by Terry Spear
The woman leaned closer and Lelandi was again sure she was about to be found out. Silva breathed in the air, and her brown eyes narrowed. Despite wearing a ton of fancy human perfumes. and of course the stench from the fresh dye job—although Lelandi had washed her hair in strawberry shampoo flying to cover up that odor—she hoped no one could smell that she was a lupus garou, and not one of their own kind, either. Looked like it didn’t work.
“Well, well, well.” Silva straightened her back. “Make the lady a margarita, Sam.”
‘Put the first on my tab.” Tom piped up. “Wouldn’t want the lady to think we’re a bunch of unfriendly old coots. –
‘The second one’s on me,” Silva said.
The miner, Joe Kelly, looked disappointed that he hadn’t spoken up first, but as much of a beta wolf as he appeared, he probably wouldn’t say anything to tick Darien off. Darien’s brothers would be the exceptions. and Silva seemed able to do as she pleased.
Darien didn’t say a word. He exuded control with just a look—dangerous, not the kind of man to rile. His actions, or lack thereof, spoke louder than any words. Bruin would have blustered all over the tavern in Darien’s place. Proving he was the pack leader and no one would disobey him, Bruin would have taken her to task immediately, belittled her, thrown her out of the Joint bodily if she’d taken his seat. But just a glower from Darien conveyed a world of threat, and shed do well to heed it.
Everyone seemed fascinated with the reason Silva had taken an interest in Lelandi. They had to figure Silva had discovered something about her. Silva seemed amused Lelandi was a red lupus garou masquerading as a human. At least Leiandi assumed the woman had found her out.
Where ya staying, darlin’?” Siiva’s tone was much more appeasing. the sweetness faked.
Lelandi cleared the sudden frog in her throat. “Just passing through.”
Silence. The woman’s eyes darkened, and she quickly glanced at Darien. His eyes had widened, and he was staring at Lelandi. Shit. Her voice must have sounded similar to Larissa’s this time, the way she spoke, the inflection, something.
Low conversation took place at the table next to Darien’s and among the grays at the bar while Sam whipped up Lelandi’s margarita, but no one at Darien’s table spoke a word.
More patrons entered the tavern, all looking to greet their leader, then, finding a dead ringer for his dead mate sitting at his regular table, turned to see Darien. and the scenario repeated itself until the place was crowded and noisy. But no one dared sit at her table. Thank god. The more important conversations were conducted low so she couldn’t hear the gist of them, but she only had to guess what was being said. Dead sister’s clone arrives at grays’ hangout, seeking revenge. They’d all be shaking in their boots. Right.
After finishing her margarita. Lelandi was dying to go to the bathroom, and the place had grown so warm, she shrugged out of her Jacket. Big mistake. As soon as they saw how petite she was, the whole room grew quiet again.
Silva hurried over with another margarita for Lelandi, although she intended to get another bottle of water.
“On me, sweetie,” the woman said, this time with real affection. Standing nearly five-foot-ten, in her four-inch heels, she was small for a female gray.
“Thanks.” Lelandi stood, and the woman’s face dropped, probably thinking Lelandi meant to leave, snubbing her for the drink. “Got to use the little girls’ room.”
“Oh.” Silva’s lips turned up slightly. Back that way.” She motioned with her hand.
“Thanks.” Lelandi hadn’t considered what ft would feel like to walk through the tavern to the ladies’ room, until everyone acted so interested in her. With her shoulders straight back, her chin tilted up, and her body ten degrees hotter than normal, she made her way to the restroom.
Several men nodded their heads in greeting. Respectfully, a couple of them took their cowboy hats off. None smiled though, not even Joe this time, which would be typical. Until their pack leader made her welcome, most would look her over, but wouldn’t make any move to be overtly friendly. Darien would probably take Joe to task If Sam told him the miner had paid for her first drink.
Sitting with some men at one of the larger tables, three women glowered at her as if they wished her dead. Had any of them wanted Larissa eliminated and carried out the threat?
