by Maddy Barone
Sara raised her eyebrows. “You mean my husband cooks?”
“Sure. Stone makes a good steak.”
Amanda lowered her fork. “Tell me about the den. We said we would talk about where we would live, but we haven’t yet.”
Sara kept her face lowered modestly toward her plate, but she had a sly smile on her lips. “Been too busy to talk?”
Sand must have heard her, but he paid no attention. “It’s a great place. About fifteen years ago Taye’s mother left the Clan to live closer to her family. A lot of the young men from the Clan went with her. She picked an old abandoned motel and they fixed it up. The whole Pack lives there now. It’s nice. There are lots of sleeping rooms, and there’s the rec room and the dining hall where we all get together.”
He must have seen something on her face, because he faltered in his enthusiasm. “Amanda? Doesn’t the den sound nice?”
“Yes,” she said carefully. “But I’d like a place of my own. A house. It doesn’t need to be big.” She waved a hand to indicate her childhood home. “Just a simple place for us and someday, our children.”
Sand’s face warmed with a tender smile. “We could live with the Clan. My father and brothers are there. Some of the men have built houses for their mates in the Sacred Lands where we stay during winter.”
Her answering smile stuttered. “Winter? What about summer?”
“Oh, we travel during the spring and summer, following the hunting. Tara and the other women will help you make our lodge.”
Camping? That sounded horribly like camping. “Um. Sand, I don’t think I’m cut out for that kind of life. I’m a city girl, you know. I’m soft.”
His eyelids drooped. “Yeah, I know,” he purred.
A flush heated her cheeks. She saw her dad was blushing too, and the heat in her face intensified. Sara giggled. “Sand! Quit teasing her! She thinks you’re serious.”
“I am serious! About her being soft, at least.” Sand picked up her hand and squeezed. “Sorry. It was just the look on your face. I couldn’t help teasing you a little.”
While Amanda heaved a sigh, Sara shook her head. “I don’t remember you having a sense of humor like this.”
Sand chuckled. “It’s new. I think Amanda gave it to me.”
She remembered how he joked on their wedding night and smiled. “Don’t scare me like that!”
He raised his brows in exaggerated surprise. “But my sense of humor is one of the things you love about me! You said so.”
“Ha! I take it back.” But she smiled to let him know she was kidding. “So you don’t really expect me to live in a tent? Or a motel room?”
“No, not if you don’t want to. Ellie and Quill are already having a house built inside the wall around the den. Maybe we could build one too.” He squeezed her hand again. “We’d probably have to live in the den for a while, until the house was ready. Would that be okay?”
“Sure.” She almost reached out to touch his cheek, but her dad was watching, Oh, the hell with it. She put her hand behind his neck to pull him close for a kiss. “I love you.”
An hour later, Amanda leaned back in her chair, feeling pleasantly full. Her husband and her father were deep in a discussion about rat control. Amanda made a face at Sara, and the girl smothered a giggle behind her hand.
“Let’s leave them to it,” Amanda suggested. “I can help you with dishes.”
Sara accepted the offer. Amanda stood in the familiar kitchen, on the rug her mother had made laid over the section of worn out linoleum in front of the sink, and dried the supper dishes while Sara washed them. The kitchen hadn’t changed a bit in the past fifteen years. It was so familiar and cozy, and yet, it would soon be only a memory.
“This is the last time I’ll do this,” she said quietly. “At least, for a very long time.”
Sara smiled at her as she set the last pan into the drying rack. “I remember how hard it was for me when my dad died. I haven’t seen our place in Kansas since.”
That was a reminder to Amanda to be thankful. Her father was still alive, and she hadn’t been sold to be a prize in a Bride Fight. “I’m sorry. That must have been so hard.”
Sara was quiet for a few minutes, her face furrowed with sorrow. “It was. But at least I’m safe here for the time being.” Her face brightened. “And I got a letter from my husband. It was only a few lines long, but it means he’s thinking of me. He hasn’t forgotten me.”
From the entry to the kitchen, Sand spoke. “He hasn’t forgotten you. No wolf would ever forget his mate.”
