CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sofie knows that Finn isn’t going to forgive her anytime soon for what she’s about to do, but she also knows that right now she needs answers, and he’s the only person that can give them to her.
She turns the cold faucet off and carries the bowl into the other room. “Here we go.” She upturns the bowl on the sleeping figure on the bed and steps back.
“Holy Mary, Mother of God!” Finn leaps up from the bed, eyes wide open and completely drenched.
Sofie bursts out laughing, unable to contain herself. She hadn’t realized how much she needed to let it all out. When she’s recovered her breath enough to talk again, she holds her hands up. “Finn, I’m sorry, but I needed you back in the land of the living.”
Finn stares at her dripping onto the carpet with the most comical expression of shock on his face. “What the hell is the matter with you?”
“Hey, I’m doing you a favor,” she points out backing away from him a little. “Luke is here, and he’s coming to the site today. We all need to be on point.”
Finn stops advancing towards her with a murderous look in his eyes. He blinks at her a few times and then sits down heavily onto the bed. “My head feels like it’s been hit by a train.” He touches his forehead gingerly like he’s afraid that it might explode.
Sofie gives him an assessing look. He’s still in the same clothes as he was wearing the night before. “Well, once the shots start, you know it’s going to be a painful morning.” She pats him lightly on his wet shoulder. “I have some Advil in my room...”
“That’s why I love you, Sofe.” Finn smiles weakly at her.
“...which I will give you in exchange for what you’ve found out so far on wolf activity in this area.” She smiles sweetly at him.
“You’re pumping me for information when I’m suffering!” Finn looks like he wants to crawl back into his bed, despite the fact that it’s soaking wet.
“You’re hung over; you’re not dying.” Sofie looks at him without a shred of pity.
“So where were you all night? And don’t give me that ‘I was out all night partying’ crap. I know you better, Sofie.” Finn gets up and starts tapping away at his laptop.
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now, Finn. Another time.” She runs her fingers through her hair still wet from her shower.
“So did you jump his bones?” Finn smiles wickedly over his shoulder, a look only made more amusing by his still dripping face.
“Who even says that anymore?” Sofie flops down on his bed, only remembering a split second later that it’s soaked through.
“I’m going to take that evasion as a yes. So why the glum face? Was he a little disappointing in the bedroom?” Finn tries to smother the glee in his voice. “If there’s anything better than a great sex story, it’s a crappy sex story.”
“No!” Sofie wonders why she’s indulging Finn, but she knows why, she needs to talk to someone. “He was great, better than great.” She shakes her head to take the wistfulness out of her voice. “It just didn’t end all that well.”
“Story of my life, sister, story of my life. So, what do you want to know?” Finn grabs a towel from the bathroom to dry himself off before booting up the laptop.
“I want to know what the hell is going on. I want to know why he’s hot one minute, cold the next. I want to know why last night he acted like I was the best thing to ever happen to him and this morning he couldn’t get me out of his house fast enough.” Sofie paces around the room, listing her wishes on her fingers, only stopping when Finn turns around and gives her a look.
“I meant what do you want to know about what I’ve found out...on the wolves?” Finn frowns at her, like he thinks she might be going mildly insane.
“Right, I knew that.” She sits down heavily on the chair next to him. “Give me the highlights. We only have a few minutes before Darwin comes knocking.”
“Well, this won’t take long anyway. There’s not a lot to cover. Short story is—no wolves, no record of any wolves in this area not for like a couple hundred years.” He looks at Sofie to make sure she’s paying attention, and she nods for him to continue. “So, whatever you thought you heard in the woods, it wasn’t that.”
“I seem to be getting a lot of things wrong lately.” She shakes the image that persists in her head, the image of an enormous black animal feeding on a man.
“Hey, don’t be so crestfallen, my rock-obsessed friend.” Finn smiles, like the cat that got the cream. “That wasn’t all the information I managed to dig up with these magic fingers.” He steeples his fingers and waits, watching her curiosity reach boiling point.
“Come on, Finn! This is like trying to get blood from a stone!” She shakes him playfully until it dawns on her what he’s waiting for. “My entire stash of Advil for your trouble.” She smiles, she hopes, winningly at him.
“Sold to the girl with the sad face! So, although I came up with a blank on the whole wolf front, my searches did throw up something pretty interesting. It’s something that would be easy to miss, but once I started looking harder a definite pattern emerged. Then, a few hacks later…” Finn brings up a few different windows of old newspaper reports, police files, and more recent blog coverage. “There have been more than a few disappearances of persons of interest in different violent crimes. It’s not just in Beaumont, but the surrounding towns, too. It’s like this is the epicenter of our very own Bermuda triangle. Now, none of these people were actually accused of any crimes, but they were all implicated in one way or another. Then, poof, they disappeared and no one knew where they went. It was like they’d been taken by UFOs or something. Their credit card records, email accounts, everything just stopped.”
