Her Werewolf Hero (21 page)

“Yeah, that was certainly a run in the wild. Wow!”

“You rethinking your agreement to help me out tonight?”

“Nope. Never. I like your wild. I think you even growled at me a couple of times.”

“You liked it.”

“I did.” She rolled to her back and closed her eyes. Smoothing her hand across his stomach she tickled a fingertip through the dark hair growing up from his groin. “I'm going to have some good dreams now.”

“Then I'll let you rest. I'm sated.” He almost said “thank you,” but that felt wrong. She hadn't just given him a gift or done something kind for him. She had shared herself with him. And that was worth more than a simple thank-you. He kissed her forehead. “Sweet dreams.”

“For sure they'll be much better than the werewolf-ripping-out-my heart dream,” she said on a drowsy tone.

“What?” He'd heard her correctly. “You think I...?”

“Huh? Oh. Sorry. I shouldn't have said anything, but...it's nothing to do with you.”

“I don't understand. Kizzy?”

“It's just—I've been having nightmares since the accident. Couple times a month. Always this werewolf rips out my heart. And then...well the dream ends, and I never know if he eats it or if I live or what.”

“Kizzy, why are you only telling me this now?”

“I did mention it earlier.”

“Not the part about the werewolf.”

“I didn't want to freak you out. It can't mean anything. They've been going on much longer than I've known you. And I assume it's metaphorical. I'm into paranormal creatures, so of course it would be a werewolf that would show up in my dream, since those were the only ones I was really afraid of.” She yawned. “You've worn me out. 'Night.”

“Good night,” he said and kissed her again. But Bron didn't fall asleep as easily as she did. She'd dreamed about a werewolf ripping out her heart?

What strange portent had brought him into her life?

Chapter 22

K
izzy rolled over in bed and wrapped her arms around...the pillow.

She sat up and blinked at the morning sunshine beaming through the window. Forgot to pull the shades last night. Her body felt lax and warm, and she smelled like Bron and sex. A delicious blend of wild and salty. She listened but didn't have to wonder if he was in the bathroom. The door across the hallway was open, and the small bathroom was dark. And she didn't hear anyone tinkering out in the kitchen.

Her heart dropped to her gut. “He left without me. He's going to try and beat the soul bringer and save his wife. He can't do that!” She scrambled off the bed and grabbed some clothes. “He needs me.” She stood abruptly and clasped her chest. He'd successfully dissuaded her from her mission yesterday. All night. But now it was a new day.

And... “He needs my heart.”

There was no way around it. He might be able to wound the soul bringer with some of those weapons he wielded, but to ultimately win? Even Bron had been unsure he could stand against one so powerful. There was only one way for him to walk out of that warehouse this morning with his wife in his arms.

And while she should care less what happened to the wife, Kizzy couldn't stand back and allow an innocent woman to suffer for something that she could fix.

Besides, she could get her heart back after the soul bringer had used it as a portal to Purgatory. All would be swell.

That's what she kept repeating as she dressed, quickly brushed her teeth, swigged back some orange juice—ugh! After toothpaste!—and headed for the door. Gripping the knob, she paused and wondered about bringing along her camera. She shook her head. Too big. And it would be a distraction.

She opened the door, then rushed back into the kitchen and grabbed the small digital camera she used for backup and tucked it into her front pocket.

“I'm not a fool.”

* * *

Bron dodged a wicked arc of black lightning that crackled above his head. Jumping to the right, he stood upright with the bowie knife held at the ready.

The soul bringer smirked. “I can do this all day, werewolf. Face it. You've not the speed or the skill to defeat me. Sure, you can take down most other entities that inhabit this mortal realm. But that's because they are of
this
realm. I am not.”

Indeed, the man was angel. But he'd had to try. Repeatedly. And with everything he could muster. And without Kizzy at his side. He'd made the right choice by leaving her back home snug in bed. No harm must come to her.

With a sweep of his hand, he wiped the sweat from his brow. He glanced toward the cage set against the wall in the shadows. Claire sat inside. She clung to the bars, her darting eyes wide. Blond hair tangled down her back. Her white dress was dirty. Had she shifted last night? The dress wasn't torn, but she may have been forced to take it off before shifting. Pray, the soul bringer had not stood there watching. She had suffered enough humiliation as well as personal threat. Because of him.

He had to set her free.

“I heard you howl last night, wolf,” the soul bringer teased Bron snidely.

“You kept her in the cage all night?” Bron asked, wandering back and forth like a caged animal himself. The blade handle hurt his bones, he gripped it so tightly.

“Don't you know a werewolf can't shift without its heart?”

