HannasHaven

by Lorna Jean Roberts

  “Dan was my friend and packmate. When I was eighteen, I needed a way to leave my pack and he provided it.” Dan had rescued her. All he’d asked for was her loyalty. She couldn’t give him her love. She didn’t even know what love felt like. But she’d been loyal to him.

  Hanna took a deep breath, trying to gather her scattered thoughts together.

  “Hanna, we’re very grateful for everything you have done.” Cooper leaned forward. “Without the drawing you did of one of your kidnappers, we’d never have been able to figure out that Leonard was behind the attacks on Laney.”

  She’d always been good at drawing. She’d managed to catch a glimpse of one of them when they thought she was unconscious. Marcus had instantly recognized that man she’d drawn as one of Paterson’s enforcers.

  “I don’t know why you feel so grateful. It was the least I could do. I mean, for god’s sake, Dan tried to kill Laney. Not that Dan would ever have done that if Leonard and his goons weren’t holding me as collateral. But still, I’m not sure why you’re helping me.”

  Cooper sighed, but it was Rye who spoke. “Because when we caught Dan trying to blow up Cooper and Laney’s place, we promised him we would take care of you. He died on our watch when Samantha betrayed us and killed him.”

  “But you’d have killed him anyway, right?”

  They remained silent, but she knew it was true. Death was the only punishment for attempted murder.

  “Dan didn’t want to hurt you.” She willed Laney to believe her. “I know he didn’t. But he loved me.” She took a deep breath to try to still the shaft of pain and shame that burst through her. “He was simply trying to protect me.”

  “I know,” Laney said softly. “I don’t blame you, Hanna. None of this was your fault. Leonard is the one who hated me, who tried to kill me. This is his fault, not yours.”

  Then why did she feel so guilty?

  Maybe because I never loved Dan, and he loved me so much he gave up his life for mine.

  “When Leonard’s enforcers kidnapped me, I was furious with Dan. I blamed him, even though it was his father who started it all by getting into debt to Paterson. Each time Dan failed, they’d bring him back to where they were keeping me. They’d beat him, beat me, threaten to kill me unless he succeeded. And still, I blamed him.”

  What kind of bitch am I?

  Marcus took hold of her hand, clasping it in his much larger one. “Dan was a grown man. He could have come to us, we would have helped him. When we finally did capture him, his biggest concern was for you. He wanted us to take care of you.”

  The shaft of guilt drove in deeper.

  “Which is why I can’t just let you leave, Hanna,” Cooper told her. “Not without making sure you’ll be cared for. But I need all of my enforcers to help me control what could turn into a volatile situation. The Silverton pack is unsettled. Leonard was a dictator, he made all the decisions and his enforcers followed him religiously. Now that they’re gone, it’s left a power vacuum and the pack in a state of turmoil. I need people I can trust. I need Marcus.”

  She chewed at her lip. “I understand. I do. I’m sorry for creating such problems.”

  Rye stared at her. “So why don’t you tell us why you can’t go back to your pack?”

  Hanna avoided looking directly in his eyes. “I never liked it there.”

  Understatement of the year.

  “Do you have any other family that could take you in? Did Dan?” Laney asked.

  Hanna shook her head. “My mom and I lived with my grandfather, who was part of the Curtail pack. She died when I was four and my grandpa died six years later. Then I went to live with my father. I might have a cousin or two still living with the Curtail pack, but I don’t know them. Dan had no other family.”

  Hanna wiped her hands over her jeans legs. “Dan, Terrence and Lucas were sick of living with our old pack. They’d decided to leave and Dan offered to take me with them. The four of us managed to form our own small pack. I’ll be fine, you know. I can take care of myself,” she insisted. Not a one of them looked convinced.

  They could have at least pretended. A little bit, anyway.

  “I’m surprised your father let you leave,” Rye commented.

  “He didn’t know.” She’d have found herself locked in her room at any hint she was thinking of taking off. Luckily, her father never paid her much attention.

