Running with the Pack: Cannon Pack, Book 3 (27 page)

Although Lauren had seen him in the buff several times already, Daniel suddenly grew very shy. “A couple of you men run and get our clothes before I catch my death.” From their expressions, Tucker and Lauren didn’t buy his excuse, but they didn’t say anything either. “So you and Bobbie, huh?” Better to change the subject than to bring more attention to his nakedness.

“Is that a bad thing?” An exhausted Bobbie finally emerged from the passageway and positioned herself next to Tucker. She wrapped her arm around him and squeezed. “Sheesh, you’re fast.”

Tucker’s sappy smile told the whole story and Daniel was glad to see his friend happy. “He could do worse.”

“That means he thinks you could do a whole lot better, Bobbie.” Tucker took the clothes the men had retrieved and tugged on his jeans.

“I don’t doubt that but, for now, you’ll do.” Bobbie kissed her finger and pressed it to his lips.

Dressed and ready, Daniel looked to Lauren and quipped, “You both could.”

She leaned into him, running one hand over his stomach. “Hey, man, don’t go getting any ideas. You’re mine and, fortunately for you, I’m yours. The only question now is what are you going to do with them?” Her request for leniency was unmistakable.

Was he hers? The idea of Lauren claiming him was exhilarating. Almost as exhilarating as the idea of marking her and turning her into a shifter. They’d never talked about staying together, yet they’d fallen into an easy relationship. But could she accept his life? Would she want to run with the pack?

Devlin prodded John, making the hunter squeal. “Okay, Daniel, tell us your idea for this little piggie.”

“Here’s what I want to do.” He made sure he had the full attention of the pack. “I want the pack to take the hunters’ guns and cell phones, and destroy them.” He got ready for the reaction he knew he’d get from his next proposal. “Then we turn them loose.”

Tucker came to full attention. “What? That’s it? I thought we were on the offensive now. Taking their toys away from them isn’t going to make things right. We need retribution for what they’ve done.”

“I feel the same way.” Daniel glanced at Lauren, resolved to following her path. “But when does the fighting end? We get payback today, they get their revenge tomorrow and on it goes.” The squeeze Lauren gave his arm spurred him on. “Besides, judging from what’s happened today, I don’t think many of them will keep hunting. Not now that they know how easily we can kill them.”

Tucker scowled at him while Devlin quietly watched. “And what about their leader? Are you going to let him get away scot-free after what he did to Torrie?”

“No, I can’t do that.” He couldn’t look at Lauren. If she didn’t understand… “I’m talking about his followers. As for the ringleader, he deserves a different outcome.”

“Well, do tell, boss dog.” A relieved Tucker pecked Bobbie on the cheek. “We’re dying to know.”

His friend obviously had it bad for the diminutive receptionist. Almost as bad as he had it for her boss. The thought stalled him, putting the reality of his feelings into the light. He glanced at Lauren, her face glowing with love and knew, without a doubt, he’d fallen in love for a second time.

“Yo, bro. Earth to Daniel.”

From Devlin’s expression, Daniel knew his secret was out. Had Lauren figured it out, too? Did she know how much he cared for her? “If it’s agreeable to my brother, I propose we take John back to the mountains with us.”

“No! I’m not going. You can’t make me.” John tried to scurry away, but a snarl from a nearby werewolf curled him into a fetal position.

“Good grief. How old is he? Five?” Tucker knelt down, cocked his head to see John’s face. “Do you need your mommy, little man?”

“Leave him be, Tucker.” Daniel leveled his gaze at the rest of his pack. “Let the council and the pack decide his fate.” A couple of werewolves mumbled their disagreement, but the majority didn’t speak. He took their silence as their approval. “Besides, I’ve already given him a special punishment.”

“And what would that be, dear brother?” Devlin poked the hunter in the ribs. “I hope it’s something real good.”

Daniel knelt beside John, wanting to see the hunter’s face when he learned his fate. “I bit him. Not in the way we normally bite hunters, but in the way we do if we want to change someone.”

Snickers mixed with gasps as werewolves and hunters reacted to Daniel’s revelation. John’s eyes grew wider as panic set in.

“Did you know there’s two kinds of werewolf bites, Johnny? One kind is just a bite. Painful, yes, but nothing more. The other, however, includes an added ingredient that changes your entire chemistry.”

