Past My Defenses (Taming the Pack series) (Entangled Ignite) (16 page)

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as they went upstairs. He couldn’t know how rare it was for her to say that. It was a deference she’d only paid to Alphas and her parents.

It might have helped the mood for a longer time if the sound of her snoring on a loop hadn’t hit him at the same time. He’d opened his mouth to say something, but then his jaw tightened, and he shook his head and led her into the bathroom.

She winced when he slapped the lights on before stalking back to turn the sound off on his phone. She went to the shower and turned the water on and stepped in before it had even warmed up so he wouldn’t see the tears streaming down her cheeks. She needn’t have worried because he dropped some new underwear and a tank top on the floor and closed the door to the bathroom. She stayed in the shower a few minutes after she was clean until she was sure she wouldn’t burst into noisy tears.

After she’d quickly towel-dried her hair and put on the tank top and underwear, she followed the scent of pissed-off male through the house down to the mudroom, where she saw him mopping up the blood on the floor with a somber look on his face. She paused at the bottom of the stairs and nearly bolted back up. Then the remnants of Lucifer’s stay hit her and she sneezed.

“I’d planned on bandaging you down here where the light is better, but maybe we should do it in the kitchen.” He didn’t even look at her, but grabbed the first aid kit off the table and gestured the direction she had come.

She nodded, even though he wasn’t looking at her, and turned and went back the way she’d come. When they went into the kitchen, he flipped on the lights again, and she winced and closed her eyes.

“Lights bother you?”

“A little—just at night.” Also, she didn’t want to face him in this bright stark light where it was obvious she’d been wrong…where all her excuses sounded stupid, even to her. She hopped onto the counter and lifted her tank top so he could look at her side.

“The tree definitely won,” he said. “I could take you in for stitches.”

She shook her head.

“Or we can butterfly it here, but either way, it’ll scar.”

“That’s fine.” The blood had seeped through her tank top. She’d need to change again. Not that she was given to self-pity, but she really deserved a good long scar for tonight. It might be all she had to remember this relationship by.

Neither of them talked as he bandaged her side. She even bit her lip to avoid whimpering when the alcohol stung. She might have been able to judge his mood better if she’d tried making eye contact, but she couldn’t. She’d made more eye contact with Jordan, when she was meant to be showing deference, than she was right now.

“Are you current on your shots?” he asked as he was looking at her shoulder.

She nodded.

He sighed. “I don’t know how to ask this without sounding offensive, but I don’t really care…have you been vaccinated for rabies too?”

She bit her lip harder and nodded. Then she looked away and closed her eyes tight.

“I’m guessing no doctor for this wound either?”

Swallowing, she shook her head again.

He worked fast and gently, and she kept her eyes tightly closed so she wouldn’t cry…and she didn’t until he finished and leaned forward and kissed the outside of the bandages on her shoulder. The tears spilled down her cheeks.

“No, honey, don’t cry,” he said.

She swallowed and nodded, wiping at her cheeks.

“Did you recognize what…who it was?”

“No,” she said on a sigh. Then she looked around for her phone. “I need to call in.”

“Call the police?”

She grimaced. This was about to get even worse. “I need to call in to our…group.”

“You need to call Jordan is what you’re saying?”

There wasn’t any good way to say it, so she slid off the counter and went to walk by him, but he stepped in front of her.

Vanessa looked at him and wished she hadn’t. She would have rather remembered him as he was before all this happened—when they were joking about handcuffs—and he could see them together, not like this. His eyes were hard, and his jaw was so tight a muscle twitched near his eye. “Tell me one thing, Vanessa, if he’d asked you to stay inside tonight, would you have stayed?”

She looked down. It wasn’t a fair question. Deference and obedience to an Alpha were more instinctive and less work. The give and take of this…it was different.

He walked away, and she spun back to the counter and found her purse. He was back by the time she pulled her phone out. He had a box in his arms, and he opened the cabinet and started packing all her meds into the box.

“What are you doing?” she asked in a whisper.

“I’d rather have you with him and safe than have you with me.”

