SEAL Wolf Surrender

by Terry Spear

  “The guy must be working for Dexter. He has to be.”

  * * *

  Later that night, they were ready for the bad guys in case anything further happened. Brock and Shawn had set up in places outside the carriage house where they wouldn’t be seen, both wearing wolf coats, while Natalie watched the security monitors and listened to Brock’s phone to learn if Kittie revealed anything of importance. Natalie kept hearing sounds, music playing in the background, pots and pans banging in a kitchen, she figured, but no conversation. She wished she knew where Kittie was. At Marek’s house? Or somewhere else? Dexter’s maybe? Her own with her mother? As if her mother really was in the area with a dead flower bush.

  Then Natalie heard sounds on the listening bug: a door squeaked open, and footsteps hurried across a tile floor.

  “Marek,” Kittie said. “I thought I was supposed to pick you up from The Inking Spot.”

  “Antonio dropped me off. Did you learn anything about the security at the garden center and the houses there?” Marek asked.

  “No. Not a damn thing. Where are you going? You just got home.”

  “I’ve got to drive my car back to the garden center. We’re going to be in a hell of a lot of hot water if we don’t deal with this. Don’t wait up for me. I don’t have any idea how long this is going to be.”

  So Kittie was Marek’s girlfriend. Natalie wondered if Lettie had been right about him. He’d been seeing Kittie for a while. But now she was seeing Antonio behind his back?

  Natalie headed outside and called out, “Marek’s coming!”

  Brock met up with Natalie and shifted.

  “By himself?”

  Natalie shrugged. “He said he was coming back here. I don’t know if it means he’s bringing a force with him. I imagine so.”

  “Okay, let us know if anything else is said.”

  “All right.” Natalie walked into the house to watch the security monitors.

  “Hey, one of Eugenia’s social security checks was direct deposited to the account,” Kittie said.

  “Don’t spend it. I need it for the business.” The door slammed shut.

  Eugenia’s checks? The aunt who was supposedly on dialysis and who owned the house? It sounded like she was dead and they were still spending her checks.

  Not much time had passed when the listening bug caught the sound of the doorbell ringing and footfalls headed for the door. The door squeaked open, and Natalie kept thinking if it had been her own front door, she’d have greased the hinges already.

  “Dexter. What are you doing here?” Kittie sounded surprised to see him, and a whole lot worried.

  After what Kittie had said to Antonio about getting away, Natalie thought she should be worried. She didn’t imagine Dexter was someone who would be easy to cross.

  “Don’t ask me to do anything like that again. If you don’t like what I did or how I did it, do it yourself,” Kittie said.

  “You’ll do what I tell you to.”

  “You’re such a damn control freak. You think you can do better, go do it yourself. They wouldn’t have been any less wary of you. What about that other guy you sent? How well did he make out? Huh? Obviously not well at all, because then you sent me. If Marek and the others hadn’t spooked them last night, they wouldn’t have been suspicious of me,” Kittie said.

  Natalie was surprised Kittie would be so belligerent to Dexter if he was the one in charge.

  “What are you going to do about Lettie?” Kittie asked. “You know Marek confided in her. And that means she could be spilling her guts to these wolves. Maybe that’s how they knew so much about Marek. What else do they know? Your name? Your brother’s? The rest of the team’s?”

  “Shit. One more damn loose end to deal with.” Dexter didn’t say anything for a few minutes, then said, “Hey, Trenton, I need you to handle a loose end for me…tonight in Boulder. Lettie. Yeah, she could be a real liability now that she’s split with Marek, and she’s been talking to a wolf with the pack in Greystoke… Well, hell, after you meet with him then. Tell him the money is coming. The guys are working through the night on the bills. But I want this other situation resolved tonight. We don’t know how much Marek told her, and we can’t have her sharing what she knows with anybody else. And do it yourself. Don’t ask the other guys… Yeah…yeah, I’m sure they’d do as good a job of it, but I want you to personally handle it. Call me when it’s done. Out here.”

