Chapter 7

Tanner was livid. No one threatened a pack member, let alone his very own mate, and got away with it. Harold might have just been mouthing off about deadly retribution, but Tanner assumed he wasn’t. What made it so unbelievable was that Serena had only taken back what was hers.

The wolf had the chance to live, maybe a few thousand dollars poorer, but at least he had his life. Not now. Serena wasn’t going to have to worry about looking over her shoulder all the time. Living in a pack, she’d most likely be perfectly safe, but all the bastard would need was one chance to get at her.

“I’m sorry,” Serena said.

“Don’t be. How much do you want to bet that he would have been just as much of a bastard if you’d taken only a fraction of your own money? You were able to access his accounts and make him feel vulnerable, yet you were gracious enough not to take his money too.”

She frowned. “Right. Just like he violated my trust and my privacy by accessing my accounts.”

“Correct. But I suspect he doesn’t see it that way. He can do it to you, but no one gets away with doing it to him.”

She let out her breath. “Okay, so we return to Colorado?”

“No. I suspect if he doesn’t learn where we’ve gone, he’ll be waiting at the airport, watching for us. We’ll wait for my brothers and cousins to get here and make further plans then.”

“He didn’t say he was going to kill you also. Do you think he believes I’m alone?”

Tanner pondered that for a moment. “I think you’re right. Which would make sense. How would you have found another wolf so quickly when you weren’t seeing any and didn’t know any in the area? He would have known about it. Everything happened so quickly, he most likely wouldn’t suspect you’d be here with a male who would protect you with his life.”

“I’m sorry I got you into this.”

“This has all worked out for the best. I got you.” Tanner grabbed his phone and called Devlyn. “We might have trouble. Harold discovered the money’s missing and threatened to kill Serena. We’re at a villa in Cayman Brac, and from the sound of it, he thinks she acted alone.”

“Damn it. Okay, the guys are on their way. Vaughn and Brock got on a flight flying standby. They’ll be in tomorrow morning. Your brothers are still waiting for a flight. Vaughn and Brock will help you put the guy out of his misery if it comes to it.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“You keep your heads low. Don’t take any risks.”

“We’re going to be here. We’re eating at a seafood restaurant, but otherwise, we’re staying here.” Tanner gave him the location of the villa.

Serena had quickly gotten on her cell phone, and he wondered what she was doing.

Devlyn responded, “All right. I’ll let your brothers know what’s going on. The other guys are on their flight, and we won’t be able to reach them for a few hours. Anything else?”

“No. I’ll call you if we learn anything further.”

When he ended the call, Serena put her cell down on the bedside table. “Harold doesn’t have any reservations for anything. Not for a flight out here either.”

“He must know you used his computer to get into his bank accounts. Maybe he remembers you accessed his email for him before.”

“Then he changed his email account and made up a new one so any reservations would go to that instead of just changing his password. That way he’d give us a false sense of security if he reserved a flight out here. Now we won’t know about it.”

“That’s a good bet. We won’t be able to monitor what he’s up to. But he can’t monitor us either. Brock and Vaughn are on their way. They should be here by tomorrow. Fisher and Shawn are stuck at the airport. They’re still trying to get a flight out.”

“Is Devlyn mad about it?”

“Hell yeah. No one threatens his pack members and gets away with it.” Tanner pulled her into his arms and they snuggled together.

“I mean, that I got us in this predicament?”

“No, he respects you for what you did. Let’s rest for a while, then go to eat.”

They fell asleep for a while, then woke to go to the restaurant.

Serena so wanted to do this, but she was upset about Harold. She was trying not to show it, but she worried he might discover she was here and try to kill both Tanner and her. She felt they needed to stay put and just wait for the guys to arrive.

“We’re going out to eat,” Tanner said, pulling her from the bed. “We’ll deal with him if he shows up.”

Tanner set up triggers that would reveal if anyone had come into the villa: sand left at the back door so that if anyone entered that way, they’d have to walk through it. Harold couldn’t jump far enough to avoid it and if it was disturbed, they’d know. At the front door, he secured a strand of Serena’s red hair at the bottom of the door with a little brown sugar and water solution. If anyone opened the door, it would pull loose.

They packed their laptops and her camera in the car and kept all their important documents with them. All they left were their suitcases and clothes, nothing they’d miss if Harold decided to take them.

