by Kathy Love
He considered knocking on Sebastian and Christian’s door to tell them he was leaving, but then decided against it. He had the feeling they would try to talk him out of going.
But there was no talking him out of this. He had to go. The compulsion to get in his truck and drive was overwhelming.
He slid into the truck and put the key in the ignition. Then he paused, his hand on the gearshift. What are you doing? You have no idea where she is.
But for some reason, that rational thought disappeared from his head. He put the truck into reverse and wheeled out of the parking place. He pulled up to the road and paused for a moment, looking both ways. Where was she?
“This is nuts,” he muttered to himself; then another vivid image filled his mind. Elizabeth staring up at someone, her eyes wide and full of fear.
He blinked away the image, his attention turning to the road. Left. He needed to go left. The tires squealed as he turned in that direction.
At the first intersection, he automatically flipped the directional signal to indicate he was turning left again. By the time the light changed and he was heading deeper into the woods, he stopped questioning how he knew where he was going. He just did. Just like he knew Elizabeth needed him.
“I planned to kill you. I mean, you’re knocked up with a human’s brat. And you are a cheat. Not to mention, an abandoner. Certainly all good reasons to kill you.”
Elizabeth tried not to move as he strode closer to her. Yet, she couldn’t keep from tightening her hold on herself-and the life growing inside her.
“But then, after a while I calmed down.” He crouched down, so he could look into her face. “You know, being shot can really cloud a person’s judgment.”
He stood again, although she didn’t look up at him. She just held herself, trying to think of what she could do to escape.
“Anyway,” he continued, “I decided to keep you. You are still my best bet to get back into the pack. And this time to show them that I should be the alpha. The pack leader.”
Even though she knew she should just remain silent, she couldn’t. This was insanity. “How do you think I can do that? The pack will never allow you to be leader.”
Instead of getting enraged, as she thought he would, he smiled, although the curl of his lips was cruel, sinister-looking.
“Yes, they will. And you will help me. Because if you don’t, I will kill your human. And his whelp.”
Fear filled her, a small noise escaping her at the idea of either Jensen or the baby being hurt. But what Brody was asking of her couldn’t be done. The pack would never accept him as their leader. He was delusional. And his delusions were making him very dangerous.
“How-how do you know I’m pregnant?” How did this lunatic know, when she had no clue.
“I tasted it on you. The change of your hormones.”
When she just stared at him, he grinned again and added, “I was in your room the other night, and just couldn’t resist taking a little taste of you.”
She tightened her hold around her midriff, and he laughed.
“Good thing I did, too. The brat is a great bargaining chip, isn’t it? And I’ll be even more appealing to the pack if I return an expectant father.”
Rage flared in Elizabeth. “There is no way in hell I’m going back with you, much less allowing you anywhere near my child.”
She immediately realized her mistake. Brody’s smile vanished-then he took a lightning-fast step toward her. The back of his hand connected with her cheekbone. Stars flashed before her, blotting out everything else.
“You’ll do whatever I say,” he growled, “or everyone you love will pay.”
CHAPTER 25
Jensen saw another vivid image of Elizabeth, this one making him growl low in his throat. Fury rose up inside him, but he struggled to stay calm and focused. He was close now.
In fact, he was very close. Without questioning his actions, he pulled the truck onto the soft shoulder of the narrow mountain road.
He shut off the engine and hopped down onto the deserted road. Woods surrounded him, but he knew she was here. Very close.
He started up the rise, his steps certain. He kept going until he spotted a small cabin, barely visible through the trees in the waning light.
That was where she was. He knew it as surely as he knew his own name.
But instead of rushing toward the building, he moved stealthily, patiently. He had to go in carefully. In his visions, he hadn’t been able to see her captor, but he had the faint impression of a large man. Lean muscles, large bones. And cruelty. But he knew that from what he saw of Elizabeth. He’d seen bruises on her cheek. Blood on her lips.
More rage spiked through him. This man would die for what he’d done to Elizabeth.
As he got closer to the cabin, he heard voices. He stopped, tilting his head. He was closer, but not near enough to hear anyone clearly. Yet, he could hear Elizabeth’s captor without even straining.
“So let’s get this straight. You help me, and I’ll let the human and the brat live.”
Jensen frowned. The human and the brat? What was he talking about?
“The plan is pretty simple, isn’t it?” The voice sounded like it contained a sneer.
Jensen stepped closer.
“Isn’t it, Lizzie?”
Jensen heard a small noise that he knew must be Elizabeth, but he couldn’t make out what she said. If anything. Her response sounded like little more than a whimper.
Jensen suddenly felt her pain, both physical and mental, and he knew he had to get in there. He had to protect her. The urge was so strong, he hurried toward the cabin, giving up on the stealth attack. She needed him, now.
But as he grabbed the doorknob, her captor’s words stopped him again.
“So do you agree, Lizzie? You will come back with me? You will be the perfect mate? Or I will carry out my threat. You know I will.”
Jensen listened closely.
“Yes” was Elizabeth’s quiet, heartbreaking answer.
“We will change soon. If you pull anything stupid like trying to escape, I will kill you. And then go back for the human. And the old man, too.”
