another wolf for at least six months.”
“I’m not. It’s all about trust. Brooke trusts me. What can I say?” Josh said.
Adam laughed. “You sure have her bamboozled. I just pulled into her driveway.”
“Adam’s here,” Josh told Maverick.
“Gotta go,” Maverick said.
“Thanks for everything, Maverick.” Josh walked with his brother out to Adam’s Hummer.
Adam was shaking his head. “If you were being honest with yourself, I’d be staying with the she-wolf.”
“Actually, I was thinking about that. I’ll need to be back at work in a couple of days, and we’ll need to have someone watching out for her.” They would until they caught these bastards.
“I’ll see if I can take off some time from work.”
“If not, I’ll check with Leidolf and Cassie and see if they have anyone else who can be here for her.”
Adam laughed. “You’ll have all the bachelor males breaking down her door.”
“Hey, I’ll get someone to take over at the ranch, and I’ll do it,” Maverick said.
“We can figure it out in a couple of days.” So why did Josh want to insist only mated wolves watch over her? “Thanks for planning to return tomorrow to watch her house until we close the shop for the night.”
“No problem,” Adam said. “I’m off anyway. I’m glad I could help.”
“Did you find blood on the broken window? I smelled blood while I was trying to chase down those guys,” Josh said.
“Yeah. Someone must have cut himself good on the glass. We’re testing it for DNA to see if the injured guy is in the system.”
“I sure hope he is. See you tomorrow then.” Josh waved goodbye, then pulled his bag out of his car, headed back into the house, and locked up. He turned off the Christmas tree lights, put out the fire, then took the bag of items Maverick had picked up for him and his own and headed for the guest bedroom closest to the master bedroom.
He had planned to volunteer to work at the White Wolf Sanctuary on one of his days off during the month, but Brooke took priority. He certainly hadn’t thought he’d be trying to track down one of their reindeer calves, then aiding a she-wolf in need.
Josh finally settled down to sleep, though he’d be on alert if anyone tried to break into Brooke’s place tonight. He closed his eyes, but he couldn’t sleep. All he could think of was seeing the men running through the town, the one dribbling blood along the way. Josh had wanted to kill the bastards for hurting Brooke. And making her feel unsafe. Not to mention he was afraid they’d return for whatever they were after.
He kept envisioning her coming out from behind a crate as a red wolf, her front leg and hind leg bleeding, her tail wagging slightly to show she’d been glad to see them.
He turned on his side and stared into the dark room, finally seeing a little red wolf sitting on her rump in the guest bedroom, watching him.
Surprised to see her but glad she’d come to him, he smiled at her and patted the mattress. “Do you want to join me?” He suspected she was feeling anxious, safer in her fur coat, and like him, unable to sleep. Before she could jump onto the bed, he said, “Wait, I’ll help you.” He suspected jumping on the bed might aggravate her injuries. Though he was afraid he might do the same when he lifted her onto the bed. He normally would have slept in the raw, but he was wearing boxer briefs in case he had to grab his gun and protect Brooke. He pulled aside the covers and got out of bed.
He gently lifted her onto the mattress and climbed back under the covers, and she curled up next to him. If he wasn’t planning to protect her using his gun, he would have snuggled with her as a wolf. He was glad she’d come to him and not tried to brave it out by herself if she was feeling anxious.
He checked her wounds to make sure she wasn’t still bleeding. She wasn’t, which was a good thing since she wasn’t wearing bandages any longer.
He wrapped his arm around her, and she laid her head on his chest. He had no intention of courting her, but this sure felt nice.
Chapter 12
Before fully waking that morning, Josh felt a warm human body snuggling with him under the covers, and he quickly opened his eyes to see Brooke in his arms. When the