by E A Price
“The wolf has agreed to meet with Branch.”
Her forehead wrinkled in concern. “And you’re going?”
Tank rolled a huge shoulder. “He insisted I go.”
“Marcus is dangerous.”
He raised his eyebrows in a way that suggested he was too. She pursed her lips in a way that suggested she didn’t care for his cocky attitude.
Tank squeezed her hand. “Even a wolf wouldn’t be dumb enough to lure us to a meeting to kill us.”
Marion didn’t seem convinced, but he doubted he was in any danger in going to a pre-arranged meeting. If the wolf really wanted to eliminate him, he wouldn’t make an appointment to do it. Nope, that was far too traceable. The council of shifters would punish his whole pack for that, and punishments could be damn harsh. About fifty years ago an alpha of a wolf pack was kidnapping young women from a nearby town to hunt and kill them. Crazy bastard liked the thrill of the hunt. When the council found out and put a stop to it, their solution was to eradicate the whole pack. Every single member was terminated… It was enough to make other shifters fall in line.
If Marcus wanted him dead, he’d be a lot sneakier about it.
“I wish you wouldn’t go,” she said. “There’s no point in trying to negotiate with him. When I knew him, he was always droning on and on about the importance of continuing his lineage. Course that was about the fact that he didn’t want half-human grandkids, but now he has no choice. I just don’t see him giving in to anything less than him getting the kids…” Her face darkened. “Or maybe just one of them, but he knows there’s no way I’d part with any of them.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Marion nodded and gave him a strange smile. “I’m sure you’re right but… I like having you around.”
“Mommy!” wailed Sophie.
The quieter of the twins had fallen over and hit her head. Now she was in pain and a little tearful. Marion sprang into action, cooing and giggling over her youngest. Sophie enjoyed a small cuddle, a kiss to make it all better and she was good to go.
Tank was still a little dazed by what she said, but his alpha slapping him on the back soon brought him to attention.
“Ready to go, Romeo?”
“Who?” He shook his head. “Maybe not.”
He thought about what Marion said. About the fact that she liked having him around, and when he managed to tear his smug thoughts away from that, he thought about what she said before that. How she didn’t think he would be willing to negotiate. Because if he wasn’t, why bother calling a meeting?
Sixteen
Marion answered the phone, but before she could even say hello, a growl echoed down the phone.
“Marcus,” she breathed. “What do you want?”
He was calling her on the centers phone line. She really shouldn’t be surprised he knew where she worked. He knew where she lived.
“Bring me the kids or I’ll kill him.”
Tank. Her stomach flipped.
“Kill who?” she said weakly.
Marcus snorted impatiently. “Your boyfriend. He’s coming to see me.” He let out a sneering chuckle. “You don’t bring me my family and Dasher’s dead.”
“Dasher?”
“Yeah, Dasher,” he snapped.
“I don’t know…”
Marcus snarled in irritation. “Dasher – one of Santa’s bloody reindeer!”
“I thought Rudolph was his…”
“No, he had eight reindeer – and it’s beside the point! Bring me…”
“No.”
The wolf shifter roared down the phone at her. “No?! I will murder him. I will rip him to pieces! I won’t make this offer again.”
Marion breathed in and out, trying to calm her trembling fear. “Take your offer and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.”
“You…”
She hung up. Did he honestly believe that would work? Did he think she would just sacrifice her kids for Tank?
Sure, she already cared about Tank – she couldn’t help herself. But handing over her kids to a psychotic wolf for a promise he probably wasn’t prepared to keep? Yeah, not happening.
She should probably call Tank. He had programmed his number into her cell, saying she might need it. He had also programmed his mother and sisters’ numbers, saying he hoped she didn’t need them.
Marion was about to dial when she heard a growling noise outside the window, a thump, breaking glass and then the bleat of a car alarm. She - like several other people in the center - ran to the window to look. Marion jostled her way through with pointy, pointy elbows, and gasped on seeing Tank outside squaring off against some mean looking wolf shifters.
*
Tank hooted at the wolf shifters. His inner reindeer roared to be free. Harlan and three of the enforcers came to his side, each letting out their own reindeer grunts.
He was right. A couple of minutes after the car with Branch, Mal, and Dozer (who could easily pass for Tank at a glance) sped away, the wolves showed up. They were planning on forcing their way in there and taking the girls – his girls!
Idiots thoughts they could manage it with him and the alpha gone. Bozos.
The wolves were growling, spitting and hissing. The one he had thrown against the car was struggling to his feet, giving Tank a death glare.
Tank cracked his knuckles, considering that the smack he gave him wasn’t nearly hard enough, when that beautiful peachy scent invaded his senses.
“Stay back, Marion,” he said, even before he saw her.
“What’s happening?” she asked breathlessly.
“Wolves,” he grumbled as if that explained everything.
Marion came to stand in front of him, and the wolves suddenly quieted, staring at her, their nostrils flaring.
Tank slipped a hand around her waist, drawing her to his side.
“Hand her over,” snarled one of the wolves.
Tank snorted.
