She grunted, but kept her relaxed posture. “A match not made in heaven.”
He rolled his eyes. Who said women talked a lot? “That’s not very helpful.”
A grin appeared briefly on her face. “He saw her, he claimed her. She resented the hell out of it and they made each other miserable. It was not a pretty relationship.”
“And you grew up with that?”
She rolled her head side to side against the rim of the tub, eyes still closed. “He disappeared when I was about ten. Tinnie never let us forget though.”
She went silent, and he looked for a way to get her talking again. “Is that why you study wolves? And werewolves?” He managed to restrain the snarl that thought evoked.
Sighing, she opened her eyes and watched him warily. Maybe she heard the snarl anyway.
“Maybe. Yeah, I guess so. I wanted to understand.”
“What pack?”
“Excuse me?”
“What pack let you study them?”
She laughed. “I don’t think I’d use the word let. I have friends in the Panhandle and Charleston. I’ve unofficially observed them a long time.”
He nodded. “I’m surprised you didn’t go to them when you were running from me.”
“Yeah, right.” She snorted. “They wouldn’t hide me from the Appalachian Alpha even if they wanted to. You have a reputation for being pretty ruthless.”
This time he laughed. “Maybe someone should fill my detractors in on that little fact.”
She leaned back and closed her eyes. “Happy to. I’ll start with kidnapping.”
He cocked his head to one side and reviewed the first morning’s conversation. “You didn’t seem overly surprised about that.”
“I dreamed about it,” she whispered.
She what? “Come again?”
“Meg reads people. Tara casts spells. I dream,” she answered, as if that explained everything. Irritated, he tugged on her feet and pulled her under the water. She came up sputtering and glared across the tub at him.
“What was the for?”
“It would be nice if you actually participated in the conversation,” he grumbled.
“Fine. What do you want to know?”
“Start with the dreams. You see the future? If you knew I was going to kidnap you, why did you show up at the wedding?”
Summer blew out an aggravated breath, wondering how to explain it. Hell, she didn’t understand it herself half the time. “I dream possibilities, I guess you’d say. Some things really happen. Some are things that could happen. I never know until I live it, and a lot of times events don’t happen in life the same as they do in the dreams.”
He stared at her across the water, and she was afraid of what questions he might come up with next.
“You’ve seen our future?” he asked.
She exhaled. Relatively safe. “I’ve seen possibilities.”
“And were we as miserable as your grandparents?”
She sucked in a breath. How could she make him see it wasn’t that easy? “I’ve seen us happy and fighting. I have no way of knowing which is reality.”
He grinned. “I see lots of arguing in my future, actually.” He turned serious. “As long as we’re together, I think we can work it out. If we can get you talking.”
“Ha ha,” Summer answered, trying to inject a snide note, but his gentle teasing warmed her heart and took the bite out of it.
He went back to just watching her and the silence stretched. She was beginning to relax again when he asked the question she dreaded.
“Did you dream about me before we met?”
Squeezing her eyes shut, she considered lying but whispered the truth instead. “Years. I’ve dreamed about you for years.”
Chapter Four
Chloe French—no, Underwood. She had to remember she was Underwood now, not French—stepped through the swinging door that divided the diner’s kitchen and main room, and froze for a split second before fear and momentum propelled her forward. He was here again. Billy Cagle. Beta of the Appalachian pack. Why did he keep coming back? To remind them both he couldn’t have her?
She’d met him six months ago, when Jackson took over and kicked Wyatt out of the pack. He had come into the diner, sat at one of her tables, and sized her up in that way werewolves had. She knew the look, the way he sniffed the air around her. She’d experienced that before, she remembered bitterly. She’d never forget the look of rage in his eyes when he realized she was bonded to someone else. She had pled sick that night, and left work trembling, panicked and close to tears. She’d desperately hoped she would never see him again, but he kept coming back.
