by Terry Spear
“He might try to head us off so he can steal back all this contraband before we destroy it,” Shawn said. “If it were me, that’s what I’d do. Maybe going to the garden center isn’t such a good idea.”
“You’re right.” Brock turned onto another road and headed out of town on the route they’d travel to Denver.
“Wait, where are we going?” Natalie seemed ready to bail out and go home.
“Home to Denver. We’ve got to get rid of this stuff, but we need the pack as backup.” Brock called Devlyn on the Bluetooth. He wasn’t risking Natalie’s life on speculation. “This is Brock. Natalie and Shawn and I are headed home with more than a million dollars’ worth of fake money, real money, and the paper to make the money. And the metal plates they used to print it. Dexter will want our heads and his stuff back.”
“What about the garden center?” Devlyn asked.
“It will have to be closed for the day tomorrow, or we can send a team of our men to intercept Dexter and anyone else he sends to the center. We just can’t let him get ahold of all this. And Natalie is in danger if we try to go there tonight.”
“I’ll send six men to open the garden center,” Devlyn said.
“They won’t know what to do,” Natalie said. “What if you send extra men, and we meet halfway, transfer all this stuff to another vehicle, and someone can drive back to your pack with it? In the meantime, we’ll have the extra men to help us fight Dexter and whoever else he manages to call on, and we can go back to the garden center. Your men won’t be able to run it without me there.”
Devlyn said, “What do you think, Brock?”
Brock knew Devlyn was more worried about Natalie than anything else. “All right. As much as I don’t want to take Natalie there, with more men, we should be able to manage it. We need to get rid of this contraband too.”
“Okay. Sending vehicles and men. One of the vehicles will continue with you, and the others will haul off the loot and come back home so we can dispose of it all properly.”
“Thanks, Devlyn. We’ll meet up with them in about three hours at a travel center at the halfway point.”
Chapter 19
Shawn sighed. “I don’t think there’s any way you’re stopping Natalie from helping you with this mission, Brock. You ought to just have her join you in your PI business.”
Brock let out his breath. “I really don’t want Natalie to be in the middle of this.”
“I am in the middle of this already. As soon as I took Marek’s bag, I got us enmeshed in this. I want to help you to see it through.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you did grab his bag, because if Marek had been caught with the fake money, it could have spelled real trouble for the rest of us,” Shawn said. “Not to mention that the more wolf players there are, the more likely one of them would have been caught by the police sooner or later.”
Brock glanced at her, worried she was feeling responsible for all this. “Shawn’s right. You did all our kind a big service. If you hadn’t picked up that suitcase when you did, no telling where this could have gone down the line.”
“Part of me understands that, but I also feel that here my parents are, getting interested in joining your pack, and look at all the trouble I’ve caused you. You’re wounded, for heaven’s sake, and it’s all because of me.”
“This is just a graze,” Brock reminded her. “It’ll heal in no time.”
“It’s not the end of all this. Your brother and the others could be in real trouble too,” she said.
“You have to understand that Vaughn and Jillian do this for a living. Both are hard-charging when it’s time to deal with rogue shifters. This is their business. Frankly, it’s all our business when we have rogues in our territory. My only regret is I couldn’t just be with you as a newly mated wolf for days on end, enjoying our new status.”
She smiled, and he was glad he could cheer her up a bit. But he was reminded she wasn’t all that used to how a pack worked together. They had each other’s backs, and they took down rogues when they needed to.
“I hope you’re going to tell the rest of the pack about the two of you being mated soon. I hate knowing something like this and having to keep it a secret,” Shawn said.
Brock chuckled. Shawn could never keep a secret about any kind of important news.
“Okay, I’ll call my folks first to let them know. We’ve been kind of busy, and no time seemed right before. I don’t want anyone else telling them before I do.” Natalie got on her phone and called them, even though it was really early in the morning and she knew she’d be waking them.
Brock was glad she was finally telling them. He felt the same way as Shawn. He was having a hard time not howling about it to the world. He wanted to celebrate his mating with her, but also with the pack. Everyone would be thrilled. Which reminded him, he needed to discuss a wedding with her. He assumed she’d want to wait until after they moved to Greystoke and had their garden center operational so her parents could attend their daughter’s wedding. He also needed to know where she wanted to go for a honeymoon. Anywhere with her would make it paradise.
“Hey, Dad, before the word gets out to anyone… Um.” She glanced at Brock and smiled. “Yeah, we’re mated. How did you guess?” She laughed. “Okay, we are.” She took a relieved breath. “Thank goodness.” She leaned against the seat, perfectly relaxed.
Brock wondered if her parents had decided to go ahead and tell Devlyn and Bella they were joining the pack.
“No, you need to stay there and just enjoy yourselves. Make arrangements if you need to for getting the ball rolling on setting up a new garden center. You don’t need to be in Amarillo right now, with all that’s going on. Yeah, we’re being careful. Thanks. Yes, you can tell everyone you want to about us. A wedding? Once we get moved there. Sure. Love you and Mom. Thanks. Bye, Dad.”
