Off the Beaten Path

by Cari Z

  I blinked. “Because….”

  “Because he shot you.” Henry gestured toward my shoulder. “You can’t have forgotten.”

  “No, of course not, just….” I tried to clear my head and focus. “What happens if I press charges?”

  “You’d have a pretty good case for assault, at least on the surface. If he had to get a defense attorney, they might go digging, and that could reveal some uncomfortable truths about how you really got here if we’re not careful.” Right, because I’d kind of forced-slash-guilt-tripped my way into the compound. “If John were convicted, he would lose custody of his kids and be thrown in a federal penitentiary. I doubt he’d ever get out. We’d get a new guardian.”

  Well, fuck that. “I’m not going to press charges.”

  “Ward… you have a case. He shouldn’t have been shooting at all, much less in a way that endangered you like this.”

  “I’m not saying I don’t think he’s reckless and probably needs a good shrink to talk to about his mountain of trust issues”—and all the other issues that came from being intensely isolated for so much of his life—“but I’m not going to hold one bad decision against him. Much.”

  “You’re far kinder than I am.”

  I pointed a finger from my good hand at him. “Lie. You’d do the same thing if he’d shot you.”

  “I’d already be healed if he’d shot me.”

  “I’m not going to take him away from his kids, Henry,” I said quietly. “Not like this. It would traumatize all of them for the rest of their lives. What’s going to happen to Genna?”

  Henry shrugged. “If you don’t press charges, nothing. Formally, at least. I imagine she’ll go to college.”

  “What about her and Roman?”

  “If they’re really determined to be together, then she’ll wait for him. His parents have changed their tune on his going away, which is the least they could do at this point.” He pursed his lips. “All this drama and violence and we end up back at the point I suggested in the first place.”

  I smiled. “Yeah, but now everyone agrees with you.”

  “If you being shot is the price of agreement, then screw it, I’m becoming a tyrant.”

  “Sam would never let you.”

  It was his turn to smile. “Yeah, I know.” He glanced at his watch, and his smile turned into a grimace. “I have to go soon.”

  Oh shit, I’d forgotten all about his deployment. “Go… away? Already?”

  “No, I’m not leaving the compound.”

  I frowned. “But your orders—”

  “I invoked the sovereignty clause. They’ll have to try to drag me out of here to get me to leave. Which they should, in about half an hour.” He took in my gobsmacked expression and continued. “What, you thought I’d leave you here like this?”

  “You… could.” I didn’t want him to, but I’d survive without his comforting presence. I’d survive without watching him teach Ava or seeing him interact with the other kids, without sharing meals and a room and a bed with him, without touching him or feeling him touch me back, and seeing him look just as exhilarated by the experience as me.

  “But I won’t.” The warmth in his eyes was unmistakable, and I leaned toward him without realizing I was doing it, finally wincing when my damaged shoulder lifted off the mattress. The pain focused me.

  “Shit, wait, they’re coming to make you go?”

  “According to the last five messages from Colonel Hill, yes. Don’t worry, though, I won’t let them come after you too.”

  “Fuck that.” I immediately put my good hand down on the bed and began to push myself up to sitting. Henry practically jumped to his feet, his hands hovering over me like they didn’t quite know where to touch.

  “You can’t get up. You were shot!”

  “Old news. It’s been twenty-four hours. I can handle it.” I wasn’t woozy and didn’t quite feel like I was about to fall flat again, but the pain in my shoulder wasn’t negligible either. I gritted my teeth and tried to swing my feet out from under the blanket, then stopped short when I realized I had a catheter in. “Get Tennyson. I need him to unhook me.”

  “Ward.” Henry finally settled on my hips as a target, pressing both warm palms firmly against the ridges of my pelvis. I tried not to let on how nice it felt. “You need to stay in bed, for the sake of your health.”

  “I need to be with you, for the sake of our pack. Colonel Hill needs to see that you have support,” I insisted.

  “And what kind of support would you be if you fell over in the snow as soon as he arrived?”

