Falling For a Wolf Box Set (BBW Werewolf / Shifter Romance)

by Mac Flynn

  The stairs led to the hallway of the second floor and turned around to travel between the walls of the two most rear bedrooms on one side of the passage. To our right was Lilith's bedroom, and to our left was another. Through the cracks I could see Lilith chew a long fingernail as she paced from one end of the room to the other.

  Cain led me to a part of the wall that showed the white plaster covered a hidden rectangular door. He pressed a release button and the door swung into the room. Lilith spun around and her eyes widened as she watched us enter. She rushed over to us and grasped Cain's shoulders. "What are you doing here? You should have escaped when you had the chance!"

  Cain shook his head. "We couldn't abandon Adam."

  I snorted. "Not through lack of trying."

  "You must leave before they find you!" she insisted as she tried to turn him around back to the secret passage.

  Cain clasped her hands in his and shook his head. "No more running, no more hiding. They have Adam, and we must save him. You can help us do that."

  She froze and the color drained from her face. "I-I? How can I help? I know nothing about the murder other than what I-"

  "This isn't about remembering that night. We need you to go downstairs to the billiard room and look under the buffet table. Chris-" he nodded at me, "-said she saw something there, something that the deputies would overlook because it was hidden from sight and smell." Lilith's hands trembled and her legs buckled beneath her. "Lilith! Lilith, are you all right?" Cain exclaimed as he helped her to the foot of her bed.

  She clutched her head in one hand and bit her lip. "I-I'm fine, it's just that-well, it sounds dangerous and I'm frightened." She looked into his eyes and gripped his hands. "Are you sure you won't go away? What if this human's wrong with what she saw?"

  "I'm not," I spoke up.

  Cain smiled at her and squeezed her hands. "You must do this for me. There might be proof to my innocence beneath that floor, and then we can be together again."

  "But what could it hold that would prove your innocence?" she countered.

  Cain shrugged. "Maybe a letter detailing a prank gone wrong, or maybe nothing at all. It's worth trying."

  Lilith turned away from him. She closed her eyes and nodded. "All right, I'll do it. Let me freshen up for a moment and I'll go."

  "That's my girl," Cain cooed.

  Lilith stood and walked over to the dresser that stood between the bed and the wall that held the main entrance. She opened the top drawer and dipped a hand inside the container. Lilith snatched something from inside the drawer and spun around. My eyes widened when I saw she held a pistol, and the barrel was pointed at us.

  Cain frowned. "Don't cause trouble for yourself by shooting a deputy. It's not worth your being tried, too."

  A smooth grin slid onto her lips. "This isn't for the deputies, this is for you." She stepped to the side and blocked our escape through the front door. The barrel of the gun ensured we wouldn't be escaping through the secret passage.

  Cain blinked at her. "For us? What is this-" He took a step towards her, but she pointed the gun at him.

  "Not another step closer." She wagged the end of the gun towards me. "Get up beside her and both of you hold up your hands."

  Cain did as he was told and we both raised our hands. "Lilith, what's the meaning of this?"

  "I don't want you opening that secret box, that's what." She grinned and cocked back the hammer of the gun. "Now I'm going to pretend that you two were trying to attack me and-"

  "Wait!" I yelled.

  Lilith paused and frowned. "Wait for what?"

  Now I had to think of what to wait for. I tightly grasped the bag between my hands and a brilliant idea hit me. "You think you can hide what's in there, but you're too late. We found it and took it out," I told her.

  Lilith's eyes narrowed and she pointed the gun at me. "You're lying, or you wouldn't have wanted me to inspect the floor," she countered.

  I swung the bag in front of my face. "Are you so sure?"

  Lilith lunged forward, snatched the bag from my hand, and jumped back. She kept one eye on us as she opened the bag and stuck her head inside. Big mistake. I could smell the fumes from the garlic from the few yards between us. The smell scent of the herbs must have soaked into the bag, but not beyond the bag.

