by Lia Davis
Ava had hung herself.
When Bastian lifted his head to glare at Lester, the man ran off toward the woods at the far edge of the parking lot. Before he disappeared into the trees, Bastian swore the man transformed into a wolf.
Shaking his head, Bastian decided he was in shock. He must be. People simply didn’t shift into animals. He picked himself off the ground, then climbed into his car and stared at the photo, numb to the world around him.
Ava was dead.
***
Alanna stepped out of her bedroom to a blaring TV. Rolling her eyes, she advanced down the hall to the living room. She’d moved Cody to Los Lobos early that morning, where they shared a three-bedroom house with her mother. It was safer for her son inside the pack. Especially when she had things to take care of.
Stopping in front of the couch, she folded her arms and stared at Cody until he picked up the remote and turned the sound down. “That’s better. You’d think with your sensitive hearing you’d not have the TV up so loud.”
“Oh, Alanna, you were the same way at his age.” Her mother, Corrine Kemp, spoke from behind the bar-style countertop that separated the living room from the kitchen.
“Morning, Ma. Are you sure you are okay with Cody? I’m not sure how late I’ll be.” Rounding the counter, Alanna leaned against the door frame.
Corrine patted her cheek with a flour-dusted hand. “I raised two Wolves, I can handle my grandson. And if you are out past eleven, don’t bother coming in until the morning.”
A knowing smile lifted her mother’s lips as she turned to the sink. Alanna suppressed a groan as she walked up behind her mother and kissed her cheek. “In that case, I’ll see you in the morning.”
Her mom waved her off then continued to roll out the dough for dinner rolls. “I want to see my kids happy.”
Alanna’s heart swelled. Her mother was one hundred seventy years old, which was equivalent to a seventy-year-old human. Signs that Corrine had begun to slow down had crept in over the last year. Shaking off the thoughts, she refused to let them rule her. “If you need me, just call.”
“We’ll be fine. Now go.”
Crossing the living room, she ruffled Cody’s hair in a sign of affection, because God forbid if she kissed him on the cheek. He was too old to be cooed over by his mother. At least that was what he said. To Alanna, he would always be her little boy.
“Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, baby.”
He rolled his eyes, and it made her laugh.
Outside, she inhaled the scents on the air. The earthy pine and oak scents of the forest mingled with the smell of pack enveloped her, renewing her strength and belief in herself. She was doing the right thing. Her Wolf believed Bastian was theirs and the woman needed a little more convincing. Well, at least another taste of the sexy human who had fast become an addiction for her. She didn’t sleep well last night, and her Wolf had paced and snarled all day.
Instead of hopping on her bike, she turned left on the narrow dirt road that wound through town to head to Serena’s place. Alanna wanted to ask the oracle a question of her own, and she hoped to speak to her alone.
Relief filled her when she reached Serena’s house and didn’t scent Brock around. Not that she didn’t love her brother, but she didn’t want to answer questions. Besides, her emotions ran rampant and Brock would pick up on them and use it to tease her. No, she didn’t want to argue with him. She gave a light knock.
A moment later, the petite brunette answered then smiled in greeting. “Hi, Alanna. This is a surprise.”
Alanna bit her bottom lip to hold in a smile. “Are you really surprised?”
The female ducked her head, her cheeks coloring. “No more than the fact that Brock will be here soon.”
“It’s okay. I was teasing you.”
“I know. Would you like some tea?” Serena stepped to the side, making room for Alanna to enter.
Alanna shook her head. “We can talk out here if you like. I won’t be too long.”
The oracle’s features relaxed as did her shoulders as she nodded and moved to the pair of plastic patio chairs on the porch. “What troubles you?”
Alanna shrugged and sat beside her. “I think I found my mate.”
“Hmm. That is a blessing. The human has a big decision to make.” Serena’s brows dipped and her forehead creased. “There’s something in his past that he needs to come to terms with. No….”
