SIX MONTHS_(A Seven Series Novel Book 2)

Chapter 21


My doctor advised me to wear a large boot for three weeks and then come back for X-rays to see how it was healing. I had to keep it elevated when sitting and not put any pressure on it. The crutches were tiresome and hurt my arms. I practiced in my room for a little while before Lexi helped me into the bathroom to get dressed and remove the round adhesives they’d used for the heart monitors. They were all over my chest, and they left red marks when I peeled them off.
A knock sounded on the bathroom door.
“Just a minute,” Lexi said.
“Open up,” Reno insisted. His voice raised the tiny blond hairs on my arms. She unlatched the door and as soon as it opened, he cupped her arm and pulled her out.
“Wait a second!” she complained. “Don’t manhandle me.”
Reno ignored her and shut himself in the bathroom. “Let me see,” he said, kneeling down to look at one of the stickers I was struggling to pull off from beneath my breast. He splashed a little water on it and peeled it away, dabbing my skin with a cool rag.
“What did he say about your head?”
“That it’s empty, just as I’d suspected all along.”
He smiled. “I see you have your rapier wit back.”
“I had a mild concussion. It was precautionary to keep me here, but I’m glad he’s letting me go home.”
Then I got the big picture as Reno knelt there, caring for something as trivial as a red mark left on my skin by an adhesive.
Reno could heal.
He had sustained serious burns in the fire and yet was fully recovered, while I was in a walking boot with bruises and a few scars from the IV. I had no place in his complicated world. How could I expect him to hang around and watch me get hurt, or what if I got cancer someday?
Maybe I shouldn’t have been planning our future when we’d only been seeing each other for a short time, but it felt like it could go that way if I let him in. He seemed willing, but I don’t think he’d taken into consideration what he was getting out of this deal. We were pulling on a wishbone and he’d gotten the short end, while I was getting the fairy tale.
I ran my fingers through his bristly hair and down to his pensive brow. Reno’s weathered face had lines etched in his cheeks and forehead, but it didn’t make him look old. It made him look rugged and sexy, like a man who expressed himself. He glanced up at me with smoldering brown eyes and I realized what made him so attractive to me—his commanding presence combined with a softness whenever he looked at me. My fingers traced the deep lines carved in his cheeks, and when he smiled, they became pronounced. Reno appealed to me in so many surprising ways.
“Have you led a hard life?” I asked in a quiet voice.
He tipped his head side to side. “I’ve seen my fair share of death and war. I guess that toughens a man.”
“Why did you go to war? I mean, doesn’t that require being enlisted, and how did they not discover what you were?”
“We can get fake identification, social security numbers, you name it. The Breed look after their own. I believe in fighting for what’s important, April. I didn’t always think so. When I was young, I had a foolish heart.”
“Is that when you smiled more?” I asked, grazing my finger over the laugh line in his cheek, trying to imagine the young man he’d once been before the pitfalls of life had caught up with him.
Reno stood up and threaded his fingers through my hair, studying the roots. “You should grow out all this shit. I’d like to see the real you. I bet you’re a knockout.” He straightened the brown T-shirt that Lexi had lent me.
“Are you saying I’m not a knockout?” I grinned wryly and Reno struggled for words. “I’m just teasing. But feel free to remove your foot from your mouth anytime.”
Reno bent forward and wrapped his strong arms around my waist. I draped mine over his neck as he lifted me up and walked into the room. “Got everything?”
I sniffed out a short laugh. “I don’t think I came in here with anything.”
“Yeah, you forgot something,” he said with a smile in his voice. Reno set me down and picked up a package of cookies he had bought from the vending machine. “For the ride,” he said, putting them in my hand. “I’ll get the nurse and tell her you’re ready.”
After I signed the papers and was wheeled out front, Reno lifted me out of the chair and carried me to the passenger side of his blue truck. The crutches were tossed in the back.
“Where’s Trevor?”
