by Maia Dylan
“We have the entire pack looking for him, too,” Wyatt informed him. “Rowena and Angel are pack and we look after our own. We are bringing back a pack member who is ex-special forces to help us out and doing everything we can to keep our mate safe.” There was a slight pause.
“Noah’s heading back that way?” Hunter asked hesitantly, and Rowena saw all three of her mates jolt in surprise and share curious looks.
“Yeah, he is. How do you know him?” Wyatt frowned and Rowena could read the concern on his face.
“The world is smaller than you think, and the shifter world? Can be damn miniscule in the grand scheme of things.” Hunter left it at that extremely cryptic answer. Judging by the look on Wyatt’s face, Noah was going to get quizzed when he got back.
“All right, Hunter, good hunting and keep in touch. Let us know how you get on finding the bastard.”
“Will do.”
“Hunter?” Rowena spoke quickly, wanting to catch him before he hung up.
“Yeah?”
“Good luck,” she whispered. He had been such a tower of strength to her during the trial and then at every single parole board hearing.
There was a quick silence then a very growly laugh. “There is no luck in hunting, Rowena. There is simply the prey and the predator. And there aren’t many predators bigger, and there sure as fuck aren’t any that are meaner than me and Dane when we work together.”
There was a click as he hung up. Rowena couldn’t help thinking about what Hunter had said. Baxter had hurt them both, so that made him bigger and meaner, and he hadn’t mentioned what he shifted into. And that big mean bastard was coming after her. Crap.
Chapter 8
“So tell me more about when you brought Baxter in. From the sound of it, there was more to it than a simple capture,” Wyatt asked Hunter a week later during one of their regular update calls. Rowena was asleep upstairs and he had snuck downstairs to take this call, leaving Luke and Chase with her.
“We’d been tracking him for two weeks, and we finally had him cornered in a ravine deep in a national park,” Hunter said and even across the phone line Wyatt could hear his exhaustion. “Baxter had been hiding in the woods and traveling at night trying to avoid us. When we cornered him, a gunfight erupted. Dane attempted to flank him and take him down, but in the end we all ended up wounded. Baxter, the gutless fuck, had used bullets dipped in a material that’s dangerous to shifters. It acts like a strong paralytic and made it impossible for us to shift or move.”
Wyatt sat back in shock. He had never heard of such a thing.
“Then the fucker semi-shifted and struck out with claws. Fuck off big claws that almost killed us. He left us for dead.” Hunter’s voice had turned harsh.
“From what I’m hearing it’s surprising that you actually survived. How the hell did you?” Wyatt asked, admiration in his voice. Hunter Reed and Dane Smith were tough bastards and he was damn glad they were on their side.
“Sheer stubborn willpower,” Hunter answered and Wyatt smiled at the laughter in his voice that had replaced the harshness. “We stayed alive long enough for the rest of our team to find us. As a team we brought the son of a bitch down and the rest you know. He never fully shifted in front of us, but Dane reckons judging by the size of his claws he has to be a bear shifter.”
They talked for a few minutes more before ending the call. Wyatt sat back against cushions of the sofa and looked around the shop. They had been making some fantastic progress on the store and it should be ready to open in less than a month. Rowena and Angel were working hard to make their dream a reality and Wyatt admired the hell out of both women for their determination to move on despite the threat of Baxter hanging over their head.
Thinking about Angel had Wyatt’s thoughts drifting to Chris and Noah. They were all starting to get a little concerned as Noah still hadn’t surfaced, but it was only a matter of time. Chris had been spending a lot of time at the house with Angel, and it was obvious that there was a beautiful relationship forming between the two. If the extreme reaction Chris and Angel had to each other when they first met was anything to go by, then Wyatt thought that perhaps there was another reason Noah was needed back in Grey River.
“What did Hunter have to say?” Luke asked telepathically.
“They are positive that Baxter is heading this way, and are just as frustrated as we are that they haven’t been able to catch up to him.” Wyatt then talked to them about the poison Hunter had told him about.