The hairs on Alanna’s nape stood on end. “What is it?’
Serena met her gaze and held it. Unlike other submissives, Serena’s Wolf didn’t shy away from direct eye contact unless it was with the Alpha. Alanna had always wondered if it had something to due with the oracle’s powerful sight.
“Your human is in danger. Someone…no a lone Wolf wants to harm him.” Serena’s eyes grew round. “Brock is coming to me at ask about this Wolf. The one who shot Cody.”
Serena started to shake, and her eyes watered. Alanna reached over and cupped her hands. “Will you be able to help Brock with locating the rogue?”
The female shook her head. “I sense darkness around him. He is not all there.”
“Are you sure?”
Blinking away the tears, Serena shook her head. “Nothing I see is a hundred percent. The future is not set in stone. I can only direct and advise. That is all.”
“And I thank you for that.”
Serena stood and smoothed down her long skirt. “I will help any way I can. You should go to your human. He needs his mate tonight.”
She disappeared into the house, leaving Alanna to decipher the oracle’s words. However, Alanna’s Wolf growled from within. The beast needed to see her mate was okay.
Chapter Seven
Bastian pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex, turned off the engine, and stared at the brick building. Numb, he barely remembered how he got home. The photo of Ava’s suicide lay on the seat next to him, but he didn’t dare look at it. Suicide. What had pushed her to take her own life?
It didn’t make sense.
Then again, nothing in the past twenty-four hours made sense. A boy who could heal faster than Bastian thought possible, a strange woman who he couldn’t get out of his head, and Lester shifting into a wolf all seemed to point to the same conclusion. Bastian had lost his mind. That was the only explanation.
A tap sounded on the glass, and he jumped. Turning his head, he met Alanna’s worry-filled expression. Shaking out of the delusional thoughts, he snatched up the photo and got out of the car.
“Are you all right?”
Absently, he nodded and led the way to his apartment. Fortunately, his apartment was on the ground floor. The muscles in his limbs were heavy as if bricks weighed them down.
He pushed through the door and dropped onto the futon. Alanna hovered nearby, wringing her hands, and he swore. Could he be more of an ass? “Look, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to be much company tonight.”
She eased down on her knees in front of him. “Tell me what happened.”
A husky laugh escaped him. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I think I’ve finally lost my mind.”
“Believe me, I’m the last person to think you’re crazy.” She touched his cheek, drawing his attention to her face. Her cobalt-blue eyes stared back at him with compassion. Her lips lifted in a warm, beautiful smile. “Trust me, please.”
Somehow those three words carried something more. He wanted to trust her, which was crazy because he knew nothing about her. He ran a hand through his hair and rested his head against the futon mattress. “I don’t know where to even start.”
She slid on the sofa next to him. “Let’s call take-out and talk about whatever is on your mind. I have all night.”
“What about your son?”
“With my mom. He’s fine.” When he stared at her, she relaxed and drew out her cell phone. “You share first.”
Studying the ceiling as she scrolled through her phone, he couldn’t shake the st
orm of emotions brewing inside him. “I was married once. We met in medical school, fell madly in love, and married after a month.”
Next to him Alanna tensed. When he didn’t speak, she glanced at him and gave a forced smile. “Go on.”
Resuming his stare-at-the-ceiling pose, he continued. “We had a large house with a maid, gardener, and so on. The picture-perfect life. Until about ten years ago when I lost a patient on the operating table. A colleague at the time pointed the blame to me. The review board ruled out malpractice and the family never sued. Ava became distant shortly after. At first, I didn’t understand why. Then, I found out the colleague who accused me, Lester, and Ava were having an affair..”
Alanna rested a hand on his and squeezed. “I’m so sorry.”
He turned his palm up and linked their fingers together. A slight tingle crawled up his arm. “When I left work tonight, Lester waited for me at my car.” Bastian held out the photo he’d half crumpled in his hand. “He gave me that and said it was my fault she killed herself.”
