by Marla Monroe
“We’re wasting time. I need to be with my brother, watching his back. That’s what I’m supposed to do,” she snarled at the big bear.
“Don’t worry, Wren. We’ll keep him safe for you, but you come first. Remember that,” Eason warned her.
“Okay, let’s roll.” Warren jogged up to where Eason had Wren in a literal bear hug by their truck.
“Here you go, Wren. Climb on in.” Eason lifted her up into the cab of the truck then jumped up beside her.
The big shifter had her buckled in before Warren had the truck started. Both males quickly fastened their own belts before backing out around the house and turning around for a straight shot down the drive.
“I really was looking forward to living in Serenity’s house for a while,” she mumbled more to herself than anything.
Warren let go of the steering wheel with one hand and squeezed hers. “I know, baby girl, but you wouldn’t have enjoyed it for long. You’re happier in a pack just like we’re happier in a sleuth.”
“Serenity lived on her own for years. It didn’t seem to bother her all that much,” Wren said with a pout.
Eason chuckled on the other side of her. “She’s feline, Wren. Cats don’t normally live in groups, but it’s safer that way. That’s why I think there’s so much more infighting in the prides and pards. They don’t like being so close.”
“Yeah, there is that. Do you know that despite all the danger that’s still out there for shifters, male jaguars, more often than not, still leave the females after they’ve mated? She has to raise her kits by herself.” Wren huffed with indignation. “I can tell you one thing. If one of you ever tries to do that, I’ll go wild dog all over your ass.”
What she said hit her about the same time it hit the bears. She’d essentially acknowledged their claim on her as their mate.
Damn my big mouth! I swear if I could only stop and think before I said anything life would be a whole lot easier on me.
“Easy, baby girl,” Warren said in a deep soothing voice.
“We’re not forcing you into anything, my little wild pup,” Eason told her. “We’ve got some problems to take care of right now, but we’ll talk about it later. Okay?”
Wren breathed out a soft breath. “Okay.”
“Doesn’t mean we aren’t going to stick to you like honey to a bear’s nose, though. No going off on your own and no trying to sneak away.” Warren gave her hand another squeeze then returned it to the wheel.
“Spoilsport,” she grumbled. “I don’t want Mojave to know about us yet. Okay? I’m afraid he’ll give up if he knows I’ve found my mates.”
“Unless something happens to force our hand, we won’t out you—yet. But, wild pup, I think he’s already suspicious. Plus, there’s no missing a mating heat when you’re around it. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone figures it out the first time they’re around us,” Eason told her.
“But as soon as everything is settled and we’re sure the danger has been eliminated, we’re talking to your brother,” Warren warned her.
“Oh, God. You’re right. What am I going to do? I don’t want to lose my brother, but I can’t hide when the pack is in trouble!” Wren’s wild dog instincts flared in direct proportion to her panic.
“Wren, we won’t let him go off the deep end. We’ll help you figure something out. I don’t know how, but we’ll work together on it.” Warren looked over at her for a second, capturing her gaze in his starless night eyes before turning back to watch the road they were on.
While she appreciated his promises and the fact that it mattered to them since it mattered to her, she knew that even sheer will wasn’t strong enough to keep her brother’s sanity intact without his mate. Why hadn’t he found her yet?
Because of me. I’ve kept him tethered to my side, making him watch after me every second so that I didn’t get into trouble. I can’t believe how selfish I’ve been. If he hadn’t needed to always be close to watch out for me, he could have traveled more and maybe found his mate before now. I should have stayed back in Texas with one of the other wild dog shifter families instead of wanting to stay with Mo.
“Whatever you’re thinking about, Wren. Stop it. I don’t like that look on your face one bit,” Eason said.
“What look? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Wren fidgeted next to him.
“Like someone pooped on your favorite toy,” he answered.
“Gross! Really? You can’t think of another way to describe it?” she asked, wrinkling her nose.
“Nope. Cause that’s what you looked like. What were you thinking about, wild pup?” Eason asked.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t give me that. I want to know what makes you so sad that you look disgusted about something.” Eason squeezed her knee just hard enough to let her know he was serious.
Wren huffed out a breath. “Look. I feel guilty, okay? If it wasn’t for me, Mo could have moved around more and found his mate before now. He tried to put down roots to give me a home. It’s going to be my fault when he loses it.” The last part came out on a choked back sob.
“Oh, baby. Don’t cry,” Warren pleaded next to her. “Can’t stand to see you cry.”
“I’m not crying! I don’t cry. Ever,” she reiterated as she cleared her throat. “I’m just worried.”
Eason didn’t say anything, but Wren felt him push something into her hand. When she looked down, it was a tissue but the big bear was looking out the side window as if to give her time to wipe her eyes. That small gesture helped her to stay strong so that she could hold back the tears. It also told her that her mates were caring males who wouldn’t turn on her if she did get a little emotional.
That’s just because they haven’t seen you all riled up yet. I get crazy when I go wild dog. Then what will they think about their mate? Will they still want me after I’ve had a fit and chased my tale for an hour?
