by R. J. Blain
If my guess was correct, they had pillaged every couch and armchair in the house to build their nest. I had no recollection of how I had gotten into the middle of the mess, but Sir Rufus Fuzzybottom was on the pillow next to my head, staring at me with his beady black eyes. Evelyn was sprawled over my chest, and there was a gray wolf using my shoulder as a chin rest. When I stretched my legs, I ended up kicking Richard, who mumbled a complaint and grabbed hold of my ankle. Nicole rolled over, stretching her arms out over her husband’s chest, blinking at me with sleep-glazed eyes.
“Good luck escaping that mess,” Vicky said from her perch on the arm of the stripped couch. “I’m relieved you’re looking so well. I was certain there was no way you could have survived that crash. For Anderson’s sake, I’m glad you’re Fenerec tough.”
“Thanks, I think,” I replied, yawning again. Scratching Evelyn behind her eyes woke her. With a big yawn that showed all of her teeth, she rammed her head under my chin, warbling a canine complaint. “Where are Amber and Alex?”
“Upstairs, holding the Normals at bay. That’s Lisa, I think,” Vicky replied, pointing at the wolf using me as a pillow. “How are you feeling?”
“All things considered, fantastic.” I wiggled out from underneath Lisa, wrapped an arm around Evelyn, and lurched upright. When I fought to pull my foot free of Richard’s grip, he tightened his hold on me.
I kicked until he let go. “He’s a leech.”
Undeterred by my aggressive removal, Richard latched onto my other foot, mumbling something incoherent.
“Let go, Richard,” I demanded.
He yawned, and without opening his eyes, he replied, “It’s not time to get up. What time is it?”
“A little after ten,” Vicky replied, pointing at the clock on the wall.
“Too early,” Richard complained, twisting around to bury his face in Nicole’s hair. He didn’t let go of me.
Sitting up and wiggling out of Richard’s grip, Nicole yawned and said, “It’s time for his medicine, so hands off. Good morning, Jackson.”
Richard scowled, but his grip loosened enough for me to pull free. Scooting out of his reach, I tried to figure out how to escape the cushion nest and get up without dropping Evelyn.
“You’ll get used to it one day,” Nicole assured me, prodding Richard in the ribs. “You’ll learn to lock your doors if you want privacy.”
With a barrage of poking and nips, Nicole drove Yellowknife’s Alpha over the sea of cushions to the coffee table, which had been pushed to the side. “Where’s the meds?” he asked, squinting at the polished surface.
Vicky sighed. “You’ll have to get them from Gerald. Jackson, he asked me to tell you that once you’re awake, he has an errand to run with you.”
“I can’t win, can I? I wonder if this errand involves another trip to the hospital,” I grumbled.
“I’m afraid I don’t know.”
“Have you heard from Elliot?”
For a moment, Vicky smiled before her expression smoothed. “I have. He’s fine, in Atlanta, and dealing with the fallout from the crash. The Canadians are dealing with the investigation, and he’s trying to get involved with it. So far, it’s been a lost cause for him.”
“I don’t suppose you can rein him in, can you?” I begged.
“I’d be delighted to. Sometimes, he’s simply too enthusiastic and focused for his own good. Alas, he’s good at what he does, which is why I keep him around.”
“You must be the sort of boss that no one dares to cross,” I commented, rubbing Evelyn’s ears until she ducked her head to escape me. When she stared up at me, I bent over and kissed the tip of her nose, “Good morning.”
She nipped my chin.
“I need to find her some clothes.”
Vicky chuckled. “Already taken care of—Zachary texted Gerald with her sizes yesterday. Maggie and the girls went on a shopping spree for all of us.”
“I need to give him a raise.”
“So it seems.”
“When are you headed back to Atlanta?”
“I have a flight out tomorrow afternoon. Anderson asked me to keep an eye on you until then.”
Shaking my head, I shifted my grip on Evelyn, scratching under her chin. “I think I have enough supervision. At the rate I’m going, I’m going to need a rescue or an exorcism to get rid of Richard. Thank you for helping to take care of Evelyn for me.”
