Charles settled back in his chair a faint smile on his face as he watched the joy wash across the face of the young one in front of him. Those looks of joy and contentment and the laughter and giggles of the females when they were happy, those were the reasons men climbed out of their beds every day. Those faces, that joy, to be able to give them laughter and safety, that was the entire reason for living. A man could have no greater treasure than the happiness of the females. He took a moment to share what was happening with Leah who was at the plant. She would be home soon but he wanted to bring a smile to her face now. He wanted to hear the happiness in their bond now, and see the joy on her face when she walked in the house and felt the energy in the air. The girls continued to catch up on everything they had gone through the last two weeks and Charles smiled, until he heard about the dead female left behind and the guilt Dawn was feeling even though she did not appear to be the one who caused the death. Ah, he might have to keep a closer eye on Alice than he first thought. No matter, he would provide her with a home to grow in and the protection she needed so she never had to kill again. He didn’t think Santiago needed to know his little granddaughter killed a human for a car though. If she didn’t tell him, well some things didn’t need to be told.
Chapter Twenty-one
“How in the hell did the two even make it to your territory in the first place? I mean, I thought they came from some place close, not almost from damn Mexico.”
“Gammon, dammit man you were sitting right there when I got the call, you heard every word I heard.:
“Well, David hasn’t told you anything about the girls the last few days?”
“They didn’t tell him anything he could tell me. Hell man, we had two females show up safe and sound with no apparent pursuers so no one was too concerned with where they came from, you know that. We were focused on the young one because of Santiago. Santiago did not know his granddaughter had been captured and no one dreamed she and Dawn were, you know what, why the hell are you asking me this shit. You know as much as I do which is nothing at all. Dammit Trevor quit pacing. I would think you would be happy to realize the reason you felt no mate pull when you did the flyby was because your possible mate is in my territory. Why are you looking so surprised? Did you not realize you were muttering that while I was on the phone with my dad? Look at that face, you didn’t know! Oh man, and you haven’t gotten close enough to know if she is or not. You got it bad man. You are so going, wait, shit, not in my territory you aren’t. Gammon, do something.”
“What in the bloody blue blazer you telling him to do something for? All I want to do is visit, meet the young lady, and leave, preferably with her but only is she is my mate.”
“Yeah, what in the hell do you want me to do. Kangaroo boy here is the one thinking he might have a mate in, wait a minute,” Gammon turned to stare at Trevor before snarling, “Why would you believe Dawn might be your mate if you haven’t been close enough to her to feel the mate pull. You have not seen a picture, smelled her, seen her in person, I call bullshit on your claim. I don’t know how you do this shit in the land down under but here we don’t claim females unless we feel the pull.”
Both men watched the flush of embarrassment cover Trevor’s face. He mumbled something but neither Gammon or Trey were able to make out what he said. Gammon leaned forward in his chair while Trey leaned back and crossed his arms, a smirk covered his face. Trey knew getting Gammon involved would work to his benefit. Now he just had to wait for the man to get to the bottom of Trevor’s claim. He agreed with Gammon, no way would the Alpha from down under have any idea about Dawn. He didn’t know what the consequences could be if the man demanded entrance to his territory and his pack took the man out but he knew the shifters could not afford any more fighting amongst themselves.
“Sorry, I seemed to have missed what you said. Let me tell you something, you are not getting close to one of our females to take her if she is not your true-mate. So if you know something that might get you in Trey’s territory you better come clean now because in case your weren’t aware his is mated to my niece and that makes me just a tad bit more wary on his behalf than I would be normally.” Gammon growled the words out at Trevor.
Trevor took a deep breath and let his weight drop him into the closest chair. He looked at Gammon before turning to Trey. He knew he had to make both men understand, and he didn’t blame them, he had just hoped they did not think about the situation too hard. He miscalculated though and now he was forced to tell them why he needed to meet Dawn. He hoped they accepted his explanation and gave him the opportunity.
“My wolf wants, no needs to meet her. The day in the meeting hall when everyone had been making plans. I had initially made plans to go back home, what good would my help do when I am not from this country and know little about the area or the people. My wolf on the other hand whined and clawed at me to stay. He insisted we had an almost mate here. I, in all my years had never heard of an almost mate except in the case of blood transfusions. And,”
“Wait, what do you mean an almost mate with a blood transfusion?” Trey interrupted.
Before Trevor could explain Gammon growled out, “He means when one shifter has the blood of another shifter the mate of the one who donated often feels a pull toward the one who took her mate’s blood. The females describe it as an almost mate feeling. Now shut-up, I want to hear where this is going.”
“Right, the almost mate feeling. Well, the little witch gave off the almost mate feel and until the meeting I had no idea why. So now I need to meet this Dawn and see if my wolf is right.”
“Wait, you lost me there. What happened at the meeting that caused you to believe you had to meet Dawn?”
“Why your Marcus said we had Kate to thank for locating the compound. If she had not shared her blood to create the,”
“Well shit, I remember him saying that.” Trey uncrossed his arms, leaned forward in his chair and looked at Gammon.
