Wild Fire (Wilding Pack Wolves 5) - New Adult Paranormal Romance (17 page)

And yet…
she had a hard time condemning him, as he stood before her, his face wrenched with pain and regret.

“The past never would leave me alone,” the mayor said, shaking his head slowly. “Not completely. I always knew I would pay for my sins one day. When my wife passed away, I nearly left town. She was my anchor, and the anchor was gone. And then Grace came out as a white wolf and, of course, I knew she was mine. She was incredibly brave and smart and wise—all the things I’d never been—and I couldn’t leave. I had to stay for her sake, to do what I could to protect her.”

In spite of herself, Zoe’s eyes pricked with tears. Putting aside his own troubles to help Grace? That was the kind of thing her own father would do. Her kind, sweet, loving father—who was this man’s son. If anything, that should be proof that DNA was not destiny. She wondered how she had never seen that before.

“So you stayed to protect Grace,” Troy said, approval filling his voice as well. “Does she know?”

The mayor shook his head. “I just wanted to…” He sighed. “Please tell her I’m sorry for not telling her sooner. I remember her mother well. And Kaden’s.”

A sudden thought zinged through Zoe’s mind. “And the Wolf Hunter is yours too—do you remember his mother? Do you know who she is?” Maybe they could find him that way.

“Of course, but she’s long dead now. I didn’t know, not at first, that she had carried the child to term. But when Grace told me the Wolf Hunter was a white wolf, I knew he had to be mine. So I tracked her down, and it’s just as he said—she died in childbirth. After that, the foster system records are sealed. And it wasn’t like I wanted to go finding him.”

“Why not?” Troy had an edge to his voice again.

“Because I’m a damn coward,” the mayor said, angrily. “Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

Zoe grimaced, but the mayor’s anger was a self-loathing kind… and that was far too familiar.

“I had stopped using magic so long ago,” the mayor said, bitterly. “I couldn’t go back to that. I couldn’t give up everything I’d built in this life as a human—and now as the mayor—I didn’t want to take the risk. Besides, the magical community here is too strong—they would’ve found me in an instant if I had tried to track him down using magic. It would have just freshened my signature in the magical realm. Even searching through the bureaucracy would’ve triggered something. The Wolf Hunter would’ve found
me,
and that was last thing I wanted. I knew he was after me. All of this—
all of it—
was because of me. I thought I could protect Grace, and I did what I could for Terra, but now, there so many of you. It’s just a matter of time before the Wolf Hunter tracks your magical signatures and finds me.”

Troy’s face screwed up with disgust, and Zoe wasn’t far behind him. “So that’s why you’re running away?” Troy asked. “Because you don’t want the Wolf Hunter to find you?”

“I need to leave before I endanger you all,” the mayor said, his voice bitter again. “This is my mess—if I leave, maybe he’ll stop looking for me.”

“If you leave, he’ll keep looking until he kills us all.” Troy looked like he was gearing up to rip the mayor’s face off.

But the last thing Zoe wanted was for Troy to drive him off. As conflicted as her feelings were about this man standing before her—
her grandfather
—he was still the white wolf she had been seeking. The one whose blood she needed for the serum. For
both
serums. And for that, he had to stick around, not flee the city.

As Zoe struggled for some reason to keep him in Seattle, Mama River took a step closer to him. “You have to stay, Robert.”

“Eleanor,
please.”
His voice was strained. “I only came back to say goodbye. And because you deserve to know why I’m just taking off. I wanted you to know it has nothing to do with you.”

“You can’t keep running from this,” she said softly. Then she reached a hand out that landed on his arm—the touch seemed to cause him more pain. “This house has always been a refuge for
all
wolves. You should stay here and see this through to the end.
Stay.
Protect your family. Show me you’re the man I know you can be.”

The pain on the mayor’s face looked like it would split him in half. “Don’t you see?” His voice was a whisper. “I
caused
all of this. I can’t fix that; I can only make it worse.”

