Hunting Her (The Keeping Her #6) (20 page)

"She's
stable for now, Logan," she said shaking his arm to get his attention, as
if she had said it more than once.  "But we need to get to the car so I
can keep working.  Lucas says we're too vulnerable here."

Logan stood
up with Xena slack in his arms.  He gave one look to the alpha of Margarete's
pack and watched in satisfaction as the man shook his head and held his hands
up as if to say he was done.  There would be no retaliation. Logan nodded once
and then followed Lucas and Miley, Mac, Eli and Demon following close behind
watching the crowd around them.

The
council mediator stepped in front of their party to halt their progress despite
the snarl Lucas sent the man's way.

Bravely,
or stupidly the man said.  "If she is alive I need to declare the victory
and close the proceedings."

Fucking
council etiquette.

Lucas
stepped forward until he was in the man’s face, Miley pulled close to his
back.  "She's alive.  If you want to be, you will back the fuck off and do
whatever you feel you have to do, without us."

The man,
a middle-aged panther shifter from the smell, took that as seriously as Lucas
intended.  He backed up.  "I'll make the announcement," he
interjected nervously.

"Whoopdee
fucking do," Demon muttered as he passed.  If Logan was capable of finding
anything funny he might have laughed at that, as it was, all he cared about was
cradled slack in his arms.  Her pulse thready and weak.

They
passed through the rest of the watching predators and made it to the car without
further incident.

As soon
as they were all in, they took off.  Mac driving while Miley leaned back over
Xena and started healing her again. 

Lucas
ground his teeth at the sight of his mate going paler and paler in the
flickering lights of the car.  Finally, Miley pulled back with a gasp and
collapsed into Lucas' waiting arms.

She met
Logan's eyes and smiled wanly.  "She'll be fine after a little
sleep."

The
tension in the car evaporated.

Finally,
after assuring himself that Xena was all right, he covered her with a blanket
that Demon tossed him from the front.

Lucas
looked at Logan over Miley's already sleeping form.  "How do you feel
about me offering your mate a job?"

Logan
smiled, finally able to now that he knew she would be all right.  "I think
after watching her fight, you'd be stupid not to hire her."

"Fucking
fast," Demon added from the front seat still sounding awed.

"And
vicious," Mac added in a voice that expressed his grudging approval.

"I
wouldn't want to fucking fight her," Demon added.  "And she's a
fucking coyote.  A small one."  He sounded a bit disgruntled by that.

Lucas
moved his eyes to Logan.  "I take it you won't mind then, if she joins you
on your missions?"

"Two
things," Logan said.  "One, I'll be going on less missions from now
on, we have a home to renovate."

Lucas
smirked at him.  "And two?"

"You've
seen her fight.  Do you really think I'm stupid enough to try and make
decisions about our future without her?"

"No,"
Xena said sleepily, without even opening her eyes.  "You're not that
stupid." Her tone said he had better not be.

Lucas
laughed outright.  "You have a point."

Logan
just held his mate while she drifted to sleep in his arms, and thought about
the last words she said to him before the fight.  Seemed they had quite a few
things to talk about when they got home.  For now, he held her close and
listened to her heartbeat against him.

“Whelp,
another crisis averted," Eli said loudly, with relish in his voice.  Stretching
out his legs and getting comfortable for the ride to the airport.  "You
boys sure can pick 'em.  Cannot wait to see what happens next.  Think there’ll
be more biscuits?"

Lucas
and Logan shared a look before Lucas spoke for the both of them.  His voice
deep and pointed.  "You do realize you're next, right?"

Eli lost
his smile and sat up fast, as he made the same connections the rest of them
had.  Besides the kids, he was the last unmated pack member.

"Shit,"
He muttered.

"But
you're right," Logan said, his half smile directed at the disgruntled
Eli.  "Should be interesting to see what happens next."

On the island
known as "A Bene Placito", a shifter run island in the Caribbean, an
alert flashed across the screen in the security terminal.

Linc
Callahan heard the alert and looked away from his very pregnant mate, he had
just then managed to talk into his lap.  Pulling up the screen around her ever
widening belly he cursed at what was revealed.

