There's something you don't want me to know and I'm d.a.m.ned if you're going to keep it from me. What is it? Is Petra sick?"

"Dammit, Carson, wait for Rainna."

He pulled the sheaf of papers from the envelope and spread them out on the table. As he studied them, words popped out at him. "Sybilla," "she-wolf," "transplant,"

"experiment." It was when he got to the part about Petra's "operation" that he lost it. He swept his hand over the table, sending papers flying in every direction.

"Oh, G.o.ddammit. No. They used Sybilla's-" Oh, dammit, he couldn't finish the thought. Rage swept through him like a torrential flood, drowning him in pain. "They hurt her, tortured her, and destroyed her. And I wasn't there to save her. If I'd been there..."

Trey placed a hand on his shoulder. "You need to calm down, Carson. Think about this rationally."131 Carson whipped around to glare at him. "You want me to be rational? Do you have any idea what I'm mated with now?

Her life was stolen from my mate. The wolf in her-it's not real, it doesn't belong to her."

"Stop it, Carson, you're not thinking clearly. None of us know the whole story. We need Rainna to decipher it for us before we decide anything."

"Decide?" Carson raged. They had no idea how badly he wanted to rip something apart with his bare hands. His skin rippled with the need to shift, to hunt, to shred something. To destroy. All he could picture in his mind was his Sybilla, lying dead and bloodied on an operating table, her chest torn open by those monsters who called themselves human.

d.a.m.n them all to h.e.l.l for what they had done. "Someone will pay," he said between clenched teeth. And suddenly he knew what Petra had been keeping from him all these weeks.

Oh yes, she knew exactly what he'd do if he ever found out the truth. "Petra." He looked at his brothers. "All this time, she knew, dammit."

Donovan strode across the kitchen and grabbed Carson's arm as he sprang up from his chair, knocking the chair onto its side. Trey grabbed his other arm.

"You don't have all the facts yet, Carson. You can't go to her like this. She's your mate."

"My mate," he roared. "My mate is dead. d.a.m.n you all."

He tried to tear free of the hold they had on him, but his brothers held firm, forcing him down onto the floor.132 "What's going on here?" Rainna stood in the doorway, looking sleepy and ruffled, a blue housecoat wrapped around her swollen form.

It was Trey who answered her. "Petra's file arrived. Carson saw it before we could get you to translate what it all means.

He's gone crazy."

"Carson?" It was Petra's soft voice, filled with concern, coming from behind Rainna, peeking around her shoulder.

Carson zeroed in on her, his whole body filled with rage and anguish. "You," he sneered. "You're the reason she's dead. You took what belonged to her and they're using you to get the rest of us. If it weren't for Sybilla, that part of her you stole, I never would have mated you, and you know it. d.a.m.n you for your deception. I should have let them take you back where you belonged."

He saw her reel back, her expression paled, her eyes went wide and dark. He saw her stumble, then right herself.

"Y-you don't understand. I-I didn't mean ... I didn't know."

She whirled away and he heard the hitch in her voice, but he had no pity for her. Not now. The mortal wound he'd thought healed by the pa.s.sing years had been ripped wide open and his heart was left raw and bleeding.

"You're lying!" he yelled, struggling to break free of his brothers' grip. "You're that devil's sp.a.w.n, if not by blood, by creation."

"No, no." Petra pivoted away and then she was gone. He heard the front door open and then slam closed.

It was Rainna who dashed to the window. Then she whirled around to face the men, anger in every line of her body.133 "She's shifted and she's headed down the mountain. d.a.m.n all of you. Do you have any idea what you've done to her?

She's not to blame for any of this. She's as much a victim of those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds as anyone. You wanted her to trust you. My G.o.d, what have you done?" She turned on Carson. "d.a.m.n you. You were supposed to protect her. You wanted her to tell you everything. You wanted her to be honest. Is this what her honesty would have gotten her?"

Now there were tears streaming down her face. Rainna stalked to the table and lowered herself into a chair. "Give me those d.a.m.n papers and let me see exactly what they say.

One of you has to go after her. Somebody has to protect her from herself right now. Who knows what she might do."

She dashed angrily at the tears wetting her face. "d.a.m.n you," she said under her breath. "Men."

"I'll find her," Trey said. He met Rainna's gaze. He walked across the room to kiss her on the forehead.

Carson watched as Rainna reached for Trey's hand and brought it to her lips. "Be careful. Her heart has been ravaged and she's in shock. She may end up in territory that's very dangerous, not just to her, but you as well. Take care."

She turned to glare at Carson. "But I don't trust either of these two to help her now. Donovan, you should have brought me the file instead of trying to stumble around with something you don't understand."

