He had a soft southern drawl. Typical for people around this part of Virginia. It reminded Dana of growing up here. There was something soothing about the accent. Familiar. Safe.
She put her hand in his.
His grip was firm. He shook her hand once, firmly, but not forcefully. He gazed deep into her eyes.
Oh god. He had the same dark eyes as Cole did. She felt as if she was being tugged down into them.
She blinked. Geez. She pulled her hand back, shaken. “You’re Cole’s father,” she said, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them.
Jimmy’s smile widened. “Guess he didn’t tell you about me.”
“He and I aren’t really… close,” said Dana.
Jimmy threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, Dana—I can call you Dana, right? I can smell him on you.”
Dana took a step away from him, shaking her head. “That’s… I haven’t seen him in…”
“I can always smell where that boy’s been,” said Jimmy. “Anyway, that’s not why you’re here, is it?”
She cleared her throat. “Um, no, not exactly. I wasn’t expecting this to have anything to do with Cole.”
“Surprised you, then?” Jimmy wandered over to his desk. He sat down, leaned back, and propped his legs up. He was wearing cowboy boots.
“Yes.”
“Sit down.” He pointed at the chair she’d gotten out of. “I try my best not to be surprised. I like to be prepared when I can.”
She sat down. She looked back at Rhoda, who was still hovering just inside the doorway. “Well, the thing is, I’m an alpha without a mate, and I want to dissolve the bond if at all possible.”
Jimmy drew in a thoughtful breath. “He left you unmated, did he? That boy is so predictable. He should know better, really.”
Dana drew herself up. “It really has nothing to do with Cole. I don’t see him anymore, and as soon as he’s captured, he’ll be locked up for the rest of his life. He’s a murderer, you know.”
“I believe you,” said Jimmy. “It’s got nothing to do with him.” He put his feet down on the floor and sat up. “No, the reason you’re here is because of the Sullivan Foundation.”
How did he know that? Dana forced a laugh. “Well, why would you think—”
“I know who you are, Dana Gray. I read all about you in the newspapers. You’re the hero wolf tracker who brought in Cole Randall after he kept you locked up in his basement.”
Dana swallowed. “It’s true that I work for the SF, but I’m not here because of that.”
“Sure you are,” he said. “They been coming by here, sticking their noses into things that aren’t their business. Your presence here is basically just threatening.”
“No, no,” said Dana. “Really, I’m gathering information.”
“You admit you’re here to investigate us?”
She didn’t answer.
“You might as well admit it,” he said. “Because I happen to know that it’s true. And I don’t like it when people lie to me. I really don’t. I feel like, here on this earth, we’re all one big family, you know. And when we lie to each other and we treat other with suspicion, well, it’s downright sad is what it is. It’s the problem that we have on this planet. If we all tried to be nice to each other, to treat each other with respect, then we wouldn’t have half of the problems we do in this world.”
“That may be so.”
“Well, then, you tell me the truth, Dana. You’re here to investigate us, aren’t you?”
“Sort of,” she said.
He raised his eyebrows.
“I heard about you from Mabel Smith in Lancaster. She said you might be able to help with my pack problem. She said you had an alternate approach to packs. I planned to come here on my own, but the southern SF branch did ask me to do a little digging while I was here. It’s nothing to be frightened of, though.”
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “They’ve made threats before. Not directly to my face, but to my women.”
His women, huh? Dana’s lip curled.
“You’re offended by that,” said Jimmy.
“I’m not offended by anything,” she said.
“You don’t think that it’s appropriate that I have more than one mate.”
She really didn’t, but she didn’t want to offend him. “No, I never said that.”
“You’re lying to me again, Dana. I just got through talking to you about lying, and you keep doing it. You know how that makes me feel?”
She shook her head.
“Well, not good.” He leaned across the desk, gazing at her with his dark eyes. “It makes me feel like you don’t respect me. It makes me feel like you don’t want to work with me. And it kind of hurts me, frankly. We barely know each other, but in the brief time that we’ve been acquainted, I’ve made it clear to you that I don’t being lied to.” He shook his head sadly. “And yet, you’re doing it again.”
The drawl of his voice was soothing. She felt sorry for him, she realized. She felt guilty for hurting his feelings. She looked away, ashamed. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right. But tell me the truth, please.”
“I guess I don’t really approve of one man and a lot of women. It doesn’t seem fair to the women.”
“No one’s saying that you have to do it.” Jimmy smiled. “Looking at you, I can see that you’re the kind of woman who would take a lot of energy. Cole only likes that kind.”
Dana flinched. Why did he keep bringing up Cole? What did he know about her relationship with Cole?
Relationship? Why had she thought that word? She didn’t have anything like that with Cole.
“The women who come here come of their own free will. Isn’t that right, Rhoda?” said Jimmy.
Rhoda nodded. “Oh yes.” She beamed at Jimmy.
He winked at her. Then he turned back to Dana. “They know the score before they sign on. It’s their choice. You wouldn’t want to take choice away from a woman, now would you?”
“Well, no.”
“And you haven’t ever experienced it, so you don’t know what it’s like.”
