Wild Instinct (6 page)

Sarah Anne’s fear cut into Garrett like the edge of a blade. He wanted to give her something to hold on to. “The one thing Cur can do is keep a promise.”

“That’s an awful name,” she whispered in that shell-shocked way people had when they just couldn’t take any more. She looked at Garrett, her big brown eyes full of pain. “I want my son.”

“I know.”

She looked at Teri, her gaze bouncing off Daire’s imposing presence, skimming over Kelon and Donovan, before returning to Cur. “You two are friends.”

It wasn’t a question. “Yes.”

“And you’re insisting on your claim?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

“And you’ll protect me?”

“Yes.”

“No matter what?”

What was she up to? “Yes.”

She ducked under his arm. “Then keep them off me while I find my son.”

Six

HOW the hell had she ended up back where she’d started, mated to a wolf she didn’t know, with everyone expecting her to smile and be happy? Sarah hugged Meg to her as she stepped out into the night. She took a deep breath, inhaling the cool air, blinking back tears when she couldn’t find a trace of her son’s scent. For five years, it had never been absent, but now it was nowhere to be found. The night sky, normally a thing of beauty, stretched over the landscape in an endless mocking expanse of empty black. Josiah was out there somewhere, along with Lord only knew how many rogues chasing him. She closed her eyes.

Oh, God. What was she saying? Rachel was just one woman, not even trained in battle skills. Sarah Anne closed her eyes and tried again. Reaching out into the vastness of the night, searching for a connection with something bigger than herself.
Please, keep them both safe.

A feeling of peace settled over her. She blinked. Meg cupped her cheeks in her tiny palms.

“We find ’Siah now, Mommy?”

Sarah hitched her up. The feeling of peace disappeared as if it had never been. “He’ll be waiting for us at our special spot.”

With everything inside her, she hoped he would be.

“What if he’s losted?”

He couldn’t be lost. “Auntie R is with him.”

“What if they got hurted?”

Dear God, Megan had to stop bringing up all her fears. She didn’t have the strength to fight them when so starkly presented. “Then we’ll make them better.”

“What if—?”

“Megan Lea, be quiet!”

Meg gave that little huff that preceded a full-out squall.

Oh, God, now she was snapping at the child she did have. Sarah Anne pulled her close, kissing the top of her head. “I’m sorry, baby. Mommy’s just tired.”

Meg’s lip quivered. “I don’t like yelling.”

She’d been impervious to it until the rogues had broken into Teri’s apartment, beating and raping the other woman while Meg lay in her crib listening. As much as she wanted those wolves dead for what they had done to Teri, she wanted them dead for the fear of men they’d put into her child. Except for Garrett. She bit her lip. Meg had no fear of Garrett.

“Then I won’t yell anymore.”

Meg’s lower lip stuck out. “I don’t like it when you yell inside, either.”

Oh, dear heaven, she couldn’t say things like that where anyone could hear. Among pack, differences like Megan’s were not tolerated. “Sometimes people just get angry.”

“But your mother doesn’t have to be angry anymore,” Garrett said as he came up to them.

Sarah Anne should have known he would follow.

“Why?” Megan asked.

“Because it’s my job to make sure she’s not upset.”

“And if she is?” Sarah Anne asked.

Garrett’s gaze met hers. The green in his eyes seemed so much more pronounced. “Then I take care of it.”

It was a predictable male response. “I can take care of it myself.”

Megan frowned at her. “But he’s bigger.”

Yes, he was. Much bigger. With broad shoulders, lean hips and enough muscle layered over both to make any woman’s mouth water. “Might doesn’t make right.”

Megan clearly didn’t get the reference. “But he’s bigger.”

Garrett’s smile took on the depth of full amusement. “At least your daughter understands the natural order of things.”

Natural order her aunt Fanny. That totally chauvinistic attitude was the main reason she’d left the pack. “She’s not full wolf.”

Garrett’s feet settled shoulder-width apart. “Which is more than enough reason that she should stay pack. A wolf mate could protect her.”

