He prowled from one end of the clearing to the other. “So what happened then? Did your dad keep picking out suitors for you?”
“I really don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Why not? Are we getting to the bad part?”
She made a face at him.
“When did you join the rodeo?”
She crossed her arms. “After I graduated. Dad just sent the suitors there. I kept chasing them off. It was really frustrating.”
“I guess your father was pissed off.”
She swallowed hard and nodded.
“What did he do?”
Brynley turned to rest her brow against the tree. This was the part she didn’t want to talk about. She’d never told anyone. Not her sister. Not even Phil. If only her brother had been there. He would have protected her.
“Brynley.”
Right behind her. She whirled around. “I told you not to do that.”
“I told you I’d never hurt you.” He rested a hand against the trunk and leaned toward her. “I’m not leaving till you tell me.”
“Why are you so pushy?” She shoved him away and paced across the clearing.
Chicken, her inner wolf chided her. Tell him. Are you going to live in fear for the rest of our life? Will you keep on jumping in terror whenever someone comes up behind us?
No, she couldn’t talk about it. It was too painful.
A surge of power swept through her suddenly, taking her by surprise. It was the wolf, pushing at her restraints, urging her to rebel. Where is your anger? We’re a noble wolf! A fierce hunter! And they turned us into prey.
A shudder skittered through her body as if the wolf was shaking her. Tell him! Let the world know what your father did to us!
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Trust the wolf. The wolf knows best. It was right. Why was she hiding the truth?
She clenched her fists. This wasn’t going to be easy. This was five years of nightmares.
“Brynley?” Phineas asked softly. “Are you all right?”
She squared her shoulders. “My father requested I come home for the Hunt. All the local Pack Masters hold hunts the first night of the full moon, but my father’s hunt is the most prestigious in three states. It’s invitation only, so it’s a big honor to attend.”
Her skin chilled and she crossed her arms. “It started off like every other monthly hunt. We all shifted and took off into the woods. I caught the scent of a pair of elk and gave chase. I heard wolves behind me. They’d caught the scent, too. That was normal. Wolves usually kill in groups. I didn’t think anything of it. Until I realized . . .”
Tears gathered in her eyes, and bile rose in her throat. She swallowed hard and pressed the back of her hand against her mouth. “They were hunting me!”
“What?” Phineas stepped toward her. “Why?”
“I didn’t know. I was so afraid, and I couldn’t understand why I was the prey. I ran and ran. I tried going upstream, swimming in icy cold lakes, anything to lose them. But they kept coming. And then they . . .”
She strode to a tree and rested a trembling hand on it. “They were young males. They surrounded me. Tightened the circle. Snarling and snapping. And then he attacked.”
“From behind,” Phineas whispered.
She nodded, and tears ran down her cheeks. “He bit me in the neck and used his weight to hold me down and . . . take me.”
There was a tense pause.
When Phineas finally spoke, his voice sounded choked. “He raped you.”
“No.” She shook her head. “A male wolf always takes his mate that way. It’s an animal thing.”
“Bullshit. Did you want him to? Did you invite him?” Phineas’s voice grew louder, and when she didn’t reply, he slammed a fist into the tree.
She jumped back, looking at him for the first time.
“It was rape!” He crashed another fist into the tree.
She stepped back, shocked by the rage on his face.
“Did you turn the bastard in?” he demanded.
“I—I tried to. I ran back to the house and stormed into my father’s office. I told him what they’d done, and he just looked at me and said I’d defied him for too long, refusing all the men he’d chosen for me. I needed to learn how to submit.”
Phineas’s eyes grew wide. “He—?”
She nodded as more tears rolled down her face. “He arranged it. He’d chosen a new mate for me, and he’d told him to—”
“To rape you?” Phineas growled.
“To take me as his mate. It’s the normal way for a—”
“Really? Then why did you run? Why were you so terrified? Why do you still freak out if a man comes up behind you?”
She wiped the tears off her face. “I’ve had trouble dealing with it.”
“Of course you have! The bastard terrorized you and forced himself on you. And your father, that bastard—” Phineas punched the tree again. “I’ll rip his damned head off!”
“Stop! Your hands are bleeding.” And the tree wasn’t looking too good, either. Strange, but it looked like the other damaged tree she’d seen earlier.
“You had better hope I never meet your father.” Phineas wiped his knuckles on his shirt. “How long has it been since . . .”
“Five years.”
He glanced up at her. “And how long have you been doing the underground thing, helping out the Lost Boys?”
“Five years.”
His eyes gleamed. “Good for you. You fought back.”
She grimaced. “Only in secret. I’ve never stood up to my father. When he pulled this last stunt, arranging a wedding for me, I just ran away.”
