Wolf Rebel

by Paige Tyler

  Even if someone had, he wouldn’t have slowed down. Rachel was in trouble, and it was taking him effing forever to get to her.

  After leaving her place, he’d stopped at Starbucks for coffee on his way into the DAPS office, needing caffeine before dealing with Theo. He’d just reached the counter when Rachel’s voice came through his radio earpiece, shouting for backup. Even though he wasn’t technically working the protective detail today, he’d slipped in the bud out of habit. Now, he was glad he had.

  Knox didn’t even remember leaving Starbucks. One moment he was there; the next he was on his motorcycle speeding off and hoping he wouldn’t get killed before he got to the courthouse. Luckily, he’d been less than two miles from the Frank Crowley Courts Building when he’d heard the SOS.

  As soon as he raced onto the bridge over the Trinity River, he spotted what had to be the courthouse. The building was made up of two squat high-rises separated by some kind of arty-looking glass center section. But it wasn’t the size of the place or all the glass that told him he’d guessed right. It was the pure pandemonium of terrified people flooding out of every available doorway, running for their lives.

  Knox didn’t bother heading for the parking lot on the side of the courthouse complex. Nor did he stop on the sidewalk along the front of the building. Instead, he yanked on the handlebars of his bike and jumped the curb before heading straight up the concrete stairs leading to the main entrance. There were a lot of steps, and people running down them had to throw themselves aside to avoid getting run over, but he was too worried about Rachel to care. Even from here, he could hear the gunfire inside the courthouse.

  He managed to get his bike stopped before crashing through the large glass doors, but only barely. He leaped off the bike, letting it fall to the pavement instead of wasting time getting the kickstand down. Then he was pushing, shoving, and fighting his way through the flood of humanity still trying to get out the main doors. He heard a growl from deep in his throat, and he prayed his fangs and claws stayed where they frigging belonged. That was all he needed, to incite even more panic by looking like a damn monster.

  But he had to admit, it was nice being a werewolf when it came to getting through the crowd. He never would have made it otherwise.

  When he finally broke through the wall of bodies, a courthouse security guard—an older guy whose wide eyes and hammering heartbeat confirmed how freaked out he was—motioned him back toward the doors.

  “We’re evacuating the building,” the man said, trying to sound authoritative. It didn’t work. He sounded as scared as all the other people running through the arch covered atrium. Knox didn’t blame him. “You need to leave.”

  Knowing that identifying himself as an employee of Direct Action Private Security wouldn’t do shit in this situation, even if his company had been hired to protect one of the city’s prosecutors, Knox instead yanked out the leather holder with the cheesy security guard badge Theo had given him when he hired him and flashed it quickly at the man.

  “Dallas SWAT!” he shouted, not even slowing down as he headed for the stairs.

  The guard looked confused, no doubt wondering why Knox wasn’t decked out in all the requisite tactical gear. The man opened his mouth to say something, but an angry growl echoed up from somewhere downstairs. The poor old guy went pale and turned to join the rush of people trying to get out of the area.

  The main stairs in the atrium didn’t lead down to the basement, so Knox ran for the door at the far end of the hall. He hit the steps, letting his nose and ears guide him downward, praying his barely developed instincts didn’t steer him wrong. He hadn’t heard any more gunshots since coming inside, but he hoped that growl meant Rachel was still alive.

  When he reached the basement level, he sprinted down the corridor, wondering where the hell his DAPS teammates were. If Rachel was in trouble, those assholes should have been here already to help. Then a disturbing thought hit him. What if the other security team had shown up and were dead?

  He pushed those thoughts aside, focusing all his efforts on finding Rachel. It wasn’t difficult to know which way to go. Even his inexperienced nose could figure out which direction the scent of burnt gunpowder was coming from. There was another scent on the air with it, tangy and metallic. He made a conscious decision to ignore what that smell might mean.

  Another growl came from a room just up ahead.

  Rachel.

  Knox ran faster.

