PackRescue (23 page)

Fina nodded, accepting the rather shameless compliment in
the spirit in which she hoped it was intended.

“And when I’m finished
that
,” Melinda continued, “I’m
outta here. There’s a pack two counties over having a dance tonight and I’ve
got my high heels shined and ready to go.”

Fina grunted noncommittally. “Well, bring back a plumber if
you can. And make it a good one. Cutler says he’s tired of calling in some
human whenever the sinks get stopped up in the town hall.”

“I’ll check their resumes at the door,” Melinda promised
with a grin, nodded and walked back into her classroom.

“So Ryan’s fully integrated into the pack now.”

Fina sat in front of her laptop, rereading the last emails
she and Owen had exchanged, waiting for him to come online. Cutler and
Nathaniel were in the backyard with Ryan, catching worms by moonlight. They
were going fishing in the morning.

“He starts school after Labor Day. He drew a picture of
the barn for you. Send me your snail-mail address and I’ll send it to you. He’s
a lot livelier (read loud and boisterous) now that he’s got a pack and a place
in it. (grin)”

“What about you?”

“I feel like a cheat. What if they like me only because
I’m strong, the daughter of Alphas, and I’ll bear them worthy cubs? Is it the
money? My business acumen?”

Fina shook her head as she re-read her words. Why could she
be so honest with Owen and not with her mates?

“Sorry it took me so long to get back. I had to ask
somebody what acumen meant. Look, you don’t make these guys sound like idiots.
Not to be insensitive but I’m hearing a lot of grief talking. I feel the same
way. Big boys aren’t supposed to get all emotional and cry about the dead
mother they haven’t actually seen in two years. Mom flew to Germany when I had
leave. I guess she never told anybody back home.”

“I didn’t know.”

“We’re hurting, Fina. All three of us. You’re young and
you have choices. This pack has taken you in and accepted you as one of them
but that doesn’t relieve me of my responsibilities to you and Ryan. I can’t
believe I’m saying this after I screwed my position in our old pack so I’d be
able to get out but I’m the lone male adult in our pack now. Where you are,
you’re safe and provided for. But if it doesn’t work out or you change your
mind, you’ve got something to fall back on. Me.”

Her laptop chirped and she clicked on the instant message
icon. The image of Owen’s face filled one-third of the screen.

“Hey, cowgirl. Aren’t you sick of seeing my tired old
mug?”

Fina grinned.
“Yes. But I’m polite.”

“Nice. Is Ryan still up? Thought he could show me that
picture before you mail it.”

Fina turned away from the screen, bellowed, then smiled back
at Owen.

“So have you decided what you’ll do?”

“Other than fantasizing about kicking back on a tropical
beach next time I’m on leave and counting in my head those millions of dollars
we have?”

“Seriously.”

“Seriously. If it’s okay, I’m going to stay where I am.
You know if you need me, I’ll hop on a plane as soon as I can. The work here
keeps my mind off what happened. Besides, if you don’t need me, there’s nothing
for me to come back to.”

“Hey, honey.” Cutler walked into the office, carrying Ryan
on his shoulders. He ducked so Ryan’s head could clear the doorway. “You
screeched?”

“I did. I’m talking to Owen and he asked if Ryan would show
him his drawing before I mailed it to him.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Ryan scrambled off Cutler’s back and raced
down the hall to his room.

“While I’m here, can I talk to him?” Cutler asked.

Fina’s eyes widened then she nodded and stood up. Cutler sat
down in the chair she’d vacated.

“Hmm. Warm,” he teased and leaned toward the laptop,
scanning Owen’s face. He started pecking at the keyboard with two fingers.
“Owen,
my name is Sheriff Cutler Powell. Fina may have mentioned me.”
He glanced
up and winked at her.
“I’m the pack Alpha. I can’t invite you to join
without meeting you first. You know how it is with established packs and
outside, adult males. But you’re always welcome to visit. When you’re ready,
come out and stay for a while. Fina tells us how much she likes talking to you
about old times.”

The two men looked over each other’s images.

“Thanks, Sheriff. I appreciate the offer. Maybe I will
sometime.”

