Past My Defenses (Taming the Pack series) (Entangled Ignite) (12 page)

Sammy laughed. “And that’s why you’ve been acting so weird the last few days?”

“Lack of sleep.”

She laughed again. “Riiiight. That’s what it is. So, why are you calling? I heard from dispatch you’re off the hook for scouring the nearby woods—which is what I’m doing.”

“You told me that her boyfriend—her ex-boyfriend—was named Jordan, right?”

“Yep. But he was officially cleared—has an alibi.”

Sure he did. This was the real reason he’d come outside. As Jordan had said—Dane might be her mate, but he was her Alpha. She probably would be pissed at him for checking into her Alpha.

“What can you tell me about the body? You told me that she’d been cut up and that it definitely wasn’t an animal attack.”

She snorted. “Not unless animals have learned to use scalpels. Neat, clean incisions everywhere.”

“What was the motive?”

“They’re not saying. They’re guessing it’s a drifter, not a local.”

Well, that was a little unlikely. “A drifter with surgical skills?”

“Yeah, sounds stupid, huh?”

“Yep.”

He glanced back through the front window. Vanessa was still scanning topographical maps. “Tell me more about Jordan Hill. Has he always lived here?”

“They’ve already cleared him,” she pointed out.

“Yes, but he had a close relationship with the deceased. Maybe if you tell me what they had in common or what he is like, we can figure out how Cheri came in contact with her killers.” It was a stretch for explaining his curiosity, but if the pack protected their own, maybe they were covering up a murder. They would have covered up his murder. Vanessa’s neat little explanation might convince her—but only because it didn’t happen. If Jordan had succeeded in killing him, would she have had her pat little answer still? He hoped not, but he had no idea if the only thing that had brought her between him and Jordan that day in his yard was her hormones.

“Well, he’s local—his family lives in the area, not here, but nearby. Cheri moved to Glacier Peak about five years ago from the East Coast somewhere. She was always a bit of a party girl. She wasn’t ever happy here from what I’d seen, not ever content in the relationship. Saw her at this bar in Mount Vernon…”

“
You
saw her at a bar?” Sammy didn’t strike him as someone who went to bars—obviously he didn’t know her well enough.

“It’s weird to date guys from around here and have it go south. It’s more of a commute to go to Mount Vernon, but dating in a small town is like dating at work—especially if you’ve always known…everyone. Cheri must’ve thought it was a better idea too, because she was seeing other guys, even when she was with Jordan. I guess their relationship wasn’t what you’d call exclusive.”

“It wasn’t? I thought it would be.” Vanessa had told him he wasn’t supposed to be with other women, but she could be?

“What?” Sammy asked.

“He seems like the type who’d want an exclusive relationship.”

“You’ve met him?”

“Briefly. I just didn’t…catch his name at the time.” Also, he’d been wearing fur and trying to tear him apart, but that was a whole different thing. “So, he was dating other people too?”

“No. Not while he was with her.”

“He told you that?”

“No. I haven’t spoken to him. I’ve only met him a couple times.”

“But you seem to know all about him?”

Sammy snorted softly. “Small town, Dane. If you don’t hold on to a secret, you might as well shout it from the rooftops. And besides, everyone knows Jordan.”

“What does he do again?”

“He’s a contractor.”

He swore under his breath. Vanessa was a receptionist for a contractor. She worked for Jordan. And he couldn’t even confront her about that or any of this.

“What was that?” she asked.

“Nothing. You saw her at a bar? Which one?”

…

Lycan hearing is excellent, and that really sucked. She’d nearly told him he’d have to go farther than the front porch to keep his conversation private, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She wished it hadn’t. She should have turned on the stereo or taken another shower…another twenty showers.

He’d told Travis she was his girlfriend, but she’d dropped to “friend” when he’d spoken to Sammy. It might have been their conversation. It might have been because it was Sammy. It might have been nothing.

And she couldn’t ask.

Then there was his focus on Jordan. That might get back to the pack. While Jordan would understand and find it amusing, the rest of them wouldn’t.

And she couldn’t tell him to let that path lie—or assure him that Jordan really hadn’t known what had happened to Cheri.

Then he’d commented on Jordan and Cheri not being exclusive—and she knew from his tone what he thought…and she
couldn’t
explain. Monogamy was expected among mated couples, but
sacred
between those scent-matched.

Also, she’d heard him swear when Sammy had mentioned Jordan was a contractor. It’d gone over really well that she worked for the guy he despised.

