Five Weeks (Seven Series #3)

by Dannika Dark

  “I’ll lock her up in my room.”

  Austin slammed his door. “Absolutely not. My priority is to protect my pack. I’m sorry, brother, but Isabelle is not my pack. Lynn and Maizy are. She was getting on my good side, but this just took her down a few notches. This could do more than damage our reputation; it could break apart our pack.”

  Jericho cursed and opened the bed of the truck. Isabelle’s wolf was barking out of control, and he needed to calm her down. That meant stabilizing her crate and taking her somewhere safe. Reno had stayed behind with the girls to take care of the trailer—he knew a few cleaners who worked independently and, for a hefty fee, wouldn’t report their findings to the Council.

  Austin helped him with the crate and they set it down in the dirt. A few crickets were chirping in the darkness, and Jericho glanced at a silhouette standing in the window.

  “So you want us to sit out here in the dark?”

  Austin slammed the bed of the truck closed. “You got it. Don’t go anywhere near the house. I called Lynn earlier and told her to keep the doors locked up tight so Maizy doesn’t wander outside. She likes wolves but she’s too young to realize she can’t run up to a rogue. Find a soft patch of grass and camp out for the night.” Austin returned to the front of the truck. “I need to head back. After we clean up the mess your girlfriend caused, we’re going to stick around, have a few beers, and listen to some music. Then we’re coming back to deal with this. You’re lucky the music was loud enough to drown out the drama. Maybe the wind was in our favor. Who the hell knows.”

  “Pass the word to my band that the show is off.” Jericho felt like crap about it, but what could he do?

  “Doubt it,” Austin replied, getting back in the truck. He slammed the door and rested his forearm on the edge of the open window. “Have you heard Trevor sing? He went up there for kicks and played a blues number. Girls went crazy. As did a few men,” he said with a comical grin.

  Jericho turned his back and lifted the heavy crate, causing every muscle he owned to flex and harden.

  Austin’s truck kicked up dirt as he headed down the road and back to the festival. Just another night for the Weston pack. They didn’t bat an eyelash at this kind of drama, but the humans who lived in their house had a tougher time wrapping their heads around the perils of the Breed world.

  He found a nice spot under a tree with a soft patch of grass. Jericho knelt down and opened the cage, speaking in a mellow voice. Isabelle’s wolf sprang out and then circled around, sniffing her surroundings and nervously eyeing him. The blood had dried on her white fur, more noticeable around her muzzle.

  “It’s fine, baby. We’re home.” He fell on his back and stared up at the sky, kicking off his shoes. How could decades ago feel like yesterday and another lifetime all at once?

  Isabelle nestled beside him, tucking her muzzle on his shoulder and licking his ear. They fell back into a familiar groove, and he hummed the song he’d sung to her earlier at the concert, hoping that would draw her out. Isabelle was in there somewhere, even though she wouldn’t remember this. But there was a way you could talk a person out of their animal and coax them to shift.

  What bothered him was her reluctance. An hour went by, and while her wolf trotted around and checked out the property, she didn’t show any signs of tiring. Jericho could usually sit it out—the animal needed their time to run free, but Isabelle had shifted that morning and it wasn’t like her wolf to take control.

  Jericho pulled out his phone and punched Reno’s number.

  “Reno.”

  “Hey, you got a second?”

  “What’s up?”

  Jericho paced in a circle. “I need to know what happened in that trailer between Isabelle and their attacker. What did April say?”

  “She said he was looking for drugs and money. He worked for someone Hawk dealt with.”

  “Did he know about Hawk being dead?”

  “Yeah, she overheard that part of the convo,” Reno said, out of breath. The music in the phone began to fade, and it sounded as if he were distancing himself from the crowd. “April knows who the ringleader is.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The guy said a name—Delgado. That’s the same sonofabitch who sent one of his lackeys after April. He’s a loan shark, but it looks like he has his finger in all kinds of pies. Drugs, for one. I know for a fact he’s been buying up strip clubs in town. Breed clubs.”

  “So he’s human,” Jericho said, wiping a few blades of grass off his arm.

