Rebecca's Wolves (Wolf Masters Book 6) (33 page)

“What white man? I’m not half white, Randal. I’m one hundred percent Native American.”

“You don’t know fuck.”

Apparently
. Miles couldn’t wrap his head around all this information. His mother mated a white man? Or tried to? Did Randal stop her? Did he kill her? When could that have happened? And why did Miles not know any of this?

“I dealt with your mom. And I’m gonna deal with you now, fucker. It’s too bad your stupid human didn’t pay attention to my numerous warnings and get the hell out of town. Would have saved a whole lot of hassle. But that bitch is persistent. She didn’t give a fuck about any warning I left her that she wasn’t welcome here. Now I’ll deal with you instead. Had hoped to avoid it. Pains me to dispose of a healthy male member of the pack. But if your mind ain’t right, then you have to be dealt with.”

“I’m coming in, Miles. In wolf form.”
Griffen.

“Got it. Be careful. You need to take this asshole out. I haven’t seen his gun, but he said he was going to shoot me, so I’m going to say it’s on him somewhere. I’ll try to keep him talking as long as I can.”

“All right.”

A shuffling noise some distance away caught Miles’ attention. It caught Randal’s too.

Miles heard a snarl. He was so damn helpless, and he hated it.

Randal cussed and stomped out of sight. There was a low growl and Randal screamed. Another growl from somewhere else. Who the hell was that one coming from?

Melinda
. Damn her. He could smell his sister’s scent.

A struggle filled his ears, shuffling, scraping of wood against wood.

And then a gunshot.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck
.

Miles struggled against whatever weighed him down. It wouldn’t budge.

If anything happened to Griffen or Melinda… He hoped to hell Rebecca was far away.

And then Griffen spoke out loud. He had shifted back to human form. “Stay right where you are, you son of a bitch, unless you want to be riddled with holes.” He must have gotten the upper hand.

Another struggle. Apparently Randal did not heed Griffen’s advice.

More shuffling and grunts. And then a thud. Silence.

Melinda leaned over Miles seconds later. “You okay?” She too had shifted back to human.

“What the hell happened?”

“Griffen knocked him out cold.” She turned her gaze downward. “Looks like the entire inside wall of the barn fell on you. Hang tight. Let us get Randal secured, and then we’ll deal with this.”

“Sure. I’ll just wait here,” he said sarcastically.

“Ha ha.”

Another set of hands were on him then. She touched him before he scented her in his distraction.
Rebecca
.

Instantly he calmed. And in the next heartbeat he stiffened. “What are you doing in here? It’s not safe.”

She leaned over him and rolled her eyes. “Don’t start with the caveman routine. I’m fine. I waited like a good little mate until Griffen had things under control.”

“Under control?” His voice rose as he glared at her. “There was a
gun
shot
.”

“And no one was hit by it. Griffen kicked it out of Randal’s hand. It went off. It’s over. They’re tying him up now.”

“If you saw that, you were too close.” He wanted to throttle her.

“Cujo, get a grip. I was not in the building. I was outside. There are holes all over. I looked through them.”

He narrowed his gaze at her.

“If you don’t stop glaring at me, I’m gonna have Griffen leave you pinned.”

He said nothing. Half of him had never been so happy to see her in his life. The other half wanted to spank her and then tie her to his bed and never release her.

Griffen leaned over the top of them. The only person with clothes on was Rebecca, naturally. “Rebecca, you stand on this end. Melinda, you crouch down over on that side. Let’s see if I can lift this enough to stick a wedge under it and then slide him out.”

Each woman took their spot and Griffen grabbed a heavy crate from nearby. “I’m gonna lift now. Rebecca, push this under the wall as soon as it’s high enough. Melinda, pull him out if you can.”

He turned to Miles. “Do you think your injuries are severe?”

“No.” Truthfully he wasn’t positive, but didn’t feel much, just pinned.

“On three. One… Two… Three…” Griffen grunted deep as he lifted. Rebecca shoved the crate under as fast as she could before he couldn’t hold the wall any longer.

Melinda reached under and nabbed Miles’ leg and arm and tugged.

Miles sighed in relief just having the pressure lifted, and then he bit the inside of his lip to keep from crying out at the pain.

