Part 7 (1/2)
Ellison drove the motorcycle out to this road now, not stopping until they were as far from civilization as they could get to in one afternoon. Under the cool shade of trees, he helped Maria off the bike, not letting go as she regained her feet.
Maria looked up at him, her hair tangled from the ride, her eyes still full of fire, stirred by anger and fear. She'd been through so much, this woman, and still she faced down the world, standing up for herself and the weaker, like Olaf.
She drew a breath to say something, but before she could, Ellison wound his arm around her, drew her up into him, and kissed her.
He tasted her agitation and outrage, and liked it. Maria's lips, dusky red and warm, moved on his, her kiss more practiced and confident than the one earlier today. She kissed in anger, seeking him, needing release.
Ellison pulled her closer, fitting her body against his, every curve of her against every hard plane of him. She was warm from the ride, mouth hot, skin damp with sweat, her scent filled with spice and heat. He could drink her all day, here away from the world. Nothing else mattered but this moment, his heart pounding desire through every s.p.a.ce of him. Out here, Maria was his.
Maria pushed at his chest, breaking them apart, though she didn't step away. She was breathing hard, the spangled s.h.i.+rt that hugged her b.r.e.a.s.t.s rising with her breath, its little b.u.t.tons beckoning his fingers. ”Why would someone do that?” she asked, rage in her eyes. ”Try to take the cubs like that?”
”Bradley?” Ellison could barely remember the guy's name after that heated kiss. He barely remembered his own name. ”For the money. And the power. But we'll teach him, darlin'. Don't you worry about that.”
Maria didn't calm. ”Why do people like him think they can walk into someone's life and take them? Away from everything? Like they own the world and can do whatever they want? They steal a person's whole life.” She balled her fists. ”Why? And why do we let them?”
”Come here.” Ellison pulled her rigid body close again, knowing what she was really talking about. ”You didn't let what happened to you happen, sweetheart. They were feral s.h.i.+fters. They wanted you-they took you.”
”You don't know. You weren't there. I did it to myself. I walked right into it, took my own life away from me. And now my family won't forgive me, and I'm alone. With no one. Just me.”
”And me.” Ellison let his voice go low as he stroked both hands down her back. ”And what are you talking about, you did it to yourself? It wasn't your fault, honey.”
”Yes, it was. I was stupid. So stupid.”
Ellison smoothed her hair, letting the satin warmth of it fill something in him. ”Well, once you tell me all about it, love, I'll know too. And I'll keep explaining that s.h.i.+fters do whatever they want, and ferals don't even bother to be polite about it. Don't keep this inside yourself, Maria. What happened?”
”What I did made my own family turn against me. My brother didn't want me around his little girls, didn't want them influenced by me. That's the main reason I came back here. I could take it if my brother hated me, but he was teaching his kids to be afraid of me.”
A red haze of anger rose in Ellison, wolf anger. ”Marquez is right. You're brother's a b.a.s.t.a.r.d, and I'd like to explain it to him. Now, I want to hear your side of the story, so I can tell you again that it wasn't your fault.”
When Maria looked up at him, the heartbreak and anguish in her eyes stabbed pain through Ellison's heart. He understood the loneliness he saw in her-he too had been ripped away from everything he knew and loved when s.h.i.+fters had been discovered and rounded up twenty years ago.
He'd watched his sister lose her mate to a freak infection, and he'd watched his own parents make a pact to die together rather than submit to the Collars. He and Deni had been left alone, bewildered, with Deni's two little cubs to take care of.
”I fell in love,” Maria said, tears of anger in her voice. ”No, it wasn't love. I didn't understand what I was feeling. Luis was a stranger, exciting, handsome. And I fell for his lies.”
”Luis was the s.h.i.+fter who kidnapped you, right? And took you to Miguel?” Dylan had told Ellison what he'd pried out of Maria-that a wolf s.h.i.+fter had abducted Maria to add to the pack at Miguel's instigation. But Dylan had given Ellison only cursory details, and only after Ellison had badgered him. He'd wanted to know everything about Maria.
”I didn't know Luis was a s.h.i.+fter, not until later,” Maria said. ”I was a stupid girl, bored with being a good daughter and with waiting to marry the right man. Luis convinced me to run away with him. And I did it. Because I'm an idiota.”
The tears finally came. She didn't sob uncontrollably, but beads of tears formed on her lashes then splashed quietly to her cheeks.
”And the a.s.shat Luis turned you over to Miguel.” Ellison's anger made his voice harsher than he meant.
”I didn't understand what he wanted. I thought Luis was taking me to a big house, where he would marry me. But then he revealed he was a s.h.i.+fter, and he took me to the abandoned warehouse. When I saw the other s.h.i.+fters, I was scared and tried to run away. But they dragged me down into the bas.e.m.e.nt and said I had to stay there with the female s.h.i.+fters. They locked us in.”
