Torrent (Alpha Love - a Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 4) (3 page)

“I wasn’t sure when I was going to hear from you again, boss!” Finn’s voice is lazy, like he’s just woken up.

“How lucky can you get, right?” Sofie lapses easily into their accustomed banter. Finn was the little brother she’d never had and he was the only one that she knew she could contact without risking discovery. Finn had cloaked his cell so Shale wouldn’t be able to listen in on the conversation or track the call. Sometimes having a computer genius as a best friend was worth more than just the odd free upgrade.

“So how are you doing?” Finn gets straight to the point, never one for small talk. He covers the concern in his voice with a cough and Sofie smiles into the receiver.

“Well, I can honestly say that I’ve been better, Finnbarr.” Sofie heaves a sigh, not even knowing where to start. So she goes from the beginning, which is usually the best place to start. She tells Finn about fixing up Lola’s shoulder, how she was afraid that she was going to die under her care. She tells him about her freaky dream of Luke shooting her and the weight of the pack that Ashton is carrying around with him. She starts to tell him about her request to be turned, but that seems like a conversation for another time, preferably over a few glasses of wine, once this was all behind them. Who knows how long that would be?

“So, what is Ashton hoping to figure out from the little mission he’s sent those guys out on? The only thing they’re going to find is a bunch of extremists and a whole lot of graffiti. This place has turned into Beirut overnight.” Finn’s defeated tone makes Sofie shiver.

“Is it really that bad out there? It hasn’t even been 24 hours yet since the news broke!” Sofie rubs her temple, aware of the dull ache in her head that has become an accustomed part of her day. She swallows done a couple of aspirin and waits for them to take the edge off.

“It’s worse.” Finn’s perception of events is stark.

“What’s Luke’s angle? Apart from being the darling of every news network from here to Timbuktu!” The taste of Luke’s name in her mouth makes her want to wash it out with soap. The very thought of him and what he’s doing to Ashton, to the pack, to her, to Darwin is enough to make her sick.

“Well, if there’s one thing you can’t accuse him of, it’s being camera-shy!” Finn laughs without humour, his opinion on his boss is about as high as Sofie’s.

“So what’s his end game? What’s he trying to pull?” Sofie knows her ex boss well enough to be under no illusion that he has a long-term plan. Luke plays to win, he doesn’t believe in anything else and he has the advantage of endless resources at his disposal. He was someone that you didn’t want to come up against, but it was a little late for that now.

“He’s preaching about getting rid of the ‘Lycan abomination’, for good. From what I can see, his number one priority right now is getting as many people on his side as he can. And, unfortunately, he’s doing a pretty stand-up job of it.” Finn sighs and Sofie can imagine him taking off his glasses, rubbing a hand over his face and replacing them again. “People are scared. They’ve just seen proof that something they never thought existed is out there running around. Luke is using that fear to his advantage. It’s textbook psychology, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work.”

“He was always good at that, using fear to get what he wants.” Sofie remembers Luke cornering her in his limo, threatening her, blackmailing her, throwing a spotlight onto her fears. “Any good news for me, Finn? I could really do with some.” She looks out of the window, watching as various members of the pack take turns to split wood with an axe. The weather is warm, balmy even, there’s no need for a fire, but that’s not why they’re so focused on their labour. It’s a way of using their bodies, using the energy and anger and fear that’s filling them up. It’s something to focus on outside of the fact that their world will never be the same again.

“Well I think I’ve figured out how to get on to the secret level of ‘Call of Duty’!” Finn relays this information in the same vein as someone might confess to having solved world peace.

“Well, at least you’re using your time effectively!” Sofie shakes her head. She can’t help but laugh. Her friend was a constant, in an ever-changing world; she knew that she could always rely on Finn just being Finn. “I was talking more about the little project you were working on of finding ways to discredit Luke? To land his ass in jail, that’s the only place I want to see him.”

