Legacy Found: Legacy, Book 3 (21 page)

Alex stood and Shelley followed suit. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

“Absolutely. Joshua and my father are around. Plus, I expect Simon and the twins are skulking around outside.”

“I should clean house or something. I came here to work as a housekeeper for your father.” She was beginning to feel guilty about not upholding her end of the bargain.

“You can start work tomorrow. Today is your first full day here. Time to look around and get acclimated.”

“If you’re certain it’s safe.” Shelley found Alex’s enthusiasm catching. She suddenly wanted to see where her brothers lived, the place that they, and James, called home.

“Perfectly. Come on.” Alex headed toward the front door with Shelley following close behind.

The crisp spring air was scented with the tang of pine and earth. Shelley paused on the porch to drink in the entire area. There were five homes in total. James lived in the largest one, but the others were all quite lovely. Made of logs, they seemed to blend into the surrounding woods. All the homes circled a fifty-foot clearing. There were a few smaller buildings, which she assumed were sheds.

“Come on.” Alex waited at the bottom of the stairs. “Joshua and I live right there.” She pointed to the story-and-a-half home next door. “The twins share that one and Simon lives there.” Alex pointed out the two homes.

“What about the other one?” There was a slight breeze and a lock of hair that had come loose from her ponytail blew across her face. Shelley tucked it behind her ear. She took the three steps down to the ground and followed Alex.

“That’s Isaiah’s place. Or it used to be. Now it’s more of a guesthouse. Isaiah and his pack use it when they come to visit.”

The mention of her oldest brother’s name made her nerves jangle. She hadn’t met him, wasn’t even certain she was going to get the opportunity.

“And over here is where I’m planting my garden.”

Shelley followed Alex around the compound. She toured the woodshed and various storage sheds. There was also a woodworking studio where both Micah and Levi were currently working. The sweet scent of cedar tickled her nose as they stepped inside.

Both men smiled in greeting. Already, Shelley could tell the men apart. It had more to do with the look in their eyes, the way they held their bodies. Micah smiled more freely, seemed more open, while Levi was more cautious.

“Hey, ladies.” Micah put aside the hand sander he was using and brushed at the sawdust on his hands and clothing.

“What are you working on?” Alex went to Micah and he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

A pang of jealousy hit Shelley hard. They might be her brothers, but she didn’t feel as though she could approach them.

Levi stepped up beside her and gave her a sad smile. “Would you like to see what I’m making?”

His offer soothed some of the bitterness. “I’d like that.”

She spent the next ten minutes examining a table Levi was making. It was intricately carved. Beauty mixed with function. Then Micah wanted to show her the shelf he was sanding. Again it was a simple design, but the craftsmanship was incredible.

“There’s no electricity out here.” Shelley frowned as she looked around.

“Nope. We do all our work by hand.” Levi pointed to the cast-iron woodstove in the corner. “That keeps us warm on cold days.”

“And if we really need electricity, we run an extension cord from the house.”

Shelley hadn’t thought about the logistics of living in the middle of nowhere. “The houses are all wired though.”

Levi nodded. “A combination of solar panels on all the rooftops and power we generate from harnessing the wind and Wolf Creek itself.”

“Wow.” They were really self-sufficient here.

“And if that fails, we’ve got gas-powered generators and plenty of fuel.” Micah leaned against the workbench and crossed his feet at the ankles.

“You also build your own furniture.” Shelley motioned to several other pieces in progress.

“We sell what we don’t need.” Levi brushed his hand over several pieces. “It’s how we make our living.”

“And speaking of making a living,” Alex interjected. “We should let you boys get back to it.”

Shelley was glad to step outside. It was incredible to spend time with her brothers, but they were still little more than handsome strangers to her. She still felt no connection to them, not in her heart where it mattered. Maybe in time that would change. But time was something she had little of.

Shaking off her mood, she took another deep breath and followed Alex. It was a beautiful morning even though there was a slight chill to the air. Neither of them had a coat, but they were both wearing sweaters. Still, Shelley rubbed her hands up and down her arms to help stay warm.

