Maria stopped, her braid swinging. She turned warm brown eyes up to him, but they held a hint of steel. “Of course not. This is America. I don’t have to live with my brother, or with Liam, or Sean. I can live in a place on my own.”
“Alone?” Ellison blinked. “Why would you want to?” He couldn’t imagine living by himself, without sister, nephews, cubs, parents, pack—family.
He was almost alone here, head of a pack of four. No mate of his own, no cubs. Lone Wolf, the other Shifters sometimes called him.
“It’s different for me,” Maria said. “The idea of being alone is . . . splendid.”
“Lonely.”
“Peaceful.”
“Boring.” Ellison shook his head.
“I wouldn’t sit at home and do nothing. I would . . .” Maria bit the corner of her lip then drew a breath. “If I tell you this, will you keep it to yourself? Andrea knows, and Glory. And Connor. No one else.”
“Connor?” She named Liam’s nephew, younger than Ellison’s nephews, all of twenty-one.
“Yes, Connor. He’s good at keeping secrets. I want to go to school. I’ve been saving up for it, and I’m already working on my application and looking for scholarships. Connor’s been helping me study for the tests called SATs. I’ll be taking them this Saturday.”
“Community college, eh? Maybe a good thing. You could drive Connor—the kid’s a maniac behind the wheel.”
“No, not community college. University. UT Austin.”
Ellison whistled. “They don’t take everyone—they don’t take Shifters at all. Maybe you should start with something smaller, work your way up to it.”
Her indignant look could have lit a fire. “There is no reason to start small. If you want something, you go for it. You never know in this life when it will all be taken away.”
So true. Maria spoke from her own experience, and look what had happened to Deni.
Maria’s anger made her shake. She needed reassurance, cried out for it, though Ellison knew she’d never admit it.
Ellison put a hand on her shoulder. Quietly, like he would for a cub who was upset.
But Maria wasn’t a cub. She was a beautiful young woman, alone, unprotected, yet gutsy and strong for what had happened to her.
Ellison’s touch of reassurance turned to a caress, the backs of his fingers brushing her skin. “You go for it, Maria. Aim as high as you want.” And if you fall, I’ll be here to catch you.
Maria’s expression softened. She had a round face, pretty, ringlets of black hair trickling loose from its binding. Ellison’s need to kiss her rose like a newly kindled fire, to press his lips against the soft red ones, to taste the moisture inside her mouth.
“Is everything all right with Deni?” Maria asked.
“Yeah,” Ellison said, jerking his gaze from her lips. “She’s fine now.” Ellison had left her sleeping, Andrea holding her hand.
“I’ll go over and see her tomorrow, all right?”
“Yeah, she’d like that. But if she gets . . . you know . . . forgetful, you get out. Dominant female wolves can be very dangerous.”
“She won’t hurt me.” Maria spoke with a confidence Ellison didn’t share. Deni had been intent on killing him, her own brother.
They’d reached Sean’s house, all quiet within. Ellison’s house was dark as well. Maria slowed her steps and stopped with Ellison at the bottom of Sean’s front porch. Silence hung between them, and warmth.
“Thank you for rescuing me,” Maria said. “Twice.”
Ellison reached up to tip the hat he’d left at home when he’d raced out to find her. “Any time, darlin’.”
Her smile flashed, beauty in the darkness. The smile went from polite to genuine, hot as the Texas sunshine. “Hasta luego,” she said. See you soon.
Ellison made himself step away from her. The move was difficult, as though someone had wrapped elastic straps around himself and her to pull them together. “You need any more rescuing, you call me, sweetheart,” he said. “Good night.”
“Good night.” Another flash of smile, and Maria turned, ran up onto the porch, and was gone.
Ellison stayed in the street, watching the closed door. A light went on downstairs, then off, then one upstairs, in the bedroom they’d given Maria. A glow illuminated her as she came to the window, ready to close the blind.
Maria saw Ellison, who remained staring up at her like a love-struck wolf cub. She waved then closed the blind, shutting him out.
“You plan on eating her alive?” a gravelly voice asked him.
