PacksBrokenHeart (14 page)

Owen glared at the phone so hard he was surprised it didn’t explode in flames. One of Piper’s sisters wandered by. She smiled hesitantly, walked around the room then sat down across from Owen.

He returned her smile then sighed into the receiver. “Okay,” he said grudgingly. “What are my first priorities?”

“Back up Katherine and Piper. Stay visible and stay with them during the day. Keep any other were from muscling in and taking control.”

“Huh. Sounds exactly like what I’m already doing.”

“Just keep the status quo until after the funeral. After that the strongest will step up and duke it out for control. Nature will have her way. For now just make sure the weak don’t get steamrolled.”

After more notes and after he hung up, Owen looked across at Piper’s sister. He realized his head didn’t hurt anymore and his legs had lost much of their stiffness. His ribs didn’t even hurt as long as he wasn’t leaning to the side. Not for the first time in his life he was grateful weres healed fast. “How you holding up, Abby?” he asked, gentling his voice.

“Better than when I first heard the news. Turns out I can be stronger than I thought…when I need to be.” Her smile was sad but it moved Owen nonetheless.

“Would you do something for me, Abby?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks. Can you and your sister stay with Piper for the next couple of nights? It might be a little crowded but—”

“I’m sleeping with my sisters tonight.” Piper, the skin around her eyes looking paper-thin, stood in the doorway. She stepped up behind Abby and wrapped her arms around her sister’s shoulders. “We haven’t slept in the same room since we were kids.”

There was a happiness in her voice that tightened Owen’s throat.

Piper continued, “We’ll leave the bedrooms to Cory’s family when they get here. The three of us will take over the basement rec room.”

Abby stood and hugged her sister. When she did Owen picked up the phone again and started calling pack members, asking if anybody had rollaway cots they’d be willing to loan. Cory’s desk might be a logistical nightmare but the man had kept his computer spreadsheets neat. It was easy for Owen to retrieve the phone numbers he needed.

Two more pack members wandered in. They sat, looked at Owen and listened to him talk. After he hung up they asked about arrangements, if there was anything they could do. Introduced themselves. They shared tall tales about Cory. One of the males had gone to grade school with him. They talked about how awkward and tongue-tied the young, large-and-in-charge were had been when he met Piper.

After they left, Piper started fussing over Owen. She fixed him a plate of sandwiches and salad and brought it to him and seemed pleased to oblige when he asked if there was any pie left.

More visitors arrived, others were leaving so she left to talk to them.

Owen hung his uniform jacket on the back of Cory’s chair and kept the door open. As weres passed by they stopped to greet him, talk awhile, ask questions. He kept one ear tuned to the conversations outside.

Owen made sure he kept the pack in the loop. Passed on word when it reached him. He told them Katherine and her mate would be picking the boys up at the airport around suppertime. He told them he’d talked to Tom Ray twice and although they had several good leads no one had been arrested yet.

It was late afternoon when Piper came back in. Owen had brought up Cory’s online calendar and was making calls, cancelling appointments.

Piper sat for a while then made an effort to organize the papers on the desk. She said, “Cory had a unique filing system—no system at all.” When she laughed softly Owen joined her. “He liked you,” she added suddenly. “A lot. He hoped you’d stay but he wouldn’t have wanted to throw you into all this.”

When Owen stood Piper came around the desk and laid her head on his arm. “In case you hadn’t noticed,” he said, “I’ve got a nose problem. Can’t seem to keep it out of the pack’s business.” The doorbell rang. “You up for more callers or do you want to lie down again?”

She shook her head. “It’s too hard, being up in bed without Cory there. His scent…” She blinked furiously, as if she was refusing to cry. “My mate was a strong were. I’ll show them all one last time that I deserved to be the mate of the finest male I’ve ever met.”

Owen hugged her briefly then, as gently as he could, ran the pads of his thumbs beneath her eyes, gathering up the moisture that had formed there. He walked beside her and when she positioned herself near the front door Owen stood a little behind her, off to one side. He said nothing but smiled—even laughed when it was appropriate. And he watched and listened, sheltering the small, fragile female with his brooding presence.

