Seeking Pack Redemption (16 page)

“Because
she’s pregnant with my brother’s kid, which makes her family. As head of the
family, it’s my responsibility to ensure her safety.” Oh, yeah, he said that
with a straight face even though it was a huge crock of shit. He just wanted to
be close to her, fucked-up feelings, off-limit widow be damned.

“He’s got
a point,”
Jaxon
interjected with a laugh. “I’m sure
he sees her as just a sister.”

Trent
didn’t miss the smirk
Jaxon
sent his way. “I won’t
lay a hand on her, if that’s what you’re both worried about.”

“Oh,
please,”
Darren
said, stretching the word. “I’ve seen
the way you look at her.”

“And it’s
not like we could miss how you cuddled for most of the trip here.”

“I don’t
cuddle.” Why he felt a need to lie when they’d all seen him, he couldn’t figure
out.

“Then what
do you call hugging her for hours on end?”

“Offering
support to a family member who is frightened. Are we done debating useless shit?
’Cause I, for one, could use some sleep.”

“We need
to get an early start if we’re going to make it to the pack by the weekend.”

Whether or
not the pack cooperated with the plan they’d concocted remained to be seen.

With not
much further ado, Trent slipped into the other room, the soft sound of
Thea’s
breathing easing his wolf as he slid under the
covers of the second bed. With her sweet scent enveloping him, he fell into a restless
sleep.

Head throbbing,
Thea
woke to find herself in the backseat of David’s car. Lifting a hand to her
face, she ran fingers over her fat lip and gasped when they came away bloody.
Memories of what happened back at the apartment with David, only it wasn’t him,
made her scramble to sit upright.

“Rise and shine,” he sang from the front, his
eyes, still pinpricked with red, peering at her through the rearview mirror. “We’re
almost there.”

“Almost where? Where are you taking me? What the
hell do you want?” she cried. She pounded at his
shoulders,
oblivious to the fact he drove. He didn’t flinch, but he did laugh, a chilling
sound that halted her more effectively than violence. She leaned back in the
seat and whispered, “What are you?”

“Crazy?” He said it on a questioning note as he
swerved the car back and forth across the road.
Thea
squeaked as she ricocheted, side to side.

“Stop it!” she cried. “You’ll kill us both.”

He didn’t reply, instead whistling an off-pitch
melody as he careened through the darkness. No lights lit the road they were on,
and trees flanked them on both sides, dark sentinels that blurred as he raced
along. When he did finally brake, she caught herself just in time on the
passenger seat in front of her, the momentum propelling her forward. Before she
could count her stars she’d not hit the windshield, David was dragging her out
of the back by the hair.

“Let go of me, you psycho,” she yelled.

“No. No and no,” he sang. “You’re coming with me.”
He continued to tug her painfully across the graveled parking lot to the
shadowed
treeline
.

Pissed at his treatment, and very frightened, she
fought him, hitting and scratching, stomping and kicking. None of it freed her,
and a
headbutt
was all it took to knock her out.

When next she woke, she found herself crumpled on
a dusty wooden floor. From her prone position, she could see the frayed bottom
edge of a plaid couch and a whole family of dust bunnies.
Someone needs to invest
in a broom.
An insane thought to match an
unreal evening.

Despite the throbbing pain in her head, she pushed
herself to her hands and knees,
then
stood. Dizziness
made her wobble, and she spent a moment blinking until the room stopped moving.
She surveyed the area. No one sat on the sofa
nor
at the
scarred Formica seventies table behind it. Beyond those relics was an open
kitchen, its butcher-block countertop piled high with refuse and dirty dishes, pizza
boxes, cans of pop, wrappers, a plate with something green and fuzzy growing
from it.

Not seeing anyone, or an exit—which she
really wanted before she ran into crazy David again—she whirled. And
screamed!

Standing behind her, silent and unmoving was a
man, a gaunt creature whose skin stretched over the bones of his face, with
tufted dark hair sprinkled with silver. But it was his eyes, red and burning,
yet his gaze oh so cold, that saw her stumbling back. Fear coursed through
every inch of her frame, and she didn’t need the churning ball of trepidation
in her stomach to know he meant her harm. More frightening, why did she get the
impression they’d met before?

The bloodless lips split into a mirthless grin.
“Welcome,
Thea
. I’ve been expecting you.”

“Who are you? How do you know my name? Where’s
David?”

“I am Roderick, and I know lots of things about
you. As for the puppy, I’ve let him off his leash that he might properly
castigate himself for hand-delivering you to me. It’s really quite pathetic.”

“What are you talking about? Actually, I don’t
care. I’m leaving.”

Brave words that belied
the knot in her tummy, a knot that grew in size as she marched with a purpose
around the frightening man.

“I don’t think so.” So softly said, yet the words
sent a shiver up her spine.

Spotting a door, she sprinted to it only to recoil
as he suddenly stood before it. How the hell did he move so fast?

Roderick smiled again. “Leaving so soon? And here
we’ve only just begun to know each other. What do you say we rectify that?”

Before she could answer, he was on her. His fist
caught her hair and twisted it. Oh, the pain. She flailed, trying to escape his
grasp. He laughed. Motion at the corner of her eye made her pivot. David stood
there watching, expressionless.

“Help me!” she cried. “For the love of God, David,
help me.”

But her lover did nothing but watch. Watched as
the monster bit her wrist, the pain of her flesh nothing compared to the agony the
monster inflicted on her mind. As David stared on in blatant apathy, she
screamed and screamed and screamed, but no one came. And the pain went on
forever.

