Wolf at Law by Heather Long (12 page)

“No, dumbass.” Rory thumped Collin upside the head. “That’s if we’re at a high altitude. Do you see a mountain out there?”

Alexis snickered and stuck a finger into the chocolate.

“Alexis.” Tiffany snapped her name out and the two wolves whirled at the same time. Ignoring those two, she nailed her daughter with a stern look. “Do we eat out of a bowl when we’re fixing food for other people?”

“Um.” With wide, round eyes Alexis shook her head and set the bowl down carefully. “No.”

“That’s what I thought. Hop down and wash your hands then go to your room. You should have a nap, anyway.”

“But Mommy we were going to make brownies…”

“Now, Alexis.”

Crestfallen, Alexis slumped out of the room with all the melodrama a four year old could muster. As soon as she was well on her way to the stairs, Tiffany looked at Collin and Rory. “Spend more time solving disagreements without cursing in front of my daughter. Clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.” They chorused. Pivoting, she nearly collided with Ryan. He steadied her, but she pushed away and headed for the stairs. He said something in a low growl to the other two, probably new orders, but Tiffany left him to it. He liked making plans without her.
Plans. Arrangements. Decisions.
 

At the top of the stairs, she paused to see Alexis trudge from the bathroom to the bedroom they shared. “I’m sorry, Mommy,” she murmured as she passed.

“I know, baby, but we have a rules for a reason, remember?”

“Yeah.” Alexis climbed into the big bed and hugged her blue pillow. “But we don’t get hurt if we break the rules here. You don’t get hurt.”

The words cut her, and she abandoned the pretense of changing to sit on the bed. “Baby, you’re safe. You know that, right?”

“Uh huh. Ryan makes us safe. So do Zane and Collin and Rory. They’ll eat Daddy if he tries to hurt you again.”

The choice of words startled her. “Excuse me?”

“They’ll eat him. I think they said they’d tear him apart then eat the bits, if that’s what it took.”

Tiffany pinched the bridge of her nose. “Alexis.”

“Collin said it, Mommy.” Then tiny arms wrapped around her neck and Tiffany hugged her. “Do I have to take a nap?”

“Yes, you do. We need you back on a schedule, little miss. So, lay down for at least an hour.”

“But I’m not tired.” The whine in her voice betrayed her, however.

“Yes well if you don’t nap, you won’t get any brownies, either.” She settled her under the blankets then tucked her in with a pillow.

“I don’t think Collin and Rory know how to make them anyway.” The grumbling complaint seemed to satisfy her. Touching her cheek, Tiffany stared at her daughter. She’d do anything for her, sell her soul if needed, to keep her safe, and here she was about to risk herself for a woman who’d never been able to pull herself out of a bottle long enough to ask if Tiffany was okay.

“I love you, baby.”

“Love you, too, Mommy.”

Still chewing on the dichotomy of emotions and actions, she changed her clothes and let herself out of the bedroom. Ryan waited for her, leaning against the wall opposite her. His guarded expression worried her, but then she deserved it. She’d snapped at him.

“Still mad at me?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“Mad at the situation,” she answered honestly. “Not at you, and I’m sorry I was so rude.”

His relief was palpable. With one arm around her waist, he drew her to him and nuzzled the corner of her mouth. “You were upset. Sometimes it’s easier to be a wolf. We can scent the deceit, and we know when someone is being honest. I did not make plans to try and control you, I wanted to control the situation. Everything in me says do not let you go. Giles will be there. Why else would he injure your mother?”

“I know. But we have the restraining order.” Not that Giles would give a damn about a piece of paper. Ryan’s expression told her he believed the same thing. “And you’ll be there.”

That settled him some. “I will kill him if he touches you.” The flat declaration took her out at the knees. “You do understand that, don’t you?”

“You can’t do anything that puts you in danger,” she warned him, worried for him all over again. “You have to promise me that.”

“I can’t, and I won’t lie to you. You’re mine to protect. He may still have you legally bound, but I will shred that and him if he lays a finger on you. Know that, every step of the way, I am right there with you and he cannot hurt you again.”

What could he do to Ryan?

“Maybe I shouldn’t go.” Her mother wasn’t worth costing Ryan anything. Guilt gnawed at her insides. If not for her, her mother wouldn’t be in the hospital, though.