She took her phone with her into one of his empty spare rooms and shut the door and was grateful his hearing wasn’t as good as hers…because she just texted Jordan while she cried. She wasn’t weak. She wasn’t crying over a four-day relationship.

An hour later, Jordan let her into his large rambler.

“So, this relationship is going well,” he commented.

“It’s not his fault. This isn’t a reflection on him not being good enough,” she said. He was good enough—he was good enough that anyone else wouldn’t have pulled the stunt she had tonight. If anyone deserved to die so this scent-match would end, it wasn’t Dane. She’d screwed up.

“Actually, your human has risen in my estimation.”

“Yes, well, I’ve dropped in mine and his.” She set her box of stuff on table. This was what it boiled down to. She was a pathetic nomad with a box of meds and a trunkful of air purifiers, and she chose this over staying with Dane.

“Well, we all make stupid mistakes. I sent a potential mate out on a patrol that could have gotten her killed but luckily, only got her matched off. I’ve also been screwing a psychopath for several years, so there’s that.”

It made her smile. Tilting her head, she said, “Your kids would have been real nutjobs.”

He nodded and grimaced. “So far, this is a morbid slumber party. Tell me about the Lycan who attacked you.”

She dragged both her hands through her hair with a groan. “I know their scent…I know that I know it, but it’s different now or it’s different then. They’re masking it somehow.”

“So, they’re from here?”

She shrugged. “Or from my last pack…or from one of the packs around.”

“What did they look like?”

“Dark.”

Jordan fixed her with a stare.

“I know, it’s not very helpful. It happened under tree cover and about two seconds after I realized it was a trap, and I’d been lured there. I was too busy reacting to pay attention.”

“Did Dane see them?”

“He saw them through a scope as he shot at them. He said he only glanced up long enough to make sure I was clear.” Those were the only words they’d exchanged as she’d packed the rest of her stuff. He’d stuck to his word. He hadn’t moved her. In the end, she’d dragged her stuff out to her trunk, and he’d stood in the doorway watching her leave.

“He shot at them?”

“Yep.”

Jordan smiled. “But he missed.”

“Shut up.” She went to put her stuff in a guest bedroom. Dealing with Alphas was a pain in the ass.

“Nessa?” he said as she was walking away. “Did you see anything to suggest there was someone other than a Lycan around?”

She turned back toward him. “No. And it would’ve been difficult for a human to keep up. Also, I don’t think the Lycan was trying to trap me so much as kill me.”

“So, this seemed more like a personal vendetta than a poacher’s kill?”

“Yes. What does that mean?”

“It means that you stay with me while Travis and the police hunt for a killer. We’re twice the size of any pack that’s been targeted by poachers, and they’re not following their blitzkrieg pattern of going for a large quantity before they’re detected or leaving before an investigation starts. This doesn’t seem like the beginning of a poacher’s run.”

“So, if we decide the poacher is gone, can I go home?”

He raised his eyebrows. “You have a very short-term memory for attempts on your life.”

She sighed. “So, until we find this mystery Lycan, I’m trapped…here?”

Shaking his head, Jordan snorted. “Yes. Trapped. In this horrible place. The Picasso behind you in your cage costs more than I pay you for a year.”

She narrowed her eyes. They were alone so she could get away with snarky, without it being insubordination. “It sounds like you don’t pay me enough then.”

“Travis will hunt the human and we’ll hunt the wolf, Hopefully your stay in this prison will be minimal.”

“You better hope so…according to Dane, I snore.” That still burned her. It might always sting in fact.

Jordan grinned. “What a thin-skinned little princess your human is. Are you sure you don’t want me to kill him for you?”

In answer, she spun and walked away.

…

He slammed his fist on the wall on the way back in.

It was the right thing to do.

He hated himself.

He probably deserved to hate himself.

Closing the door, Dane dropped down along it. He lifted one of his hands and watched it shake. He’d never felt this helpless. He needed to be doing something—something that would ensure Vanessa would be safe.

Chapter Eleven

It started with “Oh, you stupid” and ended with “damn, damn bastard” after running through his entire knowledge of profanity. And then he kicked it. Again and again.

