Echo Falls

by McDougall, Jaime

  She bit her bottom lip and turned around to lock the door. She pressed her head against the cool wood of the door for a few moments to get her bearings. Memories of last night, so much good and then bad, flooded through her mind. And the promise she’d made. She took a calming breath and then turned to face him.

  He nodded to the knife. “Trouble?”

  She swallowed and put the knife aside. “I’m just nervous.”

  He walked over and hugged her. “I know.”

  The sudden familiarity took her by surprise, but the wolf in her couldn’t have been happier. Somehow, she’d become pack now. She didn’t need to be alone or worry about handling her problems on her own. She had someone: her pack leader.

  And he had her. She could feel the need in him, the need for something real and strong. A piece of his life had been taken away and now he needed to feel something and know he had a reason to live. She knew those feelings all too well.

  He cleared his throat and stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck. Without thinking, she stepped forward and put her hands on his arms.

  He caressed her cheek with his knuckles. “I’ll make some coffee.”

  Her lips parted slightly as she tried to think of something to say, but her mind remained blank. The wolf was no help, feeling completely content. Feeling the wolf, she blushed and clamped down on that part of her as she sat down on a stool.

  She watched him grab two mugs and milk out of the refrigerator. He may have had a smile for her, but now he looked grim and tired.

  I should tell you about Liam, she thought. I should tell you that it’s my fault Thomas died, that I’m scared and I don’t know what to do. I should ask you for your help. I should tell you everything. She sighed and closed her eyes. No, not now. Not today when he’d already been through so much.

  The jug clicked off, breaking her out of her thoughts. He poured milk and then the steaming water into the waiting mugs. He smirked at her as he stirred both with spoons at the same time.

  “Such talent being wasted as a police officer,” she said.

  “Naturally.”

  “How does such a busy policeman have time to cook for me?”

  “Who said I was cooking?” he asked.

  She arched her eyebrow.

  He pushed a mug toward her and then leaned forward. “About a month back, Inspector Grant said I either take a couple months leave or think of a new career. Up until last night, I was on leave.”

  “Stress?”

  He looked at his coffee. “I lost my temper at the first murder scene. The victim was just a teenager. A bright kid who’d only just been bitten. He died the day he was going to have his first run with the pack. I got mad. My wolf got mad. I started searching for a scent. Will and…” He swallowed. “Will and Thomas stopped me before I made a fool of myself, but not before Grant decided I needed time off.”

  “But now?”

  He straightened. “Now I’m back on the case. For Thomas.”

  Another upsetting topic. Great. Maybe she could go three for three.

  “So you aren’t meant to be working?” she asked, sitting on a stool and watching him. He looked like he hadn’t slept at all and the way he squinted in the morning light told her that at least a few of his sleepless hours had been spent drinking. She would have thought the light stubble on his face incredibly sexy if it hadn’t meant that he’d been too distracted to bother about caring for himself.

  “Grant put me back on the case.” Despite the good news, he sounded cynical at best. “We’re no further on the case than we were and now Thomas is gone. Someone is taking down werewolves, and they’re starting on pack.” His lips formed a thin line as he tapped his knuckles on the counter.

  “How did you get my number?” she asked, eyeing him over her mug.

  He arched his eyebrow at the change of subject and then shrugged. “You gave it to me.”

  “No I didn’t.”

  “You gave me your card. Your card has your number on it.”

  She blinked. “Oh.”

  She stared back down at her mug. Foiled again. Who needed a fun stalker when you had a crazy one after you? Not that she could ever really think of Aidan as a stalker – even a ‘fun’ one. He had more important things on his mind and so should she. She wondered if she could ask him about weapons shops without arousing his suspicions. Maybe some sort of hunting and fishing place, though she might need a license to –

  “Phoebe.”

  She looked up. “Yeah?”

  “The pack meets every full moon for a run.”

  The wolf perked up and, in the absence of a tail, Phoebe began to swing her foot back and forth.

  He cleared his throat. “Thomas’s funeral is on Thursday, but I don’t think it’s safe for us to meet together as a group in public. Most of us will meet early on Friday to say a few words. I’d like you to be there.”

  Guilt washed over her and she lowered her gaze.

  “I didn’t know him,” she said softly.

  “You did. And you are pack. He would have wanted you there as part of us.” He studied her face. “If that’s what you want.”

  She looked at him, silently debating. On one hand, being part of a pack had many more advantages than disadvantages. On the other, if she hadn’t come to Echo Falls, Thomas would still be alive along with three other young werewolves. She dreaded anyone finding that out – especially Mia. Mia would feel like her birthday and Christmas had come all at once if she did.

  She shook her head. “I don’t think I’d be welcome.”

  He reached over and held her hand. “If I welcome you, then you’re welcome. Will, Elle and I will be there. You’ll always have someone you know around you.”

  She looked at their hands. In that moment, it wasn’t about the shadow of her past looming over them that bothered her. She feared losing herself to the wolf. At least by containing herself every full moon, her human side maintained a constant measure of control. As a free wolf, the situation reversed: her human self in the background wanting and wishing and the wolf ultimately deciding.

