Her Dark Half

by Paige Tyler

  Max didn’t know exactly what had happened, but it seemed obvious Wallace had been going after his wife and Terence had put himself in the middle of it. No doubt Wallace had decided to take his anger out on the boy, doing something to bust open the stitches in the kid’s bandaged hand.

  Max growled low and deep as he moved across the living room, every instinct in his body screaming at him to kill the son of bitch where he stood.

  “You can’t just come in here like this!” Wallace yelled, taking a single step in his direction. “This is my house!”

  The jackass probably would have said more if Max hadn’t picked him up and slammed him forcefully against the wall. The urge to punch the piece of shit was nearly overwhelming, but he settled for shoving a forearm against Wallace’s throat and holding him a few inches off the floor as he looked over his shoulder at the boy.

  “Did he hurt you?” Max asked, trying his best to keep the question from coming out as a snarl…and pretty much failing. “I heard screaming from outside. Was he attacking your mother?”

  Even though he was obviously still in pain, Terence opened his mouth to answer. But then his mother was at his side, shaking her head as she put her hand on her son’s shoulder.

  “That’s not what happened,” she said, her voice trembling. “Terence stumbled and hit his hand on the doorjamb. He’s doing that all the time. Natasha was scared when she saw the blood and screamed. That’s all that happened… I swear. Tell him, Terence. Tell the officer what happened.”

  Wallace struggled against Max’s forearm, but Max pinned him with a single cold stare. Still holding on to Wallace, Max shifted his gaze to stare at the wall as he slowly got control of himself. Regaining control was much harder this time than it ever had been in the past. He was this close to killing this son of a bitch. Wallace might have deserved it, but that wasn’t the way Gage expected him to operate.

  When he finally forced his fangs and claws to retract, he turned to look at Terence, hoping the kid would be brave enough to tell the truth. But the small amount of hope and strength that had been there earlier drained away, leaving the boy’s face an expressionless mask, devoid of emotion.

  “That’s what happened,” the boy said softly. “I stumbled and hit my hand… That’s all.”

  Max’s heart broke for the kid. Seeing a light go out in the boy’s soul was almost too much. He glanced at Eileen Wallace.

  “You know this won’t stop until you make it stop,” he said. “Trust me, I know how this ends. If you don’t stand up to him, this will keep happening until one of your children ends up dead.”

  For a moment, it looked like Eileen Wallace might actually do the right thing, but then she shook her head. “It won’t. Nick wouldn’t do that. Just let him go. Please. It’s all going to be okay now.”

  “That’s right, asshole,” Wallace snarled. “Let me go!”

  Max cursed. It was over. He could call the local division house, file a report, and give a statement about the shouts he’d heard, but it wouldn’t do any good, not with everyone in here singing this well-rehearsed routine.

  He let Wallace go so suddenly the man fell to the floor like the bag of crap he was. Max didn’t leave right away, but locked eyes with each of the kids in turn, seeing the fear and resignation. He knew the feeling. It was the emotion that came when you truly realized nothing was ever going to change. When that last little bit of faith you had left in the world disappeared.

  Turning, Max strode out of the house, not bothering to close the door behind him. That just made it easier to hear Wallace shouting about hiring a lawyer and suing the city, the police department, and him.

  Given how little Chief Curtis thought of SWAT these days, there wasn’t much chance of the city or the police department paying for any of this. They were going to fire his ass the minute word reached DPD headquarters and let him take the heat for this all on his own.

  Ernest Miller was standing in his yard next door, shaking his head in disappointment as Max walked down the street and climbed in his Camaro. Max couldn’t disagree with the man. He’d well and truly screwed the pooch this time. Instead of helping those kids, he’d likely made it worse. He’d embarrassed Wallace in front of his family. The bastard would be taking it out on one of them soon enough.

  Max put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb, more drained and exhausted than he’d ever been in his life. Right now, getting drunk would have been nice, but it was nearly impossible for a werewolf to get inebriated, so he guessed there was no point in trying. Not that he’d get the chance, because something told him he’d probably be spending the rest of the day and most of the night explaining himself to Internal Affairs.

  Shit.

  An IA investigation. That would be fun.

  * * *

  “Still thinking about Denise?”

  Lana looked up from her menu and across the table at her mother. Crap, how long had she’d been zoning out? Her mom had suggested coming to the Galleria Mall hoping it would help take Lana’s mind off what had happened to Denise, but so far, it wasn’t working. Lana opened her mouth to fib and tell her mother she was simply trying to decide what to order for dinner, but realized it would be a waste of time. Her mom knew her too well.

  “Sorry,” Lana apologized, giving her mother a small smile. “Was it that obvious?”

  Her mother’s lips curved. “Well, the fact that you’ve been looking at your menu upside down for the past few minutes was sort of a dead giveaway that you’re distracted. And considering you just found out about Denise last night, it wasn’t difficult to figure out what you were thinking about.”

  Lana glanced down at her menu and realized her mom was right. Good grief, Charlie Brown, where was her head at? She flipped her menu right side up and saw it was still going to be hard to decide what to order. The restaurant had a lot of great-looking choices. Not that her mind was very focused on food right then.

