Dane laughed and dropped the suitcase with a thunk. “I’ve never actually been here.” He gazed around the entryway. “A bit ostentatious.”
“It echoes. The whole place does. Listen.” She drew in a huge breath. “Dane is an idiot!” They both listened as it bounced along walls.
Her brother nodded. “Nice. It looks like you’ll need more than just a suitcase full of stuff.”
She leaned against the wall. “I feel like Little Orphan Annie…I mean, you saw my last apartment.”
“I don’t think Annie and Daddy Warbucks had this sort of relationship, though, Squeaky. If they did, well, that certainly changes the meaning of some of those songs.”
“What relationship? I’d just told him he wasn’t getting rid of me, no matter how hard he tried, and he’d finally agreed.” Then they made out and he gave her his heart, neither of which she planned on telling her big brother about. “But then he got a phone call, and I got to watch him pack.” She looked down at her feet and swallowed. “How dangerous is this?”
“Your relationship with him? Why? What did he do?”
She looked up, shaking her head. Her brother’s face was full of alarm and a building overprotective anger. “Are you kidding me? I’m up two shoes and nearly a lamp, and he was running scared. No, this trip he’s gone on. I mean…I know he’s big and tough, but…he is coming back, right?” Her voice went soft at the end there.
Dane drew her close and wrapped his arms around her. “Yeah, of course he is. I couldn’t be rid of him as a brother-in-law that easily.”
She laughed into his shirt in embarrassment. “We’re not like that, seriously. I’d just convinced him not to toss me out right away.”
Dane’s arms went stiff around her, and he pulled back and looked down at her with a frown. “Christa, you do know how serious your acceptance of the scent-match is, right?”
“Uhh.”
“If you agree to it, you’re considered married by the pack. In fact, I think just the fact that you stayed here last night and you’re human tipped them off.”
“Married? Like…married?”
“Yeah. In Jordan’s case, he won’t be interested in any other female while you’re alive. And if you try to cheat on him, it’s either banishment or your life is forfeit under pack laws.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “Seriously, if you’re not a hundred percent sure, we need to get you out of here immediately.”
“But you said Jordan wouldn’t…”
“Who cares about Jordan! You’re my sister. If you’re not sure, I’ll send you to Mexico or something. Banishment is only when you have kids with him. Today, tomorrow, next week, they’d kill you if you cheated on him.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her along as he collected her luggage.
She dug in her feet. “Dane!”
“No, you have to be sure. If you’re not sure, we’re getting you out of here.”
“Dane!” She threw all her weight behind staying.
“Don’t make me throw you over my shoulder!”
“Don’t make me go get a lamp! I am sure.”
“You didn’t sound sure. You said you’d only convinced him not to toss you out.”
“Well, I didn’t want to be putting words in his mouth. How pathetic would it sound to make crazy ‘hey, we’re married’ assumptions about a guy you had to threaten into giving you a chance?” Oh boy, there it was. The ugly truth. Hopefully, Dane didn’t notice her voice getting all breathy.
Dane at least stopped dragging her, but he scowled. “You’re sure that you’re sure? Because at first, I wasn’t sure about Vanessa. Well, I was, but I didn’t know that I was sure that I was sure.”
She shook her head. “You know that made no sense, right?”
“Christa!”
“Yes, I’m sure that I’m sure. I was sure as soon as I saw him in the hospital…and it’s not like I’ve dated so many men that I’ll have an ex waltz into my life and want a second chance. By the way, you’re welcome for taking care of Kaylee. She didn’t take the news of your eloping to Reno so well.” Then she stopped and pointed at him. “Wait, so if you and Vanessa are the same way, why’d you get married if I’m already married?” If she focused on him, maybe he’d ease up on poking at her insecurities like this.
He shrugged. “Most Lycans make it official for legal reasons, and I figured you guys would be more accepting of a wolf in the family if we did as many of the normal traditions as we could. I didn’t know you’d be shacking up with an Alpha. There’ll be no way to keep this from Mom and Dad now.”