“You checked their bank records and email? Isn’t that more than a little illegal?” Sofie doesn’t know why she’s so shocked about Finn’s indiscretions with data protection and personal privacy.
“If companies don’t put in enough firewalls to protect their customers, then that’s their problem, not mine.” Finn throws his hands up as if to say that it’s beyond his control. “Now, I’m going to shower and make myself a little more presentable for the big boss man, not that he’s going to be looking anywhere but at you.” Finn looks meaningfully at Sofie, and then his expression softens. “Are you okay with him being there?”
“Don’t worry. He won’t do anything, not with Darwin here. Besides, I think he’s going to be too busy sucking up to the local townspeople to do much creepy stalking.” Sofie puts on a brave smile and then goes back to scanning Finn’s computer. Was it possible that Ashton and his friends were responsible for all these disappearances? Sofie couldn’t bring herself to believe it. Besides, some of these disappearances dated back more than 70 years. There’s no way that Ashton could be responsible. She had been searching for answers, but all this had thrown up were more questions, questions that only one person could answer.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Going back to the canyon was worse than Sofie had feared. Luke spent all morning hanging around, keeping a close eye on all of the team, despite the fact that he has no idea what it is that they’re actually doing. Typically, he gets bored before they’re even half-way through the work that they need to do and that only makes him more disruptive. He tries to make conversation but manages to hit every wrong note, asking Darwin about his wife although he must know about his divorce. Sofie starts to wonder if it’s a genuine mistake or if he actually enjoys making people feel bad.
“Sorry to hear about that, chief. Such a lovely woman and you two were together for, how long? Must’ve been over 30 years.” Luke shakes his head at the shame of it, and Sofie has to bite her tongue to keep from telling him to shut up. It was an unwritten rule; they never spoke to Darwin about the divorce, not unless he brought it up first.
“34 years this September.” Darwin manages to get the words out, but it’s clear that it’s a struggle. Sofie’s heart goes out to him.
“And now w
hat? You’re fighting over every last cent, am I right? So sad that a lifetime of marriage comes down to money, isn’t it?” The way that Luke is looking so pointedly at Darwin makes it seem as if he knows something that the rest of them don’t.
“You know what they say, money is the root of all evil.” Darwin looks up from the soil sample he’s collecting and locks Luke in a stare. From where Sofie’s standing, she can’t make out his expression, but if she could, she would have been surprised at the hate that she sees in his eyes. If there was anything that Darwin had always proved to be it was unfailingly polite and even-tempered, but it seems that Luke has the ability to rattle even the most good-natured of people.
“Never found that to be true, myself.” Luke, as usual, has to have the last word. “It seems to be something that only people without it like to say.” Finn and Sofie exchange a look of disgust between them. Luke has the unfailing habit of making himself appear like an even bigger asshole the more time you spent with him. “Isn’t that true, Sofie?” Luke turns towards her and gives her an appreciative look.
Sofie breathes in quickly. She had never told him about her financial woes, but it wasn’t the first time he had alluded to knowing something about it. She was well-aware that the only way he would have information about her finances would be if he’d looked into her background, done some digging, and she didn’t believe him capable of that.
She busies herself with her samples, pretending that she hasn’t heard him, but the sick feeling in her stomach doesn’t go away. Over the next while, Sofie tries to keep as far away from him as possible, focusing on the job that she’s there to do and not thinking about her creep of a boss. But Luke makes it increasingly hard to forget that he’s there.
“Darwin, I’m just heading behind the ridge,” she tells her boss via radio headset.
Darwin gives her the thumbs-up. “Just be careful, try not to get lost.” There’s a trace of humor in his voice, and Sofie is thankful for it. The atmosphere has been so tense with Luke there that even the most obvious joke is welcomed.
“Don’t worry, chief. I’ll keep an eye on her.” Luke pipes up, wandering lazily over towards Sofie.
“You don’t need to do that. I can look after myself.” Sofie smiles at him tightly, with what she hopes is a reassuring expression on her face. It’s a phrase that she seems to be using a lot, persuading men that she can handle herself, that she doesn’t need protection. But right now she wasn’t so sure that was true.
Luke seems like he’s about to tell her that he’s not taking no for an answer when Finn pipes up. “Boss, there’s a call from you from HQ. It’s on the secure line.” Luke looks like he’s in two minds whether to abandon his chance with Sofie or not. “They can’t get through on your cell so they’re using the sat phone, sounds urgent.”
Finn’s words makes Luke’s mind up for him, and he spins around, stalking away towards where Finn is set up with all his tech gear. Luke virtually snatches the sat phone out of his hand and starts barking down it. Sofie mouths a ‘thank you’ to Finn who shrugs like there’s nothing to thank him for.
