Aric stroked his stubble cheek against mine. “I shouldn’t have left you.”
My lips met his briefly as my fingertips slid lightly against his chest, itching with the need to play with that perfect nipple. I withdrew, wondering if the other was just as delightful. Yup. Absolutely. My tigress rolled her eyes, reminding me I could have witnessed more than a little areola action if only my inner nerd hadn’t marched forward waving her geek banner with all the grace of a two-year-old on roller skates.
Aric’s honey-colored eyes searched mine. They always spoke of power and strength. This time they whispered with more intensity, and a hell of a lot more fire. “I won’t leave you again,” he promised.
My arms fastened around him, returning his embrace. “Thank you . . . for caring about what happens to me.”
My words carried a great deal of emotion. Most beings demonstrated little to no sympathy for me. Then I’d met Aric. Initially I presumed his wolfish impulses caused him to assume a protective role. Altercations with other wolves stomped that theory to bits. Wolves in general didn’t feel compelled to protect—Aric did. Despite not belonging to his pack, he cared about me. For some bizarre reason, he cared more than it seemed possible.
Taran’s hard wipes to my foot forced me to acknowledge that Emme had completed her healing. Aric lifted me, his pace quick as he returned to the path. My head whirled around to my family as we disappeared around the bend. “Where are we going?”
“I need to get you home. My wolves will keep your sisters safe.”
I wiggled my foot. Wine-colored splotches painted my smooth pink skin. “But I’m fine now. We need to tend to the bodies.”
“No. You don’t. The weres we have in the local homicide unit have been called. They’re on their way and will take care of matters inside the mill.”
The matters he spoke of no doubt involved identifying the victims and notifying their families. I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Do you think they’re local?”
The wind picked up, and so did the roar of the river. “Hard to tell with the number of tourists Tahoe gets.”
“I guess.” I wiggled against him so he’d put me down. He didn’t. “You realize I can walk.”
“You’re not wearing shoes.”
“Aric—”
A throaty, frustrated growl found its way out of Aric and heated his face. “Celia, my wolf failed to keep you safe. Cut him some slack and allow us to care for you now.”
My narrowed eyes slowly softened as I absorbed the extent of Aric’s culpability. My tigress took protecting my sisters seriously. When she failed, guilt dug hard enough to rupture my spleen. As a beast, I understood. As a female, I also recognized Aric’s need to be chivalrous. And yet had any other male carried me then, I’d have shifted him into the ground, kicked him in the head, and stomped back to the car. But because it was Aric, I relaxed against him, allowing both him and his beast to tend to me. I kissed the edge of his jaw. “All right. But just this one time, wolf.”
Aric huddled me closer. “I was convinced the danger lurked outside the mill. And I believed the sour stench was related to the woman’s violent death, not the presence of demons. I wanted to protect you by keeping you away from the fight and thought Gem’s wolf would be enough to keep you safe.”
“Well, now we know for next time.”
Aric tightened his jaw. He didn’t say it, but he left me the impression there might not be a next time. My tigress wasn’t so sure about that. The evil I’d witnessed terrified me, more than any other magical entity I’d encountered. And yet it triggered such hate and anger that even now my fangs begged to protrude and tear out the throats of those who threatened to shadow the world with darkness. Hell existed for creatures like that. My tigress yearned to send them back, and my faith demanded they never return. I wasn’t were, but at that moment I understood their loyalty to the earth.
Aric slowed as the trees thinned out and we reached the grassy knoll near the bakery. Human voices pricked my ears. “Where the hell is your brother? He and Beverly were supposed to meet us hours ago!”
A man wearing jeans and a thick jacket loomed over a young woman on her cell phone. She disconnected the call and glared at him. “For the last time, I don’t know. Tara and Bill said they haven’t heard from them, either.”
“We’re going to lose the damn deposit on the raft ride!”
The woman’s growing annoyance and underlying aroma of fear made her smack her partner’s arm. “Will you shut up about the damn deposit! What if something happened to them?”
My eyes widened, but I kept my mouth shut until Aric placed me in the passenger seat of his Escalade. I motioned toward the alley. “Could the screams you went after have come from those missing people?”
Aric watched the storefront of the antique shop as if he expected someone he knew to step onto the cracked walkway. “It was that same couple we passed before we entered the forest. I recognized the man’s cologne the closer we neared where they’d been taken.”