The Wolf's Heart

by Jenna Leigh

  “Watch him.”

  “I have been. You don’t know how happy it made me when Lainie walked into my office. I’d missed her so much.” He reached down and stroked her hair back from her face. “I figured I could at least keep an eye on her if nothing else, especially when she opened her mouth and spouted that Caulder bullshit. Why is she after him?”

  David let out a weary sigh. “She called me in the middle of the night so hysterical I could barely make out what she was saying. When I heard the word werewolf, Joanna and I went to her house and tried to erase the memories of the picture of the Wolfkin that Jade sent her on the phone. We couldn’t because she knew Jade was missing, and the picture was tied so closely to that. So Joanna did what she calls a shallow bury. She’ll remember them if she’s pushed,” David warned.

  “Why did she move here?”

  With a wry grin, David leaned forward, putting his hands on his knees. “To expose Caulder and hopefully find Jade. But I suggested it because I figured it was time for you two idiots to meet up again. I got tired of the endless parade of the Marcus-wannabe revue.”

  “What?”

  “You weren’t listening, were you? I said she likes a certain type. If I showed you pictures of her ex-boyfriends, you’d see the resemblance between them and you. Of course, being that they don’t have my wonderful cheekbones in their gene pool, they weren’t really up to snuff. But hey, if all men were as hot as me, the ladies wouldn’t know what to do with themselves.” David’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

  “Mr. Modesty.” Marcus snorted.

  “Hmm, you don’t seem to be all that modest either.” David’s expression veered into scary porch daddy, something Marcus hadn’t seen since his high-school-dating days. “Before I wake her, there’s something I need to say. I know you, Marcus. You’re a good man, but if you hurt her, I’ll skin your ass. Don’t think I won’t.”

  “What the hell?” Marcus was taken aback at the forcefulness of his tone. “I am your fuckin’ nephew, wait, grandson. What happened to blood is thicker than water?”

  “Your blood will be spilled, that’s a promise. She may not be mine, but I helped raise her. She got under my skin, despite my attempts to keep it from happening. I didn’t want to be close to her because I knew she would be yours one day. It was too weird.” He curled his lip. “But, she just…” He held his hands up helplessly.

  “I know,” Marcus told him.

  David looked at him for a long minute. Finally, a smile bloomed across his face. “I know you do. Take care of her, Marcus. She’s special.”

  “I know,” Marcus repeated.

  “Mahpe.” David said another word, which Marcus recognized as Cheyenne.

  Lainie opened her eyes and looked around. “What happened?”

  “You said you felt faint, and I made you lie down.” Marcus hated to lie, but he didn’t know what else to tell her. If it were any other person besides David with this power over her, he’d be worried. However, Marcus’s own sense of honor came from him; he knew what ethics meant because of this man. She was safe with David, at least. Marcus, well, he was another story entirely.

  Lainie noticed David sitting on the other couch. “When did you get here? How are you?” She glanced at Marcus, but he didn’t seem too upset about seeing his long-lost relative in his living room.

  “A few minutes ago.” He smiled at her. “I’m about the same. How have you been?”

  “I’m good. How is Joanna?” She didn’t want to go into any details about Marcus. Speaking of which, he was staring at her like she had two heads. What was up?

  “She’s fine too. Are you sure everything’s okay?” David stared hard at her, as if searching for something.

  “I said it was! Why wouldn’t it be? What did he tell you?” She glared at Marcus, who just lifted one brow at her.

  “We were just catching up,” Marcus interjected before David could say anything.

  “Oh, whatever, fine. Don’t tell me shit, I’m used to it!” Lainie pouted, folding her arms across her chest. She hated being treated like a child, or worse, an addlebrained twit.

  “Elaine.” David was the only one who used her full name.

  “You act like I don’t know my ass from a hole in the ground!” she shot back, coming to her feet. “I’m going to take my book and go to my room. When you wish to treat me like an adult, you know where I’ll be.” She leaned over, contrary to her terse words, and gave David a peck on the cheek. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” he answered automatically, and then flushed when Marcus smirked at him.

