Lucia raised a brow at him. “And you’re telling me to be careful?”
“Nothing will happen. I won’t let it. I know my time here is up.” He saw the worry in her eyes and kissed her nose. “I won’t leave, but I do have to move.”
“Maybe if I talk to my dad, you could stay on the ranch with–” She broke off when he cringed. “No?”
“No.” Zalin shook his head. He could just imagine the ensuing mayhem if he took her up on her offer. “You have livestock.”
“Oh.” She blinked up at him. “It would be too tempting?”
“Hell no. I’m not some dog who gets a kick out of chasing cows. We buy our meat, just like everyone else.” Apart from hunting the odd deer, they all behaved themselves and were on very good terms with the local butcher.
“Then why?”
“Your cows don’t know I don’t chase cattle. They’d smell a wolf, and it would stress them out.” Tiffy was stress enough already. Zalin frowned. He had to get the girl away from there, or Lucia’s father really would have a reason to hate them. “Same goes for the horses, pigs and any other prey animals you have. They wouldn’t be very happy if I moved in.”
“My mother used to keep rescued animals out back; occasionally a wolf too. It didn’t seem to bother the animals then, I don’t see why now would be any different.”
“I don’t know how she did it.” It still amazed him a Lycan had married a rancher, knowing his animals would freak with her near. “I suspect she never got too close.”
Lucia nodded thoughtfully and sighed. “I don’t really want to talk about this. About her.”
Zalin fished for the last condom and held it up. “I have an idea how we could occupy your mind.” He kissed her collarbone. “And this part.” He licked his way down to her breast and circled her nipple with his tongue. “This one too.”
“Oh...really?” Lucia croaked.
“Mhm-hm.” Zalin slid two fingers into wet, welcoming heat. “Maybe even this one.”
Lucia moaned and lifted her hips. “Do your worst.”
Chapter 12
Lucia slowed down, her gaze on the ranch house up ahead. Her childhood home, the place where she’d always felt safe and loved. Until now.
Her father had lied to her, all this time, and Lucia couldn’t bring herself to forgive him. Movement caught her eye and she glanced to the side, a smile curving her lips at the sight of a large, dark-brown wolf. Zalin.
She stopped the car, her heart soft with love for him. He’d been so tired this morning, and yet here he was, reassuring her with his presence. Lending support the only way he could.
“Thank you,” she whispered, tears stinging her eyes.
Zalin jumped into a snowdrift, surfacing on the other side. He stopped and looked at her, and Lucia could swear he was grinning. The wolf dropped to the ground, shoved his nose into the snow and pushed with his hind legs, plowing through the powder. Tail wagging, he continued until he’d created a heap of snow. He paused, lifted his head and sneezed.
Lucia chuckled. “Nut.”
He pounced on the middle of the boulder he’d created, sending up a cloud of white. When the snow settled–mostly on him–he jumped and bit at flakes, making her laugh with his antics.
At the sound of her laughter he settled into the snow, looking at her, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth. Oh yeah, he was definitely grinning.
After a few minutes he turned and headed off toward the woods. Lucia drove on, feeling a little less subdued and apprehensive. Knowing Zalin was near and watching her made everything a little easier.
Graham stood in the yard, his hands in the pockets of the bulky brown coat he always wore this time of year. A familiar sight, yet she felt like she didn’t know him at all. She parked the car and got out, not sure how to approach the subject of his lying to her.
“Where have you been all night? I’ve been worried.” His eyes were hard and accusing. “You should have called.”
“Yeah, and I might have, but I was a little busy sifting through the pack of lies I’ve been told all these years.” She slammed the car door. “By you. By everyone.”
Graham’s head jerked up. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw my mother last night.”
Her father paled and suddenly looked old.
His reaction brought the churning pain of betrayal back to the surface. “You knew.” Her eyes narrowed. “You knew, and you never told me. You said she is dead!”
“She is, to me,” Graham whispered. “I never wanted you to go through what I did. She betrayed us, honey. She, and that...that creature she took up with.” He caught her arm and gripped it tightly. “He made her like he is. I know he did.”
