Wild Instinct

by McCarty, Sarah

  Ten

  “GARRETT!”

  A hand touched his shoulder. The scent of another male stole past the pleasure in which he was drowning. He snarled, jumped up and lashed out. Kelon swore and leapt back.

  Donovan grabbed Garrett from the other side. “Stand down.”

  Garrett shook his head. Too close. They were too close to Sarah Anne.

  With a snarl Garrett broke Donovan’s grip. The energy in him gathered. Head lowered, he took a deep breath. Aggression laced the air, layering over Sarah Anne’s sweet scent. Burying it.

  “Get back.”

  Kelon closed in on one side, Donovan on the other. “Not until you have yourself under control.”

  Only one word ground past the primitive rage. “Mine.”

  “Not yet,” Donovan countered. “And you’re not claiming her against her will.”

  “She’s not complaining.”

  In reality, Sarah wasn’t doing anything but lying on the floor where he’d placed her, her soft little body twisting with the yearning for his mark. The knowledge flowed through him. He shook his head, the flood of emotions not abating—his, hers . . .

  Kelon knelt. Garrett lunged, only partially in control. Donovan knocked him aside. Sarah Anne gasped and moaned. Linked. They were still linked. He felt her scream build. A woman’s reaction to rage pouring from him to her. He tried to sever the connection. Easy. Easy.

  He sent the command to her, unable to break their link. She held him too tightly, wanting the security. How long had she felt this scared?

  I’ve got you, darling.

  It was himself he had to get under control. Kelon reached for Sarah Anne.

  “Don’t touch her.”

  Kelon’s glance darted between Sarah Anne and Garrett, narrowed. “Shit.”

  “What the hell?” Donovan asked.

  Kelon looked over at his brother, and Garrett knew his secret was out. “Looks like Megan isn’t our only talent.”

  “Let her go, rogue.”

  Rogue. The hated name. “It’s not me.”

  Donovan snarled. “Like hell.”

  “Maybe to start, but now it’s her. She won’t let go.”

  “Why the hell not?” Kelon snapped. “You’re not that good-loo kin g.”

  Because she was scared, and had been for a long time. But Garrett wouldn’t tell them that. One thing Sarah Anne had in spades was pride.

  Kelon leaned in. Garrett snarled, the urge to kill drowning all but a remnant of sense. “Stand back now!”

  “Don’t get fussy with me, rogue.”

  He ground out the truth. “I can’t control my instinct with her in my head.”

  It galled his pride to give that explanation, but without space, he wasn’t going to be able to last much longer.

  From the back came Daire’s deep rumble. “He’s not lying. If she’s linked with him, he’s dangerous.”

  “Back off, Kelon,” Donovan ordered.

  Kelon stayed put, canines showing. “He’s not in control.”

  “Neither is she. They are together, though.”

  Kelon paused and then cut Garrett a glare. “Don’t mate her.”

  He wouldn’t. Not yet; not here. “Just stand back.”

  Sarah’s whisper twined through his mind, a siren’s call for contact. A hunger. Need.

  Casting Kelon a snarl, every sense on alert, Garrett crouched over her. “Sarah Anne.”

  She fought awareness, preferring to stay linked inside him. Hell, he didn’t want the link severed, either. She was so right inside him. So safe.

  “Mommy?”

  But her daughter needed her. “Sarah Anne, Megan needs you.”

  Agony seared along his consciousness as Sarah wrenched free.

  She cried out. He held her closer, absorbing her pain along with his.

  “Careful.”

  He let her go when she struggled. Her big brown eyes were wide and her scent a wild mix of fear and confusion.

  Donovan offered her his hand. Garrett’s teeth snapped together when she took it. She did that too easily. She’d spent too much time among humans to touch another male so readily. They were going to have to talk about that.

  Eleven

  SARAH Anne rushed to Megan. The child was pale and wan. Sarah Anne snatched her close. “What did you do to her?”

