Northwestern Montana,
Cabinet Wilderness
Walter didn't know why he'd survived the beast's attack, any more than he understood how he'd survived three tours of ' Nam when so many of his friends, his comrades, had not. Maybe his survival both times was just luck-or maybe fate had other things in store for him.
Like another thirty years wandering alone in the woods.
If his survival after the beast's attack had been unlikely, the rest of it was just plain weird. The first thing he'd noticed was that the aching arthritis that had haunted his shoulders and knees, the throb of an old wound in his hip, had all disappeared. The cold no longer bothered him.
It took him a lot longer to realize that his hair and beard had regained the color of his youth-he didn't carry around a mirror.
That's when he began paying attention to the oddities. He was faster and stronger than he'd ever been. The only wounds that hadn't healed with the same remarkable speed as his belly were the ones on his battered soul.
He didn't really understand what had happened until the morning after the first full moon when he woke up with blood in his mouth, under his nails, and on his naked body: the memory of what he'd done, what he'd become, clear as diamonds. Only then did he know he had become the enemy, and he wept at the loss of the last of his humanity.
Aspen Creek, Montana
With Charles's arm around her shoulder, Anna followed everyone to the frigid parking lot of the church. They stopped on the sidewalk and watched as the lot slowly emptied. A few of the people leaving the church glanced at Anna, but no one stopped.
When they stood mostly alone, Anna found herself under gray-eyed scrutiny that was wary, despite the friendly smile Samuel gave her.
"So you're the stray pup my brother decided to bring home? You're shorter than I expected."
Impossible to take offense when clearly none was meant; at least he didn't call her a bitch.
"Yes," she said, careful to resist the urge to squirm under his gaze or to babble endlessly as she sometimes did when she was nervous.
"Samuel, this is Anna. Anna, my brother, Samuel," Charles said in introduction.
Apparently deciding Charles's brief introduction wasn't good enough, his brother reintroduced himself. "Dr. Samuel Cornick, elder brother and tormentor. Very nice to meet you, Anna-"
"Latham," she told him, wishing she could come up with something clever.
He gave her a charming smile that, she noticed, did nothing to warm his eyes. "Welcome to the family." He patted her on the head, mostly, she thought, to irritate Charles.
Who said merely, "Quit flirting with my mate."
"Behave," said Bran. "Samuel, would you take Charles back to the clinic and look at his wounds? I have a job for him, but if he isn't going to recover soon, I'll have to find someone else to send. I don't think he's healing as well as he should be."
Samuel shrugged. "Sure. No problem." He looked at Anna. "It might take a while, though."
She wasn't stupid. He wanted to talk to Charles without her there-or maybe it had been Bran, and Samuel was just helping out.
Charles picked up on it, too, because he said smoothly, "Why don't you take the truck back to the house. Samuel or Da will give me a lift back."
"Sure," she told him with a quick smile-she had no reason to feel hurt, she told herself sternly. She turned and walked rapidly to the truck.
She could do with some time to herself. She had things she wanted to consider without Charles around to cloud her thinking.
Charles wanted to snarl at her relief at leaving him, implicit in her rapid retreat to the truck.
He fought down the irrational anger he felt toward Samuel, who had so charmingly sent her away, responding to the orders Bran had sent mind to mind. He could always tell when his father was talking to Samuel, something in Samuel's face gave it away.
Samuel waited until she'd gotten in the truck and driven out of the parking lot before he said, "Did you kill the wolf who abused her?"
"He's dead." For some reason, Charles couldn't keep his eyes off the truck. He hadn't liked sending her away. He knew that there was nothing to worry about, no one here would touch what was his-and the whole town knew what she was thanks to Asil's performance at the funeral.
Even the few people who weren't at the funeral, such as his father's mate-who had made quite a statement with her absence-would know of it before the hour was up. Still, he didn't like to send Anna off on her own. Not at all.
"Charles?" His brother's voice was quiet.
"That's why I asked you to have Anna leave," Bran murmured. "I wanted you to see the difference in him. He was like this yesterday, as soon as she left his sight. She's an Omega, and I think her effect on him is masking his symptoms. I think they didn't get all the silver out."
