Gabriel’s eyes turned dark. As the alpha of Marin’s pack, it infuriated him that someone would dare to harm her. He growled low in his throat. While Marin may not be officially mated to his brother yet, she was family regardless.
“What’s the plan?” he asked Cole and Connor.
Cole looked both furious and tormented. “I’m not sure. I’m worried that if we go in there, he’s going to hurt her even worse. But if we don’t, he might kill her.”
“Don’t do anything yet. The police are outside as well as in the building. Between them and the security guards, I’m sure we can get her out of there in one piece. Give me just a minute and I’ll be back,” Gabriel told them.
He quickly walked off in the direction of the elevators. He stopped and spoke briefly to the security guard positioned outside the first elevator. “The fugitive everyone is looking for is in the lounge. He has a hostage, but we don’t know the details yet. Can you radio the police and see if they have any snipers handy? Maybe they can get a clear shot through one of the windows.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on it,” the guard said before reaching for his radio.
While the guard took care of that chore, Gabriel walked back over to his brother and cousin. He knew that if something didn’t happen soon, there would be no way to keep Cole from going in after Marin; and he really couldn’t blame him.
“We’re going to see if a sniper can get a look inside the room. That should give us an idea of what’s going on,” Gabriel whispered to them.
Cole growled, “I’m not waiting on the police to determine what the situation is!”
Before either Gabriel or Connor could grab him, he stomped into the lounge to confront Stefan. As he entered, he saw Colin a few feet away, growling and baring his teeth at Stefan.
Stefan was using Marin as a shield and had a knife to her throat. There was a tiny rivulet of blood running down her neck where she had been nicked. Cole saw red his fury was so great.
“You should have stayed in jail where you belong,” Cole growled at him.
Stefan smirked. “Now why would I do that when my lovely little plaything is out here? You knew that I would come for her… and don’t even try to give me the lie that she’s your fiancé and has never seen me before.”
“Whether she’s seen you before or not is irrelevant, but she is my fiancée and by touching her you’ve signed your death warrant.”
Stefan’s smile turned even colder. “In case you haven’t noticed, I hold all the cards. Unless of course you want me to end her life here and now,” Stefan asked as he pressed the knife even closer to her throat.
A savage growl ripped through Cole and before he even had time to think, he lunged at Stefan, shifting into his wolf form in mid air. The change took Stefan by surprise and he lowered his guard just long enough for Cole to latch onto him. Marin was knocked to the floor, out of harm’s way, as Cole ripped into Stefan.
Hearing the exchange, Gabriel and Connor rushed into the room. Both men quickly took in the situation and were thankful the blinds had been drawn closed. Otherwise, Cole was going to have a lot of explaining to do when the local authorities came upstairs.
Before Gabriel could pull Cole from Stefan, his brother made one final lunge, snapping his jaws down on Stefan’s throat. Once he knew the man was dead, Cole backed off.
Now that the rage had subsided, he was afraid to look at Marin, afraid that she would see him as a monster, or worse, a murderer. Truly, that’s what he was at that moment, but he had done it to save her life; and he would do the exact same thing all over again if faced with the same situation. Her life was more precious to him than anything else.
Shifting back to his human form, Cole quickly dressed. Walking over to the sink, he washed his face, neck and hands, removing all traces of blood from him. He felt a small hand tentatively touch his back and he stiffened.
“Cole?”
He didn’t want to face her, couldn’t face her knowing what he had done. He wasn’t sure he would survive the horrified look on her face. Taking a breath, he slowly turned.
“Why won’t you look at me?” she asked him.
Cole looked at her as she had requested. He was surprised to see love shining from her eyes and not hatred or fear. “I was afraid of what I would see if I looked at you, afraid of what you would see when you looked at me.”
“Why would I be afraid to look at you? You’re the man I love and you just saved my life.”
Cole’s eyes roamed her face, afraid that her response was too good to be true. “You aren’t afraid of me now? You don’t hate me for taking a man’s life?”
Marin shook her head. “I could never hate you.”
Cole pulled her into his arms and buried his face in her hair. He briefly noticed Colin prowling around Stefan’s body, curious he watched his cousin. To his amazement, Colin was making his paws and muzzle red with Stefan’s blood. His cousin was trying to protect him.
From the other room Cole heard shouts. The police and guards began filing into the room one after the other until the little lounge couldn’t hold any more people.
“What happened here?” the officer in charged asked.
Gabriel cleared his throat before answering, “The fugitive grabbed Marin and held a knife to her throat. The guard dog we’d provided for her saved her life by attacking the man. I’m afraid he’s dead though… I wasn’t able to pull the dog off in time.”
The officer nodded. “We’ll need a more detailed statement later. Right now, let’s get this young woman some medical attention and get the criminalists in here so the coroner can bag that body.”
Marin was ushered out of the lounge by the paramedics. Cole went with her, afraid to leave her side for a moment. Once her wounds were doctored, Cole led her to his office.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, Cole. I know you’re worried about me, but I really am fine.”
Cole eyed her anxiously. As calm as she appeared, he figured she had to be in shock. “I can’t help it. Loving you means I get to worry about you. You just had a man hold a knife to your throat. How can you be so calm?”
