Grayslake: More than Mated: The Right Spot (Kindle Worlds Novella) (8 page)

“So he was the leader? And I’m guessing your call sign was Wildcat? Hmm.” She turned in his arms and kissed him. Just a short nibble to tide her over until they had time to do it properly. “I can attest to that. You’re
my
wildcat now.”

Mario held his hands up as if in surrender. “You’ll get no argument from me,
querida
.”

Feeling the warmth of happiness just being with her mate, they turned and walked back toward the house. There was still work to do before they could live happily ever after.

Chapter Thirteen

Patty and Mario went to her house so they could tell her sister and aunt about the change in their relationship, as well as what had gone down out at the house on Waverly Place. She felt super awkward, but in shifter society, sometimes matings happened fast, like theirs had. Regardless, she shouldn’t have worried. Both her sister and aunt were thrilled with the idea that Patty had found someone to
put up with her
, as they put it.

She knew they were joking. They both had tears in their eyes as they welcomed Mario to the family. Maryann hugged him shyly, but Aunt Suzy kissed both his cheeks and gave him one of her patented bear hugs. And it looked like the usually aloof Mrs. Snufflepuff was in
love
. After a cautious approach, she began rubbing up against Mario’s legs and twining around him, meowing in pure bliss.

They all sat down in the kitchen when Aunt Suzy mentioned that she had tons of leftovers all ready to go. Mario and Patty had missed dinner with all the action today, and they were both happy to dig into some of Aunt Suzy’s down home cooking.

“So where are you two going to live?” Aunt Suzy asked as she served up big helpings of her famous beef stew.

Patty looked up, surprised. “You know, we haven’t even had time to discuss it. This all just sort of happened.”

“I’m retired from my former profession and don’t have a permanent place of residence. If you like, I can move in here with you,” Mario said quietly, holding her gaze. She saw the flare of emerald in his eyes that never failed to excite her. “If you want to explore other places, I should also tell you that I still have most of the money I made as a soldier of fortune. I never had much reason to spend it, so it added up to a very large sum. We could go anywhere you like.”

The idea that she was marrying a rich man hadn’t really crossed her mind, but then she remembered that infamous black credit card. Oh, boy. Mario was probably loaded!

She liked being independent and funding her own way through life, but they were mates now, and her inner bear saw nothing wrong with sharing everything between them. They were in this together. Forever. True mates didn’t ever split up. They were a team now, for better or worse… Richer or poorer. Though it definitely sounded like it would be
richer
, for her at least.

Not that she was a gold digger. Far from it. But knowing that they wouldn’t be wondering where their next meal was coming from was a relief. One less thing to worry about.

“Maybe we’ll start here and see what we feel like doing once we get used to all this?” she offered, seeking his agreement. Mario nodded, covering her hand with his on top of the table.

“Whatever you wish,
querida
.” Maryann jumped a little, drawing Patty’s attention. Mario followed Patty’s gaze to her younger sister and he smiled warmly. “And there will always be room for you, baby sister, wherever we go. You have a new brother now and he is very protective.”

Maryann smiled in response to Mario’s teasing and seemed to relax a little bit.

“Is it really all taken care of?” Maryann ventured to ask, still shy but starting to become more comfortable around Mario if Patty was any judge. “I mean, with the drugs and all.”

“I believe the immediate threat here is over,” Mario assured them, his gaze on Maryann. “The rest will be handled by my old teammates. We will be hearing back from them in the coming hours and then, if all goes well—and I see no reason why it should not—you will be free of this trouble forever.”

“I can’t thank you enough,” Maryann whispered. “I made such a mess of things, but you have all been so nice about it.”

“That’s because we love you, sweet pea,” Aunt Suzy said softly, patting Maryann on the shoulder.

“As long as you’ve learned something from all of this…” Mario said, drawing all eyes, “…then you can chalk it up to experience.”

“Yeah.” Maryann paused a moment before continuing. “I think I learned to stand on my own feet a little. I mean, I couldn’t win because Greg was stronger than me, but I surprised myself by how easy it was to stand up to him and speak my mind once I’d made the decision to refuse to help smuggle that stuff. I know I caved eventually, and did it anyway, but it was under protest. I didn’t just go along to avoid the confrontation.” Her words grew stronger as she went on. “I did confront him and paid the price for it, but at least I stood up for myself. Not that it did me much good.”

Silence hung in the air for a moment as Patty’s eyes teared up.

“Actually, it sounds like it did more good than you realize,” Mario observed, summing it up perfectly.

After Maryann’s revelations, the talk turned more mundane, which was a bit of a relief. So much had happened in the past two days, it was nice to just have a meal with the family—and her new mate—and laugh with them, things almost back to normal.

Aunt Suzy dragged out every embarrassing story from Patty’s youth to tell her new mate, but Patty really didn’t mind. She liked to hear Mario’s laughter and didn’t mind laughing at herself.