  I knew he didn’t mean to be cruel, but it didn’t feel like that at the moment. I kept silent, and he stared at me before sighing heavily. “Shit, I’m sorry. That wasn’t… I’m just worried about you, Ward.”

  “Pot, kettle.”

  He gestured to my bandaged shoulder. “But I’m not recovering from a huge physical trauma.”

  “No, just an emotional one,” I shot back, and he looked away first. “You’re trying to protect me, I know it. But I’m the reason Hill is coming after you now. I can’t leave you to fight that battle on your own.” I waved away the objections I knew were coming. “I know you have Sam and Liam, and things are better with the pack now, but they aren’t the ones who’ve been taking care of you lately. I am. And I’m going to keep doing it, and that means not letting you face down someone who’s very happy to abuse you however he can get away with it, without being there to back you up.” I grabbed one of his hands in my own. “I want to do this. I need to.”

  Henry stared at me like he was trying to catch my words out of the air and dissect their meaning. “Why?” he asked quietly.

  “Because we’re partners. Aren’t we? We—look, we like each other, right?” God, why did my vocabulary have to descend to a middle-school level when I was trying to be serious? “Maybe—maybe more than that, for me. I want to be with you when you face down Hill because if he takes—if he tries to take—” Oh shit, was I on the edge of a panic attack again? I took a deep breath and did my best to force the anxiety back. “You’re mine,” I snarled. “And he can’t fucking take you away from me without a fight.”

  As threats went, it wasn’t best being delivered by a wounded, sickly guy with a plastic tube up his dick, but Henry smiled like I’d just handed him the moon. “You getting territorial on me, Ward?”

  “Yeah.” I pushed my lower jaw out a bit. “Do you have a problem with that?”

  “Nope!” For someone who had been deadly serious less than a minute ago, his cheerful turnaround was a little dizzying. “How about a compromise? Instead of me going out to meet Hill alone or you coming with me, we’ll stay here. Together.”

  “You can cling to my bed when they try to drag you out.”

  “It’s got wheels, Ward,” Henry pointed out with a smile. “It wouldn’t be hard to drag you with me.”

  “Good,” I murmured. “That’s what I want.”

  Henry shook his head. “You’re crazy, but I guess opposites attract.”

  “Whatever. You’re ten times crazier than me.”

  “Crazy about you, maybe.”

  From what I remembered of my sort-of-rescue, he really was kind of insanely protective of me. At least if his shift was anything to go by. “What do you—”

  There was a knock on the door, and a moment later Sam walked in. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said, “but the cameras are showing a vehicle coming up the road, Henry.”

  He tensed but didn’t let go of my hand. “Just one?”

  “One that we can see. It’s definitely from the Springs, though.”

  “He might have operatives moving in from other directions. Ask Liam to keep an eye on the rest of the fence, but direct whoever’s in the vehicle to me here.”

  Sam’s brow furrowed. “Into the clinic? Henry, what—”

  “Hey, it’s not my idea. Ward is making me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You big baby. Seriously, Ava has more maturit
y than you.”

  “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to let Hill see you so….” Sam groped for the right word until Henry intervened.

  “Infatuated? Obsessed? In love?”

  “Vulnerable,” Sam said, but her joy overcame her worry for a moment. “Oh, in love? Really?”

  Henry blushed. It was the cutest fucking thing ever, a grown werewolf blushing, and I was going to tease him for it later. For now, though, I had mercy. “We’re still working out the details, but we want to present a united front.”

  “It makes perfect sense.” Sam nodded approvingly. “A pack is always healthier with a second alpha to help take the weight, and I don’t really fit the bill these days. Good call. I’ll go let everyone else know. They’ll be thrilled! Ward, pinch your cheeks,” she added as she turned to leave. “Get some color into them, so Hill doesn’t think you’re dying.”

  I turned a blank stare on Henry, who looked… kind of stunned. “An alpha? Me?” I shook my head. “Look at me!”

  “No, she’s right about that part.”