“Then you own up to that. Face it. Take responsibility for it and do what you can, here and now, today.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, not answering her.

Mama River pressed on. “I’ve seen all the ways you’ve been protecting your family—don’t tell me you don’t know how. I’ve seen it with Grace. With Zoe. With Terra—anyone in the Wilding family who was in danger. You’ve been doing what you can to protect them. I know your white wolf DNA makes you part witch. I don’t know how much. But it’s time for you to stand like a wolf and protect your pack.”

“My pack?”
he whispered. “I’ve never had… not since…”

“A pack is not made by blood, but by
action,
Robert Wilding.” There was a familiar strength in Mama River’s voice, one that Zoe wished she possessed. That strength seemed to bleed through her touch and her words into the mayor.

He straightened again. “You believe that?”

“With all my heart,” Mama River said. “I see it every day with every wolf who comes through my door. If you stay, you’re one of us. If you leave, you’ll never be able to run far enough to outrun the pain.”

His face scrunched up. “You would let me stay? Knowing everything I’ve done?”

“Yes.” Mama River held his gaze with an intense look.

Zoe could see it was getting through to him, but then he surprised even her by reaching a hand out to Mama River’s cheek. “I want to stay,” he whispered.

Mama River smiled, and as the mayor moved closer, looking like he might kiss her, Zoe and Troy stepped back and averted their gazes. With Troy’s hand still at the small of her back, they light-stepped away from the front door. By the time they reached the dining room, Mama River and the mayor were exchanging a kiss that threatened to set the drapes on fire.

Once they were in the kitchen, Troy pulled her close. “Holy shit,
the mayor,”
he whispered.

Zoe was shaking her head. “My brain is still catching up. But if Mama River can get him to stay, that’s a good thing.”

He frowned at her. “Because he’s your grandfather?”

“Because he’s the white wolf.”

Troy’s eyes went a little wide, but she wasn’t after her grandfather’s magic to find the Wolf Hunter, which was no doubt what Troy was thinking. Although that would have to happen first—she had promised him she wouldn’t destroy her white wolf before they had destroyed the Wolf Hunter himself, and she would keep that promise. But now that she had her grandfather and his DNA, her dream of creating the serum what would eliminate her wolf altogether—it was at least possible. With her grandfather’s help.

As soon as Mama River was done convincing him to stay, Zoe would make her demands known.

Troy was back in bed with Zoe.

Not that he was complaining, but that didn’t mean he could sleep.

It was sometime after midnight, as close as he could tell without actually looking at his phone, which was buried somewhere in his pants on the floor on the other side of the room. They were in his bedroom this time, and their lovemaking had slowed down a little—this was the first time they had woken up since gorging on Mama River’s leftovers and crashing. They had just made love and were now drifting back to sleep… at least Zoe was. Troy was worried about where this was going, but he was trapped by the silence that had fallen between them.

Mama River and the mayor had disappeared, but Troy could only assume they were off somewhere in the estate, cementing their love, the way Troy and Zoe had been all day yesterday. He didn’t begrudge them that, although he was a whole lot less certain about trusting the mayor, even if the man was apparently family now. Mama River’s heart was big enough to take in anyone—and that was keeping Troy up at night, watching the moonlight drift across the room and light up Zoe’s beautiful face on the pillow next to him.

She had been eager to keep the mayor around as well. And that concerned him, too. In spite of the man’s confession and obvious contrition, Troy knew old habits died hard. As far as he could tell, the mayor—this white wolf Zoe had been looking for—had made a serious habit of running away from his problems and obligations. The protective side of Troy’s wolf surged up at the thought that he might, through some action or inaction, hurt Zoe.

The man was an unknown quantity, and Troy like that least of all.

