We had some time before the yacht left again — Ranger and Duke were going into town on a grocery run, and planned to call Ranger’s girlfriend while they were gone. Duke’s wife was supposed to be at her house, so they’d get to talk to both of them with one call.
Bash and Gonzo said they’d be back in two hours. No one asked where they were going, and they didn’t offer any information.
Brain told me the new game plan was to get off the yacht in Cancun, drive a few hours to a private airstrip, and take another chartered plane to a small airport just north of New Orleans. This would keep us off the radar, and no one would know any of us had left the country. Ranger was expensive, but he was worth every penny.
* * * *
Brain
Harmony seemed fine, mentally. Her biggest problem seemed to be her frustration with her injury, and I was impressed she was staying off her leg and not pushing it.
I wasn’t sure what to think of everyone’s scent once we got underway. I’d expected tension and anger, but I smelled neither. Their scents were just… normal. Not exactly cozy, but not far from it.
Harmony sat on a bench seat with her leg propped up, and directed the guys as they cooked, everyone comfortably cutting up with each other. I knew they’d had a few days together, and it seemed the men had gone above and beyond in taking care of her.
I was glad they’d been there for her, but was a little jealous it hadn’t been me. Everyone backed off and let me do the carrying and holding, but they still brought her stuff — food, drinks, aspirin, penicillin. They knew what she needed and when she needed it, and it was going to take me some time to get up to speed, apparently.
Ranger had been in charge of planning our trip home, and I’d been tempted to accuse him of trying to drag this out as long as possible in order to try to give the maximum time for a reconciliation with the guys, but I’d had to admit this was the smartest plan. We didn’t know who was in on Ivankov’s trip, and didn’t want more Russians coming after us to avenge his death. We’d hidden ourselves well getting to the island, so no one could trace us back to our true identities, and this route home would make sure no one could follow our path back home.
Still, it’d been tempting to just charter a flight from here and get back to the U.S. right away, to avoid having to spend an extra four days with Duke, Bash, and Gonzo.
On the second afternoon, I fell asleep on the upper deck, and awoke to see Bash picking Harmony up. If I’d seen a picture of it, I’d have been upset at her arm around his neck. However, seeing it in motion, how tender and careful he was with her, how casual and relaxed and… comfortable the whole thing was — it finally sank home just what the men had likely had to do to get Harmony through the three days after her injury, without me.
And how she’d not only forgiven them, she’d grown close to them.
Duke, of course, knew I’d seen it, but he kept quiet until they were inside. He turned to me, his eyes solemn as he explained, as if he was afraid I’d be mad. “She needed to use the restroom and didn’t want to wake you.”
I’d figured as much. With the splint on her knee, she could get around okay as long as there were no steps to navigate, but there wasn’t a bathroom on this level.
“I need to find a way to thank all of you, for taking care of her.”
“Come home to us, Brain. We don’t need thanks. You’re our brother, she’s your woman. End of story.”
For the first time, I began to consider the possibility.
Chapter Forty-Five
Harmony
How annoying that I didn’t dare lust after the five hunks on this boat with me, lest they smell my arousal, because all of them on the upper deck in shorts and no shirt was enough to make any woman swoon. I mean, sure, the only one I wanted was Brain, but with so much eye candy… damn it was hard not to stare.
Gonzo had horrid scars on his chest, which meant he hadn’t been born a wolf, and he’d been shot or perhaps stabbed when he was still human. The scars just gave him more of a rogue, muscled, bad-ass look, though, and somehow managed to work in his favor.
The captain had offered to take us by the Great Maya Reef, and said we could stop for some snorkeling, if we wanted. I was paying nearly a hundred grand to rent the yacht and captains, and figured the half-day excursion would help make it worth it — plus, it’d give us more happy memories. Not that anything could erase the bloodbath in the plane.
The outer wound area on my leg was healing well, and I thought a dip in the ocean would do me some good. I’d have to do one-legged kicks, but no biggie.
I hadn’t expected the sheer beauty of this underworld ecosystem, though, or the joy the guys would find in it. Perhaps it’s because they’re werewolves, but they pointed things out to me I’d have missed — little fish and other critters so well camouflaged, I had to look at where they pointed a few seconds before I saw what they were showing me.