Betrayed (Wolf Gatherings Book 6) (15 page)

As soon as they stepped out of the car, the front door opened and an older woman Heather assumed was Marcus’s mother stepped out. Her hand flew to her mouth as soon as she spotted them. She stood so still, Heather thought she might faint.

Marcus rounded the car and took Heather’s hand before walking toward his mother. “Mom.” He smiled. Heather thought it looked genuine.

In any case, there was no way he would have trouble fooling his mother because the woman already had tears in her eyes. More than likely, all she could see was the return of the prodigal son. “Marcus.” Her voice was soft and gentle, and her gaze shifted to Heather as soon as they reached the steps. “Oh.” Her hand flew to her heart. Her smile spread wider. “Oh my.”

Heather actually felt a pang of sorrow for the woman. It would have been a touching moment. It should have been. It was…for Lora Cunningham.

They faced off for several seconds just feet away.

Marcus cleared this throat. “Mom, this is Heather. My mate.”

She trembled as she lowered her hand from her chest as she looked toward Heather again. “So nice to meet you. I had no idea.”

Marcus dipped his face sheepishly, brilliantly. “Yeah.” He shuffled a toe against the porch. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been able to bring myself to share her yet.” His face was pink with embarrassment when he lifted his gaze.

Heather was amazed at his ability to act.

His mother smiled. “Well, you’re here now.” She motioned with a wave of her hand. “Come. Goodness. Come inside.” She opened the door and held it for them to pass. When they were in the front room, she scurried past them. “Sit. I’ll get you drinks.”

“Mom, you don’t have to do that. We’re fine. We’ve eaten.”

“Oh. Okay.” The woman was flustered. She lowered herself into a chair. She set her palm on her chest. “I was afraid something had happened to you.” Tears still trickled, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand.

Marcus led Heather to the couch and pulled her down next to him. Heather found it impossible to believe this sweet woman was involved in anything as sinister as allowing her own father to drug her only child.

“I can’t believe you’re here. We’ve been so worried. Your father will be so relieved.”

I’ll bet he will
. Heather smiled. She could only hope it was genuine enough to not raise suspicion.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Marcus repeated. “As soon as I met Heather, I fell into a trance and couldn’t seem to come out of it.” He squeezed her hand.

“When did you meet? Where? We went by your house so many times. You were never there.”

“Yeah. We met about a month ago, right honey?” He cocked his head toward hers in fake confirmation.

Heather rolled her eyes at him. “Twenty-seven days.” She play-slapped his arm as though he were a dolt not to have their exact date of mating memorized.

He smile and leaned forward to touch her nose with his.

It was the most awkward ridiculous act Heather could imagine. It wasn’t as though they were faking they were mates, but it felt that way. Heather shivered.

“I suck at details, honey. You know I do.”

“True.” She rolled her eyes again. “He can’t keep day and night separated lately. I think he’s in deeper than I am.” She turned to make sure Lora was buying the interaction.

The woman had a huge grin as though she were reading a romance novel and the hero and heroine were about to fade to black behind closed doors. “That’s so sweet.”

“I know that’s not true, my love. If I remember correctly, someone asked for pancakes at about one in the morning a few weeks ago.”

Heather batted her eyes. “I was hungry.” She shrugged.

“Anyway, it was a Sunday, right honey?” He continued without waiting for Heather’s response. “I had gone for a run in the huge forest area I like to go to west of here. You know the one, right?” He glanced from Heather to his mom.

His mother nodded, her grin pasted.

“Heather was there with friends. She was visiting from Oregon. We were both shifted, of course.”

Lora gasped. “You were shifted when you met?”

“Yep. It was weird. And perfect. And don’t feel too bad, because I haven’t met her parents yet, either. They live in Oregon. We haven’t seen more than a few people since we met.”

“You came here first.” It wasn’t really a question, more of an acknowledgement of her priority in his life.

Marcus gave a sheepish grin again and tilted his head. “Well, you were closer. And I felt guilty…eventually. I’ve been selfish.” He wrapped his arm around Heather and squeezed her to his side. “It wasn’t hard.”

She lifted her face to briefly kiss his lips. “I finally called my parents at least, but they weren’t expecting me. I intended to spend the fall with my friends at their place a few hours west of here before I started searching for a job.”