“I knew Vanessa was one of them.”
Dane laughed. “One of us. You’re pack now. It came up at the meeting.”
“So, are you Alpha with Jordan gone?”
“Yep. So you’re supposed to bow your head in my presence and agree to everything I say.”
She snorted a laugh. “You mean like I did with Jordan?”
“Yeah, I don’t think Vanessa is going to be suddenly submissive, either—and I’m not sure how I’d feel if she was.”
“I don’t think you have any worries there.” She glanced down at her luggage. Everything she needed fit in a suitcase. She had some stuff in a storage locker that their dad had helped fill, but it was really a minuscule amount of things to her name. “You’re sure he feels the same way?” Though what the “same way” constituted, she’d let Dane guess at. At the very least, she hoped Jordan wanted this relationship—when she wasn’t threatening him with a lamp, or had her tongue down his throat.
“Jordan?”
“Yeah. I mean, he would want me to stay and acknowledge this thing between us, right? He’s not hoping I’ll take off for Mexico if he’s gone long enough?”
Dane laughed. “No, I talked to him. I’ve never seen that cocky idiot so struck down. He was on the verge of chasing down a serial killer, and he was worried that you didn’t know he was going to call you when he could. By the way, he called Vanessa because he tried to reach you on this phone, and it was busy. It set off a bit of a panic, and he called her to get your cell phone number. She told me just before I got here. We had a good laugh over how whipped he was.”
Her heart started up again. He’d tried to call me? “Oh, I was working, and my cell phone gets no reception here.”
“He’ll need to get a second line if you’re planning on still working.”
She gasped out an irritated breath. “Of course I am.” There was no way she’d just sit around enjoying Jordan’s money. And she had to work. She had to feel like she could do something—that she could make a difference. Plus, the vets all needed her. No one else had ever needed her like that.
Dane laughed and put an arm around her. “Come on, Squeaky, let’s go sit down, and we can discuss how you’re planning on telling someone as pigheaded as Jordan that you’re going to be calling strange men all day because you enjoy it.”
She kicked him in the back of his leg. “You’re a moron, and stop calling me Squeaky.” It had morphed from “pipsqueak” into Squeaky, and he seemed to enjoy calling her that in front of all her dates. “You’ll make Jordan notice I’m scrawny.” Then a second later, she asked, “He really tried to call me?”
Chapter Seven
The phone was still busy. Dammit. He slammed his Bronco’s door harder than absolutely necessary.
Travis greeted him at the door with his eyebrows raised. The other Alpha was nearly his size, but fair compared to him. He walked the line between his lawful obligations as a cop and his loyalty to his Lycan heritage better than Jordan could ever manage. He’d gained his respect in Glacier pack just for that. Though he wanted to kill Travis now and again for his bizarre sense of humor.
“What have you got so far?” Jordan asked as Travis let him inside. He was going to push himself not to worry or even think about Christa until he’d put in some hours here with the Rainier pack.
“Well, we had Alanna do a rough autopsy. She’s a veterinarian, but we couldn’t risk anyone else seeing it.”
Jordan stopped and turned to him. “So you’ve kept this in the pack—even though you’re with the police?”
Travis met his eyes. “We had to. The last place this particular MO was seen in this area was in the last place I was working—and where three-fourths of my pack was. No one would even look for other suspects.”
While he had a point, Jordan wasn’t convinced they should be looking outside the pack. The strength of the Rainier pack didn’t make them the most obvious victims. Hopefully, if Colby’s death was the work of poachers, they wouldn’t realize this and move on to the closest and much weaker Glacier pack. If it was Colby alone who was the intended victim from the online forum, then someone in the Rainier area sold him out. “Where is the body now?”
“On ice. We put it up in a glacier just in case we needed it later on.”
Jordan nodded. “Have you verified the location of the rest of your pack to make sure no one else is missing?”
Travis gestured toward his computer. “We can do that. Come on.”
