“Whoa, what the fuck are you doing?”
She shed her jumpsuit, letting the shift wash over her.
Lenny jumped up on his desk. “Holy shit.”
She settled back on her haunches, looking at him expectantly.
But Lenny reached down and got out his tranq gun.
He shot her.
* * *
Dana woke up to a jolting sense of absence.
“Avery,” she whispered.
Something had happened. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew that she wasn’t mated to him anymore. It was a strange sensation, as if something integral to her being had been ripped away from her. She’d never felt this before, not even when Hollis died. When Hollis died, all she’d felt was relief. But this feeling was horrible and heart wrenching.
Something had happened to Avery.
No.
Just because they weren’t mated, it didn’t mean that Avery was dead. He could have mated with someone else. He could have been so angry with her that he decided to sever their connection.
She wanted it to be that. She didn’t want Avery to be dead.
Frightened, she peered at her surroundings. She was back in the holding cell, but she was alone. She wasn’t dressed again, but there was a jumpsuit folded up and sitting on one of the benches. She put it on, and she went to the door.
She pounded. “Lenny?”
Nothing.
God damn it, was she alone in this place again? Lenny said it was only staffed by volunteers, and that no one had even been in the day before. Maybe no one was there now.
Avery wasn’t mated to her anymore, and she didn’t know what had happened to Cole.
For all she knew, they were both dead.
She pounded on the door again. “Hello? Is anyone out there?”
There was no response.
Dana thrust her hands into her hair.
Oh, God, if something had happened to Avery, then who was taking care of Piper?
She shut her eyes, starting to pace. She was still connected to Piper. She could feel that. She was an alpha wolf, Piper’s mother, and she’d been connected to her baby even when the little girl was in her womb. She still had that connection.
Piper was okay.
Well, Piper was alive, at any rate. That didn’t mean that she was okay. Not necessarily.
But Avery…
She tried to remember the last thing that she’d said to him, and she couldn’t. She remembered the final argument, Avery crying and begging her not to leave with Cole. She remembered his bitter laugh. I wish I could fucking believe you.
But they’d spoken after that. They’d talked about routines and mundane stuff, about dealing with Piper’s babysitter. And when she left, she’d said goodbye to him, even though he’d seemed cold and numb.
He died thinking that I betrayed him, she thought.
Oh, fuck that, maybe he wasn’t dead. Maybe he was alive, and he’d just mated to someone else. It could be that. It really could.
She wished like hell she knew one way or the other.
* * *
“Dana?”
She woke up, scrambling to her feet. How did I fall asleep? I didn’t think I could sleep without knowing about Avery. She felt ashamed.
Lenny was standing just inside the holding cell, the door shut behind him. “It is you.”
“I need you to call the eastern regional branch. My husband—”
“The eastern regional branch was attacked in the middle of the night. Whoever did it had guns and explosives. No one survived.”
Dana staggered backwards as if Lenny had just punched her in the gut.
He hurried over to her and put out his arms to help support her. Together, he led her back to one of the benches, and they both sat down.
“No,” she said. “No, that’s not right, because I know my daughter isn’t dead. I can feel her.” She turned to look at Lenny, wanted him to confirm it for her somehow.
He only shook his head. “I don’t know anything about it, really. It was on the news. Just like the attack out west. You were right. They were in danger.”
“But…” She dug her fingers into her cheeks. “They weren’t supposed to attack until next month.” Then it hit her. “It’s our fault. They attacked earlier because Cole and I knew. If we’d never gone there…”
“That’s really Cole Randall?”
She pushed her fingers deeper into the skin of her face. It hurt. “Is he okay?”
“I think he’s going to pull through,” said Lenny. “I’m supposed to pick him up from Mitch’s office later. Lucky he’s a wolf. He’s got a strong immune system.”
Oh. Oh, well that was good. It was good that Cole was alive.
Cole was alive, and Avery was dead.
Fuck.
Dana took several shaking breaths.