Gammon though was staring at Trevor. When he did speak all he said was, “I’ve seen stranger things.”
“So what, you think we should let them meet?” Trey demanded.
Gammon smiled, which caused both Trevor and Trey to draw back, “You know how to tell. If he can’t find her, well, you will know what to do. Now, what time is it? Damn, if everything is going as planned they should be shutting down the communications from the compound about now. We will know one way or another in the next thirty minutes. Come on, waiting is not my best game, let’s walk around and check things, get to know some of his pack. Find the elders and have a pow wow about the good old days and see what they remember about witches. No use sitting here twiddling our thumbs.”
***
An hour later the men were back at Trevor’s cabin drinking beer. They didn’t know whether to celebrate or mourn or just do a bit of both. Word had just come through, twenty-two females had been rescued, most of them kicking and screaming banshees who had to be forced into the helicopters. Only a few had gone willingly when they heard the men had been sent by Kate. But when they saw Kate, golden wolf standing guard above her and Craig, eyes flashing fire, even those females had turned and run. Marcus had lost two men in the fight and everyone knew two men were a small price to pay for the rescue of twenty-two females. But knowing the men paid the price willingly didn’t make the loss any easier on the families left behind.
Marcus and his team would not be back for hours and the pack was busy converting the meeting hall into a temporary dormitory. The females would not see their rescuers in a better light than their former captors until they realized they had choices. But until they could be brought to understand, well Marcus and his men would seem as bad as where they came from for now. The pack were furious when they found the youngest female was barely a toddler and everyone was begging for the chance to adopt the child. Gammon had put his foot down before the arguments got too out of hand. Every female being brought back would be given the choice of where they wanted to go. On a typical re
scue the female was brought straight to Gammon’s, but if they tried to take all the females together to another compound they would never make them believe they had a choice. Five of the twenty-two would not be leaving Marcus’ pack even if they chose to, which they wouldn’t. The five men who had felt the mate bond pull were getting on the rest of the pack’s last nerve. They wanted everything to be perfect for their future mates and Gammon had been ready to put them in chains and throw them in the nearest river two days ago. Knowing the mission was successful had created more headaches for the pack in dealing with the men.
“Trevor for the love of flying monkeys quit pacing. Gammon, knock his ass down and sit on him. Damn man, come on. They won’t be back for at least three more hours and then they will have to refuel the birds and it is another three hours to my territory from here, at least. Probably more with the weather like it is and no one is going to want to fly through the mountains in the middle of the night if they don’t have to, and they don’t have to. Look here, Gabby is driving me crazy through our bond. Her sister is going out of her mind with worry about Jaden, even though the mission is over, and in return Gabby is going crazy over Trina’s worry. I am headed to the main house and get Gabby and we will be next door if you need us. We will be ready to leave at first light so if you want a ride meet us at the birds then. Gentlemen, good night.”
Gammon looked at Trevor before he too got up. “I can’t handle your up and down. I sympathies with you, hell man any mated man would, I just can’t watch you go nuts. Get some rest. If you need me I will be at the meeting hall helping my mate help the others.” Gammon headed for the door talking to Mia through their bond. Just as he opened the door he turned around, “My bad, my mate is with her nieces at the big house. I will be there if you need me. Don’t need me, it is liable to piss me off.”
Trevor sat with a beer in his hand staring at the floor. He had sat down when the other two men complained but now he was back on his feet pacing. As old as he was he was as nervous as a teenager. He didn’t know what to do if Dawn turned out to be his mate. He didn’t know what to do if she didn’t. His wolf was driving him crazy and he didn’t know what to do about that either. He would never taunt another male about the problems his wolf gave him when it came to the mate bond. His biggest worry at this point, what if she wasn’t his mate? He didn’t get any sleep that night.
Chapter Twenty-two
“What time will they be here?” Dawn had been up at first light and had asked the question every thirty minutes since then.
“What time did I tell you they would be here? It hasn’t changed you know. No matter how many times you ask. The helicopter will be here soon and you can catch a ride back with them, if that is what you want to to do.”
“I think it would be best. I mean, I know almost half of those girls, if they see another friendly face maybe they will calm down a bit more. I talked to Kate last night and the girls didn’t seem too calm from what she had to say. Although, to be fair I didn’t feel calm when I saw her eyes for the first time either. I thought I imagined, tricks of light and what not a few times, but that last day I saw her, well I couldn’t convince myself what I saw was a trick of light.” Dawn looked at her watch and back up at Charles with a grin on her face.
She noticed he had tilted his head to the side. He heard the helicopter before she heard it. “Now? Can we go now?”
Charles laughed, “Yes come one, you will give me no peace if we stay here. I have told Trey we are coming. Now remember, don’t go running off to get on the bird. The pilot isn’t leaving until he has been fed and rested.” Charles grabbed Dawn’s coat and held it up for her before putting on his own coat. He opened the door and waved for Dawn to go ahead of him. She didn’t see the look of worry that crossed his face as he got word from his son that Trevor had hit the ground running and was most likely headed his way. Apparently Trevor’s wolf had been clawing at him harder than he had let on for the wolf to have yanked control away from the man. Charles had new instructions and Dawn probably wasn’t going to like them. But he would get her to a secure location and many of the males of the pack would be waiting to defend her position until Trey could catch up.
