by Eliza Gayle
“Uh huh.” Malcolm let the questions burning at the tip of his tongue die and turned back to the house. He didn’t give a crap about treaties and the politics that went along with them. His primary concern was getting both he and Chey out of this mess with their lives. Or at least hers. With the episode back in the trees it would appear his clock would soon run out. Maybe he would find this mate of hers and ensure she’d be well taken care of. The cat howled inside his head in protest. Too bad, so sad buddy. If this is the end of the road her life is more important.
He led them around front where he’d left the body covered and blocked by his vehicle. Except… He halted in his tracks, Chey crashing into his back.
There was no body.
The bright blue tarp flapped in the wind against the side of his truck while the gravel and dirt in front of his house lay perfectly still and pristine.
“What the hell?” Both he and Chey ran forward, skidding to a stop right where the gruesome body had lain a scant few hours ago.
“What’s wrong? What’s going on here?”
Malcolm turned and looked at the hard demand in Ben’s face before he glanced at Chey. “This is where we found the body this morning. Right here where we’re standing.” Tension arced through him as Chey’s emotions radiated off of her. Distrust, anger, frustration all underlined by the scent of her arousal.
“So, where did you move it to and why?” Ben’s condescending tone made the hair on his neck stand on end. Malcolm’s peeled his lips back and bared his teeth. Anger whipped through him. He wasn’t about to take shit from this man or field stupid questions. He tightened his hands, his claws extended and ready to attack at a moment’s notice.
“Malcolm.” A soft touch landed on his arm and he whirled around coming face to face with Chey, her eyes soft and reassuring. “It’s okay; they’re just here to do their job.”
He shook off her arm. “Stop already with the woo woo stuff. They aren’t here to help,” he hissed. “They’re going to arrest one of us for this and you damn well know it.”
“Enough.” Charlie stepped forward and addressed Malcolm. “If you don’t want us to jump to any conclusions here, then you damn well better give us the same benefit of the doubt. We’re here to help.”
Malcolm eyed her cautiously while he struggled to compose himself by pushing the animal back. “I didn’t move the body. I covered it and left it right here.”
Ben pulled gloves from his pocket and pulled them onto his hands. “Okay, then I imagine Chey here can corroborate that. You left the body here and then the two of you did what?” He pulled the tarp loose from where it had attached underneath the corner of the bumper and scanned it for trace evidence. He exchanged a knowing look with Charlie before he proceeded to visually inspect the area underneath the truck. Eventually he realized that no one had answered him and he turned to peer over his shoulder at them. “Well?”
“I left Chey in the house while I took care of this and then I went for a walk in the woods until I heard the helicopter approaching.”
Ben groaned and stood back up to his full height. “Tell me you’re kidding. You’re pissed that we’re here and now you’re just being sarcastic, right?”
Malcolm stared at him, willing himself not to roll his eyes at the man staring him down with disbelief shining in his eyes.
“Jesus fucking Christ. What were you thinking? Someone should have been standing guard over this body until we got here. You of all people know procedure.” He shook his head and threw the tarp into the bed of Malcolm’s pickup.
“Maybe I forgot. Seeing how I’ve been gone from the clan for so long.” Malcolm mimicked Ben’s words from earlier with an extra heavy dose of sarcasm.
Ben glared him.
“If the two of you are done measuring your dicks now, I think we should conduct a thorough perimeter search and if that doesn’t produce anything then we’ll move straight into separate interviews.” Charlie didn’t hesitate or wait for any response. She simply walked away to begin her search, leaving them all to stare after her.
Yeah, this was definitely a colossally fucked up mess.
Chapter Six
Chaos. The pawns in his game were pissed off and frustrated over the disappearance of the body. Perfect.
He watched them from the trees at a safe distance away and downwind so no scent would be detected. If panic set in the situation would go from bad to worse in the blink of an eye. They’d be too busy covering their asses to bother with clan business, leaving Kane on his own. The situation with Malcolm was getting out of control. As soon as he’d gotten wind that the half-breed bitch had hooked up with Kane in an attempt to return his brother to the clan, he’d had to make a move. Divide and conquer or simply sit back and watch them implode.
The last thing he needed right now was for them to get a clue. Every time he got close to shutting them all out of the clan they’d managed to pull some luck out of their ass and thwart his plans. Now he just wanted them gone. Every time he delegated any responsibilities to someone else things went to hell, so this time he’d come himself to dispatch Carl. He’d been so angry when he’d arrived in this neck of the woods. There’d been only one direction to send his rage. He pictured the moment clearly. The fear on the shifter’s face had been incredible.
His heart beat wildly every time he remembered. Killing had been easier than he thought. John had been his first and now this… The animal inside roared with pleasure. He already wanted another hunt. The taste of blood on his tongue and the pungent smell of prey lured him to the surface.
For the man, the fun part was dumping him on Malcolm’s doorstep and watching everyone come apart at the seams. He and his little freak ought to have fun explaining that one. There were plenty of human witnesses that could offer up information about Malcolm’s confrontation with Carl early that morning.