  “Yeah, that’s problematic. He put his finger in the wrong fucking pie, but we can’t do a damn thing because he’s human, and he knows it. Delgado has other men do his dirty work and stays out of sight. That’s how the big boys like to operate.”

  “Why does he think Isabelle has Hawk’s stash?”

  Reno’s voice sounded tired. “Guess they did a search and couldn’t find it. You better check your girl out; she might know where it is.”

  Jericho turned around and looked at her wolf pawing a hole in the dirt. “She doesn’t know.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Look, Reno, I know this girl like the back of my hand. She would have done the right thing if she knew because that’s the kind of girl she is. But if we don’t give that asshole what he’s looking for, he’s going to keep coming back for her until I kill him. You can tell Austin we’ll sleep outside tonight, but if he tosses her on the street because of this shit, I’m going with her. That’s a done deal.”

  “Hold up—”

  Jericho hung up the phone and sat on his knees. “Come here, Isabelle.”

  She trotted over and nuzzled against his chin, licking his mouth.

  “If you want to make out with me, you’re going to have to shift.” He stroked her face and looked deep into her green eyes. “Come on, baby. We’ll figure this out together. I’m not going anywhere and neither are you. I know you’re freaking out in there and that’s why your she-devil wolf is on the prowl, but she’s not going to fix your problems, and you can’t hide from them forever. Maybe you’re scared. After what just happened with Hawk, I don’t blame you. But you need to trust me.”

  Her wolf sat down and cocked her head. Yeah, something was wrong. Isabelle had a badass wolf, but she’d never been stubborn with him. She also wasn’t acting herself. Usually her wolf liked to dig in the dirt and roll around, but she stayed calm and almost protective of Jericho as she turned her back and kept her eyes sharp and alert.

  Jericho glanced back at the house and saw Lynn had switched off the lights.

  Maybe Isabelle was mad at him and not ready to come out. When he’d ditched her to make a run to town, he didn’t have any concerns about leaving her alone. She wasn’t a child. That human stood no chance against her wolf, but he wondered if Isabelle had fought him in human form. That seed planted in his head and made his wolf stir with anger. He surged to his feet, wiping the dirt off his pants. What he really wanted to do was take care of her problems by finding the piece of shit who went by the name Delgado.

  Isabelle had been through enough, subjected to the worst kind of betrayal by an asshole boyfriend she’d thought she could trust.

  Then again, who was Jericho to talk? He had turned his back on their friendship for drugs and women.

  He clenched his fists and paced. They better have taken care of everything with the dead human, because killing a human was against the law. Self-defense had to be proven, and no one had found a weapon on the body. The higher authority could arrest Isabelle and charge her with murder.

  The protective instinct was too powerful to resist, and Jericho’s wolf emerged.

  Chapter 20

  My back itched. When I rolled to my side, I could feel blades of grass stuck to my skin. I squinted as the morning light pierced my eyes like a reckoning, and I shielded my face with my arm.

  There I was, lying naked in front of the Weston pack’s house. Super.

  When I sat up and twisted around, Denver wav
ed from a chair on the front porch.

  All I could think about was my uncontrollable craving for popcorn. Every wolf had a different craving after shifting back to human form, and nobody could explain why. I once knew a girl who had a thing for green olives, and a Shifter I’d met up in Topeka had an expensive craving for caviar. He told me he’d never eaten caviar, and it took eight years after he’d gone through the change before he finally figured out what his body desired. Someone offered him an appetizer at a fancy party and after one small bite, he recognized a flavor he’d never tasted before. Who knows? Maybe we’ve all led past lives.

  My craving was popcorn, but specifically cheese popcorn. I licked my lips.

  “Craving?” Denver said with a snicker. He popped a knuckle and then swatted at a gnat.

  I dusted the grass from the back of my thigh and rubbed dirt off my face. “Can you get me something to put on? Where’s Jericho? What happened?”

  He stood up and took a few steps, tossing me a dress. It looked like something Ivy would wear—strapless cotton the color of chocolate. I slipped it on while Denver took a bottle of bubbles from the porch step and set them on a table by the door.

  “It looks like Jericho took off. Austin called and said not to let you in the house. I came home as soon as I got off work. You’ve got a mean wolf, Izzy.”

