Frost Security: The Complete 5 Books Series

by Glenna Sinclair

  Mary stopped digging abruptly and looked up, her golden eyes alert. She looked back at him as he came up through the grass.

  He yipped again, coming to a stop about ten feet from her and panting a greeting.

  She glanced at the rabbit’s burrow, her ears up and twitching. Did you see that?

  He gave her a wolf grin. See what?

  She tucked her tail in embarrassment. Ignoring the rabbit burrow, she turned and began a slow jog back to the cabin.

  Peter whined low. He hadn’t wanted to shame her. He’d just wanted to run with her, to show her he was there if she needed anything. He ran beside her and got her attention.

  She glanced over at him, her ears slicked back against her head, her teeth partially bared. He gave a little wolf whine and wagged his tail back and forth. He wanted to show her something.

  Mary sighed, as if saying, “Fine, whatever,” in that teenager way of hers.

  He took off running into the wind. Just beyond his property line, a mountain began its rise from the valley floor. He pointed himself that direction, his tail straight out behind him. He didn’t sprint, since he didn’t want Mary to get left behind. But it certainly wasn’t a walk. He glanced back over his shoulder at the younger shifter as she bounded after him, leaping over logs and furrows in the ground, her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth in a wolf grin of her own.

  He was pretty sure this was her first time off his property in her wolf form. At least, he mused, she obeyed him some of the time.

  They sped up the mountain, skirting boulders and racing through the trees.

  Soon, they were near the top at a particular outcropping of rocks that Peter loved. The whole of the little town of Enchanted Rock stretched below them in the distance. In this time of night, there were few lights, and the yellowish, incandescent glow of the street lamps and porch bulbs seemed to meld into the fiery lights that hung in the heavens.

  His mother had always told him that Fenris, the great wolf who would eat the sky one day, had hung the stars so his children would have something to see by as they hunted. Peter was pretty sure that wasn’t true. But, then again, most astronomers and physicists were probably pretty sure he didn’t exist.

  Mary finally caught up with him, gasping and panting for breath. The trek up had been harder on her, it seemed, than it had been on Peter. But, still, she whined happily as she saw the vastness of the landscape stretched out below them.

  He panted at her as he sat back on his haunches. He bet she hadn’t seen anything like this before.

  She came up, planted herself right next to him, close enough that he could feel the heat roiling off her. Mary barely came up to his shoulder, but she didn’t seem to mind. She just looked up at him with her wolf grin. Nope. This was quite the sight.

  Peter had a strict rule when he was with the guys on a pack run. No howling this close to town. He looked down at her and decided some rules could be bent. He lifted his snout to the sky and let loose a howl that went echoing across the valley below, reverberating back and forth through the trees, awakening ancient fears of man and beast. Fears of hunters, of streaking gray angels of death that would come and steal their livestock and their babies from their cribs.

  Mary Waynescott, his young charge, lifted her head and joined him. Together, their howls rolled over the land in animalistic harmony. They held the long note together, until Peter finally dropped his own call.

  Mary, though, kept hers going. A long, mournful ululation that sang of her hurt, her pain, her grief at losing her family and pack.

  If he’d been in his human form, Peter would have shed a tear. But, as he was a wolf, he instead joined her in another call. This time it was one of his own sorrowful cries that spoke of the death of his own family, of his own nightmares, of the horrors he’d endured for the humans who wouldn’t ever understand or accept a shifter if they knew the truth. And, too, he howled about his worries of the future, of the storm that was coming for them all.

  When they stopped, Mary slumped her flank into his, snuggled against him for a moment, and whimpered. It was her apology for fighting with him earlier.

  He leaned back against her, returning the sign of predatory affection. He was sorry for not being more supportive, and for not bringing her out earlier. Though they spoke no verbal language, they understood each other perfectly.

  Chapter Thirty-two – Frank

  I awoke with the taste of salty, coppery blood in my mouth, my fist raised as I sat up in bed, ready to kick the living hell out of whoever was there.

