by Angela White
Seth left the mess.
“You need to talk to him,” Jennifer stated, observing Seth going to Marc.
“He needs time to be sure he wants this. I won’t push him,” Becky told her.
Jennifer snorted out amusement. “Really? Cause he’s thinking the same thing about you.”
Instead of going to him like Jennifer expected, Becky leaned closer. “How much does it hurt?”
Jennifer denied the delay. “Go talk to him, will ya? We’ve got plenty of time to scare everyone.”
Becky went to her mate.
Jennifer felt Kyle staring at her and understood her time for picking and easing fears had also come.
She went to the tent area and began speaking with the guard on duty. When she left, Kyle gradually made his way over.
Zack didn’t make Kyle suffer. “Congratulations. She asked for a couple’s tent.”
Kyle’s stunned happiness sent calming blue through the shield and he immediately went to get one and erect it. His world had healed itself and the emotions were infectious as he crossed camp. He clapped shoulders and tossed jokes, his happiness spreading through the people.
It wasn’t hard to guess what had caused it when they saw Jennifer’s matching glow. Another of Safe Haven’s problems was over with. It was a good day for the camp. Marc’s return had given them new life, in more ways than just the obvious.
9
Angela observed the peace and contentment flowing over her camp in gratitude. It had been a hard first battle, but they’d survived it, and now, were stronger. Marc’s powers had grown into the equal of Adrian’s and he would continue to evolve, as would she.
Her hand slid down to caress the small bump she imagined was there. “Momma loves you,” she cooed, unable to help herself. This was all she’d longed for and more.
Marc placed warm hands on her shoulders and Angela leaned against his heat, lids closing. “Nice, Brady.”
Marc sent the energy into her in a thick stream, heart settling into a rhythm of need and respect. “I love you.”
Angela turned in his embrace and made him demonstrate how much.
Across the camp, Adrian slid to his knees at the pain of their love on display. Some of it was in his heart, but most of it was in his arm and chest, and he took shallow breaths as it increased.
Unable to feel his need, Angela led Marc to their tent.
Adrian slumped to the ground.
Angie!
Silence.
The pain tightened around his heart and Adrian drifted into the darkness alone.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Close
1
Kenn ducked into the medical tent and went to Adrian’s side. “You awake, Boss?”
Adrian didn’t open his eyes. What was the point?
Adrian heard other, lighter steps, but didn’t feel like meeting any of their new arrivals.
“Marc has soldiers out there,” Kenn stated. “He’s getting ready to bring them in.”
Adrian didn’t care. It wasn’t a great idea, but he was sure Marc knew what he was doing.
Kenn tried again. “The Indians want to come in, too, since he’s here. They’ve grown attached.”
Adrian felt his heart tightening and looked around.
Kendle stared at Adrian in surprise. She was in the chair by his bed. She hadn’t cared about him at all until his eyes had met hers and the ground rattled. What was up with that?
“This is Kendle. Marc wants you to see to her, blend her in and…”
“No.” Adrian turned his head, understanding now what awful plan Marc had created.
“He said do it or get out.”
Adrian opened his mouth to say he’d leave, and Kendle shifted in embarrassment. It sent her smell over the cot.
Adrian froze in pain. “Even the scent, huh? Bastard.”
Kendle flushed. Marc had told her everything this morning, including his plan to give her to Adrian, but she hadn’t had the strength to fight. She was so lost, so confused!
Adrian read it all and it was impossible not to feel her pain. Here was another warrior who would dream of Marc at night.
“It’s what Kevin will think, too,” Kenn stated, reading it on Adrian’s face. “Not true in either case, though.”
Kenn stood up, giving Kendle a polite nod. “I’ll come for you in a bit. Don’t let him go to sleep yet. Doctor’s orders.”
“Okay,” Kendle agreed reluctantly. She didn’t want this. Being handed around to men who didn’t need her was humiliating. She gave Adrian a sharp glare. “He’s gone. Tell me what the hell I’m supposed to do here!”
Adrian blinked at the rage in her tone, picking up the need and the fear. “What are you?”
Kendle’s sigh sank into Adrian’s heart against his will.
“A danger to the herd. I’m a Rage Walker.”
Adrian saw how that could be true, but it wasn’t until she let her crimson show that he fully understood how devious Marc was.
“You’re a descendant.”
“So are you,” Kendle sneered defensively.
Adrian was startled into awareness of her fire. She had heat pouring off her in waves.
“I haven’t…killed in a while,” she explained, hearing his thoughts much clearer than she ever had Marc’s. “It strains my control.”
Adrian carefully pushed himself up, but stayed quiet as he read her thoughts.
She didn’t try to keep him out, but Adrian didn’t go into her crypt. That was too personal for a first meeting.
