by Terry Spear
“Relieved they were gone, I was still afraid they might come back to search for me. It was nearly dark outside by then, and I went inside to see to Miguel, in case there was any chance I could save his life. He had died of the gunshot wounds. I grabbed a backpack, food and water, and lifted the floorboards underneath a rug to get the money he had hidden in his house.”
“That was the money those men wanted?” Lexi asked.
“Probably. He could have told them the money was there, but I suspect he knew they would have killed him anyway. He could have told them I was there, too, but he kept silent.
“Miguel didn’t have a vehicle, so he walked everywhere. And he didn’t have a phone. I walked as fast as I could to the nearest village, found a café, and asked the people there if anyone could contact the leaders of the pack where I’d nursed several of the children back to health. Of course, these people didn’t know they were wolves, though I’d heard rumors from some of those living in the region that they knew wolf shifters were real.”
“Oh wow. But then anyone who heard them talk about it probably figured wolves were just legend and myths, don’t you imagine?” Lexi asked.
“Yes, for visitors to the area, I’m sure of it. Some of the locals believe it’s real.”
“So you got ahold of the pack?” her dad asked.
“Yes. I had Miguel’s money, but I needed a passport to leave the country. The pack members were thrilled to learn I hadn’t drowned, but horrified Miguel had kept me hostage. They helped me get a passport and an airline ticket to San Antonio, the last place I remembered I’d lived with you, Kurt. But then I learned all about the trouble you were in with Joe Tremaine. I can’t believe that after you saved his godson’s life, he ordered your death.”
“It didn’t matter. To him, I was only doing my job when I saved his godson, but when I testified against him and sent him to prison, that’s all it took to turn him against me. I had to do it. I’ve gone over it in my mind a million times, thinking you were dead, and you wouldn’t be in any danger, but Lexi was another story. Still, I couldn’t let him get away with murder. The district attorney had a family too. And no matter how hard I tried to convince Lexi to stay with me, I couldn’t.”
“I wouldn’t let Dad do anything else,” Lexi said. “He would have to have gone into hiding no matter what. If he hadn’t testified against the drug lord, Tremaine would still have been out for his blood, afraid Dad still might testify against him. As for me, I couldn’t give up what I had worked so hard to build up. It’s taken me years to get to where I am in my business. For the most part, Tremaine has left me alone, though I suspect that’s only because he’s had men watching every move I make to see if I reconnect with Dad.”
“You both did the right thing, and I’m so sorry I couldn’t let you know sooner that I was alive,” Adelaide said.
Kurt shook his head. “That’s not your fault. All that matters is that you are alive and well, and you’re here with us now.”
“I agree. Dad will court you all over again to help you regain any memories you’ve lost, or at least give you great new ones,” Lexi said.
Kurt smiled at Lexi. “I will at that.”
“I…I would love that. I remembered working as a doctor at the same hospital where you worked, Kurt, and that’s where we ran into each other literally, the first time we met.” Adelaide smiled at him. “I was carrying a stack of records, and you knocked them out of my hands and all over the floor.”
Lexi had never heard this story before. “Because he was in a hurry to see his patients?” she guessed. He was really dedicated to his patients.
“He was in a hurry to see a wolf girlfriend, and he was late for his date. I was so annoyed with him. He hurried to help me pick up my files, apologizing, but he offered to get me a coffee, then lunch, then dinner. He wouldn’t leave me alone after that.”
Kurt gave Lexi’s mother a wolfish smile.
“What about the wolf girlfriend?” Lexi asked her father, not knowing he’d been dating some other wolf when he’d met her mom.
“She was totally forgotten,” her mother said, lifting her chin, her father still smiling.
Lexi loved her mom and dad. They made the perfect mated couple. “Good thing for me.”
“I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” her father said.
“But what do we do now?” Adelaide asked.
“Ryder mentioned that we might do well to join a wolf pack. They convinced me to come with them to pick you up. We haven’t lived with one before. Would you consider it?” Kurt asked.
“How that would affect the pack members? What if, in protecting us, some of them are targeted?” Adelaide asked.
“As wolves, we protect our own,” Ryder said. “Some of the wolf packs have a lot of muscle. You’d need to meet up with the packs, but a pediatrician and a family practitioner are always welcome. If you moved to the wolf pack in Silver Town, they’d be able to hide your identities because they run the whole town. In other words, you could work there, but they’d keep you off any published lists indicating you are medical personnel. You could change your names again, and you’d have a whole pack to watch your backs. Much better than the Witness Protection Program where your identities are changed and then you are out there on your own and can’t continue to work in your trained profession. They do have a good track record of keeping many of their witnesses alive. It just wouldn’t be viable if the two of you want to be together on your own.”
“Which we do,” Kurt said. “I wanted to see how you felt about it, Adelaide, and I’ve already talked to the Silvers who are the pack leaders of Silver Town, since they have a sheriff’s department too. They said we are welcome to join them.”
“What about you, Lexi?” her mother asked.
“I’ve got a business to run, and I’m not leaving it behind.” Lexi wasn’t giving it up for anything.
