by Paige Tyler
Everly cupped Landry’s face, tenderly wiping away a smudge of blood from his cheek with her thumb. He had a cut on his forehead too.
“Landry?” she said again, a little louder this time.
But he still didn’t move.
She would have tried to feel for a pulse, but she was too afraid of what she’d find if she did. Tears ran freely down her face as her heart tried to tell her it was over.
Then she heard a soft groan.
Pulse skipping a beat she leaned close. “Landry. Can you hear me?”
The groan came again. Then his eyes fluttered, and the edges of his lips curved up. “I must be in heaven,” he whispered. “Because only angels are this beautiful.”
Laughing, Everly kissed him. It wasn’t much of a kiss really, since there was more crying on her part than smooching, but Landry responded, his mouth opening and his tongue slipping out for a quick taste of her lips. Then he closed his mouth, and she could feel him trying to physically pull back.
Everly lifted her head, alarmed. “Oh God! Are you okay?” She groaned, realizing how stupid the question was. “Of course, you’re not okay. You just fell ten stories while getting blown up. You shouldn’t even be alive. I’m going to make sure they have an ambulance on the way.”
She started to stand, but Landry grabbed her hand, stopping her. “I’m fine,” he said, and then winced. “Well, I’m not quite fine. I broke a few bones in that fall, and I think I have a bunch of glass and bomb fragments in me that Alex or Trey are going have to dig out. But all that can wait. There’s something I need to say to you first.”
Everly wasn’t sure whether she was relieved to hear he was okay or terrified there were fragments inside him. But the serious look on his face made her sit back on her heels.
Everly heard sounds coming from the front of the condo, mostly those of people shouting and running away from the building, but also the distant wail of approaching sirens. In another minute, people would be coming around to this side of the building.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly, gazing at her with eyes crystal clear, even though he had to be in pain.
“Sorry about what?” She took his hand in hers and held it tightly. “You saved my life again. What do you have to apologize for?”
“I’m sorry that I brought all those horrible memories of your mother’s death back to the surface. I’m sorry that I pulled you into the middle of this mess and almost got you killed. And more than anything, I’m sorry that I’m a werewolf instead of the normal human you could have been happy with.”
Everly recoiled as if he’d slapped her. Except the sting she felt wasn’t to her face. It was to her heart—her very core. Landry had just apologized because she’d made him feel as if his werewolf half wasn’t worthy. Suddenly, she felt about two inches tall. Landry might be the one with claws and fangs, but she was the one behaving like the monster.
Choking back a sob, she threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face in his neck. Considering how injured he was, she knew it probably wasn’t comfortable for him, but she had to be close to him. He must have felt it too, because he wrapped one arm around her.
“Don’t you apologize for being what you are ever again,” she rebuked him as she squeezed for all she was worth. “I’m glad you’re a werewolf, do you hear me?”
“I hear you,” he said in her ear. “I’m just not too sure I understand you.”
“If you weren’t a werewolf, you’d be dead right now.” The thought brought fresh tears to her eyes, and she pressed her face tightly against his neck. “I’m glad you’re a werewolf because I never want you to leave me.”
He cupped her shoulders and pushed her up. “What are you trying to say?”
She smiled at him, tears streaming down her face. “That I love you, you big idiot. I know it took me a while to figure it out, and I’m sorry about everything I put you through as I was wrapping my head around this whole werewolf thing. But now that I have everything straight and know what I’ve found, I don’t want to lose it.”
He regarded her for a long time. “What about what happened to your mother? What about your father and brothers?”
She brushed his hair back from his forehead. “I’m never going to forget about what happened to my mom, but with you there to support me and give me strength, I can face the memories and move forward.”
“You don’t even have to ask,” he said. “I’ll be here for you as long as you want me to be.”