  He had his weapon out and finger on the trigger as he entered the room, ready to do anything he had to do to protect Rachel, but what he saw froze him solid.

  Two men lay on the floor, their bodies twisted unnaturally. A third man was draped across the top of a row of filing cabinets. The dead bodies weren’t what shocked Knox, though. No, what stunned him was the amount of blood spattered around the room.

  Rachel stood in the middle of it all, her back to him as she struggled with a man he couldn’t get a good look at even though the guy had to have a good half a foot on Rachel and at least a hundred pounds. Knox started forward to help her when she let out a loud snarl and ripped the man’s throat out with her claws. Blood spray coated the nearest cabinets and wall in a fine mist of red, mixed with larger droplets that immediately began to run down every surface they landed on.

  Realizing there weren’t any more threats in the room, Knox holstered his gun. Figuring it’d be best not to startle Rachel, he opened his mouth to let her know he was here, but before he could say anything, she spun around, crouching low and growling at him, like she thought he was another enemy about to attack.

  He knew what it was like in combat, when you fell into a zone where you stopped thinking and simply reacted to things around you, so her response wasn’t surprising. Especially since her eyes were glowing red. But it was the knife sticking out of the front of her shoulder that had him more worried. The blade was sunk in at least two inches deep and had to hurt like hell.

  Knox stepped toward her without thinking.

  The claws coming his way were a blur, but he got a hand up and caught her wrist, stopped them inches from his throat. Rachel bared her teeth in a snarl.

  Shit. She’d lost it again.

  “It’s okay, Rachel,” he soothed. “It’s me—Knox.”

  He thought for a moment she might take another swing at him with her other hand, but instead, she lifted her nose and took a good sniff of him. That seemed to calm her a little, but he continued to make comforting sounds until the red glow faded from her eyes. The moment it did, all tension left Rachel’s body and she collapsed against him. Well, as much as she could with a knife sticking out of her shoulder.

  Hating to do it but reminding himself she was a werewolf, Knox pulled the knife out as gently as he could and tossed it on the floor. Then he wrapped her in his arms and held her as tears ran down her face. While she wasn’t nearly as hysterical as she’d been at her apartment last night, it tore his soul out to see her in pain all the same.

  They were still standing there a few minutes later when Diego and a female cop moved cautiously into the room. The duo took one look around before putting away their weapons. Knox recognized the tall, dark-haired woman as another werewolf from the Dallas SWAT pack, and based on previous conversations with Rachel, he was fairly sure her name was Khaki.

  Diego moved around Knox and Rachel toward the back of the room, talking softly on his radio, telling the other cops currently on their way there at high-speed to slow down, that the threat had been neutralized. When he was done, he ducked down behind a row of cabinets and came up with a semiconscious Jennifer Lloyd in his arms.

  Shit. Knox had been so concerned about Rachel he hadn’t given a single thought to the woman they were supposed to be guarding.

  “I’ll take her outside and get her checked by the paramedics. That should give you guys a few seconds to come up with something that’s going to explain al
l this.” Diego motioned with his chin at the bloody walls and mauled corpses lying around. “Good luck with that by the way.”

  As Diego walked out, Rachel pulled away to wipe the tears from her face. She still looked out of it, kind of like she had immediately following the incident at the mall and the one at the school dance. Except this time seemed worse.

  Khaki walked over to stand beside them, looking at him and Rachel expectantly. “Well, any idea how we’re going to spin this?”

  * * *

  “I told the chief and the crime techs your versions of events,” Gage said, looking from Knox to Rachel, then to her teammates Diego and Khaki. It had been an hour since the fight in the courthouse and now they were all outside by the SWAT SUV. “Including the part about how the knife brought to the scene by one of the suspects is to blame for all the damage. I’m not sure anyone believed that, but at least they’re not outright calling me a liar…yet. It helps that the DAPS security team is taking so much of the heat for supposedly not hearing your call for backup.”