Her mother looked at Ryder, as if he was supposed to straighten her out.
He lifted his hands in resignation. “I’d be willing to join Kate in protecting Lexi.”
“You said you are working for Aidan Denali now?” her mother asked Ryder.
“Yes, ma’am. But he’s got several bodyguards.”
“And Ryder’s a fantastic cook,” Kate said, winking at Lexi.
“I guess if you go, I’ll have to be Lexi’s bodyguard too,” Mike said. “We compete in cooking contests with each other, and Aidan always says he has too many bodyguards now.”
“And you could be the pool boys.” Kate rubbed her hands together.
Lexi rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe Kate had brought that up in front of the guys and her parents. Then again, she could. Both Mike and Ryder smiled.
“Pool boys, eh?” Ryder asked. “Sounds like that could be interesting.”
Her mother’s mouth was gaping. Smiling, her father didn’t seem surprised.
“So you’ll be okay then,” her father said to Lexi.
“With three bodyguards, sure. And if we think it’s safe enough, I can come and visit you and Mom when you live with a pack. But you can’t visit me.”
“Agreed,” both her parents said.
Her parents hugged each other again and looked so happy to be together, Lexi was thrilled.
Suddenly, there was a banging on the hotel door, and Ryder and Mike went to see who it was, their guns readied. “It’s Edward,” Ryder said, then opened the door.
“We’ve got to move. Our intel says Tremaine has men headed this way.”
Despite how tired everyone was, once they knew Tremaine’s men were bearing down on them, everyone perked up, and those with guns had their weapons ready. Everyone hurried to leave the hotel and head down the stairs to the parking lot and the two vans Edward and his men had waiting for them.
“How many of them are there?” Ryder asked Edward.
�
�They’re driving two pickup trucks. We’re not sure how many men are involved. Normally, we’d have the Summerfields split up, two in one van, one in the other, but it’s up to them,” Edward said.
“We stick together,” Lexi said. “We’ll fight this out as a family.”
“Right, we stay together,” Kurt said. “We are finally back together as a family.”
“We remain together,” Adelaide agreed.
The family climbed into one of the vans, and Kate, Ryder, Mike, and Edward joined them. Another man was driving the van.
“Where did you get the intel?” Adelaide asked Edward.
“We planted a bug in the men’s cabin in the redwoods, ma’am,” Edward said. “We learned they had gotten word you were here, and they have men in the area who are on their way to grab you. They don’t know the doc and Lexi are here too. Or that we are.”
“Where did you want to go?” Ryder asked Lexi.
“With my parents for now. I want to see the pack in Silver Town. After that, Kate and I will return to California.”
“Mike and I will be with you every step of the way. That is, if you’re hiring us. I guess we should make sure that really works for you.” Ryder smiled at Lexi. “If you’re agreeable, we’ll be on pool duty too.”
Lexi felt her face heat, certain it was crimson.
“You bet,” Kate said.
Lexi said, “If you’ll cook gourmet meals and model for the line of male skin-care products we’re now selling, you’re hired.”
“Wait, male skin-care products?” Frowning, Mike looked like that additional chore was going way over the line.
“Yeah, you’ll do great.” Ryder slapped him on the back.
“Hey, if I have to do it, you have to.” Mike sounded resigned to his new circumstances.
“Been there, done that,” Ryder said.
Mike’s eyes widened, looking shocked.
Lexi chuckled.
Her mother smiled. “You did create a skin-care line for men, just like I suggested.”
“Yeah, Mom, all your suggestions were great. I’m sure you can continue to advise me from Silver Town. We just need to have a plan on how to do it so no one is the wiser.”
“We’ll figure out something.” Ryder sounded determined to make this work. “As many wolves as there are in the Silver Town pack, and in our own small pack, we’ll be able to get messages back and forth between the packs and you. Tremaine and his goons will never know you’re corresponding with your parents.” He got a call and answered it. Then he smiled. “Yeah, Don. How are you doing? Good. I’ll let Lexi know.” He glanced at her. “Yeah, she’ll be glad to hear it.” He paused. “I’ll tell her. Talk later.”
“Did he know my father was with us?” Lexi asked.
“No. But he wanted you to know he was only trying to catch up to you and protect you.”
She scoffed. “Yeah, right.” No way was Don attempting to protect them. In a VW Bug? And he wasn’t even armed with a gun!
Ryder squeezed her hand and smiled. Then he frowned. “I was only concerned how he was doing, but I probably shouldn’t have answered my phone.”
“He doesn’t know where we’re going.”
“Right. And he’s staying overnight in the hospital. He wanted you to know he’s fine.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.” Even though she felt it was partly her fault he was injured—since Tremaine’s men were after her—it was also Don’s fault for stalking her. But she was relieved he’d be all right.
Since most of them had only four hours of sleep in the helicopter on the flight to San Antonio that night, Lexi ended up snuggling against Ryder, figuring he’d make a good pillow for the half-hour drive to the airport. He leaned against the window and closed his eyes. Kate and Mike stretched out in the back. Lexi’s mother and father cuddled with each other and closed their eyes.
