“I’m almost done,” Doc murmured. “We’ll use our mating bond when I’m finished. Your hand will be okay.”
“I know,” he said, trying to catch her gaze to let her know he was fine. But she focused on her work.
He loved that about her. That she was all business when someone needed her. She was too fucking perfect. But the way she flew from the lodge and into the face of danger in defense of him… it made his chest seize with pride and concern.
He had to mark her soon.
The dining room was quiet, all things considered. Magic paced back and forth by the window, muttering something to Layna and Ryan.
“We get him back,” Layna snapped, her voice loud in the room. “There’s no question here. Gash needs us. He doesn’t get to decide what we do or if we care. Besides, these assholes nearly cut off my tail. Did cut off Owyn’s finger. I want their fucking fur on my mantel.”
“Layna, goddamn, enough okay? I agree.” Magic nodded. “The question is how. We have to be smart about this.”
Doc carefully wrapped a thick strip of gauze around Owyn’s wound. “I don’t know what’s happened to him,” she mumbled.
“What’s that?” Magic asked.
“Rigor. He wasn’t always a monster.”
“How do you know him, Doc?”
She sighed, taping off the bandage. “Through Cleaver. I don’t know him well. Just that he was the kind of male who’d care for his family. I helped him once. Well, not him exactly. His female, she was with young, almost ready to give birth. When they brought me to her, she was nearly gone already. She’d been shot several times, lost too much blood, and I couldn’t sew her up fast enough. Anyway, there was nothing I could do for her. The young however… that was another thing.”
“You saved his young?” Owyn asked.
Doc nodded. “He cried when I put the baby in his arms. Said he owed me a life.”
The lights flickered once. Twice. And then came fully to life, making them all blink in the brightness.
“Oh, good,” Bethany breathed. “They got the generators working.” Rhys was curled over her round belly, snoozing.
The front doors opened and footsteps sounded through the lobby. But they didn’t stop at the dining room entrance. Instead, they pounded down the hallway. Magic followed the sound and so did Owyn, ignoring Doc’s objections.
It was Gash, stalking toward his office with purpose.
“The hell?” Magic muttered, running after him.
When Owyn caught up, Gash was at his desk behind the monitors, clicking his way through different camera shots. A phone was pressed between one ear and his shoulder.
“What’s happening?” Magic asked, but Gash ignored him. “Shit, man. Fill me in. How did you get away?”
“I didn’t,” he said, grimly. “I made a deal.”
“A deal? Who are you calling?”
“Those bears you told me about. The ones in security. We need to shore this place up. This isn’t over no matter what kind of shitty ass deal I made.”
Owyn frowned. “Bears. The ones from Cleaver’s?”
“Those are the ones—Hey, it’s Gash,” he said into the receiver. “I changed my mind. Whatever your terms, we’ll meet them. Get here as soon as you can.” He slammed the phone down and squinted at the screen.
“What deal did you make?” Magic asked, his voice low.
“A fucking bad one,” Gash answered, distracted.
Magic slammed his fist down on the desk. “What deal?”
“Aaron Redman,” Gash snapped.
Owyn recognized the name, but he doubted anyone else would. He was friends with Tana. Brother to one of the wolves’ mates.
“Annie’s brother,” Owyn murmured. “From DTD.”
Gash nodded. “I agreed to deliver him to Rigor in exchange for him keeping Felix away from here.”
Owyn’s stomach sank in the silent moments between Gash’s announcement and Magic’s explosive response.
“You did what?” Magic hissed, pushing off the desk to run a hand angrily through his hair. “We don’t do shit like that around here.”
Gash narrowed his gaze and swallowed back whatever words he had for Magic.
“You… you can’t follow through on that deal, man,” Owyn argued, and Gash’s angry stare flipped to him.
“Don’t you think I know that? I did what I had to do, to give us some time. Get the bears here, and figure out what to do about the fucking shadow clan. I told you shitheads, I’ve changed. I’m not handing over anyone innocent to those people.” He turned back to the monitors. “Now let me do my fucking job. I don’t know how much time we have.”