Midnight Temptation

by L Ann

  “Okay, I’d know.”

  “Why? Because he’s your twin? You don’t buy into all that, remember?” Cormac said. “It would make perfect sense. Use the one person we wouldn’t suspect to get someone inside the Pack. Could you imagine the damage that could be caused?”

  “We don’t have to imagine it,” Deacon nodded toward Damien. “We’re living it … if it’s not bullshit.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough, anyway,” Cormac told him and nudged him around to where Shaun was standing in front of Maggie, her fingers on his wrist.

  “Shaun, what the fuck?” Deacon exploded.

  “Shut up, DJ,” Shaun told him. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Nothing at all. From what we’ve learned, the command string doesn’t change for any of the … shifters? Is that the right term?” She waited for Shaun’s nod. “Okay, they use the same command string for all shifters they’ve conditioned. I guess it makes it easier for them to remember. So, if they managed to get to you during the time you were with them, it will work.”

  “Okay, let’s get on with it then.”

  “If it works, you’ll go into a suggestive state. It’ll wear off after a few hours and you may feel a little out of sorts.”

  “I feel permanently out of sorts, how will I notice the difference?.” He glanced at the wall clock, checking the time. “Do it, then.”

  Her fingers curled around his wrist, finding his pulse. “Your pulse will slow if it takes, it’s one of the things I can check for.”

  “I don’t like this,” Deacon growled.

  “Nobody’s asking you to like it. Just stay quiet,” Shaun fired back at him.

  “Shaun, look at me.” Deacon watched, his body tense, as Shaun turned his attention back to the woman in front of him. “Narcissism, Self-hatred, Deceit and lies, no quarter given, no forgiveness asked.”

  The silence in the room was deafening as everyone held their breath, waiting. After a second or two, Shaun’s head canted slightly to the right. “Well? Did it work?”

  Deacon’s breath left him in an explosive exhale. “Thank fuck for that.”

  “Guess that’s a no, then.” Shaun stepped back, distancing himself from Damien. “If that’s all you wanted me for …”

  “No, it’s not,” Damien said. “I don’t think it’s going to be long until withdrawal starts for me. I can feel the drug taking hold.” His eyes jerked up to Shaun’s. “You know how that feels.”

  “I do.”

  “Did it feel worse when I arrived?”

  “You already know the answer to that.”

  Damien nodded. “One of the compounds links infiltrates our Pack links. If more than one Pack member with it in their system comes in close proximity to each other, it intensifies the effects.”

  “Is that why you didn’t want me there when you arrived?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then why did you come here at all?”

  “Because of her.” Damien reached out a hand and touched Maggie’s arm. “I killed her husband. I forced her to sell her house. I locked her up, told her I’d killed her daughters. I almost killed one of them,” his eyes slid to Deacon. “I broke the other.”

  Deacon growled and Cormac laid a hand on his arm.”You didn’t come close to breaking her.”

  “I am aware of everything I’ve done. I don’t want your forgiveness. I don’t expect you to ever understand. But I want you to know that, while I was doing everything they had programmed me to do, while I was filling Shaun’s body with belladonna, while I was … “ he paused, swallowed. “Inside, I was screaming.

  “Maggie figured it out. She overheard Jeremiah issuing instructions, remembered the command string he used and, over time, she helped me to keep control for longer and longer.” He slid to the floor, looped his hands around his knees. “But I’ve been on belladonna for a long time. Since I was a child.” He looked at Cormac. “When you found me, with the man you thought was my father, that was my first kill. My first command, designed to give me a way into the Pack. From there, my target was always Shaun. They want an Alpha.”

  “They saw me as the easiest target?” Shaun asked.

  “Not because you’re weak, but because you care. You’re a protector. If they could break you, tap into your innate need to protect, mold you into one of their soldiers, it would give them a connection to Cormac, to Deacon, to your Trifecta, and through that control the entire Pack.”

  Shaun clenched his jaw and Damien lifted his eyes to look at him.

