by Amy Pennza
Oh. Way to get ahead of yourself, girl. Here she was, thinking he was about to proposition her when, really, he just wanted to arrange first aid. Time to get out of this conversation as quickly as possible. She tugged her neckline higher. “You can’t do that.”
His gaze tracked her movements. “Why not?”
“People will find out I’m here. The Healer might talk.” If werewolves were good for anything, it was gossip. At least that’s how her father’s pack operated. Everyone was always in everyone else’s business.
“Not this Healer. It’s my cousin, Lizette.”
“The Alpha’s wife?”
Remy nodded. “And she knows how to keep a secret.”
“From her husband? That’s asking a lot.” Based on everything Sophie had heard about Maxime Simard, he was not the type of Alpha to take kindly to deception.
“She’ll understand.”
Would she, though? He made it sound so easy. But Sophie knew better. Nothing about hiding from Asher and her father was going to be easy. She couldn’t stay in the cabin forever.
Remy stood upright and cupped his hands around her upper arms. Voice gentle, he said, “You’re thinking too hard. And before you ask, I promise I can’t read minds. Even if you wanted to leave tomorrow, you’re already at a disadvantage because of these injuries. Let Lizette take care of it. Then we can talk about what comes next.”
There was his scent again…and his eyes. He was irresistible. No wonder so many women had fallen for him.
“One step at a time, sweetheart,” he said.
She swallowed. “One step at a time.”
He smiled. “It’s the only way to get anywhere.”
* * *
As far as bad ideas went, this one was definitely one of his most spectacular.
Remy stood at the living room window, his gaze on the narrow path that ran from the cabin to the Lodge. Assuming Lizette left immediately after they spoke on the phone, she should arrive any minute.
Yep, asking her to come was the dumbest thing he’d ever done. The problem was, it was his only option. The pack had other Healers, but no one else he could trust.
Case in point? Lizette hadn’t balked when he asked her to keep this visit on the down low. His cousin was the only family member he could rely on to drop everything and walk two miles without knowing exactly why he needed her.
A floorboard creaked upstairs. He tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. After he persuaded Sophie to stay, she made a beeline for the stairs, barely pausing long enough to say she felt tired and wanted to get some rest.
That’s what he got for letting his attraction to her show. He could hear Dom’s voice in his head now, lecturing him on all the reasons why hiding Sophie Gregory in his house was foolish and irresponsible.
And dangerous.
Yeah, it was that, too. Overhead, dust motes drifted around the cabin’s rafters. He followed along the underside of the floorboards as a series of creaks signaled that Sophie had walked from the spare room’s small bathroom to her bed. He knew the cabin’s layout by heart—something that came from hammering every damn nail and laying each board himself.
He lowered his gaze to the window and sighed. Her excuse of being tired was believable enough, but he knew the real reason she fled. He couldn’t exactly blame her, either. She spilled her guts about escaping an abusive marriage, and he responded by coming on to her.
It was a mistake to touch her. But then her hair had fallen heavy over her shoulder, the curled end teasing against her breast, and he had to see if it was as soft as it looked.
And when she stuck her rounded little chin in the air for what seemed like the hundredth time, her temper peeking through the meek shell he didn’t buy for a second, he hadn’t been able to resist brushing his fingertips over that incredible skin.
He leaned forward and rested his forehead against the window. Oh yeah, he was done for.
Outside, Lizette emerged from the tree line. She paused at the end of the path and looked over her shoulder, her slender body tense like she was listening for something. After a second, she faced forward and headed toward the cabin.
Haley stepped around a tree and followed close on her heels.
Remy jerked away from the window. “Fuck,” he said under his breath.
The women reached the door right as he flung it open and pinned his cousin with a glare. “I told you to come alone.”
Lizette’s deep blue eyes widened. “Well, hello to you too.”
Beside her, Haley was less diplomatic. “Jeez, Remy. What crawled up your ass and died?”
