Shaun blinked hard. “Can you repeat that last part?”
She frowned. “Which part?”
“I kinda got stuck when you said you and Evan are seeing each other. What the fuck is he thinking?”
He didn’t see the blow coming, and by some freaky circumstance, she slammed him right on the most tender section of his ribs, and he folded like a card table. The ground hadn’t gotten any softer since the last time he smacked into it. He rolled to stare up at her, the bright sky haloed around her pretty blonde head.
“Dude. I speak wolf.” Her sweet smile belied the steel in her tone. “You know the rules. I’m with Evan. Next time you bitch at me, I kick you in the nuts. I would imagine you’d like to keep them intact, having found your mate and all.”
He accepted her outstretched hand and crawled to his feet. “Yup, got it. Congrats, etc. etc. Good to know. The chicks hanging all over him were driving the old guy a little insane.”
She muttered something that sounded like “you’re telling me” as she gestured him forward to where Gem stood speaking with her father.
The props on the chopper turned slowly, the sound barely disturbing the air. It was quiet enough that the lecture Mr. Jacobs delivered carried on the breeze far too easily. Gem waited in front of him, hands tucked in front of her, the rest of her body rigid and erect as if she wore a corset and had a book balanced on her head.
Shaun cleared his throat. Their gazes swung his direction. He wiggled his fingers. “Ho.”
Gem bit her lip, fighting back a smile.
Shaun stepped forward, hand held out to her dad. Only one way through and that was full-speed ahead. “Mr. Jacobs. Great to finally meet you. Thanks for coming to escort us home.”
“And you are…?” The long, slow perusal up and down was followed by sudden comprehension. “Oh yes, the guide. Good to meet you as well.”
Then he turned his back and attempted to steer Gem toward the chopper.
Shaun tapped him on the shoulder. “Sir?”
Mr. Jacobs paused. “What? Oh…of course.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a wallet, grabbed a couple bills and pressed them into Shaun’s hand. “Here you go.”
Shaun closed his hand around the man’s fingers. “Sir. No. You need to listen for a minute.”
“Shaun, allow me.” Gem’s sweet voice snuck into his ears and tickled him into submission. He let go and raised his hands in surrender. If she wanted to do this, he’d let her.
Then she slipped under his arm and cuddled in close, and Mr. Jacobs’ jaw dropped.
“Daddy, I’d like you to meet Shaun Stevens. Yes, he’s my guide, but he’s also my mate.”
Wind swept over the North Pole and rattled in his future father-in-law’s open mouth. “Mate?”
She nodded.
Jacobs raised his head and narrowed his eyes. “Is this some kind of post-traumatic induced psychoses? Because I would understand—”
“Use your nose, dude,” Shaun blurted out. Oops. Forgot the polite bit. “Sir.”
There was no denying the dismay on the old man’s face this time. “Well, damn.”
“Daddy!” Gem stood to one side.
“Well, darling, it’s a little unexpected. Why didn’t you tell me?” He peered at them. “You aren’t marked. Why aren’t you marked if you’re mates?”
She wrinkled her nose and shifted uneasily on her feet. “It’s…complicated.”
Shaun snorted—he simply couldn’t stop it. Complicated? That was one way to describe their relationship.
Caroline stepped forward. “If I could make a suggestion, we should move this to the chopper. We need to get back to Dawson and the rest of the search crew.”
Gem shook her head. “I don’t want to go back to Dawson.”
She didn’t? Shaun waited with bated breath to see what was next on the agenda.
Gem faced her father. “Thank you for coming and getting us.” She turned to include Caroline in the conversation. “We really appreciate it. And I do hope there’s a group going after the kidnappers. But what Shaun and I need is a ride back to his helicopter, or better yet to somewhere close to our abandoned campsite.”
Caroline nodded slowly. “I believe we can arrange that. I’ll have to double-check with the pilot.”
She took off toward the helicopter.
“What you doing, love?” Shaun smoothed a hand down her back and she melted against him. She was perfect there, and it was so right to hold her in his arms. There was another option—and while it wasn’t what he wanted, he had to offer her the choice. “I can go get the chopper if you want to go back to Dawson with your father.”
“I think that’s for the best,” Jacobs interjected. “We can meet in Whitehorse and discuss the rest of—”
“No.” Gem stared at her father. “Did you not hear what I just said?”
“Darling, you’ve had a traumatic experience.”
“Darn tootin’, I have.”
Shaun fought to hide his grin as her father’s eyes widened. “Gem!”
“Daddy, Shaun and I need to go back. We have to retrieve the equipment we abandoned. I have my research notes to gather. If you’d like to wait for us in Whitehorse, you’re welcome to—Evan Stone seems to be a very accommodating Alpha. But I, and my mate, have some other business to attend to first. I hope you understand.”
Shaun was so proud he wanted to howl. Instead, he kept rubbing her back, letting her know he was there if she needed him.
Mr. Jacobs folded his arms across his chest. “I see. That’s the way it’s going to be, is it?”
Gem nodded curtly, then softened. “Thank you for coming. I love you, Daddy.”
How could any male resist when she pulled that sweet, innocent face on him?
“I love you too, pumpkin.” Jacobs stared at Shaun for a moment. “You. We’ll be having a long talk the next time we meet, young man.”
Shaun resisted temptation. Oh, the things he could say right now. “Looking forward to it, sir.”
Crossing the short distance to the helicopter and finding places for everyone was bizarre in its normality. Anticlimactic even, like they were out for a sightseeing tour.
The chopper was full and noisy, jammed in with the pilot, this weird dude in a suit, Gem’s father, Caroline and him and Gem. But the way his mate curled against his body, and settled his hand over her warm belly made the discomfort of being squeezed into one seat more than tolerable.
If he could just figure out what the hell was going on.
He really could nab the chopper on his own. She could spend some time with her father, have a hot bath and return to civilization. Of course, the chances of her deciding to stay with him in the north grew dimmer by the minute.
Their entire relationship had been a comedy of errors, and it was only by sheer chance that the kidnapping hadn’t turned out any more violent and bloody. The north hadn’t shown itself in the best light.
Gem, however, had shone like a diamond. It was clear his fragile princess had a rock-solid core, and a lot more inside her head than he’d given her credit for at the start. And a lot more than her father understood.
They were dropped off an appropriate distance from the tent. Caroline tapped him on the shoulder as Gem said her goodbyes to her father.
“I can make sure he stays distracted for a while, or send him home. Which do you prefer?”
Shaun sighed. He knew what he wanted, but Gem hadn’t said a word. If she decided to return south, she should travel with her father. Safety in numbers and all that. “Distract him. We’ll only be four, five days, at the most. The herd should be gone by then, and we’ll grab our stuff and return.”