Driving Force (16 page)

“Dunno. The whole thing’s odd.”

They called Kurt to tell him they had captured one of Arrhan’s followers and were bringing him in. By the time they got Kihain over to the Lowes’, he had gone into the healing fever and was beginning to shift uncontrollably back and forth from human to lion. There wouldn’t be much they could get out of him until he was well again. Kurt had called Doc, who did what he could, then co-opted a couple of the more stable Lowe females to nurse and stand guard over Kihain—ones who could be trusted not to give way to homicidal impulses.

Kurt had also called Abel Painter and what other clan leaders still remained in Wade County. They and their lieutenants all arrived within the hour to discuss what had been learned. Maud and those Lowes not on watch also joined in. There must have been over twenty people there, all talking at once and not getting any further, thought Ian as he stood quietly to one side of Kurt’s living room, watching them while he sipped at the scotch Kurt was handing out. It was all speculation and would remain so until Kihain recovered enough to talk. That bullet crease had rattled the boy’s brain and given him a severe concussion.

Ian was feeling at once let down and triumphant. He’d hoped for more out of the trap Sierra had come up with, though Nick had been right when he’d said that finding Arrhan was a long shot. Still, they were revenged on the group who had killed Alison. Even though it wouldn’t bring Allie back, her killers would never hurt anyone else again. That was at least something. And even though they were no closer to Arrhan than they had been before, perhaps Kihain might help them to understand exactly what was going on.

His eyes closed for a moment as he leaned against the wall. He was still wired, high on adrenaline and longing for action. From the excited voices minutely turning over this possibility or that, the rest of them were feeling the same way too but had no outlet for it except talk.

Someone moved past him to close the living room drapes against the night. It was that late. The fuss had gone on for hours. He shook his head in irritation and eased over to where Abel was standing talking to Nick.

“One of the Lowe boys caught sight of a lion near Perdur,” Nick said as Ian joined them. “We haven’t checked that part of the country yet. How about the three of us do that tomorrow?”

“Without waiting to see what Kihain says?”

“Who knows how long it’ll take him to heal enough to talk? Rather do something instead of sitting around with our thumbs up our a—” Nick broke off abruptly as one of the older Lowe females passed by and frowned at him.

“Yeah, sure, why not?” Ian shrugged. He didn’t expect some brief sighting to turn into anything useful. They’d be better off waiting to see what Kihain would tell them. But Nick never could stand hanging around doing nothing. “Think I’ll leave now.”

“Yeah, go,” said Nick, looking around with exasperation. “Nothing much is gonna get done tonight. They’re all just flapping their gums.”

“They need this,” said Abel leniently. “It’s the first break we’ve had. The talk might not be getting anyone anywhere, but it’s therapeutic.”

Nick gave him a sardonic glance. “That sensitivity training that they put you cops through is finally paying off, huh?”

Ian laughed. Abel jabbed an elbow at Nick’s ribs.

“Hey, watch it!” Nick steadied his glass hurriedly as it threatened to spill. “Have some respect. That’s thirty-year-old Glenfiddich Kurt’s handing out in celebration and the only reason I’m still here.”

Ian had been appreciating Kurt’s scotch as well. He knocked back the rest of his, set the empty glass down on an end table and eased his way quietly out. It was past ten by the time he got home and the main house was dark, though there were still lights on in the bunkhouse. The man on patrol that night stopped beside the pickup as Ian got out.

“All’s well and the li’l lady hasn’t left the house, boss.” He grinned. “Mike said to make sure of that ’cause our jobs depended on it.”

Ian had to laugh. “Thanks, Tom.”

A faint light was falling into the hall from the living room when he let himself in. Only one lamp seemed to be turned on in there and he could hear the low mutter of the television. He closed the front door behind him and locked it. At the click of the latch, the TV went abruptly silent. Then there was a patter of footsteps and Sierra erupted into the hallway.

She stopped and glared at him, her hands on her hips. “So you’re back.”

