***
He stared upstairs as he listened to his fellow pack mates argue about Ryker Grey. For his part, he kept quiet, although he was all for it if someone wanted to figure out how to oust the man. Although he’d be shocked if any of them could actually manage the feat. As long as Drew lived, the enforcer wouldn’t go anywhere.
Ryker had almost caught him in the woods. Another minute and he might have been a dead wolf. What would be the fun in that?
There was still so much work to be done.
Any second, they would find his latest present. He took a sip of his water.
“I’m tired of being treated like a prisoner in our pack. We’re kept inside all day while the madman walks around picking our humans off one by one.”
He rolled his eyes. What no one would say because none of them would think it was if any of them were any kind of protectors, he’d not have been able to get anywhere near their humans.
His gaze traveled upstairs.
So close…. All he had to do was slip away, and he’d take out two humans in one night. The male. The one causing trouble….
The door swung open and Milo, a pack dominant walked in. Sadness wafted out of his pores. “Sharon Monroe, mate to Driscoll. She’s dead.”
Silence descended on the room.
“How awful,” he called out. “When will it stop?”
Shouts erupted in the room. That was right. They all played his game. Over and over again. He was in control.
Chapter Four
Mags’s sister sat by Drew’s bed, holding his hand. Standing in the shadows shouldn’t have made her invisible to Betty. They were both wolves. Her sister should have scented her long ago. Betty seemed lost in Drew’s pain, as though she’d disappeared somewhere Mags couldn’t follow her. No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t soothe this away.
“Drew, I yelled at Ryker.” Betty sat back in her seat. “If you were awake, you’d be so mad. He’s doing his job, B, you’d tell me. There’s no one better qualified to manage the pack in a crisis than Ryker, B. You don’t want to be the enforcer, and neither does anyone else, B.” She closed her eyes. “He didn’t banish me ten years ago. He didn’t make all the bad things happen—he was as much a victim as the rest of us, B. You’re being a selfish bitch.”
Mags didn’t know much, but she knew Drew would never call Betty a bitch. She couldn’t take it anymore. Clearing her throat, she walked out of the shadow of the doorway and approached her sister.
A tear slipped from Betty’s eye, and she wiped it away. Mags knelt on the floor next to her and took her sister’s hand.
“How long were you there?” Betty squeezed her fingers.
“Can I get you anything?”
Her sister sighed loudly. “I don’t suppose you can make that bullet move in the right direction?”
“The one inside Drew. I’m afraid not. I would, for you, if I could.”
“I know.” Betty smiled at her. “It means a lot to me, you being here. I know Los Lobos isn’t your favorite spot in the world.”
“Least favorite. You’re here. You need me. I won’t leave until things are settled.”
Her sister ran a finger over Drew’s palm. “How long do you think he can stay like this? Forever?”
“No. Nothing is forever. You and I both know that.”
“I’ve done a lot of things wrong.”
“You’re not perfect, Betty? Really? I had no idea.”
A giggle escaped Betty’s mouth, which was a great sound in the misery of the room. “Imagine that, huh? Me? Being less than perfect? I owe Ryker an apology.”
“You do. Only I didn’t mind watching you holler at him. He scared me to death for years. Still does. Clayton says that’s why he’s perfect to find a killer. Has the right temperament.”
Betty sniffed. “Clayton. Your human mate. How long has that been going on?”
“About three hours.”
Her sister turned in her chair. “Really? It just took place? From the way he grabbed you to protect you, I thought maybe I’d been kept out of the loop and you were in a long-term relationship.”
“No. I knew he was mine. I didn’t know he returned the feelings.”
Betty shook her head. “Who wouldn’t love you?”
Ryker’s scent greeted them before he came through the door. “There’s been another murder. This one inside the home.”
Mags braced for what she was sure would be Betty’s uproar of anger. Her sister seemed to sway from grief to explosion and back again in a matter of seconds. Having taken Clay into her heart, she could understand the need Betty had to be feeling. A mate was forever. How much worse would the absolute requirement for the other person be after years of feeling the craving?
