Penny picked some wild flower growing among the weeds and tall grass. She set the small bundle on the grave and said a prayer.
Clare and Ian hovered behind in silence.
He leaned closer until their arms touched.
She turned her head to snarl at him but he was staring over her head at something behind them. She twisted around.
A cop car parked by the house.
She met Ian’s worried glance. “Time to go, Penny.” She nudged the omega with her foot. “We’ve got company.”
Penny jumped to her feet. “What do they want?”
“We’ll find out. Go inside the manor.” Ian directed her.
“Should I get Pallas?” She clutched Clare’s hand.
“He’s asleep by now.” The sun was well above the horizon. If he wasn’t asleep, he couldn’t come outside to speak to the sheriff and they hadn’t sunlight proofed the upper floors of the manor. “We’ll take care of it. They probably just have questions about the fire.”
“Oh, all right.” Penny gave them a relieved smile and hurried across the lawn and inside to safety.
Clare exchanged another look with Ian and they silently agreed that the sheriff was here for more than then a fire report. They crossed the yard, walking at a slow easy pace so not to make the gun toting officer nervous.
The sheriff took off his hat and Clare realized it was a her, not a he. The officer had pulled her hair up in a tight bun and hidden it with the hat. The uniform covered her curves or maybe she was wearing a bullet proof vest. She nodded to them and met them by the front porch. “I’m Sheriff Lee.”
Ian nodded a greeting and introduced them both. “What can we do for you officer?” He gave her a fantastic boy-next-door smile. He hadn’t used that expression on Clare. Everything he aimed in her direction held dark promises.
“Looks like you had a fire recently.” She hooked her thumbs in her belt buckles and examined the charred front porch. “What caused it?”
Clare caught the flare of Ian furious scent. “We don’t—”
“Someone set fire to it.” His eyes glowed with his wolf.
She stepped between them and gestured for the sheriff to follow her to the scene of the crime. The last thing they need was an altercation with the law. “The porch was covered with glass as if a bottle was tossed at the house. We could smell accelerant after we doused the fire.”
“Yeah, we had to douse it ourselves since no one responded to our 9-1-1 calls.” Ian folded his arms. All signs of friendliness vanished from his face. Great, that meant she had to be the adult. After twelve hours of classroom talk about things she didn’t care for, she didn’t want to adult. She wanted to wolf, growl, and bite someone. Like Ian.
The sheriff lowered her sunglasses to the tip of her nose and took a good look at Ian. “My office isn’t aware of any calls, son.” Her gaze traveled to the building. “This place has been abandoned forever. Locals consider the manor haunted. If I hadn’t gotten a report about a shifter attack on some of our teenagers last night, I wouldn’t have known you were in the area.”
Ian’s face went blank. “Attack?”
Clare palmed her face. She knew that incident would bite them on the ass. No matter what, whenever there was a human/shifter altercation, the shifter always lost in the view of the law. This was where they’d get hauled to jail.
“We didn’t attack them. We were defending ourselves. Tell her, Clare.”
“Easy, son. I know those boys and their families.” She gave them a knowing smile. “They’re assholes.”
Clare peeked between her fingers and saw something unusual in the sheriff’s face. Compassion.
“Look, you should have registered your pack with me as soon as you had moved in. I would have been able to keep a better eye on my people. Supernaturals aren’t popular in this small town. A few years back two of our girls were found dead with vampire bites on their necks. Things haven’t been the same since.”
“I heard about those killings. The vampire made his way north into Canada before they staked him.” Clare recalled her father religiously watching the news. Bad publicity he called it.
“Yeah, but that’s little consolation to the parents of the girls he killed.”
Ian set his hands on hips. “You mentioned something about registering?”
“Is your alpha here?” She glanced at the windows of the house.
“We’re the alphas.” Ian announced and wrapped his arms around Clare’s shoulders possessively. “Our pack is new and so are we. Forgive us our ignorance.”
Clare’s heart jackhammered. The sheriff wouldn’t believe they were a couple. Mated pairs shared similar scents after spending enough time together. Then again, the sheriff was human. She wouldn’t know the difference if Clare could play cool and not rip Ian’s arm off at the shoulder.
“Okay.” Sheriff Lee eyed them. “When you move into a town with no pack, you’re supposed to register with the local authorities. That’s me.” She looked around the empty yard. “I can give you a ride into town and we can complete the paperwork together.”
They glanced at each other.
Ian squeezed her shoulders tighter. “We have our own car. We’ll meet you in town in an hour or so.”
She gave them and the manor one more look. “Okay, see you then.” She slipped into her vehicle and left.
Only then did Clare breathe. “We’re in deep shit.”
Chapter Ten
Silence weighed heavy when Ian entered the manor. Everyone must have already gone to bed. He rounded the corner to the kitchen with Clare on his heels.
Darrell, Blain, and Penny sat the table waiting for them. “What are we going to do?” Blain asked.
