Packed: The Enforcer: A Shifter Paranormal Romance (4 page)

She opened her mouth, but Cash held up his hand to forestall her from saying anything. "Let me talk. You know I don't have a lot of time. I know you and Tek have been..."

Was he actually blushing?

"Seeing each other," he settled on the most generic term for what he knew they had been doing, much preferring not to think about any of the specifics. "For a while, despite the fact that you have been told, numerous times, by myself and our father, not to."

For once in her life, Mari's mouth remained closed.

"Not going to deny it?" Cash asked.

Mari shrugged. "No, I'm through with lying and with covering things up and sneaking around. And Tek knows nothing about my little confession here, by the way."

She could see the muscle jumping in his jaw that meant he was truly angry. "He should never have allowed himself to become involved with you – again. He should have known better."

"Should he? We're not adult enough to choose our own lovers, either of us? I'm not so sure I want to sign on to the idea that someone else can determine who I sleep with."

Her brother looked truly puzzled. "Then why did you ask me if you could come back to the pack?"

"Because I miss it! I miss the parties, the poker nights, and the wives' coffee klatches and always knowing there was a brother or sister member around to help if I needed it...I just miss it," she stated baldly, staring down at her hands.

Cash ran his hand through his thick, gold blonde hair. "So you want the best of what we have without having to conform to our – to
my
– rules."

She gave him a watery smile. "You know how much of a brat I am. I like things my way. Are you really that surprised?"

He almost chuckled, but not quite. It was too close to the change for that. It came out as more of a bark. "No, I can't say as I am." He startled her by reaching down to grasp her arms just below her shoulders and stand her up in front of him. "But it doesn't work that way, Mari. You have to grow up and decide what you want – either you're in the pack all the way and you'll abide by the rules I set or you're out – and this time for good, or you're all the way out, as in shunned." It hurt him just to say the word in regards to his sister, but that was what was going to have to happen if she screwed up again. "I want you to take some time – by yourself – and I mean without Tek, too – and think about that. I'll get back to you in a month or so, and you can give me your decision then."

"A month of no contact? With you or Abby, either?" she wailed.

She could see him grit his teeth at her whine, and whether that was because it annoyed him or because it was his impulse – along with her father's – to give her what she wanted to prevent her from making such a sound that grated painfully over his sensitive ears.

"Yes. With no pack contact at all. So you can approach this with a clear head." Cash watched a single tear trace down her cheek, and it darn near killed him not to give in to her. "Take this time to think, brat. You've been all over the road on this, in and out and half in and half out, and large, testosterone filled groups like ours don't function well with uncertainty and inconsistency. You told Dad you had no interest in living the way we do before you left for college, and you've come back and left again several times since then. None of it seems to have made you happy, and that's very hard for the people who love you to see."

She knew he didn't consider that Tek was among those people, and she wasn't sure that he was, either. But she certainly hoped, no matter how much she tried to tamp it down.

"But, like Dad said, pack life's not for everyone, and it's probably hardest on the females. So you really need to consider your options very carefully, sister." With that, he kissed her hastily on the forehead and left her there, roaring away from her at breakneck speed, headed for the huge chunk of desert the club owned that was well away from humanity, where they would all run free – safely – for the next few nights.

* * *

Mari had actually spent the past month doing exactly as her brother had suggested she do. She had followed his dictates about not interacting with anyone from the pack – including Abby and, to her surprise, Tek – to the letter. She had brought work home to mow through, mostly things she avoided doing as long as she could, which meant bills and paperwork, when the ringtone "Werewolves of London" began to play on her cell and a picture displayed of Cash standing next to a ten point buck he'd shot while hunting when he was seventeen. Mari liked the dichotomy that the picture and the song created. She knew he had been very proud of himself at the time, since hunting as a human was that much harder for a were. The prey was that much more heightened in their presence than they were with humans – and she smiled every time he called her.

"Hi, how are you?" she gushed.

He chuckled on the other end of the phone. "Wow, I don't think I've ever heard you quite so enthusiastic about talking to your brother!"

"Well," she said, moving crap off her lap so that she could focus on the conversation, "I've missed you. It's been a lonely-assed month."

Everything in him wanted to apologize to her for that, but he stopped himself. "And has your alone time helped you sort through what it is that you want?"

She hated to admit it when he was right, but he was. It had been shocking – and humbling – to hear that he thought she was flighty at best and unreliable at worst. When he'd said he'd thought that she'd been all over the road about whether she wanted to be a part of the pack, she'd been insulted at first, then hurt
and
insulted. But somewhere during those long weeks, she'd taken a good hard look at how she'd acted and realized – to her horror, on a lot of levels – that the son of a bitch was right.

