by Kathy Lyon
“They experimented on you?”
“My brother did, but my father got a taste, too. Raoul told him it strengthened shifters.” She lifted her chin. “Have you seen my father hold his shift partway? That’s the serum. He’s stronger, but he also wants more.”
Ryan was starting to understand. “He wants more people, more serum, more power.”
She nodded. “He wants shifter-kind exposed. And he wants the wolves in charge.” She shrugged. “He thinks we’ll do a better job.”
Simon snorted. “You want to run the country?”
“I don’t!” she snapped. “We can barely manage our territory well, but they won’t listen to me.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Ryan spoke casually, as if her answer meant little to him. But the truth was that her next words would mean everything. They would decide whether he trusted her enough to follow her lead.
“I’m taking over the pack,” she said. “I’m giving you Raoul, my father’s going into detox, and I’m going to make damn sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
Ryan felt the truth of her words settle into his bones. He believed her. Which meant he was going to work with her—whether she liked it or not.
Chapter 9
Frankie felt her stomach twist with bitter anger. The damned bears weren’t saying a thing and that infuriated her. If anyone else said they meant to take over the werewolf pack—if any man said it—then the bears would have shrugged and gone on with their plans. But when a woman says it, they stare at her, doubt written in every line of their confused expressions.
“Female alphas exist, you know. It’s the twenty-first century and—”
“And you’re not a werewolf,” the bear alpha said. There was no condemnation in his tone or expression. Simply a statement of fact.
“So?”
“So isn’t that a problem? Not being a full-blooded shifter.”
Fortunately, the hybrid bear stiffened at the insult. “Just because we don’t go totally hairy doesn’t mean we can’t lead.” He turned to her. “The problem is that you’re a hybrid and a girl. You’re the weaker sex and though we may live in the twenty-first century, pack mentality is grounded in the Dark Ages.”
Like he had to tell her? She shoved to her feet, bringing the blanket with her. Her legs were still trembling, the aftershock of the Taser making her feel weak. Damn, she really wanted a shot of the serum. Better than a triple espresso, but that way lay disaster, so she blocked it out of her mind. What she couldn’t block was the way Kennedy stared at her, his gaze heavy, his expression thoughtful.
That, plus the fact that he was gloriously naked, erect, and mouthwateringly attractive to her. Stupid libido couldn’t tell a bear from a wolf.
He straightened up with her, his hands ready to catch her if she wavered. He didn’t touch her, which was a salve to her pride but a disappointment to certain other parts. Either way, she lifted her chin and stared all three of them down.
“Men addicted my pack to the serum, poisoned an entire city, and have gone to war with you for some idiotic reason I can’t fathom. Now are you going to help me overthrow them or not?”
“Help.” Kennedy’s answer was quick and without reservation, which warmed her down to her toes. But it was the alpha who mattered politically, and so she focused on him.
“How long do you need?” he asked. “Emory is pushing for a conflict.”
“Don’t give it to him!” she retorted.
“Bears do not back down from wolves,” he stated.
And right there was the problem with the entire male brain. It saw only two choices: fight or submit. “Talk. Negotiate. Stall. Anything you can while I get my people in line.”
“And how are you going to do that?” the alpha pressed.
“I have allies. You get Raoul out of the way, I can stage a coup. I’m a better fighter than anyone knows, and I’m smart enough to beat my father in a dominance fight.” She didn’t say strong enough. Emory was more powerful physically, but she knew his fighting weaknesses. She could best him. “But it won’t come to that,” she stressed. “I can manage the pack while my father sits as figurehead. I’ve been doing it for years. But I can’t do it if my brother takes me out from behind while I’m dealing with my father.”
She saw doubt in all their faces but to their credit, they didn’t argue with her, though the alpha pointed out her current problem.
“You’re running out of time.”
“Like I don’t know that. My best friend was just abducted by my brother’s bitch.” She took a breath, hating that her gaze strayed to Kennedy. “I’ll find where he’s keeping the serum. I promise.”