Nodding, she hurried by the table and behind the counter. It was a slow night, and she knew what he wanted. While she waited for the fizz to settle in his Coke, she adjusted her sleeves, making sure no signs of her recent bruising showed. She’d heard rumors of Billy Cagle for years, but no matter how good they said he was, she lived in terror he would challenge Wyatt. And lose. She sensed he was just waiting for the right provocation, and she’d be damned if she would live with those consequences. Her life was difficult enough.
Feeling his steady gaze on her, she forced herself to look up and meet his eyes. She gasped. Huge mistake. The blue depths shone with emotion, lust, longing, and frustration. Why couldn’t she have met him a year ago? Angry, she forced the thought away. What ifs got you nowhere.
She carried the glass over and thunked it on the table as she glared down at him. “Why do you keep doing this?” she said in a low, controlled voice. No one was more surprised than her. They never spoke of his continued presence or her life outside the diner. They never acknowledged what could have been between them.
He met her look for look and answered her question with his own. “Do what?”
Exasperated, she waved her arms in the air. “This. Coming in here, but only when I’m working.”
His blue gaze drilled into her so long, she almost doubted herself. Could she be wrong and the connection was one sided?
Finally, he smiled. “When I first started coming in here, you were afraid of me. You seem to be over that now.”
She pressed her lips together and took a step back. Playing with fire often got you burned.
He sighed. “Sit down, Chloe. You aren’t afraid of me.”
She reluctantly slid into the booth across from him. “Afraid for you maybe,” she said softly. They’d never discussed it before, and she wasn’t sure how far to push the conversation now. “He’d come after you with the slightest provocation.”
Billy’s eyes glinted dangerously, and she was reminded that as gentle as he was with her, he was still a predator.
“Let him come,” he answered.
She shook her head, denial rising to her lips, but he pressed a finger across them.
“Don’t,” he said. “I won’t challenge him, though your faith in my abilities is less than flattering. But I won’t stop coming in here, Chloe, and I won’t back down if he challenges me.” His voice dropped so low she almost missed the rest. “He stole what should have been mine.”
Fear and anger propelled her from the seat. She was already bound to one werewolf and it wasn’t something—if she ever got out of—she cared to repeat. He glowered. She clapped a hand over her mouth. Had she actually said that out loud?
“Of course, all bets are off if I find out he’s hurt you.”
She shook her head in denial and dredged up a shaky voice. “I have work to do. And you have to stop coming here.”
He pinned her with his gaze, pale blue eyes seeming to see into her soul. “That’s not going to happen, Chloe.”
Still shaking her head, she edged away, escaping behind the swinging door again. Walking out the back door, she leaned over, clasping her knees with shaking hands and wishing she still smoked. He was determined to get himself killed, and she would be responsible. For not making him see reason, for not making him stay away. There was a time she could have do
ne that, but Wyatt had taken most of the fight out of her.
She grew up with werewolves. Her father was a member of the Appalachian pack and still lived inside its borders with her mother. She smiled. That relationship had never led her to believe there were bad bonds, and she hadn’t grown up with fear of their kind. In retrospect, she thought that was a bad thing. She’d been easy prey for Wyatt, hadn’t she? The last nine months had been the longest of her life, and her future seemed a gloomy thing.
She’d tried running once. The bond made it impossible and, after three days, she had thought she would go crazy. When Wyatt finally found her, she wished for one brief moment that she had died. Thank God, it had been short. As much as she despised him, she wouldn’t give up so easily. Unfortunately, she had to avoid her parents. She had to hide bruises from Billy Cagle. She lived in fear he or her father would see them and fight with Wyatt, and Wyatt fought dirty. He would pull every trick to win, and he would never willingly give her up. He couldn’t, could he? Not with the bond.