Living in that kind of family environment, with lots of rules governing her behavior – even more so for her as the daughter of the Alpha – had her wanting to rebel just for the sake of rebelling when she was younger. And when she'd moved back, then away, then back again, she'd desperately wanted to cling to the parts of that life she liked – like the sociability of the pack gatherings, and, of course, Tek and everything he represented to her about sex and power – and reject the ones she felt stifled by.

But she couldn't do that any longer, not only for her own mental health, but for the good of the club itself. Cash had, indeed, followed in his father's footsteps, and had become one hell of a pack leader, despite all of the turmoil that had surrounded his reign – most of which, she had to admit – she'd had a hand, or more, in, much to her shame.

But no more. She had determined that, in this conversation with her brother, in his capacity as the Alpha that she would either commit to being a part of the pack, or agree to remain completely apart from it from that point on.

And the biggest part of that was Tek, regardless of which decision she made. If she was shunned, Tek couldn't come near her, without fear of being shunned himself. And if she rejoined them, they would both be held to Cash's rule that they not be involved with each other.

He hadn't tried to contact her since her brother had commanded her to cloister herself and think, but then she knew that Cash would have filled him in about exactly what was going on, since he was his right hand man and the situation involved him. And she was quite sure that he had been physically chastised for going against Cash and seeing her behind his back and was probably warned again to stay away from her.

"Yes, it has."

"Well, why don't you meet me at the club in thirty and we'll talk?"

Mari checked the time. It was just past seven, and getting close to dark, but the moon was waning, so there was no rush. She had lived almost her first twenty years always checking the calendar for the phases. The men had no need for artificial calendars; they knew the cycles by instinct, by an ancient, internal clock. She had often laughed at the fact that, in her family, it wasn't
her
time of the month that really mattered.

Cash had a big office down at the clubhouse, as if he was the CEO of a rising, prosperous company. And in a lot of ways, he was.

"Use the private door."

In other words, he didn't want her coming through the front door for everyone to see and speculate about.

Uncertain just what that meant for her, Mari nonetheless agreed.

Less than thirty minutes later, she was sitting in his office, waiting. It wasn't like him to be late, but then, it all fell on his shoulders now, and she cut him more slack than she might have.

Suddenly, the door out to the club opened and Tek came in, and he was obviously not expecting to see here there. His hand went immediately to the gun he always had tucked into his waistband, but he stood down as soon as he recognized her. An awkward silence ensued, which made Mari sad. It had never been that way between them before.

And what was worse was the fact their bodies reacted as if nothing was different between them, as if they were inches away from a big, comfortable bed, as they so often were when they were together. Her nipples hardened behind the filmy lace of her bra, which was no protection at all against his eager eyes watching them doing just that, and it was all she could do not to shift in her chair as she felt her own juices leaking out onto her fresh white panties.

There was no disguising the bulge in his pants, so he didn't even bother, and Mari wasn't sure whether that was a disrespect or a telling sign of how comfortable they had once been with each other.

"Meeting Cash?" he asked, wanting to smack himself as soon as the words were out. What else would she be doing in his office, idiot?

"Yeah, I-I'm thinking about coming back to the pack. Formally, that is. Instead of just hanging out on the fringes like I have been." Shut up, Mari! She chastised herself. Shut up, shut up, shut up!

He looked very unenthusiastic about that idea but gave her the smile he gave strangers, the one that didn't reach his eyes, and nodded anyway. A fake smile on someone like Tek just made him look like a dog with his teeth bared. The only thing it was missing was the menacing growl.

"Would that be all right with you? If I...you know, joined again?" Despite his horrid, faux smile, the idea of asking his opinion of what she was considering just struck her, but as soon as the question was out, she realized she really wanted to know what he thought about it.

"Sounds fine. Good idea. Fine. Good," he repeated, closing his mouth with an audible snap of his teeth when it was apparent that he was just going to keep repeating himself like the brainless dolt he was.

Mari's eyes misted a bit as he lied through his teeth, then tap-danced his way out of her presence as quickly as he could without actually turning tail and running. If the whole encounter hadn't seemed so tragic and somehow wistful to her, she might have smiled at the idea of that big, hulking man running from the likes of her.

When Cash finally arrived, she had gotten herself more under control, but her impromptu meeting with Tek had upset her so that she wasn't anywhere near as sure as she had been about the answer she was going to give him.

