“Ella, what kind of game are you playing here? Don’t you understand that this is dangerous?” Victor thundered.
Every eye in the restaurant turned to her, and Ella felt embarrassment reddening her face. The humiliation quickly melted into anger.
“Seeing as how you wouldn’t answer my questions and don’t seem capable of any emotions besides anger and lust, I don’t see how any game I’m playing is any of your damn business.” Ella quickly gathered her things and strode out the front door, forgetting to even pay for her food. Considering that Victor—no, Mr. Moreau—owned the restaurant, it served the bastard right that she’d walk out on her check.
Chapter 22
Victor ground his teeth in frustration. The woman was as infuriating as she was intriguing. Why couldn’t she just leave this alone? When he’d found out that she was still a guest at the inn he’d come, hoping to change Ella’s mind about not wanting anything more between them. He just couldn’t get her out of his head.
Then he’d seen what she had been researching, and anger and jealousy had welled up in him. There were women, he knew, who fantasized about being with a shifter, but he wouldn’t have thought Ella would be one of them. Hell, he hadn’t even thought that she knew his secret. But what other explanation could there be for her researching the Red Wolf Lodge? Obviously, she’d decided he wasn’t what she wanted and had set her sights the only other alpha in town, and his biggest rival.
“Mister Moreau?” Amy, one of the waitresses and a timid shifter in his pack, held a slip of paper out to him. “Your…the lady, she dropped this on her way out.”
“Thank you, Amy.”
Victor glanced at the sheet of paper and his heart dropped down into his stomach. He’d been an idiot. Ella was in trouble. What had she done, what kind of questions had she asked, that had Raphael’s crew gunning for her?
It didn’t matter. He would make sure she was safe first, and then worry about why she’d been in contact with both him and Raphael. He left the restaurant, his ground eating strides ensuring that he caught up with EllaElla well before she got back to the inn.
“Ella.” Her shoulders stiffened, and she walked faster when he said her name. “Damn it, Ella. We need to talk. What did you do that has Raphael after you?”
She turned, her beautiful blue eyes ice cold. “Nothing I can think of, Mr. Moreau, besides making out with you in your doorway. So don’t you dare ask what I did like I’m the one at fault here. What did you do to him that has him so angry that he will ruin anything and anyone he sees you touch?”
If Ella didn’t do anything to provoke him, could that mean…?
“Ella,” Victor said earnestly, laying a hand on her forearm and holding the note in front of her with the other hand, “This is important. What exactly did you discuss with him that made him threaten you this way?”
“Nothing. I’d never even heard of him until today. So, again, I turn the question back to you.” She stared at him for a moment while Victor processed the implications, then went on, “Never mind. If you won’t help me get to the bottom of this, then I’ll figure it out for myself.”
If she was telling the truth, and instinct told Victor that she was. That could only mean one thing. Raphael must have decided for some reason—maybe he’d had someone watching Victor’s house?—that he was involved with Ella, and that Victor had been giving her information. But the only information of any import he had was about the attacks. By the time his shock wore off, she had turned again and was striding away from him.
“Ella, wait. I…I’d like to help you, if you’ll still have me.” Begging did not sit well with him, but if it would allow him to keep her safe and to get to the bottom of things, he would damn well do it.
She turned with a tired smile. “Let’s get started then. Somehow I doubt I have long before he realizes I didn’t pack up and leave town like he so kindly suggested.”
A few days later they had looked over all the information that Victor had about the attacks. They agreed that it definitely looked like Raphael was behind the attacks, though they had yet to find concrete proof. Unfortunately, it seemed that there wasn’t much else they could agree on.
“Absolutely not. You are not getting within ten miles of him.”
Ella’s mouth was in a grim line as she answered him, circling through the argument for what felt like the hundredth time. “Then we take everything to the police. But there is no way that it is okay for you to go off like some vigilante! All that’s going to do is land you both in jail!”
“That. Is. Not. An. Option.” He growled the words, truly growled them this time. If the woman had any sense she would be cowering right now, but instead she stood and looked him icily in the eye.
“I don’t have to listen to you if you’re going to talk to me that way. Maybe I should go to the police myself and tell them everything right now.”
“Do it. I’ll deny everything, and they won’t believe you anyway. Do whatever you want, just don’t go near that man!”
This time Ella didn’t respond, although one look at her face was enough to know he’d just made it more likely that she’d do the exact opposite of what he’d demanded. She turned and left, slamming the door behind her. Victor ran a hand over his face, wishing it could wipe away his frustration and fatigue.
He picked up the phone. “Alice, Ella should be headed your way. Can you let me know if she makes it back safely?”
Chapter 23
Ella paced back and forth across the room angrily, replaying the argument in her head again and again, thinking of all the things she wished she’d said. Over the past several days while they had worked together Victor had proven to be respectful, keeping their relationship professional like she’d requested. Their air still hummed with attraction whenever they were in a room together, but Ella had been firm about keeping strict lines between them for the duration of this…situation. He’d been intelligent, putting together connections Ella might have missed, and appreciative when she found something important.
