Blood of Eden: A wolf shifter romantic suspense (The Guardians Book 1)

by JJ King

  She had first smelled the man’s scent on this woman on the day the trial began. She had been milling around outside the courthouse just past the few reporters that stood ever ready to get interviews on scandalous cases when she had covertly approached the front doors from the side of the building so as not to be caught up. After spending weeks preparing for this trial and getting to know her client, she could easily identify Mr. St. Laurent’s scent on this unfamiliar woman. She knew that the woman wasn’t a member of his family because she had interviewed each of them at length already. It didn’t take more than a few moments and a few good whiffs to realize that this woman was linked to her client sexually and that, due to the fact he hadn’t revealed this information to her previously, the relationship was a secret. That was the moment Katherine had started the hunt.

  The Judge was sitting back in his chair, listening with an air of slight indifference and boredom to the casual and inconspicuous questions that she was asking. There had been no objections from the prosecution thus far in the questioning and a lull had fallen over the courtroom. Katherine steeled herself for what came next. She didn’t want her client to hate her but his emotions weren’t really her concern right now. What did concern her was the need to fulfill her commitment to her client, which involved proving, without a doubt, that James St. Laurent could not have killed the victim David Lang because the woman on the stand had held the gun that took that life.

  “Ms. Green, please excuse my confusion on this one point, but if you could just clarify something for me I would appreciate it very much. You said that you were at home relaxing with a glass of wine and a good book the night of December 3rd, correct?”

  At the woman’s shaky nod, she continued.

  “Well then Ms. Green, perhaps you could explain to me how you were photographed entering and exiting Edwards Gardens on the night in question when you say you were in your home.”

  She paused momentarily just for sheer effect, walked to her briefcase, careful to keep her gaze from meeting her client’s, and pulled out a photograph in a plastic bag. She turned on her heels, keeping her eyes focused on the jury members rather than the now visibly shaking young woman on the stand and delivered her evidence.

  “I present the court with Item 5A, a photograph taken by a security camera on the outskirts of Edwards Gardens. If you look closely, you will see that the time stamp on the photograph is 10:57 pm and that the identity of Ms. Green is clearly established.”

  She could smell the sweat pooling in Natasha Green’s armpits and felt for the woman and her client. She wasn’t finished, however, not until she passed the Judge a second photograph, Item 5B, which depicted a rumpled Natasha Green exiting the Gardens forty minutes later.

  “According to the coroner’s report, David Lang was killed sometime between 10:30 pm and 11:30 pm in Edwards Garden. According to this photograph, you were present in said Garden at the precise time of his murder.”

  Katherine turned to stare at her witness, watched as she gasped for breath and let a single tear slide down her face.

  “Why did you kill David Lang, Ms. Green?”

  A sob echoed through the silent court.

  “He was blackmailing me! He found out about James and me and was threatening to tell my father if I didn’t give him twenty thousand dollars and let him…use me.” Her voice broke as she spoke and her eyes, now glued to her lover, overflowed. “I’m so sorry James, please, stop protecting me! I love you.” She turned to the jury and pleaded, “I did it. I killed David Lang. He was trying to…he was grabbing at me. I’ve been carrying around a gun even since he first told me that he knew. He was crazy, screaming at me, pushing me to the ground. I just pulled out the gun and…I shot him. I did it.”

  Katherine smiled.

  The Jury deliberated for five minutes then returned to the courtroom. The forewoman stood and passed the verdict to the Judge with confidence. Katherine could smell the satisfaction and relief of the jury members, all of whom had previously been anxious about making the right decision in this case. All of whom had previously believed her client to be guilty of murder, but who now realized just how wrong they had been.

  “The jury has found the defendant, James St. Laurent, innocent of all charges. The court remands Natasha Green into custody and charges her with the murder of David Lang. Officer, please take Ms. Green away and deliver her Miranda rights. Case dismissed.”

  For the first time since starting her cross-examination of the witness, Katherine locked eyes with her client and took in the emotions she saw there; grief for his love, relief for his own life, and anger at her unexpected attack of the woman he loved. Leaning forward while keeping his gaze, Katherine spoke quietly, below the hum of noise.

  “I told you that I’m the best and that I would prove your innocence. I can save Ms. Green just like I saved you. Tell her to give me a call.”

  Katherine turned from his shocked expression and gave the man time to realize for himself that she had set up Ms. Green’s confession in such a way that her motives for murdering David Lang were already established publically as self-defense. In a few days, she would contact him and explain her approach. Right now was not the time or place to explain.

  She gathered her files into her Italian leather briefcase and enjoyed her triumph before turning to see her opposition approaching with his hand extended. Congratulations were in order from the opposing council out of standard propriety, but years of experience with this particular lawyer alerted her that this approach signaled much more than proper congratulations.