Sammy cleared her throat beside him. “I’m pretty sure that particular fence post will never do anything wrong again. It’s good and sorry. Would you like me to put the next one in?”

He kicked it one last time and shook his head. “I’m fine. I’m just a little…”

“Exhausted?” she asked.

He had barely slept in a week. He’d actually turned on the video of her snoring and looped it—like she had to trick him—the last two nights so he could sleep for a few hours.

He nodded.

“Stressed, too?” The other ranger reached out and straightened the fence post he’d just hammered in.

He looked at her. With her hair in a braid and the freckles across the bridge of her nose, Sammy could have been the girl next door. She was cute. Sweet. Why couldn’t he be attracted to her?

But no, he wanted an untamed lone wolf. He wanted her so bad he couldn’t think of anything else.

And apparently, he’d go on wanting her.

It’d been a week since he’d watched her drive off. A week. He hadn’t heard from her in a week. Yeah, they were quite the pair. She could barely resist him. Not that he wanted her putting herself in danger to see him, but…it’d been a week.

A week spent listening to the police scanner in his free time.

A week where he’d been to the gun range twice because he sure as hell never wanted to miss ever again.

A week where he’d seen her car parked in front of Hill Contracting and drove by hoping she’d walk outside while he was going past.

A damn week.

A week of nightmares and no sleep and weird, obscure internet searches that probably had him on the NSA’s watch list as well as qualified him to write the Wikipedia entry on wolves.

He hammered in the fence post that had gone crooked and earned his wrath. A damn (hammer) hellish (hammer) week! (hammer, hammer, hammer)

Lowering the hammer, he nodded again. Stressed was putting it mildly.

“She looks like hell, for what it’s worth,” Sammy said.

“Who?”

She snorted. “Vanessa. I saw her yesterday at the pharmacy, and I thought she was going to rip the pharmacist’s throat out for messing up her prescription.”

“You saw her?” Oh, he was pathetic. He sounded so hopeful—so eager for any word of her.

“Yep. She looks almost as bad as you.” She picked up the next fence post. “I heard she is staying with Jordan Hill because of how close she was to where they found Cheri.”

“Yeah.” He’d even contacted Travis, and that jackass had been less than forthcoming. He’d said he would have Jordan contact him with information. It’d be a cold day in hell before either of them had anything to do with the other by choice, so that hadn’t happened.

Maybe after he was done here, he’d stop by the police station and insist on an update—and to be brought back into the loop. It was a little more difficult with a homicide involved, but he had to make a case for it. Somehow. Vanessa had to be safe. He had to make sure she was safe.

“I would have guessed she’d have stayed with you.”

He grimaced and put the posthole auger in place for the next post. “We’ve only known each other a week and a half.” This time at least the hole wasn’t so crooked it looked like the man who’d dug it was drunk and one-eyed.

“Sometimes it doesn’t take that long…and you just sort of hope you both feel the same way.”

Feeling the same way wasn’t the problem. At least he didn’t think so—at least not when they’d been together. If anything, they were almost too much alike—both too stubborn for their own good. Then again, it’d been a week, and she’d been with Jordan this whole time she was in heat.

“I guess,” he answered. He had a feeling they’d bumped up repairing this gate to get him away from other rangers and visitors. It was surprising Sammy had volunteered to help him. There were bears disturbed mid-hibernation that were more pleasant than he’d been this week.

“You haven’t seen her for a while?”

“Not for a week.” A long, long week. Longest in his life.

She stopped and looked around.

He felt the hair prickle on the back of his neck at the same time heat flushed his face. He wanted to growl and snarl and throw things. What the hell was wrong with him? He turned to look behind him and caught dark eyes watching him from the woods.

Oh, so Jordan was stopping by. Great. Fantastic. Then again, maybe this was Travis’s doing and there was news. He’d kill for an update at this point. If it wasn’t an update, he might kill Jordan. So, this was a win/win.

“I left my phone in my Jeep. I’m going to go see if my sister called.”

Sammy rolled her eyes and started pounding the new fence post into place. “Sure you are.” She probably thought he was going to call Vanessa.

