by Kiera West
* * * *
“Why didn’t you tell us at the site?” Noah asked. He wasn’t as pissed Shane thought he would be, but sometimes Noah’s temper took awhile to brew.
He looked at his cousin, his brothers, and Ethan and sighed. It was early morning but a long night of thinking made him realize that he needed to tell at least Noah. When Shane did, Noah pulled the rest of the crowd in.
“I was still trying to process it. I wasn’t sure. It had been so long and seriously, I equate anything evil with that bitch.” He jerked a shoulder, feeling defensive. “But, once I processed it, I was sure it was her. I just didn’t know how to tell anyone. Dad scented her, too.”
Noah nodded. “You should have told us, but I’m not sure what good it would have done. Right now, though, let’s get all the information we can on that bitch.” He turned to Ethan. “Call Dad although I am sure he already knows. Everyone else spread the word.”
The cousins filed out and left him alone with Noah. “Now, you want to tell me why you panicked?”
He sighed. Noah knew about the nightmares, knew a bit of the hell Shane had escaped. Shane didn’t want to return there, even in his mind. From the look on his cousin’s face, he wouldn’t let it go.
“I’m serious. I panicked. I don’t want that bitch here, near us, near Eve. She’s my primary concern.”
Noah nodded then rose from behind his desk. He clapped him on the shoulder. “Make sure you talk to Eve about it. I know there are things you don’t want to talk about, but…she would be a good person to talk to.”
He nodded and watched him walk out of the office. He should go back to Eve, but he had to get himself back under control. Everything in his being told him to assuage his fear by taking her again, running away from the problem. But he couldn’t. He would not be that weak. Not again. He had to face it all, for the woman he loved.
Or die trying.
Chapter Eight
Eve looked over the data and sighed when it started to blur again. The last three days hadn’t been fun. They had found two more groups of slaughtered wolves, and were no closer to finding the killer. When she’d made noises about the FBI again, they all refused to listen. They needed help, and none of them were listening.
She decided to go in search of them, irritated that none of them had talked to her since she’d yelled at them earlier. She didn’t know what the heck was wrong with her. One minute she would be screaming at them, the next in tears, and then five minutes later, she would be in bed with them. She knew for a fact she wasn’t pregnant. So, why was she such a mess? When she mentioned it to Ethan, he said something noncommittal about stress. What none of them seemed to understand was that she was used to stress. She’d been living on it for years by the time she hit her teens. Actually, she thrived on it.
She found Shane pulling kitchen duty.
“Hey, you need a fresh cup of coffee?” he asked with a smile.
“No.”
“You sure? I got that flavor you like for the Keurig.”
“I said no.”
He paused and turned off the water. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just nothing. I feel like something is crawling under my skin. Like if I don’t hit something, I will scream. Adding coffee to that isn’t what I need.”
He cocked his head, and she lost it.
“Just stop it. Just fucking stop looking at me like I’m a puzzle to figure out.”
She was screaming like a shrew by the time she finished, and she clapped her hand over her mouth.
His lips twitched.
“If you laugh, I’ll hit you.”
“It might make you feel better.”
With a sigh she sat down at the table. “What do you know about it?”
“Being involved with us probably gives you some problems. Not that you’re a wolf, but with our connection, that might cause you some issues.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but the phone rang. Shane looked at the caller ID.
“Would your mother have our number?”
Her mother. Crap. Great, now she was taking on their tendency to talk badly. She picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Eve? What on earth is going on?”
Her mother’s voice was demanding and a little whiney, and she realized at that moment, she really didn’t like her mother. On the heels of that, she felt guilty.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for two days. Your cell doesn’t work in that godforsaken place, so I had to find the Dillons’ number. Why are you there?”
“Ethan Dillon has a first-rate lab.”
Her mother said nothing, but Eve knew she heard the irritation in her voice. She couldn’t help it. She refused to allow her mother to put down a place she loved so much. Passion might not be everyone’s idea of heaven, but it was for her.
“Was there something you wanted?”
There was a long pause. Her nasty tone must have caught her mother off guard. “Yes. I had another offer to hire you. Now, I know it isn’t exactly what you were looking for, but Miles said—”
“No.”
“Excuse me.”
“No.”
“Just no. You don’t even know what it is.”
“I know that you would never pick a job for me I would like. You would pick what you think I should like. I don’t want it. Is there anything else?”
Another long pause. “No.”
“Good-bye, mother.”
She hung up the phone, that itching under her skin driving her to distraction. It was worse. The need to hit something, yell, do…something was eating her alive.
“Are you okay?” Shane asked.
She looked back over her shoulder. “Yes.”
“You don’t seem okay.”
“My mother just wanted to force me into a job I didn’t want. She isn’t used to me saying no.”
“It doesn’t seem very motherly of her.”
She sighed, suddenly almost as sad as she was irritated. “It’s all she can do. It is all she has ever done.”
“Why don’t you tell me about it?”
