CHAPTER THREE
Sarah was already waiting for them by the time Connor got back to the house. She held the front door open, her eyes filled with concern, as he carried the still-sobbing Beth into the living room, setting her down on the sofa.
“You go get dressed,” Sarah said, sitting down next to Beth. “I’ll stay here with her.”
Connor wanted to refuse, finding that he didn’t want to leave Beth’s side, but the sensible part of him told him that he couldn’t exactly walk about naked for the next few hours. “I won’t be long,” he murmured, pressing Beth’s hand gently.
Throwing on a T-shirt, Connor pulled on a pair of old jogging bottoms, his mind working furiously. Beth was obviously hiding something, but he didn’t know what it was. Clearly, she was terrified of the man they’d thought was her brother, but had that been enough to push her into working with Davidson? Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up in all kinds of directions. Glancing at himself in the mirror, Connor realized that his eyes were still blazing with fury. He couldn’t get rid of it. Every time it started to subside, he’d remember Beth’s soft cries of fear and his anger would burn all over again.
Walking out of his room, Connor pulled his door shut tight and tried to calm himself. He’d be no good to Beth like this. The memory of how she’d tried to cover herself with her hands made him frown. She’d need clothes. Her door was still locked tight, so Connor took the key hanging from the wall outside, put it in the lock, and turned the handle.
The cold night air hit him the moment he stepped inside. The room looked completely in order except for the smashed glass on the floor.
Aware of his bare feet, Connor walked gingerly over to the window and looked outside. A long rope ladder hung from the top of the window all the way down to the ground. Frowning, Connor looked down at the ground again, trying to work out how the man had managed to climb up to Beth's window to let the rope ladder down. She was on the second floor of the house, and the wall didn't have any nooks or crannies for handholds. His jaw tightened. Maybe he was underestimating the shifter's skill.
Pulling his head back inside, Connor looked around for something for Beth, his eyes landing on a warm, fleece sweatshirt, probably something Sarah or Jenny had given to her since it looked a little too big. Picking it up, Connor walked out of the bedroom, closing the door but not bothering to lock it. There wasn't any need to keep Beth locked in her room anymore. Now that her “brother” knew where she was, they'd have to keep her protected at all times, and that meant she wasn't going to be sleeping alone in a room.
That thought made Connor freeze. Standing completely still, he stared at the door where Beth and Sarah were waiting for him. Only a few hours ago, he’d been busy thinking about how much Beth had betrayed their kind, trying to force himself to hate her, but now all he wanted to do was protect her. The instinct was so sharp, so fierce, that for a second, Connor struggled to breathe. He’d never felt such an intense reaction before, and it seemed to have come from nowhere.
She’d clung to him like she’d known he was going to rescue her. She hadn’t tried to run away from him or tried to hide herself. Instead, she’d put her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. That said something. That meant something.
Connor's lip curled as he remembered the fear and pain in her eyes, how she'd whispered his name in his ear. Beth seemed to trust him. That made absolutely no sense since she was meant to be his enemy. Connor remembered just how hard she had fought when they'd first met up by the East River pack. He'd had to defend himself but had finally gotten the advantage, leaving her with a broken paw. Had she been fighting because she had no other choice?
“I have to get the truth out of her,” he muttered under his breath, pushing open the door and catching the way Beth jumped with fright.
“Here.” Holding out the jumper, he turned his back as Beth tried to put it on. It took a bit of time, but soon he was given the all clear to turn back around.
“We’ll need to have a look at that cast,” Sarah said, getting to her feet. “Can you sort it out, Connor?”
"Sure." Hunkering down, he looked up into Beth's face, relieved that she wasn't crying anymore. Her eyes were red rimmed, her face pale and wan and covered with smudges of dirt. He had to stop himself from running his thumb over her cheeks to wipe the dampness away, aware that she was still trembling.
“I’ll fix us all some coffee and something to eat as well,” Sarah murmured softly, before leaving the room. “I won’t be long.”
Connor tried to smile as he held Beth’s gaze, relieved that she was willing to look at him. “Are you OK?”
“I’ll be fine,” she replied, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did.”
To his surprise, one of her free hands reached out and rested awkwardly on his shoulder, grasping the material.
“I thought he was going to—” Her eyes clouded, her hand tightening on his shirt.
“We can talk about him later,” Connor promised, reaching up and taking her hand so that it rested in his. “I need to have a look at your cast, though. You might need a new one.”
