Nell had squeezed back into her little black dress. She had to be freezing now that light snow was starting to fall. But instead of huddling in the pickup’s cab with the heater on, she sat in the bed next to Cormac, very close to him.
Cormac put his hand on her warm thigh and let it stay there. They needed to talk, but not now.
Now was not the time for words. It was time to let the mate bond silently grow while Cormac and Nell healed and took care of Shane. They’d speak of forever later.
“Last time I work for a Shifter,” the bounty hunter muttered. He shifted his weight, trying to get comfortable in the cuffs, but he made no move to run away. “How’d you get me out of there?” he asked Reid. “Did I pass out?”
“Yes,” Reid said.
He lied. Cormac smelled the lie, plus he’d witnessed Reid grab Joe and vanish. Another thing to talk about later.
“A Shifter hired you?” Nell asked sharply. Her voice grated with inhaled smoke, but Cormac’s throat didn’t work at all.
“He must have rigged my place to blow up,” Joe said. “Then called me and told me to stash the bear and wait for him, so he could make the kill himself. But he never intended to pay the bounty. He just wanted to slaughter. Didn’t care if I went up too. Bastard.”
“What Shifter?” Brody prodded, voice hard.
“Dick-wad who calls himself Miguel.”
Graham looked up from where he was bandaging Shane, eyes narrowing. “Isn’t Miguel the Shifter who kept Peigi and the others sequestered in the old factory in Mexico? Until Diego blew it up?” He chuckled. “I’d have paid money to see Diego do that.”
“I thought Miguel had been caught,” Brody said.
Reid shook his head. “About half those Shifters got away. The Austin Shifters have been trying to round them up, but they’ve only caught a few of them. Miguel is resourceful.”
“So he’s taking out his frustration by putting a bounty out on Shane?” Nell demanded.
“Not just Shane,” Joe answered. “He also wanted Reid here, plus Diego Escobar and Cassidy Warden. I guess he blames them for his problems. If Escobar blew up Miguel’s home base, I’m guessing Miguel thought he’d blow up the perpetrators in return. He has a serious screw loose.”
Reid gave him a hard stare. “What about you? You nabbed Shane and were going to hunt me, Diego, and Cass.”
“No, I’d pretty much decided on just the bear. You and the other two were too risky, even though the money was good.”
Cormac felt Nell tense, ready to come off the truck bed. “Just the bear?” Her voice held a warning snarl.
“He seemed like the easiest target,” Joe said without worry. “I don’t kill humans. Guess I was wrong about the bear being easy though. No way I would have gotten through all of you to collect the bounty, even if Miguel hadn’t exploded my place all to hell.”
“Where is Miguel now?” Graham asked.
Joe shrugged. “Don’t know. We only communicated by cell phone, and I bet his is a burner.”
“If my son dies,” Nell said clearly. “I’m taking it out of your hide.”
“I think he’ll be all right,” Graham said, tucking in Shane’s bandage. “Anyone got any booze? I’m going to try to wake him up, and he’ll need something for the pain.”
“We’re fresh out,” Jace said, coming back from Diego’s truck, where he’d been on the phone. “Reid, can you get Shane home safe? My dad can look after him. Tell Dad everything that happened, but assure him that Graham and I have got it on this end.”
Reid nodded. He handed Jace the pistol, climbed up on the truck bed next to Shane, wrapped his arms around the unconscious bear-man, and vanished. Displaced air stirred the ends of Nell’s hair.
“Shit,” Cormac croaked, at the same time Joe’s eyes widened. Joe stared at where Shane and Reid had been. “Hey, did anyone else see that?” he asked.
Reid, Cormac decided, for some reason could teleport. He’d never heard of a Fae being able to do that, but then, they weren’t supposed to be able to touch iron either. Cormac shuddered. “Do you ever get used to him doing that?”
“No,” Graham said.
Nell ignored them. She was twitching, fighting her instincts to kill Joe and rush off to be with Shane. Cormac gave her thigh a weak squeeze, trying to soothe her. Nell’s face was smeared with soot, her hair wild, her neck singed by her Collar going off. Cormac thought she’d never looked more beautiful.
“Tell me what happened in there,” Nell said to Joe in a hard voice. “How did Shane get hurt?”
“A little homemade bomb under the kitchen counter,” Joe said. “I spotted it right before it went off. It had a cell phone trigger—Miguel called me. The second bomb was in my fireplace, and Shane was sitting right next to it. I guess a lot of shit flew into him. Not my intention. My instructions were to keep Shane alive.”
“So that Miguel could kill him?” Nell’s Collar emitted three bright sparks. “I’ll make you pay for that in so many ways, little human.”
“Settle down,” Jace said, an edge to his voice. “We can’t murder a human, much as we want to.” He looked at Joe. “Do you have a way of getting in touch with Miguel?”
“If my cell phone isn’t fried, his number will be on it. I have another phone in my truck—would be on that one too.”
“You’re nice and cooperative,” Jace said.
“I’m a businessman. And this deal was a bad business decision—I get that now. If you want to take down Miguel, you go for it. He’s too crazy for me.”
Graham went in search of one of the phones while Jace continued to watch Joe. Brody climbed into the truck bed to hunker on the other side of Nell. Surrounded by the warmth of Cormac and her second son, Nell began to relax, a little at a time. But her eyes still held rage and terrible fear.
“Shane’s in good hands,” Cormac said to her. “As soon as Diego and Xav are done here, we’ll go to him.”
“I know that.” Nell gave him an impatient look. “Shane’s resilient, and Eric knows what he’s doing. I’m worried about you, you idiot. Why did you push me away like that and get shot?”
Cormac growled. “So I wouldn’t have to watch you be mowed down by a rifle, woman. Why do you think?”
“I can take care of myself.”
Cormac heaved himself onto his elbows, anger giving him strength. “Don’t spout that bullshit at me. Of course you can take care of yourself—under normal circumstances. But don’t stand in a burning building with the Goddess knows how many more incendiary devices in it, with a bullet coming at you, and scream, I can take care of myself. The bullet doesn’t care. Sometimes we can’t do it all by ourselves. Sometimes we need other people. Doesn’t mean you’re helpless. Just means you’re alive.”
Nell blinked at him, her Shifter fury still in her brown eyes. “Since when are you an expert at togetherness? You decided to sneak into a cabin to find a Shifter bounty hunter who had who knew how many weapons—by yourself.”
“Best way at the time.”
“Well, jumping in there and dragging out your ass and Shane’s was the best way for me.”
“You almost died!” Cormac roared, which hurt his throat like hell.
“So did you!”
“Sheesh,” Brody said, half rising, his hands up. “Could you keep it down? Explosions give me a headache.”
“They can’t help it,” Jace said. “They’re mates. The ceremonies will be only formalities at this point.”
“He is not my mate!” Nell shouted.
“Yes, he is,” Jace, Brody, and the bounty hunter said together.