“I got lucky,” Gavin said quietly. “But even if I hadn’t it wouldn’t have mattered. My job was to protect people who couldn’t protect themselves. I did that. I have no regrets.”
“Wow,” Maggie said quietly as she tried not to fall into a type of hero worship. She’d known ever since her second glimpse of his blue eyes as he’d tried to stop the bleeding from her injuries that the man was special. She just hadn’t realized he was a true-life superhero.
He laughed quietly apparently picking up on that thought. “If your next thought is me in a cape with my underwear on the outside of my pants, you are so getting that spanking.”
* * * *
Hensen couldn’t ignore the emotions and thoughts passing through Maggie’s mind. When he realized the actual story of Gavin’s last mission—he’d only known the part about his teammates, not the full story—he felt a bit of that hero worship himself. Hensen had spent most of his life protecting his pack, people he knew and cared for. Gavin had done the same for total strangers, some of whom would still hate his guts simply because he was born in a country they detested. Hell, the very fact that he was embarrassed by Maggie’s pride in him and apparently needed to stall the conversation with a joke simply spoke volumes of the man’s humility.
Gavin was a true hero, and he was humble enough not to realize it.
Hensen sensed Kade’s intention a moment before he felt the man move closer and wrap an arm around his waist. “That’s a lot of heavy thinking to be doing this early in the morning.”
“Just leave it alone,” Hensen said, letting perhaps a little more irritation leak through his telepathic voice than he’d intended.
“I can’t leave it alone,” Kade said with a tiny squeeze of his arm. “I want all of my mates to be happy.”
“This is not something you can fix.”
“Why not?” he asked in a tone that urged Hensen to answer.
“Kade, he’s a hero. How can I even ask him to let me claim him?”
“How can you not?”
Kade certainly had a point. Hensen had no intention of walking away from his family, but the relationship he’d assumed he would have with Gavin no longer seemed to fit the two of them. He couldn’t imagine asking Gavin to submit to his stronger wolf. The guy was alpha through and through, and that was all before taking into account that he was a forest guardian as well.
Just like the identity issues Gavin had suffered on their way up the mountain, Hensen was facing the same thoughts now himself. He’d never imagined being anything but the dominant partner in any relationship. Very literally, he’d always envisioned himself as the one on top.
Kade must have interpreted more to that thought than what Hensen did because the man stopped walking, released his grip from around Hensen’s waist, and stared hard at him.
Hensen glanced up to realize that Maggie was watching him with an annoyed expression as well. Unnerved by the emotions coming from both his mates, Hensen didn’t even realize Gavin had moved close enough to wrap an arm around him.
“Stop it, both of you,” Gavin said, surprising Hensen when his annoyance seemed directed at Kade and Maggie and not at him. He wasn’t certain what he’d done to piss Kade and Maggie off, but he was definitely on their shit-list.
“None of us expected a relationship as complicated as this one. We can’t be held accountable for random thoughts.”
“But if that’s really how he—” Kade began to say, yet Gavin cut him off with a look.
“That isn’t how he really thinks. Hell, even without a telepathic link I know that. We all have random thoughts. They don’t mean a goddam thing other than we’re thinking things through.” Gavin gave Kade a sad look. “Maybe you should consider following Hensen’s lead and do some of your own introspection. If you’re going to react that drastically to a random thought, then maybe the problem isn’t Hensen’s at all.”
Gavin then looked over at Maggie, stared at her for a moment, perhaps communicating telepathically before laughing softly. “You are definitely getting that spanking,” he said out loud. Maggie grinned, clearly unafraid of Gavin’s threat, and moved to give Hensen a brief hug.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her tone turning rather serious. “We’re all still getting used to the mating links. Kade and I shouldn’t have been so quick to react.”
Hensen nodded, still uncertain which thought they’d reacted to. Maggie stepped back to give Kade some room. Kade’s arms were shaking as he stepped into Hensen’s embrace. It took a few moments of holding him close to realize the man was on the verge of crying.
