by Sadie Hart
She nodded, but she couldn’t ease the ache building in her chest. When this was all done, there were things she needed to figure out, and almost all of them had to do with Brandt Lawrence. Maybe Charles had a reason to be jealous. She wanted more from that Hound than she’d ever wanted from anyone before.
***
Darkness skittered outside the window, the slim tendrils of moonlight vanishing as a cloud passed by the waxing moon and left the room cast in darkness. Charles leaned back against the headboard and stared down at the woman whimpering at the edge of the bed. Nothing about her was right. Not that he’d expected her to be, but she’d looked so much like his little Timber that he had to try. But her wolf was meek, a whimpering shadow who cowered every time he got close.
Timber had fought him in the beginning. He’d seen the animal lurking in her eyes, the desire to sink teeth into his flesh and rip him apart almost always there before she’d learned to shy away from his touch. Before he showed her that even then, when he was a human, he’d been her alpha, her mate. The only one she should bow to.
This little squeak huddled like a mouse, whimpering and crying, without any fight in her. Frustrated, he lashed out, the heel of his foot catching her shoulder and shoving her off the bed. She fell to the floor with a soft cry. Charles thumped his head back against the wooden headboard. He wanted this over with, done with. His proper mate back in his fucking bed. He wanted her to feel his power this time—real power.
Wanted to see what her wolf thought when it looked him in the eyes again and saw a bigger, badder wolf looking back.
He licked his lips, the anticipation so thick in the air he could taste it. “I wonder,” Charles murmured and watched as the woman’s eyes grew wide, her naked body trembling as she sank lower to the floor, like she was willing the carpet to swallow her up. “Did her little Hound leave her after finding my last present?”
He crawled down the length of the bed and watched the little she-wolf whimper, burying her face in her hands. Charles reached out and trailed a finger down her spine. She was so easy to scare. So easy to break.
The Hound from this afternoon had more fight in her than this little bitch.
“Don’t worry,” Charles said as he stepped over her to leave. “I won’t keep you long.”
Of course, he wasn’t sure it reassured her. After all, he wasn’t going to let her live, either. A dead wolf was a bigger bargaining tool than one he’d let scamper free, like he was someone you could just piss off without expecting any retribution. Timber had always proven stronger than he could possibly have imagined. All those women tortured and then dead, and she’d held out for so long, refusing to change him.
His tongue trailed out over his lips. She wasn’t one who’d break when the bodies piled up. Oh, she’d tremble a little bit, worry a bit more, but she wouldn’t come crawling back to him in hopes of stopping the murders. She wasn’t dumb. No, these were just for fun, and they had the added bonus of riling up the local Shifter Town Enforcement.
The Hounds would want those murders to stop, and one little wolf handed over as a way of calling truce, now that wouldn’t be too far beneath them. Snatching up his jeans, Charles yanked them on, his mind churning over the possible ways this could play out. Maybe in a day or two he’d let the woman in his bedroom be found, but dead shifters only riled Shifter Town Enforcement so much.
Dead Hounds, though...he did like where he was going with that.
This afternoon should have gotten his message across loud and clear. Now it was time to go see if it had worked. Had Timber’s dog packed up and left her to fend for herself, or did Charles need to up the ante? Grinning, he stalked for the door. He really couldn’t decide which he wanted more.
***
Brandt stopped the car at the edge of the road. Dim sunlight drifted across the morning sky, lazily sending out fingers of light until it had slipped through the shadows, chasing them away one by one. Tate was already there, his car parked to block Timber’s driveway, along with a few other STE vehicles parked across her lawn. Yellow crime scene tape outlined last night’s scene, but that wasn’t why Tate had called him out here.
Sliding out of the car, he swung the door shut and turned to face the Hound striding his way. Anger and unease twisted in Brandt’s gut. They’d been smart to move her. As much as he’d hated walking away last night, Brandt knew, just from looking at her house, that they’d been lucky to move her when they did. If she’d been there... His stomach gave a painful twist. Not going there.
