Defying Destiny (42 page)

or when he needed her.

He considered her for a moment and

then nodded. She hurried to put on her

boots and cloak while Nash waited on the

front porch, smoking his last cigarette.

When she joined him, he started walking

without looking at her. Crestfallen, she

followed. She was having a hard time

imagining what he must be feeling. It

would be difficult to discover the father

you loved was not the one who sired you,

but to realize you weren’t what you

thought you were… She couldn’t even

imagine how that felt.

She followed him to the giant oak tree

at the edge of the forest and paused. She

didn’t have a right to be here. Not at this

sacred place where the important men in

Nash’s life were buried. Not when she

had put one of them there herself and the

other two had been put there by other

members of the Decatur family.

“Nash, I—”

“You wanted to know what Cort was

like, so come and meet him.”

Her chin quivered with suppressed

emotions, but she held her tears at bay.

She wanted the terrible tight feeling in her

chest and her stinging eyes to remind her

of how wrong she’d been. Nash squatted

down at the foot of Cort’s grave and held

his hand out to Maralee. She went to him

reluctantly. She was surprised by how

tender he was when he drew her against

his side.

“I remember you telling me that I

would eventually fall for woman, even

when I had given up all hope,” Nash said

to his brother’s grave. “I bet you never

would have guessed that she’d be human

and a Hunter.” He laughed at the irony of

it all.

“I’m sorry,” Maralee whispered.

“You’d have liked her, Cort. She’s

almost as impulsive as you were.”

“Please,” Maralee begged. Having

Nash talk to Cort as if he were still alive

was more than she could stand. Tears

began to leak from her eyes as she closed

them to block out the letters of his name

lovingly carved in the trunk of the old tree.

“She cries over you more than I do,”

Nash continued. He drew Maralee closer

and whispered in her ear, “Show him that

beautiful smile of yours, love. Come on.

He wouldn’t want to see such a pretty girl

cry.”

“You’re so cruel,” she gasped,

pushing at him to free herself from his

grasp.

“It’s not intentional,” he murmured, his

arms like steel around her. “I’m being

sincere. Cort would never want to see

someone suffer over him the way you do.

You need to make peace with yourself,

Maralee. Make peace with Cort. He

would have wanted it that way.”

“I can’t, Nash,” she said. “You don’t

know what it feels like to have ended a

life. Even worse, it’s someone important

to you. Someone who has a wonderful

family that needs him.”

“You make peace with him, Maralee,”

Nash said forcefully. “Right here, right

now. I don’t care what you have to do to

forgive yourself, but we aren’t leaving

here until you do.”

He set her away from him and she fell

to her hands and knees on the soggy earth.

“I’m going to talk to my father. You

are going to talk to Cort,” he said, leaving

no room for argument.

“I can’t,” she muttered to herself. “I

don’t deserve his forgiveness. I won’t

forgive myself.” She was barely aware of

Nash’s low voice as he spoke to his father

several feet away. She remained there on

her hands and knees for a long time, just

staring at the ground between her muddy

hands. She didn’t even feel the cold.

“Sorry isn’t good enough,” she said,

more to herself than the Wolf that was

buried beneath the ground. “I could tell

you how sorry I am, but it wouldn’t

change anything.” It was strange how she

felt he could actually hear her—that he

was listening somehow.

“You have a wonderful family,” she

said. “I don’t know Rella very well, but

she seems to be keeping them all together

and well cared for. Carsha is amazing, so

resilient. Cheerful. Nash says Lark is like

you. You must have always been the

center of attention.” She laughed softly,

her heart twisting.

“And then there’s Lord. Lord hates me,

but that’s all right. He’s the only one I

understand at all.” She paused, trying to

think of something to make up for their

loss. She came up totally lacking. “I guess

the only thing I can do is promise I’ll do

everything I can to help your family. It

isn’t enough, I know,” she said, “but I’ll

do whatever necessary to keep them

together—happy and cared for.”

“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Nash asked her, bending down to urge her

to her feet.

He wrapped her in his arms, mindless

of the mud she smeared over his back as

she clung to him.

“No more tears,” he said. “Whenever

you feel like crying over Cort, then you’ll

just make good on your promise to him

instead, right?”

“Yes,” she agreed. “I’ll try.”

He held her for a moment and then

eased her away so they could return to the

cabin. This time he held her hand as they

walked side by side through the slowly

awakening trees. Spring was approaching

and with it, the promise of new life and

new hope.

“Nash,” she said after a moment.

“How can you forgive me so easily?”

He hesitated and did not look at her

when he responded. “Because it’s not

your fault he’s dead. It’s mine.”

“You don’t really believe that.”

He nodded, looking grim as if he’d

never bless her with his smile again.

“Like my mother said, I always hesitate.”

She squeezed his hand, feeling this

was nothing to be ashamed about. “You

just think about things before you act. I

wish I was more like that.”

“Then we would have never been

together,” he said. “What kind of

impulsive fool goes wandering through the

woods to find a howling Wolf?”