They were off to the restaurant after that, ordering lobster tails and shrimp, her favorite food. In the islands, they were really fresh and tasty. “I think we need to take turns on guard duty tonight, don’t you? Until your cousins get here?” She pulled another piece of lobster meat from its shell and dipped it in lemon butter sauce.

“I think it’s a good idea, but we’re staying together.” He drank from his fruity rum drink.

“In the living room? We could set up the sofa bed.”

“That’s what we’ll do.”

“This was the nicest dinner I’ve ever had, the nicest company too.”

He leaned over and kissed her. “It’s been great. Ready to go back to the villa?”

“I am.” She could tell he was tense too, not enjoying the meal as much as they would have liked. Not when they had to worry about Harold.

Tanner paid the bill and they returned to the villa. But he checked the front door, found her hair was still in place, indicating no one had been through the door, and she checked the back door. The sand hadn’t been touched. No smell of Harold or the she-wolf either. They wouldn’t have hunter concealment here, so Tanner was confident if they arrived, he’d smell them.

“Looks good. No problems yet, and we might not have any. Let’s make up that sofa bed, we need to finish off this day right.”

They quickly made the bed and fell into it, tearing off each other’s clothes, half dressed and kissing. What a way to end their first day of mated bliss.

* * *

Tanner wanted Serena to pull first watch so he didn’t have to wake her in the middle of the night. He assumed if Harold found where they were located, he would try to approach them in the middle of the night, figuring they’d be asleep. He had his gun nearby, but when he took out the wolf, he didn’t want to show he’d shot the man. Better to have a wolf kill him; no one would be able to explain that.

Serena had shifted to be able to take him on if he showed up. Tanner told her if Harold did, he wanted her to come get him. They had no way of knowing if Harold’s mate would take part in a fight or not.

An hour later, he heard Serena growl low. Tanner was out of bed in a flash, shifting, and joining her. He nuzzled her with his cheek against hers. And she turned and licked his face.

Then he heard movement outside the villa. Something moving quietly.

He stayed where he heard the movement while Serena headed to the back door.

The sounds moved away. They waited for a good half hour, then Serena shifted. “We need to see if it was them.”

Tanner shifted. “We can’t leave the villa. We’re safer here. If they break in, we have the advantage. Besides, he won’t want to kill you right away, if that was him out there. He’ll have to force you to give up your money first. Why don’t you try to sleep for now? I’ll shift again and keep watch.”

“All right. If someone comes again, tell me and I’ll shift.”

“Believe me, I will. If it is them, he might be regrouping, realizing you’re not alone, not when a male wolf has left his scent here also.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. You’re probably right.” She shifted again and climbed on the sofa bed.

He smiled at her for shifting back into her wolf form, and while she curled up to sleep, he checked out the whole of the villa inside, listening for any indication someone might be trying to find a way in. He heard the wind and waves, but nothing else. As soon as it was light out, he’d check to see if the wolves had left their scent behind.

* * *

As soon as she heard a kitchen window break, Serena was off the sofa bed in a flash, not running for the kitchen as a wolf, but heading in the opposite direction to the front of the villa. She suspected the window was a diversion. She was right. Harold used his lock pick on the front door, but a chain lock prevented him from opening it. He used bolt cutters to cut the lock and then barged inside as a naked human. She lunged for him before he could shift, knowing she couldn’t take on the heavier male wolf once he shifted. But Tanner slammed into him first, biting him hard in the arm, forcing him to drop the bolt cutters.

Harold shifted, growled, and struggled to get the aggressive wolf off him, snapping his jaws, unable to get to his feet. He’d made the tactical mistake of entering the house before he shifted, of thinking whoever was with her wasn’t as powerful as him. His arrogance could be his downfall. She only hoped.

She was half watching the two wolves fight—though Tanner was winning the battle—and keeping a lookout for Harold’s mate in case she tried to come in the back way. Serena couldn’t believe Velvet wasn’t already here. Maybe she wasn’t as alpha as her mate.

Then Serena heard something crunching on glass, and she prayed Tanner would take care of Harold quickly, while she raced off to stop Velvet from helping Harold. The gray she-wolf was bigger than Serena, but what the gray had over her in size, Serena had in pure aggressive adrenaline. Like Tanner, she didn’t hesitate to take the wolf on. Serena might not have fought with wolves for some time, she imagined neither did this she-wolf. But Serena had killed a couple of real wolves who hadn’t liked that she’d crossed their territory. What could she have done? As much as she’d hated to kill the wolves, it was either that or be killed herself.

