by Sadie Hart
Soon he’d be so far out of her reach that all the looking in the world wouldn’t bring him back.
She couldn’t follow him into witness protection, couldn’t leave her family behind. Closing her eyes, Sawyer broke the kiss, only to bury her face in his chest and let Rift wrap his arms around her.
“Sawyer,” he whispered in the dark but she shushed him softly.
“I just want to sleep.”
His hand tightened on her hip, but he didn’t say anything. Just stroked her back until her breathing softened with sleep. The last thing she remembered was his lips on her forehead, a gentle, soothing kiss before she drifted off into the dark.
Chapter Eleven
Tavis Slade stared at the wiry Hound in front of him. He’d been dragged in for questioning on bullshit charges, and the man here was taking his sweet old time getting around to cutting him loose. Oh, sure, theoretically Tavis could have walked out of there at any time. But Hounds already didn’t trust lions. If he gave them any reason to suspect he was in Colorado for anything other than a vacation, they’d get all snoopy on him.
Hounds nosing around his business was the last thing he needed.
Cane Creek had a spotless reputation, no thanks to his brother and his goons. Tavis had always been the one to cover their tracks, but for once he was glad to have Dougal and his crew do the dirty work. All he had to do was find the bastard who had killed their sister. Dougal would take care of the rest. Even more fitting, though, would be taking Rift Callahan’s little girl from him, just like he’d taken Emmalyn from then.
Sawyer Grant was the only loose end he hadn’t tied up in his head.
He could still have her, but she’d been riding around in a car with that rogue, bunking in the same motel rooms, the same beds. They’d found the last place the trio of them had stayed, and there’d been no mistaking the stench of lust stained into those sheets.
Tavis hadn’t wanted Dougal’s used goods, but the thought of Rift’s scraps? His stomach lurched at the thought.
“Mr. Slade,” the Hound said, calling him back to the present. Tavis narrowed his eyes on the man in front of him. A wolfhound alpha. That was almost unheard of, especially for a state as chock full of lions as Colorado.
They should have had a ridgeback, the kind of dog bred to hunt down lions.
“Most lion shifters wouldn’t vacation this close to Boulder Pride.”
“All you have at the moment is speculation. Jerome and I happened to be in the state at the same time some lion trashed a missing lioness’s car.”
“A missing lioness who was registered to your pride.” The Hound leaned against the table. “That’s pretty suspicious.”
“Brandt, right?”
The Hound inclined his head.
“Well, Brandt, like I’ve already told you and the Hound in here before you, Sawyer Grant left our pride a few weeks ago.” He lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug. “She didn’t get along with the other lionesses, and it isn’t completely uncommon for lion women to roam a bit until they settle on a pride.”
“But it is uncommon for lion males to let them leave without a fight.”
Tavis gave him a bitter smile. “I assure you Cane Creek has more than enough women to keep us busy.”
Brandt pushed the picture of Sawyer’s battered car into the middle of the table. “I don’t believe in coincidences, Mr. Slade. So let’s not play the bullshit game.”
“I think I’ve been patient enough.” Tavis let finality ring in his voice as he stared the Hound down. “If you had any real evidence that I was at that scene, I’d have had a silver bullet aimed at me this whole interview. I won’t lie, I was sorry to see Sawyer go. She was a pretty little thing, but we have lots of those in Cane Creek. A pride the size of ours is better off not getting into squabbles with larger prides. Hell, maybe she decided to give Boulder a try. If you’re so interested in finding her, maybe you should give them a look.”
Something flitted in the Hound’s eyes and Tavis did his best not to react. He knew something about Sawyer, something he wasn’t letting on. And, damn, Tavis needed to know what this Hound was keeping from him.
His inner lion raged at the leash he kept wrapped tightly around his control. Seething and snarling wouldn’t get Brandt to spill. Instead, he leaned back in his chair, seeming to relax a notch.