"When was he shot?"
"The day before yesterday. Three times. One's a burn across his shoulder, one is through his chest and out the back, and a third through his calf. All silver."
Charles watched the truck edge cautiously around the turn that would take her home.
"He's more sensitive to silver poison than-Charles!"
Hard hands grabbed his shoulders, and his father touched his face, capturing him with his gaze more effectively than his brother had captured his body.
"I have to go," he told his Alpha, heart in his throat. He couldn't think, couldn't stay here. He had to protect her, battered though he was.
"Wait," his father told him, and the command wrapped around his body like steel hawsers, freezing him where he stood when all he wanted to do was follow the truck. "Samuel still needs a look at you. I'll send Sage to her, shall I?"
His father's touch, his voice, and something more helped him gather his thoughts. He was out of control.
He closed his eyes and drew on his father's touch to soothe the beast until he could think more clearly.
"I did it again, didn't I?" he asked, though he didn't really need Bran's affirmative. He took a deep breath and nodded. "Sage would be good."
He didn't like anyone in his house: his father and brother, yes, but other people only as necessary. Still, he didn't want Anna alone, either. Sage would do.
She wouldn't hurt his Anna and could protect her until he was there. Keep the males away. Something restless inside settled down a little more firmly. But he watched as his father called Sage on his cell and listened to him ask her to go meet Anna. Then allowed himself to be towed off to the clinic in Samuel's car. His father followed in his Humvee.
"Da told me you had to kill Gerry," he told his brother. Gerry had been Doc Wallace's son, responsible for hurting any number of people and killing several others in his quest to find a drug that could subdue Bran in a convoluted plot to force the good doctor to accept his dual nature. Gerry hadn't been concerned about collateral damage.
Samuel nodded, his face grim. "He left me no choice."
Even distracted by his need to protect his mate and the burn of the wounds that weren't healing right, Charles heard what his brother wasn't saying. So he gave it voice. "You're wondering how many people we would kill to protect our da? How many we would torture and destroy?"
"That's it," his brother whispered. "We've killed people. Wolves and innocents for our father. How are we so different that we survive and Gerry deserved to die?"
If Bran had sent Samuel with Mercy to the Tri-Cities to cure his melancholy, it hadn't worked very well. Charles struggled to pull his attention from his mate and come up with something to help his brother. Without Bran touching him, it was more difficult than it should have been to collect his thoughts.
"Our father has kept the packs under his mantle safe and controlled. Without his leadership, we'd be as chaotic and scattered as the European wolves-and the human death toll would be a lot higher, too. What would the results be if Gerry's plan had succeeded?" Charles asked. Sage would take care of Anna for him. There was no reason for this unholy, driving need to be with her.
"Gerry thought his father would embrace the wolf in order to defeat the Marrok," Samuel murmured. "Who is to say that he wasn't right? Maybe he could have saved his father. Is it any more wrong, what he did, than when Da sends you out to kill?"
"And if Gerry was right? If all his plans had borne fruit, if all his father needed was a reason to accept his wolf, and if, with the help of Gerry's new drug, he killed our father and took over as Marrok-then what?" Charles asked. "Doc was a good man, but how do you think he would be as the Marrok?"
Samuel thought, then sighed. "He wasn't dominant enough to hold it. There'd have been chaos as the Alphas fought for supremacy, and Gerry tried to kill them off like a jackal in the shadows." He parked in front of the clinic but made no move to get out. "But wouldn't you kill for Da anyway? Even if it wasn't important for the wolves' survival in this country? Was Gerry so wrong?"
"He broke the laws," Charles said. He knew that such things weren't so black and white for his brother. Samuel had never been forced to accept things as they were, not the way Charles had. So he picked through the facts for something that might help.
"Gerry killed innocents. Not for the survival of the pack, but for a thin chance of his father's survival." He smiled a little as something, the right something, came to him. "If either you or I kill an innocent to protect Da, and not for the survival of us all, he'd kill us himself."
Tension left Samuel's shoulders. "Yes, he would, wouldn't he?"