“You’ve got them on your computer somehow?” Jordan looked at the screen. Sure enough, there was a map of the area with locations noted and the last check-in time. “How did you manage this?” He’d love to have something like this in his own pack. Even if he didn’t solve this, maybe he’d learn something for his pack’s benefit.
“Chipped everyone.”
Jordan blinked and then turned to him. “What?”
“Microchipped the whole lot of them. I got five of the guys and Alanna to agree and act like it was cool, and the rest followed. It’s the benefit of having a pack still wanting to impress the opposite sex.”
Jordan laughed and shook his head. That’d never work in his pack. Ethan would accuse him of being a communist.
“I know. I thought it would be harder than it was.”
“Is that legal?”
Travis gave him a long look. “Alanna chipped a bunch of wolves. We all got tattoos, too—or, as I like to call them, identifying marks.” He lifted up his sleeve to show an R that somewhat resembled a howling wolf on his bicep. “The ink shows up in both forms—I had the artist put in a special phosphorous mixture.” He reached across and flipped off the light. The tattoo glowed softly.
“I’ll be damned. Are the chips safe?”
“Safer than being murdered and no one knowing? Sure. We found Colby fairly quickly.” He pulled down his shirtsleeve, but left the lights off. “No offense, but I didn’t want the same thing happening in my own pack that happened two years ago. Now I’m thinking maybe I was full of myself for thinking that.” He tilted his head and regarded Jordan curiously. “Speaking of which, who’d you get as acting Alpha?”
“Dane.”
“You’re messing with me.”
Jordan laughed. It might be the only good thing to come of this. “No, I think if I’d had time to think about it—or any of them had been given time to consider it—there’d be no way. As it is, you can’t let anything happen to me or it’s on your head that I’ve got a human leading my pack.” Plus, he’d be leaving this world without making Christa his, but he didn’t mention that out loud. It still felt like a private secret that he had a mate—and he wanted to keep it that way. Especially if Lycans were being hunted again. He wanted Christa to have all the protection of the pack—and with her brother acting as Alpha, she would—but he didn’t want her hunted with the pack.
“That’s…just…” Travis shrugged and shook his head. “He’s good for it, but I don’t think I’d have even thought of it. The pack pressed me to ask for you, but I wondered if you’d be able to leave even as I was asking you.”
“They asked for me?”
Travis slid him a look. “Don’t let it go to your head. They’re hoping you’ll lead them on a hunting party after this is all over—to be proactive and kill the poachers before they even think of killing more of us. I told them I wouldn’t. They sort of don’t like that down at the department.”
Jordan exhaled in a huff. “I wouldn’t, either.” Not with them. He’d planned on hunting them down himself, but that was before Christa came along.
“Yeah, well, they think you’re thirsty for blood. Your legend has grown a bit without you present.”
His thirst for blood was certainly ebbing. He had something to live for and someone to protect, even if it cost his life. Jordan nodded at the screen. “Let’s track down what we can together, and then I’ll leave you holding the bag for their expectations, because I’m not staying away from my pack any longer than this takes.” And he’d be rushing it as fast as he could so he could get back to Christa.
She might not want to know about it, but her being fertile soon would kick his libido into action, and he wanted to be there for that. It was only a four- or five-day window with humans, but it was once a month or so—so there was that to compensate for it not being three to four weeks like it was with Lycans.
“What?” Travis asked.
“What?”
“You were smiling.”
“Just thinking of my pack.” Christa was pack now—as Ethan had pointed out. It wasn’t a lie.
Travis gave him a doubtful look and then pointed to the screen. “You can see when their location last updated. This program lets you look up their last few locations so you can tell if they’ve been moving.” He pointed at his own marker. “The drawback is that it relies on satellite reception. Look at last night’s check-ins for me. I was out most of the night in this area, but it shows gaps where I blip in and out of reception.” He pointed on the map. “I went all the way up here, but it doesn’t show up at all. Apart from that, it’s great.”