  “I’ve heard.” I tied the little strings around the waist and wiped more blades of grass, which had left imprints on my skin, off my arm. After I got myself together, I walked up the steps onto the porch.

  The front door swung open and Maizy ran outside, as vibrant and full of spirit as any girl of six or seven. Her blond hair swung in two little ponytails, and she had on a pair of jean overalls and a pink shirt.

  “Denny, can I come outside now? The lady isn’t naked anymore.”

  I quietly laughed. Denver rubbed his chin and looked over at her from his chair, his dirty-blond hair disheveled. “Did you eat breakfast, Peanut?”

  “Yep,” she said, taking a seat beside him. I noticed how she imitated the way Denver was sitting—her right leg stretched out, leaning on her left arm.

  “And what did you eat?”

  “Um…”

  “Get inside and eat some cereal. Then you can come out and play.”

  She stuck out her pink bottom lip. “But I want to be outside with you.”

  He relaxed his posture and smiled at her. “Don’t make me the bad guy. You get inside and eat three pieces of bacon and toast.”

  “But I’m not hungry.”

  He looked thoughtfully at the clouds and leaned forward. “Looks like a good day for ice cream, but it’s too damn hot.”

  She looked up at him hopefully. “No it’s not.”

  “Maybe if you cool off with some orange juice and a few pieces of bacon, I might think about it.”

  She bolted out of the chair and beamed at him with the most endearing smile. “You mean it?”

  He frowned. “You want a strawberry cone or not, little girl? Skedaddle!”

  Maizy squealed and ran back inside.

  “And don’t forget the toast!” he yelled at the door.

  “You’re good with kids,” I said, taking the empty spot to his right. “Even though you’re kind of a dickhead with adults.”

  “Hey, I gave you a dress.” He combed back his hair and settled his indigo eyes on me.

  “Yeah, but how long did you sit on this porch staring at my ass?”

  “I’m pleading the fifth.” His eyes darted toward the road. “Here they come now. Have fun with that. I need to grab something to eat,” Denver said, standing up.

  At the end of the private road, a cloud of dust swirled behind a black Dodge Challenger and a vintage motorcycle. I swallowed hard and tried to remember the last thing that had happened. It was…

  “Oh my God, is April okay?”

  “She’s fine. That’s her on the back of the bike.”

  I buried my face in my hands. “Oh, hell’s bells. I almost had a heart attack.”

  “I’m taking you to work in a little while, after Austin has the ugly talk with you.”

  “Work?”

  “Yeah. Feel free to get fired if you want, but I happen to know your shift starts in a few hours. I talked to Rosie and she said there’s an extra T-shirt and pair of shorts in the dressing room. I didn’t explain why you needed them.” The door slammed as Denver went inside.

  That’s how Shifters rolled. We dealt with drama and soldiered on. Even the trusted humans among our kind rarely related to our lifestyle, so I was surprised to see how well some of them were getting along within the Weston pack.

  As soon as the black car prowled to the parking area on my right, Austin got out and stalked toward the house. He lifted his arm and pointed at me.

  “You, away from the house. Now.”

  My stomach did a flip-flop.

  “Austin, wait!” Lexi ran up beside him. Fury colored his face, and the power in his alpha voice compelled me to get off my rear and do as he said.

  “Lexi, stay out of it. This is between the Packmaster and—”

  “Austin,” she hissed. “Don’t you pull that alpha shit on me.”

  There was a little standoff between them, and my brows popped up, not having seen many women talk back to a Packmaster in front of the pack. Lexi was tough, definitely an alpha female. After she narrowed her eyes and he folded his arms, she conceded defeat and stormed past him.

  He playfully popped her on the behind. “We’ll kiss and make up later, Ladybug.”

  She slammed the door. Austin caught my arm, helping me down the steps and toward the tree with the wooden swing. When he motioned for me to sit in it, I obliged.

  Behind him, April warily looked in our direction as she joined Lexi inside. Reno headed our way, and I began to feel outnumbered and a little confused.

  “Did anyone tell you what happened?” Austin asked.

  I shook my head, gripping the rope tightly.