  “I don’t expect your forgiveness, Shaun, but I am sorry,” he whispered.

  Silence fell while the two men stared at each other.

  “Can you do for him what you did to me?” Shaun turned to look at his brothers.

  “You want us to try and heal him?” Deacon asked incredulously. “After everything?”

  “I want to remove the addiction, remove the drug from his system.”

  “Why? It won’t change anything he’s done.”

  “Look at him, Deacon. Take a long hard look, then look at me. That could have been me.”

  “You’ve been free of the drug for months, other than a day or two the other week,” Cormac said.

  “But there’s a chance we could clear his system … if the three of us tried?”

  “Shaun, I don’t think –” Deacon joined in.

  “Shut the fuck up, Deacon,” Shaun roared. “I get it. You don’t give a shit about him. But I do. And that counts for something, right?”

  “Are you even listening to yourself?” Deacon argued. “He raped Gemma. He tortured you. And you want to give him his life back?”

  “How many people have you killed for the Pack?” Shaun threw back at him.

  “I didn’t rape any of them, though, Shaun.” Deacon countered.

  “They’re still dead!”

  “Stop it, both of you.” Cormac stood between them. “We don’t even know if what we did to you is a temporary fix, Shaun.”

  “Surely a temporary fix is better than nothing at all?”

  “Wait, stop,” Damien’s voice pulled them all round to face where he’d risen to his feet, fists clenched at his sides. “Shaun, you can’t heal me.”

  “We can try.”

  Damien shook his head. “Listen to your brothers. You’re wasting time arguing with them. Time that could be spent doing something useful. I can’t be healed.”

  “Damien -”

  “You’re not thinking clearly. I know I should feel bad for what I’ve done only because Maggie says I should. You know how that numbness feels.” Damien reached out and was immediately blocked from touching Shaun by Deacon. Damien’s arm dropped. “No. Even now, I can feel the drug calling to me. I have an hour, two at most before it takes over. Let me use that time to pay a little for the things I’ve done.” He held out a hand to Maggie, who clasped it in hers. “Go and see your daughters. Your part in this is done.”

  “I want to stay.”

  “I appreciate that, but I don’t want you here. I have separated you from your family for long enough.”

  “Jaden,” Cormac called. “Can you take … Maggie, was it? …. To the house? Find Cassie and Gemma.”

  Jaden appeared in the doorway, held out his arm for Maggie and escorted her out of the room, closing the door behind him.

  “When I don’t return, and they discover Deacon is gone, Jeremiah will know I came here. You need to be ready for that.”

  “Why the change of heart?” Deacon asked.

  Damien’s lips quirked up. “You never did like me, cousin. But even you have to admit we had some good times together. So why don’t we say it’s because of the days you made me feel part of the Pack?”

  “And the real reason?”

  Damien glanced toward Shaun.

  “Ahhh,” Deacon breathed. “That’s the way it is. I always wondered.”

  “It’s not important.” Damien shrugged. “You have Jeremiah’s daughter. I can smell her in this room.”
<
br />   “Daughter?” Cormac said.

  “She didn’t tell you that? Not that it makes any difference at all. She’s female and unimportant to him for anything other than breeding.”

  “Where’s her mother?”

  “I don’t know. It could be anyone. They keep the women separate and rotated through the various Hunter Sects. They breed half-breeds, force them to shift, occasionally mate them to a full shifter to breed pure-blood shifters. You know how our genetics work, don’t you? Full shifter and half-breeds produce full shifters, if the half-breed has tapped into their wolf and shifted. Otherwise the children are born human, maybe quarter-breed. I’ve yet to see one born from that match shift, though.”

  “Do you know where all the Sects are?” Shaun asked.