She turned and faced him. Anger rolled through her. They were keeping something from her. All six of them. They would change the subject when she asked direct questions about herself. And, Shane was the worst of the lot. His nightmares were getting worse. She said nothing to him. Again, secrets. She was sick of them. Sick of pretending that nothing was wrong.
“Why should I?”
His eyebrows rose at her snarl.
“What?”
“Why should I? I didn’t know until recently that you have a different mother.”
“I have only one mother.”
“Right, of course. That ends the discussion. How about those nightmares? Are they getting better?” She knew it was mean, even as she said it. She tried to get herself to stop, but she couldn’t. It was as if something else was in charge of her body, wanting to lash out, to hurt and maim.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Fine, sure, okay. I’ll walk away again. Or maybe you’ll take me to bed and fuck me until I forget, and you won’t have to deal with me.”
“I think that’s enough.”
The strict tone irritated her even more. “Fine. I’ll be in the lab.”
She stormed out. Even as she stomped down the hallway to the lab, she was feeling sick to her stomach. She knew she had said the things to hurt, to make him feel bad. Mainly because she wanted him feeling as badly as she did. She stopped at the door of the lab. She needed to apologize. She scrubbed her hands over her face. God, she was a mess. She could still see his face when she yelled at him. The hurt, the anger, the pain. She was a bitch.
Pushing the doors open, she decided to work a bit and then go back and apologize. They both needed to calm down. She walked down the aisle and noticed that there was a different scent in the room. Then she saw her.
She as a sma
ll woman. Even smaller than Eve. She was small boned, with long, curling blonde hair. She looked like a waif from a fantasy movie.
“Can I help you?”
She smiled at her, and Eve felt a chill seep into her bones. “Yes.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Can you tell me your name?”
“Marianna.”
“Marianna. That’s a pretty name.”
Eve started to slowly back up.
“Thank you. I’ve always though so. I heard you with my boy.”
The way she said “boy” made Eve’s stomach sour. Then, it clicked. Shane’s mother. Lord, the woman didn’t look like she could have mothered a man in his late twenties. Eve was sure the woman was insane from the look in her eyes and she knew she needed to keep Marianna talking.
“Yes, Shane, he’s your boy, isn’t he?” Of course, said boy was a full-grown man, but from the look in Marianna’s blue eyes, she wasn’t in the real world.
“Yes. He’s my baby boy. The best one. He was perfect.”
Eve nodded and backed up another few steps.
“But, you hurt him. I thought you were the one for him, but you aren’t. You hurt him, and I have to make sure you don’t do it again.”
She pointed a gun at Eve’s chest.
“I can’t have my boy hurt.”
* * * *
Shane paced the kitchen, wanting nothing more than to run, but at the moment, there was no one to do it with. Everyone was out, and Noah was sleeping. He didn’t have the heart to bother his cousin, who had been pulling double duty patrolling and fielding questions from the other shifters on the council. The man was worn out.
He didn’t know what to tell Eve. He thought at some point Noah would explain, or maybe Ethan, being the scientist. He understood what was driving her crazy. She was starting to change little by little. She wouldn’t make the complete transition to a wolf until she committed to all of them. But, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t start having some kind of aggression issues. He tried not to let it bother him, but it did. She had been mean, so unlike Eve it had actually scared him. Not that she could hurt him, because she could never do that physically even if she wanted to. No, he was worried about her. She was confused and hurting. He didn’t know what to do.
He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. It was then that he smelled it. That scent, the one that woke him up at night, leaving him panting and in fear. And she was here. Marianna had returned. She would never bother Noah, that was for sure. There could be only one other person she would hurt other than Shane.
Eve.
Terror raced through his blood as he rushed down the hallway to the lab. When he got to the doors, he saw his worst nightmare come true. His crazy-ass biological mother holding Eve hostage at gunpoint.
He opened the door, and his mother saw him. The smile she gave him made his skin crawl.
“Shane,” she said breathlessly. “You came.”
She hadn’t changed. Not that much. But then, evil sometimes could have a very pretty façade to deceive. She had some black magic in her. He was sure of it.
“Marianna.”
She frowned.
“Mother.”
Her lips curved and she smiled. “That’s better. I wondered if you would be interested in spending some time together. I just need to kill Eve first.”
He came even with Eve and glanced at her. She was pale, but she looked like she was holding her own.
“You don’t need to do that.”
“Why? She was mean to you.”
“I was mean to her first.”
She gasped. “Never. Tell Mother you didn’t hurt her.”
He nodded. “As few days ago, she said she loved me. I didn’t tell her I love her, too.”
If possible, his mother’s face turned paler. The cracks in her glamour started to fade. The wrinkles he expected started to show.
“What do you mean? You love her?”
He nodded. Marianna pulled the gun back toward Eve again.
“You will not love her if she is dead.”
She was going to pull the trigger. He felt it down in his soul. Without a thought, he jumped toward her just as the shot was going off. He felt the sting of the bullet and heard Eve scream his name.
