Heir To The Pack (The Cursed Pack Book 1) (4 page)

 
He moved quickly along, following a trail
around the corner of the building. As he turned the corner, he broke into a run
once again.

Annie spun around the
corner behind him, to see two large men trying to shove Daisy into the back of
a van. Jack clung to one of her legs, crying, and one of the men reached for
him, too.

They were taking her
family. Every parent’s worst nightmare made real. She had to stop them.

“Jack!”

At her scream, Jack let go
of Daisy, and Annie held out her arms, assuming he’d run to her. Instead, he
seized the beefy ankle of the man holding Daisy and sank his teeth into it. The
second man reached for him.

Annie rushed forward, her
legs like rubber. Dash moved far faster, faster than she’d thought a man could
move. His arms a blur, he snatched up Jack under one arm and plowed his fist
into the second man with the other.

She ran up, snatched Jack
from Dash, and held her baby close. Her body shook with fear. She couldn’t
think. He growled in her ear, the sound not like anything she’d heard from his
lips before. His little body thrummed with tension. She had him. He was safe. Thank
God. Thank Dash.

Daisy took a page out of
Jack’s book and fought back, biting down hard on her captor’s hand. He screamed
and let go. Dash threw him on the ground and grabbed Daisy’s arm, pulling her
to a safe distance.

The men scrambled into the
back of their van. The driver gunned it and drove away, leaving black rubber on
the concrete.

“Are you all right?” Dash
bit the words out as he checked over Annie's mom.

“I’m fine,” Daisy said,
wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

Dash had saved them. Annie
nearly cried with relief and gratitude, rocking her baby against her body. Who
were those men? Who would do something like this?

She held Jack close with
shaking hands. She’d spent the last month in terror of losing him, but not this
way. Who had tried to take her family from her? And why?

CHAPTER
THREE

Dash pulled Daisy into a
bear hug, and she squeezed him back, surprisingly hard for an old lady. Annie did
the same with Jack.

He didn’t know the
werewolves who’d tried to take them, but he assumed they wanted an advantage
over him in the days to come, as he ascended to leadership. He owed Annie and
her family safety until this thing was done.

They weren’t going to like
this, but he didn’t have a choice. He had to keep them safe. By associating
with them he’d put them in danger. It was his responsibility to get them out. Releasing
Daisy, he said, “Let’s go up to your room and get your bags.”

“Why? Where are we going?”
Annie asked, her voice breaking.

“You can’t stay here,” he
said. “Too dangerous. I’ll take you back to my house. You’ll be safer there.”

Her face was white, but
determined. “You know who those men were. It wasn’t random.”

He’d have to give her
something. “I don’t. But I think it’s fair to say your association with me has
made you a target.”

“What? Why?” Her face
twisted in a mix of anger and fear.

He couldn’t help it. He
sighed. “I don’t want to get into it here.”

The flush on her face spread
from the top of her high forehead all the way down her neck. “Someone tried to
kidnap my son and my mother. Don’t you think I deserve answers?”

“I promise you, I’ll
explain when we get back to my place. I don’t want to discuss this in the
parking lot, or while we’re driving.” He glanced around. “As we've just seen, it’s
not safe here.”

She bit her lip, and he
could see she wanted to argue, based on the fact that she argued with
everything he said.

“Don’t worry about my
family. They’re not going to try and abduct anyone. I need you where I can keep
you safe. I
will
keep you safe.” He
wished he could convince her with the strength of his conviction. He couldn’t
leave them unprotected from whichever of his enemies had decided to target
them.

When she said nothing,
just nodded, he didn’t know whether to feel relief or concern. Even in their previous
brief association, the Annie he remembered asked questions. She'd asked about
his background, his family, his life, and he'd worked hard not to tell her too
much. In the end he'd stuck close to the truth: he'd just finished business
school and was celebrating before heading back to work with family. The fact
that she didn’t question his need to move them further underlined that
something essential had changed.

He let Daisy go and
ushered them up to their room, noticing, as he followed Annie up the stairs,
other things that had changed. Her face still captivated him, those striking
dark eyes over high cheekbones, that sensuous mouth giving away her true nature
as an amazing lover. But her clothes hung from her tall, thin, frame. She’d
lost a lot of weight, visible in the prominent bones in the backs of her hands
and the collarbones peeking over the collar of her shirt.