  Damien smiled. “Always the knight to the rescue. You can’t save them all, Shaun. Most of them would fight you. It’s the only life they know.” He reached for the bottle of water Maggie had left and twisted the cap off. Taking a long drink, he wiped his lips. “That was the mistake they made with me. They put me inside a Pack. Let me experience life outside of the Sects and, over time, I questioned the life we were living.” He glanced down at his hand still clutching the bottle. The others followed his gaze to see the water inside moving in time with the tremor in his hand. “I don’t have much longer. I’ve left a package for you with everything you need. You’ll find it in the girl’s house. I left it there yesterday.” He set the bottle down. “If I could ask for one thing? I’d like a minute to talk to Shaun … alone.”

  “Shaun?” Cormac asked.

  Shaun nodded. “It’s fine. Wait outside.”

  Deacon followed Cormac to the door, paused and turned around. “I’m leaving the door open. If you try anything …”

  “Shaun is in no danger from me.”

  “A few years ago, I might have believed you.” He stepped through the door and sat on the couch opposite.

  “Deacon, give them some space,” Cormac sat beside him.

  “Why are you so calm? That man in there tortured him, hooked him on drugs and that’s not even getting into what he did to Gemma.” Deacon kept his eyes on Shaun while he spoke.

  “And there’s a high chance he wasn’t in control when he did those things. No, it doesn’t make it acceptable or okay but we have to consider the possibility it wasn’t all his fault.”

  “We still can’t let him back into the Pack. Whether he did those things out of choice or not.”

  He frowned as Damien reached out a hand, cupped the back of Shaun’s head and drew him forward until their foreheads were pressed together.

  “Of everyone, you always had my back. You’ve been a brother to me and I repaid you with betrayal and violence,” Deacon heard Damien whisper. “If your brothers have healed you, like you think, you’re being overloaded with emotion right now. But you’re strong, Shaun, you’ve always been the strongest of us all. And that’s why I need you to do something for me.”

  Voices upstairs caught Deacon’s attention, and he redirected his gaze to the door leading up to the main part of the building. “Is that …” he let the words trail off and rose to his feet as Gemma, Cassie and their mother came through the door.

  “I told you not to come here” he told Gemma, striding over to stop her entering the room.

  “I know, but – “ she broke off when Cassie gave a strangled cry.

  Spinning around, he heard Cormac swear, watching as his brother shot to his feet, then looked past him to the room beyond.

  Shaun stood, his head bowed, over the still form of Damien who lay with his head twisted at an odd angle on the floor.

  “What the fuck?” he whispered.

  “Shaun!” Cassie bolted past him and Shaun’s head jerked up.

  Cormac caught her before she reached Shaun, wrapping his arms around her and hauling her back against his chest.

  Shaun’s eyes darted from Cormac to Cassie, down to Damien and up to where Deacon stood, one hand on Gemma’s arm. Deacon watched as Shaun’s expression changed from sadness, to horror when he saw Cassie, and then froze into a blank mask. He straightened, stepped over Damien’s body and strode out of the room.

  “Shaun,” Cassie struggled to free herself from Cormac’s grip, and Deacon saw Shaun flinch at the sound of his name.

  Without looking in her direction, Shaun pulled his t-shirt over his head and dropped it to the floor.

  “Do you want to explain what just happened?” Deacon asked him.

  Shaun glanced at him and shook his head, unbuttoning his jeans.

  “You going somewhere?”

  Shaun didn’t answer, pushing past him and heading up the stairs. Deacon dropped his hand from Gemma’s arm and followed him.

  “Where are you going?”

  Shaun stepped out of his jeans and shifted. Without looking back at his brother, he padded out of the building and into the trees.

  ~You can’t run, brother. You have one week. If you’re not back, I’ll track you and bring you home.~ Deacon sent after him. Turning, he headed back down the stairs.

  “Where is he?” Cormac asked.

  “Gone for a run.” Deacon glanced toward the room Damien was in and found the door closed. “Is he …?”

  “Yes.”

  “He planned this.” Maggie told them. “He knew Shaun would understand. That he could do what Damien needed.”

  “What Damien needed?” Deacon exploded. “He asked Shaun to kill him, didn’t he? That’s why he wanted to speak to him alone. Selfish to the end. He knew what that would do to Shaun.”

