Allister, J. Rose - Displaced Cowboys [Lone Wolves of Shay Falls 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (25 page)

“Which way did she go?” her father asked through raspy, wheezing breaths when she came back.

“I don’t know.” Terra bent over and helped him up. “She’s just gone.”

Connor had managed to slide himself off the chair and was trying to drag his body to where Nash lay groaning. Terra bolted to Connor’s side and unwound the chain from his neck. The wolf shuddered and immediately morphed back into human form.

“Thank you,” Connor said, sounding weak and out of breath. “She got that silver chain on me the second I chased her in here. I couldn’t do a damn thing to save any of you. I’m sorry.” His strength seemed to rally after she released him, and he straightened on shaky legs to rush to Nash’s side.

“Jesus,” Connor said as he examined the bullet wound.

Terra stood over Nash, her eyes wide. A hole was bleeding freely from his chest that was far too close to his sternum to believe he’d survived. Nash was trying to stand, but Connor held him back.

“Don’t try to move,” Connor said. “The bullet might still touch your heart, and it’ll be all over.”

Terra’s veins iced over at that.

“I’m okay,” Nash said, though the pain evident in his voice sounded otherwise as he clutched at his chest. “The bullet ain’t in me. I felt it go all the way through.”

Connor looked behind Nash’s back while Terra’s gaze lifted to see that he was right. There was a neat hole in the wall above the television, right where her mother’s head had been. Had the bullet not been slowed down by traveling through Nash first, her mother would likely be dead.

“I’ll be damned,” Connor said. “You’re one lucky son of a bitch. Silver against your heart would have killed you in an instant. Looks like it just missed the mark.”

“Just help me up, will you?” Nash asked, and she and Connor both grabbed him under the arms. Her mother came back to the room just as they got him on his feet. Both men were shaky, but they were alive.

“Should he be standing?” she asked, clutching the cordless phone in her hand. “I was going to ask for an ambulance, but I wasn’t sure that was a good idea, all things considered.” She averted her eyes from the naked men as she bustled over to Terra, whose hands were too busy helping Nash to deal with her open robe. Lilith tied it for her. “I didn’t tell them about you two at all.”

“That’s mighty kind of you, ma’am,” Connor said. “It would raise more questions than we’d want to answer. He’ll be all right, anyway. Looks like the bullet passed clean through.”

“What are you?” Terra’s father asked as he pressed a hand to his ribs and made his way over to her mother.

“I think you know,” Connor said. “You saw for yourself.”

“I suppose I misjudged some things about you,” Jack said. “But not everything. It’s obvious you’re still no good for my daughter.”

“
Dad
,” Terra half shrieked. “How can you say that? Nash just put himself in front of a bullet to save you and Mom.”

“And why was that woman firing a gun in our house in the first place?” Fire danced in her father’s eyes. “These men, if that’s what you can call them, are a danger to you.”

Terra scowled.

“He’s right,” Connor said, looping one of Nash’s arms around his neck and helping him hobble forward. “Maybe it’s best if we go.”

“We only came back here because we sensed she was in trouble,” Nash said.

“You can do that?” her mother asked with obvious shock.

Connor nodded. “The mark I placed on her shoulder lets us sense her from anywhere. If she is ever in danger, we’ll know it.”

“And we’ll give our lives to make sure she gets out of it safe,” Nash added, and Terra’s head whipped around to his at the declaration. “It’s lucky we were still close enough to town to get here in time.”

“Lucky?” her father shot back. “She’d have been far luckier never to have met you.”

Nash nodded somberly. “I reckon I can’t argue that, in some ways. But with all due respect, it was fate that brought us together. Now that it has, there ain’t no use wishin’ it hadn’t.”

“Is she one of you now?” her mother asked quietly. “Since you bit her?”

“She is a part of us,” Connor said. “Forever. But not as a werewolf.”

Terra’s mother nodded and left the room. The rest fell silent while her father glared at Nash until the woman returned with some towels from the bathroom. Two went around the men’s bare waists, another was pressed to Nash’s wounds, and Lilith used the rest to wipe up drips of blood from the hardwood floor.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am for all this,” Connor said, pressing the towel to Nash’s chest. “Though I don’t expect forgiveness for it.”

“Damn right you don’t,” Jack snapped.

“We’re all lucky to be alive,” Terra’s mother said. “Thanks to you.”

“I thought for sure you were dead when she stabbed you,” Terra said. “I can’t believe the knife blade actually broke off. How did that happen?”

“I have no idea,” Connor said, and he appeared clearly rattled as he said it. “It shouldn’t have, by all rights. A silver knife should have sliced me like butter straight to the heart.”

Terra shivered at the haunted sound to his words. “Why is Jayel so intent on killing you?” she asked. “From what little I could get her to tell me, I gather it has something to do with her brother.”

Connor nodded.

“What the hell did you do to her brother?” Terra’s father asked with a tone of pure acid.

“Nothin’,” Connor said. “But the alpha of the pack I used to belong to did somethin’ terrible to her family. And then he claimed Jayson for himself.”

“Her family’s dead, and her brother’s a werewolf now,” Nash said. “She ain’t exactly takin’ it well.”

