Chapter 8
Daniel cuddled with Selena, knowing she’d felt spooked on the run, and he didn’t want her to feel like that.
He also didn’t want to give her up to someone else to protect, even though he knew the others would make sure she stayed safe.
But if that’s what she wanted, he had to let her leave to feel secure until they caught these guys.
In the morning, she was quiet, and he fixed eggs and bacon while she made the coffee. She had gotten up early to pack her bags, and he again felt bad that she didn’t feel safe with him. They didn’t speak much. She looked tired, like she hadn’t slept much last night.
“I’ll take you to the shop and then call Peter.”
She nodded.
“He’ll have someone pick up your bags so if anyone is watching us, they won’t realize I’m taking you to the shop and then handing off your bags to someone else.”
“All right.”
After reaching the shop, he called Peter, who sounded surprised at the new development. “Are you sure nothing is going on between the two of you?”
That had never occurred to Daniel. He glanced at Selena as she opened another box of merchandise that had just come in. He thought she was just tired because she had gotten up so early.
He couldn’t remember anything he had said that would have upset her, yet suddenly she wanted to stay with someone else.
“I don’t know. I can’t remember saying or doing anything that would have upset her.”
“Okay, well, I’ll relieve you at the store. You can look for the brothers and the Mazda.”
Daniel hadn’t expected to be relieved at the shop while he watched over her there. “Do you think that’s necessary?”
“I do. Meghan’s going to speak with her too.”
Well, hell. “All right. I’ll let Selena know.” But he sure didn’t want to let her go for anything. Then they ended the call, and he said in a gloomy voice, “Peter is going to watch over you at the store today. Meghan’s dropping by, also. Peter wants me to look into these men some more.”
“Good.” Then she went back to emptying the box.
He cut open the others for her and then heard Peter pull up. He wanted to kiss Selena goodbye, but she didn’t appear to be receptive.
“If you need anything, call me.”
“Okay.”
Then Peter walked into the store. “Keep me informed about what’s going on with the investigation.”
“I will.” Daniel glanced one more time at Selena, who was digging into the boxes and ignoring him. “See you, Selena.”
She didn’t answer him. Peter raised his brows at Daniel. Yeah, he was in deep shit, and he didn’t even know what it was for.
With a heavy heart, he left the shop, worried that if he didn’t resolve things between them, she would begin dating other bachelor wolves.
When Daniel said Selena could stay with him and forgo moving to an apartment, but then look for a house, she realized he wasn’t seeing a long-term relationship between them, especially when Daniel was okay with handing her off to the other deputies and the sheriff, who would protect her.
She just couldn’t even look at Daniel because she’d been so upset this morning over it. Peter helped her empty the boxes of merchandise onto the counter, then broke the boxes down and carried them out back to the recycling bin.
Meghan arrived and smiled cheerfully at her. “Daniel said you got spooked on your wolf run.”
“I did. I went to chase off what we heard, but it was only deer. For which I was grateful.”
“And no sign of the men’s scents?”
“No.” She sighed. “Daniel was right there with me.” She didn’t want Meghan to think he had abandoned her to let her check it out herself. Then she wondered why Peter hadn’t returned and worried about him.
Was Meghan here to find out why Selena wanted to stay with someone else? But she didn’t want to discuss it with anyone. She would sound like a fool who had gotten her hopes up over Daniel. Yet she couldn’t quit thinking of how much he meant to her in such a short time.
“I’m going to the Silver Town Tavern for dinner,” Selena said.
“Oh, sure, we can take you.”
“No, alone. Only shifters can go into the tavern so I should be safe.”
“Why would you want to go to the tavern alone?” Then Meghan’s blue eyes grew big as if it dawned on her that Selena wanted to date other men.
Which Selena wasn’t really interested in. All she could think of was rebounding after a failed relationship. And how much she missed seeing Daniel. She knew she would compare anything anyone did with Daniel, and they would fall short.
“Okay, well, you still have the issue with the brothers so we’ll take you to the tavern and you can sit at a different table.”