Vicky got a puzzled look on her face. “We’re pack.”
I got the feeling she wasn’t too happy about that fact. “If you think it’s weird, let’s just say I’m quite used to being on my own myself.”
“Don’t listen to him, Vicky,” Nicole said, using Richard’s back as a chair. “If he isn’t scheming with someone, he’s off telling people how to run their businesses for them. He’s good at what he does, but tends to act like he’s a lone wolf when he’s not.”
“I am a lone wolf,” Vicky retorted.
“Not anymore you aren’t.” Crossing her arms over her chest, Nicole leveled a glare at my brother’s mate. “Get used to the idea. You’re pack by your own right. We want you, and now that we have you, we’re not letting you go. Add in the fact that you’re important to Jackson’s brother, that makes you important to him, which in turn makes you even more important to us.”
Setting Evelyn down next to me, I climbed to my feet with the help of the couch. “I think I’m going to go upstairs and leave you Fenerec for this talk. I need to see what sort of errands Gerald has in mind.”
Before I could ask Evelyn if she wanted to come with me, she trotted to the staircase, watching me with jade and gold eyes. After bending over to pick up Sir Rufus Fuzzybottom, I followed after her, limping my way up the steps. When I entered the kitchen, Gerald and Maggie were the only ones in the kitchen.
“This isn’t a hotel, it’s a madhouse,” I informed Gerald, hopping up on the stool next to him. “Good morning, Maggie. Vicky says there are clothes for Evelyn somewhere?”
Hopping down from her stool, Maggie paused long enough to kiss my cheeks before she took Sir Rufus Fuzzybottom from me. “I hope you like pink, Miss Evelyn. The girls helped with the shopping—and by help, I mean dictated.”
“Evelyn makes all clothes and colors look good,” I declared. “Gerald, I have been ordered by Richard to take my medicine.”
“Medicine comes with breakfast. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, or all of the above?”
“Pancakes.”
“It’s obvious you aren’t a Fenerec. No bacon? I’m not sure we can be friends if you won’t have bacon,” he muttered, sliding off his stool to head to the stove.
“Evelyn can have my share if that’ll make you feel better.”
Maggie chuckled. “You’re just wisely avoiding Gerald’s bacon. He either burns it or its floppy. Floppy bacon is just gross. If you want good bacon, I’ll come make you some after I take care of Evelyn and make certain she’s all settled.” Evelyn put her ears back, staring at me before sighing and following after Maggie.
Once the pair was gone, Gerald said, “I have been told that the photo I took of you with the Fenerec and Sir Rufus Fuzzybottom is the most adorable thing that Ruth has ever seen. She demanded that we have it framed so it can be in her bedroom forever.” He poured me a cup of coffee and slid it across the island in my direction. “Amber told me you had an adventure with Richard last night.”
“It was an interesting evening.”
“She was suitably impressed by your masculinity.”
I choked on my coffee. “What?”
“It seems that she was impressed that you were sufficiently secure in your masculinity to avoid an outburst of homophobic insanity. According to her, that can be a bit of an issue with men learning how affectionate Fenerec can be with those in their close circles.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I spluttered. “It’s not like he was trying to sleep with me.” The only Fenerec I was interested in sleeping with was Evelyn, and I counted myself among the luckiest
men alive that the feeling was mutual.
“I have photographic evidence of him and his wife curled around your feet while his brother and his wife were using you as a pillow. Poor Evelyn was forced to sleep on top of Alex just to be near you. I have no idea how you slept through that nonsense. I woke up with every last pillow in my house missing. Maggie wouldn’t stop laughing. They took mine, but left hers.”
“They stole your pillow?”
“Right out from under me. I didn’t feel them do it, those rats.”
“Well, I’m innocent of all wrongdoing. When I fell asleep, it was on the couch with Evelyn.”
Gerald chuckled, pausing in his mixing of the pancake batter to point the spoon at me. “You better watch yourself with those Fenerec. Richard’s the guilty party with his wife as an accomplice, but the clever bastard sacrificed his brother and Amber to take the fall. Alex I can scold, but Amber? She’ll jam her gun down my pants and fire if I don’t watch my mouth with her.”
