Kamari frowned.
“About the cannery I’m guessing. I found a secret room there.” She covered her mouth with her hand. “Women were killed there. I could smell decomp. I thought it was in the wall, but it’s an entire secret room.”
“Oh, my god,” Camden exclaimed.
“I found a camera there. He must have forgotten because Carleigh found the room, too. She said she saw him.” She hadn’t told Mallory about the room or the video files in her bag.
“Tape was still there,” Kamari said.
“Yeah. He taped himself with her. He had her there only a short time, but judging from the others on the—”
“Others? You have the tape?” Kamari exclaimed.
She frowned. “N-no.”
Mica groaned. “This is why Mallory had us chasing you down. You’ve got proof of something.”
“I—Carleigh said something about the originals of something.”
“Have you looked?” Kamari asked. “Where did you hide them?”
Cordelia shook her head. “I should get back. I don’t want to get Camden in trouble,” Cordelia said, and Camden blocked her entrance when she went to leave.
“Mallory will be fine,” Camden insisted. “I want to know what else you know. Someone I cared about went missing three months ago.”
“I thought she left town,” Mica said.
“No,” Camden said coldly. “So, talk. Were there bodies there?”
Cordelia nodded. “I would say there was a possibility, but I can’t be sure. He didn’t hide April there. He left her out in the open.”
“April’s dead?” Kamari asked. “She was a pain in the ass, but she didn’t deserve to die the way she must have.”
“It was cruel, just like Carleigh’s murder. She wanted me to tell her brother, but I didn’t want to get involved. Today after Mallory went out, I watched some of the footage.”
“Tell us what you saw,” Camden ordered.
“No. I have to talk to Mallory first.”
“Why?” Mica demanded. “You can get back after you tell Camden.”
“No.” She couldn’t. “I—”
“Right,” Kamari said. “You should go. We’ll talk later.”
“Kamari—”
“Camden, no,” Kamari said holding up a hand. “I know you’re hurting, but she trusts Mallory, and Mallory will tell you if your lover was on it.”
“You trust me to protect you when you’re dancing, but not now?” Camden demanded and took a step toward her only to come up against a wall of energy.
“What was her name?” Cordelia asked.
“Rhea. Who killed her?” Camden reached for her again only to have her way barred still.
“I—”
“Not now, Camden,” Kamari snapped. “Take her home. She’s going to come apart right here. The cold might be good for her.”
“We’ll get lost in the whiteout.”
“My sense of direction is fine,” Cordelia told her. “I’ll get us back.” Now that she’d made up her mind what she was going to do, she wanted to do it before she lost her nerve and ran.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Cordelia had barely finished dressing when she heard the front door lock click. She tilted her head up, seeking the scent that could give her a name.
“Cordelia?”
She frowned. She didn’t recognize the woman’s voice, but her scent was vaguely familiar. The man who’d tried to kill her had smelled like her.
“Cordelia, I know you’re here. I saw you come in,” she said and slithered into the bedroom where Cordelia stood next to the dresser.
“Who are you?”
“Zari,” she said. “You killed my mate.”
“I know,” Cordelia replied. “The funny thing is, he was trying to kill me first.”
Zari growled. “He was just doing a job. It was nothing personal. Me on the other hand, I have a job to do and it’s very personal with me.”
“Zari, look, I don’t want to hurt you, so why don’t you not push,” Cordelia said. “Anyway, Mallory’s coming back any minute.”
“Not that soon,” she said with a shake of her head. “She’s tied up just now. I just need the drive you picked up from Carleigh’s office yesterday. Yeah. Someone saw you slipping in there, and I got the message to take care of you.”
Cordelia shrugged. “I’m sure he’s not much different from someone I knew once upon a time,” she said. “He thinks what he wants is all that matters. Call him and tell him he’s going to have to come get it himself because you’ll be dead.”
Zari laughed.
“I’m not going to waste time,” Cordelia told her.