  “Fine work Ms. LaFlamme.”

  Daniel Davidson Esq. stood at an intimidating height of six foot and four inches, but, fortunately for her client, she felt none of the intimidation other lawyers felt in the good lawyer’s presence. With her back to him, she clicked her briefcase closed and threw a “Thank you Mr. Davidson” over her shoulder.

  Katherine could smell the man’s sexual arousal and had been able to for most of the trial. Apparently a strong woman in a good suit and killer heels was this man’s kryptonite and she definitely filled those criteria. She would normally be attracted back, seeing as he was just her type of kryptonite, but the too white patch of skin on his left-hand ring finger and the unmistakable smell of small children on his skin blocked all feelings of lust that she could have summoned for his physical and mental attributes. She hated cheaters.

  She turned sharply, smiled and shook his hand. Katherine LaFlamme was never ignorant.

  “And how are your wife and children these days, Mr. Davidson?”

  She was also never compliant.

  She left the courthouse with one thought in her mind; a nice bottle of Shiraz, dark chocolate, a bubble bath and a trashy romance novel; the perfect night. It would only take half an hour to pick up what she needed, and then the night would be hers to dedicate to distressing. She reached into her Italian leather purse, grabbed her keys and her cell phone to check for messages before setting off on her errand. The screen lit up with an alert that she had missed a text message from her brother Anthony. Delighted to hear from him after such a long time, she hit the “ok” button and stopped dead in her tracks just steps from her car.

  Call me NOW. 911.

  Shit.

  She yanked the door of her car open with excessive force and slammed it shut behind her. Her weird intuitions that something was off were apparently right, despite all of her mother’s assurances that there was nothing wrong. Anthony would never ever think to call anything short of a dire situation an emergency. Someone was hurt or something bad was going down within the pack. Reluctant to get into the details while driving or parked outside the courthouse, she threw her car into gear and sped off towards her home. She was going to have to start packing anyway.

  The ride home took much longer than she was willing to spend in traffic so, by the time she pulled into her driveway, Katherine was well on her way to seeing red out of complete frustration and lack of information. She barely remembered t
o grab her purse and briefcase from the car before she pressed the locking mechanism on her keys and stormed towards the front door. She stepped over a large stack of mail just inside the door which she bent to pick up in disgust, expecting the large stack to contain mostly junk mail advertising free something or another at some greasy fast-food joint or another, and was shocked to instead find herself assaulted with the smell and feel of her father’s private parchment.

  The distinctive feel of the paper spoke to the quality of the man who owned it and the scent, subtle though it was, filled her with longing for her father. She shifted the mail and let the rest drop to the small mahogany table in her foyer, lifting the parchment to her nose. Katherine enjoyed the smell of home and happiness for a few moments before, regrettably, recognizing the importance of a personal summons from her father. Without opening it she knew that it was exactly that, a summons to return home immediately, perhaps even with a plane ticket tucked conveniently inside the envelope. This day was getting more and more interesting.

  She used her perfectly manicured fingernail to rip open the envelope and check inside for random paraphernalia before tossing it in the nearest wastebasket. The clicking of her heels across the hardwood of her floor alerted her to the fact that she was still wandering around with her heels on, her coat buttoned up, and the door still wide open. The few seconds it took to relieve herself of the clothing and lock up the front door was a few seconds longer than she wanted to spend on anything other than reading what her father had to say in the note.

  Parchment in hand, Katherine sat in the nearest chair that she could find, an overstuffed caramel colored leather recliner, and unfolded the note.

  Dearest daughter,

  Your mother and I would love to see you at home as soon as you can get away. Please take these tickets with my love. A demain ma fille.

  P.S. Be careful.

  Papa

  Katherine reread the words several times, searching for a sense of what was awaiting her at Wild River. Obviously, there was something extremely urgent happening or she wouldn’t be receiving a summons to come home immediately or a 911 text from her brother.

  The text, damn it, she’d almost forgotten completely. Katherine took out her cell phone and dialed the number to her brother’s cell from memory. When it started ringing, she stood and made her way to the kitchen, hungry for a major meal after the day’s long hours and scant provisions. Manners and expectations of society kept her from devouring entire trays of food in public. But in private, several courses of meals were the norm.

  She opened the fridge door and removed a large chunk of Gouda to nibble on as she waited. After a few rings, she heard the phone click and her brother’s voice answer.

  “Finally. Kat, you have to come home now.”

  She swallowed a large chunk of cheese, coughed and said nothing. Seconds passed.

  “Fine. Hello my sister, how are you today? I haven’t heard from you recently. I’m doing well. That good enough for you?”

  “Yes. Hi, my brother. I am also doing well, won my case today. It’s good to hear your voice.”

