The Wolf's Pursuit (26 page)

"Pardon?" Hunter sidestepped and walked
closer to Gwen, to shield her from the villains.

"Yes. After all, how could I have predicted
you would be in the street at the exact moment I tried to murder
your brother?"

"Ash?" Hunter felt his stomach drop. "Why the
devil would you murder him?"

"He betrayed me. You see, I gave him the
opportunity to work for me, to help me in my little smuggling
campaign. I aimed to make him rich — he was a second son, after
all."

"And he said no?" Hunter suddenly felt proud
of his brother. Though he was still a viscount, he hadn't inherited
what Hunter had, and their father had only provided for one of
them.

"Not only did he say no, but he tried to
expose me. It did not help matters that you had already made up
your mind to quit. The War Office was at its wit's end to lose one
of the best spies our country has ever seen. Their words, not
mine."

"Of course," Hunter ground out, and clasped
his hands behind his back, dropping a dagger out of his sleeve and
revealing it only to Gwen, holding it in front of her face, so she
could free herself from the gag and take it with her teeth.

"But things always work out the way they are
supposed to. After all, your timing was perfect. Your lovely wife
got in the way. I thought you were Ash and when I directed the
carriage toward you, she crossed the street. You see, I hadn't
expected you back from assignment so soon. It really was so
perfect. Ash left the country in grief, never exposing me, for he
felt the accident was his fault — and you, you continued to work
for the War Office, allowing me to use you as a pawn for the
perfect crime."

Hunter's hands shook as he listened to
Wilkins talk. How had he not seen how evil this man was? Why hadn't
Ash said anything? So many questions that he knew he might not live
to find the answers to. Hunter felt a slight tremble through the
knife behind him, a sure sign that Gwen was sawing away at her
bindings.

He sighed. "Is there a reason for this
speech?"

"Patience, Hunter. I am getting there."
Wilkins raised a brow and continued talking. "I needed the money.
After all, the War Office doesn't pay well, and my smuggling
business needed a fall-back. Who, other than I, would be
intelligent enough to pull it off? Well, of course, it would be
you. And who does the War Office have reason not to trust? You.
After all, you went off the deep end after your wife's death.
Everyone thought so. And now? Now they will see what you have been
up to."

"You mean, other than saving lives?" Hunter
sneered.

"Smuggling weapons to the French." Wilkins
smiled as Hunter frowned. "You see, you even brought the ciphers
into your own house. The house that is painted with the name of
traitor."

Anger slammed Hunter in the chest. "You set
me up."

"And what a tragic little tale it will be!
Two of England's greatest spies turned lovers, in prison, set to
hang."

"No!" Hunter yelled as the cold metallic
knife was dropped into his waiting hands. He took a tentative step
away from Gwen. "Not her."

"I'm afraid you do not have a choice. The
chess pieces have already been played."

"Implicate me. Take me." Hunter shook his
head. "But not her, not Gwen. She did nothing to deserve this.
Allow me to take her punishment. Allow me to go in her place. I
will admit guilt outright."

Wilkins laughed, but Hollins shushed him.
"You would admit all wrongdoing against the Crown?"

"From my very lips I will admit guilt. They
will not even need testimony nor will they need proof."

"You will hang immediately," Hollins pointed
out.

Hunter sighed as he felt the heat of tears
pool in his eyes. "My place for hers." It was what should have
happened all along. It should have always been he who died nine
years ago. Never Lucy. Not Ash. He sighed and ran his fingers
through his hair. "The choice is yours, gentlemen. But know, if you
send both of us in, I'll use everything in my power to fight it,
and we all know I have powerful friends. I will not stop fighting
until my last breath is taken from me. I would do anything to
protect the woman I love."

"Even die for something you did not do?"
Wilkins shook his head. "Well, I believe the plan has worked out to
our advantage, then."

Hollins and he nodded, and then Hollins put
on his hat. "Well, it seems I have a call to make to Bow Street.
Wilkins will release your duchess once we have your hands
tied."

