by Angela Foxxe
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE WOLF CODE
A THRILLING WEREWOLF ROMANCE
ANGELA FOXXE
Copyright ©2017 by Angela Foxxe
All rights reserved.
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About This Book
Special Agent Senora Edwards was used to working alone on missing people cases but this latest case was different.
Very different.
For this case, she was told she had to work closely with a gorgeous consultant named Ty Mahigan.
However, the truth was that Ty was not a consultant at all. He was a werewolf and with this missing person turning up dead it was clear that someone, somewhere had broken the wolf code and there would be hell to pay.
So for her own safety, Senora knew she would have to stay close to the wolf. But she ended up closer than she ever expected....
This is a thrilling werewolf romance full of mystery, intrigue and some hot and steamy scenes. If you love a romance book with a plot that will keep you reading till the end then this is it.
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER ONE
“You’re wasting your time,” the man said in a gruff voice, pushing his white cowboy hat back and arching an eyebrow. “I’m not even sure why they sent the Feds for a case like this.”
Senora stopped, squaring her shoulders and preparing herself for an all too familiar argument that she didn’t feel like having with this man in this parking lot.
It was too damn hot to have to justify herself.
But she knew that he wasn’t going to let it go, and it wouldn’t be a typical case for her without someone questioning why she was there. At least this man was polite enough to call her “ma’am” while questioning her authority and the Bureau’s motivation.
“It’s not a waste of time,” she said, trying to keep her tone light and even.
The last thing she wanted to do was have him cite jurisdiction and force her out. The case might not be important to him, but it was important to her. They all were.
She smiled, doing her best not to patronize him, even though he was already getting on her nerves. He’d been hovering over her the entire time she’d been going through the abandoned car in the parking lot of the Sonic in Glen Rose, Texas, and she was about sick of his constant blathering.
“Look, I get it,” she said finally. “I understand that this isn’t a priority for you, and it’s alright if you have better things to do. I can take it from here, and I’ll take down the tape when I leave if that will make it easier. But we’re here, and we’re going to spend our time and resources on this missing person until we find her. No one is asking you to tag along, and if you want to deal with the media when this is all over, I’m more than happy to keep my name out of the papers.”
She didn’t say it outright, but the implication was clear; he could have all the glory, and Senora would be happy to do all the work as long as he stayed out of her way.
The Sheriff stood a little taller, his slight pot belly leading the way as he continued pacing in the adjacent parking stall to the white, four-door sedan that Senora was inspecting for any clues that might help her find the missing woman who owned the car.
She heard him chuckle, and before he could say anything, she knew what was coming. She rolled her eyes behind her dark sunglasses, but he couldn’t see her do it.
“We?” the man said, vibrating like a misfiring engine as he chortled. “Well, Miss, you look like one person to me. You got a mouse in your pocket, young lady?”
Senora ignored the dig and him pointing out that she looked about a decade younger than twenty-seven. She wasn’t here for this, and if he thought she was some wet-behind-the-ears agent looking to prove herself on a pointless case, that was his problem. She was here for Addie Thompson and her family, and that was it. Everyone else could go kick rocks as far as Senora was concerned.
The Sheriff arched an eyebrow again, and she sighed, ignoring the way the hot Texas air tortured her lungs as she breathed in.
How did he look so cool in this heat?
“We, as in the FBI. I realize that I’m only one person, but I represent the Bureau’s high risk missing persons division, and we will handle things from here if you don’t want to waste resources as you so eloquently put it. Regardless of how you feel about things, the victim’s family called us in, and here I am. I’m here for the victim, and I don’t need your assistance.”
“If there is a victim,” the Sheriff sneered, and this time, Senora heard something a little more personal in his voice.
“Do you know this woman?” Senora asked, her mind reeling.
Could the Sheriff be involved in her disappearance? Was she going to find herself embroiled in a case of small town corruption? Was she in danger?
She tried to keep her face passive as she waited for him to respond. Something in her tone must have struck a nerve, because the Sheriff’s body relaxed, and he appeared to realize that he was being ridiculous. His change in demeanor calmed some of Senora’s concerns, but she stayed vigilant, her hand not far from her service revolver, though not obviously at the ready. She didn’t want to make the Sheriff nervous and end up in a shootout with a bunch of local cops in the middle of the tiny town. Even with her lightning reflexes, she was outnumbered six to one.
