Page 36 of The Mating Need
He laughed, the sound bitter. “Not even that. You feel different, Jenny, because you are. So am I. I was born with the gift of extraordinary speed. The Meadowrunners wanted me for that reason. They had the area Fae gift me with even more speed. I reckon I’m on the fastest Lupine alive, on two legs or four. But even that wasn’t enough to evadeTristan.”
“Please tell me whathappened.”
Caving into her demands wasn’t easy, but this was Jenny. In her own way, she was as unique as him. Troy bit back a snort.Unique.
Freaks, some would callthem.
“I was with them a few years, no real problems until the alpha and his mate had their baby. I was keeping watch over the nursery about a week after the birth when a Fae showed up in the room. He saw me, I gave him a warning and he fled out the window. The next night, I was ready. Caught him standing over the baby’s crib, his hands wrapped around the baby’sneck.”
At her harsh intake of breath, his throat tightened. “I had taken a short break to grab water. When I returned the nursery, there was the Fae. I lost control. Threw him across the room and then out the window. I shifted, and then raked claws across his throat. Nearly killed him but for Tristan, who stopped me. The only one who could. I saw him and came to my senses. He told me I’d gone too far and realized I was in deep shit. The Fae wasn’t strangling the baby, but giving him ablessing.”
“How could you know? You were doing yourjob!”
Troy shrugged. “The alphas forgot to tell me about the Fae and how they had access to the pack land. They kicked me out and I left for the woods, but that damn wizard was there waiting forme.”
Jenny sucked in a breath. “What did he do toyou?”
She looked more concerned and angry thanafraid.
“I ran, but he was always one step ahead of me. So I shifted into a wolf to fight.” Troy scowled. “He forced me to shift back into human form. That’s the kind of power he has, Jenny. Those wizards, they can do anything. Then he forced me onto my knees before him, stripped me of everything I felt. All the anger, until I felt like a used dishrag. I hated that feeling, Jenny. Anger kept me alive for a long time, kept pushing meforward.”
Her hand covered his. “I getit.”
“Tristan warned me next time I lost control would be mylast.”
“But all you were doing is making sure the Fae didn’t hurt thebaby.”
It made his chest hollow to dredge up these bitter memories. He had wanted to climb naked into bed with her, tangling together in passion, not get naked with his past and hismistakes.
Troy rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s how I saw it, but the Fae didn’t. Neither did Tristan, who said he’d clean up the mess I left because the Fae in that area were powerful, but sensitive and I didn’t want them on my case, or Gideon, the Crimson Wizard who is their guardian. Got the feeling Tristan wanted me to get back on the road. Doesn’t matter. I’d do it again, if it meant keeping to my oath to protect those who can’t defendthemselves.”
She looked at him with admiration flaring in her eyes. Troy wanted that admiration, it warmed him inside, but not for being a feral wolf. He wanted her to feel the same way about him he felt abouther.
They were two lone souls in a world that found them strange and dangerous, Lupines to fear. Not Lupines who would never hurt innocents and used their skills to keep themsafe.
“It’s a harsh world out there, Jenny.” Troy stared at the fire, remembering all the times when he felt he was alone. “When you figure it out, it zigs and zags again. I thought the only life for me was to keep wandering. Lupines weren’t meant to be nomads. We were meant for pack and socializing with our kind. But when you’re like me, it’s hard to find a pack who will accept you for what youare.”
Her gaze dropped to his hands. “Why did your family really leave, Troy? Being feral isn’t always a badthing.”
His guts knotted the way they always did when he thought back to that time. “Not usually. Not unless you do something your family can’t forgive you for,Jenny.”
“Oh Troy,” she whispered. “You don’t have to tell me. Not if it drags up too muchpain.”
“You deserve the truth. Deserve to know the kind of guy you’ve been running with for all these months.” Troy slid his hand away fromhers.
This would hurt, especially if she looked at him the way his family had after that day… but he wanted no secrets betweenthem.
“My family was wealthy, hell, that’s putting it mildly. My father had inherited a bundle when his dad died and he doubled it the Skin way – in investing. Our pack was small, only about thirty members, but everyone gotalong.”
His expression hardened. “My father was the alpha and made sure of it. He ruled with a hard hand, except with my oldest brother. Then he turned a blindeye.”
Dredging this up sent a knife into his heart, but he needed to tell her. Jenny needed to know his darkpast.
“I was seventeen and got into a fight with my oldest brother. Winston always was a jerk to me. Six years older and he called me a baby. Always teasing me and doing things when my folks weren’t looking. Kid stuff that I had to put up with, like salting my iced tea. Got worse as I grew older. Once he slit the tires on my bike. The final straw came when he thought it would be funny to toss a firecracker into the metal garbage can just as I lifted the can to take it to thecurb.”
She gasped, but he ignored it. Had to push on telling it, or he’d never get up the courageagain.
“Winston didn’t care that he could have put my eye out. I jumped back but not before I got sparks in my hair, had to roll around to keep my damn hair from catching onfire.”
