by Terry Spear
Kurt smiled. “I hadn’t expected that, but I’d be happy to work with you until you want to retire.”
“I’d be delighted to work there too,” Adelaide said.
“We couldn’t be happier to have both of you join us at the clinic,” Dr. Weber said.
Lexi and Kate were welcomed as well. Ryder and Mike stood back, arms folded across their chests, smiling. Edward and his men were still watching, cautiously aware of their surroundings.
Sheriff Peter Jorgenson introduced himself and his deputies, Trevor Osgood, CJ Silver—Darien’s cousin—and Michael Hoffman, a retired army Green Beret. “We also have half of the pack deputized. Everyone will be on the lookout for Tremaine’s men. We’ve all been briefed on him and the crimes he’s been involved in. We always keep an eye on people who come and go in Silver Town. It’s not like human-run towns where you have so many people coming and going that no one knows who they are. Most of us have been here for eons. Literally.”
“That’s good to know. Thank you for taking us in,” Kurt said, his wife nodding in agreement.
“You’re welcome, and you’re doing us a big favor in bringing the kind of skills you have to the pack. Come, we want you to have breakfast with us. We have a loaner car for you, and we’ll set you up in the house right after we eat,” Lelandi said. “That goes for all of you.” She motioned to the rest of the party. “I’m sure you want to rest after being up most of the night.”
“We managed to get some sleep on a couple of long helicopter rides,” Kurt said.
“Okay, that’s good,” Lelandi said.
They all headed into the house, and Ryder was surprised to see the dining room table was already set and other tables were set up in the living room.
Two more men arrived at the house and said they were Jake and Tom Silver, Darien’s brothers, and that they served as subleaders of the pack. Then several of the men pitched in to help cook the breakfast, including Ryder and Mike.
Lexi came over and joined Ryder and smiled at him. “You are going to work for me, aren’t you?”
“Hell, yeah. I was worried you weren’t serious.”
“Oh, I’m serious.”
“Pool boy, eh?”
“Yeah, and other duties as assigned.”
Mike was smiling as he cooked the sausages.
Dr. Weber was talking to Kurt, and Lexi’s dad was smiling. “I’ve never had a practice where I worked on mostly our kind.”
“That’s one of the real benefits of working here,” Dr. Weber said.
Adelaide agreed. “What if the women are in their wolf form when the babies are born?”
“We’ve delivered them both ways at the clinic. We also have Doctor Mitchell, who is our vet, but he’s delivering a colt this morning at his ranch. Otherwise, he would have come to meet you both.”
“I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time for that,” Kurt said.
Lelandi began to talk to Adelaide about all the things going on with the pack. The parties, the holidays, the festivities.
Lexi watched her parents and smiled. Ryder stole a kiss from her, and she smiled up at him. “I think they’ll be good here.”
“I think so too. There’s a world of difference between living in a strictly human world and one where the wolves rule.” He rubbed her back. “If they decide they’re unhappy here, there are other packs they can join. It’s up to them. I’ll take them to wherever they’d like to go if this doesn’t work out for them. How do you feel about returning to California? Do you feel you’d be safe enough with just Mike, Kate, and me protecting you?”
“Yeah. And I’m not a wilting flower either. I’ll watch everyone’s backs too.”
He smiled down at her. “Yeah, I agree, but we’re supposed to be protecting you, primarily. I’m ready to get in some martial arts practice with you when Kate wants to take a break.”
Lexi sighed. “Oh, all right. Remember to go easy on me. I’m just learning. When are you going to tell Aidan you’re working for me?”
“I’ll call him right after we finish our breakfast. I wanted to make sure you were serious about the offer.”
“Oh, I’m serious. I don’t think Tremaine is going to stop trying to get to my father through me.”
“He’ll have a fight on his hands if he comes here.” Ryder was confident the Silver pack would keep her parents safe.
“I think you’re right. I feel comfortable with my parents living here with the pack. Even so, I’m afraid if I try to see them, it could cause trouble for them and everyone else here.”
“We’ll work out a plan. Tremaine and his men will never learn the truth.” Ryder was thinking he needed to destroy Tremaine. That was the only way her family would truly be free. Someone else would take over Tremaine’s criminal businesses, but he was the one who had ordered the hit on her dad. No one else. And when other crime lords were taken down, permanently, they were relegated to the annals of the past.
* * *
Lexi was thinking Tremaine would never give up in his attempt to murder her father. And now he knew her mother was alive too. If only Lexi could hire a hit man to take Tremaine out! Not a wolf though. It was one thing to have to fight the bad guys when they were out to kill them. Another to kill him in prison when he was defenseless.
“How long did you want to stay here?” Ryder asked Lexi.
“I’ve got engagements when I return. So I was thinking I need to leave in a couple of days.”
“One of your engagements is at Rafe’s house.”
“Yeah. Instead of you being there to guard Aidan and Holly, you’ll be there to guard me. Do you think anyone will have hard feelings about it?”
“Not at all.”
