“I’m not gonna go furry,” Dante said.
“Good…that’s good.” The detective looked at the uniformed officers. “Call for an ambulance and collect witness statements, starting with those two.” He motioned to the two men at the end of the row.
The officers moved off. The detective waved toward the crime scene technicians. “It’s all yours, boys.”
Dante sighed and gingerly rotated his shoulder, stopping with a wince. “It looks like the rogue has moved his act to our quadrant. This is his second attack.”
She was all too aware of that, and the fact that her brother had gone from turning people to killing them…eating them. What the hell had gone wrong? She’d have to tell the council that he’d attacked Dante. That would point them toward him as the rogue as well, but it couldn’t be helped. She’d given him the benefit of the doubt, and that was going to come back and bite her in the ass. “It could have been another werewolf,” she offered somewhat lamely.
He shot her a look full of disbelief. “Now that’d be a coincidence, wouldn’t it? We have two rogue werewolves?”
He sounded like Ash. She drew in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “No, you’re right, of course. Dante—”
“Excuse me.” One of the criminalists stopped beside Dante. “Detective MacMillan, how many times did you discharge your weapon?”
“Three times.”
The tech nodded. “That’s how many shell casings I’ve got.” He looked around the scene. “The werewolf came at you from where?”
Dante pointed to his left. “I’m not sure which set of cars it came between. I just know that when I turned it was already airborne.”
“All right. We’ll figure it out.” His face creased in a smile. “The good news about this is that the bastard didn’t have a chance to do his usual cleanup.” He looked at Tori. “We’ve got ’im.”
Oh, God. Oh, God!
“All right, I think Detective Andrews wants your statement.” The criminalist moved back toward the area where the shell casings were and began taking pictures.
“Tori, if you don’t want to stick around, you don’t have to.” Dante cupped her cheek. “This might take a while.”
“No, I want to.” She walked with him to the detective.
As soon as they reached him, Dante’s phone rang. He pulled it out and looked at the display. “It’s Lily,” he said and answered it. “Lily? What’s up?”
Whatever she said caused him to stiffen, his face going hard and determined. “Lock yourself in the bedroom. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He looked at Detective Andrews. “Call for backup and send them to my house. Someone’s trying to break in, and my sister’s home alone.”
Chapter Eighteen
Dante headed toward his truck, Tori right beside him. The drive to his house was accomplished in tense silence, mostly because of his erratic driving. He cut corners, jumped over the curbs, and ran red lights. He had his lights flashing and the siren wailing, which helped move traffic out of the way. He was trying to be so strong yet she knew he was in pain when she saw him wince, particularly anytime he lifted his right shoulder. She bit her tongue, trying to curb her desire to tell him he needed to be seen by a doctor, because she knew what his answer would be. What her answer would be. Not until they knew Lily was safe.
With his mind on his sister, Tori didn’t think now was the time to tell him that her brother was the one who’d attacked him. She’d wait until they checked on Lily and Dante had his wound seen to, then she’d confess.
And probably lose him. That thought drove her heart to her throat, but he deserved to hear the truth from her before finding out from someone else. As soon as they safeguarded Lily, Tori would go to council headquarters and make her report. If she was lucky she’d only lose her job. She hadn’t committed a fatal mistake, but she could very well be spending some time locked in silver. Now she was glad Barry hadn’t taken her up on her offer, since she might be right where he was soon.
Dante roared the truck up his driveway and brought it to an abrupt stop in front of the house. He slammed it into park before it had completely stopped, making the heavy vehicle shudder back and forth. Leaving the keys in the ignition, he was out of the thing while it still rocked.
Tori followed him. She could hear sirens in the distance and knew that backup was close, but…Damn. The front door was ajar. They couldn’t wait.
She went inside with Dante, who’d drawn his weapon. She drew in a breath and filtered through the various aromas. The strongest one was that of her brother. His scent was prevalent because his blood was on the scene—she could detect that bittersweet coppery tinge in the air.
