Grave Origins

by Lori Drake

  Joey nodded and looked out the window at the darkened landscape sliding by. “Yeah. If we can find her.”

  “I have an idea about that.” He kissed her hand again.

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. Now that I’m here, I can try to find her on the astral plane.”

  Joey straightened in her seat. “What are you waiting for?”

  He laughed. “Well, to not be driving, for one. And I don’t like to do it in a moving car anyway, you know that. I’ll do it when we get to the hotel, while you and Ben pack up. Once we find her, we’ll get the hell out of here.”

  Joey bit her lip. “What about the Wenatchee pack?”

  “What about them?”

  “If Owen killed Lewis, we can’t just let him get away with it. Not that we don’t already have enough problems to deal with.”

  He grimaced. “Yeah, about that…”

  He told her about Leta tipping the cops off and them finding Brandon’s body while looking for Kate’s. Joey didn’t know it was possible for her stomach to sink any lower. But she shoved this information aside with a sigh. “I think for now we need to focus on the problem in front of us. Find Maria. Exonerate her, if we can, and make sure we don’t leave the Wenatchee pack in bad hands.”

  “What are their options, if Owen is guilty?”

  Joey frowned thoughtfully. What were their options if Owen was guilty? The pack wasn’t exactly teeming with alphas. “The women are all betas. I have no idea about Kyle, because I haven’t managed to meet him yet. Max is an alpha, and I think Gerald is… but he’s got issues. Vince-like issues. That’s why they have the cage in the basement, for when he loses control.”

  Chris’s brows shot up. “Really? That’s odd, encountering two wolves with that condition in such quick succession. But I may have a lead on a solution. Sara knows of a ritual that may help. We just need a witch to help her with the magical side of it.”

  “And a way to convince Jon to let her anywhere near them?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, that too. We might be able to talk him into it as long as Vince is restrained.”

  “Well, if Gerald can be, uh, fixed… that might be a better solution than leaving the pack in Max’s hands.” Joey reflected on what she knew about Max, past and present. He’d come off as a bit of a playboy when they’d met, and that impression hadn’t changed a ton with their recent reacquaintance, especially in light of the antics that resulted in his estrangement from his family and previous pack. “Unless he’s changed a lot in the last few years—and I don’t get the impression he has—he wouldn’t be a great Alpha, and I don’t think he even wants to be.”

  “Maybe he’ll surprise you.” He squeezed her hand again.

  “I could use a pleasant surprise right about now.”

  She sighed and rubbed her temples, then leaned against the headrest and closed her eyes. Her dealings with shaky pack leadership had made her wary of power vacuums.

  The last thing they needed was to bring home a bunch of strays.

  24

  Chris lay back on the lumpy motel mattress and gazed up at the water-spotted ceiling. “Nice place you found here…”

  “Ugh, don’t get me started.” Joey stood at the foot of the bed with her duffel bag, tucking neatly folded clothes inside. Her uncanny ability to make a lot of things fit in a compact space was something he’d always envied. “There’s some stupid festival going on. It’s tourist central here. This is the best we could do. We were lucky we didn’t all have to share one room.”

  Chuckling, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly as he willed his body to relax. His thumb twitched, rubbing the ring on his finger unconsciously. Even though he knew Cathy’s charm worked like, well, a charm, he was always wary of leaving his body unattended.

  “I won’t be long,” he said. “Stay close, okay?”

  “I’m not going anywhere. I might even curl up beside you if you take too long.”

  He took another deep breath, swelling his chest and stomach, and when he released it, he willed himself up and out of his body. When he opened his eyes, the world had gone gray. Not entirely monochrome, but as if someone had turned the contrast down on the world and everything had a bit of a gray wash to it. It took him a few moments to orient himself. He watched Joey pack while he did, love for her swelling in his chest. With it came fear and anxiety. What if the police managed to cobble together enough evidence to link him to Brandon’s murder? What if Jon wasn’t able to prevent a conviction? What if Joey had to handle both packs, on her own? She was strong, but there was only so much weight her slim shoulders could carry.