Dylan had pretty much related all this, but hearing it in Maria's halting words made Ellison's anger escalate to furnace-level rage. A spark snapped in his Collar, warning, and he stepped away from Maria, the wolf in him ready to kill.
”My family might have forgiven me if I'd been abducted,” Maria said. ”But I walked away from them. I went with Luis in the middle of the night, and then I thought he'd protect me.”
”Maria. Sweetheart.” Ellison took a breath, trying to cool himself down, but he was finding it hard. She didn't need a s.h.i.+fter going kill-crazy in front of her, but Ellison fought the instincts that made him want to race away and find Miguel now. ”You didn't go of your own free will, so stop saying you did. s.h.i.+fters know how to coerce. Trust me, I've lived with them the past hundred years. They do what they want, Collared or no, and these were crazy-a.s.s ferals. You might have walked out of your house on your own two feet, but you didn't go of your own free will, sweetheart. But even if you had, Luis should have protected you. That's what mates do. They protect you from all others. Every evil in the world. He didn't do what he was supposed to.” And for that, Ellison wanted to taste his blood.
”Luis did try to protect me.” Maria wiped the tears from her face. ”Miguel killed him when he tried. And Miguel killed Luis's cub before that, or as good as-he let the cub die. My cub.”
”G.o.ddess.” Ellison's Collar flashed another spark, but his rage negated the pain. ”Maria.”
In the wild, males who headed a pack or clan sometimes killed the offspring of the other males, but that practice had died out years ago as s.h.i.+fters became less barbaric, and also realized they needed diverse blood to survive. The instinct to kill a rival's offspring, though, was still there. In a community of s.h.i.+fters going feral-losing every bit of compa.s.sion they had and letting themselves be driven by the needs of the beast-the alpha's instinct to kill another's cubs would be strong.
Ellison hadn't known until now that Maria had lost a cub. She'd never spoken of it, and Dylan hadn't mentioned it-maybe Maria had kept it from everyone. But Ellison should have known from the emptiness in her eyes.
”After that, I didn't care anymore what he did to me,” Maria said. ”I spent my time planning how I would kill Miguel and escape, but before I could, Ca.s.sidy and Diego came and blew up the warehouse. And Dylan brought me here.”
Where Maria had been floating ever since, trying to make a life for herself. She now lived in the protection of s.h.i.+ftertown, in a house with four strong s.h.i.+fters and a cub, but Maria was alone, and she knew it.
The unmated male s.h.i.+fters had been told to keep their distance from her, but s.h.i.+fters like Broderick were tired of keeping their distance, and Broderick wasn't the only one. He and others would swoop soon, and Challenges would come thick and fast. Liam would be forced to tell Maria to choose a mate to keep the peace or go live somewhere else.
Ellison would never let that happen.
He wrapped his arms around her again and pulled her in for an embrace. s.h.i.+fters needed touch for rea.s.surance, for comfort, and humans, Ellison had discovered, pretty much did too, even if some pretended not to. Maria was stiff, shaking, and Ellison held her tightly against him, not letting her go.
It was hot out here, but Ellison rubbed his warmth into her anyway, hands smoothing her thin s.h.i.+rt, kneading her back. He felt her start to relax into him, but not enough. She was hurting, oceans of pain, and it would take a lot of loving to ease that.
Maria looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears, her eyelashes damp. Ellison kissed a tear from the corner of her eye then he leaned to kiss her lips.
Her mouth opened under his, her kiss hungry, needy. Ellison tasted her sadness-a mother's loss, Maria's fury, her despair-and the will that drove her to live.
The length of her body moved with his as she kissed him, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s soft against his chest. She had strength and gentleness rolled into one package.
Maria pulled away from the kiss, her beautiful face wet. ”I'm sorry,” she said. ”I'm sorry. I can't . . .” She wiped her eyes.
Ellison's breath came fast, his lips tingling from the frenzied kiss. ”What the h.e.l.l are you apologizing for?”
”I don't know . . . I don't trust what I think anymore.”
”You've been through h.e.l.l, Maria. No one can think straight after that. I don't care if it was a year ago. But you can trust me.”
”Trust you for what?”
”To take care of you.” He caught her hand, kissed her fingers, and laid his hand and hers over her heart. ”Be my mate,” he said swiftly. ”Let me protect you.”
The look she gave him was stricken. ”You don't have to. I've already decided what I'm going to do.”
”Go to school, yeah, I know. You can do that and be my mate at the same time. My sister loves you, my nephews think you're cool, and everyone in s.h.i.+ftertown likes you.”
She nodded and looked away. ”Everyone has been good to me, yes.”