“So you know she’s...what she is?” God, even more secrets. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
“No. There was no need for you to know.” His expression turned stubborn and hurt.
“Oh Daddy...” Lucia sighed. “There was every need. I could carry the gene too.”
“What gene?”
“The one Mom has. You can’t turn into a wolf unless you’re born one. They don’t make new ones, they’re born like this.” She met his worried gaze. “No, I’m not one of them. But if it’s dormant in me, if I ever have children they’ll likely be Lycans.”
“Oh God.” He rubbed his hands across his face. “I was so sure... When she told me, I accused her of being with one of them, of letting herself be changed. She never said any different.”
He probably hadn’t let her. Lucia sighed. If people just talked to each other, so much worry and hurt could be prevented. “Did you know the wolves we saw were her people?”
“No. I swear, honey, I didn’t know.” His eyes narrowed at her. “How do you know?”
“I saw one of them change. In the barn. Mom was there and he had to get her–”
“She was here? On the ranch?”
Lucia nodded. “You didn’t know.”
“No. I didn’t think she’d ever come here again.”
“So you didn’t tie her up?” She’d told Zalin he wouldn’t have done it, but the doubt had still been there. Seeing him genuinely surprised to hear Angela had been here eased the worry. But if not him, then who? “Someone knocked her out and made sure she couldn’t move.”
“I didn’t touch her.” Anger flashed in his eyes, replaced by concern a moment later. “Is she all right?”
“She looked fine last night.” She didn’t elaborate, not wanting him to know she’d run, rather than talked to her mother. “Dad, if it wasn’t you...who else could know? Who else would have done this?”
“I don’t know, Lucy. I swear it wasn’t me. I haven’t seen your mother since the day she left us.”
Odd. She needed to confer with Zalin, but if she invited him here, her father would flip. Knowing about Angela being a wolf was one thing. Finding out his daughter was in love with a werewolf was quite another. Lucia suspected such news would be met with rejection. Or anger. She wasn’t ready to tell him yet.
“So you saw her. What did she say?” Her father kept his eyes lowered, then glanced up, pain glittering in them. “How did she...look? Is she...happy?”
Lucia blinked. “You still love her. That’s why you never dated.”
He shrugged. “We were never divorced.”
She’d never thought about her parents still being married. After all this time. Granted, she’d thought Angela was dead, but her father had known all along. And he’d never filed for divorce? She went to him and wrapped her arms around him in a fierce hug. “I’m sorry Daddy. I didn’t think about how hard this must be for you.”
“You didn’t know. I couldn’t tell you. It would have hurt you so bad, and I didn’t want you to suffer because your mother and I...well. Now you know.” He sighed, hugging her back. “Can you forgive me?”
“Yeah.” She caught sight of Victo–Tiffy walking down the path from the stables, stopping when she saw the two of them in the yard. Her half-sis
ter. Now Zalin had pointed it out, she could see how young the girl was. Not eighteen, like she’d told them. “Dad, I need to get some things from town. I’ll be back in a while, I promise.”
“Okay honey.”
Zalin needed Tiffy back with her mother. He could only get to the girl if she left the ranch. “Hey, Victoria, you wouldn’t happen to have an hour to spare, would you?”
“I...uh...” She pointed at the barn. “I was gonna get some wire to fix the fence in the east pasture.”
Graham frowned. “What do you need her for?”
“Girl stuff, Dad.” She winked at him and grinned at her half-sister. “Come on, I could really use another pair of eyes.”
“Well, if it’s okay with your dad...” She shrugged.
“Yeah. Sure. You two go ahead.” Graham pulled out of Lucia’s arms. “We’ll talk when you get back, okay?”
“We will.” She waved at Tiffy, who pulled her gloves off and set them on a barrel outside the barn. “Coming?”
The lanky teenager climbed into the car and sat, her hands in her lap, giving Lucia suspicious looks. Lucia smiled at her, trying to keep it light, while her heart constricted. God, she looked so much like Angela, Lucia couldn’t believe she’d missed the connection.
Half a mile from the ranch, Tiffy finally spoke up. “So why did you really invite me along?”
