Dawn Discovered

Hunter's body went rigid. Energy coursed over his skin. His spirit was ripped away. Torn free. His wolf battled him for possession of the mound of empty flesh. "NO!" He wanted Gina. He wanted to be with her. He had come so far and suffered too much to give up the one thing he wanted more than his wolf, more than his own life, her. His brother's voice echoed in his ears as his body and soul responded to the call.

Gina was gone. Where did she go? He had to find her. As the magic swept him up he forgot what the word gone even meant. Hunter clamored to keep hold of his human form. The power of the ancient chant rolled through him. He was too weak to hold his wolf back. He screamed in agony as bone and muscle separated and flesh gave way to fur.

The wolf shook out his shaggy fur and lifted his nose into the cool, fresh air. He regarded the male with disinterest. Pack. No. Threat. Power and strength surged through his legs. Shaking free from the tatters of cloth left behind by his human, he bolted. The run, the movement, the feel of soft forest beneath his paws, the scent of prey, and the caress of the night breeze tangling his fur recharged him. The wolf became one with the night and one with the gentle pack that called to him. Beckoning him home where he belonged.

Grant exhaled in relief. His brother could hate him for what he'd done later. As for now, Hunter's wolf was at the helm. He'd have to deal with the consequences of what he'd done once his brother returned. He dressed and sat on a worn kitchen chair. He'd expected the shift, the ancient power to claim him along with his brother. But, it hadn't. He'd maintained his human shape. There was nothing to do but wait for his brother to return from his romp in the woods. No plan to make until Gina had been located. "Did the vampires get a lock on Gina's phone?" he asked as Tristen hesitantly stepped inside.

"She's on the interstate headed for the city," Tristen answered. He shivered against the lingering traces of wolf magic hanging in the air. His wolf stirred inside his head, scratching at the corners of his mind to get free. His body ached to shift. But, he scrabbled to hold onto his human form. He couldn't let go and let it happen as his father suggested. Not when Gina and his dad were at stake. He vowed, that if anything happened to either of them, he was going to make Daniel regret it.

"Do you know where she might be going?" Grant fingered the edge of Gina's tear stained note as he twisted her engagement ring onto his pinkie finger. Hunter had come so far. As brothers, they'd regained much that had been lost.

Tristen quivered with anger over what his brother had done. And Grant knew, that if something happened to her, whatever ties the two brothers had managed to develop beyond the bonds of DNA would be severed forever. Gina was vulnerable and alone in a world she barely understood. The normal human world she'd navigated so successfully was gone. She carried the scent of wolf and vampire on her skin and the blood of the brotherhood in her veins. That made her a target for any preternatural predator out there. And the world was filled with them.

"I know someone who does," Tristen gritted.

"Daniel." Tristen paced the cabin restlessly wearing a path back and forth across the floor. Grant would go after Gina himself, if he thought it would do any good. Tristen was in no shape to talk his father down. And distance between him and his brother might be a good thing right now. "Keep in touch with the vampires. Gina has already got a good head start on you. Try to find her. See if you can't stop her, if you can't talk her into coming back. Once your dad returns, he and I will have a talk with Daniel. Maybe, we can convince him to tell us where Gina went."

"Daniel won't," Tristen huffed. He stopped his pacing long enough to palm the keys to the truck. Doing something was better than sitting here and doing nothing. He had his doubts that even with Toby's lock on Gina's cell phone, even if he did find her, anything he had to say would make that much of a difference. "I'll call the minute I locate her." He wasn't sure what his brother had been up to or what he'd said to Gina to convince her to go. Tristen only knew that he had one thing he could bank on to get her to come back. And that was her love for his father. He'd make an appeal to her heart far more appealing than the one that Daniel had made to her fears.

The dark ribbon of interstate was a blur. Gina had been crying since the moment she'd pulled out of the drive. Her ring finger felt naked without the weight of Hunter's ring wrapped around it. Her body was chilled to the bone from the night air. Hunter seemed to be everywhere. His scent filled the cab of the truck, haunting her. Calling her back. She was tempted to do it. Turn around and go back. Talk him out of this whole insane idea. But, her love for him kept her foot on the gas. She'd do what was right for him. Make this sacrifice for him. She wasn't going to think of herself.