Ignoring them, Lelandi walked into the restroom, but after entering a stall, she heard the outer door squeak open. Her skin chilled. Too late to circumvent the trouble headed her way.
When she exited the stall, the three women were waiting for her, their expressions slightly amused in a sinister manner. All brown-haired, around mid-twenties like her—probably each vying to be Darien’s new mate and fearing she was new competition.
When she’d come up with this scheme of looking for her Larissa’s murderer, Lelandi had never considered anyone would think she’d be interested in pursuing the pack’s leader. The idea of mating with a bigger gray for real... She mentally shook her head.
“What’s your name?” the woman in denims and a cowl-neck sweater asked, her voice softly threatening, her western boot tapping on the tile floor. Her amber eyes narrowed, she took in a deep breath—trying to smell who or what Lelandi was—and curled her orange-painted lips up in a nasty way. The notion her face could hideously freeze that way briefly crossed Lelandi’s mind. “You’re not from around here, and you’re not one of us.”
“Hey, Ritka, what say we give her a nice send-off?” the shortest one asked, still towering over Lelandi by several inches.
Lelandi brushed past her to wash her hands.
“Don’t plan on staying, bitch,” a meatier one snarled, whipping her waist-length, muddy-colored hair about as she spoke, crowding Lelandi. Bulkier than the other two, she would make a hefty wolf and hard to beat if she craved being Darien’s bitch and fought the others to have that role. But no female lupus garou—well, of the red variety—crowded Lelandi anymore and got away with it, and she was having a devil of a time maintaining her cool.
“Don’t intend to stay long. Just taking care of a little family business, if it’s any of your concern.”
Ritka whispered close to her ear, her whiskey breath invading Lelandi’s breathing space, ‘We know who you are, and you can’t have him, Red. You know what happened to the other one. Get out of Dodge, honey, before it happens to you, too.”
Her blood sizzling, Lelandi attempted to wash her hands as if the women didn’t exist.
The short one yanked at her purse and the leather strap bit Into Leiand’s shoulder. “Tell us who you are.”
“As if the bitch would say, Angelina, when she’s wearing this fool disguise,” Ritka snarled.
Lelandi’s temple pounded with frustration, but she rinsed the soap off her hands and bit back the feral part of her wolf nature clawing to get out. Beating up three female grays wouldn’t help her cause.
Ritka bumped into her, probably triggered by the other pulling at her purse, each leading the other on, escalating the situation. Lelandi clenched her teeth against retaliating. Nothing they did was important enough to provoke her, she reminded herself.
The heavy one grabbed a handful of Lelandi’s hair and yanked hard. “Guys don’t like dyed hair, didn’t you know?”
The pain ripped across Lelandi’s scalp, and she counted slowly to ten, hoping to avoid physical contact, but planning swift retaliation if anyone did anything else.
“You got that right. Hosstene,” Ritka said with a sharp laugh and reached for a handful of Lelandi’s hair.
Enough! With a quick well-placed jab. Lelandi elbowed Angelina in the gut. Judo-chopped Hosstene in the throat, then swung around and slammed her fist into Ritkas eye. While they were choking and cursing. Lelandi grabbed a paper towel, dried her hands, and left the restroom, her heart racing.
She’d asked for trouble now.
Chapter 2
No, DAMN IT. THE BITCHES HAD ASKED FOR TROUBLE AND as much as told Lelandi that someone had mur
dered Larissa for being a red.
She opened the restroom door and slammed it behind her, shutting out the women’s curses. The men who were sitting with the women looked from Lelandi to the ladies’ room. Sorry, boys, the girls need to tidy up a bit.
Lelandi retook her seat and when the women still didn’t emerge from the restroom, Sam motioned for Silva to check it out.
Maybe now would be a good time for Lelandi to go in search of her rogue brother and uncle. Forget that Larissa had run away and gotten herself killed, leaving Lelandi to deal with Bruin’s pack alone. Or, she could stay and face the wrath of a bunch of angry grays.
