“You know this is too important. Besides, she’d want to know. I’m sure she would.” Or was he only telling himself that as he bounded up the stairs two at a time? Was that the convenient thing to believe?
As it turned out, she was already awake and in better spirits than he would’ve expected considering the way she’d thrown her husband out of the house last night. Maybe she felt better about herself, like she was taking control of her life now.
“Yes?” she asked, clutching her robe tightly closed, peering out through the cracked-open door.
“Mrs. Collins, I’m sorry to disturb you so early.” His palms were slick and clammy, sweat beaded on his forehead, and he was out of breath. His wolf was so close to taking over; it was enough to alarm him.
And it was because of Kara. He knew it was. She could’ve been right all along. So many years, they told her there was something wrong with her for believing her sister was alive.
Laura blinked up at him, unaware of the turmoil he was in. “Is it Kara? Is something wrong?”
“As far as I know, she’s asleep. There’s something I need to speak with you about, privately. It’s very important.”
He expected her to tell him she’d be downstairs in a minute, after dressing—instead, she opened the door onto her sitting room. “Please, come in.” She directed him to an easy chair, one of two positioned before a wall of shelves stuffed with books.
But he couldn’t sit. He was way too keyed up for that. “Mrs. Collins, what I’m about to ask you will come as a shock. Believe me, I would never dare ask something like this if it wasn’t gravely important. I need you to know that.”
“I understand—I think. Why don’t you come out and say whatever is on your mind?” She gazed up at him, expectant. Calm.
Would she be for much longer?
“Ma’am, with all due respect, I need your permission to exhume Krista’s grave.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Something was off. Way off.
She just couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
“Hello? Earth to Jace.” She peered over at him from behind her sunglasses. “It was your idea to come down here. Your idea to fix a little brunch for us.”
“I know, I know. Sorry. I’m distracted.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” She rolled onto her stomach, grabbing for a muffin as she did. “Anything you wanna talk about?”
“Nothing I can share right now, if that’s the question.”
“Duh, of course that was the question.” She tried to laugh, but he didn’t seem impressed. Or like he was paying even a little bit of attention.
Hmm.
She picked at the muffin, barely tasting it, kicking her bent legs back and forth while watching him from the corner of her eye. He sat with his legs crossed, elbows on his knees, staring out at the water.
Not for long, though. Eventually, her legs caught his attention. Just like she knew they would.
What was it about him? She should’ve been nervous, right? Knowing he was who he was. It should’ve terrified her. She should’ve run away, found someone or something to protect her from the beast. The shifter.
She’d only ever heard vague rumors about them, the sort of legends parents told their kids to scare them into behaving themselves. Don’t you dare sneak downstairs for a snack while everybody’s asleep, or we won’t be able to keep the werewolves from stealing you.
When she got older, those legends turned into something more solid. There were groups of people living on the fringes of society, or so she’d heard, who had the ability to shift into animals at will. Unlike those legendary werewolves, they didn’t need the full moon.
And unlike werewolves, they didn’t lose leave of their human senses once they’d shifted. They were never all animal. That was good to know.
Just then, she felt the growing interest he had for her. He went from only looking at her legs casually to turning his full attention to her. It was interesting. If he were anybody else and she wanted to keep his interest, she would’ve worn her skimpiest bikini. She would’ve then made a big show of rubbing sunscreen over her legs, her arms.
She might even have asked him for help with her back. Yes, she had been that corny in her youth, falling back on tried-and-true tricks to gain a man’s attention.
She didn’t need that with him, and she knew he would’ve seen right through it, which would only have been humiliating.
“Are you sorry you told me? Is that what’s bothering you?”
He went from looking at her legs to turning his gaze onto her face. “Is that what you think? No! No way.”
“It’s just that, you know… I would understand if you second-guessed that decision, but you really don’t have anything to worry about. I would never tell anybody, not ever.”
He settled down on his back, stretching out over the blanket they shared. He seemed to glow in the sun, like some bronzed god. A familiar stirring made itself known deep in her core, reminding her of the passion he’d stirred without trying.
Not until now had she ever understood what it meant to really, truly want somebody. It wasn’t a matter of her looking at him and judging that he’d be good in bed. It was a deep, primal, burning need like she would die if she didn’t have him.
And it terrified her to be that vulnerable, to need somebody that much, especially somebody who did the sort of work he did, who put himself in harm’s way for the sake of other people. What if something ever happened to him? What would she do?
Would it be smarter to avoid whatever she was careening toward? Would it be better in the long run to protect herself now?
If only she could. It simply didn’t seem possible, not right now. Not lying here next to him, enjoying the simple pleasure of being together.
Getting to admire his completely ridiculous body didn’t hurt either.
“Here’s the thing,” he murmured, eyes closed. He covered them with one forearm, meaning he bent his arm, meaning his bicep bulged accordingly. She licked her lips and was glad he couldn’t see her do it. “It’s not that I don’t trust you. I do, completely. My wolf knows who can be trusted and who can’t. It’s more the reason why I felt compelled to tell you, why I felt like there was no choice but to open up and tell you who and what I really am. That’s what concerns me.”
