Mind Mates (Pull of the Moon Book 2) (5 page)

Chapter Five

Emma clutched her shoulder harness with both hands and braced for the shock of hitting water.

The ferry’s deck sprang into view. A jarring smack came a moment later, the car landing. Dr. Light immediately stomped the brakes so hard he must’ve about put his foot through the floor.

The car came to a squealing stop mere inches from a parked tour bus.

Huffing, Emma glanced behind her. The monster truck pulled up to the edge of the quay, Bruiser leaning out the window.

Even from here she could see the thunderstorm on the he-wolf’s face. But the ferry engines revved higher and they were away.

She turned front and shuddered.

Dr. Light leaped from the car and whipped to her side. “Let’s get out of here. In case anyone comes investigating.” He courteously opened her door and held out a hand.

Right. Before anyone else came to see the impossible flying car. She put her hand in his and had an instant’s shock of heat and size. He flashed her a smile as he pulled her from her seat, not letting go but keeping the connection to lead her across the deck to a set of service stairs and up.

Her feelings were jumbled. The adrenaline pumping through her skewed her perceptions. But she was painfully aware of Dr. Light’s big hand as he drew her to mingle with the other passengers. She couldn’t believe the sheer press of people.

In the general lounge he finally dropped her hand, quickly, almost guiltily. She caught sight of Pan, working his way toward them, expression grim.

Coming to scold me?
The assistant manager’s ass-kickings were legendary. The adrenaline in her system caught fire with a whoosh, her heart
shoop-shooping
in her ears.

But the lithe, black-haired man only seared
Dr. Light
with a glare then handed him a key, muttering something about a carry-on being stowed, before taking off.

“Are you okay?” Dr. Light touched her shoulder.

Aside from her heart racing like an Olympic sprinter? Aside from the sweating, stinking, loud mob of people sending her already-overdriven sensory system into hyperdrive?

Aside from wondering how the hell Dr. Light had figured out she was in trouble, how he’d managed to find her, and other ideas about his miraculous rescue rampaging through her brain like a demented moose? Yeah, only one response to that.

“I’m fine.”

Kids ran past. The noise level was giving Emma’s tense nerves an extra twang. Not much more and she’d have a full-blown headache.

“Emma?” Dr. Light touched her again, and when she raised her gaze, his was dark with concern. “I don’t think you’re so fine.”

She gave him a tight shake of the head. “I’m simply trying to deal with everything that’s happened. Bruiser—Bruce, he’s always been a bit of a dickwad, but he never behaved like that before.”

“I’m sorry. Good thing we got you away from him.” His expression warmed to pure sympathy. “It’s four hours until we land. You’ll want to make arrangements. Do you have your phone?”

Nearby, a young mother tried to nurse while corralling two overexcited kids maybe two and three years old.

“My phone? No, Bruce…he broke it.” Emma pinched her nose. Even the thought of calling someone in this din, trying to negotiate with them to brave Bruiser’s wrath to snare her houseplants and bills…well, any nerves still intact were set buzzing.

“Here.” Dr. Light pressed cool plastic into her hand. “Here’s an extra phone you can use.” He paused. “Emma, I reserved a stateroom, but you need the quiet more than me. I can share with Pan. Tell you what. Give me a moment to collect my carry-on, and the stateroom is all yours.”

She thought about rejecting his offer, about lying and saying “I’m fine” for exactly as long as it took to focus on his face.

He gazed at her so seriously through his glasses that his normally blue-green eyes had gone ice-silver, like a light straight into her brain. The one guy who’d tried to lie to that look? He’d gotten fired.

“Okay.” She hefted a breath. “Yes, I could use a bit of quiet. Thanks. I appreciate this, Dr. Light.”

His eyes warmed back to the color of a moonlit Mediterranean sea, and he gave her that quick grin of his. “We’re not at work now, Emma. You can call me Gabriel.”

“Oh, I…well.” Truthfully, she’d wanted to taste his name on her lips. “Thank you, Gabriel.”

His smile heated, almost intimate.

Until his phone rang. He pulled it out of a pocket and scowled at the display. “My brother-in-law. I have to take this. On second thought, I’ll leave the carry-on in the stateroom so you can freshen up if you need. Just let me pick up my laptop and a few things to occupy me. Give me, say, ten minutes? I’ll come back with the key.” He pressed the phone to his ear. “Gabriel Light.”

She watched him stride away, head and shoulders above the crowd. When he moved, he was so graceful, so perfectly proportioned, that she forgot he was really a giant of a man at almost six and a half feet, more than a foot taller than her.

Here, it was terribly, deliciously obvious.

Grasping the phone he’d given her—and she wasn’t surprised at all that their nerd king had a spare cell phone—she sank into the only empty chair, on the other side of the cabin from the nursing mother, beside a snoring businessman. She thought about starting her phone calls but was too wrung out.

Then she thought of Bruiser in that monster truck, furious as hell and only fifteen minutes away from the compound. His first act returning would be to take out his frustration on something—or someone. Probably on her things, but maybe on anyone in the way.

She grabbed the phone and got hold of a pack cousin, a compound neighbor who’d been kind. The female had given Emma a heads-up about Bruiser when she first arrived in Michigan. Emma had brought everything with her from her mother’s house in Wisconsin, leaving only a few clothes behind for visits home. But when she was negotiating to become part of Bruiser’s pack, the kindly female had taken her aside for a furtive whisper.

“Store anything you really want to keep. All assets are pack assets as far as Bruiser is concerned.”
His
assets.

Emma had boxed her few small treasures, books for the most part, and shipped them home.

Now she told her pack cousin to get the word out about Bruiser, then hide. If Emma’s bills and plants were shredded…well, she’d deal.

