Chapter 16
SALLY’S SOBS shrieked across the yard like a banshee’s wail, even though she remained in the house at Danny’s side. There’d been nothing anyone could do. The most sophisticated hospital in the world couldn’t have repaired the massive injuries the young man suffered. Even with the Wolves phenomenal healing powers, the wounds were just too devastating.
DJ kept telling herself it was a miracle Sean kept Danny alive long enough to say goodbye to Sally and their little girl. She’d been on the receiving end of that sort of news—with no way to say a final goodbye. Without closure, grieving was so much more difficult. Plus, that whole “Wolves mated for life” thing. But what about their women? Would Sally be able to find another man to love her and baby Grace? Would she want to? Would DJ? Her gaze raked the area around her, searching for Antoine.
What appeared to be a group of forty or fifty people milled around on the wide green space between the house and the bayou, ranging in age from toddlers to a few old men. Antoine’s clan had gathered, and it was obvious these humans had embraced the Wolves and considered them their own. Though she had no real experience, she supposed they did what big families do when there was a death.
Women bustled in and out of the kitchen. A few men presided over grills and steaming pots over jerry-rigged burners. Food equaled comfort in every culture. This was a family gathering with solemn overtones. Even the playing children, supervised by Liam and some of Antoine’s cousins, seemed subdued.
DJ occupied a chaise lounge, her feet swathed in bandages and propped on a cushion. She’d slept the night away after her feet were tended to. Either Camille Fontaine or Jacey had slipped her a mickey, not that she minded. This morning, she’d borrowed jeans and a clean shirt from someone—they’d appeared while she was soaking in an old-fashioned bathtub.
At the edge of the open space, close to the veil of Spanish moss dripping from the trees, Jacey and Nate sat on a blanket with a girl who looked to be eight or nine. This was the child Nate had rescued from that awful compound. The poor thing looked shell-shocked. She jumped at every loud noise and pressed closer to the big Marine. There was a story there—about Nate and the little girl both. She’d use her resources to make sure the child made it home.
She finally located Antoine. Mac presided over a group of men—Sean, Lightfoot, Rudy, Antoine. Colonel Harjo had arrived at some point and stood with them. As she watched, Nate strolled over to join the others. Liam had lured the little girl into play time with the kids and Jacey headed inside, but the grim expression on Nate’s face made her sit up. She wanted to know what was going on. Swinging her feet off the lounger, she prepared to stand. It would hurt like a sonavabitch, but she was tired of being carried around. She wasn’t helpless.
Antoine appeared and though his hand was gentle, his strength wasn’t. He pushed her back and lifted her feet back onto the pillow. “Please, doux bébé . You can’t be walkin’. Not yet. Your poor feet were shredded.”
DJ wanted to pout. She wasn’t helpless and she wasn’t a girlie-girl, but the look of concern on Antoine’s face melted her. With a resigned sigh, she settled back. “What’s going on? I want to help.” Movement in the corner of her eye revealed Hannah McIntire joining the men. Dammit, she was every bit as qualified to be in on the briefing as the older woman.
He glanced over at the group and she slapped his arm. “I’m a Deputy US Marshal, Antoine. I can help.” An emotion she couldn’t name shimmered across his expression. Her gaze narrowed as she tried to translate it. A weight settled in her chest and her lungs burned as she tried to breathe around it. “They don’t trust me.”
Jacey appeared beside her and dropped to the grass. “They don’t trust easily, DJ. They’ve been betrayed again and again by people in authority.” She rolled to her knees and picked up one of DJ’s feet, unwrapping the bandage. She didn’t say anything as she inspected the wounds.
Antoine hovered, his expression worried. When Jacey looked up and smiled, he relaxed. Dropping a kiss to DJ’s forehead, he stood. “I will tell them of your concerns, chère. Your job right now is to get well, yeah?”
She curled her upper lip in a display of reluctant acceptance. “Yeah.” She watched him walk away and saliva pooled in her mouth. She’d never seen a sexier butt in her life and even beat the hell up, worried sick, and—being honest—scared, she still wanted to jump his bones.
