Stefan: Le Beau Brothers: New Orleans Billionaire Wolf Shifters with plus sized BBW for mates (Le Beau Series Book 3) (23 page)

Isaac pulled her into a hug. “Thank you, cher, for being here for him.”

“There’s no place on this earth I would rather be.”

Ten minutes later the family turned to go. As Emma reached the ICU door she turned. “The circle will gather again in the morning and continue to heal him twice a day until he’s one hundred percent.”

“Thank you, Emma, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

El gently touched his face. “This should be me.”

No, cher, it shouldn’t. I’ll always protect you. Even with my life.

There was utter resolve in his tone and El felt her heart constrict until she thought her chest would burst open. “That’s not acceptable to me,” she murmured as her lungs burned for air.

It’s the only option. I’m not ever going to live without you. Ever.

Then you’ll need to understand. I won’t live without you either. You die, I go with you.

It sounded as though Stefan sucked in a sharp breath.

I can’t suppress the need to protect my mate. I was protecting you from injury.

You’re so
… She searched for the right word. 
Maddening.
Sometimes I just want to shake you until your teeth rattle.

Well, try to control the impulse, at least until I’m healed,
he chuckled. Then he went very still in her mind.
I love you, El.

I love you, too, Stefan.

His heart hitched and the heart alarm went off.

The nurse checked him over again but found no cause for the strange occurrence and left a little confused.

I love you, too? Where in the world had that come from? Holy mackerel! When did that happen?

There wasn’t an exact moment El could pinpoint as to when her heart had gotten involved without her realizing it. She swallowed hard and looked at him through a new perspective. Her heart swelled and her whole body warmed, slowly a smile spread across her face.

I’m in love with Stefan Le Beau
.

About time, too.

Shut up, Le Beau.
She smiled secretly, waiting for the nurse to leave again.

That night as she tried to sleep, the day’s events came roaring back. The moment El closed her eyes the scene of Stefan broken and bloody ran through her mind like a gruesome horror movie. A video on a repeating loop, Stefan lay dying before her, over and over.

Terror gripped her, so intense it sucked the breath from her chest. She only slept a few minutes at a time, waking, gasping for air with burning lungs.

Stefan had come so close to dying. So very close.

El thought sitting at her father’s side as he quietly left this world had been bad. This was a thousand times worse.

Baby, I’m going to be fine,
Stefan whispered in her mind.

I know, but I can’t seem to shake it.

Can you reach my hand? Hold my hand, and I’ll keep you safe as we sleep.

That was how the nurse found them when she checked his IV. Hand in hand, sleeping together but in separate beds.

*****

Days later, she was reading quietly in her bed next to Stefan when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye.

Did he move?

She focused intently and a second later, a finger moved. Then another.

“Nurse!”

The floor nurse ran in. “What’s wrong?”

“He moved. His fingers, they moved.”

The nurse checked the monitors and took his vitals. The whole while a smile of satisfaction grew on her face.

“He’s coming out of the coma. I’m going to get the doctor.”

The doctor examined him and seemed pleased as well. “Take him for a scan, I want to check the swelling.”

By the time they rolled Stefan back to the room the family had arrived.

“The swelling on his brain is gone. I’ve removed the drain tubes,” the doctor said as he joined the anxious Le Beaus. “Excellent, excellent progress. He’s improving much faster than average. I expect you will be able to take him home in a day or two.”

Emma breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s wonderful news.”

The Gathering

Stefan was settled into his old room at his parents’ until his healing was complete.

Now that he was conscious, he could talk with his family. Something was very wrong about that wall coming down the way it had.

“Dad?” he called toward the door.

“What do you need, son?”

He remembered something El had told him. “Did you investigate the cause of the accident?”

“No. Thomas has been at a training camp with some of Simon’s buddies testing earpieces for the security team and working on drills.” Isaac gave him a hard look. “Why?”

“El mentioned that when she touched one of the bricks that hit me, Joe, the guy who tampered with her truck, had also touched it. I don’t believe that wall coming down was an accident at all.”

Isaac rumbled a low, menacing growl. “I’m going to take a look right now.”

Within minutes Isaac and Cade were at the construction site. They had twenty minutes before the general contractor arrived.

“Let’s shift and see what we pick up. I’ll take the second story, you scout the exterior,” Isaac growled.

Cade’s silver and black wolf trotted toward the rear of the house as Isaac’s massive, solid black wolf bounded up the stairs. Frustrated, Isaac’s wolf howled through the gaping hole in the wall; he hadn’t found any unusual scents.

*****

A few hours later Stefan watched as his father filed into his room with Cade.