Luckily, he’d not been far when the call from Carl had come through. He’d fucked up and gotten spotted by Malcolm. That dirty bastard didn’t deserve the blood running through his veins. All of it should have been his. As the first-born male in his family, he’d been expected to carry the gene and serve his family. Instead he’d suffered through his childhood in his younger-by-ten minutes brother’s shadow as the inferior twin.
He didn’t care what it took to make things right or who he had to kill to do it. Those boys would not continue their inferior bloodline if it was the last thing he did. All the hard work and effort he’d put into getting rid of them without suspicion on himself was about to pay off. And once the clan was without its guardian he could make his move to take over the council. He sat heavily on a rock and blew out a hard breath. This moment had been coming for so long. As the only true blood heir, he’d take what rightfully belonged to him and make sure his brother’s dirty mongrels were left with nothing.
Soon it would be time for it all to end. The years of patiently planning were wearing thin. If Malcolm or Kane interfered again, then he’d just gut them and be done with it. A vibration in his pocket signaled an incoming call. He pulled the small device from his pants and examined the screen.
His sniveling, no good daughter was looking for him. That was another string that needed cutting. He pressed the button to decline the call and allowed a slow smile to curl his lips. Oh yes, darling daughter, your usefulness has expired.
Chapter Seven
“How long were the two of you apart this morning before you found the body?” Charlie and Ben had been grilling her for what seemed like hours and many of the same questions had been asked over and over until Chey thought her head would explode. How many different ways could she answer the same questions?
“As I’ve told you countless times already I’m not sure. It didn’t seem like very long but I wasn’t watching the clock you know, I had other things on my mind.”
“What other things, Chey?” Charlie just wouldn’t let it go. She’d suspected every answer Chey’d given had more to it, that she was holding back.
An
d she was. She didn’t want these two, of all people, to know what had been going on between her and Malcolm while Carl had been murdered. It would be mortifying to go down that road, especially with Charlie, who knew how dangerous she had become this past year.
“So you’re saying at the time of the alleged murder you were inside the house mere feet away and heard nothing. That with your heightened sense of sound and smell you had no clue what was going on outside?”
Chey grabbed the small cup of water Charlie had offered and downed it in one fast gulp. Not that it was going to help her stall for much time. “That’s right.” And that’s all they were going to get.
Ben slammed his hands down on the table. “Bullshit!”
Charlie grabbed Ben’s arm and Chey swore she heard growling outside the room. They’d sequestered Malcolm at the opposite end of the house in his supposedly sound proofed media room. He shouldn’t be able to hear a word of this interrogation.
Charlie leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. Chey could not pick up more than a brief sound of air. This woman was damned good. But where had she come from? It wasn’t like there were thousands of her kinds roaming the woods. The clans were so rigid with their rules on interspecies breeding, that it was a rare breed who dared to defy them.
In fact, they’d only been given a small area in the neutral zone with everyone either working at the saloon or doing her kind of work.
“Look, Ms. Ross, we aren’t here expressly to harass you. Only get to the bottom of what happened. Put yourself in our shoes and tell me what you’d do if you’d been sent into this situation to find a dead body missing and two people obviously withholding information. I dare say you’d be running out of patience as well.”
“I’d say if there is no body then the whole thing must have been a figment of my imagination and you should let me go.”
Ben snorted.
“Not likely, Chey. Now tell us what is going on between you and Malcolm Gunn. One minute he seems to want to kill you and the next kill one of us for getting too close to you. If we didn’t know better we’d think…”
Charlie’s eyes widened and Chey saw the truth in them. “But that’s impossible.”
“What’s impossible? What the hell did I miss?” Ben glanced between the two women and Chey allowed her eyes to squeeze closed. Memories of John assaulted her out of nowhere, catching her off guard. He’d be so pissed at her for accepting this job. He’d suspected what Malcolm was to her five years ago and no matter how much she denied it, he never quite believed her.
“Malcolm thinks Chey is his mate.”
The statement hit the room like a deafening bomb, leveling Chey where she sat. Having Charlie say the words out loud was like being stabbed in the gut with a dull knife. This was not at all how this was supposed to go.
“Is this true?” Charlie asked.
Chey didn’t answer. Her brain refused the question.
“Fuck, this complicates the hell out of things. Does he know about John?”
Chey’s eyes popped open and she stared daggers into Charlie. “How the hell do you know about John?”
Charlie rolled her eyes. “C’mon Cheyenne. You’re smarter than that. Do you think I’d come in here not knowing every detail of your life? How else do you expect me to represent you if I don’t know you?”
“You don’t fucking know me. None of you do.” Anger whipped through her as she lashed out. How dare they drag her past into this? “None of this has anything to do with John so leave him out of this.”
“Who the hell is John?” Poor Ben sounded completely confused.
“Her dead mate.”
Chey’s stomach revolted and the crackers she’d managed to eat earlier threatened to return. She pressed her hand over her stomach and bent at the waist and vomited on the floor.
“Ben, give us a few minutes okay?”
