Wolf’s Princess

by Maddy Barone

  Sara’s brown eyes flared wide with confusion, and Katelyn hoped she had spoken clearly. Sometimes her words got jumbled, but she couldn’t hear what she said, so she didn’t know. Very slowly, she spoke again, enunciating each word with care. “Tasha was downstairs. Find Taye Wolfe and tell him.”

  “Okay,” Sara said. “I’ll take this out to Odell first, and then I’ll go find Taye.”

  Katelyn fisted the hem of her apron. That might take too long. “Hurry. I’ll go down now.”

  Sara nodded, a vague frown on her face, and carried the plate to the back door. Katelyn smoothed her hands over her apron, partly to dry them and partly to give her a moment to gather her courage. Then she marched to the basement door, opened it, and clomped down the steps.

  *

  Taye looked down at his cousin’s young mate and tried to understand why she was telling him this. With Sky out, he had plenty to do to keep the house safe. Already some men had tried to come in, even though the house normally wouldn’t open for another four hours. No one had come yet to try to take Odell away.

  “Is there a reason that Miss Tasha shouldn’t have been in the basement?” he asked, trying to sound patient.

  Sara gave a helpless shrug. “I don’t think so. Anyone can go to the basement if they want to.” She darted a glance up at Stone, and then looked back at him. “But Katelyn seemed sure that there was something wrong with Tasha being in the basement.”

  Taye cast a glance around Sky’s office, wishing his cousin would get back. Stone, Sand, and Snake looked back at him. “Have you talked to Katelyn about it?”

  “No.” Sara threw out her hands. “I can’t find her. She was cleaning the floor in the mudroom, and the bucket and scrub brush are still there, but she’s not.”

  “Is she out back with Odell?”

  “No.”

  “How about Tasha? Have you talked to her?”

  Sara arched one of her slender brows at him. “Tasha? No. She’s probably taking a nap. She didn’t answer her door when I knocked. And I’ve tried to find Rose, but no one has seen her for more than an hour.”

  The muscles in his shoulders tightened. The issue of Tasha being in the basement didn’t bother him, but Rose being missing was a totally different matter. “Did you look downstairs?”

  Sara’s face puckered. “Yeah, I went down there, but it’s empty. No one’s there.”

  Her expression didn’t convey concern, Taye thought, but distaste. “What’s that face for?”

  “It reeks down there. Not very sanitary for a laundry.”

  Taye looked at Snake. “Go downstairs,” he ordered. “Take a look around. Sand, see if Rose is outside. Check the dormitories. Look for Katelyn too. Stone, will you ask Ms. Mary to step in here?”

  If this was the den, Taye would have had every room searched, but this was Sky’s place. Back home, he laid down the law for sixty men but only a few women. He didn’t know the women who lived here. Having men go through their rooms might upset them. There was nothing he hated to face more than a crying woman. But Ms. Mary had acted as Sky’s Lupa for years. The women shouldn’t be upset if she gave the orders for a search.

  The elderly lady came into Sky’s office only a minute later. “Was there something I can do for you, Mr. Wolfe?”

  “Yes, ma’am. We need to find Rose and Katelyn. No one’s seen them lately.”

  Her already wrinkled forehead wrinkled more. “Really? Are they out visiting Odell?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Maybe they are doing something together and lost track of time.”

  “Maybe.” Taye thought it was possible but not likely. “I’d feel better if we knew where they are. Will you arrange a search of the house?”

  “Certainly. Sara?”

  Relieved, Taye let them get to it. He sat back down on the chair behind the big desk, yearning to see his mate and children again. Was Carla getting the help she needed with Little Feather? Was the baby sleeping through the night yet? He tapped a finger on the desk. Right now he just wanted to get this business in Omaha wrapped up and head home.

  Snake came in. “Sara’s right,” he reported. “No one is downstairs. But someone was. There’s a couple big piles of turds. I’m not sure who they belong to, but it can’t be the cat. I don’t think it was anyone who lived here. My nose isn’t the best, though. You might want someone else to take a look.”

  Taye’s heart slowed, a hint of the cool calm that came before battle settling over him. “Tracker’s guarding the wall in the back of the house. Go replace him and send him in here.”

