The Wolf's Pursuit

by Rachel Van Dyken

  "I am sorry about Redding. If I would have been there sooner…" Hunter trailed off.

  Wilkins waved him away. "It is not your fault. Besides, it is possible that he was the spy in the first place. In fact…" He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a few notes. "We found these at his residence."

  "What are they?" Hunter picked up each sheet of paper. Codes littered the front of them. Obviously it was impossible to decipher them without his grandfather's help.

  "Proof."

  "Of?"

  "Treason." Wilkins shook his head. "Though I hate to see Redding take the fall. He was, after all, a decorated hero and a good man. The money must have been too hard to pass up."

  "Right." Hunter looked closely at the codes and noticed that the tiny symbols did not resemble the first note he'd received. "And you say these are perfect copies of the notes given to the front lines?"

  "Absolutely." Wilkins grimaced and rose to his feet. "Keep them for now. If you would like to have them deciphered, that is fine by me. They are, after all, old news."

  Hunter stuffed the codes into his pocket. "Is that all?"

  "This investigation is over, for now." Wilkins rose to his feet. Hunter grabbed his arm, motioning for him to wait.

  "It is about Red." He scratched his head. "It seems I have compromised her."

  "Her cover is blown?" Wilkins whispered.

  "I did not compromise her in that capacity." Hunter looked away, suddenly embarrassed. "I compromised her, if you get my meaning."

  "Tossed her skirts, did you?"

  Oh, how he wished! "Not yet, though I came close."

  "Wouldn't be the first time someone was interested in that little delicacy, believe me. How do you think the woman was able to infiltrate into Napoleon's elite so quickly?"

  Hunter saw red. He clenched his fist and pounded the table. "Never speak of her in that way again. She is to be my wife."

  "Is she?" Wilkins smiled, and then chuckled, and finally threw his head back and gave in to full-on laughter. "This is more perfect than I could have imagined it."

  "Perfect?" Hunter's fist was still clenched. He was seconds away from flattening the man.

  Wilkins wiped his eyes and shook his head. "Yes, well. Congratulations are in order, good fellow. When is the wedding?"

  "Special license, three days."

  "Are you resigning?" Wilkins asked.

  Was he? Why were things so complicated? "Yes, I believe I am."

  "I remember when you resigned the first time, and look how that turned out."

  Hunter jerked to his feet and glared. "Explain yourself."

  Wilkins took a step back from Hunter. His eyes never wavered as he looked him up and down. "Just reminding you of what happens when you allow your emotions to rule your decisions, friend."

  Cursing, Hunter ran his hands through his hair and looked away. "Are we done?"

  "More than you know, Hunter. More than you know." With that, Wilkins walked off, leaving Hunter more confused than ever. Yet the weight on his chest was lifted. He was doing the right thing. His priorities were straight. For the first time in nine years, the guilt that had weighed so heavily on his heart did not seem so heavy. A fresh start. He had been given a fresh start.

  He pulled out the codes again. Something wasn't right about the way the symbols were drawn. They reminded him of the last note Redding had had in his possession. There had been two codes on that note. Redding would have only understood one.

  Hollins had led Redding to his death. Hunter was sure of that now. But what did Wilkins have to do with everything? What wasn't he telling Hunter? He could not be trusted, and now that he was closing the investigation, things seemed more suspicious. Redding could not have possibly been the mole, or could he? Perhaps Wilkins had suspected Redding and Hollins had carried everything out, and then when they had discovered he was bad, they eliminated him. So why go to so much trouble to hire Hunter and Gwen to discover the traitor?

  His head hurt. To make matters worse, he was to be married in three days. He only hoped he would make it to the wedding without getting shot or worse, killed.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Red—

  I think that is the kindest thing you have ever said to me. Care to repeat it? Perhaps you like me more than you did a few weeks ago? Admit it. You care. I'm waiting for the words you're dying to say. The phrase is something like this, "I am in love with a wolf."