  “Deacon, not here,” Cormac warned, glancing at Cassie who stood with her sister, pale-faced and silent. “Take the girls back to the house and find Chase for me. Maggie stay here. I want to talk to you.”

  Gemma could feel the tension in the room, see the anger simmering just below the carefully blank expression on Deacon’s face. Cassie swayed next to her, clutched her arm.

  “He’s blocked me,” she whispered sickly. “Why would he do that?”

  Deacon’s golden eyes focused on her. “He doesn’t want to know how you feel about seeing him kill.”

  Cassie paled further. “Shaun actually killed him?”

  “We’re not human, Cassie. You know that.” Deacon sounded irritated, but Gemma knew better. Their new mate-link was giving her access to all sorts of information. There was worry and fear churning in her stomach, and she knew it didn’t belong to her. He was masking his feelings, distracting Cassie away from the truth of the situation. She couldn’t help but wonder how often he’d done that to her.

  Gemma patted her sister’s hand. “I need to speak to Deacon,” she said, and moved toward him. Deacon watched her, face unreadable. Gemma didn’t let that stop her, choosing to believe what she was feeling over what she was seeing.

  She didn’t stop until she was so close a deep breath would have pressed her breasts to his chest. Deacon dipped his head and raised an eyebrow in query. She touched his wrist with her fingertips, and his head tilted, eyes following the path they took up his forearm. A surge of something she couldn’t quite recognise shot through her and then she jerked as he blocked her, like a door slamming in her head.

  “That’s cheating, Starshine,” he murmured.

  Gemma didn’t reply, listening to the prompting of her wolf who showed her how to retaliate against his shutting her out. His eyes widened in surprise when the link between them reopened slightly, allowing a trickle of emotion to pass between them.

  “You shouldn’t be able to do that.”

  Gemma ran her fingers over his jaw. “I think we need to establish some ground rules. The first one being you don’t hide from me. You haven’t let me do that to you, I expect the same. I don’t like it, nor does my wolf.”

  His lips twitched. “Yes, ma’am.” His grin faded as he looked beyond her to where Cassie stood. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Gemma sat beside Cassie listening to Deacon explain what they had walked in on. She didn�
�t think her sister was hearing half of what he said, her eyes glued to the back door leading out from the kitchen to the forest beyond the house.

  “He won’t stay away for long,” Deacon said, finally giving up on his attempt to explain. “He just needs to get things figured out in his head.”

  “But why did he block me out? I just need to know he’s okay.”

  Deacon sighed and stood up. Striding to the door, he threw it open and pointed to the forest. “He’s out there. He hasn’t gone far. If you take a walk around the lake,” he turned to look at Cassie over his shoulder, “not that I’m suggesting you do, he’ll stalk you. He won’t be able to help himself. You’re his mate and he won’t leave you unprotected.”

  His eyes drifted to Gemma and she felt something stir through their faint bond, quickly hidden before she could identify it. She narrowed her eyes at him to let him know she had felt what he’d done and he winked.

  Before she could question him about it, there was a commotion in the hallway and Isabella burst into the room.

  “Who is the female in Cormac’s room?”

  “Good morning, Isabella,” Deacon said dryly.

  “Don’t play games with me, Deacon. Who is she?” The dark-eyed she-wolf stalked over to him, hands on her hips.

  “A midnight snack? Bed warmer? Maybe a new pet,” he shrugged.

  “She’s not sharing his bed.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I’ve just been in there and she’s made herself a nest on the floor.”

  “A nest? What is she, a fucking duck?”

  The look Isabella levelled at him would have made any other man back away. Deacon just smirked.

  “Why were you in his room? You usually avoid that place like it’s the deepest pit of hell.” Gemma watched as he scratched at the stubble on his chin and shook her head. He was goading the other woman, using her to distract himself from everything else. She hid a smile.

  This new bond of theirs was showing her a side to Deacon she hadn’t realised existed.

  “Obviously, I was looking for him,” Isabella snapped. “Where is he?”

  “Busy with important Alpha business.”