by Lacey Thorn
The woman whipped her head up, and eyes so blue they almost seemed purple met Ariel’s. Eyes dark with pain.
“They got me out. Told me to come here and find Thomas, that he would help me get home. I just want to go home.”
“What’s your name?” Ariel asked.
The woman glanced around. Then as if making a decision and committing to it no matter the outcome, she stepped away from the tree and dropped her hand from her stomach, revealing the soft mound of a pregnancy.
“I’m Quinn. Quinn Jensen. I need to get to Oklahoma. I need to get home.”
“Holy shit,” Ariel almost yelled, barely catching herself in time to keep her response more tame. She immediately shook her head. Quinn Jensen was human. Unless Dr. Jensen had failed to share something with them. Like the fact his wife had been a shifter.
“You’re a shifter?” Ariel asked, suddenly unsure of what she was picking up on.
Quinn immediately shook her head. “No.” Her gaze dropped to her belly. “But my child is. Please, I need your help.”
Ariel wrapped her arm around Quinn’s waist, offering both comfort and support. “We need to go. Now. Are you okay to walk to my car?”
Quinn nodded. “I’ll make it.”
There was so much more to the woman’s story. She was obviously hurt, obviously pregnant, and definitely without the mate she’d created the baby with. Mating would explain the altered scent Ariel had picked up around her. It was more than the pregnancy, that was for sure.
Ariel shouldered her pack on the other side and moved them toward her car as quickly as she could. They needed to get out of there and headed somewhere safe. Hell, she wasn’t sure where that was. She was sure of something, though. She needed help. They needed help. Fortunately, she knew a few people she could call.
Chapter Four
Daniel’s eyes were barely open when Gabriel was in his face, yelling loud enough to shake the room and make Daniel deaf in the process. He’d struggled all night, trying to get his body to cooperate with his wishes. It was still a fight, and Gabriel shouting wasn’t helping.
“Stop.” Fuck! His voice was incredibly weak and definitely wouldn’t be heard over his brother’s bellowing.
“What’s going on?” Gideon burst through the door, gaze darting around in assessment before settling on Daniel. “He’s awake.”
Daniel struggled to clear his dry throat and only managed to feel as if he were gargling razor blades. He lifted his hand to his throat and rubbed as if he could soothe it from the outside.
“Gabriel, go grab Daniel some ice chips while I assess him,” Gideon ordered.
“I’ll be back. Don’t you fucking dare go back to sleep on me.” His brother scowled before leaving the room with obvious reluctance.
“Hey, there. Good to have you back among the living. Pulse is good. I’m going to get some blood while he’s gone. I’ll save the major questions for after you’ve soothed your throat. You’ve been out for a few days, Daniel. Hell, we weren’t sure when you’d wake up. If you’d wake up.”
“Heard…all.” Daniel shook his head, frustrated at the gravel pitch of his voice. Raw fire didn’t begin to describe how his throat felt.
“The professor thought you might be able to hear us,” Gideon admitted as he went about filling vials with Daniel’s blood. After three, he seemed satisfied and moved away. “I’ll get these to the professor as soon as Gabriel is back. If he hasn’t let everyone know you’re awake, I will. We’ve all been worried.”
“Ariel.”
“Gabriel’s back with the ice.” He immediately turned toward Daniel’s brother. “Keep your brother company while I hustle these down to the lab so we can see what’s going on. Diane will want to give him a more thorough physical as soon as he’s ready. I’ll be back soon.” Gideon turned back to Daniel and still said nothing about Daniel’s last word. “Really good to have you back. Slowly on the ice,” he warned then was gone.
“I called Laura. She’s on her way. Tah, too. Damn, you scared years off my life with this stunt.”
Daniel lifted a brow as his brother fed him the first bit of ice chips. He held his hand out for the cup, hating how weak he felt. No way he was invalid enough to allow his brother to feed him. Gabriel frowned but handed it to him before answering Daniel’s unspoken question.
