Wild Hearts 2: Wild by Night

by Jodi Lynn Copeland

  If she hadn’t spent the last ten months coming to terms with the fact there were werewolves and her feelings were wrapped up in one in particular, Duane’s comment about the marks on Andy’s face being from him might have bothered her. She had spent the last ten months coming to terms with it and the only thing she heard was that he’d followed her date after the man had left her house. And she knew why. Because in Duane’s mind she was his to control. He thought she should lay down her sense of self for him, give in to his every demand. Turn into a werewolf and howl at the fucking moon until her throat hurt too badly to speak. Only she wouldn’t be speaking because werewolves couldn’t talk. At least, not outside of her dreams and nightmares.

  She might not know what the lifestyle of a werewolf was like but she also wouldn’t be finding out. Not when it came at the expense of being controlled by a man, of being made to do every damned thing he wanted whether she was comfortable with it or not. Not even if choosing not to become one meant walking away from a man she cared about more than she would ever care for another.

  “You’re right. I don’t want him. I don’t want either of you. I just want my normal life back. If you truly love me the way you say you do, then you’ll give me that. You’ll leave right now and never again say a word about what you are or what the two of us are meant to be.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Can you stay four over?”

  Candace turned from her locker where she was grabbing her street clothes to change into when the head nurse’s question reached her. It was a pointless one, since Nikki asked it at least once a week and every time Candace said, “Sure thing.”

  Why shouldn’t she? It wasn’t as though she had anything else to do.

  She couldn’t even pass time by bickering with Carrie. Her sister was back in school and apparently taking her studies very seriously, in that she was spending all her evenings and even some of her nights at the campus library.

  There was always the alternative of going home and attempting to catch up on all the sleep she’d missed these last weeks. Only Candace knew damned well that would never happen. Just like she would never ask any of her family members if they’d seen or heard from Duane in the past month.

  That wasn’t to say they didn’t try to tell her without her having to ask. At some point in time, everyone in her family had attempted to confront her about him and what had happened between them. As much as she’d been tempted, she hadn’t been able to open up, not even about those parts of their relationship that didn’t border on the surreal. It was her inability to do so that led to the thing she did instead of sleeping at night. She stared at the ceiling and thought of Duane, wondered how he was doing, if he was spending his time overseeing the neighboring city’s Sportie’s shop now that late spring was upon them, or if he was at another location altogether. And, the worst thought of all, if he’d been serious when he’d said she was his only one, that he would never take another woman for his mate, for his family, or if he’d already moved on to someone new and far more receptive to his needs.

  Refusing to think of another woman in his bed, howling her rapture as he took her over the edge, Candace rehung the shirt she’d taken out and closed the locker door. She forced a smile for Nikki. “Sure thing. I’ll just grab a soda and be over.”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  After stopping at the cafeteria to down a diet soda, Candace made her way to Trauma. Mount Mercy was a large hospital and the registration area was situated in the middle of the waiting area and the dozen plus examination rooms. She stopped at the check-in desk to see if help was needed anywhere in particular. Before she could even get the question out, the piercing wail of an ambulance filtered in from the automatic doors that led outside.

  Instinctively, Candy ran to meet the ambulance crew. A doctor and nurse carting a gurney followed closely on her heels. The EMTs transferred the injured man from the rig to the cot and, after rattling off his information, vitals and injuries, handed him off to the hospital’s care.

  “Still can’t believe he hit a wolf in that area,” the driver of the rig said to his partner moments later, as the two men started for the registration desk to fill out the necessary forms. “Never heard of one being that far down from the mountains.”

  Candace had been moving on rote, doing her best to help the injured man relax and, along with the other nurse, assisting the doctor in whatever way she could. She froze now, her heart pummeling into her throat, and looked from the patient’s pale face to the EMT who’d just spoken. He was several yards away with his back to her. More than likely she’d heard him wrong. But what if she hadn’t? “Did you say a wolf?”