Thankfully, the two grays hadn’t ganged up on her, so she fought one and then the other. So one gray she-wolf wouldn’t be an issue.

She still heard growling in the front room when she tore into Velvet. The woman growled just as loudly back, which made Serena even angrier. She hadn’t wanted Tanner to hear her fighting with a wolf. He needed to concentrate on his own fight and not worry about her.

The wolf came so close to her throat, Serena nearly panicked. She had to quit thinking about Tanner and concentrate on the menace before her. She lunged forward, snapping her jaws, tearing at the wolf. She didn’t want to kill her, but if she left Serena no choice, she would do what she had to do.

She tasted Velvet’s blood and the wolf squeaked and dodged away from her. Serena waited to see if the wolf would quit. It was quiet in the other room, and she glanced behind her to see Tanner standing there, panting, watching what the gray she-wolf would do.

A male gray and a smaller red female were too much for the gray she-wolf to handle. She jumped out through the kitchen window and tore off down the beach. She wouldn’t report this to the police. She couldn’t.

Serena licked her mate’s face, and they both shifted. He took her in his arms and hugged her tight.

“Do you think she’ll return?” Serena asked.

“She would be crazy to. I’m going to take a swim.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“I’d rather you—”

She raised her brows at him.

He let out his breath. “—go with me and we’ll take your ex-roommate swimming.”

She thought of them bleeding—Tanner had suffered some bite marks, and the she-wolf had managed to claw Serena—but neither were badly wounded. Harold was bloodied too, and all she could think of was that sharks feed at night and they all would be bleeding in the water.

“There’s a boat rental place not far from here. I’ll get a boat and we’ll take the body out,” Tanner said, changing his mind.

“They have to be closed for now.”

“Exactly. Will you be all right?”

“Yes. I doubt Velvet will stick around to see what we do next. While you’re gone, I’ll be a wolf.”

Serena shifted as Tanner left, and it took him so long, she didn’t think he’d ever return with the boat. Finally, he returned and brought a fishing net, too, and carried Harold’s human body out to the boat.

“You can stay here.”

“I’ll help you.” Wolves helped their mates out, always.

They went out as far as they could, where divers wouldn’t be diving to see the coral reefs, and after weighing him down, they heaved Harold into the ocean. Once they were done, Tanner dropped Serena off at the villa beach. He’d been torn between taking her with him just in case Velvet visited again and dropping her at the villa in case he got caught returning the borrowed boat.

Serena had worried about the same thing, anxious that the she-wolf might come back. She’d shifted to wait and watch for her.

When Tanner finally returned, they locked the front door, and would call management in the morning about the vandalism to the window and security chain at the door. Which meant they had to keep up the guard watch until then in case Velvet snuck back.

But she didn’t.

The next morning, Tanner called Devlyn with an update on what had happened. “We don’t need my brothers’ help, if they can’t get a flight out.”

“They got one earlier this morning. They’re afraid they’ll miss out on a chance to get to know Serena.”

Tanner pulled Serena into his arms and said, “It’s too late for that, unless they mean in a brotherly way.”

Devlyn laughed. “Is this news I can share with the pack?”

Serena smiled and nodded.

“It sure is. It’s a done deal. Hey, I’ve got an incoming call. Get back with you in a bit.” Tanner took the call from Vaughn. “Are you arriving soon?”

“At the airport on Grand Cayman now. We’re boarding the flight for Grand Brac, but we passed a woman—a gray wolf—with bags in hand, headed for a flight leaving for the States. She had light-brown hair and looked just like the picture you sent to us of the two of them when they were at the grocery store.”

“Okay, that’s Harold’s mate, and he’s dead.”

“Hell, don’t tell me we flew all the way out here just to miss out on all the action.”

“You can help us celebrate the mating.”

And that’s just what they did. Tanner’s brothers joined them several hours later, and while all of them sat on loungers on the beach, rum drinks in hand, they watched the sunset go down over the aqua waters.

“Next time a new she-wolf shows up, I want to be the one doing the protecting,” Brock said, sipping from his rum and cola.

Tanner smiled. “The SEAL wolves always think they should get the girl.”

Serena snuggled up to Tanner. “Not this time. An Army Ranger won out. Are you ready for bed?”

All the guys looked at Tanner and laughed.

“With the pretty she-wolf of my dreams?” Tanner swept her up in his arms and headed for the house. “You don’t ever have to ask.”