She wanted to know so bad.
“Hey, Leah, are you okay?”
Soft, sweet spoken Anne stood at the door. She had been at the center for over twenty years. The twinkle in her eyes may have brought comfort but her soul was like a stone. That’s what Anne told Leah more than once. That working at the center had really good days but more bad days.
“I’ll be okay,” Leah said. “Just a rough day.”
“A lot of them are,” Anne said. “Don’t forget though, all that time we spent with Maggie. We did good for her. She’s happier now.”
“She was so close to turning one hundred.”
“And what would that mean?” Anne said. “Nothing, right?”
Leah nodded. “I guess you’re right.”
“Hey, if it means anything, I think you have a good afternoon ahead of you.”
“Why’s that?”
Anne stepped into the break room. She smiled. “There’s a smoking hot guy outside on a motorcycle looking for you.”
Leah felt color rush to her face.
Lucas was there for her.
Leah dumped her coffee and promised herself one thing. She would do whatever it would take to get Lucas to admit everything to her. Because maybe there was a chance she wouldn’t have to face death anymore.
11
Vince rode in front of the rest of the crew he brought with him. They were fanned out, two behind Vince, three behind that. They rode for sound and for protection. Vince trusted his life with every person he handpicked for the Full Moon Mercy crew. They were on their way to meet with Chief Charlie to discuss the situation from the woods. They all couldn’t completely let it go. There had to be some kind of clue as to why it happened and maybe there would be a clue for something to happen again. One thing was for sure, nobody was going to be fucking around in Mercy and not face the wrath of Full Moon Mercy. Vince didn’t want to bring blood to the streets of Mercy, but up in the woods, running through those trees as a beast, there was no saying what could possibly happen.
They arrived at the police station with their thundering roars. Vince parked in front of the steps, the crew behind him. Everyone killed their engines and Vince climbed from his bike. He put his helmet down on the seat and walked back to Cooper and Ian.
“Get in touch with Lucas,” Vince said. “Tell him we’re here and taking care of this. Find out what he’s doing. I got this feeling… you know?”
“About that girl?” Ian asked.
“Something like that,” Vince said. “That kind of shit gets into your head and fucks with you. Saving a woman like that, it creates this bond. You think you need to do it over and over. I really wish one of you two would have went to check out that sound.”
Cooper nodded. “The second Lucas heard it was woman…”
Vince laughed. “Always chasing pussy, right?”
“Can’t blame him,” Ian said. “Save a woman… imagine how easy…”
“I wouldn’t know,” Vince said and put his hands up. “I’m a happily taken man, boys.”
Cooper and Ian laughed.
Vince nodded to the rest of the crew. He gave a few hand signals instructing everyone to keep their eyes open, their ears focused, and their sense of smell ready to deal with anything that could happen. A feeling ran through Vince making him wonder if someone from another crew wasn’t already in Mercy. Hiding and waiting. He believed Lucas was right. By burning the body and leaving those ashes on the mountain, it would piss off whoever killed those two guys last night.
Inside the police station, Vince shook hands with a few close friends on the force. Plenty other officers wouldn’t give him the time of day. They wouldn’t look at him. They walked away. A lot of them looked like they were chomping at the bit for one of the Full Moon Mercy guys to make a mistake to put them behind bars. It wouldn’t be the first time any of them spent a night or two in a cell. Even then, a jail cell wouldn’t hold a beast.
Chief Charlie looked from up his desk and stood, rushing to Vince.
“Vincent,” he said. “What can I do for you?”
“Maybe some information, Chief,” Vince said and smiled.
“Sure. Let’s step into my office.”
Chief Charlie led the way to the office. He pointed to a chair and Vince sat. Chief shut the door and let out a sigh.
“Christ, Vince,” Chief Charlie said. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I told you I was stopping by today. Didn’t you hear the motorcycles?”
“Motorcycles? How many fucking guys did you bring here?”
“Just a few,” Vince said. He shrugged his shoulders. “Protection, for all of us.”