“Trevor isn’t taking you anywhere. You’re coming home with me,” he said in a thick, leathery voice.
“No, Reno.”
“This is temporary until I get a hold of Sanchez and knock his lights out. You’re not safe anywhere else.”
The engine rumbled angrily when he turned the ignition.
“We can’t leave without Trevor.”
“He’s not coming.”
“Whose decision was that?”
“His.”
I tugged at the plastic bracelet on my wrist that had my name on it.
“He blames himself. Admitted he shouldn’t have left you alone, and he was right.”
“It wasn’t his fault,” I argued.
The timbre in his voice grew harsh and punctuated his aggravation. “Someone used a tire iron to beat the hell out of him with you in mind. Trevor knew damn well that it wasn’t safe to leave you alone last night.”
“It was only going to be for fifteen minutes.”
Reno leaned over and cupped my neck, tapping his forehead against my cheek. “Yeah. Fifteen minutes and I almost lost you.”
He was tugging at my heartstrings. A man who owned a motorcycle and a gun bowed his head, melting me with his kindness. The more time I spent with Reno, the harder it was going to be to leave. How could I have fallen so fast for a man who led such a dangerous life?
“I’ll stay until Sanchez is caught, but then I have to leave.”
A horn honked behind us and Reno pinched my jaw, studying my face. “I wish you’d let me in.”

When we arrived on the property, my nerves were rattled. Lexi had forgiven me, but I didn’t want to face Wheeler and wasn’t sure how Austin really felt about me staying with them.
The October sky was overcast and drizzle smeared across the dirty windshield. Reno draped his jacket across my lap and turned the heater on. The soft leather felt nice against my skin and it smelled like him. I thought about our bike ride that day and smiled.
The truck bumped around on the dirt road as we eased up their long driveway. When I saw a group of people waiting for us out front, butterflies waged war in my stomach and I unbuckled my seatbelt.
Lynn and Maizy were on the porch steps. Maizy blew a few bubbles from a yellow wand, but the tiny sprinkles of rain were popping them before they could take off. She wore a red raincoat with a wide hood, a striking image that stood out in all the dreariness of mud and fog. Lexi and Ivy weren’t far behind us in her car.
When Reno exited the vehicle, I tilted the visor down and glanced in the mirror. I hadn’t brushed my hair or teeth, or put on a speck of makeup. I had a small cut on my cheek, but no bruises. Reno spoke privately to Denver, Wheeler, Ben, and Jericho a few feet ahead. They simultaneously looked up at me and Wheeler pivoted around, walking to my side of the truck.
Oh crap.
I tensed when he yanked my door open. My heart raced, and I kept my hands crossed around my waist as he leaned in and tossed Reno’s jacket to the floor.
Before I knew what was happening, Wheeler hooked his right arm beneath my knees, his left behind my back, and lifted me out of the truck. He glared at me with a black eye and I looked at him, dumbfounded, too afraid to ask him why he was being so helpful.
Reno reached for the crutches and a small bag in the back and walked toward Lexi’s car when she turned up the driveway. The drizzle tapered off, replaced by a gentle breeze.
I rested my head on Wheeler’s shoulder and drew in a deep breath. “You smell like beef jerky.”
His arms tightened when we reached the steps and Lynn patted my arm. “Anything you need, hon, just let me know and I’ll get it for you. I’m cooking up some beef stew for dinner. You just get some rest.”
Wheeler proceeded up the steps and a few bubbles from Maizy’s bottle floated around us. One popped on Wheeler’s nose and he sniffed, shaking his head.
“Do you hate me?” I asked him. “I wouldn’t blame you.”
“That what you think?” he said in a curt voice, moving up the stairs.
Wheeler’s looks were brutal compared to Ben’s, but they were both strikingly handsome in different ways. His jaw was strong and he had sharp cheekbones. A shadow ran down both sides of his face from his carved bone structure, but all that seemed less pronounced because of the circle-beard goatee. He had squinty eyes, but in a good way.
