She waited for the others to strike. They circled instead, hissing and showing their fangs. A tall, lean female with dark hair approached from between spruce trees, the others making way for her. She tilted her head, assessing Danielle and Lothar.
“That one,” she said, gesturing to Danielle with a long finger.
“She’s the one that killed Nolan?” hissed a male with cropped blond hair crouched next to her.
“Yes.” She smoothed her fingers over his head, the male leaning into her hand. “Kill her,” she ordered. “Make the male watch.”
Lothar growled, launching at her. The blond male leaped from his crouch, intercepting, and they rolled, hitting the ground hard.
The female ordered three of the males to follow Lothar. The remaining male and the female faced Danielle. Danielle didn’t hesitate. She crouched low, charging the female.
The female brushed Danielle aside. She was strong. Masters were stronger than Slaves. Danielle rolled to her feet unharmed, snapping at them both. She caught the male around the shoulder, biting down hard until his bones splintered in her mouth. He struggled, but it was too late. She tasted old blood. Her venom was already at work. She left him behind to die as she faced the female.
Only to find empty air.
She barked, hoping to hear back from Lothar. There was no response. All she heard was her own panting breath and the blood pulsing in her ears. The forest was silent. Even the wild animals had retreated. Where was Lothar? Had they run him off? Or worse. No. She couldn’t think like that. She howled for him then sniffed around, barking now and then in hopes of any sign.
Abruptly, she was blindsided by two vampires. The female and one of her males hit her hard, driving her back several feet, her paws scrambling for purchase. She skidded to a halt at the edge of the ravine. It was too wide here, too deep for her to jump down.
Danielle planted her paws, snarling, her teeth dripping with venom. She caught the male’s sleeve with her teeth, ripping it at the seam. Both vampires backed up a few steps. She knew they were planning to push her off the ledge. She turned, but it was too late. They rammed her in unison. She felt the ground give way, scrambling to gain purchase as rocks tumbled into the ravine. Adrenaline flooded her body. Her paws slipped and slid.
Tree roots and stones flashed by.
She was falling.
Chapter Twenty
Nick handed Kendra a cup of coffee.
“Thanks.” She cradled it in her hands as she sat with Greg at the kitchen table. The cabin was swathed in shadows. Too many lanterns had cast reflections on the windows, making it hard for Nick to see outside, so he’d doused all but one.
He’d explained things to Kendra and Greg as best he could. After what Kendra had witnessed, he’d had no choice. He said nothing to them about Greg’s exposure with the vampire dog. There was no point, since Danielle thought it was unlikely the dog could have infected him in the first place.
Nick spotted a wolf outside. Picking up his bow, he went to the door.
“Nick?” Kendra asked.
He gestured for her to stay put. “I’ll be right back.”
She shifted her chair closer to her brother and Greg put his arm around her shoulders. They were both probably in shock, but at least they were holding it together.
Nick opened the door and slipped outside. He didn’t smell Danielle or Lothar, but he knew there was a werewolf nearby.
He stepped down off the porch. “I know you’re out there.”
Two wolves, one white, and one tan with a white chest, came padding out of the woods. They morphed right before him, fur receding, bodies straightening until they stood upright. They were completely naked and it didn’t seem to faze them at all. One was a blond male who looked about twenty-five, the other a blonde female of the same age.
“I am Fredrick and this is Amanda.” He gestured. His accent sounded like Lothar’s only more refined. “Our pack patrols this forest. We are leaving Noah and Benedict to guard while we search for them.”
Two more wolves emerged from the tree line, heading toward the cabin.
“Search for them?” Nick said. “Meaning you don’t know where they are.”
“The threat has been eliminated. We have yet to locate our operatives.”
“If the threat has been eliminated, then why leave behind your soldiers?” Nick asked, pointing to the other wolves.
Fredrick smiled with the same calculated coolness he’d seen in Lothar. Nick disliked him immediately.
“Always the chance of a stray.” Fredrick showed his teeth.
“Thanks,” Nick droned, making a mental note not to trust his guy.
“We will find them,” Amanda said. She was more personable than Fredrick. “You will know when we do.”
They morphed back into wolves and trotted off, leaving the other two behind, stationed near the cabin.
Nick’s fingers tightened around his bow. Danielle was missing, and there was nothing he could do about it. He felt so useless. Maybe he wasn’t much different than Greg and Kendra after all. Tired, his knee still sore, he admitted defeat and went inside.
Kendra looked up expectantly. “Danielle?”
“They’re missing,” he said. “Nothing to do but wait.”
She came to him and he tucked her under his chin, seriously wondering how much more the poor girl could take. Greg was staring blankly at the window. Threat eliminated or not, it was still going to be a long night.
* * *
Danielle maneuvered her hip carefully away from a particularly pesky rock. The morning sun was rising pink and orange over the hills. The ground felt hard beneath her soft human flesh. She wished she could shift into a wolf, but her body needed to heal first. She looked at her broken leg. There was nothing for her to do but have someone carry her home.
“Danielle,” Fredrick called. “We are wasting time with your outdated sense of modesty.”
