Wolf Whisperer

“Fine.” He shrugged. “Ask away.”

She wished she was better at this or, at the very least, had some sort of checklist to operate off of. Something along the lines of “ten things to ask before you bind yourself to someone.” Only, in her case, it would be too late.

The deed was done. Once given, her protection could not be taken back.

Therefore, she persisted. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“No. I was an only child. And, before you ask, my mother is still alive. She’s a shifter. I never knew my human father.”

Gently, she asked the rest of it. “You and Maggie had two children, if I remember right. A boy and a girl?”

He glared at her. “Twins. Caleb and Isobel. They’re three. I haven’t seen them since their mother died.”

She noticed he held himself stiffly, as though by moving less he could make himself invisible, invulnerable or both. Though she’d never had children, she could definitely relate. She missed her family. She understood very well how the pain of loss never went away, just diminished slightly over time.

She didn’t show her pity, aware she wouldn’t want his whenever she spoke of the loss of her own family and the death of her father. She already knew he felt as if he’d laid his soul bare in front of her, a distinctly uncomfortable feeling. Compounded by the fact that they were virtual strangers … She bit her lip and forced herself to look at him.

Now he looked away. A moment passed, a bit of silence broken only by the jagged sound of his breathing. When his gaze finally returned to meet hers, she saw anger lurking in the depths of his blue eyes. A second later, it was gone, quickly banished.

She sighed, well aware of how sorrow could eat you up from the inside out. “It’s not easy, is it?”

“No. Even after all this time …” As he trailed off, the rawness of his repressed emotion lurked in his voice. Of course, the anger that blazed in his eyes told her what was coming next.

“I want my children back.” Leaning forward, his gaze captured and held hers. “Honest to hounds, if you have an ounce of compassion, you’ll help me.”

She said nothing, unwilling to make promises she couldn’t keep.

Finally, he nodded, his jaw set. “Why are you doing this? What’s your reasoning?”

“I want my sister back. So we do have something in common.”

“Then why won’t you work with me?” His rough voice spoke of his emotion. “If I can get your sister for you, will you make sure I find my children?”

Though she knew she should lie, she couldn’t force the words from her suddenly closed-up throat. When she finally did, she only repeated the question that he’d never answered. “Do you have my sister?”

Slowly, he shook his head, his bereft expression letting her know it pained him to do so. “No. Nor do I know where she is. I can tell you that the Protectors aren’t the ones who took her. I was only bluffing earlier, because I’d hoped you could lead me to my kids.”

Since he’d given her a truth, she could only respond in kind. “I don’t know where your children are, either. I wasn’t even aware that they’d been removed from your custody.”

“Stolen,” he snarled. “Don’t make it sound so civilized. I was at the funeral home, planning for her funeral, for Christ’s sake. Someone from Maggie’s family—your family—swooped in and grabbed them. They couldn’t even attend their own mother’s funeral. Maggie’s family had disowned her, so I had to bury her alone.”

The words hung in the air between them. Despite herself, Kelly’s eyes filled with tears.

“You’re crying?” he said, his tone filled with an odd combination of wonder and anger. “Why?”

Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, she sighed. Then, she gave in to temptation and reached out and touched his jaw, feeling the stubble like sandpaper against her fingertips. After the first reflex, a nearly imperceptible jerk, he froze.

Feeling completely stupid, she took her hand away. “Sorry.”

“Yeah.” He stood, placing one leg in front of the other as if testing his own strength. After a moment, he began to walk, slowly at first, increasing his stride as he gathered confidence. “Can we stop with the fifty questions?” he asked.

“For now. But I’m sure there’s more I’ll need to know later. I’m trying to get to know you,” she said.

“Again, why?”

Once more, she offered the truth. “I’m hoping to learn something that will explain to me why I offered you my protection.”

He stared. “You speak as if giving your protection is an unusual thing. Is it that rare?”

“Yes. Extremely. We can only do that once in our lives.”

Again his face closed in, letting her know he was thinking of Maggie, the wife who had chosen not to give him the precious gift, who had never truly been his mate.