“I’ll be back in a second.” His Jeep was at the trailhead. Just out of sight of Sammy. He could feel the black wolf following him the whole way. Instead of reaching for his phone, he grabbed his shotgun and leveled it at the bushes he’d last heard rustle. “Come here for target practice, Jordan?”

“What’s the point—you’d only miss,” Jordan said on the other side of his Jeep.

He dropped his arm as he whirled around. As much as he hated the guy, he was keeping Vanessa safe—so they had a cease-fire on his end.

“What are you doing here? You better be here with news. Wait”—he gestured at Jordan’s naked upper torso—“stay on the other side of the Jeep.”

Jordan laughed and leaned against the Jeep. “Before I leave I’m going to piss all over this thing just to mark it.”

“Do that and I will shoot you.” He swallowed. “How is Vanessa?”

Jordan grinned. “The worst houseguest I’ve ever had.” Well, that probably meant they weren’t screwing like rabbits. “Did you know she’s allergic to marshmallows?”

Dane threw his hands up in the air. “Yes! People are allergic to marshmallows! It’s more common than you’d think!” He’d looked it up. He’d had all these sleepless nights to fill. Sleepless nights not spent beside Vanessa…and her perfect body—allergies and all.

Jordan’s grin only widened. “Well, I guess that answers that question.”

“What question?”

“Several members of the pack mentioned you’ve been spending quite a lot of time with a single female.” He gestured toward where he and Sammy had been repairing the fence, and then Jordan squinted in the other ranger’s direction before shaking his head.

“We’re coworkers. That’s it.” She might be the only one willing to work with him at this point, and she seemed to find his ornery attitude amusing. Still, he felt nothing for her. Nothing. She was nice, but Vanessa was…Vanessa. Replacing her would be impossible.

“Yes, well, the others were concerned you didn’t understand the significance of being matched with Nessa.”

Dane glared at Jordan. He didn’t like the way he had a nickname for Vanessa. If anyone was going to have a cute, short name for her, it should be him, but no, he’d turned her over to this bastard. At the time, it’d made sense; she kept running off. Still, it burned that she’d listen to her Alpha, but she disregarded everything he suggested at the first opportunity.

“I told them you understood,” Jordan said.

“Understood what?” His tone sounded more like a snarling wolf than himself, but dammit, it’d been too long since he’d gotten anywhere near a reasonable amount of sleep.

“That you’re mated until one of you dies, faithful until one of you dies. If you’re not…one of you dies a little sooner. We take our bonds very seriously.”

He squinted at Jordan. “Wait, what?”

“You. Nessa. Matched. I feel like I should be using very short words.”

You and me both.
She’d said something about that, but then she’d driven off without a backward glance and had been staying with her “Alpha” and not contacted him at all. “Vanessa knows this?”

Jordan tilted his head and raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah, of course she does. So, you and her…”

He shook his head. “We take our bonds very seriously.”

Dane smiled…for the first time in a week.

“And once a Lycan is scent-matched, they’re not interested in anyone else.”

His day just kept getting better. He hadn’t sent the girl he was crazy about—the one he was starting to suspect he couldn’t live without—to screw a guy she viewed as her master.

“Which is why I tried to kill you.”

The smile dropped from his face, and he tightened his hold on the shotgun.

“But I’ve decided I was acting…rashly. Especially after a week with your mate. She snores like I’ve got a pet chain saw. Which is why I’m here.”

“Because Vanessa snores?”

“No, because having her in my place is like trying to keep a real wolf caged. She snarls awake and asleep. I’d heard scent-matched couples get a little nuts if you separate them, but this…” He exhaled noisily and shook his head. “I’ll admit, I would’ve pegged her as being closer to homicidal rage than my ex, but I guess it’s the ones you least suspect and not the obvious choices. Still, this week, I’m not sure there is a line for Nessa. She killed my blender when it didn’t liquefy as finely as she wanted. I’m worried it was a test run for when she disposes of my body. She’s nearly rabid.” He narrowed his eyes. “We’re allowed to make those jokes, by the way. You’re not.”

It shouldn’t feel so good to hear she was as miserable as he was. It shouldn’t, but it did.