“Will you stop,” Amanda yelled at her twin brother. She softened her voice before speaking again. “Danielle, maybe you really should let Fredrick carry you.”
“No. I can wait a little longer. He’ll be back soon.”
“Make her go,” Fredrick said from behind a row of bramble bushes.
Amanda growled in Fredrick’s direction. “My brother will never learn patience. Well, maybe it will not take Lothar that long to come back with clothing. I will deal with Fredrick. You rest.”
Danielle closed her eyes, her mind a blur . . . After falling into the ravine, she’d blacked out. By the time she’d come to, Lothar had been there.
She blinked through layers into awareness, seeing him leaning over her.
“You’re alive,” she said hoarsely.
“I am? I was looking for you.”
“Why?”
“You fell down ravine,” he said slowly, as if he thought she might not remember and the news would shock her.
She remembered. Clearly. That she hadn’t been able to locate him earlier bothered her more. “I couldn’t find you.”
“They kept me away.” He brushed a lock of hair off her face. “Nuostabiai atrodai.” You look beautiful.
She pursed her lips, knowing she was pretty banged up. Then reality set in. She had shifted naturally in her unconsciousness back into a human so her body could begin the healing process.
Of all the times she’d imagined herself with Lothar, like this, why now? Was fate that twisted?
“Um,” she sounded, trying to push herself into a sitting position. She bit back a yelp of pain.
“Do not,” he said, helping her back down.
“How bad is it?”
“A week to heal, two at most.”
“Okay.” She could take that.
“I still say you look good.”
“Lothar . . .” She turned away, embarrassed.
“I have pulse, Darling. It would have to stop completely for me not to notice.”
Same here, she wanted to say, but was too embarrassed. Her gaze fli
cked over his body while he focused on her ribs. He’d come searching for her. Clothing had not been a priority. He glanced up and she looked away. Danielle gasped.
“I am sorry. Ribs are bruised,” he said. His eyes closed in concentration. “This one may be cracked. I do not think is broken.”
He moved on clinically, straightening her leg. Well, at least one of them had a clear head. She was acutely aware of his hands on her skin.
“Nothing dislocated,” he said.
“Lothar.” She could smell him all too potently.
“I know,” he said.
He seemed much calmer than her. Very calm. Too calm, really. “But, I mean . . .”
He bent, braced on his hands over her so he wouldn’t touch her bruised body. Danielle’s breath hitched, making her ribs ache. Lothar kissed her softly.
He brushed his nose against hers, then he leaned further in and spoke into her ear. “I have to fix you first.”
She let out a breath, more like a sigh. Oh, all right, it was a strangled groan.
He straightened, going back to his first aid.
Danielle took a closer look at him. She’d been around plenty of naked werewolves. A bit of play after a battle was not an uncommon pastime for her kind. Still, this wasn’t just any man, and it took her a moment to work past the awkwardness.
Lower lip pinched between her teeth, Danielle made a more thorough assessment of the finer points of his decidedly male anatomy. Yeah, he was just as nice to look at out of the designer jeans. He glanced up, catching her in the act. Embarrassed, she jerked in surprise and hurt herself.
His sigh was humiliating.
“Gee, sorry,” she said.
“You should be. Do not hurt yourself like that.” He paused. “And you can look at me whenever you want.”
She pressed her lips together in attempt to hide a smile. Then she realized he was frowning at her leg. The one he hadn’t touched yet.
“My other leg?” she asked. Something was obviously wrong down there, because there was no feeling in that foot.
“Is broken,” he said.
Danielle gave herself a moment to process that. He would have to set it.
Theirs was not a job without risk. He had set her arm twice, popped her right shoulder back into place numerous times, and straightened bent fingers. She’d never fallen down a ravine and blacked out before. It was a new low for her.
“I called for you,” she said, shivering in the cool morning air. Danielle figured it had more to do with knowing her leg was broken than her actual body temperature. “I thought maybe,” she swallowed thickly, “you were dead.”
It took him a moment. “I heard you. I wanted to answer, but I could not.” His hands were on her, this time trying to rub some heat into her body. “There were too many.”
As always, he was more calculating than her. “I’m your weakness.”
“Stop,” he told her. His palms smoothed over her hips, distracting her from everything else.
“Oh . . . I’m very glad you are still with me,” she managed.
“I am very glad you are with me.” His eyes lifted to her hers, black now. His hands stopped. One was on her stomach, one on her thigh. “The pack came soon after we were separated,” he said, watching his hands now. One worked over her arm. “I left to track female as she tried to escape.” The second hand followed the first, skimming her breast. Her breath caught.
He sat back, looking at her seriously.
“And?”
“I killed her, but not before breaking her neck.”
“Good. She had it coming.”
“Then I came for you.” His gaze lingered on hers before he looked away, this time turning back to her injuries. “I did not tell pack. They will look for us.”
“Breach of protocol.”
“You are pack.” She knew the bitterness in his voice wasn’t directed toward her, but the others.
“Small pack you have there.”
“Big enough for me.”
