Justified (A Leah Wolfe SINS Novel)

by Rhonda L. Print

  “Yes, Joaquin. You did. It was your choice to get bitten!” I snapped back.

  “It was supposed to be temporary.” He growled.

  “How’d that work out for ya?” I retorted.

  Joaquin jumped to his feet, his body quivering with rage. “I don’t want to be alpha! I can’t even be a sheriff anymore and now the whole damn pack is looking to me for help!”

  “How did Louis die?” Ian asked the question we both wanted answered.

  “His body was…” Joaquin swallowed so hard I saw his Adam’s apple bob. “Louis was mauled. I found his body … or at least part of it.” He paused again as if struggling for the right explanation. Finally he lifted his eyes to Ian and said, “Whatever killed him had to be incredibly strong. Louis was torn apart.” His tone took an accusatory timbre.

  “Are you suggesting that a vampire did this?” Ian asked calmly even though his hand tightened on mine.

  “I don’t know of anything else strong enough to bring Louis down.” Joaquin replied.

  “Then we will help you in any way that we can.” Ian assured him calmly.

  I tried to swallow back my emotions before Ian caught them. I had not yet forgiven Joaquin for kidnapping me. I knew I had to help, but still…

  “You are upset.” Ian said, grasping my arm.

  “You’re damn right I’m upset!” I yanked my arm out of Ian’s hand and started pacing the floor.

  “Whether you help me or not, SINS will get involved one way or another.” Joaquin stated arrogantly.

  I wheeled and glared at him. “Are you telling me that I don’t have a choice?” I growled at him.

  Joaquin simply raised his eyebrows cockily. He knew he was right. The only way I could truly stay out of this was to leave SINS. Sam would never let us walk away from this situation.

  “He is correct, my love.” Ian stood, walked behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. He pulled me into an embrace. I saw a tick working in Joaquin’s jaw and felt some satisfaction that my relationship with Ian still irked him.

  I leaned my head against Ian as he worked his hand up to knead the tension from my shoulders, offering me much needed comfort.

  “I’m not particularly happy with this situation either, Leah.” Joaquin’s eyes bored into mine, and then something inside them softened. “I am sorry.” He paused. “For everything. I wasn’t myself when…”

  I lifted my hand to stop him. While I knew that was true, I still wasn’t entirely convinced that Joaquin wouldn’t do the same thing again if he thought he could rid me of my abilities and my ties to Ian. I believed that some part of him still wanted me to be normal, or his version of normal anyway.

  Still, I knew it cost him to ask for Ian’s help. I nodded hesitantly. Joaquin was right and I really didn’t have much choice in the matter.

  That’s what really pissed me off.

  Light and quick footsteps, like those of a child, came from the stairway and we all turned toward it. A small woman paused at the bottom of the steps and looked at both Ian and me before her gaze rested on Joaquin. Her face was heart-shaped, almost fairy-like and framed by chin-length black hair. She gave Joaquin a slight smile then walked to him.

  Joaquin embraced the young woman lightly. “This is Tala.”

  He didn’t need to tell us that this was Louis’ daughter. She had inherited her father's green eyes. Although at the moment they were sad and rimmed with red.

  “Wolf.” I recited the meaning of her name.

  “Yes.” She wiped her tears with the back of her hands and released Joaquin. “Yes, Tala means wolf. There is nothing you can do to help my father now.” Tala’s face quivered as she fought to hold back her sorrow.

  I bobbed my head slightly. “Actually…”

  Ian nudged me hard enough to stop my words. As a necromancer I was perfectly capable of raising the dead. It was an accidental discovery when I nearly raised an entire graveyard full of corpses. I still don’t know how it works. I simply focus on the deceased and I can see and speak to them; either their soul or as in the graveyard, literally wake them from the dead.

  Necromancers were thought be myths even by vampires and shape-shifters. Ian had lived for centuries and had never met one, before me.

  Yet telling Tala that I had spoken to her dead father’s soul might be even more traumatic to her than his actual death. Everyone wants to believe that their loved ones have moved on to a better place upon their deaths. I couldn’t give her any reassurance that he had because I didn’t know where the souls went when they weren’t talking to me.