“My ass is fine, thanks,” he muttered as he scanned the tree line. “Are you sure you weren’t followed?”
“Yes,” Lizette said. “What’s going on?”
He stepped back. “Come in. I’ll explain as best I can.” As soon as they were inside, he closed the door and locked it. Then checked the lock. When he turned around, both women stared at him with identical shocked expressions.
Haley glanced out the window, the movement making her brown curls bounce. “Are you expecting Vikings or something?”
“Very funny,” he said. He turned to Lizette. “Why did you bring her?”
“Hey!” Haley said. “I’m right here, you know.”
Lizette lifted her shoulders. “She saw me sneak out.”
“And that meant you had to bring her along? I told you not to tell anyone about this.”
“You also said to come as quickly as I could.” Lizette shot Haley a disgruntled look. “I didn’t have time to stand there and argue with her.”
That sounded like Haley. Until recently, Lizette held the record for most trips to the Alpha’s office when they were teens. Even Remy couldn’t claim to have stood in front of the big desk, squirming under the Alpha’s stare, as often as Lizette. But when Haley came to the Lodge a few years ago, she had blown them out of the water. It wasn’t necessarily her fault. Orphaned as a kid, she was raised by kind but distant foster parents who spent year after year thinking she was a latent. Their disappointment made Haley act out—anything it took to get someone to notice her.
Remy met her gaze, and any protest he might have voiced died. She was good at hiding it, but there was an edge of vulnerability in her eyes. Besides, it wouldn’t do any good to send her back to the Lodge. She already knew he’d asked Lizette to come without telling Max. Haley might be a wolf, but she was more like a cat when it came to curiosity.
“Well?” Lizette asked. “Why all the secrecy?”
“Uh.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I’ve done a thing.”
Lizette stared at him a moment…then she sucked in a breath. “Does this have something to do with you and Dom fighting over that Alpha’s daughter? The one who just got married?”
Damn, pack gossip was the worst. “Is that what you think we’ve been doing?”
“Dom slammed you into a wall.”
“Not because we were fighting over Sophie,” he said. “Well, not technically, anyway.”
Haley raised an eyebrow. “What other way is there when two guys are interested in the same woman?”
This was going in a very bad direction. He fixed her with what he hoped was a stern expression. “We’re not interested in her.”
“Lie,” she said, a triumphant ring in her voice.
“I’m not interested in her.”
“Lie.”
“Dammit, Haley.” He looked at Lizette. “What have you done to her? She used to be such a cute kid.”
Haley folded her arms. “My sense of smell got a lot better after I Turned. Dom’s been teaching me to use my nose.”
“Great.” Haley was already a busybody. Having her as a walking lie detector would be a nightmare.
“Dom doesn’t think I’m a Tracker, though,” she said. For a second, she looked crestfallen, but then she brightened. “Which is fine, because it’s not really the Gift I wanted.”
Lizette had swung her gaze between the two of them while they argued
. Now she looked at him, her dark blue eyes worried. “Remy, what do you mean you’ve ‘done a thing’?”
Oh, yeah. That. He grimaced.
The worry in her gaze intensified. “Oh no. This is about the Alpha’s daughter, isn’t it?”
A denial leaped to the ready, but he forced it back. He couldn’t exactly lie and say this wasn’t about Sophie. Hell, the whole thing was about her…and him. The scent of vanilla still teased his nose.
Lizette waited, a little frown between her dark brows.
He took a deep breath. “It’s not what you think.”
“Then what is it?”
“Sophie’s…here.”
Side by side, the women’s jaws dropped. Lizette looked around the living room, as if Sophie might materialize at any second. “Here?”
“Upstairs.”
“Oh, Remy.” Lizette put her hand over her mouth. “You’ve gone too far this time.”
Haley squinted at the ceiling. “You kidnapped a married woman?”
Remy scowled. “I didn’t kidnap her.”