And she couldn’t explain that half the pack did. Vacation homes were big here, and most members of the pack were stronger than most humans. If not for her allergies, she’d be out with the rest of the pack building giant vacation homes that’d get used for a couple weeks a year. And really, Jordan was more likely to be on a site than in the office with her—which is why in all these years he still hadn’t realized that her complex filing system was alphabetized.

Eavesdroppers really did get screwed.

At least he’d decided to check on the bar that Cheri had gone to. She hadn’t known Cheri was going to bars to meet guys, and maybe the others didn’t either. Though she didn’t know how to broach this within the pack, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to bring it up with Dane.

She dropped her head down to pound on the desk beside her. She was screwed.

The door opened behind her.

“Hey, should you be doing that if you have a headache?” Dane asked, sounding amused—sounding like he wasn’t trying to get himself killed. Actually, it wouldn’t be him. She’d already told him she was going to throw herself in between him and the pack. So he was, quite literally, going to be the death of her.

She was so screwed.

Chapter Eight

Her day didn’t improve. Travis called around the time she decided to stop looking for some connection between the Glacier pack and all the other packs the poachers had decimated. She’d thought it had something to do with geography, but Lycans always lived next to mountains, so topography was often very similar. Total dead end. Ugh. She had to stop using that phrase.

She’d gone to get another cup of peppermint tea when her freezer started ringing. It took her a second to remember. When she opened the freezer and answered the phone, Dane, who’d been sitting at the table nearby working on something on a pad of paper, commented, “That green stuff must help with your hearing—I didn’t even hear that ring.” His hand paused on the pad of paper as she pulled both phones out of the freezer. He looked at her just as she looked away and answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“How much is he allowed to know?” Travis asked. He had a slow, soothing voice that made you think he might be a bit dim, but he was the exact opposite. She’d seen him talk circles around people until he got the information he wanted—and all the while they thought they were humoring him. He’d once swiped her sudoku book when they were waiting for a meeting to start. He’d handed it back, finished, with that blank expression on his face ten minutes later. She’d punched him. He’d deserved it.

“You’re asking the wrong person that.” Keeping things from Dane made her stomach turn. Especially since it’d eventually come out, and Dane would think it was some great conspiracy—especially if it involved Jordan in any way.

“Okay, well, Jordan asked me to get that computer looked over. It’s just as well you two grabbed it when you did because I could send it out to someone I know in Seattle without it needing to be approved by the department and without running the findings by them—because, well, yeah…this stuff would just mess with the humans’ minds.”

“And?” It wasn’t like Travis to be coy.

“You’ve got a problem—and Jordan told me to warn you. I forgot to ask about your…mate and how much he was to know about this. But you’re in trouble.”

She actually jerked and nearly dropped the phone. “What? Me? Why me?” she asked breathlessly when she got the phone back to her ear.

“That’s Dane I can hear breathing, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Well, if you don’t want to share this with your mate, you may want to leave the room.”

Her mate was staring at her. She smiled…weakly. He raised his eyebrows.

“Also you’ll want to sit down,” Travis said.

She went into the other room and sat in the ugly wicker chair, facing away from Dane…which didn’t help because he immediately followed, sat on the couch, and leaned forward to stare her down.

“Okay,” she said.

“Yeah, she hated you.”

“Who hated me?” Most people weren’t as amused by her as she felt they should be, but no one hated her…that she knew of.

“Cheri. She hated you. Well, maybe hate is putting it mildly.”

“Cheri hated me? How could she have hated me? She never acted like she hated me. How could she have hated me?” Sure, Cheri disliked her, but it’s not like Cheri was making bracelets and braiding hair with any other female around. She was the gorgeous, popular high school mean girl all grown up.

Rolling his eyes, Dane grabbed the phone out of her hand and put it on speaker before setting it on the side table between them. “Hey, this is Dane—you’re on speaker now. Who is this so I’m up to speed?”

Travis cleared his throat. “Yeah, this is Sheriff’s Deputy Travis Flynn. I’m just checking on your…Ms. Tucker.”

“Cut the crap, Travis. Jordan told me you’re a Lycan when he told us you found Cheri’s body.”

Well, not in so many words, but Dane wasn’t an idiot, and Jordan
had
given Travis up.