  Sand passed Snake in the doorway. “Chief, I don’t see the ladies anywhere. Snow is with his mate out back, and he said he hasn’t seen Rose yet this morning. Katelyn stopped in early and said she’d be back to sit with Odell to give him a little break, she but hasn’t been back.”

  Certainty settled in Taye’s gut. Rose and Katelyn weren’t just busy somewhere. He could hear Ms. Mary and Sara upstairs asking the other women if they had seen Rose or Katelyn. He was sure no one had.

  Tracker’s scent came to him just before the man came into the office. There were threads of silver in the long white blond braids now and the crow’s feet at his eyes were deeper, but he knew Tracker’s nose was as sharp as ever. That was good, because they might need his nose to find the ladies. Tracker stopped next to Stone and Sand, his stance deceptively lazy.

  Taye stood with a squeal of chair legs over wood floor and met his cousin’s cool gaze. “We have trouble. Rose and Paint’s lady are missing.”

  The casual stance didn’t change, but something in his scent sharpened. “What’re you thinkin’?”

  “If they aren’t here, where are they?” Taye wondered out loud.

  Sara and Ms. Mary returned. “Nobody’s seen them,” Sara announced. “We even peeked in everyone’s closet, but there was nothing to see. What are we going to do?”

  Taye looked at Tracker. “Dan isn’t called Tracker for nothing. He’ll find out where they’ve been.”

  Sara looked respectful. “Start in the mudroom,” she suggested. “That’s where Katelyn was seen last.”

  When everyone headed for the door, Taye stopped them with a growl. “Dan goes alone. Everyone else will just muddy the scent.”

  They waited in silence for Tracker to return. Sara shifted her weight from foot to foot, Ms. Mary took a chair and folded blue-veined hands in her lap, and the men from the Pack stood statue-still, but suppressed aggression tinged the air. Into this silence came Paint and the trader, Rye Thomas.

  “What’s going on?” Thomas demanded. “I’m trying to sleep, but someone comes tramping through my room every ten minutes.”

  Taye explained briefly. The trader nodded with a frown and settled against a wall, arms folded over his chest. Paint paled. “Katelyn,” he said.

  The fear for a mate’s safety was something no wolf wanted to feel. Katelyn wasn’t Paint’s wolf’s choice, but he felt for her the same way he would for a mate. Taye nodded with sympathy. “We’ll find her,” he said. “Just hang on until Dan comes back.”

  Paint took up position beside Thomas, adjusting and readjusting his eye patch. The office was getting crowded. They all turned sharply when Tracker returned.

  “Well,” drawled Tracker. “Lots of scents in this place. Both women were in the mudroom recently. That’s not surprising, I reckon. I could smell both women on the stairs going down to the basement. And I could smell both women in the laundry room and in the little closet in the corner. Not so many smells there, so their scents were clear. Fresh, probably only a few hours old. Is that usual?”

  Everybody looked at Ms. Mary, whose face pinched with alarm. “It would be normal for Katelyn,” she said. “But I don’t think Rose has been down there but once or twice since she came here.”

  “There’s more,” Tracker went on, his quiet tenor voice edged with steel. “There’s a few blood smears on the floor, and they lead right to that small door near the floor i
n that closet. The one we came through to get here. You remember how we had to break the door down because it was boarded shut?” he added to Taye.

  Paint snapped upright. “Didn’t you board it back up after you came though?”

  Tracker nodded his head, mouth set in a long, grim line. “We did. Boards are off, piled against the wall. There’s some other scents around that door. Two I don’t recognize, but a third one seems familiar. It’s female. At least, it smells like fake flowers, like some of the perfume the ladies here wear.”

  “Tasha,” Sara pushed in front of Stone and jammed her fists on her hips. “That’s what Katelyn said to me, something about Tasha and the basement.”

  Taye looked at Ms. Mary. “Would Tasha have reason to be in the laundry room?”

  “I doubt Tasha knows where the laundry room is,” said Ms. Mary tartly. “I can’t think of any reason for her to be downstairs.”

  “I think we should have a word with the lady,” said Taye.

  “I’ll go get her,” said Sara militantly.

  Taye eyed her plump, petite form. “Stone, go with your mate and ask Miss Tasha to join us.”

