Teddy sees it and leans back, putting his arm around me. “You can speak freely in front of Lana. She knows everything now.”
“Oh yeah?” Canyon and Hutch break into identical grins. “Welcome to the family.”
“Thanks.” I smile back. Beside me Teddy is tense, but of course he is, after all we’ve been through. I take his hand and squeeze it, and the rigid line of his shoulder eases.
“Anyway, Everest chased him. And the assassin was already freaked out or something–”
“If he had a visual through the drone, he saw me shift,” Teddy explains.
There’s a pause as the brothers digest this. “Then it's kind of good what happened,” Hutch says. “Everest went after the assassin and accidentally chased him over a cliff.”
Teddy hangs his head, covering his face with his hand.
“Did he survive?” Matthias asks.
“No, he is very much dead,” Hutch says.
I squeak and put a hand over my mouth. All the brothers look at me. “Well,” I say, when I can find my voice. “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.”
“Ha, yeah.” Hutch bobs his head and looks at Teddy. “That's why I need to give you the coordinates where he is. Everest and Bern are waiting with the body.”
“Right.” Teddy hands over his phone to Canyon. “Hit redial and ask for more cleanup.”
“SA-weet!” Canyon grabs the phone and disappears outside.
“Is there any other equipment that you found?” Teddy asks Hutch.
“No, but we can go check it out.”
“Anything we find, we can give to the Black Wolf pack in case it helps them trace the assassins.”
I blow out a breath. This is the most bizarre conversation I've ever had, and that includes one with a film producer and my brand manager who wanted to shoot a GoddessWear commercial with trained peacocks, a space shuttle launch and models lounging in a pool filled with red Jello. As weird marketing a fashion brand can be, this day filled with assassins and finding out the existence of bear shifters outstrips them all.
“Do you think the assassin was working with a team?” Matthias wonders.
“Maybe,” Teddy says. “But now, my gut says the drones were probably his team.”
“Does that mean it's over?” I ask.
Silence. Teddy’s arm tightens around me. “It could be. My friends–the Black Wolf pack–are experts. They’re trying to track Bentley.”
Bentley. I twist my fingers together. “You know for sure he's behind this?”
“Lana.” Teddy takes hold of my chin and turns me to look at him. “Other than the assassin, your stepbrother is the only person who's tried to kill you in the past forty-eight hours. I'd say this is him escalating.”
Damn. It’s one thing to be part of a dysfunctional family. It’s another thing to come to terms with the fact your stepbrother is trying to kill you for your inheritance.
I swallow.
Teddy’s thumb strokes along my cheek. “I’m going to protect you, babygirl.”
“I know you will,” I whisper back.
He presses his forehead to mine. His scent hits me, and all the stress in my body melts to nothing.
“You smell so good.” I dart my head to his neck to give him a good sniff. “When this is all over, I'm going to bottle this scent and make it into a line of candles.”
“Lana.”
“Don’t worry.” I hug him closer. “They will be very manly candles. And I’d never reveal my trade secret inspiration.”
I can’t see his face, but I can feel his cheek curve into a smile.
“All done.” Canyon bursts back into the cabin, holding Teddy’s phone aloft. “Deke says they’ll take care of it.”
“Deke is such a bad ass,” Hutch says, and Canyon agrees.
“Who’s Deke?” I ask.
“Friend of mine, from my unit,” Teddy answers.
“In the Army?”
“Yeah. He’s a wolf shifter,” Canyon bursts out. “Part of the Black Wolf pack. They live up in Taos.”
“There are wolf shifters?” I turn wide eyes to Teddy. “Like…werewolves?”
“They turn into wolves instead of bears, so yeah.” Teddy strokes the side of my thigh.
“Wow.” I wriggle in my seat. Heat curls through me with every pass of Teddy’s teasing fingers. He’s looking at me like he wants to carry me away from his brothers, off to a secluded location. I want that too, but right now, my curiosity gets the best of me. “This is all so incredible. There’s a whole world out there I never knew about. How have you been able to keep it a secret?”
Teddy’s fingers still.
“We’re pretty good at keeping hidden,” Matthias says. “And if a human finds out what they’re not supposed to know, there are ways to make sure they forget.”
Well, that doesn’t sound ominous at all.
I shrink into Teddy and drop that line of questioning.
“The important thing is, the assassin is dealt with,” Teddy says. “And we survived.”
Hutch clears his throat. “Actually, we haven’t finished telling you all the good news and bad news. That was actually all good news. We haven’t gotten to the bad news yet.”