  He turned to her and nodded. “Yeah, over at Fifth and Hill.”

  Fifth and Hill. A few blocks from her house. A wolf.

  The words slammed into her one by one, each sending her pulse to beating a little louder between her ears, her heart into thumping harder against her ribs.

  “How is he?” she asked, struggling to keep her welling panic at bay.

  “Like I said, lower half of the leg’s shattered from where he tried to brace himself when he crashed but, other than that, minor cuts and bruises. He got lucky.”

  Candace’s fingers curled with the half-wit response. She wanted to reach out and shake the idiot. She settled on gritting her teeth and moving closer to snap at him, “Not the man, the wolf! How is the wolf?”

  He frowned, then, “Dead. Guy was going almost forty. Happened on impact.”

  Dead. As in dead? Like D-E-A-D, dead?

  Her mind spun, lightheadedness swamped her. She shook her head, forcing it off. She couldn’t faint. She had to know more. She had to know that it wasn’t Duane. It couldn’t be him. It was impossible. Because…just because.

  “Candy, they need you in room three.”

  She heard the request, recognized the voice and yet couldn’t get herself to turn and acknowledge it. She couldn’t break eye contact with the EMT. If she did, he would leave and he couldn’t leave. Not until she had all the facts. Not until he told her the truth, that Duane wasn’t dead. “What color was the wolf?”

  Once more the man frowned but then answered, “Brown.”

  Oh, God… Not brown, any color but brown. It was too uncommon. Wolves were gray or white or…something. Not brown. Not many. One was. Shit.

  Sucking in a calming breath, she moved closer to the man, stopped just short of grabbing his shirt front and shaking. “Brown, like chestnut brown?”

  “Never been big on colors but sure, I guess you could say so.”

  “No.” No, she could not. And neither should he, because the wolf hadn’t been brown. It hadn’t. But it had. The man said it had!

  This wasn’t happening. Damn it, it could not be happening!

  “He a friend of yours or something?”

  Candace laughed hysterically as the stupidity of that question rolled over, reached deep down inside. No, Duane was not a friend. He was her everything. He was the man she cared about more than anyone or anything else in this world. No, not cared about. He was the man she loved. Her family. And he was dead.

  No…

  Emotions charged up her throat, tears stormed into her eyes. She pushed them back, pushed calmness into her voice. Just managed to quell the renewed urge to grab the man by the shirt collar and shake. “Are you sure he’s dead? Maybe he was just badly hurt. Maybe he just needs—”

  “Candy, they need you in room three. Stat.”

  The word “stat” was the only reason that Candace turned to the speaker of that last request, which sounded much more like a command. Nikki stared at her, her expression somewhere between speculation and annoyance.

  Candy nodded numbly. “Right. Room three.” But, no, not right. She couldn’t stay here and pretend like nothing was wrong. Like Duane didn’t need her help. He needed her help, because no matter what the EMT had said, he wasn’t dead. He was just hurt badly and, with a little care from her, he would be fine in the morning. “No. I-I
can’t. I have to go. I… I forgot. I have a dentist appointment.”

  “Cancel,” Nikki said firmly. “I need you here. In that roo—”

  “I’m sorry,” Candy snapped back, “but someone else needs me more.”

  Nikki spoke further words but Candace had no idea what they were, she was already running out the door and through the parking lot for her car. She didn’t even have her damned purse she realized as she flung open the car door and jumped inside. That was okay though, she didn’t need her purse. She kept a spare ignition key in the back of the glove box. All three of her brothers had told her it was a stupid thing to do. It didn’t seem stupid now; it seemed like the smartest thing she had ever done in her life.

  Except for telling Duane she cared. Only she hadn’t followed that caring through with trust. Goddammit, why hadn’t she been stronger for him? For both of them.