In their hotel room, he
stood back, waiting while the women packed their bags. They had fewer pieces of
luggage than he’d expected. Guess they hadn’t meant to stay long.

Jack tugged at his leg. “Where
going?”

Dash swung him up into his
arms so he could see him without having to bend over. The little boy rested his
head against his shoulder. Dash froze for a second, then relaxed and gave the
child a pat.

“We’re going to go back to
my house. You were there yesterday, remember?”

“Nice doggies.”

“Er—yes. That’s
right.”

The boy put his thumb in
his mouth and closed his eyes. Was he actually asleep? Dash couldn’t tell. God,
he was so small. Were they all this small? He’d never had much to do with
little kids. Once they were a bit older, enough to run with the pack, sure. He
didn’t really know what you did with two-year-olds.

Annie stood watching him. “Are
you done packing already?” he asked.

She shook her head at him
and bent back over a bag, stuffing in a handful of items.

Soon enough, they were
done and headed down to the parking lot. Dash led the way to her beige rental.

“Do you know the way?”

“I have a GPS,” Annie said.

“I’m going to drive behind
you,” Dash said. “To make sure nothing happens.”

She looked utterly
mystified. “Like what?”

He breathed deeply,
knowing he was about to shatter her view of the world. “Like someone trying to
run you off the road. Or carjack you.”

Her shoulders stiffened
and she stopped walking.

“On second thought, I’ll
ride with you. I’ll send someone to pick the truck up later.”

Annie broadened her
stance. Uh-oh. He knew he shouldn’t have said anything.

“Does that mean you’re
going to explain it on the way over?”

He’d give her the honest
truth. “No, it means I’d rather be in the car with you, to prevent any further
mishaps.”

“Mishaps,” she said, her
voice spilling out sibilantly between those rosy lips.

He jerked his gaze away,
knowing he was about to catch hell, but really struggling not to watch her
mouth. Enough being nice. Time to be alpha.

“Get in the car,” he said
in a commanding tone. “Please.” Where did that come from, damn it? “You can
yell at me at my house. Or as you drive, if you prefer, but you should
concentrate on the road.” Apparently today his wolf was feeling terribly
polite. Perhaps he’d change shape and sit about sipping tea and eating cookies.

He shook himself free of
that idea, realizing as he settled that Annie stared at him with a most
peculiar look on her face. Oh. Well, he was a werewolf, and he had werewolf
habits, like shaking himself. She’d just have to get used to it.

“What?”

“I’ve never seen anyone do
that before.” She paused, bit her lip. Again with the lip biting. He wished he
could join in.

“Oh. Well, you’ll see it
again, I’m sure.” On the bright side, he’d distracted her from yelling at him. He
capitalized on that by opening the driver’s side door for her.

“You don’t want to drive?”

“I can watch what’s going
on around us better if I don’t.” He got into the back seat behind her, next to
Jack, who Daisy strapped in beside him.

“Good job, little guy,” he
said, patting the boy on the knee. “Good job looking out for grandma.”

The boy looked up at him and
smiled broadly, adoringly. Dash patted him again and sat back in his seat. There
was something in his eye, damn it.

He ran a hand over his
face, trying to focus. In his mind’s eye, he tried to recall every detail of
the scene in the parking lot. He'd never seen those men before. They were werewolves,
he knew, from their scent. Bold enough or stupid enough to go unmasked. He
didn’t know which pack they were with, but now he had their scents and their
faces, and he’d know them again anywhere.

The corners of his mouth
pulled themselves into the start of a snarl. Daisy looked over her shoulder at
him from the passenger seat and he forced his lips into a stiff smile.

“Young man,” she said, as
Annie began to drive. “I have a simple request. I’d like to know what the hell
is going on.”

He wasn’t about to admit
he didn’t know. Well, not exactly, anyway. “Politics,” he said, instead. That
was a pretty reasonable guess, given his position and upcoming events.

“Momma,” Annie interjected
sharply, “we can discuss this later. Dash and I, that is.” Okay, so she had
questions for him after all. She sounded pretty mad, which was to be expected.
But he could talk to her alone back at the house. Alone. With Annie. His mind
wandered.

“You mentioned politics?”
Daisy wasn't going to roll over that easily.

“Family politics. My,
er...family has some, well, perhaps not enemies, but rivals.”

