He ceased pacing and faced her abruptly. “Do you always have to act so damn defensive about everything?”
Her spine stiffened. “That’s not true,” she began, her voice hot and loud. She clamped her jaw shut. She’d just proved the opposite.
“It is true. You take offence at anything I say.”
Tallulah silently counted to ten. She’d get nowhere antagonizing him. And perhaps he did have a point. Payton certainly wouldn’t be the first to say that her personality had become a tad bitter over the past couple of years.
“I apologize. You’re right. Seeing Jeb’s mauled body did bother me and I took it out on you.”
Payton’s anger instantly abated. “It’s okay.”
“I think I interrupted your morning shower. Why don’t you go ahead and finish?”
He hesitated. “Are you sure? Can I get you anything first?”
“I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee,” she said sweetly. “Might calm my nerves.”
“Sure. Sugar or cream?”
“Both.”
“Done. Then I’m going back upstairs to finish dressing so I’ll be decent when the cops bombard the place.”
“Had experience with this sort of thing before?” she asked, unable to help herself. “With cops, that is.”
His eyes shuttered. “Hmm.”
Without explaining, he disappeared in the kitchen. She kept her ears tuned as he rumbled about for a cup, poured and stirred. She picked up a cell phone that was on the coffee table.
Damn. This one required a password to make a call. She reached and tried another abandoned phone on the end table. Oh, yes, this one was password-free. It would do nicely.
At the sound of footsteps, she stuffed the phone under the sofa cushion.
“One coffee coming up,” Payton announced.
He held out a steaming, earthenware mug and she clasped both hands around the smooth pottery. Despite the appalling circumstances, the warmth in her palms spread up her arms and into her heart. There were few caring gestures in her life. Not since Bo...well, no point thinking of him now. He’d left her behind and she was alone again. Most of the time, she’d learn to accept she was on her own. Until an act of kindness, however small, undid her.
Oh, hell, not tears. Quickly, Tallulah hung her head, allowing her long hair to drape her profile on either side. She sipped the coffee and discreetely swiped the wetness from her cheeks.
“Hey, are you crying?” Payton sat beside her on the sofa.
“Of course not.” She carefully set the mug on an end table and faked a little cough. “Swallowed the wrong way. Go ahead and get dressed.”
He looked doubtful, but she shooed him along with a wave of her hand. “A few minutes alone will do me good.”
“If you say so.”
With one last pat on her shoulder, Payton rose and tromped up the stairs. Tallulah unearthed the phone from beneath the cushion and punched in a familiar number.
“Yes, hello,” she said, careful to keep her voice low. “I need to speak with Sheriff Angier. It’s an emergency.”
* * *
It was happening all over again, Payton thought.
He tried to make excuses as he shrugged into a T-shirt and pulled on socks and sneakers—a dead body didn’t necessarily mean murder. There could be a natural cause. The bayou was teeming with rattlesnakes and water moccasins. Maybe even alligators? He wasn’t sure if they were far south enough for gators; he’d have to ask Tallulah about that.
Yes, but the body had been found on their property. It was Montana all over again. Questions whirled through his brain in a storm of dread. He’d been so concerned over Tallulah; he hadn’t asked for details. Now he desperately needed to know everything, needed to come up with a rational explanation for what had happened. An explanation that had nothing to do with one of their own.
Satisfied he was presentable, Payton returned downstairs.
Tallulah was a blur of motion. A hand swept down her side as she stood and faced him. Had she dropped something? She ran a hand through her hair and gave an uncertain smile.
“That was quick.”
He strode forward. “Did the coffee help?”
“Yes, yes. I told you, I’m fine.”
“Good. Because I have a few questions.” He sat in a chair across from the sofa and motioned her to sit back down. A cell phone lay on the cushion beside her.
“Call anybody?” he asked.
“What makes you think this is my phone?” The old Tallulah was back in control, abrasive and defensive.
“Is it?”
“No. So what did you want to ask me?”
“Tell me about the body you found. Did you know the person?”
She swallowed hard. “It was Jeb Johnson, your landlord.”
“I never met him. Just one of his sons, forgot the name.”
“That would be Tommy or Ainsley. Jeb didn’t get out much in the last year or so, wasn’t feeling well,” she said. She picked up the coffee mug and took a long draw.
Hope loosened the tightness in his chest. The man was old. Perhaps he’d gone for an early morning walk and his heart gave up the ghost.
“A possible heart attack?”
“I wish. No.” She pursed her lips a moment. “His neck was cut open. Or—” her eyes narrowed a fraction “—he was bitten.”
“Bitten?” he asked, fighting to keep his voice mild, his expression neutral. Holy hell. The nightmare continued. “Bitten by what? A wild dog? A bear?”
She set the mug on the table. “No bears in these parts. Not for decades. No wild dogs, either, that I’m aware of.”
Easy, Payton. Easy. Keep your eyes and face like Switzerland.
Silence weighted the space between them.