He nodded as if it were assured. “And I will help you.”
“And I—” began the hybrid, but the alpha cut him off.
“You’re coming with me. We’re spread too thin to risk everything on a single wolf of any gender or persuasion.” His gaze landed heavy on Ryan. “I do not trust her or what she’s done to you.”
“I know.”
He dug into his pocket and handed over a hypodermic case. “This is an antidote to the poison. Dr. Lu has used it twice now in the hospital, and it seems to stop continuing damage to the brain, but it can’t reverse it. Whatever damage your brain has already suffered is permanent.”
Kennedy took it, his gaze troubled. “I feel fine. Better than fine.”
“If that changes—”
“I’ll shoot up. Promise.” His lips quirked at the joke. Frankie didn’t smile. She knew from experience that once a shifter started with the serum, they didn’t want to stop. But after the first day, the hunger lessened. She only really craved it now when she was tried or stressed. Which meant she wanted it all the time.
Meanwhile, the alpha’s phone buzzed again, and he grimaced. “We have to go,” he said to the hybrid. Then he pinned her with a heavy look. “Work fast. We need leverage if you want to avoid a war.”
She winced. She hated that she was now forced to give leverage to the bears. Meanwhile, the hybrid pulled some clothing out of his backpack and tossed it at Kennedy. “And get dressed. It’s embarrassing to have you running around like that. People will think we’re rogue cover models or something.”
Kennedy looked down at himself like he just realized his nudity, but then he started pulling on the attire. Loose sweatpants, a tank top, and an extra-large pair of black Crocs. As soon as the other two left, she gestured at his erection. “That’s not going to happen. You know that, right?”
He arched a brow. “I think it’s pretty obvious that it is happening and will likely continue for the foreseeable future.”
She shot him an I’m-not-amused look, though secretly she did think his response was kind of funny. “What I mean is that we’re not going to have sex, make love, or do anything else that will make it very happy.”
He shrugged. “It seems to be very happy just being around you.”
She frowned, finding his words hard to believe. She was an attractive enough woman, but not someone who made guys pant. Or sprout erections without end. “It must be a side effect of the serum.”
He didn’t respond and wasn’t that a bit of a blow to her ego? It would have been nice for him to at least acknowledge her looks. Either way, it wasn’t important. She had people to see and a best friend to rescue.
“Look, you can’t come with me. They’ll spook for sure. You’re not just a bear, you’re a cop.”
“We serve and protect. That includes wolves.”
She shook her head. “It’s not going to work.”
“Make it work.”
Impasse. Which meant they could stand here arguing needlessly or she could show him the truth. “Fine. Come with me, but at least stay outside. Let me talk to them on my own.”
He shook his head. No words, just a flat denial.
“Why not?”
He frowned, and his expression grew troubled. “I’ll give you what space I can.”
She’d hav
e to make do with that. Otherwise, her brother was going to lead them into a war and neither wolf nor bear would come out of that alive.
Fortunately, they didn’t have to go far, just a couple blocks over to the apartment complex owned by her family’s company. She and Kennedy walked quickly, and she noted his eyes were constantly moving. He watched, he remembered, and although he made her nervous with the way he was standing so close, he appeared completely relaxed. As if it was his right and his purpose to serve as her personal bodyguard.
They rounded the corner and Frankie saw with pride that the sidewalk had been fixed and the swing set in the back replaced. She’d had to badger her father for a week to get that taken care of. When she was in charge, there would be a large line item in the books for property upgrades, and she’d hire Hazel to regularly inspect the buildings and make recommendations.
She went to push inside the front door, but Kennedy was there before her, stepping in to make sure it was safe. She startled, oddly touched by the gesture. No one had ever done that before. Normally she was the one protecting everyone else, and his simple action threw her. Especially since he then held the door for her to enter. A protector and a gentleman? Wasn’t she supposed to feel insulted that he thought she couldn’t take care of herself?
