Black Hills Desperado (Black Hills Wolves Book 3) (6 page)

“Relax. If he’s the Drew I knew as a kid, he won’t be that bad.”

“How have you been, Xio?” A man stood in the door to the office, staring at her. She looked down, breaking eye contact, careful not to challenge the man who held her future in the palm of his hand.

“I’ve been better.”

“So I hear.” He shifted his attention to Marcus. “And you’ve brought a mate home with you.”

“Yes.” She looked up, avoiding his eyes. “I really didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

Drew laughed and stepped to the side. “None of us do when it comes to mating. We are slaves to our natures.” He gestured toward a couple of chairs inside. “Please come in and have a seat. We have a lot to discuss.”

Xio picked the chair closest to the door and sank into the cushy seat. Marcus dropped into the one next to her and grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze.

“So, you left as Beta of the Cazador pack to join us in the Black Hills.”

“Yes. I go where Xio goes.”

“I understand; no explanation is needed.” Drew laced his fingers together and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk and his chin on the brace he’d created with his hands. “I, above all others, understand why you left, Xio. What I need to understand is why you want to come back.”

“I have nowhere else to go. The pack and my brother are the only family I’ve got. And Marcus.”

“I’m not going to tell you I’m thrilled with what you’ve been doing the last few years, but I will tell you if you can look me in the eyes now, tell me that you are leaving that life behind and won’t return to it, I’ll welcome you back with open arms and offer you the pack’s protection.”

“I won’t so much as jaywalk anymore. I’m not proud of what I’ve done, and I won’t make excuses for any of it.”

“Good, because I don’t want to hear them. I only want to hear that you won’t do any of that again, that you will obey the law of the land, and the pack. Can you do that?”

Xio looked up and held Drew’s gaze. “I can.”

“If you have any secrets, you need to come clean now.”

“Nothing I can think of.”
Except for the massive pile of money I have in the bank as Sarah
. That was something to fall back on—her exit plan, if things got too rough in the Black Hills. Foolish not to have one, so she wasn’t about to disclose what she had. Alpha or not. Doubtful she’d ever need to use it anyway.

“Excellent. You now have a clean slate.” Drew sat up, opened his desk, and pulled out a piece of paper. He scrawled something across the surface. “You can start by getting a job in town. You’re interview is with Gee, a were-bear, tomorrow at eleven sharp at The Den. You’ll be washing dishes and waiting tables for him. Once you prove yourself, you can tend bar or do whatever it is he wants you to do. Don’t be late. He’s expecting you.”

“Just like that, I get a job.”

“Idle hands are never a good thing. I’m going to keep you busy, and you’re going to need some money for rent.” Drew tossed a set of keys to Marcus. “Two blocks from The Den, 1020 First Street. I took the liberty of furnishing it. Nothing fancy, but it’s clean and cozy. Perfect for starting a family.”

Drew turned toward Marcus. “I’d like to talk to you about what you did for your brother’s pack. I already have a Beta, but I am looking for knowledgeable enforcers and you fit the bill. The pack has been without a leader for a long time. A lot of our numbers are starting to come back, trickle in one at a time. Those who don’t want to see us back in good form have been eyeballing our territory. I expect some aggression from neighboring packs and the occasional lone wolf who thinks he might like to stake a claim. Come by and see me tomorrow, after you drop Xio off at work.”

Xio lifted dishes into the rubber tote and hauled them toward the kitchen. She actually liked busing tables and washing dishes. She could listen to her language lessons and didn’t have to interact with anyone, explain who she was, or talk about her past. That couldn’t be more perfect.

She shoved through the saloon doors that separated the bar from the kitchen. Caught up in repeating a line in Chinese about ordering a beer, she ran head-on into Gee, her new employer and a bigger enigma than she.

He reached up and plucked one of the headphones from her ears. “You’d like to order two beers?”

Xio blushed and shut the MP3 player off.
Gee speaks Chinese?
And it had been the most he’d said to her all week. Her mouth dropped open.

“Yeah, I know. What’s a big old bear like me doing in the midst of a wolf pack speaking Chinese?”

“Something like that.” She furrowed her brow. Yeah, the bruin had just become a bigger mystery. Who’d have thought? “So…?”

