by Abigail Owen
“Wow,” she breathed.
But he didn’t smile. Guilt and panic were already setting in. She’d called him Shane. Not Callahan. How that made him feel was too much. She was too much. He’d promised himself…never again. “You know this can’t go past this one time, right?” he asked.
She stilled in his arms.
Will battled want and, he wished he could see her face. At the same time, he wasn’t sure he could handle it if he’d hurt her with the harsh words.
“Geez, Callahan. Way to ruin the moment.” With a shake of her head, she sat up, her back to him, and reached for her bra, which had landed on the floor.
Hands clenched, he barely resisted the urge to trace the sweet line of her lower back, the indent at her waist. “Don’t get me wrong, this was great,” he tried to assure her, wincing at the inadequate words. It had been shattering.
“Thanks.”
Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him. “I just—”
She spun around and put a finger to his lips. “Stop. I’m leaving tomorrow. I doubt I’ll see you again after this.” She resumed getting dressed, pulling her shirt over her head.
He frowned at her back. While he didn’t want her to walk away with regrets, he just didn’t want her to have any expectations either. To be honest, right now he was battling the urge to pull her back into his arms, but that action would send a mixed message.
“I’m going to kill the people responsible for Brenna’s death.” Shane grimaced as Tieryn froze in the act of pulling on her panties. He had no idea where the hell that came from, couldn’t even remember consciously thinking to tell her.
She finished pulling on her clothing and turned to face him. “Your wife?”
He nodded.
For a long moment, she searched his eyes. “I don’t blame you.”
He sat back a bit, not having expected that response. “You don’t?” he asked slowly.
She shook her head. “If someone murdered my love, I’d kill them in a heartbeat.”
Shane’s lips twitched at the image of his delicate shifter doing anything of the sort, regardless of her accuracy as a shot, but she was deadly serious. Her next words wiped any humor right out of him.
“I’d help you do it, if I could.”
Everything inside him reared back at that notion, screamed that she couldn’t—shouldn’t—be tainted like that.
“Have you asked Andie for help?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t want anyone else involved in case it goes south.”
She nodded. “I see.”
“So now you know why—” He waved a hand between them.
“I do.” With a perky smile, she turned back to dressing.
“So you’re okay?”
She sent him a glance over her shoulder, eyebrows raised as if that had been a silly question. “Of course.”
He sat up, draping the sheets across his lap and watched as she stood to slip on her skirt. “Well…good.”
She picked up her strappy sandals, not bothering to put them on. He wasn’t even sure when they’d come off. Then she walked to the door where she paused, her hand on the knob. She pivoted back to him. “If you’re ever in Florida, come and see us.”
Shane froze. She’d said us. She had to mean her and her father, right? Because she couldn’t mean Gage. That didn’t jive with what he knew about her. She never would have slept with him if she were still with another man. “What about Gage?” The question was out of his mouth before he could stop it.
She waved a hand. “Oh, he won’t mind.”
What the hell? “So you and Gage…?”
“What about us?”
“You’re still together?”
“Yes.”
He’d fully expected her to say she called it off. He damn sure wasn’t prepared for the slow burn of rage that started somewhere in the region of his heart.
“You slept with me.” When had he become the girl in this thing?
“We did a lot more than sleep,” she quipped with a grin. When he didn’t laugh, she sighed. “Gage and I talked. We’ve agreed on…” She stopped and stared at him with on odd frown, then shook her head. “Actually, it’s none of your business. Is it?”
Before Shane could say anything, she surprised him again when she crossed the room and leaned down to place a soft, lingering kiss against his unresponsive lips. Was that disappointment in her eyes? “Thanks for being my bodyguard. I hope you get what you want. See you around, Callahan,” she whispered.
With that, she walked out the door, closing it behind her with a soft click.
