The Burning Claw: Book 10, The Grey Wolves Series (14 page)

“There are no words to express how amazing it is. So all I can do is stare in awe at the picture before me that I never expected to have. Any one of our unmated males would give away body parts to have what we have.”

Jacque’s heart swelled in her chest. She could feel everything her mate felt and his words were sincere and from his own heart.
If the man was going to say things like that, he could stare all he wanted
, she thought wryly.

They sat in companionable silence until he was finished and Jacque laid him in his bassinet. Then she turned to Fane and crossed her arms in front of her. “What is it you need to tell me?” She felt the information burning a hole in his head and it was time he spilled it.

Fane filled her in on everything Jen had told him while she’d been with Slate. She was impressed at Fane’s ability to decipher the jumbled, shortened mess of Jen’s explanations.

“So Bethany and Drake are doing alright and he hasn’t killed anyone so far. There’s a new chick named Zara who’s been hanging with Alina, learning the ropes, and Thia has learned to do raspberries with her tongue and lips. Did I get it all?”

“That pretty much sums it up,” Fane agreed.

“So what do we do now?” Jacque asked him, already knowing she wasn’t going to like his answer.

“We wait.”

“Waiting sucks.”

“You’ve said that before.”

She shrugged. “Still true.”

Chapter 7

“Everything feels so right. But it also feels so very, very wrong. I don’t know which of my warring emotions to believe. I feel as though my very soul is being split in half and it’s scaring me. I’m terrified that I’m missing something—something important—something so important that could hold the key to what’s going on inside of me. But I don’t have time to think. I agreed to this relationship and now Jericho and I spend every waking moment together. I stay lost because I don’t have time to stop and figure out where I’m at.” ~Sally

O
ne week had passed since Sally was kissed so thoroughly that she’d been sure he’d taken her tongue with him when he finished. There had been many toe curling kisses since then, but it had always stopped there. Because of their busy work schedule, due to the loss of several employees at the bar, Jericho and Sally hadn’t really had much time together. If they weren’t working, they were sleeping.

As he walked behind her and smacked her backside for the fifteenth time that night—she’d been counting—Sally decided it was a good thing they hadn’t been alone. Jericho seemed especially touchy that day.

“How you holding up, Beautiful?” he asked her when they finally had a lull.

Jericho rested his hands on the bar on either side of Sally and looked down at her with his playful smirk. “I’m good,” Sally managed to spit out. He affected her; there was no getting around that. He was hot, sexy, and confident. What woman wouldn’t be affected?

“Oh believe me, I know just how good you are,” he teased. “But has tonight been okay? No one’s been giving you a hard time?”

He’d gotten even more protective and possessive with each passing day, but she didn’t feel as though he was trying to control her. He seemed to genuinely find anyone and everyone a possible threat to her safety. It was kind of endearing, in a weird, overbearing, creepy, stalker sort of way.

“You’d know if something was wrong, Jer. You haven’t been more than five feet away from me all night,” she challenged with narrowed eyes.

He shrugged, not bothered in the least. “You smell good. You taste even better. Maybe staying close is my evil plan to take what I want.”

She wasn’t going to ask,
Sally thought to herself. She wasn’t going to ask. She refused to ask. She nearly threw her hands up when her next thought was
oh hell, I’m going to ask
. And then the words spilled right out. “What do you want?” Was that her voice sounding all breathy and swoony?

“This,” Jericho murmured against her lips before pressing his to hers. The kiss started off slow but, true to the tension that ran tightly between them, grew heated very fast. Their display earned them catcalls from their audience and Sally quickly pulled away. Her face felt as though she’d stuck it in an oven and pressed the broil button.

“Break’s over.” He grinned as he winked at her and then stepped away to help a man who’d just walked up to the bar. Sally quietly excused herself, mumbling something about needing to use the ladies room and hurried off.

As she stared at her reflection in the mirror, Sally felt as though she was looking at a stranger. Who was the woman before her and when did she become one of those girls who swooned over the first guy who showed her some affection—even if he was an extremely hot bartender? Jericho had her in knots. Part of her wanted him, wanted what they were slowly building. But then there was this voice in the back of her mind screaming at her to run.
Run where
? she asked herself. But there was no answer, just the resounding feeling that she was in danger, that something was seriously wrong.

Sally turned on the faucet and splashed her face with cold water. It cleared her mind and cooled the heat that was perpetually flaring up on her face. After drying her hands and face off she turned to the door and took a deep breath. “You’ve got this,” she pepped herself. “He’s just a guy. It’s not like he’s some supernatural being with powers that warp my emotions and make me uncontrollably desire him.”
Although
, she thought,
that seemed a more likely scenario than Sally, herself, feeling so desperate.

“Everything okay?” Jericho asked her once she’d resurfaced to the bar.

“Peachy,” she told him with a grin. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead before walking over to a customer who’d called out his name.
Must be a regular,
she thought.

About an hour later, Jericho had his arm wrapped around Sally’s waist, pulling her back against him as he whispered in her ear. Two women walked in and headed straight for the bar. They took one look at Sally and the man holding on to her and both of their faces broke out into grins.

“Is this her then?” the redhead asked, a slight Irish accent rolling off her tongue.

“She’s prettier than you described,” the other woman, who had strawberry blonde hair, said. She too had an Irish accent, but it wasn’t even as pronounced at the first woman’s.