  Her small canines flashed in the dark. Too small to inflict real damage. Garrett wondered if she could actually manage to change. Was that why she hadn’t run with her son?

  “Nothing was done to her,” Daire said wearily, from where he sat beside Teri. “She’s just tired. What she did took a lot of strength.”

  “What exactly has she done?” Sarah asked.

  The answer came short and sweet. “Kept Teri alive.”

  Garrett knew the strength of his own power, but he hadn’t felt its existence until he’d reached puberty. How strong must the little girl be, that she could do so much, so young? And what would that mean to her future in the pack? She lay against her mother’s side, her thumb stuck in her tiny mouth, eyes drifting shut. The flickering resentment at what she represented drowned in a flood of protectiveness. She would need someone strong to stand between her and prejudice. He brushed his mind over hers, experimentally. Without hesitation, it opened for him. With no shields, anyone could rip her apart. He hadn’t ever been around children. Were they all this trusting?

  “She will be very valuable.” Daire looked pointedly at Garrett before returning his attention to Donovan. “Too valuable to chance.”

  To a packless rogue, he meant. Garrett shifted his position and bared his teeth in a silent challenge. “Fuck you.”

  Sarah Anne gasped.

  “Watch your language,” Donovan snapped, glancing pointedly at the baby.

  It took Garrett a moment to recognize the surge of emotion that flooded him. Shame. Son of a bitch. He’d vowed never to feel that again.

  “Sorry.”

  The guilt only increased when he saw the disappointment in Sarah Anne’s expression. Hell, she already didn’t trust him. She probably thought he’d never make it as a father for her kid. He would, though. Including watching his language.

  “It won’t happen again,” he told her gruffly.

  “Good.”

  There was a distinct lack of subservience in the retort. The defiance skittered along his raw nerves, bringing forth more aggression. He didn’t need that right now. The rumble in his throat was soft, a warning she recognized, if the dropping of her lashes was an indication. He had all he could handle right now, with the other werewolves.

  “Megan is not Haven’s concern. She’s mine, by right of mating.”

  “No one argues that.”

  “He’s not marked her yet,” Daire pointed out.

  Donovan dismissed that with a quick wave of his hand. “Semantics.”

  Daire’s response came too casually. “It is only custom, not law, that says a child goes with the mother.”

  Donovan spun as fast as Garrett did. “Take a child away from its mother?”

  Hell, no. Garrett dropped into a fighting crouch. “Sarah Anne, get behind me.”

  Kelon caught her arm. “Stay.”

  “Now, Sarah.”

  The snarl that rumbled from Sarah Anne’s throat was no less feral than the one building inside of him. “Let me go, Protector.”

  “No.”

  “You have no rights over me.”

  “Wyatt, Pack Haven’s alpha, does, and until I get you back to Haven, I speak for him.”

  “Not in my opinion.”

  Kelon cocked an eyebrow at her. “Fortunately, your cooperation is not required.”

  Garrett smiled. “But you do need mine.”

  With a burst of mental energy, he broke Kelon’s grip.

  Move. He shot the command into Sarah Anne’s mind.

  Sarah Anne did, leaping behind him with gratifying speed.

  Donovan slid in beside Kelon. Daire stood. Damn, he wished Cur was here.
The odds weren’t good.

  Take Megan and run. Now.

  He could feel the energy pouring off Sarah Anne in a wave of anxiety. Stress, fear, indecision.

  His claws extended, the bones in his face ached and stretched and his canines cut into his lower cheek. The cold, hard clarity that always preceded battle settled into his stomach as he met the other Protectors’ gazes. “My mate. My law.”

  “Haven doesn’t work that way.”

  “Mommy?” Megan was waking.

  “Then f—Screw Haven.”

  “You defy us, rogue, and we’ll kill you.”

  He smiled at Kelon. “You can try.”

  Go, Sarah Anne.

  Her boots scraped across the floor, but instead of going backward, she was in front of him, her slender shoulders squared. “No one is killing anyone. And no one is taking my baby from me.”