“I’m kind of a pack authority, historian, if you will. I knew your grandfather and grandmother. Mai Ling actually taught me to speak Chinese. She looked a lot like you.” He smiled.

“You knew my family?”

He nodded. “All of them.”

“That makes you exactly how old?”

The bear frowned. “This conversation isn’t about me.”

“Fine. Tell me about my family, about my grandmother.”

Gee glanced out into the empty bar. He grabbed the tote and set it down by the dishwasher, snagged her arm, and guided her toward a table. “We can take a break.” He pulled a chair out. “Sit.”

Xio dropped onto the hard surface and waited while Gee grabbed another and straddled it backward, making it look no bigger than a piece of child’s furniture. Once settled in, he laced his fingers together and cracked them.

Xio cleared her throat.

“Patience is a virtue.”

“I’m not very virtuous.”

“Hmm.” Gee began his tale—in Chinese.

Xio opened her mouth and he raised his hand to silence her, continuing on like there had been no interruption. How could she tell him she didn’t understand a word, well maybe one or two, but ninety percent of it slipped by her? It was embarrassing enough he’d caught her with the language lessons. She opened her mouth again.

His hand came up again. “Listen.” It would be the last word he said in English for the next fifteen minutes.

Mai Ling—blah, blah, blah. Eli Snow
. What the hell? “You don’t know anything about my family in English?”

Gee furrowed his brow. “This is about you learning your heritage. If you want to know the story, you need to listen to it the way it was told to me.”

“That’s not fair. I don’t know Chinese.”

“Well, grasshopper, when you learn to speak your native tongue, ask me again.”

Xio snarled at him and jumped up from her chair. “Grasshopper? I have a name. It’s Xio.”

“I know all about you, Xio—and your grandparents and parents. Nobody else here does. You want to know your heritage, you’re going to have to work for it. Nothing good is ever handed to you. Isn’t that what got you into trouble in the first place? Instant gratification?”

With a snort, Xio stalked toward the exit.

“You have dishes to wash before you cut on out of here. It’s bike week in Sturgis. It’s been getting busier and busier every year. We’re going to be slammed tonight, grasshopper.”

“Ha, ha. Fine, sensei.” Xio changed course and headed for the kitchen. She did have a job to finish. Quitting after two months was not the impression she wanted to make, not with her new Alpha—or mate. If what Gee said was true, she needed him, or she’d never know about her family. She sprayed the dishes and started the washer, immersing herself in whatever she could to avoid Gee for the rest of the afternoon. It would be better to control her temper than let it control her.

She liked the old bear better when he didn’t talk.

Two hours later, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Xio wiped her forehead with her sleeve and turned to look at what had caused her reaction. “Shit.”

Six men entered The Den. The second of them was Diego. She jumped back behind the saloon door, her heart pounding. She slapped her hand over her breast in an attempt to slow the beat. She should have known he’d come to look where he’d first met her. Maybe living in Los Lobos hadn’t been such a great idea. And how the hell had he gotten out? They’d sent him to the supermax in Florence, Colorado. Nobody escaped from there—or so she’d been told. She glanced over at the bar where she’d left her purse, with her cell phone she always shut off before her shift. Gee didn’t want her distracted and had told her to leave it at home or shut it down when she started work. So, if anyone had tried to call to warn her, well…. Should have left it on.

“Need some clean glasses out here,” Gee called.

“One moment,” she replied in Chinese, the only way she could. Diego had never heard her speak it and would recognize her voice if she said it in Spanish or English.
Shit, shit, shit
. If he used her name, they’d know, since it kind of came out during the trial she wasn’t named Lena. She hoped her use of Chinese made Gee question what was going on.

Gee walked into the kitchen. “You okay?”

Xio shook her head. “I need to get out of here.”

He glanced out into the bar at the customers who’d just entered. “Someone you know?”

“You could say that.”

“Someone you’re hiding from.”

“Oh, you could safely say that.”

“Do I need to call your Alpha?”

“Not sure I want him involved.”

“If anyone in his pack is in danger, he’s already involved.”

“I know, but this is really bad.” Xio turned to Gee. “Please call Marcus. I don’t know how they found me.”

“Not Drew?”

“No, I need to tell Marcus something first.”

