Authors: Jana Leigh
Tripp had a scar from his right eye, to the corner of his mouth. His friends said it made him look scary as hell, but he hated the way that it made him seem mad all the time. His personality was not like that at all. Tripp had grown up in a large, loving home, with his parents and five brothers and sisters. If you were too serious in that home, you would have never survived. His oldest brother loved to play jokes on him and his siblings. Tripp smiled when he thought about what his brother was going to find when he woke up. Since he worked the night shift , it had been the perfect time to get back at his brother for the last joke he had played on him while he was in the hospital. Thank goodness that Darien had caught the change in the doc ‘s order, or he would not have been able to sit for a week —a proctologic exam would have been a very uncomfortable thing.
To get back at him, last night Tripp had run to his brother’s home while he was on break and hot-wired his new car and moved it to his parent’s garage. Then taken a picture and went back and left a ransom note. His brother would be pissed when he found the new Dodge Charger he had just gotten gone.
Served him right , he thought.
Tripp pulled the strip of leather that bound his long hair from the back of his head, and sighed. The thick, black hair flowed around his shoulders. He had been about ready to cut it back into its normal , close , ‘high and tight’ cut that he had been so used to in the military when he had been wounded. Now, he used his hair to hide the scar across his face , t hough the women seemed to like it . I t showed he was a warrior , but he thought it made his light-hearted personality seem to be too off.
His natural, olive complexion seemed almost too good to be true, and working in the sun had deepened his tone and the traits he recei ved from his Indian heritage stood out. His long, straight nose and full lips were always a draw with the women. But it was his piercing , gray eyes that most of his prospective mates seem to love. Although, so far, he had not found the one who would calm his wolf . He hoped that soon he would be able to settle down and provide his mother with the grandpups she demanded on a daily basis.
He pulled his old clothes off his tall, muscularly built body and stepped into the shower. For the last few days, his wolf had been restless, like it knew something was coming but not quite sure what it was. Tripp never questioned his wolf, so he was planning on really looking at the application s that w ere piled on the desk today. Maybe his wolf had scented something from the papers that indicated something wrong. Or, maybe he had scented his mate, e ither way he needed to stop messing around and get busy. The longer he took here, the longer his day would be.
Showering quickly, Tripp headed off to the Pack house to get breakfast. When he walked to the door, he could hear the rumble of voices already up and apparently in a heated discussion in the dining room. Most of the time he ate in the kitchen, with the rest of the Enforcers, but for some reason, it sounded like there was a problem and his wolf insisted on moving toward where he heard the raised voices.
“We don’t know for sure yet. First, we have to talk to Tripp and Devon; they will run the checks for us.” Quin said calmly.
“But she’s a human, seeking shelter here. We need to make sure that she knows what we are. Betsy, from the town bed and breakfast, said she had shown up wearing nothing but a pair of sweat clothes that didn’t fit her and her purse. She had to be desperate for help. Betsy said she insisted on spe aking to someone in the Council.” Cami said and sat back against the chair again.
“I know, mate, but we have to be careful and make sure she ‘s on the up and up. What if we grant her sanctuary, and she’s a spy? No, Tripp will take care of her interview, and then we ‘ll see what she ‘s in need of,” Quin said firmly and looked at the doorway where he stood. “See? We can have Tripp over there now.”
Cami snorted and said, “Lucky guess, babe. Tripp, can you please come in and eat with us? We have a favor to discuss with you.”
Quin rolled his eyes and said, “Please, Tripp , come in. I know you were scheduled to work in the office today, but we need you to go into town. There ‘s a woman who turned up last night in need. She refuses to speak to anyone but someone from the compound. You will have to talk to her and see if she is telling the truth or not. She’s human but knows of our existence. She claims to have important information for us.”
Tripp sat down and smiled at the young, female wolf that placed a plate in front of him. He nodded and looked at his Alphas and said, “Of course. What shall I do with her if it checks out?”
“Bring her to me,” Cami said firmly, in her mother’s voice, since the birth of her twins she was using more often with everyone. He would have protested, but she would have grounded him; she did that with Jaden, often. “I was a human once. I know how scary it can be for humans to find out that the world is not what you thought, and she ‘s probably terrified. I would think we should applaud her courage for coming here rather than doubt her. Not everyone is out to kill us, you know.” Cami said sarcastically and then looked at her mate and stuck out her tongue.
Quin growled as Jaden walked across the room and laughed. “What have you done now , my naughty , little mate?” Jaden teased and bent to kiss both of his mates. Tripp watched , with a smile. He wanted that. He wanted to have the comfort of a mate to come home to. He wondered again when he would find the woman who would make him complete.
“I hear we have a bunch of stuff on the plate today,” Jaden said when he stood up.
Quin nodded and said, “Meeting, humans; we will be lucky if we get any time at all to actually play with our adorable children.”
Cami rolled her eyes and said to Tripp, “Yeah, Yeah, whatever. So will you go now?”