  “We are here to help.” I offered sympathetically. “We will find his killer and bring him, or her, to justice.”

  “Tala Deaveraux. You would be Ian Nightwalker.” She bypassed me like I wasn’t there and extended her hand to Ian. “My father spoke highly of you and I know he trusted you. Thank you for being here.”

  Ian took her hand gently. “It is my honor. Your father was a great leader, and a great friend.”

  “Thank you.” Emotion clogged her voice.

  “This is Federal Agent Leah Wolfe.” Ian snaked his arm around my waist and pulled me close, letting her know that I was more than just a cop. I could feel the love flowing off him and I couldn’t help but smile.

  She finally spared me an assessing look and shook my hand lightly.

  “I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.” I said sincerely.

  “Would you like a drink? We have much to discuss.” She turned and we followed her to the kitchen. It was enormous and held commercial grade appliances. You could easily cook a meal for a hundred people in there and I said as much.

  Tala smiled as she opened a massive double-door refrigerator. “The pack members live in separate houses throughout the woods but everyone usually gathers here for a least one meal a day. Wine?” She held up a bottle.

  “No thank you.” Ian replied as I shook my head.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll have some.” Tala produced an opener from another drawer.

  Joaquin took them both from her hands. “I’ll get this, you sit.”

  Tala smiled and ran her hand down his arm and squeezed his hand slightly before letting go and joining Ian and me at the table.

  Ian rose and pulled out a chair for her. The older vampires were “alive” in a much different era and chivalry was still firmly imbedded in their minds. I found it very charming.

  “How did it happen, Tala?” Ian asked once she sat.

  “He went hunting.” She began. “He liked to hunt alone.” Her voice cracked and Joaquin set a glass of wine in her hands and then sat down next to her. “It was the last time I saw him. Joaquin wouldn’t let me see him after…” She broke into sobs and turned to Joaquin. “Why wouldn’t you let me see him?”

  Joaquin patted her shoulder. “You did not need to see him like that Tala. He wouldn’t have wanted you to remember him that way.”

  “It was my decision to make.” The first tint of anger raised her voice.

  “He was buried on pack land.” I said, knowing that it was tradition to bury an alpha on the land he protected in life. It was believed that an alpha’s spirit would still guard over his people even after death. A fact I really couldn’t argue over having seen his spirit myself. It was a pitiful attempt on my part to change the direction of this conversation while Tala could still talk to us.

  “Yes.” Tala nodded, wiping tears from her face. “Joaquin buried him before the others found out.”

  “Can you think of any enemies that Louis would have had?” Ian looked at first Tala, then Joaquin.

  “He is … was,” Tala corrected herself, “Pack Alpha. Enemies are in the job description.”

  Ian nodded. “Yes, of course. Were there any recent threats that you can think of?”

  She lowered her face and shook her head as her body began to quake with tears. When my cell phone rang she nearly jumped out of her skin.

  “Wolfe here.” I answered.

&nbs
p; “Where are you, Leah?” Wilson boomed in my ear.

  “At the reservation. Louis Deaveraux has been killed.”

  Wilson was one of the few humans who knew who all the supernatural players were. I’d kept as few secrets as possible from him.

  There was a moment of silence before he said, “I’m sorry to hear that. Is Joaquin with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Bring him, then. I’m at Mesquite and Palo Verde. There’s something here that you both should see.”

  I looked up to find all three sets of eyes on me. As shifters both Tala and Joaquin could hear every word of both sides of the conversation. Both shifters and vampires have enhanced senses. Both men nodded. “We’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  “What is it?” Tala asked concern clear in her words.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about Tala,” Joaquin said quickly.

  She nodded numbly and within minutes, we were on our way.

  * * * *

  The cross streets that Wilson gave me where on the far edge of the reservation, bordering pack land. Louis’ main property was in northern Arizona but he kept a hundred acres or so in the valley. It gave him and his pack a warm place to go in the winter and provided fresh hunting grounds. It was common for Alphas to hold deed to multiple properties, and Louis had been a wealthy man.

  Wilson turned when heard the car door shut; his face was grim. “Thanks for coming.” He nodded in greeting.

