A stone rattled outside.
My heart froze. I grabbed the pistol and aimed the barrel at the cave's somewhat hidden entrance.
Light fluttered in the long barely-visible opening beyond a mound of bulging stone.
Threatening to metamorphose into shadow. Yes. Something is out there. Hopefully, a bear. I could deal with being eaten alive. Please be a big-ass grizzly. Hungry. One that will kill me with one fatal blow. Just no humans. Forget talking. Chitchat is highly overrated.
Shadow spat out a tall human form.
With golden eyes. And magnificent musculature.
Boa. Without stripes. How did the bastard find me? Stupid question. He's a Shifter. I cocked the gun.
"Holy shit, Willow. It's just me." He threw up his palms.
Like I wanted to see him. "I know who the fuck you are. Get out of my Gods-be-damned cave."
Chapter Six
"Whoa, sweetheart." He took one step back. "It's alright. I'm alone."
Didn't he hear me? "I can see that. It is anything but alright. Go away. Or I'll shoot your mangy tail."
Those glowing amber eyes watched me.
Studied me like he tried to grasp at something. Anything to get the chance to disarm me. Not a chance. I sucked down a deep breath and waited for his next move.
He dropped his arms to his side. "I don't know what happened. But I've come to protect you."
"Then leave. You're about as safe to have around as nitroglycerin. So haul your volatile carcass out of my cave and ruin somebody else's day."
"Willow," he said softly, "I don't understand. Did I do something to turn you away? Did I hurt you?"
Admit that? Why give him satisfaction in knowing? "I never wanted you. Just go away."
Three heartbeats passed before he shifted his black combat boot sideways on the cave's dusty floor, spreading his legs farther apart. "You came to me, Willow. I gave you a gift. You gave me your body. Are you saying you set me up for this?"
What is he rambling about? "You're not the one being played." And the more he talked, the more my finger twitched against the stiff trigger.
His head wagged just enough to move his glowing eyes side-to-side. "Why would I play you, Willow?"
"To hurt my sire. Clan loyalties. I wasn't born yesterday. My Gods. Look where I am now because of you." Because of the asshole I'd grown to love.
****
Boa wondered at the insanity pouring from his mate's lips. She'd lost her mind deep inside the cave's foul belly, he thought. "Willow, kitten, I spent ten years waiting just to tell you how much I love you. How much I thought of nothing but making excuses to go hunting just so I could catch a glimpse of you. Just so I could sit and talk to you. To listen to your voice. Look into those eyes that haunted me every moment I wasn't with you. Hurting your sire would only hurt you. I'd never hurt you."
Her body's red heat signature didn't change, but her heartbeat shifted from thrashing to a steady zip.
Maybe she listened. Even understood.
Her body's heat signature faded from pissed red to a cooler orange too.
But that trigger finger isn't budging. I need to get her talking. To convince her to return to Death Summit with me. "Why did you leave the necklace?"
The question set off her wild heartbeat again.
Hopefully, that trigger finger wouldn't twitch and plug me with lead.
She blinked. "It was obvious you didn't want me. That you were playing me to get to Croc."
So she thought I used her for vengeance. "What passed between us is love. Nothing more. Why did you think I didn't want you?"
"Even fully-suited in your Wolfskin, you couldn't bite me. What kind of Shifter can control his true feelings when mating in his Wolfskin?"
Nice valid point. All wrong though. "We all aren't as volatile as your sire's pack. When I left in my Wolfskin, I did so to protect you from being irreversibly marked with my scent. Tornado was working to unite the other alphas to force Croc to deal with our mating. I didn't want to mark you until it was safe. But that doesn't matter now, does it?" Because her pregnancy would keep Wolf on her trail.
She sighed. "What doesn't matter?"
"Wolf got the better of both of us. He made certain you weren't getting away."
She snorted derisively, the barrel of her pistol never flinching from where it pointed at me. "Really? Well who's been holed up in this stinking cave for two days making you scour the damned countryside?"
She has me there. "I'm here. Alone at that. Give me a chance to prove my intentions are genuine."
"Then go away. Leave me alone. I'll believe you then."
Protect, Wolf snarled.
