Mating the Red Wolf: (Book 10, Grey Wolf Pack Romance Novellas)

by E A Price

  Kim shook her head. “There’s just one problem with this theory; she doesn’t get any money if your grandmother dies.”

  Ed pursed his lips. “Unless she married someone who did.”

  Kim arched an eyebrow. “You think she’s still trying to hunt you down and drug you into marrying her?”

  Ed let out a mirthless snort of laughter. “No, I think she’s trying to lure Arthur away from his mate. And I think framing you would just be a bonus.”

  Jonathan let out a low growl. “It’s disgusting the way he’s treating his mate so he can run around with that bitch.”

  Kim and her wolf were a little surprised at the vehemence in Jonathan’s voice. Kim bit her lip as she remembered the interlude between Jennifer and Jonathan she witnessed the other day. Maybe there was more to their relationship too. Hell, this family was starting to make Dynasty look boring.

  “We still don’t know that anything is going on between Arthur and Helena,” said Ed placidly.

  “He didn’t deny it,” snapped Jonathan.

  Kim let out a low whistle and looked at her mate. “So, Helena has been with you,” she then looked at Jonathan, “and you, and now we suspect she’s seeing Arthur on the sly?”

  Both males had the sense to look a little sheepish, and Kim let out a sigh. “Busy girl; how long before Harold Jr. and Will get their turns?”

  Jonathan cocked her a grin. “Nah, I think they’re safe, I’m pretty sure Harold hates her, and Will wouldn’t know what to do with her.”

  Kim bit her lip; she doubted that was true, about Will, of course. She knew that Harold hated Helena. She was pretty sure that Harold hated everyone except his own mate and pups. But even they weren’t safe from his brusque and cold, businesslike attitude. With Will, however, she just already knew that Helena wasn’t his type.

  “So, we’re really going with the theory that it’s Helena?”

  Ed nodded. “Yeah, because, if it isn’t…”

  “It means that the only other suspects are family members or Kurt, and I doubt that wet drip of a wolf would even dare to sneeze near our grandmother,” concluded Jonathan.

  Kim rubbed a thumb over Ed’s knuckles. He was starting to look a little green. “I can’t believe that any of your family would…”

  “I can,” jumped in Jonathan, looking far too pleased about the matter.

  “Yeah, I can too,” admitted Ed.

  It still didn’t sit right with Kim. “But…”

  Jonathan chuckled. “Oh, sweet, naïve, kind, beautiful Kim - you have clearly been spoiled by a loving family. Everyone in our family has a motive, even me and the boy scout over there.”

  “Please!” exclaimed Kim.

  “Okay, let’s start at the top. Our father has been henpecked by his mother since the moment his father died. Two weeks ago, grandmother was in a car accident and plowed her Mercedes straight into a lemonade stand – in the middle of a park. Dear old dad had her license taken away and ever since then grandmother has been threatening to cut him out of her will. And given that daddy spent his whole life working to double the family fortune… you can imagine he’s a little pissed.”

  “Well, okay, yeah…”

  Jonathan wagged his finger. “Oh, I’m not done. I'm told that about a month ago, the old dear fired her assistant, Hilda. She accused Hilda of stealing and bad-mouthed her so she couldn’t get another job. Given that Hilda was a childhood friend of Mom’s, I doubt very much she's pleased. With Arthur and Jennifer, it’s the constant jabs about not having pups. For Olivia, Grandmother is trying to force her into an arranged marriage. For Will, grandmother is trying to force Olivia into an arranged marriage. It would be enough motive for either of them. For old Harry, again it’s the money. She takes pleasure out of trying to emasculate him and given that he’s an Alpha - it really pisses him off. He won’t be sorry when she finally jumps on the highway to hell.”

  Kim frowned.

  “Oh, c’mon; there’s no way she’s getting into heaven. Before we were born, she was once arrested for attacking a maid with a hatpin.”

  Kim’s eyes bulged. “You’re joking?”

  “He’s not,” muttered Ed.

  “Stabbed her a couple of times. She lived, and old Gramps threw enough money at the maid that she just went away quietly.”

