Chapter 12

12

Powell was fighting throwing up. Probably from the flight. That was all it had taken to get her stomach beyond upset. She was seriously trying not to freak out here.

Even crackers and ginger ale hadn't helped.

Nor had having her brothers Mac and Alex staring at her, worry in their matching blue eyes. They reminded her so much of her father.

They were all just so perfectly pretty . It was utterly irritating sometimes.

"You sure they said he was going to be okay?" Powell asked as Mac pulled the rental truck into the parking lot of the Talley Inn in Masterson County, Wyoming.

Her hand covered her stomach again.

Viking babies did not like anything with marinara sauce right now. Viking babies just did not. She was going to have to remember that. They also did not like flying.

But for now. "What did they say exactly?"

"It was Charlotte's cousin. She said Brandt was assaulted by who they think were thieves on his new property," Mac's voice was tight. He had that look that said he was furious with the world again. He tended to get it—when he thought he had to protect the rest of them from something. He took being the oldest of their little quartet very, very seriously. "He made it through the woods back to the inn, where they called for help. He's going to be sore for a while, but he'll be fine, eventually."

"Any idea who the guys were?"

"I am not sure. We'll have to talk to the police when we get a chance. Stay there. I think there may be ice in the parking lot," Mac ordered.

He was really good at ordering.

"I can take care of myself. Even on ice." She was really good at not following. She had had a lifetime to develop the habit of not following Mac's orders, after all.

"You can barely climb out of this truck," Alex said, being an ass. He was really good at assing. She still hadn't forgiven him for not fixing things with Cara yet. "You are just so cute, our favorite little troll. But we all know you are a bit clumsy. If you fall and break yourself, we'll have two of you to take care of. We'll just prop you up next to Brandt. Like always."

"Ha-ha." But, well, the last thing she wanted to do was fall right now.

Mac lifted her down. Then he and Alex grabbed their bags. And they went inside. The plan was to check in and then get to the hospital to check on Brandt for themselves. Then Powell had been given strict orders to call home. To report back. Her parents had been working a joint case. A big one. Neither could get away right now. The only way her mother had agreed not fly to Wyoming to get to her baby boy was if Mac and Alex and Powell went to him instead.

Not that Powell had exactly protested. Her twin was in trouble. Of course, she'd come running. It was just the way it was.

The bodyguard behind her—Keith, someone Houghton and Mac and Alex and her parents had all insisted on—trailed after them from an acceptable distance.

Keith didn't talk much, but she'd seen humor in his eyes a time or two over the last few days. Mostly, when not watching her, he had out a small keyboard and was writing something on his phone. Or taking classes. He did both. Bodyguarding was the former marine's way of paying his way through life while he was working toward his PhD.

In theological studies.

Keith was good at being unobtrusive. Powell liked him. And Gunnar had approved of him too.

Gunnar Erickson. She hadn't seen that man in days. Their paths had last crossed when he had arrived to drive Haldyn—and Jarrod, Haldyn's new love-sick Major Crimes baboon—home from the hospital six days after Haldyn had been hurt. The day after Gunnar had been called back to Major Crimes.

Gunnar had looked ragged and exhausted. She'd immediately wanted to just cuddle up against him and tell him everything would be okay. She had never felt that way for a man in her life.

Jarrod had mentioned that everyone in Major Crimes was working double time now. Zoey had said the same when she'd been there to check on Haldyn a few hours later. Zoey had hinted that there was something foul in Wichita Falls Internal Affairs. Where Heather had been last assigned.

Powell had heard that Daniel had tried to interview Heather about everything that had happened a few days after the shooting—just Daniel, no one else in the room—and Heather had erupted. At Daniel.

Zoey had said Murdoch was still snarling mad—at Daniel.

Shelby's husband Jake, was just as angry. At Daniel.

Something had been said about skewering Daniel with a million toothpicks and then barbecuing him in Shelby and Jake's rather impressive outdoor kitchen, Powell had heard. Powell had been afraid to ask for details after that.

Powell was going to check on her brother, call her mother, and text Gunnar. Just to check on him too.

That man was hurting. It had been hard to miss. She wanted to know he was okay . He was the father of her baby, after all. And she cared about him. So much.

Even if that was a secret she was going to keep to herself.

She was going to have to tell him about what they had done here in Masterson County in December. The results he was going to find out eventually. But with everything he had going on right now—Powell didn't want to add to the man's burdens now. She just didn't.

Powell stepped into the inn after telling her brothers to behave. Mac and Alex could be total buttheads when they were on quests. They'd always thought they had to protect Brandt since he was the youngest of the three. That hadn't ever stopped, even though Brandt was six foot six and outweighed Mac by thirty pounds now. Brandt had always gotten a kick out of growing bigger than Mac. It was only one inch and thirty pounds, but it had counted. He had more than two inches and forty pounds on Alex. They'd compared like it was a contest or something.

Brothers were so weird sometimes.

Powell had told her twin multiple times that the only reason he had gotten so big was because he'd stolen a few of her inches in the womb. Brandt always just patted her on the head and told her she was beyond adorable. Cute in every way.

Brothers could be so annoying.

But she was ready to find Brandt and make sure he was okay. Tears hit her eyes. She would never forget how it had felt when he had been shot before. Here. In Masterson County.

She shivered.

Masterson County was becoming as dangerous as Finley Creek. Filled with monsters. And that terrified her. When would fighting the monsters ever end?