She opened her mouth to agree and her cell phone rang, making her jump.
Glancing at the caller ID, she grimaced. “Ian again.”
He felt a surge of anger so swift, so violent, that for a moment he saw red.
“Answer it,” he managed, wishing Ian was in front of him so he could put his hands around the other man’s throat and demand answers.
Kelly nodded, punching the button for speaker. “Hello.”
“Let me talk to your friend, Mac,” Ian demanded.
“You’re on speakerphone,” Kelly told him. “You’re talking to him now.”
“No. What I have to say to him is private.”
“Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of Kelly,” Mac put in, making his voice hard. “So speak your piece.”
“Take me off speaker.”
In response, Mac said nothing. Instead, he waited. The silence grew, taking on a life of its own.
Unable to take it, Kelly began fidgeting.
Finally, Ian swore. “I have your brats here. Do you want to talk to them? If you do, take me off speaker and we’ll converse privately.”
Heart leaping into his throat, Mac didn’t immediately respond, because he didn’t want to give Ian the reaction he wanted. Instead, he counted to three.
When he spoke, he had a clear, unemotional tone. “Of course I want to talk to my children, you sorry sack of…” He reined himself in, just in case the twins actually were there and possibly listening. Though he really doubted that was the case, a little niggle of hope wouldn’t go away.
False hope was worse than no hope at all. He despised Ian McKenzie for pulling his strings that way.
Mac glanced at Kelly. She nodded, her eyes wide.
Grabbing the cell, he punched the speaker button again, turning it off. Holding the phone up to his ear, he swallowed hard.
“You’re off speaker. Now what do you want?”
Ian’s voice was silky smooth. “I want to cut a deal, Mac Lamonda. I want to make a trade. Your kids for Kelly.”
Chapter 12
Words failed him. Mac wanted to curse, to scream, to call Ian McKenzie every name in the book and then some.
He did none of those things. Instead, he simply punched the off button, ending the call.
Kelly’s gaze searched his face. “Your children weren’t there?”
“I don’t know,” he told her grimly. “He’s playing games. I refuse to do that when lives are at stake.”
The phone rang again.
“Don’t answer it,” he barked. Then he instantly reconsidered.
Some of his indecision must have shown in his face because she shook her head and pressed the speaker option.
“Daddy?”
Isobel. His sweet, tiny baby girl.
“Honey?” he managed, aware he could barely sound coherent and unable to do anything about it. “Izzy? Are you and Caleb all right?”
“Daddy?” she repeated, her high-pitched toddler voice wavering. “The bad man says you won’t come get us. Why, Daddy? Why?”
She started crying, then outright wailing, in the dramatic way toddlers have. Right before Ian disconnected the call, his little girl screamed for him. “Daaaaddyyyy.”
Then she was gone.
Mac doubled over in the driver’s seat, feeling as though he’d taken a blow to the abdomen. Consumed by pain, he wanted to lash out, punch something, scream and curse and plead—anything, to bring his daughter and son back to him.
Kelly touched his face, her fingers gentle. “You’re crying,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”
Though on a conscious level he hadn’t even realized he was weeping, he wasn’t surprised. He turned his face toward hers, letting her see his agony. “What kind of sick man could use a child that way? She’s only a baby.”
“I would never have guessed my cousin could do such a thing,” she mused. “But then I guess I never knew Ian very well.”
“I just don’t understand the logic.” He’d begun to get himself back under control, shoving the grief and the terror back into a steel-encased box in a back part of his mind. “What’s the reasoning?”
“I don’t know. Uncle Danny never told us. It all comes back to that breeding program that my mother mentioned, I guess. If we could figure that out, we might have a few more answers.”
“Maybe I should just ask Ian,” he said. “He seems pretty fanatical and those sort of people love talking about their cause. If it is a breeding program, I don’t understand what it has to do with my twins. They’re only toddlers.”
“At least you know your daughter is all right.” She stroked his arm. Though no doubt she’d meant only to offer comfort, her comment raised another question.
“True, but then that makes me wonder what they’ve done to my son.”
“I’m sure he’s fine.” She leaned over, wrapping her arms around him and giving him a tight hug. “Mac, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
Taking what comfort she was able to give, he thought again of Ian’s offer, the one he hadn’t wanted Kelly to hear.
Trade Kelly for his children. Even considering such a thing disgusted him. Even if Ian could be trusted to deliver Caleb and Isobel, did he really think Mac was that unscrupulous, that he was actually capable of trading one life for another so coldly and callously?
Then he heard Isobel calling for him and the words his little girl had spoken replayed in his mind. Suddenly he realized that when it concerned his children, he might be capable of just about anything.
Oblivious to his thoughts, Kelly pointed to a fast-food restaurant located at one end of a strip shopping center. “Let’s eat there. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
“First, let’s get rid of this car,” he said. They drove the BMW to a discount store parking lot, where they abandoned it on the outer edge of one of the rows, well out of the range of any security cameras.
This done, they walked the half mile or so back to the fast-food place they’d seen earlier.
