She nodded. “I love him and this is my home. Our home.”
Gently, he kissed her forehead. “Then that’s all I need to know. Ever since that night when we left here, you’ve been miserable. It’s about damn time you came home and were happy.”
“But what about you and your pack?”
He gave a crooked grin. “We’ll survive. And if I can’t come up with the money somehow, maybe I’ll hire myself out as an escort. I bet women would pay good money for me.”
She wrapped her hands around his wrists, refusing to let him off the hook with a joke. “I love you Aiden. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”
His smile faded. “Be happy. It’s all I ask. And when you and this arrogant SOB here have young, send me photos of my nieces and nephews.”
Ryder rested a possessive hand on her shoulder. “I’ll take good care of her.”
Aiden’s gaze turned hard. “You’d better. I made a vow two years ago to protect every female under my care and never let her go unless I was absolutely certain she was going to a male who’d protect her as fiercely as I did.”
He stuck out a palm and Ryder shook it.
“If only Alastair had stored treasure.” Ryder shrugged. “All that’s down there in the basement is old junk that’s been there for years. Antiques. Old signs, toys still in their boxes…”
Suddenly his eyes widened and a wide grin split his face. “Antiques. You guys remember the Skin who visited the ranch who offered $1,000 for that old Texaco sign Alastair had hanging by the feeding station? He hung it there as a joke for the cattle, and the old Skin really, really wanted it. He said if we had more old stuff like that it would be worth its weight…”
“In gold,” Aiden finished.
She and Aiden exchanged glances. “Antiques,” she said. “Grandmother’s china, Dad’s collection of old Colt guns. Oil paintings and those jade pieces Grandpa bought in China. All that stuff…”#p#分页标题#e#
“Gold,” Aiden finished for her. He rubbed his whiskered chin. “Damn. There’s probably at least $50,000 worth of antiques in that room.”
“It must be worth more. The jade alone was expensive. We have to get it all appraised.” Kara couldn’t believe it. “I also found a crate filled with silver coins.”
“Ingots,” Aiden murmured. “The old bastard collected them, and original Morgan dollars. He could have thousands.”
“Alastair gave me 100 silver ingots when my parents died.” Ryder’s eyes widened. “I sold them last month for cash to pay bills. Each one was worth around $40. I’d say you have at least six figures in coins alone.”
“More than enough to pay off the bank loan, Aiden.” Her voice cracked.
Hope lit Aiden’s eyes, and then he shook his head. “The lands, the buildings and all their contents belong to Ryder. Legally, everything on the property was left in trust to him.”
“Those antiques belong to your family, not mine,” Ryder said solemnly. “I’ll get the items appraised, find a dealer to sell all of it, and in return for doing all the work, I’ll take 10 percent of the profits. Deal?”
Aiden nodded.
They went outside on the porch. The sun shone bright on the fields as a Lupine on a tractor cut the overgrown grass. It promised to be a fine day.
A battered white pick-up truck rattled up the drive and parked before the lodge. David climbed out and mounted the porch steps. “Everything is complete here. My work is done. I shall take my leave now.”
Ryder hooked an arm around Kara’s waist. “Leaving now, when life promises to be much better?”
“I cannot stay. I came here for a purpose, to see this pack settled once more.”
Kara’s jaw dropped as David shapeshifted into a dark-eyed man. Clad in black leather pants, a black shirt and doeskin boots, he stood well over six feet tall. Wind lifted the man’s shoulder-length black hair, each strand tipped with silver, glinting like polished chrome.
Tristan, the Silver Wizard, a member of the Brehon, the four powerful wizard judges of OtherWorlders. Kara lowered her gaze, but Ryder did not, and neither did Aiden.
Her brother leaned against the railing, and folded his arms. “Tristan. Last time Ryder and I saw you years ago, you kicked our asses for shifting into our wolf forms when those Skins jumped us outside the bar.”
“I could have fried your asses for that indiscretion. But you were both drunk and I had mercy,” the wizard said evenly.
“So now what the hell are you doing here?” Aiden asked.
“I came here to help Ryder assume leadership. And now it’s time for me to step aside.”