She’d almost come to trust him, to think of him as someone worthy of her respect. And then, the second she’d tried to move beyond finding the problem and toward solving it, he’d turned into an overprotective, closed-minded—
Ella expelled an angry breath and decided no more. Yes, she’d been working with Victor, but he did not own her. For some reason he seemed completely against going to the police, and there was no way that Ella was going to sit by and let him take matters into his own hands. If she let that happen she would be every bit as guilty as he was. There was only one real option, even if he couldn’t see it right now. Even if the mere mention of it made him mad enough to spit nails for some reason.
She could go to Raphael, calmly explain that they had all the evidence to show what he’d done, and demand that he stop hurting people. She would let him know that if there was even one more attack, the information would be handed over to the authorities. Then…then she would have to decide if she could live with herself if she didn’t hand the information over to the authorities.
She knew that she couldn’t live with herself if this madman targeted any more of Victor’s friends and family though. It was time to end that threat tonight, before she had time to change her mind. After a quick stop to fuel up her rental car, she was on her way out of New Orleans and into the countryside.
Ella wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but the Red Wolf Lodge definitely was not what she’d had in mind. The website had shown a bright, welcoming building. The reality was more like a fortress that had been built by a lumberjack. She’d always thought log cabins were cozy, but this enormous log structure was something else entirely. The parking lot was empty, even though the website had claimed that there were no vacancies every time she’d visited it.
The night seemed heavy, menacing. The humidity laid a thick blanket over everything it touched, and somehow the sounds of nature, normally something Ella found soothing, seemed filled with unknown threats.
She steeled herself and walked up to the door. Victor had claimed that Raphael was almost always here, and hopefully that would be the case tonight. Hopefully she could put a stop to his violence. She had made sure, actually, that this would end tonight, one way or another…but at what cost to her?
She shook off the maudlin thought and opened the door to the lodge. With the place so deserted, she was almost surprised when the knob turned easily in her hand. The hallway smelled of dust and rot, and Ella had to breathe shallowly through her mouth to keep her stomach from rebelling.
“Hello? Raphael?” Ella’s voice echoed off the walls, making her feel completely alone, but seconds later the silence was shattered. Ella could hear shouting in the next room. Quietly and hesitantly she started in that direction, praying the owners of the voices raised in anger would not notice her until she’d had time to decide if she should confront them or flee and live to fight another day.
“Why, Victor? Why would I stop now? Do you think I care that you want to hide in the shadows? We’ve done that for years and nothing has gotten any better. I don’t want to belong. I want to be feared.”
Ella froze in the doorway to a large empty dining hall. Raphael and Victor faced each other, their anger so thick in the air that the tension was almost palpable. She should go, she knew that now, but what was Victor hiding? Tonight, she reminded herself. Tonight she would find out the last secrets. Tonight this would end.
“And how is outing us going to help you, when you’ve killed so many? You may be free to be what you are, but I’d hardly call a prison sentence being free.”
“Oh, didn’t you know? The alpha of the biggest pack in town had lost his mind, started murdering his own. I, of course, will do what I need to do to keep our city safe. You’ll be the one behind bars; you’ll be the one whose people are dead. I will be the one they trust to keep order. I won’t just be free to be what I am. I’ll be a damned hero.”
“It won’t work that way, Raphael. They aren’t ready yet here. You know that as well as I do.” Victor’s voice was still steady, but he was so angry that he was shaking.
“Maybe, but what if the victims weren’t all wolves? Maybe they need a threat to humanity to make them see me as a hero. What if there was one final kill…maybe that sexy little reporter—”
Ella could hardly believe her eyes. Between one breath and the next, Victor was gone and a massive wolf, so dark it was almost black, stood in his place. Raphael was pinned to the ground, and the wolf’s—not just the wolf’s—Victor’s teeth were clamped on his throat.
Nausea welled up inside her as Ella watched, waiting to see the man she’d come to care so much for take the life of another. But then the air shimmered around Raphael as he too shifted forms. He twisted out from under Victor and Ella could only watch helplessly as the two clashed again and again with tooth and fang.
A cry escaped her lips when Raphael hamstringed Victor. Was this it then? Would she have to watch him die? He slowed in the following moments, and Ella watched helplessly.
No. This was a hunting lodge. Surely that meant there were guns somewhere, right? Never mind that Ella had always been gentle, that the thought of holding an instrument of death made her sick to her stomach. She couldn’t stand by and witness this without trying to help Victor somehow. She’d only made it a few steps down the hallway, though, when an arm snaked around her neck and the cold barrel of a gun was pressed to her temple.
The smell of stale sweat filled her nostrils, and Ella fought not to gag.
“Where do you think you’re going? We don’t let little girls wander the halls around here.”
Ella fought back a groan. Apparently she wasn’t going to be any help after all. Unless…maybe she could be a distraction? Maybe she could give Victor the chance to escape.
