by Maya Banks
She shifted uncomfortably and forced her gaze away.
“This shit has to stop, Katie,” he said in a firm voice.
That pissed her off. She whirled around to glare at him. “Where the hell do you get off giving me orders? I don’t even know who you are or why you’ve taken it upon yourself to irritate the living shit out of me. Don’t you think you’ve caused me enough grief?”
He rammed the gearshift down and took off, the SUV rocking over the bumpy terrain.
“You’re a piece of work, you know that?”
She gaped at him, speechless.
“You haven’t even asked about Gabe.”
Rage and grief grabbed hold of her throat and squeezed. Hard.
“You said he was dead,” she said through gritted teeth. “What else is there to know?”
He glanced sideways at her. “You’re a cold bitch. He was your brother.”
She shook her head and turned away. “What do you want me to do, cry? Would it make you feel better for me to fall at your feet in a weeping, wailing mass of femininity? Would that appeal to your manly ego?”
Her fingers curled into tight fists in her lap. “Well, let me tell you, none of that is going to keep me alive, and if Gabe taught me nothing else, he taught me to survive. The last thing he’d want is for me to rely on a complete stranger. Trust no one.”
“Christ, you even sound like him,” Braden muttered. “The most suspicious bastard I ever knew.”
For a moment she wanted to do just what she scorned and ask Braden about Gabe. Details. Information she was hungry for. Yes, Gabe was her brother, and he’d saved her, but she hadn’t seen him in two years. Their phone calls were always brief and to the point.
“Gabe sent us to find you,” Braden said. “Now, you can believe that or not, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to risk my ass or my brother’s just because you can’t decide whether you’d rather hang out with us or your buddy Ricardo.” He snorted and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s a hard choice.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” she said softly. “I don’t want to hang out with either of you. Do I think you’re a better choice than Ricardo? I don’t know.”
She stopped when he sucked in an angry breath.
“I don’t deal in instincts, Braden. I look at irrefutable evidence, and I’m sorry, but so far, I’m not seeing anything that screams to me I can trust you. I’ve been burned and burned bad. If you think I’m going to put my life in your hands because you say Gabe sent you then you’re out of luck.”
Much like the Taser Ricardo had used on her, sudden remembrance hit her with enough force to knock the breath from her. Her hands flew to the back of her neck, frantically feeling for the protrusion.
“Oh fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she breathed.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Braden demanded.
All the blood squeezed itself from her cheeks until they grew tight. She was an idiot, and she deserved to die for such stupidity.
Her fingertips fumbled over her nape until finally she found the thin piece of metal.
Braden’s hand circled her wrist, and he yanked downward. “What are you doing?”
“Tracking device,” she croaked. “I fucked up. I found it but left it in because I intended to use it to throw them off my trail. That’s why they backed off, I’m sure. Because they know how to find us.”
Braden chuckled.
“What the hell is so funny?” she demanded.
“Ian and I planted the tracking device. I’m surprised you found it.”
“You what?”
She jerked her hand out of his grasp and reached for the device again.
“Leave it,” he ordered.
She stared at him in astonishment. “You’re out of your mind. Like I want you knowing my every movement? Don’t you get the whole point of escape?”
He laughed again, much to her irritation.
“You’re not escaping, Katie. But that tracking device has already saved your damn life once. How do you think we knew where to find you when Ricardo swooped in and carried you off to his love nest?”
She threw up her hands in exasperation. “You didn’t save shit!”
“Ricardo is not your only concern,” Braden said quietly. “In fact, I’d go so far as to say he’s a little fish compared to what else you’re up against.”
She made a rude noise. “If this is some sort of bullshit attempt to scare me into sticking around, save it.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Braden said in a clipped tone.
A dart of fear scurried from her belly into her throat.
Braden’s hands tightened around the steering wheel as he navigated back onto the highway. She waited in silence for him to explain, to give her something other than a tersely worded dictate.
