by Lauren Dane
“Oh my god, Tracy! Are you all right?” It was Julie, looking horrified. “Get her into the building and up to Gabe’s!” she snapped at two other wolves standing there. Tracy saw Julie talk into a cell phone and then close it and look back to her. “That was Gabe. He’s frantic.” Julie pushed the hair back from Tracy’s face and winced.
The big wolf carrying her was gentle as they went to the elevators. Gabe and Nick burst out and both men froze at the sight of her injured and in the hands of a male wolf.
“I’ll kill Pellini,” Nick growled. “It was him, wasn’t it?”
Gabe took her from the other wolf and told them all to go back to their own homes. Julie rode up with them and went to get tea and a cool compress for her face.
“Are you all right?” Gabe demanded, putting her gently on the bed.
Nick took off her shoes and Milton came bounding into the room and jumped on the bed, looking at her himself to be sure she was there and okay. “Hey, pooch, it’s okay, the gravy train is still kicking and ready to toss some table scraps your way,” she said playfully and Milton whimpered and lay down next to her, much to Nick’s annoyance.
“You’ve seen her, Milton. Now go and get in your bed. She’s okay and I want to be next to her.” Nick looked the dog in the eye and Milton started to growl but thought better of it. He licked her hand and face and she started to kiss him but winced at her split lip.
“Go on, sweetie. Momma will be okay.”
He gave her one last lick and went to lie in his bed, propping his head on the side of it to keep an eye on her.
“What the hell happened?” Gabe demanded as he took the cold cloth from Julie and put it on her face.
She really felt that Julie was trustworthy but couldn’t take the chance of being wrong. Too many lives were at stake. “It was one of Pellini’s people. Said that we needed to get out of town or else. We need to go.” She grabbed Gabe’s hand and he saw the scrapes on her knuckles from where she’d fought as they pulled her into the car.
“Not before I hunt him down and kill him.” Gabe’s eyes had gone amber-gold and his voice was little more than a guttural growl.
She looked at Nick and said carefully, “We need to go. Now.” She wanted very badly to tell them everything but she knew with Julie there and the way they were being watched she couldn’t.
“Julie, can you help us get the bags packed, please? And do you suppose we could fly back in the Pack plane or are we bound for commercial air travel?” Nick knew she had something to say from the looks she was throwing him. It was clear she hesitated to speak in front of anyone else and so he went along with her.
“They want us gone. I have no doubt that they’ll be willing to let us fly out on their jet. Julie, I hate to impose but can you call them first? We didn’t unpack much.”
Julie smiled down and stroked a hand over her hair. “Of course. It’s not imposing, although I hate the idea of losing Gabe and now you. You aren’t coming back are you? Something bad is happening.”
“Yes. Yes, Julie, something bad is happening and I’ve resigned to run Pacific. You and Rick are welcome to come out west to join Pacific if you want to. There’ll always be a place with me for you both.”
Julie hugged Gabe. “I don’t know. Our kids and grandkids are here.”
“You may want to avoid Pack functions for a while. And watch your back.” Tracy hated the lines of stress around Gabe’s eyes. He clearly hated thinking Jack and Templeton were in cahoots with Pellini.
“Okay, Gabe. You be careful too, all right? Now I’ll go make the call from downstairs and get everything prepared for your departure. I’ll also take care of packing this place up and shipping it all to you.”
She took one last look and left the room.
Tracy waited until she left and Nick started to demand an explanation but she put a finger over his lips and shook her head. She mimicked writing and Gabe nodded and went to the bedside table to find a pad and pen.
“I was worried sick. God, Tracy, when Derek came running back into the apartment without you I thought I’d die. Milton was barking and growling and inconsolable. I wanted to call the cops but we didn’t know quite what to do. Gabe called Templeton, who said he’d get the word out. Oh shit, I suppose we should take care of that.”
Gabe handed her a pen and paper and she began to write. She gave them the whole story on paper as the others made small talk as cover. Gabe called Templeton on his cell and said he thought Jack was involved in Tracy’s abduction. Templeton told him that meant he should get the hell out of Boston.
Thank goodness for werewolf healing. Tracy was feeling a lot better forty-five minutes later when they were all ready to get to the airport.
“I packed you two suitcases, Gabe. Your suits are in two garment bags and already loaded into the car. If you’re going to get a job out there, you’ll need to look nice. Your everyday clothes are in the suitcases. Oh and I’m rambling, but I’ll miss you. You’ve been like a son to me. Please take care of yourself and your mates.” Julie wrung her hands nervously.
Gabe kissed her forehead. “You too. There’s a place for you, don’t forget that. Hell, for all of you if you want. Portland doesn’t have nearly the humidity in the summer that we have here.”
“But they don’t have the Red Sox.” She smiled sadly. “I’ll think on it. I promise. Now go before I start crying.”
It was nearly dawn by the time the plane landed in Portland, they heaved a sigh of relief. No one really spoke much on the flight, not knowing what was safe to say, or if the plane was bugged. Nick had plans to check the house over carefully for listening devices but Tracy felt on edge anyway.
