That had been a year ago. The first thing he’d learned after hiring Evan had been that he wasn’t the only person hunting for her. When Josh first met with Evan, the man had furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. “This story sounds very familiar. Are you sure someone isn’t already looking for Ashley?”
Josh had been stunned. He couldn’t imagine who else would be hunting for his sister.
But Evan figured it out. A buddy of his in the office had discussed the case with him long before Josh arrived. His memory had been impeccable. In minutes, it was determined their father, Paul Rice, had been searching for his daughter all this time. Neither of Josh’s parents had told him of their concern because they’d wanted to spare Josh the anguish. They hadn’t wanted him to know how worried they were. They’d been trying to protect him.
Hell, his father had gone to the police on numerous occasions, only to be sent away. There was no law against women running off with their boyfriends, and there was no evidence to suggest that wasn’t exactly what had happened. She was not a missing person.
So, Paul had hired Evan’s coworker and launched his own investigation. When the father and son realized they were both on the same path, the job had been given to Evan. Perhaps a new set of eyes could crack the case. And Evan had had more success recently than his coworker before him. Although they would probably never know if that was a result of Damon growing lax and sloppy in his movements as opposed to Evan having some superpowers his friend hadn’t had.
For the first time, Josh had hope. Please, God, let today be the day I find my sister. And let her be alive.
If he found Ashley alive, he’d do everything in his power to get her home. If not, he’d at least be the first to know and could handle the difficult task of telling his parents himself.
His fingers shook as he squeezed the steering wheel again. Anything but alive was unacceptable. He kept repeating that to himself, though he knew it wasn’t true. He’d spent enough time in the ER during his residency to know sometimes dead was a better choice for some people. He’d seen plenty of abuse victims come in, lying to anyone who would listen about how they fell down the stairs—again. Or how they burnt themselves cooking. The number of reasons women could list for bruising all over their bodies was long and bone-chillingly detailed.
Amazing creatures, abuse victims.
Josh’s biggest fear wasn’t finding Ashley dead. It was actually finding her alive and abused and unwilling to leave.
He knew in his heart his sister was not in a normal relationship. Now he had to convince her. He doubted he would be able to keep himself from removing her by force if push came to shove.
After almost a year with no contact at all, the shit was deep. Nothing she could possibly say would convince him she truly was too busy to call her family.
No.
Ashley Rice Parkfield was coming home as soon as possible. One way or the other.
Chapter Five
Samantha entered the courtroom at eight thirty in the morning, her briefcase in one hand and her cell phone in the other. She hadn’t been able to set the device down since Josh had walked out the door. She’d slept fitfully when she’d finally finished working. At least once an hour she’d called to make sure he wasn’t growing sleepy and had his head on. She was worried about him. His eyes did weird things when he spoke of Ashley.
The last thing she wanted was for him to commit a crime himself in his anger. Anything was possible, from breaking and entering to… She couldn’t bring herself to ponder further.
She glanced at the phone’s screen for the millionth time. She didn’t dare call him now. He was positioned outside the apartment where Damon had been seen and didn’t need the distraction. Plus, Samantha was about to walk into the court room.
She slumped her shoulders and ducked into the nearest restroom. She had twenty minutes to pull herself together. After spending the night in Josh’s bed, his scent and that of their claiming surrounding her, she was exhausted and not nearly as on top of her game as she liked to be.
Hell, she had to keep reminding herself what the case was even about. And she prayed she wouldn’t fuck this up royally in her distraction. The client deserved better and so did the judge.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror for several minutes, and then Samantha pushed off the counter, pulled her shoulders back, and stepped into the busy hallway.
In less than a minute, she was headed down the center aisle of the courtroom toward the table on the front left where her client sat anxiously waiting.
“Ms. Eden.” Samantha nodded and smiled at her client as she took her seat.
The woman visibly shook. “Have you seen him?”
“Who?”
“My ex. The bastard we’re here to prosecute.” Her brow furrowed.
Samantha shook her head. “Not yet. He wasn’t in the hall anyway.” She hadn’t seen Jeff Eden or his lawyer. That wasn’t unusual though. They might come in the back way or at the last second. She’d seen all sorts of things happen when the defendant was a guilty son of a bitch.
Once Samantha started a case, she focused on the plaintiff and lost sight of whether she was being paid or not. In this case, which was pro bono, she hadn’t thought of that fact in a week. This woman might not have money, but she deserved all the legal services she could get to ensure she got her fair share of the wealth and property her ex-husband was denying her after the divorce.
Even though the divorce had been final for over a year, the man had not relinquished possession of the home that rightly belonged to Lucy. He insisted he had paid her for her half, though there was no evidence it had ever occurred. As far as Samantha was concerned, the bastard was lying.
A commotion in the rear had both Samantha and Lucy swirling in their chairs to see what was going on. A few people stood arguing near the entrance, none of whom Samantha remembered meeting before.
“All rise.” The voice coming from the bailiff diverted Samantha’s attention back to the front. It accompanied the entrance of the judge, a middle-aged man with a stern face and graying hair at his temples.