"Feel better being on the side of angels?" Charles asked, as their father pulled in next to them.
Samuel grinned tiredly. "I'll tell Da you called him an angel."
Charles got out and met his father's amused gaze over the hood of Samuel's car with a shrug.
Samuel turned on the lights in the clinic and led the way to one of the examination rooms.
"Okay, old man," he said. "Let's see those bullet holes." But his smile dropped away when Charles started to struggle with his suit jacket.
"Wait," he said, and opened a drawer to grab a pair of scissors. When he saw Charles's face, he grinned. "Hey, it's just a suit. I know you can afford to replace it."
"Fittings," snarled Charles. "Four fittings and traveling to the city to be poked and prodded. No, thank you. Da, can you help me get this off and keep your son and his scissors out of reach?"
"Put the scissors down, Samuel," Bran said. "I expect that if he managed to get it on, we can get it off without cutting it. No need to growl, Charles."
With help, sliding out of the jacket was possible, but it left Charles sweating and his father murmuring soothing words. They didn't even ask for his help unbuttoning the shirt when they took it off of him.
Samuel got a good look at the bright pink vet wrap and grinned. "That wasn't your idea."
"Anna."
"I think I like this little wolf of yours. She may scare a little easy all right, but she faced down Asil without breaking a sweat. And anyone who'd dare to wrap you in pink-"
Samuel was abruptly serious, though, when he cut through the silly pink stuff and saw the holes, fore and aft. He put his face next to the wound and sniffed before rewrapping Charles in something a little less spectacular.
Charles was amused to find he preferred the pink because she had put it on him.
"Almost lost you with that one, little brother. But it smells clean and looks like it's healing well enough. Drop the pants now, I want to look at that leg you've been trying not to favor."
Charles didn't like to take off his clothes-too much Indian in him, he supposed. That and a little reluctance to bare his wounds. He didn't like other people knowing his weaknesses, even his brother and father. He reluctantly skimmed his slacks down.
Samuel was frowning even before he'd gotten the bright green wrap cut off. Once he did, he put his nose against it and jerked back. "Who cleaned this out?"
"The Chicago pack has a doctor." There weren't very many doctors who were werewolves. No one but Samuel as far as he'd known: the Chicago pack's doctor was one of the new ones Leo had been hiding from the Marrok. Being around all that blood and flesh made it pretty difficult for a werewolf to keep his mind on healing-though he'd never noticed it bothering Samuel.
"He was a quack," growled his brother. "I can smell the silver from six inches out."
"Poorly schooled in being a wolf," corrected Charles. "None of Leo's new wolves know what to do with their noses- including Anna. I doubt he thought to sniff for silver."
"And I am under the impression that he was pretty frightened of you, too," said his father from the corner he'd exiled himself to. "You aren't exactly a good patient."
"Up on the table," Samuel told him. "I'm going to have to do some digging. Da, you're going to have to help him while I do this."
It hurt a lot worse than getting shot in the first place, but Charles stayed still while Samuel dug and probed. Sweat dripped off his forehead, and the urge to change and attack was held at bay, barely, by his father's hands on his.
He tried not to pay attention to what Samuel was doing, but it was impossible to ignore his running commentary completely. When Samuel shot saline solution through the wound, every muscle in his body tightened in protest, and he hissed.
But-"Sorry, old man, there's some still in there." And it was back to probe and cut. He wouldn't let himself cry out, but he couldn't stop the wolf-whine as Samuel flushed the wound with another round of saline-or the groan of relief when Samuel started bandaging, signaling the end of the torture.
While Charles was still down and out, trying to relearn how to breathe, Samuel said, "I'm not staying here, Da."
Charles quit worrying about his leg and watched Samuel's face. Samuel wasn't in any shape to be off on his own again. He assumed his father knew that-Bran was better with people than Charles was.
Bran didn't reply, just spun himself slowly, around and around on the little stool in the corner of the room.
Eventually, Samuel was driven to continue-doubtless just as Bran intended. "I can't stay. Too many people who expect too much here. I don't want to be pack."
Bran continued spinning himself around. "So what are you going to do?"
