The Werewolf Meets His Match (Nocturne Falls Book 2) (18 page)

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Hank’s gravelly voice was like a balm. His warm arms embraced her, and she relaxed into his touch. She took a breath and forced the tears away. “I just…hurt all over.”

Not a lie. But not the truth that would take this wonderful man away from her either. That would come soon enough.

He kissed the top of her head and released her, but took hold of her hands. “It takes twenty-four hours to get all the wolfsbane out of your system so you’ve got a few more hours. Until then, you’re not going to feel so hot.”

She nodded. “I already feel better now that you’re here.”

He smiled. “Good. But if you want to postpone the wedding—”

“Tomorrow’s the full moon.” Panic seized her. “We’re supposed to get married tomorrow night. I know it’s just a civil ceremony, but I haven’t done a thing to get ready.”

“Sweetheart, there’s still the rest of today and most of tomorrow. But there’s really nothing for you to do. The Justice of the Peace is a friend. I set things up for five tomorrow, but he’s willing to perform the ceremony whenever we need him. I know the full moon is traditional, but the bride isn’t usually recovering from a near fatal poisoning. We can absolutely postpone to give you a chance to get back on your feet.”

She relaxed a little. There was
some
time left. Enough maybe that she could at least plan a nice wedding meal for them. “No postponing. It has to be the night of the full moon. Postponing would mean waiting another month.” There was no way Charlie would survive staying with his grandparents that long or she could keep from telling Hank the truth. If only her mother could be counted on to stand up to Clemens, but Ivy wasn’t holding her breath for her mother to grow a backbone anytime soon. “I’ll be fine by this afternoon. Really, I’m already so much better.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.” Even so, a JOP ceremony meant they weren’t going to have a cake or flowers or anything. But then, she’d never really expected any of those things.
Cake
. She grabbed his arm. “I hope you turned off the oven. I had a cake in there.”

“Deputy Cruz did.”

She nodded and slumped back into the bed. At least she wouldn’t be responsible for burning the house down, too.

Hank let go of her hand and hooked his thumbs into his belt. “I passed your brother in the hall.”

She smoothed the sheet out. “It was nice of him to come.” Too bad he’d brought so much of their father’s attitude with him.

“He told you why he came?

“Mm-hmm. The Jenkins brothers.”

“He’s going to help me track them down. I have a lead on them at a motel on the outskirts of town. Cruz is staking the place out right now. Sam and Titus are going with me. Should be a simple operation. Deputy Blythe will keep watch at your door.”

“What will you do with them after you arrest them?”

Hank shifted, his expression resolute. “This is a pack matter. They’ll be dealt with at a tribunal. Which also means I need to change out of my uniform before I head over there. I can’t appear to be representing the local law.”

She stared at him. “Speaking of appearances, I just realized something.”

“What’s that?”

“The night we went out for a run, when we stopped at the waterfall, there were two black wolves on the other side. They were staring at us, but they were gone before I could tell you.”

“The Jenkins brothers?”

She shook her head, her mouth twisting in frustration. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen them in wolf form. Men and women don’t run together in our pack. And women aren’t allowed at the meetings, so I barely know what they look like in human form.”

“That’s some serious misogynistic thinking going on.”

“Have you ever met my father?”

Hank frowned. “No.”

And hopefully, he never would. “You’d understand if you had.”

“How did he end up with such backwoods nonsense?”

“We’re a backwoods pack. But his father taught him everything he knew.”

Confusion clouded Hank’s handsome face. “I thought you inherited your motorcycle from your grandfather. Seems like an odd thing to leave a granddaughter if you think of women as second-class citizens.”

“It came from my maternal grandfather, not Clem’s dad. Harlan Kincaid was as big of a bastard as his son is.” She pushed up a little more on the bed. Already, the achiness was half of what it had been. Which only made her antsy to do something besides convalesce.

“You need anything?”

“Yeah, to get out of here. I have a wedding to prepare for and lying in this bed isn’t helping.”

“Maybe I can get you released, take you home.”

“I’d rather you get those Jenkins boys locked up. I can get myself home. Plus, then your deputy can go back to real police work.”

“No.” He narrowed his eyes. “Until they’ve been dealt with, I don’t want you alone.”

“Hank, I’ll be fine—”

Knocking interrupted her.

They both turned to see Birdie standing in the door

“Trouble in paradise?” Birdie trotted around to the other side of Ivy’s bed. “How are you, dear?”

Ivy smiled at her. “Your timing couldn’t be better. I feel fine, I want to go home and Hank won’t let me.”

Birdie frowned at Hank. “You’re not a doctor. You can’t dictate these things just because you’re the sheriff.”

“I don’t want her alone until I know she’ll be safe.”

Birdie set her enormous turquoise purse on the bed and crossed her hands over top of it. “She won’t be alone. I’ll be with her.”

“I fail to see how that’s going to keep her safe.”

Birdie leaned toward him. “I’m still a werewolf, sonny. I can hold my own.”

Hank snorted. Birdie looked like she might swat him.

Ivy held up a hand. “Hank, if anything happens, anything, I’ll call you immediately. Promise.”

Hank’s radio went off before he could answer. “Sheriff, we have a visual and can confirm the two men at the hotel match the photos Ivy’s brother provided.”