"I was glad to hear how positive you sounded on the phone. Does that mean that we're going to be welcoming you back into our little extended family, I hope?"

Did he really hope for that? she wondered. It was hard to tell. She had always had the uncanny knack of reading Cash much more accurately than he wanted from the time she was very young. But the older they both got, and the less close they became, emotionally and physically to each other, the less accurate she became, so that now he was just as much of a mystery to her as anyone else was.

Mari cleared her throat and gave him her answer, "Yes, I would like to rejoin the Alpha-Omegas."

Cash rose immediately to come around to the front of his desk and hug her tightly. "I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that, Mari. It just hasn't been the same without my little sister by my side."

As she hugged her brother with all her strength, Mari shed a single tear, both for the enormity of what she was gaining, and losing, at the same time.

* * *

She got into the swing of their small society much more easily than she had expected to, though. She was an independent, single woman, and there weren't many of those around the club. The mates pretty much stayed at home and raised the children, although they could certainly work if they liked. But the guys brought in more than enough money for them not to have to, and the majority didn't. Lots of them did volunteer work, mostly for the children in the area, and that kept them busy.

But her relationship to their leader meant that the single guys in the pack considered her pretty much off limits – except, of course, for the one she wasn't supposed to want. None of them was willing to brave Cash – except Tek. She had been glad to see that he had treated her reentry into pack society as serious, and they had not had a liaison since the fateful night after the potluck. They hadn't even really talked at all. Tek did his best to stay out of her way, usually finding some excuse to leave a room once she'd entered it, and spending his time with the other single guys at pack parties, instead of hanging with Cash and Abby as he used to, because she was also there. Mari tried to do her part, too, making sure they weren't alone together any more than they had to be. It wasn't as if their desire for each other could be shut off, but it could, apparently, be stuffed down, and that was exactly what she intended to do, and day after day, week after week, month after month, it began to get the tiniest bit easier to do that.

At least until she saw him again. Then it was back to square one, every time. He seemed to be coping much better than she was, it seemed, and that was hard for her to realize, too.

Mari took to spending her off time – what there was of it – at the club, and, with her business degree, quickly found herself getting involved in the financial end of things. That was something that Cash did because it was his responsibility, but he didn't like it. He was only too happy to turn over those duties to his sister, whom he trusted with his life
and
his money, which was saying something.

She tried to make sure she was there for every pack event, whether it was just someone's birthday, or a Fourth of July barbeque at Cash and Abby's, or a more official occasion, such as voting on whether or not someone could join the club. Ancestry and family history with the pack were only part of what one needed to become a full fledged member - and she quickly became known as a smart, level headed cookie, whether she was dealing with someone who had been shot up in a raid gone bad, or with the inevitable search warrants that were occasionally presented from the police. She knew most of the officers on the squad and they knew her, so she was very congenial with them, which was a very different reception than the antagonistic one that usually met with them. Mari served them coffee and home baked cookies while they were rummaging through the clubhouse.

That became a bit of a bone of contention with some of the members, who thought she was aiding and abetting the enemy, and she was called before their council, which consisted of the Alpha, his enforcer – who was Tek – and three other of his most trusted men. Although all decisions were his to make, regarding the club, he was also expected to take into consideration the advice his council gave him on matters affecting the pack.

In the end, though, she was able to convince them that her way of treating the law – openly, with good humor and courtesy – would make them less likely to think of them as outlaw rebels who needed to be kept a close eye on. Constant confrontations with them were a vicious cycle. They had agreed to a trial period of six months, during which what had been almost weekly raids became monthly, then bi-monthly, then only the occasional annoyance.

But harassment from the cops was only one problem they faced. Other aggressive packs trying to take over anyone and everyone's territory was an even more serious dilemma.

One of their rival clubs had ridden into the parking lot of the club one Saturday, more than a year and a half after she'd been welcomed back into the crew, while she was there doing the books. Everyone else was gone on an impromptu run – which could have meant anything from visiting the whorehouse they ran under the table to transporting drugs or guns or even medical or chemical waste; she knew better than to ask for and they didn't offer an explanation. The only people with her who could be counted on to be any help – and it wouldn't be much - were two newbs who had each been with the pack for less than a month and weren't even yet allowed to wear anything with a club insignia. Without hesitation, she threw on the leathers that she had only just earned back and stalked out there to meet their leader, flanked by the two uncertain recruits, after instructing the scrawny barkeep, who was an old, retired member with one eye and only part of his left arm, to call Cash and tell him what was happening.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips in a no nonsense fashion that also gave them a good look at the Glock she had in a speed holster on her hip. And it was no idle threat. Her father had known that the less scrupulous packs in the area weren't at all above coming at his family, so she had grown up knowing how to handle a gun, and she was a damned fine shot.