“I wanted to talk to you where my father can’t hear us.”
Tiffy’s shoulders stiffened, her body suddenly rigid. “Talk? To me? About what?”
Lucia pulled over. “About you. You’re not eighteen. And your name isn’t Victoria, either.”
Panic lit the girl’s eyes, even more so when Lucia hit the central locking. “Let me out.”
“No, Tiffy. I want to know why you came to the ranch.” Lucia put her hand on Tiffy’s arm. “It’s okay. I’m not mad.”
Tiffy took a shuddering breath. “How do you know my name?”
“A wolf told me.” Lucia saw her slant a suspicious look in her direction. “Yeah, I know that too. And then some.”
Tears glittered in Tiffy’s eyes. “Don’t make me go home. Please. I’m sorry I lied, but please don’t send me home.”
“Why did you come to us in the first place? If you were going to run away, wouldn’t it make more sense to just keep going?”
“I didn’t run away.” Tiffy glanced at her. “I wanted to know what you were like.”
This was not an answer Lucia had expected. “Me? You came because of me?”
She nodded.
“Oh.”
“I saw you sometimes in town, but you never noticed me.” Tiffy shrugged. “So I figured if I got a job on your ranch, you’d eventually talk to me.” She glanced at Lucia. “You know who my mom is, right?”
“Yes. But how did you know about me? I had no idea about you.”
Tiffy gave an indignant snort. “It’s kinda hard not to know, when my parents constantly fight about you. It made me wonder what was so special about you, why Mom likes you better than me.” She looked away. “You’re not so special at all.”
Shock tore through Lucia. “Tiffy... I haven’t seen Angela in nearly seventeen years. Until last night, I thought she was dead.” She smiled at the teenager. “But hey, just because I didn’t know about you, doesn’t mean I don’t want to get to know you. Now that I found you, do you really think I want nothing to do with you?” Lucia lightly shook her arm. “You’re my sister, you silly girl. Of course I want to know you.”
“If you take me home, I doubt my dad will let us meet up again.”
“Yeah, well. It’s not up to Gothrim. He can just suck it up.” Lucia shrugged. “He can’t stand me, I know.”
“He’s been really weird. I don’t know what’s going on, no one tells me anything.” Tiffy sighed. “Everyone defers to the Alpha, you know? What he says goes. Since our Alpha is my dad, I’m double screwed.”
“Zalin doesn’t defer to him, but he said much the same thing about Gothrim acting strangely.” Lucia frowned. “Why doesn’t anyone just ask him?”
Tiffy’s mouth had slid open. “You know Zalin?”
Lucia blushed, her mind on exactly how well she knew Zalin. “Yeah. He was a little hard to ignore when he changed from a wolf into a human right in front of me.”
“Zalin changed? And you saw him?” Her eyes rounded. “When was that?”
“Yesterday evening in the barn. Freaked me out, I can assure you.”
A sly little smile curved her lips and she lowered her voice. “He’s hot, isn’t he?”
“Tiffy!” Damn. Had the girl seen Zalin naked? “I don’t think we should discuss his hotness, or anything else about him, for that matter.”
She grinned. “So you do think he’s hot. I saw him change once, from a distance.”
Lucia clapped her hands over her ears. “I don’t want to hear this. You’re sixteen, for God’s sake!”
“So?” Tiffy dragged her hands down. “Doesn’t mean I’m blind. What was he doing in your barn, anyway? Dad made the ranch off-limits. He’s not supposed to go near there.” Her eyes widened. “Oh shit. He was looking for me, wasn’t he?”
“He’s been looking for you ever since you left.” Lucia informed her. “He’d have found you too, if he hadn’t found Mom first. I helped him get her home, that’s when I found out about you.”
“Mom was there?” Tiffy swallowed audibly. “Dad isn’t gonna like that.”
Her reaction told Lucia the girl didn’t know what had happened to her mother. “She was bound and tranquilized. Do you have any idea who could have done it? I asked my dad, and he had no idea she was there, either. I thought maybe it was you, but apparently not.”
Fear flickered in Tiffy’s eyes. “Is she okay?”
