by Treva Harte
Something ugly passed over Hunt’s face before he flattened all emotion out.
“No. I didn’t condone anything. Everyone involved with hurting Dunne paid. I let Dio live then, and he knew I did, so he could fear what I plan to do later for repayment. But he reminded me of his existence when he tried that little game and I used him.” Hunt’s smile was fierce. “If she’d been hurt, then the game would have ended.”
“Some fucking game. Why would you do all this? To make me jump?”
“You flatter yourself. You don’t mean that much to me. Although I do recall you asking—no, begging—me to keep you away from Tala and the rest of us because what we had was too tempting. Didn’t I do a good job keeping you away?”
Oh yeah. He could never forget that conversation no matter how much he tried. After the best sex of his life up to then, when he’d been ready to throw his whole life away for the chance to stay with them—he’d always remember.
Arlin grimly ignored the bait. Hunt wasn’t going to make him lose sight of what happened. “Not me then. What does mean something to you—Tala. You did all this to get me away from Tala.” Arlin began to circle the other Alpha, eyes narrowed. “You’d risk so much just for that?”
He wondered what Hunt would be willing to admit to. The Alpha wasn’t used to explaining himself.
“I have no problem risking you. I knew you could take care of yourself and your little half were too.” Hunt frowned. “It was a gamble. But that’s what I do. I needed to be sure of my mate.”
“So you lied to us and sent killers after Ruth just to be sure of your wife? To keep me away from her?”
Jesus. No wonder Hunt didn’t want to admit it. That was more insecurity than any were would want to confess. Arlin saw the slightest tinge of red flushing Hunt’s face.
“There isn’t… I’d do anything for Tala.” He swallowed. “Even things I’m not proud about admitting. And it worked. I knew if the two of you were together long enough, and especially if you needed to protect her, you’d stick to your little half were like a tick burrowing into skin.”
“Lovely. And Dio trying to kill us didn’t bother you after all the promises you made to save Ruth?”
“I know Dio. I didn’t think it would be much of a problem. But I underestimated how badly he wanted her.”
“And Tala. You underestimated her. Did you think she’d never find out?”
“She won’t know.” Hunt looked at him. “You won’t tell her because then Ruth will know. And if she does, she’ll never be sure how much you were in on the deception from the start. She’s not a trusting woman.”
“Ruth trusts me!”
“Now. Now that she believes you’ve risked everything for her. But if she wonders if it was all a lie…”
He already had refused to claim her the way a self-respecting Alpha should. The way any female were should expect. What if she started to doubt him? “You bastard.”
“I never claimed to be a good man. I’m merely a good Alpha and, like all good Alphas, I keep what’s mine. Tala is mine. All mine. Or she will be if you stay away long enough.”
I’m not a good man. I may not even be the best one for Tala. But I’m damned if I’d let you just take her from me. I may not be the best, but I need her the most. Love her…
Arlin knew Hunt would kick himself later for letting his inner thoughts escape. The wall shut down but it was too late.
“He may have helped fuck her, but you haven’t let Dunne and Tala try to breed, have you?” Hunt stared at him without a word but Arlin knew how to get his own back. “And you never will. You can’t let yourself.”
“What I do within my pack is my own concern.”
“So you’ll have no heirs?”
“I have an heir now if Dunne survives me and Tala.”
“He’s about your age, isn’t he?”
“More or less.” Hunt scowled down at the floor. “There is another likely heir.”
“Who?”
“You.” Hunt looked up. “Tala first, of course. But she’ll decide who will help her rule a pack when I’m gone. She’d pick you if you push it.”
He thinks I’ll win despite all his little games. He thinks I want to win.
“You don’t have me. Or Ruth. You barely have a pack at all right now.”
“I have time to change who is in my pack.”
“It doesn’t matter who you take on or don’t. You can’t share. The problem will stay the same as long as you live.” Arlin looked at him and half-smiled. “I understand.”