“Good.” She smiled. “Because my mom would want me to be happy, and you make me happy. As for my dad and brothers, well, they’ll just have to deal with it. Though I don’t think they’ll have too hard of a time, considering you threw yourself out a ten-story window to save me this time. But if they do have a problem with us being together for the rest of our lives, they’re going to have to deal with me, and I don’t think they want to do that.”
Cooper took her hand and tugged, pulling her back down and wrapping his arms around her. “For the rest of our lives,” he whispered, giving her a kiss. “I think I could get used to the sound of that.”
* * *
Everly had sat in the ambulance with him for a while as Trey painstakingly pulled out pieces of metal and glass from various parts of his body, but Cooper could tell she was having a hard time with it. So when she’d mentioned something about needing to talk to someone, he hadn’t asked too many questions.
That had left him alone with Trey, the clink of debris falling onto the surgery tray, and his own dark thoughts.
“You had to do it, you know,” Trey said suddenly, breaking the silence filling the back of the ambulance.
“Do what?” Cooper asked, even though he had a good idea exactly what his teammate was talking about.
“Kill your friend.” Trey grasped the corner of a piece of glass sticking out of his arm and pulled it out. “He didn’t leave you a choice. If you hadn’t done what you did, Everly would be dead and so would a lot of other people.”
Cooper nodded. On some level, he knew Trey was right. But it didn’t change the fact that the man who had saved his life all those years ago was dead at his hands. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get past that.
The back door opened, and Xander stuck his head in the ambulance. “With what North and the other witnesses in the restaurant are saying, plus your friend from the bureau, I think I might be able to keep the FBI from taking you in for resisting arrest and obstructing a federal investigation,” he said to Cooper. “But I doubt Gage is ever leaving town after this.”
“Well, that’s one less thing to worry about,” Trey said when Xander closed the door. He shoved a pair of forceps between two of Cooper’s ribs and pulled out a shard of green-tinted glass almost two inches long. “Now we just have to hope he can get Alex, Brooks, and Everly’s brothers out of jail.”
Cooper couldn’t stop a hiss of pain from slipping out as Trey took another piece of glass from his side. Shit. They hurt a lot more coming out than they had going in. Then again, he didn’t actually remember them going in, so maybe he was wrong about that. He was just glad Trey could sense where the fragments of metal and glass were without the aid of an X-ray. It was already going to be hard enough explaining how he’d survived the bomb blast and the fall from the tenth floor. It would be worse if he had to go for major surgery to get bomb debris out of him.
Cooper ignored the stunned looks from the two paramedics standing beside the ambulance when he stepped out fifteen minutes later. His T-shirt still had blood on it and rips in a dozen places, but at least he didn’t look like a human pincushion anymore. That was certainly going to start a few new rumors about the Dallas SWAT team.
He immediately scanned the parking lot looking for Everly. He found her by Dennis, talking in a soft voice as she signed a piece of paper. He and Dennis had spoken for about five minutes when the FBI agent had first arrived at the scene. The conversation had been cool to put it mildly. Cooper had burned a bridge ther
e, and something told him he might never be able to rebuild it.
Dennis took out his cell and put it to his ear on the opposite side of the big bruise already forming along his jawline thanks to Armand’s punch. He nodded at whatever the person on the other end of the phone was saying, while reading the piece of paper Everly had just given him.
Cooper had no idea what that was about, but before he could walk over and ask, he heard someone calling his name. He turned and saw North walking toward him.
“Damn, I always heard you were one tough son of a bitch, but tackling a bomber out a ten-story window and walking away with a couple scratches? That’s something else.” North grinned and stuck out his hand. “I just wanted to thank you. That crazy fuck Wainwright would have killed me and everyone in that restaurant if you hadn’t stopped him.”
Cooper didn’t stop to think. He simply stepped forward and punched North so hard the bastard flew backward through the air and landed on his ass.
“Don’t even say his name, you piece of shit,” Cooper growled. “You know exactly why he tried to kill you, and if there hadn’t been other people around, I probably would have let him.”