Again Bron glanced to Claire. It may have been a strange mercy for her that she hadn't shifted. “I'm so sorry,” he felt the need to say to her.

“This is your fault!” she yelled, summoning a twinge of remembrance, at the back of his neck. He had wronged her. Again. “Get me out of here!”

“There must be some bargain we can come to,” Bron said, stopping his pacing before the soul bringer. “She isn't a part of this.”

“I made her a part of it.”

“But she's...” He couldn't say it. That she hadn't meant anything to him over the centuries. That even now he only felt compelled to help her because she was the classic damsel in distress. No woman should be treated so cruelly. Someone had to rescue her. But care for her?

Had he ever loved Claire? Or had he simply been fulfilling a requirement to become pack leader? Had he fooled himself that he'd known love?

Yes. The affair had proven it. It was time to move on. And fight for something that he really could love. Like Kizzy. And the only way to do that was to right a past wrong.

“I know. I've heard the sad tale of your infidelity,” Blackthorn offered. He crossed his arms and leaned against a steel pole. He was not broad in shoulder or wide with muscle. Slim and lean, he epitomized the slinking dark menace. “Love is tough, isn't it?”

“As if you would know,” Bron spat out and resumed his pacing.

He'd come with a plan that he had known would fail. But how else to avoid bringing the woman he did care about into this mess? He just hoped to solve this before Kizzy woke and figured out what he was up to.

“I know love,” Blackthorn said. “It is why I need that damned Purgatory Heart.”

“Soul bringers are emotionless,” Bron said. “You are a liar.”

“I cannot lie. It's an angel thing. And I have learned to love since Desdenova came into my life.”

Within a second the soul bringer stood before Bron, gripping him up under the chin. The black gloves he wore fit like a second skin. His coal eyes blazed with a cold fire. “My Nova died a week ago. She was a sin eater. Do you know what that means, wolf?”

Bron shook his head within the tight grip. If he could just slash far enough with the blade...

“Unfortunately, sin eaters are mortal, and something so repulsive as a drunk driver took her life. Upon her death she went to Purgatory. Sin eaters are destined to spend eternity in that place. They cannot reach Above without direct guidance from a soul bringer.”

Bron kicked the man at the hip, which released him to land on his feet and stumble backward a few steps. He wielded the blade between them but did not move to slash. He wanted to hear what the soul bringer had to say.

“Then why did you let her go?” he challenged. “You could have brought her Above.”

“I was ferrying other souls! I was not there when the car struck her, crushing the life from her as she was thrown from her feet and slammed against a brick wall. I could not get to her soul fast enough. With her last breath, her soul was instantly sucked into Purgatory.”

“So that's why you need to get to Purgatory?”

Blackthorn nodded. He sucked in a stuttering breath. “I know love, wolf. And it is fierce. Do you know what they will do to my Nova in Purgatory? She is reviled for the multitude of sins she has eaten to allow sinners to pass into Above instead of Beneath where they belong. Not once in her lifetime had Nova sinned. Never. Always she kept a clean soul in order to take on the brunt of the evils she ate to cleanse others. And yet the Toll Gatherers will take their revenge on her for those stolen souls they were not given opportunity to torment. I must get her out!”

Bron winced to recognize the desperation in the man's voice. Perhaps the soul bringer had loved. Bron had always walked away before any degree of love could escalate in his life. His one-night-stand rule. And yet, yes, he had known love in the eyes of an innocent child.

And now to learn exactly why the soul bringer sought an entrance into Purgatory changed things. Minutely. He still wouldn't hand over Kizzy's heart.

I dreamed of a werewolf ripping out my heart.

Bron's heart had cracked when she'd told him that. He believed in premonition and portents. But did she?

And now he knew the enemy he dealt with had a weakness and could be ruled by emotion. Blackthorn Regis wasn't simply pure evil.

Which made him much more complicated.

“I thought you were not able to enter Purgatory?” Bron asked. Not so eager to simply react now, he relaxed his shoulders, yet maintained a defensive stance with feet apart, blade at the ready.

“Purgatory is closed to me. I'll worry about that when I get the heart.”

“Did someone ask about a heart?”

Bron spun around at Kizzy's voice. “No! Get out of here!”

She marched across the concrete floor toward him. Bron shoved the blade into the sheath where he normally kept a stake and gripped her by the shoulders. The contact filled his senses with her essence and momentarily returned him to the bed they had shared last night. She smelled like sex and warmth and everything he couldn't live without.

So he was wrong. He did know how to love. Fiercely.

“No, Kizzy,” he said so softly because he wanted her all to himself. And, for some odd reason, he didn't want to disrespect Claire. “I won't let you do this.”

