“Jade! Rafe!” Edward and Sebastian yelled from the shore.
Aidan guessed Kenneth’s men had assumed he wasn’t returning to the shore, and they must have dispersed. With no alpha leader to give the orders, they figured they’d be killed next if they hung around. He couldn’t imagine them standing there waiting for all of them to swim back in. Aidan still had a hell of a way to go, and if he was pulled under, he could lose Toby in a heartbeat—for good.
Toby was quiet, like a wolf pup whose parent was taking him somewhere. Normally, he would be a little old to carry in this way, but with the buoyancy of the salt water, Aidan had no trouble holding on to him.
He couldn’t understand why Toby had left the house and gone out for a run as a wolf. Then he realized he shouldn’t have been able to run as a newly turned wolf during the new moon. Maybe it was because his paternal grandfather was also a wolf.
Aidan had considered shifting so he could carry Toby into shore that way, but he thought he was making progress this way, and he was afraid he’d lose hold of Toby as soon as he shifted.
Another large swell carried them up and down as if they were riding a gentle, wet roller coaster, and then Aidan turned toward the beach and began to paddle as hard as he could.
They were so far out that he began to worry about Jade again. Rafe was strong and trained in water survival from his days as a fighter pilot, but even so, the trek would be tiring for any of them.
And with Aidan trying to keep Toby from being dunked, he was feeling the strain.
Then he saw Jade swimming for the shore as a human. She paused and called out toward the shore, “Toby!”
Aidan’s whole outlook brightened. He wanted to tell Toby, “Look, see your mommy,” and his heart filled with joy to see her still afloat. But none of them were out of danger yet.
He saw Rafe fighting with Kenneth in the water, and then Rafe bit him hard. Blood. The blood would bring sharks.
* * *
Rafe couldn’t believe Kenneth’s persistence. The bastard was bleeding in the water, and Rafe had seen a shark take a pass already.
Kenneth was still trying to reach Jade, though she’d managed to pull away from him, and Rafe was closing in fast. He was a much better swimmer than her brother. Rafe came up on Kenneth’s right hip and bit down hard. Kenneth howled, but got a snout full of water, choking on the salty brine.
Rafe knew Kenneth’s blood would make it worse for the two of them. He just hoped Jade was far enough away that she wouldn’t be on the shark’s menu. But then he saw his brother struggling to keep Toby’s head above water as he paddled after Jade.
Hell.
The shark’s fin came for another pass, and Rafe shifted. As a human he could swim a lot faster, which is why Jade must have shifted, despite how cold the water was out this far. He swam as far away from Kenneth as he could. His heart was pounding when he saw the great white rise up out of the water, take hold of the wolf, and pull him under.
Rafe hauled ass, swimming as if his life and his family depended on it, which they did.
The wave swelled between him and Jade and he feared it would break over her, afraid she was getting too tired and cold for the swim. He wanted to shout to her that he and Aidan and her son were coming. To yell encouragement to her. To tell her to keep going because they were right behind her.
Then he saw Jade emerge from the foamy water, coughing, trying to catch her breath. Edward was racing down the beach as a human now with two life preservers from the pool slung over his arm, hollering. Sebastian had shifted and had already begun to swim out to her, but Edward yelled, “Here, Sebastian!” and tossed one of the preservers to him.
Edward jumped into the water with the other.
Rafe was damn glad they were going out to her. Twice, she’d disappeared behind a swell, and each time he felt panic and his heart sank with her. Then he’d see her bobbing in the water again and felt guarded relief.
Toby suddenly let out a small woof, perking up. Until now, he’d been happy to let Aidan take care of him, but now he began to puppy paddle. He had to have seen his mother.
Sebastian finally reached Jade and helped slip the preserver over her head.
When Edward reached the two of them, he was still looking out to sea for Aidan, Toby, and Rafe. “I see them,” he said. “I’ll get them.”
Edward swam toward Aidan and Toby, while Sebastian began swimming toward shore, pulling Jade. She was turned backward in the preserver and called out to them, “Aidan, Rafe, Toby, you can do it!”
