Unconditional (5 page)

If she hadn’t been searching for her missing best friend and dealing with a dead body that had been torn to bits, she might have had the time to be excited and amazed by all the things she was learning. As it was, she barely held herself together. She’d questioned Charlie again thoroughly and had given a sketch of what had been said to Pam, who’d be her liaison in the police department so that was one less thing to worry about. Sadly there wasn’t much to tell. He’d made that creepy comment about not wanting to have anything to do with
them
but had remained silent about anything else. He stuck to his story about running because he was in violation of his parole.

“Let’s head down to the rest stops, just so I can see if the scents here are the ones there.”

“None of this will be admissible,” she mumbled as she headed back to Josh’s car.

“Probably not. But we take care of our own problems. It won’t need to be admissible. Charlie there is human, as was Bobby. But Allie isn’t. I don’t care about the mages, as far as I’m concerned they’re not human either.” Josh paused. “I need to talk to Damon and GiGi. They have the scent from the SUV here. I want them fanning out north and in the area. There’s already an alert on the car so we’ve got that covered. I want to see if the scent is the same down south, but we can split up some labor now.”

How far she’d come in less than two days.

Two days ago she’d never have allowed all this non-police interference in a case. Two days ago she’d never have been silent when someone hinted at vigilante justice. Two days ago she believed in the system and maybe she still did, but her hands were tied by the way things were and she couldn’t let Allie get killed by real-life monsters because of the system.

What she would do when this was all said and done she honestly didn’t know. For the first time in a really long time, she just didn’t know. She was alone and drifting, and she had to let that be okay until she found Allie. Then she could go soul searching.

“Is she going to be all right?” Damon tipped his chin toward the car. “Gotta be a lot to take in for her.” He did grin for a moment though. “I will say she’s a little bad ass. The way she handled Charlie was a sight to behold.”

“She’s a nice girl from a small town who has just had her entire world turned upside down. So yeah, I think she’s a little overwhelmed. She’ll deal. She’s got a spine of steel to go with her badassery. She made a tackle I’d have admired back in the day.”

“I forget you played football. She was a cheerleader I hear.”

“Better not let Gina hear you talk like that. Your witch will cut you.” GiGi smirked as she referred to Damon’s mate, a witch like Michelle, but one who’d grown up within the clan system and was far more versed in the world of the Others.

“Depending on how long she’s in town, you guys should come over for dinner or something. Gina would like Michelle, and Michelle could use some allies, people like her.”

“One step at a time. Let’s just find her friend first. I know this girl, Allie. Grew up with her too. You and GiGi track here in town. Work with Pam on any other sightings of that SUV. We’re headed south to those other rest stops. I want to be sure they’re the same mages.”

He checked in briefly with Pam, but the coroner had shown up and she was far too busy to say much, which was fine. His mind was already on Michelle.

That was a lie.

His mind had never left Michelle. His skin still burned at the small of his back where she’d touched him. Her scent had pushed even the pervasive and horrifying stench of death from his nose.

He wanted her. So much he had to force the need from his mind with other things. He remembered that body in the convenience store. He hoped like hell that wasn’t Allie’s fate. He’d die before he let it be Michelle’s fate.

“Ready?” he asked, sliding into his seat and fastening his seatbelt.

“Yes. I checked in but there’s nothing new. Kathy, that’s Allie’s mom, she’s got her sister staying with her and the coven is in touch with Owen. No one else has gone missing, though I find it hard to believe they just stopped off in Roseburg, kidnapped a witch like a cup of coffee on a road trip. This seems far more organized than junkies grabbing a fix.”

“Yes. The fact that they’re working together with turned witches and have started targeting Weres points in that direction.” There was silence for a while and he wanted to fill it. Wanted her voice.

“So, since your cop boyfriend moved away, has there been anyone else?”

“I’ve been on nights for the last few months. My turn I guess. It’s hard enough to date when you’re a cop. Your schedule is already sort of wonky as it is, and then once you add night shift, it sort of kills your social life. I work, come home, go to bed, get up, eat, work out, go to work. What about you?”

“I go out here and there, but nothing serious.”

“Wolves mate for life right? I mean, that would have to be weird when it comes to dating.”

“It’s complicated, but yeah. I tend to date only other wolves. It’s hard to explain to humans,
hey look, I already know up front this won’t be permanent and I could meet that forever person at any point so hey let’s keep things light.
”

“All I know is what I hear about in the news or whatever. And it’s always so sensationalized it’s hard to know what’s true and what isn’t.”

“So ask. I’ll tell you.”

“You got bit you said. Wolves tell the media all the time that they’re safe to be around. Clearly that’s not the case.”

He treaded carefully here. “That’s partially true. I was bitten by a wolf who had really poor control. Most of the time when a human is changed, or when a natural wolf hits maturation, they’re guided through it by older, stronger wolves with a great deal of control. But the guy who bit me hadn’t told anyone he’d been bitten when he’d been on a camping trip. The day he attacked me had been his very first shift. To their credit, when Pacific heard they came to get us both. Being turned at my age is hard. Being nineteen is hard enough, you’re still a teenager, on your way to manhood, all those hormones. It wreaks havoc, and most humans that age who want to be turned are refused until they’re at least twenty-five. After I was bitten, I lived in the Pack House for eight months as I worked on my control and I shifted regularly in the company of other wolves. It’s not a perfect system. Accidents do happen. But we work as hard as we can to ensure they don’t.”

“And you didn’t hate them? I mean you ended up one of their leaders even after they changed you without your consent?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Lots of that going around.”