She didn’t. She felt cared for, and that was a very seductive feeling.
The elevators worked in the building, but she headed for the stairs. Bad crap always showed up there in the debris on the floor or a lingering smell. Plus she wanted to check that there were cases of bottled water on each floor. She’d ordered the superintendent in every complex they owned to provide cases for everyone. It was the least her family could do.
“We’re heading for the sixth floor,” she said.
Kennedy nodded and checked out the stairwell before he let her enter it. He did all the things she normally did, which was even more disconcerting. He slowly pushed open the door, working to be as silent as possible. He scanned the area while sniffing the air. And she immediately took up a defensive posture behind him. She was alert to anything behind or beside them while he scouted the front.
It felt like they’d been doing this for years and she stepped inside the stairwell the moment he pulled the door back for her to enter. Then they climbed with him elbowing her gently behind him as he took the lead.
She noted that the water cases were stacked right where they were supposed to be. Every floor was clean, no disasters. If it were a normal day, she’d check on any number of tenants, but they didn’t have time, so she pressed ahead to the sixth floor. Then together they maneuvered down the hallway to apartment 6E.
“Just stay back,” she said. “Noelle’s skittish.”
Kennedy arched a brow, but stepped back. Then she knocked on the door. “Noelle? It’s me, Frankie. Are you in there—”
The door flung open, and Noelle eyed her like she wanted to murder her. But ten times worse was the stink of vomit that wafted out and the sound of whiny children from the back bedroom. “Now you show up,” Noelle said. “After they burst through, wake up the boys, and nearly scare me to death. I’d just gotten the kids to sleep, and suddenly the goons bang on the door, and my boys are screaming and throwing up again. And everybody’s looking for you.”
“Noelle—” she began, but the woman held up her finger, wagging it in front of her face.
“No. You don’t get to talk. It’s been tag team vomit for two days. Thank God, they’re keeping down the Pedialyte now, and what do those assholes do? They demand to see you, and when you weren’t here, they left. Just left. Not even an apology. And they have the nerve to wrinkle their noses at the stink. Well, duh. Vomit stinks, and they’re assholes.”
Frankie nodded, letting Noelle burn through her fury. Fortunately, it didn’t last long. The woman was so exhausted she couldn’t even keep up her anger. Instead, she dropped her arm and eyed Kennedy.
“Aren’t you the cop everybody hates?”
Kennedy jolted. “Um, I didn’t know everyone hated me.”
“Yeah. ’Cause you’re a bear and you didn’t do shit when you worked in robbery and all those wolves were getting targeted. What the hell are you doing here and with her?”
Frankie winced. “I keep telling you that Raoul made up that story. Raoul—”
“Didn’t make that up. He just broadcast it because you were all about how everybody should be like Detective Kennedy. He’s a good cop, helps the kids, blah blah.” She rolled her eyes. “If it weren’t for you, nobody would have even noticed him. What do we care about a bear in the PD?” She was going to say more. The woman was definitely a talker, even when exhausted. But at that moment Harley came up and tugged on his mother’s pants. Of the three-and-a-half-year-old twin boys, he was the demanding one.
Noelle sighed as she leaned down to pick him up. She groaned as she did it, and Frankie guessed Noelle’s sciatica was acting up. It made her lower back ache and sometimes shoot pain down her legs. It had been a chronic problem since she’d given birth.
“My tummy hurts,” Harley whined, then he added a whimper as he rubbed his eye with a fist. It wasn’t a real whimper from true pain. Frankie had been around when one of the boys conked his head while roughhousing, which was often. This was an I-want-attention whine, and it worked. His mother squeezed him tight and headed into the kitchen.
“I know, baby. Those mean men woke you up, didn’t they?”
Harley nodded, his expression sad. God, wasn’t that just the most manipulatively adorable sight?
“Let’s get you some juice, and then maybe a bath, huh? You smell awful.”