“Even if he wanted to?” Sara’s smile twisted. “Never mind. When you get back home be sure to tell Spot hi from me, and tell him I’m waiting for him.”
“I’ll tell him.” His voice softened when he turned to Amanda. “Darling, we need to leave.”
Amanda hung up the dish towel and sent a lingering glance around the kitchen. It was time for her to leave. She would be on the next train to go to her new home in Kearney. She was looking forward to that, but …
“Daddy,” she whispered, feeling the tears start. ”Daddy, I’m going to miss you.”
Her father’s arms closed around her, not quite as strong as they had been when she was a girl, but just as warm and loving. “I’ll miss you too, little girl. But I’m glad to know you’ll be away from Omaha with a fine man for a husband. Now don’t cry. You’ll get me started.”
“You’ll come live with us someday,” she said fiercely. “In only a couple of years, you’ll be free to come west. Right, Sand?”
“Yes.” Sand put a hand on her father’s arm. “You’ll always be welcome in the Pack.”
Sara’s eyes were streaming, but she tried to stop. “I think you two are going to be the happiest couple ever. I wish Stone…” She cut herself off with a strangled sob. “I know you have to go, but I wish you didn’t. It’s a long walk back to Sky’s house and it’s dark. Will you be safe? You should stay here tonight.”
“Of course I’ll be safe.” She draped her mother’s shawl over her shoulders and caught her cousin in one last hug. “Sand is with me.”
But she was wrong.
Chapter 10
She made it almost two blocks before she broke down in tears. Sand came to a stop and enfolded her in his arms. The hard body that sparked her passion to amazing heights was now a warm comfort holding her in a tender embrace.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffled, gripping handfuls of his silk shirt at his shoulders. The Henderson brothers in the house across the street probably had their noses to the front window, watching at them. They had been known as the neighborhood gossips for years. At least she had stopped in front of the empty lot so no one there could gape at them, and it was too dark for anyone to see much. “I’ll stop in a minute, I promise.”
Her husband stroked her hair with a gentle hand. “No, don’t be sorry, and take all the time you need. I’m taking you away from everything you know and love. That deserves to be mourned.”
He rocked her for a long minute, murmuring loving words into her ear over her sobbing breaths. Maybe that was why he didn’t hear the men coming through the empty lot. He must have caught their scent at the last moment, though, because he lifted his head and began to turn while pushing her so she would be behind him. She felt him jerk against her at the same moment she heard an odd whining sound followed by a muffled bang. Breath hissed between his teeth. Then he stumbled and went down.
She simply stared for a moment, confused by the sight of her strong, feral husband sprawled on his side at her feet. “Sand?”
Dark shapes rushed toward her. She fumbled for her whistle and tried to blow. It came out in a thin, trembling whisper. She gulped in air to try again, but hands clamped onto her arm, dragging the whistle from her lips.
“Stop!” she croaked, and then managed a real scream. “Let me go!”
A lucky blow from her flailing fist landed in a crunch that was both horrifying and satisfying.
“Ow!” a man grunte
d. “Fucking bitch broke my nose!”
She struggled with renewed hope, but before long she was subdued by two men who stuffed a smelly cloth in her mouth and tied her wrists in front of her.
“Check the man,” one of them ordered. “Be sure he’s dead.”
Her attempt to scream was stifled by the gag. One of the men holding her squeezed his arms over her rib cage with painful force. The pain drove the breath out of her. There was a buzzing sound in her ears that almost drowned out the man holding her. His voice was calm and business-like, even soothing.
“Don’t be scared, lady. We were paid to bring you somewhere, not to hurt you. We’re just trying to earn a living, see? We ain’t Sunday school teachers, but none of us likes hurting women. So as long as you behave, we got no reason to hurt you. So just—”
His voice broke off abruptly and soared into a scream. A heavy weight thudded into him, knocking Amanda off her feet. Her eyes blinked wide at the sight of the wolf. She rolled over the sidewalk to get out of the way as he tore into a man with bloody rage. That hadn’t been buzzing in her ears, it was Sand, growling in his wolf form. Dear God, he was frightening. She pulled and tugged until the gag fell out of her mouth.
