by Alisa Woods
In that instant, she knew: She would have to leave Cassie. No matter how much that carved out her heart.
“You’re going to be okay,” Terra said, squeezing Cassie even tighter. “I promise, everything’s going to be all right.”
But her sister’s eyes were still wide and freaked out when Terra pulled back. “Why is the Wolf Hunter after you?” she asked, her sweet voice tinged with fear.
Terra closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. “I don’t know, baby. There just are some evil people in this world.” Her throat was closing up. She stood up, still holding Cassie’s shoulders. “But the River pack is going to take care of you from now on.”
Cassie’s eyes went more round. “But I want to stay with you.”
God… a knife in her heart wouldn’t hurt as much.
Jaxson took the cue and slid immediately to Cassie’s side. “There’s nothing to worry about, Cass. We’ll find you a new home, even better than the safehouse.”
Terra tried to show her gratitude in a look without words—because she was barely trusting herself to speak right now.
“Terra.” Trent was shaking his head, and she knew what he was thinking: that they should stick together. But Jaxson’s Riverwise security company had military experience, and Trent was a software developer. She sure as hell wasn’t going to trust Cassie to her brother’s care.
“You go wherever Jaxson tells you,” she said forcefully to Trent. If he fought her on this, she would bring the claws out. Then she softened her voice, for Cassie’s sake. “Take her somewhere safe, Trent. Somewhere away from me. I’m the target now…” She had to clear her throat again. Every face was focused on her, so she spoke directly to them. “You all need to find safe places to go. Now.”
Trent pressed his lips together, but thankfully, he didn’t argue.
“All right, everyone, listen up,” Jaxson said, raising his voice and taking charge as he usually did. Thank God. “We need to relocate close to fifty shifters to safe locations, and we need to do it yesterday. This is not going to be a small operation. Everyone needs to stay calm and pitch in.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Mama River spoke up from her spot in the doorway into the kitchen. “This is my home.”
Terra couldn’t help but smile, and it helped banish the tears that were threatening to fall. Mama River’s defiance of her son, even though he was alpha of their pack, was just what she needed to hear. She’d grown to love Mama River more than she wanted to say out loud. Terra never had a mother, not since she was younger than Cassie, and Mama River seemed to be a mother to anyone who walked through the door. If only her own father had been half the parent Mama River was, maybe Terra wouldn’t have had to serve as Cassie’s surrogate mother all the time they were growing up.
Not that she regretted a single moment of that.
Jaxson looked irritated, but not exactly surprised. “All right, everyone except my mother will need to find a new safe location. I’ll take four volunteers who want to remain at the safehouse to guard Mama River and the estate in case Wolf Hunter decides to come after us.”
Every hand in the room went up to volunteer. Terra wasn’t surprised in the least.
“I said four,” Jaxson grumbled. “The rest of you are liabilities here, and I’m not taking any unnecessary risks.” He looked down at Cassie, who had also raised her hand. “That includes you, short stuff. But before we move you out, how about you and Mama River help me pick who gets to stay?”
Cassie nodded at her new solemn duty and waded into the crowd, carefully checking out each face. A flush of pride and gratitude and a hundred other emotions ran through Terra, threatening to pull her apart at the seams. Jaxson was mated and would never be hers—but he was the kind of alpha who could have been right for her if the fates hadn’t been working against them. Or really, just against her.
She had no illusions about which one of them death was stalking.
On impulse, Terra threw her arms around Jaxson, hugged him briefly, and let him go. “Thank you,” she said, quietly, then she turned to the hulking police officer at her door.
His expression was inscrutable, but there was something lurking behind those dark blue eyes—a smoldering something that made her wolf sit up and take notice. Of course, there were alphas in the human world—Terra knew that, even if she didn’t consort with humans except from behind her lens. That didn’t mean her wolf should be responding to one.
Had to be all the emotions tumbling through her and crossing her wires.
She strode up to Officer Grant and glared up at his stone-chiseled face. “I’ll go with you now.”
Trent appeared at her side. “Terra, what the hell? You can’t trust the police.”
Jaxson was also back to scowling at Officer Grant. “Look, we’ve got a bomber from the WildLove case still in our custody. How about you take him instead?”
“I can send a squad car up to pick him up,” Officer Grant said coolly. “But I’ve been assigned to Ms. Wilding’s case.”
Jaxson turned back to her. “We’ll find another place for you, Terra. You don’t have to go with this guy. I don’t care what the mayor says.”
“If the police take me into protective custody,” she said, keeping her voice calm, “then the Wolf Hunter will be looking for me there. And I’m the one he’s after. I’m sure the police will keep me safe. Let the Wolf Hunter spin his wheels trying to find me while you get everyone else hidden away.”
Trent gritted his teeth. “That makes no sense at all.”
She gave him a steely look. “I need my equipment, Trent. Just the cameras. They’re in my room.”
