The Wolf's Surrender (15 page)

Chapter 14

A
fter a surprisingly deep sleep, Mia awakened to a silent house.

Even without checking, she knew Jenner was gone. She didn’t know when he’d left, but she felt his absence as keenly as if she’d watched him walk out the door. It was strange, but Mia guessed it was no stranger than her last few days.

And if nothing else, the quiet gave her an opportunity to brood uninterrupted. She’d wanted to see him this morning, to wake up with his arms around her. What had happened between them last night had been about more than just sex—she’d felt that on a level so deep she couldn’t question it. He had to have felt it, too.

But maybe he hadn’t. Or worse, maybe he had and that was why he was gone.

She showered and got ready for the day, then wandered out of the room and down the stairs, thinking vaguely about finding something to eat. Around her, there wasn’t a sound. She hadn’t quite realized what a vital presence Jenner was until now. She wanted him here.

But then, she’d wanted a lot of things she couldn’t have.

Mia replayed the events of last night over again in her mind, moving without really seeing anything around her. Had she missed something? Had something gone wrong? Or was he just being Nick Jenner, wandering the Hollow and brooding because he’d touched her when he’d sworn he wouldn’t?

She wished she knew.

The sight of one long, lanky female sprawled on the couch stopped Mia dead in her tracks, right in the middle of the stairs. The woman didn’t appear to notice her staring down, though. One leg was draped over the arm of the couch and was bobbing up and down rhythmically. Mia found if she focused, she could faintly hear music. The foot attached to the leg was bare, its toenails painted deep and shimmering purple. The other leg was bent.

Whoever this was, she didn’t seem very worried about not belonging there.

“Um, hello?” Mia said as she descended the rest of the stairs, making the body of the woman disappear from view.

The leg stiffened for an instant, then disappeared back over the arm of the couch. There was a moment of scrambling, and a head popped up to look over the back at her.

“Hey,” the stranger said as she finished pulling a pair of ear buds out of her ears.

“Hey,” Mia replied, eyebrows lifting. This, at least, was a distraction. Whoever this was, she was incredibly cute, in a gothic pixie sort of way. A choppy black bob set off a delicate, pointed little face dominated by a big, luminous pair of heavily lashed eyes such a dark blue they looked almost like polished onyx. As Mia stood staring at her, completely nonplused, the pixie’s rosebud lips parted and gave way to a big, irreverent grin.

“Bet you’re wondering what I’m doing on the couch,” she said cheerily.

“Yeah,” Mia said slowly. “I guess you could say that. I’m Mia.”

“Aislynn. Aislynn O’Doyle.” She got lightly to her feet and came around the couch. The outfit marked her as being a few years younger than Mia herself, skinny black jeans, a T-shirt emblazoned with the name of a band Mia had heard of but didn’t really listen to, and a ragged, oversized flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled. She was lithe, petite, and yet still exuded a tremendous amount of contained energy.

Mia wasn’t sure whether to shake hands or flee.

“Sorry, should have been paying better attention, but I’ve been zoning out with my iPod. Jenner told me no video games while you were sleeping, all he has to read is auto magazines, and his junk food situation is pathetic, so I’m glad you’re up. I was close to throwing myself out of a window.”

Mia couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up in her throat. “I’m glad we avoided that, then. Look, I hope you don’t mind my asking, but...who
are
you? And where’s Jenner?”

Aislynn wrinkled her small, pointy little nose. The effect was one of charming disgust.

“I’m one of the pack’s hunters. And I’m the
youngest
right now, since they don’t usually take new hunters on until a prospect is out of college. I graduated in May. Hence, I get a disproportionate amount of crap from the older hunters, and I also get picked on when someone wants to stop babysitting and go play.” She winced. “Sorry. Not that you’re a baby. Figure of speech.”

Fascinated by the steady stream of chatter, so different from Jenner’s “pulling teeth” style of conversation, Mia hardly noticed the accidental insult.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’m not your average initiate. I get it.”