  “Whoa, Frank,” Richard said as he stepped back from my raised fist. “It’s me. You’re good.”

  I’d been having another nightmare about the night Meredith had disappeared, but I could tell that this time I’d nicked the inside of my mouth as I bit down on the phantom kidnappers. I poked my tongue at the injured spot. Yep. That was it.

  “Your shift is up,” he told me.

  I nodded, and wiped my previously fisted hand down my face. At least there wasn’t any sweat this time.

  “Was I shouting?”

  “No, worse.”

  “Growling?” I asked with a wince.

  He nodded in the dim light.

  “Gimme a sec?”

  “Sure thing.”

  I began to dress as he closed the door to Matt’s room behind him. A glance at the clock told me I’d gotten a solid five or six hours of sleep. That was more than I got most nights while I was in the army. Apparently almost a full night’s rest hadn’t done much to clear my head. Every time I tried to steer my thoughts back to the case, back to the facts, they just circled right back to Ashley Maxwell. And not because she was the key to all this, either.

  No.

  It was because of what had happened out on that balcony.

  I rubbed my hands over face again, then disappeared into the bathroom off Matt’s bedroom. He got the private one and the smaller bedroom. I got the larger bedroom, but had to use the bathroom out by the living room. I splashed water on my face and dried it with the hand towel that had been laid out.

  The smell of coffee drifted from the kitchen and filled the air, and my mouth began to salivate like one of Pavlov’s canines.

  Before I left the small bathroom, though, I took a moment and looked in the mirror. I stared back at myself, trying to figure out just what in the hell I was thinking.

  If what my gut was telling me was right, the woman sleeping in my bed was my one true mate. She’d even kissed me earlier in the night. And what had I done? I’d pushed her away.

  I pushed away a woman I knew I already loved. Why? Because I’d made a mistake in my past? Made a mistake that still haunted me?

  I sighed and scratched the rough stubble already forming on my face, raking a hand back through my hair.

  I’d learned a long time ago that pain doesn’t ever go away entirely. Especially not this kind of pain—the pain of loss. It became a dull ache and it faded, but it would still come to you when you least expected it. Like when a song by Shakira, Meredith’s favorite singer, came on the radio. I’d remember the way she’d looked when she lay on the floor of that abandoned warehouse. How her body had been unnaturally twisted. Twisted in the way only a corpse could be twisted. How cold her skin had been. How painful my shame had felt. How I’d tried to drink it away that night, but couldn’t.

  I splashed more water in my face, dried it again, took a deep breath, and swallowed hard.

  But Ashley?

  She was something different altogether. Beautiful, funny, kind, driven, sweet. Nothing like I’d imagined her to be when I first met her.

  She was so unlike Meredith, whose only real hold on me was that she’d died on my watch.

  Maybe that was it. If she hadn’t been kidnapped while I was there, would I have even thought of her still? Maybe over a couple beers with the guys, where we talked about the stupider things we’d done on the job. But other than that?

  No. Probably not.

  I nodded to
myself and wiped the damp hand towel down my face again and dried my cheeks.

  I’d finished relieving myself when Richard knocked on the bathroom door.

  “You alright, man?”

  “Can’t a guy motherfucking piss in peace?”

  “If a guy would move his fucking ass, he could,” Richard snapped back, but I could tell he didn’t mean anything by it. Not any more than I did. “Now let’s get going, I still gotta grab a couple hours of shuteye.”

  I flushed and turned to wash my hands. “Yeah, yeah, piss and moan.”

  “Move it, O’Dwyer!”

  Murdoch was standing right in front of me when I finally stepped out of the bathroom. He looked me up and down, giving me a quick inspection. “Take it you’re feeling better,” he finally said.

  “She awake?”

  “Not yet.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Feeling fit as a fiddle.”

  “Figure it out, then?”

  “Think so. Thanks for earlier. Owe you a beer.”