  Oh no. As much as Natalie knew Brock didn’t like Lettie, she had helped them learn more about who might be in on this operation, and Natalie suspected he didn’t want her killed over it.

  “What about your mate?” Kittie asked Dexter. “The rest of us are risking our necks in this venture, and she’s not doing anything.”

  “You leave my mate out of this,” he said. “She knows nothing about any of this, and it stays that way.”

  Man, Kittie had to have a death wish.

  Natalie jumped up from her couch and ran outside to warn Brock and his cousin what was about to go down. Brock was at her side in a heartbeat. “Dexter is having his brother, Trenton, do away with Lettie. He’s doing the job tonight.”

  Brock ran inside the house, and she called softly to Shawn. He joined her, and they entered the house.

  Brock shifted and yanked on his boxer briefs. Since they were listening to his phone to hear what else transpired between Dexter and Kittie, she handed Brock her own, assuming he’d want to call someone to protect Lettie.

  He did, and she was proud of him. He called his brother and said, “Vaughn, get someone to pick up Lettie. Dexter’s ordered a hit on her. His brother’s name is Trenton, and he’s the one who has to oversee it. He might have more men with him. Just put her in protective custody until we eliminate this ring. Putting this on speakerphone so Natalie and Shawn can hear.”

  “You’re not thinking of recommending Lettie join the pack after what she pulled, are you?” Vaughn asked.

  “Hell no, but I may need her services to wallpaper some rooms.”

  Natalie frowned at Brock. She needed to tell her parents they were mated. First. At a decent hour.

  Brock quickly cleared his throat. “At some time in the future,” he reiterated.

  Vaughn laughed. “Okay, I was getting ready to announce the news to the pack.”

  “Just see that Lettie’s safe. Don’t let her talk you out of removing her from her place.”

  “I have an even better idea. We’ll lie in wait for Trenton to show up. We can move her before that happens, if we’re not too late. But if she won’t leave, we’ll protect her and deal with him.”

  “Take enough men to do the job, just in case more than one shows up to eliminate her.”

  “You know it.”

  “Okay, gotta go and listen to what else Dexter is planning.”

  “I’ll give you a heads-up when we’ve removed Trenton and his men from the equation,” Vaughn said.

  They ended the call, and Shawn went back out to watch for any sign of intruders while Brock stayed inside to listen to Dexter and Kittie. Brock ran his hand down Natalie’s arm as she cuddled with him. “Sorry, I sort of let that slip out about the papering business. I didn’t want Vaughn to believe I had any interest in Lettie.”

  Natalie smiled at Brock. “That’s okay. I just didn’t want him announcing it to the pack before I tell my parents.”

  Kittie began speaking again, and Brock and Natalie grew quiet to hear what she had to say.

  * * *

  “Okay, Dexter. So what about that guy pretending to be Tom Jonas, the photographer? I don’t know why you would have called on him to check out the garden center,” Kittie said to Dexter as he reclined on Marek’s sofa. She was standing there, her arms folded across her chest, head tilted to the side, a little bit of arrogance and defensiveness mixed into one.

  “Not that it�
�s any of your business, but I thought a human wouldn’t raise any suspicions, and he owed me.” Dexter normally wouldn’t have explained himself or his actions to anyone, but he liked playing a game a bit, and he wanted to clear the air before he eliminated her. He thought it only fair to give his crew members a chance to explain themselves before he ended their miserable lives.

  “Wait, he’s the guy who hadn’t paid you for some of the counterfeit money he was supposed to exchange for real cash?” Kittie shook her head, as though she couldn’t believe he was so stupid. “Hitting the bars at night was a great idea. Pay with a hundred-dollar bill in a dark bar when the bartender is busy with customers, can’t see the money, and he gives a whole bunch of change back. So why didn’t the guy give you the good money?”

  “He spent it gambling,” Dexter said, and man, was he pissed about it. “He screwed up, but it was a great scheme, if he’d paid me. I was giving him one last chance. He won’t be doing that again. Ever. Past tense. Then there’s you. You screwed up when you took Marek’s car to the garden center. That’s what clued Brock in that you’re with us.”