It pissed her off that he had the power to frighten her, but she’d long given up trying to deny her fears. Being helpless and powerless did scare the hell out of her.
When it was clear he wasn’t going to offer anything further, she reached over to touch his arm. He flinched and quickly glanced over at her. She retracted her hand in silent apology.
“What were you talking about, Braden? Why did Gabe send you when he’s told me under no circumstances was I to ever trust anyone? No exceptions.”
“And why is that, Katie? What the hell is going on between you and Ricardo?”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about Ricardo. You wanted to talk about Gabe earlier, so talk. Why did he send you after me, and what else am I up against?”
His eyes narrowed in the dim glow of the headlights. “Seems to me we both have information the other wants. You up for a trade?”
A trade. He had to be joking. Like this was some game. Her life was on the line, damn it, and that wasn’t something she took lightly.
But still, uncertainty warred with her determination not to offer him anything at all. What if Gabe really had sent them? What could possibly be worse than being pursued by Ricardo and company?
She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“Look, Katie, I get that you don’t trust me and Ian. I don’t expect you to. But believe it or not, we’re trying to help you. Now, you can accept that, and we can work together, or you can keep fighting, which only puts you in more danger. We can’t protect you if we’re constantly having to chase you down.”
She sighed and looked away to stare out her window at the passing scenery. He was asking her to trust him even while saying he understood her not trusting him.
If only Gabe hadn’t died.
That was a stupid thing to say. His being alive wouldn’t change her present circumstances. He’d taught her a lot, but she’d been on her own for years. Dead or alive, Gabe wouldn’t save her. It was up to her to save herself.
“We’re not adversaries, Katie, despite what you might believe. You don’t have to trust us, but it would be stupid not to take the help we’re offering.”
And that was it in a nutshell. Stupid. She had a lot of experience in being stupid. She made such a big deal over not trusting her instincts. Well, her instincts screamed for her not to have anything to do with Ian or Braden.
God, what a mess.
She looked at what was concrete, what was tangible. Ian and Braden hadn’t tried to hurt her, and they had done their best to keep her away from Ricardo, despite her early confusion that they worked together.
She couldn’t believe she was even contemplating going along with this.
She glanced over her shoulder at Ian, who was unconscious, and then back to Braden.
“I’ll tell you what you want to know if you answer all my questions. All. But I won’t do it until he’s awake,” she said, jerking her thumb in Ian’s direction. “I want to hear what both of you have to say, and I want to look you in the eye while you’re talking.”
“Fair enough,” Braden said with a shrug. “Why don’t you get some rest. I promise not to try and kill you wh
ile you sleep.”
She slouched down in her seat, weariness seeping into her bones. She wanted rest, needed it. If she didn’t refuel, she was going to crash and burn.
“Will you be okay to drive?” she asked and immediately cursed the fact that she sounded concerned.
He cracked a half-smile. “Go to sleep, Katie. I’ll be fine.”
Chapter Ten
Ian dragged himself from the remnants of a drugged sleep. Dark images assaulted him, pulling at him. Memories of the hunt. The overwhelming urge to claim what was his.
Katie.
He put a hand to his throbbing head and shook the cobwebs free. He was losing his grip on sanity. Katie wasn’t his, and moreover he didn’t want her to be.
Slowly he sat up and blinked to bring his surroundings into focus.
“You feeling any better?” Braden asked from the driver’s seat.
Ian leaned forward to stare out the windshield. The eastern sky was lightening as the first rays of sunlight eased over the horizon.
Then he looked over to see Katie scooted over as far against the door as she could go. She was curled into a tiny ball, her hands in a defensive position, and her eyes were tightly closed.
She slept, but even in sleep she was tense and rigid.
“Ian?”
He turned to his brother. “I’m good. I think.”
Braden’s troubled gaze found Ian in the rearview mirror. “That was a bad one, Ian. What the fuck happened?”
