Chapter 13
Kylian
“We have to get this guy to the hospital.” Wiley stares at Erick while shaking his head.
In the background, Bo cries in his mother’s arms while Doralee stands with Cricket, surveying the scene.
Marcus fled the diner the moment he fought free of Cricket and Wiley, who were more focused on protecting us than taking him down, while men I don’t know pulled Erick off Thor—whose real name I don’t know.
I’ve never talked to him before. As far as I know he doesn’t hang out with James but I have seen him on campus, know he’s on the hockey team, and remember him from the one college party I’ve attended.
“He’s human?” Erick whispers, more to himself than to me.
“Yes.” Wiley pulls out his phone and calls someone.
Cricket also pulls his phone out of his pocket, my brother’s name coming from his lips. “Yeah, Kade. It’s a shit show. Give us twenty and we’ll call you back.”
I turn to face Erick who stares at the man he nearly beat to death on the diner floor. “Erick? Mate? Look at me?”
He brings his eyes down to mine. “I saw them approach the table and assumed James sent them to threaten you.”
“He did. They did.” I wave my hand in Thor’s direction. “I don’t know why he was here but the other guy was Marcus who hangs out with James daily.”
Erick glances over my head in Cricket’s direction. “Was the other guy human?”
“No, he was definitely a shifter. Panther, if I’m not mistaken. But you know, all cats smell alike.”
The lean, blond man in the kitchen apron laughs. I’m staring and wondering if he’s a shifter too, when he turns my way and gives me a wink. “You alright, darling?”
I nod but say nothing.
Erick takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Milo, this is Kylian, my mate.”
“Mate? That explains the broken dishes.” He grins. “It’s nice to meet you, Kylian.”
“I owe you.” Wiley walks toward us, lowering his phone from his ear and sliding it into his pocket. “I called in a favor and we’re getting a medevac out of here to Great Falls Hospital. Nan is standing by and we’ll treat this like a shifter surgery—off the books.”
“And then what? Dump him on campus looking like he got run over by a truck?” Erick’s eyes go back to the twenty-something who was in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, to the wrong person.
I don’t have the heart to tell Erick that Thor never spoke a word but instead stood there with his arms crossed over his wide chest as Marcus said, “If you want to spare these lovely ladies and their adorable little boy pain and suffering, you’ll come back to Great Falls with me right now. ”
Wiley shrugs. “If that’s what we have to do.”
“Fucking hell.” Erick rubs his hand down his face. “Are you going with him?”
Looking over at his mate and little boy, Wiley exchanges a look with Cricket. “I should. Nan will need an assist, Sly is two hours away, and I seriously doubt I can get another favor called in tonight.”
“Let me call Crash and see what I can do.” Cricket dials.
I don’t know who Nan or Crash are but it’s obvious I don’t have to.
These are men who take care of each other, no matter what.
A true pack, exactly as they are supposed to be and nothing like the pack in Fortune Falls.
No wonder my brothers say our town is a pack in name only, running more like an organization over the last few decades.
Erick unwraps his arms and pushes me to stand, following me up. He makes eye contact with everyone left in the room, most of whom are wearing the same leather vest he and Kade wear. “Thanks for the assist. The fewer people that know, the better.”
“Obviously but you kind of blew that one out of the water,” one guy snorts.
“We’ll stay back and keep out the looky-loos until you get this guy out of here, and we’ll do damage control to the best of our ability within the community.
Is there more we need to know? Any other visitors coming our way? ”
Erick looks down at me, the tips of his fingers caressing my face and light bruise from James’s backhand. “Not if I can help it.”
Fifteen minutes later, we’re standing in front of Bearclaw Ammo waiting on a helicopter with a severely beaten college kid lying in the back of Cricket’s truck but I’m too busy staring at my own truck.
Someone slashed all four tires and took a sledgehammer or wrecking ball to the doors and fenders.
They smashed the windshield and both headlights.
Inside, long claw marks ripped through the upholstery and tore out the foam padding, shredding my seats.
“Motherfuckers,” Cricket hisses from the threshold into Kade and Erick’s store. My mate’s hold on my hand tightens and I follow him up the stairs to survey the destruction wrought in such a short timeframe.
How long have we been gone? An hour, at the most.