When her heart rate slowed and she felt more in control, she went back inside. Billy was gone, a five dollar bill left on the table for his drink. She picked it up and a piece of paper fluttered to the floor. Bending to pick it up, she hesitated when she saw the numbers. His phone number? If she kept it, where would she hide it? She reached for it and carried it behind the counter. Lifting the edge of the register, she slid the scrap underneath. If she ever needed it, she knew where to go.
The shift dragged on through the evening, and she gratefully punched out at midnight. The drive to the small house she shared with Wyatt was short, and she was standing on the back stoop in minutes. Like many nights recently, he had company. She lingered outside a minute listening, closing her eyes against the guilt.
He plotted against Jackson. The Appalachian pack was her pack but, despite the loyalty she felt toward it, she couldn’t betray Wyatt. Once she’d thought to, but he made it clear he would take it out on her parents, and she couldn’t risk that.
Tonight was different. An excited hum vibrated through the air, and she tried to determine its cause. She couldn’t linger outside too long, but he would end the conversation when she entered. She rolled her eyes. Nothing like mates who trust each other. After a moment, she began picking out separate voices.
“He’s taken a mate,” Wyatt said with excitement. Chloe got the impression the phrase had been repeated many times through the night.
“He is the Alpha,” someone responded. “We knew he’d have to eventually.”
“Reluctant, too,” someone else piped in. “Rumor is he had to kidnap her to get her here.”
They discussed spreading those rumors further. Nothing caused loss of face in the werewolf world quite like having a reluctant mate. For an Alpha to have to go through such great lengths? Embarrassing and damaging to his reputation, and Wyatt was all about making Jackson look bad. While Chloe felt guilty for not finding a way to contact the Alpha, she was certain he could handle rumors.
When Wyatt starting talking again, though, her heart slammed in her chest. “What would he do if she was threatened, I wonder?”
“We can’t get close enough to the house to see,” someone said.
“He can’t keep her locked up for long, though. People will want to see her, to meet her. Before long he’ll drop his guard and give her free rein to go where she wants. Then I take something from him, like he did to me.”
Breathing shallowly, Chloe leaned against the side of the house and fought to sort through her racing emotions. Closing her eyes, she warred with herself. On the one hand was her parents’ safety. On the other, she couldn’t not pass on this kind of threat. She finally decided to go back to the diner and call Billy, but she was too late. She hadn’t heard the silence grow or the house empty. When she straightened from the wall to go to her car, a hand wrapped around her throat and the world went black.
* * * * *
The next few days passed in blur. Jackson breathed a little easier with Summer close by but, confined to the house, she was beginning to climb the walls, and he spent too much time trying to determined who was trying to undermine his control to take her out. He and Billy worked on the problem so much they were both irritable and unpredictable. He wasn’t sure what was going on with his normally unflappable Beta, but if the were didn’t chill out soon, Jackson was likely to rip his throat out himself.
As they came into the kitchen after one particularly bad questioning session, Billy growled at one of the men doing work outside the door. Jackson finally lost his temper.
“My office,” he ground out. Both men trudged up the stairs and Jackson slammed the door shut behind them. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Billy’s clenched his hands and his narrowed eyes met Jackson’s briefly before he cut them away. Surely he wasn’t stupid enough to challenge his Alpha.
“Nothing,” he grumbled. “Just some…personal issues.”
“Well fuck her already and get it out of your system. I need your head on your shoulders, not in your pants.”
For a split second, he thought Billy was going to come over the desk after him. A growl rumbled low in his throat and his eyes glowed electric blue. Jackson set his hands on his hips and arched an eyebrow, watching as the other werewolf visibly got himself back under control. He took several deep breaths and a haunted look came into his eyes.
“It’s not that simple. She…belongs to someone else.”
Jackson looked at him, shock temporarily freezing his tongue. “One of us?” he asked incredulously. It wasn’t done, lusting after another’s mate.
“Yes,” Billy said through clenched teeth. “But she’s meant to be mine.”