  Kim’s wolf whined in concern. She knew Ed’s family were rude and obnoxious, but she hadn’t actually thought that… she shuddered. She really didn’t know them.

  “For Ed, it would be the fact that Grandmother is threatening to cut him off if he marries you, and for me, she managed to get rid of… of… a woman I was intending to marry. Hell, I need a drink.”

  “There’s mouthwash in the cabinet,” offered Ed wickedly.

  Jonathan gave him an unimpressed look.

  “Why did Harold want you to search the rooms?” asked Ed.

  Jonathan pretended to shrug modestly. “Apparently, other than Christine, I’m only one he doesn’t think might have actually tried to kill the old woman.”

  Ed’s eyebrows shot up his head. “You?”

  Jonathan placed his hand over her heart. “Yeah, I’m honored.”

  “Why doesn’t he suspect you?”

  “I don’t know. He knows I hate her, but, he figures if I were going to kill her, it would have happened after she fucked up my relationship with… with, with Ingrid. I hate to admit this, but old Harry’s really hoping it’s going to be you, Kim.”

  Kim groaned, and Ed snarled, so Kim shushed him. “C’mon, babe, it’s not that big of a surprise. And given that the wolfsbane was in my room, someone sure wants it to look like it’s me.”

  Ed grumbled. “Look, we need a plan. We’re going round in circles. All we’ve done so far is establish that just about anyone here would want her dead. You know if this were a cop show…”

  Jonathan snapped his fingers. “Got it, we beat the suspects until one of them caves and confesses.”

  “No! I was going to say we should set a trap for the killer.”

  Kim screwed up her face. It wasn’t easy to tell your mate that he had a lousy idea, but she was about to. “I don’t see how…”

  “No, the shrimp’s on to something,” interrupted Jonathan. “And I think I have an idea.”

  Ed inclined his head at his brother. “To think, this guy flunked out of six different colleges.”

  “No, I got kicked out of six different colleges.”

  “What’s the difference?” asked Kim.

  “Flunking out implies failing scholastically; kicking out implies you misbehaved so badly that no amount of your family’s money could force the dean to let you stay there.”

  Kim clucked her tongue. “Ah, gee, you see? By not going to college, I missed out on all this.”

  Jonathan eyeballed her exaggeratedly and winked. “When a gal looks like you, she doesn’t have to know anything.”

  “Ugh!” Gal? She knew Jonathan was just teasing to get a rise out of Ed, but, oh, she and her wolf wanted to take a chunk out of him.

  “What’s your plan?” hissed Ed, squeezing Kim's hand a little harder than necessary.

  *

  Kim crouched outside of Helena’s room. It was a dumb plan. It was never going to work. Her wolf concurred vociferously. Neither of them wanted to be shivering outside Helena’s room in the middle of the night.

  More than anything she wanted to be back in her big, comfortable guest bed, with her arms curled around Jamie. But, there was a murderer to catch. Okay, attempted murderer.

  At the moment Jamie was safely ensconced with Olivia in her room. Kim liked the young she-wolf, but she still had her doubts, and almost hadn’t been able to part from Jamie. But, Ed had put his hand on his heart and had said that Olivia could absolutely be trusted. Kim still hesitated, and Ed asked her if she trusted him. Obviously, she answered yes, she did trust him with the most important thing in her life – her pup. Plus it didn’t hurt that Jamie was away from their room; it still nettled her that som
eone had put something as dangerous as wolfsbane anywhere near her pup. Who knows what could have happened if Jamie had come across it… the consequences would have been too much to bear. The anger over this person’s viciousness was driving her.

  She was sure that Jamie would be okay. She wasn’t putting her faith in Olivia; she was putting her faith in Ed. Her trust in him had been rock-solid since the moment she met him… well, almost every moment since she met him.

  She’d had the self-doubts about why he didn’t want her to meet his family. Naturally, now that she’d met him, she realized it wasn’t her he was embarrassed by…

  But the only other time had been when Ed attacked a drunken wolf who was hitting on her. It was a little over a month ago. At the time, it shocked her beyond reason. It shouldn’t have, but it did. She knew what males wolf shifters were like; she knew how they reacted to another male approaching their female, but she just thought that it would be different with Ed. Unlike the other males she’d been with, he had been tender and flirty with her from the very beginning. A big departure from gruff and rough. And to see him flip out like that… she was ashamed to admit she was disappointed at the time. She didn’t feel that way now, but it had taken her more than a few days to come to terms with it.

