“We need to clean the carburetor and the spark plugs. Clear out the snow and patch the walls. If I ditch guard duty for a few days, it’ll take me at least seventy-two hours.”
“Shit.” At least wood was plentiful for the fireplaces.
“Yep.”
There wasn’t enough time in the day for what had to be done. He’d come to depend on Naomi for a few things. If his sister hadn’t been so bitter after she returned to him a few months ago, the situation wouldn’t be so complicated. Hayley was a part of that problem. Memories of that woman dampened his day even further.
Sinister glanced up. “Is the hunter better?”
“Not really.” He wished he could say yes. Cynthia made things harder than they had to be. “How’s your shoulder?”
“A mosquito bite. Your sister didn’t hurt me.”
Kaden chortled. He wouldn’t call a stab wound to the shoulder a mere mosquito bite, but Sinister wasn’t like most human men. A few months ago, when Naomi had shown up on his doorstep, she’d found Sinister at his cabin instead of him. When he returned from his two-day fishing trip, he’d found Sinister chopping wood—and bleeding—while his sister cooked dinner.
As hard as he tried to pry what had happened out of the two, his sister had refused to divulge the details.
A beeper attached to Sinister’s hip went off. Only twice since he’d moved here had he heard the perimeter alarm go off. Shit.
“Looks like a freelancer has come to play,” Kaden said. Uncertainty flickered through him. Fear was something he rarely entertained unless he feared for the life of those close to him.
Sinister cocked a grin and pulled the rifle off his shoulder. “What about Naomi and the hunter?”
“They’ll be fine. Naomi will take good care of her.”
***
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Cyn bit out.
“Something happened to him after Hayley left,” Naomi said, her voice calm and cold. The werewolf strolled away from the only light source in the room, the way out through the partially covered door. The darkness in the corner swallowed her. “He’s gotten all soft, thinking he could protect the pack if he sent us away until he found a safer place.”
Who the hell is Hayley, and what does that have to do with me?
Cyn shrugged to keep a straight face, but warning bells rang loud through her skull. She had a werewolf in the middle of a power play, poor lighting conditions, and only one way out of the house. “That sounds like a personal problem between you and your brother. What do I have to do with any of this?”
“You’re not strong enough to be his mate,” Naomi said from the corner. Cyn couldn’t see her anymore. “Our pack is weakened right now, and if you just…died…there would be one less weak link among our ranks.”
Was this the sister Kaden had been talking about who had issues? She didn’t know the details going on between Zach and Kaden. Time to set things straight. “I don’t know what you might be thinking, but I have no interest in staying here. The way I see it, we should join forces and beat up Kaden. After that, we hunt down my knuckle-headed brother who helped him.”
“I don’t care how much he likes you. My idea is better,” Naomi growled. Her head emerged from the shadows, revealing her bright yellow eyes.
At a time like this, Cyn couldn’t afford to do any stupid shit. Walking in here without knowing her environment was a deadly game, but what she did know was the layout of the room before the lights went out.
Naomi pounced and Cyn sidestepped out of the way. Using Naomi’s momentum, Cyn tossed her across the room onto the kitchen table. The sounds of broken glass and splintered wood bounced off the walls. Naomi was far faster, maybe even a bit stronger, but she didn’t see the bag full of Christmas joy before it hit hard across her face.
Cyn cringed at the sound of ornaments breaking. She stepped back, ready to swing again, but Naomi threw a hard jab and connected with her face. The punch to Cyn’s cheek rocked her hard and sent her sprawling into the nearest wall. The hardwood wasn’t forgiving. Damn, she was rusty. That’s what sitting around did to you.
She got to her feet as fast as she could and threw up her hands to protect her face. Naomi’s blows grazed her forearms, but they still hurt like hell. There was no finesse in the way the young woman fought; maybe it was the lack of formal combat training. Punches were thrown in abandon without technique or precision.
