Wilder watched at Adrienne as she slept leaning against the window of the truck keeping her distance from him. She was more beautiful now than she had ever been. But he had crossed the line with her and there was no turning around. How could he be so insensitive and not believe her. But he couldn’t fathom Bane not touching his beautiful mate who is tempting and alluring.
He didn’t think Drayton had impregnated her because Drayton was so positive that he didn’t have time, or he may have been infertile. Drayton railed at Wilder for cutting their honeymoon short and not allowing him enough time with her.
Adrienne woke and stirred around in the truck before she realized that Wilder was alone. Where is Drayton and Lycell, she wondered. Had they been so certain that Bane had molested her and impregnated her that they didn’t bother to come after her?
She had been too tired and too busy arguing with Wilder to ask about her family until now.
“Where is Lycell and Drayton? Did they think I was a lost cause? Did they think as you, that I should let Bane kill me, before I would give in to him?”
“When we found out that you were kidnapped, we didn’t waste any time tracking you to that pack and to Bane. Only to discover that you were with Bane. I don’t know how to tell you,” he said looking at her.
“Just tell me. You didn’t have a problem telling me that I should let Bane kill me, or I should have killed myself.”
“Will you try to forget that and forgive me? I was upset and out of my mind worried about you.”
Adrienne glance over to Wilder, “I will never forget that, and I will never forgive you.”
“After I have Drayton’s pups, I think I want to leave.”
“And go where? You can’t leave us? You have a husband. If not for me, stay for our children and Drayton. I’ll leave.”
“My children are no longer children. I close my eyes and wake and find they are adults overnight. I’m not used to that. I don’t understand it, and I don’t know if I want that kind of life anymore.”
“You can’t leave. We won’t let you leave. Lycell was mauled by a bear and Drayton had to do battle with one of Bane’s betas. He won of course, but they’re not in great shape. If you leave us we can’t make it.” Adrienne hadn’t expected that. She just stared out into the night.
“I’m sure Lycell will be alright. He has all those women who can’t wait for him to go back to his old ways.”
“Lycell is different now. You should see him with his sons. When you refused to sleep with him, he rode his horse all night not to find a woman as he had threatened, but to find a way to control himself.” Adrienne quietly smiled to herself. “And Drayton, he spent his night tracking a moose. We have the meat to prove it.” Wilder looked over at Adrienne and he flashed a closed smile at her.” She turned her head and tried to cover up her smile. Afterwards she turned back to face him.
“And you?”
“I’d rather not tell you what I did.” Adrienne turned away from him with a huff.
“I applaud them for displaying self-control, but I don’t want you and them to tell me what I can’t do. I will decide that. This is not real life. This is a nightmare for me now. I will stay long enough to see that Lycell and Drayton are ok, but after that, it will be my decision.”
“I thought you enjoyed living with us and loving me.”
“That was before I realized that you would rather me dead than to have Bane touch me. I can’t live with someone like you. You have become too possessive.” Adrienne words were painful to Wilder, but much more painful to her and he deserved much more.
Where would she go? Back to her parents? Back to Paul? First she has to navigate around Lycell and Drayton and not to mention her grown sons Devin and Hunter. She was a captive and she felt like one.
Being with Bane was less restrictive than the Samsa brothers and that’s saying a lot.
“Lycell and Drayton are hurt and need you. Why would you leave them now after they almost lost their lives for you? It was you who decided to go out on your own and you who took Mena with you.”
“Again you’re blaming me for this. Where’s Mena? Poor Mena.” Then she remembered Robert. Her hands went to her mouth. “Robert. I forgot about Robert.”
“I was just saying that if you had just listened instead of being stubborn...” Adrienne’s look of disbelief stopped Wilder from going further.
“Don’t say anymore to me. Stop at a hotel and let me sleep. I’m not going to drive another two thousand miles with you without proper rest and food.”
Ten miles moving south, lights flashed on a hotel sign. “I have to drive as far as possible to keep Bane from catching up with us. I can’t stop now. I don’t want to have to fight him with you pregnant.”
“Why do you care? Think you might lose and he will take me and fuck me.”
“Don’t say that Adrienne. You know I care and I didn’t mean anything I said. I would want you if there wasn’t anything left of you as long as you could be with me and I could hold you in my arms.” Adrienne’s heart warmed for Wilder. He sounds like the werewolf she first met in his cave. But she couldn’t remove his harsh words from her mind.
Wilder moved his hands over to touch Adrienne’s hand, and she pulled away. He knew that he had his job cut out for him. Loneliness gripped him once more, and he needed her to love him the way she once had. But after what he said to her, he felt it would never be the same, but he had to try to bring her back to him. His life and the life of his family depended on whether he could change her thinking about him and his brothers.
“I will never care for you again,” she said turning away from Wilder and staring out into the cold gray night. She wondered about Bane and what he was thinking when he discovered that she was gone. She wondered did he find solace in the blond girl at the front desk. And she wondered if he missed her like she’s missing him now.
Then Adrienne heard what she thought was a chilling outcry and howl of a loss of control. It was more of a whimper than a howl; a lovesick cry. Bane had discovered that she was gone. Wilder knew that it wasn’t over between him and Bane. Bane was out there among the mountains, snow and forest, and he missed Adrienne like Wilder had missed her. There was a hole inside of Bane and it had to be filled. He wanted her, and he was a threat to his family, and he would try to take her from him one day.
Wilder knew the sound of that howl. It was the pain of a werewolf without a mate. It was a wolf who has lost everything that mattered in life, and he was a danger to all animals.
“I know who that is. What did Bane say?” Wilder glanced over at Adrienne for a minute and didn’t reply to her or Bane. He couldn’t risk Bane locating him before he brought her home. Home to his children and his brothers.
Wilder knew that out in the wilderness, in the winter snow, he and Bane would have to meet and settle their differences. And resolve once and for all who would control all the werewolf clans and there is the question of Adrienne. Who would finally claim her?
Bane’s howl died out as they moved further and further south. There was a faint sound coming as Bane tried to keep up with the truck traveling down the highway at breakneck speed. From the echo all Wilder heard was a whimper as they faded out of sight and out of hearing range.
The laws of nature were calling Bane. They were deeper and stronger in werewolves than in men.