The Mating Rite (Big, Beautiful Werewolf) (Werewolves of Montana) (25 page)

Darius dropped a $50 bill on the bar and herded Sam outside to his car. Tristan leaned against it, his arms folded across his chest. Dressed in an elegant tuxedo with a white scarf around his neck, he looked mighty pissed.

Sam looked nervously at the wizard. “What kind of concert? I love music.”

“Opera. A shifter who sings a delightful aria when she climaxes.” Tristan looked impassive. “I had just warmed her up.”

Great. Tristan was never in a good mood when he was summoned for a Skin cleanse. Interrupting his bed sport put him in a worse one.

The wizard’s eyes glowed ice blue, gathering power. “Samantha, what did you do?”

Darius slid a protective arm around Sam’s trembling shoulders. “It wasn’t her fault or mine.”

The wizard’s eyes resumed their normal dark brown. But he still focused on Sam. “Are you going to tell him or shall I?”

“Tell me what?” Darius looked from Tristan to Sam, who now bit her lip.

“What Samantha did when she left the pack.”

Guilt flickered in her eyes. “I was going to, when we got on the road.”

“Do it. And the next time you get attacked by a flying buzz saw, make sure it’s in a secluded area where no Skins are around.”

The wizard vanished. Darius rubbed the back of his neck. “Level with me. What aren’t you telling me, Sam?”

She looked miserable. “It’s about your father and what I did to him before I left the pack.”

He went still.

“Not so much what I did, but what I took.” She twisted the straps of her worn Coach purse. “Money.”

Darius’ heart dropped to his stomach. His father kept a tight grip on his funds and accounted for every single penny. “How much?”

Please tell me it was not that much, maybe he didn’t miss it…

“Fifty thousand dollars.”

His limbs felt shaky. Darius sagged against the rental car and just stared at her.

“It was
my
money! Mom brought it with her when we joined the pack. Cornelius had given it to her as severance. But Maxim said since we were part of the pack now, it belonged to everyone. All those times he had me working in his office, I memorized the combination to his safe. It was easy enough.”

She suddenly took her purse and slammed it to the ground. “I hated being broke all the time, knowing the money was there. I hated him for making me work so damn hard in the pack, and he was too damn cheap to even put my sister’s name on her gravestone! The money was mine by right. After I left Maxim’s pack, I needed money to live until I could find a job.”

Darius forced his voice to calm. “Where is the money now?”

Sam knelt on the ground and picked up the items spilled from her handbag. “I spent half of it and put the rest in a safe deposit box in a Portland bank.”

He pressed a hand against his sweating temple and his temper fractured. “Holy shit, Sam. You took money from my father? My father, who is so cheap he refused to buy a dishwasher and made us wash by hand more than 300 plates at a time? No wonder he’s after your ass!”

“I’m sorry.” She looked up at him, her mouth wobbling. “I wanted to tell you sooner, but I figured I was safe and he’d never find me.”

“Obviously he did and he sent someone after you, otherwise we wouldn’t be eating our lunch in a restaurant with a goddamn buzz saw trying to cut my fucking burger!”

A couple walking to their car looked startled, then quickly climbed into their vehicle. Darius dragged in a deep breath, fighting his temper. Yelling accomplished nothing.

She finished putting everything back into her purse and faced him. “This is my fault, Darius. I take full blame. I don’t want you in trouble for something I did. Or getting hurt because I was foolish and resentful.”

Anger died. She looked so damn brave and determined, and he remembered how she’d stood up to his father when Maxim wanted to break every bone in his body. Darius sighed. “You’re not ditching me that easily, sweetheart. We’re together in this, all the way.” He opened the car door. “Get in.”

Silence fell between them as he turned south on the coastal highway. If Maxim had hired someone, or some Other, to take Sam down, he’d have a hard time following them. When he turned, using a less traveled access road, she finally spoke. “It doesn’t make sense. Maxim’s Lupine. He doesn’t have the kind of power to cast a spell on a buzz saw or get a sea demon to drown me.”

