Karen Whiddon: Lone Wolf

“Who?”

“Brigid. She’s ancient, one of the oldest of our kind. She’s also a Vampire Priestess, the leader of the order of Vampire Huntresses. She’s the one who told me I was pregnant. She called it a miracle.” She didn’t tell him what else Brigid had said. Not yet. She’d give him truth, but in bits and pieces.

“She was right. You getting pregnant is kind of a miracle. Who knew vampires could conceive a living child?”

“I certainly didn’t. But Brigid also warned me that I couldn’t take risks with my baby’s safety. She warned me of a threat, though she didn’t know when and from where it would come. I went into hiding to ensure that no one knew. No one except Brigid and Addie.”

“Addie?”

“Yeah.” Her voice softened. “Even though she’s human and a couple of centuries younger, she’s always treated me like a daughter. I trust her.”

“I do, too.” They shared a smile. Marika looked away first.

“Anyway,” she continued. “Dani was born in an old cabin high in these mountains. I had no one to assist me, because I trusted none. Still, somehow they—whoever they are—found out. Someone came hunting. Even though she was only a few weeks old, I knew they wanted my baby.”

“They?” While he wanted more detail, he didn’t appear to doubt her. Yet.

“They wanted to harm her because of what she is, a child of a vampire and a shifter.” Lifting her chin, she steeled herself to meet his dark gaze.

“I don’t understand. So she’s a Halfling. The Pack is made up of hundreds of thousands of those.”

“Vampires don’t have children.”

“You did,” he insisted. “And if you did, others can. Maybe you just haven’t heard about them. Maybe your precious Brigid made them go into hiding, too.”

“Maybe.” Since she hadn’t told him everything, she was willing to concede that point, even if she privately found it ridiculous. “Either way, protecting her comes first.”

“True.” He cocked his shaggy head. “But I still don’t understand why they want our daughter.”

“Why doesn’t matter. They want her and that’s enough. I won’t let them have her. Dani’s everything to me.”

Expression sober, he nodded. Something about the vulnerable look in his eyes brought memory slamming into her. She remembered how she’d felt when he’d held her in his strong arms, how tenderly he’d held her. How easily she could imagine him holding his daughter, laughing down into her perfect little face, so similar to his.

Fool . Such visualizations were nothing but dangerous to her now.

Unaware of her thoughts, he continued. “You know you’re going to have to tell her who I am when I meet her. I don’t want her thinking I’m just some guy. I want her to call me Daddy.”

Daddy. Her stomach dropped. This hurt a million times worse than she’d thought it would. Beck wasn’t giving up and going away. She’d have to tell him the rest of Brigid’s warning. Otherwise, he would never understand why she couldn’t let him within ten miles of their child.

Thank goodness Dani was safely hidden.

Knowing she had to choose her words carefully, she squared her shoulders. “The seer, Brigid, was very specific in her warning.”

“The Vampire Priestess? She’s also a seer?”

“Yes. Her magic is powerful and she can see things.” Another deep breath. “She warned me against you and your kind.”

If she’d accused him of wanting to murder their daughter, she didn’t think she could have shocked him more.

“You don’t think I …” Eyes narrowed as he stared at her, a muscle worked in his jaw. “I would never hurt a child, especially my own daughter. If your priestess said Pack, she meant someone else, not me.”

“How could I know that?” She felt as if the words were torn from her. “More than anything, I want to believe you. But I can’t take a chance. I’m sorry, but that’s why I go alone. I trust no one. Not even you.”

Now he cocked his head, looking wild and stern and hurt and wickedly beautiful, all at once. “That’s not entirely true. You trusted someone. Where’d you leave our daughter? She’s too young to be left alone.”

Ah, he was right. Still, she couldn’t afford to give in. “That’s different.”

“Oh, yeah? How?”

“All right.” She waved a hand impatiently. “There is one person I trust. Dani is safe with her.”

“One person you trust. Someone who would never betray you, who loves you like a daughter.” He stared, the anger that had bloomed in his rugged face slowly giving way to horror.

Seeing, she couldn’t help but be afraid. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I know,” he rasped. “I know where Dani is. It’s Addie, isn’t it? You left her with Addie?”

Her silence was its own form of answer. Though she stood perfectly still, his reaction terrified her. That, and the fact he’d been able to guess the truth, made her want to steal a car and drive straight to Addie’s place.

“Dani is safe.” Her words were more to comfort herself than anything else. “She has to be safe.”

“Hellhounds,” he cursed. “I’m not a hundred percent sure of that. We’ve got to get to Alpine, fast.”

“Alpine? Addie’s at my place, out in the desert.”

“No, she’s not. She was at the bar last night.”

“Why?” She had to fight to keep herself still. The back of her neck prickled, and inside, every cell vibrated in panicked response to the urgency in his voice. Then, before he could answer, she knew. “Juliet’s death.”

“Yes. Every year Addie and I have our own private remembrance.”

Thinking furiously, she tried to deny the possibility. “Even if Addie brought Dani to the bar, she knows to keep her safely hidden. What makes you think something happened?”

“Because they were there. That’s where these goons captured me. Outside Addie’s bar, at Juliet’s grave. If they go back, there’s a good chance they’ll stumble across our daughter.”

“They won’t go back.” Even to her own ears, her declaration sounded weak. “They won’t.”

“I hope not.” He swore. “They don’t have a reason to, but what if there were more of them? Reinforcements, waiting until they got the answer they wanted.”

Dani’s location.

It made an awful, horrible kind of sense. Her stomach sank.

Still, she had to protest. “Even if they did have backup, why would they go there, to Addie’s?”

“Addie’s is the only bar of its kind in the area, you know that. Shifters and vampires hang out there, alongside the oblivious humans. It’s a meeting place. Hell, we met there. Where better to wait for news from the ones who captured us?”

“You’ve got to be wrong. You’d better be wrong.” She took a deep, shaky breath, gripping one hand with the other so tightly it hurt, terror knotting inside her. “You have to be.”

Expression grim, he felt in his pocket, bringing out his phone. Opening it, he punched in a code. “I’m calling her cell. Maybe I am wrong. If she answers, we’ll know.”

If she answered. She tried to force herself to relax. No if. Of course Addie would answer.

But as the silence grew, Beck holding the phone to his ear, she began to worry she wouldn’t.

Trying not to shake as awful images built in her mind, Marika watched, waiting, willing Addie to answer. Which she would. Any second now. She had to. The alternative was unacceptable.

After a moment, Beck shook his head. Closing the phone, he shot her a bleak look. “No answer.”

Everything seemed to freeze at exactly that moment. She tried to clear her head, to force herself to move, to do something, say something, anything—but she couldn’t even force air past the blockage in her throat.