He understood and he resented understanding because it was interfering with his desire for justice. It was as if Hunt’s thoughts were channeled into his head, even though Hunt was carefully not letting him hear them. But Arlin knew. Because it had been bad with Tala when they’d all been together, but he knew he’d kill anyone who really touched Ruth.
He was still having a problem keeping teeth and claws off Hunt for allowing Ruth to be put in danger.
“Call Dio off. I don’t know what arrangement you two have made, but stop it. That is, if he doesn’t try to kill us all since he figures you’re going to do the same for him.” Arlin tried to let the rage dissipate and knew he couldn’t. Not when he remembered Dio’s were leaping toward Ruth. “Bottom line, I don’t care what happens to you or me, or what Ruth thinks. I want her safe before everything else. I’ll tell her what is going on. I’ll tell all the packs, if I have to.”
“Hunt, you asshole lunatic, you never had to do this. Why did you ever think there was still a competition once Tala picked you?”
“Listen, you little prick…” Hunt’s expression changed at the same moment the hair on the back of Arlin’s neck rose.
“Not fucking again.” Arlin realized that was his voice, harsh with renewed adrenaline and anger.
Idiot. In his blind rage to get Hunt he’d left a clear trail to where he and Ruth were headed. And Ruth was still a target.
“Shut up.” Hunt knocked him down just before the distinctive sound of a bullet hitting flesh made Hunt gasp and then stagger. He fell on his knees to the floor and then, slowly collapsed onto the boards.
At that second, before he could figure out whether Hunt was still breathing, moments before Dunne burst in, minutes before Dunne called Ruth and Tala, Arlin had a lifetime to wonder whether he loved or hated Hunt.
The man who had almost got them all killed was willing to die for him.
* * * *
“Tala! Ruth! Jesus.” Dunne was on his knees trying to stop the flow of blood seeping from Hunt’s shoulder when Arlin finally was able to focus again. “Arlin, find out what the hell is keeping them.”
Where were they? Arlin staggered into the hallway. The smell of were was there…and the smell of more blood.
Fuck. He couldn’t Change. Not here where anyone might see him. But someone already had. Several someones.
Arlin followed the scent, running as fast as his non-were form would allow, cursing to himself at the hindrance. He heard screams as he got near the kitchen.
Christ. Arlin skidded into the busy room and saw the terrified faces of the staff. Yeah. Weres had been this way. He ran outside and slammed the door.
There in the blocked-off alleyway was what he’d been looking for and dreading he’d find. A male, in the process of Changing to non-were, was guarding himself from two weres.
Tala. Ruth.
“Stop!” Arlin wasn’t sure who he was yelling at and cursed again when he realized he didn’t have a weapon.
The almost non-were did. He was scrambling for a rifle. Shit, the rifle that he’d likely used on Hunt.
Dio. The man had already transformed enough for Arlin to see his face. He’d made it his business to know what Dio looked like once he knew. Dio was screaming directly at the two female weres who were almost on top of him. “I killed him and I’ll kill you too! I said I would get rid of your whole pack when they threw me out and I will—”
Arlin took several steps forward.
“Leave it. He’s theirs.” A voice behind him, remarkably calm, told him.
“Who the fuck…” Arlin readied himself for another threat when he realized it was the new omega of Hunt’s. “He’ll kill them.”
“I don’t think so. They said to stand back. And they deserve”—one of the females sprang for Dio’s throat and he stumbled back, the rifle firing wide—“the kill.”
Ruth. He knew Tala in were form but the other were had to be Ruth.
She was no longer not-quite-were when she shifted. Her lush fur covered her completely now and her leg muscles were strong enough to carry her right to Dio’s face. And when her teeth cut into flesh, there was nothing but were left.
Tala whined anxiously as Ruth took the man down but she wasn’t needed.
“We’re done now, ladies.” Arlin hoped they would come back from their bloodlust enough to hear him. “He’s dead.”
* * * *
“Arlin. Boy, look at me!”
“Leave him alone, Dunne. He’s exhausted.” Ruth’s voice was low and concerned.