  A few minutes later, Tasha breezed into the office, a smile on her painted lips. Taye watched the smile falter a little when she looked around and saw everyone staring at her. Ms. Mary was in the visitor’s chair, Snake and Sand stood on one side of the desk, Paint and Thomas against the other wall, and he and Tracker behind the desk. Sara gave Tasha a healthy shove to move her out of the way so she and Stone could enter. Tasha turned from glaring at Sara to give Rye Thomas a smile that held equal parts defiance and triumph.

  “What can I do for you, Mr. Wolfe?” she purred, angling her shoulders to give him a clear view of her cleavage.

  Taye didn’t bother looking. “We’re hoping you can help us find Rose and Katelyn.”

  “Oh, are they lost?”

  The woman had a particularly grating giggle. “Yes. Have you seen Rose today?”

  She screwed up her face in exaggerated thought. “No, not today.”

  “Lie,” said Stone quietly.

  Tasha rounded on him, drawing a sharp breath to speak, but Rye Thomas cut her off. “That’s what she does,” he said in a hollow voice. “She lies, and sneaks, and cheats to get her way.”

  The anger on her face melted into woebegone hurt. “Ryan, you still don’t believe me?”

  “Are you still denying you seduced my dad?”

  “He forced me to sleep with him.”

  Rye Thomas looked at Stone, who shook his head. “Lie.”

  Maybe the trader had still harbored some small hope, because Taye watched something die on his face. “Dammit, Tash, I always wanted to believe you. Knowing my dad, your story was plausible. But there was always something just a little off about you. What did you do with Mrs. Wolfe and Miss Jones?”

  “Katelyn? I don’t know anything about Katelyn.”

  Stone said, “True.”

  Tasha jerked her head around to stare at Stone. “See? Sorry I can’t help you. If I see either of them I’ll let you know.”

  “Not so fast.” Sara jabbed a finger at her. “What did you do with Rose?”

  “Nothing!”

  “Lie.”

  All the men from the Pack and Clan lifted their heads and turned to look toward the front of the house where the front door had just opened and closed. Taye lifted his voice.

  “Sky? Come back to your office. We have a problem.”

  *

  Sky walked wearily up the steps to The Limit, worried about what was happening in the streets of Omaha. Having Shadow released from jail hadn’t been as difficult or expensive as he’d expected, thanks to the efforts of an old friend and ally. Judge John Case secretly supported the city people’s thirst for justice, and he had been sitting on the bench today. The forged pass had been accepted blandly and Shadow was let go with a warning. That wasn’t what made him tired, though. It was the crowds in the streets, the smoke from fires, and the worry of what would happen in Omaha and at the Limit.

  He ushered Shadow and Joe in and closed the door. He wanted his mate. He wanted to hold her and draw comfort from her. Just to feel her warmth pressed against him would give him fresh energy. In his imagination he felt her hair in his hands as he kissed her.

  An urgent call from the back of the house cut into his daydreams. Sky exchanged one glance with his big brother before rushing to his office. Joe followed them. Sky found his office crowded, but his mate wasn’t there.

  “Where’s Rose?” he asked.

  Taye moved out from behind the desk. “That’s the problem. No one has seen her, and we can’t find her.”

  Everyone spoke at once, and it took a few minutes to get it sorted out. Horror spread through him. His lips felt stiff when he fixed his stare on Tasha. “Where is she?” he asked in a low voice.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Lie.”

  A thread of rage wove through his horror, and another thread, terror, twined around it. He’d never hurt a woman in his life, and this was Tasha, someone he’d known since he first came to this house, but Rose was missing and she was keeping information from him. His wolf was no longer deep inside, but right under the surface, clawing to get out and find his mate. “Where is she?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know!”

  The shrill words were rimmed with fear, but the wolf didn’t care. He howled, and Tasha paled.

  “Hold it together,” Taye commanded.

  Tracker jerked a chin at Joe. “He reeks of guilt.”

  Sky wheeled on his lawyer. The slender man’s lips were bloodless, his tall forehead beaded with sweat. “What have you done?”

  The lawyer’s struggle with shame was plain on his face. “I opened the escape tunnel.”

  “Why, Joe? You betrayed me.”

  Joe looked down, swallowing hard. “I love Tasha,” he said hoarsely.

