Cole’s Redemption (7 page)

“This is an unusual situation,” Dr. Grant told her, shifting to adjust her belly.
“Dr. Mallory will be your physician, with me consulting. I’m going to be out on maternity
leave soon, so I’d have to hand you over to her anyway.”

“Congratulations, by the way,” she said, surprised at the softness in her own voice.

“Thank you. Do you want children?”

“I’d like them someday. The gods willing.”

Melina smoothly segued into the interview. “Where did you grow up?”

“Clear Springs, Colorado. It’s a small town two hours north of Denver.”

“Any siblings?”

“No.”

“Other family?”

“My uncle, Damien. He’s my father’s brother.”

The women exchanged looks of surprise. Dr. Grant looked to her mate, and he shook
his head and shrugged, indicating he hadn’t known, either. Apparently, her father
had been quite secretive about all aspects of his past. No surprise there.

Dr. Mallory continued. “Are you close to your uncle?”

“Yes. He raised me after my father took off.”

The doctor’s brows drew together. “Define ‘took off.’”

“Seriously? He murdered my mother and disappeared. Left me to fend for myself and
grow up with the scandal he left behind as my legacy. Is that defined enough?”

Dead silence. More exchanged glances before the doctor went on.

“How old were you when this happened?”

“Eleven.”

“Did you witness what your father did?”

She blinked at the doctor. “Excuse me?”

“Did you witness him killing your mother?”

“No,” she admitted. “But I know it’s the truth.”

“
How
do you know it?”

“Because my uncle said so!” she cried, losing her composure. “
Everyone
knew it! The whole clan never let me forget it, either!”

“I’m sorry this is so painful to discuss,” Dr. Mallory said with surprising gentleness.
“I’m just trying to understand what an eleven-year-old girl saw and heard. What she
lived through.”

Swallowing against the burning in her throat, Selene looked away. “She went through
hell, but never came out the other side. She was never the same.”

Never.

None of her clan, or anyone she met, knew the real Selene, that she wasn’t such a
badass. That she was still just a frightened, devastated girl who’d lost her parents
and didn’t understand why. A girl who wanted only to be loved.

Maybe it was a good thing she hadn’t succeeded in taking out her father. Dr. Mallory
had stirred up some questions that were already nagging her like a sore tooth.

And she was going to get them answered if it was the last thing she ever did.

Z
an met Nick in the conference room.

His wolf was going bananas, and he was having a devil of a time keeping him subdued.
As he took a seat next to the commander, he wondered at his luck, or lack thereof,
in accidentally mating with the man’s angry, hurting daughter. Zan had been wanting
a mate for some time, especially seeing the other guys find happiness one by one,
but this wasn’t what he had in mind. The circumstances were less than ideal. And right
now, he didn’t really like her that much, either.

His wolf didn’t care. His need to get to his mate, to protect her, was almost overwhelming.

Taking a deep breath, Zan turned to look Nick in the eye. “Is her accusation true?
Did
you kill her mother?”

Nick looked hurt, but the emotion was quickly masked. “Not in the way she means.”

“An accident?”

“In that it wasn’t supposed to happen, yes.” Staring at the table, he was silent for
a long moment before he raised his head again. “You know I don’t believe in interfering
with the future I see in my visions. I try never to influence people to change the
outcome, no matter how horrible the event that’s coming.”

“Yeah. I always wondered about that. It has to do with Selene?”

“And her mother,” the commander said softly. “I tried to screw fate, and her mother
paid the price.”

Oh,
shit
. “Not just her mother—you and your daughter also.”

“All of us. I didn’t know what would happen, what my actions would set in motion,”
he said. Zan had never seen the man show so much raw pain.

“So tell her. She’s operating under a terrible misconception.”

“I’ll tell her the truth, but not yet. It’s a hard thing for someone to believe something
all their life and then find out they were fed lies. That the person they hate isn’t
exactly what they thought. She needs time to get to know me, to come to her own conclusions.”

“That might make it easier for her to swallow,” he agreed. “If she stays at the compound
for a while, she’ll begin to understand on her own that what she thought was true,
isn’t.”

“And then, hopefully, she’ll come to me, ready to listen. She won’t believe anything
I say until then.”

“What really happened, Nick? What did you do that cost your mate her life?”

His expression was bleak. “Selene deserves to hear the story first. I hope you understand.”

“Of course.” Hesitating, he tried to quell his nerves at his next question. “I have
to ask. . . . Do you have a problem with me being practically related to you?”

That earned him a small smile. “Zan, I can’t think of anyone I’d be prouder to have
as a son-in-law. Assuming this mating works out, I’m happy for you.”

Relief swamped him, and he blew out a breath. “Thank you. I won’t let you or Selene
down. Not if I can help it.”
Holy crap, did I just say
that?

“I know you won’t.”