“Shit, that doesn’t sound like anything I want anywhere near our mate.” Chase’s anger was clear. “We need to make sure that fucker doesn’t get anywhere near her to use that shit.”
“Agreed,” Luke snarled, and then Wyatt felt a surge of shock slam down their link and leapt to his feet.
“What is it?” he shouted as he started for the stairs.
“Nothing, Wyatt.” Chase’s amused voice came back. “It’s just our mate is awake and has decided it’s time to play.”
Wyatt grinned as he stepped into the bedroom to see their mate kneeling between Luke’s legs, and giving him one hell of an oral wakeup call if Luke’s groans and curses were anything to judge by.
Wyatt quickly stripped out of his shorts and went to join them on the bed. If their mate wanted some nighttime loving, then it was entirely his pleasure to make sure she got it.
* * * *
“Hey, girl!” Cassadee grinned and handed her a shot of what looked like straight whiskey, which Rowena threw back immediately, loving the feel of it burn away some of the past two weeks’ tension.
“Damn, I really needed that.” Rowena gasped and Cassadee laughed.
“Yeah, it certainly looked like you did. Come on. Faith, Judy, and Lucy have a table for us over here.” Cassadee grabbed a loaded tray, laden with frozen margarita goodness, and led the way through the slowly growing crowd and over to a table in the far corner. Rowena noticed that AJ and Sam were seated at a table not too far away, and Cassadee winked in their direction before she pulled up a chair at their table and sat.
“Wyatt insisted that they be nearby in case anything happens.” Cassadee handed out glasses to all the women at the table and placed two large frosted jugs in the center. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Wyatt or one of his brothers weren’t parked out in the parking lot as well.”
Rowena would have liked to dispute that but found she couldn’t. That would be something that one of them would want to do. She had come to realize that there was nothing they wouldn’t do for her or to ensure her protection
She’d felt like she was wound so tightly she was about to explode! She had been trying to keep on a happy face and do what needed to be done, but there were cracks forming in her carefully crafted façade. Faith had taken one look at her that afternoon, recognized the tension in her, and had proclaimed tonight “Girls night out!” The boys were all meeting for another phone catch-up with Hunter and Dane.
“Raise those glasses, ladies!” Faith raised her glass and waited until the rest of them followed. “This is ladies night and we are gonna get our buzz on and have a good time. We are not going to think about Baxter or Parks or any other crazy bastard heading in our direction.” Rowena liked the sound of that. “We are gonna have a good time and leave the realities of all of that until tomorrow. And if we drink enough, it won’t be until late afternoon that we surface anyway!”
Rowena took a large swig of her margarita and felt the familiar heat of tequila in the icy beverage. Over the next couple of hours, they shared pitcher after pitcher of margaritas, some bar snacks, and more than a few laughs. All of the women were funny, caring, and had a sarcastic wit that matched her own.
Inevitably, the conversation turned to their mates, and Rowena heard all about the trials and tribulations that had led to all of the finding, being claimed by, and binding with their mates. It seemed that the roads to their happily ever afters had been just as bumpy as hers and she now knew why she felt so connected to them all.
That made a lot of sense. A few times over the past weeks, she had recognized vulnerability in all three of her men. They had all told her they were falling in love with her and she had yet to tell them how she felt. She knew it must hurt for her not to share her feelings with them, but she was scared that Baxter would somehow recognize that she loved them all, because she did. Deeply. He would recognize it and hurt them to hurt her.
Somehow, she thought that if she were able to keep her feelings to herself and maybe not voice it out loud, then perhaps she would be able to hide it better. That by not actually giving voice to them the feeling would stay hidden. She must have gotten a funny look on her face, because Cassadee suddenly placed a hand on hers.
