“If you don’t get up, you’ll miss breakfast.”
“Grace goes all out,” added Ryan. “There’ll be bacon, eggs, toast, biscuits and gravy—”
Zac shot up in bed and peeked at them out of one eye. “Biscuits and gravy?”
Ryan nodded. “But Marcus is here. He never stops eating, and he loves biscuits and gravy. If you don’t hurry, there’ll be none left.”
It was almost comical when everyone did a double take at the brands on Makenna’s neck and upper arms when they walked into the kitchen ten minutes later. If their shock was anything to go by, Ryan hadn’t been lying when he said he wasn’t usually the possessive type. Zac hadn’t seemed that surprised by the brands; he’d merely smirked.
The Phoenix wolves recovered quickly enough from their shock, greeting Zac warmly and behaving fairly amicably toward Makenna. As they took their seats, no one made any teasing comments about Ryan’s display of possessiveness, although it looked as if Trick was eager to say something. Maybe he was holding back because Zac was present—she wasn’t sure. In any case, it meant that the meal wasn’t the uncomfortable affair she’d expected. Until Greta spoke.
“How could you, Ryan?” The old woman slammed her mug on the table. “What were you thinking, branding a loner? Her I expect this behavior from, considering why her pack banished her. But you . . . I raised you better than this.”
Looking at her blankly, Ryan grunted.
Jaime whispered to Makenna, “What did he say?”
Just as quietly, she replied, “He thinks she has way too much time on her hands.”
Jaime snickered into her coffee mug. “She does.”
“Whispering again?” griped Greta with a sneer.
Makenna nodded. “Try it sometime.” She jumped as Dominic started choking on his toast. Trey seemed to take delight in thumping him on the back. These people were strange.
After breakfast, many of the pack accompanied Makenna, Zac, and Ryan to the parking lot. While they made a fuss of Zac and said their good-byes, Taryn linked her arm through Makenna’s and said, “Walk with me a little.”
Makenna dug her heels in after three steps. “Um, I’d rather not.”
Taryn laughed. “I sure do like that you’re direct.”
“I know exactly what you’d like to say: that you’ve noticed all the brands, that you can see something’s going on between me and Ryan, and that you’ll come after me with a pitchfork if I hurt him.”
Taryn pursed her lips. “I wouldn’t have chosen a pitchfork.”
“The thing is . . . I would have had to then respond that what goes on between Ryan and me is our business, that you shouldn’t think I’m an easy target, and that if you come at me you should do it with everything you have because I won’t submit. So I guess it’s a good thing that this is just a hypothetical conversation.”
A smile slowly spread across Taryn’s face. “I can see why Ryan likes you. And I think you’ll be good for him. So, yes, I am going to ask you not to hurt him. But I’m also going to ask you to be patient with him, because he could easily hurt you even though he won’t mean to.” She seemed to struggle for the words to explain. “He hasn’t been involved in any serious relationships. The females he’s had fun with all said the same thing—he’s emotionally stunted, he doesn’t feel anything, which isn’t true. Ryan just doesn’t share what he feels.
“I assume you saw his scars, so you can guess what happened to him. He’s never once spoken of it. I wasn’t part of the pack at the time, but I was told that when he came back, he was a physical mess and had to be in absolute agony . . . but to look in his eyes, you would never have known it.”
Makenna could believe that. Ryan was a closed book.
“From what I heard, Ryan was always quiet and self-contained. But after that he became harder, withdrew even further. That was why everybody was so shocked yesterday when he argued with you,” continued Taryn. “That kind of emotional engagement isn’t normal for him. He likes you a lot more than any of us suspected. He might look like a guy who’s too tough to hurt, but I don’t believe that’s true. He’s vulnerable in his own way. So I’m asking you to be careful with him, and to not be upset if he doesn’t give you pretty words.”
Her wolf bristled at the warning, not liking another female interfering in such a way. But Makenna was glad that his pack mates were so protective of him. That was how it should be. He was a good guy. He deserved that protection.