  Lainie marched out of the room with her nose in the air, anger apparent in every line of her body. They waited until they heard her slam the door to her room upstairs, then both men broke out into sputtered laughter.

  “You know she’s going to sneak down and try to eavesdrop.” David smiled fondly in the direction she’d taken.

  Marcus shook his head. “Yeah, I know. She’s a nosey little thing.”

  “Sometimes, I wonder if it’s because of all that we’ve taken from her. If Joanna and I left her access to those memories, she may not have such an ache to find the truth.” David pulled on his bottom lip.

  “She’s had a normal life up til now. You’ve done her a favor,” Marcus replied, sitting forward to put his elbows on his knees. “What happens when she finds out the truth about us? It’s inevitable, you know. I can’t be a man all the time. Plus, I shed.” David choked on his tea at the last remark, but let him talk, as if sensing his need to do so. “She’s just so wonderful. I think, no, I know she’s supposed to be here. It feels right.”

  “I know, son.” David gave him a sad smile.

  “Do you really? Have you ever felt it, deep inside, that this is meant to be?”

  “I thought I did.” David looked away for a minute. “There are others that let their animal side rule. They will attempt to steal her from you. Especially if they find out what she is. Samuel was between a rock and a hard place. He knew she’d imprinted on you, and he wants the children you two could produce. He wants to see his experiment through to fruition.”

  “He will never get near any of our children.” Marcus’s voice was low and deadly. “He’s not welcome anywhere near this house or Lainie.”

  David gave him an incredulous look. “You don’t know?”

  “What?”

  “Jacob named Samuel his second, his beta. Sam is the number two in the New Mexico pack. You’ve got to keep up with the gossip. He’s the reason Jacob’s been stealing those girls. Your father has started up his so-called enhancements again.”

  “So, Lainie is right? She isn’t just dreaming up conspiracies?”

  “Lainie has a twisted imagination, but, no, not in this case. She’s right in suspecting Caulder. What she doesn’t know, is that the man that pursued her across fifteen states and the Canadian border is mixed up in this too.”

  “I tried to stop him,” Marcus admitted. “I spoke out against the things he did. Those that sided with me stayed on in the pack, those that didn’t, left or died. Some thought it weakened us but I know the truth.”

  “You’re the Lupin now. You’re the alpha male of the pack. Have you thought of how this will affect her? She’ll have to appear subservient to you, at least in public. She isn’t at all that way.” David clenched his fists together. “Maybe if she’d grown up in the pack atmosphere, or been trained to be that way like your father wished, she would know that. But you can’t just toss her in there without so much as a by-your-leave.”

  “I know that. She won’t be allowed to come in contact with the pack until I deem her ready.” Marcus sounded like what he was—the leader, the ruler, the king.

  “You hurt her, and I will make you wish you’d never been born.”

  “You sound like her daddy.” Marcus snorted.

  “No, just a friend. If I was her daddy, she’d be off-limits for you, think about that.” He grinned devilishly when his grandson wrinkled his nose i
n disgust.

  “Fine, Grandpa.” Marcus laughed when David looked thunderstruck.

  Both men stopped talking at once. They’d heard it, the soft footfall on the stair. She was sneaking down to listen. “So, you like what the Packers are doing this year?”

  “I’m a Steelers fan, you know that,” Marcus replied.

  “You little bastard.” David looked horrified.

  “Cheesehead.”

  “Dickhead!”

  “Sir?” Allen interrupted their good-natured diatribe.

  “Yeah, what now?” Marcus whipped his head around to glare at the unwitting butler.

  “Your guest left the house. I thought you’d like to know.”

  “Is she just out in the gardens?” Marcus was already walking toward the doors at the other end of the living room.

  “No, she scaled the fence and is heading south. At her rate of speed, she’s a mile away by now.”

