The sheriff nodded, but said, “Just the same, I need you to come with me so we can get this settled.”
Her heart sped up. This was their plan. Separate Jordan from the pack and move in.
Jordan’s jaw tightened. “And if I refuse?”
“I’d really rather you didn’t,” the sheriff said.
Jordan stared for a moment longer than the sheriff was comfortable with, and the other man glanced down. “Very well,” Jordan said. “I’ll take my Bronco and follow you so you don’t need to come back here when we’re done. I’ll expect Ross to come apologize to my group after this is all said and done for taking me away from here.” Jordan’s gaze swung to find her. “Let me just say good-bye to my fiancée.”
She walked toward him shakily. This felt like the beginning of a very bad thing.
“Your fiancée?” the sheriff asked, peering around the door.
“Dane’s sister, Christa.”
“Oh, that’s…nice,” the sheriff said. Even though he was dragging Jordan off in the middle of a crisis, she couldn’t help feeling sorry for the man.
Christa nodded at the sheriff before slipping into Jordan’s arms for a hug. “That doesn’t count as a proposal either,” she whispered.
He laughed, but when she pulled back, he cradled her face in his hands and stared into her eyes. “It’s going to be okay.”
She bit her lip, but nodded. She wanted to believe him—she really did.
He brushed a kiss against her lips and whispered, “I love you,” before pulling away.
She blinked back tears and whispered, “I love you, too.” She wanted to be happy; he loved her. She loved him. They’d said it. Only it felt so final…like their last words to each other.
He nodded and said, “It’ll be okay,” again before turning to Dane. “Continue planning the next activity without me. Hopefully, I’ll be back to participate, but if not…go ahead without me.”
Dane nodded.
When the door closed behind him, she turned away and took deep breaths.
“How soon can we expect an attack?” Ethan asked.
“Not as soon as they were hoping,” Dane said. “I think they were hoping the sheriff would take him seriously and collect all our weapons.”
Vanessa touched Christa’s shoulder. “That was brilliant, by the way. I feel like we ought to make up some T-shirts after this. ‘I survived Hill’s team-building weekend.’”
“That was you?” Dane asked. “Wow, I was giving credit to Jordan for that. I think we have at least an hour, maybe two, before anything happens. They’ll want the sheriff tied up in red tape with Jordan back at the police station before anything happens. Let’s make some plans.”
“It was Sammy,” Ethan said suddenly.
They all froze.
“Sammy was the rogue Lycan. She killed those two women, and Dane shot her. That’s why she disappeared at the same time. It makes sense,” Ethan said. He looked up and glanced around and paled, as if he hadn’t realized he was speaking aloud.
Dane sucked in a deep breath and glanced at his wife.
Everyone shifted uncomfortably. They probably shouldn’t be talking about this without Jordan here, and now they all looked mistrustful of each other and of Dane.
She took a deep breath. Jordan would forgive her for not following his orders in this—he had to, he loved her. “It was Sammy. She was in love with Jordan and so she wanted to kill those around him. He didn’t know her very well, I guess, but she hated Lycans.” She shrugged. “When she tried to kill Vanessa, my brother killed her because she was attacking his mate. He didn’t know it was her when he shot her. Jordan feels bad about it. It’s why he’s been alone all this time. If I’d given him a choice, he wouldn’t be with me.”
“I’m glad you didn’t give him a choice, then,” Ethan’s wife said, looking directly at her.
Several others laughed quietly.
The change was subtle. They still respected her…even liked her. She just wasn’t their Alpha anymore. It was like Dane had once said: she was Alpha because Jordan said she was. And he’d proven she wasn’t.
It was okay, because she’d never wanted to be Alpha, never felt like she was. Jordan’s loving her was more important. Though her looking weak and not being Alpha would reflect on him eventually. He’d chosen her. It just wasn’t enough for the pack in light of how he’d treated her opinion. Hell.
“Okay, let’s plan how we’re going to handle today and let the past go,” Ethan said. Then he coughed. “I mean, if that’s okay with Dane.” He kept his head bowed as he said it.
Dane nodded. “They wouldn’t have done this if they didn’t plan on putting something in motion.”
Everyone nodded. They all moved as one toward the study.
Vanessa squeezed Christa’s shoulder as she passed. “It’ll be okay.” Everyone kept saying that to her, as if repeating it made it true. Vanessa glanced at the group and then mouthed “thank you” before following them in.
She didn’t follow them. Planning anything was beyond her—especially if she had to look at that map and feel like she couldn’t do a thing to help, or look at those pictures and wonder which one would kill her mate.
She was useless. She was a declawed cat in a room full of wolves. Even Dane was able to do more for the pack than her.
Christa stared down at Jordan’s cell phone charging on a table beside her in the entryway. All of the plugs in the study were full with laptops charging, so he’d put it right here. He should have taken it with him. He could have called the moment he got out. She knew it was Jordan’s because he’d cropped in close on that picture she’d sent him of her dressed as Red Riding Hood and used it as a background. She hadn’t realized she’d smirked suggestively at the camera like that.
Lucifer brushed up against her leg, startling her.