North cradled his jaw and looked around, his gaze going first to Cooper’s SWAT teammates, then to the uniformed cops, and finally to Dennis and the other FBI agents on the scene.
“Did you see what he just did?” North shouted. Or tried to anyway. His jaw wasn’t working too well.
Dennis walked over and reached down to help North to his feet. “Nope. Didn’t see a thing.” He turned North around and jerked his hands behind his back, then snapped on a pair of cuffs. “Ryan North, you’re under arrest for conspiracy to defraud the federal government, contractor fraud, illegal shipment of weapons-grade technology, tax evasion, and federal racketeering.”
Cooper probably looked pretty silly standing there with his mouth hanging open in shock as his FBI friend led an equally stunned North away. What the hell had just happened?
Everly laughed softly as she placed a fingertip under his jaw to close his mouth.
“Did you have something to do with that?” he asked.
She nodded. “Jim talked a lot while he was building that suicide vest. He told me that North was involved with corrupt contractors in Iraq and paid off an EOD tech named Christian to hide the truth about what happened during that accident over there. Christian had a change of heart and collected a whole box of evidence against North, which he gave to Jim. While you were with Trey, your FBI friend sent some people over to the storage unit where Jim took me to check it out. Apparently, there was a lot of dirt on North.”
“Dennis decided to arrest North without even looking at the evidence first?” Cooper asked.
That wasn’t the way the FBI normally worked. They preferred to have all their ducks in a row before they moved on anyone.
“I think he would have rather waited until he’d gone through all the evidence first,” Everly said. “But when I mentioned what you said about North planning to fly out of the country tonight, he realized he couldn’t wait.”
Cooper watched as Dennis put North in the backseat of a car, then got in and drove away. It wasn’t the crime Jim had wanted the man punished for, but it might help Jim’s soul find some kind of peace, knowing North would be in jail for a very long time. Maybe it would even help Cooper’s.
“You okay?” Everly asked, putting a hand over his heart and resting it there.
Even through the bloody clothes he had on, her touch felt good. Comforting. Right.
“I’m good. Now that you’re here.” He placed his hand on top of hers. “It’s possible I didn’t remember to tell you this before, what with me having just jumped out of a window and all, but I love you like crazy, and I know how lucky I am to have you in my life. It’s more than I could ever ask for.”
She blinked her eyes to keep the tears that filled them from falling, then went up on her toes to kiss him. “I think we’re both lucky. Jayna came to see me, and if everything she told me is true, it’s not every day two people who were meant to be together forever find each other.”
He smiled. “She told you about The One, huh?”
Everly nodded. “She was trying to explain why being apart from you was so hard on me. After she told me about it, everything made sense, and I knew I couldn’t be without you anymore.”
He leaned down and kissed her, not caring that there were dozens of people watching. He was so engaged in the kiss that he didn’t sense Xander standing there until his squad leader tapped him on the shoulder.
“You going to get cleaned up before heading to the police station?” Xander asked, gesturing at his blood-stained and torn clothing.
Everly looked at him in alarm. “Police station? I thought everything had been taken care of, and they weren’t going to arrest you?”
Xander laughed. “They’re not. Cooper always comes out of crap like this smelling like a rose. No, we need to go to the police station and see if we can get Alex, Brooks, and your brothers out of jail. I can probably talk Alex and Brooks out of there, but I don’t know what to do with your brothers. If they need to post bail, it’s on Cooper.”
Everly turned to Cooper, her eyes wide. “You got my brothers arrested?”
Xander chuckled again then walked away. “I’ll meet you down there in an hour or so, but you better bring that money I mentioned, Cooper,” he said over his shoulder. “I’m serious. I’m not paying their bail.”
Cooper gave Everly a chagrined look. “Did I mention the part where I jumped out a ten-story window?”
Chapter 20
Everly sat at one of the wooden picnic tables in the SWAT compound two weeks later, soaking in the sun and nibbling on the cheeseburger Landry had brought her before heading out to play volleyball with all the other SWAT guys and some of their friends. She’d never been a huge fan of playing volleyball herself, but she definitely didn’t mind watching muscular guys run around in the sand without their shirts.