Sofie takes the opportunity to head over to the other side of the ridge where she can work in peace and quiet, at least for a little while, until Luke finishes with his call and remembers where she is. The thought makes her stomach roll. He’s been more forward with her than he has ever been in the office. Even though the cameras outside her apartment showed that he had followed her home a few times, he had never done anything. She wouldn’t even have known that he was there if not for the videos. But coming up to the site was a step too far. He was away from his family, away from prying eyes. Sofie knows that she’s going to have to be on red alert around him until they get back to DC where at least she’s protected by the sheer amount of people, witnesses to his behavior.
She hears Luke telling Darwin that he’s going to go check on her behind the ridge and Sofie knows that means she has to move fast. She collects up her samples and virtually runs back to the top of the ridge and makes her way down, passing an amused looking Luke. She takes a wide berth around him and heads straight to Darwin.
“I’m not feeling so great, boss. I think I might head back to the hotel, take a look at these samples.” She keeps her voice steady, but Darwin must see the apprehension in her eyes.
“Sure, why don’t you take the car and come back for us in a few hours?” Darwin lays a gentle hand on her arm, and she can see the concern in his face.
“I’ve got a better idea.” Luke pipes up from behind Sofie’s back, and she feels her entire body go rigid. “Why don’t I take Sofie in the limo, and then you two can keep the car? That makes much more sense, doesn’t it?” He smiles with an expression of self-satisfaction that makes her cringe.
“That’s fine, Mr. Calambor. Thank you for the offer, but I think I would rather walk, the fresh air will help to clear my head.” Sofie pulls off her radio and turns her back to Luke, childishly hoping that if she ignores him that he’ll go away.
“Now don’t be silly, Sofie. You know that my employees’ well-being is my foremost concern.” He leers at her in a way that makes her wonder if their understanding of the meaning of the word ‘well-being’ is the same.
“Well, that’s settled then.” Darwin seems pleased with the decision, and it takes Sofie a moment to realize that it’s because it gets Luke out of the way for the next few hours.
Finn gives Sofie a look that tells her just how worried he is about her. It’s the first time she’s going to be in a confined space with Luke, and they both know that it’s not the safest place for her to be.
“It’ll be fine.” She squeezes Finn’s shoulder, hoping that she looks more sure of what she’s saying than she feels. “Just because he acts like a creep doesn’t mean that he’s stupid enough to risk a lawsuit.”
She takes a deep breath and walks towards the limo where Luke is holding the door open for her. She tries not to think about Ashton and how much she’d love it if he were here to save her once again. He had a habit of popping up when she needed him, but after the way he’d acted that morning, today didn’t seem to be one of those days. She nods her thanks and slides into the plush leather interior of the car, wishing that she could disappear. As soon as Luke gets into the car, she feels the pressure in the atmosphere.
“Sorry to hear that you’re not feeling well, Sofie. Is there anything that I can do to make you more comfortable?” Luke looks at her with nothing but lust in his eyes. “Would you like a drink?” He opens the bar cabinet and pulls out a crystal decanter.
“Just water, thanks.” Sofie tries to sit as far away from Luke as possible, but he doesn’t even seem to notice that she’s trying to keep her distance from him.
Luke looks mildly disappointed that she doesn’t want to join him in a lunch-time ice-breaker, but that doesn’t stop him from pouring himself a generous glug. He hands her a glass of water and makes sure that his hands brush against hers. The touch is so unlike what she shared with Ashton, with him it was like her entire world was rocked just by a simple caress. But with Luke the contact just made her uncomfortable and more than a little nervous.
“You don’t look too comfortable all the way over there. Why don’t you come sit here next to me?” Luke pats the leather seat next to him, looking at Sofie expectantly.
“I’m fine here, thanks.” Sofie responds as evenly as she can, but there’s a hint of a challenge in her voice.
“I don’t know why you insist on playing so hard to get, Braun.” Luke sighs deeply, as if what is going to happen between them is inevitable. Then, he slides up next to her, sitting as close as physically possible without her being on his lap.
“I’m not playing, Luke.” Sofie’s voice is sharp. “I appreciate you giving me a lift back to the motel, but that’s all this is, a lift.” Sofie looks at him, trying to convey how serious she is about what she’s saying.
“You don’t really believe that. We both know that you want this as much as I do.” Luke
takes another sip of his whisky and then, all at once, his hands are all over her. He touches her face, running his hands through her hair, moving down to her breast.
Sofie takes a moment to react. Although this is what she had been afraid of, she still can’t quite believe that it’s happening. She pushes him off of her. “Get off me. What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She looks at him, wide-eyed and trying to push herself as far away from him as she can.
Luke smiles lazily, like this was part of the fun of the chase. “I think I’m taking what I paid for.” There’s not even a hint of irony in his voice, as if he’s not even vaguely aware of how ridiculous what he’s saying is.
“What you paid for?” Sofie can barely get the words out she’s so angry. “I’m a scientist, not a call girl.”
Downpour (Alpha Love - A Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 1) Page 13
