Savage Awakening (Alpha Pack #2)(56)

"None taken. You make a valid point, but I'm the bastard of a Seelie queen and an Unseelie king. Powerful blood, even though tainted, and our tie makes me the only Fae strong enough to kill him. Not that I would've tried without provocation, but that doesn't matter to him."

"Okay, that makes sense, then." Christ, Sariel was in real trouble with that piece of pond scum for a daddy, who had scores of Sluagh at his beck and call. "Why hasn't he come after you before? You're grown, after all."

"Grown." The prince laughed, the smile doing dazzling things to his face. "I'm nine thousand years old, in human time measurement."

"You-you're lying," she stammered. "Human time?"

"In my world, that's nothing. I'm practically a baby."

She eyed his gorgeous self from head to toe. "You're definitely not an infant."

"Figure of speech. But I'm relatively young in a realm where my kind are ageless. As for Malik, I don't know why he's making a move to kill me now when before he couldn't be bothered. Perhaps he'll care to explain before he butchers me."

"He's not going to do that, because the Pack won't let that happen."

"And speaking of which, they've returned." He flicked a hand toward the window.

In the moonlight, the sight of several wolves and one panther emerging from the forest was eerily beautiful. They were pretty much dragging, though, heads and tails drooping. In the middle of the group was a familiar red wolf, and it seemed the others surrounded him almost protectively. Rowan itched to know what had gone down out there.

As the men neared the back door, they shifted one by one and Kalen immediately waved a hand, doing his thing to clothe their buff bodies. Pity.

"I have a feeling you'll want to talk to Aric," the prince said. "I'll see you later."

"Hey, we'll talk more about your situation. I'm sure the guys will come up with a way to catch Malik, and solve a whole bunch of problems, including yours."

He nodded. "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

She watched him go with a little tug at her heart. She likely wouldn't be around for any of the fireworks when the team finally did take out Malik and his operation. Why did that bother her? When Micah was better, he'd keep her updated. So it wasn't like she'd be losing all of them.

The Pack trooped inside and suddenly she wasn't sure how to position herself, what to do with her hands. She didn't want to appear as though she'd been waiting anxiously for Aric's return, which was ridiculous because she'd never been the type to be overly concerned with what others thought. But then, the men and women she worked with at the station were mostly that-coworkers with whom she felt totally comfortable. Since meeting Aric and his team, she'd been anything but.

The second Aric's green eyes met hers, she was thrown off balance. She didn't like feeling out of control, as if something greater than the two of them was hard at work, drawing her like a magnet to a man who would make falling for him such a rough ride. She wasn't the picket fence type. She had a rewarding job-well, most of the time-and her independence. This redheaded wolf came with too much baggage. He was a lot of trouble.

And she found herself crossing to him, intent on making sure he was all right. She stepped in front of him, gripping his arms, studying his face. The bruises and split lip from the beating Jax had given him were already healing, but there were circles under his eyes. Heat radiated from his skin. Was he hotter than before?

"What happened?"

"We kissed and made up. It's all good." He smirked, but the effort at offhandedness didn't quite ring true. The rest of the Pack filed past them, looking as worn out as Aric.

"Can't you ever be serious when you're asked a direct question?"

"I don't need a mother, sweetheart. Had one, fumbled the ball. Go figure."

"What I'm feeling right now is anything but motherly-unless you count the number of times she probably wanted to strangle you! Talk to me, damn it."

The mask slipped away and shattered at his feet. The raw anguish she'd witnessed in the face of Jax's accusations returned full force. "I was gonna throw myself off a cliff, but they stopped me," he said harshly. "And I wish like hell they hadn't. Is that direct enough for you, officer?"

The sneer at her profession, at the fact that she cared, irked her. But that wasn't what really set her off. "Do you know what I did before I came here? I killed a man. Shot him right through the heart because he drew his gun on me. His choice, and he's dead because of it, regardless of the fact that if he'd taken one more second to think, if he hadn't been high, he'd still be alive. But I had to act, and was put on mandatory suspension until I was cleared of wrongdoing."

"Your point?"

"Do you honestly think that man wanted to leave his wife and kids with no support? That he wanted to be worm food? He had a miserable life, but it was worth something. He threw it and his family away on an impulsive decision he can never undo. Don't make the same mistake."

He stared at her for a couple of seconds, then started clapping. The noise was rude in the empty space, the mask in place again. "Bravo. You have a tissue so I can wipe my tears?"

"You are such an ass**le!"