by D. M. Turner
“Uh huh.” He leaned closer, his lips finding the soft flesh behind her ear. Then he pulled her into his lap. “What about you? Any ideas?”
“One.” Tanya pushed away and climbed to her feet. “I’d love a good run.” She eased around the end of the couch to give herself a straight shot to the stairs.
“Seriously?” His brows shot up. Then disappointment made him frown.
“Yep.” She bolted. “Catch me if you can.”
She didn’t make it halfway up the stairs before Colin caught her, lifting her into his arms to carry her the rest of the way to their room.
* * *
“Someone help! Please!”
A woman’s terrified scream carried up the stairs little more than a half hour after Colin and Tanya had fallen into bed. He yanked on jeans and ran for the door.
Tanya grabbed a robe, pulled it on, secured the belt around her waist, and followed. She reached the foyer in time to see Ian and Colin carrying an unconscious man through the front door.
Blood dripped in their wake.
She studied the man’s face as they carried him past. Brett?
Kelly followed, as white as a bleached sheet underneath blood smeared almost head to toe. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears, and she shook visibly.
Rather than risk interfering, Tanya waited until they’d moved past, closed the front door, and went to the kitchen for a wet towel to wipe up the blood trail leading from the door and down the hallway. She had to stop and rinse it every few feet, otherwise it only spread blood around. Brett had lost an awful lot of blood. What had happened to him? Kelly most certainly wouldn’t have turned the man into a bloody mess on the verge of death and then looked weepy about it.
When she’d taken care of the worst of it, Tanya went to check on Brett.
Kelly stood inside the room and to one side of the door, a hand over her mouth like she might throw up. Tears flowed over her cheeks, leaving white streaks amongst the blood.
Tanya’s stomach rolled when she saw the condition of Brett’s body. Was that internal organs and bones she was seeing? Oh, Lord, please don’t let him die. He may not be one of my favorite people, but I don’t want him dead. The pack needs him. Please, let him be okay.
“The cougar came after me. He stopped it. He stopped it to save me.”
Cougar. The mountain lion Colin had warned her about. She put an arm around Kelly’s waist to let her know she wasn’t alone.
Teary eyes turned to her. “If he dies, it’ll be my fault. He told me to go home, but I thought….” She shook her head, tears worsening. “I’m so sorry.”
“Shh. It’ll be okay. Brett’s tough.” A wolf didn’t live over two-hundred years without being so. She hugged her. The woman needed to be distracted while Colin and Ian tended to Brett. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
After a brief hesitation, Kelly nodded.
Tanya guided her to the empty bedroom across the hall. For the first time, she was grateful that Tommy and his sister had moved out after Donna had married Graham, the pack’s fourth. They seemed happy at a place outside town but close enough to work for Graham and school for Donna to be more convenient than the Preserve. Tommy went to work with Graham or school with Donna to be dropped off with Brett, or Graham brought him to the Preserve to spend the day with Ian. If he’d still been living there, he’d have seen the blood and gore. He’d had enough of that for a while.
Tanya closed the bedroom door behind them and pulled clothes out of the closet for Kelly to wear. “All we have are men’s sweatpants and t-shirts. I’m pretty sure my jeans and stuff won’t fit you. You’re taller than I am.” And not so scrawny, she didn’t add.
“Those are fine.” Kelly flopped onto the foot of the bed and stared at the floor. “It’s my fault. He was in the middle of the road, and I almost hit him. It scared me, so I yelled at him. He ordered me to shut up and go home.”
That sounded like Brett.
“I didn’t go.” She swiped at tears with one hand, smearing blood even more. “He was protecting me.”
“That’s the way the men of the pack are.” She smiled and sat next to Kelly. “They just can’t leave well enough alone when a woman is in trouble.”
“If he dies, it’s my fault. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself.”
Would Brett die? Was that truly a possibility for someone that strong? “Why don’t you hop in the shower? I’ll see how they’re doing.”
Kelly nodded and headed for the bathroom.
