The Call

by Amber Lynn

  Lust and the chemical reaction my brain seemed to have drawing me to him was one thing. Love to me was something deeper, and having experienced the long road I’d had to travel with Paul to find it, I doubted it was something I could muster up again.

  “The fact that the two of you are sharing romance stories should be some kind of warning that the world is about to end.”

  I was going about fifteen miles above the speed limit as we hit the highway just outside of town. Moonlight was about forty-five minutes away from town if you followed the speed limit. That amounted to about forty-four minutes longer than I wanted to spend driving.

  With two cops in the car, I didn’t think there’d be any issues with tickets, so I could’ve tried to take it a little faster. The problem was someone with radar would have to pull us over before realizing who we were. I didn’t have the ten minutes I assumed that would take.

  Jack laughed at my world ending comment. It was a little weird to hear him laugh without the usual malice he added.

  “He hasn’t told you anything yet. That’s a little surprising after hearing the stories at least once a week for the last three years. I expected him to walk right in your house and tell you about the time the king and queen united a group of rabid wolves in Brazil. If you thought we were rough and tumble, you should hear how gruesome our kind is around the world.”

  “Does he write stories in his spare time? The only stories I remember didn’t include going on adventures.”

  It would’ve been nice to ask the man himself, but he was in another world, paying little attention to what was going on in the car. I wondered if tuning out would’ve happened without Jack around to keep me company. I assumed he’d tried to reach Selina from the very moment he lost his connection, so I didn’t know what he was doing that was different.

  “I wouldn’t say he writes them. They just kind of come to him, like he sees future events or something. He claims he isn’t clairvoyant, though.”

  That made no sense to me, but I didn’t care to ask for more information. I doubted Jack could explain or prove anything.

  “Is there anything else you picked up back there that could be useful? I picked up the smell of death, but it seemed like the scene had somehow been swept clean of other scents.”

  “Even when I first showed up, which I assume wasn’t too long after he was put there, I didn’t pick up anything. It usually doesn’t happen like that. I can figure out who made the kill and have them taken care of before any other officers make it to the scene.”

  I thought the time frame he proposed seemed a little preposterous, but I didn’t care about past bodies.

  “Are you saying he was killed somewhere else and moved there? I concentrated on making my ID, so people wouldn’t get suspicious, but there was enough blood around that I didn’t even consider he’d been moved.”

  “And that’s why you’re the arm candy of our dear state leader and not on the force. I’m sure none of the others picked it up, but the mauling didn’t happen in the street. There would’ve been paw prints in the blood if that was the case.”

  I considered that, but a lack of prints didn’t explain the amount of blood. If he’d been moved, the blood wouldn’t have been that fresh.

  “Are you saying the blood at the scene wasn’t his? I’m pretty sure that kill happened within thirty minutes of us seeing the body.”

  “I’m not saying I know everything that happened, but the blood wasn’t only his, which may end up being an issue later on, but I’ll get things covered up. By the time you got there it wasn’t fresh enough to pick up the subtle differences, but Barnes wasn’t a cinnamon sugar scented guy.”

  Usually guys had an earthy scent of some sort, and females smelled like they belonged in the kitchen or flower garden. It went without saying that those facts irritated me.

  “Do you think it was whoever did this taunting us?”

  I didn’t think for a second the blood was from the girls. They didn’t smell like cinnamon.

  “It’s a little more complicated than just a single female wolf leaving blood at the scene.”

  I hadn’t expected the reply to come from my side, so I looked over to see if he’d continue speaking. His eyes were glowing, which I hoped meant he found something while he zoned out.

  “You recognized it, didn’t you?” The need I never knew I had to read minds seemed to compound every second I spent with him.

  “Yes, it belongs to Tera. I’ve been trying to reach out to her and anyone from my old pack, but I’m not picking anything up. They should be hundreds of miles away, so normally that wouldn’t be problematic. She was there, though, and the blood was a message for me.”

  We’d spoken so little that I knew next to nothing about his old pack. It wasn’t unheard of for wolves to have an issue with their leader leaving. I’d never heard of them actually doing something about it.

  “Is there a reason why this woman would come here and take Paul and the girls? If she wanted to challenge for you, I have no issues fighting her. Taking my family is a childish way to call me out.”

  “She hasn’t personally been in town, I would know if she had been. I’ve been watching for her just in case she did come to challenge. I promised to mate with her before we met, and evidently she didn’t take things as well as she let on, but I thought she was wolf enough to stand up to you.”

  That was just great. My thoughts about a woman trying to get at my mate was right. Being right normally made me happy, but in this case, a woman being behind it meant they really didn’t have a lot to lose by killing Paul and Sierra.

  A man could’ve wanted to keep them alive to appease me. A woman would assume they didn’t matter to the man she was after. I pushed my right foot down to the floor, trying to cut our drive time in half.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “I know for a fact the masking of events and my inability to connect with Selina aren’t because of Tera, so I have to believe our daughter thinks she has everything handled.”

