“I don’t know,” Hope whispered. “I wish I had answers.”
Garrett walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll fix this, Autumn.”
“Once again, who is that guy?”
“Garrett. The man who’s been helping me all this time.”
It became quiet on the other line for about a minute.
“I don’t mean to be nosy or anything, but ah…it’s like four a.m. in the morning, and you’re at his house?”
“Yeah.”
“I thought you were going to see a lawyer about looking into all these contracts that dad signed with Simon, and then staying at a motel,” she inquired.
“I thought I was…” was all Autumn told her sister.
But the fact of the matter was, the only place she had been interested in staying was close to Garrett.
Meanwhile, Garrett remained behind her, brushing the pad of his thumb across the back of her neck right near her hairline. He did it more than once, applying pressure as if he was inspecting and testing the area.
“Did you have sex with him?” Hope gasped. “Wait a minute. You had sex with a shifter. Oh, my God. I’d give anything right now to be you.”
Autumn blushed. “We’re not having this conversation right now. I’m getting off the phone now so I can call the fire department. I’ll call you back as soon as I know anything.”
“I’ll take that as a yes to smoking hot sex while on the run,” Hope teased.
After they said their goodbyes and disconnected the call, Autumn turned around to face Garrett, lowered her face to his chest, and accepted his reassuring embrace. He held her like that for a long time, as she let the dire situation sink in. She wasn’t physically crying, but she wanted to out of frustration for what was happening. What was she going to do? The only thing she couldn’t bear to leave behind was that tavern, and now it was gone. Ashes on the ground. What more was left in Cross City for her?
Autumn wrapped her arms around Garrett and took several deep breaths to calm her rising anger. Seconds turned to minutes before she realized that he was going to be there for her, for however long she needed.
But he hadn’t said a word since she’d gotten off the phone with Hope. That was odd.
She lifted her head, found his gaze, and held it.
He seemed unfocused and even looked a little nervous.
“Garrett?”
“Yeah…”
“I really needed that hug. Thanks.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you okay?”
He nodded and focused on her. “Nothing. I just thought I saw something, that’s all.”
“Saw what?” She bit her bottom lip.
“It was nothing. I…ah…I must be hallucinating,” he said.
“Okay. I’m going to see what I can find out about the fire,” she said, glancing at the television. “It looks like the news anchor isn’t going to have anymore information than they’re reporting now.”
Garrett slipped into a pair of jogging shorts and pulled on a t-shirt. “I know someone out there who might be able to run over and go check out the scene for us. I left my phone in the kitchen.”
Autumn picked up her cell phone again, toggled through her contacts list, and found the number to the Cross City police department. While she was on the phone confirming that the tavern had indeed burned to the ground, something tingled on her nape, right where Garrett had been inspecting it. She rubbed at the spot as the clerk repeated adamantly that they didn’t have any further information about the fire and wouldn’t until the investigation was complete. According to the clerk, the investigation could take hours. It could take weeks. Even months.
Her forehead and temples pounded with unrelenting frustration.
Upset that she couldn’t be in two places at once, Autumn hung up the phone and then walked to the bathroom where she’d stored the aspirin that Garrett’s doctor had given her. While washing the pill down with water, she turned around and examined her neck in the tri-view mirrors above the medicine cabinet. As plain as day, a small mark was visible at the nape of her neck. It looked almost like a four leaf clover. The impression reminded her of the same four-leaf clover birthmark just above Garrett’s collarbone.
But that was impossible.
She, too, must have been hallucinating.
Chapter Eighteen
Garrett could hardly believe his luck, but his birthmark had indeed transferred to Autumn as if by magic. He’d never doubted the existence of a true mate, but what he had doubted was finding his mate. He’d been proven wrong. His wolf was aware. Garrett could tell by the way his inner beast tried to rip from his skin and rejoice. Garrett held him at bay. He didn’t want to scare Autumn. He hadn’t told her what he’d seen.