“No, but he has enough money to hire assassins to do his dirty work if he wants your ass that badly. Or he’s blackmailing someone into doing it.”

“Like Todd.” She took a deep breath. “Maybe that’s why Todd was after me.”

Darius gripped the steering wheel, his stomach tight. Damn his father.

Fir trees flanked the car as they followed the road. The trees marched up a sloping hill to their right. Darius looked at the forest, knowing deer and other animals might bound out of the trees and run across the road. But this road seemed oddly deserted of traffic.

“What good would my death do Maxim?” She twisted around in her seat. “He’s never been patient with schemes. If he wanted something, he took it. After the first attempt with Todd failed, he’d just find me himself and wring my neck after forcing me to confess where I’d hidden the money. He’s not that sly.”

Sly. Scheming. Using spells of enchantment to influence other beings and enchant tools to cut Sam down. Like buzz saws, which cut wood in a forest protected by OtherWorlders such as Elves…

“Darius, watch out!”

Cursing, he slammed on the brakes and yanked the wheel to the right, driving off the road and narrowly avoiding the boulder that suddenly rolled onto the pavement.

Hands shaking, he turned to Sam. “You okay?”

Her face was pale, but she nodded. “What was that?”

Darius looked at the boulder, which had mysteriously rolled off the road to the other side, leaving the way clear for them to continue.

“Fae Magick. Someone’s dicking around with us.” He turned off the ignition, parked and then unbuckled his seat belt. Darius shut off his cell phone and opened the car door. “Turn off your cell phone. Stay here. Someone has a tail on us and knows exactly where we are headed.”

He ran his hands over the car’s exterior, searching for clues. Twenty minutes later, he found a small black box stuck to the wheel well. Darius wanted to crush it in his fist, but palmed it instead.

When he climbed back into the driver’s seat, he set it on the console. Sam looked at it.

“It’s a GPS tracker,” he told her.

“Your father couldn’t have placed it on the car. Unless he hired someone to do it, and he’s simply too cheap to pay.”

“And he prefers the direct approach.”

“Someone else put it there. Where?”

“The beach house. Or when I picked up the rental at the agency. Someone who knows our relationship and wanted to keep an eye on my movements, knowing I’d take you with me.”

She sucked in a breath. “Ken. You said he’s Elven. He doesn’t want my resignation. He wants me gone, permanently.” Sam twisted her hands in her lap. “I threatened to expose both him and HG Jenner for what they did. I didn’t think he’d resort to this kind of drastic action.”

Darius dragged in a deep breath and cupped the back of her head, pulling her close to him. “Sam, it could be Ken, could have been any of them all along. Until we find out who it is, you’re not safe. The best place for you is Ryder’s pack. You need to reawaken your Lupine senses. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s your best chance.”

She nodded reluctantly, then closed her eyes as he rested his forehead against hers. Then he buckled up and started the car, heading back to the coastal highway. With more cars on the road, whatever was after them would have a harder time trying to arrange a sly accident.

“What are you going to do with this? Destroy it?” She poked at the tracker as if it were a cockroach.

He shook his head. “They’ll know we found it. I’m going to use it to our advantage.” He gritted his teeth. “And dodge the son of a bitch who wants you dead.”

Chapter 13

They spent the night in a cheap motel in Washington. Darius guarded the door all night. Once or twice she’d awakened to see him staring out the window.

Late afternoon of the next day, they pulled up before the entrance to the Pine Crest Condominium complex near Mt. Hood. Thick forest surrounded the townhomes, flanked by a narrow river.

Sam rolled a shoulder, more exhausted than she’d ever been. During the entire drive, she’d ruminated over her birth father. Never knowing him, knowing now that her mother had lied about several things, she had no clue of her identity. She’d been directionless before, now she felt truly lost.

Darius had switched cars twice, using rentals and a credit card with the corporate name. “So they will have trouble finding us, because this is a dummy corporation I set up for emergencies,” he’d told her. Loathe to put the GPS tracker on an innocent’s car, knowing it would place the driver in danger, he’d opted to leave it at a highway rest stop.

