“The beast seemed to remember himself halfway through mauling me. Had I been anyone else, I might have died on that floor, but I held onto the stories of magic my mother told me when I was younger. She told me old Native American stories, of the spirits of the earth. Those stories helped my body accept the new magic inside me. It wasn’t quite the same magic, but I understood it all the same.”
Her head cocked to the side, taking in Rhylan’s skin tone and glossy, black hair. In the end, she said nothing. She looked down at her drink and seemed to collect herself before speaking again. “Not breathing is the best method I can give you for dealing with the smells.”
The bark of a laugh that burst through Rhylan was startlingly fresh. He hadn’t experienced anything like it since the attack, and it left a smile on his lips.
“I’m sure if I stop breathing altogether things won’t end well for me.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. It was a snarky gesture that sent another spark through his chest. It left a smile on his lips.
“Okay, I didn’t mean don’t breathe at all. What I was trying to say was that sometimes I hold my breath until I can reach fresh air. You wouldn’t believe the awful things people do in the Lodge rooms. There are times where I try not to breathe until I’ve finished cleaning the room.” Suddenly, her shoulders tensed and her eyes hardened, falling to the table as she shut down.
“But, you might be doing the world a favor if you just hold your breath forever.”
The sentence was an arrow through his chest. It shattered his heart and deflated his lungs. He hung his head in defeat. He deserved it. “That’s fair, I guess. I didn’t exactly wrangle this date with my charm.”
“No. You certainly did not.” Her gaze on him was accusing again, the girl hidden behind thick walls she’d thrown up between them.
“Look, I’m sorry. I have a million explanations, but I don’t want to use them. That feels cheap and underhanded. You deserve a simple apology.”
Her eyes narrowed at him. “You’re not quite what I expected. When you cornered me the way you did, I expected a brutish Alpha type.”
“You’re saying I’m not Alpha material?”
She snorted. “You don’t want to be Alpha material.”
***
She knew what it meant to be Alpha. She knew what kind of man it took to care for so many people, to protect them night and day. It took a strong soul, one that unflinchingly raged against the horrors of the world.
Thalia knew that kind of man. She searched for him every day of her life. It was hard to think that her brother had disappeared. She couldn’t figure out why he’d cut her out of his life so completely. Not on his own. That left only one option.
He’d been hurt or kidnapped. The very thought made her cringe. It tore her heart to pieces to think of him alone and hurt, but she was going to be the one to find him.
To save him.
“Thalia?”
Her head snapped up. The night came rushing back into focus. There was a fruity margarita in front of her and a sexy shifter man across from her. He leaned forward, his elbows on the table as he watched her with concern. She needed to be careful around him. With each passing second, the walls she threw up crumbled and fell in his presence.
She offered him a small smile of apology, swallowing down the fear that had risen like bile in her throat. What was she doing here with him? Why was she wasting a precious night doing nothing with a man that resorted to blackmail? Her hand fisted into a tight ball as her stomach rolled.
“You were busy calling me a Beta Male. What happened?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” She wanted to grab her drink and rush out the door. She wanted to down it and let the animal inside of her come forth to carry her broken heart back home. But, maybe she needed a night off. Her soul was tired. On the run and always searching. She was tired of her life. She was exhausted, really.
Rhylan leaned back, still watching her. He tried to crack her open and see inside, but she held the walls down tight. Tossing the straw aside, Thalia lifted her drink and chugged. The alcohol would flow through her system for a short while, granting a small reprieve from the mess of emotions flowing through her.
“Whoa, slow down there!” Rhylan reached out to pull the drink away from her. With a strained laugh, he set it back down on the tabletop between them. “I’m starting to think there’s a lot more that you aren’t letting on. Don’t worry. I’m not going to pry.”
She tapped her fingers on the table. “You don’t seem like the kind of man who has patience during the hunt.”
