Moon Dance (9 page)

“
Nothing,” said
Cole.

Ursula nodded, seeming to
come to an internal decision. “Well, I thought you might say that.”
She reached into her jacket and took out a piece of paper and a
pen. She slid the paper across the table to Cole. “There are two
copies you’ll need to sign. May I remind you that if you try
anything untoward with this—” She held up the pen. “There are armed
guards outside this room, and you will be dealt with.”

Cole smoothed out the paper.
He seemed startled. “You… did it.”

“
Yes, well, it didn’t seem
that Gray was at all amenable to seeing you, so I was hoping to be
able to work something out just with this.”

Cole looked up at Dana, and she could
see hurt in his eyes.

She looked away.

“
Give me the pen,” said
Cole.

Ursula handed it to him.

Cole picked it up but seemed
uncomfortable with it, as if it had been quite some time since he’d
written anything. He scrawled his signature on both pieces of
paper.

Ursula took the pen back. She took one
of the papers back.

It was quiet again.

She raised her eyebrows.
“Well?”

“
Well,” said Cole. “I’m
still chained up.”

“
If I unchain you, what’s to
stop you from running and giving me no information?” said
Ursula.

“
And if you don’t, what’s to
stop you from ripping up this paper and pretending like this never
happened?” he said.

Ursula sighed again. She got
up and went to the door of the room. She came back with one of the
guards. “Mr. Randall, I’ll unchain your feet, but not your hands
until you give us what we want.”

Cole made a face, but he
nodded.

Dana watched as the guard unlocked the
chains that tied Cole to the floor.

“
You understand that this
pardon is dependent upon your future behavior. If you begin killing
again, you’ll be locked up again. You understand?”

“
I haven’t killed anyone in
a very long time,” said Cole.

“
I know that,” said Ursula.
“And that’s the only reason I’ve signed the pardon. Besides, Mr.
Randall, it seems to me that you cause more trouble amongst my
staff when you’re locked up in this facility than you do when
you’re out. See to it that this trend continues, and you’ll remain
free.”

Cole drew in a slow breath.
“I suppose it’s out of the question for me to talk to Dana
alone?”

“
I can’t,” Dana
whispered.

He nodded. “All right.” He
flicked his gaze over her. “Listen, I left you alone because you
told me you were happy. You’re not happy.”

She couldn’t look at him. “I
am.”

“
No,” he said. “You’re
not.”

“
May I remind you, Mr.
Randall, that—”

“
Fine.” Cole glared at
Ursula. “The man you want is named Enoch Borden. He is not, as you
have assumed, a human. He is, in fact, a werewolf. And he has a
rather large group of werewolves that are loyal to him. They are
the ones who’ve carried out the attack on the west coast SF, and
that’s only the beginning of what they’re planning.”

Ursula looked stunned. “I
don’t understand. Why would werewolves want to hurt the
SF?”

“
They don’t like you.”
Cole’s eyes flashed. “I don’t like you either, if it comes down to
it. Everyone in this entire organization treats the wolf as if it’s
some kind of disease to be fought off. But it’s a gift, and it’s
meant to be surrendered to.”

Dana looked at him, thinking
of all the times that he’d forced her to shift in his basement,
spouting things exactly like that. She thought that he’d gotten
those ideas from his father, that he’d rejected them along with the
idea of making another pack. But apparently not.

Ursula furrowed her brow.
“But that isn’t a reason to kill—”

“
It’s the wolf’s
nature to kill,” said Cole. “To people like Enoch, killing is
the
only
answer.
He and I used to be quite in sync with that notion, as a matter of
fact.”

“
You know him,” said
Dana.

“
Very well,” said
Cole.

“
His group of wolves,” she
said. “They’re the ones you were in contact with when you were
locked up here.”

He smiled. “Very good,
beautiful. Seems you haven’t lost your touch.”

“
So, these are friends of
yours?” said Ursula. “Why would you give them up?”

“
I wouldn’t have,” said
Cole. “Except for the fact that you captured me and put me in
chains.”

“
But you called to warn me,”
said Dana.

“
Yes, well, when I found out
they were planning an attack on this headquarters, I thought of
you, of course.” He curled his lip. “I don’t know if I could stand
living in a world in which you were dead.”

Dana’s heart
lurched.

“
But now?” said Ursula.
“You’re giving them up only for personal gain? Or do you care that
deeply about Gray?”

Cole smirked. “Enoch and I
had a bit of a falling out after the situation at Hunter’s Moon
Farm. It did happen to involve my feelings for Dana.” He gazed
deeply into her eyes, and she felt hot all over. “But it went
further than that. You see, Enoch claims to want nature to take his
course, but he proves himself wrong by organizing something like
this. This isn’t natural. This is human oppression. He thinks that
because his quest to free wolves from the SF is noble, that it
justifies organizing and acting. But wolves don’t organize. They
don’t have objectives. And they don’t kill with guns. No, Enoch is
no better than the SF. You’re both controlling. I don’t hold with
that kind of thinking. In fact, my first attempt to create a pack
was the same kind of twisted logic. But I’ve rejected that way of
looking at the world. Being a wolf means being free of agendas and
causes. I haven’t supported him in quite a while, and I don’t care
what happens to him.”

Ursula seemed to be absorbing
this.

Cole stood up. “Well, thanks
for the pardon. I think I’ll be going now.”

Ursula stood up too. “Hold
on a second. That’s all you’ve got? A name? Some
philosophy?”

“
Well, I know that their
plan of attack is to take down the largest headquarters. West
coast. You guys. Probably the southern branch. The few small
branches out in the center of the country will probably crumble
after that, and it will just be a mop up. I know that he intends to
escape detection by pretending to be a group of wolf-hating
humans.”

