SHIVER (31 page)

Raven leaned back against the counter, spent now that the adrenaline had drained out of her. Pike and Lynx plotted, while Eva stitched the gunshot wound on Aidan’s bicep. All she could think about was that Aidan could have died out there today. They both could have. She didn’t want him dead. She didn’t even want him gone anymore.

Suddenly he glanced up, and their eyes met. He raised his brows in concern. She tried to smile and reassure him that she was fine, but the effort fell flat. It would be so much easier if he wasn’t concerned for her. He was the one who’d gotten shot. He should be worried about himself.

“There,” Eva proclaimed. “A shot of antibiotics and that ought to do it.” Eva finished wrapping a bandage around the doctored wound and then went for another needle. “You were damn lucky. A few inches to the right—”

“Thanks, Eva,” Aidan interrupted.

“No thanks needed. Having you around is honing my skills.” She flashed a toothy grin and shot him with the hypodermic. “I’d hate to get rusty.” She gathered up her supplies and meticulously put them back into her bag. With that done, she lowered onto a seat and rubbed her belly. “Lynx, you and Pike will wait to do anything until the weather improves. I don’t need any more patients under my care this close to term.”

Lynx knelt next to Eva’s chair and wrapped an arm around her. “Are you feeling okay? The baby?”

She leaned into his shoulder. “We’re fine, but we don’t need to be worrying about the two of you going off half-cocked.” She caught Raven’s eye, a twinkle in hers.

Raven smiled, relieved. They needed to get the men focused on something else. “Pike, do you know if there are any shirts here that would fit Aidan? He’ll also need another coat until we can get to town. Fox and Chickadee will be home from school soon, and I don’t want them to see the results of what happened today.”

“Good thinking,” Pike said. “I’ll find some clothes.” He made to leave.

“Stow the weapons too.” Raven indicated Lynx’s rifle. Lynx reluctantly handed it over to Pike with a pout. “After the kids are taken care of, we can sit down and make a plan.”

Eva nodded and patted Lynx’s arm. “Would you help me find a place to lie down and rest for a while.”

Lynx gathered his pixie wife up into his arms. “I knew you were overdoing it.” He carried her out of the kitchen leaving Raven and Aidan alone.

Raven felt the burn of Aidan’s gaze as she slowly put away the first aid kit and cleaned the kitchen. Pike returned with a flannel shirt and parka. Aidan thanked him, and he left.

“Where’s Fiona?” Aidan asked, carefully sliding his injured arm into the borrowed shirt.

“Fairbanks. Gran had an appointment.”

“Is she okay?”

Raven grinned. “Once a month, Gran meets with a group of friends who are concerned over protecting the habitat of the mosquito.”

“Excuse me?” His brows shot up in disbelief.

“They get together and drink Bloody Marys in sympathy of the mosquitoes’ plight.”

Aidan laughed, though it didn’t break the tension that weaved through the room like the electric currents of the Northern Lights.

“You can’t stay out at Earl’s anymore,” Raven said. “You don’t have any firewood, and—”

“I’m not arguing with you.”

“—you’ll stay at my place,” she finished.

“What?” He paused in buttoning his shirt.

“You heard me.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“No.” He shook his head, his mouth tightening into a hard line. “I won’t put you and Fox in harm’s way.”

“Your uncle is a coward. He’ll wait until you’re alone.”

A reluctant grin crossed his face. “I’d love to see Roland’s face hearing you call him a coward.” Then he sobered. “You don’t want me staying with you.”

She looked at him from under her lashes. “You don’t know what I want.”

His hot eyes flicked to hers, and he made to get out of his chair just as a wide-eyed Fox barreled into the room.

“Dad?”

Raven’s heart tripped.
Dad?

“What happened to your Tahoe?”

“Uh…big rock hit the windshield.”

“Then how’d you get a bullet hole in the rear fender?”

Aidan shared a look with Raven, and then turned back to Fox. “You’re too smart for your own good.”

Fox pulled up a chair. “What happened.”

Raven joined them at the table. “Fox—”

“No more secrets, Mom.” He tightened his lips, his eyes those of an adult and not a boy.

Raven shared another look with Aidan. “Okay, no more secrets. Aidan, you want to start?”

Aidan blanched. “Me?”

“Welcome to parenthood.” She couldn’t help the smirk. Parenting wasn’t for wimps.

Aidan cleared his throat and hesitantly started the afternoon events with seeing the smoke from the woodpile. He kept glancing at Raven to see if he was doing okay. The man was as nervous as an arctic hare staring down a pack of ravenous wolves.

She had to give it to him. He downplayed the shooting and focused on the moves that had brought them to safety, even going so far as to compliment her on her NASCAR driving skills. She gave him a nod of approval.

Aidan wiped the sweat from his brow.

“So, you’ll be okay?” Fox asked, glancing at Aidan’s arm.

“I’ll be fine. Eva will make sure of it.”

Fox planted his elbows on the table. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”

The plan sucked.

Aidan fell back in his chair. How did he get these people out of his life? Being a loner wasn’t so bad. Why had he always wished for a large, caring family? They were noisy, opinionated, and they were going to get themselves killed.

All because of him.

He wouldn’t have it.

They’d crowded into the kitchen, the whole clan, except Chickadee who’d been sent away with a frustrated Fox, and Gran, who was tipsy from her mosquitoes’ plight party. Peter and Lana had been invited to join in the scheming.

“We need to call Garrett,” Peter repeated.

