Page 42 of Hunted

Abigail blanched. “You don’t need to do that, Luke. I’m fine now. Perfectly safe, all healed up, see?” She moved her arm and flexed it in front of him, smiling in a lame attempt at lightheartedness.

Luke eyed her doubtfully. “Look, there’s something about this whole thing that no one is telling me. Either Abigail came here in a perfect state of amnesia or at least one of you knows something I don’t. If you won’t say anything, I have to go to the source.”

Dominic spoke up. “Abigail is right, though. There’s little to be gained from such a trip. Your father will either echo what Abigail has already said or he’ll tell some version of it from his side and chances are you’ll be more confused than ever. There’s no proving anything so long after the fact.”

Abigail smiled, grateful, if a little surprised, for Dominic’s support. “Yeah, Luke. Stay. Everyone will come around eventually.” She spoke in a soothing tone that seemed to irritate Luke’s already frayed nerves.

“Look, I’ve made my decision. I need to find out what happened and I’m going to. If no one here will tell me, I’m going home. End of story.”

Dominic persisted. “No one is hiding anything from you, Luke.”

“Stop treating me like I’m stupid!” Luke exclaimed, plunging the room into an uncomfortable silence. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a deep breath. “We’re all adults here. You have your reasons for not telling me what, or who, injured Abigail. I’m obviously not satisfied with that. Abigail is still a member of my pack, and it is my duty as her alpha to make sure she is safe.”

Dominic set his mouth in a grim line. “I understand.”

Abigail shot glances between the two men. “I don’t!” She felt betrayed. A moment ago, she had thought Dominic was on her side, helping her to get Luke to stay here where it was safe. He knew what had happened and how dangerous it was for Luke to go confront his father, and he wasn’t doing anything!

“We both want what’s best for you—” Dominic started.

“No! Stop it!” she insisted. “You know he can’t go back there!” Dominic glared at her, but Luke had already picked up on her choice of words.

“Why? Why can’t I go back?” Luke’s question hung in the air met with silence as Abigail bit her lower lip and Dominic’s shoulders sagged in defeat. “What’s the problem? Why can’t you tell me?”

As if ignoring Luke, Dominic placed a hand on Abigail’s and dipped his head, urging her to meet his gaze. “Some things a man needs to see for himself.”

Clearly disturbed, Abigail brought shaking hands to her temples. Luke hadn’t anticipated such a visceral reaction to his departure. Coming around the table, he reached for her hands and knelt before her.

“Abby, what’s wrong?” Looking everywhere but at his face, she began to cry. “Tell me.” Instead, she fled from the room, weeping.

“I don’t know what to do,” Luke murmured.

“You’re doing what you can. She’ll come around,” Dominic answered.

Luke appeared surprised that Dominic had spoken. “I’ve never seen her like this in all my years of knowing her. How can you know after only a few weeks of acquaintance that she’ll come around?”

Without answering, Dominic left the room. He found Abigail sitting on the floor behind the kitchen counter, biting her lip and staring at nothing, her arms wrapped around her legs. Smiling sadly, he joined her. After a few moments of silence, he tilted his head toward hers and said, “You know, he’s going to find out eventually.”

Abigail shook her head vehemently. “No, he won’t. He can’t. Not this way.”

Dominic shrugged. “You may not get to pick how he finds out.”

Abigail turned on him. “How could he find out if we don’t tell him? You have to stop him from going! He can’t ever know!”

Putting an arm around her shoulder, he pulled her against him and spoke softly. “If you don’t let him find out, you’re going to lose him. Secrets add up. He may not find out, but he’ll know you’re hiding something and he won’t put up with that forever.”

Abigail eyed him warily. “You know what will happen to him if he goes back.”

Dominic shook his head. “No, I don’t. And you don’t, either. He’s young and strong. And it’s his dad. He’ll be fine.”

Gently tapping her forehead on her knees, she resisted. “You don’t understand. You didn’t see what I saw. He’sinsane.”

“Be that as it may,” Dominic soothed. “He cares about you too much to let this go. I know what that’s like. Don’t let him leave like this. Don’t leave things unsaid.”

“You don’t think he’s coming back, either!” Abigail accused.

“What? I didn’t say that.”

“But that’s what you think! You think he’s leaving and never coming back!”

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