She cleared her throat. “Is this Quinn Lawton?” She prayed she’d remembered the number right. She didn’t know what she’d do next if this wasn’t Chrissten’s brother.
There was some rustling in the background and the voice was more alert this time. “No.” Bethany’s heart sunk. Maybe she’d dialed the number wrong. Before she could apologize and hang up, the man was speaking again. “Just give me a second and I’ll get him.”
Hope surged inside her. She hadn’t failed. The phone number was the right one. Her knees threatened to buckle so she sank into the chair that Margaret had vacated. Her stomach felt queasy and she was still very weak. She could still hang up the phone and let the police handle this. All she’d have to do is tell them she was kidnapped. No need to tell them about the rest of it. Quinn Lawton would never be able to find her. There was no way to trace the call back to the shelter.
She clutched the receiver in her hand and took a deep breath, knowing she could never do that. She was committed now. No turning back. Footsteps sounded through the receiver and she knew the man who’d answered was taking the phone to Chrissten’s brother, who was a half-breed werewolf just like Chrissten. Just like she was.
Bethany still couldn’t quite wrap her head around that one, but she was trying to understand it. She hoped Quinn had answers for her.
“Yeah.” The voice was low and gruff and masculine. Every cell in Bethany’s body reacted to the sound. The fine hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Her nipples contracted. Her breath caught in her throat.
“Who is this?” The voice was more demanding now, all trace of sleepiness gone.
Bethany forced herself to speak. “Is this Quinn Lawton?”
“Who wants to know?” She almost hung up on him. His impatience and arrogance bled through the phone line. But she’d promised her friend.
“Do you have a sister named Chrissten?”
“Where is she? Who are you? Where are you?”
Bethany was so startled by the angry outburst she dropped the receiver. She could hear Quinn yelling at her through the line. She grabbed the phone and hung up, panting hard for breath. He was one scary man.
She sat there for about thirty seconds before she grabbed the phone and punched in the number again.
“Hello. Are you there?” he demanded.
“I’m here.” This was for Chrissten, she reminded herself. And for yourself, a little voice in the back of her head said. You want to know more about who you are. What you are.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.” His low tones made her shiver and she wasn’t sure she believed him. Even his apology was short. A voice in the background was urging him to stay calm. She recognized it as the man who’d originally answered the phone. She was beginning to wish she’d talked to him instead.
“Umm, I need to talk to you about your sister.” She had to do this face-to-face. This wasn’t something you talked about over the phone. “Where are you?”
“I’m in Chicago. Where are you?”
Bethany was shocked to find out that help was close at hand. She hadn’t expected that, but would take it as a good sign that maybe her luck was changing. “Where in Chicago? I want to meet you.”
“Tell me about my sister.” His frustration was palpable and she almost blurted out everything she knew. But she had to meet him in person. She’d promised Chrissten she’d get help and that meant more than simply making a phone call. Plus, she was curious about him, about what he was. What she was.
“Where shall I meet you?” Bethany could be just as stubborn as he was.
“There’s a bar in Wicker Park. It’s called Haven. Meet me there.”
“When?” Bethany glanced at the clock over Margaret’s desk. It was half past four in the morning.
“Now. I’ll be waiting for you.”
“I don’t have any money to pay for a cab.” It was demoralizing to admit she needed him to pay for her to get there. She couldn’t walk, as she had no idea where she was going. Even if she wanted to take public transit she still had no idea where to find this particular bar.
“Just get here. I’ll take care of the cab fare.”
She sucked in a breath and said, “Okay,” as she exhaled. The quicker she did this the better for her peace of mind.
“What’s your name?” The urgency in his tone brought home just how desperate he was for news of his sister.
“Bethany. My name is Bethany. As of less than a day ago your sister was alive. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” As she hung up the phone she knew she was no longer alone.
“I don’t know what kind of mess you’re involved in, Bethany, but you be careful, you hear me.” Margaret walked behind her desk and set down her mug of tea. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a key. She opened her desk drawer, lifted out a small metal box and drew out two twenty-dollar bills.
“I can’t take that.” Bethany held her hands in front of her as if to ward off Margaret’s kindness. “You’ve already done enough.”
“Child, you don’t want to be out in the world without some money in your pocket.” Margaret walked around the desk and put the bills in Bethany’s hands, curling her fingers around it. “It’s not much, but it should get you where you’re going. You come back if you need to. You hear me?”
Bethany had been alone since her mother died. Those years had been hard and cold and lonely. Add the kidnapping and the uncertainty of her life, and it was little wonder Margaret’s kindness brought tears to her eyes. “Thank you.”
Margaret wrapped her arms around Bethany and hugged her. The older woman smelled like cinnamon, like home. It felt good and helped ground her. Bethany drew in a breathe and pulled herself together.
“You do what you got to do,” Margaret told her. “But remember, you’ve got a place here if you need one.”
Bethany swiped at her eyes and nodded, touched by the sincere offer. “I appreciate it.” Not that she’d be coming back. She didn’t want to bring any trouble to the shelter or to this amazing woman. “I need to call a cab.”
Quinn paced back and forth across the floor of the bar, stopping to peer out the window every few seconds.
