She almost moaned at the beauty of his cooking.
Melinda didn’t know what Trace had been so deeply engrossed in all day either. Trace hadn’t shared. She suspected his attention was focused on the dead guy found by the lake, but he also could have changed his focus to another case at some point. She had no idea.
She had been beyond curious all day, but no way in hell would she have interrupted Trace’s intense concentration. Thank God for her Kindle.
Trace washed his hands at the kitchen sink and grabbed a beer from the fridge. He offered it to Melinda with a lift of his eyebrows, but when she shook her head, he twisted off the top and slumped into one of the dining chairs. He seemed to be gearing up. Stalling. Finally, he spoke. “A body was found this morning not far from your construction site.”
“Shit.” Keegan stopped moving and swiveled to face Trace. “Seriously?”
“Nolan Friedmont. And yes. I found out a lot about him.”
Keegan set down his spatula and padded toward Trace. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this?”
“You aren’t. I think he may have sent your anonymous email.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah. That was my reaction.” Trace took a long swig from his bottle. “I don’t have any proof yet. It’s a hunch. He worked under the foreman on the casino site for several months before the earthquake. We’re waiting for some guys to get into his computer and check his outgoing email.”
“Shit. That’s fucking serious. If someone killed him for ratting out the shoddy construction on the casino, we’ve got a huge problem on our hands.”
“You’ve got a huge problem on your hands no matter what,” Melinda interrupted, her blood boiling with fear. “I told you yesterday I had a bad feeling about that place.” She shivered just thinking about it. “The site gave me the creeps. Bad things have happened there. And more is coming.” They needed to listen to her.
Keegan turned off the burner and carried the wok to the center of the table. “I hate to admit this, but you may be right.”
She stiffened and crossed her arms under her chest. “Why is it so hard for you to believe I might have some precognitive abilities?” It infuriated her that she had to keep explaining herself to these two, especially Keegan. And she suspected his job was no longer safe, which made her even more frustrated and downright angry. He needed to heed her advice before he got himself killed.
Keegan didn’t meet her gaze where she stood leaning against the kitchen counter. Even though the stir fry looked and smelled fantastic, she didn’t’ move yet. “Hon, I’m not discounting your foresight—”
“Oh, but you are.” She interrupted him, stomping closer to where he stood next to the table. “I know neither of you has any experience with my tribe or the ways of my people, but you need to open your minds and listen to me. Maybe it’s not a coincidence that the three of us were brought together. Did you ever think of that?” Her entire frame shook. It wasn’t so much anger toward her stubborn mates, but more fear now. Stubborn could get a man killed.
She glanced from one man to the other. “I mean, consider how crazy it is for a cop from Cambridge, a building inspector on the reservation, and a medicine woman from Sojourn to suddenly find themselves thrust together for eternity two days before this shit hit the fan.”
Trace reached for her hand and pulled her closer. “You’re right, baby. It can’t be a coincidence. Fate has to be involved.”
“Thank you.” She let her body relax marginally. “You know better than Keegan. You saw what happened with your brother, my brother, and Rebecca. If it hadn’t been for their mating, who knows if Rebecca would even be alive?”
Keegan pulled out a chair. “Sit, hon. Please. Let’s eat while we talk.”
Melinda took a seat in the chair and let Keegan push her up to the table.
He rounded to the other side and sat across from her, leaving Trace at the head of the table. As he scooped a heaping serving of stir fry onto his plate, he spoke. “Remind me how things went down with Rebecca that week.”
Trace surprised Melinda by fielding the question, even though she was sure she knew all the details better than him. “Rebecca was entered in a Spartan Race that month, a few weeks after she met Miles and Griffen. So many unexplained obstacles got in the way she eventually pulled out of the race.”
“At my urging,” Melinda added. She leaned forward, setting her elbows on the table and ignoring the food in the wok as best she could. “This isn’t an exact science. I’ll never promise you that, but you both have to trust my instincts. I’m rarely wrong, even when I can’t logically back up what I’m sensing around me.
