Dawn's Shelter

Jan's words stung. Whittled away at his ego and any hopes he had of saving face with the big males and Eloise. He was a future pack master. He deserved respect and backing down to a human was no way to get it. Dropping it now was almost as dishonorable as doing what he was about to do. And something he couldn't have done. This was the hand they'd been dealt. Jan. Eloise. Kacie. Even Thomas. None of them had any choice. "I invoke the right to challenge this male for Jan's hand."

Thomas remembered the last wolf challenge he'd witnessed. Tala had nearly lost her life defending her father's position as pack master. His breath caught in his throat. Torr had been baiting him, leading him straight into a trap from which there was no way out. Thomas was truly an idiot. He enjoyed life, he really did. If he refused the challenge, Jan would be forced to return to Texas and if he accepted, he was a dead man walking. Either way, he'd lose. There was a slim chance though, that he might win. Maybe, he'd find a weakness and mange to somehow exploit it to his advantage. Everyone had a weakness. Even Torr. Wishing he'd had the sense to let Jan fight her own battles, he mentally kicked himself as his mouth formed the words that would undoubtedly seal his fate. "I accept."

"No! Thomas! You can't! He doesn't." Jan pulled at Thomas, dragging him away from Torr. "He doesn't know our ways. Its not a fair fight!" She looked imploringly. Her eyes searching amongst the faces in the crowd for help. "You can't let him do this!" She found no help in the impassive stares answering her plea. She leapt at Torr, determined to claw out his eyes out with her bare hands. "You bastard!" She fought against the pairs of hands pulling her back.

Thomas took Jan's writhing body out of Drew's grip and held her tightly in his arms. He smoothed the hair that had worked free from her braid away from her tear- dampened cheeks. She clung to him tightly, her fingers trembling and scrabbling with his shirt to find purchase. As if by sheer force of her will and her hold on him, she could tether him to her. "Shh. It will be alright."

"No." Tears flooded Jan's eyes, blurring her vision. Tears were a sign of weakness. But, she didn't care who devaluated her for them. She didn't have it in her heart to hate her mother or Kacie for their parts in orchestrating this mess. She had no room for hatred of Torr or the world into which she'd been born. There was no space left in her heart that wasn't filled with love for Thomas. "No, it won't. He'll kill you."

Torr looked away and focused his eyes on the ground. Seeing Jan cry, clinging to Thomas out of defiance for what she believed in, out of her love for him, and so willing to forsake the wealth of her world to keep him safe, was more than enough to cause a deep twinge of regret twist its fingers around his very soul. He'd loved. And he kept her safe by hiding her and keeping away from her so she could live her life. He'd never seen such bravery or courage. "Yes, I will," he muttered. He had superior strength and agility. He had genetics on his side and the power of his wolf. Thomas had nothing, except the one thing he wanted and needed. Jan. And there was no way out for any of them.

"Maybe," Thomas whispered. "I'm not so easy to kill." He closed his eyes and held Jan. Hoping there might be a hint of truth to his words. He was human. Plain and simple, merely human, he had no superior strength, little training, nothing but Jan's love and a tiny spark of hope that he'd find a way to survive.

Chapter 22

Drew cursed under his breath. Thomas was willing to die for love and while that was admirable. It was naïve. The bigger issue had nothing to do with Thomas. His life or his death wouldn't change a thing. Male pride was a terrible thing. Wars had been lost because of the sin of pride. Lives destroyed. But, there was nothing he could do to stop Thomas. He'd rushed in without thought and accepted the challenge. Intervening would be the worst thing Drew could do. He had the authority to stop the challenge. He had the authority to do a lot of things. Anything he felt was necessary to protect his people.

He'd never had the taste for power, or for killing and death. These strangers were of his family line. But, they were not his people. His ways were not their ways. He had no idea how deeply the differences ran beyond what he'd summarized on the surface. Stepping in to save Thomas might get them all killed. Sacrificing one for the many wasn't fair. But, it might be the way this had to go down to prevent a war. Torr thrived on exploiting weaknesses. And Eloise, he had never seen a more powerless leader. She played her femininity for all it was worth. But, he was not stupid enough to underestimate the viciousness she hid under a mask of beauty.

