Dawn Released

Daniel shook his head in dismay. "You are so whipped. Where'd you sleep?"

"The couch," Tristen growled as he tugged his thermal shirt on.

"Sure." Daniel glanced over at the couch. The pillows were perfectly in place and a knit throw neatly laid across the back. "Uh huh. Did ya' get some?" His brother was so full of shit his breath stank worse than usual. Tristen tried so hard to be a stud. He'd grown out his hair and dressed to depress...not impress. Daniel wore what he wanted. He didn't bother with his hair. He kept the stuff short out of practicality. Either the ladies would appreciate him or they wouldn't and personally, he didn't care either way. Tristen primped in front of the mirror like a girl on prom night and to Daniel, it was pathetic not to mention hopeless.

"Hey! Don't talk about Kacie like that. I don't have to explain myself to you. I'm old enough to vote and to drink. I can spend the night wherever I please. And no, for your information, I didn't get any. Kacie and me...well, we're friends." Daniel pinned him with a look that said he wasn't buying it. Mouse snickered and shot him a glance over his shoulder that said she knew better too. He did not have to answer to his kid brother and sister. Thank god for that. But, the best way to get them off his back was to simply change the subject. "What are you doing here?"

"Grandpa sent us to tell you to get your ass and the SUV back home. STAT."

"Why?"

"Grandpa is going to Texas," Marianne interjected. She stifled her laughter as her brothers stared one another down. Tristen was obviously embarrassed by being caught. And Daniel was obviously envious of his older brother. She personally, didn't care. She thought the whole damn thing was funny.

"Texas?" Kacie emerged from a cloud of steam with a thick, terry robe wrapped around her body and a towel wound up on her head. She looked like a terry cloth swami. "Why is Nash going to Texas?"

"I don't know." Tristen pulled on his boots and flannel shirt. He didn't know, but he was going to find out. He glared at Daniel. "You could have just called me on the cell phone."

"Nah, better this way. Oh, just so you know, the Camaro handles like a dream on the snow."

"What!" Tristen raced to the window and exhaled a deep and shuddering relived breath. His baby girl was in one piece. Her primer gray stood out like a fresh coat of paint against the white snow. The snow angels and their footprints had been erased by another four inches of snow. His baby girl had better not have one scratch on her. Daniel was a pain in the ass before their grandfather had declared him fit to drive. But, since he'd gotten access to the keys, he was insufferable. There were at least a dozen vehicles parked in the driveway at home. He could have driven any of them. But, no, he'd had to drive the Camaro.

"He's taking your friends with him and one of the vampires. A Guardian, I think." Marianne could sense Tristen bristling in agitation. She told Daniel to take the truck and leave Tristen's car alone. But, no, did he listen to her? Of course not. She'd answered the question to avoid a possible argument between her brothers. One of these days they were going to get into a heller of a fight. They had before and Daniel had almost gotten his skull busted in. Tristen had a hell of a wicked right hook. And Daniel, not quite a man yet, thought he could take his bigger older brother and was hot to prove it. They were both hair triggers like their father. Add in their wolves and their alpha 'take no shit' personalities and they were powder kegs about to explode.

"Tracker and Catcher? Has Nash heard from my mom? Is everything all right?" Kacie unwound her hair from the towel. The wet strands trailed down her back in a dripping tangled mass. "Don't you dare leave without me! If this concerns my mom, I'm going too." She rushed back to dress and drag a comb through her hair. Her fingers trembled with worry.

"Mouse, sometimes its ok not to tell everything you know." Daniel nudged his little sister with his elbow. Kacie was practically panic-stricken. Mouse just didn't know when to shut up. He should have nicknamed her blabbermouth or something. She could not keep her trap shut. Now Kacie was worried about her mom and Tristen was worried about Kacie. "Give me the keys. I'll go warm up the SUV."

"How'd you guys know where to find me?" Tristen asked as he looked down the hall to the Kacie's shut bedroom door. He could hear her shuffling around, packing her bags.

"GPS tracking system, dumb ass," Daniel answered, reaching for the keys. He didn't need a tracking system. He knew exactly where to find his brother. Tristen was so whipped that it was almost embarrassing.