  She started the car and backed out of the lot, pulled onto the street with an angry screech of tires. She’d gone a few miles when she realized she didn’t even know where she was going. They wouldn’t have left a dead wolf on the side of the street. They would have taken it somewhere. But where? The city morgue? No, not for a wolf. More likely Duane’s body had been taken back to animal control by whatever cops had responded to the accident.

  Duane’s body. The thought ricocheted through her mind, down her throat and tore at her heart. He’s not really dead. He’s not really dead. So long as she kept telling herself that he wouldn’t be. He couldn’t be.

  Three miles from the police station, Candace realized she was in front of Nate and Kelsey’s house. She didn’t want to take the time to stop and yet instinct told her she had to. It was almost six o’clock. Her brother always watched the news. What if the accident was on there? What if he recognized the wolf and figured things out for himself?

  That couldn’t happen. She had to be the one to tell Nate his best friend was dead. That he was never coming back. That he’d died feeling unloved and alone because she was a heartless bitch who’d been too afraid to believe in him and try something a little different with her life.

  Dead. Dead. Dead.

  The words chanted through her mind as she flew into Nate’s driveway, threw the shifter into park and shot out of the vehicle and up the front porch steps. She pushed the door open at the same time that someone opened it from the inside and collided hard with her brother.

  Nate caught her shoulders and stilled her. In that jarring moment, reality hit Candy like a slap in the face. She’d been so afraid of Nate seeing Duane’s dead body on TV but the truth was Nate didn’t even know that Duane was a werewolf. Duane was dying, maybe already dead, and here she was, standing in her brother’s doorway, wasting impossibly precious time.

  She shook her shoulders, fought at his grip, trying to get him to loosen up, but his hold remained firm, his look one of intolerable dread.

  “Candy, what the hell’s the matter with you?”

  Shit. She had to tell him now. She had no choice.

  She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. No sound. She tried again, managed a whispered, “It’s…it’s Duane. He’s… Oh, God, Nate, he’s…he’s dead.”

  The dread on his face waged on and she guessed he was taking it in slowly, digesting it and coming to term with the reality his best friend was no more.

  Nate let her shoulders go then tossed back his head and laughed. Hard.

  He stopped laughing and smiled at her. “I think you seriously need to consider taking a longer vacation next time, sis. Duane isn’t dead. He’s in the kitchen with Kelsey and Mom and Dad.”

  Candace’s throat closed up. Her heart seemed to stop as well. She closed her eyes and focused on getting air into her lungs, to making her heart beat normally again. When she felt as though she wouldn’t pass out, she opened her eyes and looked at Nate. Replayed the words in her mind, then barked out, “What?”

  He nodded. “We’re having dinner. What most normal people do this time of night instead of working themselves into an early grave or, in your case, a panic attack.”

  She narrowed her eyes at the accusation. A panic attack? He thought she was having a fucking panic attack? His best friend was dead and he thought— But no, Duane wasn’t dead. Nate had just said so. He’d said Duane was in the kitchen.

  The reality behind those words crashed through her in a temporarily blinding haze. She froze for a moment, unable to move so much as an inch, and then she pushed past Nate and bolted into the kitchen.

  “Candace!” he shouted after her.

  “Candy, honey, what’s the matter?” her mother asked, concern etched into her tone.

  Candace shut out both voices and focused on the man looking at her from the far end of the table. His hazel eyes filled with very real and very alive emotion.

  Duane’s nostrils flared and she knew he was sensing her fear, reading into her thoughts. He knew what was going on in her mind and still she couldn’t stop herself from murmuring it aloud, “You’re alive. Not dead. Alive.”

  He smiled slowly, sexily, sensuously. “Looks that way to me.”

  Why, the idiot! She ought to smack him for looking so good, so alive. Alive. What he was. Not dead. But alive. “Someone hit a wolf a few blocks from here and it died,” she said on a rush. “I thought… I thought you were dead.”

  “Why in the hell, with all the traffic around here, would you think he was the one who hit the wolf?” Nate asked from where he’d entered the kitchen behind her.