“Baby?” Hensen asked, trying not to incorrectly interpret the whirlpool of confused thoughts spinning through Kade’s mind.
“Don’t blame Maggie. She’s only reacting to my”—he blushed furiously—“distress.”
“I don’t understand what ‘thought’ I had that could hurt you so much.” Hensen turned to Gavin hoping the man could help. It was completely weird, but right at this moment he felt more connected to the mate he didn’t have a mating link with than he did to Kade or even Maggie.
“Gavin was right when he said it was my problem, not yours.” Kade swallowed hard and glanced around their small group before turning his gaze back to Hensen. “I’ve never been a strong wolf. I…um…I’ve never felt like I really belonged anywhere, but when I heard you think that letting Gavin fuck you would be a show of weakness, I just…”
Hensen pulled his mate into his arms and damn near crushed him as emotions he’d never expected to feel rolled over him. “Baby, that was my own insecurities getting the better of me. That’s my problem to deal with, but I have never thought of you as weak. Holy fuck, you’ve been the anchor that kept me steady since that very first meeting. You forgave me for not wanting a mate when I first scented you.” He knew Kade had found the reason for that in his memories. Hensen sure as hell wasn’t proud of his behavior back then, but he’d been relieved to know Kade knew the circumstances and forgave him anyway. “Kade, you held me together when Maggie and Gavin were sick. Baby, you’ve been my rock through all of this. That doesn’t make you weak. That makes you the strongest wolf I know.”
Kade nodded against his chest and held on tight. Hensen was glad to realize that Maggie had stepped into Gavin’s embrace. Just like Kade, her emotions were all over the place, but it was obvious that she was relieved that Kade and Hensen were sorting things out.
How the hell could things be so complicated when they could literally see into each other’s minds?
“Come on,” Gavin said, turning back to the trail they’d been following. “We should reach Shy River by nightfall. We’ve got a lot of things we need to do before I can spank Maggie’s ass.”
Maggie laughed, cuddled the man closer for a moment, and then started walking once more. Hensen held on to Kade, unwilling to break their contact just yet, loving the man even more when he realized Kade needed the tactile contact just as much as he did.
* * * *
Maggie wasn’t certain what to think or feel as they crept closer to Shy River pack lands without actually announcing their presence. She knew the alpha of Dry Creek was probably still looking for her, but surely Hensen’s best friend had some say in what happened at Shy River.
“Stay here,” Hensen ordered a moment before sort of melting into his wolf shape and then bounding across the clearing. They were at least three miles away from the houses she could see in the distance. Surely that was far enough away to keep them safe.
“Move one muscle, Maggie, and I will make sure you won’t sit down for a week.”
“Promises, promises,” she sent to Gavin with a telepathic laugh. She truly had no plan to do anything other than what Hensen ordered, but it was nice to know Gavin was still monitoring her thoughts. Kade had withdrawn for a little while—apparently trying to sort through his own confusion privately—so she and Gavin and Hensen had given him some space. It was actually kind of nice to realize that they could vary how much they shared. Even
when Kade was completely closed off in a telepathic sense, she’d retained enough awareness of him to know he was okay.
Distantly she realized that Hensen had changed into his human form and stepped onto the back veranda of a house. The woman who greeted him with enthusiastic familiarity had Maggie’s hackles rising even though Hensen barely returned the greeting before turning to address the man beside her. Maggie almost giggled when she realized that Kade and Gavin had the same reaction when Hensen greeted the man.
“They’re old friends,” Hensen sent telepathically. “Can’t say I hated your reactions though.”
Maggie shook her head at Hensen’s smug acceptance of their unwarranted jealousy, and then leaned back into Kade’s embrace. Thankfully, Hensen’s conversation with his “old friends” was brief and to the point. The beta of Shy River and both his mates were at Dry Creek helping to track down whoever was deliberately mutating shifter DNA.