Jensen’s muscles tightened at her captor’s words, most of which he didn’t understand, but he did understand this guy was very dangerous.
He turned the door handle, gripping the old metal knob slowly and carefully. Make no noise. Surprise was his best strategy.
He eased the door open, trying to peek in. To get an idea where the captor was. He couldn’t see the man, but he could see Elizabeth. And she saw him. Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to call out to him. But before Jensen could react, the door jerked violently open, hauling him into the room.
Elizabeth let out a squeal and pushed up to her feet, getting ready to run to him. Without thinking, he straightened, quickly getting his bearings, and took a step toward her. But before he could reach her, a large arm clamped around his neck. He choked as the strong arm squeezed. Again Elizabeth cried out, but all Jensen could really register was her face. Her eyes wide with horror. The bruises on her cheek, her tangled hair.
Rage replaced the disorientation of the attack from behind. He dug his fingers into the arm holding him, using it for balance. Then he shoved backwards, using all his body weight.
The large man behind him stumbled, surprised by Jensen’s move. They both toppled to the ground. Jensen used the opportunity to break free. He scrambled to his feet and ran to Elizabeth. Instead of grabbing her, he just placed himself between her and her captor, for the first time seeing who he was up against.
The man was already on his feet, which brought him to Jensen’s height, but he was much wider. Shaggy, dark hair shrouded his rough, large-boned features and empty, dark eyes. He looked more animal than human.
Which he is, his mind told him. He didn’t understand the thought, but he accepted it. He braced himself, expecting the huge man to come after him.
Instead, the man tilted his head, surv
eying Jensen. “How brave, human. But very stupid.”
Elizabeth made a noise, but Jensen didn’t hazard a look at her. He couldn’t let this animal have an opportunity to attack.
But obviously, the hulk didn’t feel the same way. He glanced at the window out at the darkened woods, then he laughed, the sound as coarse as he was.
“Well, this is going to be a pathetic fight.”
“Please,” Elizabeth begged. “Jensen, just run. Please.” Then she spoke to the animal. “Brody, he doesn’t even know what’s going to happen. He can’t fight. Please. I will go with you. I will help you.”
“Help him what?” Jensen asked. And what was going to happen?
The hulk stepped toward them, and Jensen steeled himself and made sure Elizabeth was behind him, blocked.
Just as Jensen thought the man would reach for him, he stopped, standing right in the shaft of faint moonlight that came through the window.
Jensen frowned as the man just stood there, watching them. His face blank. His eyes unreadable. Suddenly his face contorted, twisting into a horrific mask of distorted muscles.
Jensen opened his mouth to ask what was happening, but no words would escape. All he could do was watch him in amazed horror.
Before Jensen’s eyes, the man’s body began to twist and alter, muscles warping. Loud cracks echoed in Jensen’s ears and he realized it was the man’s bones.
Dear God!
“It’s okay,” Elizabeth whispered from behind him, although her voice sounded strange, thick and slurred. And filled with pain.
Jensen’s eyes darted from the man, or whatever he was, to Elizabeth. A dismayed noise escaped him as he saw Elizabeth. She was doing the same thing, her face distorting.
“Elizabeth!”
She grimaced, her eyes intense as if she was trying to control the incredible changes that were happening.
“Please just run. Please!”
“What?” This was insanity. It was unbelievable. But yet, wasn’t it the very thing that he’d been toying with in the back of his mind? That Elizabeth was…
“We are… werewolves.”
Jensen looked back to the man, who was now on his hands and knees. His skin looked as if it was bubbling, his muscles shifting, his bones rearranging.
“This is real,” he murmured. He knew it. He could feel the truth in himself.
“Yes. I’m so… so… sorry.”
Jensen looked back to Elizabeth to see her fall to her knees. He knelt beside her.
“You… ” A cry of pain escaped her, but she dropped her head, managing to calm herself. “You… have to go. Now!”
He shook his head. “No. I can’t. I can’t.”
“Brave,” the creature in front of him growled, the words barely intelligible. “Brave and stupid.”
“Jensen-he will kill you. Please.” Elizabeth’s features had changed, but her pale eyes were the same. Begging him.
“No,” Jensen said. “Make me like you. Give me a chance to fight him.”
Elizabeth shook her head, her hair now a mane. “No. No.”
Suddenly, the creature near them growled, the sound loud and eerie. Jensen stood, backing away from the animal, the large and black and deadly wolf.
Elizabeth, now fully changed, stepped in between them, snarling at the other werewolf. Her wolf form was larger than her human form, but she was still smaller than Brody.
Jensen watched, stunned by what he was seeing. Then something triggered in him-the need to protect his woman. The need to protect his… Brody’s words returned. Brat.
Elizabeth was pregnant.
Before he realized what he intended to do, he rushed in between the snarling wolves, just as they reared up to lunge. The impact was like two battering rams pounding into him, knocking him to the floor. The wolves fell apart, both obviously stunned by his move.
Jensen looked at Elizabeth, praying that even in wolf form she understood that he wasn’t going to leave her.
“Make me like you,” he shouted. “Do it.”