“Nor should she.” Connor rubbed his neck, which was raw and red where the silver chain had sat. “Blaise made Jayson a hostage the way that he did most of the rest of us. Jayson was the last one turned before that bastard finally met his end. Somethin’ Jayel must not know yet.”

“She does know,” Terra said. “I told her.”

“She obviously doesn’t care,” Nash said.

“She was pretty manic when she heard the news,” Terra replied. “But she doesn’t think she’s got her pound of flesh just yet.”

Lilith interrupted. “So you two came back to fight a woman who wants to kill you because you sensed somehow that Terra was in danger?”

“That’s pretty much the way of it,” Nash said.

The sound of approaching sirens halted the discussion. “You should go,” Terra told the men.

“She’s right,” her mother added. “I told the dispatcher there were just the three of us here. I’d rather not have to explain you two.” She held out the stained towel she’d just used on the floor. “Take this with you so they won’t see it. And hurry.”

Two pairs of mildly glowing eyes turned Terra’s way. “I’ll be all right,” she said. “Get out of here before they see you leaving.”

“We ain’t goin’ far,” Connor whispered to Terra. “Not ever again.”

They were halfway down the hall, clutching their towels around their waists, when her mother called after them. “Thank you,” she said, and they paused. “Thank you for coming back to help my daughter.”

With a nod, they slipped into the kitchen, and Terra heard the back door close a moment later. Her heart was still racing as she stared into the void left by their departure.

“Why the hell are you thanking them?” her father asked. “Whose side are you on?”

Her mother turned to him with a flat look. “I’m on the side of anyone who would risk themselves to protect my little girl.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous is that we almost lost Terra because a boyfriend was not only irresponsible, but stood by without doing a damn thing to help her after the accident. You sat by her bedside in that hospital, Jack. You should be on the same side I am after seeing that those two boys were willing to die not only to save your daughter, but your wife as well.”

A muscle twitched in the man’s jaw at the words. That’s when Terra saw something she’d never seen before, not even in the hospital when she woke up from a coma.

Her father broke down in tears.

Chapter Twelve

Two Months Later

“Are you sure this is gonna work?” Nash asked the spiky, white-haired man who was taking a seat across from Terra and Nash.

Late afternoon had fallen in Shay Falls, where Terra and her mates had gathered behind a quaint cabin deep in the woods. Terra inhaled the scent of pine and rich earth while she watched “Drew,” as he’d been introduced, take a long drag off a tall-neck beer. Between his bleached hair and tight black clothing, he came off looking very punk. But his voice was pure cowboy when he spoke.

“It’ll work,” he said. “Tal is the real deal. Ain’t no doubt in my mind.”

“We ain’t doubtin’ your mate’s abilities,” Connor said. He was leaning, arms folded, against a nearby tree, looking delectable in snug jeans and a denim shirt. “Based on the enlightened chat we had with some of the old pack, it’s clear your mate saved our lives.”

“I had no idea gypsy curses even existed,” Nash added. “But Jayel’s bullet goin’ straight through me but missin’ my heart, and then her knife snappin’ off against Connor’s rib, well, it was just too much to be sheer coincidence. It all made sense once Caleb told us about Talaitha and the curse she used to protect you.”

Terra shoved her hands between her knees to ward against the chill in the air—and in her bones—while she listened. He wore dark jeans and a simple black T-shirt that did anything but simple things to his taut body and her fluttering stomach. Maybe the mystical explanation made sense to Nash, but Terra was still shocked to think that some kind of gypsy magic had been the only thing that stopped her from becoming a despondent, grieving mate.

“We’re very grateful that your mate’s actions spared us,” Connor added. “We just want to make sure this vendetta of Jayel’s ends here.”

“Even I cannot guarantee that,” said a female voice behind them. “But I can help you.”

The woman they had come to see stopped in front of Terra and extended her hand. “I’m Talaitha. Sorry to keep you waiting. I was helping Russell ready the ingredients I’ll need for the protection spell.”

Terra and Nash stood up and shook the woman’s hand.

“You knew we were coming?” Terra asked.

Talaitha nodded. “Caleb called ahead.”

A real live gypsy! Terra couldn’t help but stare. This woman was the reason Jayel’s attempts to kill Connor and Nash had failed. Talaitha’s mates had once been in similar danger, and she’d put some kind of curse on Jayel to stop her. It sounded unbelievable. But then, so did the existence of werewolves.

The moment Terra took Talaitha’s hand, she felt an instant sense of kinship and understanding. Both women were the mates of werewolves. Werewolves with a common enemy they had come together to discuss. That shared ground aside, the two of them couldn’t be more different. Talaitha certainly dressed the part of a gypsy, wearing a long skirt and flowing, white blouse. Her hair was dark, almost black, and her keen eyes were no lighter. Although she was a quite a bit shorter than Terra, there was a fiery aspect to her manner that made her stand equal to those who towered around her. And she carried herself with grace and a self-assured air Terra could only aspire to.

Talaitha regarded her at the same time, her eyes focusing just above the cleavage visible between the open buttons of Terra’s purple blouse. Talaitha glanced at the throat scar Terra no longer felt the need to hide behind turtlenecks and scarves. Then she smiled.