  *

  11th January

  “Hi.”

  “Hi.”

  “How are you?”

  Ed gripped the phone as he stared at the document on his desk; the printed words swam in circles. “I’m fine,” he lied as his beast snapped in disapproval.

  It had only been a week since they last saw one another, but he and his beast had been hurting badly. With each passing moment, the ache was stronger. Which was ridiculous; they’d gone for longer without seeing each other, but the fact that there was a rift between them made the time pass interminably slowly.

  “I miss you,” she admitted quietly. Her wolf whined at her; the beast couldn’t understand the woman’s reticence.

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Do you miss me?” she asked, a hopeful tinge entering her voice.

  He let out a long breath. “You know I do, but it wasn’t me that told you to leave.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry. I just…” Kim let out a sigh. “I just felt scared.”

  “You said that already. I would never hurt you, how can you even imagine I would?”

  Kim twisted the cord of her ancient phone between her fingers. “It’s just that when I first started seeing Wade, he was all charm and…”

  “You’re comparing me to him?” he demanded in disbelief. His wolf was chomping at the bit to see his mate, but even he was crushed to hear she might think that.

  “No!” she cried quickly, “I just… I just can’t be with someone who can be so casual about that kind of violence. And I know it’s dumb; we’re wolf shifters, we are more aggressive and brutal than other species. But, I lived with a wolf shifter for over a year who thought nothing about hitting me because his favorite sports team lost. I just need to know that you don’t… you wouldn’t…”

  A sob caught in her throat, and Ed wished more than anything that he could be with her to wrap his arms around her and make everything better. Although, he knew he could never really do that. She’d have the hurt of her first marriage with her forever.

  “Kim, gorgeous, I don’t take anything about our relationship lightly. I’m not a violent wolf by nature. God, the last time I was in a fight was when I was 13 with some bullies at school, and it was over the school nurse. We all had a crush on her and were arguing about who was going to get to see her for our made-up illnesses.”

  Kim let out a sniffle of laughter, and it eased his ache a little.

  “Course, they were bear shifters, so they beat the hell out of me.”

  Kim cooed in sympathy, and slowly his wolf was beginning to brighten.

  “It was fine; the joke was on them, I was beaten up so badly I did actually have to go and see her.”

  She giggled lightly. “Always looking on the bright side of life.”

  “I can now that I have you. I’m sorry I scared you.”

  “No, it’s my problem,” she admitted sadly, “not yours, and I shouldn’t be blaming you for your nature.”

  “I overreacted. I saw what I thought was a dangerous male pawing at my mate, and I overreacted. But, I swear, Kim, the only thing that riles up my beast is the thought of either you or Jamie getting hurt. If either of you were in danger, I… I wouldn’t be able to control him. But that’s the only time. And you’re wrong, it’s not your problem, we’re in this together. Now and forever.”

  “Now and forever,” she echoed.

  “I love you, Kim.”

  “I love you too.”

  *

  Present Day

  Kim held her breath as a bolt was drawn back on Helena’s door. The corridor was so dark that even with her shifter eyesight Helena wouldn’t spot Kim squashed behind the massive, overhanging plant. She had also spritzed herself with scent-covering spray that Jonathan carried around. She didn’t ask why on earth he would need to carry it with him at all times.

  She saw the vague outline of Helena, slightly illuminated by the lamp in her room. Helena stood and listened for a few seconds; luckily, the storm beating against the house drowned out any tiny noises Kim might be making. Helena sniffed a couple of times, and, seemingly satisfied, turned off her light, carefully closed her door and disappeared down the corridor.

  Oh, lord, here we go!

  As quietly as possible, Kim followed, disentangling herself from the monstrous plant. Stealthily, she slipped down the corridor. It had to be said, she felt more like Don Smart than James Bond.