“And who will protect her from the wolves?”

His head tipped back. Arrogant man. “The same ones who will protect you. Cur and myself.”

“You’d have no right if her mate claimed mate privilege.”

Tilting his head to the side, Garrett hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his jeans. “Damn, I must have gotten all respectable-looking since joining Haven if you think I care about pack law when it comes to what’s mine.”

“You’re a Protector.” And Protector loyalties are always pack.

“I’m your mate first.” Though his position didn’t shift, she felt his attention home in. “And I protect what’s mine.”

And he considered her his. He wasn’t going to be easy to shake, down the road, but for now, maybe she could use it. “Then you have to protect my son.”

“That’s already been taken care of.”

Why couldn’t he understand? She put her hand over Meg’s ears. “Nothing is ‘taken care of’ until I have him back.”

“You’ll have him back tomorrow.”

“And until then?”

“You’ll have to have faith in your friend’s training.”

“What makes you think she has training?”

“What makes you think she doesn’t?”

Her arms ached from holding Meg. Her heart ached with worry for Teri, Josiah and Rachel. And now he added the niggle of concern that maybe she didn’t know Rachel as well as she should?

“I don’t.”

His hands came out of his pockets. “How well do you know her?”

Truth was, she didn’t know anything about Rachel’s past. They’d been outcasts together, clinging to each other through the common bond of their heritage, but she did know that Rachel was one of the most trustworthy people she’d ever met. “Well enough.”

He clearly didn’t believe her. “Why did she leave her pack?”

It didn’t matter. One of the things she’d learned after leaving the pack was how to think for herself without the prejudice that saw outsiders as people not to be trusted.

“I don’t know, but what I do know is that my son is safer with her than he is with you.”

His chin came up and his eyes narrowed. “You have trouble with the fact that I’m mixed blood?”

It would be easier if she did. She dismissed his statement with a wave of her hand. “I have trouble with your arrogance.”

“I’m not arrogant.”

“Arrogant enough that you blithely dismiss my instincts.”

He didn’t exhibit any of the anger she expected, just asked in an almost conversational tone, “Do you trust your instincts?”

There was a time when she’d never questioned them.

“Sometimes.”

But the times they’d failed her had left scars too big to ignore.

He tipped her face up. “That’s a shame.”

Yes, it was. Especially now when she needed them to tell her that her son was fine, and they weren’t telling her anything at all.

“You need to find my son.”

Cur’s broad-shouldered frame filled the mouth of the cave, looking bigger silhouetted by the light behind him. “I was planning on doing that very thing.”

Garrett nodded to Cur. “Sarah Anne will tell you where they’re meeting.”

“I will?”

Garrett reached for Meg. “Yes, you will.”

She took a step back, feeling an unreasonable bite of hurt when Meg reached for him. “You have a habit of thinking you know a lot more than you actually do.”

“I know you’re going to tell me.”

“The same way you think I’m mated to you?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re wrong.” She shifted Meg’s position to ease the ache in her back. “I’m not joining Haven. It was a mistake to think I could.”

“Haven won’t have a problem with your children’s bloodlines,” Cur said, setting his pack down before squatting beside it.

“That’s what everyone says . . . now.”

Garrett smiled at Meg. It was a little stiff and a touch awkward, but from the way Meg beamed back, it didn’t matter.

“Do you know something I don’t?”

“I know it’s never a good idea to take anything at face value.”

“So you’ve decided you’re going to go it alone.”

“I’ve decided you don’t own me.” When he didn’t contest her claim or look concerned, her stomach knotted.

“I guess there’s plenty of time for you to learn that I don’t often say what I don’t mean.”

She turned to Cur. “What do you do?”

He smiled and leaned against a boulder. With a flick of his fingers he motioned to Garrett. “Pretty much whatever he tells me to.”

The brief moment of freedom she’d felt when she’d stepped out of the cave disappeared. “I hate you.”

“I get that a lot.”

An emotion as powerful as hate should have an impact. She turned and started walking down the hill, Meg nearly deadweight in her arms.

