The Wolf's Surrender (12 page)

“I own the garage and body shop in town,” Jenner explained.

Mia regarded him with new interest. “I don’t know what I expected, but that wasn’t it.”

“Oh? Why not?”

She saw the hint of wariness in his expression, wondered if he would think she was looking down her nose at him. She sought to clear that up as quickly as she could.

“You have your video games arranged alphabetically,” she explained. “And your wood floors are spotless. I don’t usually associate that with a guy who likes getting his hands dirty under the hood of a car, but maybe that’s just me.”

Jenner relaxed immediately. “Trust me, there’s plenty to be meticulous about under the hood of a car. And before I came to the Hollow, doing this for a living was the last thing on my radar. Come on. Let’s go on in, and I’ll tell you about it if you’re that curious.”

Mia nodded, and watched as he put a couple of things away and turned off the lights. The Chevelle gleamed softly in the semi-darkness. “It really is pretty,” she said a little wistfully. “Does it run?”

“Sort of. And thanks,” Jenner said, walking toward her. “I’ve been restoring it for a few years now. A little here, a little there. It’s almost done now.”

“I want a ride in it when it’s done,” Mia said. “Whatever else happens, I demand a ride in the car. It’s too cool.”

“We’ll see what we can do about that,” Jenner said. His smile faded a little, and Mia wondered why. But he was quickly at her side, leading her out of the garage and back into the light. He was quiet as he locked the door, and Mia thought he might have used up his daily talking allowance; he did seem to have one, and it wasn’t very large. So she was surprised when Jenner continued their conversation without a word from her.

“So let me see, the mechanic thing. Well, I always liked taking things apart and putting them back together, I guess. Loved the shop class in high school, and I was interested enough to take some auto classes at the tech center in high school. But it was a hobby at best. I figured I should go get the business degree my father was so big on. Actually, if I wanted the degree paid for, I didn’t have much choice. And since I’d been such a pain in the ass as a teenager, I figured I owed him one.”

“So where’d you get the degree?”

“Penn State,” Jenner said as they headed up onto the porch. “Settled on a dual Economics/Business major. Landed a big deal of a job shortly thereafter, which made my bank account happy and me miserable. Sometimes I took little road trips on the weekends to make myself feel better. This turned out to be the eventual destination.”

Mia tried to picture big, rough-around-the-edges Nick Jenner in a suit and tie and smiled. No, somehow it didn’t fit him.

“Should I ask how you settled on Ferry’s Hollow? I mean, it’s pretty, but it’s a little...remote.”

Jenner gave her a lopsided grin. “It was more like the car decided to settle here. An old Camaro I was working on at the time, very cool and not at all reliable. Even then I was more into tinkering than just buying something all shiny and perfect from the get-go. It landed me here one day, in the Hollow, broken down again and at a garage run by the oldest guy I’d ever seen. He worked at his own speed, which could generously be called glacial.”

Mia angled her head, skeptical, passing Jenner as he opened the door for her. “Hmm. He took so long you decided to just live here?”

There was a twinkle in his eye when he glanced at her. “Well. Not exactly.”

Mia made a face. “A girl?”

“Nope. A guy.”

Mia chuckled, enjoying Jenner’s playful mood. He’d seemed so serious since she met him; it was nice to see this side of him.

“Do tell,” she said.

“It was the mechanic. Guy who owned the garage. Jim Gibbons was his name. Crusty as hell and man was he slow, but he turned out to be an excellent teacher once I wore him down by hanging around so much and pestering about the car.” Jenner smiled at the memory. He headed for the fridge and grabbed a soda for himself. Mia was surprised when he pressed her favored kind into her hand, too. He’d been paying attention.

“Thanks,” she said, feeling like a lovestruck teenager. Jenner nodded, and continued.

“Jim knew I belonged here before I did. And I never had to ask him for a job. He offered it, once he watched my impromptu week’s vacation get longer. I learned just about everything I know from him. And I never stopped enjoying the work, so I kept on doing it. Now the place is mine.”