She couldn’t believe her own words. What kind of daring had overcome her? It wasn’t the alcohol. It hadn’t touched her system yet. There was some sort of foolishness rising through her. It was fueled by exhaustion and her dislike of the life she was leading.
Thalia had left her home for more reasons than just to find her brother. She’d left behind a life she couldn’t come to terms with, each day spent away from it a bit of a reprieve. Yet, this life, too, was strangling her. She worked every day, all day. She searched for her brother every night, nearly all night.
And, she still had nothing. She had no savings. No signs of her brother.
She wanted more. She craved more.
Wasn’t she entitled to some kind of happiness? She didn’t know where to begin looking for it, save for perhaps one night of unbridled fun.
Thalia snatched the drink off the table and downed it in one motion, slamming the frilly glass onto the counter with a satisfied smirk. Rhylan watched her with amused wariness, confusion and intrigue in his eyes. If he hadn’t tried to blackmail her, she could have gotten used to his presence.
“The Lodge bar is boring. Is there anywhere else we could go?”
“I don’t know Fangway that well. That’d be a question for you to answer.”
She thought about it, the alcohol finally starting to stir in her system. Her limbs began to loosen and a smile even touched her mouth. In that moment, all she wanted to do was go outside and lift her face to the open skies. She flashed Rhylan a beguiling smile and slipped out of the booth. His expression faltered, brain probably scrambled. Her chest warmed to think about the effect she had on him.
His footsteps followed her into the night air. The other shifters he’d been with earlier were nowhere to be found. If he was so new, if he had so many questions, why didn’t he ask them? He’d called them his Pack earlier.
Outside, she let the cool night air cascade over her bare skin, lifting her hair so that it could graze the back of her neck. She heard Rhylan stop a few feet away. A ravenous hunger rose though her. It begged her to spin and grab him. It begged her to devour him, tasting every inch of him.
A frustrated growl rose through her. She didn’t need him. She needed nothing. No one.
“How about we go for a ride,” Rhylan suggested. A set of keys jingled in his hand.
She let her hair go and watched him walk around her, his skin brushing her arm. The touch forced the air from her lungs. It made her hunger for him. Her fingers twitched, eager to reach out and pull him back. But, she held onto herself. She controlled her urge and watched him walk toward a motorcycle parked a few spots away.
Her brows rose at the thought of riding such a thing. She was wearing nearly nothing, her skin bare. It was dangerous, even for a shifter. Rhylan seemed to think the same thing, glancing at her before ducking into his room for a moment. He returned with a heavy leather jacket.
He tucked it over her shoulders and reached for her hand. Her fingers lightly touching his palm, he led her toward the bike. Her heart flipped inside her chest. She wasn’t sure if it was from the idea of riding the bike or if it was from his touch.
He threw his leg over the bike and punched the ignition while she slipped her arms into the sleeves of the jacket. It smelled like man, overwhelming as more than just the engine ignited. Rhylan looked up at her, hair pulled back to reveal a devilish grin. Her heart flipped.
> “Are you going to get on?”
A long moment slipped by, her mouth and throat dry. Then, her heart lurched, and her leg lifted over the bike. He was warm between her legs. The machine rumbled, vibrating through her to touch places she hadn’t thought about in years.
She licked her lips, unsure of this was a good idea even though she knew she was going through with it. Rhylan directed the bike back. The engine thundered around them. She wrapped her arms around his body and leaned her chin onto his shoulder. He shifted to lean into her, too. A smile touched her lips.
Above, the stars glittered and danced. Freedom sang through her body and the motorcycle shot forward. Her head fell back, and her legs tightened on him.
They rode down the mountain and into the valley of Fangway. The bike cut around the sharp corners of the town streets, slow and precise. Once they passed through town, he hit the gas and they sped down back streets. His body thrummed between her legs and parts of her moistened.
Thalia didn’t know where he was leading her, and part of her didn’t really care. If he brought her anywhere she didn’t want to be, she could shift and run away. She was small and fast, unlike her lumbering brother. He was nearly the size of a bear.