Her cat hadn’t left Jordan’s room other than to go outside, but now he looked at the study with interest. They’d had to vacuum and clean the study in a hurry before Vanessa could even go in there.
“No, you don’t,” she said, grabbing Lucifer around the middle. “You’re going outside and then straight back to the Big Bad Wolf’s room.” She opened the door and dropped the black cat on the front porch. He sauntered out, towards her car, and then jumped to climb across the hood, leaving a trail of muddy prints across it. She glared after him, but he didn’t care. Even Lucifer. Though to be honest, he’d never really thought of her as an equal, let alone a superior. Her cat stopped at the edge of her car’s hood and stared down the road, where the sound of sirens was diminishing.
It felt like an omen to hear those sirens leaving, like their last chance for outside help was going with them. If only…
She stared at her image on Jordan’s phone.
Her smirk.
In Jordan’s erotic version of the story of Little Red Riding Hood, she’d been strong and pretty damn sure of what she wanted. She’d been an Alpha. She’d thought she was an Alpha when she’d posed for that picture.
Christa grabbed Jordan’s phone before she lost her nerve. Her keys hung on the hook beside the door—she’d put them there with a smile because it had made her feel like this was her home. Snatching her keys, she closed the door quietly behind her, hoping that the Lycans were too busy with the map to notice. She turned and waved at the security camera and raised the phone with a smile. Hopefully, whoever was watching thought an alpha female wouldn’t do something this entirely stupid without it being part of the plan. The sirens were still loud enough to cover her starting her car. She wasn’t so stupid that she didn’t lock her car immediately.
This would only take twenty minutes. Twenty minutes, and she’d be back. It’d be fine. It’d be okay. That’s what everyone kept telling her, right?
She drove quickly while glancing down at the phone, waiting for bars to appear. The moment they did, she pulled to the side. There’d be no way she could make these calls with a house full of stubborn Lycans listening. This was so
mething she could do. This was something she had done. Taking a deep breath, she dialed.
The final phone call took longer than she expected, but when she looked down at the clock, it had still only taken her twenty-nine minutes to make all those phone calls. Her hand reached for the ignition just as the side window shattered and rough arms grabbed her, pulling her out. A foul-smelling cloth covered her mouth.
Chapter Fifteen
Why the hell hadn’t he grabbed his phone? Jordan snarled as he drove back. He’d called Dane and told him he was out and Dane told him nothing had happened—which didn’t make sense.
If he hadn’t had the satisfaction of seeing Ross’s bruised face and black eye, the whole thing would have been a waste. Ross had to have an ace up his sleeve, though, because he’d glanced down at his phone and grinned before typing in a response. An hour after he’d received that call, he’d dropped the charges against Jordan suddenly—the charges they’d been arguing about heatedly for hours.
Something had happened.
He just didn’t know what.
Even the sheriff had seemed baffled by Ross’s abrupt change of heart.
When he was back in his house with Christa beside him, he’d feel a lot more comfortable. Which was why he was driving ninety, just as he had the previous day. So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours that it seemed impossible it’d only been that long.
He needed to be next to Christa, back with his pack, planning.
He might even need to do the unthinkable and apologize to Christa. He’d had enough time to wonder if maybe he should have handled her suggestion they ask Rainier differently. Because, hell, she’d looked…crushed. He’d assumed it was worry, but…
They’d talk about it, and he’d explain.
Something niggled at the back of his mind even as he pulled up to the front of the house. Something felt wrong. Something was missing.
He opened the door before he’d even shifted into park. Something was very wrong. Taking the steps two at a time, he wasn’t surprised when the door opened as he arrived—but it did surprise him that Lucifer went back into the house with him. Lucifer had been out? That was strange that Christa had been okay with that.
Most of the pack crowded into doorways to greet him.
“Tell me what’s happened,” he said to Dane.
Dane shook his head. “Nothing. We’ve come up with multiple plans. We’ve gotten as ready as we can. It’s like we’ve got our party dresses on for a party that got canceled.”
“No, something happened. Ross looked too pleased, and he dropped the charges. Something has happened.” He looked around. It was strange that she wasn’t here to see him, even if she was upset and worried. “Where’s Christa?”
Everyone looked around.
“Christa!” he shouted.
The room went silent as they all waited. Not a sound. His heart dropped with each passing second. No. Not this. Not Christa.
“Go look for her,” he shouted and ran down the hall to their bedroom. Maybe she’d laid down to rest. This much stress could have caused problems. The door was partially open, and he shoved it open so hard it banged off the wall despite the doorstop. Their bed was empty.
Lucifer stopped in the doorway beside him.
Jordan looked down at the black cat. “Where did she go?” He was so desperate he was talking to cats.
“Jordan!” Vanessa shouted.
He ran back down the hall.
“Max said she left a while back. He thought it was part of the plan. She even waved to the camera.”
He spun to stare at Max, who’d bolted from the room with the video camera surveillance. “I’m sorry, Jordan. She looked so certain of what she was doing, I didn’t question it.”
No. No, this couldn’t be happening. She had to be fine. But where was she? Had she been so mad that he’d shot down her suggestion that she’d left him? The thought sent a spike through his heart. Jordan, you ass, why couldn’t you have trusted her? And listened to her without dismissing her?
