Wild Instinct (14 page)

“He had precognition?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did your husband ever talk to Josiah about his grandfather?”

“Why would he? I mean, it was a joke. A story they told at Christmas and Thanksgiving.”

“Those might have been based on fact.” And that fact might be why the rogues were so relentlessly pursuing Rachel and Josiah. “Maybe his grandfather had some power.”

A werewolf father would have prepared his son with the knowledge to survive, whether that knowledge meant emphasizing a trait or hiding it. Maybe even from his own mother. He found it hard to believe a human father wouldn’t do the same.

“I don’t know. You need to go get him. You promised me you would go get him.”

“And I will, but I promised to keep you all safe.”

Her lip curled. “But not now. Because Wyatt forbid it. Because the pack needs me more than Josiah does.”

She spun away. “I knew it. I knew it was pack first.”

Garrett caught her arm and pulled her back to him. Her hands slammed up against his chest. “There will never be a time when my Alpha can command me to put my family at risk.”

Sarah Anne pushed against his chest. “It seems to me he just did.”

Garrett didn’t flinch away from her glare. “No, he didn’t. But the threat to Josiah is not as great as the threat to you and Megan.”

“But Josiah—”

“Will be safe.”

“How do you know that?”

“Cur is watching over him.”

Her hands clenched into fists against his chest. Her pain rose in a mental haze around them. “You just said he couldn’t find them.”

He brushed his mind over hers, muting her distress as best he could. “A better phrase would be to catch up to them.”

She tossed her hair out of her eyes. “So how can you tell me not to worry?”

“Because as good as your friend Rachel is, Cur is better.”

“You sound so confident.”

“I am.”

Her eyes searched his. “What are you going to do?”

He wrapped his hands around her fists and brought them up to his lips, first the right and then the left. “I’m going to take care of the threat here, and then I’m going to get our son.”

“And what am I supposed to do?”

“Take care of Teri.”

“I don’t know how to help her.”

“Just talk to her.”

Twenty

THERE was no talking to Teri. She grieved for her child to the point of obsession. Over the next few days, she fought Daire. She fought Sarah Anne. She fought life, but there was nothing that could stop her body from healing. As soon as Sarah Anne saw the mark on her neck, she understood that. Daire had bonded his life to Teri’s. As long as he lived, so would she. Sarah Anne balanced the breakfast tray and kicked the bedroom door closed. Teri lay on the bed in the dark room, the covers pulled up to cover half her face. She didn’t even turn her head when the door clicked shut. Sarah Anne sighed. Daire had left two days ago, and Sarah Anne was no closer to breaking through the wall of Teri’s anger than she had been the day she stepped into that room, but something had to give. And soon.

How far are you willing to go?
Daire had asked Sarah Anne that the awful night Teri had been injured and she’d given him permission to do what he had to to keep Teri alive. As a result he was bonded to Teri. And Teri, who hated werewolves, was now bound to another for life. No matter how much space Daire gave her, there would never be another man for Teri. No other option for a future. No other path to take but that of mate.

Sarah Anne had never seen Teri like this, even after the rape. Teri was a born fighter, always coming up swinging no matter what life threw at her, but it seemed there was no fight left in her anymore, just the defeated acceptance that she had nothing left to live for. Sarah Anne set the tray of food on the table beside the bed.

Teri turned her face away. “I’m not hungry.”

Sarah Anne drew open the curtains on the window beside the bed. “You have to eat.”

Teri glared out the window to the sunshine beyond. “I don’t have to do anything.”

Not even take the next breath
. The thought was whispered into Sarah’s mind. She blinked. Had that thought been real or imagined? She shook her head and sighed.

“Death is not an option for you.”

That snapped Teri’s head around. Her hand clenched in the blanket. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not; it’s just that . . .” How did one go about telling someone they had a werewolf husband? Sarah Anne sat on the side of the bed. “This may be hard for you to understand, but to save your life, Daire took you as mate.”

“How did that save my life?”

“Bonded mates share a life force. Daire is a very strong were. As long as he lives, you will, too.” Sarah took the napkin off the tray and settled it across Teri’s legs. “So you’re starving yourself for nothing.”

Teri met her gaze. The dark circles under her eyes made the green of her hazel eyes even brighter in her pale face. “John died.”

Yes, he had, because Sarah Anne had never given him her mark. Because she hadn’t told him who she was. Because she’d been pretending her wolf side didn’t exist. The guilt of that would haunt her the rest of her life. “I didn’t bond with John.”

“He loved you.”

And she had loved him. Not to her full capacity, but she had loved him enough. She blinked and the guilt surged in. She’d cheated him on so much and he hadn’t cared. He’d just been happy to be with her, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was because he didn’t know what he was missing or if he’d loved her so much he’d taken what he could get. “I cheated John.”

“You cheated on him?”

She shook her head. “I cheated him of the love he should’ve had. He was a very good man. He gave me two wonderful children, and I cared very much about him, but I didn’t love him enough to mate with him the way Daire mated with you.”

“You’re saying Daire loves me?”

“Love is a human concept.”

“One I’m fond of.”

“I know. But a werewolf is born knowing there’s one person out there for him or her. One perfect match. A werewolf lives with that sense of perpetual loneliness every day of their life. It grows year after year as they wait for their mates.” She took Teri’s hand and squeezed it. “Daire is an ancient. His life has been very long. So has his wait.”

Teri’s expression became guarded. “So what’s that mean to me?”

“It means the instant he saw you, he knew what you meant to him. He knew he’d found the other half of his soul. It means he wasn’t going to let you die.”