“I’m don’t follow.”
“If you were just some person, some girl I met, I wouldn’t tell you. If you were just some client who I would never see again, there would be no reason to. Do you understand now?”
She did, and goosebumps covered her arms because of it.
He saw a future for them, and he wanted to know if she saw the same thing.
“Yeah, I get it.” She folded her arms on the blanket, resting her cheek on them while still looking at him.
“I would never have told you if it wasn’t pretty obvious to me, at least, that there’s something more here. I hope I’m not making that up in my head. I hope I’m not making a total fool of myself right now.”
“You aren’t. You really aren’t.” He turned his head, looking at her, and she smiled. “I feel it, too. I feel it pretty intensely. It’s sort of scary.”
“Am I scary?” He rolled onto his side, their bodies now almost touching.
“Not to anybody who isn’t on your bad side,” she snickered. “No. You’re not scary to me. When you told me, I wasn’t scared. It was more like, okay, that makes sense. Everything that’s happened so far makes sense. For once, I knew I was right about something. I didn’t have to convince anybody that what I thought was true was really true. Does that make sense?”
Even though he nodded, a dark look came over his face. What had she said? It was like a wall suddenly popped up between them.
Instead of leaning over to kiss her, like she’d been so sure he was going to do, he sat up again. She sat up, too, facing him. “What did I say? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Believe me, nothing you said is wrong.”
“Then why wo
n’t you come out and tell me what’s on your mind?”
“Are you sure you don’t own a ski mask? Really think about it. There’s no chance whatsoever of a random ski mask being at your house somewhere?”
This again? She shrugged. “I would never wear something like that. Not even if I was skiing. It’s ugly.”
“It really isn’t your style, is it?”
“Not even close,” she smirked. “What difference does it make? It’s probably just a piece of trash that got washed up onto the rocks. It happens all the time. People go out on their boats or what have you, things fall over the side. Granted, I can’t imagine why somebody would have a ski mask on a boat. It’s not like a can of beer or a bottle of wine or something like that. But it happens. That thing could’ve been out there for ages. Nobody would’ve known it. I make it a point to stay away from the rocks, for obvious reasons.”
“Yes, I can see how it would be dangerous if the waves were too strong,” he mused, staring out in that direction.
“You’re keeping something from me. I can tell. You brought me out here to distract me from something, didn’t you?”
When he looked away, she nudged his arm. “I’m right, aren’t I? What’s the real story? What did you bring me out here for? What am I not supposed to know?”
“Hang on a second—”
“No! Dammit, Jace. Here I was, thinking we could be honest with each other. Thinking you understood me well enough to know how it drives me crazy when a person hides things from me. Haven’t I been through enough of that? Here you are, wanting me to trust you, but you can’t trust me. What am I supposed to do with that?”
“You’re blowing this out of proportion.”
“Don’t tell me that! Besides, if I am, why can’t you just tell me what it is that’s on your mind? If it’s not that important, why do you have to keep it from me?”
“You should’ve gone to law school.”
“Stop changing the subject. This isn’t funny. I don’t know what it is—you’re triggering me. Something like that. The last thing I ever want is to be told I don’t need to know something, that it’s for my own good when people keep things from me. I hate it. I’ve had enough of that to last me the rest of my life. I would think you of all people would understand that, seeing what I’ve been through, witnessing it with your own eyes.”
At least he had the decency to look pained. “I promise, Kara. I will tell you. I’m waiting for word on something. I don’t want to say anything about it until I’m absolutely sure. That’s why I haven’t said anything. I didn’t want to get you thinking something before I knew for sure. Do you understand?”
“I understand you’ve been lying to me all day,” she spat. “What am I to you? Do you still see me as a spoiled little kid who can be distracted by brunch on the beach? Like you can just dangle something in front of my face, and I’ll forget about everything else. That’s not who I am. I refuse to let you treat me that way.”
“I would tell you it’s for your own good, but I know you hate that.”
“Damn right, I hate it! And I thought you had a little more respect for me than that.”
“I do respect you, which like I said is why I didn’t tell you what’s on my mind. I wasn’t going to say a word about it until I got a phone call from Logan. All right? It doesn’t matter how many times you ask or what you accuse me of. I’m not going to say a word about it until I know for sure what I’m talking about. Now, if you consider that disrespectful in some way, like I’m trying to lie to you or like I don’t respect you, that’s on you. I can’t make up for all the shit your father put you through, and I refuse to sit here and be accused over what he did.”
“Jace!” Zane came into view. “He’s here.”
She knew what that meant. Just another reason why she would rather be down on the beach then up at the house. The last person she felt like seeing was her father.
While Jace stood, she stretched out on her stomach like she’d been before and continued picking at a muffin she still could barely taste. She didn’t even want the thing, but what she did want was to show him how little she cared.
He hesitated before leaving. “Stay here?” he asked.
“Where else am I supposed to go? I’m practically a prisoner.”
“Don’t start this again,” he warned. “You accuse me of treating you like a child, and then you act like one.”