****
Tieryn managed to walk through the labyrinth of hallways, despite jelly-like legs that didn’t want to hold her up and make it back to her own room before the deluge of tears started. Without much thought, she stripped off her clothes. She could smell him—the musky scent of his skin—all over her. Part of her wanted to bask in the beauty they’d shared together, before he’d opened his big mouth, but she couldn’t stop the tears. Instead, she went to the bathroom where she stepped into the shower. And sobbed as the water cascaded over her.
Making love with Shane had been the most beautiful and shattering experience of her life, as she’d somehow always known it would be. Just as she’d known he would push her away. He’d even warned her, back in the swamp, that he didn’t do commitment. After what she’d seen inside him as she’d healed his ear—a soul as scarred on the inside as his skin had been on the outside—she wondered if he ever would feel love again. So she’d known. She’d known exactly how closed off he would be to anything more.
She just hadn’t expected his rejection to happen so fast, or for it to hurt this much.
But another revelation had become clear—the certainty that she couldn’t handle a marriage like the one Gage was proposing. She would still marry him because he was a good man and deserved to be Alpha. And she wouldn’t tell him she wasn’t going to take advantage of his proposal. She didn’t want to tie him to a loveless marriage any more than he did her, but she wouldn’t take advantage of it.
Shane Callahan would never be hers.
****
Shane remained on the bed staring after Tieryn. What the hell was Gage thinking? Had he offered her some kind of open marriage? She hadn’t said so, but her comments combined with her behavior suggested that was likely. Tieryn deserved more than that. If she were his, he’d never share her.
With jerky movements, Shane stood and went into the bathroom. He ran some water and splashed it over the back of his neck. Both hands leaning on the counter, he looked up into the mirror and saw, for the first time, his new ear—exactly as it had once been, not a scar or blemish to be seen. Miraculous. He traced the whorls of his ear with his finger.
Lowering his hand back down to the counter he stared himself in the eyes. A truth he’d been avoiding chose that moment to smack him over the head.
“You fool,” he muttered to the man in the mirror. He was head over heels in love with Tieryn McGraw. Damn.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Ready?”
Tieryn dragged her gaze up from the patch of grass she’d been staring at for a solid five minutes to offer her fiancé a wan smile. “Yes.”
They stood on the front lawn, which sported a circular drive. In the middle of the circle was a large grassy landing spot, nice and flat, for helicopters. According to Andie, there was a larger helipad out back for when they had to fly their fighters somewhere. This one was for guests and dignitaries.
She turned to Sarai, who’d come out with them, and gave her a hug.
“Are you sure about this?” Sarai whispered.
Tieryn glanced over at Gage. “Yes.”
The Seer sighed. “All right. You know best.” Her tone implied she wasn’t quite so sure about that. She’d offered yet again to tell Tieryn about her Fated Mate, but she didn’t want to hear it.
Tieryn’s smile paled as a movement at the top of the stairs caught her attention, a
nd she glanced up to discover Shane standing there watching. She gave him a nod—he’d been her bodyguard after all, no need to be rude—and turned to Gage who took her hand and escorted her toward the waiting helicopter.
A rugged-looking individual named William, one of Jaxon’s Protectors, sat in the cockpit. He was her escort home, her new bodyguard. Sarai had originally offered for Shane to go, but Tieryn had said no.
“If you hear anything…”
“I’ll let you know immediately,” Gage assured her.
She nodded.
He smiled and leaned forward to kiss her cheek but paused. “Is he watching?”
“Who?”
“The guy who’s breaking your heart and leaving me to put the pieces back together.”
She didn’t bother to argue with that statement. A frowning glance told her Shane hadn’t left. “Yes.”
“Good.” Suddenly, Gage leaned in and captured her lips in a kiss far more heated than anything he’d tried before. While it didn’t come close to the sizzle Shane stirred in her, it was still a damn good kiss. After a moment, he pulled back and grinned.