“Anyway,” Marcus continued, “we went back to the apartment she was staying at and…well, never came out again except to eat and run occasionally.”

“God. That’s so romantic.”

“Is it?” Marcus laughed when Heather jabbed his side.

“Of course it is, silly.” She turned back to Lora. “He likes to pretend he’s all manly, but he’s the most romantic guy I’ve ever met.”

Marcus changed the subject. “Is Dad angry?”

Lora’s face fell. That was an understatement. “He was very concerned.”

“I didn’t mean to worry you both. I just got carried away. I’m sure you remember what it was like.”

Lora smiled again. “I do.” She sighed. “It was so long ago… I miss those days. Enjoy them while you can.”

“I hope the feeling never ends.”

“It won’t last in the same intensity forever, but if you work hard, you can keep your relationship strong for many years.” Lora glanced down at her lap, wringing her hands. The woman hadn’t worked hard. Or her mate hadn’t.

Heather suspected in the early days her mate had been as smitten as Marcus. And then Lora’s father lured him down a horrific path.

“Have you been by your house?”

“No.” Marcus shook his head. “I hope it’s still standing. We came straight here. We’ll go there next. I was such an ass, I didn’t even call my employer. I bet they were livid when I stopped showing up for work.”

“Yeah. You’re father called them to see if they’d seen you. You were supposed to come to dinner that Sunday afternoon. When you didn’t show up, we panicked. Your father looked for you everywhere. In fact your grandfather was here too. They both searched for days. You never came home. And when they confirmed you never showed up for work, we didn’t know what to think.”

“Why was Grandpa here?”

Good one, Marcus
.

Lora paused. Clearly she wasn’t the one who intended to share the details of that Sunday afternoon. That was the men’s job. “Oh, he has some project he wanted to invite you to participate in. Something with work.”

“Huh. That’s weird,” Marcus said.

Yeah, about as weird as the way she stated it
. Heather fought not to react to the woman’s words.

“Yeah.” She waved a hand as if to dismiss the idea. “Don’t worry about it now. You’re home, and that’s what matters. You’re staying, right?”

“Well, we need to go to Oregon right away and visit with Heather’s parents. We haven’t decided what to do after that yet.”

The front door opened, startling Heather, and apparently Marcus also, because he whipped his head around as though he expected an ambush. She grabbed his arm tighter to keep him from jumping out of his seat.

The man who entered froze on the spot, his brow furrowed. “Son.” He didn’t step forward. “I wondered whose car was in the driveway. Where have you been?”

Not, hello… So good to see you… Oh, look, you’ve found your mate… We missed you so much… Just
son
. Heather held her breath, watching the man’s reaction closely.

Marcus stood, but his thigh still touched Heather’s. Thank God. She needed his touch to ground her. “Dad. This is Heather. My mate.” He turned toward her and took her hand to pull her up next to him. If not for his assistance, her wobbly legs might have given way.

Carl Cunningham turned his gaze toward her, his brow still furrowed as though he hadn’t noticed her presence or the distinct scent of a newly mated couple. Finally, he nodded. “You mated.” He stated the obvious with a certain amount of disappointment in his voice.

Lora stood to approach her husband, tentatively. “Isn’t it wonderful?” she asked.

Heather got the distinct impression Lora was used to placating Carl. The man looked like he might blow steam any minute. Nothing on his face registered relief that his only child had returned from being missing.

Slowly, as Carl gazed absently at his mate, he snapped out of it. He jerked his face back to Marcus, and then Heather. “Welcome,” he stated, belatedly. The initial reaction wasn’t lost on any of them. Least of all Heather, who fought hard to keep from trembling.

Marcus lowered them both down onto their seats again, much to Heather’s relief. “We were just telling Mom how we met last month and what we’ve been doing. She said you were worried. I’m sorry. I could think of nothing but my mate for weeks. It was rude. I apologize.”

Heather wondered if Carl would stand there all night or perhaps take a seat.

“Well, you’re here now. I suppose that’s what matters.” Carl stepped farther into the room and plopped onto an armchair as though completely deflated after holding vigil for his lost son for all twenty-seven days. Heather cringed at the irony. The man had held vigil for Marcus, but not for altruistic reasons. There was no love in his eyes. No hug. Not even a handshake. Just relief his son had returned. Most likely so good old Granddad would be placated.

