The Shepard's Agony (24 page)

She put a nervous smile on her face, wondering how long he’d been standing there. “Thought I’d be asking you that.” A familiar scent caught her nose and Gwen reali
zed David was being following.

He shrugged and waved it away. “He’s been following me since I left Elaine’s room. Just ignore him.”
He went to the stove, grabbed a towel that was hanging from the rack, wet it in the sink, and began tending to her hands. They were scratched, barely bleeding, but the act made her flush. She liked having him so close, it almost made her anger at Eric disappear.

Her smaller hand fit into his bigger one perfectly, his face scrunched in concentration. He felt so warm, she was feeling warm
now
, too. She needed to occupy her mind with something else.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I guess. A lot of things happened tonight, so I just need a little time for this to sink in. Here, sit down.” He led her back to her chair and she sat while he knelt before her.

Gwen glowed under the attention, tiny shocks of pleasure dancing up her arm from where he touched her, temporarily making her forget about the pain in her palm.
She reached out with her senses to touch
his
,
only
to
remember that
Eric
was
right outside the kitchen
door
. Her mood
instantly
darkened. He was probably following David around to be sure he didn’t escape, making it difficult for the two of them to have a private moment.

David sensed her change in mood and gently
squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry about him.”

Gwen couldn’t believe his calm demeanor, she expected
him
to react differently than what he presented to her now. Perhaps it was just the shock of it all.

“
I don’t blame them,” h
e said suddenly.

“Who?”

“
My—”
he stopped himself, as if re-thinking the proper term. “My adoptive family. I don’t blame them.”

“You don’t?” She wondered which blame he was talking about. There were so many…

“
Not really.” He shook his head and carefully pulled a
particularly stubborn piece of porcelain out of her hand. Gwen winced and flexed her palm. It would heal soon.

She couldn’t help her curiosity. She was sure anyone in his position would be angry. More than that. Vengeful. He was stolen from one life an
d given another more twisted one. “Why?”

“
Because I grew up with them. I still think of them as my father and brothers. I spent years believing we
were blood related, and even though we’re not, one conversation doesn’t take all
of
that away.”

Just as one conversation wouldn’t take away their distrust for each other. Or was the distrust still there? When had Gwen stop
ped seeing David as the killer hunter and started seeing him as the man she loved again?

“
At least this will put you in a be
tter position when you see Bill,” Gwen
said
. “I mean, if Elaine and I are right behind you, then there’s not much he can do but let you go. Being connected to me is one thing, but since Elaine is your mother you’re practically a part of our pack.” The thought was both lifting and depressing. Yes, the chances were better that Bill would release him unharmed, but then they might never see each other again.
Practically
a packmate didn’t mean he
was
a packmate. Unless Gwen were to admit that she thought he was her mate. She was almost sure of it at this point.

Shepard
rose to his
feet
and threw the pieces of the mug into the trash before returning to wrap the damp cloth around her hand in a temporary bandage.

Gwen could tell there was something else. “What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“
Bull
shit. What’s going on?” Her tone shocked him, but she wasn’t in the mood for more secrets.

He pressed his lips together and stared hard at her. “They think I was the one who shot
your packmaster.”

“
What!” Gwen stood, knocking over the
chair
. As
soon
as
the shock wore
o
ff
, she was furious. “I was never told about this!”

“Elaine told me after she was finished explaining how I’m supposedly her…son.”

Gwen paced around the kitchen in a stomping fit. Of all the stupid ideas! He was with her, not shooting Bill! “How could they think that?”

“
It wouldn’t be too hard y’know,” Shepard said, and Gwen
realized she’d spoken out loud. She faced him, he was now sitting in her chair, leaning forward. “Think about it. You only saw me after I’d caught you, and then you passed out seconds later. Your word won’t matter if you tell them I was with you, and they’re not going to believe
me
,” he growled, low in his throat. “Even if they believed I didn’t shoot him, I’m still guilty by association. I was there and I had a gun in my hand.”

“
I believe you,” s
he said firmly and loudly enough so that Eric could hear her from where he was spying. It occurred to her now that Eric probably wasn’t sent to make sure David didn’t escape, but to listen in case he were to implicate himself.

“
Then there’s
Jacob
,” Shepard continued as if he hadn’t heard her. He had, but it was hard to listen to her telling him that she trusted him when he was the reason for all the chaos in the first place. “He was there too, and there’s no question that he was fighting. What’s going to happen to him?”

Gwen hadn’t thought of Jacob at all. With everything going
on
, she was nearly ashamed to admit that she’d forgotten about the vampire’s involvement. Bill wouldn’t have forgotten though. “Well …”

Shepard eyed her, wondering what she could say that would make
the
situation
sound
better
.
Instead
, she closed her mouth and stared back helplessly.

He nearly laughed. “What a day, huh?”

Gwen could sense his
despair and
guilt
. She took two steps forward and put her hands on his knees, looking him in the eyes.

“Don’t think like that.” She hated feeling such negative emotions rolling off of him. “None of this was your fault.”

He felt her hands on his knees and tried not to react, but his eyes moved to her lips. “And
whose is it?”

She kissed him, a gentle, comforting
caress
. She didn’t even mind that his goatee tickled her chin. “Everyone’s,” she said after pulling away, only to kiss him again. “And no one’s.”