Chey heard the scraping of Ben’s chair and the steps he took toward the door. Her stomach heaved the entire time even after the door closed behind the man.
“Do you need some more water?” Charlie’s voice had lowered and softened. Waves of sympathy washed over Chey.
“I need nothing,” she croaked.
“You need some help in this situation and damned fast that’s what you need, Chey. You are minutes away from being arrested and hauled into cougar territory with your new lover. This is not going to go over well.”
“Without a body you can’t accuse Malcolm or I of anything. Don’t try to play me for a fool here.” Hopelessness tore through her despite the bravado she gave this woman. She’d already lost everything that meant anything she honestly didn’t care what they wanted to do.
“Don’t be so sure about that, Ms. Ross. We already have on record from the both of you that a body existed, and, unless the man in question comes walking through that door anytime soon, someone will go down for this murder.”
Chey’s stomach heaved again despite being bone dry at this point. It was happening all over again. First John and now this.
“You’ve killed before. It gave you a taste of bloodlust didn’t it? Is that what happened here?” Charlie had come around the table and crouched beside her. She taunted Chey with her past. “Killing John wasn’t enough. You had to have another. So tell me, crippled half-breed. Who’s next?”
Wood splintered and flew around her. Chey ducked and swiveled prepared to fight whoever or whatever had come crashing in the room. Before she even got a glimpse, hard, restraining fingers clamped around her arm and hauled her to her feet.
“Malcolm, whaat theee hellll?” Her words slurred. Something was seriously wrong.
“What’s going on? What did you do to her?”
Malcolm shook her while glaring at Charlie with his questions.
“Control yourself, cougar. It’s nothing out of the ordinary. She’s only been given a mild sedative that lowers her inhibitions. She hasn’t been exactly forthcoming.”
“So you drugged her.”
Ben rushed through the door and blocked Malcolm from moving any closer to Charlie. “Sorry. I tried to stop him but he’s wilier than he looks.”
“Fuck you, Ben. You were a part of this?”
“Neither one of you is cooperating all that well. One of you is lying and from the looks of it, the other is helping.”
Malcolm brushed the hair from her face and cradled her to his chest. “You son of a bitch. When this is over, I’ll be coming for you.”
“Don’t threaten me, Malcolm. I have full council approval to use whatever methods are available to me to get to the facts.”
“You want facts?” He lifted Chey into his arms. “We didn’t do shit. While Carl was getting himself killed, I was alone with Chey discovering that she wasn’t who I thought she was.”
Chey glanced upward, too weak to move but more than alert enough to hear the pain behind Malcolm’s words.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? If you have some kind of evidence that proves your innocence, now is the time to produce it.”
“It has nothing to do with the murder.”
Ben stepped close—too close. “I think you should let me be the judge of that.”
Malcolm growled, the vibrations running through his chest and into her body tucked at his side. “Slowly step back before I do something we will both regret.”
The venom in Malcolm’s voice dripped with malice. If Ben had half a brain at this point, he’d better move.
“What’s wrong, Malcolm? Am I making you uncomfortable? What’s the big deal?”
Damn it. Now Ben was just baiting him. “Malcolm, don’t listen to him.” In Chey’s head, the words she spoke came out fine but the way he and Ben were eyeing her made it pretty clear she’d spoken gibberish.
Ben turned back to Charlie. “How much did you give her?”
“Less than the dose you recommended. I assumed you gave me what you thought a typical cougar would need but her metabolism is a little different.”
“E
nough. We’re done talking to you.” Malcolm made to move around Ben and the other man adjusted his position to further block them from leaving.
“I don’t think so. Just because you’re feeling a little protective over your new toy doesn’t exempt you from the law.”
“How dare you speak about my mate like that!”
Charlie and she gasped at the same time. Ben only smiled. “Finally we might be getting somewhere. The truth isn’t nearly as bitter as you think it is.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.” Chey spoke the words as slowly as possible, being careful to enunciate every syllable correctly. “He’s not my mate.”
She caught the wince on Malcolm’s face a moment before he cleared it. Chey did her best to harden her heart toward it. The last thing she could afford now was to put another man in danger. Even an arrogant ass, who probably deserved it, like him.
“She’s right. When you cling to a lie long enough you begin to believe it. In this case it’s definitely not true. She is already mated.”
“That’s hardly a consideration anymore.”
Chey glared at Ben and struggled in Malcolm’s arms. “Put me down.”
“No.” The cool grimace he aimed in her direction dared her to defy him. “Like I said. We’re done here. If and when you find a shred of evidence that implicates either one of us, you can give me a call. For now, I’d say your actions have rendered you lucky to still be alive.”
The savage look on Malcolm’s face gave her pause. No matter how insolent or stubborn he behaved it would behoove her to remember who and what he was. They both might share some cougar blood but the results were drastically different. The DNA of a black cougar produced an animal far more lethal than the rest of the clan. Not to mention the man. Even now with her dulled responses and dangerous situation, the hard corded body pressed to hers awakened senses she’d tried to force dormant. She wanted him. Fiercely.