  “Shit!” The younger man ran out the door, throwing his clothing off as he did so. He became a black blur within seconds, running into the night. There was a break in the fence just big enough for him.

  “Hell.” David walked outside and followed suit. He moved, swift and gray through the night, nearly invisible. He wouldn’t get too close because he had a feeling that this encounter could be embarrassing on both their parts.

  Although, he could take pictures for a scrapbook, trot them out and show them to their children. That sort of thing went over well. David’s tongue lolled out and he put on more speed. Life was good for a lone wolf.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The moon was almost full, lighting the road well enough for her to see. She jogged at a steady pace, intent on getting as far away from Marcus as possible. She couldn’t think straight with him around. He made her go all squishy in the head. Of course, she had the papers in the satchel she’d secured on her back.

  She intended to go over them at the first opportunity. They, meaning he and David, were hiding something from her. Something important. If it were only business between them, she wouldn’t care. But she knew it involved her so she should be told.

  There was a rustling sound on her left and she flinched, biting her lip to hold back a cry. It was surely a bird or small animal that was probably more scared of her than she was of it. Oh, yeah, right.

  The moon went behind a cloud and she cursed when she stumbled over a small rock. “Fuck.” She went down on one knee and just sat there holding back tears. “Damn.”

  “Of all the shit,” she grumbled. “I watch those movies and I laugh at those inane bitches that fall down. And what happens to me? I fall the hell down. I’m a horror-movie bimbo. Crap.” She pushed her hair out of her eyes, readjusting her ponytail holder.

  She stood and put her weight on her foot with a grimace. Limping, but determined to press on, she made a little progress. When she reached a bend in the long two-lane road, she stopped again. This time it was because of the icy tingle of dread creeping up her spine. She straightened and turned to look back where she’d just been. Was that a shadow there in the brush? Dear God, it was. And it was moving. Her dream haunted her, coming to the front of her mind with a vengeance, the familiarity of the setting, a dark and lonely place, her running from an animal. Or, what if it wasn’t an animal? What if it was a psycho killer intent on chopping her into bits after making her eat at the table with his dead, stuffed mother?

  Okay, calm down . Nobody does that sort of thing anymore. Now, they make you put lotion on your skin and— On second thought, that didn’t help at all. “I want my—” Lainie paused. She wanted her Marcus, where in the hell was he?

  “Some fuckin’ he-man he is. If he were any sort of big and bad dude, he’d be out here picking me up and putting me into the limo against my will. My ass would be safely pissed off in luxury right now instead of scared shitless and injured out communing with nature.” Lainie bit her lip and walked a little faster. “No. Here I am, being stalked by some freak with a penchant for fat girls. How dare he? I am in perfect shape. Well, I mean, yeah, I could lose a few pounds. Rat bastard, size discrimination is against the law.” She wiped sweat from her forehead and kept limping along. Her language deteriorated and she decided to blame Marcus for that too. If she was going to die, she may as well have a clear conscience. Another rustle, this time closer. She whined and began to hobble even faster. “Marcus, as an alpha male, you totally fuckin’ suck—bossy and useless.”

  The totally fuckin’ sucky alpha male was at this moment glaring at David who lay on his back laughing his furry gray ass off. Marcus growled and thought seriously of biting him. He didn’t, though, because David bit back, and in the soft spots too. Instead, he waited for the moment to spring. He would take the silly little twit down and scare the shit out of her. His muzzle stretched into a lupine version of a smile. His eyes reflected the gleam of the moon, which was almost full now. Soon he’d feel its pull but tonight was just for fun.

  He woofed at David to be still, a command the other wolf ignored. When she came near enough, Marcus crouched down low. As she passed, he leapt out of the brush. In mid-leap, he remembered how much she’d liked she liked his wolf form. Damn. He muffled a yelp of pain as he forced his body to shift too quickly back into its human form. He made it just in time to land on his quarry. However, the results of his ambush were not what he’d hoped.