  Yeah right. Knox ground his jaw. He’d talked to the guy who’d been the team leader of the DAPS security detail at the courthouse. One of Theo’s buddies, the dickweed swore their radios had never picked up Rachel’s call for help, claiming it must have been poor reception. Knox knew that was a load of crap. If he had to guess, he’d say the guys out on the loading dock had chickened out when they heard the shooting, then came up with the radio reception bullshit to cover their asses. He hadn’t mentioned his suspicions to Rachel or any of her SWAT teammates, but he’d sure as hell sent a text to Theo, letting the man know he was currently employing a bunch of cowards.

  Knox looked up when he realized Gage was still staring intently at Rachel, serious thoughts apparently rolling through his head.

  Gage pinned Rachel with a look. “I hate to do this, but you’ll be riding a desk until Internal Affairs finishes their investigation.”

  Standing beside Knox, Diego, and Khaki, Rachel groaned.

  “Desk duty?” She pushed away from the SWAT SUV she’d been leaning against. “You’re seriously taking me off the Lloyd detail after I saved Jennifer’s life?”

  Gage’s eyes flared yellow gold for a moment and the expression that crossed his face right then had Knox—and everyone else—take a step back. The guy was an alpha just like the rest of them, but after being in his rather pissed-off presence for a while, Knox could understand why all the other alphas in the Pack accepted him as their leader. The man was a little intense to say the least.

  But if the set of Rachel’s jaw was any indication, she seemed to be in the mood to challenge her alpha. Right after the ambush, she wouldn’t have been capable of it, but now, after an hour of answering questions and being interrogated over and over, she was almost back to her old self. Getting away from the bodies and all that blood had probably helped, too.

  “Yes, you saved Jennifer’s life, but can you look me in the eyes and tell me you honestly remember exactly what was going through your head as you ripped those men apart down there?” The SWAT team commander’s voice was level, but there was still a hint of anger there. “Do you even remember any of it?”

  “I got there at the end of the fight and can confirm Rachel had no choice but to kill the last one,” Knox volunteered when Rachel remained silent. “She was out of ammo and the guy had already put a knife in her shoulder.”

  The team commander leveled Knox with an expression that made him feel like he was five years old again and his grandpa had just pointed out kids were better seen and not heard.

  “I’m not questioning whether it was self-defense,” Gage said calmly before turning back to Rachel, who was currently busy staring at the cracks in the parking lot asphalt. “And I’m not trying to embarrass you, Rachel. But I’m serious when I ask if you remember what happened in that room earlier. Because based on the lack of details in your statement, something tells me a lot of parts are missing.”

  Rachel lifted her head, meeting her alpha’s eyes. “I remember going into the room and hiding Jennifer between two cabinets, then turning around to engage the four men. After that, it’s kind of a blur.”

  Knox didn’t miss the hitch in her voice. There was something she was leaving out, something she didn’t want her boss to know. Knox didn’t even want to think what it might be.

  Gage frowned. “Is this the first time that’s happened to you?”

  Rachel shook her head. “Nothing like this, but enough times that I’m thinking I should see someone about it. Diego said he’d help set something up with Dr. Delacroix.”

  Gage pinned Diego with a hard look. “You knew Rachel was having problems and you didn’t think to mention it to me?”

  Diego shrugged. “I thought the most important thing was supporting my pack mate and making sure she got help. If I thought she was a danger to herself or the team, I would have told you.”

  Knox had a newfound appreciation for Diego’s willingness to put himself between Rachel and their boss, especially since Gage’s jaw was flexing so hard it looked like he was about to grind his teeth to dust.

  “You’re right.” Gage nodded. “Getting Rachel the help she needs is the most important part.” He gave Rachel a stern look. “But that doesn’t mean I can overlook the problem now that I know it exists. Go talk to Delacroix and take all the time you need to get your head straight because I can’t put you back on duty until she gives me the all clear.”

  Rachel nodded, but Knox could see how much it bothered her to be taken off active duty. After seeing the tail end of what happened in the courthouse, he could understand Gage’s stance. Rachel needed help before it was too late.