Her brother’s eyes flashed, but it was all anger and no fight—he wouldn’t try to stop her now, but he’d give her hell about it later. Jaxson was scowling at her too. Only Officer Grant was giving her a slightly approving tilt of his head, but that could’ve just been her imagination.
She gestured angrily to the officer to move his giant bulk out of the doorway, then strode past him out into the early afternoon sunshine. His black-and-white police car was parked just outside.
This was it. This was how it was going to end. Her mother’s death was tragic and senseless—a car crash on the interstate. At least Terra’s would have some purpose. She would buy Cassie a little time to get away. Far from her. Safe.
And Terra would live every moment she had left with no regrets.
Kaden watched as Terra hauled in her cameras—all three gigantic black bags worth.
After a tense and silent drive down the mountains to the far side of Seattle, they had finally reached the police department’s safehouse. It wasn’t much more than a dingy cinderblock cube, but it was in a relatively benign neighborhood and pretty well isolated, far from anyone’s gang territory. Most of all, the department had maintained occupancy continuously for years with one criminal or another—someone turning states’ evidence or part of a witness relocation program—all without discovery or incident. It was the perfect place to stash someone for a while. Only Terra Wilding was no ordinary criminal or witness.
“Let me help you with that,” Kaden said, reaching for her bags before she got too far.
Terra gave him a look so dark, he thought she might actually go for his throat if he touched the bags. Then she turned her back on him and marched up to the door.
It had been this way during the entire drive—angry looks, barely repressed growls that he could still hear, and enough agitation in that skinny little body of hers to light up half the city. She was treating him just like every shifter treated a human, namely like dirt. What was he thinking, taking on this assignment?
Oh, right—that he didn’t want his department fucking it up.
Shifters were no good punks… for the most part. Kaden had seen more fucked up shifter rituals when he was growing up than he cared to remember, but his childhood was nothing like the flat-out brutality he saw as a cop on patrol in shifter gang territory. If this Wolf Hunter person had targeted t
he gangs, Kaden would’ve thrown him a party, along with the rest of his department.
But this girl was different.
She was a poor little rich kid with no mother who turned into celebrated artist… and dammit, those were the kind of people the Seattle Police Department was supposed to protect.
Not to mention, she was hot as hell, with her dark shirt clinging to her chest, skinny leggings emphasizing her mile-long legs, and silvery jewelry banging around on her wrists. That raven-black hair went everywhere, and even though her dark-charcoaled eyes glared at him most of the time, there was no question a lot was going on behind them.
Plus she had a rear end he couldn’t stop staring at.
He had forgotten how hot shifter women could be… and how they could stir up his blood. Especially the feisty ones.
He punched in the code for the electronic lock and barely swung open the front door before she barged ahead of him. Kaden sucked in a breath, counted to three in his head, and let it out slow as he followed after. No matter how she treated him, he was going to do his damn job and keep her safe anyway.
Once they were inside the apartment, she prowled around like she was sniffing out the place. There wasn’t much to see. The house was small and sparsely furnished—just a tiny couch, an old TV, and a glass dining set that could barely hold breakfast for two. But it had a full kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bath—enough for one or more people in protective custody to stay with their handlers. That’s what he really was—or at least what he signed up for. His extensive work with the shifter gangs in the city had earned him the opportunity to be the liaison in this case. That, and he argued for it, knowing the three other most-likely candidates for the job would completely fuck it up.
And probably get this girl killed.
“There are two bedrooms in the back,” Kaden called as Terra headed that direction, stomping her big black boots across the worn, beige carpet. “Pick whichever one you like.”
She disappeared around the corner, and sounds of revulsion came flooding back out of the hall. Several soft curses as well.
Kaden stood awkwardly in the middle of the small livingroom, wondering where to even start with her. She seemed righteously pissed off, and he couldn’t decide if it was because of him or the Wolf Hunter or just the sad state of the apartment. Maybe all three. Kaden had done his research, so he knew a few things about her. Terra Wilding, the up-and-coming artist, was the daughter of Donnie Wilding, local entrepreneur who hit it big in some dot-com-type business. Upshot was that the family was rolling in money. Which made Terra something of a Seattle Princess. Hauling her out of that luxury estate in the mountains and down to the dregs where normal people lived had to be a shock to her system.
He smirked as she banged around in the bedroom, but it quickly died. Truth was, knowing she had money didn’t tell him anything about the girl behind those dark eyes. There was a lot going on under the hood with her, he could tell.
And those eyes were already pulling him in.
Which was not smart. Getting involved was not on the agenda, and not just because it was crossing all kinds of ethical boundaries.
She was a wolf. And that was flat dangerous to him.
He cleared his throat. “You’ll be safe as long as you’re here,” he called out from the spot where he’d planted himself. He might as well lay out the rules while she was still riding that first wave of shock. “But we have to keep your presence here on the down low. That means no phone calls, no email that’s not authorized, no leaving the apartment without me. We’ll have meals brought in, and you might be allowed to leave once a week or so if we can get authorization and backup for an outing.”
