Pride's Pursuit (a Wolf's Pride novel, book three) (10 page)

.”
“
You don’t have to die. I don’t want you to die
.” I lower my eyes and emotions fracture my
voice when I admit out loud, “I…I couldn’t handle it if anything happened to you.”
I listen to his sharp intake of air.“Nothing is going to happen to me.”
“It will if you don’t stop doing stupid things.” I close my eyes against the flood of emotions
and pound on his chest. Stone grabs my fist to stop me, and what he does next has a sob rising in
my throat.
“Everything I do is to protect you.” He holds my hand over his heart, and the intensity on
his face is almost frightening when he says, “Because this belongs to you, Pride. It always has
and always will.”
“Stone—”
“Let’s go.”
“Go? What are you talking about?” I ask, confused by the abrupt change in conversation.
“Over there.” He juts his chin toward the hills behind us and takes my other hand in his as
he transfers his thoughts to mine.“
Me and you. Right now.Let’s get out of here
.”
I give a fierce shake of my head, and inch back, wondering if anything I just said actually
registered with him. Rooting my feet I answer with, “You know I can’t do that. I can’t turn my
back on these wolves.”
His eyes cloud, and his look is wounded.“You know I’d never ask you to do that. I’m only
asking you to run with me. Tonight.Let’s free our wolves from their leashes.” He steps back
into my personal space and pulls me closer until my body is smashed against his. He tangles his
hands through my hair and dips his chin, his eyes are full of possession as tenderness steals over
him.“Let me prove to you that you belong with me. That we belong together.”
I feel the tension rising in him and before I realize what he’s doing, his lips close over mine.
He kisses me with such savagery it occurs to me just how lost he is.
“Please, Pride,” he whispers into my mouth, his voice playing down my spine as he draws
me in to a place where emotions rule.
My heart leaps and my wolf wails, because I know what he’s asking. What he wants our
fated wolves to do. I open my mouth to speak, but have no idea what it is I want to say.
He runs his hands along my back and an unexpected curl of heat wraps around me. I wail,
because I know what’s causing my blood to burn, my skin to come alive. My wolf is
programmed to seek her destined mate, but how can I possibly give Stone what he’s asking for
when I’ve already offered myself to another.
I feel him inside my head once again, attempting to probe. I block him and stumble to
speak, but before I can get any words out, Stone’s shoulders square and his entire body stiffens
like he’s preparing for a fight.
My mouth slams shut and when he looks past my shoulders, I turn to follow his gaze, fully
expecting to see Logan. I spot movement in the shadows and when I catch a foul scent in the
breeze, I instantly know who has invaded our privacy.
Footsteps fall mutely as my father comes closer, and I don’t need the artificial floodlights
scanning the area to see the dark torment on his face.
“We’ve been searching for you. You need to come inside,” he says and I stiffen, the worry I
hear in his voice triggering a reaction from my wolf.
I brace myself.“What’s going on?”
“It’s Sandy. She needs your help.”
“Sandy?”
I exchange a quick look with Stone then hurry past my father, ribbons of fear trickling
through my blood. I know she insisted on accompanying us to Lewis Lake, but I never should
have agreed.
“Where is she?” I call over my shoulder.
“She’s in her room.”
I take the steps two at a time and burst through the door to Sandy’s room. The first thing I
notice is the scent of blood.It’s so strong, the coppery tang saturates the air and settles on the
back of my tongue. I swallow hard and try not to gag as I take in the scene before me.
Perched on the bed, I see Logan talking to Sandy, his voice is low, soothing. Gem turns my
way. Her face is full of anger and grief. Without speaking, she steps around me carrying an
armload of blood soaked towels.
My stomach cramps, and my hand closes over my mouth to stifle a gasp.
“She’s taken pills. She found themin my medicine cabinet,” my father whispers in my ear
as he and Stone step into the room behind me.“The bottle is empty. She must have taken at least
twenty.”
“What kind of pills?” I ask and shoot him a glance.
His lips are pinched tight, and the white lines circling his mouth are a clear indication that
whatever she ingested could very well be the end of her.