“
You have any idea when he
plans to do these things?”

“
No.”

“
You have any idea where he
is?”

“
Not really,” said Cole. “He
and I don’t keep in touch. I only heard about his plan through some
mutual acquaintances.”

“
Well, that’s not very much,
Mr. Randall.” Ursula didn’t look pleased.

“
This the part where you rip
up my pardon?”

She folded her arms over her
chest. “You really don’t know anything else?”

“
Well, I might be able to
find out where he is, but I’d need to convince him that I was back
on his side, and I really don’t know…” He turned sharply to Dana.
“Maybe if I had your help.”

“
My help?” Dana stood up
too. “What do you mean?”

“
Well, as I said, part of my
falling out with Enoch had to do with you, and the way I felt about
you. If I could convince him that I—”

The door to the
interrogation room burst open, and Avery rushed in. His face was
red, and he was out of breath. “What the hell, Dana?”

CHAPTER FIVE

“
Brooks, get the hell out!”
said Ursula. “I told you that you’re not helping things with
Randall, didn’t I?”

Dana chewed on her lip, staring at
Avery. He was so angry. Were they going to be able to fix this, or
did Avery see this as betrayal writ large?

Avery stalked over to her
and took her by the arm. “Come on, we’re getting away from
him.”

She let herself be dragged,
feeling the familiar tug of connection now that they were close.
Avery was her mate. She loved him. She hated that she had hurt
him.

“
Hold up,” said Ursula. “Let
go of her, and get the fuck out of here.”

Avery stopped, stunned. He
looked at Ursula in disbelief. “What do you mean? You brought my
wife down here and forced her to confront the man that nearly
killed her—”

“
Am I done?” Cole held up
his pardon. “Can I go now?”

“
You see what you’re doing,
Brooks?” said Ursula. “You see?”

Avery let go of Dana. “I’m
trying to protect her. I’m trying to protect my family.”

Cole went over to the guard
at the door. “Unlock me, why don’t you?”

“
Wait,” said Ursula. “I want
to know more about what you were saying before. About how you could
find this Enoch Bordon’s location.”

“
You don’t need Dana, then,”
said Avery. He reached for her again.

Dana ducked away. “No, he
said he needed my help to do that.”

Cole rattled his chains at
the guard. “Let me out of these, maybe I’ll talk some
more.”

“
Why is he getting out of
his chains?” said Avery.

“
I got myself a pardon.”
Cole gave him a nasty grin.

“
You didn’t,” said Avery,
glaring at Ursula.

Ursula ignored Avery. She
nodded at the guard. “Go ahead. Let him out.”

The guard busied himself
with Cole’s shackles.

Cole was still grinning.
“Well, I don’t know if it would work, and it probably wouldn’t be
easy. I’d need Dana to come with me. It would sort of be…
undercover work, I guess. But I think if I had her, Enoch would
believe me.”

Avery whirled. “Come with
you? You and her? Together? Alone?”

Cole glared at Avery. “I
don’t see why it’s such a big deal, Brooks. You two are mated,
remember? It’s not like she can actually cheat on you.”

Oh. Right. Dana had
forgotten about that. The mating bond she had with Avery would mean
that letting any other man touch her would cause her extreme
pain.

“
Unless you’re afraid I’ll
mate her away from you,” said Cole. “And I wouldn’t worry about
that. Not my style, raping women to make them love me more.
Besides, I’m in no rush to be bonded to your brat.”

Brat?

Piper.

Dana turned to Avery. “Who’s
with the baby?” In periods of high stress, Dana always referred to
Piper as the baby, even though she was two years old. It was habit,
something burned into her brain from when Piper was
tiny.

“
You did not just say that I
raped her.” Avery’s teeth were clenched.

Ursula got in Avery’s face.
“Stop it. Don’t engage with him.” She whirled to face Cole. “Would
you do it? Would you find them for us? I know you said you don’t
like the SF, so once you’re free, I don’t suppose you’d have any
reason—”

“
I’d do it,” said
Cole.

Ursula turned to Dana. “And
you? Would you help?”

Avery’s nostrils flared.
“Dana, if you go away
alone
with him, you and I are done, you hear
me?”

Dana clenched her hands into
fists. “Who’s with the baby?”

Cole’s hands were no longer
shackled. He stretched his wrists. “Am I free or not?”

“
You’re letting him go?”
said Avery.

“
Who’s with the
baby?”

Ursula clutched her head.
“If I let you go, will you come back? Will you come to my office
tomorrow morning to talk about this undercover work?”

“
Sure,” said Cole. “You
believe me, King?”

Dana grabbed Avery. “Avery?
Is Piper alone or not?”

Avery shook her off. “You
can’t believe anything he says.”

“
Go,” said Ursula. “Go,
then.” She waved her hand at Cole.

Cole hesitated, his gaze sweeping the
room, settling on Dana. Then, he looked away and left.

Ursula turned on Avery. “For
fuck’s sake, Brooks, you have any idea how much you screwed that
up?”

“
Me?” said Avery. “You just
let him go.”

“
My office, Brooks. Now.
Come with me. We’re having a long chat.” Ursula took him by the arm
and tugged him out of the room.

Dana watched them go,
feeling even more confused than she thought was possible. There
were so many things she needed to process, but there was only one
thing that was pressing.

Piper.

She hurried out into the hallway just
in time to see Ursula and Avery getting onto the elevator. Fine.
Dana took the stairs.

She pounded up the levels as
fast as she could. When she got back to her floor, she flung
herself out into the hallway and tore down to her apartment. She
ripped the door open.