Why he’d done it was obvious, or at least she thought so. A sneaking glance told her Shane was still there but scowling now. With a quiet chuckle, she returned her attention to Gage and shook her head. “Who are you and what have you done with my fiancé?”
He grinned. “Maybe I’ve always been like this and couldn’t act it while trying to follow my ambitions.”
She tipped her head thoughtfully. “Maybe so.” She kissed his cheek. “Bring my father home safe.”
“I’ll do my best.”
She moved to take her seat, but froze mid-turn as, over Gage’s shoulder, she spotted a doe standing just inside the tree line across the way. Tieryn’s eyes widened.
“Something wrong?”
In a daze, she glanced at Gage. “Um.” She looked back at where the doe had stood, but it had disappeared. What the hell? “Give me a second.”
She signaled Andie to wait as she crossed the field. Warily, she entered the woods, the air caressing her skin immediately cooled in the shade. Only a moment of searching revealed the doe’s hoof prints. She followed them deeper into the trees to find her mother patiently waiting in a pool of sunshine formed by a break in the trees.
“Neah?” she asked when she got close, heart pounding. Her mother wouldn’t have come here unless it was important.
“Tieryn, what’s going on? They’re all freaking out—” Shane burst through the trees but pulled up short when he saw whom she was with.
She ignored him and focused on Neah. With quiet grace, the doe shifted, and her mother stood there in a summery white sundress. Tieryn was going to have to learn that trick, if she could. It would make shifting much less embarrassing and easier to do around others.
“What’s wrong?” Tieryn asked.
Before Neah could respond, a massive polar bear emerged from her right. Tieryn stumbled back, her jaw dropping, but her scream locked up in her throat. How had they not known he was there? The animal was huge. The only thing keeping her from outright panic was Shane. He broke out in a grin. She would have done a double take if there hadn’t been a giant white bear standing in front of her, because Shane didn’t grin. Ever. It transformed his face from broodingly handsome to kick-in-the-gut gorgeous.
Suddenly the bear shifted with such speed that you wouldn’t catch it if you blinked, and before them stood a man, who, like her mother, was fully clothed. Though she’d only ever seen him from a distance, she knew exactly who he was. She ran forward and threw her arms around him. “George!”
A rusty chuckle sounded in her ears. “Nice to meet you, too.”
She froze then released him, sending him a sheepish smile as she backed up. “Sorry. I’m just so glad you’re alive.”
“She thought you’d been killed trying to save her,” Shane said from behind her. He reached around her to shake George’s hand. “Nice to see you, old man.”
George smiled from under his handlebar mustache. “It would take more than that to take me out.”
They sobered at the reminder of the attacks against them.
“Neah,” George prompted.
“You know her?” Shane demanded.
“We should go inside,” Neah murmured. “But we shouldn’t be seen. Where’s the most secure place in the compound? We’ll transport there and meet you.”
Shane and George exchanged a glance, as they were both familiar with the building. “Andie and Jaxon’s rooms,” Shane suggested.
Without a word, without a sound, not even a puff of air, Neah and George disappeared.
Tieryn didn’t wait for Shane but hustled back toward the house. He didn’t ask questions as he fell into step beside her. She was happy he didn’t say anything because her mind was spinning. George was alive. Her mother was here and, while the old anger still lingered, it had been tempered somewhat with what she’d learned these last weeks. Maybe her father had been right all along. Maybe she should give her mother the benefit of the doubt, but it was hard to rid herself of a backlog of resentment, and if she could look past that, the questions she had kept piling up. But before she could address any of that, they had to deal with why Neah and George were here now. Whatever reason it was, it couldn’t be good.
She put aside her muddled thoughts and walked up to Andie. “We need to go to your room. Me, Shane, you and Jaxon, Sarai and Zac only.”
Andie merely lifted her eyebrows. To her credit, she nodded. “Let’s go.”
A hand on Tieryn’s arm kept her from immediately following. “What’s going on?” Gage asked.