This mess had to be allowed to play out to its conclusion. He would not intervene. He nodded subtly to John Mark. "Escort Torr back to his hotel. See that he keeps out of trouble. At sundown bring him to the bluffs."

"My pleasure." John Mark bore his fangs at the man. Torr's eyes were cautious. His body stance loose and nimble, like a cobra before it struck. He hadn't quite figured out what John Mark and the brothers were. Oh, he knew. He simply hadn't managed to put the pieces together yet. Torr's mind was busy, assembling the facts and assessing the threat. The two of them were pretty well matched in terms of physical size and strength. Torr was unarmed. But, that did little to negate the possibility that he was a threat. There was one thing he knew about wolves. The biggest dog in the yard got the bone. John Mark straightened to his full height and cracked the vertebrae in his neck. Nobody did bullshit better than he did. He made sure to flash his fangs and daggers at Torr. He was a lover. Not a fighter, unless he had to be. "If he steps out of line, can I kill him?"

Drew shrugged, stifling a grin at John Mark's line of bullshit. The boy had the act down pat and was so much like he had been at that age it was laughable if not a little embarrassing. He had not been in his twenties for a very, very long time. But, on occasion he was still just as full of piss and vinegar as he had been back then. John Mark was his biological grandson by more generations past than he cared to count.

He'd been human once upon a time, a legend and hero in the making and mortal, very mortal. Unfortunately, there was nothing heroic or legendary about being cut down by a lead bullet in the belly during the heat of the battle while his men bled the ground red and died around him. These days, Drew was too busy to think on the man he had been back then. Tala kept him out of the realm of his dark musings. The goddess may have saved his life, in a fashion. She'd given him this unabridged virtually immortal one in exchange. But, Tala, his wife had saved his soul.

He'd tried to sever the ties to his mortal children. Disappear into the pages of history where the mighty man he had been belonged. But, the past had a way of becoming the present ushered swiftly forward into the future. "If necessary, you can kill him," Drew said as if it didn't matter to him one way or another. "Patrick, see the women to their rooms at the hotel. Dane, Thomas, and Jan, please come with me. Nash, assemble a team and meet us at the compound." He turned on his heel to head out of the alley. His eyes fixed on the broad daylight ahead of him and not on the man, the familiar stranger bearing his brother's dark hair and angular jaw.

"Wait! I'd really like to see my daughter," Eloise clamored. She grabbed onto the leather sleeve of the man's jacket. He pinned her with a hard glare that promised pain. She immediately released her hold on him and stepped out of his space. This mess was her fault. Her daughter was hurting. Betrayed by the destiny Eloise had set into motion over a decade ago. She couldn't fix it. It was too late for that now. But, she could show her support.

She'd never been in love. Her affection for her omegas was as close as she'd come to actually loving a man. There was nothing she could do or say to assuage the agony love caused. She could not soothe her daughter. She didn't really do that well when it came to shattered emotions. She'd never had a broken heart. She had feelings, emotions, but didn't dwell on them. They served no purpose. And perhaps, her daughters were right. In doing that, refusing to acknowledge the softer parts of herself had made her as ruthless as they accused her of being. She was ruthless, but not heartless. She did care. She simply didn't know how to show it. Emotions were a weakness she could not afford to show. In her world there was only the endless fight to protect what was hers. And beyond the pack, even beyond her own life. What she struggled the most to protect was her daughters.

"Very well, see the Jan's mother and her sister to the compound instead." Drew sighed as he rounded the corner and disappeared. He had much to think about. Every word Jan said was true. The fight wasn't fair. The repercussions of stopping the fight could mean war. He wasn't willing to take that chance. He knew all too well how ruthless a mother desperate to save her child could be. And a woman in love could kill in cold blood to spare the life of her lover. Assigning John Mark to Torr had not been to protect the world from Torr, rather to protect Torr from the world. Barbara Sterling didn't have a mean bone in her body. She was a sweet, cookie baking type. But, when it came down to protecting her little boy. There was nothing she wouldn't do. He'd have to guard Thomas well, if he were going to save him from a mother's love.

Instinctively, Kacie kept her distance from the preternatural beings filling the narrow space of the alley. She couldn't identify what they were. Dark glasses with side shielding made any attempt to catch a glimpse of their eyes impossible. They were armed to the teeth. At a glimpse she revised her opinion and included their sharp fangs in her inventory of their weaponry.