“Um, yeah.”

Her eyes were furious, just about shooting sparks at him, a blaze of vivid blue. “Finally. It took you all this time to hunt them down.”

“No, they were waiting for me. Nick and I managed to get things wrapped up almost at once. But then we had to lug one of them over to the Lowes’ and I got caught up in stuff over there.”

“So you had the sense to call Nick.”

“Sure. Would have just been asking to get my throat ripped out, walking in there all by myself.”

“Funny, that’s just what I was thinking. But you called Nick and set a trap and it paid off. It was a success.”

“Sort of. We got the guys who killed Alison. But we didn’t get Arrhan. Still, it was a great idea of yours and we’re a lot further ahead than we were before.”

“Well, that’s something.” There was a tense, dangerous note in her voice. If she had been a Shifter, she would have been snarling.

He tilted his head, looking at her curiously. “What’s wrong, Sierra? Are you mad because I called Nick in?”

“Of course not. I’m guessing that’s the reason you’re still in one piece.”

“Pretty much.”

“You didn’t get hurt.”

“No.” He frowned at her. “Why are you so angry?”

“You couldn’t have called and told me that?”

He blinked. “What?”

“
Abel
called. Abel had the sense to know that I might be worrying and he called to say everything was all right. Why didn’t you?”

Ian stared at her. “You were worrying about me?”

She flew at him suddenly and shoved him hard with all her strength. Off balance and taken completely by surprise, he stumbled backward and fell with a thump against the wall.

“You are the most stupid, brainless, insensitive…oh!”

She whirled and raced up the stairs, leaving him gaping after her. Then her bedroom door slammed so hard the walls rattled.

Ian rubbed a hand across his face. Okay, maybe he
had
been dumb. That much was starting to sink in. Guess he could use some of that sensitivity training Nick had kidded Abel about. He should have called her. But he hadn’t even thought that she might be worried about him. He was the monster after all. She was terrified of him. It didn’t make sense.

Maybe it would make sense tomorrow. Right now he wasn’t thinking clearly, his brain busy trying to figure out what Arrhan was up to and his body hyped by the adrenaline still racing through his veins. Food would help settle him down. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast. He turned off the light in the living room because Annie would be upset if he didn’t, then ate the dinner that had been left for him before going upstairs to take a shower. The gashes Grathen had given him were superficial and had already healed to white scratches, but the bloodstains and the dust were still there and Annie wouldn’t appreciate him getting those all over the bed sheets.

He dried off, then yanked on a bathrobe in case he ran into Sierra on his way back to his room. But her door was firmly closed, though a thin line of light under it showed she was still awake.

He stopped outside her room as he did every night, so aware of her presence behind the door that it was a major effort to force himself past it and continue to his own room. An almost impossible effort to keep himself from knocking and asking—no,
demanding
admittance. He wanted her so badly.

He laid a hand delicately, silently, on the door, wishing that it wasn’t wood he was touching, wishing it was the softness of her skin, her hair, instead. The thought moved through him like a convulsion, deep and seismic. With a bitter sigh, he dropped his forehead against the door for a moment.

The door opened abruptly. He jerked back in shock. After the darkness of the hallway, it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the blaze of light in the bedroom. Her slender figure swam in that brilliance, the red satin of the dressing gown she wore glowing against the golden tan of her skin so that for a moment he thought the light came from her rather than from the lamps turned on full around the room. Then the vivid blue of her eyes burned up at him and his gaze snapped into focus.

“I thought you were dead,” she said, as if no time had passed since they had spoken at the front door. Her face was strained, the fine, clear bones standing out sharply visible under the delicate satin of her skin. “I thought of all sorts of horrors. For hours, I kept seeing you lying dead in the dust while the scavengers came down on you, kept thinking that maybe Arrhan had made you into a rug the way Nick threatened to do to him. Do you know what it’s like to think of things like that? For hours! How could you put me through that?”