Samuel smiled, a quick flash that made Charles's heart hurt with the lack of genuine feeling behind the expression. Whatever had happened to his brother in the years he'd gone off on his own had changed him, and Charles worried that the change was irrevocable. "I thought I'd go tease Mercy for a while more."
His voice and his face said casual, but his body was tense, giving away how much this mattered to him.
Maybe Da hadn't been crazy when he pushed Samuel and Mercy together-though in Charles's experience, romance was neither painless nor restful. Maybe painless and restful weren't what Samuel needed.
"What about Adam?" asked Charles reluctantly. Mercy lived in the Tri-Cities of Washington state, and the Columbia Basin Pack Alpha wasn't dominant enough to hold his pack with Samuel in it-and Adam had been Alpha too long to adjust to another in that position.
"I already talked to him," Samuel answered quickly.
"He's all right with you taking over?" Charles couldn't see it. Another wolf maybe, but not Adam.
Samuel relaxed against the counter and grinned. "I'm not taking over his pack, old man. Just coming into his territory like any other lone wolf. He said he was all right with it."
The Marrok's face was carefully neutral-and Charles knew what was bothering him. There had been nights that Samuel had to lean pretty hard on pack for stability the past two years, since he'd gotten back from Texas, and a lone wolf had no pack to lean on.
Samuel, like his father-and Asil-was old. Old was dangerous for werewolves. Age had never seemed to touch Samuel much-until he'd come back a few years ago after being gone on his own for over a decade.
"Of course," continued Samuel, "he doesn't know I'm moving in with Mercy."
Adam had a thing for their little coyote, too, Charles suddenly remembered. "So Mercedes decided to forgive you?"
"Mercy?" Samuel's eyes climbed to the top of his forehead, but for the first time in a long time the shadows left his eyes. "Our Mercy, who never gets mad when she can get even? Of course not."
"So how did you get her to agree to you moving in?"
"She hasn't yet," he said confidently. "But she will." Whatever scheme he had in mind brightened his eyes with their old joie de vivre. His father saw it, too. Charles could see him come to a sudden decision.
"All right," said Bran abruptly. "All right. Yes, go. I think it might be best."
Whatever was wrong with Samuel, being back in Aspen Creek hadn't improved it any. Maybe Mercedes would have better luck. If she didn't kill Samuel-or his father, for that matter, for putting her in the line of fire.
Charles, tired of lying on his face in his underwear, sat up and fought the ringing in his ears that threatened to send him right back down.
"How's it feel?" Samuel asked, back in doctor mode.
Charles closed his eyes and took inventory. "I don't feel like tearing down the door and leaving anymore, but that might just be because you've already done your worst."
Samuel grinned. "Nah. I could torture you for a while longer if I wanted to."
Charles gave him a look. "I am doing much better, thank you." He hurt, but felt more himself than he had since he'd been shot. He wondered why the silver poisoning had made him so protective of Anna. He'd never felt anything like it.
"All right." Samuel looked at Da. "Not tomorrow or the next day. If he were anyone else, I'd tell you ten days at least, but he's not stupid and he's tough. With the silver gone, he'll heal almost as fast as usual. After Wednesday strangers won't be able to tell there's anything wrong, so he won't be in danger of being attacked because some idiot thinks he can take him. But if you're sending him out to take on a pack by himself, you'll need to send some muscle with him for a couple of weeks yet."
Charles looked at his father and waited for his judgment. Running around the Cabinets in the middle of winter wasn't his favorite thing-those mountains didn't like travelers much. Still, he could do it better than anyone else his father could call upon here, wounded or not, especially if it wasn't just some rogue wolf but an attack on his father's territory.
Finally, Bran nodded. "I need you more than I need speed. It'll keep a week."
"What are you going to do about Asil?" asked Charles. "Despite the best efforts of the Reverend Mitchell, Samuel, and Doc Wallace, himself-the pack is pretty ugly right now. If you have to kill him, there will be consequences with the pack."
Bran smiled faintly. "I know. Asil came to me a month ago complaining about his dreams and started asking me to put him out of his misery again. Not something I'd normally worry about, but this is the Moor."