“No. No-o-o-o.” John shook his head, unwilling to hear the worst.

“That’s right, Johnny. You’re going to become the thing you despise. You’re going to change into a werewolf.” Daniel couldn’t help the rush of delight filling him.

“Why the hell would you do that?” Tucker looked to the rest of the pack for confirmation. “We don’t want him in the pack.”

“Because, my fellow pack mates, I’m going to recommend to the council that they send Johnny to Chicago.”

A stunned silence spread over them. Tucker chuckled. “Damn, man, when you lay down a punishment, you lay it down hard.”

Lauren took his arm. “What’s in Chicago?”

“Chicago is well known for its huge and nasty pack. They don’t like intruders. Add a very active hunters’ group to the mix and that city isn’t a good place for visiting werewolves. In fact, I’ve never heard of an outsider werewolf going there and surviving.”

“Lauren, please, don’t let him do this to me.”

Lauren, however, backed away from John. “I’m sorry, but you deserve whatever you get. At least they’re giving you a fighting chance. That’s more than you gave the shifters you killed.”

“Devlin, what do you think?”

His brother took his time, thinking over the idea. “It’s a different approach than I would’ve taken, bro. But let’s do this your way.”

“Good. Will you take him? I have something I need to do.”

Devlin nodded, then barked orders to the rest of the pack. Daniel took Lauren’s hand and led her to a corner of the room, away from the others. “Do you feel up to taking a walk with me?”

Chapter Thirteen

Lauren welcomed the yellow glow of the sunrise, lifting her face to enjoy the warmth. She wouldn’t mind if she never saw another fun house again. “Did you want to talk to me, Daniel? Or was that an excuse to get out of that place?”

Daniel took her hand, a simple gesture that melted her insides. “Both.”

He led her to the rundown carousel and lifted her, placing her on top of a horse with a black mane and tail. Most of the glitter that had once covered the wooden animal was gone and the paint had faded.

For a moment, Lauren indulged her imagination and pictured the horse as a beautiful white steed and Daniel as her charming prince. But soon reality forced her to ask, “What did you need to tell me?”

“We’ll talk, but first I need to do this.”

Daniel stepped on the edge of the horse’s platform, leaned over and kissed her. Lauren closed her eyes, reveling in the softness of his lips on hers. The softness, however, didn’t last long, his lips growing more intense, more demanding with each second. She cupped the back of his neck, holding him, and took his tongue inside. His tongue circled hers, making her head swim. His kiss, so simple, gave her chills, but these chills heated her body. Answering the fire he’d stirred within her, she arched her back to press her breasts against his chest. She yearned for him, ached to have his hands discovering every secret curve and valley. His kiss demanded more and she wanted to give that to him.

When he broke apart from her, she almost fell off the horse. “No. Don’t stop.”

His eyes boasted golden flecks and the desire she saw sent her own lust soaring.

“If I don’t stop now, I won’t stop until I’ve had you.” His jaw clenched, a thrilling sight that signaled his need. “I want you, Lauren, in every way that I can have you.”

She couldn’t, wouldn’t, contain her delight. “Don’t you know I want you just as much? I don’t want you to stop. Ever. I want you right now.”

He closed his eyes, the struggle to restrain his lust decorating his face. Taking a deep breath that shuddered through him, he opened his eyes. “No, we can’t. Not yet. We have to talk first.”

Lauren tilted her head and batted her eyes, deliberately teasing him. “I’d rather you take me first and then talk.”

“You, woman, are the real animal.”

“You think so? Then tame the beast in me, Daniel.” She crossed her arms over her chest and pulled up her T-shirt, ready to tug it off.

“Damn, you drive me crazy.” Daniel smoothed out her shirt and shook his head. “Come on, Lauren. Don’t make this harder than it already is.”

She gasped, unready for what lay ahead. Had she misinterpreted his signals? She knew he wanted her, but was something else going on? Did he want her in every sexual way, but not in the way that mattered? She giggled, then slapped her hand over her mouth. If she could ever learn to control her nerves, now was the time. “Daniel, are you breaking up with me?”

At least his confused look reassured her. Still, had they ever been a real couple? Or had that been a wild dream?

“You sure ask me that a lot. Hell, no, I’m not breaking up with you. In fact, I’m trying to do the exact opposite.”

“You are? And the exact opposite would be…” She couldn’t finish the sentence. Not with fear mixing with anticipation to build a logjam in her throat.