“To be honest, if I were a lone female, that’s exactly where I’d go. Make my way through the bigger prides, the ones that offer the most safety.” Tavis pointedly glanced at the picture. “And considering she’s stranded without a car, I’d say that’s a pretty safe bet.”
The Hound gave nothing more away, but Tavis was eyeing the picture.
What he’d said was perfectly true. If Sawyer didn’t have Rift and the kid tagging along, Boulder would have been the perfect place to hide. Heck, there was even a small chance that the pride males here would let a rogue’s kid in their doors. The girl wasn’t Sawyer’s, and she’d grow up soon enough.
Rift, though...they wouldn’t let him anywhere near Boulder Pride.
But Jenna had hidden Kinsey for years after vanishing to ‘visit her family’ for a year. Tavis could have snorted over that. She could have easily carried the child in that time.
So it was perfectly possible that Sawyer might have gotten into the pride and was just hiding Rift on the outskirts somehow. It was dangerous, but without a car, it was probably the only option she had right now. All their funds and clothes had been in that car. They had nothing.
What they’d needed was a sanctuary, a refuge.
And what better for a lone female than Boulder?
He’d be damned.
Tavis looked up at Brandt. “If we’re done here?”
The Hound didn’t look happy, but he didn’t have anything to link Tavis to the scene. Because Cane Creek hadn’t been there.
“You and your partner are free to leave.” Brandt rose and showed him to the door. Jerome was sitting at another desk and was waved to join him.
“I’m sorry for the misunderstanding,” Brandt said.
“Not a problem. I hope you find her.”
They headed for the parking lot, silent until they reached their car. Jerome growled. “Bullshit charges.”
“Oh, that they were. But they gave us our first real lead.”
Dougal’s goon looked at him like he’d lost his mind, but it’d become clearer to Jerome while Tavis explained it to Dougal. “Just drive, I have to call my brother.”
“Where to?”
Tavis gave Jerome a cold, ruthless smile. “Toward Boulder Pride.”
***
Dougal had to admit it was damned smart of she could pull it off. Hiding in Boulder Pride, with a rogue male right under their noses. “I want proof,” Dougal told his brother, his voice harsh. “And we can’t attack them outright if she is there.”
“They won’t be happy to learn she’s hiding a rogue if that’s where they are.”
A snarl ripped out of Dougal’s throat and he punched his fist through the drywall. “I don’t want them to know. I want to be the one that rips Rift Callahan’s head off his shoulders. You got that?”
He could hear his brother grunt on the other end of the line. “Yes, but prying them out of safety without starting a pride war could be suicidal.”
True. Dougal twisted around and began to pace the length of his living room. His muscles burned with the need to fight, to lash out with the aggression boiling inside him. Lions weren’t known for being docile. He wanted to rend claws into skin and taste blood between his teeth.
To do that, he needed to bring them to him.
“Get the girl,” he said. “Kinsey. He’ll come for her. He could have abandoned them right from the beginning. Instead he’s protecting his young. She’ll work as bait.”
“What if he’s in it for Sawyer? I think they’ve been fucking.”
“The kid will be easier to grab. If he won’t come for her, Sawyer will, and he’ll come for her.”
Of course that still meant his brother had to get into Boulder Pride unseen and take the girl. It wouldn’t be easy, but Dougal had no doubt Tavis could pull it off.
“Just remember what he did to Emma.”
And the memory of their sister was enough. Tavis grunted. “I’ll get the kid.”
The phone went dead and Dougal smiled.
Chapter Twelve
“I can’t believe you stabbed dad with a fork,” Kinsey said, a sly smile curving her lips as she looked up at Sawyer. Grace snickered next to her.
“He deserved it for trying to steal my pancakes.”
“You didn’t stab me when I stole your sausage.”
Sawyer opened her mouth to respond when her phone buzzed. Glancing down at the screen she winced. Lennox. Probably with an update. “I have to take this. You two stay out of trouble.”
