by Paige Tyler
“I do trust you!” The disappointment in his eyes made her heart hurt. “McDonald’s lying. I haven’t talked to him since we saw him at the press conference. The only person I talked to after you left was Sheryl Elliott.” She gasped. “Oh God. She must have told him.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed. “Sheryl Elliott?”
Lacey nodded. “She called right after you left. She was so upset and desperate for someone to give her hope, so I told her that you might have found a connection between the doctor at the clinic and the kidnappings. She swore she wouldn’t tell anyone.”
Alex snorted. “Well, she told McDonald.”
Lacey felt like she was struggling in deep water. “I don’t understand. Why would he warn the kidnappers?”
“Because he’s involved,” Alex snapped. He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his dark hair, making it stick up. “The doctor we followed led us straight to a medical research facility owned by McDonald. I picked up Kelsey’s scent, so I know she was there.”
Lacey’s heart began to pound. “Was she…you know…”
“Alive?” He nodded. “She was when they took her out of there. Look, we don’t know what McDonald’s involvement is with this doctor and the girls, but he’s into it up to his neck. Unfortunately, the private security company the councilman pays to watch the place showed up a few minutes after we went in. They caught us, then McDonald walked in with the chief of police—and Gage. Brooks, Max, and I have been suspended.”
It felt like the floor had suddenly fallen out from under Lacey. This was all her fault. If something happened to Kelsey, she would never forgive herself. She hugged herself, wishing it was Alex’s arms around her.
She looked up at him. “I thought telling Sheryl was the right thing to do. You have to believe me.”
Alex sighed, his expression softening. “I do, but getting suspended makes finding Kelsey a lot harder.”
“You’re going to keep looking even though you’ve been suspended?” she asked.
“Yeah. Like I told you before, we’re going to keep looking for Kelsey until we find her,” he said. “I won’t let anyone get in our way.”
Lacey didn’t know what to say. She’d given Alex every reason to bail on her and Kelsey. She’d run away from him, treated him like a monster, refused to let her heart open up for him, and now she’d gotten him and the other members of his pack suspended.
Yet here he was, still sticking his neck out for her. That’s when she remembered what Everly had said to her the other day—about Alex not being like any other man she’d ever met. That Lacey had no idea what Alex was capable of or how far he would go for her, if she would only trust him.
Lacey hadn’t understood what Everly meant then. Now she did.
She closed the distance between then, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly. “Thank you.”
Alex’s arms came around her, holding her close. She might not have given him a reason to trust her, but that was going to change. Starting at this moment.
She stepped back and gazed up at him. “What do we do now?”
“We figure out where McDonald has your sister and the other girls, then we go get them.”
Chapter 15
When Alex asked Lacey if she wanted to go with him to see Becker the next morning, she’d jumped at the chance. She’d felt so helpless hanging around her apartment waiting for him last night and was grateful for the chance to take a more active role in finding her sister. It was either that or wear a hole in her carpet from pacing back and forth all day. Not that she’d probably be much help. Especially since Alex had made her promise to do whatever he told her.
She’d been okay with that deal. They’d talked a lot last night, about her sister and how worried she was about her, and also about what it was like to be a werewolf. While they weren’t back to where they had been, she felt good about where they were. She knew she had a long way to go before he realized that things would be better between them, but going with him today was a good place to start.
Finding a parking space, Alex turned off the engine, then came around to open her door. While he looked handsome in his jeans and T-shirt, it was strange seeing him out of his uniform. Yet another reminder of what she’d done last night.
They took the steps to the top floor, then walked to the door at the end of the hallway. Alex knocked once, then opened it and stepped back to let her enter. A typical loft, the living area was one big open space made up of a living room and kitchen, with a modern-looking staircase leading to the second floor.
Brooks, Remy, and Max were in the living room along with half a dozen other people Lacey remembered seeing at Everly and Cooper’s engagement party. Becker was on the couch, tapping on a wireless keyboard while text and documents popped on and off the big-screen TV. The coffee table in front of him was covered with notepads full of scribbles and a bunch of monster-sized coffee cups.
She gave Brooks and Max an apologetic look. “Sorry about getting you guys suspended.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Brooks said. “If we get fired and can’t pay our rent, we’ll just come live with you and Kelsey.”
Lacey laughed, pretty sure he was kidding. Kelsey and Leo would love it. Kelsey would drag all her girlfriends over to drool, and Leo would have someone to play with him all the time. It struck her then that Brooks had inserted Kelsey into his plan so smoothly that she hadn’t even noticed him doing it. Clearly, Alex wasn’t the only confident werewolf in this pack.
As she and Alex found a seat, she realized the four guys and a girl must be Jayna’s beta pack. But that couldn’t be right. The girl in the corner holding hands with the guy beside her was way too small to be a werewolf.
“Are all of these people werewolves?” she whispered to Alex after he made quick introductions.
“Yeah. Well, except for Zak,” he said, gesturing to the bespectacled guy holding hands with the girl. “Oh, and don’t bother whispering. Everyone but Zak just heard what you said.”
