Page 35 of No Harm No Howl

“Eighteen months. I’m just tryin’ to provide for him.”

Russ could taste the truth in Colton’s words. He wasn’t lying.

“The problem is, Damon will kill my family and me now that I’ve failed.” A look of terror blanketed Colton’s face.

Though Russ had every right to feed him to the wolves, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Colton had been acting out of love for his son. Though his choices were epically bad, he couldn’t take his life. He deserved a second chance.

“You know my company, right?” Russ asked. Colton nodded. “Call my assistant’s assistant and tell her ‘the chocolate is hot.’ She’ll know what to do.”

“What will she do?” Colton asked.

“She’ll arrange for you and your family to get to one of our safe houses. After I deal with Damon, we’ll see what we can do to get you and your family on a socially acceptable course in life.”

Colton nodded. “Thank you. Thank you so much. You won’t regret it. I promise. What about Brady? I can’t just leave him here like this. He has a family too.”

Though Colton and his family were in danger, he still worried about his all-to-dead partner.

“I’ll take care of him. I know a few in the shifter enforcement community here. I’ll have them pick him up and deliver him to his family.”

“I can’t thank you enough.” Colton eased to his feet and offered Russ his hand to shake.

Russ gladly accepted the offer. “Wrap up your leg and get moving before it’s too late to get out of here,” Russ said.

“Be careful. I don’t know how many other guys Damon has tryin’ to hunt you and your lady down.”

“I will, and thanks for the warning.” Russ shifted back to his wolf form and hopped down from the rock formation before running to his car. He had to get back to Gia and make sure she was safe.

TWENTY-ONE

RUSS

“Gia!” Russ shouted as he broke through her door. He didn’t have time to wait for someone to bring up a key to her room. Nor would he be able to explain anything that would be found behind that door.

Gia was still inside. Russ could smell her, but she wasn’t responding to him. His heart raced, wondering what the hell was wrong. The overwhelming scent of blood hit his nostrils the second the door crashed open against the wall.

A quick scan of the room told him that Gia had killed her attacker. It was the other woman’s blood that he smelled. He found Gia face down on the floor. Quickly rolling her over, he listened carefully to her heartbeat. It was slow but steady. Her breaths were coming easily as well. He sniffed her and was immediately assaulted with the scent of drugs.

“Son of a bitch,” he growled, wanting to kill the dead woman again. “Gia, beautiful. Can you hear me?” he asked, gently shaking her.

No response.

“Gia, baby. Please.” He shook her lightly again.

Nothing. Zero response.

“Why didn’t I bring a security team with me? I should have known better,” Russ said as he paced the room. They couldn’t stay here like sitting ducks waiting for the next attack.

Yanking his cell phone from his pocket, Russ shot off a couple quick text messages to his team back at the office. Waiting to take their normal flight back home would be far too risky at this point. Not only that, but Gia was also not in any shape to fly on a commercial airliner.

Making the trip back in their rental car would also be a problem. The numerous stops for gas and food out in the open would pose a serious safety and security issue. The only real choice Russ had at this point was to take a private jet home. No one would question his situation or why Gia seemed to be out of it. He could easily lie and tell them that she’d picked up a bug and they needed to get back to Atlanta as soon as possible.

Hell, he wished he’d thought of this plan earlier. He would have taken Colton and his family with him to ensure the man’s safety.

Searching the dead woman for a cell phone, he patted her down until he found the device. He flipped her over and held the phone up to her face to unlock the phone. Scrolling through recent calls, he found the name Colton and pressed the call button.

“What do you want, Mags?” Colton growled into the phone.

“It’s me, Russ Waters. I’m back at the hotel. Mags is dead,” he said.

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