by Kitt Rose
“We need to find this witch, and the Protean she is mated to.”
Joshua gasped. “Mated?”
I nodded. “I realized it when I smelled Libby. She still smells like herself, but under it is a hint of my scent. If I knew what Heidi had smelled like before, I would know this bastard. The scent is so familiar. According to Selene, Heidi West is here, in Homeplace. Libby isn't safe until we find both Heidi and her mate. The traitor in our pack.”
I looked between the Proteans gathered, lingering on Joshua as I asked, “Can I count on you to help?”
They all nodded.
Pride and satisfaction filled me. A darker joy chased the emotion, that of the impending hunt—and the blood that would follow.
20
Libby
My life hadn't felt this perfect in… Well, ever. This joy inside of me seemed fit to burst through my skin. I could hardly contain it.
But it was marred. Polluted by a psychopath who hated me so much, they had tried to strip away my free will and make me sick.
Even now, more than twenty-four hours after learning about the hex bag and its grisly purpose, I was in disbelief.
How could anyone hate me that much? Me? I was nothing. No one.
Unless it wasn't you they were after. Or it isn't you they hate. My subconscious' version of Justice whispered in my mind.
The idea had merit, even if I had discredited it before. I just couldn't wrap my mind around that level of animosity. How could anyone be so malevolent against another? And someone as kind and good as Ash?
But, if someone was looking to destroy Ash's chance to become Alpha… Perhaps that person was jealous of Ash being Marked. The only way to become Alpha was to take his mate, and removing that mate would thoroughly obliterate his chance. That would leave the position open for a new successor and Greg seemed the likely candidate to me.
Greg was little more than a stranger to me, and Ash trusted him, but my gut said we should look closer. There was something about him that had bothered me. The way his eyes had seemed to look hungry and cold and false all at the same time. Somehow.
I couldn't explain it because I didn't understand it in the least. In the bar when I'd met him, I couldn't honestly say I had recognized the look. But looking back, it was so clear.
Ash and his posse, the group of men—including my uncle and father—who had agreed to help hunt the rogue witch, had been out at all hours since we came back from Grand Forks. Guarded at all times, I was never alone. My father or Johnny had the job most often. But this captivity thing was getting old, even if it was for my own good.
I was tired of being trapped, not allowed out on my own. On the third day of my confinement in Ash's home, I had run out of things to do. Supposedly it was now my home too, but it didn't feel like it. This place was foreign to me. I felt like some kind of damn invader, a thief and a snoop, just trying to find a freaking teapot.
I dug through Ash's cabinets, trying to find something to boil water. My father watched me with raised eyebrows as my temper grew shorter and shorter.
“I don't think he has a teapot, but you can just use a saucepan,” he said as I moved to another double-doored cabinet.
“It's not the same,” I responded, head deep in a lower cabinet the size of my first apartment.
“Maybe not, but I think it should work. Or better yet, we can go into town and have some tea at the cafe?”
I jerked out of the cavernous cabinet, nearly whacking my head. “Leave? I can leave?”
“With me, sure. Did you think you were trapped here?” he said, laughter in his voice.
I flushed, standing up and brushing off my pants. It had been exactly what I thought. “Could we just go for a walk? I really just want to stretch my legs. Get some fresh air.”
“Sure, honey.”
Something gooey filled my middle at that. My dad calling me honey. I hadn't heard that in so long.
Shortly after the men had agreed to help Ash hunt down the witch and her mate, Ash had taken Joshua and gone. I hadn't seen him that night. He stopped in yesterday afternoon, showered and changed, then left again. Ash was operating with a single-minded dedication that might have been admirable. But I just felt neglected.
He'd mated me, taken me to his home, locked me inside and left. I wasn't sure where to sleep the first night. I had no clean clothes and wasn't sure how I was supposed to get my things. I was wearing a pair of Ash's boxer briefs, my two-day-old jeans, and one of his tees. I'd wanted to talk to Ash about it, but he was gone too quickly.