  “But I’m human!”

  “Sam has been my second ever since I took over,” he pointed out. “She’s human too.”

  “But I don’t feel like an alpha.”

  He cocked his head a little. “How should an alpha feel?”

  “I don’t know… powerful? In control? Bossy?”

  Henry smirked. “You boss me around all the time with no problem.”

  “That’s different.”

  “I don’t see—” Henry stiffened and turned his head toward the door. “Sam’s coming back. Someone’s with her.”

  I fought the panic back again. “Colonel Hill, I guess.”

  “No. I don’t recognize this man’s heartbeat. And Hill would never come this far into the compound alone—he’d have his men with him to help him intimidate me. He said he’d be here himself, though. This is… strange.” Henry’s hand twitched in mine, like he wanted to sprout claws and wasn’t by force of sheer will. “I don’t know who’s coming. I don’t know what this is.”

  I squeezed his hand as tightly as I could. “Then we’ll find out together.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Henry

  I DIDN’T know what to expect when Sam and her companion walked into the room, but it wasn’t a dark-skinned man wearing dress blues with a silver oak leaf on each shoulder. My sister’s heartbeat was completely calm, which was another shocker. The biggest surprise, though? The way Ward gasped when he saw the man, then straightened up and reached for him.

  “Davis!”

  “Ward! Dammit, what did I tell you about avoiding guardians?” The man immediately came over to the bed and took Ward’s hand, cupping it soothingly and taking the sting out of his rebuke. Not that Ward looked very rebuked. He grinned widely.

  “You told me not to look the alpha in the eye either. I’d rate your advice about fifty-fifty for usefulness. What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Saving your ass, you pain in the neck,” he said, then looked at me for the first time. “Or rather, saving your ass, Major Dormer.”

  “I’d appreciate an explanation,” I replied, trying to keep the growl out of my voice, but it wasn’t easy. I’d been expecting a fight, verbal at the very least, possibly physical. My adrenaline was still up, even if the threat was neutralized. Plus, he was still holding on to Ward’s hand. It wasn’t really my place to let that irritate me, but it did anyway. “Where’s Colonel Hill?”

  “He’s currently under investigation for alleged associations with antiwerewolf hate groups. He’s been removed from command of the Agency of Shifter Affairs pending his trial.”

  I was speechless, struck dumb. Sam came around the bed and set a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently.

  “How?” I managed after a moment.

  “His email server appears to have been hacked. Copies of his correspondence were sent to every general in the Pentagon, as well as all the rest of the officers working with the ASA.” Davis shrugged. “The intelligence leak is regrettable and being investigated for its own merits, but it’s unconscionable to allow someone with Colonel Hill’s views to order werewolves into the field. The entire department is undergoing a massive reorganization.”

  Ward was still grinning. “I guess that’s how you got promoted, huh?”

  Davis snorted. “The brass was begging for someone to take this spot that wouldn’t run scared the first time a werewolf bared a fang at them, and I was looking for a way to check in and make sure you were still alive. Win-win. Still, the position is only as acting director. I’m not in charge of the place yet, brat.”

  “You will be.”

  I had to interrupt. “Does this mean that my deployment to Ukraine is cancelled?”

  Davis nodded. “It does. We’re very carefully pulling all our active operatives as well, so we can do a reassessment of how each alpha is coping with his or her duties and what the next step should be. You’re on leave for the indefinite future, Major.”

  It sounded too good to be true. “We have to justify our protected status.” Sam and Ward both frowned, but I persisted. “That’s been the party line for decades. Don’t tell me it’s changed now just because Hill was an ass.”

  “Look, I can’t see the future any better than you,” Davis said. “But I’m not lying about the reorganization that’s happening. Rocks are being overturned. Souls—and email accounts—are being searched. There are a lot of people who were kept in the dark about certain practices Colonel Hill allowed and encouraged that are spitting mad about it now. Things are changing, and for my part I’m going to do my best to make sure every member of ASA, whether they’re a werewolf or a human, is given everything they need to do the best job possible, instead of fighting for the bare essentials.” He sounded—every part of him, voice and heart—completely sincere. “I’ve been out there. I’ve seen what you do, how you work.” He stood at attention and saluted me. “Thank you for your service, Major Dormer.”