“All right.” She hoped the sheriff’s department found these creeps soon. She was tired of always having to be protected and wanted some normalcy in her life.
“I’ll bring a soup and salad for lunch for you and Peter, or he’ll skip it.”
“That sounds great. Thanks, Meghan.”
“What are friends for. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
Then Peter came back inside, and she thought it was awfully convenient that Meghan was leaving at the same time. “I’ll bring lunch,” Meghan told Peter and kissed and hugged him.
He kissed her and hugged her back as if they were newlyweds. “I’ll see you in a little while.”
At the sheriff’s office, Daniel was working on his computer, learning that the three brothers had stolen cars before, which made him wonder whether the Mazda had been stolen.
He began searching for any stolen black Mazdas out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and found one.
If it was the same one that had been involved in two road rage incidents without caring how banged up the car would be, he could understand it now.
Jeffry, Logan, and Banyon were the brothers’ names, and all had a lot of moving violations, from no car insurance to driving without a valid driver’s license to DUIs.
They all worked at a lumber mill, so they were used to heavy-duty work, and they loved hunting. They had pictures all over their social media pages, displaying the deer they had shot.
Then Meghan walked into the office, pulled up a chair, and sat down. “I believe Selena is mad at you. Do you know how that came about?”
“No. We even cuddled in bed last night.”
“Was she affectionate back?”
Come to think of it, she hadn’t been. He had just wanted to snuggle with her, and she hadn’t objected. What had he said or done wrong?
“She wants to go to the tavern,” Meghan said.
“I can pick her up at the shop.” His spirits brightened.
“She wants to go alone.”
“She can’t. Not with the brothers still out there causing trouble for her.” She needed protection at all times.
“We’ll take her, but she wants to eat alone.”
He ran his hand through his hair. “I’ll meet her there and talk to her and get to the bottom of this.”
“I think she might be looking to eat with someone else.”
“Hell.” He hadn’t expected that.
“We could make it so that you get there first and have a table. We’ll make sure Silva takes care of it so there are no tables left other than one for us. Selena would have to sit with you or with us.”
“Watch her sit with you.” Daniel was really disappointed. “I need to figure out what is wrong between us.”
“What did you say to her after the wolf run?”
“We talked about long-term goals.”
“And?”
“I said I wanted to find a mate, have children, and continue working as a deputy sheriff.”
“So you didn’t indicate she could be the one?”
“That’s what I meant.”
“That’s not what you said.”
He sighed. “You’re right. So what do I do now?”
“We’ll make sure the tavern is full tonight for dinner, except one table for you and one for us. Then she’ll have to sit with you or us. Be sure to have a box of chocolates for her and make it up to her.”
“Chocolate chip cookies. She loves them.”
“There you go,” Meghan said. “See you tonight at six.”
Now he just had to say the right things to show how much he cared about her and didn’t want to lose her. Six wouldn’t come soon enough.
It was half past five when he got a tip that a couple of wolves thought they had seen the black Mazda in the forest, buried by branches. With hope that it was the car he was looking for, he headed out there to verify the find.
When Peter parked his vehicle in the tavern parking lot, it was full except for two spots. “It looks like it’s full,” Selena said, sounding almost relieved, almost disappointed. “Did you make two reservations? I should have thought to do so.”
“I didn’t think to do so either. We might have to go to the Wolff lodge,” Peter said.
But Meghan didn’t look worried so Selena thought maybe they were good.
Peter opened the door, and there were two empty tables. He glanced at Meghan. She shrugged her shoulder.
Silva hurried to greet them. “Which table do you want to sit at?”
“I’ll take that one since it’s for two,” Selena said before Peter could respond.
“Uh, yeah, that’s fine.” Their table was in sight of hers, but not so intrusive that she could speak privately to another wolf.
But when she took her seat, all she could think of was the night she ate dinner here with Daniel and wished she was with him.
She glanced around the restaurant, but he wasn’t there.
Three bachelor males who had said hi to her before glanced in her direction, smiled, but none of them left their seats to join her.
Had they stopped by the table just for show when she had been eating with Daniel?