“Acetaminophen,” he finally says.
I try to keep the panic at bay as I think back to my lessons with Ms. Kara. She taught me all
about the deadly side effects of acetaminophen. If a cat or dog ingests too much, it can become
toxic. Except wolves aren’t dogs and we have regenerative abilities. At least mature wolves do,
which has my mind racing to Sandy’s baby. They could never withstand such huge amounts of
poison. Sandy knows that every bit as much as I do. As I consider that, it becomes achingly
apparent that she knew what she was doing, that her action had been on purpose.
I fight down my rising hysteria and draw a breath to center myself, but there is nothing I
can do to keep guilt from eating at me. I should have paid closer attention to her. I should have
been more aware.
I step up to the bed and the cushy mattress sinks a little as I sit down next to her.
“Sandy,” I say gently and brush her damp bangs from her forehead. I squeeze her other
hand, a silent apology for all the things that are happening to her. For all the things that
happened back at the compound.
For all the things I couldn’t stop from happening.
Frustration and helplessness hit at the same time and it takes all my effort to keep my voice
level when I ask, “How are you feeling?”
With uncoordinated movements, she clutches the mattress and her fingers curl into the
sheets beneath her. That’s when I see how swollen her face is, how her actions are stiff, clumsy.
“Is it gone?” she asks and I don’t miss the note of desperation in her voice.
I brush tiny beads of moisture from her face, and as she stares at me, her eyes wild,
delirious, I know the toxins have yet to push their way through her body. I turn to see Stone and
think about the way he once helped me fight the poison in my body. By angering me.
Knowing that isn’t the solution for her, I think back to my lesson.“She needs hydrogen
peroxide.” I have no idea if it will actually help nullify the effects, but I know anger is the last
thing she needs to be feeling right now. Stone gives a nod then exchanges words with my father
before he disappears into the hall.
“Is it gone?” she asks again around a thick tongue.
“Yes,” I say, my glance going back to Logan’s and I watch the muscles along his chin
clench as his jawbone seesaws from side to side.“It’s gone.” After Logan gives me a pained
frown, I ask, “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“He’s out there. I know it.I can feel him.”
I don’t have to ask to know who she’s afraid of most. “He’s not out there, Sandy,” I say and
continue to smooth her hair from her face.“We’ve been over this. The panthers took care of
him.”
“No. You’re wrong,” she rushes out, her body shaking, her head tossing back and forth
almost frantically.“I can feel him.”
Logan and I exchange a worried look, and I adjust my position on the mattress to lean
closer. I capture her head between my palms to still her and try to get her to focus her thoughts.
“How can you feel him?” I ask, my stomach turning because I’m suddenly not sure I want
to hear the answer.
“Because…because of our connection,” she admits, and looks down almost sheepishly.
Hearing that one word has my world tilting on its axis, and I feel a desperate sort of anger
inside me. My hands slip from her face, and whileI’m afraid I already know the answer to my
next question, I know I still have to ask it. I need to hear her say it.
I capture her shoulders and try to sound more in control than I feel.“What kind of
connection, Sandy?”
She blinks up at me and her words are slow when she says. “It…it…was his.”
My breath leaves my lungs in a whoosh, and my limbs feel numb as my blood drains to my
feet. As I rationalize and digest her words, my wolf howls to break free and run. Beside me I can
almost hear Logan’s mind reeling and in an attempt to connect with him mentally I search
around for him in the dark.His head comes up with a start, and while we can’t speak
telepathically, I get the oddest sense that he can still feel me.
I mouth the words, “She needs to shift.”
“The poison in her body won’t allow it,” he answers quietly. “She has to ride it out.”
I take a moment to consider this turn of events, then quickly berate myself. I should have
put it together. The master had broken her and she wanted to please him. From the intimate,
adoring way she was acting with the man who controlled us, I should have realized what he’d
done to her.
When a big hiccupping sob cuts the quiet around us, I say,“Okay, Okay. Everything is
going to be okay.”
Acting purely on instinct, I gather her into my arms. Mimicking the way my mother used to
try to soothe me, we rock back and forth on the bed, and while I know so very little about
comforting someone, I try to do right by her. She deserves that much from me.