They shared a quick meal at a hamburger joint. The food was surprisingly tasty and though Mac would have bet he couldn’t choke down anything, once he started eating, he found he was ravenous.
A shabby motel was within walking distance. Once there, they checked in, only this time when Kelly went to dig out her credit card, Mac wouldn’t let her. They paid with cash, which the desk clerk appeared loath to take until Mac slipped him an extra twenty to convince him.
They were assigned a room on the second floor across from the emergency exit stairwell. Seeing this, Mac was glad. He wanted to have an escape route near in case they needed to leave quickly.
A faint sense of guilt nagged at him. He still hadn’t mentioned Ian’s offer to Kelly. Worse, he wasn’t sure he was going to. He tried not to think about what that might mean.
Stretching out on the bed while Kelly took a shower, he attempted to clear his mind and focus on his objective the way he’d been taught in Protector school. But instead his baby girl’s voice kept playing over and over inside his head, breaking his heart anew each and every time.
Yet Kelly had not only saved his life, but sometimes he thought she might have saved his sanity. They’d been lovers, something closer than partners, and he couldn’t imagine letting her down.
A flash of fury seared him. How exactly was he supposed to decide? It wasn’t like he really even had a choice.
The second Kelly emerged from the bathroom, he pushed himself up off the bed and headed for the bathroom, meeting her halfway.
Grabbing her, he pulled her in for a quick hug and then, before he thought better of it, crushed her mouth in a deep, soul-searing kiss, hoping to release some of his pent-up anger.
When they broke apart, they both were breathing fast.
“What was that for?” she asked, smiling shakily, her voice uncertain.
“Just because.” Feeling a twinge of guilt over his glib answer, he moved past her and closed the bathroom door behind him.
Only then, when he was alone, he was able to release a breath he had barely been conscious of holding.
Staring at himself in the mirror, he berated himself silently, trying to reconcile the action he’d been briefly considering with the man he considered himself to be.
There was no way he could betray Kelly. But he would save his children. There had to be a way other than the one Ian proposed. He just had to find it.
Ever since the terrible phone call, Mac had been different. Kelly couldn’t exactly blame him, but with that insight that never failed her, she sensed an undercurrent of anger directed at her.
Why? Because Ian was a member of her family? Or was it more complicated than that, something to do with the Tearlachs and their archaic rules?
If only he’d be honest with her, tell her what was on his mind. She sighed, aware she hadn’t exactly been forthright with him, either.
In the bathroom, she heard the shower start up. For the space of a heartbeat, she allowed herself to fantasize about joining him in the shower and finishing what he’d started with that kiss.
But no, even though the flash of heat, of desire, still lingered, it was time to come clean in another way. When Mac rejoined her, she’d tell him everything. What the words they’d spoken meant, and what would happen to each of them if they were separated, forcibly or not.
Only when he knew the truth would he be able to make his choice. Then he could make his own decision about whether or not he wanted to be her mate in all the ways that mattered.
Of course, if he wanted to live…he had no choice. Neither did she. They were now bound for life. Wincing, she remembered stories she’d heard of involuntary bindings where one party grew to despise the other. She didn’t want that to happen with her and Mac.
Slightly nervous, yet exhausted from the dramatic events of the day, she stretched out on the bed in the exact same pose Mac had adopted earlier. She marveled at the softness of the bed—pretty amazing for such a low-budget motel.
While she only meant to rest, her eyelids felt heavy and she closed them—only for a moment.
When Mac emerged from the bathroom, she was deeply asleep.
In the morning, she awoke alone in the bed. The digital clock said 6:00 a.m. Blinking back sleep, she sat up and looked for Mac, finding him asleep on the couch. With his body too long for the sofa, his legs hung off one end and he looked extremely uncomfortable. She didn’t understand how anyone could sleep like that.
While she studied him, he opened his eyes and smiled sleepily at her before swinging his legs to the floor and sitting up. Brushing the hair from his eyes with his hand, he looked past her to peer at the bedside clock.
“It’s early,” he said, sounding surprised.
“I thought we might get an early start. We can get coffee and breakfast and then we’ve got to work up a plan.”
He nodded, his expression distant.
As she got up to head into the bathroom, she felt his gaze following her. She paused, glancing over her shoulder at him. “Before we leave here, I’ve got something I want to tell you,” she said.
With a grimace, he nodded. “Me, too,” he said, to her surprise. “And I know you’re not going to like it.”
“Neither are you,” she said under her breath as she closed the bathroom door. “So that makes two of us.”
Later, while she waited for him to emerge from the bathroom, she rehearsed what exactly she was going to say. Though how she told him wouldn’t really matter, since it all came down to the same thing in the end, she wanted to put as positive of a light on it as possible.
The bathroom door opened and she tensed, watching as he crossed the room to the door.
“Where are you going?” she asked, trying not to panic.
“I need coffee.” He flashed a smile that chased away some of her fear, sending warmth into her frozen heart. “Caffeine before revelations, okay?”
“That works for me.” Relieved and ashamed of being so, she jumped to her feet and followed him to the door.