He snorted. “Life is complicated, I suppose. But what was I going to do? I wasn’t good enough to play professional ball. My grades were okay but nothing spectacular. My parents couldn’t have cared less about where I was going or my plans for the future. I had a dead-end in my past but a freak occurrence opened up many doors for my future. I was strong. And fast. I could control my shift early on. Pack life can be pretty disciplined and regimented. I…took to it. I thrived. Each time I challenged for a position and I won, I earned respect. It was a totally different world, but it feels natural to me.”

“So you advance by fighting?”

He shrugged. “Sometimes. I ended up as Enforcer without a fight. I was second-in-command to the Enforcer who is now the Alpha. I ascended and no one challenged me. I’d earned the respect of the pack.”

“That means a great deal, I imagine.”

“Yes.” It meant everything.

“I’m glad you have a good life.”

“Yeah? Even if I was a dick to you before?”

She snorted. “Even if you were a dick to me before. Why would I wish a horrible life on anyone, much less someone I cared so much about once?”

“Only once?”

“I knew Josh the jock. I don’t really know Josh the Enforcer. But I appreciate the help in finding Allie. That’s a start.”

It was.

They got off the freeway south of the first rest stop and then got back on heading north so he could pull into the northbound one. He caught the scent right away. The mages had a rotting meat stench.

“Their energy is still here, faint, but here.”

“I can scent it. It’s the same as the convenience store.”

“I think there are surveillance cameras here.”

“I know just the person to call for that.” He pulled out his phone and dialed Nina Warden, who at one time in her life happened to be a pretty notorious hacker. He explained the situation, and she told him she’d get right on it and call him back when she had news.

“I could have gotten a warrant, you know,” she muttered when they got back in the car and headed north to the next stop.

“Maybe, sure. Though how you’d have known the SUV stopped here would have been fun to explain, no?
Well, Your Honor, I got out and I just sensed they’d been here.
”

This was a one-way road, and she was far too late in the journey to turn back. He felt for her, knowing it had to be hard. But she couldn’t count on human help for this. She had support in the Others, and the sooner she accepted it, the better off she’d be.

Her mouth snapped shut, and she looked out the window as they headed north. The scent was the same at the second rest stop too, and by then it was already dark. He was hungry, and the breakfast bars he’d had in the car weren’t enough as they got back to Portland.

He pulled into the parking lot outside one of his favorite barbecue places that also happened to be run by wolves from the pack. A safe space with plenty of variety and heaping helpings.

She looked up at him, weariness all over her. “Why are you stopping?”

“I haven’t eaten in hours and neither have you. I need to get a lot more calories than I used to, and you’re so tired you’re weaving in your seat. Anyway, it’s too dark to do anything else right now. This place is really good, and it’s run by my people so we’re safe.”

He got out, and before he could get to her door, she’d managed to grab her bag and join him. “I was on my way to get your door.”

“Huh.”

He hid a smile as they went inside.

The way they all sort of swallowed him up with pats on the back, hugs and casual touches had been surprising. But she noted the same sort of behavior throughout the small restaurant.

She looked back at the big laminated menu, so hungry it was hard to choose.

“Everything is good. For sides I recommend the baked beans and the macaroni salad. Cornbread comes with the meal too. Oh try the lemonade.”

He was really good looking. She stared at the line of his jaw far too long but couldn’t seem to stop herself. She was too tired to use her filters. That must have been it. She wondered what he smelled like just behind his jaw, beneath his ear. She’d been surprised when he’d hugged her earlier so she hadn’t really gotten much of a sense of how he smelled, though in the car she noted his cologne, and whenever his wolf got very close to the surface, she smelled the forest.

She bet he looked way better naked now. The few times they’d actually done anything back in the day had been rushed but for the night of his senior prom when he’d gotten a hotel room.

She bet he filled out his boxers a lot better. All muscled and tawny. His hair was longer than it had been, he had scruff. Man, she was apparently a sucker for scruff. Who knew? She’d tended toward clean-shaven men in the past but Josh had converted her.

When she forced herself to turn her attention back to her menu, she noted he’d been staring. “What?”

“Whatever were you just thinking about?”

“What I’m going to order. Combo three I think, and I’ll take your recommendation for the sides.” She continued to stare at the menu to keep from staring at him.

“Remember I can scent your arousal.”

He spoke low enough that no one else could hear but her. The place was loud as it was, even if they all were shifters and probably had super hearing.

“It’s hunger. I’m hot for ribs.”

He laughed but didn’t push any further. Even as they ate, he kept it light. And he ate like nothing she’d ever seen before.

“Holy cow, I don’t think I’ve witnessed another person eat that much food at once. Where do you put it all? You probably have like what? Two percent body fat or something criminal like that?”

He paused as he forked up yet another bite of the Boston cream pie he’d been eating and sent her a smile so carnal she might have actually pulsed just south of her belly button. She sucked in a breath, trying to get herself back together. He did something to her. Awakened something she hadn’t known had gone dormant until that day.

“You noticed my body-fat content?”

She motioned his way with her fork. “Well for heaven’s sake, look at yourself!”

“I like it better that you look at me.”

“Hmpf.”

He grinned, and God help her, he was so ridiculously beautiful she couldn’t help but suck in a breath.

The grin slid off his features replaced by something else entirely. Hunger. He wiped his mouth and leaned forward. “You feel it too.”

There was no mistaking what he meant. “I need to find my friend.”

“Yes, of course. But you can’t do anything about that right now. Come back to my apartment. You can stay with me while you’re here.”