The woman shifted, and Cordelia stood there waiting for her to make her move. When she did lunge for her, Cordelia hit her with a ball of ice that caught the woman up in a vortex of spinning cold.
Zari shifted back to her human form and screams were jerked from her, but Cordelia cast a spell to mute the sound. Then, she watched as the woman’s body froze before crumbling to ice chips.
“I tried to tell you I wasn’t in the mood,” she muttered. “Now, I have to clean this up.”
She used a spell to melt the ice chips and swept up the bits of matter and bone before using a spell to dry the carpet.
“Bullies.” Cordelia frowned and sat down on the bed. She wasn’t going to watch any more of the footage, because she couldn’t stomach the gruesome scenes. So, she may as well get rid of Zari.
“Cordelia?” Mallory called twenty minutes later. “Are you here?”
“Bedroom.”
Mallory slipped in, bearing a plate of food. “Are you hungry?”
Cordelia smiled. “No. I mean, I am, but I can’t eat right now. I have to talk to you.”
“Camden said you had something to get off your chest,” Mallory said, putting the plate on the dresser and then coming to join her on the bed. “She took you out on patrol with her?”
“I needed to clear my head. I was going to do something wrong by leaving,” she said. “All I could think was my father would have done the right thing even if it destroyed him.” Which is what had happened.
“What did he do?”
“The right thing, and he’d be so disappointed in me for thinking about myself when so many lives have already been forever changed over this.”
“Over what?” she asked. “Are you working with whoever is hellbent on pulling us into a fight?”
“Uh? No,” she said scrunching her face into a mask of distaste. “I didn’t mean my life was connected to yours. I just meant—the reason I was leaving is because of what happened at the cannery.”
“You saw more than you let on.”
“I—kind of. I found a hidden room where more than likely at least two bodies are buried.”
Mallory nodded. “That was no reason to run.”
“Yes, it was,” Cordelia said softly as she slid to her feet. “I only put myself in more danger by being down there.”
Mallory studied her. “Tell me what you left out and Sam and I will figure out how to fix it if it needs fixing.” She got up, too.
“Carleigh told me there was proof of something. She told me where it was, but I didn’t tell you. I went to get it before I left yesterday. I was going to look it over and make copies in case…”
“In case they found you,” Mallory said. “I get that.”
“I took tapes from the cannery, too. They weren’t all tapes. Some of them had been converted to SD cards. I took the cards and a handful of tapes.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” Mallory frowned. “You have no idea what kind of target you’ve made yourself.”
“I do, but he didn’t see me. He was in such a hurry to get out.”
“Let’s just—show me one. Was his face visible?”
“So was Jerry and others.”
“Jericho? He’s on there?”
She nodded. “But Carleigh found some proof on her own. A gang rape and vicious murder. The second
video she found was just three men and a woman I think—you should see.”
Cordelia grabbed her tablet. The card was still inside from earlier. “I started watching this today. I swear I would have sent it to you.”
“Just show me.”
Cordelia started the video over. She wanted to leave, but instead, she leaned into Mallory.
“Oh, my god!” Mallory exclaimed. “Mia.”
Cordelia curled her arm around Mallory’s waist. During the half-way point Mallory pulled away from her and went to punch the wall.
“Mallory is going to kill you both,” Mia screamed.
“She’ll never find out,” one of the men crooned. “Never, and your cousin will be next. I doubt Mallory will think anything of her disappearance.”
Mallory whipped back around, and Cordelia went cold.
Mallory finished watching the video. Cordelia held her, knowing the horror of watching a loved one die. At least Mallory hadn’t been there in person.
Mallory broke out of her hold and removed her cell phone from her pants pocket and made a call.
“Where’s Macy?” she demanded.
Cordelia watched the look on her face.
“Don’t give me that. Where did she go? A new boyfriend? Who? How is it not my business?” Mallory demanded.