Alex glanced back and noticed. “We should go to my place. I can make us some more coffee or hot chocolate if you’d like, and we can get warm. I never meant to keep you outside so long.”

Shelley smiled. “I don’t mind. I’m enjoying it.” And she was. The younger woman was good company. And being outside, free to do whatever she wanted was invigorating.

She felt someone watching her and swiveled her head around. James was standing on his porch talking with Joshua, but his eyes were on her. Shelley couldn’t look away. There was something about James that tugged at her on an elemental basis. There was no understanding it. No explaining it. It simply was.

Macmillan checked his binoculars again. He held up two fingers and pointed to the women. Then he pointed to the porch. He did it again and pointed to the smaller building behind one of the houses. That accounted for six of the seven.

Quinn and Mitch were on the right. Jessup and Amos on the left. Red was beside him. They moved in slowly, not wanting to alert anyone to their presence. It took them fifteen long minutes to get into position.

He took a deep breath and released it slowly. This was the moment he’d been waiting for since he found out about his father’s death. Shelley was down there. Soon she’d be in his hands. And he planned to make her pay for what she’d done. By the time he was done with her she’d wish she’d jammed that knife into her own heart instead of his father’s.

He raised his hand and brought it down sharply. A second passed. Then a shot rang out. The fight was on.

James’s head jerked up. There was something wrong. The forest was quiet. He raised his head and sniffed the air. A loud crack exploded into the silence.

“Get down!” Head bent, he sprinted across the clearing toward Shelley and Alex with Joshua racing behind him. The women were out in the open. Vulnerable. His heart pounded as he threw himself at them, knocking both to the ground just as another shot ran out.

A low howl broke from behind him. Quickly followed by another.

“Are you okay?” Joshua was dragging Alex to safety so James grabbed Shelley and pulled her closer to the cover of the house.

“I’m fine. What’s going on?” Twigs and grass were tangled in her hair and her face was smudged with dirt where he’d tackled her.

“We’re under attack. Get inside.” James was already stripping his shirt and kicking off his boots. Within seconds he was naked. He shifted without thought, ready to fight and defend his pack. His woman.

Shelley scrambled away from him, her back hitting the side of the house as he shifted. Bones cracked. Limbs reformed. Thick fur covered his body as he went from man to wolf.

He was magnificent. Majestic. Powerful. Shelley had never seen a wolf like him. He leaned in and licked her face before spinning around and sprinting to the entrance of the compound to meet their attackers head on.

Shelley couldn’t believe what was happening. One minute she’d been enjoying the cool spring morning with Alex, the next someone was shooting at them. She still couldn’t believe how fast James had moved. He’d saved both her and Alex from serious injury or possibly even being killed.

Shots continued to rain down on them. She scooted closer to the building. A bullet ricocheted off the wall behind her, sending large splinters of wood flying. Several hit her face and stung her cheek.

The smart thing would be to crawl inside the house where it was safer. But she couldn’t do that. Not when James was fighting for his life. For their lives.

She knew she was still in shock. Watching James change from man to wolf had left her slightly stunned. Intellectually, she knew he was a werewolf. But the only person she’d ever seen change was herself. It had taken her off-guard.

James was a big man, but he was huge in wolf form, his fur a silvery gray much like the hair at his temples. His eyes were still the familiar golden-brown. In them, she recognized intelligence and understanding. He wasn’t James, but he was. He and the wolf were one and the same.

It wasn’t monstrous to watch, as Tom had always claimed. It was beautiful. He was beautiful. His tongue was slightly rough but she’d felt comforted, felt his promise of protection when he’d licked her.

“Shelley,” Alex hissed off to her left. “Can you shoot a rifle?” Alex was about twenty feet away, hunkered down just outside her house. She had two rifles beside her.

“No.” That was something else she’d never learned how to do.

“Damn,” Alex muttered. She grabbed up one of the rifles and raised it, ready to shoot.

Around them, chaos had broken out in the compound. Joshua had also shifted and was heading toward the wide-open gate. She instantly recognized the large black wolf as her brother.

Levi and Micah were working their way toward the entrance, rifles in hand.

Simon slithered up beside Alex and lifted the other rifle. “Mind if I borrow this?”

