Black Hills Desperado (Black Hills Wolves, #3)(14)

“Something like that.” She furrowed her brow. Yeah, the bruin had just become a bigger mystery. Who’d have thought? “So…?”

“I’m kind of a pack authority, historian, if you will. I knew your grandfather and grandmother. Mai Ling actually taught me to speak Chinese. She looked a lot like you.” He smiled.

“You knew my family?”

He nodded. “All of them.”

“That makes you exactly how old?”

The bear frowned. “This conversation isn’t about me.”

“Fine. Tell me about my family, about my grandmother.”

Gee glanced out into the empty bar. He grabbed the tote and set it down by the dishwasher, snagged her arm, and guided her toward a table. “We can take a break.” He pulled a chair out. “Sit.”

Xio dropped onto the hard surface and waited while Gee grabbed another and straddled it backward, making it look no bigger than a piece of child’s furniture. Once settled in, he laced his fingers together and cracked them.

Xio cleared her throat.

“Patience is a virtue.”

“I’m not very virtuous.”

“Hmm.” Gee began his tale—in Chinese.

Xio opened her mouth and he raised his hand to silence her, continuing on like there had been no interruption. How could she tell him she didn’t understand a word, well maybe one or two, but ninety percent of it slipped by her? It was embarrassing enough he’d caught her with the language lessons. She opened her mouth again.

His hand came up again. “Listen.” It would be the last word he said in English for the next fifteen minutes.

Mai Ling—blah, blah, blah. Eli Snow. What the hell? “You don’t know anything about my family in English?”

Gee furrowed his brow. “This is about you learning your heritage. If you want to know the story, you need to listen to it the way it was told to me.”

“That’s not fair. I don’t know Chinese.”

“Well, grasshopper, when you learn to speak your native tongue, ask me again.”

Xio snarled at him and jumped up from her chair. “Grasshopper? I have a name. It’s Xio.”

“I know all about you, Xio—and your grandparents and parents. Nobody else here does. You want to know your heritage, you’re going to have to work for it. Nothing good is ever handed to you. Isn’t that what got you into trouble in the first place? Instant gratification?”

With a snort, Xio stalked toward the exit.

“You have dishes to wash before you cut on out of here. It’s bike week in Sturgis. It’s been getting busier and busier every year. We’re going to be slammed tonight, grasshopper.”

“Ha, ha. Fine, sensei.” Xio changed course and headed for the kitchen. She did have a job to finish. Quitting after two months was not the impression she wanted to make, not with her new Alpha—or mate. If what Gee said was true, she needed him, or she’d never know about her family. She sprayed the dishes and started the washer, immersing herself in whatever she could to avoid Gee for the rest of the afternoon. It would be better to control her temper than let it control her.

She liked the old bear better when he didn’t talk.

Two hours later, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Xio wiped her forehead with her sleeve and turned to look at what had caused her reaction. “Shit.”

Six men entered The Den. The second of them was Diego. She jumped back behind the saloon door, her heart pounding. She slapped her hand over her breast in an attempt to slow the beat. She should have known he’d come to look where he’d first met her. Maybe living in Los Lobos hadn’t been such a great idea. And how the hell had he gotten out? They’d sent him to the supermax in Florence, Colorado. Nobody escaped from there—or so she’d been told. She glanced over at the bar where she’d left her purse, with her cell phone she always shut off before her shift. Gee didn’t want her distracted and had told her to leave it at home or shut it down when she started work. So, if anyone had tried to call to warn her, well…. Should have left it on.

“Need some clean glasses out here,” Gee called.

“One moment,” she replied in Chinese, the only way she could. Diego had never heard her speak it and would recognize her voice if she said it in Spanish or English. Shit, shit, shit. If he used her name, they’d know, since it kind of came out during the trial she wasn’t named Lena. She hoped her use of Chinese made Gee question what was going on.

Gee walked into the kitchen. “You okay?”

Xio shook her head. “I need to get out of here.”

He glanced out into the bar at the customers who’d just entered. “Someone you know?”

“You could say that.”

“Someone you’re hiding from.”

“Oh, you could safely say that.”

“Do I need to call your Alpha?”

“Not sure I want him involved.”

“If anyone in his pack is in danger, he’s already involved.”

“I know, but this is really bad.” Xio turned to Gee. “Please call Marcus. I don’t know how they found me.”

“Not Drew?”

“No, I need to tell Marcus something first.”

Gee walked back out to the bar and picked up the phone, making a quick call before he turned to address the men at the bar. “What can I get for you boys this afternoon?”