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  “Mommy and Daddy have left the country, so that leaves me to deal with your fuckery. And I’m going to tell you now, I’m not going to be nice or restrained with you. I’m going to watch you burn for what you’ve been up to.” He just snorted at her. Ross knew that he was going to be long gone before he got into trouble over the car accidents. “We’ve been to your room. Nice little collection of DVDs you have there. It was really stupid of you to leave them out like that for me to find. Or did you want me to find them? Could be that. You’re about as fucking stupid as anyone I’ve ever dealt with before.”

  “Those have nothing to do with why I’m in this shit hole. You can’t use those against me because you had no right to go into my things and take them.” She just nodded and watched him. Calming himself down, he smiled at her. “Who gave them to you anyway? I’m sure that you know you have to have a warrant to go into my home. Did you have one?”

  “Nope.” This was good, but she spoke again. “Mommy turned them all over to me when I asked her nicely. See, people don’t believe I can be nice, but I can. Why, just a few days ago, I didn’t kill this little cocksucker for cutting me off in traffic. My husband said that was showing that I’m becoming a good citizen again. And your daddy? He told us all about your little books. Gave them to me too. You are just too ignorant for words, aren’t you?”

  Forgetting the rules, he went to the bars and shook them. All she did was pull out her gun and lay it on her lap. Again, he didn’t think it was for show, and that she not only knew how to use it, but she had. A great deal. He moved back but didn’t say anything. Instead, his mind was changing his plans about going home. No point in it now; they’d taken his personal things.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What books and what DVDs?” She laughed again, and he wanted to lash out at her with a knife, cut her lips off her face, and then shove them up her ass. This fucking bitch had just gotten herself promoted to the top of his to kill list, and he was sure that she’d be fun enough to sustain him until he got out of town. “What the fuck do you want?”

  Ross made his voice calm, his heartrate slow. Anger would get him nowhere. He had been good at showing no emotions. Hell, he’d never had all that many in the first place. It was just what it was, his way of thinking, and when something happened, he’d have to work hard at making just the right noises about shit so that no one would look at him twice.

  “I’m here to inform you of your rights as a soon to be federal prisoner. You are wanted for the murder of sixteen women, and countless others that you didn’t record when you were killing them.” She stood up and aimed her gun at him. He’d bet there was never any hesitation from her—she’d kill and walk away whistling a happy tune. Nor did her finger leave the small circle that held the trigger. “As I said before, I’m going to enjoy watching you die.”

  After telling him all that was going to happen to him in the morning, she asked him if he understood what she’d just told him. Smiling at her, knowing something that she didn’t, that he was leaving before this happened, he told her that he did when prompted again.

  “Enjoy your last night of freedom, jackass. Tomorrow you’re on my turf, and you’ll soon learn that I’m not one to fuck with.”

  He saluted her then and blew her a kiss. The woman was still laughing as she left him there. Ross was afraid. For the first time in his whole life, he was afraid of another person being better at killing than he was.

  Now more than ever, he had to get out of here. Ross knew there would be no escaping the big house. And having his kind of fun was going to be next to impossible. All he had to do now was wait for his dinner and he’d be home free.

  Chapter 8

  Boyd looked at their cart...or carts, as it were. They were starting from scratch and needed even the basics of food items. His mom looked at her list and compared it to the one that Reilly had made. He was sure that they’d not missed an item in the store, nor had they forgotten anything. They had two carts, for Christ’s sake.

  “You’re upset.” He looked at Reilly when she said that to him, and asked her why she’d think that. “Because this is going to cost a fortune, and we’ve not even gone to get kitchen utensils or anything like that.”

  “Honey, this is all right, I promise you.” He pulled her to him with his mouth near her ear. “We’re billionaires. I own houses all over the world. The condo that I lived in before meeting you? We own them all and collect rent from them monthly. There are other lands that we own and rent as well. My brother Larson, he’s the best at investing our money for us, and making us more money than we could spend in several lifetimes. So, I promise you love, we are just fine.”

  She looked at the grocery carts and then at the line they were in. Reaching over to the last-minute items that always got him, she pulled three candy bars off the rack and laid them on the cart too. He laughed so hard that he missed the first part of the words that Lauren was saying to him.

  I’m sorry. I love my mate. When she didn’t laugh, he knew something had happened. She asked him where he was. The grocery store. We’re getting food for the house.

  I’m sending people to you. Colin is with them. Don’t fuck around with them, Boyd. They’re there to protect you both. Ross just killed an officer and escaped. His good humor evaporated just like that, and he pulled Reilly closer to him. I need for you to tell Bea and Reilly. They need to know now.

  All right. Should we go home? If we go there, we’re going to have to have someone come to us to get supplies. We’re without even the basics here. He saw his brother with seven men and felt his fear double. Lauren, they’re here.

  Good. No, get what you need now. I don’t want you starving while we find this little fucker. I cannot believe that he got out right before he was mine. He didn’t know what that meant, but leaned toward Reilly again and explained what was going on as Colin did the same for their mom. I take it you told them.

