Breathe Into Me (23 page)

“Carlos call for back up and the
four of you get the fuck outta here, your job is over.”

As the
words leave his mouth three identical black vans race into the lot and begin to open fire. Everyone scatters and takes shelter from the spraying bullets. This is bad, we could take them out with our powers, but I think the feds would notice if the vehicles suddenly tipped over or blew up on their own.
We have to start carrying guns.
I glance around the front of the van. Farron and his friend are being pulled from the mud. Damn it we can’t afford to let them get away. The agents start to return fire, but there are too many shooters.

I watch
Keith inch his way around the van to get a better shot. The idiot is going to get himself killed. Of course, the nearest Omega heard his approach and turns to fire a round in his chest. Before I have time to talk myself out of it, I race forward and tackle Spencer to the ground taking a bullet in the shoulder. I cover his body with mine as the sound of squealing tires and the roars of engines fill the air.

“Get the fuck off me
, Stone.”

I roll on
to my back as pain radiates from my left shoulder. “You’re fucking welcome, dickhead,” I say as I make it to my feet while blood starts to pour down my arm. God, Andy is going to kill me for this, just once I’d like to go home to my female intact. I have a feeling she’s never going to let me live this down.

“Ay dios mio,” Carlos says as he punches his partner in his shoulder. “You stupid puta, are you trying to get yourself killed?”

I ignore the ticked off look I’m getting form Agent Spencer as Cass checks out my gunshot would.

“The bullets lodged in your rotator cuff. Let’s get you home so Andy can patch you up.”

Agent Spencer steps in front of me halting me in my tracks. “Where th
e hell do you think you’re goin’? You need an ambulance and I want some answers.”

What I need is to get
the bullet out, so my wound can heal. “The only thing I need is Andy, and people in hell want ice water.” I step around him and join my brothers.

“Cute, you’re really goin’ ta
throw Andy in my face right now?”                                                                                                  

“Your damn straight, after the shit you pulled the other day you fucking deserve it and more. I have news for you
, Spencer. Andy will be my wife someday soon so you need to move on. I’m not asking, I’m fucking telling you she is mine and your time with her is over, got me?”

His laughter fills my ears and causes my anger to skyrocket. “B
ullshit, she’ll nevah marry you. You’ve been wit her for five minutes I had her for two yeahs and she turned me down.”

Jamie grabs my good arm as I take a step forward. “Mark my words
, Spencer, she’ll be Andrea Stone before the years out.” I flip him off, and turn and walk away.

“I’ll believe it when I see it
, Stone, and you owe me a new friggin’ suit,” he calls out to me.

“Fucking bill me,
” I yell back.

Chapter 19

“Welcome home
, brother.” Adam embraces Lincoln the moment he steps through the door.

The man in question has seen better days. His golden hair is disheveled, and his usual friendly face appears weary. He hugs his brothers one by one before being tackled by an emotional Grace.

“I was so worried about you, baby.”

Lincoln holds her close as he gently rubs her back. “Please don’t cry
, Grace, I’m home now, every things okay.”

I wave my hello and receive a warm smile and a nod. I’m so glad he’s home, maybe Adam can finally ge
t some decent rest. When he returned home last night and told me what happened, I wanted to wring his neck. I still can’t believe he took a bullet for, Keith. Thankfully, there wasn’t any major damage done, but something else has been bothering him. He’s been quiet and withdrawn. I wish his father would call him back, I’m sure his behavior is due to his missing brother.

“Does anyone know when Vanessa’s funeral is
going to be?”

I clear my throat and answer Lincoln’s question.
“The wake is next Friday, and services will be the following morning.”

He nods his head, his demeanor is full of sorrow, and seeing him like this breaks my heart. He really did care about
, Vanessa.

“Where are we on finding the bastard who killed my girl?” His sad expression turns dark and I swallow the lump in my throat. I know I’m in no da
nger from this man, but the look on his face is terrifying.

“We had him
, but the fucking Feds showed up, I’m sorry, cub, he got away. We have no idea where he is,” Jamie says.

“Well if you’ll all excuse me I’m going to shift and wander the woods for a while, being stuck in that cage for five days was a tad suffocating.” He heads for the deck as he removes his shirt.

“Don’t even think about trying to find this g
uy on your own. I’ve got every Enforcer on the east coast looking for him. We’ll find him,” Micah states firmly.

