Base Nature Read online

  “It’s not a lie,” Chester said, patting her leg again. “He’s a good boy. He’s not going anywhere. He went through hell and back to arrive at you. And I believe he did so for a reason. I don’t think Great Spirit would have put you in his life to up and die. This is just the concrete. The proof he needs.”

  “For what?” She shook her head. How in the world could this mess be part of some divine plan?

  “Garrett needs to know it’s okay to love again. He needs to know that he doesn’t have to punish himself forever over Eileen. It was a tragedy but not his doing. He needs to let it go and move on. Build a life. Be happy. And maybe coming a kiss away,” he made a kissing noise and smiled at her. As scared and tired as she was, she couldn’t help but smile back, “from losing it all is exactly what he needs to dive in headfirst again and live. Really live. With you.”

  Then she started to cry. Liv held her side and cried. And he let her. Chester was wise enough to know she needed to.

  ———

  “How long’s he been like this!” Ben Verde barked. He was tall and angular with dark brown hair that hung in his forehead and kind green eyes. But his jaw was set and his brow drew down when he frowned. He did not look happy and that scared Liv.

  “About thirty-six hours,” Kelly said softly.

  “Jesus! We’ll be lucky if we don’t lose him. Why’d it take so long? What stupidity is this?” he asked, almost to himself but it ripped through Liv and the tears came again. This was her fault. She tried to swallow her anxiety and managed to get herself under control. Barely.

  “Ben! Watch it,” Chester said.

  Ben’s eyes shot to Liv and he gave Chester a brisk nod. “He’ll be fine. We’ll get him taken care of. But he should have been here immediately.”

  “He wouldn’t come, Benjamin,” Kelly said, putting her arm around Liv. “You know how he is.”

  “Stubborn and dumb as a box of rocks,” the man answered. He glanced at Liv even as his hands moved over Garrett, palpating. “I can say that because we grew up together and we’re like brothers. I was even there the day he hooked his thumb with a fishing hook. All the way through, the baby. Garrett never does anything halfway.”

  Liv let out a burst of laughter that surprised even her. But she could picture it and it struck her as oddly funny. Inappropriate laughter was her specialty.

  She shook a little and Kelly rubbed her to warm her. How had she gone from Ellen telling her to call her shrink about her bad dreams to an impromptu surgery and a werewolf pack? What day was it? Was she due at work? Would she go back to work? Would she stay here?

  It all swirled in her head, muddying her thoughts, but she recognized the defense mechanism well. If she fretted over all the stuff that didn’t matter, she wouldn’t get consumed by the one big thing that did.

  Garrett being okay.

  “I think we’ve beaten sepsis. I think if I excise some of this and treat the infection…pump him full of antibiotics…” Ben blew out a sigh and ran his rubber-glove sheathed hand through his hair.

  “Then?” Liv practically shouted. She didn’t mean to but she did it.

  “Then he should be fine. Because he’s strong and stubborn as an ass.”

  Liv felt weak with relief. She sagged against Kelly as Ben moved to the sink to wash his hands. “Thank God. Oh thank God,” she said, her knees buckling a bit. She sagged, her head pounding.

  “I’ll need everyone out of here. I have to get him prepped and someone send in Melissa to assist. Tell her to scrub up so we can cut out that tiss—she okay?”

  “Liv?” Kelly said. She shook her a little and Liv marveled at how far away Kelly was. How was she touching her that way, that dull uneven pressure of Kelly squeezing her arm, when she was so far away? “Liv?”

  “I’m fine,” she said but her tongue seemed too big and too slow to form the words. “Worry about…him.” She really had to force that last word out and then surprisingly the floor was rushing up at her. A great swift blur of yellow and white tile and the feeling of falling through space.

  ———

  Kelly pushed back the mottled gray sweats. “Jesus. He got her too, Chester. Did you not see!”

  “No, woman, I did not see, or I would have said something.” Chester frowned at her, his body set with tension. He bent and examined the wound. “Ben, you might have another patient.”

  Ben rushed over as Melissa, scrubbed and focused, prepped Garrett for the work they had to do. “What kind of knife was it? Silver?”