“Reno almost died because of me.”
“Reno makes his own decisions. If you’re asking if I hate you, then no. But I’ll be honest—I sure as hell don’t trust you all the way. That’s something you have to earn, and when you stole that money, it proved you were more concerned about saving your own ass than the consequences of your actions. What if you couldn’t get that money back? What if that was just enough to get Lexi in trouble with paying her bills?”
“I can’t take it back, Wheeler. I’m sorry I ever did it, more than you know. It’s a mistake I’ll have to live with. I’m not trying to get you to accept me; just don’t take it out on Reno. I’m only staying here until Sanchez is caught and turned in.”
He laughed and leaned down, opening a door. “Sanchez isn’t going to jail.”
“Why not?” I lifted my head and he looked down at me with pale brown eyes that were as bright as amber but warm like honey.
“Because he’s going into the ground.”
Wheeler leaned forward and deposited me on the bed.
“Whose room is this?”
“Yours.”
When I looked to my right and saw a giant poster of Billy Joel, a laugh burst out. “Oh. My. God.”
“I think ‘what the f*ck’ was my choice of words, but yeah. Reno’s had the room closed up for the past couple of days, bringing stuff in.”
I sat on a lavender bedspread with tiny black designs, and the same mirrors we’d bought for my trailer decorated the walls. “Can I see that?”
Wheeler lifted a small snow globe from the dresser and handed it to me. It wasn’t one of mine, and my eyes glittered with tears when I thought about what I’d lost. It was the sentimental stuff like this—pieces of my father that I’d never have back. I shook it and snow swirled around a small cottage surrounded by fir trees.
“What did Reno say to you when we drove up?”
Wheeler averted his eyes. “He said you saved his wolf. Is that true?”
I nodded.
“Maybe that’s why I trust you a little bit more than I did before. If he had tried to shift with a screwdriver lodged in his flesh, it might have killed him. I don’t take that shit lightly. We’re Shifters, and saving one of our brothers means something. If you’re his woman, then we have to respect that choice because he’s family. And we don’t turn our back on family.”
I handed the trinket back to Wheeler when Reno appeared in the doorway.
They didn’t say anything to each other. Wheeler swaggered out of the room, but not before Reno gave him an appreciative pat on the shoulder.
“Is this okay?” Reno asked.
He bent over and elevated my legs onto the bed, forcing me to turn around. I propped a pillow behind my head and he stuffed one underneath my right calf.
Lynn breezed in and set a glass of red juice on the table with a plate of cheese, crackers, and grapes. “You need anything, hon?” she asked smoothly, looking at me with faded blue eyes. “I’m so sorry to hear about your home, but we’re glad you’re okay and that’s all that matters.”
“Thanks, Lynn. I just need some rest.” The reality hit me like a ton of bricks that I didn’t have a home.
“Come on, Reno. Out,” she snapped.
“Lynn, with all due respect, you’ll need a f*cking bulldozer to get me out of here.”
She sighed impatiently and looked at me in a motherly way. “What this girl needs is sleep, and don’t let her move that foot around. April, when you need to take a shower or do anything, just call.” Then she glared at Reno. “I don’t care what you two have going on—if she needs to use the toilet or shower, that’s where I draw the line. You let the women help out with that.”
He smirked hard and walked around to the right side of the bed as she closed the door. Reno kicked off his boots and unlatched his belt. I giggled a little when I heard it hit the floor.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, not expecting an answer as he scooted next to me on my right.
“I can’t believe you put that poster on the wall. Why did you decorate this room? Was your secret plan to kidnap me and hold me captive?”
He leaned back and situated himself so that his left arm slipped beneath my neck while his right hand stroked my stomach. “I wanted you to feel at home when you came to stay the night here. You wouldn’t like my room.”
“Why not?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s plain.”
