“I’m hiding.Just get here.You’re my only hope of surviving.”He didn’t like that thought, but couldn’t say anything as she’d cut off the connection between the two of them.Pushing a little harder on the gas pedal, he was getting on the highway about ten minutes from his home when he realized that he knew her name now.
Pulling into the lot about thirty minutes after hearing from her, he didn’t know what to do.There was a truck running in the lot, so he left his own running.He was just getting out of the car when someone got into his car.Letting out a long breath, he asked Margo if she was all right.
“I’ve been hurt.Does your generosity extend to taking me to the hospital?I think I’m going to need to see someone about my head.It hurts a great deal.”He pulled out of the parking space he’d been in and then stopped.“What are you doing?”
“He’s coming toward us.And I, for one, would like to see what a grown man wants with a sixteen-year-old kid.”She just looked at him.“All right, I know what he wants, but it doesn’t do much for my temper right now.Stay in the car, and I’ll have a little talk with him.”
As soon as he got out of the car, he could smell the man.He was a wolf, too, and he must have known that he was the brother of the Alpha.It was hard to miss as he would smell like someone powerful, and the idiot had to understand what he was dealing with.
“I’m taking her to the hospital.I have your scent now, and if she’s hurt very badly, I’m coming back here to hunt you down.”He said that he wanted her.“I don’t care what you want.I’m taking care of her now, and you’ll back off before I have to kill you.”
“She’s been teasing me all month.I want what she’s been offering me.”He said she was just a kid and was not offering him anything.“Be that as it may, I’m taking her and there ain’t shit you can do about it.Just dump her out of the car and drive away.This doesn’t concern you.”
“It does now.”Yanick waited to see if he’d do anything stupid, but he should have known better.The man was all kinds of stupid for taking him on, but as soon as he shifted, Yanick did the same thing.It was over almost as soon as he did that.The man lay dead in the parking lot, and he wasn’t going to be able to shift back without causing all kinds of trouble for himself.The man had lost his head when he ripped out his throat, and the police were going to want to know what happened.
“You killed him.”He stared at Margo when she got out of the car.“I’m not even going to say that I’m sorry that it had to come to that.He’s been trying to hurt me for over a month now.I’m guessing that you can’t shift back without being naked.”
He had no connection with her and went to her.If he could make her understand that he needed to bite her, then he could tell her to call the police.Instead of wanting to make her understand, she put out her hand, and he bit down into the softest part of her hand.It was all that he needed to be able to talk to her.While she called the police, getting his clothing out of his trunk as she did, he reached out to his brother and let him know that he was going to be arrested for killing a man.
~*~
After declaring the man dead, he examined the kid.That’s what Yanick had been calling her since they all arrived, and he didn’t know if he’d ever heard her name or not.So far, he’d found out that she had a concussion and several broken ribs.No wonder she’d called for help.He wasn’t sure she would havesurvived if the man had gotten her again.With him being a wolf, he was doubly stronger than her and would have gotten what he wanted no matter how hard she tried to get away.Conri wasn’t happy about things either.
“I’m not worried about you being in trouble with me.You saved a kid, and I’m proud of you.But the police are going to want answers for a dead man, and I don’t know what to tell them.”Yanick told them that he’d been questioned quite a bit, but they’d never charged him with anything.“I think they’re waiting on the cause of death to be said out loud.No one can disagree that he’s had his head removed, but I think they’re wondering how it happened.You told them about the kid?”Yanick nodded, then pointed to the kid.
“She did as well.I’ve been trying to find her for the past week, but she’s been hiding well.And the people in the restaurant never said a word about her being targeted.I’m assuming they had to know, as they all seem to know her well enough.”The owner of the restaurant had shown up about an hour after they arrived to verify that Margo did work for him.He also said that she’d been having trouble with this man for a while, too.“If they had told me, I would have done something more.But with them not telling me anything, all I could do was wait until she contacted me.”
“You’re going to be all right, Yanick.If nothing else, they’ll just have you say that you found him in the lot looking like he did.I don’t think they’re going to lose any sleep over him being dead.I guess they’d had complaints about him chasing the employees for about a couple of months now.”He’d not known until Conri said something that three of the officers were wolves, too.And one of them was a tiger.“What we have to do is cooperate with them and see how they want to handle this.I’m just glad that the kid is all right.”