Lincoln’s sinister laughter sends chills over my skin. “Here’s a news flash
, boss, this isn’t just about avenging, Vanessa. I spent the last five days trying to figure this whole thing out. I finally put it together after having a conversation with Agent Rivera. It was as if all the pieces finally came together. Tavish and his son are behind this whole thing. He sent Farron to Westhaven.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. You’re just stressed from being in that box for so long.”

Lincoln rubs his enormous hand over his whiskered jaw. “Think about it, Cass, they targeted Adam’s mate, all the attacks have been in his hometown and now Bar Harbor, and its pack master is under attack and Adam’s brother is missing. I bet my life that Tavish isn’t going to stop until he wipes out the entire Stone line. He’s always hated Dominick and his family and now he’s organized an army of Omegas to do his bidding.”

Several curses emanate from the men in the room.

“Izzy is probably the only one that’s safe because Liza’s her mother. Blood is thicker than water after all,” Lincoln smirks.

“I don’t fucking believe this,
” Adam yells as he begins to pace the floor.

“Believe it
, brother. The Shaw clan has declared war on your family and anyone who is connected to them.”

God this all makes sense. I bet this is why his father hasn’t called
Adam back or why he didn’t tell him about his brother being missing. He probably wanted to keep Adam out of this to keep him safe.

“We need to call in the troops and get our asses to Maine. Dominick is going to need our
help.”                                                                                                                                        

“Cass is right. It sounds like Terric is going to try to take out you and your family so he can take over Bar Harbor and the pack. God help us if he s
ucceeds in turning their alliance,” Micah says has he runs his hand through his black hair.

“Now we know what all that fire power was for.” Adam si
ghs. “They were planning on giving the good people of Bar Harbor a choice, become an Omega, or die,” he growls.

“That’s not all. Did you happen to notice if any of those bastards had the Alpha Omega symbol on their wrists? Our enemies haven’t used it in decades, but most of the dead coyotes from the night of the full moon had them tattooed on their arms. The symbol was also carved into Vanessa’s body and Landon’s girlfriend. It’s official boys, our enemies are no longer hiding in the shadows. They want us to find them.” More curses sound out and the tension in the room is palpable.

“Then let’s not disappoint them.
Linc the only place you’re going to is Boston. I want you to bring Grace to the penthouse, spend the night, and return in the morning with the others. Jamie, contact Brennan and find out the situation in Maine. Cass I want you to gather supplies and load up the SUV’s. Adam, you need to keep calling your father and warn Gary. He and Andy need to find a safe place to lay low while we’re gone. Let’s move boys, we leave at dawn.”

***

The next several hours are complete chaos. The guys are running around packing up supplies and their phones have been constantly ringing since Micah sent out a mass email. Adam is on his phone with a coyote from Manhattan. Micah wants everyone to meet at a safe house in New Hampshire. He said the weres would be tipped off if random Enforcers just started showing up in Maine. This way they can storm Bar Harbor together. Lincoln has just left for Boston with a very unhappy Grace. It took over an hour to convince her to leave. Cass has been busy moving motorcycles and their cars into the garage for storage.

I called my uncle to inform him of what’s going on. To say he’s not happy about this is an understatement. I’m not thrilled either. Gary wants us
to stay in his cabin in Vermont until this whole mess is over. Unfortunately, I have a job and I can’t just put my life on hold. My boss was kind enough to give me some time off because of Vanessa’s death, but I’m supposed to start back to work in a few days.

I watch Adam pace back and forth while he relays Micah’s orders. I
’ve never seen this side of him. He’s commanding and eerily calm. I on the other hand am terrified something will happen to him or to one of his brothers.

“Sorry about all the interruptions
, angel, but it’s going to be crazy around here tonight.”

I nod my head.
“I understand.  Is there anything I can do to help?” I’ve felt like I’ve been in the way most of the day.

“Just being here with me is help enough. I wish I didn’t have to leave you, I hate the idea of you
being unprotected.” He pulls me into the comfort of his arms and I lay my head against his heart. “I don’t want you to worry about me while I’m gone. I will come home to you. Nothing is going to keep me from you, ever.”

I wish I could believe that
, but I can’t shake this bad feeling that something is going to happen, something life altering. “I can’t help but worry about you, I love you, Adam.” I press my nose against his t-shirt and breath in his scent. “I love your cologne. It calms my nerves.”

Adam kisses the top of my head.
“I don’t wear cologne, luv, that’s just my natural scent. I’m actually surprised that you can smell it.”

That’s strange.
“Do you think it’s because we’re mates?”

Adam shrugs his wide shoulde
rs. “Perhaps, this is all kind of new to me, angel.”