Luke is a man with seemingly endless means and a thirst for power that rivals the harshest of dictators that this world has seen. How do you fight someone who has everything and is prepared to throw all of it against you? Sofie and Finn had decided that the only way to get to him was to hit him where it hurts – to take it away his resources, to take away his power.

“Like I said, Braun, this isn’t painting by numbers. I’m working on gathering the evidence together we’ll need to take him down, but I need more time. It’s not a quick fix.” Finn manages to sound apologetic and affronted that Sofie is hurrying him at the same time.

“Finn, I bow to your technical genius, but this isn’t the time for you to be a diva. Luke has been planning this whole thing from the start. Don’t you think it’s the least bit curious that one of the places he’s sent us to just happens to be the one place in he country where werewolves have been living in peace and quiet for hundreds of years? And he just happens to have a weapon that he can use against them that no one has ever seen before? It’s all a little too convenient for it to be a coincidence, isn’t it?” Sofie lets the thoughts pour out of her mouth. She realizes she’s babbling but that doesn’t make her any less certain that she’s right in what she’s saying. “He knew about them before we did, before any of this started and he’s engineered this whole thing. But why? What does it get him?” The question is more rhetorical but the way that Finn clears his throat makes her wonder if she’s the only one that’s missing a piece of the puzzle. “What, Finn? Tell me.”

There’s no avoiding her questions when she gets that tone in her voice and Finn knows it. “I guess this would be a bad time to tell you that according to Luke’s schedule for the day, that any two year old could hack -,”

“Finn!” Sofie’s voice is a warning.

“Okay, okay! Well, it looks like he has a meeting with the Governor who’s flying down to do a joint press conference today.” Sofie can almost hear him wince as he admits the knowledge, expecting an explosive reaction from her and she doesn’t disappoint.

“That slimeball! That miserable excuse for a man!” Sofie feels an urgent need to hit something, her fist clenched hard. “Of course, money was never going to be enough for a man like him, he needs power too. He needs everything. He’s using what he’s doing to the pack and the so-called protection of Beaumont as a political platform. People are going to lose their homes, their friends, their lives so that Luke Calambor can run for office! First stop governor then what’s next, the presidency?” The reality of Sofie’s words settles around her. Is that what this had been about all along? Luke using the ‘Lycan abomination’ to pave his way to becoming the most important man in America? Presidents had been elected for less…

“Yeah, I thought you might connect those dots,” Finn responds uneasily, treading lightly in the wake of her last outburst. “But it won’t get to that point, not anywhere near it. We’ll get him before that. We’ll discredit him in front of the whole world, he’ll lose all his supporters and in a little while people will be asking Luke who?” Finn’s earnestness is contagious and Sofie finds herself nodding along in agreement with him, needing to believe.

“I hope you’re right, Finn. But that won’t undo all the damage he’s done so far, the danger he’s put this pack and every other one like it in the country in. Nothing that we do can turn back the clock.” Sofie sits down heavily on the bed, feeling exhausted all over again.

“Don’t beat yourself up for not having time travel on your list of accomplishments, Braun.” Finn’s tone is jokey but his meaning is clear.

“Why break the habit of a lifetime?” Sofie smiles as she realizes Finn is accusing her of exactly the same thing she’d told Ashton that he couldn’t be angry at himself for. Takes one to know one, she thinks to herself. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons that she and Ashton were so right for each other, because they both take the weight of the world on their shoulders as if it were their duty. She feels the tension from her headache sliding down her neck and taking up residence in her shoulders. She rolls her shoulders, trying to work out the kinks in her muscles.

“How’s Darwin doing?” She changes the subject, needing to talk about something outside of werewolves and a slimeball monster that walks in the guise of a man.

“You know, he’s Darwin, he’s not exactly big on expressing his emotions.” Sofie can hear Finn shrug over the phone. “He misses you, although he would never admit to it.”