“Will you relax? You’re making me dizzy.”
Quinn whirled around to face his brother, who’d joined him downstairs. “How can I? This woman has seen Chris.” He still couldn’t believe the early morning call. Craig had kept Quinn’s old cell phone number just in case Chrissten ever tried to call home. It had been a long shot and it had finally paid off. It hadn’t been Chrissten who’d called, but it was someone who claimed to have seen her. This was the closest he’d been to his twin in the long, bleak months since her disappearance.
“It’s crazy to get a call like this on the same night we talk to Damek.” Craig took off his glasses and cleaned the glass lenses on the tail of his shirt. “You think the vampire had anything to do with it?”
Quinn shook his head. “Not enough time. This is—” Quinn broke off, not quite knowing how to put his thoughts into words. Every muscle in his body was coiled and ready for action. All he needed was a direction to focus on. This woman, Bethany, had information about his sister. The first news after all this time. He tried not to get his hopes up too high but it was impossible not to. Any news was better than the nightmare of not knowing.
His heart was racing and his palms were clammy. Chris was alive. He’d known it in his heart, but having tangible proof had given him a renewed sense of hope.
Of course, the rest of the pack had stirred when they’d heard the ringing phone. Any middle-of-the-night call was usually cause for concern. Isaiah had been the one to come and ask them what had happened. They were all cautiously optimistic. They were also on guard just in case this was some kind of trap.
The entire pack was upstairs, awake and ready to help. They’d agreed to stay out of sight only because, if this was on the up and up, they didn’t want to frighten away this woman, whoever she was.
Quinn wasn’t
about to let her go. Not if she knew where Chris was. He’d keep her chained to his side if he had to. He wasn’t about to lose his only link to his twin.
A cab pulled up in front of Haven. Quinn practically ripped the door off the hinges in his haste to get to the woman in the vehicle. She handed the driver some money and climbed out of the cab. It pulled away, leaving them staring at one another.
She was slender with shoulder-length brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing jeans, canvas sneakers and a gray fleece. She wasn’t beautiful, not in the classical sense. But with her heart-shaped face and delicate features she was lovely. She was also afraid. He could smell her fear.
Quinn took another deep breath and his heart stopped. A second later it started pounding to a deep, primal rhythm. Mine. His wolf howled inside him as her sweet, womanly scent filled his nostrils, making his body harden.
It was intoxicating and totally inappropriate for him to be reacting to her in a sexual way considering the circumstances of their meeting. He shook his head to clear it but couldn’t shake the notion he was about to meet his destiny.
Bethany trembled, but only partially from fear. The rest, she was afraid, was pure unadulterated lust. The man standing in front of her was several inches over six feet. He was lean, but every inch of him was sculpted of hard muscle. His jeans clung to strong thighs and emphasized his trim waist. The short sleeves of his T-shirt fit over his large biceps like a second skin. His blond hair was short and barely skimmed his neck. But it was his eyes that struck her. She recognized those pale blue eyes.
“You have her eyes,” she blurted out.
He moved then. So fast she couldn’t stop herself from taking several steps back. Her foot hit the edge of the sidewalk and she teetered on the edge before regaining her footing. Another step back and she’d be standing in the road. He froze in front of her, his eyes taking her in from head to toe. “Bethany?”
She easily recognized his voice from the phone. This was Quinn Lawton. In person, his voice was even more compelling. She wanted to walk to him, put her cheek against his chest and listen to him talk, feel the vibration against her skin. Must be fatigue making her so loopy. She’d never wanted to do that to any man before. She’d chalk it up to one more strange experience in a long series of them.
Instead, she nodded and held out her hand. “Bethany Morris.”
He wrapped his fingers around hers and led her toward the entrance of a building. She glanced up at the sign and, sure enough, it read Haven. His hand was so much bigger than hers, his skin darker and rougher. Warmer too. His heat soaked into her skin, reminding her just how cold she was.
It struck her all at once that no one knew where she was. She hadn’t told Margaret where she was going. She figured the less information the director had the safer she and the other women at the shelter would be. There was no way to link Bethany with the Angel of Hope Shelter.
Bethany only had Chrissten’s word that her brother was one of the good guys. Once she stepped inside the empty bar and the door closed behind her she’d be completely at his mercy.
As though he sensed her trepidation, Quinn paused and raised her fingers to his mouth. The sight of his lips touching the back of her hand mesmerized her. Heat surged through her body, pooling between her thighs. The cool, crisp air receded and was quickly replaced by a blast of heat.
“I won’t hurt you.” With that promise, he drew her inside and shut the door behind him. The finality of it echoed through her like a shockwave. She had no idea what was ahead of her, but there was no longer any going back.
Quinn was torn between dual desires. He had to find out every scrap of information about his sister and her whereabouts. That need burned in his blood and ripped at his guts. But the woman next to him had started a fire in his soul. He wanted to strip her naked, take her down to the rough wooden floor beneath their feet and make love to her until she clutched at his shoulders and screamed his name in ecstasy. Which was crazy considering she was a complete stranger.