He struggled with his mother. She still had the gun.
“She must die, she must die. All the bitches must die. All the Dillons must die.”
In the struggles, the gun went off. She stopped and screamed, her eyes widening.
He pulled back, now holding the gun. He looked back to find Eve rushing toward him. Right behind her was Noah, disheveled and looking pissed.
“Jesus,” he said as he stopped beside him. He looked down at Marianna. “Who the hell is that?”
The room seemed to be dimming. “Marianna.”
Noah dropped down to one knee and felt for a pulse. He looked back up at the two of them and shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Shane,” Eve said.
“I meant it.”
“You meant what?” she asked, but she sounded very far away. Like she was in a tunnel or something.
“I meant that I love you.”
“I believe you.”
But he was already starting to slip.
“Noah, Shane’s hurt.”
He fell forward then, his world turning to black.
* * * *
Eve kept a vigil by Shane’s bed most of the next night. His injury hadn’t been serious, but she didn’t want infection setting in.
“I told you to get some rest,” Noah said as he approached her.
“And I ignored you.”
He didn’t say anything so she glanced at him. The smile curving his lips confused her.
“What?”
He shook his head as he stopped by her side. He gave her a kiss on the top of her head. “You just sounded like my mom when you said it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Great, now I’m reminding one of my lovers of his mother.”
He chuckled. “No, just you are both strong women who don’t take any sh—crap off any of us.”
“I bet.” She glanced back at Shane. “I just wanted to make sure there was no infection.”
“There won’t be. Ethan shot him up with enough antibiotics. Plus, you have to remember we aren’t a regular species. We heal faster.”
She knew that, knew how fast Ethan had recovered from his attack. Still, she couldn’t seem to release Shane’s hand.
“Too many of us have been hurt,” she whispered.
“I like the sound of that,” Shane said, his voice gravelly with pain and sleep.
“You like that so many of us been hurt?”
He smiled at her question. “No, I like that you’re saying ‘us.’”
He looked over her head at Noah. “Marianna?”
“Gone.”
He nodded. She watched him closely, looking for any sadness, but she saw nothing.
“I have to go talk to the family. Be ready, your mother will be in here soon.”
Noah gave her another kiss on the top of the head and left them alone.
“I’m sorry.”
She hadn’t cried since he’d been shot. She hadn’t been able to. Eve had been pretty sure if she started, she would never stop. Now though, the tears streamed down her cheeks. They were cool against her hot skin.
“Oh, don’t, babe, don’t cry.”
He lifted his hand up to her face and brushed the tears away.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to cry,” she said with a hiccup.
He slipped his hand down to hers and gave it to tug. “Come on.”
She resisted, barely. “You need to rest. I don’t want to hurt you.”
He smiled. “You won’t hurt me. I’m almost recovered.”
Proving his point, he easily moved over, giving her space to climb onto the bed, then pulled her over. She did as he asked now, because she was unable to resist him. She sat next to him, leaning her hip against him. She ne
eded the simple touch, this closeness to him. She seemed to yearn for it from each one of the Dillons more and more. Each day, she felt closer to them, as if being away from them might just kill her.
“I want to tell you about it, but I can’t.”
She sighed. “I understand. You don’t have to.”
He shook his head. “I can’t. I really can’t. I don’t remember. Anything.”
“You don’t have to lie to me.”
“No, listen to me. I really don’t remember things about my life in Anchorage.”
“But…nothing?”
He shook his head. “I was barely a toddler. I have the dreams, but I can’t remember past that. I know that I wasn’t sexually abused. Dad had me checked out as did the social services. But I have no idea what else went on. She was insane. That was the truth. I just wanted you to know that I wasn’t hiding anything from you.”
She nodded.
“And it was part of the reason I couldn’t tell you I loved you. Even though I do.”
She looked down at their joined hands. “I know, Shane.”
“No. That’s not enough. Look at me.”
She raised her gaze to his, and the face that she was so accustomed to seeing with a smile was earnest.
“I want you to know why I couldn’t. I have always felt…like I was on the outside. My mother, well you saw what a nutcase she is…was. When I got here, Mom was pregnant with Rand, and I just wanted to fit in. Just wanted to be part of the family. But, there was always part of me that thought I didn’t deserve it.”
“How could you think that?” she demanded. “You deserve just as much as your brothers.”
He chuckled. “Don’t go off on a tangent. It wasn’t anything anyone said, just what I felt. So, when you told me, even though I loved you already, knew it the first moments we met, I didn’t think I deserved your love.”
“Well, that’s just stupid.”
He laughed. “Only you would call me stupid when I’m pouring out my heart to you.”
“I didn’t say you were stupid. I said the thought that you didn’t deserve my love is stupid. How could you think that? You’re amazingly smart, kind, loyal…it’s asinine.”
He pulled her into his arms. “Well, there is one thing I want to prove to you, and that is how much I love you.”