“Then it's a good thing I can make up my own mind. You can have my heart!” she called to Blackthorn. “If you promise to put it back when you're finished with it.”

“Of course I will,” the soul bringer said.

“You won't be the same,” Bron argued. He clutched her shoulders tightly, wanting to make her stop, to force her to turn away and run. But she was a strong woman who would not be dissuaded. He loved her for her strength. Damn it!

He turned to the soul bringer. “There's no way you can take out her heart without her suffering.”

The soul bringer gestured toward Claire in the cage. “She's doing just fine. Although I must say, she is getting weak. The longer her heart remains out of her body—” he shrugged “—well, that's how it goes.”

Kizzy dashed for the black box Bron had left sitting on the floor before he'd attacked the soul bringer. She held it up. “Give her back her heart, and then you can have mine.”

“I believe we have a deal,” Blackthorn said. “But no putting the werewolf's heart back until I've seen if your heart opens the doorway to Purgatory.”

“No!” Bron grabbed the box. “Give Claire back her heart now. Or this won't happen.”

“It can't work that way.” Kizzy gripped Bron's forearm. Her eyes flashed with more of that incredible strength. She stood between him and Blackthorn, and he could see Claire out of the corner of his eye. The haggard wolf gripped the cage bars, her eyes a desperate plea.

“This is the only way it can happen,” Kizzy said calmly. “You know that. And the sooner it gets done, the sooner she can have her heart back and get the hell out of here. Look at her. I'm sure she wants that desperately.”

“Yes, please,” Claire pleaded. She had fallen to her knees and no longer clung to the bars. She was growing weaker, for her eyelids fluttered, and she was so pale. “Do it, Bron. You owe me this much.”

When Kizzy turned up her gaze on him he swallowed. Double guilt trip? Hell. How could he allow this to happen? He'd sworn he would protect Kizzy.

She began unbuttoning her shirt, and he gripped her hand. “Stop it.”

“I'm not going to strip. I'm just preparing.” She swung a look to the soul bringer. “Will it hurt?”

Blackthorn shook his head. “I'll make it painless. As much as I can.”

She looked to Claire, then stroked Bron's chin. “Is she angry with you?”

“What do you think?”

“Of course she is. But she'll forgive you.”

He didn't need Claire's forgiveness, but he did need her absolution. For the love he had never been able to give her.

Kizzy took his hand and pressed it against her chest. She didn't wear a bra, and his thumb brushed the curve of her breast beneath the loose blouse. “Remember what I told you? There's already a ‘cut here' line.”

She tried to make light of the situation. He hated that she felt she had to save them all. She didn't have to do that. He could find a way. He had to. “Just walk away,” he said. “You don't have to sacrifice—”

“I do. And you know that.”

“No, I—”

“Bron,” she whispered. Her shaking fingers stroked his beard. He could smell not fear but apprehension. She was so brave, and he admired that about her. So much he loved about her. “Even if I walk away right now, it will never stop. He'll always be after me for reasons I can never know.”

“He is in love,” Bron said, noting the soul bringer paid keen attention. “His lover died recently and is in Purgatory. That's why he needs a portal into Purgatory.”

“So, what will going to her mean?”

“She is a sin eater and does not have a chance to go Above. She will be tortured eternally in Purgatory. If she is taken out of there, then Regis can ferry her soul to Above.”

“Then you have to hurry!” She released his hand and turned to the soul bringer.

It felt as if he would never hold her hand again. Never feel the warmth of her on his skin. Never get to sing to her those silly little lines from movies that stayed with him because they reminded him that life could be fun if he sought it. Never know how much it hurt to love someone so much.

Was this a fierce love, then?

It was. The realization hurt because it was so bittersweet.

“Kisanthra,” he whispered, as the soul bringer uncrossed his arms and opened them to her. “I love you.”

“Oh, you are my hero. I love you, too.” She turned and leaned over to kiss him quickly. Too quick. He missed her already, and she wasn't even gone. “So if you really love me,” she said, “let this happen.”

He exhaled.

She lifted a brow, waiting for his response with a tease of the coy lover he'd held through the night. If he wanted to win her, he must step back and let her do this. Curse his immortal soul, it would kill him, but he must. Because he loved her.

Bron nodded.

“Thank you. Let's do this,” she said to Blackthorn. “But you promise when it's done, you will put my heart back, and I will walk out of here in the same condition as I am now? I mean, all good?”

“Your goodness has no bearing on the results of having your heart removed. If you are asking whether or not you will be alive and healthy? Then, yes, you will be so. But time does become an issue. Your hero must work quickly.”