Three Mates for Judith (5 page)

“Not quite everyone will be on board the bus. A few of us volunteered to stay here and guard the place. Once you’re all gone, we won’t be opening the gate though. The Alpha has told us to stick with the line that the business is closed until Monday for the company cookout.”

“That the best answer. Otherwise, if someone goes to answer the gate, the kids could disable the guard and ram-raid the place. Although they still wouldn’t have the security codes to attack people. But they could make a hell of a mess trying,” said Nelson.

“That’s right. We’ll stay inside come what may and keep the security fence between us and them.”

Nelson nodded, but he worried about people throwing Molotov cocktails or something incendiary to try to force them outside. The warehouse itself was solid concrete, but a ram-raid might take out the metal gate. Well, a ram-raid with a tough enough vehicle. A regular car wouldn’t do it. The metal was damn solid on purpose.

He closed his eyes and thought and then began leaving instructions for a contingency plan. Step one was to allow no one inside, as Travis had said. To stay inside the building no matter what was happening outside. But step two would be in case of incendiary bombs—hell any trouble at all—to call the fire brigade and the police.

But then they would come inside, exposing the building’s security. So, as soon as there was any hint of trouble, everyone who’d remained behind would have to return to their apartments and stay there, no matter what happened. Strangers wouldn’t have a digital code to open the stairwell doors or to use the elevator. And fire services and police could be held at bay because nothing would have happened inside the building.

Damn. This was a whole new ball game and could end up even trickier than the damn cookout itself.

As soon as Nahum returned, they sat together, planning and refining their plan to protect their warehouse home.

* * * *

Nahum was so tense that if someone touched him he was liable to explode. He’d gone over and over the plans to protect the warehouse with Travis and his team until he was certain they could follow the instructions he and Nelson had left them in their sleep. Then he’d done the same thing himself with his plans for protecting the Alpha and the women on the farm.

The men Zebulun was sending would have the primary responsibility for Amory. He and his brothers had the two women as their chief care. But, to some extent, all the dangers overlapped. If someone came to attack, they wouldn’t necessarily know who was the primary target. Lutterworth wanted them all, so the guards would be the ones having to respond in an emergency.

If there was trouble, he was to save Judith, Naftali was to save Cherise, and Nelson was to save the Alpha. But likely Zebulun’s men would be there to grab the Alpha, and most of the pack would help protect everyone. Although the mated men might put their own mates and children ahead of Judith and Cherise. That would be a logical response.

But equally important was ensuring they caught Lutterworth. It was no use rounding up a handful of teenage boys. The judge would slap them on the wrist for trespassing, say, “Boys will be boys,” and they’d be back the next day to do it all again. The only way to keep the women safe ongoing was to catch Lutterworth doing something bad that he couldn’t wiggle out of responsibility for. Which translated to the problem that they had to let their Alpha be exposed to danger and the women as well. The criminal had to be able to see the bait.

But that didn’t mean Nahum had to like it or stop worrying about it.

He and his brothers arrived at Mrs. Lutterworth’s farm at six and spent the next three hours checking every inch of every building, shed, haystack, closet, and expanse of long grass. He was pretty sure the staff thought they were completely insane long before they pronounced themselves satisfied the area was safe. He only wished he’d had thirty more men and could have checked every inch of the land as well.

When he pronounced the area secure, the housekeeper just looked at him, shook her gray head, and said, “Well, I did tell you that hours ago, dear. Everyone knows everyone out here. If anyone new was on our land, a dozen people would have told me long before you finished checking.”

“Yes, ma’am. Very likely, ma’am. But I needed to be certain.”

“I’m sure you boys will do your best to look after dear Cherise and Judith.”

“Yes, ma’am, you have my promise on that.”

Nahum was certain if he didn’t care for them properly the housekeeper would rap him over the knuckles with her wooden spoon. She’d looked at him as if he was about eight years old again.

The helicopter arrived at exactly ten as scheduled. He’d thought helicopters were very noisy machines, and it certainly wasn’t silent, but it was nowhere near as loud as he’d expected. It looked shiny and new to his uneducated eye as well, so likely the newest models were quieter than the ones he’d seen on TV.

It landed on the grass near the house, but Nahum wasn’t watching the machine. He was scanning the land all around, looking for any flicker of movement or a flash of light off a sniper scope. Two men hustled the women into the house, but Judith insisted on turning and waving to the pilot before permitting herself to be pushed inside.

Nahum felt a flash of jealousy. Was she friends with the pilot? Had the time she’d spent up north meant she’d fallen in love with a man there? But surely the pilot worked for the person who’d loaned Zebulun the chopper. So she couldn’t have known the pilot already. Could she?

Dammit, all this waiting to be with her was killing him. And he couldn’t even romance her right now either. He couldn’t do anything to get to know her and show her how badly he and his brothers wanted to find out if she was their mate until after Lutterworth was locked away safely in jail.

But at least he’d see her now. Maybe even get to speak to her. And warn any other man away from her. She was his!

He and his brothers waited until the helicopter was a distant speck in the sky. Nahum, in particular, was hoping to see any potential watcher racing away to inform Lutterworth of what was going on. But either any watcher was damn clever, or there weren’t any.

“Do you think Lutterworth is able to hire a professional hit man?” he asked his brothers.

They’d have very little hope of protecting Cherise and Judith against the attempts of a trained assassin. Any ordinary sniper they could weigh the contingencies, play the odds, and very likely defeat. A trained professional would know far more than them and be able to game-play and defeat them. He didn’t like that thought at all.

The three began walking to the house. Naftali shook his head. “I don’t think so. I don’t think Lutterworth has run out of money, but he might be starting to hurt. We know his criminal ventures haven’t been doing too well lately, and as far as we know, he hasn’t been working at all for quite a few months.”

