Leap of the Lion (The Wild Hunt Legacy #4)(97)

“Oh, right.” She undid her seatbelt and slid down to the floorboard, turning to lay her head on the seat. She’d be invisible to anyone outside.

A wooden stockade type fence loomed farther down the road.

“That’s it,” Owen murmured.

Not slowing the car, Gawain surveyed the property as well as the surroundings. To his surprise, the gate—also wooden planks—stood open. At the front of one of the houses, males were unloading a van. Excitement surged through him.

“The soldiers are back,” Owen told Darcy.

“Really? Oh my Gods.” She started to sit up, caught herself, and stayed flat. Her fingers closed in a fist.

Poor catling. To be so close and not be able to act. Gawain patted her shoulder.

Owen met Gawain’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “Get us out of here.”

“Aye.” Gawain took the next corner and the next, returning to Highway 20. His jaw clenched as he thought of the floodlights, the high log walls. “Breaking them out of there won’t be easy.”

“We’ll manage,” Owen said.

Visibly shaking, Darcy crawled back up to the seat.

With a sigh, Gawain reached over and captured her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers. “Breathe, sweetling.”

Her attempted smile almost broke his heart.

The drive home was mostly silent.

As they neared Cold Creek, Gawain wasn’t able to take the silence any longer. He squeezed Darcy’s shoulder. “Are you all right?”

She shook her head. “I hate this. Shifters will have to risk their lives to get the villagers free. But if they do, the Scythe will know there are more shifters. They’ll hunt down anyone who helps—and everyone who gets free.”

“Let them look.” The snarl from the backseat said Owen looked forward to meeting the Scythe.

Darcy was still looking out the side window. “My brothers probably know places to hide. We can go—”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Owen snapped.

“What?” Darcy turned to stare at him.

Gawain shot his gnome-brained littermate a frown, then recaptured Darcy’s hand. “He means we want you to stay with us. Live with us.”

Be our lifemate. But it was too soon to say that. Even the love words dancing on his tongue would be premature.

Her mouth dropped open, and her gaze was…shocked. Fearful. “Stay in Cold Creek? With you?”

“Aye.” Owen leaned forward and gripped her shoulder. “With us. We want you to stay with us.”

“No. I can’t.” She shook her head hard. “I’d put you in danger.”

Gawain winced, not needing to see Owen’s reaction. Talk about insulting a cahir.

“We can handle danger,” Owen growled.

“Why can’t you understand? Once my brothers are free, I have to leave. The Scythe will search for all the shifters who escape, and they’ll start with these forests.”

Owen’s growl deepened. “They won’t find you.”

“They will.”

The way Darcy shrank into the seat like a terrified cubling made Gawain want to shred something. Someone. “Darcy…”

“You don’t know the Scythe,” she whispered. “They’re politicians. Heads of giant companies. Even if we weren’t shifters, they wouldn’t let us be free, not with what we know. They’ll burn the forests to ensure we never talk about them.”

The certainty in her voice sent a chill through Gawain.

Like a panicking deer herd, she only saw flight as the answer.

She was wrong. Descended from the Fae wild hunt shifters, the Daonain had never been prey animals—they were predators.

Searching for a reasoned answer, Gawain turned onto the road to the lodge. “Your warning means all the Cosantirs will be prepared. We’ll manage whatever comes, Darcy. But we’ll manage better with you beside us.”

She was shaking her head as he stopped the car in front of the building.

“I can’t stay. It wouldn’t work.” She jumped out of the car and turned.

“Darcy,” Owen’s rough voice was gentler than Gawain had ever heard. “Don’t you know how we feel about you?”

“Don’t.” Her big dark eyes filled with tears. “I have to leave and keep you safe. We can’t… There can’t be more.”

Pain ripped through Gawain as his hopes began to disintegrate. He held out his hand, willing her to stay. “Catling, we lo—”

“No.” Her tears spilled over, and she pressed her hand to her mouth. “You mustn’t. Please. There can be nothing between us. Nothing.”

She slammed the door shut and ran into the lodge as if all the wolves in the forest were snapping at her heels.

“That…did not go well.” Gawain turned toward his brother and saw his misery. Pity slid into his heart, joining his own pain.

His littermate had avoided emotional entanglements all of his life. Now, for Darcy, he’d ventured out of his cave, left himself vulnerable—and gotten clawed.

Life wasn’t fair sometimes.

“She’s scared, brawd,” Gawain said softly. “For us. For Cold Creek.” To give her space and time, he turned the car around and headed toward their house. “Females aren’t reasonable if afraid someone will get hurt, and she loves us.” He could feel it from her, like the warmth of the sun.