by Terry Spear
Shawn glanced up at the security cameras on the carriage house. Yeah, after the men tried to steal from the Silvertons, they had put up all kinds of security measures.
“Okay, listen, I’ve got to go. It’s your problem now,” she said.
“You’re getting a pretty penny from it, darlin’, so you’ll do what I say, or else.” The call ended.
“Shit,” Kittie said. Then she told her Bluetooth to call Antonio. “Antonio.”
“Yeah, what’s going on?” he asked over the Bluetooth.
“We have a real problem.”
“Shit. Don’t tell me this is more bad news about Marek losing the money. He’s such an ass.”
“Yeah, this is about the wolves who know what Marek’s up to.”
“Do they know about me?”
“No, they don’t know who you are yet, but we need to get out of this, pronto, or we’re dead wolves. Dexter’s pretty hot about it. I wouldn’t put it past him to get rid of all of us and start over so he doesn’t have any loose ends. Though they know about him. So they’ll be after him. Which means we need to pack up and leave.”
“Hell, Kittie, this is too lucrative a deal to give it up. We’ll have to move our operation somewhere else, but it will be a lot of work. We’re in the middle of cleaning this money and printing the new stuff.”
It sounded like “the crew” was ready to dump Dexter, who must be the boss.
“Where would we move to? Can we do it without Dexter’s backing and Marek’s money to convert into the fake money?” Kittie asked.
“We’ve made enough. We can start over somewhere else. We’ve been working on something new anyway. Marek’s an ass. He’s gotten us into all kinds of hot water with the wolves over this. We just have to convince Jimmy to go with us, or it’s a no-go. Without the artist, we can’t do this on our own.”
Jimmy was Ink Man then, as Brock and Natalie had assumed.
“He’s like a brother to you. Convince him already,” Kittie said.
Silence.
“Listen, if they catch up to you and the others, you’re all dead,” Kittie said. “Me too, if they know I’m really taking part in this.”
“Unless we take them out first. We can make the bodies disappear. They’re not part of a pack here. No one will be the wiser. We could even work the garden center and pretend we’re the owners.”
“The garden center? You’re crazy. Everything would die within weeks of you or me having anything to do with it.”
“We’ll hire real gardeners or put the place up for sale.”
“You’re forgetting one thing. The owners and their daughter aren’t part of a pack, sure, but that guy Brock is. Marek said he’s part of the pack out of the town of Greystoke, Colorado. I don’t know about the other guy they had working there.”
Antonio didn’t comment.
“We need to leave. Let Brock handle Marek and Dexter. Or Dexter can deal with Brock and the others. Let it be on Dexter’s head. We can start over again somewhere else. If we get the lion’s share of the proceeds from the money, then we won’t have any trouble starting up in a new location.”
“That’s saying Marek or Dexter won’t kill us for leaving. They need us. But if we’re going to run out on them, I’m sure they’ll just terminate us,” Antonio said.
“We could give Brock some clues on where they are.”
Shawn raised his thumb in a sign to Natalie and Brock that said it worked for him. They nodded in agreement.
“And while they’re removing those guys, we leave with the printing press and everything else we need so we can keep making the money,” Kittie said.
“I don’t know, honey. If Dexter got word of us double-crossing him, he’d kill us himself.”
“We have to do something, act now, or we’re going down with the whole lot of them. Make up your mind. I’ll talk to you later.”
Silence ensued.
And then there was nothing more but Kittie muttering under her breath.
“They’re coming for us, or we’re going after them,” Natalie said when Kittie didn’t say anything after that.
“Right. Which puts us in the better position?” Shawn asked.
“The home front. Dexter’s house is way out and probably has security to the gills. Marek lives with his aunt. It would be better if we let them come to us, since it seems that’s their intention anyway,” Brock said.
“Should we all stay together then?” Natalie wasn’t used to pack warfare. She didn’t know the best way to handle this.
“Shawn and I will stay outside your house, hidden. We’ll keep an eye out for any sign of movement,” Brock said.
“But the motion-detector lights will go off, and they’ll see you.”
“We can disable the ones where we’ll be. They won’t see us. Believe me,” Brock said.
Which reminded her he was a SEAL and Shawn was an Army Ranger.
“And me?” Natalie didn’t want to be relegated to the house and doing nothing.
“You stay inside and monitor my phone for any more conversations Kittie might have. If she’s too far away from her purse, we might not pick up on them. If she’s close by and reveals something crucial that we need to know, you can come out and tell us,” Brock said. “You can monitor the security cameras on the garden center and the houses too. You’ll be our tech person.”
Now she felt better. She agreed and liked that plan. Nothing she hated more than when she felt she couldn’t help out in a situation where they could all be in danger.
“The same goes for seeing anything on the security monitors. If you see movement around your parents’ house, let us know. If you see it around your house, we’ll be on it.”
“All right.”
“Do you have a couple of locks for the walk gates? They might not come that way, but if they do, we’ll hear them trying to remove the locks,” Brock said.