  He didn’t need to breathe on the astral realm, but he went through the motions of a calming breath nonetheless and did his best to tamp the emotions down. They flowed so much more freely in this place, but he knew how to control them. He’d had a lot of practice since coming into his ability the previous year.

  Did I tell Joey that my birth mother was an astral walker?

  The last few days had been so eventful that he wasn’t sure. He put a bookmark on that thought and turned his focus to Maria. He formed an image of her in his mind. Her dark hair, the dimple in one cheek when she smiled. Her grace and poise that almost rivaled Joey’s. Almost. He closed his eyes and zeroed in on her, and when he opened them, he was standing in a dark, windowless room. One benefit of the astral realm was that he didn’t need light to see. The room looked to be some sort of workshop. A long workbench dominated one wall, above which hung all manner of tools. There was a big circular saw, a table saw, and a half-assembled bookcase up on a pair of sawhorses. Pieces of wood leaned against the walls, and sawdust littered the floor. He didn’t see Maria at first, because she was half underneath the workbench. She was either sleeping or unconscious, covered in a blanket with her head on a pillow.

  There was no immediate indication that she was a prisoner, but it seemed like an odd location for a nap. Then again, if she was hiding out, it was certainly an out-of-the-way spot.

  Muffled voices stole Chris’s attention from his missing packmate, and he drifted across the room and through the wall to find two men standing outside. One of them was Owen, but he didn’t recognize the other guy, who was a few inches taller, with shaggy brownish hair. Shaggy shifted his weight back and forth between his feet, his shoulders hunched as he shot furtive glances at a nearby house. It didn’t look familiar to Chris from this angle, but if Owen was there… the odds were good it was the ranch house.

  “…can’t keep her here indefinitely,” Shaggy said as Chris tuned in.

  “Relax. I’ve got everything under control,” Owen said.

  Shaggy threw up his hands, his eyes wild. “You call this under control? Lewis is dead, man. Dead!”

  “Keep your voice down, unless you want the whole pack out here.” Owen shot a wary glance in the direction of the house.

  “Well, maybe they should be!”

  Owen grabbed Shaggy and shoved him against the side of the shed, eyes glittering darkly. “You may want to reconsider that position, brother.”

  Chris glanced between them, wondering if that was in the figurative or literal sense. They didn’t look anything alike, so he assumed the former. He continued to watch as Shaggy shrank back against the wall, cowering.

  “I can’t do this, not again.”

  Owen leaned in. “I’m not asking you to do anything but keep your mouth shut. Can you do that, or are we going to have a problem?”

  Shaggy wet his lips and kept his gaze lowered. “N-n-no problem.”

  Owen released him, stepping back. “Good. Keep her docile. Up the dosage if you have to. I’ll move her as soon as I deal with this mess.”

  As Owen turned on his heel to stalk away, Shaggy slid down the side of the building to sit with his knees to his chest and his arms curled around them. Wetness glistened on his cheeks. His lips moved, but his words were so soft that Chris couldn’t make them out. He leaned down and put his ear right in front of Shaggy’s m
outh.

  “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry. Please forgive me, Meghan.” He repeated the words like a mantra, whispered under his breath.

  A flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye brought Chris’s head up again, and for the briefest moment he saw a woman that could’ve been Maria’s twin but for her short hair and rounded belly beneath a pale hospital gown. His eyes widened in shock, but before he could really process what was in front of him, the woman vanished.

  Chris popped back to his body and sat up so quickly that he nearly gave himself whiplash. “Meghan.”

  Sitting on the bed beside him, Joey reached for his hand. “Meghan?”

  Chris blinked slowly a few times, then turned to face Joey. “I saw her.”

  Her eyes widened. “With Maria?”

  “Yes. No. Not exactly. I mean…” He rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. “Her ghost. I saw her ghost. Briefly.”

  “Well, maybe that means we can get some answers out of her after all. What about Maria? Did you find Maria?”