  She shrugged. “All right already. I used Marek’s car. What was I supposed to do? Show up in your wife’s car? A bright-red Porsche? Like I wouldn’t have stood out driving that. No one else drives your pickup but you. So what would you have suggested?”

  “You could have told me you didn’t have a car, and I would have sent one that wouldn’t be traceable to any of us.” He could not believe how shortsighted she and Marek were. “Hell, you even smell of Marek.”

  “I used a towel on the seat, and I didn’t touch him.”

  “If you got close to Brock or the woman, both would have smelled Marek’s scent on you, even if they hadn’t recognized his car. They’d already met him at the airport,” Dexter said to Kittie.

  “Brock’s the one who offered me assistance, as if he knew I shouldn’t have been there. I couldn’t do anything but pretend I was there to shop.”

  “Who was the other man working at the nursery?”

  “A wolf named Shawn. They didn’t give a last name, and I thought it would seem odd if I asked.”

  Dexter needed to learn what he could about the other man. Was he just the hired help, another wolf, or was he as highly trained as Brock? Hell, nothing was going the way Dexter had planned.

  * * *

  Shawn woofed outside, and Brock said to Natalie, “Warn us if Dexter says anything else we need to know in a hurry. I’ll keep watch with Shawn outside.”

  “Okay.”

  Brock kissed her mouth, rose from the couch, and ditched his boxer briefs. Then he shifted and ran out the wolf door.

  “So then they asked about Marek and how you know him. How you’re tied in to his counterfeiting. Marek screwed up first by losing the money. Now you. I can’t have any of this get back to us. Not only that, but I’ve heard you and Marek are thinking of leaving me and leading the rest of the crew to a new place to set up your own operation,” Dexter said to Kittie.

  Natalie was still watching the security cameras at the garden center for any sign of intruders, but she glanced at the phone and barely breathed when she heard Dexter’s dark tone of voice and what he had accused Kittie of. This didn’t sound good for Kittie or Marek. In fact, it reminded Natalie of a homicide case her dad had worked where the boss in a criminal conspiracy had killed two of his coconspirators when he learned they were planning on running off with the drugs and the money and setting up shop elsewhere. Only it sounded like Kittie intended to do it with Antonio and Ink Man, the men who really knew the nuts and bolts of the operation. It appeared Kittie planned to leave Marek to fend for himself. So what was her real role in the whole operation?

  * * *

  “Do you think the two of you can manage on your own? Hell, that would be the day,” Dexter said to Kittie, knowing she and Marek couldn’t have a setup like this without him running things, even if they took the rest of the crew with them. But they were too stupid to realize that. He had thought they made a good team—until Marek lost the bag of money at the airport.

  “I don’t know what you mean.” Kittie had been so belligerent, but now she sounded scared, her voice softer, more anxious. It didn’t become her.

  “Don’t play coy with me. Do you think I haven’t been monitoring you, Marek, and the others all this time? I haven’t been in this business this long without safeguarding myself.” Dexter had learned that the hard way when one of his men spilled the beans to Brock, and he’d hired men to help him take Dexter down. That had nearly been the end of Dexter. He would never trust the men—or women—he had working for him. He kept everyone under surveillance.

  He pulled Marek’s gun out of a holster under his jacket. He’d found it in the bed earlier when he’d arrived, just where Marek told him he always kept it, and perfect for what Dexter had to do next.

  “I’ll…I’ll disappear. You don’t have to kill me. You won’t ever see me again,” Kittie said, her expression horrified.

  “Too late for that. No one betrays me. And you and Marek are loose ends I can ill afford.” Dexter was glad to have sent Marek on his way so he could deal with one of them at a time. No mess, no fuss that way. He shot Kittie twice, and she collapsed on the floor.

  He set the gun down on the coffee table, made sure she was dead, her heartbeat stopped, and then wrapped her in a shower curtain he had tucked under the couch earlier. He dragged her body back to the bedroom and laid her in bed, then covered her with the comforter, arranging her head on the pillow as if he were a devoted boyfriend and had just killed her and then would kill himself. Dexter would make sure of it.