  —Wolf

  Gwen stared at her reflection in the mirror and practiced her smile. She had to appear happy instead of afraid. For heaven's sake, she was a spy! Acting should come naturally, but the minute the last button was fastened on her dress, she began to panic. Her hands shook and everything became fuzzy in front of her.

  What was she doing? Willingly walking down the aisle toward the man who had the power to destroy her or save her with one breath? Her eyes gave her away, and Hunter would know it the minute he saw her. He would see her hesitation.

  She blinked several times, and tried to think of the benefits of marrying someone who was more beautiful than any man she had ever come across before in her existence.

  He kissed well. She laughed to herself. Well did not even begin to describe what that man could do with his mouth.

  His eyes were hypnotizing.

  His hands, well… she shivered and bit her lip.

  His laugh, his easygoing manner, and finally the pain he tried to hide behind every second of every day.

  Marriage to Hunter would be the scariest and possibly one of the stupidest decisions she had made yet. At the end of the day, there was no one else's arms she would rather be in.

  "Ready?" Rosalind burst into the room, Isabelle following close behind.

  They'd insisted on more than just a private ceremony, but still only invited around fifty close friends.

  "As I'll ever be." Gwen turned to them and smiled, hoping that she looked convincing and not like she was about to burst into tears at any second.

  "You look beautiful." Isabelle grasped her hands and sighed. "I am so glad you decided to wear a bit of red. It looks like you."

  Gwen laughed. "It will shock him, that much is certain." She glanced at her reflection again. The dress was ivory, with silver embellishments around the capped sleeves trailing all the way down her back. The silver-encrusted design also twirled about her sleeves and ended right below her breasts, creating a beautiful design of flowers. It was beautiful, gorgeous actually, but it had needed something. So she'd put a red ribbon in her hair.

  The ribbon would match her red cape as well as her red roses. Hunter would probably have a heart attack when he saw her, thinking she was getting married in red, but she felt more like herself, more comfortable this way.

  In a way, it was a sign for him. She needed him to see that he was not only marrying the woman the ton saw as Lady Gwendolyn, but also the spy Red. She was both people, just as he was both Hunter and Wolf.

  "Beautiful." Rosalind sighed behind her. "Now, you've kept him waiting long enough. In an hour, you will be a married woman!"

  Gwen swallowed the emotion in her throat and followed her sisters out the door and down the stairs.

  The wedding was being held at a small chapel on the back of Dominique and Isabelle's estate in town. With a deep breath, she walked toward her future.

  ****

  "What the devil is taking her so long?" Hunter paced in front of Montmouth and Dominique.

  "If I didn't know any better, I'd say the great Wolf was a bit nervous." Dominique chuckled and elbowed Montmouth, who still looked like he was just waiting for the opportune moment to shoot Hunter in the face.

  "Oh, do stop glaring," Hunter mumbled to Montmouth.

  "I am not glaring, I am merely…" He cursed and joined Hunter in his pacing. "She is my responsibility. I just need to know I am doing the right thing."

  "Too late to go back now." Dominique looked at Montmouth and then Hunter. "By the by, when did I turn into the optimistic one of
the group?"

  This received a much needed chuckle from both Montmouth and Hunter.

  Rosalind poked her head into the room adjacent to the main chapel and announced, "It is time!"

  Hunter suddenly felt ill.

  "Not the best time to lose your nerve." Dominique grinned. "Now, go, it seems you have a bride waiting to marry you."

  Montmouth and Dominique led the way out of the room. Hunter followed and then took his place at the head of the aisle, next to the vicar.

  He should be excited, but memories of his first wedding overwhelmed his brain, making it impossible to focus on anything.

  Lucy had worn blue.

  Her eyes had shone with tears. Her grandfather had refused to walk her down the aisle on the principal that she was marrying a rogue.

  Eastbrook had done the honors.

  It had been the happiest day of his life.

  How could he have known that their first anniversary would result in her death? That the light that danced in her eyes would be dead in another three hundred and sixty-five days?