“Go up and see what my father wants,” she sighed. He grunted but did like she said—not because she said it, of course, but because her father was waiting up there and there had to be a reason why Jace and the rest of the team wanted to see him.
Maybe, if she was a very good girl, she would find out eventually.
She closed her eyes, furious with herself for getting so worked up, letting him push her to the point where she made a fool of herself, where she acted immature and petulant and like the sort of person she didn’t want him to think she was. She made it too easy for him to hold things like this over her head.
She was so angry both with him and with herself that she didn’t notice the soft splashing behind her until it was too late.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“What the hell is going on around here? Since when do you summon me to my own home like you own the place?” William was pacing his office when Jace arrived. Zane and Sledge were already there while Logan joined them moments later after parking the car he’d used to pick the senator up at his hotel.
“Sir, something has come to light today which he wanted to speak with you about. Privately. Not over the phone.”
“Where’s my wife?”
Logan nodded, giving Jace the go-ahead. So his theory had been true. His heart sank. Deep down, he hadn’t wanted to be right.
He braced himself, chin lifted, shoulders back. “Senator Collins, your wife took a trip up to the Westchester coroner’s office.”
Amazing how quickly the color drained from the man’s face. He was roughly the same shade as cottage cheese when he sank into the chair behind his desk. “Why? Why would she go there?”
“You know why,” Jace whispered.
“Where is Kara?”
“She’s on the beach.” Logan held up a hand, nodding slowly. “The guards you brought with you from the hotel know she’s out there and were told to join her. Everything’s fine. She’s safe.”
“Senator Collins, let’s get back to the matter at hand. You know why your wife went up to the coroner’s office, just as I’m sure you know what they found when they exhumed the casket buried in front of Krista’s headstone.”
William shook with rage, his cheeks going red. “How dare you?”
“We didn’t do anything,” Logan reminded him. “Your wife gave permission for the grave to be exhumed. There was no way we could’ve gotten that done without her.”
“But it was your idea, wasn’t it? You were the one to put it in her head.”
“Do you even want to know why this matter came into question?” Jace glared at him. “Because I can assure you, it wasn’t a random hunch. There was a very specific reason why we felt it prudent to dig up that casket.”
“Why? Why would you do this to my family?” Amazing how the man could still act like he was only in this to protect his family. Maybe he was, but he failed to understand that the team was only trying to protect his family as well.
“Senator Collins, what you have to understand is what’s been done to your family has already been done. We’re only trying to clean up, to help you in the aftermath.” Logan stood beside Jace, backing him up. “If anyone is responsible for what happened to your family, it’s you. I understand your intentions were good, but this was set in motion a long time ago.”
“We found a ski mask on the rocks, on the western side of the beach. It contained two blonde hairs with DNA that matches Kara’s.” Jace could barely keep control as tremors ran through him, tremors that wouldn’t stop even when he clenched his fists tight enough to hurt. “They could only belong t
o one of two people. Kara or Krista.”
“Which is why we asked for your wife’s permission to have the Westchester authorities exhume Krista’s casket,” Logan continued in spite of William’s look of dismay. “We had to know the possibility of those hairs belonging to Krista.”
“Needless to say, the casket was empty.” Jace watched this announcement wash over William’s entire body, leaving him slack in his chair.
Yes, he was devastated, but this was not the reaction of a man in shock. He wasn’t even surprised because he already knew there was nothing in that casket, didn’t he?
“Sir, were you aware that your daughter did not die in that accident?” Logan asked. “And if so, can you tell us what happened to her? What really happened?”
William’s chin quivered. Sweat rolled down the sides of his face. When he spoke, his voice was little more than a whisper. “Are you saying Krista killed Sal? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Her DNA was found on the photo and inside the envelope left outside the front gate,” Logan murmured. “She at least left that threat here. She may very well have somehow slipped onto the beach.”
“That would explain, too, why Sal went to the beach,” Jace continued, staring at the senator, studying his every move, every muscle twitch. What he hoped to learn was a mystery. Maybe he just wanted to see the man express remorse. “He might have thought he was looking at Kara out there or that his eyes were playing tricks on him.”
“You’re saying my daughter lured him out there,” William whispered. He wasn’t looking at any of them but rather staring at the wall over their heads. “They did that to her. They turned her into whatever she is now.”
“You let them take her, didn’t you?” Jace demanded, his patience wearing thin enough to break. “All this time, you knew they had her. She was their insurance policy. You couldn’t go to the authorities, or they would kill her. Is that what they told you? Did you pay off the cops? The hospital? All of them, just so they’d go along with this lie?”
“I didn’t do that,” William insisted. “Krista was taken to the hospital. Minor bumps, bruises. They took her from the hospital. I swear to you. Maybe they had someone working on the inside. I don’t know. I only know that when I arrived, she wasn’t there, and that was when I got the phone call telling me they’d taken her, that I had to go along with it or they would go straight to the house and kill Kara and Laura, that by the time I got home I would find all three of them dead together.”
Wolf Shield Investigations: Boxset Page 23