She stood over the kitchen counter peeling and chopping an apple. Her hair wasn’t tied back and up into a ponytail like she’d worn it over the past few days. She wore it billowing out and down past her shoulders.
The primal urge to take her to his bed again and let his fingers get caught in her hair while he fucked her senseless washed over him. He ground his teeth and took a deep breath in and out to control himself.
He crossed the threshold into the kitchen wearing a pair of worn jeans and a sleeveless shirt. There was no use getting dressed in anything but rags for what he was prepared to do. He had what he needed for a couple nights packed in the trunk bag on his motorcycle, but he hoped he could complete the job and be back sooner than that.
Autumn turned around and smiled. In that moment, he realized that her smile was what captured him more than anything else. It reminded him of a cool and calm morning, just before the sun rose and the petals of flowers began to spring open. Her smile reminded him of autumn.
No words were exchanged as he joined her at the counter and kissed her tenderly.
When they pulled back, she asked, “Aren’t you going to eat anything before heading out?” She bit into a slice of apple.
He shook his head. “No time.” And then he picked up her hand, and popped the other half of the apple slice into his mouth.
She turned and grabbed a vacuum-sealed thermos he’d seen her filling with ice-cold water earlier. “Do you need this?”
“Yeah. I do.” He smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Be careful,” she warned, her palm still resting against his heart. She slid her thumb across the birthmark on his collarbone. “May your clover give you all the luck you need.”
“I need all the luck I can get,” he replied. “I can’t promise that I’ll be careful. When the sheriff’s office called back and said the fire was set intentionally, I knew who and what I was dealing with. Simon has slipped under the radar way too many times. If the cops get to him first, he’ll get his lawyers involved, and they’ll give him a slap on the wrist.”
“You’re right. It’s happened before. He uses whoever and whatever he can to save himself.” She looked down at her forearm. “I noticed that the bite mark from Simon is completely gone.”
Garrett cleared his throat. “That’s because when we had sex, my wolf essence drove his essence out of you.”
He caught his gaze and bit at her bottom lip. “You knew it would do that, didn’t you?”
“Not entirely. I didn’t know until this morning when I saw it for myself. He might not be able to track you now, but this isn’t over. Simon won’t stop until he’s caught, so my job isn’t finished. I have to go deliver what was promised,” he said. “And if I can’t deliver him as promised, I’ll deal with him myself.”
She nodded.
“What I can promise is that I’ll be back,” he said. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“I know,” she said. “We’ll save that talk for when you get back. I’ll be here.”
Garrett knew she would. Heck, he damn sure hoped she stuck around. He had concrete confirmation that Autumn belonged to him and he belonged to her.
Chapter Nineteen
&nb
sp; Garrett pulled up in front of the Cross City Country Tavern and came to an abrupt halt next to the police tape wrapped around the lot. This time the entire parking area was empty and most of what remained of the tavern could only be described as ashes and rubble. His heart nearly dropped in his stomach. How many ways were there to tell Autumn that her family business was gone?
His cell phone vibrated on his hip. He answered right away without checking the caller ID.
“Yeah?”
“Hey Garrett. It’s Alejandro. You in the city yet?”
“I just pulled up.”
“Pulled up where? Here?” Alejandro asked.
Garrett had talked with Alejandro earlier during a pit stop. They’d compared mental notes on what they had learned about the whereabouts of Simon and his bodyguards. Since the fire, no one had seen any sign of him.
“No, not yet. I’m over at the tavern.”
“It’s a fucking mess, isn’t it?” Alejandro exclaimed. “More than half of the people who worked there belonged to our Pack. Now we’ve got some of them lulling around here worrying about how they’re going to pay their bills. How are the North girls holding up?”
“They’re all right at this point. Their safety is the most important for me right now. The tavern can be rebuilt. We can find new jobs for those affected until then.”
“Of course. I have to update the main man here. When can we expect you?”