  Damn, he was going to have to take her in hand. From the shocked disbelief on the other men’s faces, they likely wouldn’t interfere.

  “You don’t have a say in this,” Donovan said, almost gently.

  “I have all the say. I’ve run before.”

  Shit. “A good time to run would have been thirty seconds ago,” Garrett pointed out. When he’d told her to.

  A flick of her fingers dismissed his reprimand. “I’m sick of chauvinistic men telling me what to do.”

  “Then you’ll just have to readapt.” He did not like the way Daire was shifting position.

  Sarah’s eyes flashed red as she snapped back at him, “Don’t you tell me what to do. I don’t wear your mark.”

  “Is that all that’s holding you back from obedience?”

  She bared those little canines at him. “Not at all.”

  “The child should be secured,” Daire interrupted. “She’s too important to risk.”

  “Garrett says he has her,” Donovan countered.

  Nice to know someone was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

  “Garrett wasn’t raised pack.”

  “Meaning?” Garrett wanted the prejudice out in the open.

  Daire met his gaze squarely. “Your instincts aren’t to be trusted.”

  And nice to know who wasn’t.

  “Like the one that says to take you down now?” he asked, taking Sarah’s arm and moving her behind him. A downward cut of his hand told her to stay.

  Daire nodded, as calm as ever. “Yes.”

  Power eased over the barrier of Garrett’s thoughts, cutting through his shields like a hot knife through butter. Shit. Daire. The merc was a telepath. And an incredibly strong one.

  “Shit.” With a hard mental shove, Garrett expelled Daire from his mind.

  Daire’s eyes narrowed. “You need more training.”

  “I had all that was available.” To a half werewolf with no future.

  “You trained yourself?”

  Daire sounded surprised. Who the hell else did he think there was? “Yes.”

  Daire’s eyes narrowed a fraction more before he nodded at Kelon and Donovan. “Don’t kill him.”

  Donovan sighed. “He’s not going to let us take the child if we don’t.”

  Daire nodded. “Understood.” He held out his hand to Garrett. “Give me your hand.”

  Give a physical conduit to a telepath who could rip his mind apart? The hell he would. “I’m not feeling sociable right now.”

  Not a muscle shifted in the other’s expression. “If you want the woman and your child, you’ll warm up.”

  Shit again. The ancient was powerful enough to make him do anything he wanted.

  “Don’t.”

  Sarah’s whisper poked at his hesitation. She stood there, clutching her baby, agony in her eyes. She knew as well as he what would happen. Wolves were not tolerant of telepaths. Sooner or later they’d kill him. Especially if Daire was able to discern the full extent of his “talents.” However, his safety was secondary to her safety and he couldn’t stay with her if he didn’t do this. He held out his hand. Daire took it. There was that slightest whisper of power and then . . . nothing, except the collective tension of everyone in the room.

  Daire released his hand and grunted.

  “What the hell does that mean?” Kelon snapped, his long black hair sliding over his shoulder.

  “It means the McGowan instincts are sound.”

  Without another word, he turned and headed back to Teri.

  Kelon frowned after him. “The man delights in talking in riddles.”

  “I get the impression that he feels he said all he needed to say,” Donovan countered.

  Garrett wiggled his fingers. Not the slightest remnant of power lingered. Had his shields held or had Daire read his mind? The wolf knelt beside Teri, touching her cheek with the same tenderness as before.

  “Well, I need more.” Kelon lifted his lip in a snarl. “Can we trust him or not, Daire?”

  “For now.”

  Kelon rolled his eyes. “What the hell does that mean?”

  Garrett didn’t care. He grabbed Sarah and pulled her into his side. He felt better immediately. When Megan fussed, he took her into his arms. Her weight was as nothing against the unfamiliar weight of responsibility. For a moment, he wondered what the hell he was doing; then her little arms came around his neck and her breath blew across his skin. When Sarah Anne’s hand slipped into his, he knew. He was accepting his destiny. His family. His place.

  “It doesn’t matter what he meant.”

