by Paige Tyler
A part of him refused to believe Jim was involved. There had to be another explanation. Jim was an EOD tech, and techs risked their lives to defuse danger, not blow up people. Jim would never do anything like this.
But another part of Cooper whispered that maybe he didn’t know Jim as well as he thought he did. The Jim that Cooper knew now was different than the Jim he used to know all those years ago. Something bad had driven his friend to get out of the army and out of EOD and start drinking so much. And it wasn’t too hard to figure out that something had been the accident that had killed three of their friends. An accident everyone believed Jim was responsible for.
Even then, Cooper had a hard time accepting Jim would go after someone with a bomb. Would the alcoholic he knew now willingly hurt people—kill people—in a crazy attempt to get revenge?
“Cooper, you okay, man?” Alex whispered from beside him.
Cooper glanced at Alex to see him and Remy gazing at him with concern. “What?”
“Your heart is racing like crazy, and your face is so pale it looks like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Cooper hadn’t realized he’d let his emotions get away from him like that, but he wasn’t surprised that his pack mates had picked up on it. They were attuned to one another like that.
“Did someone say something that caught your attention?” Remy asked, jerking his head at the conference table.
Cooper shook his head. He forced his heart to slow to normal and took a few deep breaths. “No. I was just thinking about Everly.”
Remy grinned. “Must be nice having a woman who can get your heart racing just by thinking about her.”
Alex didn’t say anything, and he didn’t smile. He regarded Cooper for a moment then turned his attention back to the discussion going on at the table.
Cooper wondered if Alex suspected anything. Maybe. But it wasn’t like his friend knew about Jim, or Cooper’s suspicions.
Cooper turned his attention back to the group at the front of the room, listening to North talk. He wasn’t sure what he expected the man to say, but ultimately, North didn’t say much. While North freely admitted to being in the army a few years ago, he claimed to have no idea who was behind the bombings. He didn’t even offer up any of his fellow soldiers when Dennis prompted. If North thought someone was after him, wouldn’t he say?
The next hour in the conference room was pure hell, as Cooper tried to figure out what he should do. In his heart, he wanted to believe that Jim, a man who had saved his life and was as dear to him as any member of his pack, could never be the bomber. But his head told him it wasn’t his job to protect Jim. It was his job to protect the people in the city who were put at risk by leaving a killer on the streets.
And stuck in the middle of all this was Dennis, a good friend and FBI agent who deserved to know about Cooper’s suspicions.
In the end, he couldn’t say anything to Dennis. Not until he looked in Jim’s eyes and really knew for sure. So, when Dennis asked what he thought about the group of potential targets after the meeting, he remained noncommittal.
Dennis sighed. “Okay. Well, now that we’ve established who was in the parking garage and in the building yesterday morning, we can start looking at everyone these individuals know, and see if someone sticks out. Since North is the only one with ties to the military, we’ll start with him.”
After Cooper dropped Alex and Remy off at the compound, he hauled ass straight for the cheap motel where he and Everly had dropped off Jim that morning. Jim wasn’t there, and the guy at the front desk had no idea if he was coming back.
Cooper sat in his Jeep in the parking lot and agonized over what he should do. He took out his phone to call Dennis, but then shoved it back in his pocket. First he had to find Jim, and then he’d figure out what to do with him.
He drove to the bar by the airport where he and Everly had picked him up, on the off chance Jim had gone back there. He hadn’t. So Cooper got back in his Jeep and went to every place that served alcohol in the same general area. He asked around, talked to the bartenders and the waitresses, left his business card with anyone who would take it.
By the time he got back in his Jeep after the last dive bar, he was mentally exhausted. He cranked the engine and pulled out of the parking lot to head for the highway. Suddenly, he needed to be with Everly. Because when he was, everything was right with the world. And after the last few hours, he could use some of that in his life.
Chapter 14
“He’s not good enough for you, Everly, and he’s dangerous to be around,” her father said in that stern voice he used when he was on the verge of losing control and headed for a rant in his native French.
She’d called her dad a little while after Mia left to go out with Joseph and the Scooby Gang again, knowing he was the one who had sent her brothers over to her place with the baseball bats. She didn’t know why she thought she’d be able to talk any sense into him.
“Dad, I don’t care what you think about Landry or whether you think he’s good enough for me,” she snapped. The conversation hadn’t degraded into a shouting match yet, but it was getting there. “I decide who’s good enough for me, not you.”
She could practically see him shaking his head on the other end of the line. “Everly, you are too young to realize how foolish you are being. I’m doing this for your own good. You must walk away from this man. While you still can.”
Everly wanted to scream. She should have known he’d go there. He always did. Next he’d tell her to be a good girl, and do as she was told. Yeah, well, she’d stopped doing as she was told a long time ago.
“Dad, I can see this is an exercise in futility, so I’m going to make this as simple and as clear as I can,” she said. “Tell my idiot brothers that if they try to beat up Landry again, I’ll be the one who presses charges, not him. And since he’s a cop, they’ll all go to jail for a very long time.”