Tristen found the key fob in his pocket and pressed a button. The SUV roared to life. "Who's the dumb ass? The SUV is warming up. Go ahead and drive it back. I'll be there in a minute." He heard the zip of a duffel bag through the paper-thin walls. Kacie wasn't packing for a pleasure cruise. She was planning to go with Nash. Between the almost kiss and being felt up this morning, he considered her his girlfriend. If she was going, so was he. They were a team. "And Daniel, take the truck."

"Come on, I'm ready." Kacie had packed only the essentials, yet the duffel bag hung heavily on her shoulder. Her mother needed her. She knew that she might be putting herself at risk by going back, but it didn't matter. She had to be there and one way or another she was going to Texas. If Nash refused to let her tag along, she'd hitch hike if she had to. She was going and he was not daddy or pack master enough to stop her.

Tristen relieved the bag from her shoulder, freeing her of its weight and slinging the black strap over his shoulder instead. Her hair hung, damp from the shower, clinging to her scalp in long wet tendrils. He slid the hood of her coat up over her head and tucked her hair inside. Protecting her as best as he could from the cold bite of the northern winds. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. He settled for just saying, "Let's go." as he pushed her out the door and followed behind her. There was nothing he wouldn't do for her. Nowhere she went where he wouldn't follow and that included Texas.

Chapter 10

Torr turned on the shower and Eloise flicked on the blow dryer in the name of keeping up appearances. Too bad using the blow dryer as a loofa was not an option. She'd almost consider it opposed to the situation that she found herself in. The spacious bathroom was cramped and suffocating as Torr leaned over her. "What's the plan?" she whispered. The bathroom was the only place they could openly talk. At least, she hoped that the noise from the blow dryer and shower would drown out their voices.

"I don't have one. I was only trying to buy you some time," Torr confessed. "You have to get out of here before my father figures out a way to get rid of you for good."

"He can't outright kill me." Eloise's fingers tightened around the base of the dryer. The bathroom was steaming up from the combined heat of the shower and the blow dryer. Wispy tendrils of white steam curled around her shoulders, choking her.

"No, the last thing he wants is for your pack to make you a martyr. He'll wait until the timing is right and then he'll take care of it. In the meantime, he'll keep trying to turn the pack against you."

"He's already done a good job of that. How much time do you think we have?"

Torr shook his head. He didn't know. Last night, he'd done a good enough job of fooling the audio bugs and the camera feeds. Something, he and most likely, Eloise didn't want to think about. He'd made a shambles out of the bedroom. The bedding was rumpled and the sheets stained. They'd 'made love' under the covers. Naked and panting on top of Eloise, pretending, he felt not the slightest of stirring in his cock. She'd kept her bra on, but her panties were in the heap at the foot of the bed.

He'd felt nothing but shame and embarrassment as he closed his eyes, fake fucking her while he masturbated into the sheets. Eloise was a truly beautiful woman, but even if they had had a choice about it, he still wouldn't have chosen her. They'd had to kiss and caress one another to make the act believable. His kisses didn't do it for her either. She'd closed her eyes too, moaning and gripping his back, digging her nails into him as she playacted. He'd had to retreat into the far corners of his mind to get hard. He'd come in a rush of hot semen with the memories of warm spring nights, flame red hair, and a name from another place and time trapped beneath his lips.

So far, their farce appeared convincing enough. He'd given Eloise what privacy he could. The linens were musky with the scent of her arousal. He didn't know what man she dreamed about as she fingered her clit to add her scent and stain to the sheets. It wasn't any of his business to know. Her cheeks weren't reddened from the blush of her orgasm, but rather from the heated humiliation of it. He'd held her afterwards, because he wanted to. She'd stroked his hair and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, tightly as any lover's embrace. They sheltered each other from their shame and embarrassment, from their mutual fear for their lives, and because neither one of them could hold the one they truly wanted to embrace.

After a few more performances, his father would be adequately fooled, for the time being. But, when Eloise failed to announce the joyous news that she'd conceived. His father would find out the truth and expose them both. "A month, maybe two at most."

Eloise understood the risk that Torr had taken. She pushed away a piece of stray black hair that had curled into his eyes from the steam in the room. He was hard in his resolve. But, last night had changed something inside of him. Torr had so many different dimensions to him. She'd misjudged him and greatly underestimated both his character and his capacity for compassion and for that she felt guiltiest of all. "Why did you do this to yourself? Why for me?"