Cutler nodded, said “good” out loud then sat back in the
chair and hauled Ryan onto his lap when the six year old raced back into the
room. Ryan held a drawing up to the pinhole camera.

“Back it up, cowboy,”
Owen typed.
“It’s too
close.” There was a pause. “That’s a great drawing, Ryan. You’re really good. I
can’t wait to show my picture off to the other fellows. Can I hang it up in my
quarters?”

Owen spent the next five minutes explaining what quarters
meant, what he did on night patrol and asking about Ryan’s day.

Cutler stood up, kissed Fina and let her take his place so
she could type out Ryan’s responses for him. Nath came in, winked at her and
thumbed through his paperwork for the next day’s trek.

“Fina, I wanna go
home
.” Ryan’s strident tone echoed
through the room. He started to cry.

Owen’s face was frozen in surprise, then the furrow in his
forehead deepened.

“Stop it NOW. Just because you’re my cousin does NOT mean
you can throw a temper tantrum. Do you understand me, Ryan?”

Fina read back Owen’s response. Ryan stopped crying but his
lower lip shook. He nodded at the screen.

“Better. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I can’t wait to get
my picture. Give Fina a big hug and kiss good night for me. Bye.”

His image faded off the screen. Both Cutler and Nath glanced
down at Ryan worriedly.

“Okay. Bedtime, big guy,” Nath said with forced enthusiasm.
He ruffled Ryan’s hair. “We’re getting up early to go fishing, remember?”

Ryan stuck his thumb in his mouth as he followed Nath out of
the room.

While the brothers helped Ryan get ready for bed and
listened to him read, Fina stayed in the office, writing another email to Owen.
He’d read it later that day when he could book more computer time.

“
I wish I knew more about this parenting stuff. Today
Ryan and I were in the grocery store and he was telling the clerk that his
mother always buys apples and bananas. Present tense. He knows they’re dead but
sometimes I think he imagines they aren’t. I’m going to ask the local doctor
for a referral to a counselor. This is way beyond my skill set and I don’t want
to screw him up.”
She hit send and started a virus scan before calling it a
night. To her surprise, the laptop chirped at her. It was Owen.

“You won’t. You take too good care of him to let that
happen.”

“Thought you’d logged off.”

“Have a couple of minutes left before the friendlies
start throwing live ordnance at me. I didn’t want to reward Ryan’s bad behavior
by staying online with him.”

“Clever. Looks like you’re the one developing some
parenting skills.”

“Bite your tongue, woman. I’m a religious believer in
bachelorhood and keeping the old trouser snake firmly wrapped in latex whenever
there are ladies around.”

“TMI.”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway I really do have to go in a minute.
Let me know what the counselor says but I’m sure Ryan’ll be fine. He’s just hurting
and acting out. Sorry you have to take it. Remember, if it’ll help, I’d be
willing to leave the service when my tour is up in a few months. The three of
us can start up again in a new community back east. We’ll be smart, we’ll be
safe and we’ll grow a large pack around us. The two of you won’t be anybody’s
charity. You’re my responsibility. I’m not saying these guys poached you. They
took you in and I’ll always be grateful for that. I just want to be sure you’ve
taken an opportunity to step back and assess what it is you want.”
Owen’s
head came up and he looked around.
“Getting off my soapbox now. Gotta go.
Send that picture express. We can afford it.”

The corners of Fina’s mouth turned down as she touched the
blank screen. A part of her was lured by his offer and the picture he painted.
It was also the part of her that grieved, that was still in shock and denial.
She sat back in the chair and looked at the dark window, surprised she
recognized those feelings in herself. A few weeks ago the subtleties of what
motivated her had been beyond her comprehension.

In so many ways she still felt like a victim. She didn’t
want to love again. She also wanted her old life back, wanted the things that
had been taken from her. Talking with Owen made
that
seem real at least.

She closed the laptop. Now she was thinking like Ryan. Maybe
all three of them were. She couldn’t blame Owen. His grief was fresher than
hers or Ryan’s. He was a good man. A responsible soldier. A were. He’d commit
to doing the right thing. She was also sure he’d commit to doing the wrong
thing if she said that’s what she wanted. Fina felt the truth of that in her
heart.