Not that easy with Wolf on the prowl to protect his pup. "You can't derive a thing from that scenario, Willow."
"Peace of mind! Gift me that if you're my friend."
Point the bloody gun somewhere else so I can grab you and show you how much I love you. "Look, give me a chance to prove my feelings for you. I haven't marked you. So, Wolf isn't here to demand his mate and child." What a lie. But sometimes, a man has to do what a man has to do. "Come back with me. I'll confront Croc. Beat the hell out of him if he says one negative word or looks at you the wrong way. Nobody will imply anything about you. Not my kitten."
Her breath knifed. "I don't think you've earned the right to call me Kitten."
Hell, how does one bargain with the wind?
"Don't touch me," she suddenly snarled.
Nice sign of progress. I nodded.
"Don't talk to me either."
That's a totally unreasonable demand. How can I express my feelings without talking? But I can't blame her for fearing me after her confession. She must be rational regardless though. "Willow, I need to convince you that I'm on your side. How can I do that without speaking?"
"That's your problem."
Mine, Wolf snapped.
Fine then. I'd just let Wolf tend to matters unless I have no other recourse. He can take over. And I'll keep my human form hidden until she begs for its return. Anything to tuck her safely back into my home with me. Back where she's safe.
****
I rode Boa's red gelding back to camp with him padding along on all fours in his Wolfskin. Not only was it easier for him to keep up with my horse, but we avoided talking. Thank goodness. More of his pleading would have grated on my frazzled nerves. Although Croc could talk up a storm as a werewolf, Boa obviously was content with not speaking. To me. Good. I preferred the enormous dark scary wild-dog monster on all fours to the lovable glorious mass of muscles packaged as a human. In his Wolfskin, he was less the temptation without those green eyes and attentive mask he always wore. Not to mention, he just made me feel safe. Like I had a watchdog.
Yes. He's my Guardian now. Okay. But just that. He wants the baby. That's all. Well, he can't have the baby. I'd ditch his tail as soon as a window of opportunity opened and be done with this game he and Father played. Maybe I'd head north. I always wondered what life was like up in Alaska. Anything to get away from this madness of clan feuds. Like Boa had no hand in the insanity. Hell, if he didn't work against my sire, he would have brought Croc with him to search for me. As if I was stupid and didn't realize this.
The buckskin picked up his pace.
Probably sensing the outpost. Horses usually wanted to get home without detours and a straight shot at the feed. Oh such simple things to ponder minus the crap of human existence. What I'd give to be a horse. So, forward ho. Let's return to the outpost where I can see how Father is going to deal with my homecoming. I'm crazy if I think he'll be happy when a Bitteroot Shifter walks me through the gate.
Racing this horse into the surrounding pine forest would be wisest. Boa in pursuit or not.
Just like the wind.
When I saw the shiny windmill jutting up between distant conical pine trees, I knew my foreboding was forethought. I should have run the opposite direction from a place that kept a machine set to harness the wind by people. People with a b
ig wall and a lock on a gate. A gate that could lock me away until the baby was born. Windmills are so not a good sign for freedom in my future.
Boa loped in the standard almost-dog kind of manner.
He even had a touch of reptile in the way he turned his head. Like he could only slide his head side to side. Any other angle looked uncomfortable. And his legs kind of moved while his body didn't in an extremely alert bulldog manner. Almost as if he conserved energy. Or something. Maybe I just never watched a Shifter guarding me during daylight hours enough to note every nuance in the way he moved his Wolf body? Or Boa just reminded me of my reckless sire.
Maybe I'm just simply tuned into his actions? Maybe his declaration in the cave draws my thoughts too much? Kept me analyzing every word he'd said back at the cave…His bargain and revelation? That he pined away for me for years. To sit with me. Speak to me. Stare into my haunting eyes? Or were those just lies to trap me where he wanted me? To take another jab at Croc? Only a fool would buy into Boa's sweet words. And I'm not about to be caught a fool more than twice in a week's time with the fool's trophy growing inside me. Besides, I'd realize who lied soon enough. Until then, Boa could just prove his affections, if attempting to do so even made a difference.