Said guy then approached, glancing from her to Taryn. “Ready to go?”
“Yep.” Makenna gave Taryn a short nod. “See ya.”
When Ryan drove out of the lot with Makenna in the backseat and Zac riding shotgun, he asked her, “What was that about?”
Makenna smiled. “Are you always so nosy?”
His hands clenched around the steering wheel. “You’re answering a question with a question again.”
“Am I?”
Ryan ground his teeth so hard it was audible, which made Zac laugh. The teenager seemed to find genuine joy in watching Ryan and Makenna spar. Ryan had to admit that he sometimes found their sparring sort of invigorating.
As Ryan finally pulled up outside the shelter, Zac grinned. “I had an awesome time. Your territory is seriously cool.” A pause. “Dominic said I could go again tomorrow.”
“It’s your home, you can come whenever you want.” Was the kid not getting that?
Zac’s eyes clouded. “I could just bring trouble to your door.”
“We already talked about that.”
Makenna leaned forward and placed a hand on the juvenile’s shoulder. “Zac, if your old pack comes looking for you and causes any trouble, it won’t be your fault. No one would blame you. Every Phoenix wolf will do whatever they can to protect you whether you’re living at the shelter or not. Staying here won’t save them, if that’s what you’re trying to do.”
Ryan wanted to kick himself. Of course that was what Zac was doing. Ryan would have done the same. “Take tonight to think about it. I’ll be here at nine in the morning. If all you want is to spend the day there, I’ll return you here later.”
“I’ll think about it. See you in the morning.” Zac opened the car door. “Later, Makenna.”
Watching him run to the shelter’s entrance, Makenna said, “I think he’ll say yes.”
Ryan looked around. “Where’s your car?”
“Getting an oil change.”
“I’ll take you home.” She rattled off her address, but Ryan already knew it from conversations he’d had with Zac. “What were you and Taryn talking about?” he asked as he headed to her apartment.
“She wasn’t confronting me, if that’s what you’re worried about. She asked me, in the nicest possible way, not to hurt you. It’s a good thing that your pack’s protective of each other.”
“They’re good people.”
Makenna nodded. “From what I’ve seen, yes, they are.” She didn’t much like Greta, but she appreciated that the woman was protective of Ryan.
“They’re also smart. They’ll guess that we’re mates. We should just tell them.”
“Ryan—”
“You said yourself that Zac will probably agree to join tomorrow. We don’t have any other reason to keep quiet about it.”
“You mean apart from the fact that you could be wrong?”
“I’m not wrong.”
She twisted slightly in her seat to better look at him. “How can you be so positive? I mean, I agree that us being mates would explain a lot of things. But how can you be so sure when there’s no mating bond pulling at you?”
“I just am. But if you need to feel the bond to believe it, you need to clear the frequency.”
You need to share your secrets and fears, he didn’t say but she clearly heard. He was right, and that put her on the defensive. “I don’t ask you to share all your shit. Whenever the topic of your parents is brought up in even the most casual sense, you change the subject. I’ve never called you on it.”
r />
She was right, Ryan realized. He did do that. But it was more out of habit than anything else.
“And have I asked about your scars, even though the sight of them makes me want to fucking kill somebody? No. I respect that you might not want to talk about painful things in your past.”
Given the soft heart beneath all that armor, he’d expected compassion or pity—both of which would have cut him deeper than any of the implements used on him. But no. She was absolutely enraged. It made him want to smile. “It was a long time ago.”
“That’s not the fucking point. No one had the right to hurt you like that. No one. Tell me the fuckers are dead.”
“Every single one of them,” he verified.
“Good.” Her wolf strongly agreed.
“You have a bloodthirsty streak, don’t you, Kenna?”
“My name is Makenna.”
“No, that’s the name you hide behind. You’ve created an alternate identity, so your past, your pain, and your secrets can’t touch you. But it doesn’t mean they’re not there.”