When an opportunity came and the werewolf exposed her side, Cyn came at her with an uppercut followed by two right hooks. Unlike Cyn, Naomi didn’t block when Cyn clocked her across the side of her head. After a few more hard hits, Naomi added some distance between them.
Cyn took a second to catch her breath. Not bad for a chick who’d staggered to bed every day last week.
“Don’t get cocky,” her dad used to say. “Keep reassessing your battleground and your target. They’re most likely pissed and ready to rip out your throat after you kick them down.”
“You’re not good enough for him,” Naomi spat.
“And you’re one to judge?”
“You’re weak. I can smell death all over you.”
Cyn chuckled. “You must be referring to all the werewolves I’ve killed. You wanna be next?” She had no plans to kill Naomi, but if push came to shove, she’d have no qualms about knocking her out.
Instead of letting Naomi recover, Cyn charged at her, running across the room. They crashed into the Christmas tree and ended up on the floor. The one place Cyn didn’t want to be: in the dark rolling around on the hardwood with a werewolf. One deep scratch to her back and a bite to her shoulder sent Cyn into a rage. She rolled on top of Naomi’s back and secured her hands around the woman’s neck. With a last-ditch tug upwards, she forced Naomi to arch her back as a grunt was torn from the woman’s throat.
“You bitch!” she groaned.
Naomi twisted and jerked to get out of the camel clutch, but Cyn had executed this move far too many times to make mistakes. Naomi twitched and then passed out. Cyn immediately released her and staggered to stand. A quick check of Naomi’s pulse revealed a steady heartbeat.
“I think I was good enough…for now.” She walked away from Naomi, her legs wobbling a bit. The adrenaline in her body would fade away soon, leaving her vulnerable. She rubbed the throbbing sore spot on her cheek. How had she gotten into this shit?
Her damn brother.
If her chemo treatment recovery had gone as planned, she’d be sitting at home, chain-watching shows on Netflix with an industrial-size bag of movie theater popcorn. The thought of blowing through the whole season of Firefly seemed much more appealing. She welcomed the rest now.
Everything should’ve been quiet in the room, but her head darted up when she heard gunfire.
***
By the time Kaden reached the ridge above the cabins, a growing rage had built in his stomach, clenching tighter and tighter. This place was meant to be a safe haven. A territory he’d established for his pack.
Shots were fired to his right southward, at least a mile away. He spotted someone hiding among the trees with a long-range rifle in hand. So that was his target. The wolf in him pushed him forward. Seek out your prey. The full moon was coming and it had been a while since his need to hunt had been sated.
The guy in military fatigues darted even closer, searching for an ideal position from which to fire. No one else was coming, but the man was heavily armed.
Crouching low, Kaden shrugged off his coat. He glanced at Sinister and they exchanged nods. Next came the rest of his clothes. Pinpricks danced along his skin as the need to transform folded over him. Claws bit his fingertips and sprang forth first. That was but a momentary pain compared to the broken bones and shifting flesh. He endured the discomfort each time, the price he had to pay for the wolf’s power.
The forest blossomed into vivid colors and his target’s scent became all too clear. Kaden didn’t have to see him as he raced southward in a wide arc. He’d find him by scen
t alone. Gunpowder was sharp and metallic on his tongue and the scent grew stronger the closer he got. By the time he was behind the freelancer, a clear trail of footprints led Kaden toward his target. He slowed down, eagerness making his heartbeat race.
Almost there. Up ahead, he could clearly see Sinister taking aim with his Mossberg sniper rifle, waiting for an opportune moment to fire. The freelancer was behind a rocky outcropping and hard to see.
Movement from the cabins made Kaden freeze. Cyn emerged from his cabin with no blanket and a stagger to her step. She scanned the horizon as if searching for the gunfire’s source.
The freelancer cocked his head and looked up. “Cynthia? What the hell?” The guy reached for something on his hip: a gun or a radio; Kaden didn’t care. He surged forward, ramming the freelancer into the outcropping. The hunter’s long-range rifle clattered to the ground. What he should’ve done was subdue the older man, but freelancers were all the same. If this guy knew their position, he’d report back, and more men would come. More death.
