Authors: Loribelle Hunt
She had to get rid of him. Get away from him. She could only think of one way to make that happen and the bitterness of what she planned twisted like a knife in her chest.
“Do it then,” she said softly, struggling to contain her anger and resentment. “Take care of it for me. Tonight, Anthony.”
She turned around and realized her mistake right away as she met his distrustful gaze. Damn. She’d given in too easy. She never did that. She always fought him. Even over stupid shit. He didn’t say a word, just reached behind her, turned off the water, and stepped out. She followed, accepting the towel he handed her and hurried to dry off before going back into the bedroom.
Since she spent so much time in the house, she kept extra clothes in the closet. She grabbed the first pants and shirt she saw, dug a bra out of the drawer. When she looked up, Anthony was already dressed. He must have brought clothes when he followed her in. How she’d missed that she couldn’t fathom. His eyes were narrowed on her.
“Those are jeans.”
Shit. She hadn’t looked because it didn’t matter, but these weren’t what she would wear on a mission. Obviously, she’d intended on skipping out while he went after her father. She threw them on the bed and got the right kind of pants from the closet. Black with cargo pockets on the thighs.
“You weren’t planning on going with me.” He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her his meanest look. “What were you planning? Running away?”
Somehow she kept her intended deceit from her face. “You insisted on taking care of this for me.”
“I assumed you were working up to the fight over that.” Something colored his voice. If she didn’t know better she’d call it vulnerability.
“I told you earlier I’m not up for fighting tonight,” she replied, referring to the conversation on the porch.
Stay calm. Don’t let him see how desperate you are.
To get away. Or how confused. To stay and give in. Where the hell had that thought come from?
He stalked to her, the dangerous predator he was heavy in each step. She didn’t flinch, didn’t pull away. She should have, but her pride wouldn’t allow it. The corner of his mouth turned up in a slight grin.
“You’re not afraid me. Never have been. Don’t try to use that as an excuse to fight our mating, Gia.”
It was a lousy time to remind of her of what he’d done. Her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t give me a choice. I didn’t choose you.”
He grabbed her before she could react. His hands were on the back of her head holding her still, forcing her to meet his gaze. She tried to will the iciness she used to feel before she met him into her heart. He growled and this time she did flinch.
“You don’t get to hide from me damn it. Not anymore. And you did choose, baby. Out there on that lawn chair. You never would have let me touch you otherwise.”
She shook her head no, but couldn’t avoid that repressed voice in her mind that agreed with him. Was he right? She sighed. Maybe. Hell. Probably.
“I’m still pissed at you.” It was a concession, and they both knew it. At least he didn’t gloat over his victory. No smirk. Nothing but acceptance in his eyes.
“Let’s get moving.” He held his hand out to her, then led her out into the hall. “You never told me your parents’ names.”
It took her a long time to answer, and she couldn’t hide the pain and regret and longing in her voice when she did.
“Hattie and Arthur.”
They’d just reached the bottom of the stairs. Julian was talking quietly to Asa and Declan a few feet away.
“Arthur Roberts?” She heard the disbelief in his voice and glanced over to look at the other three men.
“Yeah.”
“He was a Hunter.”
She frowned. Did he have to remind her? Hunters were supposed to be incorruptible. Obviously they weren’t. This time he frowned.
“There’s a surprising lack of communication going on around here. Have you noticed no one exchanges full names between these two groups?”
She shrugged. They didn’t have to fully trust each other to work together. “So?”
Chapter Four
“There’s someone you should meet.” Anthony took her elbow and led her to Declan. He fell silent at her approach, studied her carefully, and Anthony suddenly knew Declan knew exactly who she was. And that pissed him the fuck off. He was the closest thing to an Alpha the Hunters had and one of his men had kept a pretty significant secret from him.
“You know exactly who she is,” he accused, keeping his voice dangerously soft. Declan wasn’t intimidated in the least.
“I know.”
“And you didn’t think I should be informed?”
“She’s human. She’s no threat to us.”
“Her father could have come after her, Dec!”
The other werewolf ground his teeth together but didn’t say anything.
“What is going on?”
He turned to look into her upturned face. That bruised expression was back. He regretted being the one to fill her in. She’d been through a lot in one night. He was fixing to make it worse.
“Declan.” He nodded at him, like he was introducing two strangers.
“I know who he is,” she answered irritably.
“Do you?” He cocked an eyebrow. “Declan. Roberts.”
He saw the moment she made the connection. She shook her head. “No.”
Declan stepped forward, looking sorry as hell this had come up. He definitely would be by the time Anthony was done with him.
“I met your mother once. You look just like her. When our two groups hooked up, I did some digging. I’m Arthur’s younger brother.” He met Anthony’s gaze. “It was obvious she didn’t want to acknowledge any connections with us. You can’t blame me for honoring that.”
“But you didn’t even come to me. You didn’t say a word. Did you know?” she asked Julian. Her voice vibrated with anger and hurt. Anthony took her hand and softly stroked her fingers with his thumb. He wondered if she knew the touch had calmed her.
Julian nodded reluctantly, glancing at Anthony before returning his gaze to Gia. “You haven’t been yourself since we joined with the werewolves. You always made it clear you didn’t want anything to do with Arthur’s family, even their names, so we decided to leave it alone.”
“She should have been told,” Anthony interjected, pinning Declan under his gaze. “And so should I.”