  “Yeah, you know A.J., he never does anything half-assed.”

  “He should be strung up by his toes for this,” Ben said, getting a closer look. “I think it’s fine but she’ll need stitches. Even with food and healing time, it will take a good long time for that to close on its own. The silver has necrotized some of the tissue. So we need to help her out and close it up so infection doesn’t set in. Kelly, run and get Sabrina. She’s been helping in the clinic. She’ll know how to hook up the glucose and get her set up so I can stitch her up next.”

  “Jesus, poor girl. So much trauma for such a short life,” Chester said, picking Liv up and carrying her to a cot.

  “A.J. should be run out on a rail.” Ben returned to Garrett and snapped on a fresh pair of gloves.

  “She was a killer. A murderer according to law. And pack law says—”

  “You know as well as I do, Ches, that pack law can be pretty damn archaic.”

  Chester settled Liv and brushed her hair out of her face. He said nothing. They’d have to work it all out when Garrett and his mate were better.

  Chapter Nineteen

  A Favor

  Garrett woke to a big ugly face in his. “Jesus Christ, man, you trying to scare me to death?” he grunted, taking a swat at Ben.

  His friend laughed, sat on the bed, making the bed springs protest. “No, not me. But it sure as shit looks like someone did. How you feeling?”

  It all came rushing at him then and he sat up, grunting from the sharp stab of pain followed by a dull bad-tooth kind of ache. “Where’s Liv?”

  Ben pushed him back none too gently. “She’s in the next bed. Sleeping beauty took a blade for you. We had to clean her up and stitch it but she will be fine. We put her under, because it went fairly deep and the whole time she was out she talked to you.”

  “What’d she say?” Garrett craned his head and saw the shape of Liv under the blankets. Her honey-blonde hair spilled down her back and she was breathing softly. Relief made him slump back and take a deep breath.

  “Well, she loves you. How’d you fall ass backward into that?” Ben laughed.

  Garrett grinned. “Hell if I know. She’s okay, though? She’s fine?”

  “She’s fine. She’ll have a pretty scar. So will you, though. Bullet wound and a silver blade all in one day. You going for a record?”

  “Yeah, the jackass record,” Garrett snorted. “Fate, she is a bitch.”

  “That wasn’t fate, that was A.J. swinging his big cock to prove he’s an alpha. When he’s not.”

  “Yeah, about him,” Garrett growled.

  “The elders are talking. He’s under house arrest. The boys are watching him.”

  Garrett laughed. “Oh, I bet they’ll have some fun with him. They never liked him anyhow.”

  Ben grinned. “That’s the point.”

  “Liv will probably be ready to run back home when she’s better. Who’d want to stay here?”

  Ben grinned. “Her. The lovely lady wants to stay.”

  Garrett went to punch Ben on the shoulder and yelped.

  “Smooth move, genius,” Ben said. “You have about a million stitches.”

  “A million?”

  “Okay, so it’s more like twenty but still. That won’t be good for them. Stay still.” He handed Garrett a mug of hot tea loaded with sugar and cream. “Drink it. You need all the calories you can get. They’re making you a feast as we speak.”

  “How do you know she wants to stay?” Ga
rrett drank his tea in three big gulps though it scalded his tongue.

  “I told you she talked when she was under. She basically seems to fear you don’t want her here. That it’ll be over. She fears that she’s a killer, she fears the pack won’t accept her and that you’ll choose here over her.”

  “She talked that much?”

  Ben laughed. “Non-freaking-stop. We hit her with anesthesia and she was off and running. It has that effect on some folks. But look at it this way, my friend, A.J. did you a favor.”

  Garrett sat up, grabbing his side when the pinching pain became too much. “Jesus! You hack, what’d you do to me?” he teased. “How in the world did that jealous lunatic do me a favor?”

  “If you’d come here without his drama and his crime against another wolf, she’d have been viewed as a killer. It would have been more severe. You know it and I know it. We are a curious breed who can be more than a little hung up on tradition. But this changes it.”