Her sister didn’t yell. Instead, Betty stood and said, “I need to leave this room. In his stead, I am going to go see the pack. Speak to them. See if we can diffuse some of the horror. If we can’t keep them safe by keeping them home, Ryker, do we send the humans away?”
“I would. Drew wouldn’t.”
Mags stood up. “If you send them away, Betty, it’s like you’re telling them we can’t protect them. To run and hide instead of fighting to stay together, to win as a pack.”
“What I need is distraction to win,” Ryker spoke softly. “I need everyone’s eyes somewhere else. I can disappear if I need to. But not if I have to leave people here unprotected.”
Betty looked down at Drew for a second before looking back to hold Ryker’s eye contact. “Get me the dominants. All of them. Even Colt.”
Mags didn’t know what her sister had planned, but she knew she wanted to get back to Clay right away. The last human had been killed in the house, and she’d left him in the bar apartment. He said he was hard to kill. Still, her heart rate kicked up. She needed to set eyes on him and not let him out of her sight again.
“Mags.” Ryker addressed her, and she turned, hoping she didn’t have to look at him very long.
“Yes?”
“Saja has googled your mate.” He said the word googled like it tasted bad. “She says he is famous in some circles and has a background in criminals.”
“Ah…yes. He was shot once, too.”
Betty shook her head. “Look at the Holden sisters. Mated to men who have both taken a bullet. Actually, this is Drew’s second.” Her sister choked on the last word then stood straight. “Get me the dominants, please, Ryker.”
Ryker nodded. “I’d like to speak to Clayton.”
“Come to Gee’s.” Mags glanced at Betty. “After you get the dominants.”
She wasn’t getting in her sister’s way. Not since the woman had found a plan. Anything to survive until Drew was okay.
***
He was fine. She breathed out and watched him. He was lost in what he was doing and hadn’t noticed her. Mags would be happy to scoot down, sit on the floor, and observe him. She wondered if he knew he scowled when he wrote. He was using an actual pen. Did he always create the old-fashioned way or did he sometimes type?
She had a million questions for her mate and wished the sociopath would go away and leave them alone. Ryker was coming. She couldn’t let Clayton keep working without his knowing he was about to have a chat.
“Clayton.”
He didn’t look up right away, and she was just about to call him again when he raised his eyes. A smile lit his expression. “Hey, beautiful. Wasn’t expecting you for a while.”
“There’s been another death. She was killed in her home. I got worried about you. Ryker wants a word.”
He held out his hand, and she crossed to him until she could hold it. His human fingers were so much bigger than hers. Wasn’t he supposed to be weaker based on his humanness alone? His hands told a different story.
“I’m still here. Didn’t encounter anyone. Just me, myself, the pen, the paper, and my imagination.”
“You didn’t notice when I walked in. I think y
ou get lost in your own head.”
He tugged her to him until she straddled his leg. “I can think of somewhere else I’d rather get lost in.”
“I’d love that, too.” She rubbed her nose around his forehead and breathed him. Yes. Hers. Forever. “Ryker is coming.”
“He’s a wolf, right? Kind of a big one.” Clay nibbled on her fingers, and it made her weak inside. “Won’t be able to hear or smell or whatever what’s happening in here and then….”
A clearing of the throat stopped her mate from finishing, but not her grin. “He’s also fast.”
Mags got off Clay’s lap and walked toward Ryker. Her mate probably needed a second to get his erection under control. She had a question for Ryker anyway.
“Think this is safe enough for Clayton?” She looked around Gee’s apartment. During normal time she’d assume being above the bar would be very secure. With the uproar around them and the bear not downstairs, it was exposed.
Ryker nodded once. “The last murder was inside. No one is beyond reach.”
“Makes you wonder why Drew’s alive, doesn’t it?” Clay leaned back in his chair. “Shit, I hate people.” He rubbed at his eyes. “Now I’ve gone and invested in a wolf pack. Shit.”
Ryker furrowed his brow and bypassed Mags. Strangely, she didn’t want to go running for her life having him in the same room. Was it Clayton’s presence or had something shifted? Betty yelled at the man and was still breathing to feel badly about it.