  “It’s hard not thinking about Denise,” she admitted. “A few days ago, we were talking about renting an apartment together and trying to get a job at the same company.”

  “Were you able to get in touch with Denise’s parents?” her mom asked.

  “Yeah, but it took a while. As you can imagine, it’s been a tough couple of days for them.”

  “Are you going up to Alaska for the service?”

  Lana nodded.

  Her mom reached across the table and gave Lana’s hand a squeeze. “I can go with you if you want.”

  Lana smiled. Her mother had always been there for her whenever she’d needed support the most. Offering to drop everything and go to Alaska with her was just one of the reasons Lana loved her so much.

  “I appreciate that, Mom,” she said. “But Max already offered to go with me. You don’t mind, do you?”

  Her mother smiled, but before she could say anything, their server interrupted to take their order. Lana glanced down at her menu and chose the first thing she saw: salad with a chili-lime vinaigrette and a cheese enchilada on the side.

  The waiter, a blond guy she probably would have thought was attractive until she’d met Max and had her entire definition of the word changed forever, gave her a smile. “Orders are usually two enchiladas, but I can put in a good word with the chef, see if I can get him to hook me up with a single one.”

  “I wouldn’t want you to waste any of your favors on me,” she said as she handed him her menu. “You can go ahead and bring two. I’ll share with my mom.”

  Realizing his charm wasn’t working on Lana, the waiter turned his attention on her mother. Her mom lifted a brow, shutting him down before he started and sending the would-be Romeo off for their food.

  “There was a time not too long ago when you would have been thrilled to have a cute guy like that trying to charm you,” her mother observed as she sipped her iced tea.

  Lana shrugged, wishing
she still had her menu so she’d have somewhere else to look other than at her mom, who was currently regarding her with a knowing expression. For once, she’d rather her mother didn’t know her so well.

  “I’m not eighteen anymore, Mom.”

  “Uh-huh.” Her mother regarded her thoughtfully, apparently not convinced. “You sure it doesn’t have something more to do with a certain SWAT officer?”

  “Maybe,” Lana conceded. “You don’t mind if Max takes me up to Alaska, do you?”

  Mom waved her hand. “Don’t be silly. I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather you go up there with.”

  Lana had spent the morning telling her mom about what had happened down in Austin, from finding out all the horrible details surrounding Denise’s murder to the hours she’d spent at the diner with Max afterward. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say he’d saved her sanity.

  “He is rather amazing,” she admitted with a smile.

  “You like him a lot, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, I do.”

  Lana would have said more, but their server appeared with their dinner. He was less charming and all business this time, she noticed. She picked up her fork and speared a tomato.

  “I know this is going to sound crazy. We just met, but I already feel like we’re perfect together.” She glanced at her mother. “You don’t think I’m crazy, do you?”

  “Not at all. Sometimes, we really do fall fast for the person we’re meant to be with. If Max is that person for you, there’s nothing wrong with admitting it.”

  Lana sighed. “But how do I know for sure if Max is that person? What if my feelings for him are being affected by all this stuff with Denise? That makes a lot more sense than the idea I’ve stumbled over my soul mate.”

  Her mother shook her head and dipped her spoon in her soup. “You really are your father’s daughter, aren’t you? Always trying to logic your way through a situation. Maybe just this once, you should put your head on cruise control and let your heart lead the way.”

  Lana smiled at the analogy. “I think I can do that. Though I don’t think Dad is going to be too thrilled with any of this. He’s especially not going to like the idea of me going up to Alaska with Max.” She snorted as a sudden thought occurred to her. “I can just imagine him wanting to go up there with us, so he can chaperone and make sure we don’t get too close.”

  “You let me worry about your father,” her mom said.

  Lana was only too happy to do that. She ate a bite of her enchilada, chewing thoughtfully. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, Mom.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The other night, you said Dad didn’t want me to get involved with a cop. Why not? I would think he’d be all for it, especially since Max is on his SWAT team.”

  Her mother sighed. “Who knows how your father thinks? He can be stubborn as hell sometimes for no apparent reason. If it’s any consolation, my father never wanted me getting involved with a cop, either.”

  Lana’s jaw dropped. This was the first she’d heard of that. “What? But Grandpa was a cop, too. Why didn’t he like Dad?”

  Her mother sighed. “Your grandfather wanted me to marry a doctor. He even had a guy picked out for me. But then your father pulled me over for speeding one day and it was love at first sight. We got married three weeks later. Your grandfather had an absolute cow, of course. He threatened to disown me if I went through with the wedding.”

  Lana wasn’t sure if she was more shocked that her mom had been speeding or that she’d gotten married so fast.

  “They get along great now,” Lana pointed out.

  Mom smirked. “Sure they do—now. But back then, it was awful, especially when your dad told your grandfather we’d elope and run off to Vegas to get married if my family didn’t get on board.”

  Lana gaped. “He didn’t!”

  “Oh yes, he did. Your father was a real rebel back then, which is why I think he’s so against you dating Max. I think he’s terrified of Max doing the exact same thing to him that he did to my father.”

