Authors: Gigi Moore
There had been no physical evidence linking Remy to the explosion or the scene, just Carson’s word. Just the word of a grief-stricken teen who had seen someone that could have been
anyone
in the dark of night.
Back then he hadn’t had the guts to voice his thoughts to anyone outside the family circle, and once his mother knew what he thought, she’d put a stop to any of his accusations, telling him never again to speak of what he’d seen.
“I will not lose my son, too.”
Carson had been willing to fight but not willing to hurt his mama by getting her caught in the crossfire of his blood feud with Remy. She’d been through enough, although in the end it hadn’t mattered, not after he’d killed Duane. She’d made rescuing Carson her number-one priority, and there had been nothing he or anyone else could say to stop her.
“You know I have every right to take your life right here where you stand.”
Carson poked out his chest like an offering. “Why don’t you?” He knew the answer, though, knew it before Remy opened his mouth to respond.
“If I didn’t have feelings for your mother, I would have ended this silly cat-and-mouse game a long time ago.”
The only feelings Remy Bastien had for Mama were lust and possession. Carson had seen them in the man’s eyes even while his father had still been alive. He had seen how much Remy wanted to make Mama his no matter what it took, even if it took killing Carson and Sam’s father.
“However, I have but so much patience, and if you push me too far, Carson, my feelings for your mother be damned, I will exact my pound of flesh without any due process.”
All this talk of due process, rights, and pack law depressed Carson, bringing to light how very isolated he and his family had become in the last several years. The only people they could turn to for protection and backup remained each other and it was because of Carson’s impulsive act that they were all being isolated and punished.
“I’ll give you time to put on your clothes and accompany me back to my vehicle.”
“Don’t trust him, Carson.”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“What’s to stop him from killing you en route to Louisiana? If he had legitimate intentions, why didn’t he just send pack officials to bring you in?”
“Because I chose not to, you mouthy whelp.”
Carson hesitated for the first time since Remy’s arrival, unsure of what he needed to do.
His brother had a point, but then so too did Remy. He had every right to bring in Carson himself as Carson had wronged him, deprived him of his flesh and blood. Remy had been the one who’d suffered the loss. It wasn’t like in the human world, where Remy’s personally handling the incarceration of a prisoner could be construed as a conflict of interest.
“I’m not letting him go with you without a fight.”
“So now
you
are going to challenge me?” Remy sighed. “Might I remind you that you are on my personal shit list as well? Don’t make me take you in, too.”
Without warning, Sam shifted, growling and barking at Remy as he stood a couple of steps in front of Carson.
He’d changed so quickly, Carson barely had any time to react. As it was, he knelt at his brother’s side and wrapped his arms around Sam’s neck to hold him back. He felt his brother’s shudders through his entire body as if they were his own and knew how angry Sam was.
“
That
was unwise.”
Remy’s tone was ominous, and Carson knew exactly what it meant.
He released his brother and began to shift just as Remy did, knowing that in only a matter of minutes the first vehicle would burst through the copse and into the clearing yards away.
Chapter 16
Desiree couldn’t believe what she saw through the vehicle’s windshield.
There were three wolves now—snarling and full-on fighting—and no sign of Carson or Sam anywhere.
“Holy crap!” Maia stopped the Jeep she’d borrowed, unbuckled her seatbelt, and leaped out of the vehicle before Desiree knew what was happening.
Jesse and Jax had already gotten out of Jesse’s truck, Jesse with a rifle in hand but standing frozen next to his brother as if he didn’t know what to do with it.
Desiree followed her sister to where Jesse and Jax stood, still quite a lot of yards away from the wolves.
“I thought you said there was
a
wolf threatening you and Carson and Sam. Where’d the other two come from?” Jesse looked at her as if she could give him an answer.
She thought that she could but knew that voicing her suspicions could get her put in a straitjacket and sent to the funny farm in a blink
“Where are Carson and Sam?” Jax asked, circling what was left of Desiree and the boys’ earlier picnic.
Desiree knew the exact moment when Jax noticed the clothes strewn on the two bedrolls. He lifted his eyes to her face and arched an eyebrow.
“Interesting time to decide to go skinny-dipping,” Jax said and looked out at the stream as if in hopes of seeing the missing brothers frolicking in the water.
“Maybe it was the only way they could get away from the wolf,” Maia put in.
“That doesn’t explain the other two wolves,” Jesse said. “Unless they were hiding in the woods and you didn’t see them?”
Desiree shrugged, at a loss, still trying to wrap her mind around the three wolves fighting as if to the death. Someone needed to stop them before they killed each other.
“We’re going to have to put a stop to this before those critters rip each other apart,” Jesse stated.
“What do you suggest? We go in and break them up?” Jax asked.
“Ha, ha.” Jesse manipulated the rifle lever to chamber a round.