Mia enjoyed hearing the story, but she knew there were pieces missing...in particular, whoever the woman was who’d initiated him. Jenner’s version sounded far too neat. There had been a woman, she was sure of it. Jenner had fallen hard for one of the Blackpaw women. And that had been the one who’d messed him up so much that he didn’t want to try again. The idea provoked a surprising hot surge of jealousy that Mia had to quickly tamp down as her skin began to prickle uncomfortably.

“Is he still here?” Mia asked, more to distract herself from the questions she really wanted to ask than anything. Though it would be interesting to meet the man who’d obviously had such an influence on Jenner.

“He and his wife packed up an RV a few years ago and headed out West,” Jenner replied, then took a sip of his soda. “He sold me the business, and I expanded it. It’s kind of a work in progress. For instance, we now do some restoration work, which is probably my favorite part. Something I really think we could grow, despite being in a small town. We’re good, and word gets around. I have this one project...” Again, he stopped himself just as Mia was getting comfortable in the conversation. He didn’t want to get too close, that was obvious. But she couldn’t say he hadn’t been honest about that.

“Never mind. Boring stuff,” he said with a dismissive wave. “But there you have it. The story of how I went from a stiff in a suit to werewolf mechanic.”

“And Lunari,” Mia said. She saw the instant wariness on his face, but it didn’t stop her. She wanted,
needed
, to understand this part of his life. “What, exactly, does a Lunari do? It’s obviously an important position. You said you hunt?”

Jenner shifted uncomfortably. “I protect the pack. I hunt creatures who hunt us. Pretty simple.”

Mia hesitated. “And what if these...whatever you hunt...have something to do with Jeff? My being here might be more of a threat to your pack than anything. I don’t want anyone hurt on my account.”

Jenner looked sharply at her. “Why would you think your being here would hurt anyone? We’re more than capable of defending ourselves against the Shadowkin.”

The word, finally spoken, filled Mia with a strange combination of relief and dread. He even knew the proper name for them—Shadowkin. Which meant it was likely he would know what she was, too. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him...all of it. The desire to share that part of herself with him went against every instinct. But her need for him went even deeper than that.

The realization, and the shock it gave her, was all that kept her silent. For the first time in years, she was letting herself need someone. A someone who had already been very clear that he meant to walk away.

Knowing what she’d done, what she’d let herself do, took her breath away. She had to make it stop. She didn’t know how to make it stop.

Jenner’s expression indicated he hadn’t meant to tell her as much as he had, and Mia tried to refocus on the conversation. Her feelings were her own problem. Still, her voice sounded strange to her own ears.

“Shadowkin. Supernatural creatures that hunt supernatural creatures, I guess. Makes sense.”

“You don’t sound too surprised,” Jenner said slowly. “Mia, if there’s anything more to tell me about what happened with you and Jeff, now would be the time.”

She opened her mouth, expecting the usual denial to come out. Instead, she found herself giving him pieces of the truth.

“He had some kind of strange-looking knife,” Mia admitted. “And he was ranting about blood, and doorways. Maybe he’s crazy.” She dropped her eyes, sure she would begin to see revulsion in his. “Or maybe it has something to do with your Shadowkin. Can they...get at people? Make them do things?”

When she chanced a look at his face, Jenner’s expression was grim, but there was none of the disgust she’d expected. Darkness called to darkness...it was what she’d always been told. That her blood, full of dark magic, would repel every good thing. Part of her knew it was her grandmother’s prejudice talking, lingering even now. But another part of her had always believed it.

And yet here was Jenner, big and strong and unquestionably good, and his only disgust was for Jeff Gaines and the Shadowkin. Relief flooded her. He had no idea what a chance she’d just taken on him. And he could have no idea what it meant that he was proving so much of what she’d feared wrong.