“I can’t help thinking of that creature I saw near here,” Tallulah said at last. “The wolf that entered the house.”
Payton smiled sardonically. “If a wolf had walked in here, I promise one of us would have noticed.”
“I know what I saw.”
“What you think you saw,” he amended.
“Something strange is going on around here. Is there something you want to tell me? While we’re alone?”
A pang of longing shot through his heart. How nice it would be to confide in someone instead of keeping the secret locked inside. Never. Don’t even consider such a dangerous notion. His loyalty was to the pack. To his own kind. And they were in deep, deep trouble.
“There’s nothing to tell,” he replied dully. “We’re here to do a job and then we’ll be on our way in a few months.”
“You’re lying,” she said flatly.
Payton pursed his lips, biting back a sharp retort. Bad enough he was forced to live a lie, but he wasn’t a hypocrite. He did what he must in order to protect himself and the pack. If the wrong people knew they were shapeshifters, it would result in a witch hunt—the likes of which would make Salem appear tame by comparison.
He shifted the inquisition. “Who did you call?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“When I was upstairs, you called someone. Who? And why?”
Her face was as calm and stoic as a piece of polished amber. “Nobody.”
“Now who’s lying?”
Siren wails intruded upon their impasse, signaling the rapid-approaching arm of the law. Footsteps lumbered up the back porch steps as several members of the pack returned.
It was going to be a bitch of a day.
Chapter 5
“I understand you’re the one who found the body.”
Sheriff Angier casually maneuvered her to the side.
A young Bayou La Siryna cop frowned, clearly irritated. “I can take her statement.”
<
br /> “Relax, rookie. We all want the same thing—to discover what happened to Mr. Johnson. Now go talk to some of the others.”
The rookie flushed, but left them alone, grumbling under his breath.
“Tell me why you wanted to speak to me personally,” the sheriff said. “Do you have some suspicions you’re afraid to voice in front of anyone else?”
“I trust you. Your dad and my dad went a long way back.”
“I remember,” Angier said.
“So hear me out. What I’m about to tell you is a little weird.”
He gave her a sideways glance. “I’m plenty used to weird in Bayou La Siryna.”
Tallulah knew that. Annie claimed Angier’s wife was “different” and perhaps otherworldly. Her sister-in-law, Annie, was the granddaughter of the local hoodoo queen, Tia Henrietta, and had the ability to hear auras. Tallulah didn’t believe it at first, but she’d learned that Annie did indeed have powers. She’d seen her do it many times, especially during a crisis.
“Around Shelly Angier I hear the ocean,” Annie had said. “It’s especially clear when I’m near her cousins, Jet and Lily. With Jet, the ocean sounds powerful and releases a ferocious beauty of pounding waves. And with Lily...” Annie’s eyes grew dreamy and she sighed. “I can’t do justice to describing her aura. It’s a beautiful voice that sounds like an angel, except the notes are carried out over the sea in waves—rippling and melodic.”
She’d laughed. “Are you saying Angier is married to a mermaid?”
Annie hadn’t laughed. “Anything’s possible in Bayou La Siryna.”
Tallulah tried to gauge the enigmatic sheriff’s reaction to her probe. Her image reflected off his polarized sunglasses. Did law enforcement wear those to deliberately keep people from guessing their thoughts? ’Cause she could read no emotion on Angier’s stern, rugged face.
What the hell. She had to tell him what she’d seen. If he laughed and brushed her off, so be it.
“Go on,” he urged.
“Jeb’s neck... I’ve never seen anything like it. Could it have been a wild animal? A stray dog?”
“The forensic expert will make that call.”
Hah. He was stonewalling her. “I asked what you think?”
“I think you know something,” he countered. “What is it?”
“I’ve seen a wolf roaming this area.”
A heartbeat passed.
“Never seen one in this bayou. That’s all you got?” Angier asked.
“The wolf is menacing. Its behavior is odd. One moment feral and dangerous, and the next it’s—it’s—”
“Spit it out.”
She glared at the sheriff and then pointed to the farmhouse. “I saw it walk up those back porch stairs and then enter this house. And no one said a word after it happened.”
“Anything else?”
“Awful strange that something like this happens just as the new renters come to town.” There, she’d said it.
“Could be you have a bias against them. Considering how much you love this land and have protested their timber clearing.”
“That’s not true,” she said, immediately on the defensive. She’d never insinuate a person had committed a crime based on a personal grudge. “It’s not fair. I—”
“Hey, come look at this!” one of the cops cried from behind the tree line. A buzz of excitement broke out and everyone swarmed under a magnolia, trying to get a glimpse.
She and Sheriff Angier hurried over. The aggressive rookie policeman held up an object and Tallulah stopped dead at the sight.
Feathers and beads dangled in the breeze from a wooden, hooped dream catcher.
