His lips curled into a sensual smile. "From that delightful blush I can only presume that you've leaped to the conclusion that we're lovers."

"Are you?" she bluntly demanded.

"No." He lightly stroked his pale blue tie. "Sophia is certainly beautiful and exciting enough to tempt any man, but she already possesses several lovers. I prefer to be something more than one of the pack."

Lovers? As in plural? As in an entire harem?

Jeez. This just kept getting stranger and stranger.

Which was saying something.

Darcy pressed her fingers to her throbbing temples. She needed more than six hours of sleep in a cramped car to deal with all of this.

"Cripes, this is giving me a headache." She glared toward Salvatore, deciding she had had enough of the veiled implications and subtle hints. Time to take the bull by the horns. Or the wolf by his teeth. Whatever. She sucked in a deep breath. "Who is that woman?"

"I think it would be obvious."

"Humor me."

There was a tense pause before he pushed from the car to stand directly before her.

"The woman is your mother, Darcy," he said.

Even expecting his words, she felt her knees go weak and her heart lodge in her throat.

"You're certain?" she whispered.

He reached out to lightly touch her pale cheek. "Considering that I was there when you were born, I am very certain." His finger smoothed over her cheek to the corner of her lips. "You were an astonishingly beautiful baby, as were your sisters."

"Sisters?" She abruptly grasped his wrists in a fierce grip. It was that or tumbling to her knees. "I have sisters?"

"Your mother gave birth to quadruplets," he said smoothly. "Not an unusual event for a pureblood."

With a cry Dairy began to step away, her hands held up in a pleading motion.

"Wait. Just. . . wait."

He blinked at her fierce reaction, as if he hadn't just dropped a bomb of nuclear proportions on her.

"What is it, Darcy? Are you unwell?"

She wrapped her arms around her waist as she continued to back away. "I'm overwhelmed. I need a minute."

His lips thinned as he easily sensed her barely contained panic.

"I did warn you this was not the setting for this conversation."

"I assure you that the setting has nothing to do with my reaction." She gave a short, near hysterical laugh. "For God's sake, I've been utterly alone for thirty years and now suddenly I discover I not only have a mother, but three sisters as well." She swallowed the strange lump in her throat. "And on top of that, you have more than implied that my mother is a werewolf. Which would mean ..."

"That you are a werewolf," he completed softly. "Si."

"No," she instinctively denied. Styx had claimed that Salvatore was attempting to trick and deceive her. The ancient vampire was obviously right. That was easier to believe than the thought that Salvatore was telling the truth. "It's not possible."

The air prickled as Salvatore struggled to maintain his patience. Darcy sensed it was not a task he performed often. Or well.

"What must I do to prove my words?" he demanded.

"Nothing." Her tone was sharp. Not surprising. She was struggling with her own tangled emotions. "I think I would know if I turned into an animal once a month. That's not really something a girl can ignore."

"There is a reason you do not shift."

"And that would be?"

His lips thinned with impatience. "It is not something I will discuss until we can be assured of our privacy."

"You can discuss me being a werewolf here, but not why I don't have any symptoms of being a werewolf?" she demanded in disbelief.

"I had no desire to discuss anything here."

She glared into his handsome face. "These secrets are beginning to wear on my nerves."

He paused a long moment, no doubt reminding himself that he had gone to too much trouble to throttle her now.

"I thought you would be pleased to discover you have a family."

She gave a restless shrug. "I am, of course."

"But?" he probed.

But, indeed.

She didn't even know where to begin.

"Where have they been?" she at last demanded. "Why was I abandoned when I was just a baby?"

"Darcy, you were never abandoned." The golden eyes suddenly glowed with a dangerous light. "You and your sisters are incredibly vital to our people. There is not one of us who would not die to keep you safe."

"Are you kidding me?" she demanded in disbelief. "I was left to rot in foster home after foster home until I finally ran away and lived on the streets. Not to mention the fact that one of your werewolves seemed to have missed the memo about just how vital I am, since she tried to kill me only a few hours ago."

Salvatore frowned. "Jade is a mere cur and not in a position to know our secrets. She sensed you meant a great deal to me, but she didn't understand just how important."

Great. Because he was too damn arrogant to explain himself to curs, she had nearly been killed.

"And the reason I was abandoned?"

"As I said, you were never abandoned, Darcy." His hands clenched at his sides. "You and your sisters were lost to us."

"Lost to you? You make is sound as if we were spare change you happened to drop in the gutter."

That unnerving prickling swept over her skin.

"Then let me be more precise. You were stolen from us."

It took a moment for his words to sink in. "Stolen?"

"Healthy young babies are always desired, Darcy," he pointed out. "There are humans who would pay any price for a child, and of course, those humans and even demons who are willing to provide those babies by stealing them."

Well, that was something that she hadn't expected.

Then again, learning something she hadn't expected seemed to be a theme in her life lately.

"We were taken and sold on the black market?"

"Si. By the time we managed to track down the thieves, you four had already been shipped from Italy to America." There was an edge of fury in his voice that she suspected was years in the making. "It is impossible to track a scent over an ocean, even for purebloods. It has taken years to piece together what happened to you and your sisters."

"So you haven't found them yet?"

"We have managed to track two of your sisters, although we have not yet approached them." A wry smile touched his lips. "As you have demonstrated, it is not always an easy task to prove that we intend no harm."

"You can hardly blame me. I—"

Her words came to an abrupt halt as Salvatore moved swiftly toward her, his hand raised in warning.

"Hess is returning," he said in a tone so low that she could barely catch his words. "You must come with me. I promise 1 will answer all your questions."

Darcy took a deliberate step backward. "I don't think so."

His brows snapped together. "Darcy, I am the only one who knows the truth."

"Perhaps, but right now I think I've heard enough truth," she confessed. "In fact, I'm beginning to believe that ignorance really might be bliss."

"You can't run from this. You most certainly can't run from me." There was no missing the warning in his voice. "You are too important."

She tilted her chin at his unmistakable command. She was not about to be intimidated or bullied. Not when she desperately needed to consider all that she had learned so far.

"I've already figured out there's nowhere I can run," she retorted. "At least not anywhere that some demon or other won't track me down, but for right now I just want some time to think."

With unsteady steps she walked toward the car she had stolen, half expecting Salvatore to reach out and halt her as she passed his slender body.

Thankfully his ability to sense her every mood halted any arrogant attempt to threaten or bully her.

Smart wolf.

She was on edge enough that she might very well bolt as far and as fast as she could go if he so much as looked at her wrong.

After slipping into the car, she started the engine and prepared to drive away.

Without warning, her door was opened and Salvatore tossed a large bag into her lap.

"Don't forget your lunch," he said before she could protest. "And realize, cara, that while I am willing to be patient for now, there will come a time when you must fulfill your destiny."

"And you must remember, Salvatore, that my destiny is precisely that. Mine. And it will be fulfilled how I decide to fulfill it."

Her salvo delivered, she snapped the door shut and backed out of the park with a squeal of her tires.

Well, actually they weren't her tires, she acknowledged with a short, hysterical laugh.

She did, after all, steal the car.

She could only hope the cops weren't on her trail.

Her trail was quite filled enough, thank you.

Chapter Fifteen