He labeled the vials and put them in hisblack bag. The tall, older male stood and shook Gunnar’s hand.“Congratulations, papa. I’ll call Anna Claire after I get thesetests back.”
She noticed how the doc showed her materespect, but he announced he would be calling her, instead ofGunnar, with the results. There was a rumor going around about howthe female panthers of the Shaw pride were now working asGuardians, and she wondered if it was true. She didn’t want to askhim in front of the males, but she made a mental note to slip inthe question the next time he stopped by for a checkup.
“Let’s get you some lunch,” Gunnar offeredas he started for the kitchen. The brothers walked the healer outto his truck and returned to their quarters. “Why didn’t you tellme you’d been feeling sick?”
The hurt in his voice brought tears to hereyes. “I didn’t want you to worry.”
“I’ll always worry for you,” he replied.
Anna Claire stood from her seat and walkedup behind him while he dug through the fridge. The moment she slidher tiny fingers under his shirt and around his body, they bothshivered from the electric touch.
They’d become friends before they weremates, and she couldn’t have asked for a better second half to herlife’s story. The first part was slowly fading into nothing but abad memory. Being with Gunnar and his brothers had changed her,molding her into a stronger version of herself.
“What’s wrong?” Gunnar stiffened in herarms, and she let out a soft sigh when he turned around to pull herclose to his chest. He didn’t give her a chance to respond beforecapturing her lips in a scorching kiss.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she promised. “Justthinking about how happy I am.”
“Good,” he stated with a short nod. “Now,let me make you some lunch before I have to relieve Luca from thefields.”
Her cousin and Gunnar had taken shifts atthe fields during the current planting season. The weather washolding out, and they’d been working from dusk to dawn to get theseeds in the ground.
“Tessa’s friend, Tulley, is supposed to bedelivering the things we need for the home garden today.” AnnaClaire couldn’t wait to get to work on their plot behind the house.The males had expressed their concern for the females working outin the open, but Tessa had calmed them when she pointed out howsafe the location was. They were covered from all sides; the frontof the land being the most important. With them directly behind thehouse, no one could shoot at them from across the road.
The males had gone out to check the landbehind the home a week ago, and they hadn’t found any lingeringscents that would’ve alerted them to a stranger on their land.They’d had a lot of rain, and any footprints would’ve been seen,too. There was some concern over whether someone had been on theirland before the weather changed since their scent would’ve washedaway with the recent storms. Thankfully, they were safe…for now,but the males were on high alert. The Morgan brothers were alwaysparanoid, and she was starting to understand why.
With the sheriff’s knowledge of an attack onthe first day of June, the clan was preparing for the worst. Drakehad ordered extra ammunition for their weapons, and a plan was inplace to protect the females and young. Doug and Alfred weresetting traps around the land, going a bit old school in theirhunting techniques.
“Don’t linger in the garden,” he warned ashe set a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup in front of her. Sheignored him and took a bite. The flavor was exceptional. “Luca andDrake will be out there with you.”
“I’m not worried,” she admitted. “We arerelatively safe out there.”
They were interrupted by his phone. Her matefrowned as he answered it. “Gaia?”
“Get to the diner now,” she yelled in apanic. “It’s been shot up.” With Anna Claire’s excellent hearing,she understood everything the female was saying. There were tearsin her voice, and Anna Claire’s heart dropped into her stomach.
“Call the sheriff and get to your office,”Gunnar barked as he jumped from his chair. His eyes landed on her,but Anna Claire made a fast motion with her hands to send him outthe door.
“I’ll call the others,” she promised andreached into her dress pocket for her phone. Her first call was toher cousin, Ransom. He was at his cabin and could be at the housein the blink of an eye.
Her next call was to Drake. She didn’t havemuch to tell him other than what she’d overheard from the phonecall. When they disconnected, Anna Claire glanced over at her mate,who was pacing in front of the kitchen island.
“I have to go,” Gunnar fretted. “Don’t gooutside for anyone. Do you understand me?”
“I won’t. Now, go!” Anna Claire sat heavilyin her chair and placed her hand over her erratic heart. He kissedthe top of her head and produced keys from his pocket as her cousincame in the back door.
“I don’t have time to explain,” Gunnar saidin a rush. “Stay with the females. I’ll call as soon as I knowsomething.”
With his phone to his ear, her mate ran outthe door. Ransom came over and pulled her into a comforting hug. Itwas nice to know she could still touch her blood relatives.“Someone shot up Gaia’s diner.”
“Son of a bitch!” Ransom snarled, runninghis hands through his long, dark hair. “Do you think it’srelated?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” she replied.
Gaia cursed as she held a rag to the woundon her arm. Unlike the shifters, she couldn’t heal as fast. Theonly saving grace was that the bullet had grazed her instead ofkilling her.
The call to the sheriff was met with thesame anger as it’d been when she called Gunnar. He’d used hissupernatural magic to transport himself to the diner in aninstant.
“Talk to me, Gaia,” he said in a panic.“Where else are you hit?”
“I’m fine, Garrett,” she promised. “It’sjust my arm.”
“Fuck!” the angel cursed, causing Gaia toraise a brow. She wanted to scold him, but she thought better of itwhen he queued the mic at his shoulder to call for backup.
“Can you get to your office?” he asked
