by Beverly Rae
She shook her head, the plea in her eyes eating at him, but not answering his question.
Tucker stood at the end of the bed, his brow furrowed, claws extended, but not fully transformed. “Answer him, Lauren. Bracus has disobeyed a direct command which has dire consequences. Daniel’s letting you make the call. Not that I get why.”
Lauren wiped away the tear streaks on her cheeks. “I want you to let him go. I don’t want anyone hurt.”
Tucker’s face dropped. “Damn, darlin’, I was so hoping you’d say rip out his throat. Things have gotten boring around here.”
Her horror at the idea had Tucker laughing again and Daniel tilting his head. With a swish of his tail, he stepped off the frightened man. He stretched, his facial features growing wider, shorter, with fangs withdrawing. Flesh flowed along his skin, replacing fur, and paws cracked as knuckles returned. Hands and feet replaced claws while fingers grew longer with nails. His body changed, a liquid skeleton molding into a different form, returning to human. Daniel watched the awe on Lauren’s face, her eyes locked on him, taking in every nuance of his transformation. He hoped her wonderment wouldn’t turn into fear. Or worse, disgust.
Returned to human form, Daniel came to her side, careful to cover the bare areas where his torn clothes gave him no coverage. “He didn’t follow my order to leave you unharmed. For that alone he should receive a severe punishment. But for what he was about to do to you…” He glanced at her body, checked for any signs of injuries, and noted the bruises on her wrists. Had he left those bruises, or had Bracus? “Tell me you’re okay.” He couldn’t bring himself to ask her which of them had caused the bruising.
She tugged the sheet higher. “I’m fine.”
Tucker lifted Bracus off the floor. “What do you want me to do with this reject?”
Daniel arched an eyebrow at her. “Well?”
“My answer is the same. Don’t do anything to him because of me.”
“Are you sure?” The hunter confused him. She could shoot shifters, but she didn’t want one punished for attacking her. “But you know what he would’ve done to you, don’t you?”
Lauren nodded, keeping her eyes on Daniel as though she were avoiding Bracus. “I do. But he didn’t.” She reached out and placed her hand on top of his. “Thanks to you.”
The heat from her palm rushed into him, sending mixed messages of warmth, caring and desire. She was a contradiction of enemy, friend and something he couldn’t quite comprehend. All of which made her both frustrating and intriguing.
“Okay. Whatever you want.” He lifted his head to find Tucker gazing at him, his brow furrowed, his attention darting between them. At last, his gaze settled on their joined hands. Daniel jerked his hand away from hers, cleared his throat, then gave the order. “Tucker, take that skuzzy mutt out of here. I’ll decide what to do with him later.”
“Sure thing.” Tucker clutched the shifter’s sleeve. His knowing gaze dug into Daniel. “Aren’t you coming?”
“In a minute.” Daniel shook off Tucker’s inquisitive look, but knew he’d have to explain later. “Lock the door on your way out, Tucker. I’m going to question the hunter.”
Tucker chuckled. “Sure thing, boss. You definitely need to question her.”
“I don’t get you.”
“Sometimes I don’t get me either.” Lauren resisted the impulse to take his hand, hoping he’d make the first move. Yet she couldn’t help but be pleased that he cared enough to want to understand her.
“Why wouldn’t you want an attacker, especially a werewolf, punished?” He narrowed his eyes, his examination making her squirm. “Or is it because he’s one of mine? And one of your captors?”
“What does that mean?” He didn’t have to say anything. She interpreted his answer by the haughty lift of one eyebrow. “Are you serious? Do you think I instigated the whole thing? That I lured him into the room so I could seduce him and win him to my side?”
“Sounds like a plausible plan to me. You get him hung up on you, then you talk him into setting you free.” He crossed his arms, daring her to deny his accusation.
“Right. Mister, you’ve got a big problem if one of your men can be talked into betraying you with sex.” Her tone dripped sarcasm and she added the air quotes for good measure. Did he really think she was that underhanded? That deceitful? She paused. Wait a sec. Did he really think she was that sexy?
“A beautiful woman can turn a man’s head in more ways than one.”
She let his description of her play in her head awhile longer. So he really did think she was that attractive. After all, he’d called her beautiful. And no man had called her beautiful in a long time. Too long. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time John had complimented her. But wait. Did he think…
“Do you think that’s what I was doing when I… When we did what we did?” She couldn’t believe what he was implying, hoping he’d deny her allegation before she had to say the words. But he only continued to stare at her, suspicion written all over his face. “Are you thinking I had sex with you so you’d let me go?”
“Well, it does seem odd that you’ve already had a wrestling match with two of us.”
She’d bolted out of bed and thrown the vase before she realized she’d picked it up. He caught it in midair, gingerly setting it down on a nearby table.
“Hey, watch it. That and most of the other pieces in this room are expensive. Like the finer stores say, ‘You break it, you buy it’.”
“If I had hit you, it would’ve been worth the price ten times over.”