"Who is he dreaming of?" Samuel asked.
"His dead mate," Bran said. "She was tortured to death. He won't speak of it, though I know he feels guilty because he'd been traveling when it happened. He told me he'd quit dreaming of it when he joined our pack-but it started again last month. He wakes up disoriented and...sometimes not where he went to sleep."
Dangerous, thought Charles, to have a wolf of the Moor's powers out and about under its own direction.
"You think his death can wait?" asked Samuel.
Bran smiled, a real smile. "I think it can wait. We have an Omega to help him." His father looked at Charles, and the smile broadened to a grin. "She's not going to leave you for him, Charles, no matter what Asil says to tweak your tail."
Charles's living room, though expensively decorated, was still warm and homey, Anna decided. It just wasn't her home. She wandered restlessly through the rooms before she finally settled in the bedroom, sitting in a corner on the floor with her legs pulled up, hugging herself. She refused to cry. She was just being stupid: she didn't even really know why she was so upset.
It had bothered her to be sent away-and at the same time she'd felt a rush of relief when she was alone in the truck.
Werewolves and violence, werewolves and death: they went together like bananas and peanut butter. It was better hidden here, perhaps, than it had been in Chicago, but they were all monsters.
It wasn't their fault, the wolves here; they were just trying to live as best they could with this curse that turned them into ravening beasts. Even Charles. Even the Marrok. Even her. There were rules to being a werewolf: sometimes a man had to kill his best friend for the good of all. Human mates grew old while the werewolves stayed young. Wolves like Asil tried to force others to attack them because they wanted to die...or to kill.
She drew in a shaky breath. If someone had killed Leo and his mate years ago, a lot of people would still be alive- and she'd be a senior at Northwestern with most of a degree in music theory instead of a...a what?
She needed to find a job, something to give her a purpose and a life outside of being a werewolf. Waitressing at Scorci's had saved her in more ways than just providing a paycheck. It's hard to wallow in self-pity while you were working your socks off eight to ten hours a day. Somehow, though, she doubted there was a job here for a waitress.
The doorbell rang.
She hopped up and rubbed her cheeks briskly-but her face was dry. The doorbell rang again, so she hurried out to answer the front door. Contrary, she told herself. She'd been so glad to get a few minutes alone, and now all she wanted was a distraction.
She glimpsed a gunmetal gray Lexus before her attention was captured by the woman who stood on the porch. Her expression was good-natured and friendly. She had dark blond hair neatly French braided and nearly as long as Charles's.
Werewolf, Anna's nose told her.
The woman smiled and held out her hand, "I'm Leah," she said. "The Marrok's wife."
Anna took her hand and released it quickly.
"Let's go in and chat, shall we?" said the woman pleasantly.
Anna knew Charles didn't like his stepmother-or airplanes, cars, or cell phones for that matter. Other than that, there was no reason for her unease. More to the point, there was no way to refuse her without giving offense.
"Come in," she invited politely, stepping back.
The Marrok's wife walked briskly past her and into the living room. Once inside, she slowed down, giving the room her entire attention, as if she hadn't seen it before. Anna had the uncomfortable feeling that she was making a mistake, letting the woman in. Maybe Charles didn't let her into his house-she couldn't think of anything else that would account for Leah's fascination with Charles's furnishings.
Unless the whole examination was just a power play designed to make it clear that Anna wasn't nearly as interesting as the room. As Leah explored, Anna settled on the latter explanation-it wasn't a big enough room to demand so much time.
"You aren't what I expected," Leah murmured finally. She had stopped in front of a handmade guitar that hung on the wall far enough from the fireplace so that the wood would take no damage from the heat. It might have been an ornament, except the fretboard was worn with playing.
Anna didn't say anything or move from her place near the door.
Leah turned to look at her, and there was nothing kind or friendly about her face now. "He had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for you, didn't he? Had to go all the way to Chicago to find a baby, a woman who wouldn't present any kind of challenge at all. Tell me, do you sit and stay when he tells you?"
