Home for the Holidays

by Terry Spear

Dread washed over her as she saw Peter turn to study her. He looked astounded to hear the news.

  “A wolf? In a human prison?” Peter asked Bill.

  “Yeah. After Meghan told me she had turned him in to the police, we ended things between us.”

  Meghan felt her blood chill as soon as Bill mentioned it. Peter turned to observe her again, his lips parted in a look of surprise. She really had meant to talk to Peter about it tonight. Privately. In person. She should have told him before this.

  “Why did he come after you?” she asked Bill, not understanding why Rollins would.

  “When I went to see him in prison, I told him he was lucky to still be alive. That if male wolves had been in the area at the time, they would have eliminated him for attempting to murder that woman. By being incarcerated, he’d been given a reprieve. I wanted him to know he had lucked out. Because of it, I hoped he wouldn’t come after you once he was released from prison.

  “I told him if he caused any more problems, I planned to eliminate him myself. I had fully intended to terminate him anyway, worried he wouldn’t stop brutalizing women and might possibly go after you. Hell, he could easily have gotten caught again but ended up with a longer sentence, or life, and not been able to hold his form in prison. Last I heard, he wasn’t due to be released for another six weeks.” To Peter, Bill said, “I didn’t know Meghan when all this happened in St. Augustine. I was new to the area, or I would have taken care of him then.”

  That’s not what Bill had told her! He’d been furious with her. He must have changed his mind when he saw Rollins in prison.

  “I had to tell you how sorry I was that I broke up with you, and I understand you did the only thing you could have under the circumstances. I’m here now to protect you.”

  Peter gave him an evil glower. “I’m here to protect Meghan.”

  Did that mean Peter was okay with her turning a wolf in to the police? She couldn’t believe how all this had landed in his lap. She felt terrible that she hadn’t revealed the truth to him as soon as they began dating.

  “Sure, as sheriff. It’s expected of you,” Bill said as if she wasn’t already dating someone. “But I’ll be staying at Meghan’s house.”

  Of all the gall! “Peter and I are dating,” she told Bill. She’d already told him she was seeing a wolf, but not who or what his occupation was. And no way in hell was Bill ever entering her home. Staying with her? No. Way.

  Bill’s eyes widened. Then he narrowed his eyes. “You can’t take care of her 24/7.”

  “I can, and I will. Between pack members and me, we’ll have her covered.” Peter folded his arms across his chest.

  “My sisters need protection too,” Meghan said, anxious about them. “I wouldn’t put it past Rollins to go after them. At the trial, two other women came forth to say he’d beaten them and they’d been hospitalized. So he has no qualms about hurting women.”

  “And your sisters.” Peter immediately got on his phone. “Hey, CJ, we have a situation with this mugger, and it involves Meghan and her sisters.” He explained more but didn’t leave the room, as if she was already in his protective custody. Then Peter called their pack leaders to get more men involved in searching for Rollins and protecting the ladies.

  Meghan gave Laurel a call after that, but CJ had already talked to her, and two men in the pack were on their way to watch over Laurel and Ellie.

  “Peter knows about Rollins and is okay with it?” Laurel asked Meghan.

  “I’m not sure. I’ll get back with you on that later.” Meghan knew Peter was going to be busy with trying to ensure she and her sisters were protected and searching for Rollins. When Peter had a moment to reflect, then what? She couldn’t talk to her sister about it with Bill and Peter listening either.

  She figured she and Peter would talk about it over dinner tonight. Then again, maybe not, if he was leading the force looking for Rollins. At least because of Rollins’s prison sentence, they had a mug shot of him—his hair dark brown, his face bearded, his eyes slate-blue. She and Bill knew his scent. She guessed anyone who had been to the crime scene would. None of them knew what he looked like as a wolf, though.

  “We’ll put a guard on your room at all times,” Peter said to Bill. “Dr. Weber said you won’t be leaving here anytime soon.”