Alex shook her head. “Be my guest.”

All Shelley could do was watch as several men raced into the compound, shooting as they came. She didn’t recognize the first three who fought their way inside, but she recognized their kind. Bounty hunters. They were dressed in camouflage and denim and all were shooting to kill. The fourth man in made her heart freeze with fear. Steve Macmillan. Somehow he’d found her.

James raced across the ground, moving faster than she’d thought possible. At the last second the muscles in his hind legs coiled and he sprang. The hunter raised his rifle and fired, but his aim was off, knocked aside by James’s strong forelegs. Powerful jaws opened and clamped down on the hunter’s throat. He cried out and fell to the ground, blood pouring down his neck. His cries stopped and he went silent.

Micah and Levi returned fire as the hunters scrambled for cover. One of the hunters was spun around as a bullet hit him square in the chest. He fell to the dirt, not moving.

Shelley felt useless. Less than useless. She needed to fight. She’d brought this on all of them. Somehow Steve Macmillan had found her. An axe sat propped next to a load of wood waiting to be split. Staying on her elbows, she dragged her body to the side of the house. She heard Alex calling her name but ignored her.

Taking a quick glance around, she scrambled to her feet. On a dead run, she grabbed the axe and kept going, circling the house and coming out on the other side, closer to the fighting.

The continuous spray of bullets from the hunters had Joshua and James pinned down behind a shed. Levi, Micah and Simon returned fire. Shelley heard a cry behind her and saw Simon fall.

Alex screamed his name. Levi sprang from the side of one of the houses, while Micah covered him. Closing the distance faster than seemed possible, he grabbed his younger brother and dragged him to safety, swearing the whole while.

Shelley blocked out everything happening around her. The sound of her brother’s moans, the blast of the gunfire, the pounding of her heart. She sorted through the smells. Blood. The acrid smell of the bullets. James. For a moment, she stopped and breathed in his unique scent. It was the same, yet different. Not unpleasant. Man and wolf together.

For the first time in years, she felt her wolf clamoring to get out and wasn’t afraid of it. “Soon,” she whispered. But not yet.

Shelley tightened her grip on the handle of the axe and concentrated. The stench of sweat mixed with fear and excitement. These hunters loved to fight and kill, and they expected to win. She paused and sniffed again. All except one. One of the hunters smelled different from the rest. She frowned and sniffed again.

Before she could figure out what that difference was, the scent she’d been looking for almost smothered her. Steve Macmillan. She’d grown up with the stink of his hatred burning her nostril, his disdain swirling around her. Now she could smell his need for revenge.

He was hunkered down behind a tree, his men in front of him. Her lip curled. Coward. He’d always allowed others to take the fall and then swooped in for the glory. She’d heard enough of his bragging tales at his father’s kitchen table to figure that out.

A shot rang out. This one was from behind them.

Shelley eased down beside the house and looked over her shoulder. That didn’t make any sense. She sniffed the wind and frowned. Wolves. She was getting nothing but wolves from that side. Another shot rang out and Levi swore. “Fucking Carlos clan. What the hell do they think they’re doing?”

It just kept getting better and better. Now they were under attack on two fronts.

A wolf came barreling around the side of the house. Shelley stood slowly and raised her axe. She had no idea if he was friend or foe. Another wolf was right behind him, bearing down on him fast. Five feet from her, the wolf behind sprang, coming down on top of the other one.

Growls filled the air as blood and fur flew. Powerful jaws and sharp teeth tore at flesh. Lethal claws ripped. Shelley was momentarily spellbound by the sight. It was so violent. So raw.

Finally, one of the wolves lay dead. The larger one turned toward her. She raised the axe, ready to fight. His blue eyes were unusual, but familiar. She’d met him this morning. Donovan Brody.

He gave a low growl. If a wolf could sound disgruntled and pissed off, this one did. He whirled away and took off toward the sound of more fighting.

James
. Where was James?

Shelley forgot the dead wolf only feet away and eased toward the corner of the house. It was still hard to see where everyone was. She concentrated on trying to sort out the scents, but it was becoming more difficult with the bitter smell from the guns and the metallic stench of blood filling the air around her.