“Then what is it?” Lizette asked. “You decided to run away together? Her husband is heir to the Vermont Territory.” She lowered her voice. “So help me, Remy, if you’ve made trouble for Max, I will never forgive you.”
“Will you just listen?” He glanced at the stairs. The last thing he needed was Sophie hearing any of this. If she got even a hint that her predicament might put Max or the territory in jeopardy, she’d run off. A shudder zigzagged down his spine. Her plan to hide in Europe would never work. Its lack of alphas and pack structure might appeal to her now, but the reality was far different than she imagined. The absence of leadership merely created a vacuum, and lawlessness had taken its place. If she went there, she’d just trade one set of problems for another.
Lizette and Haley waited, expectant looks on their faces.
He sighed. “I didn’t kidnap her, and we haven’t run away together.”
“Bummer,” Haley said. “Because that would be so romantic.”
Lizette tossed her an exasperated look before saying, “Remy, if you don’t explain what’s going on right now, I’m going to scream.”
He put up his hands. “All right, all right. Just…don’t scream until you hear me out.” Starting from the day he saw Sophie standing next to the line of SUVs, he told them about her marriage, her escape from Asher, and her mental cry for help. He left out his attraction to her. Dom was the only one who knew how close he’d been to going after her all those weeks ago. No one else needed that particular bit of information. It would only make things more complicated for Sophie if people suspected her of being involved with him. Right now, she needed safety. Dependability.
No one had ever accused him of offering either of those things.
By the time he finished, Lizette’s expression had transformed from tense to enraged, her lips compressed in a tight line.
“He bit her?” she asked.
Haley looked like she was going to be sick. “Why would he do that? I thought mates cared for each other.”
“They do,” Remy said. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her against his side. “I don’t know Asher Benton, but this is abnormal behavior, to say the least.”
Lizette nodded. “A bonded pair would do anything for each other. Anything.” Her cheeks flushed, which probably meant she was thinking of Max—and for good reason. She understood the power of the mate bond, probably better than anyone. Just a couple months earlier, she saved Max’s life by taking out a Hunter who decided he didn’t like the idea of a Bloodsinger turning latents. Aiden had been a member of Max’s personal guard, which meant he had access to a lot of the Alpha’s secrets.
Including Lizette.
Despite Max’s best efforts to keep Lizette’s Gift under wraps, Aiden had suspected her abilities. When he learned her old boyfriend was succumbing to the madness common among latents, he sent an anonymous email to the boyfriend’s brother. Sure enough, brother dear had dragged Lizette’s former flame into the territory, desperate for a cure.
Max reacted predictably, which was a nice way of saying he completely lost his shit. Thank goodness for Lizette, who calmed him before he could rip out any throats or start an inter-territorial war. Then she foiled Aiden’s plan to kill Max by killing Aiden first.
Quite a feat for someone who spent the first fifteen years of her life thinking she was human.
She met Remy’s gaze over the top of Haley’s head. “Where’s Sophie now? I’d like to get a look at those wounds.”
“Guest room.” Remy released Haley and tugged on her ponytail. “Don’t let this put you off the mate bond. Asher Benton is a dickwad.”
“Dickwad?”
“What, kids these days don’t say that anymore?” He looked at Lizette, who shrugged.
“I stopped trying to keep up with teenager slang a long time ago.”
Haley rolled her eyes. “You guys sound like you’re prepping to move into a retirement home.”
“A retirement home for werewolves,” Remy said. “I can only imagine what activity time would look like.”
That got a giggle out of Haley. “I can’t picture Dom doing chair yoga.”
Lizette sobered. “Speaking of Dom… You really think you can convince him to keep this from Max?”
Good point. Remy sighed. “I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.” Mostly because he’d been distracted by a pair of soft brown eyes and curves that made blood rush to the dumbest parts of his body. He might have carried Sophie into the cabin in wolf form, but his mind had zero trouble recalling what she looked like in skin instead of fur.