Her fierce glare turned on Carson. "And you. My G.o.d, you were supposed to love her. I can forgive you for some of it, but not the way you shredded her up and spit her out. She134 didn't deserve your wrath. She wasn't the one who did this to your mate and your pack brother."

She turned back to Trey. "Go after her before something terrible happens to her. Something we all will have to live to regret."

The red haze of rage was slowly lifting and Carson was appalled at the anger he'd directed at Petra. Rainna's common sense broke through his wall of pain and then he remembered the ravaged look on Petra's face.

He dropped his head into his hands. My G.o.d, what had he done?

135

CHAPTER 17.

Petra ran for all she was worth. Her wolf form gave her speed and endurance. Panic and pain filled her. She had no idea where she was going to go or what she was going to do, but she had to get away from Vampyre Falls before Carson totally crushed her.

She'd thought she had found a place where she belonged, where she fit, but it had been nothing more than a dream, gone like morning mist with the searing heat of daylight.

Maybe she would remain in her wolf form. People hurt too much and she wanted to be done with them.

Hours later she slowed her pace, trotting over fallen branches, weaving her way through lush ferns. It had started to rain but the dense forest allowed only the sporadic droplets to reach her. Suddenly she was so tired, not just from her extended run to escape from the Falls, but because her heart was weary inside.

Her heart. If she'd been in her human form she would have laughed at that statement. It wasn't her heart was it? It belonged to a woman, a shifter, who should have lived a long, full life, safe within the arms of her mate. It was too painful to think about.

Petra again took off at a run, trying to outdistance the hurt, and the memories. Love that had been thrown back in her face.

And then she stepped down and a whole new world of hurt washed over her, dropping her to the ground. Her howl of136 pain echoed through the forest. She'd walked right into a steel trap that now crushed her leg.

She should have known it was there. Carson had trained her to watch for danger, to sense it, and she had ignored everything she had learned. The agony of her leg trapped by the steel threaded through her. She tried everything she could to get her leg out of the old spring trap, to no avail. An open wound developed from all her efforts and blood began to ooze from the wound. She was only making it worse with her struggles.

There was no hope for it. In order to remove her leg from the trap she was going to have to shift back to human form and pray that the damage during the shift wouldn't make things worse. Although old, the mechanism held fast, and if she didn't transform she would die anyway. By the looks of it, some trapper from long ago had buried it there and it was unlikely there would be anyone coming to check on it. She knew there was no one to help her but herself. Not anymore.

Looking back, maybe she should have taken the chance and confided in Carson, trusted him with what she knew. But what had happened was exactly what she'd thought would occur. She felt the shift to human form as her legs thickened and straightened. She screamed with agonizing pain as the steel trap bit deeper into her flesh.

She tried to catch her breath as the transformation became complete. Oh, G.o.d, she wasn't certain she would have the strength to separate the steel jaws. Since the operation her strength had increased, but the run had weakened her. She lay back on the ground and closed her137 eyes, pain undulated through her. It was too much. She had fought so hard just to end up ... here.

"Petra, you have to try."

Her eyelids flew open and she looked around. She narrowed her gaze to try to focus on the vague image of a man standing about fifty feet away. "Who are you?"

He stepped into the sunlight and she breathed in sharply as the form seemed to solidify. "J-Jamie?"

"You have to remove the trap, Petra. I know you can do it."

"But you're dead, you can't be here."

"I'm here because you needed me, sis. You need me to remind you that you have to fight. You remember the cave. I remember it. You held my hand all through those hours until help arrived. You talked to me, fought for me. Now you need to fight for yourself."

She remembered the cave, and though the rock from the collapsed ceiling crushed her chest, she had managed to find Jamie's hand and clutched it tightly. It had been warm at first, but gradually, as the hours dragged by, it had turned cold and stiff. She had known he was dead, but she couldn't let go. She wouldn't let go. They'd had to pry her hand free.

Tears dripped down her face. "But you died anyway. Oh, Jamie, I don't think I can fight anymore. There's nothing left."

"You're so wrong, Petra. There's so much to fight for. But first you have to get that steel deathtrap off your leg. Do it for me."

Petra dragged herself up. It hurt so much. There was every chance she could lose her foot, especially if she didn't138 get help soon. And that was pretty unlikely. Even if she got free, she wasn't going to be able to walk out of the forest to find help.

"Do it, Petra. You didn't give up in the cave and I won't let you give up now. I can't help you ... you have to do this yourself."

She dragged herself upright. The world spun and she closed her eyes for a moment taking deep breaths.

"Concentrate, Petra. Draw from inside. You're stronger than you think you are."

Jamie had always believed in her. When the chill of the Thorntons surrounded them both, Jamie's love had always kept her warm, reminding her that there was good in the world. She looked down at the trap imprisoning her. The metal bar was buried in her lower calf. If it had been any farther down her leg it might have snapped her ankle bone.