Her bravado drew a chuckle from the White Lights, who she knew were a neo-Nazi pack from the four corners area. They weren't a pack that they were cordial with – one was never really "friends" with another club but rather settled for an uneasy truce in most cases in order to conduct business – and she knew they weren't partnering with them in any capacity for any reason. And they were a very violent bunch. She might have rebelled against all the rules and regulations that governed pack life in the Alpha-Omegas. But she'd take every one of those restrictions over the absolute lawless, anything goes environment that some packs seemed to prefer, claiming it kept them more in touch with their wild side rather than conforming to human laws in any way, shape or form, to say nothing of how atrociously they treated their women.

Their leader and his beta dismounted to stand in front of her, looking her dismissively up and down at very close quarters before issuing a wolf whistle and saying, "Well, ain't you just a fine piece of ass."

"No, I'm not. I think you might have me confused with Bing over there." Bing was a slight man who looked barely more than a boy, although he was twenty-three, and seemed to be on the edge of gay but wasn't. What he was, was a virgin, which was something that he hadn't had the common sense to keep to himself around the guys, hence the nickname his compadres hung on him. "I'm Cash Buchanan's sister. Is there something I can do for you?"

The fact that they ignored that pertinent bit of information had Mari far more worried than their insulting banter. Instead of impressing them with the idea that they needed to respect a female member of a pack leader's family, what she'd said just brought a chorus of snickers from the men behind him. "Oh, honey, it's more what I can do for you!" he said, laughing as he arched his hips towards her while holding his package in his hand and making smooching noises.

Mari rolled her eyes. "From where I'm standing," she responded calmly, casting a withering glance at what little he was cupping, "even Bing might be too much for you to handle."

The newbies behind her cracked up at that, and some of the gang in front of them were brave – or stupid – enough to chuckle a bit, too, but their leader seemed downright insulted, for some reason she couldn't fathom.

"Why you little –" He lunged at her, which was exactly what she'd been expecting. She used his own momentum against him, grabbing his hand, twisting it around and back while she pressed the vulnerable area between his index and middle fingers mercilessly with her thumb, bringing him to his knees in the same split second that she brought out her gun, aiming it directly at the man's temple.

His men barely had time to respond, but some of them were quicker than others, lunging at her until they saw her brandishing a gun at their leader, saying, "I wouldn't, if I were you, gentlemen. He won't be the first man I've killed, nor will he be the last. Whatever your original reason for dropping by, I'd say you've long since overstayed your welcome."

The cavalry chose just that moment to arrive, which had the unfortunate effect of sending a situation she had reasonably well in hand right down the crapper. The White Lights reached for their weapons, but the home team had come in, guns blazing, having been warned about what was happening by Chappy, the barkeep. Unfortunately, their appearance startled Mari, who committed the cardinal sin of becoming distracted while holding a loaded gun.

The man on his knees used his free arm to knock the gun out of her hand, and as she took a couple steps back from him, now defenseless against him, he pulled his own automatic and aimed it right at her chest.

But as he pulled the trigger, something or someone knocked him down with a loud, completely horrified, "
No
!" and the shot went a bit wide – clean through her savior Tek's chest and Mari's upper arm. Despite his injuries, Tek was on the older man like the animal he often could be, reaching back to break the man's arm in order to get him to release the weapon he was randomly discharging in hopes of hitting someone else. Then he beat him into an unrecognizable pulp before collapsing on top of him, his life's blood rapidly draining out of him.

Rescue – and the law, of course – arrived in record time, luckily, and Mari and Tek were both taken to the hospital, as they were the ones who were the worse for the wear.

They had won, but at what cost?

Mari was nearly inconsolable, and throughout her own treatment, all she could say was that she wanted to be with Tek. She knew he had no family, none that would admit to it anyway, and if he was dying, she wanted to be with him. At that moment, she didn't give a damn about what her brother or her sister-in-law or anyone else might say about how she was acting or how she was affecting the pack. She just wanted to be with him. It didn't matter to her how many times a stark-faced Cash told her that they had taken him right into the operating room as soon as he had arrived, and that no one would be able to see him until he was out. She needed to see him, or be as close to him as possible. He'd also given her the bad news that the White Lights' Alpha had silver bullets in his gun and had, apparently, wanted to see Cash to get rid of him and take over the pack.