Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
“Yes.”
“Where are you now?”
“St. Francis.”
“I’ll be right there.”
He abandoned the coffee shop and climbed in his truck. For a brief moment, he considered picking up Melissa, because she might be better at soothing the distraught mother, but then realized how dangerous it would be for her to get in the middle of a shifter war.
He texted her as he drove off, letting her know the situation and telling her to sit tight and contact him if she had an emergency.
As he drove to the hospital, he remembered the boy. Jayden had had the look of a beaten street dog. Signs of past abuse were in his wary eyes and gaunt face, but the way he watched Cody, responded to his offer of money showed he was smart and eager to please. He needed to help these three. He’d be damned if he let whoever had them scared pick them up out of his territory.
He dialed the number Colleen—or whatever her real name was—had called him from when he arrived at St. Francis and found the terrified family in a small exam room in the children’s ward. No doctors or nurses were around to see them, so he wasted no time and asked no questions. He simply scooped the boy up, craned his neck to make sure the corridor was clear, and carried the boy out. The boy’s mom and sister followed tight on his heels, on board with his silent departure.
“What happened, kid?” he asked as he jogged down the stairs, having decided the elevator was too public for their escape.
He scented fear on the boy, who must be around ten or eleven years old. “I got hit by a car,” he mumbled.
“What hurts?”
“My head. And my leg was broken.” He used the past tense because the leg would already be mostly healed, although the family seemed malnourished, which would affect his ability to regenerate. It explained why his mother’s missing teeth had only partially regrown.
“You’ll feel better in a few hours.” He opened the passenger side door to his pickup truck and tilted the seat forward to let the mother and girl climb in the back. “What’s your name?”
“Jayden.”
“How about you?” he asked the girl.
“Angie.”
He dropped the boy on the front seat and shut the door. It didn’t appear anyone had noticed their hasty departure.
“How far would they be coming from?” he asked Colleen as he pulled out of the hospital parking lot.
“Kentucky.” Her voice cracked.
“How many?”
“The pack is huge—a hundred fifty members. If only the men came, it would be eighty or ninety.”
He gritted his teeth. His pack would be no match for them. Ben’s could handle them, however. The question was, did he want this to be his return favor from the guy? He didn’t relish releasing that debt quite so soon and for something that wasn’t really his deal. But he wasn’t going to leave this woman unprotected, either.
“I’m going to take you back to my place until we figure out the best strategy. I might want to hide you up in Denver where there’s a bigger pack to protect you if there’s trouble.”
She shook her head. “Bigger pack means more wolves who might know… him. Or talk.”
“We’ll take that into consideration.” Irritation with the situation in general made his tone sharper than he meant.
In the rearview mirror, he saw her flinch and duck her head. “Sorry, Alpha.”
He blew out his breath in exasperation. He was trying to win her trust, not bully her into submission. “Forgiven,” he muttered.
He pulled up at his place and carried the boy inside, Colleen and Angie trailing behind.
Melissa met them at the door, brow furrowed with concern. She bustled around, offering food and beverage, and when they were refused, preparing a plate of pancakes, sliced apples, and a pile of strawberries, anyway. She dropped them on the coffee table with syrup, plates, and forks.
The kids immediately reached for the food, devouring everything in five minutes flat. Melissa picked it up and prepared a second plate, which she brought with glasses of orange juice.
He said little, working on finding a show on the television to occupy the kids so the adults could talk, watching Melissa with gratitude. Her cheery small talk filled the space, easing the tension and distracting the children.
Melissa noticed Cody wore that vaguely concerned look he’d worn during the pack meeting, like too much rode on his shoulders and he wanted to get it all right.
“Let’s talk out on the back porch—the kids are fine in here,” he said.
She stood up, then hesitated, not sure if he meant her, too, or if he wanted privacy talking to Colleen.
He caught her indecision and nodded. “You can come, too.” To Colleen, he said, “She’s a friend of the pack and under our protection. She can be trusted.”
Colleen didn’t quite meet her eye, but mumbled, “She’s part wolf.”