The Vampire's Alpha Mate: A BBW Tiger-Shifter Romance (Arcane Affairs Agency)

by Amethyst Peters

  Cautiously, so as not to upset him anymore, I scooted my chair closer to Thorley and gently said, “I know that you probably had problems with your brother. I have a sister and we argue all the time. Arguments do not lead to murder, normally.”

  “Then why are you suggesting they do?”

  “I don't think that's what we're saying. I think Cade and I just want to know what happened leading up to your brother's death. Just for the sake of closure, would you perhaps give us a little bit of information as to why you and your brother had harsh words the night before his death?”

  Thorley looked at me and relaxed a little. “You should do all the talking.”

  I didn't dare look at Cade to see how he was taking that. Thorley began telling us what happened during the argument. It was as if he was releasing some kind of tension inside. Maybe it was cathartic in a way to tell someone about the night before his brother died. I sighed. At least to me, it seemed Thorley regretted having an argument with Slade.

  “We weren't disagreeing about anything, in particular, that day. It was just the same old crap he always fussed about. About the people, I hung around. Slade didn't feel like my buddies were a good image for his company.”

  I encouraged him to continue. “How did that make you feel?”

  “Like I didn’t measure up. And I told him I wasn’t involved with his company because he had never wanted me to be. I don't own any part of it and frankly, my personal life has nothing to do with his business. I told him that.”

  Cade placed his hands on his jeans right above his knees. “And that was all you two argued about?”

  “Yeah, that's it. Oh, and we also discussed the places I frequented. He seemed to think that those are just as bad as the company I kept.”

  I looked at Cade. The look he sent me back seemed to say that Thorley appeared to be telling the truth. And if Cade was as good as he said he was about making observations, then maybe he’d picked up that Thorley might have nothing to hide.

  “Okay, we don’t want to keep you very long, I just wanted to stop by and talk.” Cade looked at Thorley closely. “And I wanted to offer you my condolences. I'm really sorry about what happened to your brother.”

  “So, this is…I mean…neither one of them killed the other?” he sighed. “That’s good. I don’t want people thinking that way about my brother or Odra.”

  Cade hesitated and then said, “Unofficially.”

  Thorley shook his head but seemed to accept that. The last remaining bit of aggressiveness he had seeped out of him. It was as if he had been using that to keep from feeling the pain.

  His blood-shot gaze came over to me. “I wasn't the only one who had an argument with him, either. Not that day. When I came into his office, Diana had just been leaving. She looked pissed. I mean fit to be tied. So whatever my brother had said to her, had worked her up real good.”

  I tried to hide my growing excitement. Diana had been to his office as well? That meant we had another suspect to question.

  “Diana again, huh?” Cade asked. “Any idea where I can find her?”

  Cade had mentioned earlier she was Odra’s friend. I remembered Diana. She was one of the girls I’d met at the diner who Thorley had been sitting with.

  “She works for Dayle. Also, she hangs out at a bar called Brendon's Take it & Break it. She's there almost every Friday night.”

  As Cade took me back to my atrocious cabin, I thought about what Thorley had said. Diana.

  I wondered if Cade thought he was going to get rid of me. If he did, I wasn't going to let him. But there was no way I could tag alongside him twenty-four hours a day, keeping up with him, and forcing my way into being everywhere that he was if he didn’t invite me. I had to face it. Unless he told me where to meet him, I wouldn’t know where to go.

  “Guess the cat's out of the bag,” I said to him. “Looks as if most of the preternatural residents of this town will now know we suspect there was no suicide in the murder-suicide. Face it, Cade. Thorley will tell everyone to clear his brother’s name. I don’t blame him. But now, they’ll know you're working the case.” I took a deep breath and pressed my advantage. “They’ll know we’re working the case.”

  “I guess,” he said.

  I chewed on my lip. That didn’t sound promising.

  As we rode, Cade grabbed his phone and handed it to me. “If they already know we’re on an investigation, then you might as well call the number listed under Brendon.”

