"Meeting Cash?" he asked, wanting to smack himself as soon as the words were out. What else would she be doing in his office, idiot?
"Yeah, I-I'm thinking about coming back to the pack. Formally, that is. Instead of just hanging out on the fringes like I have been." Shut up, Mari! She chastised herself. Shut up, shut up, shut up!
He looked very unenthusiastic about that idea but gave her the smile he gave strangers, the one that didn't reach his eyes, and nodded anyway. A fake smile on someone like Tek just made him look like a dog with his teeth bared. The only thing it was missing was the menacing growl.
"Would that be all right with you? If I...you know, joined again?" Despite his horrid, faux smile, the idea of asking his opinion of what she was considering just struck her, but as soon as the question was out, she realized she really wanted to know what he thought about it.
"Sounds fine. Good idea. Fine. Good," he repeated, closing his mouth with an audible snap of his teeth when it was apparent that he was just going to keep repeating himself like the brainless dolt he was.
Mari's eyes misted a bit as he lied through his teeth, then tap-danced his way out of her presence as quickly as he could without actually turning tail and running. If the whole encounter hadn't seemed so tragic and somehow wistful to her, she might have smiled at the idea of that big, hulking man running from the likes of her.
When Cash finally arrived, she had gotten herself more under control, but her impromptu meeting with Tek had upset her so that she wasn't anywhere near as sure as she had been about the answer she was going to give him.
"I was glad to hear how positive you sounded on the phone. Does that mean that we're going to be welcoming you back into our little extended family, I hope?"
Did he really hope for that? she wondered. It was hard to tell. She had always had the uncanny knack of reading Cash much more accurately than he wanted from the time she was very young. But the older they both got, and the less close they became, emotionally and physically to each other, the less accurate she became, so that now he was just as much of a mystery to her as anyone else was.
Mari cleared her throat and gave him her answer, "Yes, I would like to rejoin the Alpha-Omegas."
Cash rose immediately to come around to the front of his desk and hug her tightly. "I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that, Mari. It just hasn't been the same without my little sister by my side."
As she hugged her brother with all her strength, Mari shed a single tear, both for the enormity of what she was gaining, and losing, at the same time.
* * *
She got into the swing of their small society much more easily than she had expected to, though. She was an independent, single woman, and there weren't many of those around the club. The mates pretty much stayed at home and raised the children, although they could certainly work if they liked. But the guys brought in more than enough money for them not to have to, and the majority didn't. Lots of them did volunteer work, mostly for the children in the area, and that kept them busy.
But her relationship to their leader meant that the single guys in the pack considered her pretty much off limits – except, of course, for the one she wasn't supposed to want. None of them was willing to brave Cash – except Tek. She had been glad to see that he had treated her reentry into pack society as serious, and they had not had a liaison since the fateful night after the potluck. They hadn't even really talked at all. Tek did his best to stay out of her way, usually finding some excuse to leave a room once she'd entered it, and spending his time with the other single guys at pack parties, instead of hanging with Cash and Abby as he used to, because she was also there. Mari tried to do her part, too, making sure they weren't alone together any more than they had to be. It wasn't as if their desire for each other could be shut off, but it could, apparently, be stuffed down, and that was exactly what she intended to do, and day after day, week after week, month after month, it began to get the tiniest bit easier to do that.
At least until she saw him again. Then it was back to square one, every time. He seemed to be coping much better than she was, it seemed, and that was hard for her to realize, too.
Mari took to spending her off time – what there was of it – at the club, and, with her business degree, quickly found herself getting involved in the financial end of things. That was something that Cash did because it was his responsibility, but he didn't like it. He was only too happy to turn over those duties to his sister, whom he trusted with his life and his money, which was saying something.
She tried to make sure she was there for every pack event, whether it was just someone's birthday, or a Fourth of July barbeque at Cash and Abby's, or a more official occasion, such as voting on whether or not someone could join the club. Ancestry and family history with the pack were only part of what one needed to become a full fledged member - and she quickly became known as a smart, level headed cookie, whether she was dealing with someone who had been shot up in a raid gone bad, or with the inevitable search warrants that were occasionally presented from the police. She knew most of the officers on the squad and they knew her, so she was very congenial with them, which was a very different reception than the antagonistic one that usually met with them. Mari served them coffee and home baked cookies while they were rummaging through the clubhouse.
That became a bit of a bone of contention with some of the members, who thought she was aiding and abetting the enemy, and she was called before their council, which consisted of the Alpha, his enforcer – who was Tek – and three other of his most trusted men. Although all decisions were his to make, regarding the club, he was also expected to take into consideration the advice his council gave him on matters affecting the pack.
In the end, though, she was able to convince them that her way of treating the law – openly, with good humor and courtesy – would make them less likely to think of them as outlaw rebels who needed to be kept a close eye on. Constant confrontations with them were a vicious cycle. They had agreed to a trial period of six months, during which what had been almost weekly raids became monthly, then bi-monthly, then only the occasional annoyance.
