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No, it wasn’t. Her outrage evaporated like smoke as she studied her brother. Tarron truly loved her, and their coven. She had never doubted that. Every day, he put his own happiness on hold to make certain they were all safe and prosperous. He worked harder than anyone she knew.
And she suddenly noted something about him. There was a shadow in his eyes she’d never seen before. Perhaps it was worry, or melancholy.
Slowly, she lowered herself into a chair. “Do you have reason to believe we’re going to be threatened?”
“Nothing specific,” he admitted. “But I’ve been uneasy. There’s a feeling of foreboding that I can’t quite shake. As though Carter’s death was too easy, and there’s something waiting in the shadows. Like the old saying goes, if you kill one cockroach in the kitchen, there’s a million more behind the walls. I can’t explain it better than that.”
His words gave her a chill, and she rubbed her arms. “We’ve got good allies in the Alpha Pack.”
Unbidden, a mental picture of the Pack’s sexy commander popped into her head. She tried to ignore it—and struggled not to think about how he’d spun on his heel and walked away after meeting her. As if she’d offended him with her presence. The dismissal still stung.
Tarron nodded. “Yes. And I’m glad about that. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind having them around all the time, but Nick needs his men there. They’ve got a job to do.”
“True, but their purpose isn’t so different from ours. They fight to protect others from harm so we can all live peacefully. They’re a family, like us.”
“Yes, but they’re not vampires.”
“Elitist much?”
He scowled. “I didn’t mean that they’re less because they’re shifters, just that they don’t hold the same loyalty to us as our own kind would.”
“That’s your opinion, with no proof to support it.”
Her brother merely shrugged. “I’m grateful for their friendship, and I know they’d come if we needed them. I just don’t see the harm in our coven being bigger and stronger.”
“How about ‘the bigger they are, the harder they fall’? Ever heard that one?”
“Gods, you wear me out.” He rubbed his eyes, then leveled a piercing look at her. “So, will you make nice with Rolan at the party?”
“Seeing as you’re not going to let this rest until I do, I’ll agree. But only to be cordial, nothing more,” she warned him.
Tarron gave her the brilliant smile that turned other females’ knees to jelly. Calla had to admit it was pretty potent. Until she remembered what a jerk he could be sometimes.
Coming around the desk, he wrapped her in a hug. “Thank you. I promise the Russian prince will be a perfect gentleman. And if you really don’t have any feelings for him, I won’t push. Either way, it still won’t hurt to have a strong ally.”
“All right, I can’t argue with that.”
“Thank fuck.”
Laughing, she pulled back and pecked him on the cheek. “Talk to you later.”
Throwing Tarron a smile, she took her leave. It was hard to stay angry at her brother. But her amusement quickly faded as she replayed their conversation in her head. Even if she were ready to move on, to take another mate or even simply a lover, she’d never felt a pull toward Rolan.
Not like she’d experienced when she’d met Nick Westfall a few days ago. They’d been introduced and he’d taken her hand—and it was like she’d been pumped with a million volts of electricity. From the shock on the wolf shifter’s handsome, rugged face, he’d felt it as well.
And he’d been none too pleased, if his hasty exit was any indication.
Sadness nearly overwhelmed her in that moment, tears pricking her eyes, and she wasn’t sure why. She’d met the man for all of thirty seconds, and didn’t know him from Adam. So why was there a gaping hole in her chest?
A desperate need to escape overwhelmed her. Sometimes the coven’s mountain stronghold in the Smokies was more of a prison than a home. Going against her brother’s standing directive, she used her gift of translocation to avoid her bodyguards and take herself away from there. Far away. She knew exactly where she wanted to be, and when she landed a few seconds later, she stood in a gorgeous copse of trees in the middle of the Shoshone National Forest hundreds of miles from the coven.
Home to the Alpha Pack. And the wolf commander.
What was this compulsion? This aching need to be near him? The last time she’d felt this way had been . . . when she met Stefano. Her throat burned with grief at the thought of what that might mean.
There was a certain peace in being cold and numb. In allowing every limb and organ to remain frozen so that the pain could never sneak in again. The idea of finally allowing the thaw was beyond her comprehension at this point. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to let another man inside her heart. Or whether she was capable.
She wandered for a while, enjoying the lush forest with its greenery. Insects buzzed and various birds chattered. The day wasn’t too hot, a balmy breeze moving the leaves and branches. At last she came to a break on a rise and sucked in a breath at the beautiful Rocky Mountains in the distance. The sight was simply gorgeous.
