One Second (Seven Series Book 7) (25 page)

“I’ll keep it on me just the same,” Reno said, strutting around me and stealing a chair, eyes on the men below.

“Where’s your woman? I’d like to pay my respects,” Axel said.

Reno lifted his chin. “Brushing up on her Mage skills.”

I wasn’t sure how fast a man could blink consecutively, but I was certain Axel had broken the record when he stepped back and swung his gaze to Austin, who merely shrugged with a smile.

Axel’s eyes settled on my round belly. “It looks like your vacation was a success. Colorado seems to have that effect.”

Ivy moved past us and went back inside.

“Can I offer you a drink?” I asked.

“Nah. I’m good.” He waved his hand and then scooted a wooden chair away from the wall so the back was to the sun. Axel took a seat and then stretched so hard that I could almost feel it myself.

Austin pulled up a chair facing him, sat down, and worked on tying his laces. “So what’s your business down here, Axel?”

After he popped a few knuckles and glanced back at his men—and I counted about twenty-two—he watched me walk around Austin and stand behind him, hands on his bare shoulders. “I heard about the trouble you had a few months ago. Only a dirty dog attacks women. I’ve kept in contact with one of your Councilmen, and he told me in confidence what the Packmasters are up to. None of my men know; it’s not the sort of thing you tell people or else the plan won’t work. Most of the Shifters in my pack have little ones to look after, so I rounded up the unmated, childless wolves. Something tells me this is going down soon, and I want to help.” He gave Reno a cursory glance before looking back at Austin.

“I don’t know if spreading your men out will make much difference,” Austin said.

I found myself squeezing the ends of his damp hair at the back so I could rub my wet fingers across his bare back. He moaned quietly and then leaned forward out of my reach.

“That’s not what I had in mind,” Axel said, lacing his fingers over his head as if shielding it from the blazing sun. “Something tells me they’ll be gunning for you.”

“What makes you say that?” Reno interrupted.

“Because the leader of the Northern resistance crashed a peace party, and that’s the kind of thing rumors are made of. Lexi’s natural father—am I right, or was that an embellishment?”

Our silence was his answer.

The door creaked when Ivy returned. This time she had Melody following behind to help since Ivy could only make use of one arm. Axel chuckled when he got a look at Melody’s blue hair.

Melody carried a large tray of sandwiches, and Ivy held a cooler bag. When they reached the bottom of the steps, the twins scampered out the door with several bags of chips in their hands and between their teeth.

The men were appreciative and clapped, one of them dramatically falling to his knees and clasping his hands in prayer at the lovely (and very mated) woman who served them. The boys hurled the bags of chips at the men to catch and one of them mussed Lennon’s hair. It was easy to tell the twins apart because they dressed differently.

Hope peered out the door but not to help. She wasn’t as trusting with strangers, and with good reason after the attack. I reached out and pulled her to my side, noticing the small scars on her temple and chin had healed nicely. Despite her apprehension about strangers, she chose not to hide away in the house.

Reno chatted with Axel about his bike, and they fell into a friendly conversation.

Lakota stepped outside, shaking his long hair away from his shoulders. He had acquired more of a tan since temporarily moving down here for the summer. His black tank top had an interesting headshot of a wolf—black on one side and white on the other—with piercing blue eyes, just like his. His gaze traveled briefly to Axel and then to the men below. One of them was bowing dramatically in front of Melody, holding her tray above his head and making her reach for it.

“Show-off,” Lakota murmured, stalking down the steps.

Austin looked on, probably worried like I was that Lakota might start something.

“Hope, go inside,” I said.

Lakota put his arm around Melody and guided her back to the house, leaving the man to wave them off dismissively and fall back in the grass.

“A real man shouldn’t behave like a buffoon for a woman’s attention,” he said to her, nearing the house.

“I’m not exactly a woman,” she huffed out.

“No, but this is the age when you need to learn to turn your back on foolishness or else they’ll never learn. Speak up for yourself; you should have higher standards than that.”

They hiked up the porch steps, Melody swinging her tray as they went inside. Ivy remained down below, conversing with some of the women.

“Smart wolf,” Axel said about Lakota. “What a girl that age learns about men is what she’ll grow up to believe. What you let a wolf get away with is what they will teach their own children. My men are harmless, but they’re also childless and don’t understand how to treat a girl that age.”

“I’m sure they were just horsing around,” I said.

Axel chuckled. “That they were. But in my experience, I’ve discovered that teenagers brood a lot. They sit around interpreting every little action, dissecting it, and doing a lot of self-reflecting. I raised three girls of my own and had to sit down with them each time some idiot made a silly remark about their appearance, even if it was in jest. That’s what girls do. Everything means something because they’re at the age where they’re trying to figure out if who they are is good enough.”

Reno lifted the gun from his lap and set it down below the chair. “I think we’ve strayed from the topic.”

Axel locked eyes with Austin. “If this is ground zero, then count me in.”

Austin barely nodded, his voice low and rough. “I’ll accept your offer. Don’t let them wander on my property; I have traps set up.”