  With the wolf making the decisions, she knew only one thing for sure: she couldn’t trust herself around Aidan.

  “I’ll stay near you, if that’s what you want,” he said quietly.

  His voice became deeper and rougher. In the back of her mind, she wondered if he struggled with his inner wolf as well. When she met his gaze, she could see flecks of yellow appearing in his eyes.

  Are my eyes the same?

  “I want to run with you,” she said suddenly, surprising them both. “For Thomas.” Her voice had also taken on a darker quality, making it sound slightly foreign even to her. Her heart beat a slow, intense rhythm in her chest as the world around them faded away.

  He began to caress her hand with his thumb. The sensation sent shivers up her arm. With her free hand, she ran her fingertips around the rim of her mug.

  Suddenly he let go of her hand and she couldn’t stop herself from letting out a small whine. He reached in his pocket, took his phone out and turned it off. Then he looked at her, a slow smile lighting up his face.

  She blushed, giggles building up in her chest. No interruptions.

  He took their mugs and put them in the sink before turning toward her. She got off the stool and tried to quiet the rampaging butterflies in her stomach. He walked over to her, slowly drawing her into his arms.

  “I care about you, Phoebe Martin,” he said. “Probably more than I should.”

  She nodded as she looked up at him. “Probably.”

  “I look at you and I see a mysterious and incredibly beautiful woman. Smart. Strong.”

  She took a deep breath. Think! Think of something logical. Say something logical. Or say something… Anything!

  “Okay,” was all she could come up with.

  “I’m going to kiss you now,” he whispered.

  She nodded again.

  He chuckled, unwrapping his arms from around her and then placing h
is hands lightly on her cheeks. She blushed all the more, closing her eyes as he leaned closer. His lips brushed against hers, gentle but with intention. She pressed herself against him and he responded in kind, pressing his lips strongly against hers and moving his hands back down to wrap around her.

  A moan built up in her, starting deep within her chest before she finally gave it voice. Her moan urged him on as he tangled his fingers in her hair. She parted his lips with her tongue, igniting a hunger within.

  He broke off the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers. His warm breath tossed around her messy hair. “Phoebe…”

  She said nothing and they stood there for a while, arms around each other. Both the human and the wolf were in sync with what they wanted just then, and they could sense it about him and his wolf as well. The call of a sweet release tempted her forward.

  But she couldn’t. Not yet.

  Finally, she leaned back a little and looked at him. “Would you like to be my date for a wedding?”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Aidan growled with a mixture of desire and satisfaction as he looked at Phoebe’s closed apartment door. Though they hadn’t discussed it with words, they both agreed that the activities they’d rather be doing probably weren’t the best things to be doing just now.

  And well enough. Part of him wanted to lose himself to the world – get lost in her – just to kill the horrible open pit in his stomach that had been there since he’d gotten the call about Thomas. But he wanted his time with Phoebe to be about her and him, not a means to an end. She deserved more than that, and, frankly, Thomas’s memory deserved more than Aidan trying to escape it.

  Thomas would be laughing at him right now, were he alive. He’d be calling Aidan a fool for not sweeping Phoebe up and exploring every beautiful inch of her while he had the chance. But Thomas could no longer say the words and Aidan wanted answers.

  He left the building and turned on his phone. He’d missed a call from Will. Probably wondering where he was, judging by the time. He sent Will a text letting him know he was on his way and then drove to Sophie’s.

  Will sat in their usual booth facing the door, opposite a man with black, curly hair. Aidan walked over and sat beside Will, keenly feeling the lack of Thomas’s presence. He shook the hand of the man who introduced himself as only ‘Axel’. He had steely grey eyes and a large, old scar running from his right temple to the corner of his mouth.

  “I’ve updated Axel about the specifics in the case,” Will said. He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest.

  Though Axel had been Will’s connection, Will still didn’t like the idea of letting the stranger in on the case. But they both knew that only Axel could confirm that a Hunter had killed Thomas and the others. And only Axel could tell them how to get rid of the problem.

  “And?” Aidan asked.

  Axel scratched his nose. “You have a Hunter.”

  Aidan exchanged looks with Will and then back at Axel. “There’s no doubt?”

  Axel yawned.

  “Okay,” Aidan said. “We have a Hunter. What do we do about him?”

  Axel rubbed along his scar with his ring finger, frowning. Aidan wondered if he’d demand money or something else in exchange for the information. That’s how most lone wolves operated. They tracked and took down people like Hunters for money, favors and safe travel. He’d never met one personally until now, but the alpha before him had dealt with a few.

  “I need a smoke,” Axel said finally.

  Will, already familiar with Axel’s preferences, pulled a pack of cigarette papers and a bag of tobacco from his jacket pocket and slid them across the table. Axel arched his eyebrow and nodded. He then opened the packets and began to roll a cigarette.

  “I don’t remove Hunters anymore. Your choices are to do it yourself or hire someone else. The closest one I know can probably be here in a week if she isn’t busy.” Aidan and Will must have looked hopeful because Axel shook his head. “The full moon is in three nights. Your Hunter is going to try something before then.”

