Her mother’s voice trailed off as he stood up. Maybe it was the way the chair flew backward from the force of muscles that made her halt her speech.
“Devin, are you okay?”
He breathed hard. Unlike him, his mother’s nose worked fine, which meant that she would know quite well that he was not fine. “I’m good.”
“Would you like to try to shift, dear? Maybe a good run in the woods would do you some good.”
“I wish I could.” But he still had no damn Wolf to call.
“It’s nice that you’ve taken such an interest in the Knox family.” She stood up. “But this really isn’t our problem. You know all about Wolf pride. Your father would hate it if someone came over here and tried to interfere in our business.”
“Mr. Knox is in Decline.”
His mother gasped. “How do you know?”
“Lena.”
He scratched his face, wishing he could call on his claws. Yes, his Wolf would be really nice right now.
“You and Lena have been talking?”
“I’ve got to go.”
In two seconds, he was out the door and crossing the small distance to the Knox house. She hadn’t come to him when her sister and brother-in-law who robbed them came back to her house? He wanted to growl. Nothing deserved a growl more than that fact. Of course there was the little nagging voice inside of him, reminding him that he didn’t have any hold on Lena. They were nothing, fuck buddies at best.
Sure they laughed together all the time, a real feat for him, and he’d told her all kinds of things he never shared with anyone else. But he wasn’t her mate, not even her boyfriend. Why should she think she could come to him and he’d help her with her problem?
Maybe she didn’t think it was a problem. Maybe he should mind his own damn business.
He pounded on the door and was relieved to see it didn’t collapse upon his assault. It had held up, which meant his work on it remained sound.
The door opened slowly. Vera Knox looked out at him with tired eyes.
“Tonight isn’t a good night for you to fix anything, Devin.”
“Hello, Mrs. Knox.” He smiled although he wanted to holler at her. “I’m here to see Lena.”
“Well.” Vera Knox looked behind her. “It’s not a good night for that either.”
He could easily get in the house by force if he had to. Of course, he’d really rather not have to pound through his neighbor’s door.
“Why not?” He gritted his teeth as he spoke.
“She’s involved in something right now.”
“Mrs. Knox.” He lowered his voice. “I need to see for myself that Lena is okay, right now. If I don’t get to do that in the next few seconds, I am going to break the door that I spent all of that time fixing. I realize this might be construed as rude, but that is what I’m going to do if you don’t let me see Lena, right now.”
Devin hadn’t felt particularly crazy for the last couple of weeks. He’d decided it was because he was regularly getting sex. But at that moment he crossed some line that might qualify him as truly nuts. In his wildest dreams, he couldn’t have imagined picking up an old woman and shaking her, but he was afraid he might actually do just that if she didn’t move.
She opened the door, which spared him having to do anything he might regret later. “This is family business, Devin.”
He shook his head. “I have a vested interest in a member of your family.”
When had that become true? He wasn’t sure, and he couldn’t deal with it at that moment. He just had to be sure she stayed fine and then he could leave.
Devin stalked into the house, his leg not bothering him.
He sniffed the air and a twinge of satisfaction passed through him when he picked up her scent. The smell didn’t hit him as strongly as it should have. Leg better, nose still damaged.
As he took the stairs two at a time, he wondered how he’d explain barging into the house. He reached the top and followed the cherry aroma until he found his way to what he guessed was her bedroom.
Devin raised his hand, ready to knock, when he heard her voice.
“I won’t let you take it.” A growl answered her declaration. “I don’t care how much the two of you show anger. I’ve worked like a lunatic for this, and I won’t let you have it.”
This time the growl that followed didn’t leave any question about the Wolf’s intention. Devin could hear the threat contained in it. He pushed open the door, grateful when it bounced against the wall with a loud thud.
Two Wolves snarled at Lena, who clutched a box in her hands so tightly that her knuckles looked white from the strain.