by Jianne Carlo
“Fine. I’m sleeping with him, but it’s not a serious relationship. We’re fuck budd–”
Joe snatched the phone from her hand. “Jesus. You want to get me killed?”
Susie glowered at him. “He’s being an absolute—”
“Protective brother. Reacting precisely the way I would if I were him.”
Damn if his palms weren’t itching to connect with her ass. He set the cell to his ear.
“Gray, Joe Huroq here. You know your sister better than I do, and you know she’s only trying to goad you right now. You and I need to have a man-to-man talk, and we will the minute I get back. In the meantime, stash your things in the study. The sofa turns into a bed. And have Tate show you what’s stored in the safe.”
“You’re inviting me to stay in your home?” Gray’s voice level had returned to normal.
“Yes. We should be back there in a couple of hours.”
“Nobody screws my little sister and gets away with it.”
“If I had one, I’d feel the same way.” Joe prayed that was enough explanation for her brother.
Susie crossed her arms. “Are you done?”
“I believe your sister and I are about to have our very first fight. Later.” He hung up and tossed the phone into the tray.
“I can’t believe Gray.”
“Don’t even think of going there. Do you know how lucky you are to have people who care for you enough to be worried? How’d you feel if you couldn’t get ahold of your brother and had been trying for two days?” Joe spied Kieran’s SUV under a tree on the right. He eased the pickup off the road, found another oak with low-hanging branches, and parked.
She tilted her head back on the car seat and blew out a long sigh. “I hate that you’re right. Okay. Round one to you and Gray. You do realize he’s going to grill you about your ‘intentions’?”
“And so he should. Don’t worry. I can handle it.” He captured her hand and kissed each knuckle in turn. “We need to get one thing straight right this moment. We are not fuck buddies. This is no hookup. We are in a relationship.”
“That’s not what I wanted.” She wouldn’t meet his gaze. “And I think I was totally wrong about the alpha thing and the ballroom dancing.”
“Wanted. Past tense. Care to tell me what you want? Present tense.” He knew better than to push her but also knew the time to reveal his wolf fast approached, and he needed her to admit to them being a couple.
“I don’t know.” She pulled at the seat belt.
“Do you want to break us off right now?” Joe held his breath.
She shook her head. “No. But Gray being here’s going to complicate things. I like you. A lot. You have to know, though, that I meant what I said when we first met. I don’t want the ‘normal’ stuff. I want a career, not a husband and kids and marriage.”
“Why do the three have to be diametrically opposed? There are tons of women out there who manage all those things.” She tried to remove her hand from his grasp, but he wouldn’t allow it. “Look at me, gypsy woman. I’m not going to curb your freedom.”
“You make me want to believe, Joe.” Her fervent whisper would’ve escaped him if not for his wolf hearing.
He’d make her believe.
“Can we agree that we’re in relationship?”
Their gazes met, and her eyes shimmered.
She nodded.
“Good.” He traced the high line of her cheekbone. “Because I sure as heck can’t let you go. Not right now.”
Not ever.
Not for his whole eternity.
The knock on the passenger window spooked Susie. Her eyes went huge.
Joe had been aware of Kieran’s presence since he’d turned off the road.
“It’s Kieran. Ready?”
“Yes.” Relief swamped her features, and he hid a grin. She wanted to sweep everything under the carpet, but he’d had his admission, and that was all he needed, for now.
Kieran, one foot propped on his SUV’s fender, folded his arms and asked as they exited the vehicle, “Need help?”
“Nope. One backpack only. You have the cameras?”
“Yeah.”
Joe snatched the knapsack from the pickup’s tray and shrugged it on. He held out his hand, and Susie, without a moment’s hesitation, looped her fingers with his.
“First I’ll take you both to where I found Petey. Then we’ll head to the outcrop. It’s the only sizeable one on Hallelujah Mountain.” Joe followed a trodden path that meandered between large oaks and thick clumps of shrubs. Within five minutes they came upon the muddied stream of a fast-running river.
“Which one’s this?” Susie pointed to the rippling water.
