Wolf Creek Enforcer (8 page)

Devlin gave her a look of horror. “No! I love women.  Not that I have anything against it if you swing that way, but, no, I love everything there is about women,” he stated adamantly. 

Melanie laughed.  “I’m just yanking your chain.  You know, cause dogs have those chain collars, or they get chained in the yard.”

Melanie was giggling while Ian held on to her.  She could feel him underneath her shaking as he tried to suppress his laughter.

Devlin
looked at Ian.  “She doesn’t realize we’ve heard every dog joke there is.  Pitiful, laughing at your own joke,” Devlin said solemnly.

Melanie straightened up, trying to look contrite.  “I’m sorry, I’ll try to do better.  By the way, my brother likes women too.  Don’t tell him I was trying to set him up with you or he’ll get even with me.”

“I’ll keep you safe.  No one messes with my woman,” Ian said, playing the straight guy. 

“My hero,” she said.

* * *

“Okay, I
need to tell you about my families legacy.  Since I’ll be part of this family too, I’d like to include Devlin.  First of all, this needs to stay between us.  I mean, basically just the immediate family.  There are some bad people in this world that would try and take advantage of my family if they knew what it is we do,” she told them seriously. 

“You’re scaring me, babe, and nothing scares me except you being harmed,” Ian said.

“Sorry Spot,” Melanie said.

Ian sighed, looking at Devlin who
snorted.  “Later.”  He’d forgotten she’d didn’t like being called babe.

“Anyway, to keep it simple, we are
travelers.”  Melanie waited for them both to absorb this. 

“Okay, I’ll bite, pun
intended.  What are travelers?”  What is it exactly that you do?” Ian asked.

“We retrieve people that have been accidentally tossed through time,” Melanie said.

Ian laughed.  “You’re kidding me, right?  There’s no such thing as time travel.”

“Riiight.  Just like there’s no such thing as shifters,” Melanie stated. 

Ian sobered up immediately and glanced over at his brother.  He saw that Devlin was staring at Melanie and not snickering.

“You know, I’ve heard of the string theory explanation.  You have a straight piece of string.  The top is the future, the middle is the present, and the bottom is the past.  You loop it and supposedly you can move anywhere on the string.  Past, present, or future,” Devlin said.

“Exactly!  Or, as we like to say, a Mobius strip,” she said snottily to Devlin.  “It’s infinite like the universe.”

Devlin rolled his eyes, “Brat.”

“Hold on,” Ian said.  “You’re serious.  This is real?  People really do travel through time?” he looked at Devlin. 

“Well, I’ve only known of it as a theory in quantum physics.  Seems like Melanie is the authority on this one,” Devlin said.

They both looked back to Melanie, who couldn’t help but smirk at them.  By now she had stood up and was pacing in front of the TV. 

“My family, and others have been gifted with the power to travel where needed to help those who get lost in time.  There are vortexes or portals all over
the world.  Depending on the ley lines and time of day, year, etcetera, people can accidentally be sent to another time,” she said. 

“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” Ian said.

“Watch your mouth, bro, lady present,” Devlin said.

Ian growled at him. 

Melanie glanced at Ian anxiously, “Anyway, when we need to rescue someone, we get a vibration.  It’s a knowing where we need to go.  The universe talks to us.  Once we arrive, we follow a trail to their essence.”

“That sounds exactly like what led me to you,” Ian said.

“I’m not sure, but that could have been coming from me.  I don’t really know,” she said.

“So how does it work?  Do you just disappear and go wherever or whenever?” Devlin asked. 

Melanie looked over at Ian.  He was watching her, waiting for her answer. 

“Um,
no, we don’t just disappear.  We control when and where we go.  We’re given the knowledge of the time period and area where we need to go.  Then it’s just a matter of finding that person.  They’re usually not hard to track, since they tend to stick out like a sore thumb,” she told them. 

“We also take a weapon, usually some type of knife
or sword.  We never take guns from this time period for fear they could be taken from us.  Mainly it’s the fear of someone getting ahold of a future weapon,” she said.

And there it was.  She knew he would explode at the thought of her in danger.

“I knew it!  It’s too dangerous.  I cannot believe your family allows you to do this,” Ian roared. 

Now Melanie was getting angry.  “They don’t
‘allow’ me to do anything,” she threw her hands up.  “This is my calling, my family’s legacy.  I’ve been trained to fight by hand and with my knife.  I’m also darn good with a sword.  Yes, it can be dangerous, but we aren’t stupid.  There are also things we can do, if necessary, magically.  We aren’t witches, so we don’t have their kind of power.  Our powers are subtle, like summoning the correct clothing, money, or whatever else may be needed.  The universe provides the magic, we just tap into it,” she finished.

Ian was humming with the urge to hit something.  “This is just great.  So I’m supposed to just sit here while you
go off on some dangerous mission?” he growled. 

Devlin sat back and watched the fireworks.  He’d never seen his brother throwing off so much energy.  Ian was like the space shuttle at launch time,
rumbling on the pad.

“No!” Melanie shouted back.  “I just ass
umed you would be going with me, like my parents do.  But you know what they say about assuming!  Only, you’re the ass and not me!”

Without a word, Ian turned and left the room.  A moment later, they heard a motorcycle and then gravel kicking up as it sped off. 

“Son of a bitch!  He took off on my new Harley!” Devlin complained.  “That’ll teach me to leave the keys in it.  Shit, oh, umm, sorry.” 

He looked over at Melanie to find her slowly sitting down and looking lost.

Devlin sat beside her and took her hand, patting it.  “There, there, it’ll be alright.  He’s probably just going to Charlie’s to have a few beers.  Maybe get one of the pack members to fight with him and burn off some of that energy.”  Under his breath, he mumbled, “And he’d better not wreck my bike.”

