Dark Wolf Rising (Heart of the Shifter) (12 page)

He took her hands, all too aware of the escalation of Drake's shouts. Drake never would have come if it hadn't been critical, and he'd never be screaming bloody murder at the camera if shit wasn't about to explode. The stakes were high and closing fast.

"Listen to me, Bryn," he said urgently, knowing that he needed to get Jace and Drake inside, but equally attuned to her safety. "If you're afraid of Jace, I'm not sure I can keep my wolf from attacking him in your defense. Both our lives are at stake here. We need to see this through. I'll keep myself between the two of you at all times. Drake's first loyalty is to me. If shit goes down, he'll be on my side."

"Can you beat Jace? Can you stop him?"

He looked into those terrified blue eyes, and he knew the answer. Jace was bigger, more seasoned, and more brutal, but he didn't have the motivation Cash did. "With your life at stake, I would win."

She searched his face, and then finally nodded. "I need my gun. Where is it? I felt you take it from my pants at the hotel. I know you kept it."

He walked over to the kitchenette and grabbed it from the silverware drawer. He'd slipped it in there when they'd first arrived. "Don't shoot me. A silver bullet can kill me even if it doesn't hit my heart."

She took it, her hands shaking violently. "Make sure I don't have to shoot at all."

"I will." He gently turned her hands to the right, angling the gun away from him and sending heat into her hands to loosen her tense muscles. "Stand by the front door, away from the trap door." He was sure about Jace's innocence, sure enough to let him in the same room as Bryn, but he wasn't a fool. He had to give himself time to react if he was wrong.

She nodded and hurried over to the door, her fingers wrapped around the gun's handle.

He walked back over to the computer to unlock the trap door, then, just before he did, he reached under the table and pulled out the silver-bladed dagger he kept there. He fingered the rubber handle, then slid the leather holster into his back pocket.

He wouldn't allow her to suffer the hell of taking a life. If he had to strike first, he would. But as he entered the code and the trap door began to slide open, he hoped like hell he wouldn't have to make the choice to kill one of the two men he trusted. The only three people in the world who mattered to him were about to be in the same room, and losing any of them would break him.
Come on, Jace.

He grabbed two pairs of jeans and a couple T-shirts to give to the men. The trap door began to slide open, and he walked over to it, keeping himself between the men and Bryn. He didn't dare look at her. If he did, and he saw her fear, he'd attack Jace in a heartbeat. He crouched over the opening, his skin hot. His wolf pacing just beneath the surface, and he knew that there was a chance he wouldn't be able to control his wolf if Bryn were in danger.

Could he really afford to put himself in the position where he might lose control of the beast that had once consumed him? Could he really bring Bryn into his life? Could he risk her life by exposing her to Jace? Could he risk Jace's life by putting him in the same room with his mate, who his wolf would protect at any cost?

Then the trap door opened, and he saw Drake and Jace staring up at him, two deadly shifters he was bringing into the same room as Bryn. "Cash, Damien's—" Drake cut himself off, his eyes widening when he saw Cash, instantly recognizing how close to the surface Cash's wolf was. "You're on the edge," he said, keeping his voice quiet, so as not to trigger the wolf.

"Bryn's here." Cash's voice was low and guttural, half-wolf, half-man. He dropped the clothes in, knowing that there was no chance he'd be able to hold back if the two men were naked in front of her. "She's mine. My wolf doesn't want you in the same space."

Understanding dawned on both their faces as they caught the clothes. "What the fuck, Cash?" Jace said as he yanked on the jeans. "You know you can't afford that. What did you do?"

"Too late." Cash didn't move back from the opening. "Drake first. Slowly."

Already dressed, Drake immediately grabbed the edges of the opening and hoisted himself up, swinging effortlessly into the room. His gaze flicked toward Bryn, but he immediately turned his back on her and walked to the other side of the room, giving Cash's wolf the message that he wasn't going to challenge for her.

Jace, however, wisely stayed in the tunnel. Both men had seen Cash's wolf unleashed without control, and they both knew how dangerous he was. Cash could sense their urgency, but they stayed calm, careful not to make any move that could trigger him.

