Isi fumbled with the gun at her side, her heart pounding in her chest. Just as the wolf leaped toward her, she jerked the gun free and pointed it at Rebecca. She only had a split second to check the safety before the wolf was on her. Slamming her eyes shut, braced for impact, Isi squeezed the trigger. A yelp filled the air and Isi opened her eyes. The wolf lay on its side, glaring at her with more hatred than she’d have thought possible.
She moved closer, the gun still clasped in her shaking hands. When she drew near, the wolf lunged at her, the teeth embedding in her ankle. Isi cried out and fired two more rounds into the beast. The jaws went slack and she stumbled back a step. Around her, things began to quiet and she frantically looked for her mate. She needn’t have feared though. Garren, back in his human form, stood over the alpha. The old wolf’s throat was slit from ear to ear, his blood spilling out onto the ground. Her parents stood behind him, a look of disbelief on their faces. They had chosen the losing side, and yet they were still standing. But Isi didn’t have to process it just then, so she jerked her gaze back toward Garren.
Isi ran toward her mate. She flung her arms around him, knocking him back a step. Garren wrapped her tightly in his embrace, kissing the top of her head.
The alpha’s sons, what was left of them, gathered around. Henry’s two eldest sons had been killed by Garren’s team, obviously having been in on the attempt on her life. Sean looked heartbroken, yet resigned, almost as if he’d expected this very outcome.
“You’ll have to decide what to do about the pack,” Garren told Sean. “You may not be the eldest, but I believe you were born to lead. You either claim this pack, or you send them on their way and you start afresh. Either way, Isi won’t be here. I have a chopper on standby. We’re out of here tonight.”
Sean nodded. “Thank you. I hadn’t realized how bad my dad had gotten until tonight. The thought that he could have caused Isi harm makes me sick.” He gave the bodies of his two brothers a baleful glare. “And they were no better. They were blood, and I’ll miss them, but even I can acknowledge that the world is a better place without them.”
“Lead the pack, Sean,” Isi said. “Bring in new wolves and start again. Make new laws, teach tolerance. This is what you were born to do.”
He gave her a smile and nodded. “Maybe I will.”
Garren lifted Isi into his arms and began striding toward the waiting vehicles. He set her down long enough to pull a pair of pants from the back of the vehicle and put them on quickly. Once his team was secured in the Hummer, he pointed it toward their temporary home.
Within two hours, they were packed and loaded onto the chopper, headed toward Galveston.
Epilogue
A glorious month filled with nothing but sand and surf, and some of the most incredible lovemaking Isi had ever experienced. All right, so lovemaking with Garren was the only kind she’d ever experienced, but something had changed between them. He was still her ever-watchful mate, cautious when it came to her safety, but there was something different about their intimate moments. He hadn’t said anything about his feelings, but his kisses were sweeter, his touch gentler.
She reclined in the chair, watching as her friends splashed in the Gulf waters. Lee reclined not too far away, keeping an eye on them. And it might have just been her imagination, but Isi would swear his eyes tended to linger on Grace. Could the rough SEAL want her friend? Were they possibly mates? It was something to think about.
A shadow fell over her and she looked up at her sexy mate. She’d talked him into letting his hair grow and it was already getting shaggy on top and growing out on the sides. No more military cuts. She wanted to see her lion’s mane in all its glory. If she had trouble keeping her hands off him now, she imagined it would be even worse once she had something to sink her fingers into.
“Is there something you want to tell me?” he asked softly, his eyes never straying from the horizon.
She bit her lip. “Not that I can think of. Is there something you want me to tell you?”
He growled softly, his gaze dropping to hers. She shrieked when he tossed something at her. Giving him an innocent look, she picked up the home pregnancy test. “What makes you think it’s mine?”
He pointed to his nose.
She wasn’t sure if she should be grossed out or not. “Okay, so it’s mine.”
“It has a plus sign on it.”
She nodded.
“Were you going to tell me you’re pregnant?”
Isi couldn’t hold back her smile any longer. “I’d actually arranged for us to have the house to ourselves tonight. I had an elaborate dinner planned with candlelight and everything. I was going to tell you then. I wanted it to be special.”
Garren came around the side of her chair and knelt beside her, his palm settling over her belly. “Isi, you’re carrying my cub. Nothing could be more special than that.”
“You know what this means, don’t you?”
His brow furrowed.
“It means we need our own home. I’m not raising my children in a house with three other men underfoot.”
Garren smiled. “I’m already ahead of you on that one. I’m tired of the smirks in the morning after I’ve spent a night pleasuring you.”
“So?” Isi tilted her head.
“We’re going house hunting this afternoon. When I found that test I was on my way out here to tell you to come in and change. We’re meeting with a realtor in half an hour. She’s pulled four houses for us to look at today. And we’ll keep looking until we find the right one.”
Garren bent down and pressed a kiss to her exposed stomach. “Can you hear me in there? This is your daddy. You’re going to be the most loved baby in the entire world.” His gaze sought hers. “Much like your mommy is the most loved mate in the world.”
Her heart kicked in her chest. “You love me?”
“What the hell do you think I’ve been telling you every night since we met?” His eyebrows lifted.
“That you like sex,” she muttered.
Garren threw back his head and laughed before kissing her soundly. “You are too precious. No, my luscious mate, mother of my child, I’ve been telling you the only way I know how, just how much I love you. I’ve never been good with words, Isi, so don’t expect them from me. But I will show you every day, for the rest of our lives, just how much you mean to me.”
She curled her hand around the back of his neck. “I can live with that.”
With a smile, he leaned down and claimed her lips once more. As heat built in Isi, settling low in her belly, she wondered just how long that realtor would wait. Some things were more important than looking at houses. Right now, she wanted to hear once more how much her mate loved her, and this time she’d be speaking his language.
The End
www.jessicacoultersmith.com
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SEALed Embrace Page 11