Then they all sat down to eat breakfast and talked about the pack fun coming up—a summer festival. Lexi’s parents looked delighted to take part in all the activities the pack had. This was so different from their lives the last few months. At least working in a bakery wasn’t too trying—her father loved baking and had taken it up as a hobby years earlier. But he loved doctoring people even more.
Lexi knew he would be happy to be back to work, and as old as the red wolf Dr. Weber looked, she suspected he might be ready to retire soon, like he talked about. It could be good for everyone: her parents, the pack, and the doctor. Everyone seemed to enjoy her parents’ company, and they seemed to enjoy being with others of their kind.
Lexi was surprised Lelandi was a red wolf too. They were rarer than the gray wolves.
“What about seeing Lexi?” her mother asked.
“We’ll make arrangements to get her here without Tremaine knowing she’s coming here to see you,” Ryder said with surety.
Her parents smiled. “We’re so glad you helped us with all of this,” her mother said.
Kurt agreed. “We couldn’t have done it without you.”
“We’ll have a pack gathering later this afternoon here. We have a building where we have large gatherings. That’s where you’ll meet the rest of the pack,” Darien said.
Her mother smiled. “That will be nice.”
“In the meantime, Jake will take you to your home and help you get set up. We’ll make sure you have everything you need to start out here again,” Lelandi said.
“I can pay for anything you need.” Lexi didn’t want the Silver pack to have to pay for anything. They were doing enough to keep her parents safe and make sure they felt like they were part of the pack.
“We can help out with anything you need too,” Lelandi said.
Lexi would help her parents build or buy a home. She had enough money if her father hadn’t been able to get to the money in his investments before he went into the Witness Protection Program.
After they ate breakfast, Jake drove her parents and Mike to the rental house, while Tom took Edward, Kate, Lexi, and Ryder there.
; The home was sitting in the woods near town, so it was the perfect place for her parents to live for now.
“My cousin and his wife said you can buy the house if you want,” Jake said.
“Thanks,” Kurt said. “We’ll sure consider the possibility.”
The house was furnished, and it was just the right size for her parents and for Lexi to visit them when she could. They could run as wolves when they had time off, and they could run with other wolves, which was really nice for them and safer too.
“We’ll take you to the grocery store to stock up your kitchen,” Jake said.
Lexi thought the world of the Silver pack for doing so much for her parents.
Tom said, “We have a loaner car being delivered that you can use until you can pick up a couple of cars of your own.”
Lexi was glad for that because she figured her parents wanted some alone time. But they took them to the grocery store, and picked up items for the bathroom and kitchen, and dropped by a couple of clothing stores to buy some things to wear for the week. Jake was going to pay for everything, but Lexi did instead.
“I do have the money from the sale of the house, thanks to you. I was able to transfer my investments and cash into new accounts,” her dad said. “But I’ll need it for buying the cars and buying a home.”
“Dad, I said I’d help.”
“You can, if we get strapped.”
Then they returned to the house and found that the loaner mini SUV had been delivered.
Jake said, “All right. We’ll see you at the gathering at noon. We’ll let you get settled and have a chance to visit with each other. We understand how you just were reunited.”
“Thank you.” Adelaide gave him a hug. Then she hugged Tom.
The brothers both smiled at them.
Jake said to the others, “Did you want to come with us? Or stay here?”
“Even though I’m sure it’s safe here, I’m staying with Lexi,” Ryder said. “If she’s staying with her parents, I’ll need to remain here.”
“Me too,” Kate said.
“And me,” Mike said.
Edward got a call. “Okay, good news. They arrested the men in the two trucks. All five of them had illegal handguns, the serial numbers removed. Three of them had warrants out for their arrest, the other two were on probation, so they’re all sitting in jail.”
“Tremaine’s going to be pissed,” Ryder said.
“Yeah, he is. I’ll return with you, Jake, to check on my men.” Edward went with Jake and Tom, and they left the Summerfields there to visit.
“Will you change your name here?” Lexi asked her parents as she helped them put away the groceries.
“I was going by Hershman, but I think Grayson will work for us.” Her father smiled. “We’ll fit in with the Silvers that way.”
“I can live with the name Grayson,” her mother said. “I guess I can’t tell the Brazilian pack where I ended up, and I can’t return there to help them out if they need it again.”
“No,” Kurt said. “You would be at too much risk.”
Lexi knew her father well. He said it out of concern, not to be controlling. Her mother had to know that if Tremaine’s men located her, they could potentially force her to tell them where Kurt was. Then the pack would have to deal with the fallout too.
Her dad was supposed to have died. At least as far as the world knew. Lexi suspected Tremaine must have figured the Witness Protection Program had created the fictional tale and Kurt was still very much alive. But if Tremaine had tried to find her dad working as a doctor anywhere, he wouldn’t have located him. Which meant he had to find him by watching Lexi. She hadn’t seen any sign of anyone observing her after the first two confrontations she’d had with his men, though she’d always been mindful of it. She hadn’t thought she’d see her dad again anyway, but still, she’d been wary, just in case. Ryder was the one who had brought Tremaine’s thugs out of hiding, when they confronted him to leave her alone.
She gave her mom a hug again, tears in both their eyes. She still hadn’t accepted the fact that her mother was alive. “I still can’t believe I’m holding you. I love you.”
