Sworn to the Wolf (10 page)

He gathered a very stiff Rain into his arms and showered kisses all over her face. “So suspicious! What could I possibly be hiding? How about that walk?”

“Yes, a walk sounds wonderful. Andreas and I would love to come as well.” Kari cast a glance back to where Skye animatedly explained something to Paloma.

Rain looked at the three of them and back around to where Skye stood with Paloma. Something was up and they were all trying to cover it up. Suspicion sat like lead in her gut. “No, thank you. I’ll be going back to the cabin. If anyone here would like to tell me the truth I’ll be glad to hear it.” She pushed out of Laurent’s arms and stalked out.

“
What could I possibly be hiding!
” Rain mumbled, imitating Laurent. She shouldn’t have come up there. She was trapped now and she wanted to get home, away from all of these people. They were all very nice and she felt an unbelievable sense of rightness about being there. But there was something not being said, something major, and she’d had enough of being lied to.

Once Rain stalked out Laurent growled dangerously, looking toward Paloma. “I should point out to you how stupid your behavior is when as my Mate, Rain will outrank you in Pack hierarchy. Then what will you do?”

“If you
love
this human so much why haven’t you told her about what we are?” Paloma spat out, saying the word “human” with loathing.

“I was human before I came here too. I have had enough of your anti-human talk. I am your queen, am I not?” Kari asked angrily.

“You’re different. This human is not fit to be mate to our Third.”

“It’s not up to you to decide that!” Andreas roared and assumed his full height and width. The hairs on Laurent’s arms rose up at the power spilling out of his Alpha. “If you do anything to upset Rain again I will personally expel you from this Pack, do you understand?”

Paloma fell to the ground and prostrated herself at Andreas’s feet in total submissiveness to her Alpha’s authority.

“Go to Rain. You have to tell her soon.”

“I can’t tell her tonight. She’s had enough to deal with for one day.”

Andreas looked at Laurent, smiling and shaking his head. “I seem to recall you telling me that things had to be done when Kari was brought over, that it was too late and had to be dealt with.”

“Yes but she was already made. Rain hasn’t been. The situation is different,” Laurent said, his chin out stubbornly.

Kari laughed and kissed Laurent’s cheek, rubbing her face along his jawline. “She’ll have to be told sometime. The sooner the better. It’s easier if you tell her here now than back in Seattle.”

Laurent sighed and stalked out of the room, heading back to the cabin. He walked in and discovered that she’d locked herself in the master bedroom. “Rain? It’s me. Open the door.” He knocked softly.

“I’m trying to sleep. I put your clothes in the spare room. You can take me back to Seattle in the morning.”

Laurent frowned and clenched his fists. “Let me in,” he ordered.

Of course, she didn’t take orders from him. A fact he was reminded of immediately when she responded. “Good night. That is, unless you plan to explain to me just exactly what is going on here.”

“You’re being stubborn. I’m not hiding anything.”

“You’re full of shit! Just be sure to wake early. I need to get back to the city first thing.”

“You don’t have to be back at work until Sunday, I wasn’t going to take you back until late tomorrow afternoon.”

“Hmm, well I don’t remember asking for your permission.”

“I will
not
discuss this with you through a closed door!”

Silence. He pounded on the door. More silence. “Rain, love, let’s talk.”

“Are you going to tell me the whole truth?”

“I’m not hiding anything.” Laurent knew she’d be pissed off when she heard the whole story but he truly didn’t think she was ready to know he was a werewolf, not after the whole drama about her father had unfolded earlier that day.

“Good night then.”

He banged his forehead against the door several times. This mating business was frustrating. Why couldn’t Rain just accept that he knew what was best for her and trust him? He stiffened when the scent of her tears and the sound of muffled sobs hit him. “Rain, please, I can hear you crying. Let me in.”

“
No!
If I let you in we’ll end up in bed and I’ll hate myself for being so weak. I can’t abide this, Laurent. You’re lying about something and the rest of your friends are helping you hide it. I don’t want to be a part of that. You will leave me alone and take me back to Seattle. In fact, why don’t you just take me now?”

He sighed. “I’m going for a walk. Stay inside. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Say hello to that bitch Paloma,” she called out, a hitch in her voice.

He wanted to howl in frustration. “I won’t be seeing her. Why don’t you come for a walk with me?”