“I don’t have to experience it to know that—”
“That it’s not for you?” He shrugged. “Fine. No one’s saying you have to do it. But by the same token, you can’t speak for my women either.”
“I guess so.” She was trying to remember what her objections were to the arrangement, but she felt a little confused now.
“Well, good then,” he said. “Now back to the matter with the SF.”
“There’s no matter,” said Dana. “Listen, their biggest concern is always the safety of the surrounding community. I’ve become a liaison for packs that don’t want to go through the SF’s training. All I need to understand is how things work here when it comes to shifting.”
“Oh, that’s all?”
“Yeah, that’s it. In a typical pack, there’s an alpha male and an alpha female. They keep their offspring from shifting at the full moon, and they keep everyone safe. Um, since your pack isn’t typical, I need to understand how it works. But obviously, you’ve got some sort of system in place, because otherwise, every full moon, there would be attacks around here. And there aren’t.”
“So, if I tell you that I keep all the members of the Pack from shifting, then you think that the SF will back off.” He didn’t sound convinced.
“I’m sure of it.”
He smiled, but it was a sad smile. “You’re very naive, Dana. Or maybe things work differently up north. But there’s no way that Isaac Harrison is going to let us alone.”
So, Jimmy knew the name of the head of the southern branch. That was interesting. “You and Isaac have met?”
“I know who he is,” said Jimmy. “I know all about him. Trust me when I say he’s intent on tearing this whole place down and forcing all of us into custody at the SF.”
“I know it might seem that way, given the SF’s track record,” said Dana. “I know t
hat in the past, that’s exactly what they did. They rounded up all the wolves they could find and imprisoned them, breaking up family ties, destroying packs. But the SF didn’t know what they were doing back then. And we know now, so we aren’t going to do that.”
“I believe you.” He clasped his hands together and set them on top of the desk. “I believe that you would do your best to make sure nothing like that happened. But I don’t believe that you know Isaac Harrison very well.”
“It’s not going to be Harrison’s decision,” said Dana. “I have ties with the higher-ups in the organization, and I can protect you and your pack. But you still haven’t explained to me how exactly things work around here.”
“At a full moon?” he said. “I think I did. This is my pack. When they change, I change ‘em back. All of ‘em.”
“But you say you have more than one mate. They can’t all be the alpha. Are you mated to one of your wives?”
“That would hardly be fair, now would it? Some of the women might get jealous.”
“So, they’re all betas, then,” said Dana. “Every one of the women that you mate with is also subjugated to you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Subjugated.”
“Yes.” Dana found that her confusion from earlier was starting to lift. “You said you wanted me to be honest with you about my feelings on what you do? Well, I don’t think it’s right for a group of grown women to be treated like children. That’s what beta wolves are. Children. And I have a group of grown people tied to me that way, and I don’t want it either. But you really don’t have any idea how to undo that, do you?”
He cradled his head with his hands, leaning back in his chair. “Breaking the bonds with your pack? Well, you could allow someone to make you a beta.”
That would work, wouldn’t it? “But then I’d be part of someone else’s pack.”
“You would,” he said.
Dana laughed a little. “I’ll never be free of this, will I? Now that this has started, I can only change my role within the wolf pack structure. I can’t not be in a pack.”
“I really don’t know if you can or not. You wanted my thoughts on it, that’s all I have.” He sighed. “But in regards to what you said before about my women being treated like children. I can’t let that stand without addressing it.”
She squared her shoulders. “All right.”
“It isn’t true,” he said. “The women here came of their own free will, and they became part of the Pack of their own free will. And if any should ever decide to leave, they could do so.”
“But you’d always have power over them,” said Dana. “You could call them. Force them to shift.”
“They knew that going in,” he said.
“Right,” she said. “So, why’d they pick you? You that great in bed?”
He chuckled. “I’m not going to discuss anything like that. I don’t consider those kinds of discussions very polite. What happens in my bedroom is my own business, just as what happens in your own is yours. Can we agree on that?”
“I suppose,” said Dana.
“It really isn’t about me,” said Jimmy. “Not about my physical nature, at any rate. It’s about something that flows through me, something that I was given from the universe. I don’t know why I was chosen. Sometimes it feels like a curse. It’s a heavy burden that I bear. But I have to bear it.”
She did her best not to look as skeptical as she felt. Jimmy might claim that he wanted her to be honest, but she didn’t think it would be wise to argue too much with him.
He continued. “I don’t know what it is that’s in me, not exactly. But I know that it is large, an overflowing river of kindness and love. And I know that I have to share that river with as many people as I possibly can.”
“I see.”
“No, you don’t, Dana.” He gave her a gentle smile. “You can’t see, because you haven’t experienced it yet. So, it’s okay that you’re skeptical. You’re going to have to spend some time here to see it firsthand. To really understand it. Then you’ll know that I’m not making this up. I’m not some kind of pervert who’s just trying to sleep with women. I’m trying to protect them. All of them. As many as I can.”
“I’m really not going to have too much time,” she said. “I’ll need to head back soon. I’d love to see the rest of the farm, of course, but I can probably only stay a few more hours.”