He
reached for the speakerphone and pressed the button for his Alpha and one of
his co-mates.

Griffin’s
deep voice said.  "Yes?"

"We
have a breach,” Linc said, his eyes on the information flying across his
terminal.  "Someone is trying to hack our security feeds."

The
Alpha did not need to say a word for them to hear his displeasure at that. 

"Rebecca?"
he asked after only a moment.  His voice considerably harder than it had been.

"I'm
here," Their mate assured him quickly. "I'm fine." 

It had
not been that long ago that they had nearly lost her to a gunman who had
breached their defenses.  Add to that she was carrying their child and it was
no surprise her safety was their first and foremost concern.

"Will
they get through?" Griffin asked grimly.  Now that he knew she was safe,
his mind went back to the cyber-attack. 

"No.
 They aren't getting past the firewalls, but this is not the first attempt.  It
might not be the last.  I don't like it.  And we all know when it
started."

Rebecca
stilled in his lap and looked up at him with worried eyes.  Eyes that looked bluer
today against the purple of her t-shirt.  Linc leaned down, rubbed his nose
reassuringly across hers, and pulled her in a little tighter against him.  His
hand came to rest on her belly.

"I'm
calling Gibbs in," Griffin finally said.  "I've had enough of this
shit."  Then he was gone, and Linc tapped the phone off.

"You
think he's coming for Maggie don't you?" she asked, the worry for her
friend not something he liked to see.

"Men
like Baxter don't like to lose, but she's safe with us, and she'll be even
safer once we get Lionsgate involved."

When she
still looked worried he took hold of her chin and said "hey."

Only
when she looked into his eyes did he speak.  "Nothing is going to happen
to Margaret.  For one thing, she's your friend and under our protection, and not
just because her wedding was what brought you to us in the first place.  For
another," he shrugged giving her a smile.  "I really don't want to
have to train yet another office manager."

Rebecca
smiled, thinking that if Lucas Gibbs came to the island she would see Miley,
their last Office Manager and her friend.  After a moment of happy
contemplation, she pressed her lips together, her mind returning to Maggie. 

"Stephen
Baxter is a dick," she said, her eyes going hot with temper.

Linc
smiled.  "Yes, and only human, no matter how untouchable he thinks he is. 
Between our pack and Lionsgate your friend could not be safer."

Becca
huffed out a breath, and pressed her cheek to Linc's strong chest, letting him
comfort her.  "I hope you're right.  She's been hurt enough."

At his
home office in Napa, Lucas hung up his phone and narrowed his eyes thinking of
his choices, and the situation.  He looked up when Miley came through his
office door, her hands around the folder she was bringing him.

She took
one look at his face and stopped.  “What is it?  The council?”

“Still
quiet,” Lucas assured her.  "You feel like a trip to the Caribbean?”

Her eyes
lit up.

"A
Bene Placito?" she asked, practically clapping her hands.

He raised
a chin in the affirmative, smiling at his mate with warm eyes.  "Tell Cleo
and Shawn they are escort, and get me Eli," he added.  Then something else
occurred to him.  "Have Demon and Clytie left for their honeymoon
yet."

"Only
just, why?"

Lucas
shook his head, with a half grin.  "Poor Demon can't catch a break.  Seems
we'll all be crashing his honeymoon."

Miley
grimaced.  "I would say we will all have the courtesy to leave them alone,
but Eli is going, and we both know Ian will insist on coming if we're going to
the Island."  She looked pained.

Yeah, he
needed Eli and he knew his son well enough to know he would come regardless of
orders; he'd done it before.  Lucas grimaced. 

"Demon's
screwed," his mate said, shaking her head.

Lucas
grunted.  "Only if he gets really lucky."

<<<<>>>> 

The Keeping Her Series

Keeping Her

Loving Her

(A brief brush of the Keeping Her world in
At One’s
Pleasure
)

Claiming Her

Craving Her

Marrying Her

Hunting Her

Check out more from this Author at
Kellylucille.com