Darting down the hall, Sawyer let herself into her dad’s study, only to see Gaston Reyes sitting at his desk. He was leaning close to the computer screen, his reading glasses perched on his nose. “Balancing the checkbook,” he muttered. “Can’t convince anyone else to do it.”
She snorted. No way. Her dad was too much of a control freak to let anyone else touch his money.
“Don’t mind me,” she said as she shut the door behind her. Gaston nodded when he saw the vibrating phone in hand and let her be. “Hello?”
“Brandt had to cut the Cane Creek boys loose, and after that we lost track of them.”
It wasn’t great news, but it wasn’t unexpected, either. Sawyer sank into the armchair in front of the study’s large bay windows and leaned her head back on the soft cushion. Rift had woke her with another kiss. A faint ghost of what they’d shared last night, but the embers had still been lit in her heart, and with just that one touch, he’d set them ablaze again.
She bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood. She didn’t want to know what she knew she had to ask next.
“I think we also have accommodations set for Rift and Kinsey. The Retrievers are setting up the last details, but in a few days they should be safe and sound. And you, back on the job. You are coming back to work for me, right? Not Beckett?”
“Yes. My cover is pretty much shot back there, and I doubt I’m very well liked anymore.” Gaston glanced up at her and she gave her father a wry smile. “Though I think Dad would love if I’d come work for Brandt and stay in the same state as the pride.”
Lennox laughed. “Would you like that?”
“God, no. They’d sucker me back into babysitting all the time if I lived that close.”
“I still might,” Lennox said. But the thought of watching Lennox’s baby girl on occasion didn’t sound bad at all. Little Taige Donnelly was the spitting image of her mother, except for the dandelion puff of lion-gold hair.
“Works for me. I can’t wait to hold her.” Longing clutched at her heart, but Sawyer shoved it away. How Lennox managed to get everything to work, Sawyer didn’t know, but they hadn’t had a pride hunting them.
“Good, I have a case that could use your skills, and Ollie will be thrilled to have you back as a partner. Just hang tight for another day, the Retrievers should be ready to move tomorrow, and we’ll get them off Cane Creek’s radar, no problem.”
Off of Cane Creek’s radar...and hers. Sawyer closed her eyes, swallowed hard. “Thanks Lennox.”
She disconnected her phone and set it on the table beside the chair, then drew her knees up to her chest and sat there staring out the window. She could see her mother outside tending to the flower garden, Rulon’s wife talking to her as she leaned against the fence.
“Bad news?” her father asked and Sawyer startled and turned to look at him.
Gaston had taken his glasses off and laid them on the desk, now leaning back in his chair as he watched her. She forced a smile. “No. Lennox thinks they can move Rift and Kinsey into witness protection as soon as tomorrow.”
“Is that what you want?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I wouldn’t be nearly as tolerant about having a rogue lion in this pride if you weren’t so in love with him. If he’d been just a job, you’d have dropped him off at Colorado Enforcement after the rogue attacked your car.”
“No.” Sawyer started to shake her head but her father snorted.
“You care for that girl, but you trust the Hounds here almost as much as you do your boss. Both Brandt and Lennox were there they day you were rescued from that madman. Brandt’s always had an even hand. You know damn well he’d have kept them safe. Just as safe as we have.”
Her father was right about Brandt, but not about her. She couldn’t have dropped them in STE’s hands until she was sure they’d be safe, and while Brandt would have tried his best, he would have had the same timetable that Lennox was on. They still would have needed the few days Boulder had bought them.
Gaston glanced at the window and his face softened. “This is probably a conversation you should have with your mother, but I’m not blind, Sawyer. You look at that man the same way your mother looks at me. And for a rogue, he’s not horrible.”
A surprised laugh burst from her. Coming from her father, that was high praise.
“Dad, I appreciate the thought, but this is what’s right for them.” She patted his desk and headed for the door.
“But is it what’s right for you?”
“It is if it keeps Kinsey safe.”