“Murphy managed to call Zane when you two reached them in Illinois. Today’s a great day to die. What the fuck, Daniel! This death wish of yours has got to end. So help me, you’re not leaving this ranch until we can trust you not to commit suicide by hunter. Jesus! Do you have any idea what hearing that did to me?”
Daniel purposely scooped in more ice chips, refusing to comment. His brother wasn’t wrong about the risks he’d been taking. Daniel knew he’d been stupid, but that didn’t mean his brother was going to keep him on the ranch. Daniel was going after his mate just as soon as he could get up.
He’d keep that to himself for right now. It was past time he spoke with his mate instead of about her. Everyone was so eager to urge him to give her time, to give her space, to give her everything but her mate.
Good intentions maybe, but it hadn’t done him or Ariel any favors. They needed to talk and work their way toward one another or cut the tie completely. He was tired of being in limbo, unsure of his place in his mate’s life or if he even had a place in her life. He swore if she told him there was nothing for them, he’d walk away. From her, from the pack, from Riverton. It would be too devastating to stay and see her every day, and he’d be damned if she left the pride she’d joined.
“Daniel!” Laura ran into the room and barely refrained from throwing herself onto the bed with him. As it was, she grabbed him immediately and half-covered him, head on his chest as she sobbed. He bobbled his cup of ice chips and shot Gabriel a thankful look when his brother rescued it from him. He wrapped one arm around Laura and did his best to comfort her.
Funny how he’d once thought Laura could be his mate. He understood now that he’d been lonely, had been for a long time before she’d shown up on the ranch and declared she wasn’t leaving. Gabriel had rescued her, and she’d followed him back. Their father had thrown a fit, threatening Laura every time they turned around in a bid to make her pack up and go. Thankfully, she’d refused. Eventually, she’d become the sister he’d never had. At times, she was more of a sibling than Gabriel had been, through no fault of his own. Their father, Isaac, had done his best to keep the brothers apart. Most likely, he’d found it easier to manipulate them that way. Isaac was gone now. Shot by a shifter who’d attempted to get Gabriel’s mate and take her back to the doctor who’d experimented on her when she’d been a baby. Daniel’s dad had been a bastard most of the time, but he’d done a good thing when he’d protected Kenzie. He’d saved her life, saved Gabriel’s, as well since his brother would have been lost without his mate. But even in death Isaac Erikson was still wreaking havoc and leaving messes for his sons to deal with.
“Come on, now,” Finn said as he followed Laura into the room. “He’s finally awake, and you’re going to drown him with all those tears.”
Laura let her mate help her up, cupping Daniel’s face as she straightened. “You scared the hell out of me! Damn you, Daniel! Don’t ever do that again. They said your lion wasn’t healing you. We didn’t know what was going on. I thought…” She paused, unable to complete the rest of her sentence as she burst into tears again, this time burying her face in her mate’s chest while Finn shot him a glare.
She’d thought he was going to die. He wasn’t so sure he hadn’t. He hurt. More than he ever had in his life. He wasn’t going to share the fact that for the first time in his life, his lion wasn’t easily accessible to him. It felt as if he were alone. That was disconcerting for a man who’d always known he was as much lion as man.
“No such luck,” Daniel quipped softly, but the dirty looks turned on him let him know they didn’t appreciate his humor. He held out his hand to Gabriel and took the ice chips from hi
m. He poured some more in his mouth, letting the cool soothe his throat.
“Daniel.” The commanding voice washed over him as his eyes darted to the door where the pack alpha stood. Tah. Reno and Logan were both behind him, crowding the entryway until Tah stepped in and moved closer. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” Daniel said, but the look Tah gave him let Daniel know the other man wasn’t buying it.
“Laura?” Logan moved toward his sister and her tear-stained face, sharing a look with Finn. While Gabriel and Daniel had basically adopted Laura as their sibling, Logan was her brother by blood.
“She’s relieved to see Daniel awake,” Finn offered, and Logan nodded, giving her a pat on the back.
“You gave us one hell of scare,” Reno said as he moved to stand at the foot of Daniel’s bed. “Amia was sure we’d lost you. Hell, we did on the way from Chicago to home. If not for Tony and his helicopter, we might not have made it here with you clinging to life.”
