Chapter 13
WYATT
She wouldn’t eat. She wouldn’t let Bohdie out of her sight. She wouldn’t leave Archer’s bedside. I was beginning to worry that soon she’d just fade from existence.
At least, until Archer woke up. When he peeled open an eye, I was relieved. Not just because one of my best friends was back from the brink of death, but because now Isla would stop pining.
“Hey, man. Are you okay?”
He let out a raspy noise, and Isla held an ice chip to his lips. “Bohdie?” His voice was weak, thready, so completely unlike Archer that I was briefly horrified.
“He’s fine. He’s asleep over there, see?” I moved to the side so he could see Bohdie curled up on a recliner in Axel’s arms. The bears had dragged it in for Isla, not that she’d slept.
Speaking of Isla, she was holding Archer’s face, pushing his hair back from his head and peppering his face with kisses. Her relief was palpable around the room. “I thought you were going to die.” Until she spoke, I hadn’t realized she was crying.
Archer tried to lift himself from the bed, but I pressed him back down. “Easy, man. You’ve got a chest wound. They take some time to heal.”
He pulled Isla down so her head was pressed against his chest, on the other side to his bandages. “Hey, I’m okay. You should see the other guys.”
She let out a choked laugh as tears dripped down Archer’s chest. “I did, and that’s why I’m crying,” came her muffled reply. He just let her sob, quietly running his fingers through her hair.
“You scared us.” Axel’s voice was quiet so he didn’t wake the kid. Those three words were a big admission for Axel. He never admitted weakness. He had no feelings, except when it came to Isla. And us, apparently.
“Are you kidding? It aged me a hundred years. Even the hair on my balls turned gray. When the kid jumped out of his hiding spot…” Archer let out a full-body shudder. “Where are we?”
“Bear den.” Axel’s voice was curiously lacking the inflection of annoyance that was normally present when he talked about the bears.
“And why are we in the bear den?” Archer sounded less than impressed.
The door to the room slid open, and Vance walked in with Billy on his heels. “Because the bears saved your grumpy, furry ass, so be polite,” Vance said lightly. “It’s good to see you awake, Pussy Cat.”
Isla let out a hiccupping laugh, and even my lips curled. Archer flipped him the bird.
“We’re going to stay here until we can get the Bob situation resolved,” I told Archer.
His eyes fell on Billy, and all mirth left his face. “Who are you?”
“Billy Smith.”
Archer snarled long and low. Vance rolled his eyes, which I thought was an awfully game thing to do in a room filled with lions. “And why do you have the son of the enemy in your den, Teddy Bear?”
Now it was Billy’s turn to snarl. “Blood isn’t shit. I hate my father more than all three of you combined. I want him dead, set on fire, and then I want to piss on his ashes.”
“You lions are so fucking dramatic. I trust Billy. You’ll just have to take my word for it,” Vance said, but Archer was looking over at Axel.
“He’s good,” Axel ground out, though it looked like it hurt him to admit it.
Wyatt sneered. “I can’t possibly be the only one who thinks it’s a little suspicious that a group of mercs turn up to murder Bohdie on the same day that you guys are conveniently off meeting Billy Bob over there?”
Another long growl from Billy. “I would never kill my son.”
“Oh, now he’s your son? Convenient,” Archer threw back, his tone possessive.
Isla lifted her head from his chest, stroking his short golden hair again.
“Shh. You’ll wake Bohdie.” She looked between Archer and Billy.
“I trust that Billy didn’t have anything to do with the attacks.
But I think he has a mole in his little rebellion.
And I think someone added two and two together.
” She gave Billy a hard look, dropping her voice low.
“But if I’m wrong, I will hunt you for the rest of your days, then I’ll feed you your own entrails. ”
It was probably weird that hearing her threaten to gut a guy turned me on, but none of us pretended we were well-adjusted.
“Enough,” Axel growled. “You have to rest, and we need to work out a plan of action.”
Vance still seemed amused by Isla’s threats. “You have the bears if you need us. No one comes into my territory and threatens young ones.”
Axel raised an eyebrow. “Your territory? Last time I checked, I’d marked the cabin and its surrounds.”
“Semantics. This is my little chunk of Nebraska, and some psychopathic autocrat will find that we aren’t just going to roll over and let his type in. Besides, are you in any position to turn down allies?”
He had a point. We were vastly outnumbered, which meant we’d take whatever the bears offered, and maybe even what Billy offered. But not before Archer was back on his feet. And not before we had a plan. Going in guns blazing was more Archer’s style, but look where that had gotten him.
I wasn’t prepared to risk anyone for revenge. My need for revenge wasn’t more important than keeping them safe. If we couldn’t think of a way to eradicate Bob without casualties, we would run as far and as fast as we could, and we’d never come back. I’d make sure of it.
“You’re staying in the den until Fuzzy-Wuzzy over there is better, right?” Vance asked.
Axel said, “Yes,” at the exact same time Archer gave an emphatic, “No.” Isla let out a choked little laugh.
“We’ll stay,” I said firmly, looking from Archer to Isla, then over to the brave but breakable Bohdie. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
Vance clapped me hard on the shoulder, and I resisted a wince. “I swear, Wyatt, you’re the only one born with any manners. Don’t worry ’bout it. I’m kind of fond of you hairballs. Especially the pretty one.”
Archer growled bad-naturedly. Apparently, being injured had sucked the happy-go-lucky right out of him, leaving only the bad-tempered killer behind. Time to defuse the bomb.
“That’s not a nice way to talk about Axel,” I said, slapping Vance on the back just as hard.
Axel gave a little growl of protest, but Vance gave one of his deep, full-body hoots of laughter. He walked out the door, but not before blowing Axel a kiss, which my Alpha returned with a middle finger.