Melanie had her head down, her shoulders shaking.

“Hey, you’re not crying, are you?” he asked, alarmed.

She looked up and giggled.  “No need to freak out.  No tears.  Did you really pat my hand and say, there, there?  Comfort women much?”

Devlin grinned back at her.  “No, I don’t need to comfort them.  They’re always throwing themselves at me.”

Melanie punched him in the arm.  He was a good distraction from what
had just occurred. 

Chapter 5

Ian sat at Charlie’s nursing his longneck.  He’d been there about an hour, not speaking to anyone, just brooding.  He knew he was going to have to get his head right with this before he could head back home. 

He wished he could do the traveling for her, but he knew he didn’t have that kind of magic.  Needing more answers, he decided he would get her brothers phone number and talk to him.  Maybe her brother could take him on these trips and leave her at home.  Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

Getting off his stool, he headed for the poolroom to knock a few balls around.  His pack and the few patrons in the bar left him alone.  Ian’s vibe was shouting to everyone there to stay the hell back. 

Once he was calmer, he knew he needed to go home and talk to her.  He was sober as shifters metabolized alcohol quickly. 

Ian enjoyed the wind blowing his hair back, glad Texas didn’t have helmet laws.  Of course, as a shifter he was pretty indestructible.  Good thing I’m not human, he thought, otherwise he’d be a donor waiting to happen.

Arriving home, he saw Devlin and Melanie sitting on the sofa where he’d left them.  They were in a heated discussion about time travel.

“Okay, how about that old paradox about meeting your great-great-grandfather?  You know, where you kill him
, so then you’re never born,” he heard Devlin say.

Ian went and sat beside Melanie,
taking her hand and gently clasping it.  She looked at him but turned back to Devlin. 

“Then in that reality, you would cease to exist.  But in another realty, you would still be living since you had never killed your grandfather,” she told him. 

“So you’re saying there can be several realities?  By your way of thinking, we’re talking millions, even billions of alternative dimensions,” Devlin replied.

“Who’s
to say?  Since I haven’t run into my great-great-whatever, then I’m no expert.  But I do believe when I travel, the universe doesn’t send me to where any of my relatives are or were.  Whatever. I can’t prove it, that’s just my opinion,” she said.

“And what if they wanted to stay where they were, and not go back to their time?” Devlin asked.

“Enough.  I need to speak with Melanie now.  You can continue your geek-fest later.  And by the way, sweet ride,” Ian said smugly, tossing the keys to Devlin.

“Yeah, you owe me bro.  There’d b
etter not be any scratches on her either,” Devlin left to inspect his bike.

Melanie walked off
towards the kitchen.  She was just about to open the back door when she found herself caged in by Ian.

She could see his palms flat
against the door on either side of her head and felt his chest pressed up against her back.  Turning her head, she stared at his biceps, absently noting how huge they were. 

Her heart sped up when she felt his breath on her neck.  She stood frozen, waiting to see what he would do. 

Ian nuzzled her hair aside so he could kiss her neck.  Hearing her moan, he smiled.  Slowly sliding his hands down, he grasped her waist and turned her to face him.  Moving his hand to her chin, he traced her lips with his fingertip. 

Melanie held her breath waiting for his next move.  Leaning in close, he whispered, “I’m sorry,” right before he kissed her.  She felt his tongue along the seam of her lips and opened her mouth, letting him in. 

His tongue swept her mouth, while his body pressed her back to the door.  Melanie grabbed his arms, enjoying the feel of his hard muscles.  She gradually pulled back, not wanting to stop but needing air.  Laying her head against his chest, she panted.

Breathlessly, she said, “I thought you said we needed to talk.”

Ian laughed quietly.  “I got distracted.  Come on, lets go sit outside.  I have a feeling I’m going to spend a lot of time apologizing.”

Taking her hand, Ian led her out the door and to the chaise lounger.  He sat back on the chair and stretched out his legs, pulling her down between them.  With her back pressed against his chest
, Melanie rested her arms on top of his where he encircled her waist. 

Laying her head back against him, she waited for him to speak, knowing he had questions. 

Sighing, Ian started, “I find the thought of you putting yourself in a dangerous situation where you could be hurt, difficult to deal with.  What I propose is taking your place.  I’m not a druid, but I’ve been thinking.  What if you told me where and when you were supposed to go, and I got your brother to take me while you stayed here.”

“I understand how you feel but that wouldn’t work,” Melanie told him.  “
I couldn’t tell him exactly where I would be going.  It’s more like an internal broadcast that leads me,” she said.  

“I was afraid it would be something like that,” Ian said.  “Okay, new rul
e.  From now on, I’m your travel buddy, you won’t leave without me,” Ian said. 

Melanie gave him a huge smile, “I was hoping you would travel with me.  My parents have always gone together
and that’s exactly how I’d hoped it’d be for me.”

Melanie thought for a moment and decided he might as well know the rest.  “I sometimes travel with my brother, David.  Don’t freak out, but sometimes the person or persons need to be rescued, not just retrieved,” she told him. 

Grimly, Ian asked, “Rescued how? From what” 

“Umm, well, a dungeon or just say, being burned as a witch.  Look, we know what we’re doing.  You’re just going to have to trust me.”

“From now on, if David needs a partner, he can take me or Devlin,” Ian said.

“Okay, I think that would work.  I need to go call David now and find out where he is, and see if he’s available to come and meet you.  Is it okay for him to come here?” she asked.

“Of course.  You’re family is always welcome here.”

Ian released her so she could go call David.  He relaxed back against the chaise, folding his arms behind his head. 

When she traveled, he could handle it if he was there with her.  His biggest fear when she’d first told them how it worked was of her being taken from him at any moment in time.  He was glad to know they had some time to plan when summoned.