It was pushing six o’clock and the visitors were coming more frequently. The house started to fill up. All the activity gave Piper an excuse to move around, offer food and drink, run a cloth over her clean kitchen counter with obsessive regularity.

Standing off to one side of the living room, Owen looked up when two familiar scents caught his attention. Tom and Suzanne, dressed in the brown shirts and tan pants of the deputy sheriff’s office, walked up to him.

“You look like shit,” Suzanne said quietly and grinned.

“You don’t. And doesn’t
that
just piss me off to no end.” He wasn’t kidding. Even with her hair bound up tight and the bulletproof vest she wore under her shirt disguising that phenomenal body, she was the loveliest female he’d ever seen. He saw concern in her eyes. Saw her soft, pale skin brighten when she looked at him. She looked like a female who liked what was standing in front of her.

Tom just smiled and looked them over, projecting a calm that almost masked the alertness Owen felt humming through the deputy sheriff. Tom glanced up and his smile widened. “Now
there’s
a beautiful female.”

Piper blushed as she stepped up to them. “Don’t lie.”

“I’m not lying.” Without asking, Tom touched her hair, smoothed it back, ran his hands down her arms with a gentleness belied by his size. “You look beautiful, Piper.”

She waved his words away then leaned into him and slid her arms around his back. The room grew quiet, almost reverent, as the weres gave their dead Alpha’s mate a moment to nuzzle and be comforted. Piper straightened and wiped her eyes. “Are you three hungry? You must be hungry. Come on. Let me fix you each a plate.”

They were guided into the dining room, set into chairs and hovered over while Piper and her sisters put together supper from the casseroles, dishes and baskets that had been arriving all day. More plates appeared and a buffet was put together on the sideboard. As various weres ate they asked Tom about the investigation, asked Owen about arrangements. Wally Pierce and another deputy sheriff showed up.

“I asked them to keep an eye on the place tonight,” Tom said quietly and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I’m one hundred percent sure the boys will have the dullest evening of their lives. But without them you’d feel honor-bound to stay. Figured you’d need a break for a while.”

“Thanks,” Owen said just as quietly. Like before, the were’s discernment caught Owen off guard, although not so much now. Actually, it was starting to feel familiar. He said no to a second helping of dessert and finished off the coffee in his cup.

“Piper,” he said after he’d tracked her down. She was sitting in the kitchen, staring at nothing, surrounded by her sisters and other females. “I’m leaving now but I can stay longer if you’d like.”

“No. I’ll be fine.” When she stood Owen took her hands, raised them to his lips and kissed her knuckles reverently. “My boys will be here soon.”

She saw him, Tom and Suzanne to the door.

Tom drove them back to his place. They didn’t speak during the trip. He took the long way, through town, and rolled the windows down so the few people out at that hour, most coming home from late work, could scent the presence of three strong weres. Familiar weres, there to protect them, who meant them no harm.

Inside Tom’s small bungalow Suzanne grabbed the first shower. While Tom sprawled on the sofa and channel surfed, Owen wandered back to the guest room he’d slept in the night before and started undressing. The pack’s scent was all over him. His jacket and his white shirt reeked of them. Not just them but their neediness. Every were he’d met today had been lost. Simply because Owen was strong and there they’d turned to him for answers, support, confirmation of any and every little detail. He stripped off the shirt and threw it in the corner. The rest of his clothing followed, although he picked up his pants and jacket and put them on hangers. Even in the middle of a mental rebellion he was still compulsively tidy. Yet another ring of hell he’d descended to.

Naked, he wandered down the hall, went into the bathroom, closed the toilet seat and sat on it. He grabbed a nearby towel, laid it across his lap and lowered his face into his hands. He didn’t even notice when the shower turned off. When the curtain was pulled back and Suzanne stepped out, he finally looked up. She had a towel wrapped around her body and was squeezing the water out of her hair with another. The look on her face wasn’t a happy one but it wasn’t overly annoyed either.

