by Dena Christy
Protecting Honor
Dena Christy
Copyright © 2019 by Dena Christy
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover Art by Melody Simmons
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Author’s Note
Also by Dena Christy
1
If anything ever happens to me, find Rafe Cooper.
Those words came back to haunt Honor Mercer as she closed the door behind Luke Everette, the deputy sheriff covering Cold Bay, East Brook, and Eden Creek. Her brother, Quinn, was dead and she pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling. A car accident, Luke had said. A tragedy, but Quinn was known for driving fast, and he lost control this time.
She spun away from the door, her stomach in knots. She might have believed it if it had been a few months ago, but now she wasn’t so sure. Quinn had been increasingly convinced that something was going to happen to him, that his position as alpha of the Eden Creek pack was in jeopardy. She’d dismissed his fears as a normal part of the responsibility of his position getting to him. It would get better once the newness of being alpha wore off.
She rubbed her hand over the back of her neck. What was she going to do now? What was the pack going to do? Quinn had been a big part of her life, a big part of all their lives. He’d been raised to be alpha from the cradle and now the pack was without a leader, and she was without her big brother.
She went to the living room and sank down on the sofa. Her hands trembled as the back of her throat burned. She squeezed her eyes shut and a single tear slipped from beneath her lashes.
She reached up and rubbed it away. Now was not the time to fall apart. She needed to be strong if she was going to find out if Quinn’s fears had been real or just a product of his imagination. There would be a power play over who would be alpha. Whoever stepped forward to fill the power void left behind by her brother’s death, would give her a clue if the accident was the tragedy Luke claimed or if it was something more.
There was a knock on the door and she stood up. She could hear her heart beating in her ears as she walked toward the front of the house. Had Luke come back to tell her that it was all a misunderstanding, that Quinn was alive?
Her steps slowed as she approached the door. In her heart, she knew that it was not the deputy coming back. As much as she could not believe it was happening, she knew deep down that her brother was gone.
Was she going to hear more bad news? How much more could she possibly take tonight?
She put her hand on the doorknob and the coldness from the metal seeped into her hand. A heavy lead ball formed in her stomach. She was close to pulling her hand away and letting the door remain unanswered. But hiding solved nothing, and the person on the other side of the door knocked again, harder this time. They would not go away if she ignored them.
With a twist of the knob, she opened the door and swallowed hard. Barrett Todd stood on the other side.
“Hello, Honor. May I come in?”
So nice and polite. Honor pressed her lips together and stood aside, sweeping her arm toward the interior of her home. He brushed by her and she followed his movements with her eyes as she pushed the door shut. Barrett may look like the friendly boy next door, with his sandy blond hair and dark blue eyes, but underneath the sunny good looks was something darker.
He had been a contender for the position of alpha when the old alpha had died. He’d lost to Quinn and the way he’d skulked around Eden Creek after the challenge told Honor that he’d not accepted the loss.
What was he doing here now that Quinn was dead? Luke had only delivered the news and she doubted that Quinn’s death was common knowledge yet. Word traveled fast in Eden Creek, but not that fast.
“What can I do for you, Barrett?” She pasted a smile on her face that she was sure looked fake. It was much too late at night for a social call, so what the hell did he want?
He’d been coming around here too often for Quinn’s liking and for hers. If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn that he was attempting to court her. She hoped not. Despite his good looks and the way the other females in the pack swooned over him, she had no romantic interest in Barrett Todd at all.
“I have an important question that I would like to ask you.” He reached out and took her hands. She tugged them back, but he squeezed them and held on tight. The muscle flickered in his jaw for a second and he smiled at her in a way that was just as phony as hers had been. “I know this will seem rather sudden, but I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. I want you to be my mate.”
Be his mate? He must be joking.
“Barrett, I don’t know what to say.” She stalled for time, trying to think of a way to refuse him that would not anger him. Her big brother was not in the house and would never come back. Quinn was no longer around to protect her and she had to tread carefully. Something in Barrett’s eyes told her he would not take rejection easily.
“Say yes. It’s easy. One simple word, that’s all it needs to be.” He stared at her, his blue eyes intense as if he was willing her to give him the answer he most wanted to hear. She couldn’t do it.
“I’m sorry, but my answer is no.” She didn’t add that it would always be no. There was something about him that she didn’t trust, something about his intensity that frightened her.
“Why?” His eyes narrowed, and he squeezed her hands tighter. The bones in her fingers ground together and she let out a gasp. He must have realized that his mask was slipping because he let her hands go. She took a step away from him and rubbed her hands together. He continued speaking as if his control had never slipped. “I know there isn’t anyone else. Why won’t you at least consider it? We’d be good together.”
