Chapter Eleven
It was hopeless. Dara knew one bear and one wolf who couldn’t even shift would be no match for Zane’s warriors. He also knew the wolves wouldn’t help them. The wolves didn’t help anyone anymore, not even each other. That left him. He had what Zane wanted. If he could find a way to give it to him, he could make Zane agree to let Max and Lucas go. But he couldn’t do that from here in the den. He needed to get back to the lighthouse.
They’d left him alone again, the baby still sleeping in the crib. Dara stood next to him, just watching him breathe. He wouldn’t take him back with him. Zane didn’t care about the baby, he cared about Dara and being able to shift. The baby would be safer here. He’d be well taken care of, Cade would make sure of that.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, bending down to place a kiss on the baby’s forehead. As he straightened up, the baby’s hand closed around his finger and his eyes opened. They were a deep, deep blue but as Dara watched, they changed to the yellow eyes of a wolf.
He stepped back, gently freeing his finger. “I’m sorry,” he whispered again.
It wasn’t hard to steal a set of keys and a jacket and within minutes he was creeping across the den toward the bridge. He raised the metal bridge and went back to the car, climbing inside. This was it. Now or never. He stuck the key in the ignition and turned it. The engine sprang to life and he put the car into drive. As he moved off, the passenger door opened, and someone climbed inside.
“Where are we going?” Seth asked as they coasted slowly across the bridge. Already there were lights behind them, people coming to check on what was happening. Dara put his foot down on the gas, throwing both him and Seth back against their seats.
“O-kay,” Seth said, fastening his seat belt with exaggerated care. “You like some speed, I respect that.”
Dara kept driving, panicked and not knowing what to do about the wolf in the car with him.
“Look, I’m all for testing limits, Dara. But maybe you want to slow down just a bit? There’s no one following us.”
Dara glanced in the rearview mirror confirming what Seth said was true. He eased off the accelerator.
“That’s better. Um, how about we pull over for a minute and talk this through?”
Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. The pulling over part, at least. Dara jammed on the brakes, throwing both of them forward, the belt catching Seth.
“Ouch. Okay—”
“Get out.”
“Dara—”
“Get out, wolf.”
“Look, I think we should talk about this—”
“Get out of the car, Seth.”
“You do know my name. That’s great.”
“I have to go, and you don’t want to come where I’m going.”
Seth undid his belt and Dara almost sighed with relief. Until the wolf leaned over, placing a hand on the steering wheel.
“Don’t! What are you—”
In a move so quick Dara nearly missed it, Seth grabbed the keys from the ignition and pulled them free. Dara made a grab for them, but Seth tossed them to his right and they slipped neatly down between his seat and the door.
“So, let’s talk. Where are we going?”
Dara shook his head, feeling tears gather in his eyes. “No, Seth. I can’t—I have to—”
He couldn’t get a sentence out, tears pouring down his cheeks. He had to go back, it was the only way.
“Oh, hey, hey.” Seth’s arms were around him, and just like that, the wolf bodily lifted him across the seat and into his lap. Dara clung to him, sobbing into his shoulder as the alpha’s hand rubbed up and down his back over his T-shirt.
“What does he want from you, Dara? What does Zane want?”
“He wants me,” he sobbed.
“No, see, that can’t be right. Because if he was madly in love with you, he wouldn’t have locked you alone in that lighthouse. And you wouldn’t have left his baby behind. What does he want, Dara?”
Dara braced his hands on Seth’s shoulders, lifting wet eyes to meet the wolf’s knowing gaze. “He wants to shift. He thinks I can give that to him.”
“Can you?” Seth asked. Dara was very conscious that they were only inches apart, Seth’s breath warm on his face.
“I… I tried. For Max’s sake. I did everything I could think of, which is how the baby happened. But it didn’t make a difference. I couldn’t. I don’t think I can.”
Seth nodded slowly. “You don’t have a bond with him.”
Dara managed a watery smile. “I guess not. My taste in men mustn’t be as bad as I thought. But he doesn’t know that. He thinks I’m holding out on him. If he finds out I’m gone, he’ll take it out on Max. If he finds out you took me, he’ll take it out on Lucas, too.”
Seth’s hands were on his shoulders, rubbing soothingly across his skin. “So, he knows that a bond with an omega restores the ability to shift. But he doesn’t understand the mechanics behind it.”
“Mechanics?” Dara turned his head to the side, trying to understand what Seth was getting at.
“Well, it’s not just as straightforward as finding any old omega and hey presto, you can shift. There’s something else, some other quality or factor.”
His thumbs eased their way into the groove above Dara’s collarbone, the touch almost teasing.
“A connection,” Dara croaked out. “Like Cade has with Hunter.”
“A connection that has to already be there, right? It’s not something you can create out of nothing.”
“No, it’s not,” he admitted. “I mean, Zane is good looking, there’s some attraction there between us, but since the moment I’ve set eyes on him, I’ve been afraid of him. Even if there was a connection, I don’t know if you can form a bond through fear.”
“That seems like a sensible precaution,” the wolf said. “In my limited experience, relationships based on fear aren’t good ones.”
“I can’t let my brother down.”
“And you won’t,” Seth assured him.
“So, you’ll let me go?”
“You’ve already told me that your plan is doomed to failure, Dara. All you’re doing is buying time. What happens when you can’t give Zane what he wants and he finally loses patience?”
“He’ll kill Max. And me. And maybe Lucas, too.”
Seth winced at that. “Swell guy, huh?”
He shifted his hands down to Dara’s waist. “Okay, so, I’m not usually the ideas man but for once, I have a plan and I think it’s actually a pretty good one. But it won’t work without you.”
“What plan? Why do you need me?”
“Because we need to get into that arena, and you’re going to be the one to get us through the door.”