“Well then, let's go on that walk,” Dad said, pulling me from my thoughts.
He slipped an arm around my shoulders and I leaned into him, letting my eyes drift closed for a moment. There were times when he reminded me so much of Justice. The comparison, however unintentional, was bittersweet.
Miss you, Just. I thought.
I know, my imaginary brother replied in my mind. I miss you too.
Shaking my head, I pushed my little slice of insanity away and let my dad lead me to the door. Outside, the sun was high in the sky, the weather nearly hot—if I hadn't come from a place that really knew how to do scalding. Dad dropped his arm to rest on the middle of my back, his touch comforting as he led me to the road.
We stayed on the north side, walking into traffic—not that there were any vehicles on the road. Both of us were silent, and I listened to the crunch of gravel under our feet. The narrow country lane we walked on was surrounded by wheat fields. And the road curved in such a way that the outside world seemed to disappear. Until all that was left was this two-lane road, cracked and dusty with a faded line down its center, waist-high wheat as far as the eye could see, and the summer sky overhead.
I exhaled, tension leaking from me with the expulsion of air. “I missed this,” I whispered in confession.
Dad looked over at me and smiled. “I missed you.”
It was an effort not to roll my eyes. I knew from Johnny that Dad had looked for me, but after a decade of believing otherwise, it was a struggle.
“I heard. You know, I didn't think you would have. I always sort of felt like…” I wasn't sure how to finish the thought without hurting his feelings.
“Like I wasn't much of a father? Maybe like I didn't want kids?” He laughed at the shock that wrote itself across my face. “Yeah. Both are sort of true. I never planned on kids, and that made me a shitty father. But you and your brother are the best accidents that have ever happened to me. I wouldn't have changed a thing, except I would have tried to be there for you more. Don't regret your mom having you though.”
“Really?”
“I wouldn't lie, not about this. I don't want to bad mouth your momma, but I bet she never told you about the fight we got into when she told me she was moving you all across the country to be with a man she'd just met. A man no one knew that I didn't like or trust.”
My mouth dropped open, eyes going wide. “What?”
“Yeah, didn't figure she'd have told you that. I told her then I wanted to have you both here. That she could take herself and her new husband and go. I'd keep you two. Even had a little house I was all set to buy for us. But I bet you can guess how well that conversation went.”
“Thermonuclear Mom. How in the hell did Justice and I not know about that?”
Dad shrugged. “I never wanted you to be involved with our fights. Ain't right to drag kids into that. You deserved a stable family.”
I didn't think it was physically possible for my eyes to open any wider as I gaped at my dad. And at any moment, I was certain a bug would fly into my mouth, down my throat, and choke me.
Dad shifted uncomfortably, pulling me to a stop and moving us to the side of the road. “Look, I ain't comfortable talking about this, but I'll say it once for you. Because you deserve to know. I loved your mom. When I met Mel, she… Well, she was it. I was defying your papa when I asked her out. We snuck around because I knew he wouldn't approve, mostly because he thought humans were too fr
agile because my mom had been one, and she'd died having me.
“When Mel got pregnant, I was terrified. I'd grown up hearing about my mom's death and when Mel told me she was pregnant, that's all I could focus on. I was convinced I'd killed her. But I was wrong, and I gained a son and a daughter. You were both so tiny. And red. And loud. And you were honestly kinda ugly, bald and all wrinkled like old men.
“But you were both so indescribably beautiful. Ya took my breath away. Of course, I had no idea how to be a parent, and every time I tried to be like my dad, I felt like a fraud. Like I was a cheap imitation of the parent you shoulda had. And when Mel left me to go away to school, I told myself it wasn't the end.”
My heart seized in my chest at the heartache in my dad's voice. “Did you guys ever talk about it?”