“That’s not going to be possible.”
A jolt of fear went through her. She’d felt uneasy about this place since the beginning. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, that you’re going to be staying here on the farm with us. For a while.”
“No, I’m not.”
He sighed. “Listen, I wouldn’t do it if I could think of another way, but I can’t. Isaac Harrison is a danger to the Pack. He’s looking for any reason he can find to hurt us. But if you’re here, then your presence will protect us. He won’t hurt you.”
“So, I’m a hostage,” said Dana.
“You’re a guest.”
“Who can’t leave.”
“Well… no. But you shouldn’t think of it that way. After all, it’s not as if we’re going to lock you up someplace and put bars on the windows or something. You’ll have a very comfortable place to stay. You’ll simply be… watched. Guarded.”
“You can’t do this.” She clenched her hands into fists.
“I can.” He stood up. “You might be a bit angry for a while, Dana, but you’ll come around eventually. This is a very nice place.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Avery Brooks was napping, sitting straight up in a chair at the southern branch of the SF. His head was propped up against the wall, the magazine he’d been reading open in his lap. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep.
When his phone, he was startled awake.
It was Dana calling. He answered. “Hey, Gray, it’s about time.”
“To whom am I speaking?” said a male voice with a hint of an accent.
Avery sat straight up. “Who is this? Why do you have Gray’s phone?”
“You answer my question first,” said the voice.
“This is Dana Gray’s partner, Brooks,” he said. “Now where the hell is she?”
“She hasn’t been hurt, don’t worry about that. She’s quite safe and quite comfortable. But she’s also not leaving the farm until I’ve had a chance to negotiate a few things with Isaac Harrison. Do you think you could put him on?”
“You’re holding Gray hostage?”
A laugh. “You and your partner say the same things. Really, you’re both being overly dramatic.”
“Who is this?”
“James David Hadley,” said the voice. “On the farm, they call me Brother Jimmy. Harrison knows who I am. Now may I please speak to him?”
Avery got to his feet and hurried through the offices, looking for Isaac. Where the hell was that asshole?
His office was empty.
“Mr. Brooks?” said Jimmy.
“Hold the fuck on,” said Avery.
He found Isaac in the kitchen, stuffing a donut into his mouth.
Avery held out the phone. “Some guy named Brother Jimmy has Gray. He won’t let her go unless you ‘negotiate’ with him.”
Isaac nearly choked on his donut. He swallowed as quickly as he could. “You serious? They took our agent as a hostage?”
“He’s on the line.”
Isaac snatched the phone from Avery. “Jimmy?” He listened, shaking his head. “You cocksucker. You oughta know better. I don’t ‘negotiate’ with the likes of you. Here’s how it’s going to go down. You got one shot here. Return our agent now, or suffer the consequences.” He paused again, listening. Then he hung up and handed the phone back to Avery.
Avery took it. “You call that negotiating?”
“I’m not bending over for that man. He’s bad news, I’m telling you. He’s got all those women there brainwashed into doing whatever he says. I think he sleeps with all of them.”
Avery raised his eyebrows. “Brother Jimmy does?” He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. “What about Gray? What’s he going to do to Gray?”
Isaac pointed at him. “We’re going to bust that place wide open. Go in, guns blazing. Get ‘em all.”
“Guns?” said Avery.
“Tranq guns,” said Isaac. “Of course. We’ll round them up, bring them in to headquarters, take care of this whole problem.”
“Is that a good idea? I mean, what if he hurts Gray?”
“He won’t,” said Isaac. “If he knows what’s good for him, he won’t.”
Avery felt hesitant. “I’m not an expert on this kind of thing, Harrison, but I think that antagonizing someone who’s got a hostage—”
“You in, Brooks? You going to help us get your girl back?”
“She’s not actually my—”
“You with me or not?”
“Um… I guess.”
“Good. Saddle up, then."
* * *
Dana had a whole trailer all to herself. There were two big men who were patrolling in front, of course, and Jimmy had taken Dana’s tranq gun, so she didn’t have any way to defend herself. She thought about shifting into wolf form. She thought maybe she could take out at least one of the guys using the element of surprise.
If the other guy shifted, then she’d be testing her strength against his, and she wasn’t sure that she’d win.
She decided she wasn’t quite that desperate yet.
Maybe Jimmy would talk to Isaac and he’d realize that the SF meant the Pack no harm. He’d let her go, and everything would be okay.
Honestly, Dana didn’t really think that would happen, because she didn’t get the impression that Isaac was the kind of guy who’d want to play nice with Jimmy. Isaac seemed like a little bit of a hardass.
Still, she’d give it a chance. Maybe things would work out, and she wouldn’t have to resort to violence.
In the meantime, she did her best to make herself comfortable in the trailer, which had two small bedrooms, a full kitchen, and its own bathroom. It was furnished with well-worn furniture. No decorations, of course, like the main house. Everything was sparse. But it was adequate.
In the evening, one of the women brought Dana a plate of food, which she had to admit was delicious.
Bad Moon Rising (Cole and Dana) Page 7