“Why don’t you piss off?” she hurled back and he wanted to laugh but wisely stifled it. Despite the situation, he had to admire her balls.

He left the cabin and walked to the edge of the woods. A run would take the edge off his anger and frustration. Shedding his clothes, he dropped to all fours and closed his eyes. His human self sank beneath the waves and his wolf rose and he transformed. The world was black and gray but the scents painted a vivid portrait of the world. Deep, loamy earth, clear skies, the sharp scent of pine, the musk of animals and his Pack—nature called to him and, shaking himself out, he answered, taking off at a trot.

* * *

A few hours later Rain opened the door and peeked out. She crept through the cabin, quietly looking into the spare room, snorting with rage when she saw he was still gone. It had been four hours! It was after one in the morning. Where in the hell had he gone? She threw on some jeans and a sweatshirt and slipped on her tennis shoes before heading outside. The night was clear and cool. She walked toward the lodge but the lights were out. Reversing direction, she headed along a path toward the edge of the woods and came to a halt at the manicured edge of the forest. She peered at something moving in the breeze. Upon closer inspection she saw it was clothing. Laurent’s clothing. She walked closer and saw more clothes, women’s clothing. She gritted her teeth and stood there, waiting.

Laurent walked out of the woods, tall, regal and naked, and met the angry eyes of Rain, who sat next to the tree where his clothes hung. Paloma followed and Rain’s eyes widened and then narrowed instantly when she saw that she was naked too. She stood, pain and fury warred inside her. She’d never trust her judgment again.

Laurent put his hands up. “Rain, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay in the cabin.”

“Oh, sorry to interrupt your little naked party. I’ll be packing. You can take me back when you get finished with whatever it is you’re doing.” She spun around and ran back toward the cabin.

“Rain, let me explain,” he called out when he caught up to her at the cabin.

“Fuck you! Oh my god, how could I have been so stupid? I slept with a total stranger and let him bring me hundreds of miles from home. This is not who I am.” She started shoving clothes back into her bag and Laurent followed her into the bedroom.

“Let me explain.” He tried to touch her but she pulled away.

“Don’t. Touch. Me,” she gritted out and zipped her bag up. “You will take me back to Seattle now.” She walked past him and he grabbed her arm to stop her.

“You aren’t going anywhere, Rain. Let me explain what you saw.”

“How stupid do you think I am? I may not be sophisticated but I am intelligent. You walked out of the woods
naked
with a woman who was rubbing herself all over you earlier in the day. A woman you admitted to
fucking
. Were you collecting mushrooms for dinner tomorrow? Oh, I know, you were bird watching and it scares the birds if you wear clothes!”

“SIT DOWN!” Laurent thundered and she jumped. “Please.” His voice softened.

She sat down and the shame washed through him as he saw and tasted her fear. He sighed. “This is going to sound farcical and ridiculous but here goes. I’m a werewolf. Everyone here is a werewolf. We were running tonight, as wolves. Skye and Philip were running too, they came out of the woods after you ran off. Nudity before and after a change is necessary or you ruin your clothes. It’s not a big deal to us.”

Rain shook her head, her hands trembled in her lap. “I’m going to just call a cab. That way they can take me to town and I’ll get back to Seattle from there. I’m sure Harrison will come and get me. Don’t bother to contact me. I won’t be taking your calls.” She stood up and walked out the door. He grabbed her arm in panic and his wolf fought to surface.

“I told you the truth. Please, let’s talk though this.”

She tried to break free of his grip but he held onto her, worried for her safety, not wanting her to run off, horrified that she’d been afraid of him. Wanting to comfort her and make her all right.

“You’re hurting me!” she yelled out and Skye came out of the shadows.

“Laurent, let go of her arm, you’ll bruise her that way,” he said softly, his hands up, trying to be non-threatening. But all Laurent felt was the threat of another wolf moving toward his frightened Mate. Protectiveness roiled up through his system, nearly blinding him.

Laurent growled at him and Rain’s eyes grew huge. “Stay out of this, Skye.”

“You’re a lot bigger than Anthony is. I’m sure you’ll break bones instead of just fracturing them. Is that what you want, Laurent? Are you just like him? After all of your sweet talk are you going to bully and hurt me too?” Rain asked, a hitch in her voice. She trembled, her pupils wide with fear.