Daniel slipped her off the carousel, then carried her to a grassy area decorated with rotting picnic benches and rusted grills. Unsure of what to make of the gesture, Lauren laid her head against his chest, her hand placed over his heart. She listened for the beat of his heart. Was his heart beating as fast as hers? He gently lowered her to the grass and sat down beside her.

Lauren bit her lip, silencing the nervous giggles. If she weren’t so afraid of what he was about to tell her, she would’ve enjoyed the quiet peacefulness and the slight breeze blowing his hair around his strong face, like soft grasses framing the side of a mountain. Instead, she couldn’t help but feel like a condemned prisoner ready to hear the judge’s decree.

“You know how much Torrie meant to me.”

She nodded, although she doubted he noticed. He continued to stare straight ahead.

“She was my mate, my lover, my everything.”

Lauren understood how much he’d loved Torrie, but hearing him put it into words nearly tore out her heart. If only he’d turn to her and take her in his arms. She needed to have his embrace around her, needed him to tell her that he loved her, too. Giving herself the hug she wanted from him, she drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs.

“I thought my world ended when she was killed. And I blamed myself. If I’d made her stay home, or gone with her, then nothing would’ve happened to her. John wouldn’t have murdered her.”

Did he still blame himself for Torrie’s death? Did a part of him still blame her? She hadn’t killed Torrie, but she’d had a part in it. She’d attempted to kill her. Lauren glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, but his unreadable expression remained the same.

“I wanted to find the hunter who’d taken her from me. I wanted to tear him apart, make his loved ones grieve the way I did. For Torrie and for me. I thought that would rid me of my guilt.”

Lauren couldn’t allow him to continue to torture himself any longer. “You can’t blame yourself. She wouldn’t want you to. No woman would want the man she loves to live with that kind of pain.”

Tension tightened her neck.
Please, get on with it. Tell me to leave. Tell me you don’t care for me the way you cared for her.
But don’t torture me. Don’t make me wait for the axe to fall.
But she wouldn’t hurry him. He needed to do this in his own way, in his own time. If he wouldn’t take her heart, she’d give him time.

“I know. And I don’t any longer. You made me see that my guilt solves nothing. But then when I thought you’d shot her…” He twisted to look at her, his eyes filled with the emotion he’d kept from his face. “I didn’t know what to think.”

“I know, Daniel. I wish I could take it back. I wish I’d never met John or gone on a hunt.”

“I was torn. Part of me wanted to see you die, to see you slowly bleed to death.”

Lauren trembled at the thought and, for a moment, feared him. “I don’t blame you. Wouldn’t blame you.”

Daniel placed his hand on her arm. “But another part of me, a stronger part of me, wanted you in my arms and in my bed. I tried to fight it, but I had to give in. At first, I thought if I took you, without love, without feeling, I’d get you out of my system.”

What was he telling her? Could he forgive her? She hoped he already had, but now she wasn’t certain. Had he changed his mind about her?

“But having you only made me want you more. I let that other part, the stronger part, take over.”

A flutter of hope lifted her spirits. “Are you sorry that you did?”

A soft smile tweaked the corners of his mouth. “No. I’ll never regret being with you.”

The tension building inside her broke apart, flowing out of her in waves of relief. “Can you forgive me, Daniel? Will you?”

He shushed her, placing a finger to her lips. “I forgave you a long time ago. Even when I thought you were the one who took her from me. Then when John told the truth, that your shot wasn’t the one that killed her, I had the strangest sensation. I was happy for the first time in a long while. Happy that I no longer had to think of you in that way.”

She swallowed, cautious to ask, “You were happy?”

“At first. Then the anger, the hatred came back and I wanted him dead.”

Daniel lay back and she did the same, stretching out beside him. “Why didn’t you kill him? You had every chance to.”

He pulled her against him, soaring her delight.

“Trust me, I struggled with the decision, going back and forth trying to decide. But every time I started to, I saw Torrie’s face. Torrie wouldn’t have wanted me to hurt him.” He skimmed his fingers along her hair. “After I’d gotten to know you, I found that you’re a lot like her. You’re loving, caring and forgiving.” He tunneled his fingers through her hair. “What choice did I have? You and Torrie would’ve wanted me to keep him alive. Killing him would’ve felt like a betrayal of both of you.”