Lone Wolf

“No, you didn’t. I just told you, he’s not dead. Only silver bullets or fire can end a shape-shifter’s life. Look, he’s already beginning to heal.”

Standing, she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, leaving a bloody smear. “Then we’ll set the place on fire.”

“No.” Beck pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “He’s Pack. We have laws. I don’t want to be an accessory to murder. Let me call Pack authorities.”

Punching in a speed-dial code, he gave the information in short, staccato sentences. When he hung up, she regarded him quizzically.

“You didn’t tell them where we are.”

“Didn’t need to. My phone’s a special phone, with a GPS locater built-in. They’ll use that to pinpoint this place.”

“They can track you wherever you are?”

“Yeah.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

He shrugged. “No. Why should it? I’m not doing anything I’d be ashamed of.”

To each his own. With a nod, she bent over her victim, who’d expired quietly. Though she hadn’t drunk until she was stuffed, she felt pleasantly full. Already, her veins began to buzz with renewed energy. “This one’s definitely dead. Let me check the other.”

A quick check of the pulse revealed that man, too, had expired. “I’m done here. Let’s get out of here before your Pack people show up. I don’t want to have to answer any questions.”

Beck followed her as she headed for the door.

Once outside, she took deep breaths of the cooling air, enjoying her mild buzz. She wasn’t used to the heady richness of fresh human blood. Like many other of her kind, she usually relied on blood banks or wild animals for nourishment.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to face her deceased best friend’s older brother. “I’m gonna run.”

Beck grabbed her arm. “Not yet. If you’re going to wherever you have our daughter hidden, I’m going with you.”

She hissed. “I’m not going there. I don’t want to endanger her.”

“You have to make sure she’s all right.”

“That’s one thing I know for sure. She’s safe.”

“I’d prefer to check in person. It’s time I met her.”

Panic clogged her throat. “I can’t take the chance. You don’t know who might be watching me.”

“I’ll make sure we aren’t followed. We’ll go together,” he said, in a tone that left no room for arguing. Behind his eyes, she glimpsed his wolf, pacing restlessly.

She let him see her fangs. “I don’t think so. I go alone and in the opposite direction. Dani is safe, believe me.”

For a moment, he considered her, his expression so stark she wanted to cry. Steeling herself, she lifted her chin. “I don’t want to fight you. Let me go.”

“Fight me?” He sounded incredulous. “Bring it on.”

Suddenly remembering, she felt heat suffuse her. When they’d been together in the past, play fighting had always led to passion. Something about the adrenaline …

Three years had gone by. They’d changed.

“I don’t want to fight you,” she said slowly. “I just want you to leave me alone.”

“We made a child, Marika. Dani. Now we’re forever tied together by her.”

“No.” Her protest sounded weak. He ignored it, as she’d suspected he would.

“We need to talk,” he insisted, as though by the strength of his voice, he could force her to give in.

He didn’t realize she wouldn’t, couldn’t. While she wasn’t ready for a physical altercation with him, she thought if she could fuel his simmering rage with her, turn it to hatred, maybe she could make him angry enough to go away. It was worth a shot.

“Oh, yeah?” Tossing her long hair back over her shoulders, she forced a smile before pulling her arm free. “There’s nothing to talk about. We were over long ago. And you don’t even know Dani is yours. I had lots of lovers. She could be anyone’s.”

He looked unconvinced and unmoved. But what did she expect? She’d always been a crappy liar. Juliet would have seen through her instantly.

“When we were together, you weren’t with anyone else,” he said, teeth clenched. “I know Dani is my daughter. I have a right to see her.”

“I have a right to keep her alive.”

He reeled back as though she’d slapped him. “I would never hurt her. How could you even think that?”

“I trust no one.”

“I don’t care. This isn’t even between you and me, it’s between me and my daughter. She has just as much right to know her father as I do to know her. Come on, Marika. You never were a fool. Stop this.”

She spun away, throwing words back at him over her shoulder. “Just leave me alone. Trust me, it’s better that way, for all concerned.”

Easily, he kept pace with her, fury simmering in his eyes, making them appear black. “No. Where is Dani? I want to see her.”

She didn’t answer, knowing no matter what she said, her tone would brand her a liar.

“You can’t take her away from me now that I know. I won’t let you.”

The rawness of his voice stung her. She knew that emotion all too well. After all, by their joining together, they’d inadvertently caused her best friend’s death. Still, fool that she was, she’d missed him. Even if she’d wanted to forget him, she couldn’t. Every time she’d looked at the child they’d created together, she’d seen his face. And Juliet’s. She still missed her best friend, his sister. Dani’s aunt.

Beck still watched her, silently waiting.

Abruptly, she wondered how he’d dealt with his sister’s loss. Then she wondered why she cared. She couldn’t afford to care about anything, anyone else but Dani. And keeping her safe trumped what anyone else wanted, including herself. Especially herself.

Yet that knowledge didn’t make it any easier to do what she had to do—try and make him hate her enough to leave.

“Why? Why do you care? You never even wanted kids. Why do you suddenly want one now?” With fresh blood humming through her veins and giving her strength, she faced him, well aware how intimidating she could look in her full vampire glory.

But he was a shape-shifter—vampires didn’t threaten him. Never taking his gaze from her face, his eyes had gone cold and flat. “That was in the past. What I wanted then has nothing to do with any of this. Dani was conceived and born. I would have given my wolf to be there for that. No matter.”

“No matter?” She could scarcely believe his words.