“Why does it matter?” he finally asked, the devil-may-care smile at odds with the bleakness in his gaze.

“Believe me, it does.” And that was all she’d say on this. For now.

Chapter 4

“Don’t think you can shut this down so easily,” he said, and he laughed. Something about the masculine sound made heat flare inside her.

Not good. Not good at all.

“You’ve got to at least answer my earlier question. Who called my phone?”

Crap. She’d hoped he’d forget.

She held up a hand. “In a minute. I need to ask one more question first. Do you know who is behind this? My sister’s abduction, the attack yesterday, all of it.”

“No.”

Oddly enough, she believed him. Continuing to hold his gaze, she nodded. “You’re privy to inside information. Do the Protectors have any idea who took Bonnie? Any clues where she might be?”

Instead of answering immediately, he dragged a hand through his choppy, dark hair. “It wasn’t in the file. But our intel has led us to believe that whoever took her is coming after each of you. They want to grab your entire family, one at a time.”

“No surprise there,” she said ruefully. “That’s why we all scattered to the four corners of the earth. My father knew this would happen. Then last night? Was that what this was all about?”

For a moment he looked dazed. “Was it only last night?” And then, before she could respond, “Why do you think? Of course that’s why they attacked us. Why else?”

Restless, she began to pace back and forth in front of him. “I’m not sure. They shot me. And you. They didn’t capture me. It didn’t make sense.”

“That’s because you fought them off.”

“Maybe. But still, it doesn’t make sense.”

“You know, you might be right.” He grimaced. “But I’m thinking they didn’t expect you to fight. Most of your people do not.”

“I have never understood that. Even your people think we’re all pushovers. That’s why your boss was so shocked when he called.” The instant she heard herself say the words, she wanted to recall them. But then, she knew she could only put him off so long.

“My boss? That’s who you were talking to? What did he want?”

“I’m guessing to see if you were dead or alive. I think he knew about the attack. I really think the Protectors are behind this.”

“No way.” He rubbed his mouth. “We don’t operate that way.” Then, eyes narrowed, he studied her. “What did you tell him?”

She took a deep breath, then gave him the truth. “I said you were gone. That you’d left.”

Swearing, he looked as if he’d like to hit something. Instead, he held out his hand. “Give me my phone.”

She didn’t move. “No. Listen to me. It’s vitally important that they believe you’ve gone.”

“That’s bull. I would have called in.” He held out his hand. “My phone. Now.”

“I can’t do that,” she told him. “I destroyed it.”

As he stared at her, fury blazing from his eyes, a muscle worked in his jaw.

“Listen to me,” she continued. “Hear me out. I don’t think you can trust your employers.”

He snorted. “Of course you don’t. Look, I realize you’re upset. You just were attacked, you lost your house, had to save a stranger’s life and, on top of that, your sister’s gone missing.”

“And someone tried to kill you,” she pointed out. “Let’s not forget that.”

“I haven’t.” Crossing his arms, he looked away. “But I can promise you those weren’t Protectors. They were vampires, for hound’s sake.”

“And one shifter.”

“True, but he had to be a renegade. Maybe even a Feral. What shifters work with vamps? Not Protectors.”

“I don’t know. That’s your territory. Are you saying Protectors never work with vampires?”

He thought for a moment. “Not usually.”

Hearing the hesitation, she pounced. “But it has happened?”

Reluctantly, he nodded. “Very rarely.”

She pressed her point. “I think they set you up. But you being here worked against them. They wanted to grab me and failed.”

His closed-off expression told her he wasn’t buying it. “And what about me? Why would they do such a thing to one of their own?”

“Means to an end. They were willing to sacrifice you.”

He didn’t want to believe her, she could tell. Yet something in what she said must have resonated with him since he didn’t discount it right away.

“Can you prove this?” he asked finally.

“No. But I can’t disprove it, either. Until we can do one or the other, I’d say we go with the assumption that they did.”

Immediately, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not buying it.”

