Dark Wolf Rising (Bloodrunners) (25 page)

With his heart beating to a strong, heavy rhythm, Eric closed the distance between them and lifted his hand to her face, his thumb stroking across her lower lip. “Tonight changed everything, sweetheart. Even though it was wrong, I wanted to keep you, to make you mine, whether the wolf accepted you or not. But now that it has, I don’t have to worry that I’ll slip up. It will protect you as fiercely as I will. Forever.”

She blinked. “Forever?”

Taking a deep breath, he dropped his hand and said, “I want to bond with you, Chelsea.”

“Wh-what?” she gasped, her eyes going wide.

“I want to claim you in the way of the wolf. Pierce your neck with my fangs and take your blood.” His voice was low, rough, stripped down to raw, blistering emotion. “I know it probably sounds scary, but it’s meant to be extremely pleasurable for the female.”

Confusion creased her brow. “But wouldn’t that turn me into a werewolf?”

Very carefully, he said, “If you weren’t mine, then, yes. But it doesn’t work that way with mates.”

* * *

Chelsea couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She’d waited up to ask him for a chance to keep seeing each other—not to bind their lives together in a way that could never be undone. “Mates?” she choked out, shaking her head. “I...I don’t understand, Eric. Why are you saying these things to me
now,
when you’ve never talked about a future between us before?”

“Tonight, I recognized your scent.” He gave her a dark, possessive look, his gray eyes beginning to glow around the edges again with that warm, amber light that they’d had after the fight. “I recognized it as something that belongs to me, Chelsea. It says that you’re
mine.
”

Needing to put more space between them, Chelsea took an instinctive step back. “But thatthat doesn’t make any sense.” Her emotions were in a chaotic jumble that was heading swiftly toward panic. “You smell something good and
poof,
just like that you’re ready to take things to the next level?”

“Damn it, you don’t get to make me sound like some juvenile pup who doesn’t know his ass from his elbow,” he growled, the angry thunder of his voice nearly making her jump. “You have no... idea how significant this is.”

Tossing her arms up, she shouted, “That’s right! I don’t. Because you’ve never bothered to explain it to me!”

With a low groan vibrating in the back of his throat, he pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes, looking as if he was trying to get a handle on his frustration. Breathing hard and rough, he said, “What happened tonight means that my wolf completely accepts you as ours. It means I no longer have to fight to maintain full control over myself when we make love.” He lowered his hands, the look in his glittering eyes imploring her to understand. “It means I can finally
trust
myself with you. That I no longer have to be afraid.”

He’d been that worried? All this time? Though he’d tried to explain the danger to her, she’d never really believed him.

Shivering, she wrapped her arms around her middle, her voice little more than a croak. “And if you had never had this understanding? This...this
recognition
of my scent? Even if we hadn’t argued last night, you still would have just walked away from me? After what? A day? A week?”

His throat worked as he swallowed. “Walking away from you is the best thing I could have done, because my wolf was only growing more possessive of you. But I don’t know that I would have been strong enough to make it happen.” He sounded as if he was confessing a sin.

Softly, she asked, “And you think our being together now is a given?”

“You can’t change the facts, Chelsea.” He took a quick, sharp breath, every line in his body and face going hard with determination. “No matter how you look at it, you’re
mine.
Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

Oh, she understood. Understood that he wanted things from her she didn’t think she would ever be able to give him. How could she, when she simply didn’t have the ability to open up and completely put her faith in another person?

Shaking her head, she said, “I’m sorry, Eric. But that isn’t the way that it works. Not for me. We don’t all get the magic answer.”

His eyes narrowed to blazing, piercing chips of gray. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means I’m still me!” she told him, pressing a hand against the center of her chest. “Still the same woman with the same hang-ups. I’m not ready to submit and give myself to you. Not for forever. I might
never
be.”

“I can...be patient,” he scraped out, but she knew it was a lie.

“No, you can’t. I can see it in your eyes.” She took another step back, looking to the side, her face hidden by the veil of her hair. All of this...it was too much, and she could feel her defense mechanisms kicking into gear, working to bury her confusing feelings beneath layers and layers of cold, glacial ice. “It’s...it’s best to end this now, Eric, before either one of us gets any deeper.”