Ellison whirled around, fist on his chest. “Shit. Spike.”
Spike stood two feet away from Ellison, his son on his shoulders, the little boy holding on to his dad’s head. Ellison hadn’t heard or sensed either of them. Spike was a tracker, one of the best—good at stealth. But Ellison should have scented and sensed the cub, a four-year-old called Jordan.
“Hey, Jordan,” Ellison said, trying to force himself to relax. “Taking your dad out for a walk?”
Jordan laughed. “Yeah. It’s fun.” Spike hadn’t known about the kid until last fall, and now the two shared a bond that was like cement.
“Watch Broderick,” Spike said. “He’s going to try to make the mate-claim and your Challenge stick.”
“Damn, word travels fast.”
“Broderick went back to the bar and started pissing and moaning to Liam. Ronan got worried about Maria and called me, asking me to check on her. So here I am, checking on her. But I guess you got it covered.”
He started to turn away, Spike finished.
“If the Challenge goes down, want to be my second?” Ellison asked him.
Spike called his answer over his shoulder. “Do you have to ask?” Jordan laughed and waved, and the pair of them faded into the darkness.
Ellison walked up to his front porch. From the quiet inside, everyone had gone to bed—he could hear his nephews snoring in the bedroom they shared, and the quieter breathing of Deni.
Broderick was going to be a problem. Ellison had no worries about kicking his ass, but Maria’s fear had been sharp. Getting past that would be more difficult.
Ellison didn’t trust Broderick not to try to climb up on Sean’s porch and steal Maria out of her bedroom. Broderick would never consider doing that with a Shifter woman—not these days—but humans were regarded as weak, and Maria had already been the victim of a Shifter abduction. Broderick would figure that meant he could do what he wanted with her, and unfortunately, so might other Shifters.
Ellison sat down on one of the chairs on the porch, the chair’s wood creaking. He put his feet up on the rail and leaned back, hands behind his head, to watch the square of light that was Maria’s window.
The window went dark, Maria seeking her bed. She’d be all cuddled up under the sheets, alone, not wearing much of anything. She’d smell of sweet sleep, damp skin, desire.
Ellison let out a sharp breath. If he kept his thoughts in that line, he’d be climbing up on the roof himself to steal her away. He was as bad as Broderick, and he knew it.
Ellison settled back in the chair, gaze fixed firmly on the dark window. Good thing wolves liked to stay up all night.
***
Maria opened her eyes in the dark. She smelled them around her, the women, both human and Shifter, who’d been sequestered by the ferals. With them the scents of the kids—scared, defiant, exhausted. Maria didn’t need to be Shifter to understand what fear and defeat smelled like.
How own child lay in her arms. She could feel him, the weight of the little body, the warmth, the beauty of him.
But he’d been born too weak. Maria had begged Luis then Miguel to take her and him to a hospital, to a doctor at least, and Miguel wouldn’t. Hours later, her son was dead.
The child in her arms disappeared leaving Maria bereft, empty, grieving. She lay on the cold floor, her sobs coming, dry and broken. A hand touched her hair, the soft brush of a woman called Peigi, trying to comfort her.
&n
bsp; There was no comfort. Maria had lost everything—family, her child, herself. She lay in the cold darkness, alone, empty. She’d never see daylight again, never feel warmth, never feel whole. She’d been broken, part of herself taken away.
In the middle of the grief came a hated voice. Peigi’s gentle touch vanished, to be replaced by a fierce grip in her hair, pulling her up.
“You’re trying again,” the voice said in rough Spanish. Maria had never known where Miguel had been born and raised, but he spoke several languages, fluently if not elegantly. “We need cubs that live.”
Maria screamed. The scream rang through the huge basement, coming back to her in waves. The kids started to cry, the women to keen.
Miguel pulled her up, and up, and up . . . and Maria was sitting in her bed in Shiftertown, her heart thudding, her breath coming in dry hiccups. She put her hand to her face and found it wet with tears.
Air, she needed air. The little room was stuffy, the nights warming now.
Maria scrambled out of bed, her legs shaking, and stumbled to the window. She cranked up the blind and opened the casement as quietly as possible.