Hours later, after the kitchen had been put to rights and Mrs. Snufflepuff chose with obvious reluctance to follow Maryann back to her room, Mario and Patty went into the master bedroom, which was Patty’s. Patty’s and Mario’s now.

Patty squeaked when Mario lifted her right off her feet before carrying her into the room.

“What are you doing?”

“Carrying my bride across the threshold,” he replied with a purr as he leaned into kiss her.

He lowered her to her feet as his cell phone started to vibrate and shot her an apologetic look. Checking the number, he immediately connected the call. A rapid-fire conversation followed in a language Maryann didn’t recognize. It wasn’t Spanish, but what was it? He ended the call before she could even try to figure it out.

“That was Seth. They’ve been debriefing the two hitmen.” Mario’s lips were set in a grim line that had her worried. “There’s a problem. There was a failsafe.”

“A failsafe?” she repeated, not understanding, but fearing the worst.

“Another hitman. Here. As a backup. Once it’s clear the first two didn’t succeed—which it must be by now—the third guy will go active and with orders to take out Greg and Maryann. Greg’s back in jail waiting for Ty’s judgement, so he’ll be harder to get to.”

“Which leaves Maryann.” Patty was already moving out of the room, heading down the hall.

Patty knocked before entering her sister’s room, but didn’t wait more than a millisecond between the knock and opening the door. The window on the far side of the bedroom was open, curtains fluttering in the breeze. And they were torn.

The bed was a mess, as if a small, silent struggle had taken place and Mrs. Snufflepuff was curled up in a ball, every hair on end, clearly traumatized in one corner. The moment she saw Mario, she launched herself at him, climbing up his pants and into his arms at record speed while Patty raced to the window.

“No sign of them,” she reported, some of her cop training coming to her rescue when all she really wanted to do was scream the house down. She turned to Mario. “He’s got Maryann.”

“Probably took her to show him where they hid the drugs.”

“Which means they’ll go back to the house on Waverly Place,” she reasoned, glad he was there to help her think when her wild soul wanted to go on a rampage. She moved past him, out the door of the bedroom and into the hall. “Aunt Suzy!”

She shouted and her aunt came running. The minute the night air came down the hall, it brought the scents from Maryann’s room with it. Aunt Suzy frowned.

“What is that smell?” she asked.

“Hyena.” Patty remembered it well from the purge of Boyne Falls. The hyenas were gone now, but once scented, one never forgot their stench.

“What? How?” Aunt Suzy, bless her, was a strong bear, but had never been a fighter.

Mario had been cuddling Mrs. Snufflepuff, calming her down, but he handed her off to Aunt Suzy as he went past her in the hallway, already headed for the front door. Patty was right behind him.

“A hyena hit man has taken Maryann. They’re probably headed back to the house on Waverly to get the drugs. Go to the police station and stay there. They’ll keep you safe. Do it now. We can’t wait, and I want to be sure you’re okay. Take your phone and call me when you’re secure.”

Thankfully, Aunt Suzy hadn’t put on her pajamas yet so she just grabbed her purse and headed out the door right after them. Mrs. Snufflepuff didn’t complain. She just clung to Aunt Suzy as if her life depended on it.

Chapter Fourteen

Mario and Patty raced out to Waverly Place. He was cursing himself for not thinking two steps ahead. He didn’t know Lopez well and hadn’t realized the man was much more thorough than Mario had given him credit for.

A backup. Mario wanted to spit. How could he have let his guard down so quickly?

If Maryann came to harm, it would be Mario’s fault. He should have thought about this possibility. Apparently once you retired from the action, it didn’t take long to become febble-minded. Mario wanted to bite something. Hard. And not in a good way.

“Tell me about these hyenas,” he asked as he drove, needing to know what his mate knew about the shifter that took her sister.

“There used to be a hyena pack over in Boyne Falls, but Ty ordered a purge a few years back. Now the territory is jointly held by us and the neighboring wolf pack.” Her voice was calm, but he knew she was shaking with rage and recrimination inside. He drove as fast as he could.

“A purge is a serious thing,” he observed. Ordering every shifter of a particular group out of an area on pain of death wasn’t something that was done lightly, or often.

“It was. But they deserved it. They did some pretty heinous things and hyenas have no conscience. Most of them are just awful.” She made a face that Mario recognized. It spoke of bad memories of past battles. “But you smelled what I did in Maryann’s room. Male. Hyena. Her fear. His dominance.” She shook her head. “Maryann was doing so well. She probably could have stood up to a human. She would have at least made a noise to alert us. But a dominant shifter is still beyond her capabilities. Poor kid.”