“Yes, she’s fine. But something is really weird about this.” Lucia couldn’t figure out what was going on. Hopefully Zalin would ask Angela and they could get to the bottom of it. She had to have some idea who’d knocked her out.
Tiffy exhaled slowly. “Thank God.”
“You know you have to go back, right?”
“No. I’m not going.” Tiffy’s jaw set. “Open the door. I need some air.”
Lucia switched off the locks and watched Tiffy jump out. The girl leaned against the side of the car, sucking in deep breaths.
Lucia sighed. “Look, I know you don’t want to go home, and I don’t want you to go either, but things are kinda tense right now.”
“Tense?” Tiffy shot her a worried look.
“Zalin needs to get away from there, and he promised to find you first. Your dad and him... They nearly came to blows last night, and it’ll only get worse.” Lucia glanced toward the woods. Movement attracted her attention and she guessed Zalin watched them closely. “He’s out there. If you go home–”
“But he can’t leave!” Tiffy insisted. “He’s the only one who’ll stand up to Dad. If he’s not there, what’ll happen to me?”
Lucia took a deep breath, forcing down the sudden anger roiling in her stomach at Tiffy’s outburst. “I don’t know. But do you have any idea what could happen to Zalin? Do you want him hurt? Maybe dead? Isn’t it bad enough my dad shot him? Does he have do die just to keep you happy? Do you want that?”
“No!” Tiffy stared at her. “He got shot?”
“Yeah, he did. He’s okay now, but for a moment there, I thought my dad would kill him.” She opened the door and got out, wanting to be face to face with her sister. “Please, Tiffy.”
“He’s going to leave if I go home.”
Lucia hugged her. “He won’t go far. I promise.”
“How would you know?”
Lucia blushed. “Trust me. I know.”
Tiffy hugged her back then a laugh bubbled forth. “Oh man. You and Zalin?”
She suddenly felt like a schoolgirl, gossiping with her sister like this. “I guess.”
Tiffy snorted her amusement. “Does he know you’re after him?”
“Not that it’s a
ny of your business, but he started it.” And she’d damned well keep him, no matter what happened.
“He did?” Tiffy’s eyes rounded. “He’s gotta be serious then. He’s not one of those who plays around. Least not that I’ve seen.” Her gaze turned serious. “Are you in love with him?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? He’s a good man.”
“Hey, I’m not saying you aren’t. I’m just wondering.” She grimaced. “And I’m worried. Mates have to be approved by the Alpha.”
Well great. “You know, your dad can just shove his hatred up his ass and swivel on it. He gets no say in this, and I doubt Zalin would–” Sharp pain exploded in her shoulder and cut off the rest of the sentence. Lucia staggered back against the car, gripping her shoulder. “Ow.”
The last thing she heard was Tiffy screaming.
Chapter 13
Zalin raced down the slope as fast as he could, watching Lucia collapse beside the car. Tiffy’s screams rang in his ears and his heart pounded with fear. He couldn’t get to Lucia fast enough, and only reached her after she was on the ground. The dark bloom of blood widening on her coat wasn’t a good sign and the sight sent a jolt of terror through Zalin.
He had to change, needed to know how badly she was hurt, but it would make him vulnerable and unable to protect her. His eyes locked on Tiffy.
“Zalin, what do I do? What do I do?” Tiffy was on her knees next to Lucia, tears streaming down her face. “Is she going to die?”
His heart froze at her words and he couldn’t stop a whimper escaping his throat. He forced the change, there was no other way. Tiffy’s sensibilities be damned. The pain nearly crippled him, but not as much as the fear of losing Lucia to the bullet of an unknown shooter.
A shooter who may try again. Zalin looked over his shoulder and scanned the horizon, but saw nothing. He shielded the women as much as he could. If anyone took a bullet, it would be him, not them. For all he knew, Tiffy was next on the shooter’s list. “Call an ambulance.”
Tiffy made no move to comply.
“Now, Tiffy!”
She jumped and yanked the door open, dragged a blanket from the car and averted her eyes. “Here. I don’t have my phone with me, and I don’t know where Lucia’s is.”
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