“Believe me, Rebecca was not happy for me to tell her she needed to drop out of that race. I was scared out my head we would never know why she wasn’t supposed to be there that day—and even more scared that we might actually find out why.
“As it turned out, the earthquake caused a tremendous amount of damage to the race route moments after it began. Who knows what might have happened to Rebecca if she’d been on the street at that second, but instead she was on duty at the hospital. Her nursing skills saved countless lives. Maybe my premonition saved her own life.” She shrugged. There was no way to definitively say what the outcome would have been otherwise, but Rebecca was a believer.
Keegan stopped moving. He stared at Melinda and then nodded. “Okay, hon. I get it. What do you want me to do?”
“I have no idea.” She blew out a long breath and relaxed. “I may never be able to deliver that kind of advice. But when I have a feeling about something, I need you to listen. A man is dead.”
He nodded again. “I thought you were just aggravated because you don’t agree with the casino being built there in the first place and because you’re instinctively protective of the land.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re right. I hate that damn casino. It doesn’t belong there. Like I said, it’s an eyesore. It will cause countless changes to Sojourn that half my tribe is opposed to. It will bring crime to the area. It blocks the view of the land. It draws chain stores into town that will drive the rest of us out of business.
“But, none of those personal feelings have anything to do with the way I felt when I got out of your truck at that job site. It gave me the willies on a scale I haven’t felt in over a year. There are forces at work I can’t explain. And I don’t think all of them have to do with your dead guy. There’s more.”
Trace reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Okay. I hear you, babe. I don’t know what we can do differently, but we promise to listen closer.”
“Yeah. Trace is right. Sorry for being such an ass about the casino.”
Trace spoke again. “I’d suggest Melinda go back to the site again and see if she feels anything else, but I don’t really want her anywhere near there.”
“Hell, I’m far more worried about either of you being there without me than I am about myself. At least if I’m around, I can head off anything imminent. I can’t predict much from miles away from the scene.” Melinda grabbed a glass of ice water from the table and took a long drink. Suddenly, she was parched. Fear seemed to leach the fluid out of her.
Melinda scooped out a helping of the steaming chicken and vegetables. “I’ll go by in the morning, but I’m not spending the day there again. I gave you each a day. I need to go back to my own shop tomorrow.” She glared at Keegan and then Trace. “Don’t argue.”
Both men nodded. Neither looked pleased.
She met Keegan’s gaze again as she took her first bite. After chewing and swallowing, she spoke. “I don’t know if there’s anything else I can say. The place is evil. And I’ll admit it’s hard to separate my personal feelings from the actual vibe coming from the site.”
“What about your grandma?” Trace asked as he dished up some food. “Should we see if she’s had any visions with regard to the building?”
Melinda thought about that for a second. “Maybe. But she’s so vehemently opp
osed to the construction, I’m not sure she can separate her feelings from true premonitions on this one. Or even if she can, you’ll never know it because she turns red and grows two inches taller every time that damn casino is mentioned in a two-mile radius of her.
“If you think I’m bad, wait until you’ve had a few minutes with Mimi about the casino. Your butts will hurt as if she’d truly given you new assholes. Trust me.”
•●•
Keegan smiled at his mate’s colorful description of her grandmother. He’d only seen the woman for a few minutes the night of the housewarming at Griffen’s. He could tell from what little he knew Mimi could pack a punch. What she lacked for in stature, she made up for in personality.
Just like Melinda.
Mimi was undoubtedly a wise shaman, however. He needed to take anything she could add to the case seriously.
As they ate, Keegan questioned Trace. “You really think this might be the guy who sent the emails?”
“Certainly possible. If the wrong people found out he snitched, I guess they could have taken him out. We’re certainly dealing with a shit ton of money.”