“Are you going to let him choose a husband for you?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then you plan to choose your own husband?”
She groaned inwardly and pushed her hair behind her shoulders. “I’m not choosing anyone right now. If my father doesn’t approve of my mate, he’ll kill him. He’ll never allow me to defy him.”
“Are you going to live your entire life in fear of him?”
She winced. Her inner wolf longed for its native territory, but if she ever returned to the Lycan world, her father would control her. She would be forced into a life of submission. Centuries of submitting to her father and the mate he chose for her.
A crushing pain seized hold of her heart, and she pressed a hand against her chest. Her inner wolf howled in despair.
She could never return to the Lycan world. Not as long as her father lived. And that could be centuries.
She should have known that the moment she’d fled her father’s house. Instead, she’d fooled herself into thinking her exile was only temporary. But she was like Phil now. She could never go home. Never spend time with her younger brother and sister. Not for hundreds of years.
She’d end up abandoning her sister just as Phil had abandoned her.
Tears crowded her eyes once again. Why was the cost of freedom so damned high? “I can’t go home.”
Phineas touched her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
She reached for him, and he pulled her into his arms.
“Bryn, sweetheart.” He held her tight and smoothed a hand up and down her back. “It’ll be all right. You’re not alone. You have me. And your brother. And all of us.”
“Phineas.” She drew back and touched his cheek. “I need to go back. One last time. For the full moon tomorrow night. So I can say good-bye.”
Rape. He couldn’t get past it. That a father would actually subject his daughter to something that heinous, that cruel.
Phineas accompanied Brynley back to Romatech, silent because he couldn’t trust himself not to curse her father. Hell, he’d been afraid just to touch her elbow as he escorted her back. Would she object to being touched after all she’d endured? It was no wonder she was prickly and suspicious, afraid to get close to anyone. She’d been betrayed over and over.
But he wasn’t a werewolf. He didn’t have any ranches or cattle to gain by pursuing her. He simply loved her for herself. Just the thought that she could marry a Lycan someday who would treat her like an inferior broodmare filled him with rage. He wouldn’t allow it. Dammit, she shouldn’t allow it. She needed to be strong like her mother had said and choose freedom.
She needed to choose him. He’d never mistreat her. A part of him realized that not all werewolf males were bad. Phil certainly wasn’t. If he ever mistreated Vanda, she’d take her whip to him.
Still, he didn’t want Brynley to end up with a werewolf. He wanted to be the one to give her the love she deserved, and the freedom she needed. As far as he was concerned, he was her best choice, her best chance at happiness. He just had to convince her of that.
She was quiet, and he couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking. At least she wasn’t asking to be returned to the academy. She seemed happy to stay by his side.
The cafeteria door she’d escaped through earlier had automatically locked upon closing, so he led her to the side entrance and used his ID to get them inside.
“Let’s check with Jack and Zoltan to see if any of your father’s minions have shown up at the cabin,” he suggested.
She nodded. “Good idea.”
He used his ID again to get inside the security office. “Hey, Freemont.”
“Hey, bro, Wolfie-Girl.” Freemont glanced up from his computer and grinned. “I saw you guys run into the woods. Playing hide-and-seek?” His smile faded. “Is that blood on your shirt?”
“It’s nothing.” Phineas glanced at the wall of monitors. There were no cameras that deep in the forest, so their talk had been private.
“He punched a tree,” Brynley said quietly.
“Again?” Freemont asked.
“Again?” Brynley regarded Phineas suspiciously. “You have a habit of punching trees?”
He ignored that and frowned at his brother. “Have you heard from Jack or Zoltan?”
“Yeah. About ten minutes ago. No one has shown up, and Lara was very excited because Jack has suddenly agreed to do that TV show.”
“Real Housewives of the Vampire World?” Brynley asked. “What changed his mind?”
Freemont chuckled. “Well, apparently Heather claimed her husband was the best fencer in Europe, and Jack thinks he is. So now he wants on television to set the record straight.”
The phone rang, and Freemont answered. “Just a minute, Mr. Whelan. Let me put you on the speakerphone.”
Phineas strode toward the desk. “Do you have news, Sean?”
“Phineas, is that you?” Sean Whelan asked. “I thought you were in Wyoming.”
“I was. And I’ll be going back. What’s up?”
“We’ve been staking out the Russian Coven House in Brooklyn, monitoring Dimitri. As far as we know, his tracking device is still operative. And it’s moving. He just jumped to Cleveland, then Omaha. Headed west. Wait. It jumped again. He’s in . . . Wyoming.”
Phineas exchanged a glance with Brynley. “Then we were right. Corky’s there.”