Zoe made a cute little sound of contentment next to him as she rolled over to face him, sliding her hand across his bare chest. In the darkness, he could see a small trace of the blue fire that arced between her fingertips and his skin, like a static charge that, instead of being painful, brought the most delicious pleasure. If she kept that up, he’d be ready for more no time.

Troy cuddled her to him, and that small motion had her blinking open her eyes and peering up at him.

She frowned when she found him wide awake. “Everything okay?”

He ran his hand along her shoulder, loving the soft feel of it. “Just worried about you.”

“Why?” She sat up a little more.

“I don’t like having your grandfather here,” he confessed. “I’ve seen better examples of fatherhood in the gangs I hung out with downtown.”

Her frown grew darker. “I know. But he’s key to my research. I need him to stick around, at least for a little while.”

Great.
That wasn’t exactly what he wanted to hear. “This is that serum you were talking about, isn’t it?” He couldn’t keep the disapproval out of his voice.

She eased back from him, and he hated that distance already. “Yes,” she said, a little sharpness in her voice. “But it’s also key to finding a serum that can make a huge difference for wolves and humans both.”

Troy frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“You know that superhealing thing that I have? That all the white wolves have?”

Troy nodded. If he hadn’t seen it in action, he wasn’t sure he would believe it was real.

“With the database of information I have from the shifter experiments, I’m working on developing a serum that will distil down those super healing powers into something that could be used for any kind of healing.”

“No shit, really?”

She smirked. “We might put you rescue type people out of business if we can heal everyone.”

Troy’s eyes went wide. “Well, if your grandfather can help with that… I guess that’s worth putting up with the old man for a while.” Not that he would drop his suspicions about him.

Zoe eased closer again. “And you saw the way Mama River was with him.”

Troy cringed. “Yeah, but I think Mama River’s heart might be just a little too big for her own good.”

She smacked his chest lightly. “Don’t be all judgmental about who someone falls in love with.”

He grabbed her hand and pulled it to his lips for a quick kiss. “I’ll be as judgmental as I like about guys who are assholes.” He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. “Although I get that part of his story, at least. If anyone hurt the woman I loved, I’d be hard-pressed not to go into a homicidal rage. Just for future reference.”

Zoe smiled. “So you would protect me from the bad guys? I thought we were just having sex here, not falling in love.” But the way she said it made Troy’s heart leap. Because that was exactly what he was saying… and maybe she was feeling it, too.

He growled possessively and pinned her back on the bed. “We are definitely having sex. Lots of sex. And we’re going to keep having lots and lots of sex until you realize how devastatingly irresistible I am and how you could never live without me.”

She laughed, and that sound went straight to his soul, just like it always did. He dove into claiming her mouth with his, but then a loud bang startled them both.

“What the hell—” Troy rolled away from Zoe and leaped out of the bed. He ran to the window and gaped at what he saw outside—there were at least a dozen heavily armed men in black tactical gear in front of the River estate.

“What is it?” Zoe asked scrambling to pull her clothes out of the pile on the floor. She slipped her T-shirt over her head and was reaching for jeans.

“Something’s going down.” Panic squeezed Troy’s chest for a moment, then his body went into emergency mode as his training kicked in. He dashed to Zoe’s side, leaving the room light off—he didn’t want to alert the men outside. He grabbed his jeans from the floor and pulled them on, speaking quickly as he buttoned. “There are at least a dozen armed men outside. They might be here for you. Sit tight. Don’t move.” He jabbed a finger at her to let her know he was serious. “I’m going to grab some of the other wolves, go around the back, see if we can—”

“No way in hell am I staying here,” she growled, then sprinted to the window.
“Holy shit!
” She whipped her head back to him. “They’ve got Mama River!”

Fuck.
Troy stopped messing with his pants and ran for the door. He threw it open and sprinted down the hall. He barreled ahead, only barely noticing the light footfalls trailing him. Zoe was behind him.
Shit.
But he had no time to waste arguing. He reached the top of the stairs at the front and realized his mistake—
the men were already inside.