But harassment from the cops was only one problem they faced. Other aggressive packs trying to take over anyone and everyone's territory was an even more serious dilemma.
One of their rival clubs had ridden into the parking lot of the club one Saturday, more than a year and a half after she'd been welcomed back into the crew, while she was there doing the books. Everyone else was gone on an impromptu run – which could have meant anything from visiting the whorehouse they ran under the table to transporting drugs or guns or even medical or chemical waste; she knew better than to ask for and they didn't offer an explanation. The only people with her who could be counted on to be any help – and it wouldn't be much - were two newbs who had each been with the pack for less than a month and weren't even yet allowed to wear anything with a club insignia. Without hesitation, she threw on the leathers that she had only just earned back and stalked out there to meet their leader, flanked by the two uncertain recruits, after instructing the scrawny barkeep, who was an old, retired member with one eye and only part of his left arm, to call Cash and tell him what was happening.
"Can I help you gentlemen?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips in a no nonsense fashion that also gave them a good look at the Glock she had in a speed holster on her hip. And it was no idle threat. Her father had known that the less scrupulous packs in the area weren't at all above coming at his family, so she had grown up knowing how to handle a gun, and she was a damned fine shot.
Her bravado drew a chuckle from the White Lights, who she knew were a neo-Nazi pack from the four corners area. They weren't a pack that they were cordial with – one was never really "friends" with another club but rather settled for an uneasy truce in most cases in order to conduct business – and she knew they weren't partnering with them in any capacity for any reason. And they were a very violent bunch. She might have rebelled
against all the rules and regulations that governed pack life in the Alpha-Omegas. But she'd take every one of those restrictions over the absolute lawless, anything goes environment that some packs seemed to prefer, claiming it kept them more in touch with their wild side rather than conforming to human laws in any way, shape or form, to say nothing of how atrociously they treated their women.
Their leader and his beta dismounted to stand in front of her, looking her dismissively up and down at very close quarters before issuing a wolf whistle and saying, "Well, ain't you just a fine piece of ass."
"No, I'm not. I think you might have me confused with Bing over there." Bing was a slight man who looked barely more than a boy, although he was twenty-three, and seemed to be on the edge of gay but wasn't. What he was, was a virgin, which was something that he hadn't had the common sense to keep to himself around the guys, hence the nickname his compadres hung on him. "I'm Cash Buchanan's sister. Is there something I can do for you?"
The fact that they ignored that pertinent bit of information had Mari far more worried than their insulting banter. Instead of impressing them with the idea that they needed to respect a female member of a pack leader's family, what she'd said just brought a chorus of snickers from the men behind him. "Oh, honey, it's more what I can do for you!" he said, laughing as he arched his hips towards her while holding his package in his hand and making smooching noises.
Mari rolled her eyes. "From where I'm standing," she responded calmly, casting a withering glance at what little he was cupping, "even Bing might be too much for you to handle."
The newbies behind her cracked up at that, and some of the gang in front of them were brave – or stupid – enough to chuckle a bit, too, but their leader seemed downright insulted, for some reason she couldn't fathom.
"Why you little –" He lunged at her, which was exactly what she'd been expecting. She used his own momentum against him, grabbing his hand, twisting it around and back while she pressed the vulnerable area between his index and middle fingers mercilessly with her thumb, bringing him to his knees in the same split second that she brought out her gun, aiming it directly at the man's temple.
His men barely had time to respond, but some of them were quicker than others, lunging at her until they saw her brandishing a gun at their leader, saying, "I wouldn't, if I were you, gentlemen. He won't be the first man I've killed, nor will he be the last. Whatever your original reason for dropping by, I'd say you've long since overstayed your welcome."
The cavalry chose just that moment to arrive, which had the unfortunate effect of sending a situation she had reasonably well in hand right down the crapper. The White Lights reached for their weapons, but the home team had come in, guns blazing, having been warned about what was happening by Chappy, the barkeep. Unfortunately, their appearance startled Mari, who committed the cardinal sin of becoming distracted while holding a loaded gun.
The man on his knees used his free arm to knock the gun out of her hand, and as she took a couple steps back from him, now defenseless against him, he pulled his own automatic and aimed it right at her chest.
But as he pulled the trigger, something or someone knocked him down with a loud, completely horrified, "No!" and the shot went a bit wide – clean through her savior Tek's chest and Mari's upper arm. Despite his injuries, Tek was on the older man like the animal he often could be, reaching back to break the man's arm in order to get him to release the weapon he was randomly discharging in hopes of hitting someone else. Then he beat him into an unrecognizable pulp before collapsing on top of him, his life's blood rapidly draining out of him.
Rescue – and the law, of course – arrived in record time, luckily, and Mari and Tek were both taken to the hospital, as they were the ones who were the worse for the wear.
They had won, but at what cost?