They hadn’t been all that interested in meeting her?
Or was this more of a case that they felt she was with Daniel, even if she wasn’t tonight, and they didn’t want to cause friction between them? Well, this was a sad state of affairs.
Excited that a couple of wolves on a run had come across the black Mazda, Daniel rushed to the forest to see it for himself, but he wanted to make sure that was the right vehicle before he called for backup.
He parked his car a short distance from where the Mazda was. He could see why the wolves had seen it. The top of the car was sufficiently covered with branches, but the bottom was visible. He smelled the three brothers’ scents. One of them had to be the driver of the hit-and-run vehicle.
Daniel reached for his phone to update Peter on the Mazda, when gunfire erupted from the tree line in his direction.
His heart raced as a bullet struck his phone, sending it sailing into the fallen leaves on the ground.
He was thankful it hadn’t hit his hand. In one quick motion, he drew his weapon and dropped behind the Mazda's frame for cover.
Squinting against the muzzle flashes that revealed the brothers' positions among the shadows and foliage, he returned fire into the woods, but he couldn’t actually see the men. Damn, these guys were loose cannons.
He howled as a human for help, hoping someone would be near enough to hear him and come to his aid. He couldn’t reach his phone safely, though he suspected it was shattered and wouldn’t work even if he could.
He sure hadn’t expected an ambush, or he would have taken a couple of deputies with him, which made him wonder why the brothers would try to murder him because he’d found the Mazda.
More shots were fired in Daniel’s direction, still from the same distance and location.
So they hadn’t tried to circle him or ambush him.
He returned fire, hoping he could incapacitate them.
Then a couple of wolves began growling in the direction of the men, and shots were fired at them.
He hoped neither of them would be hit. With the wolves distracting the brothers, Daniel finally reached his phone, but it was shattered, and he couldn’t turn it on.
Stumbling to reach his vehicle, he finally managed to unlock the car door and fumbled for the medical kit stashed beneath the passenger seat.
The blood from his wound had already soaked through his shirt, warm and sticky against his skin.
His vision narrowed to a pinpoint of light, then darkness swallowed him whole.
Suddenly, Peter got a call at the tavern, and he stood up from the table. He leaned down to kiss Meghan and spoke to her, his face grave. She responded in kind, then he walked over to speak to Selena. “Daniel is in the hospital with a gunshot wound.”
Selena gasped. “How bad is it?”
“Bad enough to end up in the hospital.”
“Can you take me there?”
“Yeah.”
Her heart pounding, she hurried to leave the table, and Meghan went with them. “Where was he shot?” Selena asked, horrified over the news.
“In the right arm. He howled for help, and others went to his aid. He was too far away from this location for us to hear him,” Peter said.
“Where was he when he was shot?” She just felt he was invincible and felt terrible that she’d even been considering dating anyone else.
Even if he wasn’t interested in mating her yet, he’d proved he was a good friend tenfold.
And if he never wanted to marry her, she wanted to continue their friendship.
“A couple of wolves found the black Mazda hidden in the woods and called it in. Daniel hadn’t taken backup because he wanted to make sure that it was the real deal before he called anyone else in.”
“And it was,” she said.
“Yeah.”
She wiped away tears.
“He’ll be all right,” Meghan said. “You know how we are with our faster healing.”
As long as they didn’t bleed out before they could heal fast enough.
They soon arrived at the hospital, and Selena, Peter, and Meghan hurried inside.
“Where is Daniel?” Peter asked the receptionist.
“He’s in room four. Doc removed the bullet, and Daniel might be sleeping now. But you’re welcome to go in and see him.”
They headed for Daniel’s room, where they found he was sleeping soundly.
“I’ll sit with him,” Selena said.
“Let us know when he’s awake,” Meghan said.
“I will.” Selena sat on the chair next to the bed and took hold of Daniel’s hand and squeezed.
“I’m here for you. And I’m staying with you until you heal up.
” However, he might not be able to protect her if he couldn’t fire his weapon.
Then again, she could use hers to protect him. Peter might disagree.