“Could we change the subject?” Melinda asked. “I mean, I love chatting about dead guys found on the reservation and all, but…”
Keegan loved her sarcastic voice. He nodded. “Sure. How was your brother and the baby this morning?”
“You mean after you finally let me go inside the house?”
Trace lifted his gaze, swallowing a bite. “There must be a story to go with that.”
Keegan chuckled. His cock hardened at the memory. “The imp taunted me all the way to her brother’s house and then wouldn’t let me knock on the door. I thought she was going to fuck me on the porch.”
Melinda gasped. She wiped her mouth with her napkin, her eyes wide. “I did no such thing.”
Trace laughed so hard he had to tip his head back. “I’m sorry I missed that.”
Keegan winked at Melinda. Her face was deep red, but her mouth was turned up the smallest amount, indicating she was fighting laughter herself.
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes and smiled as she doled out the sarcasm. “As for the baby, McKenna is the sweetest thing. I held her for more than an hour, during which time she slept soundly and never made a peep. I don’t know what her parents’ issues are. They all three looked like they haven’t slept since Saturday.”
Keegan knew she was teasing. And she wasn’t wrong. He left before Griffen showed up in the living room, but from what he could tell, Miles and Rebecca were a bit ragged. “I seriously doubt you’ll feel the same after you give birth. My sister and her mate were a disaster for months.”
“Yeah, about that…” Melinda set her elbow on the table and her chin on her palm. “You would never impregnate me without my permission, right?” She glanced at Keegan and then Trace. Her eyes were wide.
Trace took her hand. “Of course not, baby.”
“We aren’t that crass. Besides, I can’t imagine adding a baby to this mix yet. I was surprised when Griffen and Miles got Rebecca pregnant so fast. I personally would rather enjoy several years alone with you first.” Keegan stood, leaned over the table, and planted a kiss on his mate’s lips. “Okay?”
“God yes, but I’m pretty sure that was Rebecca’s intention too, and then they got carried away one time and—oops.” Melinda pushed her chair back and gathered as many plates as she could carry to load the dishwasher. “I do not want an oops. If you two don’t think you can control yourselves when I’m fertile, then we need to use condoms.”
Trace shook his head. “Won’t let it happen.”
“Uh huh. That’s what your brother said, and now he has large bags under his eyes and a noisy house.” She set her armful in the sink and leaned against the counter.
Keegan set the wok on the stove and turned toward her. She really was nervous about this issue. Her hands gripped the edge of the granite so tight they had to hurt. Furrowing his brow, he straddled her legs and pressed into her, setting his hands outside hers on the counter. “What’s really bothering you?”
She shrugged, diverting her gaze toward the floor.
Trace leaned his hip against the sink next to them and reached for her chin to lift it. “Are you saying you don’t want kids?”
“No.” She shook her head, quick to answer. She shuffled from one foot to the other, squeezing her legs together between Keegan’s.
“She’s aroused,” he communicated to Trace, glancing down at her nipples, puckered beneath the front of her tight sundress.
“I can smell her,” Trace responded.
“What’s this about then?” Keegan asked. And why is this distress also causing you to be aroused?
She hesitated, biting her lip. “I do want kids. I always have. But not right now.”
“Okaay.” Keegan leaned in closer, inhaling deeply. Fuck me. His cock had been hard since the moment he met her on Saturday, but it was suddenly much stiffer. What the hell was his woman thinking about?
Trace spoke again. “Baby, I’m afraid you’re going to have to enlighten us a bit more. We’re both confused.”
She pursed her lips and lifted her face, glancing from one of them to the other. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak again. “About what? All I said was that I didn’t want you to get me pregnant right away. What’s weird about that? I just want you two to keep your wits about you and use a condom when needed. Do not blindside me.” She released the counter and crossed her arms under her chest.
And weirder? She also crossed her legs, squeezing her pussy off. She was so horny she couldn’t control her body. If Keegan wasn’t mistaken, he would swear she was shaking.