“Mudflat River. The junction of the Mahnee and Mudflat is up ahead.”
In the distance tree branches dipped and swayed above the rounded roof of the covered bridge that spanned Mudflat River. The path narrowed, and Joe sandwiched Susie between him and Kieran. It had been a rainy winter, and green fungus clung to the majority of tree trunks they passed. The slight musty odor overpowered the rotting debris littering the riverbed. Evidence of hunters in the form of power bar labels and empty, mangled plastic bottles marred the sodden banks.
“I thought covered bridges were only found up north.” Susie’s fingers tugged at his.
“What’s wrong?” Joe slowed, arrested by the sudden dampness coating her palms.
“Nothing. Being paranoid, that’s all.”
A spike in the flint mingling with her fresh scent wafted to his nose. “Once we cross the bridge, we also cross the state line.”
Joe’s boots hit the wooden planks. Dappled shadows from the trees above danced over the bridge and abruptly vanished under the roof. The temperature dropped at least five degrees, and he glanced back to see Susie shiver.
“You’re cold.” He turned around and pulled the sweatshirt he’d stashed just in case from the backpack’s side pocket.
She shook her head. “I’m not cold. This bridge is creepy. Please. Let’s just get off it.”
Behind Susie, Kieran quirked a brow.
Joe gave an imperceptible shake of his head, draped an arm around her, and marched them across the river. The second her foot hit the ground on the other side, the stiffness went from Susie’s rigid back.
“You okay?” Joe halted to study her wan complexion.
“I’m not like this. I don’t creep out easily.”
He massaged her cold fingers and knew she didn’t realize the death grip she’d had on his shirt. “It’s okay. I’m here. So’s Kieran. You’re safe.”
She swallowed. Squeezed her eyes shut. “You’re going to think I’m a basket case.”
“I think you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He brushed his lips over her closed lids. “Need a minute?”
“No.” She met his stare. “Thank you.”
Kieran stood a few paces to the left of Susie. He signaled Joe with a finger to his mouth.
Joe gripped Susie’s shoulders tightly and angled his head to Kieran. Without moving, she looked back, saw Kieran’s signal for silence, met Joe’s gaze, nodded her understanding, and went still.
He scanned the landscape ahead and zoomed onto the backs of two men dressed in camouflage from head to toe walking side by side up the mountain. Both had rifles slung over their backs. One spoke with the unmistakable twang of a man born and bred amid the swamp citizens of the Gulf area. Four black-and-tan coonhounds, black noses grazing the leafy carpet covering the path, ambled alongside the hunting pair.
Joe locked glances with Kieran and shook his head. No threat to them there. He waited until the hunters crested the hill before saying, “Let’s move on.”
“I don’t get it. Did you hear something?” Susie addressed the question to Kieran.
“I thought I heard voices, but it was nothing. Lead the way.” Kieran stepped back and waved Joe on.
Holding her hand, Joe increased his speed, suddenly anxious to get them out of th
e forest. They rounded a long, curving bend, and the Mahnee River came into view. Across the way the sun poked over the tree line. Its dazzling core blinded him for a second. He shaded his eyes and perused the river’s edges. The jagged peaks of several black rocks signaled the beginning of a series of violent rapids formed by precipitous drops where the two rivers began merging.
“It’s lovely. Very peaceful. And it’s giving me the creepy-crawlies.” Susie massaged her neck. “Was it here that you found him?”
“No. Down the trail about another hundred yards.” He set his hand to the small of her back. “We need to pick up our pace.”
They went forward at a rapid stride. The river coiled away from them when they entered the deep shadows of a forest with a thick canopy. The musty fungus smell yielded to aromas of mud and a pungent greenness.
Susie edged nearer to him as they traversed the tunnel formed by dark trunks and the canopy. A mass of sticky cobwebs attacked Joe’s face as he ducked under a low-hanging branch. He slashed the gooey threads with one hand and scraped his palm clean on a high stump.
“I can’t see worth a damn,” Susie muttered.
“We’re almost through.” Joe grabbed her waist and pushed her ahead of him. “Keep walking. Just a couple more yards.”