Rafe heard the weariness and worry in her voice. He was glad Sebastian was taking her to shore.
Edward had nearly reached Aidan, swimming much faster as a human than Aidan could as a wolf paddling with Toby in his grip.
“I’ll take Toby,” Edward said, slipping the preserver over his own head, then reaching for Toby.
Aidan released him once he felt Edward take hold of Toby. Then Aidan shifted and held on to the life preserver.
Rafe had nearly reached them, and when he did, he grabbed hold of the preserver, not because he needed to, but because he wanted to stay close to Toby, to reassure him he wasn’t going to be far away. He reached up with one hand and petted him. “We’ll be in to shore soon, Toby. Good job.” Though he wanted to scold the boy for leaving the house, attacking an adult wolf, and putting his life in jeopardy, Rafe couldn’t. All he could do was encourage the boy that everything would be all right.
Toby licked Rafe’s hand and tried to squirm out of Edward’s arm to join him. Rafe smiled at the pup. “Just stay there. Uncle Edward’s got you.”
They still had to get through the breakers. Rafe looked back to shore and saw that one of his bodyguards had brought down robes from the pool trunk. Jade was already wearing one. Relief filled him that she was safely on shore.
Sebastian was rubbing her arms to warm her. While they were wolves, their coats had protected them from the cold. But swimming in the ocean at night with no sun to warm his body, Rafe was beginning to feel the cold, and Aidan’s lips were a little blue.
A wave crashed over them, but they all held on to Toby and the preserver, not about to let go of him.
As soon as they reached the shallower water and were on their feet, they waded in as fast as they could, Rafe carrying Toby in his arms. Toby saw his mom, his tail wagging ninety miles an hour.
On shore, Sebastian handed out robes to Edward, Aidan, and Rafe, while Jade hugged Toby. He squirmed and licked her face all over.
“The other wolves?” Rafe asked, wrapping his arm around Jade and Toby.
“As soon as they were leaderless, they took off,” Sebastian said. “Beta wolves. They knew what we’d do to them if they’d hung around.”
“Kenneth?” Jade asked.
“Shark bait,” Rafe said.
Jade swallowed hard, her eyes filling with tears.
Rafe kissed her and gave her a comforting squeeze.
She scolded Toby then. “No…going…out, Toby, by yourself as a wolf or as a little boy. Ever. Do you understand?”
He nuzzled his face against her throat, and she hugged him tighter.
Rafe couldn’t believe it had all ended well, though he saw Edward limping a little.
“Are you okay?” Rafe asked him.
“Yeah, hell, my back was turned when a second wolf attacked. But I got him back.”
“Good. In the morning, I want heightened security so one small wolf can’t slip out and give us all heart attacks again,” Rafe said.
“Be on it first thing tomorrow,” Edward said. “I think I lost years off my life when I saw Aidan being pulled out to sea with Toby, and no sign of Jade or you. The man who was supposed to come to add the alarms on the doors will be here tomorrow.”
Rafe couldn’t be too angry with Toby, he had to remind himself. He glanced at Aidan, who was smirking at him.
“Brings back memories, eh, Rafe?”
“Don’t…mention it.”
“Sounds like a story
we need to hear,” Sebastian said, smiling.
“Not in front of Toby,” Jade warned.
The men all laughed.
After Jade gave Toby a bath, Aidan watched over him while she and Rafe took turns showering. Then she went to fetch Toby, expecting a wolf and finding her little boy. She said good night to Aidan, and took Toby to her and Rafe’s bed. They were worried he’d been too traumatized by what had happened to sleep alone.
“Why did you leave the house and run outside on the beach when we said it wasn’t safe to do that, Toby?” Rafe asked as they all curled up in bed. If they knew why he had done it, maybe they could ensure he didn’t again.
“Mommy said I couldn’t shift because of the new moon phase. But she said if I could shift, I was allowed to as long as I stayed in the house.”
“Okay, so why didn’t you stay in the house?” Rafe asked, still wondering how the hell Toby had shifted. Was it because his grandfather on his father’s side was a wolf? Maybe also because he was so young when the change took place.