Paper rustled from the corner, and he looked over sharply to meet Summer’s gaze. She gave him a slight smile. He couldn’t believe he’d been so distracted by Billy that he’d missed her presence in the room. Standing, she set aside the book she was reading, one of her grandmother’s journals, and walked toward them.
“Summer,” Billy demanded. “There has to be a way to break a bond. Tell me how.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “She doesn’t belong with him. I don’t understand how this could happen.”
She looked at him sadly and shook her head. “There’s only one way to break the bond.”
The only way Jackson knew to break a mate bond was death. She took a deep breath and continued, “Y’all can create a bond with anyone. All it takes is that mix of chemicals. It doesn’t have to be a particular person.”
Jackson looked at her quizzically. “I suppose that’s possible, but what would be the point?”
She shrugged. “Lust. Power. Greed. Control. Take your pick.”
Billy groaned and sat in a chair, face buried in his hands. After a moment he looked up. Staring into space, he muttered under his breath, but the words were clear and alarming to Jackson.
“So she won’t be free until Wyatt’s dead.”
“You are not going after Wyatt.” Jackson sat on the edge of the desk and stared Billy down until he finally nodded in agreement.
“I told her I wouldn’t,” he said tightly.
“That’s why you’re ready to take everyone’s head off? She asked you not to go after her mate? Maybe that should tell you something, man. She’s with whom she’s supposed to be with.”
Billy gave him the steady stare he was more accustomed to, the one that told Jackson he was fully in control of himself and absolutely sure of what he said. “No. She doesn’t belong with him. She’s afraid of him. Of me. Of all men as near as I can tell, and she hasn’t always been. Wyatt did that. And now she’s stopped going to work.” He stared at his hands a minute and gulped. “I’m afraid he’s hurt her. I will kill him if I find out he has, Jackson.” Standing, Billy met his gaze before walking to the hall door.
“Hey, where you going?”
“Down to the basement.”
He didn’t look back as he pulled the door closed with a soft click behind him. J
ackson exhaled a pent up breath and glanced over at Summer. She stood still, the only sign the scene might have bothered her was the way her teeth worried her bottom lip.
Taking one of the chairs in front of his desk, she cocked her head to one side. “What’s in the basement?”
“We have a gym down there. He probably went straight for the punching bag.” He walked to the mini fridge in the corner and pulled out two bottles of water. After twisting off the lids and dropping them in the waste can, he took the armchair next to her and handed her one. He drank down half of his before he spoke. “So how do I fix this?”
He laughed at the expression on her face. He’d finally stunned her speechless. “Cat got your tongue?” he teased.
She shook her head as if clearing a thought and frowned at him. “Are you actually asking me for advice?”
“Yes, Summer,” he answered seriously. “You are my mate, and you seem to know more about this than we do. You’re the expert, right?”
She took a deep breath. “I suppose I am. I don’t see how I can help, though. There is only one way to break the bond. We had a spell, but…”
She shrugged, and he was glad the bitterness from a few days ago was gone from her voice. The thought of that spell gave him nightmares. That wasn’t the answer. Worse was the idea that a werewolf could pick the wrong mate. Or would do so intentionally. If that was true, and he had no reason not to believe Billy, then anyone could have claimed Summer before he even met her. A fist seemed to grip his heart. Thank God I already bonded with her.
“You’ve seen this before?” He was proud he kept that moment’s panic out of his voice.
She paled under her tan and pressed her lips together. “Once.”
“Your grandparents?”
She forced a laugh. “No. I don’t think so. I think those two just started off wrong and it escalated into a full out war.”
“Who then?” he prodded, when she didn’t continue.
She shook her head, like she was getting rid of a memory. “A few years ago in the Panhandle. The girl was the Alpha’s daughter, and one of the weres who was in line for his position bonded with her. It was okay for a while. They got along.” She paused for a drink of her water. “Then a Hunter came through.”
Lunar Mates 3: Chasing the Moon Page 4