  “I think I deserve at least a sixer and a shot.”

  “Whoa, whoa. Let’s not count our steers before they hit market, here. I mean, ain’t exactly like you solved world poverty or nothing, Murdoch.”

  He grinned and clapped me on the shoulder. “Get the fuck out of the bathroom. I gotta piss.”

  I went out into the kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee. I blew away the small plume of steam rising from the surface and took a sip as I leaned back against the cabinets.

  Hot coffee. Good hot coffee. That had been maybe one of the best parts of getting out of the service. Getting to have a decent cup of joe again. I took another sip, trying to figure out what to do waiting for Ashley to wake up before our meeting with the sheriff.

  As I’d gotten to the fifth item on the list, though, I heard movement in my bedroom, the shifting of my bedsprings. The door opened around the corner from the kitchen, out of sight, and petite feet padded over the hardwood floor and to the bathroom.

  I sipped my coffee and thought about what I was going to do. What I was going to say. How I was going to apologize, how I would explain my self sufficiently.

  First, I’d just explain my past. What had happened down in South America.

  Second, I was going to beg her forgiveness.

  Third, I’d pour my heart out to her.

  The bathroom door opened and she came padding back down the hall. She stopped outside the bedroom door for a moment, then came back around the corner to the kitchen.

  Her eyes squinted against the brightness of the overhead lights, but her nostrils flared at the smell of coffee. Even half asleep, with her makeup a little smeared from having slept in it, and my old flannel shirt hanging off of her like a dress, she looked beautiful.

  It hit me like a bolt of lightning, the kind of electric spear that the Old Testament God of fire and brimstone would throw down when he needed to express his wrath at some poor mortal sinners. I could wake up next to that face every day for the rest of my life and be happier than the day before.

  “You and your roommate need to learn to put the damn toilet seat down,” she grumbled and quickly looked away.

  I stepped back and gave her room to get to the coffee.

  “Mugs?”

  “Cabinet right there.”

  She grumbled.

  “Why don’t you go back to sleep? You’ve still got a few hours.”

  “Can’t sleep.”

  I nodded silently to her back as she pulled down a mug and poured a cup for herself. “Cream?”

  “Half-and-half?”

  She grunted.

  “Fridge.”

  She swung it open and looked inside.

  I had a moment of embarrassment as I realized that all we had in there were steaks. She didn’t comment, though, and instead pulled the half-and-half from the door and topped off her mug.

  She didn’t look at me. She just turned and headed for the kitchen table.

  I set my coffee aside as I watched her go. “Hey, Ashley, about last night on the balcony…” I finally said to her back, trailing off as she stopped in her tracks.

  “What? You sorry for making me feel like an idiot, or something?”

  I frowned as I took a step towards her. “No–yes–I mean…shit.”

  She slowly turned to me, a perfectly manicured eyebrow raised. “What, Frank? What do you want to say?”

  I didn’t think. My body just moved on impulse. I took two big steps and grabbed her around the waist, pulled her to me, and crushed her lips with mine.

  She was warm under my hands, fragile within my arms. But strong, too. And, God, her lips were so soft beneath mine. She tensed up at first, but melted into me after a moment of surprise, and wrapped her arms around my back.

  I jumped, cursing out loud as the scalding hot coffee hit my back and soaked my shirt all the way through.

  When she realized she’d dumped her cup all over me, she tried to pull away.

  I kept my hold tight around her and kissed her more insistently. There was no way I was ever going to let her go.

  She kissed me right back, and it was like my lock had finally found its key.

  I could almost feel the tumblers clicking within me as it slowly began to turn. I’d never felt like this before in my life. All that time wandering through life, first with only my shitty, shifty uncles to watch my back, then in the Army where I still had to hide myself. I was still lost down in South America with Meredith, who saw me as just a way to poke at her daddy. And even now, with my pack mates. Nothing had been like this. Nothing had felt like this as I held Ashley in my arms, as my heart seemed to swell.

