Dark Wolf (Dark Wolf Series Book 3)

by Dena Christy

Kate’s heart ached for Lee. To her Lizzy was someone who’d been a part of her life many years ago. For Lee, Simone was more immediate and he must be feeling that loss of her all over again. Doubly so since she was alive but so fundamentally changed.

  “What are they going to do to her?”

  Lee’s face closed up and Kate could see a wall coming down inside him. For a moment Kate didn’t think he would answer, but finally he spoke. “I don’t know. I guess it depends on how deeply involved with my father she was.”

  Kate could see that he didn’t want to talk about this anymore, and she didn’t want to put her friend through any unnecessary pain. She closed her eyes, knowing he would watch over her until Rowan returned. She reached out and clasped his hand and held it as she drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 17

  Kate eased her clothes on, wincing slightly as she did so. Nick had finally pronounced her fit to go home. She was well out of danger now, and would finish healing at home. He told her she would be sore for a few more days, but other than that he could foresee no further complications. Which was great because her life was already complicated enough. Dany Cavanaugh was still out there, and while she didn’t think he’d come after her again, it did raise an interesting dilemma. Would she be better off staying here, or was it finally time to strike out on her own again?

  She’d had a lot of time to think while she was laying in her bed these past few days. She was eager to leave the Order’s headquarters, which was understandable under the circumstances. She wanted to stay with Rowan, and for the first time in her life she was ready to make a commitment to someone, but she wanted them to be together for the right reasons. And she wasn’t sure what Rowan’s reasons were. Did he want to be with her because he loved her, or because he felt responsible for her. It was something they would have to discuss before she made her decision to stay or not, but there was one more thing she wanted to do before she left the Order’s headquarters, and as Cadric walked into her room, she hoped she would get the chance.

  “Kate, I’m glad to see you are on the mend. Nick said you wanted to see me before you left. Let me assure you that I personally guarantee that Dany Cavanaugh will not get the chance to come near you again. He’s gone underground at the moment, but with the loss of all his connections I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before we can get him to resurface.”

  “That’s great, I guess, but not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “Oh? What did you want?” Cadric asked with a mildly puzzled look on his face.

  “I want to see her,” Kate said bluntly, and judging by the look of comprehension that came over Cadric’s face, she didn’t have to clarify who exactly it was she wanted to speak to. “I need to see her. I need to know if she’s really my sister.”

  “I doubt she could tell you that, but I can. We looked into her background and she is your sister.”

  “I want to see her anyway. Please. You owe me that, since Dany Cavanaugh was allowed to get to me on your watch,” Kate said firmly. For a moment she felt bad for using Dany Cavanaugh against him, but Cadric seemed to take it in stride.

  “Of course. I’ll escort you to her myself.”

  Kate eased off the edge of the bed and Cadric put his hand under her arm until she could stand on her own. He led her from the room, and onto another floor of the building. He took her to a small room with only a table and a couple of chairs.

  “I’ll bring her in here,” he said before he turned and left.

  Kate sat on one of the chairs, her hands twisting together in her lap, mirroring the twisting feeling in her stomach. What would she say to her? She hadn’t seen Lizzy since she was three and it appeared that the only thing they had in common was they were both werewolves now.

  Kate’s heart stopped in her chest when her sister appeared in the doorway. The resemblance between them was uncanny, no wonder Lee thought she’d was her when he first saw her.

  “It’s like looking in a mirror, isn’t it,” Lizzy said as she walked into the room and sat down. “I must admit I was startled by it myself when I first saw you in the warehouse.”

  “Why were you working for him?” Kate blurted out, as mention of the warehouse brought back all that Dany Cavanaugh had planned to do to her.

  Her sister studied her hands for a moment, and Kate could see a deep sadness and anger inside the woman sitting across from her. What she was seeing didn’t mesh with what Lee had told her about the woman he was once in love with.

  “Lizzy, won’t you please talk to me,” Kate pleaded. Her sister looked up with a rueful smile on her face.

  “I don’t know who Lizzy is, I haven’t been her since I was three. That’s not even my legal name anymore. I would prefer if you called me Simone. As to why I worked for him, all I can tell you is that Dany Cavanaugh ruined my life. It was his fault that I was turned into something I despise, and I guess I had some foolish idea of avenging myself.”

  Kate didn’t know what to say. Her sister obviously hated what she’d become.

  “What will happen now?”

  “I’m not sure. I guess it’s a good sign that they haven’t killed me yet. I’m sure the fact that I enabled you to escape has helped to redeem me in their eyes.”

  “I thought it was Dany’s plan to let me go?” Kate asked in surprise. She hadn’t realized that she had her sister to thank for freeing her from the warehouse.

  “I’m sure that’s the spin he put on it, and it may very well have been his ultimate plan. Dany shared very little information with those of us on the ground, and at the time I thought I was acting on my own.”

  “Why did you do it?”

  “I may have gotten into this for revenge and was prepared to go as far as I needed to to get it, but I couldn’t let them do what they planned for you. I felt connected to you, in a way. Not because we looked the same, and I wasn’t aware that we were sisters at the time, but because like me you were forced to become something other than human. I had to help you get out as much as I could without blowing my cover, so I set things up so that you could.”