  I couldn’t speak. It was too much, too far from everything I’d been expecting. After a moment I saluted back, and he relaxed.

  Sam, bless her sense of timing, stepped in for me. “Why don’t you and Ward talk for a while?” she suggested to Davis, urging me to my feet. “I’ll feed this one and bring back some lunch for both of you, and Ava’s probably ready to see her daddy again.”

  “Ava’s shifted? That’s great!” Davis’s face split with a grin, and I felt better about leaving Ward alone with him. Just a little better. I felt even better when Ward motioned me close, put his hand around the back of my neck and kissed me. He still stank of antiseptic and stress, but his lips were the softest things I’d ever touched, and I closed my eyes and leaned into the embrace, still careful of his shoulder. When we parted, he looked dazed. I kissed him again for it, fast but gentle, then backed away.

  “We’ll be back soon.” As we left I could hear the bed creak as Davis sat on it, the low murmur of their voices starting up, but I didn’t strain to listen in. Sam wrapped her hand around my arm as we walked out into the winter sunshine, and even though it was cold, I felt suffused with warmth and light.

  “How did you do it?” I asked quietly as we started toward our house.

  “Liam used Ward’s car as an uplink and hacked Hill’s account. He also hacked the confidential after-action reports for the last dozen active missions and highlighted the medical findings, with Tennyson’s help.” She shrugged casually. “All in a few months’ work.”

  Wait a second. “Months?”

  She nudged me with her hip. “You didn’t think my honeymoon was nothing but booze and fucking, did you? Why do you think I picked Virginia and not the Virgin Islands? We were working the whole time.”

  “I didn’t want to think about it,” I said with perfect honesty. “But Sam… this is amazing. Thank you.”

  “I wasn’t about to lose you. I’m never going to lose you, Henry.” There it was, all the ferocity and love it seemed like I’d be
en seeing ever since I got back, but not really feeling. I felt it now, though, and pressed a grateful kiss to the top of her head as we walked.

  The cabin was warm, and I could hear Liam, Tennyson, and Ava talking in the kitchen. Sam went ahead of me, calling to her husband to take my plate out of the oven as she went. I bent over to untie my boots, grateful for a moment to myself.

  In a minute, I’d go join my family for lunch. I’d reach out to my brother-in-law and thank Tennyson, play with Ava and serve some food up for Ward and Davis. I’d have to figure things out between Ward and myself. I’d have to check on my pack, all of them, and talk to Davis and John about what happened next with our guardian and his family. I’d have to see how Roman and Gerald were holding up and thank Peggy for her help. A long list of duties, responsibilities, and privileges stretched out in front of me, and for the first time in a long time, they didn’t fill me with fear or anxiety.

  I had a future again, and it was full of hope.

  Epilogue

  Ward

  IT WAS just early enough in the spring that the nights were still uncomfortably cool, but Henry liked to sleep with the window open, so I got used to our bedroom being a little chilly. It didn’t really matter, honestly. I was still deliciously warm, tucked up against Henry’s side and under his arm. He didn’t even mind when I pushed my icy feet between his calves, just tugged me closer with a quiet sigh.

  The sky was starting to get light. Gray jays were calling in the tree just beyond our window, and it was a weekend, so neither of us had any reason to get up yet. It was perfect. I turned my face against Henry’s chest and kissed him there and got a rumbling growl of contentment as my prize. I loved making him rumble, it was like getting a cat to purr. I did it again and again, until he opened his eyes and blinked at me.

  “You better stop that before you start something,” he whispered.

  “Maybe I’m trying to start something.” My chest felt clear, my shoulder didn’t ache anymore, I’d slept well, and I was horny. Plus, Henry loved morning sex, so… “Yeah?”