Chills ran up Cordelia’s spine, and she busied herself with going through her bag.
“I can’t believe you… No. No. I’m out of it.” She ended the call and let out a low growl tinged with frustration.
Cordelia inserted the SD card into the tablet and opened the files.
“This is why I don’t talk to them that often,” Mallory snapped. “They’re jerks.”
“Mallory,” Cordelia said softly as she started the file. “How long has she been gone?”
“A few days. She went on a trip with her new boyfriend. One he hasn’t even met yet.”
“Oh.” She sighed, all of the air seeming to go out of her. Mallory’s sister had been teased about how she’d been too stupid to tell her family about her new boyfriend.
The taunts had been cruel and endless.
“Did you tell your cousins about me?”
“No. You told me not to.”
“What is that?” Mallory demanded at the sound of the voices and came to stand next to her at the dresser where the tablet lay.
“Good. When Mallory gets part of this and the other video I’m working on for her, she’ll be more than happy to do as I ask to keep her pack safe.”
“What are you talking about? What does Mallory have to do with this?”
“Your alpha is sort of a bitch who’s standing in my way, but you are going to help me help her clear it.”
“How?”
“You’re going to help me get Adalyn, and Sam will be more than happy to comply with my wishes.”
“I’m not going near Adalyn,” the girl said. “Sam will destroy me.”
“You’ll call her up and tell her you’re having car trouble, and someone is after you,” he said.
“I’m not that close to Mallory, and I’m certainly not going to risk my life so you can screw with her and Sam. Sam isn’t the kind of coyote you want to mess with.”
“You won’t have to deal with her, I will,” he said. “And you’ll do as I say or I’ll kill you before I get her.”
“I’m leaving,” she said. “And I’m calling Mallory and Sam to tell them all about you.”
Before she got a step, he was on her. “I guess you thought I was kidding. Fine.”
“Let go of me,” she snarled and then screamed.
He smashed her head into the wall to knock her out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
What happened next made Mallory growl, and Cordelia whimper. The girl’s ordeal lasted only a few hours before he slit her throat.
“That sicko has to be stopped,” Cordelia said, and Mallory let out an enraged snarl. “Mal.” Cordelia went to caress her back. “Was that your cousin?”
“No. Thank god, but she’s Delaney’s.”
Cordelia leaned into Mallory. “How are you going to tell her? And Camden. She—”
“What does Camden have to do with this?” Mallory demanded as she turned to face her.
“I told them. I just wanted to tell Kamari what Carleigh said, and they sort of guessed the rest,” Cordelia said. “Now, Camden is waiting for me to tell her if her friend was on here.”
“Next time, trust me,” Mallory said angrily as she gripped her shoulders. “Me, Cordi. I’m the one who would put her life on the line for you, so talk to me.”
Cordelia stared at her, the pain and rage a dark cloud in her beautiful blue-gray eyes. She had the eyes of the snow coyote. It was a mythical being of two breeds. One had abilities like hers and one was just a really good tracker and survivalist with a wicked bite.
They were ferocious fighters, wily as hell, according to her father. And the dominant of the breed had blue-gray eyes even in their human form.
Why hadn’t she realized this before?
Because I didn’t want to.
She nodded jerkily. “Why?”
“Because you matter.”
“We’re friends,” Cordelia said, but her animal balked at the paltry word.
“Something a little more, maybe,” Mallory admitted breathlessly. “Maybe.”
Cordelia gave her a little smile. “Neither of us does more than friends.” She caressed Mallory’s arms.
Mallory pulled her close, hands gliding down to rest on Cordelia’s waist. “I knew you wouldn’t be just a one or two-night stand,” Mallory said huskily as she lowered her head bringing her lips closer to Cordelia’s. “I think you knew that, too.”
“I figured as long as you held up your end of the bargain there wouldn’t be a problem.”
“This was a problem the moment we kissed.”
“I think it’ll be one if we kiss now,” Cordelia told her, trembling. Leaving was never hard until Mallory.