  “Yeah. She’s at the ranch, I think. Being held in some sort of wood shop. Drugged. Owen was there, and another man. Not Max.”

  Joey’s eyes had narrowed at the mention of the wood shop. “Shaggy brown hair, tallish and thin?”

  “Yeah. Is that Gerald?”

  She shook her head, mouth twisted in a grimace. “Kyle.”

  “I should’ve known he had something to do with this.” Joey pushed to her feet and stalked to the foot of the bed to grab her bag. “He’s been elusive as hell this whole time.”

  “Honestly, I think Owen’s the ringleader. Kyle was freaking out about it all.” Chris eased himself over to the edge of the bed and lingered there, rubbing one temple.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, just snapped back a little abruptly. I’ll be fine in a minute.”

  A knock sounded on the door, and Joey crossed to it with her bag still in hand, checking the peephole before opening it to admit Ben. He had his bag slung over one shoulder and a fresh shirt on.

  “Do we have a location?” he asked.

  “Back to the ranch.” Joey sighed. “Should’ve just parked the car a mile down the road and let Chris do his astral thing rather than coming all the way back here.”

  Ben dropped his bag by the door. “What’s the plan?”

  “She’s being held in Kyle’s workshop,” Joey said, dropping her bag beside Ben’s before leaning against the door and crossing her arms.

  “Drugged,” Chris said. “Owen said something about upping her dosage.”

  “Probably horse tranquilizers,” Joey said. “Lewis mentioned they had something to keep the horses from freaking out around the wolves.” She worked her jaw back and forth, her anger stoked further at the thought of Maria’s captors doping her up. “So, plan. We go in under cover of night, raid the workshop, and rescue Maria.”

  “And expose Owen and Kyle, somehow,” Chris added.

  “I wish I had Max’s number,” Joey said.

  “I have Max’s number,” Ben said.

  Joey’s head whipped around. “You do?”

  “Yeah, we swapped digits at the carnival. You know, I think he might be into me.”

  Chris blinked. “Max is gay?”

  “Bi, technically,” Joey said, her eyes still trained on Ben. “I thought you said he wasn’t your type?”

  “Did those hands look soft to you?” Ben smirked and took out his phone, unlocking it and bringing up Max’s number before tossing it to Joey.

  Joey pressed the call button before giving any thought to what, exactly, she’d say to him if and when he answered. All she knew was he wasn’t exactly Team Owen, and that made him an ally.

  “Hey there,” Max said. “Didn’t expect to hear from you tonight. Or ever, if I’m being honest.”

  “Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s just me.”

  “Joey? Shit… I’m so sorry. I tried to get the key from Owen, but he wouldn’t let it out of his sight.”

  “I can’t believe you walked away from us in that cage after Ben got shot.” She didn’t have to feign annoyance.

  “I checked him over, I swear. He said he’d be fine.”

  “Well, I guess a thank you is in order. Thanks for doing the bare minimum before leaving him bleeding on the floor of a silver-plated cage.” She twitched the curtains aside and glanced out into the parking lot.

  “As soon as we were out, Owen put us to work digging a grave for Lewis.”

  Joey stiffened. “You buried Lewis already?”

  “No, no… just dug the hole. I’m pretty sure he figured out what I was up to when I tried to get the key, and he wanted to keep me occupied. But you’re out now, and Ben’s fine. Right?”

  Joey glanced in her brother’s direction. He was leaning against the wall beside the door. “He’s not out of the woods yet. But if you want to make it up to me—to us—I could use a favor.”

  “Anything. Name it.”

  “Owen and Kyle are holding Maria captive in Kyle’s workshop.”

  “What?” His voice rose, thick with surprise and anger. “I’ll get her out.”

  “That won’t be necessary. We’re going to come get her ourselves. That’s where you come in. I need you to keep everyone busy.”

  “How?”

  “I dunno, you figure it out. Be creative.”

  A door opened and closed in the background, and wind or breath blew across the microphone on Max’s phone. “If they have Maria… who killed Lewis?”