Patty had already called the Itan, first thing. If there was a hyena involved, this was a clan matter. Ty had told her he would mobilize the troops, such as they were, and would meet them out at the house on Waverly. As soon as she’d hung up with the Itan, her aunt had called to report that she was safely ensconced at the police station, making coffee for everyone.

Still, it looked like Mario and Patty would be the first on the scene. They would have backup eventually, but they’d have to handle things on their own for a bit before the others could get there. That was fine with Mario. He had a bone to break with the hyena scum that had abducted Maryann.

Then, he’d spend the rest of his life making up his error to his mate.

“I hear you over there, blaming yourself, you know.” Patty’s voice came to him in the darkness of the cab of his pickup truck. “You’re not the only one who should’ve thought about the possibility of a Plan B.”

Mario was floored. Then he thought about his reaction. His mate was a very dominant bear and a trained police officer. But he was the one with all the international experience. He would not allow his mate to take on any guilt for this.

“No,
querida
. This is my mistake. My guilt. I should have known better and I will never forgive myself if something happens to your sister.”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “There’s plenty of blame to go around. You don’t get to take all of it.” Her words comforted him, even though her expression was tight.

She took off her cardigan, tossing it to the floorboards, and he realized she was preparing—loosening her clothing in case she had to shift on the fly. Turning into a bear was a little different than a cat, so she prepared in slightly different ways. He was already set. If he had to go jaguar, he wouldn’t be hindered by his clothing. They were both still armed and ready. The hyena bastard wouldn’t know what hit him.

Mario parked his pickup some distance away and they approached the house on foot. They were dealing with a shifter this time, so they had to be as stealthy as possible. But the shifter they were after wasn’t trying to be quiet. They heard the man shouting at Maryann long before they made their way into the backyard of the house next to Mario’s, hopping the fence as they had many times now, over the past two days.

Mario took point and was pleased at how well Patty followed his lead. It was almost like having one of his old teammates with him, except that Patty had a little less experience at covert ops. Still, he could tell she’d trained for this kind of thing and her bear was helping her be as silent as he could have hoped for.

He signaled that he’d take the high ground—a natural for his cat—while she covered the lower floor. They were going to have to infiltrate the house. It was pretty clear Maryann and her captor were up in the attic of the old Victorian. It was a finished space, with an old bedroom up there, now filled with junk.

Smart place to stash the drugs, if that’s where they were. Maryann sure sounded as if they were hidden up there. He could hear her pleading with the hyena shifter, telling him the drugs were close, but she had to remember where exactly Greg had put them. She was doing a credible job of sounding hysterical when they heard the resounding echo of a slap.

That hyena bastard had just hit Maryann. He’d die for that.

Mario silently scaled the drain pipe, landing on the roof in record time. From there, he would drop down to a window behind the hyena while Patty came up the stairs from below. Between them, the bastard would not escape.

Weapon hot, Mario clung to the tiny ledge just outside the topmost window. The lock was old and not even thrown. He could either try to ease the window up quietly or just crash through. He decided on the second method when he heard Maryann scream from behind a pile of junk. He could just make out the head of her captor over the piles of furniture and assorted goods.

The hoarders’ paradise could both help and hurt his assault. He had to move fast and strike before the other man could figure out what was happening. Now, if only the piles of junk would cooperate.

“Don’t kill me!” Maryann wailed and Mario had no choice.

He took aim and fired through the window, at the shadow behind the junk pile. He knew he’d missed the hyena as the window exploded inward and the piles of junk shifted. Maryann was scrambling over an old dresser while the hyena shifter took aim.

That would never do. Mario jumped in through the ragged window and sprang over an old set of drawers to stand in a clear space, directly in front of the shifter.

Relying on his reflexes, Mario chopped at the man’s forearm, stunning him into dropping the handgun. Mario thought he heard the satisfying crack of bone, but he couldn’t be sure because in the next moment, a three hundred pound grizzly bear tackled the hyena shifter from behind, pushing him to the floor and snapping his neck in one quick move.

Mario leaned back and looked at his mate, a smile stretching across his face.

“Oh, my love. You were indeed, made just for me.”

Ty, Van and the rest of the shifter contingent of the Grayslake police department arrived moments after Patty took action. She couldn’t say she was sorry to have killed the hyena. Her bear had been thirsting to spill some blood since her sister bear had been found. This kill satisfied the bear’s bloodlust somewhat, though it still wanted to see Greg bleed under its claws.

Still, a fast death was preferable when death was required. Patty wasn’t sadistic. She hadn’t killed often, but in the line of duty—and in her fur—it was sometimes required. As a dominant female, she would do anything she had to, to protect the weaker members of the clan. It’s what made her chosen profession such a logical choice.

She was a little afraid what Mario was going to think. He seemed to have accepted what she’d done. He’d even smiled and said something very complimentary. But did he still feel that way, now that tempers had cooled?

