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“Yes, Dad, I’m fine. You worry too much. It’s the vehicles you should be worried about. I guess my truck is pretty much totaled. ”
“Yes, honey, I’m sorry. My truck’s in better shape, though it needs some body work and a new back bumper. ”
Gabe straightened up in the seat in panic. “Oh, wait! Stop the car!”
The driver glanced nervously back at them, and Zack asked in alarm,“What is it?”
“The gold necklace collar thing!It’s stillin the truck!”
“No, I got it. Calm down. You were worried about it, huh? Must mean you kind of like it. ”
“No. I mean, of course, I was worried about it, idiot. It’s an expensive necklace. Doesn’t mean I’ll wear it, necessarily. ”
Zack looked so disappointed Gabe had to laugh at him. He stopped pretty quickly though, when he felt a sharp twinge in his neck as he threw his head back. “Ouch!”
“Serves you right,” Zack grumbled, pulling him back into his arms. “Just rest until we get back to the lodge. ”
“I’m resting, damn it. I’m not exactly running alongside the car. ”
“Shut up. ” Zack leaned over to kiss him thoroughly to shut his smart mouth. “If I have to, I can keep this up all the way home. ”
“Mmm…sounds good tome. ” Gabe said, as he leaned his upper body back for another kiss, cursing the uncomfortable collar.
Chapter Four
Zack looked in on Gabe for probably the third time in an hour, only to find him still sound asleep. He’d made him keep the cervical collar on, even though they’d had a huge fight about it. After Zack fed him, Gabe said he wasn’t even sore anymore, but Zack wanted to follow at least some of the doctor’s orders. He insisted he wear the collar for a minimum of twenty-four hours, just to make sure. The resulting fight had been ugly, with Gabe trying to kick him and head-butt him as he held him down until Zack had to stretch out full length on him to hold him in place and stop him from hurting himself. Gabe was so furious it took him almost half an hour to go to sleep even after drinking Zack’s blood.
Zack got such a cockstand from it he had to take a cold shower. God, Gabe was stubborn. Zack hoped he had given him enough blood so he’d sleep for a good while. He’d been worried about his neck, and he’d maybe given him a little too much.
He went back to his office where his top aides waited for him. His beta was Jamie, a taller than average wolf, with a shock of red-gold hair. Zack trusted his good judgment with his life. Tim, his cousin and lead gamma, was also present, along with Scott, another gamma leader and his best fighter, an expert on the Hunters. They were his team, and he relied on them for help in solving problems—like who was trying to kill his mate.
Scott spoke up from the end of the table. “Is he still asleep?”
“Yeah. I hope he’ll stay asleep for a while. He’s wearing me out. ” He pulled out a packet of old fashioned headache powders from his pocket, opened the paper, and swallowed the powder down, chasing it with a glass of water.
“Have a headache, Zack?” Jamie asked.
“Hell, yeah. He’s rightnext door. ”
The men around the table all smiled. They’d never seen their normally rough and tough alpha so frustrated by anybody before. Since Gabe had arrived, he’d been run ragged trying to keep him safe and satisfied, and the whole pack was amused by it. Not thatthey’d ever openly let Zack know it—they valued their own skin too much.
Scott shook his head. “I don’t see how you take those things. They taste terrible. ”
“They’re fast, and I don’t taste them. I just swallow them. ” He looked around the table. “Okay, answer my question. Who do you think is trying to kill my mate?”
“What makes you think someone is trying to kill him?” Tim asked. “Isn’t it possible the cut brake lines were just simple vandalism?”
Scott spoke up thoughtfully. “Anything’s possible, I guess, but there’s nothing simple about it. You’d have to knowwhat you were doing, and you’d have to be pretty vicious to do something like it,willing to kill or seriously hurt somebody. ” Scott leaned forward as he spoke, his green eyes glittering dangerously. “And if it was just vandalism, why not break some windows or spray paint the truck? No, I think Zack is right. I think it wasdeliberate. ”
“Who would want to hurt Gabe, Zack?” asked his beta. “Do you have any idea?”
“No and that’s what bothers me. According to what he’s told me, he’s totally alone in the world. His parents are both dead, no brothers or sisters, or any close relatives. He’s been a nomad, no close friends, either. ”
“So who would even knowwhere he was?” Tim asked. “It has to be a coincidence, Zack. ”
“Maybe so, but I want a twenty-four hour a day guard on him. Scott, can you handle that for me?”
“Of course, Alpha. I’ll put my best men on it. ”