He studied her again, the amber growing stronger in his brown eyes. She returned his silent attack, determined to give as good as she got. He drew her in, pulling her deep into those golden-russet orbs, diving past the pupils and into his very soul. Yet instead of seeing hate, she saw something more. Something akin to confusion. She peered harder, wanting to fall into those depths, and was startled to find something even more amazing and familiar: sorrow. At once, her irritation vanished, squelched by the desire to understand what caused his pain. She knew it was more than mere physical pain. His ache came from a place of sheer agony that only heartbreak could cause. The kind of gut-wrenching sorrow caused by great loss. The kind of sorrow that came from guilt.
She whispered, afraid a louder tone of voice would hurt him again. “What happened to make you so angry?”
He blinked, opened his mouth to speak, closed it again, then took a breath. “You know. Hunters and their damn guns killing my people. Why else do you think we brought you here?”
“I understand that’s why I’m here. That you meant to hurt a hunter but then took me prisoner instead. Although why you’re keeping me safe from the others, I don’t understand.” She waited, but he remained silent. “But that’s not what I’m talking about.” She took a step toward him, wanting to touch him, to make the pain go away. Maybe if she could fill the hole in his heart, she could ease a little of her own weighty guilt. “Something happened to you. Something horrible. Something you want to blame hunters for.”
“Hunters are to blame. Just like your group is to blame for Tyler’s death. And maybe Mysta’s too if she doesn’t come around soon.” He mirrored her moves, staying just out of her touch.
She took a steadying breath. “No. That’s not it. This sorrow I see inside you—” she fisted her hand to her chest, “—is older than that. Worse than losing your friend.” She reached out, urging him to take her hand. “Tell me.”
His face was inches from hers in a split second, his hand hooked around her neck. “Look, Doctor Freud, I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, but stop trying to analyze me. You’re a dentist, remember? Not a shrink.”
She swallowed her fear and watched his eyes take on more amber. If he shifted, who knew what he might do. “Please. You’re hurting me.”
A flash of regret was there and gone in the next instant. He backed off, pacing to the opposite side of the room. “I need information. I need to know
exactly what happened.”
Gone was the barely controlled anger. And gone was her connection to him. He was all business.
“I didn’t shoot at Mysta and I’ve already told you about Tyler. I shot into the air. Just like when I shot over your head.”
He paced around the room, circling her like a predator toying with his prey. “I’m not talking about them. I want to know about the other time. I want to know about the she-wolf you murdered a year ago.”
Murdered? He couldn’t have hurt her more if he’d physically struck her. “Why is that one so important?” She wiped away a tear.
“Because that’s the one you admit you actually shot.”
A chill ran through her. Hadn’t she already told him about that awful day? Why did he care so much when it happened so many months ago? “I don’t like talking about it. In fact, I wish that day had never happened. If I could change things, bring her back, I would.”
“You’d sacrifice yourself for her?”
“I would.”
“Tell me how it happened. What she did. What you did.”
She turned away from him, trying to smother her sob. “We found her just inside the city. She was so beautiful, so wild. I envied the freedom she had.”
Daniel’s tone was cool. How could he have grown cold so fast? “I don’t care about your observations. I want facts. Details.”
“I was new to the hunter group so John told me to take the first shot. I did exactly what he told me because I trusted him. When he told me to shoot, I pulled the trigger. God, I was so stupid, so naive.”
She turned toward him. His eyes were closed, his body rigid.
“What happened next?”
“Other shots came after mine. She jumped into the air, her body twisting as though she tried to dodge the bullets. Oh, God, I can still hear that horrible screeching sound she made.”
Opening his eyes, he glared at her, and she fought to keep from cowering under his harsh scowl. “How many times did you shoot her?”
“Just once. Before I could think about what I’d done, she lay on the ground.” Another sob wracked through her, shaking her shoulders. “I rushed over to her and knelt down beside her.” She reached out to plead his forgiveness. “Once I saw her, once I looked into her eyes, I knew I’d made a terrible mistake. I could see the human side of her pleading for my help. Then when she spoke to me, I knew I’d done an unspeakable thing.”
He clenched his fists and ground the words out. “But you didn’t help her, did you?”
Lauren bowed her head. “I wanted to. But, I don’t know, I think I must’ve been in shock. She wasn’t anything like I expected.”
“What did you expect? An insane monster, an unthinking killing machine? Do you think werewolves are the devil’s spawn?”
“I don’t now, but I did. John and the other hunters always talked about how vile and inhuman shifters were.”
She lifted her eyes to his and ran a tongue over her lip. His gaze held hers, then dropped to her lips, and he growled. For a moment, she’d seen how much he wanted to kiss her. But then why the growl?
“But I know better now, Daniel. Hell, that was the night when I realized everything they’d told me was wrong. Whoever that she-wolf was, she’s the one who changed me.”
Conflicting emotions swept over his face, confusing her until, at last, his expression hardened again. “But you didn’t help her.”
“No. I didn’t have time. She died a few minutes later.”
“And if she hadn’t died? If you’d had time, what would you have done?”
A flicker of anger swept over her face. “What you’re thinking is correct. I probably wouldn’t have done anything. I wouldn’t have known what to do.” She glared at him, as angry at herself as she was at his probing questions. “I went home that night and spent the rest of the weekend thinking about her. I thought about what I could’ve done to help her if I’d realized that John and the rest had fed me a bunch of bullshit. What I figured out was that, although it was too late for her, I could help other shifters in the future.” She stuck out her chin, challenging him to call her a liar. “And I have tried to help.”