Toby let out his breath as if he was totally frustrated that Rafe didn’t get what he was trying to say. “Mommy said I couldn’t shift because it was the new moon. But I felt like shifting.”
“So what happened to staying in the house?” Rafe asked again, sure Toby was missing the whole point.
“Mommy was wrong about it being the new moon ’cuz I shifted. I went outside to see if I could find the sliver of the moon and couldn’t. So I thought if I went to the beach, I could see it from there. Then I was gonna tell Mommy we got the wrong calendar.”
Jade groaned. “It’s the right calendar, Toby. I thought you couldn’t shift during the phase of the new moon. It doesn’t matter when you shift. You still can’t go outside unless one of us tells you that you can go, and only if one of us is with you like Rafe or your Uncle Aidan—”
“And Uncle Sebastian and Uncle Edward,” Toby said.
“Right. You have to have adult supervision at all times, Toby. You see what happened tonight?” Jade asked.
“Yeah. Uncle Kenneth was being mean to you. I knew he wasn’t just playing.”
“Neither was I,” Jade said.
“Neither was I,” Toby parroted. “Maynard grabbed me ’cuz he said Uncle Kenneth wasn’t through with me. Said he was gonna fix you ’cuz you ruined everything. Then I howled and Maynard dropped me and threw off his clothes. He turned into a wolf ’cuz he heard Daddy coming.”
Rafe wanted to tell Toby that he should have gone back inside the house when the fighting began on the beach. He didn’t want Toby in that kind of danger. But that was their heritage, their calling. They learned to play fight for real fights in the future. “Next time a bunch of adult wolves get in a fight, you find a safe place to stay. When you’re much bigger, you can help out.”
“That’s what Uncle Aidan said.”
“He was right. Your mommy wanted you to go back to the house where you would have been safe. She was so worried about you.”
Toby’s brows rose. “I was worried about Mommy. I couldn’t see her in the ocean.”
“Okay, but if there’s another fight where adult wolves are tearing into each other, you just stay out of it.”
“Unless Mommy needs my help.”
“We both love you and we don’t want anyone to hurt you,” Rafe said. “You should have gone back inside while all that fighting was going on.”
“Someone had to help my mommy,” Toby said, his chin up.
Rafe smiled and shook his head. It was an inborn trait and Toby was definitely an alpha.
But the business of attacking full-grown wolves… Hell, Rafe remembered once when he and his brother had protected their mother from a male wolf, and they weren’t much older than Toby. They’d made such a ruckus that their dad had arrived to take care of the rogue wolf.
Rafe and Jade sighed and cuddled Toby between them. But they had a new worry—him shifting when they didn’t believe he could.
* * *
The next morning, Aidan told them the news about a body washed up on shore while Edward took Toby for a swim in the pool.
“Some early-morning beach walkers found Kenneth’s body on the shore five miles from us. Naked, chewed on, no ID. They ran a sketch to see if anyone could identify him, and it was him. So I’d say that was the end of that,” Aidan said. “I guess it’s okay to release Lizzie and let her get on with her life?”
“Yeah, go ahead,” Jade said, so relieved that Kenneth was no longer a problem to any of them after she could have lost her son, Rafe, and Aidan last night.
“What about the honeymoon?” Aidan asked.
“You don’t have to go with us, if you don’t want,” Jade said, not wanting him to feel obligated. She’d assumed he was going because they had been worried about Kenneth catching up to them.
They were taking Toby to run in the wilderness, away from humans, so he could enjoy being a pup. So it was a different sort of honeymoon. They’d have to take bodyguards in case they ran into trouble, but Aidan and Sebastian had wanted to go along too. Both she and Rafe had been surprised because up until now, from what Rafe had told her about his brother, Aidan had been working on his research around the clock.
But once she and Toby had come into their lives, Aidan had seemed to realize there was more to life than his work.
She hadn’t just gained a mate and father for Toby, but a pseudo pack of sorts. And she loved them as much as they seemed to enjoy having Toby and her around.
“I haven’t been hiking and camping in forever. Besides, you might need a doctor with you. You never know,” Aidan said, not to be dissuaded.