“He’s going to come for me,” she says through a frightened sob as she clutches my arm.
“And he’s going to be angry.” She inches back and her nose is red and swollen, her lips horribly
chewed.“But I couldn’t let him have it, Pride. I couldn’t.”
“I understand.”
She nods and sniffs, her dark eyes hopeful, searching for approval.“You do?”
“Of course I do and I won’t let anyone hurt you. Not ever again.”
“Okay,” she manages to say, her lids drooping around her eyes as sleep pulls at her. As she
comes in and out of consciousness, I can feel her frustration, helplessness, confusion. We stay
like that for a long time, and just when I think she’s fallen asleep her lids jump open.
“Pride,” She says, her eyes rolling around her head like runaway marbles.
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…I shouldn’t have…” She blinks wet lashes over stricken eyes.“I
did what I had to in order to survive.I didn’t know you were going to come back to the
compound to get me.”
As I wonder what she’s getting at, every nerve in my body stands on high alert, and the
hairs running along my nape begin to tingle.
Before I can ask exactly what she’s getting at, exactly what she
had
to do, she sags against
me. I feel the fight go out of her body and fire burns my blood.
I touch her shoulders and gently ease her back onto her pillow, but when our eyes meet my
heart begins to beat faster, and while I know I’m not going to like her answers, I’m suddenly
desperate to hear them.
I let out a slow breath.“What I don’t understand, Sandy, is why he would do this to you.
He’s human and he wanted to breed strong alphas into the pack. So why would he want to dilute
it with a half breed offspring?”
“I’m, I’m not sure,” she slurs, then she smiles likes she’s remembering a distant past. “He
promised me things. Nice things,” she adds, but as I sit here and listen to her, there is a small
intuitive part of me that says she’s not being completely truthful.
She’s not telling me everything.
As I consider our former master, a hard man driven by hate and greed, I know there is a
purpose to his every action. He impregnated Sandy for a reason.I just don’t know what that
reason is.
After Stone comes back with the hydrogen peroxide I take it from him, and pull Sandy to a
sitting position.“Stay with me a little longer, Sandy. I need you to sip this.”
I put the bottle to her mouth and she takes a few mouthfuls.Once I’m satisfied that she’s
ingested enough of the antidote I ease her back onto her pillow, and she exhales in an exhausted
heap.
Gem touches my arm.“I think she needs to rest, Pride.” With that she drapes a cool cloth
over Sandy’s forehead. “I’ll stay with her.”
I offer Gem a grateful smile, and force my feet to carry me out of the room. Once we all
reach the hall, I look at Stone, the only boy who knows the master as well as I do.
I talk to him silently.“
There is more isn’t there?
”
“Y
eah
,” he agrees. “
There’s something else she’s not telling us
.”
“
I know
.”
I take a moment to think about what Sandy
did
tell us. The master promised her things.
Nice things. My stomach cramps and the hairs on my nape tingle because the master never gives
without taking.
So what did he want in exchange?
I mull that over a moment longer and realize Sandy was going to give him offspring, some
sort of half breed pup. As I toss that around inside my head, a more frightening thought strikes.
What if it wasn’t a half breed at all?

With that last thought bouncing around inside my head and filling me with a new sort of
anxiety, I step away from the others to slip into the small bathroom near my bedroom. The lock
clicks behind me as I listen to everyone file back into their respective rooms, leaving Sandy in
Gem’s care.

I move across the warm marble floor and grip the pedestal sink hard enough to turn my
knuckles white. With my blood draining to my feet, I lean forward and draw deep breaths before
lifting my eyes to stare at my reflection in the vanity mirror. My long hair falls forward in a
tangled mess around my chalkyface, and I don’t miss the horror in my dark eyes or the inky
smudges beneath them as I consider the root of Sandy’s fears.

Is it possible that she turned the master? Created a new kind of monster and unleashed him
into the world?
Even though I’m on edge, a yawn pulls at me, a reminder that Ihaven’t had a decentnight’s
sleep in ages. I blink to keep my eyes open and understand there is a real possibly that I might
never sleep again—especially if Sandy created a dangerous new alpha.