“Everly…” he began, as if talking to a child.
“Tell them. If they harm even a hair on his head, I’m having them arrested.”
Everly hit the red button with her thumb, wishing she had an old-fashioned phone so she could have slammed it down. God, her father was infuriating. But she’d done all she could. If her brothers ended up in jail now, it was their own stupid fault. She didn’t want that to happen, but she wasn’t going to stand by and do nothing the next time they hurt Landry.
She tossed her cell phone on the desk and glanced at the clock on the wall of her studio, wondering if Landry was on his way. It was after five, so he might be. But she knew he didn’t work a job with standard hours, and as much as she wanted to, she wasn’t going to call and check on him. He’d get here when he got here.
Of course, saying she wouldn’t sit around and count the minutes until Landry showed up sounded mature, but it was nearly impossible to actually do. Not when all she could think about was the amazing evening she’d had with Landry last night.
She’d come to several important conclusions today while she was working. One was that she needed to call her dad and get a few things straight with him. That hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped, but she had a good feeling the other was going to go much better. In the midst of wondering how she’d ever gotten lucky enough to meet a guy like Landry, she decided it might be time to talk about their future together and that little subject known as love.
Yes, it was early in a normal relationship to be batting that word around. But this magnetic pull between her and Landry was anything but normal. It was flat-out magical, and she had no doubt that he felt it too. All it took was one look in his eyes to know he felt exactly the way she did. She was going to tell him she loved him tonight, and something told her he was going to say the same in return. Since they’d have the apartment to themselves, it would make it easier to have a semi-serious talk with her man.
Everly smiled as she read through her email. She wasn’t the only one falling fast for a guy. Mia and Joseph were giving her and Landry a run for th
eir money. Everly had never known Mia to be exclusive with anyone so quickly, but she and Joseph had been together almost 24-7 since the wedding. Everly didn’t think she’d ever seen Mia happier. When her friend wandered in this morning after being out with Joseph and his friends all night, she’d kicked off her shoes and told Everly that Joseph was every girl’s dream. Then she sent a text to her boss saying she wouldn’t be able to make it into work—apparently that passed as official notification where she was employed—and fell into bed with all her clothes on.
Everly was still reading through her emails and organizing her thoughts about what she wanted to say to Landry, wondering if this was a conversation better to have before or after sex, when he knocked on her door.
She closed her email program and hurried into the living room to open the door. Landry stood there looking as handsome as always in his uniform, but also more exhausted than she’d ever seen him. She promised herself that she’d get him into bed early tonight—and not just so they could make love. He needed to catch up on some sleep.
After giving her a long, knee-weakening kiss, he hung his holster on the back of the chair in the kitchen, then collapsed on her couch, while she grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge. When she curled up on the couch next to him, he took the bottle she held out and swigged half the water.
“Long day?” she asked.
“Yeah. There was another bombing yesterday morning.” He sighed. “No one was killed, but more than a dozen people got hurt.”
“Is the FBI getting close to catching the guy?”
He hesitated then nodded. “They should have him in custody soon.”
Talking about the bombing was obviously upsetting him, so she didn’t press for details. Every time some psycho set off a bomb, he was probably reminded of what happened in Iraq.
“You want to go out for dinner?” she asked, changing the subject. “Or I could just make something, if you feel like staying in.”
Landry’s mouth curved into a grin as he reached out and grabbed her, pulling her laughing onto his lap. She ended up straddling his thighs with her hands on his shoulders.
“So, does this mean you’re not hungry?” she asked, leaning forward to kiss him.
He nipped at her lower lip, giving it a little tug. “Oh, I’m hungry, all right. But not for food.”
She moaned. “In that case, I think I’m famished.”
Grabbing hold of his T-shirt, Everly tugged it out of his cargo pants and yanked it over his head. She took in his beautiful muscled chest, noting that the heavy bruise on his left side was completely gone. He wasn’t kidding when he said he healed fast, she thought as she kissed him again.
Cooper was just undoing the buttons on the front of her sleeveless dress when he suddenly jerked his head up to stare at the door. She didn’t even have a chance to ask him what was wrong before it slammed back against the wall. A moment later, her brothers stormed in.
Landry had her on her feet and pushed behind him so fast she barely realized they were off the couch. But that sure as hell wasn’t where she stayed. She moved around the coffee table, ready to flay her brothers alive. Not just for having the gall to show up here again, but for kicking in the door. The wood around the lock was completely shattered.
“You’re paying for that door, Armand,” she shouted. He was always the ringleader of these little interventions.
“Did he bite you?” Armand demanded, ignoring her threat as he took in her partially undone buttons.
Everly was so furious right then that she could barely compose a rational thought, but hearing her oldest brother say something so incredibly stupid broke through the red haze of anger around her and gave her back the gift of speech.
“No, but he was about to,” she said, angrily doing up the buttons. “And I’m still hoping he will—once I throw the four of you the hell out of my apartment.”