* * *

“Any deeper?” He gave a hard, bitter laugh, feeling like she’d reached into his chest and ripped out his heart. “Christ, Chelsea. This isn’t something that’s going to just go away for me. I only get
one
mate, and that’s
you.
I don’t get any second chances.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice eerily quiet and flat. “But I can’t do this.”

He cursed under his breath, hands braced on his hips, head hanging forward, as he paced the length of the room. The mountain winds howled beyond the night-black windows, mirroring the crushing tension in the air. Finally, he blew out another ragged breath and turned toward her. “I’m not asking you to change who you are. I’m just asking you to start a life with me.”

Bringing her gaze back to his, she asked, “And where would we live?”

Because of his bloodline, his family was going to be at the forefront of danger for months, if not years to come. Though Eric knew she was tough, he also knew that only a madman would take a human female to live with the pack right now, when things were still so volatile and unstable, catastrophe waiting to erupt at any moment. But they could build a life together in the Alley. Despite what had happened tonight, she would be safe here. He and the Runners would see to it.

“Eric?”

He took another deep breath, collecting his thoughts, and said, “We’d live here, in the Alley. It would be perfect, Chelse. You would still have your teaching career. I’m not trying to take that away from you. And you could still devote time to your causes. Hell, the women up in Shadow Peak need your help more than you can even imagine. You could start a shelter for them here, in one of the cabins. Give them counseling and a safe place to go when they need it.”

She looked at him with an expression that was nothing short of stunned. “What do I know about werewolves?”

“You know about women—especially ones who have to deal with overbearing, abusive males. Trust me, we’ve got our share of those. God knows their mates could use a safe place to go when things at home get too rough. You’d be needed, there’s no doubt of that.”
And I’d need you. So damn much.

“Eric, I...I don’t—”

He couldn’t stop himself from taking a step toward her, wanting to hold her so badly it was killing him. “I don’t want to change you or force you to be anything other than what you are, Chelsea. I just...I want you to make room for me,” he rasped, forcing the words from his tight throat. “I want inside. Want to know every part of you.
All
of them. Not just the ones you feel safe sharing with me.”

* * *

Chelsea took another step back. “No. I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. I
won’t.
” Her voice shook. “I can’t bind my life to you, Eric. I can’t be what you want.”

She watched his strong, tanned throat work on a hard swallow, but he didn’t give her another argument or heartbreaking plea. His jaw was clenched so hard and tight, she wasn’t even sure that he could.

Filling the awful silence, she said, “I know I need to leave, but it would be wrong to move Perry tonight, when she’s so devastated by Jason’s betrayal. But we’ll go first thing in the morning.” Ignoring the pain in her chest, and the voice screaming in her head that she was making the biggest mistake of her life, she added, “You’re a great guy, Eric. The best. You deserve someone who can be what you need.”

“I don’t need someone to fit a goddamn mold,” he snarled. “I just needed you.”

“It’ll pass,” she whispered, trying to keep her voice from breaking.

“Damn it, Chelsea.” He looked...shattered, his own voice guttural and bleak. “Don’t do this.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again, sniffing to hold back her tears. “But it’s for the best. For both of us. I know you’ll come to see that. Probably a lot sooner than you realize.”

She turned to go, needing to get away, but he grunted, “Wait!” When she’d forced her gaze back to his, he said, “You should know that Jason was only trying to protect your sister. I think he believed she wouldn’t leave him if she knew he still loved her.” He gave another one of those hard, bitter laughs that made something inside her feel like it was splintering into a hundred pieces. “Anyway, he knew that Curtis wanted her, so he played the bastard, telling him that Perry had run away. He also told him about meeting me in Hawkley, and that you were here in the Alley. Said this would be the first place we brought her. Instead of betraying Perry, Jason saw tonight as the perfect chance to get rid of Curtis for good, since he didn’t think Curtis and his men would be any match for the Runners. But he hadn’t banked on Curtis pumping them up with that drug.”

“So you got lucky,” she whispered, thinking of how his dark wolf had risen and taken control, destroying their enemies.