  Doing my best not to let him know I was glad he wasn’t ditching me, I asked, “Isn’t it early for a bar to be open?”

  “That’s his personal number. We’re not close at all, so don’t expect much.”

  I didn’t even want to know why he had Brendon’s personal number. The bar owner answered on the first ring.

  “Brendon?” I spoke professionally. “I'm wondering if you could tell me a little bit about one of your regulars. Her name is Diana.”

  I didn’t get much from that conversation. He did give an affirmative Diana was a regular and that she was there almost every week. Now, all we had to figure out was how we were going to be there this Friday night also.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  *Augusta*

  THE FREEZING COLD, WORSE THAN any previous weather, snuck into town. It came with the night, invaded the outside of my cabin, and slid inside. I was used to intolerable winters, being a tiger shifter. I'd even run in the snow on a couple of occasions. But this? This was different. This wasn't just an icy chill... this was isolation.

  With a sigh, I looked at the fireplace. I had to face it. Aside from gathering a few twigs lying around outdoors, I knew nothing about starting a fire.

  Somehow, I believed that a tiny blaze would make up for all the coldness that I felt right now. I wanted to stay here, but I needed to leave. As the wind howled outside, I realized that notion was a pretty foolhardy one. I wouldn't be able to go far, and I didn't want to stay. What did I do?

  I thought I heard something at my window, and I shivered. I walked over and looked out. With a grimace, I realized that the wind had knocked one of the smaller trees against the glass. It was bending at an odd angle, and if I didn't go out there and pull it away, it was in danger of breaking in.

  I put on my coat and walked out. As soon as the cold blasted me, I realized I needed to get this job done fast. Without further hesitation, I ran to the pine and tugged with all of my might.

  Anyone would have had a problem moving the tree. It wasn't completely uprooted, and the darn thing seemed determined to go back to the window every time I pulled it away.

  As the wind picked up, it worried me. It was as if I stood in the middle of a growing maelstrom. And I wondered if I should get back inside.

  Then, I felt someone’s eyes on my back. The hair at the nape of my neck stood on end, and a shiver ran through me. It had to be my imagination. No one in their right mind would spy on anybody in a storm like this.

  I was three long strides from my front door and about ten from the four-wheeler. I figured I could go inside, not knowing who was out there, and wait the spy out, and be snowed in.

  It wouldn't be long before the earth was covered with snow. The longer I delayed here, the more the storm would grow, and the least chance I would have of going elsewhere tonight.

  Go fast, Augusta.

  He wasn’t hiding now. I saw the person—not clearly but well enough. He was maybe a little smaller than Thorley, definitely not as big as Cade. I cringed wondering why he was showing himself to me. That was all the prompting I needed. Making as if I would go back inside the cabin but instead completing my fake out, I turned back around and raced for the four-wheeler.

  My unknown assailant must have realized my plan at the last moment, because I heard footsteps crunching in the white flakes that dusted the ground.

  My assailant was close enough that I felt fingers brush against my loose hair. I ran.

  I got on, turned t
he key in the ignition and roared off. My heart pounded in my chest. My vision was blurry. No, that was the poor visibility from the snow storm. I could barely see anything, but I knew one thing. I could no longer stay in that cabin alone.

  I wondered why the assailant was chasing me. I’d come this far, and now someone was trying to run me away? And where could a new girl in town, fleeing from who knew, go?

  The Inn was full, and I didn't feel right dropping in on Christie or Fifi at this late hour. I’d only just met them. And truthfully, I didn't want either of them to be put in a dangerous situation by my murder investigation.

  Which left only one person. Cade. I didn’t have his address and I’d have to use my keen scenting ability. I tried to keep focused in the debilitating freeze. If I’d thought it was icy back at the cabin, I hadn’t known what it truly meant to be cold. But I could do this. Cade and I had ridden together in his truck. I knew what he smelled like.