Lacey winced at her faux pas. She’d forgotten he’d told her that werewolves have exceptional hearing. She looked around to see Jayna’s pack regarding her with blatant interest. She supposed that to them, she was the different one.
She gave them an embarrassed smile. “Sorry about that. I’m still learning how this werewolf stuff works.”
Beside her, Alex leaned forward on the couch. “What have you learned about Councilman McDonald, Becker?”
Chris—one of the beta werewolves in Jayna’s pack—held up his hand. “Before he starts, I’d just like to point out that I have a serious issue with the fact that we’ve sat here all night watching Eric hack into a hundred different secure and confidential websites and databases—including some really scary federal places—yet he refuses to get us free cable TV.”
“That’d be illegal,” Becker said as he started paging through a notepad. “Don’t you guys have to get to work?”
“I have to get going too,” Zak said, helping his werewolf girlfriend, Megan, to her feet.
“Can you tell them I’m going to be late, Chris?” Jayna asked.
The blond guy gave her a nod and a wave as he and the rest of Jayna’s pack left.
“Okay, back to McDonald,” Becker said. “He’s from a filthy rich family, but he seems to have made most of his fortune on his own. He’s a board-certified surgical doctor and has made a name for himself in the field of organ transplant. He’s played a major role in the creation of half a dozen new transplant techniques and drugs that have saved thousands of lives. He’s on the board of a buttload of research firms, mostly related to transplant drugs and artificial organ development. He also mentors younger doctors, and he’s on the committee for a bewildering number of transplant organ procurement organizations, both at the state and federal levels.”
“Shit, the man sounds like a damn saint,” Alex mu
ttered. “How does he have the time to do all that and his job on the city council too? Why the hell would he bother?”
Becker couldn’t answer that question, though he pointed out that the man almost certainly had political aspirations far beyond the local level. “He already has an organization in place to start planning for mayoral and gubernatorial offices.”
“It’s hard to believe a man like him is involved in kidnapping and murder,” Remy commented. “Not to mention drugs.”
“So, how the hell are all these things connected?” Brooks asked.
Everyone was quiet as they considered that. Finally, Max spoke.
“Do you think maybe they’re using the girls as test subjects for new versions of fireball? Like human guinea pigs?”
“Dude,” Remy said sharply.
He jerked his head in Lacey’s direction, but it was too late. She already had the visual, and there was no way she could forget it now.
“Sorry, Lacey,” Max mumbled, a flush creeping into his handsome face.
Lacey could only nod. She prayed he was wrong.
Alex reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. “Max was just thinking out loud. I’ll call the ME in a little while to see if there was any heroin in Nicole Arend’s blood workup. That should tell us if we’re onto something.”
Lacey listened with trembling hands as Alex and his SWAT teammates bounced from topic to topic, in some cases faster than she could follow. One second they were scouring the different properties McDonald owned, the next they were looking for a connection between the councilman and the doctor who’d written the birth-control prescriptions.
“Keep an eye out for the guy I smelled at the body dump and the research facility,” Alex said. “A man with connections to both drugs and dogfighting can’t be that hard to find in McDonald’s world.”
Lacey was just thinking she really didn’t want to hear any more, when Jayna caught her eye and jerked her head toward the kitchen. She slipped out as the guys continued batting different ideas around. She wanted to help, but she had no idea what she could add to the discussion, and some of the stuff they were talking about—like using Kelsey and the other girls for drug testing—scared the hell out of her.
Telling Alex she’d be right back, Lacey followed Jayna into the kitchen. Jayna took two mugs out of the cabinet and filled them, then handed one to Lacey.
“Here. It looks like you could use this,” Jayna said with a small smile.
Lacey took the mug and nodded. “Thanks.”
Jayna opened the fridge and came out with a carton of creamer, then took the top off a plain white canister filled with yellow packets of sweetener.
“It’s going to be okay,” she told Lacey. “They’ll find your sister.”
Lacey didn’t say anything as she added sweetener and creamer to her coffee.
“How’s everything working out between you and Alex?” Jayna asked as she poured creamer into her own coffee.
Lacey winced. “Is there anyone associated with the SWAT pack who doesn’t know how badly I handled the situation with finding out Alex is a werewolf?”
Jayna gave her a small smile. “Not really. A pack is like a family—only closer. There aren’t any secrets.”
“Wonderful,” she said with a groan. “I felt stupid before. Now I feel even worse.”
“Don’t worry about what any of us think. This is about you and Alex. You’ll get it straightened out. It’s just a matter of time.” Jayna sipped her coffee. “Besides, it’s not like either of you guys have a whole lot of say in the matter.”
Lacey frowned over the rim of her mug. “What do you mean?”
“I thought Everly told you, but I guess not.” Jayna sighed and set down her mug. “Have you had the crazy sensation since walking away from Alex that you were making the dumbest mistake of your life? Or felt sick when you think about not being with him?”
Lacey stared down at her coffee, letting the warmth seep in. “I was crying my eyes out before I got more than a mile away from him the night I saw him shift, and I haven’t slept worth a crap since then.” While she tried to tell herself it was because she was worried about Kelsey, she knew that wasn’t all of it. “And sometimes when I think about him and how much I miss him, I feel like I’m dying inside. Which is crazy, since we barely started dating.”
