17 - A Hard Days Night Searcher.doc by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

by four of
    Dev's brothers. Lots more. Within a few minutes, the whole room looked like a funeral
    parlor.
     
    As soon as they had the flowers stacked around the bed and dresser, all the guys left
    except for Dev and his younger brother Serre.
    Serre shook his blond head as he paused by the foot of the bed to stare at Wren.
    "Man, Wren. I'm impressed. No woman ever sent flowers to thank me."
    Dev snorted. "Don't be that impressed. I'm thinking she didn't send flowers to thank
    him. One flower says thank you. This many says she thought he was dead. Or that she
    killed him." Dev glanced about speculatively. "Hmm… I'm thinking, put a tiger in her tank
    and that didn't quite rev her up. What she needs is to go hunting for bear."
    Wren lunged at Dev, but before he could catch the bear, Serre pulled his brother back
    out of range.
    "Knock it off, Dev. You definitely don't want to come between the tiger and this
    woman."
    "Why not?"
    Wren rose into striking position on the bed. This time, he wouldn't miss.
    "That'swhy," Serre snapped. He shoved Dev out the door, then turned back to Wren.
    "Go on and rest, tiger. We've got your back."
    Wren settled back on his bed as Serre shut the door. Even so, Wren could still hear
    them out in the hallway.
    "Good God, Dev. Have you completely lost your mind? Don't tease the psychotic
    tiger. He's getting all angry and frothing at the mouth. Someone's going to think he's rabid."
    Dev scoffed, "Yeah, but teasing him is like throwing meat at Kyle. It's highly
    entertaining."
    Serre made a disgusted noise. "Yeah, and I wish you'd stop throwing meat at poor
    Kyle in the bar. He can't control himself with that. Next thing you know, he's shifted into a
    bear,Mamanis having a fit, and all of us are left to control the crowd and keep them from
     
    remembering that they just saw a kid become an animal. It's a pain in our collective asses."
    "Yeah, but I can't help myself."
    Wren heard Serre growl threateningly at his older brother. "You know if you don't learn
    to, Papa's going to kill you one day."
    "But until that day comes, I'm going to have a lot more fun with the whole lot of you."
    Serre sighed. "Until then, do us all a favor, and lay off the tiger. I know you've done
    everything on two legs… then again, you've done most everything on four, but this girl is
    different where Wren is concerned. For once, turn the libido off and go after one of your
    usual lays."
    "What are you? Insane? I'm not interested in Ms. Preppy Uptight Sloan Ranger. Jeez.
    I'd get khaki between my teeth. Can you imagine? I've never been in khaki and I never want
    to see a woman out of it. It scares me."
    Their voices drifted out of hearing range. Wren collapsed back on the bed, relieved to
    know Dev was just being his usual asshole self and didn't really have any ambitions toward
    Maggie. That alone had saved his life.
    Then again, Wren shouldn't have any ambitions toward Maggie, either. What was it
    about her?
    Not that it mattered. He wasn't going to see her again. He might be crazy, but he wasn't
    suicidal. Nothing good could come of him spending time with a human. Nothing.
    As soon as she was out of her last law class, Marguerite headed back to the French
    Quarter. She'd blown off her study group for the afternoon in lieu of going to see Wren.
    She really wanted to give him a proper thank-you face-to-face for saving her.
    It was the least she could do.
    By the time she reached Sanctuary, it was just after six in the evening and already dark
     
    outside. Glancing around the dim interior of the bar, she saw a tall, dark-haired man who
    was bussing the tables. Not particularly attractive, he had stringy hair and was marked all
    over his body with colorful tattoos.
    As she continued to look around the thin crowd, she couldn't find a single trace of
    Wren, but she did spot the waitress from the night before, who was walking over to a table
    with a tray loaded with drinks.
    Marguerite headed over to her as the woman