But she couldn’t be gone.
“Cars,” Vanessa said, turning toward the front of the house.
He sighed. They were too small to be semis, and it sounded like far too many making too much noise to be an attack. Christa had to be with them—whoever them was. He strode back through the front door and stood on the porch as cars appeared, coming down the road to his house.
“It’s the Rainier pack,” he said. He recognized their cars. He’d never been more relieved. There was no way they could plan when they couldn’t anticipate Ross’s erratic moves. Dane must have grown concerned and called them. It was probably just as well.
Christa’s car wasn’t with them, though.
She was alive.
He knew she was alive. He felt it. He’d felt when Sammy had died. It had resonated inside him right before the clutch on his mind and heart had eased. Christa was alive.
At the very least, they could help find Christa.
“Did you see Christa’s car? It’s a blue Neon,” he asked Travis as the Alpha got out.
“No.” Travis glanced at the other Lycans as they parked and got out. His front yard was beginning to look like a car lot. One by one all of the Lycans shook their heads. Travis turned back. “I haven’t heard from her since she called me two hours ago.”
“She called you?” he asked. His pack all looked at him, waiting to see how he’d handle it. How the hell did you handle it when your mate made the right call…that you dismissed because you were a stubborn fool?
“Yeah. She said if we didn’t get here fast, we’d miss the chance to end this thing with the poachers. Then she asked for the phone numbers of all the close packs. I imagine they should be arriving soon. Macon called me and said not to start without him, but they have to rely on ferry schedules, so it might be an hour longer for them. He’s bringing about twenty of his pack. I haven’t heard from Glenn, Tanner, or Miller, but I’m sure they’ll be showing up within the hour.”
“Unbelievable,” Jordan said, smiling. She’d brought in enough of an army to stomp out seven poachers without them even breaking a sweat. Strategy definitely wasn’t as necessary when you hit them with brute force.
“Not if you know Christa. But where is she?” Dane asked.
“Maybe this is her,” Travis said, turning back to the road.
It wasn’t. The midsize car came almost hesitantly into the yard.
“That’s my dad,” Dane said, his voice squeaking slightly in shock.
An older version of Dane got out of the car, bringing a rifle case. The group parted to let him through.
Dane cleared his throat. “Uhh, Dad, what are you doing here?”
“Your sister called. Said she’d gotten married and that you and her were part of a pack of werewolves being hunted by mass murderers. She told me you needed a sniper and to come here and you’d explain.”
Dane swallowed loudly.
There was simply no one like Christa. Who else would tell their father that?
Her dad held up the rifle case. “I brought this and the number to a good shrink, but now that I’m here…maybe I’ll just need the gun.” His gaze traveled the crowd until it fell on Jordan. He stepped forward, holding out his hand. “You must be Jordan.”
“How did you know?” he asked, shaking the man’s hand.
“She told me that you’d seem like the biggest guy in a crowd, even if you weren’t, and that you looked a bit like a black wolf, even in human form. So, you married my daughter?”
He nodded. “We’re considered so within our culture, but I’d planned on doing it legally also.”
“Where is Christa?” her father asked, looking around.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Dane said. “It looks like she called a bunch of people, but didn’t come back.”
Another car was coming up the drive, and this one he recognized.
“Well, she’s all about family reunions,” Travis commented.
His brother looked awkwardly at everyone gathered as he came to Jordan’s side. “Your, uhh…Christa said you needed your brother to help punch wolves? She said you’d explain.”
“My Christa?”
“Well, she wasn’t sure what to call herself. She introduced herself as your friend-mate-wife-fiancée-Christa. I figured you might explain that, too.” He looked around. “Where is she?”
“Did she say where she was going?” It was maddening to have to ask his brother if his not-yet-wife had already left him.
Garret’s eyebrows drew together. “She said she’d be here, and it was a good thing I was human, because you might be mad she’d called me, and she’d be using me as a human shield.”
Mad? And where the hell was she if she’d planned on meeting his brother?
He didn’t wait a minute longer. Maybe it was crazy with her father standing in front of him, but Jordan shifted and bolted back down the road. Three other Lycans were running beside him; one was Vanessa, and she outdistanced him almost immediately. They all turned where his long driveway met up with the main road. Instead of going the way he’d come, he sprinted the other direction, following the scent of a car—a car carrying a female who smelled of brown sugar and vanilla—and another scent…another car had come this way. Vanessa reached the blue car first and shifted back, screaming Christa’s name.
Jordan shifted back and stared at the shattered glass around the car. No. This couldn’t be happening. If she’d saved them all, but he’d lost her, it wouldn’t be worth it, not to him. It should be. The pack should come first.
“Christa!” Vanessa screamed, and Sue shifted back and pulled Vanessa back from the car where she was clutching the door. He saw the blood on the glass and looked over at Vanessa where she was sobbing and hugging Sue. It wasn’t Christa’s blood.
He crouched beside the car and inhaled. He needed to focus. “She’s not dead,” he told Vanessa.
This Weakness For You (Entangled Select Otherworld) (Taming the Pack) Page 24