Gina pulled over into a truck stop just out side of the city. Her tear blurred vision wouldn't allow her do drive one more mile. She was never going to be able to go through with Daniel's plan. He had an errand list for her to complete before she boarded the redeye flight she'd booked. He'd been so very thorough, checking and double-checking every last detail. All out of a driving concern for his father. The last flight out for the night left in two hours. She'd have to skip mailing the phone and taking the bus to the airport like he'd planned. She'd have to park the truck at the airport to make it to the flight in time. And as for the phone? She climbed out of the SUV and found a truck with out of state plates. Stuffing the phone into the middle of a heap of junk piled in the bed. She hoped it would be good enough.

With that job done, she climbed back into the SUV and started the engine. What choice did she really have, if she loved Hunter the way she said she did? She had to go. Without any real reason to doubt what Daniel had told her, she cleared her blurred vision and punched the gas pedal to the floor. She wanted to go west, back home. But, instead, she exited, driving east, into the city.

Tristen drove like a maniac. Merging on the interstate without regard to anyone's safety, especially not for his. He had to catch up with Gina. According to the vampires, she was headed east to the city. He had Toby, the vampire's tech guru chattering in one ear and both hands on the wheel. And his cell phone parked in the breast pocket of his jacket, in case she called. He had not gotten the truth out of his brother. Maybe, he should have been a bit gentler with Daniel. But, at the time he'd been so intent upon beating the truth out of him. He didn't know what Daniel had told her. What he'd done to drive her away. But, when he got home, his brother would pay for every second's worth of suffering he'd brought on their father and Gina.

Tristen lifted his foot from the gas pedal. Toby shouted in to his left ear. Gina had changed course. Traveling west. Maybe, she'd seen through Daniel's bullshit and was going home. Back to his father, where she belonged. He found the first suitable place to hang a U-turn. Gaining speed in the westbound lane as he gunned the engine.

Gina took a deep breath as the glittering city loomed ahead of her. The sky above was a deep umber brown. Illuminated by the brilliance of the city that grew bigger and bigger as she approached. According to the dashboard, she had an hour till her flight. She would just make it with barely enough time to clear security and get on board before she could change her mind.

Nash glowered at Daniel as Claire fussed over the cut on the back of his head. "He'll heal."

"It could get infected," Claire protested. The cut was deep and angry looking. She couldn't see his skull, which was a relief. But, head wounds bled like crazy. And she had a hard time getting the bleeding stopped. Daniel wiggled and sucked in whistling breaths through his gritted teeth as she tried to clean the wound. "You really need to take him to get stitches. He could have a concussion."

She scrubbed the blood out of his hair as best she could to get a better look at the oozing gash. The cuts, scrapes, and bruises on Daniel's face, and there were plenty of them, didn't concern her nearly as much as the bleeding wound at the back of his head. She winced as Nash turned his sour expression on her. "Maybe a few butterflies would hold it in place while it heals," she mumbled.

Nash was furious with his grandson. Sitting on the edge of the vanity, towering over them while she tended Daniel's wound as he sat on the closed toilet seat. Nash's hair was down, flowing over his broad shoulder blades in waves of black and threaded silver. His bare feet poked out of the hem of a pair of jeans. And he wore nothing except for the jeans and the stains of Daniel's blood smeared across his chest and dotting the denim. The eldest patriarch of the family glowered down at them. His brown eyes flecked with gold flared with heated anger. Nash was not one to mess with and not a man to be taken lightly. What he said. He meant. And he never said anything more or less than exactly what he meant.

He wore his authority like a suit of armor. Not much got past his duty to the Pack. His jaw was set in a firm line of determination. His lips pursed tightly together as if he were trying to trap angry words behind them. And for all Claire knew, he was. Nash did not like the attention she gave his grandson. She was a skilled nurse. And despite his insistence that Daniel was ok and did not need patched up. Daniel was going to get taken care of anyway. If he expected her to cower down to him and let the kid bleed all over the floor, he had another thing coming. When it came to her medical duties she took them as seriously as he did his duty to this Pack.