Declan rolled his eyes, and for half a second Anthony was tempted to demonstrate exactly why he was the leader of the Hunters, but reminded himself, forcefully, this was one of his oldest friends. That just made him angry all over again.
“Where’s Sunny?” Gia asked Julian. “I need a last known location and anything else she can give me.”
Anthony felt her withdrawing again, pulling into herself. Under the circumstances he didn’t blame her. He’d make her talk on the drive.
“She’s waiting on the porch.”
Anthony knew she’d probably gone out to avoid the crowded house. She was even more anti-social than Gia.
“Wait,” Declan said when they started to walk in that direction. “I know my brother, Gia. I don’t know what you saw, but there is no way in hell he killed Hattie. He loved her more than anything.”
She stiffened at his side and her eyes were glacial when she turned back to her werewolf uncle. “He loved her to death, Declan. Trust me. You weren’t there. I was.”
“You actually saw him kill her?”
“I saw him covered in her blood. I heard him say it was his fault.”
“That’s not the same as a confession, Gia.”
“Close enough,” she said coldly. With those parting words, they left.
Sunny was waiting, sitting on the porch railing in the farthest, darkest corner. Gia pulled free, and he let her walk away to talk to the woman privately. With his heightened wolf senses, he would be able to easily listen in unless they whispered.
“Where?”
Sunny handed her a slip of paper and without saying a word stood and disappeared around the corner of the house. Gia rejoined him and he held his hand out for her keys. He was a little worried when she tossed them over without any argument. He always insisted. She always argued. It occurred to him that was probably more routine now than from any real objection.
He didn’t speak until they were on the road. “Where are we going?” Since the house was at the end of a dead-end road there’d been only one way to go.
“Gold Falls.” Softly said and he knew why. She’d once told him that’s where she grew up. It wasn’t far, only about thirty minutes if he drove fast. He decided to drive slow.
“Do we know where?”
She laughed, but it was anything but amused. He heard bitterness, anger, confusion. So much emotion wrapped up in one little sound. He reached across the console and took her hand. Lifting it to his lips, he pressed a kiss on her palm.
“It’s gonna be okay, baby.”
It was a promise to her. One he had no idea in hell how to fulfill. He could execute her father. His oaths demanded he execute rogues. But this wasn’t just any rogue. This was his mate’s father. He also had to consider her mental well-being. She might despise the man, might hate him with every fiber of her being, but he was still her father. It might not be today or tomorrow, but at some point she’d be upset about his killing her father.
“No,” she said softly, staring out the passenger window so he couldn’t see her expression. “It’s not going to be okay. It never has been.”
He could hear the unshed tears in her voice. His heart broke for her. “Don’t do that, baby.” He could handle her yelling at him. Could handle the ice queen, too, if it came down to that. But he couldn’t take her hurting, especially when she wouldn’t even let him comfort her. It ripped him up inside.
Chapter Five
For years he was more crazy than sane. Grief could do that to a man. The only thing that had kept him from taking his own life was vengeance. Ironic that they’d circled back to where it all started.
He remembered the day, sixteen years ago, clearly. The day he’d lost everything. He’d gone for a run, come home to find his beautiful Hattie dying. He’d known as soon as he entered his house another wolf had been there, and she’d lived long enough to describe the wolf who’d attacked her. It was a scent he’d never forgotten.
He’d held her, covered in her blood, consumed with rage and grief, until Gia arrived home. She’d thought he’d done it. Killed his mate, her mother. He’d let her believe the lie. In a way it was true. Being part of her life was what had made her a target. It made Gia a target too, so he let her go also. Her human uncle would take care of her, watch over her. And some day, maybe, after he killed the rogue who’d killed his wife, he could return to his daughter.
He laughed, a hoarse, rusty sound he hadn’t heard in years. Like that was ever going to happen. Too many years had gone by. He’d missed half her life. The chances she’d let him back into it were about nil and none. Still, he would at least be able to explain things once this was all over.
But it wasn’t over yet. He entered the old abandoned house to wait. It was alive with ghosts. He avoided the front living room where she’d died and went to the back of the house. All of the old furniture was still there. It looked like Julian hadn’t removed anything. He dropped a backpack and sleeping bag on a couch, sending dust flying into the air.
He stepped out of the cloud and went to explore the rest of the house. The time warp extended to the kitchen and upstairs bedroom. The only empty space was Gia’s. Her clothes and books were gone, though she’d left her furniture. He doubted a grown woman would want to keep her twin bed from childhood.
He frowned. He should have made more of an effort to inform himself about her life over the years. She was grown now. Was she married? Did she have children? Shaking his head, he pushed the questions away and returned downstairs. He had to focus, and he needed to catch up on some sleep before he faced the rogue.
He spread the unrolled sleeping bag on the floor, pulled off his shoes, and lay down with his arms crossed under his head. He’d dream of revenge.
But sleep eluded him. Why had the rogue come back to Gold Falls? Why come back to the beginning? He couldn’t say how, but he was positive the rogue would find him. Maybe he was finally tiring of the run and hide game they’d been playing for so long. God knows Arthur was tired of it.
And then he heard it. Bushes scratching against the windows, but there was no wind. Someone was out there. Careful not to make any noise, he rolled into the shadows and rose into a crouch. The back door opened, creaky on long unused hinges, and he waited patiently. A silent lure hidden in the gloom.