“What are you going to do?” Desiree asked, panicked.
“What needs to be done.”
Desiree watched as he raised the rifle, heart pounding so hard in her ears she could barely hear Maia scream beside her. She acted without thinking, throwing out an arm to hit against the barrel of the gun and deflect Jesse’s aim.
The rifle fired, bullet kicking up dirt and grass not two feet in front of the wolves, who momentarily stopped fighting before going back at each other, teeth and claws biting and slashing, fur flying, worse than before.
“Tarnation, woman! Are you out of your mind?”
“You were going to kill them.”
“Not if I didn’t have to. I was going to fire into the air, hopefully scare them off. But these critters don’t look scared of anything.”
“That’s dangerous,” Jax muttered.
“Yep.” Jesse nodded. “An injured wolf, an injured animal is a dangerous animal.”
“But they’re not a threat.”
“Not yet. What do you think is going to happen when they lose interest in each other and get a load of us?” Jesse asked.
“But they haven’t lost interest in each other.” Desiree wished that they had, that they would just stop fighting and run off so that Jesse and Jax weren’t forced to do something drastic. “Can’t we just go back to the house and call Division of Wildlife to handle them like Carson did for the raccoon?”
“We could…” Jesse’s voice trailed off as he stared at the wolves.
Desiree followed his look to see what he watched and saw the larger wolf running off into the woods at a good clip. He looked injured, but obviously not enough to hamper his mobility.
One of the other wolves, however, wasn’t so lucky. He lay on his side, underside and throat covered in blood. The other one looked only minimally better, and that was probably because he was standing on all fours.
He limped around the one laying on his side, whining as he nudged him with his muzzle.
“Oh God, he’s hurt.” Desiree gasped, a lump in her throat as her eyes filled with tears. She would have been upset at the sight of the injured wolf even if she didn’t know who he was. That she knew he was one of the men she had earlier made love to made things even worse.
She knew, too, that the one who’d run off, the one who’d initially threatened her and Carson and Sam, was Remy Bastien. She didn’t know how she knew, but she did.
“Yep, pretty bad, too,” Jesse agreed.
“We have to help him.”
“I don’t think that one there will let us.” Jax jutted his chin in the direction of the wolf still standing.
He looked up at them, saliva and blood dripping down the sides of his muzzle as he growled and barked at them.
“He’ll probably attack if we go near the injured one.” As if to prove his point, Jesse made a move toward the animals and the standing wolf snarled at him, rumbling deep in his throat.
“What’ll we do? We can’t just let him die.”
“Maybe he’ll let you close,” Maia said to Desiree.
“Have you lost your marbles?” Jesse blurted. “If it’s not safe enough for Jax or me to go closer, what makes you think it’s safe for your sister?”
“Trust me.” Maia rubbed Desiree’s arm, giving her a meaningful look that made Desiree wonder if Maia had guessed the identity of the two wolves, too. “You can do this, Desi.”
“Stop talking nonsense. I say we all get back in our vehicles and head back to the ranch, do what Desiree suggested earlier and let Division of Wildlife handle this.”
“It’ll be too late by then,” Desiree whispered and didn’t know what she had been thinking to make the suggestion earlier. How could she let the Division of Wildlife handle these wolves, lock away the two men she loved as if they were…animals.
Her breath hitched in her chest at the two realizations—that she loved Carson and Sam and that they were wolf shifters.
Not in her wildest imaginings, not after years and years of reading tons and tons of all manner of paranormal romances, did Desiree ever think she would see her dreams come to pass.
Desiree couldn’t deny it any longer, however. The wolves in her dreams were Carson and Sam.
She supposed deep in her heart she’d always known, just didn’t want to admit it.
“Go on, sis. They won’t hurt you.”
How was Maia so sure about the wolves?
“I’m going to have to put a stop to this madness.” Jesse headed back toward his truck and waited for Jax, Maia, and Desiree to follow his lead. “Let’s go, y’all. Now.”
Desiree didn’t listen to him and took a couple of halting steps toward the wolves. Despite the fact that she was almost a hundred percent certain of who they were, Jesse’s words rang in her ear.
“…an injured animal is a dangerous animal.”
How much of Carson and Sam’s consciences remained while they were in wolf form? Were they human enough to recognize Desiree, enough to understand that she didn’t mean either of them any harm?
“Desi, don’t,” Jesse said, his voice tinged with urgency.
She glanced back at him, then at Jax and Maia, who looked at her with expectant expressions that were strangely encouraging.
Desiree took several more steps forward until she was standing just a foot away from the two wolves.
The one who remained on all fours sat back on his haunches and barked at her in a nonthreatening way.
Desiree buried her hand in the dense black fur of his neck and whispered, “Carson?”
The wolf tilted back his head and howled then gave her a pleading look as he motioned to Sam lying on the ground.