“Why are you with Cole Randall?” said Lenny. “I thought he tried to kill you.”
“It’s complicated,” she said.
Avery. Her Avery. He was dead.
* * *
Dana sat in Lenny’s office, staring at a TV that was on the far side of the room.
It’s a grim scene here, just outside of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, an area that seems to in the throes of tragedy. Police are still searching for missing campers Alan Beck and Theresa Jones, who never returned from their trip to this seemingly quiet and peaceful town.
Pictures were on the screen, and Dana blanched. Those were the campers she’d killed.
Now, this senseless bloodbath at the eastern regional SF headquarters. Nearly a hundred werewolves dead. Police are still baffled by whether this attack was connected to the attack on the west coast or if this is simply a copycat crime. After all, anti-werewolf sentiment runs high in the nation, and many aren’t sorry about the attacks themselves. We go now to Rick Meyers, head of the Anti-Werewolf League, who claims that humans everywhere are only safe when werewolves are dead.
Lenny glared at the screen and then switched it off. “Been like that all morning. They talk more about the missing campers than they do about all the deaths at the SF. And then they cut to someone celebrating the fact that we all got killed. It’s disgusting.” He went back to his computer screen. “What about Margaret Patton? She’s a lawyer, but she works exclusively for the SF. It says that she’s in the line of succession for the president of the board.”
Margaret Patton? Why did Dana know that name? Oh, right, she was the woman who’d interrogated her in the internal hearing after the incident at Hunter’s Moon Farm. “Did you really call everyone on the board?”
“Every single person,” said Lenny. “Honestly, I think they’re dead.”
The board was housed in the eastern regional headquarters. Lenny was probably right. But Dana really didn’t want him to be right. Every person that she’d worked with, been close to, they were all gone. Dead. It was surreal. She couldn’t even process it.
“You sure you don’t want me to try the southern branch?”
“Yeah, they’re not real fond of me in the southern branch.” For some reason, they didn’t take well to her, since she’d wolfed out and killed people. Never mind that it hadn’t been her fault. Jimmy had forced her to shift, and she’d been bonded to him at the time. “Honestly, Patton’s not real fond of me either.”
“Is anyone fond of you?”
She sighed. “Call Patton, I guess. But she’s in and out of the eastern branch too. She might not have made it either.”
Lenny started dialing the phone.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lenny got in touch with Patton, and apparently, she was on her way to the southwest branch.
In the meantime, Dana still wasn’t allowed to leave. However, Lenny did move her out of the large holding cell and into a smaller one with a bed. She still didn’t have a window, and the bed wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it was a step up, she supposed. Lenny said that he and the others slept in cells like this when they had to stay overnight at headquar
ters, so Dana didn’t feel like she could really complain.
Cole came back, and she got to see him. He was sleeping, and he was being pumped full of antibiotics. He didn’t really look much better, honestly, but Mitch the veterinarian assured Lenny that he was improving.
Dana lay on her narrow bed in her cell, and she thought about Avery. She remembered the way he’d been completely enamored with Piper when she was born. It was a good thing, too, because Dana had been so exhausted and depressed in those first few months. But she’d find tiny Piper snug in her father’s arms, both of them asleep on the couch, and she remembered how it made her heart swell. How perfect and beautiful they were together. The knowledge that they were both hers. How much she loved them in those moments. Too much. More than she’d ever thought was possible.
She and Avery had spent their entire adult lives together. He’d been her partner for years—her best friend. And then he’d been her sometimes lover, and then her husband.
It didn’t make any sense to think that he wasn’t in the world anymore.
And when she thought of his last moments, she was utterly wrecked. He would have done everything in his power to protect the SF. He was trained as a tracker, and he knew how to shoot. He was probably on the front line of defense. He probably—
Oh, God, it was her fault that he was dead.
And it didn’t seem real.
The worst of it was not knowing about Piper, however. She was sure her daughter was alive—mostly sure, anyway—but she didn’t know how she was going to find her. She didn’t know where Piper was.