  “That is so whack it almost makes sense,” Lana said.

  She tried to wrap her head around the idea that her father, the deputy chief of the DPD Tactical Division, had been a bad boy in his youth, but she couldn’t imagine it, even after she and her mother spent the rest of the meal talking about all the crazy things he’d done before Lana was born. Lana was almost looking forward to him trying to cause trouble between her and Max just so she could throw some of it in his face.

  “You ready to do some more shopping?” her mother asked as they waited for their server to bring their check, which might take a while since the guy was currently at a table full of college girls, plying them with his charm.

  “I never turn my nose up at shopping,” Lana said.

  She left her mom to deal with the waiter and made a quick run for the restroom, glad she’d let her mom talk her into coming to the Galleria. Nothing was going to make her forget that Denise was gone, but being with her mother made the sorrow a little easier to bear.

  Lana was still thinking about that when she walked out of the ladies’ room into the long hallway that led toward the main part of the restaurant, and she almost ran smack into some poor guy heading toward the men’s restroom. The man put his hands on her shoulders to steady her as she stumbled back. She opened her mouth to apologize, only to stop as the most bizarre sensation she’d ever felt ran all the way up from the base of her spine to the back of her neck, making her shudder. All at once, her teeth and gums began to tingle like crazy. If that wasn’t odd enough, her fingers began to throb. Crap, it felt like someone was trying to yank her fingernails out.

  She quickly took a step back. “Sorry.”

  “It was my fault completely,” the man said in a deep voice.

  She looked up at him. Damn, he was tall. And big. Almost as big as Max. No wonder she’d walked into him. There was no way to get past him in the narrow hallway without running into him. He had a face to match his body—intense and kind of scary.

  She nodded, thinking she should acknowledge his apology. But then she had this sudden unexplainable urge to be anywhere but that narrow hallway. She didn’t understand why she was feeling so weird. It was like a snake or something else equally slithery had appeared right in front of her.

  “Lana Mason?” he said, making her stop her attempt to squeeze around him and look up at him again.

  She almost told him he was mistaken and pushed past him, but then her manners—and her curiosity—won out.

  “Do I know you?” she asked even though there was no possible way she did.

  “I doubt it. But I think I know you,” he said. “Weren’t you at the DPD awards ceremony the other day? I swear I saw you with Deputy Chief Mason.”

  Lana’s jaw almost hit the floor. Today was definitely full of surprises. “You’re on the DPD?”

  How could she have missed him at the ceremony? He had the kind of face a person would tend to remember. Then again, she’d only had eyes for Max that day.

  “Yeah, Central Division.” A smile cracked his face, making him look a little less intimidating. “I’ve worked with your father’s tactical divisions a few times.”

  Lana was tempted to ask the man if he’d ever worked with Max, but the impulse to get the hell away from him overwhelmed any desire for polite conversation.

  She said to hell with politeness and moved to step around the walking roadblock. “Nice to meet you.”

  He moved to block her, reaching into the pocket of his jacket and pulling something. She backpedaled quickly, sure he had a gun. It wasn’t a weapon but a perfume bottle.

  “I hate to be a bother,” he said, apparently not aware he’d already surpassed that point some way back. “But I just bought this perfume for my girlfriend and have no idea if it’s any good. The woman at the counter
swore up and down it was the scent of the season, but I could really use an unbiased opinion.”

  Lana shook her head, suddenly lightheaded.

  “Please,” the guy pleaded. “My girlfriend is really difficult to please. If I give her a perfume that smells bad, she’ll probably break the bottle over my head.”

  Lana couldn’t blame the woman—she wanted to do the same thing. She resisted the urge and forced herself to nod. Anything to get out of this hallway faster.

  It took everything in her to extend her wrist so he could spritz her with the perfume. Part of her wanted to push past him and run, but another part begged her to stay and…do something, though she didn’t know what.

  She lifted her wrist to her nose to take a sniff and almost gagged as an awful stench hit her. The part of her skin where he’d sprayed the perfume began to sting even as her nose started to burn from inhaling the stuff. What the hell?

  She wrinkled her nose and made a face. “Ugh! What kind of crap did they sell you?”

  “It isn’t any good?” he asked in a tone that almost sounded amused.

  “Hell no, it’s not any good. It stinks. Plus, it burns. If I were you, I’d return it and get my money back.”

  Turning, she shoved open the door of the ladies’ room and hurried inside, rushing over to the sink. Over the water, she swore she heard the man laugh, but she was too intent on washing the perfume off her wrist and couldn’t be sure.

  It took a long time and a lot of soap to get the worst of the stuff off her skin. Even after that, her nose still burned so badly her eyes watered. She splashed water on her face, hoping that would help. When she did the best she could, she dried her hands and face, grimacing as she looked in the mirror and realized her makeup was a complete disaster. She dug into her purse for her cosmetic bag and quickly put on some mascara and a touch of lipstick.

  As she was putting her makeup back in her purse, she realized the funny sensations she’d experienced earlier were gone now.