He would lead their entire species one day, and a pack of two was enough for him? For a man trapped inside his skull so much of his life, when he came out to play, he reduced her to a pile of mush in seconds. Tears blurred her eyes. She wondered if anyone besides herself and his twin sister would ever be allowed inside that heavily fortified wall he called a heart. Probably not. But that just made her love him all the more, for trusting her with that chink in his armor.
She winced when he felt along her lower leg.
“Bear with me,” he said.
Danielle couldn’t hold back her muffled cry. She heard him swear under his breath. That was rare for him.
“I must set this now.”
If they waited too long, she would begin to heal, and the bone would fuse wrong, necessitating him having to break it again.
“I understand.” She turned her face as far from the center of pain as possible.
“I have no one to hold you down,” he warned.
“I said, I understand.”
“Nothing to restrain you with.”
She felt around for a handhold and curled her fingers around tree roots. She straightened her head, blinking at the sky. The sun was up. Navy had faded to baby blue. “I’m ready.”
His hands smoothed down her leg as he sought out the right angle. “Danielle . . .”
“That’s not my name.”
“Darling.”
She sucked back a sob. “Yes?”
“I am sorry.”
That he had to hurt her like this, yes, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Aš tave myliu,” he said in Lithuanian, his voice husky. I love you.
“I know you do,” she whispered.
“I have been distracted. This would never have happen had I been doing my job.”
She swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry too.”
“What is this, sorry?” He seemed completely at a loss as to why.
“I love you too.” She tightened her grip on the tree roots. “Do it. Do it now.”
She’d blacked out again. As she opened her eyes, she heard Amanda’s voice, asking the other wolves to back off, reminding them that Danielle did not allow herself to be seen unclothed. She realized she wasn’t on the hard ground. Her cheek was pressed against Lothar’s bare shoulder as he cradled her in his arms. He was warm and solid. She wanted to stay right there with him forever, surrounded by his skin and his scent.
“What should we do?” Amanda said.
“I will run back to cabin,” Lothar told her.
Amanda sat down next to them. “I will sit with her.”
Lothar nosed Danielle’s face and she lifted her chin in automatic response.
“I have to go,” he said. “Or I will have to carry you home like this.”
Naked.
“No, please,” she said.
She was happy to see the sardonic look on his face. Maybe it was the stress, or the simple fact that they were alive and together. Or maybe it was just him.
“Do not go or . . .”
“Get me something to cover myself with,” she confirmed.
“I go.” He kissed her, his mouth warm and perfect. She hoped Amanda wouldn’t read into it and know there was more between them than was allowed, especially with the fresh scar from her on Lothar’s neck. He lifted his head. “You still do not pay attention. Looks as if we need to work on lesson one.” He sighed as if put out.
“Yes, please,” she said.
He set her carefully aside. She felt cold and alone without him. Amanda tucked her arm around her, but it didn’t help. She watched Lothar come smoothly to his feet, pretending not to notice his body. Noticing it anyway. He was hers, in theory. In reality, not yet. Maybe never. He took off into the forest, shifting into a wolf as he ran.
Danielle closed her eyes, her mind a blur of pain . . . A shadow passed over her and she looked up. Lothar was kneeling close by, only his chest bare.
His shirt, a black button down, was on her.
> “I dressed you,” he said.
Her legs were bare; her broken leg bound in a splint.
“I slept through it?” she croaked.
“Taip. I did not take too much advantage.” He flashed his canines at her.
“I wouldn’t have stopped you.” Danielle coughed. “Water?”
“A moment.” Lothar cupped his hands in the creek then came back, kneeling before her. He lifted his hands to her mouth and she drank, hyperaware of the texture of his callused skin under her lips. Of Nick waiting back at the cabin, and the impossibility of hiding his existence from the other werewolves.
“Lothar?”
“Let’s get you home.” He tucked his arms under her, whispering as his face drew near. “Too many ears.”
She nodded, aware of the pack still nearby. He lifted her carefully into his arms.
“Now can I come out?” Fredrick called.
Danielle winced as the shout echoed in her ears.
“I will deal with him,” Amanda said. “I think we can go now, anyway.” She kissed Danielle on the forehead. “Get well soon.”
“Thank you.”
Lothar carried her, the pack moving on. She uncurled her fingers until one palm was pressed against his chest, the other around his shoulders. He was taunt and powerful, the corded muscles in his shoulders shifting as he walked.
“I want to stay with you,” she said.
“I will be with you.”
But would she be with him? The only way to save his position among the other werewolves was to take Nick to Lithuania. What would happen after that, she wasn’t sure.
She felt the raised lump of the scar she’d given him on his collarbone. She kissed him there. His forearm was pressed against her thighs as he carried her, and she really wished it would take longer to get back to the cabin.
Eighty years would do.
Chapter Twenty-One
Morning came with silent fanfare. Greg had given in and crawled into bed. Kendra sat at the kitchen table staring blindly at the kerosene lantern.
Distant howling drew Noah and Benedict from their stations. Nick smelled Lothar and Danielle. He left the cabin and started toward the forest just as they emerged. Her leg was in a splint and Lothar was carrying her. Bruises colored her skin.
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