“I called the general contractor and he met us at the site,” Isaac said with a worried expression. “We found evidence that indicated someone had, in fact, sabotaged that wall to fall. The mortar used was mixed specifically to hold the bricks in place, but only barely. That way, it appeared to be solid but was hardly maintaining its shape it was so weak.

“A strong wind could have brought it down. It would have been easy enough for one man to give it a good shove from inside the house the second one of us was under it. Problem is, there were no strange scents to go with the sabotage. Whoever set that wall to fall is on the construction crew.”

“If we hadn’t been looking specifically for tampering, we would have missed it. Whoever did the job was good,” Cade added.

“We’ve halted any further work on the houses until the perpetrator is caught,” Isaac scowled. “This means whoever tried to kill you is one of our own.”

“I’m sure Thomas will figure it out. He always does,” Stefan said yawning.

Isaac frowned. “So, El told you, she touched a brick and knew this Joe character had handled it?”

“Yeah. Apparently she’s able to catch impressions from touching things.”

“Psychometry. Interesting, I’ve never met anyone with that gift,” Isaac mused. “I bet it’ll be stronger once the ritual is completed. You get some rest and we’ll take care of the intruder. Psychometry, huh.”

He could hear his father still mumbling to himself as he walked down the hall.

*****

Stefan stretched and scratched his fingers through his hair. He was done lying in bed. It had been a week since he’d been discharged and the healers had pronounced him completely healed a few minutes ago.

The only saving grace to the situation was El had been with him every night. Sure, she went home during the day to take care of the horses and exercise the few in training, but every night she was all his.

Looking at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, he rubbed the stubble on his jaw; he needed a shave and, damn, was that smell coming from him? Once again he thanked the goddess for his shifter healing abilities. No one would know by looking at him that a couple weeks ago he had resembled hamburger.

He was determined to look his best tonight. He had a mating ritual to discuss with El and plans to get his romance kicked back into high gear.

*****

An hour later he joined his parents in the kitchen.

“How do I look?”

“Wow! I love it when you boys wear a suit. What’s the occasion?”

“I’m going to talk to El about the ritual tonight.”

“Well, about that,” Emma hedged.

Stefan frowned at his mother. “What did you do?”

“El had a lot of time on her hands while you were in the coma and asked a lot of questions.”

“And?”

“I may have explained the ritual to her already.”

“May have or did?” Stefan growled.

“Don’t growl at your mother,” Isaac barked.

“I did, okay? She wanted to know everything about becoming a shifter, so we talked about the things she didn’t know yet.”

Stefan scrubbed his hands through his hair in agitation. “How did she take it?”

“Rather well. She was most intrigued by the fact that older women regress. Of course, at her age that won’t be a factor.”

“The first annual all pack gathering is tonight anyway,” Isaac mentioned. “I need you here tonight.

“Damn, I forgot about that. There’s a band and stuff, right?”

“Yes.” They both looked at him curiously.

Stefan grinned at them. “I’ll just have to make it a romantic gathering then.”

“That’s my boy.” Isaac chuckled. “Do you need my help with anything?”

“As a matter of fact, I could use help from you, Cade, and Simon.”

“I know that look.” Emma grinned. “You have something really good up your sleeve.”

“You’ll just have to wait like everyone else to see what it is,” he winked and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Grabbing his phone, he sent El a text. “Can’t wait to hold you on the dance floor tonight.”

His phone chimed her response. “You got the all-clear? Wait, what do you mean dance floor?”

He chuckled. “Yes, all clear. There is a huge shifter gathering here at the plantation tonight with a banquet and dancing.”

“Interesting. So, I should maybe wear something other than jeans and cowboy boots?” she texted playfully.

“That might be wise,” he teased back.

“Okay, I’ll see you in a few hours. I expect you to be ready to rock my world.”

Holy cow! Did El just flirt with him? He decided to test his theory.

“Rock your world on the dance floor and in my bed. I moved my stuff home after breakfast.”

“So, leave my panties at home?”

Damn that woman was on a roll. His libido was raging.

“Cher! You’re killing me.”

She sent him a cyber-kiss. “I expect very thorough follow-through on those promises. Got to go, Mystic is waiting.”

She was gone and he was headed for a cold shower. The woman was hell on wheels sometimes.

*****

When El walked into his house a few hours later she was floored. Romantic candles and flowers were everywhere she looked.

When she glanced toward the bedroom, Stefan stood leaning against the doorframe with a wicked grin. “Welcome home, mon amour.”

“Wow.”

“You like it?”

“Do I get to come home to this every night?” she teased.

“Play your cards right and it just might happen,” he growled playfully as he pulled her in for a kiss. It was several minutes before they came up for air.

“You look great,” he growled against her neck as he laid a trail of hot kisses from her jaw to her collarbone. His hands slid down her backside...no panty line.