Her mom hugged her back. “When I remembered you and your dad, I couldn’t quit thinking about how I was going to get out of the jungle and return to you both. I couldn’t believe the trouble your father had gotten into when I learned he had witnessed the murder and was no longer practicing medicine in San Antonio. That our home was no longer ours. That he was supposed to have died in a bad car accident, and everyone had thought I had died too. I saw you had what looked like a successful online cosmetic business, but I believed that either Tremaine had killed Kurt for putting him in prison or the government had put him in the Witness Protection Program. I was counting on it. And then I learned the truth. He was alive, only they didn’t want me to join him for his sake, fearing I would make a mistake and he would be killed. I’m glad we’re here instead.”
“I am, too, Mom. And you’ll be great at taking care of the children of the pack.”
“I’m glad we’re here too,” her father said.
Lexi gave her father another hug. “Dad, I’m so thrilled we can see each other again when we have the time and that you want to be with the pack here. They’ll love you, just like your other patients did.”
“I’ll be glad to be working as a doctor again.” Her dad patted his stomach again. “When I was working in the bakery, I was eating a few too many baked goods.”
Her mom gave him a hug. “You’re just perfect. But we can run it off in no time, if it bothers you.”
“Speaking of that, did you want to go for a run as wolves here? Check out the woods?” Lexi knew that was part of the whole business of settling in as wolves. To learn about their surroundings where they could enjoy their other halves.
“Sure. We haven’t run in a year as wolves, and I’d love to check out the clinic,” her dad said.
“Me too,” Adelaide said. “I haven’t had the opportunity to shift since I regained my memories, but hopefully I can now.”
“We’ll see the clinic afterward,” Lexi said.
“You’re coming with us, right?” Lexi’s mom asked the guys and Kate.
“Absolutely,” Ryder said.
Her mom and dad went into the master bedroom to strip off their clothes and shift. Lexi and the others stripped and shifted in the living room. She noted the back door had a wolf door, another really nice thing about living in a wolf community. She imagined a lot of the wolves had them, which made it great for coming and going without having to shift again.
As if he was protecting them, Ryder headed out first. She smiled and ran out the door after him, wanting to play with him instead.
Chapter 18
The Summerfields and their bodyguards took off through the woods. Ryder was having second thoughts about working for Lexi as her bodyguard. He wanted to be with her to protect her, but he was afraid he was falling for the wolf, and he sure as hell didn’t want others to see him as a fortune hunter. He knew everyone would. Maybe those close to him wouldn’t, but he didn’t want to be seen as Mr. Summerfield, cosmetic billionaire, gold-digger husband.
It reminded Ryder too much of one of his human friends growing up, whose stepdad worked as a mall security guard, but as soon as he saw the opportunity to marry a woman who was wealthy through her real estate work and investments, he did and quit his job, saying he had to be his wife’s personal protection. Which would have been fine if he’d contributed to the marriage somehow, but he hadn’t. When a burglar killed her, the husband took off to save his own skin and inherited all the money. Ryder’s friend was kicked out of the house because he’d been furious with the stepdad for not protecting his mother, the only job he had.
Ryder swore he’d never take advantage of a woman like that. Still, he felt it was similar, except he wouldn’
t run off to save his own skin. Yet, what if he lost Lexi because he couldn’t protect her well enough?
As soon as he was thinking that, Lexi made the move to rub up against him on the wolf run, and that surprised and pleased him. He returned the affection and rubbed her cheek with his.
He was worried his interest in her could jeopardize her safety, yet he had no control over the way he felt toward her and the way she stirred up his pheromones. It wasn’t something that had ever happened between him and another she-wolf, and the feeling was exhilarating and surprising.
Her father and mother were enjoying the time together, playing, biting, licking, and rubbing each other like two young wolves in love. He was glad Adelaide had been able to shift all right, and she looked like she was really enjoying being a wolf again. Lexi looked over at them and smiled in a wolf way. He was as glad as she was that they were together again and had a pack to watch out for them. He was also grateful Lexi wouldn’t have to worry about them. They would be in good hands.
Kate and Mike were playing with each other like wolves would who were friends, not in courtship. Switching his attention to Lexi, Ryder nipped at her, and she bit him playfully back. Then she turned and ran off to tackle Kate. Ryder woofed at her, and Mike chased after Ryder.
He and Mike often play-fought, both for fun and for training if they should ever need it for a real wolf fight, which they did on occasion. It looked like Kate and Lexi were doing the same thing. His distraction meant Mike tackled him to the ground. But if Lexi and Kate really wanted to do some good tactical wolf training, the she-wolves needed to pit their tactics against the males.
Ryder woofed at Mike to let him know his plan, and then the two of them took off for the she-wolves. For an instant, the ladies were surprised, their eyes wide to see the two male wolves coming at them. But then they rounded on the guys and had a rousing good time.
They’d played for some time when Kurt and Adelaide joined them and urged them to return to the house. Ryder figured they wanted to see the clinic now, but he appreciated the time he’d spent with the ladies and Mike as wolves.