She shoved thoughts of her brother from her mind. He’d left them. He’d walked away and, as much as she loved him, she deserved a single night without him weighing down her thoughts. Besides, the man in front of her wasn’t all that bad. Rhylan was pretty, his skin dark and his eyes curving beautifully over his sharp cheekbones. His narrow, muscle bound waist wasn’t all that bad either.
It wasn’t like she planned on sleeping with him. There was no way she would let it get that far. Her future was already laid out, and as much as she hated it, she wasn’t going to betray that bond.
She shoved aside all the random thoughts spiraling through her and tried to sink into the blissful roar of the wind in her ears.
Chapter Four
Rhylan pulled over, kicking the stand so that Thalia could hop off. Her legs seemed like jelly beneath her. He laughed as he watched her wobble away. Despite her shaky limbs, there was a smile on her face. It was true and filled him with happiness. Her eyes turned up to the sky.
“Where are we?”
Rhylan shrugged. “I’m not sure. I just wanted a chance to talk to you again.”
She looked down at him again, a ghost of a smile on her lips. He leaned forward, elbows on the handlebars of his bike. He took pleasure in watching her spin with her arms out. She was dwarfed by his massive jacket, but he took pride in seeing her in it. It was as if he’d proclaimed his hunt for her. She wore his scent, the first step in claiming this woman’s heart.
Was that what he truly wanted? At first, all he’d wanted was someone to talk to. He’d wanted help answering questions that neither Jax nor Sydney had time for. They were too busy with the investigation.
“You never told me why you’re in Fangway.”
She stopped spinning. Her eyes dropped to the mountains around them, as if searching for something. For someone.
He stepped off the bike to approach her, not quite closing the space between them. He knew how to heal so much, knew how to stitch people up so that they couldn’t fall apart, but he knew nothing about problems of the heart and mind. All he could do was shove his hands in his pockets and wait for her to talk.
“I left home to look for my brother. He went on one of those soul-searching expeditions across the country and never returned.”
His world shifted. Visions of the barn returned, the sound of the howls filling his ears. His throat dried, and he had to fight to swallow his fear back. There was a chance… but he had no way of knowing.
Rhylan fought to keep his face straight, to keep the grimace away from his lips. Her brother could already be dead, and he didn’t know how to tell her. He’d seen such hope and beauty in her. Those simple words could break it all apart again.
Rhylan chose to keep what he knew to himself. It nestled in his chest, unspoken words falling to fester until he could find a way to know for sure.
“Why did he leave? I take it you were both born into a family of shifters. That’s a thing, right?”
She laughed. “Yeah. That’s a thing. My brother wanted to know what the world was like, if he was a product of our Pack or if he was his true self. So, he set out on a journey. I know he got into some trouble along the way. He’s the son of an Alpha so his attitude didn’t sit well with some of the packs he ran into. But, I didn’t think he’d ever fall.”
Her voice cracked. Rhylan wanted to close the space between them, draw her into his arms, but all he could do was watch tears slip down her face.
“I could help you find him,” he blurted out.
Her head snapped up. Fire burned in her dark eyes. It was black and furious.
“But, I’ll need pictures of him. I’ll need to know what he looks like if I’m going to find him.”
“What are you talking about?” Gone was the broken girl. Here was a woman packed with force. She thought herself strong, but she was still a thin and frail creature. It wouldn’t take much to break the small thing that she was, even if she didn’t think so.
There was no way Rhylan was going to let her anywhere near that barn. He would die before she entered it. He would do it for her. The resolution cemented itself in his mind, taking up space before he realized it. His desire to help her made him feel strong; it gave him a purpose.
Two things he had not felt since the attack in the emergency room.
“You heard me,” he said, jamming his hands into his pockets. “I might have a lead, but I need pictures.”
