Wolf at the Door (15 page)

Timber couldn’t answer that. She tried to
look away, but the moment she dragged her gaze from his she saw him
nod, understanding and sympathy flashing across his face. She hated
the pity, hated feeling this weak and helpless.

“You don’t get it,” she said, her voice
whisper-soft. “Here? You leave for work and I’m still home. You can
leave guards and surround my house, but I have the upper hand. You
might think you only had one in your pack who might toss me to
Charles, but after another body? Another one of your Hounds dead?
You just don’t know. But I can guarantee you that Charles is going
to go after them until you give up.”

“No,
you
don’t get it.” Brandt caught
her chin and forced her to look at him. “Ace has had issues with
shifters since day one. I agreed to give him a shot, he failed. He
can leave. The rest of my pack? Not a single one blames you. They
know you didn’t hold the knife. They know handing you to him won’t
stop anything. What Charles did was a challenge to them as much as
it was to you. He made it personal, and they want back at the
bastard who killed one of their own. Giving you to him? That’s
letting Wolfe win.”

“That’s not just letting him win,” a
masculine voice said from just inside her door and Timber jumped.
Only Brandt’s hand on her jaw kept her from bolting. She recognized
the man door as one of Brandt’s Hounds. She’d seen him several
times; he seemed to be one Brandt trusted the most. “Giving you to
him means he gets to kill anyone he wants, Hounds, shifters,
humans, without so much as a slap on his wrist. If anything, it’d
paint a large neon sign to him that all he has to do is kill one of
us and we’ll toss him a bone. That’s not a message we want to
send.”

The corner of Brandt’s mouth edged up in a
smile.

“Tate Stanton,” the man said as he walked
closer, his hand extended. Brandt rose to his feet, his hand
falling away so she could greet the Hound approaching her. His hand
closed around hers, his grip firm and warm. “But I have an idea, if
the thought of a motel room surrounded by Hounds freaks you
out.”

She glanced between him and Brandt and said,
“I’m listening.”

But instead of answering her, Tate looked to
Brandt. “Bannock might be willing to take her in.”

Bannock
. The name sounded familiar.
Her brow creased before the Delphi alpha’s name registered. Nathan
Bannock. Another wolf alpha. Hell, the last thing he’d want was
trouble for his pack.

“I could give him a call,” Brandt said, his
glance meeting hers.

She started to shake her head when Tate’s
voice drew her attention back to him. “You can’t get safer than in
the middle of Delphi territory.” His lips hitched up in a smile.
“Or so I’ve been told. And, probably more important, Bannock has a
bone to pick with the man stalking you. It’s personal for him,
too.”

“One of Nathan’s wolves was attacked while
leaving work before the first victim in this area died. She
recognized Wolfe’s picture. Every enforcer in Nathan’s pack knows
Wolfe’s scent.” Brandt had his phone in his hand, but she knew he
was waiting for her to agree before he made the call. All she had
to do was say yes.

Timber glanced at her couch. She’d known
Brandt couldn’t stay here with her forever. Had known Charles would
outlast him. They were giving her another place to go to draw out
the protection, but how long before the Delphi alpha set her on her
own? And as stupid as it sounded, it was more than that.

She didn’t want to give up the time she’d had
here with Brandt. Her tongue darted nervously out over her lips.
She was terrified of ending up back with Charles, but ever since
he’d come after her this time, her life had finally opened up.
Fitting, considering he’d shut every door and chance at happiness
when he took her the first time.

Slowly, she nodded. “Worth a try.”

“I’ll make the call.” Brandt glanced at the
clock and she saw him wince. “Though I doubt he’ll be happy about
what time it is.”

He turned away and keyed in a number. Timber
watched as he paced in the direction of her kitchen, leaving Tate
still standing next her. He leaned against the couch. “Brandt
doesn’t walk away from anything. Even moving you to Delphi won’t
make him give up.”

No, she didn’t think it would. He’d keep
going after Charles, she was sure of it. He just wouldn’t be here
with her anymore and, as much as she tried to tell herself it
didn’t matter, that in the end he’d have had to walk away anyway,
it still hurt.