Her front window was shattered, the front door left wide open.
“Can you tell how long ago he left?” Brandt asked, not taking his gaze off the house. He didn’t dare look Tate in the eye. There’d be no way to hide the anger roaring through him.
“Best guess, he left about three hours ago. We had light patrols out here, but nothing major. We’d moved Kearney, so there wasn’t a need.”
Brandt knew chances were Wolfe had discovered they’d moved Timber and decided to lash out at her this way. He didn’t think for one second that Wolfe had believed STE would stand by her after the death of one of their own.
Fuck, he hadn’t thought the bastard would come back twice in one night, or Brandt would have left his entire pack here waiting for him. “Damn,” Brandt ground out. “We should have had more men here.”
He glanced at Tate and saw the other Hound’s jaw was tight, hard. Tate gave a rough nod of agreement. “He has no cooling off time. He killed Martin, smelled like another wolf, and yet waltzed back in here.”
Brandt drew up short, ignoring the rush pounding through his head. Smelled like another wolf? “Do we have anyone reported missing?”
“No. I’ve already invited Bannock out; he should be here soon enough, so we’ll be able to tell if it’s one of Delphi’s. Once we’re done cataloging the scene I plan to invite the rest of the alphas. Figured we want to get whoever it was ID’d as fast as possible.”
“Agreed.”
Brandt stalked closer to Timber’s house. He was nearly at the front door before he picked up a scent, and the moment he did, he recognized it. Charles Wolfe had a smell to him, besides the dank, musky scent of wolf, which Brandt would never forget. But there was another one here too, fainter. Leftover traces of someone Wolfe had spent time with. Feminine, sweet—nearly buried under the scent of Wolfe’s arousal.
Tate had been right about the timeline. Brandt had scented Wolfe’s trail before he came here to kill Martin last night. He hadn’t smelled like another woman. The scent left in Timber’s house told a different story. So he’d killed one woman, been with another, then came back to trash Timber’s house? What the hell was he playing at?
Stepping through the front door, Brandt froze. Her couch was shredded. Stuffing covered the floor. Huge claw marks raked through the cushions. The scent of piss clouded everything and Brandt grunted, drawing back a step.
“He definitely does not like you,” Tate said from behind him.
“Good. Maybe we should put out a memo. Don’t like me, come get me. I’d like a run at the asshole.” Brandt glanced at the other Hound to see Tate grinning at him. “How much of the house is trashed like this?”
Tate shrugged. “He went through every room. The couch he took the longest destroying.” Tate cleared his throat. Brandt caught the slight flush on the Hound’s face.
The couch made sense. After all, he’d held Timber there. Kissed and stroked her. No doubt Wolfe had smelled the twin arousals and knew how close they’d gotten last night. Tate had, and that was proof enough for Brandt.
“Her bedroom...” A wince flashed across Tate’s face. “He left his mark there too.”
Brandt headed for the stairs, ignoring the way his hands shook. He fisted them at his side. “Tell me what I’m walking into,” he said as he walked up the stairs. Not that it was going to stop him. Wolfe had fixed it so they couldn’t bring Timber home any time soon. The place was now a crime scene, and most definitely not safe.
/> Hell, the bastard had made it so most likely she’d never feel safe here again.
“He ejaculated all over the sheets.”
Brandt froze at the top of the stairs, but even this far away he could smell the thick cloud of Wolfe’s arousal. Son of a—
He broke the thought off and closed his eyes. Anger wouldn’t do anything but screw up his judgment, and Brandt needed a clear head. He needed to process this as a Hound, not as someone who cared more about Timber than he probably should.
Bracing himself for what he knew he was going to find, Brandt forced himself to continue down the hall and into her room. It didn’t stop the breath from dropping out of his lungs the moment he stepped through her bedroom door. The sheets were rumpled, the comforter half on the floor, as if Wolfe had rolled around in her bed. Her pillow was crumpled in the center of the bed, wet stains saturating the beige pillowcase.
