Hearts Aflame Collection IV: 4-Book Bundle (13 page)

***

“So what—what should I put in the obituary for the
Gazette?”
 
Nicolette quietly asked Jade
when she got back to the Minton’s house.

“Between you and me, and
Dougie
,
there’s something about what happened up there that doesn’t make sense.
 
We don’t think the wolf killed him, and I’d
rather you didn’t get everyone in town all worked up over the wolf problem
again by even mentioning it.
 
I know Duke
Jr.
thinks
otherwise, and after one trip to the Brown
Buffalo Café, everyone in town will be gossiping about it anyway, but it’s your
job to report facts, right?”

“Yeah, it is.”

Jade sighed. “So until we have the coroner’s report,
we can’t say one way or another.
 
Can’t
you just say that he died while working on his property and the coroner has yet
to determine cause of death?”

Nicolette nodded.
 
“There’s plenty to write about his life in the community, so we’ll skim
over the actual death for now.”

Jade squeezed Nicolette’s hand. “Thanks.
 
It’ll give us a little more time to sort
things out.
 
I’d rather a mob of
townspeople with pitchforks and torches didn’t show up at
Conall’s
cabin.”

Nicolette pursed her mouth as she studied her
friend’s face for a moment.
 
“Something’s
changed.”
 
Her eyes widened as the
realization hit her, and she leaned into Jade’s ear and whispered, “You’ve seen
him!”
 
It was a statement, not a
question.

“Not here, Nicky,” Jade pleaded.
 
“Later, okay?”

At that moment, Harlan came over and put an arm
around Nicolette.
 
“You want to help me
make some sandwiches?
 
Word’s getting
out, and people will start showing up to express their condolences.
 
Of course, a ton of food is going to show up
with them, but we should still offer visitors a sandwich and a cup of coffee.”

“Food equals love.” Nicolette smiled sadly.
 
“The small town response to
every situation.”

Carson joined the cluster in the kitchen. “Seems I’m
going to be teaching third grade until Evelyn is ready to go back.”
 
He seemed pleased to be making a contribution
in light of circumstances.

Jade tried to lighten the mood of the group.
 
“I can’t wait until the kids wash that potty
mouth of yours out with soap.”

“Now, Jade, I don’t always cuss,” Carson countered.

“Not always, Dad, just most of the time,” Harlan
teased.

“We better get back to the office, Jade,”
Dougie
called from the doorway.
 
“Wilson is going to want all the details.”

“I’ll see you all later.”
 
Jade gave Carson a peck on the cheek. “If you
teach third grade the way you survive explosions, those kids are going to have
a hell of a good time.”

***

By the time Jade got home, it was already 8:30.
 
She was starving, but when she opened the
refrigerator, nothing inside had any appeal.
 
She closed the door, pulled the
hairband
out
of her ponytail, and flopped on the couch.
 
Maybe a few minutes of mindless channel surfing would clear her head,
she decided, as she reached for the remote control.
 

Before Jade could click the television on, she heard
a light rap on the backdoor.
 
She froze
for a second.
 
Conall
!
 
How could she have forgotten he was coming to
see her!

She looked down at her rumpled deputy’s uniform and
knew she probably didn’t have a trace of make-up left on her face.
 
Her hair was a tangled mess and the big toe
on her left foot jutted out of a hole in her woolen sock.
 
Oh, and there was the matter of the threadbare
and faded long underwear she had on underneath.
  
Jade stood up with resignation; if he was
expecting a
hottie
to greet him at the door, he was
going to be sorely disappointed.

To
Jade’s
surprise, though,
it wasn’t
Conall
at the door.
 
A slender woman with a mass of flowing red
hair and piercing gray eyes stood on her stoop.
 
She was beautiful in an otherworldly sort of way, with a creamy
complexion and delicate features.

“Are ye Jade?” the woman
asked,
her Irish accent even stronger than
Conall’s
.

“Do you mind telling me who you are?”
 
Jade responded in her politest voice as she eyed
the woman.
 

“Me name is
Aoife
.”

It sounded almost as if she had said ‘Eva,’ but Jade
unconsciously repeated it as the woman pronounced it, “
Ee-fa
.”

“Aye,
Aoife
, I’m the sister
of
Conall’s
dead mate,
Riona
.”
Her voice had little emotion as she reported this fact.

“What can I do for you,
Aoife
?”

“Ye can stay away from
Conall
,
that’s what ye can do.
 
He sent me to
tell you that he won’t be coming tonight or ever.”

“
Conall
doesn’t impress me
as the kind of man who would send someone else with such a personal
message.”
 
Irritation bubbled up within
Jade.
 
She didn’t appreciate the arrogant
manner in which
Aoife
delivered her message.

“He may not be that kind of man, but he is that kind
of wolf.
 
Ye think you know him, but ye
know nothing.
 
According to the laws of
our clan, he will become my mate when his mourning is over.”

“His mourning for his daughter?”

“Aye, his daughter, Claire, and
for his mate
Riona
.
 
So ye should stay with your own kind and
leave him alone as, in a little more than a month, he’ll be mine for life.”

Jade rubbed her forehead.
  
Was she really having this
conversation?
 
