Vengeance Borne by Amanda Bonilla Page A

one set of the dual back tires dangerously close to interfering with traffic. Apparently Trish didn’t share Finn’s lack of concern over the supposed animal attack. She wouldn’t be here otherwise.
    Jacquelyn left Grind, stalked up to the Dodge one-ton dually, and jerked open the door. Trish smiled down at her, the floorboard of the truck towered above her and reached almost to her chest. She couldn’t understand why the hell Trish couldn’t just drive a nice compact car or little pickup. Instead she cruised around town in the throaty diesel, annoying vertically-challenged Waerds with the task of climbing in.
    “What did Finn tell you?” Jacquelyn asked as she launched herself into the passenger seat.
    Trish flashed a mischievous smile, totally convincing Jacquelyn that she did, in fact, enjoy watching her climb up into the truck. “Not much. You shouldn’t ride him the way you do, dear. He’s doing the best he can under the circumstances.”
    Oh, please . “He didn’t seem too busted up over Willie’s death. Maybe you’re overestimating his ability to care.”
    The older woman leveled her gaze and Jacquelyn’s shifted uncomfortably away. On a scale of one to about a million, Trish’s power clocked in somewhere in the seven-figure mark. Her steel-gray eyes bespoke of power. And when she wanted someone to feel what she possessed, they did. “And perhaps you’re underestimating him . Did it ever occur to you he may find it difficult to interact with you right now?”
    Jacquelyn adjusted her gaze to stare out the window. She’d been trying to think of anything but her break-up with Finn.
    “He is a Bearer, after all,” Trish continued. “Meant to bear the heavy weight of your emotions and pain. Imagine, just for a moment, what that must be like for him.”
    Jacquelyn sucked in a breath and held it. It couldn’t be. Could it? Had that been the reason behind her casual acceptance of their breakup? Even though she’d been the one to end it, she’d expected to feel a certain amount of loss. They’d been together for almost five years, after all. Pain came with the territory no matter whose fault the breakup had been. As she reflected on the past month, though, she realized that she just wasn’t torn up the way she should have been. Damn him. Had Finn actually taken her pain, and bore the brunt of both their hurts? “He wouldn’t…” Jacquelyn said, her voice sounding tiny in the large double cab of the truck.
    Trish looked away from the road, leveling her frosty silver gaze. “Yes, he would. He’d do it without thinking twice about it.”
    “Well, I didn’t ask him to.” Jacquelyn felt suddenly defensive. Who did Finn think he was anyway? To take the hurt she’d rightfully earned. The hurt that had nothing to do with being a Waerd, something hard and real. There were days she felt like her compassion, her ability to feel sorrow, happiness, or pain was the only thing that separated her from the creatures she hunted. If Finn took that away from her, she was nothing. Just another empty, soulless monster. He had to realize that. No matter how well intentioned, he caused more harm than good by bearing the burden of her emotional weight. She was entitled to those emotions, damn it. And he’d taken that from her before she could even feel anything.
    Don’t think about it now, don’t think about him . “What about the site?” A change of topic was in order. Otherwise she’d be after Finn and not whatever tore Willie Carmichael to shreds.
    “Untouched. The sheriff called a special forensics team up from Boise, but I pulled some strings and made sure they stayed away until we saw it first. Lord knows they’d muck it up before we could glean anything meaningful. But we’re running out of time. We’ve only got an hour before they show up.”
    Jacquelyn sat up straighter in the vinyl bench seat. First of all, blech . There was one upside to being a Waerd and not a Bearer. Thankfully, she wouldn’t