  He reached over to put his hand on my thigh. I growled at the movement, mainly because I didn’t want his comfort. I still blamed myself for being distracted by him while someone took off with my family, but he had taken a chunk of the blame by admitting it was someone he knew behind it.

  “Why don’t you tell me about her, the condensed version since we’re about five minutes away?”

  My wolf didn’t care one bit about the woman holding her pups. She was going to tear her to shreds whether she turned out to be a jealous saint or not. I couldn’t see any wolf doing anything that could be deemed saintly, so that was a bit of a stretch.

  His hand remained on my leg as he started. “There’s not a lot to tell. I didn’t ever feel the need to mate with anyone, but I owed it to my pack to pick someone. She won the battles the women took it upon themselves to put on to prove their value. Our mating wasn’t ever about love, nor would it have led to it.

  “From what I understand, she’s a hard woman, who only looked to me as a status symbol. The day you and I met, I was trying to figure out a way out of the agreement. I’d tried to spend some time getting to know her, and our values didn’t match.”

  “You mean you didn’t think she’d lead you to world peace? Did you not come to the conclusion you were king of the world until after you promised to be her mate?”

  “No, that didn’t come until after we created our daughter. That’s when things started changing for me. I left my pack after putting Tera’s father in charge, so I assumed she’d get an offer that would make her forget all about me.”

  “Just because you didn’t fancy her, doesn’t mean she didn’t fancy you, whether or not you decided all she wanted was top standing in the pack.”

  Guys could be so injudicious. If he wasn’t reading minds back then, he had no idea how she really felt.

  “Can we focus on where she’d take the governor and the little ones? You two can argue about how stupid our male brains are later.”

&nbs
p; It was probably a conversation Jack needed to hear, if he ever decided to settle down, but I could see his point. I didn’t think telling them they were idiots ate up too much of our time.

  If we would’ve showed up at Moonlight’s during the day, there wouldn’t have been more than a car or two in the parking lot. Since the moon was shining overhead, there wasn’t a free parking place. I had to circle the block and park a block away.

  By the time we walked up to the door, a few people had made it outside to see who the newcomers were. I’d been away from pack life enough that I didn’t initially recognize any of them. They were men, which meant I’d probably paid even less attention to them than I would’ve if they were females.

  I knew even at a young age I needed to fight the women of the pack to break away, so I learned weaknesses as quickly as I could.

  “Now there’s a sight I never thought I’d see, Nikki Connell walking into a werewolf hotspot. Did you finally realize you weren’t any better than the rest of us?”

  I took a step to make what I thought about the man speaking perfectly clear, but my mate was faster than I was. He’d managed to throw him to the ground and was challenging his buddies to say something smart.

  I was fairly certain they hadn’t peed their pants, but they probably wanted to.

  “That is my mate you’re addressing, and even though I know she doesn’t need me to step in here, I’m going to go ahead and give you a warning that if anyone else decides to address her in such a way, they will feel my full wrath. I was kind enough to let you live when you challenged me, Reece, I only give that luxury once.”

  Extending his hand back towards me without looking, he waited for me to signal I accepted his words. I didn’t want to cause a hassle before we got started, so I reached forward to take his hand. He pulled my arm and hurried to make his way to the door.

  I could feel the anger rolling off him, and physical contact made it even stronger. It was intoxicating, bordering on an aphrodisiac.

  “It’s going to be difficult for me to get rid of it, so concentrate on the girls for a while. I know they’re still in the front of your mind, but spicing up the pheromones isn’t a good idea.”

  He didn’t need to tell me that. I couldn’t help that being around power and a bunch of other wolves brought out the one buried inside of me, and when she was around him, she had a one track mind.

  With all the ears around, I couldn’t ask whether he was really pissed about the guy’s comments or if it was just a case of him proving he was an alpha to everyone in the nightclub. I figured it was a little mixture of both.

  There had been music thumping from the club as we’d driven by, but as we walked in and caught all the inhabitant’s eyes staring at us, there wasn’t a noise to be heard. I was used to stares, so I was more interested in finding anyone who seemed suspicious, which was hard when I could see a few people shrinking in their chairs.

  I didn’t smell Paul, the girls, or anything particularly screaming cinnamon, so I didn’t assume our trip was going to be successful.

  I was led through the crowd, aware of the glares. If they thought for a second it would bother me to be stared at, they were wrong. People followed me around the grocery store, so I was used to it.

  We stopped when we made it to the bar. I’d never been in a club, or a bar for that matter. The small tables with three or four chairs around them, paired with the barely lit space, was what I expected to find.

  “Andy, it’s been a while since we had to make our way out, but you can imagine that since we have, there’s an issue in the city.”

  Jack took the lead. I wasn’t sure the other man in our group could form words after letting his anger come to the surface.

  “I imagine since you’ve brought your sister, things are worse than usual. I’m sure everyone here will cooperate with any questions you have.”

  I took a few seconds to study the man speaking. His voice sounded a little familiar, but a deep voice with an edge of worry was something I probably heard a lot growing up. He wasn’t particularly tall, but he was wide. There weren’t any scars lining his face, which surprised me a little.