They went home and Tracy checked in with Nina from her cell phone in the backyard while she tossed a ball with Milton under Gabe’s watchful eye. Lex had apparently gone over the house with a fine-tooth comb before feeling satisfied that they weren’t bugged. He’d also gone out and changed and went around the property in wolf form to track for anything unusual. Much to his annoyance, there was evidence of a place where someone had sat in a tree and watched the drive to the house. The scent was cold, but enough for him to double the guard and to bring Tegan to the house to live there. Poor woman, didn’t even get three days at her new house.
Long after midnight, they crawled into bed and each other’s arms. Nick was assured they were safe and free from listening devices but they couldn’t trust everyone in the Pack.
Exhausted, each sought comfort rather than sex and both males were terrified of injuring her. Gabe itched to knock Jack out for putting Tracy in the middle of this brewing war. The fear from the news that she’d been taken still echoed within him, shocking him in moments where he thought he’d gotten past it. The helpless rage, the terror. He never wanted to feel that again. If he had to sit on her that’s what he’d do to make sure it never did happen again.
Tightening his arm around her waist, he nuzzled his face into her neck.
Nick’s mind raced. Fury rode him hard. He wanted to find Warren Pellini and end this himself. How dare he threaten his family? How dare he try and destroy his Pack? And Jack and Templeton? He growled and Tracy started and then stroked fingertips up and down his spine to calm him.
“I’m all right. I’m here,” she murmured.
Damn right, and she wasn’t going anywhere without him or Gabe until this was all over and done with. He wanted to rip Jack Meyers’ head from his body for hitting Tracy. He knew it was necessary and all, but the way she’d looked when he stepped off that elevator, he’d never be able to erase that from his memory. Helpless, bruised and battered. Warren Pellini would pay for that.
Tracy felt her men at war with themselves. She knew it couldn’t be easy for them to have seen her that bruised, for them to have endured her kidnapping and the minutes she’d been gone. Worse, she knew the fear of it happening
again would make them stick to her very closely until this was all over. She’d be lucky if she got to go pee alone.
No, until this was over, she’d be watched like a hawk. Overprotected by her mates and surveilled by the fucking werewolf mafia.
Things were a long way from over. In fact, she had the distinct feeling that they were just beginning. Despite that part, she had Nick and Gabe at her side. And each day they worked to make the relationship better. Feelings would get hurt and territory would have to be renegotiated between the three, but their bond was solid, and healthy. And she felt love and belonging. It was complicated, belonging to two men, but worth it. And she still held out hope for more boy-on-boy action, as she quite often teased. Sometimes they gave her some. Ah, a girl is lost without hope.
Laughing, she pressed a kiss into first Gabe’s shoulder and then Nick’s. It would be okay.
* * * * *
Read on for a sneak preview of WOLF UNBOUND, the next book in New York Times bestselling author Lauren Dane’s CASCADIA WOLVES SERIES.
Wolf Unbound
by Lauren Dane
Chapter One
Tegan ran. Heart bursting with the joy of the forest, with the elation of wolf, her paws hit the warm earth, claws scrabbling to keep balance as she rounded a curve and saw the edge of the land that was safe to be wolf in.
Collapsing at the base of a large tree, she stretched to rub her spine along the bark, a growl of pleasure darting from her muzzle. Sighing, she put her head on her paws and closed her eyes.
“Hey. You’re late.” He smiled up at her, blue eyes twinkling, short blond hair set off against sun-kissed skin.
Startled, she froze a minute. Watched as he sliced mushrooms with competent speed. In three steps she was close enough to touch him. Feel the vibrant warmth at the back of his neck, the straw-colored softness of his hair tickling her fingers.
“Lucas.” His name tore from her painfully. “What?”
He put the cutting board heaped with vegetables aside and gave her a quick kiss. “That’s all I can do.” Turning back to the sink, he began to peel potatoes. “God, I miss you. But you know what makes me saddest?”
“What are you doing here?” Impotent rage flooded her. “You’re dead!”
He put the potato down and dried his hands on a nearby towel. “I’m dead. But not here.” Warm fingers brushed her temple. “Or here.” Another fleeting brush over her heart. “In your memories and your heart I’m still alive. Our love lives on in your memories. But just because I’m dead doesn’t mean you have to be. I’ve been telling you that. Why haven’t you listened?”
She shook her head, tears sprang to her eyes and the pain of his loss welled up like a familiar ache. “The other dreams...were you trying to tell me?”
He nodded. “Okay the deal is, I can’t be here long. So listen to me, please, honey. You’re wasting your life. Damn it, you’re wasting your heart. A heart I know has room to love again. I’d be so ashamed if my death was the reason you never moved on to love another man.”
“I...there’s only you. Why, Lucas? Why did you leave me?”