“Sand!” she shouted. Or tried to shout. It was more of a wheeze. “Sand!”
She wasn’t sure how long it was before the animal left his prey and trotted over to her, whining and pushing his warm wet nose into her cold face. The beast lay down beside her with a heavy sigh, put his head on his paws, and shimmered into Sand.
“Sand!” She crept forward and reached her bound hands to touch his shoulder. His shirt was ripped and wet with a warm thick substance. In the dark she couldn’t see well, but it had to be blood. “Where are you hurt? What happened?” She looked wildly around for help, but there were only three lumps on the sidewalk. Their attackers looked like spilled laundry piled on the concrete. “Sand? Please, talk to me!”
“I’m okay.” His voice was a groan, but hearing it was better than listening to her favorite music. He was alive. “Shot. In the side. I’ll be better soon. You. Okay?”
“Fine.” The worst she had was bruises. “Oh, God.”
She had to get him help. This time when she raised the whistle to her lips she blew a clear, shrill blast. She did it over and over until Sand’s hand caught her wrist.
“Stop. I hear horses coming. Wipe the blood. Off my mouth.” He seemed to struggle for every word, stopping to gasp for breath. “Don’t wanna. Advertize. How I killed. Those men.”
By the time two guardsmen on horseback arrived she had cleaned his face with the tail of his tattered shirt and settled his pants, torn and twisted from his shift to wolf and back to man, into place. She held her bound hands up as the first of the Guardsmen hurried to her. Thank goodness it was Dean Erikson. She had known him when they were both kids living in this neighborhood. In fact, she’d had a bit of a crush on him... Oh, God, why was she thinking about that when Sand was hurt?
“Lieutenant Erikson!” she cried. “Thank God you’re here! My husband and I were attacked. He’s shot. We need to get him to the hospital.”
Dean cut the rope binding her and then the two guardsmen worked quickly to examine Sand and wrap cotton around his chest. They took two agonizingly long minutes to record the scene in their notebooks, then snapped open a sling that they suspended between their horses. Amanda hovered while they lifted Sand and laid him into the sling. She clenched her hands under her chin when she saw his head, face slack, loll limply to his shoulder. He couldn’t be hurt badly. He had just spoken to her. Was he faking? Oh, please God, let him be faking!
The younger guardsman lifted her to sit behind Dean, who patted her knee where it rested behind his on the horse. “Don’t worry, ma’am,” he said bracingly. “We’ll get him to a doctor right away.”
Amanda was worried more than ever. If Sand were awake, he would have growled at the guardsman for touching her.
“Hurry,” she ordered them. “Please, hurry!”
Sand was taken immediately into a room at the hospital, but the doctors told Amanda she had to wait outside while they examined him. The two guardsmen stayed with her in the second floor waiting room. She considered Dean Erikson a friend. They had gone to grade school together and he’d been an eighteen year old junior guardsman they’d had a shy flirtation both knew would never go anywhere. His pay grade wouldn’t support a pet dog back then, much less a wife, and she was on her way to a bordello. Now, seven years later, he’d moved up in the food chain to the rank of Lieutenant. But he’d never been one of her appointments.
“Please sit down, Mrs. Wolfe,” he said now. “I’m so sorry to have to disturb you at a time like this, but we have to ask you some questions.”
Amanda nodded. Their interrogation was keen and specific. She answered honestly about the three men, what they had said and done, but when it came to how her husband had defeated three armed opponents, she was vague. They wrote her answers down with no sign of suspicion.
Dr. Walsh came to find her. “Your husband has a bullet in his side that cracked two ribs on entry and nicked the lung. We are going into surgery immediately.”
She stood up so fast she almost lost her balance. “Oh, God,” she breathed. “That sounds bad. How bad?”
The doctor’s face was grave. “It can be a very dangerous wound, but Mr. Wolfe is young and strong. He has a chance of making a full recovery.”
That meant there was a chance he wouldn’t recover. “Oh, God!” she cried.
“I’ll come back when there is more news,” the doctor said, and went away.
“Coward.”