  Yes. I should have thought of this before, but I’d like for each of you to take a taste of her. Reilly is going to be someone that he comes after. She told him that she was high on his list too, she’d bet. What did—? You know what? I know you. You pissed him off by being Lauren.

  Thanks. Rolling his eyes at her cheer over his statement, she got serious again. Pay for your food and then they’ll take you home. Right now the pack is at the house, along with some of my men. Bear is in the house, so don’t be alarmed when you see him. Apparently, you have a lovely kitchen, and he’s going to make dinner for you when you get back.

  I don’t know if any of us will be hungry. She told him to act normal or they’d all freak out. What the fuck is normal? Do you even know anymore? I don’t. I’m supposing that he’s armed too, right? Because why should everyone else be armed and not him? Does he have a car too? Maybe—

  Boyd, you’re freaking the fuck out on me. Shut up and listen to me. He snapped his mind closed. Not on her, that would be dangerous to his health, but on the line of thinking he was going on about. All right now. They’re going to take you home and stay there. If you get a call out—is that a possibility?

  Yes…no. I don’t know. I’m on call all weekend. I could call.... Wait, he doesn’t know me. He has no idea that she’ll be with me or any of us. He heard her cursing and he smiled. It wasn’t often that anyone thought of something before she did. He won’t know to come to any of our houses, will he?

  Just mine, and I hope he comes here. All right, you’re right, she’s going to be safe so long as she’s with you at the house. But I’m still sending them with you. I’m not taking any chances in this. You didn’t see his work, I did. Christ, the man is the very thing that you would call a cold-blooded monster. He told them what was going on and why they might be safer than Lauren thought. I have some figuring to do. Tell Colin what you just told me, and I’ll talk to him in a few. I’m better at thinking on my feet than I am planning any day.

  Boyd didn’t believe that any more than if she’d told him that she was a debutante and
that she was going to wear a pink dress with bows. She was that good, the very best there was at this shit.

  Loading the food up on the belt, he thought of how much fun they’d been having. How full the carts were, and the fact that they were going to have to carry this into the house and put it all away. He was glad now for the house with the attached garage. They could pull in and never get out until they were inside where it was safe.

  Forty-five minutes later, they were putting the bags in the car. He and Colin were with the rest of the men, Reilly and Mom were in the cars out of sight. Colin asked him if he was all right.

  “You know, surprisingly, I’m fucking not.” Colin laughed, and he felt some of the stress roll off him. But he was still tense. “What the hell are we supposed to do to protect our family when maniacs and idiots come out of the fucking woodwork for our mates? And if that’s not enough, we’re all trying our best to have a fucking jolly Christmas, and this fucking fuckery is messing that up.”

  “Feel better?” He shook himself, trying to dispel some of his anger. “You do know that your cursing could use some work, don’t you? I mean, what the hell is fucking fuckery? And a fucking jolly Christmas? Man, if Mom heard you just now, she’d take your head off.”

  “Yeah, well, I just met my mate, and now I have to make sure that some idiot doesn’t try to run her down again because of her…. Fuck, her father. He’d know about him. That’s why she left that day.” Colin told him to hang on.

  Shoving the bags in the car trunk, not even caring if any of the shit fell out on the trunk or not, Boyd wanted to get to the hospital and save his patient. But before he could run to the driver’s side, Colin grabbed his arm.

  “He’s fine. She’s moved him to a different room, and has enough men around him that it looks like a convention. And Hawk is with him too.” Relief so profound came over him that he was dizzy with it. It was his father-in-law, or soon to be, and he didn’t want to have to tell Reilly that her father fell down a stairwell but died in the hospital. “Lauren said to tell you good thinking, though. She was so worried about Reilly that she nearly forgot him in this mess.”

  “He’s not going to get to her.” Colin said that he wasn’t. “I’m in love with her, Colin. I never thought, in all my life, that there would be someone out there for me that makes me feel like this. As if I could take on the world and beat it. But this, this thing with Ross. It scares the living shit out of me, I kid you not.”

  “Me too. He seems to not care about the consequences of his actions. And worse yet, he could have gone on for years and years doing this without them had it not been for Reilly leaving that day to go to her dad. She is the one we should be thanking for getting this monster off the streets.” Boyd told his brother what Lauren had said. “I saw them too, some of them anyway. They’re sickening. He’s done things that.... He’s done things to his victims, Boyd, that even as a doctor, I’m sure you’ve never seen.”

  And Boyd didn’t want to either. He helped put the last few things in the second car and they made their way home. He was glad now that they’d gone by the dealership first to get his car. The roads were really bad today, and he didn’t want to have to end up in the hospital too.

  Pulling into the garage, he saw Bear there with a young puppy. “Found him wandering around. I don’t know where he came from.” As soon as Reilly was introduced to Bear, she knelt down to play with the puppy. “He doesn’t seem to be afraid of me. I’m sure that he can smell what I am. I was going to take him to the pound when I left here.”

  “No, I want him.” Boyd started to explain to her that he was a cat and they might not get along. “He isn’t going ape shit right now, so he must not care that you’re a big bad kitty that could carry him off in your mouth.”