She could only hope the leg wasn't broken. The evil that men did to prove their superiority over the animal race ... they had to be stopped. Somehow.

She reached down to grip the two parts of the steel trap.

As Jamie said, she pulled on a source of power inside her.

She wouldn't have thought she had any left, but soon she felt it surging through her. She focused it into her arms, her hands and then she began to pry the jaws apart.

She felt the metal give and slowly ease away from the oozing flesh. Blood pooled in the deep wound as she lifted her leg from the trap. Once clear, she released the trap and dropped back onto the ground.

"That's my girl. I knew you could do it."139 "I don't know what good it will do. I can't walk on it. I've nothing to bind it. And I know I'm a long way from any town."

A strange look came into his eyes. He gazed past her, seemed to listen, then nodded. He turned back to Petra. "You only need to hold on for a little longer, sis. Someone is coming."

She tried to rise, but found she'd used the last of her strength and dropped back down, closing her eyes. She licked her dry lips.

"Who? How do you know someone's coming?"

"There's someone I want you to meet, Petra. It's important. She's here with me now." Again, he looked past her. "Come out. It's time you two met. The two of you have much in common."

Petra opened her eyes and turned her head to see a woman walk out of the shadow of the trees. Her eyes opened wider and she shot upward. "Who are you?"

She reached for Jamie's hand, but discovered there was no substance to it. She turned to look at him. "Oh, Jamie." The words caught on a sob. "Am I hallucinating?"

"This place is special, Petra. And you have a desperate need for us right now. I can't let you give up." He pointed to the woman. "There are things Sybilla wants to share with you. Things you need to know. I promised to bring her to you so you could hear what she has to say."

The woman knelt next to Petra. Her smile was gentle. "He doesn't understand, but he will Petra. He never took time to mourn. He kept all the rage and sorrow locked inside."140 Petra knew of whom she spoke. "You mean Carson. He hates me now."

Sybilla shook her head. "No, he doesn't. He feels helpless, and he struck out from his pain, not just at what happened to me, but for what you have suffered as well. And for Kyle, too.

He wasn't there and he rages at himself for not protecting those he loved."

"He won't ever be able to look at me again without seeing you and what my ... mother ... did to you."

"She did it to us, Petra. She would have killed you, too, if she hadn't needed you. You are here for a reason. You becoming a part of this pack, of my family is not chance. It is your destiny. I know you love them, and you love Carson most of all."

"He doesn't want my love. He doesn't want any part of me."

"But he does. And when he comes to terms with what he did in driving you away, he will hate himself for letting it happen. It will be you who needs to be strong and forgive him. Because he needs you, more than you can possibly know."

Petra shook her head. "I can't go back there."

"Once they really understand what happened, they will ask your forgiveness, Petra. I hope you will be able to give it to them. You will give Carson the love he should have had all along. He's an alpha, but so filled with emotion. It's why he never went out to form his own pack. That emotion makes him the most pa.s.sionate man a woman could want, but he knows it is a weakness as well. Being ruled by his emotions141 could get him, as well those who follow him, killed. Trey on the other hand, is the level-headed one, a born leader. It's why they manage so well together."

She paused and then chuckled. "And Donovan. Donovan is the free spirit. He always made me laugh. He's the one to remind us when to lighten up and remember to play. He is the most easy going of the fo-I mean three of them." Petra saw the sadness in her expression as Sybilla remembered Kyle was no longer alive. "Each so different. Together they are strong, torn apart they will be destroyed. It is for you to strengthen that bond and heal what has been broken."

"We have to go," Jamie said. "We can't stay any longer."

"No." Petra cried. "Not yet. Don't leave me yet. There's so much more I want to know."

"Trey is coming and he will get you home safely," Sybilla said. "My family needs you, Petra. And although part of me resides inside you, it is you they need more than just a shadow of me. That is something only you can give."

She turned to Jamie. "I've been so lonely since you left.

Don't go yet."

"Our time is limited, sweetie. I'm glad to have had this chance to tell you I love you and I'm so proud of you. This place that you've come to will nurture and honor your gifts the way they should be. You will thrive among them, if you give it a chance." His image began to waver. "Goodbye, Petra."

"No. Don't go." But both of them vanished as though they had never been there. And Petra wasn't certain she hadn't been hallucinating when it came right down to it.142 She heard the rustle of leaves off in the other direction and then she saw an animal. A large wolf, his eyes glittering. He stopped and as Petra watched, he shifted to human form.

"Treynor," she whispered. It hadn't all been a hallucination. They had been real, and so was he.

He strode forward and knelt next to her. His gaze settled on her wounded leg. "What happened?"

"A wolf trap. I stepped right into it."

"You removed it yourself?"