By main man, Garrett knew that he meant Benjamin Sr., his boss.
“I’ll head out that way once I’ve checked out a couple of the leads I have.”
He pulled out a gold chain from his back pocket and rolled the piece of jewelry over and over again in his palm. After Garrett had sent a few men to clear up after the fight with Simon in the fields, they’d returned with the chain, claiming it had been lying under the dead driver’s body. Oddly enough, Garrett had seen Simon wearing a gold chain just like it.
“Gotcha,” Alejandro said. “We’ll be waiting.”
“Which part of the city is your jeweler located?” Garrett asked, his suspicions rising drastically.
“East of the post office. On the corner of Fairfield and Whitmore. The owner’s daughter is mated to one of our own. They’re good people. Why?”
Garrett returned the piece to his back pocket. “Just keep your phone with you. If I find Simon, I’m sure you’ll want to be the first to know.”
“Roger that. Hey, did you bring any of the guys with ya or do you need me to come meet you somewhere?”
“No. I’m solo this time. Believe it or not, that’s the way I work. I don’t want anyone else getting injured or killed on my account.”
“Understood,” Alejandro exclaimed. “Just watch your back. The cops are out looking for an arsonist and questioning everyone they know with a criminal record. They’ve been holding two members of our Pack who weren’t even there the night of the fire. With your record, you need to stay clear of them or you’ll get snatched up real quick.”
“Thanks for the heads up,” Garrett said. “I’ll be in touch.”
After Garrett hung up the phone, he turned his attention toward the small convenient store across the street. A couple customers were lingering around on the sidewalk, smoking cigarettes. A young boy was seated on the ground next to one of the gas pumps. Garrett cranked up his motorcycle again and drove the short distance to the store. He parked his bike in front of a tank. The young boy stood immediately to help him with the gas.
“Fill ‘er up?” he asked.
“Yeah,” he said, handing over a few bills. “That should do it. Keep the change.”
The young boy tipped his cap and proceeded to fill Garrett’s tank.
The customers standing on the sidewalk eyed Garrett suspiciously. Only one of the men was a shifter. The pair exchanged a few words with each other and then the human walked into the store, leaving the shifter outside.
“You aren’t of this Pack,” the boy said, catching him off guard.
“I’m not,” Garrett replied. “Just rolling through.”
“Are you an Enforcer or something? I haven’t seen that symbol before,” the boy said, looking at Garrett’s Pack symbols.
He nodded. “Something like that.”
Wolves officially deemed outlaws didn’t carry the same symbols as the ranking wolves of the Pack.
“Soon as I turn sixteen, I’m going to get my first tattoo. The design is going to be of my former Pack’s symbol so that I never forget where I can from,” the boy said, anxiously.
“That’s honorable,” Garrett told him. “What happened to your Pack?”
“We disbanded about half a year ago.” The boy frowned. “Our home state was clearing up forest debris near our Pack home so they could use the area as a landfill. One of the big machines they were using caught fire and the blaze got out of control. The fire spread to our land and destroyed everything that our Pack owned. All twenty-five thousand acres burned out in less than two weeks.”
“Sorry to hear that. I’m glad you and your dad found another Pack home. How long have you been working here?”
“I just started last week.”
“Where do you go to school?”
“I don’t.” He shrugged.
Garrett shifted his full attention from the shifter, who suddenly looked anxious, to the boy. “You look like you’re school-aged.”
“I got kicked out. I’m not going back either. I’m a wolf. I don’t need any formal education anyway,” he said.
“Even wolves need education,” Garrett told him. “What did you do to get kicked out?”
“I punched another kid in the face because he wouldn’t get up from my seat. They said I can’t come back until end of next month.”
“Well kid, that ain’t gonna cut it. Why didn’t you just take another seat?”
“There was this girl I wanted to sit next to and he was in my way,” the boy said, sheepishly.