He tugged a hand through his hair, looking out over the wheat field for a long moment. When he turned back to me, his eyes were filled with melancholy. “Yeah. Your mom… She was ambitious, and I'm not. Never have been, never will be. I think being happy is more important than things. Your mom thought things made a person happy. We fought a lot while you were little, until we decided to call it quits. That was the best decision for both of us. We were much happier apart than together, even if it was hard for me to admit at the time. Mel was happy to leave you two with your papa while she was in school. And it worked out great for me because I got to see you both whenever I wanted.
“Then she came home and not much changed. Until she met Mick. I did everything I could to keep you here. But you know what I am now, you gotta understand following you to Georgia wasn't an option for me. I did go in with Ash and hire a private investigator to try and find you after your mother's funeral. I should have brought you home right then. But you were so mad at me, and I let Mick convince me that it wasn't in your best interest to uproot your entire life. I believed him when he told me that you and Justice had just settled in and were happy. Don't fucking know why. Never trusted him. I regret it. After I got home, I rethought it. Planned to bring you home regardless. I called to arrange it, and the number was disconnected.”
“I'd always wondered why—” My voice cracked and I cleared my throat. “Why you left me there with Mick.”
“I thought I was doing right,” he said, contrition on his face.
I nodded, sniffing. The warm, rough touch of my dad's fingertips on my face made me realize that tears were slowly leaking from my eyes. And then his arms were around me, pulling me into his rangy body. A second later, I wrapped my arms around him too, tucking my face in his neck.
He rubbed my back soothingly. “I'm sorry. I made a mistake. Made a lot of them. But my biggest one was giving you reason to doubt how I feel about you, honey. I'm sorry you had to go through so much. I promise you, you're gonna be safe. Ash will make sure of it, and I'm going to help him.”
“So, you're okay with Ash and me?”
Dad pulled back enough to look me in the eye. “Yeah. That boy is a good man. He loves you, that was plain to see in how hard he looked for you. And he's going to be a damn fine Alpha someday soon. I wish you'd found a less high-profile mate, but I know he'll protect you no matter what. Love you unconditionally. And you deserve that, honey.”
Warmth spread through my chest. To hear that, especially from my dad. “Do you think, now that I'm home, that we could hang out more? I mean…” I flushed. “I really would like to get to know you again.”
My father beamed. His smile was the brightest I had ever seen. It made him look so young. “I'd like nothing more.”
I returned that youthful smile, brimming with hope.
Suddenly, Dad stiffened. His hands went to my shoulders, gripping hard. He spun me away from the wheat field. I stumbled, nearly falling as he shoved me behind him.
Dad spread his arms wide, knees bent slightly, shielding me. His attention was focused on the field filled with stalks of wheat swaying gently in the breeze.
Something spooked him. Tension radiated from him in a palpable current. My eyes combed the field, searching over the lines of gold and green.
There!
Something moved in the wheat. About thirty feet from where we stood, the perfect waves disrupted by something beneath the surface. Something moving slowly toward us, hidden in the wheat. A shark beneath the surface of a calm ocean. Utterly silent. And, somehow, I knew, just as deadly.
Something was hunting us.
When I tried to see past the swaying stalks, concentrated on it, Justice's voice rang in my mind.
He's coming. You must run, Liberty. Run! He'll kill you.
“Daddy,” I whispered, my heart stuttered in fear.
He glanced at me quickly. Then turned back to the slowly progressing thing.
He reached behind and squeezed my hand. “I love you, Libby-girl. But honey, when I say run, I need you to go. Keep on this road, about a half mile up is the Stefan farm. Tobias will be there. You go, tell him what happened.”
There was something in his voice, some grave acceptance, that told me he didn't expect to survive whatever crept through the field.
I swallowed, my throat tight. My heart knocked against my ribs and sweat slithered down the back of my neck. “Daddy, I love you too. Come with me.”
He shook his head, adjusting his angle to block me from whatever was stalking closer. “No, if I go, neither of us will make it.”
“What is it?”
“Can't smell 'im. Wrong direction.”
Suddenly the thing in the wheat bolted forward, and my dad shoved me into motion. “Run!”