  The first thing I noticed was the lack of crime scene paraphernalia. There was only one other squad car with Wilson and no police tape blocked off the area. Hell, the morgue truck wasn’t even there.

  Joaquin and Ian both stiffened for a moment then took off at a sprint. I gave Wilson my “what the fuck?” look then chased after them. By time I caught up, Ian had Joaquin’s arms pinned behind his back.

  “Get your hands off me, bloodsucker!” Joaquin fought against Ian’s grip.

  Ian jerked his head forward and I followed his movement. Sam and a patrolman stood a few yards ahead of us, talking to another man who had his back to me. They were standing over the body of a nearly shifted wolf, lying face first on the desert floor.

  “He’s one of mine.” Joaquin still struggled against Ian’s grasp. “I can smell him.”

  I got in Joaquin’s face. “Keep it under control.”

  Joaquin’s gaze snapped to mine. “It’s Adam Nolan.” His eyes were filled with grief and anger.

  “Then let’s find out what happened.” I said softly.

  Joaquin took a deep breath and then said, “Okay.”

  I gave Ian a short nod and he released Joaquin as Wilson finally caught up to us.

  “What happened?” I asked Wilson as we crossed the remaining distance to the body.

  “Gunshot wound to the chest. It looks like the victim died trying to get away.”

  “Homicide then. Did you get the shooter?”

  Wilson remained silent.

  “Wilson?”

  “We can’t arrest the shooter.” Sam sauntered toward us.

  We stopped above the body. “Don’t touch anything.” I warned Joaquin as he kneeled beside the victim.

  “It’s okay Leah.” Wilson’s eyes narrowed. “There are no criminal charges here.”

  Even in a self-defense case we would be required to gather evidence. The victim’s limbs were splayed at odd angle. I rolled him over and confirmed my fears. Adam Nolan had been trying to shift when he died. A blossom of blood was matted with the honey-colored fur of his partially shifted chest.

  “I warned him.” I recognized that voice only too well. I lifted my head to find Ambrose Twofeather standing by the patrolman on the scene. Ambrose was a tribal Elder and one of the top opponents to my engagement to Joaquin.

  “The freak shouldn’t have been on the reservation.” He spit on the ground in front of him. “It shouldn’t exist at all.”

  By this time Joaquin and I were both standing. I placed a warning hand on Joaquin’s shoulder. If he lost it and killed Ambrose, there would be criminal charges filed.

  “His name was Adam Nolan.” I corrected Ambrose. “And you are under arrest.”

  Ambrose snorted. “On what charges?”

  “Homicide; murder if I can prove intent.”

  “There’s no law against killing dangerous animals.” Ambrose sneered. “It was justified.”

  “He’s right.” Sam added reluctantly. “There’s no law against killing a shifter. Yet.”

  “You son-of-a-bitch!” Joaquin lunged at Ambrose but Ian grabbed his arms and held him back.

  “That’s bullshit!” I struggled to rein in my own anger.

  “I’m sorry Leah,” Wilson leveled his gaze with mine. “It is not illegal to shoot a shifter. I even did a field test to confirm.”

  All law enforcement officials had been issued field blood tests to determine whether someone was a shifter or not. A small dot of blood is all that is needed to detect the differences between supernatural and human DNA.

  “The law is not on your side.” Ian spoke calmly. “You will do no good to Adam in jail.” He lowered his voice so that only Joaquin and I could hear him. “We will find justice another way.” He released Joaquin but stayed close.

  “How many times did you shoot him?” My voice was so bitter I could taste it.

  Ambrose straightened his body to a look of complete arrogance. “Once.”

  “One shot would never bring down a shifter unless it was silver, you pompous ass!”

  “It wasn’t silver.” Ambrose’ cocky expression was wearing on me.

  “I checked the gun, Leah,” Wilson interjected. “They’re not silver.”

  I couldn’t think of a damn thing to say to that.

  “What, Leah? No smart-ass comeback for that.” Ambrose cocked an eye at me. “Not so clever now, are you?”

  I took a step toward him. Wilson stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.

  “Captain Wilson?” The patrolman looked from me to Ambrose.