  His hands shook, and he folded them behind him. The last thing Hunter wanted was for Gwen to think he was regretting the decision to marry her. If anything, it wasn't regret; no, it was more like fear. No, absolute terror. God had given him another woman, another responsibility, and he would rather die than for her to suffer the same fate as Lucy.

  The doors opened.

  Gwen emerged.

  In a red cape.

  He burst out laughing, causing quite a few loud whispers to rise within the small chapel.

  With a wink, she took off the cape, revealing a beautiful ivory dress fit for a princess. He did not deserve the way she looked, nor the twinkle in her eyes when she pointed to the ribbon in her hair and grabbed the red roses from the basket Montmouth held out to her.

  The music began, she took a step on Montmouth's arm, and then the doors opened again.

  His eyes had to be deceiving him, for the man who came into the chapel was Lainhart.

  And his butler was with him, looking as shaggy as ever. Did the man ever shave? Or bathe for that matter? The butler pushed Lainhart's wheeled chair in front of Montmouth and then spoke in hushed tones.

  Montmouth jerked his head back and then asked Gwen a question. She nodded her head yes and kissed Montmouth on the cheek, and then she took Lainhart's knobby hand within hers and turned toward Hunter.

  The music started again.

  But this time, it was Lainhart who proudly held his head as high as he could as he gripped Gwen's hand. The butler pushed the wheeled chair forward. People continued to whisper. Hunter looked to Gwen for confirmation that everything was all right, that she was indeed happy to have Lainhart escort her, a man she knew Hunter did not do well with.

  Her smile was bright, her eyes glistened with tears, and then she nodded her head to Lainhart who, with his free hand, pointed at the blackboard in his lap and showed it to the audience as they continued down the aisle.

  "My new granddaughter" is what it said.

  And Hunter found that the emotions he'd been trying so desperately to keep inside, the ones that had been threatening to overtake him for years, burst free.

  And he was again a man broken.

  Only this time, his undoing was not death.

  But life.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Wolf—

  You may be waiting a very, very long time. Perhaps it would be wise to lower your expectations. I know I did.

  —Red

  Gwen gripped Hunter's hand. It was sweaty and shaking, and then she saw it. If she had been looking the other way she would have never known, but a stray tear made its way down his chiseled face and dropped onto the floor.

  And then he turned his golden eyes to her. Their gazes locked and all she cared about was kissing away his pain, of being his partner in more than one way, of being his savior. His everything.

  The vicar announced them husband and wife. People clapped, but she could barely hear anything going on around her. All she was focused on was Hunter's eyes. He leaned in and touched his lips lightly to hers and then placed both hands on either side of her face, pulling her in for a longer kiss. It was a branding, a burning kiss, and one that showed possession.

  When he pulled back, she leaned forward. He shook his head in amusement and offered his arm.

  They walked to the carriage amidst cheers from the crowds. Hunter helped her in. When the carriage pulled away, she sighed.

  "So, where are we going?" She hadn't given it much thought earlier, but the last thing she wanted to do was spend her wedding night at Dominique and Isabelle's house! Imagine! Everyone would know, and it would be… uncomfortable. They'd already decided to forgo the wedding breakfast.

  "Well…" Hunter grinned wolfishly. "Over the river and through the woods, of course."

  "There is no forest, Hunter."

  "Says whom?"

  "I say. This is London, after all."

  "Ah." Hunter tapped the side of her head with his finger. "But where is your imagination, sweetheart?"

  She lifted an eyebrow at him as the carriage pulled to a stop. They were at the same house Hunter had brought her to, not but a week ago, when he had tortured her. Lovely. "Last time we were here, you assaulted me," she pointed out.

  "True." He grinned.

  "Do you plan to whip me this time?"

  His half-lidded eyes smoldered. "Do you want me to?"

  "Only if I can hit back," she countered.

  "But of course." He chuckled. "After you."

