The Guardian (The Wolfe Series) (22 page)

             
Jake’s features hardened with a look his younger brothers knew only too well. 
She’s going to tell me what’s going on or else.
  He had to find out who was hunting Laurie and why, because that’s exactly what was happening.

             
Jake had called Taggert earlier and apprised his brother of the situation and was pleased when Taggert had agreed with what Jake had done.  If Laurie was going to stay and be Jake’s mate and a part of all of their lives, she had to be Changed.  There was no way around that.  The fact that it had been forced upon her would be something that Jake was going to have to deal with.  He hoped with all his heart that she would accept the life-altering changes that were going to occur, and accept him in the process.

Laurie could hear thunder in the distance and the pitter patter of rain overhead. It took a moment for her to remember where she was and what had happened.  Jake Wolfe had saved her life again, it seemed.  She tested her shoulder and found very little soreness or pain.  She felt alive, more alive than anytime in her recent memory, a changed woman.  Her senses were sharper, she could see everything around her even though it was still dark.  The sounds of the desert filled her ears, the hoot of an owl in the distance, the soft scuttling of rodents in the undergrowth, the slither of a snake as it made its way across a bed of loose pebbles.  Her sense of smell was also heightened, the spicy, citrus scent that she associated with Jake Wolfe filling her nostrils.  She breathed deeply of the erotic smell of musk and man before opening her eyes and turning her head.

              “You owe me an explanation,” Jake said when he saw that Laurie’s eyes were open.  He didn’t bother asking her how she felt.  He could see that her shoulder was healing and knew the pain would be almost gone by now.  “You need to tell me who’s hunting you?  I can’t protect you if I don’t know who or what to look out for.”

             
There was a look on Jake’s face that Laurie had never seen before, a look of pure feral determination to get the truth out of her one way or the other. “The less you know the better it will be for you,” she answered bravely.  “When I leave here tomorrow the threat to you and your brothers should go with me.”

Jake pinned her
bright green eyes with his sapphire blue ones and said, “You’re going to get yourself and others killed if you don’t tell me what’s going on.  And you’re not leaving here, not anytime soon.”

Laurie had questions of her own but was willing to wait for her answers.  Jake was right, he deserved to know what he was dealing with.  He could have been killed by the gunman who had wounded her.  Laurie drew in a deep breath.  “I made a huge mistake a few weeks ago, a mistake that I’ll probably pay for with my life as well as the lives of whoever might try to help me.”

The tears Jake saw in Laurie’s eyes tore at his heart and he had to forcibly restrain himself from gathering her into his arms.  He couldn’t risk distracting her.  He needed her to tell him the whole story.  “Go on.”

“Does the name Luzaro Rivera mean anything to you?” Laurie whispered through her tears.  She watched as the look of determination on Jake’s face was replaced by one of
acknowledgment and horror.

Jake sat in stunned silence for several long moments.  “He’s a monster, Laurie.  How did you ever get involved with someone like that?”
  He knew the name Luzaro Rivera, probably better than anyone.  The smuggling of illegals into the United States was only one of the many unsavory activities that Rivera and his ruthless drug cartel were involved in.  They were brutal killers, sociopaths of the worst kind.  It was a miracle that Laurie had escape from someone like that.

“I’m a writer, a loner by nature,” Laurie tried to explain.  “I’d been in New York for over a year and had pretty much closed myself off from everything and everyone to concentrate on my writing, except for my agent.”  Laurie paused to draw a deep breath before continuing.  “I finally let Julie persuade me into going out to a club, and that’s where I met Luc.”

“Luzaro Rivera?” Jake felt the blood start to heat in his veins. 
The bastard lied to her right from the start.

“Yes.  Julie and I had no idea who he was.  He was a little too smooth for my taste but I
decided it wouldn’t hurt to see him, on a friendship basis at least.  He was bright, and witty, and very handsome,  not to mention wealthy, and yet I felt there was something off about Luc.  I felt he was a little too good to be true.  I had decided not to see him again when something horrific happened.”  Laurie could still remember the way the DEA undercover agents head had exploded, his blood and brain matter sliding down the passenger side window.  She shuddered at the gruesome memory.

Jake drew Laurie’s cold hand
s into his.  His touch warmed her, the ice in her veins melting under his concerned gaze.

“We had been out riding that afternoon and Luzaro had shown a side of himself that I hadn’t seen before, a not very pleasant aggressive, overbearing side.  That was when I made the decision to end things with him.  His second-in-command, Enrique Perez, and several bodyguards were waiting for us when we returned from ou
r ride.  It was on the way back into the city that Enrique pulled the car over to the side of the road, put a gun to the head of the man sitting beside him in the front seat and pulled the trigger.  It was horrifying, Jake!” Laurie cried and started to shake uncontrollably.  “I’ll never forget it.”

The explosion would have been deafening, Jake knew, as well as the sight of a man’s brains being blown all over the car window. 
He couldn’t help wondering why Perez had killed the DEA agent in front of Laurie unless he and Rivera had planned to take her with them when they left New York City, willing or not. 
The bastards!

Jake could restrain himself no longer and pulled Laurie’s unresisting body into his arms.  “It’s okay, Laurie.  You’re safe here.  I’ll make sure of it.”

Laurie pulled away.  “It’s not Luzaro I’m worried about.  Oh, he’ll try to find me at first.  My running away has probably wounded his macho pride.  I know he’d give up in time.”  Laurie couldn’t seem to control the tremors that shook her body.  “But Enrique Perez won’t give up.”

Jake had heard rumors about Enrique Perez, a deviant
sociopath and Luzaro Rivera’s second-in-command.  “My brothers will have to be informed of this.  They won’t let me handle it alone.”