Marin smiled at him. “Because I knew that you would come and save me. I never doubted for a minute that you would find a way to rescue me.”
“I’m glad you had so much faith in me, more than I even had in myself,” he grumbled.
A police officer knocked on the office door. Cole let him in, “Can we help you officer?”
“I need to ask Ms. Thomas a few questions.”
“Can’t it wait? Hasn’t she been through enough already?”
“I’m sorry sir, but the sooner we take her statement the sooner you can go home.”
Cole sighed and looked at Marin. “Do you feel up to talking to him?”
“It’s fine, Cole. I just want this day to end. If we can go home after I talk to him, then I’ll talk to him.”
Cole sat beside her and held her hand. The officer questioned her for almost thirty minutes, sometimes asking the same question more than once. When the officer was finished, he left to question the other Sabin employees who had come into contact with Stefan.
“Are you ready to go home?” Cole asked her.
Marin nodded and leaned into him, weary from the whole ordeal. She was glad that it was over, for good this time, but she felt as if all the strength and energy had been drained from her, leaving an empty shell.
“Wait here a minute while I get the others,” he told her.
Cole left Marin in his office and went in search of Gabriel, Connor, and Colin. He found them in a corner, talking amongst themselves.
“Are the three of you ready to go? They just finished talking to Marin and she wants to go home.”
“They talked to us, too,” Connor said.
Cole’s brow furrowed as he frowned. “Why did they talk to everyone but me?”
“We told them you entered the room after Stefan was dead,” his brother replied.
“Wasn
’t that taking a big chance since they talked to Marin, too?”
His brother shrugged. “Connor seems to have a special gift like his cousins, he was able to project the idea to Marin in hopes that she wouldn’t bring up your involvement.”
“What about Colin? We aren’t going to have any problems keeping him out of doggy jail are we?”
Connor shook his head. “I took care of that too. I would imagine that the case will be wrapped up within a few hours.”
“Wow, I’m impressed. That’s definitely a useful skill to have,” Cole replied.
“Let’s get Marin and go home. Connor and Colin will have to ride with you since I rode my Harley,” Gabriel told Cole.
“That’s fine. I just want to get Marin out of here as soon as possible,” he replied.
***
A few hours later, Marin was bathed and resting in bed. Cole had insisted that she soak in the tub while he showered and changed. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the events of that morning. She hadn’t lied to Cole when she told him that she knew he would rescue her, but it was still frightening to remember the feel of the knife cutting into her throat.
Marin got out of bed and opened the bedroom door. Walking to the edge of the stairs, she called out for Cole. She barely had time to blink before she heard his footsteps on the stairs below.
“What is it, sweetheart?” he asked as he reached the top of the stairs.
“I keep seeing his face when I close my eyes. Would you hold me for a few minutes?”
“Honey, I’ll hold you all night if you’d like me to.”
Marin leaned into Cole, wanting to be close to him. If they had their own house, she’d have asked Cole to make love to her, to erase all of her bad memories and give her new ones.
Cole gently lifted her into his arms. He carried her over to the bed and laid her down. Walking around to his side of the bed, he climbed in beside her and pulled her into his arms.
Marin burrowed into Cole. “Do you think Dave would let us take a few days off?”
Cole rubbed her bad, trying to comfort her. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if we took the rest of the week off.”
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Dave. Their conversation was brief. Dave had consented for them to take the rest of the week off and told Cole to take care of Marin. Cole hadn’t doubted the outcome of the phone call.
“What did he say?” Marin asked as Cole hung up the phone.
“He said we could take the week off and he hoped you were doing okay.”
“I’m fine now that you’re here with me.”
Cole played with the ends of her hair. “Would you like to look at some houses tomorrow?”
Marin’s eyes brightened as she lifted her head to look at him. “Could we?”
“I’ll call Matt in the morning, but I don’t think it will be a problem.”
Marin smiled and snuggled closer to Cole. The thought of having her own home lifted her spirits and made her look forward to tomorrow.
Chapter Twelve
Morning came swiftly. Since Cole and Marin didn’t have to go to work, the alarm had been turned off the night before. Cole woke before Marin did and gently slid out of bed, careful to not wake her.
After a quick trip to the bathroom, he decided to check on his twin. As he opened the door, he glanced back at the bed to assure himself that Marin was still asleep. Closing the door quietly, he went next door to Michael’s room.
Cole cautiously peeked around the edge of the door, not wanting to disturb his brother if he were still asleep. Michael was sitting up in bed flipping through a magazine.
“I didn’t get a chance to share the news with you last night, but I’m assuming that Gabriel came to talk to you,” Cole said as he stepped into the room.
Michael put the magazine down. “Yeah, he stopped by when he got home. I’m glad that the bastard is dead.”
Cole nodded. “That makes two of us. I just wish that Marin hadn’t had to witness it.”
“She’s pretty tough. I think she can handle it.”
Cole smiled. He had a feeling that Marin was tougher than he gave her credit for. He had started to see a sassy side emerging over the past few days and was looking forward to what the future would bring.