He slid his fingers in
to her hair and pulled her closer to deepen the kiss. She put her knee between his legs on the chair and gladly accepted him when his tongue touched her lips, asking for invitation.

She needed this, needed to feel him. Just touching was bringing back some semblance of normalcy. It made her forget the tension around her and reminded her of their days together, that he loved her.

A throat loudly cleared and they broke apart. Larry stood in the doorway with Eric behind him, having been relieved from his post of spying.

Gwen tensed at his grave expression but didn’t release her grip on David’s shirt, she was almost too afraid to ask, “What is it?”

“Bill’s here.”

***

Shepard
had never seen this particular pack’s leading alpha before. The last time they were in the same area both were preoccupied, so when an older man with greying hair and a missing leg was wheeled into what had to be the living room to face them, Shepard was forced to choke back a shocked gasp.

Every pack m
aster he’d come into contact with had been young, in their peaks of physical health. The image he’d been expecting wasn’t the one he received.

“Can someone get some chairs?”

“
They can
stand
,” Bill said stiffly.

Apparently this pack valued their l
eader’s mind rather than a powerful body.

One look at Jacob standing
next to him told him that the vampire was having similar thoughts.

Evey sat quietly behind them, beside Elaine and Gwen on a sofa that had been pushed against the wall to make room. If there ever had been chairs and a television set in the room, they had been removed to make the living room more spacious for the upcoming judgment.

Bill glared coldly at them and Shepard felt a tight knot in his stomach. The man Shepard recognized as Doc was standing behind his patient, wringing his hands. Obviously the man didn’t approve of Bill being out of the hospital so s
oon, regardless of how quickly Weres were known to heal.

“
The two of you ar
e responsible for attacking my pack, at my cabin, on our Moon Night.” His voice was raspy yet determined. Jacob flinched and Shepard spoke up.

“
It wasn’t his fault, we made him. He wouldn’t
have
even been if it weren’t for—”

“
Silence!” The command was sharp and Bill choked on
it
, coughing until Doc put a glass of water to his lips.

“That’s enough, it’s too soon. I’m taking you back.” He grabbed the handles of the wheelchair but Bill stopped him.

“If you even think of taking me out of here you’ll live to regret it.”

Gwen was stunned. She’d never seen Bill so angry before in all her life, but then he’d never
had to deal with several dead packmates, two bullet wounds of his own, and two prisoners, both of whom had claims of innocence and pack members standing behind them for support all at the same time.

Jacob was staring at Sh
epard, shocked that the former hunter would readily come to his defense. Evey had the same expression on her face.

Bill eyed the two o
f them impatiently. “You're a hunter and you are his aid,” he said to them. “The both of you have been getting away with murder for too long, I’m stopping this tonight.”

Gwen inwardly screamed.

Evey flew to
her feet. “Bill, I’m invoking vampire immunity for Jacob.”

“You can’t do that.” His hand clenched the arm of his wheelchair. Gwen thought he was about to pop a vein.

“
Yes I can
,” Evey shot back. “If you want him to face a trial then we’ll go to Griffon City and have it done by a head vampire. Either way, he’s not going to be judged by a Were with a bias.”

“
I have no bias,” Bill said
.

“
Yes
, you do. I’ll admit that it’s with good reason, but not good enough to judge someone outside of both your pack and your species.”

They both glared at each other for a minute, fighting to win.

“
That probably
is the best idea for now, Bill,” Larry said cautiously.

Gwen wondered why Evey hesitated before invoking the immunity, but dismissed it. She looked at David and saw him watching Evey with curious interest.

Vampire immunity?
he asked. It seemed he was still getting used to talking to her like this because the look on her face suggested he didn't even know if she would get the message.

She was definitely still getting used to this, too.

Yeah, it’s a law
. Not one that’s set in stone, mind you, but most packs and covens try to follow them,
she said.

But
, didn’t you and Evey kill off a coven of witches? Wouldn’t the same law extend to them?

Yes and no. They were attacking us first. What we did was
self-defense and the head Warlock of the area agreed with us. Actually, he was pretty happy to be rid of them.
She eyed him carefully.
How do you feel?

“Gwen,” Bill rumbled.

She snapped her eyes toward Bi
ll, he was staring at her with narrow eyed suspicion.

She swallowed. “Yeah?”

“
What are you doing?"

Gwen froze. How was she supposed to tell him that she and David had that mental link that only mates were supposed to have? She hadn't even told David that yet
.

"I..."

“
Bill, I want to invoke Lunar,
” Elaine stood up and said quickly.

Gwen looked up at her in shock. She was wringing her hands and gave off the emotions of a t
errified woman.

“
Elaine, you can’t do that,” Larry said, though he appeared more frightened than against it.

“
Yes
, I can! I’ve been a part of this pack for over a year, I’m qualified to invoke it,” she insisted, staring hopefully at Bill.

“
Now that I can say no to,
” Bill said.

Elaine sobbed and Gwen rose to her feet
, putting an arm around the older woman’s shoulders.

“What’s Lunar?” David asked, searching around as if he would find the answer.

Gwen felt sorry for him now because so much was happening that involved him that he knew nothing about.

“
But
, why?” Elaine sobbed. “He’s my son.”

“That has yet to be proven and probably won’t be after tonight.”