  Gwen approached the house with dread. Was this his idea of romance? Take her to an abandoned house he hadn't lived in for over nine years? He did not even have a full staff!

  Hunter wrapped his arm around her as he pushed the door open and led her in.

  How the man had managed to bring a forest into his own home was quite beyond her. Everywhere she looked were different types of trees in pots, and hanging from each one of the trees were candles in glass jars.

  "A forest." She breathed. "You actually have a forest."

  "Don't forget the river." He pointed to a small water fountain that indeed resembled a river as it trickled beside one of the trees.

  "Why?" She quickly turned to Hunter, hands on hips. "Why did you do this?"

  He swallowed and looked down. "When I asked Gwen and Rosalind what to buy for your wedding gift, they said you already had all a girl could ask for."

  Gwen nodded slowly. "I still do not understand."

  Hunter cleared his throat and continued to stare at the floor. "I got to thinking, what do you buy for a woman who has everything? And then I overheard Dominique and Isabelle talking yesterday afternoon about your love for fairy tales."

  Gwen froze. What the devil had they been talking about her for?

  "A specific fairy tale was brought up…" Hunter chuckled and raised his eyes to meet hers. "Though the end of that tale is quite alarming. I must say I finally understand how you chose your nickname."

  "Red," Gwen mumbled, and tried to hide her smile. "I thought it fit."

  "It sure attracted the Wolf." Hunter reached for her hand.

  "I assure you that was not my intention."

  Hunter laughed. "Clearly. Yet at any rate, you caught one, and considering the Wolf is always painted as the villain, I took it upon myself to clear up the story a bit, do a little rewriting, if you will."

  "So the Wolf does not attack the grandmother and Red in the end?"

  Hunter drew her into his arms and whispered in her ear, "I cannot promise not to attack you. What I can promise you is romance. Now, follow me through the forest."

  Gwen's heart beat out of her chest. "How do I know that the Wolf is not leading me down a path of destruction?"

  "Oh, you can be sure he is, but it will be such a lovely destruction, I doubt you will care."

  "Oh?" Gwen bit her lip.

  "Yes. I aim to make you forget reality for a while, Red."

&nbs
p; "And how do you plan to do that?" She placed her hand in his as he began leading her through the small forest in his entryway and farther into the house.

  "By becoming your dreams."

  ****

  Hunter cringed when the words left his mouth. Becoming her dreams? Had he lost his mind? Since when had he started spouting such romantic nonsense? Perhaps it was just his heightened emotions.

  He felt completely drained. And irrevocably in love. Which was odd. He hadn't planned for that to happen on his wedding day, of all days. Nor had he thought it would be so swift in taking him out. Wasn't love supposed to develop? Or was it truly different each time?

  The way he loved Lucy did not feel this way. His heart had belonged to her, his soul had been hers, but now, as he looked into Gwen's icy blue eyes, he felt lost, as if someone had pushed him from a cliff, and he was still deciding on where his body was to land.

  Everything about how he felt about her was raw, needy, and totally ridiculous! But there it was. His heart beat erratically when she smiled at him, and when his grandfather had claimed her, he had been so proud that she was marrying him that he wasn't sure if he wanted to smile or break down.

  "Where are you taking me?" Gwen giggled behind him as he led her through the trees. It had taken over thirty able-bodied men at least six hours to create the forest in his house. Luckily for him, his house was nearly empty and quite dirty already, all things considered.

  "You'll see." He continued to lead her to the back of the house, where the ballroom was located. "Just in here."

  She walked in behind him and gasped.

  He had to admit to being quite proud at his idea. Hunter had never tried to be romantic before and he was so nervous that she would not like what he'd done that he found himself trembling as Gwen took in the sight.

  Candles lit the entire room, basking it in a heavenly glow. In the middle of the ballroom sat a small table with a meal. But his genius did not stop there. He had strategically placed trees around the room in a maze. They had to find their way through the maze in order to get to their meal. Another maze led them to the grand fireplace, where he had fur blankets and dessert waiting.