  Picking up the little puppy, she told them to bring the food in please. Before he could think that he was the proud or not so proud owner of a dog, he heard her asking the dog if he knew his name. A dog was living with a jaguar. He laughed all the way into the house with several bags over his arms.

  Bear started putting things away and he left him to it. Boyd thought it was funny that the big man was yes ma’aming Reilly like he did Lauren. And when he opened up the package of hamburger that they’d gotten, he was telling Reilly that he’d make the pup some dinner first. The little thing did look about starved.

  The rest of the evening was spent trying to decide where things went. It was fun really, to have family there with them. Colin stayed for the dinner Bear had fixed for the men watching the house. In no time at all, the puppy—a name hadn’t been established yet—was curled up on Reilly’s lap in the living room and both of them were asleep. Colin and he went to the library to talk. He asked him how Ross had gotten out.

  “When his evening meal was brought to him, he had a plan. It couldn’t have been spur of the moment, Lauren said. He planned this from the start. Pulling the guy into the cell with him, he broke his neck.” Boyd thought about that. He was a human, and he broke a man’s neck like it was nothing. “I don’t know what kind of muscle it takes to do something like that, but the cop was dead before he could make a sound. Then he stripped him of his uniform and put it on. In less time than it took for the officer to even come up missing, Ross was out the door and into the public.”

  “Why isn’t Lauren or the police around here?” Colin told him. “Okay, I can see that. Working for the president would cause her major problems if it got out that she was doing double duty. But damn it, if she was, you know this shit wouldn’t have happened. There would have been ten guards taking his meals to him, and there would be a gun on him all the fucking time.”

  “Your anger is showing again.” Boyd tried once more to shake it off, but he was just too stressed out. “How about the two of us go on a run? There are guards here with Reilly. Bear will stay in the room with her, and you have that big assed dog in there to protect her too.”

  “I have a dog, Colin. I’m a fucking cat, and I own a dog.” Colin told him that he could have told her no. “No, I couldn’t have, no more than you could have told Lauren. She would have shot you then kept the dog anyway. But giving in makes her happy, and that’s what I live for now.”

  “Yeah, who would have thought we’d be the mushy type around a woman?” He went to the living room to check on his mate. Kissing Reilly, he told her where they were going. When she nodded and curled around the dog, he was jealous. Of a dog.

  Going to the door with his brother, they were shifting and taking to the snow in no time. Yes, he thought, this was what he needed. A good run in the snow with his brother.

  ~~~

  Ross wasn’t stupid, nor was he the type of person to get himself caught when he didn’t have to. The thing with Reilly, that had been his dad’s fault, and that of Reilly herself. Today and going forward, he was going to be calm and cool. And he was going to get things done.

  His home was surrounded by cops. Not just cops, but there seemed to be an inordinate number of wolves hanging around too. Ross knew there were shifters around. He’d even managed to kill one once. But there were too many of them for him to be fucking with them, so he left them to the house. But he needed money and clothing. To get those, he needed to get himself somewhere he was safe.

  The people that had been in the driveway had left about ten minutes ago. He had thought about killing them both and getting himself really calmed down, but there were too many witnesses around. The neighborhood seemed to be jumping with idiots going to work or some shit. He’d kill them when they got home, he decided. Inside their home.

  The house had a puny lock on the door. In no time he was inside and going through the house. There had to be a brat someplace—the house was set up for it. Where it was, he didn’t know. To his way of thinking, that was just one more thing that he could kill later.

  Ross found the man’s closet and then went to the bathroom. Time to clean the stench of the jail off him. After refreshing himself and dressing, he was glad to find some food that he coul
d eat in the fridge. Sandwich fixings, as well as a few cartons of ice cream and some fruit. Almost as soon as the microwave dinged that he could eat, he glanced out the window and saw the cop before he got behind the tree. Well fuck.

  Going to the small room that he’d found that coats and boots were in, he dressed for the weather and then went to the basement. There he found a nice sized window, as well as a sliding glass door that he could go out if things got bad. To him it would be good, he supposed—not so much to the cops. He was still trying to figure out what the fuck had happened that they’d been able to find him so quickly when he opened the slider and slipped out of the house.

  The problem with trying to not be caught in this weather was the snow. His prints were leading them right from where he’d come out of the woods behind the house. Ross still had his gun from the cop, as well as an extra magazine. Killing one of the cops was going to be tricky without something to be quiet with, so if he had to kill them he would resort to the several kitchen knives that he’d managed to take.

  He’d packed up a backpack that he’d found in the house as well. Money hadn’t been plentiful, but there were other things that he’d found that were just as useful. There was enough ammo in the bedroom that he knew there had to be a gun or a gun safe someplace. But the cops coming when they did had messed him up in being able to find it. But the ammo would go a long way in getting him out of this town. After he took care of Lauren McCullough.

  Ross had used the computer in the house as well. He’d found that there were several McCulloughs around town. One of them was a doctor, another was some kind of farmer, according to what he’d been able to look up about each of them that were listed. When he got to the one that was the doctor, he knew that he was going to be the one that would be the most helpful in finding the woman that he wanted. Then it would be a piece of cake to locate Lauren.