by Lisa Kessler
“What did my mother’s letter say?”
My chest constricted. This made no sense. I’d lied more in my life than I’d told the truth—what was one more lie? This one could save her life.
And steal any chance of the future her mother foretold. Was this the choice her mother had hinted at?
“She asked me to protect you.”
I kept the rest to myself. It was done.
Wishing was a pointless folly, but regardless, I wished I could escape my path. That would never happen. There was no salvation for me. I was too far gone for saving anyway. Never again would I allow my father such precious leverage to use against me.
Isabelle reached up, cupping my cheek in her soft hand. Her gaze searched my face—for what, I had no idea, but it was far too easy to lose myself, to pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist.
“You’re hiding something,” she whispered.
I rolled my eyes but didn’t move away from her touch. “I am always hiding something.”
She didn’t reward my sarcasm with a smile, just stared into my eyes. Somehow she shined a light into the shadows of my soul, and suddenly I was ashamed of what she would find.
I pulled away and reached for the seat belt. “I’ve told you what you needed to know. You should go to your sister in Reno and help Adam and his Pack when my father’s mercenary teams arrive. Vance and I will keep this Pack out of the fight.”
She tapped her finger on the gearshift. “And just like that, we’re done.”
“That was our agreement, no?” I didn’t allow myself another word.
“Yeah. You’re right.” She lifted her gaze to my face. “But I need to tell you one more thing.”
I braced myself. “All right.”
“You got a raw deal.” She reached for my hand, her warm fingers lacing with mine. “I’m sorry you lost your mother.”
I didn’t understand her compassion, but the kindness was like water in a barren desert. For once, words evaded me, and poetry couldn’t contain the tempest of emotions inside me. I pulled her close and fused my lips to hers.
She moaned, her hands sliding along my bare shoulders, the heat from her touch searing my cool flesh. I surrendered to the passion, my hand moving up her back, fingers splayed, and wished we weren’t in the car. I needed her much closer.
Our tongues explored, hungry, needy, and urgent. I broke the kiss, trailing my lips down her throat, tasting her skin until she shivered against me.
I forced myself back, staring into her eyes. “You should take me back to my hotel and drive away.”
“Maybe.” Her teeth tugged at her lower lip. She kissed me one last time and whispered, “But I’m not ready to walk away. Not yet.”
“If you stay…”
She silenced me with a warm finger to my lips. “We’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes.”
I was too weak to push her away again. Too selfish. I wanted her, needed her, and somehow, I’d figure out a way to keep her safe.
Chapter Ten
Isabelle
He tightened his grip on my hand as we walked through the lobby and directly into the elevator. The second the doors closed, he pressed me back against the wall, his lips fused to mine. My tongue explored his mouth as his fingers slid into my hair. His other hand ran possessively down my body, gripping my ass and bringing our hips together, tight.
His rock-hard erection pressed against me, and my heart raced, my body heating with desire.
The elevator slowed, and his teeth grazed my lower lip as he stepped back and took my hand again, like nothing had happened. The doors opened, and he scanned the hallway. I took in a slow breath. Humans, air freshener, and the faint scent of bleach.
Sebastian fished the key from his pocket as we went toward his room. Once we were inside, he set the security latch and yanked me in close. I ran my hands up his bare chest, careful not to disturb the sore skin around his stitches.
He held me tight, his lips brushing my hair. “You make me weak.”
“Then we’re even.” I looked up at him. “Because it’s safe to say you make me stupid.”
He started to smile, sliding his hand lower to brush the handle of my Ruger. “You’re still armed.”
I chuckled. “You don’t make me that stupid. But never in a million years would I be making out with some asshole who just pointed their gun at me.” I shook my head. “You’re trouble.”
He nodded slowly. “This is a dangerous game.”
He closed the scant distance between us, our lips coming together with a hungry passion I’d never known before. His hands slid underneath my top, and he groaned into the kiss. I raised my arms, forcing myself back far enough for him to pull it over my head. We were kissing again before the shirt hit the floor. I tilted my head, my tongue twining with his.
His skin was hot, teasing me until I was aching to strip away all the barriers between us. My hands moved down his chest to unfasten his pants. He grabbed my wrist.
His lips caressed mine as he whispered, “I don’t have any condoms here.”
“Fuck,” I grunted.
He smiled, his teeth teasing my bottom lip. “I’ve never been with a woman who curses like you do.”
I chuckled, running my hands over the curve of his ass. “So I’m your first bounty hunter?”
He raised a brow. “Are you saying all bounty hunters use colorful language?”
Before I could give him a snappy answer, my cell phone buzzed. I sighed, yanking it out of my pocket to silence it. My sister. It was almost midnight. Shit.
“I should take this.”
Sebastian stepped back as I held the receiver to my ear.
“I need to talk to Sebastian.”
This was not my sister’s voice. “I’m sorry, but how did you get Raven’s phone?”
“Please.” Her voice cracked. “I don’t have time for this.”
Sebastian came forward, reaching for my phone. Apparently werewolves weren’t the only ones with great hearing. “Let me talk to her.”
