12. Ranger

TWELVE

RANGER

I rinsed the dishes and turned on the dishwasher, but just as it started the cycle, the lights flickered and died.

Matt leaped up, my extraordinary shifter vision picking him out in the darkness. He yelped, and I shone the phone spotlight in his direction.

"Is it Dane? Has he found us? The bad guys always cut the power before they break into the house." He stumbled forward into my arms.

"No, it's the storm." I'd expected it to go out earlier and had checked the supply of candles, matches, and lighters where Dad kept the supplies. Not that my family really needed them, as our shifter eyesight allowed us to see in the dark. But Dad liked candles infused with perfume.

I imagined a moment with Matt in my arms where he'd gotten over what I did for a living and I had the details of what he'd been ferreting out at The Obsidian Circle. It was all behind us, and he admitted he had feelings for me and we lived happily ever after.

"But how do you know? It could be Dane using the rain as cover and he'll storm in here and take me."

"He'd never make it here in this weather." The security alarm would have switched to backup, but I'd need to check. I also had to get another phone as a backup, because like a fool, I hadn't charged mine when we arrived and the battery wouldn't last more than a few hours.

I'd need to call Flint, but that spare phone was in the study. Uncle Arnie had charged all the devices last time we were here and turned them off before putting them in the safe. And as long as we didn't open the freezer and coupled with the cold weather, the food in the freezer would be fine for a good while.

"Can you shuffle to your left?" I asked. My arms were wrapped around Matt, and he leaned on my shoulder, his warm breath billowing across my chest, while I rested my chin on his head.

"Or just a step to the right?" He wriggled his hips.

"What?"

His body jiggled as he laughed. "Forget it. It's a reference to a movie I love."

"Oh." I wasn't a movie buff. "Ready." We shuffled until we reached the drawer with the candles.

The house we'd lived in as kids had a generator, but this place didn't. Using the light from my phone, I retrieved lighters and candles. And when I lit them, they flickered, creating a warm glow which hopefully comforted my human mate rather than the pitch-black darkness.

"That's better."

Matt was still clinging to me, but I had to check the alarms and get the phone. My mate refused to stay by himself, so we got the phone and I checked the alarms to find they had plenty of battery power remaining.

The house would get cold during the night, but the extra bedding was upstairs, and I could keep my mate warm.

"Ready for bed?"

"Okay."

We reached my dad's room where Matt would sleep, and I placed a candle in the bathroom and one on the nightstand, cautioning him about the danger of flames and a wooden house.

"Where are you sleeping?" He seized my arm.

"In the room at the end of the hall. The one you were in earlier."

"Okay."

"Night."

"Night." He held me tight.

"Did you want me to wait until you're in bed?"

"Is there a lock on the door?"

"Yes." There were locks on all the bedroom doors. Not so much in case of a mobster war, but as kids we were always pranking one another, especially Flint, and my parents got tired of being woken up by my and Hunter's screams.

"Okay."

And still he didn't let go.

"Would you like me to sleep in here?"

"In the bed with me? I don't think so." My suggestion had him releasing his grip.

"Good night."

"Night."

I left the room, wishing we were spending the night together. Not necessarily to have sex—though I'd love to have my dick buried deep inside him—but to hold him and to take his fear away.

But he wasn't having any of it.

You can't leave him. He's scared. My beast was worried about our mate.

I'll wait until he's asleep and lie outside his room . If he awoke in the middle of the night, I'd hear him immediately.

I climbed into bed after brushing my teeth and phoned Flint. The road between the city and the cabin was cut by flood waters in several places, and the whole family, including my dad and Uncle Arnie were holed up in my apartment, high above the flooded streets.

And while outside was pitch dark, the roar of the river was so loud it had to have overflowed and flooded the lower section of the property. Thank gods my grandfather had the foresight to build the house where he did and construct a drainage system to divert water away from the building.

"Any news on Dane?"

"The car was there, banged up, blood in the front and back seats."

I asked if there was any confirmation that Dane knew of my being there. While the mafia packs closed ranks around their members, there was always a whisper here, a rumor there.

"No, but I'd assume he does."

I'd done that already.