“Why?” Kendle sneered hatefully. “You might as well have it all!”
She shoved the images at him, not afraid of his displeasure.
Adrian felt something shift inside. She did need to be cared for and he needed a reason to stay. Was this enough?
Kendle shrugged hatefully. “I don’t think so. You’re not him.”
“And you’re not her!” Adrian fired back, stung.
They stared for another minute in defiance of the plans made for them, but it was an act and they both knew it. The comfort they had to have to survive was here and able, if not entirely willing.
“We could help each other,” Adrian suggested finally.
Kendle crossed her arms over her chest. “Maybe.”
Adrian liked her stubbornness. “You’ll let Kenn know?”
Kendle stood up. “If I choose to be your toy, I’ll tell you first.”
The bitterness in those words made Adrian grab her wrist. He started to say he would be as good to her as he could and was silenced by the power of the connection.
Kendle contemplated his hand, unable to fight the light in his touch. It reminded her so strongly of Luke that tears welled.
She jerked her arm away. “Never without permission!”
Adrian’s heart squeezed inside his chest again. “Not at all, if you’d rather. I can help without it going that far. I’ve done it for most of the women here and only a few of them have shared my bed.”
That wasn’t what she’d expected and Kendle lingered, not sure what to say.
Adrian carefully took her hand again. He didn’t speak with his mouth, but shot with his mind.
Kendle flinched at the power held in tight control.
Friends to start.
Kendle was so lonely that she couldn’t fight the inviting tone. She gave a quick nod and left the tent.
Adrian lay down, plans in a spin. Marc had given him a substitute. Will I take it?
That answer was already written in the stars, he suspected. Even now, the scent of vanilla that Kendle had left was easing his pain. Angela hadn’t come to see him, only to check with the doctor on his condition. She hadn’t even glanced at him, like he didn’t exist for her now.
You don’t, his demon stated. But this one needs you.” Adrian knew that to be true, but the choice to take Kendle in Angela’s place was one that he couldn’t make.
“I’ll help her, but I won’t love,” he stated lowly. “I can�
��t give her what I don’t feel.”
You might...in time.
Adrian’s pain slammed back into them with the force of a tornado and the demon fell silent. His host was busy locking himself off from all emotions, trying to become immune. The demon would help with that, but the door would never fully shut. That image of being with Angie, of caring for her and Marc’s daughter, would remain pristine in his memory.
2
Jeremy jerked out of the light doze he’d fallen into after the second hour. He was waiting with everyone else for a doctor checkup. Samantha had long since crashed against his arm.
Jeremy shivered, noticing they were almost alone. Cynthia was the only other one still here now, and she appeared so lonely that it was almost enough to pull Jeremy from his nightmare. Then his training kicked in and he gently shifted Samantha’s head to the chair and got up.
He motioned to the reporter. “Hold her, will ya?”
Cynthia moved that way and Jeremy went to find Neil. He’d had a dream from hell that was probably nothing, but they couldn’t take chances.
Neil listened closely, gut tightening with each sentence. If that happened, any of it, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
“You have to help me,” Jeremy stated under his breath. “Convince her to give me the last two numbers. We’ll be able to see what they’re planning for us.”
Neil hated the idea of anyone having access to the internet again. He considered it to have played a large role in their downfall, but duty spoke louder than personal feelings.
“You think we can do some hacking?”
Jeremy grinned a bit. “I thought I’d try my hand at it. You could take my shifts with Sam while I work.”
Neil realized how serious Jeremy was then and let out a sigh. “Just stay with us and we’ll work on her together. It’s what she wants anyway.”
Jeremy didn’t hesitate, though he expected it to be painful. “I’ll get my gear. You’ll tell her?”
“No,” Neil snorted. “She doesn’t tell us everything. Let’s surprise her with this one.”
The image made Jeremy laugh, and the two men felt it at the same time, the sense of coming together. It hadn’t been like that since before Samantha had come into their lives. They’d missed the friendship.
“Wanna get a beer later? She’ll graze for a while, right?”
Neil was still chuckling. “I hope so. If we don’t keep her weight up, one of the other men will try to move in.”
Jeremy didn’t think that was funny. “Have you noticed the way they’re treating the breeders already?”
“Yes. Marc’s a genius.”
“I believe so, too,” Jeremy stated. “He’s changed.”
“You think?” Neil asked, but there wasn’t any real sarcasm in the reply. They were now locked into their destiny, and it was something of a comfort to have each other still. Neither man had thought that would be possible.
“Twins.”
Neil chuckled again. “We’ll be busy. It’s probably for the best that she wants us both.”
Jeremy hadn’t thought to ever hear that, but found he agreed. Everything had changed.
