Force of the Dark Wolf (Force of Nature Series) (34 page)

Next stop, he thought, was out of here.

Chapter 18

Austin looked down at the lease that lay on his desk.
He’d not asked any questions when he’d okayed the renting of the little house
,
but now he wondered if he should have.
He looked up when Phil started talking again.

“It was done completely by a third party.
The person who needed it was told that it would be on a month to month basis until the owner could figure out whether or not to sell.”
Phil got up to pace, something he only did when he was nervous or pissed.
Austin figured it was a good deal of both.

“How long has the man been renting the house?
And when did he move in?”
Austin looked over at his mate. She was looking very pregnant and he was concerned about the added stress of this.
“If it’s month to month, I say we just kick his ass out then kill his sorry ass.”

“You might be ri—
”

“No
.
” Dallas cut Phil off.
“You might want to rethink that.
At least when he’s right there at our doorstep we can keep an eye on him.”
Dallas looked at him.
“It’s your call
,
of course
,
but I would have my friends close and my enemies closer.”

Austin agreed.
But it wasn’t just his decision to make.
He looked over at his brother and his mate.
Alexis had the most to lose in this and also the most to gain.
Gordon would do whatever he asked of him
,
but Alexis…well, he wasn’t sure what she’d do.
He looked over at CJ.
“The house is still in your name.
Ultimately
,
it’s my decision
,
but I would very much like to hear what you have to say.”
He winced when she glared at him.
“I mean
,
I would consider anything you have to say and weigh it against what is good for us all.”

“Good save
,
doggy boy, but not good enough.”
CJ got up
,
walked to where Alexis and Gordon were sitting
,
and knelt before them.
“The house is secure, both this one and yours.
We had cameras set up all over the house and if he didn’t disable them then we can see him as well if not better than if he was sitting here in the house with us.
He won’t get in to either house unless he has a tank and I’m pretty sure that we would all hear that sucker coming a mile or two away.
So my question is
,
what do you want to do?”

Austin knew she was right.
This directly involved them more than it did pack. But still
,
the man was—

“
Oh hush up.
I can hear your thoughts
,
you know.”
He mentally stuck his tongue out at CJ.
“Yeah, you do that now
,
but I’m betting you can think of better uses
for
that tongue than sticking
it
out there useless.”

Austin felt his body harden for her.
She knew what she was doing to him and it took him several seconds to realize that he’d missed something.
When he tried to concentrate on the conversation CJ sent him a mental picture of what he’d done to her last night.

“Behave or I’ll spank your ass again.
What are you doing now?
You know that Phil thinks they’re both safe here.
If they want to go up against this bastard they could very well be the only ones to walk away unscathed.”

“Or not.”
He felt her fear then.
“What if he’s wrong?
I can’t…I won’t lose either of them. Not now.
We have to protect them as our own.”

Austin had never been prouder of anyone than he was at that moment.
He sent her his love through their connection and felt it retuned back to him.
Then he settled in to listen to the plan. And in the end he thought it a very good one.

The
y
were to confront him.
They all agreed that it was the best bet in bringing out the man who was in charge.
Phil said there had to be a higher power in all this and he was going to check with his father and mother to see what they knew.
His dad was a vampire and had just as much power as his mate.
He thought that the two of them could come up with an answer.
Then there was the changing of Paddy to vampire.
How would Tom
have
gotten permission to change Paddy?
There had to be someone else, someone that would have enough power in the vampire council to give him what he needed to get what he wanted.

“When you go to the house, what are you going to say?
‘Hello, I’m here to kick your ass and bend over so I can do it?’”
Dallas grinned as he spoke. “I’m pretty sure all that’s going to do is piss him off more.
I was thinking maybe you could simply ask him if he has a cup of sugar.”

“Nah,” Phil chimed in.
“That won’t work.
He’s full
-
blooded.
He won’t have that in his kitchen.”

Hilarity broke out.
They were all tired and seemingly not taking things as serious as they should have been.
Austin was about to call it quits for the night
. A
fter twenty some hours of going over different strategies
,
he figured they all needed a good night’s sleep
, but
Glad came in the room.

“Has anyone seen Jessie?
She said she had a date and hasn’t returned.”
Austin could feel her worry and fear.
“She normally calls when she’s spending the night somewhere else.
And before you ask, yes, I called the delivery man.
He’s not seen her either.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her if Jessie was meeting Tom
,
but a sharp look from Phil warned him to stay quiet.
Instead
,
Phil went to her and put his arm around her.
He began to rub her bare skin and suddenly
,
Austin knew what he was doing. He was trying to get a place to draw blood.

“Oh my
,
Glad, what have you done here?”
She tried to turn to see what Phil meant when she inhaled sharply.
“See, you have a cut here.
Let me put something over it.
It looks a little red.”

Austin just bet it did.
He was smiling when he realized CJ was staring at him.
He was about to share what was going on when Phil suddenly put his finger into his mouth.
He looked over at them both him and CJ
,
and winked.
Austin wasn’t sure
,
but he’d bet his last dollar that not only could Phil track Gladys
,
but he was reasonably sure he could find her entire lineage.

When they disappeared down the hall Alexis cleared her throat.
“He could have simply asked her
,
you know
?
”

Austin tried to keep his laughter to a low rumble
,
but when Gladys and Phil returned with a large patch of a band aid on her shoulder
, h
er words confirmed that she had no idea what had just happened.

“I don’t know how I could have cut myself.
Why just this morning I was…you don’t suppose one of those kids
accidentally
threw something at me
,
do you?”
Phil shook his head
,
mirth all over his face.
“That poor boy. We won’t mention it. He’ll feel bad for me.”

Austin could only hope that at some point he could breathe again.
He was laughing so hard when she finally left the room and trying not to show it he was sure he broke something.
He was almost afraid to look at Phil again.

~~~

Alexis paced her room.
She thought about leaving it several times
,
but every
time she started for the door she would stop just short of opening it.
She turned to look at Gordon when he laughed.

“I don’t think you’re going to solve much by wearing a hole in the carpet.
Come here.”
She glared at him and continued pacing.
“Alexis, come here and let’s work this out.”

“Why?”
She had an idea what he wanted and how he wanted to
“
work things out
,”
but she just wasn’t in the mood.
At least she didn’t think she was.
“Sex does not solve everything
,
contrary to popular belief.”

“No,” he said
,
smiling.
“It won’t solve anything
,
but it will certainly relax you enough to think things through afterwards.”

She stood very still when he stood.
She watched as he started to unbutton his shirt and pull it from his pants.
She licked her suddenly dry lips.

“You would have been safer if you had simply left when you could.
Maybe there’s a way to reverse this thing.”
She pulled at her blouse
,
the heat in the room suddenly a little too much.
“I bet Phil’s mom knows somebody.”

“I don’t want anyone to reverse this.
I want you.”
The shirt landed on the floor next to her towel she’d discarded earlier.
“Come here
,
Alexis. I want to make love to you.”

He moved like the wolf he was.
She could smell him too, earthy and warm. She knew that if he were to go into the woods right now no one would be able to find him by scent.