Keegan stared at her, trying to read between the lines. Would she always be cryptic like this? It wasn’t a bad thing, but he felt like he was pulling teeth. Time to point out the obvious. He cupped her face and tipped her head back. “Hon, you’re so aroused you’re about to come without stimulation.”
Her face pinkened so fast with embarrassment she couldn’t avert her gaze quick enough to hide her mortification. “Jesus. Do you have to be so blunt? And how the hell can you possibly know that?”
Trace leaned in farther and took a deep breath. “Well, there’s your scent for starters. And your nipples are at attention.” He reached between Keegan and their mate and flicked a finger over the closest puckered tip.
Melinda flinched, leaning the other direction. “If you two weren’t always crowding me…”
Keegan narrowed his gaze. “So, it’s our fault you’re so aroused?”
“Who else would I blame? You’re the two mates in the room.” She stepped out with one leg, pressing against Keegan’s boxed arm to escape.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Keegan could barely speak now that her legs were separated. He stiffened his arm so she was trapped.
Her pheromones filled the room. They always did, but this was worse.
Trace reached farther between the two of them and cupped Melinda’s other breast, flicking his thumb over the distended nipple now even more prominent under the tight front of her dress.
Melinda moaned, her eyes closing.
“I’m still very confused by this conversation,” Trace said, his voice a gravelly sound that mirrored the way Keegan felt. “Is this some sort of game where you insist you want one thing when really you want another? Because I have to say, I probably suck at those sorts of riddles, baby. I’m a good guy, but at heart, I’m still a guy. If what you really want is to be pregnant, you’re going to have to spell it out better because neither of us is following.”
Melinda sucked in a breath and set her hand on top of Trace’s, attempting to push his palm away from her chest. “Of course not. I don’t play games. I meant exactly what I said. I don’t want you to get me pregnant without my permission, and I don’t want that to be for a long time.”
“And this is arousing…” Trace’s voice trailed off.
Keegan had to agree. They’d gotten nowhere wit
h this conversation.
“Ugh.” Melinda rolled her eyes and then ducked under Keegan’s arm so fast, he couldn’t stop her from escaping. She skipped out of their reach and down the hall on her bare feet before Keegan knew for sure what tornado ran through the room.
“What the hell?” Trace asked, turning to follow their mate down the hall.
Keegan was right on his heels.
Melinda was next to the bed, leaning over her suitcase and riffling through the mess of wrinkled clothes she had stuffed in haphazardly. “I think I’ll take a shower.”
Keegan looked at Trace. They didn’t need to communicate telepathically to be on the same page. With a nod, they flanked their mate, each taking a hand. In two seconds they dropped her on her ass in the middle of the bed.
Melinda squealed.
Keegan took one arm and lifted it above her head while Trace took the other as they each climbed onto the mattress and tried to control the squirming ball of female lust writhing between them.
“We weren’t done talking,” Keegan said.
“Not even close,” Trace added.
Melinda humphed. “Talking about what? It was a simple request. I don’t understand what you two are being all weird about.” She tugged on her arm, but Keegan had a good hold above her head.
In fact, he grabbed her leg with his other hand, his fingers landing on her naked thigh. Her skin was hot to the touch. Smooth. Silky. He couldn’t resist running his fingers up higher, pushing her dress out of the way. When he reached her panties, he cupped her sex. “Jesus, hon. You’re so wet. Explain to me how a discussion about pregnancy gets my mate so horny.”
She bit her lip, tipping her head back so her neck elongated. She was so wanton. Her breasts stood higher, her nipples still poking at the material of her dress. Her belly dipped as Keegan stroked a finger over the top of her silky panties, grazing her clit. “Please,” she finally muttered. She squirmed, digging her heals into the bed and bucking into his hand.
Trace reached for a breast and cupped the globe with his entire hand. “What’s this about?” he asked Keegan.
Melinda's Wolves Page 19
