Reed (Nano Wolves #4) - Donna McDonald Page 0,20

Fuck it. Yes, of course, she wanted to know. “How’s the hostage doing?”

Still unconscious, but the concussion will heal eventually. I put him in the cage we brought for Stewart. He’s being guarded by a half dozen bears who growl to make sure he wakes up now and again. We all want him alive. Going to be fun watching the bastard fully wake up and find himself surrounded by bears.

“Check the hostage for suicide drugs. And make sure Stewart knows it's okay to be upset.”

I did all that, Agent Mom. I soothed your boy as best I could. He was happiest to hear you were already out looking for Katarina.

“I can’t even imagine what having a normal child would be like. Only our kid would be glad to hear his mother was out trying to save the world instead of taking care of him. God, Gareth, this parent shit makes me all teary-eyed. I’m not good at this.”

No, you’re great at this, but can I go on record saying I prefer our conversations about cow breeding? This was supposed to be a simple trip. Now Stewart is nearly my size and had to fight in his beast form without being prepared to do so. Next time we take a mini-vacation, we’re going down to the lower forty-nine and renting a cabin on a lake to fish.

Brandi chuckled. “Don’t get too keen on that dream, Longfeather. I’ve never fished a day in my life. To me, fishing always looked too boring to try.”

Get out. Surely someone took you fishing.

“Nope. And don’t you dare blame me for the shit show at Bear Central today. Who knew those bastards would come after them so soon? It’s like the attackers had inside info about our plans to move them to Alaska. My gut says something’s escalating back in Reed’s village.”

I hope your gut is wrong this time, Brandi. I hope this was a different group of bad guys.

“It wasn’t. Think about it, Gareth. Reed’s people all said they never saw or heard any of the attackers disappear, but they were suddenly all gone. Not a single bear or wolf or hybrid like me heard that silent helicopter today. That’s how they snuck up on us—and probably on Reed’s people too. Wolves are used to listening for the heartbeats of prey, not the hum of technology. Most wolves don’t even have cell phones. Hell, the bears don’t either. The only phones I saw in Bear Central were ours.”

When you have natural telepathy with creatures you’re related to and care deeply about, why would you need a phone?

“We use them. We’re using one right now.”

That’s for work, Gareth chided. Doesn’t count.

“Potential hangar’s in sight. I’m setting down to take a closer look.”

Understood. Watch your back. I love you.

“I love you too. Thanks for staying with Stewart today. He needed his father for this one. It took me ten minutes of flying to stop being a hand wringer. I’m more comfortable chasing bad guys than I would have been counseling my child about getting in over his head in a fight.”

I’m more comfortable catching the bad guys. Wait for me and we’ll do that part together. Now, keep in touch and get your ass back here as soon as you can.

“Count on it,” Brandi said, banking left to circle around for a landing.

Jon strained the lock on the double doors as he pushed them apart enough for Brandi to peek inside.

“Gentlemen, I believe we have found the getaway vehicle. She’s a big one just like Stewart said.” She stepped back. “Can you break the lock completely?”

Jon grunted and pushed harder. The giant padlock eventually snapped and came undone. He pulled it off and tossed it to the ground.

Brandi chuckled at his actions. “Littering, Jon? Isn’t that against your environmentalist’s code or something?”

“Normally. Today is not a normal day,” Jon said.

“No, it’s sure as hell not. Wait… wait,” she cautioned, catching Reed’s arm to stop him from charging forward to the vehicle.

“We have to check it, Brandi. She could be in there,” Reed said.

“Doubtful,” Brandi replied, barely able to keep her grip on him. Beneath her fingers, Reed shook in fury. “Pickup teams don’t get paid until they deliver. We may get to discover their plans if we can get a look inside their bird, but we need to be safe about it. If they have security measures in place, we don’t want to get our asses zapped by them.”

Taking out one of her favorite devices, Brandi scanned