Secrets (The Serenity Series Book 1)

by Dawn Kirby

  “You heard her, take it off,” he ordered.

  I turned over to make sure the bindings were removed. Thankfully Donovan’s wrists were fine. The rope wasn’t on long enough to cause any damage. He nodded his head curtly and sat down in the chair closest to me.

  “You’ve been well, Donovan?” Michael asked pleasantly.

  Donovan simply nodded his head. If I hadn’t known this was Michael’s house, I would have assumed it belonged to Donovan. He sat calmly in his chair, looking like a king. His level of confidence, given our situation, was amazing.

  “Michael, he has killed at least three of my men, and the woman knocked another out cold with this,” Dane said angrily, tossing the broken chair leg on the coffee table in front of me. “I want them both punished.”

  “Well, my barbaric friend, the woman was probably defending herself,” he said diplomatically. “I can clearly see you have disregarded my orders.”

  Donovan smiled smugly up at them. He was going to enjoy this. I have to admit, I was interested to see how they were going to explain their reasons myself. Since I was supposed to be up in that dark room all day, a tumble down the stairs was going to be hard for Michael to believe.

  “I would like to know why the young lady cannot open her eyes,” he asked politely. “I would also like to know how her shin was broken, and about the many cuts on her body.”

  Dane didn’t waste any time on his well-thought-out explanation. “Her shin, unfortunately, was broken when I brought her in after the vampire’s sentence was carried out. The young lady was so distraught, she fell on the stairs.” He stopped and waited for a response, but Michael stayed quiet. “As for the rest, Mark and I were exploring her strengths. We had no idea her eyes would be harmed in the sun.”

  “Did it occur to you to ask her?” Michael’s scent began to overpower everything else.

  “She heals quickly,” Mark offered. The two vampires looked over at my broken body and then back at him. “If it is a small cut, she heels instantly,” he corrected. “A deep one obviously takes time.”

  “Obviously,” Donovan said.

  Michael walked slowly towards Dane. He stopped when they were about two feet apart. Even though Dane was taller, it was clear by the submissive stance he had taken Michael was more powerful.

  “Why is this young man such a threat to you?” Michael asked curiously. “There are plenty of other werewolf offspring who inherit one or two traits yet you’re only concerned with Raine.”

  Dane swallowed hard. “He’s in my territory. I don’t care how many traits he may or may not have, he follows my rules or else!”

  “So you beat this woman because you failed to catch him when you had the chance,” he asked incredulously. “He was handed to you on a silver platter!”

  Mark began to get angry. I could smell his ashy scent above all others. Seeing his temper once was enough for me. I shrank into the couch, getting as far away from the three of them as possible.

  “If she had told us where he was hiding, she would have been fine,” Mark growled. “We know they never went home.”

  “Tell me something, young man. If she was caught and the rest of her party escaped, how would the dear lady know where they went?” Michael asked.

  An awkward silence fell over the room.

  “Michael, if I may ask, what purpose would an attempted rape serve?”

  Quicker than I could be shocked by the question, Michael was in front of me. He ripped my hands away from my body and saw my torn shirt. His cool fingers ran over a few of the deeper bite marks. He was on Mark an instant later. He’d caught him by the collar of his shirt before Mark was able to step out of the room.

  “You put your filthy hands on her?” he bellowed. His temper had reached its boiling point. “Dane, this is my house! I set the rules. Your boy’s behavior is completely unacceptable.” He stopped for a breath. “I trust you stepped in?”

  “Only after she dealt him a heartfelt kick,” Donovan said amused. “I fear the boy will not be able to perform his manly duties for a while. Even as tattered as she is, it seems she can deliver a most painful blow.”

  “Is this true?” Michael looked to Dane. He still held Mark by the front of his shirt.

  Dane looked down at him defiantly. “She should have answered my questions.”

  “She is mine,” Michael yelled.

  All of a sudden I smelled our rescuers. The perfume of mint and lavender mingled together pleasantly, faintly noticeable under the strong smell of a storm. My heart practically jumped out of my chest. I looked at Donovan. He nodded once and held his hand out, telling me to stay still. It was hard, but I did it.

