Ruby (17 page)

Turning away from what might be
happening, Dwight never looked back. He was glad now that he’d not
lingered to find something that might be a sad memory when this was
all over. He headed to Leo’s at a slow pace so as not to draw any
attention to himself. He wondered if he was being followed several
times but didn’t stop. He, too, was on a mission.

~~~

Blair and his brother entered Leo’s, a
nice little Italian eatery, at a little after five. Josh was with
them, of course, and was greeted with a hug and a hardy slap on the
back. Sapphire and Ruby were outside scouting around, and were
going to join them as soon as things looked like they were clear.
He had wanted to stay with the women, but Josh said it would be
better if they went in first, in the event that there was someone
with Dwight. Dwight would do better with a show of force too, he
said.

The place was hopping, and there were
as many people standing in line to get in as there were seated at
the long, worn table. Blair made a mental note to see if they
needed investors when Josh started laughing beside him.

“
I own it.” Blair looked
at his new brother-in-law. “I purchased it about a week after I
made my first million. Leo was struggling, and I had money to burn.
Next year we’re expanding the place to hold about ten more tables.
I don’t think it’s enough, but Leo doesn’t want to grow too fast.
He claims that he doesn’t want to be too rich to make a good
sauce.”

“
I don’t blame him.
Christ, you must be making a killing here.” Josh shrugged and
looked around the room. “Is he here yet? Dwight, I mean. I would
think so, but they might have picked him up.”

“
He’s here. At the table
with the guy who looks like he runs a mob family. That’s Leo. I
asked him to sit with Dwight to keep him from running. I also told
him that we were a large party that ate a lot. He said he’d take
care of us.” They made their way to the table and were greeted by
the big man like he had known them all his life. The kiss to both
cheeks startled Blair, but he was glad that the man made him feel
welcome.

As soon as they sat down, a large bowl
of pasta was brought to them, along with two loaves of bread that
were still steaming and a bowl of what he thought was butter. As
soon as he put it to his nose after smearing it on a hunk of the
bread, Blair looked at Josh.

“
Yeah. And the taste is
even better.” The moment Blair put the garlicky concoction in his
mouth, he moaned. The garlic, which was sort of strong in the bowl
with the butter, was a perfect balance for the bread. Blair reached
for a second hunk of the bread to eat while plates were set in
front of him and his brother. His brother was shoving a fourth
piece of bread in his mouth as he tucked the napkin under his chin.
Sapphire and Ruby joined them just as three more long loaves of
bread were brought to the table.

“
I killed that man.” Blair
paused in mid-bite to look at Dwight as he spoke to Josh. “I just
meant to hit him when he talked to me that way, but he fell back
and landed on a broken chair.”

“
He wasn’t a Fed.” Blair
looked around the room, then back at Josh as he spoke quietly.
There were no other supes in the room that he could feel, but he
wanted to make sure. Josh continued talking to Dwight as the rest
of them ate. “The man in your office was working for someone else,
but not for the Feds. We spoke to them just before you called. It
was their plan to talk to you about setting up a meeting with
Cartwright. They were shocked to find out about it already
happening.”

Dwight paled. He didn’t move as the
rest of them enjoyed their meal. As the waitress brought them
another basket of bread, Blair leaned into Dwight. The man had
fucked up, yes, but he was trying his best to make this
right.

“
You’re coming back with
us. We’re slipping you into the house and keeping you safe.” Dwight
shook his head and told him that Cartwright knew about Josh and his
new girlfriend. “You just leave that to us. He won’t want to fuck
around with this pack.”

Dwight didn’t look convinced, but that
was all right too. He was going to learn about them all as soon as
they got back to the house. And they would protect their own, even
if that meant helping a criminal to do so. Blair turned to Ruby and
winked. She too was going to be in for a surprise.

He’d had to talk to the council about
what had happened that day. Ruby had attacked him, that was true,
but she had warned him several times that she had no control over
her wolf. Then after talking to Josh extensively, the councilman
had pulled Blair back into the offices.

“
She’s an alpha, did you
know that?” Blair told him he thought all the gems were, and that
he didn’t think Ruby was any different than her sisters. “But she
is. A powerful alpha like you are. She could run her own pack as
well as you. And protecting her mate came as naturally to her as it
did attacking you. Ruby had no choice, just as she
said.”

“
What will I do with her
now? If her wolf tries to be dominant over mine, we’ll have some
major issues.” The councilman nodded and smiled as the man sitting
next to him left. “What’s going on?”

“
Josh Ewing is her mate.”
Blair nodded. “He, too, is a powerful mate. And when the two of
them are together, they give off a vibration that nearly makes me
want to bow before them. Much as what happens when you and Sapphire
are in the room. However….”

“
However?” The man only
sat there, and Blair had a feeling they were going to tell him to
either block her from the pack or destroy her. Neither option was
anything he was going to be able to do, he knew it.

“
I would suggest that you
let them live apart from the pack. Not out of it, but not within
the boundaries of your land. It would serve them better.” Blair
started to protest but the man raised his hand. “Let me finish.
There is a pack—much smaller than yours by several hundred
wolves—that needs good leadership. We had thought to ask you to
guide them. Their former alpha has…let us just say that he is no
longer a problem for them. I think that Ruby and her new mate
should get their feet wet with this one. I do believe that the two
of them will…eventually mind you…seek their own pack someday, and
will need this when the time comes.”

“
And her punishment? I’m
sure you have one in mind. But I would like to say again, I did go
against what she’d warned me of. I should never have tried to touch
her mate when it was clear she had it under control.” The man
nodded. “She is as innocent in this as much as I am
guilty.”