  “It’s fine, Officer McCoy. Isn’t it Leah?”

  I kept my gaze pinned to Ambrose. “Yeah. It’s fine.”

  “I want the report on my desk this afternoon, McCoy.” Wilson said as he dismissed the patrolman.

  “Yes sir.” The officer replied then quickly made his way back to his car.

  “Get this,” Ambrose pointed at Adam’s body, “Piece of shit off my property or I’ll have it tossed in the dump.” He climbed back into his truck and sped away.

  By now Joaquin was vibrating with rage. I took a deep breath then touched his face gently. “Joaquin,” I whispered. “I need you to keep it together. Who do you want to call?”

  He jerked his face from my hand.

  “I need you to focus on taking care of Adam right now.”

  He took a quick breath, like waking from a bad dream, and then nodded. “Why isn’t the morgue here?”

  “They won’t come.” Wilson sighed. “They consider this an animal attack.”

  “This is bullshit Wilson!” I ground my teeth so hard it hurt. “Sam, can’t you do anything about this?”

  “I’ll do my job, Agent Wolfe.” He said pointedly. “Collect evidence, take photos and file a report.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, that’s all we can do right now.”

  “I know it’s crap, Leah. But right now, it’s also the law.” Wilson tried to comfort me.

  “I will take care of it, my love. We will take care of Adam.” Ian turned Joaquin away and after a long look back at me, he reluctantly followed Ian. “Where would like to take Adam?” I heard Ian ask Joaquin as he started walking him back to the car and pulled his cell phone out to make the necessary arrangements.

  Once they were further away I turned back to Wilson and Sam.

  “This is homicide and you both know that.”

  Wilson blew out a breath. “I agree Leah, but the law states that it’s not illegal to kill an animal. What was this kid doing on reservation land anyway?”

&nbs
p; “I don’t know. It borders land that Louis owned but they didn’t visit here often. I don’t know what took him over the property line.”

  “So Ambrose just happened to be out here, in the middle of nowhere when Adam was out here for a run?”

  “My main question right now is how one shot, with no silver, brought down a shifter.” I pursed my lips, fighting my frustration. “It just doesn’t happen that way.”

  “That was my thought exactly.” Sam scratched his chin.

  “Is there anything else that can bring down a shifter this cleanly?” Wilson asked.

  “I don’t know.” I sighed deeply. “I’ll definitely look into that.”

  “And I’ll have the body autopsied. The coroner owes me a favor.” Sam added when I looked at him skeptically.

  “Thanks Sam.” I smiled in appreciation. I knew he was doing this for my sake only. Officially, he had no ground to stand on.

  Wilson gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze before I joined Ian and Joaquin at the car.

  Sam arranged for the Coconino County Coroner to perform the autopsy and Ian and I made arrangements for Joaquin to take Adam Nolan’s body back to their northern Arizona territory and the county morgue. I wasn’t worried about the rest of the pack finding out about the murder yet. I’d learned long ago that shifters and vampires were very adept at hiding bodies.

  So Joaquin agreed to take Nolan home. It was customary to bury pack members on pack land. We couldn’t, however, convince him to stay there.

  “I’m coming back to investigate this whether you help me or not!” He told us.

  We convinced Joaquin that his presence was not going to foster cooperation. The Tribal Police wouldn’t let him near the station and Wilson sure as hell wasn’t going to help him. He never forgave Joaquin for kidnapping me. We did, however, promise that we would keep him in the loop.

  Sam informed me that I couldn’t officially look into Adam Nolan’s death, because, by law, it was a justified kill.

  So we’d use Ian’s resources and I’d badger Sam for anything that Ian couldn’t find.

  * * * *

  My lungs burned as I ran through the dank alley. The vamp I was chasing was fast and I had to use every bit of speed that I had just to keep up. His victim was lying two blocks back, bled dry by the rogue who was now mere feet in front of me. I dove and caught him by the legs, knocking us both the ground. As we rolled across the filth and grime, he snapped his fangs, trying to get a grip on any part of my body that he could reach. I dodged his bites while landing a few well-placed punches until we finally hit a cluster of garbage cans. The stench was awful as garbage from what must have been a fish restaurant rained down on us.