  “I’m afraid you’re wrong about that, Mikey,” Kale said, standing outside the doorway.

  For once he wasn’t smiling. Declan stood behind him looking absolutely stone faced. Michael let go of Mark, intrigued by Kale’s brazen announcement. Mark took the opportunity and quickly moved away from him. I couldn’t see Raine anywhere yet, but Donovan had put himself in a protective position with me at his back.

  “Don’t move,” he whispered to me.

  “What fool has dared to endear himself to her?” Michael said, smiling wickedly at Kale.

  “A coward obviously,” Dane said triumphantly. “The boy can’t even come save her himself.”

  It was Kale’s turn to smile. He had a monster of a secret and he was ready to share it. “You are so wrong. Your prodigal sons have come to see you,” he said, smacking Mark on the back. “And I gotta tell ya, Raine is just dying to get to know our baby brother better.”

  No one in the room moved. Kale’s unexpected words had stunned them silent. Mark’s face held a mixture of emotions. Anger and confusion being the most prominent. Dane was furious. Michael, still stunned, looked to Donovan for an explanation.

  “Shall I clear this up for you, Michael?” Donovan asked.

  “Please do,” Michael said.

  “The man Dane seeks so rabidly is his own son,” Donovan told him. “There is a secret inside Raine that Dane is willing to kill for to keep from being discovered.”

  “And what would that be?” he asked curiously.

  “I had thought Dane simply wanted to keep their identities as his offspring a secret, but I am not so sure now,” Donovan said, watching Dane closely. “I myself am very interested to find out the truth.”

  “They are of your flesh?” Michael asked Dane.

  “I was with their mother, but that is where my relationship with them ends,” he answered angrily. “The fact that either one has my blood running through their veins means nothing to me. Raine has more than one werewolf quality and should have come to me. I don’t care if he can change or not.”

  Mark looked hard at his father and then at Kale. I assume seeing the same resemblances I had. I thought he had known all along they were brothers. Obviously, I’d been wrong. Mark was clearly as shocked as Michael had been.

  “Once again you’re wrong,” Kale said happily.

  As soon as the words came out of his mouth a hulking, brown wolf walked slowly into the room. Kale grinned proudly when he and Declan stepped aside to let the beast inside. I knew right away it was Raine. Kale and the other werewolf he’d fought when we first came to this house were big, but Raine was formidable. His size alone was enough to scare me, and I knew him.

  “Dad,” Kale said, practically laughing, “I’d like you to meet Raine. And yes, he can change.”

  Raine began walking slow, determined circles around them. The low growl I heard coming from him chilled me to the bone. Whatever happened next wasn’t going to be good.

  Inch by slow inch, I reached for the broken chair leg on the table. It wasn’t much, but it had worked for me once. When I finally had it in hand, I shoved it in between the cushion and the back of the couch. My hand stayed wrapped around it ready for anything.

  Kale kept a firm hand on Mark as Declan went to stand beside Donovan. Dane was already stripping off his clothes to go int
o his change. He wasn’t planning on leaving here without a fight. Michael kept his eyes on Dane, watching his transformation carefully. From where I was, I couldn’t see how the transformation was made, but when I saw Dane as a wolf he was nowhere near as large as Raine.

  In seconds Raine was on him. Dane’s smaller form kept him on the defensive from the start. Raine locked on his neck and violently shook him like a rag-doll Dane kept trying to bite his front legs, but he was too quick and easily sidestepped him.

  They fought all over the room. Raine was so focused on the fight he didn’t notice when he was feet away from knocking his head on the coffee table. Luckily, he managed to throw Dane’s body into it instead. The blow seemed to leave him a little dazed, but Dane wasn’t about to give up. He wanted Raine dead.

  The noises’ coming from them was as vicious as their fight. The snarling reverberated throughout the otherwise quite house. Every time Raine got in a good bite, Dane backed off quickly and growled at him. The hair on the smaller wolf’s back stood up like the quills on a porcupine.