“Sally, I’d like you to meet two of my pa—” He paused midsentence and the two girls’ eyes widened. Jericho cleared his throat. “My two cousins,” he continued, sounding a little less sure of himself. “Evie and Isa.”

Sally held her hand out to each of them and shook theirs as she smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Both Evie and Isa took seats at the bar and struck up a conversation with Sally as Jericho moved away to take care of customers. He’d whispered in her ear before he’d left. “Stay and get to know them. I’ll handle the bar.”

She thought that perhaps it was a little, okay a lot, too soon to be meeting family, but what was she going to tell him? No? Sally couldn’t do that. She didn’t have it in her to be rude. So she smiled and leaned against the bar as the girls began their inquisition.

“So, Sally,” Evie, the redhead, began. “Tell me, how do you feel about wolves?”

A
lina knocked on the door of the suite that had been given to Zara. It had been several days since she’d left the young woman to get adjusted to having her own space, and the Alpha felt that it was time to see how she was doing. Zara seemed to be a very private person, but Alina knew what being alone could do to someone, especially someone who’d undergone something as horrific as Zara had.

When the door finally opens, Alina’s heart hurt at the sight before her. “Have you been eating?” she asked gently.

Zara pulled the door open further, making room for her to enter. “A little,” she answered in a tired, broken voice.

Alina was at a loss for what to do for the girl. Zara had been uprooted from one life and thrown into hell and now she’s been uprooted from hell and thrown into a wolf den. How does someone cope with that?

“I hate to ask how you’re doing because that feels like a stupid question, but I’m not really sure what else to ask.”

Zara’s lips twitched so quickly that Alina was not sure that she really saw it.

“I don’t really know how I’m doing,” Zara admitted. “Vampires exist, werewolves exist, and my life will never be the same. In some way that’s good because I honestly thought I was going to die down there with those monsters. So it’s great to know that I’m not going to die, but I have no idea what I’m supposed to do now.”

Alina rested her hand on the girl’s arm, hoping the touch would help ease her mind. “You don’t have to know what you need to do or want to do. All you have to do right now, in this moment, is survive. That’s step one. You eat, you drink, you rest, and you do whatever it is you need to do to survive.”

“What if I never get to step two?” Zara asked.

“Then you can remain at step one and live here, or at the Romania pack mansion, for as long as you want,” Alina assured her. She could tell that the girl wanted to heal; she just didn’t know where to begin. “You will soon find out that we are not like the vampires. We care for our own. I know it may seem overwhelming right now, but you are one of us. And, believe it or not, you’re safe here.”

Finally, she nodded. “Okay, I’ll do step one. But” —she paused— “I’m not ready to be around others. Not yet. I don’t know when I’ll be ready.”

Alina nodded. “Of course. Will you allow me to come visit you at least a few times a week? Nothing long, just a few minutes to say hello?”

“Sure, I can handle that.”

Alina closed the door behind her but she didn’t walk away. She felt as though she was abandoning Zara, even though the girl didn’t want her to stay.

“She’s safe, Mina. She’s sheltered, fed, and protected. That’s all she needs right now.”

Alina knew that what her mate said was true, but the mother in her wanted to wrap Zara in her arms and hold her. She wanted to give her all of the hugs that she had been deprived over the years. She wanted to sing to her all the songs a mother sings to her child. Alina wanted to give back to Zara everything that the vampires had taken from her.

Alina turned and placed her forehead against the door with one hand pressed against it as if she could reach through the barrier and offer comfort to the young woman. Maybe Zara didn’t want that comfort now, but there would come a day when she would not only want it but need it. Until then, Alina would be waiting.

“
W
hatever you’ve got for me, history boy, it had better be as awesome as that shirt,” Peri said as she pointed to the t-shirt Wadim was wearing.

Wadim looked down as if he didn’t even remember what he was wearing. That did not bode well for Peri.

“You’re the one that called this meeting,” Wadim pointed out. “Do you think if I had uncovered anything useful I wouldn’t have called you straightaway?”

Well that’s just peachy,
Peri thought to herself.

Having decided that Peri’s bark wasn’t as big as her bite, Wadim was now attempting to read his shirt upside down and it looked painful. She decided to help him out. It says, ‘Freak out and stand still,’ she snapped. “Loving the play on words of the original
Keep Calm
fad. Although I was around when that saying was more than just a cute phrase on a t-shirt or coffee mug.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jen huffed as she entered the room. “You’re so old your panties are crusty and turn to dust at the slightest touch. We got it.”

Peri started to respond but stopped short as she watched the line of people follow the mouthy blonde into the archives. First came Decebel, cradling Thia closely to his chest, then followed Fane, Jacque, who was holding Slate, Alina, Vasile, Lilly, and finally Cypher.

“I think you forgot a few pack members, Jen. Perhaps, you should go back and gather them,” Peri said dryly.

Jen shrugged. “You said to meet you here, well, actually…” Jen smiled wickedly. “Your exact words were ‘Get your butt over to the Romania pack den and meet me in history wolf’s dungeon. I have news. Do not bring Costin. I do not have the patience to coddle his broken heart.’ That was a little harsh,” Jen pointed out. “You didn’t tell me not to bring anyone else. Not to mention” —Jen narrowed her eyes on the fae— “you could have flashed us instead of making us travel the old fashioned way.”

“I am not your damn taxi service. Besides, a little exercise might do you some good. Have you looked at your behind lately? That pregnancy weight isn’t going to lose itself.” Peri’s smile was positively wicked. She could almost hear Jen clenching her fists and grinding her teeth.