Tuesday Teaser 8/28/18 Gina’s Wolf Part 24

Only a few days until September! In a way, September is my favorite month. It’s like a fresh start, with hot weather winding down and cool weather coming. Today is in fact downright cold. (I love it, of course!) It is 60 degrees right now, which is something like 16 in celsius. and the low is expected to be 47 (8c). But it will warm back up before the weekend.

Mommy kitty Sammie stashed her baby somewhere and we can’t get to him. I hope he’s in the back corner of the garage, under a graveyard of old furniture, planks, extra siding, etc. My brother said he would help me clean that out and see if Cleo is back there, but he hasn’t done it yet. Maybe tomorrow. The baby is probably just fine, but I need to see him.

One thing I DON’T like about this time of year is the allergies. Torture. I ran out of my zyrtec over the weekend and since my car is once again in the sop I haven’t been able to get more. Boy, I can tell I haven’t had any. My eyes water constantly, I cough, I sneeze. I blow my nose twice a minute! Man. This makes me realize how well the Zyrtec works! I had planned to write a little more tonight to get to a good ending place for the snip, but I am exhausted. Who knew allergies could wear a person out so much? So you are getting a very rough piece here. I hope you can enjoy it.

OK, enough whining. On with Gina’s Wolf.

She squirmed to step back. Reluctantly, he dropped his arms. “No, I’m alright.” She turned to his father. “Thank you,” she said fervently.

His dad lifted one brow with a smile. “For what?”

“Not letting them take me back.” She hesitated for a moment before continuing. “And calling me your daughter.”

The smile faded from his dad’s face. “You don’t need to thank me for that. Whether you ever accept my son’s mate claim or not, you are part of our Clan now. We will never let harm come to our women.”

Cole blinked. “She did accept me. You heard her.”

“Did she?” His dad’s eyebrow went up again. He looked inquiringly at Gina. “Did you accept my son’s mate claim?”

Gina’s face closed. A hint of uncertainty clouded her eyes as she looked from his father to him. What did she see on his face? She was going to deny him. Cole’s heart sank in his chest. The moment stretched until he was sure he would break.

She took a deep breath, her eyes suddenly clear and sharp. “Yes. Yes, I did just accept Cole.”

Chapter Nine

Gina closed her mouth, cold rushing through her. What had she just said? One look at Cole’s face showed her pure joy. His dad was smiling too, a quieter smile of pride and happiness. She stared, frozen, for the second it took her heart to beat once before Cole grabbed her and squeezed her hard against him.

“Gina,” he muttered into her hair. “Darling.”

Gina clutched his shoulders, not sure if she wanted to pull him closer or push him away. Why did you agree to accept him? she silently screamed at herself. It was too soon for her to make a decision that would change her entire life. She hadn’t known him very long. But … Gina caught her breath and let it out in a long sigh. It felt somehow right. She loved the way he held her. She loved his joy. No one had ever looked at her like that.

“Do you want to get married?” Cole asked eagerly, pulling away a few inches to look down into her face. “I mean, do you want a church wedding by a priest or would you like Mayor McGrath to perform the ceremony? Or would you rather skip any ceremony and just be my mate?”

There was a half-hidden note of dismay in his voice when he said the last bit. Gina looked up at him with the sudden realization that he wanted a formal ceremony. A formal wedding meant they were tied together for life. She couldn’t just leave him to be with another man if she found someone she wanted more. The wariness in his face melted her.

“I want a ceremony,” she said firmly. “But not, er, maybe not right now.” She glanced at Mayor McGrath helplessly.

The mayor gave her a boyish smile. “I’d be happy to do the honors. However,” he added, looking at Cole’s dad, “I do have a few pressing matters on my plate at the moment.”

Her stepfather. Gina’s shoulders sagged. Cole nudged her chin up to look into her eyes. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “We’ll take care of it.”

Could they? Gina wanted to believe it.

“I’ll send you back to the den by Kearney where you’ll be safe,” he continued. “Dad, we need to send mom, Patia, and Gina home on the next train and call for reinforcements from the Clan.”

Gina laid her hand over his mouth. By the way his eyes flared wide, she must have shocked him. “No,” she said clearly. “Remember what happened last time we tried that?”

His eyebrows dove down, and he briefly touched his head where he’d been shot, so she thought he got her point. He took removed her hand from his mouth with a gentle grip on her wrist. “It will be safe this time,” he insisted.

“No, it won’t,” she told him. “By now he already has people out watching every road, the rails, the river, and everywhere else.”

Cole’s dad laid a warm hand on her shoulder. “She’s right, son. For better or worse, we are in Omaha until this is over.” He must have known who she meant when she said ‘he’. “Our women are safer behind the walls of Omaha.”

McGrath cleared his voice. “Reinforcements would be welcome.”

Taye nodded. “I’ll send a couple of men out in wolf form. They’ll have a better chance of getting through that way.”

He glanced over his shoulder at the other men of his pack and they nodded. Without a word, three of them slipped out, leaving the man called Stone to come stand next to Taye.

“I’m sorry to intrude on this happy moment.” Mayor McGrath ran a hand over his short hair before meeting her eyes. “Can you give us any information about President Todd and his forces?”

Gina shrugged helplessly. “I’d be happy to, but I don’t know how much help I can be.”

“Anything at all could be useful. Please sit down here.”

Gina accepted the chair vacated by the Captain of the City Guard. Cole, still holding her hand, sat on her left. Her father was on her right, and Stone stood behind her chair. The mayor was opposite her with the elderly judge beside him. The judge held a pen poised over a tablet of paper.

“Go ahead, young lady,” he said encouragingly. “Just tell us anything you can think of. How many men does the President have with him now? How many in his army can he call here? How long would it take for those to arrive here? Go ahead. I’ll write it all down.”

Gina blessed her rebellious nature. Because she knew her stepfather didn’t think women needed to know anything about armies or wars, she had paid special attention to those topics on the infrequent times they came up at the dinner table. She was able to give numbers with some assurance and name the various branches of the Kansas-Missouri army and who commanded which branch. When she mentioned the motorized forward scouts, Cole nodded grimly.

“Motorcycles,” he growled.

“And what about the ladies in the camp?” The mayor sounded apologetic. “Your mother and the other women?”

Taye let out a growl beneath his breath.

The mayor nodded at him. “I don’t like to use women in war, but we are outmanned and outgunned. We’ll use whatever advantage we can.”

“I don’t like it,” Taye said flatly. “I didn’t like it when I heard the President’s women were captured last week, and I don’t like it now. Women deserve to be respected and cherished.”

“They were treated with great respect, and Kansas-Missouri took your women first.” The mayor held up placating hands. “As a last resort only. My word on it.”

Gina cleared her throat. “They’ve probably been sent back to Kansas City. That was the plan when I, er, left.”

The mayor nodded.