"Give him an hour and he'll heal up," Nash said. He dismissed Claire with a wave of his hand. And gritted his teeth when she brushed him off with a flick of her blonde ponytail over her shoulder and continued to dab at the wound at the back of Daniel's head. Daniel's eyes flickered with amusement that he, master of this pack, could not control a little, human female and bend her to his will. Daniel soaked up Claire's mothering, soft, soothing words, and gentle touches. "The boy and I have things to discuss."

Claire lifted her brows. She shone a flashlight into Daniel's eyes. Neurologically, everything checked out. She'd cleaned him up the best she could. Brushing antiseptic over the scrapes and cuts on his face and icing the bruises on his chin. Tristen had really done a number on his little brother. Nash obviously was not going to let her call Thomas to take a look at the boy. She frowned at the nasty gash at the back of his head. The blood had stopped and while the wound was still deep and concerning. The edges of the cut didn't look as deep as they had.

Hopefully, Daniel was as hardheaded as his grandfather. From what she could gather hardheadedness seemed to be an inherited trait in the males of this family. Nash continued to glare at her with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. "Fine," she grumbled. Gently, she applied an ice pack to the back of Daniel's head and gave him a worried once over. Daniel was in some deep trouble. She'd only caught bits and pieces over the din of scraping furniture and shouts. He was in some severe shit with his grandfather and his brother. She could only hope that whatever he'd done, Nash would take the time to hear him out before he passed sentence.

Once Claire was clear of the bathroom, Nash stood and locked the door behind her. "Explain."

Daniel winced beneath the pressure of the ice pack resting on the back of his head and from his the heat of his grandfather's level, dark stare. "Just punish me and get it over with. You're gonna take Tristen's side anyways."

"Why would I punish you if you've done nothing wrong? What makes you so sure I'm here to choose a side? If you could tell me why you did what you did, and exactly what you did do. Perhaps, I could see your side clearly and reach a fair decision." Nash knew his grandson well enough to understand how his teenage mind worked. Daniel may have acted rashly and impulsively. But, not without a good reason, he was not purposely cruel.

"You have to ask me why?" Daniel snickered. "I couldn't lose my father. This time I hoped he was back for good. I couldn't let her take him away from us." Daniel held back his tears. Wolves were tough. They did not cry.

"Is that what you thought Gina meant to do?" Nash considered his grandson's words. He was desperately clinging to the father he'd lost and then found again.

"Not on purpose. I didn't mean to hurt her or my dad. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I just wanted to scare her off."

"And you did, on both counts. She's gone, and people are hurt. Meditate on what you've done and we'll talk more later on. I don't suppose you want to tell me where she is."

"No."

"All right then." Nash left Daniel alone in the bathroom to consider what he'd done. And to give the boy time to think of a way to make it right. Hopefully, it wasn't too late to repair the damage.

Hunter gasped as his body snapped back into human form. Somehow, his wolf had managed to deliver him to the cabin before he left him. He felt strong again. Power rolled through him. Renewing his vigor, restoring his deteriorating body and senses back to their preternatural strength. "Where's Gina?" he asked. Shivering and aching as his body readjusted.

Grant spread a blanket over his brother's naked body and closed the cabin door tightly against the night. "She's gone."

"Where?" Hunter snatched the note out of Grant's hand. Reading it and crumpling it into a ball with his fist.

"I'm sorry, brother." Grant said as he dropped the delicate ring into Hunter's palm.

"I need to talk to her. I need to find her." Hunter slid the ring onto his pinkie finger. It fit tightly crushing around finger. He couldn't believe she'd left without word or explanation other than a few hastily scribbled lines on a piece of paper. "What happened?"

"I think perhaps you should speak with your son."

"Tristen?" Hunter was in motion. Hastily, he pulled on his clothes and stuffed his feet into boots. He didn't have time to consider what his brother had done. Calling forth his wolf meant that he'd have to start the process of weaning himself off of it all over again. Revisit the agony he'd already endured. But, Grant's expression was grim. The situation wasn't good and he'd need the extra strength to find his Gina and once he found her, convince her to come back.

"No, not Tristen, Daniel. Tristen believes that something Daniel said caused Gina to leave."