“The Shadowkin can definitely get at people,” Jenner said flatly. “If they’re weak...or just hungry for power. Some even invite them in.” He looked away, his shoulders rigid. “Thanks for telling me that. Getting Gaines is even more important now. There are ways the Shadowkin can manifest fully in our world...it happened once, hundreds of years ago, and it was a disaster.” He sighed and shook his head. “What a damn mess.”

“It is,” Mia agreed softly, staying still even though she wanted to wrap her arms around him and soothe away his thunderous frown. Foolish thoughts but impossible to stop. “I’m...I’m sorry for bringing this down on all of you.”

“You didn’t. Don’t ever think that,” Jenner said quickly. “Different things get us all here. It’ll work out. You didn’t make the psycho who’s chasing you around. Just like you didn’t ask to have somebody way back in your family who made a bad relationship decision.”

Mia blinked. “What?”

Jenner just shook his head. “You’d have to have a little dark fae blood in you for Gaines to be this determined. That’s what opens the floodgates.” His look was all concern. He had no idea the wounds his words reopened inside.

“Dark fae blood,” Mia said softly. “And that’s...bad?”

“I’ve never seen an Unseelie,” Jenner replied. “They may be gone from this world, I don’t know. But from the stories, even I’d head in the other direction if I saw one coming. It’s a different kind of power than anything my kind knows. Even the Shadowkin covet it.” He finally seemed to notice that his words had upset her. Mia was silent, but she felt drained, cold. Here she was again, being thought of as something dangerous, something tainted. And Jenner didn’t even know that he’d just told her he’d run from her without a moment’s hesitation if he knew just how strong her blood was.

“It’s not your fault, Mia,” Jenner said with a frown. Mia found that she took a little solace in the soothing rumble of his voice. No, this wasn’t her fault. Or his. It simply
was
. The thought was wearying, but familiar. She pushed it away. This was nothing unexpected, nothing new.

The only new thing was the sharp bite of the pain he’d caused her, which had long been dull.

“What the Shadowkin sense in you is probably so far back you’d never have any idea it was there. Don’t worry, okay? When you’re fully a wolf, fully a part of a pack, that should cancel out whatever the Shadowkin sense in you. Wolf blood is strong as hell.” He looked away. “Just another reason we need to get Gaines and make sure you’re safe for good.”

Mia managed a smile and a nod. Inside, she was numb. So that was her only hope...to sleep with a stranger so that the strength of her wolf blood would make the Shadowkin leave her alone.

But the chances of it canceling her power out...she thought those were slim at best. She would always be part Unseelie. A thing Jenner considered a monster.

But not now. Right now, he only saw Mia, she thought. An unlucky woman who was doing the best she could with a bad situation. And he was right about that.

There was that slow burning fire in his eyes again when he looked at her, and she tried to imprint it on her memory so that she could take it out later and treasure it once all this was over. He might never be hers, but she already knew she would never be able to forget him.

“Look, I’m going to go grab a shower. We’ve got to be at Bane’s this evening, and I want some time to fire up that game before we go,” he said. “I won’t believe you’re a master until I see it.”

Amused despite herself, Mia chuckled, though nothing could fully obscure the sick, nervous feeling she got every time she thought of going to Bane’s, meeting a bunch of werewolves from a pack Jenner didn’t seem to like much, and trying to get back in touch with Jeff. She fought it back. The worst was over. They would know what ran in her veins, and they weren’t going to throw her out for it. Just how much magic she possessed was now a meaningless technicality. She should feel relieved, Mia told herself.

Not like she wanted to sit down and cry.

“You’ve got it,” she said, hoping her cheerful tone wasn’t overdone.

Jenner gave her a brief smile before disappearing into his room, and she saw that they were okay, for now.

It was going to have to be enough, Mia decided.

Because when it came to Jenner, it looked like now was all they had.

Chapter 11

J
eff? Are you listening?

Her voice. Jeff winced in pain, turning his head to rest it against the cool comfort of the wall. At first, he thought he was imagining her. But his senses filled with her scent, swirling around him until he felt surrounded by her.