She flushed. “Me.”

“And who would think to mouth off to

a dangerous man until he kissed her just to

shut her up?”

“Me.”

“And who would tease a man to his

limit just to get him to take her virginity?”

She sighed. He made it sound so

despicable. “Me.”

“And who would stand before a pack

of three hundred mad Wolves and toss her

only weapon into a snow bank?”

“Okay, I get it, I’m an impulsive, crazy

woman who follows her heart blindly and

never thinks anything through,” she said

hotly.

He chuckled affectionately. “You’re

perfect, Maralee. Don’t ever change.”

She looked up at him and found she’d

been wrong about him never smiling

again. He was smiling at her now.

“You’re the one who is perfect,” she

said. “I really do wish I was more like

you.”

“And I wish I was more like you,” he

murmured, “I guess our only option is to

stay together forever.”

Her smile was more brilliant than the

sun. “I’m impulsive enough to take you up

on that offer,” she warned.

“Don’t worry. I’ve already thought it

through.”

She laughed happily and hugged him.

Where would she be without him? She

couldn’t imagine returning to her life of

loneliness.

The door of a nearby cabin opened.

Rella and an unidentified man stepped out

on her front porch.

“I need some time to think about this,”

Rella said and the man nodded.

Nash turned his head towards them

and Rella looked directly at her brother-

in-law. Rella grabbed the unidentified

man by the collar and kissed him long and

hard on the mouth. The object of her

passion stumbled off the porch when she

released him.

“Come back in a couple of days,” she

told the man and returned to her house.

Nash moved so quickly Maralee was

almost sent tumbling to the ground. She

watched with wide eyes as he punched the

unknown man in the jaw and sent him

flying. Nash was on top of him with his

hands wrapped around the man’s throat

before Maralee could even react.

“You keep your goddamned hands off

of my brother’s wife,” he growled angrily,

smashing the man’s head against the

ground.

Maralee rushed forward and pulled at

Nash’s shoulders with all of her strength.

“Nash! Stop it!” she demanded. “What are

you doing?”

“If you touch her again, I’ll kill you,”

he warned, punching him in the nose for

good measure before he climbed to his

feet and stalked off towards his cabin.

Maralee watched him storm into the

house before she turned her attention to the

dazed, bleeding man at her feet. She knelt

down beside him and helped him sit up.

“What in the hell?” he muttered in

disbelief.

Maralee was equally perplexed.

“Are you all right?” she asked,

searching her pocket for a handkerchief.

He found his own before she realized

she didn’t have one. He pressed the cloth

to his nose and tilted his head back to stem

the flow of blood.

“I’ll live,” he said, climbing to his

feet. He swayed and Maralee steadied him

with her hands. “Who was that?” he

asked, staring at the cabin where Nash had

disappeared. “Was that the Guardian?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“I heard he was a mean son-of-a-bitch,

but man…”

“He isn’t mean,” Maralee insisted.

“Are you seeing, Rella?”

“I plan to marry her, if she’ll have

me,” he said. “She’s the most beautiful

woman I’ve ever seen and she’ll need a

father for those pups of hers.”

Maralee glanced at the house where

Nash had disappeared. She wondered

how he would feel about a man taking his

brother’s place in the lives of his nephews

and niece. Obviously, he didn’t like the

idea much.

“I’m sorry he attacked you like that,”

Maralee said.

The man was staring at Nash’s cabin

as well, a thoughtful look on his face. He

wasn’t as good-looking as Nash, but even

Maralee had to admit that he was

attractive with his dark brown hair and

golden eyes. “It will probably be the best

thing for those kids, taking them away

from here. With a man like that for an

uncle, I’m surprised they’re as healthy and

happy as they are.”

“Take them away from here?”

“Well I obviously wouldn’t be

welcomed into this pack with him as alpha

male,” he said, eyes narrowing.

“You can’t take the children away

from Nash, he’d just die,” Maralee said,

gripping the man’s sleeve as if to

convince him of her words.

“That’s up to Rella,” he said. “Excuse

me. I need to get home.”

Her hold on his sleeve slipped as he

pulled away. Maralee watched him

disappear among the trees before she

followed Nash into the house. She found

him sitting at his desk, calmly reading the

book that was now missing its final page.

“Are you all right?” she asked him,

closing the door behind her and removing

her cloak.

He didn’t answer her, just kept staring

at the book in front of him. A muscle in his

jaw was twitching as he clenched his

teeth.

“I swear, Nash, that is the most

impulsive thing I’ve ever seen you do,”

she said, trying to lighten the mood.

He continued to ignore her. For some

reason, he seemed to be angry with her as

well. She moved closer to him and

touched his shoulder. He glared up at her

and she gasped. The frightening animal in

him, which she hadn’t seen since their

early days of knowing each other, was

there, shining in his amber eyes.

“Stay away from me.”

She backed away from him, actually

afraid of the man she knew to be so gentle.

It was as if he wasn’t even the same

person.

“Nash?”

He took a deep, shuddering breath.