Tripp finished his plate and then stood up. He grabbed his coffee and smiled. “On my way. I will tell you what happens in a few hours. But I will not bring her here unl ess she checks out,” h e warned and then laughed when Cami growled at him.
***
Caterina stared out the window of the quaint little room the owner of the bed and breakfast let her use while she waited for whomever it was that would come for her from the New Council. She didn’t know why, but she wanted to be able to see them, as soon as they arrived. She had a feeling of foreboding that made her want to make sure she would have time to run if the person was someone who would hurt her.
She remembered that Adolfo promised these people would keep her safe, but she had lived for so long running; she didn’t know what safe felt like anymore. Adolfo was the only safety she knew, and he was gone now. Killed, fighting for her to have time to escape. Images of her long-time friend and companion fighting with the Vampire flitted through her head. His beautiful fur that she remembered petting so often late in the night when he would come to her to comfort her after another nightmare; covered in his own blood as it pooled on the floor below him. His large , brown eyes looking up at her saying his last good-bye and telling her he loved her, while he held that vile creature by the throat in order for her to escape.
Tears burned the back of her eyes and blurred her vision. She wiped them away with the back of her hand and was about to turn away from the window when a large , black SUV pulled into the parking lot of the bed and breakfast. She waited and held her breath as a rather tall, rather large looking man stepped out of the driver’s side.
Caterina hadn’t desired anything to do with the opposite sex after Diavolo, but this man awakened something new in her, and she was only witnessing him through a second-story window. Part of her hoped that this wasn’t the man the New Council sent. Part of her wanted to run right now, just to get away from the feelings the man was invoking, even from this distance. He was gorgeous, with long , dark hair pulled back to hang behind his neck. Deep , olive toned skin, full , sensuous lips, strong jaw, and long-straight nose. His chest was large, stretching the t-shirt he wore impressively tight. Caterina had an urge to lick him from head to toe. Not even Adolfo, who was handsome in his own right, had made her feel like this just by looking at him.
Suddenly, before disappearing out of her sight range, he looked up, as if he were looking at her. Piercing , grey eyes seared into her, as if he were looking into her very soul. For a moment, Caterina felt like one of those heroines out of a romance novel, and thought she might swoon. But then she shook herself, drawing the curtain back quickly, embarrassed by being caught practically drooling.
That’s when the nerves kicked in again, and she got the urge for either fight or flight. She was picking flight, because judging by that man’s build, there was no way her 5 foot 4, size 14 bui ld was going to stand up to him and win. Sometimes, Caterina hated being short and chubby. Well, no , she hated it all the time, but especially in times like these when she was in a hurry to flee before the big man came to get her.
She quickly rushed to stuff her dirty pj’s in her large purse—thankful that at least the innkeeper was able to find her a decent set of spare clothes, because running out in her pj’s again was just not an option. Fashionably or otherwise. She picked up her keys while she was devising a way to sneak out some back entrance —hopefully —then around the building to her little car and get away.
Just as she was about to reach for the door knob, she heard a soft knock on the other side and froze in her tracks.
Crap, I’m too late!
she thought, while she stood frozen like a mime doing a routine of a running man.
She had nowhere to run now; he was here. She couldn’t very well jump out the second-story window and hobble to her car on two broken legs. Because she knew with her luck that would be how it would happen. Nope, she was stuck. She straightened up as tall as her 5‘4 height would get her, and wiped her sweaty, shaky hand s on her jean clad leg s , cleared her throat, and spoke, “Come in.”
Was that her voice
? It sounded like a mouse squeak. So she cleared her throat to say it again, but the person at the door must have had good enough hearing to hear a mouse squeak, because the door knob turned and the door creaked open slowly. It reminded her of one of those scenes in a horror film, right before the deranged murderer jumps out at the victim and slashes them into little pieces. Caterina felt the color draining out of her face with every inch the door opened.
Finally, it stood wide open and the kind woman who ran the bed and breakfast stood there with a reassuring smile. Caterina was almost able to breathe again, until she heard the rather loud, deep growl coming from behind the woman. She looked to where the noise came from and saw the guy from outside glowering at her. Up close, he scared her worse, with a scar that seemed to cut into his face from his eye all the way down to his mouth. His nostrils flared, and he looked as if he were about to devour her. She watched the way he sniffed the air and how his eyes seemed to glow. Another growl came from deep within his chest, and he stepped forward , past the innkeeper.
Just as it looked as if he were about to attack, she felt her legs give and her eyes roll back as her world went black.
***
Caterina stood in a dark, cold cave, shivering and crying.
She knew this cave.
It was the one Adolfo had found her in.
But Adolfo wasn’t there, and she was trapped.
Suddenly, a white light shined at one end of the cave, and Caterina felt compelled to follow it.
So, she slowly walked toward the light, not sure of what might happen to her.
Then she heard his voice; Adolfo was calling to her to follow the light.
Her pace picked up.
“Adolfo,” she yelled into the light. “Adolfo, where are you?
I need you.”