Cash looked down at Jace. "What happened?" He didn't invite Jace up. Not yet. He needed to hear it from him first.

Jace spread his hands in a helpless gesture, knowing exactly what Cash was asking. "I don't know. I couldn't stop myself. The song awakened something in me, and I lost my shit."

"The song?" Cash frowned. "It was the
song
?"

"I don't know. The minute I heard the first note, my mind became..." He grimaced. "A white rage is the best I can describe it." He looked up at Cash, his eyes an empty wasteland. "I don't know what the fuck happened, Cash. When my mind came back to me, and I saw what I'd done... Jesus, Cash. It was horrific, and I did it.
I did it.
I don't even think I should be out of that prison cell." He met his gaze. "Kill me if it starts again. Just end it."

All doubt about his faith in his alpha vanished under the weight of Jace's torment. Jace had done it, but the intent hadn't been there, and that was enough for him. Except… "Bryn's here." He watched Jace carefully for any sign that her presence would trigger him, but Jace simply nodded.

They stared at each other for a long moment, then Cash looked back at Bryn. Her face was ashen, and she was pointing the gun at them. Protectiveness surged through him, and his wolf rose again. If he had any choice,
any fucking choice
, he wouldn't let Jace up. He wouldn't take that risk. But he owed the other man his life. "Jace can't promise he won't snap again," he said to her.

Bryn squeezed her eyes shut. "Dear God, Cash. I can't do this."

"He was manipulated. He's innocent of intent. He's an innocent man, Bryn. We have to save him."

She opened her eyes. "He's also guilty."

"Never mind." Jace spoke. "I'll just go—"

"No!" Drake walked over. "It won't end if Jace leaves. He may snap again, and Damien will kill others. We have to end this today." He looked at Cash. "Damien's on his way here. He arranged for Jace's escape. He wants to catch the three of us together, kill Bryn, and then make us all hang for Bryn's death. He's on his way, Cash. He'll be here in fifteen minutes with those most loyal to him."

Jace nodded. "Drake got me free from them, and we beat them here, but we're not ahead of them by much. Damien's planning to end it now, for all four of us."

Son of a bitch. How did everyone know where his cabin was? Not that he had time to deal with that now. His place had been compromised, leaving him with no choice. They would have to work together to defeat Damien, and it had to happen tonight. It had become a battle for pack leadership, one that would end only in death. He looked back at Bryn, and saw her face had become even more ashen...but there was a fire in her eyes now, that same determined fire that he'd seen so many times before. "He doesn't get to have you," she snapped.

Cash let out his breath, his wolf subsiding at the determination in her voice. Her fear had vanished in the face of her mate being threatened. Just as he needed to protect her, she needed to protect him. She was still vulnerable, but her anger would help keep his wolf under control.

He looked back at Jace. "Come up slowly," he said. "Don't make me kill you."

Jace met his gaze. "Kill me if you need to. That's an order."

Cash nodded. "I understand."

Jace nodded, then reached up to grab the sides of the trap door. His fingers wrapped around the steel, and for a split second, both men stared at each other. Then Cash stood up and held out his hand.

Jace took the offering. Both men grabbed each other's wrists, and Cash hauled him out and into the room. He landed lightly on his feet, with the same grace he always had. The jeans Cash had given him were loose, hanging low on his hips. His chest was chiseled as always, but he'd lost weight from his time in jail. Cash knew it wasn't from the lack of food. It was because no wolf could survive captivity. They needed to be free to run, to hunt, to live according to their own rules. The wasteland of his eyes reflected the torment of a man who had betrayed every moral he possessed, and Cash knew then that Jace might never recover from having killed that woman. Anger roiled through him, and he looked at Drake, who was standing behind Jace.

His friend's face was grim, and he knew that Drake had come to the same conclusion that he had. Jace had broken the night he'd killed that woman, and he might never recover.

Jace was trembling, cold in a heated cabin. He swore and grabbed a sweatshirt for his alpha. Silently, he handed it to him. Jace glanced at him, then took it.

As he did so, Cash walked over to Bryn and pulled her against him. She was shaking violently, and sweat was beading on her forehead. Her hands were trembling, but her gun was still pointed at Jace, her finger hovering on the trigger.