“I didn’t ask him to save me.”

“I know, but your life is now bound to his. You won’t die until he dies, barring a catastrophe.”

The horror that filled Teri’s eyes marked her as very human. “That’s crazy.”

Sarah decided it was time to speak plainly.

“No, that’s what it means to be loved by a werewolf. You will never be alone. You will never be undefended. You’ll be always be guarded, pampered and protected. Your children will be loved, guarded, protected. So I guess it’s safe to say, no one will ever love you more.”

Teri’s hand went to her stomach. “That has to come at a price.”

“Yes.” There was a price for everything. “Your mate will expect obedience, and he will expect the same devotion back.”

Teri shook her head and pulled her hand free. “I can’t love anybody like that.”

Sarah Anne disagreed. “I don’t think you know how to love any other way.”

“I hate him.”

Sarah nodded. “I know that, too. But you have to find a way to get around that, because from here on he’s going to be the biggest part of your life.”

Just as she had to accept that Garrett was the biggest part of hers.

FOUR hours later, Sarah Anne descended the stairs, a sense of anticipation humming in her blood. As he had for the last two days, Garrett was waiting for her, standing in front of the big windows. He looked so handsome with the setting sun reflecting off the hazel of his eyes, making them more green, amplifying the emotion inside.

The words she’d spoken to Teri came back to her as she crossed to him. No one would ever love her more than this man. He would take everything she had, demand everything she could give, but in return . . .

Garrett reached out, and in that gesture she was beginning to recognize implied comfort. He ran his fingers down her cheek.

“But in return,” he finished the thought for her, “I’ll give you everything I am.”

“You read my mind.”

“You make it easy.”

Maybe she did. And maybe she did it on purpose. Garrett was nothing like she’d thought a wolf husband would be. He was so much more. Legend was that each mate was created for the needs of the other. She thought of Teri up in the room battling depression and loss, refusing everything Daire offered, including comfort. She thought of how hard she’d tried to make John happy while holding herself back. She thought of how Garrett never held back, just making the most of what he had, as if it was about to be taken away.

She caught his hand in hers. “I’ll try to give you what you want.”

She needed him to understand she’d accepted this mating.

There was a flicker of something in his eyes. Disappointment? Hurt? It was impossible to tell from his tone.

Squeezing her hand, he tugged her toward the door. “This is enough.”

He could tell himself that, but there was no way that it could be. A male wolf needed his woman’s complete devotion. Garrett might be a mixed-breed, but everything in him, every instinct from the one that had him defending her to the one that dictated their marking was pure, unadulterated wolf. She reached up and covered her mark. Their lives were bound. There was no going back. Not for him. Not for her. Was that why he said it was enough? Because neither one of them had any choice? How could that be enough for either of them?

“Where is Megan?”

He steered her down the stairs, stopping her at the last step before stepping down himself, leaving them at eye level. “I want my kiss first.”

There was no smile on his face as he made that statement. From anyone else, she would have considered it a tease. From Garrett? Darn! She wished he was easier to read. Taking a chance, she looped her arms around his neck and smiled at him. “Okay.”

His start was almost a reprimand. Had she really been that cold to him? She threaded her fingers through his hair. She liked the way it felt running through her fingers, cool and silky.

“A kiss, huh?”

His palm opened over her spine. She pushed away her worry for her son, pushed away everything except this man and this moment. Feeling as though she were stepping off a cliff and tumbling into the rest of her life, she said, “I can probably arrange that.”

Again that start, on his part, that whipped through her like guilt. He was guarding her child, searching for her son, putting his life on the line for her, and she had done so little in return.

“I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Yes, she did. “You deserve better.”

His hand in the small of her back pulled her up. “I have what’s mine.”

Mine.
She’d always hated that word before with all the loss of self she’d assumed it implied. Now it settled with disturbing comfort over her raw nerves, more wolf in her than she’d ever expected rising to accept the claim.

No, she realized, he didn’t. And he’d go to his grave fighting her for the bit he had, but there was no going back from this. If that held true for Teri, then it held true for her.

“Yes, you do.”

With her fingers at the back of his neck, she drew his mouth to hers.

His fist knotting in her hair froze her a mere breath from her goal. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you’re my mate.”

“You finally letting go of the idea of an ‘out’ clause?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” He let go of her hair. “Then prove it.”

Here in the middle of the street? No sooner did the thought enter her mind than she knew the answer was yes. Here where all could see. His pride would need that, this man who’d always grown up an outcast, who’d been born a Protector and always been denied his status. This man who’d just realized his dream and had sworn to give it up for her if necessary.

When Garrett’s hands cupped her buttocks, she didn’t say a word, just pulled him closer, kissed him deeper. His growl reverberated down her spine before spreading outward in a heated vibration that swelled her breasts and sensitized her clit. Her mark burned. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she held on, letting the passion flow through her, letting acceptance flow through her. This man was her future.

“Nice to see I’m not the only one that puts on the spectacle.”

Shock should have had her feet hitting the floor, but even knowing someone watched was not sufficient to gather her wits. Fortunately, Garrett had more fortitude. His fingers clutched in her hair. Every cell in her body moaned a protest as he put her away from him. Two layers of clothing, his and hers, were not enough to prevent sensation shooting through her as her nipples dragged down his chest. When her feet hit the floor, her knees didn’t get the message to support. If it hadn’t been for his hand on the small of her back, she would have collapsed. Heat flared in her cheeks. Above her, she heard Garrett chuckle. Behind her, she heard a feminine counterpoint.