“Hand her and the brats over,” repeated the wolf with mounting ire, “and none of you will get hurt.”
Tank gave him an extra loud snort.
The wolf smiled horribly. “She belongs to Marcus.”
That earned him a snort and an, ‘as if’ from Marion.
“The council of shifters…”
“She’s mine,” snarled Tank. “She’s my mate.”
The words slipped out stunning nearly everyone who had gathered around them – particularly Marion. The only one who didn’t seem particularly surprised was Harlan, who was practically smirking.
He could lie and say it was a spur of the moment thing, but he had been thinking about it since his alpha mentioned it earlier. If it were the only way to get her away from the wolf and his ridiculous claim on her kids, then yeah, he would mate her. It was the right thing to do.
The wolves were getting restless and a little nervous. They knew what Marion being mated to another meant – it meant bad news for their alpha, and one of them would probably have to deliver it. Marcus probably was a shoot the messenger type.
“You’re not mated yet,” pointed out the talkative wolf.
The other three looked mightily relieved to hear that, and that one of them was happy to take the lead.
Tank gave him a grim smile. “We’re mating on Friday.”
The wolves snapped their jaws, but slowly, they slunk back into their car and drove away.
The chatty wolf shouted out the window, “Wait ‘til Marcus hears about this!”
Tank let out a rumble. He was aware of Marion gaping at him, but at that moment, he was pretty damn pleased with himself.
Seventeen
Marion found Tank outside the back door of the house; he was giving the enforcer stationed there a comfort break. Meaning the guy could get a drink and take a whiz. Though given that he was now inside the house being fussed and fought over by Tank’s sisters, maybe he wasn’t that comfortable. Though, who knows, maybe he liked three pretty reindeer shifters cooing over him while they made s
narky comments about each other.
“Hey,” she said handing him a mug of steaming liquid.
Tank gave her a disapproving look. “You shouldn’t be out here.”
Marion put on her thinking face and peered into the dark garden. “You think someone’s going to assassinate me?”
He cocked his head to one side and gave her a half-smile. “Maybe not.”
“Jasmine tea, with a slice of lemon, right? Your mom said it was your favorite.”
Tank frowned and took the cup. “Not so loud.” He looked around, suspecting people of eavesdropping on their conversation.
Marion giggled. “Are you seriously afraid of people knowing that you like jasmine tea?”
He thought about it and then shrugged and chuckled. “Guess not.”
Tank took a sip of the drink and let out a loud sound of appreciation. Marion’s shoulders shook with silent laughter.
“There’s also peach pie in the kitchen; I made them save you a piece.”
“Thanks.” He grinned.
“Your mom said it was your favorite. Actually, she listed all your favorite desserts in order of how much you like them.”
Tank rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sorry about my family.”
Marion shook her head. She had enjoyed dinner - it was even livelier than breakfast. His sisters had such colorful stories – most of which they insisted on acting out. All three of them were studying part-time, and also had jobs. Trini’s stories were particularly funny – she was helping out at an animal shelter, and earlier that day she had an unfortunate encounter with a skunk masquerading as a cat. The rest of the family was giving her a wide berth. Marion doubted she was making much headway with the enforcer she was trying to flirt with.
“You really don’t have to apologize, your family is great.”
“They are?” he asked in disbelief. “I mean, yeah, I think so, but no one else I have ever brought here agreed with me.”
She snickered. “I mean it. Growing up it was just me and my mom and occasional visits to my grandma. I never knew my dad, and then I lost my mom just before I went to college. It’s nice to be part of a big family. That’s what I love about my girls – they’re so loud and energetic, I never have time to be lonely.”
“No?” He gave her a curious look.
“Well, ah…”
She wouldn’t deny her bed did get a little lonely - a thought that was occurring to her a little too regularly since she met Tank.
“Can we talk now?” she asked, mildly apprehensive.
Since the wolves showed up at the center, they hadn’t been alone. She’d been casting him looks suggesting that they needed to talk the whole time, but either he missed them or was intentionally ignoring them.
She told him about Marcus’ phone call, and Harlan called Branch, updating him on the situation. The meeting with Marcus was officially off. Tank decided it would be a good idea to take her and the kids back to his house, where they could be surrounded by his smothering family, and enforcers would be stationed outside the house, guarding it.
The girls had taken the news about the destruction of their toys rather well. She figured that was because they were much more interested in playing with Tank’s family. However, Marion didn’t have the heart to tell them about Fluffy – she was replacing him as soon as possible. Having lost their great-grandmother, the girls had already had the death talk, but they were going through enough without finding out that their beloved fishy friend was a murder victim. While Marion wasn’t particularly fond of lying to them, she was very much prepared to do it in this instance.
The girls were currently happy anyway – believing Fluffy to be sleeping over at a friend’s house. Penny gave her a funny look at that, but the twins just nodded in understanding. They had already eaten dinner, and enjoyed two house of playtime. Now, the kids had been bathed and were watching TV in their jammies with Tank’s mom, and Marion had Tank cornered. They really needed to talk.
So what did Tank do? He grunted. He wasn’t exactly the most forthcoming guy, so it seemed like she was going to have to do the work.