All Lexi could hope and pray for was that her parents made it to the airport and took off in the helicopter before Tremaine’s men figured out where they were headed.
Chapter 17
With the bad guys trying to chase them down, Ryder figured the honeymoon wouldn’t last long before they’d be in the thick of danger again.
“We’re doing evasive maneuvers while a couple of vehicles are headed our way to take them out. We don’t want Tremaine’s men to know we’re taking a private flight to Colorado. Once the family is in Silver Town, they should be well protected,” Edward said. “We put out an alert to the police, saying the two vehicles were involved in breaking into a home south of here. We have their license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions. Hopefully, the police will pull them over before Tremaine’s men reach us.”
Ryder sure the hell hoped so, but the way things were going, he suspected they weren’t going to get out of there without some trouble.
They hadn’t driven but about fifteen minutes when Edward said, “There’s a truck following us. It’s not one of our own.”
Ryder knew it wouldn’t be good.
“What’s the plan?” Ryder and Mike asked at the same time.
Edward was in charge of getting them out of there safely, but he was always open to suggestions.
“If we continue on our way to the airport, they’re probably going to assume that’s where we’re headed,” Edward said.
“If we go somewhere else, we might never make it there,” Mike said.
“Sure we will. We just have to give our other men time to reach us.” Edward called in the coordinates to the other members of the team. “Okay, that’s even better.” He turned to Ryder and Mike. “We’re driving to a small heliport that has only a thousand-foot runway—perfect for a helicopter. The other van is heading to the airport to throw these guys off track.” Edward got another call. “Good, thanks.” He still didn’t look happy about the news, but he said, “The police pulled over one of the trucks.”
“That’s good news,” Ryder said, glad at least one of the trucks would be stopped for a while. If all the men were armed, which he was sure they would be, they’d have some explaining to do to the police.
They pulled off on another road. “We’re almost there,” Edward said, and then he got another call. “Hell, okay.” He told the rest of them, “The men they pulled over started a shoot-out with the cops. We told them they were armed and dangerous. They’re still having a showdown.”
“I hope the cops aren’t injured in this,” Lexi said.
“They have several more patrol cars on the way,” Edward said. “But I agree. At least it shows that we didn’t call in a false alarm, and some of the men will most likely serve jail time.”
Ryder reached over and squeezed Lexi’s cold hand. He was trying to ease her concern, but he knew no amount of reassurance would mean anything until they were safely away.
They finally reached the heliport and parked, and then everyone hurried to get out of the van and into the waiting helicopter.
Edward spoke with the other men, and two of them returned to the van and drove the vehicle off. “They’ll also be our decoy. Let’s move it.”
They all got into the helicopter, which seated seven passengers and the pilot, and were soon airborne for Colorado.
“It’ll take us four hours to get there, and we’ll need to refuel once on the way,” Edward said. “Everyone just get comfortable. Relax. Sleep if you can. We’re in the driver’s seat.”
Everyone was tired, and they all dozed or slept during the flight, waking for the refueling and then sleeping again.
Every time Ryder drifted off, he woke again. All he could think of was getting Lexi’s parents safely to the Silver Town pack and making sure they liked it well enough to stay there. Otherwise he would be escorting them to another pack and continuing the process until they found the one they’d be happy with. Then Ryder planned to take Lexi home and prayed she’d be safe in Ca
lifornia.
He still couldn’t believe she’d really hired him. He hadn’t given notice to Aidan yet. He enjoyed working for him and for Holly now. But he really felt this was his new mission, taking care of Lexi. He just hoped it would work out well and he’d truly keep her safe and that more could come of their relationship. Though he was afraid the issue of her being his boss could still be a problem.
* * *
Four hours later, they finally landed in the meadow near the woods surrounding the pack leader’s estate. Everyone was waking and looking much more refreshed.
“I’ve notified Lelandi and Darien that we’ve arrived. They’re on their way,” Edward said.
They expected to see just Darien and Lelandi, but when everyone exited the helicopter, several vehicles pulled up and parked. Ryder noticed how anxious Lexi and her family were, and Kate too. But Darien and Lelandi hurried to greet them.
“Welcome,” Lelandi said, with her arms open wide as she gave each of them, Lexi’s family and bodyguards alike, a warm embrace.
Smiling, Darien shook the men’s hands and hugged the ladies. “We’re happy to have you join our pack,” he said to Adelaide and Kurt. “We’ve got a rental house you can use free of charge until you know what you’d like to do. It’s my cousin Sarandon Silver’s home, but he’s moved out of town to join his wife and her family in another city.”
“Thanks so much,” Kurt said, Adelaide thanking them too.
Other people left their vehicles and joined them to welcome them.
“I’m Doctor Weber,” one of the older men said, shaking Kurt’s hand and then his wife’s. “I understand you’re a family physician and your wife is a pediatrician. I sure hope you will take over the clinic in about a year or so. Then I can retire.”