Daisy blinked, the look in
her eyes quickly becoming calculating. “Are you in the mob?”

See, this was why his kind
kept to themselves. It was too damn hard to explain. “No, just some
long-standing tensions.”

“Just as well,” Daisy
said. “Being a mobster would be far too complicated. But you could be anything,
or anyone. She only spent three nights with you, after all.”

“She told you?” He
couldn’t believe she’d discussed him with her mother. A
fling
, according to Annie. On the other hand, maybe she’d been
dissembling. Maybe, just maybe, she’d spent as much time thinking about him
afterwards as he had about her.

“She tells me everything,”
the old woman said. “I know everything.” She grinned, and nodded once, smugly.

He didn’t even want to
think about what that meant.

“How about not talking
about me as if I weren’t here?” Annie said, mildly, looking over her shoulder
before changing lanes.

“Fine,” Dash said. “I’ll
tell you what I’m thinking. A lot of distant family members are coming into
town for a reunion, starting this weekend.” Close enough. “I presume some of
those family members have gotten wind of your presence here, and either want to
find out what’s going on, or plan to use you against me.” That should cover it.
Hopefully now they’d let sleeping wolves lie.

“I love a family reunion!”
Daisy said. “What wonderful timing. Is it some kind of special occasion?”

“Annual,” he said. “It’s
usually pretty interesting.” That was an understatement.

“Wonderful,” she repeated.
“I can’t think of a better way for Jack to meet his entire family. There are so
few of us on his mother’s side, you know.”

She continued blathering
as Dash’s life flashed before his eyes. He was a total idiot. The consequences
of his stupidity escalated in his brain, obscuring all rational thought.

The truth of it was yet to
be determined in the pack’s eyes, but he had a strong and growing conviction
about Jack. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know why, but the cute kid beside
him, who looked exactly like him, was probably his son.

If that were the case, he
might well have set off a war.

Too late to do anything
about it now. The pup was out of the bag, and there was no getting him back in.
Dash reached for his cell phone and dialed home.

Annie caught his eye in
the rearview mirror, no doubt wondering who he was calling.

His aunt picked up the
phone. “Elaine,” he said. “We have a bit of a problem here. I’d like to clear
the house out.”

“Clear it out?” Her voice
sharpened. “What do you mean?”

“I’m coming over with some
house guests, who will be staying for a while.”

“You're bringing Annie and
the boy? We have to leave soon.”

“I’m well aware. Somebody
just tried to kidnap them.”

Elaine went quiet at the
other end of the call. “Do you know who?”

“No.” He told her briefly
what had happened.

“In that case, we don't
have a choice.” Now she was firm. “Bring them with you.”

“Send people on ahead.”

Elaine sighed down the
line, and he knew she’d do what he wanted. “Who do you want gone?”

“You and Marjie should
stay, and a couple of the stronger ones. Bill, maybe?”

“And Novie.” Elaine’s
voice was firm. He didn’t know why, but fine. He’d concede the point as long as
she went along with the other stuff he needed.

“All right. You pick
someone. But everybody else should get their stuff packed and head to the
ranch. There will be plenty they can do to help set up.”

“That will mean you’ll
arrive with a pretty small entourage.” Her voice sounded disapproving.

He couldn’t keep the
irritation from his voice. “It’s necessary.”

“It can’t be helped, I
suppose,” she said. “I’ll think of something.”

“We’ll be there soon.”

“All right,” she said. “But
you’re going to make them all grumpy, and that won’t help us this week.”

“I’ll explain why when I
see you.” He ended the call, conscious that everyone in the car had been listening.
He wasn’t looking forward to the next couple of hours, but maybe, with his
aunts’ help, they could get some answers.

*
         
*
         
*

Annie had déjà vu as they
walked toward the steps of Dash’s home. Some things were different this time. Jack
was in her arms, Daisy at her side, and Dash behind them, carrying their bags. They
looked like a regular family.

The older woman who opened
the door had been there yesterday, too. She had to be one of the aunts Dash had
mentioned, although which one Annie didn’t know. Like Dash, she was tall and rugged,
with a shock of silver-grey hair framing her face. She dressed exactly as one
would imagine a rancher from Montana—cowboy boots, plaid flannel shirt
tucked into high-waisted jeans, and a serious belt buckle.