The roaring confluence of the two rivers drowned all other noises. They emerged from the woods to silver- and white-capped rapids crashing over five-foot-wide serrated rocks.
Susie clutched his arm. “They look like teeth. Massive, gruesome teeth.”
Joe twisted around to Kieran. He didn’t have to say a word.
Bands of crime scene yellow tape clung to a clump of trees dead ahead of them. Kieran unhooked one backpack strap and removed a camera from a zippered pocket. He rested the bag on a rock and advanced, camera focused.
“Let’s give him some space,” Joe whispered in Susie’s ear and led her down the bank. They walked to below the rapids, to where the channel widened into a yawning sprawl and the water’s flow slowed to sluggish.
“I didn’t see anything that seemed familiar. That spot didn’t even raise the hairs on my arm.” She stared in Kieran’s direction. “Except for the rocks, it was pretty. How awful is that?”
Joe rested his palms on her shoulder and kissed her temple. “I can’t honestly say that I expected anything different. But it was worth a try. Strange that the bridge affected you so strongly, though.”
“I have to admit the events of the past couple of days have shaken me up. I’m probably just all spooked out. First the fire, then Petey, now another body. I haven’t felt so off-kilter since Papa died.”
She was thinking about her father. About loss. Her pain lanced his soul. Several times during their hike he’d sensed her thoughts. The urge to build fortresses, havens, walls, moats, any structure to protect and guard her welled through his veins. He sought to take the edge off, to nudge her in a different direction.
“Barb didn’t want Kieran to come here again.” Joe picked up a few pebbles and skipped them over the river’s swirling surface. “I wasn’t sure if this was the right thing to do or not. But I know if it was my son, I’d have to go over everything at least a dozen times to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. What do you think?”
She laid her hands on his chest and stared at him directly. “Go with your instincts. When my father was killed, no one talked about it. We all shut up. It was only when Mike came back to town that we even acknowledged what had happened. Not talking is what drove Mama to drink. Not talking only makes the hurt and anger fester.”
He covered her hands with his, so thrilled she had finally trusted him with one of her secrets he couldn’t drag a word from his voice box. He kissed her fingertips and played for time.
“I’m ready to move on.” Kieran stood to their right, his face devoid of color and his eyes reddened.
As much as Joe wanted to pursue the tale of the death of Susie’s father, he sensed the grief cliff Kieran climbed would soon drag him over the precipice. Kieran radiated intense heat, and Joe picked up his barely contained rage.
“Susie didn’t remember anything new. I Googled the outcrop’s location and downloaded some aerial photographs. It’s straight up from here.” Joe pointed to a tall pine, which crested the peak of Hallelujah Mountain.
He and Kieran could’ve made it to the summit in minutes if they’d used their beast skills, but he didn’t want to spook Susie before she saw the rock. She needed to be calm and aware and open to Petey if the kid wanted to contact her again.
It went against everything the alpha in him yearned to do—protect her, cage her in his orbit—but Joe owed Kieran his vengeance and Petey peace. To do that, Susie had to listen to Petey’s message. Her aroma had changed the minute they’d stepped onto that damned bridge. The flintiness he smelled last evening had returned and the veins at her temples throbbed. But she had recovered quickly yesterday once the shock of the vision had worn off. Maybe a second vision wouldn’t be as potent and her reaction less powerful.
The incline steepened in dramatic fashion before they’d covered ninety yards. Glad for the conversational lag every time he checked Kieran’s grim features, Joe concentrated on the changing scents of Susie and the slope. Not until they reached the side path to the outcrop did he notice any difference.
Acid.
He’d smelled the same acridity on their run the night before.
Coincidence? Or a pattern? He filed the similarity for further perusal.
They traipsed along the narrow path in single file—Joe in the lead, Susie in the middle, and Kieran bringing up the rear. Nothing out of the extraordinary hit him. Birds warbled, small creatures sidled away from large ones, and the wind whistled through dense trees. Yet his hackles saluted and the back of the neck tingling had him rolling his shoulders.