  Hanna glanced at the security panel, ensuring the red light was flashing. Good, Marcus hadn’t forgotten to set the alarm.

  “Did your father abuse you?” Rye asked bluntly.

  “Enough, Rye,” Marcus replied. “She doesn’t have to talk about it if she doesn’t want to.”

  “He’s not a nice man.” Hanna fisted her hands. “I hated it there.”

  “So you escaped with Dan,” Cooper said. “Then what?”

  “We moved from town to town, the men winning whatever money they could.” Sometimes they’d be flush. Other times, Dan would come back to whatever flea-ridden motel they were staying in and shake her awake, saying they had to go. Quickly. She’d learned not to bother unpacking, that she had to be ready to leave at any time.

  “What money they could win from poker.” Rye’s words dripped with disapproval.

  “Yes,” she admitted, raising her chin. She wouldn’t let this man make her feel as though she were worthless.

  “You any good?” Marcus asked.

  Hanna’s eyes widened.

  “What?”

  “At poker.”

  A slow smile spread over her face. She could really fall for him. “Yeah,” she drawled, not thinking about that thought too carefully. “I’m good.”

  “We’ll see,” he promised. She breathed easier, the heavy weight that had developed on her chest easing with his acceptance.

  “Sorry to interrupt your social life,” Rye said sarcastically. “But can we get back to the real reason we’re here?” Rye turned toward her. “So, did you ever help Dan fleece people?”

  Marcus growled as Hanna winced.

  “Rye,” Laney hissed.

  Irritation raced through her. What did they think? One harsh word and she’d shatter?

  “I didn’t realize they were doing that. I was naïve enough to believe they only played legit games.”

  Rye looked at her with disbelief and she didn’t blame him. But it was the truth. Honestly, she’d just been trying to live day to day. Moving around constantly had been unsettling. The idea her father’s pack might be tracking them had been stressful.

  Then there had been her relationship with Dan. Her guilt.

  Rye ran his hand over his face. She’d learned that things were very black and white with Rye. She had a feeling she fell on the negative end of that spectrum.

  “We’ll have to find another pack for you,” Cooper said. “We can’t send you back to your pack if you hated it there.” He looked at her hard and she gulped, realizing her half answers hadn’t worked. He knew she was holding something back. But she wasn’t ready to tell them the full truth. That her pack had been about to force her to mate with an abusive psycho. “It will take time to find a pack to match you with though. And at the moment, time is one thing I’m short on.”

  “I’ll be fine. I just need a few days to think this through.” God, she was tired. A headache pounded at her temples. She needed to get more sleep. She’d known her time with Marcus couldn’t last. Nothing good in her life ever did. But she’d chosen not to think about it, to push it out of her mind. Stupid.

  “We done yet?” Marcus tone suggested he was bored. But temper flared in his eyes. She wondered why he was angry.

  Cooper pinched the bridge of his nose. “The two of you have already been here longer than I had planned. Your wolves need to be around others. I’ll think of something. We don’t have to make up our minds today.”

  Rye opened his mouth but Cooper sent him a sharp look. Obviously Rye thought it was important enough to worry about now.

  Hanna knew she’d b
e thinking of little else. What the hell was she going to do?

  Chapter Two

  That question still plagued her later that night. Sighing, she turned to stare at her alarm clock.

  2:48 a.m.

  No sleep for me tonight.

  Hanna rose and fished a sweater out of her drawers. Slipping it over her pajamas, she crept her way down the hall to the bathroom.

  Crouching, she grabbed some cleaning supplies from the cupboard. They were nearly empty, she’d have to ask Marcus to get some more.

  But then what did it matter? She’d soon be moving on.

  She grabbed a brush, squatted in the shower and scrubbed.

  What will I do?

  Her wolf had suffered from touch deprivations for years. Her father’s pack had seen her as weak, her submissiveness a liability. Pathetic. Useless. The words she’d heard all too often growing up beat against her self-confidence and she scoured the shower floor harder, as though she could erase them from her mind.