“We’re all well protected here,” Chief Charlie said. “We’ve got guns. Men. Women. Our own crew of legal authorities.”
Vince waved his hand. “Legal… what the fuck does legal even mean?” Chief opened his mouth but Vince kept talking. “And of course you realize we have a weapon nobody in this department has. You have the blood, Charlie, but not the power.”
Chief Charlie walked to his desk and plopped down in his chair. He shook his head. “I talked to Lucas last night about all this. I thought we were all in the clear with this.”
“Maybe we are, maybe we aren’t. What else do you have on those two vics?”
“Those guys? Nothing. Drug hustlers. Losers. Probably better off where they are now.”
Vince leaned over the desk. “Tell me what you know.”
“Why? I’m doing my job.”
“And I want to do mine,” Vince said. “I’m trying to make sure I don’t have a problem here.”
“Vince, I saw those two bodies. You have a problem. The one guy was ripped open from his neck to his shoulder. There was no way I could say an animal attacked him. And the other guy, he had no face.”
Vince folded his hands. “Exactly why I’m here. What do you know, Chief?”
Chief Charlie sighed again. He lifted the desk calendar and pulled out a folder. He opened it looked at it.
“I did a little research from what I found in the car, okay? The guys were named Tommy and Joseph.”
“Not Tom and Jerry?” Vince asked with a big grin.
“Don’t be a smart ass here,” Chief said. “They were a couple of punks from down in Valley Nook, okay? Not even my jurisdiction. They have a long sheet of petty things. Getting picked up for pot. Public drunkenness. Tommy got thrown in jail for a month for fighting someone. That’s all.”
“Why were they on that mountain?” Vince asked.
“They had some pot in the car. There was a gun too.”
“Were they making a run?”
“Not with what they had.”
“Then they were buying,” Vince said. “Son of a bitch.”
“What?”
“They were buying,” Vince said. “They were coming up to the mountain thinking they were going to score something. Instead, they ended up dead.”
“You think it was a set up?” Chief asked.
“Absolutely. What else did you find?”
“Well, now that you mention it, there was a note in the car. I couldn’t make much out but there were directions.”
“To what?”
“Somewhere on the mountain,” Chief said.
“Trying to cause problems for us,” Vince said. “For me. Figure if something’s dead up there, torn apart, it would cause a little chaos in town here.”
“Is it really that bad to bribe some druggies?” Chief Charlie asked. “Put them in their place.”
“You think it’s that simple?” Vince asked. “You think that’s where it’ll stop? That’s where it starts. It’ll work its way into town, Charlie. You think you can take on some wolves running through here?”
Chief Charlie stiffened. He leaned back and shook his head. “So what do you want me to do, Vince?”
“Everything you’ve done already. The car is gone. The bodies are taken care of. We need to just keep our eyes open for anything else. Keep the right
guys on duty for me.”
“The right guys?” Chief asked.
Vince stood up. “You know who I mean.” Vince pointed, making it clear his authority did supersede Chief Charlie’s.
Chief stood and Vince opened the door.
“That’s all I’m going to say,” Vince called out. “The son of a bitch took the keys to the car and sped off. Drunk as anything. I sent two of my guys out but I didn’t want to cause any problems.”
Vince waited for Chief Charlie to respond to the cover up story.
“Okay, okay, Vincent,” he said. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll keep my eyes open.”
“I’m really sorry that happened,” Vince said. “Have a good day, Chief.”
Vince walked through the police station, looking at everyone, smiling. They all had no idea what Full Moon Mercy did for them. Vince could probably stop and point out something the club had done for each and every one of them over the course of twenty years. But he kept his mouth shut and focused on what needed to be done.
Once outside, he went to Cooper and Ian.
“How’d it go?” Cooper asked.
“Someone is setting this up,” Vince said. “Someone lured those two guys up there to be massacred. We’ll figure it out. Did you talk to Lucas?”
“Yeah,” Ian said. “He’s at the club. With a friend it seems.”