  And now someone was after me, and I didn’t know why. All I could think was if it related to Slade and Odra, then possibly there was someone out there who didn’t want the truth found out.

  ****

  The moment Cade answered the door, he looked all around me as if he could sense the danger. He lived in the cabin by the waterfall I’d wanted to explore when I’d first come. It seemed like he knew something was wrong. But when he spoke to me, it was clipped. “Come inside out of the cold.”

  He moved aside. Melting snow, so light at my cabin, and which had gotten heavier by the time I arrived at his, puddled at my feet.

  “Sorry to bother you at this hour.” I shook my head. Had I really just said that? I wasn’t coming onto him—but it sure sounded like I was.

  I tried again. “It’s late, but I know you probably keep odd hours and are pretty much ready for anything at night—”

  He smirked.

  Embarrassed, I clamped my mouth shut. This wasn’t going well at all.

  “What is it, Augusta?”

  With a shake of my head, I gave it one last try. “I meant to say, I'm sorry for bothering you.”

  He shut the door behind me, and I thawed at the warmth that emanated from his cozy cabin. I knew he was a vampire. Most of them hated fire. But he was a lumberjack, and with his constant going out into the sunlight in the middle of the day, and not turning into a mummified corpse, we both knew he was an ancient one. He didn’t have to sleep if he didn’t want to.

  “You rode that toy here? Are you aware of what hazards are in a snowstorm? You could have skidded off the road. You could have run into a tree. Heck, you could have run into a real car.”

  He stared at me as if he couldn't understand what I could have been thinking to come to him in this tempestuous weather. I chewed my lip. Honestly, I was debating the intelligence of it myself.

  “There was—” My teeth were in the way of my tongue, and my lips weren't working with either of them.

  I thought I was no longer scared of what had chased me, but the truth was I was still spooked. Not certain what I thought going to him would accomplish, I shut my mouth.

  And that seemed to make him halt. “Is something bothering you, Augusta?”

  Yes, something is wrong. I just got pursued, and the only place I thought best to go to, is here.

  Understanding dawned on his face for a split second, and then rage. I thought he'd actually heard me. Then he appeared at my side. He began pulling off my coat, and guiding me into his cabin, all while a steady look of pure anger tightened his face. It was enough to make my throat constrict. Instinctively, I tugged away from him.

  But he walked faster, and in order for me to not lose my hand, I followed him.

  “Now I want you to tell me again, from the beginning, and don't leave anything out. Who was chasing you?”

  The blood drained from my face. And I realized that it hadn't been my imagination. Cade had heard some part of my thoughts.

  He sat us near the fire. It didn't escape my notice that his being so close to something that was potentially dangerous to him to warm me up, was hospitable. I didn’t think that the fury was directed at me.

  As a shifter, I should have been warmed by now, which only intensified my bewilderment. I didn't think this cold was external any longer, I believed it was completely internal. Someone had come after me…and I was scared.

  As I told him what happened, a muscle ticked on the side of his jaw. It was the only indication he'd given after he looked so serious, that what I was saying affected him in any way.

  Could it be me, or had Cade adjusted his temperament so as not to frighten me the way he’d done when he’d first questioned me?

  “I’ll report this to the Arcane Affairs Agency, but you can't go back to your cabin.”

  “I don't want to go home.” I wasn't talking about the cabin, I was talking about my apartment back in the city. “Don’t report it to them. They’ll ask questions and the answers I’ll give will lead back to what I left behind.”

  “You don't have to go back.”

  “I want to stay and help you.” I took a deep breath and continued before he could stop me. “Please.”

  Cade looked at me curiously. “Why did you come to me and no one else?”

  “Your scent. I know it better than anyone else’s who lives here.”

  I could tell there was something he wasn't saying, and that maybe he wanted to say. I wondered if he was going to state what a horrible idea it was for me to try and assist him with the case now.

  “You can stay here for the night.” His words were gruff and resigned. “You hungry?”

