As soon as the door slammed shut, I spun on my heel and got in Portia’s face. “What are you doing here?” I growled.
She stood her ground, crossing her arms and cocking her hip. “Don’t talk to me like that,” she snapped.
“We had a deal,” I reminded her.
“And you owe my family a favor.”
Her tone sent chills through my bones. No, no, no. I was not going to fall back under the Dunanski’s spell. I spent way too many years serving them. I’d paid my dues. And they’d promised to let me be.
Leaving the sisters alone next to the front door, I walked into the corner of the room grabbed two tee shirts, and stomped back up to Portia. As I offered a shirt to her, I said, “No, I don’t owe you anything.”
Natasha made some kind of noise and I snapped my head around to look at her. Slightly shorter than her older sister, she kept her blonde hair cropped close to her chin and sometime over the past ten years, she’d decorated her taught body with tattoos. A sleeve covered her left arm, and I spotted tendrils of ink slinking around her hip bones. I was in the middle of wondering what she’d added to her back when Portia cleared her throat and yanked the other shirt out of my hand.
She tossed it to her sister, whose blue eyes tugged on my soul in a way I hadn’t felt in…well, since I’d left the Dunanski pack and took on my own. At their father’s request, I might add.
“Who gave you this land, Rhys?” Portia snapped back at me.
“It was a gift for the shit show your family stuck me with in the Mount Augusta pack.”
She huffed and crossed her arms again. “They weren’t that bad.”
Feeling the urge to punch something, I clenched my fists and blew out a deep breath so I wouldn’t react. Natasha laughed loudly this time. She pushed past her sister and me and opened the refrigerator. “Punch her. She deserves it.”
“Shut up, Tash,” Portia growled.
Natasha whipped her body around, beer in hand, and glared at her sister. “I told you to stop calling me that.”
I smelled her animal at the surface again and knew that if I lost control, Natasha would as well. And that wouldn’t solve any of the problems in front of us. So, I tried to diffuse. “Give me a beer,” I said to Natasha.
She raised her brows and cocked her hip, looking so much like her sister it was frightening. “Get your own beer.”
“Natasha!” Portia shouted.
“It’s fine,” I grumbled, loving the little smirk forming on Natasha’s plump lips. She might hate her sister right now, but I sensed she might be playing with me.
“It’s not fine, Rhys. She’s in a lot of trouble and I wish she would start taking this seriously.” The whole time Portia was talking about her sister, I watched the broken, angry, and sad younger Dunanski chug a beer, trying to hold back tears. And she was sad. Underneath all that wrath, Natasha was hurting and it instantly sent my wolf into a protective mode he hadn’t dealt with since coming to Eagle Creek. It had been a welcomed relief to not feel responsible for anyone, but I had a deep, dark feeling those days had ended the moment this white wolf jumped out of a little red sports car.
“He doesn’t need to be burdened by me,” Natasha snapped. “I told you this was a bad idea.” She slammed the beer can down on the counter and quickly wiped at her eyes. “I’ll be fine on my own.”
“You won’t,” Portia said quietly.
I turned to Natasha, blocking her way to the door as she tried to bolt. “What happened?”
Pushing against my chest, she shoved me. “It’s none of your business.”
“Are you familiar with the Green Mountain pack?” Portia asked.
“The one in Colorado?”
“Don’t,” Natasha warned her sister. “Portia, don’t you fucking dare.”
Natasha’s fingers trembled against my chest, making my wolf rumble with concern. Someone hurt her. We will kill them. Without thinking, I grabbed her hands and gently squeezed. Her blue eyes met mine, tears glistening at the surface. And when she bit her bottom lip and scrunched up her forehead as she allowed me to touch her, my heart twitched with an unfamiliar emotion.
“Then you tell him,” she snapped back.
“Tell me what?” I ask gently, still holding onto Natasha’s hands, unable to let go.
She paused, and for just a moment, I thought she might trust me enough to tell me why she needed to hide in Eagle Creek. But all too quickly, she yanked her hands away and stumbled backward until she was pressed up against the butcher block peninsula. Shaking her head back and forth, she ground her jaw and glared at her sister. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”
“It’s your only choice.” Portia had calmed down slightly, her dominant animal not feeling so heavy in the air.
“Please don’t make me stay here. I can handle this on my own,” her sister begged.
“Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” I hated the way Portia was being cryptic and Natasha was being stubborn. The Dunanski sisters. I’d forgotten how frustrating these two were.
“Natasha killed the alpha’s brother.”
“Portia!”
I search my brain for a name. “Wait, are you talking about the Jenssen twins?” I spun around to face Natasha who was still pressed tightly against the counter. “You killed Cash Jenssen?”
She gave me a slight nod, lips trembling, and fear wafting off her in waves. My wolf rumbled again. Natasha tilted her head slightly, acknowledging that she’d heard the sound.
“She killed him before the pack had a chance to hold a trial,” Portia added.
I didn’t miss the hitch in her voice. This event, whatever it was, had impacted both sisters. “What happened?”
Neither one spoke—for the first time since they arrived. And that didn’t sit well with the wrath of emotions ripping through my body right now. Without an answer, I imagined the worse. How had Cash hurt her? Did he attack Natasha? Had he done the unthinkable? The images in my head were not helping me keep my wolf at bay. The growl in my throat intensified, I couldn’t help it.
“Are you going to tell him, Natasha?”
The broken wolf sister stayed silent.