Cash gently put his hand on her wrist. "It's okay, babe."

She said nothing, her jaw taut, her muscles tense, not taking her gaze off Jace for even a split second. Her face was shocked and horrified, as if she were in the presence of a monster. Cash's heart sank at the expression on her face, realizing that was exactly how she saw Jace. He considered Jace his family.

Jace shrugged the sweatshirt over his head and glanced over at them. He saw Bryn's face, and anguish raked across his face. "I'm sorry," he said.

Bryn jumped when he spoke, and the gun shook in her hand. Drake swore, and Jace tensed. The tension level in the room was off the charts, and Cash knew that in seconds, bad shit was going to happen. "Bryn," he said softly. "Give me the gun."

She shook her head, tears sliding down her cheeks. "I can't stop seeing what he did. I saw it. I heard her screams. I smelled her blood. I watched him tear her throat from her body."

Torment flashed over Jace's face. "I know. I relive it every day." He held out his arms to the side like he was strung up on a cross and then went down to his knees. "Pull the trigger, Bryn. Just do it. End both our nightmares."

"Don't," Drake said, inching closer to Jace. "Don't do it. Both of you, stop."

Cash swore under his breath, his hands itching to grab the gun, but afraid she'd accidentally fire it if he startled her. "Bryn, they're my family. Don't do it." Drake was close to Jace now, both men within target range of the silver bullets in her gun. Despite his intense emotional control, fear began to trickle through Cash. The only people he cared about in the entire fucking world were in this room. If she fired on one of them, the wolves would come out. Self-defense was an instinct that couldn't be suppressed. Even if Jace asked her to shoot him, his wolf wouldn't be so ready to die. She would become the enemy instantly.

"I can't stop seeing it," she said. "He—"

"I know what he did," he interrupted, trying to keep his voice gentle enough not to startle her, but strong enough to drag her from her memories, "but can't you see how it affected him? It's broken him.
He didn't do it on purpose
, any more than you killed your mother."

Her gaze snapped to him in anguish. "What? My mother? You bring her into this?"

He knew that was a tough place to go, but he also knew that she had to go there. "You still blame yourself for her death,
but it wasn't your fault.
If you can forgive Jace, you can forgive yourself. Let go."

Tears brimmed in her eyes, but her hands were still shaking. "I didn't mean to kill her."

"I know, babe. I know you didn't." He held out his hand. "If you kill Jace, it will hurt just the same. You're scared of him, and you should be, but you know in his heart, he's a good man. Don't do it to yourself or to him. I'll keep you safe, but you have to do the forgiving. Forgive him, and forgive yourself, for the deaths that neither of you were responsible for."

The sirens on his security system began to wail, and she jumped again, swinging back toward Jace, who hadn't moved.

Drake ran over to the computer and checked the screen. He looked up at Cash. "They're coming. Some in the tunnel, others outside."

Damien had already arrived.

Cash swore, unable to move while Bryn still had the gun aimed at Jace. "We will all die if we don't work together," he said. "Shoot him later, but give us a chance first."

"Shoot me now," Jace said.

"Shut the fuck up, Jace," Drake snapped.

Cash swore, but Jace repeated his request, staring at Bryn when he said it. "Shoot me," he said, pain etched in his voice. "No one is safe with me. I couldn't stop myself before. It could happen again.
End it.
"

Tears were streaming down Bryn's cheeks, silent rivulets of pain, and terror. Cash heard engines outside, and car doors slamming. Son of a bitch. They were out of time.

BRYN COULDN'T TAKE her gaze off Jace's face. There was so much guilt in his eyes, so much pain, so much regret. She felt his anguish deep inside, because it was what she lived with every second of every day. Over and over and over again she relived the car crash, and the sickening thud of her mother's head hitting the dashboard. Over and over again she dreamed of that horrific moment when the car had slid out of control, her own screams, so loud she couldn't hear her mother's, that moment when the car became still, and she looked over at her mom and realized she'd killed her.

The face she saw in the mirror every day looked exactly like Jace's did in that moment, raking across her heart like razor-sharp claws. "It doesn't ever go away," she whispered to him. "It never goes away."