“Come on, let’s go talk to Marc about your idea. If he says no, we’ll let it go. Agreed?”
“Yes.” Jeremy trusted Marc more than he trusted Adrian.
It might have been a shock to find out how many people felt that way.
3
“No more lies now,” Angela told her Eagles as they gathered around her for a mini-meeting. “Cold, hard truth is the best way to be ruthless. It allows for no prisoners.”
Angela forked a thumb at the mountains they had finally reached. “We’ll be in our place as of dawn. We’ll set up as fast as we can. We have Jax and his group still observing the base, so we’ll know when they’re coming.” She looked around the tables. “We may all die when they come, but it will be with honor, fighting for our freedom.”
She turned to the man at her side. “Marc will lead us through that.”
There was no argument from any of them. In a few months, they would need a new leader to ease her burden. Marc had just been gifted with that honor. The Eagles were pleased.
So was Angela, but inside, there was a tiny part of her soul that wasn’t lightening with Marc’s return or his energy. It was a door now marked with Adrian’s name and it rattled in a desperate reminder of how close they’d become.
I love him, she admitted to herself. As much as I do Marc.
It was hard to hear from herself, but Angela forced the rest of it out, as well. Adrian would come to care for Kendle. She was both anticipating it and loathing it. When Adrian had told Marc a month’s grieving period was all the time he needed to get inside her heart, he’d been exaggerating. It hadn’t taken nearly that long and she already wasn’t sure how she would be able to stand watching Adrian love anyone else. He was hers.
End of Book 4
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From the Author
Thank you to everyone who helped clean up this file. Jan, Jeff, Jeanne, and all the others who took the time, you have my gratitude.
-Angela White
Deleted Scene #1
“You’re tired.”
He nodded, not opening his eyes, but he could feel the fresh adrenaline pumping into his system at her nearness. She’d stayed away from all of them for the last weeks. Was she feeling it yet? That pull that kept him awake at night, wondering if she had forgotten his words.
“No.”
“No, you don’t feel it or no, you haven’t forgotten?”
Angie snorted. “Like the dreams would let me forget.”
He didn’t respond to that, not sure what to say. His had stopped. Did that mean something?
“It means you’ve accepted that we’re being driven together. I haven’t.”
“It’s easy for me. As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t a woman who can compare to what you’ve become.”
His words made her feel like she had made progress, that she was doing good, but Angela forced herself to stay quiet, not wanting to encourage him by saying she felt the same about him.
“It’s meant to be.”
She glowered. “You don’t know that. There’s no proof that soul mates exist.”
“Don’t think they do, not the way you mean,” Adrian conceded. “I believe we’re not meant to mate for life. Some do, but for most, we’re meant to be with more than one person.”
She raised a brow. “You can’t mean that.”
“I do. It’s propagation of the species. Each season, the younger, stronger bull has a chance to take over the herd. It’s the way it’s always been.”
“And what happens to the ousted male?”
“He’s driven out and dies alone.”
She scowled at that, even though she’d known it was coming. “Not fair.”
“People can be more civilized.”
Angela stiffened, sure he was about to try to get to her again. “And what do you mean by that?”
“I mean that the bull doesn’t have to die alone or be driven out. If he can find something else to hold him.”
Understanding flooded into her face. “You mean someone else.”
“Yes. Tell me. What does his future hold?”
She didn’t want to answer, but his tone demanded it, and the witch answered for her.
“Only him in the waves, holding someone.”
She sent him a flash of the dark haired woman in Marc’s wet arms as heavy waves lapped them, and Adrian felt his relief rise up and the rest of his plans fall into place. That was it. So close, he hadn’t been able to see it.
Angela watched him, almost able to smell the burning of his mind. She actually felt the last of the pieces slam into place. She didn’t need the sight to know it revolved around her.
She met his eye. “Be careful planning my future, Adrian Mitchel!”
His tone grave. “With yours and everyone else’s, but plan them, I will. It’s what I do.”
Deleted Scene #2
“Come for an update?” John asked as Angela ducked inside the tent.
“Only one. Got a minute?”
He followed her outside, into the shadows, and pulled off his gloves.
“Whose update?”
“Yours.”
John grimaced. “I hurt.”
She nodded sympathetically. “I’d like to push it back again.”
He gave his agreement slowly, but with gratitude. “I’d never ask...”
“I know that. We need you, John. I’ll stop by when it’s quieter.”
“Bring that stubborn gut shot patient with you. He’s avoiding his checkup.”
“He doesn’t want you to clear him yet.”
“I won’t until you say it’s time.”
His words were low and he turned before she could respond.
Angela was heartened by the support she was receiving, but also concerned. Adrian needed to get back in charge and let her fall in line behind him before there was too much damage to his leadership to be repaired.