Ian rubbed the back of his neck and closed his eyes for a moment. “It’s her. I can’t explain it. There’s something about her that sets me off. Been that way since the beginning.”
Braden sighed. “Yeah, I know. Me too.”
“Where are we?” Ian asked as he studied the roadway.
“Almost to Durango.”
“Pull over. I’ll drive. You need to get some sleep.”
Braden rolled one shoulder and worked his head from side to side. “I thought we’d snag a room just long enough to grab showers and touch base with Eli.”
Braden glanced over at Katie and said in a quieter voice, “She’s wiped, and she needs to eat. The bandages came off when she ran, and she needs tending to.”
Despite his irritation with her, Ian softened a little when his gaze swept over Katie’s huddled form.
“Okay, but we need to make it quick.”
Braden nodded.
Thirty minutes later, they pulled into a roadside hotel. Braden hopped out and looked back at Ian. “Will you be okay with her?”
Ian swallowed the retort and motioned for Braden to go. As his brother walked away, Ian stared down at Katie who hadn’t stirred.
What was it about her that got him so fired up? He wasn’t unused to the instability or the sudden urge to shift, but this was different. Something dark and feral came over him. A drive inside him that had nothing to do with danger or risk.
He wanted her. Badly. It pissed him off to no end. How could his body, his beast, want something so badly when his mind was screaming hell no? And why was Braden similarly affected?
Unable to stand the confines of the truck, he eased the door open, careful not to make too much noise. He stepped into the early morning coolness and breathed deep of the cleansing air. He took several gulps before he gently shut the door and walked a few steps toward the front of the truck where he could still see Katie through the windshield.
Would he have hurt her? It was hard to say. He couldn’t trust the jaguar because he retained no memories of being the beast. He only knew the overwhelming desire to possess her, to mark her, to make her his, that swamped him just prior to his shift.
The best thing would be to stay as far away from her as he could, but that wasn’t exactly a possibility when he and Braden would be spending every waking minute with her until Esteban made his move.
As he watched, she came awake. There was no slow build to awareness. No sleepy stretch or lazy yawn. She bolted forward, her eyes wide, and he could see the tension billowing off her in waves.
Her gaze connected with his, and for a moment, he saw relief. That surprised him because she’d made no bones about the fact she didn’t trust him or Braden one iota. No sooner had he reflected on the apparent relief in her expression, her eyes hardened as she stared back at him through the glass.
With a sigh, he sauntered around to her door.
“Why are we stopped?” she asked as soon as he swung it open.
“Braden is getting us a room so we can shower, and then we’ve got phone calls to make and we—you—need to eat.”
She wiped a hand over her face, drawing his attention to the still-vivid bruising on her cheek and on her slender neck.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
It took him a minute to realize he was scowling.
“Nothing,” he muttered. But anger he couldn’t quite control quivered and snaked through his veins, whispering to him and calling to the predator.
They both looked up as Braden strode out to the truck.
“Let’s go,” he said as he walked to the back to pop the trunk.
He tossed a set of keys at Ian. “You and Katie head in. I’ll follow with the first-aid kit and the bags.”
Ian caught the plastic key tag and examined the number. Then he scanned the line of rooms until his gaze alighted on the correct door.
“Come on,” he said to Katie, though he was careful not to touch her or act too aggressively.
She hesitated only a slight moment before she turned and followed him.
The room was musty and stale and it was nearly as chilly inside as it was outside. Ian yanked at the yellowed drapes to obscure the view and then turned on the heater under the window.
Katie sat on the edge of the bed, her body language ill at ease. The heater lurched and started to hum, and the smell of exhaust filtered into the room.
Braden stepped inside and tossed a couple of duffel bags on the bed. Katie’s backpack landed next to her, and she grabbed it, yanking open the zipper. She poured out the few changes of clothes and rifled through the contents until she came to a wad of cash and her bankcard.
She fingered the bills and looked up first at Braden and then Ian in confusion.