The whole apartment smelled awful. Frankie trailed inside with Kennedy following, his sharp gaze missing nothing. He saw the dishes in the sink, the dirty laundry spilling out of the hamper, and the overflowing garbage can. She noted the nearly empty case of water.
“This isn’t the Detroit Flu, is it?” she asked.
“Nah,” Noelle said as she poured apple juice into a sippy cup one-handed. “It’s the regular flu, apparently. Doc said the best thing I could do was go home and not expose the boys to the really sick people at the clinic.” She handed Harley the sippy cup, and he obediently drank. Then she looked hard at Frankie. “There’s been no shifting in this house. We’re not drinking the water. We’re just trying to get one night of uninterrupted sleep.” The longing in her voice was palpable.
“Let me help with that.”
The woman openly scoffed. “Don’t you have more important stuff to do? Big doings at the community center?”
“This is the most important place for me to be right now.” She held out her arms. “Come on, Harley. Come to Aunt Frankie.”
Noelle was skeptical, but starting from the day her husband deployed overseas, she never refused help with the twins. Frankie had been a regular visitor, so Harley transferred easily to her arms. Which is when the other brother came out, his whine more genuine as he rubbed at his eyes.
“Mommy?”
“Hi, Jaxon,” Frankie said.
He looked up and his eyes filled with tears. He clearly didn’t want anyone but his mother.
“Right here, buddy,” said Noelle as she scooped him up. One hand held him, the other felt his forehead. “Your fever’s down. Do you feel better?”
The boy tucked close to his mother’s neck. If ever there was a young werewolf in the making, it was this boy. His every action was puppylike and he seemed to move by scent and touch. He was the smaller twin, but he was strong and tenacious when he wanted to be. Noelle went to the refrigerator and grabbed the Pedialyte. She poured that into another sippy cup as she nuzzled her child. Meanwhile, Harley wanted attention from Frankie, and so he started patting her face to demand it.
Both women were occupied with the boys, and yet Frankie had a moment to look back at Kennedy. He stood near the door, his posture protective, but what she saw in his eyes startled her. Was that yearning there? A raw hunger that she never expected to see from the bear cop.
> Until the moment he noticed her looking. At that second, his expression tightened down, his face turned sideways, and he spoke with a gruff voice.
“You’re almost out of water. I’ll get you another case.” But he didn’t move out the door. Instead, he went to the overflowing garbage can, grabbed the edges of the dark sack, and pulled it tight. Then he grabbed another trash bag from the box on the shelf and snapped it open with one flick of his wrist. “Is it okay if I get the other garbage?” he asked.
Noelle’s brows went up in surprise as she gestured to the bedrooms. “Knock yourself out.” Then they both watched as he went off in search of trash. A domestic bear. Weird. Except Frankie was stunned by the answering echo inside her heart. She’d spent her life managing the shifting power structure of the werewolf pack, constantly checking loyalties and underlying motivations. What she saw in Kennedy’s face was a hunger for family and a need to protect and serve those he held dear.
That resonated to her core. It was her deepest need as well and the whole reason she had to take over her pack. Because her brother and her father had failed in that primary duty and she was going to right the ship by getting her brother put in jail for his crimes. But God, how she longed to have someone help her, a man she trusted to work by her side for the same goal. She just never thought it would be a bear.
But rather than focus on what that meant, Frankie took the moment to press her friend for details on what Delphine had wanted.
“What did the goons want with me?”
The woman shrugged. “The usual. Where is she? What has she been saying? I didn’t tell them anything. Mostly because I don’t know anything.” She narrowed her eyes. “What have you been doing?”
Frankie leaned forward, repeating what she’d been saying to every member of the pack. “Raoul is poisoning the city. That’s stupid and suicidal. Revealing that shifters exist is insane, and his serum is killing us.”
Noelle helped Jaxon drink from his sippy cup, but her attention remained on Frankie. “You took the stuff. Don’t you like it?”