“I don’t know her personally,” the Sheriff began. “But I know who she is. Addie Thompson has gone ‘missing’ three to four times a year since she was a teenager. She’s twenty-three now, so as you can guess, we’re a little tired of her crying wolf.”
That’s not good, Senora thought.
“What were the circumstances then?” she asked.
“They ran the gamut with this girl. One time, she got into a fight with her mother. Another time, she’d been caught shoplifting and faked her own disappearance when she missed her court date. The judge let her off with community service and ordered her to get some therapy, but she faked her disappearance again six months later.”
The Sheriff shook his head, but Senora couldn’t tell if he was thinking about Addie or the judge that had given her such a light sentence. Senora had a feeling that the Sheriff was disgusted with both of them.
“Is there anything dif
ferent about this time that sticks out to you?” Senora wondered, but the Sheriff shook his head again.
“She’s gone, and she left something behind that seems to prove it. One time, she slung her own purse clear across a parking lot as if she’d been grabbed in the middle of the night cutting through while she walked. Another time, she left her front door wide open. I’m not surprised that she left her brand-new car like this with the door open and the engine on. It fits with the things she’s done in the past, and her dramatic exits were part of the reason that we always took each disappearance seriously only to have her show up, apologizing to her parents for scaring them.”
“Has she ever been charged for fraud?”
“No.” The Sheriff laughed, but it was not a happy sound. “We only have so many judges in the county, and for some reason, they all have a soft spot for Addie. I’m sure it has something to do with her cup size, but you didn’t hear that from me.”
Senora scowled inwardly, but she feigned disinterest in his vulgar commentary. He was opening up to her, which was no easy feat with men like him. So many times, the locals resented her presence and kept information she wasn’t privy to for themselves. Even information delivered with so much obvious disdain for the victim was more than she had to go on. As long as he kept talking, she would have to resist the urge to slap him for being so pig-headed. It was more likely that the judges had seen a young lady with a troubled past and taken pity on her. Not to mention the fact that it wasn’t illegal for an adult to walk away from their lives without explanation.
Addie was childless, and she had every right to leave her home without telling her family. The extra steps she took that could be interpreted as foul play were annoying, but there was still no law against it. The fact that the Sheriff couldn’t see that made Senora believe that he was one of those that thought that anything that inconvenienced him should be punished, and he was irritated that the judge didn’t see fit to twist the law to make an example of Addie.
Senora took in the scene around them. The parking lot on this side of the building was empty except for Addie’s car, and the business was running entirely on the east side of the parking lot. The scene hadn’t been touched prior to her getting there, and it didn’t really line up with what the Sheriff was telling her. If they didn’t take Addie seriously, why had they been so careful with the scene?
“Has someone been stationed here since the car was found last night?” Senora asked.
She didn’t want to come out and ask the Sheriff the obvious, but maybe if she worked her way around her real question, he would answer it without realizing that she had led him there. She couldn’t risk him getting defensive, and right now, he was one of the few leads that she had. In a town with a population under three thousand, Senora couldn’t believe that no one had seen what happened to Addie, but until someone else came forward, Senora didn’t have much to go on.
“There’s been someone around the clock since we found the car.”
“And no one searched the car?”
“The responding officer looked in the car, but as soon as we got word that you’d been called, we stepped back to leave it for you.”
Why was he acting so odd about this?
“How did you find out about the car? Wasn’t the business closed?”
“They roll the sidewalks up at nightfall here,” the Sheriff drawled with a wry smile. “We found out from Addie’s mother, Mabel, that the car was here, and we came to tape off the scene then. When she told us that the car was there, she also informed us that she’d already called the FBI hotline. We decided we would leave it to the big boys, but then they sent you.”
Senora wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of reacting to his comment.
“Why not tape it off and leave?”
“I guess I don’t understand your question, Agent Edwards. Are you not happy with the job we’ve done?”
“It’s not that. It just seems out of character. I guess what I’m wondering is why you appear to be taking this so seriously when you’re certain that she is not a victim and is faking her disappearance again. Are you taking this seriously or are you just covering your ass?”
“A little of both.”
“Why?”
He smiled at her then, and the expression reminded her of a cartoon snake. She shuddered inwardly, but she held her composure on the outside. She would have to watch her back around this man, but she didn’t want him to know that she didn’t trust him because it went both ways in her line of work, and she needed him on her side.
When he finally spoke, the callousness of his statement made her blood run cold even in the hundred-degree heat.
“Even the boy who cried wolf eventually got what was coming to him.”
