Chapter Fifteen
The second Nina stepped out of sight, Boone slumped into a chair and propped his elbows on his knees. He scrubbed his hands over his face again and again.
Nina was gone. The best thing that had ever happened to him was gone.
Boone… He could sense her calling to him, but he shut the connection down. Nina was married. She had forgotten her husband. What did that say about her?
That man is a worm! his wolf howled. It’s some kind of trick.
Yeah, well, he’d seen the marriage certificate, and Nina confirmed it with the place and date.
He couldn’t get her stricken look out of his mind, and he couldn’t erase the way Kramer had rubbed it all in.
Hasta luego, he’d said aloud. Kramer had shot an extra Asshole straight into Boone’s mind and appended that with a triumphant laugh. Here I go, taking a second woman away from you, Boone. I guess you can say the best man wins — again.
Boone clawed at his jeans. He’d been ready to rip Kramer apart, but he’d had to hold back. Nina really was married to that asshole Mike, so he could hardly fight to keep her at Koa Point, no matter how it gutted him to see her go. The press had come down on the estate like locusts, too, which would piss Silas off, and rightly so. They couldn’t afford to have humans sniffing around. The estate was their sanctuary, their hideaway, and things were precarious enough as it was. The owner of the property wouldn’t reveal his — or her — identity to anyone other than Silas, but clearly, that person relished privacy. Having the press show up could get Boone and the others kicked off what was a pretty sweet living arrangement.
Who cares about a sweet deal? Nina is our mate! his wolf cried.
Boone scowled. He’d thought so, too, but apparently, he’d made another huge mistake. If Nina could forget her husband, she could forget him, too — especially when she had fifty million dollars to keep busy with. Fate was just fucking with him. Destined mates were only a legend, a fairy tale shifters passed around like campfire stories. None of it was true, and he had the broken heart to prove it.
Best night ever, Nina’s words echoed in his mind.
He snorted. Yeah — followed by the worst day in his life.
Cruz and Hunter filed silently back into the meeting house. He didn’t look up, not even when Hunter poured him a drink.
Hunter poured two more and clinked glasses with Cruz.
“To Nina,” Hunter murmured in his deep, grizzly voice. “May she find the happiness she deserves.”
Boone’s ears twitched. Hell, even grouchy Cruz was in on that toast. He ought to be man enough to do the same.
He forced his chin up and raised the glass, though he couldn’t get any words out of his mouth. To Nina. To the woman I thought was my mate.
She is, damn it! Fight for her! his wolf cried.
Cruz shook his head. “She’s rich and she’s married. Hell of a way to find out.”
Boone sucked in a long breath. Damn it, he’d only focused on his own shock and pain. He’d barely considered Nina. She’d been through so much…
He stuck his fists on his knees. Don’t go there. Don’t think about it. It will just hurt more.
Cruz sighed and leaned against one of the twisted trunks that supported the thatched roof and stared off into the distance. Hunter sat at the table in the corner and unfolded a laptop.
“What are you doing?” Boone scowled.
“Checking for divorce records. Just in case.”
Boone’s heart skipped in hope, though he knew it was futile. Nina had remembered that weasel, Mike. It killed him to see her go, but a fact was a fact. Christ, did life suck sometimes.
He scuffed the floor with his feet, filling in the emptiness. Other than the sound of Hunter’s oversize fingers tapping at the keyboard, there was no sound. The birds had stopped singing, and the earth had ceased its busy hum as if it, too, was mourning. The sun still shone, but the sky was pale and empty. Like him.
Hunter grunted at the laptop and hit a few more keys. “Damn it,” he muttered, hitting delete and trying again.
Cruz snorted. “Told you you’re too big for that thing.”
“You do it, then,” Hunter said, angling the laptop toward Cruz.
To Boone’s utter surprise, the tiger shifter only folded his arms in staunch refusal briefly before giving in and taking a seat beside Hunter. Boone stared at him. The tiger shifter’s family had been wiped out by humans while he was away, and those scars were deep.
“You hate humans more than any of us do, Cruz.”
Cruz gave a curt, “Yep.”
Boone tilted his head. “So what are you doing?”
“Looking for divorce records, idiot,” he said, typing away.
Hunter pointed to something on the screen, and Cruz followed with a click.
“Why?” Boone didn’t get it. Why was Cruz helping?
Cruz looked up. “Because we stand together. All of us, right? Even if you’re the stupidest fucking wolf on the planet.”
Hunter grinned.
“Hey,” Boone protested. “Stupid?”
“Stupid,” Cruz nodded and went back to his search.
Boone made an annoyed growl, and Cruz thumped the table in a sudden outburst. “I’m doing this for you, asshole, not for me. Because I owe you. Because you love her.”
“I don’t—”
Cruz ignored him. “Because who knows, you might still have a shot at your mate, even if you are one stupid, undeserving wolf.”
Hunter nodded along.
“Hey,” Boone shot him an annoyed look.
Hunter shrugged. “He’s right. Look at Kai with Tessa. Don’t you want a chance at your destined mate?”
Boone ground his teeth. He didn’t want his heart dragged through the mud all over again. He couldn’t take that. “Destined mates are a lie.”
Hunter snorted, and even Cruz gave him a stern look.
“What, you believe that shit?” Boone said.
They looked at each other then nodded. Hunter pointed straight at Boone. “You met Nina — what? A couple of days ago?”
Boone leaned away. Had it only been a few days? It felt like a lifetime. A happy lifetime in which time flew because Nina was there, and she was all he needed.
“A couple of days, and you already knew it was her,” Hunter said.