  Lilith gagged and stumbled back. She dropped the bag and clutched her throat as a coughing fit overcame her. Cain lunged forward and grabbed the wrist of her gun hand in both of his hands. She countered by grabbing one of his hands, and in their scuffle the gun went off several times into the ceiling. I heard the pounding of footsteps up the stairs and down the hall, and was just in time to snatch my bag from the ground when a pack of deputies broke through the door and rushed into the room. Our merry runaround with the deputies was over.

  Chapter 13

  They didn't assess the situation, but figured everyone was a guilty party. Four of them wrestled Lilith and Cain apart, and two of them tried to jump me. I held open my bag in front of me and waved it at them. "Back! Back, I say!" I ordered them. They growled and swiped their claws at me, but didn't dare go beyond the smell of the garlic.

  Meanwhile, the fighting lovers were torn apart and metal shackles were latched onto their wrists. Lilith glared at Cain. "He tried to kill me! Both of them did!" she accused her mate and me.

  The deputies pinned Cain's arms behind his back, but that didn't keep him from pulling forward and snarling at Lilith. "Liar!" he growled.

  The judge arrived in the doorway with Miranda by his side, and his eyes swept over the scene. His gaze fell on Cain, and he stalked towards my companion to stand before him. The deputies held Cain still as Hawthorne assessed his prisoner with a cunning smirk. "So you've been caught in the act of an attempting murder?" he surmised.

  "She's lying!" I spoke up. "She's hiding something in the billiard room and she wanted to kill us to keep us from telling anybody about it!"

  "Quiet! The word of a criminal means less than nothing to me," Judge Hawthorne boomed.

  "Look for yourself," Cain challenged him.

  "The billiard room has been scoured by my best people. There is nothing there," Hawthorne argued.

  "There's something there now. I saw it beneath the buffet table," I insisted.

  Hawthorne pursed his lips and looked to his men who held Cain and confronted me. "Take them to their cohort downstairs."

  "This human has garlic," his men pointed out.

  "And a silver fork," I added as I removed said object from the bag.

  Hawthorne turned his full attention on me and wrinkled his nose. "A human that smells like Adam. If you are his mate than you will surrender and join him in his sentence."

  "I'll do the first part, but I think we'll both skip the second," I quipped as I stepped back into the secret passage behind me.

  "If you leave now I will personally order the execution of him this day," Hawthorne threatened.

  Miranda perked up at the warning. She strode forward and grabbed his arm to spin him around. Her glaring eyes looked into his. "How can you threaten her mate when all she wishes to do is save him?"

  "Because they are criminals, and criminals must be dealt with without mercy," he insisted.

  "You would convict them before they are tried?" she scolded him.

  He looked down his nose at her. "Yes, for the good of justice and-" He didn't get to finish his sentence because Miranda slammed her fist into his face. He spun in a full circle and collapsed face-first to the floor.

  The mouths of the deputies hung agape as Miranda rubbed her sore knuckles. "His head is as hard as he is stubborn."

  "M-Miranda, what have you done?" one of the deputies squeaked.

  "What should have been done a long time ago, justice. I will take full responsibility for this attack and for this case." Miranda narrowed her eyes and swept them over the group. "Does anyone have a problem with that?" The half dozen guards furiously shook their heads. "Good." She turned her attention to me and my
bag of smelliness. "We won't harm you, but you must come with us."

  I grinned and lowered the bag a little. "Can I trust justice?" I teased.

  She smiled. "Justice can change its mind in the face of evidence."

  "Speaking of evidence, I think I found some in the billiard room," I commented.

  "There is nothing there!" Lilith insisted.

  "What do we do about her?" one of his men who held Lilith spoke up.

  Lilith squirmed and twisted in their grasp. "Let me go! I haven't done anything!" she growled.

  "Until we sort out this mess everyone will remain together," Miranda replied. Her eyes fell on the prone body of her mate. She sneered and nodded down at him. "Someone pick him up and carry him with us."

  "Um, could you call of your-er, men?" I requested. The pair of them still stood in front of me ready to snatch me.

  "Stand down and let her come with us," Miranda ordered them.

  The deputies reluctantly pulled away and I hurried past them through the open doors. Miranda led the way into the hall, but I hurried ahead of the group and into the study. Adam still sat in the chair, and he raised his head when I entered.

