Let Us Prey: BBW Military Paranormal Romance (Wild Operatives, #2) (16 page)

Holding her gown shut in back with one hand, I helped the wobbling woman back into her bed. “You don’t look so good. Hospital food not agreeing with you?” I expected to see Russ asleep in a chair. Rumpled hospital blankets were strewn over the back of it, indicating he’d been there. Tentative about making myself at home, I sat on the edge of the seat.

“The food is godawful. Russ went to get me McDonald’s while the breakfast menu is available.” Dani did a double take and looked around the room in confusion. “Where’s Sophia?”

“With her great-grandmother. Betty assured me she can still change a diaper and swaddle an infant. Plus, she has Ian’s goddaughter helping.”

“Good, I’m glad everyone is safe. I heard an animal growling outside during the shootout, so I just assumed another you-know-who was involved.”

I crept to the door and peeked into the hall. Without a nurse in sight, I took a minute to catch her up on the news. I told her about the wolves outside and the young man who knocked on our door that morning. His name was Harrison and he had kept watch over the house all night for Ian.

“Ohhh. Russ mentioned wolves coming to visit, but didn’t say much.” Dani’s distracted demeanor was at odds with her usual bubbly personality, setting off my maternal instincts. She looked like she needed a hug, so I leaned in and gave her one, careful of her bandaged shoulder.

“I’m so sorry you were hurt, hon.”

“You aren’t the one who hurt me, Leigh. I just feel awful right now.”

“Is everything okay? Should I call the doctor in? Would you like me to go and let you rest some more?”

“No. No doctor. It’s... I’m pregnant. The hospital labs confirmed it for me after I arrived,” Dani admitted. She picked at the edge of her hospital gown sleeve. “Russ doesn’t know yet. I don’t really know
how
to tell him.”

The news caught me by surprise and my gut instinct to congratulate her hung on the tip of my tongue. “I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you guys weren’t trying.”

Dani shook her head. “I had an IUD in, but you know how the doctors tell you there’s always a tiny, insignificant chance they can fall out or become ineffective? Mine’s gone. I never even noticed.”

“Are you gonna tell him soon?”

“I think so. I don’t — do you think he’ll be happy?”

“Dani, he’ll be ecstatic. The question is, are
you
happy? Are we celebrating this baby? Do we get to go hog-wild at the mall buying booties and blankies when you get out of here?”

A fragile smile surfaced on Dani’s face. I relaxed immediately. “I think so. I lost a baby once, you know. When I was married to my ex-husband, the one I killed two years ago. The doctors gave me the whole song and dance about it being a natural occurrence sometimes. Said nothing could have prevented it.” She shook her head. “Michael blamed me for losing his son.”

My belly knotted in worry again. “Is this baby going to be okay?” I gestured to her bandaged shoulder.

“Thanks to you, I didn’t lose as much blood as I could have. He or she seems fine.” She nibbled her lower lip and glanced down at her tummy. “They’re going to send an ultrasound tech in around noon to check. I have until then to tell Russ.”

“He’ll be thrilled, Dani, I just know it.”

Maybe his ears were burning, because Russell chose that moment to push through the door. Two large takeout bags and a cup holder with coffee and orange juice filled his big hands.

“You didn’t answer your phone, and I wasn’t sure what you wanted... so I grabbed two of everything,” he called out, setting the food and drinks on the table. “Oh, hey, Leigh.”

“Morning, Russ. I came to check on Dani and we got to chatting.”

“Sorry I took so long, darlin’. I ran home to feed Trigger and Daisy, too.” He looked like hell with dark circles under his eyes. He fidgeted more than usual.

Dani fetched a hash brown out of the bag. “Go ahead and have some, Leigh. I can’t eat all of this and neither can Russ.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t really thinking when I placed the order.” Russ’ boyish grin wiped the nervousness from his face.

Poor guy. He must be so worried about Dani.

Russ lowered Dani’s hospital rail out of his way and sat beside her on the bed while she dug into her biscuit sandwich. I helped myself to the spare. We all ate together and made idle chat until Russ began talking all in a rush.

“Dani, I love you. I was planning to wait until Christmas to lay this on you, but there’s no time like the present, right?” He rubbed his hand up and down her thigh over the blanket. She gave him an odd look.

“Russ, what are you talking about? No time to do what? To give me breakfast?”