  He carried the shower curtain out to his truck and shoved it under the front seat, then went into the house to wait for Marek. He cleaned up the tile floor, glad she hadn’t gotten any blood on the throw rug. Once he was done, he sat down on the squeaky recliner and waited. It wasn’t long before he got a call.

  “Yeah, Marek?” Dexter said.

  “Hey, I’m here and the guys are here. I’m going to shift into the wolf in just a few minutes to watch how things are going, and then I’ll report back to you.”

  Dexter resettled himself on the recliner, and it squeaked again. “I told you you’re in charge of this operation. They’re human. They can deal with the heat and the blame. Brock’s pack won’t tie them to you. You have my word. Just see that it gets done and go home. I’ll meet you at your place. Don’t screw this up… All right. Do it.” Dexter smiled to himself as if he wasn’t already at Marek’s place with a dead Kittie. He was waiting for his next victim to show up. He just hoped Marek would get it right this time so that would end Brock’s meddling in his affairs. Otherwise, damn it, he’d have to handle this himself.

  * * *

  Surprised, yet she shouldn’t have been that Dexter would kill Kittie, Natalie had to warn Brock and Shawn that Dexter was sending armed humans, not wolves. That meant they needed to handle this in a whole different manner.

  She dashed through the house to the front door, threw it open, and called out in a hushed voice, “Brock! Shawn!”

  Brock raced to meet up with her, Shawn following a few paces behind.

  “Dexter is sending armed humans.”

  Both men shifted and began to dress and arm themselves. They didn’t want to try to fight armed men as wolves.

  Natalie explained the rest of what happened while she watched the security monitors.

  Brock leaned over the monitor, rubbing her back. “With humans taking part, we can let the police handle this.”

  “What if they name any of the wolves responsible for this?” Shawn asked.

  “Sounds to me like Dexter plans to eliminate Marek, and I suspect the hired killers don’t know who else is in on this,” Brock said. “If they even know who Marek is.”

  “Then if Dexter is waiting at Marek’s house for him, we need
to go over there and deal with him,” Shawn said.

  “It would be a good idea before Marek warned him their plan was a bust, but I don’t want to risk having us split up at this point,” Brock said. “Not with armed gunmen planning to hit here soon.”

  Natalie got a call from Vaughn on her phone. “Your brother.” She put it on speaker, hoping Vaughn and whoever he’d taken with him weren’t injured and that they had arrived in time to protect Lettie.

  “We’re in Boulder. Six of us. Devlyn didn’t want us to risk losing this battle. Lettie refused to leave her home and shop. She was shocked to learn you were the one to orchestrate this, Brock, and said you couldn’t be all that bad. She figured your mate had something to do with mellowing you out, believing you’re mated wolves. Anyway, we’re all staying here, safeguarding her and watching for Trenton or anyone else who might be planning her murder. We are all wearing hunter’s spray so they won’t know we’re here to protect her.”

  “Thanks, Vaughn.”

  “I’ll get back with you once this is resolved. You let me know as soon as things are resolved between you and Natalie too.”

  Brock smiled at her. “I will. Be safe.”

  “You too.”

  They finished the call, and Natalie said, “I’m proud of you for doing that for Lettie. You have every right to be angry with her, especially since her warning her brother of your movements could have meant more people would have died at his hands. And she could very well have led you to your death when he and his cohorts ambushed you. But you rose above it.”

  “When she said she loved her brother, I don’t know, something just hit home. If my brother was guilty of committing crimes, I probably would have felt like she did. Protective, loyal.”

  “Even if he had murdered innocents?”

  “Probably not then.”

  Natalie glanced at the security camera monitor and saw movement. “Ohmigod. They’re here,” she warned, pointing to the monitor showing the back of her parents’ property and three men moving around wearing camo fatigues, boots, and black hoodies, all armed with semiautomatics.