The urge to tell him that she would think about it, to stave off this confrontation, was so strong that she almost said what he wanted to hear. Too much had happened tonight for her to want to deal with this. But she knew that he would not stop as long as he had a small shred of hope.
“I’m sorry, Barrett, but my answer is no. I don’t love you and I want to be in love with the man I mate with.” That much was the truth, and she looked at him so that he would see the sincerity in her eyes. Let that explanation be enough to send him on his way and for him to never bring this up again.
“Love? Who said anything about love?” Of all the reactions to her words, she didn’t expect him to laugh. His mouth gave a bitter twist as he looked at her. There was a certain disdain in his eyes that made heat burn up her cheeks. She’d told herself that she’d said nothing wrong, that there was nothing wrong with longing to be loved, but that was not how his eyes made her feel. “Your bloodline is much too valuable for you to be foolish enough to hold out for love.”
“My bloodline? What does that have to do with anything?” Her parents had told her much the same thing when she was growing up, but it had shocked her to hear it from someone not related to her. She had the blood of alphas in her veins, going back throughout the history of her pack. Her parents had told her that she would be a prize for any wolf, but not in the way she wanted. �
�When I mate it will be with someone who values who I am, not what I can bring him.”
“Don’t be a fool, Honor. Some wolf might come along and say all the right words, but how will you know that it’s you he wants and not the power that comes from the blood coursing through your veins. In the blood that will be transferred to the children you’ll give him. At least with me, you’ll know where you stand.”
How fucking dare he act like he was doing her a big favor. That she should be thankful that he was willing to sacrifice himself for her sake. A hard, hot ball formed in her stomach, and she stood up straighter. Who the hell did he think he was, acting like he was the best she could do? She wanted to be loved for herself and settling for anything less was not happening. If Barrett Todd thought she was going to mate with him, he was dead wrong.
“And I suppose you are doing this out of the goodness of your heart? I didn’t know that I was so privileged to have someone like you willing to sacrifice so much for me.”
He laughed again, and Honor drew back in surprise. He was impervious to insults now that she was the angry one.
“There is no need for sarcasm. You have something I want, and I will have it from you.” The way his eyes raked over her made her feel stripped naked and she folded her arms up over her chest in an unconscious move to hide from him. “It’s not your body that is my primary motivation, although I will enjoy that too. It’s access to your bloodline that I want.”
“What good would my bloodline do for you? As far as I know, you aren’t alpha of this pack. You lost that battle with my brother.” Honor moved back from him when she saw rage flare in his eyes and a tiny amber ring encircled his blue irises. She needed to be careful since Quinn wouldn’t be able to step in if her mouth got her into trouble.
He drew in a deep breath through his nose and his eyes changed back to their normal blue. The heat of his anger was replaced with a coldness that was much worse. His smile was downright predatory, and Honor had the feeling that she was seeing the real Barrett Todd for the first time.
“Things change, Honor. Just because a wolf is an alpha doesn’t mean he will be forever. You should think long and hard about that because once I get what I want, you won’t be able to say no to me.”
A chill went down Honor’s spine and it took all her willpower not to shiver in front of him. The cold went through her despite the warm sweater she was wearing.
Did he know about Quinn? She was certain that Luke had made this his first stop, he’d said as much. She had already been running through her head what she was going to tell the pack, how she was going to let everyone know that Quinn was dead. Barrett had shown up too soon after she’d learned the news for Luke to have told him. Perhaps he was just saying this so that she would be intimidated into agreeing. She hoped so because if Barrett knew about Quinn already she would not have much time before he declared himself alpha.
“You can’t force me.” This much was true. He wasn’t alpha yet, and even if he was, it would take more than his authority as alpha to force her into a union with him.
“I won’t have to. You seem to forget that I have powerful friends on the wolf council, and I can have whatever I want with their blessing, including you. I had hoped you would see that mating with me was the right move for you to make. I can see now that you aren’t in a place to say yes, yet. But you will be, soon.” He smirked at her and turned to leave. He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Unless you want to be declared a lone wolf when my time as alpha arrives.”
Honor went cold. That was the worst thing that could ever happen to a werewolf. To be declared a lone wolf was to be kicked out of the pack, to lose all connections and to be forever alone. It was a punishment that some wolves thought was worse than death. She stiffened her spine.
“Lucien would never allow it.” Lucien was head of the werewolf council and he was a fair man. He wouldn’t let the other members force her to bind herself to Barrett, no matter how many friends he had on the council. “And you aren’t the alpha.”
“Well, time will tell. Good night, Honor.” He turned on his heel, a little too self-satisfied for her liking. He was at the door with his hand on the knob, and he turned her head to look at her. “Say hello to your brother for me.”