“Mia,” he murmured aloud. So beautiful. But he’d lost her. And now, she hid from him. He had provoked her fear and loathing...he hadn’t meant to hurt her, didn’t she see? He had no choices anymore.

Jeff...where are you? I can’t see you. It’s so dark...

Of course it was dark, he could have told her. It was always dark inside of him. The darkness colored everything he saw now.

I didn’t want to hurt you, Mia,
he thought, knowing she could hear him.
Don’t hate me...please...your blood is the only way out, and the shadows are all around me, filling me...

Of course I don’t hate you,
she said, her voice soothing.
Just tell
me where you are. I’ll come to you. I’ll help you stop this, help you get better. Whatever they’ve offered you, it’s not worth losing yourself like this.

It was too easy. Too tempting. He knew she was lying about helping him, no matter how much he wanted to believe it. It was those Blackpaw she was with, helping her mess with his head. Teaching her to hate what she didn’t understand. Wolves were as bad as humans that way. They’d let themselves become too human.

No,
he replied sadly.
I have to finish what I started. That’s how it has to be. I love you, Mia. I’ll find you. It will be quick, painless. I promise...

Please
,
tell me where you are,
Mia pleaded, her voice echoing loudly in his head, so soft and warm, a comfort in the dark cold of his mind. He was starting to come apart again. He knew it. But if he could just hang on a night, perhaps two, it would all be better.

I need to find you. I miss you. I want you to get better. Why are you doing this?

Her words shot straight through what was left of his heart. Jeff gasped, in pain, in wonder. He wanted it to be true, so badly. There was no way he could take the chance now, of course. He could not change course. The shadows would kill him. Still, had any woman ever said such a thing to him?

I miss you, too, Mia. I’m sorry it has to be this way. But look, see what’s coming...how could anyone resist this?

He opened his mind, and let her see his beautiful dream. They would soon share it.

Together.

* * *

Mia gasped as she surfaced from the nightmarish visions she’d fallen into.

It took precious seconds to center herself, to remember where she was. But when she did, the relief was overwhelming. This was Bane’s house. Jenner had brought her here. He’d promised to keep her safe...but she hadn’t understood just what Bane would ask of her, or how it would feel.

As though he could sense her thoughts, Jenner quickly put his hands on her, and Mia gulped in fresh air, hoping it would quell her rolling stomach before she retched. Her nose was still full of the scents of blood, and smoke, and burning. And every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was a whirling dance of shadows with gleaming eyes. But Jenner was here, watching over her. Just as he’d promised earlier, when they’d laughed over a silly video game and all of this had seemed surprisingly far away. Jenner’s presence was as strong as ever, and Mia used that to pull herself back.

As the blackness receded from her vision and she came around, she realized Jenner’s hands had been joined by another’s.

Jenner was on one side. And Kenyon, who had been allowed to stay in the room at his Alpha’s insistence, was on the other.

Mia sat up straighter in the large recliner she’d been settled in, pulling away from both of them. She shook from a cold that seemed to have permeated down to her very bones. It felt as though she would never be warm again.

“What happened?” Tomas, the Alpha of the Silverback, had shot to his feet from the small stool he’d positioned near her. Being the center of attention was unfamiliar, and incredibly unnerving. It was worse, however, when a powerful man she’d never met in her life had decided to try and run the show.

Mia wasn’t yet sure what to think of Tomas. The compact, bullish man was in his fifties, with a ring of brown hair on his head and a ruddy complexion. He seemed to think a lot more of himself than any of the Blackpaw thought of him, but he knew his power, and he didn’t seem to mind throwing his weight around. She wasn’t sure he was bad-tempered, but he was certainly intimidating.

Bane, who she had decided gave new meaning to the phrase “grace under fire,” took up a position right beside Tomas. She was glad not to have only those dark, glittering brown eyes to focus on.

“What did you see, Mia?” he asked. “Tell us everything.”