Laurent wrestled his wolf back and felt as though he’d been slapped. Chastened and horrified he’d scared her, he let her go quickly. “No, no, baby, I’d never hurt you.” Emotion choked his voice.

She pulled up the sleeve of her shirt, showed where he’d ripped it at the shoulders. He also saw the pale red mark where his thumb had been. Remorse and horror slid through him and he wanted to throw himself to the ground and howl. If he bruised her he’d die of the shame. “Oh god, I’m sorry. Please believe me, Rain. I didn’t mean, god, I’m a werewolf, I’m so much stronger than any human. I shouldn’t have grabbed your arm but I didn’t mean to harm you. You have to know that. Please, come back inside. Let me get Kari, she was human once too, she can talk to you about us.”

She made an anguished sound and broke into a run, back toward the gravel drive that led to the road. Phillip caught up to her and stopped her, bringing her into his arms. She started kicking and screaming, pounding at him with her fists. “Let me go! You’re all crazy!”

Phillip tightened his hold on her and said into her ear, “Please, sweetheart, calm down. You’ll get hurt. I know you’re afraid but you can’t just run off into the forest. You don’t know where you are, you could get lost or something could happen to you.”

Laurent and Skye approached and Laurent looked like he wanted to kill Phillip for holding Rain so close and stroking her hair. Kari and Andreas burst out the front door. “What is going on?” Andreas bellowed and Rain’s trembling worsened. Laurent moaned in anguish, wanting to comfort her but knowing he’d just make it worse.

“She saw us coming out of the woods, naked. Paloma was running with us. Rain ran off and Laurent told her about us but she’s frightened. Laurent grabbed her and he hurt her, her shirt got ripped. Not on purpose,” Phillip added quickly. “She apparently got beaten up by her fiancé before and she’s just very scared.”

“I want to go home! You can’t k-keep me here!” Rain sobbed and Phillip held her tightly, nuzzling the top of her head under his chin, trying to calm her down.

Kari approached slowly. “Rain, why don’t you come into the lodge with me? All of the guys will go away. We’ll have hot chocolate, talk a bit. All right? I’ve been where you are right now. I
know
how scared you are. But no one here would ever hurt you, I promise.”

Phillip let Rain go and she turned, pulling on the sleeve of her shirt, showing where it’d ripped. Her creamy skin bore a fading red mark where he’d held onto her so tightly. Thank goodness it didn’t look like it would bruise. “Oh yeah? Just what is your idea of not being hurt?”

Kari looked back at Laurent, who looked so crestfallen she knew he hadn’t meant to use so much strength on Rain. Kari reached out gently and took Rain’s hand. “Come on, let’s go inside. If you want to go back to Seattle we won’t stop you but promise to hear me out.”

“NO!” Laurent roared and Rain winced and her tears started anew.

“Andreas, deal with your Lieutenant!” Kari hissed. Andreas stalked over and hauled Laurent away, Ryan helping.

“He’s gone now, Rain. How about that hot chocolate? Anna makes really good hot chocolate. Phillip is going to come inside with us but he’ll leave the room while we talk, okay?” Kari spoke in gentle tones.

Rain looked at Kari and nodded slowly. She didn’t resist when Kari took her hand to lead her back up the steps and into the lodge. Phillip threw a worried look over his shoulder before following.

“Just what the hell do you think you were doing? How could you hurt her like that?” Andreas barked as they got inside the cabin.

“She was freaked. Panicked.
Leaving
. I just grabbed her arm to stop her,” Laurent said, his face in his hands. “I didn’t mean to use that much strength on her. Don’t you think I’d take it back if I could? I’ve never, ever hurt a woman. I love her. Damn it, my wolf rose, she was so scared and I wanted to protect her. I just reached out quickly. I’m not trying to excuse what I did but I didn’t mean to harm her.”

“He saw me and it agitated his wolf on top of everything else. He felt threatened by another male who was trying to protect his Mate,” Skye said, flopping into a chair.

“You can punish me for it. Before the whole Pack. I’ll take it because I deserve it.”

There was a collective intake of breath. Public punishment of a Pack member was an old custom rarely enforced. To volunteer to be beaten before the whole Pack was a huge deal.