  Just before everyone retired for bed, Jonathan had slipped a note under Helena’s door. Yep, this was his plan. The anonymous note indicated that the wolfsbane had been found. That was it. Now, they were going to see how Helena reacted. Suspiciously, apparently.

  Kim followed as closely as she dared, hoping that Jonathan and Ed were nearby. Ed hadn’t wanted her to take part in this, what he called, ‘idiot’s game.’ But Kim was the only one slender enough to fit behind the plant, so they had no choice. Ed grumbled that there was always a choice, but she shushed him. Grudgingly, he had relented and said that he would be nearby in Jonathan’s room, listening for any trouble.

  Helena seemed to be making her way to the kitchen – the opposite direction to Jonathan’s room. Aww, hell, what if she was just going to get a midnight snack? She sure was acting strangely if she was. Every few seconds she stopped, listened and sniffed. She was checking that no one else was around. Not the actions of someone just after a piece of leftover cheesecake.

  Kim continued to follow until Helena went into the kitchen. Kim was debating whether to go in and pretend she was getting a snack when she heard Helena gasp and a thump to the floor. Kim growled; she ran into the kitchen and flipped on the lights.

  Helena was crumpled in a heap on the floor, blood pooling under body. Kim knelt; carefully she turned Helena over to find a seeping, bloody wound and a knife lying under her. Lord, she’d been stabbed! Her wolf howled at her.

  Helena’s frightened eyes widened even more. “Look… out…” she breathed.

  Kim heard a noise behind her and just as she turned something heavy hit her head. “Son of a b…”

  Then, blackness.

  Chapter Fifteen

  21st February

  Kim awoke with a start, anxiously looking around the room. Where were they? She’d show them! Her wolf snapped and snarled on high alert; there was no sneaking up on her this time.

  Ed came out the bathroom, and, on seeing her awake, he ran over to her and squeezed her tightly. “Thank fucking hell!” he exclaimed, his voice full of emotion. “You scared the bejeezus out of me.”

  Kim clutched at his body and enjoyed the warm, familiar feeling of being locked in his arms. Melting against him, the aches and pains of her body didn’t feel that bad.

  “
Where’s Jamie? What happened? How’s Helena? Where’s Jamie?” she said in a rush.

  “Shhhh, it’s okay.” He made soothing circles on her back and placed butterfly kisses on her neck.

  He quivered slightly, and Kim realized he must have been almost as scared as she was.

  “Helena should be okay; you took a nasty bash to the head and Jamie’s fine; she’s with Jonathan, they’re both on the same emotional level, so they seem to get along.”

  Kim tried to snicker, but the reverberations in her head were too much. “Ooh, don’t make me laugh.”

  “Sorry. Not just for that, but for not being there. I put you in danger, and you got hurt. I shouldn’t have… I should have… I should have been there.”

  “It’s not your fault…”

  “It is,” he insisted, “I should have protected you. I let you down, I’m a terrible mate.”

  “Ummm hmmm, you’re the worst,” she mumbled, taking a deep breath of his fresh, lovely scent.

  He pulled back slightly and scowled at her. Her wolf was taking the same stance too, not liking Kim berating their mate.

  “What? I was just agreeing with you. Also, last month I fell over and twisted my ankle, why on earth didn’t you protect me from that? And two months ago, I broke a glass and had a big cut down my palm. What about that, hmmm?”

  “It’s not the same,” he muttered grumpily.

  “You can’t protect me from everything. I chose to be there and I chose to run into that kitchen, but it’s okay, I’m fine, maybe a little worse for wear, but still fine.”

  Gently he pulled her back down on the bed and laid next to her. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”

  Kim cupped his face. “Hmmm, you could try speed dating?”

  Ed harrumphed. “Now who’s joking – like I would ever need to go speed dating. With this charisma, the ladies flock to me.”

  “Please, Ed, I’m feeling a little tender, I don’t really want to roll around on the ground laughing myself silly right now. Seriously, how’s Helena?”

  His lips twitched imperceptibly. Perfect poker face. “It wasn’t good, but, hopefully, she should pull through. If she were human, she wouldn’t have stood a chance.”