“He’s Max’s Beta,” Lizette said, the worry back in her eyes. “You can’t expect him to hide something like this, Remy.”
Remy stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I know.”
“What are you going to do once your twenty-four hours are up? What did Dom say?”
He drew a breath and held it. Truth be told, he didn’t really know where he stood with Dom at the moment. After Remy got Sophie inside, Dom had left for the Lodge with little more than a grunt of acknowledgment. Remy really couldn’t blame him, either. Dom had every right to be pissed, considering Remy had dredged up the most painful part of his past last night.
Dredged it up and then chucked it right in Dom’s face.
“Remy?” Lizette pressed.
He sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. “He didn’t say anything beyond agreeing to keep a lid on things for a bit. And I know he’ll fight me on hiding her.” In his mind, his wolf snarled. The beast didn’t like the idea of another male threatening Sophie—however indirectly.
“Oh Rem.” Lizette shook her head. “You shouldn’t have promised Sophie she could hide here. It won’t work.”
“She threatened to run the second I brought up the idea of sanctuary. I would have said anything to make her stay.”
Lizette studied him, an assessing look in her gaze.
A tingle of apprehension ran down his spine. What did his cousin see? Lizette had a degree in psychology and was working on a master’s in counseling. It was an understatement to say she was a keen observer of nuance and body language. Hell, she was the first one to caution it was just as important to pay attention to what people didn’t say versus what they did say.
Because he was a weak-ass coward, he pretended he didn’t notice her seeing right through his bullshit. He gestured toward the stairs. “We should go up.”
Lizette’s raised eyebrow told him she had plenty more to say, but she nodded. “All right. I’ll treat her. You stay put, though.”
In his mind, his wolf perked up. “Why?”
“I’ll need to examine her,” Lizette said. “Considering what she’s been through, it’s probably better if Haley and I go alone.”
He wanted to argue, but she had a point. Healing was an intimate experience. At the very least, Lizette would probably ask Sophie to remove her shirt.
And she wa
sn’t wearing anything underneath.
He coughed into his fist. “Uh, yeah. Makes sense. Go on up.”
Lizette gave him another lingering look before gesturing to Haley and heading for the stairs. “We’ll be down in a bit,” she said as they climbed. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and finish those pancakes? Sophie will be hungry after the healing.”
He waited until they reached the top of the stairs and disappeared down the hallway.
“Make myself useful,” he said under his breath. He looked toward the kitchen. Cooking might keep his mind off Sophie.
For now, at least.
7
Sophie clutched the bed’s blanket in her fists as footsteps approached her door.
Even with the wolf’s advanced hearing, she hadn’t been able to catch more than faint murmurs of conversation downstairs. The cabin’s walls must be thick—a common construction trait in werewolf homes, where the occupants could eavesdrop from the other side of the house. Creeping over to the door had been out of the question, since the floors creaked. So she was forced to stay in bed, ears straining to pick out a word here and there.
She knew there were two women downstairs, though. And they were both headed toward her—without Remy.
The footsteps stopped, and a light knock rang out.
“Sophie?” a woman called, her voice muffled. “It’s Lizette Simard. Remy’s cousin.”
“And Haley!” a second voice added.
Sophie tossed back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She stared at the door. What should she say? Come on in? Her heart thumped hard against her sternum. What was she thinking, agreeing to let Remy’s cousin come here? Lizette was the Alpha’s wife. Mates didn’t keep secrets from each other. Sophie’s parents shared everything. They were a united front in all things. Constance Gregory would never hide a fugitive from her husband. In twenty-three years, Sophie had never seen her mother side against her father. Ever.
Not even when it meant ignoring her daughter’s wishes.
Another knock. “Sophie?”
“Coming.” Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat as she moved to the door. “I’m coming.” She paused, hand on the knob, and took a deep breath. How much had Remy told Lizette? Sophie’s heart beat faster.