by Dee Tenorio
But something was missing. Lia picked that up from Aurelia’s pause. She knew the feeling. Even her own happiness with Tate was shadowed by that missing piece. The hole that only her sister could fill. It had to be the same for Laurel, she felt that in every part of her being. “I want to see her, Aurelia.”
The older woman’s lined face was resolute.
“She needs me.”
“What if you unlock her memories?” Aurelia asked, her tone as much a warning as worry. “What if she can’t handle it?”
For a second, Lia faltered. The last thing she wanted was to bring her sister pain. Her entire life, it seemed, had been about trying to keep her from it. Was she selfish to insist on seeing her? On satisfying her own desperate need for her family?
Tate’s hand fit into hers, his hold as much a reassurance as the feel of his strength surrounding her. “Those memories could come back at any time. How are you going to handle it? Lia knows where they come from. Lia’s the only one in the world who could possibly understand what that girl’s been through. The only one who can help her overcome it.”
Lia looked up at him, her heart clenched, throat too tight to swallow much less speak. I love you so much…
“They belong together.” His fingers constricted hers for a brief second of acknowledgement. His gaze, however, never left Aurelia’s face. “I promise you on my soul, they’ll be safe.”
Aurelia’s mouth pursed. “You’d give your blood for them both, Wolf?”
“After I took anyone else’s who tries to hurt them.”
She seemed to mull that a moment before she suddenly rapped the side of the table with her cane. Before she’d finished the second loud clack, her great-grandson had dipped under the flap. “Fetch me Laura.”
His dark gaze darted from Tate to Lia and back again, but he didn’t say a word before ducking out the way he’d come.
“The two of you sit down and wait. I don’t want you scaring her the second she walks in.” Aurelia’s cane knocked on the chair next to her. “You sit here,” she said to Lia.
Lia was glad Aurelia couldn’t see her lack of a smile as she settled next to her, letting the old woman envelop her hand in a knobby grip. Tate stood behind her chair, his hand a warm assurance on her shoulder.
“Your man isn’t sitting.”
“Her man doesn’t want to sit,” Tate replied before Lia could say anything.
“You’re a stubborn cuss, aren’t you, Wolf?”
“As a rusty bear-trap.”
Lia closed her eyes, trying not to wince at that last response. She ignored the banter continuing around her, concentrating instead on anything she could use to slow the rampaging beat of her heart. What if she remembers me? What if she doesn’t? What if she’s scared of me? What if this is the wrong thing to do?
She couldn’t still the blurring questions in her mind or the ever-widening scope of her senses as she waited for any sound, any sign at all of her sister’s arrival.
Remember me, Laurel. Please, please…remember me.
Suddenly, she caught a scent, one she’d thought never to breathe again. Cinnamon and a brisk, cool flavor, like the first rain of winter. Laurel.
The flap lifted again, only this time a young girl stepped through. Lean and long-limbed, her dark brown hair pulled from her face with a slim braid on either side, joining into one at the back of her head. She wore a simple summer dress, sleeveless, blue and white with buttons up the front. Her skin a sun-loved dark gold, which only made the brilliant green of her eyes stand out more. She walked confidently, almost too smoothly for a thirteen-year-old. She didn’t startle at the sight of them, but her nostrils flared slightly once she realized they were in the tent. Testing their scents. Truly a shifter, though still so painfully young.
It took a second for Lia to realize Tate’s hold on her shoulder was actually keeping her in her seat. She forced her legs to relax, watching Laurel come closer and gripping the sides of her seat so as to keep her hands from reaching out to make sure the girl wasn’t an illusion.
Laurel’s steps slowed, apprehension clear on her face. “You asked for me, Nana?”
A warm voice, deeper than the piping chime she’d had as a little girl. Raspier.
“I have some guests who’d like to meet you.” Aurelia waved her closer with her cane in hand. “Come on, they don’t bite.”
Laurel took another step, the second even slower, her gaze studying Tate as if he were possibly dangerous. “You’re not a Bear.”
“One of my better qualities,” he agreed, and damn if he didn’t make the remark sound charming.
Laurel turned out to be no more susceptible to his wiles than Lia herself. Her gaze turned suspicious and she came no closer. “Who are you?”
He sighed. “Is it just this family or does no one in Iowa appreciate humor?”
“Guess we’ll decide if you ever manage to say something funny,” Aurelia said, which did earn a quirk of Laurel’s full lips. Aurelia’s hand reached out and Laurel hurried to take it. Once in hand, she drew Laurel closer to the table. To Lia.
Finally, finally, Laurel’s gaze found hers. The room shrank, narrowing to the two of them in a single instant Something in Lia pulled taut, a connection snapping like two magnets drawn inexorably together. Their bond, she realized. Like the one between her and Tate, it was forged in their hearts, not in their memories. Unlike the one with Tate, there was no open pathway directly to the girl’s emotions or thoughts. Only the ringing recognition of one soul to the other.
Laurel blinked, a flutter of her lashes as dual creases formed between her slim brows. “I know you.”
Lia nodded, slowly. It was growing almost impossible not to push the table out of the way and throw her arms around her sister. “Yes, you did. Once.”
Laurel stepped forward, just a step, her head tilting as she inspected Lia’s face. Her eyes closed and she drew in a deeper breath. When they opened again, the frown was deeper. “I don’t know your scent.”
“She’s bonded,” Tate murmured. “Her scent has changed because of it.”