That seemed to strike Aislynn funny. “Initiate, huh? I like it. Makes it sound so much more formal than the reality.” She waved her hand, fingernails shimmering in the same shade of purple as her toes, a multitude of silver rings glinting in the light. “Anyway, Jenner got called out to have a look at some stuff in the woods early this morning. And I got tagged to chill here with you.”

Mia tried not to show it as she breathed a sigh of relief. It was the one reason for Jenner’s being gone that made sense, and she was glad to hear that he hadn’t just bolted because of sleeping with her.

Not that she was any clearer on what he
did
think about that, but it could have been worse. Now that the only thing she’d been able to think about all morning was resolved, curiosity quickly replaced obsessing.

“Thanks for playing babysitter, then,” Mia said with a smile.

“No problem,” Aislynn said easily, shifting her weight from one foot to the other with fluid grace. She seemed to have too much natural energy to stand still.

“I wasn’t actually sure I’d get to meet you this morning. I figured Jenner would be back by now, but nothing about all this is really normal.” She paused, eyes widening. “I mean, not that you’re abnormal. Just the whole feral psycho thing.”

“Got it,” Mia replied, trying to stifle a laugh. It wasn’t until right that moment that she realized just how much she’d missed female companionship.

Aislynn looked around and bounced lightly on the balls of her feet. “Want to go get lunch? I’m starving. I don’t know what Jenner eats, but I have a hard time believing he exists on stale pretzels and beer.”

“I think he used up all his breakfast stuff a couple of—wait, lunch?”

Aislynn tipped her chin down and arched one dark brow. “Yes, sleeping beauty. You slept in. I guess I’ll pretend I have manners and not start teasing you about why. Yet. I usually wait at least an hour before I get really obnoxious.”

Panic had set in too quickly for Mia to find that funny. All she could think of was that she’d slept until lunch. Which was about the time she’d agreed to go to lunch with a guy who was definitely
not
the one she’d spent the night with.

There was a quick knock at the door. Mia closed her eyes and groaned.

Aislynn looked toward the door and tilted her nose up into the air with a considering look on her face. Whatever she smelled, she seemed to enjoy it.

“Hmm. You don’t like that?”

Mia inhaled and immediately scented him—warm, vital, and very male, an appealing blend of spices. She wondered whether an escape through a bathroom window was plausible.

“He smells good,” Mia admitted.

“Looks good, too,” Aislynn agreed with a smirk. “A little clean-cut for me, but then again, it could be hiding a wild side.” She looked more closely at Mia, and even though they shared no telepathic connection, the feminine one was enough. “Uh-oh. Lunch date?”

“Yeah.”

“He know about you and Jenner?”

Mia fought the urge to massage away the headache that was rapidly brewing at her temples. “There was no
me and Jenner
when I said I’d go. I’m still not exactly sure about that. But this isn’t—”

Aislynn held up a hand. “Say no more. I’m your babysitter, remember? Where you go, I go. Even if it causes an awkward non-date during which I try really hard to make the cute Silverback blush.”

Mia’s looked at Aislynn in mute gratitude. This was what it meant to be part of a pack, she realized. It was having a big family to look out for you, watch your back. Even run interference with unwanted lunch dates.

Jenner had been right...the Hollow wasn’t Philly, but it had plenty going for it. Maybe more than she’d realized.

“Thank you,” Mia said. “I mean, I don’t even know you...”

Aislynn waved her off. “My pleasure.” Then she winked. “Seriously.”

Chapter 15

S
omehow, against all the odds, Mia was having some of the most fun she’d had in recent memory.

Aislynn O’Doyle, she had decided, was going to be a friend no matter what happened. Mia had already laughed so hard her stomach hurt, and they had plenty in common. They sat across from one another now in a booth, where Aislynn sat flipping through the songs available on the mini jukebox attached to the wall. Every booth had one, all connected to the large juke at the far end of the diner where the songs they selected would play.