“Sweetheart, whatever you want to do, I have your back.” As faith went, it conveyed more than she deserved.
God, why can’t this be easier?
 

She wrestled with the decision, but in the end she really only had one choice. “I have to go.”

“Then we go.”

“Have you already had her moved to a different hospital?”

Ryan nodded. “A private one attached to a rehabilitation center in Grove Wood.”

That was nearly on the opposite side of Chicago and would cost a fortune. “Distraction.” Putting her so far away would make Giles look in the wrong direction for her and Alexis.

He grinned. “Yes.”

“This house can’t be attached to you can it?”

“Not at all. My name isn’t even on the lease. He may have tracked the office I keep here and could even be investigating me as we speak. He won’t learn anything we aren’t comfortable with humans knowing.”

He really had thought of everything. “Ryan?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

The declaration stopped him cold, and he bowed his head, resting his forehead to hers. “You choose the oddest time to give me the greatest gift.”

“Well, I wanted you to know. I don’t always like myself around him and, if he’s there, you might see this ugly side of me…”

“Impossible.” Cupping her chin, he gave her a long, slow kiss. “No part of you is ugly. Beautiful. Perfect. Mine.”

She shivered, but with pleasure not fear because he’d stated the possessive with such passion. “When you say it, I believe you.”

“Good. Will you forgive me for taking control?” Somehow his question didn’t carry an ounce of apology.

“Somehow, I don’t think you’re going to change,” she rose up on her toes and kissed him.

“I can bend for you, a little. In every matter but that which involves your security and hers.” He nodded toward the bedroom. “You will not convince me elsewise.”

“You’re going to make a great dad.” She patted his chest then smoothed down his shirt.

“Thank you. I’ll talk to them about cursing in front of her.”

“Wow, you said that like you hadn’t already dealt with it by glaring at them all ominously over my shoulder.”

His quick smile and ducked chin made her laugh.
So, the big, bad wolf can be embarrassed. Good to know
. “You were unhappy.”

Threading her arm through his and letting him lead the way down the stairs, she considered him. “So, if I tell you there’s a big, overgrown weed in the yard that’s really ticking me off…”

“Consider it yanked. You just point me at it.” That was both scary and utterly endearing.

At the car, she shivered. She was about to willingly go somewhere Giles might be.

“You’re safe,” Ryan reminded her. He opened the door and crouched so that he was at eye level once she was seated. “I meant every word I said.”

“I know,” she told him. “And I meant what I said to you, too. I love you Ryan Huston.”

“Good.” He kissed her hand. “Now let’s go take care of your mother.”

Yes, let’s go take care of Mom.
And see Giles. Only Ryan’s hand holding hers and the knowledge that Zane followed them on a motorcycle kept her calm. Hopefully, the other wolf would protect Ryan first and foremost.

The woman lying in the hospital bed bore little resemblance to his Tiffany. It wasn’t only the bruises and bandages. The woman was sallow colored, her eyes hinting toward a yellowish cast and the illness he smelled in the room—her liver was severely compromised. Tiffany held up all the way to the hospital, her chin lifted and shoulders squared, but she never released his hand.

A private facility, Grove Wood offered the best and they’d taken Audra Anderson without question. Money talked. Zane leaned against the wall of the waiting area. Ryan had a clear view of him and the hospital room where Tiffany had taken a seat next to her mother’s bed. His mate’s pain reached to him through the wall separating them.

She was a terrific mom and a woman who felt things deeply—and she hated the resentment she experienced around her mother. She didn’t have to tell him. The conflicted emotions where her mother was concerned stressed her. His wolf didn’t like it. He didn’t like it. The only reason Ryan had protected the woman—considered protecting her—was she’d given birth to he most precious being he’d ever met. She hadn’t protected her daughter.

A flicker of movement from the corner of his eye drew his attention from Tiffany. Zane nodded once. Giles was there. Straightening, Ryan crossed to the door and pulled it closed before returning to his post. The records stated that Audra Anderson was in a different room, the one Ryan lounged outside of was listed to another.

Giles strode down the hall accompanied by two large men and passed him without a second look. Smiling, Ryan watched him go then nodded to Zane. The hunter had his orders. He would take point on protecting Tiffany.