What she couldn’t understand was the feeling of suffocation
that had begun to settle on her. She rubbed her chest. Cutler and Nath had
planned her life out for her. She didn’t know if she didn’t want it or if she
was simply running away from yet another thing that could be taken from her.

“Are all the payments in?” Cutler nodded his thanks as
Dorothea Pike handed him a cup of coffee. They were sitting around her kitchen
table.

“The last ones came in this week.” She served him, Nath,
Fina and her husband Gil slices of blueberry coffee cake.

“Payments?” Fina asked.

Gil nodded. “All weres in the pack with a regular paycheck
contribute five percent of their net to a business development fund. Pack
members are invited to submit startup proposals and budgets for seed money. Or
grants if existing businesses have a capital shortfall.”

“What support do you give them?” Fina’s head tipped to one
side.

“Support?” the older man asked.

Fina frowned. “Yes. Within the first two years, startups
without mentoring in place have about a sixty-four percent failure rate. That
percentage is higher if the business is in the food-service industry.”

Cutler jumped in. “The pack’s large, Fina, but we don’t have
experts in every area of business. Look at Nath,” he explained, giving his
brother a nod. “Before he started his outfitting business there was nobody but
old-time trackers leading a few guys from the city into the woods during
hunting season.”

Fina tried to sound encouraging, not condescending. “Am I
correct in assuming that, say, if someone wanted to start up a glass-blowing
business, they’d know how to blow glass?”

“Um. Sure.” Cutler shrugged. “We ask about that on the form.
What actual experience they have.”

“Good. That’s a good start.” Fina nodded enthusiastically. “Do
you offer accounting information or seminars? Tax tips? Staffing referrals or
even employee-sharing schemes? Ideas for keeping pace with market trends, the
forces of supply and demand on the marketplace?”

“You’re still speaking English, right?” Nath asked. His
brows drew together.

She grinned. “I’m talking business, Nathaniel. So what do
you do with these payments once you receive them?”

“Well,” Gil answered. Before he’d retired, he’d been an
accountant. Now he was the pack’s bookkeeper. “We deposit the money in a
business account at the bank. Once we know exactly how much we’ve got to give
out that year, we ask for proposals, then distribute the money after about
three months.”

“Three months? All that cash, sitting in a bank account that’s
not going to pay you any interest and
will
charge you monthly fees?” She
sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Has anyone ever suggested putting the money
into short-term investments, holding back a percentage of the capital and all
of the interest after dispersal, rolling that over into set-term investments
and GICs, then maybe after five or six years letting the fund become
self-sustaining so annual grants can be paid out of interest, leaving the
principal intact so you wouldn’t need to ask your pack for money every year?”
She stopped suddenly and inhaled.

Cutler blinked then grinned at her. “Looks like we’ve found
ourselves a business manager after all. Guess you
are
more than just a
pretty face.” He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and laid his
forehead on hers.

“Hey, Mr. Pike. That pony sure has grown.” Ryan came racing
into the house. Fina shot him a look, pointed at the boots still on his feet,
and Ryan walked backward to the door where he toed them off. “Is he big enough
to carry me?”

“I think he just might be. In fact, I was going to ask your
folks about it. I’m going out on horseback first thing tomorrow morning to
check the fence lines. Mrs. Pike is going to pack me one of her special
breakfast-in-a-baskets. Was wondering if they’d consider letting you tag along.”

“
Yesss.
” Ryan pumped his fist in the air, ran up to
the table and positioned himself between Cutler and Fina. Nath was generally a
soft touch and didn’t require wheedling. “Please.
Please.
” He bounced up
on his toes. “I could sleep here tonight and you wouldn’t have to pick me up
until later.”

“Quite the social planner, hmm?” Fina murmured. She regarded
Ryan with a thin smile.

“You haven’t been invited, Ryan,” Cutler reminded him
firmly.

Ryan’s face fell.

“Well, understanding that he
should
have waited to be
asked first, and understanding that he’ll make
sure
he waits for an
invite next time…” Dorothea interjected. “Ryan, if it’s okay with them you’re
more than welcome to stay over and have supper with us tonight. Do you have
long pants for tomorrow?” She cast a critical eye over his shorts.