“Then give me another alternative,” she cried. “Something besides a senseless, random attack. They were armed with silver bullets. They had a purpose.”

“Yes. To capture you. But it wasn’t us. For the last time, the Protectors don’t work that way.” He stared at her for so long she fought the urge to fidget.

“I don’t agree.”

“Fine,” he finally said. “Let’s just agree to disagree until we have more information. Where do we go from here? What’s the plan?”

She couldn’t help but notice the way he said “we” rather than “you.”

“I want my sister back. I’m going to find out a way to rescue her.” Taking a deep breath, she looked at him. “And, if you help me find her, I’ll do my best to help you get reunited with your children.”

Still watching her closely, he didn’t appear convinced. “How do you propose to do that?”

“I’m going after them.”

“Just the two of us? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” she asked, using the same calm, measured tone she used to sooth a spooked dog. “You’re a trained Protector and I’m a Tearlach. It’ll be enough. We’ll be fine.”

“You know, that’s why I was sent to you. To offer you the help of the Protectors.”

“Their help comes with too many strings.” Again she leaned in close, aware he still didn’t know all that being a Tearlach entailed. “I want you to come with me. Singular. Not them. I don’t trust them.”

He lifted a brow. “Why the hell not? At the risk of beating a dead horse, you have no proof that they took your sister—in fact, since I was sent here to talk to you, that really argues against that idea. If we were in the habit of simply grabbing what we wanted, I would have captured you myself.”

To that, she snorted. “As if you could.”

His slight smile told her he was letting that one go. “You’ve got to do better than that. If we’re going to be partners, we’ve got to be honest with each other. Why don’t you trust the Protectors?”

Taking a deep breath, she told him the truth. “Because they killed my father.” Though she tried to rein it in, bitterness colored her voice. “The Protectors are responsible for tearing my family apart.”

Silence fell while he processed her words, his expression grim. “Though I’m sure you have your reasons for believing this, your father was working with us, not against us. We were allies when he was killed.”

“I don’t believe you. I need proof.”

“Why?” he asked. “From what I’ve seen of you, you seem to operate on hunches and supposition. Kidnapping someone really isn’t the sort of thing we do.”

“Maybe not now. But I know differently. Think about what your organization was less than a year ago. Protectors were nothing more than paid assassins. They exterminated anyone who didn’t conform to a predetermined set of narrow rules. They were corrupt through and through. So don’t tell me it’s not possible.”

He bowed his head. “True. But those individuals and their followers are all gone. They’ve been punished. Things are different now.” Taking a deep breath, he watched her, no doubt waiting for her to speak. When she did not, he continued as if she had.

“You speak of us with such rancor.” Watching her the way a wolf keeps an eye on a sunning snake, he grimaced. “Since you feel that way, why did you save me? I’m a Protector. My loyalty is with them.”

“Still? Surely after this, you must have doubts.”

“Why would I?” He spread his hands. “You’ve given me no proof, no evidence. You were attacked and we both were shot. That’s all we know.”

He had a point. All she had were her hunches and, while they were rarely wrong, she had no proof.

“Furthermore, why do you want me to go with you? You don’t know me. If you don’t trust them, you shouldn’t trust me, either.”

As if she had a choice. One impetuous act, and here they were. Stuck together for the rest of their natural lives. Only he didn’t know that yet.

With a sigh, she realized she’d have to tell him the rest of it. “Let me try to explain. As I told you, you’re under my protection now. Now that we’ve said the words and completed the ritual, we’re bound together. This is not something I take lightly.”

“Bound together? For how long?”

“For a while,” she said vaguely, aware he’d probably press for more details. How could she tell him that they were, theoretically, bound together for the rest of their lives? Did he really need to know that in her world, a Tearlach spoke those words only once? To the one who would be their true mate? Not just to some random stranger, no matter how beautiful he might be.

Oh, what a horrible mistake she’d made. Still, when she imagined him lying dead in a pool of blood, she knew she’d do the same thing again.

Apparently, her words were enough to make him suspicious. “Why do I get the feeling that there’s a lot you’re not telling me? You’re feeding me bits and pieces of the story. I need you to spit it all out. I’m listening.”