Sofie smiles as she thinks about her mentor, the man that she had learnt so much from and who she had looked up to far more than she had her own father. Darwin was a good man, he’d just been pushed too far by Luke. Threatening Darwin with fabricating a non-existent affair to give his wife the upper hand in the divorce and to make his daughters hate him was a low blow, even for Luke. But perhaps there wasn’t anything too low for him anymore. Luke had proven that he was prepared to go to any lengths to get what he wants. She doesn’t allow herself to dwell on the fact that he wants her and her association with the pack and relationship with Ashton don’t seem to have cooled his desire for her in the least.

“I miss him too. I miss both of you.” Her voice wavers as she says the words. She’s been battling under the force of her emotions and now it seems they were threatening to seep out of her.

A noise in the doorway makes her spin around, still on edge. But it’s not Luke or one of his cronies standing there, it’s Ashton, arms folded, looking every inch the Pack Master. His expression starts off as serious, becoming furious as his gaze lands on the cell in her hand.

“Well I wish I could say I miss you bossing me around…” Finn’s voice sounds distant on the other end of the line.

“I can do that from here, Finn. You don’t need to worry.” The banter comes out almost automatically, but Sofie’s attention is now on Ashton.

“Sofe? You still there?” Finn talks into the silence that Sofie hadn’t even realized was stretching out between them.

“Yeah, um, sorry. I have to go. If anyone asks you anything about me…” She knows she doesn’t have to say it, but it’s more for Ashton’s benefit than it is for Finn’s.

“I know, I know, I don’t know anything.” Finn sighs theatrically. “Which is an act that’s far more difficult to pull off when you have an IQ the size of North Dakota -,”

“Bye Finn.” Sofie ends the call before he has a chance to wax lyrical on his mental capacity. She knows that whatever Ashton has come in here to say to her, it isn’t anything she wants to hear, so she’d rather just get it over and done with.

“There’s a reason I told you not to use your phone. When I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it.” Ashton’s arms are folded across his chest and although his expression is nonplussed she can hear the anger in his voice.

“And I did remove my SIM card from my cell, as you requested – not told – me to last night. But you said you wanted information, so that’s what I was getting.” Sofie has no intention of letting him assume that he can order her around. As he has already made clear to her, she’s not pack; he won’t allow her to be, not really.

“Calls can be traced, Sofie. Come on, you’re smarter than that!” Ashton shakes his head and starts up his pacing – the man really can’t stand still for two minutes at a time!

“Not on Finn’s cell! He’s worked his magic on it. Have a little faith in me, would you? You’re right, I’m not an idiot or a little girl, despite the way that you insist on treating me!” Sofie plants her hands on her hips, well aware that her eyes are flaming with anger.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Ashton’s voice is a growl.

“It means that you’re acting like I’m going to break or fall apart if you let me do anything that’s actually helpful. You won’t share your plans with me, you won’t let me out of your sight to do reconnaissance in the town and now you won’t even let me speak to my best friend on the telephone! I’m not someone that likes being controlled, Ashton.” Her tone is icy but she’s matching him volume for volume.

It occurs to Sofie that Lola is probably hearing every word that they’re exchanging from the other room, but she can’t bring herself to care. For someone that has always been private to a fault she was really letting go. Just another one of the ways that being with Ashton was changing her, she thinks to herself, and not for the worst. But no, she’s supposed to be angry with him, she reminds herself.

“I’m just trying to protect you! Why is that so difficult for you to get into your thick head?” Ashton pads towards her menacingly, but her body can’t help respond to the heat of his proximity.

The desire that she feels is automatic, second nature, but in this moment her anger is overpowering her need for him. “My thick head?” She’s vaguely aware that she’s shrieking like a fishwife but she doesn’t stop.

“Of course, that’s the part that you zero in on!” He throws his hands up in despair of her. “You don’t care about the part where I say that I want to keep you safe, that it would kill me if anything ever happened to you!”