  But her Alpha had found a way she could be of use to him. By making her a pawn and forcing her to mate with Reginald, an enforcer from the neighboring pack. He’d wanted to bring the two packs closer. Only no one wanted to sacrifice their daughter to Reginald—no one except her father. Reginald was a sick bastard whose touch made her stomach turn. She’d turned to her father to protect her.

  He hadn’t even been able to meet her eyes. He’d also made no move to defend her. He’d cared more about his next bottle of whiskey than her.

  Hanna hadn’t known what to do, where to go. Until Dan had offered to help her.

  Life had been better with Dan. She’d had enough to eat, a roof over her head, she hadn’t been forced to run around after others. But she’d still been lonely. Dan, Terrence and Lucas had spent long hours out gambling, leaving her alone. Her wolf longed for a pack.

  How will I survive on my own?

  Werewolves couldn’t be apart from others of their kind for long without going feral. Hanna stood and cleaned the shower walls before rinsing them off and wiping them down with a rag.

  Where can I go?

  Biting her lip, she continued to clean. Whatever she did, she had to keep away from her father’s pack. A year had passed now since she’d left with Dan. They wouldn’t be looking for her if they had ever bothered to in the first place.

  Could she go to her cousins? Would they remember her? Probably not.

  She moved away from the shower to clean the bathroom floor.

  It wasn’t fair to burden Marcus with her problems—he had issues of his own. Besides, it was time for her to start standing on her own two feet and taking care of herself.

  “You missed a spot.”

  Startled, Hanna sprang back on her knees and gaped up at Marcus. “You scared me!” Damn, he moved quietly.

  “You were too busy muttering to hear me.” His voice held no accusation but she flushed nevertheless. Normally she heard everything, was hypersensitive to every noise and movement around her. She’d learned to be.

  Yet he’d managed to sneak up on her a few times. She stared up at him, gulping heavily as she encountered his chest. His bare, muscular, tanned chest. He’d pulled on a pair of jeans but left the top two buttons undone.

  “You missed a spot,” he repeated.

  “I did not!” She scrutinized the floor.

  “Did so,” he replied lazily. He leaned against the doorway and pointed to the far corner. “Right there.”

  Leaning over, she stared at the spot.

  “That’s an indent in the floor.”

  Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Guess you’re finished then. Or are you planning on vacuuming the living room next?”

  She flushed. “Sorry if I woke you. I wasn’t always like this, you know. This obsession I have with cleaning and security gets worse when I’m upset.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. “You finished?”

  Hanna nodded. She wouldn’t sleep. But the least she could do was lie quietly in her bed so he could.

  Without warning, Marcus grabbed her. Pulling her up, he scooped her into his arms and carried her down the hallway.

  “Marcus, what are you doing?” Her wolf delighted in his show of strength.

  She wished she dared cuddle close and rest her head against his chest. Wished she had that right. But he wasn’t hers and he never would be. She didn’t deserve him.

  Useless. Weak.

  Striding into her bedroom, Marcus placed her on her feet and pulled back the covers of her bed.

  “Hop in.”

  Hanna climbed onto the mattress. Marcus surprised her by pulling the blanket up and tucking her in.

  “I was going to come back to bed. You didn’t need to carry me.”

  He shrugged and grinned. The smile transformed his face, making him look years younger and less churlish.

  “Maybe I wanted to.” He grabbed the chair in the corner of the room and carried it closer to her bed.

  Hanna rolled over to better see him slouch down into the chair and prop his feet on the foot of her bed.

  He closed his eyes.

  Hanna watched him, unsure what the hell was going on. “Umm, Marcus?”

  He grunted.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  He opened one dark-brown eye, glaring at her. “I’m trying to sleep.”

  “Here?”

  “You can’t sleep, you’re worrying about things. I’m keeping you company so you won’t worry. Go. To. Sleep.”

  Sleep? With him in touching distance? In her bedroom?

  Was he delusional?

  “Close your eyes. Breathe in. Out. In. Out. In. Out.”