A wave of ice froze her blood as he opened the door and left the house. As casual as his last words to her were, there was something in his eyes that told another story. He knew about Quinn, knew that she no longer had the protection of her brother. Her pulse was thick and heavy, and she squeezed her hands together in front of her to stop them from trembling.
Quinn had been right, his days as alpha had been numbered and now she knew who would take over. Was the car crash an accident or had Barrett hastened his rise as alpha along by eliminating the one man who stood in the way of what he wanted?
She spun away as her mind raced. There was no time to think about if Barrett was involved in her brother’s death. She needed to pack a few things, and get out of this house, now. She wasn’t safe in Eden Creek. Her brother had told her to go to Rafe Cooper, and that was what she intended to do. She sent up a silent prayer that Rafe would not turn her away.
“I don’t get what you’re so mad about. It’s not like I wasn’t honest and upfront with you about this from the start.” Rafe Cooper folded his arms over his massive, bare chest as he frowned at Stephanie. The sad part about this whole thing was this was not the first time in his life he stood in front of an angry woman’s home in his boxer shorts, staring down the business end of a shotgun. There was a lesson in all this, but apparently, he hadn’t learned it yet. “Could you at least toss me my clothes and boots?”
She flung his jeans at him with one hand and they hit him in the face. His cellphone was still in his pocket and it smacked him on the nose. The jeans fell to the ground as Rafe rubbed the sore spot.
“You tricked me.”
Had her voice always been that shrill? Why hadn’t he noticed that before?
“I don’t believe I did.” Rafe calmly picked his jeans up off the ground and jammed first one leg and then the other into the well-worn denim. “As I recall, I was very clear on what I wanted out of this…” How should he put it?
“Relationship? Jesus Christ, you can’t even say it, can you?” Her mouth twisted for a second and she raised the shotgun a few notches.
Was it wrong that the sight of her anger was turning him on? Physical attraction to her had never been his problem, but it was too late for all that now. Why did she have to go and ruin such a good thing?
“My point is I never lied to you and I didn’t trick you into anything.” He refused to call what they had a relationship because he didn’t do relationships. “I told you I wanted to have a good time. That while I was with you, I wasn’t going to be with anyone else, but that I didn’t want to get serious. You agreed.”
She growled at him. He could see the frustration on her face, and he knew that even now she had been hoping he would change his mind, that he would beg her to be with him forever. That wasn’t happening and he’d been very clear about that from the beginning.
“You were supposed to change.” The end of the shotgun lowered as she mumbled that under her breath. Her eyes darted away from his and she dipped her head forward.
Her curtain of blond hair fell in front of her face and he could see that she was trying to hide the pain she was in. Rafe sighed. Why did they never believe him? It was the same old story. He told them exactly what he wanted and what he didn’t. This situation was happening now because she thought she could change him, that she was going to be the one he would profess his undying love to and they would live happily ever after. There was no such thing as undying love, but the women he was with never seemed to see it.
“Look, I thought we were on the same page. The last thing I wanted was for you to get hurt, but I told you that I wasn’t the settling down type.” He took a step forward and a stone from her gravel driveway dug into the sole of his foot. With a wince, he looked at
her. “Come on, Steph. Don’t be like this.”
“Get out of my sight, Rafe. I should have listened to my friends when they told me you weren’t the kind of man I deserved.” She turned away, and he refrained from telling her that her friends were hardly ones to talk about what she deserved. At least two of them had tried to get in his pants when he was with Stephanie, and he was sure they’d spread their poison into her ear when he’d turned them down. It was a given that they were the ones who’d started the ball rolling on this disaster of a night.
“Can you at least give me a ride back to my place?” He should have known it was a mistake to come out here in her car, but he’d been so hot to get her into bed that he hadn’t been thinking that this would be the outcome.
“Screw you, Rafe. I’m not giving you another thing.” She stomped to her screen door, yanked it open and slammed it shut behind her.
A chill chased itself across Rafe’s bare chest. It was going to be a cold night and he didn’t relish walking home in the cold and dark. He looked down at his bare feet and growled.
“Can I have my boots, please?” He shouted at the closed door but fully expected he would walk home barefoot.
The window of her second-floor bedroom opened and his boots came sailing out toward him. He dodged to the side and narrowly missed getting hit in the head.
“From now on, always go in your truck.” He muttered his rebuke to himself as he went to where his boots had landed and pulled them on. And from now on he was going to make sure that he tucked his socks in his boots whenever he was at a woman’s house too. It was going to be a long walk home with his bare feet sticking inside them. His socks and shirt could be replaced, but his favorite leather jacket was in her bedroom. He glared up at the open window. “Least you could have done was thrown down my jacket too.”