Wolf Quest (26 page)

“Their home was completely compromised,” Rocky added with a frown. “Not to mention destroyed by the bastards who abducted them. Apparently, they ripped the place apart looking for anything magical or any information that would lead to more members of their Clan, family and friends. We’re all pretty careful not to leave that kind of information lying around, so I don’t think they got much, but it’s best to be on guard. I’ve alerted the rest of the family and Clan. There aren’t many of us, so it’s easily done.”

“And the bad guys were mostly captured,” Maria thought out loud.

Jason frowned at her. “I’m sorry to say that’s no guarantee of safety. The
Venifucus
have a worldwide operation with tentacles everywhere. Whatever information the group in Nebraska stole from the Collins home is no doubt already in the databases and being studied by other members of their organization.”

That didn’t sound good.

“And there’s more, Maria,” Sally broke in with a concerned expression. Maria had seen Sally checking something on her smartphone. “I just heard that the people you asked to watch your animals reported a break-in early this morning when they went over to your place to do the morning feed. The local cops went out to check things. Looks like the perps ransacked your home but left the animals alone for the most part.”

Her stomach sank at the news and Maria put her fork down. She couldn’t eat another thing. Her appetite was shot.

“Excuse me for a minute.” She pushed away from the table and moved out of the room. She heard Jesse following a few steps behind her and she was glad of his presence and the fact that he was giving her a little space but not leaving her alone at this awful moment.

Maria went for the wide doors that led out onto a deck that faced the backyard bordered by dense forest. She removed her cell phone from her pocket. She’d kept it switched off and used it only once the day before during the long drive to check with her friends who’d promised to take care of her sanctuary. Everything had been okay at that time.

Maria hit speed dial and waited impatiently for the call to connect. She stood on the deck in dappled sunlight and her heart wanted to appreciate the beauty all around her, but her mind was caught up in what might be happening back home.

Although…it really wasn’t home anymore when she stopped to think about it. Home was standing a few feet behind her. She turned to look at him as the call connected.

As she talked to her friend, she realized something of major importance. The sanctuary she had built really wasn’t
her
sanctuary anymore. Her home, her place of safety, her security was tied to Jesse now.

Somehow, knowing that, she calmed and was able to deal with the nuts and bolts of what was going on back in Iowa. Her friend went over the sequence of events as she knew them and Maria pieced together the rest. She reassured her friend that everything would be fine before ending the call and disconnecting. Her friend would continue to care for the animals and Maria had promised to either send someone or return herself as soon as possible.

She put away her phone and leaned against the deck rail with one hip, looking at Jesse.

“You heard all that, right?” she asked, becoming more sure of herself as the seconds passed.

Jesse nodded and stalked silently closer. “Now that the storm is over, I can have some of my guys there in a couple of hours. Unless you want to go yourself?”

She liked that he was giving her the option. “I guess I’ll have to at some point, but if your men can at least secure the house for now, we can go later and see what happened there.”

“Do you have to call your family? Chances are they’re going to be getting visits from the
Venifucus
agents if they know about you. If they’re magical at all, they could be in trouble.”

“Mom has no magic. My stepdad doesn’t either, but he’s rich and has private security, so they’re pretty well protected. My aunt and grandmother are probably still at the cabin, if they’re not already on their way to Wyoming, but I don’t keep their information in my house anywhere anymore. It’s all in here.” She tapped her temple. “Since I made friends with a werecougar and saw what she went through, she impressed on me the need for secrecy when it came to certain things. I’m glad now that I took her advice and destroyed any written record of addresses or phone numbers. Although I do keep some numbers in my smartphone. The werecougar probably wouldn’t approve.”

Jesse shook his head with an expression of relief. “That is good news. Just to be safe, though, I can dispatch some men to keep an eye on your mom and stepdad. And to escort your aunt and grandmother here, if you like. I know Sally would like to meet them and their magic may be needed to help heal Leonora. You can keep your phone on. The bad guys know by now that you’re with us, and they know where we live. There’s nothing to be gained from trying to track your number, if they even have it.”

Jesse moved closer, wrapping his big hands around her waist and leaning back to look at her while he spoke. She felt the love in every move he made toward her and knew she’d been right. Her home was here now—wherever Jesse was.

“I can try to call Mom and Nona.” she offered.

“Good idea.” He leaned down and kissed her gently.

She didn’t know how long the kiss went on before the opening of the door from inside broke them apart. She looked around Jesse’s broad shoulders to see Sally walking toward them.

“Hope I’m not interrupting,” she said with a wink and a grin. “There’s an impatient grizzly in there who wants to know if you’re a long-lost cousin to both of us.”

Maria let go of Jesse as he removed his hands from her waist and stepped back. She noted that he retrieved his phone from his pants pocket and began making calls as Sally took his place next to Maria.

What followed was a twenty-minute lesson on how to bring forth the most amazing magical glowing tree that sprouted from the ground up, like a real tree, but consisted solely of energy. It could be summoned and dismissed at will now that Maria was aware of it, and the first examination of its many branches showed that yes, indeed, Maria was related both to Sally, through Leonora, and to the weregrizzlies named Garibaldi through her father’s line.

Maria was lost in the study of her personal family tree when she realized a small crowd had gathered around her and Sally. Jason had his arm around his wife’s waist and Rocky was standing to one side with Jesse, seeming impressed by what he was seeing if his expression was anything to go by.

When Maria noticed him, she looked up and smiled. “Looks like I’m your long-lost cousin too, Rocco.”

“My wife will be relieved to hear it. She’s been feeling a little outnumbered by all the shifters up north where we live. Once things settle down, you’ll have to come up for a visit.”