*
* * *

The
pitiful cries woke him, choked sobs and thrashing of blankets and limbs from
the bed next to his. Trent rose and stared upon
Thea
.
Tears wetted her cheeks. Her lips quivered, and even though she slept, he could
smell the fear, the terror.

“What’s
wrong?” Darren whispered from the gap in the adjoining door. “I hear crying.”

“She’s
having a nightmare,” Trent replied. “Go back to bed. I got this.”

“Are you
sure?”

“No. I’m going
to let her suffer for no reason. Of course I’m fucking sure.”

“Well,
excuse me for asking. Shout if you need a hand.” Darren eased the door back to
its previous position of open just a sliver.

Trent
crouched beside the whimpering woman, his conversation with Darren not enough
to break her sleep pattern. “
Thea
, wake up.” He spoke
low and to no avail. She sobbed. He tried again, a little louder. “
Thea
. You’re having a nightmare. Wake up.” Reaching out a
hand, he shook her shoulder. And still she cried.

It tore at
him. Her obvious misery made him feel helpless. They’d promised her safety, and
yet here she suffered. Never mind he couldn’t prevent her subconscious from
making her relive some of her trauma. He’d failed to protect someone in his
care again.
But how to wake her?
Somehow, shouting and
shaking the hell out of her seemed wrong. He didn’t want to frighten her more.
So what option did that leave?

Sighing,
he eased onto the mattress beside her and gathered her into his arms. It felt
so damned right, her in his arms, where she belonged. His body noticed, too,
and his cock swelled, completely inappropriate considering his intention to
ease her, but he couldn’t help it. Just like he couldn’t help wishing he held
her for an entirely different reason. He squashed the naughty urges. She needed
him to help her, not get all horned up holding her.

Hugging
her against him, he pressed his lips to her temple and made soothing noises.
“Hush, beautiful. You’re safe now. It’s just a nightmare. You need to wake up.”
It took him several repeats of that mantra before her shudders eased and her
cries disappeared. But even when he felt her damp lashes flutter against the
curve of his neck, he didn’t let go. Didn’t want to.

“I-
I’m
sorry.” She hiccupped.

“For
what?”

“For
waking you up. I was hoping with my escape the nightmares would stop. Guess I
was wrong.” She sounded so let down.

“You went
through a trauma. It’s perfectly normal.”

“I hate
it.” She sounded so vehement, a light smile crossed his lips, and he couldn’t
help pressing it against her forehead. A sigh left her, and more of her tension
eased.

“Would it
help to talk about it?”
Um,
hello?
Had that seriously just left his mouth? In his world, when
someone cried, he told
them
to suck it up. What next?
He’d ask her if she wanted to discuss
doily-making
?
“Or not. Doesn’t matter. But I’ll listen if it will help.” Dammit. There he
went again.

She
stopped breathing for a minute before letting out a big sigh. “You won’t like
it.”

And with
that simple phrase he knew David played a part in her nightmare. What had his
brother done to her? “I’ll live. Tell me.”

So she
did, and as he held her in his arms, he closed his eyes and thanked a god he
didn’t believe in that David was already dead because otherwise he would have
had to kill him. Weak-willed or not, there was no excuse for his sibling’s
action. Her story, sad and infuriating, though, did explain why David ended up
taking his life. After the shame he’d brought upon himself, it was the only
solution. Her tale also erased any doubts remaining about the vampire,
Roderick. Only an idiot would keep ignoring the evidence.

At the end
of her unburdening, he tightened his hug, and she burrowed her face into the
hollow under his chin. The way she fit in his arms, against his body, felt so
damned right, and alone in bed, his friends in the other room, his body reacted.
His cock, dormant during her telling, swelled behind his briefs, bulging
against the loose fabric of his track pants. He made sure to keep that area
away from her, lest she notice. But,
damn
it all
, how he wanted to roll her onto her back and press himself against
her.

“Why do I
feel so comfortable with you?” she murmured, unaware of his inappropriate lusty
thoughts. “When I first met you, all I could think was how you reminded me of
David and how scared I was you’d turn out the same way.”

“Never. I
shouldn’t speak bad of the dead, but David was always weak.”

She craned
her head back until she could see his eyes, her features dimly illuminated by
the light she’d left on in the bathroom earlier. “You’re not. Even though we’ve
only known each other a day, I bet you’d never let anyone make you do something
you didn’t want. You’re nothing like him.”

“Is that a
bad thing?” And why did her answer make him taut with suspense.

Her lips
curved into a smile. “No. It’s good. I like that you’re strong. I think it’s
nice that my baby will have an uncle he can look up to.”

And
that quickly, the hard-on he’d struggled to keep hidden shriveled
.
“I should go back to my bed now.” He went to move, but she wound her arms
around him.

“Please
don’t go. I know you must think me weak and stupid, but I feel safe with you.”

The words
froze him. On the one hand, his pride puffed up that she trusted him, but on
the other . . . “Why would I think you’re weak and stupid?”

“Well, I
hooked up so quick with your brother, and even when he changed, I wasn’t strong
enough to kick him out. Then look what happened. Knocked-up.
Single
and chased by a vampire.
I wouldn’t say I’ve exactly made the right
choices. I totally fucked up my life.”

“No, you
haven’t. Consider it a rough patch.” At her quirked brow, he smiled. “Really
rough. But it will pass. We’ll kill Roderick and his minions, then you can
start over.”

“Yay. That
sounds like so much fun,” she replied, bitterness in her tone. “I’ll have to go
on welfare because no one is going to hire a pregnant woman. Then after the
baby comes, either I work like a dog so I can pay for rent and daycare or I can
stay at home with the child and let the government take care of me. Sounds like
a great life.”