“Or did you mean that you wish she hadn’t seen you kill Stefan?”
“Maybe a little bit of both,” Cole said quietly. “I’m going to see if Matt can meet us a little later. Gabriel doesn’t know, but Marin and I plan on moving out soon. Matt has some properties he’s going to show us this week.”
Michael whistled. “He’s going to be surprised when you tell him! We’ve all lived in this house since we were born… I mean, I realize we can’t all live here forever, but it’s going to be odd not having you around all the time.”
Cole rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you’ll manage. Especially since Gabriel is letting Colin and Connor stay with us for a bit.”
“I haven’t had a chance to talk to them much, but I think that’s going to change today,” Michael said as he got out of bed.
“Don’t you think it’s too soon for you to go gallivanting around the house? What about your stitches?”
Michael grinned. “Take a look for yourself. They seem to be healed.”
Cole moved closer to his brother. Looking at the angry red lines that covered Michael’s torso, Cole was shocked by what he saw. The wounds had indeed healed and the stitches had already dissolved.
“Now that’s impressive! I thought it would take a few more days before you healed this much,” Cole said.
Michael shrugged. “The stitches dissolved overnight. When I went to bed last night, the wounds had mostly closed, but they hadn’t healed this well. I’ve honestly never seen, or experienced, anything like it before.”
“Neither have I, but I’m glad you’re better,” Cole responded.
“I think I’ll take a shower and put some clean clothes on. Maybe I’ll grab a bite to eat and walk over to the garage.”
“I don’t think you’ve healed enough to start working on cars again,” Cole told him.
“Maybe not, but I can at least take care of the paperwork. It’s the least I can do since Gabriel has had to work solo for the past few days.”
Cole was impressed with the maturity and thoughtfulness that his twin was showing. It wasn’t like Michael to think of others. Normally Michael only thought about three things: himself, women, and sex; although there were times that sex probably came first. Maybe there was hope for Michael after all.
“I’ll let you take your shower. Maybe I’ll head downstairs and start breakfast. If we’re up, it won’t be long before everyone else is, too,” Cole said.
Michael hadn’t missed the look on his twin’s face. He knew the family thought of him as the screw up. One day they would realize they were way off base, but until that time came, he would leave them to their delusions.
“I’ll be down in a few minutes,” Michael replied.
Cole left the room and headed downstairs. Pausing on the second floor, he noticed that the bedroom doors were still closed and there were no sounds from within the rooms. Apparently, his cousins were still sleeping. Descending the last of the stairs, he heard the phone ringing in the kitchen.
“Hello,” Cole said as he picked up the phone.
“Cole? It’s Matt.”
“Hey Matt. I was going to call you this morning,” Cole replied.”
Matt chuckled. “I guess I saved you the trouble. Listen, I’m calling because Cassie was worried about Marin. She saw on the news that Stefan was killed at Sabin yesterday. When she tried to call Marin at work, she was informed that Marin wasn’t there today. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything is fine. Yesterday was so traumatizing that Dave gave both of us the week off. I think it will do Marin some good to have some quiet time.”
“I’m glad to hear that it’s finally over.” Matt paused. “Since you have some time off, would
the two of you like to look at some houses today? If it’s too soon, just say so, but I thought Marin might like to get out of the house for a bit.”
“You must have read my mind. I promised Marin last night that I would check with you this morning about looking at a few houses.”
“I have an appointment in a few minutes, but I’m free after that. Want to meet in about an hour? I can either come pick you up or you can meet me at the first house. Just let me know which would be best for the two of you.”
“Why don’t we meet you at the first house? I need to take Marin shopping this afternoon for a winter coat so it would be easiest if we had our own vehicle.”
“That sounds good. Do you have a pen and paper?”
Cole rummaged through a kitchen drawer. “Yeah, I’ve got one. Go ahead.”
“The address is 255 Cherry Hill Road. It’s a small house, but I thought Marin might like the neighborhood.”
“I know that area. I think you’re right, she’ll like it. We’ll meet you there around ten o’clock?”
“That sounds fine. I’ll bring over some photos of the other houses I have available right now and their locations. We can decide which ones to look at when we meet at the first house.”
“We’ll see you then,” Cole said, hanging up the phone.
The Cherry Hill area was a pretty upscale neighborhood. Even if the house was small, it probably cost a good bit. Thankfully, Cole had a decent sized down payment saved up. He hadn’t thought to discuss price with Matt when he’d enlisted his help in finding a house. Then again, knowing Matt, he would give him a great deal on any house that Marin chose. It was a wonder that he and Cassie weren’t destitute considering the amount of money they gave away to charities and the many times they had helped their friends and family.
Cole dug through the pantry, but didn’t see anything that looked overly appetizing. Maybe it would be better to just take Marin out for breakfast. He glanced at the clock. It was only eight thirty. If he woke her up now, they would have plenty of time to eat before meeting Matt.
Taking the stairs two at a time, Cole ran up to the third floor. When he opened the door, he noticed the bed was empty. Closing the door behind him, he decided to stretch out on the bed and wait for Marin. He could hear the shower running in the bathroom and knew that she had already started getting ready.
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