Tanner felt as if his own heart had been clawed out then. He remembered coming back in and seeing the shifters carrying his mother’s body away. He’d screamed and punched at them.
But she’d already been gone.
“If Marna hadn’t given you blood today, you would’ve been too damn weak to protect yourself. You have to understand what’s going on.” Now Cody’s words came faster. “I know you think this new power is some kind of gift. That it makes you better because it came from her.” Cody shook his head. “But it doesn’t. It makes you weak. Vulnerable. Just like it made Katherine weak. And you’ve got to promise never to use it again.”
“Did she . . .” Tanner stopped, cleared his throat. His mother had been gone so long. So why did he hurt so much? “Did my mother say anything . . . ?” Hell, why was he even asking?
The floor creaked behind him. Tanner looked over and found Marna standing in the doorway. She’d been there, of course, the whole time. Her scent had come to him like a soothing touch the minute she’d stepped into the doorway.
“She said your name.” Cody brushed past him. “It was the last thing she said.”
She loved me.
Cody was beside Marna now. He stood near her, but didn’t touch her. “I’m sorry.” Shame lurked in his words. “If I’d been stronger . . .”
Then his mother wouldn’t have died? “He never kept his women around too long.” Forever hadn’t been a concept their father understood. Since he hadn’t been the sharing sort, he viewed death as the only option for getting rid of his unwanted mates.
The bastard really had been born without a soul. And to think, most supernaturals believed shifters had two souls. Those of beasts and men.
Maybe he only got the soul of the beast. Maybe that was why his father had only known fury and violence.
Shoulders hunched and steps slow, Cody crept from the room. After a moment, Marna came inside and quietly closed the door. “You scared me,” she said.
He didn’t move toward her. Tanner felt raw inside. Dangerous.
My mother died for Cody.
“Do you blame him, for her death?”
Tanner shook his head. She was always trying to save the pack. “She died when I was seven. He was only four then.” Just four, and he’d taken claws to the heart. “Saving others . . . that’s who she was.”
She’d never walked away from anyone in pain.
Marna studied him a moment, then said, “I think you’re a lot like her.”
No, I’m like him. Marna was close enough to touch now. Why did he feel that touching her would make her dirty? She deserves better. “You weren’t supposed to give me your blood again.”
“And you weren’t supposed to start seizing right in front of me.” She gave a little shrug. “I guess fate had other plans for us.”
Fate could be a cruel bitch. He’d known that since his second birthday. “Did Kali see you?”
A nod. “Who do you think ran the transfusion?”
Shit. “Then I’ll make sure she doesn’t talk. She won’t—”
“How are you going to make sure?” Her hand touched his arm. Her fingers were so light against his skin. “She’s already gone. With you and Cody out of danger, she slipped away.”
Fuck. His muscles tightened. “Then she could be selling you out right now. Telling everyone where to find angel blood.” They had to find her. They had to—
Marna gave a slow nod. “She could be, or she could have just been going out to help someone else. That’s what she does, you know. She helps. And she drinks her blood from a bag, not a live source.”
Ah . . . that was his Marna, being too trusting again. “Is that the story she gave you? Baby, how many times do I have to tell you? A lie from a supernatural sounds like the sweet truth from an—”
“Angel?” she finished with raised brows.
He turned away from her. Headed to the window. Someone had opened it, letting in a spill of light from the stars and moon.
A rustle of sound teased his ears. Like wings . . .
A shadow moved closer to the cabin. “Your blood,” he said slowly, staring out at that shadow, “makes me see things I shouldn’t see.”
The floor creaked beneath her feet. “Like what?”
Tanner glanced over his shoulder at her. So beautiful. “Like the shadows of wings that were cut from your back.”
Her lips parted in surprise. Tanner stepped away from the window and headed closer to her. Moving to protect. “And like that ass**le angel who’s coming toward us right now.”