  "Adam!" I yelled at him.

  A look of pain passed over his face as I raced over to him. "What are you doing here?" he questioned me as I hugged my body against his.

  I snorted and pulled away. "Saving your hide, that's what." Adam looked past me at the crowd of deputies and Miranda who followed me into the room. I sheepishly smiled and shrugged. "Okay, so I need more practice on the whole 'rescuing' thing."

  Adam's eyes fell on the body of Hawthorne who was slung over the shoulder of one of the deputies, and he raised an eyebrow. "What has happened?"

  "Justice is giving you leniency. For the moment," Miranda spoke up. She pointed at a reclining couch against the front wall. "Seat the prisoners and my mate there." Cain and Lilith were plopped into the seats, and Hawthorne was leaned against another.

  "Lilith has nothing to do with this," Adam told Miranda.

  "Yeah, about that. I'm starting to think all the werewolves are terrible at choosing mates," I whispered to Adam.

  "We will see once we find what is beneath that buffet table," Miranda returned. She looked to two of the deputies, and the men bowed their heads and hurried away.

  "Beneath the buffet table?" Adam repeated.

  "Yeah, I found some of that white stuff from the passages in the floor. It might be a clue," I explained.

  "It had better be something in your favor," Miranda spoke up. She grabbed a loose chair and swung it down in front of Adam. Her eyes flickered between us. "Now what really happened up there?"

  I nodded at Lilith. "She pointed a gun at us when we asked her to look into the billiard room. She said she didn't want us getting into a box."

  "Did she say what was in the box?" Miranda continued.

  I shook my head. "Nope, but it could fit into this bag." I held up my weapon of choice.

  One of the werewolf deputies appeared at the study doorway. "Miranda, there's definitely something there, but we have to break it out of the floor."

  "Then do it. I'll take responsibility for everything," she promised. He bowed his head and left. Miranda turned her attention to Lilith. "What's in the box?"

  Lilith pursed her lips and turned her face away. "You can tell us now or we will find out in a few-" Her threat was interrupted by the sounds of crunching and cracking wood. Miranda stood and the next moment her men appeared in the entrance with a small silver box in one of their hands. It was wrapped in the other's shirt to protect their hands. "What is it?" she asked them.

  "It's a safe-box," one of them replied.

  Miranda walked over and took hold of the box. The lock faced upward and I saw it was a dial made of stainless steel. She lifted the box to her nose and took a sniff. Her eyes narrowed and she turned her head to face Lilith. She strode over to the werewolf woman and held the dial toward her. "Open it."

  Lilith shrank from the box. "But I don't-"

  "Your scent is all over the dial. Open it," Miranda ordered her.

  Lilith sighed and hung her head. "I need these cuffs off."

  Miranda looked to one of the deputies who strode forward and unlocked the cuffs. Lilith stood and rubbed her wrists. She reached out for the dial, but instead she turned her hands and slapped the bottom of the box, the part covered by the shirt, upward. The silver box was tossed into Miranda's face and I smelled burned flesh as Miranda yelled in fury and pain.

  Her deputies raced to help her, and Lilith made a break for the large windows behind Adam. I grasped my bag like a baseball and tossed it into her path before she could pick up her super speed. She ran face-first into the bag and choked on the scent of garlic. Lilith stumbled into the windows and only her face crashed through the glass rather than her whole body. The deputies raced after her and dragged her out of the glass. They turned her around to reveal a hideous sight of blood mixed with running makeup. Her mouth was twisted into a snarl filled with long teeth and she glared daggers at me.

  "You filthy creature! You filthy, worthless-"

  "Human. I know, I know," I quipped.

  Meanwhile, Miranda partially recovered from the attack. She pushed away the helping hands of her deputies and revealed that the lower half of her face was burned, but healing. Miranda snatched the box off the floor and whipped her head to Lilith. She stalked towards the captive and shoved the box into Lilith's chest.

  "Open the box or I will make you claw your way through the silver," Miranda growled.