Chapter Fourteen

Timber
recognized the muscular man on the front steps when Brandt came to
a stop in front of the two-story brick house. Nathan Bannock wasn’t
someone you forgot. In another life, maybe he’d have seemed
handsome and less...scary. But something about him had intimidated
her from day one. His eyes had the cold, hard stare of a killer.
And where Brandt was leaner, slimmer, Nathan had a bulk to him that
suggested he spent quite a bit of his time in the gym.

He was leaning back against the house, his
arms crossed. Everything about the Delphi alpha looked terrifying,
especially cloaked in darkness. The dim light of the porch
flickered in and out. She clutched the arm rest on the passenger
seat, not daring to move just yet. Brandt glanced at her. “You
okay?”

“Yeah. He just always looks so damn
mean.”

Brandt laughed at that, his smile flashing in
the dim light of the car. “He can be mean, too. It’s what keeps his
pack safe.”

She understood that, but couldn’t he be all
warm and smiley right now? Instead of glowering down the street.
She was grateful for Brandt’s warmth next to her. He didn’t rush
her out of the car. Brandt let her get her bearings and waited
until she reached for her door before he followed her out. Her legs
felt weak as she got her bags and followed Brandt up the walk. The
Delphi alpha just stood there, watching. His eyes seemed extra
bright in the darkness, a wolf gold that seemed to cut through the
night. He was watching the street, she realized. It was only when
they’d stepped up on the front porch with him that the other wolf
looked down at her.

The planes of his face seemed to warm a bit,
his eyes even hinting at sympathy. “Timber Kearney. It’s nice to
meet you.”

He held out a beefy hand. Her palms were
slick with sweat, but she dropped one of her bags, rubbed her hand
on her jeans and then reached to take his. “You too, Mr.
Bannock.”

His head jerked slightly in disagreement.
“Just Nathan.”

Brandt shook Nathan’s hand next. “Thanks
again for taking her in.”

Nathan flashed Brandt a feral smile. It
looked dark, haunting around the edges. “No problem. The bastard
better hope he doesn’t try for her. I’d love to have a go at him.”
His gaze landed back on her, and Timber fought not to squirm.
“Let’s get you inside. I didn’t want to wake anyone else in my pack
tonight, so you can stay here with me. Tomorrow we’ll get you moved
in with Shay.”

He was moving her in with another woman?

As if reading her skepticism, Nathan’s grin
stretched wider. “Addison Shay. She’s one of my enforcers, freaking
vicious, too. I’d poke a rabid bear before I’d take her on. She’ll
have your back. But I know she just worked a 24-hour shift playing
bodyguard for some rich chick. She needs to sleep tonight.”

Nathan pushed open his front door and let
them inside. Timber allowed her gaze to wander over the mismatched
furniture, the large-screen television. The place had bachelor pad
written all over it. But it also looked cozy. Comforting. The tense
knot between her shoulders eased.

“There’s a guest bedroom upstairs. I already
pulled out some fresh sheets.”

“I’ll be parking a pair of Hounds on your
street, just in case. I don’t think he saw us move her, but I’m not
willing to take the chance.”

Timber turned to the men talking behind her.
She could see the sympathy in Nathan’s eyes, the rough
acknowledgement that Brandt had lost one of his pack. She couldn’t
help but wonder just how much the Delphi alpha knew, but there was
an easiness between the two men that told her they’d worked
together before.

Brandt took a step in her direction, and
Timber felt her heart pick up. “You’ll be safe here.”

“I know.” She glanced at Nathan, but the wolf
had moved away, giving them privacy.

“I’ll check in on you. We are going to catch
him. Wolfe will make a mistake sooner or later.”

Timber stared up at him. This night could
have gone so differently. When she’d gone down those stairs and
seen him, for the first time in a long time she’d thought of sex.
Hell, not just sex, but the opportunity to have more in her life.
Once again, Charles had ruined that.

But this time, she knew even if Charles just
moved on and let her go, she couldn’t go back to the woman she’d
been before. She needed more in her life than four walls in a
house. She still wanted to help women, wanted to help those like
her, but she needed more. She needed people in her life.