“It’s not crazy,” Jayna insisted. “And it’s not just you. Alex feels the same way.”
“Did he tell you that?”
“He didn’t have to. That’s what happens when two people who are supposed to be together try to fight it.”
Lacey took a quick gulp of her coffee, not sure if she liked where this was going. “That’s not possible. We just met.”
“It’s very possible, because I felt it when I tried to walk away from Eric.” Jayna sighed. “This is really difficult to explain, but I’ll try. There’s a legend about The One that says there’s one perfect soul mate out there for each werewolf, and that when they meet that perfect person, nothing can stop them from being together. Well, except for stupidity, of course. Unfortunately, to some degree or another, that’s what happened to everyone in the Pack lucky enough to meet The One—Mac and Gage, Xander and Khaki, Everly and Cooper, and Eric and me. The only couple who didn’t have to experience the pain of what it’s like trying to walk away from The One is Megan and Zak, and that’s simply because they were a lot smarter about it than the rest of us. They figured out they were in love from the beginning and stopped trying to slow down the train.”
“Wait a minute,” Lacey said. “First you’re talking about legends, then soul mates. Now it’s love?”
Jayna looked at her like she thought Lacey was an idiot. “Well, yeah. What the heck do you think is making you feel like this—acid reflux?”
Lacey shook her head. “I don’t know about the legend of The One, but two people can’t just fall in love the moment they meet. That’s crazy.”
Jayna snorted. “You mean like a six-foot-four, two-hundred-and-forty-pound guy growing fangs and claws and jumping over ten-foot-high fences with you in his arms—that kind of crazy?”
Lacey opened her mouth to tell Jayna that she was dead wrong, but the words wouldn’t come out. Because finally, it all made a bizarre kind of sense. The tug she’d felt toward Alex from the second she’d met him, the pain and confusion she’d felt every second of the day since she’d run away from him, the incredible sense of calm she felt when she was with him, like everything was going to be okay as long as they were together. It really did make sense.
“I’m in love with Alex?” she murmured softly. “That’s what this is all about?”
Jayna picked up her mug and sipped her coffee. “Yes, that’s what this is all about. You being in complete and total, cosmically inspired, can’t-live-without-it love.”
Lacey stood there, letting that sink in for a while, her gaze drifting to where Alex sat on the couch in the living room. Then her eyes went wide.
“Did Alex and the other guys just overhear the entire conversation we had?” she asked Jayna.
“No way,” Jayna laughed. “When it comes to two women having a private conversation, they tune it out. I think they’re terrified we might be talking about PMS. They’d rather charge into a building full of gun-toting psychopaths than overhear a woman discussing feminine issues. So don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me until you decide it’s time to let Alex in on it.”
Lacey considered that. “If Alex is feeling the same way, doesn’t he already know we’re in love? I mean, he’s a werewolf. He’s supposed to know about this legend already.”
“Yeah, but he’s a guy too,” Jayna pointed out. “That means he’s probably clueless about what’s really going on. At some point, you’re going to have to tell him.”
Lacey’s gaze went to Alex again. Exactly how did she do that after the mess she’d made of
everything?
“Bingo!” Becker said from the living room, jarring her out of her thoughts.
Alex looked up from the notebook he was flipping through. “You find something?”
Becker’s gaze didn’t waver from the big-screen TV. “Maybe.”
Lacey walked into the living room, Jayna right behind her.
“Apparently, McDonald is a big proponent of giving people second and sometimes third chances,” Becker continued, still fixed on his screen. “He employs a lot of people who have done some really stupid crap, including Dr. Pettine. According to multiple newspaper articles and court proceedings, Pettine screwed up a surgical procedure about five years ago and was on his way to being sued for everything he had. Losing his medical license seemed to be the least of his problems, but then McDonald stepped in, and poof, the lawsuit disappeared, and the medical board dropped their investigation. The next thing you know, Pettine is working directly for one of McDonald’s research groups, like nothing ever happened.”
Becker tapped the keyboard, and a photo of a guy in his midtwenties with brown hair and eyes and what could only be called a bored expression popped up on the TV.
“If you think that’s interesting, look at this guy,” he said. “This is another doctor named Peter DeYoung. He only recently graduated medical school but immediately found his way to one of McDonald’s research companies. Nothing unique there, since the councilman hires a lot of doctors fresh out of college. The interesting part is that DeYoung decided to pay his way through med school by making and selling meth in the basement of his frat house.”
Lacey snorted as she sat down beside Alex. “I thought I was ambitious just waiting tables. I’m guessing he got caught?”
Becker nodded. “You guessed right. And guess who helped him not only get out from under that arrest, but also get his record expunged?”
“McDonald?” Alex surmised.
“The one and only,” Becker said.
“That has to be our link then,” Alex said. “Lacey and I will track down DeYoung. Remy and Max, you follow Pettine. Brooks, you take McDonald. One of these guys has to lead us to wherever they’re hiding the girls.” He looked around the room, his gaze meeting each of his teammates. “Whoever finds something first, call the rest of us for backup. We get those girls out and deal with the fallout afterward.”