Senora was so shocked, she couldn’t hide the appalled look on her face.
“Are you saying that if she was kidnapped, this time that she deserved it?” she asked, trying to tamp down her anger.
Was he serious? There was no way that she had heard him right.
“I’m saying that I don’t care for people that waste police resources just to get attention. If you enjoy running around looking for someone who just wants people to notice her, then I guess that’s on you, Little Lady.” Senora’s blood boiled at the dig, but the Sheriff wasn’t done. “And if she did get kidnapped this time, it’s only because she’s made sure that her name is in the paper at least twice a year. Probably, some guy realized that she was the perfect target, since no one would believe her. Now, tell me, FBI Agent, whose fault is it if that’s the case?”
He waited for her to answer, but Senora just shook her head. She wasn’t going to give him a response.
Senora went around to the passenger side and used her gloved hand to open the door. She needed to put some distance between herself and the Sheriff so she could calm down. He was heartless, and she got the impression that he was enjoying himself and feeling vindicated by Addie’s disappearance. His comments had stunned her, but not as much as they should have. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for local law enforcement to feel that way about troubled men and women who found themselves in real trouble the way Addie obviously had, but most were classy enough to keep it to themselves. She guessed that his blunt nature was that brutal Texas honesty she’d heard so much about. She just wasn’t expecting to hear it without at least a little Southern Charm sprinkled in.
Senora pushed the button that opened the glove compartment, and a stack of wrinkled and wadded papers tumbled out. Senora didn’t have to read them to know that they were tickets. A quick glance told her all she needed to know, and only two signatures appeared on what must have been a few dozen violations. Almost all of those signatures were the Sheriff’s.
I guess he knows her better than he let on, Senora thought, but she didn’t say a word, and she was glad when she looked up and saw that the Sheriff’s back was turned and he was talking to one of the other officers.
“I’ve got everything I need,” she said after shoving the tickets back into the glove compartment before the Sheriff noticed what she’d found. “Please have the car towed back to impound, but instruct them to leave it sealed until I say otherwise.”
As she spoke, she used the special evidence tape to seal each door and the trunk shut, scribbling her initials across each piece of tape, though she doubted that anyone had access to the official FBI evidence tape. She was covering her bases like she always did, and considering the way that the Sheriff was acting, she wouldn’t put it past any of the men that worked under him to do something to break the chain of evidence. She needed it to stay untainted, just in case.
“Tow it? You can’t be serious? I thought her mother would just go ahead and drive it home,” the Sheriff said.
“It’s evidence.”
“If you say so.”
Senora took a deep breath, but this time, she couldn’t stop herself from losing her cool with this man. Why was he being so pigheaded? Surely, all Texans didn’t act like this fool. Sen
ora was waiting for a bit of that Southern Charm she’d heard so much about, but she had a feeling that the Sheriff had given his share of Southern Charm to someone else. He was a sexist buffoon, and he was horrible at his job; two things that Senora couldn’t stand.
“Look, Sheriff. I don’t know what you have against this woman, but until we find her, we will consider this a serious case. If you don’t want to be involved, that’s fine. I’m sure I can get the Rangers out here to help with the case, and you can go back to whatever it is you do all day.”
He sneered, but she held his gaze, her eye contact never wavering. Her challenge was clear, and even though he could pull local rank, she knew that he wouldn’t. Addie’s mother would go to the press without hesitation if that happened, and then the Mayor of the tiny tourist town would be all over the Sheriff to get something done. This area thrived off its tourist attractions, and there was no way that the men who ran the city would tolerate the bad press. If people were too afraid to come to Glen Rose to enjoy what the city had to offer, the city would be in trouble quick.
The Sheriff broke eye contact first, and she knew that she had him. Resisting the urge to smirk at him in triumph, she stepped out of his way and watched him spur the other officers into action. She was astounded at how fast the tow truck showed up, but she supposed that they didn’t have a lot going on this time of day.
When the car was loaded and leaving for the police station with a cruiser following behind to ensure that the chain of command wasn’t broken, Senora looked to the Sheriff and nodded.
“Have a wonderful day,” she said without inflection, trying to stay neutral.
“Ma’am,” he said, tipping his hat and turning curtly without another word.
Senora watched him go, then shook her head and got into her rental car and made a U-turn in the parking lot. She didn’t even have to turn the GPS on to find her hotel. It was right there on the main road that ran through town and out again without much fanfare.