by Jenna Leigh
Marcus shoved her behind him so fast she didn’t even have time to blink. The porch creaked and he knew Mick was there. He didn’t get those muscles from driving the limo; he was one of Marcus’s bodyguards. Not that Marcus needed them, but he had to keep up appearances. A show of strength kept the wolves at bay, in his case, literally.
“Mick?”
“Yeah, boss?” Mick’s tone was respectful, but not subservient. In the public eye, they had to be careful. Nobody needed to know his employees would walk through fire for him. Boss had been decided on, instead of my liege, my king or my lord. That would attract too much notice, not a good thing for the fur wearers. PETA would never understand.
“Go around back.” The driver immediately loped around the house, his speed just shy of too fast. Marcus could smell Lainie’s anger and indignation without even looking at her. “You stand right here until I tell you it’s safe,” he ordered before pushing the door open with his foot.
“I will not.”
“Do it.” His tone made her straighten and open her mouth. He turned his head and glared, cowing her into sullen submission.
She folded her arms and stepped over to the swing. “Fine, I’m sure Fluffy will protect me.”
“Yeah, if someone runs out, throw the little fucker in his face.” With that, he entered the house and instantly smelled the invader. A soft scraping noise alerted him to someone else’s presence and he ran in the direction it had come from, hoping for a fight. It would relieve the pressure. Anger wasn’t a good emotion for his kind; it caused all sorts of physiological changes.
When he let his negative emotions, like anger and jealousy, gain control, he became more wolf-like in both looks and nature. If he got his hands on the person responsible for breaking into Lainie’s home, biting him would be only the beginning.
He careened around the corner, entering the tiny kitchen at full speed. He and the chauffeur collided and crashed to the floor in a heap. “Goddamnit.” Marcus winced when the full weight of the larger man pinned him to the floor.
“Sorry, boss.” Mick was still young and made mistakes. Luckily, Marcus forgave easily. If his father had still been in power, that wouldn’t have been the case at all. The old man liked to punish, and being a smart man, he had various torments he liked to employ. The memory of howls and screams still echoed in Marcus’s head at night.
He refused to be that sort of Lupin. He didn’t think it made him better to have the pack beaten into submission. He preferred to lead by example. It had worked for the past five years. He had no reason to believe it wouldn’t continue to do so. “It’s fine, Mick. He’s long gone anyway.” If he’d been paying attention before, he would have realized that; some big bad wolf he turned out to be.
“Do I need to leave you two alone?” Lainie stood in the doorway with the cat in her arms. “I think he’s gone. If he wasn’t before, you scared him away with all that noise you made.”
Mick stood and pulled Marcus up so fast his feet left the floor. Like he said, young, but the boy ate his damn veggies. He was strong as an ox. He looked like a choirboy, with his light blond hair and blue eyes, but looks were deceiving because this “boy” could and would tear you apart if ordered to.
“Yeah.” Marcus brushed off his suit, ignoring her comment. “I know.”
“I’m calling the police.” Her voice quavered ever so slightly, belying the calm expression on her face.
“I wouldn’t.” He put his hand out, but the hissing cat stopped him in mid-reach.
“Why?” Her question made him rack his brains for a logical reason.
“Because, I think I know who did it.” He was actually one hundred percent sure who it was, or at least who ordered it.
“Who?”
Instead of answering her directly, he glared at the cat. “Put him out, will you? He gives me the willies staring at me like that.”
“God, you’re such a goober.” But she put the cat outside, then folded her arms, obviously waiting for his answer.
“How long have you been investigating Caulder?” He silenced Mick with a look. The other man closed his mouth with an audible snap and waited.
“About a month or so, I guess.” She tapped her nails on her chin. “Are you saying he did this?”
“I know he did it, or he had it done. This is probably only the beginning.”
“But, nothing was touched. It doesn’t look like anyone was even here. What if I just left the door unlocked?” She was second-guessing herself; he knew it as well as she did.
“Lainie, please stop kidding yourself.” He put his hand up. “Why don’t we take a look around and make sure everything is like it should be?”
“Fine.” She took a deep breath.
“Mick?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Watch the doors.” The other man got into position. “Lead the way, darlin’. I want the grand tour.” His easy smile hid the churning emotions inside him. Possessiveness and rage were at the forefront but all of these were coated in a haze of fear for her safety. He didn’t like it, and neither did the wolf residing inside him. To feel it for a woman he’d thought of as his own for so long made it even worse.
She walked ahead of him into her bedroom and her soft cry of distress had him racing to find out what was wrong. He stopped in the doorway and stared at the destruction. The mattress and bedding were off the frame, both ripped almost to shreds. But what made the rage grow bright red was the fact that all her underthings had been pulled out of the drawers and strewn about the room, some in pieces.
One pair of particularly sexy black thongs hung from the blade of the ceiling fan. He sighed with regret. He’d have liked to see her in those. It wasn’t to be because they were ripped and dangling by one strap. The fan, turned on when Lainie threw the switch, began to whir. The underwear flew from their perch and landed on Marcus’s shoulder.
“Well, shit,” she began, embarrassment pinkening her cheeks. “Give me those. Did you smell… That’s so gross. They are clean, you know.”
