bent closer. Inches away, her brown eyes captured his, the warmth he’d grown accustomed to gone, replaced by ice. “If you think saving me from damnation will erase your sins, you’re wrong.”
She shoved and he stepped away, let her put distance between them because he didn’t know what else to do. He was an idiot. Mira always told him he spoke without thinking. She was right. Dammit. He fumbled for something to say and couldn’t come up with anything, not when his cats were snarling at his stupidity too.
Lena strode toward the corner of the room and propped herself against the wall, arms folded loosely in front of her. “I have faith. My god won’t abandon me to suffer and if he does, then so be it.”
“Demons run hell.” Nope, she didn’t even flinch at that revelation. He cursed. “Many are decent, but the ones condemned to suffer in their own prison are vile. The things they’d do to you are unthinkable. I don’t want to see you suffer that fate.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not afraid of death or hell.”
Her lack of fear sparked his trepidation. If she wouldn’t acknowledge the danger she was in, she might refuse his cats. She had to willingly take them, bind her soul to his. His heart knocked hard against his rib cage. His cats watched her through his eyes, tails flicking as their anxiety spiked. His lion stood and began to pace. The others would shortly follow if he didn’t soothe things over with Lena. They didn’t like the course the conversation had taken and blamed him for it.
He ran a hand over the back of his neck where sweat slickened the skin. “Well, I’m upset. I can’t live without you. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
She pushed away and strode closer so only a few inches separated them. “Is it living without me or living with your guilt for putting me in this position that has you so concerned about my fate?”
She stared at him as if judging the effect of her question. He tried to hide his expression, keep it neutral. She smirked and he figured he must’ve failed to hide his remorse.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She made a derisive sound, her nose wrinkling. “If my choices are hell or spending eternity with someone who is only with me out of pity, then I’ll embrace the fiery pits. They’ll warm me better at night than a man without the courage to face his own damn demons.”
She pivoted on her heel and stormed away. The door slammed and he flinched. The right thing to do was go after her, try to ease her ire. He didn’t. He stared out at the pelting rain and allowed her words to sink in. And he hated knowing that she was right.
His demons had burrowed into his soul during those months in the torture chambers. Facing them now would destroy him. Better to let them seethe than poke at them.
* * * * *
Devin picked up the bloody gauze and sniffed it. “Why would they mask her scent?”
“Because they don’t want us finding them. Why else?” Vader growled.
Devin glanced at the wolf shifter crouched next to him. An abandoned cabin in the middle of a deserted village with his rival was the last place he wanted to be, but after Vader had lunged at both Dante and Xander with claws and fangs bared, they’d split up. Xander and Dante went to investigate the smoke billowing in the sky a mile or so away. That left Devin here with a crazed wolf.
He dropped the bandage on top of the ripped outfit that carried Gwen’s fragrance. “There’s no lingering evidence of rape, just blood.”
Vader stood and flipped the couch where they’d suspected Gwen must’ve slept last night. “Yeah, just blood. Too much goddamn blood. All fresh. You know what that means?”
Devin motioned toward the used dressings. “At least they’re tending her wounds. It’ll give us time.”
“If she doesn’t bleed to death first.” Hands fisted in his hair, Vader groaned. “Why would she get into a car with a shifter in the first place?”
“She probably thought with Molly’s scent masked they were safe.”
Vader cursed. “And if the hyena didn’t notice the lack of her signature, he would’ve picked up mine.”
Silence stretched as they picked their way through the debris littering the floor. Finally, Devin said, “She didn’t know, then.”
Vader stopped at the door, fingers gripping the edge. His claws slipped free and embedded into the wood. “That she’s my beloved human or my one?”
Devin cursed. “And Lena?”
“Lena.” Vader glanced over his shoulder. “I fell in love with Lena but I fucked it up. Don’t make the same mistakes I did.”
No, Devin wouldn’t. He had no problem making his own. He strode toward the door without commenting. “Come on, let’s go catch up to Xander.”
Vader flung an arm out blocking his path. “What, aren’t you going to get all territorial and jealous?”
He felt both emotions but he kept them at bay, thanks to the knowledge that his sanity waited for him a few miles away. The thought gave him pause. Even without Lena’s scent, he felt…well, not quite normal but able to deal. The ability to think and reason without the fuzzing in his head was almost as amazing as having a woman to go home to. “Lena chose me, not you. She severed her ties last night herself.”
“Why the hell are you here then? Go back to the lodge and finish it.”
Devin leapt the length of the porch and jogged down the rutted street, avoiding the puddles. Because at the moment, my female despises me. My fault too. I’m the goddam king at fucking shit up. He kept the truth to himself and shrugged. “I will once I bring Gwen home.”
Xander emerged from the tree line as they approached. One look at his ashen face and Devin knew. They were too late.
“The plane crashed.” Xander swallowed hard. “It’s still in flames.”
* * * * *
Lena huddled on the bathroom floor, her face pressed into a hand towel to muffle her cries. Men were stupid and apparently, shifters were worse. How dare he treat her as a charity case? Did he expect her to get down on her knees and thank him for the chance to spend eternity by his side, knowing he didn’t really want her?
Or love her?
Yeah, his little revelation about her fate when she died scared the crap out of her but what she told him was true. She had faith—in Molly, her god and yes, even Devin.
Maybe she should just cut her losses, accept the course her life had taken and walk away now before the inevitable happened and s
he fell in love with the man completely, but she feared she already had. This wasn’t the fairytale romance her mom and stepdad shared. This thing she was in with Devin was a roller-coaster ride. One minute, elation filled her in the face of his seemingly devoted attentions. The next, he treated her like a dog he’d saved from being put down. The flip-flopping reactions broke her heart.
A knock sounded. “It’s me, child. Let me in.”
Maggie. Lena knew she’d find her. The woman had an eerie sixth sense for anyone in distress. She pushed up and unlocked the door. The look of sympathy on the older woman’s face made the tears well up again. Lena scrubbed at her puffy eyes and wrapped her arms around her waist, refusing to let them fall.
Maggie leaned against the wall and pursed her lips. “What did he do?”
That was what she loved about Maggie. She was always in her corner. Lena gave her a small grateful smile. “I was a mistake.”
After a moment of silence, Maggie sat on the closed lid of the toilet. Lena explained everything from the moment he’d clawed her to this morning’s fight. Maggie took it all in with that serene way she had.
“Child, you know I’m your biggest supporter but this time you’re wrong.” Maggie held up a hand. “Is your man an idiot? Absolutely.” She nodded her head. “It’s clear he’s never been in a relationship before, but I don’t think it’s fair for you to hold his ignorance against him. Devin is so in love with you he doesn’t know what to do about it.”
Lena ran a shaky hand through her hair. “It’s called infatuation, not love. There’s a big difference between the two.”
“He’s besotted, not infatuated.”
She threw her arms up in the air. “That’s the same damn thing.”
“Infatuated implies confusion based on passion. Besotted implies love.”
Lena hopped onto the counter and rested her head against the cool bathroom mirror. “What? Did you consult the dictionary before you came in here?”
Maggie grinned. “Don’t get defensive. Just listen, okay?”
She sighed and motioned for her to continue.
“I’ve learned quite a bit about shifters while speaking with Kade today. He’s quite a chatty man if you feed him. Anyway, he said that Devin is over three hundred years old.”
Beautiful Mistake: 2 (Royal Pride) Page 31