Tilting her head, Alanna took the photo and studied it as she placed an order for Chinese. When she finished, she set her phone on the coffee table. “You don’t believe she would do this?”
“Not the Ava I knew. It just doesn’t make sense. But that’s not the crazy part.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and blurted it out. “When Lester left, I swore I saw him change into a wolf right before he disappeared into the woods around the hospital.”
A long, painful silence filled the room. He expected Alanna to get up and leave the apartment at any moment, but she didn’t. Instead, she turned sideways on the futon so she faced him. She drew her brows together and chewed her bottom lip before closing her eyes and speaking. “First, you are not crazy. Second, Lester did shifter into a Wolf. I knew he was a shifter the moment you got out of your car. I smelled him on you.”
He swallowed, his heart hammered. “What are you saying?”
“You’re a smart man. Why do you think Cody can heal so fast?”
The events from last night and the odd rambling of Lester, his shifting….
“You’re werewolves.”
She winced. “Not like the ones in horror stories. Most of us prefer the term shifters. We can’t turn humans. We live by a strict rule of secrecy. It’s the only way we can survive. If humans knew about us, they’d hunt us down.”
He stood and paced the living room, his pulse increasing with each step as anxiety rose within him. Not possible. She’s a wolf? Wait. “How is that even physically possible?”
Sitting forward on the futon, she rested her forehead on her palms. “It’s different Wolf to Wolf. Some believe it’s magic, others think it’s biology.”
“What do you believe?”
She shrugged and glanced up at him, brows wrinkled. “I guess a little of both. It makes more sense to me. Then again, I’ve lived in the pack my whole life.”
Her whole life. Her reply didn’t answer his question. Not really. It wasn’t possible. Yet, he’d seen Lester change into a wolf. The creak of the futon spring brought his attention to Alanna as she stood and paced to him.
When she stopped in front of him, he stepped back. The corners of her mouth drooped into a frown. Her eyes grew moist. “Bastian, I will not hurt you.”
She reached out to him, and he sidestepped, avoiding eye contact and ignoring the sense of her sadness that reached out to him. The conflict of emotions inside him mixed with Alanna’s stirred a whirlwind of anxiety. His mind rolled with thoughts of her kiss from the day before, the passion she stirred within him, a passion he couldn’t deny if his life depended on it. Was that her big secret? No. Werewolves didn’t exist. He shook his head. “I need some time to think.”
“What are you saying?” Her voice trembled.
Turning away, unwilling to witness the hurt rising in her expression…. “I’m asking you to leave. Your world is not for me.”
There was a long pause, and then he heard her snatch her phone from the table and slam the door as she left him. Fuck. His chest grew tight as he heard her bike start up and peel out of the parking lot.
It’s official. I’m an ass.
***
Alanna quietly entered the house, then took her shoes off at the door to pad her way to the kitchen. Her heart hurt, her Wolf sobbed, and even breathing became hard and painful. With blurred vision, she opened the cabinet over the island and pulled out a drink glass and bottle of Jack. She didn’t bother with ice, just poured and slammed a mouthful, allowing brown liquor to burn its way down.
After two more shots, she carried the bottle and glass to the dining table and sat in the dark. She really didn’t need much light anyway. Plus the darkness fit her mood.
He’d kicked her out, shut her and her Wolf out of his life. What had she expected? He was human and, until today, didn’t believe in the monsters living in the mountains around him.
“Stupid, Alanna,” she breathed, then slammed back another shot.
A lump stuck in her throat, and her nose tingled. Soft footsteps sounded behind her, and she blinked away the tears. Her mother’s gentle, warm hand brushed her forehead through her hair to tug her into a hug.
Alanna returned her hug. “Knowing about me was too much. He asked me to leave.”
Kissing her forehead, her mother took the bottle of whiskey from her and walked into the kitchen. A moment later, she came back with two bowls of chocolate ice cream. “This tastes better and is more effective.”