  Meghan guessed Bill’s injury was worse than she had imagined. She’d thought—from the way he had talked about protecting her and his lack of memory loss—that he was about ready to leave the clinic. He did look wiped out, though, and not having any control over his shifting could be a real problem.

  The nurse poked his head in the doorway. “Dr. Weber says Mr. Weaver needs to rest.”

  Bill looked as though he wanted Meghan to stay, but they wouldn’t be alone. Peter wasn’t leaving until she did. And she had no reason to stay. She needed to return to the inn to finish doing her work.

  She finally wished Bill well. “I’ll check in on you later.”

  “I want us to get together again. I’ll even move here, or wherever you and your sisters end up.” Bill looked sincere and hopeful.

  “Ellie and Laurel married pack members here. We’re staying.” And you’re not, Meghan wanted to add. “I’ve moved on, Bill. Like I said, I’m dating Peter.” Though if Peter wasn’t happy about the talk she had with him tonight, she might be seeing someone new…later. But she’d never get back together with Bill.

  Before she left the room, Bill startled her by throwing aside his covers as if he wanted to show off how well built he was. Peter looked like he was getting ready to punch him when Bill suddenly shifted into his brown wolf form and sat on the bed growling softly, as if annoyed with his lack of control.

  Peter looked like he was fighting a smile and said to Bill, “One of my men will be here in a bit. I’ll stay at the clinic until he arrives.”

  That was the great thing about the pack members. Many were already deputized for any emergency and knew how to fire weapons and had martial arts training. Some would be running as wolves to pick up Rollins’s scent at the ski lodge and then chase him down if he was running as a wolf.

  Peter followed Meghan out of the room. “So what was that all about? This Rollins character?”

  One wolf patient and one human were waiting to see the doctor. Minx, a nineteen-year-old gray wolf, had a cast on her arm from a skiing accident earlier in the season, and someone Meghan didn’t know was coughing up a storm nearby. Probably a human on vacation in the area. Meghan didn’t want to discuss Rollins around anyone else. She figured the news would spread among the pack members eventually, but she didn’t want to let them in on it right now. Though she supposed they would need to know why the wolf was after her. If he was. Maybe he’d only been after Bill and had followed him here. But she figured that was wishful thinking on her part.

  “In the break room?” She’d thought Peter was going to go after Rollins or watch Bill, not question her. She guessed he might think she had more to share about Rollins that could make it easier to find and capture him. And kill him.

  “Yeah.”

  Meghan led the way, and once they were in the break room, Peter shut the door.

  She made a cup of tea for herself. Peter just watched her.

  When she sat down at the table, he finally sat kitty-corner from her. “I witnessed Rollins beating a woman nearly to death in an alley in St. Augustine near where we were renovating a Victorian hotel. A grocery store was located near there, and I often walked down the street to it when we needed something. I’d never had any trouble before. It was at night, about six blocks away, and no one was on the street at the time.

  “I was about to walk past a dark alley between two buildings when I heard a struggle. At first, I thought Rollins was a random mugger, beating a woman, but then she cried out, ‘No, Rollins,’ and I realized she knew the man. It was personal. I had no weapon on me and no way to stop hi
m without tearing off my clothes and shifting. The woman was conscious, barely. I whipped out my phone and called the police.”

  “After you knew he was a wolf?”

  She hesitated to answer. She knew Peter wouldn’t approve of what she’d done.

  “Okay, after.” Peter was good at his job. He wouldn’t need her to tell him everything. Her hesitation told him all he needed to know.

  “Yes. I called the police, and Rollins swung around to see me on my cell phone. I could have moved out of the view of the alley, but he would have heard me anyway, and…and I couldn’t let him beat her to death. I had to stop him.”

  “At the risk of losing your own life,” Peter said, frowning.

  Good. Peter didn’t seem to be too upset that she’d called the police on Rollins.

  “I had to do something. He had to be stopped. I didn’t think I could get away with stripping and shifting and killing him without the victim and others seeing. No pack was in the area, so there was no one else I could call on. I even had the notion of paying someone to eliminate him in prison.”

  Peter raised a brow.