Patty had followed Ty’s orders, using the bathroom to clean up a bit while Ty looked after Maryann. They were going to find the stashed drugs and Van had some kind of plan to make it look like the Grayslake cops had busted a smuggling operation. The hyena had been a clean kill, so with a little cooperation from the county Medical Examiner, it could be made to look like he’d been taken out by a human. She’d leave the political maneuvering and details to the clan’s leadership. She was just happy to have Maryann back in one piece.

She rinsed the blood off herself and redressed in the clothing she’d shed on her way up the stairs. It was time to go back out there and face the music. She felt justified in killing the hyena, but it was up to Ty, as Itan, to pass judgment on whether or not it was a righteous kill.

She needn’t have worried. When she went back outside, Van intercepted her and gave her that certain nod that meant all was well. Ty was comforting Maryann as Mario and two other guys searched through the hoard of junk in the big room.

When Maryann saw her, she let go of the Itan and held her hand out to her sister.

“Thank you for coming after me, Patty.” Maryann’s voice was a lot stronger than Patty had expected.

In fact, her sister looked a lot more together than Patty would have credited, given what she’d just been through. Patty took her hand, expecting Maryann to launch herself into Patty’s arms, but must to Patty’s surprise, she didn’t. She just squeezed Patty’s hand, as if in reassurance. Had her little sister finally rediscovered her inner strength? Hot damn.

“I was worried you wouldn’t notice I was gone. He overwhelmed me, but then I realized, about halfway here, what he was. A hyena.” Maryann’s lip curled in distaste. Would wonders never cease? “I shouldn’t have been so scared of him. Bear says hyenas aren’t worth being scared of.”

“Your bear?” Patty asked quietly, aware of Ty’s intense scrutiny while everyone else in the room kept working. “Is she talking to you again?”

A big part of Maryann’s problem was that for decades, her bear had been in hiding. Reacting only on an instinctual level with fear and panic rather than communicating on a conscious level with her human side. If the bear was talking to Maryann again, she had made a significant breakthrough.

“She started coming around during our run through the desert. She didn’t like the cactus in her paws.” Maryann’s voice was filled with wonder and Patty felt tears gathering in her eyes. “She’s been very shy, but she’s getting more aware with every passing day, I think.”

“Oh, bug.” Patty crumpled, letting the tears fall. “I’m so happy for you.”

Maryann looked both pleased and a bit stunned. “Thanks. I’m happy too. Bear needs me, just like I need her.”

That was it as far as Patty was concerned. She gathered her sister into a hug, sobbing with happiness. Something good—no, it was something intensely, potently, happily magical—had come out of this mess. Thank the Goddess!

When a shout went up from a far corner of the room, Patty let the action roll around them, still hugging her sister. She was glad to know the drugs had been found, but discovering her sister was finally on the road to healing was something even more important. Something she’d been waiting and hoping for, for a long, long time.

“Are you two okay?” Mario’s voice whispered along her senses, and Patty finally found the strength to let go of her sister. She smiled at her mate, knowing she looked pretty strange with tears running down her cheeks and a grin on her lips.

“We’re better than okay,” she told him.

Maryann moved out of Patty’s arms, for the first time in a long time, being the one to end a hug. Maryann was exercising some of her newfound independence and Patty couldn’t be prouder.

“Thanks for coming to get me,” Maryann said in a clear voice to Mario, so different than the whisper she’d used for so many years. “I owe you.”

“You are family now,” Mario said kindly. “You are my sister too.”

Maryann’s eyes narrowed for a moment, a smile playing around her lips. “You know? I really like the sound of that, big brother.”

Van broke the moment by touching Maryann’s elbow. They needed to ask her about the drugs, to be sure they had them all. Patty could see everything was wrapped in space-age, air-tight containers, which was why none of the talented shifter noses up in that room could locate them on scent alone.

When Maryann went off with Van, Patty turned to Mario, stepping close so they could talk quietly. “Are you really okay with what I did?”

“Woman, are you kidding? You are the sexiest, most badass she-bear I have ever met. I like your dominance, and I love that you protect your own with extreme prejudice.” He let the back of his fingertips whisper over her cheek. “I am no boy scout, my love. I always knew I needed a strong mate and the Goddess has granted my wish. I can do no other than love you and everything that makes you who you are. I only pray that you can be as generous in overlooking my much more…ah…
colorful
exploits.”

His grin was pure deviltry and she reached up to kiss him, noting vaguely that the treasure hunt was on in the room behind them again. Apparently they’d only found half the drugs on the first try. Greg must’ve been a little more creative in stashing the booty than they’d thought.

But she didn’t really care about the drugs, or even Greg, for that moment out of time. She only cared for the man who was everything to her. Her mate. The most amazing man in the world, who had been created just for her.

“If you can put up with me…” she whispered against his lips, “…then you’re magic. And that’s all we need. Forever.”

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