Alanna exhaled a soft laugh. It took a lot for shifters to get drunk off alcohol. Still, she could pretend. “The rogue who shot Cody was mated to Bastian’s ex-wife.”
Corrine stared at her, eyes narrowed. “Was?”
“Yeah. She hung herself.” Alanna went on to explain what Bastian had told her, including the part where he’d seen the rogue shift. When she stopped speaking, her mother watched her, a small smile lifting her lips. “What?”
Reaching over, Corrine patted her on the hand. “Honey, think about it. He had a lot of information dropped on him in a matter of a few hours. He needs time to process it. Give him that time.”
Alanna gazed into her bowl, swirling the spoon around in the melting ice cream. “It still hurts.”
“I know. The need to mate is a wonderful and confusing thing. It’s not always easy, though. You and your Wolf need to learn to be patient with him.” Corrine took another bite of her ice cream before asking, “What are you going to do about the rogue?”
“I’ll meet with Ryker in the morning and form a plan. I caught his scent off Bastian, so I shouldn’t have a problem tracking him.” When she caught him, she’d kick his ass for threatening her mate.
“You could track him even without his scent. It’s in your blood like it was your father’s.”
Her father, as in biological and not the jerk she’d grown up with, had died shortly after Brock’s birth, shot by hunters in the Black Hills. The few memories she had were of his smiling face and the compassion in his gaze when he looked at her mom.
Rising to her feet, Alanna picked up her bowl, but her mom shook her head. “Leave it. I can’t sleep. I may sit up and read a bit.”
Dread hit her in the gut. “Are you feeling well?”
“I’m fine, dear. Just not tired, that’s all.”
Alanna clenched her teeth together but let the lie go. She would have to see if Drew could stop by and talk with her, or maybe Betty would. Alanna cupped her mother’s face. Corrine leaned into it and sighed. “Night Mom. Thanks for the talk.”
A bright smile lit up her mother’s face. “Anything for my baby girl. Everything will work out, you’ll see.”
She wanted to believe it, but her Wolf still whimpered as she curled up in a ball within her. Maybe her mother was right about giving Bastian time. If he needed time, then she’d give him two days. After that, she’d go after him and seduce him into her world.
He was her mate, and she would show him what it meant to be truly hunted by a
she Wolf.
Chapter Eight
The morning sun filtered into the window of the small coffeehouse in Rapid City, a few feet from where Cody said he’d seen the rogue, whose name was Lester Dole. According to Ryker, he used to be a friend of Magnum’s and had come to visit the old Alpha many times. But Ryker had said he hadn’t seen or heard from Lester in at least a decade or so.
She didn’t mention that she had a hunch as to why Lester had come back to the Black Hills. No, she wouldn’t tell him or Drew until she was a hundred percent certain what he wanted with Bastian.
Sipping her coffee, she scanned the street beyond the window she sat in front of. From her position in the corner both, she had a great view of the door and the humans walking by. She didn’t really expect Lester to show up out of the blue, but she’d hoped she would pick up on his scent somewhere in town.
The café door chimed, drawing her attention to the man entering the restaurant. Her heart sank while a gleam of satisfaction fluttered through her. A Wolf and not of her pack, but she couldn’t see his face.
Suddenly, he turned to her, his nostrils flaring as if scenting the air. His cold, dark eyes narrowed on her and lingered for several moments before he pivoted on his heels and walked out. Shit. She jumped up, abandoning her coffee, and followed him.
His strides were long and deliberate as he led her down the sidewalk and turned onto a path that trailed off into the woods. Taking her cell phone out of her pocket, she sent the prewritten text to her brother, telling him she’d found Lester.
Once out of sight from humans, he rounded on her with a snarl. “You smell like that bastard of a human Bastian Storm.”
“Then you suspect why I’m here.” She flexed her fingers by her sides, ready for him to attack at any moment. His scent wasn’t right. It held that same hint of soured note that Magnum’s had when he went insane.