She closed her eyes and
the kiss she shared with
Conall
earlier that day came
back to her, the passion and longing that it contained.
 
Had it been a good-bye kiss?

“
Conall
trusts ye to keep
our secret, and we ask you to please bring Claire’s body back to our territory
so that we can send her to the next world properly.
 
Can ye do him that one last kindness?”

“Yes…of course.”
 
Jade felt off balance, unsure if what
Aoife
was conveying was the entire truth or not.
 
It seemed pointless to get into a fight with
a stranger standing at her door, but the one thing she knew for certain was
that she would only believe that things were finished with
Conall
when he told her to her face.

Aoife’s
face
softened a little.
 
She seemed relieved
that Jade had not put up an argument.
 
“Good night and good luck to
ye
then.”
 
She started to leave, then paused and turned
back, as if something had just occurred to her. “That Boomer
fella
, he’s a good man for ye.”
 
Then she slipped into the night and was gone.

Shutting the door, Jade didn’t know what to
feel.
 
Earlier that day, she’d been
looking forward to her date on Friday night with Boomer, but now she was sad
and angry and confused—all at the same time.
 
And how had
Aoife
known about Boomer?
 
Maybe all these wolf people could read
minds.
 
But at least now she knew what to
have for supper and retrieved a pint of ice cream from the freezer.
 
It was times like this that she truly wished
she had a pet, but watching an old movie while eating mint chocolate chip under
the quilt her mother made her would have to do.
 
She couldn’t even call Nicolette to tell her about it.
 
Feeling too dejected to even cry, Jade
finally admitted there really was a wolf problem, but it was far closer to home
than she ever dreamed.

***

“How long before we get the coroner’s report?” Jade
spun her desk chair to face
Dougie
.
  

“Not until sometime early next week, but Doc
Edmo
called and said he’d be able to take a look at the wolf
today.”

Doc
Edmo
was a young
veterinarian, a Shoshone who had grown up in the tough atmosphere of the Wind
River Reservation.
 
Jade had recommended
him for the job, knowing he wouldn’t find her wish to deal with the wolf’s body
respectfully overly strange.
 
Plus, he
was an excellent vet.

Jade pretended to yawn as she stood up and reached
for her jacket.
 
“I’m getting sleepy and
stupid sitting here.
 
I’ll check in over
at Doc
Edmo’s
and bring back lunch if you guys want.”

“I’d take an Italian sub,” Tim said cheerfully.

“Five bucks please.”
 
Jade collected money and sandwich orders and headed over to the vet’s
office.

Doc
Edmo’s
receptionist
took in Jade’s uniform with a glance and quickly ascertained why she was
there.
 
“Go all the way back, deputy. Doc
is in the surgery.”

Pushing through the door, Jade scanned the
sterile-looking room.
 
Doc was adjusting
a large light over the operating table.

“Hey, Jade.
 
I
was just getting started.”

The dead wolf, which Jade couldn’t quite bring
herself to think of as Claire, lay on the cold stainless table with a light
cotton drape covering her.
 
Doc had on
turquoise-colored scrubs, and his long, black hair was braided down the center
of his back.
 
He wore a rather
jaunty-looking surgical cap printed with a design of various paw and hoof
prints.

“Thanks for doing this for us.”

“Glad to help.
 
I don’t really like the wolves getting a bad rap—especially if they
happen to be innocent.”
 
The vet snapped
on some latex gloves.

Jade sat down on his rolling examination stool, leaning
forward with her hands clasped,
her
elbows on her
knees.
 
“I don’t know anything for a
fact, Doc.
 
But my gut reaction to the
scene was that this wolf didn’t touch Duke Minton.”

The vet went about his business for some time, taking
measurements and thoroughly examining the wolf’s body.
 
After some minutes, he straightened up.
 

“Well, the first thing I can say with certainty is
that this wolf was killed from a distance with a high-powered rifle.
 
There aren’t any other wounds on the body, no
bruising or scratches or anything to indicate a struggle or attack.”

“So, could you testify in court that this wolf was
killed from a distance greater than twenty yards?”

“Absolutely.
 
And I don’t see any evidence of flesh or
blood in its teeth.
 
I’ll swab for DNA,
but we’ll know more after looking at the stomach contents.
 
You aren’t going to get squeamish on me, are
you?”

Jade shook her head, but she wasn’t entirely
sure.
 

“The good news is that I can just make one incision;
I don’t see any need to dice her up more than that.”

“Thanks.” Jade tried to smile at Doc, but
Conall’s
voice saying the word ‘daughter’ kept echoing
through her head.
 
Why hadn’t
Conall
come to explain things to her?
 
How could an entire community of
shapeshifters
have kept their secret for so long?
 
Jade deliberately refused to entertain the
word, ‘werewolf.’
 
Werewolves were
inventions of fantasy tales, creatures that turned into bloodthirsty killers
every full moon.
 
Werewolves did not help
you rescue your friend, or make love to you, or…have laws and clans and mates
for life; werewolves didn’t have daughters.

“This is weird.”
 
Doc held a kidney-shaped stainless pan, peering at the contents as he
moved things around with a long pair of tweezers.