Her gut feeling was that these were dangerous creatures and she was reluctant to hand over her hidden daggers and the loaded handgun strapped to her calf to the wall of menace behind black lenses holding out his hand, demanding she disarm. She had a cache of weapons hidden under her skin in the form of fangs and claws. The arsenal strapped to her was just for backup. Reluctantly, she slid the handgun out of the holster and flipped on the safety. The daggers were nicely and safely tucked away. Out of sight, but not out of her reach.

Dane grunted and stood, with his hand extended. He could see the sketchy outline of a dagger's handle tucked into the top of Kacie's left boot and another hidden beneath her coat, "All of your weapons, if you please." He wasn't as convinced that the women were friendly. And he would not let them enter the compound armed. He'd made that mistake once, and luckily, thanks to Alex, had lived to learn from his mistakes.

Tristen grinned and stepped between Dane and Kacie. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. The energy of it rippled over his skin. His first instinct was to lash out at anything. Kacie stood in a defensive posture. Her feet shoulder width apart and her arms held loose at her side, not intimidated by Dane's massive size in the least. Tendrils of her dark hair curled and fluttered in the cold morning breeze. Wolves did not appreciate the invasion of their personal space. And the atmosphere crackled with warning. In that way only he could get away with, he played the light-hearted jokester act to the hilt. "Want me to search her?" He asked with a wink. Flexing his fingers and wiggling them as if he'd be more than happy to smooth his hands down her curves, he waggled his eyebrows and blew her a kiss.

Kacie scowled at Tristen's overt offering to cop a cheap thrill at her expense. He'd already done that in the diner and she was not in the mood for a repeat performance. "You'd better keep your hands to yourself, farm boy." Her mother was already moving toward the SUV. The vampire flanking her looked deceptively young, almost boyish. That was, until you got a better look at his hardened expression. She'd never met a vampire before. Hell, until ten minutes ago she would have never guessed they actually existed. Consoling herself, maybe deceiving herself in the process, she touted the mental mantra over and over again. As if handing over her weaponry was actually her choice. She balanced on one leg and withdrew the dagger from the sheath strapped to her calf. Slapping the handle into the big guy's beefy palm, she slid another dagger from the inside lining of her jacket and handed it over. "That's it."

Kacie saw the hurt in her sister's eyes. Jan thought that she'd arranged her betrayal. She hadn't. She had no idea that Torr was in town. Her plan was to talk some sense into her sister and work things out peaceably. Jan was locked arm in arm with Thomas, moving slowly toward the SUV. Kacie hadn't orchestrated any betrayal. But, she could see in her sister's eyes that Jan thought she had. Kacie swallowed her instinctive need to fight as the big men flanked her and escorted her to the idling SUV.

Tristen bobbed and weaved around Kacie. Bouncing on the balls of his feet to distract her attention away from Jan. He babbled on and on about the food and the kick ass gaming system at the compound. She could give a damn less about garlic chicken, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, and fucking video games. Her sister mattered more than anything. She had one chance to make this right with Jan. And she wasn't going to waste it on food and games.

She slid into the third row of seats. Not really feeling the warmth of heated, luxurious leather thawing her frozen limbs. Her mother was likewise tense. Her mouth was drawn tightly into a hard line of concentration beneath the lush red of her lipstick. Tristen plopped down into the open seat beside her and immediately rested his hand on her thigh. His fingers stroked the sensitive skin at the back of her knee. He was breathing on her. Sitting closer to her than what was necessary and crowding her space. She rapped him hard across the knuckles with her fist. "You'd better move your hand or you're going to pull back a bloody stump."

Tristen chuckled. He loved throwing Kacie off balance. At least when she was annoyed with him, her mind wasn't on how bad things were. He draped an arm across the back of the seat and wrapped his fingers around her shoulders. She was not nearly as annoyed as she pretended to be. The change in her scent was subtle. If he hadn't been sitting this close to her, he would have missed it altogether. Dipping his head to rest his cheek on the gentle slope of her neck, he whispered into her ear. "You like it."

"Like I'd love to catch a case of the clap," Kacie grumbled. She elbowed Tristen in the ribs. Satisfied by the rush of air from his lungs and the throaty oomph of his grunt. "Get your hands off of me!" She was going to put the hurt on this boy in a major way. She was already tense and at her wits end. His constant touching, flirting, and getting in her face wasn't helping.