“Anyway, it’s been a week.” Jordan stretched and rolled a shoulder. “A long week and the police haven’t found evidence sufficient to pursue, and our patrols haven’t uncovered any evidence of a poacher. It seems as if the poachers have moved on…if they were ever here.”

“What? Why would you think that?”

“There was an attack in Oregon. Large scale. Just happened.”

“I thought you were certain there were poachers.”

“No, it resembled an attack, but this rogue Lycan might have known how to do that, and it’s plausible they’ve even moved on since Vanessa is no longer an easy target. But the attack in Oregon was exactly their MO. We can expect them to drop out of sight for a few months at least. They always do.”

“Oregon is close.”

“And Glacier pack is strong and large. What’s your point?”

“That you’re jumping to conclusions.”

Even if Jordan’s smile was grim, he still wanted to smack it off his face. “My pack. My business.”

“Vanessa is my business.” It was just hard to believe it could be over. It couldn’t possibly end like this. But he might grasp at straws to get Vanessa back.

“You sent her to me to take care of.” Damn that bastard for pointing it out. The gun felt heavy in his hand. How many people would really know if he killed the smug ass?

“Well, maybe I shouldn’t have.”

Jordan shrugged. Nonchalantly. It was like someone had given him the cheat sheet for annoying the hell out of Dane.

It might really be over…other than that rabid werewolf with a bone to pick with Vanessa. “How could no one know who this other Lycan is? Your ex had friends, didn’t she?”

“Cheri was more of an outsider—most alpha females are a bit separate from the group. I’ve gone over everything again and again with the…woman she was closest to, but…” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll talk to her again. Though between me, the police, and this thing with Cheri, I think she’ll move the first chance she gets.”

“You’re not trying hard enough.”

Jordan narrowed his eyes. “And you would like us to magically find evidence that isn’t there on a trail that is now cold? It rains constantly here. Hell, if I was going to kill someone”—he paused and gave Dane a look—“I’d pick here too. Your evidence is washed away within minutes.”

“Maybe it was someone your ex was dating.”

Clenching his teeth, Jordan enunciated clearly, “She wasn’t dating.”

“Oh, so she went to singles bars for the atmosphere?”

“You don’t know enough about the pack to make judgments. The singles bar was a dead end. She hadn’t been there in a month, and she hadn’t brought anyone from there to our land.”

“Oh, like you’d know.”

“We would know. No one comes onto or leaves our land for any length of time without us knowing. Within days of you arriving, one of our pack had already established you as a non-threat and knew everything from what shampoo you used to how you liked your eggs.”

“Yet you had a poacher and an unknown Lycan on your land?”

“We can only be sure of the Lycan, and Lycans from other packs drift through here frequently, using our pack’s protection. Travis and I have constructed a list of possibilities that we’re continuing to add to, and Nessa has shot them all down so far, but we’ll find them eventually. Whoever it is, they were around long enough that they know our patrol patterns well enough to have avoided them, and that’s a significant lead. If Cheri brought someone here long enough to see the lay of the land, we’d know. Besides, the staff at the bar swear they only saw her talking to other women.”

Dane raised his eyebrows. “Maybe she was only interested in women after being with you.”

His answer was a snarl. “The only reason I’m putting up with you is because of Nessa. Once she’s safe, your insubordination ends. We’re handling this. Stay out of it.”

“No. Until she’s safe, I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure you’re not all sitting on your asses. Maybe I’ll have a chat with Travis later today. Maybe I’ll go check out that bar myself.”

Jordan snorted. “Good luck with that. If you so much as look too long at another woman, I’ll have reason to kill you under pack law.”

“I’m not going to be looking at other women. I only want Vanessa.”

He stared at Dane. “And yet she’s at my house while you’re out here digging holes and making nice with a coworker.” He stared down the trail again and frowned. He could stalk them all he wanted, but he was never going to find anything between him and Sammy. She obviously knew how he felt about Vanessa—he hadn’t exactly been subtle since they’d met.

“Leave Sammy out of this…and I only sent Vanessa to live with you because I wanted her safe.”