force Royce to move back a step.
“She is sick,” Landon said softly. “Now is not the time.”
Joanna couldn’t believe Landon had intervened to stop Royce from verbally taking a piece out of her. She was too tired to give it much consideration as she slipped quietly into a deep sleep.
Taking a step back, Royce scrubbed his face with both hands. What the hell had happened? He looked at his sister lying deathly still, her face frighteningly pale and streaked with blood and tears.
Several minutes had passed. Both men silently watched Joanna, as if to confirm that she was indeed still breathing.
“Her heart rate has returned to normal. It was very sporadic for a while. And her body temperature has risen substantially. Its ninetyseven degrees right now but still on the rise,” Landon reported.
“How do you know all that?” Royce asked. Mystified by what he had just heard.
Landon shrugged. “Heightened senses-- I’m a Wolf, remember?” he said with small grin.
“Oh, yea, that,” Royce nodded. “I was out of line earlier. I, uh-appreciate you stepping in, although I was tempted to kick your ass for it.”
“Again,” Landon began drearily, “I’m a Wolf, remember?”
Royce laughed. “Don’t you worry; I’ve got ways to deal with that,” he assured Landon.
Sean appeared in the doorway. He had gone to see how much longer it would be before they reached the marina.
“We’re within five minutes. What’s the plan?” Sean asked, referring to Joanna.
“I’ll let her sleep and bring her home when she wakes up,” Landon offered. “She’ll probably be out for a while.”
After a long look, Royce agreed to leave Landon with Joanna.
“I’ll take care of her. She’s safe with me,” Landon promised her brother.
“If I doubted that for a minute, you wouldn’t be anywhere near her,” Royce assured him. “One word of warning though,” Royce continued with an evil smile, “she may be a tad irritable when she wakes up.” With that being said, he turned and climbed the stairs. Landon heard the sonof-a-bitch whistling as he helped unload their gear.
#
“She’ll be fine with Landon; he wouldn’t let anything happen to her,” Kurt reassured Royce as they carried the last of the air tanks to the truck.
Royce offered Kurt his hand saying again, “I know, or I would never leave her with him.”
Shaking Royce’s hand Kurt continued, “Now, I’m not sure he is safe with her.”
“You may be right,” Royce laughed as he agreed. Turning to find Sean, Royce called, “Let’s go. I have a date tonight and I don’t want to be late!”
Kurt shook his head as Royce and Sean roared out of the parking lot. He walked back to the boat and glanced at his watch. He had close to an hour and a half to get things done before he needed to pick up the girls for dinner.
Kurt wished he could check in with everyone at home, but his cell phone had just died. Clarissa had lost her cell phone charger, so she was using his. He had accidently run over his car charger after it had fallen out of his truck a couple of days ago. Consequently, there was no way to recharge his phone until he got home. Becki was off work today and would take care of anything that came up, but he would call them when he got to the shop, just to be sure.
“You ok, bud?” Kurt called down to Landon.
“Yea, I’ve got it covered down here. I’ll catch up with you this evening,” Landon said quietly.
“Ok, the girls and I are going to go out to eat tonight. They leave for Indiana in the morning.”
Kurt would miss his girls, but he needed to know they were safely tucked away from whatever craziness was in progress here.
“Ok, catch ya later,” Landon said, his attention being pulled once again to the woman sleeping nearby. Sean had warned that Joanna would wake up with the mother of all headaches. He had aspirin ready for the minute she began to stir.
* * * *
CHAPTER EIGHT
Becki had been home all day cleaning her house. The floors positively sparkled. She was lounging on the deck drinking a glass of wine when her cell phone rang.
“Hey, you’re home safe and sound!” Becki answered.
“Yep, and already unpacked,” Natie said.
“Wow! You’re good!” Becki applauded, taking a sip of her wine. “I just called to let you know I dumped Jonah on his self-centered
ass,” Natie said without any sort of forewarning.
Becki spit her wine out all over the table. “ What? It’s about damn time!” She said