HannasHaven (14 page)

Both men turned and stalked out, leaving
Marcus with his thoughts and a hell of a lot of regret.

* * * * *

Hanna wondered if it were possible to be in
more pain than she was right now. Every muscle in her body ached. Lord bless
him, but Rafe, for all his quiet ways, was a slave driver. He pushed the women
taking his self-defense class until they were all swearing revenge and dreaming
up some way of punishing him.

She could scarcely believe that she’d been
here for just a few weeks. Already she felt more at home here than she ever had
amongst her own pack. Almost everyone had been so friendly toward her. There
were a few exceptions, of course. Olivia and her little group of bitches loved
to bully and torment anyone they saw as beneath them. And for some reason
they’d hated her on sight. But she supposed she couldn’t get on with everyone.
And truthfully, she didn’t much care.

She’d made friends with Blair and Honey,
two very different women. Blair was outgoing, smart and loyal. Honey was
quieter, but sweet with a surprisingly wicked sense of humor. They’d taken her
under their wing, and the three of them had grown so close that she hated lying
to them about who she really was.

Every time they called her Anna she died a
little inside.

But that was nothing compared to the pain
that assailed her whenever she thought of Marcus. She hadn’t spoken to him
since the night he’d rejected her. Every time he saw her coming, he ran off. He
couldn’t even stand to be close to her, let alone talk to her.

She walked through the forest, needing some
time to herself to think. She sniffled, determined to hold back her tears, but
they filled her eyes, blurring her vision. Suddenly, the ground beneath her
right foot disappeared and she stumbled forward, wrenching her ankle sharply as
she fell.

She cried out, using her hands to break her
fall as she landed hard on her knees. “Ouch, ouch, ouch.” Tears ran down her
cheeks as she rolled onto her bottom and clasped her sore ankle between her
hands.

Taking a deep breath, she wiped her eyes
and glared at the uneven ground she’d tripped up on.

“Crap, get yourself together,” she scolded
herself. Taking in one deep, shuddering breath, then another, she gradually gathered
herself under control. Rolling once more, wincing as her bruised knees came
into contact with the ground, she pulled herself up to her feet.

Taking a step forward, she yelped in agony
as pain shot up her leg. Floundering backward, she found herself falling once
more when hands suddenly caught her around the waist, easing her onto the
ground gently.

Gasping, Hanna turned to see who had come
to her aid. A large man with dark-red hair closely cut to his head and green, piercing
eyes towered behind her. There was something hard about him. She swallowed
heavily.

“Wh-who are you?”

* * * * *

“Hey, Marcus, do you know where Anna is?”

Marcus paused on the second step of the
stairs and turned to look at a small group of teenage boys.

“No. Why?” he asked more sharply than he’d
intended.

“Don’t ask him,” one of them muttered. “He
doesn’t even like Anna.”

“He doesn’t like anyone,” another said, not
even trying to stifle his voice.

What the hell am I doing?

He truly was the worst person for this job.
Even Dusty, with her short temper and sarcastic mouth, would’ve done better
than this. Everyone hated him. Hanna hated him. He hated himself. With a sigh,
he turned and came down the steps.

“Is she not in the kitchen?” he asked the
boys.

They shook their heads.

“Why do you think we’re looking for her,
man?” another drawled, leaning back against a wall. “We’re after some of her
sweets,” he jeered. “And her baking ain’t bad either.”

Marcus’ temper snapped. Reaching out, he
grabbed the young wolf around the neck, pushing him back against the wall. The
kid’s feet dangled inches from the floor.

“Now you may not like me, but you will show
Anna some respect, understand me? I will not tolerate you disrespecting any
woman, got it?”

“He’s got it, umm, sir,” another, with
longer hair, said nervously.

There were five of them, too old to be
considered pups, but too young to be an adult.

Christ, he remembered that age. It was
hell. Hormones wreaked havoc with your ability to keep control of the wolf.
Most of the time all you thought about was hunting or fucking.

He let the kid drop. The boy leaned over, panting.

Marcus crossed his arms over his chest. “I
know you don’t know me well,” he began.