"I have my reasons." Torr wrapped her fingers in his palm and gave them a gentle squeeze. Eloise was not the woman he thought she was. There was a depth to her he had never realized existed. Sure, she was capable of great, ruthless cruelty, but she was also capable of intense love and sacrifice. He saw her concern for him etched into the lines of her face. She was worried about her own life, but that she thought of his at all, shamed him. "I owe Jan at least enough to keep her mother safe, if I can."

"He'll kill you for helping me."

"Eloise, I've been on borrowed time for a long while. He needs me, for the moment. Once he gets his pureblooded heir, what do think he'll do to me? I will have served my purpose. Make no mistake, my father has no compassion, not even for his own son." They were screwed if his father expected Torr to provide him with an heir. Torr had taken care of that little problem years ago. He'd been tested to make sure the vasectomy took and that by some quirk of fate his miraculous gifts hadn't healed him. He was sterile by his choosing and his DNA utterly useless.

"If we get out of this, what are you going to do?" Eloise paused with a comb in her hand. This act was killing her and it was utterly destroying Torr. She wondered if it wouldn't be better for the both of them to give Seff the heir he wanted. Torr had whispered a name last night on the heels of his orgasm. Jacking off hard into his palm, his seed wet and sticky on the sheets and dripping from between his fingers onto her thighs, he'd uttered a woman's name. Erica.

Torr had given her the courage to relax and close her eyes. He'd earned his orgasm the hard way through the self-punishment of his own mind. If he could muster one so could she. With her mind wandering and her fingers slick with her juices, her head had taken her to someplace she wished it hadn't. Torr wasn't the least bit aroused, his body shielding hers as she pumped her fingers into her sex. He turned his head away giving her what little privacy he could. And the man's name she held back in a gasp of shuddering pleasure was Nash's. They were screwed and not in a good way and not by the people they wanted to screw them.

Torr couldn't get erect, not with her anyway. And she could not welcome him between her thighs, even if he could. Something in her had changed too. More than what she'd ever realized had. And when Seff did not get his heir as a consequence of those changes, he would kill not only her but Torr as well.

"I haven't thought that far ahead." Torr released Eloise's hand and turned his back to her. He hadn't made any plans because he didn't think they'd live long enough to worry about a future.

"You don't think we can pull this off do you?"

"We don't have a choice. We either will or we'll die trying." He stalked out of the bathroom, leaving Eloise to her blow dryer and her thoughts.

Chapter 11

"Absolutely not!" Nash glowered at Kacie. "You are not going." He broke the news to her as gently as he could. There was no way to sugar coat what he had to say. He had given her every reassurance that he would do what he could to help her mother and bring her back safely. The last thing he needed was to have to keep an eye on Kacie too. He'd promised Eloise that he would keep her daughters safe and that was exactly what he intended to do. Kacie was a liability that he didn't need to worry about. She'd get in the way.

Kacie stared up at Nash, meeting the determined flash of his brown eyes with her determined glare. She was going and there wasn't really anything he could do to stop her. He didn't own the interstates. He wasn't her pack master. He wasn't her father. She'd made up her mind and nothing was going to change it. Nothing. "I can either hitch a ride with you or I can find my own way there. One way or another I am going."

Tristen shrank into the corner. He was secretly betting that Kacie was going to win this fight and that they were on their way to Texas. His grandfather's jaw had a determined set to it. He was used to giving orders and having them obeyed. Not taking them or being defied by a girl that barely weighed one hundred pounds and almost stood five foot-two inches tall. It was kind of like watching a Keebler Elf battle the Jolly Green Giant. His grandpa had about one hundred plus pounds of pure muscle, ten inches, and a lifetime's worth of experience over Kacie. "Kacie, I made a promise to your mother to keep you safe."

"Then you'd better give me a ride." Kacie crossed her arms in defiance. Behind her Catcher and Tracker grunted in twin like unison. The argument made them nervous. Loyalty was their highest duty. What they'd been bred to do. Only this time, they weren't sure which team to root for. They owed Nash for taking them in, but they owed her because of their years of faithful service to her mother. She picked up her duffel bag and slung it over her shoulder in triumph. If Catcher and Tracker thought she was in danger, they'd follow her to the ends of the earth. To her, it was really no contest. "What time do we leave?"