  Dane may have been smaller, but his agility was impressive. A few times he’d just missed Raine’s neck. They ended up locked at the jaws the last time he made the attempt. Neither was willing to let go of the other. I could hear the sound of their teeth grinding deep into the others’ jaws. That left them both with blood dripping from their mouths.

  Raine picked him up by the scruff of the neck and threw Dane’s body against a bookshelf, but he got right back up again. They circled each other slowly, waiting to take the advantage. I know they were both animals at this point, but the hate they felt for each other carried over stronger than ever.

  Mark managed to distract both of them when he tried-and failed-to get away from Kale. Dane took the advantage and forced Raine onto his back using his upper body like a tank. He locked his jaws tightly on Raine’s throat and began to squeeze the life out of him. Every time Raine tried to take a breath, Dane shook his head furiously.

  Raine’s heartbeat never slowed down, but his breathing became more and more ragged. Nobody stepped in to help him. I looked at Kale, but he was smiling. I didn’t see anything amusing about it at all. I nearly screamed at him, but then Raine’s breathing started to steady.

  Suddenly, Dane was knocked clear across the room. His body slammed against the bookshelves hard, splintering the wood. A giant grizzly bear now stood where Raine the werewolf had been. He let out an angry roar and charged towards Dane’s crumpled body.

  Whether due to a massive injury or lack of concentration Dane had shifted back into a man. He sat there, eyes wide, mouth open, watching the angry bear advance on him. Shock was the only way to describe the look on his face. His hand raked at the bloody claw marks the bear had left across his chest. They were as long as they were deep.

  The look of hatred in Raine’s eyes was dangerous. Even with the red cloud of color hindering my sight I could see it. It was the same look David had when he found out Judith killed Mom. I panicked. I didn’t want him to turn into a killer just because he couldn’t control his anger. There had already been too much death.

  “Raine!” I screamed.

  My voice reached his ears and he stopped his attack just before he put his deadly paw to the side of Dane’s head. That blow would have surely killed him. His eyes met mine.

  With that fight stopped another one began. Mark got away from Kale and started beating on Dane. Declan and Donovan rushed to help Kale separate them and Michael came at me. I pulled out the leg and jumped quickly from the couch. Even in my haste to get away, I remembered my broken shin and let my weight fall on my good leg.

  Michael came at me with such unbelievable force that he never saw the chair leg. I felt a dull thud as his chest slammed into the makeshift stake. A slow trickle of blood started to flow from the wound, onto my hands. His body stiffened and lurched towards me. His weight pushed me backwards. My leg gave out and I collapsed.

  We hit the floor and the jagged end of the leg poked into the skin below my collarbone. The pain wasn’t bad until his full weight began to push it farther into my skin. His nearly lifeless eyes bored into mine. I saw the agony in them, but with him on top of me there was nothing I could do to stop it.

  Dane got the upper hand on Mark and threw him into us on the floor. The added weight only forced the leg in farther. Mark rolled off of Michael’s back and ran through a door I hadn’t noticed before. Dane charged out after him. Kale took off after them.

  I expected Michael to turn to dust, but he didn’t. The leg felt like it was sliding farther into me than it was into him. I looked into his eyes for some sign of life. The light that had been there minutes before had completely gone out. Judith’s death came to me and I realized that until the leg was forced all the way through his body, he wouldn’t disintegrate.

  Raine came to my side as soon as he was able to come out of his change. He started to pull Michael off of me, but I stopped him with my hand. There was no way for me to know how far the leg had gone in and I didn’t want to take any chances. He needed some help first.

  “The leg is in me,” I said softly.

  “Declan, I need you!” he yelled.

  Donovan came to help, too. Raine guided the leg out of my chest while they lifted Michael’s stiff body off of me. I held my breath, expecting to feel a huge hole. The spot was bleeding and it was definitely more than a flesh wound, but it wasn’t the worst injury I had to deal with.

  They dropped Michael’s body onto the floor face first causing the stake to shoot through his back. His body finally began to crumble into a pile of dust. I personally could not have been happier. Michael was no longer a threat to me.