“As if you’d scold a guest, even after stealing your pillow. Vicky said we have an errand to run?”
Glancing at the basement door, which was still open, he pointed at it with his spoon and shook his head. Getting up, I closed it before joining him at the counter. “Okay, what’s going on that you don’t want them hearing?” I whispered.
“We have a two o’clock to Thunder Bay,” he announced.
“We have a what?” I hissed.
“A flight. We found something that I think you’ll want to be present for.”
A chill spread through me, centered in my gut. “A flight to Thunder Bay?”
“A flight. You and me, in a plane. It’s a commercial airliner, so don’t worry.”
“Easy for you to say. Am I even allowed to fly yet?”
“I cleared it with your doctors.”
I wondered what Gerald had found, and knew with sinking certainty that it dealt with Jacqueline’s disappearance and death. For that reason alone, I’d go, but I couldn’t abandon Evelyn. “I’m not leaving Evelyn.”
“How convenient, seeing that I have a ticket for her as well.”
“You found something out about Jacqueline.”
“One of my boys did some digging and got in touch with Jacqueline’s daycare. There’s a woman who works there that might know something about what happened. I took the liberty of ordering you an official copy of her birth certificate; I thought you’d appreciate it. I don’t know how long it’ll take to process it, but the process is started. So, we have a two o’clock; we’re meeting the daycare owner after we land a bit before six. We’ll be meeting the woman, Melanie, at eight. We’ll be catching the eleven o’clock home. We should be able to go and come back without anyone being the wiser for our little trip,” he whispered.
“Why are we disguising this as an errand?”
“Simple. It’s because of Richard. If he found out I was trying to take you on a plane, he’d flip his top.”
“You’re going to get me killed. Did the thought cross your mind that this might not settle well with Evelyn? We crashed on her first flight ever.”
“Maggie’s talking to her. I don’t think it’ll take much to convince her to go to Thunder Bay.”
“I’m only going if Evelyn is as well,” I warned him.
“I thought you’d feel that way. We’re flying First Class, because Economy is too damned uncomfortable.”
“That’s something at least.”
“It’s settled, then. It’ll be a long errand, but worthwhile.”
I sighed. “Do you think this woman might really know something?”
Gerald set about making a batch of pancakes, huffing at me. “I wouldn’t have booked a flight for three if I thought it wasn’t going to pay off.”
“Planes,” I snarled.
“Pancakes,” he countered, watching the batter for bubbles. “Painkillers are optional today, but you’re to keep taking the rest of the medications.”
“Do they have to come with us?”
“Yes. I’ll be packing a carry on with everything you’ll need. There’s no way I’m giving Richard extra reasons to want to rip my head off. At least we won’t have to take any luggage.”
“That’s a blessing. Any other news on the wire I should know about?”
“Nothing yet. There’s not a whole lot we can do while we’re waiting for the ops to be ready to come north. Once we have the list in hand, it won’t take long to get IDs and covers established.” Gerald flipped the pancakes, shaking his head. “Maybe I should be grateful you don’t want bacon. The Fenerec are going to single handedly cause a bacon shortage, and we’ve only fed two of them so far this morning. Pork prices are going to skyrocket.”
“You should have seen them at the buffet. It was both horrifying and amazing. I think they forgot I’m not a raging carnivore. I ate twice what I normally would, and that didn’t satisfy them.”
“That’s because you eat like a bird,” Richard said, coming up behind me. “Did someone say bacon?”
I spun, coming nose to nose with Richard, who grinned at me. “Are you trying to scare me to death?”
Gerald chuckled. “Maggie will dazzle you with her bacon-making skills shortly. Jackson has donated his share to his lady.”
After frowning at me, Richard turned his full attention to Gerald. “What’s he eating, then?”
“Pancakes.”
“Acceptable, I suppose. I hear you have errands?”