For several minutes now, Aislynn had been debating over how best to torture the other diners. She was between an inexplicably popular teenaged boy who sounded disturbingly like an untalented girl, and a teenaged television star who actually was an untalented girl.

“I’m plugging my ears,” Kenyon protested, laughing. “I don’t want to know what you pick, and I’m afraid my ears will start bleeding if I hear it.”

Mia looked at Kenyon, who was sitting beside her. He had dimples, she noted, because of course he did. And nothing he’d done had changed Mia’s impression of him. He was polite, charming, and so boyish he sometimes seemed even younger than he was. He was also handsome enough that Mia had seen every woman in the place, from teenagers to old women, ogling him. Kenyon was just so ridiculously...
cute
.

She was also completely positive he wasn’t for her. But at this point, she had to give him credit for persistence.

He turned to her, blue eyes crinkled up at the corners. And he’d gotten awfully close to her, she realized, by sliding slowly over when she wasn’t paying attention. She could almost see the little hearts in his baby blues.

Uh-oh.

“So I was thinking,” he said. “Why don’t you come out with me tonight? We could grab some dinner, maybe catch a movie. The little theater here is actually pretty nice.”

Mia smiled and tried to think of a nice way to let him down. Even if Jenner backed off again, Kenyon wasn’t the kind of guy who would be all right with a single night. He deserved someone who...well, actually, someone who looked at him the way Aislynn was, if he’d just stop to notice.

“Actually, Kenyon...”

She heard the bell above the door ring, and a wave of joy crashed through her that took her completely by surprise. All Mia knew was that one moment, she felt normal, and the next, every nerve ending was singing with pleasure at some new sensation in the air. Something lovely and familiar and absolutely adored...

She looked up and saw Jenner, looking far too big and dangerous to be allowed in a silly kitsch diner, walking through the door. He zeroed in on her immediately, and the moment their eyes locked, Mia felt everything else fade away. She let out a breath she hadn’t even been aware she was holding. Every instinct she had insisted she get up, go to him, drawn forward as though Jenner had an actual magnetic pull.

Her reaction to him had been intense enough before. Sleeping with him, it seemed, had multiplied that by a thousand.

Her heart beat once, twice, and she could hear the echo of his own in her head. She had the oddest thing happen then: her mind filled with the faint sound of a deep voice saying her name with a tenderness that made her ache inside. Then it was over, gone like the brush of butterfly wings. She wondered if she’d imagined it. But she hadn’t imagined Jenner.

And she wasn’t imagining the murderous look on his face when he saw who was sitting beside her. There was a soft but unmistakable sound beside her: growling. With a great deal of effort, Mia turned her attention away from Jenner to look incredulously at Kenyon.

“No,” she said, hearing the pleading note in her own voice. “Please no. Not in the diner.”

The only person who seemed to be amused was Aislynn. She was watching the scene unfold with a great deal of interest, and didn’t look particularly concerned. That, despite the fact that Mia had a terrible feeling that Jenner and Kenyon were going to start pummeling one another any second.

Jenner strode to their booth, looking absolutely delicious in ripped jeans that hung low on his hips, scuffed boots, a black T-shirt, and a rumpled jacket. His lip twitched as though it wanted to curl, and his eyes seemed to burn. As angry as he was, though, the instant he turned those eyes on her, Mia thought she might melt into a puddle right there.

“Hate to interrupt,” he growled in a tone that said the opposite, “but you’re going to have to cut your lunch with these two short.”

“Now?” Mia asked, trying to get her thoughts together. “Why?”

“I’ll explain it when we get out of here.”

“If this is about Gaines, then it concerns me, too,” Kenyon said, every trace of sweetness gone from his voice. “I think I’ll come with you.”

“The hell you will,” Jenner replied, and now his lip did curl. “Since all this concerns is me, Mia, and a healthy dose of ‘you’re not invited.’”

Kenyon stood up quickly, drawing the attention of quite a few diners. Mia cringed inwardly. People tended to notice when there was a fight brewing, and the testosterone in here had just jumped to critical levels.