Oh. Dear. God. What the hell had he done?
As they made their way toward the bedrooms, Tori kept an ear out for any unusual sounds, but the only thing she heard from inside were halting moans coming from the bedroom on the right. The door was slightly ajar. “Dante,” she whispered. When he looked at her, she tipped her chin toward the room.
His jaw firmed, he eased the door open with his foot and entered. After a few seconds, he holstered his Glock and knelt beside his sister. “Hey, there,” he whispered, stroking her hair away from the bruises covering her face. Her left eye was swollen shut and her bottom lip was split.
Tori remained in the doorway. Rand’s scent was overwhelming, telling her that this was where the attack took place. “Give me your phone,” she said quietly. “I left mine in my car.” When he handed her his cell, she dialed 911 and requested an ambulance. After finishing the call, she stayed put so she wouldn’t disturb the scene. She was going to catch hell as it was when it became known that her brother was the one responsible for the attacks. She didn’t want to also be accused of contaminating a crime scene, either deliberately or through thoughtless action.
And what about Dante? She wanted to comfort him while he in turn cared for his sister. But with guilt weighing her down, she just…couldn’t.
She looked at Lily, lying still on the floor, struggling to stay conscious. Dante continued to talk to her, trying to keep her focused on him. Blood streaked her bare legs, and Tori could see at least two bite marks high on the outside of Lily’s upper-right thigh. Another bite had left a ragged, bloody wound on her left shoulder. Her white tank top was splotched with red, and the amount of blood at her midsection made Tori think Rand had also bitten her stomach. Had he been trying to kill her, torturing her before he made the fatal bite at her throat? Or had she and Dante interrupted him before he could start…eating?
Dante put his fingers on Lily’s wrist. “Her pulse is steady, thank God.”
“That’s good.” Tori took a couple of steps toward the bed and grabbed the comforter. “Here, put this over her. She’s going into shock.”
He spread the cover over his sister. “She’s not gonna be happy there’s blood all over her bedspread. It’ll be ruined.”
“Small price to pay.” Tori clenched her fists as her anger at her brother grew. How dare he come to Lily’s home, bringing all this viciousness with him? Not only had he ruined complete strangers’ lives and probably cost Tori her job, but he’d attacked an innocent like Dante’s sister. Lily’s life would never be the same.
When Tori told him it was her brother behind the attacks, Dante would be furious, and rightly so. Most likely he’d wish he’d never met her. Never went to bed with her.
“Tori.” Dante pointed to his sister’s vanity. “Look at her perfume and makeup.”
Tori glanced at where he indicated. Two bottles of perfume, a bottle of foundation, a tube of mascara, and two containers of eye shadow were lined up in a row. Six items perfectly aligned.
“Lily’s neat,” Dante said, “but she’s not that neat.” He stared at Tori. “This doesn’t make sense. Why would the rogue start attacking people in their homes? All of his attacks up to now have been in public.” He looked down at his sister. “Of all people, why would he come after my sister?”
Tori had to tell him. “Dante
…” She closed her eyes briefly. How was she supposed to tell the man she loved that her brother, whom she also loved, had tried to murder his sister?
“What is it?” He lightly ran his hand over the top of Lily’s head, then looked past Tori. “Damn it! Where’s that goddamned ambulance?”
A few seconds later she could tell the cops had arrived. It was too soon for the ambulance. “I’ll go get them,” she said. She went out to the front yard, her thoughts roiling, trying to figure out how to confess to Dante. Two police cars had pulled in behind Dante’s truck.
She pulled her badge from the small pocket in the side of her dress. As the cops got out of their vehicles and approached her, she held up her ID. “The scene’s secure,” she told them, giving both men time to inspect her credentials before she put it away. “The suspect’s long gone. We’ll need to get CSSU out here, though. Call them.”