Travis sighed. “Oh, good. Well, I was just telling Vanessa that Cheri hated her guts.” He laughed. “Guts. Well, that might be funny later…or maybe not.” He cleared his throat. “So, we found a couple emails to Carrie saying she was pissed at Jordan for not holding to the hierarchy because it let other females think they had a shot at Alpha. She figured you for an Omega, Vanessa. I thought Omega was a bit of a low blow. Beta—sure, but I had a hundred bucks on you if you two ever met in a dark alley.”

“Thanks. I think.”

“If you didn’t run.”

“I don’t always run,” she said. She wouldn’t have run from Cheri. Cheri would have gone down. There’d been an overgrown mean girl in her previous pack that Vanessa’d pounded when she’d picked on their Omega. Being Omega was hard enough without that crap.

“Anyway, she also figured you’d try to steal Jordan again when you went into heat.”

Her eyes widened. Seriously? He was mentioning this in front of Dane?

Dane’s expression went stony.

“I
never
tried to steal Jordan from her,” she said. It was one time. And what was a little wrestling between friends after you took down a bear? Plus…the meds. The meds also made her nod off while eating once, and she’d wound up with a Cheerio in her nostril. This was similar. Bad, bad side effects. Not her fault. Entirely. Plus, nothing came of it.

“I’m just repeating what she said. She said she pretended to be okay with it last time, but she planned to get back at you—especially when she didn’t conceive two months ago, and she knew you’d go into heat around this time. She thought maybe Jordan would break it off with her and make you Alpha.”

Leaning forward, she dropped her face into her hands rather than meet Dane’s gaze. That explains the ultimatum she gave Jordan. She could feel a headache building behind her eyes. “So, she tried to get back at me…how? She wound up dead. We thought maybe before this that the disappearance and the bleach were her version of a sick joke, but she’s dead.”

“It makes a lot more sense if you know what I know, but it’s still not funny.”

“Stop being coy or I will kill you in a way you’d least expect,” Vanessa said on a groan.

“Her making a big production of leaving was her alibi, but she wasn’t actually leaving. She planned to double back and kill you, making it looked like a poacher had done it. She’d be in the clear—especially since she wasn’t even supposed to be around. Everyone would panic, and she’d return to be Alpha.”

“She told Carrie all this?” Did Carrie hate her too? Why hadn’t she stopped Cheri or at least warned other people?

“No. There were other emails to someone else she’d…well, convinced to help kill you. Convinced might not be the right word since it seems like she was blackmailing this other person to help kill you.”

Vanessa lifted her head and looked at the phone. This was insane.

“Who was the other person?” Dane asked.

“I can’t say,” Travis said.

Dane snarled. “Travis, I will make your life a living hell if you shut me out of this just because I can’t sprout hair at will.”

Travis actually laughed. “No, I mean we don’t know. The only thing we know is that her partner was a Lycan.”

Vanessa dropped back against the chair and the wicker creaked in protest. “A Lycan? Someone from here?”

“Nothing about our mystery Lycan’s responses narrowed that down. They were very short. But Cheri did give them something of yours so they could use your scent to track you.”

She stole something of hers? Vanessa looked around. If Cheri wasn’t already dead… Wait… “So, if the plan was to kill me, why is she dead? And why did it look like a poacher killed her?”

Travis cleared his throat. “Well, Cheri wasn’t always the easiest to get along with…oh, hang on, sheriff wants me.” They heard him tell the sheriff he was sitting in his cruiser thinking about things. He sounded dumb as rocks. It was a little frightening how much he could shift like that. It was almost more of a change than him going from two feet to four feet.

When the sheriff asked what he was thinking about, Travis went into some weird explanation about a cousin Edna and her goiter until the sheriff cut him off and told him to hurry up with his thinking.

It gave Dane and her too much time to not look at each other—pointedly. She examined her cuticles while he pulled at a thread on one of her throw pillows. They both sighed in relief when Travis got back on. “I’ve contacted the other packs who’ve had poachers, and I swear on my badge, they’re down to the detail the same as Cheri’s remains. So either this other Lycan is with the poachers or they contacted them.”

Dane shook his head. “I don’t know a lot about these poachers, but if Cheri intended to resume her position as Alpha, why would she have brought them here to weaken the pack?”

“She wouldn’t have,” Travis said matter-of-factly. “Looks like she picked the wrong Lycan for a partner.” It was like he wasn’t dropping a bomb on them.