“I was trying to get to the white tiger. See if I could help. I thought it was you at first. It was chaos. Hunters everywhere.” Daniel’s voice was still rough but better.
“My sister,” Reno said, hands tightening on the footboard.
“She okay?” Daniel asked, though he was sure if she wasn’t, he would have heard someone mention it.
“Yeah. She and her mate are here. I’m hoping we can convince them to stay,” Reno admitted. “We could use them here. Tony, too.”
“Package deal.” The man in question walked through the door with a grin for Daniel. “Good to see you, my man. Gave me quite the adrenaline rush trying to keep your sorry ass alive.” Tony laughed, earning several glares from the rest of the pack, but Daniel found himself grinning back.
“Good to keep your skills sharp,” Daniel offered, earning another laugh from Tony.
“True enough,” Tony admitted. “Either way, it’s good to see you up. I’m sure you’ll be hauling ass out of here as soon as you can. I know I would.”
“He’s not going anywhere,” Gabriel declared, and Daniel sighed.
“Last I checked, I was a grown-ass man, brother. Capable of making my own choices.” There was a bit of a growl to his voice. Not enough, though. And not from his lion. Daniel needed to figure out what his lion needed to bring it out of slumber or whatever it was in.
“A good day to die. A good fucking day to die!” Gabriel practically roared it the second time.
“Your brother’s right, Daniel,” Tah agreed. “You need to stay here until we know you’re fully healed. You might not be so lucky a second time.”
Daniel bit his lip, not saying a word. He understood the command in Tah’s voice, but he had no intention of following it. He’d head home as soon as he could, and from there, try to pick up on his mate’s trail. Wait! She’d left him a letter.
“Where’s my letter?” he demanded and noted how each of them clammed up. “From my mate.”
“You heard us talking?” Laura asked.
Daniel nodded, letting them soak in that he knew everything they’d discussed in front of him. The fact he knew Ariel had been staying at his house while he’d been gone. That wasn’t the action of a woman who didn’t want her mate. That was a way of reaching for him. The others had known and not shared it with him, letting him believe he was imagining things. Maybe, they hadn’t realized he was picturing her there, but still. They’d known and never once told him. Christ, it was as if the whole fucking pride thought he and Ariel were too wounded to find their way to one another. Had they ever once considered that mending might begin once they did?
“My mate took off and left a letter behind for me.”
Nobody said anything, neither confirming nor denying what he’d heard. It didn’t matter, though. Daniel had heard them.
“Have you heard from her?” Daniel demanded, and it pissed him off that the room had suddenly gone quiet. He was her mate, yet he was the last person they’d share anything with. As if the woman wasn’t his whole world, even though he’d yet to claim her as his. She didn’t bear his bite, but she owned him heart and soul just the same. “I’ll take your silence to mean you haven’t. I’d like what my mate left at my house for me to find. No one else had the right to take it, and I’ll have words with anyone who stepped into my home without mine or Ariel’s permission.” He gave Tah a pointed stare. “Anyone.”
The other man narrowed his gaze, but Gabriel spoke first. “I’ll find Ariel.”
Daniel whipped his gaze to his brother. “And if I’d said the same to you about Kenzie?”
“It’s not the same,” Gabriel snapped.
“Really? Seems like we both left our mates with the pride, only to have them turn around and take off on their own. Wait. Kenzie took her best friend with her, while my mate is almost certainly alone.”
Gabriel growled while the rest of the males in the room tensed up. All except Tony, who laughed again.
“I had no idea shifters had so much drama,” Tony mused, getting the scowls turned toward him again. He held up his hands in defense. “Sorry. I’ve only got Aleksy to compare to, and I’m telling you that man is as drama-free as they come. Maybe, it’s a primal thing.”