The bearshifter shook his head and fetched a black box from his windbreaker pocket. My eyes — and Dani’s too — darted to his open palm immediately. All of my concentration became devoted to not inhaling a piece of egg.

“You’re more than my mate, darlin’. You’re my soul and the air I breathe. Living with you isn’t enough anymore for me. I want you to be my wife. Marry me.” He opened the box to reveal a sparkling ruby surrounded by diamond-encrusted leaves. The gold setting glimmered in the diffuse hospital room light.

I had been granted the privilege of witnessing a beautiful moment. Tears burned my eyes and I held my breath, knowing Dani’s answer before it came from her lips.

“Russ...” Tears streamed down her face. “Yes! Oh, my god, yes! But there’s something you need to know first.”

“What is it, darlin’? You can tell me anything.”

“Remember how I haven’t been feeling well lately? The ER doctor ordered some tests before you got here last night. I’m pregnant.”

“I’m going to be a father?” The joy on Russ’ face was almost painful to see. Sophia’s father hadn’t looked so happy when I told him I was pregnant.

I dreamed of a day when I could relay the same news to Ian. Sophia was my world, but fantasies raced through my thoughts of giving my husband a child with his shifter heritage — a little sister or brother to grow up alongside Sophia. As Russ doted over his wife-to-be, I eased from my seat and crept to the door. I pulled it shut behind me to grant them privacy.

Once I fished my phone out, I asked Ian via text if it was safe to call. My phone rang less than a minute later when I reached the hospital elevator.

“What’s up, sweetie?” The sound of his tired voice thrilled me.

“I’m so glad you’re okay. You’ve been quiet since you drove off last night, and I worried about you,” I babbled out.

“I’m fine. We’ll be on our way back to Quickdraw soon. How’s Dani?”

“Engaged and pregnant,” I chirped, unable to hold the news to myself.

“Hot damn. Tell ‘em I said congrats.”

“We’ll have to do it later. I snuck on out before Russ had the chance to begin bawling over her.”

Ian’s rich laughter warmed my heart. I leaned against the side of the elevator and closed my eyes. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too, baby. Thomas and Ceres are behaving, right?”

“Thomas didn’t show up this morning, but Ceres and Harrison came in to eat breakfast when I left Betty’s house. She said he found a peculiar smell by the river bottoms and wanted to loop back one more time.”

“Sounds like Thomas. They’re good kids—”

“Ian, they’re older than I am. Stop calling them kids.”

“Habit,” he admitted. His sheepish laugh painted a picture in my mind of his broad smile and glinting eyes.

I stepped out of the elevator to the ground floor and moved for the parking lot. “Tell me the truth, Ian. I know you can’t go into details, but I need to know if you’re going into something dangerous.”

First he was silent, then I heard him inhale a deep breath. “It’ll be dangerous, but I promise, I’ll be home to you.”

“That’s all I need to know. Let me know when it’s over.”

“I will. Do one favor for me. Tell Russ to check his cellphone. I’m calling the squad together.”

~Ian~

“Why the fuck was I excluded?” Russ demanded.

“Because Dani needed you, and we knew you’d fly off the handle,” I said.

Russ appeared less than impressed with my response, but as the squad leader, I called the shots and chose team members.

“Fine,” he grumbled. “I just wish you’d trusted me enough to tell me what was going on.”

“Ian trusts you, Russ. You know that, just as much as we all know how much you love Dani. Our informant would be a smear on the concrete floor if you were there during the interrogation.” Sasha set her hand on Russ’ shoulder. “Be reasonable.”

“I said fine.” The cross expression faded from his face. “I am fine. Sorry. I just get so angry where Dani is concerned. Can’t help it, guys.”

Once his cooler head prevailed, we returned to our debriefing.

“Our informant tells us there are a handful of small-time dealers, but the guys we really want are woven into the Quickdraw PD and our county sheriff’s department. There’s a couple in the higher echelon.” I slid my finger over the touch display and opened an image. “Chief Montgomery ordered the hit. My snooping around in his town and asking questions scared him. They know if I run for sheriff in the next election, they don’t have a chance in hell of bribing me to shut up.”

“Yeah, because you’re already making legitimate money hand over fist,” Juni chirped. “You don’t need their payoffs.”

“Ian’s incorruptible,” Nadir added. “They have good reason to be scared.”

“Do we have authorization?” Sasha asked. “We need to do this by the book if we’re going to go in.”