Amanda didn’t realize she had spoken out loud until Dean took her arm. “I’ve noticed that not all doctors have a comforting bedside manner. Sit down, ma’am. Your husband is in good hands. I need to go and brief the crime scene investigators, but Corporal Jones will stay with you. Be strong.”
Only two minutes after he left, Sky came up the stairs at a dead run, with no coat or tie, his shirt mostly unbuttoned. His cousin, Snow, was right behind him. “Amanda! What happened? Where is he?”
She flung her arms around Sky’s neck. “Sky! Sand was shot! He’s in surgery now. He … he might die.”
He squeezed her tight. Snow came and draped his arms around both of them. “No, cousin, he won’t die. Our family is hard to kill. I bet he’ll be up and about before you know it.”
Right. Sky told her years ago that wolf warriors recovered from injury very quickly. Her heart began to slow its wild beating. She gave Snow a wobbly smile. But not everyone knew what Sky and his cousins were. She put one arm around Snow and pulled both he and Sky closer to whisper. “Sand turned into a wolf and killed the three men who attacked us. He doesn’t want anyone to know how he killed them, but anyone looking at the bodies would know he didn’t use a knife or a gun, and Dean Erikson is going to find out.”
Comprehension immediately came into Sky’s face. “Where are they?”
“By that empty lot only a couple of blocks from my house.”
Sky nodded. “Snow, go there. Be sure some wild dogs find them.”
“What? Dogs?” Amanda tried to keep her voice down. “Why? He should bury them!”
“No, the Guards will find fresh graves pretty quickly, but if we can get the bodies mauled by wild dogs, no one will know how they died.” He nodded at her blink of realization and turned back to Snow. “Then come back here.”
“And bring Sara back with you. She’s a nurse. She can help Sand. And it gives you a reason to leave and go in that direction.”
Snow smiled at her. “You’re pretty sneaky for a city girl,” he said approvingly. “I’ll bring Sara, but on the way there I’ll let my wolf out. He can run faster.”
They broke apart. Sky slapped Snow on the shoulder and spoke loudly for the corporal’s benefit. “Hurry then and fetch Miss Nelson. Sand will be glad to have family nearby when he comes out of surgery.”
Snow nodded and left. Amanda drew a
long unsteady breath and settled down to wait for news of her husband’s condition.
She leapt up every time someone walked past the waiting room. Sky sat in a chair nearby, his head in his hands, but when the tears she’d held back for so long spilled, he was up immediately and at her side.
“Amanda,” he said soothingly. He pulled her to his chest and held her there. “It will be alright.”
She wiped the tears away angrily. “It better be. If anything happens to Sand, I’ll kill him!”
Sky smiled a little. “You’ll kill your husband?”
“No.” Mindful of the City Guardsman sitting in the corner, she dropped her voice to a hiss. “Askup.”
Tension tightened the muscles in Sky’s chest. She felt him grow very still against her. “Do you know it was him?”
She shrugged, a quick jerk of her shoulders. “Those goons were paid to kill Sand and take me. Who else would have done that?”
“Do you have any proof?”
“No. Do you think I’m wrong?”
Sky tightened his arm around her shoulders with a small shake of his head. “I think you’re exactly right. What did you tell the City Guards?”
She wiped away the last evidence of tears. “Nothing. Even with proof I couldn’t accuse one of Tim McGrath’s best friends.”
“No,” Sky’s voice was as cold and flat as she felt. “But he will pay. Not now, but someday, he will pay for what he’s done to you and Sand.”
Another hour crawled by, while Amanda went from staring a hole in the waiting room door to wearing a path in the floor. She was sitting when the door opened to allow Snow and Sara to enter. She sprang up and rushed to Sara.
“Amanda!” Sara gave her a fierce hug. “This is terrible! How is Sand?”
“I don’t know!” she burst out. “No one has told us a thing.”
Sara squared her shoulders in the prim gray cotton uniform. “I’ll find out. They’ll talk to me.”
Only a few inches over five feet tall, and just sixteen years old, some might try to brush off the girl in the novice’s uniform, but Sara’s expression said they wouldn’t have any luck with it. Amanda felt a swell of relief crash over her. Sara would find out.
