Joy to the Wolves (Red Wolf #1) - Terry Spear Page 0,36

tail wag when she saw them.

Josh was so glad to see her alive. He quickly looked her over to make sure she wasn’t wounded anywhere that could be life-threatening. She licked his cheek, and he gave her a small hug. “Was there more cocaine in a box?” he quickly asked, thinking he needed to call Ethan back. Ethan would have a DEA team over here in a heartbeat.

She shook her head.

Maverick was trying to get around him in the narrow space to see the damage too.

“It looks like two flesh wounds, one to her right hind leg and one to her right foreleg. Take care of her, will you, Maverick? More police are bound to be on their way. I need to try to find these guys so they can’t return and hurt her or anyone else.”

“I’ve got this.”

Josh went back to grab her clothes from behind one of the bigger antique trunks, found the sexy lace underwear she’d stripped out of, and returned to shove the clothes at his brother. “Get her dressed before anyone else arrives.” Then he bolted for the stairs, determined to catch the bastards and learn what was so valuable that they’d broken into her shop to find it. What made him see red was that they’d shot her. He just prayed her wounds were superficial like he thought they were. And he hoped she hadn’t bitten one or both of the men and turned them.

His primary goal as a sworn police detective was to take down the criminals. Well, taking care of Brooke’s injuries first if his brother hadn’t been there to do so. But damn if he didn’t want to be the one checking on her injuries and helping her to dress before the police officers arrived. He didn’t want to admit it was more than just a need to make sure everything was done right before the other officers got there. He wanted to be the one ministering to her needs and protecting her.

* * *

“Can you shift?” Maverick asked Brooke.

Hurting horribly, which was why she seemed to be doing things in slow motion when she should have shifted already and dressed, she nodded and shifted. She wasn’t embarrassed to be seen naked in front of one of her kind. She was used to stripping and shifting to run as a wolf with a pack. Maverick wasn’t part of the pack she’d belonged to, but it still didn’t bother her.

What bothered her was that Josh had run off on his own to take down the shooters and could get himself killed! Maybe they wouldn’t shoot at an officer of the law. Maybe only at what they had probably thought was a guard dog. Still, she couldn’t help worrying about him.

When she tried to dress, she needed Maverick’s assistance. She hated not being able to do things on her own, especially something as simple as dressing herself. But she was shaking, hurting, and unbelievably wobbly. She couldn’t pull on her panties without falling over, and she absolutely couldn’t fasten her bra in back.

Desperate to hurry before human police officers arrived who wouldn’t understand why she’d been naked in the attic, Brooke knew she had to rush, which was only making things worse. Maverick was fumbling around, not used to dressing women, she suspected. At least she was glad she only had a couple of flesh wounds, but it was going to be hard to explain why she was naked when she got shot since there were no bullet holes in her clothes. Unless they didn’t mention it, which would make the case—and the men—seem less dangerous.

“I need to stop the bleeding,” Maverick said as he pulled on her socks.

“Later. I need to finish getting dressed.”

“Do you have a first aid kit in the shop?”

“In the bathroom on the second floor under the sink.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“I need to get dressed! What will the police think?”

Maverick glanced around the attic room. “That rack of vintage clothes! You were about to try one of the gowns on when you heard the men coming up the stairs. You didn’t have time to grab your sweater and skirt. You just had time to grab your phone and hide and call Josh.”

“That sounds suspicious.”

“Better than that you were wearing your fur coat when you were shot.”

Then she heard more sirens headed their way. And cars squealing to a stop. Doors slammed, and a rush of people headed into her shop.

“Shoot. We need to have your injuries documented,” Maverick