Oh, Daniel really liked Tony. His humor alone was fantastic. There was more, though. He was obviously intelligent or the professor wouldn’t be pushing so much for Tony to share information on Aleksy. Aleksy’s faith in Tony said a lot. From what Daniel gathered, Aleksy was a shifter caught in a permanent primal state. Allowing Tony to have full control of his medical care was a huge endorsement. They’d also mentioned that Zane’s Uncle Orsai had consulted on medical too, but still, the bulk fell to Tony. Daniel wouldn’t mind Tony looking at what was going on with him. From what he’d said about not allowing Aleksy’s information to be shared among the group, Daniel figured he understood confidentiality.
“Listen,” Tah began, but Gideon chose that moment to walk in. Daniel was grateful. He really didn’t want to say something he might regret later. Gideon glanced around, taking in the temperature in the room before focusing on Daniel.
“Blood looks good, but—”
“Shouldn’t you wait and speak to him privately about his bloodwork?” Tony asked, and for once, there was no humor in his voice.
“We don’t keep secrets here,” Tah stated.
“I get that. Totally. But a man’s body is his business. Period.” Tony turned to Daniel. “Do you really want this discussed in front of everyone? I’d like to believe you have a say in that.”
“I’d rather Gideon spoke to me first,” Daniel agreed.
“Bullshit!” Gabriel thundered.
“But Tony can stay,” Daniel added, partly to piss off his brother. He was still ticked about Gabriel thinking it would be okay for Daniel to stay in bed while his brother went to look for Ariel.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Gabriel yelled.
“And my alpha, of course,” Daniel continued.
“Out. Everyone,” Tah interrupted, his voice soft and somehow all the more powerful because of it. “Except Gideon.” Tah glanced at Tony.
“Oh, I was invited to stay,” Tony said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest while the others moved toward the door.
Reno looked amused. Logan and Finn were more concerned about Laura. Gabriel scowled, but Daniel saw his hurt. It was almost enough to make him change his mind and ask Gabriel to stay, but uncertainty about what Gideon would share kept Daniel from relenting. Gabriel already thought to keep him locked down at Riverton. Daniel didn’t need Gideon to say anything to reinforce that sentiment. Not when he was leaving, one way or another, to go after his mate.
Tah sighed, shaking his head at Tony. “Somehow, I knew you were going to be trouble.”
Tony smiled, all teeth. “But an amazing ally. Pinkie promise.”
“Trouble,” Tah reiterated. “What did you find, Gideon?”
Gideon glanced at Daniel before answering. “Despite the fact you’re awa
ke now, your blood is still showing extremely low animal DNA. I’m not sure what’s happened to your lion, but something has repressed it. We need to keep a close eye on you until we figure out what’s going on. Or see evidence it’s reversing.” He reached down and pulled his phone from his pocket, eyes going wide as he turned it so Tah could see.
“Speaker phone,” Tah ordered, and Gideon obliged.
“Hello.”
“Gideon, I need your help.”
“Ariel, what’s going on?” Gideon asked, and Daniel sat up straighter at the urgency in her voice.
“I tried to call Murphy, but he’s not picking up. I…” They all heard her blow out a weary sigh. “I called Daniel, too. He’s with Murphy and… I left a voicemail, but I’m not sure when they’ll get it, or if they’ll be close enough to help.”
The last part was mumbled, but Daniel heard her loud and clear.
“I lost my phone in the woods,” he spoke up, not wanting his mate to think he was purposely ignoring her. Especially not when he was pretty sure this was the first time she’d ever reached out to him.
“I…Daniel…”
She’d said his name. It was the first time he’d heard her say his name.
There was silence followed by whispering.
“Ariel, who’s with you?” Tah asked, letting her know he was there, too.
“I needed to… I found someone we’ve been looking for. Well, actually, she found me. She needs help. Gideon, I need to know where to take her. There has to be somewhere close by where I can get her help.”
Daniel wondered if anyone else was picking up that Ariel wasn’t planning to stay with the mystery woman. Everything was about getting help for the other woman. His mate was still running, leaving him behind. He wasn’t going to let that happen.
“Where are you?” Gideon asked.
“I went back,” Ariel murmured. “We just left what remains of the trading post.”