He was beyond exhausted. There was nothing left in him. All his rage and adrenaline and confusion had burned him out.
“I’ll leave him alone when his job is done.” Dunne sounded determined. “Kid, I’m going to have to slap you if you don’t open your eyes.”
“Wouldn’t try it, old man.” Arlin forced himself to look at the older were. “What?”
“Tala.”
He thought he heard Ruth make a soft sound behind them but he didn’t have the energy to look at her too.
“What?”
“She’s worse than you are. Ever since she realized Hunt’s been shot, she’s holed up in their bedroom. We can’t stay here forever.”
“At least we need to get Hunt to my clinic. It’s not perfect but it has more medical equipment than the hotel.” Ruth pushed at his shoulder.
“We can’t get through to Tala and she’s the boss now. She needs to be boss. I can help, but not without her.” Dunne didn’t try to hide his unhappiness.
“I’ll try.” Arlin made a huge effort and got to his feet.
He had a pretty good idea how she felt, though. If he’d been Tala, he wouldn’t let him in the door. He’d sit and try to keep all the screaming in his head quiet.
* * * *
She sat in Hunt’s study, huddled in a chair, staring at the images filling the room. Sound, sometimes muffled, sometimes too loud, was the background noise. But on the multiple television and computer screens were photos and videos of her.
Arlin stared up, as wordless as she was. Dunne had said he was going to show her what Hunt had kept stored all these years. His personal record of Tala’s life before she met her mate.
“He said he kept watch over me for years. I didn’t know he meant this. It’s…it’s so much. I didn’t know.” Tala hugged her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth.
Everything. It looked like Hunt knew every damn thing about her. And probably about him too, since he had always been with Tala.
“You need to leave here, sweetie. Dunne sent me to get you out.” Arlin wanted to hold her, but she had turned her face from him, locked tight in her own misery. Instead he sat down next to her on a sofa, keeping his distance. “This isn’t doing you or anyone any good.”
He’d lost her. Lost the connection between them. All he could feel was the blackness of Tala’s loss.
The woman in front of him, shut down and grieving, wasn’t his Tala. Maybe she was Hunt’s. Or maybe she was lost somewhere, left all on her own.
“Tala. We need you to make some decisions.” He tried again.
“What?”
“You’re in charge. Ruth needs to know what to do for Hunt.”
“Fix him.” She said the words without passion or hope. He was losing her again.
“She can try to find some medicine and get a tetanus booster into him if you say it’s all right. He’s open to all kinds of infection right now. He told us once not to do it. But he can’t tell us what to do now. You can.”
“Oh.” She blinked, as if to focus. “If it helps him, give him the shot.”
“Is that your firm decision? You know what happened to him—”
“It’s all right. If he’d been made sterile from it before, another won’t hurt him now.” Tala almost smiled and then the almost-smile drifted away. “But he was wrong. I’m pregnant.”
“I’ll tell—Shit, Tala!”
“I guess if you need boosters, a tetanus shot can stop being effective for both tetanus and sterility at some point. Anyhow, he wasn’t sterile a few weeks ago and I am pregnant.” She shut her eyes again. “But he didn’t know. I hadn’t told him.”
Arlin bit his tongue rather than ask why.
She told him anyhow. “Because it’s so early. Because I wasn’t sure if he’d believe it was his. Because I wanted more time with him focused on me. Because. Because. None of that matters now. Now that he may never know.”
“He’s in a coma, sweetie. That’s not wonderful but he’s not dead. Ruth says there’s a good chance he’ll come out of it.”
“I don’t feel him anymore. I don’t feel him inside. He seems gone to me. I don’t know what to do. Our bond isn’t there.” Tala took a deep breath. “Am I being weak, Arlin?”
“I don’t know. It’s not wrong to be afraid, Tala. But you’re Alpha. You’re the only Alpha in your pack right now who can make these decisions. You have to act like you’re not afraid.”