Hunter dragged a hand through his hair. Of course, he should have known Daniel had done something to chase Gina off. He'd thought, mistakenly, he was making headway with his youngest son. The smiles, the laughter, the acceptance, it'd all been for show. There was only one thing he could think of that Daniel could have said to scare Gina away. "He told her?"

"Possibly." Grant kept very calm and still, speaking slowly. The atmosphere was charged with strong emotions and his brother had not regained control of his body or his wolf.

"Take me to him, now."

























Chapter 29

Gina ran through the terminal, weaving in and out of weary travelers at breakneck speed. Desperately, she searched for her gate. She had fifteen minutes to get through security before the plane left without her. Throwing her bag and purse on the conveyor belt and ripping off her shoes, she impatiently waited to pass through the checkpoint. She gave no thought to tossing the contraband nail file into the trash. Clutching her ticket in her fist she grabbed up her things and stumbled into her shoes. Hobbling as her feet slid into place, she trotted for her gate at the far side of the tarmac. Wildly out of breath, she thrust her boarding pass underneath the stewardess's nose. Hoping the fake ID would pass inspection as the stewardess scrutinized the driver's license. Gina blew out a sigh of relief as the stewardess wished her a good flight with a flat mundane voice. "Thanks."

The flight was jam packed with travelers. Not surprising since this was the last plane out for the night. Passengers sat shoulder to shoulder crammed into the tight confines of the coach section. Gina followed the stewardess's directions to her seat. She didn't have any luggage to stow and hastily mumbled an "excuse me" as she took her place next to the window. She pressed her palm to the cool glass and tried not to think about all the strangers on the plane.

Cool, piped in air blew over her cheeks as heated tears welled beneath her lashes. She mumbled a goodbye as the stewardess gave her safety spiel and the plane lurched forward. She could care less about city she left behind. Rather, she whispered goodbye to the man that would always claim her heart and to the tiny burg she'd always call her home. She'd never see either one of them again. Southern California was a place she'd never been and dreamed of going. There were so many new sights to see. But, she couldn't muster up a twinge of excitement about her adventure. She wasn't ready to let go of the old. But, what other choice did she have?

Daniel slouched on the bed, cradling an ice pack to his swollen jaw. He knew his dad was in the house long before he heard the heavy footfalls of his boots strike against the floor. Daniel wasn't surprised when his dad's massive frame filled the doorway to his room. And, without asking, his dad walked in, locking the door behind him. "I'm sorry," Daniel mumbled as a means of a preemptive strike.

"Daniel, I need to know what you said to Gina." Inside Hunter was seething with rage. He kept his voice calm and his temper in check. Threatening his son would not produce the answers he so desperately needed. He already felt the pangs of her loss in his heart. Losing his son would not bring Gina back. And his son was the only one who could tell him where she was.

"I can't do that, Dad. I won't. She didn't belong here with us. She was too fragile for you." Daniel twisted the edge of his pillowcase nervously in his fingers. "I couldn't do nothing while she hurt you."

"So, you thought it better to undermine my decisions about what I wanted to do with my life? You used Gina's emotions and her lack of knowledge of our ways against her and took complete advantage of her. She is an innocent. Gina means the world to me and I will stop at nothing to get her back. Know that right now, Son."

"Innocents don't belong here with us. I did it for you and for us." Daniel studied his father. His face was a mask of cool control. But, Daniel could feel the rage boiling beneath the mask of his composure. "I'll take whatever punishment you dish out. But, I refuse to regret it. And no matter what you do to me. I won't tell you anything. Gina is gone. That's all that matters."

"I'll give you two hours to change your opinion about that and tell me where she is." Hunter picked up the hard drive Daniel had pulled out of his laptop and shattered to bits. Hunter had to give his son credit. The boy was a chip off the old block when it came to strategizing. Daniel was as stealthy as he was. And he'd taken every precaution to prevent his discovery of Gina's location.

"Dad, I didn't mean to hurt anybody. If it makes it any easier, I will tell you that Gina is fine. She's someplace safe. I made sure of that."

"Did you stop to think of the fact that if you sent her someplace far away? She'll be amongst strangers. People who don't know her and in a place she is unfamiliar with. She'll be where I can't protect her.