When she walked past him, heading for the sink, he reached out and slid his fingers around her waist. They might have gotten off to a rocky start but his wolf told him this female would accept him. Especially now, when he was drained and vulnerable.

Suzanne didn’t complain when he pulled her to him, shifted his legs so she was standing between them and lowered his forehead to her chest.

They stayed like that for a while, her hands on his head, him breathing in her scent, filling himself with it until he couldn’t smell anything else. Until there
wasn’t
anything else. He pursed his lips, kissed the swell of her breast then relaxed when she moved her fingers through his hair and held him to her.

Tom popped his head into the bathroom. From the corner of his eye Owen saw him watching. It felt peaceful. He felt like he belonged, like he had a right to be there, with them.

“You know,” Tom finally said, breaking the comfortable silence, “if this keeps up I’m going to need a bigger water heater.”

Chuckling, Owen lifted his head, stood, nuzzled Suzanne’s wet hair then stepped into the shower. When he was finished Tom showered while Owen dried himself off. Eventually the three of them, barefoot and dressed in sweats and shirts, sprawled on the sofa and chairs in Tom’s living room. They drank beer, ate popcorn and watched a movie with a lot of car chases and little plot.

When the movie ended they found themselves wandering toward the bedrooms and standing awkwardly in the hallway. Owen exhaled slowly. Without asking he took Suzanne’s hand, jerked his head in Tom’s direction like he expected him to follow and led them into Tom’s bedroom. He pulled back the sheets on the king-sized bed. Like they were pups, they climbed in and began to wrap themselves around each other.

“This doesn’t mean I like you, Wells,” Suzanne whispered as she found a spot for her head in the crook of his arm.

“Same here,” Owen said as he pulled the blankets up over all of them. Despite the darkness, his wolf’s eyes saw Tom curl into Suzanne’s back, wrap an arm around her body and nestle his groin against her ass. “Tom’s okay though.”

They chuckled at that.

“You don’t snore, do you?” Suzanne asked. She lifted her head and shot him a look. Despite that, she laid her arm over his chest and burrowed into his warmth.

“Don’t know.” Owen shrugged lightly. “My reputation as a stud is far-reaching and well-deserved but this might be the first time I’ve ever actually slept with a woman.”

As if to prove the point, he was asleep almost as soon as he’d finished the sentence.

When Owen woke up the digital clock on the dresser told him it was just past midnight. He was on his back. Suzanne’s and Tom’s scents were all around him and made him feel cocooned, content. Her heavy silky hair was spread across his arm and he felt her hand on his abdomen. His T-shirt was pushed up a little and he stretched to give her more access.

The mattress shifted and he heard movement behind her, heard Tom slide against the sheets, the sound of a gentle kiss. Then another. She turned her head and buried a quiet giggle in the pillow.

Oh yeah. Snuggling with Suzanne was a lot better than arguing with her.

Her hand slid beneath his shirt. She caressed his abdomen then ran her palm over the rise of his pecs.

Always one to oblige the ladies, Owen pulled off his shirt and dropped it on the floor. That tumble of pale hair made it easy to find her in the dark. He took her face in his hands.

Her mouth was as soft as he’d imagined. Full lips parted for him as he nibbled gently. Warm breath washed his nose and the sensation made him smile. The fitted T-shirt she was wearing slid against him as it was lifted up and over her head.

“Ever hear of wooing a girl instead of getting straight to business?” Suzanne’s tone was cool as she fired the comment over her shoulder at Tom.

“I like to think I’m more take-charge than that,” he said. He leaned over her and took her nipple into his mouth.

Owen thought it was one of the hottest things he’d ever seen. Especially when she inhaled sharply, when those soft lips of hers parted, when she moaned and trembled instead of berating Tom. Tom’s hand was darker than her skin and his dark head moving over her, the hollowing of his cheeks, the quiet, suckling sounds, made Owen’s cock lengthen.