  “I didn’t think he hit the wolf. I thought that he—”

  “I’m fine, Candy,” Duane cut her off. “I’m not hurt, not even scratched.”

  The sudden intensity of his look caught up with her and she realized what she’d been about to admit. She truly was having a panic attack if she would come so close to sharing Duane’s secret with everyone here. “I’m sorry,” she said, focusing on him, hoping her look conveyed the truth of that. She backed toward the door. “I should go.”

  “Stay for dinner, Candy,” Kelsey said from her seat next to Duane. “There’s plenty to go around.” Her face lit with a dimpled smile as she added, “Not to mention I’m dying to tell someone else what an incredible time we had in the Caribbean.”

  “No. I-I can’t. I have to get back to work.” If she even still had a job after the way she’d run off.

  Duane pushed back his chair and stood, rounded the table. “Let me walk you out.” Please.

  As much as she had to talk to him, to explain what a fool she’d been, she knew she didn’t want it to happen here, in her brother’s house, where everyone would hear. Only, Duane’s silent plea and the concern that had overtaken his face, now that he was facing away from the others, were too much to ignore. “Okay.”

  Candace said a quick goodbye to her parents. Then, after promising to stop by soon and hear all about Nate and Kelsey’s honeymoon, she walked with Duane into the living area that led to the foyer. Now that the bulk of her panic was over, she felt incredibly stupid for acting the way she had. In the past, she might have written it off with sarcasm. Today, she couldn’t do that. Not with Duane.

  She stopped walking and turned to him, licked her too dry lips and met his eyes. “I’m sorry about that. I just thought—”

  “That someone finally killed me the way you’re always threatening to do?”

  His grin sparked and she ached to close the short distance between them and melt against him. She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t seek comfort in his arms until she had out all those things she needed to say. And then, only if he took her back.

  Her belly pinched tight. He had to take her back. They belonged together. They both knew it. He had for a long time, she finally did as well and with a level of understanding that before she could only have imagined. She thought succumbing to him meant giving up her sense of self, giving in to his every demand. It didn’t. And he’d tried to tell her as much on several occasions. For some reason his words had never sunk in before today. They did n
ow and she understood succumbing to him meant him succumbing to her in return, to giving and taking in equal shares, to broadening her sense of self and attaining an even stronger awareness. Of being a family.

  “I panicked,” she admitted. “I thought you were gone. I thought I’d lost you.”

  His grin slipped away and he narrowed his gaze. “I thought’s what you wanted?”

  “So did I but I was wrong,” she said solemnly, then added on a lighter note, “I know that’s hard to believe, me being wrong twice in the same month, but I was.” She sobered again and gave into her urge to step forward, to reach a hand to his face, rub her thumb over his cheek and down along his goatee.

  “What I want isn’t for you to go away,” she said softly. “What I want is for you to stay. To be with me, so I can be with you. What I want is everything, Duane. I said that before but that time I didn’t know enough to mean it. This time, I do. This time, I’m sure. I want to be a wolf, Duane. I want you to make me your—”

  “I don’t think you should be driving.”

  The distressed sound of Nate’s voice cut Candace off. Refusing to remove her hand from Duane’s face, even if the intimate touch would cause her brother to jump to conclusions—ones that were one hundred percent accurate—she turned toward Nate.

  He stood just outside the kitchen door, an odd look on his face somewhere between shock and mystification. “You aren’t making any sense, Candy. People don’t just become wolves. Maybe in the movies, but not in real life. Tell her, Duane.”

  She was caught up in emotion, still feeling fragments of residual panic, and yet Candace heard the hesitation in her brother’s words. He wasn’t just asking for her sake, he was asking for his own. Did he somehow know? Could Kelsey’s brother have told him about Duane? Did Kelsey even know about Andy? Did Nate?

  I doubt either of them know about him. But Nate, at least, knows something isn’t right with me. One day I’ll tell him why. We will together. Just not today.