“They brought a poacher?” Vanessa whispered. It hit her stomach like a blow. She felt sick and dizzy and couldn’t breathe. What was to stop a poacher from killing more of them…or all of them? There was huge money in Lycan organs, especially their hearts. She’d heard some urban legend crap about their hearts being stronger—which sounded like bunk, but she knew Lycan hearts were worth their weight in gold on the black market.

Cheri had found a murder partner because of her. Her partner had found a poacher because of her. And now there was a poacher around, hoping to hunt them to extinction…because of her. Damn, this day blew.

“So, you still think they’ll carry out the plan for Vanessa?” She could feel Dane’s eyes on her as he asked it.

“Yup. Jordan thinks so. He said he’s been concerned about Cheri’s behavior and that’s why he’s been sticking close to Vanessa to keep her safe.”

Well, that was a clever spin.
No, I wasn’t favoring her as a potential mate. I knew all along she was about to be the victim of my former lover going nuts and trying to kill her.
If Jordan were in the room, she’d stand and give him the slow-clap standing ovation. If it wasn’t such a helpful way out of that awkward issue and if it didn’t allow everyone to save face, she might have been pissed about the lie. As it was, it reminded her that Jordan was Alpha with good reason. He had some skills.

“But Jordan said if Cheri had passed on stuff to track Vanessa with,
and
her identity, she’s the one easy target, even if Cheri kept her partner in the dark about others in the pack. From Vanessa, they can move out to the rest of the pack. The poachers have done this before…target certain Lycans—Lycans they know are Lycans, I suspect. It makes everyone nervous, and it draws out other Lycans to protect them or to react.” Travis’s voice sped up as he settled into the topic. “I’ve been analyzing their previous kills, and they play on our pack behavior. Since we tend to favor small towns, they find one Lycan. That’s all they need, and they kill or threaten that one and see who reacts. With a swift execution of this strategy, everyone is reduced to primitive flight-or-fight and they grab the ones who gather or those who run—usually they seem to favor the ones who run because they’re weaker.”

“Not everyone who runs is weaker,” she grumbled. Some people just liked to run. “Also, your idiocy is slipping. You used the word strategy.”

Travis laughed. When he responded again, it was in his slow drawl. “Anyway, they left Cheri in your backyard. They didn’t have to do that. With how we’ve been patrolling, they could have left her anywhere accessible by humans, and we’d have found her body in a few hours. At the very least, you’re the only target we’re sure of.”

“This is insane,” she whispered. No one had ever hated her like this. And Cheri had been seeing other people so she must have wanted to stay alpha female a whole hell of a lot.

Travis cleared his throat. She really wasn’t going to like what he was about to say. “So, we could all gather around and attempt to protect you, but that might widen the amount of Lycans at risk, rather than minimizing it. So Jordan suggested one of two options.”

“I’m going to love this,” Dane predicted.

“Uhh, you might…I guess it depends on how much you’d like a houseguest. He said either she moves in with you or she moves in with him. The poachers should be able to tell Dane isn’t a Lycan. And then they’ve never taken down an Alpha—because they’re Alpha for a reason, right? So, yeah, Dane or Jordan.”

She couldn’t move in with Jordan when she was scent-matched with Dane—it’d be too weird, and he wouldn’t forgive her easily for that. On the other hand, she didn’t want to be forced to be with Dane when he’d gone from calling her his girlfriend to his “friend.” He didn’t exactly leap at the chance either—he was sitting there, staring at the phone.

Cold showers.

More of Dane pushing her away for being a wolf.

And they’d be stuck together because he didn’t have a choice.

Dane might not want her, but he wouldn’t want Jordan to have her.

And every time she inhaled Dane’s scent and wanted him and he walked away would kill her a little more.

Cheri had definitely gotten her revenge and then some.

What a bitch! Even if it had gotten her killed.

Travis cleared his throat again. “Vanessa?”

She had to make a choice.

Jordan or Dane. Dane or Jordan. It had to be Dane, but…but… All of this was happening too fast. She was losing it. No. She couldn’t handle this. She just… She just…

Vanessa got up and bolted out the door, slamming it behind her. She left her clothes behind on the porch immediately, not caring if Dane saw her shift through the window, not caring if the whole world saw her shift. This was a nightmare, and she couldn’t process it as a human. Couldn’t think about it anymore. She needed to run. To run fast. To run hard.

She sprinted out into the woods. Before her brain was lost to the altered mind-set of the wolf, she vaguely recognized that she’d expected to hear Dane calling her name, but he never did. Guess that said it all.