Of Wolves and Oranges

Chapter 8: Jaco

She walks beside me as though she is on autopilot. I pull her to my side, my hand gentle over her shoulder. My wolf is still unstable after the attack and needs human contact. He needs physical touch with his mate.  She doesn't fight me and relaxes into my side. I lift her into the back seat of my truck and climb in next to her, pulling her onto my lap. She rests her head against my shoulder and sighs.

As we pull off from the busy police station she starts awake and looks at me. "What about my car? And my stuff. Everything is still on the side of the road!"

I stroke her hair, "It's ok, Golf. We have organised a mechanic to pick up your car, once the police are finished with it. And Max went and collected all your things whilst I was making my statement."

The statements had taken longer than expected because between us and Detective Jake Cashazi, we had to come up with a plausible story for the death of Shakes Naidoo. Luckily, the police force of Empangeni is run by shifters, mainly felines, so they are adept at making things disappear. Jake is an old family friend and brother to our alpha's mate, so he's on our side.

Golf turns to me again. "Where are we going? I should call Owen and tell him what happened. Could you drop me off at his place?"

"Its ok, Golfie. We're taking you home with us to our Ma's house, on the farm. She is expecting us for lunch and you could do with a sleep. "

She nods, "I do need to sleep, I was up all night, delivering babies. I hope your mother wont mind if I impose. But Ford, I do need to phone Owen, he's expecting me."

I allow her to pull away and dig in her bag for her phone. She holds it awkwardly in her left hand and dials her friends number. "Hi, Owen."

"Heya Lizzy. Did you make it to my place? Did you find the key?"

"Um, no Owen, listen I was involved in a bit of an accident."

"Shit, are you OK? Where are you now?"

"I'm fine, a bit battered and bruised, but fine. I'm on the way to my, um, friend's house. Can I meet up with you later?"

"Lizzy, listen, a guy has just been bought in with bilateral femur fractures and a fractured pelvis. Im going to be in theatre all day with him, so yeah, tonight will be best. I was going to take you to that party. Can I text you the address and we can meet up there? I still need to sort out the blow-up matrass youll be using at my place."

I growl, a blow-up matrass, the nerve. I snatch the phone from Golfs hand.

"Hi, Owen, this is Jaco, Elizabeths friend. Just to let you know that she'll be spending the weekend at my place. She's pretty traumatised by the crash and I think she just needs a safe, comfortable place to stay this weekend."

There is a pause on the other end, "Ok, fine. Awesome, it means I can play my game of golf tomorrow afternoon. Thanks a million man. Hopefully I'll make it tonight but if not, tell Lizzy I hope she feels better soon." I glance at her forlorn face and realise she must have heard. She drove three hours to see this guy to be dropped for a golf game. I pull her closer and kiss the top of her head, he won't hurt her again. I hear Max's growl from the front seat and realise he has heard it all as well. Max is the quiet, watchful wolf in the family and although slow to act it seems as if her has also decided where his loyalties lie.