Ryan would deal with her bastard ex-husband. Trailing after them, he kept his pace even and matched their steps perfectly as they followed the winding corridor to the empty wing. Though recently completed, they had yet to start admitting patients to the rooms there. The distance was perfect.

He followed the curve in the hallway and arrived in time to see Giles slam the door open. “Where the fuck is she?” Aggravation ground through the words, and Ryan allowed himself a smile.

Frustrating the little prick was only the tip of the iceberg.

“She’s supposed to be here,” one of the large men said. “Heller got the information straight from the hospital.”

Heller.
Yes, he and that attorney were not finished, but that was an issue for another day. Ryan closed the distance on the room, gave the behemoth blocking the door a hard shove to send him flying inside. He made a nice dent in the wall and slumped to the floor. Once inside, Ryan closed the door. He’d moved swiftly enough that he still got to enjoy Taglioni’s face going mottled with shock. The second behemoth reached for a weapon, but Ryan didn’t have time for that. He broke his arm and slammed him back against a wall.

Fortunately, they were in a hospital and would be found shortly. Smoothing down his suit, he studied Tiffany’s husband. He worked out, tanned regularly and had apparently adopted the expensive suit made the man look, but didn’t bother to have his tailored.

“Who the fuck are you?” Taglioni demanded.

“I’m the last person you’re ever going to see,” Ryan informed him. His wolf brushed against the inside of his skin. This was the man who’d bruised Tiffany’s face. He struck out. Ryan blocked the blow, then drove his fist upward with enough force to make the man see stars. Taglioni went down, but Ryan didn’t let him hit the ground. He hauled him right back up. “My name is Ryan Huston. I thought we should be introduced.”

The dazed look on Taglioni’s face only lasted a few seconds, then he lashed out again. Ryan had expected it. Bullies like Taglioni didn’t recognize a bigger predator. He blocked the second blow, then gripped his shoulder and used his fingers to snap the collarbone…exactly as Tiffany’s had been.

Giles let out a low wail and went down. Alexis looked nothing like this man. His slicked hair and too white smile said he cared about his appearance. How many of those teeth were real? The wolf wanted to pull them one at a time to find out.

Ryan found himself considering the idea. “I just want to talk,” he told the other man, uncaring of the lie.
Like Taglioni would know?

Like raging boar, Taglioni fought his way back to his feet. “Who the fuck are you?”

“As I was saying…” Ryan straightened his cuffs. “My name is Ryan Huston. I represent Tiffany Anderson in her suit for divorce. I brought some papers with me.” He reached into his pocket and drew them out. “You’re going sign these, relinquishing your rights to Alexis and granting Tiffany an uncontested divorce.”

The man didn’t bother to reach for them. “That bitch is mine, and so is the little bitch. I don’t know who the fuck—”

Ryan didn’t waste time letting him finish the sentence. He struck hard and fast, taking the man by the throat and lifting him up in the air. One hard squeeze and he could snap his neck. “You will never speak of either of them again. You don’t deserve to live, much less speak of them. Am I making myself clear?”

Scrabbling hands fought for purchase, and his legs kicked out, but Ryan didn’t release him. The urge to squeeze until the man stopped breathing and left Tiffany a widow powered through him.

The wolf agreed.
This one needs to die.

The man, however, recognized the inherent dangers in their plan. Killing him didn’t bother Ryan, but it would bother his mate. The scent of urine stank up the room, and Ryan released him. The coward had pissed himself.

“Last chance,” he said, taking a step back to avoid the yellowish stream. “Sign the papers, live your life, and forget about them.”

Coughing violently, the man struggled to roll over and face Ryan. “I’m going to kill you,” he wheezed. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

Ryan sighed. “Do you have any idea how much I don’t care?”

When Taglioni tried to stand, Ryan put pressure on his hand. He’d broken Tiffany’s fingers when she’d been pregnant. Seven months pregnant and this bastard broke her hand. The man’s breath rolled out on a whimper. Removing the pressure from the shattered fingers, he reached for the papers and set them on the floor next to his undamaged hand. “Sign them. She can be divorced or she can be a widow. I’m good with either result.”