Tanya slipped out of the room and closed the door. Then, taking a deep breath, she returned to the guestroom to check on the men.
Colin and Ian continued working on Brett, but their movements were no longer as frantic. After several minutes, they stopped working.
“Will he be okay?”
“He’s healing, but he lost a lot of blood.” Ian glanced up. “He hasn’t died yet, though, so I’m taking that as a good sign.”
She caught Colin’s eye. “It was that mountain lion you warned me about, wasn’t it?”
“It would appear so. I doubt there are two.”
“To do this kind of damage to a man the size of Brett, it’s gotta be a big one.”
“I’ll find out more after Brett wakes up. Maybe speak to Kelly later.” Ian straightened away from the bed and met Tanya’s gaze. “How’s she doing?”
“Traumatized. Blaming herself.”
He closed the first aid kit and moved it to the dressing table near the bathroom. “We’ve done what we can for now. The rest is up to him. We need to feed him the moment he wakes up.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
All three of them turned in surprise at the small voice from the doorway.
Kelly stood there, swallowed by the oversized t-shirt and sweatpants, wet hair loose around her face, resembling a lost waif. “It’s my fault he’s in this condition. I’ll stay and make sure he eats.” She lowered her gaze and dropped into the chair a few feet from the bed, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
Ian studied her for a moment then motioned to Colin and Tanya. “You two go ahead and go to bed. I’ll bring food for Kelly to give him. Tomorrow, we’ll call in the pack. We’re going hunting.”
Colin nodded, wrapped an arm around Tanya’s waist, and directed her toward the door. “Goodnight, Dad. Night, Kelly. If you need us, holler.”
“Okay.”
After they’d returned to their room, Tanya sat on the edge of the bed. “Do you think he’ll pull through? I’ve never seen anyone so torn apart before.”
“Brett’s one of the toughest wolves I’ve ever known. He’s survived multiple injuries in several wars, and he’s been in scrapes with mountain lions, bears, and some particularly ticked off elk in his lifetime. Moose, too, I think he mentioned once. If anyone can survive this, it’s him.”
“I feel so bad.” She swallowed a knot.
“Why?” Colin sat beside her and put a hand at the small of her back. “What could you possibly have to feel bad about?”
“Because I’m so grateful it’s not you lying there.”
He smiled and cupped her cheek. “There’s nothing wrong with that.” A hint of tears glistened in his blue eyes. “Now you’ve seen the damage one of these animals can do. That’s why I asked you to stay in the house and not go into the forest until this cat’s gone. If that happened to you, if you died, the grief would kill me.”
The sorrow in his eyes squeezed her heart. “I won’t step foot out of this house unless I’m with one of you. I promise.” Tanya leaned over and kissed him.
“I need you,” he growled softly.
She stood, released the belt on the robe, and slipped it from her shoulders, allowing it to puddle around her feet. “I need you, too.”
* * *
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Voices from the kitchen drew Tanya right at the base of the stairs instead of left toward the guestroom as she’d planned. One of the voices was female. Kelly.
Exhaustion underlined every word, squeezing Tanya’s heart with sympathy. Even gentle love-making and sleeping in her husband’s arms had failed to eradicate the image she carried of Colin being in Brett’s place.
“Good morning.” Ian glanced over his shoulder and smiled then went back to cooking.
“Morning. Have you seen Colin?”
“He’s in my office, calling in the pack. We need to deal with that mountain lion ASAP.”
“Hopefully the stupid thing crawled off and died,” Kelly grumbled.
“Why would it do that?”
“I cracked it good upside the head with a tire iron. I hope I caused enough damage to kill it, but probably not.” The scowl on her face drew a faint smile from Ian, who immediately turned back to the stove.
“So that’s what you were waving around.” The pained, low voice drew all of their gazes. Brett grinned. “I thought you were trying to ward the thing off with a stick.”
“What are you doing out of bed?” Kelly shot off the stool at the breakfast bar and moved to his side, easing under one of his arms to support him.