  Gage left a little while later, taking Diego and Khaki with him and telling Rachel to take the rest of the day off.

  Knox moved closer to her as her teammates walked away. “You ready to head over to my place?”

  “Don’t you need to go into work?”

  “I’m sure Theo can live without me for a while.” He gave her a small smile. “You’re more important right now.”

  * * *

  It wasn’t even 1600—4:00 p.m.—by the time they got to his hotel, but Knox could tell Rachel was already wiped out. Between the shootout in the courthouse and the hours of questioning, followed by her boss putting her on indefinite desk duty, it had been a really long day for her. Thankfully, Diego had sent them a text as they’d been walking down the hall to the room, saying Rachel had an appointment with Delacroix tomorrow at nine in the morning.

  “If you want to take a shower and get cleaned up, I can fix us something to eat and you can crash early.” He dropped her weekender bag on the floor in the bedroom, then walked back into the living room. “You look exhausted. And before you ask, I have no problem sleeping out here on the couch. My offer didn’t come with any strings.”

  Rachel wrapped her arms around him, resting her cheek against his chest and squeezing him tightly. “Well, when I accepted your offer, it sure as hell came with strings. So, don’t think about skipping out of taking me to bed and holding me all night. It’s probably stupid, but the truth is, I only feel safe when I’m in your arms.”

  Knox couldn’t describe the sensation hearing those words created in him. It wasn’t like anything he’d ever experienced before. Figuring he’d sound like an idiot if he mentioned it, he kept the thought to himself and settled for squeezing her tighter.

  “I lied to Gage today,” Rachel whispered against the material of his shirt. “When I said that what happened at the courthouse was a blur, I mean. I actually remember almost everything.”

  He didn’t know if that was good or bad. “Is there something in particular you didn’t want him to know?”

  “I saw the clown again.” She shuddered in his arms. “I know it sounds insane—that I sound insane—but when those four men attacked, one of them turned into the clown from my nightmares. H
e looked like him, sounded like him, even smelled like him—like something dead and rotting. He was the one I shot in the face. I had to do it to shut him up. But then one of the other men turned into the clown, laughing and taunting me. But when I killed that one, it was like the clown jumped out of that guy’s body and into the last one. That’s when things did get blurry. I don’t remember how I ended up in your arms. I remember killing the last guy, then you were there.”

  Knox continued to hold her, rubbing soothing circles on her back, hoping it would make her feel better. At the same time, he wished he could make this all go away. But he didn’t know how.

  “I know you won’t believe it—heck, I don’t believe it myself—but I swear I could feel the evil in that room with me,” she said. “It only left when you got there and put your arms around me.”

  Rachel didn’t say any more and Knox didn’t ask any more questions. Taking her hand, he led her into the bathroom and helped her get her clothes off, then joined her in the shower. He spent a long time washing her hair and massaging her shoulders, suds and warm water streaming down her beautiful body. Then, when he’d rinsed her off and dried her with a towel, he carried her to bed and made love to her until she was too exhausted to think about anything.

  Chapter 12

  “You don’t have to lie on the couch unless you want to.”

  Rachel dragged her gaze away from the leather sofa against the far wall to see Dr. Hadley Delacroix smiling at her from across the big cherrywood desk that dominated the office. Rachel couldn’t help but find her amusement disarming.

  “Honestly, most people prefer to sit right where you are, and we talk like two good friends.”

  Rachel nodded and sat back a little more in the stuffed armchair in front of the desk, settling in for what she feared would be a long, painful experience. It would have also been nice if Knox could have come in with her, so he could have told the story from his perspective. But Hadley wanted to start the session with just the two of them. The one saving grace was that Hadley Delacroix didn’t fit with Rachel’s preconceived idea of what a shrink was supposed to look and act like. Instead of the dry, colorless person she’d built up in her mind, Hadley was friendly, had crazy-long fingernails painted bright fuchsia, and wore a colorful flower print dress with high heels. Even the reading glasses she wore were stylish.