Sure enough, as soon as they passed the tallest tree, he turned the wheel. Branches scraped at the shiny paint, making her wince. With thicker brush crowding it, had Rylee not been looking for the trail, she would have missed it. “Thanks.”
Luca gave her a small nod but didn’t speak again until they pulled into the barn and he cut the engine. “I’m going to get him settled in, and then I’ll head out.”
“I don’t need you to leave. You know that, right?” she asked. Even though Niko looked to have sustained worse injuries, Luca hadn’t come away unscathed. The least she could do was cook dinner and make sure both brothers rested until they were healed.
Niko stiffened on the seat next to her but didn’t make a sound. She dug her hand into his fur, soothing him with her touch.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Luca said before gingerly getting out of the truck, rounding to the passenger side, then opening the door.
“Unless there is somewhere you need to be, I’d rather you stayed, if you don’t mind. What if someone came around while you were gone? I’m sure Niko would protect me, but at what cost? You saw how determined he was to shift at Maple’s house. Besides, you’re injured, too. I can cook us all a nice dinner while the two of you rest.” She wasn’t above using Luca’s concern for his brother’s wellbeing to make him take care of himself.
Luca locked gazes with his brother, and then with a sigh, gave her a small nod. “I’ll stay.”
“Good. Let’s get him into the house then. I can come back out for the stuff in the back after I get dinner going.” The last thing either of the Garcia men needed was to be carrying her shit around in their conditions.
Luca slid his arms beneath his brother and opened his mouth, presumably to protest, but with one look at her, he closed it. Good. From what she gathered, Niko and Luca did just about everything together—well, not everything—but most things. It wouldn’t do to have either of them think she was a pushover.
Eleven
Careful not to jostle Niko, something Rylee appreciated, Luca carried his brother to the rug in front of the fireplace and set him down so the wolf faced the kitchen.
“Wouldn’t he be more comfortable in his bed?” she asked. Although Luca had been injured, he was already moving better than he had been. Surely getting Niko upstairs wouldn’t be so hard.
Luca shook his head. “You’d be too far away. He’ll want to be able to see you when he opens his eyes. Otherwise, he’ll come looking for you instead of resting.”
“It’s not like I’m going to go anywhere, except maybe to get my bags in the barn later.”
Niko’s soft growl told her just how much he approved of that idea.
Luca was already moving through the living room toward the stairs. “If you were my mate, I’d expect him to do the same. I’ll get your bags in a little while,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at her before heading up.
Well, that was that. She wouldn’t argue with either of them right then, but she hoped they wouldn’t expect her to be under constant supervision going forward. She wasn’t a street rat anymore, and she was more comfortable around people than ever, but that didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate time alone.
Crouching down next to Niko, she ran her fingers through the soft fur at his neck. “Get some sleep. I’m going to see what I can do about dinner.”
His long tongue snaked out as she pulled away, glancing over the top of her hand, but otherwise, he didn’t move. After a few seconds, he sighed and closed his eyes.
In the span of a day, the job had gone from a regular—if dangerous—mission, to ridiculously complicated on top of it all. She needed a plan. One that would take the enemy away from Dexter and the people she was already considering her own. The plain truth was that Niko wouldn’t have been injured had she not shown up at his garage.
One, Niko wouldn’t be put in danger. Big plus. Two, she could work on her own timeline. Three, she wouldn’t owe anyone anything. Rylee ticked the pros off in her mind. And the cons? Those were easy. She wasn’t a tracker, and she didn’t know the area. Finding the damned hard drive would take a while, which in turn would mean the big bads that were on her tail would be around longer, putting not only her, but the pack and all of Dexter in more danger. Her gaze skittered to Niko again. Who was she kidding? If he was that protective of her and didn’t want her to go to the barn for her bags, there was no way he’d stand by while she went after the cougars on her own.
Even if he did, she wasn’t stupid. Doing so wasn’t just risky, it was suicide. Using her head was what had kept her alive on the streets, as well as on her various missions since then. As much as she hated the thought of him being in danger, she needed Niko. Not that she had a whole lot of choice in the matter. She wasn’t the one who’d hired him to do the tracking in the first place, Aric Wolfe had. She couldn’t fire him even if she wanted to.
She had no doubt the wolf shifters in the sleepy town could hold their own against the cougars. The data she’d scrutinized pointed to the large cats being solitary creatures. They sometimes worked in pairs, and occasionally with two other cougars, but they weren’t pack animals like the wolves. But the vampires? They did what they felt needed to be done even if it went against their natures. If