“I need Ian to check these wounds so I can take a shower. The itching is making me crazy.”
Ian tossed the spatula on the counter. “Did you finish off the roast?”
“Yes, Daddy Dearest.”
The alpha narrowed his eyes, not quite managing to hide a spark of humor in their depths. “I’m going to let that slide because I recognize that you’re probably suffering from brain damage caused by the blood loss and lack of oxygen, but don’t push me, boy.”
Considering that “boy” was older than the man saying it, Tanya found the remark funny. She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.
“Uh oh.” Brett glanced sideways down at Kelly, who studied him with concern. “I think I’m gonna be grounded.”
Tanya did laugh at that.
Kelly seemed to have missed the joke. “You should be. You aren’t fit to leave your bed right now.”
“It’s boring in there all by myself.”
Had Brett just whined? It sure sounded like it.
A sly grin emerged. “Will you join me, keep me from being bored?”
The she-wolf narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “Behave, or I’ll finish what the mountain lion started. Even if we were married, you’re not fit for foreplay, much less anything more athletic.”
His grin broadened. “Oh, I don’t know. Where there’s a will….”
Ian shook his head and gripped Brett’s arm. “And you bug me about using clichés.”
Had she ever heard Ian use one? Not that she could recall. Private joke?
“Kelly, Tanya, keep an eye on the bacon. I’m going to check him over, make sure he won’t die on us. I’ll be back in a bit.”
Brett raised a brow at his alpha. “Since when do you let anyone else work in your kitchen?”
“Since we got females who won’t destroy my cookware.” Ian pointed toward the guestroom. “Move your butt.”
He sighed and turned to follow orders. “No rest for the weary.”
“Wicked.” Kelly picked up the spatula. “No rest for the wicked, and that’s okay. They don’t deserve rest anyway.”
Tanya leaned back on the stool and watched for the men to move out of easy earshot. Then she pinned Kelly with a questioning look. “Alright. I feel like I’m missing something. You and Brett were ready to kill each other last night. Now you’re bantering like old friends. What’s the deal?”
The dark-haired woman shrugged. “Well, the way I see it, it’s better to make peace with your mate than live a lifetime at war with him.”
“Mate?” She raised both brows. “You two are getting married?”
Kelly nodded.
“You realize he’s probably only exhibiting good behavior because he’s wounded, right?” Too smart to pick a fight he could lose when weakened. He wasn’t dumb, that was for sure.
“I’m not stupid enough to think our relationship will be easy, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Kelly removed bacon strips from the cast iron skillet and laid them on a stack of paper towels. “You’re lucky to have found this pack instead of one like mine.”
“I don’t think ‘luck’ has anything to do with it. God’s hand at work, more like it.” Tanya slipped off the stool to retrieve eggs from the refrigerator. “Tell me about your old pack.”
“My father’s the alpha. He rules by brute force and fear. If someone doesn’t do his bidding, he kills them.” Kelly frowned at the empty skillet then broke eggs into it one-by-one. “I’ve seen a lot of wolves die in my lifetime. He Turns men with impunity, and He’s killed almost all of them.”
“How does he get away with that? I mean, don’t humans notice people going missing?”
“In a city the size of New York? Are you serious?” She huffed a soft laugh. “My father’s a gifted predator. Drop him in the middle of a hundred people, and he’ll find the one that has no family or close friends to notice changes or their disappearance. Give him millions, and he can operate without anyone being the wiser.”
“He’ll make a mistake eventually and alert the wrong people. Don’t you think?”
“My father’s held that territory for almost a century.” She shifted cooked eggs to a platter then put more in the skillet. “He’s a brutal dictator, no matter how you slice it. Those he doesn’t kill, he beats into submission or locks up and starves until they surrender. I saw a couple of them starve to death rather than submit to him.”
Tanya’s stomach pitched, and she lowered her gaze.
“I’m sorry. I should’ve thought before I said that.”
She glanced up to find Kelly had stilled, the spatula in mid-air over the skillet. She shook her head with a forced smile. “It’s okay.”
