Tuesday Teaser 2/5/19: Gina’s Wolf Part 34

I’m sorry to say it is still winter in Fargo, ND. Winter is just about guaranteed to hang on through March and most of April, so I have no reason to be depressed, but I am. It was warm(ish) over the weekend, so I had planned to drive up to Winnipeg with a friend. We didn’t get far before we saw cars in the ditch and we started sliding a bit. We decided to abandon our plans. I feel like a need a break. More snow starting tomorrow through Thursday, and then brutally cold temps again. So no break in sight.

Imagine living in this weather with no central heat or electricity. No thank you! Not without a warm, loving wolf warrior who would die to keep me warm and comfortable 🙂
Remind me of this when it is 85 with high humidity, okay?

Here is the snip for this week. It hasn’t been proof read for typos and errors so be kind 🙂

“The president has one of your people in his custody. He offers a trade. Send out his daughter and he will release your man.”

Gina’s hands clenched. This was what she’d been afraid of from the minute Patia had woke her. Her breath went out of her. leaving her cold and light headed.

“And who would that be?” the mayor boomed. “Is that him, held up by two of your men? I can’t tell, as my eyes aren’t what they were. Let him come right up so we can get a good look.”

“I want to see,” Gina hissed.

The two broad backs in front of her tensed, and after a minute, they parted a few inches so she could peer between their shoulders.

“Can I get  closer?” she asked.

Another pause, before Sky and Taye moved closer to the edge. She stuck to them like a burr, one hand on each of their shoulders. She took a deep breath and stood on tiptoes to look over the parapet. Three figures walked toward the wall. Well, two were walking. One was stumbling between the other two, held by his arms. He was naked except for a blue cloth tied around his hips. His head drooped, his black hair hanging over his eyes, but Gina recognized him.

“Cole,” she whispered.

She didn’t see any blood on him, but the way he weaved on his feet said he wasn’t well. What had Todd done to him? He lifted his head and squinted up at the wall. There were no bruises on his face, but even at a distance of twelve feet she could see that his face was slack, his eyes unfocused.

A signal must have been given, because the two men dragged Cole back.

“Alright,” shouted the Kansas-Missouri man. “You’ve seen him. Send Miss Todd out and we’ll release your man. Do we have a deal?”

“Yes,” Gina shouted.

But her voice cracked in the middle of it and turned to a croak. Taye didn’t glance over his shoulder at her as he said, “No,” quietly but very, very firmly.

Her hand clenched on his shoulder. “I have to. You don’t know what they’ll do to him.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said.

He and Sky stepped backwards, forcing her to back up too. Carla grabbed her arm again. “Did you see him?”

“Yeah. He looks okay. Not hurt. Just sort of unfocused, like he’s been drugged.”

Carla’s eyebrows pinched together, digging the groove between them deeper. She glanced at her husband, but he was still facing away from them, looking out over the wall.

“Taye,” Gina said, but he held a hand up and tilted his head toward McGrath.

The mayor called, “We need some time to discuss this. Come back tomorrow.”

“No. You have one hour.”

The mayor turned away and went down the steps to the city. Sky followed him. Taye waved Carla and Gina to go next. Gina hurried down the stairs, preparing her arguments. Taye didn’t give her a chance to make them. As soon as they were on the ground, he put his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him.

“No, Gina. Do you think Colby would want to have his life at the cost of yours?”

She ignored Mayor McGrath, who had turned to them. “They won’t kill me,” she said.

“You are my daughter, my son’s mate, and a woman of my Pack. It is for me to keep you safe.”

“But―”

Taye remained gentle but firm. “No.” He looked over her shoulder at McGrath. “The answer is no. We will make no trade.”

The mayor was sober faced. “Are you sure? He’s your son.”

“Colby would rather die than have his mate returned to a man who doesn’t treat her with the respect and honor she deserves. I will protect her while he can’t.”

Gina opened her mouth to scream at him, but Carla caught her arm with a sad smile. Gina drew a breath and changed tactics. “Please,” she begged Taye. “We can’t just leave Cole with them.”

He patted her shoulder. “We won’t. We’ll get him back.”

“How?”

He exchanged a glance with Sky. “I don’t know yet, but we will.”

Sky escorted Carla and Gina back to the Limit and then left, probably to rejoin Taye and McGrath. A few of the men from the pack remained at the house as guards but most were gone to carry out the duties assigned them. Gina sat in the dining room, counting the minutes and then the hours, waiting for Taye to come and tell her his plan to get Cole back.

Carla sat at the table with Gina, mending a pair of jeans. Tension showed in the way she yanked the thread through the fabric with increasing jerkiness. Patia repeatedly asked to be taken to the hospital, but Running Fax, the man left in charge at the house, refused to let her leave. Rose somehow managed to look both serene and concerned while doing knitting a sock. Gina was sure she herself looked like she was ready to punch something, which was exactly how she felt. With no handwork to keep herself busy, she drummed her fingers on the table.

Lunchtime came and went with still no word. Finally, Carla held her mending up, showing a pair of jeans with a knife sheath now neatly attached to the inside.

“For you,” she said, tossing them to Gina. “Let’s all go out to the patio and practice our knife work. You too, Patia.”

It was good to be moving in the chilly air.  Gina wasn’t nearly as smooth and confident with her blade as Rose, Carla and Patia, but she knew she was better than the first time she had picked up a knife. Wouldn’t her stepfather be surprised by her increasing proficiency? Surprised? She snorted. More like horrified. She bared her teeth in a smile at the thought.

Her body slowed as a new thought came to her. She knew how to set Cole free. All she needed to do was get out of Omaha and into her stepfather’s camp.