“Yes, ma’am,” one of the officers said and bent his head to the radio mounted at his shoulder.
Tori pulled out Dante’s cell phone and dialed the council dispatch. When the call connected, she told the dispatcher, “We need to roll out crime scene specialists to Detective MacMillan’s place. And call Ash. His rogue has attacked again.”
“Damn.” The werebear dispatcher blued the air with more robust swear words. “This scrub’s giving us a bad rep.”
“We already have a bad rep, Merle,” Tori said dryly.
“Is MacMillan okay?” Merle asked. “He’s all right for a human,” he added as if to explain away his concern.
“He’s been bitten. So was his sister.” Guilt swarmed her. If she’d spoken up before about Rand’s possible involvement, would Dante’s sister have been spared this attack?
“Damn,” Merle said again. “They gonna turn?”
Tori sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose against a tension headache that was beginning to build. “I don’t know. Dante’s mobile and seems fine except for some pain from the bite. His sister’s pulse is steady, and the wounds that I could see have already stopped bleeding.”
“Well, guess we’ll know within a few hours.”
If they didn’t turn, Dante would be fine, but Lily would maybe have to face another battle with cancer. Tori didn’t know the statistics, but she’d known a few women whose breast cancer had recurred. And it had been fatal.
“I’ve asked the cops to have CSSU come, too,” she told Merle. “But we really should have our people on scene.”
“Gotcha. I’ll roll them out as soon as I hang up.”
“Thanks.” Tori ended the call. She was just turning to go back into the house when she heard more sirens. A minute later an ambulance rolled to a stop behind the cop cars. A man and a woman hopped out of the ambulance, grabbing their medical kits and a gurney. Tori motioned to the two and said, “This way. We have a human with multiple werewolf bites to her left leg, right shoulder, and I think her midsection.” As they headed back to the bedroom, she continued, “She’s fading in and out of consciousness, but her pulse is steady.”
The medics entered the bedroom and Tori stopped in the doorway again. Dante moved out of the way and stood by while they knelt beside Lily. The woman pulled the comforter off her so they could assess her condition and then wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her upper left arm.
The other EMT lifted Lily’s top to expose her midriff. “This doesn’t look too bad,” he said. “Not as bad as some I’ve seen.” He looked at Dante, his gaze focused on his shoulder. “We should get you to the hospital, too.”
Dante nodded. “You better believe I’m coming with you.”
“Of course, sir.” The medics carefully lifted Lily onto the gurney, before wheeling it out of the house.
Tori fell into step beside Dante. “I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
He nodded and climbed into the ambulance after his sister. All his attention was focused on her.
Tori watched the vehicle drive off and then turned to the cops on scene. “Secure the house and wait for the crime scene techs. I’ll make sure a detective gets out here to run the investigation.”
They nodded.
She hurried to Dante’s truck and drove away, her thoughts whirling. One thought was prevalent—she had to tell Dante that her brother was the one who’d attacked him and Lily.
She broke all sorts of laws getting to the hospital in time to see them unload Lily from the back of the ambulance. Tori sprinted to the emergency entrance and followed them inside.
The medical personnel took his sister into an examining room. Another nurse asked Dante to follow her. Before he could go, Tori grabbed his hand. There wasn’t ever going to be a good time to tell him what she had to, so here went nothing.
“Dante, I have to tell you something,” she said, her voice soft. “There’s no easy way to say it.” She took a deep breath and in a rush blurted, “My brother’s the rogue. He attacked you and Lily.”
Dante twisted to look at her. “What?”
“I think—I know—Rand’s the rogue. He did that.” She gestured toward his shoulder and then the room his sister was in.
Dante’s mouth formed a grim line. “You set me up?”
“What!” Shocked surprise made her stomach knot. How in the hell had he made that leap? Oh…she’d been the one to ask him to meet her there. “No! Of course not. I would never—”
“Never what? Never hide a secret about your family?”