  “I was afraid I’d get caught. I wouldn’t have known how to go about finding someone who could contact a prisoner and do such a thing.”

  “Good thing for you.”

  “Yeah. I’m sure I would have been facing attempted murder-for-hire charges of my own. I’m sorry, Peter. I never thought the bastard would get out of prison this soon, or that he’d come after me. I didn’t know Bill had seen him in prison, threatening him even. Bill dumped me after I told him what I had done.”

  “You said no other wolves were in the area.”

  “At the time I had the issue with Rollins, no. Bill moved into the area three years after Rollins was sent to prison. I wanted to come clean with him, but I assumed he’d be upset with me. I hadn’t expected him to end our relationship. I planned to tell you, but…”

  “You were afraid the same thing would happen with me.” Peter reached over and squeezed Meghan’s hand. “No way in hell. You did what you thought you had to at the time. If you had to do it over again?”

  “I would have shifted. But that’s only because I now know no one else walked by the alleyway while Rollins was beating the woman. She might have thought she was hallucinating if she’d seen a wolf shift. But if anyone else had seen me?”

  “You were right to have done what you did. We can’t all be perfect. Leaving a witness alive who had seen you shift could have been just as dangerous for our kind as Rollins shifting in prison. Normally, we’d say to eliminate the witness, but I know you couldn’t have done it. Some of our kind wouldn’t have had any qualms.”

  “What about you?”

  He let out his breath. “She was already the victim of a brutal attack.” He shook his head. “I honestly don’t know what I would have done in your place. I’ve never been put in that position. You might have turned the woman, but that has plenty of complications. Seems to me, the simplest choice is the one we face now. The deed was done. We have only one goal: take down Rollins for good.” Peter caressed her hand. “Now, what are we going to do about Bill?”

  “Make sure he remains protected and heals? He’ll have to stay here until we take Rollins out, since there are no wolves to protect him in St. Augustine. At least there weren’t while we were living there.”

  “After that?”

  She smiled. “I’m not interested in him, Sheriff Peter Jorgenson. So don’t worry about Bill’s comment. He ended the relationship over this business in the first place. There’s no going back for either of us. There was never enough of a draw between us. I’m sure that’s why it was so easy for him to end things.”

  “That’s all I wanted to hear. If I had to step back…”

  “You’d better not,” she said in an authoritative manner.

  Peter smiled and pulled her from the break-room chair into his arms. “Good. I don’t want anything to come between us.”

  “Like secrets?”

  “You should have told me, Meghan. I would have understood. We’ll talk more tonight. Over dinner, okay?”

  About his secrets? Maybe she’d been feeling so guilty about her own that she had believed his secretive behavior with the Silvers was something he didn’t want to share with her.

  “Okay. I need to get back to the inn and help out.” She just hoped they’d catch this bastard and end him quickly before he hurt anyone else.

  * * *

  Peter couldn’t believe all this business with Bill and Rollins had to do with Meghan. Turning a wolf in to the police was bad news. But he was sorry Meghan hadn’t felt she could talk to him privately about this earlier.

  Peter called Trevor. “Hey, I need you over at the inn watching over the ladies.” He explained the situation. “Just call any of our deputized men to take care of the traffic issues. Thanks.”

  Just then, CJ arrived at the clinic’s staff break room. “Hey, Meghan, Peter. I’ll take first watch here. We’ve got other men coming—our resident retired Special Forces officer Michael Hoffman, for one—but I know you’ll want to escort Meghan back to the inn and start the search for Rollins. I’ll help with that as soon as I’m relieved here. Jake said he’ll be watching over your sisters.”

  “Good show. Trevor’s on his way over there too. Are you ready to leave, Meghan?” Peter asked.

  “Yeah, let’s go.”

  Peter knew not everyone would be in agreement with what Meghan had done. But she was a petite woman, not a muscular man, and couldn’t have taken Rollins out at the crime scene and stopped him permanently. Not unless she’d been a wolf. Even Bill, who was well muscled, hadn’t been able to fight back sufficiently to stop his attacker from knocking him out at the lodge.