“Yeah,” he rasped, a grim smile on his beautiful lips as he started to back away. “I’m definitely one lucky son of a bitch.”

Then he turned and left the cabin, and Chelsea didn’t see him again that night...or the following morning.

As she and Perry loaded up the SUV he’d bought for her and drove out of the glade, Eric remained out of sight. She didn’t even know if he was still in the Alley.

All she knew was that she’d lost him.

Forever.

Chapter Fifteen

A
day went by, then another, and then more, until it had been over a week since Chelsea had driven out of the Alley. Which meant it’d been over a week since she’d seen Eric.

Over a week since she’d felt...alive.

Standing at her kitchen sink and staring out the window, she thought about how colorless life seemed without him, how placid. Beige and dull, all the hours blending together in a hazy blur of nothingness. There were so many things that she missed about him, it was impossible to name just one. His wicked laugh and those crooked, cocky grins he was always giving her. That exhilarating rush that had swept through her every time he walked into a room. The way he’d always looked at her with so much hunger and heat, as if he saw her in a way that no other man ever had.

Damn it, she missed
him.
So much that it was slowly killing her inside.

Their time together had been such a mess, but it had proven one thing. Even in the midst of a nightmare, something beautiful could be found. You just had to be willing to fight for it, and she hadn’t.

She didn’t know how long she just stood there, staring at the gray sky through her small window by the kitchen sink, but it seemed as if seasons had passed by the time Perry came shuffling into the kitchen, breaking her out of her trance.

Turning around, she said, “Hey, you.”

Perry jerked her chin in acknowledgment, slipping silently into one of the kitchen chairs. She looked awful, her hair tangled around her pale face, dark smudges under her puffy eyes. She was nothing but a shell now. No spark, no fire. And for the first time since everything had fallen apart in their lives, Chelsea realized that a lot of the blame for Perry’s depression fell on her shoulders. It had been her choice not to tell her sister the truth about what Jason Donovan had been doing in the Alley with Curtis and the others that night. She’d told herself it would only make it harder for Perry to accept his loss. Convinced herself that she was saving her sister from more heartbreak and pain. But she’d been wrong.

The truth was that she’d been trying to make Perry more like her. Trying to help her build that sturdy, brittle shell around her heart so that nothing and no one could ever hurt her. But that wasn’t what she wanted for this troubled young woman who had the rest of her life ahead of her.

“Honey,” she said, taking a seat at the table. “We need to talk.”

Then she did what she should have done from the very beginning, and gave her sister the truth. Yes, it hurt, but it also proved that Perry had been right to follow her heart. Jason might have been caught up in something beyond his control, but he
had
loved her—so much that he’d been willing to die for her—and he’d wanted her to be safe...to find happiness.

She hoped that one day Perry would find love again—that she wouldn’t be afraid to risk her heart—because in that moment, Chelsea suddenly realized a beautiful truth: no matter how afraid you were of being hurt, it was always better to choose love. To take the risk and cherish the reward, rather than to play it safe and never know love at all. To never have the courage to surrender to its power and simply let it overtake you and reshape you. To let it find the parts of yourself that you never even knew existed.

Knowing what she had to do, Chelsea gave her sister a hug and told her that she’d always be there for her when she needed it. Then she packed a bag, jumped in her car and set off with the burning determination to undo the biggest mistake of her life.

* * *

A blood-orange sun hung low in the sky when Chelsea finally pulled her car into the Alley. She’d been lucky enough to avoid any Silvercrest scouts—either that, or they’d decided to let her pass onto their land unchallenged. She parked the Rav4—she was still driving the SUV, since no had ever come to collect it—beside Eric’s cabin, surprised that no one came out to see who had arrived. She’d just started to make her way up the porch steps when she heard a deep voice call her name. Without even looking, the Irish accent told her it was Cian who’d called out to her.

“Where is everyone?” she asked, turning around. The Runner was walking over from his cabin, and for the first time since she’d met him, he didn’t give her one of those devilish smiles that she’d come to expect.

Flicking the butt of his cigarette into the damp grass, he said, “We decided I’d be the one to deal with you.”

Confusion creased her brow. “How did you know I was coming?”

“Hendricks called.”

