Something Borrowed
1536 Words
The gate closed behind us.
It slid across the road with a low metallic hum and disappeared behind a wall of trees as the SUV continued forward.
I twisted in my seat.
“Where are we going?” I demanded.
We sure as hell weren't headed to my father's house. We passed that turn twenty-five minutes ago.
No one answered.
The guard beside me had stopped answering questions somewhere around the sixth time I asked where Roman was.
I turned back around.
We'd been driving through Valcourt territory for nearly an hour. I recognized the roads. The old mill. The stretch of river curling along the eastern boundary.
But I'd never seen this part of it before.
Why the hell does this exist?
An immaculate house emerged between the trees.
Stone. Dark roof. Two stories.
Expensive enough to maintain. Impersonal enough to abandon.
Security lights cut across the lawn.
Three men stood outside.
My father was between them.
The SUV hadn't completely stopped before I opened the door.
“Josefina.”
I stepped out.
My father crossed the distance between us.
For one horrible second, I expected him to inspect me.
Or worse, hug me.
Instead, his hands closed around my shoulders.
His eyes moved over my face.
“You're alive.”
I stared at him.
His grip tightened.
“I am so relieved you're okay.”
I didn't know what to do with that.
My father wasn't a man who got relieved.
He got results.
He got angry.
Often, he got even.
But standing beneath the security lights, Marcus Valcourt looked like a man who had spent forty-five days believing his daughter was dead.
And for the first time in my life, I didn't know whether I wanted to pull away from him or let him pull me in.
“Where's Roman?”
Something changed in his face.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
My knees weakened.
My father’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“You're suddenly so concerned about your marriage?”
I looked at him.
Sixteen days with Roman had apparently complicated the answer.
I held out my hand.
“Give me your phone.”
His expression shifted.
“Josefina—”
“Your phone.”
“You need to come inside.”
“I need to call Roman.”
“Roman will never know you're here.”
The relief disappeared so quickly it almost made me dizzy.
“What?”
“Your location stays between the people here, on this part of the property, and these people only.”
I stared at him.
“You're f*****g kidding.”
“I wish I were.”
“Why?”
“Inside.”
“No.”
“Josefina.”
“No.” I stepped away from him. “You don't get to decide that after I've agreed to this contract and gone through with what you wanted.”
He went still.
Then, quietly—
“You're right.”
I almost preferred him angry.
He glanced toward the guards.
“Give us a minute.”
They moved away.
He watched them go before looking back at me.
“You were taken from the center of Anders' territory.”
“Uh, yeah, I remember that.”
“From a wedding surrounded by his wolves.”
“Who were being attacked… By other wolves…”
“Yes.”
“And Roman tried to stop them, with me right next to him.”
“I know.”
I frowned.
“We don't know who ordered the attack...” he trailed off.
“And from what I could tell, it was sure as hell a surprise for Roman too.”
“We don't know that.”
My stomach tightened.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
My father looked toward the house.
“I didn't want to do this tonight.”
“Do what?”
“You've been missing for forty-five days. You need food. A doctor. Sleep.”
Ten days.
I'd lost ten f*****g days.
No walls.
No trays.
No tack scratching lines into wood.
Nothing.
“Josefina—”
“Tell me.”
He was quiet long enough that I wanted to shake the answer out of him.
“We had… information.”
“From where?”
“Some of it came from Anders' territory.”
I stared at him.
“I didn't say it came from Roman.”
“You didn't have to.”
“And that's why I wasn't going to tell you tonight.”
I laughed.
It sounded awful, bitter, choked.
“Eleven wolves were keeping him away from me.”
“I know.”
“He was bleeding.”
“I know.”
“He shifted because they put a needle in my neck.”
“I know that too.”
“And where the f**k were you when this was happening?”
He went quiet.
He rubbed a hand across his eyes.
Not his forehead.
Not the bridge of his nose in that irritated way he did when someone disappointed him.
His entire hand dragged over his face.
“Outside.”
“Outside where?”
He turned away from me.
“Out front. One of my guards pulled me away from the ceremony.”
“Why?”
“Two guards at the western boundary stopped responding.”
“Before the attack?”
“Minutes before.”
He started pacing.
My father didn't pace.
He made other people pace.
“I stepped outside to find out why.”
“And?”
His jaw flexed.
“We found them later. Dead.”
I stared at him.
“Then stop talking around whatever you're trying to say.”
He sighed.
“We spent forty-five days pulling apart everything that happened that night.”
“And?”
“And every time I think I understand it, something else doesn't fit.”
He rubbed both hands over his face this time.
I stared at him.
I couldn't remember the last time I'd heard my father sound afraid.
Maybe I never had.
“Father?”
His hands dropped.
“We found a trail.”
“What kind of trail?”
“People. Vehicles. Movements between territories.”
“Whose people?”
“Some we still haven't identified.”
“And the others?”
His mouth tightened.
“Some of what led us to you came out of Anders' territory.”
He ran a hand through his hair.
“You were supposed to be safe there.”
“According to who?”
“According to the agreement I made with Roman.”
“Agreement?” I nearly spat. “You sold me for twelve million dollars.”
“And an alliance that protected both packs.”
I snorted.
“Well, I'm part of that alliance, so where does that leave you and your alliance now?”
He stared at me.
“Trying very f*****g hard to prove your husband didn't have you kidnapped.”
“He didn't.”
His face didn't change.
“If you're right, we lose nothing by waiting. If you're wrong, calling him tells him we found you.”
“And if he didn't?”
“The second Roman hears your voice, he'll want to know where you are.”
“I'll tell him.”
“And then he'll come for you.”
“Good.”
His eyes opened.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I won't let you leave.”
I went still.
There he was.
My father.
“What exactly do you think happens when Roman Anders arrives here to collect his wife and I refuse to give her to him?”
“I'm not something you give back.”
“His pack follows their Alpha. Mine defends their territory. Somewhere between those two things, somebody draws blood.”
“You think he'd start a war over me?”
“I think I already saw him tearing into eleven wolves trying to get to you.”
Silver.
Black.
Gold.
Saw.
He'd been out front.
Hadn't he?
Confusion settled in.
I watched him pace, his eyes moving between me and the house.
Roman's wolf wasn't the only thing I saw.
Green eyes warmed by something I didn’t know how to name.
The way he'd looked at me when I told him he could kiss me.
Like I'd given him the entire universe on a platter.
His hand settling against my waist.
The space between us disappearing one unbearable inch at a time.
The anticipation building until I could feel my heartbeat in my mouth.
I'd wanted him to kiss me.
I'd really wanted him to kiss me.
And then the windows exploded.
Forty-five days ago, I'd had three hundred forty-seven days left with my husband.
Now I had three hundred two. And we weren’t even together.
I'm living on borrowed time.
What if Roman counted these days?
What if the contract did?
What if what my father was saying was true?
What if forty-five days apart created more dissension between Roman and my father?
What if—
What the f**k am I talking about?
Roman didn't do this.
I KNOW he didn't.
He wouldn't give a f**k about forty-five missing days as long as he got me back.
I felt it in my bones.
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