“Because you never talk to us,” one
muttered bravely.

Marcus zeroed in on him and he swallowed
heavily.

“You’re right. You don’t know me and I don’t
know you. But disrespecting women will not be tolerated. The next time I hear
anything like that coming from your mouth you’ll be on kitchen duty for a year.”

They all nodded.

“Sorry, I was just mucking around. I didn’t
really mean it,” the kid with the smart mouth said. “I like Anna. She talks to
us. Every night she bakes and she lets us sample it first. I didn’t mean it
like I said, I was showing off.” He looked at the ground, clearly intimidated
by Marcus.

“She bakes every night?” Marcus had known
she stayed up some nights in the kitchen cooking up a storm, but damn it, the
woman needed to sleep as well.

They all nodded. “We told her she didn’t
have to do it every night, but she says she enjoys baking, it helps her sleep.”

“But she’s not there tonight, sir. And she
promised us brownies. Anna never breaks her promises.”

“All right.” Marcus grew concerned. “I’ll
go search for her.”

“We’ll help,” the kids offered.

About to refuse, he saw the need in their
eyes and made a quick decision. “One of you head up to her bedroom first.”

One of them raced off.

“Do you know Cade and Connor?” he asked the
others.

“Yes sir,” they all replied.

“She’s not there,” the boy who’d raced up
to her bedroom yelled out.

“Right, two of you head south, one of you
stay here in case she comes back and two more of you search for Connor and Cade.
Go!”

They ran off. Marcus ran his hand over his
shaven head. Where the hell could she be? Knowing how close she was to Honey
and Blair, he headed toward their cabins to ask her friends if they might know
her whereabouts.

Friends. He’d been worried about her
settling in. He was the one finding it hard to be accepted. And no wonder. He
was being an asshole.

Because he wanted someone he couldn’t have.

Damn, he was so tired of putting the pack
first. His own, then this one. Here was the wolf who would complete his soul,
the woman he loved, and he’d hurt her so much she couldn’t bear to look at him.

* * * * *

“Th-thank you,” Hanna managed to say.

The large stranger frowned down at her.
“You shouldn’t be out here by yourself.”

It was close to dusk and, she realized, she’d
wandered quite a long way from the main house. Shit. How was she going to get
back now?

“I know. I went for a walk and I lost track
of time. I don’t suppose you’d go back to the main house and get one of the
others for me. Maybe Cade or Connor, do you know them?”

He shook his head, moved around in front of
her and squatted. Lifting her ankle, he glared at her shoes. “If you’re going
to walk in the woods on two legs then you at least need to put on some proper
footwear,” he scolded. He pulled off her pink slip-on sandal.

“Can you move it?” he asked, gesturing
abruptly at her foot.

Hanna bit back her cry of pain as she
rolled her foot around. “It’s fine.”

The man snorted. “It’s sprained. You need
to change and speed up the healing. It needs ice and elevation.”

“Yes, I’m sure you’re right. Umm, who are
you?”

She hadn’t met him before, but Silverton
was a large pack and she hadn’t met everyone in the pack yet.

“Name’s Jesse.” He sat on the ground. Tiredness
etched lines around his mouth and sad eyes.

“Are you okay?”

He looked up and a small smile crossed his
lips. “I’m not the one with a sprained ankle, sitting on the ground with a
stranger twice her size looming over her.”

“You’re not going to hurt me.”

Jesse stared at her seriously. “So
trusting. Not everyone is one of the good guys, sweetheart.”

“I know that,” she said vehemently. “Believe
me. I know how rotten others can be.”

He stared at her for a long moment. “Yes, perhaps
you do. You need to change and get out of here before someone starts to worry
about you.”

“No one will be worrying about me.”

“Really?” he asked skeptically. She
squirmed under his continued scrutiny. “Don’t wander off this far again. And
get some better footwear.”

“I didn’t mean to walk this far. I was
thinking.”

“Marcus is looking for you. I can hear him
call your name. Do you mean something to him?”

“Marcus? I hardly know him. I’m here with
Cade and Connor.”