“What’s this we stuff?” Ian pulled the milk out of the fridge and the fixings for a sandwich. “I’ll go into town after I eat and take care of it.” Somehow. He’d only been a shifter for a year. He’d been learning how to fit in a pack and not rip out other dominant wolves’ throats. Human shifter relations had always been tricky so his alpha didn’t let him interact with them except those of his family who still wanted contact, which meant only his mom. Going to town to register a pack? How hard could it be to fill out some paperwork?
“Who died and made you alpha?” Darrell rocked back in his chair, arms crossed. The broken one obviously healed well. His dirty blond hair stood out as if he’d been running his hands through it all night during Pallas’ class. It was hard for a wolf to sit still.
“I’m not proclaiming myself alpha.” Ian finished making a sandwich, cut it in four triangles like his mom always did and set it in front of Clare. “We don’t have an alpha, unless you want to nominate Pallas. Hell, we’re not even really a pack, are we?”
Clare blinked at the sandwich as if he’d set a two headed fish in front of her to eat.
He turned back to the counter and made another. “Someone has to register us or that sheriff will be back, possibly with reinforcements. What do you think they’ll do if they find a vampire, and mind you, not any regular run-of-the-mill bloodsucker, but scary as the devil nosferatu Pallas, living in their suburbs?” Especially after what the last vampire who visited Alberg did. He glanced over at the silent table. “Thought so.” He bit into his triple decker ham and cheese sandwich.
“You shouldn’t go alone.” Clare tentatively lifted a triangle to her lips. “It’s too dangerous. You could get hurt.”
His heart stuttered.
Her gaze met his and she ate the piece of sandwich in two bites.
A knot in his chest loosened. He hadn’t even realized it was there until now. He’d made her food and she had accepted. How fucking cool was that? At home, any other female would have passed it on to others. He had expected her to do the same.
“I agree,” Blain added. “The humans made it clear we’re not welcome. You should have back up.”
Ian snorted. “They were kids with baseball bats.”
Blain shook his head. “That’s not what I’m t
alking about. I meant your gunshot wounds.”
He swallowed his mouth full with a throat gone dry. The blind wolf kept to himself but he smelled and heard more than he let on. Ian choked and coughed until the bite made its way to his stomach.
Clare set her meal back on her plate.
“Those were gunshot wounds?” Penny asked.
Ian held his hands in front of him to quiet the room. “Those hunters were definitely not friendly but the sheriff didn’t seem all that bad.” He offered Clare a questioning look.
She nodded. “She seemed nice. Doesn’t mean much.”
“The way I see it, is if we let them perceive us as a threat then they’ll treat us one. We slip in nice and quiet-like to the sheriff’s office. Sign whatever papers she wants and slip home before Pallas even wakes.”
“I think we should wait until he wakes and ask him what to do.” Darrell plucked a piece of Clare’s sandwich off her plate.
Ian crossed the room and smacked it out of his mouth before he could blink. “I didn’t make it for you.” He breathed heavy and loomed over the other werewolf. Darrell rubbed him in all the wrong ways when it came to Clare. “The vampire can’t register us, dumbass. Government offices are open during banking hours. I don’t think they make a sunscreen strong enough to keep Pallas from turning into ash. Not to mention, he’s not a fucking shifter and he’d probably get staked the minute he stepped into town.” He shoved Darrell so hard his chair slid away from the table. “Don’t cross the line with me again.” Explaining that the line was Clare didn’t need saying.
“I’ll go with Ian. Sheriff already knows my face.” Clare offered. He opened his mouth to decline, but she shook her head. “If the sheriff is any good at doing her job then she’ll know that packs are more stable run by alpha couples. We go together.” The way she spoke, as if she would brook no rejection, heated Ian’s blood in all the good ways. If they’d been alone, she already be pinned to the wall, his hand in her jeans, touching all her tender bits.
He shook his head. “Fine, let’s go.” Grabbing the last half of his sandwich, he strode out the kitchen, calling over his shoulder. “Can you put the food back in the fridge for me, Penny?”
“Sure.” She sighed.
Clare hurried behind him. “How do plan on getting to town? Last I saw, you were dumped out of a car trunk.”
He gave her a sideways glance. “And daddy didn’t leave you with a car?”
She scoffed. “My father doesn’t believe females should drive.”
Ian almost tripped over his own feet. “Seriously?”
She stormed out the front door. Didn’t her father know his daughter? He wiped the crumbs off his face and followed her path. “We’ll take Pallas’ car.” The vampire kept it parked in the detached garage. He’d given Ian a ride the night he’d been shot, if riding was equal to a trip of terror. Pallas needed driving lesson but Ian hadn’t been in any position to criticize.
“You know where he keeps the keys?”
“Yep. After you.” He held open the garage door. Sunshine warmed his face and he stayed in place for an extra second. He missed daytime.
“Ian.”
“Coming.” Or maybe he didn’t want to hurry to town. He pulled the unlocked driver-side door open to the sleek, midnight black sports car.
She leaned to look inside. “Nice. I can’t believe he leaves it unlocked.”
“Who would dare to steal from the all-powerful Pallas?” He gave an evil laugh and it echoed within the building.
“He probably can hear you.” She slipped into the passenger seat as he swallowed the rest of his monologue. “And he’ll kill us once he finds out we took his car. No matter what reason.”