Needing to sort matters through, I turn the cold water on and splash my pale face to help
clear the fog from my tired brain.
If I’m right, if the master promised her nice thingsso she’d turn him, for reasons I’ve yet to
understand, what suddenly prompted him to do it?
Why now, after all this time would he ask one of his broken wolves to change him?
From everything I’ve learned, wolves rarely turn humans, and when they do, it’s through a
careful selection process. The human candidate would only be turned if they could bring
something new to the pack. But of course, I can’t forget that none of those rules would apply in
the master’s house.
My mind takes me back to my last few days in his mansion. There were no indications that
he’d been bitten, no signs, no scent variations, or behavioral changes that illustrated he was
becoming wolf.
I take a minute to consider the time frame. If Sandy changed him in between moon cycles,
when I was making my way back to the compound then it would have been too soon for him to
display any changes. Hewouldn’t have any wolf strength or characteristicsuntil he’d gone
through his first full moon transformation.
That thought has me breathing a small sigh of relief.Because if he hadn’t gone through a
lunar cycle yet, it meant the feral panthers would have easily taken care of him. He never would
have survived long enough to reach the next full moon—a mere day ago—when he would have
fed and become a full-fledged wolf.
Despite what Sandy said, despite her
feeling
him out there somewhere, he has to be dead.
He just has to be.Otherwise…
A shiver moves through me, because there can’t be an otherwise.An otherwise means he’s
still out there—in wolf form—and that possibility is too horrific for me to consider.
I turn the water off, dry my face and hands on the big fluffy cotton towel beside me and
draw a breath before opening the bathroom door.
I face a dark hallway, but the thoughts of returning to my room where I found an old, lost
photo of my mother makes me feel restless, anxious.
I take a step, and when my booted feet thump on the floor, I stop and cringe.
Wanting to move about the house silently, I kick off my boots, and place them inside my
room. But when I do, I once again hear voices coming from the ventilation system.
I walk to the grate and hunker down to listen.This time I’m able to make out what Logan is
saying.And I’m able to determine who he is talking to.
“She deserves to know,” Logan says, and even though his voice sounds tinny coming
through the pipes, I don’t miss the anger in his tone.
“When she’s ready,” my father counters and I hear a wheeze in his throat, like he’s having
difficulty drawing in air.
“Ready? And how much time do you think you have?”
I hear a scuffle, and my stomach tightens with worry as I continue to listen, wondering what
is going on. What are they keeping from me?
But then my worry turns to anger, because I’m so tired of all the secrets. I might expect it
from my father, but after everything we’ve been through, the only thing I expect from the boy I
mated with is complete and utter honesty.
“Not enough time,” my father answers, sadly.“Never enough time,” he says again, and I
don’t miss the melancholy in his tone.
I hear Logan exhale slowly, and can almost feel the fight drain out of him.“Then you’d
better do right by her and help her find her way before it’s too late. She’s counting on you, and
after the life you let her live, she deserves at least that much from you.”
The venom I hear in Logan’s tone pulls a gasp from me, and I realize I’m seeing another
side of the boy I mated with, a side that has my heart swelling with everything I feel for him.
As I consider the boy who crawled into my hell to help save me, my anger melts. I trust him
with all my heart and realize he isn’t keeping the truth from me on purpose.He’s keeping
secrets because he has to.Because he’s protecting me from something. Something that has
everything to do with my father.
It also occurs to me that if he’s keeping something from me, then maybe I’m not ready to
face it.
That dark thought sends my emotions on a roller coaster ride and the desperate need to find
Logan prompts me into action. I climb to my feet and retrace my steps back into the hall.
Moving with stealth, I pad silently down the long winding staircase in search of the two.
With the others asleep, I walk around the mansion undetected,and examine my father’s
belongings as I search him out. I step into the kitchen and open and close the drawers and
cupboards. I make note of all the things I can use as a weapon if need be, and commit the
contents to memory. Then make my way down a long hallway to find a heavy door leading to
the basement. I stare at it, and my wolf growls, hating the thoughts of what that area once held.