“Will you trust me to do what’s right and fill you in later only if it’s necessary?” The fewer people who knew about her mother the better. Even Gage and her father. He studied her for a long moment before nodding.
She squeezed his arm. “Thanks.” Then she spun around only to smack right into Shane who’d apparently waited for her. With a jerk, she stepped around him and hurried to catch up with the others.
Andie and Jaxon’s rooms were empty when they got there. Smart of them to wait until they knew for sure they could reveal themselves. “We’re ready,” Tieryn called.
As swiftly as they had disappeared, without a whisper of a sound, they just as suddenly appeared before the gathered group. The others collectively gasped before breaking out into various expressions of heartfelt joy at finding George alive. Only Sarai didn’t appear too shocked.
“I’d like to introduce you all to Neah,” George said. Each of the people in the room gave the petite woman a nod. “She’s Tieryn’s mother.” Gazes snapped her direction and she shrugged.
“And my sister.”
This time, Tieryn and Shane joined the others in directing their shocked stares George’s way. She caught her mother’s nervous glance in her direction. “But you’re a deer shifter,” Tieryn said to her.
“Not to mention a good fifty years younger,” Zac added.
“How is that possible?” Jaxon asked.
George spread his hands, as if appealing to their ability to see past the obvious. “Because I’m not the old man you see before you. And I’m not simply a polar bear shifter.”
Zac growled low in his throat. “You practically raised me.” Everything he left unsaid was etched into the strain of his voice, his jaw rock-hard.
“I’m still that man. I’m just…something else as well.”
Then, before their eyes, George changed. His hair turned from gray to black, the mustache disappeared, his blue eyes got brighter, and his weathered skin smoothed. After a moment, a much younger man stood where an old man had been. “My true name is something ancient and hard to pronounce. My siblings call me Yaeger, but you can still call me George if you want.” He smiled, and Tieryn could still picture that mustache shifting with the movement.
“What are you?” Shane asked.
George’s lips sealed tight. Neah stepped in. “We’re not allowed to tell you what
exactly—”
“Gods?” Shane persisted.
The siblings exchanged a glance. “Let’s just say we were once shifters like you, and now we’re…more.”
“What did you mean by not allowed?” Tieryn asked. She’d been dying to ask that since her mother had shown up at the cabin.
Another shared glance. Eventually George gave an almost imperceptible shrug. “We have a master. He calls the shots.”
“I see.” She didn’t really. They were being too vague to see anything.
“We need to call Daje,” Neah said.
George stared hard at Neah for a long moment. “They have Odyn.” She seemed to be reminding him.
His hands clenched at his side. Then he jerked to face the group gathered there. “Andie, you need to call your friend, Mac.”
“What?” she asked. “Why?”
“We all watch after our own kind. We always have.”
“What does that mean?” Andie asked.
“You’ll see when he gets here. What’s important is that we need him, and we need your help.”
Neah nodded at his side. “They have our other brother, Odyn.”
“Who has him?” This from Jaxon.
Tieryn’s mind was spinning, and she was starting to feel as though she were in a multi-player ping-pong tournament, watching questions fling around like a little white ball.
“The same people who have your Alphas and Kuharte,” George said.
“How could they hold him?” Sarai asked. “I’ve seen some of what you can do.”
Zac’s head whipped toward her. “You knew?” he rumbled.
Tieryn couldn’t tell if the serious shifter was angry with his wife or amused.
Sarai shrugged. She was a Seer after all. “Not everything. And I promised never to share.” She looked up at her husband, sincerity in her eyes, silently pleading for his understanding.
“We’ll talk later,” he said.
“Where are they holding our people?” Jaxon redirected to the bigger issue.
“A castle in the Mojave Desert.”
Tieryn’s jaw dropped. “A castle? Seriously?” Who were these people?
Neah grimaced but nodded. “It’s going to take some planning. And we can only help in secret. We’re under strict instructions to share our identities with only a select few.”