“You could go with them.” The words sounded strangled as he said them, and it tore at Sawyer’s heart. No. No, she couldn’t. She couldn’t walk away from her family forever. She couldn’t walk away from Lennox and the friends she’d made.
Sawyer glanced back at her father. “Dad, I know what I’m doing.”
She blew him a kiss and walked out the door, but not before she heard his mumbled, “You don’t have a clue.”
Sawyer shook her head and strode for the door. It was warm outside, the wind tickling over the grasses as she headed across the lawn. She knew where she was going. The same spot she always went when she needed time alone to think.
***
Rift let the back door swing shut behind him, the evening air slowly cooling as the sun slipped past the horizon. Kinsey and Grace were laughing as they played on the pair of old tire swings beside the ranch house. The two of them were completely inseparable.
Rift leaned against a tree and watched them.
He knew they couldn’t stay in Boulder much longer, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to move that far away. It didn’t seem fair to let Kinsey make a friend, only to rob her of that joy after only a few short days. Then again, life wasn’t fair, and he still hadn’t figured out what to do about Cane Creek. They might have been willing to drop Sawyer and Kinsey, but if they found out Kins was his, there wouldn’t be anything in the world to keep Dougal away from her.
Rubbing his face, Rift sighed. There was also the possibility that had been gnawing away in his gut all day. That when he and Kinsey packed up to leave, Sawyer wouldn’t come with them. This was her home after all, her family. She didn’t have to leave, and she’d gotten them this far. She sure as hell didn’t owe them anything to begin with; she definitely didn’t need to stick with them to the end.
She’d already disappeared most of the day, though Rift suspected that had more to do with the kisses they’d shared last night than anything else. Sawyer was a puzzle and a half. He knew she cared, knew she loved, but something held her back. Had her convinced that whatever was between them couldn’t work.
And Rift didn’t know how to convince her otherwise. Time and patience might do it, but they didn’t have that right now. He needed her to be willing to give them a shot now, so that when they left, she would come with them.
“You seen Sawyer?” he called out to the girls and they both shook their heads.
Damn. Rift glanced around the yard. She hadn’t even come back to the main house for dinner, though according to her mother she had dropped by to pick up some food.
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With a frustrated sigh, Rift turned to head back, then noticed Mason coming up the drive. The other man had been gone fairly often these past few days, busy setting up his own territory with one of his half brothers, according to Grace.
“Welcome back,” Rift said, leaning against the porch rail. Surprisingly, he liked Mace. Then again, Mason Reyes was one of the few here that didn’t snarl every time Rift walked by. Probably had something to do with the fact that he was leaving soon.
“Can’t wait to have the houses furnished so I don’t have to keep coming back here.” Mace grinned. “It’ll be nice to have more privacy. And fewer kids.”
A baby screamed from inside as if to emphasize his point.
Rift had never really wanted a pride life before, but a small pride, nothing at all like Boulder or Cane Creek, actually sounded tempting. And something that Kinsey would probably enjoy.
“Sounds nice,” Rift said, and Mason paused to look at him, head cocked.
“You wear out your welcome here, feel free to search me out. May not have five males to shelter you, but you’d have two at your back if you needed it.”
Rift froze. Mason didn’t strike him as the kind of man to go tossing off offers like that. He meant it. “Hell, man,” he began, but Mace waved him off.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re not bad for a rogue, and I’m not stupid enough to think a third male would be a bad idea.” He gave a nod towards the house. “You heading in?”
“Nah. Trying to find your sister.”
Rulon would have told him to go fuck himself, and every other male in there would have bristled and postured and snarled. Hell, half of them had, every time he’d even walked in a room and taken a quick glance around. Mace grinned.
“Hiding from ya?” Mace tilted his head towards the field. “Now, I didn’t tell you this, but Sawyer’s a big girl, and if she doesn’t want to talk, she won’t be found. However, there’s an old two-track trail Dad keeps up for the boys to run the four wheelers on. Sawyer likes to follow it out to the creek at the bottom of the mountain. Good place to shift, good place to think.”