Sebastian joined them and asked, “Are we talking about our honeymoon?” He smiled.
“Yes,” Rafe said. “Is everyone packed and ready to go?”
“Since you began talking about wanting to do this,” Sebastian said, ruffling Toby’s hair, “no way do I want to be left behind.”
She could tell that not only was Toby excited about the prospect of playing with other kids his age in the Cunningham pack in Montana and going camping, but so was everyone else. She’d never considered having a honeymoon. Few wolves did anything traditionally—not weddings or marriages, and that included honeymoons. Having a newly turned son and a billionaire husband made going to the usual resorts impossible, if they wanted to keep a low profile.
So she was excited to be doing this too. She’d camped when she was growing up, but it still had been some years ago. And with such a fun group, she knew they’d have an unforgettable experience.
Then a man dropped by with the boxes of Jade’s and Toby’s possessions from her brother’s house. When they got back from their trip, she’d unpack the boxes and give Rafe his Daddy’s Day card a little late. Right now, they had to pack for their trip and she couldn’t have been more thrilled.
* * *
Early the next morning, Edward, Hugh, Aidan, and Sebastian flew with them to Montana in the private jet filled with camping gear and nonperishable food. On the first part of the journey, they stayed with the Cunningham wolf pack and Toby was able to shift and play with a number of wolf kids his age and a little older. The adults had a ribs-and-chicken barbecue pack gathering, and everyone told them where the best trails were for their hike, where grizzlies had been spotted, and the perfect spots for camping. The pack even offered a vehicle for the trip.
“Any news on your research?” Paul Cunningham, the SEAL wolf who was the pack leader, asked Aidan.
“Nope, and truly? I don’t expect a whole lot any time soon.”
Lori Cunningham, Paul’s mate and coleader, joined Jade as she watched Toby playing as a wolf with the others. “Your son is so cute. How’s he doing with his shifting?”
“It comes and goes. We think he’s fine, then suddenly, he’s yanking off his clothes to shift.”
“It’ll get better with time, and his age makes it easier. Our friends Michael and Tessa had a grandparent who was a wolf, so it took them a little lo
nger to get the shifting under control around the full moon. But they’re doing fine now. It might be like learning a language for children—the younger they are, the easier to pick it up.”
“I sure hope so. But I’m glad, no matter what, that he’s one of us. He loves being a wolf and it’s like he has always been one. Though, he’s needed this too—time to play with children around his age.”
Edward was being his usual bodyguard self as he ran interference when bigger wolves tried to tackle Toby in a game of tag.
Lori laughed. “You’ve got a great pack, Jade. I can tell they mean the world to Toby.”
“Me too. They’re truly family.” Though she didn’t correct Lori’s assumption that they were a pack.
“If you and Rafe ever want to take a honeymoon just by yourselves, feel free to bring Toby and his nanny here.”
“That would be fun.” But after just getting Toby back, Jade didn’t think she could leave him out of her sight anytime soon.
After two days of visiting with the Cunningham pack and speaking to some women who were interested in relocating to California to help Jade with her designs, they were off in a vehicle the Cunninghams loaned them, ready for their next adventure.
* * *
Rafe had been trying to envision what taking a honeymoon would be like with Jade, though he’d thought of a more romantic and intimate interlude. Maybe later, when Toby had been around them long enough, they could leave him for a few days with Aidan and the rest of the gang. Rafe knew they’d have fun, but Toby was still a little tyke, and he needed his mother too.
They carried all their gear on their hike, stopping long enough for Toby to strip out of his clothes and run as a wolf. When he was tired, one of the men carried him. Five days of hiking into the wilderness, seeing all kinds of sights, and just enjoying being with Jade in this way meant the world to Rafe. He’d even grown closer to the men who worked for him and to his brother, as if they were kids again. He enjoyed seeing Jade happy as she witnessed her son having so much fun as a wolf pup, just as he and Aidan had when they were little.
At their final destination, they set up camp near a river, and then they all stripped, shifted, and ran as wolves along the riverbank.