Unstoppable Force (Force of Nature Series) (15 page)

“It will help you in the healing
process. Once you shift, you’re going to be fine.” He took out a book and
handed it to her. She could hardly see if for the tears welling in her eyes.

“Look at the men in this picture. Tell
me which ones you know or have seen.”

Lou looked at the picture for several
seconds before she saw it. She wiped at the tears and focused on it.

“There are nine men in this picture,
Lou, which ones have you seen before?”

She pointed to the first man she saw and
told him that his name was Mr. Dublin. She didn’t know his first name, but he
was dead. Picking up the picture, she noticed two more. “That man was the first
foster father I had. I don’t remember what happened to him, but soon after I
left him and his wife’s care, he was killed.” She looked at the man standing
next to him. “This man was the third foster father. His wife murdered him one
night and that’s how I was taken from that home.”

“Who are they? This is a group of men,
who are they?” Lou ignored Connor to study the picture more closely. The man in
the middle was her father.

“That’s him. That’s the man who claimed
to be my father. I never knew him to be…well, so old, I guess. And the humpback
thing, he told me once it was because he was carrying the weight of the devil
on his back.” She looked up at Hope. “He wasn’t really my father, was he?”

“No. I think you’re the child of them
all. They each had something to give to you and the woman who carried you to
term died right after your birth.” Hope pulled the book to her as she
continued. “There were five women who were held for breeding purposes and just
the one, Eva, carried to term. The other men are also dead with the exception
of the one you knew as your father and this man.”

Hope pointed to the man on the end, the
man she knew to be dead. He had been killed in the jail, she’d been told,
because she’d told the officer who he was. Then she saw something else. The man
in the front. It was the cop.

“He knew. He knew what I was when he
came to get me.”

Hope nodded sadly.

“When I felt what Dublin had done, my
father called them in. They were to take me somewhere, probably to him anyway,
when I told them what I’d seen.”

“We can only assume that’s what
happened. We, the vampire council, knew about you, but by then there was little
we could do to save you. Once they got you into the foster care system they
changed everything about your birth, including your name. And every time you’d
surface one of the elders would be killed and someone else would whisk you
away.”

“But Dublin isn’t dead. How do you know
this?” She looked at the picture again and remembered the tools he’d been using
on her that day. “He’s the person conducting the experiments. The one…he was
the man in the lab the day they took me in, when Herman sold me.” Lou looked at
the picture again before she stood up. She walked to the door and opened it. She
was surprised that no one tried to stop her, but CJ did follow her outside.

“He’s overwhelmed.”

Lou laughed at CJ’s statement.

“I know I am, and I’m sure you are as
well. Give him time.”

Lou nodded. “I’m a wolf now, aren’t I? I’m
like the rest of you, a wolf. Can I shift or whatever now?”

“Yes. You can shift. Though I wouldn’t
recommend it without someone there with you. It’s sort of scary at first.”

Lou felt her skim along her skin; her
wolf wanted out. She nodded toward the house and then looked at CJ. The woman
looked like she wanted to say more. “I’m leaving. I know that there are things
that need to be…I don’t know what’s going to happen here, but I’m leaving.” She
felt the wolf snarl at her, but didn’t let her control her just yet. “You…I
want you to leave me alone. Can you do that?”

“I can, but I don’t know about Connor.”

Lou looked back at the house.

“He’s in love with you, Lou.”

“He’s not my problem. And if he did love
me then he…” She shook her head. “Never mind. I’ll see you around.”