“So your wife isn’t
were
?” Maria was intrigued.

Rocky shook his head but smiled. “No, she’s human. But our two boys started shifting almost from the get go. It was hard for her to get used to at first. Especially with two of them running around. Twins aren’t easy to deal with. We had to fence in the backyard right away or we’d have lost them in the woods a few hundred times. That won’t last long though. As soon as they learn how to climb, we’re going to be in big trouble.” He laughed and the other men joined in.

“I can’t even imagine.” Maria let the magical family tree dissipate.

“It’s a shame your line doesn’t seem able to shift. There are so few of us grizzlies,” Rocky said thoughtfully a moment later.

“Sorry. I never really even believed in my own magic until a couple of days ago.” Maria gave him a rueful smile.

“Not your fault, just an observation. You don’t suppose your auntie can shift and just never mentioned it, do you?” Rocky looked hopeful.

“I’m not sure.” Maria thought back to all the times her aunt had wanted to tell her more about magic and Maria had tuned her out. “Frankly, I’m going to have to apologize to her and to Nona. I’ve been a little rude to them about magic all these years.”

Jesse smiled and put his arm around her shoulders. “They’ll forgive you. I think, judging by what you’ve told me about them, they’re going to enjoy being part of our extended Pack, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I think they’ll really like being able to be open about their abilities in a place where people really do believe in magic.” Maria didn’t even have to think about that answer. For a long time, her female relatives had been reclusive from human society, preferring to keep to themselves or spend long summers up at the cabin where they could be who they were without having to hide their differences.

The group talked about families and adjusting to Pack life for a while before Jesse’s phone rang, drawing him away from the group. He returned a moment later with a grin.

“You were right about your aunt and granny not waiting for an invitation. They just showed up in town, asking where to find me.”

“Oh, no. Who did they ask?” Maria dreaded the idea that her relatives were being indiscrete.

“It’s okay. They apparently followed the magic to a restaurant owned and frequented by
weres
. The owner just called me. I’m sending someone down to bring them up the mountain.” Jesse seemed very casual about the whole thing, but she guessed it wasn’t everyday strangers were invited into the heart of Pack territory.

“I’m so sorry.” She was mortified on one level and excited to see her relatives on another.

“Don’t be,” Jason reinforced his brother’s casual attitude. “Sally wants to meet them and they’d have been invited anyway. Besides, it’s kind of cool to have an eccentric auntie in the family.” Jason laughed and Sally swatted his arm.

“It’s really okay, Maria. Don’t pay any attention to him.” Sally shot her husband a mocking, dirty look. “
Were
Packs have their share of eccentrics. It’s all that magic and howling at the moon.”

“I hope you’ll understand, but for security reasons I’m arranging this first meeting at our house, Jay,” Jesse declared in a firm voice. “I don’t want to expose the Pack yet, just in case her relatives take exception to our mating.”

“They wouldn’t,” Maria objected, but in her heart she wasn’t one hundred percent certain. The safety of the Pack had to come first. Maria understood that. “Still,” she went on, “it’s probably for the best that I talk to them first before you guys meet them. A lot has changed in a couple of days.”

The group dispersed with good wishes for Maria’s family reunion. Jesse escorted Maria out to a Jeep and seated her with a kiss before moving around to the driver’s side. He drove them quickly and expertly over back-country roads through some of the most beautiful woodland Maria had ever seen. Where she lived in Iowa, things were kind of flat, but out here there were ridges, foothills and mountains. Lots of interesting terrain and lovely, giant trees in an ancient forest. The magic of the place seeped into her newly awakened senses and she felt welcomed once again, by the saplings and trees. It was really an amazing feeling of coming home to a place she’d never been before.

When he pulled the Jeep around a curve near the top of a mountain they’d been climbing steadily, Maria was stunned by the natural beauty of the house set back in the woods as if it belonged there. It was made of wood, of course, with a sloping roof whose curve echoed the sighing limbs above her head. It fit. It was part of the forest in which it lived.

“This is my place. Our place now, if you want to live here.” Jesse looked nervous when she tore her gaze from the house to look at his face.

She leaned across the center console to cup his stubbly face in one palm. “It’s gorgeous, Jesse. And I’m content anywhere, as long as we’re together.”

Relief seemed to flood his expression. He leaned over to kiss her long and deep before getting out of the Jeep and jogging around to help her down from the high vehicle. He held her hand as they walked slowly toward the structure.

“I designed this place and a couple of the guys helped me build it a few years back. It has all kinds of security features that you can’t really see, but you’ll be safe here, Maria. Nobody will get past my guys and me.”

“I believe that,” she said softly, knowing he was doing his best to make her feel secure. She really appreciated that after what she’d been through the past few days.

“My men live all around slightly below this point. It just worked out that way. I was the only one willing to brave the winds up here on the peak, but I compromised and built just below the crest. The actual top of the mountain is still a few yards above us, behind the house. This way, we only get the wind from the front and sides, but the trees have really filled in to help out as a windbreak.” He seemed to think about that for a moment. “Maybe they knew you were coming? Or maybe Leonora did me a favor I wasn’t aware of until this moment. The woods weren’t this dense when I started building up here.”

Maria extended her senses and felt a little glow of residual magic. “Someone’s done something here. The trees were encouraged and still carry a little bit of the magic they used. It was done with love. That, I can tell. There’s a great feeling of love and protection in every tree and sapling.”

“Amazing. I think maybe Leonora knew more about the future than she was letting on. Is there any foresight in your family?”

“My aunt sees things sometimes,” Maria answered at once. That’s probably how she knew where to come. I never told her specifically where we were going.”