“It doesn’t work that way.” Cassadee smiled gently at her frown. What in the hell was in the water in Grey River? Cassadee would read minds, too! Cassadee grinned. “Yeah, I can, but unlike the beautifully eccentric Xanthe White, my ability is linked to my nature and my fucked-up, late father who thought it would be good idea to experiment on me.”
Rowena had talked with Cassadee about her family, but she hadn’t shared everything apparently. She would have remembered hearing that a parent had experiment on a child she was for damn sure! “He sounds a like a douche.” Rowena smiled, turned her hand, and gripped Cassadee’s.
“That he was!” She grinned. “But back to what you were projecting rather loudly, your feelings for Wyatt, Luke, and Chase are obvious to anyone who has been around y’all when you are together. The emotions, caring—and yeah, Rowena, if you can’t say it then I will—the love you all have between you is very clear.”
“They get this glow about them when they see you, Rowena.” Faith sighed. “It’s beautiful! I saw it the day you all met for the first time, and I see it every time you are near each other now. I recognize it because I get the same from my mates. We all do!”
“The Fates chose us as mates to these men. They did that for a reason, and it has a lot to do with how they make us feel and how we feel for them. But I think it also has a lot to do with who we are and what we have been through.” Lucy slugged back the last of her margarita. “My husbands killed for me,” she whispered gently, “and I would do the same for them. In a heartbeat.”
Rowena sat there listening as these women laid their hearts and love on the table for her to see. Not every road was perfect but the ones that led to the greatest rewards were often the hardest roads to travel. Wyatt had told her something similar that first time they had met, and she only just now realized the truth in his words.
“Everything happens for a reason, sweetheart.” Judy smiled at her, and Rowena felt the sting of tears. “You just have to picture what you want out of life. When you imagine the future, what does it look like? And more importantly who is there with you, beside you, holding you in their arms at night and carrying you when the burden gets to heavy?”
Rowena sat there with a lightbulb flashing in her mind. Jesus, Judy was a damn genius! That’s exactly what was important. When she thought about the future, she saw it very clearly as being here in Grey River. It was her shop and the café, Angel behind the counter and her son growing up in a town filled with love and surrogate uncles and aunties everywhere he looked.
And as for her, there was really only one question she had to find the answer to. Could she have a future without Wyatt, Luke, and Chase?
* * * *
That question haunted her throughout the next morning, and by midafternoon, she had her answer. Could she imagine her future without Wyatt, Luke, and Chase in it? The answer to that question was a resounding no. There was no future for her without them in it, well, no future she would be happy in at least.
Were they hers? She tried to think of them with another woman and the red haze of rage clouded her thoughts within seconds. Hell. No. They were hers. They belonged to her just as she belonged to them. Rowena felt a weight suddenly lift from her, and she giggled. They belonged to her!
She dropped the books she had been sorting though and ran downstairs. She took the last three at a leap and skidded to halt on the newly polished floors. Usually she would stop and soak in the fact that this beautiful shop was her dream come true, but right then she had more pressing matters to take care of.
She followed the sound of hammers and found her men in the front room assembling some of the bespoke bookshelves they had made her. The room was heavily scented with cedar, but she could still scent her mates, and she felt everything within her soften as her body recognized them as hers. “Hi,” she said breathlessly and all three turned at the same time. They all smiled at her and she felt her heart melt. God, she really was in love with all three of them.
“Hey, baby.” Chase grinned wider. “You ready for us to bring those books down for you?” Rowena took a deep breath and shook her head. Chase had inadvertently given her the best opening line ever.
“Nope, but I am ready for y’all to claim me. Tonight.” She bit her lip and waited. At first the three of them just stood there and stared at her. Wyatt was the first to move toward her, his face splitting into the sweetest damn smile she had ever seen, and then he swept her into his arms and kissed her.
Usually her dominant wolf was all about the dominating, and his kisses were hot, hard, and intense, but this kiss was sweet and filled with a promise that her heart acknowledged and cherished. “Darlin’, you will never regret it.”
