CHAPTER 4

ANTON

I shot to my feet as soon as I heard Drake shout from the front of the house. His voice was a little panicked.

He was bent over gasping for breath; he’d run far and fast to get here by the looks of it.

Luca and Sam, the other wolf shifter, appeared from the direction of the kitchen. Sam immediately went to his brother and laid a hand on his shoulder.

Drake stood up as soon as his brother was near and said to me, “You and Luca need to come. Miah and I found a woman in a shed about two kilometres from here. She’s definitely a shifter, but something is wrong with her. I can’t smell her animal.”

My breath stuttered in my chest at his words. Luca clasped a hand on my shoulder before asking, “What did she look like?”

Drake took a deep breath before answering, “She’s young, lots of red hair but is covered in scars, they are all over her body. She looks like she’s been through hell and survived.”

I turn to Luca, “It’s Hannah, I’ve got to go.”

There was no hesitation from my brother; he pushed me out the door, and we ran. I was vaguely aware of the wolffollowing me.

I headed towards where he pointed, and I knew exactly where she’d ended up. It was an old storage shed that we no longer use. It wasn’t too far from the house, but it was a distance from the Landry coffee farm. Hannah must have been desperate to have made it this far by herself.

My animal settled in my chest as soon as we smelt her, her scent mixed with that of the human Miah. I growled low in my throat, not liking that he was so close to my unclaimed mate.

Striding forward, I entered the dim shed, seeing Hannah struggle to her feet, my eyebrows raised in surprise when there was a definite growl erupting from deep within her chest and her eyes flashed to a bright gold before dimming back to her bright green. It looked like her tiger hadn’t disappeared altogether.

Not commenting on her growl, I pulled her into my arms, happy to have her safe and whole.

Once I had her in my shirt and Miah was wearing his again, I held back a grin at her sass, when she told me to apologise to the human. It seemed my girl was feeling all sorts of feisty this morning. It was hard to hide the grin when I caught Luca’s amused eyes at her retort.

Hannah was asleep before I’d walked five minutes. She slept a lot but Jett, Julie, and Annie had assured me it was okay as long as she still ate and drank.

Tucking her into my bed, something in me eased seeing her bright red hair against my pillow. It was the first time I’d felt something akin to peace in over a month.

Closing the door behind me, I held myself still as I listened to pinpoint exactly where the strange males were, but I should have known Luca would have them in hand. I walked towards where they were talking on the veranda, breakfast sandwiches in hand and more on the tray with coffee and tea.

I grabbed a couple for myself and a coffee before sitting down on the lone armchair that was free.

“Is Hannah okay?” queried Luca.

“I think so,” I replied before continuing, “I’m sure I heard her tiger growl when we got to the shed.”

“Oh, you definitely did,” Miah assured me. “I was trying to help her stand, but she didn’t want me touching her.”

I was pleased by his words, not just because she didn’t want a strange male touching her, but also because it meant her tiger was alive and well.

We spent the rest of the morning getting to know the males, and the more time I spent with them, the more I liked them.

Now we just had to decide what to do with them until their clearances came through. The Chief hadn’t seemed to worry about having them here, making me wonder if he knew something we didn’t. Sometimes I wondered at how far his reach was.

We were already in March and things would quiet down for us here on the ranch for the next month or so. Quiet enough that the other three families could manage it for us. I’d been toying with the idea of getting away for a bit with Hannah, thinking a change of scenery may do her some good.

I knew that Zane would happily move here for a month to run it for us. Leaving Duke and Dex to run their place. There was no way that Renee could leave their farm long term, although she was covering the hotel for the girls for a week while they were busy setting up another new nightclub, this time in the city. Plus, Luca and I could do our security work from anywhere as long as we could get an internet connection. We could put off the installation bit for a month and only book them in for when we were back.

I’d put a call out to the rest of the families if Luca and our guests were interested in getting away.

With that thought, I threw it out there, interrupting their chat and catching Luca’s eye, “What do you all think about getting away for a bit while we wait for the security clearance to come through? We can head out to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls, do the touristy stuff like a booze cruise, and if you want, you can do a bungee jump. We can then go to see Lake Kariba and maybe hire a houseboat for a bit. If you like fishing, you can fish?”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Miah exclaimed, seemingly thrilled with the idea. Sam and Drake just nodded, amusement on their faces at their teammate’s enthusiasm.

Luca agreed with a nod at me, “Yeah, that sounds good. It will probably be good for Hannah too, get her away from here for a bit. When do you want to check with Dex?”

Standing, I reply, “I’ll go and check on Han, then I’ll give him a call.”

Three hours later, it was all arranged. Hannah had woken and seemed excited by the idea of getting away for a bit. It was the first spark of interest I’d seen in her eyes for a month. She’d surprised us by grabbing a pen and paper to make a list and had phoned a friend whose family ran a Luxury Campsite with fully equipped tents. Being shifters, none of us wanted to be enclosed in four walls. We were more than happy with the tented accommodation. It would be quiet as the tourist season wasn’t going to be in full swing until April. Watching her as she talked to her friend about arrangements, I was finally getting to see a glimpse of the woman she had been. We’d work to get her back there again.

She managed to stay awake for most of the day until six o’clock in the evening, keeping busy making arrangements and co-ordinating with Julie to have Zane stop by to collect clothing for her to wear. She was in bed not long after that and I was content.

Later that night, after ensuring Zane was good with everything, I headed to bed. Both my heart and my animal settled at seeing our mate in our bed, her red hair spread out against our pillows, a beacon in the dimness of the room. Relaxing for the first time in a month. We were in my house, in my bed, and she was covered in my scent between my sheets and my clothing.

Quietly stripping off my clothes on my way to the shower, I made quick work of cleaning off the day and before long I was in bed gathering my fragile mate into my arms, wrapping them tight around her as I tucked her close to me. She let out a little sigh and rubbed her head against me before settling back down.

Smiling, I pressed a kiss to her forehead and allowed my eyes to close.