He took another deep breath and almost moaned at the sweet scent that filled his nostrils. Damn, she smelled good. Like honey and violets with a hint of something dark and spicy. He fought the urge to rub his cheek against the top of her hair to see if it was as soft as it looked.
She was about six inches shorter than him, her build slight. Her eyes had flecks of brown and green. Chameleon eyes. They could be either color depending on the light. They were also filled with a wariness that jolted him back to reality. He’d done nothing but stare at her since she’d arrived and that wasn’t going to put her at ease any time soon. It was time to take control of the situation.
“Sit.” He’d pulled several chairs down from off one of the tables and held one of them out for her.
She glanced at him and then at the door before she finally sat and folded her hands in her lap. Her gaze settled behind him and her eyes widened when she realized they weren’t alone. Quinn could feel his brother waiting impatiently for him to get on with things.
“This is my brother, Craig.” His brother inclined his head in greeting, but said nothing, letting Quinn handle the conversation. He got right to the point, which he should have done the moment she stepped out of the cab. “What can you tell us about Chris? When did you see her?”
Bethany licked her lips and Quinn fought back a groan as another wave of lust surged through him. Unacceptable. His body was responding to her proximity in a way that was totally foreign to him. Quinn didn’t like it at all, and that made him snap. “Well?”
She sat back in her chair and cast another nervous gaze toward the door as if gauging how quickly she could escape. He could have told her she was wasting her time. No way was he letting her go until she’d told him everything she knew. Still, he loosened his shoulders and relaxed his hands by his side, doing his best not to appear too intimidating. From the anxious look she shot him, he wasn’t succeeding.
She twisted the edge of her fleece jacket in her fingers and he could sense her trying to order her thoughts. He wanted to shake her and yell at her to hurry. But the mere thought of touching her in anger was totally abhorrent to him.
“It was this morning.” She rubbed her forehead. “No, yesterday morning now. It’s close to dawn, isn’t it? I’m sorry. Time is all confused.”
Craig apparently decided it was time to get in on the action. He pulled out a chair and seated himself next to Bethany. “Tell us what you know. Please.”
Quinn barely suppressed a growl. He didn’t like the fact that Craig was sitting so close to her. What the hell was wrong with him?
Bethany shoved a hand through her tousled brown hair. It shook with fine tremors and Quinn was struck by the need to calm all her fears. The instinct annoyed him. Bethany Morris was nothing to him but a means to an end. She was a link to his sister, nothing more. Even as he thought the words he knew he was lying to himself, which only served to increase his annoyance.
“I was kidnapped a couple of weeks ago.” She glanced at Quinn and he wanted to roar at the fear filling her beautiful hazel eyes. She looked away and continued. “There was another woman there. Chrissten Lawton. Your sister.”
He closed his eyes briefly and said a quick prayer of thanks. “Who had you? Where were you held?” He fired the questions off in rapid succession. He needed answers so he could mount a rescue.
“A scientist. A Doctor Philip Morton.” She shivered and he resisted the urge to pull her into his arms to warm her with his body heat. His cock flexed and pushed against the zipper of his jeans, totally on board with that idea.
“As for where,” she continued. “In another part of the city. Deserted mostly.”
He frowned, his suspicions growing with each passing second. Her story had big enough holes in it to drive a semi through. “How can you not know where? What kind of game are you playing?”
Quinn shoved his chair back and glared down at her. Bethany jumped to her feet and he knew she was going to try to make a run for it. He couldn�
��t let that happen, and not just because she was the only one with information about his sister. It went deeper than that. She belonged to him, with him.
He grabbed her arm, closing his fingers around it, holding her with little effort. Quinn shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. It wasn’t easy with anger burning his brain, lust tearing at his guts and heat searing his groin. Bethany beat at his chest with her free hand, but he subdued her easily, wrapping his large arms around her.
Craig was yelling at him, but Quinn couldn’t make out the words. In spite of all the problems in his life and all the horrific memories that stained his tattered soul, he felt whole for the first time in years. Having Bethany in his arms soothed the aching void within him.
Everything inside him settled and sounds began to seep back into his consciousness. Craig was yelling at him to let her go. Bethany was all but gasping for air, her hands pushing and shoving against his chest. But it was the low sob from deep in her throat that broke him loose from the strange thrall encasing him.
Shame washed over him, quickly followed by a wave of remorse and he loosened his hold. He hadn’t meant to frighten her. “I’m sorry.” He whispered the words in her ear. “I won’t hurt you. Not ever.” That’s a promise he could easily keep. He wouldn’t allow anyone else to hurt her either. This woman was precious, and not just because she had information he needed.
He sat down and pulled her onto his lap. His hold turned from a prison to one of shelter against the world. He rubbed one hand up and down her back and used the other to cup her face. There were no tears on her cheeks, but her face was pale, her eyes luminous.
She tried to pull away but he held her there, needing the physical contact with her. “Talk to me.” He needed to know everything she did. “Help me understand.”
She stopped struggling and took a calming breath. Her jacket was open and the motion pushed her breasts against the front of her top. He tried not to notice the way the worn material cupped the substantial mounds.
His dick flexed again. He ignored it, never taking his eyes from her face. “Tell me about this doctor.”
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