Kaden clamped down on the hunter’s throat and watched the hunter’s eyes roll back in his head as Kaden cut off his air supply.
One life in exchange for many was something Kaden would have to live with.
The freelancer stilled and Kaden left him behind to hurry up the hillside to Cyn. She was still outside and had seen the whole exchange, which was most likely why she was staring at him. A hint of her fear reached him, sour like sweat, and gathered along her temple. He caught the bruising along her cheek and held himself in check.
The cabin was silent except for a steady heartbeat from someone inside. Flashes of what could have happened stumbled before his eyes and it took everything he had to keep himself from storming into that cabin to reprimand his sister. Focus on Cynthia, he reminded himself.
Cynthia kept backing up until she reached one of the trees near the cabin. All the while, her gaze never left his. The anger simmering under her skin cooled and was replaced with something else: exhaustion. Her knees sagged first and she grasped the tree for support. He took a step toward her and she stiffened.
He froze. Every part of him sensed what was coming. Her heartbeat slowed. She gasped for every breath and blinked as if she clung to consciousness with her fingertips. The moment she closed her eyes, he transformed back into a man.
When Kaden picked her up, she didn’t stir. Her fight was gone. For now, he thought with a frown. He’d told her he wouldn’t touch her anymore. He’d have to break that promise soon and there’d be consequences.
Whether you heal her or not, you know you want her, he thought.
A shadow crossed him. Sinister didn’t speak. It was for the best.
“Go into the cabin and check on Naomi,” Kaden said. “She did something very foolish, and if I speak to her, it will be in anger.” He trembled, fighting to keep his grip around Cyn not too tight.
Chapter 7
This time, when Cyn woke up, she rose to a noisy house and a pounding headache, the normal kind folks have when they’d slept for too long. She didn’t feel like shit, though. There should’ve been a huge-ass bite mark on her shoulder, but there wasn’t. The lump under her eye was missing, too.
What became her immediate concern were the blankets. They weren’t Kaden’s. The jovial pink pattern with flowers didn’t seem his taste. The furnishings were minimal, just a dresser and chest.
Beyond the closed door, she heard voices.
“Just because she’s awake doesn’t mean we have to go,” a woman’s voice barked, Naomi’s. “This is my home!”
“Do as you’re told.” This time, it was Kaden’s sharp voice.
Naomi laughed. “I’m still against the idea of bringing a hunter here to endanger us.”
“A bargain has been made and I’m prepared to live with the consequences.”
“And will those consequences affect the entire pack? Will that affect all the work we have put into this place, your Shangri-La in the mountains?”
Cyn rose from the double bed. Naturally, it creaked. What were they talking about? What bargain had been made? She knew her brother had made a bargain of some kind with them for her life, but she didn’t know the details?
She strained to listen further, but when she got to the living room, she found only Kaden sitting on the couch. He sat back, his feet propped up on the coffee table.
“Where are they?” she asked him.
“I heard you wake up, so I told them to leave.” This protective streak of his bothered her, but there was nothing she could do about it.
“How long did you let me sleep this time?” she asked him.
“As long as was necessary for you to recover. A few days.”
She harrumphed. “There’s not enough time to scratch the surface of that problem.”
She took a seat on the opposite side of the couch. Some distance would be good until she sorted out what was up between them. She sat for a bit, almost waiting for him to say something. Wasn’t he an alpha? Didn’t he want to take control of the situation?
“Look, as much as I want to hunt down your sister and beat the crap out of her for punching me, I can be the grown-up and let it go. What I can’t let go is that you and what’s going on at this place are bigger than I can even imagine. I suspect you’re making a safe haven for your pack.”
“An attempt of many,” he replied drily.
“Do you think more freelancers will come?”
“Probably not. If someone sounded the alarms, more than one hunter would have come for us.”