“I’m not ready to do that yet.” She met his gaze, being as honest as she could. “Sorry.”

“Then give me back my phone.”

Stubborn man. If she had an ounce of sense, she’d hand him back the pieces of his cell and send him on his way before either one of them got hurt.

But she couldn’t. That was the crux of it. She flat-out had no choice. He didn’t have a choice, either. If he wanted to pretend he did, that was up to him. He’d find out the truth sooner or later.

“I’m not giving you back your phone. I’ve already destroyed it. Look, we’re bound together, you and I. Like it or not. I said the words, saved your life, and there’s a debt to be paid.”

As they locked eyes, something clicked in his gaze and she knew he had begun to understand.

Dipping his chin, he finally acknowledged the truth of her statement. “You’re right,” he said. “I’ll go with you. I do owe you for my life, and I always repay my debts.”

Honor, she thought sardonically. Rare among shifters these days. As if he truly had a choice. Careful not to show any emotion, she nodded. “Thanks.”

“Hold on.” His smile contained a hint of mockery. “I’m not finished. I’ll go with you, but in return, you have to promise me one thing.”

She crossed her arms. “Go ahead.”

“If on the chance you’re wrong and the Protectors are not behind this, will you agree to at least talk to them?”

She considered. “Maybe.”

Immediately, he shook his head. “That’s not good enough.”

Hiding a smile, she finally nodded. “Fine. If you’re wrong and can prove it, I’ll talk to them. No promises beyond that.”

With that, he seemed satisfied. “All right, then. It’s settled. Where are we going and when do we leave?”

“As soon as you’re well enough.” She glanced at her watch. “I want to make sure you’re all healed. Maybe a few more hours, maybe tomorrow. We’ll have to take the house dogs to a friend in town.”

He nodded, then shoved aside the sheet and swung his muscular legs to the side. Pushing to his feet, he waved away her clumsy attempt to offer support.

“I’ve got it.” Swaying slightly, he looked like a sailor trying to find balance during rough seas. Jaw clenched, he grabbed the side of the futon and, using it to steady himself, took a tentative step forward.

Then another. When he looked at Kelly, grinning, she felt an odd knot in her chest.

“I did it,” he said, sounding triumphant. “I’m good to go.” His smile widened as he examined the shrinking patch of skin where the bullet wound had been. “This is freakin’ amazing. You can’t even tell I’ve been shot.”

Such was the blessing—or the curse—of being protected by a Tearlach.

While she was pondering this, Mac disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

As the day moved on, his strength improved. At lunchtime, he was starving, eating three sandwiches and an entire bowl of chips, plus an apple and two pickles.

“You look good.” She gave him the honest compliment. “But you’re not fully healed yet. Rest, if you can. We’ve got a long trip tomorrow.”

He smiled wryly. “Yes, Nurse Kelly. Whatever you say.”

At that, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re right, I need to lie down,” he said. When she nodded, he went straight for the futon, her pit bull Brandi settling on the floor at his side. Closing his eyes, just like that, he fell asleep.

She watched him doze, unable to help herself. Whatever force that drew her to him tormented her, making her want to climb up on the futon and curl into his side. She restrained herself, just barely, and kept one eye on the time.

An hour later, the sun had begun to travel toward the horizon and he woke up. It was time to go.

Crossing to his side, she rubbed Brandi’s head lightly before scowling at him. It occurred to her that her best armor might be an unpleasant attitude and she tested that now.

“Are you well enough to travel now? If so, we need to go right away.”

“At dusk? Why not in the morning?”

How to explain the instinct that guided her life?

“Because we have to leave now,” she said. Nothing more.

To her surprise, rather than arguing, he got up and stretched, drawing her gaze. “I’d like to brush my teeth and freshen up, and I’ll be good to go.”

“Let me pack a bag,” she told him, making her voice cold to show she had no reaction to the warmth of his male beauty. “Not that I have much—almost everything I own burned in the fire. I assume you have one in your car?”

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