“About the mating thing…”
Tank grunted again.
“I… don’t know what to say.”
He shrugged. “It’s like you said, Marcus didn’t want to negotiate. The only way to get you out of his claim was to make another which would supersede it.”
“Right,” she murmured. “Thank you.”
That seemed so inadequate, but what else could she say? Thank you for making this huge sacrifice to keep my kids safe?
The awkwardness amped up a few notches. She had been mated to Jack – it was basically marriage. The ceremony was performed by the alpha, and then they were as good as married. However, divorce was much easier in matings – the alpha just declared the mating voided. But, how could their mating end if Marcus was always waiting in the wings to make his own claim? She supposed after he died… though the son of a bitch probably had another thirty or forty years left in him.
“Have you really thought this through?” she asked. “You know this means you couldn’t mate anyone else?”
Tank grunted, and she reflected it was amazing that the grunting sound could be used to convey so many different meanings.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
He put down his jasmine tea and faced her. “I’m sure,” he said in a firm, strong voice.
She looked into his dark eyes and all she saw there was surety.
“Okay then,” she breathed.
Tank nodded, considering the matter as settled, and with a slurp, he finished his drink and passed her the cup.
She turned to go back into the house and paused. “Can I ask you something?”
He grunted that she could.
“Are you doing this just to save the girls, or is there any chance….
“Marion!”
Teena burst out of the back door. Tank growled at her, and she ignored him completely.
“Marion, come on, I’m dying to get a hold of your hair.”
Teena disappeared back inside.
“She’s cutting my hair,” said Marion, “it’s been about a year since it was last cut, and she insisted, and well, hey, free haircut!”
“Just don’t let her persuade you that pink highlights are a good idea. After she got Tamra to try them, they didn’t speak for a month… and we had to re-paint our master bathroom.”
“Just a cut then,” chuckled Marion, “but about what I was saying…”
“Mommy?”
Penny appeared at the door now.
“Honey?”
“It’s bedtime and Izzy won’t go to sleep.”
“I’m not tired!” called an irate voice from somewhere in the house.
“I’m coming,” murmured Marion.
She gave Tank a long look and then followed Penny inside. Her heart fluttered nervously.
Maybe it was crazy - she barely knew him, but there was a part of her that was hoping he wanted to mate her not just because he was being all noble and wonderful, but because deep down he wanted to be with her.
Eighteen
Tank dug into his third bowl of oatmeal. He didn’t know what his mother did to it – perhaps it was the selection of spices that made it so yummy – but it was the best. Everything she cooked was the best. It was one of the reasons he hadn’t ever left home. He was no cook, and living off takeout was not appealing.
Marion was getting the girls ready to go to the center in one bathroom, and his sisters were currently engaged in a fight for the other bathroom. Hmmm, he really ought to think about a house for him and Marion. His sisters were all over eighteen now; they were grown, they didn’t need him as much as they did. He had been dragging his heels about the idea of moving out – partly due to his mom’s cooking. Maybe Marion was the push he needed.
His mom filled up his coffee mug from a fresh pot – she also did something magical to the coffee. Marion had said the same thing and looked migh
tily smug about the fact that his mom had given her the secret recipe – not even Tank and his sisters knew the secret recipe.
He became aware of the fact that she was hovering.
Tank looked up. “Mom?”
She gave him a slightly concerned look. “You know we absolutely love having Marion here.”
Yeah, so did he.
“She’s so sweet and such a good listener…”
He was sure that was because she couldn’t get a word in when his sisters started talking.
“She deserves to be happy, and so do you.”
His mom paused, and he grunted to fill the silence, and because he wasn’t sure where she was going.
She bit her lip. “Are you sure that this mating is a good idea? We all love her, but it is sudden. I know you always do the right thing, Tank, but while this might be the right thing now, how will you feel in a year or two?”
“No different,” he growled without hesitating.
“You’re sure?”
“Very. How I feel won’t change.”
No, he was sure his feelings were only going to get stronger. He’d known there was something the moment he saw her and scented her. Damnit, his inner beast was excited even before that. He knew this was right, knew this was what he wanted. He couldn’t explain it; it was just – lord, forgive him for being soppy – meant to be.
“You’re happy raising wolf cubs, then?”
Tank chuffed. “You think any less of those girls for being wolves?”
“Of course not!” she exclaimed, mildly affronted for a moment. “It makes no difference to me. I wouldn’t mind if they were crocodiles or sloths or… or… aliens!”
“Aliens?”
“Aliens!”
He grunted. Enough said.
His mom beamed – clearly he had said the right thing. “Well, then, I’m happy for you. I always knew you’d bring home a woman who deserved you – none of those other girls did. No staying power. I don’t know, you try to welcome someone into your house, and they get all huffy at you just because you try and clean the toilet while they’re using the shower. I was cleaning it for her benefit!”
His mom was referring to Victoria – a woman he dated about three girlfriends ago. He had to admit, Marion didn’t scare easily when it came to his female relations. He was sure he could be happy with her. He just hoped that Marion agreed.
