A stab of pain so intense pierced his chest it felt like someone had plunged a blade into his heart. But no, it was only Rachel’s expression of disapproval cutting through him like a knife.
“Just that one,” he told her solemnly. “If I close my eyes, I can still see his face at that moment right before they killed him. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prayed to go back and fix it, even though I know I can’t. The best I can do is make sure it never happens again. That’s why when I saw you at the wedding reception, I jumped in front of that asshole hunter and took the bullet meant for you. I didn’t want another death on my hands. There are way too many already.”
Rachel gazed at him for a long moment before she pushed back her chair and stood. “I’ve got a quart of chocolate chunk ice cream in the fridge. Do you want some?”
The sudden change of subject caught him off guard, but he wasn’t going to ignore an olive branch when it was offered.
“Yeah, ice cream sounds good.”
* * *
“What happened after you were shot?” Rachel asked, smashing the chocolate chunk ice cream in her bowl with the spoon to make it softer. Not only did she love her ice cream that way, but it gave her something to do so she wouldn’t have to look at the handsome werewolf sitting across the table from her.
Rachel knew she should absolutely despise everything about Knox. He was a hunter, and even if she took him at his word that he’d made a mistake by joining them, he was still partially responsible for the death of at least one innocent werewolf. Moreover, he’d come to Max and Lana’s reception at the compound with the intention of killing more.
But for reasons she couldn’t quite get her head around, she was having a hard time finding it in herself to hate him. Hell, she was having a problem churning up enough energy to even dislike him. The more she thought about that, the more it worried her. If she couldn’t hate a man like Knox after all the reasons he’d given her, what the hell did that say about her sanity?
Knox dipped his spoon in his ice cream, mouth quirking. “You mean after you let me get away?”
She didn’t say anything. She honestly didn’t want to talk about why she hadn’t shot him when she’d had the chance. She might not hate him, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling she’d somehow failed her pack by letting Knox get away.
“I drove back to LA with the three other hunters and your jackass of a police chief—former police chief now, I guess I should say,” he explained. “They were all sure I was going to die from blood loss. Hell, so was I. But by the time we got there, the bullet wound looked like it was weeks old. I might not have realized I was a werewolf, but I knew something was weird.”
She stuck a big spoonful of ice cream in her mouth, almost moaning as her taste buds did a little happy dance at the rich chocolate flavor. “What did the hunters think?”
“I refused to let anyone see the injury. I made it sound like it hadn’t been as bad as everyone thought.”
“That was smart,” she said. “Then again, I’m not sure the hunters know how werewolves are created, so you probably would have been safe. And the vampires wouldn’t have realized you’re a werewolf because you didn’t smell like one yet.”
“Good to know.” He shrugged. “But I didn’t want to take that chance.”
“So, you left?”
“Not right away,” he admitted. “When you work for vampires, you don’t just quit. Apparently, the coven thought I’d make a good addition to their security team, so they gave me a promotion. On the downside, it meant spending most of my time in their damn nest. But on the upside, it gave me the freedom to finally get the hell away from them.”
Knox dug more ice cream out of his bowl, his brow suddenly furrowing as if something just dawned on him. “I’ll be damned.”
“What?” she asked.
He shook his head. “The night I was bailing on LA, I picked up the scent of cinnamon and licorice jelly beans. I didn’t think about it until now, but I smelled the same thing when I was here last night. And again when I first walked in tonight.”
Rachel stared at him, spoonful of ice cream halfway to her mouth. “You did?”
“Yeah. I thought it must be potpourri or something, but now I realize it wasn’t that at all.”
“What was it?” she asked, not sure she wanted to know.
He spooned a big scoop of ice cream into his mouth before answering her, his gaze locked on hers as he let the dessert melt a little before swallowing. She’d never paid so much attention to a man eating before, but there was something about the way Knox did it that worked for her. It wasn’t exactly sensual—he was too rough around the edges for anything he did to be described in that manner—but it mesmerized her all the same.
“You,” he finally said, the word soft.
Her pulse skipped a little, and she tried ignoring how interested her inner wolf had suddenly become in the conversation. She didn’t even like licorice jelly beans. “Me?”
He nodded, busying himself with another bite of ice cream. She marveled at how agile his tongue was as he licked the dark chocolate bits from the spoon, having to work extra hard to shove her dirty mind away from the gutter it was heading for.
“I tracked the scent for nearly ten blocks that night in LA, all the way to a dance club,” he said. “You were there with Diego and Zane. It was obvious you were searching for something—or someone. I got curious, so instead of leaving like I planned, I hung around so I could see what you were up to and ended up following you all over town.”
She cursed. Thank God she was too angry right then to examine why a new werewolf like him had been able to track her so easily. The reason behind it was too far-fetched to even consider. “You’re the one who was stalking me the whole time I was out there. You’re the shadow I kept seeing out of the corner of my eye and the scent I kept picking up all the time.”