The shift came over her quickly and
without the pain she expected. Her body felt long, sleek, and muscled. She
looked back at CJ and watched her take a shaky breath. Lou had a moment to
wonder what color she was or if she was as big as the wolves she’d seen in the
woods that first night. Leaping toward the woods, she heard someone call her
name, but she didn’t stop. She had to get away from them all.

~~~

Connor buried his nose in the earth
again, trying in vain to catch her scent. She was simply gone. He’d been
looking for over three hours and all he’d been able to scent was the clothes
she’d left behind. Reaching for her through their connection again, all he got
was static and he howled at the dark sky.

“She’ll come home once she cools off.”

Connor glared at his brother, not giving
two shits if he was his alpha.

“I would just let her go until she
returns.”

“Go back then. I’m sure your precious
mate can tell you all about the conversation she had with my mate after she let
her go off on her own.”
Connor knew he should have kept his mouth shut, but
he was pissed
. “I’m sure that it’ll make nice table talk about how Connor Force
drove his mate away.”

“Shut up, Connor, before I forget—”

Connor lunged for Dallas. He was
spoiling for a fight and he didn’t care who gave it to him. But Connor wasn’t
thinking straight or he would have seen that no matter what he did, which
brother he attacked, the others would be there to save their asses. He was down
on the ground before he could connect with Dallas’ throat.

“He’ll let you up when you can be
reasonable. You did drive her away. What the fuck did you expect her to do when
you practically ran in the opposite direction when she held out her hand for
you?”

Connor snarled again, at Gordon this
time.

“You’re a fool if you think she’ll come
running back to you now.”

“She’s not what I expected.”
That was an
understatement if there ever was one.
“I was supposed to protect her. Take
her into my keeping and help her with her wolf. She’s a better wolf than me.”

“So because you feel she didn’t need you,
you figured you’d just walk away? You moron. What the fuck do you think she was
thinking when her entire life was a lie? We all saw her reach for you and what
the fuck did you do?”
Gordon nipped at his belly.
“You fucking turned
your back on her.”

He had to. He’d been so…so what he
didn’t know, but she had reached for him and he didn’t know what to do. She was
more than just his mate; she was a wolf in waiting. One that everyone knew
about but him. He looked up at his brother and asked to be let go.

“Will you behave yourself? So help me,
Connor, I’ll take you to the cells and leave you there.”
Connor assured
Austin he’d behave and was let go.

“Go away. All of you, just go away.”
He shifted and
stood up, reaching for his pack that had been torn from his waist. “I just need
to be alone for a while.”

Austin shifted as well and pulled on his
pants. He nodded to the others, who left as wolves. Connor waited for the
lecture he was sure was coming when Austin sat beside him.

“She needs you.”

Connor snorted at his brother.

“She does. CJ said she was hurt, but she
could see that she was terrified. You have to find her.”

And say what to her?
he thought. Connor
only nodded and didn’t look at his brother when he stood up again. The moment
he was gone Connor leaned back against the tree and let go. The tears streamed
down his face and burned his eyes. He’d lost the only woman he would ever love.

Connor started toward the house again
when he remembered what she’d said. A mountain. A cave deep into a mountain. One
he knew just where it was. But he also remembered what Gordon had said about
the abandoned mall and the man he’d seen coming and going from there.

Chapter 13

She knew just where to go. She’d seen it
in such great detail that she would have been able to draw them a map if they
wanted her to. But she had to make a stop first. She also knew where Herman was.

By the time she got to the mall she was
terrified of everything. Cars were loud and fast and the lights hurt her eyes. She
tried to walk on the roads, but it hurt her feet, paws, she supposed. But she
knew now what she looked like.

It had been by chance that she walked by
the storefront when no one was coming. Cars had not been this way in a long
time and, if asked, she would have thought that all the displays in the now defunct
mall would have been destroyed or stolen, but there was a large window out front
that was whole and she could see herself in it.

She was a red wolf. Her fur was as fiery
red as her hair had been. Bright in the light of the moon, she looked as if she
glowed. But her eyes were what set her apart from any of the other wolves she’d
seen at the house. Hers were the color of emeralds.

Dark green, they didn’t reflect back
like Connor’s had, or any of the other wolves’. Hers were dark enough that she
could see out, but was sure that no one would be able to see her. She had never
even heard of a green-eyed wolf. Lou knew that she would be considered a very
handsome wolf.

Grinning, she walked up to the highest
level in the garage and found his scent. She didn’t even realize that was what
she’d been following until she could see him. And he was talking to himself. Or
so she thought.

“I don’t know how much money he was
talking about, but it was a lot.” He was eating something out of a can and Lou
thought it was tuna. “Yes, sir, lots of it too. As soon as you give her over to
me then we’ll both be rich.”

“Yeah, so you said.”

She nearly whimpered when she heard
Connor’s voice.

“Tell me what you know about her. There
has to be a reason that this man wants her so badly. Badly enough to pay you a
great deal of money.”

“Didn’t say. Didn’t say. But you’ll be
rich too.”

Lou looked around the wall she was
hiding behind and looked right into Connor’s face. He didn’t move, but nodded
at her.

“You listening to me?”

“Yes. I’m listening to you now. I should
have listened to you all along, but I was a fool.” She had a feeling he wasn’t
talking to Dean any longer. “You and I should have partnered from the beginning
and none of this would have been necessary.”

“Partnered? Hell, boy, I didn’t even
know you 'til you showed up practically at my doorstep. Want some tuna? Don’t
care much for it myself, but it’s sticking to the bones. Yeppers, it does.”

She reached for his mind. Something
she’d only just figured out she could do.
“He means to kill you. Herman
there. He means to kill you.”

Connor looked back at the man on the
ground.
“He might mean to, but with you by my side I’m pretty sure we can
whip his ass.”

Lou took a deep breath and moved out
into the opening. She watched Connor to see what his move would be. When he
bowed before her, she nodded her head. That was when Herman saw her. She turned
to look at him and snarled with a low growl from her throat.

“Holy Christ. It’s a big fucking dog.” He
stood up and tried to get behind Connor. “Kill that sucker before he eats us. He
probably has rabies or something. Kill it.”

“I don’t think so.” She walked closer to
Connor and sat beside him. When he reached out and rubbed her behind her ear,
she leaned into him. “This is my mate. And right now, you’re going to be her
dinner if you don’t tell us where the man who hired you is.”

“Mate? What the fuck…are you one of
those sick boys who does it with animals? Holy mother of fucktards. You are one
sick shit.” Herman backed from them both as he pulled out a gun and aimed it at
Connor. Her Connor. “Get away from here and take the dog with you.”

Lou lunged. When she did, she felt the
animal in her respond. As soon as she was airborne she felt her take over and
the need to protect Connor kick in. Before she took him to the ground she knew
he was dead. The blood that filled her mouth gave her a sense of power, a power
so great she threw back her head and howled.

When she felt a ripple in the air she
turned to Connor coming toward her. He was magnificent. He was huge and he was
hers. Moving off the dead body, she moved toward him. The ripple in her skin
made her aware of what was happening. She was becoming a human again.

Connor caught her when she leapt toward
him. His body cushioned her as they went to the ground. Even before she was
completely shifted he was stripping his own clothes off and touching her,
tasting her.

“I need you. I need to fill you with my
cock right now.”

She moaned as he bit at her breast. Her
body was not just ready for him, but hot lava seemed to run through her veins;
need for him took her breath away and she could feel her heart pound in urgency
for him.