The Lost Wolf's Destiny

“No, they won’t. Jacob has the entire town in his pocket. And I didn’t bring my cell with me.”

“What are you saying?” she cried, her narrowed gaze telling him she didn’t believe him. “You honestly expect me to just take your word and believe that there’s no hope?”

“Oh, there’s hope.” Once again, he indicated his motorcycle. “But you’re going to have to come with me. Evading capture is the only way you’re going to get your daughter back.”

Though she still appeared unconvinced, she finally dipped her chin in answer. “I don’t trust you,” she said. “But I’m going to go with you. At least until I can get reinforcements, like the sheriff’s department. Let’s go.”

He liked the way she made decisions quickly, without wasting precious time agonizing over the pros and cons.

Climbing on his bike, he motioned for her to get on behind him. Once she had, he tried like hell not to think about how she was naked underneath his T-shirt, and that the heat of her body pressing against him was only separated by cloth.

He turned the ignition and the Harley roared to life. The vibration against his already-aroused body made him clench his teeth.

“Hold on,” he told her, the wind carrying his words away. Once she’d wrapped her arms around his middle, he took off, heading for his motel and hoping like hell no one had seen them.

* * *

While they rode, Blythe tried to calm her rising panic. Not for herself, but for Hailey. She still didn’t understand why Jacob Gideon’s people had locked her in a room to begin with. And then stolen her daughter. Why take Hailey like that? He’d promised to heal her, not hurt her. And he’d done so publicly, which also made no sense.

On top of that, with her arms wrapped around the muscular chest of a large and dangerously handsome man, she had to wonder. Where had he come from? She had to consider the possibility that he worked for Jacob and had been sent to keep her away from her daughter.

Her companion drove the big motorcycle competently, but then he had the look of a man who knew how to do most everything well. Tall and well built, he moved with a grace that told her he was at home in his own body.

Still, for him to appear out of nowhere, just when she was making her escape... She had to wonder. Could he be trusted? Since she’d already made one huge error in judgment by trusting Jacob Gideon, she wasn’t sure she hadn’t just made another.

Reminding herself that he was Pack, like her, and therefore most likely on her side, helped slightly. With all the craziness that was going on, she might need the help of more of her own kind. The Pack had a group of people called the Pack Protectors. She might have to call on them to help save Hailey. After all, who knew what the faith healer had planned? She was certain whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

Her panic began to build. Hailey needed certain medications. Would Jacob’s people remember to give them to her? She knew if she kept thinking along those lines, she’d be reduced to an ineffectual, panicked mess. She needed to try and remain as calm and clearheaded as possible if she wanted to succeed in rescuing her baby.

Finally, they coasted to a stop in front of an L-shaped, wooden motel that had seen better days. She took a deep breath. Hopping down from the bike, she pulled the large cotton T-shirt down and eyed him. “I asked you to take me to the sheriff’s office and you bring me to a motel. You’d better give me a damn good reason not to start screaming for help.”

Her passionate speech didn’t seem to faze him.

“I’m Lucas Kenyon,” he told her, the rumble of his deep voice oddly reassuring and dangerous at the same time. “Formerly Luke Gideon. And I promise I’ll explain everything.”

Stunned, she gaped at him. “But he said he had no children.”

“He would.” He grimaced.

“You’re his...son?”

“Not anymore.” Crossing to a room, he used his key and opened the door. “Come inside, please. I’ll tell you everything.”

She hesitated. She no longer trusted anyone with any connection whatsoever to Jacob Gideon, Pack or human. Especially his son.

“There’s a phone inside that you can use. I promise I won’t hurt you,” Lucas said, clearly misinterpreting the reason she wavered.

“I didn’t think you would,” she told him, pushing past him. “But I’m calling the sheriff before I listen to anything you have to say. I want my daughter back.”

Once she was inside, he closed the door behind her. “Go ahead and call,” he said. When she reached for the telephone on the nightstand, he grabbed a cell phone off the dresser. “Use this instead. He can’t trace you that way,” he told her, by way of explanation. “It’s disposable. I’ve got several others just like it.”

Accepting his phone, she eyed him and then she punched in 911. When a woman answered, Blythe tried to speak calmly, so she’d be clearly understood. “I need help. Jacob Gideon over at Sanctuary has taken my daughter. She’s only five. He took her without my permission.”

To her shock and disbelief, the operator chuckled. “You know, he just called in. He said you’d say something like that.”

Confused, Blythe looked at her companion. Although he couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, his expression appeared resigned. “I’m saying it because it’s true.”

“Oh, I know Jacob. He’d never do something like that. He told us there’d been a little misunderstanding.”

“This is not a misunderstanding,” Blythe interrupted. “He took my daughter. I need you people to help me get her back.”

The woman continued on as though Blythe hadn’t spoken.

“I know who you are. You’re the lady we saw on TV the other day. You brought your little girl here so Jacob could heal her. You just need to calm down and let him do his work.”

“Calm down?” Blythe could hear her voice rising as it began to dawn on her that she really was on her own. This Lucas was right. No one else was going to help her save Hailey. Still, she had to try. “Let me talk to your supervisor.”

She swore she could almost hear the woman shaking her head. “He won’t be in until later this morning. Around nine. You’ll have to call back then. Why don’t you just phone Jacob and give him a chance to explain? He told me to tell you it’s a big misunderstanding and that you should come back right away.”

“He told you?”

“Of course.” The woman sounded smug. “Everyone around these parts is on very good terms with Jacob Gideon. Go back. Talk to him.”

Go back? Give Jacob a call... This was surreal. Blythe looked up and saw from Lucas’s glum expression that this was exactly as he’d expected. Which meant...what? That he was in on it? Or that he was a really good judge of what Jacob Gideon would do.

Gripping the cell phone, her hand sweaty, she said the only thing she could think of. “I don’t have his phone number.”

“Let me give it to you.” Suddenly solicitous, the dispatcher rattled it off, which Blythe repeated out loud so Lucas could write it down on a small pad of paper beside the hotel phone.

Once she was certain he’d gotten it, stunned and feeling as if she’d been run over by a semitruck, Blythe ended the call.

She stared at the cell phone, suppressing the urge to fling it against the wall. “Hailey is dangerously ill.” Biting down on her fury, she spun to face him.

“I’m not sure what just happened,” she began, seething.

“I told you he has them all in his pocket,” Lucas said, his voice sounding both resigned and angry. “You’ll have to get help from far away from this area to find someone he hasn’t corrupted.”

As she continued to eye him, she couldn’t find even the slightest resemblance between this man and the preacher. Where Jacob was slender and average height, Lucas stood well over six feet with a muscular build. Even their facial structures were different. Jacob had meaty features, with a bulbous nose. Lucas’s were patrician, as if they’d been carved from marble.

“You say you’re his son,” she said, in a tone that was not quite believing. “Yet not only do you not resemble him in the slightest, but you sound like you don’t like him, either.”

He shook his head, his ruggedly handsome features impassive. “As I said, I’m not his son any longer. As far as I’m concerned, that part of me died fifteen years ago, when I escaped Sanctuary roughly the same way you did.”

Crud. Suddenly dizzy, Blythe sat on the edge of the bed. “I don’t give a damn about you or your father, but you’d better tell me anything that will help me find a way to rescue my daughter.”

Chapter 4

Lucas began to talk. He told her an abbreviated version of the truth, though he said nothing about Lilly and how Jacob had killed her right in front of him. That part of his past was his own private shame, which he would always bear alone. As he spoke, choosing his words with care, he watched her closely. While he didn’t want to send her into shock, she needed to know what she faced.