“They’re joining the pack?” Brock asked, knowing it couldn’t be anything else.
“Yes.” She smiled at him and ran her hand over his leg. “They’re thrilled and knew it would happen. They’re going to get things in motion to buy the land for the garden center—they’d already picked out the perfect site—and check into who can begin construction on their home.”
“We have members of the pack who can do all of that—licensed carpenters, electricians, plumbers, you name it.”
“Wow, this is going to be wonderful.”
Brock agreed. “You want to get married after we move you and your parents to Greystoke?”
“Yeah. After Angie did, I sure do.”
“But after your parents are established there with their garden center first?”
“Yes. Right. After having so many wedding parties at the garden center, I can’t think of a better place to have our own. I can tell you right now, my parents are going to be chomping at the bit to put the garden center and our homes in Amarillo up for sale, get moved, and start all over again. My parents always jump on a good thing and get to work on it right away. So yes, once they’re moved, we can schedule it. But I’ll need to stay with them in Amarillo to help out with the garden center and still do my lectures until we’re moved.”
“I’ll help too.”
“What about your PI cases?” Natalie sounded surprised he would give up his work just to help her and her family.
“I had thought I would work some cases in Amarillo if I needed to, but I’m not going to bother. I’ll put my work on hiatus while I concentrate on doing anything I can to help all of you get things ready to move to Greystoke. You and your parents are my priority.”
She smiled at him. “Thanks, Brock. We’ll need to put the places up for sale, and then we can start to have sales to reduce our stock. No sense in bringing it with us. We’ll just order all new merchandise in Colorado. We’ll be carrying some different plants that suit the conditions there anyway.”
“What about o
ur honeymoon?”
“Hawaii. If that’s okay with you. I’ve never been there, and I’d love to run as wolves in the tropics. And go diving with you. As long as we have my parents’ new garden center up and running first.”
“We’ll have enough staff to work there that your parents won’t even miss you,” Shawn said.
Brock smiled. “Shawn’s right. Hawaii sounds like a great honeymoon spot. Diving and all the rest. You got it. Do you mind if I tell my brother we’re mated? And then I need to tell our pack leaders.”
“Go ahead. I know you’re dying to.”
“I am. But I know Vaughn’s going to give me a hard time over it.” Brock called his brother first. “Hey, are you still at Lettie’s, set up and waiting?”
“Putting this on speaker so Jillian and the rest of our team can listen in. Yeah, Jillian and I and the other guys are still here, watching over both Lettie’s house and the shop. No peep from anyone yet.”
“Okay, well, Natalie and I have some good news.”
“You’re not mentioning Shawn, so don’t tell me. The wolf who wasn’t about to get hooked up with the she-wolf is mating her.”
“Mated.”
Jillian whooped. Brock smiled.
Vaughn laughed. “I knew it. Congratulations, Bro.”
“I’m one lucky wolf,” Brock said.
“Me too,” Natalie said.
“I never believed you for an instant when you said you weren’t interested in getting to know the lady. One look at her picture, and from everything Angie said about her, you were already sold,” Vaughn said. “I’m glad you didn’t wait long to come to your senses.”
Smiling, Brock reached over and squeezed Natalie’s hand.
“Yeah, well, any wolf who’s willing to drive all the way to Texas to be my bodyguard makes for the perfect live-in mate. He’s not bad at gardening either.”
The guys laughed.
Natalie blushed. Brock loved her.
After they talked for a bit, telling them all that had happened to them in the interim, they let Vaughn and Jillian go so they could be prepared for whoever might show up at Lettie’s place.
“So your parents are going to join the pack right away? No delay?” Brock couldn’t believe how mating Natalie would make him feel so uplifted, and he was glad everything was turning out so well for them, if they could just resolve the business with this counterfeit ring.
Natalie nodded. “Yeah. Dad said there wasn’t any reason to delay. They’re ecstatic about us. I didn’t know they’d been so anxious about me finding the right wolf. But apparently they were. Especially once Angie found a mate and moved in with him. Dad was afraid I’d be… I don’t know. Depressed maybe? I wasn’t. I was just glad Angie was so happy. But I did miss seeing her all the time. Dad said they knew this was the right move for all of us. They’re just delighted. And they picked out a beautifully treed bit of acreage that will work well for the setting of their new garden center.”
Brock was thrilled. “Are you going to tell Angie?”
“Dad said they would. They didn’t want to disturb Angie and Aaron’s honeymoon, but they know they will be just elated to learn the news, both about you and me, and about all of us joining the pack. It will put them over the moon.”
Shawn piped up. “Hey, Brock, you’d better tell Bella and Devlyn you and Natalie are mated. You know if the Silvertons tell them they’re joining the pack, our leaders will assume the two of you are hooking up, but they’ll want to hear it from you first.”
“I’m calling them now.” Brock knew Bella would want to set up a celebratory feast for the union between Brock and Natalie, but also for her parents for joining the pack.
As soon as he reached Bella, she called Devlyn to join her.