I handed him the phone.
“Lana?”
“He took her! You bastard! If he hurts her, I will kill you myself. How could you?”
I frowned, not giving a crap if Sebastian knew I was eavesdropping.
Sebastian shook his head. “Slow down. Madeleine? Is she missing?”
“Don’t you say her name!” she screamed.
A man’s voice came through the phone next. “My son says the man told them he was their grandfather and wanted to show them something. Malcolm says he smelled like Madeleine. It was a jaguar.”
“Fuck.” Sebastian looked up at the ceiling. “I know you have no reason to believe me, wolf, but my father was here this afternoon. He never leaves the compound. I should have known.” Sebastian stared at me—or through me, I couldn’t be sure which. “Tell Lana I will bring her daughter home.”
I picked up my shirt and pulled it on.
“No.” There was a push in the voice on the phone that had the wolf in me aching to obey. An instinctual command. “I’m getting my daughter. You’re going to tell me where the Nero compound is.”
“You’ll be dead before you ever get through the gate.” Sebastian ran a hand down his face.
“Put your mate on the phone. Now.”
My heart stuttered for a second as Sebastian’s dark eyes locked on mine. “My…what?”
“Let me talk to Isabelle.”
He frowned, handing me the phone, and I did my best to pretend this guy on the other end of the line hadn’t just outed me to Sebastian.
“Hello?”
“Isabelle, you heard everything, right? I’m Adam Sloan, your sister’s Alpha.”
I nodded, then forced out, “Did my sister tell you I’m a PI and a bounty hunter? I can help you find your little girl.”
“Thanks for the offer. What I need is someone who can be sure which team Sebastian is playing for. According to Raven, you’re his—”
I interrupted
before he could say the word again. “He pointed a gun at me tonight. I doubt I’m the best person to read his intentions.”
Something akin to hurt flashed in Sebastian’s eyes as he turned on his heel and went to the closet, jerking a shirt from the hanger.
“He’s right about one thing. I won’t be able to bring Madeleine home on my own, but I would die before I trust my daughter’s safety to a Severino.”
“If we leave for Phoenix now, we can be on the first flight to Reno. We’ll get plane tickets out when we get there.”
Behind me, Sebastian said, “Tell him to meet us at the Reno airport. I’ll have one of our jets take us from there.”
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes.” He paused. “Thanks, Isabelle.”
He ended the call, and I slid the phone into my pocket, my mind whirling. “Your father didn’t give a flying fuck about this Pack. He just wanted to be sure you weren’t in Reno.”
“Seems that way.” He buttoned his shirt without making eye contact. “I should’ve anticipated this. He wanted me to bring Lana and her little girl to him once the Reno Pack was destroyed. If I’d been more focused, maybe I would’ve realized his true intention was to take her himself.”
I crossed my arms. “So you’re really going to go against your father to help a lowly werewolf find his daughter?”
He lifted his eyes. “When were you going to tell me that the only reason you came back was because your instincts forced you to do so?”
Ugh. I shook my head. “We don’t have time for this.” I headed for the door but stopped short. “How do I know your father didn’t tell you his plan when he was here?”
His eyes narrowed. “My mission was to lead this Pack to Reno and take the girl and her mother to Nero.” He raised his hand to silence me before I got a word out. “But I had no intention of turning them over to him. Never.”
“And why should I believe you?”
His tone dropped to a dangerous octave. “Because there are very few people I have never lied to.” He passed me to open the door. “You are one of them.”
He stalked down the hall toward the elevator without even a glance back.
…
I stared out the passenger window for most of the silent two-hour drive to Phoenix. Two times now, I had almost slept with the killer beside me. After my father abandoned us, Raven threw herself into relationships, desperate to have a man’s love to fill the void.
For me, his abandonment had the opposite effect. It wasn’t like I hadn’t slept with men. I’d had a couple boyfriends, but I couldn’t ever get past the expectation that one day they’d walk out on me, too. Eventually my emotional barriers became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So I’d told love to kiss my ass. Battery boyfriends were much less demanding, and I was never afraid they’d abandon me.
Maybe it was all the wolf instincts drawing me to Sebastian. Either way, it was fucking with my heart, and that was probably the only part of me that was fragile. I kept replaying our talk at Bell Rock in my mind, and one thing bugged me.
There was no reason for Sebastian to admit he wasn’t sure how to trust anyone. I had jokingly pointed out that I’d stabbed him, and even if our whole conversation had been a lie, his smile at that moment had been honest and real. I’d bet my life on it.
Maybe I’d found a chink in his armor, a weak spot. Who knew with Sebastian?
But that goddamn smile had me in knots. I’d bet a million dollars that I’d seen behind the curtain, and that guy, the one who lost his mother and was left with his psychotic father…he wasn’t heartless or self-important or cold.
He was trapped.
Sebastian parked at the Phoenix airport, and I tailed him inside. I pulled in deep breaths of the brisk night air like I could flush his scent out of my system. At the ticket counter, we were finally forced to talk.
“I need your driver’s license,” he said without looking in my general direction.