  A big gulp of two percent milk washed the cheese down. Setting the milk on the counter for further consumption, Katherine smiled at the forced civility she imposed on her brother. It was childish of her to do it of course, but a sister’s job was to keep her little brothers annoyed and off balance. Still, there were more important things at hand than fun.

  “I know that there’s something big happening, Tony. I got a summons from Dad today, on his good paper. It sounds all innocent and welcoming but I know he means ‘get your butt out here now!’ And he wrote ‘be careful’ on the bottom. Want to tell me what all this is about?”

  A moment passed before he spoke again. When he did, Katherine noted with worry that the tone of his voice had changed from annoyance to worry.

  “It’s for Dad to tell, Kat. You’ll know soon. My question is why are you still in BC? When’s the last time you changed? If it had been recently you would know that there’s unrest. I have to believe that you would come home if you knew how things have been.”

  Katherine had known this line of questioning would be addressed sooner or later and she was a little annoyed that the sooner had come so soon. Her brothers had never understood or even tried to see her viewpoint in regards to her changing schedule. They lived their lives as most of her family did, within the pack structure. That meant that they spent as much time wolf as they did human. She had stopped keeping count of the discussions, arguments and downright fights they had had over the years over the fact that she chose to follow a different route. It’s not like her choice was unprecedented, a fact that she frequently used in defense of herself. Of course, their collective comeback was to reply that though her choice may be valid among some wolves, she was the firstborn of the pack Alpha and as such she had no business putting her humanity before her wolf identity. She had obligations and responsibilities to the pack and to her family that outweighed, or should outweigh, her own desires.

  It was an opinion that had worked against her for the majority of her life but for the last seventy or so years, Katherine had chosen to follow her own bliss instead of that of the pack. Call it an adolescent rebellion, and her parents often did, but she wanted to experience life outside the pack before she settled down to being a dutiful little wolf wife and mother. Her brothers just didn’t seem to understand that she felt differently about settling down than they did, perhaps because of her ingrained feminist view of the world. A view they didn’t share and a view that had also caused endless fights between them.

  The problem, as Katherine saw it, was the antiquated rules of pack leadership. Only a male could be Alpha. As the firstborn to an Alpha, she should be in training for the position along with her brothers, in preparation for the day that her father could no longer fulfill his role. When that time came there would be an assembly of world Alphas that would last a full month. All potential Alphas would be assessed thoroughly by the council until, finally, one would be chosen to take his father’s place as Alpha. She, of course, was excluded from this process due to her sex; a fact which made her furious.

  She brought her focus back to the topic at hand and answered her brother with a tone of warning in her voice.

  “It’s been two years since I visited Wild River, Tony, and you know that. You were there. I’ve been busy here and haven’t had the chance to change in a while. Besides, I live in the middle of the city, where exactly am I supposed to run around, the local dog park?”

  “You’d have a lot of dogs pissing themselves if you did, Sis. Don’t bite my head off. It’s not the time for that now. We can fight about this later but right now you need to get out of that city for a few hours and change. Take a drive up north. You know as well as I do that it’s gorgeous up there and that the game is plentiful. You might even enjoy yourself. Seriously, Kat, you need to feel the pack right now. It’s important.”

  Katherine knew when she was standing at a roadblock and that this time it would be pointless to argue against her brother’s good sense. She knew that it was time and that whatever was happening among her pack would become instantly clearer to her once she changed. If it was serious enough to put that tone of anxiety in Anthony’s voice then it was important enough for her to be a part of.

  Still, it galled that she was being told what to do by her little brother.

  “I got it, Tony. Change today. I will. Don’t worry. Tell Dad I’ll be on the plane tomorrow. Hold on.”

  She checked the plane ticket that had accompanied the summons from her father for her arrival time.

  “My plane gets in at 11:35 pm so by the time I get my luggage and rent a car then drive to Wild River it’ll be well after midnight. No need to wait up. I have a key.”

  “Alright sis, I’ll see you later then. You’ll change tonight?”

  “I said I would, didn’t I? Troublemaker. I’ll see you when I see you. Love you.”

  “Love you too. And l
isten, be safe out there.”

  “I’ll wear a hunter's orange vest. Would that make you happy?”

  She heard him chuckle through the phone.

  “Somehow I don’t see that helping. But I’m serious, watch your back. See you soon.”

  Katherine flipped her phone shut and placed in on the counter in front of her. If she was going to change tonight there were some preparations that she would have to make, the first of which was that she was going to have to add to that little snack of cheese and milk substantially. Changing took a lot of energy and a full stomach helped ease the excruciating pain a little bit. Not much, though.

  She opened the fridge door and began pulling out boxes and boxes of leftovers; Chinese, Italian, Thai, and more. There was nothing left when she finished.