Mari was nearly inconsolable, and throughout her own treatment, all she could say was that she wanted to be with Tek. She knew he had no family, none that would admit to it anyway, and if he was dying, she wanted to be with him. At that moment, she didn't give a damn about what her brother or her sister-in-law or anyone else might say about how she was acting or how she was affecting the pack. She just wanted to be with him. It didn't matter to her how many times a stark-faced Cash told her that they had taken him right into the operating room as soon as he had arrived, and that no one would be able to see him until he was out. She needed to see him, or be as close to him as possible. He'd also given her the bad news that the White Lights' Alpha had silver bullets in his gun and had, apparently, wanted to see Cash to get rid of him and take over the pack.
Luckily, the hospital in Hamden was a good one – thanks in no small part to the Alpha-Omegas charitable contributions, and the doctors knew how to deal with their...special situations.
Since she was only half wolf, and female, things went a lot more easily for her, even with the additional challenge of the silver added into the mix. The docs stitched her up relatively quickly, handed her gauze and supplies with which to change her bandage, along with a miniscule amount of painkillers. She walked to the emergency room waiting room with her arm in a sling, circumventing her family entirely and running up the stairs to the waiting area that was just outside the operating room that Tek was in.
And she steadfastly refused to move, to eat, or to even talk with anyone until a doctor finally came to talk to them about how Tek was.
He looked grim.
"Are you his next of kin?" he asked.
Cash started to say, "Well, we're the closest –"
"Yes, I'm his girlfriend. I live with him," she lied easily, stepping in front of her brother. There was no way she was going to let this man walk away without telling her exactly what was going on with Tek. If she had to pretend she was Hillary Clinton to get the information, she was prepared to do that, too.
Cash stood to one side, looking at his sister as if he didn't really know her.
"Well, he's lost a lot of blood. We're transfusing him, of course, but it's going to be touch and go for the next day or so."
Although her eyes filled with tears at what was anything but good news, Mari put her hand on the doctor's arm. "Can I see him, please? I'd really like to sit with him as much as I can. I'll be very quiet, I won't get in the nurses' way. I just want to be with him so that he knows he's not alone." She refused to say, "in case he dies," but everyone was thinking it. She wanted to be there for him, regardless of the outcome.
It was on the tip of his tongue to say no, but the doctor could see just how earnest this woman was, and he knew that it was always a good thing when someone who was recovering from a huge insult to his body had a loving presence with him.
"All right, but if the nurses ask you to leave, then you have to go."
"I will, I will," she promised.
Someone found her one of those uncomfortable molded plastic chairs and put it beside his bed. Because he had been hit in the chest, and the bullet had nicked an artery, he was in the Cardiac Intensive Care unit, and he faced his nurse. There was no door to his room because they needed to monitor him closely, and she would have no privacy with him whatsoever – not that she really needed it.
He was frighteningly pale and white, his tattoos standing out just that much more against that stark, sickly skin. They had him hooked up to a respirator and had tubes running in and out of him everywhere. Multiple, Christmas-treed IV bags hung around his head like a ghoulish halo and he looked alarmingly helpless, which was the very opposite of how he always was.
Mari reached out to take his right hand, which was the only part of him that didn't have some kind of medical apparatus going into or out of it. It was surprisingly cold, but she figured that was the blood loss, and she knew that operating rooms were kept pretty cold, too. She brought the back of his hand to her lips and kissed it, holding it there and beginning to mumble what little she remembered of the prayers she had learned in Sunday school. She didn't care if it offended God that she only acknowledged him i
n times of crisis. She would do anything at all to help Tek pull through this.
Cash appeared after a while, patting her on the shoulder, and slowly, then, one by one, those who could, filed through the room in very short stints, including Abby, who hugged her and offered to spell her if she needed to go to the bathroom or get something to eat.
But Mari refused. She didn't want to miss it if the worst happened. She remained glued to that chair – except when the nurses shooed her out to do some sort of procedure on him – but then she always turned back up. They gave her an idea of how long they were going to be with him, and she took a bathroom break and washed up as best she could with one hand while she was forcibly separated from him. She had stopped taking the pain pills when she'd fallen asleep in the chair, preferring to use the pain to keep herself awake for him.
She was glad to see that the doctors were keeping a close eye on him themselves, and after thirty-six hours, of which only about an hour strung out over all of them had been spent away from him, his surgeon told her that it looked as if he was going to make it. If he continued to improve, he said it wouldn't be long before Tek was transferred into the general population of the hospital and out of CICU.
She was ecstatic to hear that and called Cash and Abby immediately with the good news. "Are you coming home, now that a bedside vigil isn't necessary?"
"No," she answered, refusing to apologize for it or even explain it to them. She just had to do it and no one and nothing was going to stop her.
Cash surprised her by simply saying, "Okay. Let us know if there's anything we can do for you or get for you."
That made it just that much harder not to dissolve into tears. "Thank you, Cash," she barely got out through the thickness that had her throat nearly closed.
"We mean it. Anything, Mari."
Packed: The Enforcer: A Shifter Paranormal Romance Page 5