He closed his eyes and the room dimmed a bit. “I didn’t. It wasn’t like that. But there’s no more time. Tee, it’s coming and you have got to be ready. Lots of stuff. Big stuff. You can’t deal with it, may not survive it if you don’t let me go and move forward.”
She felt her consciousness begin to rise, fought it, moved toward him. He took her hands in his, kissing her fingertips. Her desperation faded into resignation and then calm flowed over her.
“I have to go. I’ll always be a part of you, Tegan. But you need to move on. It’s time.”
And she was alone in the forest. But the faint scent of him still rested on the air and for the first time in four years, when she walked back into the house wearing her human skin, she felt whole again.
* * *
“You know what, Lex? I think my time-out is over. I want to move back to my own house.” Tegan Warden continued to clean her weapon as she spoke to her brother, the Enforcer of Cascadia Pack.
“This isn’t a punishment for God’s sake! Tegan, we know Pellini is out there and looking for a way to hurt one of us. It’s not safe for you to be back at your house on your own.” Lex spoke through clenched teeth.
“Lex, by all that is holy, if I put coal in your ass it would turn into a diamond! Loosen up! I’m twenty-eight years old. In case it hasn’t occurred to you, I’m a fucking werewolf guard on your damned Enforcer team. I can take care of myself.” She put her weapon back into the case and locked it.
Her sister-in-law, Nina, leaned against the counter and drank her coffee, watching them both.
“I think you should do what Lex says on this, Tee.” Cade came into the room and shoved Nina aside playfully, getting himself a cup of coffee.
“Of course you do, your ass is as tight as his. Look, I like being on my own. I only lived here because after Lucas...well it was a place to come and it was part of the job. But now I have my own place. It’s filled with my own things. It’s where my bed is, and my sheets and my plates. No offense but I don’t want to live my life by committee anymore.”
“How’s she ever gonna get any action if she’s here anyway? God, you guys, she’s been alone for four years. It’s time she gets back out there and starts dating. She deserves a real life and you making her stay here isn’t going to keep her twelve years old.” Tegan couldn’t risk looking at Nina just then. Nina’s intuitiveness and insight were scary sometimes.
“It’ll just keep her from ending up dead!” Lex’s jaw clenched and unclenched.
Tegan stood and shook her head. “I’m not going to die if I’m not under your nose every minute of the day. I appreciate your concern, Lex. I love that you all want to keep me safe and protected but I don’t want that. I want to be on my own.”
“To have hot monkey love!” Nina joked.
Tegan rolled her eyes at her sister-in-law, suppressing a smile. “If I choose, yes.”
“Tegan, what’s gotten into you?” Lex didn’t wait for an answer as he turned back to his wife. “I can’t believe you’re taking her side on this, Nina.” He began to pace.
“There aren’t sides here, Lex.” Nina reached out and touched his shoulder and he stopped, leaning into her. “Let her go. It’s just twenty miles.”
Lex threw his hands up in the air. “Fine! No one listens to me. I’m only the Second and all. What would I know about security?”
Tegan squeezed his forearm and stood, picking up her weapon case. “I’ll be back for my shift at nine. My stuff is packed and in the car.” She walked out of the room.
Don’t miss WOLF UNBOUND by Lauren Dane, available wherever Carina Press books are sold.
www.CarinaPress.com
Copyright ©2017 by Lauren Dane
Acknowledgments
Thank you so much to the entire Carina team! Art, editorial and marketing/promotion—you’re all fantastic. I appreciate how much you do for me and my books.
Angela James—as always—truly I’m so glad I get to work with you. Thank you for everything.
Also available from Lauren Dane
and Carina Press
Second Chances
Believe
Goddess with a Blade series
Goddess with a Blade
Blade to the Keep
Blade on the Hunt
At Blade’s Edge
Diablo Lake series
Diablo Lake: Moonstruck
Diablo Lake: Protected
Cascadia Wolves series
Reluctant Mate
Pack Enforcer
Wolves’ Triad
Wolf Unbound
Alpha’s Challenge
Bonded Pair
Cherchez Wolf Pack series
/> Wolf’s Ascension
Sworn to the Wolf
From Lauren Dane
and HQN Books
The Best Kind of Trouble
Broken Open
Back to You
From Lauren Dane
and Cosmopolitan Red-Hot Reads from Harlequin
Cake
Coming soon from Lauren Dane and HQN Books
Whiskey Sharp: Unprotected
Whiskey Sharp: Jagged
Whiskey Sharp: Torn
Also watch for the next book in the Goddess with a Blade series, coming soon from Carina Press!
About the Author
The story goes like this: While on pregnancy bed rest, Lauren Dane had plenty of downtime, so her husband took her comments about “giving that writing thing a serious go” to heart and brought home a secondhand laptop. She wrote her first book on it before it gave up the ghost. Even better, she sold that book and never looked back.
Today Lauren is an award-winning New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of over sixty novels and novellas across several genres.
Find out more about Lauren’s books at www.laurendane.com.
Twitter.com/LaurenDane
Facebook.com/AuthorLaurenDane
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