“We have everything we need. Unless your hands—” I gave a pause to look at Sasha “—or your paws are forced, we’re not to engage in combat. We don’t want a meth lab of dead junkies with claw marks in them. This isn’t Baghdad and we’re not at war.”

“Look, I can’t be held responsible for that,” Sasha said. “I’m sorry I almost broke cover that day, but I don’t regret killing them all.”

“Nice kitty,” Nadir murmured.

Sasha hissed at him.

“If you’re in a bind, by all means, let your claws out. I want to go in hard, get the evidence we need, and get out. Subdue if possible before taking any lives.”

“If the sheriff is in on all this, who are you planning on handing the evidence over to?” Taylor tucked a knife inside his boot.

“Texas Rangers. I called my friend, Charles, to give us a hand. He’s on his way out from Dallas,” I explained.

Juni’s eyes grew round. “You have friends in the Rangers, too?”

“Ian has friends everywhere. You should know that by now, darlin’.” Russ clapped Juni on the shoulder.

“Officially, it’s their case, but we’re gonna make it all easy for them and have this wrapped up nice and tight by the time they arrive.” I rose from my seat and passed out earpieces. “Juni spent a lot of time making these to fit our unique shapes. They’re for us to use in our animal forms.”

Sasha stared at the circular device I handed her. “Ian, this is a cat collar.”

“It’s extendable, Sasha. It’ll adjust whenever you shift.” Juni opened her laptop and logged into her tracking program. “With this, I’ll be able to follow all of you. We tagged the wolves and their ravens already. If you swap to your human form to communicate, I’ll be here at Ian’s place to direct you.”

“Sounds good,” Russ said. He turned his collar around in his hands a few times then tried to fasten it around his neck.

“That’s for your wrist, Russ,” Juni said.

“Oh.”

“Taylor, since you, Ian, and Russ are the only animals native to this area, I’m counting on you to get as close as you can without provoking them to put a bullet in your ass,” Nadir said. “I’m staying behind with Juni to operate the video systems.”

“Sweet. I can do that. You just want some good surveillance feed as evidence, right?” Taylor asked.

“Right. We need clear visuals on faces and activities,” Juni replied.

Once preparations were made, our team split. Juni and Nadir remained behind at my place to run the control center, but I had the most difficult job of them all: I refused to allow anyone to confront Montgomery before me.

***

“A
bout time you got here,” Kevin complained. His voice crackled through the wire we’d taped to his chest. I listened from my hiding spot outside of a leaning shack in the woods.

Confronting Sheriff Montgomery wasn’t enough. We needed him to freely confess what he’d done. My contacts with the Texas Rangers had approved the ruse, lending legitimacy to evidence I planned on collecting.

“Where the hell have you been, Kevin?”

“Taking care of my damn hand, man. You didn’t say MacArthur had fuckin’ attack dogs. You gave us bad info, Sheriff.”

“You assured me you and your boys could handle MacArthur,” Sheriff Montgomery spat. “If you can kill him, you could have shot a couple mutts.”

“Well, he wasn't there. Just pay up and I’ll go.”

“I’m not paying you for an unfinished job. You were sent to kill MacArthur and his junkie slut. That’s what I hired you for. Last I checked they were alive and your boys were arrested. Such a shame they tried to escape and were shot.”

“We told you we weren’t gonna kill Leigh! You promised she wouldn’t be there. I only went because you swore he’d be alone. I can’t go back there again! He’ll be expecting it. I can’t even hold a gun right now. Look at my hand.”

I smirked. Ceres didn’t play around when it came to taking someone down. He was lucky to have escaped with his throat intact. Hell, he’d be lucky to make any sort of deal at all to keep from going away to prison for life.

“Then I guess you’re no use to me anymore, Kev.”

“Hey, man... what the fuck? Put the gun down!”

As much as Kevin deserved to get shot, this wasn’t the way to do things. I needed him on a witness stand. Abandoning my post outside, I circled round to the front and kicked the door in.

I had a split second to make my decision. The gun swung around toward me, but my sharp reflexes gave me ample time to twist out of the bullet’s path. It struck the wall behind me instead, shattering the glass in a picture frame. I usually saved the inhuman reflexes for the battlefield when there weren’t any witnesses left to tell tales. For Montgomery, I made an exception. I was on him in a second, smashing my knuckles into his chin. He stumbled back and lost control of his gun when I twisted his arm and dislocated his shoulder to disarm him. Kevin, the junkie we’d used as our bait, high-tailed it out the door without a backward glance.