For the first time since she’d realized that her mates were bears, Wren wondered how her quirky personality would appear to the two bears. Would they be able to handle her crazy antics or the way her temper went from a soft simmer to a rolling boil in six seconds flat? Bears were known for being laid back for the most part. They let things roll off of them until someone really pissed them off and irritated their inner bear. Then all bets were off. Wren literally bounced off the walls at times. She just couldn’t see how they would work as mates.
“Is this the street, Wren?” Warren asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“Yes. Turn down the second entrance and park on the opposite end of the first building,” she told them. “We’re on the first floor.”
“Looks like someone’s throwing a party from the looks of all the cars,” Eason said as they pulled up outside the apartment she shared with her brother.
“Pull in behind the black jeep. That’s Mo’s. I recognize most of the vehicles. They’re pack members,” she told them as Warren parked behind the jeep.
“Maybe he has some answers to what’s going on,” Warren said.
“Maybe.” Wren wasn’t so sure that was the reason for what looked like the entire pack congregating in their tiny apartment.
“Usually when we have something the entire pack needs to hear or know about, we do it at the garage because there’s more room,” Wren told the two bears.
“Come on, baby girl. We need to get you in there so we can find out what’s going on.” Warren waited while Eason unfastened her belt then eased her across to his side before picking her up off the seat and gently setting her feet on the ground.
Each bear took one of her hands and the three of them walked to where the apartment door was wide open and several of the pack members stood just outside the entrance. They did a double take at the size of the two males escorting her in their direction. One of them actually stepped back while the other one held his ground but mostly out of being too scared to move than due to bravery, Wren figured.
“Hey, Wren. Um, who are the big guys?�
�� Martin, the one still standing in the doorway, asked.
“This is Eason and this is Warren. They’re here to help with whatever is needed. They’re from the Talmadge Sleuth. What’s going on, Martin?” she asked.
“Guy and Sharon are missing. According to the Alpha, there was some type of medicine smell at their house like with TJ and Scoot at the garage.”
Chapter Ten
“Oh, God! What about the triplets? Are they gone, too?” she asked, fear for them nearly making her throw up.
“No, they’re with Todd and Amy. They were babysitting to give them a break. You know how the triplets are. Nothing is as tiring as watching a wild dog bounce off the walls unless you have to watch three of them at one time,” Martin said.
He would have gone on, but Wren stopped him. “How long have they been missing?”
“Your brother thinks they’ve been gone about three hours by the way the scents were fading,” he said.
Wren turned to look up at first Eason then Warren. “What are they doing with them? Why wouldn’t they just kill them if it’s hunters?” she asked.
“I don’t think it is hunters. They don’t normally kidnap unless they’re supplying some underground experimental facility. So you’re right, if it was hunters, there wouldn’t be any need to tranquilize them. If they could hit them with a dart then they could have killed them just as easily with a bullet,” Warren mused as he looked around inside from his vantage point in the doorway.
“Why are you meeting here instead of the garage?” Wren asked.
“The alpha wanted everyone away from the garage until plans were made,” the other wild dog said.
“We need to speak to my brother,” Wren told Warren. “Can you make a path for me?”
Eason chuckled behind her as Warren arched a brow at her. “Hold on to my belt, baby girl.”
With Eason guarding her back, Wren held Warren’s belt as he cleared a path through the house to where Mojave was talking to two of his guard. She wasn’t surprised that the wild dogs just stepped aside instead of Warren having to push them out of the way. They tended to move when something bigger than them stepped into their path. Had they needed to fight, size didn’t matter and it was on, but if they didn’t need to, they were cautious.
“Wren, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be safe in Serenity’s old house.” Mo narrowed his eyes at her then frowned at Warren and Eason. “Why didn’t you keep her there where she would be safe?”
“Are we talking about your sister?” Warren asked with a grin. “‘Cause correct me if I’m wrong, she’s a wild dog who takes being one very seriously.”
Mo closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “Never mind. Who called and told her about Guy and Sharon? I’m going to skin their hide with a dull fucking knife.”
“No one called me, Mo. Stop being an asshole. I came because we needed to talk to you about what we’ve figured out so far.” Wren looked around at the snarling wild dogs, working themselves into a fever. “You need to calm them down and send them home so we can talk. Why are they all here anyway?”
“It’s obvious that no one’s safe right now. I wanted to talk to them and not at the garage until we’ve finished going over it to be sure there’s no hidden cameras or bugs. Then I’m going to move everyone there where we can watch out for each other,” he said.
“If you move them all there, how will we get any work done? What about their jobs? They can’t live there indefinitely or take a chance at not having somewhere to work.” Wren struggled to hold back her natural instinct to chew on her brother’s tail. He was stressed enough already with the need for a mate riding him hard and the loss of now four of his pack.
“Don’t you think I know all of that? We don’t have a lot of options, Wren.” Mo turned and punched the wall behind him, knocking a fist-sized hole through the wall into the other room.
Wren didn’t flinch since they were all subject to losing their cool at times. One of the shifters in the other room peered in at them through the hole and rolled his eyes before disappearing again.