Trevor should not have lost control of his wolf, not with three hundred years under his belt, but he had and Trey wasn’t the only one concerned. Jules had been surprised at the swift change and warned Trey to order his dad to get the girl to cover. Trey had Gabby and Jules to get settled and Santiago needed a ride to Charles’ house. David had met them at the landing pad with Jules’ vehicle but they had to stay on the road and Trevor was able to cut through the woods. Everyone was converging on the plant from different directions and no one knew what kind of confrontation to expect. The very fact Trevor seemed headed in the right direction to reach Dawn, from what the security cameras had shown, cemented the fact he was indeed her mate. But if that was the case no one could figure out why he had erupted like he did or what he expected to accomplish by rushing toward her.
An anguished howl broke the air moments before Charles’ worried voice echoed through the pack bond. Dawn just vomited and collapsed holding her stomach. We are headed for the medical room but we need to get her to the doctor immediately. I smell something off. I think her appendix just burst.
Well shit, do you think Trevor could feel that when we landed. Ye gods that would explain much. Whatever you do, none of you get in the man’s way. I don’t care if he tears through there as a wolf or as a man. Open the damn doors between him and Dawn when he comes through. He will be feeling her pain and he will not be very stable is she hurts too badly. Keep the doors open and doc? You best run. They will meet you in the surgical room with her. Make it happen guys, you have minutes to get her on a bed before Trevor blows though there. I want no misunderstanding when his wolf reached his mate. Get her there, get her down, and get back from her.
“ I am starting to agree with Marcus’ concerning his thoughts about the old saying may you live in interesting times, or whatever that shit is. Had to have been another curse from another witch aimed specifically at the shifter world. Damn David, keep it on the road. Why didn’t anyone treat the road, you had to remember we were coming in today.”
“Now baby, no use taking your worry out on David. You can see for yourself this is fresh snowfall mixed with a bit of ice.” Gabby rubbed Trey’s arm trying to take some of his worry away. This was not the homecoming they had planned.
Chapter Twenty-three
“I don’t feel so good.” Charles had only time to look down at Dawn as he rushed her through the plant before she gave grunt and vomited. Clutching her stomach, she would have hit the floor if he had not caught her. He saw her eyes roll back and knew when she lost consciousness. He suspected the reason when a whiff of infection reached his sensitive nose. As he informed Trey and the rest of the pack what was going on he could hear the anguished howls getting closer to the plant. He shouted for the doors to be opened between him and the clinic as he rushed the girl through the plant. He was thanking any god who would listen for the decision Trey had made two years ago to put a small surgical room at the plant. The doctor spent most oh her time at the plant anyway and rarely had anything to do with the pack as far as fixing anything up. Most shifters healed fast and rarely, if ever got sick.
The purpose of the clinic may have been because of the doctor’s fascination with melding robotic parts to the nerves and giving prosthetics a better response to the patient. But today the clinic would play a different role. Not that the doctor had ever gotten to put her experiments in people, but one day she might have the breakthrough she was looking for and when that happened she wanted to be ready. She was running down the hall toward her clinic and was right behind the others when she rounded the last corner. That was when she found out the wolf was right behind them also. The two met in a collision of limbs at the door of the clinical room and both went crashing to the floor. She heard the snap when she hit and felt the pain shoot through her arm. Operating migh
t prove a bit difficult she thought as she struggled to her feet. The wolf had recovered faster and beaten her into the room. When she got inside, cradling her arm, a strange man was standing over her patient. He was softly stroking her hair away from her face and had just asked the room at large where the doctor was when she spoke up.
“The doctor is right here and thanks to you and your pell-mell rush to get in the room before me, I think you broke my arm. So buddy, I hope you know how to remove an appendix cause you just got elected to help me.”
Trevor turned worried eyes toward the doctor, “Can you help her? She hurts so much and I am pretty sure from what my nose is telling me that her appendix busted. You said you are a doctor?”
“Oh for fucks sake, no one ever listens to me when their mate gets hurt do they. I told you that much. I also said thanks to you my arm is broken. Now unless you want to wait a few hours for my arm to heal and watch that young lady go septic you are going to have to glove up and help me get it out of her. If you hadn’t noticed you broke my right arm and I am not left-handed.”
Trevor turned pale, “You want me to cut into her? I can’t do that. I can’t cut her.”
“I guess you could watch her die if you wanted, but this pack is pretty dead set against watching a female die or anyone for that matter if we can save them. Now, I want you to look around the room and pick someone at random to cut your mate-to-be open since I can’t use my hand.”
Trevor started growling at the thought of some random stranger cutting open his mate. He knew he would have a hard enough time watching a doctor cut her open, he couldn’t imagine how his wolf would react to someone with no medical experience trying it for the first time on his mate.
Dawn Page 12
