The perps hadn’t gone far and Stella wasn’t safe.
He would’ve liked more time to assess the situation, but he felt the scenario required immediate action to prevent disaster.
He leaned in the open window when he reached it and picked up his radio. Straightening, he focused on the broken view of Stella’s cottage through the woods and brambles that separated them, more fully attuned to her now than he had been before he’d marked her as his own. “Patrol two, come back.”
There was a rattle of static. “Patrol two.”
“I’m out at Granny Hood’s old cabin. Looks like that skunk we’ve been huntin’ has a burrow somewhere close.”
“The old cabin?”
“Nah. Scent’s old. At least a week. They were usin’ it, though. I’m thinkin’ they got wind grandma’s girl was comin’ in and cleaned out before she got here. But I don’t think they moved the operation far. Round up Hank and bring him when you come.”
He realized he was no longer alone about 30 seconds before he heard the click—which was very good for him because the bastard didn’t hesitate before he depressed the trigger. By the time he had, though, Rafe had already whipped around to face him, grabbed the barrel of the gun and broke the assailant’s wrist.
The shot went wide—real wide—but it still pissed him off that the bastard had slipped up behind him and tried to blow his head off.
Even weres had a hard time recovering from gunshot wounds to the head!
Particularly if they were in human form at the time!
He shifted even as those thoughts went through his head instead of the bullet that was intended.
The man screamed in pain when Rafe broke his wrist and then in horror when he saw Rafe change almost instantaneously from a very large, handsome Cajun hunk to a very, very big, very bad, wolf.
Well, wolfman.
Briefly, Rafe struggled to control his beast but he completely lost it when he heard the cabin door open and Stella’s scream.
He took the man’s head off with one swipe of his razor sharp claws and bounded toward the cabin, nothing on his mind beyond protecting the woman he’d just claimed as his mate.
Pete Marchant had her in a chokehold, the barrel of his pistol resting against her temple. He recognized Rafe’s uniform before he got a good look at him, but that was no advantage to Rafe when the bastard already had the gun to her head.
“Back off or I’ll blow her head off!” Pete bellowed, clearly not entirely surprised that his cohort hadn’t managed to take Rafe out in the sneak attack since he’d already grabbed Stella to use her as a shield/hostage.
His eyes nearly bulged from their sockets, though, when Rafe halted abruptly within the fringes of the woods and he managed to get a good look at him.
For a moment Rafe clung to the hope that he’d scared the bastard badly enough to make him drop Stella and run.
He ran, but he dragged Stella with him.
Rafe struggled with the urge to follow and finally resisted.
There might be a safer time and place to get Stella. If he tried now he couldn’t move faster than the bullet the bastard was likely to put in her temple.
As he rounded the corner of the cabin, he dragged Stella out of his way, pointed the gun at Rafe and fired. Two bullets missed. Three caught him in the arm, shoulder and chest.
Stella screamed but he couldn’t tell if it was merely because she heard the shots fired his way or because she’d seen him struck.
Unfortunately, the caliber of the bullets was enough to kick him backwards as if he’d been hit by a sledge hammer.
He was still trying to decide if the gun clip held ten rounds or more when he hit the dirt.
Etienne was crouched beside him, studying him curiously, when he came to.
Rafe’s head swam as he bolted upright. “How long was I out?” he growled.
“Beats me,” Hank responded almost cheerfully.
Rafe glared at him. “Don’t fucking tempt me,” he snarled. “The bastard has Stella.”
“Hard to say,” Etienne said soothingly and shrugged. “Maybe ten minutes? It took me thirty to get here with Hank.”
Rafe’s heart leapt with fear. He knew no more than ten had played out from the moment he finished his transmission till he was shot. So the bastard had at least a twenty minute lead, possibly more if Etienne was trying to placate him.
“They’re on foot—or at least they were. I didn’t hear one either before or after he grabbed Stella and shot me. They can’t be far if I’m right.”
It wasn’t hard to pick up the trail even in half-shift since he’d seen the direction Pete Marchant was heading when he’d dragged Stella off.
It seemed likely he had decided to keep her as a hostage for bargaining if Rafe caught up with him, but Rafe could smell the fear and only part of it was Stella’s. He’d scared the shit out of Marchant and that meant he would be totally unpredictable and extremely dangerous.
After considering that for several moments, he discarded his uniform and went into full shift. He’d be able to follow the trail better, he reasoned, and the perps weren’t likely to feel threatened by a ‘dog’ even if they spotted them.
Of course there was the possibility that they would think he was a four –legged cop, but he still thought it the best case scenario of a very bad situation. He wanted to know all he could know about the situation before he went in after Stella to minimize the risks to her.
He was counting on the fact that, although Marchant now knew he was a were-beast it was doubtful that he realized Rafe was able to fully shift into a wolf.
In any case, it was all he had at the moment. Stella was in bad company. He didn’t have another trick up his sleeve that even might work to help him discover her precise predicament.
They covered a lot more ground a lot faster in wolf form, arriving at an old barn that was so dilapidated it looked as if a strong huff of breath would lay it out flat on the ground.
