The Lost Wolf's Destiny

His face a stony mask, he shook his head. “You’re not alone,” he said. “I’ll help you.”

“Look,” she said. “I’m grateful, but you have to understand I don’t trust anyone involved in any way with Jacob Gideon and his Sanctuary.”

“I’m not involved with them.” He glared at her. “I told you, I drove all the way here from Seattle to help you.”

“Assuming I believe you, I have to ask you why. We’re total strangers. Why do you care what happens to us?”

“It’s more than just you. What that man did to me and mine should never be done to anyone else.”

She opened her mouth to respond, and then closed it. The cold fury shimmering in his dark blue eyes made her shiver.

“And to answer your question as to why, it’s time he was stopped. For good. No matter what the cost, I will help you save your daughter. And then, I’ll make sure Jacob Gideon doesn’t hurt any other Shifters. Ever again.”

Oddly enough, this fierce resolve decided her. “All right. Thank you. I accept your offer of help.”

“Good.” Something in his grim tone told her he hadn’t actually given her a choice. “They won’t be expecting two of us. You need to get ready.”

“Get ready?” Incredulous, she could only stare. “I’m chomping at the bit. The sooner I can get Hailey away from that monster, the better.”

“Good. Because we’re going to go in and get her out. No matter what.”

She nodded. “When?”

He glanced at her, his jaw set. “Tonight.”

* * *

As a slow, fierce smile broke out over Blythe’s expressive face, something intense flared inside Lucas. What the hell? Pushing it away, he dragged his gaze away from the hope shining in her emerald-green eyes and forced himself to focus. He wondered if she understood the risks she’d be taking. If caught, and especially if Jacob learned she was also a Shape-shifter, she’d be subjecting not only her daughter, but herself to unspeakable acts of torture.

By the end, she’d be longing for death.

He considered telling her more than the bare bones, but in the end, decided not to. The knowledge would change nothing. Like him, she had no choice.

“What time?” she asked, raising her chin in a way that told him she was a woman of courage, a mother willing to fight tooth and nail for her child.

“We’ll use the darkness to provide cover. Until then, you’re going to have to stay hidden. If I know Jacob, he will have told the locals some preposterous story about you, and they’ll be on the lookout to have you arrested and brought in.”

Her eyes widened in fresh shock, making him inwardly wince. Every truth he had to throw out to her was like feeding a wolf a poisoned bone. But she needed to understand just how much of a monster they were dealing with.

“Arrest me for what?”

Grimly, he ticked the possibilities off on his fingers. “Child abuse, child molestation, attempting to sell your daughter, trying to prostitute her to pedophiles—he’ll come up with the worst possible story and make them believe it.”

She swallowed hard. “But none of that is true. He’d have no proof.”

“It doesn’t make any difference. What does matter is that he will have convinced everyone that he took your daughter away for her own good. That you are a danger to her. I promise you, they will believe him.”

Crossing her arms, her expression radiating darkness, she dropped into the dingy motel chair. “I’ll kill him.”

“No, you won’t.” Though if the truth were to be told, he’d been aching to take the man out himself ever since the news story had aired. But the repercussions would be tremendous. “Making him pay will have to wait. First, we’re going to rescue your kid and get away. After that, I’ll figure out a way to expose him, so he can’t do this to anyone else.”

“Hailey,” she said. “Her name is Hailey.” There was both strength and delicacy in her face. “Inside there, in Sanctuary, they kept trying to depersonalize her and I instinctively kept insisting on giving them her name. At the time, I didn’t understand why. Unfortunately, I do now.”

Eyeing her, he felt it again: the rush of attraction that was not only inappropriate, but dangerous. He wondered if Blythe even realized how beautiful she was. On the heels of that thought came another, one he’d considered earlier and had forgotten.

For as long as Lucas had known him, Jacob had always had a weakness for the ladies. If worst came to worst, there was the possibility that they could use that against him. Lucas decided not to mention it to Blythe yet. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.

Her stomach growled, making him smile, even as she gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry,” she said. “I should have gone hunting earlier.”

“When was the last time you ate?”

She thought for a moment. “On the drive down here yesterday.”

“Yesterday? I saw the story on the news a few days ago. I would have thought you’d have been here longer.”

“Nope. Jacob had a few more appearances scheduled, so Hailey and I spent the day shopping, eating out, and we saw a movie,” she said. “I had a few misgivings, and apparently for good reason. I so badly wanted to have hope. Instead, I should have trusted my instincts.” Sighing, she glanced away. “Look what happened. I haven’t even been here twenty-four hours and already my baby is in danger.”

“Don’t worry,” he spoke with more confidence than he felt. “We’ll get her out. In the meantime, I’ll go fetch us something to eat.”

She nodded listlessly, so he left her there.

Later, he returned with a couple of breakfast burritos and coffees, as well as a change of clothes for her that he grabbed at the local big box store. She ate with a mechanical precision that told him she was already working on a rudimentary plan.

“Maybe you should tell me,” she said, blotting her mouth with a napkin. She’d missed a crumb, and he found himself aching to lick it off her lips, which shocked him.

What the hell was wrong with him? With difficulty, he tried to focus on her words. “Tell you what?”

“What I should expect to find when we get into Sanctuary.” Mouth a thin line, she leaned forward. “I need to be prepared.”

“No,” he said, as gently as he could. “You don’t. Let’s leave it at that.”

Her gaze locked with his, the determination in her expression twisting his gut. But finally she nodded. “You’re right. I need to concentrate on getting Hailey out.”

“Yes.”

“But after...”

“One day at a time,” he told her. “That’s how we’re going to get through this. One day at a time.”

Though she nodded, she got up and began to pace the confines of the small hotel room, her lithe grace reminding him more of a trapped panther than a wolf. Even in the artificial light, her hair gleamed like strands of luxurious silk.

Watching her, he tried to throttle the dizzying current of desire racing through him. This both infuriated and intrigued him, because despite his instinctive reaction to her when he’d seen her on the television, he hadn’t expected to want her. More than that, actually. He hadn’t thought he’d crave her the way he did.

He needed to get a grip. For someone who always prided himself on being in control, he felt perilously close to completely losing it.

“I wonder, have you always known?” he asked her, more to distract them both than anything else.

She stopped pacing, swiveling her head around to look at him, sending her long hair whipping around her shoulders. “Have I always known what?”