Mallory kissed her softly, those beautiful eyes holding her as their tongues met. Cordelia witnessed the explosion of fire in Mallory’s stare before Cordelia’s lids drifted closed.
Mallory deepened the kiss, and she moaned, savoring the taste of Mallory.
Mallory urged her closer, hand sliding down to stroke Cordelia’s ass. Mallory thrust her knee between Cordelia’s thighs and pressed it against her center.
“Mallory,” she gasped, the pleasure shooting through her.
Mallory kissed the side of her neck before nipping at her earlobe. “I won’t make it easy,” she crooned. “I want you to stay.”
“Mal,” She sighed as Mallory ground her leg against her. Cordelia purred as she dragged her nails down Mallory’s bare arm. “You’re going to make me come if you keep doing that.”
“What if I do this?” Mallory withdrew her knee and replaced it with the heel of her hand.
She purred, and Mallory laughed. “I like that sexy little kitten sound.”
“You’re bad, Mallory,” Cordelia said and reached out to touch Mallory’s cheek.
“Uh-uh-uh,” she said. “I didn’t ask to be touched, little girl,” she crooned and captured Cordelia’s lips for another kiss.
Mallory deftly pressed her hand to Cordelia’s clit making her wetter as her skin grew hotter.
“Mallory,” she cried. “Mallory.”
Mallory worked the nubbin until Cordelia let out a soft cry as the mini explosion shook her. Mallory broke the kiss, but continued to stroke her through the waves of pleasure.
“I don’t want you watching anymore,” Mallory said. “It makes you cry, and I hate seeing you in tears.”
Cordelia leaned into her, her legs already rubbery. “You’re sweet, but I can do it.”
“You don’t have to. Sam will come over.” Mallory kissed the tip of her nose. “We’ll talk about your past later, and trust me, whoever is after you will rue the day he ever came after you here if he comes.”
Looking up into
Mallory’s eyes, she saw a fierce possessiveness that stunned her. Their animals understood each other, knew what was at stake even if Cordelia was still thinking about leaving.
****
“I can’t believe you came over here in a blizzard,” Sam muttered. “What’s so important you couldn’t just call?”
Mallory gave her friend an amused look. Sam was a good tracker, but she floundered a bit in the snow.
“I’m surprised Mica didn’t tell you about her encounter with Cordi this afternoon,” Mallory said and took a sip from the mug of coffee Sam had made them.
Her kitchen was small but well laid out and the dining nook provided a view of the backyard which was a nice expanse of snow right now.
“She’s spending time with her mate, I assume, after this morning’s patrol,” Sam said. “Why so cryptic?”
“I’ve got our man,” Mallory told her. “Or should I say our two men.”
“What are you talking about?” She frowned.
“Carleigh found something, and Delaney’s source came through this morning. She had some stuff sent via snail mail which she can’t get to, but she pressed a few others and got something back this morning.”
“So, what are we looking at?” Sam asked, her gaze sliding to the tablet next to Mallory’s hand.
“Plans for our land, especially yours. A silent partner we’ll have to track down, and Isaiah and Bradley along with another Coalition member. She’s new to the team, but she’s blackmailing them for a cut.”
“She’s going to rule against us?”
“Oh, yeah, but so are they all,” Mallory told her. “Well, not all, just the majority. Jerry had dirt on them all and now we have some of it, thanks to Delaney.”
“We can get them to back off,” Sam said. “But that’s just a Band-Aid. We need to get the main players out of the game.”
“I’ve a way,” she said. “Thanks to Carleigh and Delaney’s source.”
“I’m listening.”
“I need to keep this on the down-low,” Mallory said.
Sam shrugged. “Kamari can make the bodies disappear.”
“Glad to know if it comes to that, but I am going to kill Bradley. He killed my sister. Plus, he’s after Adalyn.”
Catching a Coyote Page 15