Axel stood up and whistled. “Nobody out of my sight!” Then he sat back down. “What’s the plan?”

“We have tree stands and bunkers in key areas of my territory. We plan to stay on the move. They’re going to come at us from the north since there’s a pack on the south side.”

“And if they come straight up the road?”

“Then that’ll make it easy for us.”

Axel took a deep breath and sighed audibly. “I doubt they’ll be that stupid—not if they think the Packmaster is on the move. Their leader has given them orders to capture or kill the alphas, because that’s the only way to claim land. It’s you they’ll be hunting for. How do you know they’re not coming now?”

“Two Packmasters and I set a date. The only other men who know that date are the ones who were sent to infiltrate their camps. On that date, they’ll spread rumors that some of us are leaving for Mexico and others grew impatient and are packing up to hunt down the Northerners. They won’t know what to believe, but they’ll realize they’ll have to move into action before we do. We have a call system set up, and the day before, we’ll contact all the Packmasters in the territory to give them a heads-up. Some plan to hunker down in the house, and that’s fine. I personally don’t feel safe shut up in a house and surrounded. We’ve worked our asses off to prepare, and my pack is ready to fight. We’re not going in the woods to hide; we’re going in to hunt.”

Axel groomed the hair on his chin with one hand. “This might actually work. We have out-of-state license plates, and if they come up on us, we’ll say we got wind there’s free land up for grabs. I don’t want to get my men tangled up in your traps, so we’ll camp out in your yard. Just let me know D-day, and we’ll move our bikes up to the main road and keep an eye on things. Anyone who tries to come up your road…” He made a slicing motion across his neck.

Austin swatted at a fly. “We don’t have any traps set up by the private road, so put a couple of your men behind the tree line. I’ll give you Reno’s number. I think he’ll have a Bluetooth or some shit on his ear.”

“What about guards?”

“I have one or two at any given time,” Austin replied, sitting back in his chair. “They do regular patrols around the property line, searching for any unfamiliar scents or intruders. Your men are safe to camp out until then. Won’t be long. We’ll just have to lay down some rules.”

“Yeah, the bathroom situation…” Axel trailed off.

“Since we have a D-day,” I said, using my fingers as quotation marks, “why don’t you guys head up the road to that motel? It’s real nice, and you can probably put four in a room if they’re willing to share. They have cool air, beds, and a swimming pool.”

Austin stood up. “Lexi has a point. I don’t think we have enough meat in the house to last us the week, let alone feed your pack. And yeah, the bathroom situation…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “If you want to stay here while your men head out and get some rest, I can lay out the plan with you.”

Axel rose to his feet and kicked the tip of his boot against the porch, shaking off a clump of dirt. “We’ll arrange a meeting, but I can’t leave my pack. My second-in-command is back home watching over the house, so that would mean putting my third in charge, and he’s the ass who was riling up your packmate a few moments ago. We’ll settle in, and I’ll talk to your Council so we don’t get reported as rogues and tossed out on our asses. Now wouldn’t
that
be an embarrassment?”

Both men laughed and headed down the steps.

Austin clapped a hand on Axel’s shoulder. “I’ll talk to the motel owner. He owes me a big discount.”

We gave that guy more business every time we had a peace party. We directed guests to his motel who were either too tired to drive home or just wanted time alone with their mate.

I went inside, hearing “Hungry Like the Wolf” still playing upstairs.

“A bomb could drop and they’d never know it,” I muttered to myself.

Jericho emerged from the bathroom beneath the stairs, his Pink Floyd shirt tucked halfway in his pants.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“Out back. Lynn didn’t want anyone in the house with all that hungry going on up there,” he said, pointing at the ceiling. “His song choice was cool at first, but now every time I hear that song at the bar I think about Denver and Maizy getting it on.”

I snatched a pencil on a nearby table and tossed it into a wastebasket.

Jericho laughed.

“What?”

He shook his head and threaded his brown locks away from his face. “The nesting thing gets me every time. Remember when Isabelle threw away all the silverware? She read some article in a magazine about children poking forks into light sockets. Apparently she didn’t read the part about installing outlet covers.”

I chuckled and stood with my back to the sofa. “My mother had a conniption.”

“Then she wanted to learn how to knit after reading about chemicals in fabrics. You pregnant types should stay far away from those magazines.”

“Don’t worry, I haven’t gone overboard.”

He cocked his eyebrow. “Yet.” Jericho stood next to me and leaned against the back of the sofa. He placed his left hand on my belly. “Kicking much? The boys are looking forward to a cousin they can roughhouse with, and I can always use a good drummer for my band.”

“By the time this child is old enough to roughhouse, your boys will be old enough to buy beer.”

He played with the unlit cigarette resting behind his ear. “Damn. Time flies. I better get on Isabelle about having more kids.”

“You like being a dad, don’t you?”

Everyone had noticed the change in Jericho over the years since Melody was born. He was still a musician who loved his art, but he seemed to love every little thing about having kids, even when they had tantrums and once broke his favorite guitar.