He squeezed the radio and responded. “On my way.” He pointed at Birdie. “You can take her home, but I expect your best behavior. Actually, better than that.”

He looked at Ivy. “And you take it easy. Keep the house locked and let no one in until I get back.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I’ll see you soon with good news.”

She kissed him back. “Be careful.”

“You, too.” And with a nod, he was gone.

Ivy took a breath, then turned to Birdie. “Thank you. I owe you.”

Birdie waved a hand at her. “We’re about to be family. Speaking of, do you think I could get a peek at your wedding dress when we get back to Hank’s?”

“Oh. Uh…I don’t have a wedding dress. It was such short notice and…” She shrugged. She wasn’t about to drop all that money on a dress she was only going to wear once for a marriage that had little chance of being anything but contemptuous once the truth came out. “I just brought a dress I already had.”

Abject horror masked Birdie’s face. “Oh, that will not do. Who’s making the cake?”

Ivy shrugged. “We could get cupcakes from the Shop & Save, I guess—”

Birdie clutched at imaginary pearls and gasped like she’d just taken a hit to the solar plexus. “What about the flowers? The music? The reception afterwards? A photographer?”

Ivy took a breath, wondering how she was going to explain that there was no point in spending all kinds of time, effort and money on a marriage that was only going to dissolve into the thinnest of unions. “I just thought we could keep things simple. No muss, no fuss.”

“Oh, my word, you can’t be serious.”

“I’m totally serious.”

“This marriage represents the union of two very important packs. Not to mention, it’s my nephew’s first and
only
wedding. Simple will not do.”

“You know I’m lying in a hospital bed, right?”

“You told Hank you felt fine. Is that the truth?”

“Yes.” Ivy wouldn’t say she was a hundred percent, but she was at least eighty. Maybe eighty-five.

Birdie’s hands starting flopping through the air like she was trying to organize dust motes. “Then get up, girl, get up! We have work to do.
Lots
of work to do.”

With its tucked-away location, the Pinehurst Inn had once been the county’s favorite “No tell motel,” but time had worn the place down, and now its guests fell into three categories: cheapskates, the unfortunate, and delinquents.

Whether or not Dalton and Wade Jenkins were cheapskates remained to be seen, but they were definitely delinquents, and they were about to be very, very unfortunate.

Hank raised his hand and chopped it forward to indicate to Titus and Cruz that it was time to move into position.

Titus put two fingers to his forehead in a salute that said he understood, and he and Cruz moved out.

Keeping his voice down, Hank looked at Sam. “Let’s go.”

Sam nodded.

They crept past Titus’s pickup truck and around the side of the building, making their way through weeds littered with trash and an old mattress. Once upon a time there had been a pool back here, but it had been filled in a long time ago. Hank glanced at his watch. Three minutes to get into position at the back door of the Jenkinses’ room. The doors that had once led to the pool area still remained, and were probably a big part of the Pinehurst Inn’s reputation as a good place to make a fast getaway.

If the Jenkinses tried it, they were going to run right into him and Sam.

Hank wasn’t keen on executing this kind of operation in the middle of the day, but Ivy’s safety was paramount.

These lowlifes needed to be dealt with.

Hank ducked as he passed beneath the room’s open bathroom window. The sounds of a daytime TV game show and the acrid scent of cigarette smoke wafted out. The Jenkinses must be biding their time until night fell and they could make another attempt on Ivy’s life. They had to know by now that she’d survived the wolfsbane.

Hank flattened himself against the wall as Sam did the same on the other side of the window.

Hank checked his watch.
Thirty seconds.

This wasn’t going to be some slick undercover op. Hell no. This was going to be a little taste of shock and awe. Brute force and the element of surprise. It was their only option to keep things neat and tidy, because if anyone shifted, they’d all shift, and having five wolves and a panther battling it out at the Pinehurst Inn was unacceptable.

Fifteen seconds.

Adrenaline coursed through his system, narrowing his focus until time seemed to slow. It had been like this in his Army Ranger days, too. The rush calmed him. He reached for the door knob, the sound of his pulse ticking in his head like a metronome keeping him on pace.

Ten seconds.

Sam crouched, ready to charge through.

Five seconds.

Hank’s fingers curled around the knob.

Go time.

He yanked the door off its hinges just as Cruz and Titus burst through the front. Chaos ruled. The Jenkins brothers leaped off the bed and lunged, going into half-forms.

Hank and his crew did the same, sprouting elongated fangs and sharp nails, while Cruz shifted into his partial panther form and unleashed a lethal set of claws.

The Jenkins closest to Hank swiped at him, catching him on the shoulder, but the momentum left the man open.

Hank rammed his arm back and clocked the man in the head with his elbow. A solid hit. The man slumped to his knees and fell forward, the gold in his eyes blinking out like a plug had been pulled.

Titus, Sam and Alex Cruz had the second brother well in hand. Hank grabbed the brother who was moaning at his feet, pinned him against the wall and held him there by his throat.

The man’s lids fluttered open.

“Good. You’re awake. We need to talk.”

He blinked. His pupils were slow to focus. “’Bout what?”

Hank snarled. “You tried to kill my fiancée.”

Realization filled Jenkins’ eyes. He clawed at Hank’s hands, trying to free them from his neck. “It’s…not…your business…Merrow.”