Timber reached up and touched Brandt’s face,
his stubble rough under her fingertips. She felt his mouth curve
into a tender smile as he leaned down to press his lips against her
forehead. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she whispered and tilted her face up.
His lips found hers. It was a gentle kiss, just a soft touch of his
lips on hers, a promise that he wasn’t walking away.

Then he stepped back. Timber watched while he
and Nathan shook hands and the wolf-shifter showed him to the door.
She angled her head so she could look out the window and watch him
walk to the STE vehicle parked on the street.

Nathan stepped up beside her, but she didn’t
look at the Delphi alpha until Brandt’s black car had disappeared
around the corner, lost in the darkness. She looked up at the alpha
then, and those hard eyes of his seemed to read every thought in
her head, but he didn’t pry. Instead, he tilted his head at the
stairs. “Ready to crash?”

She nodded, but she couldn’t ease the ache
building in her chest. When this was all done, there were things
she needed to figure out, and almost all of them had to do with
Brandt Lawrence. Maybe Charles had a reason to be jealous. She
wanted more from that Hound than she’d ever wanted from anyone
before.

***

Darkness skittered outside the window, the
slim tendrils of moonlight vanishing as a cloud passed by the
waxing moon and left the room cast in darkness. Charles leaned back
against the headboard and stared down at the woman whimpering at
the edge of the bed. Nothing about her was right. Not that he’d
expected her to be, but she’d looked so much like his little Timber
that he had to try. But her wolf was meek, a whimpering shadow who
cowered every time he got close.

Timber had fought him in the beginning. He’d
seen the animal lurking in her eyes, the desire to sink teeth into
his flesh and rip him apart almost always there before she’d
learned to shy away from his touch. Before he showed her that even
then, when he was a human, he’d been her alpha, her mate. The only
one she should bow to.

This little squeak huddled like a mouse,
whimpering and crying, without any fight in her. Frustrated, he
lashed out, the heel of his foot catching her shoulder and shoving
her off the bed. She fell to the floor with a soft cry. Charles
thumped his head back against the wooden headboard. He wanted this
over with, done with. His proper mate back in his fucking bed. He
wanted her to feel his power this time—real power.

Wanted to see what her wolf thought when it
looked him in the eyes again and saw a bigger, badder wolf looking
back.

He licked his lips, the anticipation so thick
in the air he could taste it. “I wonder,” Charles murmured and
watched as the woman’s eyes grew wide, her naked body trembling as
she sank lower to the floor, like she was willing the carpet to
swallow her up. “Did her little Hound leave her after finding my
last present?”

He crawled down the length of the bed and
watched the little she-wolf whimper, burying her face in her hands.
Charles reached out and trailed a finger down her spine. She was so
easy to scare. So easy to break.

The Hound from this afternoon had more fight
in her than this little bitch.

“Don’t worry,” Charles said as he stepped
over her to leave. “I won’t keep you long.”

Of course, he wasn’t sure it reassured her.
After all, he wasn’t going to let her live, either. A dead wolf was
a bigger bargaining tool than one he’d let scamper free, like he
was someone you could just piss off without expecting any
retribution. Timber had always proven stronger than he could
possibly have imagined. All those women tortured and then dead, and
she’d held out for so long, refusing to change him.

His tongue trailed out over his lips. She
wasn’t one who’d break when the bodies piled up. Oh, she’d tremble
a little bit, worry a bit more, but she wouldn’t come crawling back
to him in hopes of stopping the murders. She wasn’t dumb. No, these
were just for fun, and they had the added bonus of riling up the
local Shifter Town Enforcement.

The Hounds would want those murders to stop,
and one little wolf handed over as a way of calling truce, now that
wouldn’t be too far beneath them. Snatching up his jeans, Charles
yanked them on, his mind churning over the possible ways this could
play out. Maybe in a day or two he’d let the woman in his bedroom
be found, but dead shifters only riled Shifter Town Enforcement so
much.

Dead Hounds, though...he did like where he
was going with that.

This afternoon should have gotten his message
across loud and clear. Now it was time to go see if it had worked.
Had Timber’s dog packed up and left her to fend for herself, or did
Charles need to up the ante? Grinning, he stalked for the door. He
really couldn’t decide which he wanted more.