He paced to the door as though to leave, then confronted her again. If only he’d tell her what he was thinking. Instead, he studied her, his brows dipped between his eyes.
“I know what I did, Daniel, and, if I could, I would take it back. I wish I hadn’t listened to John, but I did. Yes, I killed, but I’ve changed. I’m not a killer.”
“Torrie was the werewolf you killed.” He shook his head, as though trying to rid his mind of an unbearable thought. “She was the one you helped kill.”
“Torrie?” She inhaled, realizing that he’d known the wolf she’d shot. “What was her last name?”
He swallowed, a tenderness replacing the harshness in his face. “Cannon. Her name was Torrie Cannon.”
The shock hit her and she clasped a hand to her mouth. “Oh, no. Please, Daniel, tell me she wasn’t your sister.”
“She wasn’t.” Yet before the relief could wash through her, he told her, “Torrie was my mate.”
Her face paled and she buckled. If he hadn’t caught her, she would’ve slumped to the floor. He took her by the arm and led her to the bed. At first, the world swam around her and she thought she might faint. She darted her gaze around the room, avoiding his until he caught and held hers.
“I didn’t know, Daniel. How could I have known?”
“Would it have made a difference?” He wrapped an arm around her, hugging her, making her feel better. But how could he comfort the villain who’d taken his adored Torrie from him?
“If I’d known her name before the hunt, then, yes, it might have. If I’d know about shifters before that night, it definitely would have.” She clutched his shirt. “You have to believe me. Knowing her name would’ve made all the difference in the world. I never thought about shifters having names, much less being someone’s wife.”
“Torrie was my mate. But it’s the same thing as being my wife.”
Lauren let go of him. How could he still want to touch her? “Please forgive me, Daniel. I was ignorant and…” She leaned away from him. “No, that’s no excuse. I did what I did no matter what the reason and I deserve any punishment you want to give me.”
Daniel stared across the room as though seeing to another time and place. “Torrie was sweet, willing to forgive, and I have to wonder what she would think of you. I know she would’ve believed you. But could even Torrie forgive the hunter who’d killed her?” He leaned farther away from her, breaking her heart more than she’d thought possible. “I can’t… I don’t know what to think right now. I’ll think about your punishment and let you know.”
She bowed her head, ready to acquiesce to whatever he decided. “Whatever you decide, please try to forgive me. Can you do that, Daniel? If not now, in the future?”
He rose, standing beside the bed, then, without a word, strode from the room.
Lauren paced from one side of the room to the other. She’d killed Daniel’s mate. What had been the worst day of her life, the day she’d taken a life, had suddenly grown even more appalling. A bang against the outside wall jolted her, sending her scurrying to the far corner.
Was Daniel coming back? Had he decided her fate? Yet another day had passed with no word from him. Was the longer he took to make a decision be a good sign or a bad one? Now that he knew she was the one responsible for his mate’s death, he was bound to hate her. Although she would accept any consequence Daniel wanted to dole out, she couldn’t help but wish for a reprieve.
She took a deep breath, assuming the guards had hit the door by accident. Or did they purposely keep bumping against the walls to frighten her? Was that the first of many mind games they had planned? Or did she dare hope that Daniel could forgive her and convince the rest of the pack to set her free?
“Oh, sure, Lauren. No problem. Daniel will just forget about his dead mate, then pat you on the head and turn
you loose. Girl, you are such an idiot.” If she’d given up hunting after the first hunt, after killing Torrie, she wouldn’t have ended up in this mess. But could she have turned her back and walked away without at least trying to help other werewolves? The answer came quickly enough: no way. Not even if she’d known how her decision would change her life, ending up a captive of the pack.
If only Daniel would come and talk to her again, give her a chance to explain. She hadn’t seen him since he’d rushed out of the room. Had he left her at the mercy of the other werewolves? If so, would they keep her safe? The alternative crept in, chilling her. Had he left the house, thus giving them time to do whatever they wished to her?
The noise outside her door grew louder and with each bump she jumped a little higher. Her stomach churned, queasy from the food she’d eaten. Why didn’t they get it over with? Not for the first time since she’d last seen Daniel, she silently urged the shifters on the other side of the door to come and get her. Anything was better than suffering this endless wait.
Even so, when she saw the knob start to turn, she swiftly missed her solitary existence. She squashed a nervous giggle.
Tucker threw open the door and grinned at her. “Hi, darlin’, how ya doing? Hey, watch it, man.”
Daniel brushed past the massive white-haired man and, without thinking, she rushed toward him and jumped into his arms. “Daniel!” She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him as hard as she could. His aroma, a mix of forest, wildness and masculinity wafted over her. “I’m so glad it’s you.”
“Damn, Daniel. I didn’t realize you and the little hunter were such good friends.”
Lauren untied her arms from around Daniel’s neck and slid to the floor. Peering around him, she smiled shyly at Tucker. “I’m just really happy to see him.”