I took it out and handed it over. He returned it, and we settled back into silence as we walked to the gate. Phoenix was the closest airport to Sedona that had flights to Reno where we’d meet up with Adam. Sebastian busied himself on his phone, arranging a jet to meet us at the Reno airport and take us directly to Washington DC.
I sent a text to Asher to let him know I was headed to Reno to help my sister’s Pack, then leaned back in the chair, staring at the lights outside on the runway.
Beside me Sebastian finally sighed. “I shouldn’t be upset. I don’t deserve anyone’s trust, least of all yours, but I would lay down my life to protect my family, and my blood runs in Madeleine’s veins. She’s my family even if her parents never allow me to speak to her.”
“Sucks to be the bad guy sometimes.”
He raked his hand through his hair. “You can’t imagine.”
“Then why do it?”
He nudged my leg and waited for me to meet his eyes. “If not me, my father would choose someone else to be his right hand. I’d have no way to stop him.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sounds pretty noble coming from a guy who had no problem telling Allen Caldwell how many men he’d need to kill up in Reno before he could abduct their women and children.”
He cursed under his breath, focusing out the window. Finally he lifted his gaze to my face. “Put yourself on the other side of the chessboard for a moment. Adam Sloan’s Pack isn’t innocent, either. They murdered my brother, took in a Nero defector, and killed entire human teams from my company. They also kept Lana from us, the first female jaguar shifter born into her power. She was part of my father’s breeding program, his daughter.”
“Oh, how evil of them not to allow him to experiment on her.” I crossed my arms.
The corner of his mouth twitched. “I’m not comparing which side is more wrong. I’m saying no one is completely innocent.”
“Madeleine is.”
His face fell, but he nodded. “We can agree on that.”
I sighed, shaking my head. “So what’s your angle? If it comes down to it, who will you protect—your father or that little girl?”
“I want to say Madeleine, but I won’t start lying to you now.” He met my eyes. “I don’t know how this will play out.”
Even though I didn’t understand his split loyalties, I could respect how difficult it was to give me an honest answer. I swallowed a lump in my throat. “I’ll save the little girl hands down, so if it comes to that, get the hell out of my way.”
A sad smile curved his lips. “I won’t be able to get two wolves into the compound unnoticed.”
“Well, you’re not going into this alone, so you better come up with something.” I forced a little grin, but he didn’t bite.
His voice softened. “So what Adam said was true.”
Oh, shit. I did not want to discuss this. “Not sure which part you mean.”
His shoulders were tense, but he gave off no other sign of emotion. “You’re only here because you have to be. The wolf demands her mate. But the woman loathes the man.” His lips teased at a bitter smile. “Pity.”
I raised a brow. “Don’t go all poetic on me. I can see it in your eyes.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Doesn’t make it less true.”
I rested my head back and huffed out a breath toward the ceiling. “Honestly, I wish I could blame all of this on my wolf, I really do.” I forced myself to make eye contact. “But it may have already gone way beyond that.”
His deep voice rumbled beside me. “What am I missing here?”
This was my last chance to bolt, but seriously, where would I go? The damned wolf would bring me right back here again.
I lowered my voice. “It’s true you’re only alive right now because this werewolf inside me wouldn’t let me finish the job when I attacked you. The second I touched your skin, I couldn’t kill you, even though the human part of me thought it was the only way to protect the Sedona Pack.” Finally, I met his gaze. “The only thing the wolf cared ab
out was your safety.”
A muscle in his cheek flexed. “You know who I am, what I am. No one would be here by choice. Not knowing about the blood on my hands.” He stood up. “At least now I understand.”
I followed him to the gate and down the jet bridge with my carry-on bag over my shoulder. We’d rushed out so fast, I wasn’t even sure I’d packed underwear. I could buy some along the way. It was stupid to even worry about it, but my mind was aching for something to latch onto other than admitting to Sebastian that I saw more in him than I’d ever realized was there.
Giving him that knowledge was like handing a killer a knife he could use to jam through my heart.
But what did it matter anymore? According to all werewolf lore, I had one mate in this world, and if Sebastian was it, then the only other option was to be alone.
Hell, I’d already made that choice a long time ago.
We got settled on the plane and fastened our seat belts. I’d never sat in business class before, but I managed to keep from kicking my legs around and giggling about all the room. My self-control ended when the flight attendant offered me a refreshment. We hadn’t even taken off yet.
A goddamn giggle escaped me before I could swallow it.
Sebastian glanced my way, and that real smile warmed his features. My pulse jumped in answer.
“You’ve got a beautiful laugh, Isabelle.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sorry. I’ve only flown in coach.”
“Joy is tough to come by in my world.” He sobered. “Never apologize for it.”
He faced forward again, leaving me to watch his profile. The flight attendant returned with my rum and Coke, a welcome distraction.
With any luck, I’d be asleep as soon as we took off.
Chapter Eleven
Sebastian
The silence was suffocating me. Being trapped in my seat so close to Isabelle wasn’t helping. Of course, I knew all the romantic notions of werewolves and their one true mate. The other half of their soul.