Something moved on the porch across the street. Maria froze, ducking into the shadows of her bedroom before she worked up the courage to peer out again.
She saw a pair of cowboy boots propped up on the porch railing, and long legs going back into shadow. Maria’s body relaxed, her racing heart slowing.
She crept across the room to her dresser and found the pair of binoculars Sean had given her when she’d expressed interest in bird-watching down at the river. Right now she wanted to do a little Shifter-watching.
Maria returned to the window and trained the binoculars onto Ellison Rowe’s porch. There he was, leaning back in a wooden porch chair, eyes closed, mouth slightly open. She couldn’t hear from here, but she knew soft snores issued from his mouth.
Maria smiled, the fear of the dream vanishing. The grief didn’t lessen, and it would never go away, but her emptiness receded a little. The cowboy across the street, who’d come to her rescue twice tonight, was here with her. She wasn’t alone.
***
Ellison went inside in the morning, stiff, groggy, and having no idea how he’d fallen asleep in the chair.
All looked normal at Sean’s, and at Liam’s house next door to it. Kim had tripped off to work, Andrea’s boy was wailing with his usual energy, and Connor came out to work on Dylan’s truck, along with Tiger, another rescue from captivity.
Tiger glanced over at Ellison but didn’t return Ellison’s wave of greeting. Not that Ellison expected a Shifter who’d spent his entire life in a cage to know how to respond, or to care.
Tiger hauled up the truck’s hood and bent over it, starting to tinker, with Connor’s help. Working on vehicles seemed to be the only thing that kept Tiger calm.
Ellison showered, shaved, and came out of his room to see Deni cooking breakfast with Will. Jackson had already left for a job he had with a moving company; Will worked at a furniture warehouse. Shifters were good at lifting and carrying.
Deni looked rested, cheerful even. Ellison put his arm around her as she stirred the mess of eggs and cubed potatoes in the frying pan and kissed her cheek.
“Don’t put too much salt in mine,” he said.
“Don’t backseat cook.” Deni smiled at him, and Ellison’s heart lightened.
It would lighten even more when he saw Maria. Ellison told Deni he’d be right back, gave Will a brief hug, caught up his hat, and walked out the door.
Running across the street to see how Maria was doing after she’d been badgered last night would be the neighborly thing to do. Right? Ellison could pretend he’d come to get a taste of whatever pancakes Sean was cooking today.
Andrea met him at the door, with little Kenny Morrissey, her firstborn, on her hip.
“Maria? No, she’s not here,” Andrea said. “She left without a word very early this morning, and I don’t know where she is. I was hoping she was with you and Den.”
Chapter Four
Maria. Missing. And Andrea stood there calmly, cuddling her son, like nothing was wrong.
“What do you mean, you don’t know where she is?”
Ellison took a broad step forward, his wolf growling all the way.
A mistake—a big mistake. Sean materialized out of the kitchen, holding a pancake turner. His eyes were Shifter white, focused on Ellison, the lion in him responding to a threat to his mate, his cub, his territory.
The Guardian was the last person a Shifter would ever see, the point of the Guardian’s sword sending the Shifter’s soul to the afterlife. Whatever else Sean might be—friend, mate, tracker—he was also death.
Ellison stepped back, hands up, trying to show Sean that he meant no harm—to Sean’s house, mate, cub, or pancakes.
“Why don’t you know where she is?” Ellison asked Andrea.
“She was gone when we woke up,” Andrea said. “Or at least when I checked on her. I was up early, with Kenny, and I heard the back door close.”
Which explained why Ellison hadn’t seen Maria go. Or else she’d left while Ellison had been in the shower. Shit.
“Did you call her?” Ellison demanded.
“Of course I did,” Andrea said. “No answer. Left a voice mail.”
Ellison didn’t need to ask Andrea for Maria’s number. He’d memorized it a while back. “And you don’t have any idea where she went?”
Sean stepped in front of Andrea, though the deadly look had faded from his eyes. “Come in and have pancakes, Ellison. I’ll make some with pecans. Your favorite.”