  Both Donovan and Kelon stared at him with that impassive way they had. And then they nodded. The way they would when any pack member gave his word.

  It was all shit, but somehow good.

  Twelve

  “I’M not leaving without my son.”

  Sarah planted her feet at the cave mouth and tugged on her arm. Garrett paid her no mind, merely switched his grip to her waist and hefted her up. “Cur’s bringing him.”

  He said that as if it settled everything. “I don’t know Cur.”

  “You will.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “We pretty much share everything.”

  She’d lived among humans, seen rogues at their worst. “Like hell.” They weren’t sharing her.

  His green eyes cut to hers and that strange tingle went down her spine, as if he’d touched her deep inside. “You’ll do as you’re told.”

  “Not hardly.”

  “You lived too long among the humans.”

  And that was supposed to cow her? She’d left behind the pack behavior that said she had to submit to a male’s will when she’d married John. “Well, maybe I’ll go back.”

  He didn’t even look at her as he stepped over the large rock at the edge of the cave. “No, you won’t.”

  The morning air was damp with dew, redolent with scent. No matter how deeply she breathed, there was no scent of Josiah or Rachel. Her stomach clenched on an agony of anxiety. Was he all right?

  “Rachel might not go with your friend Cur.”

  All that got her, as he set her down, was a cock of an eyebrow and a curt, “One way or another, she’ll go.”

  She dug in her heels. “He’ll force her?”

  A small smile flirted with his lips. “Never yet known Cur to have to resort to force.”

  She assumed he referred to how handsome Cur was. “There’s a first time for everything.”

  With a tug of his hand he pulled her along. From her perch against his other shoulder, Megan giggled. “True enough,” Garrett responded.

  “But you’re not concerned?”

  “No.”

  “I’m not leaving Josiah.”

  At that he turned. With her hands still captured in his, he brought both to her cheek. “I’m bringing him to you, baby.”

  “I’m not a baby.”

  His eyes did a rapid but thorough perusal of her figure, starting at her head, lingering on her breasts, before traveling to her feet and then back up. She braced herself for the obvious retort. Instead he aske
d, “You walking, or am I carrying you?”

  “I’m not leaving my son.” She couldn’t.

  With a move so rapid her mind only cataloged it afterward, she was facedown over his broad shoulder. And with the same graceful strength he again picked up Megan, effectively mitigating her struggles with the fear of hurting her daughter.

  “I figured you for a stubborn one.”

  He didn’t sound at all put off by the idea.

  Thirteen

  HAVEN wasn’t what Sarah Anne had expected. She was used to the rigid community structure of werewolves, with the houses set out by hierarchy, but Haven was actually charming. There were capes mixed in with Victorians and bungalows. Some of the houses were in a state of disrepair, but the majority of them were in the process of being rebuilt.

  “How big does Wyatt expect his pack to be?” she asked as the SUV they’d picked up three hours ago left the town behind.

  Garrett cut her a glance. “I didn’t get the impression that he thought in terms of limits.”

  She thought of all the weres who had been displaced for a variety of reasons. “He can’t expect to take them all in.”

  “Where would you suggest he draw the line?”

  Donovan’s low drawl from the front seat made her blush. The most likely place would be with half bloods. Like her and her children, who were not even that.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Yeah, neither does Wyatt.”

  “So he’s just taking in whomever?”

  The seat creaked as Donovan turned. His hard gaze raked her face, leaving her feeling like less than nothing for asking a perfectly valid question. Garrett’s arm came around her shoulder. He was always doing that. Touching her when she needed it most. Whether she wanted it or not.

  “The pack is always protected.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning we investigate anyone who applies.”

  “You investigated me?”

  There were a whole lot of things she didn’t want them to know about her.

  The half smile on Donovan’s mouth raised the hairs on the back of her neck. “We left that to Garrett.”

  The sick feeling in her stomach grew. The hairs at her temple stirred. There was the softness of a “Relax” couched inside an exhale. “There was nothing unexpected in your background.”