My feet moved, hitting the pavement hard. My knees shook.
From the corner of my eye, I saw a blur of white as my dad turned into a wolf, his clothing shredding around him. A second later, a dark shape hit him.
The second wolf was bigger than him. Terror gripped my lungs, making each breath searing as adrenaline pumped into my veins.
21
Libby
I ran faster than I thought possible. My lungs were on fire, the muscles in my legs screaming. Still, I pushed through the pain, fear propelling me onward.
Snarls and other sounds of fighting grew fainter as I put distance between myself and my father.
Oh God. I'd left Dad.
Too winded to sob, some weird whistling noise came out of my nose. I rounded a bend in the road, my feet slapping the pavement, making them ring with numbness then blaze with pain.
Please let him be okay.
A yelp, loud and shrill, made me stumble. I went down on one knee, my jeans tearing and warm blood soaking the material.
No time to look. No time to stop.
I forced myself back up, back into a run. My knee was stiff, the muscle bunching and cramping.
I limped out some sort of half run as time seemed to slow to a crawl and speed up at the same time. My ears strained past the sound of rustling wheat in the wind, for the panting of a wolf, the click of nails on concrete, and any other hint I was being pursued. My lungs burned, muscles screamed, and my sock stuck to my ankle, telling me that my leg was really bleeding.
And then after an eternity of waiting for death from behind, of thinking every moment might be my last, I heard something.
Was that… A car! An engine.
Tears burst free, my nose running onto my lip. I wiped it away, sobbing in that weird whistling way, ribs heaving.
A silver truck. It had been in Ash's driveway the other day. Joshua.
I limped into the middle of the road, arms flung up above my head, frantic. The truck screeched to a stop, the door opening with a loud groan.
Joshua, Ash's Alpha, ran to me, eyes blazing.
“You fool girl, in the middle of the—” He broke off, his nostrils flaring, eyes finding my bloody knee.
“Attacked,” I gasp. “Dad.” I pointed back the way I'd come from, my legs shaking and weak, chest burning.
Joshua evaluated me for a moment, then barked, “Get in.”
I didn't argue. Rushing to the doo
r, I threw myself into the pristine cab and collapsed against the seat. My cramping muscles screamed at me.
I didn't bother with my seatbelt, just stared out the windshield as Joshua raced down the road. It took us less than ten minutes to reach the spot.
The truck had barely stopped moving when I was out the door.
A scream lodged in my throat. My dad, as a wolf, was lying like some discarded, broken toy, at the edge of the wheat field. The ground was dark with his blood. Red, pink tissue, and white bone visible. I blanched, skidded to a stop in front of him, terrified to touch him.
Joshua pushed past me, his hand patting my shoulder in something that might have been meant to comfort. He touched my dad, grunted, then turned to me.
“He's alive. We need to get him help. Now. Go get in the cab, I'm going to pass him in to you, and you need to keep him calm.”
My eyes widened. How was I supposed to keep a wolf calm?
“He'll smell you. It should be enough, but if he starts to stir, you let me know. Okay?” Joshua answered the question I hadn't verbalized.
I nodded, moving back to the truck and climbing into the middle of the bench seat. Joshua set the wolf's head in my lap and I ran my fingers through the thick fur on the side of his face.
This was my dad. This giant wolf was my father. Knowing it, seeing, and touching it were different things. Someday soon, when I had the time, I'd explore how hugely this was fucking with my head.
The door closed and the truck dipped as Joshua climbed in next to me. I was shoulder to shoulder with him now. He jolted me when he closed his door and I stifled a moan. My God, I hurt everywhere.
I went to touch my bicep, to rub where Joshua had bumped me and stopped when I saw the blood smeared on my palms.
Where? How?
My eyes went back to my dad. The blood was in his fur. His ear was mangled, half missing. Bile rose in my throat and I forced it back down. I didn't dare take a better look at his injuries. I was too scared already.