He stepped back and Luke swooped in. Lifting her from the ground and kissing her, for once more possessive than his older brother. After making her head swim, he pulled back and sipped from her lips, murmuring, “We’re gonna make you so damn happy, princess,” against them. He lowered her slowly to the ground and she got to enjoy feeling the bulge barely constrained by his jeans rub against her.
Then Chase grabbed her and held her tight. Rowena gasped a little when she felt him tremble slightly in her arms. “Baby,” was all he said, but his voice brought tears to her eyes. He pressed soft kisses to her eyelids, her face, and then finally her lips. She smiled at the wonder in his face.
“I know, love.” She placed a gentle kiss against his lips. “I’m sorry it has taken me so long to get to this point, but I think that somewhere inside me, I thought it would be safer to wait until this whole thing with Baxter was over.”
“Yeah, Red.” Wyatt ran a hand down her back as she turned so she could see all of her men. “We had kinda thought it must be something like that, but you have to know, that no matter where he is or what he is doing, it won’t ever change the fact that we’re in love with you.” Rowena gasped—that was the first time they had said it.
“Yeah, you heard right.” Luke grinned as he continued the conversation. “We love you and we want you for our mate. Baxter’s day of reckoning is almost upon him. We are Grey River, princess, a pack of ornery wolf shifters that people simply do not fuck with.”
“And we’re gonna take care of Baxter and then move on with our lives. Baby, as fucked up as it is to say”—Chase ran his hand down her cheek in a gentle caress—“Baxter drove you out of Dallas and into our arms. I have to believe that you would have ended up here eventually because that is what the Fates had destined for all of us, but who knows how long that would have taken. So in some small way, we are slightly indebted to him.”
Rowena made a face. Although that made some kind of sick sense, she didn’t really want to have to thank that prick for anything. “Chase is right, Red.” Wyatt’s harsh voice snapped her gaze to his, and she shivered at how close his wolf was. “But he’s still a fucking dead man walking. He just hasn’t stopped breathing.”
“So, tonight?” Rowena heard the need in her tone, and saw the answering desir
e flare in the eyes of all three of them.
“Yeah, that sounds just about perfect.” Chase grinned as he stepped in and kissed her. Then she was spun into Luke’s arms and kissed again and by the time she had kissed Wyatt her head was spinning and she couldn’t quite wipe the grin from her face.
“Damn, darlin’,” Wyatt groaned as he pressed his forehead to hers. “If we don’t get out of here and head to the hardware store, we won’t get everything we need to finish off the café service counter.” Wyatt gave her one last hug and stepped back.
“We’d just end up back in bed and it’s not like that’s not exactly where we want to be,” Luke muttered as he leaned in and kissed her gently. “But I have a feeling that you want tonight to be as special as we know we want to make it for you, so we’ll get outta here for a bit and let the anticipation build.”
In true Chase style, he dipped her low over his arm, his face nuzzling into her neck and making her giggle. “But you can damn well bet we will be thinking about you and tonight every damn second we’re gone.” He popped her back to her feet and held her until she had her balance. Damned if these boys didn’t keep her in a perpetual state of light-headedness.
“OK, I’m just gonna finish cataloguing those books upstairs and I might pop next door to see Xanthe, but I’ll stay around here till you get back.” Rowena walked with them to the front of the shop.
“Grant and Kyle are out back, Jase and Rhys are on their way over to put the final touches on the plumbing in the kitchen, and Angel said she was feeling a little tired and was heading up to bed a while ago. We won’t be too long.” Wyatt kissed her again and the three of them walked out of the store. Rowena couldn’t keep the grin from her face when she watched them walk away. All three of them had asses a woman just begged to sink her teeth into.
Waving as they drove off, Rowena was about to go back into the bookstore when she heard a noise coming from Xanthe’s shop. It sounded like a door being shut a little too hard. Rowena figured she might as well get the bath bomb and lotion she wanted to use for tonight now and made her way across the short driveway that separated her shop from Xanthe’s.