Samantha swallowed as she stood. No matter how many times she did this, it always made her squirm inside when the judge entered, as though she’d been caught doing something naughty. Which was absurd. Judges had that effect on her.
Judge Macintyre hit his gavel twice on the podium to silence the lingering noise in the back of the room. He didn’t take his seat. “Counselors, in my office please.” With that, he turned and left the room through the door behind him.
Samantha glanced to her left at Lucy’s confused face. Lucy’s mouth hung open and her eyes were wide. Samantha patted her hand. “I’ll be right back.”
“But. . .”
Samantha pointed at the desk as she rose to indicate Lucy should stay right there.
Jeff Eden’s attorney, whom Samantha had yet to meet, was nowhere in sight. No one sat at the opposite table where the defense should have been.
As she followed the judge’s swaying robe through the back door into the hall where his chambers were located, she still didn’t spot anyone who seemed to be on the same journey. She realized she hadn’t seen Jeff Eden yet, but where was his lawyer?
Judge Macintyre held his door open for her to pass and then rounded his desk. “I’m going to give your opponent in this waste of time about two seconds and then I’m going to have his ass for lunch.”
Samantha sucked in a breath and held it. She remained standing as the judge was. What the hell was going on? Where was the defense attorney?
Luckily it was only about two seconds before the door behind her flew open and a frazzled man stepped in, adjusting his tie. “Judge Macintyre, I’m terribly sorry for my tardiness.” He was out of breath and heaving for oxygen.
Samantha stared at him, feeling sorry for him for some unknown reason. She wanted to adjust his suit jacket and tell him to relax. He was tall, not as tall as Josh, but still much taller than her. His darker skin i
ndicated he was either middle-eastern or perhaps he had some African American in him. Sexy as hell. And what the fuck was she doing thinking something like that when she’d been claimed less than twenty-four hours ago?
The man ran one hand through his thick black hair while he set his briefcase on the empty chair with the other. Still gasping, he suddenly jerked his attention from the judge to Samantha. His eyes went wide and he froze in his place.
What the hell?
Samantha exhaled when she realized she hadn’t breathed since he’d entered the room.
On her next breath, she became the exact matching statue as her opponent. Fuck.
The man was a wolf shifter. But that wasn’t the reason for his surprise or her own. He elicited the exact same reaction in her as Josh had yesterday. His scent called to her on a deep level, that of mates. How was it possible?
With trembling fingers she gripped the back of the chair in front of her and turned toward the judge. Whatever weird hormonal reaction she was having to this wolf shifter, she couldn’t deal with it right now. They were in the judge’s chambers for fuck’s sake.
“Is there a problem?” Judge Macintyre asked. His head was cocked to one side and he glanced back and forth between the two attorneys with raised eyebrows. He was not amused. “If you two have something to discuss, don’t let me stop you. I’ll hang out here and wait until you’re both ready to address me. I have all day, after all.” His sarcasm was syrupy and not in a good way.
“No,” the defense attorney stated, “sir. Sorry. I… Never mind.”
“Mr. Craig. Where is your client?”
“I…” The bronzed god’s mouth opened. It even moved, but no sound came out. Finally, he swallowed and cleared his throat. “I don’t know, sir.” His voice had dropped. Barely audible.
“You don’t know?” The judge took his seat as he spoke. “How did you expect to enter the courtroom this morning clientless?”
Mr. Craig said nothing to that.
“Well,” the judge continued, “can’t say as I’m too surprised since I’ve received a note minutes ago, indicating your client was arrested this morning . . . in Florida.”
Mr. Craig gasped and then looked down. “Great,” he muttered under his breath.
“So, in light of the fact he seems to have skipped town and done so recklessly, I’m going to rule on this case in his absence. If you should happen to hear from your client, you might want to let him know there is a warrant for his arrest in the Show-Me State and I’ve decided to give more than his house to his ex-wife. I’ll send a report to both of you by the end of the week.” Before pausing, the judge handed a stack of papers to Mr. Craig and continued, “Now both of you get out of my office. I bet there are some real cases out there that could use attention this morning.” The stern man turned his attention to his desk and dismissed both Samantha and the man next to her with his body language.
Samantha straightened to her full height, which wasn’t saying much. She adjusted her purse over her shoulder and spun toward the door. Whatever the hell was going on between her and the other lawyer, it had nothing to do with the judge or this case. She needed to get out of the small office and return to her client before she did anything else.
As soon as she flung the office door open, she stepped into the hall and marched back to the courtroom. She was well aware of Mr. Craig on her heels, but Lucy Eden was sitting in the empty courtroom waiting for her to return. First things first.
Not to mention, she didn’t even have words to describe what was happening in the Twilight Zone world of shifters in which she had suddenly become a cast member.
The fine-scented sexy man behind her didn’t say a word. Bless him. He didn’t touch her either. He simply stayed on her heels and followed her into the courtroom. He shouldn’t have. By rights, he needed to stay away from her and her client. And he certainly had no reason to listen in on their private conversation.
However, even in Samantha’s confused state, she recognized his need to keep her in sight. Her inner wolf was tugging him along behind her with as much pull as he seemed to have to keep her in his reach.
Lucy stood as Samantha approached. “What happened?”