Hunter nodded as Hollins went to Gwen's hands
and untied them. Hunter bent down to kiss her on the forehead,
shielding her body and dropping the knife into her lap in the
process.

Gwen jumped from her chair and lunged for
Hollins, landing a blow to his face before spitting at him. He fell
to the floor with a groan.

Hunter grabbed her and pulled her against
him. "We do not have much time, Gwen."

She turned around and hugged him. Her face
pressed against his chest and he realized this might very well be
the last time he had her in his arms.

How he loved her. How he wished he could do
more, but the funny thing about pasts was they always had a
tendency to repeat themselves, and for once in his life he was
given a choice. And he chose her.

Wolf—

What will I do when I no longer wake up next
to you? How can my heart continue to beat when it no longer knows
the rhythm of its soul mate? I feel lost in the woods and there is
no trail, no wolf, to lead me home.

—
Red

Gwen grabbed Hunter's hand, held it within
her own, and closed her eyes. Minutes, seconds, tiny fragments of
time with the man she loved. And all because of one man's greed,
she was having everything taken from her. Everything she cared
about, everything she loved, she was touching.

And she was losing him.

With a sob she threw her arms around his neck
and memorized his smell, the way his strong arms felt around her.
She wasn't stupid. They were not only outnumbered, but she had no
weapon save the knife. Even if Hunter did, that meant he could
easily shoot one man but endanger her in the process. There wasn't
enough time to come up with a different plan other than sacrifice.
She wasn't worth it, yet she knew she would do the same for him;
therefore by not allowing it, she was stealing what peace he could
offer her. She would be throwing his love back in his face.

"I love you," she whispered in his ear.
"Hunter, my Wolf."

"Red." He choked. "My Gwen, I love you, more
than you will ever know."

But she knew, she saw it in his eyes, saw the
pain it took for him to hold her close, knowing it might be the
last time. Pain seized her heart as she kissed him one last
time.

"Time's up." Hollins jerked Hunter out of
Gwen's arms and began pushing him toward the exit just as another
figure approached the door from the other side.

"What have we here?"

Gwen gasped.

"Ash." Hunter exhaled, made a motion with his
hands to his brother that Gwen did not quite understand, and then
ducked as Ash punched Hollins in the face. Hunter returned to
Gwen's side and shielded her with his body.

Wilkins was yelling. Gwen looked up to see a
wheeled chair appear in the doorway, and then Lainhart lifted his
blanket, revealing his hand on the trigger of a blunderbuss as a
shot rang out. And then silence.

Hunter removed himself from her body and
examined Wilkins. "Direct shot into the head." He licked his lips
and then looked to Lainhart. "You shot a blunderbuss with one
hand."

"He's a crack shot," Ash answered, hitting
Hollins one more time, rendering him completely unconscious.

****

Hunter stared at his grandfather. He knelt in
front of him and shook his head. "Why did you come? I don't
understand?" He looked up at Ash, who seemed to have aged over the
years.

He grinned and patted Lainhart on the back.
"I've been his butler for the past two months. The minute I heard
you were back in town, I returned."

Hunter pulled his brother into a hug and
fought the urge to cry. "I thought you dead."

"I deserved death."

"No." Hunter jerked back and stared into his
brother's green eyes. "No, you did not. You were doing what was
right. You were going to expose him for what he truly was."

"I was a coward." Ash laughed bitterly. "I
fled the minute Lucy died. I could not live with myself, did not
want to live."

Oh, how Hunter knew the feeling. He slapped
his brother on the back and sighed. "Let us discuss it later. Thank
you. It seems you were not a second too late."

Ash laughed. Hunter noticed a piercing in
Ash's ear and then he pulled back his sleeves, exposing a small
tattoo of an axe with the word
Reaper
on the handle. Ash had
changed, that much was certain.

"Lainhart woke me." Ash pointed to Lainhart,
who was at the moment examining his gun as if he did not believe he
was able to shoot with one hand, either. "He began yelling and
yelling — moaning is more like it. Finally, I knew something was
wrong, and he showed me the chalkboard."

"—Saints alive, is that a dead body!"

"—Devil take me, I need a whiskey."