Could they be down there?
I run my hand along the door frame, and look at the key pad beside it.When I realize it’s
been disabled and try the door, only to find it open, my heart gives a little lurch.
The hinges creak as I slowly pull it open, and the scent of fresh pine hits with a slap. As I
breathe in the cleaning solution, and note the freshly waxed floors, I move down the long
corridor and don’t miss the cameras pivoting to watch me.
I open a door leading to the basement, and when the scent of wolf, barely masked by the
cleanser, rises up to meet my nostrils, I work to get my own wolf under control. Deep inside
she’s howling, urging me to run the other way because she knows.
She knows this is where my father once caged wolves.
Once caged Logan.
“Pride, don’t go down there.”
I spin around and find Logan moving toward me. His eyes are dark, his expression pained.
“Logan,” I say, my emotions in a tangled mess as he pulls me away from the door and into
his warm embrace.“This is where he kept you caged,” I rush out.
Even though he can’t read my thoughts, he’s still privy to my concerns, and what he says
next gives credence to our connection.“He never hurt me, Pride.” His voice falls off and he runs
the soft pad of his thumb over the scar on my neck, and when his eyes travel back to my face,
what I see in his eyes nearly becomes my undoing.“Not like your master did.”
I look over his shoulder, half expecting to see my father coming down the hall.
“Where is he?” I ask.
“I don’t know.”
“I heard you two talking.”
His look is confused for a moment then his muscles tighten when he asks, “What did you
hear?”
“I heard you telling him to do right by me.” I want to say more. I want to ask questions. But
I don’t. While it’s not in my nature to back away from the truth, I bite my tongue because I trust
Logan.Trust that he knows what he’s doing.
He opens his mouth like he wants to say something, then seems to think better of it and
asks, “What are you doing down here?”
“I was looking for you and my father.”
Worried eyes search mine.“You shouldn’t be down here. There is nothing here for you to
see.”
“Why are you down here, Logan?”
“I went to your room looking for you.And when I couldn’t find you, I had a feeling.”
“Am I that transparent?”
“I know the way you think.”
“Then you must know I’m sorry for all this.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for. I do.”
I look at him, confused.“I’m the one who dragged you into all this.”
“Hey, come on,” he says, panic easing from his expression. “You didn’t drag me into this.
A few months back I came here on my own free will, remember. Then when I heard about the
fearless Pride, I came looking for you.” He pauses for a long moment, and emotions thicken his
voice when he says, “The truth is, Pride, you could be dead because of me. You tried to tell me
about Nova, but I didn’t listen.” He rakes his hair from his forehead and his glance is apologetic.
“I just thought…”
“This isn’t your fault.You’ve been through a lot these last couple of days and she’s a
member of your pack. Betraying you is the last thing you expected from her, especially after
everything that happened at your village.”
“I stillshould have known.”
“She fooled us all, Logan.”
“She didn’t fool you.” His nostrils flare and I feel his muscles bunch beneath me when he
adds, “Or Stone.”
“We’ve been caged and tortured our whole li
ves, and that makes us react differently.”
He looks away, like he’s unable to meet my eyes.“Maybe he’s right. Maybe he does know
how to take care of you better.”
“Logan,” I rush out. “You once told me we were equals, and that it’s our job to take care of
each other. I love how you trust me, respect my choices and have such faith in me. It gives me
faith in myself, and makes me stronger.”
He grips the back of my head.“Pride, if anything ever happened to you…”
“Nothing is going to happen to me,” I say, and swallow down my apprehension.
He pulls me in tight.“You’re right. Because I won’t let it. Imade a mistake and it won’t
happen again.” He splays his hands over the small of my back.“I don’t know…I couldn’t…” he
says then stops like he can’t force the words out of his mouth.
“I know, Logan. I know,” I say. And I do know, because I couldn’t face a future without
him in it, either.
He looks at me long and hard and worry creeps into his voice when he says, “You need
sleep.”
When I think about returning to that bedroom alone, my heart pounds harder in my chest,
and my legs tighten, refusing to budge.