As a matter of pride and a good deal of stubbornness. she stayed. All eyes remained on the restroom while Lelandi coolly drank her second margarita. No one spoke. No doubt the whole lot of them would murder Lelandi in her sleep tonight. She hoped her time here wasn’t totally wasted. But she wasn’t giving up.
Silva came out of the restroom, her lips turned up, her eyes sparkling with amusement, head shaking. She raised her brows at the guys who were with the women and strolled past. Her attention turned to Darien, waiting for a report. Her smile broadened, then she spoke to Sam.
“Next margarita’s on me, Silva, for the young lady.” Tom offered Lelandi a grin and a wink.
Lelandi shook her head. ‘Water will be fine.”
The three women crowded out of the bathroom, Ritka scowling, her swollen right eye already turning black and blue. Angelina was still clutching her stomach, and Hosstene’s face was dark with anger—Lelandi was pretty sure her Jab to the gray’s throat would preclude her talking much for a while.
Everyone looked the women over, then Lelandi. No. she wasn’t fighting to be the pack leader’s new bitch.
She guessed it was time to come up with a new plan. This one damn sure wasn’t working.
Darien Silver watched the defiant young lady who had to be his mate’s twin. Had to be. The voice clinched it. At first, he thought she was some ditsy human sitting in his chair at his table, and he couldn’t understand why Sam hadn’t thrown her out of the place. At least he’d thought she was human. Lupus garous had exceptional visual acuity. Only humans wore glasses. And the pierced earrings. No lupus garou would get caught dead with pierced earlobes in their wolf form. Or wear a watch, for that matter. The straight black hair looked nothing like his dead mates, and the blue eyes had stopped him cold. The perfume shed drowned herself in, he figured, was some ploy to get all the guys in the tavern hot and bothered, but for lupus garous, the smell was overwhelming, burned their eyes, and had the opposite effect.
Her voice was all it took to send shivers exploding across his skin.
He swore he was seeing his late wife sipping margaritas, which she never would have done. A wine lady was what she was. And the way this woman had handled the ladies from his pack? His mate would never have managed.
Taking a steadying breath, he reminded himself the woman wasn’t his mate. She only looked like her when he scrutinized her closely, her small face dominated by the oversized Stetson and the bug-eyed, rose-colored glasses, but personality-wise she couldn’t be more different from his beloved Lelandi. Except his people already seemed to make up their minds. Lelandi had returned, and he would have a go at her again.
Not in a million years. She’d killed herself, unstable, unable to deal with the stress of being a pack leader’s mate, and not being one of them in the first place... Nope. wouldn’t happen again. Next one would be a gray, except not from his pack. Except for Silva. the eligible women had resented Lelandi, and he couldn’t forgive them.
He finished his third beer and set his glass aside. He tried to watch his people to take his mind off his dead mate, but the woman sitting at his table distracted him something fierce. What the hell was she doing here anyway? Come to claim her sister’s body? Scream at him for pushing her sister over the edge? Condemning himself enough for her death for the past three weeks, he didn’t need anyone else’s help. Not enough beers in the world could make him forget the look on Lelandi’s face, at peace finally in death.
He shook his head. Although he usually stayed until closing, tonight he wanted to get away. How would it look if the pack leader couldn’t deal with the image of his late wife sitting at the next table?
Growling deep inside, he poured himself another beer.
“Twin sister, don’t you think. Darien?” Tom, his youngest triplet asked, his brows raised.
“Yeah. Lelandi said she didn’t have any family left. Apparently she lied.” Which didn’t set well with Darien. but it was too late to be angered about it.
“What do you think she’s doing here?” Tom rubbed his hand over the sweating glass.
“Something to do with her sister, no doubt.”
“Think the woman suspects Lelandi was murdered?” Jake asked.
Darien looked sharply at him. “What the hell makes you say that?”
Jake shrugged. “Why wouldn’t she meet with you and state what her business is here? Why try to conceal her identity? The only conclusion I can come up with is she doesn’t think Lelandi’s death was an accident. And she’s looking into it herself.”