  Finally, we broke our kiss. Panting, we gazed into each other’s eyes. I touched her face as she ran her hands up and down my coffee-soaked back, a smile playing on both our mouths.

  “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “About last night. I just–”

  She squeezed me tight for a moment, interrupting me as she laid her head against my chest. “Shut up. Let’s not spoil the moment.”

  I smiled and wrapped my arms around her, rubbed her shoulder and back. I kissed the top of her head. “I need to change shirts.”

  She stepped back from my embrace, her eyes smiling as they looked up into mine. “I need a new cup of coffee.”

  “Guess we’re even.”

  “Go change. We’ll talk about whatever we need to talk about when you get back. Okay?”

  With a finger beneath her chin, I lifted her lips to mine once more. I kissed her again, this time more softly. “Be right back.”

  I went into my bedroom, tossed off my old shirt as fast as I could, and pulled a new one from my closet. It was nothing more than a simple flannel like I’d given her the night before. I buttoned it up as I came back out into the kitchen, and caught her eyes as they traveled up and down my naked torso.

  She stood there, leaning against the counter, a fresh cup of coffee clenched in both hands. “So, what do we need to talk about?”

  “Things. About me. You’d better sit down for this. It’s a doozy.”

  Chapter Thirty-three - Ashley

  Frank spent the next couple hours opening up to me, our hands clutched together through the whole story. Outside, the world of Enchanted Rock still slumbered fitfully, with the sun just barely rising above the peaks in the east. He told me everything. His childhood with his awful uncles. His time in South America. Meredith. How he’d found her dead in that warehouse. By the end of it, we heard our first car drive by, Mack, according to Frank, the morning shift’s short order cook at Dixie’s.

  “What about the men who did it to her?” I paused, licked my lips. “Who killed her?”

  He paused. “Believe it or not, a wolf from the zoo killed them.”

  I sat up straight in my chair. “What? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “That’s what the papers said. Believe me.”

  I looked at him from the corner of my eye. “What happened next?”

  �
�I, uh, got the job here. Drank myself into a hole first. Spent a lot of time with Simon Falkowski, who you met earlier. Then, when Peter Frost got in touch with me about coming up here, I jumped at the chance to put Brazil behind me. Flew into Amarillo, got my car from the barn where I’d been keeping it on the old farm, hauled it up here, and started work later that month. The rest is history.”

  “So that’s why you pulled back earlier? Because of her?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. It’s just, the last time I had feelings for someone I was protecting, everything went sideways. Tits up, you know?”

  I squeezed his hand.

  “What do you think?”

  I didn’t say anything for a moment. I was still processing everything he’d told me. I knew there was more, details he was leaving out. But something told me that he what he’d told me so far was the truth, even if it was just the skeleton of the story. “I think you think it’s all your fault, but the only thing that was your fault was not being true to yourself.”

  He sat back in his chair.

  “No, no,” I said, “hear me out. You weren’t acting like yourself with Meredith. You knew it was against the rules, and you let that cloud your judgment. Everything that you’ve done with me has been fine.”

  He smiled and rubbed his thumb across my knuckles. “I’m going to get you through this.”

  “I know.” I lowered my eyes, smiled a little. “I believe you.”

  We talked a little more after that. I told him about my father, about what it was like growing up wealthy. How I’d come to realize that, compared to him and the people in Enchanted Rock, most of my friends on both the east and west coast were just vapid. “Total trust fund babies.”

  “You know you’re a trust fund baby, too, right?”

  I sat back in my chair and lifted my coffee to him with a smile. “Not anymore. Right now I’m just as poor as the rest of you. Pretty soon, I’ll probably be poorer.”

  He laughed, tapping my mug of coffee with his own. He gave me a weird look. “You know we all make really good money, don’t you? Security contractors get paid really well. I mean, I’m not Maxwell rich or anything, but I do just fine.”