The little girl could be hurt or scared or alone. She could be captured by that awful Enoch and his horrible people.
Dana shuddered.
She didn’t know what to do.
Patton arrived the next day, and she brought with her a group of SF workers. Apparently, she and the others had escaped the attack because they’d been lobbying in D.C. for better werewolf rights. Now, Patton was the highest ranking person in the SF, and she was the de facto person in charge for now.
She wanted to talk to Dana, and she wanted Cole there as well.
Cole seemed to have recovered a bit. He was conscious, at any rate, but he wasn’t yet able to walk around. He was confined to a wheelchair, and Lenny had to push him around.
It was the first time that Dana had been able to talk to Cole since they’d gotten locked up, and he seemed subdued. He looked pasty and haggard. He slouched in the wheelchair, looking frail. She’d never seen Cole frail before. It didn’t make any sense to her, and it frightened her. Everything was upside down and topsy turvy. Avery dead. Cole too sick to stand. Patton the head of the SF.
But Dana’s priority was her daughter, and the minute Patton came into the room, Dana was on her feet. “Piper. My daughter Piper. She’s alive.”
Patton raised her eyebrows at Dana. She made her way over to the table set up for her. She was flanked by other workers. Lenny was there too, along with other workers from the southwest branch.
Patton sat down and leveled her gaze at Dana. “There were no children’s bodies found. That’s all we know. That’s true of the attack out west as well. They don’t seem to be killing the children.”
“Why not?” said Dana. “What are they doing with them?”
“We hoped you’d know that. According to Ursula King’s notes, you know who’s responsible for these attacks,” said Patton.
“We didn’t see any children at Enoch’s camp,” Dana said. “Of course, I didn’t see much of it. Did you see anything, Cole?”
Cole cleared his throat, but when he spoke, his voice was still raspy. “Enoch wouldn’t kill kids. He does have a moral code. Doesn’t match yours, but there are things he wouldn’t do.”
Patton eyed him. “So, you’re Cole Randall.”
Cole gave her a wry smile. “Yeah.”
She looked back and forth between the two of them. “I have to admit I find this whole situation very confusing. I’ve gone through King’s notes, and I’m aware of your past, considering I spearheaded the inquiry into the incident at Hunter’s Moon Farm. But we really thought you were dead, Mr. Randall. We thought Ms. Gray here conspired to kill you.”
“She probably did.” Cole’s gravelly voice was even.
“And yet the two of you were working together under the banner of the SF,” said Patton. “Is there an easy explanation for that?”
Dana fidgeted. “I fail to see how this is important.”
Cole laughed, but it sounded painful. “Sure, there’s an easy explanation. It’s pretty simple. Dana and I have really great sex. So great that I’m willing to practically get myself killed for it.”
Dana felt her face flush.
Patton looked amused. “I see.”
Dana sat up straighter in her chair. “Is this really why you came all the way out here? To talk about Cole and me?”
“I knew you were sexually involved with him before,” said Patton. “But you blamed that on a werewolf alpha bond. And you claimed you weren’t bonded to him anymore, which we assumed was because he was dead. So, are you still bonded to Mr. Randall?”
“I really think that we need to be searching for Enoch,” said Dana. “Let’s talk about trying to find him. I want to help any way I can, especially because of my daughter. Maybe Cole can find some way to get in touch with him again.”
“I seriously doubt that,” said Cole. “No, my bridge with Enoch is definitely burned at this point.”
“Why are you dodging the question about the bonding?” said Patton. “Is it true? You are his mate?”
“No,” said Cole. “It’s not true. We’re not mated.”
“And how was the mating bond dissolved?” said Patton.
“Why are you asking this?” said Dana.
“I don’t know if I can trust you,” said Patton. “I know I’d be an idiot to trust to Mr. Randall here, but I’m not sure about you, Ms. Gray.”