“He won’t find out.” Yes, he would, but he wasn’t about to explain the whole freaky mice thing to Clare. She might insist on walking all the way to town and Ian was itching to drive this speed-baby. He unfolded the sunshade and the keys fell into his hand. Though in excruciating pain from being shot, Ian still noted where the vampire had tucked his keys away. He caressed the steering wheel. You know, just in case he changed his mind about staying.
“I can’t believe he’d leave his keys there.”
“Arrogance, thy name is Pallas.” He started the car and pulled out from the long driveway. “He’s an ancient vampire. What does he know about car locks and thieves?”
“He’s an ancient vampire who owns a very expensive vehicle. I’d say you’re not giving him enough credit.”
“You haven’t driven with him yet. I don’t think he knows what a stop signs mean, let alone what side of the road to he’s supposed to drive on.”
“He sounds European. They drive on the opposite side.”
Not at the speed of sound. Ian kept his mouth shut and his eyes on the road. He’d been in the trunk of his alpha’s car the first time through town and bleeding to death in the passenger seat of this car the second time. Third time was the charm. The drive didn’t take long, only twenty minutes, considering they stayed on the same road without stopping until they hit the first neighborhood. If Ian could call it that. One city block in New York would have been bigger than the whole town and contain four times the people. Maybe more.
“Seen places like these on television. Never believed they existed until now.”
“What do you mean?” Clare stared out the window searching for what he’d seen.
“Small towns. Everyone knowing everyone else. Wouldn’t surprise me to see kids playing in the street, you know, without intending on mugging someone.”
She snorted. “Small towns have their share of troublemakers. You’d fit in just fine.”
He cruised onto what must be Main Street. If memory served him right, the Walmart was on the other side of town. He passed the Sheriff’s office and parked on a side street. “So far so good.”
“Don’t jinx us.” She climbed out of the car and waited for him to join her on the sidewalk. “I grew up in a place like this. It’s not that bad.”
He eyed her. “The humans tolerated your pack?”
“They had to. We had settled the area long before they came. My pack dates back to the pioneers.”
“So you’re a born wolf?” He knew shifters could have children but they were born human. Being born of a shifter made them more likely to survive the change later in life. Ian hadn’t been so lucky but he’d taken the chance anyway, anything to get out of the circling drain of his old life. Six out of ten people infected by the shifter virus died. This made humans angry. No one had twisted Ian’s arm to apply so he didn’t see the human’s problem. Still didn’t.
“I can’t even count how many generations in I am. My dad probably could.”
“He sounds…” Like an ass. “Intense.”
“Yeah, that’s a kind way to put it. He’s the pack alpha. I think being an ass is part of the job description.”
“No.” He shook his head. “That’s something we’ve allowed to happen by only following the strongest of our kind instead of the smartest.”
She paused at the front door to the Sheriff’s office. “Sometimes a pack is lucky and finds both in one person.”
He opened the door for her again. Did she mean him or herself? He could smell her self-assurance a mile away and loved it.
“You came!” Sheriff Lee swung her legs off her desk and rose to greet them. “I’m glad. I hate wasting my time by harassing people.” She gestured to the seats in front of her desk and pulled out a file from a drawer. “I’ll need to see your drivers’ licenses, pack member manifest, your pack’s designation number, and land deed or rental agreement.”
Ian’s sandwich threatened to make a return visit. He repositioned his ass on the hard wood chair and caught Clare’s worried expression. Pulling his wallet out of his back pocket, he handed her his license. “She doesn’t drive.”
“Do you have another piece of identification?” Sheriff Lee quirked her eyebrow.
Clare visibly swallowed. “Not on me. I didn’t think
to bring my purse.”
The sheriff sat and clasped her hands on her desk. “Listen, registering your pack is very important. As long as you live illegally in that manor anything that goes wrong in town will be blamed on you if you’re innocent or not.”
“That’s not fair. We have just as much rights as your people.”
She nodded. “You do, and honey, life’s not fair. I’m not backing those people who will want to place blame, but pack registration will give me a better angle at protecting your rights. Are you understanding me? As long as you’re unregistered you’ll be seen as rogue and I’ll be forced to report you to Homeland Security.”
Sweat beaded on Ian’s brow. Homeland Security took securing rogue shifters very seriously. Like automatic weapons with silver bullets serious. They’d have to learn to fight fast. The armory held enough weapons for a small assault force.
“We want to cooperate.” Clare threaded her fingers with Ian’s. Her strength poured into him like a soothing balm. The muscles in his shoulders relaxed and he leaned back into his chair. “Thank you for helping us.” Clare smoothed back her hair with her free hand and leaned forward. “Could you give us a few days to gather what you need?”
Sheriff Lee sighed and hung her head. “If you run, I’ll definitely have to call.”
“We won’t run.” Clare squeezed his hand hard before he could open his mouth. “My father’s an alpha. He’ll guide us in what’s needed.” She gave a nervous laugh. “We probably should have called him before coming. We’re just so excited to start our own pack.” Her words smelled of truth and lies mixed together into a sickening sweet mess. Thank goodness humans were nose blind. He’d never known what he had been missing until he became a wolf.
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