The noise all came from the same door
Lainhart was blocking, where Montmouth and Dominique stood. Both
men looked at Wilkins' lifeless body in shock and then back to
Hunter.

"How did you know where we were?" Hunter
asked.

Dominique stepped around Lainhart and
examined the room before pulling Gwen into a hug. "We received a
note from Lainhart."

"Called in reinforcements, just in case, eh?"
Hunter teased Lainhart. He shrugged and offered a smile before
pointing to the gun. "Yes, I imagine you were worried about being
able to shoot that beast on your own."

"'Bout stopped my heart," Ash admitted,
giving Lainhart a pointed look.

"What the devil happened here, anyway? The
note was vague. But it said to bring pistols. I thought I was going
to get a chance to finally shoot you, Hunter," Montmouth joked.

Hunter glared. "Sorry to disappoint."

Montmouth waved him off. "It is only a matter
of time, I assure you."

"Right."

Gwen came up beside Hunter, laid her head
against his shoulder, and sighed. "May we go home now?"

Hunter took a look around. "Yes, I think we
should. I have evidence to turn in."

Silence fell heavily upon everyone in the
room as they stared at the scene. Two men — one dead, the other
unconscious — and a roaring fire, as the morning sun peeked between
the curtains into the room.

A fresh start. That was what it felt like,
and then Hunter shook his head. "I do not believe it."

"What?" Gwen asked.

"What is the date?"

Dominique cleared his throat and spoke up.
"It is May 31."

The anniversary of Lucy's death. Their first
anniversary, a year after being married. Either God was insanely
cruel or generous, for he had been given a gift on the memorial of
the worst day of his life.

"Home," he whispered in Gwen's hair. "Let us
go home."

Montmouth and Dominique left with threats
that they wanted details of the happenings of that day, or
Montmouth would carry out his threat and truly shoot Hunter.

Ash pushed Lainhart through the door and
wheeled him down the three stairs toward the carriage, which had
been waiting a block down the street. Hunter and Gwen held hands
and followed them out, but Lainhart began yelling again.

"Aghhh!" He swatted Ash's hand and pointed
up.

Hunter ran to him. "Is it your hand? Did you
get burned from the powder?"

Lainhart shook his head and pointed down,
then grabbed a piece of chalk and pointed at Ash.

Ash reached into the carriage, pulled out the
old duke's chalkboard, and handed it over.

Lainhart stuck his tongue out and
concentrated hard as he wrote the word across the chalkboard.
Hunter waited, still holding Gwen's hand.

After a few seconds, Lainhart smiled as a
tear ran down his cheek. He held up the chalkboard. It said
Proud
.

He pointed at Hunter and pointed back at the
chalkboard, over and over again, until he began sobbing. Hunter
released Gwen's' hand and embraced his grandfather as the old man
cried on him.

Red—

Never again. From this day forward, you may
never leave the house. I am locking you in our room and you must
carry a pistol with you at all times. Never hesitate, just shoot. I
do not care if you shoot into the air when a pigeon scares you. You
will protect yourself even if it need be from animals!

—
Wolf

It had been two days since the incident, and
Gwen had seen Hunter a total of three hours in those days. Today
was the day the questioning was finished. He refused to let Gwen
leave the house, even though he'd allowed her to begin hiring a
staff to clean up the forest.

She was, in a word, lonely.

Her sisters visited her often, but her
thoughts were always far off, dreaming of Hunter and wondering if
things would ever be the same. He shared her bed at night but other
than kissing her on her cheek, he did not make love to her, nor did
he say a word. He merely held her in his arms until she fell
asleep.

Gwen could not help but wonder if he
regretted marrying her, or if she did something wrong? Perhaps the
fear of losing her had been too much. It felt as if he was pushing
her away.

She walked into the ballroom, now empty, and
sat in front of the fire, not caring that her new satin blue dinner
dress would be crushed.

The light from the fire was all that
illuminated the large room. With its impressive ceilings and murals
on the walls, it was a sight to behold. She would have never
dreamed that Hunter had the money that he did.