  Hanna fell asleep with the sound of his voice still running through her head.

  *

  Marcus put down his phone and looked over at Hanna who was dusting the bookcase. Again. She’d been cleaning nonstop for the last two days.

  “That was Cooper. He and Rye are coming tomorrow.”

  Her shoulders tightened. He could feel her stress levels rise, but she didn’t stop cleaning.

  “Okay.”

  “Hanna.” He said nothing else, just waited. His wolf studied her, feeling her fear and anxiety.

  Hanna turned, a pinch of temper on her face. The tense knot in his stomach eased. Her temper he could deal with, but her fear made him want to do something stupid. Like hug her and tell her that everything would be okay.

  He couldn’t promise her that.

  Little wonder she was scared. She had no pack, no mate, no security. The fact that she could force herself past the terror, could face him with fight in her eyes ignited his admiration.

  “What?” she snapped, hands falling onto her hips. “What is so funny?”

  Marcus realized he was smiling and immediately blanked all expression from his face.

  “Sit. I want to talk you.” He gestured to the chair beside him.

  “Not a dog, remember?” she snarled.

  Brave little wolf.

  His wolf answered her small challenge with a growl. He might admire her guts, but she needed to know who was in charge.

  “Don’t try to intimidate me. We both know you’re not going to bite.”

  Ooh, some claws. He took her attitude as a sign she trusted him and his wolf basked in the knowledge. Still, just because she felt more comfortable with him didn’t mean she could disobey him. She continued to persist in thinking that he had a nice side.

  He didn’t.

  “There you go again, deluding yourself into thinking I won’t bite.” His voice was thick with dark promise.

  Her jaw dropped.

  Marcus crooked his finger. “Come here, Hanna.”

  She shook her head and took a step back.

  “Hanna. Here. Now.”

  “No way.”

  He simply stared at her. She tried valiantly to hold his stare but couldn’t handle more than a few seconds before her gaze dropped and she moved toward him.

  Marcus didn’t let
his satisfaction show. As she drew close, he scooped her up, setting her down on his lap. He ignored the warning voice inside his head that told him this was a damn stupid idea.

  “Marcus!” She shoved at his hands ineffectively. Damn it, he didn’t like how weak she felt. How fragile.

  He let his wolf brush against hers playfully.

  “Oh.”

  Over the past few weeks he’d rarely sensed her wolf. She hadn’t joined him on any of his runs. Wolves were pack animals, they were tactile. Sure, some were more reserved or solitary. But they still needed other pack members to keep them grounded, sane. They needed some interaction with other wolves. But Hanna’s wolf felt starved, weak.

  Marcus sat back and held her, his wolf rubbing against hers contentedly.

  “Hanna.”

  “What?” She looked up at him and it was too much. He leaned down and kissed her sinful lips. They were plump and lush, the bottom lip a tad larger than the top. He brushed his mouth against hers. Once, twice, listening closely as her breath grew faster.

  The he took her bottom lip between his teeth and bit down firmly, careful not to break the skin.

  “Ow, she complained. “What was that for?” Her eyes were dazed with lust. Interesting.

  “Behave yourself.”

  Her brows drew together. “Behave? What part of ‘I am not a dog’ don’t you understand?”

  “Oh believe me, honey, I know you’re not a dog. However, you are going to talk to me. I know you’re scared, but snapping at me isn’t going to help matters.”

  Hanna glared at him but couldn’t hold his gaze for long. “Sorry,” she muttered.

  He ran his hand up and down her arm, content to just hold her. “Tell me something, did you love Dan?”

  “I cared for him,” she replied, her body language screaming back off.

  “Not the same thing. You didn’t love him. I’ve seen werewolves who have lost their mates, they were devastated. One nearly starved himself to death. Another went feral. I’m sure you were grateful to him. From what little you’ve said, it sounds like life with your pack was pretty horrible, and Dan provided you with a way to gain your freedom. But why did you mate him if you didn’t love him? Did he force you?” His hand grasped her arm tightly, waiting for her reply.