“I need to get her to the hospital to make sure that her concussion is all right.I mean, it’s not, but she also has some broken ribs that worry me a bit.”He asked if they were going to allow her to leave.“I don’t know.I’ve asked, but they keep putting me off.I’m thinking that they’re waiting for their alpha to come and see to his body.”
“That would be my assumption.He’ll have to be notified about his death if he hasn’t already been.Then from there we’ll figure out what’s going on.”Kendrick knew that someone was going to be declaring the homicide justified, and as soon as the alpha said that it was clean, then the police would work to make it look like it.It wasn’t legal, but it would keep Yanick out of jail for now.“I think he’s just arrived.Just so you know, I told him that you made contact with the girl a week ago.He knew about the trouble they were having here, but didn’t know it was one of his.”
“He should have done something about it.”They all agreed but didn’t voice that so that he could hear.Yanick was upset, probably more than a little pissed off that he’d had to kill the man, but he was waiting his turn to speak when the other alpha shook hands with Conri.
“You don’t have to worry about any of this, young Valley.”He was older than the man, and he thought that he knew it.“I’ll take care of any fines that need to be paid to the police for calling them out so late tonight.”
“What about the girl?She’s been dealing with this man for over a month now, and nothing has been done about it.”David Attobone, the alpha, said that he’d known there was trouble; however, he’d not known that it was one of his wolves.“Would you like to tell me why not?”
“Sure.I have a large pack, and while that’s no excuse, I do want you to know that I’m going to make sure that the girl wants for nothing.She’s been hurt as badly as I have been about this, and I’ll make sure she’s taken care of.She won’t face any consequences either.”
“That’s enough for now.”Yanick looked at him before looking at David again.“She needs to go to the hospital.As soon as you approve it, she can go in the ambulance.I hope that won’t be a problem.”
“No.Had I known you were waiting for me to take her in, I would have said something before I arrived.As it stands right now, neither of you will be fined, and it will be an unsolved murder, but for the pack.They’ll know that he’s been dealt with.”Yanick didn’t seem satisfied with his answers but backed off for now.He’d killed a man, and he looked like he’d do it again if pushed.“I’ll be in touch with you soon, alpha.I’m sorry that it came to this.Especially for your friend.”
David didn’t leave like he thought he would.But hung around with the police to make sure that things were taken care of.When the report was given to the station police head, it was said that his body had been found like that, and they’d help with finding a way to find his murderer.Nothing would be done about it if the pack didn’t make a fuss, and that’s the way it should have been done.
~*~
Kendrick accompanied Margo to the hospital.He had finally found out her name and wasn’t privy to the rest of what happened at the scene after that.Once he was there with her, it was as if they’d been expecting her to arrive, and she was taken to X-ray right away.She was also given a private room where he stayed with her and was glad that things weren’t as bad as he’d thought.She still had a concussion, but there were only a couple of ribs broken, not as many as six like he’d thought, and she was going to spend the night at the hospital, and the billing was to go to the pack to take care of it.
Once Margo was settled into a private room, he made some calls.He needed to get in touch with Sharon to let her know that things were going to be all right, and then he called his service.Telling them that he was off duty until tomorrow made him feel good.He’d been having a time at home and hadn’t wanted to leave.Now he was going to have an excuse for not showing up for work in the morning and was all right with it.
“I’m fine.So is Yanick.”Sharon was relieved and told him so.“I am as well.I was worried as soon as I saw the body.He removed his head with one swipe of his paw.That takes a powerful bit of muscle to do that to someone.”
“Or anger.You did say that he’d been keeping an eye out for this girl for a while now.”He told her that she was doing all right as well.“Good.You just bring her home with you, and we’ll take care of her until we hear something different.Yanick told me that her father was in prison—there seems to be a lot of that going around and that her mom was in the hospital.Perhaps you can have a look while you’re there to see if we can help her on the road to recovery.”
“I’ll do that.”As soon as he said that, Margo asked him if he’d do the same thing.He told her that he would.“I have to go now.There are people around that want answers, and I have to be on my toes.The way things are going here, I might not make it back before lunchtime tomorrow.Just don’t wait up for me.I don’t want us both to be exhausted.”