“Your ex skipped town.”
“What? Can he do that?”
“No.” Samantha paused. She needed to remember Lucy Eden had not one tenth the knowledge about law that Samantha did. No need to get snarky just because some strange wolf man was standing in the doorway behind her waiting to…to do what? “But it’s kind of nice in a way. He certainly made himself appear guilty since he didn’t show up for his court date. And it doesn’t hurt a bit he was arrested in Florida this morning.”
Lucy gasped. “Arrested?”
“Yep.”
“What for?”
“No idea. Don’t care. And it doesn’t matter. What matters is the judge awarded you the house. And he’s going to tack more on to that.” Samantha gathered her papers from the table and stuffed them haphazardly into her satchel as she spoke. There were still legal details to handle, but they could be dealt with later. “It’ll take a few weeks to straighten everything out, but in the end I’ll get the keys for you and you’ll be the proud sole owner of the house, free and clear.”
Lucy surprised Samantha by grabbing her and tugging her into an embrace. “Thank you so much,” she stuttered. “What a relief.”
“Don’t thank me.” Samantha smiled at Lucy as she pulled away. “Thank your ex. He did this all on his own.” Saves me a lot of effort today too. What would she have done if Jeff Eden hadn’t bailed and she’d have had to face Mr. Craig all day today trying this case? She shivered at the thought.
Lucy grabbed her purse and stepped toward the door at the end of the aisle, across the room from where Mr. Craig stood pretending to mind his own business. “You’ll call me?”
“I will.”
Lucy Eden scurried out the door and disappeared.
Fortifying herself for whatever new battle she was about to face, Samantha grabbed her briefcase and turned toward the man still holding the door open behind the judge’s bench.
Without a word, she followed him, this time letting him lead her down the hall. When he found an empty conference room, he opened it and ducked inside, holding the door open for Samantha and carefully avoiding any direct contact with her as he squeezed himself against the frame.
When the door snicked shut behind her, Samantha set her belongings on the table in the center of the room and turned around.
“You don’t smell right,” he stated.
She flinched at the implication. “I did shower this morning.” Asshole.
He furrowed his brow and tipped his head back to confirm his assessment. “Nope. It’s not that. You reek of another wolf, not just yourself. Why on earth do I have this innate confidence you’re mine?”
And there it was. He’d said it. So, it wasn’t just her. He felt it too. “I have no idea what the hell is going on between us, but I was claimed yesterday by another shifter.” There was no sense keeping that information to herself.
The darker man removed his suit jacket, set it on the table, and lowered himself into a giant mock-leather armchair, one of the many situated around the room for use in a conference. His muscled bulges beneath his perfectly starched white dress shirt and his chest heaved as though breathing were suddenly a chore.
When he slumped his shoulders and closed his eyes, Samantha could almost see the inner workings of his mind. He was trying to figure this all out. And he was using all his senses on her.
She didn’t have any more answers than he had. It was possible her list of questions was longer, in fact.
“Are you sure?” he asked, finally.
“Am I sure I had sex yesterday with another wolf?” The words were absurd and completely uncalled for, but what the hell was he implying? Oh, come on, Sam. You know good and well what he’s asking. “Sorry,” she muttered in a lower voice, “yes, I’m sure.”
“What’s
your name?” he asked next, running his hand through his hair again. He leaned back in the plush chair, defeated.
“Samantha. Samantha Albertson. Yours?”
“Nathan Craig.” He glanced up and down her frame, taking in everything about her with his eyes. Everything he could manage with her wearing a skirt, blouse, and jacket.
“What the hell do you suppose this means?”
“I don’t know, but I’d sure like to meet your other mate and hash it out.” Nathan said the word other with complete certainty. Or perhaps he was questioning Josh’s claim on her.
Samantha paced a few times back and forth. Only a few feet separated her from Nathan, not enough to keep her mind from spinning like a top in his presence. “You know,” she began, “you don’t have to ask Josh about our mating because I’m standing right here and I do have all the information he has. I was there.”
One half of Nathan’s mouth lifted in a small smile. His eyes lit with a spark she had yet to see. It was the first expression he’d shown that wasn’t confusion or regret. “You’re spunky.”
“I’m a lawyer, like yourself.”
“True. And what does this Josh character do? Where is he? If you just mated yesterday, how has he managed to let you out of his sight so soon?” He straightened, a new idea clearly forming in his mind. “Maybe that’s what’s got us by the balls. Your pheromones are raw from the recent claiming. Perhaps that’s making it seem like you belong to me.”
“Josh,” she declared with emphasis, “is a pediatrician. Dr. Joshua Rice. The reason he’s not here is…complicated. A long story. And, I don’t ‘belong’ to anyone, stud. He doesn’t own me. And you don’t either. As for my pheromones, I’d like to point out to you that you have the same vibe wafting from your person that I do. The mating ritual goes both ways. So, before you go trying to analyze why it seems I’m ‘yours,’ keep in mind you are as much ‘mine’.”
He smiled. “Right. Sorry. It just seems like you’d be…all tied up in this Josh guy and not noticing me if you were truly mated to him. What’s making you take notice of another wolf?”
Completed Page 5