“No troopers,” Aidan said. Besides, he’d had more than enough of Garrett last summer.

“You were shot at,” Peter stressed, holding Lana’s hand. “When do
you
think we should bring in the troopers?”

“I’m the law here,” Lynx injected. “We’ll catch him and then we’ll turn him over to the troopers in Fairbanks.”

Lana smothered a sob.

“You okay?” Aidan asked, concerned that this was too much for his young cousin.

“I know he needs to be caught.” Lana put a hand to her brow. “It’s just hard thinking of my dad being hunted down. But we can’t let him hurt anyone else.”

“Is there any information you can give us that would help apprehend him safely?” Lynx asked, his tone a bit softer than before.

“Uhm…I don’t know.” She bit her bottom lip. “They called him a ghost in Vietnam.”

“We’ll have to flush him out then,” Pike said. “I’ll gather some guys and we’ll come in from the top of the hill behind Earl’s.” He pointed to a map Lynx had laid out on the table earlier.

“He’s got to be bunked down in one of the old mining cabins.” Lynx indicated the nest of cabins abandoned in the late 1950s when the Fairbanks Gold Mining Company left the area after stripping seventy million dollars worth of gold from the surrounding hills and rivers. “We can access this point with snowmobiles, and then hike in on snowshoes. If we spilt up, and some come down the ridge, and the rest can come up the hill, we’ll trap him. There’s plenty of cover with the dense spruce. He’ll never see us coming.”

“He’ll have booby traps in place to warn him of intruders,” Aidan cautioned. They were crazy if they thought they could flush Roland out. The more planning that went on, the worse Aidan felt. Someone was going to get hurt. He didn’t need that on his conscience too. “Roland is mean and methodical. He won’t care if he hurts someone. Any booby traps he’s laid—and don’t doubt that he’s set them—will be nasty, designed to hurt and maim.”

“I don’t want to patch up a whole bunch of hotheads,” Eva said, with a frown, her arms folded and resting on top of her swollen belly.

Aidan’s arm throbbed. All he wanted to do was crawl away to somewhere quiet and lick his wounds. Raven sat to his left. She hadn’t added anything to the plan. In fact, Aidan couldn’t remember the last time she’d said a word. Today had been hard on her too. Physically she wasn’t hurt, but what kind of emotional damage had been done? Hadn’t he given her enough grief?

She must have felt him watching as she looked up, her eyes wide pools of fear. His heart clenched. Once again he was bringing pain and heartache her way.

“That’s enough for tonight,” he interrupted. “It’s late. Roland will expect something come morning after today’s shooting. Let’s surprise him and not do anything for the next twenty-four hours.”

“You sure that’s a good idea?” Lynx furrowed his brows. “That will give him a day to plan, or leave town.”

“He isn’t going anywhere until he does what he came here to do.”

Lana gasped. “You mean he isn’t leaving until you’re—”

Aidan reached over and covered her hand with his. “I told you, nothing’s going to happen to me.”

“You mean nothing more, right?” Raven added, looking as worried as Lana.

“Aidan’s got the right of it,” Pike said. “We’ll reconvene tomorrow. Lynx and I’ll gather some reinforcements. We’ll meet back here at sunrise.”

The group broke up. Lana gave Aidan a hug with a whispered, “I love you,” and then followed Peter out of the room. Raven stayed behind.

“How’s the arm?” she asked.

He opened and closed his fist. It throbbed, but he was thankful that was all he was dealing with at the moment. Things could have turned out much worse. “I’ll be fine.”

“We should get you some anti-inflammatories and then to bed.”

“About that.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Staying out at your place isn’t a good idea. In fact, I should head to Fairbanks and get a motel room.”

“Don’t be stupid. You aren’t going anywhere.” Her eyes hardened. “I want you where I know you’re okay. And I don’t want to hear any more arguments about it.” She stood. “Now, it’s been a long day, and I’m tired. So if you don’t mind, I’ll find Fox and meet you out front.” She left him sitting in the kitchen.

Well, he’d sure been told. A smile teased the corner of his mouth. He liked this bossy side of Raven. Wonder if she’d ever show that side of herself in the bedroom?

That was not a thought he needed to be having at the moment. Not when he’d be sleeping under her roof.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY

They entered Raven’s home to the smells of a moose roast simmering in the Crockpot. The whole cabin was warm and inviting, so different than living out at Earl’s or his own sparse, silent apartment in Seattle.

Raven hung up her coat and entered the kitchen, opened a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of pain pills, laying them along with a glass of water on the table. “Sit down before you fall down.”

Since his knees felt like willow branches, he had no problem doing what he was told and took a chair at the dining room table. Fox gave him a worried look, so Aidan put on a brave front. No sense in worrying the kid.

“Fox, will you stoke the fire and then set the table?” Raven asked, pulling the makings for a salad out of the refrigerator.

“On it, Mom.” He scampered over to the wood stove and stirred the banked coals, added wood, and lightly blew on the coals until the flames greedily ate at the dry timber. A grin spread over his face, and a dimple peeked as he set the table. The boy was enjoying having his parents sharing a meal instead of fighting.

At the lodge, the feelings Aidan had struggled with over everyone wanting a say over how they were going to protect him, hadn’t eaten at his heart the way this little family dinner was beginning to. This was his family. His son. And his woman. The simple affair caused emotions to tighten his throat.

What would it be like to sit down at the end of every day with Raven and Fox? The sweetness of the dream was just within his reach, almost tangible. If he shut his eyes, it felt as though he could hold it in his grasp.