“Drew lies near death in a bed. Each passing day makes it less likely he’ll wake up.”
Clay shook his head. “Here’s the thing. This guy, he kills a human. He gets surprised by Drew. Boom. Gunshot. Drew is still alive on the ground. Why didn’t he finish? Why leave him alive? How long was it until Drew was found? I’d imagine it was enough time to claw out his insides like he did the others? Why leave Drew alone?” Clayton shook his head.
“I don’t understand humans.”
“You’re mated to one,” Mags responded, and Ryker nodded his head to indicate he’d heard her.
“Saja has no place in this.”
Clayton stood. “Are we assuming then it’s a human doing the murders?”
“It’s a wolf who isn’t acting like a wolf.”
“Scent?”
It was funny he asked that question. Clayton’s smell altered the deeper he went with his line of thought. Oh, he was still her woodsy mate, but there was metal on the edge of it. The smell didn’t offend her; it only awakened her need to soothe. She walked over to him and placed a hand on the back of his neck.
“His scent, it changes. Sometimes it’s not there at all. Only some of us can mask ourselves. It’s a skill which comes with…experience. I can do it. Drew could probably manage if he was instructed in doing so. Mags, your father once had the ability, too. There’s little need to learn such an ability, unless we think there is a chance we have to go hidden.”
“So tough wolf. Strong. Powerful. Not acting like a wolf. If he were human, I’d say…psychopath.”
“You write about these kinds of humans. You understand them.”
Clayton shook his head. “No one really understands them. I write them, I try to give them believable motivation. I try to spend as little time as possible living in their heads.”
His words buzzed in her mind. “What do you mean by that?”
Clayton squeezed her arm. “I’ll try to explain it sometime. There’s no good way to make non-writers get it without coming off like we need to be locked up ourselves.”
She gasped. “Oh I would never lock you up. The idea is repulsive. Can you imagine? Being restrained in a small space?”
He laughed. “That’s got to be a wolf thing. I think we mean two different things.”
“I can catch him. He won’t smell me coming. If I had proper bait.”
She hated how Clayton nodded. Hated even more when he spoke since she knew exactly what he was going to say.
“Do you think he’d take me as bait? Or is he only going to be interested in females, women he can terrify?”
Mags’s wolf rose to the surface. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to shift. “Like hell you’re doing that. We’ll leave here before you deliberately place yourself in danger. Go back to your cabin and the pack can deal without us.”
Clayton smiled. “That’s not going to happen. You want to be here for your sister. I am not starting out our life together by taking you away from where you want to be, and I am also not leaving you here, if that was going to be your next suggestion. Before we go playing bait, it dawns on me, Ryker, are we sure the episode with Drew was the first time he killed? If he’s been living in the human world for a while now, long enough to pick up the strange human custom of murder, then maybe our boy here has done this before.”
Mags closed her eyes. Her sweet mate who had stared at her adoringly over his computer in a coffee shop had jumped headfirst into crime investigation, and she suspected she was not going to be getting him back anytime soon.
Drew really needed to wake up.
***
Clayton watched his surroundings as he made his way to Betty’s house flanked by Ryker and Mags. He didn’t know what his woman thought she would do to protect him, considering she was about as frightening as a bunny rabbit. Still, he appreciated the sentiment, and he squeezed her hand.
“You were shot.” Ryker didn’t phrase it as a question, so he must somehow know. He imagined the enforcer had ears everywhere.
Clay nodded. “In the line of duty. Going after someone similar to this. He shot me. I shot him. I did a better job.”
Mags made a noise which was somewhere between sucking in her breath and a whimper. She was like a warm breeze on his soul. No one had cared about him in a very long while.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, it was a long time ago. It put me on a better path that eventually led to you.”
He didn’t really believe in that kind of mumbo jumbo. Things happened because they happened. He got lucky he didn’t die, lucky he made a kill shot to the crazy who had been murdering prostitutes, lucky the stories in his head translated to the page and people spent their hard-earned money to read them, and ultimately lucky the woman he wanted had fallen for him, too.
