a deep breath, she turned to face her deceased best friend’s older brother. “I’m gonna run.”
Beck grabbed her arm. “Not yet. If you’re going to wherever you have our daughter hidden, I’m going with you.”
She hissed. “I’m not going there. I don’t want to endanger her.”
“You have to make sure she’s all right.”
“That’s one thing I know for sure. She’s safe.”
“I’d prefer to check in person. It’s time I met her.”
Panic clogged her throat. “I can’t take the chance. You don’t know who might be watching me.”
“I’ll make sure we aren’t followed. We’ll go together,” he said, in a tone that left no room for arguing. Behind his eyes, she glimpsed his wolf, pacing restlessly.
She let him see her fangs. “I don’t think so. I go alone and in the opposite direction. Dani is safe, believe me.”
For a moment, he considered her, his expression so stark she wanted to cry. Steeling herself, she lifted her chin. “I don’t want to fight you. Let me go.”
“Fight me?” He sounded incredulous. “Bring it on.”
Suddenly remembering, she felt heat suffuse her. When they’d been together in the past, play fighting had always led to passion. Something about the adrenaline …
Three years had gone by. They’d changed.
“I don’t want to fight you,” she said slowly. “I just want you to leave me alone.”
“We made a child, Marika. Dani. Now we’re forever tied together by her.”
“No.” Her protest sounded weak. He ignored it, as she’d suspected he would.
“We need to talk,” he insisted, as though by the strength of his voice, he could force her to give in.
He didn’t realize she wouldn’t, couldn’t. While she wasn’t ready for a physical altercation with him, she thought if she could fuel his simmering rage with her, turn it to hatred, maybe she could make him angry enough to go away. It was worth a shot.
“Oh, yeah?” Tossing her long hair back over her shoulders, she forced a smile before pulling her arm free. “There’s nothing to talk about. We were over long ago. And you don’t even know Dani is yours. I had lots of lovers. She could be anyone’s.”
He looked unconvinced and unmoved. But what did she expect? She’d always been a crappy liar. Juliet would have seen through her instantly.
“When we were together, you weren’t with anyone else,” he said, teeth clenched. “I know Dani is my daughter. I have a right to see her.”
“I have a right to keep her alive.”
He reeled back as though she’d slapped him. “I would never hurt her. How could you even think that?”
“I trust no one.”
“I don’t care. This isn’t even between you and me, it’s between me and my daughter. She has just as much right to know her father as I do to know her. Come on, Marika. You never were a fool. Stop this.”
She spun away, throwing words back at him over her shoulder. “Just leave me alone. Trust me, it’s better that way, for all concerned.”
Easily, he kept pace with her, fury simmering in his eyes, making them appear black. “No. Where is Dani? I want to see her.”
She didn’t answer, knowing no matter what she said, her tone would brand her a liar.
“You can’t take her away from me now that I know. I won’t let you.”
The rawness of his voice stung her. She knew that emotion all too well. After all, by their joining together, they’d inadvertently caused her best friend’s death. Still, fool that she was, she’d missed him. Even if she’d wanted to forget him, she couldn’t. Every time she’d looked at the child they’d created together, she’d seen his face. And Juliet’s. She still missed her best friend, his sister. Dani’s aunt.
Beck still watched her, silently waiting.
Abruptly, she wondered how he’d dealt with his sister’s loss. Then she wondered why she cared. She couldn’t afford to care about anything, anyone else but Dani. And keeping her safe trumped what anyone else wanted, including herself. Especially herself.
Yet that knowledge didn’t make it any easier to do what she had to do—try and make him hate her enough to leave.
“Why? Why do you care? You never even wanted kids. Why do you suddenly want one now?” With fresh blood humming through her veins and giving her strength, she faced him, well aware how intimidating she could look in her full vampire glory.
But he was a shape-shifter—vampires didn’t threaten him. Never taking his gaze from her face, his eyes had gone cold and flat. “That was in the past. What I wanted then has nothing to do with any of this. Dani was conceived and born. I would have given my wolf to be there for that. No matter.”
“No matter?” She could scarcely believe his words.
“Make no mistake. I don’t like what you did and I may never forgive you for that. But Dani is all that matters now. She’s just as much mine as yours. I want to see her, get to know her. You’ve already deprived me of two entire years of her life.”
Pain made her temples ache and her throat tight. He was right, but she’d had no choice. She still had no choice. There were no words to answer him. She slowed her frantic pace. No matter that he was right, this was out of her hands. She had to protect her baby. No matter the cost to either of them.
His sensual mouth twisted. “Answer my question. Where is she?”
She hadn’t answered, nor would she, as long as she could stall him. She knew deep down in her bones that if he saw Dani, he’d take one look at her tiny, perfect face, and he’d never leave. Once, Beck had staked a claim on her. The idea that he wanted to make a claim on her little girl terrified her. Both because of what she knew and something else, a tiny, selfish part of herself that she didn’t much like.
Inhaling, she tried to get her second wind. “What gives you the right to know anything about me or mine? Despite our mistake three years ago, we’re actually strangers, with only Juliet in common.”
“Mistake?” For the space of a second he dipped his chin, the movement slight and barely noticeable, but enough to tell her how much her words hurt him.
“I—”
His lip curled. “What gives me the right? That you can ask such a question tells me my sister didn’t know you as well as she thought.”
She felt his words like a knife.
“Don’t,” she said. “You know nothing about me—”
“I’ve lost my sister. She was all I had left