“So is vanilla ice cream, but it’s my favorite flavor.”
Reno deepened his voice. “Why did Sanchez call you Vanilla in that note?”
I bit my lip. “He was inside the store asking for vanilla candy and that’s how it started.”
His eyes became brutally sharp. “Austin hooked up surveillance outside the building months ago. Tell me what day and time he came in, and I’ll get the footage. I want to know what that animal looks like.”
“I have his phone number. You can always call him.”
“Maybe I don’t want him expecting company,” Reno suggested in a way that sent a shiver up my spine. He stroked my stomach possessively. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you, April. Sanchez is mine. He put his hands on you, and he tried to set you on fire. That officially earned him top billing on my hit list. Do you want to tell me what he looks like or what kind of car he drives?”
Reno’s touch was soft, but his face was granite. He looked down at me with cold eyes and a tight mouth. Those bullwhips of electricity were snapping in the room again.
“I think he drives a silver BMW. He’s got black hair that’s spiky, and one of those chin patches,” I said, pointing below my lip. “He’s a little taller than me, but not much.”
“Any tattoos or scars?”
“A teardrop by his eye and a scorpion tattoo on his… I can’t talk about this right now. I’m sorry—I’m still shaken up.”
I relished the feel of Reno’s powerful body, the sound of his breath, and the smell of his skin. It felt comforting to lie next to a man like him. Safe. I stroked his stubbly chin and he kissed my fingertips as we listened to the rain falling outside.
“Is there anything you lost that can’t be replaced?” he finally asked.
Hope? It’s what I wanted to say. Reno’s family might have brought me in, but I’d never felt so lost. “Just the snow globes and my fish, Hermie. The snow globes were sentimental, you know? I love what you gave me, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not the same.”
“Why not?”
“Because my dad gave them to me. They were special because he chose each one for a reason, and he actually made them himself.”
“Talented.”
“He was. Are your parents still alive?”
Reno’s mouth pressed against my temple, and then he resumed staring at the ceiling. “They move around a lot. Last I heard, they found a pack up in South Dakota that might take them in. It’s harder the older you get to be taken in by a Packmaster. They carefully consider every candidate’s worth and what they can offer the pack. Most will turn down an aging couple. But our parents have wisdom and experience that would be an asset to any damn pack.”
“Why is it so important for you to have packs instead of living alone?”
“There’s safety in numbers for wolves—we have family to look after. It’s instinctual; I don’t know how to explain it. Some of our animal traits bleed into our human ones, I guess.”
“How come you guys don’t let them live with you?”
“It’s not our way. The parents can’t live under the same roof if the Packmaster is their son. I’ve only seen it happen once and the entire pack was dismantled. When our children become adults and go through the change, they have to leave the pack. They’re not allowed to mate within the pack and stay.”
“Why not?”
“More than one male might have feelings for a female and if she chooses one over another, it becomes problematic. It’s also how new blood is maintained so that inbreeding never occurs. The men want to go out and find their own family, just as the women do.”
“Do your parents visit?”
I felt his smile stretch across my temple. “Are you asking to meet my parents?”
“No,” I blurted out.
Kind of lying. Kind of not.
He turned on his side and his voice softened around the edges. “Sounds like you are. You sure you don’t want to meet my mom? You’d love her. She can shoot a bow and arrow and cook a mean chili. I can call her to fly down on a moment’s notice.”
“Don’t you dare,” I whispered, looking up at his amused eyes.
“You’re right. I don’t know what she’d think about her son dating a woman with a poster of another man at the foot of her bed.”
A laugh pealed out of me and Reno perched up on his elbow, smiling wide. A rumbling laugh rolled through his chest and he looked at me in a way that gave me second thoughts about decisions that were rattling around in my head.
Then his hand smoothed down the cotton sweats Ivy had lent me, and I released a shallow breath.
“Is your foot bothering you?” he asked, lightly stroking his finger between my legs.
“Not anymore.”