Logan’s face softens and, astute wolf that he is, he slips his arm around my waist.“Come
on.”
“Where are we going?”
“Outside.”
“Why?”
“Because I know what you need.”
Instead of asking what he’s getting at I allow him to lead me out the back door. We move
away from the house and follow a path leading toward a beautiful in-ground pool, and for some
reason the water reminds me of the ocean and the promise Logan once made to me.
When the cool evening air wraps around me, he hugs me to him, and my wolf takes
pleasure in the warmth of his body.
In the near distance the water ripples on a breeze, and we stand there in silence for a long
time, both of us lost in our thoughts, and I wonder what he’s thinking about when he angles his
head and smiles at me.
He finally breaks the quiet and says, “Rememberwhen we were in the woods?”
“Yes.”
“What do you remember most?”
I instantly think back to the night I gave myself to him in the cave. I look at him, and he has
a crooked grin on his face.
“Besides that,” he says and rolls his eyes playfully.
I think for a moment then say, “I remember the bear that nearly killed me. I remember
meeting the other kids and eating around a fire.” I stop to give a frightened shake before adding,
“I remember the PTF officers that nearly found us, and I remember you teaching me all about
survival.” I also remember him teaching me how to laugh, and how to cry, but I keep those
thoughts to myself.
“Well,I’m in your world now, Pride.” He shrugs.“So to speak.So why don’t you teach me
something?”
I look at him and know what he’s doing.Even though he’s worried sick about his family,
his destroyed village, he’s trying to distract me, trying to lighten my mood.
“I don’t have anything to teach you.”
“Sure you do.”
“No. I don’t.”
Refusing to let it go, he says, “When we were pups we used to play games with each other.
What did you do when you were a pup?”
I think back to the days when we were in the nursery, before the master turned us into feral
watchdogs.“Well, there was this one thing we used to do, butit’s kind of lame.”
“Teach me.”
“When we were let outdoors to socialize we would all search for the biggest, thickest blade
of grass.” I stop to look around. When I find one, I pluck it from the ground and say, “Here, like
this.”
“What did you do with it?”
I smooth the blade out, and position it between my thumbs, and then I blow into it until a
shrill noise echoes around us.
“That’s a mad skill, Pride,” he teases and when I catch his grin, it reminds me of Logan’s
boyish, playful side, a side Ihaven’t seen in a long time. A side I miss terribly.
I hand him the blade.“It’ not as easy as it looks, you know,” I respond, feigning hurt.
When he doesn’t take the blade, I say, “What,are you afraid you can’t do it?”
“No.It’s just that you wereright.”
“About what?”
“This is kind of lame.” With that he laughs and the sound is so blissful, so magical, I find
myself laughing right along with him.
He gives me a crooked smile full of mischief and my heart turns over in my chest. Even
though I’ve spent the better part of my life hardening myself, after two minutes with Logan I
find myself forgetting about the real world for a moment.
A noise sounds in my throat and as I shelve my worries for the time being, I shake my head.
“How is it you always know what Ineed?”
His smile softens and the corner of his mouth turns up, but there isn’t a trace of humor in
his voice when he says with absolute conviction, “Because I’m your mate, Pride.”
Everything in the way he says mate, with such total confidence, such belief in me, in us, has
my blood racing a little faster, and my throat tightening with emotion. While we might not have
been born to be destined mates, it still doesn’t mean we don’t share a special bond.
“Okay, since your game was so lame, let me show you what we didas pups.”
My throat feels swollen, too tight to talk, so I simply nod.
“Here are the rules. Whoevercan make the other person laugh first wins.”
He turns away from me, and when he looks back, his eyelids are flipped inside out. The
horrendous sight has my head jerking back with a start and instead of laughing I pull a disgusted
face.
“That’s just wrong, Logan.”
He blinks and his lids go back to normal. He clucks his tongue but his voice is playful when
he says, “You’re a hard nut to crack, Pride. I used to always win with that one.”
I turn from him, and use my index fingers to pull the corner of my eyes down and my
thumbs to push my nose up. I spin back around and Logan shrieks, the sound so high pitched
and girlish we both end up laughing.