Brandt wanted nothing more than to toss a match in the room and watch it burn. Timber should never have to touch any of this. She should never have to see any of it. “Crime scene already been up?”
“Waiting on you. Figured you’d want to see it all first-hand before we processed it.”
God, no. He didn’t want to see any of this.
“Good news is, whoever he was with, he didn’t bring her here. And we haven’t found a body yet. Could mean whoever he has is still alive.”
“And if we can find out who, maybe we can get ahead of him,” Brandt murmured. “This is definitely personal for him, though.”
Brandt looked in her closet. Wolfe had ripped open her dresser. Bras littered the ground and each one had a ragged slit through the left breast. Was he proud of what he’d done to her?
“Have CSU process every inch.” Brandt turned slowly, taking in the destruction. “He spent a lot of time here.”
“He never turned on a light. He was quiet until he broke the living room window. But even then, he was gone before the patrol came to investigate.”
Of course he was. He always was.
“He’s comfortable here. He knows his way around this town, and yet nobody has seen him.” Brandt shook his head. He wanted Wolfe to feel like he had a noose closing in around his neck, but instead the bastard was running circles around them.
“Sir,” someone called from the stairs, and both he and Tate went out to meet the Hound standing in the hall. “I think we found something.”
Brandt held his breath while relief washed over him.
“It’s not much, sir, but it might give us a lead.”
“We don’t need much,” Brandt murmured.
They just needed something. Some little thing that would rip this case wide open.
“Show me.”
Chapter Fifteen
Addison Shay looked more like a pixie than a bodyguard. Her short blonde hair was cropped tightly to her head, and spiked, so she looked tomboyish from a distance, but the moment she opened the car door to step out, there was no denying she was a woman. Timber glanced at Nathan, but the Delphi alpha was already grinning at the woman who slammed her car door and sauntered toward them.
Shay wore a ragged pair of blue jeans, the knees ripped out, and a loose plaid blouse tucked in at the waist. A shoulder holster was snugged against her right breast. “Nathan,” Shay said, her voice warm, like the morning sunshine, and it warmed further when her gaze landed on Timber. “You must be Timber.”
She held out a hand and Timber took it.
“I’m Shay. Nathan said you need a place to stay for a little while.”
“I don’t want to be a bother...” And she most definitely did not want to get this girl tangled up with Charles. God, he’d eat her alive, gun or not.
Shay grinned, amusement sparkling in her eyes. They were the most brilliant blue Timber had ever seen, a brilliant seafoam teal. Nathan touched Timber’s shoulder. “Shay’s my pack second. As a wolf and as a human she can beat every one of my boys except me.”
“Ah, I give you a run for your money too.” Her grin widened, teasing.
“She’s also a good shot. Brandt mentioned you were learning.”
Timber glanced back at the woman in front of her, eyeing the gun.
“And she’s licensed to carry,” the alpha added.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you guys feel like you had to explain.”
Shay titled back her head and laughed. “Girl, please. I look like walking rape bait, or so I’ve been told by a particular horny male wolf who was rather pissed he couldn’t take me home the other night.”
She winked. “And from what I’ve heard about the sick psycho stalking you, I don’t blame you for being skeptical. But I promise you, if he makes a try for you on my watch, we’re going to kick his ass.”
Timber couldn’t help smiling then. She liked Shay. The woman had an easy confidence about her, but more than that, she recognized the look in Shay’s eyes when she’d mentioned Charles. It was the same hard, cold implacability she’d seen in Nathan’s. The look of someone who’d pulled the trigger before and watched people die because of it.
“I was a Marine, just like Nathan,” Shay said, no doubt reading the curiosity right off her face. Maybe Timber had been alone for so long she had forgotten how to guard her expressions. There was no need to do it when the only person looking back at you was in your mirror. “Same platoon. Two tours in Afghanistan can change a person.”
Timber didn’t doubt that.
