Page 68 of Rescued

Switch gave him a half-grin. “Then I’m obviously not trying hard enough.”

Gunn laughed, and said, “I’m serious. I wish you’d think about staying.” He hesitated, then added, “And bonding with the pack. I think it would be good for you.”

“Yeah, maybe.” There he went, being ungrateful again. He said, “It’s not that I don’t appreciate it. Really.” For once he was serious. He took a deep breath. “But, actually…”

Gunn waited.

“I was thinking of asking Mikey if she’d get a meeting for me with those dragons in Seattle. To talk about whether they might be able to use a person of my genius in their company.”

Gunn gave a little whistle. “So you can be with Breanna? You’re going for it?”

Switch shrugged.

“Damn,” Gunn said. “That’s good. I could see something between you, the first night you brought her here. Is she your mate?”

“I don’t know,” Switch said. He loved her. He wanted to be with her. But true mates, like Gunn meant? He had no idea. “I mean, she’s human. What if she doesn’t feel that? But… I guess I want to give her that choice too.”

Gunn clapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll ask Mikey to talk to Cazbek.”

Outside, Breanna was getting her first taste of organizing activities for a wolf pack full of risk-taking adrenalin junkies.

“So,” Boomer was saying. “Some of the guys want to have an inner tube derby tomorrow. As part of, you know. The festivities.”

Mikey groaned. Breanna looked from her to Boomer. “Maybe I’m just a dumb city girl, but what the hell is an inner tube derby?”

Boomer said, “It’s awesome. We tie inner tubes to the trailer hitches on our trucks, and then guys sit in the tubes and we race them around a track. We slick it with water to make it muddy, so they slide better. Whichever inner tube rider crosses the finish line first is the winner. Of course, if you lose your tube or the rider falls out, you’re disqualified.”

“Hold up,” Breanna said. “Don’t people get killed doing that? You know: Florida man killed while riding behind truck in inner tube. Like an idiot. I’m sure I saw that in the internet.”

Boomer blinked at her. “What’s your point?”

She rolled her eyes. “Other than the fact that you want to celebrate the guys not getting killed by possibly getting them killed?”

Boomer said, “You know shifters. They don’t even hardly call it fun if there’s no blood.”

Breanna looked at Mikey, who shrugged. “If they want to, why not? It winnows out the weak and stupid.”

Breanna just shook her head. “Mikey’s the boss. But don’t come crying to me when you end up under a truck.”

The day of the brawlbecue, Switch got up before dawn, leaving Breanna in bed. He’d had a message from Cazbek late last night, agreeing to a meeting.

And he wanted to do something special for Breanna, before he brought up Seattle. And the two of them being together.

After thinking it over, he gathered some components from his stash of electronic bits, put on Eddy Arnold for inspiration, and began crafting his gift for her. It might not be much to some people, but he hoped she’d understand it for what it was.

When Breanna got up he made breakfast for her—a compromise of real food and model food. And helped her set up for the brawlbecue, his gift for her feeling like it was burning a hole in his pocket.

But he didn’t want to give it to her now. He wanted her to have a perfect day, and then tonight, when all the activities were over and there were no distractions, he’d talk to her about Seattle.

Chapter 29

At first, it all went to plan. He and Breanna ate like wolves at the barbecue, drank beer, and Switch cheered on a few brawls until Gunn and Mikey broke them up.

Sanchez mostly kept his fat mouth shut. And Breanna was obviously having a wonderful time.

Then came the inner tube derby. Boomer and his buddies had marked out a track around the edge of the compound, and slicked it down with the Ridge’s fire hoses to make it nice and muddy.

They were running four heats, two trucks each, to cut down on the chances that someone would fall off their inner tube and get run over.