The nastiness of the attack made it more personal than just a desire to put a lesser wolf in her place. Leah, for all that she was the Marrok's mate, sounded jealous. Did she want Charles, too?
The door popped open, and a second woman came into the house with a wave of cold air and French perfume. She was tall and slender, like a runway model-she looked expensive. Her brown hair was streaked with gold highlights emphasized by gold glitter brushed across her cheekbones and, more heavily, over a pair of magnificent blue eyes.
Anna recognized her from the funeral-she was not only beautiful, but dramatic, as well, and the combination made her memorable. The other woman shut the door behind her and shed her ski jacket, tossing it casually on the nearest chair. She was still wearing the dark skirt and sweater she'd had on earlier.
"Oh, come now, Leah. 'Sit and stay'? You can do better than that, darling." Her voice was thick and purring with Southern charm. To Anna she said, "Sorry just to barge in like this, but it sounded like you might need rescuing from our queen bitch."
"Leave, Sage. This has nothing to do with you," commanded Leah sharply, though she didn't seem inclined to take offense at the name-calling.
"Honey," said the woman sweetly, "I'd just love to do that, but I've got my orders from the boss-a step higher than you." Bright blue eyes slid over Anna. "You'd be Charles's Anna. I'm Sage Carhardt. Sorry about the rough welcome, but whatever makes our Charlie happy is sure to get her tail in a twist because our Alpha loves his sons."
"Shut up," Leah snapped, and power swept through the room, knocking Sage back two steps.
Funny, Anna would have sworn that Sage was the more dominant of the two...then she realized the energy tasted of the Marrok. A woman takes her place from her mate, she thought. She knew that, but hadn't understood that the power was real.
"You"-Leah had turned her attention to Anna-"go sit on the couch. I'll deal with you in a minute."
A prudent woman would have done it, Anna thought regretfully. The woman she had been a week ago would have cringed, sat, and waited for whatever hell would have followed. The Anna who was Charles's mate, who was Omega and outside of the pack order, lifted her chin, and said, "No, thank you. I think you'd better leave and come back when my"-three years a werewolf but calling Charles her mate sounded wrong, and he wasn't her husband- "when Charles is here." The hesitation robbed her statement of much of its strength.
Sage smiled, her whole face lighting with delight. "Yes, Leah, why don't you come back when Charles is here? I'd like to see that."
But Leah wasn't paying attention to her. Her eyebrows lowered in puzzlement as she stared at Anna. "Sit down," she said, her voice low and rich with a power that once more slid over Anna and did not touch her.
Anna frowned back. "No. Thank you." She thought of something, and before she could stop herself, she said, "I saw Sage at the funeral, but the Marrok was alone. Why weren't you beside him?"
"He had no business there," Leah said passionately. "He killed Carter. And now he pretends to mourn him? I couldn't keep him from going. He never listens to me anyway, does he? His sons are his advisors, all I am is a replacement for his lost love, the incomparably beautiful, self-sacrificing, Indian bitch. I can't stop him, but I won't support him, either." By the time she was finished, a tear slid down her face. She wiped it off and looked at it and then at Anna with an expression of horror. "Oh, God. Oh, my God. You're one of those. I should have known, should have known that Charles would bring something like you into my territory."
She left in a rush of cold air and rattled power, leaving Anna trying not to show how bewildered she was.
"I'd have paid money to see that." The smile was still spreading on Sage's face. "Oh, honey," she crooned, "I am so glad Charles brought you home. First Asil, then Leah. Life is going to be so much more interesting around here."
Anna wiped her sweaty hands on the sides of her jeans. There had been something odd about Leah's response, almost as if she'd been compelled to talk.
She swallowed and tried to look calm and welcoming. "Would you like something to drink?"
"Sure," Sage said. "Though knowing Charles, he doesn't have anything good to drink. I'll have some tea and tell you about me. Then you can tell me about yourself."
Charles had to let his father support him out to the Humvee.
"Yes, well," said his da with a hint of a growl that told him just how worried Bran had been about him, "that'll teach you to dodge a bit quicker next time."
"Sorry," he apologized meekly as he sat in the passenger seat.