I sighed. I still hadn’t figured out how a Fenerec could tell if someone was lying, so I tried to think of what I could say that was the complete truth without betraying the fact I was scheduled to take a flight to Thunder Bay. “A tedious and necessary errand, alas. There is something I need to attend to in person.”
“Work?” he replied, wrinkling his nose. “I’ll pass, if Gerald will be with you.”
Gerald snorted. “Thanks, Richard. I had to watch him work last night. It was fascinating for the first thirty minutes.”
I kept my mouth shut so I wouldn’t betray that I had only worked for thirty minutes.
“When you’re out, call me if you need anything at all.”
“You’re actually going to let him out of your sight?” Nicole asked, circling the island to head for the coffee maker. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
Richard scowled at his wife. “Be nice. When are you two headed out?”
“We’ll head out around noon or so.”
“And when will you return?”
“One or two… in the morning,” Gerald replied with a nonchalant shrug. “Whenever we’re finished. Maybe a bit later. Unlikely any earlier than that. I caught a glimpse of his to-do list last night; it’s insane. We’ll be at this all day and then some.”
I sighed, heading back to the island to sit down. “Dying twice tends to cause work problems.”
Nicole poured two cups of coffee and handed one to Richard. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“If you want, you could make a few calls for me. I’d appreciate it. I can write down the names, numbers, and instructions. It’ll be the same call over and over again,” I warned.
“We’re happy to help,” Richard said, hopping up on one of the stools. “Nicole has her cell. If Gerald doesn’t mind, I’ll use his home phone. Mine’s ruined. Alex has his cell, and I could ask him to pitch in. How many contacts?”
“More than three of you can handle in a day, but it’ll be a good start.”
“How many?” he pressed.
“A couple hundred, give or take a hundred.”
“What about Evelyn? She’s not going to like being left behind.”
A warm pair of arms slipped over my shoulders to wrap around me. I drew in a deep breath and savored Evelyn’s cinnamon scent. “What about me?” she murmured.
“What about you?” I asked, tilting my head back to look up at her.
“He has a full day of work errands to run,” Richard chided.
“And I’ll be going with him w
hen he does it.” Her grip on me tightened. “Live with it.”
There was nothing gentle about the way she bit my ear. I yelped, and before I could break away from her, she latched onto my throat, growling in her throat.
I deserved it for worrying her, but her teeth hurt. I blurted, “Ouch, ouch, ouch. I’m sorry Evelyn. I—”
Turning my head with her hands, she silenced me by pressing her lips to mine. I forgot about everything except the feel of her against me.
“I’d say get a room, except you probably would, and if you did, you’d never leave the house to go on your errands,” Richard said before sighing. “Newly mated.”
Evelyn pulled away from me and kissed where she had bit me. “You scared me.”
“I’m sorry.”
Sniffling and rubbing her eyes, she nodded. “I know, but I’m still mad.”
I kissed the tip of her nose. “I’m angry, too. I had to see my father.”
With raised brows, Richard stared at me. “That must have been something.”
“Quiet, Richard.” Nicole pinched Richard in the arm before turning her glare on me. “Have you opened the box?”
“I totally forgot about it,” I admitted.
“Where is it?”
Gerald chuckled, piling pancakes on a plate before handing it to me, along with a bottle of maple syrup. “I’ll go get it. It’s on top of a shelf so the girls wouldn’t get into it.”
“Later,” I replied, waving Gerald off.
“Nonsense.” It didn’t take long for him to return with the box.
I glared at it. “Do you think he meant peace offering as a way to end a war or as a way of saying that it’s full of poison and that I’m to rest in peace?” Drowning my pancakes in maple syrup, I stabbed at the stack.
“The first,” Nicole replied, grabbing a fork. When she eased her way near my plate, I held my fork at the ready. I batted away her first jab at my food. She managed to stab a chunk off my pancakes, dripping maple syrup all over the counter. “I know what’s in it because I wasn’t letting the asshole into my car until he told me.”
“Nicole,” Richard chided.
“What? It’s okay for you to call him an asshole but I can’t? Bullshit.”