Finally he was free. His mates ran around to his side.

Rebecca leaned in close, touching him everywhere at once. Frantic. “What hurts? Tell me. Miles. What hurts?” She nearly screamed in hysterics.

Miles reached up and grabbed both her biceps and hauled her close so her face was inches from his. He smiled. “I’m gonna be fine, love. Stop worrying.”

He was injured. He knew that, but he needed to shift and give it time.

First he needed to reassure his mate. “Look at me, love.”

Her gaze was frantic, darting all around his face.

“Eyes, Rebecca.”

She finally settled her gaze on his.

“I’m gonna live. I promise. I need you to make sure nothing’s dislocated, and then I’m gonna shift. I’ll heal fast. You know that.”

She opened her mouth and nearly screamed. “Dislocated? Miles, I don’t have X-ray vision. I can’t know that.”

“Love. Calm down. I don’t care about cracked. Just displaced. If anything is dislocated, you’ll have to set it before I shift.”

Her eyes went wide.

He released her.

She went to work touching him everywhere. If he weren’t in so much pain, he would have found her efforts endearing.

Finally, she declared him to have no compound fractures or dislocations.

Griffen crouched down along his other side. “You good?”

“I will be.”

Griffen held up a syringe. “Know anything about this?”

Miles flinched as his memory surfaced. “Shit. He stuck me with that. Must have knocked me out before the earthquake. That would explain why I can’t remember a thing.” He blew out a relieved breath.

A rustling sound made them all turn around.

Randal had come to, shifted, managed to free himself, and was growling at the four of them, teeth bared, nostrils flaring, his fur matted and mangy.

“Fuck,” Griffen said as he stood and turned around.

Miles watched him lift the gun. Thank God his mate had the gun.

“Stay where you are, asshole. I don’t want to shoot you, but I will if you force me.”

Randal growled one last time and then turned around and ran from the rubble that was the dilapidated barn.

“Goddammit.” Griffen lowered his arm. He turned back around and faced Miles. “Sorry, man. No way I could shoot him.”

“It’s okay. Let’s get the fuck out of here. We’ll deal with him later.”

Griffen handed the gun to Melinda. “Do you know how to use this?”

“Yes.”

Griffen looked momentarily surprised as he turned back to Miles. “I’m gonna shift and go get the car and bring it as close as I can. Hold tight.” He turned to Melinda. “Shoot first. Ask questions later.”

She rolled her eyes. “I would have had no problem shooting him if I’d had the gun instead of you.”

Griffen smirked, and then he shifted and took off.

Miles leaned up on one elbow. His entire body ached. He hoped it was all superficial so he wouldn’t have to spend too many hours healing before he could hold Rebecca properly in his arms.

He heard the car engine as Rebecca leaned down and kissed him all over his face. She even lifted his hands and kissed his knuckles. “You scared the piss out of me. We were trying to reach you all day.”

He grinned. “I was busy.”

“I see that.” She set her head on his chest for a moment and then released him. “Do your thing, big guy. Let’s get out of here.”

Rebecca stared down at her mate. She stroked his fur for the millionth time. Griffen lay on her other side, his hand running up her back. “He’s gonna be fine, baby. He just needs to sleep. Leave him be.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him. “How do you know? He’s barely moved since we got home.”

They’d arrived in the dead of night after dropping Melinda off and assuring her she could come over in the morning with Miles’ grandmother in tow.

Weird shit had gone down between Miles and Randal before the old wolf took off. Rebecca knew some things had been said between the men before she arrived that none of them heard. She’d felt his shock and confusion.

“This is how we heal, baby.”

“You weren’t out like this for this long when you were hurt.”

“My injuries weren’t as bad.”

She flinched. That didn’t help.

Griffen rolled his eyes. “Baby, trust me.” He pulled her back down to lie between them and held her tight.

“It’s almost nine in the morning,” she mumbled.

“And we slept the entire night with a wolf in our bed.”

She smiled into his chest. She’d insisted they put Miles in the bed, even though Griffen thought it was ridiculous. She’d put her foot down, and he’d given in and settled the groggy enormous wolf on top of the mattress.

“Do you think he’s in pain?”