“What’s up?” Devlyn asked, and Brock swore Devlyn knew this wasn’t about the case they were working on.
“Natalie and I are mated wolves, and she’ll be moving in with me after we handle whatever we need to back at her place.”
“That’s great news,” Devlyn said.
“Congrats, you two. What about her parents?” Bella asked.
“If you’re agreeable, which I assume you are, they’re going to join the pack.”
“Hallelujah,” Devlyn said.
“That is wonderful news,” Bella said. “When will you be joining us?”
“We’re not sure. We need to handle this other business, put the garden center and houses up for sale, and whatever else we need to do. Natalie could move right in with me, and her parents can stay with us as long as they need to while they build a home and the garden center.”
“Okay, just let us know how we can help make the transition go more smoothly,” Bella said. “If they want to give the two of you more privacy, they’d be welcome to stay with us, or any number of other pack members.”
“Thanks,” Natalie said. “You don’t know what a change this is for us when we compare your pack with the other packs we’ve belonged to.”
“Do they still exist?” Bella asked.
“The one that was fighting internally, no. They broke up. I don’t know what happened to them. We don’t know about the other two either. Thanks so much for all your help and how welcoming you’ve been,” Natalie said.
“We’re just thrilled my cousin found such a perfect mate and you are bringing your family into the pack too,” Devlyn said.
“But who also brought all kinds of trouble to the pack,” Natalie said regrettably.
“That couldn’t be helped. These guys needed to be eliminated,” Devlyn said. “They came into our territory with the counterfeit money with the intent of distributing it. You helped us to learn about it.”
“Let us know when you’ll be coming here so that we can schedule a celebration,” Bella said.
“We will. Thanks again for allowing us to join the pack.”
“Our pleasure,” Bella said.
When they finally reached the travel center, Brock said, “We’ll pull over up there and let the other folks know we’re at the halfway point.”
But he didn’t need to. He saw his pack members coming out of the restaurant, waving. He was glad they were already there.
They quickly transferred all the money and paper to the car’s hatchback, out of sight of the restaurant, and then wished Jacob well before he went back home. Brock noticed another pack member’s car getting gas, four men in the car. They ignored Brock and the others, but as soon as Jacob got on the road, their car followed him. Brock was glad Devlyn had made sure Jacob had backup in case he ran into trouble. Brock and the others got into the two remaining vehicles and headed to Amarillo.
This time, two of Shawn’s brothers, Heath and Tanner, rode with them.
“What’s the game plan?” Heath asked. He was the doctor for the pack, but he was as rough and tumble, as ready to fight any rogue wolves, as the rest of them. And he could care for injuries if anyone got hurt.
“If Dexter and his men are at the garden center, we’ll take them out,” Brock said.
“Do you think Dexter tried to hit the garden center, discovered we didn’t go there, and wondered if we headed to your pack in Colorado?” Natalie asked.
“It’s possible. He might have assumed we’d do just what we did—get reinforcements and send the illegal goods back with some of our men.” Brock loved how good Natalie was at figuring this stuff out.
“What if he continued on his way with some men to try to intercept the vehicle with the money and the rest of the contraband?” she asked.
“He wouldn’t have had time to follow us. In any event, I made sure no one was. Unless he reached the travel station after we did and saw us transferring the money over, he wouldn’t know we aren’t carrying it. Dexter said he could get any kind of a vehicle, and no one could trace it. Does that mean he’s into stolen cars too? Maybe. But it
also means we would have a time knowing what he’s driving. He most likely knows what I’m driving by now, the same with what you and your parents drive. If he’s headed out this way now and sees us leaving, he could believe we did a transfer with our pack members and are going back to the garden center.”
“Then he could just continue on toward Colorado to get rid of the other guy.” Natalie sounded worried.
“Which is why another of our pack cars is following Jacob. One that didn’t meet with us at the service station, in case Dexter did see anything. They’ll be the backup for Jacob, in the event anyone goes after him. If someone had somehow seen the transfer, they won’t know the second vehicle is with our pack.”
“Is it just one driver too?” she asked.
“No. They have four men.”
Natalie let out her breath in relief.
“Hopefully, we have all the bases covered. The game plan is we go to the garden center. Some of us will arrive as wolves, some armed as humans. The other vehicle will park out a way. I’ll drive the Humvee to the carriage house because they already know I drive it and because it’s bulletproof. We’ll park in the garage, make sure the house is clear, then Natalie can watch the security monitors, and I’ll stay with her while Heath, Tanner, and Shawn watch the house from the outside. The other men will check out her parents’ place, and make sure it’s all clear. One man will stay in the house to secure it, and the rest will do what you and Shawn are doing, watching and waiting for anyone to appear,” Brock said.
Natalie turned to speak to Heath in the back seat. “Brock’s injured, by the way. He won’t let us look at his injury, so maybe you can.”
Heath chuckled. “It must be nothing much, or Shawn would have warned me about it, since Brock said nothing about it.”
“It’s just a graze. You know me. Unless I have three or more bullet wounds, it’s not anything worth worrying about.”