“I don’t feel like an Alpha. Help me, Arlin. I’ve never felt this powerless in my life. Please. I think I can do it, but I need you to help.”
“Baby—”
“Something. You need to do something.” Tala swallowed. “God, I’m disgusting. I want you to take over for me, take care of me.”
He could understand that. Sometimes he and Tala mirrored each other too much. If Tala was weak, so was he. Neither of them wanted to make decisions. But right now he could fake strength for her, force her to choose.
“Tala, no, you don’t want me to do that. You belong to Hunt. He belongs to you. None of the rest of it matters.”
She began to cry. “I’m so wrong. Everything is wrong. Punish me, Arlin. Master me. Do something to stop me from feeling this way. We were so close before I met Hunt. We could have been bonded. Should have been.” She crawled onto his lap, facedown. “Hurt me. Give me pain. Please. Stop what I’m feeling now.”
Jesus God. Arlin stared down at her, her skirt hiked up, sobbing against his hip. Of course he was getting hard. How could he help but get hard?
Her fingers clawed into his thighs. “Do it, Arlin.”
He’d smacked her ass often enough as a joke—maybe a little more than a joke. This was different. Tala was different. Something was broken in her, something that needed pain to bring it out.
“Did you and Hunt ever…?”
“Yes. Sort of. Sometimes, just for fun. God, I should have let him spank me for real. I’m weak, Arlin. I thought I was strong but I’m not.”
If he did it, what would she be like then? What would they be like afterward? She ground her crotch against his lap, deliberately moving against his hardening cock.
He could almost see the reddening of her ass under his hand. Could hear the little cries of pained submission. They both knew that had been one of his favorite fantasies back in school.
Tala—the confident, assertive Tala—would have never let him play out that fantasy.
The sudden blare of the video that had played, unheeded on the wide-screen TV, cut into silence and made them jump. There they were on-screen.
“What do I get, Tala?”
The younger, so much younger Arlin of a few months ago, had already shoved his fingers inside her and backed her against the wall before he asked the question.
“What…do you want?” She jerked against him as he worked his hand against her.
“What you want.” He said it through gritted teeth, the two
of them grinding against each other.
The alarm on her watch sounded. Eighteen. She’d been about to turn eighteen. But the two of them, locked together, didn’t even notice the sound.
“Tala?” He moved his hand up into her again, showing her with his fingers what they both wanted him to do with his cock.
She gasped and they both moaned, clutching each other as she rode his hand. The watch buzzed again. Time was up. Eighteen.
Time for her to be mated to another were.
Still shaking, she stared up at him and shook her head, dazed. “Arlin?”
“The answer is nothing. I want nothing.”
“Don’t lie. You’re so hot for me I can almost see the smoke.”
“I want nothing you can give me.” He was still hard, but Arlin pulled away, his mouth set grimly.
She hesitated, her face still soft from satisfaction, and then asked, hesitantly, “Why not, Arlin?”
“Because what you can give me now isn’t enough.” He began to fasten his jeans.
The two of them stared up at the replay of what they’d been before Hunt. Before Dunne and Ruth and Dio and near-death.
Not enough. It wasn’t enough even then.
Arlin bent his head and kissed her ass. Then he smacked it once, lightly, the sound making Tala jump.
“Go take care of your business, baby. If you need me—temporarily—I’ll be there for you.”
“Fucker.” Tala’s cheeks were flushed, but she pulled her skirts down. “I suppose I have to go talk to your new bit—woman now. I bet you wouldn’t have said no if she wasn’t around.”
Ruth. She kept going, even when she was afraid. He wanted to protect her but she was strong. Stronger than he’d thought back when he’d swaggered into her life, ready to save it.
“That is something we’ll never know. Because she is.” Arlin flicked her nose lightly with a nail. “Love you, cousin.”
He finally had his own answer.
“Yeah. Whatever.” Tala paused. “Love you too. Asshole.”
She pushed her hair back and stood up.
Chapter Seven
Ruth checked the vital signs before her and sighed. She heard the door open and then close behind her.