“N
ow you know why I want to leave,” Laurie finished miserably.

“Running away isn’t the answer, Laurie.  You’re one of us now and we’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.”

Laurie knew she’d been kidding herself and that she couldn’t run far enough or fast enough to avoid Enrique’s powerful reach.  She remembered the way Jake had changed into a wolf, effortlessly and elegantly, powerful, sexy and seductive, one minute a man, the very next minute a wolf.  Could she really be like that now?

“What do you mean I’m one of you?”  Something was different inside of her and she held her breath as she waited for Jake’s explanation.

              Hoping that forthrightness was the least shocking and best strategy Jake said, “My brothers and I are shape-shifters, werewolves if you prefer.”  When he saw Laurie’s eyes widen and her brows lift and that she didn’t feint dead away he continued,  “We seldom Change, only to help others or to protect our own.  Shape-shifters are similar to werewolves and tales are common all over the world, especially among Native Americans.”

             
“You changed into a wolf and bit me just before I feinted?”  She would never forget the look of desperation she’d seen in the wolf’s eyes, in Jake’s eyes?

             
“Yes, it was the only way I could save your life.  There wasn’t time to bring in emergency help, you were losing too much blood.  I didn’t feel I could risk it.”

             
“And now I’m going to be like you?”  Laurie asked through trembling lips.

             
“Remember when I asked you if you wanted to live and that there was only one way I could save you?  Changing you was the only way.”  He would help her through her first Change and hopefully she would find it as exhilarating as he always did.

             
“I remember, but Changing me, Jake?”

             
“You know I’ve come to care for you, Laurie.  You’re the mate that I’ve been waiting for.  We can have a good life together.”

             
Is that what she wanted?  She wasn’t sure. She was still considering running to protect Jake and his brothers.  There was a definite animal magnetism between her and Jake but would it be enough to last a lifetime?

             
Sensing her distress Jake explained further.  “Wolves can change a person with a bite.  That’s what I did with you.  You’re going to start feeling different very soon.  Your senses will become sharper and you’ll become much more attuned to the world around you.  As wolves, we have powerful jaws twice as strong as a German Shepherd’s and can crush the bones of our prey.  We can also attain bursts of speed up to forty miles per hour for several miles and we can cover almost sixty miles in a night.  When we mate, it’s for life, no affairs, no divorces.  Permanently.  We’re immune to human diseases and heal quickly.  We can have sex with humans but are unable to get them pregnant.”  Jake felt himself flushing when he thought of the many women he’d bedded over the years.  He cleared his throat before he continued.  “We live very long lives, that’s one of the reasons my father doesn’t live in this area.  He looks almost as young as his sons which would eventually arouse suspicion among the humans so we rotate between three ranches that we own in Arizona, California and Idaho.  My father’s brother and his family live near the Everglades in Florida.  We choose locations near national forests and preserves so we can run free in our wolf forms without being molested by hunters or angry ranchers.”

             
Laurie was becoming more and more confused.  Live long lives?  Heal quickly?  Immune to disease?  How was any of that possible?

“
From what my grandfather told me there are packs scattered throughout the world.  Some are known to be in the Appalachian and Rocky Mountain Ranges.  Others are scattered throughout Europe.  Each pack is run by an Alpha pair, that’s why finding the right mate is so important.”

             
“I don’t know, Jake, this is all so terrifying.”  Laurie felt her chest constrict and found it hard to breath.

             
Jake pushed a tendril of blonde hair behind her ear. He remembered very well the feelings he’d had when he first found out what he was and realized that could only be a fraction of what Laurie had to be feeling. 

“I think you’ll find it wonderful, Laurie
, once you get used to the idea.  To run wild together as wolves, to feel the wind on our faces and the earth beneath our paws and smell the myriad animals we will hunt.  Being together as mates will be a heady experience that first time, one we’ll never forget.”  He understood Laurie’s reticence.  They’d only known each other for a few weeks and yet he felt a connection existed between them that made him feel as though he’d known her much longer.  From the moment he’d seen her standing so bravely in front of a killer coyote he’d wanted her, had known she was the one.  His mate.  Now he just had to convince her that they belonged together.  He planned to start a campaign of seduction as soon as they returned to the ranch, as well as taking measures to ensure that she and his brothers were safe.

             
“I need time to think, Jake.”  Laurie had to admit that the life Jake was describing could be pretty wonderful if she allowed it to be.  She desired Jake and had thought he might be the one person she had been searching for all of her life, but she still wasn’t sure.  Look at the mess she’d made of things with Luzaro Rivera, and the danger she had brought into Jake’s life.

             
“Take all the time you need,” Jake assured her when he sensed the beginnings of her acceptance.

Laurie would never be allowed to leave, though, whether she and Jake were mated or not.
His family wouldn’t allow it so it was imperative that she accept him as her mate.  If anyone found out who and what the Wolfe brothers were, their lives wouldn’t be worth a dime.

              The man stood before Enrique Perez and Poncho Vega, his hands trembling as he clutched his hat before him.  Francisco Garza knew better than to lift his head and meet Enrique Perez’s merciless eyes.  He knew of the man’s reputation as did everyone else on the estancia.  Poncho Vega had given Francisco very little choice but to but tell Luzaro’s second-in-command what he’d heard the night before.  That and the fact that he might receive a portion of the reward, had been the only things that could have convinced him to risk this meeting with the patron, a man known to kill for sport or the most insignificant of infractions.

             
“Tell Enrique what you know,” Vega commanded when the man hesitated to speak.  Garza was one of his better soldiers, young and normally fearless in carrying out his duties.  Vega could see the man trembling and was sure that Perez could see it also and was probably feeding off the other man’s fear as others would feed off a fine enchilada dinner. 
Bastardo!