I’m so shocked by the carnage, I’m numb to what I’m seeing.
How can this be happening to me? But it’s not just to me, it’s to us. Me, Erick, and now my brother Kade are affected.
Inside the store looks like a hurricane hit it. Or maybe a tornado. Something catastrophic that ends in total destruction.
They shattered the glass case at the front of the store and then pushed over every shelving unit.
The brute strength needed to do that alone would tell me a shifter had been here.
They punched holes in the walls, left a foul odor that hangs in the air, and wrote one word in blood on the far wall: MINE.
Erick’s body is rigid as his eyes travel over the destruction. No one is speaking, the air thick with tension.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper.
He turns his gaze to me, his brow furrowed. “Why are you saying that?”
“I didn’t know.” I shake my head and look around the store again. “Maybe if I had responded to him yesterday, he—”
“No, Kylian, this is not your fault. There isn’t one ounce of this shit that is your fault.
James is a fucking psychopath. An entitled little shit throwing a tantrum because he can’t have the toy he wants.
This—” he motions around the room before framing my face with his hands “—is just stuff. It’s replaceable, but you are not. ”
“It was time to remodel, anyway.” Cricket picks up the clown trophy head and holds it to his chest, sticking his bottom lip out. “Awww man, not the clown. I loved this fucker.”
Erick pulls me flush against his body, wrapping his arms around my back. I do the same, holding him as tightly as I can. “Leave it to Cricket to add a touch of levity to the situation.”
My phone dings with an incoming message and I pat my pockets to find them empty. “Do you have my phone?”
He releases me. “Yes, I do but I don’t want you looking at the messages from him. There’s no reason to read those vile things.”
“He’s been sending me vile messages?”
“Your phone has been buzzing nonstop for the last hour. I have no idea what he’s been sending but considering what he said on the phone, I don’t want you to read them. Nothing good will come from it.”
I present my hand to him, palm up.
He frowns and digs my phone out of his pocket, placing it into my waiting hand.
Typing in my passcode, I hand it right back to him.
“Do whatever you have to do so I don’t see any more of his messages but then I’d like my phone back so I can call my brothers and friends.
If he will do this to your store, my friends have to know about him—which reminds me, did you go into the Trading Post yesterday and check out my booth? ”
Erick takes my phone and shakes his head. “No, babygirl, I didn’t.”
I sigh. “I guess it was him.”
“Chopper is ten minutes out.” Wiley pokes his head into the store. “Let’s call Kade and come up with a plan on how we’re going to kill this fucker because now he’s pissed me off.”
Erick finishes with my phone and hands it back to me, pulling me into his arms and claiming my lips. His kiss is hard and possessive, but also filled with gratitude and relief. “Thank you, babygirl.”
“You’re thanking me for letting you monitor my text messages?”
“I’m thanking you for trusting me to know the difference between wanting to control you and wanting to take care of you.
I blocked him on your phone but not before I sent his traffic to another number where I can keep a record of the things he says.
There’s a slim chance in hell he’ll survive this but it’s good to have a backup plan. ”
“You’re going to kill him.” It’s more of a statement than a question.
“Without a doubt. James is not the kind of shifter you beat into submission. He won’t stop until he’s won, or until he’s six feet in the ground. Can you live with that?”
I nod, still too numb to feel any way about it.
Erick takes my hand and we walk out to the covered porch where Cricket, Doralee, and Wiley sit on rustic wood outdoor furniture. There’s one chair left and Erick sits down, pulling me onto his lap.
Cricket dials my brother’s number and puts it on speaker, placing it on the small table between us.
“That was a long fucking twenty minutes,” Kade growls. “What’s our status?”
“How’s my sister?” Karter adds.
“I’m here. I’m fine. I’m safe.”
“Thank fucking Fates.” This time Kash speaks up.
Warmth blooms from my chest, an oddly timed smile spreading my cheeks.
My brothers care about me. They love me.
Deep down I’ve always known that, but it hits differently when I’m not under their thumbs being told what I can and can’t do.
Karter could chew my ass right now, spewing an ‘I told you so’ that wouldn’t be wrong even if it’s not deserved, but he’s not. All he wants to know is if I’m okay.
Now I know they’ll always have my back, even after I’m mated with a family of my own.