Beth didn’t say anything but held out her arm for him to look at. Connor stood up and pulled a chair close to hers, so close that their knees were touching, giving her a place to rest her broken arm.
“I did medical training in college,” he said, as though he needed to give her an explanation. “Graduated but then decided I wanted to come back home to be with my family.” Glancing up, a wry smile touched his lips. “Turns out I’m just as useful here as I would be if I got my own medical practice.” Running his fingers down the cast, Connor examined the large crack and felt the looseness of the material. His brow furrowed. It would probably be best to give her a new one, as well as making sure her arm hadn’t been damaged further.
“Did your arm get pulled at all?” he asked, lifting his head to look at her. “Does it feel more painful than it did before?”
Beth swallowed once then nodded.
Connor pushed down his rising anger and gently lifted her arm back over onto her lap. "I'll go get my things. We'll have a new cast on that arm by the time the others get back."
***
Beth didn’t say a single word when Connor cut off the old cast, examining her arm and then putting on a fresh one. She sat silently, with only a few tears trickling down her cheeks as he checked there was no fresh damage.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he murmured, wrapping the final piece of fiberglass around her arm. “I had to be sure.”
“You didn’t,” she replied quietly. “Thank you for doing this, Connor.”
Connor gave her a swift smile, starting to clear up. He realized that this was the first time he'd really heard her voice. She'd been either whispering or crying every other time she had spoken. "I'm glad I was there to help you, Beth. We're going to have to talk about what happened, though."
“I didn’t leave with him,” she said, sounding desperate. “Please, Connor, you have to believe me. I didn’t want to go.” Her free hand grasped his, her eyes wide as she looked into his face. There was a desperation about her expression and her words, as though she thought she had to try and force Connor to believe her.
"It's OK, Beth. I know you didn't go willingly," Connor replied, dropping his materials to one side and holding her hand between his two larger ones. "You don't have to try and convince me. I saw you, remember?" His voice grew soft. "No one gets their arms tied and a gag in their mouth if they're going willingly."
She licked her lips, her eyes dropping to the ground as if she was ashamed.
“None of what happened was your fault, Beth,” he continued, lifting one hand to her face and tipping her chin so that she had to look into his eyes. “I’m not going to pretend that I’m not confused about what’s going on and who you really are, but I know that you were completely terrified out there.” His jaw tightened. “Hopefully the others will find him.”
Without even meaning to, Connor found himself running his fingers along Beth’s jawline and down the curve of her neck. Realizing what he was doing, he dropped his hand. He didn’t move his other hand from hers, and she didn’t tug hers away.
“Sarah should be back with the coffee any time now,” he muttered, suddenly not sure where to look. The surge of emotion in his chest was making it hard to think clearly. “And, like I said, we have to talk—although if you’re happy to talk to everyone together, it might be a good idea to wait until they come back.” Connor hoped they had caught the dark wolf, although he knew that the shifter had a good head start.
"I can talk to everyone, if that's what you think is best," she said quietly. "I'm sorry for everything, Connor. I really am."
“You’re going to tell us the truth?” Connor asked, keeping his expression firm. “Ross is going to want to know everything, Beth.”
She sighed, dropping her head. “I’ll tell the truth. I swear it,” she mumbled, suddenly not able to look at him. “I didn’t mean to mix you up in this though. It’s my problem, not yours.”
There was such a depth of sadness and pain in her voice that Connor found himself wanting to ask her question after question until she'd shared everything with him. "We know you don't want to go with your brother, Beth," he said, slowly. "But trust doesn't come easily in this pack. They might not believe what you have to say, but I want you to know that I do."
She lifted her head and looked into his face, her expression one of grief. “I don’t expect anyone to trust me, not after what I did. Not after what Jenny went through.” A sheen of tears filled her eyes. “It was just awful.”
"Then why did you do it?" he asked, making sure to keep any kind of judgement out of his voice. "It is to do with your brother? Is he the one who took you into the woods?"
Beth let out a long breath. “Yes, it was. It’s all to do with him.”
Disgust made Connor’s lip curl. “Your brother wanted to—”
“He’s my stepbrother,” she interrupted, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Not my brother.”
“Stepbrother,” Connor breathed, as things finally slotted into place. “Why did he want to hurt you?”
Beth opened her mouth to answer, only for Sarah to push open the door and stride in with a tray filled with all sorts of things.
Connor put his frustration to one side and helped himself to a mug of coffee. Once Ross got back, there would be time to ask all the questions he wanted. Right now, he just needed to look after Beth.