Tristen stifled a chuckle as his grandpa stormed out of the room in defeat. Kacie had him right where she wanted him. If he didn't let her ride with the team, she was going anyway. Since she had no money, there was only one way that she was going to get to Texas and anyway, without her, the team wouldn't go. Hitch hiking was deadlier than any pack of wolves. His grandfather was about to be outmaneuvered again. After twenty-one years, he'd learned how to manipulate the old man, to a degree. He'd offer to keep an eye on Kacie, keep her out of his grandpa's hair and out of the way. His grandpa would jump at the chance. Already planning what to pack, he bounded up the stairs to his room.

Kacie glanced up from the text she was sending to her sister. She couldn't leave Jan in the dark. Besides, she was obviously going to lose her job over this and quite frankly, she was going to have to hit Jan up for a few bucks until she found another one. Kacie downplayed the danger, editing her text. Jan had a new husband, the last thing Kacie needed was for her sister to worry or insist on coming along. Kacie glanced up from the text when a long, overstuffed, army green, duffel bag plopped onto the floor at her feet. "Where do you think you're going?"

Tristen smiled wily and dropped onto the couch. "Texas," he answered. Parking his feet on top of the bag, he waited for her to react.

Kacie rolled her eyes. "Great." Now she had two people to worry about, her mother and Tristen. He knew little about the world that existed outside of his miniscule town and the tiny patch of woods that surrounded it. He could easily get into big trouble out there in the real world. She thought of Tristen and his pack as a separate entity. Not part of the larger world, but as a universe unto themselves. His innocence and his belief that everyone was intrinsically good could, and most likely would get him killed in her world.

Jan felt the buzzing of her cell phone from deep within the cargo pocket of her scrubs. The phone rattled against her thigh, demanding an answer. She finished charting on her new patient and scuttled off to the bathroom for a little privacy. Frowning, she read the text from Kacie. The message was brief. Kacie was on her way to Texas to check on their mother. Jan got worried when Kacie's next text told her there was nothing to worry about. Her thumbs flew over the minute keyboard as she fired back a reply.

Kacie's typed response was curt and to the point. She wasn't going to Texas alone. Nash, Tristen, a Guardian, and the Omegas were going with her. Their trip wasn't just to check on her mother. They were going on a rescue mission. Jan hated it when people kept things from her. She could read the truth between the lines of Kacie's two word responses. If there were danger, she wanted to help. She was not fully invested in her heritage. But, if necessary, to defend what was hers, she didn't mind calling on her wolf. Her thumbs were a blur as she typed another pointed reply. She would come along too.

Letters raced across the display quicker than Jan could read them. Kacie didn't want her to come. And Kacie had a very good reason why. Jan's presence, a bitter reminder to the pack that she'd chosen a human male over a well pedigreed wolf, might make things worse for their mother. Ok, Kacie was right. It looked like Jan was staying put, and according to Kacie's latest text, paying her sister's rent.

There were few percs to being a doctor's wife. Everyone's assumption that somehow she was magically rich was just that, an assumption. Thomas and she did ok. But, they weren't rich. Student loans and malpractice insurance ate up a good deal of the family budget. Thomas would probably wring her neck for agreeing to pay Kacie's rent, but it was either that or when she came back from Texas, her sister lived with them. Given those two options, she was certain Thomas would rather float her sister a loan.

Jan hastily ended the text, wishing Kacie and her mother a quick and safe return. She couldn't push the worry out of her mind. She texted a quick line or two to Thomas, hoping he'd cheer her up. He always did. She snapped the phone closed and gave the toilet a cursory flush when he didn't text back right away. The second round of flu season was starting up and her husband was probably swamped in the ER today, washing her hands she put on her nurse's face and went back to work.

The unit was full of patients, all of them having a worse day than she could ever conceive. Her problems were insignificant compared to the lady in room thirteen who had just gotten diagnosed with cancer or the family gathered around the bed in room twenty, watching their loved one struggle to hold on to life.