“When they do finally locate you and come for you, we’ll be at Ryder’s place,” he’d told her.

An iron gate barred their way. Darius punched in a code to the key box. As the gate opened, he drove inside, then parked in a guest spot. He turned and stroked a finger down her cheek. “You’re safe now. No fucking Elves are going to touch you.”

A shiver of awareness raced down her spine. She and Darius had forged a connection in the flesh. And here, surrounded by Lupines, that connection promised to become much stronger.

Sam wasn’t certain if she wanted to live a wolf’s life. But Darius was right. Until she found answers about what her birth father was—Lupine? Mage? Skin?—and who wanted her dead, learning to be Lupine gave her a fighting chance. They got out of the car and Sam stretched her aching body.

“Ryder and Kara bought this property from a developer who wanted to retire. They rent out units in the winter and summer as vacation spots.” Darius, too, stretched, and she admired the muscles rippling beneath his smooth skin. “Vacation spots for Lupine packs. Not Skins.”

The door to the townhouse in front of them opened. A tall man came out and approached. Darius tensed slightly. He nodded.

“Ryder.”

“Darius.”

The two males studied each other. Tension crackled in the air. She sensed it was borne not of animosity, but Lupine power.

“Thank you for accommodating me and my chosen mate under these circumstances. It’s safer here for Samantha, and no one will suspect we headed here.” Darius did not lower his gaze, but his tone held respect. “I am formally requesting refuge and pack protection for myself and Samantha.”

“Your request is granted. Aiden has contacted me and given his permission to temporarily release you from your bond to his pack.”

Then the two males relaxed. Ryder stepped forward, shook hands with Darius. He turned to Sam, his blue gaze filled with warmth. “Samantha. Welcome to our home. I am Ryder Carrington.”

As she took the big male’s hand, the front door opened again. A tall woman with long, dark hair tumbling down her back came out, running straight into Darius’ arms.

“Darius!” she shouted.

“Kara!” He caught her up in a hug that swept her off her feet. Sam smiled, deeply curious about who commanded such great affection.

As Darius set down the woman, her left cheek came into view. Sam stifled a shocked gasp. A mark marred the woman’s beauty: a burn scar, a twist of red, angry flesh.

She sensed Ryder quietly watching her, assessing. Sam stepped up and held out both hands to Kara. “Hello. Forgive me for not knowing the formalities. I’m Samantha. Sam. Thank you for your hospitality.”

To her shock, tears shimmered in Kara’s eyes. “Oh gods, Darius, it’s really her, isn’t it? Samantha?”

Puzzled, Sam glanced at Darius and saw moisture sheen his eyes as he nodded.

Tears ran unchecked down Kara’s cheeks. She hugged Sam tight. “I’m so happy you’re alive and he found you after all these years. Darius cried in my arms because he’d been told you were dead. I’ve never seen a man so broken.”

A lump formed in Sam’s throat. She’d been thinking all along of how their separation had affected her, seldom about how much Darius had suffered. But clearly, he had.

Releasing her, Kara stepped back and wiped her cheeks. Sam touched her arm. “Thank you for being there for Darius when he needed someone who cared.”

Kara gave a little hitching sob. “He’s Aiden’s best friend, the only one in the pack who treated me like a sister. He’s like my little brother.”

Darius rubbed his own eyes and cocked his head. “Little? Kiddo, who you calling little?”

Ryder slid an arm around Kara’s waist as she rested her head on his broad shoulder.

“Where are the pups?” Darius asked.

Ryder grinned. He puckered his lips and whistled. Three children ran out of the townhouse, whooping and hollering. They rushed Darius, who staggered backward and fell gracefully to the ground.

“Wolf bait,” the oldest boy yelled and all three piled on top of Darius, who laughed and ruffled their hair.

“Off,” Ryder said sternly. He swept up the girl in his arms, while the two older boys stared with open curiosity at Sam.