* * *
Cara wasn’t in a position to protest the presence of the two new Weres, so she tucked those arguments away. She didn’t like this interruption of her time alone with Rafe Landau. In less than an hour, she had become comfortable with him. Now, with the other Weres present, she again felt tense.
The stab of regret she felt when Rafe dropped his hand and spoke to the others was a new kind of pain. She didn’t like pain. A fresh round of defiance rose inside her over the idea of being separated from him.
“What vampire are we talking about?” the silver-haired Were asked nonchalantly.
His scent was similar to Rafe’s. The older wolf was notably alpha, and had to be Rafe’s relative. Father? He was tall and handsome. His long hair was tied behind his neck, and he had a younger Were’s build that made him appear half the age he’d have to be if Rafe was his son.
Rafe answered the Elder Were’s question. “We had an argument with a vampire a few minutes ago.”
Cara observed how the alpha moved with the same kind of grace Rafe possessed. However, she could tell the older Were was a pure-blooded Lycan and wore his power like an emblem of high birth and rank.
“Cara, this is my father, Dylan Landau, host for the duration of your stay,” Rafe said, interrupting his father’s line of questioning. “And this is Cameron Mitchell, a good friend of ours.”
“Please forgive the lack of introductions,” the alpha said with a polite dip of his head. “We were very worried, and happy to find you in good hands.”
The alpha took in the scene through pale eyes, missing nothing, assessing the situation without comment. When his gaze landed on the tears in her sleeve, Dylan Landau said, “Not a heated argument, I hope, with that vampire?”
“Nothing too bad,” Rafe lied.
The alpha nodded. “I knew your father and your mother, and I’m glad they agreed to let you visit. I’m sorry you didn’t have such a warm welcome, Cara, and would like to make that up to you. Would you come with us to see where you’ll be staying?”
Cara didn’t look at Rafe. She could have been wrong about the tension that seemed to be building up in him. She knew he wanted her to comply, to reach a safer place than this one. He had worried about her from the start.
Even more interesting was the fact that Rafe’s father didn’t appear to be too concerned about their encounter with a bloodsucker. Every Were here should have known this was worthy of further investigation.
Unfamiliar sensations continued to flood Cara’s system when she stole a closer look at Rafe. The flares of heat were new and something she didn’t fully understand.
As if he had the ability to read minds, Dylan Landau addressed her last thought. “Rafe, why don’t you ride along with us? Maybe you can loan our guest some clothes until we get her home.”
Rafe’s father didn’t ask how she had lost her clothes in the first place, and Cara felt herself warming to his social skills.
It looked like there was going to be a benign ending to this eventful evening, although she’d now witnessed for herself the vampire presence in Miami and how far this city’s bloodsuckers had evolved. The appearance of the one she’d met tonight, along with the fact that it had purposefully lain in wait for Rafe, was highly unusual. Vampires tended to act on instinct when finding their next meal, and didn’t usually set traps to ensnare their victims. Yet it seemed to her that this one had.
“Male or female vamp?” Rafe’s father casually asked.
“Female,” Rafe said.
The alpha asked Cara the question directly. “New or old?”
“Not too ancient,” Cara replied. “But talented.”
Dylan Landau nodded. “Well, it will be a relatively short ride to our home. It won’t take long. We aren’t going far.”
Unlike with his father, Cara could read Rafe’s emotions as easily as she had read the tides. Rafe wanted her to go along with the plan his father had laid out, and at the same time, he was sorry she had to.
Cameron waved a hand toward what Cara supposed had to be the waiting car. She looked to Rafe, whose nod indicated it was all right for her to follow.
She was trapped. There was nowhere for her to run, and she couldn’t rely on the ocean to take her away.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Rafe said. “I’ll just get those pants. I hope you like jeans.”
Cara followed the two Weres from the beach without argument, already counting the minutes until Rafe would again be at her side. She continued to watch Dylan Landau closely, gauging his strengths, needing to ask the alpha what he knew about her parents, while knowing she’d have to behave and honor his wishes if she were to piece together the puzzle of what had happened to them here nineteen years ago.
Had her mother and father been cast out of this pack for being different, or for being dangerous? What had made them outcasts? Who had been alpha of the Landau pack back then?
Her parents had never spoken to her about these things. Questions about the past were taboo. Getting answers was part of the reason she had gone along with the plan for her to visit Miami. It was the reason she was going with these Weres to the car. Still, there was another path to explore here in Miami as well. The path revealed by her dreams...and the wolf that had haunted them.
Right here, tonight, whether it had been coincidence or the fates had played a hand, that wolf dream was no longer just in her imagination. The wolf had come to life, and his name was Rafe Landau.
They were in some way connected. Even in the reality of the moment, Rafe Landau was haunting her. His looks, his presence and strength, all pointed to something she had yet to grasp. If events were lining up and falling into place, did that mean she was on the path to get everything she wanted?
The questions she needed to have answered were the reason she had helped Rafe fight off the undead attacker, and was wearing his clothes. Her curiosity had prevented her from making Rafe pay for appearing in her dreams and disturbing her sleep. It suddenly seemed to Cara that Rafe, for good or ill, was going to be the key to what lay ahead. He was the central clue in the mystery of her existence that she had to unravel.
Do you know this, Rafe?
She didn’t send that question to him over Were channels because the answer would have been about what lay ahead. If she stayed.
The Mercedes sedan seemed crowded to Rafe as Cameron pulled away from the apartment building. Cara didn’t look at him from her side of the back seat. She had withdrawn. He couldn’t read her.
They traveled in silence. The car’s interior temperature felt cool, and the leather seat was luxuriously soft. For once, Rafe was relieved to leave the beach. Thoughts of his close call with the vampire nagged at him. He hoped this wasn’t a prediction of what the future might bring.
Several things continued to bother him, but the image of Cara with fangs was foremost in his mind. He would have preferred that others in his pack not be exposed to the kinds of things Cara could do. Freak was the word she had used to describe herself, and actually, was that so far off?
Then there was the attack itself. Why had the vampire gone after a werewolf when a human tourist would have been much tastier fare?
Rafe kept those thoughts locked away as buildings and lights shot past the window. At this hour, people crowded the streets in search of food and entertainment. Six police cruisers crept by, keeping up a show of law-enforcement presence.
By comparison, the estates on the far