“You are afraid of little girls, but you let Victor Moreau kill your boss in your own dining room?”
She could tell by the way the man stiffened that he’d had no idea about the fight.
“You’d better not be lying, you little bitch, or I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
He kept an arm locked around her neck so tightly that Ella was seeing spots as he steered her back toward the dining room. Maybe, she reasoned, losing consciousness wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Who wanted to be alive to watch the moment of their death approach? She no longer had any illusions about walking out of here alive. She’d seen too much. The only thought that gave her comfort was that there would be no way to cover this up. She’d made sure of that. She smiled as the darkness rose up to greet her.
Chapter 24
Victor fought to stay conscious as he struggled for control over Raphael. He probably should have passed out several minutes ago, but his wolf was a survivor. Victor ceded control to him. Normally the wolf let him lead, but this was a fight his wolf was better suited to win, and they both knew it.
The world ceased to matter, narrowed from myriad problems to just this moment, just the adrenaline and bloodlust of the fight at the end of a long hunt. Victor faded into the wolf, so much that he vaguely wondered if he could wrestle control back if he lived. Just as he thought that it might not matter, that he wouldn’t live to regain control, Raphael’s stamina seemed to ebb. Victor’s wolf pinned him to the ground, but a shout stopped him just as he was about to rip out his rival’s throat.
“Kill him, and I’ll shoot this bitch.” One of Raphael’s wolves stood in the door with a gun pointed at Ella’s head. She was limp in his arms. Panic welled up in Victor and he fought to subdue his wolf. Despair filled him. There was no way his wolf would be denied this kill…
But then he was back in control. His wolf apparently cared about Ella as much as he did. Victor shifted to human form and put Raphael, who was barely hanging onto consciousness, in a headlock, mimicking the stance the other wolf held.
“A trade then. His life for hers.”
Thankfully the other wolf agreed. He dropped the gun, but Victor knew that wouldn’t stop him from snapping her neck in an instant. They both dragged their captives out to the back parking lot where Victor had left his truck before releasing them.
Relief and anger warred within him as Victor lowered Ella gently onto his couch and got a first aid kit to tend to her wounds. They were minor, and he knew she would be okay. But he had come so close to losing her. Hell, he’d lost her anyway. Even if he found a way out of this, she’d seen the monster that lived inside of him. There was no way a woman like her would want to be with someone she would no doubt see as an abomination.
He’d lost her, and she’d lost him the only chance he would probably get to kill Raphael. He would rather a world with her alive and happy…but there was no doubt in his mind that Raphael would follow through with his plan. Victor was almost certainly headed for prison. Why couldn’t she have trusted him to handle this?
“I guess you’re pretty upset with me right now…”
Her voice came out raspy from the damage in her throat, and Victor swallowed down his fury. She’d seen enough violence tonight. He wouldn’t add to that with his own anger. He knelt beside her and smoothed the hair from her face, but couldn’t find any words that would reassure her without telling a lie.
“Would it help if you knew I recorded the entire thing?”
Victor stared at her in shock as she lifted her shirt, revealing that she was wired.
“So…you went to the police?” Sure, his secret would be out, but considering that he’d thought he would be looking at prison time…
“No. I just bought the equipment on the way to the lodge and set it to back up online so that there would be evidence of what happened if I didn’t make it out. It…it wasn’t my place to go to the police, and I understand now why you were so opposed to it. I’m not sure why you didn’t trust me with your secret, but I know that it is your secret to keep.”
He smiled and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Yes, it helps that you recorded the entire thing. But even if you hadn’t, it helps
just knowing that you’re okay.”
An hour later, while Ella slept on the couch, Victor called Raphael and played the footage.
“You son of a bitch,” Raphael snarled.
Victor smiled. “That I might be, but you’re the son of a bitch who is up on multiple murder charges if this recording ever sees the light of day.”
“What can I do to convince you to destroy it?”
“Not a damn thing you say can convince me. But I can promise that the second the world knows there are werewolves in New Orleans they’ll find out the truth about you, too.”
“You can’t stop the world from becoming what it was meant to be. We were meant to be apex predators.” A heavy silence filled the line. “But,” Raphael finally conceded, “The change that is coming won’t be brought about by me.”
A short while later Victor helped Ella up to her room. Once she was there safely he had no reason to linger, but he couldn’t seem to make himself turn and walk away. Ella wouldn’t be exposing him, but that meant that there was no story for her here, nothing to keep her from leaving New Orleans—from leaving him. He stood frozen in the doorway, drinking in the sight of her one last time. She stood with her back to him, gazing out the window.
When she didn’t turn back toward him he reluctantly turned to leave.
“Victor?” Something in her voice stopped him in his tracks. “Please…stay.”
That was all the invitation he needed. He strode across the room to her, closing the door behind him, and hungrily captured her lips. She tasted fresh, amazing, and he couldn’t control the groan that slipped from him as he deepened their kiss.
Shifter Babies of America Box Set 1 Page 12