  “I have my suspicions, but no proof.”

  “Tell me.”

  “Think about it. Who had the most to gain from Lewis’s death?”

  He didn’t have to think about it very long, once she pointed it out. His low growl was just barely audible. “Owen.”

  “Yeah, but like I said. No proof. Anyway, we’re leaving soon to come get Maria. Once she’s safe, we’ll figure the rest out.”

  “Text me when you’re five minutes out. I’ll make sure I have everyone’s attention.”

  “Will do.”

  “I really am sorry. I know this isn’t enough to make things right.”

  Joey glanced at Ben again, who cocked his head and arched an eyebrow at her. He was standing close enough that he’d probably heard most, if not all, of the conversation. “It’s a start.”

  She disconnected and took a moment to copy Max’s number to her phone.

  “Sounds like he’s on board,” Chris said from his perch on the edge of the bed.

  “Yeah.” Joey handed Ben’s phone back to him, meeting his eyes. “Don’t let him off the hook too easy.”

  Ben smirked and nodded, tucking his phone back in his pocket.

  “Let’s blow this pop stand.” Joey bent and picked up her bag, swatting Ben’s hand away when he tried to grab his own and snagging it too. Ben opened the door, and they filed out.

  “One car or two?” Chris asked.

  “Two,” Joey said. “I’ll ride with you. Ben, get us checked out and follow in my car. Unless either of you object to going home once we’re finished out at the ranch. I’d like to sleep in my own bed tonight.”

  Neither objected to that, so Joey passed her key card to Ben after she’d deposited both bags in the trunk.

  As Ben headed off to the office, Chris slid an arm around her and drew her against him. “I hope you mean sleep in my bed tonight.”

  “Same difference,” Joey said, tipping her head back to receive a kiss. Then she smacked his ass. “Let’s get moving. I’d like to be home before dawn.”

  25

  Chris parked on the side of the deserted two-lane highway about half a mile from the turnoff for the ranch. The land was relatively flat, and the distant ranch house was the only light visible for miles.

  Once Ben joined them, and after he and Joey had a minor argument about whether he should wait with the cars, the three of them jumped the barbed-wire fence and jogged in the direction of the ranch house, circling wide t
o come up from the side where the wood shop was located.

  They hadn’t bothered with flashlights. Their low-light vision was perfectly suited to the task, though along the way Chris had a few close calls with piles of cow or horse manure. He wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference, day or night.

  As they drew closer, Chris caught a glimpse of movement from the direction of the house. He hastily waved Joey and Ben toward a nearby water trough and crouched behind it.

  “What is it?” Joey whispered.

  “Someone’s out there.”

  All three of them poked their heads up in unison to peek over the top of the trough. Sure enough, a man-sized figure stole through the shadows, moving in the direction of the wood shop.

  Joey cursed under her breath. “Dammit! Max was supposed to keep everyone occupied.”

  “I don’t want to alarm you, but I think whoever that is has a knife,” Ben said.

  Chris squinted, peering into the darkness. Sure enough, the moonlight glinted off something metal in the figure’s hand. That couldn’t mean anything good for his unconscious packmate in the wood shop. He motioned for the others to join him as he broke from cover, keeping low but moving as quickly as possible between the water trough and the barn.

  Pressing his back to the barn’s wall, Chris glanced around the corner in time to see the shadowy figure reach the door of the wood shop.

  Now or never.

  He quickly formulated a plan. “I’ll distract him. You two sneak around to the other side of the barn and get behind him.”

  “Be careful,” Joey whispered. “He has a knife.”

  Chris nodded, wishing he had a better track record with knives as he slipped out from cover and jogged toward the armed man, abandoning any pretense of stealth. “Excuse me.”

  The man whirled, the hand holding the knife disappearing behind his back. As Chris drew closer, he recognized him as the shaggy-haired man that he’d seen earlier with Owen. Kyle.

  “I seem to be a little lost,” Chris said, grimacing inwardly. Lamest excuse ever.