She shook her head. “You think you know me, but you don’t have a fucking clue.”
Parking outside her apartment building, he switched off the engine. “Don’t I?”
“No.”
“Then stop holding it all in.”
“You know all you need to know.”
Was it really so awful that he wanted to know who she really was and what happened to her? “Trust me, I will make sure that whoever is looking for you never finds you. I will keep you safe. Just tell me.”
Her blood seemed to bubble in her veins as anger unfurled inside her. It was the promise to keep her safe that did it. The last person who’d said that to her had been Dawn when she first arrived at the shelter . . . because she’d been all alone—lost and half feral. She hated to think about that time in her life. “Just let it go.”
“You know I won’t.”
“It’s not your—”
“Don’t tell me this isn’t my business. Everything about you is my business.”
She clenched her fists. “Just leave it.”
Ryan cupped her nape. “Tell me, Kenna. Trust me to keep you safe.”
There was that promise again. “I don’t know!” She practically leapt out of the door and marched toward the building.
Sure he’d heard her wrong, Ryan got out of the car and went after her. “What?”
At the top of the stairs leading to her apartment, she pivoted on the spot. “I don’t know, okay,” she said through her teeth. “I can’t give you the answers you want because I don’t have them.”
Ryan followed her as she stomped down the stairs, unlocked the door, and went inside. He watched her warily as she dumped her purse on the coffee table before heading to the kitchen, where a mug and coffee machine bore the brunt of her anger. “Makenna . . . I don’t understand.”
Taking a steadying breath, Makenna dragged a hand through her hair. “I just don’t remember any of what happened. My mother and I were banished. She told me I was just a toddler at the time, so maybe that’s why I have no memories of the pack or what happened. If my birth name is different, it was changed long before I was old enough to remember. The answers to all your questions died with my mother when she was attacked by a group of falcon shifters, for fun.”
Her pain echoed in every word. Ryan felt something in his chest tighten as he looked at her standing there, eyes blazing with anger and hurt. Before he knew it, he was moving toward her.
She backed away. “No.”
Ryan cupped her nape and pulled her against him, holding her there. He’d never been good at giving comfort, but he couldn’t just do nothing. Her pain pulled at him, made his stomach churn. He stroked a hand over her hair. All this time he’d thought she was keeping secrets from him; he hadn’t for one moment guessed that she’d held back because it was too painful to admit that she simply didn’t know the truth. “I can find them, Makenna. Give me everything you do know about the pack, and I’ll find them.”
“I don’t want to find them.”
She’d shocked him again. In her shoes, he’d want the whole story—all the facts. “You deserve to know where you come from. You deserve to know why you and your mother were banished.”
Stepping back, Makenna shrugged. “If she’d wanted me to know, she would have told me.”
“She never mentioned the pack?”
“Once.” It had been the time when they were evicted after her mom lost her job. “She said that we didn’t deserve this, and she hoped those bastards paid for it.”
“What about your father?”
Pain lanced her chest. “I asked about him once, and she started crying. I never asked again.” Fiona Wray had been a strong woman who hardly ever cried. It had been disturbing to see. And it had made Makenna feel like total shit. “I’m not interested in knowing what happened. Who I was before doesn’t matter.”
Bullshit. “I think it does matter to you.”
“Oh, really?”
“There are lots of different ways you could help the shelter. What do you do? Rehome loners. You track down their families and you reunite them. On some level, you do want to know about your past.” She sucked in a sharp breath, looking as if he’d slapped her. “I’m not trying to hurt you. I would never purposely do that.”
Recalling Taryn’s words, Makenna nodded. “I know. And I appreciate that you want to help. But I’m asking you to let this alone. Okay?”
“You deserve to know the truth, Kenna. And they deserve to pay.”