Landry came around beside her, trying to get between her and her brothers, but she refused to put him in the middle of this. Not that it mattered. Her brothers only had eyes for her, and right now, they were looking at her like she was insane.
“You want to be one of them?” Tristan asked.
The look of stunned surprise on her youngest brother’s face flabbergasted her.
“What the hell are you talking about? One of what, a SWAT officer?” she asked him. “I’m pretty sure it takes more than a night in bed to get into SWAT, but I’ll let you know in the morning, if you’re really that interested.”
“You’ve always been naive, Everly,” Armand growled. “But even you can’t be blind to what this man really is. You must have seen his true nature at least once. None of them can hide what they really are, not for long.”
Everly was so confused she wasn’t sure whether she should ask for clarification or simply kick them out now. She opted for the former, since they would probably walk right back in now that they’d busted the lock on her door.
“Okay, you’ve made me curious,” she said. “What do you think Landry is—beyond the best thing that has ever happened to me, I mean?”
Armand’s lips twisted into a disapproving frown. Everly wondered if he knew how much he looked like their father when he did that.
“I never wanted you to hear this, but if you won’t trust us, then you leave me no choice,” Armand said. “This creature standing at your side is a monster—a werewolf. And he wants to turn you, make you a spawn of the devil, like him.”
Beside her, Landry tensed. He probably thought her brother had lost his mind and was a danger to everyone in the room. Werewolf? Was that honestly what her father had told her brothers? They clearly believed him. It was so ridiculous, she actually laughed.
Armand didn’t think it was nearly as funny. Muttering something in French, he reached behind his back.
Landry moved faster than she would have thought possible, putting himself between Everly and her brothers again before she could even blink. The next thing she knew, Armand was coming at them with a knife.
Everly screamed, but it was too late. Landry must have thought her brother was going to attack her, and by the time he realized his mistake, Armand had plunged the knife in his chest.
For one horrible moment, time stood still. Then Landry’s eyes flashed a deep gold, and he shoved Armand so hard that her oldest brother flew across the living room the same way the robber had in the bank lobby a few days ago.
Giles and Claude took several steps back, pulling pistols from behind their backs and aiming them at Landry.
Everly ignored them. Instead, she took Landry’s arm, turning him to face her and praying she’d been wrong about what she saw. But she hadn’t been wrong.
She choked back a sob as Landry yanked the knife out of his chest and dropped it to the floor with a heavy clunk. Blood sprayed everywhere.
“Oh God, what have you done, Armand?” Everly screamed.
Tears flooded her eyes so much she could barely see. But she didn’t need to see Landry clearly to know it was bad. There was so much blood.
Landry must have been as stunned by the speed and violence of Armand’s attack as she was. He just stood there looking down at his bloody chest in confusion, oblivious to the trauma. There was no pain on his face either. Instead, an expression that could only be described as sadness filled his eyes. She gripped his shoulder in one hand to keep him from falling, then pressed the other to the wound, desperate to stop the bleeding.
“Don’t just stand there!” she shouted at her brothers. “Call for an ambulance.”
They didn’t move.
Dammit! If she wanted to get Landry help, she would do it herself. And since there was no way she could depend on her brothers to put pressure on his wound, Landry was going to have to do that himself. But when she took her hand away to put his in its place, her eyes widened. The bleeding had already stopped. She watched, stunned, as the edges of the horrible wound closed up in front of her eyes.
That was impossible. Armand had stabbed him in
the chest with a knife big enough to go more than halfway through him.
“Landry?” she asked softly.
The sorrow in his eyes tore at her heart. “I’m so sorry, Everly. I didn’t want you to find out like this.”
She shook her head, even more confused. But Landry didn’t say anything else. He only stood there, tears welling in his eyes.
“Find out what?” She took his hand. “Landry, please talk to me.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Armand get up and move to stand near Giles and Claude. Both of her other brothers still had their weapons out and pointed at Landry.
Behind her, firm hands came to rest on her shoulders, and she glanced back to see Tristan standing there.
“We tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen,” he said. “This man you think is the best thing that has ever happened to you is a werewolf—a monster. Stabbing him was the only way Armand could get you to see that.”
Everly shook her head, her thoughts suddenly too scattered and broken to piece together. “I don’t understand. How can he be…?”
“A werewolf? Or alive?” Tristan asked with a shrug. “I don’t know why he’s a werewolf—he simply is. And he’s alive because evil cannot be killed so easily, even with a knife through the chest.”
She stared at Landry’s chest. The wound had closed almost completely now, and there was a fine line of pale pink scar tissue already forming around the edges. She thought about the bruises and cuts she’d tended last night, about how they were already gone, barely twenty-four hours later. No normal human healed that fast. And yet, her mind rebelled. Werewolves were the stuff of folktales and horror movies. They weren’t real.
But when she looked at Landry’s face, she realized her brother’s words weren’t as shocking to him as they had been to her. He wasn’t even denying it. He simply stood there waiting, silent as a graveyard, a defeated expression in his eyes.