“You really need to turn and face what’s happened. That’s the only way you’ll move forward.” She flipped an egg. “Wolves don’t do well clinging to the past. It goes against our instincts.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Nothing ever is.”
* * *
“Did you reach everyone?”
On his way to the kitchen, Colin glanced up as his dad exited the guestroom and closed the door behind him. “Yes, sir. They’ll be here as soon as they can. I told them all to eat well, in case this takes a few days. How’s Brett?”
“Healing well. He won’t be fit for a fight for a couple of days.”
“But he’ll be joining the hunt anyway.”
Dad grinned. “You know him well enough, I think. He and Kelly are getting married.”
Colin chuckled. “How long do you think that’ll last before one of them ends up dead?”
“Who knows?” He shrugged. “This could be a romance that lasts for decades.”
“Or five minutes before there’s a homicide. We probably should warn O’Neil there may be a call soon for clean-up of a body.”
“You could be right.” Dad thumped him on the shoulder. “Let’s see how the ladies are coming with breakfast.”
They’d no sooner reached the end of the hall and entered the dining room when Tanya met Colin’s gaze, worry furrowing her brow. “You’re going to hunt the cougar, aren’t you?”
“We have no choice.” He pulled her into his arms and buried his face in her hair. “We can’t allow it to prowl our territory, especially given its obvious aggression. Brett will be okay, but the next one of us it attacks might not be so blessed.”
“Promise me you’ll be careful. Please.” Tears filled her eyes, and she whispered, “With everything else that’s happened this year, I don’t think I can take another loss.”
He eased away and framed her face with both hands. “I promise. I’m not going alone. Every male in the pack will be on this hunt. We’ll work as a team. We’ve done it countless times. This isn’t the pack’s first mountain lion hunt either. We’ll watch out for each other.” He kissed her then smiled. “I’ve got something to come home to that I never had befor
e.”
“What about us?” Kelly scowled at Ian and Colin in turn. “We can help with the hunt.”
“No.” Ian’s tone brooked no argument. “Females won’t be permitted on this hunt. We need you to stay here and keep us fed in case it takes a few days to resolve this.”
“We’re fully capable of hunting with the pack.”
“If it was deer or elk we were after, or even a rogue bear, I’d agree.” Ian shook his head. “But not mountain lion. That thing almost killed Brett. You said yourself that it’s huge. We won’t risk females.”
Kelly’s frown deepened, and she opened her mouth to argue.
Colin shook his head, hoping to cut off further argument on her part. His father was lenient and tolerant much of the time, but if pushed, he’d give a subordinate wolf a solid scruffing.
“Ian’s right.” Brett came in, hair still wet from the shower, his gait stiff but stronger than it had been earlier. He’d pulled on black sweatpants and a hunter green t-shirt. His feet were bare. “You need to stay here.”
Her green eyes narrowed. “You’re planning to go, aren’t you? Despite the condition you’re in.”
“We’ll leave later this morning. I’ll be better by then.” He added a slight growl when he said, “Let it go. You’re staying here.”
She turned back to the stove without another word. The emotions rolling off her were more fear than anger. The same fear Colin had seen in Tanya’s eyes. Reassurance would only take them so far though. Only having the hunt done and over, without anyone getting killed, would put their fears to rest.
* * *
Thursday, October 15, 2015
The sun had set, but it hadn’t yet gotten dark outside. Tanya stared out the window, barely heeding the chatter behind her. Donna and Kelly had kept Tommy occupied the better part of the day. The boy had grown restless over the past few days while they’d been restricted to the indoors. She couldn’t blame him. She struggled to contain the same need for open air and the forest floor beneath her paws, nearly as much as she longed to hear her mate’s voice and feel his arms around her.
All eleven of the pack’s males had come and gone over the past six days, hunting the cougar. They’d returned to the house to eat meat the women pulled out of the chest freezers in the garage. They hadn’t come inside or Shifted back to human form. They’d eaten and left again.