"Good," said Bran, shutting the door gently. "Don't let it happen again."
Charles belted in. He'd probably survive a wreck, but the way his da drove, the belt was useful in keeping him in his seat.
The burning heat that had kept his head from clearing was gone, but he wasn't well yet. Despite the soup Samuel had microwaved and made him eat, he felt as weak as a kitten. Brother Wolf was restless, wanting to find some dark and safe place to heal.
"You're really going to let Samuel be a lone wolf?" he asked once they were under way. The Marrok was possessive and territorial-it wasn't like him to allow someone who belonged to him to wander off. The last time Samuel had left, he hadn't asked permission, just disappeared. It had taken Charles a couple of years to track him down.
"I am so grateful to find something, anything, that Samuel wants to do, I'd do some blackmailing if I had to."
"You haven't already?" He liked Adam, the Tri-Cities Alpha, but it surprised him that the Marrok hadn't had to force his agreement; not many Alphas would welcome a lone wolf as dominant as Samuel into their territory.
"Not yet-" said his da thoughtfully. "Though I might have to help Samuel a little with Mercedes. She wasn't happy when I sent him back with her."
"Samuel can get around Mercedes."
"I hope so." Bran tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "I like your Anna. She looks so delicate and shy, like a flower who would wilt at the first sharp word-and then she does something like facing down Asil."
Charles pushed his shoulders back in the seat as they caromed around an icy corner and onto the back road to his house. "You should see her with a rolling pin." He didn't try hiding the satisfaction in his voice. He was feeling better all the time. His ears had quit ringing, and his control was back. A little food and sleep, and he'd be almost back to normal.
"Would you like to come in?" he asked more out of politeness than desire.
"No." Da shook his head. "Send Sage home, too. She'll want to talk, but you and Anna need some time. Anna was pretty upset by the end of the service."
Charles looked up sharply. "I thought that was just a reaction to the funeral. Too many people she didn't know."
"No, there was something more."
Charles ran through the last of the funeral service, but he couldn't see what his father had. "I didn't notice anything."
"Sure you did." His da gave him a wry smile. "Why do you think you were so frantic when she drove off?"
"Was it the business with Asil?" If Asil had upset her, maybe Charles would take care of him and his father wouldn't have to bother.
Bran shook his head and laughed. "I keep telling you I can put thoughts in people's heads, but I can't take them out. I don't know what was bothering her. Ask her."
Miraculously, they arrived at his door without mishap. Charles slid down out of the Vee and thought for a moment his knees were going to let him slide all the way to the ground.
His father watched him carefully, but didn't offer to help.
"Thanks." He hated being weak, hated it more when people tried to baby him. At least he'd hated it until Anna.
"Get inside before you fall down," was all his da said. "That'll be thanks enough."
Either moving helped, or the cold, but his knees quit wobbling, and he was walking almost normally again by the time he made it to the front door.
His father honked twice and drove off as soon as his hand hit the doorknob. Charles walked into the house to find Sage and Anna sitting across from each other in the dining room, a cup of tea in front of each of them. But his nose told him that Anna had had another visitor, too.
He'd felt silly when he'd had his father send Sage over. But Leah's scent made him glad of his paranoia. It hadn't taken Leah long to make her first move.
Sage broke off whatever she was going to say to Anna and gave him a once-over instead. "Charlie," she said, "you look like hell." She jumped up, kissed him on the cheek, then went into the kitchen and dumped her cup in the sink.
"Thanks," he said dryly.
She grinned. "I'm going to go and leave you two honey-mooners to yourselves. Anna, don't you let him keep you here in his cave-give me a call and we'll do a girl's trip to Missoula for shopping or something." She breezed by and patted Charles's shoulder lightly before exiting.
Anna sipped her tea and looked at him out of dark, unfathomable eyes. She'd pulled her hair back with a band this morning, and he missed the whiskey-colored curls around her face.
"She called you 'Charlie,' " she said.
He raised an eyebrow.
She smiled, a sudden expression that lit her face. "It doesn't suit you."
"Sage is the only one who gets away with it," he admitted. "Fortunately."