She did, in a shaking voice that grew stronger as she related the experience. The chills ebbed, but slowly, and although Jenner and Kenyon had retreated just a few paces away, she could tell that either of them would have been happy to warm her. The problem was, while she appreciated Kenyon’s efforts at playing the potential suitor, all she wanted was Jenner. And since even a fool could see it was going to create problems if she reached out only to him, she decided to suffer the misery by herself. Still shivering a little, Mia spoke about Jeff’s message to her.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Mia said. “It was already dark where I was, but these
things
were darker. Red eyes, like the last time we linked up this way. And I could tell they were hungry...waiting for something. Jeff is insane, and that’s scary enough, but these were much worse. I don’t know if they’re figments of his imagination, or if they’re...more. But he was very excited to show them to me.”

She broke out in fresh gooseflesh at the thought of it. “They were pulling me down, under. It felt like I was drowning.”

“Son of a bitch,” Tomas snapped. His vehemence seemed to surprise everyone.

“What?” Mia asked.

“Jeff was always much too interested in the darker places. I think it’s pretty obvious that whether these...shadows...are figments of his imagination or not, we have a problem on our hands. If it hasn’t already, it’s almost certainly going to draw—” All of a sudden, he seemed to remember that Mia was sitting there listening. His eyes snapped to her before returning to Bane. “I’d prefer to talk about this privately. This is business for pack leadership, no one else.”

Mia glowered. “Since I’m the one whose brain is connected to his, I’d say it concerns me even more than it does you. I’m staying.”

She saw Tomas bristle, and could swear his lip started to curl. But then, she shouldn’t be surprised. He’d done the same thing when he’d first laid eyes on her. Mia couldn’t quite figure where the animosity came from, except that it seemed very obvious, from the little he’d said before starting, that he placed a lot of value on werewolf lineage.

Lineage which neither she, nor most of the Blackpaw, had.

“I’m staying,” Mia repeated, more calmly now. “I’ll be a wolf soon enough, from what they tell me.”

Tomas’s smile was knifelike. “No. You haven’t even been through a change yet, have you? You don’t know much about our world yet, either. You’ll have to entrust this to those of us who know how to deal with these things.”

Mia saw Jenner’s eyes begin to glow, and even Kenyon looked displeased. If Tomas was deliberately trying to incite a fight by being an arrogant asshole, he was doing a fine job of it.

“I agree with Mia, Tomas,” Jenner growled. “She should stay. Jeff Gaines wants her. Only her. He tried to open her up with a ritual knife once already.”

The other wolves looked startled. Jenner nodded.

“Yeah, that’s the kind of pertinent information you get when you move forward on the assumption that the victim is not an idiot. She needs to know what’s going on. All of it. Because she’s the one who’s ultimately going to draw him here.”

Mia looked at him gratefully. She wasn’t interested in sitting here and getting steamrolled much longer. It was nice to have some backup, because it was obvious Tomas had no interest in listening to her.

“I already know what the Shadowkin are,” she explained. “And why they want me. Jenner told me when he started to piece together what Jeff was trying to do. I know he thinks he can use me to pull them here, physically. I’ll do whatever I can to stop him—it’s my life—but I insist on being kept in the loop. I can handle it.”

Tomas slid his gaze to Jenner, letting all of his displeasure show. “Nick Jenner. Still fixing cars and chasing shadows, huh? I hear that mechanic gave you his shop and skipped town after you killed his daughter. I’m going to guess it wasn’t your charm that convinced him.” He turned to Bane, jerking his head back at Jenner. “We haven’t kept a Lunari in over a hundred years. The brute strength required for the position came with too little sense most of the time. You might want to think about how wise it is to share power with a man who’d tell a human he’s just met about the Shadowkin.” He eyed Mia with a look she didn’t like at all. “Well, mostly human. Though dark fae blood isn’t something I’d go bragging about.”

Mia sucked in a breath. She saw Bane, his eyes flashing, give Jenner a nearly imperceptible head shake. Jenner, rather than punching Tomas in the face—which Mia thought he would have deserved—came to stand right behind her. He rested his hands lightly on her shoulders, a subtle sign of support...or was it possession?

