Page 13 of Meant for Her
“It is.”
She followed the voice into the kitchen, where her mother was cooking something. Even though the kids had all moved out, Seth and Trevor usually stopped in after work for a meal. It also wasn’t uncommon for a few of the hands to be there too.
“What a surprise, dear. Sit down and I’ll fix you a cup of coffee.”
“Thanks.”
Out of habit, she sat in the chair she always took when growing up. Even though she was the oldest—by three minutes— Seth and Trevor, who were the youngest, were only four years younger than she was. Having two sets of twins in the family had to have been hard to handle, but her mom seemed to have dealt with it with no problem.
Once her mom carried over the two cups of coffee, she sat down. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Can’t I just visit my mom every once in a while?”
“Of course, dear, but I can read your face better than I can a book. Something’s up.”
That was true. “I’m here because I saw and then heard about something disturbing. I wanted to make sure Dad and the boys are aware of it.”
She leaned closer. “Tell me.”
Malia explained about the two shifters who were brought into the hospital yesterday, and how David sent them to Uncle Augustine’s back room so he could extract the bullets. “I don’t know many of the details, but apparently a well-organized group of werewolves stole a large percent of their cows.”
Her mother’s brows pinched. “How sad. And you think they might come here?”
“The Lattimore ranch is in Sheriff Hanson’s jurisdiction, but that doesn’t mean the rustlers can’t just as easily come here.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think they’d succeed. Jeffrey hooked us up with a rather comprehensive monitoring system. Not only that, our fences are all well-taken care of.”
Jeffrey, who owned a security firm, was one of her many cousins. “That’s good to know.”
“Okay, spill. What’s this really about? You know we haven’t had a theft in years.”
“I know. Okay, fine. I want to help the two men find these rustlers, but that’s all.”
“Malia Kathryn Granger. Don’t you dare interfere in something like that. Fighting might not necessarily get your brothers killed, but it will you.”
She held up a hand. “I wasn’t saying I’d interfere. I thought if one of the twins or Uncle Adam knew about these rustlers, I could pass on the information.”
How lucky was it that Tawny’s dad, Adam Granger, was the sheriff of Wildwood?
“And get these men killed the next time?”
“They are werewolves, but no. I was hoping they would tell Sheriff Hanson about what they knew.”
Her mom’s eyes widened. “He’s only a human. What can he do?”
“Are you saying we should turn a blind eye? We can’t let our kind run roughshod over people who don’t deserve it.”
Her mother sipped her coffee. “Why now?”
“What do you mean?” Malia asked.
“As an Emergency Room nurse, you’ve seen unspeakable horrors over the years. Why does this case interest you so much? These men aren’t even in your uncle’s district.”
“When the men were at Uncle Augustine’s, I spoke with Aunt Corrine. She told me about their background. Their father died a few years back. Apparently, he gambled a lot. Too make matters worse, their mother left them when they were around eight or nine.”
“That’s terrible, but why care about these men in particular? I thought you wanted to spend all your spare time studying for your medical entrance exams?”
She wasn’t ready to say these men were her mates. “I am, but I hate to see anyone lose their livelihood.”