“I thought that of Tammy once.”
Cruz scowled. “That woman is nothing but trouble.”
Boone sighed. Like he needed the reminder. “The point is, I was so sure about her.”
Hunter just shrugged. “Maybe you can’t see it, but we can. With Tammy — man, it was like your brain turned off.”
Boone made a face.
“With Nina, it was like a light in you switched on.”
Boone stared. Was he really being lectured on love by a lumbering grizzly? “Says the man who pretends he’s not desperately in love with Officer Meli.”
Hunter had been infatuated with the local policewoman for as long as Boone had known him, yet he’d never admitted it or approached her. Why?
“Don’t change the subject, wolf. This is your mate we’re talking about, not mine.”
Cruz’s head snapped up, and he and Boone stared at Hunter.
Hunter squirmed in his seat then turned on his fiercest scowl. “You want your mate? Then do something about it. Or do you prefer to put your tail between your legs and hide from the truth?”
The hair on Boone’s arms stood as his wolf jumped closer to the surface. “The truth is she’s married.”
“Married to some weasel she can’t even look at, maybe.” Hunter shook his head. “All that shows is that you’re not the only one who made a mistake.”
Boone ground his teeth. Was Hunter right, or was the bear treading on thin ice? Did he really dare put his heart on the line again?
“That kind of marriage is just a piece of paper, Boone. Are you really going to give that more weight than destiny?”
Boone forced a dry swallow down his throat.
Best night ever. He shook his head. Last night had been a hint of many more good things to come.
He sat quietly as his mind flew over all the little moments he’d shared with Nina in the short time they’d had together. The joy that had come with her arms circling his waist on the ride into town. The way her smile lit a thousand fragrant candles in his soul. The way her voice soothed his soul.
Could it really be true?
Nah, he remembered his cousin saying back when they were both teens. Who needs a mate?
He’d thought that for ages, but even his tough-ass alpha of a cousin in Arizona, Ty Hawthorne, had ended up falling deeply in love. The man had been more machine than soul before he’d met his destined mate, but she’d brought out the best in him, helping him become a better pack leader with the balance she brought to his life.
With Nina, it was like a light in you switched on.
Boone took a deep breath, wondering if that light had just gone out or whether he was hiding from it.
The phone beside Hunter started to ring, and they all looked at it.
“It’s Silas,” Hunter murmured, looking at the caller ID.
Boone swore inside. Had Silas already gotten wind of what had happened? Had the reporters already aired some footage or released news of Nina’s whereabouts?
The phone rang again, and they all looked at it.
“Silas is going to be furious about Koa Point being in the news,” Boone muttered.
“Silas is going to be furious that you let Nina take the Firestone,” Cruz pointed out.
“It was hers. The old guy who died gave it to her.”
“Yeah. He gave it to her. You let Nina keep it, and now she’s with Kramer.”
Boone sat back. Holy shit. He hadn’t thought that through at the time. He’d only wanted to do the right thing at a time when his soul was breaking apart.
The phone sounded more urgent with every ring.
“You gonna answer that?” Cruz prompted Hunter.
Hunter considered through another three shrill rings. “I think I might be at work. Can’t always hear the phone from the garage, you know.”
Cruz looked at Boone. “How about you?”
Boone chewed on his lip. He really ought to. But he didn’t relish bringing the wrath of a dragon upon himself. Plus, the minute Silas found out about everything, he’d interfere, and something deep down told Boone he had to see this through on his own.
To prove yourself, his wolf agreed.
Boone sighed. That, or he might end up proving what a fool he was.
Trust your heart, a voice in the back of his mind whispered. The deep, ancient voice of fate.
She’s worth the risk, his wolf hissed.
“Are you getting that?” Hunter asked Cruz over the ringing of the phone.
“Hell, no.”
They both looked at Boone. Ball’s in your court, buddy.
Boone closed his eyes. The first image that came to him was Nina, sitting on that boulder by the beach, with the wind tossing her hair. And just like that, his decision was made.
“Move over.” He elbowed Cruz away from the laptop while the phone rang on, ignored.
His mind clicked into business mode, as focused as he’d been during the life-or-death missions they’d once stormed into together. But this mission he was assigning to himself, and that made it even more vital.
First, he’d have to find out if Nina had ever filed for divorce — to reassure himself, if nothing else. Second, he had to figure out where Kramer was headed and what he had planned next.
“Check the airport,” he murmured to Cruz. “If they’ve booked a flight, I want to know.”
Cruz grinned from ear to ear and pulled a blinking GPS unit from his pocket. “Insurance policy. I stuck a tracking device on the bumper of Kramer’s car.”
Boone slapped the tiger on the back. “I owe you, man.”
“Yes, you do,” Cruz growled then checked the display. “They’re not heading to the airport.”
“Where, then?”
Cruz rose to fetch a map, and just like that, the three of them were neck-deep in the mission. Boone paused for a split second. Since leaving the military, they’d all drifted for a while. Him, most of all. He missed that sense of purpose, the structure, the drive the military had given him. Now, he was back in action with the support of the men he trusted most. It was like old times, but it was more than that, because this was the mission of his life. He’d promised Nina his protection. He’d promised her everything would be all right.
You’re responsible about the things that count, Nina had said, showing such faith in him.
“I’ll give this search engine three minutes, and then we head after them,” he told the others.
The phone quit ringing, and Boone allowed himself a tiny nod of relief. It would only be a matter of time before Silas tried again. In the meantime, Boone would see his promises through, and he’d follow his heart. Even if it took him straight off a cliff, damn it — he’d follow his heart.