  “He committed a crime against another wolf,” Garrett said, nodding. “And a changeling. Which is cruelty.”

  “And a mate. Not to mention a girl with a history of violence against her. So much more sympathetic than just a girl who snapped and killed a man. No matter that the man had tried to kill you or had been violent to her. It still would have earned her much more retribution.”

  “So her being a victim again is good?” Garrett frowned. “That pisses me off.”

  Ben leaned in. “Ah but she’s not really. She took down A.J., for shit’s sake! And she kept her cool and minded her bite and didn’t take his throat out. All things in her favor.”

  “It could be argued that she learned from her kill and she showed leniency to someone who was threatening to kill her and me.”

  “Her mate,” Ben said, nodding. “See, Kelly and Chester have always told you—”

  “Yeah, yeah. Everything happens for a reason.” Garrett’s stomach growled. “I moved off pack property to my own home and met Liv. Changed my life.”

  Liv rolled over and in her sleep said, “Where is he? Where is he?”

  Ben walked over and whispered, “Right here. It’s fine and so is he. He’s right here, doll.” He looked at Garrett. “Changed your life and changed hers. Now I’ll go see about that food. You two need about a whole Thanksgiving dinner each to start mending.”

  Garrett crawled into bed with her, gathered her close. Liv opened those big brown eyes and he could see the glassiness from the drugs. “Psst,” she said. “Are we dead?” He had to laugh, a great rumbling laugh that seemed to erase all the tension from his body.

  “Nope. Not dead. Curled up in the infirmary in the second barn on the farm. You are nearly naked, I am nearly naked. You have stitches, I have stitches. You are drugged, I am laughing at you.”

  She smiled big and touched his nose. “You feel very alive to me. I have a pain in my side.”

  “That would be where you got stabbed.”

  “That sucks.” She blew out a sigh and her eyes drifted closed. Then they flew back open and she struggled to stay awake. “Are you fine?”

  “I’m fine. They’re cooking us a ton of food so we can gorge and get better.”

  “And then what?” she said, eyes fluttering softly closed again. She fought it some more and struggled to open them.

  “And then I’m going to get you alone and do bad, bad things to you. And you’ll like it. A lot.” He pulled her even closer, feeling the warm curves of her body pressed to him. It comforted him, made him feel less anger, less worry over what could have happened.

  “And then?” she said and this time he picked it up. The worry in her voice. The tension that seemed to glimmer under her skin where only bones and blood should be.

  “And then we set up house. I have a nice little cottage on the back property. I don’t share my home with anyone. But now I do. Okay?”

  “Who is it?” She stared at him and under the shiny film of her drug daze and Garrett saw that she needed him to say it. She needed to hear it.

  “It’s you, Liv. You’re my mate now. We stay here together or we leave together. Whatever we do, we do together. Okay?”

  “Really?” her eyes were filling up and his heart was breaking. Why would she even doubt that? But he knew. Part of Olivia was afraid to believe.

  “Really, now go to sleep, you silly woman. So when they come we can wake you up and stuff you full of food and—”

  “And then?” she said softly, but this time she smiled. Her eyes slamming closed as if she hadn’t slept in a year.

  He wrapped both arms around her tight and even though he knew she was asleep he said, “And then I ravish you and ravish you and then love you forever.”

  He kissed her forehead.

  ———

  Justice

  The feast was immense. Beef, turkey, bison, chicken, side dishes as far as the eye could see. Liv found herself ravenous and ate with gusto. The mashed potatoes, served in a bowl almost too big to handle, were the best she ever tasted. Fresh beets, corn, green beans. The harvest of summer vegetables had not depleted yet, though the frost was coming.

  Chester rose and all eyes turned to him. Garrett put his hand on her leg and squeezed, sensing her nerves.

  “The elders have discussed what brought Liv here to us.”

  Liv felt her stomach bottom out. Her fingers grew numb and she put the turkey leg she was holding down. Garrett leaned in, his breath warm on her ear. “Don’t look so worried. There is no firing squad on the farm.”