“Did you think we ripped you off?” Ian asked dryly.
“What was I supposed to think?” she said. “I wake up tied to you in my bed, and my money and bankcard are gone from my pocket.”
“Not that I don’t love watching you two butt heads, but Katie, you need to jump in the shower and wash all the blood and dirt off, and then we need to tend to your wounds,” Braden said.
Her posture immediately became defensive. “I can manage on my own.”
“He didn’t offer you a choice,” Ian pointed out. “Get in the shower or I’ll do it for you. That’s all the choice I’m giving you. When you get out, we’re going to take care of those cuts and bruises.”
Even as he issued the edict, his loins tightened at the idea of being in the shower with her, his hands running over her wet body. He turned away before she could witness his arousal. He was losing his mind. Not to mention his control.
He heard her quick intake of breath. Did her thoughts coincide with his? He glanced down at his fist, held so tight that the skin stretched painfully across his knuckles. With a quick flex, he released his fingers then turned back around.
Katie disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door quietly behind her.
“You okay, man?” Braden asked.
“No, I’m not okay,” Ian bit out. “Where’s the inhibitor? Carry it on you from now on. It does us no good stashed in a bag. I could have hurt you and Katie.”
Braden flopped down on the bed and lay back, his eyes closing in fatigue. “I’m not so sure the inhibitor would have worked, Ian. You shifted really fast.”
Ian grimaced and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. Desperation was a constant companion, working in tandem with his pulse, with his every breath, every heartbeat.
“We can’t go on like this, Braden.”
He hated the helplessness, the weakness in his voice. He sounded like a goddamn fatalistic pussy. But they couldn’t continue living like this. Unpredictable. Changing to wild animals in an instant.
What if he killed his brother?
It was the question that haunted him the most. It was easy to isolate himself from the rest of the world. He and Braden had always been loners. But he couldn’t walk away from Braden. Not when his brother needed him. But if he stayed, would he be responsible for someday attacking the one person in the world who mattered to him?
“What the hell is your problem?”
Ian looked down to see Braden staring at him. He shook his head, and Braden made a sound of exasperation.
“Things could be worse.” Braden tucked his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. “I mean there are worse things than having a naked woman a room away.”
Some of the tension eased from his chest, and he looked at his brother in mock disgust. “That naked woman would like nothing better than to play with your nuts and not in a fun way.”
Braden grunted. “I’d be willing to let her. I’ve always had a slight masochistic streak.”
Ian laughed and was surprised by how good it felt. Maybe some of Braden’s irreverence was rubbing off on him. Or maybe he was too slaphappy to have any goddamn sense.
“Ian?”
“Yeah, man.”
“It might be better if you handled Katie’s, uh, injuries. I’m tired, and I get this weird vibe around her, like I’m about to crawl out of my skin. I don’t want to risk any, uh, complications.”
Ian cursed under his breath. He didn’t trust himself around Katie any more than Braden apparently trusted himself. What was wrong with them? They hadn’t reacted to Tyana or any other woman they’d come into contact with like this. Was it merely the thrill of the chase? A track-and-capture element? Something ingrained deep in their animal psyche?
“We both need to do it,” Ian said grimly. “A system of checks and balances. We’ll have the inhibitor and a large dose of the sedative on hand just in case.”
He paused for a moment as he saw the bleakness enter Braden’s eyes.
“Braden, you have to promise me something.”
Braden cocked his head forward to look at Ian. “What’s that?”
“If I ever try to go after you, you have to swear to take me out.”
Chapter Eleven
Eli probably thought they’d all lost their minds. Tyana leaned back against the bar, a joint in one hand, a drink in the other, and watched in amusement as Mad Dog and Jonah sparred in the middle of the game room.
If anyone thought the two men were merely joking around, they obviously hadn’t been witness to past practice sessions. Before it was over, there would be blood, cuts and bruises, and both would, of course, claim victory.