“Yeah, in my garage. I’ve got a lot of leaves I just put into the composter. We could spread those around so you can hear if anyone’s walking around on the dry leaves.” Natalie led them to the garage and opened a storage cabinet.
Brock and Shawn each grabbed one of the locks.
“I’ll meet you out at the shed where we keep the wheelbarrows.” She motioned in that direction.
“Okay, we’ll lock the gates and join you.” Brock and his cousin took off for the gates, and Natalie went to the storage shed to pull out a couple of wheelbarrows.
She moved one toward the composter nearby, and Brock soon caught up to her.
“So you heard from your parents?”
She opened the composter. “Yeah. They seem to love the pack, but they’re going to give it a few more days before they actually join.”
“Hallelujah.” Brock smiled. “If you’re no longer angry with me over Kittie—”
Natalie handed him a rake. “Why would I be mad about the she-wolf?” She tried to make light of it.
He chuckled. “I don’t blame you. If some guy was hanging all over you, and you were laughing and smiling and not moving out of his space, I’d have felt the same way.”
“It did look bad, though I was trying to tell myself you were working a mission.”
“I was. So about us…” He began loading the wheelbarrow with dry leaves.
“Well,” she said, waving at Shawn and motioning to him to grab the other wheelbarrow next to the shed, “do you really like the black wallpaper in the bathrooms?”
Brock laughed out loud. “Hell, you can change them to anything you want. Seriously. Man, I thought it would be a lot harder to win you over.”
She laughed, pulled the rake out of his hands, and leaned it against the wheelbarrow. Then she wrapped her arms around his waist. “A woman knows what a woman wants.”
“That makes me one damn lucky wolf.”
&n
bsp; Shawn wheeled his wheelbarrow up next to the composter and began to load it. “Don’t mind me.”
They didn’t, and Brock began to kiss her. She loved the way he kissed her, his hands cupping her head, their tongues lingering in a sensual dance, but knowing the trouble they could be in, they separated with regret and got back to work. She was thinking how she wasn’t going to wait to learn what her parents officially decided about the pack. She was certain they had already made the decision, and if she told them she and Brock were mated, they wouldn’t wait to confirm they were joining the pack.
They finished filling the wheelbarrows and spread the dry leaves around the two houses. It was enough for a light cover. Hopefully, if a man or wolf stepped on some, they’d hear him.
“I doubt they’ll show up until it’s really dark out and they think we’ve gone to sleep,” Brock said.
“So we can relax until then?” Natalie asked. Relaxing wasn’t really what she had in mind.
She remembered seeing him standing in front of the fountain outside the wedding rehearsal luncheon, looking good enough to eat, and him wanting to protect her all the way to Texas and until this was resolved…
Yeah, he was the wolf for her.
Chapter 16
“Shawn, will you be all right by yourself for a little while?” Natalie asked, grasping Brock’s hand and tugging him toward her house.
Brock hadn’t realized Natalie wanted to get on with what he hoped was a mating, but he’d been serious when he’d said he was certain these people wouldn’t make a move until later.
“Hell yeah. I’ll keep watch but stick close by to warn you if anything goes down. And I assume congrats are in order.”
“They are,” Natalie said, confirming what Brock was certainly hoping for.
“Hot damn!” Brock said. “And thanks, Cousin.” Brock swept Natalie up in his arms and hurried her inside. He didn’t want to rush the mating, but he wanted to be ready for any contingency. And, like Natalie, he didn’t want to put this off.
“You’re sure about this? You don’t want to wait to see if your parents like the pack well enough to actually join?” he asked her as he carried her into her bedroom.
“I know my parents. Even though Dad said they’d wait to make the decision in a few days, they’ve already decided. I’m sure they figure I’ve already fallen hopelessly in love with you, and that means both Angie and I would be gone. I mean, sure, we could stay here, if you were all right with it, but I want to be with a pack when we have children. So eventually, we’d end up having to move.”
“Good deal. I wondered how long I could hold out.”
She laughed. “You don’t have to wait any longer.”
“I’ll help you and your parents in the garden center every chance I can get and would love it if you’d want to help me with my cases.” He set her down beside the bed.
“I’d love that. But I have to tell you that my dad will want to also. Since my mom and I helped my dad with his cases for so many years, don’t be surprised if this becomes a family affair.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before? I would have insisted on you mating me when we first met.”
She laughed and began unbuckling his belt.
“You are so good for me, Ms. Natalie Silverton.” He sat her down on the bed to remove her boots.
“You are so hot and sexy, Mr. Brock Greystoke. If you’d left without me once all this business was cleared up, I would never have gotten you out of my mind. I’d only think of being with you. You don’t know how much it was killing me not to wake you last night and have crazy sex with you again.”
He laughed. “I woke a couple of times, but I was afraid you really needed your sleep and it might backfire, and you’d kick me out of bed.”
“No way.”