  But she was worried. She had taken a human life. And for this group, her new group, this meant possible exposure. Composure, control, handling your wolf—the base nature—was crucial and she had failed. Being a changeling was no excuse.

  “We feel that given the circumstances, there will be no legal repercussions for Liv. Kelly has been following the news from the area where the body was discovered. There are no leads beyond an animal attack and we doubt there will be any way for the authorities to trace the death back to the pack.”

  Liv slowly let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Her heart pounded so hard her ears ached and she felt on the verge of tears. “He’s smiling, Liv. Breathe,” Garrett said to her softly.

  “What’s the verdict?” called Ben. He pounded the table with his fist like a barbarian but he was smiling when he did it. A low rumble of laughter worked its way through the barn where the ridiculously long table was set up.

  “The verdict is that the couple, wolf and changeling—also known as Liv McCoy—who also happens to be Garrett’s new mate, must live here. You are required to live on pack property for a period of one year. During which Liv will prove her fealty to the pack, become a productive member of our society, hopefully she will add to our numbers, bringing a life into this world to make up for the one she took.”

  Liv dropped her head, blushing. Garrett chuckled next to her and kissed her on the ear. “Oh my God,” she breathed, which made him laugh harder.

  “Also, we would like to commend you,” Kelly spoke up, rising from her seat.

  Liv looked up, shocked. “Commend me? For what?”

  “For your restraint with A.J. We all agree it would have been justified for you to take him down. He was threatening your life and your mate’s.”

  “Who was already wounded!” Ben chimed in. Liv thought she already loved him like a brother.

  “And any one of us, born wolves, would have had a hard time resisting the urge to put him down. It is the natural instinct.”

  Base nature.

  “And you didn’t,” Chester said and smiled at Kelly who nodded in agreement.

  “A toast to Liv. To welcome her and to honor her control!”

  “To Liv,” echoed through the barn and she had to put her head down again. Garrett pulled her in and hugged her, whispering to her, nonsense sounds and soothing words. She wasn’t used to this. This feeling of acceptance. And love.

  ———

  “So tomorrow I c
all Ellen and talk to my boss about a leave of absence.” They walked in the darkness to Garrett’s cottage. She could hear and see and smell so much more now. The world seemed a richer, more colorful place in all ways. A small rabbit darted across their path and she realized it was lucky that they were wandering along in human form.

  “Plus, it has the advantage that we just ate a ton of food,” Garrett said to her unspoken thought.

  “How did you—”

  “I felt you tense. You’re a hunter now. It’s normal to react that way.”

  The cottage came into view, he’d left a small light burning inside. A light they didn’t need but still the image of a softly lit house was comforting.

  “That’s my punishment, my sentence? To live here with the man I love and be among people who have treated me well?” She was still stunned.

  “Don’t forget A.J. He didn’t treat you well.”

  “What will happen to him?” She took Garrett’s hand and squeezed. The pressure pulled her stitches a bit and she bit her lip. It was getting better so much faster though. In comparison to how long it would have taken before, this would be nothing.

  “Most likely they’ll strip him of his duties, give him a mundane job. Something with servitude in it. The worst possible case for someone like A.J.” She saw the flash of his white teeth in the dark blue evening light.

  “Wow. That’s hardcore. But better than jail, right?”

  “Trust me, he’d rather go to jail,” Garrett said, laughing. He let them into the cottage and before the door clicked had her in his arms.

  Liv sank against him, loving the feel of him, big and strong and warm against her. Very much alive and that made her so happy she could cry. His cock was hard, pressed to the line of her pussy, and she was filled with that instant, knee-jerk arousal that came hand in hand with being in the same room with Garrett Gustafson.

  “You’re injured.”

  “I’m healing fast,” he said, walking her back, kissing her hard.

  His lips crushed down on hers, so hard she felt like she was bruising. So hard and yet all she wanted was more. More kisses, more nibbles, more sharp plump bites of pain from his teeth nipping her. Her pussy went hot and wet and ready in the space of that one kiss. When he scooped her up, she wrapped her legs around his waist, mindful of his wounds but unable to resist the feel of him against her. Her own wounds pulled and Garrett felt her stiffen.