It was designed to irritate Tomas, she supposed, and from the way his nostrils flared, it did the trick.

Happy to participate, Mia slid a hand up to cover one of Jenner’s.

“Mia didn’t ask for any of this, and she’s worth as much as any Silverback. More. I stand by my decision,” Jenner growled. “You’re on very thin ice, Tomas. This is not your territory. And here, whether you like it or not, I’m your equal.”

Jenner’s words went a long way toward making up for the blow he’d unwittingly dealt her earlier. And she felt a faint glimmer of hope, foolish though it might be, that he’d say the same even if he knew all of it. How she could hear the songs that blood carried, how she could draw power from the night and hold it in her hands. How she’d be able to do a lot more, if she wasn’t always trying to tuck it all away.

She’d felt a lot of things, but never dangerous. She just worried that if she was exposed, those around her would never see her as anything but. And after what Jenner had said about the Unseelie today, she was never going to risk finding out.

Tomas opened his mouth to reply, and Mia caught the ominous flash of sharp, white teeth before Bane interrupted the brewing fight.

“Blackpaw ways are different than Silverback ways,” Bane said sharply. “Don’t insult my Lunari again, or I’ll have you run out of here with your tails between your legs, the lot of you. I trust Jenner with my life, not that it’s any concern of the Silverbacks’. You said you came to help. So help.”

There was a soft but very audible growl as Tomas collected himself, and Mia wondered whether he’d be able to hold it together. Finally, though, he took a deep breath, straightened and spoke in a surprisingly even tone. Only his eyes showed his still-roiling anger.

“I never thought Jeff was a good fit for the pack,” Tomas began. “He was moody, impulsive. He told Sara Dumont he loved her, and a couple weeks after she initiated him, he broke it off as though it had meant nothing. Manipulative. And even when he challenged me for Alpha, I thought there was more to it. He must have known he couldn’t win, but he always seemed to have ulterior motives for things.”

“So he was disliked?” Mia asked, surprised. “He was pretty charming up until just recently. At least with me.”

Tomas lifted an eyebrow, but he didn’t seem angry.

“No, actually. Despite everything, it was hard not to like him, at least when he was in a good mood. He
could
be charming. And there was something about him that made people...myself included...feel a little sorry for him. He came from money, but I don’t think his upbringing was very happy.”

“I don’t think so, either. Is that why you let him go?” Mia asked quietly.

Tomas sighed heavily, then nodded. “I made a mistake. His problems were obviously deeper than I suspected. I thought him more troubled and pitiful than really dangerous. I was wrong. But I’ll make right what I can.”

Kenyon nodded, chiming in. “We will. We’ll do right by you where he didn’t, Mia.”

Hearing that was no comfort, not when Jenner’s hands still rested on her shoulders. She didn’t want anything from the Silverback. But she felt more and more how out of her element she was. Normal rules didn’t apply here. And she wasn’t sure, no matter what Jenner said, that her own wants and needs would matter to these creatures.

She leaned back again, glad for the comfort of Jenner’s touch while she could have it. Connecting with Jeff had been like winding through a house of horrors. His madness, his barely restrained violence, and worst of all, the depths of his obsession with finding her seemed to get worse each time. How had a creature like this, so twisted, managed to wear the mask of a normal human being for so long? she wondered. It was hard to remember the man she’d come to this place with, charming, witty, solicitous of her. All she’d wanted to see was the mask, and that he’d wanted her, needed her. That was her fault.

It was a mistake she didn’t intend to make again.

Strange, that being here should make her realize that her own wants and needs had merit, too.

She looked at Bane, a steady, silent presence watching her from across the room.

“He can’t hurt me when we connect this way, right? You’re sure?”

Bane nodded slowly. “I’m sure. But that doesn’t make the experience pleasant.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s unpleasant, as long as it’s useful. Did you see or hear anything more? Some clue as to where he was?” Tomas interjected his questions, impatient for information.

Mia shook her head. She wished she had more for everyone to go on.