  “The humans haven’t been clued in yet, but Nikki’s husband and kids were taken earlier tonight. We found what was left of one of the guys who was supposed to be protecting them with this in his pocket.”

  Jack fished out the napkin from his jeans pocket and put it face up on the counter. I could make out the number, not surprising I didn’t know it.

  “I imagine in this group calling him her husband isn’t going to go over well.”

  I was a little shocked Jack hadn’t just referred to him as the governor. I was willing to defend my relationship with Paul, but finding him was a bit more important than proving he had a place in my life.

  “We haven’t ever had any issues, Andy, but if you want to challenge the fact that Nikki is presently married to a human, I have no problem showing you what I think of that challenge. My daughters are currently missing and I’d like to get them and their other father back before anything happens to them.”

  I watched Andy take a step back from the bar, and a smile spread across my face. It was weird to hear someone claim the girls as theirs and Paul’s. He’d said it the various times we’d spoken, but I was still getting used to it.

  “We got no problem, Vik. I was just saying what I’m sure is on many minds in this room. The napkin is obviously from here, but I have no idea who wrote on it. Lots of wolves come through here every night.”

  “How many of those wolves are from other packs? I’m hoping no one from our pack was involved with this. I shouldn’t have to say how that would end for them if I found out they put anyone my mate loved in danger.”

  “No further information needed there. I’m glad to hear you think it was outsiders. Things have been a little uneasy lately, but I don’t think for a second someone would target those little girls. I hate to say that the human probably wouldn’t be off everyone’s radar, but as far as I know there haven’t been any talks of going after him.”

  “Really? Does someone here want to challenge the fact that I married a human? Last I checked, if I’m not part of a pack, I’m free to do whatever I want.”

  I went to turn around to reiterate my challenge to the rest of the room with my eyes, but an arm moved behind my back to keep me facing forward.

  “I’ll tell you who had any thoughts on that matter later, so you can deal with it when time allows. Andy, you know who I’m looking for. Your mind flashed to her the second I mentioned outsiders. Who’s she been talking to and where can I find her?”

  I studied Andy closer, trying to see if I could pick anything up. I wanted to be able to see the clues that weren’t spoken.

  He wasn’t meeting my eyes, and instead seemed to look over my head. I didn’t know how someone burrowed into another someone’s mind, but my mate made it seem easy.

  “She’s only been in here twice. The first night she explained she was staying overnight on her way to the gulf. I didn’t bother making small talk, but I kept an eye on her. She didn’t really talk to anyone, just sat at the end of a bar and observed.”

  I looked towards where he pointed. There was a group of guys there, who were all careful about meeting my gaze. When Jack started walking in that direction, they all stood and moved out of the way.

  “What about the second time she was here? Did she ever bring a human in here?”

  While Jack searched for clues, the questioning went on. I didn’t know what exactly we were looking for other than it better lead to my family.

  “You’re joking, right? None of us would bring a human in here, and I sure wouldn’t let an outsider bring one. The second night wasn’t any different than the first, other than I was surprised to see her. As you know, people who pass through don’t stay longer than a day without getting permission.”

  “Last I checked, a wolf shouldn’t even stay a night in a town with a pack unless they clear it with the alpha.
I’m pretty sure I didn’t turn my phone off, and no one called to tell me a strange wolf was in town.”

  Andy darted his eyes to the left and moved back another step to put some distance between him and us. I already knew what was over there, so I didn’t bother looking. I’d felt him the moment we walked in, and the fact that he didn’t immediately acknowledge me spoke volumes.

  “I didn’t see any issues with the girl hanging out for a few days. She mentioned she was looking to join a new pack, and I’ve always given newcomers a chance.”

  My father’s voice hadn’t changed to lose the authority in it. There was still something that I was sure made young wolves follow every word he said.

  “I’m pretty sure the person in charge of the pack is who gets to say whether we’re allowing others to join, Levi. It’s not your place to give permission for anything anymore.”

  Levi stood up and walked over to us. The show of aggression wasn’t a bright move for someone who’d been beaten by the man next to me.

  “The way I see it, it’s hard for someone to claim they’re the leader of a pack when they don’t show up for pack events, and has a mate who’s married to a human. Who do you expect to keep people in line while you’re off in the city?”

  I’d come to believe that pack life had changed some when leadership changed, but it didn’t sound like it took. I figured Levi would be sour about getting beat by an outsider, so that wasn’t surprising at all.

  “The pack events you claim I’m missing aren’t sanctioned by me, so therefore my attendance isn’t necessary. We can discuss pack business, and any challenges you want to issue later. Right now, all we need to know is where she took Paul and the girls.”

  Levi laughed, and it reminded me of Jack’s evil laugh. I’d mostly just dreamed about killing my father, keeping the thought from really resonating in my brain during my waking hours.

  “You so easily call the human who tainted my daughter by his first name. Does that mean you’re best friends now, sharing my daughter whenever the mood fancies you?”