  Lilith cringed and nodded. One of the deputies released a single hand and she turned the dial of the box left and right. The combination wasn't your usual bike-lock combo. There was about ten different numbers in the mix. At the final number there was an audible click and the door popped open a few centimeters.

  Miranda pulled the box away and walked over to her chair. She set the box on the seat and opened the interior. I slunk over and leaned in for a peek. My eyes widened when I beheld a treasure-trove of jewels. Red jewels inlaid in gold, green jewels in silver, loose diamonds that filled the bottom of the box.

  "Wow. You werewolf guys really are rich," I quipped.

  Miranda pulled out one of the silver necklaces. "That's one of Lilith's necklaces! The one she wore when we came to visit Abel!" Cain exclaimed.

  Miranda sniffed the necklace and then the interior of the box. Her eyes narrowed, and she glanced between Cain and Lilith. "Why would Abel have her jewels?"

  "He always thought jewels would tempt thieves, so he had Lilith give him her jewels for safekeeping. He never said where he kept them," Cain explained.

  Miranda turned her attention to Lilith. "You knew the combination. How?"

  Lilith hung her head. "He. . .he told me."

  Cain started. "Abel would never have told anyone."

  "I. . .I made him. He wanted to pull a prank, but he needed my help. I'd only agree to it if he told me where he kept my jewels." She snorted, but there was no humor in the noise. "I told him it was in case something went wrong. He was so eager to pull the prank that he told me the combination and where it was hidden."

  "What did this prank involve?" Miranda questioned her.

  Lilith sighed. "He would get Cain drunk and fake that Cain murdered him."

  "Did you decide to change the prank into reality?" Miranda guessed.

  Lilith pursed her lips, but nodded. "There's a fortune of jewels in there. I wanted it. I deserved it after the pranks he'd pulled on me."

  "But I could have given you more money!" Cain argued.

  Lilith raised her head and sneered at him. "I didn't want anything else from you. I wanted you gone. You're old, Cain, and not much fun. Your friends were even stupider. I was sick of this boring life with you." She lifted her nose and flung her luxurious hair to one side. Besides, you probably would've dumped me sooner or later, and you had all the money. What did I care that I'd pin the murder on you and get away with the jewels while y
ou rotted on one of Hawthorne's gallows?"

  Cain's mouth dropped open and he slowly shook his head. "No. Lilith, please tell me you're lying."

  Miranda held up the lock box. "Her scent is all over the inside of this box, and she just told us her motive. She had the opportunity. That's enough to convict her."

  "Please! Mercy!" Cain pleaded.

  At his shouts the prone body of Hawthorne stirred beside him. The judge's eyes fluttered open and he looked around the room in bewilderment. "What happened?"

  "The case was solved, and you have a new suspect to convict, but I'll tell you about it later," Miranda told him. She returned her attention to Lilith and jerked her head towards the door. "Take her to her room and don't let her out of your sight."

  They pulled Lilith forward, but she dug her heels into the carpet and thrashed in their grasps. "No! Let me go! I said let me go!" They dragged her feet along the floor and out the door they went.

  Cain was released from his manacles and he followed after Lilith. The judge stood and winced. He clutched at his cheek and glared at Miranda. She smiled and shrugged.

  "What a strange ending this is. . ." I heard Adam mutter beside me.

  I wrapped an arm around his shoulders and smiled at him. "You know the most interesting people. Remind me not to invite any of them to the wedding."

  Chapter 14

  So ended our foray into mystery solving. Unfortunately, our foray with the law wasn't over. Hawthorne rubbed his cheek and glared at his mate. "You attacked a servant of the law?" he growled at her.

  "No, she attacked an idiot who was serving out helpings of foolishness," I retorted.

  Hawthorne whipped his head around and glared at me. "Speak nothing to me, criminal."

  I folded my arms across my chest and, as was my mature want, I stuck my tongue out at him. "Yeah, our innocence was established while you were taking a nap."

  The judge frowned and looked to his mate. "Is this true?"

  "Conclusively. Another confessed to the crime. The woman named Lilith," Miranda confirmed.

  The judge's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "Lilith? Are you sure?"