She nodded, recalling the man she’d seen before Kaden had killed him. Gregory was a bat-shit loner who only showed up during large hunter gatherings every couple of years. The chance of single-handedly taking out an alpha was too delicious a kill to share with others. But then again, Gregory had seen her. What if Kaden hadn’t killed him before he reported her whereabouts back to her clan? She was a hunter living in a werewolf’s den. A traitor. Her stomach soured at the thought, but it was the truth.
“I shouldn’t stay here,” she finally said. “I’d endanger everyone.”
“Bullshit.” He scooted closer to her. She tried to shift the other way, but there was no place to go.
Her head whipped to look at him. “I’m a hunter, Kaden. My people hunt yours.”
“Not here.”
“In your—as Naomi would call it—Shangri-La, a utopia for werewolves? The way I see it, there are too many bad eggs in the box to push the bad feelings away. There’s money to be made hunting your kind.”
His mouth formed a hard line. “Did you ever collect a paycheck?”
She didn’t look away. She refused to be ashamed for doing what she’d thought was right.
“Personally, I don’t care if you got paid. What matters is right now. Your brother asked me to save your life. He said his big sister was more precious to him than even his clan. At first, I didn’t believe him, but now I do.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’ve known me for what, two or three days? How do you know what kind of person I am?”
The mischievous smile on his face widened as his eyebrows lowered. He leaned toward her, close enough for her to smell the whisky he’d been drinking. “For most werewolves, they can sniff out the useless ones after a midnight run. It’s different with alphas. It’s my job to assess. One night with you was more than enough for me. You’re amazing in more ways than one.”
“I still can’t stay.” She tried to be vehement, but having him so close was doing something to her insides. “I’m not gonna lie. I’m attracted to you, but you and I can’t have a relationship.” She sighed. “I even had to let someone else go.”
“Why did you let him go?” he asked softly.
“He was perfect.”
He chuckled.
“Not in the way you’d think.” She paused. “Michael had the kind of life I could’ve had if I hadn’t become a hunter. I’d wear heels to cocktail parties. Yacht rides on the bay. An apartment in the city. Bu
t I turned it all away. I had to.”
“Why?”
“Because I made a choice, Kaden.” Her voice became strained. “I chose to protect him from my lifestyle. Even if I’d married him, what would he do if the werewolves came for him to blackmail my clan? What if we had children and they ended up dead like my—”
He caught her arm. “That would never happen if you were with me. I’d protect you, us. Every single night you’ve been here, you’ve lain in my bed in my arms. It felt right.” His fingertip brushed against her knee. “Give me one good reason why you shouldn’t stay.”
She had a million and one but couldn’t speak. Finally, she said. “You told me you wouldn’t touch me anymore.”
“After your fight with my sister, I had to do what was necessary to keep you alive. Even if I’m fighting the need to make you mine.”
Her stomach dropped and she sensed his heated gaze. He placed his hand on her knee. The warmth from his palm should have angered her, but she felt pleasure instead. Somehow, she had to drive a wedge between them before she gave in to what she was feeling, too. Here she was, sitting next to an alpha, and she wasn’t fulfilling the duty her parents had drilled into her every day: exterminate the vermin. Falling for one of them was unforgivable.
“You don’t get it, do you?” She took a deep breath. “If I let you heal me completely, I give up my humanity. I have to give up the cause I’ve fought for years to defend.”
His grip on her knee tightened. There was no place for her to go. “I want you to stay—I told myself it was my drive to heal you. The need to help another person, but every moment we’re together I want more.” His gaze raked over her from her face down to her legs. “You smell so good. You’re driving me crazy.”
“What are you saying?” she breathed. What if came to mind and she couldn’t shake it. What if he could be the normal she needed?
His lips were almost close enough to brush hers, but he didn’t fill the gap.
“I care for you.” He sighed. “And I want to touch you again, but I’m willing to wait until you’re ready to come to me.”
Windham Werewolves Page 4