We skirted the line of bark-covered logs standing on end that encircled Death Summit's occupants from invaders of all kinds, then we passed through the gateway into the outpost's empty courtyard.
Where is everyone? Tying my sire down?
Boa snorted a loud breathy disapproval.
Why?
He swung his gaze from me to the outpost's central Shifter ring structure of lodges and headed in that general direction.
The man probably didn't want to shift out here without clothing in hand because all of his glory would be paraded before the locals. Or so those of us who couldn't shape shift theorized. Most Shifters never really gave a rat's ass about giving Normals a good show. But Boa defending me would send up a warning flag for Croc. And the ugly feud would snowball into an even more hideous monster.
Dammit. My child in my future can't be raised around this feuding. An impressionable child has a lot to lose. A child who needs a sire. A sire I need to trust. And Boa never acted like Croc. I studied Boa's dark furry brown back where he led us toward the shifter lodging.
So, do I want him for a mate? To help raise our child? Maybe if he isn't full of crap and lies. Maybe we just suffered from bad timing and circumstances. I could love the Boa I'd grown to love. He'd never ever hurt me in any other way over the past ten years. What kind of warrior could hunt the prey of his vengeance for ten fricking years without exhibiting one confusing display of behavior? I don't know. I can't be sure. I'll wait and watch. But how much leeway should I allow him? Very little. Nothing will be easy for him.
"Where in the hell have you been?" Croc's familiar sarcasm gnawed in my direction from behind my back.
Here we go. I pulled up on the reins and shot him a curious glance.
His smug mask held a standard dose of bitter bite. But I wouldn't point that out. Croc didn't take criticism well when lost in one of his moods.
My sire turned three shades of red. "Why did you return with that mongrel?" he growled. His mask melted into realization. "No. You didn't." His face began to tremble as if he was going to explode. "Gods-damn you, Willow. You shamed me by fucking a Bitterroot Shifter?"
Roaring darkness lunged at Croc. My sire shifted as quickly as Boa moved. Croc turned to face Boa's fangs, and the view of the courtyard twisted into a whirlwind of blurred shadows.
Stop them? Let them kill each other? Why step in on either's behalf after both treated me like a worn-out shoe? And where's everybody? It's not every day you get to see a good fight between two pissed-off Shifters over a worn-out shoe. If they couldn't share their toy, neither deserved to play with it.
People suddenly poured out of lodges.
Running. Forming an observation ring. Maybe I should be embarrassed. After all. One idiot is my sire. The other one got me pregnant.
People began glancing between me and the fight.
Like I could end the chaos. How? I didn't set them off. I merely sat my horse. But I guess I really don't want either one to die. After all, Tornado would probably make me return to Wolverine if my sire lost and died. That's not a good point. And Boa's steely ass and sexy supple muscles could really make me feel good even though he might just be using me. But maybe he isn't.
Then there's the baby. Like Croc would take me home with Boa's child. But Boa would welcome the child.
Another roar tore through the mayhem.
Tornado. Thank the Gods. Before my stubborn sire and my Guardian killed each other and left me in Wolverine's hands. Where would I be then with a baby on the way?
Tornado's black form entered the smear of a blur so fast I saw nothing when his Wolf form fused with the brawl. One-by-one, other Shifters joined in the clash of powers as if Tornado gave some nonverbal command for each to intervene on somebody's behalf.
The newcomers struggled with each of my idiots, trying to separate them probably before the stupid bloody feud ended a life. But what did that matter if Croc lived? The feud would continue because I carry Bitterroot seed. Hell, aren't we all blood relations? Cousins. What did another wasted drop of familial glue matter? Croc and his Gods-be-damned stupidity.
The mangy snarling fracas finally ground to a halt with many Shifters pinning Croc's squirming carcass to the ground.
Tornado's somewhat-nude human body hovered over my sire's dark Wolfskin. "It ends now," he yelled, with Wolfen hairs still clinging to his muscular flesh. "Shift into human form. It's over."
Did my sire even appear to obey?
"Shift, Croc," Tornado ordered and turned to where Boa stood on all Wolfen fours staring at Croc's jerking body gripped by muzzles of other Shifters. "You too, Boa. This isn't the kind of dirt you lower yourself to wallow in. I expected more from you."