She stood up. "Can I get you some tea? Or something to eat?"
He'd been hungry on the way home, but suddenly all he wanted to do was sleep. He wasn't even too keen on walking down the hallway. "No, I think I'll just go to bed."
She took her cup into the kitchen and put both cups in the dishwasher. Despite his words, he followed her into the kitchen. "What did your brother say?" she asked.
"There was still some silver in my calf. So he cleaned it out."
She glanced sharply at his face. "Not fun."
He couldn't help smiling at her understatement. "No."
She tucked herself under his arm. "Come on, you're swaying. Let's get you to bed before you fall down."
He didn't mind her help at all. She could even have called him Charlie, and he wouldn't have objected, as long as her side brushed his.
She helped him out of his clothes-he hadn't put his suit jacket back on, so it wasn't too painful. While he got in bed, she pulled down the blinds, shutting out the light. When she started to pull the covers up, he caught her hand.
"Stay with me?" he asked. He was too tired for talk, but he didn't want her alone with whatever his father had noticed was bothering her, either.
She froze, and the scent of her sudden terror tested the control he'd found since his brother had rid him of the last of the silver. There was nothing for him to kill except ghosts, so he controlled the surge of protective rage and waited to see what she would do. He could have released her hand, and he was ready to do so-but only if she pulled away.
He wasn't sure why it had scared her so badly when she'd slept with him last night, until she dropped her eyes to his hand on hers. Someone had grabbed her, he thought, maybe more than once. As rage began to rise in him, she turned her hand and closed it over his.
"All right," she said a little hoarsely.
After half a second she pulled her hand out of his and sat on the bed to take off her tennis shoes. Still in her jeans and shirt, she lay next to him, her body stiff and unwilling.
He rolled over, giving her his back and hoping that would reassure her that he wasn't going to push her more. He was amused at himself to discover that it wasn't only for her sake that he'd asked her to stay. felt better with her safe beside him. He fell asleep listening to her breathing.
He smelled good. As his body relaxed in sleep, she could feel the tension slide away from her own. She hadn't been wounded, but she was tired, too. Tired of being on display, tired of trying to figure out what she should be doing, tired of worrying that she had jumped out of one frying pan into a different one.
She had so many questions. She hadn't asked him about his stepmother's strange reaction to her, or about Asil, because he'd looked as if he'd fall asleep as soon as he quit moving-which was pretty much what had happened.
She looked at her wrist, but there were no new bruises there; he hadn't hurt her at all. She didn't know why the feel of his hand around her wrist had caused her to panic-most of the abuse she'd taken her wolf kept hidden from her. But her body retained the memory of a crushing grip and someone shouting at her while he hurt her...and she was trapped and couldn't get away from him.
Pulse pounding, she felt the change hovering as her wolf prepared to protect her again. She took in Charles's scent and let it flow over her, soothing the wolf; Charles would never hurt her, both she and her wolf were convinced of that.
After a moment, Anna gathered up her courage and slid under the covers. When he didn't wake up, she slid closer to him, stopping every few minutes as her body kept trying to remind her about how much stronger he was and how much he could hurt her.
Wolves, she knew from overheard conversations, usually craved touch. The men in the Chicago pack touched each other a lot more than was usual for a group of heterosexual males. But being close to another wolf had never brought her peace or comfort.
She could always call upon her wolf to help her as she had last night. Then she could tuck herself next to him and breathe in his scent with every breath of air she drew in. But with him asleep, she thought it was a good time to try to work out a few of her issues. The wolf could solve the immediate problem, but Anna wanted to be able to touch him without that.
It was the bed that was making it so difficult-it made her feel vulnerable, made it harder to force herself nearer. Asil had said that Charles didn't like to touch, either. She wondered why not. He didn't seem to mind when she touched him, quite the opposite.
She inched her hand forward until she could feel the sheets warm from his body heat. She rested her fingers on him and her body froze in panic. She was glad he was asleep, so he couldn't see her pull her hand back and tuck her knees over her vulnerable stomach. She tried not to shake because she didn't want him to see her like this: a coward.
She wondered that hope was so much harder than despair.