  “That’s why your locker wasn’t locked,” Kate said as comprehension dawned. In hindsight her escape had seemed a little too easy.

  “And David’s too. I knew he always carried cash in his wallet and I’d hoped you find it and take it.”

  “It’s actually a good thing you did. I saw his ID and that’s how I could identify him when he came after me. And I really have to thank you for helping me to get out of there. You’ve done more for me than you can possibly know,” Kate said, thinking that if her sister hadn’t done what she had, she may never have met Rowan. She would never had known what it was like to love someone to the depths of her soul.

  A sad smile drifted over Simone’s face, and she appeared tired. A movement from the door caught Kate’s eyes and she could see Cadric standing on the threshold.

  “It’s time to go Kate,” he said, and she could see Rowan standing behind him. Simone got out of her chair, but before she could leave the room Kate reached out and embraced her. The other woman held herself stiffly for a brief second, until she relaxed and returned Kate’s hug.

  “Thank you for everything,” Kate said before stepping back. “If there is anything I can do to help you, you only have to tell me.”

  Simone nodded, and stepped toward Cadric. He inclined his head at Kate and Rowan, turned on his heel and escorted Simone down the hall.

  Kate walked over to Rowan, and melted against him when he put his arms around her.

  “You okay?” he asked as his voice rumbled against her ear.

  “I’m good. Let’s go home,” she said. For the first time in a long time, she genuinely felt like she had a home to go to. Whether she would stay in it depended on the talk she needed to have with Rowan, but she was hopeful that they could make a home together.

  * * *

  Kate followed Rowan into the front door of his house, and looked around. Nothing had changed inside, but it felt l
ike it had been ages since she’d been here. Although Dany Cavanaugh was still out there, somewhere, she didn’t feel fear’s knife edge hanging over her like she had only days before.

  “You hungry? I can make us something to eat if you want,” Rowan turned to her and smiled, and Kate’s breath caught in her throat. God he was beautiful and he was hers. At least she hoped he was.

  “I’m not hungry,” she said as she walked into the living room.

  “Do you need to lie down?” he asked as she sank down on the sofa. A worried look came over his face. “Maybe you should lie down. You just got out of the hospital. You need to recover.”

  “Rowan, I’m fine,” she said. “Nick said I’m on the mend, and he wouldn’t have let me come home if there was still something to worry about.”

  Rowan paced the living room and raked his fingers through his hair. Kate could tell the exact moment that he was putting the blame for her getting hurt on himself, since she could see that look of guilt and shame creeping onto his face.

  “God, how could I have been so stupid to let you go out by yourself. I should have been with you, should have protected you. I almost failed you,” he said as he came to sit beside her and took her hand. “Please say you’ll forgive me.”

  Kate looked at him for a long moment, tempted to pull away from him and walk out the door. But if she’d learned anything in her time with him, it was that she needed to grow up and if she wanted him in her life, she needed to be honest with him and tell him how she felt.

  “No,” she said quietly. The blood drained from Rowan’s face, and he dropped her hands. She grabbed them again, and pressed her mouth to them. “I can’t forgive you, because there is nothing to forgive.”

  He shook his head. “I let him get to you, you could have died.”

  “Rowan, you did not let him get to me. I made the decision to go out with two women who I’ve become friends with and I was careless. I decided to leave the group, and gave Dany the opportunity he was looking for. You didn’t fail me. You saved me. If you hadn’t been quick enough to get to me, who knows what would have happened,” she said, suspecting that for him her being stabbed was a repeat for him of what had happened to Chelsea. “I’m alive and I’m here. You weren’t too late.”

  She sat silently for a moment, watching as he processed her words and a look of peace came over his face. He looked deeply in her eyes, and knew this was going to be the moment when he told her he loved her and wanted her to stay with him.

  “I’ll make sure he never hurts you again,” he promised. Disappointment sank in Kate’s stomach like a stone. She pulled her hands away and stood up. “Where are you going?”

  She could hear the confusion in his voice but didn’t turn around to look at him. If she did, she would be tempted to take what she could get, but it would never work for her. She couldn’t be with him until he saw that she wasn’t his burden, and that’s what his words made her feel.

  She went into the bedroom, and opened the drawer that she’d taken over. A shadow fell across the room as his large frame filled the doorway. “What are you doing?”

  She said nothing as she took her clothes out of the drawer one by one. She didn’t have a suitcase to put them in, so she started piling them neatly on the bed. His hand clasped her arm and he turned her to face him.

  “You’re not leaving, are you? He’s still out there, it’s not safe for you.”

  “And I’m supposed to stay here because of him?” she yelled as she tossed the clothes in her hand on the bed. “I’m not going to let him rule over any more of my life.”

  “And you think running is the answer? Was your life so great before, going from place to place, never connecting to anyone? Is that what you want?” he said, his voice quiet but she could hear the anger growling beneath the surface of it.