Unfortunately, they didn’t recover the time Rafe had lost entirely, but he was pretty sure they’d significantly closed the gap when he heard a hum of voices from inside raised in anger. Pete had only just arrived with Stella, he was certain.
Motioning to Etienne and Hank, he moved in closer, slowly circling the structure until he found a broken window large enough he could fit through it. Standing on his hind legs, he studied the interior, carefully noting the men inside and their positions.
There was a trailer parked inside that was the actual ‘office’ and the source of the hum of voices.
As he stood watching, trying to formulate a plan in his mind, the door to the trailer opened and a man he didn’t recognize emerged carrying a shotgun. Directly behind him was Pete. The two of them headed straight for the oversized door at the front of the barn.
Another stranger emerged a couple of minutes behind the pair carrying a straight chair. Behind him, stumbling, struggling to stay on her feet was Stella. He could see when she landed in the dirt at the foot of the trailer steps that the bastard with the chair was dragging her by one arm. Her beautiful red hair was a tangled, matted mess, but it was her face that brought a threatening growl from his chest.
The sound echoed through the barn and all four people whipped a look around for the source.
It transpired that it was the perfect distraction even though Rafe hadn’t planned it that way.
Hank charged through the front just as they turned away to look for Rafe.
Etienne bounded through the back.
Rafe dove through the window and charged straight toward the bastard that was trying to shove Stella into the straight chair and tie her to it.
Realizing Rafe was charging straight for him, the man who had Stella dropped the rope and grabbed her by her hair. At the same moment, he lifted the automatic he held and fired a short burst in Rafe’s direction.
Rafe felt a searing pain tear its way through his shoulder and shifted from wolf to man-beast mid air. The man that was his target s
creamed and began to spray bullets wildly as he abandoned Stella and ran.
The entire building erupted into a deafening cacophony of gunshots and screams, snarls and growls of effort.
Terrified that Stella would be hit by a stray bullet, Rafe uttered a roar and strained harder to reach the bastard with the gun and disarm him. He managed to catch him near the rear door. He wrenched the gun from the bastard’s hand and slung him against the wall hard enough he took the whole wall out when he hit it.
An ominous silence fell as Rafe succeeded in taking out the man he’d targeted. A wave of dizziness swept over him as he turned to look for Stella, to assess the damage.
She was standing stock still where he’d left her, a glazed look of horror on her face.
Something fell from overhead and hit the dirt.
As if it was the key piece holding the entire structure together, a series of creaks were followed by a roar as the ancient building began to collapse.
The last thing Rafe remembered before he was engulfed in total darkness was seeing Etienne racing toward Stella.
Chapter Six
Rafe woke to the sound of weeping—a woman’s weeping. Consternation filled him. He could feel the pull to go to Stella, to check her and see how badly she was hurt but he couldn’t seem to force himself to get up.
He finally managed to pry his eyelids up and stared in confusion at the bright blue sky overhead for many moments before he heard a gasp that redirected his attention to Stella, whom he discovered was on her knees beside him.
She uttered a sob when he opened his eyes, leaning down to press her cheek to his. “I don’t know how to fix this, Rafe! Please don’t die.”
Rafe was too stunned for a moment even to think straight.
He was dying?
He did an internal search and turned up nothing to get excited about.
It occurred to him rather forcefully, though, that he’d introduced Stella to his wolfen self in a very unsubtle way. No explanation, just poof—monster.
So why was she weeping all over him?
Had she, by some really amazing miracle, not seen him shift?
The soul searching brought him to the conclusion that he was once more in human form and that it was possible she hadn’t. Not likely in his opinion, but it was the only explanation he could come up with that seemed to fit. Maybe shock? Maybe a combination of timing and shock.
But her reaction was very interesting and at the same time disturbing.
Now seemed like a really bad time to try to explain to her that he wasn’t actually human—but clearly she cared or she wouldn’t be weeping, would she?
The dilemma went beyond to tell or not to tell. He realized although he hadn’t at the time that the bastard he’d chased off of Stella had hit him a number of times. Fortunately, he was either a really bad shot or he’d just been too focused on running to ‘drown’ him in bullets, but he’d definitely caught enough lead to put a human down for good.
“What happened?” he finally hedged, deciding he needed to know what she knew before he worked up a story.
Etienne answered before she could. “Thank god, mon ami! I thought you were toast when the barn collapsed on you.”
“It collapsed?” Rafe echoed, struggling to rise.
Stella pushed against his shoulders, trying to keep him still.
Etienne stepped on his arm, pinning him down, and shook his head faintly. “Why doan you just rest a bit?”
Rafe glared at him, but he subsided, lifting an arm to pat Stella’s heaving back a little awkwardly. “It’s ok, baby. I’m not gonna die. I tol’ you I had plans for you.”
Stella sniffed her tears back with an effort and sat upright, smiling at him with an effort. “Of course you’ll be alright. We’ve got plans. You just rest. The ambulance will be here any minute, baby.”
Irritation flickered through Rafe. He was about to brush off her misplaced anxiety, but the endearment gave him pause.