“Let’s walk to the coffee shop next door, have a couple of cups and something to eat, then we can come back here and spill our guts,” he said.
She could barely muster a smile in response. “Coffee sounds good,” was all she could manage.
Casting her a curious glance, he took her arm. “Are you all right?”
“Just a little nervous,” she confessed. “And hungry.”
This earned a laugh, which made the tightness in her chest ease somewhat.
Outside, the humidity felt stifling. Though the sun had not yet come out full force, the early-morning heat made it plain that the day was going to be a scorcher.
Thinking of this, she longed to be a wolf, running through quiet, cool woods in search of game.
As she pictured this, his grip tightened on her arm.
“You know, it’s been a while since we’ve shifted,” he said, his tone conversational. “I don’t know about you, but I get antsy if I go too long without my wolf time. We’ll need to look for a safe place while we’re out today.”
Heart in throat, she nodded. “I was just wondering about that.”
With a chuckle, he kissed her cheek. “Why am I not surprised?”
She had difficulty preventing herself from jerking away. This had to be due to nerves, since any other time she would have turned her face so they could share a genuine kiss. Maybe her reaction was due to the edges of the anger she still sensed simmering within him.
Her heart squeezed. The way he was acting—like they were an actual couple—made things worse. Until she told him, she knew she would continue to be a mess. She truthfully didn’t know how she was going to make it through coffee and breakfast with the words locked inside her.
She took a deep breath, coming to a decision. It made better sense to tell him now, before she completely lost her nerve.
As they crossed from the motel parking lot to that of the coffee shop, she grabbed his arm. “Hold on a minute.”
Stopping, he looked down at her. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s something I need to tell you,” she began, rushing the words. “And I really can’t wait until after breakfast.”
“Impatient, aren’t you?” he teased.
She nodded again, unsmiling.
“Fine.” He shrugged. “Out with it, then.”
Now that she’d been given the go-ahead, she found herself unexpectedly tongue-tied. A jumble of words chased themselves around inside her head. How do you tell someone something that will completely and unalterably change the course of his life? Where to begin?
Taking a deep breath, she knew. At the beginning.
Willing her racing pulse to slow, she glanced at him. “You know how everyone thinks we’re mates?”
Eyes narrowing, he nodded.
“Well, actually we are.” Heart pounding so hard that she wondered if he could see it, she forced herself to continue. “When we spoke the words of binding, it was to save your life, true.”
“And I’m thankful for that,” he put in, apparently trying to help her out.
“Yes, well, among my kind, we only speak the words of binding once in our lifetime. That’s because when we do, we’re truly mated for life.”
“Until the divorce,” he said dryly. “Or one spouse dies.”
At his unknowing trivialization, she felt a flash of temper. He didn’t know, he really didn’t know. “Will you let me finish, please? This is serious.”
“Sorry. Go ahead.”
“Among our kind, the words of binding actually are binding. Saving your life came with a price.” Swallowing hard, she lifted her chin and held his gaze. “We cannot be separated for very long, or we die.”
On the highway, traffic continued to rush past. In the hotel parking lot behind them, someone started a car. Mac, who’d gone absolutely, utterly still, continued to stare at her.
“What happens if one of us dies first?” he finally said.
“Th
en the other one will also die.”
For a frozen moment, he simply stared at her. Then, he took an audibly deep, shuddering breath. “More than simply being mated, like Maggie and I were. She died and I’m alive. Why?”
“Because you never took the vows of binding.”
He searched her face. “She said she didn’t believe in them,” he muttered hoarsely. “But now I understand. What you’ve just told me—that’s why my wife would never speak those words with me. She knew this. She always made a little joke of the fact that we hadn’t said them and I didn’t even realize how important they were.”
Looking away, his gaze fixed unseeingly on the horizon. “She had to know, didn’t she?”
Kelly hadn’t meant to cause him pain. “I’m sorry,” she said.
Raising his head, his eyes flashed. “If that’s the case, what about your mother? She remained alive after your father was killed. Are you telling me they never were bound?”
Slowly, she nodded. “Many of our people refuse to say the binding words unless absolutely necessary to save a mate’s life. They don’t consider themselves any less mated. I’m sure that’s why your wife never spoke them with you.” It stunned her how thinking of another woman being Mac’s mate brought her so much pain.
“I know she and I were mated. Our children together prove it.”
“It’s a good thing the words were never spoken,” she told him gently. “Because if Maggie and you had exchanged the vows that bind, you would have died when she perished in that fire.”
He nodded, his expression shuttered. “And our children would have become orphans.”
“Yes.”
“What kind of system is that?” he raged. “Pointless oaths and deadly magic.”
“Not a good one, I admit.” The rawness in his voice made her ache.
“Then why?” he asked, his gaze bleak.
“I don’t know. We—the Tearlachs—didn’t make it like this. We are bound by the laws of nature, just like everyone else. We can complain all we want, but in the end we have no choice in the matter.”
Pack 11 - Wolf Whisperer Page 16