  Peter had to eliminate this bastard before he could hurt anyone else—and make sure Bill left town for good.

  Chapter 5

  When Peter escorted Meghan to the inn, her sisters hurried outside to greet her. Jake and Trevor followed them out in protective mode.

  “Oh…my…God, Meghan,” Laurel said, giving her a big hug.

  Ellie quickly followed suit.

  “I’m off to try to learn what I can about Rollins’s whereabouts,” Peter said.

  Everyone said goodbye, but Meghan kissed him, hugging him as if she wanted things to go further with him, which she did. She didn’t want any of this to come between them. He kissed her back as if he’d forgotten about their audience or that he was wearing a uniform, even though part of that uniform was jeans that hugged his muscles and made her want to run her hands over them. Every time they kissed, her blood pumped with heated desire. She felt his erection pressing against his jeans and her. He’d never kissed her in front of her sisters like this. She really didn’t want to let him go.

  His tongue tangled with hers briefly, and then he reluctantly pulled away, kissing her forehead and whispering in her ear, “Tonight.”

  For a moment, she was lost in the feel of him. He gave her a roguish wink, showing a side she rarely saw of him, and she wondered if they’d end up in bed together tonight. If they did, hopefully, they’d end the night in a better way. She decided right then and there she wanted to see a lot more of that side of him. She smiled, watching him get in his vehicle and drive off, and turned to speak to her sisters, both of whom were smiling at her. Jake and Trevor were taking in the whole situation too. She just hoped neither would tell the pack leaders that it looked as though Meghan and Peter were finally becoming mated wolves.

  “I can’t believe that bastard followed us here,” Laurel said.

  “Me, not you.” Meghan adored her sisters. They were like the Three Musketeers, female versions, always there for each other. “Or maybe Rollins was just after Bill for threatening him and doesn’t realize I live here.”

  “Bill threatened him?” Laurel asked as they all moved inside
the inn and congregated in the lobby.

  “Yeah, at the prison.”

  “Great. What if Rollins learns Bill had come here to see you? Then Rollins could take care of both of you at the same time.” Laurel frowned. “How is Bill?”

  Meghan figured Trevor and Jake already had gotten the word from Jake’s cousin CJ and that’s why they weren’t drilling her for information too.

  Ellie got another call on the reservation line and hurried back to the front desk.

  “Rollins hit him really hard. The doctor wants Bill to stay in the clinic for several more days, but he’ll be well guarded the whole time. I hope the woman Rollins attacked is safe and that he didn’t go after her again.” A woman never knew the trouble she could be in if she picked the wrong kind of boyfriend and then tried to leave him. “Or even the other two women who testified against him.”

  “I was going to say Peter needs to call and ask the St. Augustine police to do a health and welfare check on the three women, but since the bastard’s here and we need to take him down personally, it would be best if we check on that later. We don’t want the police there getting involved in our wolf affairs. How are you feeling about all this?” Laurel asked.

  Ellie was still manning the registration desk and looking like she wanted to end the calls so she could talk about this too. She usually chatted away with whoever called to reserve a room, but instead she was quickly making the reservation and ending the call.

  “It’s a shock. It’s all so hard to believe,” Meghan said. “I’m not even entirely sure why Bill wanted to speak to me. He wouldn’t say over the phone, and at the time, he didn’t know Rollins was already out.”

  “Because he wanted to see you in person to tell you how stupid he was for dumping you,” Ellie said. “And he couldn’t do that over the phone.”

  “Right, I agree with Ellie. But Bill could have put you in danger by not warning you sooner that he’d talked to Rollins in prison. That could have set Rollins off. Your testimony helped to put him in prison. He has to resent being locked up like that,” Laurel said. “You knew there was always the possibility he might come after you once you’d called the police on him and, along with three former girlfriends, testified in court against him, which helped in putting him away. CJ wants you to stay with us at our home. Or we could stay at your house, but Rollins may already know you own it and be watching it.”