  “You killed a human in Jericho’s trailer.” He slid his jaw from side to side. “What happened before you shifted?”

  I took a deep breath, and Reno tossed his helmet to the ground. He was wearing the same button-up blue shirt as the previous night, his short brown hair neatly combed. Austin, on the other hand, had messy hair and a wrinkled white tank top.

  “April stopped by because she’d lost track of Reno, and we started talking. Then this guy shows up at the door, pounding on it to get in. I told April to hide in the bathroom, and he forced his way inside.”

  Austin folded his arms. “Who was he?”

  “He works for Delgado—the guy Hawk was selling drugs for. I found out Hawk was taking an extra cut by jacking up the prices on the drugs he was selling. Now Delgado wants the money and the drugs.”

  “Then give it to him.”

  I laughed and threw my head back. “That would be so easy, if I actually knew where he stashed them. I’d happily give it over because I could care less about any of it. I just want this guy off my back.”

  “You sure about that?”

  I stared at the cleft in his chin and realized what he was implying. “The money means nothing to me. You could shred it into ribbons and I wouldn’t care. I’d never put Jericho or any of you in danger on purpose.”

  Austin and Reno looked at each other. “She’s telling the truth,” Austin murmured.

  “This Delgado has been a problem,” Reno stated matter-of-factly. “He’s a human, but he’s knee-deep in the Breed world. He got a taste of our money, and he’s been buying up local Breed clubs.”

  “Shit,” Austin breathed.

  Reno pulled his sunglasses off and tucked them in the collar of his shirt. “He’s trouble, and we can’t do jack about it.”

  “Yeah, that’s a problem if he’s human. It makes him untouchable unless we can get human law enforcement involved.”

  “Which gets them involved in our business,” Reno emphasized. “Then we’ll have to deal with the higher author
ity.”

  No one wanted the higher authority meddling in Shifter business. They weren’t a governing body of Breed law—more like judge, jury, and executioner.

  Denver strolled barefoot across the lawn, wearing a baggy orange shirt and a pair of jeans. His hair was still messy, and he looked indifferent to the crisis unfolding as he munched on a bowl of cereal.

  “’Sup?” he asked with a mouthful. “Is she still being a stubborn bitch?”

  “What can I do to help?” I stood up from the swing, still holding on to the ropes. “I didn’t mean to bring this to your doorstep, but tell me what to do and I’ll make it right.”

  Austin stuffed his hands in his pockets and paced in a small circle, staring at his shoes. “If he thinks you have the drugs and money, then Hawk hid them somewhere. You need to find them. I don’t have time to be chasing down a human.”

  I gazed up at the tree and watched the leaves shake in the light breeze. “I’ll give the house another search, I guess. And the house you found me in,” I said with a shiver, not wanting to go back and see that room again.

  “Denver will take you to work. After your shift, Reno will—”

  “Uh, hold up,” Reno said in a private voice. “I got a thing planned with April tonight.”

  “Can’t it wait?”

  A smile appeared. “No.”

  Austin tipped his head to the side. “Whatever it is, this is more important.”

  Reno stood his ground and threw back his shoulders. “I ain’t gonna church it up for you; I have a date with my woman, and she bought sex lingerie. Would you make Lexi wait? Yeah, didn’t think so.”

  Denver snorted, and milk dribbled down his chin. “Don’t you mean sexy lingerie?”

  Reno snapped his head around and glared at Denver. “No, because as soon as she puts it on, we’re gonna be having sex.”

  Denver wiped his chin. “Might be hard to have sex with all that fabric on.”

  “Look—” Reno began, pointing his finger.

  “Cut it out,” Austin said tersely. “I don’t have time for this shit. Fine. You get a free pass, but the next time I need you for something, Reno, you’ll do it. Get a hold of Wheeler. Tell him when Izzy gets off work. I want him to go with her to the locations.” Then he turned his eyes toward me. “I cleaned up your mess last night, and in case you haven’t figured it out, your wolf leveled that human with one bite. I figure my helping you out makes us square for the call you made that saved Wheeler’s life. Wheeler won’t be getting involved—he’s just going to keep an eye on you.”