  Anger and pity roiled in Sky’s gut. “What happened to my mate?”

  Joe had to try twice to speak. “I don’t know. Tasha sold her to Terry Askup. Two of his men were supposed to take her away.”

  The air was heavy with lupine rage. Sky ignored the twisting in his gut. “Where did they take her?”

  “I don’t know, Sky.” Joe looked almost miserable enough to satisfy the wolf’s fury. “I swear, I don’t know. Maybe Tasha does.”

  Tasha shot Joe one glance of hateful contempt before assuming an innocent expression. “Sky, he’s making that up. You know me. I would never do anything like that.”

  Reluctantly, Sky looked at Stone. The younger man shook his head. “She’s lying.”

  Into the horrified silence, Ms. Mary’s voice quavered. “Tasha, how could you? Sky and I have given you a home. We’ve taken care of you. Rose never did anything to hurt you.”

  The hurt, innocent look on Tasha’s face fell away, revealing a woman Sky didn’t know. She gave a harsh laugh. “I was going to be the mayor’s wife. I was supposed to be the mayor’s wife.” She sneered at Rye Thomas. “First you refused to take the job. Your dad was young enough to last as mayor for decades, so I fluttered my lashes and wagged my hips at him and he fell like a rock right into my hands. He promised to get rid of his wife and marry me. But he screwed up. The old bat survived and he didn’t have the guts to try again and do it right.”

  Thomas made the sound of an animal that had just been shot. Sky spared him a single glance of sympathy.

  “No, he just lapped up the pity instead.” Tasha placed a hand over her heart and her voice lifted in a caricature of admiring compassion. “Poor Mayor McGrath has had so many terrible tragedies to deal with this year, but isn’t it wonderful the way he takes care of his wife?”

  Sky stared at her, wondering how he had missed seeing this side of the businesswoman he’d known for eight years.

  “And then Sky came along.” Tasha flicked him a melting look from beneath her lashes. “He had everything: good looks, charisma, and that special something that
made men look up to him. He can be the next mayor. Tim McGrath is finished; he just doesn’t know it yet. I will make a marvelous mayor’s wife.”

  Sky took a step back. “I don’t want to be mayor.”

  “Sure you do. You can change all the laws to your little do-gooder’s heart’s content.”

  “Even if Rose weren’t my mate, I would never have married you.”

  “Oh, you will.” She sounded serenely confident. “Eventually. If you don’t, Terry and his charming nephews will kill your precious, naïve little wife.”

  Sand lost control enough to howl. Tasha gave him a look of weary disdain.

  She didn’t understand about wolves and their mates. Inside, Sky’s wolf swung his head from side to side, frustrated and confused. This woman had delivered their mate to the enemy, but he couldn’t attack a woman. He sensed other wolves experiencing the same confusion. Beside him, Shadow let out a whine. Sky laid an imaginary hand on his wolf’s head to calm him.

  “Where is she, Tasha?” He made his voice harsh and strong. “Where did they take Rose?”

  Tasha’s smile was confident. “You’ll get her back after you marry me. I don’t mind if you keep her, as long as you are mayor and I am your official wife.”

  Rye Thomas shouldered Sky aside to stare at his one-time fiancée. “That’s not gonna work out so well for you. See, he’s not going to be the next mayor. I am. So you missed the boat, you scheming bitch.” He turned his back on her to look at Sky. “I think we should split up. If I can, I’d like to take a couple of your relatives and I’ll go to my father’s house. My dad will probably know about anything that slimewad Terry Askup is involved in. You go to Askup’s place. I’ll send someone with any information I find out about Mrs. Wolfe.”

  Sky took a deep breath. “That’s probably good. Watch yourself, though. There are people on the street, and they’re looking for trouble. I heard they were headed for the mayor’s house next. Snake, find Quill. You two are with Thomas.”

  Rye Thomas held out his hand. “Thank you.”

  Sky shook the offered hand. “Be careful,” he said.

  As Thomas left the room, Sky saw that damn cat of Rose’s slink out from under the desk and saunter after the trader. Pain grew and settled like a rock on his chest. He hated that cat, but Rose loved it. “Sand, Shadow, and Paint, you’re with me,” he said, putting the cat out of his mind. “Tracker, will you scout for us?”