Of course, she wasn’t eyeing all the guys in quite the same way, especially her brother. As she watched, Tristan dove for a ball coming over the net low and fast, batting it into the air just before it hit the dirt. Landry leapt over her youngest brother, setting the ball a little higher and closer to the net so Tristan could spike the ball over for a point. Tristan and Landry high-fived, both shaking dirt out of their pants and laughing like kids.
Everly smiled. Her father and other brothers still weren’t thrilled with her decision to spend her life with a werewolf, but Tristan was dealing with it much better. He’d already spent a lot of time with her and Landry, and had even hung out at the SWAT compound a couple times.
She sipped her water, focusing on Landry and how unbelievably sexy he looked with his shirt off, that beautiful wolf head tattoo flexing as he moved. It was rather funny that a werewolf had a tattoo of a wolf on his chest. Like he had a private joke no one else knew about.
But as she looked at the other muscular chests out there, she realized that all the SWAT guys had the same tattoos on their chests. Crap. She’d been staring at them for over an hour, and it just hit her.
Everly looked at Jayna, who was sitting with her, Mac, and Khaki, watching the guys play. Suddenly, everything fell into place, and it all made a strange kind of sense.
“Oh my God,” she said. “All the guys on the SWAT team are…”
“Werewolves?” Jayna asked, as if she’d been reading Everly’s mind. Was that something werewolves could do? “Yeah. The whole SWAT team is made up of werewolves—Khaki included. They’re a pack like mine.”
“Yours?” Everly’s eyes widened. “You mean Joseph, Chris, and Moe are werewolves?”
Jayna laughed. “Yes, they’re all werewolves.”
“Why didn’t Landry tell me? Does Mia know?”
“Cooper was waiting to tell you. He didn’t want to overwhelm you with too much all at once. It’s the same reason Joseph hasn’t said anything to Mia yet.” Jayna shrugged. “You know b
etter than anyone. Learning something like that can be hard on some people. He’ll tell her in time, if it turns out they’re meant to be together. And if he thinks she can handle it.”
Everly supposed she could understand why Joseph was hesitant to say anything to Mia.
“Anybody need seconds or thirds?” Alex asked, interrupting her musings as he walked by with a tray full of burgers, hot dogs, and steaks, Tuffie trailing behind him with a big doggie smile on her face.
Alex’s food was so good that Everly almost said yes, but she still had half a cheeseburger left. Jayna and Khaki obviously didn’t have that problem. They each grabbed a hot dog and another burger before he moved on and started handing out food at the next table, where Gage sat with the deputy chief of police and FBI agent in charge of the Dallas field office. The SWAT commander was still trying to extend an olive branch and mend some fences with the FBI after what happened with the bombings. According to Landry, the effort was still a work in progress.
Even though Landry had technically gotten off without any official reprimand for what had happened with Jim, unofficially, the local FBI brass was still pissed at how things had gone down. While the man responsible for setting the bombs that had killed a police officer and injured dozens more was dead, and all the loose ends had been tied up, people in Dallas were giving SWAT the credit for stopping the bomber and putting North in prison. That didn’t make the FBI too happy.
They weren’t the only ones pissed at Landry. The detective from Internal Affairs that had made Landry see a psychologist was furious she’d signed off on his return-to-duty paperwork so quickly. The way Coletti saw it, Landry tackling a suicide bomber out a window was proof that he was unstable and unfit to remain on duty.
Then there was Gage. He hadn’t been thrilled to come back from his honeymoon to find that Alex and Brooks had been arrested for getting into a physical altercation with the FBI, and that Landry had suspected who the bomber was, but hadn’t said anything. Fortunately, Gage had calmed down enough to deal with IA. Even so, there was a good chance the SWAT commander was never going on vacation again.