None of us could go anywhere, including Dane. Not even a helicopter could fly in this weather. But I had to consider what to do when the road was passable. My family and pack could protect us, but if Dane wanted revenge, it could lead to a full-blown war.

But Dane had threatened Matt, and to any shifter, marked or not, the bond they had with their mate absolved them of what humans might consider wrongdoing or crimes.

I hadn't killed the man or his goons, hadn't touched them, even though he was intent on killing Matt. It was his so-called driver's ineptitude that resulted in the crash. All I did was remove my mate from the blood-soaked car.

The La Luna Noir Council would rule in my favor. The Supreme Shifter Council that represented all shifters would do the same. The mating instinct was non-negotiable.

But Dane had a tendency to act first and ask for forgiveness afterward rather than wait for permission.

Matt would never be safe.

You know what you have to do? My wolf was all about protecting Matt, as was I.

Yes .

Technically I didn't need Flint's permission because protecting our mates was enshrined in our law. But I'd have to run everything by him.

We could accomplish nothing this evening, so I stopped worrying and concentrated on the images in my head of my mate clad in one of my bathrobes. It was three sizes too big and he'd tripped up the stairs, almost knocking the candles out of my hand.

A noise outside my room had me grabbing the gun from the nightstand. I hadn't locked the door in case Matt needed me.

"Owww!" That was my mate who couldn't see in the dark. I leaped up and shone the phone flashlight on him. He hadn't changed out of the robe, and he squinted and shielded his face with one hand.

"Ranger?"

"I'm here." I led him inside and flipped the phone over on the bed so the light illuminated the room.

But as he gazed at me, he shrieked and held up his hands in surrender. "Don't shoot."

Shit, I'd forgotten about my weapon. "Sorry."

Matt backed away, hitting the bed, and toppled onto the mattress. He scuttled back until he hit the headboard and wrapped his arms around his knees.

"Are you planning on killing me?"

"No, I wasn't sure it was you."

"But you told me Dane couldn't?—"

Shit, my words were coming back to bite me on the ass. "Putting it away." I shoved it into a drawer. "Did you need something?" Me, perhaps, though putting a gun in his face didn't bode well for a thawing of our relationship.

"Yeah, not to get shot. If it's not too much trouble." He crawled under the covers.

He was in my bed, a place I'd hoped he'd find his way to eventually. But he wasn't inviting me into my bed.

"I didn't want to be by myself. Have you got an air mattress you can sleep on?"

My wolf was confused by the term, and I couldn't explain to Matt that we weren't air mattress people. If he was asleep, I could shift. My beast was fine with being on the carpet.

"Don't worry about me." I explained I'd get the candles from his room.

"You're coming back, right?'

"Matt, I'll always come back." Under my breath, I added, "To you."

I grabbed the candles, set both in my bathroom, and left the door open so Matt could see if he got up to pee. Hauling a comforter from the closet and another pillow, I settled on the floor at the foot of the bed.

My mate was silent, and I hoped he was falling asleep, though his breathing suggested otherwise.

"Are you comfortable?"

Perhaps his question would be followed by an invitation to join him in my own bed. "I'm fine."

The bedding rustled, and I suspected he'd rolled over.

"Why did you bite me, Ranger?"

Why was he asking that now? I'd reveal my wolf when he had gotten to know me. I had to fudge the answer, vowing to tell him the truth after the danger with Dane had passed.

"It's a tradition within La Luna Noir."

"What?" He crawled to the end of the bed and peered at me. "Are you saying I'm a member of your little gang, which by the way, the spelling is grammatically incorrect?"

Thank gods Flint wasn't around to hear Matt referring to our pack that way. I explained luna was for my great-grandmother and noir for her husband, both of them immigrants from different countries.

I wished Matt would stop talking because the more questions he asked, the more lies I told. "But if Dane thinks you are one of us, he might back off."

I held my breath, hoping Matt would accept that for now.

"Okay." He was silent for a while but stayed where he was. "But why?—"

I cut him off. "We do this in turns. You ask a question and then it's my turn."

My mate yawned. "I'm so tired. Ask away tomorrow."

Gods, he was infuriating, coupled with being adorable and cute.

But I would need him to tell me what he found while driving Dane around.

Perhaps we could use the information to crush The Obsidian Circle as a whole and not just the Alpha.