Vince gritted his teeth. “Okay. Just make sure he doesn’t fall in love.”
Cooper laughed. “I’m sure he will. Then he’ll sleep with her and fall out of love.”
“You guys act like pups sometimes.”
“Yeah, that’s not all, Vince,” Ian said.
Cooper looked at Ian and raised an eyebrow.
“What’s wrong?”
“I got a call before,” Ian said.
“From who?” Vince asked.
“A woman named Debbie.”
“Debbie? Why do I care?”
“She said she, uh, was with Lucas.”
“Juggling two women?” Cooper asked. “That won’t end well.”
“It doesn’t seem it will,” Ian said. “She said she was having some strange pains… wanted to go see a doctor, but was too afraid.”
“Again, why do I care?” Vince asked.
Ian leaned forward toward Vince. “She thinks… she thinks she’s pregnant, Vince. And she doesn’t think what’s inside her is human.”
12
When Lucas saw Leah walk from the center, he stood from the motorcycle and smiled. It was the best part of his day so far. After returning to the club, he spent the rest of the morning in bed, smoking and smelling the pillow and sheets where Leah had slept. His heart and mind just couldn’t figure out what it was about the woman that made her so attractive and addicting. Just the fact alone that he didn’t sleep with her the night before; it was like he was torturing himself on purpose and he didn’t know why.
Leah looked upset and worn out. She looked at Lucas and he opened his arms for her to fall into. She accepted his hug and Lucas squeezed tight. He inhaled Leah’s scent and it made his nose twinge. He swallowed hard, picking up a familiar smell. He moved Leah away and held her shoulders. His hand slowly made their way to her face.
“Leah,” he whispered. “What happened in there?”
“You tell me,” Leah said.
Lucas looked at the building and then at Leah. “Someone died today.”
“Yeah, someone did.”
A tear fell from Leah’s eye. Lucas’s thumb was quick to swipe it away.
“Don’t cry,” Lucas said. “Death is part of life.”
Leah shook her head. “How did you know, Lucas? How did you… know everything?”
Lucas took a deep breath. He needed to get out of that parking lot. The building behind Leah stunk of death. It suddenly left him feeling angry. He had the urge to just end it all in there for those people, whether that was right or wrong.
“I need you to be strong, Leah,” Lucas said. “Strength defines our soul and our soul is where we can hide the deepest secrets.”
Lucas let Leah go and climbed his bike. He fired it up and waited for Leah to climb on back. She put her helmet on and straddled the bike. Her hands went around Lucas’s waist. Lucas put a hand to Leah’s hands and squeezed for a second. It was the best he could offer her in that moment. Whatever pain and grief she felt, she would need to deal with on her own.
Purposely skipping the easiest way home, Lucas took Leah for a little ride. He took the main street through Mercy and went beyond it. The mountains grew from the horizon and that’s what Lucas chased. He accepted the air on his face, the breeze against his skin, the tight grip of Leah around his waist. He rode faster than the speed limit and faster than he should have on a motorcycle with someone on the back, but he wanted to push the limits. He had pent up frustration on so many levels and this was the only way he could release it. Unless he parked the motorcycle and threw Leah to the ground and began to ravage her.
As they climbed twisting roads of the mountain, Lucas felt the cool air, even though the sun seemed to be brighter. The smell of the woods and air attacked his nose. He tried to pick up on anything else, but there was nothing else to smell. It was just the Mercy air for his taking. He rounded the bend where he had saved Leah the night before. As they rode by that spot, he purposely revved the engine, speeding faster, perhaps trying to tell Leah to let all that shit go. Hanging onto moments and questions clung like a weight and disease. Letting the mind wander was something scary.