Garrett scoffed. “You’ll have plenty of time to fight over women, but you won’t win her over unless you’ve got the brains in addition to the strength. Trust me on that one.”
The boy smiled. “I guess.”
Garrett honed in on the front of the store again where the men had been lingering around despite the big white sign on the window that said: No Loitering.
“Those men you keep looking at are there to protect the place,” the boy said. “Jim, the owner, can’t afford to have his gas station torched like that restaurant.”
Garrett swung around. “Right…of course.”
“I saw you pull up in front over there. There’s another fast food place up the street if you’re looking to eat,” the boy said after slipping the pump back onto the leather. “It’s too bad about the tavern though. My dad says they had the best pulled pork sandwiches in the State.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, but he hasn’t been going there lately though. He says the place was bought out by the same flake that keeps harassing folks for money in the name of the Pack.”
“A flake?”
The boy diverted his gaze and then shoved his hands down into his pants pocket. “Well, you’re all set.”
“What do you know of this flake?”
“Um…I could get in serious trouble for saying anything.”
“I won’t say anything. If you had information that could save this town, save your Pack, and save lives, wouldn’t you want to help?”
The boy shuffled from one foot to the next. “It’s forbidden to speak out against him,” he said keeping his tone low.
“By any chance, do you mean Simon, your Beta?”
The kid nodded.
“You don’t have to say anything else,” Garrett said, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Remember what I told you, kid. Get back in school and stay there. You need more than a good right hook to win the girl.”
Garrett had already mounted his bike and was beginning to slip on his helmet when the kid asked, “Can I at least have your na
me?”
“Garrett.”
The boy grinned. “I’m Nathan. If it takes brains to win a girl, what does it take to become what you are? Aren’t you wearing an Enforcer’s symbol? ”
Garrett smiled. “It’s a little complicated. I’ll tell you what, Nathan. I’ll be coming through here a lot more often. Next time I come, you prove to me that you’re back in school. We can talk about what it means to be an Enforcer then. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Chapter Twenty
Déjà vu hit Garrett hard as a motherfucker. When he pulled his motorcycle up at the corner of Fairfield and Whitmore, about half a dozen cop cars lined the streets and a fire truck sat right on the curb in front of Weltman’s Fine Jewels. He’d recalled Alejandro’s warning to stay away from the local police, but he just couldn’t ignore this. The men in uniform were actively trying to put out a fire near the front of the building. The medics had someone laid out on a gurney. A bloodstained sheet covered them from head to toe. Apparently there had been a casualty. But if this was only a fire, why the blood soaked sheet?
Garrett drove up to the curb and sat idle on his bike to observe the chaos. He wasn’t the only one watching. About a half dozen or so people had walked across the street from the post office and adjacent shops to witness the mess.
“Hey! Get back!” A cop rushed over to secure the area with yellow tape and ushered the crowd back and away from the building. “This is a crime scene. Please leave the area.”
The onlookers scattered in different directions. Among the bits and pieces of conversation that Garrett picked up on, one clue stuck with him. Apparently gunshots had been fired inside right before the fire, according to one witness. Right before the fire broke out, a man had fled through the back of the store. From past experience, Garrett had learned to follow his instincts when it came to subtle clues like this. It just so happened that he had a nose for doing just that.
He parked his bike in the post office’s parking lot and walked about a quarter mile to enter the woods where he could change forms without detection. He removed his boots and stuffed them into his pack. As soon as the shift was complete, he raced back toward the jewelry store, hiding in the thick brush at the back of the store to avoid detection. When the cops who were investigating the rear of the store went back inside, he took the opportunity and sprinted out of the bushes. The wolf was in total control now, using all of his five senses, especially his sense of smell. A faint aura was detected around the grassy area just under a broken window. Among the shards of broken glass shattered on the ground were a few drops of blood. The aura belonged to a wolf. He engrained the scent into his memory and then followed it back through the thick brush where it led him deep within the woods.
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