“I’ll start dinner.” Lora stepped toward the kitchen, but Marcus stopped her.

“Mom. No. Don’t. We can’t stay. I need to get to my place and take care of the cobwebs and dead plants.”

“Oh. You must stay. You just got here.” She hesitated.

Marcus shook his head. “Next time, Mom. Not tonight. It took all my self-control to come for a visit. I’m not ready to share Heather for that long yet.”

Heather wanted to kiss him for insisting. If they had to stay much longer, she wasn’t sure she could keep up the act. The bile that had risen in her throat since the arrival of his father was threatening a revolt. In fact, she gripped his thigh with one hand until her knuckles hurt. She wasn’t aware she was doing it until he set his hand on top of hers and loosened her grip.

As if to punctuate his words, he took her cheek in his other hand and kissed her. And then he rubbed his nose against hers.

She would have laughed at the totally ridiculous gesture not remotely like her Marcus if the situation hadn’t been so dire and serious.

“Your grandfather was looking for you.” Ah, so Carl wasn’t going to waste any time.

“That’s what Mom said. Is he okay? He isn’t sick or something is he?” Marcus pasted a worried expression on his face. He was going to win an Emmy before this was all said and done.

Carl shifted his gaze toward Lora as if to admonish her for speaking a word of the conversation before he arrived. He narrowed his eyes and sent her a glare.

Lora smiled, but her hand flew to her throat. “I was just telling Marcus that Dad has some sort of business proposition for him.”

Carl didn’t move for a second, and Heather hoped he didn’t beat the woman as soon as they were alone again. Finally, he shifted his gaze back to Marcus. “Melvin has a very enterprising business in Minnesota. He came to offer you a position.”

“He needs a contractor?”

Heather could have beamed. Marcus was so convincing. After all, since Marcus was a contractor, why else would his grandfather be requesting his services?

Carl hesitated. “Not exactly. I’ll let him explain. He’s been as worried as we have since your disappearance. I’m sure he’ll want to see you right away. I’ll call him this evening.” Carl fingered the arm of the chair, stroking it with the tips of his fingers.

Heather imagined him itching to pull his cell out and make that call posthaste.

“Well, I
am
out of a job…” Marcus rubbed his chin. He turned toward Heather. “Maybe this is the sort of opportunity we need, honey.”

Heather smiled. Was it too strained? She didn’t feel half as confident in her acting ability as the show she was watching her fantastic mate perform. “You should look into it.” She turned toward Carl. “Minnesota, you said? I’ve never been there. I hear it’s beautiful.”

“Oh. I, uh…” Carl swallowed. He hadn’t counted on Heather accompanying his son anywhere. She knew that, but it would be unnatural for Marcus to insinuate he was going to leave her and move to Minnesota even for a day.

Marcus interrupted to create a divergence. He set his forehead on hers. “I’ll talk to him. Maybe I could call him myself tomorrow.” He turned back to his father.

“Oh, well, I’m sure he’ll come here in person. He’s got lots of good ideas. And I know he’ll be anxious for you to get started.” Carl swallowed. “You’ve been gone so long.”

“It sounds like an excellent opportunity and a change in pace. I hope he didn’t find someone else.”

Carl shook his head. “He really wanted you to have the job. He wanted to keep it in the family.”

“Excellent.” Marcus grinned as though he’d won the lottery instead of a trip to a medical facility in God-knew-where Minnesota where he would be lucky if he wasn’t killed or in any way tortured.

Heather shivered, and Marcus took the cue thankfully to get out of Dodge before she lost it. He stood abruptly and hauled her next to him, putting his arm around her in support, his grip on her shoulder firmer than anyone was aware of. “Well, we’ve got to go. I want to get back to the house before it’s dark to give it a good inspection.”

Carl stood also, as did Lora.

Carl stepped toward the front door, blocking it.

For a heartbeat, Heather worried the man wouldn’t let them leave, but then he stepped to one side and opened the door. “Come by in the morning, okay? I’ll speak to Melvin tonight.”

“Excellent. Thanks, Dad. That’s a huge weight off my shoulders. At least now I won’t have to worry about how to feed my mate now that I’ve blown through my savings acting like a love-struck idiot for a month.”