Joe halted when the white-washed outcrop loomed in front of them.
Susie sucked in a deep breath, and the flint in her aroma surged.
He moved to her side. “What’s wrong?”
“I think she’s going to pass out.” Kieran stepped to Susie’s right and hovered, hands outstretched.
“No.” She grabbed Joe’s arm, and all the color drained from her face. “There’s a cave. Inside the rock. Under the rock, there are bodies, boys’ bodies. That’s what Petey meant.”
“A predator’s lair? Jesus. Are we dealing with a pedophile?” Kieran’s angular features had taken on a hawkish cast, grayed and sharp.
Bleak eyes met Joe’s. “I…take me home. Please.”
Susie swayed, and he caught her in his arms. Her eyelids fluttered and then shut. Fuck, she’d passed out.
“I’ve got to her out of here. Can you scent the change in her aroma?”
Kieran shook his head. “Sorry. I’ve been completely focused on Petey.”
“I smelled it yesterday after she saw Petey. I never expected the vision to deep-six her into another galaxy.” Joe checked Susie’s breathing, even but way too shallow. His anxiety went into warp speed.
“I can see that. I thought she was going to pass out on the bridge.”
“She may need medical attention this time. I’m outta here. Stay if you need to.”
“No, I’ve had enough too.” Kieran grabbed the bag.
Between Kieran and him, they got her back down the mountain in record time. Susie was almost comatose the whole journey in his arms. He and Kieran didn’t speak, neither wanting her to awake and become aware of the extraordinary speed they utilized.
When they reached the parked vehicles, Susie was still unconscious.
Kieran halted at his SUV. He raised a tear-streaked face and his fury, anguish, and pain came at Joe in waves of scalding heat.
“He’s mine.”
“I know.” Joe didn’t give a shit about the morality of the situation. Kieran needed to kill his son’s murderer, and that was that.
“I don’t know if I’ll live to regret it, but there’s no way this putrid fucker’s going on trial. You kno
w what? I think I’m going to enjoy making his last moments as painful as Petey’s. Christ, it’s eating me up, Joe.” The tears flowed freely now. “He was just a little boy.”
Joe stood there helpless, wanting to comfort, not knowing how to. “We’ll find the fucker, and when we do, he’s all yours.”
Kieran scrubbed his cheeks. “I know I should take the high ground. Let the authorities handle it. I can’t. I couldn’t live with myself if for some fucking reason, some mishandled evidence or shit like that, he got off. Or even got a life sentence.”
“If you didn’t do it, I would. He can’t live. Not if there’s a thread of a chance he could do this again.” Joe met Kieran’s gaze. “Sorry we didn’t gain much from this, buddy. And sorry to cut it short. I know how much you must be hurting.”
“We did. I found a button in the nook of a tree branch. Not one of Petey’s.” Kieran pulled a folded tissue from his backpack. He carefully pried apart the soft paper to reveal a metal button.
“Wave it under my nose.” Joe lowered Susie a tad and took a deep breath. He shook his head. “Tree fungus. Not much else. Don’t even smell Petey. Could’ve been from the hunters you spotted earlier. Where did you find it?”
“Back at the crime site.” Kieran stared at the button. “I’d hoped…”
“You should have told me then. Maybe I could’ve scented something.”
“I could tell she doesn’t know about your wolf yet. Didn’t want to blow things for you.” Kieran repacked the button.
It killed Joe to see the anguish on Kieran’s face. He made an instant decision. “Will you watch her while I go back and examine the site?”
Joe popped open the pickup and settled Susie in the passenger seat. “If you turn on the engine and the air, she shouldn’t wake. And I’ll only be minutes at most.”
It went totally against Joe’s grain, but he left his mate in Kieran’s care and sprinted to the crime site. He’d covered the area when he’d found Petey before calling the cops and didn’t expect to find much. But near the base of the tree to which Petey’d been strapped, he found a patch of soggy, clumped pine needles that held the coppery taint of blood. No color marred the green spines, but his nose was never wrong. He inserted the needles into a hygiene bag and stuffed that into his jacket pocket.