Tentatively she began to tell her pack cousin about the harem abuse. The female started acting cold. Emma was floundering when Gabriel dropped off the stateroom key. She nodded gratefully to him. He gave her a quick smile and strode away.

After Emma got her pack cousin’s promise to be careful, she hung up with a sigh. She’d done all she could from here. She’d have to think of another champion to help the harem.

Save them, like Dr. Light had saved her.

Tucking the phone in a pocket, she wondered again how he’d managed that as beside her, the businessman’s snore droned on. Dr. Light must’ve come to the condo complex and happened to see her being hustled out. Or if not her, he’d seen Bruiser. Hell, nobody could miss that hairy shovel-faced male.

Although she still couldn’t figure out how Dr. Light had known she was in trouble in the first place.

The young mother finished nursing, still trying to corral rambunctious toddlers. The stink of a full diaper reached Emma’s nostrils and tried to yank out nose hairs. Poor mother. Emma knew nothing about toddlers, but she got to her feet, intending to help.
And the bench. I promised to take care of it.
Well, that would have to wait until morning. The store was closed now.

At that moment the ship hit choppy waters. She stumbled and plunked back into the chair.

The older toddler had no such trouble but dashed past, running toward the exit, giggling maniacally.

Then Dr. Light, head and shoulders above the milling crowd, swooped in and corralled the child.

“Whoa, there, partner.” He used his calming voice. “You need to stay with your mommy, to help her.”

That was so sweet of him. Emma smiled to herself.

Gently he guided the boy by the shoulder back to where the poor young mother restrained the younger tot with one hand while she tried to change the baby’s diaper with the other.

“Here, let me do that.” Dr. Light sat in the lounger next to the young mother and competently dug through her diaper bag, laying out wipes, ointment, and a fresh diaper. To Emma’s surprise, the nerd king took the baby and, as if he’d done it many times, quite capably changed the infant who giggled and cooed the whole time.

Her wolf wagged its tail.
Father material.
She shushed it.

Feeling like she’d seen something quite personal, intimate even, she rose and, stumbling a little with the ship’s rocking, ducked out the back way.

She found herself in one of the ferry’s food areas. Her nerves were still brittle from everything that had happened, and she indulged in ordering herself a cup of hot tea. Her name was called a few minutes later. She collected the cup, added milk and sugar, capped it, and took it to Dr. Light’s stateroom.

The room was small and empty to her sight. But to her nose…the whole cubicle smelled like Dr. Light.
Gabriel.
She breathed deep and felt her tensions drop away one by one.

Four hours. The ferry would take four hours to cross Lake Michigan. Sipping tea, she considered the bunk and decided she had time for a nap. After all, who knew what she’d have to confront when they docked in Wisconsin. Bruiser had friends.

Although she’d feel better after washing her face. She set down the cup and went to investigate the carry-on.

Her nose must’ve been especially sensitive. She smelled Dr. Light…
Gabriel
…everywhere. His carry-on was on the bunk, but strangely, she smelled him not only on his things, but, when she carried his face soap to the tiny sink, his scent floated strongly near the bathroom door.

She breathed deep of his essence, feeling his huge, calm presence, his brilliant competence. One breath, that was all, and she felt wonderful.

She washed her face and dried it with a towel, glancing periodically at the cabin door. For some reason, she smelled Gabriel as if he were in the room with her, and she almost expected him to step into view at any moment. Impossible, as the door was locked and she had the key, but that didn’t stop her from cutting continual peeks as she dampened the towel and used it to scrub the worst of Bruiser’s nasty barbiturate from her hair. She tried to wipe her Techie Titan shirt down, but it was too gunked up with the nasty stuff so she took the polo off, rinsed the worst out, and hung it up to dry.

Then she stripped off her pants, lay down on the bunk, and stared at the door.

What do I do now?
She’d left home two months ago to join Bruiser’s pack because jobs were scarce in her hometown of Matinsfield, Wisconsin. Wolf shifter packs were few and far between, but she could count on one paw the number of packs accepting uninvited new members.

And that answered that, didn’t it? At least for now, she’d have to go home.

She’d promised to mind the bench, but she could send Carol an email in the morning, letting her know there’d been an emergency. The second assistant manager would know what to do.

Emma breathed deep, pulling in that distinct masculine scent, inhaling a feeling of safety with it, and relaxed again.

Going home also solved the problem of what to do about those poor women in Bruiser’s harem. The moment Emma got to Matinsfield, she’d report the abuse to the new alpha, Noah Blackwood. The old alpha, hard as it was to believe, had been even worse than Bruiser. Slan Scauth was a corrupt, salacious old bastard; he’d have cheered Bruiser on.

But according to the gossip from Emma’s mother, Noah had made changes to the now-Blackwood pack. Females and elders were starting to come out of their shells. Stronger members of the pack were again protecting weaker, instead of abusing them. Children were starting to thrive.

The new alpha was making economic changes in Matinsfield too. New businesses were opening, others growing. Retail was coming back and work was no longer as scarce.

She might even be able to find a permanent job there.

Strangely, the idea didn’t thrill her. She’d be overjoyed never to see Bruiser’s shovel mug again, but never to go back to Choice Buy, never again to see Gabriel Light…? She sucked in a stabbing breath, pulling in the scent of him, masculine, heady.

What was there about him that called to her so? His commanding height? The sparkling good humor in his eyes? The burning intelligence behind it?

She wished she had her phone so she could replay the video of him, hear his deep voice as he instructed her at the bench, watch his clever hands teaching her. Foamy delight churned in her belly at the memory.

Then she remembered how he’d looked at her when she thought he’d kiss her. The way his eyes darkened behind his glasses as he stared at her lips, dilating to black pools of lust.

Her sex tightened in sudden, almost excruciating need. She turned restlessly on the bunk. Her groin ached.