  “My God, Leah, what have they done to you?” Raine whispered, looking at my body. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here.”

  “You were where you needed to be,” I said softly. “That’s all I care about.”

  He wanted to touch me, but he couldn’t figure out where to put his hands. When he saw my ripped shirt, he picked up the tattered piece of material and squeezed it in his fist. His eyes raked over my bare legs. The muscles in his jaw began to twitch. I felt his body temperature skyrocket.

  “You will be happy to know she inflicted some pain of her own,” Donovan said, smiling broadly. “Mark will have a permanent scar on his lip to remember her by.”

  “What’d you do, punch him?” Kale asked, coming back into the room.

  I smiled when I noticed his new haircut. Thanks to the injury he’d received last night and a long row stitches to close the wound he was now sporting a thick Mohawk.

  “I bit him,” I told him. Raine’s body stiffened. “It’s okay, I got him.”

  “She did,” Donovan said proudly. “According to the two men that were outside the room at the time, Mark was forcing a kiss on her. She, defending herself, bit down until his lip bled. Naturally, he got angry and tossed her on the bed. When he went for her pants, she kicked him. Broken bones and all.”

  “Where are they now?” Raine asked, glancing around the dark room. He picked me up and held me as tight as he could. It hurt like hell, but I didn’t care.

  “Dead,” Donovan said flatly.

  “Good riddance,” Declan said. “Any man that aligns himself with the likes o’ Dane should be shot.”

  “Speaking of which, they got away,” Kale said to Donovan. “As mad as they are I’m pretty sure one of them won’t live to see tomorrow.” He tossed Raine a pair of jeans and helped me lay back down. Until then I hadn’t even noticed he was naked. Raine put them on before my back hit the couch. In a second he was kneeling beside me holding my hands.

  “Raine, exactly what is your father?” Donovan asked.

  “He is a shifter, but he’s not like me,” he explained. “The wolf is the only thing he can change into.”

  “I see. You were right to keep it to yourself,” Donovan said thoughtfully. “He would have killed us all.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

&
nbsp; “We all have secrets, son. I don’t have to know everything,” he said, patting Raine firmly on the shoulder. “You have done nothing wrong.”

  “We need to get her out o’ here,” Declan said urgently. “She needs medical help.” He leaned over and gently kissed me on the forehead. I smiled at him when he stood back up.

  “Where’s the closest hospital?” Raine asked him. “We need to get her somewhere fast.”

  “We cannot take her there, Raine,” Donovan said. “It’s not worth the risk.”

  “We can’t just leave her like that,” Kale yelled furiously. “She was hurt protecting us! Raine, I’ll start the truck, you bring her outside. We’re taking her to the hospital right now.”

  He started to walk out the door, but Donovan stopped him. For a minute I thought they were going to have it out right then and there. Kale was pissed and he wasn’t going to give. Donovan’s authority had just been questioned and I knew exactly how that had gone over before. Instead of a fight, Donovan put his hand on his shoulder.

  “I realize what Leah has come to mean to all of you,” he said calmly. “I feel the same way, but if we take her to a hospital we will be detained for questioning and Dane will get to her. This time, I fear, he will kill her. I must ask for your complete trust in me now.”

  “So what are you suggesting we do?” Raine said dryly. His anger was beginning to match Kale’s. “I won’t let her suffer anymore than she has too.”

  “Is her friend still in my home?” he asked.

  “She said she wasn’t leaving until we brought Leah back,” Kale informed him briskly. His face relaxed. “I bet she’ll be able to take care of her.”

  “That will be fine. You drive them back,” Donovan told Declan. “I’ll be right behind you as soon as I find my car keys.”

  “Donovan, I can stay here an’ help ye look. There may be more o’ ‘em,” Declan offered.

  “Leah, do you hear anyone else in this house?” Donovan asked politely.

  I closed my eyes and listened like my life depended on it (which in some ways, it did), but I couldn’t hear anything. There was nobody else around. Not one soul. Donovan must have single-handedly taken out all Dane’s help before he was captured again. If Raif was anywhere around, I was positive Donovan could take care of him too.