“He’ll protect you,” she said. “Listen to him, his wolf is already trying.”
Natasha and I made eye contact again. Her blue eyes sad where I was sure my own were showing the yellow of the wolf right now. I would protect her…even if I didn’t want to.
“I can protect myself,” Natasha growled, pushing herself away from the counter and jogging to the front door.
“Natasha, please,” I begged. I didn’t know what I wanted her to do exactly, but I didn’t want her running out there alone and terrified of whatever truth she was hiding.
She didn’t even hesitate. Two seconds later, Natasha had stomped out the door and I saw a glimpse of a white wolf running away with a black raven chasing after her.
Portia slumped into the chair at my kitchen table and hung her head. “I don’t know what else to do, Rhys.”
She was on the verge of tears, and for the first time in our entire lives, I recognized that Portia could be vulnerable too. She had always been so strong and stoic. She’d earned her role as the most feared tracker in North America because she’d worked hard and had a strong will. So, seeing her like this, worried and terrified for her sister, put a whole new light on the situation.
I sat down next to her and sighed. “We’ve known each other a long time, Portia. Be straight with me…how bad is it.”
She glanced my way and then quickly wiped at her eyes. “It’s bad, Rhys. Cash abused…” she cleared her throat before continuing. “Cash hurt her bad. Really bad. It almost broke her.” Sniffing and trying to hold back her tears, she continued. “It did break her. She can’t control her animal. Her wolf has been on the defense for weeks, and once she tasted blood she…” Her voice trailed off as though she refused to finish that sentence.
“Should I go after her?” I asked.
Portia shook her head. “No, she needs to run it out of her. She’ll be back.”
“How do you know?”
Portia attempted a smile. “I saw the way you two looked at each other. It was like we were teenagers all over again.”
“What are you talking about?”
With a humorless laugh, Portia placed her hand on top of mine. “Come on, you know Natasha had the biggest crush on you growing up. And I saw all those glances you snuck her way as well.”
I wanted to deny it, but she was right. However, that was a lifetime ago. “We’re older now and things are different.”
“Perhaps,” she shrugged. “But you have a connection with her that I never did. She’ll let you help her, I know she will. I’m not the person she needs right now.”
“How much danger is she in?” I needed to shift gears because thinking about broken, little Natasha was breaking my stone-cold heart.
“Cade Jenssen has put a bounty on her head.”
“How much?”
“A hundred thousand.”
“Jesus,” I whispered. “Where they hell is he getting that kind of money?”
“The pack’s involved in property development. They’ve been doing well for quite some time.”
“But?” I asked, sensing more to the story.
“But they’re a bunch of jackass bachelors with too much money and not enough hobbies. And Cade is the worst. His twin brother might have had a mean streak in him, but Cade is calculating and manipulative. He’s already twisted the story to make Natasha seem like a crazy bitch who needs to be put down. There was a price on her head in less than twenty-four hours, even though he knew what his brother had done to her.”
“And what was that?”
Portia bit her lips…so much like her sister. “She wouldn’t tell me everything.”
“But what do you suspect?” When she tensed, I kept pushing. “Please, Portia. It will help me know how to speak to her if I know what happened.”
“I think he physically abused her. He was controlling at first, but didn’t hit her. And then, one night he just…he lost it.”
“He only hit her?” My voice trembled, afraid of what she might say.
“That’s what Natasha said.”
“Do you believe her?”
Portia looked up at me with tears escaping down her cheeks. She didn’t even attempt to wipe them away this time. Shaking her head, she said, “No.”
“You think he did more?”
She nodded.
“Son of a bitch,” I growled, stopping only when Portia grabbed my hand again.
“She needs us, Rhys. Now more than ever. She needs us to protect and heal her. My dad and I are working to help get the bounty removed, but Natasha needs to hide out for a while. For both her safety and her psyche.”
“You are aware Eagle Creek is filled with a bunch of loner shifters, right?”
She smiled, that gleam in her eye starting to come back. “It looks like you’ve made quite a nice home here, Rhys.”
“It’s not just mine.”
“No, but it is. Kind of. You might not be alpha, but this is the type of place you always wanted, right?”
I shrugged, hating that Portia knew me so well. “Will Natasha really stay?”
“She will.”
“And am I putting everyone else at risk by having her here?”
“I don’t think so. Keep her animal calm and keep her off the register, and Cade won’t know where to look.”
“And how am I supposed to do that?”
“You were alpha of the Mount Augusta pack for years. I’m sure you know how to handle an out-of-control wolf.”
I huffed. “I thought you said they weren’t so bad.”
With a smile, she pushed to her feet and reached over to give me a hug. “I know what you did up there, Rhys. And it’s the reason I know I can trust you with my sister’s life.”
“She’s not a drug addict with an adrenaline problem,” I grumbled, pulling out of the embrace.
“No, but she’s a broken wolf with a lot of secrets. You’re good at managing those types of problems.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
She walked to the door and looked out the window. “It’s an interesting crew you’ve got going on here.”
“Yep.”
“Thank you.” Portia glanced over her shoulder as she stepped outside. “I’ll call in a few days to let you know what my dad and I have learned and to check on my sister.”
With a nod, I watched her walk out of my life. Portia Dunanski, one of the most powerful and revered wolves in the world, trusted me with the care of her sister. I wasn’t sure I trusted myself with that kind of responsibility, but that didn’t matter anymore.
Natasha needed help.
And I would do everything in my power to make sure she got it.