Garrett fell into step beside her. “You’re a stubborn woman.”

“You’re an irritating man.”

He was everything she’d run away from. An arrogant wolf who was convinced that he knew best, expecting her submission and obedience simply because he was male. He reached for Megan again. Sarah Anne gave him her shoulder.

“You’re just tiring yourself out.”

She planted her feet. “Go away.”

He stopped and arched a brow inquiringly. Behind him, she could see Cur getting something out of his backpack.

“You should know I fully intend to contest your claim,” she challenged.

“Uh-huh.”

“There are probably a hundred women at Haven who want your attention.”

“Probably.”

She snorted. “You could’ve at least pretended modesty.”

The corner of his mouth tipped up. “Probably. Where are you supposed to meet Rachel?”

Her mouth worked. Her distrust burned deep.

“Where?”

He repeated the question with such calmness. In the end, she didn’t really have any other option but to tell him. “The south ridge. Are you happy now?”

“Not by a long shot. I shouldn’t have had to ask twice.”

Her head came up. Megan grunted, disturbed from her dozing by the sudden move.

“You might want to save your claiming until later, hot stuff. When you have all the facts.”

The “hot stuff” scraped across Garrett’s nerves. What the hell was the point in waiting? Did she have someone else in mind? “I never have been a man for taking chances, and waiting won’t get me anywhere but dead. Just like that useless human husband you mated up with. You’re a breeder, dammit.”

She had to know what that meant. A woman who could produce children without a mating bond. Every werewolf alive would want to claim her.

She glared at him. “Don’t you ever say that about him again. John was a good man who loved his children, and he was strong in ways you can never be.”

“But you weren’t mated to him.” It was a shot in the dark.

She blinked. Her face paled to a ghostly white. “How did you know?”

Shit, that put a whole new spin on the situation. “I didn’t.”

“Oh, God.”

Oh, God, was right. “We wondered why the rogues came after you so aggressively.”

Her chin came up. “Well, now you know.”

Now he knew. “You should have told Wyatt.” The alpha wouldn’t have waited until a home was ready for the family before sending for them. But he had waited, knowing that transporting them would expose them to suspicion. Since they’d been hiding successfully for eight years, he hadn’t thought another couple months would matter. Of course, Sarah Anne hadn’t told him about the attack on Teri. And she hadn’t told him she was a breeder—a woman who could bear a wolf child outside a mating bond. A woman every werewolf would want because only the drive to mate was stronger in a wolf than the need to reproduce. Shit.

“You kept a hell of a lot secret.”

“With good reason.”

Maybe. “Did your husband know you were a breeder?”

“He didn’t even know I had wolf blood.”

“He wasn’t worth much, was he?”

She jerked back as if he’d struck her, and a terrible shadow of pain whipped around her. “I loved him.”

But she hadn’t trusted him to handle the truth about her heritage. “Tell me, what were you going to do if your children showed signs of their mixed blood?”

She took a step back. “Tell him the truth.”

“And you think he would have accepted that?”

She took another step back. Did she think it was that easy to run away from the truth?

She glared at him, her brown eyes dark with the pain of what she didn’t want to admit. She might have loved her husband, but she hadn’t believed in his love for her.

“He was five times the man you are.”

He wasn’t going to argue that. A lot of men were better than him. Men who’d had the luxury of developing a love of rules while growing up, whereas he’d survived outside them. “Be that as it may, currently you and your children are at the mercy of whomever is strong enough to keep you. Right now I’m the one with the claim, so until you find someone stronger, running away ends now.”

“No.”

Another step and she’d be out of his reach. He grabbed her arm. An immediate awareness of her mixed heritage slammed into him. There wasn’t a hard muscle within the spread of his fingers. Shit, he was probably hurting her.

He let her go. She hunched her shoulder and rubbed her arm, glaring at him accusingly.

“That’s right.” She sneered. “I’m not pure wolf. I won’t bring you prestige. I’ll always be a liability and my children, too. So are you very sure you want to go forward with this claim?”