Her dream catcher.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. She was paralyzed with shock. How had it gotten there? Her memorial to Bo was too far away for the wind to have carried it all the way to Jeb’s. Tallulah wet her dry lips and scanned the crowd. Was she being set up? Maybe by one of the new renters in Bayou La Siryna?
“What the hell is that thing?” one of the onlookers asked.
Sheriff Angier shot her a questioning look, one brow raised. He recognized a Native American relic when he saw one. The Choctaw presence was strong in the area.
“Good thing I’m not one to jump to conclusions,” he commented.
“But—but—”
“Maybe you should explain to the sheriff why you continue to trespass on our property.”
Tallulah whirled around, coming face-to-face with Payton. A very angry Payton.
“You always appear to be snooping around at the most interesting times,” Payton continued. His gray eyes lacked any warmth. All trace of the nice guy had vanished. Now she’d done it. After today, he’d want nothing to do with her. Fine. She was used to being alone.
Matt marched over to them, clearly infuriated. “And you were the one who found the body.”
His loud, firm voice carried and everyone momentarily paused to look their way. Even the tech people loading Jeb’s body into a vehicle and the other cops, who were taking pictures of the scene and scouting the immediate area.
Tallulah’s face flamed. This is what you got for trying to be a good citizen. She focused her gaze on Angier. “If you want to ask me more questions, you know where I live.”
The sheriff nodded. “I’ll be in touch.”
I’ll bet. But she had no answers. No explanation as to why her dream catcher was located near Jeb’s body. She straightened her shoulders and headed to the street, conscious of Payton’s eyes on her. Walking on the road added significant distance to the journey home, but she didn’t care to be alone in the woods after the sight of Jeb’s bloody neck with its jagged skin.
Her legs grew heavy; the whole event had wearied her more than she’d realized. The emotional turmoil had sapped her energy. It would be a long, lonely walk back to her cabin.
And this time, there would be no offer of a ride home from Payton.
* * *
The pack crowded into the living room, awaiting word from their alpha, Matt. The mood was as solemn as the night they’d decided to leave Montana after confronting the unfair accusations of other wolf packs.
Only now it appeared the accusations weren’t false.
Someone among them was infected with the lycanthropic fever. A cold-hearted killer who would stop at nothing to fulfill his cravings for human blood. The fever had been widespread out west. No one knew how it started, only that it spread from one wolf to another through biting. Those infected by the fever were ordered to live at a secured, medical compound until an antidote was developed.
Absolute compliance to this law was strictly enforced. Werewolves had evolved over the years, learned to shape-shift and satisfy their animal nature without posing harm to humans and without exposing their secret nature. But the lycanthropic fever threatened their gains. A series of unexplained human murder victims, all bitten in the neck, all drained of blood, had aroused the attention of the law enforcement and the fear of the community. For now, the murders were theorized as being committed by an unknown serial killer. But if this spread across the country, if word leaked on the hidden world of shapeshifters, their existence would be threatened. It would be a return to the days of wolf and witch trials. A bloodbath that might end their kind forever.
“We’re in a tough position,” Matt began, standing in front of the fireplace. “By tomorrow morning, the law enforcement people in this town will most likely see the connection of the victim’s body here as identical to other victims out west.” He took a deep breath and intently regarded each of them. “One of you is infected. I can’t deny it any longer.”
But who?
Payton’s gaze swept the room, studying the guarded faces of his friends, his family. Each one appeared shell-shocked. Eyes reflected varying degrees o
f dread and many had slumped shoulders, an aura of defeat. Jillian appeared to take the news the worst. Her eyes were bloodshot and her hands trembled in her lap.
“But maybe it wasn’t one of us.” Adam, their youngest member, spoke up. “There was that Native American thing found by the body. Maybe whoever left it was the real killer.”
Russell caught his eye. Payton shook his head a fraction, signaling not to speak. His friend frowned, but kept quiet.
As quick as Tallulah had been to judge all of them, he wasn’t ready to attach blame. The dream catcher at the scene, combined with the fact that she was the person to discover the body, looked bad. He didn’t know Tallulah well enough to determine her character, but the ripped flesh on Jeb’s neck and the loss of blood was an ironclad indictment against one of them.
“It was one of us,” Matt insisted. “But that Tallulah Silver concerns me. She suspects something and she snoops about the place too much.”
Matt stared straight at him. “Didn’t you have dinner with the other evening? How well do you know her?”
Jillian stopped sniffling and cast alert eyes on him.
“Evidently, not well as well as I thought.”
“Then get closer to her,” Matt commanded. “Find out what she knows and then throw her off our trail.”
“She’s freely told the sheriff what she’s seen. As far as throwing us off our trail, I don’t see how I’m supposed to do that.”
“Distract her. Use your charms. Maybe even move in with her to keep an eye on her movements.”
“Hell, Matt. You want me to be a damn gigolo?”
Snickers erupted from the group, relieving a bit of the tension. At his expense.
“I don’t see why that’s necessary,” Jillian blurted. “That woman doesn’t know the first thing about us. About our werewolf nature.”
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