Shay tilted her head at Nathan’s house. “Shall we get your things? The sooner we load the car, the sooner we can get moving. Nathan said the Hound took you shooting.” A wicked grin flashed over Shay’s face. “Care for a lesson today?”
Relief bloomed in Timber’s chest. “I’d love that.”
She glanced at Nathan, but Shay was already trotting toward the house, and the Delphi alpha didn’t seem to mind at all. Trailing along behind, Timber found herself studying the other woman. Shay moved through her alpha’s house like she owned it, a whirlwind of activity that seemed to touch everything she passed.
“He put you in the guest room upstairs? First one on the left?”
Timber nodded.
Shay snorted. “Don’t give me that look. You’re not the first wolf we’ve had take refuge in Delphi before. And, hell, we had a bunch of yours transfer when the Hounds first came crashing down on your place. Nathan’s set up to as their first stop until he can pair them with an enforcer for a while, or get them straight into a place of their own.”
“What happens if they already have their own place?”
Shay glanced over her shoulder, one hand on the banister leading up the stairs. “You talking about you or one of your wolves?”
She’d had a few who had gotten their own places in town, but, damn, Shay was incredibly intuitive. Sometimes Timber wondered what it’d be like just to be a normal wolf in a normal pack. No more hiding people, no more trying to track down fake identities, no more fear. Of course, then those women would have no place to go, and the dreams always ended up moot...but sometimes it was nice to dream anyway.
“Both, maybe.”
“Depends on how hot their tail is. Yours is burning up with this Wolfe guy gunning for you. He knows your number, knows your house, and even with guards he’s brash. Bold. You’d be paired with an enforcer—just like you are, now—and kept in hiding until Nathan could determine a better plan of action or the threat goes away.”
Shay raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
“How many with like mine cases have you helped?”
“None, sweetheart. At least, none that includes a murderer with the body count of this bastard. But Delphi’s housed its share of abused wolves. As for those that come in with some mild heat on their tails, like two of the ones we got from you, Nathan simply sends out an enforcer or two to get them rigged up with our basic security package. Alarms, cameras, motion-activated lights, that kind of thing. The stuff that makes the average burglar go ‘hell, no’. If they need a new
ID or something, he handles that, too. If they let him, Nathan puts their house under the pack name. Harder to trace that way.”
“I didn’t think your alpha was big on the whole fake name thing.” Actually, Timber had been pretty sure of it. Everything she’d learned about Nathan Bannock said he was a by-the-book kind of guy.
“Shifter Town Enforcement backs him up. He’s been working with Brandt for a long time now. Took them a while to sort it out, but they’ve worked most of the kinks out of their relationship. As for those who have to stay off even STE radar?” Shay winked. “That’s need to know.”
Timber fetched her bags while she let that bit of information sink in. She hadn’t realized Delphi would do anything STE would consider iffy, but, if Shay was anyone to go by, they did.
Shay squeezed her shoulder. “If you’re worried about your wolves, don’t be. None of them had anything huge chasing them. Nothing Nathan and the rest of us can’t handle. And if you’re worried about you,” she leaned in and bumped shoulders. “You have the full force of the local Shifter Town Enforcement behind you, and now Delphi on top of that. We’re going to get this guy. But we also could make you disappear and let you start over, if you wanted it.”
“I don’t know what I want.” But even as she said it, she knew better.
She didn’t want to hide anymore. She didn’t want to disappear. Brandt’s face filled her mind. The softness in his eyes, the tender touch of his lips on hers. He hadn’t backed away once. Timber pressed the heel of her palm to her chest. Somehow, so quickly, he’d wormed his way in. Walking away from Brandt wasn’t something she wanted to do, wasn’t something she was sure she could do anymore.
Shay’s voice dropped to a soothing whisper beside her. “If I were you? I’d stay and fight. Not for the reason you might think, but for the reason I see in your eyes right now, the man I smell on your skin. You look like someone who thinks she’ll lose everything when she thinks of disappearing. That tells me you have something to fight for.”