Just as he’d thought, it was another werewolf. One of Jacob’s people, he’d bet. “You’re coming home with me,” he told her, tossing the underwear in the middle of the ruined mattress.
“What?” She looked shocked at the thought.
“I mean it. No arguments.” He would tie her up and throw her in the car. “If you want your things, I’ll have them brought to the house, but you won’t be staying here, not tonight.”
Chapter Three
Marcus kept his cell phone plastered to his ear, ignoring the thunderous glares Lainie kept sending in his direction. “Yeah, Kane, in her house.” The man’s low whistle answered him. He knew his voice must convey his anger, so he tried to tamp it back down.
It wasn’t happening; the invasion of her space, the touching of her things, was a personal affront to him. She’d been a part of his life for six years before their separation. He’d cared for her, laughed with her, spoke with her on the phone when they weren’t close enough to visit otherwise.
When she’d been a child, he’d been her protector. As she’d grown, he’d become her confidant, the one she told all her troubles to, but never had he felt like her brother. They’d never meshed that way. Lainie stayed with them for two weeks after they’d taken her from his father’s facility. Then, inexplicably, his uncle said she’d have to leave.
Marcus hated him for taking her and it must have shown on his face that day, because Uncle David led him outside and put his heavy hand on his shoulder. “Son, you don’t understand now, and God help me, I hope you never do, but I have to get her away from here. She’ll visit, I promise.”
“Why does she have to go?” He loved Lainie. In such a brief period of time, she’d wormed her way into his heart. Oh, it had been an innocent love. She looked at him with hero worship in her eyes. He’d been the one to save her so she was his.
“For her safety.” Whatever that meant, Marcus didn’t get to find out, because at that moment Lainie
came out the door with her meager belongings. Though his father had bought her all sorts of clothes, she only took a few things. Marcus’s heart lightened when he noticed her wearing the flannel shirt he’d wrapped around her. She wore it like a jacket, refused to part with it.
He recalled how her bottom lip quivered before she dropped her bag and hurled herself at him. She’d wrapped her arms around his waist and cried against his chest. Her hair tickled his nose when he kissed the top of her head.
“You’re a good man, Marcus,” his uncle said—not a good boy, but a man. That day he’d felt less a man and more a child than any other time in his life. He’d felt like crying but he had to look strong, for her.
“Uncle says we’ll see each other a lot,” he promised, and smiled for her benefit.
“Okay.” Lainie smiled through her tears. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“You’re welcome.” He knew she didn’t really remember anything about the night he and his uncle came to rescue her, but she knew enough to say that.
David bent down and picked up Lainie’s bag. “Come on, Lainie. We have a long way to go.” He put out his hand and she took it. “She’ll be fine, safe.” There was that word again, and the emphasis on it that made Marcus feel as if he were missing something important. But he’d been distracted when David’s eyes suddenly went cold. Marcus whirled and met the impassive gaze of his father.
“Goodbye, Elaine.” Samuel’s voice, as always, was deep and smooth.
“Goodbye, Mr. Bei,” she chirped and waved as David pulled her toward his pickup.
Marcus watched them leave then glared at his father. “Why?”
“Don’t question me.” The smoothness left the man’s voice to be replaced by contempt. “Go see to your mother.”
The reminder made his shoulders slump. She was pregnant, and not doing well. He hurried through the house, intending to do just that when his father’s voice stopped him. “Women are not worth the trouble, remember that. Use them, discard them, and then move on.”
Marcus quelled his disgust and stalked back to the secret room his mother now slept in during the last weeks of her pregnancy. She was in wolf form, stuck this way until the birth of her latest litter. He’d been the only survivor of her other litter.
Diana Bei wasn’t a strong woman, despite being a werewolf; she’d not been well since his birth. If he’d have known it was the last time that he’d see her alive, maybe he’d have taken a little more time with her that day.
He stopped looking into the past, with all the pain and hate that waited there. Instead, his gaze focused on the present Lainie, superimposing her over the little girl she’d been. “Ready?” He put his hand out and she took it automatically. He didn’t immediately lead her toward the car, just stood there watching her.
Finally, her patience snapped. “What is it?”
“I was remembering what a pretty little girl you used to be.”
“Uh huh.” She gave him a look of patent disbelief.
“Come on, let’s go home.” It was a slip of the tongue, but he meant it in every sense of the word.
Once they got into the car, she gazed pensively out the window, and he didn’t think it was motion sickness this time.
“What’s wrong?” His voice was soft, but her shoulders still jerked. “You’re a million miles away.”
“Oh, just wondering. Why would Caulder have someone do that to my house? How does he even know I’m investigating him? I’ve been careful.” Lainie pulled on her lower lip in thought. “I moved here because of him, you know.”
“Have you ever even met him?”
“No, but I’ve seen his picture in newspapers and magazines, of course. Yours too.” She grinned at him impishly. “All those pretty ladies you keep company with, Marcus.” She ignored his scowl, continuing her story.
“I got a phone call from an anonymous source that Jacob Caulder was involved in trafficking. At first, I thought they meant drugs or stolen goods, but when I got to looking, I noticed something strange.