I’m not going to complain either way. The smell of sunshine and fresh air will always remind me of this man.

“I want to talk to you about something.” He releases me and settles us at the end of his bed. His demeanor has turned serious which of course causes me to instantly panic. “I’ve been thinking these past few days and I’ve come to realize that I love having you here. When I get back I want us to move in together.”

His statement
has rendered me speechless. It’s the obvious next step, but we’ve only been together for a few weeks. On the other hand, I love this man with all of my heart and I’ve enjoyed being here with him and his friends.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I give him my answer. “I’ll move in with you on one condi
tion.”                                                                                                                        

“Name it and it’s yours
.” He kisses my hand and the gesture brings a smile to my face.

“I want us to live here.”

His expression changes to one of disbelief.

“You need to be with your brothers
, Adam, not just because of your job, but I’ve seen how you are with each other. You’d miss them terribly and I don’t want to be responsible for that. Besides they’ve kind of grown on me.”

He pulls me into his lap and stares deeply into my eyes. “You are the most generous, compassionate, and thoughtful female I have ever known. You never cease to amaze me
, Andy, thank you for this.”

Man,
I can’t believe I’m doing this. It’s so crazy and so unlike me. Kelsey is going to be pissed that I’m leaving her alone with, Henry. I hope they don’t kill each other. “Don’t thank me yet, we have no idea how your brothers will take this, plus with me living here it means they are going to have to put up with Kelsey being around, a lot.”

Adam begins to
chuckle. “I know for a fact my brothers will be more than happy to have you here, and as for your friends, well let’s just say I’m sure one wolf in particular won’t mind at all.”                                                                           

“
Okay, but you’ve been properly warned,” I chuckle.

Adam’s
hands begin to roam over my body as he holds me close. “I’m sure I can come up with a way to eliminate your fears.”

The ringing of a phone cuts off my reply.

“I’m sorry, angel, I have to take this.”

***

Hours later the sun has set and everything is in place for tomorrow. I still haven’t told Adam I’m not going to Vermont with my uncle. I don’t want to add to his stress and I certainly don’t want him distracted with worry. Dinner was extraordinarily quiet; no doubt, each man is preoccupied with thoughts of the impeding fight. To keep my mind off the danger they are facing, I’ve made myself busy in the kitchen.

I now understand why Grace spends so much time in here. I’m not much of a cook
, but I can whip up an amazing dessert. I’ve made so many cookies and brownies these guys will be on a sugar high for weeks. The men have been in the living room discussing strategy and lord knows what else. They keep switching back and forth between English and French. Apparently, French is a language they all can speak fluently, and of course, the only other language I know is Spanish. I wish Kelsey were here, she’d know what they were talking about. The sound of a doorbell sends me into a panic.

“Where is she?”

I make my way into the living room just as my best friend comes strutting through the door.

“Hello to you to
o, princess,” Jamie says sarcastically as he shuts the door.

“Andy
, what the hell is going on? Gary showed up at work demanding that I visit my parents in Washington.”

Oh boy, this is going to be bad.
“There’s a situation and Gary feels it would be safer if we all left town for a few days.” I hope she buys this, I knew I should’ve sent her a text message warning her that this might happen.

“Unless aliens are planning an attack on
Westhaven, I’m not spending a week with my parents.”                                                                                                                          

“Kelsey
, it won’t be that bad, besides there are lots of things to keep you occupied in D.C.” It’s not as if I’m asking her to go to a third world country or give up chocolate for heaven’s sake.

“Not that bad she says.
Have you forgotten what my parents are like? They’ll have me engaged to some preppy Ivy League chump before the week is out. Besides, you know I’m busy on weekends. I need to be here.”

Jamie lights a cigarette and de
cides to join our conversation. “I think your charming personality will take care of any unwanted suitors and as torturous as it will be to lounge around in a mansion, you need to listen to your friend. It’s not safe here, princess, and I won’t be here to watch out for you.”

I watch as my friend stare
s each one of us down. “Okay somebody start talking because none of this makes any sense. Why is everyone leaving town? What do you know that I don’t?”

This would be so much easier if she knew the truth, but there is no way Ad
am would allow me to tell her. I feel like a hypocrite for asking her to leave when I don’t have any intention on doing so, but her job is more flexible than mine.

“Kelsey the
killer is still out there. The Feds had him, but then lost him. We know who he is and we’re going after him. Until we return Andy is going to Vermont with Gary, if you don’t want to visit your parents why don’t you go with them?”