Just then, Ryon Hunter walked into the room with his mate, Daria Bradford. The man
guided her to a chair and held it out for her as she got seated, then took his own
place. Zan greeted them both, wondering why they were there, until Mac and Kalen escorted
Selene through the door. Then he had a pretty good idea what was going on.

Ryon and Daria took seats opposite Nick and Zan. As Mac and Kalen left, Selene hesitated
uncertainly for a moment, and Zan was struck by an image of her being alone like that
all her life. On the fringes, never certain where she fit in.

“You can sit over here by me, if you’d like,” he offered.

Surprise flitted across her features, and then she took the empty spot beside him.
“Thank you.”

He gave her a smile, and again she appeared a bit taken aback. Though her sitting
next to him would make it harder for him to read her lips while paying attention to
everyone else, he preferred having her close. She was tense as a bowstring, but when
he touched her knee in reassurance, he felt her relax. Even though he knew it was
the mate bond, a purely natural thing for mates to gravitate toward each other, it
was still nice.

To his right, Nick began the meeting. Zan noted once again that his hearing was improving,
because he actually heard what his commander was saying—distantly, but still.

“Ryon and Daria are here because they have a couple of questions for Selene.”

“Yeah,” Ryon snarled. “Like why the fuck she tried to kill my mate!”

Every muscle in Zan’s body coiled, ready to spring on Ryon’s ass if he made one move
toward Selene. Fortunately, Daria soothed her mate, taking his hand and interrupting
him to address the other woman directly.

“I’ve done some thinking, and I don’t believe you intended to harm me. We just want
to know why you pushed me into the ravine that day.”

Selene cleared her throat. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, and for that I’m terribly sorry.”
She ignored Ryon’s growl and went on. “That morning, I heard the creature that I had
been avoiding since I came to the Shoshone. The thing had the most awful roar, like
something out of a black-and-white horror movie.”

“I remember.” Daria shuddered, rubbing her arms.

“I’d had a couple of near misses with the beast, and I knew he was on the move again.”

“Did you know he’d been murdering hikers?” Nick asked, interrupting.

“No. If I had, I would’ve reported something. As it was, I never even actually saw
it, other than a brief glimpse of the outline it made as it went past. The beast was
almost invisible, but not quite. Like looking through distorted glass.”

“Like the creature in the
Predator
movie.”

“Exactly. I didn’t know what sort of creature it could be, but I was afraid of it.
Anyway, that morning, I was hunting for breakfast in wolf form when I saw the beast’s
shadow moving through the forest. I decided to follow him, and he led me toward a
stand of trees where there was sort of a clearing. And in that clearing was a woman
examining the remains of a human. Of course, that woman was you.”

Ryon’s face paled. “You’re saying he was hunting Daria?”

“No. I knew in my gut he was returning to his kill, and the woman who’d found the
remains was just unlucky enough to be in his path when he came back.”

“God,” Daria said, eyes wide. “You ran right past him, didn’t you? You scared me off,
made me run so he wouldn’t slaughter me, too.”

“I did, and he followed us.” Selene’s jaw clenched. “He was closing in, and so I pushed
you over the side to get you out of his sight. Then I ran back and engaged him in
a . . . small skirmish.”

“You did what?” Zan’s mind brought forth horrible images of his mate fighting the
beast. He’d been on vacation, healing from his injuries, while the Pack tracked the
beast. But he’d gotten a description from the others.

“It was all I could think to do. There was nobody but me to lure the thing away, so
that’s what I did.”

Ryon still wasn’t satisfied. “Why didn’t you go back for Daria? How come you didn’t
let anyone know about her being in the ravine, bleeding to death?”

“I was out of commission myself. The beast’s claws raked my abdomen, nearly gutting
me, and I had to find a place to hole up and heal. By the time I was well enough to
shift into human form and make it back to town, Daria had already been found and the
locals were buzzing about her rescue and the murders. I knew the authorities were
on it by then. And I watched you all come and go, talking about attempting to capture
the creature.”

“Do you have any proof of your story?” Ryon asked.

Nodding, Selene stood. Slowly, she lifted her borrowed T-shirt to reveal a pink scar
that ran in a slightly diagonal curve from just below her sternum to her belly button.
“It didn’t completely go away, I’m assuming because of the venom in its claws. I’ve
never had an injury quite like this one.”

Ryon leaned forward. “Convincing.”

Lowering the shirt, she sat again. “It’s the truth. I have plenty of faults, but I’m
no liar.” At that, she fell silent and waited.

“Thank you for saving my life,” Daria said quietly. “You were almost killed trying
to get the beast away from me, and I won’t forget that.”

The tension leaked from the room like air from a balloon. Daria’s belief was good
enough for them. Selene appeared relieved to have been vindicated.