Her brows knit together. She didn’t quite trust him. He didn’t blame her, but he tried to fill his eyes with honesty. Despite the foolish steps he’d taken to get her where she was, Rhylan was a good man. She addled his brain and made the wolf inside him howl for more. Her presence turned him inside out and upside down.
“Look, I know I haven’t proven that I’m a great person. If anything, you probably think I’m the scum of the earth…”
“You’re a damn nut case,” she interrupted. She shoved her hands into the pockets of the leather jacket and stalked away from him.
After a long moment of thought, staring out at the mountains, she reached for the small purse at her hip. Thalia rummaged through crinkling receipts and packages of gum before pulling something out and thrusting it toward him with a shaking hand. Her eyes were resolute, shining with unshed tears as her jaw shook with the force of her determination.
Rhylan stepped forward, reaching for the photo in her hand. At first, she held on, reluctant to let go. He touched her hand and tried to push a promise into his eyes. She let out a ragged breath and released the photo.
“You aren’t doing anything without me.”
Rhylan didn’t get a chance to look at the photo. His jaw dropped. “You aren’t going anywhere near there.”
Her head cocked to the side, catching the words he’d spilt. One unshed tear slipped from the corner of her eye and raced down the side of her cheek. Rhylan stepped forward, wanting to wipe it away, but her expression shut down and he faltered.
“There. You said there. You know where he might be.”
Rhylan finally looked down at the photo in his hands. It was hard to see in the dark, but he could make out Thalia’s face. It was smiling, something he hadn’t seen her do very much. This smile was wide, splitting her face and deepening the dimples beneath her cheeks. He ran his thumb over the joy on her face as she hugged the man beside her.
Jealousy spiked before Rhylan noticed the similarities between the two. The man was taller, wider than any he’d seen before, but he shared Thalia’s dimples and dark hair. His eyes were lighter and his skin a shade darker. His strong arms wrapped around Thalia, protecting her from the world.
He committed the face to memory before handing it back to her. “What shape do the two of you have?”
Thalia shook her head. “No. You know w
here he is and you’re going to tell me now.”
She was a furious force, suddenly in his face. She must have stood on the tips of her toes. It would take nothing for Rhylan to reach out and pull her into his body. But, he knew she wouldn’t let him. She would fight and push against his touch until he told her where her brother was.
The truth was, he couldn’t know for sure until he went there himself. He could ask his new Pack members to help him, but he saw how well that went last time. Jax almost died. He wasn’t about to risk their lives for a gut instinct that could be completely wrong.
Thalia ripped the photo from his hand and jammed it back into her purse. Her motions were jerky and erratic, her hand getting caught on the strap of her purse before she growled at it with frustration.
“Look,” Rhylan began. “I’m trying to help. I want to find him for you, but this place, where he might be, it’s dangerous.”
“You think I can’t protect myself? You think I’m weak?”
“I don’t know anything about you. I don’t know what you’re capable of!” Rhylan threw his arms up before a strange stillness overtook him. The thought of her in pain, of her shot like Jax had been, filled him with cold dread. “I just can’t stand the idea of you getting hurt.”
“That isn’t your decision to make.” Her voice was a wild growl as she dug her finger into his chest.
He gripped her wrist and bent toward her so that his face was barely a breath from hers. “Do you want my help or not?”
“From a blackmailer?” She reeled back and spit at his feet. “I’ll do it on my own.”
He watched her spin around and stomp away. She raised one hand, her middle finger extended. His stomach turned. He couldn’t let her walk back into town on her own. He cursed himself and the fire he felt for her, the fire that turned him into a bumbling fool, turning to jog back to his bike.
***
The smell of Rhylan haunted her, clinging to the leather jacket that had warmed her during the ride. She wanted to strip it away from her skin, to drop it and forget about Rhylan’s wistful eyes. It seemed she was incapable of doing so, the jacket still on her shoulders when he caught up to her.
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