Gee walked back out to the bar and picked up the phone, making a quick call before he turned to address the men at the bar. “What can I get for you boys this afternoon?”

Xio peeked around the corner to see Diego plop down in a chair and throw his feet up on the table. She slammed back against the wall and out of sight. How many had he brought here with him?

“I know you’re here. Come out before this gets real messy and I have to hurt some of your new friends, starting with this big fellow.” A revolver cocked. She’d know that sound anywhere. That would be a forty-five. Diego carried it everywhere with him. “I assure you, I’m serious. I asked the fine citizens of this town if they’ve seen you, doll. People say an Asian girl works here. That would be you, the only one in Los Lobos.”

Xio’s heart thumped harder. She peeked out to see several men with weapons pointed at the were-bear, who leaned casually against the bar, his arms crossed over his chest, not looking the least bit intimidated.

What did he know that she didn’t?

“Come out, Lena. Or should I call you Xio? Last warning. I’m going to make a big mess if you don’t. I have fifteen more men outside with automatic weapons and enough lead to shred every building in Los Lobos to pieces. I’m giving you ten seconds. One. Two. Three.”

“Wait.”

“Step into the open. Four. Five.”

That, she could do. Surrender. He’d probably torture her and cut her into pieces while she was alive. It was a special treatment Diego reserved for those who’d betrayed him. She’d seen it once, and knew the price she’d pay when she testified against him, but if it would save Gee and the others from Diego’s vengeance, she’d gladly sacrifice herself. If she didn’t, her ex would kill everyone. She raised her hands and stepped into the doorway.

Xio turned to look in Gee’s eyes. “Tell Marcus I’m sorry, and that…I love him.” Gee shook his head and smiled, as though it were all a joke.

Diego swiped a match across the rough surface of the table and lit his cigar, taking a puff. “Long time no see.”

“Let him go.”

“Where’s my money?”

“I don’t have it. The Feds took it.”

“I think we both know that.” He dropped his boots off the table and rose to his feet. “Tell me where you hid your money.”

Her pulse jumped. He knew?

“You thought I didn’t know what you were doing? I know everything my people are doing, every moment of the day. Come here now.”

Xio walked across the bar to Diego, who grabbed her by the arm and brought her to her toes. “I’m very disappointed in you, China Doll.”

Outside, a flurry of movement and a grunt as the pack took out the men standing outside, and did it so silently Diego didn’t even look. Gee must have gotten through to them somehow. Xio glanced over at the bear, who nodded this time.
Green light
. “I told you to never call me that again.”

“Or you’ll what? Stick me with that knife you can’t carry anymore because you’re a reformed felon?”

“No, that would be too easy.” Xio spun and threw Diego over her shoulder, slamming him to the floor. From that point forward, everything moved at a blur. Gee decked the man on his right, dropping him to the floor and then hopping up on the bar, swinging his legs over. He reached down and came back up with a wooden bat. “First mistake. You shouldn’t have brought trouble to my bar,” he said to man on his left as the thug squeezed off a round and missed. “Second mistake. If you’re going to shoot a man, you better not miss.” Gee didn’t. There was a loud
crack
as the bat connected with the man’s head. He collapsed into a heap.

So busy watching the drama at the bar unfold, Xio took her eyes off Diego. It turned out to be a big mistake. Her former lover took the opportunity to sweep her feet out from under her and throw his body over hers, pinning her to the floor. Her skull bounced off the hardwood and right into the end of a revolver pressed against the side of her face. Diego stared at her.

“You, over there by the bar, the big bruiser. You don’t want to make this your battle. Drop that bat and put your hands in the air. Do as I say and I won’t kill you. Don’t, and you’re going to end up like your friend here.”

Gee hesitated and Diego pushed the barrel harder into her jaw. “I haven’t got all day.”

“Do it, Gee. He doesn’t have a problem with you. It’s me. Diego won’t kill you if you do as he says. He keeps his word.” Xio’s eyes watered, but she didn’t gasp or whimper. Diego respected strength and would make it quick if she didn’t wimp out. Which brought her full circle to why she still breathed and had a face to breathe from. He wanted the money first. “Kill me. Do it already. That’s what you’ve come here for, isn’t it?”