They traveled beyond the spot where Lucas picked up a scent and beyond where the scene with the two mangled bodies had been. Another two minutes later, Lucas finally pulled over and shut off the motorcycle engine. He let Leah off and then kicked the kickstand and climbed from his ride. Both helmets were on the seat and Lucas took Leah by the hand and walked her to the other side of the road where the guardrail stood, keeping people and vehicles from tumbling to death. The city of Mercy looked beautiful from the vantage point. It was easy to see the small valleys of residential areas, along with the bustling business districts. The outskirts were matched with roads, mountains, and long horizons that led to flatland and undeveloped lands. That’s where the eastern Reckingdune crew took up their shop. But that didn’t mean shit to Lucas, not with the sense of something to his west, waiting and lurking.
“It’s beautiful up here,” Leah said.
“Yeah, deceiving too.”
Lucas felt Leah staring at him. “I’m sorry I came out of work like I did.”
“It’s understandable,” Lucas said. “Death is hard.”
“Is it hard for you?” she asked. “I mean… you’re with bikers and stuff. Did anyone ever get hurt? Killed?”
Lucas turned his head. He wanted to snarl at Leah. He wanted to get angry with her damn questions, but he wanted this, didn’t he? That’s why he brought her here. It wasn’t so much for Lucas to clear his mind or give Leah a chance to get over a bad day’s work, but rather about Lucas coming to terms with opening his heart to Leah and sharing secrets.
“Of course we get hurt,” Lucas said. “All the time. And sure, guys could get killed.”
Leah put a hand to Lucas’s arm. “Did you ever see someone get killed?”
“I’ve seen enough in my time, Leah,” Lucas said. “I just told you about two bodies we found last night, didn’t I?”
“They weren’t… your group,” Leah said.
Lucas looked at Leah again. That wasn’t her original choice of words, at all. She was desperate to know of his secret. Man and beast. Together as one, separate as needed. Lucas turned and put a hand to Leah’s hip. He motioned for her to come closer and she did.
“If you have something to ask me, then just ask,” Lucas said. “I won’t always answer you, Leah, but I’ll do my best not to lie to you. And if I do lie, it’s only for your own good.”
“That’s not very comforting,” Leah said.
“I bet it’s more comfort than a gun being pointed at you.”
Leah’s cheeks turned red. “True.”
“Tell me about that guy.”
“Tell me about you, Lucas. You’re young. You’re handsome. Why a motorcycle? Why a club?”
“Why not?” Lucas asked. “What should I have done? Gone to college? Found a job? That’s not in my blood, Leah. Vince gave me life and I gave it all right back to the club and to this town. That’s why I am who I am right now.”
“Would you kill Richie?” Leah asked suddenly. “I mean, if I asked you to.”
“Do you want me to kill him?”
Lucas felt his blood already boiling. Between having Leah so close and the thought of sinking his long, sharp teeth into the asshole that would pull a gun on Leah, he was about ready to change right there in front of Leah.
“No,” Leah said. She swallowed. She was lying. “No, I don’t. He’s fine where he his.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he is.”
“I just wish I knew more,” Leah said. “I’m confused about last night. And today, with Margie, the woman who died. I feel lost and empty, Lucas.”
“You’re not lost,” Lucas said. “You’re with me. As long as you stay with me, you’ll never be lost. And you have no reason to feel empty…”
Lucas smiled, his mind thinking the wildest intentions. He could fill Leah up. Again and again and again.
A rustling sound came from behind Leah and Lucas’s eyes darted to the woods.
“What’s wrong?” Leah asked.
“Stay here,” Lucas said.
He lifted her and turned. He didn’t care about showing his intense strength, even if it left Leah shocked. Lucas stiffened his back, keeping every muscle flexed so he was ready to pounce and shift if and when needed.
The sound came again and this time Lucas saw something moving. In the woods. He sniffed the air. It wasn’t human… it wasn’t animal…
A whistle sounded, some random notes to a song. A few seconds later a man appeared at the edge of the woods. He had his hands in his pockets. He wore too nice of a shirt and had too ugly of a face to be walking through the woods on a random afternoon high above Mercy. His body and blood smelled of death.
The Secret Wolf (A Full Moon Mercy Novel) (shifter / MC romance) Page 6