Since he wasn’t coming up the steps to join her, she decided to come down them. “Isn’t he one of the scouts I met before?” she asked, using her hand to shield her eyes against the vibrant rays of late-afternoon sunshine. “How did he know what I was doing? Has he been watching me in Smythe?”

With a brief nod, he said, “Until this crap is cleared up with the Whiteclaw, Eric wanted to make sure you were protected.”

“So he sent the scout?”

“He would have done it himself,” he explained, studying her with a dark, glittering gaze, “but he didn’t trust himself to be that near you.”

Before Chelsea could figure out what to say, the Runner pulled a set of keys from his pocket and jerked his chin. “Come on, we need to hurry.”

“Why?” She followed after him as he headed toward his Land Rover. “What’s going on?”

“There’s something happening up in Shadow Peak that I think you should see,” he tossed over his shoulder.

“Is that where Eric is?”

He climbed behind the wheel without responding, so she repeated the question once she was in the passenger’s seat and he was starting the engine.

It wasn’t until he’d driven out of the Alley, and they were turning onto the same road that Eric had taken when they’d gone up to see Elise, that the Irishman finally gave her an answer. “Eric’s been up in town for a while now.”

“And?”

His dark brows lifted. “And what?”

His attitude was really starting to piss her off. “Look, I get that I’m not your favorite person at the moment, but at least tell me how he’s doing,” she snapped.

He slanted her a wry look and smirked. “You sure you want to know?”

Swallowing the lump of guilt in her throat, she said, “Yes.”

“Well, to be honest, he’s gone a little mad,” he muttered, taking the curves in the road so fast that she had to hold on to the door with a white-knuckled grip. “Stubborn jackass has been taking on everyone and everything like he has a bloody death wish.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, his words twisting her stomach into knots.

Scrubbing his hand over his jaw, he said, “Let’s see, since you left he’s gotten Heaven and Hell permanently shut down, had about twenty different fights up in town, and made it his personal goal in life to destroy Roy Claymore.”

Oh, hell.
“Destroy him how?” she croaked, dreading what she would hear.

“He goes to the borders of Hawkley every day, demanding entrance into the town, because he wants to challenge the bastard in a fight to the death. If you ask me, it’s been a way for him to channel all his anger toward you into something useful.”

She flinched, thinking he was probably right. “And you’ve done nothing to stop him?”

Cian shrugged. “We send someone with him wherever he goes. But aside from locking him up, there isn’t a hell of a lot we can do. He’s a grown man, Chelsea. One who’s pissed and hurt and spoiling for a fight.”

The words put a sharp pain in her chest, and though Cian’s driving was scaring the hell out of her, she silently willed him to go faster, desperate to get to Shadow Peak so that she could tell Eric how sorry she was and beg his forgiveness. They made the rest of the trip in tense silence, and it wasn’t long before they were pulling into the town. But instead of taking her to Eric’s house, like she’d expected, Cian parked on a busy street near what appeared to be the town center.

“What’s going on?” she asked, looking out the Rover’s window at the gathering crowd. “Why are there so many people here?”

Turning off the engine, he said, “There’s a meeting going on in front of the Town Hall. All these people are heading over there, because they don’t want to miss seeing Glenn Farrow make a formal accusation against Eric. And it’s all because of you.”

“Because of me? I don’t understand. What’s he being accused of?”

“Ever since all that shit went down with his father, Farrow and his lot have been looking for a way to get Eric banished,” he explained, sliding her a chilling look. “And
you
handed it right to them. They’re using your sudden disappearance as a way to get rid of him.”

“My disappearance?”

“Farrow somehow learned that you’re no longer staying in the Alley, and now he’s trying to use the situation as a way to get at Eric. We’ve told him you went back home to Virginia, but he doesn’t care. All he’s interested in is pushing for an immediate vote, before we can deliver proof that you’re alive.”

“Ohmygod,” she whispered, her head spinning as she tried to take it all in.

“God isn’t going to be able to help with this one,” he ground out. “The others are already here to support him, but there isn’t a lot they can do. Not if things swing in Farrow’s favor. I was planning to drive down to Smythe and drag you back with me, but then we heard that you were already on your way. You need to make an appearance in front of everyone and set the record straight.”