“Whenever Jacob went abroad, which he does a lot, under the pretext of buying up land for his development company, people would go missing. Not a lot, only a dozen or so, but they were always women and young girls.” She grimaced in distaste. “I wouldn’t have caught it even then if not for a friend of mine.”
“A friend of yours is missing?” Marcus prompted when she stopped talking.
“Jade Marks and I went to college together. She was in journalism too, but she works for anthropological journals. She’s a genius, and like most, wouldn’t notice anything happening until it was too late.” Lainie looked sad for a moment. “When we were roommates, I was forever helping her find her things.”
She took a deep breath and laced her fingers together in her lap. “But now, she’s gone. And the last person she spoke with was me.”
“What did she say?” Marcus watched her become more agitated.
She scrambled to get her thoughts together. Whenever she tried to think about this, she got dizzy and sick. Like the dreams, it haunted her. She hated it.
“She thought someone was following her. I laughed at her and called her paranoid.” Lainie put her fist to her mouth. “She told me, ‘just because you’re paranoid don’t mean you aren’t also right’. Then, the phone cut off and that was it.” Except it wasn’t, something else had happened, something that made Lainie break out into a sweat.
“Lainie?” Marcus’s voice sounded like it was coming from another room. Waves of nausea flowed through her, making her panic in her attempt to open the window. His hand slid beneath her own, depressing the button so the window came down, letting in blessedly cool night air. When had it gotten dark? she wondered idly. He stroked her back. His lips slid over her temple and she sighed. “I’ll help you.” His voice, so assured, so familiar, sounded like heaven to her.
“I don’t think anyone can help me, Marcus,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“I think I’m going insane. Because you see, when she called—” Lainie pressed her lips together and took another breath, determined to force the words out. “I heard it.” The memory that was more like a dream came welling up from a deep place within the recesses of her mind. Like a cancer, it began to spread, leaving chaos in its wake.
Marcus nudged her gently. “It?”
“On her cell, when she dropped it. I heard the struggle, then growling, Marcus, like an animal. I heard them howling. I’ve heard that sound before, I just can’t for the life of me remember when. Those weren’t animals.”
“Maybe they were.” Marcus tightened his hold on her hand. “She was in a Third-World country; there are animals that growl, right?”
“Yeah, but um, they don’t speak.” Lainie laughed, a bitter sound edging on hysterical. “They don’t speak and they don’t stand up on two legs. God, she had a picture phone, Marcus. Somehow, she sent that picture to me before they got to her. But what I saw was impossible.” She shivered, and added a silent, except in my nightmares.
“What picture?”
“It was something unreal.” Her whole body trembled with the effort of the telling. It was hard, her memory was resisting, but she fought against it and this time, maybe because Marcus was here with her, she won. “A werewolf like in the movies.”
“Do you have the picture?”
“No, see, that’s the strangest thing. I remember being hysterical and calling someone. Then, I don’t remember anything after that. When I woke up the picture was gone.”
“Who did you call?”
A strange reluctance stole over her, as if it were something she was supposed to keep secret. That was silly of course, this was Marcus, so with a shrug, she told him who she’d called in a panic that night. “Your uncle.”
“Lainie, honey. Don’t lie to me.” Marcus pulled her around to face him, pinning her with his intense stare.
“What?”
“Don’t! That shit isn’t funny! If you have a ‘friend’ that’s
fine. Hell, I love a challenge. I know I’m more man than any other you’ve had. So don’t lie to me about my uncle.”
“I’m not lying.” She shoved at him.
“Yes, you are, you have to be.” He released her and ran a shaky hand over his face. “My uncle’s been dead for about eight years.”
Lainie shook her head back and forth slowly. “Marcus, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I saw your uncle just last week. He’s always been in my life. He’s been a foster parent to me, both he and Joanna.”
“Joanna?” Incredulity was replaced by white-hot anger so apparent it burned her skin where they touched. “Where is that bitch?”
“I beg your damn pardon? She’s not a bitch, but you’re an asshole!”
“Father said Joanna killed…” He pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “What the hell is going on?”
“I wish I knew. But, I do know you’re scaring me. Maybe I should just stay at a hotel,” Lainie began, only to have him turn on her and snarl.
He leaned over until they were nose to nose. “You, sweetheart, are going nowhere but with me.”
“Look, darling, I can go where I want.” She gritted the words out past clenched teeth.
His lip curled up and she thought his teeth seemed sharper but he closed his mouth tight after that, refusing to either speak or look at her. She contemplated jumping out of the moving vehicle; the tension inside the car was slowly choking her.
He must have read her intentions because he hauled her up against his side and smiled. “Welcome to the Bei home, Lainie.”
She jerked her head forward. The partition between them and the driver came down to give her a glimpse of the estate. It was breathtaking, but the sight was spoiled by the ominous sound of the gates clanging shut coming through the open window. Suddenly, she felt like a prisoner.
Chapter Four
Lights blazed, illuminating the large home. It was made of weathered gray stone, shaped in an elongated “E” without the middle leg. Instead, a large portico stood over the gravel-paved circular drive.