She stood up, too, though more slowly, and tried not to look as desperate as she felt. Men did not fight over her. Ever. And she now understood that having it happen was not nearly as cool as it sounded.

“You’re not shoving me out of the way,” Kenyon growled at Jenner. All traces of that boyishness Mia had seen in him were gone, and she could clearly see the wolf lurking beneath the surface. He might be a lover, but there was no question he was also a fighter.

She laid a hand on Kenyon’s arm, feeling the tension that coiled through him like steel cables. But the gentle pressure of her hand got his attention.

“I’m going with him,” she said. “And you’re staying here. There’s no reason for you and Aislynn to leave just because of me.”

His face fell, and Mia felt terrible. She could see Jenner eyeing her hand with a particularly ugly look, but as long as he didn’t decide to gnaw Kenyon’s arm off, she would ignore it.

Kenyon didn’t say another word to her, just gave a short nod and stepped out of the booth to let her pass. To Jenner, however, she heard him mutter, “I have a few things to say to you. Later.”

She caught the smug look Jenner gave him, and felt her own temper spark. Just because Jenner had gotten his way was no reason to taunt the losing party. She turned and said goodbye to Aislynn, who promised she would see her later on in the day. Then she left without another word to Jenner, not trusting herself not to shout at him. He followed close behind her, and she could feel the warmth of his presence as though the sun were beating on her back.

She loved it, and she hated it. Because while every bit of her thrilled at just having him near her again, the logical part of her was terrified that this was all leading up to some huge disappointment. Almost from the start, Jenner had told her that he wasn’t interested in any sort of relationship. But if he wasn’t, then why did he look at her the way he did? And why had he touched her the way he had, as though she were something precious to him? Last night had been everything she’d wanted...but then, not quite everything. She wanted him to be with her, only her. She wanted him to ask her to stay.

And Mia had no idea if that was ever going to happen.

She made it only a few steps outside before whirling on him.

“Well?” she demanded.

“Well what?” he asked in a surly grunt. He still looked decidedly pissed off, his hands shoved deep into his pockets and his large frame slightly hunched.

“You storm in, act like a complete Neanderthal, demand I leave with you for some unspecified reason, and then storm out again. Sound weird to you?”

Jenner shrugged. “Doesn’t sound very unusual to me.”

Mia exhaled loudly. “No, it probably wouldn’t to you. In the world outside the Hollow, however, where people aren’t used to you acting like a bully, that sort of thing is considered rude.”

Jenner lifted one dark brow. “Good thing I live in the Hollow, then.”

Mia stared at him, lifted her hands, and growled in frustration. “For the love of—
why
are you so awful to Kenyon?”

“Because he wants you.”

The answer, honest and to the point, surprised Mia into stunned silence.

“And I want you, too, Mia,” Jenner finished. “With wolves, that kind of thing means Chase and I aren’t going to be friends. It also means I’m not going to just smile and deal with it when you decide to have lunch with him while I’m gone.”

“You...want me.” She said the words slowly, trying to be sure she’d heard them correctly. His actions had shown it, of course...but the admission was more than she’d expected.

Jenner glowered at her. “Pretty sure we were both there last night.”

Mia gave an exasperated laugh and pushed an errant lock of hair out of her face. “I...okay, for one thing, you did see there were three of us in there, right?”

Jenner’s stony expression didn’t change. “Uh-huh. Aislynn can get her earful later.”

Mia rolled her eyes. “She volunteered to run interference, Nick,” she said, hoping the intimacy of his first name would remind him of just how much they’d shared last night. His gaze softened, ever so slightly. When he stayed silent, Mia pressed on, flustered by his reaction. Territorial werewolves were a new experience for her.

So was
being
the territory.

“I guess I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say to you. I want you, too? It’s not very romantic.”

“Neither am I, Mia. I’m warning you about that right up front.”

“Okay,” she said slowly. “I can handle that, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“It isn’t,” he said, his voice a rough growl. Mia settled her hands on her hips, completely exasperated.