“
There is no innocent or
guilty in this. There just is. As her punishment, as she is
insistent on having, I will have them guide the pack for a period
of one year. And in that time this board will provide them with
ample funds to get it back into some sort of order.” Blair nodded
but knew that the man wasn’t finished. “She and her new mate,
Joshua James Ewing, will go before the pack and will apologize to
you and your mate, as will you do the same for her.”

“
Done.” Blair stood up
when the man across from him did. “She won’t be easy to convince of
this. In fact, I bet she comes looking for you.”

“
About the pack or her
apology?” Before Blair could tell him, both the men laughed. “I
would say both, but I don’t think it will be because she doesn’t
want to do this, but because she will feel it is too little for
what she considers a crime. I will reassure her when she comes
calling. In the meantime, I should like for you to do me a
favor.”

“
I will do whatever
necessary. Just let me know what it is.” The man grinned. “How much
is this going to cost me?”

“
Nothing. Well, not much.
I have heard about your grandmother-in-law’s garden and also that
your father helps her in it.” Blair nodded. “I should enjoy a nice
ear of corn or two, if you can persuade them to share. And a
tomato. I’m not much of a vegetable consumer, but the stories I’ve
heard about her corn? Oh my goodness, it’s all I can think
of.”

“
I’ll tell you what. When
this thing with Josh is settled with his partner, we’ll have you
over for dinner. We’ll have some of her fresh green beans, as well
as some of her cherry pie. That woman can make a pie that will make
you weep.” The councilman nodded and smiled. “It’s a date
then?”

“
Yes. It is. I’m looking
forward to it. And should you need our assistance with this
unfortunate thing with the partner, let me know. We have been idle
for much too long here, and I’d like to get out and get jiggy
again.” Blair said nothing as he laughed, walking out of the
office. The man had used the term
jiggy,
and Blair hadn’t been sure
what to make of it.

Chapter 11

“
GSW to the head on victim
one. DOS and coroner pick up.” Ruby nodded as she stood in the
emergency room waiting for the ambulances to start rolling in. A
gun wound to the head and he was dead at the scene. The nurse
standing next to her was reading off a smallish wipe-off board she
held in her hand. “Victim two is a female, nine months, in labor.
GSW to leg, blood typed and crossed her two days ago for C-section.
Waiting to deliver at scene.”

Ruby looked at her. “Neither of them
are coming in here, right? And if they aren’t, why are you giving
me a rundown on them instead of the people that I’m going to be
working on?”

Diamond came over and took the chart
from the nurse and sent her away. Ruby didn’t say anything to her
as she went on with the next person, one that was actually in an
ambulance on their way to her.

“
GSWs, female minor. Two
bullets to chest, one in hand. OR number three is waiting on her.
Pacer is doing the surgery, but wants you to meet and treat her for
him.” Ruby nodded. “Next, shooter. Police escort. Knife in belly
with lacerations to face and chest. You should also note that he’s
naked and high. Low on list but needs you to check.”

“
If he has police with
him, put him in five with three of our pack outside in the event
they need him.” Diamond made a note and moved on. Ruby stopped her.
“Do you know if everyone showed up today?”

It was her first day as head of
surgery. Ruby had seen Josh three times, as he had called her in
about something, but no one else seemed to be around. She wondered
if they were up to staff enough to take on this kind of
scene.

“
Everyone is here. They
came in when you were in surgery with that heart valve
replacement.” Diamond smiled at her. “You’re doing fine. Everyone
is thrilled about the new arrangements.”

Ruby nodded as she moved on with the
list. The first ambulance was rolling in, and it was as if every
nurse in the place came out of the woodwork. As the doors opened
and the gurney was pulled out, the hospital got to work like a
well-oiled machine.

“
Another shooting.” Ruby
was just headed to the OR to assist when Diamond called her back.
From the look on her face, Ruby felt a chill run down her spine.
“I’ve called Bri. Someone shot Bart.”

She loved the old man too. He’d been
to their house a few times in the past few weeks, always insisting
that he wasn’t there for a handout, but he always managed to show
up just as they were sitting down to dinner. And he’d started
calling her Luna because he knew, as few did, that she was a wolf.
He had also been spending a lot of time with Dwight. For some
reason, the two of them had hit it off.

He’d been shot, twice in the head and
once in the belly. A man his age and with his health problems would
be lucky to make it in. Yet the moment the doors were opened to the
ambulance, she could hear him cursing.

“
I’m hurting.” She moved
into his line of sight, trying her best to ignore the blood seeping
from under the wrapping they’d put over his head. “They hurt me,
Luna. Old man like me with nothing more in his cart than a can of
beans.”

“
Who hurt you?” She
watched as his eyes slid closed, and she was afraid. When she said
his name as she checked his vitals, he looked at her, slightly
unfocused for several seconds before he spoke.

“
Three men. Suits and big
SUV’s. Two of them in a car that watched.” He shoved a wadded up
piece of paper in her hand. “Give that to Lilywhite. She’ll need
it. Them men, they want her or that man of yours. Don’t you dare
let them have them.”

“
I won’t.” He nodded and
closed his eyes again as they slipped into an elevator. Jenna met
her at the elevator doors as soon as they opened. “It’s
Bart.”

“
I know, honey. We’re
going to save the old buzzard.” Ruby nodded but stood in the hall.
Bart was on his way to be prepped and here she stood. Jenna shook
her a little, and she looked at her. “He is going to die if you
stand here thinking about what they done to him. Move it, girl, or
I’ll kick your ass.”

That got her moving, and in no time at
all, she was standing over her friend, ready to work. She looked at
Jenna when she handed her the first of many instruments she’d need.
With a short nod, Ruby reached for Blair and Josh as she
worked.

First, she told them what she was
doing. Both men said they were going to the surgery floor now.
Then, she told them what Bart had said about Bri and
Josh.