Ah, hell.

El laughed as she pulled from his arms. “Find something you like, Le Beau?”

“Damn, woman. How am I supposed to make small talk tonight with you walking around like that?”

“I’m sure you’ll manage.” She grinned and cuddled close.

“Come on, I want to show you off,” Stefan said as he gave her a deep, dimpled smile.

The main yard was filling as family packs, one after the other, joined the celebration. The band was set up and doing a sound-check while the caterer laid out the buffet table. Emma had utilized Rose’s event-planning skills and the party looked like a complete success.

Cade was the official greeter and Isaac watched as he shook Sam’s hand and patted him on the back.

He should say hello, too. Sam was a longtime friend of the family and the foreman on the construction site. Perhaps he could shed some light on the traitor.

Thomas had organized the security squad, each equipped with an earpiece for coordinating the safety of the royal family. Someone was engineering accidents, and this huge gathering out in the open was a logistical nightmare. He tried to talk Isaac into cancelling, or, at the very least, moving the location, but Isaac insisted it be here in their seat of power.

Thomas would have to do the best he could with the situation presented to him. He took position on Isaac’s raised deck at the back of the main house. From there he looked down onto the milling crowd and could direct his men as needed.

Isaac didn’t know, but he had also brought in a few of Simon’s military buddies with sniper training and had them in strategic positions as well. Until recently, Simon had been unaware that a few of his fellow servicemen were also shifters. For Thomas that new information came in rather handy.

Isaac glanced to the deck to verify Thomas was in place, sure enough, he was scanning the crowd milling around the yard. He knew Thomas was very good at sizing up people; human or supernatural, made no difference. Little got past him, which was exactly why he’d been chosen to lead the security team.

It was dangerous to be exposed to a crowd no matter the location, but with a known threat existing against his family, the danger multiplied exponentially.

But, he was confident in Thomas’s ability to sense a threat. Apparently, a frisson of awareness would make the back of his neck tingle and itch whenever someone with criminal intentions was within a two-block radius of him. It made for extremely uncomfortable urban dwelling. When he had offered Thomas the job, Thomas told him it was difficult to live in a city and he found relief in the bayou.

Through long talks with his grandson, he had learned that over the years Thomas had honed his gift to a precise tool. With a little concentration he could pinpoint the location of the person emitting the threat with unbelievable accuracy.

Isaac frowned when he saw Thomas rub his neck again; there must be a threat within the crowd. He would have to stay very alert and keep his mate close.

When Thomas had described his strange ability to him, he had suggested that perhaps Thomas was sending out the equivalent of sonar waves once he sensed the threat and thus allowing him to pinpoint it. Thomas had been intrigued and continued to research how his ability functioned.

Out of frustration, Thomas pulsed the crowd to see if the cause of his unease would present itself.

Emma was keeping a close eye on Julia. She watched as her niece stared up at Thomas. Good, she had seen him. Emma glanced up at Thomas and found him as equally intrigued by Julia. This might be easier than she’d hoped.

*****

Using signals he had taught his security team, Thomas put everyone on alert. A hidden threat was the most dangerous. He couldn’t prepare his team and position them to strike. They were blind sitting ducks waiting for the assassin to make a move. He was relieved that he had assigned Cade, Simon, Lucas and Marcus to remain within a five-foot radius of Isaac and Emma at all times. Let an assassin try to get past that wall of men.

Emma watched Julia walk through the crowd greeting each person as she went. With every step she moved closer to where Thomas stood. Her grandson seemed quite taken with Julia. Marvelous. Simply marvelous.

With his senses suddenly on full alert, he sent two of his men after a small group of partiers who had wondered outside the perimeter of the party boundaries. He wanted everyone where he could see them at all times.

Isaac watched as Thomas rubbed at his neck again. Something was about to happen. He wrapped his arm around Emma and pulled her in close.

“Something is wrong. Scan the crowd and be aware of everyone close to you.”

Emma nodded once and immediately observed every detail of every person near her.

“Everyone on high alert,” Thomas said into their earpieces. “A threat is moving in the crowd but I haven’t pinpointed it yet.”

The threat still remained hidden within the party as dinner was served.  Perhaps with the people sitting stationary he would be able to locate the person responsible for his discomfort.

According to the schedule, Isaac was due to give a speech from the deck. At least he had been able to convince his grandfather to wear a bulletproof vest.

“What’s the situation?” Isaac asked as he joined Thomas to take the microphone.

“Someone has been moving through the crowd. I haven’t located him yet.”

“All right, watch my back and I will try to make this short.”

Thomas stepped back as Isaac called for everyone’s attention.

“Welcome to the first annual shifter gathering. The reason for this celebration is twofold. First, I am announcing that I am formally retaking the throne.”