  “You have food?” As soon as the question exited my mouth, I realized how rude it sounded. Yes, he was a vampire, but he also worked around humans, and I was certain that he kept up appearances.

  “I’m sorry I didn't mean to suggest that you wouldn't.” I closed my eyes and counted to ten. Maybe if I calmed myself down, I would quit sticking my foot in my mouth.

  “What do you like?”

  When I opened them, there was a hint of a smile that played at his lips. Cade’s ethereal beauty beat at my mind. It was as if he hadn't just asked me what I wanted to eat, it was as if he just asked me what I’d like to do in bed. I shook my head and tried to focus.

  There was that connection to him. It seemed old. Like he and I were meant to be here at this moment sitting in his cabin with growing desire hanging unspoken in the air.

  “I like corn, beef, and pretty much any kind of meat.” Also, sexy men in lumberjack shirts with low-riding jeans, and boots. “And peas and mashed potatoes.”

  Cade’s slow smile spread. With a blush, I suspected he’d heard me or whatever it was he did to figure out my thoughts. I prayed he hadn’t guessed what I was thinking.

  “Lumberjacks, huh?”

  He knew. And with that, my embarrassment was complete. Awkwardly, I fumbled with the collar of my shirt, realized what I was doing, and dropped my hand. “I didn't know vampires could do what you do with the whole eerie accurate guess thing, with shifters, too.”

  There, if I put him on the defensive, then maybe I would get off of it.

  He smirked. “Most can't, but I don't hold that against them.”

  The easiness with which he sat there had me grinning reluctantly. I got the feeling he was holding back, trying to make me feel comfortable, and it didn't seem as if he was doing it because it was the decent thing to do.

  I hoped he was responding to me on some level. Maybe he was trying to calm my fears and push away my disquiet. If that was so, he was successful.

  In his presence, the protectiveness seeped from him and enveloped me. Like this was the best place in the world. Nothing and no one would ever bother me again. I sighed and closed my eyes. It was as if all my cares were taken away, and Cade would handle everything.

  With a jerk, I snapped my eyes open, and growled at Cade, “Compelling me?”

  Cade’s eyebrows drew together for a moment,
and a hint of surprise flickered across his face. “I wasn't trying to. It's my bedside manner. It's something I do when others are stressed. Do it so often, I fall back on it.” And then he thought of something. “How is it you know what I was doing?”

  Now it was my turn to look at him. “Because normally, it doesn’t affect me.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “That makes sense, you’re an Alpha tiger shifter—but I’ve had a long time to practice. Not many can withstand me if I truly put forth an effort.”

  “My, aren’t we full of ourselves,” I said.

  “Are any of your other family members Alphas as well?”

  I shrugged. “My mom. Besides her, I’m the only other one born in my family. Go figure, right? They wanted it to be my sister, but you don't pick the hand you’re dealt.”

  He studied me. The look was carnal, and I realized this man had to be one of the most intensely sensual men I'd ever met. Was that also one of his vampire talents?

  “Now, will you tell me, who was after you? Did your night stalker follow you? And have you ever seen the person before?”

  I looked at him stunned. “I don’t know.”

  “Then until we find out, you are staying with me—indefinitely.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  *Cade*

  I STRUCK MY ANVIL AGAINST the hot steel and continued to work off the tension I felt. I didn’t have a shirt on because the heat was sweltering. Clink.

  Tomorrow, I would get to the bottom of who had been stalking Augusta. But tonight, I had to stop myself from obsessing over her. It was like I was a callow youth, with the way my mind kept wandering to the strangely beautiful woman.

  Raising the anvil high, I brought it down for a fierce blow and was startled out of my reverie when a soft voice called out to me.

  “Cade? Can I come in?” she asked from the other side of the door.

  I looked at the barrier keeping her out of my workroom and sighed. For a moment, I squinted at my workstation, annoyed with myself for being so restless that I had awakened my guest.