Milk it?
Or would she clobber him when she realized he was perfectly alright … now?
The damned ambulance arrived before he could decide. The EMTs tumbled out with a purpose, grabbed a gurney, and headed straight for him.
He was gonna choke the life out of whichever moron had called the ambulance!
He narrowed a look at Etienne. “Who called the ambulance?” he asked through gritted teeth.
Etienne grinned at him. “Little darlin’.” He favored Stella with a wink and grin when she looked at him. “In fact she called out the army, navy, and the SEALS.”
Stella glared at him, but she was effectively distracted long enough for the EMTs to shoo her off and collect Rafe. “I did no such thing! I just … well y’all were busy trying to get everybody out of the barn. You told me to call for help! I only called the fire and rescue and the ambulance! I figured we needed help to get Rafe out and I knew there were four men in the trailer.”
Etienne merely shrugged. He hadn’t actually thought she’d figure out how to use the radio—at least not quickly enough to be a problem. He just needed to get her out of the way long enough to get Rafe out and get him back into his trousers and shirt before they had to explain to anybody why he was running around naked.
Needless to say as soon as the EMT examined Rafe he discovered Rafe didn’t have a medical emergency.
“I told you I was fine,” Rafe muttered in disgust. Disentangling himself from the restraints, he climbed out of the ambulance again and met Stella on her way to check on him. He scooped her into his arms, planted a smacking kiss on her lips and carried her to the ambulance.
“You need to check her out,” he said firmly to the EMT. “They roughed her up a bit before we could get her out.”
“But …! I’m fine, Rafe. You’re the one that got shot and had a building land on you.”
Rafe flicked an uncomfortable glance toward the EMT and captured Stella’s face between his palms. “I’m fine but we need to get you checked out. We might have made a baby. You want to be sure you’re ok so it will be ok, don’t you?”
Stella gaped at him, her brain functions instantly thrown into total chaos. Like a sleepwalker she allowed him to help her into the ambulance. She was smiling at him a little dopily when he slammed the door and headed back to the crime scene.
“Well that was damned near a disaster,” Rafe growled when he joined Etienne, grimly surveying the two body bags and the bound prisoners beside them.
Etienne surveyed the crime scene and snorted. “Almost?”
Rafe frowned. “You know what I mean.”
“I do. But I had to distract her while we dug you out and got some pants on you. I figured finding you naked was going to be real hard to explain.”
* * * *
Stella ended up staying the night at the hospital, much to her displeasure, but the bastard that had punched her, as it turned out, had given her a mild concussion and the doctor had thought it best to err on the side of caution and keep her for observation.
She still might have argued the matter and gone home if not for the comment Rafe had made when he’d put her in the ambulance.
Of course it was absurd to consider for a moment that they had made a baby!
Well, it only took one time, of course, but it usually took many times trying to hit the nail on the head.
The thing that charmed her to her toes was the fact that he seemed to take the possibility in stride, to accept without anger or resentment.
She might have just found the last male in existence that expected sex to culminate in pregnancy!
It was the magical word for her.
She’d arrived at her grandma’s cabin with the certainty that that was something she was never going to experience—motherhood. She’d spent all of her peak production years with a man who’d made excuses every time she’d brought up the subject.
And then gone off and knocked up a woman barely out of her teens and dumped her!
Regardless, she didn’t think she was
particularly torn up about losing her man. In point of fact, she’d spent a good bit of time trying to decide if she could kill the bastard and get away with it.
Or if she cared if she didn’t get away with it.
But she’d known the moment she set eyes on Rafe that there was life after a disastrous marriage, that she had plenty left to experience and give.
She thought Rafe might just be the one perfect man she’d been dreaming of her entire life and that he would give her the children she so desperately wanted.
Chapter Seven
Stella stared at the tiny window for an endless time, trying to accept the unbelievable as fact. Slowly, joy filled her. It inflated her soul as if she was a hot air balloon and transformed her expression. She bit her lip, trying to contain the joy threatening to overflow and finally dismissed the impulse. Letting out a joyful whoop, she danced around the bathroom and then into the main room of the cabin and added song to the dance.
How long she performed her song and dance before she noticed knocking at the door, she wasn’t certain, but she raced to it and jerked it open with the same sense of joyful anticipation.
Rafe stood on the other side, looking somewhat doubtful. “I got tied up with that drug thing, baby. I’m sorry as hell ….”
Days! For days she’d suffered the agony of the damned, certain she’d screwed up so badly there would be no second chance with Rafe.
He’d breezed by to talk to her at the hospital when they’d kept her overnight, but she hadn’t seen him since.
His deputy, Etienne, had shown up to take her back to her grandma’s cabin when she was released.
She was certain her was playing least in sight because of the huge drug bust—he was the sheriff after all and there must be all sorts of things he needed to do--but that didn’t make it any easier to accept when days passed without a word from him.
She’d gone into town for the home pregnancy test more because she hoped to get a glimpse of him and figure out where she stood with him than because she actually believed she could’ve gotten pregnant.
Big Bad Wolf Page 3