Now was not the time to tell him about Stefan, she could see. “I’m sorry. It’s just…I smelled him in the parking lot and as soon as I entered the house. Then the way Lily’s makeup was arranged, and the six bits of pebbles or debris left at all the other scenes made me think of him. He has OCD, and he’s fixated on the number six.” As Dante continued to stare at her, astonishment and growing rage on his face, she said, “I didn’t want to believe it, so I told myself I was making something out of nothing. I didn’t think Rand would ever do something like this. He has. He did.”
“You can’t know for sure that it’s your brother.” That was the cop in him talking, not the brother. The cop that was trained to never jump to conclusions, even if there was a multitude of supporting evidence. But he didn’t know what she knew.
“I do.” She pressed her trembling lips together. “Dante, I could smell him. He’s all over your house.” She glanced at his sister. “All over Lily.” She met his eyes again. “I smelled him on you at the club. He did this. I am so sorry.”
His gaze, fixed on Tori, filled with growing horror and anger. “For God’s sake, why the hell didn’t you say somethin’ to me before now? Before he attacked my sister! Attacked me!” A look of disgust entered his eyes. “Why didn’t you do your damned job?”
“He’s my brother! Sometimes you have to look out for family.”
He shook his head. “Family isn’t always a matter of blood, you know.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again. She knew it was her fault his sister was in the hospital. If she’d spoken up about her suspicions, this probably could have been averted. “Try to understand,” she pleaded quietly.
He shook his head. “Excuse me, while I look out for my family.” He walked away from her to stare down the hallway, his gaze hard, mouth grim. Then he put his attention on his sister. As the nurse touched his arm, urging him to an exam room of his own, he moved farther away and Tori knew she’d lost him.
With a sigh, she got to her feet and walked out of the hospital. She had to head to council headquarters and confess her sins. She tried like hell to ignore the fact that she might have lost the one man she truly loved.
Dante’s exam didn’t take long. A phlebotomist drew some blood and a doctor patched him up, telling him the test results would be done in a few hours and they’d know whether or not he would turn. Dante barely listened. Whatever happened to him was immaterial. Lily was the important one.
He had to sit in the waiting room while the doctors stabilized her and got her to a private room. Dante held her hand while she drif
ted in and out of sleep. Now that his initial worry for her had lessened, he had time to think about what all of this meant for him.
He’d been bitten by a werewolf, meaning he could become one. Did he want to be a werewolf? That was the sixty-four thousand dollar question.
Part of him said no. Not just no, but Hell, no! Yet another part of him, the part that understood his sister would probably turn, the part that knew he was in love with one, whispered it might not be such a bad thing.
Tori was immortal. He was not. If he stayed human, at best they had thirty or forty years together. Those years would see him aging, getting sick, or fighting off disease while she would stay as young and vibrant as she was today. He didn’t want that for her, to be in a relationship with a doddering old man.
He gave a low snort. They didn’t have a future, no matter what his feelings were. Or had been. She’d withheld information that resulted in Lily lying in this hospital bed. Dante would keep his humanity if he had a choice, thank you very much.
Staring at his sister’s bruised face, he whispered, “You’re gonna be all right, honey.”
She blinked sleepily, her head lolling against the pillow. “Dante?”
“I’m right here.” He gently squeezed her fingers. “Right here.” He wouldn’t tell her about his own attack. She needed to focus on getting better, not expend energy worrying about him.
She licked her lips. “Not…Tori’s fault.”
“Shh.” He stroked his thumb over her fragile wrist. “Don’t try to talk.”
“This…” She swallowed. “Important.”
He knew how stubborn she was. It was one of the things that had gotten her through the last several months. “Okay. What is it?”
“Don’t blame Tori.” Her eyes pleaded with him. “She was protecting…her brother.”
“At your expense.” Dante couldn’t—wouldn’t—forgive that.
Lily shook her head. “No. She didn’t know…he would…come after me.”
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