Maggie was starting to despair that they had even more hiking to do when Hensen’s friend handed him a cell phone and her mate quickly called Gideon. She sort of half heard the conversation, but was still surprised when Hensen’s friends handed him a set of car keys, wished him luck, and headed back inside their home.
“There’s a road about half a mile south of your location,” Hensen sent as he climbed into the huge four-wheel-drive vehicle. “I’ll meet you all there.”
Within fifteen minutes they were bouncing along the rough dirt tracks, heading back to where everything had begun.
Chapter Thirteen
Despite the fact that Gideon had been given a rundown on the current situation—something he would have passed on in detail to the alpha of Dry Creek—everyone seemed to move away as Hensen, Gavin, Maggie, and Kade stepped into the meeting room. The alpha had his arms crossed, his demeanor far less friendly than the last time Gavin had met him.
“The DNA tests that Brigden ordered clearly showed mutations in Maggie’s werewolf DNA. We’ve found several more wolves with the same problem. Anybody who is bitten by them will become infected.”
“We have the cure,” Gavin said, trying to sound respectful but struggling to keep his voice down. Despite the assurances that Maggie would not be harmed at this meeting, it seemed the alpha wasn’t quite ready to extend that beyond the next five minutes. Fear for their mate’s safety swelled through Gavin, Hensen, and Kade as the alpha signaled to someone who’d come into the room behind them. They closed ranks around her, making certain that if anyone stepped closer that they would regret it.
“I said, ‘we have the cure.’ Does that mean nothing to you, alpha?”
“I’m protecting my people,” the alpha said without an ounce of remorse. To his credit the man didn’t flinch outwardly as Gavin raised his gun and pointed it at the werewolves trying to come up behind them. Gavin knew Kade and Hensen were a hairsbreadth from morphing into their wolf shapes.
“The DNA mutations are toxic,” a man Kade identified as Brigden said in a far more compassionate voice than the alpha had used. “The animals affected have grown increasingly aggressive, and many have morphed into grotesque humanoid shapes. They seem stuck like that, but the most worrying thing is that they pass on the infections just by biting.”
“We can’t risk exposure,” the alpha said sounding less aggressive than he had moments ago. “I’m sorry Hensen, but the situation needs to be contained.”
“The situation will be contained,” Gavin said, feeling his blood pressure rise. Why the hell wouldn’t the man listen? “I can cure the animals. I just need a chance.”
The alpha finally turned his attention to Gavin. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to risk my pack’s safety on the idea that you think you’re some sort of forest guardian. I can sense the mating links. The fact that she bit you makes you all dangerous and most likely delusional. You’re all infected.”
“Alpha,” Gideon said angrily, “this isn’t what we agreed on. You promised to hear them out.”
“I know,” the alpha said, sounding maybe a little tired, “but it’s the only way we can contain the danger.”
Gavin tensed for attack, expecting it to come in wolf form, so it took a moment to realize that the werewolves were actually trying to shuffle them toward a door at the end of the hall. It wasn’t until he heard the thought in Kade’s head that he realized it was the most likely outcome. If they went through that door there was a good chance none of them would ever be coming out. Anger drilled through him and he felt electricity crackle around him as yet another unexpected skill made itself known. The alpha quickly signaled for his people to move back.
“I said ‘we have the fucking cure.’ Now back off and let me do my job.”
Everyone in the room seemed to recoil from the crackling energy surrounding him and his mates. Only the alpha and Gideon stood their ground.
“What do you need, Gavin?” Gideon asked with a small smile. “Tell me what we can do to help.”
“My blood is the cure,” Gavin said, no longer concerned about sharing that information. Hensen gave him an affectionate smile, apparently agreeing with the change in plans. They’d originally worried that Gavin might be held against his will while they pumped copious amounts of blood from him, but in light of his newest skill, it no longer seemed a concern. “The animals need to ingest it. I’m not sure how much but it should be less than what Maggie needed. Her DNA changes were two-fold.”
