He still hesitated for a moment, gazing at her so intently it was hard not getting lost in his beautiful, blue eyes. Then he leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed him back, wondering how it was possible that she loved him even more now than she had five minutes ago.
“Be careful,” he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. “Don’t go outside unless someone is with you, okay?”
“I won’t,” she promised, stealing another kiss before he turned to leave. “You be careful, too.”
Lana watched him walk out, praying he’d be safe out there. But he was a cop, as well as a werewolf, and cops did a dangerous job. As the daughter of the deputy chief of police, she knew that better than anyone. Fortunately, she had a job of her own to do now that would keep her distracted.
Chapter 13
“Gage wants to put any groups with kids on cots in the training room,” Max said, stopping Remy as he led a pack of four werewolves and their children toward the exit of the building.
Max’s head was spinning a hundred miles an hour as he tried to figure out where the hell they were going to put so many people. The whole place was crawling with betas and omegas, all of them trying to find a place to sleep for the night.
Remy shook his head. “Sorry to tell you this, brother, but the training room is already full. Before you ask, so is the basketball court. And a dozen new omegas just showed up. They’re waiting in the admin building.”
Max bit back a growl as the two little girls in the group turned big, curious eyes on him. The werewolves who’d come here for protection were already rattled by the news that not only were the hunters in town, but they had also succeeded in taking down a SWAT alpha. He didn’t need to freak them out any worse by losing his cool in front of them.
“We still have the break room and the maintenance bay,” Max pointed out. “And if we fill those up, we can move some equipment around in the storage areas on the second floor of the admin building and squeeze a few more in over there.”
Remy considered that, then nodded. “Okay, I’ll see how many more we can fit. But some of the omegas are going to have to sleep in the rappelling tower. There isn’t enough room for everyone inside.”
“That’ll work,” Max agreed. It wasn’t ideal, since it didn’t have any doors or windows, but it was better than nothing. “At least the walls are thick enough to”—he almost said stop hollow-point bullets but glanced at the kids and caught himself—“keep them warm. Just make sure they stay away from the window openings.”
Remy agreed and disappeared without another word, leading his small group back down the hallway and into the training room, finally giving Max time to slow down enough to think a little for more than five seconds.
Then again, that probably wasn’t a good thing, since the first thought that popped into his head was that the hunters were still out there looking for Lana while he was here at the compound coordinating bedding accommodations like he was a frigging hotel concierge. He understood why Gage had wanted him and Trey to come back here, but damn, it was hard to think about anything but the woman he loved being in danger. If something happened to her, he couldn’t imagine wanting to live.
Max felt another growl of frustration building in his chest and headed for the exit. He didn’t want to be around the betas—or their kids—if he lost control and started to shift. That would be all they needed right now—one of the alphas they were depending on to protect them fanging out for no reason.
He stepped out the back door of the maintenance building and took a deep breath of the brisk November air. The sun was going down, so it was a little cooler than it’d been earlier in the day, but it was still unseasonably mild for this time of the year, so he wasn’t complaining.
A few minutes later, Remy walked out, leading a big group of omegas toward the far end of the compound, where the rappelling tower was located. The omegas moved warily, keeping an eye on the perimeter fence, as if they expected hunters to start shooting at them at any moment. Considering how easily the hunters had been able to catch the SWAT team off guard, Max supposed he couldn’t blame them. He only hoped they could catch the sons of bitches before they grew bold enough to hit the compound. The thought of another werewolf writhing in agony like Zane wasn’t something he even wanted to consider.
He pushed that image aside and turned to head back inside. He still had a ton of work to do, and if he buried himself in it, he wouldn’t worry about Lana so much. Before he could open the door, his phone rang. He yanked his cell out of his pocket, praying it was Lana, but he didn’t recognize the number. He thumbed the green button and put it to his ear.
“Max?” a soft, familiar voice said before he could get a word out. “Is that you?”
Even with his keen ears, Max had a hard time hearing Terence. “What’s wrong?”
“Dad showed up outside the shelter today and convinced Mom to go out and talk to him,” the boy said, still whispering. “I begged her not to go, but she said he only wanted to talk. She came back in a little while ago and said she was taking us home.”
Max’s stomach dropped like a rock. “Terence, is your father there now? Are you and your sisters in danger?”
The words were barely out of his mouth when he heard Wallace shouting in the background.
“Max, it’s bad. He’s been drinking for hours and I’ve never seen him this mad,” Terence said, barely audible over his father’s shouts. Then his voice dropped down even lower. “Max, he has a gun.”
Shit.
“Get out of the house now, Terence,” Max ordered, interrupting whatever the boy was going to say next. “Get out of there and run to Mr. Miller’s house.”
“I can’t leave,” Terence said. “Dad has my mom and sisters in the living room. I can’t leave them. I have to take care of them.”
Max opened his mouth to argue, but before he could say anything, there was a curse, then a loud crash, followed by a gunshot.
The phone went silent as the call disconnected.