They were trying to placate him. Calm the wolf down.
Kenny was looking at Ellison with round gray eyes, his mouth working on one fist. Shifters of crossed species were born in human form and revealed their Shifter form when they were about two or three. Sean was Feline, Andrea Lupine—Kenny could go either way. From his eyes though, Ellison would bet wolf.
“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” Ellison said. “Where was Maria planning to go? She say anything to you last night?”
“We don’t keep her prisoner,” Andrea returned, irritated. “She comes and goes when she wants, wherever she wants. She doesn’t have to check with us.”
The reasonable part of Ellison knew Andrea was right, but the Shifter part of him didn’t give a crap.
“She needs to check in when Shifters are threatening to start their own personal breeding projects with her. Tell you what—she can come and live in my house. I’ll look out for her better.”
Sean’s expression hardened. “Not gonna happen.”
Liam’s stipulation when Maria had come to Shiftertown was that, while she could take a room with whomever she chose, she couldn’t live in the house of an unmated male, for obvious reasons. She’d lived for a time in Liam’s house with Connor there, because he hadn’t made his Transition yet, and the mating need hadn’t yet manifested in him.
But once Tiger had moved in last November, Maria had to vacate. She’d moved in with Andrea and Sean, Dylan and Glory without fuss, understanding, she said.
That Andrea didn’t know where she’d gone bothered Ellison a lot.
“She needs looking after,” Ellison growled. “If y’all can’t do it, we need to find someone who can.”
He swung around and walked off the porch, not slowing down. “Where are you going?” Andrea called worriedly behind him.
“To look for her. Where’d you think?”
The scenario in his head went like this—Maria gets up early, deciding to find Connor and study for her SATs with him. She walks out the back door, and Broderick is lying in wait. Ellison is in the shower, and Broderick drags her off.
Anything human in Ellison disappeared. He’d already claimed Maria, in his head and in his heart. He’d held off, because Dylan had explained exactly what had happened to her down in Mexico. Give her time, Dylan had said. Liam, Sean, and I will protect her until she’s ready.
Ellison was
ready. He’d kill Broderick and bounce his head down the sidewalk if the Lupine had touched Maria. Ellison’s Collar sparked with his adrenaline, warning him to calm down, but Ellison told his Collar to take a flying leap.
Broderick lived two blocks over and two blocks down. A short distance for wolves who were used to patrolling vast tracts of territory.
Ellison approached the two-story bungalow that housed Broderick, his mother, aunt, and three brothers. Youngest brother was on the porch shoveling food from a plate into his mouth but was on his feet by the time Ellison reached the front steps.
“Stay right there, wolf,” the brother, Mason, said.
“Get Broderick out here so I can rip his head off.”
Mason set down his plate of eggs and Texas toast and stood up squarely. He was the youngest brother, but he was bigger than any of the others in Broderick’s house, probably why they had him stand guard.
“Brod!” Mason yelled over his shoulder. “That dumb-ass Lupine is here.”
“I heard him.” Broderick came out the door to flank his brother. He folded his arms, the pair of them glaring down at Ellison with identical stares. “What? It’s early. Why aren’t you holed up with your crazy sister?”
“Where is she?”
Broderick didn’t move. “You mean Maria? Not here. Why?”
Ellison leaned toward Broderick and inhaled, too far gone in rage to care that it wasn’t good Shifter etiquette to obviously check someone’s scent to determine whether he was lying. Especially not on that rival Shifter’s territory with his little brother ready to rub Ellison’s face into the sidewalk.
Ellison didn’t smell a lie on Broderick, but he didn’t smell Maria on him either. He caught the brief scent of her from last night, when Broderick had tried to mark her and claim her, but nothing more than that. Scents had layers, fading with time and how many showers the Shifter had taken. Broderick hadn’t bathed since last night, but his clothes were clean and contained no scent of Maria.
“What did you do, lose her?” Broderick asked. “Doesn’t she live across the street from you?”
“Screw you.” Maria wasn’t here. If she had been, even if they’d locked her in the most protected part of their basement, Ellison would have scented her and found her.