“I will,” she told him, her voice choked with emotion. “In more ways than one.”

Then she climbed out of the Rover and took off running through the crowd.

* * *

Son of a bitch.

Without even turning around, Eric knew that Chelsea was somewhere in the growing crowd behind him, her sweet, intoxicating scent wrapping around him like a damn vise—one that had a wrenching hold on his body, as well as his heart. He’d spent the past week in hell because of this woman, and yet, he still wanted her. Still
craved
her. But then, there was no longer any doubt that she was meant to be his. That she belonged to him, body and soul.

“Eric!” Chelsea’s husky voice rose above the shocked murmurs spreading through the crowd, demanding his attention. “Eric!”

Knowing he was going to regret it, he braced himself and turned around, his heart giving a painful thump the instant he set eyes on her.

With glaring rays of sunlight burning in his eyes, he watched her break through the edge of the crowd and start making her way toward him. Hating that he could still need her so badly, Eric cursed under his breath.

Behind him, Glenn Farrow and his cronies were standing on the top steps of the Town Hall, only seconds away from pleading their case to the crowd. Since there was no body or evidence of a crime, they hadn’t been able to seek his execution. But there was still enough paranoia in the town that they’d hoped to have Eric banished on grounds of suspicion in the trumped-up case of Chelsea Smart’s disappearance. It was nothing but a load of bullshit—but then, in times of hysteria and fear, he knew that people could be convinced of ridiculous things.

The Runners were all standing off to his right, ready to plead his innocence before the pack in a unified show of support. The only one who hadn’t shown for the event was Hennessey, and Eric had assumed the Irishman was driving down to Smythe to get Chelsea and drag her back to Shadow Peak, providing the proof that no crime had been committed. But there was no way the Runner could have made it there and back already. So what the hell was she doing here?

More whispers started to spread through the crowd as the townspeople began to realize who she was. She was only a few feet away when word of what was going on must have reached Glenn, because he turned away from the group he’d been talking to and started down the steps. “This doesn’t change anything!” he snarled, seething with rage. His hand shook as he pointed a finger in their direction. “We’re still going to ask for a banishment vote!”

There were a few cheers from the crowd, but the majority remained silent, waiting to see what would happen. The Runners began to form an outward-facing circle around him and Chelsea, making it clear that no one would be getting past them.

“Someone get the human out of here!” Glenn roared, his narrow face mottled with rage as he realized his moment of glory was slipping away from him.

Now that Chelsea was right in front of him, Eric started to demand an explanation for her appearance, but she swept right past him, climbing onto the step behind him and then turning to face the crowd. Voice shaking with anger, she stared down the Silvercrest pack and shouted, “What in God’s name is wrong with you people? Eric would give the skin off his back for any one of you, and this is how you repay his loyalty? By whispering about him like a bunch of old women and believing the lies of a man who is obviously more concerned with inciting paranoia than the truth. You should be ashamed of yourselves!”

“What the hell do you know?” someone called out from the far side of the street. “You’re just a human.”

“I know you don’t deserve him!”

“And you do?” Jeremy asked, shooting her a questioning look over his shoulder.

Locking her gaze with the Runner’s, she shook her head and said, “No, I don’t. I know that I don’t. But I plan on doing everything I can to become someone who does.”

Wondering if he was dreaming, Eric had to swallow twice before he could say her name. “Chelsea?”

Tears glistened in her eyes as she turned her head to look at him. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, taking a step closer. “I should have been here for you, Eric. I should have never left you. I missed you so much.”

“And how do I know that you won’t leave me again?” The words were thick...rough, scraping against his throat, while his lungs started to work in a violent rhythm.

“Because I’m madly, desperately in love with you,” she told him in a strong, clear voice as if she wanted everyone to hear the stunning declaration. “I left because I was afraid of the way you made me feel, but I’m not afraid anymore. I know I’m not perfect, and that I’ll make mistakes. But I’m hoping you’ll give me another chance anyway.” Then she moved a little closer, and with her passion-dark gaze locked tight on his, she said, “And I really want to go someplace where I can be alone with you.”