“Hmm. This would be dangerous if poachers got a hold of it. They could pick off your Lycans easily.”
“I’m the only one who knows the frequencies, and this computer has got enough security to keep all but the pros out. And they wouldn’t expect a bunch of two-leggeds to be chipped.”
“Sounds like your pack is all about dangerous experiments on humans and animals.”
“I know. Isn’t it great? Come on, you’ve got to meet Alanna. I know you’re determined never to have a mate again, but Alanna would tempt even a monk like you. She’s got the entire pack salivating—literally. I keep hoping she’ll scent-match and put us all out of our misery.”
“Let’s go see what she has to say,” he said carefully. He never expected to have to keep things from Travis, but there was no way Alanna would tempt him as much as whom he had waiting for him—and hopefully sleeping in his bed tonight. He glanced at the clock on the computer. “Is she available right away? We don’t have time to waste.” It was going to be hard not to rush things, a constant fight against his hormones. Lucky for Travis, Jordan probably wouldn’t sleep much. There was that.
“I’ll let her know we’re on our way there.”
Alanna could have been a goddess incarnate, and it wouldn’t have mattered. When she met them in her office, she registered as female on his radar, and that was about it.
“You haven’t met Alanna. She’s new to my pack,” Travis said, unnecessarily. He kept looking between them and sliding closer to the female Lycan.
Alanna bared her teeth in something that was meant to be a smile, but looked too aggressive to be friendly.
He crossed his arms when she took off her lab coat and walked toward him.
She’d removed the lab coat to show him her figure—he knew that, sensed it.
“You did the autopsy,” he said. They should get this over with as fast as they could.
No doubt about it—her grin was predatory, and the way she lowered her eyes halfway was on the feral end of things. “Yes. And while I’ve never seen a victim of the poachers, I’d expected a cleaner kill.” She waited for him to ask questions, a classic way to establish dominance. The more questions you asked, the less control you had. Before he’d met Christa, he would have played her game, batted control around like a ball of yarn between them. It was a way to test future mates.
Now he wanted to be out of here and tracking. He wanted her to provide him the information she had, without the games.
“I’ve seen victims,” he said. “Two female victims, to be precise. One was a former alpha female. She’d been tortured and then her organs removed with clean, exact cuts with what I’m told was a scalpel. She was still alive for the first few cuts. No anesthesia. The second female wasn’t tortured. Her throat was cut before any other incisions were made—it seemed less personal, more detached. Cleanly done. The cuts weren’t jagged with hesitation. Every internal organ was taken—even those not intended for a human host. Now tell me what you know.”
Instead of becoming disinterested, Alanna raised her eyebrows, and the scent of arousal wafted from her. It did nothing for him—other than make him weary of the discussion. “I’m told she was your last alpha female. That you haven’t had an alpha female since then.” Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms, jutting out a hip, challenging him.
Damn. “You’ve heard wrong, but it’s irrelevant, and I’m anxious to start tracking a murderer. Now, tell me what you’ve discovered, because it would be a shame if another Lycan died while we were chatting about my love life.”
That did it. Alanna’s back went ramrod straight, and she shot a glance at Travis, who was, in turn, looking at Jordan speculatively. “The cuts weren’t as you described. There were hesitation marks. Plus, Colby was killed by an injection long before he was cut open—an injection that might have rendered some of the organs tainted.”
“You ran tests?”
“No, I couldn’t without drawing attention, but the scent was one I recognized from putting down animals. Also, the bladder, spleen, and a portion of the liver were left behind.”
“How long had he been dead?”
“Maybe two days, but at least enough hours that the organs would be useless.”
“You chipped everyone. Explain how it wasn’t discovered sooner.”
Travis answered, “Something was blocking the chip—had to be. Colby liked to go camping and was known to fall off the grid for a few days. Suddenly, he was back three days ago, but he stayed in the same place for far too long, so I sent others to check on him.”
This Weakness For You (Entangled Select Otherworld) (Taming the Pack) Page 10