"Kacie!" Eloise barked to bring her daughter to heel. She caught sight of Tracker as she tucked her leg into the SUV and Nash closed her inside. With a subtle hand gesture, nothing more than the pretend brush of her fingertips to smooth the collar of her jacket. She motioned for him and his brother to stand down. They were the final cards in the deck she had to play. If they were captured, she had no line of defense. Better they stay out of sight, on the periphery, until she could figure out how to use them best.

Tracker caught Eloise's signal and melted into the periphery. He needed no verbal or line of sight communication to relay the information to his twin. They would track their mistress down and wait, watch, and anticipate what she'd call on them to do when the time came. This wasn't the first time she'd been in danger. And with the life she led it was not likely to be the last.

Nash closed Eloise in. The woman knew how to work what the goddess gave her. And he'd be a liar if he said he wasn't enticed. He'd caught the subtle hand signal she'd used to communicate to the men hiding in plain sight. She was good. And so were her men. A blink of an eye and the twin brothers, her omegas, were out of sight. Hunter was already on it. Tracking the males with the aid of one of the brothers at his side. These days were not as much about secrets as they were about alliances. The Pack and the brotherhood had finally come to an uneasy trust of one another. It was a fragile place and a necessary one. Hunter taught Lance the ways of the wolf and Lance trained Hunter in the stealth of the vampire. Together, the wolf and the brothers were more powerful and more lethal than separate. And someday, that just might come in handy.

John Mark allowed Torr to drive the fancy Caddie back to the hotel. The car pulled to a stop. Torr tapped the steering wheel as he waited for the light to turn green. He hadn't quite figured out what Torr's game was yet. The man was the most reluctant bad guy he'd ever seen. The ladies pendant strung tightly to his throat by a thin golden chain was a curiosity. He knew what it was like to hold on to bits and pieces of the past. He imagined by the time he was the Great Father's age he'd have quite a collection of them.

"Jan is never going to go with you willingly. She's never going to love you. And you know it. Thomas is human. She'll hate you if you kill him. And even if she doesn't, if you kill him, do you really think we're going to just let you waltz out of here? Your life is on the line. And you know that too. What I can't figure out is your angle. What's in this for you? Why are you doing this?"

Torr glanced over at the vampire. Yes, he knew what they were. He'd never encountered one before. But, he'd heard stories. About how they came to be what they were and how they lived, existed, or whatever it was they called this life they had. "Let me ask you something. Did you have a choice? Did you choose this life?" He caught the almost imperceptible nod of the vampire's head. The traffic light turned green and he steered the Caddie around the corner.

"I thought so. Don't judge too harshly or get your panties bunched up in a huff of indignant self-righteousness. Not when you had a choice. I didn't. I don't. And probably never will. You don't know my world. You wouldn't last a day walking in my shoes. And there are things far worse than death. Never forget that, vampire."

John Mark wasn't going to argue that. There were things worse than death. And he'd met a couple of them face to face. He scrubbed his hand through his shoulder length hair. Torr didn't want to be the son of a bitch he was. He felt he had no choice. But, the world was full of choices. There was only one thing that would push a man of Torr's iron will into a corner. He had a secret worth dying for.

Chapter 23

Mack quickly did damage control inside the restaurant. Smiling and nodding at patrons, reassuring them that the scuff had been resolved and they could return to their biscuits and gravy in peace. Nonchalantly dismissing the incident as nothing more than a lover's quarrel that had gotten out of hand. Some of the patrons knew better, protectors of the town's secret. Some suspected. But, for the most part, the townspeople remained in happily ignorant to what really happened when all the lights went out. A lot of the time, Mack wished he were one of them. And he lived in a world where normal human good guys and bad guys and it were easy to tell the difference.

At one time, he had been completely and happily oblivious. Just like everyone else in the town. He knew no secrets. He went to work everyday. Brought home his paycheck every week. Fell asleep in front of the TV every night. He was absolutely and utterly happy with his life and the fruits of his hard work that kept the roof over his head. He provided for his son. His happiness came to an abrupt end the night Sam was murdered and the wool was torn from his eyes.