“I didn’t think…” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean to…”

Her lips trembled. “Your men wouldn’t let me go and find you, and they refused to come with me. They wouldn’t let me out of the house. Those were your orders. I was almost going mad by the time Abel called.”

“I didn’t think you’d care!”

She grabbed the lapels of his bathrobe and tried to shake him. But of course her slight strength didn’t even rock him. She snarled furiously.

“Of course I care! Do you think I’m inhuman?”

“I am,” he said painfully. “I’m not human. I’m a monster.”

She stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s the way you feel, isn’t it? That I’m a monster. You’re afraid of me. Do you think I don’t know that? Why else would you be afraid of me if it wasn’t that I’m…”

“No!” She shook at him uselessly again, then thumped her fists against his chest in exasperation. “I’m not afraid of you! I’m afraid of myself! Of the way you make me feel!”

His breath left him in a gasp. “Sierra!”

“It was always there between us. Right from the beginning. I’ve wanted you ever since I was fourteen.”

“I didn’t,” he muttered, dazed. “Not until I saw you going to your graduation prom and then I… But by then you hated me.”

“I did. But I still wanted you, which made me hate you more. I’ve never been able to stop wanting you. I want you now.”

“Oh God!” Without thinking, he caught her to him and her arms came fiercely around his neck.

“What you are doesn’t matter. What matters is that you drive me crazy if I even look at you.”

“Mouse! I love y—”

But that was the wrong thing to say. She pulled back at once, her hand flashing to cover his mouth and silence him.

“No!” she said sharply. “I don’t want to hear that from you. I’ve already been through the hearts and flowers bit. I’ve heard it all before. All those things a guy says to get a woman into bed with him. All those sweet, flattering, meaningless lies. I want things honest between us. Honest lust, honest passion. Not dishonest promises and protestations.”

Ian looked down at her helplessly. She was still fighting him. She didn’t trust him and there couldn’t be love if there wasn’t trust. So he knew that she didn’t love him. But she wanted him. It was enough. More than enough. He’d take anything she was willing to give him.

“Whatever you want,” he said. “Anything you want.”

“And no reproaches on either side when it’s time to move on,” she insisted with determination.

“All right.”

The rest would come, if he tried hard enough, was patient enough. He would prove it to her, make her believe in him, in herself. Make her understand that when it came to her there was no moving on for him. It would take time, but she was worth it.

Her hands were clenched on the lapels of his bathrobe. She was trembling.

“You’re scared,” he said gently.

“No. Yes. Maybe.” She smiled shakily. “It’s been a long time and I was never very good at the game. I may disappoint you.”

“Oh, no.” His hands combed through her hair, cupped her face, tilting it up to his. “Oh, no. Not possible. I’ve wanted you too long.”

Sierra caught her breath. He meant that. She could see it. His face was strained, the skin tight across suddenly prominent bones. His breath shuddered against her mouth. He was holding back, not wanting to rush her, containing himself rigidly with ferocious control. But she could feel his body vibrating with intensity as he held her to him and his eyes had gone almost black, their pupils hugely enlarged, irises reduced to only thin rings of burning, intense green, lids heavy with passion. But behind the raw hunger and heat, those eyes were oddly helpless, oddly vulnerable.

“Ian,” she said almost soundlessly and his mouth came down on hers.

Not with the demanding insistence that she was expecting, but gently, tenderly. A brush of his lips over hers from corner to corner, then a slow, breathy intake that drew her lower lip in between his.

“Oh,” she whispered at that light, sweet touch and her mouth opened to him without a thought. He was making it so easy to give in, coaxing rather than taking, hands cupping her head, parted lips brushing back and forth over hers, making her intensely aware of the tempting cave of his open mouth. Fingertips slid delicately over her face, caressing her temples, her cheekbones, the line of her jaw. The slight roughness of his calloused hands on her skin was shockingly arousing. Her bones melted and she leaned helplessly against him.