She tromped back out of the bedroom hallway, but she still had those three bulky black camera bags slung over her shoulders.
She brushed past him, heading for the front door. “I’m not staying here.”
What? Kaden dashed after her, just barely catching her before she flung it open. “Excuse me?”
She whirled on him and stared fiercely up at him. She wasn’t exactly short—in fact, she was relatively tall and slender, but still stacked with those shifter muscles and curvy in all the right places, the way shifter women were. But Kaden was taller than most men, let alone women.
He towered over her.
“You can’t hold me here against my will!” she spat.
He held up his hands. “I thought you signed up for this. Did I miss something?”
She just glared at him. “I left the Riverwise safehouse so my family would go into hiding without me. I’m the one who’s endangering everyone now. I’m the one the Wolf Hunter is after. They needed to get away from me, and you were a convenient way to get away from them.”
What was she talking about? He frowned. “You realize you’re actually in danger here.”
She snorted with disgust, and it would’ve been cute except she was giving him a look that seemed designed to cut him down the size. “As if you’re going to protect me.”
That brought the heat up to his face. “Yes, actually, that’s the idea.”
“You want to protect me?” she threw in his face. “Go catch the Wolf Hunter!”
That raised the hairs on the back of his neck. “The department is doing everything it can to track down that lunatic.”
“Really?” she asked, leaning back and crossing her arms. She looked like she was trying to figure out if he was just stupid or if he was actually lying to her. “Because they haven’t done jack until now. Don’t pretend you care about shifters. You don’t. You’re only doing this because your boss has ordered you to. Because the mayor will look bad if someone in Artist Today is killed in his city. He doesn’t give a damn that this hate group and their leader have been hunting my family all this time. They’re blowing them up, for God’s sake!”
Kaden kept his mouth shut, but her words were making him squirm. Because he knew all that was likely true. Which was why he wanted to be her handler in the first place.
“Well, I take my job seriously. And I have every intention of keeping you safe.”
She shook her head like he was pathetic. “Look, I get it. You’re just a guy, doing his job. This isn’t your fault. But I’m not going to sit around and put up with this charade. I’ve already lost one uncle. I’ve got a baby sister who was kidnapped once already. I’m not taking any chances with her or with any of my family again. So if the Wolf Hunter wants me—let him come and get me!”
She put her hand on the doorknob like she was ready to flee outside.
This girl has some kind of a death wish. Kaden locked his hand around her wrist and yanked her hand off the doorknob.
Terra growled and turned on him—suddenly her claws were out and heading for his face. He grabbed hold of her other wrist and held both of her hands away from his face… and anything else they might shred with their razor sharpness. Then he slowly backed her against the wall and pinned her hands there. She was struggling against him, wide-eyed at his strength, but it was quickly becoming clear that, even with her shifter muscles, she was no match for him.
“Rule number one while you’re here,” he said calmly, still pinning her to the wall, “don’t even think about threatening me with those things.” He glanced at her claws.
Frustration and surprise scrunched up her face. She tried again to get free and couldn’t. Then a dawning realization changed her expression to a frown—shifter women were freaking strong, and they knew it. He was big, but a mere human shouldn’t be able to hold her this way.
He released her and stepped back quickly before she could think that through.
She slowly lowered her hands, but she was eyeing him with suspicion.
Dammit, he might’ve blown this already.
“I could have shifted out of your hold,” she said, watching him carefully.
“You could’ve shredded my face,” he retorted. “And I don’t get paid enough for disfigurement. Besides, the department health plan just isn’t that great.”
She glanced at the door and then back at him. “You can’t keep me here.”
She was back on point with wanting to leave. He kept the sigh of relief inside, where she wouldn’t see. “No, I can’t. But you’re a fool if you walk out that door. I’m the best chance you have of staying alive.”
She narrowed her eyes, studying him. She took a long time about it, too, starting at his boots and sliding her hot gaze all the way up. He worked damn hard to keep his physical reaction off his face, but man, it was stirring him around to have her examine him that way. He ticked through all his training and experience in dealing with unstable, angry shifters on the streets. Somehow it was easier to keep calm with those punks than with this skinny, little girl. Woman, he corrected himself. She was definitely 100% grown-up female shifter, even if she was only twenty-one. And she was getting under his skin way too easily. If he really wanted to protect her, he couldn’t let that happen.
When her gaze finally returned to his face, her expression was softer, open. Her eyes had gone round, and the deep liquid centers were dilated. Good God, she was pretty, and with her looking at him in that soulful way… he could see it now. Why she was the darling of the mayor and whatever high-brow society she hung out with.
He waited for her to say something, determined to be cool and follow her lead. Because she was right—she could walk out that door, and there was no way he could really keep her. And her chances truly were better with him at the safehouse than anywhere else in the city.
She pursed her lips for a second, then said, “I need my equipment. My darkroom supplies. I can set up in the smaller room.”