No? I suppose Tornado was right. Boa had always been above Croc's antics. But why had Boa attacked Croc? To defend me and my honor? Probably, in some convoluted way, he defended himself the way my sire had sneered his accusation. I studied the warrior as his wiry Wolfen hairs gave way to sleek golden skin stretched tightly over swells of his intricately-carved musculature.
Oh, the view of the younger stronger Boa was far more pleasing. Everybody better get a look.
Boa glared at Croc. "Not one more word from Croc about my mate. He will respect her. And her choice. Or I won't hold back next time merely to save his tail for my mate's sake."
He's sure tossing the word mate around like he has the right to use it as he sees fit. But I kind of like his choice of words. Fighting Croc isn't very mature. I suppose Boa is doing so for me. And I kind of like it. Yes. It's true. But calling me his mate isn't going to make me forget what happened.
Boa stood there one minute, then fell on all fours back into his dark bear-dog werewolf form.
Good. Less temptation for me. Now I can forget about all this nonsense and wait for the inevitable visit from my sire. One that's certain to be as ugly as the fight I just witnessed. Something has got to give. A future, for me, has to show itself. A future for my baby and I. Now, it's all about the baby.
****
I couldn't help but snort, Boa thought. Again. At my soon-to-be mate. She'd come to me in the end. The stubborn thing. But who could blame her for her reaction when her sire behaved so abominably in public? The fool still had to be pinned to the ground inside the nosy throng of villagers.
She locked her blue stare on my Wolf from where she sat atop Red.
Like she wasn't certain what unfolded. Well, she could take all the time she needed to decide I'm on her side. But now's the time to lock her away safely inside my lodge from her insane sire. I kind of swung my muzzle back toward my lodge, signaling she should follow.
Her brow furrowed.
Confusion. Damn, Croc. One day soon, she'll trust me again. But she won't go to her sire's lo
dge again. Croc's reaction to our relationship is unforgiveable. How can he be so angry when a child is involved? His own blood!
Mine, Wolf snarled inside my chest.
Calm down before you chase away the wind. It's not like her sire hasn't scared the crap out of her already. It's amazing she hadn't disappeared again.
She kicked her mount into a walk.
Amazingly. I led the way to my wooden door.
Repaired. Now hanging as it should. Hopefully, that's a sign that our relationship is repairable.
Somehow, something, somewhere nudged her into the still shadows and muted sunlight of my round lodge's almost-empty interior. She descended into a squeaking chair. But Willow sitting at my rickety table only showed she remained distanced from me. Like the uncatchable wind. Damn Croc. I had her in my arms, and he couldn't just let her go. The bastard. I kicked the door shut.
The sheet of planking slammed.
A weak scowl consumed her beautiful mask.
Maybe I should have shifted into human form to gently shut the repaired door.
She forced a small smile, planted her elbows into the tabletop, and sucked down a breath. "What now?"
Speak and sabotage my second chance? Not with her ultimatum. That smile she wore would sour quickly. I turned a circle next to the closed door, stretched out laying on my belly over the cool hard-packed earth, and propped my chin upon my forelegs, against the door's base.
She probably stared. I wouldn't know since not looking at her was one of her stipulations. Breaking any of her rules would certainly cause me more grief. Besides Wolf would enjoy her observation anyway. Better to keep him happy than set off another round of mate hunting. I licked across the sharp edges of my Wolf incisors lining my jowls and closed my eyes.
Time to wait her out. To see how my indifference touched her.
****
Sitting in the squeaky chair waiting out Boa's nap translated into another standoff. This trip had been one ridiculous confrontation after another. Add to that how the long afternoon had dragged out even more because I hadn't shaken the horrid aroma that followed me after two days of cave life. Oh to bathe. That's not an option the way Boa locked me inside his lodge, blocking the door with his gargantuan dark Wolf mass. Just what am I supposed to do? Gestate? Does he think I'm his property? Not without a mark. A necklace isn't enough to make me sit and do as he bids like a stunt bitch. Besides, my butt hurts. Time to get up and stretch my legs. To bathe. I smelled like a stinking bear's den. I climbed from the squeaking chair.
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