Page 95 of Meant for Her

Malia probably should remain in Midvale since if she went, she’d miss work tomorrow, which would require her to switch shifts with one of the other nurses. Thankfully, a lot of them owed her time.

Next, she had to consider if she wanted to go and watch Luke and Ryan meet face-to-face with the man who abandoned them. Luke would say a fight might break out—as in the wolf-to-wolf kind. However, she doubted Emory could beat his two strapping sons.

Logically, she should let them go, but she was their mate, dammit. Her presence might help soothe whatever hurt they were experiencing—or was that just an excuse because she wanted to be with them? All three had come this far in the journey, and she didn’t want to be left out. There. It was settled. She would go—or attempt to go.

Happy she’d settled that internal debate, Malia went back to work. Thankfully, the next two hours flew by. Once she clocked out, she headed home to clean up and change. On the off chance they wanted to leave right away instead of waiting until tomorrow, she packed a small overnight bag. It never hurt to be prepared. At that point, she’d call Pam and confirm that she needed her fellow nurse to take her shift.

Malia also recognized the need to discuss their future plans, such as where they would all be living, but that was for another time.

Usually when she planned to stop over, she called ahead, but if she did, she’d end up telling the men the news, and an argument would ensue. Right now, she just wanted to hug them.

The turn off to the ranch appeared, and she drove down the bumpy drive. When she spotted their truck, she relaxed. Malia parked and went up to the door. It might be time to ask for a key to the house. She knocked and then tried the knob. It was open.

When she stepped inside, the men were facing each other but saying nothing. Had they heard her arrive and didn’t want her to see a heated discussion?

“Hello?”

They turned around. Ryan strode up to her, gave her a hug, and then a kiss. “You didn’t call.”

“I think you can assume I’ll be here if I can.”

“I get it.”

“You hungry?” Luke asked.

“Absolutely.” Malia took off her coat, which Ryan placed in the coat closet. It looked clean and organized. That was a nice change. “I have news, but please let’s discuss it before you go ballistic.”

Luke stilled. “You found our father?”

CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT

“Mason located him, actually. He’s using the name, Emory Joseph.”

Ryan huffed out a laugh. “Not very creative, but clearly it was effective for three years.”

“How did Mason find him?” Luke asked.

“I’m not sure, but he had a friend go to his house and take a picture of your father getting out of his truck.” She pulled up the photo.

Both men rushed over and looked at the image. When they didn’t say anything for a moment, she figured they were mounting a plan—one that didn’t involve her.

“He looks good for a dead man,” Luke said.

She slowly let out a breath, happy that at least one mystery had been solved. “So now what?”

“I’m not sure,” Luke said.

That was the last thing she expected him to say. “You don’t want to find out if he is a killer or if he really killed that man in self-defense?”

“Yes, but we need to think things through. Come into the kitchen so we can discuss this.”

No surprise, Luke was able to convince Ryan to speak with their father. What good it would do—other than allow Luke to tell his dad what a crappy thing he’d done by walking out on them—she didn’t know, but Malia was willing to go along with their plan.

The second big surprise was that neither man objected to her going. They believed—and she hoped they were right—that by having her present, their dad wouldn’t try to pick a fight with them.

“Let me ask you something,” Malia said. “Your dad broke the law when he didn’t report shooting Fred Hogan, right?”

“Yes,” Luke said.

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