“Hell.” Darien glowered at the red, wondering what her hair would look like if it wasn’t that hideous black color, way too harsh for her light creamy skin.
“Looks like she gave the ladies hell who meant to mess with her.” Tom grinned.
“Which means there’ll be more trouble,” Jake’s voice was as dark as Darien felt.
Darien turned to Tom. “I want you to—”
Jake interrupted, “She’s leaving.”
All conversation in the tavern instantly died.
Her boots clicked on the wood floor as she walked toward the door, her back stiff, her hands clenched in fists— her whole body language saying, Don‘t mess with me.
As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he craved chasing after her and laying claim to her, just like he’d done with her sister. He felt an overwhelming urge to kiss those pursed lips, feel her soft skin naked beneath his, make love to her like he’d made love to her sister. He was definitely losing it.
With the utmost restraint, he remained seated and observed her open the door. “Follow her, Tom. Watch where she goes, and... hell, stick to her for the night.”
“You sure? You really mean it?” Tom asked, his voice too hopeful.
“Just don’t let anyone get to her, all right?”
“He means,” Jake interjected, “don’t let anyone screw with her and that includes you.”
Tom looked at Darien for confirmation. If his brother wanted her and the woman was agreeable, who was he to say no? Their kind wasn’t into casual sex, so if she wanted a mate and Tom was interested, fine. Darien wasn’t about to go down that road again. “Do whatever it takes to make sure none of our people bother her.”
Tom gave Jake a look like he had him there. “Thanks, Darien. I’ll take care of her.” He hurried after Lelandi’s sister as the door slammed behind her.
Sending Tom after the woman signaled to the rest of his people in the tavern, and the word would quickly spread to the others, Darien wanted her left alone. If any stepped over the line, he’d hold them accountable.
Jake moved his glass over the wooden table, scraping it back and forth.
Darien glowered at him. “What, Jake?”
“Don’t you think you should talk with the woman? Find out what she’s doing here?”
“Why do you think Lelandi was murdered?”
“You’ve burled your head in the sand on this one, brother. Several believe someone murdered her, but when they spy me, the talking stops. No one will tell me or Tom what they suspect.”
“A conspiracy?”
“No. At least I don’t think so. Unless they’re protecting someone, or are afraid you’d be too mad if you learned the truth.”
“Most of the pack believes I’d be happier thinking she committed suicide?”
Jake twisted his head to the
side. “Yeah. If we have a murderer in our midst, it could shake up the whole pack. If she committed suicide, everything would be a lot cleaner.”
“She left a suicide note in her own handwriting. She killed herself. End of story.” Darien took another swig of his beer, but this time it tasted sour.
“Then why don’t you tell her sister the truth? Why send Tom, who’s bound to botch the whole thing?” Jake’s mouth curved up, the first truly evil smile Darien had seen him offer in a while. “If he gets fresh, he’s liable to look like Ritka with a colorful new eye.”
Darien ignored his comment. “If a twin sister is looking into what happened, Lelandi must not have had any brothers.”
“We didn’t know she had any family, period.”
Darien rubbed his forehead, flying to ease the tension pooling there. The gnawing pain of her death would never fade away, but now seeing her look-alike sister brought it all crashing back tenfold. Yet, he was furious with his mate for killing herself. Doc said it was part of the grief process, but Darien hated himself for not controlling his feelings better. Remorse, that’s the only feeling he should allow himself. “I’m beginning to assume I didn’t know a lot about my mate.”
Jake glanced back at their usual table. “If it were me, I’d tell the woman what I thought and send her packing. Things could get out of hand if she hangs around. It appears the other women think she wants to be your mate to replace her sister.”
“That would be the damned day,” Darien growled, yet a twinge of need wreaked havoc with his feelings, and his brother looked like he didn’t believe him one bit.
Not far from the tavern, Lelandi heard the door creak open and shut. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Tom taking great strides to reach her, his eyes and mouth lit in a smile.