“Then what
are
you asking?”

Finally, the bluster fell away, and Mia could finally see what was beneath. He was just as nervous and uncertain as she was. Somehow, it made her feel better, knowing that this was new for both of them.

“I thought you might want to go for a ride,” he said.

It was only then that Mia noticed the car parked beside the curb, hulking like a muscular metal beast and gleaming in the sun.

“I thought it wasn’t done.”

“Close enough,” Jenner said. He watched her unblinkingly with those intense eyes of his. “It’s a beautiful day.”

“It is,” Mia agreed, feeling strangely off balance. Jenner seemed to be good at doing that to her. He was such a mix of wild and civilized. It fascinated her.

“So?” he asked, and there was a wealth of meaning in that one simple question.

But when it came to Jenner, everything seemed to boil down to a single, simple answer.

“Let’s go,” Mia replied, and walked toward the car.

* * *

Riding in a growling hulk of a muscle car turned out to be better than good. It was exactly what Mia had needed.

She was inches away from sticking her head out the window and going the full canine route as they flew down a hilly back road. The day was warmer than had been expected, almost like the end of summer. She’d caught Jenner’s bemused expression when she’d pulled an elastic out of her purse, tied her hair back in a quick ponytail, and rolled down the window.

“It’s a beautiful day” was all she said. “I’ll deal with the tangles later.”

“Good choice,” Jenner replied, and she wondered if either of them were actually talking about her hair.

There was something freeing about the speed, and the painted glory of the trees as they rushed past. Mia felt the tightness she’d had in her chest all weekend ease. She wanted things to be simple. Nothing ever was. Except this.

Jenner’s presence was solid and reassuring beside her, and when she snuck glances at him he looked as comfortable as she’d ever seen him maneuvering the muscle car around curves and beneath tunnels of trees. They headed farther out into the country, and Mia watched farms and homes fly past. The air smelled rich, like decayed leaves and wood smoke. Some of her favorite smells.

When Jenner slowed and turned into a long drive, Mia looked around curiously. There was a lovely, weathered farmhouse at the end of the drive, and squatting nearby was a barn and chicken coop. Cattle grazed placidly in the fields surrounding the house.

She turned her head to look at Jenner. “I don’t care what you say. You’re not going to convince me to chase chickens. Not yet, anyway.”

His laugh, the deep, warm roll of it, pushed her further toward the edge of a precipice she’d been inching toward ever since she’d met him.

He parked the car on the grass beside the house, then killed the engine. They sat in silence for a long, surprisingly comfortable moment. Finally, Mia looked over at him, genuinely curious.

“Can I ask what brought this on?”

Jenner’s gold eyes caught hers when he turned his head. The lazy half smile made her feel like melting into her seat. But there was something in his expression that puzzled her...almost a kind of resignation. Mia wondered what it was about. Whether it was about her.

“I got up early.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Okay.”

“I had a lot of time to think while I was tracking this morning. We found a body, by the way. Didn’t belong to Gaines.” He frowned and put up a hand before she could ask any questions. “I should have saved that. It’s not what I brought you here for.”

“But was it one of...yours?” She’d almost said “ours.” It had been on the tip of her tongue.

He shook his head. “No. We think he might have been one of Gaines’ men. Unfortunately, that’s about as much as we can figure right now. He...wasn’t in good shape.”

“Oh.” He was right...this wasn’t a great lead-in.

Jenner laughed quietly, as though he knew what she was thinking. “I mentioned I wasn’t great at talking, right? Walk with me,” Jenner said. “It’s beautiful out here, and there are some things I guess we need to talk about.”

That, at least, was a relief to hear. “Yes,” Mia agreed. “I guess there are.”

Without another word, Jenner got out of the car. Mia got out, too, noting that Jenner had come around to take her hand and shut the door. It was a small thing, but he kept her hand in his as they headed off down a narrow path that veered away from the house and through a meadow that Mia imagined would be in all its glory come the spring. There was a pond in the distance, and she could hear a few ducks and geese.