“Okay,” Gideon said with a nod. “Suzanne has gotten quite good at minor medical procedures. Would you like her to help?”
He glanced at his sister, only then realizing that she was also surrounded by the crackling electrical field he was somehow generating. She gave him a smart-ass smile, but he suspected it hid a wealth of fear. “Whenever you’re ready, big brother.”
He nodded but wasn’t quite ready to relax the skill currently keeping several werewolves at bay.
“Are you convinced now, alpha? Should I show off more of my skills?” he asked, bluffing just a little. He had no idea if he could urge someone who wasn’t sick to go to sleep the way he’d done to Maggie when she’d been out of control. “Or are you willing to concede that there just might be a species capable of protecting this forest?”
The alpha grinned, apparently impressed with Gavin’s annoyance rather than cowed by it. “I’m glad you’re here, and I’m glad you were right,” he finally said, nodding to the men behind them. They all moved back out of the room and closed the door. It left only Gavin and his mates, Suzanne, Gideon, Brigden, and the alpha of Dry Creek in the room. “I’ve sent my beta after the other woman who was bitten. He’ll be very glad to know there’s a cure. He didn’t like the idea of euthanasia any more than I did.”
“You would have killed her?” Maggie asked, sounding shocked. Considering that she’d been targeted for the exact same thing it was a little confusing. “She’s not a shifter. She would have no way of understanding what was happening to her. She has a right to defend herself.”
The alpha gave her a curious look. “You’re more worried about a woman you don’t know at all than you were for your own safety?”
“Of course I am,” she said looking angry enough to punch the alpha in the nose. Gavin kept his electrical field between them just in case Maggie decided it was a good idea. “You’re talking about a victim. A woman who has no protection, no mates, and no one to explain it to her. You didn’t even give her a chance to survive. You just gave your beta a kill order and sent him on his way.”
The alpha nodded. From what Gavin understood from Kade, the alpha technically didn’t answer to anyone. He could do as he pleased, but instead of dismissing Maggie’s angry tirade, he gave her a sad smile instead.
“I assure you, Maggie, that the decision wasn’t made lightly. I don’t enjoy killing and I’m very relieved that, thanks to your mates, things have a chance to turn out differently.”
“So you’ll call him back? Call off the assassination?”
“I’ll make su
re my beta does everything we can to save her.”
Maggie gave the alpha a hard look. Gavin knew she wasn’t looking for pretty lies or false reassurances, so the alpha’s words seemed to satisfy her. “Thank you, alpha,” she said with a respectful dip of her head.
The alpha smiled and then turned to Gavin once more. “Get this done.”
Chapter Fourteen
Maggie sat on the front porch of her new home on Shy River pack lands and finally felt the tension drain from her muscles. Curing the affected animals had ended up being a rather quick task in the end. Whether Gavin had grown stronger or his theory that Maggie had needed more because she’d been infected and then made into a werewolf was anyone’s guess, but the simple truth was the animals were cured. They’d done what they could to try and help trace the last known movements of Shaw and Lisbeth Tryden, the two people suspected of creating the problem in the first place, but other than confirm that the den they’d used had been the same one the pack had found filled with medical supplies, it had been quite fruitless.
At least they’d been able to confiscate what seemed to be scientific notes on how the animals had been deliberately infected. It wasn’t over just yet, but with every pack, clan, family, and flock capable of communicating looking for them it had been no longer necessary for Maggie and her mates to stay in Dry Creek.
They’d gotten home late last night and slept on Hensen’s bed like a litter of exhausted puppies.
“Where are you?” Gavin asked urgently as the electrical field crackled around her once more.
“I’m on the porch trying to enjoy my coffee. Do you mind?”
Gavin seemed surprised by her hostility but then apparently realized what he was doing. “Sorry,” he said as the electrical field dissipated. “Do you want some company?”
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