“I can smell when you lie.” Mags grinned. “Even if I couldn’t, the way you rushed through your words would have clued me in anyway.”
He laughed which earned a shake of the head from Ryker. How was it possible he had walked into a relationship where he wouldn’t even be able to lie to spare her feelings? White lies were to be out of the question?
“Saja says it’s rude to point out fabrications not meant to be harmful, Mags. There are things you will learn being mated to a human.”
“So, it’s true, then.” Mags hid her smile. “You give out relationship advice, Ryker. I’d never have guessed it.”
They arrived at their destination to find Betty outside. In front of her, a whole bunch of male shifters waiting to hear her speak. She looked up and nodded to them before turning back to the crowd. Ryker stopped near the crowd of men as if he, too, wanted to hear what she was going to say.
“They’re having some kind of meeting of the minds.”
“My sister has always been in charge.” Mags sighed. “I think the last year with Drew home has been better for her; she’s not a natural leader. She would be the first to tell you that. She gets…nasty when she’s stressed. For a while, she managed everything.” Mags pointed at the door. “Should we go use the internet?”
They needed Betty and Drew’s Wi-Fi. He wasn’t going to stand on the roof of Gee’s bar to get a signal. Some things he crossed the line at doing, and plummeting to his death when he slipped on a wet roof panel qualified as a no-no.
“Let’s face it. Drew’s an optimist. I’m not.” Mags’s sister’s voice rang out. “I don’t think this would come as a surprise to any of you. You all signed up to be members of his vision of
pack. Injured or not, the way he set things up to run has to continue, even if we’re in a crisis.”
“Give me a second,” he whispered to Mags. There were characters here. He needed to see who they were and how they played.
“You blood oathed him. Some of you”—Betty scanned the crowd, pausing when her gaze landed on Ryker—“agreed to kill him if he ever took up as his father had before him. I hate that idea. Only I suppose he gets to say how he wants things to be in that regard.” She touched her belly, a nice gesture that showed Clay more about what Betty was really thinking about than what she said.
He stroked the side of Mags’s face. Did she want children someday? Could they have them together? He’d have to find out. “What scents do you get from them I don’t know about?”
“There are a lot. None of them are at all surprising. Ryker’s unreadable. As he explained to you, he’s one of the few who can be. My father, the man in the corner standing by himself, is worried and sad. It burns my nose a bit because he’s family. I’m particularly attuned to their needs. Betty is so worn and weary, I can’t get any real emotion from her anymore. The others are a mix. Worried. Anxious. Angry. Determined. Colt, he’s the one who let you in apparently, he’s feeling particularly rough because he had his hand slapped by Ryker. His anger is doubly directed, but then he’s always been a bit of a hothead.”
Betty was still talking. “We’re a pack. A functioning pack. I don’t believe one crazy killer is going to destroy everything we built together. Ryker needs time to find him and—”
“Hold on,” Clay called out. “I’m sorry to interrupt, and none of you really know me, but I have to stop you before you say too much. We don’t know who has been committing these crimes. It could be anyone here. Don’t give away your plans to the group.”
She extended her hands in front of her. “These are the dominants.”
“I’m sure that means something to you. I get it. To me, their titles mean jack shit.” He’d nearly been killed by a plastic surgeon in Denver when the man turned out to be crazy. “You’re not dealing with a normal wolf. As Ryker said, it’s a wolf not behaving as a wolf should. The last victim was killed in her house. She had done what you all told her to do. Stay home. She wasn’t wandering around. She let the man in. Assuming we know it’s not her mate and that there wasn’t any forced entry.” He looked to Ryker for confirmation and got it with a head nod. “She trusted the person on the other side of the door and let them in. You’re all dominants—that’s the word, right? You take care of things around here. Seems to me she would have let you all in without question. Maybe it wasn’t one of you. Perhaps it was a neighbor or a friend. Until we know, Betty, I can’t in good conscience let you go any further. Best thing you can do is send all of them home to their places and tell them to stay there. Small group of people we can eliminate using logic can be allowed to manage things in the meantime.”
Scent of His Woman Page 5