He laughed, then pulled off her socks. She tackled his belt again and unzipped his zipper. He hurried to sit on the bed to remove his boots, but she crouched in front of him to make fast work of them.
Then she slipped his shirt off while he ran his hands over her shirt, feeling her nipples stretching against the palms of his hands. He groaned. “I love you.”
She hauled her shirt off, but before she could unfasten her bra, he was doing it for her. “You’re easy to love.”
“So are you.” He removed Natalie’s bra, and she straddled him on the bed. He didn’t want to think of anything but the she-wolf he loved who wanted a mating with him.
He kissed Natalie’s breasts and moved his hands down to unfasten her jeans. Then he rolled her over on her back so he could pull them off. He quickly dispensed with his own jeans, then removed her panties. Once he slid his boxer briefs down and kicked them aside, he moved his aroused body over hers. He kissed her mouth, tasting the essence of her, feeling drugged by her arousal. Their pheromones were zinging all over the place, telling them this was meant to be—a mating between two wolves forever. He felt the power of their connection, the way they worked together, played together, made love together.
He kissed her navel and moved his hand down her waist, until he reached her sensitive clit and began to stroke.
“Ohmigod.” She breathed out. “We…shouldn’t…have waited…last…night.”
He chuckled and kissed her tummy but continued to stroke her, licking her navel, watching her come apart under his touch. The way she was arching her back and pulling at him to join her, he figured she was about to come. “Ready?”
“Yes,” she growled, “now!”
He didn’t hesitate, pushing his cock deep between her feminine folds. And then he thrust, taking pleasure in making Natalie his mate, enjoying the intimacy they shared and the unbreakable bond between them. He adored her, loved how territorial she’d become with him when he worried she might be irritated by the way he’d become possessive. Which all went to show they were meant to be together.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he said, kissing her cheek, her nose, her forehead, before his mouth captured hers again.
She groaned with release, and he continued to thrust, his hand sliding down her leg and up again, cupping her ass to pull her tighter against him. And then he climaxed, realizing too late that if they’d wanted to wait to have children, he hadn’t thought of it in time.
He continued to pump into her until he was spent, and then he cuddled with her, loving the way she fit against him, her arms wrapping tight around him, not letting go.
“Love you, Brock,” Natalie said, still holding him securely to her.
“I hope you’re not mad at me.” He was serious. It was a stupid mistake to have made, if she had wanted to wait. Sure, she might not become pregnant the first time, but what if she did?
She smiled up at him. “Why? Because you forgot to use a condom? I’m ready for children.”
Relief washed over him. He loved her. “Let’s get a quick shower. We’ve got to get going.”
“Yeah, let’s do that. And don’t worry about it if little wolves are on the way. We’ll just have to get that spare bedroom papered sooner rather than later.”
He chuckled. “You had this all planned from the beginning, didn’t you? You were just waiting for me to agree to the wallpapering jobs.”
She laughed.
They hurried into the shower to clean up quickly. He started it, and they soaped each other up and rinsed off.
“You’re the only one for me.” Natalie sighed, shutting off the shower, kissing Brock, then grabbing a towel. “We’d better check on Shawn and make sure he’s okay.”
Then they hurried to dress. Only this time, Brock went back to the guest bedroom to grab a black T-shirt while Natalie dressed in her room.
He poked his head outside and saw Shawn sitting on the deck in the dark, armed with a rifle. “Hey, I’m going to do some research on this Tom Jonas, the supposed photographer.”
“Yeah, sure, go ahea
d. I’ll just wait out here and watch for anything. It’s been quiet.”
“Holler if anything happens.” Brock entered the house, and Natalie joined him.
“What are you checking for?” she asked as he brought out his laptop, sat down on the couch, and opened it.
“An email address or a phone number on Tom Jonas’s website. Just a way to contact him.”
She sat down beside Brock.
“Here’s an email address. I’ll send an email, or you can. We can see how he responds. If he wasn’t here, we’ll know the guy used his identity.”
“Okay. I’ll do it.” She pulled out her phone and emailed the photographer.
Hi, I’m Natalie Silverton. I would like to know more about this book you’re writing. You can email me at this address and talk to me about it. Thanks, Natalie.
“Hell, the car doesn’t belong to the photographer. I took a picture of the car he was driving. I just ran the plates, and it belongs to a Paul Schwartz,” Brock said to her.
“Well, we kind of expected he wasn’t the real photographer.” Her cell phone beeped, indicating she’d received an email. She checked it and smiled. Brock peered over her shoulder to see the message. It was the real photographer responding to Natalie’s email.
I’m sorry, you must have mistaken me for someone else. Why did you think I was interested in writing a book?
She emailed back.
Someone came to visit me today about a carriage house I own and used your name and website as his contact information. Thanks. At least I know he’s an impostor, and if he comes back, I’ll have him arrested.
Sorry someone did this to you. Glad you contacted me to verify. Best of luck. Tom
“Okay, so now what is the real guy up to?” she asked Brock.