Elizabeth’s pale wolf eyes blinked. Then she did as he asked, her paw coming up to score the skin of his shoulder. The impact of the scratch was instantaneous. He fell back, the shallow wound burning like hell. He was vaguely aware of the two wolves again lunging at each other. Elizabeth working to keep Brody away, while Jensen changed.
Time elapsed and distorted, just as his body did. And the next thing he knew he was changed, moving on all fours, leaping into the fray. Going for the huge one. Attacking the male that would hurt his mate.
The fight wasn’t long. Even as big as the one wolf was, he wasn’t a match for the two of them. Soon Jensen had Brody on his back, his fangs at the male’s throat.
Then time seemed to shift again. As did reality. Soon, the whole cabin was teeming with wolves, all of them snarling and nipping and circling Jensen and Brody.
Then time and reality lapsed again.
When Jensen woke, he was on the floor of the cabin. Elizabeth lay beside him, her body curled protectively around his. She lifted her head as soon as she felt him rouse.
She regarded him with wide, worried eyes. Then they filled with tears.
“Jensen, I’m so sorry.”
Jensen sat up, frowning around him. The cabin was empty, though signs of struggle remained. “Where is he?”
“Brody is gone. Members of my old pack came and took him. They’d been tracking him. They will deal with him.”
Jensen’s frown deepened as he touched Elizabeth’s face, brushing aside her tears. “Then why are you apologizing?”
An inelegant sob escaped her. “Because I made you into a monster.”
He considered that. “I asked you to. And I have a hard time believing you are a monster.”
“I’m a werewolf!” The cry was followed by another loud sob.
He nodded, giving her an indulgent smile. “Yes. And so am I. Because I want to be. Because I love you.”
She stared at him, tears rolling down her cheeks. “God, I love you, too.” She flung herself at him, and all he could feel was love as he held her tight. He supposed what had happened last night had been beyond weird and should have terrified him, but it didn’t. Not in the least.
What he felt was right and natural. Elizabeth was his mate. And she was having his child.
He leaned back to assess her, looking for any signs of injury. “Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”
She blinked at him, managing to smile through her tears. “Yes. We’re fine.”
He hugged her again. God, he loved this woman. Fur and all.
“You know, I think we have bigger problems,” he said, managing to speak, even though his emotions threatened to choke him.
“What’s that?” she asked against his shoulder.
“The fact that we have no clothes.”
Elizabeth made a noise, the sound between a laugh and another sob. “Yes, that’s just one of the problems with being a werewolf.”
He kissed her, his hand moving down over the smooth curve of her back.
“Or not,” she added, her hands moving over him in return.
They kissed and touched for several moments, until Jensen broke the kiss to peer at her.
“Are your brothers really vampires?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Jensen considered that. “Well, we should probably ease Granddad into all of this.”
Elizabeth laughed.
CHAPTER 26
Elizabeth stepped into the barroom, her arm looped through Rhys’s. The chairs, which she, Mina, and Jolee had draped in white cloth and satin bows, were lined up in straight rows. White lights twinkled from the rafters and along the walls, replacing the usual colored ones. And up on the karaoke stage was an archway, also draped in white with flowers and greenery. Underneath, waiting for her, stood Jensen.
He looked sinfully handsome in his black tuxedo, his green eyes watching her, that lopsided smile curving his beautiful lips. Granddad stood beside him as his be
st man, a smile on his lips and affection clear in the eyes so like his grandson’s.
“Ready?” Rhys murmured.
Elizabeth nodded.
They started down the makeshift aisle as all her friends and her family watched her, smiles on all their faces. Christian looked impossibly handsome. Sebastian winked and grinned. She grinned back.
“When I imagined giving you away, it wasn’t quite like this,” Rhys said, although he smiled, too.
Her grin widened.
“That’s funny,” her gaze left her brother and locked with Jensen’s, “because this is exactly how I imagined it.”
When they reached the altar, Rhys hugged her tight and then handed her over to Jensen. The two men shook hands, and Elizabeth’s eyes welled at the sight.
The rest of the wedding was a blur for her. She was too caught up in the perfection of the moment, of having her family there to see this wonderful event. And she was especially lost in Jensen. The man of her dreams. Her werewolf mate.
When the ceremony was done, they mingled with their guests. A buffet was set up along the bar and Jed served drinks.
Jensen talked easily with her brothers. Friends chatted and ate and drank. And again, Elizabeth feared she might cry.
Jensen glanced at her from across the room, obviously sensing her emotions. He excused himself to join her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded, smiling through her tears. “Just being a ridiculously happy and hormonal, pregnant bride.”
He chuckled and looped an arm around her to pull her close.
“You go right ahead,” he told her, kissing her gently.
Just as their kiss would have deepened, someone cleared his throat as a cue.
They turned to see Brian standing there, smiling. Jill stood at his side, looking embarrassed, and Elizabeth knew it hadn’t been her idea to speak to them at that very moment.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Brian said, looking anything but sorry, and Elizabeth was quickly learning that Jensen’s best friend was a big tease. “We just wanted to congratulate you both. We are so happy for you.”