“Not much. If any. He’s asleep, baby. He’ll wake up when his body is ready.”

“Maybe he needs water.”

Griffen hauled her closer until she was almost completely on top of him. He snickered in her ear, but didn’t respond.

She curled into him, but noticed when he stiffened and tipped his head back. “Someone’s coming. Probably Melinda and Mimi.”

Rebecca hauled herself off his chest and scurried to the bathroom. “Clothes,” she muttered to herself.

Even though she’d seen Melinda buck naked last night, it didn’t mean she wanted to greet Miles’ sister and grandmother in a similar state.

When she emerged from the bathroom, she could hear Griffen speaking in the front of the house. He’d already let them in.

She padded quickly down the hall to catch up, glad to find Griffen at least in a pair of low-hanging jeans that made him look sexy as hell but covered his private parts.

Wolves had no modesty, she’d learned. Freaky weird.

Unlike the two other times Rebecca had met with Miles’ grandmother, the woman didn’t glare at her and pin her to the wall with her eyes. She was in a completely different mood this morning. Relieved?

The older woman sauntered up to Rebecca and hauled her into her small embrace. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Rebecca was stunned. Who was this new Mimi Bartel?

“Good.” The woman patted her arm and headed back to the kitchen area. “Somebody pour an old woman some tea.”

Rebecca scrambled past everyone else to fill the tea pot. There was at least one thing she could do.

Melinda touched her arm. “You okay?”

“How many people are going to ask me that?” Rebecca forced a smile.

Melinda narrowed her gaze. “We’ll talk later.”

Rebecca nodded. She didn’t know what they might talk about later, but if it meant another fun night with Melinda over wine and corn chips, she was in.

As the four of them sat at the table with coffee and tea, a noise caught Rebecca’s attention. She twisted around to find Miles standing in the doorway.

He looked a little worse for wear—like a man who’d had the forty-eight hour flu and just now left the bathroom for the first time in two days. That was the most accurate description she could think of as he leaned on the doorframe.

But God he also looked so good to her.

She jumped up from her seat and ran to his side, gingerly wrapping an arm around his middle while gauging his reaction. His skin was warm. That was a good sign. And his chest looked unmarred. Last night it had been scratched and bleeding in several places. He stood before her now in his wolf-signature apparel—jeans—looking far better than last night.

He leaned on her as he padded toward the table, kissing the top of her head. “Coffee, love.”

“Got it.” Before she could turn around, Griffen had the pot and another mug. He filled the cup for Miles and set it in front of him.

Miles took a sip and moaned.

“You okay?” Mimi asked.

He nodded. “I’ll be fine.”

The older shaman furrowed her brow. “Melinda told me a bit about what happened last night. Tell me in your words.”

“It seems Peaceman lured me to his barn to kill me.” Miles closed his eyes and popped his neck back and forth several times, making Rebecca wince. “He yammered on about keeping the pack pure and not mixing with outsiders.”

“White men?” Mimi asked.

Miles shook his head. “I don’t think it’s about white or Indian. It seems he’s opposed to anyone of our tribe mating with anyone outside of it, of any race.” He hesitated, licking his lips. “He also mentioned Mom.”

Melinda flinched. “What did he say?”

“He said something about her mating with a white man and getting pregnant with a half-breed.” He shook his head and turned his gaze to his grandmother. “What the fuck could he possibly have been talking about? Do you know? Melinda and I are clearly not half anything. Unless we’re half human. How would we know? You’ve never mentioned a word about our father.” His voice was snarky.

His grandmother blew out a breath. “No, you aren’t half anything. Your father was from our tribe.”

“And?” Miles leaned forward, pushing his coffee out of the way. “You know some things you haven’t told us. If some elderly asshole is harassing my mate and threatening to kill me, I think now would be a good time to come clean.”

Melinda looked shocked, her jaw hanging open. “Grandma? He’s right. You’ve been tight-lipped for nearly three decades. I understand Mom is your daughter and it hurts you to speak of her disappearance, but she’s also our mother, and we have a right to know whatever you know.”

Mimi slumped in her seat, shrinking before their eyes.

“Who was our father? Is he alive?” Miles asked when Mimi didn’t speak quickly enough for his liking.