“Easy, Alpha,” Warren said. “We’re going to help. What are the chances that your pack members could be overwhelmed if there are more than three or four adults in each home?”
“I guess it depends on how many attackers we’re talking about,” Mo said. “Why? Do you think moving them in with each other would work better?”
“I do. If any of them have single family homes, put three or four other adults with them. If they only have apartments add two adults there. That way everyone is covered and they can still continue as before without disrupting their lives as long as necessary.” Warren shrugged, locking eyes with her.
“I think that’s a good idea, Mo. From what we smelled at the garage, there was only one shifter there at the time. Did you smell anyone at Guy and Sharon’s house? How many?” Wren asked.
“We picked up that same lone wolf scent and a human scent this time. It isn’t one we’ve smelled before,” Mo said. “They should have been able to handle two of them.”
“Not if they took them by surprise and both the wolf and the human had tranquilizer guns,” Eason said.
“Tranquilizer guns? Wait, let me organize getting everyone home then we need to talk,” Mo said.
Wren helped her brother divide up the pack so that everyone had at least two if not three more wild dogs temporarily moving in with them. Mo cautioned them to travel in groups and to stay alert, stay in public places if they were going to be alone for any reason. As they slowly left the apartment, she noticed how Mo kept looking at her with an odd expression on his face.
God, he knows. I had hoped with everything going on I’d have more time before that happened.
“Easy, wild pup. Everything’s going to work out fine. As long as his pack is at risk, he’ll hold it together. We have some time to figure it all out.” Eason’s soft whisper in her ear helped her settle the shifter in her.
Was it that he was her mate or just that there was someone else to help her bear the burden of losing her brother? Wren was more than grateful that her mates seemed to be good males. They could have shrugged it all off as not their mess since they were African Wild Dogs and not bears or even wolves. Most other shifters didn’t like being around them because of their hyperactive natures.
“But what can we do, Eason? Where are we going to find his true mate when he hasn’t in all of these years?”
* * * *
Eason had to fight back a roar at the sound of pain in his mate’s voice. Even though it was emotional and not physical, the effect on him was the same. Warren nodded and shared a knowing look with him. It was their jobs to make sure Wren never wanted for anything and that nothing upset her for any reason. That wasn’t easy with everything that was going on.
“You just have to have faith, wild pup. Believe that it will happen,” he told her.
“I think that’s everyone, birdie. I need a drink. We can discuss everything in the kitchen around the table,” Mo said. Looking up at Eason and his brother he added. “Can I get you guys something? I’ve got beer, whiskey, lemonade, and tea.”
Eason smiled. “Got honey?”
Mo’s mouth hung open before he dissolved into laughter. “Actually. I think we do have some honey.”
“Then I’ll have some lemonade,” Eason told him.
“Make that two of both,” his bondmate added.
“I suppose you want lemonade, birdie,” Mo said as he got down glasses.
“Of course. It won’t be much longer before we’ll want hot chocolate instead,” Wren said.
Eason saw Mojave’s hand falter for a second before he continued filling their glasses. It was obvious to him that the shifter didn’t think he’d be around for that. He and Warren would do everything in their power to prevent Wren’s brother from leaving. Then again, if he started losing it, he’d have to move on in order to keep his head together.
Once Mojave had given ev
eryone their drinks and poured himself a generous shot of whiskey, Warren and Eason added a dollop of honey to their lemonade and watched it form a ball in the bottom of the glass. Honey-flavored lemonade followed by a honey tea ball was a sweet treat to them.
“So tell me what you’ve figured out,” Mo said, starting off the conversation.
Eason sat back and watched everyone as Warren and sweet Wren filled her brother in on their ideas. He could tell by the glimpses of anger in Mojave’s face that he was just as mad at himself for trusting the wolf leader as he was at Alex himself.
“You’re sure they’re involved?” he asked Warren without looking at his sister.
“You don’t believe me? Why are you asking Warren?” Wren snarled at him, showing her teeth.
Eason quickly rubbed her thigh to settle her down some. Mojave didn’t appear the least worried at their mate’s show of aggression. They were slowly learning that wild dogs tended to fly back and forth across an emotional scale.
Once again he noticed how relaxed the bears were inside of him. Just being close to her turned them into teddy bears instead of growling beasts.
“Birdie, honey, I can’t help but worry that your surety that Alex is behind all of this is because you don’t like him or trust him. I’m in total agreement with you now, but this is altogether different. I need to know that I’m making the right decisions before I start something with the wolf.” Mojave reached out one hand toward Wren with a pleading expression for her to understand.
Wren’s chin shot up for a split second before it trembled and she reached out to clasp her brother’s hand. Eason relaxed. He didn’t want his Wren to be upset, even if it was with her own brother.
“You have to admit that he’s after something that is related to your pack. I have no doubt he’d be happy to snag Wren in the process, but more than likely she was a means to what he was really after,” Warren told the wild dog alpha.
“But we don’t have anything of value,” Mojave said, shaking his head. “We barely manage to keep everyone fed and clothed, even with some of my pack working outside the garage.”