Dylan (Bowen Boys, #3)(34)
“Well, if anything happens to me, it’s yours.” She regretted it as soon as she said it. “I’m sorry. I was trying for a joke and failed. Casey had all she would need for years. I had a well dug and hit a gas pocket. It took some wiggling, but I was able to get a lifetime of free gas from it without a name. It’s under a corporation, labeled a vacation home.”
“And that’s where she is?” Khan asked. She nodded. “Then when do we go in and get her?”
She looked around the room. She didn’t want to do this. No one but Casey had ever been there before, and she knew that it wasn’t up to Dylan’s standards. She had built it all on her own, even cutting the timber by herself. It had been the hardest and most fulfilling work of her life, and it had only taken her five years.
“Tonight. We’ll leave here at eight. Make sure that you’re ready. It’s important that we get there before midnight. The alarms are set then.”
Chapter Eleven
Khan was getting sick. He’d never been a good rider, and being tossed around in the bed of Dylan’s truck wasn’t helping. He lay down and glared at his brother. He was sitting there as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“I don’t. She said yes, and I’m as happy as I could ever be. And tomorrow we’re going to the courthouse to get married.” Dylan moved closer to him in an apparent attempt to help him be steady. “We should be coming up on the area she was talking about, I think. She said to tell you that she will be stopping in a few minutes. She has something to tell you.”
“If this has been a joke I’m going to murder her.” Dylan laughed. The truck pulled over deep in the woods, and she opened the door. The light didn’t come on, for which Khan was happy. He didn’t want to have to let her see how ill he really was. She came around to the back of the bed.
“Dylan said that you’d be able to speak to me if I pledged to you.” Khan nodded, suddenly happy she’d done this now. “I want you to know that if this means that you’re going to be calling me at all hours of the night for my pancake recipe, then I will revoke it.”
Khan moved toward her and licked her face. She smacked him away and looked at Dylan, who had sat down. She looked back at him and into his eyes.
“I pledge to you.” The connection was immediate and he licked her again, but pulled back when Dylan growled. This woman had saved his wife and children, and would forever hold a special place in his heart.
“Okay. If there’s nothing else like a blood oath or anything, we’ll get going. The pass you have to jump at is in less than a half mile. Please make sure you do it precisely when I say to go.” Both nodded, and she went back to the truck. When she touched his mind, he wasn’t even surprised by her request.
“You have to keep him safe for me. Please, Khan. He’s everything to me, like your wife and children are to you.” He told her he would. “And you, too. Monica will kick my ass if I don’t bring you back safely.”
“She’ll kick both our asses, but you don’t have to worry about us. We’re going to be safe, all of us.” He looked at Dylan as he spoke to them both. “We’ve named our children. Would you like to know what their names are?”
Jack groaned, and Dylan laughed. “Our daughter is Abigail Corrine Bowen, and our son is Khan Jack Bowen. I wouldn’t have either of them without the two of you coming together.”
“Sap,” Jack said, but he could feel her pride, too. “You have less than the count of fifteen. Jump when I say one.”
When she got to five, they both stood up. At three they tensed to leap, and when she said one, they were gone. Khan had never been so terrified in his life when he landed and rolled. The river was not more than a few feet from them, and the rock wall she’d been talking about was less than that. Christ, she wasn’t kidding about the timing.
After she disappeared around the next stand of trees, they took off after her, both of them running all out to beat her there. Just as they came up to the house, her headlights winked off and on through the trees. Dylan went to the back of the house, and he stayed in the front. Khan knew that there were at least two people in the house, and one of them was a wolf. Khan f*cking hated wolves.
He reached for her as she got out of the truck and walked to the house. “Two inside. One female and the other a male wolf. There are none in the front yard.”
“There are two back here.” Dylan paused, and he could feel him getting pissed. “Okay, just one back here, too.”
Khan might have laughed if he wasn’t so afraid for her. She went up to the door and pulled her weapon. He could smell the silver from his station on the front porch. When she knocked, he moved up to the other side and waited.
Dylan knew where the key was to the back door. He was to shift, get the key, and unlock the door before shifting back to his cat and moving into the house from the rear. When the door opened, Khan stood at the ready.
“Hiya, girl. I thought I’d come by and see if you needed anything?” He knew it was her friend the moment she said “hiya.” “Pretty night, huh? Wanna come out and hang with me a while?”
“I can’t tonight. Maybe if you can come back later, we can talk then. I’ve sort of got some company.” Jack nodded.
“Okay. Give me a hug, and I’ll be on my way. I miss you in town.” When Casey leaned forward, Jack wrapped her arms around her and jerked her forward. As soon as she was clear of the door, Khan moved in. He saw a flash of gray come at him, and then black. Khan knew that Dylan had gotten in.