Lia nodded, almost feeling like a bobble-head when she couldn’t stop. “I used to hold you every night, when you were little.” When you were someone else, she couldn’t help thinking, her heart growing heavy at the lack of true recognition. “I understand if you don’t remember.”
The silence drew out, but Lia didn’t have the heart to break it. Not with Laurel looking at her so intently.
“I know your face.” But that seemed to puzzle the girl more than anything else. “Who are you?”
“A…friend,” Lia choked out. They’d been that, just as she’d been a parent and a protector. It was too much to ask, she decided, pain searing her heart so deep she could tell by Tate’s tightening hand that he could feel it too. Too much expectation to place on Laurel’s shoulders if she admitted they were sisters. “We’re Wolves, just like you.”
Laurel stiffened, but said nothing.
“You’re going home with them,” Aurelia said gently. Or as gently as she was able. “There are things you need to learn, Laura. About yourself, about your kind.”
“I’m already with my kind,” Laurel said, pulling her hand from Aurelia’s grip, repudiation on her face. “I’m happy here.”
“And we’re happy having you,” Aurelia replied even as Lia flinched. “You’ll always have a home with us. You’re one of us, Laura, never doubt that. But you’ve come to an age where you need to learn from those like yourself. We’ve taught you what it is to be a shifter. They can teach you what it is to be a Wolf.”
Laurel’s gaze snapped back to Lia’s, a mix of fear and confusion crossing her delicate features. In her eyes, colors flickered, the dark pupil shifting wide to small and back again. “Do I have a choice?”
“No.” Aurelia’s voice had a finality that couldn’t be argued. She sighed, reaching her hand out again to the girl. “Trust in me, Laura. This is best for you. When you’re ready, when the time is right, you
can come home. But right now…you need them.”
Laurel wanted to argue, but to Lia’s surprise, all she did was clamp her jaws and bow her head over Aurelia’s hand. So much control. Too much for a girl who should still be playing games, running and giggling with her friends.
Lia stood, circling the table to stand before her sister. She forced her mouth to smile, hoping it was gentle instead of pained. Unable to resist, she traced the back of her fingers down the side of Laurel’s cheek. The girl was older, her face longer and the baby roundness had long faded, but her cheek was as soft as ever. Lia swallowed the lump in her own throat before brushing a few stray hairs behind Laurel’s ear.
Fast as lightning, Laurel’s hand caught her own, leaning forward to stare more intently up at Lia. “I felt something when you looked at me. The way you touched me. Why do I know your face?”
Lia could only hoarsely whisper, “Because hearts don’t forget.” Hers never had. “Come with us and I’ll teach you all the things your heart still remembers.”
“Everything?” A frisson of fear glistened in Laurel’s eyes.
Lia smoothed her hand down the side of Laurel’s face again, her chest aching when the girl’s sable lashes came down and she leaned into the touch. “Whatever you’re ready for, sweetheart. And if anything bad comes up, I’ll help you with that too. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’ll always be here.”
Laurel’s eyes snapped open, the color shifting completely to a winter blue of a Wolf, her grip suddenly so hard it almost hurt. “Lia?”
Her heart jolted in her chest to hear her name. She tried again to smile, to nod. “Do you remember something?”
Laurel shook her head. “You’ve said that to me before. That you’d always be here.” Those Wolf-eyes darted over Lia’s features. “I remember…you. The way you felt. You kept me safe. I was scared, but you kept me safe.”
Lia nodded, harder this time, her tears impossible to hold in anymore. “I tried, honey. I tried so hard.”
Laurel buried her face in Lia’s neck. “I’ve dreamed of you.” Her voice was so small, unexpected tears spilling onto Lia’s skin. “The way you’d pet my face. I could never really see you, but I dreamed of how you felt. In my heart.”
Lia held her sister to her tighter, rocking her as she always had before. Wrapping herself around the girl in every way she could, offering her strength, her comfort. Her love.
She pressed her cheek to the top of Laurel’s head, turning her face so she could see Tate standing next to Aurelia. So she could smile at him and he’d know he was a part of this moment with her. He stood rigidly straight, her proud hunter, but she could see the track of a tear on his bronzed face. Not at all ashamed or afraid to show his raw emotions openly. A swell of gratitude, of love, rose in her for him. She couldn’t reach for him physically, afraid to break the moment with her sister, but she could reach for him with her heart. With her soul.
The most amazing thing—the miracle she still couldn’t quite believe but was so grateful for—was that she didn’t have to.
He was already there.
In a world that has nearly destroyed them, wolf shifters fight for survival—and love…
Discover more dark, sexy paranormal romance in TEMPTING THE ENEMY by Dee Tenorio, book one of The Resurrection Series.
About the Author
Dee Tenorio has a few reality issues. After much therapy for the problem—if one can call being awakened in the night by visions of hot able-bodied men a problem—she has proved incurable. It turns out she enjoys tormenting herself by writing sizzling, steamy romances of various genres spanning paranormal mystery dramas, contemporaries and romantic comedies. Preferably starring the sexy, somewhat grumpy heroes described above and smart-mouthed heroines who have much better hair than she does.
The best part is, no more therapy bills!
Well, not for Dee, anyway. Her husband and kids, on the other hand…
If you would like to learn more about Dee and her work, please visit her website at www.deetenorio.com or her blog at http://www.deetenorio.com/Blog/.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9205-9
Copyright © 2011 by Dee Tenorio
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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