The Mating Heat(13)

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw his gaze grow wary. “What?”
“Send the money to Aiden. Immediately.”
“And?”
She curled her hands into fists, keeping them at her sides. “I will do anything you ask, if you let me stay in this room, without showing me to the people.”
“What?” Ryder sounded surprised.
Kara whirled, her chest tight and drawn. “I’m serious. Let me keep to this room. They think I abandoned them and left them to face my father’s cruelties alone. After tonight, I never want to meet them face to face again.” She touched her scarred cheek.
    







 
    Dark and Deadly: Eight Bad Boys of Paranormal Romance by Jennifer Ashley, Alyssa Day, Felicity Heaton, Erin Kellison, Laurie London, Erin Quinn, Bonnie Vanak and Caris Roane
    
 


 
CHAPTER 5
How he wished Alastair Mitchell was still alive so he could kill him all over again. The despairing look on Kara’s face felt like a hard kick to his solar plexus.
Ryder didn’t give a damn how she looked.
He gave a damn how she felt.
And clearly, she was ashamed to encounter her old pack. Ashamed of the scars her cruel father had left. Ashamed of the fact she’d fled to save her life.
Had she stayed, Alastair would have killed her. Not physically, the old man wasn’t that insane, but he’d have beaten her down until nothing remained of her spirit.
Ryder clenched his fists and squeezed hard. He wanted a second chance with Kara that they’d been denied. He wanted the pack secure and safe, and working peacefully together for the common good.
Most of all, he wanted to see Kara smile again, with the insouciant joy she’d always shown before.
Now her eyes were downcast instead of sparkling with zest. Her mouth seldom quirked upward and she seemed to shrink inside herself.
Damn you Alastair Mitchell. How could you do this to her? It was not her fault — I was the one who stole a kiss!
“You can’t hide from the world, Kara,” he finally said, keeping his voice low and soothing. “And you can’t hide from the pack. They will want to see you again.”
A ghost of her old smile touched her mouth. “Show them a photo. Either that or find me a really great cosmetic surgeon for Lupines, the kind who can work special magick.”
She had a special magick of her own, with her sweet, caring nature. For every injury her insane sire had inflicted on another pack member, she’d been there, working quietly to care for the Lupine’s wounds and heal the emotional trauma.
Kara was exactly what the pack needed. Suddenly Ryder wanted her desperately as his mate. Not just to secure his position as the new alpha, but to soothe his own still raw wounds. He wanted her in his bed, true, but he needed her at his side.
No other female would do. Oh, he could select one of the eager, fawning Lupines from his pack. But he wanted only Kara.
“You don’t need a surgeon, sweeting. You need something no Skin can provide. Or money. Love.”
A stunned silence followed. Kara finally spoke, a false note of cheerfulness in her voice. “Not true. I heard you can buy love, for a few dollars, at a street corner in town. For a few dollars more, it can last all night.”
Slowly he exhaled, penning his frustration. “I’m not talking sex, Kara. I’m talking about a love that will last a lifetime. The love of mates for each other.”
She peered up at him, frowning. Hadn’t anyone ever truly loved her before? Alastair had ignored her until the night of the kiss. Her sister had fled the pack when Alastair started growing cruel and cold. Her older brother Aiden adored her, but he’d seldom been around, too busy and desperate to repair the damages caused by his old man’s neglect of the ranch.
Other males had flirted with Kara, and worshipped her like a goddess. But had anyone truly loved her?
I did but never had the balls to tell her, he thought with chagrin. Maybe if I had, I could have whisked her away before that cold-hearted bastard of a father did this.
Ryder realized he danced on a dangerous cliff. If he forced her in any way, or acted insensitive to her tender feelings, he risked forever ruining their tenuous relationship. Not only would their joining be painful for her first time physically, for she’d remained untouched, but he worried more about hurting her gentle heart.
He gathered her hands into his, and caressed the knuckles with his thumbs. “I want a home filled with love, Kara. Your love and mine, raising our young together. We need to turn this ranch from a silent place of nightmares into a home filled with laughter and hope. That’s why I fought your father. That’s why I never left.”