  “You nasty bastard, get off me, you psycho! Ew, naked too. Gross!” Lainie screamed like a banshee.

  Marcus’s ears rang with her yells until she slammed her fists against his ears and he went blessedly deaf. He knew the peace wouldn’t last long. In the meantime, he grappled for her hands before she could do any more damage. “Stop it!” he hissed, wincing as his ears popped. His hearing returned just in time to hear her screech again.

  At the sound of his voice, she stopped struggling for a second before she renewed her attack, adding in verbal thrusts for good measure. Women really were the champions of multitasking.

  After disparaging his parentage, his weight and his bony pelvis, she glared up at him. “Marcus? Why in the world are you out here naked?”

  “Ohke?” He attempted to say the word to make her go into that trance state like David did.

  “Okay? Okay what?”

  Another snort came from the vicinity of the bushes.

  “Weirdo! Get off me. Just because I had sex with you doesn’t mean you can come running out of the woods and hop on me naked!”

  “If you hit me there with your knee once more, so help me I’m gonna…” He trailed off when a pair of high beams hit them both. “Well, fuck.”

  There was the sound of a car door opening and closing. “Sir?”

  “Yes, Mick.” Marcus sighed, leaning his forehead on hers. She bit him on the nose. “Ow!”

  “Get off me, you heavy shit.”

  “You weren’t complaining about it last night,” he couldn’t help pointing out. Other things were pointing as well but he refused to allow her the satisfaction of seeing the effect she had on him. “Will you turn off the damned lights?” The minute Mick complied, he stood and walked to the trunk to get his pants.

  Lainie blinked for a few minutes, trying to adjust her eyes. She thought she saw another shadow moving behind the car, but wasn’t sure. She craned her neck, just as Marcus, clad only in a pair of jeans, came stomping back over to glare at her.

  “What did you think you were doing out here in the middle of the night? You could have been killed or worse, attacked by some deranged sex fiend.”

  “I was,” she snapped as she took the hand he extended.

  “You were?” He jerked her up off the ground, running his hands over her arms and legs. “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”

  “It was you, you big freak. I’m fine with that sort of thing in the right circumstances, but not now. And another thing…”

  Despite her wiggles, he carried her to the car, settling her inside with ease.

  “…nasty, naked and sweaty and don’t
think I didn’t feel you poking me with that--that thing!” she continued.

  “Lainie,” he said, his voice low and calm.

  “What?”

  “Shut up.”

  She opened her mouth to tell him what he could do with himself. She took one look at his expression and closed it again.

  He was enraged; there was no other word for it. His face was red and his lips were pressed tightly together. “Why did you run off?”

  “I, well…“ She bowed her head. “I just felt like I should.” How could she tell him she’d seen her name on the computer printout, with his father’s beside it? What did that mean? Why did it make her stomach hurt just thinking about it?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lainie didn’t speak while they made their way back home. She glared at him from her corner of the vehicle with her arms folded beneath her breasts. Her knuckles were white. To any other man, she’d just look pissed. However, Marcus could sense the fear beneath the anger. It made him want to hold her, protect her from whatever it was that made her feel this way. “Lainie?” When he said her name, she jumped. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she answered quickly. Her throat muscles moved jerkily as she swallowed. She bit her lip, worrying it with her teeth.

  The lights from the house lit the car, illuminating her soft skin and burnishing her hair with its golden light. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. He hadn’t really meant to say it out loud. But just now, seeing her so still, it came to him how lovely she really was.

  Usually she was so animated, her hands and lips in perpetual motion. Her brain worked overtime, that much he did know. But right now, she looked like a still life. And if he painted her portrait, he’d simply call her Beauty. With a wry grin, he shook his head to clear his thoughts. If she was Beauty, that surely made him the Beast. He was so not going there. Disney could kiss his ass. He didn’t want to be “cured” or released from some spell.