Jacey’s quiet chuckle made her blink and focus on the other woman. “It never goes away, does it?”
“Nope. Never does. The good news is, it doesn’t go away for them either. And, in more good news, you’ve managed to avoid infection so far. Sean and I were worried. We did some major debriding after you passed out.”
“Who slipped me the mickey?”
“It wasn’t a mickey. It was an FDA approved sedative.” Even though Jacey sounded affronted, her blue eyes twinkled.
“What’s up with the girl?”
Like a curtain dropping over a window, a look of sorrow settled on Jacey’s face. “She doesn’t remember much. Not even her own name.”
“Aw hell. How long have they had her?”
Moisture glistened in Jacey’s eyes as she sought out the child. She watched for several minutes without replying. Dragging her gaze back to DJ, she said, “No clue. She doesn’t even know how old she is.”
“Why would they take her?”
Anger stained Jacey’s face. “I suspect her father was a Wolf. They wanted to experiment on her just like they did Liam when they took him. They’d kidnapped Danny and Sally when she was pregnant. They wanted the baby.”
DJ grimaced. “East Texas. What happened to Danny in that sawmill?”
“They tortured him, trying to locate Sally. They hung him from the rafters on meat hooks and beat him. They hacked off strips of his skin. When Sally went to find him, they took her, Annie, and Cody. Sally was in labor when the Wolves got to them.” Jacey made a strangled noise deep in her throat and sought out her husband with her gaze. “Those people have to pay. What they did in that lab in Nevada? Nate still has nightmares. He turns wolf to escape them.” She glanced at DJ then turned her full focus on the other woman.
“You want us to trust you. It’s hard, DJ. So damn hard after what they’ve been through. Nate wasn’t born a Wolf. Not every child of a Wolf pair is. Nate didn’t even have a Wolf in his immediate family, but he carried the damn recessive gene. It showed up when the Marine Corps did his DNA profile for matching in case of battlefield death. He and some other men were assigned to that lab. They had no idea what would happen to them. They were cut off from the outside world and subjected to horrible testing.”
Furious now, but working to contain the anger, Jacey pushed off the ground and paced the length of the lounger before pivoting and pacing back. She continued to speak, her voice low so no one else could overhear.
“They forced him to change, DJ. They turned him into a wolf. God, the pain involved. Even natural Wolves have some, but for an untrained man who wasn’t born that way? It took hours but he finally shifted all the way.” Her voice dropped. “Not all of them did.”
DJ remembered the horror of Antoine in mid shift and shuddered. “What happened?”
“He couldn’t change back. Someone sealed him into a steel cage. He was abandoned at a travel center in Oklahoma with a load of exotic animals in a closed truck in August. They were meant to die. Nate and a bunch of innocent animals. The sheriff brought them to my wildlife sanctuary. I had no idea he was a man. Nate was so lost in the wolf, I didn’t think he’d ever come back. Even now…” Her voice trailed off as her gaze landed on the man she loved with her whole heart.
Nate glanced up, his eyes lasering in on Jacey. Unspoken words passed between them and then Jacey smiled and offered a tiny nod, the barest dip of her chin. She glanced down at DJ. “You know you can never go back, right?”
DJ sat up in a hurry. “What the hell? Of course I’m going back. I can help when I return to duty.”
“You belong here now, with Antoine. You can’t go back. Black Root will find you. Even though Sean blew up this latest lab, they would have already transmitted information. Smith knows who you are, knows you’re mated to a Wolf. Your life is forfeit, just like the rest of us.”
“No friggin’ way. The Marshal Ser—”
“Can’t do a damn thing. You know how high this goes, DJ. You said so yourself. Senators. The Pentagon. The Department of Homeland Security. Hell, for all we know, the damned White House is involved. We have intel that there’s a White House advisor right in the middle of this.”
That information rocked DJ to her very soul. She wanted to deny Jacey’s accusations but couldn’t. She’d seen the worst humanity had to offer for too many years. “Well…hell.”
“Yes, it is.”