Chapter Eight – Wyatt

“She’s a fine woman,” Jay said as Wyatt walked him out to his truck.

“She is,” Wyatt agreed.

“What do you know about this Trent guy?” Jay asked as he opened the truck door, but didn’t get in.

“He’s had my back during more firefights than I’d like to recall.” Wyatt looked back toward the house, he could sense Monica even though he couldn’t see her. The bond was an incredible thing that he wanted to explore. But Trent was a wedge between them and always would be, unless they resolved the mission and Jack got his parents back.

“That doesn’t answer my question.” Jay wasn’t leaving until he had the information he wanted. “I get the feeling he is also the reason you are living up in the mountains.”

“He’s not the reason. No.” Wyatt looked toward the high peaks of the mountain range. Clouds covered them, hiding them from view.

“But he is involved?” Jay asked, too astute for his own good.

“There was an incident,” Wyatt admitted. “Another soldier...” He didn’t want to pull that memory up out of the deep abyss he’d buried it in. “It’s taken me all this time to get over it, I don’t want to rake over it again. I don’t think it has bearing on this mission.”

“Are you sure?” Jay asked, placing his hand on Wyatt’s shoulder. “We’re assuming this is all about Amir Tarak. Is there a chance it might be rooted in what happened to you?”

Wyatt shook his head. “No. It can’t be.”

“Okay, we work off the information Monica gave us. But if at any time you think there’s the remotest chance it’s wrong, you have to let us know.” Jay turned around and climbed into his truck.

“I will. And thank you,” Wyatt said. “I know Monica wants to handle it herself. But if anything ever happened to her…”

“I understand. You have to protect the ones you love.” Jay started the engine and pulled the door shut. Resting an arm on the rolled down window, he said, “I enjoy the work. Until Guy and I get Bear Creek Bodyguards up and running, I’m rattling around the house trying to find more jobs to do, when the house is already finished.”

“Soon you’ll have a new baby, too,” Wyatt reminded him.

“More diapers.” Jay rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I’m just happy to be there for Kim.” He lifted his hand and waved goodbye as he steered the truck down the trail leading to the road. Wyatt stood for a few minutes watching him go, then he turned around and walked back to the house.

They needed to figure out where they were going to stay for the next few nights. Walking up and down the mountain with Jack was not ideal, but Wyatt already missed the quiet and solitude of his mountain cabin. Maybe he was wrong to think he was ready to come back down. Or maybe it was because today had focused on dredging up the past, a past he had come here to forget.

“Are you okay?” Monica’s voice came from the front porch where she sat nursing a mug of coffee. “I brought one out for you.”

“Thanks. Where’s Jack?” Wyatt sat down next to her on a porch swing. He’d seen Fiona and Harlan sitting here before, Harlan with his arms wrapped around his mate. Never did Wyatt expect to be seated in the same spot with his woman.

“He is inside playing with his new friend. They are playing cars. It’s good to see him happy. At least for a little while, he can forget all about this.” Monica cast a sidelong glance his way. “So? You didn’t answer the question.”

“I’m okay. Worried about Trent and Yolanda. I can’t imagine what she’s going through.”

“She’s tough,” Monica told him. “She’s had to be. Trent wasn’t exactly the best mate material when he came back.”

“Are you worried people might say the same about me?” Wyatt asked. He’d always been something of an oddity to the people of Bear Creek. Even those like Jacob who came out of their way to visit him and bring him coffee and other luxuries.

“I don’t usually make decisions based on what other people say. I like to make up my own mind.” She gave him a reassuring nudge. “And fate brought us together, so I must be able to handle you.”

He chuckled. “You make me sound like a prize steer.”

“I could rope and tie you if you insist,” she offered, making light of the conversation. Then her expression clouded. “Listen, we have the rest of our lives to figure us out. But we only have forty-eight hours to figure this mission out and help Trent.”

“We set us aside and focus on them.” He nodded toward the door where the sound of Jack laughing reached them.

“I agree. Then we figure out how compatible we are, and where the hell we’re going to live.” She leaned forward and rested her elbow on her knee, rubbing her face. “I’m out of practice at all this. I’ve spent the last four years traveling the world, protecting businesswomen and movie stars. I thought I’d kept myself fit but that hike over the mountains told me otherwise.”

“Come on, let’s go help with lunch, afterward you can take an afternoon nap.” Wyatt stood up and offered her his hand.

“I’m not a child, nor am I too old to lift my ass off this bench.” She stood up, cocking her head to one side

“Pity, my wolf likes nothing better than an afternoon nap in the sun. We have several favorite spots on the mountain.” He headed toward the door.

“Didn’t you miss people? When you took yourself up to that cabin, didn’t you miss the people you served with?” Monica asked the question he was not ready to answer. Not because she might like his answer, but because he wasn’t sure what that answer was. “Yes. And no. I don’t mean to be cryptic, but as much as I missed my fellow soldiers, I also needed to be alone. I didn’t want anyone else relying on me.”

“Anyone else?” Monica pressed for more information than he wanted to give.

“Something happened. You said yourself you thought Trent was affected by something that happened in his past. We each dealt with it in our own way. I removed myself from the world, but Trent, he hid from himself. He went undercover and pretended to be someone else so he didn’t have to look at himself in the mirror.”

“He was good at it,” Monica told him. “Really good. It was as if he morphed into the man he was pretending to be. That made it easier for me. I never felt as if I was dealing with two different people. And I trusted him with my life.”

“I trusted him, too. Which is why I will do what it takes to get his family back together again,” Wyatt promised.

“Maybe that’s the reason I’m here, the reason fate stuck us together at this precise moment.”

“And what is that?” Wyatt asked. “Just for curiosities sake.”

“Because we’re both going to make sure the other doesn’t do something stupid for a man we both love and admire.” They shared a moment of understanding. She was right, having a mate gave him a broader outlook on life. She gave him something to live for.

“Maybe we’re also greater than the sum of our parts. Together we might get ourselves and Trent out of this.” He grinned. “With a little help from our friends.”

“Your friends,” she corrected him.

“Nope, they are your friends too now. Like it or not you are the mate of the odd man who lives on the mountain.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Or you’ll learn to change. I’m good at molding men into shape. For the last year, before I left the Army, I used to train raw recruits.” She flexed her hands. “I have a very firm touch.”

“Damn it, you are a tease.” He stopped and turned her to face him. “Are we good?”

“Too early to tell.” She arched an eyebrow.

“You know what I mean. I have your back, you have mine. We can trust each other no matter what. Because this could get ugly.” He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. “It could get very ugly.”

“We’re professionals, Wyatt. No matter what. No matter our feelings toward each other and toward Trent and his family, we have to do the right thing.” Her words were sobering.

“You mean if we have a choice between ensuring Amir Tarak stays in custody or saving Yolanda, we have to do what we were trained to do?” Wyatt was beginning to remember why he had gone up that mountain. “Life and death is in our hands.” He held his hands up as if they were weighing scales.

“I don’t like it either, and I am open to all suggestions. But if Trent frees Tarak, more people will get hurt and Trent will go to jail.”

“And if we don’t, Yolanda might be murdered.”

“Those are our stakes.” Monica stopped on the threshold of the cabin. “There has to be a way to work it out. But we might not have a choice. We have so little time to locate either Trent or Yolanda.”

She turned at the sound of another vehicle approaching. “It’s Liam,” Wyatt told her.

“This is the worst-kept secret in the world,” Monica said bluntly.