Those green eyes continued to watch her as
though stripping away every layer. “I hate lies,” he growled. For the first
time she actually felt afraid of him. “You might be able to trick others with
your half-truths, but the stench of those lies is repugnant to me.” He started
to turn away and she reached out, grabbing his arm.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Please.” She
strained, but couldn’t hear Marcus and she didn’t relish being out here alone.

“You care about him, I can tell from the
look on your face. Marcus is one of the good guys. But he’s used to putting the
pack before his own needs. He’s getting closer. Don’t worry. Your secret is
safe with me. However, I want something from you in return.”

“What?”

“You have to keep quiet about seeing me.
You can’t tell anyone, including Marcus. Promise me.”

“But why?”

“I have my reasons. Promise me.” He didn’t
threaten her with her own secret and she somehow knew she could take him at his
word.

“Okay, I promise.”

Jesse disappeared into the shadows cast by
the late-afternoon sun. Soon she heard Marcus.

“Here! I’m over here,” she called out.

Less than a minute later, Marcus crashed
through the bush. The worry on his face took her breath away.

“Thank god.” He dropped to his knees before
her. “Are you okay? What are you doing out here? Don’t you know it’s getting dark?”

“I came out for a walk, but I fell and
sprained my ankle.”

“Your ankle?” He immediately reached for
her feet.

“My right one.”

Marcus grasped her foot with his hands,
pressing lightly. She winced at the pain.

“Oh baby, it’s really sore, isn’t it? You need
to change to help it heal.”

“I know,” she sighed.

He brushed his hand over her face. “I was
worried about you. Some of the kids were waiting for you to bake them brownies.
Luckily, Honey saw you wander off in this direction and I tracked your scent.”

She stared down at her lap. “You probably
shouldn’t have chased after me. They’ll be wondering why you’re so concerned
about me.”

“Let them wonder,” Marcus said rashly. “You
are what’s important right now. God, Hanna, I’ve made a real hash of things. I
am so sorry you felt rejected. You’re right. I feel the same as you do. I feel
this bond between us.”

His eyes filled with regret. “I thought
maybe you had run off. I’ve been such a fool. I’ve pushed you away, telling
myself it was the right thing to do, that the last thing you needed was to be
tied to me.

“Yet I’ve realized that nothing else
matters in my life if you’re not around. I know I’ll probably smother you. I
know I should give you time to grow, but I’m too damn selfish. I want you,
Hanna. In my life, in my bed and I don’t give a shit about anything else. I
love you.”

Her heart somersaulted at his confession.
“Really?”

“God, yes. And I will prove it to you every
day until you believe it.”

“I love you too. I never thought this would
happen. I didn’t think I deserved you.”

He looked at her incredulously. “Not
deserve me? Hell, baby, I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.”

“Growing up, I was always told how useless
I was. How no one would ever want me unless they were forced to. But that’s not
true. I might not be that strong physically, but I’m strong in other ways.”

His face lit with a crooked smile. He
cupped her cheeks between his palms and kissed her. “Yes, you are. You’ve been
through hell, baby. But instead of hiding away from life, you’ve come out fighting
with your head held high and a smile on your face. I’m so proud of you.”

His words melted her insides. Then her
smile dimmed. She realized she couldn’t have everything she wanted. Not yet.
“You were right the other day though,” she told him. “We can’t do this. Not
now. Our timing sucks. Not because I think you’d smother me or any of that
other crap.

“But I’m supposed to be with Cade and
Connor. If we mate, then we’ll have to come clean and tell everyone the truth
or else Cade and Connor will lose face and you and I will be treated with
condemnation. I like it here, Marcus. So I’m saying you were right.”

“It seems I’m always putting the needs of
others before myself,” he said with frustration. “I want you. I need you. And
it’s killing me not to take you.”

The strain on his face upset her.

“I know. I feel it too. But now isn’t the
right time. Maybe once things are more settled, I don’t know. But I do know I
can wait for you. You’re worth waiting for.” Except she couldn’t imagine how
they could ever be together. If the pack found out they had been lying, they
would never trust them again.

He kissed her once more. “You’re a hell of
a woman, Hanna Edwards. And I would be so proud to have you as my mate.”