  “No, it’s not what I want, but it’s better than staying here and being a burden to you,” she said as she took a step back. She took a deep breath, and swallowed hard. She looked at him and a lump formed in her throat. She almost turned away, so he wouldn’t see how upset she was, but she realized that he needed to see it. “Why do you want me to stay Rowan? Why should I stay? And don’t give me that bullshit about Dany still being out there, because we both know if he’s determined enough he’ll get me no matter what you do.”

  Rowan stood before her, and he was so still she didn’t think he would move or speak. He came toward her and reach out to caress her face. “When I saw you laying on the floor of that farm house with blood pouring from your body, I thought I would lose you. I never want to feel that again. I want you to stay because I can’t imagine waking up in the morning without you beside me. I can’t imagine never kissing, touching or making love to you again. I want to cherish you and keep you safe. Not because you’re a burden, or because I feel like I ruined your life by biting you. I want to do those things because I love you.”

  Tears coursed down Kate’s face as she heard him say exactly what she needed to hear. She felt like a weight had been lifted, and smiled at him as he stroked his thumb over her damp cheeks.

  “I love you too,” she whispered and he drew her to him.

  “Thank God,” he said with a shaky laugh. “You had me sweating there for a minute. If I’d known that all I had to do to get you to stay was to tell you what was in my heart, I would’ve done it before now.”

  “I don’t know if I was ready to hear it before,” Kate said as she drew his head in for a kiss. Their lips met, and Kate knew in her heart that they could get through whatever life threw at them because they had each other. She’d finally found the family she’d wanted so desperately as a kid, and in his arms she’d finally found a place to call home.

  Coming Fall 2015

  Dark Vengeance, Book Four of the Dark Wolf Series

  Dark Vengeance

  Dave is dead.

  The thought echoed in Simone Moore’s head as she tried to concentrate on the paperwork in front of her. She’d felt their threadbare connection sever last night, and she would not mourn him. He was one of two men who’d ruined her life, and her only regret was that she was not the one who’d killed him. It was a pity that she didn’t know who did, since she would like to offer her thanks.

  The quick staccato beat of high heels on the industrial floor alerted Simone to Amanda Rhyder entering her space. Simone’s lips tightened briefly, before she forced a bland smile to curl her lips. Amanda wore a matching smile, her crimson colored lips making a gash across the bottom half of her face.

  “Have you heard from Dave lately? He’s supposed to check in while he’s on assignment, and I haven’t heard from him,” Amanda asked as she tapped a toe on the floor beside Simone’s workstation.

  Simone waited until she heard Amanda drawn in her breath to repeat her question.

  “I really have no idea where Dave is,” Simone said as she looked away from Amanda, and shuffled through the paperwork on her desk, dismissing her from her mind. Technically she wasn’t lying and Amanda wouldn’t be able to smell it on her. She only asked if she’d heard from Dave, and in fact Simone hadn’t heard from Dave, considering he was dead. If Amanda had come out and asked if she knew what had happened to Dave, then perhaps Amanda’s keen werewolf nose would pick up the lie.

  Amanda huffed out a sigh and turned and stomped away, taking the sour smell of her dislike with her. Simone twitched her nose, trying to clear out the scent. One of the many things she was having difficulty getting used to about being a werewolf was how strong things smelled.

  She wheeled back on her chair and walked away from her desk. Restless energy stirred within her, and she needed to walk around to get rid of it. There wasn’t as many staff members on tonight, and she managed to avoid most of them as she made her way down the corridor to the room that had been drawing her for weeks. She peaked in the glass window, although she knew very well that it was empty. She’d made sure of it only a few weeks ago.

  The emptiness of the room didn’t squelch her c
uriosity of the previous occupant. When Simone had first seen her, she thought she was looking at a ghost of herself. The woman’s name was Kate Townsend and the name stirred a vague feeling of recognition in the back of her skull, but she didn’t know from where. She felt a connection to her that Simone couldn’t explain to herself, and perhaps that’s why she’d arranged for her to escape. Or perhaps she’d just hated seeing another woman turned into a werewolf against her will.

  She turned away from the room, and glanced in the windows of the other doors along the hall. Five women each occupied a room, and all were under heavy sedation while each completed her own journey from human to werewolf. Simone longed to unlock their doors and unhook their equipment, but doing so would kill them if they weren’t far enough along in their treatments to survive the change. She turned away and went to the end of the hall and stood before the window. She needed to decide what to do next, now that Dave was dead. Dany Cavanaugh needed to pay for what he’d ordered done to her, and for what he was doing to all the women locked in here. Dave had gotten her this far, but obviously he could take her no further.

  A movement on the near the edge of the parking lot caught her attention, and she squinted her eyes to see what it was. Her heart pounded in her chest as her body temperature plummeted and then soared. A group of about ten men, all dressed in SWAT gear, carrying guns made their way toward the building. She knew by just looking at them that they belonged to the Order of Odin, and they were here to end this portion of Dany Cavanaugh’s operation.

  Simone blew out a frustrated breath as she reached into her pocket for her cell phone. She had only a few minutes to try to make one final connection to Dany. She needed him to trust her enough so she could get close to him when the time came to exact her vengeance and the Order’s appearance on the scene was pushing her agenda faster than she wanted it to go.