Oh, what the hell did it matter now? Avery was gone. Dana placed her hands in her lap and studied them. “My bond to Cole broke when I mated with my husband Avery Brooks.”
Patton nodded slowly. “Oh, so it was like that.”
Dana swallowed. “Once you get involved in pack structure, there’s no way to get rid of it, exactly. You can only switch roles within the pack. Maybe if your entire pack was killed, you’d lose your status—”
“You’re thinking about it the wrong way,” said Cole. He turned to Patton. “Listen, all wolves are innately primed to be part of a pack.” He gestured to the gathered SF workers. “So, you all are just lone wolves. You’re the ones who are broken, not us.”
Dana glared at Cole. “I don’t feel that way.”
“If you weren’t mated to him, why did you consent to go on this mission with him?” said Patton.
“To protect the SF,” said Dana. “He said he couldn’t do it without me, and I had no other choice.”
“That’s right.” Cole was sarcastic. “It was all very noble on her part.”
“And you?” said Patton. “You wanted to protect the SF?”
“I wanted to protect Dana,” said Cole.
Patton narrowed her eyes. “So, you got her away when the attack happened.”
Cole smirked. “You think I had something to do with the attacks on the SF?”
“He didn’t,” said Dana. “He acted in good faith.”
“It doesn’t seem to me that his actions necessarily point to that conclusion,” said Patton. “After all, from what Lenny tells me, the date you gave him for the attack was wrong.”
“Well, but they must have done that because of Cole and me. They must have accelerated their plan, because they were afraid we’d do something to stop them with so much lead time,” said Dana.
Lenny spoke up. “Well, maybe they fed you an incorrect date so as not to rouse your suspicions.”
Patton glared at Lenny. “I’m conducting this interview, if you don’t mind.”
Lenny bowed his hea
d, turning red. “Sorry.”
“Anyway, they didn’t feed us bad information,” said Dana. “Trust me, what we went through to get that date wasn’t staged.”
“What did you go through to get the date?” said Patton.
Dana felt sick.
Cole took a rattling breath. “Dana, I didn’t have anything to do with the attacks.”
She turned to look at him. “I know that.”
“Look,” said Cole. “I thought I had to do that to you, and that’s the only reason I did it.”
“Had to do what?” said Patton.
Dana turned back to her. “Do you want our help finding Enoch or not?”
“You know what I think?” said Patton. “I’m not even convinced this Enoch person exists.”
“What?” said Dana. “He exists. I saw him. He’s got women from the western SF branch captured and chained up, and he’s letting the men in his camp do whatever they want with them. He’s horrible. And we need to stop him.”
Patton hesitated.
“Let us take you to the place where his camp is,” said Dana. “Cole, we could find our way back, couldn’t we?”
Cole sighed. “They’ve probably cleared out by now. Enoch likes to stay on the move. He wouldn’t be there anymore.”
“But the women,” said Dana. “They were in that basement. Maybe they’re still there.”
Cole shook his head. “No. They wouldn’t be.”
Dana dragged her hands over her face. They couldn’t prove where they’d been, could they? But she’d never expected to be in a position in which she’d have to prove it.
Patton spread her hands. “I’m going to be honest with you, Ms. Gray. I’ve looked over your past with Mr. Randall. It seems as though whenever he’s involved, you’re more prone to violent incidents, incidents in which your wolf rages out of control. Here’s what I think happened. I think you met back up with him, and then you killed those missing campers back in Pennsylvania.”
“What?” Dana’s stomach turned over. How could this woman know that?
“It’s only a theory,” said Patton. “The bodies haven’t been found. At any rate, after that had been done, I think you wanted to run. I think you knew that this would be the last straw for your career. You used the attack out west to manipulate King into pardoning Randall, and then the two of you ran off. But there was another incident, wasn’t there? Because when you’re with him, you can’t control yourself. Maybe he makes you do it, even. Maybe it’s that wolf bond you talk about. Maybe he makes you kill for him. I don’t know. I do know that you’re responsible for the deaths of two men out here.”
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