“No thanks are necessary. My parents raised me to help others if and when I possibly
can.” She got the strangest look on her face just then and blinked at Nick, seemingly
at a momentary loss for words. “Anyway, what happened to the beast? I know that it
left the Shoshone, and there was some activity when the team left to pursue it, but
I never learned what went down.”

Ryon answered. “The creature was actually a human named Ben Cantrell. He’d been subjected
to horrible experiments in Malik’s labs—”

“Malik?” Selene looked from him to Zan.

“I’ll explain later.”

“Okay.”

“Anyway,” Ryon continued, “they tampered with Ben’s DNA and turned him into this supermonster,
one of many they hoped to control. When we found and destroyed the last of the labs,
Ben escaped to wreak havoc everywhere he went. The poor bastard had no idea what he
was doing.”

“That’s so sad.” Selene looked upset.

“Yeah, but the good news is that Mac, Melina, and Jax’s mate, Kira, developed a serum
that counteracted the drugs and returned Ben to human form. Mercifully, he didn’t
remember much of what he’d done as the beast. He was a good man who was trapped inside
the creature.”

“Is he doing well now?”

Daria smiled. “Very. He’s actually my former boyfriend, and we’d broken up before
I met Ryon. The whole reason he came here was instinct—he was looking for me, and
the Pack as well. In his lucid moments, he was trying to get help. He went back to
his law practice and is doing fine.”

“That’s great news.” Selene returned her smile.

Ryon stood, extended his hand to Selene. “It appears I was wrong about you. I want
to add my thanks for saving my mate. I’ll never forget what you did. In a way, you
brought us together.”

“I did?”

“Tell you another time.” Daria grinned. “Over a glass of wine or two.”

“I appreciate the invite,” Selene said noncommittally.

“Soon, then. We’ll let you get settled in.”

“It’s kind of funny, isn’t it?” Ryon said, pinning Selene with a piercing look. “I
misinterpreted your actions that injured Daria so severely she almost died. Sometimes
there are explanations for things we don’t understand at first, things that seem unforgivable.
You might want to remember that.”

Selene stared at him, cheeks flushing, and then looked away.

The couple left, and Selene’s discomfort was obvious. “So where do I go from here?
What does getting ‘settled in’ entail? My nice comfy cot in Block R? If so, can I
at least have some magazines?”

Zan’s heart clenched. He didn’t like to think of her in that place, alone. Nothing
to do but wallow in misery and listen to Raven, their poor insane teammate, howl day
and night. Once again he turned to meet Nick’s gaze and made his plea.

“She can room with me. I’ll take good care of her. I swear.”

“We don’t even know each other.” She gave him a questioning look.

“That’s going to change anyway, whether they let you out of solitary now or next week.
At least this way you have some freedom.”

“I don’t think—” Nick began.

“I’ll take full responsibility for my mate.”

“And if she tries to slit my throat while I’m sleeping?” He was only half joking,
Zan could tell.

“I don’t need to resort to dirty tricks—I can take you in a fair fight!” she said
evenly.

Zan tried to speak over her. “If she harms anyone, or even attempts it, I’ll take
her punishment.”

Selene gasped. “Why the hell would you do that?”

“It’s my job—no, my
honor
—to protect my mate. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure nothing happens to you.”

It was a big gamble. He really didn’t know this woman at all. If she were a bad apple,
he’d pay the price. But he had to take the chance; he didn’t know if his wolf could
live without his Bondmate.

Her fingers wrapped around his wrist, and sheer pleasure from even that minimal contact
had his wolf rumbling, wanting more. He could barely focus on what she was saying.
“I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not? Because you know that your sense of honor won’t allow you to stand by and
see me take the fall for your actions? I think that says more about you than you’ll
admit.”

“It says nothing except that I don’t want your interference.”

He didn’t agree. A glance at Nick showed he didn’t, either. There was more to this
woman than blind rage and thoughts of vengeance. She needed a chance to see that for
herself.

“It’s done,” Nick said. “You commit a crime, your mate takes the punishment. Perhaps
your time here will bring you some perspective.”

She was fuming. No wolf liked having her hands tied behind her back, especially an
alpha bitch. She’d decided on a course of action and had been derailed. Now she was
lost.

“If we’re done here, I’ll show her to my quarters,” Zan said. He couldn’t say
our quarters
yet. They had a long way to go before that day, if ever.

Nick stood, signaling the end of the meeting. “Bring Selene to dinner. Everyone will
want to meet her.”

She snorted. “I just bet they will. More than likely, they’ll want to rip me to shreds.”

“Something tells me you can handle it,” the commander said with the barest hint of
a smile. “You are my daughter, after all.”

“Not by choice,” she spat.

Crap. Time to go
. Zan put a hand on her arm and tugged gently, guiding her toward the door. As he
looked back, Nick’s expression was composed, revealing nothing.

Until Zan ushered her out the door. When she’d cleared the room, Zan looked back to
see Nick’s head bowed, shoulders slumped.