  “How do you know?” Will asked.

  He ignored Will and looked at Aidan. “Either he kills again by the full moon, or he’s being sloppy and playing games with one of your wolves. Check with your pack. Ask if anyone has been followed or received gifts.”

  “I would know,” Aidan said, his voice holding a warning.

  “Hunters don’t wander into a town for no reason,” he said, eyeing Aidan. “Especially not a place like Echo Falls. They hunt. Your Hunter followed someone here. My guess is that he’s still hunting that one wolf.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  After Aidan left, Phoebe took a long shower. Her great announcement to her apartment the night before that she wouldn’t run anymore left her feeling… nothing. Surely there should have been relief or a feeling like she could take on the world. Yet she felt like she’d decided to go with the blue cloth napkins instead of the green; the decision had been made but nothing had changed.

  She stepped out of the shower and pushed thoughts of Liam away. They would only lead her in circles.

  Wrapping her towel around her body, she walked back to the kitchen, started the jug for coffee and opened the newspaper to the commercial real estate section.

  Before all the nightmares and the running, she’d been about to put money down on a small office for her business. With a beautiful front window, simple but elegant front room and a back room that only needed a coat of paint, it would have become the perfect studio. The dream of that particular office had faded, but she hoped she would find an even better one. Perhaps one with a room she could turn into a private office.

  The paper yielded a few good prospects, and she decided to take the day off to go look at them. In the back of her mind, she hoped the acts of normalcy would free the rest of her mind to come up with a solution for Liam.

  Liam. She thought his name but didn’t dare whisper it. To utter it out loud would bring him crashing down her. Not that not saying it would protect her. He’d made it clear that he’d found her. She could only wait until he decided what he wanted to do next.

  That is, unless she got to him first. Right now, he assumed she would try to run, like she’d done every time before. He couldn’t expect that she’d decided to make a stand and had chosen Echo Falls as the place to do it. She had to use that to her advantage.

  She grabbed a sticky note from her desk and stuck it on the paper. She’d written down the addresses of places that sold hunting gear as well as a couple kitchen supply stores. If all else failed, a few sharpened paring knives would have to do.

  When she walked out of her apartment that afternoon, she felt better than she had in a long time, hopeful even. She stopped just before she stepped on the thorny stem of a black rose. Her heart slammed in her chest as she looked around, even though she knew in her gut he wouldn’t be there. She picked up the rose and opened the note tied to it with black ribbon.

  ‘Tsk, tsk, tsk. Whore.’

  Her stomach heaved and she screwed her eyes shut as if doing so would make the note go away.

  Liam knew about Aidan. And he’d been outside her door while she’d been reading the newspaper.

  Somehow he’d watched them together, maybe even passing Aidan in the hall as Aidan left. He knew Aidan had been in her apartment and may have even listened in on their conversation. Liam wouldn’t be at all happy about that. How would he punish her? Would he hurt Aidan? Why had she been so careless?

  “Damn!” she yelled, slamming her fist against the door frame. The rose, as fresh and crisp as if it had been cut that morning, pricked her finger. Only then did she notice that the end of the stem had been carefully cut to a point as well.

  A small drop of blood welled up on her fingertip as she looked at it. The wolf surged forward in her mind, making her gasp. The wolf wanted a fight. The wolf wanted to stalk Liam, hunt him and take him down. Being prey for so long had worn her down, but she had taken it because her human side wasn’t re
ady to survive.

  Now she’d accepted a pack and a home. The time had come to defend it. The call for the hunt flowed through her and she tossed the rose on the floor, crushing it with her foot.

  “Screw you, Liam,” she said softly and tossed the broken rose aside.

  Later that day, Phoebe shouldered her shopping bag as she stood outside a brick office building and checked the paper one more time to make sure she had the address right. She hadn’t been planning on actually looking at offices, but something defiant in her wouldn’t be satisfied until she did. The first two places had left her disappointed, one being on the very outskirts on the opposite side of town to her apartment – which prompted her to buy a full city map on the way back – and the other place looked like it hadn’t seen a ray of sunshine, a decent paint job or a human inhabitant since the 1970s.

  She wouldn’t have stopped at the third office if it hadn’t been going for such a good rental rate at the perfect place in town – a block away from Sophie’s café and a few blocks away from the police station. Safety, food and a prominent place where plenty of foot traffic would wander by. She couldn’t have asked for a better place. At least, on the outside. The storefront window had a curtain behind it that hid any view of the inside. She traced her fingers over the carefully painted “For Rent” followed by a phone number on the glass.

  “You really shouldn’t bother. You won’t be living in Echo Falls for much longer.”

  Phoebe turned around and saw Mia regarding her with an expression of amused pity. Phoebe barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes, settling with a deep calming breath instead.

  “Mia.”

  “Bebe. You and I need to talk.”

  “It’s Phoebe, and I don’t think so,” Phoebe said and tried to move past her.

  She held her arm out in front of Phoebe, placing her hand on the window. “But I do.”