“Um. Mmm. It was…inna room…blue room…” She trailed off, and when Jenner looked over at her she was sound asleep, mouth slightly open, head tipped back. His smile faded as he looked at her, finally letting his eyes wander over her sleeping form. Small, slim-waisted but with curves in all the right places. Naturally, since he was a sucker for an hourglass figure. And that face…she really did look like a Roman goddess. Not Venus, though. More like Diana. Goddess of the hunt…and of the moon.
Pretty little thing, Jenner thought grimly, remembering Dex’s words. Hell with that. Mia was beautiful.
And if he didn’t want his life screwed up all over again, he was going to have to be very, very careful.
“Just for tonight,” he told her, though her only response was the deep breathing common to those soundly asleep. Jenner just shook his head, then got out of the truck and headed around to the other side to get his passed-out charge. The only sounds in the night were the crunch of gravel beneath his feet, the distant call of an owl. And, as he gathered Mia into his arms, the uneven beat of his own stupid heart.
Mia awoke, mouth watering, to the tantalizing scents of coffee and bacon. She could hear the sizzle and pop of the bacon in the frying pan, could almost taste the decadently rich coffee on her tongue.
Kona, she thought dreamily, drifting in the peaceful place between waking and sleep. Who bought the Kona? It’s my favorite…
Reality intruded far too quickly, and all at once. Mia’s eyes fluttered open as memories of the night before returned with a vengeance, each horrible image cascading into the next. Her heart quickened, the impulse to throw off the covers and run somewhere, anywhere, almost overpowering.
Almost.
Mia closed her eyes again and forced herself to think, to remember the rest. The rescuers in the woods. The ride in the truck with Nick Jenner, foggy though that last bit was. Jeff was gone, Mia told herself firmly. She was safe. She was being protected now.
A pair of big, golden eyes surfaced in her memory, and a husky growl of a voice. I can make him pay. You have to trust me.
In the company of werewolves. What a comfort. Especially since, along with her myriad of other problems, she was now on her way to becoming one. Or something like one. What exactly did you get when you crossed a werewolf with her sort of blood? Somehow, she didn’t think that would be a great conversation starter here.
With a strangled groan, Mia opened her eyes, sat up, and slowly pushed the covers back, blinking rapidly as she realized her contacts were dried out and stuck to her eyes.
Crap. An attempted run of her fingers through her hair indicated that it, too, was showing the effects of a rough night. Snarl city. She exhaled loudly and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, dangling them above the floor for a few moments as she got her bearings. Gooseflesh prickled over her exposed skin. Mia looked resignedly down at her bra, a lacy black number that seemed ridiculously out of place this morning. Her tattered, bloodied shirt had been removed, a gesture that left her torn between gratefulness and embarrassment. At least her jeans were still on, slightly dirt-stained though they were. Her feet were bare.
The thought of big, handsome Nick Jenner removing her socks and shoes and tucking her into bed made her flush…and wish she’d been just a little bit awake for it. Quickly, she pushed the thought from her mind. She had more pressing things to worry about now. And after last night, another man who could sprout fangs was the last thing she needed. She took full responsibility for Jeff. She should have known better. She’d always gone for the damaged ones, the ones who might just need her enough not to push her away if they ever discovered what she was. Mia was old enough to know that secrecy didn’t have to mean shame, but the feeling that she was somehow wrong had lingered…and her choice of men had borne that out over the years.
But even by her standards, Jeff had been needy. Charming, yes, but unmistakably broken in some way she couldn’t begin to touch.
The thought of him brought a mix of emotions to the surface: fury, betrayal, even shame that she hadn’t seen him for the predator he was. And underlying it all, sadness. Maybe one of these days she’d learn that fixing emotionally wounded men—or trying—wasn’t going to fix her own problems.
At least he’d tried to kill her before she could sleep with him. Small favors. And now she was here with Jenner, who didn’t seem like the kind of guy who needed anyone, least of all her. Not her type.
Yeah, she’d just keep telling herself that…
Mia slid off the edge of the simple iron bed and wiggled her toes into the plush area rug that covered much of the wood floor of the small bedroom. Her eyes wandered a room lit by muted daylight, which was filtering in through a window hung with sheer curtains in a shade of deep cream. A single, low dresser sat opposite her against the wall, an old-fashioned basin and pitcher resting on top of it. A small nightstand sat beside the bed, and the little clock on it put the hour at a little past 9:00 a.m. The walls of warm, honey-colored wood left no doubt she was in a log home, and on them someone (Jenner, she assumed) had hung a couple of photographs, gorgeous shots that had been blown up, matted and framed. They showed a forest, probably this forest, in full autumnal glory.
As she looked around, Mia’s eyes lit on the weekend travel bag placed neatly on the floor beside the dresser. Her bag. Tears pricked her eyes as reality began to fully penetrate the protective cocoon she’d been wrapped in since last night. This was really happening.
She’d done exactly what had always been expected of her: the worst.
“You’ve the dark blood in you,” Grandmother Ada’s voice whispered in her mind, the rasp so familiar, so real that Mia shivered. “I knew it the instant you were born. Tainted. I warned your mother what your father was, but she wouldn’t listen, and look where it got them. My family’s light snuffed out, your parents’ lives lost, and only you to show for it. A little girl who’ll draw the shadows like flies to honey. They’ll break you, Mia, once I’m gone. And then you’ll break everything.”
Mia closed her eyes against the tears and forced that awful voice back into the dark corner of her mind where it belonged. She was determined not to lose it now. If she was going to be dealing with a pack of werewolves today, at least she could do it without looking like an extra from Night of the Living Dead. At least Jeff was something the werewolves seemed to know how to hunt. The shadows in her grandmother’s warnings, always feared but never seen, were her problem. She’d just make sure to get out of here before they became anyone else’s.
“I’ve managed so far,” Mia told herself in a bare whisper. “I can handle this. After last night, I can handle anything. No matter how weak anyone thinks I am.”
And as she dug into her weekend bag, she almost believed it.
Chapter 3
Ten minutes later, Mia padded quietly down a short hallway, drawn by the delicious smells that had flooded her senses the instant she’d left the bedroom. Rich coffee, toasting bread, potatoes and eggs and bacon…it was easy to push her nerves into the background when she was positive she’d never smelled anything so heavenly. And she felt much better since she’d changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a simple, fitted V-neck sweater. Her hair had been de-knotted, and she’d been glad to find the gorgeous bathroom across from her room so she could brush her teeth. Tired of her itchy, driedout eyes, she’d opted to soak the contacts and had instead put on the