“We need to ask Cherise if she’s still supporting him,” said Nelson.

“Good point.” Nahum held the back door open for his brothers, and they trooped through the mudroom and into the kitchen of the farmhouse.

Judith was sitting at the table, talking a mile a minute to the elderly male member of the staff. Nahum drank her in with all of his senses. Damn, she looked more beautiful than he’d remembered with her shiny blonde hair and sparkling deep blue eyes. Her whole attention was focused on the man she was talking to, her body swaying as she waved her arms, a picture of graceful vivacity.

Meanwhile, Cherise was hugging the housekeeper and both the guards were standing against opposite walls, looking alert and prepared.

He nodded to Zebulun’s men. “Hi there, Sam, Jake.”

He smiled happily, a weight lifting off his shoulders. If he’d been able to choose two of Zebulun’s men to send with the women, these would have been right at the top of his list. He had no doubt they’d give their lives to save Amory’s, or the women’s if it came to that.

Sam came across to speak to them. “Are you three all right to take over guard duty for a while? Jake and I thought we’d transform and run to check out as much of the land as we can today before the Alpha arrives tomorrow for the cookout. Will the staff here need our help to get anything set up?”

Naftali had been dealing with that side of things and shook his head. “The staff will show our men where to put the spit and where the tables and chairs are stored, and our people will do the rest.”

“We checked as much as we could, but running as panthers will be an excellent way to cover the ground better,” said Nahum. As panthers, all their senses were heightened, and that would be a bonus as well.

Jake and Sam disappeared from the kitchen, and the three of them gathered closer to Cherise and Judith. When the two were sitting side by side at the table, sipping cups of coffee, Nahum said, “Excuse me, ma’am, but we need to ask you a few questions about your husband.”

“My ex-husband. My attorney filed divorce papers five months ago. So far my ex-hasn’t contested them, although it’s always possible he will. Unfortunately, I think it’s likely he’d rather steal things from me and dispose of them, thereby ensuring he gets the money, rather than trying to win things from me by legal means. That’s why I need to get back to my townhouse as soon as possible with my attorney to ensure nothing has gone missing. I know he checked the insurance list, but I need to see everything myself.”

Nelson said, “Do you understand that we would prefer you all to stay here over the weekend so Lutterworth has one single place to focus an attack on?”

“And you have one place to defend,” said Judith.

“Yeah, that, too,” answered Nahum. Oh yes, she was as smart as he’d remembered as well. She’d cut to the main point as easily as breathing in her light, friendly voice.

“Monday will be fine. I hope everything is sorted out by then,” said Cherise.

Nahum hoped it would be as well, but he wasn’t convinced. He had a feeling Lutterworth might not be that easy to catch. After all, he’d remained above the law all his life until now.

Chapter Three

Judi grinned at Mrs. Davey and sighed happily. Damn it was good to be back here. And soon she’d be back in the attic in town, and that’d be even better. She had to admit that everyone had been really friendly and helpful on the pack lands, and she’d learned a hell of a lot about cross-country skiing. She was certain she’d be much better at it than any of her friends now. But home was way, way better than anywhere else. Well, it would be once her idiot father was dealt with.

Her happy smile faded as she looked at her mom. Poor Mom. She’d fallen in love with the wrong man, and Judi couldn’t blame her for that. At least he hadn’t turned out like Christian Grey. He genuinely seemed to love her mom. It was just that he loved money and possessions more.

And, to be honest, when he’d remembered that she existed, he’d been nice to her. He hadn’t turned up to cheer for her at school events like her mom had, but plenty other dads had to work and couldn’t be there either. Although no other dads were busy trying to take away their wife’s inheritance. Fuck. It was complicated. She and her mom would be better off when he was gone and couldn’t confuse them anymore. Or steal stuff.

The three men joined them at the table, and Judith studied them. Naftali was the oldest and different from the other two. They all had curly black hair and very dark eyes, black or dark brown, but he was more solid, more muscular, as well as a couple of years older.

Nelson and Nahum were identical twins, and she had to study them carefully to pick out any differences. Nelson seemed a fraction bossier, and she wondered if he was the older twin. All three of them were quite bossy. But living with a panther pack for six months had taught her that all panthers tended to be alpha and dominant. She suspected the dungeons at the panther warehouse got a lot of use. One of her friends had shown her the dungeon on the pack lands, and she’d found it fascinating. She couldn’t help thinking of maybe going there one day with a man. Or two. Panthers seemed to share women, and she liked that idea as well.

Judi knew Elsie was going to mate not just the Alpha but both his brothers as well, and she felt sure they would have tried out the dungeon. She couldn’t imagine them not doing so, even though they weren’t officially mated yet. They were very much together.

As for herself, she’d looked at the various men in the pack, but all the older ones were married already, and the younger ones didn’t appeal to her. Men her own age often seemed immature to her. Maybe it was just because she was worried about her mom’s safety, and her own as well. But somehow she liked the idea of a slightly older man to help guide her in life. Or two older men. Or even three. These three had potential, although it was possible some or all of them were already mated.

Not that she was in a hurry to find a man. She needed to get her mom’s life sorted out first. At least they were back in town again. That was so good. She’d always loved the farm. She’d had wonderful summers here with her grandparents.

“What do you need to know about Dad?” she asked the men.

“We need to ask you some personal questions. We don’t wish to be intrusive, ma’am, but we need to assess the risks you’re both facing.” Naftali had been speaking to her mom, but he included Judi with a nod at the end of the statement.

Judi understood. Most of the money and property belonged to her mom anyway.