That dark, dangerous rumble made everything in Makenna still. There was vengeance in his eyes—the uncharacteristic display of emotion made her swallow hard. “They will. Karma’s a bitch.” She pressed a kiss to his jaw. “Let it go.”
He didn’t say anything, just held her. But Makenna didn’t believe for one second that he’d acquiesced. He was a determined male driven by the need to protect and defend. There would be no changing his mind if he was set on tracking down the people he believed wronged her. Hell.
Makenna was running late when she left her apartment the next morning to head for the shelter. She stopped dead at the sight of a middle-aged female standing beside her Mustang, jaw clenched, wearing the glare from hell. Approaching, Makenna cocked a brow. “Is there a problem?”
“I have a problem with my son involving himself with lone wolves.”
Makenna blinked, wondering what the fuck the woman was talking about. Then she noticed the beady azure eyes she’d seen somewhere before. “You must be Remy’s mother.” A depraved, twisted bitch who had molested her own child.
Her wolf wanted to lunge, rip off the bitch’s ear, and spit it into her face. Creative, but Makenna knew better. Hurting this female would have grave consequences. As a loner, Makenna didn’t have the support and protection of a pack. Oh, she didn’t doubt that Ryan wouldn’t do all that he could to defend her, but that would bring trouble to him and the other Phoenix wolves. Remy’s pack was large and he had many alliances. There was every chance that if it came to a battle, the Phoenix Pack would lose . . . and all because she couldn’t just play this smart. Besides, she didn’t need to physically harm the woman to piss her off.
“Yes, I’m Deanne Deacon.” Like that made her special. “I know he’s been sleeping with you. Don’t deny it. Selene told me he’s been flirting with you.” And apparently to Deanne, that meant Remy had most definitely fucked Makenna. Well someone was a little paranoid.
Suspecting that any denials she made wouldn’t be believed, Makenna simply said, “Really?”
“No doubt you think you can convince him to take you as his mate and become our Alpha female.” Her mouth tightened. “Over my dead body.”
The latter sounded good to Makenna. “I thought he was exaggerating. He warned me you were freakily jealous and a little unbalanced. But I thought to myself, ‘Surely not. What kind of mother would be almost incestuously possessive of her son? She’d have to be a pretty
sick bitch.’”
Baring her teeth, Deanne said, “Remy is my son—”
“But not your mate. Or your lover. Right?”
Deanne’s flinty eyes narrowed to slits. “You will not touch him again.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“Do not test me, loner.”
“Remy actually wants me in your pack, so it’s possible that I won’t be a loner much longer.”
“He doesn’t want you or your friends in our pack,” scoffed Deanne. “He wants the shelter and the land it sits on—nothing more. He’s using you, trying to soften you up and win you over so that he’ll get what he wants. You’re nothing to him.”
“If you’re so convinced of that, why are you here warning me away from him?”
“You’re a loner; that’s enough of a reason.”
But it was more than that. Makenna suspected that Deanne saw every female who existed on even the periphery of her son’s life as a threat. She was no longer secure about her place in his life. Maybe it was because of the power and authority he now had. Maybe she was unable to control him the way she once had, now that he was older. Or maybe she doubted her ability to sexually attract him. Well, if the guy had an interest in young boys, he definitely wouldn’t find his mother’s body all that exciting. She’d have to sense that disinterest; she’d have to worry on what it meant for her.
Once again, Makenna almost felt sorry for him. But being abused didn’t give him the right to inflict such abuse on others. He could have become someone who protected others from such harm. Instead, he’d chosen a path that robbed children of their innocence, despite knowing how much that hurt.
Figuring it would be best to get this perverted bitch out of her sight before Makenna was tempted to act on the violent fantasies swirling around her head, she forced a smile. “Well, it’s been great talking to you. I don’t want to keep you, so . . .” She flicked her fingers.
“You think you can dismiss me? You think I’m weak?”
“I think you’re twisted and evil and you fucked up your child’s head so badly he’s now just as sick and depraved as you are.”